06/07 ISSUE 4
VisionARRI
The Biannual International Magazine from the ARRI RENTAL & POST PRODUCTION ENTERPRISES
MR BEAN’S HOLIDAY An Englishman abroad – interview with DoP Baz Irvine
It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll Five days, eighteen cameras and the Rolling Stones
The Company
ARRIFLEX D-20 shoots Cold War miniseries for Sony Pictures TV
The Yodelling Woodchuck
ARRI Film & TV create McDonald’s viral
Battle In Seattle
Barry Ackroyd BSC discusses shooting with the ARRIFLEX 416
THE WORLD JUST GOT SMALLER ARRI SUBSIDIARIES AUSTRALIA ARRI Australia, Sydney Cameras, Digital Christian Hilgart, Stefan Sedlmeier T +61 2 9855 4300 chilgart@arri.com.au ssedlmeier@arri.com.au AUSTRIA ARRI Rental Vienna Cameras, Digital Gerhard Giesser T +43 664 120 7257 rental@arri.at CZECH REPUBLIC ARRI Rental Prague Cameras, Digital, Lighting, Grip Robert Keil T +42 023 431 3012 rkeil@arri.de GERMANY ARRI Rental Berlin Cameras, Digital, Lighting, Grip Fritz Sammer T +49 30 34680024 fsammer@arri.de ARRI Rental Cologne Cameras, Digital Stefan Martini T +49 221 170 6724 smartini@arri.de ARRI Rental Munich Cameras, Digital, Lighting, Grip Thomas Loher T +49 89 3809 1440 tloher@arri.de ARRI Film & TV Services, Munich Film Lab, Digital Intermediate Visual Effects, Sound, Studio, Cinema International Sales Angela Reedwisch T +49 89 3809 1574 areedwisch@arri.de National Sales Walter Brus T +49 89 3809 1772 wbrus@arri.de Schwarz Film Berlin Postproduction GmbH Film Lab, Digital Intermediate Thomas Mulack T +49 30 887 08 504 thomas@schwarzfilm.de Schwarz Film GmbH Ludwigsburg Film Lab, Digital Intermediate Jeanette Jaussi T +49 7141 125 590 jeanette@schwarzfilm.ch
ARRI PARTNERS & ASSOCIATES LUXEMBOURG ARRI Rental Luxembourg Cameras, Digital Steffen Ditter T +352 2670 1270 sditter@arri.de SWITZERLAND Schwarz Film AG, Ostermundigen, Zürich Film Lab, Digital Intermediate Philipp Tschäppät T +41 31 938 11 50 philipp@schwarzfilm.ch UNITED KINGDOM ARRI Lighting Rental, London Lighting Tommy Moran T +44 1895 457 200 tmoran@arrirental.com ARRI Focus, London Short term lighting hire for commercials & promos Martin Maund, George Martin T +44 1895 810 000 martin@arrifocus.com george@arrifocus.com ARRI Media, London Cameras, Digital, Grip Philip Cooper T +44 1895 457 100 pcooper@arrimedia.com ARRI Crew, London Diary Service Kate Collier T +44 1895 457 100 arricrew@arrimedia.com USA ARRI CSC, New York Cameras, Digital, Lighting, Grip Simon Broad, Hardwrick Johnson T +1 212 757 0906 sbroad@cameraservice.com hjohnson@cameraservice.com ARRI CSC, Florida Cameras, Digital, Lighting, Grip Ed Stamm T +1 954 322 4545 estamm@cameraservice.com
BULGARIA Boyana Film Studios, Sofia Cameras, Lighting, Grip Lazar Lazarov T +359 2958 2713 director@boyanafilm.bg
ROMANIA Panalight Studio, Bucharest Cameras, Lighting, Grip Diana Apostol T +40 21 5291650 office@panalight.ro
CYPRUS Seahorse Films, Nicosia, Paphos Cameras, Digital, Lighting, Grip, Studio Andros Achilleos T +357 9967 5013 andros@seahorsefilms.com
RUSSIA ACT Film Facilities Agency, St. Petersburg Cameras, Lighting, Grip Sergei Astakhov T +7 812 710 2080 act@actfilm.ru
FRANCE Bogard, Paris Cameras, Digital, Grip Didier Bogard, Alain Grellier T +33 1 49 33 16 35 didier@bogard.fr alain.grellier@bogard.fr GERMANY Maddel’s Camera GmbH, Hamburg Cameras, Grip Matthias Neumann T +49 40 66 86 390 maddel@maddels.com HUNGARY VisionTeam, Budapest Cameras, Lighting, Grip Gabor Rajna T +36 1 433 3911 info@visionteam.hu ICELAND Pegasus Pictures, Reykjavik Cameras, Lighting, Grip Snorri Thorisson T +354 414 2000 snorri@pegasus.is IRELAND The Production Depot, Co Wicklow Cameras, Lighting, Grip John Leahy, Dave Leahy T +353 1 276 4840 john@production-depot.com dave@production-depot.com
JAPAN Illumination Dynamics, LA NAC Image Technology Inc. Lighting, Grip Tokyo Carly Barber, Maria Carpenter Cameras, Digital T +1 818 686 6400 Tomofumi Masuda carly@illuminationdynamics.com Hiromi Shindome maria@illuminationdynamics.com T +81 3 5211 7960 T +81 3 5211 7933 Illumination Dynamics, masuda@camnac.co.jp North Carolina, Lighting, Grip NEW ZEALAND Jeff Pentek Camera Tech, Wellington T +1 704 679 9400 Cameras jeff@illuminationdynamics.com Peter Fleming T +64 4562 8814 cameratech@xtra.co.nz
SCANDINAVIA BLIXT Camera Rental, Denmark, Norway & Sweden Cameras, Digital Björn Blixt T +45 70 20 59 50 blixt@blixt.dk SOUTH AFRICA Media Film Service, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban, Namibia Cameras, Digital, Lighting, Grip, Studio Jannie Van Wyk T +27 21 511 3300 jannie@mediafilmservice.com SPAIN Camara Rental Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga Cameras, Grip Andres Berenguer, Alvaro Berenguer, Sylvia Jacuinde T +34 91 651 3399 andres@camararental.com alvaro@camararental.com sylvia@camararental.com info@camararental.com UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Filmquip Media, Dubai Cameras, Lighting, Grip Anthony Smythe, Hugo Lang T +971 4 347 4909 ant@filmquipmedia.com hugo@filmquipmedia.com USA & CANADA Clairmont Camera Hollywood, LA, Toronto, Vancouver ARRIFLEX D-20 Representative Irving Correa T +1 818 761 4440 irvingc@clairmont.com Fletcher Chicago, Chicago ARRIFLEX D-20 Representative Stan Glapa T +1 312 932 2700 stan@fletch.com
VISIONARRI
4 BEAN ABROAD?
DoP Baz Irvine and Producer Caroline Hewitt discuss how they took Mr. Bean to the French Riviera
8 BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ: REMASTERED
ARRI Film & TV restore a classic 16mm production with the original DoP
10 IT’S ONLY ROCK ‘N’ ROLL...
A who’s who of cinematographers capture the legendary Rolling Stones on film
12 ULZHAN: A JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY Director Volker Schlöndorff and DoP Tom Fährmann reflect on putting road movie Ulzhan through the DI process at ARRI Film & TV
14 THE COMPANY
The ARRIFLEX D-20 captures four decades of CIA activity for TV miniseries
18 HERR BELLO
ARRI Film & TV create visual effects and colour grade family comedy Herr Bello
20 THE COST OF FREE TRADE
DoP Barry Ackroyd BSC explains how he shot feature Battle in Seattle using the ARRIFLEX 416
24 A NEUTRAL CORNER
A Digital Intermediate case study
26 THE YODELLING WOODCHUCK
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ARRI Film & TV Commercial renders furry character for McDonald’s viral
29 JPEG2000 ON ITS WAY TO
CONTENTS
DIGITAL CINEMAS
A new compression format explained
32 ANCIENT EGYPT GOES DIGITAL WITH THE ARRIFLEX D-20
ARRIFLEX D-20 survives the rigors of the dessert shooting action adventure Prisoners of the Sun
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34 ACT
Russia’s leading equipment rental company
36 ORANGE SHOOTS NEW AD
CAMPAIGN IN SOUTH AFRICA
Media Film Service supplies Orange shoot
37 KENT CANDY: ART ON ICE!
ARRI Film & TV Commercial creates artic landscape for candy ad
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38 SILENT WITNESS GETS NEW LOOK WITH D-20
BBC switches long running crime series to digital
43 MOMENTS IN TIME
Sergio Leone, 2 perforation and the spaghetti western
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46 NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD 49 DID YOU KNOW? 49 TAKE TEN 50 WHEN IT COUNTS The ARRI Rental Group introduces a new 2 perforation movement
VisionARRI would like to thank the following contributors; Philipp Bartel, Simon Broad, Clemens Danzer, John Duclos, David Fox, Philip Gosiewski, Jochen Hähnel, Johann Hohenwarter, Mark Hope-Jones, Ingo Klingspon, D.D.Michael, Angela Reedwisch, Matthias Ritschl, Andrea Rosenwirth, Prof. Jürgen Schopper, Constantin Seiler, Marc Shipman-Mueller, Michelle Smith, Andy Subratie, An Tran, Sabine Welte, Jannie van Wyk, Tracy van Wyk
52 PRODUCT UPDATE 54 PRODUCTION UPDATE
BEAN
ABROAD?
DoP Baz Irvine films Mr. Bean’s Holiday antics
Ten years on from his first big screen appearance, Rowan Atkinson’s childlike and bumbling character Mr. Bean returns this year in Mr. Bean’s Holiday, produced by Working Title Films in association with Tiger Aspect. Based on a nameless character Atkinson initially developed while studying at Oxford, Mr. Bean was first brought to a television audience by Tiger Aspect in 1990 and quickly became an international phenomenon. The 14 episodes, broadcast over a period of six years, achieved massive viewing figures in the UK and have been sold in over 200 countries worldwide. The 1997 film Bean broke box office records and provided a ten to one return on its investment, virtually guaranteeing demand for a sequel. Atkinson, however, wanted to take a break from the character, having played him for eight years, which accounts for the decade-long hiatus. After at least one script premise fell by the wayside, the creative team agreed on the concept of Mr. Bean voyaging from London to the French Riviera for a summer holiday, leaving a trail of mayhem and chaos in his wake. Mr. Bean’s Holiday opened in over 30 countries within a fortnight of release in March 2007, quickly becoming the highest grossing film of the year in many of those territories and easily generating Working Title’s best ever international launch weekend.
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VISIONARRI
“I DO LIKE TO SHOOT WIDE OPEN, OR MAYBE AT 2.8 AND ONE-HALF, THOUGH USUALLY NOT QUITE SO WIDE ON THE OPTIMO.” Producer Caroline Hewitt was involved in discussions about how the production would best organise itself to follow Bean’s progress through France. “We moved offices three times, having bases in Paris, Provence and the south coast. We decided that doing this film as a production on the road the whole time would have been too much.” The goal was to make a more cinematic film than the first Bean feature, which Atkinson had felt was too wordy. “The feel of it is different from the previous Bean projects,” says Hewitt. “Simon McBurney (Executive Producer) was keen to make it more of a film, rather than purely face-pulling, which Rowan was behind as well.” Both the character of Bean and the second film’s title evoke the work of French comic actor Jacques Tati, whose 1953 film Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot charts the misadventures of a similarly hapless character while on holiday in France. Though the reference is not a direct one, the connections are there, and it is clear that both director and star were keen to draw on the rich history of physical comedy in cinema. “Rowan did a lot of his own stunts,” recalls Hewitt, a feat very much in the tradition of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. “It’s hard for a stunt performer to mimic his particular movements, the way he moves his limbs.”
Director Steve Bendelack came from a background in TV comedy and had one feature to his name, The League of Gentlemen’s Apocalypse, which was shot on HD and released in 2005. Mr. Bean’s Holiday was shot on 35mm, though DoP Baz Irvine asserts that this presented no real challenges for the director: “Steve took to the 35mm format just fine; he’d done a lot of commercials on 35mm, and it really doesn’t make too much difference in any case.” Camera equipment was supplied by ARRI Media, London. Irvine selected the ARRICAM Studio as his A camera, which was used for fairly conventional set-ups, while the B camera, an ARRICAM Lite, he tended to let float around in a more fluid way, to see what coverage it could pick up. He chose Cooke S4 primes and Angenieux Optimo zooms, as he likes the way they cut together. “For the early sequences in France I was using wide lenses quite a bit, the 16mm and the 14mm.” Atkinson’s performance often involved a degree of improvisation, so the wide lenses as well as frequent use of a Steadicam allowed the camera to stay with him when the crew were not entirely sure what the actor might do next. Whenever he could, Irvine preferred to open up the lenses: “I do like to shoot wide open, or maybe at 2.8 and one-half, though usually not quite so wide on the Optimo.”
“We considered and nearly went with a 2.35:1 ratio for the whole film, but it would have made framing Rowan and the young boy his character befriends quite difficult because of their height difference, so we abandoned the idea.” A ratio of 1.85:1 was decided upon, though the story contains a ‘film within a film’ for which Irvine shot on Hawk anamorphic lenses in the scope ratio. This, combined with DV footage shot by Mr. Bean during his travels, made for an interesting mix of formats. Irvine was keen for Bean’s progress south to be communicated by the visuals: “I had this general idea that the film should have an arc of colour.” He wanted the look to move from a cooler feel for the opening in the UK to a warmer one as Bean makes his way down through France. 81EF filtration of tungsten balanced stock was used to help achieve the former and some Schneider Gold to boost the latter. “We start in London, and even though it’s summer, the look is very drab and desaturated. We shot on 500ASA stock, moving to 250D and by the time we got to the south of France we were into the full Technicolor as it were, with 50D stock.” All of the emulsion was Kodak Vision2, aside from a little Fuji stock that was used to give the ‘film within a film’ material a different aesthetic.
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BEAN ABROAD?
“I HAD THIS GENERAL IDEA THAT THE FILM SHOULD HAVE AN ARC OF COLOUR.”
