Definition's August issue celebrates summer with the best 'good time' movie sequel around, Mamma Mia 2! We also hear about the grading of the latest Jurassic World move; new light-field camera arrays; Fujifilm's new mirrorless 4K camera and a very special 10 page LED lighting section. Enjoy!
10-PAGE LED LIGHT SPECIAL! WELCOME TO THE FUTURE
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August 2018
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FLYING GLASS Aerial Fujinon cine lenses
Mamma Mia 2 – how to shoot the music...again
$1 BILLION DINOS Jurassic World post route
BLURRED LINES Fujifilm’s new 4K camera
LIGHT FIELD REDUX Lytro technology reborn
WELCOME PRES New ASC President speaks
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Bright Publishing Ltd, Bright House, 82 High Street, Sawston, Cambridgeshire CB22 3HJ UK EDITORIAL EDITOR Julian Mitchell 01223 492246 julianmitchell@bright-publishing.com EDITOR IN CHIEF Adam Duckworth CONTRIBUTORS Adam Garstone, Adam Duckworth SENIOR SUB EDITOR Lisa Clatworthy SUB EDITORS Siobhan Godwood, Felicity Evans ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR Matt Snow 01223 499453 mattsnow@bright-publishing.com SALES MANAGER Krishan Parmar 01223 499462 krishanparmar@bright-publishing.com KEY ACCOUNTS Nicki Mills 01223 499457 nickimills@bright-publishing.com DESIGN DESIGN DIRECTOR Andy Jennings DESIGN MANAGER
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LED LIGHTS: The revolution is here and fast paced – can you keep up?
Welcome It was something top gaffer Perry Evans said to us: “Digital cameras had their revolution about six years ago and now it’s our moment to catch up with the rest of the industry.” Perry was talking about the onslaught of new LED light technology and the joy of now not going to work with a knife, a pair of pliers and a screwdriver in his pocket. His life is so much easier now his choices are made from a user interface on the back of a light or even on a tablet controller for a DMX wireless system. There are also the subtle changes of using light from projection systems which are being used more and more from companies like Lux Machina on movies including Solo: A Star Wars Story . This is now a world of high precision control and not necessarily high output. But with such a revolution there are always parts of the movement that can’t keep up with such a fast pace. With this in mind we have put together a survey to ask the leaders in LED light technology where we are headed. Questions like, ‘is CRI is the correct measurement for coloured LED lights any more?’ open the discussion between the thought leaders who are creating lighting’s future. As ever we want Definition to be a place for further discussion so read our survey and then follow us on social media to have your say.
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Lucy Woolcomb AD PRODUCTION Man-Wai Wong PUBLISHING MANAGING DIRECTORS
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TITLE SEQUENCE 06 ANT MAN AND THE WASP New Antman has a sting in its tale. NEWS 08 PRESIDENT OF THE ASC Kees van Oostrum has been re- elected as ASC president. SHOOT STORY 12 MAMMA MIA 2 Here we go again: but this time with DOP Robert Yeoman in the chair. 20 JURASSIC WORLD The new Fallen Kingdom instalment had a very up-to-date post route. 24 FLYING GLASS How Fujinon cine lenses are being used up in the air. LIGHTING SPECIAL FEATURE 30-42 LIGHTING – LED SPECIAL LED lighting is everywhere but is the industry changing fast enough? Read our exclusive survey. FEATURES 44 SPACE RACE 3 We follow the return of Light Field capture and its commercial reality. GEAR TESTS 49 FUJI X-H1 CAMERA Fujifilm’s latest camera has some promising video features. 55 TIMECODE SYSTEMS We review these timecode marvels, the :Pulse and UltraSync One. 58 4K CAMERA LIST Keep up to date with the latest.
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OP Dante Spinotti, who shot amongst others Heat , L.A. Confidential and The Last of the Mohicans , takes up
cinematography duties for this MCU sequel – but this time with the regular Marvel camera, the ARRI Alexa 65 ( Infinity War had 23 Alexa 65s on the movie). This time, however, the 65 is partnered with ARRI’s latest new/old glass set called Prime DNA, recently and initially used on Solo: A Star Wars Movie . Interestingly, the RED Epic Dragon gets a credit for visual effects shooting could be something to do with its physical size in this massive scaling up and down superhero movie. The film takes place in the aftermath of Captain America: Civil War .
Ant-Man and the Wasp is off the scale!
IMAGE Scott Lang (Ant-Man), actor Paul Rudd, and his screen daughter Cassie, actor Abby Ryder Fortson, make the best of Scott’s house arrest with some father/daughter bonding
08 NEWS INTERVIEW
WELCOME BACK MR PRESIDENT Kees Van Oostrum has been re-elected as President of the American Society of Cinematographers. We asked him to reassert the mission statement QUESTIONS JULIAN MITCHELL
Def: What are the goals of the ASC? Is it mostly a preserver of a legacy or is there more to it? KVO: We certainly have a role of preserving a legacy. We will be 100 years old next year and are therefore effectively the oldest organisation of this kind in the world. In preserving the legacy, more than ever our educational and research activities are important. Soon you will be able to search 100 years of our magazine online. This will be the largest database of cinematography-related stories and information. We are expanding our heritage collection of cameras that are historically connected to specific cinematographers. We will also be expanding on digital content, documentaries, etc, all with the
Definition: Was does the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) stand for? Kees Van Oostrum: The ASC was founded in Hollywood in 1919 with the sole purpose of advancing the art and science of cinematography, and bringing cinematographers together to exchange ideas, discuss techniques and promote the motion picture as an art form – a mission that continues today. Our society’s motto is ‘Loyalty. Progress. Artistry’. We pursue those tenets through educational activities, such as the ASC Master Class and International Master Class programs, which have now had more than 1,200 participants since their launch. Our Educational and Outreach Committee brings in hundreds of students every
year to meet with ASC members, network and ask questions. And our popular ‘Coffee & Conversations’ offer anyone interested in filmmaking a chance to hear a cinematographer discuss his or her creative approach and decision-making process on a project. We are also very active internationally. Besides the biannual ASC International Cinematographers Summit, that brought together 40 associations from 40 countries this past June, we really delved into the artistic as well as the technological advancements in cinematography. Production is more global than ever and thought sharing with cinematographers all over the world supports our motto of advancing the art of cinematography.
