Hey, great to see somebody appreciating the Apichatpong Weerasethakuls films! He once gave me a ticket to one of his screenings and I had a short chat with him. He is a very nice person and his team very friendly. I also remember that you once took inspiration for a short you filmed from one of the Romanian movies of the new-realist wave there. It’s nice to see not so well known, artistic cinema being given a place here in this channel! Keep it up!
I worked in film in the 90's and 00's and practically every project was shot on film. The set was super focused and quiet, set ups took ages and sometimes there were only 2 takes. At the end of the shoot, the short ends and loaded full rolls always mysteriously disappeared in the direction of camera department juniors making their own short films! I do hope film endures as it has such magical qualities that digital has however clever, just can't emulate. There's also that excitement or blind terror that occurs when waiting for the film to be processed and cleared as ok from the lab.
Technically digital cannot match film at present. Most people who watch films in a cinema are actually watching 2k files that are upscaled to 4K and they do not look that good. 35mm film has a resolution of about 8k minimum.
@@jc-px8ox Nope. The bare minimum for pixel scanning to capture what is considered of a good enough level of detail for a solid film image is 8k. Until we have 8k projectors and 8k content to test that in a theatre we have no way of knowing for sure.
This video leaves out a fundamentally important part of the whole journey: Finding and choosing the right lab, and working closely with them during produciton. Cant stress how crucially important that can be.
@@CinemaRepository Well, you're mistaken. If you're a cinderblock of a production company like Warner, for example, what you say holds true. If you're an artist or a small production with a music video or ad, not so much. They all do good work, yes - but still, one might be better suited for particular needs than another. Its not all same same.
I would like to know more about the different characteristics of 16mm vs 35mm film or any other film stock, like what unique textures do each bring, like more grain, less grain, what the grain looks like for different film stocks and does shooting on film give the footage a more natural look compared to digital, and also how the film industry changed or stayed the same throughout the 120yrs of Filmmaking and what do you think will be the future of Filmmaking.
@@quickfilmmakingtips2870 Yes definitely, I would really to know the history of Filmmaking where it's been and the future of it and how it can evolve or has Filmmakers evolved it so much that there's no innovation will the industry standard for be 24fps or will it change to a higher frame rate.
The channel Analog Resurgence may be of interest to you. Though his focus is primarily film photography, he has quite a few videos on film cinematography as well.
Having worked as a 2nd and 1st AC myself for a good 20 years now, I really enjoy your videos and recommend them on a regular basis to young people just starting in the Camera Department. Thanks for your amazing work! I really miss working on film.
I shot my first film on 16mm last year.. the director had his own sr3 and it was a blast to shoot with it.. sadly there's no other crazy directors here for that want to shoot on film.. love your work as always!
The actual huge costs were in post production back in the film days. Getting a film actually shot on film 'in the can' wasn't as expensive as one might think (there's tricks and schemes you were able to do to get free film), but the roadblock was the expense for post production if you ask me. It was the most frustrating part. I actually still own a used Frezzolini LW16 news camera with 12-120 Angenieux zoom lens from the 70's (similar to the CP16) that I bought for $1200 back in the mid 90's, which was a bargain, but a pain to load and use at times. I had the mickey mouse ear magazines and I remember spending a half hour in a dark closet a few times trying to unscrew the lid on the magazine to retrieve the exposed film. The images that 'cheap' 16mm camera produced was astonishing.
As someone who's primarily only shot digital and wants to make it out there is a cinematographer, shooting on film is something that's daunting yet exciting. I'm hoping to learn to shoot some film next semester or on my internship in the Spring! Great video!
One quality of film, probably kept it popular for so long, is it's halation especially in the red layer, and it's lower softer resolution especially in the red sensitive layer again, coupled with how grain structure helps break up very low contrast high frequency detail. This has a beautifying effect on faces and for long time would give a more flattering look to actors than HD digital video. And film does still have a "out of the box" quality to it's color where it basically grades itself to give a pleasant color rendition.
@@Pantano63 The chemical process of producing colors in film has a far greater detail than digital has. So while digital can do very high contrast ratios it cannot have the subtle differences that film has when it comes to color. In the real world you will see that many things have color differences. You can have two shades of a color even though they look similar your eyes can pick the differences. Someday there maybe digital processes that can surpass film but we are not there yet.
@@bighands69 Do you have any kind of studies or information that prove that film has better colour? Everything I've ever found or heard that was an actual study with empirical evidence showed that something like the Arri Alexa is better than film in every technical way.
@@TechnoBabble The reason why digital gets used is all down to handling costs and ease of use. I could go through a mountain of specifications in regards to the chemical process of film but I tend to find when doing that on comment sections that people are not really interested.
@@bighands69 So that's a no I assume? I asked for a study on the colour specifically. If it were so obviously better than there would be a completely irrefutable study done that shows that... unfortunately for your weird hatred of digital, that's not the case. I'll gladly be proven wrong if you can show any sort of empirical evidence to support your claims though.
I am a 100 percent still film photographer & I have been using film for 25 years. B&W film will always be around, because it is a very pragmatic process & in 2020, Hollywood renewed a motion-picture film stock deal with Kodak. This "resurgence" might be marketing or popular culture's need to make news, because motion-picture film & still-photography film along with its chemistry was always around. The only issue is the film speeds available & if you know how to push or pull film, you can achieve the aesthetics of film speeds that are discontinued or hard to find. We will always have this tangible aspect of Photography (even the early motion-pictures used to say, "Photographed By"). Good content, thank you for making this about film!
