2007 12 Issue5 VisionARRI

8/17/2019 2007 12 Issue5 VisionARRI

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Tin ManThe ARRIFLEX D-20 returnsto Oz for TV miniseries

The Kite RunnerInterview with DoPRoberto Schaefer ASC

Behind the Scenes ofthe Mazda2 Spot

ARRI Film & TV Commercialcreate dynamic advertisementfor the Mazda2

Eastern PromisesLondon sets the scene forDavid Cronenberg’s Russianmafia movie

MongolThe challenge of bringing the story of Genghis Khan to the big screen

THE BOURNEULTIMATUMDoP Oliver Wood discusseshis experiences shooting thethird Bourne instalment

VisionARRIThe Biannual International Magazine from the ARRI RENTAL & POST PRODUCTION ENTERPRISES

10/07 ISSUE 5

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VISION ARRI

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VisionARRI would like to thank the following contr ibutors;Susanne Bieger, Clemens Danzer, Mark Hope-Jones, Ingo Klingspon, Tracy Mair, Heike Maleschka,Dylan Michael, Tommy Moran, Sinead Moran, Andrea Oki, Judith Petty, Bastian Prützmann,Angela Reedwisch, Andrea Rosenwirth, Stefan Sedlmeier, Marc Shipman-Mueller, Iain Struthers,Michelle Smith, Andy Subratie, Ricore Text, An Tran, Sabine Welte

CONTENTS

30 A THOUSAND YEARS OFGOOD PRAYERSDirector Wayne Wang talks about his latestfeature film

33 A SYMPHONY OF SOLOISTSThe ARRIFLEX D-20 shoots 150 musicians forSony commercial

34 THE STORY OF A YOUNG KILLER DoP Rob Hardy reflects on using the ARRIFLEX416 and Master Primes for feature Boy A

38 MONGOLDirector Sergei Bodrov recreates the story of Genghis Khan

42 COPACABANATelevision drama combines traditional filmtechniques with digital technology atARRI Film & TV

44 SEVEN DAYS SUNDAY Up and coming director supported byARRI Film & TV and ARRI Rental

46 SIDE EFFECTARRI Lighting Rental and ARRI Media helpbudding filmmakers shoot short film

48 THE POWER TO DREAM, THE VISIONTO INNOVATEARRI celebrates 90 years of product innovation52 25 YEARS OF ARRI FILM & TV

Managing Director Franz Kraus reflects on 25 years of postproduction at ARRI

55 STATE-OF-THE-ART TECHNOLOGY AT ARRI SCHWARZFILM BERLIN GMBHARRI SchwarzFilm Berlin upgrades facilities

56 MOMENTS IN TIMEThe Man from U.N.C.L.E. and the hand-heldaffair with the ARRIFLEX 35

59 PANALIGHTThe ARRI Rental Group’s Romanian rental partner

60 NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD63 DID YOU KNOW?63 TAKE 1064 PRODUCT UPDATE68 PRODUCTION UPDATE

ARRI PARTNERS & ASSOCIATES

ARRI SERVICES GROUP NETWORK ARRI SUBSIDIARIES

AUSTRALIACameraquip, Melbourne,BrisbaneCamerasMalcolm RichardsT +61 3 9699 3922T +61 7 3844 [email protected]

BULGARIABoyana Film Studios, SofiaCameras, Lighting, GripLazar LazarovT +359 2958 [email protected]

CYPRUSSeahorse Films,Nicosia, PaphosCameras, Digital, Lighting,Grip, StudioAndros AchilleosT +357 9967 [email protected]

FRANCEBogard, ParisCameras, Digital, GripDidier Bogard, Alain GauthierT +33 1 49 33 16 [email protected]@bogard.fr

GERMANY Maddel’s Cameras GmbH,HamburgCameras, GripMatthias NeumannT +49 40 66 86 [email protected]

HUNGARY VisionTeam, BudapestCameras, Lighting, GripGabor RajnaT +36 1 433 [email protected]

ICELANDPegasus Pictures, ReykjavikCameras, Lighting, GripSnorri ThorissonT +354 414 [email protected]

IRELANDThe Production Depot,Co WicklowCameras, Lighting, Grip

John Leahy, Dave LeahyT +353 1 276 [email protected]@production-depot.com

JAPANNAC Image Technology Inc.TokyoCameras, DigitalTomofumi MasudaHiromi ShindomeT +81 3 5211 [email protected]

NEW ZEALANDCamera Tech, WellingtonCamerasPeter FlemingT +64 4562 [email protected]

ROMANIAPanalight Studio, BucharestCameras, Lighting, Grip

Diana ApostolT +40 727 358 [email protected]

RUSSIAACT Film Facilities Agency,St. PetersburgCameras, Lighting, GripSergei AstakhovT +7 812 710 [email protected]

SCANDINAVIABLIXT Camera Rental,Denmark, Norway & SwedenCameras, Digital

Björn BlixtT +45 70 20 59 [email protected]

SOUTH AFRICAMedia Film Service,

Cape Town, Johannesburg,Durban, NamibiaCameras, Digital, Lighting,Grip, Studio

Jannie Van WykT +27 21 511 [email protected]

SPAINCamara RentalMadrid, Barcelona, MalagaCameras, GripAndres Berenguer, AlvaroBerenguer, Sylvia JacuindeT +34 91 651 [email protected]@[email protected]@camararental.com

UNITED ARAB EMIRATESFilmquip Media, DubaiCameras, Lighting, GripAnthony Smythe, Hugo LangT +971 4 347 [email protected]@filmquipmedia.com

USA & CANADAClairmont Camera Hollywood,LA, Toronto, VancouverARRIFLEX D-20 Representative

Irving CorreaT +1 818 761 [email protected]

Fletcher Chicago, ChicagoARRIFLEX D-20 Representative

Stan GlapaT +1 312 932 [email protected]

AUSTRALIAARRI Australia, SydneyCameras, DigitalChristian Hilgart,Stefan SedlmeierT +61 2 9855 [email protected]@arri.com.au

AUSTRIAARRI Rental Vienna

Cameras, DigitalGerhard GiesserT +43 664 120 [email protected] CZECH REPUBLICARRI Rental PragueCameras, Digital, Lighting, GripRobert KeilT +42 025 101 [email protected] ARRI Rental BerlinCameras, Digital, Lighting, GripUte BaronChristoph HoffstenT +49 30 346 800 [email protected]@arri.deARRI Rental CologneCameras, Digital

Stefan MartiniT +49 221 170 [email protected] Rental MunichCameras, Digital, Lighting, GripThomas LoherT +49 89 3809 [email protected] & TV Services, MunichFilm Lab, Digital IntermediateVisual Effects, Sound, Studio,CinemaInternational SalesAngela ReedwischT +49 89 3809 [email protected] SalesWalter BrusT +49 89 3809 1772

[email protected]

ARRI Schwarzfilm Berlin GmbHFilm Lab, Digital IntermediateThomas MulackT +49 30 408 17 8534T +49 30 408 17 [email protected] Film GmbHLudwigsburgFilm Lab, Digital IntermediateChristine Wagner,Philipp TschäppätT +49 7141 125 [email protected]@schwarzfilm.ch

LUXEMBOURGARRI Rental LuxembourgCameras, DigitalSteffen DitterT +352 2670 [email protected] Film AG,Ostermundigen, ZürichFilm Lab, Digital Intermediate

Philipp TschäppätT +41 31 938 11 [email protected] KINGDOMARRI Lighting Rental, LondonLightingTommy MoranT +44 1895 457 [email protected] Focus, LondonShort term lighting hire forcommercials & promosMartin Maund, George MartinT +44 1895 810 [email protected]@arrifocus.com

ARRI Media, LondonCameras, Digital, GripPhilip CooperT +44 1895 457 [email protected] Crew, LondonDiary ServiceKate CollierT +44 1895 457 [email protected] CSC, New YorkCameras, Digital, Lighting, GripSimon Broad,Hardwrick JohnsonT +1 212 757 [email protected]@arricsc.com

ARRI CSC, FloridaCameras, Digital, Lighting, GripEd StammT +1 954 322 [email protected]

Illumination Dynamics, LALighting, GripCarly Barber, Maria CarpenterT +1 818 686 [email protected]@illuminationdynamics.com

Illumination Dynamics,North Carolina,Lighting, Grip

Jeff PentekT +1 704 679 [email protected]

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4 THE BOURNE ULTIMATUMDoP Oliver Wood describes his hand-held approach to thecamerawork on the latest Bourne film

8 A VIRTUAL SPOT FOR REAL ASSETSARRI Film & TV Commercial animate 3D spot for investment bank

10 THE KITE RUNNER DoP Roberto Schaefer ASC discusses his latest collaborationwith Director Marc Forster

12 LONDON’S UNDERWORLDCo-Producer Tracey Seaward, DoP Peter Suschitzky BSC andGaffer John Colley talk about creating David Cronenberg’sRussian mafia movie Eastern Promises

16 BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE MAZDA2 SPOTARRI Film & TV Commercial generate powerful advert forcar manufacturer Mazda

22 RETURN TO OZFantasy world captured by the ARRIFLEX D-20 for TVminiseries Tin Man

24 ARRIFLEX D-20 BRINGS IDEAS TO REALITY An update on recent ARRIFLEX D-20 projects

25 SHADOWSDirector Milcho Manchevski and DoP Fabio Cianchetti post featureShadows at ARRI Film & TV

28 EAST OF EVERYTHINGARRI Australia supply television drama


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DoP Oliver Wood discusses frenetic camerawork,international locations and lighting by satellite.

