Ron Prince has over three decades of experience in the film, TV, CGI and VFX industries, and has written about cinematography for 20 years. In 2014, he won the ARRI John Alcott Award from the BSC. He also runs the international content marketing and PR communications company Prince PR. Birgit Heidsiek is an award-winning sustainability consultant, author, TEDx speaker and founder of the European Centre For Sustainability In The Media World (www.greenfilmshooting.net), which informs about eco-friendly film and media production.
Christine Gebhard is the founder and managing editor of the Germanspeaking publication film-tv-video.de. They are industry veterans with a deep knowledge of the film, TV and cine market.
“Count” Iain Blair is a British writer/musician who lives in LA and writes extensively about film/entertainment for outlets including LA Times, Variety and Reuters. He interviews movie stars, as well as Hollywood’s top filmmakers.
Darek Kuźma is a film and TV journalist, translator/interpreter, and a regular collaborator/programmer of the EnergaCamerimage Film Festival. He is an ardent cinephile who has a lifelong romance with the visual language of cinema.
David Wood is a freelance journalist covering film/TV technology and production He was a former technology editor at Televisual, and is a regular contributor to Worldscreen, TVB Europe and Broadcast.
Iain Hazlewood has three decades of experience in marketing and media, across music, TV/film and electronics. He writes extensively about the UK’s folk and roots music scene, and interviews DPs and manufacturers in the film world.
John Keedwell GBCT/UAV Pilot is a documentary and commercials cameraman who has worked on productions worldwide. He has great knowledge of film, tape/file-based formats and lighting, and their uses in production.
Kirsty Hazlewood has over two decades of editorial experience in print/ online publications, and is a regular contributor to folk/roots music website Spiral Earth.
Natasha Block Hicks is an artist/designer/maker, who spent a decade as a freelance film and TV camera assistant, and indulges her love for cinema and cinematography through research and writing.
I’m fascinated by how different forms of love are expressed
Nanu Segal BSC
SOME LIKE IT HOTTER!
Superb summer weather created a wonderful backdrop for what is surely the most relaxed show on the cinematographic calendar, when Euro Cine Expo rolled into Munich for its third edition, from 27th to 29th June.
In the cool confines of the showfloor, exhibitors and visitors from around the world were able to meet, mingle and mull over the very latest moviemaking gear – which you can read about in this edition – while a popular symposium of informative talks, panel discussions and presentations drilled down into all manner of salient topics, with many insightful sessions organised and led by the renowned leaders of IMAGO’s Technology Committee. You’ll be able to watch these online in the near future.
As a global gathering, where Cinematography World was the official media partner, Euro Cine Expo proved once again a most rewarding and highlyrecommendable experience.
Since then, we’ve been beavering away and look forward to seeing our many supporters and friends at IBC in Amsterdam, where the Cinematography World Pavilion, will make its second consecutive appearance in Hall 12 at stand G45. Make sure to pop by for a visit, if we don’t see you first, of course.
And if that weren’t enough, we’re also working on the third edition of Light Fantastic magazine, made for gaffers and their teams, in collaboration with the ICLS (International Cinema Lighting Society), due for publication in October.
Until we see you again, keep safe and shine on everyone!
Ron Prince Editor in Chief
Ron Prince
photo by Joe Short www.joeshort.com
Official Media Partners
True Cinema. For All.
ZEISS Nano Prime Lenses
ZEISS Nano Primes are cinema lenses designed for modern full frame mirrorless cameras. The six focal lengths all feature a high speed of T1.5 in a small and robust real cine lens housing. Nano Primes are lenses for all cinematographers, budgets and projects. Lenses that check all the boxes when it comes to look, ergonomics, size and weight or lens data workflow. Lenses that you can afford. Lenses that won‘t let you down. Go-to cinema lenses for every day.
zeiss.com/cine/nanoprime
RESILIENT & UNITED
For over 40 years, the Association Of Studio And Production Equipment Companies (ASPEC) has been a cornerstone of the film industry’s infrastructure. Founded as a membership organisation, ASPEC unites a diverse group of equipment rental companies, each specialising in essential services such as camera, grip, lighting, remote systems and rigging equipment. Despite being competitors, these companies share a common determination and desire to work together for the betterment of the industry. This collaborative spirit has not only fostered innovation and excellence, but also created a robust community that stands together in times of crisis.
One of ASPEC’s primary missions has been to protect its members’ businesses from the myriad risks associated with health and safety on-set. The film industry is fraught with potential hazards, and maintaining rigorous safety standards is paramount. ASPEC has been instrumental in developing and promoting best practices that ensure the wellbeing of all crew members, thus safeguarding the continuity and integrity of film production.
The pandemic was not the only crisis that ASPEC members have faced in recent times. The actors and writers’ strikes in the United States in 2023 added another layer of difficulty. Productions were delayed and uncertainty loomed over the industry. During these tumultuous times, ASPEC’s community proved invaluable. Members leaned on each other for support, sharing strategies to mitigate financial losses and maintain operations. This solidarity underscored the importance of having a unified body to advocate for the interests of equipment rental companies and the broader industry.
As the industry struggles to return to prepandemic levels of activity, the competition has become fiercer than ever. Production companies are demanding higher discounts and greater flexibility, putting immense pressure on rental businesses. Unfortunately, this has led to a dire situation for many smaller companies, particularly in the UK, where some are facing possible administration or closure. Despite these challenges, ASPEC and its members remain committed and focussed. The collective determination to persevere and adapt is a testament to the resilience that has defined ASPEC for decades.
ASPEC has been instrumental in promoting best practices that ensure the well-being of all crew members
On June 18, 2024, ASPEC held its first face-toface meeting since December 2019. This gathering – a momentous reunion – marked a significant milestone, as members had been relying on video calls throughout the pandemic. The meeting was a reminder of the value of personal interactions and the strength of the ASPEC community. It was an opportunity to reconnect, share experiences and strategise for the future.
At this meeting, Gareth Kirkman from the British Film Commission provided an update on the current state of the industry. Despite the significant challenges posed by the 2023 strikes, the industry remains resilient. Activity in the UK is still down by 34% compared to the previous year, but the outlook is positive. Tax incentives have created a favourable environment, attracting to the UK five major features that were originally planned for the
playing field for all companies. Sustainability efforts require significant investment, but ASPEC members collectively agree that the focus and determination to deliver on these goals are crucial. The discussion included interesting suggestions for building a supplier network to support the entire industry, reflecting a shared commitment to a sustainable future.
Another critical issue discussed was the trend of lengthy “no charge” test periods for productions. Weeks of equipment testing without charge are becoming increasingly common, tying-up resources that could otherwise be rented out. This situation frustrates rental companies, as all levels of the production team are compensated for their time whilst equipment providers are not. Test periods are extending from two weeks to three weeks and beyond, creating a dilemma. Implementing a mandate to charge for these periods risks losing business to competitors who do not enforce such a policy, generating quiet tension among members.
Despite the challenges, ASPEC remains a beacon of resilience and unity. The passion for the industry is unwavering among its members, and the commitment to overcoming obstacles together is stronger than ever. With a mix of light humour and deep-seated dedication, ASPEC continues to navigate the ever-evolving landscape of the film industry, ensuring that its members are wellequipped to face whatever comes their way.
The collective determination to persevere and adapt has defined ASPEC for decades
US. Concerns about potential changes in support due to the General Election were alleviated, with confidence that the entertainment industry will continue to receive robust backing.
Sustainability was a hot topic during the meeting. Sabrina Alban Lloyd from BAFTA ALBERT shared current initiatives aimed at creating a level
As the industry heals and adapts, ASPEC stands as a testament to the power of collaboration and the enduring spirit of the film community. The challenges are many, but the resolve of ASPEC and its members is unshakeable, promising a brighter future for all.
Phil Parker, CEO of Sunbelt Rentals UK & Ireland, recently issued an update about the company’s journey into more sustainable practices using hydrogenbased technology.
“The topic of hydrogen as a sustainable solution to fuelling the future of our planet has been around for a long time, with it widely considered the most viable replacement for fossil fuels,” said Parker.
“To meet the UK Government’s 2050 net zero targets, it is crucial that we take steps to move away from fossil fuels at pace. Fortunately, hydrogen offers a sustainable and clean energy option, as it is plentiful and versatile due to the abundance of water and oxygen on our planet, making it a promising option.”
Sunbelt Rentals’ journey into hydrogen began several years ago as in-house greener technology experts started engaging with industry leaders to understand their developmental plans for hydrogen. The company also cast its research net further afield to uncover and learn more about
emerging hydrogen technologies across the world.
“Through this research, we established a need to bring together a team of experts and created the H2 Learning & Development Group, led by Sunbelt Rentals UK,” Parker continued. “This group brings together our customers (the end users), from multiple sectors, industry pioneers and manufacturers, to share knowledge, discuss challenges and uncover solutions that will fundamentally enable the commercial adoption of hydrogen as a fossil fuel replacement in temporary power applications.
commercialisation of hydrogen in all the sectors we serve, and this isn’t something we will rush into.
“As we move into our next five-year growth strategy, we’re focussed on five actional components including sustainability, investment and technology, all underpinned by our core principles of prioritising our customers and people.
“The team at Sunbelt Rentals are already making a difference by helping our customers to significantly reduce their carbon emissions on their sites, sets and facilities through investments in battery, solar and hybrid-powered equipment. However, we know that we need to go further.
“Our team, alongside the H2 group, are pioneering a way to ensure the safe use and
MICHELE CHANNER APPOINTED MANAGING DIRECTOR OF PANALUX
Panalux has announced the appointment of Michele Channer as managing director of Panalux.
Previously serving as the company’s business development director, Channer takes the helm following the retirement of industry veteran Panalux managing director Mark Furssedonn.
Channer joined the Panavision group in 2018 as managing director of Direct Digital, and
in 2021, her responsibilities expanded to also cover Island Studios. In her new role, Channer will oversee all sales, operations, transportation, and facilities for Panalux, Island Studios and Direct Digital.
Channer recently managed the completion of Panalux London’s relocation into a new, stateof-the-art facility in Hayes, West London.
“We’re committed to supporting the industry and enhancing everything we do to support our customers, which we see in the development of hydrogen. By bringing together emerging and existing expertise around sustainability and greener technologies, we strive to deliver safe, meaningful, and commercially viable solutions for all.”
ARRI RENTAL OPENS NEW LIGHTING & GRIP FACILITY IN VIENNA
ARRI Rental has expanded its service offerings in Vienna, Austria, with the opening of a new facility supplying lighting and grip equipment plus logistics to productions of all types
and sizes. Camera equipment will continue to be offered through the existing ARRI Rental Vienna office.
The new facility is located on the premises of the HQ7 studios complex, which will open this summer as a premiere European production centre, capable of accommodating major international film and TV productions. The area has easy access to the airport, central station and city centre.
The new Vienna facility covers 750sq/m of floor space and can supply the latest lighting and grip equipment. These include ARRI lighting fixtures such as SkyPanel X and
Orbiter, as well as ARRI Rental exclusives such as the modular BrikLok LED lights, allterrain Hexatron crane vehicle, and compact Hover Dolly with versatile Delta Tracks. Andreas Buchschachner, current head of ARRI Rental Vienna, will manage the new facility in addition to the existing one, supported by lighting expert Ingo Gaertner.
Introducing the next generation customizable cinema camera! It features an extremely versatile design that lets you build the perfect camera rig for your production! You get a full frame 36 x 24mm 6K sensor with wide dynamic range with a built in optical low pass filter that’s been designed to perfectly match the sensor. Plus there are 3 models available in either EF, PL or L-Mount.
Designed for Maximum Customizability!
With multiple mounting points and accessory side plates, it’s easy to configure Blackmagic PYXIS into the camera you need it to be! PYXIS’ compact body is made from precision CNC machined aerospace aluminum, which means it is lightweight yet very strong. You can easily mount it on a range of camera rigs such as cranes, gimbals or drones!
Get the “Hollywood Look” with Digital Film!
Blackmagic PYXIS has the professional features you need for feature film, television programming and documentaries, however now this same quality can be used to create cinematic content for social media, YouTube videos and more. Imagine shooting with large format digital film on low budget independent films, TV commercials or even corporate video!
Large Format Cinematic Digital Film Sensor!
Blackmagic PYXIS features a massive full frame sensor with a native resolution of 6048 x 4032. That’s almost three times larger than a Super 35 sensor and allows you to shoot with a shallow depth of field or to use anamorphic lenses uncropped for a true cinematic look. Plus you can shoot up to 36 fps at full sensor resolution or 120 fps windowed.
Professional Connections for Custom Rigs!
PYXIS features a wide range of connections for audio, monitoring, power and more. It includes a 12G-SDI out for monitoring with support for HDR and Ultra HD output. There’s also a mini XLR connection with 48 volt phantom power for microphones, a 3.5mm microphone input, timecode in, reference input, headphone connection and a locking DC power connector!
Blackmagic PYXIS 6K From £2,425
MANAKI BROTHERS FILM FESTIVAL MARKS
45TH ANNIVERSARY
The International Cinematographers’ Film Festival Manaki Brothers, the world’s first and oldest festival dedicated to the creativity of cinematographers, has announces that its 45th edition will take place in Bitola, North Macedonia, from September 21-27, 2024. Since its inception in 1979, the festival has been a testament to the artistry of cinematography, celebrating the legacies of Yanaki (1878-1954) and Milton (1880-1964) Manaki, the inspirational figures behind its founding.
The festival has evolved over the years to transform into an international event showcasing world cinema and representing feature films in competition for the prestigious Golden, Silver and Bronze Camera 300 Awards.
Beyond these awards, the festival also takes pride in its Club Of Greats, which celebrates the laureates of the Golden Camera 300 For Lifetime Achievement for Cinematography and the Special Golden
Camera 300 For Outstanding Contributions To The Art Of Film. Over the years, luminaries such as Sven Nykvist FSF ASC, Vittorio Storaro AIC ASC, Sir Roger Deakins CBE BSC ASC, and many more have been honoured with these prestigious awards.
The festival’s commitment to excellence extends beyond cinematography with the Special Golden Camera 300 Award. Notable recipients have included DPs Christopher Doyle and Bruno Delbonnel AFC ASC, and actresses Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert and Juliette Binoche, among others. This award recognises outstanding contributions from cinematographers, actors, directors, producers and other luminaries who have left an indelible mark on the cinematic landscape.
THE ACADEMY INVITES 25 DPS TO BECOME MEMBERS
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has extended 487 invitations to join the organisation, amongst artists and executives who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to motion pictures. This includes no fewer that 25 cinematographers from around the world.
“We are thrilled to welcome this year’s class of new members to the Academy,” said Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy president Janet Yang. “These remarkably talented artists and professionals from around the world have made a significant impact on our filmmaking community.”
The 2024 cinematography invitees are:
Eric Branco – Story Ave, The Forty-Year-Old Version Chananun Chotrungroj – Birth/Rebirth, The Trapped 13: How We Survived The Thai Cave
Matthew Chuang – You Won’t Be Alone, Blue Bayou
Andrew Commis – Blueback, Babyteeth
Ashley Connor – Polite Society, The Miseducation Of
Cameron Post
Josée Deshaies – The Beast, Passages
Alex Disenhof – Alice, Captive State
Jomo Fray – All Dirt Roads Taste Of Salt, Port Authority
Damián García – Jungleland, I’m No Longer Here
Magdalena Górka – Die In A Gunfight, An Ordinary Man
Ryuto Kondo – Monster, A Man
Dariela Ludlow Deloya – A Million Miles Away, Prayers For The Stolen
Catherine Lutes – Close To You, Mouthpiece
Aurélien Marra – L’Homme
Debout, Two Of Us
Igor Meglic – Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, Fast X
Crescenzo Giacomo Notarile
Bullet, Moonwalker
Sophia Olsson – Charter, Echo
Yerkinbek Ptyraliyev – Yellow
Cat, Karinca
Jamie Ramsay – All Of Us
Strangers, Living
Nanu Segal – Emily, Donkey Punch
Hidetoshi Shinomiya – Drive My Car, The Town Of Headcounts
Jigme Tenzing – The Monk And The Gun, Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom
Ravi Varman – Japan, Ponniyin
Selvan: Part Two
Maria von Hausswolff –Godland, A White, White Day
Sophie Winqvist – Clara Sola, Pleasure
CVP APPOINTED AS OFFICIAL NIKON VIDEO DEALER
CVP has been appointed by Nikon as an authorised video dealer, enhancing CVP’s extensive brand portfolio and giving Nikon a platform to extend its reach in the fast-growing professional digital cinema camera market.
With the addition of Nikon’s line-up of cameras, lenses and accessories into its portfolio, CVP is now even better-equipped to support the creative endeavours of its customers, whilst underscoring its commitment
to providing industry-leading equipment and services to filmmakers and videographers.
Jon Fry, CEO at CVP, said, “Our global reach, combined with our passion for creativity and innovation, positions CVP perfectly to make Nikon’s cutting-edge video products more accessible to professionals and enthusiasts, and further empower content creators.”
Jake Cundy, NNE sales director, added: “Nikon is excited to partner with CVP, a cornerstone in the professional video and
broadcast solutions industry, to expand our footprint in the digital cinema camera market. CVP’s dedication to innovation and customercentric approach perfectly aligns with our mission to empower content creators with state-of-the-art video equipment and push the boundaries of visual storytelling.”
Ravi Varman ISC
Maria Von Hausswolff DFF
Jigme Tenzing (holding clapperboard)
SIX DPS AND TWO CAMERA OPERATORS INVITED TO BSC MEMBERSHIP
Six cinematographers and two camera operators recently joined the British Society of Cinematographers (BSC).
New full members are: Bjorn Bratberg FNF BSC, Sergio Delgado BSC, Sean Ellis BSC, Anna Valdez Hanks BSC, Oona Menges BSC and Frank Passingham BSC. Associate members are: Zoe Goodwin-Stuart ACO SOC Associate BSC and Matt Poynter ACO SOC Associate BSC.
Norwegian-born Bjørn Bratberg FNF BSC, is a graduate of the National Film & Television School and a BAFTA-Cymru nominee. Sergio Delgado BSC began his career in the
camera department working with director’s such as Steven Soderbergh, Jim Jarmusch and Guillermo del Toro. Oscar-nominee Sean Ellis BSC is an award-winning director and cinematographer. Anna Valdez Hanks BSC was named as BAFTA-Breakthrough Brit in 2015
having worked her way up through the camera department. Oona Menges BSC worked her way up through the camera department in every genre of film. Frank Passingham BSC is a legend in the field of animation with work as wide-ranging as Chicken Run and most recently Guillermo del Toro’s Oscarwinning Pinocchio
In the Associate category, Matt Poynter ACO SOC Assoc BSC is the current president of the ACO and a member of the SOC. Zoe Goodwin-Stuart ACO SOC Assoc BSC serves as vice-president of the ACO.
CANON INTRODUCES EOS C400 CINEMA CAMERA
Canon Europe has expanded its line-up with the debut of the EOS C400 featuring an RF mount, alongside the CN7x17 KAS T lens.
The EOS C400 is the first high-end RF mount cinema EOS camera. Its compact, innovative design packs advanced features and specifications typically found in larger cameras into a more nimble box shaped design, prioritising ease-of-use and operability without compromising capability. Moreover, specific in-camera connectivity such as genlock, return input and 12-pin lens terminal all support live multi-camera productions.
The EOS C400 is equipped with a 6K full frame backside-illuminated, stacked CMOS sensor (BSI), boasting 16 stops of dynamic range. The camera introduces Canon’s triple base ISO technology, crafted for optimal performance in low-light environments and delivering clean optical results.
Supporting Canon RF mount technology, the EOS C400 integrates with a wide array of RF prime, zoom, hybrid, cinema and VR lenses. For added flexibility, the camera also supports the option to use a variety of Canon’s EFEOS R mount adapters as well as the new PL-RF mount adaptor.
The all-new CN7x17 KAS T, available with either RF or PL mount, sits within the Canon Cine Servo lens range, an evolution to the previous CN7x lens, but with improved updates designed to bolster operational performance and extend compatibility with virtual and VFX workflows. With an expansive 7x optical zoom and 17120mm focal length, the lens appeals to live sports and news, documentary, film, remote and virtual productions.
Among its other features are improved connectivity between the lens and camera, streamlining processes such as real-time lens distortion correction, frame-by-frame lens metadata and virtual production workflows with an Unreal Engine plug-in tailored for the EOS C400.
ARRI ANNOUNCES HI-5 SX SINGLE-AXIS WIRELESS HAND UNIT
ARRI has introduced the single-axis Hi-5 SX hand unit, joining the three-axis Hi-5 in wireless camera and lens control technology. Ready to perform a variety of single-axis tasks on set, the Hi-5 SX can also be easily upgraded to higher functionality via optional software licenses.
The Hi-5 SX has an ergonomic design, large display and its touchscreen interface is based on a camera GUI. Uniquely, ARRI offers swappable radio modules for the Hi-5 and Hi-5 SX, allowing crews to choose the most suitable module for any shooting location or to conform to different regional frequency regulations.
Compatible with all existing Hi-5 licenses, such as the Cinefade, Red camera control, and Focusbug licenses, the unit can be upgraded with two new software licenses. The Hi-5 SX Plus License enables lens mapping, Custom Smart Ring creation, six additional user buttons and tail slate mode. The Hi-5 SX All-Axis License enables simultaneous use of the knob, slide and force-pad for three-axis lens control, as well as complete display information, AUX axis, and full virtual T-stop and focal length features. Once both licenses are installed the Hi-5 SX becomes functionally indistinguishable from the Hi-5; the blue SX joystick toggle can even be swapped for black.
With a ruggedised housing that is sealed, dustproof, and weatherproof, the Hi-5 SX can be operated in harsh environmental conditions. ARRI-branded batteries based on the NP-L interface can be hot-swapped without powering the unit down, and their remaining capacity is indicated on the display screen.
Anna Valdez Hanks BSC
Oona Menges BSC
Bjorn Bratberg BSC
ASTERA LUNABULB WINS BEST-OF-SHOW AT EURO CINE EXPO 2024
Astera received the Best Of Show Award during Euro Cine Expo 2024, for its new LunaBulb, conferred by Film-TV-Video.de.
The LunaBulb mimics the appearance of a traditional bulb, but incorporates all the benefits of LED technology, meaning a lower power draw and full wireless control with increased levels of precision when adjusting colour and brightness.
The LED-based LunaBulb consumes 3.5 watts and is available with E26, E27 and B22 fittings. Use of Astera’s Titan LED engine allows precise, flicker-free control for both white levels (1,750 – 20,000K) and a range of colours (RGB, Mint, Amber), with RGB, HIS, XY, and Filter Gel options. The fixture can quickly switch between a classic bulb and a slimline form via a spring-loaded clip. This
means that the light can be used in versatile ways; either mimicking the aesthetic of a conventional bulb, or being placed in other lighting fixtures to provide a practical light source with a high degree of control and adaptability. With an accompanying PrepCase, configuration and set-up are streamlined, allowing eight bulbs to be
pre-configured on the move, with the case itself being battery-powered. The case generates auto-assigned DMX addresses and allows for bulb adjustments and groups to be made in-situ, or alternatively, users can choose to use Bluetooth Bridge, the Astera App or a set of Astera remotes to instantly adjust the bulbs, either individually or collectively.
SONY REVEALS FIRMWARE ROADMAP FOR SONY BURANO CAMERA
Sony has announced two firmware updates for the Burano, the newest addition to the CineAlta family high-end digital cinema cameras. The new firmware updates, Burano Version 1.1 and Version 2.0, are planned to be released over the next year and will include additional recording formats, new de-squeeze options and monitoring updates as well as other features and requests from the cinematic community.
Burano Version 1.1 includes new features for live event production and the addition of 1.5x de-squeeze display for Anamorphic lenses. It will also add S700 Protocol over Ethernet*1 which enables remote control of a Burano using an RCP (remote control panel.) Controllable settings include exposure, white balance, paint, and others (depending on the RCP model). Version 1.1 enables support for Multi Matrix Area Indication, a feature allowing users to adjust targeted colors during Multi Matrix operation. It also supports Sony’s Monitor & Control app version 2.0.0 to enable in-demand features such as Multi-Camera Monitoring function for iPadOS and allow feeds to up to four cameras, precise exposure monitoring including such as waveform, histogram, false colour and zebra.
