Page 17 - Fujifilm Exposure_25 Jean Francois Robin_ok

the sets right, to determine the colour and texture of the image. All the deci- sions are made beforehand.
“Working all over Europe, you can’t always bring your own people, you have to adapt. But with professional technicians, it doesn’t matter if it’s London, Paris or Brussels, the tools are the same and the crews works more or less in the same way, so one quickly learns how to work together.
“When you have your own team it goes quicker, you don’t have to teach the crew your style of working, but its not always negative, sometimes you learn new ways of working.
I like working in England, the dif- ference is that the hours are much longer, like the American system. Everybody arrives at the same time, even when not everyone is needed for, say, the lighting or the rigging.
“I think our system is a more effi- cient use of time; we don’t have peo- ple hanging around for hours with
nothing to do. In France and here in Belgium we work seven or eight hours a day, a normal day being noon to 19:30... and we still get the work done.
“I often use Fuji film, and here on Pour Le Plaisir, I am using Fuji Reala 500D. I like to shoot the interiors using HMIs outside, without having to put filters on the camera. It’s very practi- cal for me. Also the look is agréable, pleasing to the eye. I work a lot with Fuji Reala 500D and 500T, and for exte- riors, I use the 64D. I like to mix the two stocks, they match well. I used to use the 250D and 250T a lot, and I would push it to get an interesting tex- ture. But now that there’s the 500, I tend to use that a lot.
“I used to shoot colour polaroids for each scene. The colours were distorted, but I used them to judge the contrast. The most important thing today is work- ing with the same grader in the lab. After I do the scene, I talk to the grader and I know exactly what he means, we
speak exactly the same language and I know what I am going to see.
“The system has deteriorated today. We watch rushes under deplorable con- ditions: video monitors, on tape cas- settes etc. We do not see 35mm on a screen anymore. This is not progress, it’s a worse system than before.”
Robin reflects, finally, on his two main areas of creativity: “Writing and cinematography are two totally differ- ent professions and passions.
“They are interdependent but they are also separate and, for me, don’t cross over. When I am a filmmaker, I am that only. When I write, I am only a writer. Every film experience nourish- es me with ideas, feeds me new inspi- ration and perhaps I use them in my writing. I don’t let either one interfere with the other.” ■ MADELYN MOST
Pour Le Plaisir and The Leading Man were originated on Fujicolor Motion Picture Negative
“I often use
Fuji film, and here on Pour Le Plaisir,
I am using Fuji
Reala 500D...
the look is agréable, pleasing to the eye.”
Photos l-r: Beatrice Dalle in Betty Blue (photo courtesy Moviestore Collection),
Jon Bon Jovi and Anna Galiena in
The Leading Man; Ewan McGregor in Nora (photo courtesy Moviestore Collection);
Cast and crew with Jean-Francois Robin on location in Belgium shooting Pour Le Plaisir; main: On the Autoroute from Brussels to Waterloo filming the final scenes of Pour le Plaisir
(photos Nick Wall and Madelyn Most)
Fuji Motion Picture And Professional Video • Exposure • 15