American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 98

Post Focus While supervising the grading of Criterion’s recent DVD of Days of Heaven, John Bailey, ASC and director Terrence Malick sought to downplay the golden, nostalgic hues that characterized previous video incarnations. Revisiting Days of Heaven by Jim Hemphill In the years since its 1978 theatrical release, Terrence Malick’s Days of Heaven has attained mythic status for film lovers, and the poetic images achieved by the late Néstor Almendros, ASC (with additional photography by Haskell Wexler, ASC) are considered a landmark of motion-picture photography. When Paramount Pictures and The Criterion Collection undertook a restoration of the picture, they were therefore keen to bring a cinematographer’s eye to their work. John Bailey, ASC, who operated for Almendros on the film and considered him a mentor, joined the Criterion team in the telecine suite. “Over the years, in different transfers, Days of Heaven took on an overly nostalgic, golden look,” says Bailey. “My principal mandate was to return the film as closely as I could to what I felt Néstor 98 January 2008 would have wanted. Néstor didn’t like an overly sentimentalized look, nor, I think, did Haskell.” When Paramount agreed to license the title to Criterion, Lee Kline, Criterion’s technical director, and Gregg Garvin, a colorist at Modern Videofilm, evaluated the two existing interpositives (IPs) and found flaws on both. One had gorgeous color but was marred by chemical stains on the left side of the frame that became more pronounced as the film progressed, and the other was soft and muddy and “had no life,” Kline recalls. Kline proposed that a new 35mm element be struck, and Paramount agreed to share the expense with Criterion. Barry Allen, Paramount’s executive director of film preservation, examined all of the studio’s materials, including dailies, test prints and answer prints, and ultimately decided to strike an IP from the original negative. “The negative was in A and B reels, so certain things, like dissolves and the title sequence, had to be printed through an optical printer,” says Kline. The new IP was created at Triage Motion Picture Services, a boutique lab in Hollywood. “Triage does a good job with these older titles that need a little more TLC,” says Kline. “Finding people who still have the experience to print the old-fashioned way is a little hard to do.” After verifying the new IP was acceptable for transfer, Garvin and Criterion’s Transfer Supervisor Maria Palazzola did an initial color correction at Modern VideoFilm, using Paramount’s most recent NTSC master as a reference. (The IP was graded on a Spirit Datacine using a da Vinci 2K, and the master was recorded to Panasonic D5.) After Garvin’s first pass, Bailey came in to review the results. His initial suggestion was to mute the golden warmth that had come to characterize previous video incarnations of the picture. “Except for the obvious magic- Photos courtesy of The Criterion Collection.

American Cinematographer - January 2008

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - January 2008

American Cinematographer - January 2008
Contents
Editor's Note
Short Takes: Madame Tutli-Putli
Production Slate: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The Great Debaters
Blood for Oil
Very Close Shaves
A Rogue Politician
A Bulletproof Cinematographer
Post Focus: Restoring Days of Heaven, Achieving Color Symmetry, HPA Awards
New Products & Services
International Marketplace
Classified Ads
Ad Index
In Memoriam: Roderick Ryan, ASC
Clubhouse News
ASC Close-Up: Glen MacPherson
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - Intro
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - American Cinematographer - January 2008
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 1
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 2
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - Contents
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 4
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 5
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 6
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 7
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - Editor's Note
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 9
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - Short Takes: Madame Tutli-Putli
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 11
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 12
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 13
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 14
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 15
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 16
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 17
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - Production Slate: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The Great Debaters
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 19
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 20
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 21
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 22
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 23
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 24
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 25
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 26
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 27
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 28
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 29
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 30
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 31
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 32
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 33
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 34
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 35
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - Blood for Oil
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 37
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 38
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 39
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 40
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 41
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 42
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 43
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 44
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 45
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 46
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 47
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 48
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - BRC1
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - BRC2
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 49
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 50
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 51
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 52
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 53
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 54
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 55
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - Very Close Shaves
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 57
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 58
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 59
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 60
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 61
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 62
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 63
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 64
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 65
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 66
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 67
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 68
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 69
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - A Rogue Politician
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 71
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 72
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 73
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 74
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 75
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 76
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 77
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 78
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 79
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 80
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 81
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - A Bulletproof Cinematographer
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 83
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 84
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 85
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 86
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 87
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 88
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 89
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 90
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 91
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 92
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 93
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 94
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 95
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 96
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 97
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - Post Focus: Restoring Days of Heaven, Achieving Color Symmetry, HPA Awards
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 99
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 100
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 101
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 102
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 103
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 104
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 105
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - New Products & Services
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 107
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 108
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 109
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 110
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 111
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 112
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 113
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 114
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 115
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 116
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 117
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - International Marketplace
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - Classified Ads
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - Ad Index
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - In Memoriam: Roderick Ryan, ASC
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - Clubhouse News
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - 123
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - ASC Close-Up: Glen MacPherson
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - Cover3
American Cinematographer - January 2008 - Cover4
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