APUTURE UNVEILS
LS 600C PRO II & INFINIBAR
APlanned to be released in March 2025 or later, Burano Version 2.0 will offer many new features and improvements requested from the user community, including new recording formats, new 1.8x de-squeeze, and monitoring improvements. Version 2.0 will include new recording formats including a new 3.8K Full Frame crop that leverages nearly the entire sensor and can shoot up to 120fps.
ACCESSORIES
puture has launched the Light Storm 600c Pro II, offering nearly double the brightness of its predecessor, higher flicker-free performance and smoother dimming. The LS 600c Pro II fits into the Aputure ecosystem using standard accessories to increase usability and performance, with the ability to control lights wirelessly via the Sidus Link app.
The Aputure Light Storm 600c Pro II is a colour-tunable point source COB light. With its Bowens mount it can accept modifiers to become a Fresnel, a soft light, a projector or a hard open-face Par. Add its portable size, dual battery mounts and CRMX/DMX/Bluetooth
connectivity, and the LS 600c Pro II becomes a continuous light source with many capabilities.
In addition, Aputure has announced the arrival of two brand new lighting kits in the Infinibar line, with the Infinibar PB6 and PB12 4-Light Kits, a four-light bundle of Aputure’s high-pixel-density linear lights in two- or four-foot lengths, respectively, plus an expanded line of accessories designed to bring ease, power and flexibility to the set. A new battery adapter and mounting options have been added to deliver even greater usability and portability to this lighting solution.
LIGHTING CONTROL MADE SIMPLE
Transmit CRMX, DMX and Bluetooth or receive Art-Net, sACN, Node and Bluetooth with one device. The Sidus One does it all. And with 18 hour battery life, it will last all day. Connect up to 4 Sidus One’s to create multiple universes, all synced with the click of a button. Compatible with any lighting app and optimized to work with Sidus Link Pro, creating a complete ecosystem.
Take full control of your fixtures with the wireless Sidus Link Pro app. Featuring a userfriendly interface extending beyond Aputure’s ecosystem. Communicate with and control DMX, CRMX, Art-Net and sACN-based lights from any manufacturer simultaneously, in real-time. Cue effects or mix live: Sidus Link Pro is the easiest way to take creative control.
LIGHTBRIDGE & DOPCHOICE ADD COMPACT
SNAPBRIDGE & BLUFF BOUNCE
The Snapbridge line, from Lightbridge and DoPchoice now offers two more tools designed to allow users to creatively produce portrait illumination. The original Snapbridge supports a Lightbridge precision reflector surrounded by a custom-designed 5’/1.5m circular DoPchoice Snapbox Slim, offering imagemakers a controllable and versatile addition to the lighting pallet.
Now Snapbridge introduces the compact 3ft/90cm Snapbox Slim – optimised for precision reflector sizes 15cm and 25cm. Both the original 5-foot/1.5m and new three-foot versions feature reversible soft and dark surfaces. The white side, or Soft Mode, helps create gentle, bounced fill-light around a precision reflector. On the reverse, the dark mode provides negative fill, reduces spill light and if used as a source to bounce, returns a special glow for a dark mood.
To achieve more nuanced light mimicking ambient reflections, Snapbridge now adds Bluff Bounce certified colour bounces. These custom, butterfly attachments mount swiftly via hook and loop directly to the Snapbox. The selection
COLOUR
includes Unbleached Muslin to breathe life into skin tones, Day Blue for producing a cool blue skylight effect, and 50/50 Unbleached Muslin and Day Blue to subtly imitate the mix of colours found in natural environments.
Snapbridges were created to complement Lightbridge’s line of precision reflectors including: 50 x 50cm, 25 x 25cm and 15 x 15cm. The line features industry-standard 16mm baby pin mounts to easily integrate into a standard grip kit.
GODOX RELEASES NEW BROADCAST LIGHTING SOLUTIONS
Godox has launched lighting solutions tailored for the broadcast industry. The new line-up includes the F7-120D/Bi, P120D/ Bi and P200Bi lights, designed to enhance indoor studio settings and outdoor shooting environments.
This series is Godox’s response to the essential needs and challenges of the broadcast industry. Its innovations are rooted in a focus on the industry demands and pain points, providing broadcasters with versatile lighting solutions that offer more performance and flexibility.
shooting, supporting daisy-chained power for ease-of-use and includes a V-mount battery option, making it also suitable for mobile outdoor
The P200Bi panel light is designed for studio
shoots. Specifically, the P200Bi is a soft panel light, while the P120D/Bi offers detachable diffusers to adjust light softness according to user preferences.
The F7-120D/Bi Fresnel light is designed for precise indoor subject illumination. Same as the panels, it supports multiple wireless control methods and daisy-chain power configurations. This light includes a Fresnel lens accessory, allowing users to modify the beam angle from 15° to 60° for various spotlight effects, and the matching barn doors can be used for further precise light control. Detailed specifications and further information are available on the Godox official website.
MEPTIK RELEASES ‘STUDIO IN A BOX’ FOR VIRTUAL PRODUCTION
Disguise company Meptik has developed its first turnkey virtual production studio solution, Meptik Studio Pro. By packing a pre-configured Disguise studio control stack, Roe LEDs, camera tracking, comprehensive creative and technical support, and training into one solution, Meptik Studio Pro is designed to streamline virtual production studio installation.
“Virtual production can save significant time. It allows for immediate visual feedback on-set, reduces travel to new locations and cuts down on post-production. But you’ll need to design and build a virtual production stage first – a process that can take months,” said Meptik co-founder Nick Rivero.
“With Meptik Studio Pro, we cut that time down. Everything you need to create stunning virtual productions is now in a simple preconfigured, end-to-end solution, taking the guesswork out of what hardware and software to choose or how it can all work together.”
Studio Pro will be available in four options: Small, for presentations, keynotes or other singletalent setups; Medium, for commercial shoots, advertisements, online courses and teaching; Large, for high-budget film and episodic projects with multiple actors and elaborate sets; and XR, for augmented reality projects that extend the virtual world into the physical space.
At the core of Studio Pro is a pre-configured
rack consisting of Disguise’s Emmyaward winning technology, which includes VX and RX servers, and Disguise Designer software to control the visuals. Designer enables both Previz and on-set control of cinematic content which can be 2D, 2.5D or real-time 3D such as Unreal Engine or Volinga for NeRFs. Studio Pro will also be available in a range of Roe LED sizes, specific to the customer’s application.
RACQUET STUDIOS REVEAL STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP WITH PANALUX
Following the recent launch of its new, purpose-built London headquarters in Hayes, Panalux has revealed a new virtual production department in partnership with Racquet Studios.
The new specialist department has been developed to support existing production companies through technical innovation, integrating with traditional filmmaking practices to produce world-class creative content that’s greater than the sum of its parts. From now, the experienced digital creative and technical team from Racquet Studios will be available to support any type and size of production across the UK, Europe and beyond.
Real flexibility is the key to unlocking the power of VP, and the objective of the new alliance is to offer virtual film production services as they are required and as they are useful within the traditional production process. This approach offers bespoke solutions for productions to benefit schedules and budgets, whether full-blown sci-fi stages, car rigs, advertising, TV stages, or pick-ups.
Michele Channer, managing director, at Panalux, said, “We’re excited to be joining forces with Racquet Studios in this new technical department. We are keen to push boundaries in the burgeoning world of virtual production and to bolster the market-leading services that our customers have come to expect from all areas of the Panavision group.”
SUNBELT RENTALS UK & IRELAND PARTNERS WITH LIVERPOOL FILM OFFICE
Sunbelt Rentals UK & Ireland (formally PKE Lighting, MovieTech, Media Access Solutions, Alpha Grip and Acorn) has announced a new partnership with Liverpool City Council’s Film Office to help transform lives of local communities through film and TV production.
As a strategic partner, Sunbelt Rentals will work with Liverpool Film Office to collaborate on an ambitious programme of activity to help build a stronger, more diverse and skilled screen workforce across the Liverpool City Region and support Liverpool City Council’s net zero goal.
This partnership will bolster training initiatives to support 1,000 diverse new entrants, boost outreach and surgeries across the Liverpool City Region, support film and TV industry career open days and encourage sustainability best practices when filming on-location in Liverpool and across LCR.
In its 35th year of operation and being the oldest film office in Europe, Liverpool Film Office had its busiest year to date in 2023, welcoming 301 productions to the Liverpool City Region including Paramount+’s A Gentleman In Moscow and Sexy Beast, BBC’s The Responder S2 and Time S2, plus Prime Video’s Dead Hot Head of Liverpool Film Office, Lynn Saunders said, “This new strategic partnership with Sunbelt Rentals is a first for us and fantastic news for everyone involved in film
and TV production in the Liverpool City Region. By working together, we can maximise meaningful and lasting social impact with our film and TV clients.”
DEDOLIGHT PB70 –BREAKING THE SQUARE LAW
The Dedolight PB70 is different – not just in its physical appearance, nor in terms of its high output and low energy consumption. The PB70 enables gaffers and cinematographers to achieve a natural, organic quality of light, whilst at the same time defeating ‘The Inverse Square Law’, whereby as distance increases from the lighting source intensity decreases. When the distance from the light source is doubled the result is a quarter of the original light. However, when working with the PB70 this does not happen.
At 5m the light intensity of the PB70 is 112,000 lux. Therefore at 10m (double the distance) the expected result would be 27,000 lux (a quarter of the light.) Yet the result is 68,000 lux.
The reason for this unexpected result, which goes completely against the Square Law, is because the Dedolight PB70’s parabolic construction, which results in an intense parallel beam. The light itself does not come from the light head, rather it comes from behind the light from what the company calls a ‘virtual light source’.
Essentially, the virtual light source is 20m behind the light fixture which means the distance from light to subject, particularly when reflected, is dramatically increased.
The result is when the subject moves towards the light or away from the light, exposure changes are minimal. Anyone who has worked on a film set knows the square law jumps in at the worst moments, bringing limitations and exposure issues to the filming process. The Dedolight PB70 by design and capability overcomes these issues.
Furthermore, the lighting quality is different, again the result of the light originating from way behind the lighthead.
The Dedolight PB70 is one of the few lights that can effectively simulate daylight and sunlight. This is due to the parallel beam which is then reflected, further extending the path of the light. Dedolight calls this Infinity Lighting – the illusion of natural light from a far distance.
Watch the movie that demonstrates the concept of Infinity Lighting, and shows examples using the Dedolight PB70 and the Dedolight Lightstream system: https://vimeo.com/976018497/fdfa1953e3?share=copy.
SHINFIELD UK’S LARGEST NEW FILM & TV STUDIO COMPLETES CONSTRUCTION
Shinfield Studios, the largest new film and television studio in the UK, has completed construction. The site is now fully-operational with 18 soundstages, including two of the biggest in the UK at 43,000sq/ft. The site also encompasses 38 workshops, substantial, contemporary office space and a nine-acre filming backlot.
Based to the east of Reading with links to the M4 and Crossrail, Shinfield Studios has opened in phases over the last two years. In that time, it has already welcomed productions including the recently released Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.
Nick Smith, joint managing director, Shinfield Studios said, “Shinfield Studios is complete. We have built from the groundup one of the world’s most state-of-the art studio facilities, designed to attract the most ambitious and high-budget
productions. We’ve already welcomed to Berkshire some truly impressive feature films and high-end television series and, with Shinfield Studios now fullyoperational, there will be many more to come.”
Accessibility and sustainability have been at the heart of the studio design. Accessible facilities have been incorporated into every stage and office floor.
Sustainable infrastructure such as the use of air-source heat pumps, solar panels and electric vehicle charging points are also featured throughout the facility.
Ian Johnson, joint managing director, Shinfield Studios, added, “Our vision was to build a studio which fulfilled every need of today’s productions, including supporting industry efforts to improve sustainability and facilitate accessibility for all. It is fantastic to have brought that vision to reality and we are enormously grateful for the support from Wokingham Borough Council, The University of Reading and the local community.”
BROMPTON TECHNOLOGY CO-HOSTS OPEN HOUSE AT STUDIO X
Studio X Beyond, in partnership with L&E Beyond, is a cuttingedge virtual production studio recently opened in the heart of Bangkok, Thailand. During this year’s InfoComm Asia, the studio hosted an open house event in partnership with Brompton Technology, AOTO and Disguise. The event showcased how Brompton’s advanced LED processing solutions, combined with virtual production (VP) technology, Disguise’s real-time production capabilities and AOTO’s state-of-the-art LED screens, can revolutionise content creation.
Targeting industry sectors such as film and television production, advertising, music video production, live events, and product launches, Studio X Beyond aims to attract professionals seeking innovative ways to enhance their production quality and efficiency.
Co-founder Arocha Kittivittayakul explained that their goal was to showcase the benefits of Brompton’s advanced LED processing technology and other VP solutions, saying, “We aim to highlight the exceptional quality, flexibility, and
efficiency that this integrated approach brings to our LED volume and real-time production capabilities.”
Spanning 300sq/m, Studio X Beyond features a 240sq/m stage and operational area, complemented by a 60sq/m multiuse mezzanine stage viewing platform. The studio is equipped with Brompton’s 4K Tessera SX40 and Tessera S8 LED processors, alongside Tessera XD 10G data distribution units. The LED volume comprises a 22.5m x 5.5m AOTO RM Series 2.3PP LED screen, a 6m x 3m AOTO MXH Series 3.7PP LED ceiling, and a 4m x 3m AOTO MXH Series 3.7PP movable LED screen. Disguise VX4+ media servers and Disguise RX II ensure seamless real-time playback capabilities.
Kittivittayakul added, “Brompton’s exceptional compatibility with Disguise media servers and AOTO LED volumes ensure we have an LED solution that meets the highest standards of the global film and entertainment industries, positioning Thailand as a key destination for high-end productions.”
AHA …!
Our regular round up of who is shooting what and where
INDEPENDENT TALENT GROUP:
Ole Birkeland BSC is working with Philippa Lowthorpe on an undisclosed project. Eben Bolter BSC ASC recently filmed The Franchise before starting prep on the latest season of Slow Horses Jermaine Edwards shot My Father’s Shadow, directed by Akinola Davies Jr. Bjorn Bratberg is shooting block one of Karen Pirie S2. Caroline Bridges is lensing on block three of Outlander S8. Jordan Buck and Miguel Carmenes have continued to film commercials and music promos. Chris Clarke lit for Jason Schmidt and Chanel at the Venice Biennale 2024, completed a short, written/ directed by Pip (Ben Seed), and has continued to shoot spots for Chessington, Iceland and P&O. Ben Davis BSC is prepping for The Woman In Cabin 10 with Simon Stone. Anthony Dod Mantle DFF BSC ASC is shooting Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later Michael Filocamo has wrapped on Tom Vaughan’s I, Jack Wright Kit Fraser lit The Scurry with regular collaborator Craig Roberts. Sam Goldie is lensing block two of Karen Pirie S2 with Amanda Blue. Katie Goldschmidt BSC was in Canada shooting the new series of The Last Of Us Billy Kendall has been shooting music videos for various artists and directors. Suzie Lavelle ISC BSC is lighting Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy, directed by Michael Morris. Rick Joaquim completed multiple shorts, including The Forge, Stay Calm and Largo John Mathieson BSC is shooting the new Jurassic Park movie with Gareth Edwards. Bani Mendy is filming Crongton with director Ethosheia Hylton. Andreas Neo has been lensing various VP projects and commercials. Mark Patten BSC is prepping block one of Young Sherlock with Guy Ritchie. George Richmond BSC is shooting Ruben Fleischer’s Now You See Me 3. James Rhodes recently wrapped on Malice with Leonora Londsale. Martin Ruhe ASC has been shooting ads. David Ungaro AFC is with Scott Frank shooting Department Q Michael Filocamo is shooting on Tom Vaughan’s I, Jack Wright Maja Zamojda BSC just finished shooting block 2 of The Franchise Mark Waters has been lensing Grantchester, directed by Rob Evans. Erik Wilson shot commercials with Guy Manwaring, Sharon Maguire and Michael Gracey. Mark Wolf is prepping Marc Munden’s Lord Of The Flies
WORLDWIDE PRODUCTION AGENCY: Scott Winig recently wrapped on the first of two blocks The Witcher S5, and Richard Donnelly ISC has been prepping on the next block on the show
with director Alex Garcia Lopez. Anna Patarakina FSF is shooting in Bristol on Larkin with 60Forty for Apple TV+. Nathalie Pitters has started on Brian & Margaret with director Stephen Frears for Baby Cow/ C4. Bryan Gavigan is lensing the new series Cold Water for Sister/ITVx. Job Reineke has started prep on BlackLight TV’s iteration of Bergerac with director Colm McCarthy. Sunshine Hsien-Yu Niu lit the short, The Game, with director Charlotte Gwinner and producer Suri Ellerton. Mattias Nyberg BSC is lensing Amazon’s The Girlfriend with director Robin Wright, and Paul Morris has started prep on the next block of the show with director Andrea Harkin. Manoel Ferreira SASC joined Atomic as the second unit director/DP for Pulse Films/Sky. Matt Windon continues shooting second unit in Croatia on Amazon’s The Terminal List S2. Katie Swain shot extensive splinter unit footage on the third instalment of Knives Out, after having shot additional photography with Ridley Scott on Gladiator II. PJ Dillon ISC ASC
continues principal photography Wednesday S2 with Tim Burton for Netflix. Ruairí O’Brien ISC BSC continues shooting A24’s feature Eternity in Vancouver with director David Freyne. Stephen Murphy ISC BSC is lighting the upcoming feature film Heart Eyes in New Zealand with director Josh Ruben for Divide/ Conquer and Spyglass. Ed Moore BSC is lighting on Apple TV+’s Hijack S2 with director Jim Field Smith. Simon Archer BSC continues principal photography on new BBC series The Forsyte Saga with director Annetta Laufer. Joel Devlin BSC has been lighting This City Is Ours in Liverpool for BBC with director Saul Dibb. Catherine Derry is shooting the new Netflix series The Choice with director Amy Neil. Narayan Van Maele shot the feature film, The Restoration At Grayson Manor, with director Glenn McQuaid. Jack Edwards lit the BFI short Giants with director Andy Berriman via Shudder Films. Tony Slater Ling BSC did pick-ups on Bad Sisters S2 with director Dearbhla Walsh for Merman/Apple TV+. Arthur Mulhern
Images: (top) DP Pete Rowe (r) with Alan Partridge; (middle row) Joel Devlin BSC shooting This City is Ours; Pieter Snyman and his camera team prep for a Samsung job at LifeBoat Camera Rental; (bottom row, l&r) Courtney J. Bennett shooting for Yungblud; (middle) Pieter Snyman shooting for Samsung.
ISC wrapped on The Gone S2 with director Dathaí Keane in New Zealand, and then graded his work on Nightsleeper for Fremantle’s Euston Films and the BBC. Andy Hollis has completed on Sky Studios’ film Bad Tidings with director Tim Kirkby. Adam Barnett has wrapped on the new BBC series We Go Again with director Nathaniel Martello-White. Kanamé Onoyama AFC shot in Slovenia with Untold Studios’ director Diarmid for Lenovo, and has graded the upcoming FX series Say Nothing. Jamie Cairney BSC had done the DI on Netflix’s Joy with director Ben Taylor. Max Smeds has graded his work on Thin Blue Line S3 for SVT. Courtney J. Bennett shot with Quiet Storm and director Adu Lalouschek for Giff Gaff, then lit Yungblud’s latest promo with director Charlie Sarsfield and Brat Films. Thomas Hole shot a campaign for Natwest with director Chris Ranson through VaynerMedia. Pierre de Kerchove travelled to the UAE with Iconoclast director Laura Weaver for a Qatar ad. Thomas Revington wrapped a Martell spot in Cape Town with RSA Films director Meji Alabi. Jaime Ackroyd shot a Nike spot with director Xavier Tera and Twin Brains, then travelled to Sofia for a Birkenstock job directed by Leonn Ward via Rafa. Stefan Yap shot with Knucklehead and JAK on a Jammie Dodger TVC. Pieter Snyman wrapped in Bangkok with Radical Media for a Samsung commercial directed by Randall Einhorn, then went on to shoot with Madcat Media directors Goshdamn for Imagine Travel. Matthew Emvin Taylor and director David Dearlove
journeyed to Lisbon with Arts & Sciences to shoot a spot for Qiddiya. Matthew Fox flew to Germany to shoot the food unit for a Lidl spot with BWGTBLD and director Tom Hooper, then shot a collaborative campaign for Channel 4 x Paralympics with Rogue director Alex Boutell.
UNITED AGENTS:
Remi Adefarasin OBE BSC is grading Mr. Loverman for BBC Studios/Fable Pictures, directed by Hong Khaou. Søren Bay DFF has graded The Rig S2 for Wild Mercury Productions and Amazon Prime. Mark Nutkins has wrapped on Curfew with director Joasia Goldyn for Vertigo and Paramount+. Philippe Kress DFF is shooting The Summerdahl Murders S6 for Sequoia Global Alliance with director Kenneth Kainz. John Lee BSC has done the DI grade on Band Of Spies for Archery Pictures. Danny Cohen BSC is shooting series four of Slow Horses Damian Paul Daniel’s documentary Fearless is doing the rounds on the festival circuit. Martin Fuhrer BSC is reading for his next project. David Higgs BSC has graded Department Q Matt Lewis is shooting Jack Thorne’s Adolescence, directed by Philip Barantini. Kieran McGuigan BSC is meeting for various projects. Bet Rourich AEC is shooting the Spanish feature Los Aitas John Sorapure is directing and lighting second unit on Project Hail Mary. Simon Tindall has begun filming Sally Wainwright’s upcoming series Riot Women. Ollie Downey BSC is lensing Reunion directed by Luke Snellin, after
Images: (top) Arthur Mulhern ISC on The Gone; (middle row) Ed Rutherford BSC and team Mandrake; Butterfly crew (l-r) Arturo Baskez 2nd AC, DP David Raedeker BSC, Camila Bienn 2nd trainee, and Victor Ramos 1st trainee; DP David Raedeker BSC shooting on Butterfly (also bottom pic).
WHO, WHAT, WHEN & WHERE
which he will prep the feature, The Fires, directed by Ugla Hauksdóttir. Laurens De Geyter SBC is shooting the Belgian feature, Foley Man with director Frank van Passel David Rom has concluded on The Devil’s Hour S3. Álvaro Gutiérrez AEC is prepping on Black Mirror. Sam Heasman has graded Lazarus with director Nicole Volavka. Si Bell BSC is lighting the final block of What It Feels Like For A Girl with director Marie Kristiansen after opening with director Brian Welsh. Sam Chiplin is reading for new projects and lighting commercials. Charlotte Bruus Christensen ASC is shooting commercials while reading and meeting. James Friend BSC ASC is lighting Edward Berger’s next feature Ballad Of A Small Player Anton Mertens SBC is lighting the series Bookish, written by and starring Mark Gatiss. Milos Moore and Neus Ollé AEC BSC are reading and meeting. David Raedeker BSC recently wrapped on Butterfly, a feature produced by Quiddity Films with director Itonje Guttormsen. Niels Reedtz Johansen lit the feature Christmas Karma for director Gurinder Chadha. Ed Rutherford BSC has wrapped on Mandrake with director Lewis Arnold for ITV. Juan Sarmiento G. is reading and meeting. Anna Valdez Hanks completed filming on Missing You with director Sean Spencer for Quay Street Productions. Ben Wheeler BSC is lighting for director Jeremy Lovering on The Undertow, a series by Complete Fiction for Netflix. Barry Ackroyd BSC lit a Rimowa spot in Lisbon with director Jordan Hemingway via Object & Animal. Magni Ágústsson is lensing Amadeus with director Alice Seabright in Hungary. Alex Barber recently shot a campaign with director Tom Hooper in Slovenia through BWGTBLD, as well as a Mobil One ad in Hungary with directors The Scared Egg at Riff Raff. Laurent Barès is shooting The Hermit with director Lisa Mulcahy in Athens. Alfie Biddle was in Scotland shooting on BBC’s Shetland S9 with director Andrew Cummings. Simon Chaudoir filmed an Amazon spot with director Glenn Kitson via Iconoclast, and a Rolls-Royce commercial in Majorca with Rob Chiu, also for Iconoclast. Lasse Frank was in Sweden, shooting a Virgin Media spot with director Andreas Nilsson through Biscuit. Nick Gillespie has graded the upcoming TV series Generation Z for director Ben Wheatley. Florian Hoffmeister BSC is shooting the feature, The Roses, for director Jay Roach in the UK and Europe. Stephen Keith-Roach lit a Tropicana spot for director Michael Clowater in Slovenia and a Greenies ad for director Arthur Studholme in London through Magna Studios. Ali Little shot in Poland
with director Michael J Ferns for a Knorr TVC via RattlingStuff. Erik Messerschmidt ACS lit an Estrella Damm commercial in Spain via Blur Productions with director Claudia Llosa. Ben Moulden is shooting on The Change S2 James Oldham shot an episode of Casualty for director George Siougas in Cardiff. Simon Richards lensed an episode of Vera for director Paul Gay in Northumberland. Simona Susnea is shooting The Buccaneers with director Will McGregor for Apple TV in Glasgow.
