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What postproduction route was taken and
how were dailies handled?
AS: We had it all scanned with a techgrade;
after that everything was in the digital
domain, although we would go back to
the neg for any particular shots where we
felt that the tech-grade had not got the best
from the neg. We worked to a fairly standard
television setup, with a Grade-1 CRT
monitor. I assume the workflow was very
economical – it was certainly quick, efficient
and got the full quality of the neg. The dailies
were dealt with by Ascent Media and
they would do a one-light, though I was
taking stills of every setup, grading them
and sending them to the lab as references.
In general is 2-perforation a format you’d
recommend to others or use again
yourself?
AS: I had people telling me that it would
be disastrous and that if we couldn’t afford
3-perforation I should be on a digital format,
and how wrong they were – it just performed
flawlessly. I think 2-perforation is
an absolutely ideal format for TV – it’s fast,
economical and has all the quality of the
best film format around. I’d use it again tomorrow.
IgoR mARTINoVIC
DoP of the British 2-perforation production
R E D RI D I N G: 198 0 (2009), the middle film
of a three-part drama serial for Channel 4.
RED RIDING is a trilogy of films, each of
which was shot in a different format. Why
was that and how did you come to use
2-perforation for the middle film?
Igor Martinovic: Even though the project
started out as a TV series, our approach was
to shoot it as a feature film. We wanted to
achieve a stylised look that would be reminiscent
of thrillers from the 1970s. The producer,
Andrew Eaton, was fantastic because
he let the directors and DoPs of all three
films decide what format they wanted to use.
Widescreen was our format of choice from
the beginning and 2-perforation fit perfectly
because our budget was relatively low and
we knew that 35 mm would look better than
the Red, which was the other choice. We
also didn’t want to go anamorphic because
we needed to use less stock and we wanted
lightweight equipment.
Was the film transmitted in 2.35:1 on
television?
IM: It was transmitted in widescreen and
we knew that the 2.35:1 frame was safe
even when we were filming, so we could
use the edges of the frame in our compositions.
I was pleasantly surprised by how
much freedom one can get as a DoP in the
English television system. The interesting
thing is that because each episode was
made as a film, the series went on to have
a life in film festivals and is actually playing
in cinemas in the U.S. right now.
Was this the first time you had shot
2-perforation and did you make tests?
IM: This was the first time. I was very happy
to find that ARRI Media in London had
numerous 2-perforation cameras and their
support was first class. We filmed tests and
projected them because the format was
new for everyone involved, including the
post house. In some ways 2-perforation is
a bridge between 16mm and 35mm, and
we wanted to see how far we could push
the film into underexposure. We were happy
to have a bit of grain because of the
subject matter and because we were mixing
in some grainy archive footage from
the 1980s.
C a m e r a
Igor Martinovic at the eyepiece
What cameras and lenses did you have?
IM: We had only one body – an ARRICAM
Lite – and we used ARRI Master Primes. Often
we had to shoot wide open on the Master
Primes because the combination of the budget
and the schedule meant that we weren’t
able to have huge lighting setups for the
night exteriors. Shooting wide open really
helped because we needed every last stop.
Did the longer takes possible with
2-perforation ever prove useful?
IM: We never had a scene with a really
long take, but psychologically it makes a
big difference for the actors to be able to
shoot continuously for long periods of time.
Some times I would hear an actor say ‘Why
haven’t they changed that mag?’ because
they’re used to mags being changed all the
time! In dialogue scenes especially it really
allows the actors to do one take after another,
so their concentration doesn’t get
broken.
What postproduction route was taken and
how did you get dailies?
IM: We were seeing Beta SP dailies on the
set, which were done at a lab up in Leeds,
where we were shooting. When we went
down to London the rushes were scanned
in 2K at LipSync Post and we graded on a
big screen in a DI suite.
Looking back, was 2-perforation a format
that suited a project that has crossed over
from television to theatrical release?
IM: Absolutely – I was very happy with the
outcome and it was nice to see the film projected
on the big screen as well. 2-perforation
worked perfectly for both mediums.
Mark Hope-Jones
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