One of most difficult aspects of shooting in France was that the French authorities demanded lighting diagrams for the various railway station locations months in advance of photography. This was a challenge, as Irvine did not at that stage have any idea how the scenes would be blocked. “I had two plans; one was to try and put helium-filled HMI lighting balloons up, which I was actually able to do at both Parisian stations, and the other was to use a Briese light, which probably comes more from stills photography but is increasingly used for features. The bulb is only 2.5K, but it gives off quite a lot of light. It goes on a stand with wheels so we could move it around really easily, which was very convenient if I needed to quickly throw some light on a certain area.” In general Irvine kept his lights high up or well concealed at the stations, in order to give Atkinson as much freedom of movement as possible. He also had to work with the ambient light, which made for some difficult moments in Paris where the weather was unusually overcast and gloomy for May. By contrast the station at Avignon, an innovatively designed
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building that was completed only six years ago, proved an ideal location: “It is almost eyelid-shaped and all this beautiful soft light comes in the windows on one side. So that was a dream, I didn’t have to do anything.” The production shot inside Le Train Bleu, an extraordinarily ornate Belle Époque restaurant that has occupied the Gare de Lyon in Paris for over one hundred years. Their time at this location was severely limited and even after a return visit it was found when the scene began to be edited that more material was required. Irvine would have to mock up part of the restaurant on a stage at Black Island Studios in London. “Luckily I had kept quite a detailed outline of where the lights were, the diffusion, gels and other details, so I was able to create an overall look that I think matched quite well.” Perhaps most challenging of all was a scene depicting characters on the red carpeted staircase of the Palais des Festivals cinema at Cannes. The producers negotiated an opportunity to film this scene not only while the festival was running, but actually during the
premiere of a real film, a rather serious Portuguese social drama titled Juventude Em Marcha. “It was a mixture of careful planning and utter chaos,” recalls Irvine. “I’d already recced the location so I knew the exterior and had some ideas. We decided to use four cameras and just went there in the morning to plot it out. The angles we chose meant we’d always have coverage, but in terms of planning what the performers would do on the carpet, it was very tricky, we just had to turn over and get what we could. The great thing was that it was for real; there was a genuine crowd there and a lot of people on the red carpet were unaware of what we were doing.” Three of the cameras were on tripods or
VISIONARRI
GETTING READY for a take, on camera is Operator Philip Sindall
DoP BAZ IRVINE lines up a shot, below is Grip Pascal Delauney, Grip Damien Auriol, Operator Philip Sindall, 1st AC John Jordon (left to right) DoP BAZ IRVINE, Director Steve Bendelack discussing a scene with Rowan Atkinson, Gaffer Lee Walters (left to right)
“I THINK THERE’S A POINT WHERE YOU CAN PLAY WITH THE IMAGE TOO MUCH AND IT PICKS UP A KIND OF ELECTRONIC FEEL, SO I TRY NOT TO STRAY TOO FAR FROM THE ORIGINAL.” step ladders, while the fourth was handheld by Second Unit DoP Chris Plevin. There were so many press cameras around them that relatively few people even realised a film was being shot. In general the experience of filming in France was a positive one. “Culturally it was really good,” comments Caroline Hewitt. “There was a lot of problem solving; it was fantastically cooperative.” Irvine is full of praise for the French crew: “They’ve all come out of film school and have a real passion for filmmaking.” The French shoot ended with a couple of weeks at a studio in Nice, where a lot of the scenes that take place in a cinema at the end of the film were photographed. The intention had been to shoot some film rear projection for a night-time driving sequence while
in Nice, but time ran out and it had to be postponed until the crew returned to England. Chris Plevin had photographed some plate shots on a dual carriageway in France, though it was not immediately clear if these would be appropriate. “I had more time once we were back in London to think about what I wanted to do,” says Irvine. “I’d read about the possibility of digital back projection, so I got in touch with Lester Dunton at Elstree and discovered that we could very successfully use the plates we had already shot with this process by transferring them to video. The appeal to me was that the performers would be able to actually see the plates behind them in the rear view mirror, which allowed them to react in a more authentic way. Another interesting
aspect of the digital set-up was that I could also project a moving light effect onto the car and the actors which was synced to the back projection and gave me the exact colour rendition I needed.” The film contains over 350 VFX shots, which were put together at Framestore CFC in London, where Irvine also spent three weeks in a DI grade with Colourist Adam Glasman. “The hardest thing about the grading was that we were having to work to a tight release date but the edit wasn’t fully locked, so I had to start grading reel two, when ideally you’d start grading with reel one. Nevertheless the DI process was great and I had a really good working relationship with Adam.” Irvine was able to balance and accentuate his ‘arc of colour’ in the grade, but was cautious about pushing the images too far. “The thing you have to be careful with in the DI is that the film doesn’t start to look overly graded. I think there’s a point where you can play with the image too much and it picks up a kind of electronic feel, so I try not to stray too far from the original.” I Mark Hope-Jones
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Berlin Alexanderplatz: Remastered The possibilities that digital restoration, combined with evolving technology, creates for the archiving of artistically relevant and commercially viable films will continue to gain importance in the future. Especially, since a great number of these films exist only in analog versions and in conditions rendering them unusable for projection, let alone distribution and commercial exploitation. Recent technological innovations in the realm of digital film processing, a significant amount of which have been developed and implemented at ARRI Munich, are making all this possible. The digital remastering of Berlin Alexanderplatz, which was closely watched by the international community, wouldn’t have been possible without the evolution that digital post production is currently undergoing. The Rainer Werner Fassbinder film, a true work of art, was shot between June 1979 and April 1980 at original locations in Berlin and in the Bavaria Studios in Geiselgasteig/Munich on 16mm negative and was digitally processed and restored in 2006 at ARRI Munich. The 16mm material, more than 15 hours of film, were scanned at ARRI Film & TV with the ARRISCAN at a 2K resolution, retouching each individual frame digitally and completing primary colour grading in the RGB grading suite (Colour Graders: Bianca Stumpf, Boris Link). The artistic direction of this extensive undertaking, to make a theatrical as well as a DVD release possible, was in the hands of the then DoP, Xaver Schwarzenberger. “I colour graded everything again,” he explains. “We shot the film on 16mm, which was a requirement back then and the standard in television production, because no one really thought about ‘later.’ Today, we know that it would have been much better to shoot on 35mm. The significantly cheaper 16mm material was probably never questioned because during the preparation no one could foresee that Fassbinder would shoot in the phenomenal one to three ratio, which, in the end, saved us about three months of shooting and a lot of material and lab expenditures,” says Juliane Lorenz, without whose tremendous efforts and tireless commitment this grand project would have never been accomplished. Juliane Lorenz, back then the Editor of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s films and today the President of the Fassbinder Foundation, was in charge of the entire restoration process. 8
JULIANE LORENZ, President of the Fassbinder Foundation
RAINER WERNER FASSBINDER and Hanna Schygulla during a rehersal
© Karl Reiter, RWFF
VISIONARRI
CREW
“…FASSBINDER WOULD SHOOT IN THE PHENOMENAL ONE TO THREE RATIO, WHICH, IN THE END, SAVED US ABOUT THREE MONTHS…” “We did a lot of tests with several different companies but ARRI just delivered the best technical quality. Therefore, it became a condition that ARRI, because of its technological capabilities and its know-how, would execute the essential restoration tasks and the digital remastering. Any other company in Germany couldn’t have accomplished this,” says Lorenz. “With the ARRISCAN each individual frame was scanned twice in a double-exposure-process. The entire f-stop range of an exposure, eleven levels to be exact, which are in the 16mm negative, were captured,” she continues. Berlin Alexanderplatz: Remastered celebrated its highly praised premiere at the 2007 Berlinale International Film Festival. Now, the work that Fassbinder had shot for television is available as a 35mm print, an HD-master for DVD releases and television broadcasts, as well as on LTO3 reels for long- term archiving purposes. The box set of Berlin Alexanderplatz: Remastered, consisting of six DVD’s (including an extensive ‘the making of’ segment) was released through SZ-Cinemathek. The “digital remastering” effort was a joint venture of ARRI, CinePostproduction and Bavaria Film. I
POSTER for Berlin Alexanderplatz
Jochen Hähnel
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It’s Only Declan Quinn ASC
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VISIONARRI
Rock’n’ Roll... Five days, 18 cameras, one world famous band, a two time Oscar winning cinematographer, the director of, amongst other classic films Goodfellas and The Departed. It would be a challenge for most equipment rental companies. Add in the timing – the busiest period of production in New York in recent memory – it made for quite an adventure.
Ellen Kuras ASC
The venue was the Beacon Theatre, a legendary Blues/Jazz/Rock venue on West 74th St. and Broadway in New York City. In October 2006 high profile personalities from the worlds of politics, music and feature film converged to pay homage to the legendary Rolling Stones, with Martin Scorcese and his crew there to capture the moment on film. ARRI CSC NY provided 15 3 perforation ARRICAM Studio, Lite, ARRIFLEX 535B, 435 & 235 cameras, one 4 perforation ARRIFLEX 235 camera and two of the new ARRILFLEX 416 16mm film cameras for Robert Richardson ASC. He was supported by a who’s who of American and European Cinematographers. This long list included Pat Capone, Dave Dunlap, Robert Elswit ASC, Tony Jannelli, Chris Haarhoff, Luckasz Jogalla, Ellen Kuras ASC, Robert Leacock, Andrew Lesnie ACS, ASC, Emmanuel Lubezki ASC, Anastas Michos ASC, Andrew Rolands SOC, John Toll ASC and Declan Quinn ASC during the three days of rehearsal and two days of shows.
Andrew Lesnie ACS, ASC
“All of the cameras operated flawlessly,” reports Philip Gosiewski, Technical Support Coordinator for ARRI CSC in New York. “Considering the enormous amount of pressure that Robert Richardson and his team were under to perform there was not one technical problem, either mechanical or electronic, during the five day shoot. And not one item missing, a tribute to an amazing crew.” The documentary shot over 150,000 feet of 35mm Kodak film each night including some black and white film with the handheld 416s. The performers who joined the Stones for the concert included legendary Chicago Blues Guitar Player Buddy Guy, Jack White of the popular folk/rock duo White Stripes and Pop Diva Christina Aguilera. The documentary harks back to Martin Scorsese’s 1978 rock documentary The Last Waltz. To add to the historical flavor of the event, veteran filmmaker Albert Maysle was on hand to capture some of the event with his own camera crew. Mr. Maysle, who along with his brother David shot the acclaimed Rolling Stones documentary Gimme Shelter in 1970, visited the Stones during the five day shoot and provided continuity between his original
Robert Richardson ASC
Stones documentary, not only by his mere presence, but by offering never before seen footage from it for use in Mr. Scorsese’s latest film project. The first performance by the Stones celebrated the birthday of former President, Bill Clinton. Many people contributed $10,000 a ticket to attend, the proceeds of which were donated to Clinton’s foundation that provides relief internationally to victims of AIDS and other serious diseases both physical and social. A sad footnote was the passing of legendary music Producer Ahmet Ertegun of Atlantic Records, who died on December 14, 2006 following a fall backstage while attending the concert. Mr. Ertegun is credited with discovering such famous musicians as Aretha Franklin, Cream, Led Zepellin etc. during his more than six decade career in the music business. ARRI CSC NY also contributed additional lighting and grip equipment to the concert, one of the first productions to be serviced out of their new facility in Secaucus, New Jersey. I Simon Broad / Philip Gosiewski
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The script for Ulzhan was written by Jean-Claude Carrière, who in the past has worked with renowned directors such as Luis Buñuel, Peter Brook and Louis Malle. Carrière has also previously collaborated with Ulzhan’s Producer/Director Volker Schlöndorff on the The Tin Drum and A Love of Swann. Ulzhan was produced by Volksfilm Berlin (Volker Schlöndorff), Fly Times Pictures Paris and Kasachfilm Almaty. Funding for the film, a co-production with Bayerische Rundfunk (BR), was provided by the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg (MBB) and Eurimages.
Ulzhan
A Journey of Discovery
Ulzhan tells the story of a French historian who, driven by a mysterious force, decides to go on an 1800 mile journey across Kazakhstan. When his car breaks down his urge is still so intense that he decides to continue on by foot. The people he meets on his travels are as mysterious and foreign as the scenery. Among them is Ulzhan, the daughter of a horse trader, who follows and rescues him during a sandstorm. It is the story of a quiet battle between a man, who wants to give up, and a woman, who is determined to save him.
A Quiet, Scenic Road Movie
Although filmed in Kazakhstan under extreme conditions, Volker Schlöndorff achieved impressive results. Shot in Super 35 with a ratio of 2.35:1, DoP Tom Fährmann completed filming in 38 days using an ARRIFLEX 535, rented in Kazakhstan, and a set of Zeiss prime lenses from ARRI Rental, Munich. All lab, 2K colour grading and VFX work was completed at ARRI Film & TV Services in Munich.
DoP TOM FÄHRMANN on location DoP TOM FÄHRMANN with the 535 MAIN ACTRESS Ayanat Ksenbai starring in her first role DIRECTOR VOLKER SCHLÖNDORFF with members of the crew
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“The film is a scenic road movie with breathtakingly beautiful images,” raves DoP Tom Fährmann. The team though, was often forced to work under the most extreme conditions. “We had to improvise a lot. It wasn’t easy logistically either and often everything seemed quite impossible. For example, when the transportation of equipment and lighting gear from one location to another didn’t work out – not least because of the tremendous distances and the rough terrain,” explains Tom Fährmann. After all, Kazakhstan, with its 1,052,085 square miles, is the ninth largest country in the world. When compared to Europe, it covers an area stretching from Spain to Poland and from Sweden to Italy. “As we weren’t shooting under European conditions, we wanted to have as much leeway during digital post production as possible. Of course we knew when we were shooting what the final look of the film was going to be, so I practically shot ‘blind’ for two months. But I always took digital photos. I graded them in Photoshop and burnt them onto CDs, which I sent via courier to Munich along with the negative. The colourists at ARRI used the photos as a frame of reference, which worked out very well,” recalls the DoP.
VISIONARRI X-ray Damaged Negative Digitally Repaired at ARRI During the shoot, negatives en route to the lab, were damaged when they were X-rayed during a security check at the airport. The negatives were prematurely exposed and the grain became very pronounced, leaving the image looking grainy and foggy. “That’s why I praise digital possibilities. Without them we would have lost several sequences, which we could not have re-shot as the locations were thousands of miles away. A re-shoot was out of the question, due to time and budgetary constraints. To know that this type of damage can be digitally repaired is very reasssuring. Especially since this particular problem will occur more frequently in the future with security requirements at airports increasing, but also because insurance companies don’t cover this kind of damage,” explains Volker Schlöndorff. “This was a great accomplishment of the crew at ARRI Digital Film. At first, none of us believed that anything could be salvaged.” Clear Optical Rigor During Digital Grading The final colour grading of the film was implemented in the Lustre Grading Suite by ARRI Colour Grader Traudl Nicholson. “We got everything to come
out as perfectly as we intended,” reports Volker Schlöndorff and his DoP. “2K colour grading with Lustre is a dream come true. I can’t think of anything else that we would need to increase our creative control. It really is state-of-the-art, in terms of being able to achieve the look of a film exactly as one had imagined,” continues Tom Fährmann, who has digitally colour graded four of his other films at ARRI. “If you know what you want to accomplish and have had experience, then it all goes very quickly and easily. This was partially due to the professionalism and know-how of Traudl and partially due to the fact that we had a clear vision of what the film was supposed to look like. I believe that during digital colour grading, optical rigor is extremely important, otherwise you can get lost with the many creative options at your disposal,” states the DoP, who was more or less on his own with Traudl Nicholson during the colour correction in the Lustre Grading Suite at ARRI. “During approval, Volker Schlöndorff looked at the result, hugged us and said: “Beautiful!” However Director Volker Schlöndorff still has some concerns about the DI process: “For me, digital grading was more of a discovery than an experience, because I
am used to the photochemical process of photography, and at first the possibilities overwhelmed me. As a matter of fact it was almost frightening, especially if you believe that film and lenses are an objective gauge to observe and capture the world, only to realise that everything can be altered. That of course is not a technical issue but a philosophical one,” Volker Schlöndorff points out, “The positive aspect is, it is possible to balance and improve everything.”
VFX Processing at ARRI Digital Film Aside from taking on the colour grading, ARRI also produced various visual effects for the project. For example, the scenes featuring a starry sky had to be inserted later, just like the sand and the snowstorm scenes, which were shot at 11,000 feet during intense fog. The sandstorm had to be amplified and the fog adjusted, to produce a balanced image. “Like on every project, it was very important to me to make everything look absolutely realistic. In such a quiet film, it is particularly important that the audience can’t tell that the picture was digitally enhanced in one way or another,” explains David Laubsch, Senior Compositing Artist at ARRI Digital Film. “David had very little time and worked on the images with great care,” comments DoP Tom Fährmann. The production company was very happy with the post production result that ARRI delivered on Ulzhan. “I have worked with ARRI for 40 years now, and every time I feel very much at home here. We have a relationship based on trust. Everyone pulls together as a team to make a good film, and I think that we have accomplished this exceptionally well – again,” concludes Volker Schlöndorff. I Jochen Hähnel
13
COMPANY
The
ARRIFLEX D-20 relives the Cold War
© Erik Heinila
In 2002, acclaimed thriller writer Robert Littell published his thirteenth novel, The Company. Subtitled ‘A Novel of the CIA’, the book skillfully blends fact with fiction in its multigenerational examination of the agency’s activities between 1950 and 1995. Encompassing historical events including the Suez Canal Crisis, the botched Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis, the story follows the private and professional lives of agents through some of the most turbulent times of the Cold War.
