Deakins shunning Celluloid?

[Manu Delpech]

He didn't directly speak of it but here's what Roger said on this forum when we were talking about film:

 

"I have said this before but I have often, and I do mean often, been wrong about whether a film has originated on film or the Alexa. The first time I was watching 'All is Lost' because I was about to do a film which would involve some very high contrast day exteriors. I was absolutely convinced that film must have been shot on film but no, Alexa 2.8 RAW with a 2K finish.

I have also said in interviews, although this is rarely quoted as the 'demise of film' line is more provocative, that I wish we were all still shooting on film. I wish the infrastructure was still there. I wish there was a variety of film stocks. I wish Fuji and Agfa still existed. I even, sometimes, wish digital capture had never been invented!! But the facts are very different. I hope Kodak and the few labs that still exist can remain viable into the future but unless they maintain their technical standards that will prove hard."

See that ! What he says here hasn't been reported anywhere, because that's probably not as interesting as saying "Deakins thinks film is OVER".

I'm really surprised as seeing All Is Lost for example, I could never have mistaken that for film, even someone like Deakins can't sometimes tell if something was shot on film, that's interesting, some will see it right on the spot, and others won't.

Edited February 4, 2016 by Manu Delpech

[Tyler Purcell]

Well that's interesting for sure and it does suck that Fuji doesn't make camera negative. However, the Alexa only really has ONE LOOK anyway. I mean you aren't getting a Fuji look out of it. There are plenty of labs around the country who can process 35mm and do a good job. So to complain about a LACK of ANY lab infrastructure is probably unwarranted. Most of the labs do mail-in work because there are still plenty of people shooting film to keep them busy.

 

Anyway, I'm glad you posted that because it does settle things a bit. It's unfortunate his experience on Hail Caesar wasn't better.

[KH Martin]

Article of mine on CAESAR cinematography is up at

http://www.icgmagazine.com/web/king-of-comedy/

[Christopher Purdy]

Perhaps Roger is too much of a gentleman (and a professional) to say specifically which film problems he ran into and where, as he knows that these issues are, more than anything, a result of diminishing infrastructure and a changing industry paradigm, and that with so few individuals left working in these positions, doing so would make it easy to single them out and potentially get them terminated.

 

Just a theory.

Edited February 6, 2016 by Christopher Purdy

[Manu Delpech]

Something like that maybe, although I doubt it'd get anyone fired, I mean, come on ^^