Someone who draws can draw on a tablet with a stylus, or on paper with pen or pencil (or chalk or...), or draw on paper and scan for digital editing, or draw on tablet and print out to include an item in a paper collage and so on. Similar range of options with music and with photography and film. It's not always about the finished product; it can just be fun and a learning experience to mix things up.
I always wondered why Cinestill photographic film has blue labels for Daylight and Red for Tungsten. I learned here that it's an industry standard. Thanks!
so cool! have been dreaming about making a film on film and i haven’t been able to find any other video on the topic except for yours when i searched. thank you for the great video!!
I'm no pro, but I've heard people say that pro cinematographers don't adjust aperture for exposure as much as they do for DoF, as an artistic choice. I was under the impression they will adjust the brightness levels of their lights, add fill/neg, and/or add/subtract ND filters before they would change the aperture for the sake of exposure adjustments. Am I mistaken? Great video, though. Really cool to learn this process!
Yes, this is absolutely true... in theory... You can't always have the exact aperture that you want, but it's true that we're gonna try to stay at the aperture that's right for the mood and storytelling. Now, depending on the budget and the type of lighting required, you might not have access to lights that are bright enough to, for example, keep a lens fairly closed during a night scene. This is why many indie films and videoclips on a smaller budgets use visual elements that are naturally cinematic for free, hence the endless scenes of rain-over-neon-lights with bokeh, and so on. People often think that bokeh is "more cinematic" when starting out. The truth is, it's just easier to deal when you're on a tight budget, because if you keep the lenses open, the set design doesn't have to be nearly as precise as if you want to shoot with everything in focus. It's not hard at all to hide certain aspects of the set design, or even to blur people in the background who haven't been asked to be extras, with shallow DOF. However, if can become a cheap trick rather quickly and you get over the "wow" factor of bokeh quickly as well. Lastly, people do not thing that we do aperture pull as well as focus pulls - even tho aperture pull are far less used, it's totally possible to do them on professional lenses where the focus won't ever be affected. For instance, if you transition from a dark to a bright room, which transition is almost always covered with a white gradient because it's extremely hard to do, you could pull if off "eye-like" with the right aperture pull. You can also do a number of effects such as gorgeously smooth and controlled fade-to-black, the old school way, or POV of a character opening their eyes by putting a cardboard cutout in front of the lens, etc Aperture can be used for so much more than controlling exposure, and it's not really an exposure control tool in the first place. Even still photographers of a high level would not touch the aperture to expose, but they have the major advantage of being able to change the shutter angle at will, which we can't without creating unnatural blur!
@@jas_bataille I appreciate the in-depth response! Must be nice those who do stills to be able to change the shutter lol. People always talk about the exposure triangle in cinema, and I'm like, No--the triangle there is ISO, light levels, and audience size lol
Good narrative video about the subject. I was fortunate enough to be born in a family involved in feature film production. Since i was a child, i was involved in filmmaking (more than 20 feature films). The amount of discipline & aesthetics one can experience working with film stock & analogue technology is unparallel to any other medium and it's coming from someone who worked with almost every digital camera type, codec and NLE program.
It's so sad that here in my country, they stopped using film stock in 2012. I saw that camera rentals here still rent film cameras, but I reckon they buy the stock and develop it internationally. Film just has that certain feeling that shooting digitally doesn't have. I really wish they could sell film stocks here again.
the theaters in my country have completely replaced film projectors as well, which is sad. I'd love it if a few theaters did film projection for special screenings
I’ve been into film photography and cinematography for a while, yet got a lots of new things from your video! Although I would have appreciated if you had also added the color timer segment
Great video! There’s so much to learn about shooting on film, but sadly it isn’t always easy to find info about. Hope you keep making this type of videos 🙏🏽
I photograph on film and I love it. This is a great video. Super enlightening. Thank you. I have to say though, I am not sure I agree that post-processing film is faster than digital.
Thanks for this video, it was very insightful to the way a crew works with film. Though I most likely will not be in a situation of dealing with film on set any time soon, this was still a valueable and interesting topic. Keep up the great work!
I'd love a little more detail on the film scanning, since it seems like when shooting on film and then editing digitally, you're trading the digital sensor of a camera for the digital sensor of a scanner.
Exactly, why is it a better option filmming and scaninng into digital afterwards for edition than filmming digital at the very beginning? How does the scann work?does it varies the colour and grain? When the big productions swapped cutting-pdx?
Sadly nobody edits on film anymore. The last big studio film to do so was the Indiana Jones 4 in 2012. They did for secrecy reasons. The process of no digitization is very simple. There are dozens of books and countless videos about “the photochemical process” related to motion picture film. Sadly the cost is exorbitant, which is why nobody does it. Scanning and recording out, creates a much better product.
The aspect that doesn't get talked about enough is the adrenaline rush you get the moment the camera motor spools up like a jet engine and the AC yells "SPEED!" What a rush. Part of the whole magic of film making ✨
Thank you 😊 such a great short overview about this topic! How about older movies shot, edited and published on film? Why is there look so special and different from film nowdays shoot on film? Is there people still doing everything on film? From shooting, to editing to postproduction, to screeening or publishing?
I've always somehow assumed that if you shot on film, you cut negative to produce the final product. And I couldn't picture how that would be accomplished. I'm astonished to learn that the original film (purported to have 18K resolution) is only scanned ONCE (typically no more than 4K)--and that final prints (film or DCP) are produced from that initial scan! It makes sense from a practical standpoint (cutting negative has to be a gnarly, labor-intensive process!), but I always assumed that if you shot on film, somehow the rest of the process would mimic film post-production from the old days. Nicely done video, and very informative.
