Bleach Bypass
Skipping the bleach step leaves silver in the print: contrast climbs, colour drains, grain hardens. Harsh and metallic.
What it does to the frame
Skipping the bleach step leaves silver in the print: contrast climbs, colour drains, grain hardens. Harsh and metallic.
- Reads as
- Dramatic, Action
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Runs in
- Keyframe · Director · Infinitum
The control it moves in PREVIZ
- Film stockKeyframe · Director
Bleach Bypass
Desaturated with high contrast and metallic quality. Silver retention process.
heavy grain · ISO 400 · variable
Best for: War films, Gritty drama, Thriller
Picking the technique sets these controls; it does not paste text into a prompt. The setting can be re-run, checked against the settings beside it, and carried into the next shot.
Also in effects
The photochemical and optical textures a frame wears — grain, bloom, halation, a print process, a filter.
- HalationIntermediate · Nostalgic, Cinematic
- A red bloom around bright lights, caused by light scattering back through film stock. The signature of tungsten film shot at night.
- Film GrainBasic · Nostalgic, Documentary
- Visible photochemical texture. Reads as film rather than video, and hides the plastic smoothness generated images tend toward.
- DiffusionBasic · Romantic, Nostalgic
- A filter that lifts blacks and blooms highlights, taking the edge off digital sharpness. The standard way to soften a face.
- Day for NightAdvanced · Cinematic, Horror
- Shot in daylight and graded to read as night. Sun becomes moonlight, which is why the shadows are always too crisp for real darkness.
Reads the same way
Other techniques that read as dramatic or action — a light or a lens to pair with this move.
- Low AngleBasic · Dramatic, Cinematic
- The camera sits below the subject and looks up. Reach for it when someone should read as powerful, imposing, or in control of the room.
- High AngleBasic · Dramatic
- The camera looks down on the subject. The inverse of a low angle — it diminishes, and is the standard way to make someone read as vulnerable.
- Steep OverheadIntermediate · Dramatic, Artistic
- Steeply down but not fully vertical. Keeps faces readable while a true bird's eye loses them — the usual choice when you want the detachment but still need performance.
- Profile ShotBasic · Artistic, Dramatic
- Dead side-on, ninety degrees to the subject's facing. Reads as formal and observational — you are watching rather than being addressed.
- Behind the SubjectIntermediate · Cinematic, Dramatic
- Directly behind, seeing what they see. Puts the viewer at the character's shoulder and makes the environment ahead the subject of the shot.
- Over-the-ShoulderBasic · Cinematic, Dramatic
- From behind and to one side, with the near shoulder in frame. The workhorse of dialogue coverage — it fixes who is looking at whom.
- Extreme Close-UpBasic · Dramatic, Horror
- A detail filling the frame — eyes, hands, an object. Removes all context, which is exactly why it reads as intense or claustrophobic.
- Close-UpBasic · Dramatic, Cinematic
- Head and shoulders. The standard shot for performance — close enough that the face carries the scene.
- Dolly ZoomAdvanced · Horror, Dramatic
- Track in while zooming out (or the reverse). The subject stays the same size while the background rushes — the standard visual for dread or realisation.
- Push InBasic · Dramatic, Cinematic
- The camera moves steadily toward the subject. The most reliable way to tell an audience that this moment matters.
- Crash ZoomIntermediate · Action, Horror
- A violent snap to a tighter framing. Punctuation rather than movement — it hits a beat.
- Whip PanIntermediate · Action
- A pan so fast the frame smears. Usually used to cut between two places without cutting.
- OrbitIntermediate · Cinematic, Action
- The camera circles the subject while holding them centred. Shows an object from every side, or builds pressure around a person.
- HandheldBasic · Documentary, Action
- Visible operator movement. Reads as immediate and unstaged — the reason news and vérité look the way they do.
- Tracking ShotIntermediate · Cinematic, Action
- The camera travels alongside a moving subject, holding them in frame. Keeps them the fixed point while the world moves past.
- Rack FocusAdvanced · Dramatic, Cinematic
- Focus shifts from one plane to another mid-shot. Redirects the viewer's attention without moving the camera or cutting.
- Dutch AngleBasic · Horror, Dramatic
- The horizon is tilted. Signals that something is wrong — the most legible unease cue in the language.
- SnorricamAdvanced · Horror, Dramatic
- The camera is rigged to the actor, so they stay locked in frame while the world lurches behind them. Disorientation, or dissociation.
- ChiaroscuroAdvanced · Dramatic, Artistic
- Extreme contrast between light and dark with very little in between. Borrowed from Baroque painting; the darkness does as much work as the light.
- Rembrandt LightingIntermediate · Dramatic, Cinematic
- Key light high and to one side, leaving a small triangle of light on the shadowed cheek. The classical portrait setup.
- Split LightingIntermediate · Dramatic, Horror
- The light comes from ninety degrees to the side, so half the face is lit and half is in shadow. Reads as division or duplicity.
- Rim LightBasic · Cinematic, Dramatic
- Light from behind that traces a bright edge around the subject, separating them from the background. Almost every night exterior uses it.
- SilhouetteIntermediate · Artistic, Dramatic
- The subject is unlit against a bright background, reduced to outline. Identity withheld — shape carries the whole shot.
- Harsh NoonIntermediate · Documentary, Dramatic
- Overhead midday sun. Short hard shadows and blown highlights — usually avoided, which is exactly why it reads as unglamorous and real.
- Deep FocusAdvanced · Dramatic, Documentary
- Everything from foreground to horizon is sharp. Lets action play out on several planes at once instead of directing the eye by focus.
- Split DiopterAdvanced · Dramatic
- Half the lens carries a close-up element, so a near face and a far face are both sharp with a visible seam between them.