Page 20 - Fujifilm Exposure_20 Bend It Like Beckham_ok

I t was probably the mixed lighting toler-
ance of Fujifim’s REALA 500D that gave Dillistone the idea of incorporating actual light-sources
(electric light-bulbs) into the story line of the demonstration film which became The Glow.
Having surfed the net for old light bulbs more or less for a joke he found that there were plenty of collectors and replica items available (at prices far less than suggested in The Glow!).
Once he had settled on the theme of an eccentric lamp collector, Dillistone ordered in a number of vet- eran and vintage lamps for props and these proved invaluable for setting the scene in Mr Swann’s house.
Looking around his home town of Hastings, Dillistone realised that there were numerous local scenes which could offer ideal situations for putting REALA 500D through its paces.
In particular were a covered prom- enade to shoot looking out to sea against the morning sun, two Victorian funicular railways (one in a tunnel) and the area which services Hastings’ beach-launched fishing fleet. All these were incorporated in the boy’s cycle journey to Mr Swann’s house.
Several local possibilities for Mr Swann’s house were explored but when the best of these fell through at the last minute Dillistone found Herstmonceux castle available and this proved ideal for both exterior and interior shooting of the final sec- tion of the film.
Herstmonceux, the oldest surviv- ing major brick-built building in Britain is nearly 600 years old and is currently used as an International study centre by the Canadian Queens University, Kingston, Ontario.
Finally Dillistone realised that his Apple flat-panel computer screen would be perfect for show- ing how REALA 500D would repro- duce screen images, and so the concept of the boy’s room with
high-tech and numerous quirky practical light sources mixed with daylight, HMI and tungsten lighting was born.
The brief for The Glow also required to show 16mm to 35mm blow-ups made via both digital and optical routes to be shown, as well as green screen and digitally composited shots. These were duly planned into the storyboard.
The blow-up scenes were filmed Super-16 format and either optically enlarged to 35mm using Fuji Color Intermediate Film, or scanned into dig- ital form at 1080X1920 pixels (2K reso- lution) & read out to 35mm (1:1.85 for- mat) using an Arri Laser machine on to Fuji Color Intermediate film, at the same resolution.
In the green screen com- posite scene the boy peering through the doorway was filmed against a green screen background. The background seen through the doorway was filmed from the same position without the boy with same lighting and exposure.
The two pieces of nega- tive were digitally scanned at 1080 X 1920 pixels and the composite shot assem- bled using “Inferno” and then read out to Fuji Color Intermediate film at the
same resolution, using an Arri Laser machine.
In the final scene the negative was digitally scanned at 1080 X 1920 pixels (2K resolution), and digitally composited effects added in “Inferno” to enhance the glow of the filament and improve the effect of it being suddenly extinguished. The composited data was read out to FCI 8502 in an Arri Laser machine at the same (2K) resolution.
Fujifilm would like to sincerely thank each and every one of the many individuals who helped in the making of The Glow, including Movietech, Lee Lighting, Soho Images, Digital Film Lab, Goldcrest, Quantel and MK-V Systems. ■
CREATING
BACKGROUND TO THE PRODUCTION By Bob Quinn, Fujifilm UK
Photos top: Natalie Ogle and Jack Blumenau in The Glow; above left and right: Crew of The Glow on location; above centre: Herstmonceux Castle
EXPOSURE • 18