The third instalment of a hugely successful film franchise based onnovels by Robert Ludlum, The Bourne Ultimatum sees Matt Damonreturn as amnesiac assassin Jason Bourne. Robbed of his identity and pursued across the globe, Bourne must turn the tables on thegovernment agency that trained him but now wants him dead inorder to avenge his murdered girlfriend and uncover the truth abouthis past. The second Bourne film directed by Paul Greengrass and thethird photographed by Oliver Wood, Ultimatum has thrilled audiences

worldwide since its August release and very quickly exceeded theinternational box office returns of both preceding films.

THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM

The Bourne Ultimatum was shot on Kodak Vision2 250D(5205) and 500T (5218) with ARRICAM Lite and ARRIFLEX235 cameras, Cooke S4 primes and Nikon mini-zooms.

Camera equipment was supplied by ARRI Media in London,ARRI Rental in Munich and ARRI CSC in New York, allworking together to provide the international service availablefrom the ARRI Rental Group.

VisionARRI: Director Paul Greengrass was with youagain on this third film; was it easy to slip back into the working relationship?

Oliver Wood: Yes, we just went back into the same mode rightaway. It was very much an extension of what we’d done

before; we had worked out a style on The Bourne Supremacy which was very successful and I just kind of updated it withdifferent equipment. We had quite a big prep and theassistants made up these cameras to be able to work hand-held; very lightweight and very fast.

Paul’s style was to be completely loose and spontaneous, allthe way down the line, from the script onwards. He got thatfrom United 93, when he had complete control of the scriptand it became a daily thing that he wrote it himself with theactors. It wasn’t just the camerawork, it was the way heworked with the actors and everything – that’s where hewants to go; he wants to make it all like that.

The editors would often come back with reshoot lists of whatthey were missing, but I had dailies DVDs so if we needed togo back to a scene, I could watch the DVD and see what wedid that day. Also the sets were done with [specialist lighting

company] Light by Numbers, so we had computer recordswe could punch in and everything would come up the sameas before.

VA: You chose ARRICAM Lite and ARRIFLEX 235cameras. What made them right for the joband how did you use them to achieve whatPaul envisioned?

OW: They were the most reliable cameras I could find. Sizeof course was a top priority – size and weight, and thenergonomics. We stripped every bit of weight off the kits wecould and anything we could add that was lightweight ratherthan heavy, we did.


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THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM VISION ARRI

cables and extra bits and pieces that were put together atARRI Media. Some had been custom made, so basically thosetwo suitcases went with us around the world. In New York forinstance I took the two cases from ARRI Media and the Nikonlenses that were made and then we rented the basic camerapackage from ARRI CSC in New York.

Each time we had new assistants I had to instruct them in howit all went together. Basically in Europe and England we hadthe same crew. In Germany we had a new crew, although Itook the ‘A’ and ‘B’ camera focus pullers and operators, andeveryone else in Berlin had done Supremacy with me so theywere pretty much up to speed. Then when we got to New Yorkit was a whole different ball game, but they were brilliant too;they came up with their own rigs and were very creative. All

the different crews contributed; it was an organic process.The camera crew list is about four pages long, and then on topof that there was a second unit. There were three cameras onthe second unit; they had to put their own packages together,based on ours. When we scouted it, this was all planned out –we decided what was going to be first unit, what was going tobe second unit – but once we were shooting there was no wayI could be there; they were completely autonomous.

VA: In Berlin you had to light a large area of the city for the film’s opening sequence. How did you goabout planning that?

OW: That was an enormous lighting set-up. I flew in for aweekend with my German Gaffer Ronnie Schwarz, who

actually lit the second movie, so he was very aware of whatI needed. We scouted the two basic locations; one was adrugstore and other was the station, but they were huge. Theywere supposed to be in Moscow; that’s the reason we choseEast Berlin, because the communist architecture is very similarto Moscow. Then I went back to London to start shooting againat seven o’clock on the Monday morning. Ronnie put his plansdown on a Google Earth document, so we got on the phoneand sat with computers, bringing up Google Earth documentswith little flags all over them. It was an absolutely brilliant tool;I could see his plans as he made them and suggest changesright there over the phone.

VA: The film has gone through a DI. What is yourapproach and attitude to this process?

I consider the DI a lighting tool. I’ve completely stoppedusing filters or any kind of unusual lab processes. I processeverything absolutely normally and never filter anything; I doany kind of grad or image work in the DI. The only exceptionreally was a streaking out-of-phase shutter effect in someflashbacks. Half of that was done digitally, but it worked a lotbetter in camera.

The biggest achievement of the DI was taking this huge wealthof material that was shot all over the world by a milliondifferent people, putting it together and making it look like thesame movie.

Mark Hope-Jones

The ARRICAM Lites were used pretty much whenever therewas sync dialogue and we had to have a silent camera. Incertain cases, where there was some dialogue but the camerahad to be very mobile, then we went to the 235 – in exteriorsituations where you couldn’t hear it so much. And then wemade it even lighter if we had to put it in a running shot or ona Pogo-Cam. The 235 functioned as the smallest possiblecamera; it basically went down to the tiniest, lightest, hand-held configuration we could get.

There were always at least two cameras, but there was no ruleabout how they were allocated. The ‘B’ camera was usually anARRICAM Lite but was sometimes a 235 if it was on aSteadicam and we had to run with it. The ‘A’ camera could beeither a Lite or a 235. I would have liked to carry two 235sactually. It was used for exteriors, for all chase sequences – of which there were many – like in Waterloo station, in Morocco

and anywhere the sound could be worked out. The sound manwas very forgiving with it.

VA: You had Cooke S4 primes and some specially made Nikon zooms. How did you put them to use?

OW: The mini-zooms were the result of collaboration betweenme and ARRI Media. I said I wanted to have two lightweightzooms and the suggestion came up that we fish around forstills zooms. We found these two Nikon digital zooms, a28-76mm and a 70-200mm; ARRI thought they could adaptthem and they did it. The Nikons became the basic lensesfor the whole show; they were used all the time because theconstant priority was for lightweight, ergonomic kit. The otherquestion was speed; I needed a lens that went to T2.8,because that’s where I needed to work.

I’ve always been very fond of Cooke lenses; I just like the look.We used the 150mm Cooke quite a bit on the Steadicam, butwe were mostly on the zooms.

VA: Shooting fast action scenes with hand-heldcameras and wide lens apertures must have beenchallenging for your crews.

OW: I was very kind to the focus pullers, I said “if you makemistakes, don’t get bent out of shape, just carry on, it’s fine.If it buzzes it’s all part of the look – zooming in and missing,zooming in and not being sharp so quickly pulling the focus –make that part of the camerawork.” Saying that madethem much more confident and in camerawork confidenceis everything.

We had extremely good operators, some of the best in theworld. I went in there and almost told them to forget everythingthey’d been taught and start again, but because they weresuch good operators it came naturally to them. They lovedletting go of all the restrictions of having to be smooth and infocus all the time and executing perfect zooms. It was a fertilearea for them to work in and they loved it.

The way we kitted out these cameras was another treat forthem; no expense was spared. The producers were greatabout getting everything I needed; I had a kind of open doorin that area.

VA: You were also shooting all over the world.Did that present any particular difficulties?

OW: Yeah it was challenging. First of all, the package we hadwas highly specialised; we had two suitcases that formed a“gizmo” package as we called it, which was all the little

“THE 235 FUNCTIONED AS THE SMALLESTPOSSIBLE CAMERA; ITBASICALLY WENT DOWNTO THE TINIEST,LIGHTEST, HAND-HELD

CONFIGURATION WECOULD GET.”

STEADICAM OPERATOR Florian Emmerich keeps pace with Matt Damon

PAUL GREENGRASS directs Matt Damon

DOP OLIVER WOOD (right) supervises the ‘C’ camera crew

P h o t o s b

y : J a s i n B o l a n d © 2 0 0 7 U n i v e r s a l S t u d i o s . A l l R i g h t s R e s e r v e d


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“In the financial sector the products themselves are

very interchangeable and therefore it is extremelyimportant to establish the product by giving it adistinct and trendy visual style,” says Daniela Bardini,Creative Director of Munich-based agencyServiceplan Zweite. “It is vital that the spot stands outand grabs people’s attention, leaving an indelibleimpression on their minds.”

