Color Correction and the Look of Festival Documentary

Abstract

ABSTRACT:The digital turn and the increased role of postproduction have transformed the look of documentary films, especially those geared toward the film festival circuit. Festival films such as Fire at Sea (Gianfranco Rosi, 2016), Armadillo (Janus Metz, 2010), On Rubiks' Road (Laila Pakalniņa, 2010), and A Memory in Khaki (Alfoz Tanjour, 2016) have developed an approach to color correction distinct from that of more industrially dominant theatrical documentary. Reconciling realism and pictorialism, these films' color correction acts as a "house style" of festival documentary that adds meaning to the individual documentary.