ABOVE DOP and ASC member Dean Cundey holds an ASC Master Class. ABOVE RIGHT The ASC Clubhouse circa 1915.
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INTERVIEW NEWS
that meets regularly to discuss, debate and make recommendations on pressing tech issues that impact the entire entertainment industry. Since its formation in January 2003, MITC (then known as the ASC Technology Committee) has been extremely influential in guiding and shaping technological developments in ways that serve the creative interests of filmmakers while emphasising the cinematographer’s contributions in advancing the art form. A number of subcommittees, all devoted to specific areas of industry research, collaborates with and reports back to MITC, which also works closely with other industry groups, including the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Science and Technology Council, the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI), the Producers Guild of America, the Art Directors Guild, the Visual Effects Society’s (VES) Technology Committee and the Previsualization Society. Def: How do you keep up with new technology? What is your educative proposal regarding initiatives? KVO: Through our Technology Council we communicate with many if not all technology leaders in our field. They often call for our expertise in the early stages of a new development. MITC consists of about 120 members, regular and associates, and many
premise of education and information of our craft. Def: What is your role as President on a day-to-day basis? KVO: I would best describe it as overseeing the current and future trends as well as watching out for our mission. Def: What are your biggest challenges over the next few years? KVO: To stay relevant in the most important way. Democratisation of the workflow and the accessibility to creating images has more than often degraded our craft. We are creators of images and that does not mean that accessibility to photography tools equals cinematography. There is a fine line and an intellectual line that needs to be respected. If we stop creating, our job will become irrelevant. We need to educate the world about the artistic endeavours of the cinematographer and the need and important relevance of this contribution. It only helps to tell the story and enhance and support the dramatic content. technologies like VR and AR? KVO: One prominent body serving a key role in promoting technological progress is the ASC Motion Imaging Technology Council (also known by the acronym MITC, or ‘My Tech’), an impressive body of industry experts Def: Are you looking to become more inclusive with new capture
WE ARE CREATORS OF IMAGES… DOES NOT MEAN THAT ACCESSIBILITY TO PHOTOGRAPHY TOOLS EQUALS CINEMATOGRAPHY
BELOW From left, actors Wallace Beery and Robert Florey, ASC founding memeber Arthur Edeson, star Douglas Fairbanks and director Allan Dwan during the production of Robin Hood (1922).
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NEWS INTERVIEW
practices and certain developments in technology arise from this group initiative. Def: How do you encourage more women DOPs to join? KVO: As an organisation, we are dedicated to promoting and facilitating change, and moving our industry towards awareness and actions that will ensure cinematographers and their fellow filmmakers reflect the diverse population of the world at large, irrespective of gender, race, religion, economic status or orientation. Our Vision Committee was formed in January 2016 and works to encourage and support the advancement of under-represented and minority cinematographers, their crews and other filmmakers, and to inspire us all to enact positive changes through hiring talent that reflects society at large. Our purpose is to set examples to encourage people to possibly change their point of view. It is evident to us that things need to change. This change cannot be brought about by opening up ASC membership, as our members are admitted on merit. But we do recognise the imbalance that is represented in the whole industry and we are certainly grabbing any opportunity in our realm to help change the situation not only for women but minorities as well.
Def: How do you become an ASC member? KVO: Membership is by invitation only, extended to directors of photography who have demonstrated outstanding ability with distinguished credits in the industry and good personal character. Def: In the year what are your most important initiatives? KVO: Education and heritage are our number one initiatives. Education applies to the student level but
also to the professional level of our members. It’s almost like one deals with the future and the other with the immediacy of today. Technology changes very fast these days and we need to stay on top of it. New advances, like for instance HDR, are welcome innovations but the application in the workflow leaves much to be desired. That’s where the ASC becomes extremely relevant. Also, in 2019, we will complete our Educational Center, a new building behind the historic ASC Clubhouse in Hollywood. We also plan to produce several online masterclasses about cinematography, making information more accessible. There are also several visual productions planned to support our mission and interest people in our craft. We will continue to strengthen our role not only as a creative, but as a technology partner through the efforts of our MITC.
ABOVE The modern ASC Clubhouse restored by Isidore Mankofsky ASC.
TO SET EXAMPLES TO ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO POSSIBLY CHANGE THEIR POINT OF VIEW. IT IS EVIDENT TO US THAT THINGS NEED TO CHANGE
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12 SHOOT STORY MAMMA MIA 2
How do you better the smash hit of the original Mamma Mia movie? You just follow the music WORDS JULIAN MITCHELL IMAGES UNIVERSAL PICTURES Recycling the look
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MAMMA MIA 2 SHOOT STORY
IMAGE The ‘When I kissed the teacher‘ song sequence.
