American Cinematographer - Vol. 97 No. 08 (Aug 2016)

AU G U S T 2 0 1 6
AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER AUGUST 2016 STAR TREK BEYOND JASON BOURNE SWISS ARMY MAN EQUALS VOL. 97 NO. 8
A U G U S T 2 0 1 6 V O L . 9 7 N O . 8
An International Publication of the ASC
On Our Cover: First Officer Spock (Zachary Quinto) of the starship Enterprise wields
his Federation-issue phaser while exploring alien terrain in Star Trek Beyond, shot by
Stephen F. Windon, ASC, ACS. (Photo by Kimberley French, SMPSP, courtesy of
Paramount Pictures.)
FEATURES
30 Hostile Planet
Stephen F. Windon, ASC, ACS takes a beloved franchise
in new directions with Star Trek Beyond 42
42 To Be Bourne
Barry Ackroyd, BSC grounds high-stakes action with
documentary realism for Jason Bourne
52 Body Language
Larkin Seiple embraces a bold style for the Sundance
standout Swiss Army Man 52
64 Love and Dystopia
John Guleserian envisions the emotion-shunning society
of Equals
DEPARTMENTS
64
10 Editors Note
12 Short Takes: Jessica
18 Production Slate: Hell or High Water The Infiltrator
72 Post Focus: The BFG
74 Filmmakers Forum: Shooting Life with Lytro Cinema
78 New Products & Services
82 International Marketplace
83 Classified Ads
84 Ad Index
86 Clubhouse News
88 ASC Close-Up: Lisa Wiegand
VISIT WWW.THEASC.COM
A U G U S T 2 0 1 6 V O L . 9 7 N O . 8
ACCESS APPROVED
New digital outreach by American Cinematographer means more in-depth coverage for you.
INSIDE THE 2016 INTERNATIONAL CINEMATOGRAPHY SUMMIT

During this four-day event, the American Society of Cinematographers
invited peers from more than 20 countries around the world to meet at the
ASC Clubhouse in Hollywood, where they would discuss professional and
technological issues and help define how cinematographers can maintain
the quality and artistic integrity of the images they create.
As the ICS was not open to the general public, we have prepared an exclusive
10-part series of reports on the program, with topics including:
The Future of the Cinematographer

Who Is the Author of an Image?
The Continuing Relevance of Film
Understanding ACES
Cinematography in Virtual Reality
CINEMATOGRAPHERS WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE ICS INCLUDED:

Richard Andry, AFC (France) Yiannis Daskalothanasis, GSC FSC (Finland) Cheong Yuk
Mehmet Askin, CAT (Turkey) (Greece) Angarag Davaasuren, Hoy, MySC (Maylasia) Casper
Predrag Bambic, SAS (Serbia) MSC (Mongolia) Mu Deyuan, Hyberg, DFF (Denmark) Ron
Affonso Beato, ASC, ABC CSC (China) Carlos Johanson, ACS (Australia) ADF (Argentina) Yang Shu, CSC (China)
(U.S./Brazil) Bill Bennett, ASC Diazmuoz, AMC (Mexico) Nina Kellgren, BSC (Britain) Ricardo Matamoros, SVC Dante Spinotti, ASC, AIC
(U.S.) Richard Bluck, NZCS Nathalie Durand, AFC Oli Laperal, PHSC (Venezuela) Suki Medencevic, (U.S./Italy) Vittorio Storaro,
(New Zealand) Oliver Bokel- (France) Lauro Escorel, ABC (Philippines) Jacek Laskus, ASC, SAS (U.S./Serbia) ASC, AIC (U.S./Italy) David
berg, ASC, BVK (U.S./Ger- (Brazil) Harold Escotet, VSC ASC, PSC (U.S./Poland) M. David Mullen, ASC (U.S.) Stump, ASC (U.S.) Luks
many) Natasha Braier, ADF (Venezuela) Eduardo Fierro, Pascal Lebegue, AFC (France) Guillermo Navarro, ASC, Teren, ASK (Slovakia) David
(Argentina) David Burr, ACS SVC (Venezuela) Edvard Rob Legato, ASC (U.S.) AMC (U.S./Mexico) James Torres, AMC (Mexico) Malte
(Australia) Federico Cantini, Friis-Mller, DFF (Denmark) Anssi Leino, FSC (Finland) Neihouse, ASC (U.S.) Anders Udsen, DFF (Denmark) Kees
ADF (Argentina) Louis- Mohd Filus Ghazali, MySC Denis Lenoir, ASC, AFC Holck Petersen, DFF (Denmark) van Oostrum, ASC (U.S.)
Philippe Capelle, SBC (Belgium) (Maylasia) Michael Goi, ASC, (U.S./France) Du Yan Li, CSC Claire Pijman, NSC (Nether- Martim Vian, AIP (Portugal)
Len Chiprout, AMC (Mexi- ICS (U.S./India) Frederic (China) Alex Linden, FSF lands) Bill Pope, ASC (U.S.) Fernando Vilanova, SVSC (El
co) Curtis Clark, ASC (U.S.) Goodich, ASC (U.S.) Rasto (Sweden) Elen Lotman, ESC Steven Poster, ASC (U.S.) Salvador) Nigel Walters, BSC
Rolf Coulanges, BVK Gore, ASK (Slovakia) Timo (Estonia) Emmanuel Lubezki, Tony Richmond, ASC, BSC (Britain) Jan Weinke, DFF
(Germany) James Chressanthis, Heinnen, FSC (Finland) ASC, AMC (U.S./Mexico) (U.S./Britain) Paul Ren (Denmark) Massimo Zeri, AIC
ASC, GSC (U.S./Greece) Christian Herrera, CRSC Roberto Mancia, SVSC (El Roestad (IMAGO) Roberto (Italy) Zhao Xiaoding, CSC
Richard Crudo, ASC (U.S.) (Costa Rica) Tahvo Hirvonen, Salvador) Stephanie Martin, Schaefer, ASC, AIC (U.S./Italy) (China)
www.theasc.com
A u g u s t 2 0 1 6 V o l . 9 7 , N o . 8
Visit us online at www.theasc.com
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF and PUBLISHER

Stephen Pizzello

WEB DIRECTOR and ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
David E. Williams

EDITORIAL
MANAGING EDITOR Jon D. Witmer
ASSOCIATE EDITOR Andrew Fish
TECHNICAL EDITOR Christopher Probst
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Benjamin B, Rachael K. Bosley, John Calhoun, Mark Dillon, Michael Goldman, Simon Gray,
Jay Holben, Noah Kadner, Debra Kaufman, Iain Marcks, Jean Oppenheimer, Phil Rhodes, Patricia Thomson
PODCASTS
Jim Hemphill, Iain Stasukevich, Chase Yeremian
BLOGS
Benjamin B; John Bailey, ASC; David Heuring
WEB DEVELOPER Jon Stout

ART & DESIGN
CREATIVE DIRECTOR Marion Kramer
PHOTO EDITOR Kelly Brinker

ADVERTISING
ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR Angie Gollmann
323-936-3769 Fax 323-936-9188 e-mail: angiegollmann@gmail.com
ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR Sanja Pearce
323-952-2114 Fax 323-952-2140 e-mail: sanja@ascmag.com
CLASSIFIEDS/ADVERTISING COORDINATOR Diella Peru
323-952-2124 Fax 323-952-2140 e-mail: diella@ascmag.com

SUBSCRIPTIONS, BOOKS & PRODUCTS
CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Saul Molina
CIRCULATION MANAGER Alex Lopez
SHIPPING MANAGER Miguel Madrigal

ASC GENERAL MANAGER Brett Grauman
ASC EVENTS COORDINATOR Patricia Armacost
ASC PRESIDENTS ASSISTANT Delphine Figueras
ASC ACCOUNTING MANAGER Mila Basely

American Cinematographer (ISSN 0002-7928), established 1920 and in its 96th year of publication, is published monthly in Hollywood by
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6
American Society of Cinematographers
The ASC is not a labor union or a guild, but
an educational, cultural and professional
organization. Membership is by invitation
to those who are actively engaged as
directors of photography and have
demonstrated outstanding ability. ASC
membership has become one of the highest
honors that can be bestowed upon a
professional cinematographer a mark
of prestige and excellence.
OFFICERS - 2016/2017
Kees van Oostrum
President
Bill Bennett
Vice President
Lowell Peterson
Vice President
Dean Cundey
Vice President
Levie Isaacks
Treasurer
Frederic Goodich
Secretary
Roberto Schaefer
Sergeant-at-Arms
MEMBERS OF THE
BOARD
John Bailey
Bill Bennett
Curtis Clark
Richard Crudo
Fred Elmes
Michael Goi
Victor J. Kemper
Stephen Lighthill
Daryn Okada
Woody Omens
Robert Primes
Cynthia Pusheck
Owen Roizman
John Simmons
Kees van Oostrum
ALTERNATES
Roberto Schaefer
Mandy Walker
Karl-Walter Lindenlaub
Oliver Bokelberg
Dean Cundey
MUSEUM CURATOR
Steve Gainer
8
Editors Note Full disclosure: I am a card-carrying, old-school Star Trek fan
who grew up on the original Sixties television series. A scale-
model replica of the USS Enterprise (complete with authen-
tic sound effects) maintains high orbit atop my office book-
shelf; a furry, vibration-activated Tribble resides on a small
table next to my guest chair, where it startles visitors with
either a friendly purr or a nerve-jangling shriek; and a
limited-edition Evil Spock action figure (as seen in the classic
episode Mirror, Mirror) stands vigil on my desk, serving as
a Machiavellian sounding board and miniature consigliere. I
keep him boxed not merely to maintain his collectible value,
but to suppress the mutiny he would surely incite if set free.
Needless to say, Ive been an enthused viewer of the
recent Star Trek features, which have respected but restyled
Gene Roddenberrys sci-fi universe. The latest entry, Star Trek Beyond, was shot by Stephen F.
Windon, ASC, ACS, who helped director Justin Lin further modify the look of the series.
Stephen and I agreed that the idea of someone [theoretically being able to] operate the
camera and shoot the action would be important on this movie, Lin explains to Michael Gold-
man (Hostile Planet, page 30). If you couldnt get the shot if you were actually filming in
space, then you cant get much emotion out of it. So we developed a feel and aesthetic from
the practical sets, and [stayed] disciplined, creating shots out of [what is real] to begin with,
even if they are full or partial CG.
A sense of realism also informs Jason Bourne, which marks the return of Matt Damon
as the formerly amnesiac superspy. Barry Ackroyd, BSC and director Paul Greengrass were
philosophically aligned in their determination to apply documentary-style techniques to the
action thriller. If you want people to believe what youre doing when its a fiction, you
shouldnt be trying too hard to distract them from that truth, Ackroyd tells London correspon-
dent Phil Rhodes (To Be Bourne, page 42). We shot a lot, but we still used technique. Occa-
sionally we used dollies and even cranes, but we mostly put the camera in the hand. You get
into the story by being physically there; we followed the chase and we followed the story.
On-the-spot ingenuity was also applied to Swiss Army Man, an offbeat indie that
teamed cinematographer Larkin Seiple with directors Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan. Seiple
was tasked with invigorating the story of a castaway who befriends a corpse. I had a lot of
questions [after reading the script], Seiple tells associate editor Andrew Fish (Body
Language, page 52). How were we going to make it believable? How would we make this
relationship work between a man and a corpse? My first inclination was to fight against the
absurdity of the film by grounding it in a stark environment. But as the project evolved, we
instead focused on supporting the absurdity of the visuals and structuring them around the
emotional journey of the film.
Our August issue also offers Matt Mulcaheys coverage of the sci-fi drama Equals, shot
by John Guleserian (Love and Dystopia, page 64); two sidebars and a Post Focus column
Photo by Owen Roizman, ASC.
addressing this months special theme of digital color correction; and ASC member David
Stumps assessment of the Lytro Cinema system, a pioneering light-field capture system intro-
duced earlier this year at the NAB Show (Filmmakers Forum, page 74).
Stephen Pizzello
Editor-in-Chief and Publisher
10
Short Takes
An ominous white van engages a seemingly unassuming driver in a panic-inducing game of cat and mouse in the short thriller Jessica.
Photos by Sacha Phillips and David Marshall. Photos and frame grabs courtesy of the filmmakers.
I Car Trouble
By Derek Stettler
him when I was driving back from a shoot one day and I acciden-
tally cut off a white van. I was convinced the driver was following
me home, turn for turn, and I found myself constantly glancing in
With the tense, six-minute short Jessica, writer-director Jack my mirrors. The next day, I wrote the script for what would eventu-
Bradley and cinematographer Tobias Marshall sought to tap into the ally become Jessica.
instinctive human response to being chased the adrenaline rush To keep viewers engaged, Marshall made a point to avoid
that fuels a sense of panic and paranoia. In the short, a man (David recycling shots inside the car, where the majority of the movie takes
Pibworth) appears to be driving home after a long days work when place. In doing so, the cinematographer devised a plan to begin the
a white van speeds out of nowhere and begins to follow him. The short with wider lenses on stabilized rigs, creating a feeling of calm
ensuing game of cat and mouse plays out as sunset gives way to and normalcy; as the story unfolds and the drivers panic increases,
dusk, mirroring the audiences growing suspicion that the driver the images get progressively tighter and the camera goes handheld.
whos being pursued has a dark side. Marshall operated the productions single Red One
Marshall got his start in the industry as a 2nd AC in 2003 and Mysterium-X camera, and he selected Arri/Zeiss Ultra Primes
eventually notched credits on features such as Skyfall, shot by Roger because he was looking for a colder image than an S4 and some-
Deakins, ASC, BSC (AC Dec. 12). He has worked on several action thing sharper than Super Speeds, he explains. To maximize image
units with Alexander Witt over the years, and he recently worked as quality, he shot at 4K onto 128GB RedMag 1.8" SSDs in Redcode
2nd-unit director of photography on location in Morocco for NBCs 42. The highest-quality compression available on the Red One,
American Odyssey. Working with great cinematographers and crew Redcode 42 is equivalent to a 7.5:1 compression ratio on newer Red
is very inspiring, he says of his experiences. Im just trying to cameras; the 42 refers to the data rate 42 MBps.
emulate the people Ive worked with and climb up to their level. Marshall also opted to utilize Tiffen soft-edge graduated NDs
For Jessica, Marshall and Bradley had the chance to experi- to enhance the darkness of the cars interior while keeping a
ment with tone and mood, telling the story with visuals and almost brighter golden-hour exterior, visually hinting at the main characters
no dialogue. With echoes of Steven Spielbergs first studio feature, dark inner world. At the same time, the cinematographer was
Duel, the U.K.-based production was shot entirely with natural light aiming for a lot of flares. The sun is going down and his secret is
in a gritty, minimalist style. Bradley says the idea for Jessica came to coming out, Marshall notes. For me, that was the whole journey
12 August 2016 American Cinematographer

of the film. I really wanted to have that
reflected with flares coming through into
the car.
The production was able to lock off
one road in the town of Kent, just outside
London, where the filmmakers had only a
short period of time to shoot the climactic
set piece, as the two vehicles race down a
single-lane road during magic hour, with
the driver trying desperately not to be over-
taken by the van. All involved had to be effi-
cient and agile to get the sequence right the
first time; knowing this would be the case,
Bradley cast actors who are in fact precision
drivers, and who ably executed the requisite
maneuvers.
In order to get all of the desired
shots as daylight ostensibly fades to dusk,
the production shot during both sunrise
and sunset over the course of two days.
Working in the British countryside, Jessica
was shot without the aid of any story-
boards. Instead, the team used Matchbox
cars to orchestrate and communicate the
vehicles maneuvers a technique
Marshall learned while working on Skyfalls
complex opening stunt sequence, which
called for a truck to be flipped.
Given Jessicas low budget, the team
shot without any camera rigging on the
vehicles exteriors, and instead utilized a
flatbed truck as a tracking vehicle, with a
tripod set up in the back. A bit of stabiliza-
tion was applied in post, and the end results
belie the low-tech approaches employed on
set.
When it came to the grading of the
project, Marshall wanted a cold, slightly
desaturated look that started bright and
then descended into darkness, he
explains. The cinematographer realized this
look with colorist Chris Francis, who
worked on the grade at Company 3 in
London. Luckily, Todd Kleparski [head of
production at Company 3] came on board
as associate producer and got Chris to
grade the film, Marshall notes. Once we
had Company 3 grading, I knew it would
be in great hands and it would look fantas-
tic.
Given all of the foliage in the movies
exteriors, Marshall wanted to pay particular
attention to the tonality of the greens.
As daylight fades to dusk, the driver (David Pibworth) notices the van in his rearview mirror.
Green foliage is always something I try to
capture in a way that looks real, with a

shots remain, providing the imagery with a
touch of grit.
While Francis focus was on preserv-
ing the integrity of the images, he neverthe-
less employed certain tricks to alter shots for
narrative purposes. For example, even
before the sun sets, the headlights of the
pursuing van appear very bright, with a
pronounced flare. To achieve this effect,
shots of the vans headlights at night were
passed through Autodesks Flame and
composited into the shots of the van during
the earlier sequences. Francis explains,
Flame [was used to] create grading mattes
and add minor lighting effects, which I
enhanced depending on how much wed
pushed the look of the particular shot
some of the effect shots were graded to
look later in the evening, while some were
just coming into dusk. For the darker ones,
I blew out the highlights more, and used
mist and blur on the edges of my windows
to simulate flaring. The mattes from Flame
complemented the power windows that I
had tracked to finesse the realism of the
effect.
The bright headlights make the van
more threatening when it suddenly appears
behind the main characters car. Francis
recalls, Without the bright headlights, it
didnt quite work. But once we added the
headlights, it made a huge difference. To
make the van even more mysterious and
menacing, Francis also employed power
windows to darken the view of the vehicles
interior. Indeed, the viewer never knows
whos following the main character or
Top: Director Jack Bradley (left) and cinematographer Tobias Marshall line up a shot inside why until the credits roll.
the car. Bottom: Colorist Chris Francis and Marshall finesse the visuals in a grading suite at Bradley notes that Jessica was an
Company 3 in London.
experiment in tension trying to create it
within the camera, edit, sound design and
darker quality, the cinematographer says. RedLogFilm, Francis began by applying one post. Editor Edward Cooper and I spent
Its easy to overexpose green on digital, of Company 3s in-house LUTs as a neutral long evenings trying to create these waves
and it can look nuclear it becomes starting point before dialing in the look. He of tension without ever boring the audi-
distracting. notes that he wanted the story to be more ence.
When Marshall and Francis met to of a focal point than the color. We didnt Marshall is proud of his work on the
begin grading Jessica, they spoke for about want to push things too far; we tried to be short and feels that it went really well. To
an hour, examining the look of the short very gentle with it and tasteful, pushing the be able to replicate some of the work that I
and considering how it would evolve over saturation more than the contrast to give it had done with the action units Id worked
the course of the story. Francis, Marshall and a more cinematic log look. Francis consid- on in the past, and bring some of that expe-
Bradley then completed the grade in a ered applying a grain filter to give Jessica rience to this film, was great.
single afternoon, viewing the footage even more of a film look, but he ultimately To view Jessica online, visit:
projected through Barco 2K projectors. decided to eschew both a grain filter and https://vimeo.com/156399394.
Working in DaVinci Resolve with the noise reduction, instead letting the minimal
original Redcode Raw files deBayered into noise present in Marshalls well-exposed

Production Slate
Toby (Chris Pine,
far right) enlists
his brother,
Tanner (Ben
Foster), in a
desperate plan
to hold onto
their familys
farm in the
feature Hell or
High Water. The
movie was shot
on location in
New Mexico,
standing in for
the screenplays
sunbaked Texas
backdrop.
I Desperate Measures
By Jon D. Witmer
Mexico, standing in for the storys Texas settings. Nuttgens spoke
with AC in the weeks following the movies premiere at this years
Cannes Film Festival.
Brothers Toby (Chris Pine) and Tanner (Ben Foster) have a plan
to save the family farm and turn it profitable for Tobys children. That American Cinematographer: Did you know from the
Hell or High Water photos by Lorey Sebastian, courtesy of CBS Films.