The most recent 17-second TV commercial promotes10 successful mutual funds, which Cortal Consorsoffer at an attractive price with the slogan: “The bestmutual funds at the best prices.” Previous spots haveextended different offers but all have one thing incommon: they are all virtual commercials and werecreated entirely on 3D computers at ARRI.

The first step was to find a solid, visual icon torepresent the mutual fund, which is an essentially

abstract product, to star in the TV spot as thestory’s hero. From discussions emerged the ideaof developing an award statuette character, alongthe lines of an Oscar, for the world of bankingcommercials. The task of developing this characterwas put in the capable hands of ARRI’s Head of 3DAnimation, Christian Deister, and Character AnimatorVladan Subotic. From a selection of scribbles andillustrations the production team chose a statuette thatresembles a young, dynamic manager. The characterwas rendered entirely in 3D and plated in virtualchrome, ready for its starring role.

“Initially we did not have an agreed-uponstoryboard,” remembers Christian Deister. “Togetherwith the client and the agency, we worked as a teamto create the story; everyone contributed ideas.”Head of ARRI Commercial Philipp Bartel adds:

“It’s very motivating when the client grants thepostproduction house and the agency so muchcreative freedom. Often they went with our ideasand allowed us to implement them single-handedly.”

While still in the fine-tuning stages of character-development, the 3D team created an animaticfor previsualisation of the spot. Christian Deisterexplains: “I thought it would be best to approach thiscommercial as if it were a conventional live-actionfilm.” Using a dummy, various camera movementswere tested in an attempt to discover the best methodsof filming the statuette. “Playing the appropriate musicin the background, we wanted to create a powerfulplot to give the statues an epic quality in this short17-second spot,” he continues.

After initial pre-rendering, the test footage wasedited to music on an Avid and so within just a fewdays the client was able to approve the spot as a“living-and-breathing” storyboard. “Pre-rendering isa fast process,” says Philipp Bartel, “but it provideseverything that is needed to properly adjust thecamera in the edit. Subsequently, in the finalrendering, only those frames which became part of the animatic after the picture had been locked have tobe rendered. That saves time and money.” The finalsteps toward completing the spot involved giving thevarious elements a sophisticated look, matching thecolour grading to that of Cortal Consors’ corporateidentity, and fine-tuning the camera movements andedits before completing the final compositing.

Frames from various out-takes of this production wereused for the print and online campaigns in order togive the entire media campaign a consistent look.Budget Director Clemens Dreyer concludes: “OurCortal Consors spot is now being emulated by otherbanks, which to me means that, together with ARRI,we did a great job.”

Ingo Klingspon

Client:Cortal Consors S.A.Director of Marketing: Kai Wulff Brand Manager: Konelija Klisanic

Agency:Serviceplan Zweite Werbeagentur GmbHManagement: Joachim Schöpfer Budget Director: Clemens Dreyer

Creative Director: Daniela Bardini ARRI Film & TV Commercial:Head of Commercial: Philipp Bartel Producer: Phil Decker Head of 3D: Christian Deister Character Animators: Vladan Subotic,

Gregoire Barfety Flame Artist: Rico Reitz Colour Grading: Janna Sälzer

ARRI Film & TV Commercial pullsout all the stops for InvestmentBank Cortal Consors

A VirtualSpot forReal Assets

Amid the numerous TV spots promotingfinancial products and services on Germantelevision there is one that stands out: anavant-garde, 3D animated commercial forinvestment bank Cortal Consors, the online-affiliate of BNP Paribas. This successfulcollaboration between Cortal Consors,advertising agency Serviceplan and ARRICommercial has proved it possible to create

visually impressive television spots for afinancial institution.

WIDE SHOT final render

CLOSE-UP final render


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The boys are inseparable until one fateful day when Amir is determined to win a local kite-flying tournament to secure his father’sapproval. On the afternoon of the contest Amir finds Hassan being brutally attacked by a local thug. He does nothing to help,shattering their relationship. Shortly after, Amir and his father leave Afghanistan, fleeing the Russian invasion to begin a new lifein America. But Amir can’t forget what happened to Hassan and after 20 years of living in the US, returns to a perilousAfghanistan under the Taliban’s iron-fisted rule to face the secrets that still haunt him and to set things right.

Shot by Director Marc Forster and DoP Roberto Schaefer ASC for DreamWorks Pictures, The Kite Runner is the duo’s seventhcollaboration. Their partnership has spanned more than a decade, producing films such as the award winning Monster’s Ball andFinding Neverland , and has recently seen them embark on their eighth project together, the latest instalment of the James Bond franchise.

Authenticity was a hugely important factor of the production. Due to the obvious dangers of the conditions in Afghanistan theproduction team sought alternative locations for filming, finally settling on China which was considered to be the best fit in terms of appearance. Much of the film’s dialogue is in Dari, the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan, and most of the actors involved,including the child actors, were native speakers.

The film was shot in 3 perforation with an ARRICAM Lite, ARRICAM Studio and ARRIFLEX 235 provided by ARRI Australia.VisionARRI spoke to Roberto Schaefer about his approach to the project and his experiences shooting in China.

VisionARRI: Can you tell us briefly

what the movie is about?Roberto Schaefer: The Kite Runner isbased on the best-selling novel of thesame name. It is a story aboutfriendship, betrayal, loss and redemptionset against the events occurring inAfghanistan between 1977 and 2001.

VA: Which look was intended forthe film and why?RS: The story is intended to be seen as anepic in the tradition of Sergio Leone andDavid Lean. The part of the film set inAfghanistan in the seventies has a rich

and warm feeling, like the friendship of

the two boys. The parts set in the US andAfghanistan in 2001 are cooler and lesssaturated as the life is drawn out of thecharacters and they face harsher realities.

VA: What was the reason forshooting this film in China?

RS: We shot principally in China due tothe look of the landscapes and localarchitecture, which closely resembles thatof Kabul and other parts of Afghanistan.It would have been too dangerous to tryand shoot there. Other places that wereconsidered were Turkey and Morocco,

but the Xinjiang province in far western

China had all of the right ingredients. VA: What was your impression ofChina as a shooting location, and

was it difficult working t here with an International team from Asia, Australia and China?

RS: China provided us with magnificentlocations that were truly on the epicscale we wanted to portray. It wasdifficult for many reasons, extremeweather being just one of them. We hadto bring in everything from Beijing orbeyond. There is no film community in

Kashgar where we were based, evenless in Tashkurgan. There were manychallenges for a largely western crewthat was mixed with many Chinese andlocal Uygur help. Most of the department

heads, and a good deal of the key crewmembers, came from the US, Australiaand the UK. We had to have manylevels of translators, from English toChinese, Uygur, Farsi, Pashtun andUrdu, and all the permutations within.

VA: What were the mainchallenges facing the production?

RS: The main challenges in filming werethe logistics of shooting in a place thatwas an eight hour plane ride or eightday drive from the nearest center of production supplies. On top of that wehad a very hot summer and fall, and abitter cold winter. Film had to be shippedback to Beijing for developing and then

either printed there and shipped back,or sent to L.A. for telecine dailies andshipped back. That process took fromfour days at best, to three weeks,depending upon our location.

VA: Were you satisfied withthe ARRI equipment, especially on rough locations such as theChinese mountains?

RS: Yes, it all held up magnificently, as Ihad expected. We did bring a cameratechnician from the US with us, whoended up repairing everything from hairdryers to sewing machines and

Technocrane circuits. With the cameragear, he mostly just cleaned everythingeach night and made sure that it was allin perfect condition everyday.

VA: What aspect influenced yourdecision to take the camera andlens set-up you used?

RS: I initially wanted to shootanamorphic. I went to Germany andspent several days testing and evaluatingHawk lenses. But when I got to Kashgarand Tashkurgan and the road betweenthe two, I realized that too many of ourinteriors were tiny with few windows,the exteriors were exposed to harshelements like dust storms and extremetemperatures. I felt that it would be morethan we could handle to shoot entirely inscope. I then wanted to shoot all of mybig exteriors on anamorphics and theinteriors and dark night exteriors with

spherical lenses since we were definitelydoing the DI [Digital Intermediate] rightfrom the start. Unfortunately, due tobudgetary restrictions and the schedule,I couldn’t afford to carry full sets of bothtypes of lenses, as well as 3 perforationand 4-perforation camera bodies forthe entire shoot. So we decided to use3 perforation to save some money for theDI when it was decided to go spherical.That was when I tried the Master Primelenses and fell in love with them. I usedthe T1.3 –2 range often and found themto be really quite amazing.

VA: Why did you shoot on3 perforation/2.35:1 andhow did that work for you?