WE OCCASIONALLY USED LARGE SILKS TO SOFTEN THE HARSH CROATIAN SUN
hank you for the music’ is what everyone is saying about Mamma Mia!, especially the producers. The stage musical
has banked $1 billion in receipts and it was the first movie to make over $600 million at the box office. The new
movie, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is then a sure-fire hit and it’s perfect for the summer cinema doldrums.
The first movie had a heightened look to go along with the slightly kitsch song and dance sequences, so what could DOP Robert Yeoman add to it? Robert has shot movies as different as Dogma and The Grand Budapest Hotel. We asked him what it takes to make a sequel of such a popular hit movie? Is it limiting, do you pursue making a similar movie or are you encouraged to bring your own aesthetic and vision to the production? “Certainly we were all fans of the first Mamma Mia! movie. Our goal was to capture the joy and spirit of the first film and, hopefully, expand on it to find a fresh approach to the story. There were obvious visual motifs – the sea, the hotel, etc – but we were free to embellish and give a new interpretation to this backdrop.” But would the production be tempted to follow the example set by the Oscar-winning screen version of Les Misérables, for instance, and record live vocals to get nearer the audience? The quick answer from Robert was, “I don’t remember any live vocals for the songs, everything was prerecorded and the actors had to lip sync.”
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SHOOT STORY MAMMA MIA 2
I LOOKED AT THE MUSICAL NUMBERS AS BEING AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE STORY, NOT AS SEPARATE ELEMENTS
CINEMATOGRAPHY AND CHOREOGRAPHY What is the secret to making a narrative-driven, musical-based movie? Is it a matter of separating the musical numbers in to mini movies of their own? “I looked at the musical numbers as being an integral part of the story, not as separate elements. Somehow everything had to visually fit into the world that we were creating. That said, we tried to give each song its own distinct style and attitude which took its cues from the music. Our choreographer Anthony Van Laast would design the dance sequences, then the director Ol Parker and I would figure out the best way to realise the choreography on screen. I would often attend the rehearsals with Ol to see what Anthony had cooked up! We could then make a plan about how we wished to shoot.”
Take us through some of your planning for this movie. Dealing with the high-contrast sun in Croatia, for instance, and the multi-camera style for the music sequences. What was the lighting plan: how much natural sun was there on location and how did you replicate it back in Shepperton. Also how much blue screen was there? For the lighting design, are we talking about large light rigs or subtler placements and practicals? Did you use LED lights or more traditional light? “The film was shot in both London and Croatia. Our goal was to make it seamless. We obviously couldn’t control the weather in Croatia but fortunately we shot there first, which made the London-based scenes easier to match. We generally had sunny days in Croatia and my goal was to backlight our actors as much as possible. Luckily for me
ABOVE Actress Lily James plays the younger version of Meryl Streep’s Donna to reveal how the past shapes the future.
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SHOOT STORY MAMMA MIA 2
the production did everything to accommodate this request. We rarely used lights in Croatia as the locations were often difficult to access. Instead, we used large white bounce boards to fill in the actors and cut the heavy contrast created by the sun. “We also occasionally used large silks to soften the harsh sunlight. When we returned to England we shot on the stages of Shepperton Studios. Using numerous LEDs hung from the rafters to create an overall ambience, we used large tungsten lights to effect the rays of the sun. The LEDs were all programmed so we could change their colour and intensity very quickly. This simplified our ability to change rapidly from day to night scenes. “We used blue screen on the Shepperton stages to be later composited with the background plates that were shot in Croatia. When you are standing on the courtyard of the hotel or looking out of windows, all of the distant backgrounds were composited.” HEIGHTEN THE COLOUR You only have to watch a couple of Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again featurettes to see that the movie was shot multi-camera with ALEXA cameras, especially for the dance sequences. But what about lenses to capture, in some cases, a large ensemble? What the about the camera movement – a collection of cranes, dollies, tripods, drones and Steadicam – or was there a discipline of only certain camera movement? “For the musical numbers we generally shot with three cameras: one on a technocrane which could move freely around the action, another on a roving steadicam, and the third on a dolly track with a zoom lens that could grab tighter coverage. “We shot the film on ALEXAs. Since the transition from film to digital it has been my camera of choice – SHOT, PARTICULARLY GIVING THE SEA A DEEP SATURATION OF BLUE WE OFTEN RAISED THE COLOUR SATURATION FROM WHAT WAS ORIGINALLY
IMAGES Lights were rarely used when filming in Croatia because the locations were often difficult to access. Back in Shepperton, blue screen was used to be later composited with the background plates shot in Croatia.
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SHOOT STORY MAMMA MIA 2
it’s easy to use and I prefer the image to other digital cameras. As I knew we would often be shooting ‘three shots’, I chose the widescreen 2.40 format so I could more easily accommodate getting three actors in the frame. Anamorphic lenses have a distinct magical quality to them so I chose to go that route (also the first Mamma Mia! was shot on anamorphic). “After extensive testing, we settled on the ARRI Master Anamorphic lenses. I liked the fact that they held sharp focus all the way across and I didn’t want our middle actor sharp and the other two slightly blurry. I generally preferred the 50mm and 75mm, but other lenses were also used. I used no filtration on the camera, the only filters were neutral densities and grads and an occasional polarizer. I rated the ALEXA at 800 ASA. My DIT on set was Ben Appleton and I worked with him at the start of each day to set a look and Ben would keep it consistent throughout. “I worked with Jill Bogdanowicz at Company 3 in Los Angeles for the final colour timing. Jill has a great eye and brought a lot to this process. We often raised the colour saturation from what was originally shot, particularly giving the sea a deep saturation of blue to add to the magic of the story.”
