Page 25 - Fujifilm Exposure_40 Golden Compass_ok

The Man was warmer, emphasising the difference in character. In the same way that we gradually came to use the same lenses for each charac- ter as they came to their meeting point, so too did their individual grad- ing become similar.
The digital grading enabled us to selectively manipulate the image and isolate parts of the frame if required using tools such as Power Windows. As an example, we desaturated the Woman’s face using a dynamic grade, when the life drained out of her.
For this we isolated her face within a shape and graded it sepa- rately from the rest of the image. The darker areas of the frame were treat- ed by keying into the blacks and lift- ing them to reduce contrast. We were also able to really push the warmth of the woodland and enhance the real- ism of the film towards its conclusion.
The grading progression is again subtle and it was important that the initial differences were not too obvi- ous but would work with the viewer subconsciously.
The finished film works cinemati- cally in the way that I had hoped. It has a quality and feel that adds to the story and the plight of the characters. The texture of film stock is an important factor and always
adds a great deal to the per-
ception of the viewer’s cinema experience. ■
Tree was originated on
35mm Fujicolor ETERNA 500T 8573. Peter Ellmore’s work previously
includes shorts, comm”ercials, music promos and a pair of features directed by Hadi Hajaig, Puritan and The Late Twentieth.
Photo main: The tree itself;
inset: Beth Winslet as The Woman; above: Director of Tree Phil Dale and DP Peter Ellmore
Fujifilm Motion Picture • The Magazine • Exposure • 23