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VISIONARRI
When Sony Pictures acquired the film rights the project was initially slated as a feature, but it soon became clear that the sheer density and volume of the material – the book weighed in at nearly 900 pages – meant that television would be a more suitable medium. Executive Producers Ridley Scott, Tony Scott and John Calley teamed up with Sony Pictures TV to create a six-hour miniseries for broadcast on Turner Network
Television. A star-studded cast was assembled, including Chris O’Donnell, Michael Keaton, Alfred Molina and Tom Hollander, while Mikael Salomon took the reins as Director and Ben Nott as DoP. Chris O’Donnell plays Jack McCauliffe, an idealistic young Yale graduate
recruited into the CIA at a time when the agency is waging an ongoing underground war with the KGB. He is taken under the wing of a shadowy field operative codenamed ‘The Sorcerer’ (Alfred Molina) in Berlin and begins his double life within the bleak, clandestine world of agents, assassins and moles.
ON LOCATION: 1st AD Michael Zimbrich, DoP Ben Nott, A Cam OP Michael Carella, Director Mikael Salomon (left to right) © Erik Heinila
© Jan Thijs
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THE COMPANY
The ARRIFLEX D-20 is much more than just another HD camera. Equipped with the same ergonomic features as a 35mm camera, it is extremely easy to handle and can be fitted with any PL-mount 35mm format film lens. The ARRI shoulder-set and low-mode bracket allow for easy hand-held and Steadicam operation, while an optical viewfinder similar to that on the ARRICAM cameras and the ARRIFLEX 435 gives the D-20 a clear and bright look-through. The depth of field also corresponds to that of a 35mm camera, further separating the D-20 from regular 2/3” chip HD cameras and making the look it achieves more comparable to 35mm film. Martin Lorenz, Camera Technician at ARRI Rental in Munich, was on set for much of the shoot and took care of the three ARRIFLEX D-20s as well as the additional film cameras (ARRIFLEX 435 and 235), which were used for high-speed shooting. The recording device for the D-20s was a Sony SRW-1 (HDCAM SR Recorder) set to 4:4:4 colour space, the highest HD quality possible. Lorenz explains: “The D-20 is fairly easy to use; the camera is designed to be operated just as one would operate a film camera. It isn’t as complex as other HD cameras; for example, you have to select the white balance and the speed (50,100, 200 or 320 ISO), but as soon as these choices are made, the system is ready to be used. The D-20 comes with a waveform
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© Erik Heinila
This established relationship was also crucial in the decision to opt for the ARRIFLEX D-20: “My history with ARRI and Sony Picture TV’s desire to shoot on digital were the decisive factors,” continues Bernacchi. “We chose digital because we were making a miniseries for television and cost was a factor. The choice came down to the Genesis and the D-20; ultimately it was the cost-benefit-ratio that led us to the D-20.”
© Jan Thijs
The Company was shot on three ARRIFLEX D-20 cameras, supplied by ARRI Rental in Germany, from where the lighting and stage equipment was also sourced. Producer Robert Bernacchi, who had collaborated with ARRI Rental on previous projects including Underworld, The Cave and Blood and Chocolate, was keen to use them again, commenting: “I think it is the people at ARRI who make the difference; they are always warm and eager to please.”
© Jan Thijs
“THE EQUIPMENT WAS USED UNDER EXTREME CONDITIONS… WE HAD TO SHOOT A LOT OF EXPLOSIONS.”
monitor that can be used by the DoP in controlling the lighting. We suggest using a picture monitor with full HD resolution to be able to judge the focus; this means that a lot of the work usually done in the lab, or during scanning, can now be done on set. For The Company we used three HD monitors, one for each D-20; this enabled us to check the focus and make adjustments accordingly. It was an advantage to have immediate control over the material, especially since the night shoots required shooting with an open aperture. The equipment was used under extreme conditions. In Budapest, for example, we had to shoot a lot of explosions, and although this was very demanding on the cameras, we had no outages. Sure, occasionally, an antenna can break off, but the cameras were always running. They were as dependable as the ARRIFLEX 435.”
VISIONARRI
DoP BEN NOTT
THE CAMERA CREW: 2nd AC Nicole Blanchard,
B Cam OP Tim Merkel, A Cam OP Michael Carrella, DoP Ben Nott, 1st AC Jayson Clute, Loader Krista Teaque, Camera Trainee Brian Cassar
© Jan Thijs
© Jan Thijs
THE CREW prepares the ARRIFLEX D-20
The plot of The Company is truly international and involves stories that flit between Moscow, Berlin, Budapest, London, Washington and Cuba. This presented quite a challenge for the programme-makers, as it would be far too expensive to actually travel to all of these places, yet believable locations were vital. “We used Toronto as Washington, Budapest as Budapest but also as Berlin and Moscow, and Puerto Rico as Cuba,” explains Robert Bernacchi. “The reasons for choosing these locations were cost, tax incentives, and the locations we found.” Co-executive Producers on this demanding miniseries were David W. Zucker and David A. Rosemont; Co-Producers were Rola Bauer, Jonas Bauer and Tim Halkin of Tandem
Communications, who also handled world sales. Halkin comments: “We were enthusiastic from the moment we first read the script; we knew this was perfect international ‘event’ programming. It is a story that touches all of us. The Company is not just your typical CIA film; it is also about the personal lives of many people, of entire nations, who suffered during this war that was never officially declared. It is highly emotional and yet incorporates a lot of action sequences.” “I was impressed with how involved Ridley Scott and John Calley were, not just during script development and casting, but also in the post production phase. I was so glad that Ridley understood how important it was to cast excellent European actors in the major
European roles, not Americans who would try to do an accent. The fact that Ridley and Tony Scott as well as John Calley were open to making this an international production and were open to our suggestions was the greatest part of developing this series.” The Company, with a budget of $38m, is certainly a high-end television production. “It would have been a dream cast for a feature film,” says Halkin. “And it was a dream cast for a television series. The sets, the locations the stunts, everything was very elaborate. You have to keep in mind that this story takes place over the course of forty years, meaning that make-up, costumes, props, cars and so forth had to reflect the times of the sixties, seventies, eighties and nineties. Everything changed constantly; it required great efforts to realise all of this.” “Many scenes were shot on set as practical stunts,” continues Halkin. “I personally watched a few things in Budapest, for example a tank crashing into a tram. This scene was not shot in front of a blue or green screen and finished in CG. Sure, there are some scenes that were enhanced by CG work, but for scenes such as the Bay of Pigs landing in Cuba, actual ships were used.” The story, the first-rate cast and the high production value speak for themselves. Tandem Communications has already sold the series worldwide, receiving great feedback. “I am very glad that the international market welcomed this project just as much as we did,” says Halkin. “I love television, that’s why I work in this sector. The Company is the kind of project that makes me proud to be in this business.” The Company airs on U.S. television (TNT) in August 2007 and in Europe (Germany on Sat1, UK on BBC2), in autumn 2007 (subject to change). I Andrea Rosenwirth
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Herr
Bello
After a successful collaboration on the Collina Film Production Der Räuber Hotzenplotz ARRI Digital Film was called on again and entrusted with the colour grading in the Digital Intermediate as well as the design of the elaborate visual effects and credit sequences for Herr Bello.
Based on the acclaimed children’s best seller book Herr Bello und das blaue Wunder the plot tells the tale of Max (Manuel Steiz), a 12 year old boy who convinces his father (August Zirner) to give a home to a stray shaggy dog “Bello” as an addition to their household. Everything seems to be going smoothly but then, with the help of a mysterious potion, Bello turns into a human with hilarious consequences for Max, his father and the next door neighbour (Sophie von Kessel).
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VISIONARRI
“It was quite clear to us, that, after several successful collaborations on previous projects we would partner up with ARRI once again,” said Producer Ulrich Limmer, with ARRI providing camera, lighting and stage equipment as well as all lab services for this latest Collina Film production. Along with the colour grading in the Digital Intermediate the post production phase ended with a sound mix on ARRI’s Stage 1. Herr Bello is the latest project from the team behind the highly successful and award-winning Sams films: Ben Verbong, Director; Paul Maar (the father of Sams), Screenwriter & children’s book Author and Ulrich Limmer, Screenwriter & Producer. The renowned Composer and Songwriter Konstantin Wecker was on board to write the score to the film, featuring guest appearances by the Badesalz Duo and Barbara Schöneberger.
Prof. Jürgen Schopper
ON SET: Director Ben Verbong, Producer
Herr Bello was produced by the Collina Filmproduktion GmbH and co-produced by Constantin Film and B.A. Produktion. The film was shot over 40 days in Wasserburg, Regensburg, Ampfing, Ebersberg, Feldkirchen, Lake Ammersee and in Munich. The wildly funny comedy was funded by the FFF FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, the FFA Berlin and the Bayerische Bankenfonds.
In the post production phase ARRI Digital Film created many of the films visual effects: the transformation of the dog into Herr Bello, the rapidly growing grass, the swirling swarms of flies, the dancing chicken, and even the pig sitting on the couch. The sequence of the talking dog was produced in collaboration with the post production house UPP with the animation of the opening credits created by ARRI’s partner punchin’ pictures. Philip Hahn took on the role of Post Production Supervisor and Jürgen Schopper that of Creative Director and VFX Supervisor. All visual effect setups and the animated credit sequences were developed with the help of storyboards which were then worked out shot by shot. After assisting the actual filming, the visual effects were realized, which were then seamlessly fed into the colour grading workflow in the Digital Intermediate. DoP, Jan Fehse and Colour Grader Traudl Nicholson had a clear vision of the particular look they wanted to create and were happy with the results providing children and parents alike with a bright and colourful warmhearted comedy. I
Ulrich Limmer and a member of the crew
VFX SUPERVISOR Jürgen Schopper
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The Cost of Barry Ackroyd BSC on BATTLE IN SEATTLE Shot on two ARRIFLEX 416 cameras supplied by ARRI Media, London
The anti-globalization movement in the US came of age on November 30th 1999, when a crowd of over 50,000 protestors brought the opening of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference to a grinding halt in Seattle, Washington. Activists from all sections of society and representing groups ranging from local student bodies to international NGOs had planned the protest for months, united by
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a conviction that the WTO was serving the interests of big business at the expense of workers, the environment and communities. A small minority of anarchistic protestors, dressed in black and bent on a more destructive form of direct action, vandalized a number of specifically targeted commercial outlets including McDonalds, Starbucks and Nike. Riot police units responded to their own gradual loss of control by firing
tear gas, rubber bullets and pepper spray directly into the crowds. The National Guard was deployed in an effort to transport delegates to WTO meetings and a curfew suspending the constitutionally protected right to demonstrate was imposed by Mayor Paul Schell. The battle for the streets of Seattle was on, and would wage for several days to come.
VISIONARRI
Photo by Camera Operator Scott MacDonald
Free Trade
GUEST DoP HASKELL WEXLER ASC
DoP BARRY ACKROYD BSC
romantic comedy,’ because that’s what I thought he was doing, but it turned out to be Battle in Seattle. He’d written a very clever script and had managed to get $6m from a Canadian producer, so we had to shoot in Vancouver because the money was there. Stuart’s partner is Charlize Theron and he knows Woody Harrelson, who is an activist and wanted to be in the film, so there were some good people attached to the project. You’ve often worked with well established directors such as Stephen Poliakoff and Ken Loach, where as Battle in Seattle is the actor Stuart Townsend’s directorial debut. Can you describe the working relationship?
VA:
I’d worked with Stuart on Under The Skin, which is visually a favourite of mine, and another film called The Escort. He called up and said “I’ve got this film I’ve been writing for four years and I’d really like you to shoot it.” So I thought ‘Oh God, it’s probably a
BA:
He asked a lot of advice at the start but I’d always say “Oh I don’t know, let’s wait and see. Put it up in front of us and we’ll shoot it – empty your mind.” Then he’d say “Let’s do some storyboards” and I’d say “Oh God, yeah OK.” So I ended up storyboarding the first sequence with him and a storyboard artist, just to make people feel that we knew what we were doing. But once we started shooting he relaxed into it and there was no problem. And it was the same with the actors – they said “Why doesn’t everyone shoot like this? Just give us the space and we’ll move around; you don’t have to tell us to hit
marks and that sort of thing.” Stuart actually had a solid understanding of what he needed from the film but he had a real openness about how to get it; openness to the actors and the camera team. He gave us the space to get the film the way he wanted it. VA: The film has been shot entirely on ARRIFLEX 416 Super 16 cameras. How was this decision made?
We had a good period of prep, which was useful because we got the cameras sorted early. We’re using a lot of footage that was taken on the day, on video, and that’s why I chose 16mm. There was pressure to use 35mm in fact, from the Canadian producers, so it wasn’t just a budgetary decision, it was a choice. Obviously it helped the budget go further but it was a choice. HD was originally slated, but that quite quickly changed to 35mm. And then I had to write a kind of brief saying these are my reasons for wanting Super 16 and this is my creative decision, and in it I listed a lot of films BA:
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THE COST OF FREE TRADE
that were shot on the format, to make the producers aware of what could be achieved. Getting the 416s on board helped my case; we had a download from ARRI and could show the producers that this is where film is going to go, that we would be at the forefront. Like all these tools, you don’t think of one thing as necessarily replacing another. 35mm is absolutely right for the majority of films I think, while 16mm will be right for a certain number of films and HD will suit other projects still. But how you get from the inception to the screen is our job, and our choice. When I heard about the BBC’s decision on 16mm, turning round and telling British cinematographers that they can’t use this piece of equipment, it’s like chopping off your arm. Go and tell Stephen Poliakoff he can’t use 16mm, he’d chew your head off.
“HASKELL WAS SO PROUD OF US USING 16MM CAMERAS. HE CAME UP FOR A DAY TO SHOOT WITH US AND WE ALSO PUT HIM IN THE FILM.” VA: You mentioned that documentary footage shot at the time is incorporated. Does that mean that the look for the whole piece is quite documentary? BA: Yes the feel is documentary, but we weren’t trying to replicate what was done on the day, we were trying to locate our characters and our story in the reality of what happened that day. These demonstrations involved 10,000 people and we wanted to give that feel, but mainly by cutting to the footage and actually showing the people who went out and did it. We filmed briefly in Seattle and had a lot of support; something like a thousand people turned up, many of whom had been there on the day, to give us a bigger crowd to film. By using long lenses and shooting it the right way we gave the impression there were ten times as many people there.
The other brief we came up with, which was similar to what we did on United 93, was this multiple point of view idea. I think this is one of United 93’s stronger points, the approach of not using just one camera position, or two, but shifting for every take so the audience feels in the midst of events and the reality is heightened. And it runs into the editing; we had this young Editor on Battle in Seattle, Fernando Villena, who normally cuts documentaries, and I worked closely with him in the evenings, thinking about how to assemble it all. It gave me the freedom to shoot from perspectives that 22
wouldn’t necessarily cut together in the conventional way, because I knew he could make it work, and once he got the material he was just amazing. You’ve talked about utilising long, overlapping takes on United 93. Was this also something you carried over to Battle in Seattle?
VA:
BA: Again, yes. That’s where the 16mm comes in great; you can have a 10 minute magazine. I don’t think we actually did a full 10 minute take on Battle in Seattle, but having the freedom to do it if we needed, and then go quickly into another take, was crucial. And we were shooting with two cameras the whole time. I met up with a great Camera Operator, Scotty McDonald, and we just kind of hit it off, he understood what we needed straight away. We shot the first scene by nine-thirty on the first morning. Stuart said “That’s it” and I thought ‘No, are you sure?’ I was all over the place, but luckily Scotty got all the good shots. Then I calmed down and we just kept that rhythm together – “I’ll go here, you go there.” Occasionally we’d be on the same shot at the same time, but often that’s an interesting perspective. I brought my experience to it, Scotty brought his.
We actually shot almost entirely with zooms; I think we sent the primes back. We were zooming all the time – observational operating – finding what’s happening in the shot. It has two effects; one is you feel completely attached to the action and the other is that you can be continually selective, which is useful when you have a whole group of people and some are acting well while others are not. I find it stimulating because your eye and mind and hand are all flowing together, and when it’s all working – the focus puller staying with you and the grip guiding you and the shot continuing on – it’s great because every frame is potentially precious. The actors love it, because they have to stay so focused. It comes from Ken Loach actually, and in
VISIONARRI
Photo by Camera Operator Scott MacDonald
ON THE SET of Battle in Seattle, DoP Haskell Wexler ASC & DoP Barry Ackroyd BSC (left to right)
“BY USING LONG LENSES AND SHOOTING IT THE RIGHT WAY WE GAVE THE IMPRESSION THERE WERE TEN TIMES AS MANY PEOPLE THERE.” I shot on 500ASA Fuji film because I like that look, so that’s what I did just about throughout the whole film, day and night, interiors and exteriors, we did it all 500ASA. They had very short days, exactly the weather and daylight hours you’d get in London really, so you’ve got to get out and shoot. I understand that you had a visit from Haskell Wexler ASC while you were filming.
