Glad to be of service

From: JEFFREY PAULL (email suppressed)
Date: Sun Jun 07 2009 - 10:22:56 PDT


Myron and Dinorah -

What I wrote comes out of my own experiences in film and still photography
and in teaching it. At my first teaching job, and as part of an intermedia group,
I learned how to make B&W slides from B&W negs using Eastman's 5362 (35mm version of 7362).
The tonality is georgeous.
When I got a job here in Canada, in 1972, the very first thing I put in a requisition for, was an optical printer,
 and I taught a course called "Frame-by-Frame", got the nearby men's staff washroom (as they call it here) into a
darkroom, and my students shot and developed their own footage, made loops, motifs, gestural sweeps, patterns.
They coloured it if they wanted.
That's how I learned how all this works. It took time and testing, of course, to understand the interrelationships.

OK: Just in case . . . . . . a couple of hints - or are they "tips"? - Maybe they're even "secrets".
       Observations:
Penultimate:
If you develop B&W film: Any B&W developer will work, but keep this in mind:
        - Developers used for enlarging paper can also be used to develop cine film. It gives you high contrast results and strong D-Max (opaque blacks).
                         
       - Kodak makes (made?) several Hi-con developers: D-8, D-11, D-19. They all work.

      - The highest contrast developers are so-called graphic arts "Litho" developers. They come in separate parts "A" and "B".
These developers are so active, you mix A and B parts just before use, and the mixture dies after only several hours.

       - All developers used to develop CAMERA NEGATIVE stocks (still or cine) are low contrast developers and give weak D-Max.

Finally: The word "bleach", photographically, names 3 different chemicals:
   
   1} Bleach that removes or lightens a B&W image, while leaving the gelatine intact.

   2 } So-called "rehaloginating bleach" which is the chemical used when you develop any reversal films.

  1} Clothes bleach (active ingredient chlorine) Removes image by destroying the gelatine coating the image is imbedded in.
       Gelatine is a protein; so chlorine will do the same to a soaking hand, or air passages if breathing concentration is more than laundry day.
So never mix chlorine bleach with anything because some household stuff makes Clorox fizz which is pure chlorine.
If you get Clorox on your skin, it'll feel slippery. Wash you hand(s) til they don't feel slippery and pour a little vinigar in
 your hands to neutralize the last molocules of chlorine. By this time, the Clorox has been diluted enough so it won't fizz with vinigar.
   Then you can squeeze the lettuce and eat the salad. (joke)

Dinorah and Myron -
I'm glad to know that at least part of my emails is (still!) useful.
Again, I'm a FRAMEWORKS fan, and I'm comitted to helping filmmakers.
So any time in future you think I might be able to help . . . . . . .

Jeffrey Paull

PS: I guess I assumed I was the only old fart in FRAMEWORKS

On Sun 07/06/09 10:23 , Dinorah de Jesús Rodriguez email suppressed sent:
> hi JP and Myron,
> i too have been hand-painting and scratching on film for over 30
> years, but your comments on the removal of the emulsion and
> subsequent entries on photo fixer revealed some new information for me
> and i'm sure for many other readers.  And it concisely summed up in a
> couple of pages what it has taken me many years to figure out by trial
> and error in my studio.  Thank you for all of this great info.  JP,
> i am printing out your post as a convenient handout to give to my
> students.  thank you, and thanks to Raha for bringing up the subject.
>
> enjoy today...
> Dinorah de Jes ús Rodríguez Film/Video Artist and Freelance Writer
> www.solislandmediaworks.com [1] [2]www.artcinematic.blogspot.com [3]
> http://cinesthesia.blip.tv [4]
> __________________________________________________________________
> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at .
>
>
>
> Links:
> ------
> [1] http://web.mac.com/sol.island/iWeb/
> [2] http://artcinematic.blogspot.com/
> [3] http://artcinematic.blogspot.com/
> [4] http://cinesthesia.blip.tv/
>
>

__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.