RS: We chose to shoot 3 perforation tosave money on stock and lab costs toput into the post needs for the DI andgrading work. When we abandonedanamorphic, 3 perforation seemed onlynatural. The lighter weight, smaller andless cases, and faster lenses definitelymade that the right decision lookingback on it.

VA: You were one of the firstDoPs to try our new ARRI/ZeissLightweight Zoom, the LWZ-115.5-45mm. What was thatexperience like?

RS: We used the new lightweight zooma lot. It held up beautifully to the Master

Primes in quality of image. We also usedit on our viewfinder as a variable primefor setting up shots, and it practically livedon the Steadicam. It also matched wellwith the longer Angenieux Optimo zooms.

VA: How are the Master Primescompared to the Optimo Zooms?

RS: The Master Primes were a perfectmatch to the longer AngenieuxOptimo zooms.

VA: Did you consider shooting thismovie on HD or did you think that35mm was the only way to go?

RS: Originally I toyed with the idea of looking into shooting in HD. I thought

about the ARRIFLEX D-20, Viper orGenesis. What worried me was howthe equipment would hold up to theconditions, the distance we were fromany service, and storage of data andtransferring that back to the editor in L.A.I recently shot a pilot on HD and wasextremely happy that I had decided todo The Kite Runner on 35mm.

www.kiterunnermovie.com

Clemens Danzer / Andrea Rosenwirth

A n i n t e r v i e w

w i t h D o P R o b e r t o S c h a e f e r A S C

Khaled Hosseini’s debut novel, The Kite Runner , was first published in 2003 and has since sold more thanseven million copies worldwide. Set against the political events of Afghanistan, the story is about thedoomed friendship of two childhood friends; Amir, the son of a powerful Kabul businessman, and Hassan,the son of the faithful family servant.

T h e

K i t e

R u n n e r

DIRECTOR MARC FORSTER instructs the child actors

DIRECTOR MARC FORSTER

DOP ROBERTO SCHAEFER ASC (left) and ‘A’Camera/Steadicam Operator Jim McConkey (right)

P h o t o s b y : P h i l B r a y


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Nikolai (Viggo Mortensen) works for oneLondon’s most feared organized crimefamilies. His path crosses with Anna(Naomi Watts), a midwife at a Londonhospital where a 14-year-old Russian girlhas recently died during childbirth. In a bidto uncover the teenager’s identity and finda home for the baby, Anna looks for cluesin the dead girl’s diary, but she unwittinglyholds damaging information that couldlead to the unraveling of the family’s

criminal network. Nikolai must make surethis doesn’t happen. Several lives hang inthe balance as a chain of murder, deceit,and retribution reverberates through thedarkest corners of London.

The script for Eastern Promises wasoriginally developed at the BBC but waspicked up by Focus Features, a divisionof Universal Pictures, who sent it toCronenberg to direct and Paul Websterto produce. “We were so pleasedwhen David was appointed,” recollectsCo-producer Tracey Seaward. “He’s amasterful director and was always in totalcontrol of the shoot. David creates analmost instinctive relationship with eachand every department.”

The film is Cronenberg’s first to be shotentirely outside of Canada. Although hebrought most of his heads of departmentwith him, a strong UK crew wasassembled to work with them. Seawardwas involved in planning how theproduction would best organize filmingat locations around London, as well as3 Mills Studios: “About half of thelocation shooting took place at night,” shesays, “which was quite complicated dueto the fact that many of the sites were inresidential areas and therefore we had torespect the local residents.”

The dark, rain-slicked streets of Londonwere photographed by Peter SuschitzkyBSC, with an ARRICAM Studio, ARRICAMLite and Master Prime lenses supplied byARRI Media, and lighting equipmentsupplied by ARRI Lighting Rental.

Eastern Promises marks Suschitzky’seighth film with director Cronenberg.Their collaboration began in 1988 withDead Ringers, when a strong rapport wasestablished from day one. “I think weimmediately knew that we were right foreach other, I never had any doubtsanyway,” states Suschitzky. “Thingsworked very quickly between us and wewere soon able to work with very littleverbal communication. On our very firstday of shooting I knew that this wasgoing to be the most important workingrelationship of my life. And so it turnedout to be.” Both have a very intuitive wayof working and don’t set out with the ideaof a ‘look’. “To tell the simple truth, we nolonger talk about style,” he continues.“Things just happen naturally, growing, Ihope, from within the material of the filmand the narrative. We both work veryinstinctively. We never talk about making

a film look this way or that way.”For Eastern Promises, Cronenberg’srequirements were simple: “The earlyindications that David gave me were thathe was looking for a rainy London, agrey London,” says the cinematographer.“Naturally we had to shoot with theweather that we had, but we were able toafford to wet down streets and producerain when there wasn’t any. The onlything I did was to hold the idea in myhead that he wanted it to look grey. Idon’t believe that you can put style on likean item of clothing - it has to flow from

inside the film, from inside your soul if you like. Everything has to work together;the costumes, the sets, the choice of colour of the costumes and sets, thecamera work, and the direction of course.It all has to go together.

“I have more or less the same approachwhen considering any film. I read thescript, I look at the locations, sets orconcepts of sets, the costumes and castingthat are possible choices for the film,and of course I speak with Davidapproximately about what we are goingto do. He is somebody who does a lot of

thinking about what he is going to dowith the subject, but he also leaves a lotopen to inspiration on the day, inspirationthat comes from seeing the actorsrehearse and from the set or location.He doesn’t storyboard anything. So werehearse and then we discuss where weare going to put the camera for the sceneand I spend whatever time I need, withinthe constraints of the production schedule,preparing, but I don’t know exactly whatI’m going to do until I start doing it.”

LONDON’SUNDERWORLDPeter Suschitzky BSC films the dark side of London for Eastern Promises

The latest film from legendary Canadian Director David Cronenberg is a violent tale of theRussian mafia in London, touching on the global sex trade that exists in today’s society.


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14 15

LONDON’S UNDERWORLD

14

However, Suschitzky did make a stylisticdecision about his choice of lenses,choosing the Master Primes. “On all thefilms that I have worked on with DavidI’ve opted for Primo lenses. I decided,without any intervention from David atall, to change everything on this one.I tested all sorts of lenses and I chose theMaster Primes. They looked very sharp,I felt that they had slightly less depth of field than some other lenses and I thoughtthat they would give the story the rightsort of feel.” Generally, a very smallnumber of lenses have been used on theirfilms together. Suschitzky remembers thatA History of Violence was shot almostentirely on just a 27mm. “For EasternPromises we shot mostly on a 27mm and25mm, but we would occasionally use a21mm or 35mm.”

A notable scene in the film is a dramaticfight-to-the-death between two knife-wielding assassins and the nude Nikolaiin an old London bathhouse. Filmed on aset due to concerns about the difficulty of working in a confined location, it tookmany months of planning, weeks of rehearsals and three days to shoot. Thisparticular scene had to be approached ina far less controlled manner than anyother in the film because of its intenseaction. “I had to allow for the camera tobe able to move around freely,” explainsSuschitzky. “David felt that he wanted tohave considerable freedom and littledelay between shots so I had to light thatscene so that it was filmable with verysmall adjustments in any direction,whereas with other scenes I was able tolight in a more controlled manner.”

John Colley, Suschitzky’s Gaffer onEastern Promises, recalls: “There weretwo sets in particular where we had toallow for the possibility of a 360-degreecamera angle. The first was thebathhouse and the second was therestaurant. In order to be able to look inall directions Peter and I decided that acombination of Image 80s in the grid,feeding back to a dimmer desk, was amuch better alternative than any otherspace light or hard light scenario. Withover 50, we had total control of thecontrast throughout the sets. We wereable to control backgrounds and setlevels without affecting the colour

temperature. For the restaurant alone there were over 100practical channels, which initially may have seemed like over killbut the time we saved when it came to shooting and keeping arhythm made it all worth the expense and effort.”

Another set-up that Colley recollects was a car scene that wasshot without rear screen projection or bluescreen. “Both Davidand Peter wanted a traveling car scene to look as realistic aspossible,” he says. “Initially, there were a few late nights in thestudio, but the decision was made that the real world was thebest way to provide the actors with an opportunity to deliver their

dialogue. The location department worked overtime to provide uswith a suitable backdrop and flexible working conditions. Wemust have looked like a space ship traveling down Upper Streeton a low loader. There were about 15 or so small ARRI lamps,from 650W to 2kW, with various colours to match thesurroundings of the streets. I sat next to Peter at the camera witha dimming desk on my lap while he called out where the lightsshould play.”

