Page 9 - Fujifilm Exposure_24 Stephen Fry_ok

photographed on. A film composed for 2.35 might now appear in 1.85 or even 1.37.
“One cannot intelligently compose for ‘Scope’ and then have it trans- formed into another configuration. You have to choose. This is an indus- try and an art form that demands a certain amount of rigeur or serious- ness; one must respect the work of a director and his collaborators.
“Dinosaur that I am, I need to view my rushes under good conditions to judge not only my work, but that of the labs. These days, you have to fight to see your work on something other than a video cassette on a TV monitor where everything is more or less distorted.
“It will be interesting to see how cinematographers will control their work in the future with all the digital technology taking over. As Billy Williams said at the Palm Springs Film Festival in 2001, ‘The directors are fighting for their final cut; it is up to us cinematographers to fight for our final grading’.
“Over the last 15 years new improved film emulsions have appeared that give us enormous lati- tude in exposure and a much softer palette to work with. Today’s film- stocks almost match what we see by
eye. They have rich blacks, dark grays, and very little grain even in low light situations, if properly exposed.
“It’s also a pleasure to work with bare lenses and not have to use diffu- sion filters in order to tone down or de-saturate the colours.
“And finally, having spent my entire life as a photographer and cine- matographer, I must say I miss black- and-white. It has a kind of purity. It does not try to imitate reality, it keeps a distance.
“Colour tends to be too realistic. It overloads the senses with too much information, sometimes useless, and provokes emotions that have nothing to do with the scene or the subject that detract from the essentials. As a cameraman, I am always trying to con- trol those colours – and it is very tricky.” ■ MADELYN MOST
Le Divorce, as well as a number of other credits listed in the article, were originated on Fujicolor Motion Picture negative
Photos from top: Greta Scacchi in Cotton Mary; Camille Claudel (photo courtesy Moviestore Collection); Hugh Grant in Maurice; Thierry Lhermitte and Kate Hudson in Le Divorce; Maggie Smith in Quartet
Fuji Motion Picture And Professional Video • Exposure • 7