"Fallen Leaves"

[David Mullen ASC]

Congrats to Dirk DeJonghe and his lab for their work on Aki Kaurismaki's latest movie! It was nice to see an ARRI BL3 Evolution listed in the film credits, plus the Kodak 5219 stock and the lab.

[Mark Dunn]

Sounds like Dirk's one of the only shows in town now for 35/16. You wouldn't send it to the UK to sit in customs.

Edited December 11, 2023 by Mark Dunn

[Stephen Perera]

Congratulations indeed...what a great coup for this highly rated/talked about film.....have not seen it yet....perhaps Dirk could give us some insight and anecdotes for it all

 

[Dirk DeJonghe]

Thanks for all the attention.

The film was shot entirely on 5219, processed normal. Timo Salminen is the DOP; I have worked on the previous Kaurismaki film 'The Other Side of Hope' as well.

What do you want to know about the technical parts of this film?

 

 

[Albion Hockney]

loved the film.

[Tyler Purcell]

Wow awesome Dirk! Looks fantastic. 

[Kamran Pakseresht]

Had a chance to watch this film last night, really beautiful film. The comedic timing and style reminded me quite a bit of Roy Andersson films, which I love.

[Santi Trullenque]

Dirk,

FALLEN LEAVES was one of the truly great films of 2023, and like many previous Kaurismaki films, it looks gorgeous, attempting to emulate a Technicolor 50s style that never gets old. I've watched a couple of his films from the 90s, and they look as stunning as if they were shot yesterday. So, what's the process in the lab? Did you work a lot to achieve that look, or does the material already come with such contrast? I understand Production Design is fundamental in Kaurismaki's movies, but I wonder how much of that final result is achieved or refined in post-production. Also, I learned that Kaurismaki mainly shoots only one take for each shot (unless it's necessary to repeat it due to technical accidents or mistakes). Is that right? It's just an amazing work ethic and criteria for a director who has never gone digital and never will. He stated that "I cut before I shoot," so concentration on the moment must be crucial. It would be great if you could provide us with more insight on how Kaurismaki and Salminen prepare, execute, and handle the film stock.

Much appreciated!

[Dirk DeJonghe]

Hello Santi,

It was agreed from the beginning that both direct contact prints and digital scans to DCP were needed.

On his previous film 'Other Side of Hope', the negative cutting and film grading was done first and then the scanning and digital grading trying to match the film grading as closely as possible. There were about 25 direct contact prints made of 'Other Side of Hope', mainly shown at premieres in many different languages (subtitled).

For 'Fallen Leaves', we did the 4K scan first and remote digital grading, sending over a preview every couple of days. Negative conforming and film grading was done after the approval of the digital version.

Since in both films there was a digital and an analog version planned, I had to grade the digital version respecting the negative as much as possible and trying not to introduce any digital-only tricks.

Aki commented that in only a couple of years since the previous film, digital laser projection of 4K DCPs has made tremendous progress, certainly in high-end festivals such as Cannes.

We finished the DCP preview for Cannes selection minutes before the train from Kortrijk Belgium to Lille, France left. The trains in France were on strike but the producer Mark was lucky to be allowed on the single train to Paris that ran that night because the train crew needed to get home, no payment was allowed.

Over all, my guideline for film and digital grading is to respect the negative as much as possible.