PRODUCTION THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES
graded the single LUT with colourist Dave Hussey at Company 3, but as we were going, he grabbed a LUT from something else and sometimes added 10-15% of that into our original one to mix things up.” The capture system was ARRIRAW, with 4.5K resolution and 2.39:1 aspect ratio. “This was never a discussion,” remarks Willems. “We did that with our other movies and felt it was still the right call. We shot open gate so Adrian de Wet could have enough information if needed, and obviously it’s a tall sensor.” A device that resembles an electric wheelchair helped Steadicam operator David J Thompson. “As the actors are running through the arena, we could follow them at full speed. That was a fun tool. Other than that, we used cranes a fair amount and had a good drone team in Poland for the inside of the arena.” One of the most complex shots, which took a long time to get just right, was the opening of the 10th Hunger Games. “We wanted it to be a long take that was handheld and from the perspective of Lucy Gray Baird [Rachel Zegler]. All of
I NORMALLY USE NATURAL LIGHT OUTSIDE OR ELSE THINGS CAN quickly start looking artificial ”
those spears and machetes had to fit within quite a long scene. “We had to rehearse a lot for that one. Over the weekend, we brought the cast in before shooting it to make sure we would get the choreography correct between the actors, stunt people, cameras and lighting.” Willems concludes: “The biggest challenge, in truth, was making the movie feel authentic and real.”
A SAFE PAIR DOP Jo Willems (right) was collaborating with director Francis Lawrence on a Hunger Games film for the fourth time
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