Definition September 2018 - Sampler by Bright Publishing

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LONE OW K

IBC’S ONES TO WATCH GET READY FOR THE BIG SHOW

September 2018

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SAMSUNG SHOCKS WITH NEW 2800MB/S SSD

FIRST TEST KINEFINITY MAVO POINTS TO LF FUTURE

BLACKkKLANSMAN

DOP CHAYSE IRVIN INTERVIEW

Vanity Fair BIG SHAKERS

The contemporary

drama from the 1800s

KIT REVIEWS | Q&A WITH HEAD OF KINEFINITY | THE CONFESSION TAPES DARK HEART | LARGE-FORMAT SHOOTING WITH LYREBIRD | YARDIE MOVIE

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W E LC O M E

BRIGHT PUBLISHING LTD, BRIGHT HOUSE, 82 HIGH STREET, SAWSTON, CAMBRIDGESHIRE CB22 3HJ UK EDITORIAL Editor Julian Mitchell 01223 492246 julianmitchell@bright-publishing.com Editor In Chief Adam Duckworth Contributors Phil Rhodes, Zena Oliani, Madelyn Most, Adam Duckworth Senior Sub Editor Lisa Clatworthy Sub Editors Siobhan Godwood, Felicity Evans ADVERTISING Sales Director Matt Snow 01223 499453 mattsnow@bright-publishing.com Sales Manager Krishan Parmar 01223 499462 krishanparmar@bright-publishing.com Key Accounts Nicki Mills 01223 499457 nickimills@bright-publishing.com Sales Executive Ryan Hinchcliffe 01223 499461 ryanhinchcliffe@bright-publishing.com DESIGN Design Director Andy Jennings Design Manager Alan Gray Designer Lucy Woolcomb Ad Production Man-Wai Wong PUBLISHING Managing Directors Andy Brogden & Matt Pluck SOCIAL MEDIA Facebook @definitionmagazine Twitter @definitionmags Instagram @definitionmags

WELCOME

s with a previous period drama production that we have covered in Definition called The Woman In White, the director and the DOP for Vanity Fair wanted to move away from the seemingly slow pace of the costume dramas that have littered the channels of terrestrial television for decades. For Vanity Fair it wasn’t the Dutch angles and extreme close-ups of The Woman In White but it was the pace and ‘realness’ of the dialogue (people actually talking across each other), it was the lighting of the anti-heroine Becky Sharp, it was the lens rotation in and out of every episode and it was the breaking of the fourth wall. DOP Ed Rutherford got his reference from the French new wave, the control of the zoom and of course that electric stare straight to camera from The 400 Blows movie, directed by FranÇois Truffaut. Vanity Fair 2018 is a feast of colour encouraged by RED cameras with helpful back filtering and refined in the DI from Technicolor. The Panavision Primo lenses complete the picture of a lively, funny, beautifully shot new drama for Sunday nights.

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JULIAN MITCHELL EDITOR

Definition is published monthly by Bright Publishing Ltd, Bright House, 82 High Street, Sawston, Cambridge CB22 3HJ. No part of this magazine can be used without prior written permission of Bright Publishing Ltd. Definition is a registered trademark of Bright Publishing Ltd. The advertisements published in Definition that have been written, designed or produced by employees of Bright Publishing Ltd remain the copyright of Bright Publishing Ltd and may not be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. Prices quoted in sterling, euros and US dollars are street prices, without tax, where available or converted using the exchange rate on the day the magazine went to press.

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QUEEN ON THE RUN

In a move that will surely shake up her image after portraying the Queen in Netflix’s The Crown, actress Claire Foy takes on something completely different in the form of punk hacker Lisbeth Salander. If you’ve read the Stieg Larsson books or seen the Swedish films or the Fincher remake, you’ll know the character. DOP Pedro Luque chose the ARRI Alexa 65 large-format camera system with ARRI’s new Prime DNA lenses. Pictured is Foy as the highly antisocial Lisbeth in The Girl in the Spider’s Web, while director and screenplay co-writer Fede Alvarez hides behind the Alexa 65 camera.

