The Choice of Film Stock - Text 1
Although the question of the tools used by filmmakers comes immediately to mind when we speak of etching or painting on film, in truth another question is decisive first of all: that of the base on which the graphic artwork will be carried out, meaning the film stock itself. In this respect, one’s choice is not neutral. As soon as one chooses a black leader or a piece of transparent film, a particular technical stance comes into play: either one chooses to remove material (here one’s tools serve to penetrate the black leader to produce the lines of the future representation), or one adds material (paint, ink, etc., which in this case is added to transparent film stock, used as the base of the drawing). As Pierre Hébert explains, however, “these are two radically different worlds.”[1] In fact this choice determines from the start, for example, the registration, meaning the way filmmakers get their bearings on the film stock on which they are going to etch or draw.
