Why ALL filmmakers should shoot on film

for the past 2 years I've been shooting photos on Motion Picture film stocks and if you're a filmmaker here's why you should too so this hobby project started out a few years ago when I bought an old Canon 7 starting with a Europe trip in 2022 I've been shooting on a variety of Motion Picture film stocks some current and some very expired in order to get a better grasp on how to shoot film I think most filmmakers should attempt this because one day you might end up doing so on a professional film set and in the leadup to that day you want to be prepared and ready cinematographer ho van hoer famously declared in his Oscar speech to all aspiring filmmakers out there I would like to say please try shooting that incredible new hip thing called [Music] cellid it's much easier uh than you think and it makes things look so much better I personally haven't yet been able to successfully pitch shooting film for any of my projects but if that day ever comes I know I'll be more prepared and that's because I've spent time testing Kodak Motion Picture range 50d 250d and 500t and that alone has taught me things like film has a very high dynamic range especially in the highlights overexposing digital is a big no no because of highlight clipping but on film you can overexpose up to five stops and still have all the information on the negative in fact film has the opposite exposure philosophy to digital with a digital camera you expose to protect highlights on a film you always exposed to get clean shadows and legitimately Overexposed codak Vision 3 film doesn't clip highlights in the way you'd expect instead you'll get intense color shifting which can be tricky to remove in post also you'll realize how important post production is as part of the filmm pro process some film photographers will claim this next Point as sacrilege but I edit every photo simply because a Motion Picture film stock is also just a baseline for a color grading process I've shock Kodak vision 350d and had it processed in three different Labs each yielding very different results that just goes to show how important scanning is and carefully picking where and how you get that done I've also shot Vision 350d in super rate but I'm not claiming this as a big learning curve because my camera the Canon 310 XL has its own Auto exposure system there's also ecta Chrome E100 a positive slide film that gained a lot of notoriety after it was used on Euphoria season 2 I would not only suggest but implore that you test this film stock on your Stills camera before you ever shoot a project with it you only have around 5 to 7even stops of dynamic wrange so avoid contrasty situations and expose carefully this is is especially the case if you develop an ecn2 like they did with Euphoria which makes the image even more contrasty over exposed slides can still look cool and you'll ultimately end up with not only a digital scan but also frames that you can hang on your wall and finally I've tried kodak's Eastman x 52 which has been around for some time was used on Schindler's List and is still being produced today the second reason why you should shoot on film is because it teaches you about the history of Motion Picture digital cinematography is still fresh in the context of History only really popularized by the AR alixa classic in the 2010s this switch meant most movies have been shot on some variation of that same sensor putting more power into a different creative look through tools like lenses filters and color grading but before that cinematographers would determine their look on film stocks not different types of lenses there was much more availability out there with the likes of Fuji ilford and AGA all producing stocks for use in movies and that's not even mentioning how many types of stocks Kodak and Eastman were producing most of these are now gone or really hard to acquire but I've managed to get my hands on some older stocks thanks to Mr negative in Melbourne last year I shot a roll of Eastman exr 50d in Mia and Mystery Island which stopped being sold in 2006 it's been used on films like pop fiction born identity and the Lord of the Rings trilogy expired em Motion Picture stocks generally don't do so well over time so expect some funky effects I've also shot kodak's previous Motion Picture line Vision 2 in a Vada 2 which held up a little bit better Mr negative also recently stocked a few of Fuji's discontinued emotion picture films including the Eternal line and f64 D I've had a huge amount of fun with these and they've inst ly become some of my favorites which is a shame because they're in finite Supply and are rarely respawned for film photography editing green color shifts has been a fun Challenge and you definitely have to overexpose each row accordingly for example I shot F 64d three stops over so almost at just ASA 6 this is a stop for each decade it's been expired since 2005 and then another stop over that just because it brings richness out of the colors shooting on expired Motion Picture film isn't just a great conversation starter with some industry or veterans who've done this for years it also shows a huge amount of initiative in understanding how we got to where we are now and the final reason you should shoot on film combines the previous reasons with something a little lame and likely which you've heard before which is that it helps you to be present realistically unless you find your way into a larger budget project opportunities to work with film on a set will always be limited due to financial constraints so essentially all of this advice is pointless unless you focus on the most important thing composing your images to tell a story the cost of each frame and finite space on each roll makes every shot meaningful there's plenty of times where I could fire away but now I save myself for a moment when I see the right ingredients of subject lighting and colors combined Motion Picture film also has a higher Fidelity and lower price than most film photography stocks making it the perfect entry point for anyone who wants to get into this in a world where digital cinematography encourages Smash and grab work being able to slow down and think about what matters is a valuable mindset to bring back on set and not only that you have learned a respect for the craft having printed what's in front of you onto a tangible physical object rather than ones and zeros when shooting Fuji's expired and rare stocks I know that everything I do is important because this might be the last time I'll ever be able to shoot on these stocks it takes away a lot of the arrogance and can help you reassess your priorities as a filmmaker and at the very least going back in time to this seemingly outdated format is likely the best way for us to develop as filmmakers and go forward into the future [Music]

Channel: Daniel Kuberek

Views: 1,742

Keywords: Arricam LT, Kodak Vision 3, 500T, 250D, 50D, Fujifilm, Eterna, Fuji, Agfa, Ilford, Ektachrome E100, 100D, ECN2, Motion picture, Movies, Film, Photography, Silbersalz35, Silbersalz, Do! Film Lab, Mr Negative, Rewind Film Lab, Mein Film Lab, Germany, Paris, France, Analogue, Canon 7, vintage, Canon 50 LTM, rangefinder, film editing, Lightroom, Colour shifts, Lab scan, Lab develop, C41, Euphoria, Poor Things, Asteroid City, Oppenheimer, IMAX

Id: dQrUxjzWUSM

Length: 7min 22sec (442 seconds)

Published: Tue May 07 2024