their scheme comes at the expense of the Texas bank thats set to outset that youd be shooting in New Mexico?
foreclose on the property only makes it that much sweeter. But when Giles Nuttgens, BSC: It had been determined that we
the brothers put their plan into action and embark on a series of would be shooting in New Mexico because the state has greater tax
armed bank robberies, people inevitably get hurt some even die incentives than Texas. But David had this idea in preproduction to
and a Texas Ranger (Jeff Bridges) becomes determined to stop the travel to the places in Texas that are written in the script. So David,
boys in their tracks, come hell or high water. location manager Jonathan Slator, production designer Tom
Written by Sicario scribe Taylor Sheridan, Hell or High Water Duffield, line producer Kate Dean and I spent a week together to
marks the sixth feature collaboration between director David understand both the visual and sociological environments we were
Mackenzie and cinematographer Giles Nuttgens, BSC. David felt a trying to create for the film.
massive obligation to the script, to be able to give the background to What camera and lenses did you shoot with?
motivate the actions that start this terrible chain of events, Nuttgens Nuttgens: We shot ArriRaw with an Alexa XT Studio, which
tells AC via Skype from his home in Spain. The narrative is that the is basically a film camera with a digital backend; Im used to judging
farmlands dried up, so David was absolutely obsessed with the idea lighting through the optical viewfinder. We shot anamorphic with
that we should feel the heat, [the characters] pain, and the sense of [Vantage Film] Hawk V-Lites. They are very gentle in terms of contrast
abandonment and desperation that drives them to go on this bank- and relatively sharp at wide apertures, with a very gentle [falloff] in
robbing spree. terms of depth of field. Most of the exteriors were shot with the
Principal photography spanned 35 days in the summer of Angenieux Optimo 56-152mm [T4] A2S lightweight zoom, which is
2015, with locations in and around Clovis and Albuquerque, New probably the sharpest Scope zoom ever built, and with a focal-length

Left: Texas
Rangers Marcus
(Jeff Bridges, left)
and Alberto (Gil
Birmingham)
follow the trail of
the brothers
crime spree.
Below:
Cinematographer
Giles Nuttgens,
BSC (center)
works out his
approach to one
of the
productions bank
locations.
range that covers almost all requirements,

particularly when the camera is mounted on
a Technocrane or Russian Arm.
A small amount of spherical mater-
ial was shot during the shootout on the 24-
290mm [T2.8] Optimo zoom, but every-
thing else was anamorphic, and we used
only very light diffusion 18 or 14 Tiffen
Digital Diffusion to take the edge off the
Alexa images without getting bleeding from
the hot windows.
Were you shooting at the
Alexas base 800 ISO?
Nuttgens: No, most of the [movie]
was shot at 400, with the exception of the
day exteriors, which were shot at 800
because it was very important to retain all
the detail at the top end of the exposure
curve in the desert. One of the downsides of
400 is that you sometimes subjectively feel a on set. I feel that I can light an interior by the two of you worked together previ-
slight muddiness in the lower shadow eye and with T2.8/3.5 on the lens, Ill have ously?
detail, and its difficult in the DI to pull that all the information I need. Nuttgens: I knew of Corinnes
down to a perceivable black with current For the digital grade, you work because shed done a very good DI on
digital projectors. But its a very comfortable worked with colorist Corinne What Maisie Knew, where she had to work
rating for me to work at because Im used Bogdanowicz at Light Iron in Holly- without my presence. Corinne can look at
to 500 on film, so looking with my eye and wood. [Ed. note: Bogdanowicz used the raw image and know how it was
understanding how much light is there Quantel Rio to grade the native Arri- exposed and where it was intended to sit, so
means that I dont really need to refer to a Raw files at the 2880x2610 anamorphic its a great time with her.
monitor, just occasionally check my light native raster. The final deliverable for What did you focus on in the
meter and I often dont work with a DIT theatrical release was a 2K DCP.] Had digital grade?
www.theasc.com August 2016 19

needed to set off at pace. So David banned
video village. He then went even further
and said no chairs, no iPhones, no clapper
boards. Everythings brought down to a
point where anything thats happening on
the set is for a very specific reason, and we
can just turn around and nobodys saying,
Ive got to move video village or Im just
marking up the board. You start working at
a real speed, and you end up with more
flexibility and more material at the end of
the day.
The other great move from David
was on our fifth day, in the evening, when
he showed edited material, which included
four bank robberies and an escape
sequence in a car. And so the whole crew,
who probably thought we were out of our
minds, suddenly saw 25 minutes of cut
action sequences and were like, Hold on
now, how did that happen? And then
everybody was with us.
How did you approach the
movies day interiors?
Nuttgens: I ended up trying a
certain amount of hard lighting. There was
a scene early in the schedule with Chris and
Ben in a diner; Ben goes off and robs a bank
thats visible outside the diners windows.
Because of the way the scene was
constructed, I had to light them across the
depth of the restaurant, from the parking
lot. We werent carrying many big heads,
Top: Nuttgens frames a high-angle shot with the productions Arri Alexa XT Studio camera. but we had two Arri M90s. So we put up a
Bottom: The cinematographer mans the wheels of an Alpha Stabilized remote head thats been 12-by-20 Grid Cloth, and [gaffer] Jeremy
rigged to a motorcycles sidecar in order to capture some fast-paced car work. Oliver took out every single HMI we had
and even some tungsten and pushed
Nuttgens: One of our intentions developed, and you can only really achieve them through there. But I still couldnt
for creating this feeling of heat had been to that if you concentrate on one camera. So it balance the interior with the exterior,
keep the image slightly overexposed, with was a mainly single-camera shoot, with the despite NDs on the windows.
the blacks slightly light, so we initially timed exception of the big shootout that was So I hit Chris with a direct light
it that way. David came in and we went basically a two-camera shoot for four days. an M90 with a bit of Half CTS on it. Obvi-
through it together, and he wanted a little David and I work in a space where ously it was backed up by a lot of soft light
more aggression out of the images to the camera often sees 360 degrees. Wed behind it, which softened the effect of the
match what was going on with the boys. So spend the time to get a long, developing hard light, but Chris face took it really well.
we increased the saturation and contrast movement with dolly or Steadicam, with And suddenly he and Ben were in a very
slightly, took mid-tones down, and the intention of using it as a single shot, but high-contrast situation, sort of highlighted
accepted that our top end was going to then I would put the camera on my shoul- among the rest of the scene. That pleased
blow out a little bit. Sometimes thats the der to get coverage in case he would need me enormously. It wasnt really my original
trick to let the whites just tip over the it to pace the film in the edit. intention, but the important thing is to be
edge. We only had Chris for 10 days, and able to recognize that it can work with an
Did you shoot with multiple we had all of the banks to rob in the first actors face. So with the exception of the
cameras? week. David and I knew that in order to give Texas Rangers office, which is Kino Flo-lit
Nuttgens: David wanted a us the time to do those long shots and almost every other scene I used hard light.
thoughtful approach to the way the camera experiment in the way we wanted, we The car work in the movie is

Right: Nuttgens
operates the
camera for a shot
looking past
Foster as an
exploding truck
gives cover for
Tanner to flee the
police. Below:
Hell or High
Water marks the
sixth feature
collaboration
between
Nuttgens and
director David
Mackenzie.
as Bridges walks away from Pine

outside of the farm, then pans across
the property and cranes down into the
dry grass as Bridges drives away, with
the sun low in the sky flaring the lens.
Nuttgens: That was our one day
with Jeff and Chris, and there was a whole
preamble to shoot thats not in the final
film, plus seven pages of dialogue. So were
coming to dusk and David says, Lets go to
the Technocrane. Weve still got to do the
final shot. The final shot was done in 20
minutes, from setting it up to getting the
two takes.
The Technocrane guys were fantas-
tic, and the guy on the arm was our dolly
grip, Eli Schneider, whos a complete natural
and just has an innate sensibility for moving
incredibly dynamic. I was particularly used all of the latitude we had to push into a camera. They knew we werent going to
struck by an early shot in which the the image to correct the horizon. We prob- rehearse. Watching people work instinc-
camera chases the brothers stolen ably did about eight takes of that, and then tively to achieve something [and] catching
Camaro. The Camaro makes a sharp David ended up cutting between takes in the perfect light makes filmmaking a really
turn, the camera does the same and the edit. joyful process. And thats whats fantastic
then moves in for a two-shot through For shots of the boys, we never about working with David. Hes super-intu-
the drivers-side window. How did you wanted to side-mount [the camera] directly itive, and I can tell you, until the bell rings,
execute that move? onto the vehicle unless it was going to be at hes going to get something.
Nuttgens: We were on a motorcy- crazy speed. We used mounts for Jeff
cle with a sidecar, with [an Alpha Stabilized because his sequences are much more TECHNICAL SPECS
remote] head. Unfortunately what sedate. [This differentiation underscored]
happened was after we turned to come two sets of lives going at different paces. 2.39:1
alongside the Camaro, there was a joint in Everything else that was on the cars was Digital Capture
the road, and every time we hit that bump Russian Arm. The Russian Arm guys were Arri Alexa XT Studio
the camera would hit the edge of its yoke beyond belief. Its a really amazing tool. Vantage Film Hawk V-Lite;
and jam at 45 degrees, and we couldnt The final shot of the film is also Angenieux Optimo, A2S
release it during the take. So, in post, we remarkable. It starts from a high angle

including period gangster films like Scarface
(1983), the dark comedy True Romance,
contemporary crime films Man on Fire
(2004) and Biutiful, and the documentary
Cocaine Cowboys.
Reis envisioned the movie to be laid
out like a triptych, in that it employed three
different cinematic styles, based on the three
distinct roles that Bob Mazur played in his
own life. For the first look, you have Mazur,
who is struggling with his career, wife and
money, so those scenes are mostly lit with
low-light incandescent practicals in his
home, explains Reis. Its very un-stylized,
naturally lit and minimalist, with traditional
dolly and mild handheld movement. The
second look was employed when Mazur
was involved in gritty, streetwise undercover
work, often alongside his partner Emir
Abreu (John Leguizamo). We went with
lightweight snap zooms for kinetic energy,
delivering a more frenetic look, Reis says of
U.S. customs agent Robert Mazur (Bryan Cranston, left) and his partner Emir Abreu (John Leguizamo) this aesthetic which he named
go undercover in an effort to collapse Pablo Escobars money-laundering syndicate in the Mangione, after Mazurs undercover
feature The Infiltrator.
identity that he adopts briefly at the begin-
ning of the movie. The third look was used
I Deep Cover
By Neil Matsumoto
line and this kid came out of the shad-
ows, super shy, and said, I can help you. He
takes the computer, starts punching
for scenes featuring [Mazurs primary under-
cover identity], Musella, a man of wealth
and excess, and the broker between Escobar
The Infiltrator directed by Brad buttons, and within three minutes he fixed and the banks. We shot those scenes glossy
Furman, shot by cinematographer Joshua the whole thing and saved us. and anamorphic, with flares, so the movie
Reis, and based on the autobiography of the Reis was soon brought on to work takes on a different aesthetic more color-
same name tells the story of federal as camera loader and then 2nd AC on a ful and vibrant. There was also classic Holly-
customs agent Robert Mazur (played by handful of Brads projects, the cinematog- wood movement with dollies, cranes and
Bryan Cranston), who worked undercover to rapher says. He eventually moved up to Steadicam throughout the film.
build a case that led to the indictments of 85 operate on two Furman-directed features, Of The Infiltrators myriad complex
The Infiltrator photos by Liam Daniel, courtesy of Broad Green Pictures.

drug lords and the bankers who assisted The Take on which Reis also served as production challenges, the most significant
them, and the collapse of a massive money- 2nd-unit cinematographer and The was shooting almost entirely in London for a
laundering syndicate. At the center of this Lincoln Lawyer, both photographed by story set in 1980s New York, Paris and Miami
criminal empire targeted for demolition was Ettlin. Reis also went on to shoot short films, with a firm resolve not to eschew exteri-
Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, one of more than 100 music videos, and low- ors. For the Florida scenes, we just prayed
the most storied criminals of our time. budget features such as the Furman- for sunshine, Furman says with a laugh. In
A graduate of USCs fine-arts produced City of Dead Men. I threw him to the scene with the Miami bankers it was
program, Reis minored in film and had a the wolves on a small feature to see how he freezing out. Cranston was wearing six
knack for design and motion graphics, did, Furman recalls. He not only passed layers of clothing!
mastering programs like Adobes After the test, he surpassed it. When Furman Reis shot The Infiltrator with Red
Effects, Photoshop and Illustrator. After was ready to prep The Infiltrator, the director Epic Dragon cameras, framing for a 2.39:1
graduation, he found work at a small post approached Reis to be his cinematographer. widescreen release and capturing 6K
house, where he introduced himself to In developing the features look, Reis Redcode Raw files with 5:1 compression to
Furman, who was trying along with cine- and Furman broke down the script, RedMags. Noting that Furmans preference
matographer Lukas Ettlin to resolve an discussed their locations, and met with the for location shooting meant the crew often
issue with keying a piece of greenscreen real Robert Mazur to hear his stories and had minimal space in which to work, Reis
footage. We had been up all night trying to comb through his archives. Reis assembled offers, The Red Epic Dragon camera is
fix the problem, Furman recalls. It was like multiple detailed look books with stills and compact and modular, so we could pick it up
4 a.m. and we had to meet a 7 a.m. dead- color palettes from more than 20 movies, and shoot run-and-gun with EF glass or build

it out in studio mode with PL glass.
The cinematographer generally
rated the Dragon between 500 ISO for
daylight and 800 for night, but for low-light
shooting he would go as high as 2,000 in
some scenes. One of his favorite features on
the camera is its interchangeable optical low-
pass filter system. For any night scene, Reis
would mount the Low Light Optimized OLPF,
which would increase the cameras sensitivity
by about a stop. For day exteriors or shooting
inside Mazurs home, Reis would use the
Skin Tone-Highlight OLPF, which would give
him more latitude in the highlights. In addi-
tion to the Dragons, Blackmagic 4K Cinema
Cameras were used for crash cams.
Approximately 40 percent of the
movie was shot with Zeiss Compact Prime
CP.2 lenses, which are rehoused Zeiss still
Top:
lenses and are significantly less expensive
Cinematographer than typical cine primes. The production
Joshua Reis (left) used the 15mm, 21mm, 28mm, 35mm,
lines up a shot
inside Mazurs
50mm, 85mm, 100mm and 135mm CP.2
office. Middle: focal lengths. Ive used the CPs on
Director Brad hundreds of videos, says Reis. They have a
Furman (left)
guides a scene
beautiful bokeh, and they pulled back the
with actor Yul crispness of the 6K image while maintaining
Vazquez decent contrast. It may have [seemed] risky
(wearing white).
Bottom: Reis and
to use prosumer primes for such a film, but
Furman grab an artistically it was the right thing to do. They
angle from were really appropriate for a 1980s period
behind Cranston.
film that was being acquired with a digital
camera. Sometimes sharper and more
expensive glass isnt always better. We also
employed a Lensbaby Composer Pro PL as a
means to really push the visuals of some
abstract scenes.
For the Mangione scenes, the cine-
matographer employed five Zeiss Compact
Zoom CZ.2 lenses: one 15-30mm, two 28-
80mm and two 70-200mm zooms (all T2.9).
The great thing about these lenses is that
they really match the CP.2s, and they are
extremely lightweight, sharp, provide excel-
lent contrast and offer minimal breathing,
Reis enthuses. Theyre also relatively afford-
able.
To lend a more vintage and classic-
cinema scale to the highly stylized Musella
scenes, Reis went with Vantage Film Hawk
V-Lite anamorphics. He also tested Arri/Zeiss
Master Anamorphics, but he preferred the
Hawks flare quality and felt the Master
Anamorphics looked too perfect and pris-
tine, he says. Lastly, for run-and-gun setups,

while nighttime sequences that featured
undercover operations or scenes in Mazur
and Emirs surveillance-rigged apartment
would be a four or five.
I found that a lot of the time when
The youre stretching the digital negative, the
cinematographer filtration comes through more, and that
and director worked out great, he continues. It ampli-
discuss a setup.
fies the blooming, or it magnifies the imper-
fections that the filter introduces. The quality
of the filters character and sensor noise
pattern is enhanced through a more stylized
approach in post, which I thought was really
interesting. Brad wanted a filmic and organic
image for his movie, so [on this particular
Reis worked with Canon EF L-series USM II a 20-foot greenscreen with HMIs and a truss. project] my instinct was to push the technol-
16-35mm, 24-70mm and 70-200mm I was probably more knowledgeable about ogy [to generate] adverse lighting through
zooms (all f2.8); and 24mm, 35mm, 50mm new technology like LED panels with DMX the color grade, to enhance the imperfec-
and 85mm primes. It was about making Wi-Fi control. It was a harmony of new- and tions, to amplify the optical flaws because
bold artistic decisions and breaking rules, old-school lighting. the beauty is in the imperfections. To me, the
he says, which is why I love the Epic Furman adds, The culmination of organic flaws are what make digital cinema
Dragon, because its easy to change the the education that Alan gave Josh and that filmic.
mount from PL to EF. Josh gave Alan was one of the most inspiring With his post and digital back-
To further shape the movies look, things Ive seen in my career. Alan was just so ground and his understanding of the
Reis used Tiffens Black Diffusion/FX, Black open. production workflow from point A to point
Pro-Mist, Low Contrast, 80C and ND filters. The Infiltrator was graded at LipSync Z, Furman says, Josh is the new wave of
He explains that he might use a 14 Black Post in London, where colorist Sam cinematography. The work he did in prep
Diffusion/FX for day scenes and then bump Chynoweth worked with a FilmLight Base- really acclimated the producers, the foreign
it to full 1 BD/FX for night shooting. BD/FX light system, grading 2.5K EXR files in 16-bit buyers and everyone else to a particular look.
will have an even glow in the highlights, [or] linear for a final 2K output. The Redcode It was very important for Josh and me to
a Low Con will help lift the blacks, giving you Raw source files were recorded full-gate at preserve the vision we ultimately wanted for
a low-contrast look. 6K resolution, while framing for a 5K extrac- the film, and we knew that you can really get
On set, Reis worked with look-up tion, giving the filmmakers the flexibility to turned upside-down in the final color timing
tables inspired by the look book he and reframe and stabilize the image, if neces- when you dont establish this vision up front.
Furman had created in prep. I think there sary, Reis says. This became particularly What inevitably happens when you shoot in
were 16 LUTs, and each LUT would go back useful when you had a dialogue scene with a manner meant to be manipulated later is
to the triptych everything goes back to numerous cast, [as] we were better able to that the higher-ups get comfortable with the
the story, the cinematographer explains. match different cameras by zooming in or shoot look, and then when you take it into
Reis and digital-imaging technician Keir out of the image. According to the cine- a color-timing session, push the envelope,
Garnet-Lawson managed camera settings matographer, roughly half of the movies and kick it back to the powers that be,
via a wireless network with the Foolcontrol look stayed true to what he had established theyre like, What the f--- is this? But when
application, and the DIT used a Light Iron on set. For a few run-and-gun montage you have a LUT that looks as close to the final
workstation for all on-set data management. sequences, he and Chynoweth created a image as possible, it makes everyone more
We had five iPads synced to a cloud dailies color-reversal aesthetic. comfortable from the jump.
database, Reis says. During preproduction, Reis met with
According to Reis, The Infiltrator Chynoweth and did a few film-grain passes TECHNICAL SPECS
called for a wide range of lighting setups, and tests. Together, they devised a system in
from scenes requiring only small LEDs to a which they would place each scene on a 2.39:1
large-scale wedding that involved days of scale from one to five, with five being the Digital Capture
pre-rigging and the use of 20 18Ks. The grainiest and one being clean. In general, Red Epic Dragon,
cinematographer credits gaffer Alan Martin they left the anamorphic footage cleaner, Blackmagic Cinema Camera
for helping him realize the productions big like a 250T film stock. For night scenes across Zeiss Compact Prime, Compact Zoom;
Hollywood lighting setups. Alan lit the board they often pushed for a 500T look. Vantage Film Hawk V-Lite; Canon L;
Gandhi and Alien3, Reis marvels. He was [Nighttime] anamorphic was generally only Lensbaby Composer Pro PL
really good at the big setups, such as lighting a one or two on the grain scale, Reis says,

Hostile
Planet
Stephen F. Windon ASC, ACS
D
irector Justin Lin and cinematographer Stephen F.
Windon, ASC, ACS faced a significant question upon
joins director Justin Lin to bring stepping aboard Star Trek Beyond, the latest cinematic
digital acquisition, ambitious adventure of the starship Enterprise and its intrepid
in-camera effects and frenetic crew. With a mere 312 months before the start of production
when they inherited the project, the new recruits had to decide
action to Star Trek Beyond. quickly whether to retain the visual template established by
director J.J. Abrams and cinematographer Dan Mindel, ASC,
BSC on Star Trek (AC June 09) and Star Trek Into Darkness
By Michael Goldman (AC June 13), or to move into undiscovered country.
The feature sees our heroes stranded on an alien planet
| where they find themselves at the mercy of the villainous Krall
(Idris Elba), who hisses at Capt. Kirk (Chris Pine) that this
is where the frontier pushes back. Expressing no interest in
making nice with the United Federation of Planets, the reptil-
ian humanoid proceeds to hunt down the Enterprise crew.
Since Beyond was the first in this series of rebooted Star

Trek features to take place entirely in
deep space, the director and cinematog-
rapher with Abrams blessing felt
empowered, from a visual standpoint, to
do their own thing. Our interpretation
Unit photography by Kimberley French, SMPSP,
of Star Trek was a bit different for this

chapter, Lin affirms. [The crew has]
been in space for more than two years, so
we felt a different feel was appropriate.
courtesy of Paramount Pictures.
Specifically addressing the outer-

space imagery, the director continues,
Stephen and I agreed that the idea of
Opposite, from left: The crew of the starship Enterprise including Sulu (John Cho), Chekov
someone [theoretically being able to] (Anton Yelchin), McCoy (Karl Urban), Kirk (Chris Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto) and Scotty (Simon
operate the camera and shoot the action Pegg) find themselves perilously outmatched in Star Trek Beyond. This page, top: The
would be important on this movie if villainous Krall (Idris Elba) threatens Kirk. Middle: Jaylah (Sofia Boutella) lends welcome aid to
Kirk and co. Bottom: Cinematographer Stephen F. Windon, ASC, ACS (right) and director Justin
you couldnt get the shot if you were Lin find their frame.
actually filming in space, then you cant

Hostile Planet
coming up with solutions.