In the 90's and 2000's when movies were still largely shot and screened on film, studios moved to a digital intermediate process. Arri introduced the first machines to scan film so it could be edited digitally, and film-out machines to print them back to film for screening.
I wish you had discussed how the film out worked, namely, how the image (I'm assuming a positive) is printed on to the reels that go to theaters for projecting
The movie is usually shot with an ECN-2 negative film (in most cases) Then a work print is made from that negative. Which I believe is an intermediate positive and they use this print for editing. Once they have a edited version of the movie. They color time it and make the Final print versions of the film. To send out to theaters. I think that’s about it. I could be forgetting one more print step they do.
Awesome video! I learn a lot from your videos thank you soo much! I would love to know more about the actual shooting process on film and especially how the director sees what it is shooting or how the focus puller is working since they can't see the footage ? Do they are any sort of digital video transmission while shooting ? It seems so complicated to me to understand the workflow concretely..
There is usually a video tap, which acts like a monitor for digital cameras. The difference is, it's mostly used for framing and playback, so you can't light just by looking at the video tap because the video quality is pretty bad. You'd have to rely on light meters. Focus pullers have to rely on markers, but some experienced pullers can judge distance just by eye
Focus pullers use tape measure to measure from the focal plane on the camera to the actor or object being shot. All cameras have a focal plane mark to measure from. Then it's a matter of pulling the focus by looking at the marks on the lens. In the days of film, directors weren't 100 percent sure how their film would look until it was processed by the lab and focus pullers can only pray everything was in focus. If you watch old sitcoms (or even some movies) shot on film now remastered in HD, you'll see a lot of out of focus shots (probably because they move so fast during production).
@@DyenamicFilms if you watch Magnolia (1999), a lot of the shots filmed on a longer lens are slightly out of focus, but still noticeable. Imagine how they reacted when they saw the dailies. I would’ve fired the 1st AC cause it kept happening LMAO
Awesome! Thanks. I love your other types of videos but this one was full of tips and information that is very hard to find easily without working on a set.
Beautiful, thank you so much! I just wish both mediums go on, as art is boundless and each medium has it's own look and feel. The same for projectors. You can watch a digital conversion or run it through a projector. This can happen if the physical mediums are updated to be easier, faster, cheaper and with digital options, while the medium itself remains physical, because of the effect of its physical movement and the use of light and also for the new artists to experiment with them in their own way. You could also shoot on digital and convert to film just to have the real textures. It's like painting on different types of paper with different textures, whether oil on canvas or poster color on canson, caridge, or water color on offset etc etc. I know someone just recently printed their own first film camera and if this continues, we can have both mediums parallel and things can keep original. Id even shoot on VHS, for its real look and those cameras were upgraded to great quality the last time I saw in early 2000s and were being used on television broadcast and like film, they took a while to get grabbed to digital format, but the wait is worth the result
I'm 15 years old so I was born in the world of digital, but I am all for film. It's so beautiful. Of course I love my digital cameras but when I see my film printed out it gives such lively effect that digital just can't touch with. I got a polaroid when I was younger and I was always so fascinated by how the results looked.
@@whyllowfilms the results and the whole process of how you get it physically, instead of applying film effects, is such a beautiful experience indeed. The way the exposure is, how film retains highlight infirmation. For digital, it's the shadow information. If you shoot with both formats side by side, when you lower exposure, digital will win, when you turn it up, film will win. Obviously now we have dual ISO but the difference is there in the whole experimentations and because it takes longer to get the film results, it makes it special
I think you are right that one of the main benefits of film is not the grain, "film look," etc, but the fact that film is expensive compared to video which makes everyone on set conscious of that fact. There's more emphasis on getting it right, and much more prep. And while your film workflow is very detailed, you did leave out the use of "nose grease."
I don't have experience shooting on 16 or 35mm cine film but would imagine that the process is somewhat similar to photographic film. What I have done is to load bulk photographic film. You can buy 100ft rolls of black and white (135) 35mm photographic film. You then have to load the 100ft spool into a bulk film loader (in the dark). Then have to attach the leader to an empty 35mm film canister. You close a door to keep out the light then crank the bulk loader until you have your 36 exp in your canister, open the door, cut off the leader and rinse and repeat until you have loaded roughly 18 rolls of black and white film from your bulk roll.
Often, I feel like many modern movies that are shot on film simply do not look as good as pre-digital era movies shot on film. They end up looking more similar to movies shot on digital. It might just be that it's all in my head and that I'm crazy but I think scanning it at a high resolution and colour grading/correcting the final product digitally makes it look too 'clean'. I might be talking out of my ass but I've had a lot of trouble distinguishing between recent movies shot on film and digital (apart from movies that are very obviously shot on digital). Or maybe, like you said, digital can be made to look 95% like film and that's the real issue. But when I watch old movies, there's just something there that I can't put my finger on that makes them look different.
I agree with you on that. Films shot on film today do look more 'digital' to me as well. You look at movies shot on film in the early 90's and prior, they just have that film look (which I prefer). I think it's mainly because most of them used a purely film out process whereas today, I think almost all movies shot on film are 'digitized' anyway which gives it that 'digital look'. I think it's also the lenses are better and the filmstocks have finer, better grain. Movies look too clean and clear these days, taking away that 'dreamy' look. There was a much more 'dreamlike' look to movies of old shot on film that today's movies lack.
