The Better Luck Tomorrow crew sets up for the next shot.
Photo by Karin Anna Cheung.
With the emergence of the digital medium, the choice of format for an independent
filmmaker is complex and layered. On Better Luck Tomorrow, the production team
went through three different formats before deciding on 35mm. The following
is a Q and A session with the director, Justin Lin.
What was the first format you decided to shoot Better Luck Tomorrow on?
We were going to shoot the film on DV and transfer it to 35mm once the editing
was done. This was an aesthetic choice as well as financial. With a small DV
camera, you can pretty much get away with everything. The cost of the tape and
developing it is fractional compared to film. It is cheap on the front end,
meaning that you can shoot the project and raise the money for the transfer
afterward.
Can you explain the process?
Well, I did a lot of research. Actually, it was extremely hard because there
was no uniform way of going from DV to film. After doing some reading on the
process, it was ultimately best to see it for myself. Fortunately, Chuck and
Buck and Dancer in the Dark were in theaters.
What did you think of the look?
Aesthetically, it was quite interesting. It definitely did not look like film
but it had it's own feel. To me it really created a layer of self reflexiveness.
Both productions were shot with different Sony PAL cameras but both went to
Swiss Effects to do the transfer.
Why did they shoot with PAL cameras?
PAL is the standard format around the world except for the U.S., which uses
NTSC. PAL runs at 25 frames per second rather than NTSC's 30 frames and has
more lines of resolution. Film runs at 24 frames per second. With higher resolution
and closer frame rates, PAL is the way to go.
What about the aesthetics of the format?
Well, my personal feeling is that when one chooses to shoot DV, you should take
advantage of the format instead of trying to make it look like film. If you
want to make it look like film, you should just shoot film. As I mentioned before,
I like the layer of self reflexiveness and the intimacy this format creates.
I shot a twenty-minute project a few years ago called Breezes and had one of
the experiences of my life. The whole thing cost two hundred dollars. That included
meals and board for the crew and cast! Even though it was extremely liberating,
I would not compare it to a film shoot. I think it's definitely an apples/oranges
situation.
Photo by Norman Sugimoto.
What are the pros of DV?
1.Cost. Upfront, at least. 2. Able to hone performance and not worry about how much film you're burning. 3. Small crew. Speed. If it's designed that way.
What are the cons?
There's no one way of doing it. The only way is just to do tests until you feel confident with the process. It has to be the right project. The format only works if it's styled right. Shooting too much footage. Because it's so cheap, I feel sometimes filmmakers get lazy and just shoot too much. Also, the audience is not really used to the format right now.
At what point did you choose to go with High Definition?
On the strength of the script, we were offered a HD camera from a production company for deferred pay. It was an amazing deal.
What's the difference between HD and DV?
HD has a much higher resolution. Supposedly it has wider latitude than DV. But I'm not convinced. One big drawback with this offer was that it was a NTSC camera.
What does that mean?
NTSC runs at 30 frames per second, film at 24 frames per second. During the transfer, six frames will be thrown out. Shots with fast movements look jagged and not smooth. The cost of the transfer is also quite expensive. It's almost the same price as 35mm film. I talked to Wayne Wang, who had just shot The Center of the World, and he went away from HD altogether and shot on DigiBeta PAL. It seemed like the more I researched the format, the more I realized that this format was not quite ready. Everyone used the term "bleeding edge" technology when talking about HD.
THE CENTER OF THE WORLD was shot on DigiBeta PAL.
Did you abandon HD at that point?
No. It was hard. We had a free camera, but the technology was about a year away
from being ready. I didn't really want to go back to DV because we had raised
enough money to shoot HD but not quite for 35mm film.
The Sony NTSC High Definition camera from Le Duc Productions.
Then how did you jump to 35mm?
Patrice, the director of photography, was really pushing for 35mm. I agreed
but knew that we didn't have enough money to do it. We both were in agreement
that shooting on DV could potentially make the project less accessible to distributors.
It just seemed like we had gone too far to turn around. At that point, Fabian,
who was still working for New Line, thought he'd approach Fuji film and see
what happened. It turned out that they loved the project and wanted to support
it. They gave us such an amazing deal that we were able to shoot 35mm. We then
went off and shot some B-roll around Christmas time to see how the stock looked.
How did you feel about Fuji film?
Again, it's all about aesthetics and what's best for the project. The dailies
looked pretty good but the latitude was not there for us. Fuji would be fine
if we had a lot of time to light each shot. The stock was also favoring the
greens, which might be a problem in the timing at the end. I knew that because
Shopping for Fangs was shot on Fuji. Patrice really wanted to shoot on Kodak
and asked if he could try to get a deal with them. We went to a meeting and
it went quite well. After reviewing the project, Kodak phoned and told me that
Better Luck Tomorrow had to be a Kodak film. I told them that I felt the same
way but Fuji's deal was so good that we couldn't walk away from it. Kodak came
back with a better offer and the rest was history. We got to shoot with the
exact stock we wanted and the film looks great.
Photo by Alex Marquez.
Was that the end of the journey?
Not quite. Every time we decided to change the format, I had to stylize the project differently. On 35mm, I used much more dolly shots than I would on DV. I had a lot more control on lenses. I had to take into account the time needed to set up each shot and for loading film. I also knew that the ratio of the film being used was going to be much less than HD or DV.
Do you feel like you made the right choice?
I feel I made the right choice for the project. I wouldn't have minded making the project on DV. But I had to take into account the market place and what's best for the project. And with the capital that we had, I'm proud that we were able to do it on 35mm without compromising too much.
If you would like to discuss more about the process and the different formats, please reply at the end of the article and the production team will join in on the discourse.