Longtime collaborators on the
Fast and Furious franchise, Lin and
Windon opted to shoot their sci-fi
adventure on Arri Alexa XT cameras in
open-gate mode, recording ArriRaw
data to Codex XR Capture Drives
along with a limited amount of
drone-based imagery on Red Epic
Dragons, recording 6K Redcode Raw
to RedMags which solidified Beyond
as the first digitally captured feature in
Star Trek movie history. I felt we had to
shoot digital, Windon relates. I liked
the idea of having the immediacy of
seeing what we were going to get while
still on set. It was also a result of the
short prep time; there was not a lot of
time to do tests, and [I had] just shot
Furious 7 with the Alexa. I had great
Windons crew outfitted the Enterprise sets almost entirely with LED lighting, enabling quick and highly familiarity with the Alexa sensor, and
controllable changes from the normal look (top) to red alert (bottom). given all of the visual effects and what I
had read of the story, I felt it would be
get much emotion out of it. So we devel- Lin adds that Windon knows the right choice. Justin readily embraced
oped a feel and aesthetic from the practi- me so well, [and] speaks the same it, even though it was his first time
cal sets, and [stayed] disciplined, creating language as me. I needed someone I shooting a feature with 100-percent
shots out of [what is real] to begin with, already had shorthand with on this kind digital acquisition.
even if they are full or partial CG. of timeline, and Stephen is brilliant at In terms of camera style, the

primary overlap between the previous
two Star Trek films and Beyond was the
use of anamorphic lenses. The filmmak-
ers opted for two sets of Arri/Zeiss
Master Anamorphic (T1.9) lenses,
ranging from 35mm-135mm, and shot
in the 2.39:1 aspect ratio. I really liked
the Master Anamorphics, Windon
says. We have a lot of specular lighting
in this movie; I wanted lights to smash
the lens, especially on the bridge of the
Enterprise before the emergency red-
alert look kicked in. Shooting at a T-
stop of around T2.8, I really liked the
shallow focus, and the bokeh and oval
shapes when the backgrounds were de-
focused behind our characters close-
ups. The production also tested the
19-36mm Arri Anamorphic Ultra
Wide Zoom (T4.2) prototype. A set of Gimbaled, rotating sets referred to as shaker decks by key grip Kim Olsen were built onstage at
Zeiss Compact Primes was employed Vancouver Film Studios and used to great effect for scenes of the Enterprise under attack.
for drone work.
First AC Gregory Irwin praises but the lenses held up perfectly, previous movies] werent going to
the Master Anamorphics for their without one issue. It meant we would happen. Irwin further notes that
perfect optical qualities, adding that not be going with the well-known Windon chose Arri/Zeiss Master
we were slinging the cameras around Panavision anamorphic look, so those Prime spherical lenses in the 12mm-
left and right and not very tenderly lens flares [that were featured in the 21mm range, as well as the Arri/Zeiss

| Color as Through-Line |
A t press time, Star Trek Beyond

was hurtling toward a dead-
line of its own, and colorist Tom
that organic feeling is really
important to Justin and I
now have grain tools that are
Reiser of Deluxes EFilm had really nice and precise for doing
just launched full-bore into the it a number of different ways.
projects digital intermediate. We can sometimes composite
Since many of the visual effects grain and do generated grain;
were still in the works, Reiser there are a few plug-ins out
was starting out by color-grad- there that are really great.
ing dramatic sequences. He Another subtle element of the
wasnt particularly worried about process will involve ensuring the
the inevitable scramble he would color accuracy of the famous
experience alongside director Starfleet uniforms. We liked
Justin Lin and cinematographer [the color schemes] of the first
Stephen F. Windon, ASC, ACS, coming together that was shot on two movies, Reiser says, and I noticed
because Reiser had already participated different days, where lights might have from watching them that a lot of it
in establishing the foundation for the been dimmed slightly differently. We came out of the production design and
movies color palette up front. Working have to spend a lot of time on those costumes. The fans really know those
closely with EFilms color-science little things. tones they know exactly what color
department over the years, Reiser has Reiser is performing the color the shirts should be. So I expect on a
developed many basic show LUTs, as grade with FilmLights Baselight final pass, Ill be doing plenty of
he did here on Beyond. Dailies colorist version 4.4. Because Windon had windows to make sure we have just the
John Hart of Deluxes EC3 dailies already begun shooting Fast 8 in right blue and just the right red. That
department had in fact used the look Atlanta when the DI commenced, the can actually be a big challenge in timing
throughout production, and that same cinematographer and colorist have a movie like this to get that stuff
LUT was being employed as the foun- opted to use Deluxes remote collabora- consistent throughout because they
dation of the DI process. tion system. Windon is working from shot from so many different angles,
The LUT was developed based Deluxes Atlanta facility on the week- with different light, and with so much
on Stephen Windons style, says Reiser, ends, viewing material streamed to him action going on.
speaking from years of experience in real time and conferencing with Reiser knew that he would face a
working alongside Windon on Fast and Reiser and Lin to give notes and major grading challenge with a
Furious movies. Knowing he is a film comments. Baselight is employed on sequence featuring a swarm of ships
guy, we wanted to keep that film DNA this production by EFilm conform attacking the Enterprise, and the corre-
even though this movie was shot editor Amy Pawlowski as well. sponding red-alert emergency-light
with the [Arri Alexa XT]. I describe the According to Reiser, another goal effect that was achieved on-set by way
LUT as almost like film, but pushed a of the final grade is to maintain a of complex LED techniques. He notes
little, with more colors to choose from connectivity to the two earlier Star Trek that difficulties arise because such
and stronger contrast. Having that movies directed by J.J. Abrams and shot sequences involve so much atmos-
LUT already developed helps a lot by Dan Mindel, ASC, BSC and phere, and atmosphere doesnt
going into the DI. colored at Deluxes Company 3 by ASC behave. Sometimes you get a lot of
Windon adds, My main goal for associate Stefan Sonnenfeld even atmosphere and sometimes you get
color timing in general is to smooth out though Beyond s overall visual style is none. When they go to red alert, the
certain production shots that came from different. The challenge is to [create] a lights drop and the ship is damaged.
different environments and different naturalistic feeling of grain, he offers. Im sure Ill be doing some keys to
countries, making it all gel and then If you imagine Star Trek fans watching match practicals on cuts for that
paying a lot of attention to detail, [espe- all three movies in a row, you dont want sequence, and creating plenty of
cially on this movie] with all the action, them to feel radically different. So I windows to help out the atmosphere,
visual effects and interactive light. We expect well be adding grain to lend the [adding] contrast here and there.
might be making a window or hallway whole movie a more organic feel. I dont Michael Goldman
darker, adjusting color temperature a add grain to a lot of movies I [grade]
little bit here or there [with] material that are set in modern day, but I think

Hostile Planet
Kirk and
Chekov find
themselves
separated from
their
crewmates
after
abandoning
ship and
landing on the
enemy planet.
Ultra Prime 8R, for ultra-wide shots.

Steve felt it was fine to shoot spheri-
cally at times if we had to go wider,
Irwin says.
Working in collaboration with
digital-imaging technician Chris
Cavanaugh, Irwin also benefited from
the Arri Lens Data System (LDS),
which permitted him to see real-time
focal distance and depth-of-field data
on screen, along with other metadata
such as lens size, T-stop and distance, for
greater exposure control. That helped
Greg, Cavanaugh says, but it also
helped visual-effects wranglers to see
information for their notes. Plus, that
information is stored in the ArriRaw
files, giving everyone access to it in the
post pipeline. sidebar, page 34.) custom look for each scene using CDLs,
A custom four-channel fiber- I also used [Blackmagic ensuring Steves intention was passed to
optic system designed by a team from Designs] UltraStudio hardware to dailies and the post pipeline. For our
Otto Nemenz connected cameras to capture screen shots on my cart dailies workflow, [Deluxes EC3 location
Sony PVMA250 25" OLED monitors. throughout the day, for lighting and unit] set up a [pop-up] facility at
Cavanaugh monitored Log C imagery camera reference, Cavanaugh says. Vancouver Film Studios [where the
at his station, and used a combination of Since we had LDS on screen, those productions stages were located]. The
Pomforts LiveGrade and Blackmagic stills served as reference for T-stop, shut- editorial team was also working in the
Designs DaVinci Resolve 11 to apply a ter and white balance, and they came in same space. Since that was our primary
show LUT developed in partnership handy when shooting a scene over shooting location, our loader would
with EFilm colorist Tom Reiser, who several weeks, on second unit and on simply walk camera media over for
would later perform the final grade. (See reshoots. We would then generate a downloading, backup and archiving.

Hostile Planet
SmallHD OLED monitors. Thus,
when the 1st AC broke his leg on the
second day of production, he never lost
a step. Everything was on one little
stand and I was able to sit right in front
of it, Irwin says.
In a pivotal sequence, the
Enterprise comes under surprise attack
by Kralls forces, who then board the
vessel, forcing the crew to abandon ship.
Among the most technically complex
endeavors on the project, the scene
inspired Lin to introduce another new
element to this Star Trek series:
gimbaled and rotating sets. Such
dynamic environments granted the
director his wish to realistically portray
the unfolding disaster and its physical
impact on the characters.
These shaker decks, as key grip
Kim Olsen calls them, were housed on
stages at Vancouver Film Studios. The
decks were built by the productions
special-effects team, led by Cameron
Waldbauer, and sometimes rotated a full
360 degrees. To facilitate the ability to
mount cameras and secure dollies to the
deck area on the bridge set, we had
construction place steel-backed
receivers into the floor in a pattern that
fit the overall aesthetic of the set, Olsen
explains. When mounting cameras to
the set wasnt on the agenda, we would
poke a 50-foot Technocrane through
the view-screen area.
In other cases, the operators
themselves were strapped down to the
Jaylah works alongside Kirk and his crew to come up with a plan for defeating Krall. spinning sets. A lot of these sets were
[employed] for frenetic fights, chases or
Star Trek Beyond was shot primar- sweeping moves through and around evacuations, Haley notes. The chal-
ily in and around Vancouver. Remote sets, but there is a ton of Steadicam in lenge we had was to build camera rigs
dailies systems with John Hart serv- this movie, Windon says. Justin and that were energetic and dynamic, but
ing as dailies colorist were set up in I agreed that the operator should not also [functional on] a set that was going
Vancouver and Dubai, the latter loca- just be someone running a camera; he to literally be challenged gravitationally.
tion having been used to shoot exterior needs to be a real storyteller. The For some of it, we did a fair amount of
and stage sequences for scenes set cinematographer makes special note of old-school handheld by just strapping
aboard the immense space station the filmmakers collaboration with ourselves in, putting the cameras on our
Yorktown. Dailies were timed with Steadicam/A-camera operator Geoffrey shoulders, and essentially going with the
Colorfront On-Set Dailies. Haley, whose expertise they enlisted flow as action was happening around us.
Opting for a constantly moving while blocking scenes and framing. But that was not physically going to
camera, the filmmakers shot most of the From the beginning, the produc- work for certain shots, and for those we
movie via handheld, Steadicam and tions moving-camera style meant that had to go more high tech.
cranes, making use of specially rigged Irwins focus pulling would be The high-tech rig that Haley
remote heads. We used cranes for big performed with the help of small 7.7" refers to was a tracking system built into

the ceiling of a long, curving hallway set,
where crucial scenes take place during
the attack. It was built into the rotating
set with super sliders, Irwin says, so
we could zip-line it along corridors
while the set was rotating 180 degrees,
like a big rotisserie. The rig made use of
a compact, gyroscopic Alpha Stabilized
remote head supplied by Aris G Films
in Vancouver. Irwin had previously used
the head with Imax cameras when
working on Interstellar, and he recom-
mended it to Windon, who quickly
decided to make it the default remote
head for the entire movie, the 1st AC
notes. The Alpha Head is robust,
small, and can take that abuse for action
photography. And its easier for this The production crew shoots a large day-exterior scene in which Kralls forces round up the
kind of work because it is a smaller Enterprise crew, including Uhura (Zo Saldana, bottom left) and Sulu.
package than some of the other heads
we might typically use [and has] he says. We were using the third axis of movements [with a remote head], there
outstanding stabilization. the Alpha head, sometimes just to stay can be a slight, built-in delay in the
Haley was also a big fan of the level with gravity and allow actors to transmission. Ive learned from experi-
Alpha head because I could happily seem like they were climbing walls, ence [on the Fast and Furious movies] to
operate from outside the gimbaled set essentially giving us the ability to create anticipate the action so I will not be late
with a remote set of wheels, and yet different effects. When one has to do to the party.
make the camera move extremely fast, whip pans and other precise, quick Also central to the illusion was a

Hostile Planet
Right: Scotty
assesses the
situation
alongside
Keenser (Deep
Roy), his
long-suffering
fellow engineer.
Below: Jaylah
eyes Scottys
progress on a
console.
did move were just on and had no

control. For this movie, we mapped out
each console and isolated all the differ-
ent gauges and elements, so that each
one could now dim on its own. When
the crew got hit, you could now have
some great effects happen, instead of
the whole console just flickering.
Gaffer David Tickell adds that
shooting digitally with the Alexa
provided additional incentive to make
liberal use of LED lighting technol-
ogy. The challenge with a digital
camera is finding a balance to the
levels of light, he says. That is where
LED can play an important role. With
the products available, you can run
from 100 percent down to almost 0
new lighting scheme for the familiar on the bridge deck when the system- without it affecting the quality of light.
ships interior. Referring to the sets power failures and emergency lights In fact, other than a few traditional
Abrams team had previously used, kick in. My rigging gaffer, Jarrod Tiffin, movie lights on the bridge, the
Windon says the Beyond crew basically was very clever in designing all that new Enterprise was almost entirely lit with
rebuilt them so we could utilize LED lighting, which we could wirelessly built-in LEDs. The production used a
lighting. With all the movement and control. wide range of LED sources includ-
shaking of the sets on the gimbals and Older versions of the consoles ing panels, tubes, lanterns and tape
motion base, we removed all the fluores- were built to be on or off, Tiffin says. from multiple manufacturers.
cent lighting and fixtures behind the They came with [LED bulbs] for Tiffin created a sophisticated
consoles that had originally been on the backlight, but it was per console on [a networking method, consisting of both
bridge set. It was a conscious effort to single] line, with no separation for wireless and fiber-based transmission
have more movement and blinking light movement, and the LED elements that systems for LED lighting on all sets,

giving the filmmakers full creative sequence, as well as many others, exten- the same basic approach to designing
control over light movement and other sive previsualization was performed by a Beyond s set pieces that he has for years
subtleties. We designed nodes split team of artists from vendor Proof on Fast and Furious movies. But instead
throughout the set to max out certain Inc. and production company Bad of talking to a second-unit director, he
areas due to the high volume of DMX Robot, with oversight by previs supervi- notes, Im talking to the visual-effects
slots needed for LED, Tiffin says. It sor Alex Vegh. Previs work was impera- supervisor, and using all the same terms
was all brought back to Gigabyte tive to ensuring that Windons camera and language. The camera lens, the
switches, where we could drop Cat5e style was seamlessly reproduced when camera moves it is all designed. And
lines down so the board could be moved CG elements and sequences were intro- to make that work, Alex Vegh got
and plugged into the full network. We duced. involved very early in the process, when
also ran a Wi-Fi signal from the console Lin emphasizes that he applied we first began writing the script, to help
so that we could see what our program
was doing, due to the many factors that
could change, which would have been
impossible to accomplish from the desk.
We used Wireless Solutions W-DMX
G4 series BlackBox F-2 G4 MK2
transmitters and Micro F-1 Lite G4
transmitters for wireless transmission.
For receivers, we used the Micro R-512
Lite G4. The Enterprise bridge alone
had 11 wireless universes, and 66 with
the hard-wired elements.
The curved hallway of the ships
saucer section was built on 80'-long
rotators capable of tilting 180 degrees
left or right. For the enemys attack on
the ship, red-alert lighting was gener-
ated in this hallway with an interactive
LED scheme that complements the
iconic, haunting audio alarm that Star
Trek fans have come to know. Tiffin
explains that the red-alert lighting was
accomplished with RGB PixelPro strip
technology and complex programming
techniques, which allowed light to
move directionally down the hallways,
helping to create a sense of depth while
also adding to the confusion of the red-
alert situation.
Windon adds, We literally go to
black, and then a red wave of light
moves through the hallway, giving the
sensation of movement, rather than
simply having red lights flashing. They
are like a warp or waves of red
light, about 6 feet long, that travel all the
way around the hallway, disappear, and
are then followed by another one a
second or two later.
The attack on the Enterprise also
required a great deal of CG work,
created by Double Negative under the
supervision of Peter Chiang. For this
Hostile Planet
in a group across the sky, and schools of
fish. [We examined] their behavior,
how they move, how it looks graceful
and yet when you are in the middle
A crane-mounted of it, it is just madness. The swarm-ship
camera tracks a assault was based on that idea.
wire-rigged Practical effects also played a
Boutella for a
scene in which significant role in creating elements for
her character the assault. At one point, for example, a
plummets swarm ship crashes through the hull of
toward the
ground. the Enterprise, bursts into a hallway, and
exits through the opposite wall, sucking
crewmembers out into space. Windon
explains that the sequence was executed
by pulling an actual swarm-ship
which was the size of a shipping
us design it correctly. attack sequence was Kralls squadron of container! through a set wall. The
Previs was an ongoing collabora- swarm ships, each carrying a small ship had a steel reinforced beak and
tion, Vegh says, with different itera- group of invaders, which the villain was constructed on a mechanical rail,
tions based on adjustments they might dispatches to swarm, latch onto and driven by a large ratchet system. The
make while shooting that could help us breach the Enterprise. We had a really filmmakers shot the stunt with an Alexa
be more precise or new ideas we great team that helped develop certain that rotated 180 degrees around the
might come up with that could help [visual effects], including the swarm- swarm ship, with the camera on a
them during shooting. ship effect, Vegh enthuses. We studied motion-control rig to enable them to do
A CG element essential to the starling murmurations [as the birds fly] multiple passes.
40
It went through much like a powered ATVs. One particular ATV Specifically, they were used on a 200-
torpedo would, Windon says. We did carried a Libra Head to get close-ups of ton crane for the saucer-section slide
a lot of that kind of in-camera stuff. We Chris Pine as he tore up the track on the sequence. With that rig, we could posi-
would put multiple cameras on a stunt quarry set. We also had a 40-by-60 tion the 140-foot slider anywhere we
like that and then clone it digitally so overhead on a 200-ton crane for sun needed to over the set, beside it or on
that it could be reused or turned in control, Olsen says, as well as eight 20- it, and leading, following or in profile
another direction and put way down in by-40s on 12-ton Pettibones for travel- as the scene required and within just
the background of the hallway. Peter ing greenscreens. Drones captured minutes. This allowed Justin and Steve
Chiang and his team could then use all aerial POVs for the motorcycle to get many angles quickly, and reset
those elements to build the big-scale sequence as well. extremely fast.
shots that Justin was after. According to Olsen, such
Beyond also features its share of sequences were so numerous through-
action on solid ground, including a out the production that innovation
tricked-out, Fast and Furious-style became a daily occurrence. For example, TECHNICAL SPECS
motorcycle chase on the alien planet. to save time working with greenscreen,
The highly choreographed sequence the crew made extensive use of Aircover 2.39:1
was shot on a large set representing Inflatables Airwalls, which won an
Kralls lair, built on top of an abandoned Academy Scientific and Technical Digital Capture
quarry outside Vancouver. The produc- Achievement Award earlier this year.
tion used various camera-rig combina- Camera-traveler [powered camera slid- Arri Alexa XT, Red Epic Dragon
tions from a 50' Technocrane on a ers] were also cool rigs that we used, he
Taurus base, to a 73' Chapman/Leonard adds. Mechanical effects designed and Arri/Zeiss Master Anamorphic,
Hydrascope on an Ultra Maverick base, installed them into the rotisserie hall- Master Prime, Ultra Prime;
to wire-cam rigs, to cameras mounted way set, and my rigger, Dave McIntosh, Arri Anamorphic Ultra Wide Zoom;
on dirt bikes and electric and gas- devised them for other sets as well. Zeiss Compact Prime
41
To Be
Bourne Barry Ackroyd, BSC brings a Ackroyds approach will be well known to anyone familiar
with his previous work alongside Greengrass: United 93 (AC
documentary sensibility to the June 06), Green Zone (AC April 10) and Captain Phillips (AC
action-thriller Jason Bourne. Nov. 13). Paul and I are so much on the same wavelength,
theres hardly any conversation necessary, the cinematographer
offers. The reason we get on so well is that we have a very
By Phil Rhodes straightforward kind of creed, which is to keep it simple. We
both come out of a documentary-style background.
| Documentary is our inspiration.
I was shooting documentaries and some music videos
in the Seventies and early Eighties, and Id assisted on many
I
f you want people to believe what youre doing when its documentaries, Ackroyd says of his own background. In his
a fiction, you shouldnt be trying too hard to distract documentary work, he found himself confronting difficult
them from that truth, begins Barry Ackroyd, BSC. The subjects. One project covered the 1972 Bloody Sunday
cinematographer is speaking with AC about Jason massacre, during which members of the British Army killed
Bourne, his latest collaboration with director Paul Greengrass. unarmed civilians in Northern Ireland; another examined the
The feature sees the return of Matt Damon as the titular hero, Hillsborough disaster, in which 96 people were killed in a
putting him alongside co-stars Alicia Vikander and series-stal- human crush at the eponymous football stadium in Sheffield,
wart Julia Stiles to explore the dark secrets of Bournes difficult England.
past. My break into [narrative] filmmaking was Ken Loach

