unconventional film formats

September 6, 2005 9:33 PM

Unconventional film formats.

The Sundance channel has recently been showing a movie that I think featured rather striking photography. It was shot on 16mm and later transferred to 35mm, and while that's not unusual by any means, they managed to pull off a grainy, somewhat underlit look that would probably look terrible if it was simply shot on 35mm.

I liked it. So I'd like to know if anyone can recommend any other films shot in unconventional formats (16mm, DV, even Super 8, I don't care) that manage to maintain an attractive or stunning visual style when transferred to a 35mm format. Mind you, I'm not really looking for any old film shot on digital video (or what have you), but rather the most exemplary ones that you can think of.

posted by jimmy to Media & Arts (25 answers total)

Best answer: Indeed, I'd say "grainy and underlit" is the hallmark of 16mm blown up to 35. Making the transfer and hiding it is the real challenge. Primer is a good recent example of working around the limitations of 16mm successfully.

(Paging pxe2000...)
posted by jjg at 9:51 PM on September 6, 2005

Best answer: Baraka was made on TODD-AO 70mm. The others of that ilk probably had different film stock as well.
posted by fionab at 9:57 PM on September 6, 2005

Best answer: Pi.
posted by fionab at 10:06 PM on September 6, 2005

Best answer: Slacker was shot in 16mm, plus it has a scene shot using the Fisher-Price PXL 2000 ("PixelVision") and another shot in Super 8.
posted by hyperizer at 10:15 PM on September 6, 2005

Best answer: href="http://www.michaeloreilly.com/pixelpage.html">Pixelvision

28 Days Later is a horrible movie beautifully shot on DV.

Jarmusch's Neil Young concert film Year of the Horse is shot on Super 8.
posted by dydecker at 10:16 PM on September 6, 2005

Response by poster: I've seen most of these recommendations, although it's helpful to be reminded of them. Any more?
posted by jimmy at 10:34 PM on September 6, 2005

Best answer: Also, check out silent films for strange early color processes. TCM is airing the 1923 Cyrano de Bergerac this month. It used Pathecolor "which required three years of meticulous work applying tinting, toning, stencil coloring and hand-painting to each individual frame."

And of course there's the 1927 Napolean with its Polyvision Triptych tri-panel 3.99:1 format sequence. Oddly enough Francis Ford Coppola is blocking several superior restorations of it from being shown in the US in favor of one he edited in '81 (which his wife scored).
posted by hyperizer at 10:36 PM on September 6, 2005

Best answer: Most Almereyda films include a Pixelvision sequence, to varying effect. Nadja probably has the most visually striking one. (I didn't like the movie very much, but I liked the way the PXL was used.)

And I'm not sure if this is in the spirit of your question, but Traffic made excellent thematic use of three distinct looks. As did Memento with two...and the moment where one bleeds into the other is the pivotal point of the film.
posted by Vidiot at 10:38 PM on September 6, 2005

Francis Ford Coppola is blocking several superior restorations of it from being shown in the US in favor of one he edited in '81 (which his wife scored).

I'm pretty sure you mean his father.
posted by jjg at 11:02 PM on September 6, 2005

Pitch Black was shot on 35mm, but the treatment of the film produces some of the most striking colours and textures I've seen in a movie.
posted by krisjohn at 11:11 PM on September 6, 2005

You should check out the Ann Arbor Film Festival tour, which has a fair number of 16mm to 35mm transfers. The bloated cornocopic variety of the selection makes it hard to recommend a single film, but if it's in your town, I suggest you go.
(Or you can come to Ann Arbor in April and see five days worth).
posted by klangklangston at 11:12 PM on September 6, 2005

Best answer: Buffalo 66 was shot on colour negative film and looks really striking and washed out throughout. More of an unconventional process than format though.
posted by fire&wings at 1:40 AM on September 7, 2005

Although not unconventionally shot, Three Kings has some unconventionally post-processing that is explained well in the DVD extras, most notably the "bleach bypass" process.
posted by sexymofo at 6:17 AM on September 7, 2005

It's actually the antithesis of what you're looking for, but there's at least one scene (and a hilarious deleted one) in Boogie Nights that's shot, I think, with conventional film cameras and cropped and post-processed to look like an old 16mm. The effect is really cool. PTA talks about it in the commentary.
posted by mkultra at 6:36 AM on September 7, 2005

Best answer: Tarnation is made from old Super-8 movies, videos, old snapshots. And it's a pretty amazing movie, to boot.
posted by curtm at 6:56 AM on September 7, 2005

28 Days Later is a horrible movie beautifully shot on DV.

Interestingly, many film critics panned the format for its washed out colours, but liked the movie. DV does not handle light variations and transitions very well, as a rule.
posted by Rothko at 8:03 AM on September 7, 2005

Doh! jjg is right.
posted by hyperizer at 8:14 AM on September 7, 2005

Best answer: Begotten was shot on 16mm, projected onto a wall and re-filmed on 16mm, and then seriously modified in post-production. One of the most disturbing films I've ever seen.
posted by goatdog at 8:15 AM on September 7, 2005

Best answer: You should see Decasia. (Village Voice review; scroll down to reach it.)


Also: Goatdog, wow. I have to see that.
posted by Len at 8:58 AM on September 7, 2005

fire&wings: Buffalo 66 was actually shot on color reversal film. Color negative is the typical film stock filmmakers use.

As far as recent films go, Grizzly Man was shot almost entirely on DV and has some shots that are amazing when blown up to 35mm.
posted by billysumday at 9:09 AM on September 7, 2005

Best answer: FUNNY HA HA was shot in Super 16, which is a little bit different than standard 16mm film, having higher resolution. I personally love the look of Super 16, even if I think that the cinematography in FUNNY HA HA is a rather poor use of the format (the shot selection and lighting is uniformly bland and uninteresting, the Super 16 graininess being the saving grace).

One of the most interesting directors shooting in alternate formats is Guy Maddin. CAREFUL is a phantasia of the artifacts of early color processes (shot on modern 16 stock), and his later films THE SADDEST MUSIC IN THE WORLD, DRACULA: PAGES FROM A VIRGIN'S DIARY and COWARDS BEND THE KNEE were all shot with a dazzling assortment of formats (including DV and 8mm).

RAISING VICTOR VARGAS and THE STATION AGENT are both in the same vein as FUNNY HA HA and shot in Super 16. The film that really made me sit up and pay attention to that format was CHASING AMY, which looks shockingly good. Super 16 was used well in CITY OF GOD as well.
posted by eschatfische at 9:33 AM on September 7, 2005

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels was shot on Super 16 and blown up to 35mm.
posted by alby at 12:42 PM on September 7, 2005

Response by poster: Thanks. Quite a few films that I haven't seen suggested since my last post; I'll do my best to try to find them.
posted by jimmy at 4:50 PM on September 7, 2005

There's also always Tetsuo, the Japanese movie from 1988. Shot in 16mm. It's about a metal fetishist who is hit by a car and then begins to mutate.
It's also insane.
You should see it.
posted by klangklangston at 5:34 PM on September 7, 2005

I am always amazed everytime I see Bob Dylan's "Don't Look Back" at the quality of the film-making on 16mm. The low light shooting is incredible and stands as a testament to D.A. Pennebaker's craft. Granted it's a music documentary, but the shooting is incredible to watch even if you don't care for Dylan at his prime.
posted by JJ86 at 2:13 AM on September 8, 2005