GREAT DEBATE•IMAGO TECHNICAL COMMITTEE PANEL DISCUSSION
FEEL THE BURN
ARTISTIC DECISIONS ON CINEMATOGRAPHY TO BE BURNED OR NOT TO BE BURNED? PART 1
T
he second edition of Euro Cine Expo took place from 30 June to 1 July 2023 in Munich, and gave the opportunity for several cinematographers, colourists and representative from camera manufacturers to participate in a panel, organised by IMAGO’s Technical Committee (ITC), dedicated to debating and discussing the placement of artistic decisions in the workflow of a production – in-camera or in post? Here, we share the considered thoughts and opinions from the participants about this important subject.
Artistic decisions on cinematography Where and how do we proceed? Prep
Scene
Lighting, Breakdown, Place of camera, Make-up, etc.
Lens
Types of lenses / Glass Filtering Spherical / Anamorphic
Camera
Aspect ratio Resolution Type of recording files: RAW / Codec Gamma curves Sharpness control Texture Control: De- and re-grain /-noise
Post Production
Demosaicking process Sharpness control (RGB) Grading Tone or “Gamma curves” “Film” emulation Re-lighting Reframing, resizing Detail control (sharpness) Texture tools control De- and re-grain /-noise Distortion /Warping Stabilisation
Exhibition
Participants in the Euro Cine Expo 2023 panel: 1. Suny Behar – cinematographer/director (HBO Camera Assessments Series) 2. Loren Simons – Red Digital Cinema, senior motion picture technology advisor 3. Rauno Ronkainen FSC – cinematographer & Professor in cinematography at Aalto University Department Of film | School Of Arts
We can see from this diagram that decisions about the aesthetic look-and-feel of a production can be made at several different stages, decisions that can radically affect the image. During production glass filtering can be used, sharpness and texture can be controlled in-camera. Manufacturers are now offering cinematographers the ability to bake-in a variety of textures, noise or grain in-camera, as they shoot. However, many cinematographers and some studios/streaming platforms sometimes prefer to defer these decisions to post-production. What are the advantages and disadvantages of these methods? What does this mean for the audience and the kinetic perception of drama? What semantic politics does this provoke? And, what power do cinematographers have in these decisions, recommendations or guidelines? Here, eleven of the participants give their opinions on the subject. Part 2 of this roundtable will be held at Camerimage 2023, with the support of Euro Cine Expo and Cinematography World. Don’t miss it!
30 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2023 CINEMATOGRAPHY WORLD
4. Roberto Schaefer AIC ASC – cinematographer & ITC full member 5. Ari Wegner ACS ASC – cinematographer 6. Stefan Grandinetti BVK – cinematographer & Professor in cinematography 7. Philippe Ros AFC & ITC co-chair – cinematographer 8. Daniel Listh – Sony, content acquisition solutions specialist 9. Dr Tamara Seybold – ARRI, technical lead image science & ITC corporate member 10. Marc Shipman-Mueller – ARRI, senior product manager camera systems 11. Pascale Marin AFC – cinematographer 12.David Stump ASC MITC & ITC co-chair – cinematographer 13. Dirk Meier BVK CSI – senior colourist & ITC full member 14. Aleksej Berkovic RGC & ITC co-chair – cinematographer
Dirk Meier BVK CSI ITC full member Colourist, Germany In my field of projects, which encompasses low to normal-budget German and international feature films and documentaries, my observations somehow point in opposite directions. On the one hand, there is a desire from producers and directors to push all kinds of creative decisions further down the pipeline; meaning to shoot more, to cover more angles, to shoot at higher resolution for re-framing in post, and to capture wider dynamic range to preserve all possibilities during grading. On the other hand, I see a constant movement to start look development earlier in the production process, involving me as colourist in preproduction, conducting elaborate hair and makeup and lens look-tests, in order to come up with a meaningful show-LUT or look. This is something I very much welcome. But, in my opinion, most cinematographers first need to improve their knowledge of what a look is