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The Omen (1976), filmstock(s) used?


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Hi all

 

This is my first post on this great community devoted to Cinematography.

 

I am looking for some more in-depth info regarding this great movie, shoot by Gilbert Taylor. I have searched the Internet for information on which film stocks was used in the production. I have read all the material that I have come across but there seems to be no information covering this specific question.

 

Any help much appreciated.

 

 

Kind regards

Mike

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Stock would have been 100asa Eastman 5254 .

 

Probably 5254 because the movie was shot in 1975... but there's a small chance it was shot on the early version of 5247, before the 600-series version came out in mid-1976. I remember reading an A.C. article on "The Deep" where Chris Challis said he was surprised when the American producers asked him if he wanted to shoot 5254 or 5247, which were both being sold by Kodak in the U.S. in 1975-76, because Challis said that in the U.K. and Europe, Kodak had stopped selling 5254... but I think "The Deep" was in production about a year later than "The Omen". Kodak might have stopped selling 5254 in early 1976 in the U.K. and Europe in anticipation of the switchover by mid-year to the improved version of 5247.

 

There was no A.C. article on "The Omen".

 

1975-76 was a strange time when 5254 and 5247 overlapped, making it hard to know which stock was used on some movies unless mentioned specifically in articles. When Kodak finally fixed the problems of 5247, they obsoleted 5254 by the end of 1976, except perhaps in 65mm ("Close Encounters" had to shoot 5247 for the 35mm sequences but 5254 for the 65mm efx work.)

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1975-76 was a strange time when 5254 and 5247 overlapped, making it hard to know which stock was used on some movies unless mentioned specifically in articles. When Kodak finally fixed the problems of 5247, they obsoleted 5254 by the end of 1976, except perhaps in 65mm ("Close Encounters" had to shoot 5247 for the 35mm sequences but 5254 for the 65mm efx work.)

 

 

When I was at Sawyer Camera in '79, I would check the Kodak pricelist and 5254 was only stock availiable in 65mm.

 

Also that was when the Hunt brothers were trying to corner the silver market, the price of film stocks doubled in a few months.

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I couln't find the specific film used, but found this interesting article in American Cinematographer. It is from the February, 2006 issue honoring ASC’s International Achievement Award to him. http://www.theasc.com/magazine/feb06/taylor/page3.html

 

"Another of Taylor’s favorites is Richard Donner, for whom he shot the supernatural thriller The Omen (1976). “Richard was incredibly enthusiastic,” he says. “I loved him and worked terribly hard to get the look he wanted. I did weeks of tests to find the right diffusion, and it happened quite out of the blue just days before we were to start shooting. I told my wife what I was trying to accomplish, and she handed me a #10 Denier silk stocking. I stuck it on a Cooke 10:1 zoom, and Donner was ecstatic. That’s how The Omen got that soft look! The photography is very realistic, but that touch of diffusion gives it a bit of a dreamlike look. It was a freak thing, but when you get a wonderful cast and crew like that — Donner, Gregory Peck, Lee Remick — you pull out the stops.” The effort earned Taylor a BSC Award."

 

So, if not the film, we do know what stock(ing) he used.

 

Richard Kaufman

Comtel Pro Media

richard@comtelpm.com

Kodak/Fuji film stock

G-tech, LaCie, CalDigit Drives

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