ANAMORPHIC LENSES HAVE A DISTINCT MAGICAL QUALITY TO THEM
IMAGES The all-star cast from the original movie returns for this singing and dancing extravaganza, but this time Cher gatecrashes the baby celebrations to steal the show as Sophie’s (Amanda Seyfried) grandmother.
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20 GRADE STORY JURASSIC PARK
Jurassic Post The team at Goldcrest tell us about their latest work on Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, and what the future holds for their leading studio WORDS JULIAN MITCHELL IMAGES UNIVERSAL
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JURASSIC PARK GRADE STORY
hen we find ourselves at a noisy Soho eatery with Goldcrest Post senior colourist, Adam Glasman,
it’s hard not to feel incredibly lucky to have carved out 30 minutes of his time outside the suite. After all, it’s been quite a remarkable few months not just for Adam’s already impressive CV, but for Goldcrest Post as a whole. In March, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri , which Adam created the final grade for, won two Oscars and was nominated for five more. In May, the launch of a brand new Goldcrest TV drama wing – featuring state-of-the-art 4K and HDR Resolve grading suites – marked a departure from the facility’s film-centric legacy towards a new future filled with more breadth. And not just for taking advantage of television’s increasing budgets either, as Goldcrest’s aspirations look to be far higher: to become a true one stop shop for everything from production and financing to post, no matter the project. The team’s latest show at the time of writing, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom , couldn’t be better proof. Adam was the supervising digital colourist throughout the making of the film, but Goldcrest’s involvement spanned across everything from DI to sound mixing, and even providing all cutting rooms and production office space. Over two cups of well-deserved coffee, we find out more about how the latest instalment in the greatest dinosaur franchise of all time was created, and what this means for the future of one of London’s most exciting moving picture studios.
A NATURAL AMBIENCE Having previously worked closely together on several films including A Monster Calls , The Impossible and The Orphanage , Spanish director J.A. Bayona and his DOP of choice, Oscar Faura were already very close before beginning work on Jurassic World . “They’d never collaborated with Goldcrest before, though,” begins Adam. “Initially, what attracted them to us was the ability to have full picture post under one roof, including sound. Oscar Faura ended up coming over to the UK a few months before DI began, and we spent a week together at Goldcrest. He had some really strong ideas about colour from the outset. The Jurassic films are some of the highest grossing and most
culturally celebrated landmark films of all time, so we had a lot to live up to!” To depict the story, which showcases Owen Grady (actor Chris Pratt)’s campaign to rescue the remaining dinosaurs from extinction when the island’s dormant volcano begins roaring to life, Oscar Faura, Adam and the rest of the colour team needed to achieve a lush, vibrant look, whilst still retaining natural contrast levels. “By the end of the week, we had completed a rough grade of the film with lots of gaps for temporary effects, just to set looks for all the key scenes,” Glasman reveals. “We then screened this to the director, editor and VFX team to ensure all were comfortable with the direction of the grade before we continued.”
IMAGES Getting up close and personal with some not-so- cuddly creatures on set.
ADAM AND THE REST OF THE COLOUR TEAM NEEDED TO ACHIEVE A LUSH, VIBRANT LOOK
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He explains that one of the main elements that helped the most was the CDL – or colour decision lists – metadata format files from set. “Oscar Faura worked with the DIT from Pinewood Post to grade dailies and provided us with looks for each scene as CDL files. These contained all the basic information we needed to use as a starting point. They were great visual references, which we were then able to enhance and adjust directly in DaVinci Resolve.” WORKINGWITH ILM Of course, with such a visual effects-heavy production, all this planning between set and the colour grading suite was not enough. There also needed to be plenty of communication between the team at Goldcrest and the primary visual
IMAGES Dinosaur movement was achieved with a combination of CGI and stop motion.
“Originally, the entire film was supposed to be completed using stop motion, but after showing Spielberg’s team what CGI could do for the dinosaur movements, it ended up being a combination of both. Today, it’s very much the same. For Fallen Kingdom , we had a mixture of both practical on-set animatronics and fully computer-generated characters, and we had to help ensure each remained consistently integrated properly through the grade.” “For instance, there’s a whole scene with a velociraptor where the characters are operating on it, and that’s all animatronic with a bit of CG applied. There’s another where
effects vendor: Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). CDL files were shared with the VFX team allowing ILM to work on the computer graphics whilst seeing something close to the final look of the film. Goldcrest also had access to mattes for every single dinosaur during the grade, giving Adam more flexibility to adjust the grade whilst ensuring the CG still fitted into the background plate. “ILM know what they’re doing. They were a vendor on the very first Jurassic Park movie in the early nineties and revolutionised the post industry through their work with computer- generated dinosaurs,” he adds.
