Any feedback on the Ektachrome used in 'Once Upon A Time in Hollywood'

[Stephen Perera]

So I've found no 'feedback' or 'soundbites' via interviews with Tarantino and Robert Richardson about the new Ektachrome (7294) colour reversal stock (announced by Kodak in May 2019) used in this film. Seems to me Kodak is quiet about it and not used this film to promote it. Kodak have a history of announcing and then delaying.....e.g the new Super 8 camera.

Any thoughts from anyone?

Here's the IMDB on the film:
16 mm (Kodak Ektachrome 100D 7285) 
35 mm (Kodak Vision3 200T 5213, Vision3 500T 5219) 
8 mm (Kodak Ektachrome 100D 7294)

[Robert Houllahan]

People are using it, we have thousands of feet of 16mm and about 70 S8 cartridges we are working on running in E6 this week.

[Stephen Perera]

19 minutes ago, Robert Houllahan said:

People are using it, we have thousands of feet of 16mm and about 70 S8 cartridges we are working on running in E6 this week.

Thanks Robert would welcome any feedback from anything you can contribute to our knowledge Base here

[Tyler Purcell]

Here in CA we're struggling. Only Spectra is processing E6 16mm and the first few rolls I got back from them for a professional production, were really dirty, even after cleaning. I was kinda dismayed with the results as well. I'm use to super clean S16 material and it was like a blast from the past, watching dirty s16 right out of camera. 

I plan on shooting a test roll or two myself at some point, but until then, I can't post anything I have because as always, I don't own the rights to it. With a smaller production, I could always ask the client, but with a much larger production, it's harder.

This is the first time I've worked with the new Ektachrome in DaVinci and it came out pretty nice color wise. It for sure doesn't look like camera negative, with much less latitude and more contrast in the image. 

[Tyler Purcell]

11 hours ago, Stephen Perera said:

So I've found no 'feedback' or 'soundbites' via interviews with Tarantino and Robert Richardson about the new Ektachrome

Ohh they've absolutely talked about it. I think it was Richardson that was talking about shooting some home movie stuff on both Super 8 and 16 Ektachrome and the lab destroyed some of the material so they had to compromise on the final delivery. I wish I could find that article, but it's somewhere out in the interbahn. 

[Robert Houllahan]

I can tell you that it is a bit tricky from a Lab perspective but if you get the chemistry right it can look fantastic.

I will post a link to a roll of S8mm I shot recently tomorrow or Friday.

There is NO reason why Color Reversal should not be as clean as any other film stock.

We are running E6 in a dedicated Allen processor and tightly control the chemistry and sensiometrics so the film can look it's best.

The chemistry is expensive and does get used fast and right now Cinelab is doing 10-15 work day turnaround times for E6 so we can get it right.

[Aapo Lettinen]

I tested developing the Ektachrome 100D at home many years ago with the Tetenal 3-bath E6 kit and it was not difficult to do as long as you can control the temperature precisely. The developers are pretty expensive and will age quickly so it did not make any sense financially compared to shooting colour negative and lab processing it...but interesting test anyway and the results were nice looking on projector.

what type of developers the labs are using for it, I suspect not the off-the-shelf Tetenal kit but something relatively similar?

hard to imagine one would get unusable results from E6 process if the same lab develops ECN2 all the time, can't be harder on E6 to control the results?

[Aapo Lettinen]

35 minutes ago, aapo lettinen said:

what type of developers the labs are using for it, I suspect not the off-the-shelf Tetenal kit but something relatively similar?

6-bath Kodak stuff? seems to differentiate a lot from the 3-bath stuff.

how challenging is the quality control compared to ecn2?

[Robert Houllahan]

2 hours ago, aapo lettinen said:

 

hard to imagine one would get unusable results from E6 process if the same lab develops ECN2 all the time, can't be harder on E6 to control the results?

Not if E6 is on a dedicated film processor setup specifically for Ektachrome E6 with the right number of tanks all tightly temp controlled.

If you look at the ECN2 Process you will see that the tanks configuration is not usable for running E6.

[Stephen Perera]

Interesting by Kodak to put this film out when E6 is more complicated to find labs to process......I'd love to shoot it why not but Cinelab London don't do colour reversal so I'm sticking to the glorious Vision3 stocks.....But chapeau that they put out new stock

[Aapo Lettinen]

19 minutes ago, Stephen Perera said:

Interesting by Kodak to put this film out when E6 is more complicated to find labs to process......I'd love to shoot it why not but Cinelab London don't do colour reversal so I'm sticking to the glorious Vision3 stocks.....But chapeau that they put out new stock

sad that the re-release of the Ektachrome has raised the price of it to insane figures ? 