VA:
terms of the photography from Chris Menges BSC, who helped to develop this style. But he gets it from Brian Probyn, and that comes from the Hungarian filmmakers of the sixties, so there’s a long line of connections, as with all history. The challenge is to take it to the next level and that’s what I hope to do, though with respect to what has come before. VA: The filming took place at the same time of year as the actual incidents took place. Did you have much difficulty matching up with original footage? BA: If you look at the original footage from 1999 it was nearly always grey, with the occasional bit of milky, wintry sunshine, so I wasn’t too worried about being able to match. We were shooting a lot of exteriors surrounded by the high buildings of Vancouver and in November, with the sun at about thirty degrees in the sky, you’re very rarely going to get blasted out by sunlight. Even if you do, you know the sun is going to disappear behind a building again pretty quickly.
You also need luck, and we carried our luck with us. For two days of the shoot there was record snowfall, despite the fact that it hadn’t snowed there in November for twenty years. But we’d somehow left two contingency interior days so we were able to get inside, which helped us again.
BA: I’ve known Haskell since he worked with us on Bread and Roses, in LA. He’s an activist and had directed and shot Medium Cool at the 1968 anti-Vietnam War protests in Chicago; a film Stuart and I both love and which had been in part the inspiration for Battle in Seattle. Haskell shot actual riot footage in Chicago and put his actors into that live situation. There’s a famous scene in it where he gets so close to the rioting and so involved that you hear someone shout “Hey Haskell look out, it’s real,” and he gets tear-gassed. He’s in his eighties now and is still very active; he makes documentary films.
Haskell was so proud of us using 16mm cameras. He came up for a day to shoot with us and we also put him in the film. We said “Handhold this one,” which he was reluctant to do initially because it was a complex situation, but these cameras are so light, and with a great look-through, he took to it really well. And he gave us a full day’s work, right to the final shot with Woody Harrelson, a friend of his. It was a great day and the camera crew wanted to buy him dinner, so I picked him up at the hotel and took him across town. He told us wonderful anecdotes as we ate, but just as he began talking about our previous experience together on Bread and Roses I had to go and take a phone call. The crew told me the next day that he said how inspired he had been by my readiness to take on the director’s ideas without a fight, as then it becomes the multiplication of two ideas, rather than a struggle. It was inspiring to work with Haskell and lovely to hear from such an experienced eighty-year-old that he’d learned something from me. But of course he’s young enough to know that you never stop learning. I Mark Hope-Jones
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A NEUTRAL CORNER Short film showcases DI
Early in 2006 the Digital Intermediate team at London post-production house Soho Images approached ARRI Media London about working together on a test designed to showcase the DI workflow. Laurent Treherne, Technical Director at Soho Images, was keen to acquire a wide range of images on 35mm film and determine how successfully a DI could carry all the varied detail on the negative through to release print. The sequence of images would have to incorporate daylight, artificial lighting at night, interiors and exteriors, moving shots and a range of colour, saturation and contrast. It was decided that a short narrative film would best combine these parameters in a form that would answer the technical questions as well as function as a demo for potential clients. Emily Greenwood, Digital Online Film Editor at Soho Images, had already directed two successful short films and volunteered to write and direct another short that would encompass all of the necessary elements. She decided that Dungeness in Kent would provide an ideal location base as the wide expanses of shingle beach allowed opportunities to shoot big skies and vast low contrast landscapes. “We went on a recce, took an extensive number of photos, then I drew up a storyboard. The script took shape from that.� 24
The final draft of A Neutral Corner was sent to DoP Mike Southon BSC, along with details of the technical goals of the film. He had experience with DI already, but liked the story and was interested in collaborating closely with a facility he had not worked with before. ARRI Lighting Rental, and ARRI Media supplied kit for the shoot, which was another draw for Southon as he was able to use the ARRICAM Studio and Zeiss Master Prime lenses, neither of which he had shot with before. Kodak supplied the stock.
DoP MIKE SOUTHON BSC
WRITER & DIRECTOR Emily Greenwood on the set of A Neutral Corner (far right)
Filming took place over four grey days in the month of February and the weather in Dungeness was a problem from the outset. “It was a complete nightmare,” says Southon. “The rain was horizontal.” Vehicles got stuck in the wet shingle, there were soaring winds and the cast and crew struggled to stay warm. “Conditions like that impinge on everybody on the unit and I know what it’s like to have to direct actors in a howling gale, freezing to death, so I think Emily did extraordinarily well.” Greenwood had managed to cast Jody Latham, of Channel 4’s Shameless fame, as well as Valerie Leon, a veteran of Bond, Carry On and Hammer horror films. The director was keen to take advantage of her first full-time professional cast by concentrating more on performance than technical considerations. “They had very different styles of acting,” she recalls. “Jody was happy to improvise in character whereas Valerie worked better with more specific physical direction.” Southon is full of praise for her balancing of directorial duties: “She was doing what a good director should do; looking after the actors but also keeping on top of what was happening visually.” Despite the difficult conditions, filming was completed and the negative developed at Soho Images, where it was also scanned on an ARRISCAN after the offline edit was assembled in Avid at The Club in Covent Garden. Grading took place in a Soho Images theatre, utilising a 2K Barco DP100
projector. The 2K log data was controlled by the Da Vinci 2K grading tool from the iQ. With the film-originated images in the digital domain, a great many options were open for rectifying problems that had arisen as a result of the near impossible shooting conditions. The Da Vinci and iQ permitted subtle changes of contrast and detail to selective parts of the image while noise reducers removed excessive grain from flat skies in shots that might otherwise have been unusable.
The test in fact proved that DI provides tools for the grading and repair of images, as well as the seamless integration of VFX, that far surpass those of the conventional lab workflow. “Traditionally the only control you have over the look of the picture is to adjust the red, green and blue levels and the density,” comments Greenwood. “In DI your possibilities are practically endless. I guess you could compare it to having something like the equivalent of Photoshop for moving images.”
VFX shots could also be incorporated in-house and with ease; unwanted elements such as moving vehicles were taken out of certain images and a teapot from one shot replicated in another for the sake of continuity. Most challenging of all was Greenwood’s idea of showing a steam train that appears in the film pull up outside a small church that in actuality lies nowhere near the tracks: “We shot one pass of the train coming into the station at night, with darkness behind it, and then shot another pass of the church on its own during the day as a background plate; we graded that down so it looked like night. It was complicated because without the use of a huge green screen behind the train, I couldn’t just pull a chroma key, I had to hand track and paint the key frame by frame.”
A Neutral Corner has appeared at film festivals worldwide since its completion. The premiere was in Sao Paulo, from where it travelled to Leeds, the Seagate Foyle Festival in Londonderry, Santa Barbara and Aubagne in France. It is currently at the Newport Beach and Atlanta film festivals, and also received a ‘Highly Commended’ citation from the TCM Classic Shorts competition. Greenwood, who is now developing a feature with her production company Magic Eye Productions, asserts that the test confirmed a general belief at Soho Images in the importance of shooting the cleanest possible negative when making a film bound for DI. “The bottom line is you can’t get detail if it doesn’t exist on the neg, so perhaps the best thing to bear in mind when shooting for DI is to light it for as much detail on the negative as possible, rather than trying to create too much of a specific ‘look’ in camera.” I
The final graded edit was shot back out to 35mm film on an ARRILASER and a combined print created in the lab, all at Soho Images. At no stage in the process was there any degradation of detail, dynamic range, contrast or saturation.
Mark Hope-Jones
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The Yodelling ARRI brings furry fun to McDonald’s ‘Hüttengaudi’ campaign
McDonald’s went native with its winter campaign ‘Hüttengaudi’ for the ‘Big Rösti’, their burger combination with cheese, a potato rosti and bacon. The campaign features the snow-covered Alps and a yodelling woodchuck dancing the schuhplattler, a traditional Bavarian folk dance. Under the creative tutelage of advertising agency Heye & Partner, production company Hager Moss Commercial, in close collaboration with the 3D artists and post production specialists at ARRI Film & TV Commercial, not only created a classic TV ad but also a stand-alone viral spot for the internet. The goal was clear, extend the reach even deeper into the target group of mostly young burger gourmets, as well as ‘virally’ spread McDonald’s cheerful brand message via the World Wide Web. This is what happened… Shortly before Christmas 2006, a 40-second spot hit the internet playing on video platforms such as MyVideo and Clipfish. In the spot a security monitor captures some rather odd animal behavior. At a McDrive high up in the snow-covered Alps a woodchuck tinkers with the drive-thru intercom, clears its throat and begins to yodel and dance a schuhplattler. However, this unusual behaviour is abruptly cut short by a red VW van, which hits the nimble little woodchuck, carrying him off on its bumper right out of the picture. Only a crude Bavarian curse, “Sacklzement,” from off-screen and the fading in of
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‘www.huettengaudi.de’ gives the concerned viewer the comforting reassurance that nothing too terrible has happened to the furry creature. No need to call animal welfare, as despite the deceivingly perfect look of the woodchuck it was created digitally. The photo realistic alpine road victim was rendered by the 3D and Flame/Inferno artists at ARRI. The pranksters behind this witty spot are McDonald’s ad agency Heye & Partner, who used the internet spot to promote a yodel competition held in early 2007. “Up until now the internet has not been integrated into the ‘media mix’ of a McDonald’s campaign until much later,
when the content for television, radio and traditional print media has been determined,” says Andreas Forberger, Creative Director of Heye & Partner, as he explains the strategic approach of the ‘Hüttengaudi’ campaign. “This time around however, we went about it differently.” The impetus for the idea came from McDonald’s internet agency Tribal DDB, who realized that online video clips that appeal to the specified target audience spread like a virus among peer groups. It is more than likely that these ‘viral spots’ will soon become an integral part of the planning stage of marketing campaign strategies for most large companies.
VISIONARRI
Woodchuck
The task for the production company, Hager Moss Commercial, and the 3D and post production team at ARRI was to simultaneously produce a viral and 30-second TV spot. Both spots had to be interlocked, referring to one another. Finally, a 5-second ‘tandem spot’ had to be generated, prominently featuring the woodchuck and thereby connecting the two media levels, as well as creating a boilerplate for the final phase of the campaign. “To come across creative individuals, who under immense time pressure can think a concept through with us and develop it further is invaluable,” says Andreas Forberger, recalling an intense phase in the development process at the end of October 2006, “especially if all the specialists and artists are united under one roof, as is the case at ARRI - where you can get everything from one source.” Jens Junker of Hager Moss Commercial, Director of both spots, appreciated the ability to utilize this potential in difficult circumstances. Generally a fan of location shoots, he had to move from the mountains into the studio due to less than perfect weather conditions in the early winter of 2006. “What looks like ‘real shots’ in the spot - taken in the sunny
Alps - are in reality a complex mix of materials. The stylistic elements were finalised and blended into a perfect whole on the Flame/Inferno during post production.” The TV spot shows the red VW van approach the McDrive from a distance, focusing on the time prior to the accident involving the woodchuck which is featured in the viral spot. “Most interesting is that the entire set up, thanks to the less than ideal weather conditions, is based on one photo. We used this as a digital matte painting, into which we inserted the 35mm shots of the moving van taken in the studio with an ARRIFLEX 435,” explains Art Director and Flame/Inferno Artist Rico Reitz, who was responsible for on set, as well as post production supervision. “Working this way makes it possible to digitally build a stylised landscape, include effects such as wind, snow or dust and, through optimally grading the image, create the impression of a photorealistic environment.”
The end result convinced even Jens Junkers: “We gave everything a hyper-realistic feel, which in retrospect I like very much. It was essential though that we had a team that was reliable and would ensure that all the individual elements came together in the end.” The TV spot takes its humour from the heavy-accented Bavarian voice taking order requests through the intercom at the McDrive and the quick-witted response of the two passengers in the van, yodelling back the order in the same dialect. In the viral spot, everything centres on the woodchuck’s behaviour at the intercom. “I found it important,” points out Jens Junkers, “that the woodchuck looked absolutely ‘real’ at the beginning of the spot and would not be perceived as a comic book figure.” “It is only when he clears his throat and begins to yodel, and even goes on to dance a schuhplattler, that the illusion dissipates,” recalls Andreas Forberger as he enthusiastically reminisces: “I find the transition in the viral sensational, because the viewer truly believes they are watching a real animal pottering around the McDrive.”
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THE YODELLING WOODCHUCK
Agency Heye & Partner GmbH Werbeagentur GWA CD Andreas Forberger Production Company Hager Moss Commercial Director Jens Junker Producer Jürgen Kraus Head of Post Production Philipp Bartel Creative Producer / 3D Coordinator Phil Decker Art Direction & Flame Artist Rico Reitz Flame & Inferno Artists Klaus Wuchta 3D Artists Adam Dukes Nando Stille Christian Bumba Constantin Hubmann
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The basis for this optical illusion was professional 3D modelling in Maya, combined with the creation of textures and a colour scale for the structure of the fur in Photoshop. After importing these textures into Maya, up to six million individual hairs of the woodchuck’s fur were generated for animation and tested for rendering. Creative Producer Phil Decker is familiar with the problems that had to be solved all too well: “Hair is still in the top league in 3D animation. The greatest skill lies in creating the textures in such a way that the audience still perceives them as realistic. The animal has to look a little raggedy; the fur has to be sticky in places. If it is absolutely flawless and the animal looks like a blow-dried Lassie, then it doesn’t look real.” A general rule for visual effects and compositing is that one can achieve decent results in a relatively short amount of time, but that it takes twice that time to make the end product look perfect. Phil Decker put it this way: “If you schedule four weeks for 90% of the work, then you need to schedule another four weeks for the last 10% of the job. Only then will it come out perfect.” The finishing of the various layers (fur, eyes, teeth, lips) was accomplished during compositing on the Flame/Inferno. “On their own the individual 3D elements never truly look ‘finished.’ Only the appropriate compositing gives the image the desired look,” points out Rico Reitz: “Which sometimes involves making things look a little ‘less perfect’ to achieve the desired photorealism.”
The initial response to McDonald’s winter promotion was positive. And now, even though the final analysis has not been completed, the campaign is already considered to be one of the most effective. This was partially due to the high quality viral spot. “You don’t expect an internet spot to look perfect on the large screen but this one does,” says Jens Junker and continues: “Even if you reduce or alter the image or put a monitor flicker over it, you can still see the quality of the original film underneath.” It remains to be pointed out that this type of production requires sophisticated on set and post production supervision from one single source. Philipp Bartel, Head of Post Production at ARRI Film & TV Commercial, explains: “It shortens the time spent in post production, eases the burden on the director in situations where input is needed and leads to the most optimal results for our customers.” I To view the commercial go to www.arricommercial.de Ingo Klingspon
VISIONARRI
JPEG2000 on its way to Digital Cinemas The JPEG2000 format is currently arriving in digital cinemas, superseding the MPEG2 compression format previously used to create Digital Cinema Packages (DCPs). The MPEG Interoperability Group had developed MPEG2 as an intermediate format for digital theatres. It will continue to co-exist with JPEG2000 for the time being because of pre-shows such as trailers and advertisements. Several hybrid players are already available and others have been announced. In the long run, the requirements of distributors will lead to the expulsion of MPEG2 from theatres, with JPEG2000 taking its place.
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JPEG2000
Comparison of technical specifications, MPEG2 and JPEG2000
Resolution Colour Depth Data Rate Compression Data Reduction Colour Space Coding
MPEG2
JPEG2000
1920x1080
4069x2160 or 2048x1080
8 bit
12 bit
80 Mbit/s
250 Mbit/s
DCT
DWT
30/1 per 16 bit Tiff
41/1 or 10/1 per 16 bit Tiff
RGB
X’Y’Z’
Inter-/intra-frame
Intra-frame
The quality of JPEG2000 is an improvement. The most significant differences compared to MPEG2 are listed above.