FOR FALLEN KINGDOM, WE HAD A MIXTURE OF BOTH PRACTICAL ON-SET ANIMATRONICS AND FULLY COMPUTER-GENERATED CHARACTERS
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JURASSIC PARK GRADE STORY
THROUGHOUT IT ALL, WE WERE CONSTANTLY AMAZED BY WHAT WE WERE BEING SENT THROUGH BY ILM they have to go get some blood from a tyrannosaurus that’s locked in a truck; it’s quite a long scene and that’s mostly animatronics as well.” “I had two assistant colourists working on both these sequences with me, they were adjusting for all the 2D and 3D elements involved, and the CG characters. I then did the frame-by- frame grade using Resolve,” Glasman continues. “Throughout it all, we were constantly amazed by what we were being sent through by ILM. It’s pretty epic to see all these dinosaurs running away from a massive volcano. There’s so much energy to it and it’s all completely photo real.” FALLENWORLDS For several scenes they moved away from the CDL file look though. Filming for the island scenes in the second act, where the volcano is erupting, took place in Hawaii under strong sun. “All the shots were really bright and cheerful when they first came in,” Adam remembers. “However, we needed to create a grade that would reflect the idea that the volcano had erupted, generating a massive ash cloud under which the action took place. It’s a critical sequence in the film, and one of the scenes where we decided to diverge significantly from the CDLs from set.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom has already earned over $1 billion at the world wide box office. DOP Oscar Faura used the large format ARRI Alexa 65 camera with Panavision Primo 70 and Sphero 65 lenses. He also used the ARRI Alexa Mini for where space was limited using the same lenses to match the Alexa 65 camera. Helicopter Film Services provided the aerial services in the UK with drones and helicopters, working alongside VFX supervisor Dan Barrow and second unit director/DOP Patrick Loungway. The drone sequences involved shooting background plates at Cragside Manor and in woodland in Northumberland with an Aerigon heavy lift drone carrying an ARRI Alexa Mini and Angenieux 15-40mm Optimo zoom. The helicopter sequences were shot at Loch Long and Glen Mallen in Scotland on Shotover K1 again with ARRI Alexa 65. The aerial DOP was Jeremy Braben and the helicopter pilot was Ian Evans. The drone pilot was Peter Ayriss.
“Using Resolve, I sampled everything down and used shapes to create the ash cloud in the sky, as well as retain control of the look for assets such as the skies and dinosaurs. The result was an image that looks subdued, despite being filmed in Hawaii during the height of summer.
BELOW Adam used shapes in Resolve to create ash clouds for the volcanic eruption.
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24 SHOOT STORY LENSES FOR AERIAL CINEMATOGRAPHY
Standing out from the crowd Amazon Video’s Vikings included aerials using Fujinon’s Cine zooms, lenses that are making a name for themselves in the air
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LENSES FOR AERIAL CINEMATOGRAPHY SHOOT STORY
elicopter Film Services (HFS) has been producing the highest end aerial cinematography for years and has seamlessly bridged the arrival of drones by incorporating them neatly in to its offering. The company also embraces new ways of capture with its fleet of helicopters and heavy lift drones by wringing the most out of their engineering ability. SHOOTING PLATES An example of this is HFS’s Typhon 6 Camera Array, which shows off their engineering achievement in the best light. This array incorporates six ARRI ALEXA Mini cameras mounted in a Shotover K1 stabilised system, in order to shoot plates that can then be stitched together in post-production. The Array is designed to enable both aerial and ground-based filming of sequences when a particularly wide field of vision is required. Oliver Ward, chief technical officer at HFS, explains: “We created the Typhon to meet ever greater need for a stabilised array, primarily based around the ARRI ALEXA camera.” It’s already seen use on Paddington 2 , whose unit production manager, TimWellspring explains: “We had a first use, and it worked beautifully.” The Typhon 6 was used extensively on a tracking vehicle with a hydroscope crane on Paddington 2 for the train chase sequences. Glen Pratt at Framestore, visual effects supervisor explains: “The Typhon Array gives us a huge field of view. This provides a better sense of the environment you’re moving through and means that, within the frame, there are a lot of points of interest that can act as a background for areas you’ve shot before. The Typhon can also be used for a photogrammetry aspect, so you can run at a slower frame rate with a hard shutter to build this large field of view, creating a successful piece of tracking geometry. “Only a super-stable system can allow the use of this frame rate/ shutter. Having this Array also brings benefits when creating any CG fields on top of what we’ve already shot,” continues Glen. “When creating a wholly graphic environment, it gives a very thorough starting point, meaning we can reduce the number of CG builds so there’s less work required in post. That means less pressure on budgets and schedules, and more time to finesse the work.”
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26 SHOOT STORY LENSES FOR AERIAL CINEMATOGRAPHY
FUJINON JOINS AERIAL FAVOURITES
standard. The Fujinon lenses are relatively new and there aren’t many in rental houses that’s for sure, they’re quite difficult to find.” Jeremy’s experience with the Fujinon’s answered specific shot needs from the film’s producers. “I can’t really go in to detail about the night sequence where we used the 18-85mm Fujinon lens,” he says, “but we were over the centre of London so we were doing wide vistas and we were also doing slightly tighter establishers. The lens range is perfect for this type of sequence even though we didn’t need to go in super tight, but during the day we did, we had to pick up as much close detail as we could and the Fujinon 25-300mm gave us that little edge. We still had full coverage so there was no vignetting problems while using the ARRI ALEXA Mini camera. The day shooting was similar. We covered mostly cars travelling, motorbikes, moving targets that kind of thing. We used the Shotover F1 for both lenses, which is one of the smaller stabilised gimbals. “As an aerial cinematographer my criteria for a lens are much less about the creative aspects of the lens itself, and more about the function and
HFS MD Jeremy Braben knows what gear helps him get the shots that keep productions coming back to him. Recently he’s been using two Fujinon cine zooms but for different reasons: “The most recent project we used our Fujinon cine lenses on was a movie called The Good Liar , which is still in production so I can’t talk about it much. Interestingly the Fujinon lenses were specifically chosen because of the speed, we used the HK18-85 because of its T2 stop and its clarity of shooting at night so, of course, we mostly employed it on the night shoots for that movie.” But HFS was also using the ZK25- 300mm 12x zoom. “During the day we used the 12x ZK25-300mm. What we were doing was to swap between the two for the daytime and the night-time. The rig assemblies for both were quite standard even though they’re quite big pieces of glass. If I recommend we use the Fujinons because we need that extra 50mm or something, no cinematographers have complained about it. So they are accepted in the same vein as the Angenieux now and you could call those lenses the industry
performance I want from that lens. In our aerial world it is predominantly the zoom lenses which affect us, and the prime concern is a zoom which covers both a nice wide but has the power of a longer zoom range. Inevitably there is a compromise. The lens of the moment for me is this 12x Fujinon Cabrio 25-300mm. It retains the wide end of 25mm for 4K whilst giving just a bit more on the long end without the weight and size penalty of the Angenieux Optimo 28-340mm. The T stop of 3.5 is decent enough for this size of lens, and is consistent throughout the range of the lens, until about 275mm when it loses about half a stop through to 300mm and retaining its sharpness and detail.”