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IBC CONVENTION 2018 O N E S T O WAT C H

If you're heading to Amsterdam for the annual gear fest take a look at our selective preview of some of the stands COOKE www.cookeoptics.com

MOTION IMPOSSIBLE www.motion-impossible.com Set up in August 2014 by BAFTA awardwinning cameraman Rob Drewett and experienced product design engineer Andy Nancollis, Motion Impossible is an equipment manufacturer and production company that has as its remit a passion to create new and innovative ways to move cameras in film, TV and 360° VR. The company is the creator of the Agito Dolly system, which moves and stabilises VR/360º and film cameras, and MI’s filming side, MI Films. At the show the company will be showing its Agito Sports and Trax platforms. Whilst earlier models have already made its mark within the VR/360° market, Motion Impossible has made it its mission to continue the development of the product for the broadcast market. This has culminated in the launch of Agito – a robotic dolly system that can make recordable moves on the ground.

DMG www.dmglumiere.com The Mini Mix is a 205x885mm (8x23in) panel rated at 100W output. It will find a use lighting anything from the smaller corners of a film set to a sitdown interview, with a useful ability to create accent coloured backlights or illuminate blue or green screens effectively using highly saturated light. Removable diffusion panels offer control over the output pattern, and the light is compatible with DMG’s add-ons for its existing SWITCH lights, including dome, snapbag and grid accessories, as well as its app. In general it is a diffused soft light with a beam angle near 180˚. The larger SL1 Mix is twice the length and is rated 200W; the even larger Maxi Mix is planned.

For over 100 years, Cooke has been at the centre of the filmmaking business. This is a company steeped in tradition that has been listening to the community it serves for generations, and while it’s hugely aware of its legacy it’s also remarkably forward looking and is constantly pushing the frontiers of technology to offer new and innovative products. On the stand at IBC will be one of these, /i Technology, which enables film and digital cameras to automatically record key lens data for every frame shot and provide it to post-production teams digitally, a process that is invaluable to postproduction teams and which greatly speeds up the editing process. Visitors will be able to handle and experience the likes of Cooke S7/i Full Frame Plus and Cooke Panchro/i Classic prime lenses, Cooke S4/i, Cooke Anamorphic/i, Anamorphic/i SF (‘Special Flare’ - pictured) optics and the Cooke S4/i and miniS4/i lenses with and without coatings.

SEAGATE AND LACIE www.lacie.com Encased in the famous orange rubber shell, the Rugged RAID Pro offers up to 240MB/s in RAID 0 and RAID 1 for peace of mind in having a second copy in the field, as well as when transporting content back to the editing studios. With the integrated SD card reader, creative professionals can quickly offload content with the quick import toolkit. The Rugged RAID Pro is designed with the latest USB-C connector and compatible with next-generation Thunderbolt 3 computers but also backward compatible with USB 3.0. While the drive is also shock, dust, crush and water resistant, LaCie includes a threeyear limited warranty with Rescue Data Recovery Services.

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I B C 20 1 8 | C O N V E N T I O N C O R N E R

TERADEK www.teradek.com At IBC2018, Teradek will be showcasing the latest in zerodelay wireless video systems: the Bolt XT. Completely reimagined, the XT combines great wireless performance with smart design to give cinematographers incredible flexibility on set. Real-time 1080p60 video offers pristine image quality, and powerful software features like a built-in 5GHz spectrum analyzer and 3D LUTs allow professionals to monitor the feed with complete confidence. The Bolt XT receiver features a newly-integrated NATO rail, while the transmitter includes an ARRI Pin-Loc for fast and easy mounting on set. Available battery plates include Gold or V-mount for the Bolt 1000/3000 XT, as well as Sony L-series or Canon LP-E6 plates on the Bolt 500 XT. Bolt XT is compatible with all third-generation Bolt 500, 1000 and 3000 models, as well as 703 Bolt, 10K and Sidekick II units.

