movie tone

[Gordon]

Was watching the Bourne Supremacy last night. The entire movie has for want of a better term, a green tonality to many of the scenes. What you'd expect to be grey concrete has a green cast, everything has a very metalic green/yellow feel to it, but the skin tones all look pretty much normal.

It sort of has the feel of sodium vapour lamps in a way. Very much like the way the 'inside of the machine' was shot in the Matrix, if I remember well, too.

This image has much of the same tonality going on. Any suggestions, pointers, or guideance on how to attempt that sort of feel in an image ? What are the general approaches or techniques used for that sort of retouching ?

[Duffy Pratt]

I can't give you any tips about retouching. But if its part of the overall look of the movie, then you can be sure that the filmmakers got the look in the shooting and original processing, and not in any retouching. I'm going to look at the trailer for that movie (if I can still find it) to get a better idea of the look you are after.

Duffy

[Gordon]

I did come up with this comment from imdb "To give this movie its gritty, documentary-style appearance, director Paul Greengrass used mostly handheld cameras, and a muted color palette. Greengrass also made sure to avoid computer graphics at all costs, and all of the stunts shown in the movie were achieved practically.'

[Duffy Pratt]

Yes, he not only uses handheld cameras, but he avoids the steadi-cam. The muted color palette comes a few ways. Partially its a question of set design. I also suspect that the cinematographer has washed out the colors some (ala Godfather2 in the modern sequences), by overexposing the stock and then pulling the processing In Godfather2, I think Willis filmed all of the Michael/Fredo stuff somewhere between one and two stops overexposed and then underdeveloped the film to compensate and give a bit of a harsh, washed out feel.

The greenish feel you see (and its there, and even deliberately emphasized in the DVD cover), may come partially from lighting/gel choices. It could also be slightly enhanced by timing choices in the print process. There isn't too much that goes on in the way of "post-processing" for movies, but every shot gets its own timing for the RGB lights that are used to burn the negative onto the print stock. They may have subtly bumped up the green lighting on the prints to give the feel you want, but thats just a guess.

Duffy