ABOVE Vikings and The Good Liar have been recent uses of the Fujinon cine zooms.
BELOW Fujinon’s ZK25-300mm and HK18-85mm getting ready to fly.
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LENSES FOR AERIAL CINEMATOGRAPHY SHOOT STORY
aerial capture, combined with ground level LiDAR scanning, is advantageous for sequences involving large-scale environments and architecture, as it provides all-encompassing detail under one umbrella. HFS has already provided aerial photogrammetry on many large and indie cinematic productions, generating images impossible to capture otherwise. Alan Perrin, its head of UAV Operations, explains: “Advancements in battery and drone technology allow larger camera and sensor packages to be flown for longer, with more accuracy and seamless integration into production. “LiDAR is playing an ever increasing role in the production of films laden with VFX. The use of scanners and LiDAR is commonplace from the ground, but coupling accurate LiDAR scanning from the air with our existing photogrammetry allows for easier and potentially more economical digital creation.” Jeremy Braben, CEO, adds: “We pride ourselves on being flexible and really listening closely to provide what productions need. Our combined helicopter and drone services mean we can offer unbiased and knowledgeable production advice. As ever, we’re excited about offering enormous choice: we are one of the only companies that can fly large-format packages such as the ARRI ALEXA 65 and new LF, the Sony Venice and Panavision DXL, in addition to the 8K offerings from RED. All this means production can capture what they desire, creatively and practically.”
THE FUJINON LENSES WERE SPECIFICALLY CHOSEN BECAUSE OF THE SPEED
VIKINGS One of the other recent projects that HFS used the Fujinon ZK25-300mm on was Vikings which is in its fifth season on Amazon Video. “We didn’t need to get as much close detail as we possibly could,” says Jeremy. “But on that shoot what was great was that the stop remained constant throughout the range of the lens. It has very little stop variation across the whole range of the lens; some drop off massively when you get to the long end. “That’s a massive advantage when you need to use the whole range, it’ll also hold its sharpness throughout the whole of the range. The sequences we shot for Vikings were mostly battle scenes. We also used the lenses for The Grand Tour , again using the Fujinon in place of the Angenieux wasn’t a problem for us. We had told production that the Angenieux wasn’t available and there were no objections. They are considered or are being considered by many as alike. “They’re optically not that far apart, obviously they are different, – they’re bound to be – but they’re not so optically different that people have a problem with them, although Angenieux is seen to be an industry standard at the moment. Fujinon is
obviously an established name and I think their optics are in the Alura range of lenses as well, developed with ARRI. People have always commented how lovely and sharp they are. For sure, now, people are associating Fujinon particularly more favourably because of that Alura reputation. “Flying the biggest lenses can be a problem,” continues Jeremy, “but it depends mostly on the stabilised system you are using, some of them are completely agnostic as to the size of the lens and the camera and others, especially when they get smaller in size like the Shotover F1. There are only a limited number of lenses and camera combinations that you can put in it because of its size. Weight is a consideration too but a little less so because most of them are in the range the F1 system can take. If you go up to the Shotover K1 then it doesn’t really matter if you’re using an IMAX 100kg system or a 45kg system. But a lighter lens is always a good thing for us.”
ABOVE AND BELOW Shotover’s F1 stabilised head with Fujinon’s ZK25-300mm rigged for the air.
CUTTING-EDGE AERIAL CAPTURE
In another innovative move, HFS’s helicopters and drones can also now combine LiDAR technology and photogrammetry from the air. This
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28 ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE SAMSUNG
ROBOT OS Itsayssomethingaboutaproductwhen the CEO of a cutting-edge robotics company relies on it for the company’s very survival
used on movies like Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok and many commercials and corporate work. The company is only three years old and was busy from day one. As CEO Sean Brown says, “A lot of people were just waiting for a company like ours to exist.” If you watch any television or movies you would unwittingly already have seen their work. Much of Motorized Precision’s work is for commercials; the movement of the cameras is designed to present to the viewer exactly what the advertising agencies want them to see. A camera person could arguably do the same but what the robots promise is the same movement repeated as many times as you want in exactly the same way, or change it and repeat again. It’s very high-end motion control.
of his company: the base software that actually runs the robots. “We have a number of robots at different sizes and have to move them around the world for demonstrations and of course delivery. To boot up the robots, we had to hook up a large tower PC and use its drive as a boot drive. This was a clumsy way of doing things but we needed the speed of a PC to upload the software on to the machines. I was on the lookout for a simpler solution when I saw Samsung’s Portable SSD T5 drives, which come in 250GB, 500GB, 1TB or 2TB. They were so effective that we now use these portable SSDs as the external boot drive so we can run our software on any computer. For instance we boot into Windows using the Samsung SSD drives and if the computer goes missing or breaks we still have the software with us everywhere we go. “We can also switch computers when we’re in development with different robots and different systems
otorized Precision is one of just a few robotics companies working in the cinema production world. Its
ABOVE The large robotic arms are employed primarily in commercial shoots.
