On Guy Maddin's biography, it mentions his trademark of the 'low-fi' look of his films (reminiscent of silent films).
I was very interested in how he achieves this effect and was wondering if anyone knew.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
At least some of the low-fi look is achieved by shooting with black and white Super 8 film, then blowing it up to 35mm. If you check out the making-of documentary on the DVD, you'll see about six crew members all filming at the same time with Super 8 cameras. He also uses one direct light source (or at least the illusion of one light source) which blanches the actors' faces and gives his films a very shadowy feel.
As for the sound, Maddin also inserts crackly analog hums onto the soundtrack. On the commentary for Tales from the Gimli Hospital, he talks about how he had favorite hums and would listen to them at home all the time.
this effect is also created by putting vaseline on the lenses which makes the film appear "fuzzy" in places. maddin loves vaseline! the effect of shooting on super 8 or 16mm on a bolex and blowing up to 35mm also increases the grainy feel of those smaller film stocks.
share'Film grain the size of softballs' indeed.
shareWhen I saw this feature at a film festival Luc Montpellier was presenting it and there was a question and answer period afterward where much of the discussion surrounded how he achieves this look. As others have stated, the use of vaseline is paramount in getting that fuzzy look. They also shoot on old film stock and with old lenses. Luc also said that, many times, they would take old lenses and try and scratch them to make little gashes appear on the film throughout, then rotate the lens so that gashes appeared in different places during the course of the film. He also said that the low-fi look is achieved by practical means (meaning there are no alterations to the image in post production i.e. no digital changes ala "Grindhouse").
Another interesting thing is that the film (and most of Maddin's works) are filmed entirely in a warehouse in Winnipeg. Any outdoor scene is filmed indoor, allowing them to go through production regardless of the weather and with total control of their surroundings.
Maddin's filmmaking style is quite interesting. I would love to witness the making of one of his movies.
also you can see the image is noticably clearer during closeup-medium-long shots...I think he used different speed super 8 films and some 16 as well..
also,in the credits it lists 'Video to film transfer" so I think he shot some on video before transferring it to film.What format film,I have no idea.
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Kiss her you Blockhead .
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For some reason, I vaguely recall this effect being more prominent in scenes with the female cast.
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