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Learning path · Shooting on film

The film lab

Film after the camera: processing, push and pull, bleach bypass, rushes, scanning and telecine, prints, film-out and restoration, with UK labs as the model.

Free films in teaching order, for one craft. Watch, tick them off and test yourself. It's practice that prepares you for an Academy course. This one prepares you for Camera department Foundation.

17 lessons · About 3.5 hours · New to set to working crew · Not started

Lesson 1

Olivia Wilde gets a tour of the Kodak Film Lab in NYC

Kodak · 4:07 · original on YouTube

You will learn: See the stages of a working motion picture lab.

Note: Kodak with A24; NYC lab, same process as Kodak's London lab.

By the end you will be able to

  • Explain what happens to a roll of negative in a motion picture lab
  • Choose push, pull or bleach bypass and brief the lab correctly
  • Understand rushes, telecine and scanning, and grade film scans in Resolve
  • Describe how prints are made and how archives restore and preserve film

Test yourself

Could you do it on a set?

4 real situations, one for each thing this path teaches. It's optional practice, not pass or fail, and your answers stay on this device.

What happens first to a roll of colour negative at the lab?

The DoP wants more contrast and less colour for a gritty look. What do you brief the lab for, and how?

A whole roll was underexposed by a stop. What can you ask the lab for?

An archive is restoring an old feature. What do they do first?

Next: do it for real

This path prepares you for Camera department Foundation.

Eight lessons in the order a camera trainee meets the job: safety, who's who, prep, kit care, slates and camera reports, media, lenses and marks.

It's free and open in the pilot. Finish it to book a competency check, then a practical on our unit.

Start Camera FoundationBook a competency check

How learning with FIF works

Learning path. Free films in teaching order, for one craft. Watch, tick them off and test yourself. It's practice that prepares you for an Academy course.

  1. Learn onlineFree films, paths and Academy coursesYou are here
  2. Competency checkA short check with us, online or in person
  3. In-person practicalOn our unit at Pinewood or 3 Mills
  4. FIF CertificateFrom the practical only

The FIF Certificate comes only from the practical. How it works · Book a competency check

More on this

10 items

Go further

Beyond YouTube, labelled honestly. Free first. Paid options are labelled.

  • KODAK Film Lab London (Pinewood Studios) Paid per foot; ask for a quote
    Kodak. Kodak's own UK lab: colour and B&W negative processing and scanning for motion picture film.
  • Cinelab Film & Digital Paid; ask for a quote
    Cinelab. UK lab handling Super 8 to 65mm: processing, scanning, prints and film-out.
  • Kodak lab locator Free
    Kodak. Find labs that process each gauge worldwide.
  • BFI National Archive: research and access Free (some services paid)
    BFI. How the UK's national film archive works and how to use it.
  • Pro8mm Paid
    Pro8mm. US Super 8 and 16mm specialist: film, processing, scanning and camera rental; useful reference for workflows.
  • FotoKem Free to browse
    FotoKem. US lab behind most large-format features; good reading on 65mm workflow.
  • ScreenSkills e-learning Free with sign-up
    ScreenSkills. UK industry body's free online modules, including camera department basics.
  • What film costs
    Lab work is charged per foot plus scanning by resolution; ask two labs for quotes and say if you are a student or a non-profit project.

For learners and trainers

Train with us on a working unit

Every lesson is a free video by its original maker, played from YouTube with privacy-enhanced settings. Found a broken video? Email [email protected].