anthony le grand

Finally found an interview from Blauvelt there if anyone is interested: https://filmmakermagazine.com/109294-day-for-night-for-day-for-night-dp-christopher-blauvelt-on-first-cow/ For the shots i was talking about, no damaged lenses or anything, it as just the good old vaseline trick on an optical flat ? And the rest of the film was shot with series 2 Cooke Panchros and a glimmerglass 2 most of the time

Hi everyone, Yesterday I watched First Cow by Kelly Reichardt and really loved the movie, its rythm, the narration... And Chris Blauvelt's work was also beautiful. They shot it with Cooke S2 lenses to give a warm and soft feel, and also added a lot of grain digitally, it looks beautiful. Also, do you know if they did something else on camera to soften the image, like filters, filtration etc..? Also, there's this sequence where the character is injured and its reflected visually (as shown below), and I was wondering how the could get this effet... A very old damaged lens maybe? Elements put in front of the lens ? Anyway, loved the feel of the movie, thanks for your help ?

Hi everyone, I'm watching a lot of movies from Mizoguchi these days, and while they all are beautiful, I was visually particully impressed by A story from Chikamatsu. I think it's one of the most beautiful black and white film I've ever seen. All the tonalities are so subtle and rich, the lightning is gorgeous, there's a poetry and a beauty in almost every shot that is very rare. Not to mention how perfectly framed all the shots are... Do you have any informations about how Miyagawa lit this film, or how he worked generally and in his process ? Maybe there's great things to read about him ? I especially love how he shot at night or when the sun is supposed to be low, it's dark but there's always light in it and a kind of softness... I mean, how perfect is a shot like this one ?

Ahah, they said Dior silk stockings were the best ! I wanted to experiment with that but the issue i have is the consistency of the results/filter. If I like it, I should find a way to create a filter from the stockings that i could clip at the back of the lens (so it's fast and always streched the same way)

I'll definitely work on that and spend time tying composite techniques. But ideally, I'd like to find things during the shooting and have as much as I can already on film ? David, very interesting what you said about the water droplets. There's a lot of fall-off but Henson is known for dodging parts of his prints, sometimes heavily, so I don't know how much of this comes from the lens. He made those pictures around 1975 when he was 20. He got a solo exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne for this work

Thanks everyone! But i often find soft filters sold for photography not as subtle as some Tiffen filters for instance. I still prefer a black promist to a softar or duto and I don't know why it's not used more often. If that interests anyone, I found that from Art Adams from Arri: https://www.provideocoalition.com/the-secret-life-of-behind-the-lens-nets/ David, I really like some photographers of this era, especially Steichen. I'm trying to read many things about them right and find informations ? Phil, thanks very much for all these details, there's a lot in your message and I'll try some things out ? Also, do you have an idea how Henson got that soft painterly effect? (like on the first picture:https://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/8060/bill-hensons-bewitching-anti-portraits-of-ballerinas) There's the grain of the film and some underexposure, but there's also this softness on the whole picture and it feels very even, unlike a diffusion existing mostly in the highlights. Or maybe it's done when printing ?

Hi everyone, For some personal photo projects I want to create a soft look and find ways to "deteriorate" sharpness and make things a little bit less raw., sligthly more painterly The things is, while diffusion in front or behind the lens is commun in cinematography, it's not so commun in photography. It is very rare to hear about black pro-mist, low con filters etc... except some old tricks like vaseline. And the use of old uncoated lenses. Did you ever used these kind of tools (like black pro-mist or nets behind the lens) for still pictures? Or maybe you know photographers who made things that way? I'm thinking for instance of some Bill Henson's early work and i'm not sure how he achieved that (low con and slow shutter speeds?): https://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/8060/bill-hensons-bewitching-anti-portraits-of-ballerinas Of course I'll make tests and everything, but I'm shooting medium format positive, and making tons of tests canfastly be expensive so other people's experience can be interesting :) Thanks!

