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Although there was a time when many thought that shooting on motion picture film stock
would quickly die out after the launch of high quality digital cinema cameras like the
Arri Alexa in 2010, film still persists.
In fact in recent years it's seen a bit of a resurgence.
In this video I thought I’d do a bit of a deep dive into the topic.
So sit tight while I go over why some productions still choose to shoot on film over using digital
cameras and outline the whole process of how film is shot, from pre-production and production
all the way to it’s post production workflow.
Before going over how film is shot I think it’s important to understand why it’s
shot.
On the surface digital has many apparent advantages.
It’s often cheaper.
It’s possible to roll for much longer.
There’s less room for exposure or development errors.
You can view the rushes immediately.
The list goes on.
When it comes to listing the pros for shooting on film it usually comes down to two factors:
the look and the way of working.
My favourite cinematographer, Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, sums it simply: “It’s a better practical
experience and aesthetic choice.”
Nowadays it is possible to recreate most of the colour and texture of film with digital
footage in the colour grade, so that it’s perhaps a 95% match or whatever number you
want to use.
However, I’m still yet to see the highlights and natural sharpness in a digital image effectively
manipulated in a way that is 100% indistinguishable from film, particularly 16mm.
And if you have the budget to shoot on film, and that’s the look that you are after,
why shoot digitally then spend a load of effort in post trying to achieve a look and texture
that is achieved out of the box with film.
Having spent time on both film and, of course, digital sets, I can attest that there is a
marked difference in the vibe on these sets.
Because you’re shooting on an expensive and limited commodity.
When the film starts rolling through the camera everyone on set is far more focused.
Also the build up to shooting on film is more focused.
Shots are carefully planned, movements and performances rehearsed and only a limited
amount of takes are shot.
This contrasts with the so-called ‘spray and pray’ method that sometimes happens
when shooting digitally.
So for filmmakers that value both the aesthetic and more disciplined on set manner of working
that film provides - shooting in 16mm or 35mm remains a viable choice.
Now that you’ve done the maths on the viability of the costs of motion picture film and chosen
it as your working medium, how is it practically shot?
It all starts in pre-production.
Before arriving on set the director of photography will either conduct camera tests with various
film stocks, or use their prior shooting experience to select a stock or a few stocks that are
correct for the project.
Today this means choosing between Kodak’s range - who are the only remaining manufacturer
of motion picture film stock in the world.
The cinematographer will base this decision on 3 factors, the ASA, or sensitivity of the
stock, the colour balance, daylight or tungsten, and the look.
They’ll look at how the stock captures colour, each is subtly different, and the amount of
grain and texture that they have.
Stocks with a lower ASA, like 50D will have very fine grain, while higher ASA stocks,
like 500T, will have more noticeable texture.
Daylight stocks, rated around 5500K, have colour that is balanced to look normal in
daylight.
Tungsten stocks, around 3200K, have colour that is balanced to look normal under artificial
tungsten light.
It is possible to shoot tungsten stocks in daylight and either add a warm 85 filter to
correct the colour temperature, or shoot without a filter and correct the colour balance in
the grade in post production.
Some cinematographers may choose multiple stocks, for example 250D for exteriors and
500T for interiors and night scenes, while others may choose to photograph an entire
project with a single stock.
It’s on them to estimate how many rolls of film stock will be needed, which the production
team will then go about sourcing.
Short form projects like commercials will usually order all the film upfront, while
longer feature projects will often keep ordering new film as they go.
Often you can return excess film stock back to the supplier as long as it hasn’t been
opened and loaded into a magazine.
However it’s still best practice to acquire the amount of film as accurately as possible.
You don’t want to order too much stock and lose money because it can’t be returned
but you also never want to run out of stock or be unable to shoot.
It’s the job of the camera team to determine how much stock needs to be ordered and pass
that information on to production, who will order it.
Before we move on to how film is practically shot and how it is dealt with in post-production
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With film stock in hand, or in the back of the camera truck, it’s now time to load
it and start shooting.