A major difference between the two systems is JPEG2000’s intra-frame coding, compared to the intra and inter-frame coding in MPEG2. Intra-frame means that each frame is coded individually, while inter-frame means compressing several interrelated frames. In addition, MPEG2 uses discrete cosine transformation (DCT) while JPEG2000 uses the discrete wavelet transformation (DWT). The maximum data rate of JPEG2000 has been increased by a factor of approximately three compared to MPEG2. And, JPEG2000 uses the device-independent X’Y’Z’ colour space. Currently, ARRI Film & TV uses both systems. For high-quality productions like trailers and feature films it is recommended that a DCP is produced in JPEG2000. For cinema commercials where source material is already limited MPEG2 also leads to an adequate result.
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One of the main advantages of the JPEG2000 algorithm is the ability to extract various resolution levels out of one single file. This makes it possible to extract a 2k resolution layer out of a 4k DCP. 4k films can therefore be screened on 2k, as well as on 4k, projection systems. Currently, 4k projection systems are a rarity in cinemas, making 4k DCPs an exception. Looking at the compression, the data reduction in 4k is 41/1 while in 2k it is only 10/1. Consequently larger loss appears through compression despite qualitatively higher 4k material.
VISIONARRI
In comparison, the compression loss of 2k images is minimal, which becomes apparent in illustration 2. In both illustration 2 and 3, the chrominance has been increased 15 times to depict the loss.
Illustration 1: reference image
Illustration 2: 2k image
Illustration 3: 4k image For the creation of a DCP, the know-how of various ARRI departments can be utilized. This includes, for example, access to costly 3D Look Up Tables (LUTs) to transform logarithmic DPX files into linear 16 bit Tiff files in the X’Y’Z’ colour space, as well as the objective and subjective evaluation of the applied JPEG2000 algorithm. Colour reproduction, contrast, focus and detail accuracy are the main concern. The software solutions currently available permit the creation of flexible workflows and the optimization of algorithms. Furthermore, it is possible to add subtitles. This is another of the main advantages of digital cinema, as subtitles don’t have to be rendered onto the material but can be sent to the projector in a separate XML file. The projection system then uses internal keying to insert the subtitles in the desired
position in the film. For the Berlin Alexanderplatz: Remastered screening at the 2007 Berlinale International Film Festival, ARRI completed a DCP including subtitles for the first time. ARRI, therefore, is on it’s way to becoming one of the leaders in the realm of digital cinema. Outlook Currently, developments are underway to produce a digital cinema master in a 3D format. This would complete the attempt to be able to offer all formats. Customers venturing into digital cinema can rely on ARRI Film & TV to work on their projects in the highest qualitative level. I Constantin Seiler / Johann Hohenwarter / Matthias Ritschl
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Ancient Egypt Goes Digital with the ARRIFLEX D-20 It’s common knowledge amongst film and television crews that nothing challenges the reliability and performance of electrical and electronic equipment more than extreme temperatures or desert sunlight and sand storms. Prisoners of the Sun, a Miromar entertainment production shot in Morrocco’s Ouarzazate, was no exception.
Based on the same genre as Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Mummy, the story follows a multi-national expedition which discovers a lost city beneath the pyramids. Racing against time they must stop the re-awakening gods from initiating the count down to the end of the world. Part of the film takes place in a pyramid therefore the ARRIFLEX D-20 had to prove itself not only in the dark and dingy labyrinths lit only
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by torches but also in the bright desert sunlight. The digital filmstyle camera mastered the demanding situations wonderfully. The adventure film was directed by Roger Christian (Black Angel, The Dollar Bottom, The Sender). The images for Prisoners of the Sun were photographed by DoP Ed Wild (Phobias, Severance) and camera equipment was supplied by ARRI Rental Munich.
VISIONARRI
Were any modifications necessary?
VA:
EW: No, we took the camera as it was, out of the box. But my B-camera Focus Puller, Mark Nutkins, who has a lot of experience with the D-20, made the whole camera crew’s transition to the D-20’s slightly different workflow very smooth.
What problems did you encounter?
VA:
We filmed in the desert of Morocco, where you deal with extremely high contrast ratios. Some HD cameras tend to face problems with overexposed colours – but not the ARRIFLEX D-20. Sand is another factor. It can do nasty things to a roll of film. The D-20 survived a few heavy sandstorms and carried on shooting, although using the Angenieux Optimo series limits the exposure to the elements of the chip, which can get dust particles on it that photograph (its only real Achilles heel). EW:
THE FUNERAL CEREMONY of Princess Amanphur
ON LOCATION DoP Ed Wild on camera, to the left of him is Director Roger Christian
SARAH MASTERTON (Carmen Chaplin) and Doug Adler (David Charvet) VA: Why did you decide to shoot Prisoners of the Sun on an HD camera?
Producers like HD for several reasons, mainly because it saves money on film stock which is an important consideration as we were shooting with two cameras most of the time. Also you don’t have to transport film rolls back and forth which, when working in Morocco, is a help logistically. But it’s also great for the director and the editor because there is no lag getting rushes to the edit, meaning the editor can provide rough cuts very quickly, helping the director see how scenes are cutting and allowing sets to be wrapped more quickly.
EW:
VA:
Why did you choose the ARRIFLEX D-20?
VA: Any other challenges you had to face?
EW: Before, I would have generally preferred film, because it tends to be softer on skin and because of its gentleness in the highlights. The ARRIFLEX D-20 seems to mimic these features far better than previous HD technology. Plus, because it’s a full-size chip and a PL mount, there is a full choice of all the film lenses. The camera itself functions as a film camera, with a lovely bright optical viewfinder, ideal for the low light, dark exposure conditions of some of our scenes. Also, going the RGB route in colour grading has helped the richness of the image over other traditional YUV formats. All this helped to obtain a much more satisfying image.
EW: Yes, “unmotivated light.” There are a lot of scenes where people are running through dark corridors with torches in their hands. We had some very big sets, so we wanted to see them, as they were integral to the story.
How do you like the film Prisoners of the Sun?
VA:
EW: It is a big fun ride, people will enjoy it. The ARRIFLEX D-20 helped give it its “big feel” – combined with the vision of our Director Roger Christian and the hard work of a multi-national crew. VA:
What are your next projects?
Next is a commercial, followed by a new film, an urban drama. I
EW:
Clemens Danzer / Andrea Rosenwirth
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ACT
ARRI Rental Partner in Russia Twentieth century Saint Petersburg, Russia. The year is 1999 in a small apartment on Chkalovskaya Street. This is not, as you would think, the beginning of a film sequence but instead how ACT, ARRI Rental’s Russian Rental partner, began. Initially, in the beginning their inventory consisted of two cameras – a secondhand AATON and an old ARRI SR2 modified into the S16 format, some lighting equipment with a number of small tripods and a hand-made trolley with a dozen crooked rails. Among the 35mm cameras there was only the ARRI IIC with its Soviet optics. “It was with this kit that I shot one of my best films, Pro Urodov i Lyudey (About Freaks and People)”, says Sergei Astakhov, founder of ACT. It was during this early stage that the ideology of ACT was born. Eight years have passed and much has changed. The company has become one of the largest rental companies in Russia with a team of
30 employees and an inventory of approximately 45 cameras including the ARRICAM Lite, ARRIFLEX 535, 435, 35 and the 16SR 3 and a vast array of state-of-the-art lighting and grip equipment. AN ACT ENGINEER demonstrates LDS lenses to some students
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VISIONARRI
SERGEI ASTAKHOV and ACT Mechanic Vecheslav Krilov working on a stabilizing system
ACT’S FACILITIES in St. Petersburg
ACT became an ARRI Rental Partner in 2004, aspiring to provide the Russian film industry with excellent customer service, directing particular attention to the individual needs of each production. With this in mind, Sergei Astakhov and his team offer a broad range of services. Besides cameras, lenses, lighting equipment, accessories, dollies and cranes they endeavour to provide equipment specially developed for unique technical demands and situations. Although not always profitable it is carried out in the hope that they will return to ACT in the future; and the team is usually successful in achieving this goal. For the past three years they have been working with large production companies such as Nikita Mikhalkov’s TRITE, Sergey Seliyanov’s STV, Sergey Melkumov’s NonStopProduction, Mikhail Dunaev’s Thema Production and Jimmy de Brabant. Foreign filmmakers are also pleased with their services. Together with ARRI Rental Germany, ACT provided the equipment for the shooting of Khadk (produced by Ma.Ja.De Fiction) in Mongolia, where the muddy filming conditions were extreme with strong winds and temperatures reaching 50°C below zero. One of the company’s priorities is to support young talented cinematographers. For three years now, ACT has been actively working with the students of the Institute of Cinematography in Saint Petersburg and the VGIK (All-Russian State Cinematography
Institute) creating small kits of inexpensive shooting and lighting equipment charging only a small fee for the rental. They have designed a programme based on the company’s ideals. It consists of practical assignments in which students gain valuable knowledge about modern equipment. It is ACT’s hope that this will help to revitalize the life of cinematography in Russia. There is a lot of challenging yet interesting work for the ACT team. The $26m production Obitaemy Ostrov (Inhabited Island) has already begun shooting. DoP Maksim Osadchiy and Director Fyodor Bondarchuk have been more than satisfied with ACT’s services. Fyodor Bondarchuk is also Director of 9 rota (9th Legion) which was filmed with ACT’s and ARRI Rental’s equipment and set a domestic box office record in Russia, in 2005, generating $7.7m in five days. The shooting of Nikita Mikhalkov’s Utomlyonnye Solntsem-2 (Burnt by the Sun-2) is about to start. Currently, a technical basis for using cable-ways, resembling the CableCam and other similar devices, is being created. Sergei Astakhov and his team are confident that the future of the film and television industry in Russia looks good and taking into account the character of the Russian people, will also be a significant part of their social life. I
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Orange Shoots New Ad Campaign in South Africa Mobile phone giant Orange has created a new series of commercials. The ‘Life, as you like it’ campaign has been put together to illustrate how Orange services help people live the life they want, on their terms, as they like it. The series portrays various products offered by Orange, including Pay Monthly, Pay As You Go and new music service ‘gigsandtours from Orange’, which allows customers to reserve concert tickets up to 48 hours in advance of general sale. Each advert is based around a song that celebrates a benefit of an Orange product. As each is sung, props that link to the lyrics appear in shot around the central character, building up a theatrical scene as a tribute to ‘Life, as you like it’. Created by advertising agency Fallon and produced by Rattling Stick and Farm Film Productions, the ads were filmed at various locations in and around Cape Town over a two week period. Footage was captured by Director of Photography Jess Hall using three ARRIFLEX 435s, Cooke S4 lenses and Angenieux Optimo zooms. Camera and lighting equipment was supplied by Media Film Service, an ARRI Rental Partner with facilities in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban. The adverts feature a vast array of large theatrical style props, all of which had to be moved or dropped into shot at exactly the right time during filming. This required a huge amount of careful preparation, and a lot of scaffolding. Kate Murray, Producer for Farm Film Productions, says: “This campaign has been enormous on many levels. It was designed by three different art directors from the UK, with one local art director co-ordinating the entire project. A third of the budget went on the art department alone.” Throughout filming Media Film Service was on hand to respond to the demands of this large and varied shoot. “On the first day we requested a larger SoftSun,” reflects Murray, “which called for additional cabling, distribution and a more powerful generator. All was supplied without delay to the shoot, thanks to a well co-ordinated Media support team.” Orange has invested £13m in the ‘Life, as you like it’ campaign, which includes television, press, outdoor, online, and in-store activity. I
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VISIONARRI
Kent Candy Art on Ice! Through what seems like an endless frozen landscape, glides a head-turning female figure skater surrounded by floating strawberries and mint leaves. The ad was generated by the creative team at ARRI Commercial, who spent two weeks animating and compositing to create a stunningly smooth flowing spot to communicate the taste sensation of Kent candy brand ‘Olips’. A team of ARRI 3D and compositing artists set out to create a beautiful frozen landscape and breathe life into the strawberries and mint leaves, making them swirl seamlessly through the arctic scenery. It all ends with a packshot of the Kent candy. The creative concept for the spot came from Director Erol Özlevi himself. He was supported during filming on location in Turkey and throughout post production in Munich by ARRI’s Rico Reitz (Art Director & VFX Supervisor). It was essential that Rico Reitz was on set to supervise the visual effects in order to ensure everything was in place for the tasks that had to be accomplished in post production. Throughout the shoot, production company Filmclub turned to ARRI for their expertise on all technical aspects. The spot was shot by an internationally recognized team on an ARRIFLEX 435 using ARRI HMI lights. The venue for the shoot was an ice skating rink, where the figure skater was put through her paces. To transmit the camera movements a great number of tracking points were placed on a whitescreen that was set up in the background. The entire whitescreen was then replaced by an arctic landscape, created for the spot by the team at ARRI. The icy scenery was assembled during compositing using a mix of materials such as frame sequences and high-resolution stills, as well as footage from ARRI’s Commercial Library. To create the swirling 3D strawberries and mint leaves the artists worked with XSI. The finish was completed on the Flame. What makes commercials so great is that nothing is what it seems! To view the commercial go to www.arricommercial.de Credits Production Company: Filmclub Istanbul Executive Producer: Hakan Aytac Director: Erol Özlevi Agency: Guzel Sanatlar Saatchi & Saatchi Head of Commercial: Philipp Bartel Art Director: Rico Reitz Creative Producer 3D: Phil Decker Flame & Inferno Artists: Rico Reitz, Mikel Tischner, Klaus Wuchta, Chris Weingart 3D-Artists: Christian Deister, Gregoire Barfety, Marius Herzog Philipp Bartel
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SILENT WITNE NEW LOOK WI The BBC’s crime series, Silent Witness, is the Corporation’s highest rating drama, so the highest possible production values were demanded of it when it switched from Super 16 film to digital for its upcoming 11th season. “At the end of the previous series, which was shot on film, a new producer came in and said to me: ‘How can we make it look different or better?’,” says Kevin Rowley, DoP on all ten episodes of this series and on several previous seasons. He knew relatively little about HD, so set about testing the alternatives. “I didn’t like any of the cameras I tested, because they always had a video look. Then ARRI Media suggested the D-20. As soon as I looked through it and had seen the showreel I knew this was an HD camera made for a film man,” says Rowley. “I was surprised at how easily I took to it. I was amazed at the results.” The new Producer, George Ormond, had never worked on film, having mainly done episodic drama such as Eastenders and Holby City for the BBC, but was anxious to protect or improve the look of the show. “Kevin had made it look very classy,” he says. They tested the Viper, the Sony HDW750P and the D-20, and Ormond feels that the D-20 “gave it a really filmic look.” He also liked the fact that there weren’t “hundreds of internal menus to fiddle about with,” and that it took 35mm lenses. “We thought it would give the show a very distinctive look – glossy, classy and expensive looking, with movie ambitions,” he adds. “It really was the depth of field that made the difference for us.”
TRACK STARS: “feature film-style results in a quarter of the time”
“IT IS A TOOL THAT BRINGS THE BEST OUT OF YOU.” “I’m not saying that the Viper is a bad camera, but it has smaller chips [resulting in a deeper depth of field] and a more video look,” explains Rowley. “A lot of HD cameras have back focus issues,” adds Ormond, which doesn’t apply to the D-20. “You have to choose the right tools for the job,” he says. “You choose the camera for the needs of the show.” It also helped greatly that Rowley and his film crew immediately felt at home with it. However, the Corporation wasn’t initially keen on using it for cost reasons, “but we made such a case for it. I was adamant that this was the only way to
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go, HD-wise, and we eventually persuaded the BBC that it was the right way to go,” explains Rowley. “We struggled at the start, with cabling and rain, and it was heavy. The operator had to get to grips with it on his shoulder.” However, it was worth it. “We got spectacular results,” he says and while it was hard work, “I’m convinced now we made the right decision to go HD. I’ve had to give up any notion that my future would only be film,” he says. “Once you understand the basic principles of photography and can expose different film stocks, you can use this camera. It is definitely a serious bit of kit.”