Love this, just watched this and the newest Kodak Vision video you did. As someone who learned photography on film during the digital switchover, I am still itching to shoot something moving on 16 or 35mm film. Its a bummer Kodak Vision is all that's left, as pretty as it is, at least some Fuji 35mm would be nice! (fuji also had my fav still film stocks, Velvia 50 and Fujicolor Press 800 print have AMAZING colors) Maybe some smaller startups will pop-up eventually to make emulations and eventually their own stocks like they have for still film? I know its a lot more expensive but. We can dream. I find my favorite digital cameras are the ones like the original BMPCC and the Original Arri that just look so filmic right out of the box after a small correction. Its like their sensor IS film. Like you said, ALMOST. I think because there aren't enough people watching films who can tell, you're right 95-99% is good enough but its still not film. This debate is raging with Music Recording and Simulated Mics and Cabinets, forget digital vs analog. Digital vs, um, more digital? I think you do a great job of hitting home "right tool for the right job" mentality which I love. Obviously you have you own preferences but have worked with so many people you understand the professional need of different tools. More videos please!
I was born in 08 so you can naturally assume I have no experience with film, and you are absolutely correct. I do wish, however, that was not the case. Though digital is easier and cheaper, working with a physical aspect for your film makes the film you are creating much more realistic. The problem I find with using a film filter on digital is that there are unique ways that a film may react to how an object could move that digital is not smart enough to catch. With that being said I understand that many people would definitely choose digital and argue with me about how film shouldn't be used on movie sets. I think both film and digital are useful and both should remain. It should be a matter of choice, not a forced option upon all movie sets. I 100% realize the struggles with film, but I find it to be so much more beautiful than digital. It's as if you were to ask yourself: Would you rather have a cheap but crappy film, or a pricy but beautiful film? That's certainly the question, and sometimes that question may seem stupid knowing that digital can be beautiful, but compared to film, it is very hard to understand if it can completely top that.
7:42 but ISO exposure values vary wildly amongst different digital cameras. You would need to know what the equivalent settings would be to get a matching ISO level with the specific film you're using.
I take pictures on my phone like everyone else, but I also use 35mm film. It started in HS when I needed an art credit, and said “they still make film” when looking at a film photography class. Now I shoot about 1-2 rolls a month. I am so very glad that motion picture film is being used by big studios, not only because I think it looks really cool, but because I am one of the rare film photographers that uses motion picture stock in my still camera. While consumer prices go up, I can still get 250D in a bulk roll of 100ft (makes 18 rolls) for around $110. Meanwhile other film could cost as much as $250 for the same amount of film!!
Absolutely! The only real thing that scares people off is that you can’t send it to a lab for processing, as there is an anti-halation layer on the film that can cause issues for the lab. However, if you dev at home, it is pretty simple to deal with, as all you need to do is a baking soda pre-wash. After that, dev as normal.
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What’s your favourite modern movie shot on film?
The beat you used in this video in the beginning actually was used by one of my favorite artists
Justin Stone ft Adrian Stresow “NoMe”
Hey, great to see somebody appreciating the Apichatpong Weerasethakuls films! He once gave me a ticket to one of his screenings and I had a short chat with him. He is a very nice person and his team very friendly.
I also remember that you once took inspiration for a short you filmed from one of the Romanian movies of the new-realist wave there. It’s nice to see not so well known, artistic cinema being given a place here in this channel! Keep it up!
you guys need to check your filtered words
my comments and replies gets auto deleted for some reason
my fave film to be shot on film will be either Call Me By Your Name or Last Night in Soho.
For me, it's got to be Once Upon a Time in Hollywood'.
I worked in film in the 90's and 00's and practically every project was shot on film. The set was super focused and quiet, set ups took ages and sometimes there were only 2 takes. At the end of the shoot, the short ends and loaded full rolls always mysteriously disappeared in the direction of camera department juniors making their own short films! I do hope film endures as it has such magical qualities that digital has however clever, just can't emulate. There's also that excitement or blind terror that occurs when waiting for the film to be processed and cleared as ok from the lab.
Technically digital cannot match film at present. Most people who watch films in a cinema are actually watching 2k files that are upscaled to 4K and they do not look that good.
35mm film has a resolution of about 8k minimum.
Yes, who doesn’t want blind terror when they have thousands of dollars and years of their lives wrapped-up in a film production?
@@bighands69 lol. Ok dude.
@@bighands69 5.6k if I recall correct
@@jc-px8ox
Nope.
The bare minimum for pixel scanning to capture what is considered of a good enough level of detail for a solid film image is 8k.
Until we have 8k projectors and 8k content to test that in a theatre we have no way of knowing for sure.
This video leaves out a fundamentally important part of the whole journey: Finding and choosing the right lab, and working closely with them during produciton. Cant stress how crucially important that can be.
There really are only a few labs left, all of them do good work. There should be no “journey” to the quality of a lab in 2022.
@@CinemaRepository Well, you're mistaken. If you're a cinderblock of a production company like Warner, for example, what you say holds true. If you're an artist or a small production with a music video or ad, not so much. They all do good work, yes - but still, one might be better suited for particular needs than another. Its not all same same.
@@runinair12 What labs do bad work in 2022? Have you used them? I have.
@@CinemaRepository I was going to say, to my knowledge there's literally two UK labs left - Kodac(I-Dallies) and Cinelab. Are there any others?
@@Razzer666 Yea only two in the UK, 7 state side and a few in central europe.
I would like to know more about the different characteristics of 16mm vs 35mm film or any other film stock, like what unique textures do each bring, like more grain, less grain, what the grain looks like for different film stocks and does shooting on film give the footage a more natural look compared to digital, and also how the film industry changed or stayed the same throughout the 120yrs of Filmmaking and what do you think will be the future of Filmmaking.
That would be a great video!
Yes, I agree
@@quickfilmmakingtips2870 Yes definitely, I would really to know the history of Filmmaking where it's been and the future of it and how it can evolve or has Filmmakers evolved it so much that there's no innovation will the industry standard for be 24fps or will it change to a higher frame rate.
