FEATURE | COMMERC I ALS I N CELLULOI D
DOP and celluloid enthusiast Ben Link says: “Of course, there isn’t a limitless take ability on film. Time is concentrated on getting the shot right the first time. It’s about discipline and rehearsing the scene, which is understandably easier to do when you’re creating something that is only going to be a couple of minutes long. If you’re new to film, commercials are a great way to get into it, but that shouldn’t deter you from choosing to shoot on film for something that’s going to be feature length. Film naturally forces you to focus creatively and if you’re doing that, you don’t need to worry about time spent getting additional shots. And I think that sometimes, the option of being able to do that with digital can be a big distraction.” There’s also usually large funding and creative backing on commercials, and Link tells us “brands are always wanting to explore new technology”. He laughs: “Well, film isn’t new, it’s an old technology that is making a comeback in advertising, and brands are wanting to capitalise on it.” ICY PLAINS Link’s most recent and award-winning commercial for Philips’ shaver division was shot on film in Finland. It features a group of men shouting – actually a Finnish performance group from called Mieskuoro Huutajat (or ‘shouting men’) that specialises in orchestrated shouting – and while the shouting seems aggressive, the words, which are translated into English subtitles, are sensitive. The campaign is themed around making a better life for men, by letting them express their feelings. He says: “Shooting this was a bit of a labour of love. There was a lot of nervousness in terms of running out of film
In 2014, Cinelab worked on less than 20 commercials and in 2018, it worked on 320
the only film lab in Europe complete for providing a one-stop shop solution for film, from acquisition to delivery. It was founded in 2013 by industry veterans Adrian Bull and John Mahtani and was established at a time when digital acquisition had become custom and film labs faced extinction. Nonetheless, opening this facility was unquestionably a risk worth taking. In 2014, Cinelab London worked on less than 20 commercials and in 2018, it worked on 320. To date, that figure has risen to over 430 and includes high-end fashion brands, such as Gucci, Stella McCartney and Chanel, as well as well-known tech brands, such as Apple, Google and Samsung. Colourist Simona Cristea is also acquainted with Cinelab London through her connections with Technicolor: two companies that have partnered together to combine Cinelab London’s film scanning and processing services with Technicolor’s digital solutions. She says: “I can’t believe the lab still exists, because if you think back to ten years ago, film was on its way out. But it’s thriving again, and I can tell you this not only because I work on more commercials, films and TV shows that were shot on film, but because I can physically see that more video content is being shot on film. It’s through the details in the skin tones and in the highlights and shadows.” Cristea emphasises these details by referring to the new Joker movie, starring Joaquin Phoenix. She says: “I haven’t seen the film, but I read this article that implied the DOP chose to shoot it on digital because there were a lot of night scenes and digital can capture more information. Obviously,
stock and shooting in cold temperatures in the middle of nowhere. And we did actually end up in a situation where we were left with two rolls, so we could have run out of stock. Thankfully, we didn’t, but I did have to cough up some extra cash to get the stocks back to London. We were shooting in a remote location and I wanted to drive to Helsinki, where there was a reputable airport, in order to get the film stocks back to the lab safely. But in terms of shooting, I find that using film is cheaper; the cameras cost less, and you don’t need a DIT.” The lab securely holding the Philips commercial is Cinelab London. It’s also
ABOVE A shaving brand employs a performance group from Finland to convey its sensitive side
60 DEF I N I T ION | NOVEMBER 20 1 9
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