American Cinematographer - December 2021 - 22

FEAR IS THE MIND KILLER
Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) on
one of the production's elaborate sets,
lit with " sunlight " fixtures aimed through
specifically constructed light wells.
Hybrid Finishing: Digital to Film (and Back)
One of the creative mandates on Dune was to ground the movie's
fantastical world in realism. This priority led director Denis Villeneuve
and cinematographer Greig Fraser, ASC, ACS to finish the
picture with a hybrid of photochemical and digital technologies at
FotoKem.
" We weren't sure in the early days if we would shoot film or digital,
and our extensive testing included 35mm, 65mm 5-perf, 65mm
15-perf, digital 35, digital full frame and digital 65, " says Fraser.
" We found digital was much closer to the look we wanted, but we
also wanted some of the organic feel of film.
" I'd been talking to [FotoKem senior colorist and ASC associate
member] Dave Cole for many years about taking a digital master,
shooting it out to film, and then scanning it to do the final grade, "
continues Fraser, who first worked with Cole on Vice (AC Jan.
'19). " We finally tested that on Dune, and it gave us the perfect
balance. "
Cole's work on Dune began early in preproduction with visual
tests, as well as developing LUTs that included a skip-bleach
emulation that the filmmakers applied to scenes on the desert
planet Arrakis. After Cole and the filmmakers completed their main
color-correction pass of the film in the color suite, Cole supervised
a laser-recording film-out to Kodak Vision3 5254 digital-intermediate
film stock, which was then scanned back to a digital source,
and final grading touches were applied to the new photochemical/
digital hybrid.
" This wasn't a traditional film-out process, " Cole says. " Before
filming out, we processed the timed digital master, carefully
22 / DECEMBER 2021
treating the toe and shoulder of the image so that once we
recorded it to film and scanned it back, we'd retain the full range
of latitude and detail. Once it was scanned, Joseph Slomka [vice
president and principal color scientist at FotoKem] worked some
digital magic to make sure that when it got back into my hands, it
had the same range of image information it would have had if we
hadn't done the film-out.
" We chose 5254 because it has a 1 ISO, so the grain is really
tight, " Cole continues. " When you blow it up for Imax, which was
the intention for Dune, that grain is amplified, but only enough
that it feels like what you'd expect from Imax film negative. The
whole process wasn't just about the grain, though; it was about
everything you get from the optical process, including how the dye
layers interrelate, how light halates through them, the imperfection
of dye couplers, and the slight gate weave and breathing and softness.
Those are the artifacts we wanted to embrace. We wanted to
give the film a more organic and grounded feel. "
" The process added a depth and substance to the image that's
a bit intangible, " Fraser says. " There used to be all sorts of film
stocks we could choose for their character, and with this concept
we can bring film back into the workflow and experiment with all
it has to offer. What stock will you record out to? Will you push or
pull that development? It unlocks a beautiful door for cinematographers
and can give us creative control that far exceeds what can
be done with LUTs and coloring. "
- Jay Holben
American Cinematographer - December 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - December 2021
