Steven Goldblatt: On Kodak Film

From American Cinematographer, Of Loss and Hope by Jay Holben (March 1999)

"I've experimented for the last two years with Kodak's low-contrast negative stock. In its previous incarnation [EXR 5287 200T], before the advent of 77, I really disliked it. It was too flat and grainy, and I just couldn't get on with it. But this time, using [the new 5277 Vision 320T], it really worked. It has a lovely, soft gradation and was my basic choice for daylight interiors at around 250 [ISO]. I found that it gave a very smooth, flattering skin texture which could still be used interchangeably with the other stocks. It wasn't such an obvious difference that it jumped out at you, but it was much nicer than the 5293 [EXR 200T] and the 5246 [Vision 250D], which I used in the hotel scenes. More often than not, Kodak's 46 is far too contrasty for me, and I have trouble with the highlights, which just blow [out] in a breath, whereas the 77 holds them beautifully. My night stock was 79, which I'm really used to. I've developed a t2.5 eye for 79; I can just look and see that it's around 21 or 22 footcandles and bang! I don't need to meter it. I got there with 77, too, but the 93 and 46 puzzle me a bit-- they don't come naturally, and I've got to work harder to get them to look the way I want them to onscreen."

-Stephen Goldblatt, ASC