LASERPACIFIC MELDS A VARIETY OF FORMATS
FOR BABEL (NOMINATED FOR 7 GOLDEN GLOBES)

LaserPacific devised a unique and transparent workflow solution that seamlessly melded a wide variety of film formats for cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC and director Alejandro Gonzáles Iñárritu on their most recent collaboration, Babel. Iñárritu and Prieto chose to photograph parts of the story in Super 16, 3-perf Super 35 and 35 mm anamorphic format, depending on the emotional intent of the scene, its location, and its place in the overall flow of the story. LaserPacific devised a method of translating the images into the digital world that allowed the filmmakers to carefully craft a distinctive look for each sequence while maintaining an overall visual continuity within a common 1.85:1 aspect ratio.

LaserPacific also played a key role in ensuring that the looks the filmmakers designed for the film reach cinema, digital cinema, and home theater screens with perfect consistency.

“Babel is an example of the conjunction of high tech color science and the creative, aesthetic art of filmmaking,” says LaserPacific president Leon Silverman. “Artists like Rodrigo and Alejandro, who tell their stories with light and emotion, collaborate with LaserPacific’s team, which helps them convey their creative vision through artistic applications of mathematics and engineering. The creative choices made by the filmmakers required a technological solution, and LaserPacific provided that solution smoothly and efficiently.”

Babel, which stars Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, is a sprawling, ambitious epic that intercuts stories taking place across three continents. Misunderstandings and tragic incidents build upon each other and combine to create a grim view of humanity. Babel is the third collaboration of Iñárritu and Prieto, the others being 21 Grams and Amores Perros.

Scenes were filmed in Morocco, Japan, Mexico and the United States. While scouting, Iñárritu and Prieto decided that each thread of the complicated narrative should have its own visual signature. They decided to shoot the Morocco scenes in Super 16 format, the Mexican and California segments with 35 mm spherical lenses in 1.85:1 aspect ratio, and scenes in Japan in anamorphic format.

“We wanted a feeling of visual continuity between the stories, yet with each set of images having its own personality,” Prieto says. “We chose the various formats knowing that the DI would allow us the degree of control we needed to make it all work. We wanted very textured images in Morocco to represent the struggle the characters were having in their relationship. I decided to shoot their scenes in Super 16 on (100T) Kodak 7248 film. For the two young boys in Morocco, I wanted a finer grain structure that would be less apparent when it was intercut with 35 mm stocks. I used (Eastman EXR) 7245, a 50-speed stock, for daylight scenes and a little (Kodak VISION2) 7218 (500T) for night interiors.

“Alejandro and I felt that the scenes in Mexico needed the texture we got with 35 mm film pushed one stop, so we shot with three-perf film, which trimmed the cost,” Prieto says. “Shooting three-perf also dovetailed with our decision to use a digital intermediate process.”

Prieto chose to photograph the Japan portion of the shoot with anamorphic lenses in part because he felt the shallow depth of field helped the audience get a sense of a deaf and mute character’s view of the world. Prieto shot anamorphic lens tests in 1.85:1 aspect ratio with the knowledge that the DI would allow LaserPacific to conform all the different formats to that shape.

After the film was edited offline, LaserPacific scanned the conformed negative at 4K resolution for the 2K workflow, and converted the film to a digital master file in the Academy 1.85:1 aspect ratio.

“Because this unique project included footage from both spherical and anamorphic lenses, as well as in several aspect ratios, we were exploring new territory,” says Silverman. “We needed to combine images from a variety of sources into a master file that reflected the filmmakers’ aesthetic intentions. This was a significant technical challenge, but it’s our job to make the technicalities invisible to the filmmakers, so they can concentrate on being creative.”

LaserPacific adapted the scanning process to extract the highest possible resolution from each format. The goal was maximum image quality and greater creative flexibility. “For example, scanners normally scan across the full aperture of the film, even when the picture area is within the Academy aperture,” says Silverman. “We threw out the rules by which scanning is normally done, and concentrated the greatest possible number of pixels on the aspect ratios that Rodrigo actually photographed. That maximized the resolution of the image within each chosen frame. It’s another example of LaserPacific putting the technology in service to the story and to the cinematographer’s intent.”

Over a period of about three weeks, Prieto and colorist Yvan Lucas used a Discreet Lustre to digitally time the film, to fine tune the various looks, and to intuitively add other visual accents. For example, Prieto used DI techniques to give the Moroccan sequences a partial bleach bypass look by adding contrast and desaturating selected colors. The digital master was projected on a large, state-of-the-art screen in a cinema-like environment at LaserPacific. The timed digital master file was then recorded onto 35 mm color intermediate film.

LaserPacific color scientist Doug Jaqua played a key role in ensuring that the images Prieto and Iñárritu created for the theatrical release translated accurately to the various video formats for DVD and other video releases. Rather than applying a standard “trim” that can result in a brighter, more “video” feel, Jaqua designed specific, custom LUTs (Look-Up Tables) that faithfully carried the unique image characteristics - the “look” - into the video master.

“We are honored to have had the opportunity to support these talented artists,” says Silverman. “The creative community’s vision is our priority. We understand that all the technological power in the world means nothing unless it’s put in service of a story, a narrative with which people can connect. The collaborative spirit and experience of the team at LaserPacific is poised to serve the industry amid the most technologically advanced post production landscape.”

Babel was nominated for the Golden Palm Award and won the Ecumenical Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. The independent film is being distributed in the U.S. by Paramount Vantage.


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Find out more about Babel at IMDb.