Néstor Almendros talked about how he hated diffusion, which was done by Haskell Wexler, who also felt bad for "violating a fellow camera-man." What exactly is diffusion? I did a google search but couldn't find much. Anyone care to elaborate, or have a good link where I can learn more?
Thanks.
I think it has to do with putting a sort of filter in front of the lens to give a movie a gauzy or textured look.
I'm assuming Nestor hated it because he saw it as cheating mother nature of its real beauty.
In the old days they literally used a woman's stocking and stretched it over the camera and it gave the film a soft hazy look.
Thanks!
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Wrong Dynasty!
While diffusion does generally refer to gels or silks in front of a light, it can also be used to describe a filter in front of the camera. This is what Haskell is talking about. If you listen to Haskell's interview closely, he mentions putting the diffusion in front of the lens. He mostly likely was using a Pro-Mist or equivalent.
go to b&h, filmtools, or adorama and search for 'diffusion filter' you will get dozens of hits for glass diffusion filters.
Thanks for the film lesson :P
yeah, I don't see how a photographer could be against the diffusion of light.
Though I understand he would hate the diffusion lens.
I think the reason he gave was that it was too "easy". I can certainly see where he is coming from - there are many films from that time that have obnoxious amounts of diffusion. It looks especially bad in outdoor scenes, with lots of bright light.
It's not as common today. Instead, it's been replaced with heavy filters and shaky hand-held. You find it a lot in made-for-TV movies. Whilst those used to be pretty special in movies, they're not looked upon as well today because they're so "easy" to do.
I hope you can understand what I'm trying to say - I'm not very good with words. It's all about what makes the film special or not.
I really think this is more about the control of light since the film is famous for its rigid adherence to being filmed only at "magic hour". Here, the purity referred to is that of light. While there may be diffusion of light through the use of particular camera lenses, it can also mean the manipulation of light by placing various screens, scrims, etc. in front of the light sources. Often, a large silk, like a parachute, is stretched over a frame and placed in front of a large light to soften its glow. Or, light can also be bounced off various white cards, foam core or foil reflectors to create a softer, more indirect light source. I don't recall Wexler saying explicitly that he used filters for the camera when I saw this again the other night. Whatever the case, I am sure Haskell was forced to make up a lot of time since, as Alemendros mentioned, magic hour effectively offered only 20-25 minutes of film time per day. This must have kept production dragging out forever considering the typical need to work at least 12-16 hours a day.
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