+++
The channel Analog Resurgence may be of interest to you. Though his focus is primarily film photography, he has quite a few videos on film cinematography as well.
Having worked as a 2nd and 1st AC myself for a good 20 years now, I really enjoy your videos and recommend them on a regular basis to young people just starting in the Camera Department. Thanks for your amazing work!
I really miss working on film.
I shot my first film on 16mm last year.. the director had his own sr3 and it was a blast to shoot with it.. sadly there's no other crazy directors here for that want to shoot on film..
love your work as always!
It's really difficult to find information on filmmaking on super 16mm or 35 mm
Same! My DP had her own Aaton A-Minima. It was a really useful decision to shoot S16, and the cost really isn’t as prohibitive as people think.
Its not about crazy its about money
The actual huge costs were in post production back in the film days. Getting a film actually shot on film 'in the can' wasn't as expensive as one might think (there's tricks and schemes you were able to do to get free film), but the roadblock was the expense for post production if you ask me. It was the most frustrating part. I actually still own a used Frezzolini LW16 news camera with 12-120 Angenieux zoom lens from the 70's (similar to the CP16) that I bought for $1200 back in the mid 90's, which was a bargain, but a pain to load and use at times. I had the mickey mouse ear magazines and I remember spending a half hour in a dark closet a few times trying to unscrew the lid on the magazine to retrieve the exposed film.
The images that 'cheap' 16mm camera produced was astonishing.
@@simpleetfunky7062 Hit up my channel “cinema repository” all about shooting on film.
shooting on 16mm film with an anamorphic lense is to die for.
As someone who's primarily only shot digital and wants to make it out there is a cinematographer, shooting on film is something that's daunting yet exciting. I'm hoping to learn to shoot some film next semester or on my internship in the Spring! Great video!
One quality of film, probably kept it popular for so long, is it's halation especially in the red layer, and it's lower softer resolution especially in the red sensitive layer again, coupled with how grain structure helps break up very low contrast high frequency detail.
This has a beautifying effect on faces and for long time would give a more flattering look to actors than HD digital video.
And film does still have a "out of the box" quality to it's color where it basically grades itself to give a pleasant color rendition.
Interesting. Can you explain a bit more why the color red looks better on film? Is it more saturated and rich?
@@Pantano63
The chemical process of producing colors in film has a far greater detail than digital has. So while digital can do very high contrast ratios it cannot have the subtle differences that film has when it comes to color.
In the real world you will see that many things have color differences. You can have two shades of a color even though they look similar your eyes can pick the differences.
Someday there maybe digital processes that can surpass film but we are not there yet.
@@bighands69 Do you have any kind of studies or information that prove that film has better colour? Everything I've ever found or heard that was an actual study with empirical evidence showed that something like the Arri Alexa is better than film in every technical way.
@@TechnoBabble
The reason why digital gets used is all down to handling costs and ease of use. I could go through a mountain of specifications in regards to the chemical process of film but I tend to find when doing that on comment sections that people are not really interested.
@@bighands69 So that's a no I assume? I asked for a study on the colour specifically. If it were so obviously better than there would be a completely irrefutable study done that shows that... unfortunately for your weird hatred of digital, that's not the case. I'll gladly be proven wrong if you can show any sort of empirical evidence to support your claims though.
I am a 100 percent still film photographer & I have been using film for 25 years.
B&W film will always be around, because it is a very pragmatic process & in 2020, Hollywood renewed a motion-picture film stock deal with Kodak.
This "resurgence" might be marketing or popular culture's need to make news, because motion-picture film & still-photography film along with its chemistry was always around.
The only issue is the film speeds available & if you know how to push or pull film, you can achieve the aesthetics of film speeds that are discontinued or hard to find.
We will always have this tangible aspect of Photography (even the early motion-pictures used to say, "Photographed By").
Good content, thank you for making this about film!
Don’t forget that motion picture film and still film are two vastly different products, not even made in the same factory in some cases.
@@CinemaRepository there are a few
Perhaps worth mentioning the "Video Assist". That's not just a monitor that records, that is now a job on set.
I currently work in post at Fotokem. This is an absolutely wonderful introduction and overview to film workflow. Great Work.
Even more important is the ability to archive the original. Digital is now archived on a dedicated Kodak film emulsion
Someone who draws can draw on a tablet with a stylus, or on paper with pen or pencil (or chalk or...), or draw on paper and scan for digital editing, or draw on tablet and print out to include an item in a paper collage and so on. Similar range of options with music and with photography and film. It's not always about the finished product; it can just be fun and a learning experience to mix things up.
I always wondered why Cinestill photographic film has blue labels for Daylight and Red for Tungsten. I learned here that it's an industry standard. Thanks!
really interesting ! Thanks a lot !
Thanks for this Pure Gold Content, In Depth Cine Crew!! Much Luv
so cool! have been dreaming about making a film on film and i haven’t been able to find any other video on the topic except for yours when i searched. thank you for the great video!!
I'm no pro, but I've heard people say that pro cinematographers don't adjust aperture for exposure as much as they do for DoF, as an artistic choice. I was under the impression they will adjust the brightness levels of their lights, add fill/neg, and/or add/subtract ND filters before they would change the aperture for the sake of exposure adjustments. Am I mistaken?
Great video, though. Really cool to learn this process!
I think he meant that they adjust aperture on digital camera to preview exposure. Main (film) camera keeps aperture DoP want for artistic reason.
Yes, this is absolutely true... in theory...