Opposite and this
page, top: The
CIAs most lethal
former operative
(Matt Damon) is
drawn out of the
shadows to
uncover hidden
truths about his
past and crosses
paths with agent
Heather Lee (Alicia
Vikander) in the
latest chapter of
the Bourne
franchise, Jason
Bourne. Bottom:
Cinematographer
Barry Ackroyd, BSC
(left) and director
Paul Greengrass
(center) discuss
a scene.
social realism, natural ways of

Unit photography by Jasin Boland, SMPSP; Melinda Sue Gordon, SMPSP; and Dawn Jones, courtesy of Universal Pictures.
capturing things, simplicity of style,

Ackroyd adds. I tended towards British
documentary camera style, which
means long lens, very observational,
with a kind of intimacy were good at
getting, [and Loach] knew my
background with social conscience.
Preparatory work on Jason
Bourne began in early June 2015.
Despite the scale of the film, Ackroyd
and Greengrass worked hard to
maintain their documentary style,
trying to rein everything in, to stop
thinking its a huge film, the
cinematographer recalls. Paul asked me
to write a piece to send to Universal, Maysles. These were the first films to set cameras, says Ackroyd, who operated
which would be our mission statement the camera completely free in terms of one of them. He avoids formally
about how the film would look. movement, and that in itself is a political designating A, B and C cameras, with
The resulting document statement, Ackroyd enthuses. Once the idea that every frame of footage from
referenced films such as The Parallax they put the camera on their shoulder, every camera is potentially a contribution
View and The French Connection. they walked into this world of truth. of equal value. I have a mind-set that
However, Ackroyd feels that these For Bourne, the cinematographer were shooting 100 percent. Every
features had in turn been influenced by notes, We shot a lot, but we still used moment, every frame is crucial to this
the work of documentarians Richard technique. Occasionally we used dollies film. People say, Why are you doing this
Leacock and D.A. Pennebaker. and even cranes, but we mostly put the running around? Theyre only going to
Ackroyds favorite films include camera in the hand. You get into the use six frames. The answer is, if you
Pennebakers Dont Look Back, the 1967 story by being physically there; we know which six frames they are, well, you
Bob Dylan tour documentary; and followed the chase and we followed the can shoot six frames!
Robert Drews 1960 political story. Principal photography began on
documentary Primary, with cinema- Perhaps unsurprisingly, Bourne Tenerife in August 2015, with the
tography by Leacock and Albert was shot with three and sometimes four Spanish island doubling for Athens,

To Be Bourne
Greece. Moving to the U.K., the
production proceeded to shoot locations
in London and interiors at Warner Bros.
Studios Leavesden, then moved on to
Berlin and Washington, D.C., all before
the end of the year. Sequences set on the
Las Vegas Strip went before the camera
in January 2016, with some final
photography in the U.K. in February.
Throughout this schedule, the
production maintained predominantly
British crew wherever we went, notes
Ackroyd. Core collaborators included
Greengrass regulars such as editor and
co-writer Christopher Rouse, and co-
producer and 1st AD Chris Carreras.
Ackroyds team of operators
included Christopher TJ McGuire, who
also operated Steadicam; longtime
collaborator Oliver Driscoll; and Josh
Medak, an American who was brought
on for the Las Vegas shoot. The operators
frequently switched out camera positions
in order to bring a fresh approach to each
angle. Often you rotate around,
Ackroyd explains. [Greengrass] might
say, Barry, take that position and do it
your way. One memorable piece of
direction, however, came toward the end
of the shoot at the end of a long day; the
cinematographer remembers the director
saying, I can see just what youre thinking
when I look at the shot. Youre not
thinking the right thing.
The filmmakers inevitably
embraced the happy accidents of
handheld camerawork, but without
making any attempt to cause them
deliberately. The first thing I tell people
is, Dont get hung up on right and wrong.
Just try, says Ackroyd. Its often the
time youre trying hardest when you get
the magic. If you f--- it up on purpose it
will look like that, but if you really try
hard and its on the edge, thats when its
exciting. Thats the stuff that Chris
[Rouse] will pick.
Regarding formats, Ackroyd says
the original intention was to shoot
entirely on film, but with the final script
it became clear that there would be
significant night exteriors with complex
Top: Bourne reunites with Nicky (Julia Stiles). Middle and bottom: Ackroyd and crew shoot
scenes for an action sequence set in Greece. stunts and physical effects. Bourne was
therefore shot approximately half-and-

half on film and digitally. For the film
portions, the production shot both 4-perf
35mm and Super 16mm, using Aaton
Penelope and XTR Prod cameras,
respectively, and framing for the 2.39:1
aspect ratio; Ackroyd shot with Kodak
Vision3 500T 5219/7219 for interiors and
250D 5207/7207 for day exteriors. The
16mm stock was used for flashbacks and
some elements of the Athens riot
sequence, Driscoll notes.
Arri Alexa XT digital cameras were
employed for the night stuff, the
cinematographer explains. It comes from
the second unit wanting to shoot digitally
so they could have instant replay on the
technical stuff, and multiple cameras.
The Alexas recorded ArriRaw files
to internal Codex XR Capture Drives.
Film negative was processed at I Dailies
and scanned at Pinewood Digital, the
latter of which provided dailies in Pix
format. Clive Noakes served as dailies
colorist.
Second-unit cinematographer Igor
Meglic, ZFS whose history with
Ackroyd began on the 2012 crime thriller
Contraband added other cameras
beyond the Alexa. The reason I usually
have to go to different cameras is because
we either need a lot of them or theyre in
harms way, says Meglic. Once you start
to bring in six or eight additional cameras,
its a cost thing. Red Epic Dragon units
were used mainly for plate photography in
vehicles, with Canons Cinema EOS
C500 used for other vehicle and handheld
work. For applications requiring an ultra-
lightweight camera, such as helmet
mounting, Meglic opted for Blackmagic
Designs Pocket Cinema Camera fitted
with Kowa 8.5mm glass. Its a pretty
amazing little camera, he notes. Weight-
wise, it was little more than an iPhone!
The 2nd unit often recorded
internally particularly in the case of the
XT and Dragon while external Codex
recorders were sometimes used for the
Dragon, C500 and Pocket Cinema
Camera. When needed, we did it both
ways, says Meglic. We did vibration
tests, [and] I was a little nervous, but it Top: Agent Robert Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones) and Lee discover that Bourne is back.
turned out we never had a problem. Middle: Ackroyd, Greengrass and crew line up the camera for a scene with Vikander aboard a
plane. Bottom: Bourne confronts Dewey.
For large sequences such as the Las

| Keeping It Real |
W ith their dim ambi-

ence and absence
of natural light, many
it, he said, No, I want it
grittier. Lets have it
cooler. Obviously, if its
color-correction facilities warm and then they want
feel subterranean. The it blue, we take all the
rooms at Goldcrest in warmth out of it and
Londons Soho district theres not a lot of light
actually are underground, it gets very dark. To cut a
however, and its here long story short, it stayed
that AC finds colorist dark like that for about
Rob Pizzey working three weeks while we
with cinematographer were doing screenings. It
Barry Ackroyd, BSC on was too dark. So we
the final grade for Jason decided, Lets go back to
Bourne. Pizzeys credits how it was shot, how
alongside Ackroyd and Barry intended it. Paul
director Paul Greengrass saw it today and loved it.
include both Green Zone One of the most
(AC April 10) and Captain Phillips (AC capture the extended density range of challenging sequences in terms of
Nov. 13). the Kodak Vision3 stock. The digitally matching, Pizzey notes, is a chase scene
Pizzey sits at the familiar originated material is kept in raw format set at night. Theres smoke and fire, and
hardware console of the DaVinci throughout the DI process to give there were a number of shots where the
Resolve color-correction system. The Pizzey and Ackroyd the maximum continuity of smoke wasnt as even as it
image currently under discussion is flexibility during the grade. With the could have been due to the multiple
projected onto a screen approximately right color science and grain- cameras, he explains. Rectifying this
20' wide by a Barco DP4K-P projector management tools, the Goldcrest team situation, Pizzey recalls, required him to
in 4K resolution, and depicts Matt notes, the film- and digital-originated find a way of using the grading kit to
Damon, as Bourne, moving down what shots match very closely. balance up the shots, to help them feel
looks like a public street, although the During preproduction, Pizzey as if the smokes there a few tricky
response to that idea is that most of the recalls, Barry came in and we did some little windows and messing around with
people in frame are extras. Pizzey calls extensive tests on the grade, with each of contrast. It works pretty well. We might
up a vertical ellipse and expands it to the different formats, and with de-grain have a bit of help from visual effects
encompass Damon, confirming the and re-grain. Given Ackroyds tendency toward the end, but we ran it this
choice with the cinematographer. Is that to stay away from complex on-set morning and it looked pretty good.
all right, Barry? asks Pizzey. I just monitoring strategies, Pizzey offers, we AC s visit came halfway through
darkened the outside so he stands out a set an overall look, trying to keep things the main work of grading, Pizzey says.
bit more. simple. Barry and the team just get on We had Paul in the suite yesterday.
The apparent simplicity of the and shoot it, and they know how much There are a couple of scenes remaining
situation belies a lot of work behind the we can change if we need to later on. to change, but the color base is looking
scenes. I had two weeks prep before As the edit has been moving at good.
Barry came in, the colorist relates. But full speed, the colorist continues, well The colorists approach seems
being such a big film, some of that went grade a scene, and when we go over it well matched to that of both Greengrass
out the window. Much of Jason Bourne the next day, certain shots will have been and Ackroyd. I listen to the directors of
was acquired on film, using two different trimmed. At press time, final visual- photography, what theyve exposed, and
film stocks, each in two different gauges. effects delivery is due on June 17. Thats how theyve shot and lit it, Pizzey says.
Additionally, specific scenes were shot going to be a manic 24 hours, Pizzey Ill always do my first pass the way they
digitally, with several types of digital admits. All the background plates intended it to look. Then, if anyone
cameras. For this reason it was decided should be tweaked already, but until the wants it differently, we use all the tools.
to use the film color space as the final shots are there, you cant make your I try to be a traditional, old-fashioned
common DI color space. The film final grade. color timer, to keep it real.
material was scanned at 4K resolution on Theres one scene toward the Phil Rhodes
Goldcrests two Arriscan film scanners, end, the colorist adds. It was shot quite
which were calibrated and set up to warm, and I think when Paul first saw

To Be Bourne
Bourne fights
his way
through Athens
and escapes on
a motorbike.
Vegas car chase, up to 28 camera bodies

were available for use although that
many never rolled simultaneously
predominantly fitted with the same kind
of lenses used by the main unit. Meglic
notes, A couple of times [during the
London portion of the shoot] we did ask
if we could borrow a lens or two, and they
were always very nice about that!
Given the chosen style, its perhaps
no surprise that Ackroyd describes
himself as a zoom person. He singles
out the beautiful Angenieux Optimo
24-290mm (T2.8) zoom, noting, Its
like my eye, my brain. When something
takes your interest from across the street,
you dont see it in the same way as when
youre close to something. You can
exclude things and concentrate.
The extensive lens package also
included Angenieuxs Optimo 15-40mm
(T2.6) zoom; Fujinons 19-90mm (T2.9)
Cabrio zoom; True Lens Services 80-
200mm (T2.8) Morpheus, a rehoused
Nikon stills zoom; and Panavisions
Primo 135-420mm (T2.8) zoom. The
35mm-format prime-lens package
comprised Arri/Zeiss Ultra Primes
ranging from 20mm up to 180mm (all
T1.9) as well as Zeiss Super Speeds from

To Be Bourne
A camera
vehicle fitted
with an Edge
Arm is
employed to
capture a
car-chase
sequence
through
Las Vegas.
trumpet: Ive got my thumb on the iris,

index finger on the zoom and ready to
grab onto the focus if necessary. The focus
pullers in charge, but I might want to
touch it.
Ackroyd prefers the focus puller to
remain beside the camera with a
mechanical follow focus. If you do a
remote focus, youve got less relationship
with the distance, the cinematographer
opines. If youre all together, youre not
trying to triangulate the position; the
focus puller neednt be looking at the
focus ring or marks. If youre using lots of
cameras and one is using a remote focus
5 feet from the camera, you start taking
18mm up to 85mm (all T1.3). The aspect ratio as the best-looking format up space for the story. Similarly, Ackroyd
productions Super 16mm cameras were for this type of film. It fills the screen; avoids bulking the camera out with more
paired with Canon 8-64mm (T2.4) and when they open up the curtains in the than the minimum accessories. I dont
11-165mm (T2.5) zooms. theater, you know youre going on a use the big handles, the bullhorns. I have
Any concerns about matching the journey. Its about immersion. three points of contact, as I would in
various cameras and lenses were When AC visited the grading suite documentary: shoulder, handle, and eye
subordinate to ease of handling, Ackroyd at Goldcrest, Ackroyd was working to the eyepiece.
says. Ive never been one to get too hung alongside colorist Rob Pizzey (see sidebar, Gaffer Harry Wiggins, another
up on the technical side of what the lens page 46). Referring to a shot of Damons veteran of Green Zone and Captain
may or may not do. Of course, if you were character ascending an escalator from an Phillips, describes the crews overall
making a movie that was highly glossy underground railway station, Ackroyd approaches for day and night work on
and intentionally stylized, youd have to details his on-set working method. I Bourne. We would light our day interiors,
pay more attention to that. would be shooting this, he says. My left but on our day exteriors, we would run it
Ackroyd refers to the widescreen hand is [positioned as though to play] a pretty much as a commando unit.

The second unit captures Bourne driving a Dodge Charger in Vegas.
Conversely, he continues, a night needed, the production used the LRX

exterior over a big part of a city requires a Scorpion, a 23.4K cluster of 36 650-watt
lot of lighting. Flexibility was key. We DWE bulbs with remotely controllable
had to have a plan that wouldnt tie us robotic pan and tilt; these were mounted
down, he attests. We had to put on cherry pickers to provide backlight as
everything on rooftops, but we couldnt required. Additionally, Wiggins notes, an
own the rooftops, or the spaces for LED Flyer a boom-mounted bi-color
cabling and generators, all the time, and LED soft light manufactured by BBS
we werent quite sure what streets would Lighting was used on the ground,
work for us until we [arrived on location] close to camera, with a couple of
and started shooting. We had to have a California Sunbounce swatters to take out
system that meant we could move quite ugly shadows from street lamps we
quickly from one roof to another. couldnt turn off.
Lighting equipment for night The main unit used up to six
exteriors in Tenerife was almost generators on the Tenerife portion of the
exclusively tungsten, supplied by Panalux shoot, with two at 200K, two at 110K,
London. The company was able to and another couple of Spanish ones that
supply traditional filmmaking equipment were probably 60s, the gaffer recalls.
in the form of 5K Fresnels and, via its Including lighting-desk operators and
broadcast and entertainment division, standby scaffolders, Wiggins crew totaled
large numbers of Par cans up to 200. 12. It was lean, he says. My guys ran a
We had another 80 short-nosed Par lot of stairs at night.
cans, Wiggins recalls. Wed put a pair A riot sequence set in Athens
on each lamppost; generally wed run presented its own special requirements.
those at about 66 percent. Panalux built some LED cubes, says
We gelled [the Pars] with a straw Wiggins. They over-cranked the LEDs
tint or a half CTO, the gaffer continues. so they were super-bright. We ran them
I love using Par cans because they are on V-lock batteries, put them down in the
lightweight, robust, [and] they have a crowd and fired them from a remote
dirty beam with a lumpy shape to it, trigger via the desk. This and other
[which] feels more authentic. If you use applications used wireless DMX control.
a Fresnel, sure you have a lovely falloff on Also, the production had to generate fire
the beam, but its false. effects for burning cars, explosions,
When more firepower was Molotovs, Wiggins adds. For those
49
To Be Bourne
it made more sense to pay for the bits and
build our own Hipster Flos, rather than
rent fixtures to build into the set for four
months.
Commercial dimmable ballasts
were used with both tungsten-balanced
The crew readies a
scene in which and blue tubes in the space. The
Bourne searches for references we had of similar CIA
digital information. installations tended to have a blue feeling,
Wiggins notes. When we were on
Captain Phillips, the combat-information
center of the battleship was lit with blue
tubes something to do with
maintaining night vision or keeping you
awake.
effects, he notes, we had a set of Howie the equipment. Wiggins describes the set The majority of Las Vegas interiors
battens with MR16 bulbs in a frame. as a shell-shaped room with a tiered roof, were shot at Aria resort; the hotels
Light from a helicopter was either a bit like an old cinema. On each of the conference center was used for scenes at a
performed for real, using a Nightsun three tiers of the ceiling, there was a trade show, with rigging work facilitated
searchlight, or simulated with Mole- Perspex up-stand about 9 inches high; by the availability of CAD drawings that
Richardson 4K daylight beam projectors behind those we had a crescent of about indicated the location of flying points.
on rooftops. 50 fluorescents. The set was installed in You can plot out where you want stuff,
The CIA hub seen in the film October and would stand until then a crew will come in and put trussing
was built onstage at Leavesden, where January; we wouldnt be able to get up in, Wiggins relates. The final
Warner Bros. lighting services supplied onto that roof [once shooting began], so configuration involved a rig of about 16
50
20-foot truss bars with Par cans to liven up with whom he had collaborated on The [Otherwise] I wont be able to cut it. I
this [large] space, he adds. Hurt Locker (AC July 09) for her as- said, Have you not seen the films of Jean-
For another scene involving a hotel yet-untitled project about the 1967 Luc Godard? What the cinematographer
room on the 58th floor at Aria, the crew Detroit riot. The cinematographer and needs are directors who dare you to break
used two Digital Sputnik DS 6s 840- his Bourne collaborators remember a the rules. Luckily, I have rarely had much
watt color-mixing LEDs on a nearby well-run production that demanded hard trouble with that.
rooftop to suggest lighting from the strip work but resulted in minimal stress, with
below. The DS 6s could be run a team long-experienced in working TECHNICAL SPECS
conveniently from a nearby 60-amp supply, together. Theres a group that makes this
avoiding the inconvenience of running core, and we understand each other, 2.39:1
high-power cables from a generator located Ackroyd opines. Communications are
52 floors below. kept to a minimum. We all understand 4-perf 35mm, Super 16mm,
Digital Capture
Wiggins adds that for a scene set in what were trying to do what were
a Las Vegas storm drain but actually trying to capture in each moment of the Aaton Penelope, XTR Prod;
shot in an underground parking lot in the film. Arri Alexa XT; Red Epic Dragon;
U.K. we used 32 Arri S60-C Skypanels Recalling the discouragement he Canon Cinema EOS C500
and a couple of Kinos to light the storm faced early in his career when trying to
Angenieux Optimo, Fujinon
drains in a warm, sodium-ish light. The bring documentary elements into Cabrio, TLS Morpheus,
Skypanels are fantastic; theyll give you narrative projects, the cinematographer Panavision Primo, Arri/Zeiss
what a color-gelled 5K with a Chimera adds, I worked early on with directors Ultra Prime, Zeiss Super Speed,
will, or more. who were actually kind of afraid to make Canon, Kowa
AC spoke with Ackroyd during his the film better. I remember an editor
Kodak Vision3 250D
last few days of direct involvement with saying, Your camerawork and my editing 5207/7207, 500T 5219/7219
Jason Bourne, before he would move on to will look s--- unless, when you do a
reteam with director Kathryn Bigelow track, you come to the end and hold it. Digital Intermediate
Body
Language
Cinematographer Larkin Seiple infuses