SARA PUTT ASSOCIATES:
Andrei Austin recently wrapped on Too Much alongside director Lena Dunham for Working Title/ NBC Universal. Andrew Bainbridge has been prepping the six-part thriller, The Hermit for Two Brothers, shooting on location in Greece. Danny Bishop is working on a project shooting in Asia. Ben Mankin operated B-camera on The Sandman S2. Ed Clark operated on the second unit on Three Bags Full, starring Hugh Jackman. Dan Evans is working with King Bert operating B-camera on the sixth and final season of Malory Towers James Frater was on location working on Frankenstein with DP Dan Laustsen DFF ASC. Ilana Garrard has recently returned from shooting in Finland and Germany on The Fisherwoman which stars Emma Thompson and is now working on Mother Mary in Germany. Zoe Goodwin Stuart recently wrapped on the Neal Street series for HBO The Franchise James Leigh has started on Towards Zero, an adaptation of an Agatha Christie novel for Mammoth Screen. Will Lyte lensed on Gurinder Chadha’s A Christmas Karma, starring Kunal Nayyar. Chris Maxwell operated A-camera/Steadicam on Apple TV+’s The Buccaneers S2. Vince McGahon continues on the newest series of Slow Horses for Apple TV+. Julian Morson has started on the second unit of Project Hail Mary, which stars Ryan Gosling. Akhilesh Patel was in Ireland operating B-camera/ Steadicam on Mixtape, an Irish / Australian co-production. Al Rae has joined director Stephen Frears on Brian And Margaret, operating A-camera/ Steadicam. Rick Woollard operated AR for Smuggler, and then Steadicam for Showtime & Mai Productions (McQueen), and did Steadicam dailies on the Netflix
This page/Images: DP David Raedeker BSC shooting on Butterfly; and Will Lyte shooting Christmas Karma. Opposite/Images: DP Thomas English at work!
drama The Choice Giulio Biccari was on block two DP on Drama Republic’s thriller Haven, which will stream on Amazon. Yinka Edward is working with Studio Lambert on Boarders S2 for BBC Three. Toby Moore is in shooting on the new series of Call The Midwife Duncan Telford recently wrapped on Sky Arts project.
PRINCESTONE:
Of the agency’s DPs… Thomas English has been shooting a range of shorts and commercials, including a fight film spectacular for stuntman-turned-director Jean-
Paul Ly, CGI-heavy commercials for Ant Rubenstein, and then a commercial for Betfair with Michael Sharpe at Man Vs Machine involving 26 cameras – so many that he needed an OB truck to turnover and cut.
Diego Rodriguez is shooting two documentaries –Galacticos for Fulwell, shooting in Madrid and Brazil, and Reloaded for Lorton Ent., following Jurgen Klopp and his team at Liverpool Football Club during the 2024 season. Of the agency’s camera operators… Simon Baker ACO Associate BSC is shooting Death By Lightning, the Netflix series about the assassination of President James Garfield, filming in Budapest with DP
on The Witcher S4 with DP Scott Winig and director Sergio Mimica Gezzan, starring Henry Cavil, Freya Allan and Anya Chalotra. Matt Fisher ACO is shooting in Gran Canaria on Nine Bodies In A Mexican Morgue... for Eleventh Hour Films, starring Siobhan McSweeney and Eric McCormack, directed by Brian O’Malley with DP James Mather ISC. Rob Hart ACO has been lensing on Missing You, a Netflix mini-series, starring Rosalind Eleazar, Paul Kaye and Steve Pemberton, with directors are Isher Sahota and Sean Spencer. Rob is also shooting as second unit DP
Hard to believe
How to escape the square law in lighting
How to create the perfect illusion of natural light from a far distance
Difficult to believe –click on the explanations and measure yourself Most effective
Masters of Green Tech in Media Ecology and Economy
Adriano Goldman BSC ASC. Michael Carstensen ACO was
WHO, WHAT, WHEN & WHERE
on The Undertow, directed by Jeremy Lovering, with DP Ben Wheeler BSC. James Layton ACO Associate BSC shot a few weeks on the feature Artillery, with DP Ben Davis BSC and director Damien Walters, and is now on Young Sherlock with director Guy Ritchie and DP Mark Patten BSC. Nic Milner ACO Associate BSC has been shooting Bimini in Egypt and the UK, directed by Guy Ritchie, with DP Ed Wild BSC. Dan Nightingale ACO lensed on The Night Manager S2 in the UK, Columbia and Spain with director Georgi Banks Davies and DP Tim Sidell BSC. Peter Robertson ACO Associate BSC filmed on The Department, starring Michael Fassbender, based on the French series The Bureau and written by Jez Butterworth. Joe Russell ACO is working on Sky Studios’ Haven, with director Sam Miller and DP Adam Gillham BSC. Xandy Sahla recently finished shooting as second unit
DP on the next series of Unforgotten with director Andy Wilson. Fabrizio Sciarra ACO Associate BSC GBCT SOC was in Ireland shooting on Wednesday S2, directed by Tim Burton and starring Jenna Ortega.
BERLIN ASSOCIATES:
Edward Ames continues shooting Waterloo Road S13 for Wall to Wall, Warner Brothers TV and BBC. Will Baldy is shooting The Sandman S2, a Warner Brothers production for Netflix. Sarah Bartles Smith recently lit a pilot with director Matt Lipsey, and is shooting the second block of Beyond Paradise S3 for Red Planet. Andy Clark is lensing on The Good Ship Murder S2 for Clapperboard Studios. Nick Cox has been operating on Waterloo Road S13 for Wall/ Warner Brothers TV/BBC. Len Gowing is lensing Channel X North’s So Awkward S9 for CBBC.
Annemarie Lean-Vercoe is lighting Outrageous for Firebird Pictures. Trevelyan Oliver is shot on The Marlow Murder Club S2. Tom Pridham recently wrapped on the third block of Ellis for Company Pictures with director Ryan Tohill. Benjamin Pritchard has been framing Renaissance for the BBC. Pete Rowe is engaged on And Did Those Feet… With Alan Partridge for Baby Cow Productions. James Swift shot block three of Virdee, a Magical Society show for BBC, directed by Mo Ali. Alistair Upcraft recently finished shooting on Buccaneer’s Whitstable Pearl S3. Phil Wood completed a block on Missing You for Quay Street Productions. Matt Wicks is lighting Hat Trick Productions’ Smoggie Queens with producer Chris Jones.
This page/Image: DP Thomas English at work!
FROM THE ACORN…
By Natasha Block Hicks
Asurprising fact about the Portuguese Society Of Cinematographers, the Associação de Imagem CinemaTelevisão Portuguesa (AICTP) – known as the AIP in industry circles – is that it was founded by camera assistants, not by cinematographers. Co-founder and serving president, Tony Costa aip, was a 1st AC when he helped launch the society on the 20th July 1998, now celebrating its 25th anniversary.
“The DPs endorsed its official creation, but the initiative was taken by assistants like me,” comments Costa from his office at Lusófona University, where he is head of cinematography. “We invited the cinematographers to come along.”
Celebrating its 25th year in 2023, the AIP’s mission statement reads: “As a cultural and professional body, the purposes of the association are the promotion and dissemination of Portuguese cinema at a national and international level, as well as bringing together and defending the artistic and professional interests of the authors of cinematographic photography.”
Back in 1998, the founders’ first challenge was simply registering a title for their society, ideally with a three-letter acronym that would align it to other international cinematographic associations.
“We ran 20 different names and couldn’t find one that was available,” remembers Costa. They settled on AICTP, with postnominals for its members being correctly represented as ‘aip’: lowercase letters, no full stops.
The nascent society’s primary task was to open up Portugal’s relatively small film industry. “We wanted to give freelancers an identity,” stresses Costa.
“The few features shooting in Portugal at the time were dominated by three or four production companies with their own in-house equipment and assistants. My colleagues, the first AC freelancers, who worked mostly for Animatógrafo, the culture-
changing production company of António da Cunha Telles, felt there was a need for a society to drive for fairer conditions.”
Soon the promotion of the skill and artistry of cinematography itself became a focus. In 1999, the AIP published issue #1 of the industry magazine Imagem, which ran yearly until 2004, alongside a production guide which listed live projects and freelancers working in the Portuguese industry.
“Imagem was intended to demystify the role of the DP to those producers and directors who did not recognise cinematography as a key element in filmmaking,” explains Costa. “It is my great regret that, with the digital revolution, the magazine ceased to be economically viable.”
Workshops and seminars were organised to enlighten Portuguese professionals on the practice and culture of cinematography worldwide. Eduardo Serra ASC AFC aip presented one of the first AIP workshops. Italian heavyweights Vittorio Storaro ASC AIC – an honourary AIP member – and Luciano Tovoli ASC AIC also visited to disseminate their experiences. More recently, Peter Zeitlinger ASC BVK and the late John Bailey ASC discussed their careers at AIP-affiliated masterclasses.
“We normally collaborate with a university or film school for these events,” explains Costa, “that way we can share resources and costs, and reach more people.” Lusófona and Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema (ESTC) in Lisbon have hosted such events, and Costa’s ideal would be to hold events as far north as Porto, though time and funds have yet to accommodate it.
An exciting recent development was the creation of the annual AIP Awards/Prémios AIP Cinema in 2018, which celebrate not only professionals and students practising cinematography, but also those working to promote it.
“That peer-to-peer recognition and camaraderie among Portuguese cinematographers is something
the AIP has been working hard to create,” states Costa with conviction. “The awards motivate people and give them validation. They’ve been a great success amongst the members.”
Covid lockdown highlighted video podcasting as another resource at the AIP’s disposal, and since 2020 the society has been populating its YouTube and Vimeo channels with AIP Award highlights, interviews such as Luzes, Câmara e… Então?/Lights, Camera and… So?, along with the 24-episode series Um DF, Um Filme/One DP, One Film: a study by an AIP member of one of their films, such as João Ribeiro aip, who presented The Tree/D’rvo/A Árvore (2018, dir. André Gil Mata).
Costa has dedicated himself to the AIP since its inception and acted as its first president until 2008. DP Rui Poças aip ABC, best-known for his collaboration with director Miguel Gomes on features such as the acclaimed monochrome period piece Grand Tour (2024), held the post from 2008 to 2009, succeeded by the AIP’s first female member and co-founder Inês Carvalho aip, recipient of the AIP’s Career Award in 2018. Luís Branquinho aip, known for vampire horror O Barão/The Baron (2011, dir. Edgar Pêra) and Terra Nova (2020, dir. Artur Ribeiro), assumed the role from after Carvalho and
We work hard on peer-to-peer recognition and camaraderie
spearheaded until Costa reprised the presidency again in 2014.
“It was difficult for my colleagues to manage the AIP voluntary work alongside their own careers,” admits Costa, “so I am staying president until we have a solid, autonomous administration that supports future member presidents and retains some stability.”
The society now has a manager, Alejandra Alem, and a dedicated social media and website administrator, Pedro Bruno Rodrigues. Membership fees for the 17 full members remain unchanged from 1998, at €50/annum, with extra financial support for the society’s activities coming from twelve corporate patrons, such as Fujifilm and ARRI.
“It is only possible to have our awards ceremonies and pursue the promotion of cinematography with their support,” says Costa gratefully.
There are challenges ahead, and the society, as ever, has its work cut out. “Portuguese cinema-going is in crisis,” relates Costa seriously, “last May was the lowest attendance on record.
“Our industry is growing; with TV series there’s a lot of more production going on. But there is a lack of quality mainstream feature production. We have auteurs making three-hour films, artisticallyrich but very niche, and when we do make films for the general public they have poor production values and the audience don’t go. We simply cannot compete with Hollywood, so we are trapped in the middle.”
Celebrating the AIP’s 25th anniversary was therefore a golden opportunity to promote the best of Portuguese cinematography, and the little
victories achieved over the last quarter century in support of it.
Screenings were organised countrywide, from the CineClube in Porto to Lusófona and ESTC in Lisbon, and in particular a showcase of AIP member films was presented at the prestigious Cinemateca Portuguesa: a museum, archive and cinema dedicated to the promotion and preservation of the filmic arts in Portugal.
“We showed quite a diverse programme of films, new and old,” relates Costa, “some were even projected in the original analogue format with the Cinemateca’s film projectors.”
The next 25 years will see the AIP continue to push for recognition and appreciation of the work of the cinematographer.
“AI is the biggest challenge in the coming years,” considers Costa, “we must be prepared for it. And although the industry in Portugal is better than before, we still need more production. Personally, I would like to see more mainstream films that encourage audiences into the theatre.”
Costa aims for the AIP to expand on its education initiatives, to include more workshops that cover the artistic practise of cinematography. He is also looking forward to an expanding a “refreshed” AIP beyond his presidency.
“I am determined, and I try to be fair, but I can be stubborn,” Costa admits, “It’s nice for a society to have a change of leadership. Because there is a new generation coming.”
Web: aipcinema.com YouTube: @aipcine
Opposite/Images: Rui Poças receiving an AIP Award for A Little Love Package (2022, dir. Gastón Solnicki); a Kodak workshop a few months before the AIP was founded in front of the Malaposta Theatre in Odivelas (l-r) Tony Costa, Fernanda Calçada, Kodak sales representative Cristina Pereira, Iana Ferreira, a founder of the AIP, and Frederico Martin from Kodak Spain.
This page/Images: AIP awards ceremony, which traditionally takes place in Casa do Alentejo in Lisbon city centre; Acácio de Almeida, Rui Poças and Porto Cineclube director Ana Carneiro, during the presentation of Acácio de Almeida’s documentary Objectos De Luz; a photo from 1994, after one of the AIPs first meetings (l-r) Miguel Sales Lopes, Tiago Beja da Costa, Tony Costa, Vasco Riobom, Carlos Assis (deceased) Leonor Game and Otavio Espírito Santo; and Eduardo Serra taking a reading during his AIP workshop in the ESTC – Escola superior de Teatro E Cinema
MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD
By Ron Prince
Shooting on KODAK colour and B&W 35mm filmstocks, DP Robbie Ryan ISC BSC created a vibrant look for Yorgos Lanthimos’s anthology feature Kinds Of Kindness – a trio of loosely-connected satires about power, subservience and free will, each with their own thought-provoking twists and where things are never quite what they seem.
Described as a ‘triptych fable’, the first story, entitled ‘The Death Of R.M.F’, follows an office worker seeking to regain control of his destiny from a tyrannical boss. The second, ‘R.M.F. Is Flying’, depicts a police officer with suspicions that his spouse, recently-returned after being reported missing, is actually an imposter. The final segment, ‘R.M.F. Eats A Sandwich’, revolves around two cult members in search of a woman who can resurrect the dead. Kinds Of Kindness stars Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau, Joe Alwyn, Mamoudou Athie and Hunter Schafer, and had its world premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, where Plemons won the award for Best Actor and the film garnered glowing critical reviews. The production, filmed in 4-perf widescreen, represents Ryan’s third cinematographic collaboration with Lanthimos, the pair having worked together previously on the 35mm filmoriginated The Favourite (2018) and Poor Things
We had a simple shooting style – one camera and very few lights
Cinematography nomination for Ryan.
Speaking about the positive reception for Kinds Of Kindness, Ryan says, “Each of the three stories in Kinds Of Kindness contains a lot of rich subject matter, and the film is an experience that keeps you on your toes. It’s the kind of cinema that gives food for thought afterwards too. Personally, I love films that you need to think about, and Yorgos’s features always do that.”
Ryan laughs when he recalls he first learned about Kinds Of Kindness from Lanthimos in a Parisian brothel, by which he means one of the dramatic settings in Poor Things
“I was immediately intrigued. The initial script I read had the three separate stories running concurrently, but when a subsequent draft came over a few months later, the format had changed to being three separate, individual stories, with different aspects about the power-plays in relationships clearly defined in each.
“That said, Yorgos and I don’t typically talk much about story and themes. It’s more about technical matters and how we’re going to shoot. Kinds Of Kindness was going to be quite a change in visual style from The Favourite and Poor Things. For example, he was keen to shoot in widescreen Anamorphic, without the extreme wides we’ve incorporated before, but to still be close-up on the characters.”
(2023), the latter earning four Oscars, plus a Best
I love films that you need to think about
As for visual references, Ryan says Lanthimos loves stills photography and always proffers images to contemplate aesthetically during prep, such as the work of street and portrait photographer Judith Shieh Krasinski, who is known for capturing split-second moments that reveal hidden stories and strange beauty in everyday scenarios. He also says films by Japanese filmmakers, like Shôhei Imamura, which question the illusion of human reality, were among the reckoning, but adds, “These were really the basis for conversations about where the camera might be positioned and how it might move according to the moment in a particular scene. Yorgos wanted to depict real-world situations, where things look like the norm, but where something else is bubbling that’s
ROBBIE RYAN ISC BSC•
not necessarily the norm.”
Filming on Kinds Of Kindness took place at locations around New Orleans from September to December 2022, where the three stories in the triptych were filmed back-to-back.
“New Orleans is a very interesting town, with a lot of great locations that make it a fantastic place to shoot a film. Yorgos wanted colour and contrast, and the city has all of that in abundance,” Ryan says.
“We only had two-and-a-half weeks to shoot each story, and that meant we approached things with a pretty simple shooting style – one camera and very few lights – to suit the fast pace of the schedule. It was fun and refreshing to work this way because, unlike Poor Things, we didn’t have to work
in a studio and employ hundreds of lights to create environments that required Yorgos having to tick every single item in the world-building. We found really nice locations and everything that was in front of the camera was a lot quicker to set-up and shoot.”
Kinds Of Kindness was filmed in widescreen Anamorphic aspect ratio, with Ryan operating using ARRICAM ST cameras mounted mainly with Panavision Primo and Panavision C-Series optics, supplemented with Atlas Orion Anamorphic and Cooke Anamorphic glass. The camera and lenses were supplied by Panavision Los Angeles, with the production serviced out of Panavision New Orleans.
“We shot single-camera, and I went with the ARRICAM ST as you can top-mount the film
As this film was set in America, Yorgos felt it needed the cinematic aesthetic that Anamorphic brings
Images: photo of Robbie Ryan ISC BSC by Atsushi Nishijima. Images courtesy and copyright of Searchlight Pictures.
KINDS OF KINDNESS•ROBBIE RYAN
KODAK 50D delivers colour and contrast in abundance
magazine, which makes it much easier to shoot in small or confined spaces, where I often find myself squashed into a corner,” Ryan reveals.
“We covered one of the stunt scenes, involving a car crash, with four cameras – two ARRICAM STs, an ARRICAM LT, plus a ARRIFLEX 235 35mm camera to shoot slow motion. We also used a lowslung Biscuit Rig to film the high-speed car driving sequences, so that Emma would be safe while delivering her performance. But other than that, this was a single-camera shoot, done old-schoolstyle on the dolly, tracks or sticks, with no cranes
or other camera moving gear, which helped us remain efficient between set-ups.”
Explaining the change in style from their previous collaborations, Ryan says, “Yorgos always likes to try something new, and wanted to step away from the super-wide angles and tighter aspect ratios that we had on The Favourite, which was 1.85:1 and Poor Things, which we shot in 1.66:1.
“He hadn’t done an Anamorphic feature for a while, not since Dog Tooth (2009, DP Thimios Bakatakis GSC). As this film was set in America, he felt it needed the cinematic aesthetic that
Anamorphic brings – although it would be inwardlooking, with lots of close-up camera work on individuals in rooms, rather than it being about landscapes and scenes with multiple characters.”
Consequently, Ryan undertook substantial tests with a wide range of Anamorphic lenses to observe the differences in how they resolve the images, especially their clarity and focus.
“With a lot of Anamorphic lenses there is an issue with the top and bottom of frame going out of focus, which Yorgos does not like. The Panavision Primo Anamorphic lenses were the most suitable as they
do not have this problem. They offer close-focus to about two-and-a-half feet with negligible distortion around the edges, plus they have high contrast and are fast – T2.0 across the range.
“I filled a few gaps in the lens package with the addition of Panavision C-series Anamorphics, which were adjusted quite magically to give close-focus of 17-inches by Dan Sasaki and the lens team at Panavision Woodland Hills. For the occasions when Yorgos wanted to go wider and tighter than the Panavision optics would allow, we went with either an Atlas Orion 21mm or a Cooke 25mm Anamorphic lens.”
For the mainstay of the narrative storytelling Ryan shot Kinds Of Kindness using a trio of KODAK VISION3 35mm colour negative film stocks –namely 50D 5203, 250D 5207 and 500T 5219 –with EASTMAN DOUBLE-X 5222 B&W for the film’s dream sequences. Film processing and 4K scans were done at FotoKem in Los Angeles, with final colour grading by senior colourist Greg Fisher at Company3 in London. A number of 35mm film prints were later made at Cinelab, UK.
“Yorgos does not do digital, as he feels it doesn’t do anything for his films. So, like The Favourite and Poor Things , this was always going to be shot on film,” says Ryan. “He loves colour and contrast, and KODAK 50D delivers colour and contrast in abundance, so what’s not to like? Obviously, it’s a slow stock, but as we were filming in New Orleans we had consistently bright or sunny exteriors and could shoot without a problem, and the results on 50D look luscious.
“I went with 250D for lower-light exteriors and some of the day-interior car work, and used the 500T for pretty much every other interior/exterior day/night situation, as it’s a proper workhorse, just so versatile, and matches well to the daylight stocks.”
Speaking about the B&W dream sequence that features in the film, Ryan says, “Yorgos adores B&W, and I would not be at all surprised if he makes a feature completely on B&W 35mm film one day. The DOUBLE-X 5222 was a gorgeous and atmospheric choice for the film’s dream sequences, as it never disappoints in its superb scale of tonal contrast and texture.”
During production, Olga Abramson and Benedict Baldauff assisted Ryan respectively as 1st and 2nd ACs, with Billy Holman working as film loader. Peter Zuccarini filmed the movie’s underwater sequences. Sean Devine led the grip team, with Sergio Villegas as gaffer.
“We were constantly on the move and, for the sake of speed, we used natural daylight as much as we could along with the practicals that were at each location,” says Ryan. “The lighting package was small, with 6K and 9K HMIs, plus Rosco DMG SL1 Switch’s, which are a great LED alternative to
traditional fluorescent tubes. I also used Rosco DMG Dash LED lights with the Dot round diffuser, as they are very good for creating glinting eye lights.”
Looking back on the production, Ryan remarks, “Yorgos makes great cinema, and it is always enjoyable to work with him. There’s never a strict plan to the shooting day, it’s more about spontaneity and being able to react to what he wants to do. Every day was a different location, so we didn’t have so much room for experimentation, but we all liked working that way and it was fun.
“I am so happy for Kodak and the many filmmakers they support, that so many features at Cannes 2024 were shot on film, including Kinds Of Kindness and the Palme D’Or winner Anora (dir. Sean Baker, DP Drew Daniels). Film always looks better and, in my mind, features shot-on-film are generally a better experience to watch too!”
