Kodak’s New Motion Picture Film Recaptures the Feeling of Old Hollywood

Kodak has unveiled a new motion picture film to coincide with the release of Euphoria season three, intentionally embracing imperfections to evoke the look and feel of old Hollywood.

Kodak Verita 200 color negative film is available in 65mm, 35mm, and 16mm. It’s described as a “medium speed, daylight balanced film stock delivering gorgeous, bold colors.” The new film was developed in close collaboration with Euphoria director Sam Levinson and the show’s cinematographer, Marcell Rév.

The pair wanted a film stock that was more “classical” and had an “old Hollywood film” feel to it. IndieWire reports that this is something cinematographers in Tinseltown have been complaining about in recent years: as modern film stocks perform better and better — with improved dynamic range and colors — moviemakers don’t want to use film that’s pristine, they want the audience to see they’re shooting on celluloid.

“As Kodak has refined its image quality over the years, filmmakers are actually looking to disrupt that at this point because they’re trying to differentiate from digital,” Kodak’s VP and head of motion picture Vanessa Bendetti tells IndieWire. “That’s the request I get every single day, ‘Can you bring back older stocks? Because their reference material is the ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s, and they’re remembering the look and feel of the EXR films or the early VISION line.”

Filmmakers have even resorted to purposely underexposing film, pushing it, or using vintage lenses, all in a bid to recapture that magical film aesthetic of the 20th century. But Bendetti tells IndieWire that Kodak can’t just resurrect old film stock.

“One of the challenges with doing that is that people don’t understand that the components, the materials that were included in the formulations from those bygone product lines, are not available anymore. So we have to totally reinvent those stocks.”

Verita 200D has a shorter dynamic range when compared to Kodak’s Vision3 film stock, which helps it deliver a “more classical cinematic look.” According to the company, it delivers “detailed highlights, high color saturation, deep blacks, and warm, natural skin tones.”

During the course of shooting season three, the Euphoria filmmakers exclusively used Kodak film, exposing more than one million feet of Verita 200D in 35mm and 65mm formats. The first episode aired yesterday on HBO and HBO MAX. The series is also the first television production to shoot significant volumes of large‑format 65mm film.

“Verita has the richness and density curve that reminds me of the golden age of color film, with the flexibility and latitude of modern negative stocks,” says Rév.

While Kodak is only releasing Verita 200D to the public now, it was already utilized in other productions, including A24’s upcoming The Death of Robin Hood