A/B printing for desaturation

[Zagorchinov]

I want to know more about the technical steps when desaturating color on film by A/B printing from color and b&w intermediate.

Is it done from two dupe negatives to print film, or from two dupe positives to dupe negative?

Can anyone share some experience?
Thank you!

Dian

 

[David Mullen ASC]

Usually you make two dupe positives, one color and the other b&w, and combine them onto a single desaturated dupe negative in two passes for printing.

 

[Zagorchinov]

Thank you for the quick response, Mr Mullen.

What about the color timing, I guess one should do it from the original negative straight to a work print, and then carry on with the intermediates without color intervention.

It will be nice idea to do additional color timing of the desaturated dupe negative, as this would add a color more like an overall cast than a color balancing the shots.

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[David Mullen ASC]

If this effect were for an entire movie, not just a few shots, then yes, you'd answer print the movie normally, determine the printer lights and strike a color-timed IP, and then also a timed b&w positive. Then through testing to determine the right percentage of color and b&w exposure passes on the new dupe neg, you'd get a desaturated dupe neg which hopefully will print at one light, but it may need some scene-to-scene correction again.

The opening scenes in "The Natural" were desaturated this way, but what was interesing was that they rephotographed the color IP image onto the dupe negative slightly out-of-focus, but the b&w image was rephotographed sharp, so you got a diffusion effect of soft colors blurred over a sharp b&w image. Even the blacks glowed, since there is black in the color image as well as the b&w one.

 

[Zagorchinov]

Thanks for the replies.

What about pulling/pushing the black and white intermediate? Any experience with this?

Thanks again.
Dian