Going with the Grain

When DVDs started to became mainstream there were many arguments about whether the films should be in fullscreen or in their original aspect ratio. Many consumers had to be educated on why they were seeing black bars on square TV sets and why this was correct, and not due to a broken copy. It seems that while this discussion has now been muted by the introduction of widescreen TVs, a new problem has appeared with the appearance of Blu-ray. This HD format had created a debate regarding the importance of film grain.

Grain naturally occurs in film. It is caused by microscopic particles of silver halide that when exposed to light turn silver and create the image. Now the grains are tiny, but they cling together in different quantities, and it’s this density of groups that causes grain to be visible. There are a number of factors that determine how grainy a film can be. It can be affected by the type of film that is being used and the shooting conditions (amount of light etc), and these are combined with the artistic decision of the director and the director of photography. It’s this last point that’s the most important.

Studios have been recently trying to remove grain under the misapprehension that this makes a film look better. It has led to some recent Blu-ray releases being ruined by the excessive use of what is called Digital Noise Reduction (DNR). The first Blu-ray release of Gladiator (2000) is a perfect example of this. In order to achieve the smooth clean look that digital film has, the noise reduction was turned up to eleven. This not only removed the offending grain, but also the texture in an actor’s hair, the pores on their faces, and in some instances the process even deleted flaming arrows. Luckily the film has been re-mastered with a more forgiving DNR applied. This isn’t the first time this has occurred Patton (1970) and the second release of Predator (1987) also suffered at the hands of an over enthusiastic engineer. One easy way to tell if there has been some DNR performed is to look at the actors faces. This visual scrubbing often leaves them looking smooth and plastic like a Gerry Anderson puppet.

It’s obvious that some balance needs to be achieved between making the print look pristine and retain the original look of the film. A Blu-ray release that has received some unfair criticism is Bullitt (1968). It lacks the clearness of other releases (of films produced around the same date) and has quite a fair amount of grain. Unfortunately this has lead people to dismiss the transfer as being below par. However, this look is intentional, and is probably close to how it would have been seen on its initial cinema release. The director, Peter Yates, intended this Steve McQueen film to have a documentary appearance. Right down to using non-actors in some of the scenes, and having McQueen do most of the driving sequences. The grain is then not a mistake but a creative decision.

The problem is the consumer doesn’t understand this and when they see a grainy film on Blu-ray they believe that there is something wrong. However, this isn’t so. What consumers need to realize is that Blu-ray is not about making every film look like it was shot with a digital camera, but is in fact supposed to present the film in the way it would have been seen on its first theatrical performance.