American Cinematographer - May 1995 - 52

Federal Hill's Creators Endure
Colorization Clash

The production used one
stock only: Eastman Kodak
Double-X Negative 5222. Crudo
rated the film at El 160 under

tungsten 10 lamps and at El 200
in

daylight. Don Donigi and
Blakely at DuArt Film Lab
in New York City did the
pro¬
cessing, developing the negative
to a .60 gamma. "I shot a
pretty
comprehensive series of tests and

Writer/director Michael Corrente and

Steve

cinematographer Richard Crudo battle to
integrity of their film - and
their reputations.

found that the combination of

maintain the

by Stephen Pizzello

ment

best

.the film's glossy black &
white photography and small-city
location shooting suggest the Phil
Karlson crime exposes of the early
Sixties." - /. Hoberman, The
.

Village Voice
.Federal Hill

often has a
shadowy, film noir-ish look... its
mood is early Martin Scorsese."
.

Michael

Janusonis, The
Providence Journal-Bulletin

-

".
cinematographer Richard
Crudo's black & white images
have the clarity of ebony and
.

.

pearls."

-

Thelma Adams, The

a

half-stop overexposure and
about a half-stop underdevelop¬
colorize the picture for theatri¬
cal release, home video and
TV broadcasts.
While Corrente had
earlier agreed to consider a
colorized home video version
for selected markets, he had
never conceived that the com¬

pany might try to colorize the
theatrical version. When he
heard the news, his reaction
was swift and unvarnished.
"Over my dead body will they
colorize my film," he declared
in an interview with The Holly¬
wood Reporter. Crudo, in a state
of shock, added, "This is tear¬

gave me

-

the look I liked

rich, inky blacks and high¬

lights that held
some

up

well under

pretty extreme conditions,"

Crudo states. "The 5222 is virtu¬

ally grainless except for several
instances of bad opticals where
the contrast shifts some, but a

sloppy technician is to blame for
that, not Kodak."
He adds, "I also estab¬
lished

a

printer light of 25, which

by

pure coincidence sits right in
the middle of the scale. DuArt
doesn't develop and print black
& white on a daily basis, so over
a few
days our footage count
would tend to build up. With one
set

printer light, the Hazeltine

New York Post

ing

"We felt we could broaden the au¬
dience if we colorized [Federal

son.

conscious artistic

time, for color as well. It staves off

Hill.] After we [screened] it in
New York, Boston and other cit¬
ies, the reaction we got back from

Convinced that a color
version would attract viewers
reluctant to sit through a black

those markets is that

& white movie, Trimark failed

any potential atrocities by the lab
and lets me see exactly where I
stand when I look at dailies. Fur¬
ther testing showed Agfa 561 to
be the best positive stock. Its

my guts out. We shot the
film in black & white for a rea¬

they would

more if it wasn't in black
& white." - David Bowers,

enjoy it

spokesman for Trimark Pictures,
in a February 18 interview with
the Los Angeles Times
It

was a

filmmaker's worst

nightmare come true.
Having labored to
lend Federal Hill a moody black
& white ambience, ciirector
Michael Corrente and cinema¬

It

was a

choice."

to

anticipate the collective ire

of the Hollywood community,
which rallied behind Crudo
and Corrente. Arthur Hiller,

lets it go.

I use this method all the

higher silver content

gave a
richer feel than on any of the
other print stocks."
Federal Hill's

camera

president of the Academy of

package, though top-shelf, was as

Motion Picture Arts and Sci¬

stripped-down as the director's
approach to making the movie.
The equipment included a

and founding chair of
the Artists Rights Foundation,
called the proposed color¬
ization "an insult to the film¬
makers."
Soon after, the Artists
ences

tographer Richard Crudo re¬
an unpleasant jolt on
February 15, just weeks before
the film's Los Angeles open¬

Corrente. "We asked Michael

ing, when Trimark Pictures

if he

ceived

operator just punches it in and

Rights Foundation itself joined
the fray after being ap¬
proached by Crudo and
was

announced its intention to

the copyright holder,
Continued on page 51

Panavision Golden Panaflex,
Primo T1.9 lenses (17.5mm,

27mm, 40mm and 75mm and a
Panavision T3 5:1 zoom), four
1,000-foot
magazines,
a
Panahead

and

a

standard

complement of accessories.
"What else do you need?"
quipped Crudo. "My old pals
Scott Fleischer, Sal Giarratano

and Chris Bieler at Panavision

50

American

Cinematographer

May 1995
American Cinematographer - May 1995

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