nofilmschool » celluloid

Get Your Canon T2i/T3i, GH3, Nikon D800, & More Looking Like Film with FilmConvert's Newest Update

Joe Marine — Tue, 14 May 2013 00:42:45 +0000

During the NAB 2013 show, FilmConvert, the film emulation color grading program/plugin that actually maps color profiles to specific film stocks, was updated with support for the Blackmagic Cinema Camera, GoPro HERO3, Canon 7D, and 60D, as well as newer profiles for the Canon 5D Mark II and Mark III. Now, in the newest update, they’ve added the Panasonic GH3, Nikon D800 and D7000, in addition to the Canon T2i/T3i. Read on for more about the update, including a new ability to apply film color and contrast separately. (more…)

End of an Era: Fuji Officially Ends Production of Motion Picture Film

Dave Kendricken — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 23:59:01 +0000

It’s seems like an eternity (or a brief instant, maybe) since Ryan first posted about the cessation of major manufacturers’ development and production of motion picture film cameras, and not quite as long since Joe updated us on the all the more tenuous vitality of the only two companies actually making celluloid film, Kodak and Fuji. What’s been announced before is now an all-but-undeniable reality for Fuji, who have just confirmed the company’s plans to bring its production of motion picture film to a full, complete, and permanent dead halt. Read the full scoop below before the ink fully dries on this fairly somber confirmation. (more…)

Film Looks the Easy Way: FilmConvert Now Supports Canon C300 and Arri Alexa, BMCC Coming Soon

Joe Marine — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 15:54:51 +0000

A solid color grade can very quickly take the edge off an image that looks “too digital.” If you don’t have much time to spend on said color grade, but you’d like to get a great look very easily, a film LUT that attempts to recreate some of the magic we get from Kodak and Fuji stocks could serve you well. We’ve discussed FilmConvert a bit before, but basically it’s either a standalone program or a plugin for the major Apple and Adobe products that uses the color science of the specific camera you’re using in order to precisely match the film stocks they have in their system. Now they’ve introduced another update, this time including support for the Canon C300 and the Arri Alexa. (more…)

Polaroid, Technicolor, Kodak: With the Branded Beast Extinct, What Becomes of the Brand?

Dave Kendricken — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 09:29:21 +0000

In the whirlwind of hyperactive change that is Moore’s Law, branding can be a prime anchor point. Brand identity fights the tendency toward ‘the new’ with powerful invocations of the past: nostalgia, reliability, simplicity, and the association of that brand name with the creation of very dear memories. Granted, nostalgia alone can’t save anyone from bankruptcy — but it’s a start. Polaroid, Technicolor, and Kodak are prime examples of this interplay, and each is adapting in its own ways — though there’s some overlap. Not one, but two of these traditionally film-based companies are even releasing digital cameras. In whatever the way, each of the three is working toward the preservation of its own historic brand name — which do you think will pull through? (more…)

Kodak Lives! Company Will Likely Be out of Bankruptcy in 2013

Joe Marine — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 20:19:35 +0000

Kodak has been making motion picture film since the beginning of cinema, but earlier in 2012 it looked like the company was on its last legs. Fuji also announced last year that it would no longer be making motion picture at all, so 2012 very well could have been the end of celluloid as we knew it. But Kodak isn’t throwing in the towel yet, as a court decision has approved $844 million in financing from multiple deals and sources in order to emerge from bankruptcy sometime this year. (more…)

'Beasts of the Southern Wild' Surprises with 4 Oscar Nods, and is This the Last Major Year for Celluloid?

Joe Marine — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 02:05:39 +0000

It’s that time of year again, when Hollywood nominates the ~~films that ran the best Oscar campaigns~~ best films from the previous year in a number of categories. Even just being nominated for an Academy Award is usually an honor for most of these filmmakers and actors, and many of them have been on the ballot a number of times. Probably the most interesting selection is Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild, a true independent film not just in budget but in spirit, which was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and the youngest Best Actress nomination ever in Quvenzhané Wallis. What’s even more interesting is how many of these films were still shot on actual film, but how long will that last? (more…)

Choosing Super 16mm over Digital and the Cinematography of 'Beasts of the Southern Wild'