PRIMAL INSTINCTS
By Iain Blair
Sasquatch Sunse t has to be the weirdest film of the year – or any year, for that matter. Conceived and helmed by indie directors David and Nathan Zellner, whose faux documentary short Sasquatch Birth Journal 2 caused quite a stir at the Sundance Film Festival back in 2011, and which gave a taste of things to come, the film follows a year in the lives of a Sasquatch family of four – all from their point-of-view and told earnestly, but laced with The Zellners’ trademark droll sense of absurd comedy.
The Sasquatch characters are played by Riley Keough, Jesse Eisenberg, Christophe Zajac-Denek and Nathan Zellner, all wearing extremely convincing make-up, prosthetics and Bigfoot furry suits. There is no dialogue, but plenty of grunting, sniffing, fornicating, farting, peeing – and worse – as they roam around the spectacularly beautiful and remote forests somewhere in Northern California doing their thing.
The film was shot by DP Michael Gioulakis ASC, best-known for his stylish and inventive cinematography work with directors such as Jordan Peele on Us (2019), David Robert Mitchell on It Follows (2014) and Under The Silver Lake (2018), and M. Night Shyamalan on Split (2016), Glass (2019) and Old (2021). Here, Gioulakis talks about working with The Zellners and the challenges of shooting entirely on-location in the redwoods.
This is not your usual family film or horror movie about the sasquatch. What did you think when you first read the script?
I loved it. It felt like an old satire from the ‘70s –part slapstick and ridiculous, and part commentary on what it means to be human, or Sasquatch. When I first met The Zellners it was actually for another film that didn’t happen, a casualty of indie filmmaking, but we connected really well and had the same aesthetic interests. I really liked their idea of doing this as a sort of wildlife documentary about the sasquatch and treating it all very seriously, but also with a lot of humour and combining the epic with the intimate. How did you approach the look of the movie and how did you choose your camera and lighting package?
Our approach was very practical, which is why
we decided to shoot digital with a small camera and lighting package. It’s a small film, and we needed to keep nimble and be able to move fast on-location around the woods.
So we chose the ARRI Alexa LF Mini and had two cameras in the van and shot full-frame, with a mix of Panavision Variel spherical primes, ranging from 21mm, 24mm and 28mm all the way up to a 150mm T1.5 Ultra Speed, and Cooke Xtal Xpress Anamorphics, ranging from 50mm to 75mm and 10mm, along with a 35-400mm T4.8 Primo Plus zoom.
The thing with the lenses was that we wanted to capture the sheer size of the redwoods, but also keep it quite intimate for some scenes, and we liked shooting Anamorphic, but when you’re in the redwoods it gets overcast by 3pm, and by 5pm you’re pretty much out of light.
I really liked the idea of doing this as a sort of wildlife documentary
So the Anamorphics were great up until then, and then we had to switch to spherical to add a little more light to the shooting. We also shot some Steadicam stuff, and Sam Naiman was the operator. As for the aspect ratio, we discussed various ideas and in the end went with 2.35:1 for its cinematic look, and because it’s also great for shooting ensembles. Did you work with a colourist on the LUT? Yes, I worked with colourist Michael Hatzer on creating the LUT in prep. We’ve worked together for years and he’s done most of my films. We did a camera test in the redwoods before prep so we could look at some lenses and develop the LUT to get a look that was very natural and not too contrasty, with true colours. There was already so much natural contrast in the forest with the canopy, so later in the grade we tried to develop a lower-contrast look than you might normally go for. We didn’t want to have anything that looked too stylised.
How long was the prep?
It was just three weeks. Everything on the film was quick. We scouted locations in Humboldt County, northern California, and ended-up shooting about a week in some of the redwoods state parks. We shot most of the movie on private land that offered us a variety of forest looks and mountainous terrain, as well as rivers, and where the roads gave far easier access than the state parks. It was all location. No sets or interiors or stages were used at all on this.
Tell us about the shoot. How tough was it?
It was tough in that we were on-location all the time and we had just three weeks to shoot the whole thing, whatever the weather conditions or problems we ran into. I operated and had a very small, tight crew of A-camera 1st AC Scott Johnson, A-camera 2nd AC Mike Norquist, loader Julie Nhem and utility Ben Bettenhausen. We didn’t even have a DIT. Then for the last five days we had B-camera operator Nick Huynh, and B-camera 1st AC Anton Miasnikov, to help with the river death sequence and some other scenes. And we had just four people in the grip and electric crew, so it was a real indie, run-and-gun operation.
Tell us about your lighting choices?
For the most part it was all-natural lighting, but then when it began to get a bit darker we would bring out a few Astera Titan tubes and Lightsocks. We’d mark out four of those and they did a lot very quickly and efficiently in terms of lighting the forest canopy. We also used small off-the-shelf LEDs for fill. That was really the main lighting plan, along with some very
We had just three weeks to shoot the whole thing
MICHAEL GIOULAKIS ASC•
simple bounce stuff as needed. We just didn’t have the time or crew to do too much else, and we just tried to schedule the shoot as much as we could to take full advantage of the natural light each day.
How did you collaborate with The Zellners, considering Nathan was also playing the alpha male character?
We’d discuss the shot-list and how we wanted to approach the day’s scenes before he went into hours of hair and make-up, and it was a very easy process with them. There wasn’t too much debating as we have very similar tastes. Also, the plan was always to shoot it like we were just a documentary crew observing these creatures, and balance that with telling a story that had no dialogue, as if it was also a silent movie in a sense, although there’s obviously a lot of sound effects.
What was the most difficult scene to shoot and why?
Technically it was the river scene where Jesse’s character trips on the log and gets trapped and dies. It was very challenging to shoot in the water which was super-freezing cold, with the actors in their costumes and Jesse having to perform this very emotional scene.
So we storyboarded the whole scene to make sure we got it right. And we stuck very close to the storyboards, as it’s not easy to just come back for pick-ups in these remote locations if you’ve missed anything.
What was involved in the DI colour grade?
We did it at Picture Shop with colourist Michael Hatzer and spent about two weeks working on the look. We spent the first few days just working with the base look we’d established on-set, and finding the right direction we wanted to take it in. Then at the end we applied the Filmbox app, made by Video Village, to add some grain to the digital image. It also gives you the halation and colour response of celluloid. It also helped a lot with all the skin tones and especially with the look of the costumes, as it took out some of the plastic-y higher frequencies you get with digital. We used it before on my other films, such as Reptile (2023, dir. Grant Singer) and The Piano Lesson (2024) which I just shot for director Malcolm Washington, and I really like the look it gives you.
In the end, I was very happy with the way the film turned out. I loved the script and the way the story starts off with all the comedy and slapstick and then turns far darker and ultimately quite tragic.
Obviously, Sasquatch Sunset is a very unusual kind of film, but my hope is that audiences will connect and identify with the family and feel compassion for these characters, even though there’s no dialogue and everyone’s walking around with all the heavy makeup and costumes. And if people connect and feel that way, we all succeeded in telling this story.
We needed to keep nimble and be able to move fast on-location in the woods
FULL THROTTLE
By Ron Prince
Shooting on Kodak 35mm, DP Adam Stone
captured the inner-life of a close-knit ‘60s motorcycling gang for director Jeff Nichols’ The Bikeriders.
Throbbing engines, petrol fumes, leather jackets, grease and sweat, plus swaggering attitudes towards rebellion and freedom, pervade the story of The Bikeriders, director Jeff Nichols’s fictional chronicle of ‘60s motorcycle club The Vandals.
The film follows Kathy, the girlfriend of brooding bad boy Benny, who finds herself relegated in biker life behind Johnny, Benny’s mentor and president of The Vandals. As the club begins to transform from a gathering of local outsiders into a dangerous underworld of violence and criminality, Benny is forced to choose between Kathy and his loyalty to the gang.
The film was inspired by the 1967 B&W photobook of the same name, plus audio interviews, made by photo-journalist Danny Lyon, depicting the lives of The Outlaws MC, founded in McCook, Illinois in 1935, the oldest outlaw biker club in the world.
Written and directed by Nichols, and captured in widescreen Anamorphic on Kodak 35mm film by his longtime cinematographic collaborator DP Adam Stone, the $40milion production stars Jodie Comer as Kathy, Austin Butler as Benny and Tom Hardy as Johnny, alongside Mike Faist as Danny Lyon.
The movie premiered as the opening film of the 2023 Telluride Film Festival, and earned critical acclaim for the gritty authenticity of Nichols’ direction, its charismatic cast and the sense of place and tone in
Stone’s cinematography.
“The Bikeriders was a project that Jeff had been incubating for the best part of ten years, although he did not have a script until 2022,” says Stone, a contemporary of Nichols at University of North Carolina School Of The Arts, who previously filmed the director’s Shotgun Stories (2007), Take Shelter (2011), Mud (2012), Midnight Special (2016) and Loving (2016) all on Kodak 35mm too.
“My start on the project, absorbing Danny Lyon’s photo-book about The Outlaws MC, was similar to Loving, when we referenced the photo-journalistic stills work in Grey Villet’s 1965 assignment by Life Magazine. We found those images so powerful that they became touchstones for our visual style, and we even reenacted some of those moments in the movie. Similarly, Danny Lyon’s book gave us some knock-out Easter egg pictures to work the story around for The Bikeriders.”
Stone adds, “One of the first discussions we had was whether this film would be in colour or not, as most of the stills in Danny Lyons’ book were in B&W. While I would love to have filmed this story in B&W, Jeff prefers colour as he believes it is more accepted by, and holds more inter-personal communication for, the audience.”
Although there are plenty of biker movies – such as The Wild One (1953, dir. László Benedek, DP Hal Mohr ASC) and Easy Rider (1969, dir. Dennis Hopper, DPs László Kovács & Baird Bryant) – that the director and DP could have referenced creatively,
Stone says, “We found them either super-raw or too glamorous in their visual aesthetics for this story. Our stunt co-coordinator/bike wrangler Jeff Milburn, pointed us towards some 16mm biker films that were pretty crazy. We also looked at other dark and subversive photographic stills of biker gangs in California and the mid-West, which told us a lot about the level of dirt under fingernails and the scorchedearth bikers left after their camp-outs.
“However, although we had this rich tapestry of visual references, it really was Danny Lyon’s book that was the most influential for us and more in our wheelhouse as regards the look of the film,” explains Stone, adding “Jeff had copies of the original tape-recorded interviews that Danny made with The Outlaws, which were illuminating to listen to, and those were where Jodie developed the accent for her character, which is absolutely spot-on in the film.”
When came to originating The Bikeriders in widescreen on 35mm film, Stone says, “Jeff wanted
I love the nuances and naturalism of the filmed aesthetic
The illumination on the actors was organic and pretty spartan most of the time
to tell a simple, unambiguous story about and to keep it as authentic and as natural as possible. We have captured all of our films on film in widescreen for the basic reason that it is emotionally-evocative and completely captivating.
“This dates back to when we were at filmschool together, being heavily influenced by the simplicity of style from directors like Terrence Malick and how his gorgeous and mainly location-based films looked on 16mm or 35mm film. I later worked as second unit DP on George Washington (2000, dir. David Gordon Green), also shot in film, but in widescreen Anamorphic, which Jeff loved. We filmed our first feature Shotgun Stories on 35mm in Anamorphic, and have literally never changed that visual recipe since then.”
Principal photography began in October 2022, taking-in locations around Cincinnati, Ohio, before concluding some 40 shooting days later in December. Stone went with Panavision Panaflex Millennium XL2 35mm cameras, shooting in 2.39:1 aspect ratio in 4-perf on 35mm film, using Panavision G-series Anamorphic as the workhorse optics, supplemented with longer focal length lenses from Panavision’s T-series range. The camera and lens package was supplied by Panavision, Woodland Hills, in
Los Angeles.
“We’ve been using the G-series lenses since we shot Mud,” says Stone. “They have good contrast and glare resistance, and more controlled aberrations than other Anamorphic glass. For Jeff and me they do a great job of emulating human vision when you are capturing on film, especially the fall-off of skin tones on faces. I also knew I could encourage nice horizontal flares into the image from a motorcycle headlight or other specular source.”
Sticking with other known favourites, Stone selected KODAK VISION3 5207 250D and Kodak 5219 500T to capture the action. “As with the lenses, the way these stocks render skin tones is what you see with your own eyes, and we’ve used this exact
same combination of Kodak’s Daylight and Tungsten filmstocks on our last few films.
“To me, the 250D is the most gorgeous filmstock ever made. It just looks so wonderful on people. I used it as much as possible, even for dark daylight interiors, such as the opening scene when Benny gets ejected from the bar, and later for the scenes in the bar where The Vandals hang-out together.
“Obviously, the 500T was my workhorse stock for all of the low-light and nightime scenarios, and I shot uncorrected, without a filter, as I prefer to do the correction in post. Actually, we don’t use any filters, not even polarizers, in front of the lens. And, during this production, everything was exposed normally, no push or pull processing. Everything that we do at the camera is super-simple and as basic as you can get, and we let the hair/make-up, costume and production design take us to the time and place.”
Film processing and 4K scans were done at FotoKem in Los Angeles, before the final grade was completed by Mitch Paulson, senior colourist at Company 3.
During production, Rod Calarco variously operated A-camera and Steadicam, assisted initially on focus by Dylan Conrad, and then by Eric Swanek. When an additional camera was required Kenneth Neil Moore shot B-camera, assisted by Matthew Brewer. Rudy Covarrubias led the grip team, with Michael Roy overseeing the lighting as the gaffer.
“Unless a scene involved multiple characters, such as in The Vandals’ bar or during a fight, this was pretty much a single-camera shoot,” says Stone. “Since it was based on the work of a documentary photographer, and some of the characters were pretty wild, we introduced a little bit more handheld movement than we’ve had in most of our previous movies. But we are always reticent about the camera drawing attention to itself, and avoid anything too crazy or shaky. For Jeff, the camera’s point-of-view is
always about being with the characters and observing them in a natural way.”
The quest for naturalism was also fundamental to Stone’s approach to the lighting. “Before we start production, we try to find environments and locations – whether it’s a building, a room, an outdoor landscape – that fit the movie, that will feel real when populated by the actors and will help to tell the story, no matter how complicated or simplistic the lighting requirement may be when we actually come to shoot there – like Kathy and Benny’s 10x10ft bedroom, or The Vandals’ watering hole.
“We had a mixture of traditional and LED lights on The Bikeriders. For night exteriors outside The Vandals’ bar, we had a couple of 20Ks on lifts, cross-lit to give an appropriate level of illumination and create a great overall look, and on the same set we would typically supplement those with Creamsource Vortex’s used as streetlights.
“For the bar interior, which was a naturally very dark location, we extended the push of light through the windows to the back of the bar with ARRI Skypanel 360s. We didn’t particularly focus on beauty lighting for our leads, and there was no backlighting. The illumination on them was organic and pretty spartan most of the time, very much in keeping with the rest of the visual storytelling.”
Stone remarks that one of the biggest challenges during production was conveying a sense of inter-personal connection between the audience and watching characters riding their motorbikes together en masse
“We used a pursuit arm several times for shooting general bike stunt scenes, but figuring-out how to get the camera close-up on the bikers riding closely together in a group took a bit of time,” he explains.
“We tried filming with the actors and the camera variously on e-bikes and real bikes, but that didn’t work. We had the actors riding trikes while
filming with a stabilised camera, but that didn’t work either. We tried all sorts of other iterations, before landing-on having an actor riding a trike and our camera operator, Dylan, being strapped on to a kind of gangplank on the same vehicle operating handheld shooting with a 40mm lens, just three feet away from the talent. That really give an air of authenticity to the sensation of bike riding while capturing faces and expressions.”
Looking back at his experience of shooting The Bikeriders, Stone exclaims, “There’s a reverence onset when you shoot on film. The actors and the crew realise it’s a special artistic medium and everyone has to be on their A-game. Our sets are very civil and pretty quiet. Jeff is honed-in on the actors and providing them with a safe place to do what they need to do in front of camera.
“Visually, I love the nuances and naturalism of the filmed aesthetic. It separates your work from other movies, especially digital, and you just know
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I feel privileged to have been a part of it
THE STUFF OF LOVE
By Natasha Block Hicks
Any filmmaker with a low-budget independent feature on their CV will be familiar with the notion of cramming cast, crew and kit into confined locations, craning round doorways and crouching in corners to achieve the shot. The theme of compulsive squirreling and stashing of things, in writer/director Luna Carmoon’s debut feature Hoard (2022), promised to add an extra dimension to this challenge, but this did not deter DP Nanu Segal BSC for one moment.
“I was captivated by Hoard as a piece of writing and wanted to be involved as soon as I read it,” Segal relates, recalling the moment her agent passed her the script. “I could tell that Luna and I would share a real creative kinship.”
Carmoon first garnered attention with her short films Nosebleed (2018) and Shagbands (2020), both lensed by Rachel Clark, which each give a lewd, toxic or even brutal angle on the female coming-ofage story.
Hoard – which was backed by BBC Films and the BFI – follows Maria, played in early adulthood by Saura Lightfoot-Leon, as she goes from a young child closeted in the magical but hazardous home of her magpie mother Cynthia (Hayley Squires), to a school-leaver in the long-term care of her foster mother Michelle (Samantha Spiro). With the arrival of Michelle’s former foster son Michael (Joseph Quinn), and the reappearance – in a sense – of her mother, Maria’s relative contentment starts to unravel.
“I’m fascinated by how different forms of love are expressed, and how trauma translates through time,” says Segal, explaining the appeal of Carmoon’s story.
“I was drawn to the two versions of the motherdaughter bond in the film and was moved by how little Maria’s love for her biological mother affects her later as a teenager, impacting on her relationship with her foster mother. The intense one-way love of Michael for Maria was also incredibly compelling, especially
how this plays in the context of Maria’s fierce love for her mothers.”
During pre-production, Carmoon – a self-taught filmmaker who Segal describes as a prolific cinephile – shared extensive and beautiful lookbooks with her team, encouraging them to think of the “Alan Clarke world”, the radical British director known for Scum (1979, DP John Wyatt).
Carmoon expressed a wish that the hoarding scenes should have a flavour of the ‘Theatre Of The Absurd’ movement, with the camera “dancing”, and directed Segal towards some leftfield visual references. These included the films of Polish writer/ director Andrzej Żuławski, best-known for the psychological horror Possession (1981, DP Bruno
I’m fascinated by how different forms of love are expressed
Nuytten), and the early works of Ken Russell, such as Women In Love (1969, DP Billy Williams OBE BSC) and The Devils (1971, DP David Watkin BSC). Some of Carmoon’s references were previously unknown to Segal, which the DP found refreshing.
“It was fascinating to get a window into Luna’s process and the kind of material that inspires her,” Segal divulges.
“We wanted to go on this journey with Maria and see the world through her eyes,” she continues. “Sometimes she is in the present, but at other times she will be carried, by a smell or sensation, into a memory. Luna and I were looking for ways to communicate these different textures to the audience via the cinematography.”
Choosing from One Stop Films’ extensive selection of vintage spherical primes, Segal selected
the “beautiful and characterful” Cooke S2 Speed Panchros to represent Maria’s daily experience, and complimented these with a set of Kowa Cine Prominars for Maria’s more abstracted moments.
“The Kowas are a little bit more impressionistic,” describes Segal of the 1960s glass, her first time using these lenses.
“When we were shooting, I would always check in with Luna to see if she felt the emotional beat of the scene was more internal. If so, we would switch to the Kowas. We tried to be specific about the atmosphere and reflect that with the lenses that we used.”
Coloured light and crossfades also play an important stylistic role in indicating Maria’s internal world, as well as connecting moments between the two timelines.
“We had a very naturalistic canvas for most of the film,” explains Segal, “but there were specific sequences where Luna wanted to push the colour into more of an emotional hue, rather than one drawn from real life.”
In particular, a “punchy” orange light makes an occasional, playful appearance, standing in for a sunset or a Tungsten streetlamp, or fading-up in a poignant moment where the young Maria examines the pelvis of a school lab skeleton.
“It’s reminiscent of those warm types of light but the colour is exaggerated beyond what is natural,” illustrates Segal.
“Luna said she wanted the light to have the
quality of Lucozade.” Segal’s gaffer, Vianney Kernanet-Huggins, supplied some of his own kit for the project, which when added to a with modest package from Panalux, made up the lighting inventory. This comprised of Panalux Sonara LEDs, Astera tubes and ARRI Skypanel S360s, helping to provide the aforementioned Lucozade orange and lighting transitions.
“My aim was for the ‘present moment’ lighting to feel source-motivated, coming from a window say, or a practical lamp” explains Segal. In the kitchen, for example, she simply put an Astera tube into the fitting in the ceiling.
They did have a bit of fun creating a lamp made up of hundreds of multi-coloured Tungsten fairy lights mounted on polyboard, to boost the practical light coming from a diminutive Christmas tree during an intimate scene.
“I really enjoy that DIY approach of working with non-film lights for certain moments,” she comments.
By Segal’s estimation, ninety percent of the movie was shot handheld, and she selected the ARRI Alexa Mini to suit both the task and the budget.
“I love working with Alexa cameras and know them well,” Segal explains, “the Alexa Mini also has a small footprint, which was really beneficial as the location for Michelle’s house was very tight, particularly the hallway where so much of the action takes place.”
The smattering of top-down shots throughout
the film contrasts the pace and intimacy of the handheld style.
“The top-shots were images that Luna was very specific about in prep,” explains Segal. “I feel like they present an objective viewpoint, like you’re seeing Maria’s world from a new perspective, which gives a different rhythm to the storytelling.”
Although she didn’t approach the lighting from a period perspective – keeping it consistent between the past and present of the plot and monitoring in Rec.709 – the film does have a retrospective feel in its hues, with a subtle shift in texture between the ‘80s and ‘90s. Segal credits the skills of the production designer Bobbie Cousins, costume designer Nat Turner and colourist Vanessa Taylor – then at Colour Matters Ltd – in creating this aesthetic. She is always quick to also acknowledge the collaborative effort of her camera team, paying tribute to gaffer Vianney Kernanet-Huggins, grip Oliver Lemmings, 1st AC Irys Steel and 2nd AC Christopher J. Orr as key members of “an amazing crew who all brought so much love to the making of this film”.
“I feel privileged to have been a part of it,” she reminisces, “Luna is a really special filmmaker.
“We shot an amazing scene on the stairs between Maria and Michelle, just a simple two-shot, and the whole crew were moved to tears by the end of the take, along with the actors, as if we were all in the scene together. It didn’t make the finished film, but it was still one of the most special moments of my career.”
Phantasmagorical sequences of Maria whirling under bed sheets that bounce between her present and her childhood – another highlight for Segal – did
make the final cut.
“Shooting those scenes was really fun,” relates Segal, “I was handheld, spinning with Saura. We were outside in the garden for Maria as a young adult and rigged a Dino Light with a CTO gel to hit the sheets, creating a warm tungsten glow that would echo the Lucozade light of Maria’s childhood.”
Segal’s schedule has been steady since wrapping on Hoard in the summer of 2022. In 2023 she lensed reportage drama Scoop (2024, dir. Philip Martin) for Netflix and vampire comedy The Radleys (2024, dir. Euros Lyn) starring Damian Lewis. At the time of writing, Segal is prepping her first feature of 2024.
She has reunited with Carmoon once since Hoard, on a music video for Iona Munro.
“I’m so happy I got to shoot Luna’s first feature,” she enthuses, “it was a beautiful experience and a joy to make. I would love this to be the first of many.”
Luna said she wanted the light to have the quality of Lucozade orange
SHOWSTOPPERS…
Your A-to-Z of the latest and best in camera, lens, grip, lighting, power, colour and post products as shown at Euro Cine Expo 2024. Reporting and photos by Christine Gebhard, Birgit Heidsiek, Kirsty Hazlewood and Iain Hazlewood.
ACHTEL
Pawel Achtel ACS presented the Achtel 9×7 ultra-high resolution digital cinema camera, saying that, “It’s not there to replace your ARRI, Sony or Red – it’s a specialised camera designed to replace an array of 10 of them. You wouldn’t shoot a feature with it, but you would shoot VFX plates, use it for virtual production, the MSG sphere and for IMAX and giant screen applications.”
