Why 35mm?

Ploning is a movie that was shot on 35mm film. In the age wherein indie films are shot on handycams and digital media to save costs, why would an independent film outfit, an upstart in an industry of giants, want to experiment with shooting on such an expensive medium, when its more established peers are already all flocking to digital media (High-Definition) to save costs?

Ploning the Movie’s end product was processed by Optima Digital, which is the same post-production company that had processed the movies Crying Ladies and Santa Santita. These two movies were known for their excellence and substance, but most relevant to this article, the vivid colors of the film.

In the press premiere of Ploning last Friday, Miss Marilen Magsaysay* had talked about how the 35mm film can be processed to make the colors of the film turn out however they want. As I quickly scanned through this Wikipedia article on 35mm films, I was able to confirm what Miss Marilen said at the press premiere: that the color is easier to manipulate when the 35mm medium is used. The 35mm film can be processed in such a manner as to have certain shades dominate the picture. According to her, it all depends on the chemicals, as I inferred from the Wikipedia article. Because of this Optima was able to produce films of the caliber of Crying Ladies’ and Santa Santita’s.

Indeed, throughout my watching of Ploning, it was a larger-than-life experience. Because of the film quality, I was moving through several emotions all at once:

• I was amazed at how an apparently ordinary veranda and weed-overgrown lawn could look like paradise.
• I was skeptical about being able to really experience this vividness in real life, and wondered whether Cuyo was that beautiful or the warm colors just made it so.
• I was in tears in the back of my mind because such beauty just moves me.
• I was in tears also because I wondered when I would ever experience colors that vivid.
• I was amazed that we, Filipinos, who so belittle ourselves constantly, could make this excellent film.
• I was irritated that we belittle ourselves.
• I was glad that we are being vindicated by labors of love and excellence such as Ploning the Movie.
• I was also telling myself in wonderment, “So THAT is why they used 35mm instead of digital!”

While I was doing the “research” for this post, I was wondering to myself, partly because of this article: “You can edit the color “temperature” on digital media anyway, so why not use that instead of costly 35mm?

But as I recall the movie, it was so different from the other movies I’ve seen. It was like a Hollywood film with its crispness, but the colors were so warm, bright and vivid that watching Ploning the Movie was a surreal experience.

With the meat of Ploning’s story, the superb acting, and the amazing vividness and crispness of the film’s quality, it is no wonder it received the approval of the Cinema Evaluation Board: The highest rating of “A”.

Watch Ploning today!