You can't always have the exact aperture that you want, but it's true that we're gonna try to stay at the aperture that's right for the mood and storytelling. Now, depending on the budget and the type of lighting required, you might not have access to lights that are bright enough to, for example, keep a lens fairly closed during a night scene.
This is why many indie films and videoclips on a smaller budgets use visual elements that are naturally cinematic for free, hence the endless scenes of rain-over-neon-lights with bokeh, and so on.
People often think that bokeh is "more cinematic" when starting out. The truth is, it's just easier to deal when you're on a tight budget, because if you keep the lenses open, the set design doesn't have to be nearly as precise as if you want to shoot with everything in focus. It's not hard at all to hide certain aspects of the set design, or even to blur people in the background who haven't been asked to be extras, with shallow DOF.
However, if can become a cheap trick rather quickly and you get over the "wow" factor of bokeh quickly as well.
Lastly, people do not thing that we do aperture pull as well as focus pulls - even tho aperture pull are far less used, it's totally possible to do them on professional lenses where the focus won't ever be affected. For instance, if you transition from a dark to a bright room, which transition is almost always covered with a white gradient because it's extremely hard to do, you could pull if off "eye-like" with the right aperture pull.
You can also do a number of effects such as gorgeously smooth and controlled fade-to-black, the old school way, or POV of a character opening their eyes by putting a cardboard cutout in front of the lens, etc
Aperture can be used for so much more than controlling exposure, and it's not really an exposure control tool in the first place. Even still photographers of a high level would not touch the aperture to expose, but they have the major advantage of being able to change the shutter angle at will, which we can't without creating unnatural blur!
@@jas_bataille I appreciate the in-depth response! Must be nice those who do stills to be able to change the shutter lol. People always talk about the exposure triangle in cinema, and I'm like, No--the triangle there is ISO, light levels, and audience size lol
Very useful video! I think it would be interesting if you made the same video but about the process back in pre-digital times.
"Been waiting for the "shoot on film" episode, and you've delivered. Thank you for this!
Good narrative video about the subject. I was fortunate enough to be born in a family involved in feature film production. Since i was a child, i was involved in filmmaking (more than 20 feature films). The amount of discipline & aesthetics one can experience working with film stock & analogue technology is unparallel to any other medium and it's coming from someone who worked with almost every digital camera type, codec and NLE program.
It's so sad that here in my country, they stopped using film stock in 2012. I saw that camera rentals here still rent film cameras, but I reckon they buy the stock and develop it internationally. Film just has that certain feeling that shooting digitally doesn't have. I really wish they could sell film stocks here again.
the theaters in my country have completely replaced film projectors as well, which is sad. I'd love it if a few theaters did film projection for special screenings
What country?
@@Pantano63 Philippines
@@markrobert9915 move away
@@slayyyder That's easy for you to say lol
I’ve been into film photography and cinematography for a while, yet got a lots of new things from your video!
Although I would have appreciated if you had also added the color timer segment
I get my 50D processed by Neg-Lab in Sydney and over-scanned in 6k at memory lab in Melbourne. Great combo.
Great video! There’s so much to learn about shooting on film, but sadly it isn’t always easy to find info about. Hope you keep making this type of videos 🙏🏽
one of the few videos on youtube about motion picture film production, that is actually accurate! thank you!
I photograph on film and I love it. This is a great video. Super enlightening. Thank you. I have to say though, I am not sure I agree that post-processing film is faster than digital.
Thanks for this video, it was very insightful to the way a crew works with film. Though I most likely will not be in a situation of dealing with film on set any time soon, this was still a valueable and interesting topic. Keep up the great work!
Just discovered your channel yesterday!! Great content and very useful. Great work. You are a great teacher mate!!
keep it on! Cheers from catalonia
This is something I've always been wondering for years. Thank you for this video!
As someone who likes digital and film but has a love of film stock, this is an interesting subject to talk about. Thanks!
I'd love a little more detail on the film scanning, since it seems like when shooting on film and then editing digitally, you're trading the digital sensor of a camera for the digital sensor of a scanner.
Exactly, why is it a better option filmming and scaninng into digital afterwards for edition than filmming digital at the very beginning? How does the scann work?does it varies the colour and grain? When the big productions swapped cutting-pdx?
This is easily my new favorite channel!!!
I'd love to see a video on the process of a fully analog movie without any digitalization involved!
Every Quetin & Nolan's movies are edited in software and then optically cut on films as per the edited result.
Sadly nobody edits on film anymore. The last big studio film to do so was the Indiana Jones 4 in 2012. They did for secrecy reasons. The process of no digitization is very simple. There are dozens of books and countless videos about “the photochemical process” related to motion picture film. Sadly the cost is exorbitant, which is why nobody does it. Scanning and recording out, creates a much better product.
The aspect that doesn't get talked about enough is the adrenaline rush you get the moment the camera motor spools up like a jet engine and the AC yells "SPEED!" What a rush. Part of the whole magic of film making ✨
Thank you for the process breakdown. I worked on a set with an arriflex camera and always wondered how the film was converted to digital.
It's all in scanning process. I think scanning slow frame by frame in raw is the best or tif format to preserve highlights and shadows. 😁
Just bought a super 16 Arri BL the other day! This is so cool to see. Excited!
Thank you 😊 such a great short overview about this topic!
How about older movies shot, edited and published on film? Why is there look so special and different from film nowdays shoot on film? Is there people still doing everything on film? From shooting, to editing to postproduction, to screeening or publishing?
Wasn't expectig so much info, but it was all very fascinating to me!
people are so shure about everthing they read or calculate in their head!! just feel and sense for a second
!!
This was an extremely interesting video. I've always wondered how film stocks worked. You explained that and more, thank you.
Great video, very insightful about how films are shooted and produced.
