Exemple of films Using Diffusion Filters

[Antoine Bruyns]

Hi everyone,

 

I am actually making a thesis for school about Diffusion filters.

 

I would like to know if anyone could help me by giving me some examples of motion pictures in wich we can clearly see the use of these filters. (Tiffen Fx soft, Black dot, Black pro mist,...)

 

Do you know any famous DOP who use them? What about you? As a professional, do you use these filters? or you rather prefere to do it in post? What's your opinion about it?

 

I would really appreciate your help!

 

Thanks a lot!

 

 

 

Antoine

[David Mullen ASC]

Surely you have some good ideas already of who used diffusion in movies...

 

Early examples would be from the Silent Era when some movies used net filters, gauze, in front of the lens, movies like "Broken Blossoms"... this carried on thru the early 1930's, a good example would be "Midsummer Night's Dream", where not only were nets and glass diffusers used, but scrims with glitter and maybe sequins in front of the camera:

 

 

 

But by the 1940's, movies tended to be shot sharp except for close-ups of actresses. A few exceptions would appear occasionally in movies, like the use of a light Fog Filter for the climatic scene in "Black Narcissus" (1947).

 

Then the next wave of diffusion came mostly from British cinematographers like Ozzie Morris and then Geoffrey Unsworth. "Moulin Rouge" (1952) was shot in 3-strip Technicolor with smoke and Fog Filters, which was unusual for the time.

 

Some scenes in Hitchcock's "Vertigo" (1958) were shot with Fog Filters:

 

Ozzie Morris started using glass diffusion filters like Fogs in more and more movies, such as "Taming of the Shrew" (1967):

 

And movies like "Oliver!", "Scrooge", etc.

 

This style became very popular by the early 1970's in movies like "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" (Double Fogs), "Cabaret" (Fogs), "Day of the Locust" (nets). Geoffrey Unsworth was the most famous example of a DP who used Fog Filters on almost everything after 1970 (he shot "2001" but that was very sharp). He won the Oscar for "Cabaret" and used Fog Filters also on "Lucky Lady", "Murder on the Orient Express", "A Bridge Too Far", "Superman: The Movie" and what he shot on "Tess" before he died a few weeks into shooting:

 

 

 

In the U.S., probably the most famous example at the time was Vilmos Zsigmond's work on movies like "McCabe and Mrs. Miller", "Obsession", "The Long Goodbye", where he used Double Fogs and flashing.

 

In the late 1970's / 1980's, diffusion became less popular again and is generally used minimally except for certain exceptions. Some DP's in the 1980's were using mild ProMists and SupaFrosts, like Caleb Deschanel ("The Natural") and Allen Daviau ("E.T.", "Color Purple", "Bugsy".)

 

Other contemporary DP's who like to use diffusion would be Robert Richardson and Janusz Kaminski.

 

"JFK":

 

 

 

Recently you saw "Atonement" use net diffusion for the early scenes.

 

I'm sorry if this post was tossed together at 2:30 AM after shooting on a long day, I'm not very organized right now and the subject deserves more careful thought.

[Chris Millar]

I'm sorry if this post was tossed together at 2:30 AM after shooting on a long day, I'm not very organized right now and the subject deserves more careful thought.

^_^