outlandish scenarios with raw beauty
and vibrant color for Daniel Kwan and
Daniel Scheinerts Swiss Army Man.
By Andrew Fish
|
S
tranded on a deserted island and
about to do himself in, Hank (Paul
Dano) spots a body (Daniel Radcliffe)
thats washed up on shore. Upon
investigation, Hank discovers that the
corpses unremitting gas can propel it
through the water and, when properly
harnessed, allow Hank to leave the island
astride the cadaver. Back on dry land, the
ostensibly deceased man whom Hank
dubs Manny begins to show signs of
life, and progressively reveals that the
parts and functions of his decaying carcass
in fact comprise a treasure trove of survival
tools.
Beneath its sophomoric surface, the
crude, chimeric comedy Swiss Army Man
which won the U.S. Dramatic
Directing Award at last Februarys
Sundance Film Festival is a visually
striking film about love, friendship, secrets
and loneliness. What is home? asks
Manny. What is life? With an abject
lack of memories, Manny absorbs all that
his socially awkward companion has to
teach as the two journey through verdant
vistas, musing upon humanitys fixation
on isolation and shame.
Written and directed by Daniel Opposite and this
page, top: On a
Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, collectively
Unit photography by Joyce Kim, courtesy of A24. Additional photos courtesy of Larkin Seiple.
deserted island and

known as Daniels, Swiss Army Man was desperately lonely,
shot by Larkin Seiple. Graduates of Hank (Paul Dano)
befriends a corpse
Emerson College, the three have been he dubs Manny
working together since 2011 on such (Daniel Radcliffe),
projects as the decidedly strange short who turns out to be
just the right
film Interesting Ball and the surreal, fren- multipurpose tool
zied music video for DJ Snake and Lil to free them both
Jons Turn Down for What. from their physical
and emotional
The initial thesis [of Swiss Army predicaments in
Man] was, What if we made a movie that Swiss Army
had the stupidest premise ever, and made Man. Left:
Cinematographer
it the most beautiful thing we possibly Larkin Seiple (right),
could? Scheinert says. We wanted this Dano (left) and
to be a celebration of beauty and life, and Radcliffe ready a
scene in which
meanwhile the content would be Manny prepares to
constantly subversive, weird and unpre- launch a makeshift
dictable. We gave Larkin that open- grappling hook
from his mouth.
ended assignment, and that led to our
concerted effort to location-scout more
intensely than we ever had before, and get
the nicest lenses wed ever shot on.
I had a lot of questions, Seiple
recalls of his first look at the Swiss Army
Man script. How were we going to make

Body Language
break it up and give it a texture. We love
the work [cinematographer] Tim Orr did
on All the Real Girls [AC April 03]; theres
a beautiful naturalism with anamorphic
lenses. For the more fantastical sequences,
we referenced the vibrant colors and
dynamic camera movement of Dean
Cundey [ASC] on earlier Spielberg films
like Hook or Jurassic Park.
Swiss Army Man was shot primarily
with an Arri Alexa XT, which was set to
4:3 sensor mode and recorded ArriRaw to
Codex XR Capture Drives for a 2.39:1
aspect ratio. The XT was most often fitted
with Cooke Anamorphic/i prime lenses;
Seiple preferred a 50mm focal length, and
75mm for close-ups. On anamorphic,
50mm is great because its intimate but
wide at the same time. Especially shooting
in the forest, you want to be able to see the
environment and really take in where you
are. Even on the close-up work, we
wanted the backgrounds to be visible, as
opposed to a longer-lens, dramatic doc
vibe. We tried to stay around T2.8. It
helped with edge sharpness on the Cooke
anamorphics, but still kept some of the
beautiful aberrations. That didnt make it
easy on first AC Matthew Sanderson, as
2.8 on anamorphic is quite shallow.
Cameras were provided by Eastside
Camera Services.
The production limited lens filtra-
tion to Mitomo True NDs, which are
Seiples preferred choice, he says. When
you stack most ND [filters], they tend to
shift magenta or green, but True NDs
shift the color cooler or warmer if you
Top: Hank attempts to get a cell-phone signal. Bottom, from left: Dano, co-directors Daniel Kwan and stack them, which is much easier to
Daniel Scheinert, and Radcliffe prep a scene in which Hank and Manny have tumbled down a hill. Day- correct.
exterior forest scenes throughout the production were lit almost entirely with natural light. Shooting on a tight schedule
predominantly on practical forest loca-
it believable? How would we make this minimalist, with flat and locked-off tions, the filmmakers had little time for
relationship work between a man and a camera angles and very blunt framing lighting. The plan was to try to control it
corpse? My first inclination was to fight and then, as the story unfolds and to a degree, Seiple says. The entire scout
against the absurdity of the film by Manny comes to life, we introduced was overcast, which was completely work-
grounding it in a stark environment, more dramatic dolly pushes, whip-pans able, but by the time we started shooting,
using hard sunlight and desaturating and handheld. The scenes soon become we had beautiful, vibrant sun every day.
most of the colors so it wouldnt lean lit with rich amber fires, moonlight and Trying to control that would have slowed
toward fantasy. But as the project flares. us down too much, so we just picked our
evolved, we instead focused on support- Ultimately, the approach to avoid angles and went for it. We had several
ing the absurdity of the visuals and struc- the feeling of a slapstick comedy was to [Arri] M90s, but by the end of week one
turing them around the emotional let it be raw and underexpose it, Seiple we decided to dispense with them for the
journey of the film. We started bleak and continues, and to shoot anamorphic to most part and try to time it out so every-

thing was backlit and if the sun went
away, it wasnt the end of the world. We
tried to add negative fill when we could, or
an eye light for crucial moments, but the
pace was so breakneck that we tended to
embrace the locations we chose. The
movie was shot almost entirely with
natural light.
I did not appreciate enough, until
we started shooting, just how important
scheduling weather would be, Scheinert
notes with a laugh, but Larkin did. He
worked with our first AD [ Jesse Fleece]
intensely, scheduling and rescheduling
each day because he knew that his
main light source was out of his control
and that paid off a lot.
With inherently variable light from
scene to scene and even shot to shot,
Company 3 colorist Sofie Friis Borups
assistance in post was another essential
element in maintaining lighting continu-
ity. Borup offers, When the sun hits a
face and in the next shot the face is in
shadow, we had to bring the shadow up a
bit and the sun spot down, and make it as
consistent as possible.
Sofie is an amazing colorist,
Seiple enthuses. We spent ages coloring
this movie because of all the visual effects
that had to be dropped into it. We colored
three times [at Company 3s New York
facility], and then she flew out to L.A.
twice. It was this hopscotch of a coloring
session that [proceeded periodically] over
the course of a month.
Day exteriors were captured at
1,600 ISO to provide latitude in the high-
lights. In that way, Seiple explains, you
have 8 stops above exposure and 5 stops
below, which helped us out a lot. For the
night work, we went back to 800 [ISO], as
I tend to expose night scenes quite dark
but wanted the latitude to print up, which
we did end up doing. I could [expose
normally] but know that I still had infor-
mation there for the worst-case scenario.
For the bulk of the predominantly
single-camera shoot, Seiple served as
operator on dolly, slider, jib and handheld
Top: Hank and Manny share one of many candid moments, in this case aboard their makeshift
work, with Dana Morris traveling in to commuter bus, which the productions art department built primarily with objects found in the
operate Steadicam when required. The forest. Middle: Scheinert offers direction to Dano for a scene aboard Hank and Mannys spruced-
productions preferred dolly was the J.L. up discarded golf cart. Bottom: Kwan, Seiple, Scheinert and 1st AC Matt Sanderson (peeking
from behind) have some fun on set.
Fisher Model 11, as it was small enough to

Body Language
Right: Hank
dresses up as
Sarah to help
super-charge
Mannys powers, a
scheme that
ultimately results
in a quiet
exchange of
private thoughts.
Middle: The crew
readies the oddly
poignant night-
exterior scene.
Bottom: Manny
tears it up at the
duos dance party.
fit into narrow ravines and riverbeds.

What might be the movies signa-
ture image Hank riding Manny
across the ocean was shot with the
XT on open water in a fishing bay just
south of Los Angeles. For the close-ups,
the actors were on a wide knee-board,
Seiple describes. Our key grip, Nick
Kristen, rigged truss off of the front of a
flat, bottomed-out picture boat, and then
dragged the line and connected them to
it, [pulling] them parallel to the camera,
which was mounted to a stabilized
Filmotechnic Flight Head 5 on a J.L.
Fisher Model 23 Sectional Jib. We shot
most of [the close-ups] 34 frontal and
34 back, he says. We could swing the
jib in front and from behind to get those

angles. Bill Boatman was the operator on
the wheels for the crane shot as I worked
the zoom.
Indeed, as time constraints and
logistics would not allow for lens changes
during this so-called Jet Ski sequence,
the filmmakers opted to use an
Angenieux Optimo 24-290mm (T2.8)
12x zoom an unusual choice for a
production shot nearly entirely on
primes. The lens worked particularly well
during the sequences wide shots, which
were again captured from a boat with a
jib-mounted camera, but this time track-

ing a stunt double; the double was dragged
by a motorboat that was later removed in
post, along with its wake. We were about
50 yards away, Seiple says, doing crash-
zooms in and out, trying to get the shot. Left: Kwan helps
Theres a really fun zoom shot [that made secure vines to
Radcliffes wrists so
it to the final cut] that was actually us Mannys limp body
doing a zoom-in to reframe but we did can be puppeteered
it slow enough that the Daniels said, That by Hank, who
teaches his blank-
was amazing! Theres a zoom-out that slate buddy what its
they kept in the movie as well. The direc- like to go out to
tors had never talked about using zooms dinner. Below: The
crew readies the
in the movie, but they ended up being restaurant scene.
wonderful.
The slow-motion footage for the
Jet Ski sequence was generally shot at 48
and 60 fps, though frame rates as high as
96 fps were employed.
A day-exterior LUT was designed
for the production to boost contrast and
bring out richer colors in the shadows,
Seiple says, while not clipping the high-
lights. Because of the green ambience
from the deep-woods foliage, our day-
exterior LUT also helped suppress high-
level green saturation, which can cause the
image to feel overly digital.
A slightly lower-contrast LUT was
employed for night shoots for better visi-
bility. We had a wonderful [on-set] DIT
named Matt Conrad, whom Ive worked
with for a long time and have brought
onto every project I can, the cinematog-
rapher enthuses. We baked the look into
the dailies so that everyone had a refer-
ence, and when we went to work with
Sofie, she re-graded it to her look. The of how the movie is supposed to be. If he water work, a child, pyro, stunts every
biggest thing that we changed was the couldnt capture certain things on set, we day, night exteriors, live animals, a bear.
green. We wanted the forest to have more would try to solve those problems [Seemingly simple] scenes in the woods
of an emerald vibe, so we had to do a together and possibly save what he were complicated, with body gags and
specific key just for that. Now the forest couldnt get on [camera]. Its a collabora- water shooting out of peoples mouths.
feels really lush and idyllic. tion. Borup performed the grade in Every day was a unique challenge.
Borup adds, We made sure things 2288x1716 resolution with Blackmagic Mannys ability to dispense drink-
didnt go too neon, and that all the greens Designs DaVinci Resolve first with ing water from his mouth was a live-
and yellows in the trees didnt get too satu- version 11, then migrating to 12 toward actor gag devised by special-effects artist
rated. That made a big difference in the end of the sessions when the facility Jason Hamer, who was also responsible
making it more filmic. [In that regard, upgraded for a 2K DCP final deliv- for the construction of several different
adjusting] grain also helped. The produc- erable. Manny bodies for widely varying
tion used a Company 3-created grain The directors and Seiple agree purposes throughout the production.
image, which was derived from actual that the Swiss Army Man shoot saw few The water-fountain effect is first
35mm 500T stock. easy days. Most of our locations were demonstrated in a cave, in which the
I think its really important for the remote, so every 12-hour day ended up only interior light was a LitePanels 1x1
cinematographer to be involved [in the being 10 hours due to travel, the cine- Bi-Color as an eye light, Seiple says.
grade], she continues. Its Larkins vision matographer notes. We had wire work, (The scene was shot in Hollywoods

Body Language
Right: Hank and

Manny take a selfie
together while on an
imaginary vacation.
Bottom: Seiple
captures the moment
with an Arri Alexa XT.
with sun coming in from the left, and

supplementing that with an M90. Our
gaffer, Matt Ardine, built his own 2-by-
4-foot light units we called them
Matty Pads which are small light
boxes with LiteGear Hybrid VHO
LED LiteRibbon inside that can do
tungsten or daylight, with a layer of 14
Grid Cloth and an Image 80 egg crate.
They used a Kino backing [plate], and
we could fly them around and instantly
dim them up or down without color
change.
For the magical moments on the
bus, as Seiple describes, we switched to
these really funky old JDC [Cooke] Xtal
Express 35mm, 85mm and 100mm
lenses. Kwan relates, The bokeh was all
Bronson Canyon, at the same rock it might be like to court the woman [distorted] on the edges; it felt a lot more
tunnel from which the Batmobile of his dreams. To set the scene, Hank alive and organic. I think that was some-
emerged on the 1960s Batman show.) gathers up tree branches, vegetation and thing we wanted to really push forward
The cinematographer explains that he assorted garbage from the surrounding with this film to make a lot of the
obscured the discordantly arid Southern woods to build a mock-up of a imagery and sound design evoke very
California exterior that appeared commuter bus a contrivance crafted primal and human physical feelings,
through the caves entrance by utilizing a by Daniels longtime production almost evoking sense memory.
blown-out look for day interiors, and designer, Jason Kisvarday, and his team, I prefer to use older glass as
supplemented bounced sunlight with an primarily from items found on location opposed to a filter, Seiple adds, because
Arri M90 and two 800-watt Jo-Lekos. in a private forest outside of San theres much more of an innate, other-
Realizing that Mannys powers Francisco. worldly feel to it. There was a real glow.
are enhanced when he experiences hope We tried to keep consistent light The dreamlike imagery on the bus
for a romantic relationship of his own, for the bus sequence, Seiple says, so we began with a slow, dramatic, slider-
Hank sets out to help him visualize what shot the majority of it in the morning, enabled pull-out on Dano, who is

Top: Hank and
Manny each share
an important piece
of news by
firelight. Bottom:
Firelight on the
production was
enhanced by a
custom-made fire
pie fitted with
24 MR16 100-watt
bulbs and covered
with chicken wire,
diffusion, and red
and yellow gels.
Attached to the
bottom of it was a
Doug Fleenor 24-
channel dimmer
pack, Seiple
explains. Each
bulb could be on
its own dimmer to
add more
animation to the
fire.
revealed in his makeshift Sarah outfit

and wig. With daylight fading, an M90
was used to backlight the actor in bril-
liant sunlight and trigger horizontal
flares, yielding a stylized beauty shot that
leads into a lovingly crafted homage to
Spielbergs Jurassic Park, complete with
the classic dinosaur films iconic melody.
I didnt think we were going to get the
song, Seiple marvels. I was like, No
way will they give us the rights to use
this amazing song for a movie about
farts.
The bus was ultimately required
to explode, creating an ideal opportunity
for Kisvarday, who specializes in practi-
cal gags. We scored all the supports of
the bus and tied ropes and strings to
them, and we had an air-mortar filled
with sawdust and baby powder,
Kisvarday relates of the lo-fi effect. At
the count of three, several people hiding
off-camera tugged on their strings and
pulled [about half of ] the set over, as we
set off the air mortars and Larkin flashed
a few lights to make it look like there
was some sort of pyrotechnic explosion.
Kisvarday also designed an effect
that provided the backdrop to Hank and
Mannys nighttime, airborne escape
from a bear. The footage was a night-

Body Language
exterior pickup shot in my backyard,
the production designer says. A couple
friends and I built this miniature 6-foot
tree and attached a cable to the top of it,
and led that to a pulley attached to a
branch high up in the real tree [above it].
The camera secured on a tripod and
facing up captured the fake tree as it
was lowered. Small lengths of pipe were
in place to break miniature branches as
the tree descended. They later compos-
ited in the two guys flying through the
tree, Kisvarday adds. The tree was lit
with ETC LED Source Fours to serve as
moonlight. The sequence was shot with a
Red Epic Dragon 6K fitted with Zeiss
Super Speed Mark 3s.
I love miniatures, Kisvarday
continues with a laugh, and I always try
to work them into projects usually
unsuccessfully. Its become a joke that
thats my first solution to a lot of things.
Hank and Mannys subsequent
descent through the trees necessitated the
use of a chest mount in order to fit a Red
Epic Dragon shooting 6:1 Redcode
Raw to 256GB Red SSDs onto
Radcliffes body, with a Cooke S4 25mm
lens facing the actor. With the camera in
place, Radcliffe stood in a darkened room
surrounded by a circular rig of LED
pixel tubes, which simulated moon-
Hank rides Mannys corpse like a Jet Ski. The scene was captured on open water with an Arri Alexa XT mounted to a stabilized Filmotechnic
Flight Head 5 on a J.L. Fisher Model 23 Sectional Jib. While Swiss Army Man was shot primarily with prime lenses, this sequence employed an
Angenieux Optimo 24-290mm (T2.8) 12x zoom.