I've always somehow assumed that if you shot on film, you cut negative to produce the final product. And I couldn't picture how that would be accomplished.
I'm astonished to learn that the original film (purported to have 18K resolution) is only scanned ONCE (typically no more than 4K)--and that final prints (film or DCP) are produced from that initial scan! It makes sense from a practical standpoint (cutting negative has to be a gnarly, labor-intensive process!), but I always assumed that if you shot on film, somehow the rest of the process would mimic film post-production from the old days.
Nicely done video, and very informative.
In the 90's and 2000's when movies were still largely shot and screened on film, studios moved to a digital intermediate process. Arri introduced the first machines to scan film so it could be edited digitally, and film-out machines to print them back to film for screening.
Been waiting for this for so long!
Great Video as always.
It was very useful and informative. Thank you. Now I was looking for information about the films to be set up in DaVinci
I love this, I have your channel on every time i am prepping gear
Good video, I have always been interested in how they edit the film imax like oppenhiemer and before this video there was none so good video man
This guy makes a good case for digital.
nice trip down memory lane, I have subscribed for more content dealing with film and cinema
Very helpful thank you for the great video. I want to shoot my next movie on Film.
You do great work bro! Thanks so much for all the information.
I wish you had discussed how the film out worked, namely, how the image (I'm assuming a positive) is printed on to the reels that go to theaters for projecting
The movie is usually shot with an ECN-2 negative film (in most cases)
Then a work print is made from that negative. Which I believe is an intermediate positive and they use this print for editing.
Once they have a edited version of the movie. They color time it and make the Final print versions of the film. To send out to theaters.
I think that’s about it. I could be forgetting one more print step they do.
Such an amazing episode was looking for this information since a long time!
Awesome video! I learn a lot from your videos thank you soo much! I would love to know more about the actual shooting process on film and especially how the director sees what it is shooting or how the focus puller is working since they can't see the footage ? Do they are any sort of digital video transmission while shooting ? It seems so complicated to me to understand the workflow concretely..
There is usually a video tap, which acts like a monitor for digital cameras. The difference is, it's mostly used for framing and playback, so you can't light just by looking at the video tap because the video quality is pretty bad. You'd have to rely on light meters. Focus pullers have to rely on markers, but some experienced pullers can judge distance just by eye
Focus pullers use tape measure to measure from the focal plane on the camera to the actor or object being shot. All cameras have a focal plane mark to measure from. Then it's a matter of pulling the focus by looking at the marks on the lens. In the days of film, directors weren't 100 percent sure how their film would look until it was processed by the lab and focus pullers can only pray everything was in focus. If you watch old sitcoms (or even some movies) shot on film now remastered in HD, you'll see a lot of out of focus shots (probably because they move so fast during production).
thank you for your explanation ! it makes way more sens now ! I can’t imagine how stressing it it must have been ! but so interesting tho
@@DyenamicFilms if you watch Magnolia (1999), a lot of the shots filmed on a longer lens are slightly out of focus, but still noticeable. Imagine how they reacted when they saw the dailies. I would’ve fired the 1st AC cause it kept happening LMAO
this is SO HELPFUL. thank you!!!
Thank you so much for the video! I've always wanted to know about the process; your video is very helpful and very easy to understand.
Awesome! Thanks. I love your other types of videos but this one was full of tips and information that is very hard to find easily without working on a set.
Beautiful, thank you so much!
I just wish both mediums go on, as art is boundless and each medium has it's own look and feel. The same for projectors. You can watch a digital conversion or run it through a projector.
This can happen if the physical mediums are updated to be easier, faster, cheaper and with digital options, while the medium itself remains physical, because of the effect of its physical movement and the use of light and also for the new artists to experiment with them in their own way. You could also shoot on digital and convert to film just to have the real textures. It's like painting on different types of paper with different textures, whether oil on canvas or poster color on canson, caridge, or water color on offset etc etc.
I know someone just recently printed their own first film camera and if this continues, we can have both mediums parallel and things can keep original. Id even shoot on VHS, for its real look and those cameras were upgraded to great quality the last time I saw in early 2000s and were being used on television broadcast and like film, they took a while to get grabbed to digital format, but the wait is worth the result
I'm 15 years old so I was born in the world of digital, but I am all for film. It's so beautiful. Of course I love my digital cameras but when I see my film printed out it gives such lively effect that digital just can't touch with. I got a polaroid when I was younger and I was always so fascinated by how the results looked.
@@whyllowfilms the results and the whole process of how you get it physically, instead of applying film effects, is such a beautiful experience indeed. The way the exposure is, how film retains highlight infirmation. For digital, it's the shadow information.
If you shoot with both formats side by side, when you lower exposure, digital will win, when you turn it up, film will win.
Obviously now we have dual ISO but the difference is there in the whole experimentations and because it takes longer to get the film results, it makes it special
I think you are right that one of the main benefits of film is not the grain, "film look," etc, but the fact that film is expensive compared to video which makes everyone on set conscious of that fact. There's more emphasis on getting it right, and much more prep.
And while your film workflow is very detailed, you did leave out the use of "nose grease."
Another great insight into the craft. Thanks for the video.
Dang, now I want to know how they convert the digital edit back to film!! Thanks for this FASCINATING doc on the subject. You're the best.
they use something like an Arrilaser, which basically exposes the print film to the digitally mastered movie
I don't have experience shooting on 16 or 35mm cine film but would imagine that the process is somewhat similar to photographic film. What I have done is to load bulk photographic film. You can buy 100ft rolls of black and white (135) 35mm photographic film. You then have to load the 100ft spool into a bulk film loader (in the dark). Then have to attach the leader to an empty 35mm film canister. You close a door to keep out the light then crank the bulk loader until you have your 36 exp in your canister, open the door, cut off the leader and rinse and repeat until you have loaded roughly 18 rolls of black and white film from your bulk roll.
