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Anton Corbijn / Control - Which Stock?


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Hi,

 

I'm a big fan of the photographer Anton Corbijn. He's just made his first feature film "Control".

 

It has a very similar look to his stills work. Does anyone know which stock he would have used for the film?

 

It looks a bit 5222 but more contrasty. Any ideas?

 

Heres a still.

 

http://www.neworderonline.com/Photos/Pictu...PictureID=11324

 

thanks

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Thanks xavier,

 

I emailed Martin. A really nice guy. He sent me this reply:

 

about the shooting of it: we always knew that we would have little money and time to have the best control over the look we wnated to create. we tested kodak b&w film stocks but did not like the heavy grain and the very limited choice of sensitvies. as you might know kodak did not spent much energy lately on developing or enhancing any b&w stocks. so we decided to shoot everything on kodak vision two 5217. only for the concerts we used 5218. we wanted those to look and feel a little rougher.

 

 

we knew from the start that we would use the DI process. we ended up doing the grade in stockholm at a company called chimney pot. i think they did a great job for us. there are many reasons to go that route. with our limited resources it was impossible to do a lot of testing or special development for the final copies. we did some copies on black and white print stock, but for the general release that proved to expensive. it is very difficult to print real b&w on color print stock as the slightest offset in the process results into a tined picture. henrik at chimney helped us a lot.

 

 

working together with anton was great. he is a very respectful yet very decisive director. during prep we spoke a lot about the feel which we wanted to create. we did not really settle or imitate any photographs, we went more for a general feel of it. like we liked a lot films like KES for example. during the shoot, anton let me light the shots and then if there was something which he did not like we would alter things til we both felt fine. it was his first feature so we worked together very closely. in his photography anton uses a lot of available light so our lighting should feel very natural, beautiful without getting in the way of the story. we did the same thing with movement. everything is very simple, there's only one crane shot and only one steadicam shot in it...

 

 

i really enjoyed working with anton a lot. the big advantage of working with a photographer like him, was that we were able to move fast as he always knew how he wanted the movie to look. working aside him, many people might think that it is his style which we brought to screen and that it follows that. that's fair enough, but i do feel there's a lot of me in it.

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  • 2 months later...

did anyone else notice the color cast changes that seemed to follow reel changes on a two projector projection system (or every 1/4Hr or so on a platter) ?

 

regardless, I really like B&W on color stock ...

 

The still isn't particularly representative of the look I recall from the evening - a bit too gritty...

 

11324.2950.large.jpg

 

 

anyhoo - lovely !

Edited by Nick Mulder
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did anyone else notice the color cast changes that seemed to follow reel changes on a two projector projection system (or every 1/4Hr or so on a platter) ?

 

regardless, I really like B&W on color stock ...

 

The still isn't particularly representative of the look I recall from the evening - a bit too gritty...

 

11324.2950.large.jpg

anyhoo - lovely !

 

A black-and-white image printed onto color print stock is very critical for color balance. The slightest difference in printer balance or processing will give a slight color change between reels. Much more noticeable than with a color image.

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A black-and-white image printed onto color print stock is very critical for color balance. The slightest difference in printer balance or processing will give a slight color change between reels. Much more noticeable than with a color image.

 

What John says. I remember seeing this from "Wings Of Desire" (which looked great anyway !) in a theater with a changeover (no platter).

 

A gaffed an Indie feature which mixed some 7222 with ECN. We saw a difference between the B&W which was on the A roll and that on the B roll. Maybe they changed a lamp. (Good argument to either have all the B&W on one or - more safely do as C roll. For those of you still printing from camera originals !)

 

-Sam

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A black-and-white image printed onto color print stock is very critical for color balance. The slightest difference in printer balance or processing will give a slight color change between reels. Much more noticeable than with a color image.

Hi John

 

Would developing all the reels together help in this aspect? Or are there still small variations between the time the first and the last reel run through the bath?

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Hi John

 

Would developing all the reels together help in this aspect? Or are there still small variations between the time the first and the last reel run through the bath?

 

Sure, printing and processing the reels in the same ''batch" will reduce variability.

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I used to project lots of classic b/w films at a rep theater on a changeover system, and sometimes it's just the difference in color between the lamps - usually on the magenta/green axis. The thing is that your color perception will adapt until the image appears completely monochrome - which is a combination of the Abney effect and color opposition. When the reel change occurs, this sudden shift will highlight your perceptive "color bias". In other words, your mind will time a slightly magenta b/w image by adding green. When the reel shifts to a neutral balance, this reel will briefly appear greenish. But even if it were slightly green, you'd also cognitively shift it back to b/w anyway.

 

Does that make sense?

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