getting a "negative image" on your final film

[Grainy]

hi there, how does one get the final, projected film to look like the negative image?
And, is this primarily a b/w approach, or is this done in color too sometimes?
thanks!
G

 

[Red Prince]

It is about the easiest thing that any software can do, in B&W or color. All the software has to do is reverse each bit in the image, that is turn all ones into zeroes and all zeroes into ones, with the NOT operator.

My "flop" plug-in does it in Photoshop, but of course you will want to do it with a video editor, not with Photoshop, since a video editor will do it on a range of frames in one step, while with Photoshop you would have to do it on every single frame separately. But the point is that it is very easy for computers to do.

 

[Grainy]

thanks for the response -- but I was thinking on 16mm film, though. I assume there's some system for this in the lab?
thanks!
G

 

[Red Prince]

On film? Well, yes, talk to your lab about that.