ZEISS www.zeiss.com At IBC2018 Zeiss will be showcasing a large portfolio of full-frame lenses, including the Cinema Zoom CZ.2 range and new Compact Prime CP.3 XD range. Thanks to their interchangeable mounts and full-frame coverage, these lenses are believed by many filmmakers to be as close as it’s possible to get to the ultimate future-proof investment. The Zeiss Cinema Zoom lenses feature exquisite optics in a robust, durable package. Affordable, flexible and offering the highest quality, the Zeiss Cinema Zoom lenses are an invaluable addition to any film set. Meanwhile the new Zeiss CP.3 and CP.3 XD lenses offer the perfect combination of high image quality and reliable usability. They exhibit the clean, crisp characteristics Zeiss is known for, together with groundbreaking lens data technology in the XD versions, designed to speed up and simplify the workflow on-set and in post-production.

BOXX TV www.boxx.tv Boxx TV will demonstrate its new Atom and Atom Lite systems. The Boxx Atom system provides a high performance HD wireless solution with an uncapped range in a small and lightweight form factor. New for IBC2018, the Atom range now includes time code and record trigger on all systems and a new smaller form factor premium receiver, all with backward compatibility. Compact and lightweight, the Atom Transmitter offers an SDI loop and HDMI input, ideal for use with Steadicam, portable field monitoring, and UAV video links. For 2018, Boxx TV is attending IBC as part of the Great Britain & Northern Ireland pavilion.

P+S TECHNIK www.pstechnik.de P+S TECHNIK will show its anamorphic lens series, Evolution 2X as well as its scope of lens rehousing to visitors at IBC2018. Says MD Anna Piffl: “NAB Show 2018 showed us already that the demand for anamorphic lenses is still increasing. We are ready to provide professional solutions here while keeping in mind larger sensors.” Since 2017 the company has delivered the Evolution 2X anamorphic lenses (for S35 format). Over 100 lenses with the focal length 40mm, 50mm, 75mm and 100mm have already been delivered. The success of the Evolution 2X lenses, which match the look of the original KOWA, encouraged the company to make the 135mm a perfect match. The 135 mm has new front anamorphic elements, to reach the light intensity and a compact design.

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A DV E R T I S E M E N T F E AT U R E | G -T E C H N O LO G Y

THE NEED FOR SPEED

When you’re on a hectic location shoot involving several cameras, you need a straightforward backup solution. Enter G-Technology’s new Pro SSD range...

he modern commercial filmmaker is likely to find themselves regularly on the road, tackling large-scale jobs that could involve everything from handheld cameras through to gimbals, drones, B-cameras and everything else in between. All the time the pressure is on to stay organised and achieve ongoing backups of every bit of footage in the field – knowing that one slip could lead to disaster. For seasoned filmmaker Nino Leitner it’s all in a day’s work – he learned early in his career that time spent at the end of the day downloading everything to multiple backup discs was just part of the job. It was a tedious task; the huge files associated with shooting in 4K could take an age to transfer to traditional drives, and someone had to be there at all times to change cards and make sure everything was going smoothly. “Not so long ago this procedure could drag on for hours,” says Nino. “Now, the SSD has come of age and it’s signalling a big change in the way we work. Whereas once they were prohibitively expensive and didn’t

have the capacity to suit our needs, now the latest Pro SSD range from G-Technology is within the budget of many professionals and it’s revolutionised the way we do things, making life on the road so much simpler.”

ON THE ROAD Nino has just finished an extensive shoot in Italy and Switzerland, undertaken on behalf of a Miami-based real estate company, the aim being to throw a spotlight on the quality of some of the bespoke accessories that will be going into the company’s properties. The end result is a film destined to be shown to the company’s potential customers, to give a behind-the-scenes feel for the luxury they’re buying into. “It was such a varied job that we had to come at it from all angles,” says Nino, “using a wide variety of cameras such as a Sony A7S, a Canon EOS 5D Mark IV and my Mavic drone to meet the brief. Given the fact that we were predominantly shooting with Sony FS7 cameras that were outputting in 4K, using a high bit rate ProRes 4444 codec, we had to have storage that could

