Optical Printing

While many filmmakers will commonly praise practical and optical effects, most modern visual effects are created digitally. Digital is more efficient for time and money, allows for greater possibilities, and often creates impeccable images. The current craftsmanship of analog is often limited to in-camera effects, but many couldn’t have been accomplished in the past without the use of an optical printer.

Once an essential tool during post-production, the near forgotten optical printer is a device that can manipulate film footage by re-photographing each projected frame individually. This allowed for slight manipulations in the image to create transitions and optical effects.

These effects created by the optical printer included:

When an optical printer is referenced, it is usually known as the device that effects pioneers such as Douglas Trumbull used on 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) or Blade Runner (1982). These visual effects were meant to be as invisible as possible so not to take you out of the story.

Other filmmakers used optical printers to add to the narrative. For Walkabout (1971), Nicolas Roeg utilized transitions and optical effects compounded with lens flares and camera angles to give a sense of being in the Australian outback, giving weight to the narrative through visual storytelling while drawing attention to the techniques.

While there are still some uses for optical printers with photochemical film restorations, the primary user base for the past few decades is comprised of experimental filmmakers.

Experimental filmmakers often work alone and must be competent as cinematographer, film lab, and editor to use an optical printer. One of the most famous experimental filmmakers was Norm McLaren. He won an Oscar for his short Neighbours (1952), but his greatest work is arguably Pas de deux (1968).

The effects in Pas de Deux can easily be recreated in almost any Non-Linear Editor now. Digital effects allow for a quicker creation, but it doesn’t account for creative output. Working in a dark room with an optical printer, McLaren worked frame by frame, having to wait until the footage was processed at a lab to confirm that it turned out as he expected.

While Hollywood largely transitioned away from Optical Printing by the end of the 1980’s, experimental filmmakers continued to use these devices for their idiosyncratic works.

The Heart of the World (2000) is often taught in film schools as an introduction to experimental film. Guy Maddin claimed the film couldn’t have turned out as expected without an optical printer. Since then, Maddin has switched to mostly digital filmmaking, but the happy accidents that occurred in his earlier work can still be felt with every viewing, same as any other analog filmmaking.

There are so many more filmmakers that have utilized optical printing than what I’ve mentioned. Other notable filmmakers include to mention are Stan Brakhage, Jonas Mekas, Nobuhiko Obayashi (early work), Pat O’Neill, and Chick Strand, though the list goes on and on with many fascinating works.

Optical Printing

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