Is "The Hurt Locker" a case for resolution?

[Harry Clark]

The following is my opinion...
Along the lines of "grainy" and "shaky", a film that I think did an excellent job of using that deliberate documentary feel is Gary Oldman's "Nil By Mouth". Ron Fortunato's work on that film is amazing, in my opinion. Beautiful Ugliness, I suppose I might call it. The handheld style is just reserved enough to not get in the way of the story and action. The texture is just grainy enough without becoming distracting. They really crafted a nice palette on that one.
In terms of shakiness, "L'Infant" was another film that used handheld very appropriately and walked the line. Almost every shot is handheld but never to the point of distraction. I actually think "Bourne Ultimatum" walked that line too, since the super-shakiness was almost always action-appropriate.
Contrast the "one notch below" gestalt these films exhibit with the over-the-top forced shakiness and pointless zooms of the car chases in "The Rock" that were hard to watch on the big screen, and laughably obvious on the little one.
Again, just my opinion...
Cheers,
Harry

 

[CmunozS]

Like someone said before, "The Wrestler" looked great on the big screen and I think Babel 16mm parts did too!

 

[Alex Vendler]

16mm is grainy as hell, no matter how you shoot it.

No it isn't.

 

[Eric Rainey]

Sorry to not talk about grain. Has anybody noticed all the colorful pebbles all over the ground and on the car that gets dented in during the first big explosion? Does anybody know if that was added in post to cover up highlights clipping? That was the phantom in those shots right?

 

[Sam Taylor]

Sorry to not talk about grain. Has anybody noticed all the colorful pebbles all over the ground and on the car that gets dented in during the first big explosion? Does anybody know if that was added in post to cover up highlights clipping? That was the phantom in those shots right?

There is an interesting discussion at cinematography.com on your questions, with some suggesting that the "colorful pebbles" are a result of lens aberration, perhaps CA.

http://www.cinematography.com/index.php?showtopic=40018

And regarding the high speed footage, with several reports that it was a phantom
(e.g. AC mag) http://www.patriciathomson.net/AC-Hurt_Locker.html

But with some intriguing remarks that in fact it was shot with a prototype camera instead. However the latter don't sound very convincing, but might be true.

 

[Eric Rainey]

Thanks! I will check them out.

 

[Charles Angus]

16mm is grainy as hell, no matter how you shoot it.

Categorically untrue. I don't know what else to say in response to that.

 

[Thomas Wright]

Yeah, I've seen beatifully clean 16mm, and shot some pretty clean stuff myself and dirty too, you get to know where you went wrong and how to get it right.

That blue on the pebbles etc. seems to show in the background too and on the fellas helmet which points to a grade or camera artifact methinks.