DEFINITION December 2018

SHOOT STORY | THE G I RL I N THE SP I DER ’ S WEB

There’s a popular idea that bigger imaging sensors provoke shallower depth-of-field, and that’s true, assuming that field of view, f-number, and camera sensitivity are the same. On a more technical level, though, things become a bit more complicated – and perhaps even create a zero-sum game as far as image quality goes, albeit with far greater creative flexibility. For instance, as Pedro Luque found on The Girl in the Spider’s Web , lenses designed to cover larger imaging sensors tend to be slower – to have lower minimum f-numbers. That’s because an f-stop is the ratio between the focal length and the diameter of the ‘entrance pupil’ which refers to the size of the opening in the middle of the lens through which light must pass. A bigger sensor requires a bigger image and a bigger opening, increasing that ratio and yielding a slower lens. That can be overcome by making the lens physically larger, as with the medium-format ancestors of Arri’s Prime DNA series. It can also be offset by making the camera more sensitive so that the higher f-number is more acceptable. Of course, the larger sensor might have more pixels, making individual noise artefacts smaller and less objectionable, and making higher sensitivity more usable. That larger sensor might also have larger pixels, which would be more sensitive. So, everything is related, giving cinematographers all the options when it comes to picking the sweet spot of lens, sensor and lighting budget. EVERYTHING IS RELATED

RIGHT Director Fede Alvarez on the set of The Girl in the Spider’s Web.

imagine a white dress in the snow. Also, we chose the locations very carefully – those cliffs where the final showdown happens? We wanted black rock against white snow. We wanted real places so you could feel that you’re there.” LARGE FORMAT Arri’s Alexa 65 camera had been of interest to Pedro “even before starting prep, because once you put your hands on a medium format [stills] camera and you take some pictures you fall in love with it. I love the Alexa sensor, and it was just a matter of finding the right lenses for it. There’s no way of going wrong with three Alexa sensors stacked against one another.” Pedro tested the Alexa 65 against a conventional Alexa and alternatives such as Red’s Monstro sensor, using what he describes as “every lens available at Arri Berlin, and seeing the result on the big screen. It felt like the 65 was the right option. When you see the

Pedro spent three months preparing for the shoot. “I did quite extensive research,” he says, “but with Fede it’s different... we have a friendship there, we know each other, and we have the same taste for some stuff, so I kinda know what he wants. We discussed the look a little bit, but what we wanted was for it to be expressive... human, in a way. I ended up presenting Fede with a lot of pictures and stuff, and we discussed it, but it wasn’t as extensive as in the other movies I’ve shot because we did it as we were doing it.” Notwithstanding this somewhat empirical approach, certain decisions – particularly a colour scheme – were made early, for the benefit of production designer Eve Stewart, and Pedro particularly mentions the striking red costume choice for one prominent character, which stands out of an otherwise subdued colour palette. “It’s not that subtle. You could have dressed her in white as opposed to Lisbeth, but

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