SS GETS TH D-20
VISIONARRI
“WE THOUGHT IT WOULD GIVE THE SHOW A VERY DISTINCTIVE LOOK – GLOSSY, CLASSY AND EXPENSIVE LOOKING, WITH MOVIE AMBITIONS.” Monitor Wizard
Controlled Exposure
They would have avoided the cable issue if they had chosen a Sony camcorder, which records to an on-board tape, but the D-20 also offers cable-free recording with its FlashMags.
Compared to the film he had been used to shooting with, the D-20 has a slow ASA rating. “With modern film stocks, people can be pretty inaccurate with exposure readings and get away with it, but I hate under- or over-exposure where it’s not necessary, so I’m happy to work like this.”
“We have used the FlashMags, but not as much as we thought we would,” says Rowley. “We cabled the camera to the main monitor as much as possible.” Having a proper HD monitor on site meant Rowley could “see clearly under that black hood.” On location, he had a 14-inch Sony HD CRT monitor nearby, which he used for critical viewing and to set up the camera. Even indoors, the monitor was framed by a large sunshield and a black blanket. Indeed, he calculates that he spent about two hours a day under the hood, amounting to ten full days over the seven-month shoot. “What I’m seeing on that screen is so representative of the final result that even when I go to grading there is not much to do,” he explains. “You do have to light it very carefully. You have to light this stuff properly. It will not accept inferior exposure. I’ve found myself having to adjust my lighting, because there is no ‘I’ll fix it in post’,” he says. “If you get the blacks wrong or the highlights wrong, you can’t rescue it. You can’t take chances with it. Remember to look in the shadows, but beware of the highlights.”
He rated the D-20 at the equivalent of about 250 ASA, rather than the 320 ASA stated. “It’s been quite rewarding. I can see the polished result right there in front of me without waiting for the rushes later.” As an experienced DoP, when he was working with film Rowley could tell what the end result would look like just by looking through the camera. He thought that as the front part of the D-20 was essentially an ARRI 435, that looking through the viewfinder would be the same as viewing the monitor, but it wasn’t. This meant that he had to keep going from one to the other to check how they looked – at least initially. By the end of the shoot he didn’t need to look through the camera, as he could light for the D-20 intuitively by then. “I’ve learned how to light HD from this experience.”
However, this rigour is probably a good thing. “It is a tool that brings the best out of you,” says Rowley.
OPERATOR RODRIGO GUTIERREZ 39
SILENT WITNESS
Instead, focus has been the big issue. “It’s extremely difficult for the focus puller. Focus is for a gifted focus puller, because of both the D-20 [and its shallow depth of field] and the way we are shooting,” he says.
“Now, I’d be a bit more relaxed after seven months, but that was a really scary air show for me. I knew I couldn’t come back and do it again.”
“I can’t think of any shots that we’ve wanted to get that we haven’t got,” says Ormond. “We’ve had a 100% hit rate,” agrees Rowley.
On that episode, they also used film for high-speed shots and a high-speed Hi-Motion HD system from ARRI Media.
Explosive Beginnings
“For people who are running through a burning building, you have to shoot it at between 60 and 75 frames per second,” explains Maurice Phillips, Director of the first and fifth two-part stories. He is a very experienced film director who has worked extensively on TV drama and on movies, but for whom this was also a first HD experience.
Having shot so many episodes in a short period, he believes that the D-20 means “We can get feature film-style results in a quarter of the time” that it would normally take. Sentiment shared by everyone who attended the special screening of the first block Apocalypse at the Odeon Leicester Square (first two episodes cut together into a single two hour feature). Though produced for TV or rather HDTV screens, the new Silent Witness material held well on the large Odeon premier-cinema screen. “If you want to mimic the ‘big picture’ you can use the D-20, and that was very apparent at the screening at the Odeon,” says Rowley.
The first two-part storyline began with a bang, making the introduction to digital more than usually fraught. “Our introduction to HD was an air show, with 30,000 people, the French [equivalent of the] Red Arrows [air display team] and three cameras,” explains Rowley, who had to walk around after the Steadicam operator with a black hood on his head, viewing through the Astro seven-inch HD LCD monitor.
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However, not everything has gone perfectly. “There are moments when [the system] just crashes. The housing for the Sony recorder occasionally overheats,” says Rowley. Although, “over seven months of filming, there wasn’t one hair in the gate!” adds Phillips.
VISIONARRI
“WITH THE D-20, A LOT LESS GRADING IS INVOLVED, BECAUSE WHATEVER YOU GET ON SET IS VERY MUCH WHAT YOU GET IN POST.”
SILENT WITNESSES: DoP Kevin Rowley,
Producer George Ormond and Director Maurice Phillips (left to right)
“A GIFTED FOCUS PULLER” is a necessity says Rowley
Each two-hour story was shot in just five weeks, so they have shot the equivalent of six feature films in seven months, “with that kind of quality,” he adds. Indeed, Silent Witness is the biggest TV production yet made with the D-20. In the US, The Company, a 6 x 1-hour mini-series for TNT, has also been shot with the D-20 and in Germany Afrika Mon Amour, a 3 x 90 minute serial. “People have said that it has a sort of American look [similar to something like CSI ]. CSI is shot on 35mm and looks expensive, and it’s got that sort of look,” says Ormond, “but CSI has about twice the budget.”
Making the Grade Silent Witness is edited on Avid at its main studio in Acton, West London (where it has permanent sets), and grading is done at Soho post house Molinare. There is little difference between post on film or HD, except for the grading. “When you’re working in film, you telecine direct from the negative, which is very much more work intensive,” explains Phillips. “With the D-20, a lot less grading is involved, because whatever you get on set is very much what you get in post.”
They used an HDCAM SR deck to feed the Avid directly, at the same time viewing the dailies on an HD monitor. Molinare did the HD grade (using a FilmLight Baselight HD), sound mix and the final conform (using an Avid HD DS Nitris). “I just like the way the D-20 looks,” says Rowley. “Why should I use an ENG camera? It looks sharp and unnatural. The D-20 has the total characteristics of a 35mm camera.” He advises other DoPs: “Let’s not be afraid of the future. I was, a lot; but I’ve discovered a new way forward and I’m happy with it.” I David Fox
“LET’S NOT BE AFRAID OF THE FUTURE. I WAS, A LOT; BUT I’VE DISCOVERED A NEW WAY FORWARD AND I’M HAPPY WITH IT.” THE D-20: “An HD camera made for a film man”
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VISIONARRI
MOMENTS IN TIME ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST TECHNISCOPE and the spaghetti western Sergio Leone was in many ways a child of the cinema. His mother had been an actress in silent films and his father was the cinema pioneer Vincenzo Leone, who directed under the name Roberto Roberti. He was an only child and spent a great deal of time on his father’s film sets at Cinecittà in Rome, or on location in Naples. As a young man he was an assistant on Vittorio De Sica’s seminal neo-realist film Bicycle Thieves and thereafter served in a variety of roles on as many Italian productions as he could. Throughout the 1950s he built his reputation as an assistant on many of the so-called ‘sword and sandal’ or ‘peplum’ films, as well as on the action sequences of several Hollywood epics that shot in Italy, including Quo Vadis and Ben-Hur. When Director Mario Bonnard fell ill during the filming of The Last Days of Pompeii in 1959, Leone stepped into the role, his apprenticeship complete. A life-long fan of westerns, Leone finally saw an opportunity to make one himself when he went to a screening of Kurosawa’s Yojimbo in 1963 and decided that the story would perfectly suit an old west setting. Fistful of Dollars was released in 1964, a low-budget Italian-German co-production shot in Spain and starring a virtually unknown American TV actor, Clint Eastwood. It was an extraordinary success. For a Few Dollars More followed in 1965 and broke the box office records Fistful had set, firmly establishing spaghetti westerns as the new craze genre of Italian cinema and inspiring a stampede of copycat productions. The final film of what came to be known as Leone’s Dollars Trilogy was The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, again starring Eastwood as the fast-drawing loner. By this time Hollywood had come calling and the film, generously financed by United Artists, was set against an epic backdrop of the American Civil War. Released in 1966, it sold to dozens of countries and was another box office hit.
Leone, exhausted after making three westerns in as many years, declared himself finished with the genre and flew to America in an attempt to raise money for a gangster film he had been developing. United Artists had other ideas. They were pushing for another western and Leone feared they might force him to cast unsuitable studio actors such as Kirk Douglas or Charlton Heston. In the end he made a deal with Paramount; he would still have to make another western before the gangster film, but he could make it absolutely on his own terms.
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MOMENTS IN TIME
AN ORIGINAL TECHNISCOPE MOVEMENT
Once Upon a Time in the West began life as a series of story meetings between Leone and two young friends, Dario Argento and Bernardo Bertolucci, both of whom would go on to become successful directors in their own right. The three men met regularly at Leone’s home in late 1967 and screened countless American westerns, discussing and noting what they liked about each one. Their story aimed to be an amalgam of all such stories, a distillation of frontier characters and conflicts so skillfully interwoven with references that audiences would feel a sub-conscious connection with the film. Ennio Morricone, whose music was already an indelible element of Leone’s style, wrote the entire score for the film before photography began. The director had long desired to not only edit but also shoot a whole film to music, but it was not until Once Upon a Time in the West that he got his chance. Filming began in April 1968 and Leone was playing recordings of Morricone’s music while shooting scenes right from the beginning. As with the Dollars Trilogy, the film was shot mute and all dialogue post-dubbed, so playing music on set
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was less of an issue. Each major protagonist had their own musical signature; leitmotifs that helped the actors with their performances and also expressed the fluctuating dynamics of their characters’ relationships in the masterfully orchestrated final score. DoP Tonino Delli Colli joined Leone for a second time, having shot The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. He was a well established cinematographer, whose lighting and photography of Carlo Simi’s remarkable production design resulted in genre-defining images. Despite the lauded achievements of a career that spanned six decades, Delli Colli remained resolutely humble about the cameraman’s craft until his death in 2005: “Look, we are not making poetry,” he once commented, “We turn the lights on, and we switch them off. That’s what we do.” Leone was a perfectionist, obsessively concerned with tiny details of set decoration, costume or framing. This could make him infuriating to work with, though Delli Colli admired the sheer vision behind such attention to detail: “Technically, he was a great director.
VISIONARRI
“HE WOULD SHOOT A SCENE UP TO THIRTY TIMES… SERGIO WOULD PERFECT A TAKE AS HE WENT ALONG AND USED A LOT OF FILM.”
Sometimes he would ask for a dolly of twenty centimetres and I would say, “Why a dolly?” But when it was edited, you could notice those twenty centimeters. The public didn’t realize about things like this on a technical level, but felt them psychologically.” The DoP accompanied Leone on a location scout to Monument Valley in Arizona, where some sequences were to be shot, and described “Sergio excitedly telling me almost all the shots in John Ford’s films: ‘He shot from this angle. He placed the camera here.’ And it was all in his head.” Like all three Dollars films, this one was shot using Techniscope, a 2 perforation widescreen process that had been developed by Technicolor Italia in Rome, primarily in order to avoid the considerable cost of anamorphic production. The system utilized conventional 35mm film, but in cameras that had been modified to pull the stock down by two perforations at a time, as opposed to the normal four. In combination with a 2.35:1 ratio gate, the modification resulted in two images being exposed on top of each other within the 4 perforation Academy area, effectively doubling the running time of each can of
film. This meant significant savings in stock and developing costs, while also circumventing the need to rent expensive anamorphic lenses. The laboratory would vertically stretch the images on the developed negative with an optical printer and position each one in the 4 perforation area to create the equivalent of an anamorphic release print. The fact that Techniscope used spherical camera lenses eliminated many of the difficulties associated with anamorphic filming. The sphericals were faster, so Delli Colli needed less of a lighting kit for the lengthy location shoot in Almeria, Spain. They did not distort close-ups, were sharper and had greater depth of field, which suited Leone’s penchant for images containing faces in the extreme foreground and panoramic landscapes in the background. Indeed it is difficult to
Delli Colli shot with converted Mitchell cameras on Once Upon a Time in the West, but also made extensive use of Techniscope ARRIs. “Working in Almeria was hard because of the heat and the dust,” he commented, and being able to use such a lightweight camera made shooting under the desert sun considerably less physically punishing. Camera noise was of no concern due to the absence of sync-sound, so ARRIs could even be used for dialogue scenes. Their extreme portability compared to the Mitchells allowed Delli Colli to change set-ups with speed and ease, while the stock savings gave Leone greater freedom to shoot as many takes as he wanted: “He would shoot a scene up to thirty times,” recalled Delli Colli. “Sergio would perfect a take as he went along and used a lot of film.”
imagine how the anamorphics of the day would have allowed him to develop a style in which the landscape is a character and the character’s faces are landscapes. Various companies started providing Techniscope camera conversions from the early sixties as the format gained in popularity. Mitchell Camera Corporation were among the first; an advertisement in the January 1964 American Cinematographer offered conversion of Mitchell BNC and NC cameras for $1,400 and the ARRIFLEX 35mm reflex cameras for $1,300. Not long after this, ARRIFLEX brought out the 35 II CT/B, a factory-built 2 perforation camera for use with the Techniscope process. It was priced at $2,100 and featured a film aperture of 9.5mm x 22mm behind a 200° shutter.
Techniscope was used on a great many films, including The Ipcress File and American Graffiti, but eventually died out in the late 1970s. By this time anamorphic lenses had improved substantially in quality and optical printing had become prohibitively expensive. However, with the current emergence of the Digital Intermediate post-production process, the format has again become an interesting option. The ARRISCAN is able to scan 2 perforation negative just as easily as any other, obviating the necessity of optical printing. The tremendous savings offered by the system are therefore no longer offset by other concerns, and state-of-the-art ARRI cameras equipped with 2 perforation movements are now available for rent, making 35mm widescreen production more affordable for a new generation of filmmakers. I Mark Hope-Jones
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News from around the world United Arab Emirates Joins ARRI Rental Group Dubai is already home to a busy commercials industry and thanks to the beauty of its natural and urban landscapes, the growth of sophisticated local production facilities and anticipated government incentives, it is set to become the Middle East’s premier filming location. Recognizing the potential of the emerging market in the UAE, ARRI Media London has entered into a new partnership with Dubai based facility Filmquip to form one of the largest equipment rental companies in the Middle East. Filmquip has been successfully supplying productions with camera, lighting and grip equipment for the past six years. The agreement, which has seen the company relaunch as Filmquip Media, now means that clients will have access to one of the most extensive selections of camera equipment in the region.
The new partnership and new name was celebrated with a launch party in March, where representatives from both ARRI Media and Filmquip Media welcomed over 100 local industry professionals. Those with overseas experienced recognised the advantage of the partnership. Ian Ross, Executive Producer, stated: “Having worked with ARRI Media in the UK we are delighted to have their presence in this region. It should bring a bigger variety of better equipment, as well as very solid backup from a company that has so much worldwide experience.”
Tim Smythe, CEO of production company Filmworks, commented: “As head of Filmworks, which has facilitated the Hollywood productions Syriana and Kingdom, I believe that the feature film industry is rapidly learning about this region and what it has to offer filmmaking. I predict more feature films will be coming to the area in the near future and look forward to being able to use the ARRI Media name while consulting with productions, because I know it is trusted.” His colleague Mofeed Abu Gebeen, Managing Director of Filmworks, agreed: “The presence of ARRI Media in the region raises my confidence in the local industry as a whole. I have a lot of faith in ARRI Media’s standards and services and look forward to being able to work in an environment with so much support.” Representatives from both companies were also present at CABSAT 2007, held at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre, 6th-8th March. With over 8,000 attendees, the event provided the perfect platform to introduce and demonstrate ARRI’s latest camera technology. This included the ARRIFLEX D-20, which made its first appearance in Dubai. “Dubai currently has a small industry but it is growing well,” summarises Anthony Smythe, “Our collaboration with ARRI Media means we have access to the best equipment and technical information, allowing us to keep up with the demands of a developing market and ensuring that we continue to be the leading equipment rental facility in the Middle East.”