Shooting at night around London had its advantages for Colley.“It’s the best time to go to work,” he claims. “You’ve got totalcontrol of lighting and contrast ratios. We used a combinationof Wendy lights with an underslung ARRI T24 or T12 to focuson specific areas, which worked very well for us.” Some nightsproved to be pretty hectic from a logistical point of view:“On more than a few occasions there were six or seven cherrypickers and Genie booms, as well as four or five generators.Credit to Rigging Gaffer Vince Madden and Best Boy Andy

Cole for keeping things running smoothly.”Having worked with ARRI Lighting Rental on many films in thepast, Colley was confident in their level of service: “I knew theywould be able to deliver the service and equipment needed inorder to meet the demands of the schedule,” he affirms. “Byworking closely with Sinead Moran we were able to maintain abalance between budget and schedule.” Seaward also has along standing association with both ARRI Lighting Rental andARRI Media. “I have a close and trusting relationship with bothcompanies, they always provide great technical support andservice. It’s important to know that someone is always there atthe end of the phone to help you 24 hours a day.”

All involved agree that working on the film was a trulyrewarding experience. “I’m really proud to have worked onEastern Promises,” reflects Seaward. “It was a calm environment,we were always on schedule, the crew were fantastic and therewas a great camaraderie with the cast – so much so that oneday Viggo Mortensen decided it might be a good idea tobecome my assistant, the next thing we knew he was handingout cakes to all the cast and crew!”

Colley adds: “I was thrilled to have the opportunity to work withDavid and Peter. Occasionally I had to pinch myself that I wasactually on set with them. It made all those heavy lamps anddirty cables in the pouring rain worthwhile. They had such agreat understanding with each other and their energy wastempered and directed. Once we had captured the scene, wemoved on. The crew and cast involved on this film all worked sowell together.”

“I am proud of the whole film, because it’s a good one, throughand through, with everything working together; writing, acting,direction and visuals. All are seamlessly interlaced - I hope thatmy work is integrated well into the whole and feels organic,”concludes Suschitzky.

This article is dedicated to the memory of Production Manager Lisa Parker, who sadly passed away several months after completing the project. Tracey Seaward worked with Lisa Parker for many years and pays tribute to a close colleague and friend: “Lisa was an extraordinary and unique person; she had an amazing passion and energy and was devoted to her job.She was well thought of by those who had worked with her over the last 15 years. I truly believe the industry suffered atremendous loss, and as a colleague and friend she will be irreplaceable.”

Michelle Smith

P h o t o c o u r t e s y J o h n C o l l e y

DIRECTOR DAVID CRONENBERG

AT THE CAMERA DoP Peter Suschitzky BSC, to the left 1st ADWalter Gasparovic

P h o t o s b y : P e t e r M o u n t a i n © 2 0 0 7 F o c u s F e a t u r e s . A l l R i g h t s R e s e r v e d .


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Behind theScenes of the

Mazda2 Spot ARRI Film & TV Commercialand Hager Moss Film producepowerful TV advertisement.

Television spots for major carmanufacturers are among the mostdemanding of commercial productionsand usually command budgets that runto six figures. Few of these extravagantcommercials are made in Germany,so Munich-based production companyHager Moss was especially pleasedwhen it was commissioned to createtelevision spots for the Mazda2

campaign. Hager Moss in turn broughtARRI Film & TV Commercial on boardand the result was an impressivetelevision commercial that provesGermany to be capable of taking onproductions of any scale.

An advertising campaign focusing onthe ‘sportiness’ of the product leaves nodoubt about its target market. TheMazda2, which is the most recent andmost compact model in the Mazda fleet,is aimed at young drivers looking to buytheir first car. In order to best appeal tothis demographic, the manufacturer andtheir advertising agency, J. WalterThompson, agreed to steer clear of familiar campaign concepts. The

approach had already been establishedwith a print campaign featuring a surrealcollage of images juxtaposing nakedbodies in sporty poses and cold bluetones with a metallic-green Mazda2.


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VISION ARRIBEHIND THE SCENES OF THE MAZDA2 SPOT

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“WE NEEDED A HIGH FRAME RATEOF 100FPS, SOMETIMES EVEN250FPS, IN ORDER TO ACHIEVETHE INTENDED IMAGE QUALITY IN POSTPRODUCTION.”

“WE SHOT A LOT OFFOOTAGE ANDVERY LITTLE WASBUILT AFTERWARDSIN 3D, BUT DESPITE

ALL THAT, EACHFRAME IS A

COMPOSITE ANDTHEREFORE ASTAND-ALONE

WORK CREATED AT ARRI DURINGPOSTPRODUCTION.”

A similarly avant-garde concept wasdeveloped for the television spot, inwhich a young Mazda2 driver playscat-and-mouse with five acrobatic, femaledancers in an abstract, virtual space. The

principal objective of the production wasto visualize and communicate the keymessages: agility, sportiness andlightness. It was immediately clear thatthe project would require a good deal of postproduction work. Hager Moss choseto count on the specialists at ARRI Film &TV Commercial to help meet thischallenge, having collaboratedsuccessfully with them in the past.

Initially, the main task was to come upwith a convincing design for the virtualspace in which the commercial is set.Certain similarities to the print campaign

were purposefully evoked, but the spotalso needed to stand alone as anoriginal and independent piece. ARRIArt Director and Flame/Inferno-ArtistRico Reitz worked with Director Paula

Walker to define a binding frameworkfor the style. This then allowed specificarrangements for the shoot and thesubsequent postproduction to be made.Reitz believes that meticulous planningduring preproduction and the closemonitoring of standards during filmingare the key to a smooth workflowbetween production and postproduction.“The greater the demands onpostproduction, the more involved weget in the production itself,” he says.“We feel responsible for our work, whichincludes keying, spatial design,

compositing, visual effects, as well as theblending of the real and virtual elementsinto a convincing final image.”

Implementing the concept for the spotinvolved filming the Mazda2 and thedancers in an entirely white space, sincewhite had been chosen as the keybackground for postproduction. “Initiallywe wanted to build a concave space[65 feet deep and 32 feet high] to shootin,” recalls Hager Moss Producer JürgenKraus. “But the problem with a concavespace is that you don’t have a ceiling,which restricts the camera movementand limits the use of wide-angle lenses.At some point all the camera can captureis the studio and the lighting rigs.”

DoP Rolf Kesterman found the solutionto this problem at the Roman CoppolaStudio in Los Angeles, where he cameacross the Photobubble, an inflatabledevice made of lightweight, synthetic

material that provides a reflection-free,bubble-shaped space and a 360-degreearea of view. The manufacturer of thePhotobubble was able to provide acustom-made, walk-in “soft box” withwhite walls, which delivered the perfectchroma key for postproduction. Only thefloor of the studio had to be painted white.

“We were among the first Europeanproductions to use this device,” says

Jürgen Kraus. “The Photobubble wasideal for creating the sort of world wehad intended for this spot. It providedexcellent working conditions for theDirector and the DoP, allowing them toshoot at any focal length and move thecamera without any restrictions. In

addition, we had the advantage thatour lighting conditions didn’t change.As a matter of fact, we lit the spaceonce and then nothing had to bechanged for the rest of the shoot, whichsaved a lot of time.”

The only remaining problem was inpinpointing the precise spatialcoordinates which would later beneeded during 3D tracking at ARRI. ThePhotobubble did not provide anyinformation about spatial relationshipsbetween individual elements because itwas completely white inside. “Wecouldn’t simply place tracking markers

on the Photobubble itself,” explains 3DArtist Christian Deister. “That wasn’t aprecise enough solution because thePhotobubble constantly moves, althoughonly slightly, due to changing air

pressure. Instead we had tall polesmade, which we could use as yardsticksafter painting black measurementmarkings on them. We distributed thesepoles throughout the Photobubble andmeasured the distances between them.This allowed us to exactly recreate thesize of the space and the cameramovements during 3D tracking.”

Filming took place in June 2007 at theBarrandov film studios in Prague, withthe support of the Czech film productioncompany Etic. Though the stage waslarge enough to house the 164-footPhotobubble, it transpired that thePhotobubble itself was too small for thestunt driver to gain sufficient speed for

the choreographed skid scenes. Anaccess driveway therefore had to beconstructed that ran from outside thesoundstage into the Photobubble.

The spot was filmed on 35mm with anARRIFLEX 435. “We needed a highframe rate of 100fps, sometimes even250fps, in order to achieve the intendedimage quality in postproduction,”explains Jürgen Kraus. “25fps wouldn’thave been enough during keying of crucial scenes because of motion blur.”During the four days of production 12 to15 set-ups were shot daily, all of whichrequired elements to be added in post:

“There isn’t a single shot in this spotthat was created entirely in-camera,”explains the producer. “We shot a lotof footage and very little was builtafterwards in 3D, but despite all that,

each frame is a composite and thereforea stand-alone work created at ARRIduring postproduction.”

The creative teams at Hager Moss andat ARRI knew that on this type of project,with an extensive postproductioncomponent, the approval process canbe very difficult. Jürgen Kraus explains:“The client and agency representativessit in front of a monitor during the shootand can watch a green car driveacross a ramp or girls fly through thePhotobubble suspended from wires. Theycan’t see a background and they can’tsee a story unfold. All they see is awhite floor that gets increasingly dirty,which could leave many wondering:

how will this ever end up looking good?But we were very lucky, because in thiscase the client and their agency trustedour judgement and were able toenvisage our suggestions.”

