THE AERONAUTS | DRAMA
from Skypanel LEDs to HMI Molebeam and a box full of gas that could be coloured in different ways to mimic the relevant atmospheric conditions. While this was a challenge, it was a creatively gratifying aspect of production for all concerned, according to Steel. The flight not only passed through different altitudes with light changes at different heights and at different times of day, but there were weather conditions (and even migrating butterflies) to contend with, too. “All these factors came into play and we needed to help the audience believe we’re entering clouds or a storm on the way up and on the descent,” explains colourist, Simone Grattarola, another serial collaborator with Harper and Steel. “Our characters reach the top of the world where they are looking up to the stars with clouds far below them and, as they descend, they are going through snow and the harsh daylight transitions to dusk.” Steel elected to shoot at 8K raw compressed 7:1 largely to accommodate VFX. The raw files were converted to EXR for export to the VFX teams at Rodeo FX and Framestore, and to Grattarola who was grading in parallel on DaVinci Resolve. “We would review VFX one day, then be sent new VFX shots, which we’d refine again and feedback to VFX,” says Grattarola. “That process between VFX and colour grade built up over a few weeks and had everyone working to create something that felt very realistic.” Steel concludes. “When I watched the finished picture, I found myself carried away by the story.” THE AERONAUTS IS AVAILABLE ON AMAZON PRIME VIDEO OUTSIDE THE UK
board, as well as by Steel from within the basket rigged to a crane and extended 200 feet into the air. Even on stage, the action was recorded airborne with the camera swooping around on a 90-foot crane. Steel chose the Red DSMC2 camera with the Monstro 8K VV sensor for its small size. “When you’re in an eight-foot wide basket with two actors – and I’m not exactly small – having a more compact camera has to help,” he says. “It also has the ability to capture skin tones, colour and texture, capturing the change in hues from terra firma to the heavens.” CAMERA TESTING Steel tested a number of digital cameras alongside 35mm film and Monstro was the format that won the blind tests. “People reacted favourably to it,” he says. “The full-frame sensor really captures colour in clarity and detail. Data size wasn’t a factor, because of the way Redcode manages data.” He paired the Red camera with Panavision Primo 70s, which offered a sharp, but not too harsh picture with a gentle focus fall off. “We knew we were going to shoot spherically to give the aerial sequences a wide-open vista in 1.85:1 and to contrast this with a cropped aspect ratio for the flashback scenes in 2.39:1,” he explains. Steel and Harper favoured wide encompassing shots – often 360-degree views – and lighting was key. The illumination for earthbound sequences was softer and grainier whereas the light nearer the sun was harsher, more mercurial. Steel worked with his team to invent a vast lighting rig designed by gaffer, Wayne King, that was positioned at the top of the blue screen stage, using an array of fixtures
IMAGES Stills from The Aeronauts, now on Amazon Prime, though not yet in the UK
we reviewed footage it looked like VFX, everything was just too crisp and even. The way focus fell off looked unnatural. “This informed us what stop to shoot at so we could have more of the background in focus during close-ups and it led us to create a look that ends up somewhere neutral – in between reality and fantasy.” A lot of diffusion was used on the ground. For instance, the flashbacks used Black Frost filters, but as they rise “we slowly start pulling out diffusion and lessening it”. Steel adds: “At the very top, we’re totally clean of diffusion and have the best quality we could get out of the camera. In fact, we added back in some diffusion to soften it off, it was just a bit too much. The authentic feel of the project meant performing as much balloon filming in the sky as the weather and safety would allow. This included footage taken from a helicopter of a life-sized replica of the original 1862 craft with the actors on
MARCH 2020 | DEF I N I T ION 29
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