GUESTS ENJOYING Filmquip Media’s launch party
ARRI Media will support Filmquip Media with an inventory of ARRIFLEX 35mm and 16mm cameras, as well as an extensive selection of lenses and accessories. “With this deal, we will be able to provide a range of equipment that has never been available in the Middle East before,” says Anthony Smythe, Filmquip Media’s Managing Director. Filmquip Media will also be an official representative for the ARRIFLEX D-20.
FILMQUIP MEDIA’S STAND at CABSAT 2007
ARRI MEDIA’S MD, Philip Cooper, with Filmquip Media’s MD, Anthony Smythe (left to right)
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VISIONARRI
News from around the world New ARRI Rental Partner in Spain.
The ARRI Rental Group are delighted to announce another addition to their international rental network. Camara Rental has recently been appointed an official ARRI Rental Partner. A family owned business founded by Manuel Berenguer ASC, acclaimed International Director of Photography, opened its doors for business in the late seventies. Today, Camara Rental has offices in Barcelona, Madrid and Malaga, and is run by Andres Berenguer ASC and Alvaro Berenguer in the commercial department, Javier Miñaca in the administration department and Sylvia Jacuinde for international relations. They have just opened a new facility in Europe’s newest and largest studios, Ciudad de la Luz Studios in Alicante, currently shooting an international feature Garden of Eden with DoP Ashley Rowe BSC. With plans of expanding into emerging international markets, they can already be found in Casablanca (Morocco), Boyana Studios Sofia (Bulgaria) and Caracas (Venezuela). With an extensive inventory of 35mm and 16mm ARRI cameras and lenses and a full line of grip equipment: TechnoCranes, SwissJib, Remote 3-axis Heads, Camara Rental is keen to embrace the latest digital camera technology on offer from the ARRI Rental Group. With this in mind Andrew Prior, ARRI Media’s Digital Camera Manager travelled to Madrid to host a D-20 workshop for Camara Rental preptechnicians, engineers and free-lance technicians. The group was quick to
understand the basic concepts and operation of the ‘digital film-style camera’. The fact that the D-20’s basic design is based on the 435, 535 and ARRICAM allowed the group to pick up the systems functionality very quickly. Paco Femenia, one of Spain’s leading cinematographers who last year shot Alatriste, was keen to familiarise himself with the new technology on a three day shoot, a short film titled Accion- Reaccion, shot on location in Madrid. It was the first time the D-20 has been used in Spain for a real shoot and was thoroughly enjoyed by both cameraman and crew. Shooting incorporated every type of lighting condition, and set up, including day and night interiors and exteriors. Femenia shot in 4:4:4 uncompressed, lighting and operating the D-20 much like he would a 35mm camera. The crew used the SRW-1 and FlashMag recording systems for both dolly and handheld camera set ups. Both the Director and DoP commented on the D-20’s stunning image quality and the feedback on the cameras functionality was extremely positive.
CAMARA RENTAL TEAM, Alvaro Berenguer, Sylvia Jacuinde, Andres Berenguer, Javier Miñaca (left to right)
DoP FRANCISCO FEMENIA
PART OF THE CREW, Juan Carlos, Tono and Manolo (left to right)
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NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
News from around the world ARRI Lighting Rental & ARRI Media Open Their Doors to Productions in the North ARRI Media has joined sister company ARRI Lighting Rental in Manchester in response to the region’s current shooting boom. The BBC’s commitment in recent years to increase spend on TV drama produced outside London has had a significant impact in boosting production in the North. A steady rise in commissions with local independent production companies has produced many successful shows for the BBC and this has seen other channels follow closely in their footsteps. Manchester is now at the heart of the biggest production community outside the capital.
The current increase in production, together with the BBC’s decision to choose Manchester as the preferred location for its anticipated move north has prompted ARRI Media to join ARRI Lighting Rental and expand into the region. ARRI Lighting Rental has successfully serviced productions with lighting from their base in Salford, Manchester for the past 15 years. Now, following the completion of an extensive refurbishment programme at the Salford site, together both companies are able to offer the complete shooting package to productions in the North West. The completion of the refurbishment at Manchester was marked with an open day in February, where local industry professionals were invited along to view the new facilities and find out all about the latest camera and lighting equipment on offer. Staff from ARRI Media and ARRI Lighting Rental were on hand to demonstrate products and answer questions.
GUESTS AND STAFF at the open day
One of the biggest attractions was the ARRIFLEX D-20, which was the subject of many questions from guests. Another big draw of the day was the new ARRIFLEX 416 and Ultra 16 lenses. As well as a whole host of camera equipment there was also a range of the latest lighting equipment on display, including the ARRIMAX, the most powerful HMI available. The open day was well attended, increasing local awareness for ARRI Lighting Rental and ARRI Media. Tommy Moran, Managing Director of ARRI Lighting Rental, commented: “The open day was a great success and helped us to show the local industry that we are in a position to offer productions the complete package for lighting, cameras, grip and consumables, all with the same dedication and level of service available from our London headquarters.”
Additional Support for ARRI Commercial
JULIANE SCHMID
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Philipp Bartel (Head of Post Production) and Julia Eberl (Producer) are welcoming a new member to their team. As of May 2007, 29-year-old Juliane Schmid will join their support staff. The native Berliner is highly experienced, having spent the last couple of years at the post production house “Pictorion das Werk.”
We wish Juliane Schmid a great start in Munich and lots of success on the job. The Commercial team would also like to extend their best wishes to Julia Eberl. Instead of breaking down storyboards, she will, temporarily, dedicate her time to her family business and change diapers. We look forward to her return in 2008.
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Did you Know The Departed 2006
The film employed a retired detective, who had spent his working life specialising is organised crime, as a technical advisor. During his career he was involved in a case against a notorious South Boston gangster known as Whitey Bulger, whom Jack Nicholson’s character Frank Costello is partly based on. He was also given a small role in the film as the official who delivers a speech to the graduating police cadets.
Take
Steve Lawes Director of Photography
1 The Black Dahlia 2006 The film is based on James Ellroy’s novel about a police hunt in the forties for the killer of starlet Elizabeth Short. The novel was actually based in part on the true story of the murder of a girl called Elizabeth Short, an aspiring actress who moved to Hollywood in the late forties. A wannabe who never managed to get her big break into films, she disappeared in January 1947. The discovery of her mutilated body was widely covered in the press but her murderer was never caught. Actual autopsy photographs of the real Elizabeth Short were used in the film.
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Babel 2006 The part of the plot that unfolds in Japan involves a deaf and mute girl. The DoP, Rodrigo Prieto, used shallow depth of field to represent not being able to hear anything and shot all the scenes for this part of the story using anamorphic lenses so that the depth of field would be minimal.
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Hot Fuzz 2007 Edgar Wright (Co-writer & Director) and Simon Pegg (Co-writer & Lead) got their mothers to appear in the film. They play the judges for the ‘Best Kept Village’ competition.
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Brokeback Mountain 2005 Much of the visual effect work involved adding in CGI sheep. The film, about two young men who meet while sheep herding, required a few thousand sheep but only 700 were used during shooting, necessitating the addition of many more woolly creatures.
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Children of Men 2006 In a scene a car is seen driving past a heavily guarded gate and over a bridge towards Battersea Power Station, between the smoke stacks of the power station a floating pig can be seen – a recreation of the cover image of the Pink Floyd album Animals.
What film first inspired you to work in this industry? MadMax – probably shouldn’t have been watching at the age of 10! Australia’s first stab at an anamorphic film, way ahead of it’s time, a real cult classic. What’s your cure for the “morning after the wrap party” feeling? Quite straight forward this one, to still be up until the morning after the wrap party. Name three things that make you smile? My little girl Lilah. All These Things That I’ve Done by the band The Killers. The sound my Honda Type-R makes. What was the first car you ever owned? VW Beetle that I bought from a so called friend at college for £150. He forgot to mention that if you turned the heating on, you would nearly pass out from the exhaust fumes. Contrary to popular belief – the most un-reliable car ever (well mine was). What’s the one thing you can’t live without? Music – always been a big part of my life, If I was in Lost, I’d want my iPod. If your life was a film, what would it be and why? It would have to be The Money Pit – after spending seven years renovating an old victorian house and still not quite having finished it yet. What’s your most embarrassing moment? When I was working on The Lakes as a clapper loader, it was a three day weekend and the unit had been based at our hotel in Ulswater for eight weeks. On the Tuesday morning, Olly Tellett and myself left our rooms for breakfast only to find that the unit had moved, two hours up the road… Moral of the story: ALWAYS read the call sheet! Who inspires you? Directors: Krzysztof Kieslowski, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Mathieu Kassovitz, Michel Gondry. Cinematographers: Roger Deakins, Chris Menges, Slawomir Idziak, Janusz Kaminski. Name three people (living or dead) you’d most like to dine with? Elvis – Who wouldn’t want to dine with the King? Billy Bob Thornton – I’m sure he’s got something interesting to say. Kylie Minogue – Don’t think I need to justify this one.
10 What was the last film you saw? Sunshine – fantastic achievement and looked stunning. 49
When it
Counts‌ ADVANTAGES Less raw stock
More running time per magazine, longer takes
Achieve superb image quality at lower costs with 2 perforation. The 2 perforation format has a widescreen look made famous by the likes of Sergio Leone with titles such as A Fistful of Dollars and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Unfortunately, the format disappeared at the end of the seventies as the coarse grain structure of available camera negative and intermediate stocks, together with the optical process of the time did not yield good enough results.
More takes per magazine
Today’s modern super fine grained film stocks and ultra sharp lenses, as well as the advent of the Digital Intermediate, all combine to achieve a 2 perforation image of superb quality, and as a result the ARRI Rental Group is introducing a new 2 perforation movement. The ARRICAM Studio, ARRICAM Lite and ARRIFLEX 235 will all be available in 2 perforation.
Fewer reloads
Ideal for cost-conscious filmmakers looking to compose a widescreen image, the format achieves a natural CinemaScope aspect ratio of 2.39:1 on standard 35mm film stock. It is also suitable for 1.85:1 and 1.78:1.
Fewer short ends
The quantity of film used is reduced because it is advanced by 2 perforations instead of the traditional 4 perforations, eliminating the previously unused space between frames. This translates to less stock and, consequently, a reduction in processing costs, with only a minimal reduction in negative area compared to 4 perforation.
Savings on lab costs
SELECTION OF FORMATS FOR 2 PERFORATION
Ideal for Digital Intermediate route
1.78: 16.29 x 9.15mm
1.85: 16.93 x 9.15mm
2.39: 21.87 x 9.15mm
2 Perforation Uses 53% Less Film Stock* Running Time of 400ft Magazine
Running Time of 1000ft Magazine
2 Perforation
8 minutes 34 seconds
21 minutes 26 seconds
4 Perforation
4 minutes 17 seconds
10 minutes 43 seconds
*To capture 10 hours of images: 2 perforation needs 72 x 400ft rolls, 4 perforation needs 154 x 400ft rolls. (Saving calculation based on 50ft waste with 4 perforation and 25ft waste with 2 perforation)
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VISIONARRI
There are also benefits on set as 2 perforation increases the running time of a magazine by more than 100% to provide more shooting time. This means longer takes and fewer reloads, as well as fewer short ends, providing increased efficiency while filming. 2 perforation is the ideal candidate for Digital Intermediate, the negative can be scanned and all postproduction performed digitally. Images can then be recorded back onto a 4 perforation Intermediate Negative (IN) or Intermediate Positive (IP) to create a 4 perforation release print. Achieve costs savings and retain image quality with 2 perforation – the economical route for 35mm film production.
2 PERFORATION POST-PRODUCTION WORKFLOW
Videotape
Í
Video Dailies Monitor
Contact Printing
Dailies Positive 2 Perforation
Í
Film Dailies Film Projector 2 Perforation
FILM DAILIES
Telecine
DIGITAL INTERMEDIATE
TELEVISION BROADCAST
Broadcast
Telecine
Scan
Video Edit
Broadcast Master
Online Edit Dust Bust Conform & Grade Digital Effects
Intermediate Negative 4 Perforation
Contact Printing
Release Print 4 Perforation
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PRODUCT
UPDATE New Additions to Master Prime Family The Master Prime family of lenses is growing wider and longer with the addition of two new focal lengths, the Master Prime 14mm and the Master Prime 150mm. The new focal lengths exhibit the same key features that have made the existing Master Primes such a worldwide success. Extraordinary sharpness, increased contrast, minimal breathing, dramatically reduced flare, minimized chromatic aberrations and an even illumination of the whole Super 35 frame all combine to provide superior optical performance. The shape of both new focal lengths has been matched to the current Master Prime lenses as closely as possible without compromising optical quality. The back end is the same as on all the other Master Primes, and the focus and iris rings are in exactly the same positions. The Master Prime 14 is slightly longer, but still retains the same 114mm front diameter, while the Master Prime 150mm is longer and required a wider front diameter of 134mm. All Master Primes have an extended iris range of T1.3 to T22 and display virtually no breathing. The widest aperture of T1.3 allows shots in low light and with dramatically reduced depth of field. Unlike previous high-speed lenses, the Master Primes have been optimized for a uniform optical performance across the whole t-stop range: they can not only capture details in the darkest corner at night that other lenses simply cannot see, but even in blazing sunlight their special construction, internal light traps and advanced T* XP anti-reflection coating protects the dark areas, creating a high contrast image with a well defined range from the darkest to the brightest part of the scene. The Master Primes are now a family of 14 high-speed lenses that offer unequalled performance in any lighting situation, whether day or night, interior or exterior.
Master Primes Facts - 14 high-speed (T1.3) Super 35 primes - 14, 16, 18, 21, 25, 27, 32, 35, 40, 50, 65, 75, 100 & 150mm - Superior optical performance Sharper, more contrast No geometric distortion Dramatically reduced flare Minimized chromatic aberration - Virtually no breathing due to Dual Floating Element technology - Extended iris range of T1.3 to T22 across all focal lengths - Super Colour Matched to Ultra Primes, Lightweight Zoom LWZ-1, Master Zoom and Ultra 16 lenses
Wireless Remote System Yellow Software Upgrade As more and more wireless devices crowd the airwaves the risk of interference grows. The Wireless Remote System (WRS) has been upgraded to make its transmission substantially more resistant to interference, especially from video transmitters. The transmission of data by the WRS is based on the ARRI Wireless Networking Protocol. Careful analysis of the most common video transmitters has led to new insights into minimizing interference. The yellow software upgrade provides increased resistance as it modifies the size and frequency of the data packets for a higher total system data rate, allowing better and smoother motor control – even when data packets are lost. Upgraded WRS units are identified by a yellow washer under the antenna, hence the update is known as ‘yellow software’.
Wireless Remote System Facts - Feature rich
- Multi-unit capability
Full remote control of lens and camera Lens Data System provides lens info on LDD-FP display Wireless speed and depth of field ramps - Modular Many configurations possible Simple snap-on connection Automatic, smart identification of components 52
Up to three hand units can communicate with one camera Multiple cameras, each with three hands units are possible on one set - Small & lightweight - Robust transmission (yellow software) - Compatible with film and video cameras
- Camera-side transmitter and motor drives are built into: ARRICAMs with Lens Data Box ARRIFLEX 435 Xtreme ARRIFLEX 416 Plus UMC-3 (for all other film and video cameras)
VISIONARRI
Ultrasonic Distance Measure UDM -1 A small, lightweight ultrasonic distance measuring device that can be mounted on a camera. Comprising of a sensor and control box, the Ultrasonic Distance Measure UDM -1 is compatible with all film cameras, digital cameras and lenses. Easy to set up and use, the sensor bounces ultrasonic signals off objects and calculates the distance by the time taken for the reflected signal to return. The measured value is then shown on the LCD display, either in feet and inches or metres and centimetres. The UDM -1 has the advantage of a built-in filtering function which allows the user to accurately set foreground and background limits; objects that fall outside of the programmed area are ignored. The system also integrates seamlessly with the ARRI Wireless Remote System WRS, sending the signal directly to the WRS main unit, which displays the measured distance on the Lens Data Display for Focus Puller LDD-FP. When using the UDM -1 with the LDD-FP, you have the option to let the focus motor continuously set the lens to the measured distance, thus auto-tracking the focus. This auto-tracking feature can be engaged and dis-engaged quickly with either a button on the LDD-FP or alternatively with a button on the WHA-3 or WHA-4.