products are basically large robotic arms that are designed to carry out exact movements pre-programmed in to them. The arms are able to carry all types of high-end cameras, including slow-motion, to film the movement that has been pre-determined for them. These robots have already been
OS ON A DRIVE But Sean Brown of Motorized
Precision had a problem and it had to do with the so called ‘Crown Jewels’
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SAMSUNG ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE
ABOVE When Motorized Precision’s robots are transported to shoot locations, the Samsung Portable SSD T5 drive is essential for booting up the OS.
a computer with the OS on it. Having a Samsung portable SSD drive means you can carry your boot drive with you on a plane for instance. You can then plug it in to any computer and make sure you can do the job. The Samsung drive was the best SSD drive for the job. It has USB3.1 Gen 2 so it has the speed we need, the price is good and the performance is amazing. There are other drives that have USB3 but just aren’t as good. We’re always up and running really quickly and never see any hiccups when we’re running all of the software off an external drive. “The computing power is tremendous and is needed as there is so much data going back and forth from the drive to control the robot. There’s a lot of processing and signal flow going on.” The company is now running three types of robots and at least ten Samsung portable SSD drives that they send around the country from client to client when they buy a robot.
just by ejecting the drive and putting on another computer system. Doing it this way we can very easily move our software from one robot to the next.” So Sean is effectively storing his robot operating system on the Samsung Portable SSD T5 drive. “Previously we were using large Tower PCs so we had to also have external monitors, keyboard and mouse; it’s a messy way of doing something quite simple. I wanted to move to smaller computers but a lot of them didn’t have an SSD drive inside them. Buying a Samsung Portable SSD just made sense as a boot drive with its tremendous speed, large capacity and small form factor and we didn’t have to put an SSD into the computer. DATA SPEED “We’ve had computers go missing when being shipped state to state; if that happens then your entire OS goes missing too. You also won’t be able to do the shoot if you don’t have
THE COMPUTING POWER IS TREMENDOUS AND IS NEEDED AS THERE IS SO MUCH DATA
More information: www.samsung.com/uk/ssd/
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30 LIGHTING LED FUTURE
We asked the designers of the future of lighting about LED light technology and what the future holds LED LIGHT FUTURE CONFESSIONS FROMA
QUESTIONS JULIAN MITCHELL
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LED FUTURE LIGHTING
Definition: Should lighting companies look to adhere to a colour standard for LED lighting now that CRI levels are very similar and consistent? Al DeMayo, co-founder/CEO, LiteGear: Yes. For cinema and television use, standards (actually recommendations) already exist such as Rec. 709, Rec. 2020, and several others. Digital cameras – and their ability to adjust white-balance with plus and minus green cast and optional low-pass filters – make the white point a moving target. White light output from any manufacturer should be able to fall exactly on the Planckian Curve with near-zero Delta UV (the distance and direction of colour shift from the Planckian locus), meaning the light is neither too green or too magenta. Coloured light should be provided only within the gamut of the chosen colour space such as Rec. 709. I think it is our best chance at achieving inter-vendor operability. Byron Brown, product manager, Litepanels: The best colour standard for LED lighting is the full colour, 360° spectrum. Most colour standards, like CRI, select a few common colours and measure how well a LED light renders those colours. The best LED lights will render a full and level spectrum for all colours and offer highly flexible and precise colour adjustment. These lights will also perform well on colour standards like CRI and TLCI since those standards are a small subset of the full spectrum. Dedo Weigert, Dedo Weigert Film: Yes, it is true that recently the CRI levels of LED light sources have gone up and are now in the higher 90s. At the same time, we have to be reminded that CRI is a system from 1931, which include
ABOVE The new SUMO light
ADHERING TO A STANDARD DEPENDS ON HAVING A STANDARD
my mind, and as far as I know, refers mainly to studio cameras with three CCD sensors; and even those were not all reacting in exactly the same way. Klaus Hamlescher, product support, Sumolight: An advantage of the CQS for gaffers is the fact that all colour values are combined through a root mean square average so a LED with low single colour values gets a lower overall rating. The average for the CRI is calculated so that a LED can have weak single colours like the important ones for skin tones (R9, R13, R15) and still have a very high rating, which is not ideal. As all colours with CQS are evaluated in its saturated maximum this helps owners of shops to understand their lighting quality requirements but is less useful for digital camera cinematography and post-production. As long as all CRI values are displayed and taken into account separately we are happy with the traditional colour rendering index. Frieder Hochheim, founder, Kino Flo: Adhering to a standard depends on having a standard. CRI is a photopic standard (your eye) and bears little relevance to the spectral response curves of cameras. Since lighting manufacturers all have different levels of technical expertise you will always have a range of product quality; quality in colorimetry, software features, design and construction. Establishing
only eight pastel colours, and it totally misses out on the important red and skin tones (R9 and R13). So if we talk about CRI, we must talk about expanded CRI; but even by those standards LEDs have become a lot better. But then there are other ways to look at it. CRI is based on the response of the human eye, therefore, if you are talking about museum lighting and about people watching the artwork, CRI may indeed have some significance. TLCI by Alan Roberts I think is a great step forward and goes much deeper into it, but in
BELOW Why are there so few LED options for high- output directional sources? Read on.
