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SHOOT STORY ALTERED CARBON
Neville explains the camera choice further: “We used one of the largest sensored digital
cinematography cameras and before we started shooting we went into a long period of testing which lenses would suit. The camera can shoot 6.5K images which results in a lot of data to deal with; we decided to bring that down to 5K so it would be cheaper to post-produce. We then had a problem with close focus using some lenses, but we looked at the Canon Cinema lenses and realised that they would cover the cropped sensor perfectly and give us the range we really needed. “The only problem was we needed XPL lens mounts and the Cine Primes up to now have only been available in Canon EF mount,” Neville continues. But luckily, and because of their popularity, the excellent 35mm full- frame Canon CN-E Primes will work on just about any PL mount camera with a simple modification that can be returned to factory spec with the OEM Canon EF mount if needed. “We ended up with two sets of the lenses from the CN-E14mm T3 to the CN-E85mm T1.3. These are great fast lenses which is what you need in these types of episodics – everything has to be quick. We thought about using vintage glass but they are just not fast enough. Now we used the primes for most of the shooting; we did use other character glass but the Canon lenses match up beautifully in the grade. We were really happy with the performance; we got nice flares out of them and they match the other lenses beautifully. When we saw that, we knew we were up and running. Now they are our go-to lenses. “We tested so many lenses for AC and because we weren’t going down the 6.5K route, we looked at vintage primes, the old VistaVision lenses
which are fantastic but a bit slow. A lot of those are like T4, working on a TV schedule in episodic mode, you kind of need faster lenses. You can’t have lenses that jump around too much. The Canon’s vary from 1.3 to 1.5 depending on the focal length. The main priority was the coverage of the sensor, but we were really happy with the performance. “ARRI had converted them through Duclos for the XPL lens mount. They had to get a second set for our third unit as well. We used the Canons from 14 to 85 then started using the Cookes. The advantage of the Cookes is when you get to the longer lens you don’t need the coverage as much and we had the short focus ability; so we had the 65, 100, 135, 150. The Cookes have got that Cooke look and the Canons are a little bit more contrasty, bit more crunchy. We managed to match the lenses and
actually just to complicate things even more we’ve used a few Zeiss compact primes as well. Basically all the lenses that were made for large sensor DSLRs that have been reborn for the ALEXA 65. I certainly loved the Cookes and the 65mm was the one we used a tremendous amount; it’s also great for close focus.” They used the Cooke S5s from 65mm and up because the longer lenses and a bigger image circle projected back towards the sensor, so the 65mm, 75mm, 100mm and 150mm big enough to cover the VistaVision sensor. Then they moved to the Cooke S4s for the really long ones like the 150mm and 180mm, they also carried a Hawk 100-400mm zoom. VISTAVISION Originally the plan was to shoot widescreen like a 2.39 format but after long discussions Netflix didn’t agree to it, basically because of the way customers watch their content
TOP Altered Carbon goes on location.
ABOVE Director (Episode 1) and
Executive Producer Miguel Sapochnik gets hands on with the car gimbal..
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