Thanks for the link Stephen ! It's very interesting, even if the Youtube compression is, as usual, quite awful. I've seen the movie a month ago and still think of it quite often, one of the best of the decade for me. It stays in my mind like some of my favorite directors' best movies (Malick, Erice, Edward Yang or Hou Hsiao Hsien for instance)

Oh yeah, actually the first time I searched for it in the toolbar I wasn't logged in, so I didn't have all the results and didn't see your topic ! Visually the movie is outstanding too. It made me think a lot of Kubrick, with the push of the negative and the use of low con filters. It creates a very sensitive texture and feels alive. The grainiest scenes at night during the dinners and in the bedroom are gorgeous. It's kind of brave to do that now and to go towards a direction where people often consider these things as "mistakes", with weak blacks, lots of grain... Again, very much like Kubrick for Eyes Wide Shut. The thing I didn't like so much with PTA before was the need to show off a bit, a way to say "look at how great I am" (much less the case since The Master though). But here he managed to reduced his filmmaking to its essence, creating some of the most beautiful moments I've seen on screen in years. The scenes where they meet and the other one where he's sick and sees his mother are... wow. Incredibly intense and moving. And the end was so beautiful and subtle too, very romantic in a way, a strange love but about understanding, trust and full commitment to the other.

Hi, I just watched Phantom Thread and didn't find much about it on the forum... Well, i'm still in the movie, and think it's an absolute masterpiece. PTA's best work by far. His most subtle screenplay without a doubt, with 2 amazing actors, gorgeous cinematography, perfect music and yet, the sum of it is so much more than that. I'm really, really impressed. What did you think of it ?

Actually Rollei rebranded the old Agfa RSX-II 200 into the Rollei CR200 for 35mm and 120 still photography so you could have a look there, there's many things on the internet about it. It's a beautiful film stock, slightly warm and with less saturation than more modern reversals, looks very natural. But it's also more grainy. Without this grain it would be one of my favorite for still photography. It can be cross processed sure, but it will get very contrasty and you can't predict which tones you'll get. But it's worth a try!

The thing is I didn't really like the look of The Artist. It's clean and elegant and with very little grain, but it's also kind of flat and it lacks the texture of true black and white. When you watch it it's clear that it's color turned into black and white. Unfortunately almost all the time you feel it when it's done that way. But I think one of the film that managed to do it the best was The White Ribbon by Haneke, it looked quite good I think

Thanks for the link Kenny. It was also the best extract I have found of the UN54, but I'm not a big fan of the look of the stock from what I can see. Thanks very much for you offer Dirk, that's very kind! Double-X won't be an option on this project I think, it's too grainy and we're looking for a more modern emulsion. I'll look at Foma and also see what Adox can do.

Yes, I checked many things on vimeo made with Orwo films, but it's always difficult to have an idea as it's not always clear what processing, equipment or telecine they used. It's often 16mm, sometimes with home-made processing or telecine... But from what I've seen I'm not really fan of the UN54. Dirk, the project will be in 35mm, not sure about the finish yet. But even if we go digital we want most of the look in camera, it would be just to adjust minimal things like grain. Thanks Aapo for the link, but I'm not sure it would be safe to make it with chinese stocks coming from ebay :)

Thanks very much for your answers! I will check ORWO films then. Do you know films that were made with the UN54 and N74? I wondered also about Foma but Fomapan has not exactly the look I'm after. Dirk, thanks for the info for the Double-X. Isn't the new version too grainy on the big screen? It has beautiful contrast but I want to avoid grain as much as I can for this one. I remember The Turin's horse by Bela Tarr was made with the 5222. It looked gorgeous but too much grain for this project. I actually don't understand things about Agfaphoto. It went bust 10 years ago stopping film stocks, photo papers and everything. But then there's still photography films made by Agfa and even the Rollei B&W films have the Agfa logo on them... But all their products are/were beautiful