BEST OF 2024
T he third instalment in the Paddington film series, Paddington in Peru sees the beloved bear return to his homeland – the Amazonian jungle – in search of Aunt Lucy. Shot both on location in South America and in the studio in the UK, the family-friendly adventure film blends excitement, sentimentality and British sensibility. Marzano Films handled the aerial work, travelling to Colombia (instead of Peru, due to political unrest at the time) for eight weeks to capture the landscape and create the film’s breathtaking backdrops, from the Andes to the Amazon. Certain shots required the crew to reach remote locations. Collaborating with a local company based out of Bogotá, Marzano employed three separate drone set-ups, including a VFX plate unit. With cinematography by DOP Erik Wilson, the film combines in-camera effects with VFX added in post – after all, Paddington bear is CGI-animated. The Marzano team would film a sequence and send it back to the UK, where it was then used as a backdrop with the actors in front. This required meticulous attention to both creative and technical details – including accurate GPS positioning, collected by the DJI Inspire 3 and an RTK ground station – and regular communication between the plate unit director, VFX producer, drone pilot and aerial DOP, John Marzano. Besides the Inspire 3, Marzano’s team used a Freefly Alta X to bear a DJI Ronin 2 and three-camera array, as well as an FPV hybrid, which captured the action shots on the river rapids. The array included three RED KOMODOs with Canon 24mm primes – a configuration they had previously used on Wonka . With Paddington in Peru , though, they faced an additional, unexpected challenge: the Colombian heat and humidity, along with high altitudes, caused the motors to stall. A slight re-jig and a small cooling fan allowed Marzano to complete the task on time. Paddington in Peru had some big shoes to fill; the result is an Indiana Jones -esque adventure that rises to the occasion, a story inseparable from its setting and bolstered by its world-class camerawork. PADDINGTON IN PERU WORDS Katie Kasperson
DOWNSTREAM The Paddington in Peru crew travelled to remote locations in Colombia to achieve some staggering shots
SWEETPEA WORDS Oliver Webb
E lla Purnell is having quite the year, with Fallout and Sweetpea both under her belt. Sweetpea is a gory, chaotic and refreshingly original entry into the serial killer canon. The six-part series is based on CJ Skuse’s novel series of the same name. Purnell stars as Rhiannon Lewis, a receptionist at a local newspaper whose life quickly takes a turn after a series of dramatic events and begins work on a kill list. DOP Nick Morris’ dark and stylish cinematography helps bring this twisted thriller to life. Morris relied on the ARRI ALEXA 35 to capture the dark undertones of the show, with a combination of Master Prime lenses. My favourite moment from the show came in episode 2 with the unsettling karaoke scene. We see a nervous Rhiannon finally finding her confidence and delivering a powerful version of Katy Perry’s Roar before being interrupted by police looking for information about a murder. The scene marks a significant shift in Rhiannon’s approach and is acted out perfectly. In fact, the song choices throughout the entirety of the show are all carefully selected. The show has been criticised as being humourless and dull – and I couldn’t disagree more. Sweetpea is a fine balance of dark comedy and tragedy but shouldn’t be pigeonholed into any one genre.
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