Altered Images: From Filters to Film Stock

Posted November 17th, 2009 / By Drew Wiltsey in Curated, Films, Visual Effects

Prologue

Noteworthy filmmakers have always had a healthy vision of what their film should look like. Utilizing a myriad of camera and editing techniques combined with the keen eye of the cinematographer, the filmmaker can make the most profound statements with visuals, budget notwithstanding.

One of my favorite tricks up the filmmakers sleeve is the use of film stock itself. Every time an advance in technology was achieved, the filmmaker had yet another possibility to play around with it to achieve their vision. Think of Douglas Sirk and his arguably surreal use of technicolor or the 16mm black & white film favored in the early work of Jim Jarmusch; the stock itself becomes a silent narrator, it’s own particular mannerisms contributing to our emotional reaction of the story lines and plot points.

Let’s take a look at a few films and filmmakers who have taken stock, filters and the D.I.Y. approach one step further to achieve their unique look.

Film Stock

Buffalo 66 (1998) written and directed by Vincent Gallo is an amazing film in its own right as anyone who’s seen it knows. It was indeed a labor of love and like all films had its budget wall — when the proposed music budget was added up, it came to $22,000 dollars and Vincent had to settle for $11,000, throwing in $6,000 of his own cash to secure the Yes and King Krimson tracks he wanted for the film.

His other mainstay was that it be shot on color reversal film which had to be manufactured as it normally doesn’t exist. It’s a good thing he stuck to his guns on this one because the result is very impressive,  giving the film a washed out look straight out of the 50s/60s tinged with a lovely gloss:

Fort Apache (1948) directed by John Ford is certainly not an art film and yet his constant attention to detail throughout his career certainly separates his westerns from the standard fare. A great director in his own right, Ford was never shy to embrace technology and apply it to his vision. Although the video clip available here doesn’t come close to a quality example of the film itself, Fort Apache has a wonderfully unique quality — the outdoor scenes were shot in infrared film, giving the landscape and clouds this stark, bright and crisp look with quite a bit more contrast than traditional film stocks could provide. Really lovely on DVD. Really crappy in this clip:

Rumble Fish (1983) is one of those films that slid right under the radar. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, it’s his second film adaptation of the work of author S. E. Hinton, the first being The Outsiders. It was shot directly after production ended on the Outsiders and even used a few of the same actors. Even though it was quite a bit more arty than its predecessor, its all-star cast and coat tail credibility based on the success of The Outsiders should have been enough to secure it somewhere on someone’s required viewing list but no. Shot in black & white (completely unheard of in 1983) with small bursts of color footage and colorized elements (think brightly colored Siamese fighting fish in a b&w fishtank) combined with it’s flamboyant West Side Story style blocking and dialogue, it was just a little too ahead of its time to be a hit. Look closely for the small burst of color in the trailer:

Filters

Traffic (2000) in my opinion changed everything. Directer Steven Soderbergh had to really fight to get this film made not only because of the controversial subject of drug trafficking but for his concept of separating the three storylines within the film using three different colored filters — one for each story. Although there was nothing new about lens filters, they were mostly used for music videos, sci-fi scenes and plenty of student art films and at best used to control lighting issues in mainstream films. Producers were naturally a little concerned about a 2 & 1/2 hour film about drugs with these drastic ‘color coded’ storylines.

The effect did give the film a distinct look. A look that was so fresh it was quickly used by everyone and soon became normal. From T.V. shows like CSI to countless modern horror films, filters are everywhere — thanks to the success of Traffic and Soderbergh (who also shot the film under a false name):

Twilight of the Ice Nymphs (1997) like all Guy Maddin films, Twilight of the Ice Nymphs has that very distinct, altered look — dusty film, black & white film shot on ancient cameras (sometimes coming out sepia or blue). However, this film deviates from his previous efforts in that area to a more cotton candy dreamscape reality created through lighting, unorthodox camera settings and filters resulting in a color explosion with wonderful bleeds and blurs.

What we see in this clip is the classic vaseline around the corner of a lens trick (sorry about the French guy talking over it):

D.I.Y.

Decasia (2002) is a film constructed by Bill Morrison using reels of old decayed nitrate film containing silent films circa 1900s. Nitrate film is quite unstable and if old reels are not properly stored they either catch on fire or rot. Decasia takes advantage of these barely surviving reels by weaving their various states of decay together into something that is pure art. Lacking any plot, what we see are random images from forgotten films reels, aged and decayed and slowed down for maximum enjoyment. Beautiful damage becomes the only reoccurring character throughout this amazing film:

Mothlight (1963) made by Stan Brakhage. No treatise on treated film would be complete without mentioning Stan Brakhage. His hands-on approach, literally painting and pasting onto film stock has produced some truly unique material. Mothlight consists of moth wings and moth parts glued to 8mm film and run through the projector to achieve the fabulous result we see here:

Conclusion

With the advent of digital technology, filmmakers are no longer tied to the limitations of the camera and much less dependent on the advances in film stock as a medium.  From complicated CGI to the simplest plug-in, we can create (virtually) endless canvasses to paint on, and count on a healthy amount of possibilities in post production, possibilities a few of the above mentioned film never had. These films stand out because they all share forethought in their pre production. Forethought in exactly how they would achieve the very fixed style they were seeking. I know for myself that I can easily include the very concept of possibilities when thinking of style for a particular project instead of choosing from possibilities to form a set of rules to work with.

From motion graphics to film making to graphic design, we can all take something away from the concepts demonstrated in these films, particularly that the medium itself can play a key roll in conveying a message. Further still, by altering that medium and therefore giving the medium more prominence, we give it a distinct personality in which to deliver our message.

Drew Wiltsey is a graphic designer, producer under the moniker , and writer. When he’s not working, he’s either contemplating humanity, drinking too much or reading a book. He lives and works in Portland, Oregon. You can also find him on .