Scheinert and Seiple plan the next move.
light circling around him as though he Sheinert credits Ardine with

were falling head over heels, Seiple another night-exterior lighting array,
explains. The tubes are RGB, have 16 which was used throughout the produc-
pixels per meter and take DMX directly. tion. The co-director describes the
There were six people hitting [Radcliffe] rigging as a lo-fi lighting grid with
with branches, and [there was] someone complex lighting setups all [linked] to a
behind him with a tree so that when he board, so that we could switch lighting
landed, the tree would end up against his cues and tweak things really
back. We shot him against a 20-by-20 quickly, after very brief dialogue with
solid, as we were trying to pull it off practi- Larkin which allowed us to shoot a
cally. pretty ambitious amount. It was a light-
Particularly useful for the bear- ing grid like you would have in the
attack scene were three Condors, each studio, except he was doing it out in the
fitted with a theatrical moving-light rig woods, using speed rail or whatever we
comprised of two Vari-Lite VL4000 had around, or attaching [fixtures] to
Spots, two GLP Impression X4s and a trees in non-invasive ways. If we had a
wireless DMX receiver that Ardine gap in time, like a costume change, Matt
controlled via a GrandMa2 lighting could put on a little disco show to keep
console, and remotely via iPad or iPhone. us all entertained.
We never had to extend a lift up or down, Seiple adds that Ardines rig
Seiple notes, or even put a [crewmember] comprised ETC Source Four Series 2
in it. They were all unmanned Condors, [LED] Lustr units, which were [hung]
which made it a lot quicker. in trees or used to hit bounces that were
Ardine notes, The Condors were rigged in trees. These lights have a
placed as a straight backlight and two kick- seven-color light engine, which allows
ers at 45-degree angles. The Vari-Lite us to use it as moonlight fill for one shot
4000 Spots have a large zoom range and a or fire-flickers for another without the
long throw to light specific parts from far need to change gel. By putting a wireless
away. The X4s were used to wash parts of DMX receiver on each light, they could
the background. float around the set and be quickly
Also used for the bear scene, Seiple utilized anywhere.
relates, were two Matty Pads mounted on Further, Seiple supervised the
[a single] stand with a wireless DMX construction of a rig dubbed a fire pie
receiver so that we had a large mobile soft to supplement firelight. It was like a
source. covered wagon, he says, but we built a
61
Body Language
Right and bottom,
left: For a night-
exterior scene in
which Hank and
Manny are
attacked by a bear,
the production
employed three
Condors, each
fitted with a
theatrical moving-
light rig and a
wireless DMX
receiver. The fire
pie and two
custom-made LED
light pads provided
illumination as
well. Bottom, right:
A crew member
works on a
Condor rig.
circle like a pie and we put [24] was mounted on a Condor over the with a Phantom Flex4K fitted with a
MR16 [100-watt] bulbs in there, and water, and M90s on stands were aimed Cooke S4 25mm lens recording
covered it with chicken wire with diffu- toward the submerged actors. Phantom .cine raw files to CineMags at
sion and red and yellow gels. It has a kind We had to make it feel like a 2,000 fps and 2040x1152 resolution.
of violent flicker effect to it, but because riverbed, says Seiple, but we couldnt Two stunt doubles on a wire rig were
there are so many sources, its also soft. get the pool dirty because it would have pulled upward at speed against a green-
Seiple notes that an Arri Alexa required a massive cleaning fee. Instead, screen and beneath lighting designed to
Mini was used for pickup shots, including we layered it with black tarp [and added match a plate that was shot with a Red
a flashback sequence of Hank on the bits of plant material]. Underwater Epic Dragon in Eureka, Calif., during
bus, and that a Sony PMW EX3 was operator Ian Takahashi employed an initial location scouting. Contending
used for a news-footage sequence and the Alexa XT and 25mm Cooke S4 lens with bright daylight at the pool, the
movies final shots of Manny in the ocean. encased in a HydroFlex housing for the production employed a 20'x20' Full Grid
When the duo suffer a perilous fall sequence. Cloth on a flyswatter over the water, and
into a river, Manny reveals his ability to In a comically stirring segue back aimed two M90s diffused through an
serve as an air tank, which obliged the to dry land, Manny launches himself and 8'x8' 14 Grid Cloth from just off
filmmakers to shoot an underwater Hank above the waters surface in a series camera, to give it a little bit of glare,
sequence in an outdoor pool about an of slow-motion shots, which were Seiple notes.
hour north of Los Angeles. A flyswatter captured at the same swimming pool Following this initial burst from

the water, the production then captured
the two actors themselves cascading in
slow motion over camera, relates Seiple,
who captured the shot under natural
light. Seiple adds, Its really beautiful
with the water dripping off them and
falling past camera, and theres a sun flare
peeking right through them. Shooting
Phantom is always a blast.
Reflecting on an arduous produc-
tion that nevertheless, and by all accounts,
had a distinct summer camp vibe,
Kisvarday notes that the productions
ambitions were always bigger than what
we were actually able to do which is a
great way to [work], because you never
settle and never stop trying to make
things better, right up until we shoot. A
whole team of people was excited about
finally making this movie that wed been
talking about for years, and everyones
enthusiasm, energy and adrenaline
carried us through the project.
Kwan further opines that Swiss
Army Man is about how shame keeps us
alone, isolates us and creates lonely
people, and this film deals with that on
the most base level. If it boils down to one
thing, its about shame keeping us from
love, and how every act of making this
film is a way of us fighting back, and not
being shamed by creating these char-
acters who have so much to be ashamed
of, but allowing them to be celebrated.
To read an extended Q&A with

Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, visit
www.theasc.com beginning in August.

TECHNICAL SPECS
2.39:1
Digital Capture
Arri Alexa XT, Mini;

Red Epic Dragon;
Phantom Flex4K; Sony PMW EX3
Cooke Anamorphic/i, S4;

Angenieux Optimo;
JDC Cooke Xtal Express;
Innovision Probe II
Love
and Dystopia
Cinematographer John Guleserian Equals marks the fifth feature collaboration between
Guleserian and director Drake Doremus, who were once
crafts a subtle cinematic landscape classmates at AFI. Each of their projects has featured romance
for director Drake Doremus as a thematic core, though their newest production ventures
sci-fi romance Equals. into unfamiliar terrain for Doremus, who is not particularly a
fan of sci-fi but was drawn to the genres potential for
metaphor. To be totally honest, the genre at times comes
across to me as being very cold, and thats why I wanted to
By Matt Mulcahey make a film that was ultimately very warm, the director says.
To me the allegory is that technology pushes us further away
from each other. This is a film about two people who find love
| and have to fight to remember how and why they feel that
way. I think that relates to todays age of dating and how many
T
he first sparks of attraction between two people can be choices there constantly are.
stoked by the slightest of nonverbal cues sometimes Exploring a new genre didnt mean abandoning
just a glance. But in the future posited by the sci-fi Doremus and Guleserians penchant for low contrast and
feature Equals, human emotions have been all but erad- slight desaturation. As Equals colorist Aaron Peak notes, that
icated for societys greater good. Thus, the task of expressing aesthetic plays perfectly for a movie that expresses its charac-
the burgeoning yearnings of graphic designer Silas (Nicholas ters emotions through subtle visual fluctuations. Once youre
Hoult) and his colleague Nia (Kristen Stewart) fell to cine- in that low-contrast world and theres no black and no white,
matographer John Guleserian, with subtle shifts in focus, you become hyper-aware of those changes, says Peak.
color and camera movement replacing furtive looks and secret Changes for Silas begin early in the movie when he
smiles. develops a mysterious ailment known as switched-on

syndrome, or SOS, which causes
dormant emotions to bubble to the
surface. The disease is initially treated
pharmaceutically, but those who dont
stabilize are checked into the Den, a
treatment facility where they are ulti-
mately terminated. Citizens of the
utopian society, which is known as the
Collective, are expected to self-report
the malady. Those who dont are likely
to be informed on by coworkers, neigh-
bors and friends; thus, even when Silas
and Nia become switched-on, they
must hide their nascent feelings for fear
of being exposed. Instead, those desires
are expressed through subtle aesthetic
shifts for example, handheld invades
the previously static camerawork, and
the cool palette makes way for warmer
tones.
Its a fine line, Guleserian notes.
You dont want to make it an obvious
thing like shifting from color to black-
and-white. You dont want the audience
to see it; you want them to feel it.
At the films outset, the
Collectives tranquil yet sterile environ-
ments are presented in static, wide
frames. But as the connection between
Silas and Nia deepens, the depth of field
becomes shallower, often stretching
only a matter of inches in close-ups. To
achieve that transition, Guleserian
switched from the Arri/Zeiss Ultra
Primes used in the early scenes to a set
of uncoated Zeiss Super Speeds. Even
Unit photography by Jessica Forde and Jae Hyuk Lee, courtesy of A24.
when shooting the Super Speeds at a

wide-open T1.3, however, the depth of
field sometimes wasnt shallow enough
for the cinematographer. In those
instances, he employed a set of +1, +2
and +3 Tiffen 138mm diopters.
We wanted this film to feel
almost like a dream an ethereal expe-
rience that you can feel and almost wear
as the viewer, Doremus says.
Everything is in deep focus to begin
with, and then as Silas world becomes
all about Nia, everything else just kind
of fades away.
Guleserian opted to shoot Equals Opposite: In the feature Equals, Nia (Kristen Stewart) and Silas (Nicholas Hoult) fall in love
as a one-camera show with the Arri despite their societys strictures against emotions. This page, top: Silas worries that he and Nia
will be discovered. Middle: Cinematographer John Guleserian frames a shot. Bottom: Hoult
Alexa XT Plus, recording 3.4K works through a scene with director Drake Doremus.
ArriRaw files in Open Gate mode to

Love and Dystopia
Top: Nia spends
her days as a
writer, a few
desks over from
where Silas
works as a
graphic designer.
Middle and
bottom: As he
begins to feel the
symptoms of
switched-on
syndrome, Silas
notices that Nia
also isnt entirely
in step with their
coworkers.
Codex XR Capture Drives. The deci-

sion to shoot raw rather than ProRes
met with the approval of Peak, as it
allowed the colorist additional flexibility
in post when incorporating the films
700 visual-effects shots. The look of
this futuristic society is so clean that the
lack of the slight noise you get from
shooting ProRes made sense, and also it
gave us a little bit more resolution for
reframing and visual-effects work, Peak
says. It was also nice to be able to go
back a few times to the raw and adjust
the white balance and the ISO for
certain shots. Sometimes that yields a
better result than just grading those
changes into a pre-baked clip.
For on-set monitoring,
Guleserian largely stuck with a simple
1D LUT created by Peak to approxi-
mate the desired low-contrast, slightly
desaturated look. Occasionally a situa-
tion-specific LUT was called for, as in
the case of a sequence set in a tunnel
that leads to the Den. I wanted the
light in that tunnel to be this certain
cyan color, but the existing lighting,
which we couldnt change, was actually
orange, says Guleserian. So I had
[DIT Ivan Kovac] create a LUT that
would make everything look cyan so we
could monitor it that way on set.

Such lengths were rarely neces-
sary as with the exception of Kino
Flo Celebs, sunlight and existing loca-
tion practicals Guleserian shot the
film largely with LED units that
allowed him to dial in color and output.
Principal photography was split
evenly between four weeks in Japan and
four weeks in Singapore. For the
Japanese portion of the shoot, the loca-
tions were largely practical, a decision
dictated by both financial prudence
and co-production designer Tino
Schaedlers affection for the work of
Japanese architect Tadao Ando. The
Ando-designed spaces including the
Awaji Yumebutai complex near Osaka
and the Sayamaike Historical Museum,
the combination of which provided the
setting for the Den feature a mixture
of antiseptic, monochromatic concrete
embedded within lush natural
surroundings that embody the
Collectives repressive serenity. It wasnt
a very high-budget movie, so we needed
to find practical locations that would
work which isnt easy for a futuristic
love story, Guleserian says.
Singapore provided both practical
locations and soundstages, and forced
Guleserian to venture off the beaten
path when he encountered a lack of
access to traditional filmmaking tools.
The lighting tools [we were familiar
with] in the States werent necessarily
available in Singapore, he notes; the
production ended up using such fixtures
as custom-made interconnecting RGB
LED pixel-bar wall washers, and 24-
volt, bi-color, high-grade LED tape that Silas and Nia find one another in the crowd during a nighttime entertainment presentation.
was converted to be DMX-able.
Using the unfamiliar lighting
tools necessitated a few days of testing, created in Singapore by combining the 4:3, the cinematographer explains. But
during which Guleserian and gaffer exterior of the ultramodern Reflections when we saw the apartment sets, they
Andy Cole brought various units from residential complex designed by were almost constructed in [the dimen-
local vendors into a soundstage. They Polish-American architect Daniel sions of ] 1.85:1. Also, as we were scout-
tested each light to ensure it wouldnt Libeskind with a soundstage set for ing, I was shooting stills on a little Sony
flicker on camera, could achieve the the interiors. A visit to that set during a6000 in 16:9, and I just started to get
required color spectrum, and would play preproduction nudged Guleserian married to the idea of a similar aspect
nicely with the DMX board. A lot of toward the movies 1.85:1 aspect ratio. ratio for the movie.
these things didnt even have brand Originally we thought about shooting Silas spartan living space features
names that I was familiar with, recalls Scope, and Drake and I even talked a bed, wardrobe closet and dining
Guleserian. about how all the environments we were counter that retract into the walls when
Silas apartment location was scouting would actually be really cool in not in use. A large window offers a view

Love and Dystopia
Right: After hes

been officially
diagnosed with
SOS, Silas is
given a new job
with significantly
less personal
interaction.
Below:
Guleserian
follows Stewart
through the
garden.
Dunton to come up with the projection

plan, and he was on set to implement
it.
The apartments retractable
furnishings were constructed of frosted
Plexiglas and frosted glass, with the
non-camera-facing side lined with bi-
color LED tape. The direction and
intensity of the key light for any given
scene could then be determined in
accordance with whichever piece of
furnishing was in use. With the
LEDs, Guleserian adds, we also had
the ability to make the apartment any
color we wanted in order to track Silas
emotional state.
Silas must guard those emotions
most vigilantly while at his job, where he
toils as a graphic designer as Nia works
of the cityscape. Creating that view by apartment, Guleserian placed a Canon just a few desks over as a writer. The
using greenscreen was out of the ques- EOS 7D DSLR behind the projection location the production found for this
tion because of the reflective surfaces screen to shoot only the portion of the workspace is in actuality the school cafe-
that Schaedler and co-production digital matte painting visible in the shot; teria at Japans Nagaoka Institute of
designer Katie Byron selected for the the image from the 7D was then fed Design. The space was re-dressed to
walls of the futuristic abode. Instead, into two additional Barco 40 projectors, include a false wall where students
Guleserian employed a pair of xenon which were rigged onto a Condor and normally stand in line for food. A
Barco 40 projectors to rear-project shot into the window through 4'x4' concrete wall and trees were also added
visual-effects plates of the city onto a frames of Grid Cloth. The cinematog- in the courtyard to obfuscate a distant
17'x30' screen located just outside the rapher notes that he worked with road. The early static wide shots of the
set. To add additional light inside the projection-effects supervisor Lester location showcasing the cavernous

ceilings and symmetric, impersonal
workstations were lit almost entirely
by available light, and the Alexas color
temperature was set to 4,200K for a cool
blue hue. When shooting coverage,
Guleserian augmented the sunlight
with Kino Flo Celeb 200s and 400s
pushed through various levels of Grid
Cloth. For night scenes, a bank of LED
Pars was aimed through panes of frosted
glass added to the location by the
production-design team.
As impersonal as the workspace is
during the workday, it becomes Silas
and Nias refuge after hours as they
sequester themselves in a shower stall
free of prying eyes. The shower-stall
scenes were shot on a set in Singapore
within walls built of frosted Plexiglas. A
single LED pixel bar provided cyan-
hued illumination. We tested a lot of
different ways to approach lighting
those scenes, says Guleserian. Initially
I thought I would light up all three of
the sets walls because its such a small
space, but that one light ended up just
wrapping around their faces perfectly.
Cyan played again at Singapores
Henderson Waves bridge, which
provided another clandestine meeting
place for Silas and Nia. The highest
pedestrian bridge in Singapore,
Henderson Waves features a series of
half-rotundas with ribbed ceilings, and a
wooden, boardwalk-esque walking
path. To light the rotundas, Guleserian
used 2' and 4' LED pixel bars, and to
offset the warmth of the locations exist-
ing LEDs that dotted the railing of the
boardwalk, Half CTB was added to
each practical. Even with the Super
Speeds wide open, the Alexas ISO was
pushed to 1,600 to achieve proper expo-
sure in contrast to the majority of the
picture, which was shot at 800 ISO.
Each LED within the pixel bars
could be individually controlled, a
feature Guleserian used to good effect
for mid-shot color changes as the
rotundas hue shifts in a wave that
sweeps from one side of the structure to
the other. We wanted the light in the
Silas finds hope and empathy in and gleans advice from fellow SOS sufferer Jonas
movie to have this motion and mind of (Guy Pearce, middle, center).
its own, the cinematographer notes.

Love and Dystopia
Right: Silas
apartment
interior which
features
retractable
furnishings such
as a bed, couch
and dining
counter was
built onstage in
Singapore. The
sets design
encouraged
Guleserian to
frame Equals in
the 1.85:1 aspect
ratio. Below:
Guleserian gets a
shot of Hoult in
the apartment
set. The view
outside the
window was a
rear-projected
cityscape.
ing its cosmic observations from just

outside of the Earths atmosphere for
more than a quarter century. For the
scene at [the 100 Stepped Garden] we
took all of these different colors from the
Hubble telescope and had the pixel bars
constantly shifting between them, the
cinematographer explains. The society
in Equals looks up to space travel as
something thats almost spiritual, so we
considered that when thinking about
how they would light their world.
Balancing those bold colors with
Equals low-contrast aesthetic was one of
the difficulties faced by Peak during the
digital grade as was seamlessly blend-
ing-in multiple layers of visual effects
from different vendors. One of the
Such sentient lighting also placed in the frame for the wide shots bigger challenges was bringing all of
appears in a scene in which Silas and to get the necessary kick and then these CG effects into Equals very soft,
Jonas (Guy Pearce), a fellow sufferer of were painted out in post. Each of the organic look, says Peak, who colored in
SOS, discuss their shared affliction. The garden squares visible on screen was Blackmagic Designs DaVinci Resolve.
night exterior was shot at the given an LED pixel bar to light its Visual-effects vendors arent used to
Hyakudanen, or 100 Stepped Garden, concrete faade. working in very subtle, slightly desatu-
located at the Awaji Yumebutai The filmmakers referenced The rated and cool tones, so all the interfaces
complex, which features 100 small Man Who Fell to Earth and Fahrenheit came in from the vendors very saturated
gardens within concrete flowerbeds. 451 while prepping Equals, but and contrast-y. We had to dial all that
Guleserian keyed the scene with Kino Guleserian points out that the inspira- back separate from the photography.
Flo Celebs adorned with Roscos Cyan tion for the movies color palette actually The colorists most laborious
30 and Cyan 60 gels, and also used a came from images taken by the Hubble scenes, though, had little to do with
quartet of Celebs for backlight that were Space Telescope, which has been record- incorporating visual effects. The meet-

ings of an underground support group
for SOS sufferers required footage from
Singapore and Japan to be mixed with
Los Angeles reshoots. John and Drake
didnt really like either the original shoot
or the reshoot for those scenes, says
Peak. They were both shot with
stronger colored lights than the rest of
the film, so for those scenes we did a lot
of keying and windowing and a little bit
of roto to isolate the more saturated
colors in the background and on the
rims of faces, to get those way down into
the right palette.
As his starting point, Peak used a
custom soft 1D LUT, eschewing Arris
3D LUTs because of the level of satura- Telecine &
tion and contrast they impose on the
image. The grade then became more
Color Grading
about matching the tone from scene to Jod is a true artist with
scene rather than technically matching a great passion for his craft.
the look of locations. It wasnt impor- John W. Simmons, ASC
tant for the same location to look
[exactly] the same when we revisit it at Contact Jod @ 310-713-8388
different points in the film, Peak says. Jod@apt-4.com
It was more about the feel from the
previous scene and the emotional arc of
the film.
That emotional arc was para-
mount, Doremus affirms. This is not a
film about intellectual ideas but simply
emotional ones, he observes. I love the
way the film feels, and a lot of that has
to do with Johns [cinematography] and
his commitment to that feel. To me its
his best work yet.
TECHNICAL SPECS
1.85:1
Digital Capture
Arri Alexa XT Plus
Arri/Zeiss Ultra Prime,

