Institutionalised racism in even the very technology of film.

Estelle Caswell looks back at the original benchmark for early colour photography, and reveals the ways in which “the default towards lighter skin in technology still lingers” (via Vox):

Insecure director of photography Ava Berkofsky offers insights and tips about how to light darker skin tones (via Mic):

Why aren't more filmmakers good at lighting black skin? You'd be surprised — pic.twitter.com/aB6GaHpkX6

— Mic (@mic) July 14, 2018

Moonlight cinematographer James Laxton and colorist Alex Bickel talk through, in wonderful detail, how they created the film’s striking look (via IndieWire).

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Speaking of Moonlight, director Barry Jenkins has spoken at length about this, saying (assuming “emotion” is a mis-transcription of “emulsion”), “The history of camera [emulsion], 35mm [emulsion], is racist. It just is” (taken from this interview at Believer):

barry jenkins talking about 35mm emulsion and the issues it has on darker skin.
as someone who only uses film, i still do not know why there hasn't been a change for this problem that has been present for all its history. pic.twitter.com/d3SoCOgEpE

— catarina. (@cacmrg) July 16, 2022

If Beyoncé says so, who are we to argue?

Try It Yourself

During production, videographer Kofi Yeboah shares techniques for lighting and exposing for Darker Skin Tones (specifically in Sony S-Log)…

… and then in post-production, Dr Nkeng Stephens offers this tutorial for grading darker skin tones (specifically in DaVinci Resolve):

Content creator KyleKallgrenBHH discusses what needs to be considered when bi-colour lighting for digital video:

Further Viewing

A collection of short videos on Hollywood’s shameful – and ongoing – history with race:

Film School: Whitewashing in Hollywood