From the very beginnings of cinema, it’s been a photochemical process.
However, in the last few years, it’s become clear that digital projection has overtaken film projection, to the extent that the processing of film stock is becoming increasingly rare. Film labs that previously processed film 24 hours a day to incredible levels of accuracy with great care, done by professional staff who were experts at their craft, are now closing at an alarming rate.
The Film Process
Footage is rushed from the studio or location to the Lab, where technicians work to process it and produce a print which can be viewed by the production staff and studio executives the next day. Many labs work through the night to produce these ‘dailies’.
The Chemistry of Motion Pictures
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4Jwsz6iGeo
Processing and Preparing a 16mm Film
Optical Printing
Twilight Cameraman: A stunning documentary about the work of an Optical Cameraman
Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV2OLf8mudY
The last film lab in Chicago (2009)
Deluxe
Based in the former Fox Studio on Fairfax, Deluxe is a huge operation.
Cinecolor
Technicolor
2011 – Technicolor opens a lab in Glendale to replace a larger lab at Universal Studios that was closed after Deluxe won the contract to process film for Universal. Around 100 of the 360 workers at hte Universal Technicolor plant were moved to the Glendale lab.
In addition to offering such services as processing film negatives and color correction, the lab focused on developing 70-millimeter film prints for Imax and other big-screen formats.
2011 July: Technicolor closes its film lab in Montreal, costing nearly 180 jobs.
Early 2013: Technicolor closed its lab at Pinewood Studios in the UK.
In December 2013, Technicolor closed it’s lab in Glendale, CA, less than three years after it opened.
Article: LA Times
Article: Variety
The last remaining Technicolor lab is in Bangkok.
Eastman Kodak
Fotokem
The last remaining film lab to be able to produce IMAX prints.