American Cinematographer - January 2016 - 64f

EDITING THE STUNNING

70MM 1:2.76
ASPECT RATIO OF

Quentin Tarantino has shot all of his films on 35mm, only
experimenting with digital when he guest-directed a scene in Robert
Rodriguez's Sin City. The Oscar®-winning Pulp Fiction director's eighth
full-length feature sees him revisit the Western genre after Django
Unchained, which was his first collaboration with editor Fred Raskin,
ACE (Guardians of the Galaxy, Fast & Furious).

not absolutely necessary seems somewhat criminal. The handheld
shaky-cam that dominates modern Hollywood cinema is nowhere to
be found here. If the camera moves, it's on a dolly. This visual style
contributes to the atmosphere of tension and dread that builds up
over the course of the movie."

Set in 1870s Wyoming, The Hateful Eight traps a rogue's gallery
of characters in an isolated location during a snowstorm, with no
certainty as to who can be trusted. Shot by Robert Richardson,
ASC, and widely distributed in 70mm, the look of the film helps
define the period.

"Shooting digitally was never
going to be an option, as it would
automatically add an element of
phoniness to the proceedings."
The footage was sent to FotoKem in Burbank for processing. The
65mm negative arrived daily for processing, printing, transfer, and
creation of dailies files. All transfers matched the film print color
timing, as a custom LUT was created to emulate the 70mm print.
FotoKem also restored a decommissioned 70mm Prevost flatbed
from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences to assist in
the rare process of syncing 70mm print dailies, adding DV40 audio
sync playback on the flatbed.

"Shooting digitally was never going to be an option, as it would
automatically add an element of phoniness to the proceedings,"
observes Raskin. "The warmth and the tight grain of the film stock
contribute to the reality of the era. And of course, Bob Richardson's
lighting and the 1:2.76 compositions combine to make this an
absolutely stunning picture."
The visual style of the movie is classical Hollywood, but with that
unique Tarantino imprint. Many of the director's signature shots pop
up: the split-field diopter and the hard profiles of the actors talking to
each other, for example.
"I think we probably held wide shots longer than ever before thanks
to the 70mm format and its 1:2.76 aspect ratio," says Raskin. "When
the image is that striking and well-composed, cutting away when
KODAK INCAMERA

"Whenever I finished working with Quentin for the day, I would
go over the work that we'd done and make a handful of tweaks and
adjustments," explains Raskin of the workflow. "Then I would turn the
sequence over to my first assistant so that the following morning, the
film crew could start conforming the section we'd completed the day
before. We had to keep the film crew conforming, so that when we
finished a pass on the entire movie, it would only take an extra day or
two before we were able to screen the work picture."
The photochemical finish, including time for negative cutting and
color-timing, meant that Raskin and Tarantino had to have the cut
locked before beginning to mix the film. "The upside, obviously, is
that we were able to spend more time focusing on the mix," says
Raskin. "The downside is that our time to cut the movie was forced to
be a month shorter."
While on location in Telluride, Colorado, the production installed
a 70mm projector at the Mason's Hall - one of the venues used
for screenings during the Telluride Film Festival. When the footage
came back from FotoKem, film assistants Paula Suhy and Michael
Backauskas would sync it up.
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - January 2016