Zeiss Super Speed
Post Focus
Motion capture, live-action sets and virtual cinematography were all brought to bear for the story of Sophie (Ruby Barnhill), a young orphan,
who befriends the Big Friendly Giant (Mark Rylance) in the feature adaptation of Roald Dahls book The BFG.
I Going Big
By Noah Kadner
Kaminski to bring their traditional filmmaking skills into the virtual
world.
Joe Letteri, Wetas senior visual-effects supervisor, explains
Its another sleepless night for Sophie (Ruby Barnhill) as she the methodology: We got very excited when Mark Rylance was
wanders through her home at the orphanage. Hearing a noise cast as BFG, because hes such a great theater actor. We asked, Can
The BFG image courtesy of Storyteller Distribution Co. and Disney Enterprises.
outside, she peeks out the balcony window to see a 25' giant (Mark we take this idea of [a theatrical performance] and combine it with
Rylance) creeping through the streets. Their eyes meet and he motion capture? So we came up with moody mo-cap, which
absconds with her to his cottage in Giant Country. Not the monster includes props and cinematic lighting to give Mark something to
he initially appears to be, however, the self-proclaimed Big Friendly work off of just like a stage production. The difference was that
Giant shows Sophie the ways of dream catching chasing down Steven and Janusz were right there with him and the other actors.
flitting balls of light for delivery to the slumbering populace. Sophie It gave us a great way to bring all the live-action elements of film-
takes to calling her new friend BFG, and the two team up with the making together with performance capture and visual effects.
queen of England (Penelope Wilton) to rid the world of the giants For the motion capture, we use highly calibrated mono-
much-larger and decidedly nasty brethren. chrome cameras with ring lights around them, Letteri continues.
Adapted from Roald Dahls popular 1982 childrens book of Your stage becomes a volume and each camera triangulates a
the same name, The BFG marks the latest collaboration between portion of that volume. The actors wear a head rig with a boom arm
director Steven Spielberg and director of photography Janusz Kamin- holding a small HD camera that captures their facial performances.
ski, whose partnership dates back to 1993s Schindlers List. The BFG Weve written a lot of our own proprietary tools for that [process].
is the first feature the duo shot entirely digitally with Arri Alexa We always wanted Mark and Ruby to be able to act
cameras and Panavision Primo lenses. together, he adds, but because [we were working with] two very
Considering the storys massive characters and fantastical different scales, we had to do both halves of the performance sepa-
settings, the filmmakers realized early on that extensive motion rately. Wed build giant sets on the mo-cap stage with all the props
capture and virtual cinematography would be critical techniques for scaled down to human size, so Mark could [interact with] every-
bringing the story to life. Weta Digital handled all of the films visual thing. Then we would go through it again for Sophies size with
effects, creating a powerful array of tools that enabled Spielberg and Mark up on risers or a camera feeding his image onto a screen we

had on a pole, to give Sophie something to shots inside the v-cam tent and then go out created a really fun and beautiful golden
play off of directly. onto the real set and shoot. look that we were all very happy with.
As production commenced, Techni- We also did a lot of SimulCam and Hatzer graded the final version of The
colors supervising digital colorist, ASC asso- SimulCap, Williams continues. SimulCam BFG in Autodesks Lustre using 2K DPX files
ciate Michael Hatzer, worked with Kaminski represents the virtual environment through on an Eizo ColorEdge CG247 monitor in the
to help define the look of the film. Joe the motion-picture cameras viewfinder, 2.39:1 aspect ratio. Weta supplied mattes
Letteri and part of his team worked with while SimulCap captures mo-cap perfor- for a majority of the different characters,
[ASC associate] Josh Pines, Janusz and me in mances in real time and feeds the virtual which allowed us to pick out areas within
Los Angeles to create a suitable LUT for all character, or characters, back into the the frame, says Hatzer. The challenging
the visual-effects and live-action material, camera. It meant that the camera team had part was seamlessly blending the practical
says Hatzer. Our team here at Technicolor a live-action movie shoot, where they could lighting on Sophies character within all the
which includes project manager Ladd look at the characters and environment and CGI worlds. With Janusz and Stevens direc-
Lanford, producer Bob Peishel and color figure out how they wanted to frame their tion, I would augment key, shadow and
assistant Chris Jensen worked closely camera in real time. So if Janusz wants to try highlights, particularly on BFGs face, in order
with Janusz and Amblin Partners post exec- to find a great angle on a window-insert to bend the Weta footage a little closer to
utive Mark Graziano to develop a compre- stage, he can still see the rest of the wall [the filmmakers] signature style and level of
hensive color-management pipeline that and bias the framing [accordingly]. contrast and highlights. The goal was to
insured continuity from on-set dailies BFGs dash from the orphanage to make BFG as realistic [as we could], and the
through final home-video deliverables. Giant Country is described in the book as lighting as dramatic as possible.
Our Technicolor mobile DI trailer, being so fast that the landscape blurs away. In addition to delivering a neutral
outfitted with a Christie DLP projector, was A lot of that sequence was virtual just base grade on many live-action plates, and
used to grade and review 2K projected because of the limitations of practical cine- overseeing dailies and final grading, Hatzer
dailies, Hatzer continues. Dailies colorist matography, notes Williams. Its hard to also graded the films many final deliver-
John Vladic graded dailies with [Blackmagic safely get a camera going 20 feet in the air ables. This is Janusz and Stevens first film
Designs] DaVinci Resolve. When production at 60 miles an hour down London city graded in Dolby Cinema EDR, he reveals.
moved to the U.K. for additional aerial and streets. But once we got out into the coun- The DI opened up a lot of creative ideas for
visual-effects shoots, Technicolor London tryside, we did an aerial-unit shoot over them. I think they really enjoyed the ability
adapted the dailies-grading workflow to northern England and Scotland and to put additional finessing into the shots
[FilmLights] Baselight. captured things that would be used for and take them to another level.
The BFG was shot primarily at background plates. We werent sure how the story was
Mammoth Studios in Vancouver, Canada, Sophie and BFG travel to Dream going to translate from the book, Letteri
with additional location work done in Country by trekking up a mountain to a confesses, but the more we saw Mark and
England and Scotland. The movie is book- tree, whose reflection in an adjacent lake Ruby working together, and the more we
ended by sequences captured on mostly reveals an alternate plane abuzz with lumi- saw that relationship between BFG and
live-action sets, including Sophies orphan- nous dreams, like so many super-sized, Sophie start to work on the screen, the
age and Buckingham Palace. The bulk of multicolored fireflies. The two friends leap easier it became for us to add in additional
the remainder was captured in entirely into the water and emerge on the other qualities. We added warmth into the envi-
virtual environments, including Giant Coun- side, where the reflection is now their real- ronment, and used the idea of dreams as
try and Dream Country. ity. There are so many wonderful light sources to give us color and magic.
The orphanage was basically a full sequences in this film that were a real joy for Steven always puts tons of depth
practical set with extensions, explains me to grade, Hatzer enthuses. I love the and complexity into his movies, observes
visual-effects supervisor Guy Williams, who transition from the rain sequence [in Giant Williams. He and Janusz really loved this
supervised Wetas visual-effects efforts Country], through BFGs ascent into the project and wanted to do the best job they
during production and post. One interest- clouds, and into the fantastical world of could. I was constantly blown away by the
ing aspect was our virtual-cam tent, which Dream Country. way people were crafting this movie, and it
had all the previs tools and a virtual version After bottling up a few selected was amazing to watch them really swing for
of the set. Steven and Janusz could go dreams, Sophie and BFG hatch a plan to use the fences. We were able to get such
inside and use a virtual camera to decide if their procurements to enlist the queens genuine and beautiful performances
they wanted to change an angle or a shot. help. Successfully securing an audience with while really striving to make not just another
Steven really enjoyed working with the the monarch, the unlikely pair is given the kids movie, but a great movie.
handheld unit, which had a small screen royal treatment at the palace. One of my
along with two 55-inch monitors at either other favorite scenes is with the queen in
end of the v-cam table. You hold it like a the ballroom, where BFG is having break-
camera and it behaves like one, but it only fast, says Hatzer. You see BFG walking to
weighs a few pounds. So Steven could plan his table and the light is streaming in. We

Filmmakers Forum
A behind-the-
scenes shot from
the making of
Life, on which
cinematographer
David Stump,
ASC put the
pioneering light-
field capture
system Lytro
Cinema through
its paces.
I Seeing the Light in Life

By David Stump, ASC
boy and girl as they traverse from youth to old age. It was the first
use of the system on a production set and that along with a tight
deadline for our NAB premiere contributed to making Life a brave
Light-field capture, or computational imaging, has been and exciting endeavor.
hailed by many as the future of filmmaking. While we are admittedly We knew going in that we needed to present Lytro Cinema
still in the early stages, the technology itself promises to deliver new as a practical, production-friendly solution, with images that could
opportunities in the way we capture images. I recently had the intercut seamlessly with conventional footage, so we decided to
opportunity to serve as director of photography on Life, the first short capture half of the shots on the Arri Alexa SXT. I want to relay a big
film captured with Lytro Cinema a pioneering light-field capture thank-you to Arri for supporting the project and providing us with
system that was introduced at NAB this year. This article relays my production gear.
experience on the project, shot for director Robert Stromberg, and Though it will get there very soon, the Lytro camera is not yet
serves as an introduction to light-field cinematography for readers optimal for shooting an entire show or feature, due to the amount
who may not be familiar with the concept. of data and the current size of the camera in its first-generation
state. In its present incarnation the camera is best used for shots that
Preparing for Life are visual-effects oriented or otherwise impossible to capture tradi-
As the chair of the Camera subcommittee for the ASC, and tionally.
as a matter of personal interest, Im often asked to evaluate new
prototype technologies. When Lytro reached out to Robert and the Light Field
Virtual Reality Company production studio to assemble Life, I was I have been following the development of light-field capture
Images courtesy of Lytro.
asked to be the cinematographer, both through my ASC affiliations and plenoptics since the first research papers on the topic came out
and as the chief imaging scientist at VRC. of Stanford University. There are different approaches to light-field
The concept for Life was developed and designed by Robert, capture, but the fundamental principles are generally the same. A
and the shots were defined in collaboration with Jeff Barnes, Lytros light field is a collection of rays of light that reflect off of objects,
executive director of studio productions, to showcase the capabilities generally defined by whatever is in ones view. We interpret these
of the technology. The short is a visual poem that tells the story of a rays from the points of view of our eyes, which help our brain

perceive an objects position in the world. If
you then think about a light field in terms of
camera capture, traditional cameras capture
an image from a single lens, and stereo
cameras from two lenses; in the case of
Lytro Cinema, however, light can be
captured from multiple vantage points, as if
there were an array of hundreds of thou-
sands of cameras standing side by side,
perfectly synced to capture a scene. Lytro
has developed several technologies that
enable this type of capture, along with soft-
ware that interprets the light field by
computing the angles of the rays arriving at
the sensors.
Light-field capture in the Lytro
Cinema system is made possible through
the use of a micro-lens array, which is the
equivalent of millions of lenses that are built
at the wafer scale and inserted between the
main camera lens and the camera sensor.
The micro-lens array takes the light within a
scene and breaks it apart into the color,
intensity and direction of the rays, which are
captured by a collection of pixels under each
micro lens, on the sensor. It takes a bit to
digest all of this and without getting too
deep into the weeds, I would recommend
watching some of the detailed video
presentations, easily searchable online,
given by Lytros head of light-field video, Jon
These before (top) and after (bottom) images illustrate the light-field systems ability to pull
Karafin. depth mattes for background replacement without the use of blue- or greenscreen or the need
The magic behind Lytro Cinema lies for rotoscoping.
in the fact that each captured pixel has color
properties, directional properties and a on set. We also had to take into considera- Cinema was designed to be sensitive to the
calculated awareness of its exact placement tion the parameters of shooting at very high standard workflow of traditional cine-
in space. As the process produces a lot of frame rates, with a fixed T-stop lens at the matography. In addition to capturing the
data, Lytro Cinema isnt just a camera; its an sensors native ISO, which was around 200. light-field data comprised of 755 raw
end-to-end solution. The workflow includes Given these circumstances, Cowboy and I megapixels with 16 stops of dynamic range
a camera, a server for storing and process- went to Mole-Richardson to speak with we took advantage of the cameras abil-
ing light fields, and software plug-ins that honorary ASC member Larry Mole Parker, in ity to capture QuickTime ProRes, which
work hand-in-hand with off-the-shelf order to spec out lamps that would give us allowed us to review files on-set, immedi-
production solutions. the horsepower to create beams and shafts ately after the take. Because the metadata
Since we were going to be working of light within smoke at the illumination in the light field is tied directly to the infor-
with an alpha camera, my gaffer, Craig levels we would need for a successful shoot. mation in the preview capture, we could
Cowboy Aines, and I flew up to the Lytro One of my early mentors, Phil Lath- make on-set decisions which got baked
headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., early rop, ASC who shot The Pink Panther and into the metadata of the file system just
on to get a feel for the system and gauge the Peter Gunn television series using very like you would on a traditional shoot, and
our cabling and lighting needs. The camera high key-light levels taught me how to then see those versions in the real-time
has a variable length extending from about control big lighting units and how to use preview. Those files were then uploaded to
6'-11', depending on framing and refocus- hard light. It was very rewarding to draw on our editor, Damien Acker, based at the Third
ing range. The unit had substantial weight, his mentorship as part of this project. Floor, who began cutting while we were still
so from a planning perspective we needed on set.
to be adequately prepared for the mechan- Set Life As a cinematographer, there really
ics of moving, panning, tilting and dollying The experience on set with Lytro wasnt much about the Lytro Cinema work-

flow that was any different to me than a
typical shoot; the Lytro on-set support team
made the amount of data flowing through
our project mostly invisible to me. Their
solution includes a drive array, and because
captured data moved through a 100-meter
cable, there was effectively no restriction as
far as the fiber tethering of the camera to
the drive, and the servers could be placed
anywhere for sound considerations. The
camera specs out at up to 300 fps, but for
this project we did most of the shots
between 24 and 120 fps, which still offered
us the ability to manipulate all of the
aspects of the image that make this camera
unique. At 755 megapixels, the files
coming off of the camera contain a dense
amount of data, but the end goal for Lytro
Cinema is that all of these files will be
stored and processed in the cloud.
There were many remarkable scenes
throughout the shoot, but there are a
handful that would have been impossible
to achieve with any other camera. One was
the wedding scene, where the couple is
standing at the altar in front of a preacher.
Theyre on a little walkway with an arch of
flowers behind them, and we shot this on a
bare stage, with grips walking behind the
actors while camera rolled, rather than
incorporating a blue- or greenscreen. Tradi-
tionally, that would have been very difficult
to shoot and pull mattes from, because
there is fine detail in the foliage and the
young womans hair, and we had reflective
Mylar confetti flying through the air in front
of the couple. From the light-field data, we
were able to use depth extractions to create
mattes for the couple, and composited
them into the final matte-painting environ-
ment. To be able to pull a matte from depth
alone and selectively include or remove
objects in a scene based on their depth
value was truly empowering.
Another scene that confounds film-
makers is at the start of the short, when the
boy is playing baseball with an impossibly
shallow depth of field in this case f.5.
This scene demonstrates how Lytro Cinema
enables you to select what you want in
focus in a scene, and then change the aper-
ture of that focal plane to any desired f-
Top and middle: Cast and crew work onstage with the Lytro Cinema system. Bottom: Stump (left) adjusts
stop.
the frame as director Robert Stromberg (right) watches the monitor.

Seeing the Light in Post
Nuke Studio was used as the
primary creative software framework on
the post side, together with custom
computational plug-ins developed by Lytro
for depth keying and image processing. The
frames captured on set go through a
processing system that turns them into
light-field EXR files with embedded meta-
data to match the decisions made on set. In
the case of Life, one of our first steps in post
was to sit in on a light-field editorial session
to experiment with different possibilities
with depth of field and focus expanding
on the initial determinations made on set
with the help of preview files, and in the
initial edit.
Robert and I came out of this six-
hour session with our final EDL, or light-
field decision list (LDL). When you retain the
Z-depth information of everything in a
scene and dont have to fully commit to
what was captured on set, it gives you the
ultimate creative flexibility to hone a shot
exactly the way you envision. Looking
toward the future of cinematography, these
are going to become very powerful tools.
That being said, it is still essential to retain
the original creative vision of the director
and the intended look established by the
director of photography in any production.
In the case of light-field capture or any
project for that matter it is important for
the cinematographer and director to over- Top: Lytro Cinema allows the cinematographer to select what is in focus and change the f-stop of that
see the phases of postproduction that build focal plane. For this shot, Stump opted for an impossibly shallow f.5. Bottom: Stump checks the
on look development. monitor for a different setup.
The visual-effects artists found the
ability to derive an alpha matte solely based to produce highly complex sequences Cinema affords is remarkable. It will give us
on depth, and to separate objects without that otherwise would have required the ability to generate 3D movies from a
having to deal with any green- or blue- substantial visual-effects man hours in single camera, with left- and right-eye
screen spill, to be revolutionary. Once record time. points of view from the same lens; to derive
completed, the visual effects were dropped depth information to generate 3D in-
into scenes, and the plates and visual Why Light Field Matters camera far more accurately; and to pull
effects were then rendered as traditional Over the years, Ive given a lot of mattes without a greenscreen. All of these
flattened 2D files to move into our DI consideration to what we would be able to creative capabilities, along with the many
session, which took place at Technicolor do when this technology finally arrives in a tricks with focus that can be done in post
with colorist Jason Fabbro. The DI session usable state, and what the most exciting using synthetic depth of field, introduce so
moved very quickly because the material part of this adventure would be for me. The many new possibilities to filmmaking.
was in such great shape. At that point, only notion of being able to derive depth data Its still early days for Lytro Cinema,
minimal refinement was necessary. for every pixel on a camera image is incred- but the technology is advancing rapidly,
All in all, we had a little over two ibly exciting. and Im looking forward to bringing it into
months from beginning to end to complete In addition to shooting movies, Im a studio feature or episodic project soon.
Life. In that brief period, we were able to integrally involved in the visual-effects and
produce a piece that showcases why light- 3D arenas, and the possibilities of what you
field capture is the wave of the future, and can do with the depth data that Lytro

New Products & Services
SUBMISSION INFORMATION
Please e-mail New Products/Services releases to
newproducts@ascmag.com and include full contact
information and product images. Photos must be
TIFF or JPEG files of at least 300dpi.
features include: perspective operator, perspective tracking, grid

warper, dedicated keyer, paint tool, relight tool and Matchbox
shader.
Baselight 5.0 further streamlines workflows by introducing a
new approach to remote grading, whereby Baselight workstations
in different locations can collaborate. Facilities and freelancers at
remote sites can now browse any scene on their own or be locked
to the master suite and follow a grading session live. The remote
colorist can take over and suggest changes, which will be instantly
reflected on the other systems.
FilmLight has also introduced Prelight, a freely licensed Mac
OS X application designed to help cinematographers and other
FilmLight Upgrades Baselight professionals to author and review looks in preproduction and on
FilmLight has introduced Baselight 5.0, the latest version of set. Prelights simple-to-operate interface makes it easy to check
its flagship color-finishing system. Baselight 5.0 introduces a host of how shots appear with looks or LUTs applied, and to import or add
high-tech features and creative tools. grading decisions that can be passed downstream. Images can be
The most notable new concept is Base Grade. To give imported from almost any camera, and graded references can be
colorists instinctual access to subtle grading, this creative tool moves exported in almost any format.
away from the traditional lift-gamma-gain approach in favor of The creative team can enhance the grade with simple but
controls that accurately mimic the way the eye appreciates color: via familiar tools to create new reference stills as well as 3D LUTs or
exposure, temperature and balance. Baselight 5.0 provides added Baselight Linked Grade files. With the render-free BLG workflow, the
HDR capabilities through color-space families which simplify grades are non-destructive; additional BLG metadata is created and
the deliverables process for distinct viewing environments such as attached to the stills. The free license for Baselight for Avid or Nuke,
television, 4K projection and handheld devices and gamut opti- which makes it free to read and render BLG files, makes this work-
mization to provide natural gamut-mapping deliverables and avoid flow available to productions on any budget. An extended license
clipping when captured colors cant be displayed on a cinema or can be purchased so that when these files arrive in the Baselight
television screen. post house, or on a Daylight system for near-set dailies, the meta-
Baselight 5.0 boasts several tools that are tailored to give data is attached automatically and the BLG file becomes the basis of
colorists more creative control and reduce the time and energy spent the grade, which can then be refined right up to the moment the
on back-and-forth with other effects and finishing systems. These deliverables are created. The additional license also includes
enhanced logging and monitoring capabilities.
Prelight complements the FilmLight products Flip and
Daylight, which already provide full on-set and near-set
grading capabilities. Prelight can also fit into any postpro-
duction workflow because of the ability to export standard
ASC CDL lists and third-party formatted 3D LUTs. For real-
time viewing, Prelight can interface with the majority of
professional LUT boxes or monitors.
Additionally, FilmLight has announced a new collabo-
ration with Avid that will see both companies introduce a
new Professional Color bundle for editors. The Professional
Color bundle brings together Baselight for Avid with Avid
Media Composer in one single package, making it even
easier for editors to increase their finishing capabilities
directly within their NLE system.
For additional information, visit www.filmlight.ltd.uk.

