Sjors Krebbeks

I was introduced to work with Gentlemen and Gangsters before they started to shoot the film and I was a part of the tests to check the lenses and exposure. The film was shot on 35mm anamorphic and with spherical lenses. Some parts were B/W negative and some of it was shot on color stock. The film has a low exposure and the 35mm color film gives more grain in low exposed areas of an image. This is something the photographer used as a style to get a certain structure of grain, which was one of the visions. A good balance Gentlemen and Gangsters was color corrected using Nucoda Film Master on a 2K Christie projector, and the stocks was scanned on an Arri scanner to 10-bit Log DPX. I started with my LUT which makes the image Linear from the Log Arri scanned negative. I have several LUT's that I try and test before I start to grade a new film I balanced the film in the direction of our look and used no keys or windows before I had a good control over the film. It is important for me to get as far as possible with a good balance in the direction of the look I want to achieve. Making many keys and windows first round is like locking the picture in detail too early. It takes time to get into a movie, and it is a process to improve day by day. I work my way gradually into the movie and add layers step by step. That said, I know colleagues and friends in the industry who work different and it is up to everyone to work the way that suits them best. The director chose to tell some parts of the film in black and white because of dramaturgical and emotional reasons. Then it was about to get a nice contrast as one wishes to see the picture. It is not obvious how a black and white image will look just because there is no color. I tried to find the mood of the scene and follow the photographer's intention. Since the director, the photographer and I have worked on previous films together, we all knew pretty much which way we should go. The "old look" The director, the photographer and I got more into the details of the film, day by day, when we graded, and the look was coming along. A lot of the look is made on set and was already at the negative so to speak. The interaction of scenography, costumes, make up, and good photography is what gives us the final look in grade. And in terms of Gentlemen and Gangsters, it is very well done in every way. I did follow the photographer's intention from the set and ensured that the colors were be in line with what we thought looked good to the different epochs in the film. Gentlemen and Gangsters is unique in its own way, I believe, and the film takes place from the 40s up to the 80s. I got inspiration from archive material and my own experience with films I've graded before, where the film is set in the 70s. "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" and "Call Girl" are two examples. I also made film restoration of many old original negatives from the 60s and up to the 90s, both color, and black and white. An "old look" is individual and, in the end, it's your own taste that decides what you think is a nice look and what doesn't look so new and modern. The film has a very nice atmosphere and sometimes a pictorial sense built out of grains. The biggest challenge was the subtle levels to get the grain show all the subtle shades and nuances in the blackness. I did some grain reduction in some shots, and some regrain in others with Sapphire and the DVO tools, but in general, the 35mm negative of this film had no other special treatment. Mats Holmgren All images and clips copyright © B-reel