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Digital to printed film format - Kodak Vision 2383


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.....so I've seen the tech specs on IMDB of digitally shot films that also go onto print film format (Kodak Vision 2383)....e.g. Skyfall (the only ever Bond film shot digitally, and not again since thankfully hahaha) and Roma.....what are the reasons this is done? is it to get the film look after all? also, what version do we see when we consume films at home on the various platforms......do we see the digital to digital or digital to film to digital versions.......assuming the 'final pass' is a creative choice to get the 'look'.....interested to know......

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The home video version is made from the digital master -- the transfer to film is done for the few theaters that will be projecting film prints -- in the case of "Roma" it was shown in 70mm b&w in a few places.  I think with "Skyfall" there might have been some IMAX film prints.

Since these film screenings were not the normal way people saw the movies nor was it the basis for the home video mastering, I don't think you can say that this was about creating a "film look" otherwise it would have been "baked" into the original digital master (or they would have shot on film).

However, it was about creating the theatrical experience of watching projected prints, which some filmmakers and audiences appreciate.

Deakins has stated that he shoots digital for digital and has yet to apply any "film look" to his movies, "Skyfall" included.

 

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Skyfall, released in 2012, came out in the middle of the theatrical transition to digital projection.  (In Jan. 2011 there 16,522 digital screens in the USA and Canada; by March 2015, the number in the USA alone had increased to 38,719, which was about 97% of US screens according to Wikipedia.)  They probably thought there were enough unconverted screens that a small number of prints was still worthwhile.

I actually saw a 35mm print of Skyfall in a discount theater, I think it was a $3 ticket, and it was a strange experience.  The print was very beat up and had noticeable scratching, but I was sitting close enough to the screen that I could see pixels!  It really wasn't the ideal way to experience the film.

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The only film I know of that used a film-out to get a film look is "Guava Island," but I'm sure there are others. See this interview with DOP Christian Sprenger for details. The TLDR version is he shot on an Alexa LF, did a film-out of the log image, and did a DI from a scan of that film.

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On 10/31/2020 at 6:16 AM, Ravi Kiran said:

The only film I know of that used a film-out to get a film look is "Guava Island," but I'm sure there are others. See this interview with DOP Christian Sprenger for details. The TLDR version is he shot on an Alexa LF, did a film-out of the log image, and did a DI from a scan of that film.

what is a 'film-out'?

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We did the labwork on Guava Island. The brief was to make it look like 1960. The digital images were recorded to 35mm 5219, academy frame and then scanned back to DPX Log. We received a version that was not the final frame, so we had to adjust our recorder to allow for the largest sizes, even as the majority were more cropped. Anyway, the director was happy.

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3 hours ago, Stephen Perera said:

begs the question why not have shot it on film hahah....sorry...too obvious, flippant and ignorant a remark from me.....

The interview I posted above has the answer:

Filmmaker: The first night or two after Guava Island released on Amazon, I saw people on Twitter talking about the beautiful 16mm cinematography. Then when I watched the movie the credits say you shot on Alexa LF. I have to admit, you fooled me. I would’ve guessed it was film as well. Did you consider actually shooting on 16mm?

Sprenger: We did talk a lot about shooting film. It felt like, aesthetically, it made a lot of sense [as opposed to] a clean digital aesthetic. But, again, importing/exporting was a huge issue. Even when we were traveling with hard drives we got flagged by customs for bringing in multiples of the same hard drive. We were really concerned about the idea of traveling with all of the same film cans or having to fly someone every day with a few new cans. We really couldn’t wrap our heads around how to safely do it.

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