spaces and pairs well with Blackmagic and a four-pin XLR power connector. It also
Designs Micro Cinema camera and has 3G-SDI, component, composite, and
GoPro cameras, as well as gimbals. HDMI inputs and outputs. This on-camera
Building on the popular DH5 moni- monitor works well with cameras such as
tor, the DH5e is a 5" field monitor that Sonys FS7.
boasts a full-HD panel with 1920x1080 Ikan has also announced that it is
pixels and 4K support. The DH5e has now the exclusive distributor in North and
touch-screen capabilities including South America (excluding Canada) for the
pinch-to-zoom. This lightweight on- entire line of broadcast, field, high-bright-
camera monitor is ideally suited for ness and recordable monitors, as well as
gimbal operators or anyone using 4K other video accessories, from South Korean
cameras such as the Sony a7S. manufacturer Bon. The current Bon product
Sony Unveils 55" 4K OLED lineup includes 10-bit processing monitors
Sony has introduced the PVM-X550 (the BEM and BSM Series), 12-bit process-
55" Trimaster 4K OLED monitor. The quad- ing monitors (BXM Series) and premium
view monitor allows customized individual OLED reference monitors (TXM Series). The
display settings across four distinct views in companys Postium Rackmount Monitors
HD. will also be available with features such as
The PVM-X550 is equipped with the waveform, vectorscope, time code and
same signal-processing engine as Sonys audio meters.
BVM-X300, providing a 12-bit output signal For additional information, visit
for picture accuracy and consistency. It also www.ikancorp.com.
supports industry-standard color spaces,
including the wider ITU-R BT.2020 for Ultra Atto Builds ThunderLink
High Definition. These all work in tandem The 7" VXF7 monitor is the latest Atto Technology, Inc. a global
with Sonys Trimaster EL technology. update to Ikans VX series. The VXF7 has a provider of storage, network connectivity
As demand grows for 4K and High full-HD plus IPS panel (1920x1200 pixels), and infrastructure solutions for data-inten-
Dynamic Range content, production teams 4K support and an SDI-to-HDMI converter. sive computing environments has
and their clients need more tools for evalu- Designed to function more like a standard unveiled its Gen 6 Fibre Channel product
ating video, says ASC associate Gary production monitor, the VXF7 has easy-to- portfolio. The Gen 6 line includes Celerity
Mandle, senior product manager for Sony access knobs, professional BNC connectors, 32Gb and 16Gb Host Bus Adapters (HBAs),
Electronics. This new monitor delivers
quad-viewing flexibility in a size that meets
the need for larger, more detailed monitors
in postproduction suites.
The PVM-X550 supports HDR
through Electro-Optical Transfer Functions
(EOTF), such as S-Log3, SMPTE ST.2084 and
Hybrid Log-Gamma, covering applications
for both cinema and broadcast. The PVM-
X550s narrow bezel, lightweight design
and off-axis viewing performance make it SGO Partners With AJA formats such as 4K 3D dual-link, even at
suited to wall mounting, a benefit in live- Software developer SGO and hard- frame rates up to 60p.
production environments where space is ware developer AJA Video Systems have AJAs Kona capture, display and
often at a premium. announced a dynamic integration partner- mastering products for SD, HD, 3G, Dual
For additional information, visit ship. Mistika, SGOs flagship color-grading Link HD, 2K and 4K are a perfect match
www.sony.com/monitors. and finishing system, is now fully compati- with Mistika, which provides a complete
ble with AJAs line of Kona and Corvid postproduction feature set. Stereo 3D
Ikan Expands Monitor Offerings video-capture and playback cards, resulting output in 4K using the Corvid 88 I/O card is
Ikan has introduced a line of 4K- in optimized video output. The alliance already available, along with viable future
compatible on-camera monitors: the VL35, provides customers with high-quality deliv- 8K capabilities for Mistika Ultima 8K
the DH5e and the VXF7. ery outcomes and finely tuned feature sets systems.
The VL35 is a lightweight and to further enhance workflows. The combi- For additional information, visit
compact on-camera field monitor. With a nation of the new Mistika version with the www.sgo.es and www.aja.com.
3.5" screen, the VL35 works well in tight AJA hardware boosts support for video

Assimilate Supports ProRes, VR it. The VR content, including metadata, is
Assimilate has added support in its automatically formatted for 360-degree
Scratch postproduction tools and workflow video-headsets, such as Google Cardboard
for encoding and decoding using the Apple or Samsung GearVR. The reviewer can then
ProRes 4:4:4:4 XQ codec, which is the high- make notes and comments on the mobile
est-quality version of the ProRes codec for device to send back to the sender.
4:4:4:4 image sources, including alpha For additional information, visit
channels. This format has a very high data www.assimilateinc.com.
both in low-profile single- and dual-port rate to preserve the detail in HDR imagery
versions. Both the 32Gb and 16Gb versions generated by todays highest-quality digital Divergent Media
are backward-compatible and take full image sensors. Integrates ScopeBox
advantage of advancements for reliability Divergent Media has launched a new
and forward error correction. version of its EditReady digital-media prep,
Attos additions to its Fibre Channel monitor and delivery software for DITs and
portfolio will enable companies to capitalize editors. With this new version, EditReady
on their existing SAN infrastructure and now integrates Divergent Medias ScopeBox
address the growing need for high-perform- software, providing users with a single work-
ing, scalable and secure storage to support flow to quickly and easily get footage from
exponential data growth from applications the camera to the editor, regardless of
such as 4K/8K editing and high-perfor- camera or file format.
mance computing and data warehousing, With support for all popular camera
along with the proliferation of virtualized and editing formats, EditReady converts
servers and flash arrays. media for immediate preview and playback,
Complementing the new HBAs are and lets users apply LUTs for color correction,
Attos FibreBridge 7500 and 6500 Storage Assimilate has also expanded its view and edit metadata, easily convert
Controllers and Thunderbolt enabled Scratch Web cloud-platform capabilities to between DNxHD and ProRes, and run simul-
devices, which connect mobile computer offer a professional, Web-based dailies and taneous batches, allowing them to generate
platforms to high-speed networks and stor- review tool for reviewing headset-based VR proxy media or convert footage from differ-
age infrastructures. On the Thunderbolt content anywhere in the world. Once users ent cameras. With ScopeBox integration,
front, the company has introduced a line of launch the Scratch Web review link for the users have dedicated, full-time scopes with-
Thunderbolt 3 to 40GbE devices. These VR content, they can play back VR imagery, out the need for external hardware.
ThunderLink devices the ThunderLink pan around imagery or create a magic Divergent Media has also partnered
3402 dual 40Gb/s Thunderbolt to dual window so that they can move a smart with Pomfort to integrate ScopeBox with the
40GbE and ThunderLink 3401 dual 40Gb/s phone around, similar to looking through a latest version (5.1) of Silverstack XT,
Thunderbolt to single 40GbE feature window at the 360-degree content behind Pomforts signature media-management
USB-C connectors, allowing greater flexibil-
ity when connecting to any Thunderbolt 3-
enabled Windows platform. With protocol
speeds of 40Gbs, users can expect read and
write speeds capable of handling demand-
ing bandwidth-intensive applications.
ThunderLink products help content
creators increase productivity and decrease
costs while incorporating a seamless work-
flow process, utilizing next-generation
workstations and workbooks to ingest and Drylab Views Dailies on frames with Apple Pencil or simply a
edit 4K video whether in the field or in the Drylab R&D has introduced Dailies finger. Other improved features include
edit bay. Attos ThunderLink components Viewer 2.7, which now runs on all iOS larger thumbnails, keyboard shortcuts and
also feature exclusive Advanced Data devices, from the smallest iPhones up to the improved streaming.
Streaming technology, enabling consistent 12.9" iPad Pro. Dailies Viewer multitasks in Dailies Viewer 2.7 is available in
bandwidth and controlled acceleration of split-screen mode on iPad and iPhone 6/6s Apples App Store and is free to download.
data transfers. Plus, so the application can be open along- For additional information, visit
For additional information, visit side a script, for example. Users can www.drylab.no.
www.attotech.com. comment on takes, and draw and annotate

software. With the integration of the Scope- HDR and SDR.
Box application, Silverstack XT now offers a Dead-pixel detection, included in all
variety of software emulations of video Cortex editions, quickly alerts production
scopes, including waveform and when a camera sensor has a fault. Dead-
vectorscope, plus new ways to visualize pixel correction, a feature of Cortex Enter-
video signals. prise, automatically finds and repairs dead
For additional information, visit pixels in edit masters and camera clips. Addi-
www.divergentmedia.com and tionally, with MTI HQ or MTI-Samsung
www.pomfort.com. UpRes, users can resize files up or down,
including taking HD source files up to 4K.
MTI Film Enhances Cortex The latest version of Cortex also
MTI Film has unveiled the latest features an improved Project Manager with
version of Cortex, the companys dailies and a global search tool so users can easily find
media-management software. Conceived and consolidate clips from different shoot
as a streamlined dailies-processing applica- days for revision and re-delivery to the edit-
tion, Cortex has developed into an end-to- ing room. Cortexs new Edit feature can be
end solution for managing media from the used to create custom compositions on a
set through delivery. timeline. Color can be generated and
Cortex can now create IMF delivery applied via LUTs, CDLs, stills and supported
packages for Netflix, Sony and other distrib- tactile panels; Cortex is ASC-compliant with
utors, as well as AS02 packages for HBO. full ACES support.
Cortex also outputs HDR video and controls For additional information, visit
the Dolby Color Management Unit hard- www.mtifilm.com.
ware; the HDR metadata can be edited and
delivered while simultaneously monitoring
81
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84
Clubhouse News
recently joined fellow cinematographer matographers moderated by George
Maryse Alberti in an educational program Spiro Dibie, ASC. A number of other Soci-
titled Women Behind the Lens. Presented ety members participated in activities
as part of the Los Angeles Film Festival, the throughout the expo, including Amy
panel was held at the ArcLight Cinema in Vincent and Bruce Logan, who were
Culver City and moderated by cinematogra- among the judges for Cine Gears film
pher Patti Lee. After a quick screening of competitions.
clips from each participants body of work, Marking the end of the expo, the
the discussion covered how each became ASC hosted its annual barbecue spon-
interested in cinematography and got sored by the Sim Group at its Clubhouse
started in their careers, on-set experiences in in Hollywood.
a male-dominated industry, and advice for
aspiring female cinematographers. The
panel was preceded by a brunch celebrating
the contributions of these esteemed cine-
ASC President Kees van Oostrum. matographers; during the gathering, held at
the Culver Hotel, Alberti was presented with
ASC Elects Officers, Board the Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Film-
Kees van Oostrum has been elected maker Award.
ASC president for the 2016-17 term. The other During the L.A. Film Festival Filmmak-
officers are Vice Presidents Bill Bennett, ers Retreat in Palm Springs, Michael Goi,
Lowell Peterson and Dean Cundey; Treasurer ASC participated in a discussion about
Levie Isaacks; Secretary Frederic Goodich; shooting film. In conversation with film critic
Photo of Kees van Oostrum by Gunther Campine. Photo of Robert S. Birchard by Lucinda Lewis.
and Sergeant-at-Arms Roberto Schaefer. Elvis Mitchell, Goi discussed the art and
Also elected to the Board of Governors science of cinematography, giving the audi- In Memoriam: Robert S. Birchard,
were John Bailey, Bennett, Curtis Clark, ence a behind-the-scenes look at the making 1950-2016
Photo of Clubhouse by Isidore Mankofsky, ASC; lighting by Donald M. Morgan, ASC.

Richard Crudo, Fred Elmes, Michael Goi, of American Horror Story: Hotel and sharing Animation editor, film historian and
Victor J. Kemper, Stephen Lighthill, Daryn how-to insights on films ability to create longtime AC contributor Robert S. Brichard
Okada, Woody Omens, Robert Primes, moods and effects. Goi also reminded the died on May 30. He was 66.
Cynthia Pusheck, Owen Roizman, John audience of the archival power of film. A Los Angeles native, Birchard
Simmons and van Oostrum. The alternates are worked in production as a sound editor,
Schaefer, Mandy Walker, Karl Walter ASC at Cine Gear Expo animation editor and postproduction super-
Lindenlaub, Oliver Bokelberg and Cundey. Cine Gear Expo recently wrapped its visor. His credits include the popular series
It is our task as an organization to 2016 edition at Paramount Studios in Holly- DuckTales and Adventures of the Gummi
educate the industry on the value of the cine- wood. On the first day of the event, Cine Bears; the feature FernGully: The Last Rain-
matographer as authors of the images, to be Gear presented its Cinematography Lifetime forest; and the video releases The Return of
involved in advancing imaging technology, and Achievement Award to Vittorio Storaro, Jafar and 101 Dalmatians 2: Patchs London
most importantly, to promote our artistry, says ASC, AIC; Storaro was also in attendance for Adventure. As a historian, he contributed to
van Oostrum. Im honored to be selected a screening of Caf Society and participated numerous publications and authored books
along with these officers to lead my peers and in a discussion moderated by Jon Fauer, including Cecil B. DeMilles Hollywood,
colleagues into new visual frontiers, and ASC. Silent-Era Filmmaking in Santa Barbara and
continue the educational mission of the organi- The following day, ASC members Bill King Cowboy: Tom Mix and the Movies.
zation. Bennett, Dean Cundey, Michael Goi, Birchard also served as president of
David Klein, Charles Minsky, Donald A. the Cinecon Classic Film Festival, the 52nd
Members Participate in Morgan, Guillermo Navarro, James edition of which is scheduled for Sept. 1-5 in
L.A. Film Fest Neihouse, Daniel Pearl, David Perkal, Hollywood and will be dedicated to his
ASC members Joan Churchill, Amy Cynthia Pusheck and Lisa Wiegand memory.
Vincent, Tami Reiker and Mandy Walker participated in a Dialogue With ASC Cine-

Close-up Lisa Wiegand, ASC
When you were a child, what film made the strongest impression Have you made any memorable blunders?
on you? No way. Why what have you heard? J.K. Most of my blunders have
A Clockwork Orange and Alien. I was way too young and they are deeply been political, and those are way worse than any technical F-up.
burned into my memory cells.
What is the best professional advice youve ever received?
Which cinematographers, past or present, do you most admire? My agent, Charles Lenhoff, gives me pep talks before job interviews.
Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC classic and undeniable! Peter Deming, ASC Early on he said, Tell them you want the gig. I thought he was nuts! I
dark and surreal! Robby Mller, NSC, BVK fearless innovation! assumed, If Im interviewing, obviously I want the job. Im still amazed
Rachel Morrison (future ASC?) brave and political, shes an inspiration! that when I say it, it works. In a couple instances, after the interview,
the producers thanked me for telling them,
What sparked your interest in photography? because apparently they often cant tell if their
My dad taught photography, so we had cameras cinematographer candidates are actually inter-
and a fridge full of film. When I was 7 years old, I ested.
wanted to be a Pet Photographer my young brain
assumed that was a thing. I traveled my neighbor- What recent books, films or artworks have
hood snapping pictures of pets and delivered the inspired you?
prints to the owners. Never charged didnt under- Im a TV junkie. Lately, Im hooked on The People
stand that part of the biz. v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, The 100
and The Last Man on Earth. Also: I was inspired by
Where did you train and/or study? the VR projects at Sundance 2016. I spent three
I attended a record-breaking nine years of film days at the VR exhibit, and now Im addicted.
school. Undergrad at Wayne State U. in Detroit. Music also gets me jazzed up; currently Im into Kid
Graduate school at both UCLA and AFI. Then, Cudi, Kate Tempest, Torres and Femi Jaye. Im read-
around the turn of the century, I taught cinematog- ing The Spitboy Rule: Tales of a Xicana in a Female
raphy at UCLA, LMU and AFI. Punk Band, by Michelle Cruz Gonzales. Her decisions are inspirational
because of her strength and purity of cause.
Who were your early teachers or mentors?
Johnny Simmons, ASC; Tom Denove; [ASC associate] Bill McDonald; Do you have any favorite genres, or genres you would like to
Gyula Gazdag; Bill Dill, ASC; Steven Poster, ASC; Stephen Lighthill, ASC; try?
Laszlo Kovacs, ASC; and Rodney Charters, ASC, CSC. Ive had a lot of My all-time fave is post-apocalyptic sci-fi. But I enjoy variety in my work.
support from many generous filmmakers. I hope I can do enough in this For instance, Im happy that I got to shoot the socially controversial
life to pay it forward. American Crime with John Ridley. Its invigorating to work on projects
that open minds and introduce marginalized perspectives.
What are some of your key artistic influences?
Growing up, I spent many hours at the Detroit Institute of Arts. For me, If you werent a cinematographer, what might you be doing
art museums are like churches. Impactful art makes me feel connected to instead?
humanity in a way nothing else can. My fallback has always been mortician.
How did you get your first break in the business? Which ASC cinematographers recommended you for member-
My career has been a long path of baby steps. Ive felt fortunate at every ship?
stage of the game, and it just keeps getting better. There have literally Steven Poster, Stephen Lighthill, Johnny Simmons. Ive known them for
been times at work when Ive pinched myself to make sure I wasnt decades and they have each been wonderfully supportive. Having
Photo by Janna Coumoundouros.
dreaming. I love being a cinematographer, and Im glad I put all my eggs them as sponsors makes my heart-light glow.
in this basket!
How has ASC membership impacted your life and career?
What has been your most satisfying moment on a project? Its another thing I constantly pinch myself about. It seems like just
Being the first cinematographer to shoot a scripted series in my home- yesterday I was a 15-year-old girl hiding out in her room, reading Amer-
town of Detroit was surreal and deeply meaningful. I wish my grandpar- ican Cinematographer and discovering her heroes.
ents were alive to visit the set. They were diehard Detroiters and would
have been so thrilled.

American Cinematographer - Vol. 97 No. 08 (Aug 2016)

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American Cinematographer - Vol. 97 No. 08 (Aug 2016)

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AU G U S T 2 0 1 6

An International Publication of the ASC

An International Publication of the ASC

INSIDE THE 2016 INTERNATIONAL CINEMATOGRAPHY SUMMIT

The Future of the Cinematographer

CINEMATOGRAPHERS WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE ICS INCLUDED:

Visit us online at www.theasc.com

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF and PUBLISHER

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Hell or High Water photos by Lorey Sebastian, courtesy of CBS Films.

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range that covers almost all requirements,

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as Bridges walks away from Pine

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The Infiltrator photos by Liam Daniel, courtesy of Broad Green Pictures.

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of Star Trek was a bit different for this

Specifically addressing the outer-

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coming up with solutions.

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A t press time, Star Trek Beyond

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Ultra Prime 8R, for ultra-wide shots.

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did move were just on and had no

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social realism, natural ways of

capturing things, simplicity of style,

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W ith their dim ambi-

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Vegas car chase, up to 28 camera bodies

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trumpet: Ive got my thumb on the iris,

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Conversely, he continues, a night needed, the production used the LRX

Cinematographer Larkin Seiple infuses

deserted island and

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fit into narrow ravines and riverbeds.

jib in front and from behind to get those

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Right: Hank and

with sun coming in from the left, and

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revealed in his makeshift Sarah outfit