The Last Colour Negative Motion Picture Film In The World: Kodak Vision 3

INTRODUCTION

Shooting on film, in both photography and in the world of cinema, has seen a bit of a resurgence in recent times. After the release of capable, high end digital cinema cameras - like the Arri Alexa in 2010 - many may have thought that the era of shooting movies photochemically was done and dusted. However, over a decade later, motion picture film still exists.

But, unlike in photography where there are still quite a few different films to choose from, in the world of motion picture film there is only one commercially mass produced category of colour negative film that remains. From one company. Kodak Vision 3.

So, let’s use this video to examine the last remaining range of film stocks, go over how to choose the right film, how to identify each stock’s specifications based on the label of their film can, and talk about the visual characteristics that contribute to the ‘shot on Kodak’ look.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT FILM

When cinematographers shoot on film there are three basic criteria that will inform what film stock they choose to shoot on: the gauge, the speed and the colour balance.

First, you need to decide what gauge or size of film you will shoot on. This may be determined on the basis of budget, or due to a stylistic choice based on the look of the format.

The four standardised film sizes to choose from are: 8mm, 16mm, 35mm and 65mm.

The smaller the width of the film is, the less of it you need to use and the cheaper it will be but the less sharpness, clarity and more grain it will have. The larger the width of the film, the more you will need, the more expensive it’ll be and the higher fidelity and less grain it will have.

Next, you’ll need to decide on what film speed you want to shoot at. This is a measurement of how sensitive the film is to light and is comparable to EI or ISO on a digital camera.

Basically, the more light you’re shooting in, the lower the film speed needs to be. So bright, sunny exteriors can be shot on a 50 speed film, while dark interiors need to be shot on a 500 speed film.

Finally, films come in two colour balances: daylight and tungsten. This refers to the colour temperature of the light source that they are designed to be shot in. So when shooting under natural sunlight or with film lights like HMIs that have a colour temperature of approximately 5,500K it’s recommended to use a daylight stock. When shooting with warmer tungsten light sources, a tungsten balanced film should be used to get the correct colour balance.

As a side note, it is still possible to shoot a tungsten film, like 500T, in cooler sunlight.

Kodak recommends using a warm 85 filter and exposing the film at 320 instead of 500. However, some cinematographers, like Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, prefer to shoot tungsten stocks in daylight without an 85 filter and then warm up the processed and scanned images to the correct colour balance in the colour grade.

HOW TO READ A FILM LABEL

Within the Kodak Vision 3 range there are 4 remaining film stocks in production. Two daylight balanced stocks - 50D and 250D - and two tungsten stocks - 200T and 500T.

One of the best ways to further unpack the technical side of what makes up a film is to look at the information on the label that comes with every can.

The biggest and boldest font is how we identify what kind of film it is. This is broken into two parts. 50 refers to the film speed or EI that it should be metered at. So cinematographers shooting a 50 EI film will set the ISO measurement on their light metre to 50 to achieve an even or ‘box speed’ exposure of the image.

‘D’ refers to daylight. So this is a daylight balanced film.

The second part, 5203, is a code to identify what type of film it is. Every motion picture film has a different series of numbers that is used to identify it. So 35mm Kodak Vision 3 50D is 5203. 8622 is 16mm Fujifilm Super-F 64D. 7219 is 16mm Kodak Vision 3 500T.

It’s crucial that all cans of film that are shot are labelled with this code when sent to the film lab for development so that the film can be identified and developed at the correct box speed.

This brings us to the next text, develop ECN-2. This refers to how the film needs to be developed. ECN-2 development is basically the same process of passing the film through a series of chemical baths as C-41 - which is used to process colour negative film in photography.

However, it also includes an extra step where the remjet layer on the Vision 3 film is removed. Remjet is used to minimise the halation of highlights and decrease static from the film quickly passing through the camera at 24 frames per second.

Next, we have a table that indicates how the film should be exposed in different lighting conditions. Under daylight no extra filters are required and the film can be exposed with an EI or ISO of 50.

When shooting with a 3,200K tungsten light source Kodak recommends using a cooling 80A filter - which changes the light from 3,200K to 5,500K or daylight. Adding this filter lets through less light, so in this situation Kodak recommends exposing the film with an EI of 12.

This 35 means that the film comes in a 35mm gauge width. These numbers refer to the kinds of perforations it has on the sides of the film. 

And, the final important number refers to how many feet of film the roll contains. 

When shooting on 35mm the most common roll length is 400ft -  which is used for lighter camera builds. But 1000ft rolls can also be used in larger studio magazines that allow filmmakers to roll the camera for longer before needing to reload.   

KODAK VISION 3 CHARACTERISTICS

There’s a good reason why many DPs who shoot on digital cinema cameras still try to create a Kodak ‘look’ for footage using a LUT or in the colour grade. 

Whether it’s the result of the long legacy of shooting movies on film, or whether it’s just that filmic colour is actually more visually appealing, the film look remains sought after. However, it’s important to remember that the look of film has changed over the years due to the methods used by manufacturers.

For example, many iconic Hollywood films from the 70s that were shot with the famous 5254 have a more neutral, crushed, grainy look than modern Vision 3.

Also, keep in mind that modern productions shot on film are all scanned and then graded in post. So the colour in the final file may be different depending on how much the colourist remained true to, or strayed from, the original colour in the negative.     

Kodak film has always been considered rich, with good contrast and warmer than Fujifilm - which has more pronounced blues and greens.

As it’s the most modern, the Vision 3 range is the cleanest looking motion picture film stock produced. The most sensitive of the bunch, 500T, has very low grain - even when push processed.

For this reason, filmmakers who seek a deliberately high grain, textured image these days regularly opt to shoot in 16mm, rather than the lower grain 35mm.

The colour produced is on the warmer side - which helps to create beautiful, rich looking skin tones that are more saturated than Kodak’s older Vision 2 stock.  

Vision 3 film also has a big dynamic range of approximately 14 stops - which is more than older films. This means that when it’s scanned and converted to a digital file, the colourist is able to do more with it, such as use power windows to recover highlights from over exposed areas.

“As a colourist my job is to try to build a good contrast level and keep the detail in the lowlights. I find that the 5219 stock was designed so that I can have that contrast and the detail as well without having to do anything extra like power windows to pull the detail out.” - Mike Sowa, Colourist

What I especially love about the film is how it renders the highlights with a subtly blooming halation effect and how it renders detail in a way that is not overly sharp. 

With modern post production colour, it’s possible to almost exactly replicate this look with digital footage. You can get almost identical colours, you can add scans of film grain on top of the image. But, to me, what is still not achievable in post is recreating how film renders details in an organic way that digital technology is still not able to recreate.  

CONCLUSION

So that brings us to the end of this video. As always, a final thanks to all of the kind Patrons who keep the channel going with their support and receive these videos early and free of ads. Otherwise, until next time, thanks for watching and goodbye.