The Magic of Cine Film

Intro

No, by no means I am cinematographer, however, this film stock has always intriged me as a photographer ever since movies were continued to be shot on analogue materials. Recent movies such as ‘Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood’ by Quentin Tarantino and ‘Dunkirk’ by Christopher Nolan were shot on an analogue format. Of course, there are quite a few directors that source analoge film to produce their movies. Here I am, trying to find some answers why I use cine fim for some project.

Making Photographs stand out with Cine Film

For me, it's an aesthetic and creative choice

Cine Film vs Negative Film

Most photographic films and basically all cine films have an image carrier that is coated on the front and on the back. Colour layers are applied to the front to record the image. An anti-halation layer is put onto the back of the film. The layer on the back of the film is to absorb light instead of bouncing it back.

During the chemical development of colour film this anti-halation layer is usually rinsed off with water whereas cine film is soacked in an alkaline bath and it is then mechanically removed. The anti-halation layer on cinefilm consists actually of carbon particals which serves different for purposes during shooting a motion picture film.
Additionally to the anti-reflective properties, it is a kind of lubricant and is also removing unwanted static charges during the rapid movement of the film through the camera. A motion picture film would run through a cinema camera at a speed of around 11m/min. This

Both types of film use more or less a similar chemical process to develop the negatives. However, developing motion picture film through your local chemist is not a great idea. The carbon backing would damage the regular C41 machines. A ECN-2 development process is required.

After ther film has been scanned both film appear different. A colour negative fim appears somewhat saturated with a decent contrast. The cine film,however, simply shocks the unknown user. There seems to be less information in the picture. That is true at the first glance but it is not.

Colour is Magic

Colour graded image

The Magic

Cine film comes truly to life after being scanned. The original scan has a flat colour profile, little contrast and seems to be desaturated. However, this has some advantages because the flat image includes a lot more colour information that an image that already has a richt contrast.

Therefore colour grading (enhancing specific colours, brightness, contrast etc) an image is a lot easier and can be carried out with a high level of accurcay. The final image will show well developed colours and contrast and the image provides a natural feel.

Kodak Vision 3 250D orginal ‘flat’ and colour graded

Where to Buy

Cine film is obvioulsy a premium product in term of stills photography and comes in at a higher price tag. The explaination here is that access is somewhat limited to this material. Motion picture film can be obtained in a few ways: Either you buy a reel from the manufacturer or auction site to bid on short ends (left overs from production). And in both cases you will need to re-spool it onto 35mm canisters to make them fit to your camera. There are specialist retailers that offer cine film packed into 35mm canisters ready to use.