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32 LIGHTING LED FUTURE
high CRI fixtures. CRI is not relevant for multicoloured fixtures. What is important is how precisely we can create white light throughout the kelvin range (staying on the Planckian locus curve) and how large is the colour space of the fixtures. CQS is a good existing way of measuring the colour space size of multicoloured LEDs. Mike Wagner, lighting product manager, ARRI: Yes, I believe that lighting companies should adhere to colour standards for LED lighting. While there is no perfect metric for this, colour rendering scales can serve as a starting point for colour quality indication. There are other metrics such as TM-30 which seem to give more accurate results. However, for image capture the best metrics will always be the camera the user is shooting with. Def: How much heavier will the dependence on data in today’s fixtures be before recognisable data infrastructures will be implemented? FH, Kino Flo: Colour changing light fixtures are all about data. We already have an infrastructure for data in DMX. Fixture profiles are shared with board manufacturers so they can
a standard in a rapidly evolving technology field is counterproductive. You run the danger of impeding technology. NTSC vs PAL is an example. Chuck Edwards, CTO, Cineo Lighting: Yes, but the problem today is more with regards to colour matching of hue and saturation changes. In white light we have well-known standards for colour temperature (CCT) and quality (CRI, TLCI) and the better quality lighting companies provide reliable and high-quality white light. But matching digital colour adjustments that we call ‘digital gelling’ and saturated colours is still something that has a single accepted standard. Cineo in conjunction with NBC Universal is developing a correlated hue saturation intensity and CCT(K) colour standard called NU_HS1.2. It directly correlates Cineo and LightBlade LED lights to the Rec. 2020 standard used for cameras, monitors and HD content. Kaur Kallas, CEO, Digital Sputnik: The CRI of a DS line of fixture hovers around 75 at daylight due to having peaks and valleys in the spectrum. Due to these peaks matching up with CMOS sensor sensitivities we are able to deliver more pleasing skin tones then
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LED FUTURE LIGHTING
access the full feature sets inherent in the fixture design. CE, Cineo Lighting: We agree that some new technologies in lighting need something more robust than five- wire DMX. Cineo sees sACN over Ethernet as a preferred technology in the future. We also support wireless DMX/RDM in all our new lights. We expect there will be years of hybrid communication stage environments with traditional DMX/RDM blended with wireless and more advanced Ethernet lighting systems. Some floor lights will be on wireless controlled by an iPad. DMX with RDM still works very well through consoles for much of the lighting in the rig. But when we add Enhanced Environments with LED panels these require Ethernet networks. So we see hybrid networks for lighting as the reality in the near future. Most consoles and control systems already support this types of implementation. Cineo’s new LightBlade products are adding Ethernet ports as well in anticipation of this new direction. MW, ARRI: Certainly the fixtures of the future will generate more data and will more closely resemble computers. However, I’m not sure that fixture will be dependent on data. They might generate metadata and this could be of benefit to some users. These data structures will be designed to fit the needs of the customer. Def: How much will the QC’ing of LEDs be a factor in their evolution? Is the process of LED binning a concern to manufacturers or are there processes that will keep colour properties consistent? ADeM, LiteGear: The colour consistency of LEDs is getting better every day. At LiteGear, we QC 100% of several hybrid (bicolour) products and have nearly eliminated colour variations. Companies that make the actual
ABOVE Hive Lighting claims the brightest single point colour changing LED in the world. LEFT ARRI’s Double Vertical Yoke for SkyPanel.
PIXEL-BASED LEDS ARE BASICALLLY VIDEO WALLS, IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THE TASK OF THE FIXTURE
MW, ARRI: The QC process is extremely important. Binning is one way to start with ensuring the quality of the LEDs. At ARRI, we have many more ways to make sure the quality never wavers. It is our practice to put all of our fixtures’ light engines through a calibration process that will adjust the colour quality based off the LEDs in that particular lamp head and according to temperature variations. This will always ensure quality. Def: How quickly will individually microchipped controlled pixel- based lighting be ushered in to the market? What is its potential? BB, Litepanels: Pixel-based lighting for specialty applications (the replication of video effects, for example) will come to the market within the next five years. The challenge in this area will be brightness, since the OLEDs used are not as bright as other LEDs. KH, Sumolight: It will hit the market soon but we see it primarily as tool for special effects. FH, Kino Flo: This is dependent on market demand and what it is prepared to pay for it. Pixel-based LEDs are basically video walls. It all comes down to the task of the fixture. Why pay a premium for pixel based lighting instrument when all you need is good skin tones?
finished LED package are constantly improving the process, but more importantly they are being held to a much higher and tighter standard. BB, Litepanels: Quality control of LEDs will continue to be a critical factor in creating top-quality LED lighting. In addition to tight binning, most top-quality, multicolour LED lighting products will also be calibrated at the factory to ensure consistent and accurate colour performance. Litepanels specifies tightly controlled binning for all LEDs and final testing and calibration of colour and optics at our factory. KH, Sumolight: Yes, it has a large impact on the consistency of the LEDs. Still we need to calibrate every single light. FH, Kino Flo: Colour binning is a function of the LED manufacturing process. Phosphor blending and application to a chip is an imperfect art. Until a method of colour point consistency can be achieved in the manufacture of an LED chip you will have to depend on binning. Rich Pierceall, CEO, Cineo Lighting: Binning for colour and efficacy consistency is a critical step in building high-quality lighting instruments. Combining this level of QC with the ability to field-calibrate fixtures will assure the investment in LED technology will fulfill its full return on investment.
LEFT BELOW LED video panels are becoming part of the lighting design. BELOW Part of the LS Edge Light Bundles.
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