The camera delivers unprecedented levels of sharpness, not attainable with traditional digital cinema cameras in a small and manageable package. It features state-of-the-art global shutter, 4:3 aspect ratio, sensor featuring 65 million photo-sites, almost twice the number of
APUTURE
Aputure presented Infimat, a modular soft light surface luminaire. The luminaire is based on an
photo-sites found in 8K cameras, and delivers uncompressed 16-bit RAW footage up to 11GB/s – approximately 30 times more than other highend digital cinema cameras.
“You will find all of the features of high-end digital cinema cameras and more,” says Achtel. “It’s not just the high levels of sharpness that this camera can achieve, its colour management is secondto-none. It’s the only camera that can produce colourimetric images, which means they are colour accurate out-of-the-gate.”
“Whether you shoot with Tungsten or LED, the images will be identical. You apply your creative look on colourimetric images and they are consistent. This is the first and only camera that actually addresses the colour issue. So it’s a postproduction dream, basically.”
source and diffusion surface constant and gives the entire luminaire a self-supporting structure. The diffusion pads prevent the LED mat from sagging
LED mat with RGBWW LEDs as the light source. Luminaires are currently available in 1×2, 1×4, 2×4, 4×4, 8×8 and 20×20 sizes. Each luminaire comes with an inflatable diffusion box, or rather a matching diffusion cushion with an internal structure that keeps the distance between the light
ASTERA
By designing its new LunaBulb which fits all lamp sockets, Astera answered filmmakers’ requirements for practical lights. The LunaBulb resembles a classic frosted incandescent bulb, but it works like a professional full-colour luminaire (composed of three primary RGB LEDs). As a 25W equivalent of the NYX bulb, it is flicker-free, and its colour temperature doesn’t shift when dimmed. Equipped with a Titan LED Engine, the LunaBulb has a wide colour-temperature range that can be controlled by wireless DMX or via an app from a device or console.
similar panel luminaires. The Infinimats were developed with rental in mind. Depending on the version, the
on the support rods and at the same time keep the supporting structure as small as possible.
The large 20 x 20 Infinimat has a side length of six metres and weighs only 160 kg when complete. Aputure claims a higher luminous efficiency for its Infinimat luminaires than for other
The LunaBulb system comes with eight bulbs and is available in a PrepCase with a built-in battery, so that colour temperature, colour or brightness level settings can be set directly in the case. The unit remembers its settings, so it maximises speed and control. Staff member Laura Brecht pointed-out that the LunaBulb costs ten percent less than the NYX bulb.
available ballasts can supply several luminaires with voltage, so that the user can operate a corresponding number of luminaires together with one voltage source.
EURO CINE EXPO 2024 ROUND-UP•GREAT GEAR GUIDE
BETTERIES
A mobile solution for off-grid energy supplies is being offered by Berlin-based company Betteries, which refurbishes used batteries and gives them a second lifecycle. The new Betteries system can store 28kWh of energy, and it has an output of up to 15kW of either alternating
BLACKMAGIC DESIGN
Blackmagic Design presented its camera innovations from NAB, including the Pyxis 6K, a digital film camera-ina-box design. The new model features a 36 x 24mm 6K sensor with 13 F-stops of dynamic range and two CFexpress media recorders – all in a customisable housing. The Blackmagic Pyxis 6K is available in three models, with customers able to choose between L-mount, PL or Locking EF lens mounts.
current (AC) or three-phase current. The 110kg power package is available on wheels and can be customised.
“Our AC Dock 15000 unit is the first member of a family that ranges up to 45kW”, pointed-out Betteries chief Rainer Hoenig. Being the first modular designed battery stacks, the energy status can be monitored in real time via wireless LAN or the Betteries app.
The Ursa Cine 12K, a new digital film camera that introduces advanced technologies fullyintegrated into the post-production workflow, was met with great interest. The new model is equipped with a new RGBW sensor in 36x24mm
BVK – GERMAN SOCIETY OF CINEMATOGRAPHERS
Freelance camera people, camera crews and still photographers in Germany are represented by the BVK, German Society of Cinematographers. “We provide comprehensive consultation and support as well as political lobbying services for our members”, said BVK board member Friederike Heß.
The association offers exclusive insurance terms, networking opportunities, seminars and workshops on new technologies. At Euro Cine Expo, the BVK hosted various panel discussions that focussed on themes such as age discrimination, education and the promotion of young talent. One of the technical topics,
CINE BRANDS
MUNICH – CBM
At the Cine Brands Munich booth, Sergio de Uña, a developer himself, presented the Freelensing Cine optical system. This system can be used in conjunction with standard cameras and lenses to shift the focal plane within the image section of the camera: by tilting, shifting and rotating. What’s new is that the system can now also be used in combination with a DSLR. At Euro Cine Expo, the system was on display in combination with a Canon R5 C camera.
large format and larger pixels for a dynamic range of 16 F-stops.
The camera also offers interchangeable PL, LPL and EF lens mounts and records to a new 8TB memory. It features fast network access for uploading media and synchronisation with
supported by Kodak, was analogue and digital workflows, from shooting down to archiving and preservation.
Blackmagic Cloud.
Visitors were also able to take a look at DaVinci Resolve 19. The software update includes over 100 new functions and AI tools. The new features include IntelliTrack AI for automatic audio panning, Ultra NR noise reduction and ColourSlice sixvector grading.
Cine Brands Munich also showcased
Teradek’s wireless solutions at its stand. One of the innovations: Teradek has integrated robust antennas into the housings of the new Bolt 6 LT 750 and Bolt 6 Monitor Module 750 RX products. Without compromising the radio characteristics in the 6GHz range, this enables smaller, more
robust, more compact camera or monitor setups; the antennas are also protected against breakage or misalignment.
GREAT GEAR GUIDE•EURO CINE EXPO 2024 ROUND-UP
CINEO LIGHTING
At Cineo, Joseph Mendoza, vice president of sales, proudly presented the Reflex R10 LED light which provides unmatched power density.
“We’re able to create 1200 watts of HMI or 5K Tungsten output by using only 750 watts of draw”, explained Mendoza. “And what’s extraordinary about it is we’re also able to do a digital flooding spot. So, what we’re doing is we’re driving the diodes within each of these three zones harder so that you can get as much out of the light as possible between flood and spot.”
Energy consumption remains the same from flood to spot. The Reflex R10 also has a massive
CHROSZIEL & DENZ
New innovations were showcased by the Munich-based film technology companies Chrosziel and Denz, which were united under one roof in 2023. One Denz development is the director’s viewfinder OIC FF light that features full-frame capability with interchangeable ground glass compatible with PL, LPL, and Panavision SP70 - mount lenses. “It is very well balanced and lightweight”, says the senior technical manager Denys Ivanichek.
The OIC FF is switchable from spherical to anamorphic with de-squeeze factors of 1.3, 1.5, 1.8 and 2.0, as well as others upon request.
An innovative solution for broadcast multi-
DEDO WEIGERT FILM
Munich-based film technology company
Dedo Weigert Film has been leading the industry with the development of new and innovative lighting equipment for professionals for over half a century. Among its latest product releases are the Eflect reflectors, whose myriad mirrors create surprising effects. The flexible reflectors are available in a variety of colours, as well as in different plate sizes from 7x10cm up to 80x80cm.
DOPCHOICE
CCT range of 2700K to 10,000K. The diodes have been reformulated so that the max output always remains 5600K. The three zones can even be changed into different colours so that different patterns of light can be created by using a single reflector. The light has IP65 certification, and it has a replaceable LED torch too.
cam applications is Chrosziel’s Broadcast Box CMC-BRO, an integrated camera base plate with a motorcontroller. It includes all interfaces for Steadicam as well as a LANC Interface so that lenses no longer have to rely on radio control. The Broadcast Box operates all the lenses.
“This enables the introduction of a new look with focus depth in live broadcast production”,
Tropical Blue, for example, reflects Magenta.
“In the world of reflected light, we’re the only ones who
have an absolutely complete system”, emphasised Dedo Weigert.
At Cine Euro Expo, the company presented the Parallel Beam Light Head DPB70. “It works with a
emphasised head of the electronic department Heiko Groschupp.
very special HMI lamp, manufactured exclusively for this lighting unit according to demanding criteria for output as well as homogeneity of the parallel beam,” said Weigert.
The DPB70 light fixture has 1200W power consumption but it derives a huge part of the light from a virtual light source about 20 meters behind the light. The operational frequency of the lamp is switchable from normal flicker-free functioning to 1000Hz for highspeed recordings.
The Munich-based company DoPchoice provides a fresh take on light-refining accessories for the world’s top light fixtures, and presented the new Airglow family at the show. The revolutionised book light is available in three sizes: 1x1, 2x1 and 1.80 x 1.50 meters. The largest Airglow is designed for compatibility with the Vortex 24 light by Cream Source. As a closed unit, it comes on wheels.
“The Airglow is very flexible and creates soft light with no spill”, explained Moritz Meisel, sales manager at DoPchoice. “The huge Airglow can be inflated in only three to five minutes.”
EGRIPMENT
Manufacturer of high-end camera support systems and remote broadcast solutions, Egripment, showcased its range of grip and dollies alongside its new line-up of IP-based remote heads.
An upgrade to its remote head, the IP-based systems allow users to control multiple heads from a control panel with the bigger heads featuring encoders inside so that users can use, record and recall pre-sets.
For DoPchoice, dialogue with cinematographers and gaffers is crucial for the optimisation of its products. The Airglow was developed in collaboration with British gaffer/ DP Martin Smith ICLS. He used the middle-sized Airglow for the shoot of Mission: Impossible –Dead Reckoning Part One (2023).
For the Lightbridge reflector, DoPchoice created the five-foot Snapbridge, which is now available in a three-foot model. The soft mode creates a beautiful soft, bounced fill light; the dark mode reduces light spills around the precision reflectors.
The company is also now upgrading its camera support equipment including its Towercam systems which also now incorporate IP systems in the product line-up using its own DigiLite protocol.
These allow for the multi-controller, for example, to control not only the heads, but also the vertical towers or a track system and combine them all so that one operator can control all the axes.
EURO CINE EXPO 2024 ROUND-UP•GREAT GEAR GUIDE
GFM – GRIP FACTORY MUNICH
Grip Factory Munich announced that it has teamed-up with Canada-based company Modulus-X as an exclusive distributor (excluding North America) to offer its modular truss systems, with a whole rig built and displayed on its booth.
With the help of Modulus-X’s components, users can configure highlycustomisable, robust and relocatable truss structures with the best load ratings and
GODOX
A powerful beam light is the latest launch by Chinese photo equipment company Godox, which provided a first glimpse of the BeamLight Max90. Its narrow five-degree beam angle allows the delivery of powerful parallel beams with slow decay and remarkable efficiency.
It is suited for reproducing natural sunlight over long distances. The BeamLight Max90 significantly enhances the throw distance and brightness of G-Mount LED fixtures.
“When combined with the MG2400Bi, the light can travel 280 meters”, said German sales
HAWK WOODS
Hawk Woods introduced its new floor battery, the Rampart. Specifically designed to power highvoltage cameras like the ARRI Alexa 35 and other demanding equipment, the Rampart MXB-R1000 delivers a substantial 1050Wh of energy. This capacity ensures longer operating times, providing uninterrupted power on-set or in the field.
The Rampart features an internal charger, allowing users to plug the battery directly into the mains using the supplied cable and fully-charge it within eight hours. Weighing only 9.5kg, it is both light and compact.
With dual-voltage output to accommodate various equipment needs, the Rampart includes two XLR 3-pin outputs for 26V (16A max per
K5600 LIGHTING EUROPE/ONE STOP Renowned French company
K5600 Lighting Europe designs and manufactures
Alphas, the smallest, lightest and most versatile Fresnel lights on the market that combine traditional Fresnel
KEMAMA
weight-to-strength ratios in the industry. Modulus-X is available in both 6-inch and 9-inch diameters, as well as varying lengths, and with a few accessories this allows the creation of pretty much any rig configuration.
Sturdy and scratch-
director Marco Habenstein.
The brightness of the BeamLight Max90 is comparable to traditional 12K HMI fixtures, but with lower power consumption and easier set-up. The integration of LED lights with the BeamLight Max90 offers swift CCT switching between 2700K and 6400K and is equipped with a controller. Moreover, the flexible yoke design provides flexibility for angle adjustments
resistant, with a quick and easy set-up, the system is also available to purchase as a key grip starter or telehandler frame package. GFM CEO Seán Magee said, “It’s becoming extremely popular and the reception has been overwhelming. We’ve observed that all the top key grips and early adopters in our industry are already using it, indicating the direction this trend is headed.”
socket) and two XLR 4-pin outputs for regulated 12V (10A max per socket). Equipped with a built-in carry handle and an optional cheese plate handle accessory, the MXB-R1000 is easily compatible with a range of thirdparty equipment.
James Denyer from Hawk Woods commented, “We’re really interested to see what people will do with this battery and the wonderful things and projects this can help with.”
Many companies at Cine Euro Expo presented solutions that provide clean energy on film sets. The Cologne-based company Kemama developed the Filmhybrid 30/60, which offers an innovative power-supply system based on an electric utility vehicle. The 110kWh lithium iron
and allows versatile lighting setups
“This first BeamLight Max90 presentation has aroused a lot of great interest in Europe,” added Habenstein.
effects with the ability to remove the lens to create hard crisp shadows. The latest model is the Alpha Beta 30W bi colour LED. “That’s a real Fresnel”, said Julien Bernard.
One Stop, K5600’s sister company, offers tools for rigging special effects. This includes the jump table made
phosphate battery is used to drive the vehicle as well as to operate the power inverter, which has a performance capacity of 60KW distributed to three phases of 20KW or 24kVA.
“The system has enough energy on board
for high-speed motion-control shots of products for TV commercials. The 500mm x 1000mm surface area is suitable for wet applications. The hollow design allows the placement of a camera, light, or an additional rig in the centre.
“The entire Performing Rigs system can integrate with all major motion control systems and robotic arms”, explained Nathan Destro, founder and CEO of Performing Rigs.
One Stop also distributes the CBox system, developed by a gaffer and a key grip, which enables the quick and easy mounting of a variety of lighting or camera grip accessories. The multipurpose apple box system can be assembled from any six sides of the cube.
to support a ten-hour shooting day with constant 300kWh”, commented Dominik Lindemann, sales manager at Kemama.
If the charging-level of the battery falls below sufficiency, then the 20kVA range extender with a stage V exhaust emission standard kicks in. C.A.R.E. fuel is recommended for the operation of the generator. The system can also be recharged at Type 2 EV charging stations as well as via 32A and 63A power sockets or a traditional Schuko socket.
GREAT GEAR GUIDE•EURO CINE EXPO 2024 ROUND-UP
KINO FLO
With its Celeb Ikon 6, Kino Flo introduced a new IP65-rated softlight for indoor and outdoor use. This fixture incorporates a new RGBwWcW LED engine capable of delivering full power across all white and colour points.
The LED engine and white light approach are designed to deliver a broad spectrum of cool white and warm colour spectrums. This is achieved through a triple pump of white, using three blue emitters to excite the phosphors. This method broadens and fills the colour spectrum, addressing the traditional blue spike in daylight and red spike in Tungsten colour spectrums.
LCA EUROPE / CREAMSOURCE
In addition to easily-transportable and foldable brackets, Creamsource presented Vortex Soft. This is the soft version of the Vortex4 and Vortex8 RGBW LED luminaires.
Vortex Soft has a larger beam angle and is optimised for very good efficiency and performance.
The luminaires use CreamOS and can be controlled and integrated into existing set-ups. Various mounting accessories and multi-brackets are available for the luminaires.It is possible to mix
LIGHTBRIDGE / DOPCHOICE
The Snapbridge line from Lightbridge and DoPchoice now offers two more tools designed to allow users to creatively produce portrait illumination. The original Snapbridge has a Lightbridge Precision Reflector and customdesigned 5-foot/1.5-meter diameter. Now the DoPchoice Snapbox Slim, measuring 3-foot/90cm, makes an interesting and more compact addition to the lighting toolkit for imagemakers. This new version is optimised for smaller Precision Reflector sizes of 15cm and 25cm, offering a smaller footprint whilst still delivering
LIGHTEQUIP
The Celeb Ikon 6 can transition between warm and daylight tones, addressing colour rendering challenges with its two improved full-spectrum white sources. These sources deliver a broad spectrum of white light.
The fixture includes LumenRadio wireless DMX as standard, with the option for Multiverse wireless
the soft luminaires with the Vortex8 or Vortex4 hard panels. This means that completely different arrays can be created and it is possible to combine soft and hard light to create a wide variety of scenarios. The manufacturer stated that the new soft lights will
significant impact on lighting.
Both the original 5-foot and new 3-foot versions of the Snapbox Slim feature reversible Soft and Dark surfaces. To achieve more nuanced lighting that mimics ambient reflections, Snapbridge now includes Bluff Bounce certified colour bounces. These custom butterfly attachments can be quickly mounted via hook and loop directly
to the Snapbox. The available options are Unbleached Muslin for enhancing skin tones, Day Blue for a cool blue skylight effect, and a 50/50 blend of Unbleached Muslin and Day Blue to subtly replicate the mix of natural colours found in environments like the sky and building walls. Snapbridge products are designed to complement Lightbridge’s line of precision reflectors, which include sizes of 50 x 50cm, 25 x 25cm, and 15 x 15cm. The line features industrystandard 16mm baby pin mounts, making them easy to integrate into standard grip kits.
Lightequip stands at the forefront of distributing top-tier lighting systems, grip equipment, and camera accessories, serving professionals across film, television, theatre, events, photography, and video sectors. Boasting a team of electrical engineers, event specialists, and logistics experts, Lightequip ensures unparalleled service and expertise.
Its Cologne warehouse, spanning over 1,000 square meters, houses approximately 30,000 items, ranging from minute, 2mm screws to powerful
18-kilowatt spotlights. This extensive inventory guarantees rapid procurement of even the most specialised equipment, with global delivery possible within 24 hours.
MOVIETECH
Movietch introduced the new Magnum Dolly 5, an updated version of the Magnum Dolly, featuring a new electronic motor control and a wireless remote control with a 200m range outdoors and 20m indoor. The remote works using touch-through technology under any condition, even when wet. The Dolly retains all previous functions, but now offers wireless capability and a new motor unit. The Magnum Dolly 5 also includes new accessories and
has been well-received since its release two months ago, driven by user feedback.
Additionally, Movietch launched the GizmoJib, a modular jib-arm that can extend from 0.6m to 3.5m with modular extension pieces. It features a hand crank for levelling, a 360° swivel mechanism, and a telescopic end-piece. The GizmoJib can carry up to 80kg and comes with a transport trolley.
Originally, its offerings included premier brands like Manfrotto and Chris James. Today the portfolio has expanded to feature industry leaders such as ARRI, Blueshape, Caligri, Cardellini, Chimera, Avenger, Kino Flo, Matthews, Mole-Richardson, Rosco, Setwear, The Rag Place, and VelvetLight. The company provides a diverse selection of LED technology from renowned manufacturers including ARRI, Aputure, BB&S, Kino Flo, LEDixis, and VelvetLight, ensuring clients receive the best solutions for their unique needs.
DMX. Two versions are planned with 600 and 1200 W, with shipping in Q4.
be delivered in late summer 2024.
ELECTRO STORM
GREAT GEAR GUIDE•EURO CINE EXPO 2024 ROUND-UP
NANLUX/NANLIGHT
The Evoke 2400B bi-colour studio light is Nanlux’s most powerful LED spotlight. With power rated at only 2400W, the Evoke 2400B delivers an output greater than the 4kW HMI or 10kW Tungsten. The correlated colour temperature (CCT) value ranges from 2700K to 6500K G/M±80.
Whilst traditional bi-colour LED lights require gaffers to use plus or minus green gels to calibrate the light, the Evoke 2400B has a green and magenta colour adjustment function that always keeps the colour temperature on the Planck curve.
“That is a complete eighty-point magenta shift”, explained Frank Deutschländer, sales manager at
PANTHER
Product specialist Marcus Buetefuer from Panther discussed the company’s latest equipment, highlighting the innovative centre column dolly. This new dolly allows the centre column to be detached from the base, addressing previous limitations of fixed columns. This feature is particularly useful for transporting equipment upstairs without elevators, significantly reducing the weight and easing the crew’s burden.
Additionally, the dolly is equipped with a new electronic system featuring a colour display, which shows the operator their position, battery levels, and allows for programming ramps and adjusting speeds through a newly-designed handset.
PIPE LIGHTING
Pipe Lighting demonstrated its new Pipe Go (one-person kit) inflatable LED lighting system for the first time to a European market, after launching it at Asia Tech in Singapore the month before.
Having responded to customer feedback for a transportable TV version of its units, Pipe Go includes a lamp head, battery controller, mount system incl. 16mm baby-pin, full side skirt/cover, repair kit, hand air pump and transportation bag, making it suitable for reporters, newsmakers, bloggers, and indeed everybody who needs to
POWER GEMS
The hottest day of the year so far in Munich (35°+) and the Uefa Euro 2024 Football Finals were among the initial topics, until we got to Power Gems’ latest hot kit at the show.
Patrick McGuane, owner of Power Gems, commented, “Unlike the weather or sports results, we focus on what we can control, with products such as the GEM6 and GEM40.”
The GEM6 is an LED controller with six controllable channels and an input range of 12V-24V for full-colour LED control or three channels of bi-colour. The GEM40 is the world’s
PROLIGHTS
Italian lighting company Prolights introduced its new ControlGo flexible, multi -functional lighting controller. The versatile, easy-to-use tool combines a fixture remote, RDM Tool, CRMX transmitter, DMX controller and DMX recorder into a single, portable and durable device.
Taking power from a host of options – NP-F or V-Lock batteries, DC 12-48V or USB-C – and featuring wired and CRMX wireless DMX & RDM, the ControlGO is compatible with up to 42 fixtures
the German distributor Kaiser Fototchnik.
Thanks to the IP55 certification of its fixture and power supply, the Evoke 2400B can be exposed to water from any angle. In order to demonstrate its IP55 rating, Nanlux unveiled the LED RGBLAC spotlight Evoke 900C in an aquarium.
As a brand-new accessory, Nanlux is offering the PJ-NML-15-30 zoom for Evoke models 900C and 1200C, so there is no longer any need for an adapter. “The projection attachment will be available for about €1,800 euros in Q4 2024,” added Deutschländer.
A range extender has also been introduced, providing a vertical movement of about 1.4 meters, doubling the typical movement range of standard column dollies.
The dolly platforms have been redesigned for compatibility with existing Panther models, and a new, user-friendly battery system has been implemented. This uses reliable, cost-effective lead gel batteries that can power all Panther systems, including the motorised rickshaw dolly and scissor arm dolly.
Buetefuer emphasised the importance of customer feedback in driving these innovations, ensuring the equipment is user-friendly and backward compatible. Despite industry challenges,
light on-the-run.
The white side of the outer shell functions – similar to a softbox – as an integrated diffuser for the builtin lighting source and produces a pleasantly soft light.
Colour temperature and light output
first combined 3kW power supply and PWM controller for up to 40 channels.
“Earlier this year, we developed tiny but mighty GEMmicro and GEMboost wireless control modules, perfect for creating on-set practicals with built-in wireless DMX,”he added. “We had requests for both from buyers looking for bare PCBs that can be hidden.”
GEMmicro is a 4-channel LED drive that drives LED ribbons and COBs. GEMboost will boost 2.56V from a Li-ion cell or USB power bank to a fixed 12V supply, up to 36W of compact power.
can be varied as required and controlled via a dimmable power supply.
An extremely lightweight yet powerful solution, weighing only 800g, Pipe Go is watertight, making it suitable for rain and it can even be immersed underwater. With the help of a universal fastening system, the air-filled Pipe Go can also be attached to any common mounting device.
The product was also recently awarded a Red Dot Design Award for its ‘all-round powerful lighting with high portability and functionality.’
of any brand over 1 Universe.
