Types of film stock

[justfortherecord]

What is the difference between Color Negative and Color Reversal?

Also, what is meant by the term 'saturated'?

In the film Punch Drunk Love, as well as in Lost in Translation and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the colors were all very intense. Was this accomplished through filmstock, filters or a combination of both?

How does one find out what filmstock and filters were used in a particular film?

How do you know what filter size to use?

Thank you all for your time and patience!

[David Mullen ASC]

Surely you know what a negative is... reversal produces a positive image, like a slide. Negatives need to be printed to make a positive image, or transferred to video (film-to-video transfer machines, called telecines, can reverse the negative image into a positive one.)

 

The opposite of saturated is pastel. If you don't what "pastel" means...

 

Are you judging those films by how they looked in the theater or on TV? Because "Lost in Translation" was shot on low-contrast stocks with more PASTEL coloration -- the only thing strong about the colors was the naturally strong colors of nighttime, neon-lit Tokyo. If anything, the photography worked to reduce some of that colorfulness, intentionally, not increase it. Same with "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" -- there was nothing particularly strong about the color levels in that movie. "Punch Drunk Love", on the other hand, had some strong color design and was shot on slow-speed Fuji film stock to make the blues stronger.

 

However, it is certainly possible that these movies were transferred to video with a stronger color level (i.e. more saturated) than they looked in the theaters. Or your TV has the chroma level cranked up too high... I don't know, I only saw them in the theater.

 

"Lost in Translation" was shot on Kodak Vision 320T (5277) for day scenes and 5263 for everthing else. "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" was shot on Fuji F-500D Reala and used a digital intermediate. "Punch Drunk Love" was shot in 35mm anamorphic (CinemaScope) on Fuji F-125T.

[justfortherecord]

Thank you Mr.Mullen for your reply. Very informative, I appreciate you taking the time.

[Dominic Case]

What is the difference between Color Negative and Color Reversal?

Most professional motion picture film is shot on negative. After editing (and negative matching to cut and splice the camera negative to match the edit as required), prints are made. A print is the positive image film that runs through a projector.

It works because photography works that way: exposed film gets darker, not lighter, resulting in a negative image (dark sky, light shadows). A print from that is actually a negative of a negative (two negatives make a positive).

 

Reversal film uses a more complex sequence of chemistry to produce a positive image on the camera original film - ready for projecting directly. However, since most filmmakers hope to make more than one copy (!), they will need to make prints anyway: so it makes sense to stick with the basic negative/positive system.

 

Also, what is meant by the term 'saturated'?

It's commonly recognised that reversal film does give a slightly more "saturated" image, and so occasionally cinematographers wil choose to shoot on reversal to achieve that look. What is "saturated?" It's a measure of the purity of the colour: if you start with a totally pure red, like a stop light, and mix it with grey, you are desaturating it. A totally desaturated image is really a black and white image. Turn down the chroma control on your TV (it might even be called "saturation") to see what it means.

[justfortherecord]

Mr.Case, thank you for your help! Your answer really makes it all much clearer, I think I'm beginning to grasp it now. I certainly appreciate your patience and knowledge. Peace.