Mark Read is nostalgic for the “stretched film grain” look of motion
picture classics like Ben Hur and 2001: A
Space Odyssey. A veteran cinematographer and video engineer
who obsessively cares about the quality of the images he creates, Read
has worked with virtually every type of film and electronic camera –
both commercially available and prototype-to achieve it. He’s currently
working on two projects for Hollywood directors as well as a special
IMAX production.
Read said he prefers to shoot on film, but not for the obvious reasons
most of today’s digital cinematography projects claim. “I’ve come to
realize that it is not the resolution of film that I loved so much more
than video, but rather the color of film, namely the depth,” he said.
His latest favorite electronic camera is the Grass Valley Viper. He now
owns four through his production company, HyperCube, based in Boulder,
CO. With three 9.2 million pixel Frame Transfer CCDs capturing images
at 1920×1080 resolution, the Viper FilmStream camera system delivers
RGB 4:4:4 10-bit log output. The raw footage appears green, due to the
camera’s unique signal processing.
With film we shoot, process, scan and end up with a DPX file,” Read
said. “With the Viper, we have the immediacy of video, but we end up
with a DPX file in real time.”
He said this effectively makes the Viper a handheld telecine or film
scanner that enables a DP to bring footage directly into color
correction, saving time while preserving as much raw image data as
possible.
“When we successfully bring the thinking required to make the correct
exposure out of the post-production process and into the live moment of
the shoot, we can get better results with the Viper than we could with
a film camera,” he added. “But there is less margin for error.”
Read and his colleague, Douglas Trumbull, are now focusing on using the
Viper in anamorphic 2:37:1 mode to shoot images that will be fed into
his custom-designed anamorphic film printing and projection process.
This is how he replicates the “stretched film grain” look, capturing
images in tandem with non-anamorphic DigiPrime HD lenses from Canon.
Read developed what he calls the “watermark look” of the classic
Hollywood era during work on a Patrick Read Johnson film called
5-25-77. With support from Arri, Efilm, and Deluxe,
coupled with his vast experience shooting footage for IMAX and ShowScan
display, Read said he pushed the anamorphic-grain process as far as he
could.
Traveling to the far reaches of the globe, Read has configured his
digital production equipment into several flyaway cases that include
the ability to perform video switching, editing, encoding, effects
compositing and more in the field. His kit can be shipped anywhere in
the world, and indeed it has. He recently came back from a four-month
trip to Iceland, where he shot several scenes with the Viper from the
ground, in the ocean and in the air from a helicopter. Wherever he
goes, his all-digital, networked studio-in-a-box comes with him. This
includes a fully functional
storage area network that he sets up in various configurations on site.
The two projects that he is now working on now both involve capturing
dramatic, one-take-is-all-you-get events and sprawling natural vistas,
he explained. “The capture method has to be as compelling as 65mm or we
couldn't justify all we have done with electronic cameras when we
already have film cameras.”