Managing director Fabio Sorabella said, “ControlGo is an indispensable tool to bring onto any set or to any location or studio. We’re very excited to have had such amazing feedback so far.”
Also showing, the ECLFresnel CT+ series, available in three sizes (L, M & S), ranging from 200W to 600W, with IP65-rated options for outdoor use, these fixtures excel in colour rendering and provide precise beam control.
Panther remains committed to continuous improvement and maintaining close communication with its clients. The Panther dolly is modelled by Christian Heinz in the photo!
RED / TELTEC
Among other things, Teltec presented Red’s camera innovations. With V-Raptor [X] and V-Raptor XL [X], Red presented new cameras with an 8K full-frame sensor with global shutter.
Red Digital Cinema claims a dynamic range of 17+ F-stops for the new V-Raptor [X] series, which can even be pushed by a further three f-stops in “Global Vision” mode. In addition to these “Extended Highlights”, the Phantom Track function is also new. This makes it possible to record two video tracks for VR productions.
Like the previous versions, the new V-Raptor [X] cameras have a very similar design. Recording is
RONFORD BAKER
British company Ronford Baker, which has manufactured Academy Award-winning tripods and fluid heads for more than half a century, has transformed the Ronford Baker Mini Atlas 7 Fluid Head to a Remote Head with the KFX Technology Motor Kit.
“We made the Mini 7 Head 30 years ago”, said Ryan Glater, operations manager at Ronford Baker, “when we were asked by the industry to provide a small head that can be used for wildlife photography.”
An underslung head gives the camera operator creative flexibility because it’s like having a handheld device without carrying the weight, and
ROSCO
Rosco presented the 13-inch DMG Lion Fresnel luminaire, which was first shown as a prototype a year ago and is due to be delivered this year. The luminaire is available with two LED engines which, according to the manufacturer, can be easily swapped, which is definitely a special feature. The first LED engine, known as Mix, provides
SCHNEIDER KREUZNACH
Schneider Kreuznach showed its spot diopter. Essentially, a spot diopter is a classic close-up lens with a smooth, polished surface in the centre. This design results in a sharp image in the centre and a blurred area at the edges. Whilst a classic diopter changes the focal length and therefore the focal point of the entire system, the
SONY
done on CF Express cards. Newlydeveloped audio hardware is intended to ensure a cleaner and clearer sound when connecting external microphones. Slow motion is possible with the camera in 8K (17:9) at 120fps, with 2K in 2.4:1
it is easy to change the configuration without tools.
“We designed it with the idea of modernising it,” added Glater. Ronford Baker teamed-up with KFX Technology, a New York-based company specialising in remote camera heads and slider motors for professional film production, which has the same design philosophy of creating products that work reliably and are easy to use in extreme conditions. KFX designed a motor for the Ronford Baker’s Mini Atlas 7 head and converted it to a mini remote head with a 15kg payload.
full-spectrum output that seamlessly matches other fixtures in the DMG series. The second, named Punch, offers a bi-colour output with a colour temperature range of 2,700-6,500K, catering to a broad spectrum of lighting requirements. Additionally, the DMG Lion is designed for ease of control, supporting DMX, CRMX and the Rosco MyMix App. This allows for precise and convenient
centre of the new spot diopter remains untouched. As result one can achieve shots with a focussed image centre and blurred edges. This is suitable for portraits, for example, as well as for landscapes. This optical aid thus offers numerous possibilities for your artistic vision.
manipulation of the lighting settings, ensuring optimal performance in various scenarios.
Schneider Kreuznach also showed Isco4all, a system that makes it possible to turn spherical cine lenses into Anamorphic lenses. This involves combining standalone spherical cine lenses with a suitable Anamorphic front adapter, without any complicated tinkering.
Sony presented the Burano camera, the smaller version of the Sony flagship Venice 2. The new camera offers sensor stabilisation, and the maximum resolution of the Burano’s sensor is 8632 × 4856 pixels, with various image scan modes ranging from full-frame to cropped S35 17:9. The two basic sensitivities of the sensor are 800 and 3200 ISO, and the signals are recorded internally with 16-bit XOCN LT or in XAVC-H, XAVC-I.
As with the Venice, the PL mount can be removed. With the e-mount underneath, all corresponding lenses from a wide range can be used, many also with autofocus function. An update announced for the middle of the year will give the Burano additional functions. A 1.5x de-squeeze viewfinder display for Anamorphic lenses will be added, as well as a new protocol for S700P
remote control via IP. Further updates with new functions have been announced for next year.
The topic of virtual production also played a role at the stand. The company presented its toolset for virtual production. It includes a software tool for
Unreal Engine that can be used to solve common problems in the workflow of virtual productions, such as moiré patterns.
at up to 600 frames per second. In another area Teltec also presented a compact virtual production set, which also used Red cameras.
EURO CINE EXPO 2024 ROUND-UP•
SUMOLIGHT
Sumolight presented ScubaMax at Euro Cine Expo. This is a powerful RGBWW light that can be operated underwater. It consists of hexagonal pixels, has passive cooling and is based on SumoMax. The maximum underwater output is 1300 watts and the input voltage is 48V. The cable length for ScubaMax can be up to 30 metres. Above water, ScubaMax has a beam angle of 20 degrees.
Another new Sumolight product are Skyframes, which were developed in response to rental requirements. The Skyframe lighting elements are based on Sumosky XR and can be used vertically, for example on a simple stand. With the appropriate yokes, the Skyframes can also be used horizontally.
TIFFEN
Tiffen has had a busy year.
Danny Hallett, international director of sales, said, “We launched around 16 new products this year across the Steadicam, Lowel, Domke bags and Tiffen filters ranges.”
Steadicam products include the new G-70x2 Arm. The Volt 3 head now allows control of the pan axis as well. There was also Axis, a smaller three-axis head designed for users transitioning up from using rigs such as the Ronin, designed to be an intuitive
ZEISS
With the Nano Prime product line, Zeiss presented the first, fast (T1.5 throughout) full-frame cine lens family for mirrorless full-frame cameras (initially for Sony E-mount). The series is being launched with six focal lengths: 18mm, 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, 75mm and 100mm. Thanks to the close-focusing distance and the high-speed of T1.5, the Nano Primes enable images with an extremely shallow depth-offield, even in the wide-angle range.
upgrade for them.
In filters the big development is Tiffen’s Magnetic Control System (MCS) which uses magnetism to attach filters to the camera, the system allows stacking and includes a lens cover and rear plate to protect the filters in transit. In
Thanks to the integrated electronic interface, metadata such as focal length, focus distance and aperture value are transmitted to the camera in real time. Zeiss emphasises that the easy and professional handling of the lenses is particularly
a similar vein is the smartphone 58mm mount, attaching easily to a MagSafe phone and allowing the use of any 58mm Tiffen filter. There were countless new Tiffen filters on display, new bags from Domke and the promise of new lights from Lowell just around the corner!
suitable for established film crew workflows.
Zeiss also presented the CinCraft system: CinCraft Scenario is a camera tracking system consisting of hardware and software components. The system records the tracking data from the set, which can then be used in post-production. This allows the workflow of VFX artists to be significantly optimised and accelerated. Pre-calibrated properties can now be used for 90 lenses from more than ten series in order to compensate for lens distortion. Generic lens templates are adapted to the real properties of the lenses used with the new Lens Template Finetuner.
STORMY WEATHER
By Ron Prince
The summer of 2024 sees the return of the epic studio disaster movie with Twisters, a thrill-ride adventure giving audiences an intimate experience one of nature’s most wondrous and destructive forces.
Directed by Lee Isaac Chung, the Oscarnominated writer-director of Minari, and shot in 4-perf widescreen on KODAK 35mm film by DP Dan Mindel BSC ASC SASC, Twisters stars Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell as opposing forces who come together to predict, and possibly tame, the immense power of tornadoes. Twisters is distributed by Universal Pictures in the US and by Warner Bros. Pictures internationally.
The adrenaline-fuelled action follows Kate Carter, a former storm-chaser haunted by a devastating encounter with a tornado, who now studies storm patterns safely on screens in New York. But when she is lured back to Tornado Alley in the open plains of central Oklahoma, to test a ground-breaking new tracking system, she crosses paths with Tyler Owens, a charming and reckless social-media superstar who thrives on posting his storm-chasing adventures with his raucous crew, the more dangerous the better. As storm season intensifies, terrifying never-seen-before phenomena are unleashed, and the competing teams find themselves in the fight of their lives when multiple storm systems converge.
Shooting Twisters – on analog film, on-the-road,
I liked the fact that this film could be a conversation-starter about climate change
sometimes in taxing weather conditions, with wind, rain and ice-making machines galore, plus no shortage of set-piece stunts, SFX and VFX – might have proven a daunting prospect for most cinematographers. But Mindel says he relished the challenge.
“From the moment I read the script and chatted with Isaac, I was really excited about filming Twisters I liked the fact that it could be a conversation-starter about climate change, an issue we all need to take seriously, and also that, being an edge-ofthe seat thriller, it was going to need a determined collaborative effort between departments to get it made. The momentum and urgency of this kind of travelogue filmmaking was right up my street.”
Along with his enthusiasm for the project, Mindel also alludes to some good omens while absorbing
visual references prior to production.
“As I knew we would be working onlocation, out of trucks, moving constantly from one exterior location to the next, both night and day, with many in-camera driving shots, I rewatched Thelma & Louise (1991, dir. Ridley Scott, DP Adrian Biddle BSC) for its Americana style and the aesthetic of its car work. I was Adrian’s focus puller on that production and I learned a great deal from the tough but rewarding experience a road movie can be.”
He adds, “I also watched the 1996 Twisters (dir. Jan De Bont, DP Jack N. Green ASC) at home one evening with my wife, who sometimes has a few misgivings about certain types of films, but she really enjoyed it. So that was another positive sign.”
Mindel is no stranger to filming on film, with JJ Abrams’ Mission: Impossible III (2006), Star Trek
The momentum and urgency of travelogue filmmaking was right up my street
(2009), Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) and Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), along with Oliver Stone’s Savages (2012), Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) and Julius Onah’s The Cloverfield Paradox (2018), amongst his analog credits.
“From the get-go, Isaac and I we were united in the idea that film conquers all. So many digitallyoriginated films look squeaky-clean and are kind of sterile because of that. Although Twisters was going to have plenty of CG-generated VFX, I knew from previous experience, that the forgiving softness of film really helps blend them into the final image to deliver an engaging experience for the audience.”
With the backing of the producers, Twisters was given the greenlight to shoot on film and, after four months of prep, principal photography got underway at locations around Oklahoma City and the local countryside in May 2023. Mindel notes that shooting in what is nicknamed ‘Tornado Alley’ meant having to be forever watchful of the weather conditions for safety’s sake – lightning strikes within a five-mile radius meant production had to shut down, with cranes put away, until the threat had passed. A much bigger interruption, however, came when filming was suspended in July due to the SAG-AFTRA strikes,
before resuming in November 2023 and wrapping the following month.
“It was so refreshing to collaborate with a director like Isaac, who was really focused on the story and how it would be told visually. He wanted to shoot as much as we could in-camera, before resorting to VFX,” says Mindel.
“I really love to work with Anamorphic lenses, and Isaac was completely on-board with the idea that when you’re shooting on-location, like those we scouted in Oklahoma, you want to have that widescreen aspect to show-off the countryside – it’s massive.
“It was also apparent that, as there’s so much contemporary architecture around the landscapes of dusty red roads and huge green plains – like fracking sites and nodding donkeys in the oilfields there – we could only but embrace and include all of that as part of real-life Americana. So I suggested we adopt a kind of 1970’s Time Life magazine photo-journalistic look and try to make this the most positive view we could of the countryside in the modern day and age, to which Isaac agreed.”
Mindel selected Panavision Millennium XL, ARRIFELX 435 and 235 35mm film cameras for the production, with digital camera arrays for VFX plates and some of the aerial work. He chose Panavision Primo Anamorphics for the mainstay of the shoot, supplemented with C-series and T-series Anamorphic lenses. The cameras and lenses were supplied by Panavision, Woodland Hills, LA.
Bucking the popular trend of having lenses adjusted for particular aesthetic purposes, Mindel instructed Panavision’s lens guru, Dan Sasaki, to have his chosen set of Primo Anamorphics optics returned to factory mode.
“Dan is the foremost lens master on the planet, and does magical things with glass,” remarks Mindel, “but I actively wanted the looks of the Anamorphic lenses as they had been originallymade, with all of their individual flaws, circles of confusion, soft and distorted edges, to underscore that Time Life authenticity in the filmed image.
“There’s nothing wrong with using lenses and optics the way they were designed in the first place, and then flexing your skills as the cinematographer to make them function in a non-invasive way, so that it doesn’t interfere with the storytelling, but actually enhances it. As the lenses were all mapped prior to production, I knew these image artefacts would not pose a problem to the VFX team down the line.”
As for filmstocks, Mindel went with KODAK VISION 3 50D 5203 for day exteriors, VISION3 250D 5207 for the interior car work and VISION3 500T 5219 for the film’s low-light/night-time sequences. Film processing and dailies were done at FotoKem, under the auspices of Mark Van Horne, director of production services, with 4K scans passed to Company3 in Los Angeles, where senior colourist Stefan Sonnefeld conducted the final grade.
“KODAK’s Daylight and Tungsten filmstocks are very flexible in how you can use them to shoot in different lighting scenarios. They’re reliable in terms of colour rendition and depth of colour, and they match well too,” Mindel explains.
“One of the other nice things about them is that you can play with mixed light sources, and it doesn’t really impact you in any way other than to make your frame look really interesting.
“I used a lot of gels on the lights to help the shadows and give the blacks some subtle tone in the grain, especially at night. Digital cameras can’t really take mixed light very well, especially when skin tones are involved. Film gives you a lot more freedom over your lighting and aesthetic choices. I’ve done so many movies with the team at FotoKem and knew I could trust them implicitly in assessing the rushes.”
Along with his status as a legendary cinematographer, the late, great DP Douglas Slocombe OBC BSC ASC is renowned for never having used a light meter on the set of Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981, dir. Steven Spielberg), using his eyes to judge the correct exposure. And Mindel took this same approach during production on Twisters.
“I have shot with Kodak filmstocks for many years and know them really well,” Mindel reveals. “After a
I soon felt confident enough to judge how much light we would need for exposures just with my eyes
couple of weeks with the light meter to remind myself of the range, I soon felt confident enough to judge how much light we would need for exposures just with my eyes, whatever the time of day, and that made my life a lot easier.
“However, having been taught by my mentors to always trust the meter, I would double-check exposure with the focus pullers when multiple filters were on the camera’s and while shooting through the glass windows of the cars, which requires
exposure compensation.”
Geoff Haley operated A-camera/Steadicam during the shoot, partnered by Mick Froehlich on B-camera. Chris Haarhoff acted as DP on the second unit, filming the extensive stunts and exterior car work, with John Connor working as camera operator.
“My camera teams on Twisters are forces of nature, founts of knowledge and wisdom, real aces,” Mindel declares. “I love the collaborative process of filmmaking, and I knew I could give them the
autonomy and trust to execute shots with Isaac, which would free me up to work on the lighting and the logistics of what we were doing, and that we would always be ready to move to the next set-up.
“With this being an all-out action-adventure, I wanted the camera to have kinetic energy, and we designed shots that ended with some kind of punctuation that would allow Isaac to edit to the next take or camera angle.
“We used everything at our disposal – drones,
helicopters, cranes, pursuit cars, biscuit rigs, dollies on tracks, Steadicam and handheld – with movement in mind. That said, my team were all too aware of the precision needed to keep the horizon line still when shooting wides and landscapes in Anamorphic, as it can become quite unpleasantly unsettling for the audience when the picture see-saws around.”
Mindel says he particularly enjoyed using the heavy-duty MTV insert truck from Allan Padelford Camera Cars to film the movie’s car work. “It’s a real beast. Depending on the scene, we filmed with a 30ft Super Technocrane on the back, or had cameras mounted on the sides, and even towed the picture car, all with the camera crew in the back.”
He adds, “I don’t like to break things, especially irreplaceable vintage Anamorphic glass, so we used some spherical lenses when working with the drones, and those pictures were later adjusted to emulate the Anamorphic look.”
Other key collaborators in the camera and lighting department were key grip Joe Macaluso, gaffer John Vecchio and lighting programme/deskop Jonathan Huggins ICLS.
“If I’ve learned one thing over the years it’s that the movie star’s light has to be as sexy as you can get it,” says Mindel. “The tools I use for that are generally incandescents. Regardless of what the manufacturers say, in my opinion LEDs are not appropriate for maximum control of skin tones. Plus, I find LED
softlights generic in their inability to bring shape. So the mandate was ‘No LEDs on the actors’.
“We therefore had what you now might describe as pretty antiquated sources within the overall package – Dinos, 20Ks, 5K Molebeams –but having the opportunity to mix modern LEDs with the older lights gave us a lot of options for our looks, especially on our night locations, and we had a lot of fun with that.
“Despite their current shortcomings, I really like how modern LEDs are built to withstand the elements, being either water-resistant or waterproof, and we didn’t lose our lights once when shooting in some ferocious weather conditions.”
When it came to filming the film’s many action scenes, Mindel says he didn’t make a move without consulting and collaborating with the SFX and VFX supervisors on the production.
“Scott Fisher is a master when it comes to combining physical effects with stunts in-camera. He and the SFX team built all sorts of pneumatic rigs that would make objects and debris fly, spin and tumble around, along with working-out ways to convincingly throw weather – wind, rain and hail and smoke – at the picture car, all while ensuring the safety of cast and crew.
“This production has seamless visual VFX, done to the very highest level that help to sell the movie. Over the years I have become very friendly with the team at ILM, one of the main VFX vendors on the film, and am
the #1 proponent in facilitating whatever it is they need photographically to make particular scenes work.
“Like me, ILM’s VFX supervisor, Ben Snow, transitioned over the years through analog to digital, and knew exactly how to optimise the inherent textures and grain structures in the film scans and merge the digital/CG effects into the analog arena. There’s a forgiveness in this process, the results look photorealistic, alive and very plausible.”
Mindel concludes, “There’s action, adventure and lots of weather in Twisters, and the IMAX version is a super-sensory experience. One of the most important elements in this production was the filmstock and how it remains appropriate and vital in the creative process. I’m so grateful that Kodak continues to provide moviemakers with the analog option, helping us make distinctive, great-looking films for audiences to enjoy.”
Isaac and I we were united in the idea that film conquers all
SUPER NATURAL
By Darek Kuźma
Cinematographer Aaron Reid assisted rapper-writer-director Rapman in grounding his extraordinary sixpart superhero mini-series Supacell in the ordinariness of South London.
With the current media landscape so saturated with superheroes, making a sci-fi series focused on a bunch of ordinary people who suddenly discover innate superpowers might evoke a certain level of suspicion. Supacell, from British rapper-screenwriter-director Rapman, is inherently a superhero series using a bag of quintessential superhero tricks, yet it would be doing it a disservice to call it just another superhero story.
Streaming on Netflix, the highly-acclaimed show offers an intriguing insight into the lives of modern black South Londoners who try to navigate class and race restrictions to understand who they are. It is this combination of superhero tropes fuelled by the hopes and dreams of its characters – such as a desperate father struggling to use super-strength to bond with his teenage son, or a young gangster trying to use the power of invisibility to enact personal revenge – that make Supacell, an altogether different beast.
Rapman is known for dealing with sociallyconscious themes, as well as a uniquely vivid style of storytelling, as witnessed in his feature directorial debut hit, the musical crime drama Blue Story (2019, DP Simon Stolland). Having heard from friends-incommon about Rapman’s creativity, Reid did not hesitate when he was offered the job.
“A superhero show is always a big challenge for its VFX-based duels and stunt work, but this here was different in terms of shooting black people with superpowers,” says Reid, whose mini-series credits
include multiple episodes of Stephen (2021), The Walk-In (2022) and A Town Called Malice (2023). “I shot episodes one, two and six of Supacell, which has a big finale when the superhero stuff finally takes over.”
The project lasted a year overall, including pickups, with 15 weeks of principal photography for Reid taking place between May 2022 to May 2023.
It needed to feel real, not overly-stylised like many superhero projects
The director and DP did not use any direct visual references, but rather focused on ensuring that the world they created would be believable.
“It was a character-driven story and it needed to feel real, not overly-stylised like many superhero projects,” explains Reid. “We shot about 70% onlocation in and around South London to get the distinct flavours of places such as Deptford, Peckham, Brixton and Thamesmead.
“The most tricky part was finding that balance between grounding everything versus going into a superhero mode. That applied to everything we did. In episode one the photography was more grounded, but when we got to episode six, it became more intense, as did the scenes. You get a lot more wides, Steadicam and Technocrane work and you feel like
it’s grown into something else. In a sense, Supacell holds back until it doesn’t.”
As the characters are so unique in how their everyday lives mix with their superpowers, it was crucial to make them relatable and recognisably British – for example, a drug dealer who uses his super-speed to sell faster and harder, which makes him a threat to those who rule the locality.
“In terms of style and approach, we wanted something that sat in its own lane in the UK. We looked at American shows to get a feel of the differences between them and British shows. We looked at a wide range of work, not only superhero stories, to know what we should do to create something that, whilst being British, could also sit across the pond. We wanted something a bit warmer, with a bit more texture, in the palette of colours.”
I love to shoot close-ups on wider lenses
Because the focus was on the characters’ internal and external progressions, Reid built the visual language around the emotional beats of the cast.
“A lot of the time the cinematography was specifically trying to be close with them and letting everything else breathe,” he explains. “Things get wider as the story evolves, but we always stayed close to the characters, even if we went wide in a scene. We knew we could not detach the characters from the audience. Shooting this way was probably a bit closer than what I’d usually do, but in the end it worked. You notice the characters first and the locations and VFXheavy duels after.”
The specificity of this rule prompted Reid to choose a combination of ARRI Alexa 35 camera and
Tribe 7 Blackwing lenses.
“It was mostly a black cast which meant working with dark skin tones in bright spaces. I was fortunate that ARRI had just announced the Alexa 35. It felt like such a great option for us with how it worked in the highlights or in the low tones,” he marvels.
“When we shot, the cameras were not then available in the UK, and we didn’t know if we could get them. However, Jonathan Iles of One Stop Films, the rental company that provided cameras and lenses, flew to ARRI’s head office in Munich and brokered a deal for us to receive them. It was incredible that we got to shoot on Alexa 35s. What Jonathan did was nothing short of impossible. Because of this, I think we might’ve been the first show in the UK to use the ARRI
Alexa 35s.”
Reid shot Supacell in 2:1 aspect ratio, rather than Anamorphic, as it felt more grounded when being close to the characters, and also supported the plot’s many supernatural layers, including mysterious masked bad guys who try to enslave anyone who
In challenging times you realise how good everyone is around you
has superpowers.
The DP decided to use Tribe Blackwings because “they have a really good style to them. They’re soft but at the same time are crisp and slightly sharp. I tested them with the ARRI 35 and they lived up to my expectations. It was pretty much impossible to blow out any of our highlights on the ARRI 35, which gave us a lot of range in order to shoot the way we wanted. Coupled with a beautiful LUT I created with our colourist Joseph Bicknell, at Company 3 – who’s technical science team had to build software for the LUT to be read onto ARRI 35 – this was an incredible process, to go through.”
Reid had 37mm and 47mm as his hero lenses for the purposes of staying true and close to the cast. “I love to shoot close-ups on wider lenses, but on each project you obviously have to interpret the director’s vision and find the range together. Rapman loved the 47mm whilst I preferred 37mm. I mostly used 27mm, 37mm and 47mm throughout the shoot, sometimes a 20.7mm, and also had a 24-290mm Angénieux zoom.
“For most of the time, Supacell was a two-camera show, but for big set-pieces we had four cameras and mixed the Alexa 35s with Alexa LFs simply because no other ARRI 35s were available at that time.”
Even though the first half of Supacell is grounded, we do get glimpses into superhero stuff. As one of the protagonists has the ability to see visions of a possible future, episode one ends with a Piccadilly Circus showdown with the masked intruders.
