Page 11 - Fujifilm Exposure_24 Stephen Fry_ok

have used more of it – it was gorgeous! On the night interiors and most exteri- ors we used 125T, again staying on the slower stock as much as possible. “The film had a particular look, designed to be old fashioned, rich and moody. The Fuji stocks were perfect for this, with its deep blacks and vivid red and greens. However, the Spirit grade meant that we could also give some sections another look without doing anything in camera. A luxury on a shoot with a tight schedule!
“The opening section inter-cuts a gangster shoot-out within a warm café and introduces us to the male lead. The Spirit grade meant that we could exaggerate the warmth in the cafe, whilst giving the shoot-out a dingy off hue feel, but not make them jar against each other.
“This was executed to perfection by Jørgen, as was the seamless match grading throughout the rest of the film. This can be hard to achieve on location if you have little time, and can only be done to a limited extent in the labs.
“One of the biggest achievements made on Spirit, was matching a scene that had been shot outside over three days (twice abandoned because of foul weather), and had to be lit on some shots to make up for lack of ambient light. Nobody would know from watching it now.
“Jørgen also applied a dynamic grade on a longer scene and while
using windows to isolate and grade an area within a frame. This creative technique would be impossible to achieve using the traditional route.”
On completion of the grade, the negative was scanned from the Spirit at 2K and imported onto Inferno ready for an auto-conform and on- line session.
Inferno artist Steen Lyders Hansen carried out a variety of enhancements including painting out unwanted build- ings before adding titles and de-spot- ting the entire feature.
Coutts was impressed with the speed with which he could add effects and the range of possibilities at the Inferno stage: “We could not have achieved the same look with optical processes.”
The locked-off film was then backed up as 2K data files to DTF-2 format and re-recorded via the ArriLaser in Copenhagen. The digital negative was then shipped to Soho Images Laboratory for a one-light check print.
Added Kelly: “We were impressed with the final print which was pristine and once projected looked exactly how we had seen it on the Spirit. There was no need for further correc- tions in the laboratory.”
Maragret Matheson went on to explain the benefits of going via the DI route. “If there are a lot of visual effects the DI process becomes extremely cost effective. In other
words I never want to do optical effects again.
“There is no point when you can achieve better effects far more quickly and simply with the option for the director to change his or her mind, and to try different things.
“Also a good working relationship is an important reason for using DFL. I like the company ethos which is casu- al and friendly but this does-
n’t mean the work is casual.
All the creative staff I’ve
worked with have been per- fectionists but they collabo-
rate and work with the direc-
tor to come up with the most
creative solutions.
“I think that once cine- matographers and directors
have used the DFL route
they will always want to use
it. My experience on these three films, all with very different demands, has convinced me that the digital route is the only one to take.” ■
American Cousins was originated on Fujicolor Motion Picture Negative.
For more information please contact: Zahida Bacchus
Digital Film Lab, 52 St John Street London EC1M 4HF
Telephone +44 (0) 207 490 4050 Fax +44 (0) 204 251 8430
Email zahida@digitalfilmlab.com Website www.digitalfilmlab.com
Photos: Scenes from American Cousins; main: DFL’s colourist, Jørgen Christiansen
Fuji Motion Picture And Professional Video • Exposure • 9
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