film handeling on 'a beautiful mind'

[Paul Bartok]

Just read this the other day (below) and find it interesting. Does anyone know anything else about this like how you actually expose it to the light and how long etc. Has this been done before or elsewhere

 

 

To create the "golden" look of the campus scenes early in the film, the filmmakers took a low-contrast stock (Fuji F-400 8582) and exposed it to an orange light before loading it into the camera for shooting.

[David Mullen ASC]

Just read this the other day (below) and find it interesting. Does anyone know anything else about this like how you actually expose it to the light and how long etc. Has this been done before or elsewhere

 

 

To create the "golden" look of the campus scenes early in the film, the filmmakers took a low-contrast stock (Fuji F-400 8582) and exposed it to an orange light before loading it into the camera for shooting.

 

This is just flashing the negative, but to colored light. There are three in-camera methods: the Panaflasher (which I have used on four features), which fits onto the other unused magazine port of a Panaflex and is a little light box (the can be colored) with a dimmer control and light meter built into it to measure the amount of flash; the ARRI Varicon (which replaced the Lightflex), which fits into a 6x6 filter tray and basically is a glowing filter that also can be colored; and you can pre-flash the negative yourself by pointing the camera at a grey card or whatever, rolling, and then rewinding the film. The problem with that method is that you'd have to line up the film again in the gate to the same set of perfs or else you'd see the misaligned frames when double exposing.

 

All of these methods require testing but doing the pre-exposed roll method requires the most testing to figure out just how much exposure to use for the card.

 

Keep in mind that if the flash is constant but your exposures are inconsistent, then the balance between the two will vary -- the flash will look heavier on your underexposed shots and be hard to see at all on your overexposed shots. The ARRI Varicon method is more consistent in the sense that you set it by looking through the viewfinder and it will be affected by your f-stop along with the overall exposure together -- however this is also why it can be inconsistent because you are setting it with your eye. It also means every shot needs to use the 6x6 matte box. Just like the problem with the Panaflasher is that every shot needs to use the Panaflex.

 

The other method is to let the lab expose it after you shoot but before they process it (which is how Deakins did it I believe). Many labs won't do it however since it involves working with the film in darkness and they can screw up your footage too easily.

 

One of the earliest uses of flashing was for some of "Picnic" (1955) by James Wong Howe and "The Deadly Affair" (1966) by Freddie Young, though I'm not 100% sure about "Picnic", maybe that tidbit was in the Rainsburger book. I think the first extensive use for a whole movie more or less was for "Camelot" (1967) by Richard Kline, again by pre-exposing each roll, rewinding it, and the reloading it.

 

"McCabe & Mrs. Miller" (1971) had the lab do the flashing.

 

The Colorflex was invented by Gerry Turpin to flash colored and white light in front of the lens using a light box above and a piece of angle glass in front -- this was created for the movie "Young Winston" (1972). This become improved into the Lightflex device (curved plastic in front rather than a large plane of glass) used on such movies as "The Wiz" and "Dune". Then it became even smaller with the Varicon device.

 

Many movies have used the Panaflasher device too, I think Darius Khondji used it on "Seven" whereas he used the Varicon on many other movies.

[Dirk DeJonghe]

David,

 

I feel it is safer for the lab to expose the negative before the camera exposure. If something goes wrong, you use the reel for scratch testing the processor and move on. Flashing in the lab is very rarely done these days. I remember flashing an interpositive (before processing) so the final dupeneg could have blue shadows and yellow highlights. These effects are done in digital grading these days. Still, it is good to remember how it was done before digital.

 

Dirk

[David Mullen ASC]

David,

 

I feel it is safer for the lab to expose the negative before the camera exposure. If something goes wrong, you use the reel for scratch testing the processor and move on. Flashing in the lab is very rarely done these days. I remember flashing an interpositive (before processing) so the final dupeneg could have blue shadows and yellow highlights. These effects are done in digital grading these days. Still, it is good to remember how it was done before digital.

 

Dirk

 

Yes, it makes sense to do it before any expensive scenes are added to the roll because you are only risking unexposed negative if you pre-flash.