Page 18 - Fujifilm Exposure_8 Wildlife John Downer_ok

Stocking Up For T
The new Fujifilm F-500 takes high-speed neg- ative film into a new realm of image quality. The arrival of the Super F-500, Type 8572 (35mm) and 8672 (16mm) now gives cine- matographers previously unat-
tainable image quality for a 500
speed film.
Surely the finest-grained motion pic-
ture negative film of its speed now avail- able, the new stock will, along with much improved exposure latitude and colour saturation, deliver superb quality images in low light situations as well as in more conventional lighting.
To demonstrate the new film stock’s
qualities, Fuji in London was asked by
Tokyo to organise the making of an international demonstration film for the product. Fujifilm’s Bob Quinn takes up the story: “It was at the end of last July when we received instructions from Fuji Tokyo to make the definitive demo film of the new F-500 film for worldwide use. There followed in quick succes- sion detailed requirements.
“The film needed to be shot in 35mm and 16mm and Digi-beta transfers were also required. There was a budget (not enough of course!) and a deadline - the film had to be ready for the product’s official launch at the SMPTE conference in Pasadena at the end of October. The schedule was effective- ly even tighter because the completed film was needed for a preview in mid-October.
“At a brainstorming session, someone
observed how it would be ‘great’ to have
some of the new The King’s Troop film shot
on the new stock. ‘Why don’t we talk to Marcus Dillistone?’ came the reply. Fuji had already been involved with Dillistone’s The King’s Troop project [see Autumn 98 issue of Exposure] and at that stage only part of it had been shot.
“So a meeting was hastily arranged and with Dillistone’s customary enthusiasm and continuous flow of ideas, we had laid the groundwork for the project that same day. Rather than produce a disjointed series of sequences,” Quinn continues, “we wanted to shoot some- thing with real production value, something that cine- matographers and production people would easily iden- tify with as ‘shot for real.’
“What is more we were keen for the film to have entertainment value. Here Dillistone has most success- fully produced some humorous storylines. At the same
time the scenarios were designed to put the film stock through its paces from a technical point of view.
“We finally settled on four different scenarios repre- senting a variety of different shooting situations each lit by a different DP. These were Lights (Sue Gibson BSC): a night shoot designed to show the contrast performance of the New F-500; Troop (Alex Thomson BSC): a classy documentary scenario involving underexposure, high
speed and normal speed cinematography under a varity of lighting situations; Chase (John Rosenberg): a night shoot using only available light and Menu (Robin Vidgeon BSC): a studio drama scenario designed to show the colour and contrast performance of the stock, but with a sense of humour. Because of the extremely tight production schedule, and as Dillistone was already shooting the second part of The King’s Troop, the Troop
Photos: top: Lights; inset: DP Sue Gibson BSC; below: Troop; inset: DP Alex Thomson BSC
EXPOSURE • 18 & 19
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