BURBANK — FotoKem (www.fotokem.com) recently provided all of the large format and finishing services for Paul Thomas Anderson’s film, The Master, which was produced by Annapurna Pictures and is being distributed by The Weinstein Company.
Early on, the studio devised a hybrid workflow to accommodate the mix of 35mm and 65mm film originated material. As Anderson increasingly relied on 65mm to tell the story of a lost soul (Joaquin Phoenix) attracted to a charismatic leader (Philip Seymour Hoffman), FotoKem became more involved in the completion of the film. The 65mm component of the movie eventually grew to nearly 75 percent of the final cut.
In addition to processing all the 65mm negative, FotoKem also set up a workflow for creating 35mm reduction work print dailies from the 65mm negative, completed the final color grade, and produced digital cinema deliverables. The facility also created a small number of 70mm prints for theaters capable of projecting the large format.
“We did a lot of testing at every step of the way to make sure that each frame of film was exactly as Paul wanted it, and that our approach for handling each format — 65mm, 35mm and ultimately digital as well — achieved Paul’s distinctive vision for the film,” explains FotoKem’s VP of large format and restoration services, Andrew Oran.
“We assembled and answer printed the 35mm scenes, and then optically blew them up to 65mm duplicate negative for inclusion in a complete 65mm negative cut of the film, from which 70mm release prints were produced. That same 35mm original negative was cut into a 35mm reduction negative of the movie which was produced from the 65mm material, making it possible to produce release prints in each format from original negative.”
Dan Muscarella, FotoKem’s senior color timer, worked closely with Anderson to ensure all deliverables matched, regardless of final or source format.