Great video! Loved it!
Great as always man!
Amazing video! Would love to see a video on how bnw films were processed from filming to post.
Brilliant video mate, instructive as always! Thank you!
you missed video assist part, often a necessity in short forms (ads especially)
Hey man, great content, your accent is so SA!
love that apichatpong footage his stuff needs more love
There are some magnificent shots in here. Can you list which films you pulled them from?
Often, I feel like many modern movies that are shot on film simply do not look as good as pre-digital era movies shot on film. They end up looking more similar to movies shot on digital. It might just be that it's all in my head and that I'm crazy but I think scanning it at a high resolution and colour grading/correcting the final product digitally makes it look too 'clean'. I might be talking out of my ass but I've had a lot of trouble distinguishing between recent movies shot on film and digital (apart from movies that are very obviously shot on digital). Or maybe, like you said, digital can be made to look 95% like film and that's the real issue. But when I watch old movies, there's just something there that I can't put my finger on that makes them look different.
I agree with you on that. Films shot on film today do look more 'digital' to me as well. You look at movies shot on film in the early 90's and prior, they just have that film look (which I prefer). I think it's mainly because most of them used a purely film out process whereas today, I think almost all movies shot on film are 'digitized' anyway which gives it that 'digital look'. I think it's also the lenses are better and the filmstocks have finer, better grain. Movies look too clean and clear these days, taking away that 'dreamy' look. There was a much more 'dreamlike' look to movies of old shot on film that today's movies lack.
Such an amazing video! 💕💕
Thanks mister cine!
Love this, just watched this and the newest Kodak Vision video you did. As someone who learned photography on film during the digital switchover, I am still itching to shoot something moving on 16 or 35mm film. Its a bummer Kodak Vision is all that's left, as pretty as it is, at least some Fuji 35mm would be nice! (fuji also had my fav still film stocks, Velvia 50 and Fujicolor Press 800 print have AMAZING colors) Maybe some smaller startups will pop-up eventually to make emulations and eventually their own stocks like they have for still film? I know its a lot more expensive but. We can dream.
I find my favorite digital cameras are the ones like the original BMPCC and the Original Arri that just look so filmic right out of the box after a small correction. Its like their sensor IS film. Like you said, ALMOST. I think because there aren't enough people watching films who can tell, you're right 95-99% is good enough but its still not film. This debate is raging with Music Recording and Simulated Mics and Cabinets, forget digital vs analog. Digital vs, um, more digital? I think you do a great job of hitting home "right tool for the right job" mentality which I love. Obviously you have you own preferences but have worked with so many people you understand the professional need of different tools. More videos please!
Great programme. Thank you.
Great video man!✌🏼
Been waiting for this
This one has been the best ever!
I thoroughly enjoyed this episode and it was very nostalgic for me. 👍
I was expecting a log video 🥲
I was born in 08 so you can naturally assume I have no experience with film, and you are absolutely correct. I do wish, however, that was not the case. Though digital is easier and cheaper, working with a physical aspect for your film makes the film you are creating much more realistic. The problem I find with using a film filter on digital is that there are unique ways that a film may react to how an object could move that digital is not smart enough to catch. With that being said I understand that many people would definitely choose digital and argue with me about how film shouldn't be used on movie sets. I think both film and digital are useful and both should remain. It should be a matter of choice, not a forced option upon all movie sets. I 100% realize the struggles with film, but I find it to be so much more beautiful than digital. It's as if you were to ask yourself: Would you rather have a cheap but crappy film, or a pricy but beautiful film? That's certainly the question, and sometimes that question may seem stupid knowing that digital can be beautiful, but compared to film, it is very hard to understand if it can completely top that.
7:42 but ISO exposure values vary wildly amongst different digital cameras. You would need to know what the equivalent settings would be to get a matching ISO level with the specific film you're using.
i think professional camera man have the experience or knowledge about what iso fits what film
I was always curious about how film worked.I got a decent idea about that in a very short time.Great video!
Great effort 👌 you answered my questions
this is so informative! thank you for this video :)
such an informative vidoe, thank you!
I would love to learn about the duplication process before digital copying was possible
Thanks for the video!
Thank you.
Thanks for this video, I learned a lot.
I take pictures on my phone like everyone else, but I also use 35mm film. It started in HS when I needed an art credit, and said “they still make film” when looking at a film photography class. Now I shoot about 1-2 rolls a month.
I am so very glad that motion picture film is being used by big studios, not only because I think it looks really cool, but because I am one of the rare film photographers that uses motion picture stock in my still camera. While consumer prices go up, I can still get 250D in a bulk roll of 100ft (makes 18 rolls) for around $110. Meanwhile other film could cost as much as $250 for the same amount of film!!
wait, that‘s possible? Is there something to think of when using it? :D
Absolutely! The only real thing that scares people off is that you can’t send it to a lab for processing, as there is an anti-halation layer on the film that can cause issues for the lab. However, if you dev at home, it is pretty simple to deal with, as all you need to do is a baking soda pre-wash. After that, dev as normal.
Interesting vid! Where‘s the thumbnail from? Movie?
3:12 - Nope. There is also FOMA, which produces materials for the cameras (but only B&W). ;)
Hey, amazing video. I would love to know more about the _film out_ part of the process
Well done and really good explained. Thank you.
Great work !
the folks at the development lab are braver than the marines. I would be shaking in my boots
Thank you. This was interesting