During the course of production,exposed negative was processed andscanned at a film laboratory in Pragueand then sent to ARRI Munich. Within10 days a 60-second spot as well astwo 30-second, five 20-second and five10-second spots were offlined. Oncethe picture was locked, the actualpostproduction at ARRI started andtook six weeks to complete.


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VISION ARRIBEHIND THE SCENES OF THE MAZDA2 SPOT

20

Later on the 60-second spot, consistingof 67 takes, was scanned again in orderto get even better colour resolution andto create clean masks. This time thescanning was completed in two steps onthe Spirit. The spot was scanned in HDwith a 10-bit data depth in order toavoid problems with the masks and thesteadiness of the images. At this stageselected takes went to Manuel Voss forkeying and rotoscoping in order to avoidcompromising the agreed-upon timeline.Rico Reitz explains: “To key 130individual takes, shot with a movingcamera, was a challenge that kept 10people busy for 12 days. And that wasa rather fast turn around.”

While the raw material was deliveredfrom Prague to Munich, the 3D team wasworking on two tasks. One was toevaluate the tracking information from thecamera and the other was to geometricallyreduce the complex 3D construction dataof the Mazda2 that the manufacturer hadprovided. This resulted in the creation of avirtual car, which behaved exactly like thereal car in the film images. “We began byestablishing the camera positions for thelocked camera shots, making sure thateverything was correct in terms of perspective and depth of field,” explainsChristian Deister. “Then we matched thereal car with the computer-generated 3Dmodel. This allowed us to generate andrender the 3D shadows and 3D reflectionsthat were needed for the composite.”

The 3D team was also responsible forthe look of the floor. The problem wasthat the floor in the Photobubble was dullin the first place and ended up gettingquite dirty during the shoot. This led to

the idea of replacing it with a computer-generated virtual and reflective floor.Unfortunately there were no reflections of the real car on the floor and creatingthem in compositing proved too difficult,because of the many different cameraangles. Instead, the reflection of the 3Dmodel was used and takes of the realcar projected onto its 3D counterpart.Together they were reflected onto avirtual surface in photorealistic qualityusing XSI Softimage.

The soft light in the Photobubble resultedin a pleasing soft contrast, but in two orthree shots it made the car’s finish appearsomewhat flat. The 3D team was able toaddress this issue on Flame and create aglossier look. The 3D model of the carwas given a shiny texture and thenplaced, as a layer, over the real car.“The 3D options on Flame are limited, butwhen it comes to gloss and finish effectsthe tool is perfect,” says Rico Reitz.

The spatial design was also completedon Flame, with abstract photographictextures digitally placed on the

Photobubble to create the surroundingenvironment, a space consisting of dynamic, blue structures for thecomposite with masks from the actualfilm. This was followed by fine-tuning of the lighting set-up, animation of thebackground with vibrant lighting effectsand matching of the computer-generatedand the real, filmed elements.

Certain physical improvements were

made to the dancers, who representedfigures from Nordic myths. Masks wereplaced on their pupils to create a ratherimpressive effect, while a number of beauty enhancements were made byretouching the dancers’ eyes, mouths,lips and teeth to meet the client’s wishes.This was followed by tape-to-tape colourgrading, to give the entire spot aconsistent look.

The spot aired in the UK immediately afterthe official launch of the Mazda2 at theIAA in Frankfurt and went on to air acrossthe rest of Europe in October. The boardof directors at Mazda Motors Europe wasvery pleased with the final result. Everyoneat Hager Moss and ARRI Commercial

were proud to have completed ademanding and expensive, yet veryenjoyable production. “The Mazda2 spotis different. Most car commercials lookvery much the same, but the Mazda2 spotlooks more like a music video than atelevision commercial,” says ARRI Head of Commercial Postproduction Philipp Bartel.

All in all, it took only three months tocomplete the project, starting with therequest for an initial calculation andending with delivery of the 60-secondspot. Hager Moss Producer Jürgen Krausbelieves there are several reasons why

this complex production went sosmoothly. One was the close physicalproximity of the film production companyand the postproduction house. Anotherwas the trust that had been establishedbetween Hager Moss and ARRI Film &TV Commercial on previous productions.“On a project that requires such complexand extensive postproduction work, Iwant a partner that makes me feel I am

the customer,” he says. “These projectsnecessitate intensive support and closecollaboration at all logistical stages aswell as confidence in the partner’soverall abilities. In my experience,ARRI has completed all tasks brilliantly.”

Philipp Bartel knows all too well that histeam is the pillar of this success: “Wehave an exceptional crew at ARRI

Commercial. Together with the team atpunchin.pictures, they have a wealth of complementary qualifications, whichthey employ freely and generously in theservice of our clients. If there are everany problems, the team sorts them outand generates a positive outcome. Thismakes for a creative and productiveenvironment.”

Ingo Klingspon

“TO KEY 130INDIVIDUAL TAKES,SHOT WITH AMOVING CAMERA, WAS A CHALLENGETHAT KEPT 10PEOPLE BUSY FOR 12 DAYS. AND

THAT WAS ARATHER FASTTURN AROUND.”

THE PHOTOBUBBLE interior and studio floor were keyed from white to create an abstract space

Project:

Mazda2 “Competition“Client:Mazda Motor Europe

Agency: J. Walter Thompson GmbH &Co. KG Düsseldorf Head of TV JWT:Marie-Louise SeidlCreative Director JWT:Eddy Greenwood

Art Director JWT:Igor KarpalovProduction:Hager Moss Commercial

Executive Producer:

Eric MossProducer:

Jürgen KrausPostproduction Supervisor:Nilou TabrizDirector:Paula WalkerDoP:Rolf KestermannEditor:Markus Goller

ARRI Head of Commercial:Philipp Bartel

Art Director:

Rico ReitzTelecine:Stefan AndermanFlame Artists:R ic o Re it z Ja we d Na se rMichel Tischner Chris WeingartStefan TischnerRotoscoping:Manuel Voss & Team3D Artists:Christian Deister Gregoire BarfetyAdam Dukes Lutz Pel ike


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Burstyn interpreted the visuals to serve thestory through a combination of traditionalfilmmaking techniques and more stylizedlooks. He notes, “My biggest tool aroundthe camera was colour. We used a lot of colour, but not all at the same time. Acharacter or a location would have asingle or double colour assignation,something Nick, Production DesignerMichael Joy and I worked out duringprep. I would describe Tin Man as old-fashioned filmmaking with a twist. ThinkOrson Wells and Gregg Toland ASC.We had a lot of very classic coverage

and we wanted to seduce the audienceinto thinking all is well, everything isnormal and then we’d throw in somejarring imagery or cross the axis to throweverybody off track. There’s a lot of clever cutting in there. The Wicked Witchis transforming the world into a dark,lifeless place. The darkness is spreadingfrom her evil factory. Around her factoryand around her army there’s darkness,and it’s full of shadows and a very nastykind of greenish daylight. Now, whereverDG goes, there’s a fairy tale, golden,beautiful light around her. In the worldwhere DG comes from, it’s a normal,‘American, apple pie’ light. All that said,there’s an effort to keep these colours

subtle and the look sincere, as real as you can expect things to be in the Landof Oz. It was a bit of a visual tightropewe had to walk, not wanting anything tobecome cartoon-like, but staying wellaway from the mundane.”

An example of some edgy imagery canbe seen in shots from DG’s perspective,sometimes shot with Willing’s antiqueEyemo and ARRIFLEX 35 IIC camerasor even with primitive, yet effectiveaccessories repurposed for the D-20.“Nick wanted the film to be apsychoanalysis of our heroine DG.He wanted a story within a story, so wedevised strange POVs that were alteredin camera. Nick has a lot of wavy glass

taken from old buildings, pieces of chandelier and pendants from hisprecious collection that he loved tohandhold and wiggle in front of the lens.A lot of those dreams, memories andsubconscious feelings were interpretedthrough that glassware.”

The production shot for 60 days inBritish Columbia, Canada with threeD-20 cameras provided by ClairmontCamera’s Vancouver office. The camerapackage included a set of standardspeed Zeiss Primes, a few Super Speedsand three zooms of wide, medium andlong lengths. Since the single,

6 Megapixel CMOS sensor at the heartof the D-20 has the same size as aSuper 35mm film aperture the D-20 usesthe same lenses as 35mm film cameras.Says Burstyn, whose credits includeMarco Polo, the pilot of “The 4400”,City of Industry and The Boys and Girl from County Clare , “The great thingabout the D-20 and its 35mm perspectiveis that you have full use of the palette of lenses. This was one of the reasons why

Nick wanted the D-20, to be able to beselective with his depth of focus. We dida lot of long lens stuff, a lot of verystandard lens (35, 50, 85mm) kind of coverage and lots of big, wide-angleshots swooping into close-ups. There’s alot of out-of-focus foreground. We tookfull advantage of that 35mm depth of field that the D-20 camera provides.”

