Bleach bypass

Bleach bypass, also known as skip bleach or silver retention, is an optical effect which entails either the partial or complete skipping of the bleaching function during the processing of a color film. By doing this, the silver is retained in the emulsion along with the color dyes. The result is a black and white image over a color image. The images usually would have reduced saturation and latitude, along with increased contrast and graininess. It usually is used to maximal effect in conjunction with a one-stop underexposure.

Technique

Bleach bypass can be done to any photochemical step in the process, be it original camera negative, interpositive, internegative, or release print. Generally it is applied at the internegative stage, as insurance companies usually are reluctant to have the original negative bleach bypassed in the event that the look is agreed to be too extreme, and the cost of the process for each individual release print is usually cost-prohibitive. The effect, however, will render slightly differently at each stage, especially between the negative and positive stages.

Bleach bypass generally refers to a complete circumvention of the bleach stage of development, and is the most commonly offered service among labs. Technicolor's ENR and Deluxe Labs' ACE processes are proprietary variants which allow the film to be only partially bleached, giving the cinematographer a more finely-tuned control over the effect rendered by the process.

While originally a laboratory technique, a similar effect can now be achieved digitally through digital intermediate color grading.

Use in movies

Bleach bypass was first used in Kon Ichikawa's 1960 film "Her Brother". Miyagawa Kazuo as Daiei Motion Picture Company's cameraman invented Bleach bypass for Ichikawa's film, [cite web | url=http://www.momat.go.jp/FC/NFC_Calendar/2003-08/kaisetsu.html | title=Kon Ichikawa Retrospective Part 1 | language=Japanese | publisher=National Film Center | accessdate=2008-04-20] [cite web | url=http://www.nikkansports.com/jinji/1999/seikyo990808.html | title=日刊スポーツ・訃報・宮川一夫氏 | language=Japanese | accessdate=2008-04-20] [cite web | url=http://www.tokyolab.co.jp/50th/05.html | title=東京現像所：the 50th Anniversary：TOGENの歴史 | language=Japanese | accessdate=2008-04-20] inspired by the color rendition in the 1956 release of "Moby-Dick", filmed using Technicolor, and was achieved through the use of an additional black and white overlay. Despite this early foray into the technique, it remained overlooked for the most part until its usage by Roger Deakins in "1984". The effect has subsequently become a regular development tool in labwork, and has remained in widespread usage ever since. Some notable practitioners include cinematographers Rodrigo Prieto, Darius Khondji, used in the film Se7en, and Janusz Kaminski, who used the technique in the films Saving Private Ryan and Minority Report.

References

External links

* [http://www.theasc.com/magazine/nov98/soupdujour/pg3.htm "Soup du Jour: Bleach Bypass", American Cinematographer, November 1998.]