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ABOVE Nino Leitner’s shoot for a big US client was the ideal test for the new suite of G-Technology SSDs.

cope. We also needed something that would be considerably faster to download to than a hard drive on a laptop, and there was, of course, a need for the drives themselves to be totally reliable and capable of taking the kind of knocks that happen on location.” The freshly arrived G-Technology range of professional-grade SSDs ticked all the boxes and provided solutions at every level, whether for immediate backup in the field or an end-of-day download to a bigger device in the peace of a hotel room. Facing a shooting schedule that involved nearly two weeks away from base, and aware of the vast amount of footage they were going to produce, Nino and his team took all three of the products in the G-Technology Pro SSD range with them.

G -T E C H N O LO G Y | A DV E R T I S E M E N T F E AT U R E

“TH E

The daddy of them all is the G-SPEED Shuttle SSD, a scorchingly fast RAID powerhouse in either 8TB or 16TB, with transfer speeds up to 2800MB/s. The eightbay Shuttle has a built-in hardware RAID controller that ships configured in RAID 5 for maximum performance, but is easily changed to RAID 0, 1, 10 or 50 to provide a versatile and flexible storage solution. Dual Thunderbolt 3 ports allow daisy-chaining to up to five additional devices so it’s possible to stay connected to multiple drives, 4K displays and more through a single connection to a laptop. Meanwhile, the G-DRIVE Pro SSD is an aluminium desktop SSD available in 960GB, 1.92TB, 3.84TB and 7.68TB capacities and, once again, dual Thunderbolt 3 ports on

G -TECH N O LOGY R A N G E O F PRO FE S SI O N A LG R A DE S SDS TICK ED A LL TH E BOX E S ”

the back allow multiple daisy-chaining. The G-DRIVE Pro SSD can also achieve up to 2800MB/s transfer speeds, ideal for intensive production schedules – this equates to as much as a terabyte of content transferred in seven minutes or fewer. The G-DRIVE mobile Pro SSD does what it says on the tin, in that it’s portable and robust enough to go anywhere and yet, via its single Thunderbolt 3 port, can still achieve the same lightning-fast speeds as its bigger brothers. “The G-DRIVE mobile Pro SSD is the one we had with us at all times,” explains Nino. “It’s small and light enough to fit in a pocket, has plenty of capacity in 500GB or 1TB models and comes wrapped in a durable case, making it crush proof and shock resistant. This means that should it get accidentally dropped from a height of anything up to three metres, then both the data and the device will survive and, for me, this is a huge reassurance.” The G-SPEED Shuttle SSD was used as the master storage device for the whole of

IMAGES The G-Technology SSDs could be easily used alongside each other for speedy transfers.

the shoot and – happily for filmmakers on the go – it comes complete with a handle on top to facilitate easy movement. Set up in a hotel room for the evening, alongside the G-DRIVE Pro SSD, all of that day’s material could be transferred over quickly, saving hours of time and giving the team a chance to take a break. Given that some members might have been hard at work capturing the light at sunset through to sundown, creating a 14-hour shooting day, anything that takes away some of the stress is to be welcomed. “We keep three backup copies of everything,” says Nino, “and also have the potential to use the ev series bay on the Shuttle to write to ev series drives, so that we can send footage back to base for the initial edit to begin.” Nino appreciates the opportunity, as he did on this shoot, to work with his own hard drives and SSDs, but there are times when a client might prefer to provide their own backup – and then it’s a case of going right back to the bad old days. “If you’re saving to slow hard drives then someone will have to sit there and input everything,” he says, “and you could be looking at a two-hour job, which then gets charged to the client so it’s doing them no favours either. “The fact is that with these new products from G-Technology, SSDs have effectively come of age and it’s made all of our lives a very great deal easier.”

