'How Film Is Made'; a 1958 tour inside the Kodak factory

Amazing technology that's sadly being abandoned.

I've been shooting pictures in some form for nearly 30-years, and other than the silver part I never really know how this stuff came together. A bit long but well worth it for fans of photography and analog.

http://www.petapixel.com/2011/01/06/how-film-is-made-behind-the-scenes-at-a-kodak-factory-in-1958/

dan c

 

I used to talk to some of the old Kodak color-science guys when I worked at their West coast office on the corner of Las Palmas and Santa Monica Blvd. (just a few blocks west of the old Gold Star Studios). They told me at the time that motion picture film was made in giant rolls, like 15 feet wide, and later slit to 35mm widths and then perforated as required.

The amazing thing to me is that the entire manufacturing plant had to be in total darkness, because the film was still raw and unexposed. It's amazing it worked so well for so long.

 

I've read that they'll make a bunch of huge rolls of particular emulsions and then keep them in cold storage until they're needed, then they get sent to be cut and packaged.

Different still formats have different base thicknesses as well. Sheet film is thicker than 35mm, and I believe that medium format 120 is more flexible than 35mm. You can feel it in the darkroom, I always had trouble rolling 120.

You're right, it is amazing that it worked in the first place and especially so well. Kodak's QC was by far the best of any of the film manufacturers. Yes, even Fuji. I worked at 1-hour labs through college and the Kodak stuff was usually on track, Fuji pretty good and Agfa a total crap shoot. With B&W materials, once again Kodak was by far the champ. Amazing stuff.

dan c

 

Fuji negative got pretty good by the mid-1990s. I always felt it didn't have the "toe" (low-end black) characteristics of Kodak, but it's got a good look to it.

What is true is that film photography seems to be going away, in terms of modern motion pictures. But of the five films nominated for best cinematography for 2010, 3 of them were shot in 35mm, 1 in 16mm (Black Swan), and one in digital (Social Network). All of them look pretty good. BTW, True Grit was shot on 35mm, but has a few digital pickups.

 

Isn't it incredible?

Sure would be great if filmmakers and cinematographers could continue to have their own choice of media. Do you think this situation will last many years or are there forces at work to eliminate film asap?

 

Digital shots in True Grit? I read there was some digital shooting in Black Swan (the scenes in the NYC subway, shot with a DSLR) but not True Grit.

dan c