Have you ever developed a film?
I have never, to be honest.
The closest I ever came to handling real footage before was in my second semester of uni when we had a course on film restoration and were able to cut old copies and tape them back together, playing them on a Steenbeck afterwards. And, of course, testing whether they already went to mush before we ever opened the film cans.
Well, today after the session with Tony, we were able to attend a session with our guest speaker aka guest demonstrator Gavin Murphy who developed a real 16mm film in front of us and in real time.
And while others may find it completely boring, I found it helpful to see how easy it actually is. And how low the costs can be if you are capable of developing your own material instead of paying approx. £80 for a three-minute Super 8 film you want developed.
But first things first.
Gavin used a method he called cross-processing, using Digibase C-41 development material (that is normally intended for colour negative film) for colour slide film that is normally processed with E-6 development solutions.
Within a lightproof tank with arm holes, he unloaded the film
from the camera onto the reel of a daylight processing tank that looks a lot like a salad spinner for film. Once the film was onto its reel, the actual process began.
While black and white development is already possible at room temperature, C-41 needs approx. 40° to start its reaction processes properly, which is why Gavin filled and pre-heated an additional water tank and filled the chemicals into bottles that would float within the tank, slowly heating to the right temperature.
He then mixed Part A, Part B, and Part C solutions each together with warm water and a starter chemical. These components, that will now be applied in layers, are used for processing different colours.
For the actual film stock contains silver halide, which is metallic silver dissolved in nitric acid, applied on film. These light sensitive crystals are arranged in hexagonic cells and clear until they become exposed to the photons in the light and create a little silver metal speck within each cell.
This speck later on acts as a catalyst that colours each respective hexagon. And here is a funny little thing: If you overexpose said image, the colour will bleed into the adjourning hexagons. If you leave the bleach in it for too long, it will revert the halides back into its non-metallic state.
In turn now, Gavin soaked the film in water before he applied the Developer (Part A), a Stop, then the Bleach (Part B) and afterwards the Fixer (Part C). While the temperature- and time-critical Developer starts the chemical process of the specks bleeding into the hexagons, the Stop immediately ceases the reaction. The residue is then washed together with the film for three minutes, before the Bleach is applied that turns the metallic silver back into halide. After another big wash, the Fixer is applied in the last step of development which fixates the image and softens up the halide, thus making it soluble.
And then, the time has finally come!
The development tank is opened and new, now physical wash is applied. Since the halide has been drawn out of the material, the film itself got sticky and needs to be cleaned. Water with Fotoflor is now used in a dip-and-brush technique where each bit of film is brushed by finger for three to five times. When this washing is done correctly, the film changes its colour from dark black to chocolate brown.
At the end, the film is then hung out to dry for four to five hours before he can be put on a reel and be played. This whole process, with all its minor steps being carefully timed and measured, took more than three hours to complete.
And the result was just beautiful.
References:
Lomography (n.d.) What the hell is cross-processing? A Lomography Guide [online] https://crossprocessing.info
[Accessed on 31 October 2017]
Lee, T (2016) Slide Film vs. Colour-Negative Film [online] https://thedarkroom.com/slide-film-vs-color-negative-film/ [Accessed on 31 October 2017]