MORE INFORMATION: www.ninofilm.net www.g-technology.com

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A HELPING HAND

What do you do if you’re a major broadcaster needing help on the post-production and live programming front? Well, you could turn to a company like Timeline TV, which specialises in providing resource

WORDS TERRY HOPE / PICTURES BBC & TIMELINE T V

V viewers have been spoiled to the extent that when big events, such as the Royal Wedding, Jersey Triathlon and the Great North City Games come around there’s a natural assumption that there will be high-quality, live broadcasting effortlessly taking place, with never a sniff of a technical issue. Those at the sharp end of all of the organising and problem-solving that necessarily goes on behind the scenes to enable an outside broadcast to be successful will be quick to point out, however, that it’s no easy matter to take a team out on the road, and experience and know-how are the two crucial qualities required to ensure a smooth and pain-free end result. One partner that specialises in ensuring that even the biggest and most challenging outside broadcast events go to plan is Timeline Television, a company with a reputation for delivering technical

and creative facilities for programmes as diverse as live music and awards shows, political conferences, global and domestic sporting competitions, light entertainment and current affairs. Set up by Daniel McDonnell in 2006, the business has now grown to have more than 140 full time staff. Uniquely in the industry, Timeline has the ability to provide facilities for a production that range from concept to completion, including outside broadcasts, post-production, studios, RF and satellite, systems integration and managed services. With two large post-production facilities in London and a third in MediaCityUK, the company provides state-of-the-art facilities to a whole host of major broadcasters, including the BBC, ITV and BT Sport. The proud boast is that no job is too big or small, and tasks regularly undertaken vary from installing systems on outside broadcasts to designing and building permanent installations for clients.

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R H S C H E L S E A F LOW E R S H OW | B R OA D C A S T S TO RY

The challenges of an OB usually lie around physical restrictions of the site itself IMAGES Timeline TV provided OB facilities for the BBC’s production of this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Projects undertaken in recent times include RF facilities for the BBC’s Arctic Live, 4K UHD OB truck facilities for BT Sport’s Rugby Tonight, which was the UK’s first regular studio-based UHD programme, and a complete broadcast service around BBC Music Day, a UK-wide annual celebration of music whose aim was to unite communities across different generations. RF facilities and fibre infrastructure were also supplied to the BBC as part of its Glastonbury coverage, while Timeline also provided a large portable production unit and ten RF cameras to deliver live coverage of the Henley Regatta. The production kit also facilitated graphics, commentary and replays from an eight-channel EVS, while the use of drone technology provided amazing live coverage of the event. Timeline has also designed and built studios for the likes of BT Sport in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and Racing UK at Ealing Studios.

THE FULL MONTY One of the things that Timeline particularly prides itself on is provision of full facilities for large scale events, such as the Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower Show, one of the BBC’s biggest annual OBs. Timeline Television took over the OB contract for the show this year and provided all of the facilities, where previous OB providers typically brought in other companies to look after RF, talkback and edit systems. “The numbers of people we might use on a typical OB scales with the complexity of the job, number of cameras, sound sources/destinations, GFX commitments and EVS machines and hours of operation,” says Martin Sexton, Timeline TV’s Unit Manager. “Very long days sometimes have to be double crewed. Without counting production staff or talent, I would usually expect a ‘large’ OB to have 30-50 staff on site, but it can go into hundreds.

“The challenges of an OB usually lie around physical restrictions of the site itself eg. space and access for OB vehicles and crew, cabling in and around public areas, weather which can affect kit, always looking out for safety and making sure that things are kept safe as the event progresses and things change. There would be several planning and progress meetings for events such as the Chelsea Flower Show or the Royal Wedding. “After the planning and progress meetings with other stakeholders there is internal company logistics and external supplier planning that needs to be carried out. The amount of effort involved here is usually directly proportional to the complexity of the venue or the production. After the planning comes the technical preparation which again might be nothing other than what is done on site for routine OBs but scales up with the complexity of the production.”