It is cheaper for me to shoot colour negative. Actually I think it is cheaper for me to shoot 35mm colour negative lab processed if it is clearance film or short ends..

[Robert Houllahan]

I don't think that Ektachrome was re released to be a "cheaper" format to work with.

It is definitely a "premium" product and costs reflect that.

I for one am glad it is available and hope more people shoot it professionally and personally as we put allot of effort into being able to run E6 on a regular basis.

 

[Dan Hasson]

11 hours ago, Stephen Perera said:

Interesting by Kodak to put this film out when E6 is more complicated to find labs to process......I'd love to shoot it why not but Cinelab London don't do colour reversal so I'm sticking to the glorious Vision3 stocks.....But chapeau that they put out new stock

Hey Stephen,

Gauge Film in the UK sells, process' and scans 16mm Ektachrome (in 100ft rolls). They also offer the same for Super8 Ektacrhome. I haven't shot with either but I have used their processing and scanning (at 2k but they offer up to 4k) services for Super8 Vision3 stock. The results are amazing so I am sure their Ektachrome services are on par with the neg services.

They are fast at responding to emails so I am sure if you ask them any Ektachrome/16mm/reversal stock questions they'll help and provide info.

 

On8mil is another UK based company that provides super8 and 16mm processing/scanning services. I have never used them but on their website are scan samples. They also process and scan 16mm Ektachrome so I guess if you asked them for any samples of that they could show you something?

[Stephen Perera]

Thanks for the information Dan.....this is good to know......

[Robert Houllahan]

Here is some S8mm I shot recently both E6 100D and Tri-X

 

[Karim D. Ghantous]

Robert, that looks terrific. Imagine a sharper lens and stabilisation. Super 8 is the new 16mm? ?

[Robert Houllahan]

Yeah S8 is really great, I shot that with a very compact little S8 camera and definitely a camera like my Nikon R10 with a better lens and transport makes a sharper image.

[Dennis Toeppen]

Dwayne's does a great job. Send them your E6. 

[Evan Samaras]

On 2/17/2020 at 5:55 PM, Dennis Toeppen said:

Dwayne's does a great job. Send them your E6. 

My go to for S8 - e6 if it's not in my lomo.

[Jarin Blaschke]

I didn’t see anything in “Hollywood” that looked anything like E6. Even their black and white parts looked like desaturated color neg film.

 

 

[Stephen Perera]

10 hours ago, Jarin Blaschke said:

I didn’t see anything in “Hollywood” that looked anything like E6. Even their black and white parts looked like desaturated color neg film.

 

 

their BW is Eastman Double X...here's a Panavision article...
https://www.panavision.com/richardson-creates-retro-look-twist-once-upon-time-inhollywood

"The film stock was KODAK VISION3 5219, 5213 and EASTMAN DOUBLE-X Black-and White film 5222 with one small sequence on Super 8 EKTACHROME and part of another short scene on 16mm EKTACHROME.

Colorist Yvan Lucas collaborated with Richardson on setting the look and supervised the 4K digital intermediate. FotoKem developed and printed the dailies.

“We took our initial tests to Yvan and to FotoKem and searched for a richer, saturated look particularly in the skin tones. With the aid of production design, costume and make-up, we got closer and closer to what Quentin was asking. Certain lenses capture color in a more natural manner while others give a richness. It takes time to understand how each is performing and the skill of a talented grader to make the adjustments.”

Richardson adds, “I am very pleased with how the film looks but more importantly how it supports the brilliance of what Quentin directed by meeting his initial requests for a rich tapestry of color. I hope audiences agree.” 

[Jarin Blaschke]

I saw the movie in August. The black and white had a contemporary look in its lighting. I’ll eat my hat regarding the double-X, but the super 8 has left my memory. Remind me: what sequences were those?

 

j

[Leanne Summers]

36 minutes ago, Jarin Blaschke said:

I saw the movie in August. The black and white had a contemporary look in its lighting. I’ll eat my hat regarding the double-X, but the super 8 has left my memory. Remind me: what sequences were those?

 

j

Here's an interview with Robert Richardson

https://deadline.com/2019/10/once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-cinematographer-robert-richardson-quentin-tarantino-interview-news-1202771140/#comments

He didn't talk much about the black and white other than saying it was shot on black and white film. From this, it sounds like they didn't end up using the super 8 part, and used what they shot on 16mm instead. Also sounds like they had some issues at the lab.

Edited March 8, 2020 by Leanne Summers

[andy oliver]

I wonder which lab they had issue's with?. I've been using Dwayne's photo since c2006, never had any issue's with there e6 processing in the 8mm, DS8, 16mm and 35mm slide formats.