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The-40-year-old-version (Netflix) - shot on 35mm BW DoubleX


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Really enjoyed it.....easy watch.....the cinematography is great in my opinion.....shot by ERIC BRANCO

Great main character....loads of charisma.......the story is not that original but who cares......it can't all be Tenet.........it will be interesting for anyone interested in watching Eastman Double-X shot on 35mm......it's clear to see the 'flavour' of the stock in this film for those of us who have shot it (myself in 16mm not 35mm) and how it handles highlights in particular.....in my experience (limited, in comparison to others in here) I think its a film stock that enjoys being shot indoors......less so exterior as it has to be controlled outside quite a bit as not as forgiving as the Vision3 stocks......it's just what I have experienced......don't shoot me for what I'm saying....and no way is shooting digital and converting to BW look as good as shooting BW film!

Quite a few films on Netflix shot on film eh!! so much for the 'reputation' it was getting no?

https://www.kodak.com/en/motion/blog-post/eric-branco-the-40-year-old-version

 

Edited by Stephen Perera
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17 hours ago, David Mullen ASC said:

Great article, I didn't know that they had to shoot on 4-perf just to get a black pressure plate.

Will check it out!

Hey David, could you explain the following.....??? I thought all magazines provided the 'pressure plate'..???

“We were shooting on ARRI Arricam LT cameras and ARRI only makes an aluminum pressure plate for two and three perf. Since the 5222 didn’t have an antihalation back what would happen is any strong light source would come in, expose the film, bounce off the pressure plate, re-expose the backside of the film, and we would end up with these crazy vertical flares. We had to shoot four perf because ARRI only ever made an anodized black pressure plate in four perf.....”

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2 hours ago, Stephen Perera said:

Hey David, could you explain the following.....??? I thought all magazines provided the 'pressure plate'..???

“We were shooting on ARRI Arricam LT cameras and ARRI only makes an aluminum pressure plate for two and three perf. Since the 5222 didn’t have an antihalation back what would happen is any strong light source would come in, expose the film, bounce off the pressure plate, re-expose the backside of the film, and we would end up with these crazy vertical flares. We had to shoot four perf because ARRI only ever made an anodized black pressure plate in four perf.....”

Uli and David  just answered, but here’s what I was about to post.


Arricams have the movement, gate and pressure plate inside the film chamber (like most 35mm cameras). Only quick change coaxial mag cameras like Eclairs, Aatons and SRs have the pressure plate in the mags.

In Arricams it’s actually called a spacer plate, because it doesn’t actually press on the film at all, but is spaced to create a narrow channel just wide enough for the film to slide through. 
It sits just above the movement as pictured:
4AD42EE3-9485-4457-A052-80778489C9A6.jpeg.a280d7a8b27218558547029f7d1fb34f.jpegF37DC43A-60D3-4CD7-9A30-B88D689DB2A7.jpeg.f73ed9ac9b4ee6150f1c37b12bf2523c.jpeg

 

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It doesn't matter if the pressure plate is in the magazine or in the camera. What matters is that the pressure plate must be uniform black anodised, not chrome or with chrome rails such as used on Aatons. Both on 16 and 35mm light will penetrate the emulsion and will be bounced back of the shiny parts of the pressure plate and add a pattern of extra exposure quite visible on grey backgrounds and when the camera pans.

I have had several large productions on 5222/7222 this year and I always warn customers about this.

An easy way to check is to open the shutter with the lens port open and look what you see at the film plane (without film of course).

Another thing: this gets worse with overexposure. I tell customers to aim for printing lights not over 20.

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15 hours ago, Uli Meyer said:

Just watched the film and enjoyed it very much. Beautiful to look at. There is a small section where Radha is being interviewed and to my eyes looked like it was shot digital.

Hey Uli I thought exactly the same.....all of a sudden it looked like iPhone hahhaa

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On 10/15/2020 at 3:21 AM, Stephen Perera said:

“We were shooting on ARRI Arricam LT cameras and ARRI only makes an aluminum pressure plate for two and three perf. Since the 5222 didn’t have an antihalation back what would happen is any strong light source would come in, expose the film, bounce off the pressure plate, re-expose the backside of the film, and we would end up with these crazy vertical flares. We had to shoot four perf because ARRI only ever made an anodized black pressure plate in four perf.....”

Seems like there's some information missing. If they wanted to shoot two or three perf, why didn't they just get the existing pressure plate anodized black? There must be more to that part of the story. Looking forward to viewing the movie on Netflix!

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"So for night we ended up shooting Kodak 5219 exposed for 200 ASA, pushed two stops and with a bleach bypass to help retain some of the silver on the negative to make it feel closer to black-and-white."

Since Double-X is 200 ASA and was considered too slow for night work if they didn't want to add a lot of light, I can only guess that he meant that he based the 2-stop push on first rating the stock at 200 ASA (so he was more only underexposing it 1-stop, not 2-stops), so ended up rating it at 800 ASA (also the skip-bleach process to the NEGATIVE adds density to the highlights, which would help for getting more out of the practicals on the street at night.) He could have said "I pushed the 500 ASA stock by 2-stops but rated it at 800 ASA."

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2 hours ago, David Mullen ASC said:

"So for night we ended up shooting Kodak 5219 exposed for 200 ASA, pushed two stops and with a bleach bypass to help retain some of the silver on the negative to make it feel closer to black-and-white."

Since Double-X is 200 ASA and was considered too slow for night work if they didn't want to add a lot of light, I can only guess that he meant that he based the 2-stop push on first rating the stock at 200 ASA (so he was more only underexposing it 1-stop, not 2-stops), so ended up rating it at 800 ASA (also the skip-bleach process to the NEGATIVE adds density to the highlights, which would help for getting more out of the practicals on the street at night.) He could have said "I pushed the 500 ASA stock by 2-stops but rated it at 800 ASA."

Hey David.......OK so as a film stills photographer this is my understanding (I shoot, process and scan Portra 160, 400 and 800 myself at home).....so they shot the 500T by rating it at 200 ASA which means they over exposed By 1 stop and a third more or less.....as 1 stop over exposure would be 250 ASA............then they asked the lab to push it 2 stops as if they had metred the film under exposed at 2000 ASA.......but really they had under exposed by less than 2 stops.......and for those that don't know as far as the lab is concerned they keep the film in the developer longer........

 

 

 

 

Edited by Stephen Perera
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There’s no reason to say “as if they metered at 2000 ASA”... the lab doesn’t know or care how you set your meter, or how you exposed, they just want to know whether to develop normal, or push or pull, and by how many stops.

He never mentions underexposure but he said he didn’t want to light up the street for 200 ASA Double-X so it doesn’t make sense to rate the 5219 at 200 ASA and pushing 2-stops — without underexposing in order to shoot under less light. Plus skip-bleach processing a negative adds density... rating 500 ASA stock at 200 ASA adds density... pushing 2-stops adds density... that’s a really dense negative if you don’t underexpose as well.

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