Joe Marine — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 00:54:19 +0000

It seems like there have been tons of posts about this movie, but The Creators Project has been slowly releasing their exclusive Behind the Scenes videos over the course of the last few months. We’ve taken a look at the score and other aspects, but now we’ve got a video with Director of Photography Ben Richardson talking about the aesthetic of the film and their choice to shoot on celluloid as opposed to digital. (more…)

Kodak Not Down for the Count Yet, Announces a New Super 8mm Stock to Prove It

Joe Marine — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 03:15:36 +0000

Maybe things aren’t looking that bad for Kodak after all? The company looked like they were on the verge of collapse not too long ago, and by closing down some of its businesses and shuffling others around, it seems they may once again be solvent. Early last month they made a deal for interim and exit financing to continue functioning and finish reorganization (and leave Chapter 11) by the first half of next year. They’ve also introduced a brand new Super 8mm film stock — though you’ll have a difficult time actually finding a place to develop said film. (more…)

Want Film-Like GH2 Footage? FilmConvert Now Supports GH2, More Canon Profiles, and Final Cut Pro 7

Joe Marine — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 19:11:16 +0000

Not too long ago we told you about a color corrector plugin/standalone software solution from Rubber Monkey that not only tries to mimic the looks of many film stocks, but does it in a way that is particular to the exact camera you’re using. Until now the only cameras that were guaranteed to work properly with FilmConvert to achieve the specific look were Canon DSLRs and RED cameras, but now they are adding support for the Panasonic GH2, as well as support for more Canon picture profiles, and a brand new plugin for Final Cut Pro 7. (more…)

Where on Earth is David Lynch? The Director's Hiatus from Cinema (and Film's Future) Discussed

Dave Kendricken — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 18:30:52 +0000

If you’ve noticed off-hand that the world — and particularly that of cinema — has been missing a little bit of a beloved strangeness recently, there’s a possibility that’s because David Lynch hasn’t made a feature film since 2006′s MiniDV-shot Inland Empire. He’s been active (and acting, in several cases) in media of other kinds, and directed a 2010 promotional short for Dior, but I for one have found myself wondering what exactly has been stopping him from a return to the big screen. Thanks to a recent interview with Lynch by the Hollywood Reporter, we now know his opinion on the internet and the digital future of film, plus answers to the question my title poses both in the spiritual and literal sense. (more…)

Film is Dead, or So We've Heard. Then Again, We've Also Heard of Zombies

Dave Kendricken — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 00:14:51 +0000

We’re all, I’m sure, very familiar with the phrase “Film is Dead” and the like by this point. And that very well seems to be true, because of a perfect storm of emergent technologies — between the high-quality digital acquisition now possible and the the distribution possibilities offered by the internet, celluloid may finally be uttering its climactic guttural death-rattle. What some of us (including myself) may not think about as much, though, is how many times cinema itself has supposedly been finished in the past. An article by The Village Voice highlights how many times over each decade since its inception film has been declared deceased, and why. (more…)

The Future of Cinematography is Here, and It's Digital: But How Do the DPs Feel About It?

Dave Kendricken — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 03:00:03 +0000

We live in a time of unparalleled choice. The number and types of high-powered tools of our trade has never been this great, nor have advancements and price thereof been in such aggressive opposition to each other before. We’re definitely at the midpoint of a truly glacial shift – that’s glacial in magnitude, not time elapsed — and we’re all pretty well aware of the technology available to us. Something we don’t get to hear about half as often, though, is what the men and women in the creative realm most directly tied to this technology, cinematography, have to say about it, or their view of the brave new world in which we all work and strive to remain relevant. Film and Digital Times has just posted some fantastic pamphlets of short essays written by a number of working cinematographers, and the perspectives within are a must-read. (more…)

Must-Watch Excerpt from Lynne Ramsay's Hauntingly Beautiful Black and White 35mm Film 'Swimmer'

Joe Marine — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 04:48:16 +0000

It’s not often that an excerpt of a film is enough to satisfy me, but that was exactly the case with a clip from Lynne Ramsay’s (Ratcatcher, Morvern Callar, We Need to Talk About Kevin) short film Swimmer. As part of the 2012 Olympics, a number of British filmmakers were commissioned to make films, and they were shown before the games in London earlier this year. While it doesn’t seem like all of them have been released in full anywhere else, if you did happen to see them, I just might be a little jealous, especially since the excerpt from Ramsay’s gorgeous black and white 35mm short film is so enticing. Click through to check it out. (more…)

Fuji Ceasing Motion Picture Film Production, Kodak is on Life Support. Is Celluloid Done For?