This is either done by a dedicated camera loader, especially when dealing with multiple
cameras, or done by the 2nd assistant camera.
Since film captures an image by being exposed to light for a fraction of a second, it's
of the utmost importance that the raw stock is never exposed to any light.
If a film can pops open for even a second outside the film will no longer be usable.
That’s a good chunk of money down the drain.
The 2nd uses a light free film changing tent and loads the stock from the film can into
the camera magazine completely in the dark.
Once in the magazine and completely sealed the assistant then labels the magazine using
tape.
Red tape for tungsten film or blue tape for daylight film.
With a sharpie they’ll write down information like the roll number, what stock it is, the
code that identifies the stock, how many feet of film is usable and any necessary developing
instructions.
The 2nd hands the mag to the focus puller who laces it onto the camera where it is ready
to shoot.
Before rolling DPs metre how much light there is with a light metre and set their exposure.
Nowadays they often carry their own digital stills camera and double check their exposure
with it.
For example, if shooting 500 ASA film with a 180 degree shutter they set the digital
camera ISO to 500, the shutter to 1/50 and manipulate their aperture until they find
an exposure they are happy with.
The aperture of the film camera is then set and any necessary ND filters added or subtracted
to cut down or increase the amount of light that enters the camera.
After each scene or shot is completed the assistant director will announce ‘check
the gate’.
The focus puller does this by taking off the lens and examining the film gate to ensure
it is clean.
Any dirt of hairs on the gate means the shot will be ruined.
If the gate is clean the 1st AC announces ‘good gate’ and the production moves on
to the next shot.
It’s the job of the 2nd AC to consistently check the film counter to know when the magazine
will run out.
Once all the film in a mag has been shot it is removed and carefully unloaded in the tent
by the 2nd.
They put it back in its can, seal it securely with tape and place the tape label from the
magazine onto the can.
At the end of the day they will make a camera report, stating all the rolls that were shot
with all the necessary information.
From the 3 copies of the report 1 copy goes with the raw footage to the film lab to be
processed, 1 goes to the production team for their records and 1 backup copy is kept by
the 2nd.
Once the film arrives at a lab, such as Cinelab in the UK or Fotokem in the US, the first
thing that needs to happen is to develop it.
The film is passed through a combination of chemicals.
This sets the image on the film as a negative.
Once developed, the film can now be handled in light without concern.
In order to edit the footage it needs to be converted to a digital format so that it can
be worked with in the same way as files from a digital camera.
To do this the film is either scanned or goes through a telecine.
For a telecine, as the film passes through a machine it is captured and recorded as a
video file in real time - usually in HD.
A scan is slower, more expensive and records much higher fidelity video files.
The most common modern industry scanner is the Scanity HDR.
Each roll of film is put onto the spools of the scanner and motors run the film past a
gate.
At the gate each individual frame of film which was shot is scanned at either 2K or
4K resolution and saved as a digital DPX file.
It is capable of scanning up to 15 individual frames every second.
These DPX files are uncompressed and lossless with very high dynamic range.
This means they are similar to RAW files that are captured by some high end cinema cameras
like ArriRaw or Redcode Raw and retain a huge amount of colour information.
Due to the high quality of the files they are fairly large.
About 24 minutes of footage can be stored on 1 terabyte.
These files are then worked with in a digital post production workflow similar to how digital
RAW files would be worked with.
Once edited, those lossless files will be graded by a colourist, who will find the desired
levels of saturation and contrast and correct any colour balances that are off.
Finally, the finished, graded footage along with the final sound mix will be converted
into a DCP, a digital cinema package, basically a hard drive, which is used to digitally project
the final film in cinemas.
Occasionally a film-out is done where the final DPX files are converted back to a film
print, which is projected in cinemas the old school way - with light.
Thanks everyone for watching and a special thanks to all Patrons who continue to support
the channel and keep it going.
Hopefully this workflow breakdown was useful or interesting.
Otherwise until next time, thanks for watching and goodbye.