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S H O OT S TO RY | YA R D I E

YARD LIFE We talked to Yardie DOP John Conroy about knowledge, networking and never looking back, proving the best work comes out of both who you know and what you know

WORDS ZENA OLIANI / PICTURES STUDIOCANAL S. A .S

OP John Conroy has been in FOCUS ON OPERATING the business for the best part It wasn’t until Conroy was working as lead of three decades; in his words focus puller on The Da Vinci Code in 2006 he’s “a bit of a dinosaur”. that he entertained the idea of being an The son of My Left Foot operator, thinking “actually I could do this cinematographer Jack Conroy, job”. Fast forward three years and John’s you could be forgiven for working on Sweeney Todd, the film that thinking that Conroy’s road would be his last credit as a focus puller. “I to the hot seat was paved for him. While burnt my equipment so that I would never he admits that his father’s career sparked go back,” he says. “Then I spent three years an interest in film from a young age, his in the wilderness wishing I hadn’t burnt it.” filmography shows that he’s put in the Fortunately, it wasn’t long before a miles: “I was [my father’s] assistant film that he shot in Ireland gave by the time I was 12, I was loading him his lucky break. “It was magazines and doing the a small film that Philippa DID YOU clapper board, following him Giles at the BBC saw, and KNOW? around, carrying boxes – all she offered me a block on Much of John that stuff… I was a clapper Silent Witness… 20 episodes Conroy’s training was boy and a focus puller on later and I’d done my film as a focus puller about 70 jobs [before] I school in lighting.” An awardstarted lighting about ten winning show like Silent Witness years ago.” opened up other doors and led to Despite his father’s influence, Conroy shooting episodes on the likes being a cinematographer wasn’t an of Mr Selfridge, Fortitude and Broadchurch, ambition of Conroy’s, he says, “I never but it was meeting Idris Elba through a stint considered being a cinematographer, on Luther that would lead to his recent role I just wanted to be a clapper boy. But as DOP of Elba’s directorial debut Yardie. then when I was a clapper boy I thought, Elba approached Conroy about the gee maybe I could be a focus puller and project when they were working together on then an operator. I never really had a great Luther back in 2013 as he already had the plan, I just wanted to be the best clapper rights to the book at this stage. That said, holder that I could be and then the best the story itself was less of a hook for Conroy focus puller and so on and it kind of crept than the collaborator. “He’s such a brilliant up on me.” actor, a great guy – it’s very rare that you

I never considered being a cinematographer, I just wanted to be a clapper boy RIGHT Aml Ameen in the role of Dennis Campbell, the main character in Yardie.

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F E AT U R E | B L AC K K K L A N S M A N

SPIKE LEE’S BLACKKKLANSMAN IS THE FIRST MAJOR MOVIE TO ARRIVE AS A REACTION TO PRESIDENT TRUMP’S AMERICA. DOP CHAYSE IRVIN TALKS THROUGH HIS PART IN ITS PRODUCTION W O R D S M A D E LY N M O S T / P I C T U R E S U N I V E R S A L

ery few American films were invited to the 2018 Cannes Festival, but Spike Lee’s latest ‘joint’, BlacKkKlansman, was a powerful exception that sent shockwaves through the audience. Lee’s first Cannes experience was in 1986 when he won the Prix de Jeunesse for She’s Gotta Have it, and his 1989 Do the Right Thing was nominated for the Palme d’Or but was mysteriously displaced by Steven Soderbergh’s debut film, Sex, Lies, and Videotape. At the press conference for BlacKkKlansman, Spike Lee

explained that ProducerDirector Jordan Peele called him out of the blue to pitch the story of Ron Stallworth, the first African-American police officer and detective in the Colorado Springs Police Department who infiltrated the ranks of the KKK. The film would be based on Stallworth’s memoir, Black Klansman: Race, Hate and the Undercover Investigation of a Lifetime. “When my co-writer Kevin Willmott and I came on board, our job as storytellers was to take this story from the early 70s and connect it to the present day,” Spike says.