Joe Marine — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 17:40:51 +0000

About a year ago, the last motion picture film camera rolled off the assembly line, marking a historic day in film history. Now we have Fujifilm deciding that it will no longer be producing motion picture film, and Kodak is continuing its bankruptcy proceedings, selling off its still photography division, and ending its printer business. Just five years ago, the idea that motion picture film may be going the way of the dinosaur was unimaginable. Sure, RED had come along and given us the first real glimpse of the true digital replacement, but the technology still seemed a long ways off. With the economic downturn — and certainly some mismanagement along the way — Kodak was the first to show signs of danger, and now Fuji sees the writing on the wall, and is getting out of the game before it’s too late. But what else will contribute to the demise of film? (more…)

FilmConvert: the Best Film Stock Emulator You've Ever Seen

Joe Marine — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 22:11:24 +0000

We’ve said a lot about the digital versus film debate, and a lot of people have a lot of different opinions. Film still had a technological advantage over digital until really the last few years or so, and now we have digital sensors which can match or exceed film stocks with dynamic range. Either way, with digital sensors being “too clean” for some people who have loved the look of film, there is a program called FilmConvert that takes the color information of specific cameras and actually uses that to determine how a specific film stock could best be represented using that sensor. Click through for some videos of the program in action. (more…)

Digital Scanning Unlocks the Earliest Known Color Motion Pictures Ever Found

Joe Marine — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 22:40:13 +0000

Ironically, thanks to digital technology, we are now able to appreciate what is the earliest known color motion picture film ever made. The Lee-Turner color process was developed by Edward Turner and Frederick Lee over a hundred years ago. The first known example of that process was found in the National Media Museum in the UK and has finally been made available through digital scanning. The film has been dated to 1901/02, and with the help of BFI National Archive experts, they were able to restore the footage and view it as it was intended. Check out the video below for some motion picture history: (more…)

How to Make Digital Look Like (Grainy) Film: CineGrain Review

Ryan Koo — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:39:37 +0000

Celluloid is expensive. And besides, literally nobody makes film cameras anymore. But it does have a very particular aesthetic, one chief component of which is grain. There is a grit to film that today’s digital cameras lack, and while there are plenty of plugins out there to simulate this grit, there are no substitutes for the real artifacts. The guys at CineGrain took dozens of different film stocks and painstakingly scanned them in, delivering authentic grain, dirt, headers, tails, lens flares, and flash frames on a nice branded hard drive. Film grain isn’t appropriate for every project, but if you want your video to look like grainy 35mm, 16mm, or 8mm — but can’t shoot the real thing — you’ll find CineGrain to be a handy addition to your toolbox of tricks. (more…)

After 123 Years, Motion Picture Film Cameras Go Out of Production

Ryan Koo — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 14:09:13 +0000

Film is beautiful. It’s going to be around for years to come. Plenty of feature films and TV shows are still being shot on film, and used film cameras will remain a viable rental market for a long time. But in the last several months, the major manufacturers of motion picture cameras — ARRI, Panavision and Aaton — have all ceased production of film cameras. Celluloid, you’ve had a great 123-year run. So long, and thanks for all the fish! (more…)

Archiving movies: digital or celluloid?

Ryan Koo — Fri, 07 May 2010 16:00:45 +0000

Fascinating story over at Creative Cow about the Library of Congress’s efforts to preserve motion pictures, from today’s digitally-shot features to films printed on paper in 1890. According to homie at the Library of Congress (that’s probably the first time someone at the Library of Congress has been called “homie”), if stored at 25 degrees Fahrenheit and 30% relative humidity, 35mm motion picture film will last for 2,000 years! Which poses some interested questions when compared to digital archiving. (more…)