Cross-Processing vs. Bleach Bypass: Tips for the Look

[Jason]

Any tips on cross processing? I was going to try bleach bypassing but it was too costly. So now I'm going to try to make the cross processed image look b.b.

I know c.p. is very saturated and b.b. is very desaturated so intend to totally desaturate my mise-en-scene. I love the black blacks, contrast and grain both give. I'm aware of the yellow-brown that c.p. tends toward to and I'm okay with that. What I'm concerned with is my latitude and how much under or over I should grade my ASA at. I'm not sure which stock I will choose yet. Thank you for any help.

Jason

 

[Kim Welch]

question for david or roy

question for david or roy

This is probably a good question for David or Roy. Did you get the information you needed? You might try PMing them so they see your questions when they log on.


Truly
Kim

 

[David Mullen ASC]

You can rate the stock normally with cross-processing. Some people rate them slightly faster. Trouble is that there is NO latitude so some shots will look overexposed and others underexposed even with the slightest miscalculation. You need to do a lot of testing to get accurate results, exposure-wise -- or just live with some of the inconsistencies as part of the look.

The contrast build-up is much stronger than with bleach-bypassed negative. Also, the graininess increase is not as much because if you are using E6 5285 stock (100D), it is so fine-grained to begin with that it doesn't get that grainy even with cross-processing it in the ECN2 bath. It would be like using a skip-bleach process on a 50 ASA color negative stock in terms of graininess.

However, the old VNF Ektachrome stocks are quite grainy and will give you even more graininess when cross-processed.

 

[Kevin_Zanit]

I second all of what David said.

This is the type of thing you MUST test with the wardrobe and makeup, etc.

I have shot cross process stuff, and what I always do is rate the stock slightly faster.

Also, I noticed the results varied from lab to lab, especially the amount of grain. Don’t ask me why, but it did.

David, did you shoot some cross process on your last project (Shadow Boxer)?



Kevin Zanit

 

[David Mullen ASC]

I shot two scenes in "Shadowboxer" on Kodak 5285, cross-processed. I rated it at 80 ASA instead of 100 ASA but it actually looked more like it was a 125 or 160 ASA. But I wanted a slightly hotter look.

Talk about contrast! It was thru the roof. Things burn out to white or plunge to black very easily. Incredibly rich colors. It was a tough shoot because I combined the process with using a 90mm slant-focus anamorphic lens, which was a T/4.5 at wide-open. So I was lighting a night interior to T/5.6 at 80 ASA, which was not easy, plus had to do all the focusing by eye. Shadows, anything unlit, went black. You basically need to really flat-light everything plus get the art department and wardrobe to use midtones only.

The other scene was a day exterior.

Both scenes were shot with a 1/2 ProMist as well, but the high contrast and the sharpening effect that resulted made the 1/2 ProMist look more like an 1/8 ProMist.