UDM-1 Facts - Small, lightweight and easy to use - Compatible with film and digital cameras - Capable of measuring distances from 1ft 2” to 30ft - Can be used remotely, such as when a camera is mounted on a crane, without the need for any additional controls - In-built filtering function allows foreground and background limits to be set - Integrates with Wireless Remote System (yellow software) - Large, bright LCD display for easy viewing in all lighting conditions - LCD display includes depth of field indicator - Providing the Lens Data Display for Focus Puller LDD-FP is used, the sensor can be operated independently of the control box, which is only required for parameter adjustment
The UDM -1 is exclusive to the ARRI Rental Group
Rain Deflector A compact, lightweight, on axis rain deflector that can be mounted on 19mm studio support rods or inverted and used with a low mode bracket set. Driven by three motors, an optical disc rotates at high speed to deflect rain from the front of the lens. The disc has been specially designed to produce less than a 2% loss in contrast and is capable of reaching a maximum speed of 7200rpm. The system is powered directly from the camera accessory connector or via an external battery.
Rain Deflector Facts - Compact and lightweight - Ideal for hand-held and Steadicam applications - Accommodates most primes, from 14mm (Super 35) on, as well as small zooms - Variable speed control with maximum rate of 7200rpm - Design incorporates 4” x 5.65” filter trays, mattes and light shields from the MB-18 - Specially designed optical disc produces less than 2% contrast loss - Low power consumption, powered directly from camera or by external battery - Removable sunshade
The Rain Deflector is exclusive to the ARRI Rental Group
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PRODUCTION UPDATE
ARRI RENTAL Project Name
Production Company
Director
DoP
Equipment
Adam Resurrected
ADAM Productions
Paul Schrader
Sebastian Edschmied
Hafen der Hoffnung Die letzte Fahrt der Wilhelm Gustloff John Adams
Ufa Filmproduktion Leipzig
Joseph Vilsmaier
Jörg Widmer
HBO Films
Tom Hooper
Tak Fujimoto, Daniel Cohen
Keinohrhasen
Barefoot Films
Til Schweiger
Christof Wahl
Krabat
Claussen+Wöbke+ Putz Filmproduktion
Marco Kreuzpaintner
Daniel Gottschalk
Meine schöne Bescherung Prisoners of the Sun Speed Racer
X-Filme
Vanessa Jopp
Hans Fromm
Miromar Entertainment Warner Bros. Pictures
Ed Wild David Tattersall
ARRICAM ST/LT, Cooke S4s, Ultra Primes, 24-290mm Angenieux Optimo, ARRI Shift & Tilt, 3 perforation, Grip ARRIFLEX 16SR3, 435, Ultra16, Ultra Primes, Canon Zoom 6, 6-66mm & 10,6-180mm, Lighting, Grip ARRICAM ST/LT, Master Primes, 15-40mm, 17-80mm & 24-290mm Angenieux Optimo ARRICAM ST/LT, Cooke S4s, 8mm UltraR, 24-290mm Angenieux Optimo, 3 perforation ARRICAM ST/LT, Ultra Primes, 25-250mm & 17-102mm Angenieux, 3 perforation, Lighting, Grip ARRICAM ST/LT, 435, Master Primes, Master Zoom, 3 perforation, Lighting ARRIFLEX D-20, 435, Ultra Primes Lighting, Grip
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian The Company
Walden Media
Roger Christian Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski Andrew Adamson
Sony Pictures
Mikael Salomon
Ben Nott
Town Creek
Up a Creek Productions
Joel Schumacher
Darko Suvak
Warum Männer nicht zuhören und Frauen schlecht einparken können
Constantin Filmproduktion
Leander Haußmann
Tilmann Büttner
Karl Walter Lindenlaub
ARRICAM ST/LT, 435, 235, Master Primes, Master Zoom, Lighting, Grip ARRIFLEX D-20, 435, Master Primes, Ultra Primes, Master Zoom, Lighting, Grip ARRICAM LT, 435, 235, Master Primes, Master Zoom, ARRI Shift&Tilt, 3 perforation ARRICAM ST/LT, Cooke S4s, 15-40mm, 17-80mm & 24-290 mm Angenieux Optimo, 3 perforation, Lighting, Grip
ARRI MEDIA Title
Production Company
Director
DoP
Eastern Promises The Bourne Ultimatum In Bruges
Focus Features Universal Bell Tower Productions
David Cronenberg Paul Greengrass Martin McDonagh
Peter Suschitzky Oliver Wood Eigil Bryld
Equipment
The Bank Job St Trinian’s
Skyline (Baker Street) Mayhem Films Ltd
Michael Coulter BSC Gavin Finney BSC
Sense & Sensibility Boy A Bono, Bob, Brian & Me Primeval 2 City of Ember
BBC Drama Cuba Pictures Bono Bob Ltd Impossible Pictures Walden Media
Roger Donaldson Oliver Parker and Barnaby Thompson John Alexander John Crowley David L Williams Jamie Payne Gil Kenan
Sean Bobbitt BSC Rob Hardy Stuart Biddlecombe Adam Suschitzky Xavier Grobert
DoP
Gaffer
Rigging Gaffer Best Boy
Stewart King Chuck Finch Mark Clayton/ James Summers Matt Moffatt Alan Martin John Colley Brian Beaumont Andy Long John Colley Terry Edland Steve Kitchen Larry Prinz
Steve Anthony Brian Livingstone
Billy Tracey
BSC
ARRICAM ST/LT, Master Primes ARRICAM ST/LT, 235, Cooke S4s ARRICAM ST/LT, 3 perforation, Master Primes D-20, Master Primes ARRICAM ST/LT, 3 perforation, Cooke S4s ARRIFLEX 416, Cooke S4s ARRIFLEX 416, Master Primes Sony 750P HD and Zooms ARRIFLEX 416. Cooke S4s ARRICAM ST/LT ARRIFLEX 235, Cooke S4s
ARRI LIGHTING RENTAL Title
Production Company Director
Primeval 2 City Of Ember Spooks
Impossible Pictures Walden Media Kudos
Untitled 06 Cranford Chronicles The Edge Of Love Sense & Sensibility In Bruges Eastern Promises The Bank Job Britz How To Lose Friends & Alienate People Boy A
Potboiler Productions BBC Jitterbug Productions BBC Bell Tower Productions Focus Features Skyline (Baker Street) Daybreak Pictures Number 9 Films
Adam Suschitzky Xavier Grobert Kieran Mcguigan/ Damien Bromley Mike Leigh Dick Pope BSC Steve Hudson Ben Smitthard John Maybury Jonathan Freeman John Alexander Sean Bobbitt BSC Martin McDonagh Eigil Bryld David Cronenberg Peter Suschitzky BSC Roger Donaldson Michael Coulter BSC Peter Kosminsky David Higgs Robert B Weide Oliver Stapleton BSC
Cuba Pictures
John Crowley
Jamie Payne Gil Kenan
Rob Hardy
Warren Ewen Vince Madden
Phil Penfold
Billy Merrell Richard Potter Kevin Fitzpatrick Terry Montague Andy Cole Ian Glennister Mark Hanlon Andy Cole Paul Toomy Pat Sweeny Mark Funnell Ian Jackson
Published by the ARRI Rental Group Marketing Department. 3 Highbridge, Oxford Road, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8 1LX United Kingdom The opinions expressed by individuals quoted in articles in VisionARRI do not necessarily represent those of the ARRI Rental Group or the Editors. Due to our constant endeavour to improve quality and design, modifications may be made to products from time to time. Details of availability and specifications given in this publication are subject to change without notice.
54
VISIONARRI
ARRI CSC Project Name
Production Company DoP
Gaffer
Bourne Ultimatum
Beach City Productions
Russell Engels
Oliver Wood
Equipment
Serviced by
ARRICAM ST/LT ARRIFLEX 435, 235 Lighting, Grip Mancora Pacificus LLC Leandro Filloy ARRICAM LT (3 perf.) October Road October Road Prods. Theo Van Sande ARRICAM ST/LT, 435 On The Lot Shooting Stars Pictures Various Oscar Dorminquez Automated Lighting Pathology Lakeshore Entertainment Ekkehart Pollack Justin DuVal Lighting, Grip Prom Night Original Film Checco Varese Danny Ecclestone Automated Lighting Revolutionary Road DWNY Prods. Inc. Roger Deakins ASC,BSC Bill O’Leary Lighting, Grip Sunshine Cleaning Sunshine Cleaning Prod. John Toon ARRICAM LT x 2 (3 perf.) Synecdoche Mysterious Condition LLC Frederick Elmes ASC Jonathan Lumley ARRICAM ST/LT Lighting, Grip The Return Return Prods. Inc. Declan Quinn ASC ARRIFLEX 416 30 Rock NBC Vanja Cernjul ARRICAM LT (3 perf.)
ARRI CSC NY ARRI CSC FL ARRI CSC FL (3 perforation) Illumination Dynamics Illumination Dynamics Illumination Dynamics ARRI CSC NY ARRI CSC FL ARRI CSC NY (3 perforation) ARRI CSC NY ARRI CSC NY
ARRI FILM & TV - POST PRODUCTION SERVICES - FEATURES Title
Production Company
Director
DoP
Charleston and Vendetta Die Frauen des Anarchisten Fair Trade Fatamorgana Hanami (Kirschblüten) Jump Krabat
Blue Pen P`ARTISAN Filmproduktion Michael Dreher Filmproduktion Enigma Film Olga Film LWB Media Claussen+Wöbke+ Putz Filmproduktion Ostlight Filmproduktion Dor Film West X Filme
Uros Stojanovic Marie Noëlle Michael Dreher Simon Groß Doris Dörrie Joshua Sinclair Marco Kreuzpaintner
Dusan Ivanovic Jean-Francois Robin Yann Philippe Blumers Peter Steuger
Hagen Keller Philipp Stölzl Anna Justice
Philipp Kirsamer Kolja Brandt Ngo The Chau
Lab, DI, TV-Mastering Lab, DI, TV-Mastering Lab, TV-Mastering
Marc Rothemund Maggie Peren
Martin Langer Christian Rein
Lab, Sound, TV-Mastering Lab, Sound, TV-Mastering
Volker Schlöndorff
Tom Fährmann
Lab, DI, TV-Mastering
Meer is nich Nordwand Prinz Edouard, Max Minsky und ich Sommer 69 Stellungswechsel Ulzhan
Constantin Film Produktion Claussen+Wöbke+ Putz Filmproduktion Volksfilm
Services
Lab, 2K DI, Sound, TV-Mastering Lab, 2K DI, Sound, TV-Mastering Lab, 2K DI, TV-Mastering Lab, TV-Mastering, VFX Lab, Sound, TV-Mastering Gianlorenzo Battaglia Lab, Sound, TV-Mastering Daniel Gottschalk Lab, DI, Sound, TV-Mastering
ARRI FILM & TV - POST PRODUCTION SERVICES - COMMERCIALS Client
Title
Production Company
Agency
Director
DoP
Ferrero Giotto McDonald’s ATU Toyota Auris Toyota Cortal Consors
e+p commercial Picture Sharks Bakery Films GAP Films R.TV Film & Fernsehen
Xynias, Wetzel Heye & Partner Serviceplan Change Communications
Mentos Playmobil McDonald’s
Putzfrau Sommer 2007 Schmecktakel
Agust Baldursson Paul Harather Ralf Huettner Charly Stadler Tobias Heppermann D. Bardini/ J. Schoepfer Erol Özlevi Norman Hafezi Jens Junker Philip Haucke Werner Kranwetvogel / E.C.K. (Food) Andreas Einbeck Reiner Holzemer E.C.K. (Food)
Nicolaj Bruel Matthias Fuchs Serge Roman Stefan von Borbely Thomas Stokowski
Kent Stabilo McDonald’s Fisherman’s Friend McDonald’s
Eduardo Asia Wochen/ diverse Diverse Sunrise Formel 1 Science Fiction, Gold, Stier Kent Europe Schriftbild Hüttengaudi Diverse Los Wochos
Peter Aichholzer John F. Keen (Food)
Sony Ericsson
Valentine’s
Müller Froop Ferrero
Wette Garden
Martin Graf / Niels van Hoek Caroline Link Sönke Wortmann
Bella Halben Britta Mangold
Serviceplan Filmklub Istanbul First Frame HMF GAP Films Rapid Eye Movement
saatchi & saatchi Serviceplan Heye & Partner Megacult Heye & Partner
Regiepapst e+p commercial G.L.A.S.S Film / Rapid Eye Movement (Food)
specktakulär Heye & Partner Serviceplan
Made in Munich e+p commercial
Springer & Jacoby Hp Albrecht
Bernd Wondolek Marc Rogoll Pascal Walder Dieter Deventer
ARRI AUSTRALIA Project Name
Production Company
Director
DoP
Equipment
Alzheimer Heineken AAMI McLeod’s Daughters - Series 7 East of Everything
Boomerang Productions Shoot Oz Pty Ltd Plaza Films Millennium Television
Wim Wenders Colin Gregg Paul Middleditch Various
Greig Fraser Giles Nuttgens Tristan Milani Various
Twenty Twenty Pty Ltd
Brendan Lavelle
Olympus
Good Oil Films
Stuart MacDonald & Matthew Saville Matt Murphy
James Cowley
Fox Sports Wounded
Good Oil Films AFTRS
Miles Murphy Natalie Palomo
Robert Humphries John Brawley
ARRIFLEX 416, Ultra 16 Lenses ARRICAM LT, Zeiss Highspeed Lenses ARRICAM ST, Cooke S4s ARRIFLEX SR3 (x3), Zeiss Highspeed Lenses, Zeiss Zooms 2 x SR3, Zeiss Highspeed Lenses, Canon Zooms ARRICAM LT, Cooke S4s, 24-290 Angenieux ARRICAM LT D-20, Ultra Primes
ACS
ACS
55
5
Perforation 65mm ARRIFLEX 765
4
Perforation
3
Perforation
2
Perforation
35mm
35mm
35mm
ARRICAM Studio ARRICAM Lite ARRIFLEX 535B ARRIFLEX 435 ARRIFLEX 235
ARRICAM Studio ARRICAM Lite ARRIFLEX 535B ARRIFLEX 435 ARRIFLEX 235
ARRICAM Studio ARRICAM Lite ARRIFLEX 235
1
Perforation 16mm ARRIFLEX 416 ARRIFLEX 416 Plus ARRIFLEX16SR 3 Advanced ARRIFLEX16SR 3 Advanced High-speed
WHEN IT COUNTS... The 2 perforation format, with a widescreen look made famous by the likes of Sergio Leone, disappeared at the end of the seventies. Until now. Today’s modern super fine grained film stocks and ultra sharp lenses combine to achieve a 2 perforation image of superb quality, and as a result the ARRI Rental Group is introducing a new 2 perforation movement. Ideal for cost-conscious filmmakers looking to compose a widescreen image, the format achieves a natural CinemaScope aspect ratio of 2.39:1 on standard 35mm film stock. The quantity of film used is reduced because it is advanced by 2 perforations instead of 4 perforations. This translates to less stock and, consequently, a reduction in processing costs. Achieve cost savings and retain the quality of 35mm with 2 perforation.
2 Perforation Uses 53% Less Film Stock* Running Time of 400ft Magazine
Running Time of 1000ft Magazine
2 Perforation
8 min 34 sec
21 min 26 sec
4 Perforation
4 min 17 sec
10 min 43 sec
*To capture 10 hours of images: 2 perforation needs 72 x 400ft rolls, 4 perforation needs 154 x 400ft rolls. (Saving calculation based on 50ft waste with 4 perforation and 25ft waste with 2 perforation)
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