“That was a challenge – a fully pre-vized sequence, shot entirely on greenscreen in an open army barracks in Hounslow, where production designer Paul Cross and his team recreated the width and depth of the roads and pavements around Piccadilly Circus,” Reid recalls.
“For Piccadilly, I had two Soft Suns that gave us an extra half an hour of light at the end of every day, but most of our time we were trying to keep the sunlight out. We had a few 20x40s and 20x20 blackouts on machines, blocking out any hard sunlight.”
The lighting package came from London-based Pixipixel and included HMIs, ARRI SkyPanel 360s and Lightstar Luxed P-12s among many others.
“For daylight interiors, I used HMIs through windows and tried to shoot as natural as possible with just a bit of fill to keep it soft. We shot our drama stuff in the summer, so, in terms of softness, it was about controlling the sun.”
Things became more technical with night-time exteriors, as Reid explains.
“I came up with a formula that enabled me to light a road in a way that was inexpensive, but which give me maximum reach and a soft key light – basically a SkyPanel 360s as the base, with two Luxed P-12s on each side. This allowed a maximum of output to light a road and gave a nice soft key light to keep everything feeling grounded. We called it the ‘Willy Rig’ and duplicated it whenever we could. It was something I’d previously tested on another show when we were shooting overseas and didn’t have access to as many lights as we wanted.”
rigging gaffer TC
Luke
and the rest of the team for making Supacell a reality!”
Though he had to do the colour sessions remotely from Company 3’s London office, connecting with Bicknell at Company 3 in New York, Reid remembers
The biggest set-piece, the final episode’s showdown between ‘forces of good and evil,’ was shot at Hounslow.
“It was basically a 20-minute action sequence. This was a huge challenge because of the amount of work we needed to do and the amount of time we had to shoot it. We shot this sequence all night, sometimes in winds of between 50-60mph and in heavy rain. One time the set was completely waterlogged and, for safety, every single crane had to come down with our lights. But we had to continue shooting and somehow we managed to isolate an area of our location and continue shooting small until the cranes could go back up again.
“It’s in those challenging times you realise how good everyone is around you. I think that’s the name of the game with making films – plan as much as you can and work around that, but be ready to respond to what happens on the day,” he says.
“Kudos to my gaffer Paul Parker, 1st AC Mo Kyildiz, grip Tom Pittman, DIT Alix Milan, B-camera operator Grant Sandy Phillips, B-cam 1st AC Tuncer
the process as being smooth.
“We had many evening sessions, but because we created quite a strong look with our LUT which set the tone for where we wanted to go, it became about getting the skin tones right. Joseph went through and did a pass. I’d then go in and add to that. Once we felt happy, Rapman would come in, we’d discuss and make whatever tweaks he wanted. The same with adding VFX grades. It was a collaborative effort through-and-through.”
Reid says that the project was a great experience.
“I didn’t have any superhero stuff on my reel and I want to believe I was able to look at it with fresh eyes and add something interesting. We probably could’ve done with a bit more time, but this is always the case, because when you’re doing ambitious things – and this was a very ambitious project – you need time to make everything right. But I think we did a solid job. Everyone played their part. It was a joy to work with such a great team and help bring the talented Rapman’s vision to life.”
Ozdenir,
Thomas, crane grip
Chisholm
YOUNG WOMAN AND THE SEA•ÓSCAR FAURA AEC
MAKING A SPLASH
By Ron Prince
Young Woman And The Sea, directed by Joachim Rønning, and starring Daisy Ridley, tells the true story of Gertrude Ederle, the American swimming champion who first won a gold medal at the 1924 Olympic Games. After an initial failed attempt, in 1926 she became the first woman to swim 21 treacherous miles across The English Channel – wearing a scandalous two-piece swimsuit plus leak-proof goggles, weathering gales and six-foot waves, and completing the task two hours faster than any man, and proving many naysayers wrong along the way.
The film was shot out of Nu Boyana Studios and along the Black Sea coast in Bulgaria by Spanish cinematographer Óscar Faura AEC, a graduate of the ESCAC Film School in Barcelona, whose credits include the international hit The Orphanage (2007), and the tsunami disaster movie The Impossible (2012), both directed by J.A. Bayona.
What did Joachim Rønning tell you about this film at the start of the project?
This was my first time working with Joachim. We did a video conference a few months before production started when he spoke about his surprise regarding Trudy Ederle’s great but forgotten achievement, and how important and personal this project was for him. He wanted to depict her amazing feat for the audience.
I liked the script a lot, very moving, very cinematic. The fact that it was a period story was attractive too. Also, there a lot of the shoot would be in the water, an important factor to consider. I know water work is always tricky to deal with having been involved productions like The Impossible, a movie also based on real events during the tsunami that hit Thailand in 2004.
What were your initial conversations about the aesthetic look-and-feel of the film?
Joachim said clearly from the first moment that he wanted to shoot the movie on the ocean. That was new to me. I had previous experiences of working in water tanks, where it’s slow and complicated, but at least you have control of the elements. Joachim had previously shot Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017, DP Paul Cameron ASC),
Water work is always tricky
a VFX-heavy movie, and he wanted to keep Trudy’s story in the real world.
During an interview I had with the producers of the movie, Jerry Bruckheimer asked me to light the interiors like a Rembrandt painting. That was an exciting proposal and it encouraged me embrace the idea of chiaroscuro, which I love.
Did you look at any creative references?
When I started there was already a pre-existing look book created by the movie’s production designer, Nora Takacs, that worked as a reference guide for all of us from an aesthetic point-of-view – a very inspiring collection of pictures of the period. We wanted the movie to look grounded and realistic, but also epic and magnificent.
Close to the beginning of the shoot, Joachim invited all the heads of department to the cinema at Nu Boyana to watch portions of the two movies he considered important as references for our movie: The Godfather (1972, dir. Francis Ford Coppola, DP Gordon Willis ASC) and Jaws (1975, dir. Steven Spielberg, DP Bill Butler ASC). It was both a pleasure and a torture watching those two masterpieces, and the pressure was really on.
When and where did you shoot?
We shot entirely in Bulgaria except for the final aerial shot in England and a reshoot day. I flew-in on February 14th 2022 to begin prep, we started shooting on April 1st and finished the principal photography on June 14th – 55 shooting days in total.
We shot for six weeks at Nu Boyana Studios in Sophia and for five weeks in Varna, a seaside resort on the Black Sea coast. At Nu Boyana, we shot all the New York exteriors on the backlot. We also did a lot of stage work, including the family house, the radio station and one of the swimming pools that was built indoors. The art department did an amazing job of transforming a public pool into Coney Island’s most iconic swimming venue, where Trudy won her first competition against the Australian national swimming team. The cinema, the Olympic pool, the A.O.U. Office were locations found in Sophia.
In Varna, we shot all the work related to the sea during the second half of the production. We used an existing pier to recreate Coney Island. Although it was a massive set, it was extended with the help of VFX department. We also shot the French beach and the English beach there, plus Trudy’s two crossing attempts and all the swimming shots in the sea.
It was scheduled this way so the temperature of the sea would be warmer in June. Even so, Daisy Ridley still had to swim in cold water anyway, and the fact that historically Trudy Ederle wore the first two-piece swimsuit made it harder to protect Daisy with a wetsuit of any kind.
A few months later we had a reshoot day for different underwater scenes at Pinewood’s Underwater Stage.
ÓSCAR FAURA AEC•YOUNG WOMAN AND THE SEA
Images: Courtesy of Walt Disney Company.
How much testing did you do before production began?
We did thorough camera and lens tests, including swimming and underwater shots in a water tank at the studio, trying to finesse the methodology and specifically focus on finding the right combination for the movie – especially the water gear. We tested different splashbags, underwater housings, housing ports, zodiac boats and ban-gee rigs, crane movements going from above the surface to underwater. I used this opportunity to establish the look for the night-swimming shoots that were to be shot in the water tank.
Why did you shoot in widescreen?
Joachim and I agreed the aspect ratio had to be 2.39:1 and that we wanted to shoot in Anamorphic. Half the story happens out on the ocean and we thought the Anamorphic widescreen format would help us to deal with the horizon from a composition perspective. Also, as it is connected to a visual legacy of adventure movies, we felt Anamorphic was the right aspect ratio to depict such an incredible achievement.
Which cameras and lenses did you use?
We shot using Sony Venice cameras and Cooke Anamorphic/i lenses. At that time Venice was the only camera capable of delivering 4K resolution. Also, the 2500 ISO high-sensitivity mode was very attractive and the ND filter turret, capable of changing filters in one stop increments, would be very useful for shooting in difficult conditions, like on boats in the middle of the sea. I liked the quality
Jerry Bruckheimer asked me to light the interiors like a Rembrandt painting
of the Cooke lenses, they are gentle in the way they render skin tones but sharp enough to avoid getting in trouble when dealing with VFX shots.
One problem with this camera package was the size and weight for certain shots, like aerials, so we used a combination of Hawk V-Lite and Alexa Mini LF for the drone shots. We also shot some of the underwater work with the Hawk lenses. Almost all the equipment was owned and supplied by Nu Boyana Studios.
Was it a single camera shoot?
We had two camera operators most of the time and some days, specifically for the swimming and competition scenes, we had a third camera operator who usually an underwater specialist.
My main crew members were Matias Mesa on A-camera, with Luis Latanzi as the 1st AC, and Anthony Dias as the DIT. Ian Bird was the key grip and Hristo Idakiev was the gaffer. They are talented and worked hard with enthusiasm. How did you shoot the underwater/ swimming sequences?
Probably, the most challenging part of it was shooting in the sea for real instead of working in a water tank. In our case, we envisioned very rough seas. The English Channel was Trudy’s antagonist and it had to look menacing and dangerous. But then, shooting in those conditions becomes almost impossible. You lose control and even the easiest thing becomes a challenge. If the sea instead is flat and calmed the drama is over. So we had to adapt ourselves to the different sea conditions.
During principal photography, we didn’t have a specialist underwater DP, but did have underwater camera operators. Only for the reshoot day did underwater DP Pete Zuccarini join us. I was in charge of the lighting that day because we shot many different scenes in so many different conditions and I had to match all these with the existing footage. Pete’s skills operating the camera helped us achieve all the underwater shots that we were missing.
During our shoot on the Black Sea in Bulgaria, we couldn’t see a meter away from camera. Even the insert of Trudy’s foot reaching the English coast had to be shot at Pinewood due to the visibility problems in Black Sea. Not to mention underwater wide shots looking up.
What was your philosophy about moving the camera for storytelling purposes?
We decided not to restrict ourselves by following strict rules. We kept it alive and we discussed the scenes before or during the shooting day depending on the type of scenes we were shooting. We had storyboards for all the scenes involving swimming or other complex scenes. We also worked with diagrams that Joachim would draw as a camera proposal for each of the scenes. That helped a lot to understand the amount of work per day and also, when shooting exteriors, those diagrams were crucial to organise the day according to the sun position.
Tell us about your lighting set-ups?
Shooting Trudy’s close-ups whilst she was struggling to find the way to England, completely
ÓSCAR FAURA AEC•YOUNG WOMAN AND THE SEA
lost in the ocean at night, was extremely challenging. We shot this scene in a water tank under controlled conditions.
My concern was about making it believable. At some point, you have to rely on the collective imagery. In the real world, you couldn’t see anything in those conditions. But as an audience, we have learnt to understand some kind of visual code that is common. For me this was a big challenge because the threshold between being able to see subtle details in the actress’s performance or losing everything to enhance the feeling of being lost in the dark, was very delicate.
I also remember my concern about shooting the two crossing attempts in June in the Black Sea. There was a conflict of interest. We had to leave Daisy’s swimming shots for the last two weeks of the schedule to allow the water to warm up. Then my worst predictions became real and we had to deal with some days of full sun that I hadn’t envisioned for the English Channel crossing.
I did all that was possible to shoot under the clouds. We waited, we even chased them with our little fleet, but there was a moment when I had to surrender. Then I applied a technique that was useful when shooting The Impossible, of having the support boat accompanying Trudy. We rotated the boat according to the sun position to keep it backlit. It wasn’t gloomy and menacing, but at least it was beautiful.
Which lights did you use?
We used many different light sources depending
on the situation and the set. The pool where Trudy and her sister learn to swim was lit by an array of 18Kw HMIs. To light the house interiors we used mainly Tungsten bulbs, Astera tubes and different models of LED Carpet Lights (CL44, CL42), plus ARRI SkyPanels to illuminate the backdrop. The arrival on the English coast was lit mainly with big Tungsten units to emulate the light of the bonfires. All the lighting equipment came from Nu Boyana Studios.
to shoot remotely for three days. I had never been in a situation like that. The two first days weren’t that bad because we were shooting at a location where we had spent a few days already and I knew it very well.
Where did you do the final colour grade? I did the final colour grade at Company3 in London with Stefan Sonnenfeld.
What were the biggest challenges on this production?
One challenging situation I had to overcome was catching Covid during the shoot and having
But the third day involved was a night scene at a restaurant facing the sea, Penner’s Lobster & Seafood. It was probably one of the biggest lighting displays of the movie. Additionally, there was a tricky shot revealing Trudy inside Mr. Sullivan’s car. We wanted the car window to work as a mirror to create a bigger surprise, hiding Trudy until the very last moment. I spent the entire night monitoring the entire process through PIX from the hotel where I was confined. My team put several witness cameras for me to see what was happening and give instructions. It was a very stressful experience, but my team was fantastic and they saved the day.
By Darek Kuźma
British DP Benedict Spence BSC says he was thrilled to dive into early 1980’s New York for Netflix’s ambitious psychological thriller series Eric , from writer/creator Abi Morgan and director Lucy Forbes.
In Eric, New York is a city of grand desires and bold dreams that struggles with grim waves of homelessness, gentrification, AIDS and… missing children. One of the boys who has vanished from the face of the Earth is nine-year-old Edgar, the son of Vincent, a troubled genius puppeteer whose TV programme ‘Good Day Sunshine’ has brought joy to thousands of kids. Whilst Vincent’s anguished wife and a missing persons detective leave no stone unturned in the quest to find the boy, the oftintoxicated man starts to believe he can recover his son with the help of a seven-foot-tall puppet monster named ‘Eric’ who originated in Edgar’s creative mind.
Zeiss Supremes are clean, fast and high-quality, with a wonderful selection of focal lengths
For Spence, a collaborator with director Forbes for over 17 years, including shows like The End of the F***ing World, getting involved was a no-brainer.
“We were both kids of the ‘80s and grew up on a diet of ‘80s Hollywood films. Doing something that tapped into that grand illusion of New York’s mythology, but with modern camera kits and lighting techniques was like a dream come true,” he laughs.
“In other shows that Lucy and I had worked on together before, we had typically shot the opening block of principal photography and then handed the project over to a second team. Eric was the first time we did the whole thing, six episodes, a couple of hundred pages, 89 shooting days. It was like shooting three feature films back-to-back, but I loved every second of it.”
Eric is, in equal parts, a gripping missingchild drama and an agonising portrait of the monstrousness hidden under all the glamour and soft lies of New York, and for Spence the project’s trickiest part was making the city a memorable character in itself.
“New York has been shot more than any other city in the world, and those images have been hammered into our minds. Lucy and I filled our brains with hundreds of photographs and movies, from The French Connection (1971, dir. William Friedkin, DP Owen Roizman ASC) and Taxi Driver (1976, dir. Martin Scorsese, DP Michael Chapman
ASC), to modern stuff, and decided to make our own version of 1980s New York,” he explains. “Not a pastiche, not a tribute, just our take on the cinematic illusion that this city is. I referenced images with lots of halation, texture, grain, slightly broken like our characters. They’re beautiful in their own way but without being shiny and polished.”
Adding to the challenge, most of the show was shot in Budapest’s Astra Studios and on a backlot of Korda Studio from January to April 2023. Only then, in May 2023, did the production head to to New York and New Jersey to shoot some exteriors.
“Eric was a big-budget show in the UK terms, but we wouldn’t be able to make it in New York. Some municipal buildings in Budapest have a texture and feel of 1980’s New York and we had a number of set-builds within existing spaces. But the rest was pure studio work with a degree of control we wouldn’t have had otherwise,” he exclaims.
“Before we physically moved to New York, we had two separate weeklong tech recces over there in the city, whilst being in the middle of production in Hungary. It was tough, but helped us to make Eric as believable as possible.”
Spence recalls he was lucky to shoot using the ARRI Alexa 35 camera only a few months after it had been released.
“I obviously didn’t have any previous experiences with it, but I knew ARRI wouldn’t screw us over, and the Alexa 35 turned out to be everything I had hoped for,” he asserts. “To be honest, during prep we made a decision to achieve most of our ‘80’s look in post, but we still tried to
do as much on-set as possible, including using vintage cameras. One of them, a Betacam SP, is what I actually started my career on. It’s a great analogue video camera, especially for recreating news footage. We didn’t shoot on tape because it wouldn’t be reliable with the modern Canon HJ22 lens we used, but we ran up a cross converter and recorded onto an HDSDI recorder. It worked like a charm.”
In Eric there are a lot of behind-the-scenes of doing the show-withinthe-show ‘ Good Day Sunshine’, and to make it more authentic the production team decided to set up their own television studio.
“We had fullywired vintage television cameras running through cross converters, feeding into monitors on the set to make it feel like a live studio space,” Spence contends. Yet, he shot most of the series on Zeiss Supreme Primes.
“The Zeiss Supreme Primes are clean, fast, high-quality spherical lenses with a wonderful selection of focal lengths towards the wide end, which is where Lucy and I like to shoot. We also had lots of camera filters, but used Pancro Mitchell C diffusion filters for 80% of the show to give it a bit of softening and halation that we tweaked later in post.”
Spence says he shot approximately half of the show on a 29mm lens, “as you can get a nice frame or a slightly compressed wide on it, which was great when I wanted to build up the background.”
The rest he shot mostly on 35mm, 40mm or zooms. “I was keen to build zooms into the detective part of the story to make sure that the audience always knows what to concentrate on. We also had a great compact Fujinon 1990mm Cabrio for the shots in which we’re in a character’s head. Lightweight Super
35 glass was great as when we wanted zoom moments, it was easy to take off a Prime, do a zoom, and change again. Zooms are cool. Zooms are retro. I’m always up for more zooms!” The camera package was provided by ARRI Rental in Budapest and TCS New York in the US.
Spence knew exactly what kind of lighting he would use to create this particular vision of New York.
“I like LED light because it’s fast and reliable. And I love RGB LED to push colour onto things. We carried 18Ks, Tungstens, SkyPanels, Vortex’s and other stuff. There’s this enormous breadth of New York spaces and stories in Eric, from underground tunnels filled with homeless people all the way to multi-millionaires’ apartments overlooking Central Park. Having an RGB LED-based package allowed me to really get under the skin of that. We had lots of locations where we had to rewire absolutely everything, replace every single fluorescent tube or Tungsten bulb with things which were controllable from a desk.”
It was in tune with his preferred style of lighting. “I like to load a location with lights. Because then I can tweak or even turn some of them off to create the desired look. I love working with practicals, but I generally work subtractively and turn-off stuff behind camera or pull stuff away,” he comments.
“I try not to bring additional lights on-set, it’s often a single source, a bit of key or a fill, and let
It was like shooting three feature films backto-back
the practicals work on the actors. But full control of the practicals is essential. The key to a successful shooting is to gain control over every single practical on-set during the rigging and pre-light stage. My nightmare is not to have control over one light,” Spence laughs.
Two of the most tricky lighting spaces were the in-show nightclub The Lux and the underground shantytown near the subway.
“The Lux was made out of three locations. Exteriors were shot on a backlot, the main interior was in a big Budapest club with a back room and the main club area we rigged with RGB LEDs and turned many areas into light boxes. We rigged Astera Hyperion Tubes into the ceiling to look like neons, SkyPanels looked like strobes. We essentially covered the entire place with lighting which allowed us to shoot 360 º. It looked like a film version of a real nightclub, but with complete control over every single thing in there.” The lighting package was provided by Cinelease.
“Our shantytown was based on a real story from the 1980s that’s presented in a great B&W documentary Dark Days (2000, dir./DP Marc Singer). We wanted to have a bit of this authenticity, but not to diverge from our illusion-of-New-York style,” Spence explains.
“We shot it in an old beer-storage tunnel outside of Budapest. We were there in January and February, it was damp and cold, a horrible place to work, but it gave us the necessary feel and ambience. The shantytown is right down by the
subway tracks, there’s no daylight. In this tunnel, we had a number of decaying fluorescent tubes, and my rigging team added a load of fluorescent fixtures around the sides as well as helium balloons to create a very slight base of lighting so that it doesn’t go completely dark.”
Spence admits that a lot of Eric’s look came in the DI. “We knew we had to focus on other aspects of the show and leave the grainy, broken image for the grade,” he offers.
“I’m a great believer in doing a screen test on-location before the shoot, and we did it here. Then, together with my long-time colourist, Toby Tomkins, we created a LUT that was informative throughout principal photography. I like to work
simply and not to confuse matters on set. The whole job during post was to push Eric from what we shot with my excellent team into what we envisioned it to look like.”
Spence’s team included camera operator Dániel Reich, DIT Dávid Vécsey, gaffers Zsolt Hoffer and Justin Newhouse, A-camera/ Steadicam operator Aaron Brown, B-camera operator Greg Finkel, and key grip Taylor Drake, among others.
Needless to say, Eric was a challenge that Spence cherished.
“It was the biggest job I’ve ever done, a bigbudget TV show with many layers to it. I hope the audiences will be incentivised enough by
the visuals to want to go deep into what it has to offer,” he remarks.
Though what he liked the most were much smaller challenges.
“We had lots of two- or three-character scenes that were pure joy to shoot. It was about giving actors a bit of freedom and letting them run the entire scene with the camera stuck to them. We shot in small spaces, running and ducking, and the camera was a character in itself. Of course, it’s fun when you turn-up on-set and there’s a Technocrane, a Steadicam, four cameras and two hundred extras and you’re in New York, but those intimate moments of extreme emotions are also what I’d like my work to be made of.”
SCI-FI SENSATION
By Ron Prince
Captured on KODAK 35mm film in 4-perf widescreen Anamorphic, involving straight-live action, some 3,300 VFX shots and the latest LED volume technology, Amazon Prime’s sci-fi series Fallout proved a sensational hit – being watched by more than 65 million viewers and reaching No.1 spot on the streamer in over 170 countries worldwide in the first few days after its release.
Based on the hugely-popular role-playing video game of the same name, Fallout won acclaim among critics and game fans for its writing, production values and faithfulness to the source material, with some considering it one of the best-ever video game adaptations. Such success meant a second series was commissioned soon after its debut, with season two ready to start shooting in the Fall of 2024.
The eight-part show is set during the aftermath of a devastating thermonuclear war, where the survivors of a retro-futuristic society find themselves involved in resource wars. Two hundred years after the cataclysmic event, a young woman named Lucy escapes from the refuge of fallout bunkers, known as Vaults, and ventures into the dangerous, unforgiving Wasteland of a devastated Los Angeles to look for her father, who has been kidnapped by a gang of wasteland raiders. Along the way, she encounters Maximus, a young Squire in the Brotherhood Of Steel,
The aesthetic appeal of the filmed image still blows my mind
and The Ghoul, a legendary bounty hunter, each with mysterious pasts and agendas to settle.
The series stars Ella Purnell, Aaron Moten, Kyle MacLachlan, Moisés Arias, Xelia Mendes-Jones and Walton Goggins. It was executive produced by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy – co-creators of HBO’s 35mm film-originated sci-fi series Westworld. They were joined by Todd Howard from Fallout video game developer Bethesda Game Studios, which gave Nolan the freedom to make the TV series so long as it remained true to the Fallout universe.
“I adored the script, watched play-throughs of the video game, and could readily see this was an insanely imaginative story,” says DP Stuart Dryburgh NZCS ASC, who collaborated with Nolan as director on the first three-and-a-half episodes, and established the modus operandi for the show that would be subsequently carried-
on across the series by DPs Teodoro Maniaci, Alejandro Martínez and Dan Stoloff.
