American Cinematographer - June 2012 - 64c

2-perf Format
Advantageous to Budget and Schedule
Director Hyung-Suk Lee and director of cinematography
Sung-Kuk Lee shot the short fi lm Two Boys and a Sheep with funds
from the Korean Film Council’s Production Support Program for
Independent Films. For several reasons, the fi lmmakers chose
to use 2-perf KODAK VISION3 500T Color Negative Film 5219,
making it the fi rst Korean production in that format.
“The fi lm is about two diametrically-opposed lifestyles,
homosexuality and heterosexuality,” explains Sung-Kuk. “We
wanted to portray these lifestyles with the dramatic space they
deserve, and this would be almost impossible in a digital format.
Only 35mm fi lm accurately conveys the emotions of the characters,
and allows audiences not merely to see or hear the movie, but also
to experience it.
“The movie had to be fi lmed right before sunset with the unstable
glow from the sun, and we knew that 5219 Film would provide
the appropriate dynamic range,” adds the cinematographer. “We
attempted to use natural light as much as possible with the correct
exposure, which is one of the advantages of the fi lm format. By
enhancing shadow detail and by setting highlighting around faces,
we accentuated the skin tones to describe the emotional state of
each character. Using different lenses (a wide-angle lens for outdoor
shooting and a telephoto for indoors), we were able to introduce
variation into the shots, so that despite the fact that all the ‘action’
takes place in one day, the audience is engaged by visual clues.”
The two creatives agreed that shooting in the 2-perf format gave
them advantages in terms of both budget and time. Sung-Kuk says,
“We went through test shooting during pre-production and concluded
that there is little difference in image quality between the 2-perf and
4-perf format. You might think there’s an inevitable frame loss since
2-perf is done with half the existing frame, but by setting frame loss
to zero, enormous fi nancial resources can be saved. In other words,
choosing 2-perf gave us the fl exibility to spend on other production
elements such as production design, lighting, crew and actors.
“The 2-perf format also reduces the number of roll changes,
thus reducing loading time,” he continues. “This meant we were
free from the ‘rolling out’ effect that can interfere with the actors’
emotional fl ow.”
The fi lmmakers point out that one of the last shots of the movie
was also one of the most important. They wanted to shoot it
handheld and it was a long take–longer than one minute–which
tracked fi ve characters and an animal. Since the 2-perf format fi ts
twice as many widescreen images on a given length of 35mm
fi lm, slashing raw stock and processing costs in half compared to
conventional 4-perf 35mm formats, the fi lmmakers report they
felt free to set as many takes for this scene as needed because the
2-perf format was so cost effective.
A DI was completed using scanned 4K images that were
recorded out to fi lm. Two Boys and a Sheep will be submitted to
various international fi lm festivals as a 35mm print.
Photo:
Taking a dolly shot on the panther, Director of
Cinematography Sung-Kuk Lee follows a man
(Kwan-Jae Ko) from the back to take a tracking shot.
(Credit: Courtesy of Hyung-Suk Lee)
“Only 35mm film accurately
conveys the emotions of
the characters, and allows
audiences not merely to see
or hear the movie, but also
to experience it.”
American Cinematographer - June 2012

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