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Thank you Roger!
There’s no need for pre-flashing, or even film, today but I still find these processes, and how people used them to achieve certain goals, very interesting.
A follow up question since you mentioned ENR.
Aesthetic saturation is much easier to achieve than aesthetic desaturation in a digital pipeline in my opinion.
With silver retention techniques, do you know if there was anything special about the desaturation of colors? Was it an even process or were some colors or densities more affected than others?
Since many movies that used it then still had digital color correction afterwards, it’s not easy to tell just from looking at the films.
Wow, thank you so much, David.
The ‘black/white paint’ analogy helps me understand the impact on color.
There is an element of anarchy in these analog processes that are not present in the digital world. To be clear, I don’t think they are missing or needed, nonetheless I find them – and the way people found ways to tame, mold and then use them – fascinating.
Thanks again.
I love barrel distortion. I think it is also widely considered a “cinematic” trait as often found in anamorphic lenses.
You may want to watch Steve Yedlin’s very interesting presentation “Debunking HDR”, recoded at FotoKem; Roger and James were in attendance. You find it on his website.
Yedlin also joined Team Deakins Podcast again recently to discuss this topic as it can be very confusing (and misleading) even for professionals. I can’t include links, otherwise it won’t let me post a comment.
I think starting with your phone is perfectly fine for the following reason.
Also, I have a second question: what is cinematography really about? Is it mostly about lighting, emotions, or something else?
It’s goal is to help tell the story. The story dictates many of the decisions.
Everyone talks about Roger Deakins’ lighting but in my opinion the more critical quality is “putting the audience where they need to be”. Simplified it means where he puts the camera, and thus us, the viewer. From shot to shot and as a scene, he is one of the best, maybe the best, to do this. He could shoot a movie without lighting at all and it would still work and be terrific because of this skill.
And this is what you can study and then practice just with your phone – learn about framing and putting the audience where they need to be.
In my experience this can happen when you start out and work on small projects. The more serious the work gets with time, the less this should happen. If you feel you are stuck in the kind of projects (and contacts) that won’t let you progress, try to take it step by step and build a portfolio you are proud to show, however possible.
It seems clear that the role of cinema as a moral guide may be somewhat overrated.
I don’t think it’s overrated, it’s not like you watch a movie and that molds your views forever. “Come and See” is still one of the most powerful anti-war movies but a single movie – even when you played the lead role in it 40 years ago – cannot negate decades of state propaganda that floods your everyday life.
It makes me question the power of cinema
I think it better showcases the power of propaganda. The russian propaganda is telling their people that they are fighting Nazis in Ukraine, defending Russia from Nazism. So the actor may really believe that he is in the same position as his character in Come and See. Of course it is not true but that is what millions of russians are told every day since many years, with all opposing voices being crushed, and a large part does believe this narrative.
I often cannot post links, photos, sometimes I cannot post at all. It’s always the “too many redirects” error (it is not on the user side).
It would be great if someone knowledgeable could fix these errors.