Unlike the original adaptation, theminiseries is not a musical. “Our film ismore of a road trip,” explains Burstyn.“The main characters are alwaysmoving, hiding and making their waytowards the goal. A lot of the story isinterpreted through the action or throughthe many wonderful flashbacks.” To

cover all of these characters on theirjourney, the filmmakers incorporatedfrequent camera moves. “We took a lotfrom The Magnificent Ambersons andCitizen Kane . The camera flows throughthose big sets and arrives into a close-upor two-shot. The camera always movesso there’s a lot of crane and dolly work,a lot of hand-held. We used a lot of off-angles. Camera Operator Trig Singerand Dolly Grip Glen Forerider didamazing jobs, their choreography wasmagnificent to observe. Jim Van Dykedid one day of Steadicam for a scene of the characters running through a maze.”

In a scene where DG is threatened byan angry mob, the production usedin-camera and visual effects to bring adead tree to fruitful life. “Nobody hasany way of protecting DG, and the TinMan, the Lion and Glitch turn to her todo something. She doesn’t know quitewhat to do and without realizing it, hermagic power transforms the tree they’vebeen standing beneath. As it begins toblossom, the camera rises into its

branches and the light changes from asomber gloom into a golden glow. Asthe camera continues to rise, we fade uplights behind moving golden gels andthe light seems to grow brighter as wedo a subtle stop-pull. We arrive at thetop of the tree already in full bloom fromthe art department’s bit of set dressing.Visual effects were later put in to makeflowers bloom on camera. It was acarefully orchestrated effort that was inconcert with the art department, lightingand visual effects.”

For Burstyn, the opportunity to translatethe story to screen was a creativechallenge partnered with the benefits of shooting on the ARRIFLEX D-20. “It’s a

beautiful camera. In this age of instantgratification, cameras that surprise youwith all the wonderful things that theycan do, this camera requires a lot of skilland a confident hand but it was a greatthrill and a privilege to use,” he says.

Tin Man airs in December on the SCI FIChannel in the USA.

An Tran

ARRIFLEX D-20 on Tin ManTo create the fantastical world of Tin Man, an upcoming three-part, six-hourminiseries for the US SCI FI Channel, Director Nick Willing and CinematographerThomas Burstyn chose the ARRIFLEX D-20 to capture a whimsical world thatreimagines Frank Baum’s classic The Wizard of Oz . The production starsRichard Dreyfuss as a wizard named Mystic Man, Zooey Deschanel as DG (thegranddaughter of the original Dorothy) and Alan Cumming as Glitch, a man missinghalf his brain. Although Burstyn is very familiar with working in high definition video,this was his first foray shooting with the D-20. The DoP ran tests to learn theadvantages and limitations of shooting with the film-style HD camera. “My mostimportant test was to take the camera out into the darkest forest location we’d beworking in on a gloomy day in the rain and see how the darkness worked in asituation that I couldn’t light or control. We shot wide open and lit a face very subtlywith one bulb of a Kino Flo wrapped in diffusion and let the forest fall where it may.Initially I was concerned about the camera’s low ISO rating, but it has a lot morelatitude in the shadows than a film emulsion does so that assuaged a lot of thatworry of mine. Moreover, we were very pleased with the look. Great saturation,incredible accutance and resolution.”

During testing the camera crew also familiarized themselves with the menu settingsthe camera has to offer. “We ran through all the settings on the camera, shot testswith every possible variation, and settled on the one we thought was best and thatwas Log F. It was the slowest setting but it gave the least amount of noise and thegreatest amount of latitude. It seemed to be the most ‘film-like’ setting and the onethat allowed the most flexibility in postproduction. We decided that although thecamera requires a lot of lighting, the final result is quite fantastic. Lee Wilson of Anthem Visual Effects, leader of our visual effects team loved the camera. I think thelook is closer to 35mm than any other camera can give. It was a worthwhile trade-off. But while the camera output has some of the feel of 35mm, it also deviates fromthe modern grainy vogue of 35mm: because the image is so sharp, it feels like anold-fashioned fine grain film, maybe like Kodachrome but with better colourrendition, and long latitude range.”

Return to Oz

VISION ARRI

P h o t o c o u r t e s y J a m e s D i t t i g e r / S C I F I C h a n n e l

ON LOCATION Director Nick Willng (right), Cinematographer Thomas Burstyn (left)


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The first major project to use the D-20was Hogfather , an adaptation of thenovel by Terry Pratchett for UK television.Directed by Vadim Jean, withcinematography by Gavin Finney BSC,the drama aired on Sky HD overChristmas 2006 in two feature-lengthparts. The producers were so pleasedwith how the production turned out thatthey shot with the D-20 for a secondtime this summer, teaming with Finneyagain on their next Pratchett adaptation,The Colour of Magic .

For Afrika, Mon Amour , German DoPFrank Küpper was confident theARRIFLEX D-20 was the right tool for this

historic three-episode television perioddrama shot in Kenya, Germany, Austriaand the UK. With many CGI effects anda tough postproduction schedule,shooting digital was the logical choice.“For a production with so many VFXshots, shooting digital has lots of advantages. No grain, instant availabilityof the full resolution images and the35mm look all play a vital role here,” heexplained. “It was obvious that shootingHD with a camera that uses a Super35mm [sized] sensor would give the bestresults and speed up the workflow.”

The D-20 was also used betweenNovember 2006 and April 2007 toshoot the eleventh series of the BBCdrama Silent Witness, which consists of ten one-hour episodes. DoP KevinRowley and Producer George Ormondfelt that the use of the D-20 helped tobring an even higher quality look to thispopular crime series about a trio of forensic pathologists. “We felt it wouldgive the show a very distinctive look –glossy, classy and expensive looking,with movie ambitions. It was the depthof field that made the difference for us,”commented Ormond. The twelfth seriesof Silent Witness is now underway and isagain being shot with the ARRIFLEX D-20.

Shooting recently concluded in Canadaon The Andromeda Strain, directed byMikael Salomon (DoP Jon Joffin) who last

year directed The Company for ScottFree Productions with D-20 cameras; ahighly prestigious US miniseries aboutthe CIA (DoP Ben Nott ACS).

Another production shot in Canada wasTin Man, a three-part miniseries directedby Nick Willing for the US SCI FIChannel (DoP Thomas Burstyn).

Feature films to have shot with the D-20include The Bank Job (Director RogerDonaldson, DoP Mick Coulter BSC),RocknRolla (Director Guy Ritchie, DoP

David Higgs), Prisoners of the Sun(Director Roger Christian, DoP Ed Wild)and Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel (Director Gareth Carrivick,DoP John Pardue).

ARRI continues to gather invaluablefeedback and respond to requests fromusers in order to further improve theARRIFLEX D-20 to meet the needs anddesires of cinematographers. Thedevelopment of a new software packagehas recently increased the sensitivity of the camera to provide a wider range of settings for use in lower light situations;the D-20 can now be set to theapproximate equivalent of 500 ISO(ASA), or even higher for certainapplications. While a new Sony Fibre

Interface SFI-1 facilitates high-speedshooting at up to 60fps. The unit mountsdirectly on the camera and is connectedby a single fibre cable to a fibre-equipped Sony SRW-1 HDCAM SRrecorder. Bill Lovell, Head of the DigitalDepartment at ARRI Media, comments:“The D-20 has always been capable of operating at 60 frames per second, butrecorders have not been able to do thesame. The Sony Fibre Interfaceconfiguration provides the solution,allowing high-speed shooting, in-cameraspeed ramps recorded directly onthe SRW-1 and a cable length of upto 500m.”

At ARRI in Munich, VisionARRIspoke with Director MilchoManchevski and DoP FabioCianchetti about their latestfeature Shadows , an internationalco-production filmed inMacedonia last year. Togetherthey recalled their experiencesmaking the film.

VisionARRI: What’s the filmShadows about?

Milcho Manchevski: It is about a youngdoctor in Macedonia who has personalproblems and dies unexpectedly. He is a

bit like Lady Macbeth’s son; he’s thattype of character. I would describe thepremise of the film as: sometimes thedead are more powerful than the living.

VA: Is the film set in the world ofthe living or the dead?

MM: The film is mostly about the living,about the journey the protagonist has togo on in order to recognize that lifeoffers many possibilities.

VA: Your film is an internationalco-production. How did thatcome about?

MM: Our film is a German, Macedonian,Italian, Spanish and Bulgarianco-production. When you are makinga film in Europe, it is almost always aco-production. There are two reasons

why: first of all, it allows you to drawfrom a larger pool of talented peoplewhen you are putting together yourteam. Secondly, it helps get your film

financed, especially if the film comesfrom a small and poor country. As amatter of fact, all the films I’ve madehave been European co-productionsinvolving three to five countries.