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B L AC K K K L A N S M A N | F E AT U R E

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F E AT U R E | LY R E B I R D

LIVING WITH

LARGE LARGE-FORMAT OR FULL-FRAME CAMERAS ARE HERE AND THE QUESTIONS ARE COMING THICK AND FAST. WE TALK TO SOME EARLY USERS

W O R D S J U L I A N M I TC H E L L / P I C T U R E S B I L L B E N N E T T & R E M I A D E FA R A S I N

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LY R E B I R D | F E AT U R E

f you haven’t heard about the new trend of large-format cinematography, then where have you been? It’s new and very different and those who once owned a Canon 5D Mark II have been waiting for a decade to use the format properly. There are more camera manufacturers with a large-format or full-frame camera than without one so we have a genuine genre swing and there are good reasons to get excited.

LYREBIRD Lyrebird is the true story of Dutch folk hero Han van Meegeren, who swindled millions of dollars from the Nazis by selling them forgeries of Johannes Vermeer paintings. Guy Pearce (Memento) and Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread) star with Imperative Entertainment’s Dan Friedkin directing the film and Remi Adefarasin OBE lensing the feature. We caught up with Remi immediately after the movie had wrapped. Definition: Why was the new ARRI LF camera chosen for this production? Remi Adefarasin: The director Dan Friedkin had a wish to shoot the film with Alexa 65. We tested the camera and at the time there were two issues. We didn’t like the lenses available at that time for the look we were going for and the data handling was massive. We had decided to shoot with the Alexa SXT when ARRI began announcing the Alexa LF with Signature lenses. We were very tempted by the specifications and very large sensor which at our chosen ratio 1.85:1 was almost as huge as the Alexa 65. Unfortunately, the camera was not yet available and the lenses were even further down the line. Remarkably we did manage to get one

ABOVE The ARRI Alexa LF, which Remi and the team managed to get their hands on before its release.

body followed a couple of weeks later by a second body. Def: Did you find the lens choice limiting with this choice of camera? RA: At the time of our shoot we couldn’t get our hands on the Signature Primes and the Cooke S7i lenses were only just beginning to roll out. Again, we managed to get a good set of Cookes which included the 25mm, 32mm, 40mm, 50mm, 75mm, 100mm and 135mm. Most of the film was shot with these primes, occasionally using Cooke S4is. At the time of shooting lens choice was limited but many manufacturers are releasing lenses that cover large sensors. Previously many primes on offer were basically still lenses that had been rehoused. Ultra crisp and heavy breathing when adjusting focus. Not a problem with still photography or shooting plates.

THE LOOK Def: What do you think the LF brings to the look? RA: Defining the look of the LF is very difficult using words. Obviously there is more definition but not in an ugly crisp/ harsh way. The image is more rounded and smooth. It looks better even on a small monitor but the larger the screen you see it on the richer the experience. This is the opposite to smaller sensors where more magnification seems to break down the image. The LF simply holds it together. Large format isn’t just about resolution, it’s a different relationship between the audience and the image. With the Alexa LF we’re able to capture all the beauty of longer focal lengths but with a wider field

LARGE FORMAT GLASS Pre-production began just as the full frame resurgence was beginning – prior to the availability of the Cooke S7/i Full Frame Plus lenses and the ALEXA LF large format camera system. But Remi and Dan Friedkin were keen to take advantage of the format. Remi shot some early tests with ALEXA 65 using many different lenses. “Dan is a great collaborator and said from the start that he wanted great visuals but not mannered or false. Although we loved the large format, no lenses did what we hoped for,” he said. “Many of the current ranges are stills lenses adapted for movies, but they did not have any cinematic quality or consistency. Great for plate shots but not kind to faces, and they breathed badly with the slightest focus pull.” However, 30 minutes past call on the first day in Amsterdam, a brand new ALEXA LF and a set of Cooke S7/i lenses were delivered. “We shot open gate 1.85 and the results blew us away,” said Remi. “We were shooting mostly at 800 ISO but at times went to 1280 ISO without any loss in quality.”

U S E R R E V I E W | K I N E F I N I T Y M AVO 6 K

WEAPON OF MASS SEDUCTION! PRICE £1 0,19 4 /$13 , 370

Kinefinity’s burly new Mavo could be the Super35 modular cinema camera that has mass market appeal W O R D S A DA M D U C K W O R T H

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