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Getting a saturated, smoky image like Kar-Wai's


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Hampus, no time now, but will look at your post tomorrow. Maybe John Hollland can help out here too. He was a big AGFA fan, if I recall correctly.

 

This'll take at lest 20 min. for me to explain with any coherence. . .

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Hey Hampus. Don't worry about it. English is a poop language anyway. Were I not made to speak it from a young age, I would probably be willingly ignorant of it.

 

The technical terminology of any language is the most challenging part. Hell, people who DO speak English who aren't filmmakers would have no friggin' idea what you and I are even talking about.

 

These look like filtration, flashing, fogging, and stocking behind the lens, coupled with perhaps some sort of tobacco or antique suede filter.

 

No chemical corrections seem necessary.

 

Even shooting on a lower-contrast stock like Vision2 Expression would probably go a long way in the right direction.

 

 

Maybe Dav\id Mullen will chime in with more of the technical details behind these shots. He's probably one of the more knowledgeable cinematographers here, as are several others.

 

I'm just an aspiring filmmaker myself, so sorry I don't have more to offer. Will pass this post along to the appropriate parties though. . .

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Trouble is that when people discuss the look of Wong Kar Wai's movies, they are often describing video transfers watched on DVD, which adds another layer of interpretation, plus hardly anyone's TV set matches another person's. Plus many Hong Kong movies are transferred from old prints of mediocre quality.

 

Top that with all the experimentation in those movies, both in an optical printer (meaning the footage has been duped a couple of generations) and in camera with filters, film stocks, etc.

 

Some of those movies were shot on Agfa XT320 color negative stock, no longer made. The closest today would be to shoot Fuji F-400T overexposed. Other movies were shot on Fuji F-250T stock. Some were shot on Kodak stock.

 

Some of those movies used diffusion filters, particularly ProMist filters.

 

Some of those movies underexposed and push-processed the negative.

 

Add to that colored lighting, etc. so there is hardly one look to these movies, even in a single movie. "Happy Together" is all over the map, image-wise. So is "Fallen Angels" -- the look varies all the time.

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Trouble is that when people discuss the look of Wong Kar Wai's movies, they are often describing video transfers watched on DVD, which adds another layer of interpretation, plus hardly anyone's TV set matches another person's. Plus many Hong Kong movies are transferred from old prints of mediocre quality.

 

Top that with all the experimentation in those movies, both in an optical printer (meaning the footage has been duped a couple of generations) and in camera with filters, film stocks, etc.

 

Some of those movies were shot on Agfa XT320 color negative stock, no longer made. The closest today would be to shoot Fuji F-400T overexposed. Other movies were shot on Fuji F-250T stock. Some were shot on Kodak stock.

 

Some of those movies used diffusion filters, particularly ProMist filters.

 

Some of those movies underexposed and push-processed the negative.

 

Add to that colored lighting, etc. so there is hardly one look to these movies, even in a single movie. "Happy Together" is all over the map, image-wise. So is "Fallen Angels" -- the look varies all the time.

 

First, thank you for an elaborate answer.

More to the point, I see what you mean David but I've watched most of the movies I'm reffering to on a 35mm print in Stockholms art-house cinema.

Of course, different prints might be old and badly stored, I couldn't tell you.

The thing is, almost ALL asian films I've watched have this kind of washed-out blacks and smoky quality.

Maybe it's the humidity in asia! Whatever the reason, I'll try some of the things you proposed David, with a little luck I might just stumble upon something personal rather than copying Doyle and Kar-Wai's look.

Thanks again everybody

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