One further note - when film is accidentally x-rayed, isn't the result a 
general "fog"  rather than any kind of variable pattern or marking? I remember 
one case many years ago, it looked as if the film had been double exposed with 
the second exposure being a rather featureless light gray. Could it be 
otherwise? Seems reasonable that the exposure might be greater toward the edges 
than in the center of the frame, for example, but I don't remember that being 
the case.

Tom

From: FrameWorks [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of 
Heath Iverson
Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2013 8:45 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [Frameworks] "The Toxic Camera" query

Dear Frameworkers,

I'm a doctoral candidate working on contemporary British artists' cinema. At 
the moment I'm doing some research on Jane and Louise Wilson's "The Toxic 
Camera," an installation which, in part, commemorates the nuclear accident at 
Chernobyl. The installation is framed as a response to Vladimir Shevchenko's 
film, "Chernobyl: A Chronicle of Difficult Weeks". Filmed in the immediate 
aftermath of the accident, Shevchenko's film was damaged by the ambient 
radiation--leaving the film's emulsion visibly pockmarked by the collision with 
decaying atomic particles. At various points, the Wilson's digital video seems 
to simulate the material damage in the Shevchenko film--sometimes literally 
mimicking a pocked marked emulsion, other times apparently "translating" this 
analogue damage into other digital distortions in the image.

My question: does anyone know how these digital effects were technically 
achieved? Obviously, there are all kinds of digital filters that emulate a 
"film look," but I would like to know exactly what the Wilson's process was in 
production of their video's effects. Perhaps someone has their contact 
information?

A secondary question: Can anyone point me to any other films in which the 
emulsion registers non-light electromagnetic energy, that is, radiation outside 
the visible spectrum. I can think of certain films that intentionally make use 
x-ray photography, but I'd be interested in other examples, especially in 
accidental instances.

Best wishes,
Heath
--
Heath Iverson
PhD Candidate in Film Studies
University of St Andrews
99 North Street
St. Andrews, KY16 9AD
Scotland, UK

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