Vantage Paris, Film Factory, and Kodak Workshop a Success

Vantage Paris, The Film Factory, and Kodak collaborated with Director Zack Spiger to present Analog Dreams: Using Film in a Digital World, a one-day workshop  devoted to shooting on film. Over fifty attendees took part, including  cinematographers, directors, producers, as well as other professionals in the business, but the true focus of the event was on those that were unfamiliar with the processes of analog filmmaking. Zack Spiger elaborates, “our goal was to show young filmmakers, especially producers and directors that everything is there for them to quickly and easily realize their projects on film. I was happy that some DPs came, but they were not the ones that needed convincing.”

We began the event at Vantage Paris. Cameras were prepped, accessorized, and loaded in advance with the Kodak film stocks listed below:

16mm - 7213 (200T) & 7203 (50D)

35mm - 5213 (200T) & 5219 (500T)

Our intention was to give the participants exposure to a wide variety of cameras, stocks, and lenses in a very short period of time. The lenses and cameras we used were:

Hawk V‑Plus Anamorphic 2x squeeze on an Arri 435 in 4-perf

Hawk V‑Lite Anamorphic 1.3x squeeze on an Arricam Lite in 3-perf

Hawk V‑Lite16 Anamorphic 1.3x squeeze on an Arri 416 in S16mm

Spherical primes on an Aaton Penelope in 2-perf 

After a short introduction, the shooting began. Four actors volunteered their time for the project and provided excellent support throughout the multiple shoots.

Fanny Coustenoble, the Steadicam operator, took a series of shots to start the day off, so we could have footage using different lenses, different stocks, and different cameras for comparison. She loves working with film and was happy to help out.

When asked why film is important to her, she responded:

I was very lucky to start as a camera trainee with old school cinematographers and first Assistant Cameras who were fond of film. I think shooting on film focuses everyone on a set and gives young ACs a solid base and good reflexes. There was a lot of positive energy working with the younger generation today. It's important that young DPs, directors, and producers know that film is no more complicated than digital. It offers an incredible range of latitude, and it is still the best aesthetic and ergonomic tool out there.

Sam Clark the 16mm/35mm Film Originations Manager for the UK, France, and Germany sponsored the film stock and writes:

The workshop was a great way of putting film in the hands of emerging filmmakers. Film is a choice and with all the new digital technologies coming along, being able to show these young cinematographers and producers that film can be an option can only be a good thing. This kind of event is proof of Kodak's commitment to preserving the medium and helping it thrive.
We would love to point people towards the #Filmworthy campaign to hear their stories. After the film was unloaded from the magazines and re-canned, we all travelled across town to Film Factory while the film was processed. During the catered lunch, the participants had the opportunity to discuss the shoot in a relaxed environment and were then given a guided tour of Film Factory’s film lab as the processes of development were explained in detail. Shortly thereafter, the test shots were screened. The images were amazing, and the film stock performed beautifully with the Hawk Anamorphic lenses in a variety of different formats and a wide range of lighting conditions.

Alexander Bscheidl, the Director of Vantage Paris was pleased with the event and said:

The workflow was rock solid. It was amazing to see how well the different film stocks performed under various light conditions while producing beautiful colors and image quality. The ability to process the film stock so rapidly was impressive. The negative was almost completely processed before we even made it over to Film Factory at 14:30. It is also incredible to think that you can scan S16mm film to 4k or 8K with wonderful results, and the original film stock is easy to archive for long periods of time without worrying about a format change that would make the digital image incompatible. That is the huge advantage of having an analog master in a world of rapidly changing digital formats, not to mention the superior aesthetic film grain and its subtle creaminess.

The film industry was founded on celluloid. Innumerable great pictures have been shot on 16mm, 35mm and 65mm in motion picture’s 100+ year history. We gave young cinematographers the opportunity to use the tried and true technologies that the film industry developed and perfected. We showed them that those technologies are still effective and still produce images that surpass their digital rivals on many levels. And contrary to popular belief, we showed them film is no more costly than shooting digitally, and the processes to do so are very much alive.

Overall, the event was a gretat success that surpassed all of our expectations. In one day, we shot, processed, and then screened the results using various cameras, lenses, formats and film stock.  Most importantly, we introduced the new generation of filmmakers to the possibilities of analog filmmaking.  Jean-Marie Delorme, cinematographer possibly said it best, “People fear film. You fear what you do not know. Shooting film is actually easy, light, and even a bit mystical.  That's why Saturday was great!”