Tag Archive | yellow

This Must Be The Place – cross processed

Cross processed slide film when balanced to appealing skin tones can send the rest of the picture to a strong vibrant green. In this case it’s used as a gritty fluorescent effect. This could also be described as an aquamarine wash with skin-tone recovery selections.

Both of these scenes have a sort of gross institutional feel, the kind of place you wouldn’t want to spend a lot of time, which says something about the motivations of the characters found there.

This Must Be The Place  -  digital intermediate colorist Andrea Orsini  35 mm (Kodak Vision3 200T 5213, Vision3 500T 5219) negative to 2K digital intermediate

This Must Be The Place – digital intermediate colorist Andrea Orsini
35 mm (Kodak Vision3 200T 5213, Vision3 500T 5219) negative to 2K digital intermediate

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This Must Be The Place – golden sunny

A hot gold wash sells this middle-American summer, balanced by a selection to maintain the rich cyan sky. Amber waves of grain show the classic beauty of an American road trip to a long time shut-in finally returning to the world.

This Must Be The Place  -  digital intermediate colorist Andrea Orsini  35 mm (Kodak Vision3 200T 5213, Vision3 500T 5219) negative to 2K digital intermediate

A strong gold wash is balanced out by a rich cyan sky selection.

This Must Be The Place  -  digital intermediate colorist Andrea Orsini  35 mm (Kodak Vision3 200T 5213, Vision3 500T 5219) negative to 2K digital intermediate

This Must Be The Place – digital intermediate colorist Andrea Orsini
35 mm (Kodak Vision3 200T 5213, Vision3 500T 5219) negative to 2K digital intermediate

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Masters Of Sex – warm with neutral punch outs

This scene is very warm, but high saturation apparel remain unaffected by the warm grade. Because of their more neutral balance and high saturation these items stand out quite a lot. It’s slightly distracting to me because they don’t quite fit in, but perhaps it indicates a rising popularity of saturated synthetic fabrics, which at the time were breaking new ground on a regular basis. According to http://www.straw.com/sig/dyehist.html in 1956 “One person working out of every 7 in the USA received his income from work performed in textile or apparel industries”

The interesting thing about this scene is that the colors that stand out are not worn by the main characters, they are not to draw attention to the dialogue but perhaps to draw it away. Most of this scene is posturing, the intermingling of people, winding down previous events and a calm before the storm to come. The dialogue itself is fairly benign.

Masters Of Sex - colorist Randy Starnes

Masters Of Sex – colorist Randy Starnes

Backlit Dark/Bright

Here we see two backlit yellow scenes, one from The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and the other from Children of Men.

Both cases communicate the negative properties of yellow: an uneasiness or dissatisfaction.

In Benjamin Button it is a monotone life with shadows into which his face cannot be seen -he does not know himself, only his paltry accommodations. This shot is soon juxtaposed by his leaving to see the world in cyan daylight.

In Childrenof Men, it is a frenetic unease in the face of cerebral antagonism. We quickly realize that he has a long established rapport with his kidnapper, and the light returns to normal for their more cordial conversation.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)  -  Senior D.I. Colorist Jan Yarbrough Arriflex 435, 35 mm (Kodak Vision2 50D 5201, Vision3 500T 5219) Sony CineAlta F23, Thomson VIPER FilmStream Camera; 4:4:4 1080p log

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) – Senior D.I. Colorist Jan Yarbrough
Arriflex 435, 35 mm (Kodak Vision2 50D 5201, Vision3 500T 5219)
Sony CineAlta F23, Thomson VIPER FilmStream; 4:4:4 1080p log

Children of Men (2006)  -  Digital Colorist Steven J. Scott 2K D.I. from 35 mm (Kodak Vision2 Expression 500T 5229)

Children of Men (2006) – Digital Colorist Steven J. Scott
2K D.I. from 35 mm (Kodak Vision2 Expression 500T 5229)