USING KODAK 5201 WITH WRATTEN 80A FILTER

[Alex Birrell]

Hello all!

 

No, I've never done this but was wondering (for purposes of experimentation) if anyone had every tried to expose the Kodak 50 ASA daylight stock as Tungsten 12 ASA.

 

I love the look of 3 strip technicolor and dye transfer processing of early eastmancolor negatives. One of my favourite films is SUSPIRIA photographed by Luciano Tovoli which I have heard was filmed with a 16 ASA stock (and processed in dye transfer) to bring out amazing colour values.

 

I was wondering if using the 5201 in a tungsten situation would result in the same need for ultra harsh lighting, heavy make-up on the actors and strong colour values (even with normal processing).

 

Anyone ever tried?

[David Mullen ASC]

Hello all!

 

No, I've never done this but was wondering (for purposes of experimentation) if anyone had every tried to expose the Kodak 50 ASA daylight stock as Tungsten 12 ASA.

 

I love the look of 3 strip technicolor and dye transfer processing of early eastmancolor negatives. One of my favourite films is SUSPIRIA photographed by Luciano Tovoli which I have heard was filmed with a 16 ASA stock (and processed in dye transfer) to bring out amazing colour values.

 

I was wondering if using the 5201 in a tungsten situation would result in the same need for ultra harsh lighting, heavy make-up on the actors and strong colour values (even with normal processing).

 

Anyone ever tried?

 

It's a bit of folklore regarding "Suspiria" -- it was one of the last movies printed using the Technicolor dye transfer process at Technicolor Rome. It wasn't shot in 3-strip Technicolor (which was obsoleted in 1955), it was shot in ordinary Kodak color negative (probably 5247 100T.)

 

You certainly can force yourself to use huge lights for 12 ASA but it's not going to make 5201 look any different, color or contrast-wise -- it has a normal Vision-2 look, just finer-grained than the other stocks. You could get the same results by using hard lighting on a faster stock, just with more grain. It's just about committing yourself to that lighting style.

 

My suggestion is to use 100T stock instead of 50D with a blue filter. Or shoot 50D with daylight lighting.

 

Now if you want more contrast, you can try pushing the negative (truth is that 3-strip Technicolor photography wasn't that fine-grained). You can try printing on Kodak Premier, which is the closest thing we have now to a dye transfer look.

 

Or if you really want something different, you can try shooting on color reversal, but it's only 100D and you'd have to find a lab that does long rolls of E6 processing, and both the stock and E6 processing is expensive.

[Dan Goulder]

Or shoot 50D with daylight lighting.

I believe Pulp Fiction was shot this way.

Do you know of any other examples you'd recommend?

Thanks.