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Tom DiCillo, DI Guy
The indie auteur behind Johnny Suede and Living in Oblivion "blown away" by digital intermediate with his new film, Delirious
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| Michael Pitt stars in Tom DiCillo’s Delirious (2007). |
1. I never planned to do a digital intermediate (a digitization of a project in order to manipulate color and other image characteristics) on Delirious. It came about by accident. I shot the film thinking that what we shot was what the film would look like. After spending seven days with John Crowley, colorist at PostWorks, New York, I came away with a keen respect for the DI process. It has a power as exciting and creative as every other part of the filmmaking process. I think its greatest benefit may not be for the cinematographer, but for the director—especially the writer-director—as it enables you to refine and sharpen the visual information in the film. In some cases, the DI actually allows you to rewrite the script.
2. Start with a film that already has a well thought out and clearly defined visual style. Don’t try to find that style during the DI.
3. Every film requires its own unique visual style. I try not to force a style on a film; I prefer to let it evolve out of the script, the intent, my particular point of view and a certain amount of trial and error (luck). Without some combination of the above, you could end up with a film like The Island which, for all its DI wizardry, looks strangely similar to a two-hour Pepsi commercial.
4. Delirious was shot on 35mm in 25 days. The tight shooting schedule and the necessities of the script helped define the visual style. We needed to move quickly, yet still try to present the film’s more intricate visual elements. DP Frank DeMarco and I divided the film into two distinct visual worlds: The chaotic rush of the paparazzi and the sleek and glittering world of celebrity they crave to enter. For the paparazzi world we devised a fluid, handheld camera that gave energy and allowed for spontaneity from two very spontaneous actors—Steve Buscemi and Michael Pitt. For the celebrity world, DeMarco took more care with the lighting and the camera was always on the dolly with clear, strong frames.
5. In the handheld sections of the film, we did several manual zooms to accentuate certain key moments of action. In the DI, I was able to continue and refine this visual motif by adding carefully drawn digital zooms. This slightly rough visual movement kept the spontaneous pulse of the film going. Again, it was already established on the negative—I just used the DI to enhance it.
6. In the same vein, I used the DI to recompose and reframe. I found it very useful in dramatic scenes to punch in closer than we’d originally shot. The effect is subtle—the intent being to sharpen the shot’s focus.
7. Working as fast as we did during filming, we didn’t have extra time to tweak and finesse every shot. As thrilled as I am with what DeMarco accomplished, I found it very effective in the DI to manipulate shadow. In many scenes, colorist Crowley and I effectively put up digital flags to add dimension to walls or modeling to actors’ faces. This added an unobtrusive focus on the most dramatic elements of the scene.
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| Michael Pitt and Steve Buscemi in Delirious (2007). |
8. Similarly, changing the speed of the action is a great benefit of the DI. In several instances I took moments in a scene and slowed them down, then in the same shot returned to normal speed. The DI lets you do this with surgical precision and no loss of detail.
9. The greatest power of the DI is in its ability to manipulate color. In a traditional chemical timing, you have the option to make a scene lighter or darker overall, or warmer or cooler overall. In the DI you can isolate every single color in a scene. In one scene we isolated the red in Gina Gershon’s lips and made it sharper—more lush and saturated. In the scene Michael Pitt was becoming infatuated with her, so this small tweak of color subtly enforced his attraction.
10. In my opinion the DI is not best used to make the image perfect. Instead, it gives you the rare ability to work on the finished film, the film you’ve only discovered after months of editing. Once you’ve determined the film’s finished form, the DI allows you to look at every visual aspect of the film and enhance so it is working as strongly as it can to help you tell your story. This is how I used it—to help me tell my story. I wrote the film as a kind of contemporary myth or fable. Through the DI, I was able to create a world of rich, highly-saturated color that elevated the film slightly beyond reality. I was able to create deep, mysterious blacks and lush contrast, further heightening the film’s drama, tension and humor. would use the DI again in a second.
Delirious will screen as part of Sundance’s Spectrum program in January 2007.
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COMMENTS | POST A COMMENT 
- Comment by ed hardy on 7/14/09 at 4:11 am
LOve Tom DiCillo, DI Guy.haha
- Comment by claire Loiseau on 8/24/09 at 5:08 pm
I would like to get in contact with Tom Dicillo. Could you possibly help me, please? Or could you give him my e-mail address? Thanks a lot. Claire
This story was published in the Winter 2007 MovieMaker Magazine. The headline was:
Tom DiCillo, DI Guy / The indie auteur behind Johnny Suede and Living in Oblivion "blown away" by digital intermediate with his new film, Delirious
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