We recently chatted with the colorists of two great feature films — A Complete Unknown and Better Man — each of which turned to FotoKem’s signature SHIFT Analog Intermediate process to help the filmmakers give their film its unique analog film vibe.
Like all projects using FotoKem’s SHIFT, each of these films’ artists have approached their use of the process in their own singular way. We’ve asked each colorist the same question in order to not only compare and contrast the two different SHIFT analog intermediate workflows for these great features, but to highlight the virtually unlimited different creative ways that FotoKem’s SHIFT can bring a unique look and feel to digitally acquired footage.
For A Complete Unknown, FotoKem Senior Colorist David Cole worked with director James Mangold and cinematographer Phedon Papamichael.
For Better Man, FotoKem Senior Colorist Phil Beckner worked with director Michael Gracey and cinematographer Erik Wilson.
Can you tell us about the overall film color process and SHIFT Analog Intermediate process for this film?
Phedon had started his career working at FotoKem so it was nice for him to kind of return home for this one. And it was really great introduction to Jim (James Mangold), seeing what we could do and how we could work as a company and a team and as fellow filmmakers to help him achieve what was in his mind’s eye and to get it up there on the screen.
We started off in early testing before main shoot, during camera lens testing, and we needed to create a filmic look, so a lookup table, where we actually tested the (Sony) Venice 2 camera against some Ektachrome film and also normal 35 black and white stock, and just worked out an emulation based on that.
Then after further notes with Phedon, he really liked the look of Kodakchrome but also Gordon Willis films like The French Connection, and The Godfather. So based on that, Joseph Slomka (FotoKem Principal Color Scientist) and I gave him various iterations and various looks, and then based on those, he chose one and went with that. And that was the show lookup table that got us into that filmic world.

And then in dailies, we had some emulation going on just for a bit of grain and jitter and things like that. Then once we started doing the actual grade, it started with trailers. From the get-go we’d actually done some testing. Teaser one was the first full filmout of something that the audiences saw, where we went directly out to (Kodak) 5203, which is a 50 ASA camera stock through the laser recorders and they really liked it. We’d done that for testing but then when we saw that, that pretty much closed the door on whether we wanted to go any other route and do any other testing. They really liked the look of that and that’s what we ended up doing on the film.
During the grading process, we had a more accurate emulation process going where I also had softness, jitter and weave, halation, flicker, grain, as well as non-uniform cross-field density simulation from scans. And so that was how they perceived the movie while we were actually doing the grade.
Then we went out to film, brought it back in, matched it back in and did final tweaks. And as visual effects shots came in, we did pick-ups so that the entire movie could go through the filmout process, because when we we did the first output, we didn’t have all the final shots, but they because of the accelerated schedule on this film, they needed to get versions out for screenings and things like that so the final theatrical release in all formats has filmout on every shot.

Better Man was a collaborative effort between myself and the team here at FotoKem and colorist Adrian Hauser, who is based in Australia. He would send his color-corrected files to us, which we used as the starting point for the SHIFT process and the final creative pass with director Michael Gracey. Better Man is a unique film in that the main character is a CG ape and is meant to fit seamlessly into the real world with other human actors.
The story also takes place over a span of many decades. SHIFT analog intermediate was perfect for this film because not only could we create unique looks for different time periods by using different film stocks and processing techniques, but generally going to film and back really helped to seamlessly blend CG elements into the image to make them feel more realistic. So it really was a win-win for this film.
The film used quite a few different stocks and processes creatively throughout. Michael wanted to keep things as organic as possible, kind of letting the film “do its thing”. The main look was created by going out to 5203 camera negative stock, with a little special pre-processing by FotoKem’s Joseph Slomka in order to sit the grain at just the right strength for the filmmaker’s taste. Michael was a big fan of process and I think he enjoyed seeing and testing all of the different varieties that the SHIFT process offers.
At the beginning of the film, we modified this 5203 pipeline to act more like a print, which accentuated the grain and halation even further. Throughout the film we used a variety of additional stocks from 2254 digital intermediate negative, 2242 IP (duped from 5203 camera stock processed skip bleach and pulled 1.5 stops) and 5294 Ektachrome Reversal (duped from 2254 digital intermediate negative).
As a film colorist, what was the most exciting part about using FotoKem’s SHIFT Analog Intermediate process for this film?
Well, I think it was always part of trying to ground the reality of the time period. So we’ve definitely gone for that look in the lookup table creation — the Kodakchrome look: how primary colors look. For example, yellow cabs in New York, skin tones, and environmental aspects. But using SHIFT to go to 5203 — while it is a camera stock, the process doesn’t look the same as if you had just natively shot 5203. It is an enhanced version of it. So it really just grounded the moment in time.
And while the emulation that we did is really good, there’s something about that true analog feel that just brings that certain something that you can’t put your finger on, you can’t describe. And so it’s very hard to emulate that which you can’t articulate. And that just took it over the edge.The filmmakers were really, really happy with the result. And we’re very glad that they had the opportunity to do this, considering they were shooting digitally, which allowed the cinematographer to shoot up to 12,800 ASA, for example, which wouldn’t have been possible if they’d shot it on film.

It’s always exciting to get the film scans back from the lab to see exactly what you got. We normally start by doing short tests to nail down a stock and process combination, but there’s always a little ambiguity as to what it will look like on larger portions of the film. It is analog, after all. So when it comes back from the lab and it is doing exactly what you’d hoped it would do to the images, that’s always satisfying.
Were there any particular artistic or technological hurdles to overcome using SHIFT?
Just the usual. When you’re grading a film, you’re trying to make sure that the story that you’re telling is what you see on the screen — to be able to get everything that the filmmakers want and tell the story and then make everything appear as as it should and be consistent within the time period. As well as the emotional point in time that the movie is trying to portray, whether it’s the excitement and joy of a concert or the bittersweet nature of lost love or whatever — we were always trying to get those story points across. Every film is its own problem solving process. And that’s the part of the fun of filmmaking is dealing with the technical and creative and storytelling hurdles. But hopefully we achieved what we set out to achieve.


Yes! I’d say the final scene of the film was the most challenging artistically to try and find just the right film look that the director was after. It needed to be subtle, but not so subtle that it started to feel digital again. We did quite a few tests to find the perfect combination of processing and film stock that perfectly executed the filmmakers vision.
In what ways do you feel the SHIFT process enhanced the story that the filmmakers wanted to tell?

For Better Man, it’s important that the audience is immediately transported into the world from the first scene. You want the audience to immediately buy in to the fact that Robbie is an ape, and that’s just how it is. SHIFT does a great job of not only setting the tone of the film, but also of really fully integrating Robbie into the world.
First and foremost, it comes down to that subliminal process of an audience member watching the film and just being given permission to believe in what they’re seeing — to be carried away by the story. We all know that movies are make believe but there’s something about the SHIFT process that just gives the audience permission to let go and believe what they’re watching — to just go with it from a storytelling point of view.