35mm lab processing - dead in a digital age?

Ryan E. Walters

Ryan E. Walters

Well-known member
So I have enjoyed John's thread about shooting in 1.85 or 2.35, so I thought that I would start up another discussion on a similar topic. (I've felt for a while now that the cinematography section is very lacking in talking about the "why's" of cinematography. Any monkey can figure out the "how's"- it is the "why's" that really set peopel apart.)

On to my question, and this is especially for those of you who work with film:

With all of the processes that can be done in the lab do you think that film will ever dissapear? The digital coloring and fx that I have seen done on digital films is great, but there seems to be a different quality to lab processing that sets it apart from anything that can be done in the computer.

The most popular effect that I've seen done via computer is the bleach bypass look- but there are so many others- flashing the negative, flashing the positive, ENR, pushing or pulling the stock, effecting the interpositive, effecting the internegative, or any combination of the preceeding.

Doing these kind of treatments to the film stock can be very expensive, and with everything moving to digital anyway, will the lab be phased out of exsistence? (Studios are after all a business, and lower cost means higher return.)

So what do all of you think- will 35mm film, and lab processing die out, will it always be around? And why do you think so? What sets one apart from the other?
 
It will become the exception rather than common practice, but it will never die out. To verify that just look at the sound world, some people still record analog
 
Here in Los Angeles, the location of CFI (they've been a corner stone of film developing since the early 1900's) was bulldozed last year. Nothing remains, not even the buildings. FotoKem, another important film lab in town, is rumored to have laid off hundreds.
 
Are you strictly referring to lab procedure, such as telecine or DI? As long as people are shooting film, their will always be both. I don't think it will ever become entirely DI, as their are a lot of old school guys out there who just prefer the process of standard telecine over Digital Intermediate.
 
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I wouldn't say never because as the old dogs move out and the new ones move in with digital experience only there will be and eventual fade out. Maybe not in our lifetime but its coming.
 
film is going to stay for a while. some people don't want to mess with the whole digital work flow, and if you have to print back to film, DI cost ALOT.

I don't think fotokem could lay off "hundreds" because I don't think they have hundreds of employees.

also, film lasts for a while...and when its starting to lose its quailty, you can tell, and new prints can be made. with digital, hardrives crash and thats it...

I think if the budget can use film, most will still use it.
 
Andrew Brinkhaus said:
Are you strictly referring to lab procedure, such as telecine or DI?
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I'm thinking of more then just telecine or DI- there seem to be looks that can't be duplicated in video, CC or other digital manipulation- as in my example of bleach bypass processing- the filters out there in apps do a decent job at replicating it, but it still feels different then seeing a lab processed effect.

Maybe it is just a matter of time before the digital effect becomes just as good? Will it ever be as good or are there natural limitations of the digital format that mean that it will never get exactly "right"?
 
Beat Takeshi said:
I wouldn't say never because as the old dogs move out and the new ones move in with digital experience only there will be and eventual fade out. Maybe not in our lifetime but its coming.
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That is a good point- and everyone seems to be looking for more affordable ways to make films. (Look at most of us for example- very few of us are shooting film for our own projects.) So as the digital format becomes more robust and more affordable, that may continue to push everything towards digital ...
 
I don't think film is going to "die" any time soon. It just looks so much gosh darn better, especially when projected, by a bazillion. I do agree, however, that independent projects, where budget really matters, will move more and more toward digital. But the big bucks (ie. studios) are going to use film, period.

I also agree that the trend will move towards DI for "looks" as it gives filmmakers and their DP's a hell of a lot more control than what can be done in a film lab.

Personally, if I was given a choice between shooting something digital and shooting something on film, budget not a factor, you better believe I'd shoot on good ol' Kodak. :thumbsup:
 
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