“I had not worked with Jonathan before and learned early-on that he was not interested in creating a stylized aesthetic for the show through the cinematography per se. The looks from the retro-futuristic, Art Deco-style wardrobe, props and sets, plus the nature of the different physical locations we recce’d, would make their own contributions towards that.
“Photographically, he preferred to keep things straight, simple and cinematic, shooting widescreen 2.40:1 Anamorphic in 4-perf on 35mm film, and I was hugely supportive of those epic creative decisions.”
Drybrugh is no stranger to shooting on film. His many analogue film credits include The Piano (1993), Bridget Jones Diary (2001), Æon Flux (2005), The
I adored the script and could readily see this was an insanely imaginative story
Secret Life Of Walter Mitty (2013), along with Gifted (2017) and The Only Living Boy In New York (2017)
“I love shooting on film,” the DP remarks. “The aesthetic appeal of the filmed image still blows my mind. I could not wait to get started, although I was aware that this would be a VFX-intensive production and would include the use of LED volumes to shoot various scenes too.
“Now, you could make all sorts of arguments about digital post-production and VFX that might make you lean into a digital capture from the beginning. But none of that was a problem, as Jay Worth, our VFX supervisor works with Jonathan all the time and, from their experience on Westworld, was very comfortable with film-captured images.
“As for the LED-volume, I had only used that technology with digital capture, but Jonathan had experimented with it on later episodes of Westworld using film, and was already convinced the results would look good on 35mm.”
Other than absorbing play-throughs of the original videogame, Dryburgh says there were no particular stand-out visual references in terms of the aesthetic look of the show. However, he does admit to viewing all three seasons of Westworld, “with the idea getting inside Jonathan’s head a bit more and understanding his aesthetic preferences.
“Essentially, we started with a clean slate. Rather than look at references, we took time to understand and respect the original video game source – the costumes and weapons, the architectures of different
environments, etcetera. Bethesda Game Studios provided CAD drawings from the game which production designer, Howard Cummings, and costume designer Amy Westcott, then incorporated into our concept-art, along with photography that myself and others did as we started discovering the locations during our recces.”
Drybugh’s stint on Fallout encompassed several months of testing and prep, before he filmed his episodes over the course of 50-shooting days, with Nolan at the helm, between July and September 2022. Principal photography on the series wrapped in March 2023.
Physical sets of the Vault tunnels, plus the exit portal to the Wasteland through which Lucy passes, were built at Steiner Studios, Brooklyn. Production also took place on a large LED volume stage at Gold Coast Studios in Bethpage, Long Island, where the prairie-like farmscapes for the Vault scenes, and flying sequences of the Brotherhood Of Steel’s Vertibird troop transport/gunships, were filmed. LED volume background plates of the Vertibird sequences were shot digitally around Wendover Air
Force base in Utah.
East-coast locations included Brooklyn Army Terminal, Widow Jane Mine in New York and a government surplus junkyard in South Jersey, and in Utah, the salt flats and dilapidated buildings adjacent to Wendover Air Force. Wasteland scenes were additionally filmed in Kolmanskop, a former mining operation-turned-ghost town in Namibia, as well as on the infamous Skeleton Coast, a desolate area dotted with both historic and recent shipwrecks.
Dryburgh selected ARRICAM ST and LT 35mm cameras for the mainstay of the shoot, harnessing ARRIFLEX 435s for high-speed work and the small, lightweight ARRIFLEX 235 for drone photography. Plates for the LED walls were captured using ARRI Alexa LF camera arrays. The DP’s lenses of choice were Hawk Class-X 2x front Anamorphics. TCS in New York provided the camera and lens package for the East-coast and Namibian legs of the shoot, with Keslow supporting the production in Utah.
“I am a fan of Hawk Anamorphics,” Dyrburgh enthuses. “They have a lovely depth-of-field, fall-
off and bokeh that allow you to place or isolate a character in a particular plane. They have nice flares too, which I embraced to the full when we see Lucy emerge through vault door into the sandy-orange Wasteland for the first time, which we shot when the sun was low in the sky in Namibia.”
Dryburgh’s crew, who largely remained on the production after he had concluded his stint, included Chris Haarhoff and Robert ‘Soup’ Campbell on A-camera/Steadicam, with Chris Reynolds, Vince J Vennitti and Sandy Hays Pyare Fortunato wielding additional cameras as required. Charlie Marroquin was the key grip, Christopher F. Graneto the key rigging grip, with Bill Almeida ICLS working as gaffer.
“We filmed pretty-much with three cameras all the time, sometimes four, so we could capture most of the wide, close and coverage shots needed for a scene in as few takes as possible, but sometimes we would do two or three different set-ups if the scene was complicated,” says Dryburgh.
“Along with working off the dolly and using Steadicam, we incorporated a variety of telescoping cranes into the visual vocabulary, but limited the use of handheld to particular kinds of action, such as the fight scenes. The continuity of personnel meant that the DPs who took the reins after I had left were able to work in the style that had been set, and they did a brilliant job of matching the look that we created in the first three episodes.”
Dryburgh shot Fallout using a trio of KODAK VISION3 filmstocks: 500T 5219 for the Vault interiors, plus all other night or low-light scenes, and for scenes in the LED volume; 50D 5203 for the majority of the daytime/daylight work; and 250D 5207 to help extend the shooting day during the evenings and twilight. Film processing and 4K film scans were done at FotoKem in Los Angeles, as was the final colour grade by senior colourist Kostas Theodosiou.
“I’ve been lucky-enough to track the development of KODAK stocks throughout my career,” Dryburgh remarks. “The daylight stocks have always been impressive in their colour rendition, saturation and contrast, and their refinement through different
generations has been such that the 50D and 250D match really well together, and also with the 500T.
“The 500T is such a great workhorse,” he remarks. “I was able to shoot most of the dark/night scenes using the 500T 5219 without problem. Sometimes though, even when we supplemented the practical lights in a set-up with Titan LED tubes and concealed ARRI SkyPanels, the environment was still a little bit under-exposed. On these occasions, I harnessed a trick I have been using for many years of rating the 500T at 800ASA, and then push-processing by one stop at the lab. It’s a very satisfactory way of getting a little bit of extra speed on the set.”
Despite Fallout being laden with digital VFX, Dryburgh was in no doubt as to the value of film in their seamless integration. “When you are incorporating digital VFX in to film-originated material, there’s something about the texture of analogue film that smooths things out visually that is still hard to beat.”
However, shooting on film in an LED volume – constructed from hundreds of LED panels in a U-shape around three sides of the studio about 20ft in height – was a brand-new experience for the DP. To obtain the correct balance between the level and quality of light being emitted from the LED walls and the physical stage lighting, and to ensure a pleasing result on 35mm film, Dryburgh harnessed a digital cinema camera to provide accurate exposure and qualitative references.
As he explains, “Obviously, the challenge when shooting an LED wall on film is that you can’t see the end-result instantly on-set. Yet it’s essential that you have ability to assess the light quality, colour temperature and nit values from the LED panels and to balance that with your conventional on-set lighting of foreground elements. What we found early-on during tests, was that we weren’t satisfied with that balance.
“So during our test phase, my faithful DIT, Kazim Karaismailoglu, became the liaison between me, the LED wall operations team and my physical lighting crew. He brought a Sony Venice camera to the set, and, shooting against the pre-approved background plates, using the Hawk Anamophics plus film
emulation LUTs, we were quickly able to establish the luminance levels and colour balance between our different light sources – paying attention to skin tones on the actors, and shooting props like the Vertibird – in order to get the actual exposure for the film camera and ultimately create the perfect illusion.
“Bill Almeida and the lighting team, installed what we called the ‘Ring Of Fire’ – an array of ARRI S360 and S60 SkyPanels interspersed with Tungsten 20Ks – along the top of the LED wall to give us ambient or appropriate directional light on the stage. We also had additional S60 spacelights in the lighting grid above, beneath which was a huge silk, which our desk-op could control to create our skies. In addition, all the LED panels were capable of receiving and emulating the colour information from the Unreal Engine plates.
“All of that meant that when we came to shoot for real, on 35mm film, we all had a very good idea about how to light and expose for our chosen filmstock, and what the results would be like when the rushes came back from the lab.
“And, I have to say the results looked absolutely fabulous. The randomised grain structure of film, as opposed to the the Bayer-pattern of digital cameras, gives a kindness to the image, softens-out the result
and helps to make things look more believable.”
As a further consideration when shooting against an LED backdrop, Dryburgh notes, “You have to be careful about the focal length and the position of actors and props so as to avoid moiré patterning. Again, the random nature of film grain solves most of the moiré potential, plus it has a softer edge that helps to blend the light from the LED pixels, so generally that was never a problem.”
Dryburgh concludes, “I had a lot of fun on this production – great crazy script, great locations, great cast and great team. I really enjoyed the working relationship with Jonathan, and my collaborations with the design, costume, make-up and VFX departments, plus the LED volume team. Film is a perfectly valid capture medium, and fact that we shot on 35mm in Anamorphic was the icing on the cake for me, it’s such a rewarding exercise.”
IMPRESSIVE IMPRESSIONS
By John Keedwell GBCT
In the ever-evolving realm of digital imaging, Sony has consistently raised the bar with its cutting-edge camera technologies. I had the privilege of exploring the recently-released Burano for a short while, looking at some of its features and capabilities, and where the camera may fit in real-world situations.
This is not a comprehensive review – I don’t fly a plane or have a wingsuit that you might have seen in promotional films about the Burano online. I had the camera for just a few days and examined it at home. So this is more of a look at some of the features and the benefits those can bring from the user’s point-of-view.
The Sony Burano takes Venice’s image-quality and usability and reconfigures its design to be accessible for single operators and small, team productions to make use of the advanced functions.
Of course, the picture quality of a camera is always paramount, yet there are other important areas to consider in normal operations too. The ergonomics, design, usability and the interesting tools it presents to different users, and its flexibility in use on-location, are all important.
Firstly, let’s quickly run through the list of main features:
8.6K full-frame 36x 24mm sensor
33% lighter than a Venice 2 at 2.9kg
· Variable ND
· Removable PL lens mount with Sony E-mount behind
· IBIS in-body image-stabilisation using PL mount lenses
· Advanced auto-focus systems
· Time-lapse interval recording
· Pre-roll cache recording
· New CF Express cards
· … and more!
The Burano is Sony’s smallest full-frame CineAlta camera, and in many ways it’s their most technically-advanced yet. The camera is packed full of useful tools that can make life simpler for crews in many different ways. 8K is the new 4K, and the image has a maximum resolution of 8632 x 4856 and, through oversampling, it can output phenomenal looking 4K content.
Design & build:
The main area where the Burano differs from its bigger Venice 2 sister is the way it has been designed for building a rig for both small crew documentary-style and full studio-style shooting. It can be used as a first unit A-camera, or as a B-camera with the footage cutting together seamlessly alongside the Venice 2. Alternatively, it can be configured as a lightweight hand-held unit. Burano comes with an industry-standard PL lens mount and is compatible with Super 35 and Full Frame lenses (spherical and Anamorphic). In addition, by removing the PL mount adapter using the hex key bolts, it then reveals the E-mount hidden behind. This can be done on-location (in a clean environment, obviously) and it gives extra possibilities for E-Mount lenses to be employed for certain shots, or changing the configuration to a more documentary style.
Focus-pulling & AF
Nowadays the high sensitivity levels of camera sensors are used to great effect in low light levels, making for much more natural-looking images. The current trend for shooting at lower lighting levels giving a moody and atmospheric look, means shooting with wide-open apertures, and this brings challenges to the camera operator and 1st AC.
Focus-pulling is a true skill and art, and getting it right takes a great deal of dedication and knowledge of lens capabilities, often with very precise marks to hit. When a subject deviates from those marks even by a few inches it means a compensation input is required for focus. That is the real skill.
Time to wheel-in the AI Subject Recognition AF.
This recognises eye position, as well as human torso and head positions and it can also lock-on to a face – much like in the movie Minority Report (2002, dir. Steven Spielberg, DP Janusz Kamiński).
You can accurately track a subject even if they have a mask on or are facing away from the camera. The user simply touches the screen and the camera will track that person. That’s great if you only want to focus on one person in the scene, but it gets a bit tricky if focus-pulls are required between one person and another, for example when we want to draw attention to who is talking.
In such circumstances the Burano’s fast and
camera image-stabilisation. This was originally developed for Sony’s Alpha series of mirrorless stills cameras, like the AF system. The Burano is the world’s first cinema camera that supports fiveaxis in-body optical image stabilisation (IBIS) for almost any attached lens, including PL mount lenses, and it can stabilise any lenses that do not have image-stabilisation built-in.
Comprising of a gyroscopic sensor and control algorithm, it compensates for camera shake even for handheld shooting whilst walking. Camera shake data can then be passed to post-production for precise alignment with CGI and used in LED volume stages.
The image-stabilisation in the Burano is so effective that it removes the need for any extra equipment for many applications. It is exceptionally good in-action and the camera ironed out huge camera shakes and yaw when tested. There are limits, of course, and whilst it won’t necessarily change the use of Steadicam in acquiring shots, operators may need to watch out!
Variable ND
In changeable lighting conditions there is a need for the use of ND filters, and constantly changing them can take time. Introducing the Burano Variable ND. With physical ND filters on the front end of the lens no longer required, the operator can quickly adjust the electronic filter density by simply rotating the ND dial. It can smoothly change the density from 0.6 (1/4) to 2.1 (1/128).
Operators can also maintain a constant depthof-field by adjusting the stepless electronic ND filter and the iris control together. I can envisage camera shots being formulated to demonstrate this effect, much like the dolly zoom in Jaws (1975, dir. Steven Spielberg, DP Bill Butler ASC) or the bullettime effect seen in The Matrix (1999, dirs. The Wachowskis, DP Bill Pope ASC).
Cache recording
The Burano can shoot 4K at 120fps and you can have a 10-second pre-roll recording. This idea has been used for many years in high-speed cameras shooting thousands or frames per second. 1,000 fps recording at 4K is a huge chunk of data to record if it’s not needed. Using cache recording the Burano records up to 30 seconds before you capture the shot, as long as you remember to push the button or trigger the camera!
accurate autofocus system proved invaluable when capturing spontaneous moments or tracking subjects in motion. It is a tool that can perhaps get the shot when otherwise it would be extremely challenging, such as fast action sequences.
This is a great technology, of course, yet needs to be used with care and by skilled camera crews who know its capabilities as well as its limitations. It could become relied upon too much until it makes a mistake and then it’s back to the tape measure!
Image-stabilisation
The next great tool is the cutting-edge built-in
As a single-take event – such as a volcano eruption or perhaps a stunt – could be potentially missed, cache recording stops those “Ready when you are, Mr DeMille” moments where all the cameras miss the unrepeatable money shot!
There is also a time-lapse mode, another useful feature for those money shots that can elevate a production.
Menu system
The Menu system is slightly different to the Venice 2, yet has the same layout and the same controls, so anybody who is used to working with the Venice will find this very familiar.
The monitor can be used on either side of the camera, one in assistant mode or operator mode. The monitor overlays are significantly reduced in operator mode, so there’s less clutter in the eyepiece, and it can be expanded when the AC wants to monitor or change settings.
Recording & storage
The new CF express VPG 400 cards are fastenough to record X-OCN LT internally, which is Sony’s 16-bit RAW coding and a fantastic format
This new camera is packed full of useful tools
to work with in post-production, reducing storage requirements and accelerating file transfer times for 8K content.
There are multiple ways to record, depending on your needs. S-Gamut/S-Gamut, a cine wide colour space that, as with the Venice 2, covers a gamut exceeding BT.2020. DCI-P3. S-Log3 and X-OCN, also dramatically enhance creative flexibility in post-production. Take your pick!
Summing-up
My short time with the Burano showed many interesting and useful features that have been thoughtfully-considered by Sony, and are all extremely useful in skilled hands. The imagination of users will open-up some interesting images for new stories. There are several showreel pieces out there to evaluate for yourself, and they are well worth a watch. The capabilities of this new camera are likely to be pushed to create some memorable images.
Born// Age// Lives // Hobbies// Education// Notting Hill, London, April 1961 63
Staines-Upon-Thames, UK
Swimming and cycling
Henry Compton School and Paddington Technical College
Why does lighting interest you?
I’ve always enjoyed the challenge of creating an interesting image, whether it’s beauty or gritty. Using the different lighting units to create a look, working with the DP, the art department, construction and your own team of sparks, all make it fun and it keeps you on your toes.
When did you realise you wanted to become a gaffer?
Not long after I started to work on a film set. I got a start as a spark and watched the whole process of what was happening on the set. My confidence grew and then I just found myself wanting to be near the decision-making.
Training?
I did an electrical apprenticeship at LEE Lighting, re-wiring the Wembley studio complex they had just moved into. The studios had been vandalised so we had to start from scratch as a lot of the copper had been taken, Then, when the lighting side of the company got busy in the summer or on the odd occasion, they would call down to our section. First it would be the odd de-rig, then some rigging on an BBC outside broadcast, like the FA Cup, Royal Wedding or indoor tennis. Eventually I got onto the shooting floor and while this was all going on I got sent to the lighting maintenance department to learn about the equipment, which in those days was simple wiring, unlike today where an electronics/computer mind is needed.
Big break?
When I first left school I wanted to be an architect and got an interview at house builder Wimpy, but failed as I didn’t have physics, which is bonkers as I went on to do physics in my electrical apprenticeship. I then found myself bumming around labouring, window cleaning and doing house removals, until my mum got the hump with me loafing about the house and said there was a lighting company up the road that was moving premises and were looking for people to help out. That was LEE Lighting, and bingo, I was in.
Best piece of advice you have been given?
Asking colleagues for their opinion without letting them know what you are necessarily thinking.
The Dark Knight (2008) (chief lighting technician)
Atonement (2007)
Batman Begins (2005)
Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban (2004)
The Russia House (1990)
Scandal (1989)
Withnail & I (1987) (electrician)
Brazil (1985) (electrician)
That way you might get a completely different way to solve a problem. They feel good as they have had some input into the problem.
My wife Sue also said to me once when I was under the hammer and things might not have been going to plan, that I should, “Re-frame the situation”, find a positive and go with it.
Who are your lighting heroes?
My role models come from my commercials days, and the cameramen who worked out of a production company called BFCS. It was a great place to go to and learn. I also was lucky-enough to have worked with Peter Biziou BSC on Time Bandits, plus Mike Seresin BSC NZCS and Len Fulford on many commercials.
In my early days I worked with a gaffer called Roy Rodhouse. He was a gaffer who helped the DPs a lot. He gave me the confidence to get involved. In the modern era I found working with Greig Fraser ACS ASC on three or four films enlightening – it was my period of moving from Tungsten/film to LED/digital, so we both learnt a lot.
Who are your regular crew?
I’ve been lucky enough to have kept the same team around me for a long time. My best boy, Ricky Pattenden, has been with me most of my filmmaking career and was also my apprentice when we were “on the tools”. As rigging gaffers I’ve had Ossa Mills and Warren Evans (no relation) with me for many years – they both go back to my training days. Iain Lowe is my scaffold rigging HoD. We have known each other from our early days doing commercials and we also worked together on Brazil. They are all great organisers, very good people managers and bring fun to work with them, which is very important in creating a good working environment.
Favourite lighting in feature films?
Some of my favourite bits of lighting in film go back to my heroes. Midnight Express (1978, dir. Alan Parker, DP Michael Seresin BSC NZCS) was such a ballsy film, the palette and contrast made me look for a different type of film than I had been into at the time, and I became an Alan Parker fan. Another film that got me was Mississippi Burning (1988, dir. Alan Parker, DP Peter Biziou BSC, gaffers Michael Trim & Peter Bloor). I love
this movie, the big fire scene was especially memorable.
Best job ever?
Time Bandits (1981, dir. Terry Gilliam, DP Peter Biziou BSC, gaffers Reg Parsons & Roy Rodhouse) was my first time doing a film start-to-finish and being part of the team, doing great work. It was just a great time, a film where I made friendships, which carried on to other great jobs.
Toughest job
We did The Bourne Identity mini-series (1988), starring Richard Chamberlain and Jaclyn Smith, shooting in the south of France with Chuck Finch as gaffer. Chuck and I still laugh about it today. It was one of those films where you got everything off the lorry every day, sometimes twice a day. It was relentless! I just finished a film last year with Don Burgess ASC and Robert Zemeckis called Here. There was only one camera position so you would have thought it would be a doddle! The challenge was to keep giving it different looks, working with an LED screen with many different backgrounds, with sun, without sun, sunny morning, sunny afternoon, grey days, night, snow. More on this once it gets released later in the year.
PERRY EVANS•GAFFERS CAFÉ
I’ve always enjoyed the challenge of creating an interesting image
Images: including BTS photos at Pinewood Studios by Jonathan Olley, copyright 2015 Lucasfilm Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
GAFFERS CAFÉ•PERRY EVANS
Keeping up with advances in lighting technology
Being busy makes it hard to get to all the lighting tech expos, so what I tend to do is go and visit my friend Steve Howard at MBS at the start of any film. We talk through what’s new and might be of value for the shoot I’m about to start.
Favourite pieces of equipment?
I’m a big fan of the ARRI SkyPanel and Creamosurce Vortex ranges, which have become the lamps that have replaced so much of the old kit, from blondes and redheads (obviously you can’t call them that these days!) to mini brutes and space lights. Moving lights like the Martin and Robe range can give great effects and great versatility. I also love my piece of B&W poly-board. I don’t think you can make a film, commercial or pop promo without that!
The rise of desk-op?
The desk-op has become the gaffer/DP’s righthand on the floor. What’s key is to find and create a relationship with them so you start to think the same way, in that when creating effects like fire or water you are on the same page quickly. I have two desk ops that have been with me now for a number of years in Will Burns and Eliot Coulter – both geniuses who work really well together.
Your advice for anyone wanting to be a gaffer?
Don’t rush! Get yourself into a team of likeminded people who work well together and grow with them. Give it time and the break will come.
What does 2024 hold for you?
Shit loads of work hopefully! I’ve recently started doing stuff with Ben Davis BSC who’s work I love. So I hope to do a bit more with him. How do you spend your time when you are not working?
Free time is enjoyed with my family and friends. We’re a pretty social bunch, and I get to as many concerts and meals-out as I can. Thursday down the pub with my mates is also a great de-stresser. The cinema gets a look in also, especially as I have a veteran’s pass!
Being a gaffer can be tough – how do you keep yourself match-fit?
To take my mind off the job I go swimming and cycling. I also love to go for walks around Virginia Water with Sue, my wife.
Get yourself into a team of like-minded people and grow with them
MAGIC MEETINGS IN MÜNCHEN
Photos and words by Ron Prince.
Christine Gebhard – founder/editor of Film-TV-Video online magazine
Cinematography
World Reporters
At Euro Cine Expo 2024
DP Aleksej Berkovic
The one and only… Dedo Weigert
Euro Cine Expo organisers - after an unfortunate bump to the head, Rob and Claire Saunders apply emergency relief from a very cold bottle of beer!
A helper on Sumolight’s stand!
It’s all about the shadows… Dedo Weigert
Tim Kang
Professor Peter Slansky from HHF (University of Television & Film Munich)
Warwick Hempleman
Marketing consultant Vika Safrigina, IMAGO camera artist Susanna Kraus, Tim Zur of Sumolight and DP Fabian Wagner BSC ASC
Birgit Heidsiek – founder/editor of Green Film Shooting
Cinematography World’s dynamic duo… Kirsty and Iain Hazlewood
Philippe Ros AFC
Irene Cruz AEC
Sky high… a Pipe Lighting fixture!
Fritz Heinzle from Otto Nemenz in Los Angeles
Dion Beebe ACS ASC
KitMackenzie
Ediola Pashollari executive director of International Cinema Lighting Society (ICLS)
One Stop/K5600 team… Marc Galerne Kenny Galerne
Lufthansa Survivors’ Club Members –of Tiffen, CinematographyWorldeditor of Zeiss, ofTiffen. Welldonechaps! from Power Gems
Beers on wheels!
DP Michael Neubauer BVK
Dariusz Wyczółkowski of EnergaCAMERIMAGE Festival and Claus Pfeifer, Sony’s head of content acquisition Proving the adage that… Zeiss matters!
