Pierrot le Fou

[alexander-]

I may be fou (ahem, sorry), but I'm planning ahead for a shoot where we want to achieve something close to the look (colour-wise) of Pierrot le Fou/Godard's 60s colour films. So super, super bold/saturated reds and blues etc.

I'd like to get as close as possible before having to resort to fiddling with scans/prints - which I recognise will be difficult as I guess these colours were probably achieved by dye transfer or similar... Can anyone recommend a current stock (or semi-available one) that might be a good start? Preferably also available in 120!

Cheers in advance,
a-

 

[alexander-]

Just for reference (perhaps not the best image) but this kind of a pallette, perhaps aiming for a little bolder colours even than this - certainly the reds a little deeper... (This might be a bit garish though!)

 

[Lauffray]

Surely slide film could get you close ?

 

[alexander-]

Yeah, that's kind of what I was leaning towards - but I've never shot any reversal so I wouldn't really know what was what in terms of what's out there and how to shoot to best get there.. Velvia looks like a fairly decent option but is perhaps not red enough, perhaps a little too tidy as well..

(p.s. Just been having a little browse through your flickr, really great stuff! 😎)

 

[Rangefinder 35]

Velvia 50 might get you close in red rendition, but the skin might be a bit off. I had good results shooting Velvia 50 at 32 ASA and, underdeveloping it by 1/2 stop. That was the old emulsion, though. Few years back Fuji came up with new emulsion formula that's more environment friendly, but doesn't pack as much punch in the highlights. Whatever you decide shoot the test roll before committing yourself.

 

[Lauffray]

(p.s. Just been having a little browse through your flickr, really great stuff! 😎)

Thanks 🙂

Velvia 50 definitely has punch, I'd test shoot some portraits with it beforehand. I think their 100ISO slide, Provia, is a little less temperamental, although most modern slides are pretty balanced (I think ? haven't shot so in a while)

 

[NY_Dan]

Just play with the sliders in PhotoShop -- that's not a hard look to achieve at all.

 

[mfogiel]

Contrary to the above opinion, I would go with a colour negative, to get good skin tones, and the rest you can fiddle with in PS. The slides are notoriously difficult with skin rendition. Perhaps one of the more contrasty films like Ektar 100 will deliver. If too slow go simply with Portra 400.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Another vote for Ektar 100 and careful exposure. Depending on exposure, colour rendition varies quite a lot. See http://www.rogerandfrances.com/subscription/reviews kodak ektar 100.html for actual examples. This is the only film I'd consider.

Cheers,

R.

 

[alexander-]

Thanks all for the advice! Think I'll order a roll or two of Ektar and some of the Fuji E6 films and have a test. If nothing else it'll be cool to have a go with some reversal films... 🙂

 

[DominikDUK]

The Pierrot le fou look is the result of lighting and a good prop, dress and makeup dept. The best way to get the colors is to use negative film Portra 400 as the skintone is fairly neutral in the movie. The color comes from the dresses, props and sometimes the makeup they used bold colors mostly primary colors at that.

Techniscope the format this movie was shot on usually went hand in hand with a dye transfer release print with gave bolder colors but not extremely overexaggerated ones like Velvia or Ektar do.

 

[Hsg]

This was shot with Nikon Coolpix S9100 P&S, the same camera that Moriyama used for his color book.

JPG from the camera re-sized for web use.