FURIOSA PRODUCTION
much more complex world and society of inhabitants, with the satellite towns of the Citadel fortress,” begins Duggan, who collaborated with the OG Mad Max, Mel Gibson, on Hacksaw Ridge (2016). “We establish Bullet Farm, an ammunitions supplier, and Gas Town, an oil refinery – towns built on the necessities of survival with a barter system in place. We also catch a glimpse of the Green Place, from which Furiosa is abducted, and see a lot more of the desolate landscape when the story of Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) and his marauders is introduced.” Key scenes and stunt sequences were previsualised using Unreal Engine. “George could create a real world with inputs of cameras, sun position, moving vehicles and human movement,” explains Duggan. “Through the filming process, George wanted the cameras to be close and share the action with the actors and vehicles. Tracking vehicles circled close around the War Rigs and there were more dynamic camera moves in close and around the actors using Steadicams and wider lenses.” Pre-production lasted 12 weeks, while principal photography consisted of 109 shoot days in 2022, commencing in May at Broken Hill, Australia and ending in November. Essential in getting the necessary coverage was the second unit directed by Guy Norris and lensed by Peter McCaffrey. Other key crew members were camera operators Mark Goellnicht, Simon Harding and Jay Torta; first ACs David Elmes, Brett Matthews and
ON THE FIRST DAY OF FILMING, WE HAD unpredictable rain and 80km winds . WE EMBRACED IT AS another element of the story ”
Iñaki de Ubago; key grip Adam Kuiper; and gaffer Shaun Conway. “Broken Hill was to be the original location for Fury Road , but weather changed that decision with the film eventually moving to Africa,” shares Duggan. “On the first day of filming, we had unpredictable rain and winds up to 80km. At that moment, George and I agreed to embrace the weather as another element of the story!” Other locations included a stretch of highway for the ‘stowaway to nowhere’ sequence in Hay, New South Wales, sand dunes close to Sydney for further action sequences, and a forest near Sydney as the Green Place Furiosa is taken from. The primary cameras and lenses used were the ARRI ALEXA 65 and ARRI Prime DNAs, with the manufacturer even producing two new full-coverage 25mm primes, Furiosa and Mad Max, for use on the shoot. For lighter, more compact set-ups needed for Steadicam and rig
shots under trucks, they used ALEXA LFs, RED V-RAPTORs and RED KOMODOs. Other lenses included FUJINON Premista zooms, Angénieux zooms, and Canon and Zeiss compact primes, with the DNA Primes in the 40mm to 85mm range being the preference for filming the actors. Between the main and second units, about 32 cameras were employed. Exteriors were lit with an array of six 18K PARs and fill light was achieved with LED Vortex units being diffused or bounced. “Apart from a few larger soundstage set-ups, stage work was mostly in a warehouse,” continues Duggan. “We had little room for long-throw fresnels, so we used linear arrays of LED Vortex units much closer to the sets to achieve the result of a fresnel lamp at a much larger distance, often softening with a light sail cloth to achieve a soft single shadow. Other LED units included 8x8ft softboxes all the way down to softened Astera tubes in covered wagons and small
THE DRIVING FORCE (Left) An action scene on the Warner Bros Pictures set; Chris Hemsworth as Dementus (above)
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