post-production manager at Digimage Professional Meeting with Juan Eveno

The most technical of the professional encounters during the Prix de la Jeunesse is without a doubt that one with Juan Eveno. This pioneer of digital usage started his career in a traditional post-production chemical laboratory, where camera films are developed. Today many films are shot on digital, meaning without a film negative. In addition, amongst the films made on 35mm, 50% of the post-production is done digitally. This has led to an evolution in the work of not only the chief cameraman but also of the editor. Ten years ago they moved onto digital whilst they came from an artisanal background, meaning that they edited films by cutting and pasting the negatives by hand. What is more, some didn’t resist the change, as Juan Eveno affirms. Today, the chief cameraman (or director of photography) is not only involved on set but also in post-production. This changes the working method during shooting. One can film in the knowledge that images can be retouched, and so the colours are not pushed to 100%. The test shots aren’t perfect. The film is under-exposed but this can be corrected thanks to digital technology. According to Juan Eveno, it is hard for the chief cameraman to work in such a way as his instinct is to try to get a good image directly during the shooting. Instead, he becomes a sort of assistant calibrator, the technician who retouches the film in post-production. This person improves the colours of an interior (matt-painting), adds more floors to a building, and many other things too…

Because of the digital evolution and the improvement of technical quality, image definition is ever higher. Yet the work is no quicker because computers of better performance are always needed. Today a high-definition image takes up 6 megabytes. The last existing computer format went up to 40 megabytes. Considering that there are 24 images per second in a film, this could be very heavy technically. Lighter quality film support (proxi) is thus used in order to make the work easier.

Finally Juan Eveno didn’t forget to talk about the economic aspects of digital which, according to him, saves money. For example with regards to the lighting, one could shoot a scene in the morning which would then be transformed into an evening scene, without being obliged to create a fake night-time set. There is thus more flexibility in the working schedule during film shootings.

This meeting was very interesting, giving a positive image of the profession. If digital is the technology of the future, it also allows the conservation of cinematic heritage in restoring films. Juan Eveno himself reworked the famous classic Intolerance from F.W. Griffith.

Benjamin Zimmermann

Joanna Gallardo