VA: Fabio Cianchetti, you alsocame to the project as a result ofthis co-production arrangement,is that right?

Fabio Cianchetti: That’s correct. I am partof the Italian package, so to speak.I believe it was the Producer AmedeoPagani who introduced me to MilchoManchevski; he watched several of my previous films and after an initial

meeting we both had a good feelingand so went to work.

Milcho Manchevski’s

Shadows A growing number of filmmakers have entrusted their visions to the ARRIFLEX D-20 film-style digitalcamera in all areas of motion picture and television drama production. Over the last year, the camera’s

versatility has been tested on f eature films, TV drama series, commercials, music videos, second unit and

effects shots.

SILENT WITNESS

THE COMPANY

HOGFATHER

ARRIFLEX D-20Brings Ideas to Reality

© J a n T h i j s


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VA: What was it like working together?

FC: Milcho is an excellent director whoknows what he wants. We shared thesame vision for what we wanted to seeon the screen. We agreed on the light,as well as the mood the film intended tocommunicate. He prefers the Americanway of working, whereas I like toexperiment, but we soon found acommon denominator. And in the endwe both got what we wanted.

VA: One of your co-producers isBlue Eyes Fiction, a new Germanproduction company. How didthat relationship come about?

MM: At the beginning we had contactswith various companies. When we got tothe crucial point, where decisions neededto be made, Blue Eyes quickly decided tocome on board. We had very little timebecause we wanted to shoot the film assoon as possible and having them onboard allowed us to pull the trigger. If we

hadn’t shot the film last summer, I thinkwe would never have shot it.

VA: Was it the German producers who suggested ARRI f or thefilm’s postproduction?

MM: Yes, and I am very happy wedecided to go with ARRI. Working withARRI was the best part of this entireprocess, starting at the preparation stageand all through production andpostproduction. To me, what was mostimpressive was the competence of theARRI staff. Our project was in goodhands and it was a real comfort,especially after all the problems we hadencountered at the outset. We felt verysafe here. We were able to solve someof the problems that we were previouslyunable to resolve. ARRI was the icing onthe cake on this project; they saved us!

VA: What problems had youencountered prior to working

with ARRI?

MM: We experienced all kinds of problems. One was the fact that some of the visual effects made in Bulgaria didnot turn out the way we had intended.We had done the work there because of the complicated co-production contract.At ARRI we were able to fix the visualeffects; we worked on some of theproblematic set-ups and now they work.The shoot was very difficult andcomplicated as well, and some of ourshots did not turn out the way we hadhoped. Things like that always happen,but I had never been to a place wherethese problems were tackled with somuch competence and enthusiasm. Thepeople I worked with at ARRI, especiallythe DI Colourist Rainer Schmidt of ARRIFilm & TV, were so wholeheartedlycommitted. At ARRI people are not justprofessionals, they are committedprofessionals. To me, that is the only wayto work. If you look at this as just anotherjob that needs to get done, then it is somuch harder to make it to the finish line.

VA: Which camera did you use?

FC: We used the ARRIFLEX 535 and aSteadicam. We also used Cooke lenses.

VA: Was this the first time youhad finished a film using theDI process?

MM: Yes. Before, we had just used thetraditional lab process.

FC: For me it was the first feature filmentirely finished in a DI, though I did havesome experience of it from commercialsand from collaborations with BernardoBertolucci. The DI opened up an array of new possibilities. Rainer [Schmidt] wasvery important; he showed us the right

way and I am very happy to have crossedpaths with him. We got along splendidlyand shared the same thoughts on manyissues. He was at my side when things gota bit tricky and that was very reassuring.

VA: You had only a week to dothe colour correction. Was that all

you thought you needed or were you afraid this wasn’t going tobe enough time?

MM: I was very much surprised how fasteverything got done. At the beginning Ithought that we hadn’t scheduled enough

time and I was very nervous about that.But in the end we finished everything inless time then we had planned on. Themost important aspect was that thebiggest bulk of the work had alreadybeen completed when we arrived here.We only had to fine-tune and make somecreative decisions, which were thenexecuted promptly.

VA: Would you want go through aDI again?

MM: Absolutely. The DI grants you muchgreater freedom and simplifies theproduction. Not all problems have toget solved on set. There are problemsthat can’t be solved on set, not even

with all the time and money in the world.What I enjoyed most was the possibilityto shape the emotional as well as thenarrative focus during postproduction.That is unique.

VA: You had very little time tofinish the film, since you wantedto present it at the TorontoInternational Film Festival.

MM: That’s true. We got into the SpecialPresentation section and really had toget our act together and work hard.Again ARRI surprised us; everything was

finished when they said it was going tobe finished, which wasn’t always thecase on this production.

VA: Could you see yourselfshooting a film in Germany?

MM: Sure, very much so. I would needsome time to really understand thenuances, but I do believe that people arethe same everywhere. I’ve shot a lot inMacedonia, France, England and Japanand I don’t think I would have problemsshooting in Germany. There are manythings I like about this country, forexample the way work gets done here.In my experience, working with Germancompanies has always been very

straightforward, honest and transparent.I like that; it is a rare thing to find. Thiswas also the case at ARRI. Now, it isvery difficult for me to imagine workinganywhere but at ARRI.

FC: I would very much like to work inGermany again, but there are so manygood DoPs in Germany that it is hard tofind work here. Maybe it would bepossible on another internationalco-production.

Heike Maleschka / Ricore Text

EDITING a car crash sequence

IN DISCUSSION DoP Fabio Cianchetti, DI Colourist RainerSchmidt and Director Milcho Manchevski (left to right)

“THE DI GRANTS YOU MUCH GREATER FREEDOM AND SIMPLIFIES THEPRODUCTION. NOT ALL PROBLEMSHAVE TO GET SOLVED ON SET. THERE ARE PROBLEMS THAT CAN’T BE SOLVEDON SET, NOT EVEN WITH ALL THE TIME AND MONEY IN THE WORLD.”


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East of Everything is a six by one-hour television drama series, shot on location in thebeautiful sub-tropical region of Byron Bay in New South Wales for Australia’s nationalbroadcaster ABC Television.

Created by highly-regarded writers Deb Coxand Roger Monk, who both live near Byron Bay,East of Everything is the story of a restless travelwriter who is called to his dying mother’s bedsidein a ramshackle resort on the eastern most point of Australia. While there, he is beset by localdifficulties and painful reminders of his past, butcomes to realise that this derelict town, whichbecame his parents’ ‘paradise lost’, may hold thekey to his own salvation.

East of Everything features a stellar cast of Australian actors such as Richard Roxburgh, TomLong, Gia Carides and Susie Porter. Produced byFiona Eagger, whose previous television creditsinclude The Society Murders and CrashBurn,the show was directed by Stuart McDonald and

Matthew Saville. Director of Photography BrendanLavelle, ACS had already established a workingrelationship with both directors on the hugelysuccessful TV series The Secret Life of Us.

Though digital video formats are becomingincreasingly common on television dramaproductions in Australia, the team chose to shootthe series on Super 16mm film, mainly due to theisolated filming location and its distance from majorcentres capable of providing technical support.

“Film equipment is proven to be robust andextremely portable,” says Lavelle. “It is well suitedto the tight production requirements of a locationshoot, within the inevitable tight deadlines. Inaddition, using film gave us flexibility in capturingthe wide range of textures and contrasts at thevarious locations. The different landscapes were

treated as other ‘characters’ in the story and wephotographed them at all times of day and night tocapture their many moods. Because of the shortwinter daylight hours during the shooting period,the film’s exposure latitude also gave more chancesto preserve those moods at either end of the day.”

Lavelle opted for Kodak Vision2 film stocks, makinguse of 250D (7205), 200T (7217) and 500T (7218).The production package was provided by ARRIAustralia and consisted of two ARRIFLEX 16SR 3cameras equipped with Canon zoom lenses of 11.5-139mm and 7-63mm, plus a set of Zeissprime lenses ranging from 9.5mm to 50mm and aCanon Century 300mm telephoto lens with doubler.The telephoto lens was mostly used to cover surfingaction at the mythical ‘Broken Head Bay’, wherethe series is set, as well as shots of the occasionalmigrating whale. Two sets of Schultz tripod legswith O’Connor and Sachtler 150mm fluid headscompleted the package.

“ARRI Australia representatives Christian Hilgartand Geraldine Quinn visited the location during

preproduction to ensure we had a package thatsuited our needs,” continues Lavelle. “For a shortperiod we also had the chance to use the newARRILEX 416 camera and put it through its paces.

“The production was keen to have the cost andtime-saving benefits of 800ft film magazines, whichare not typically seen on ARRI cameras in Australia,but the team arranged to have these imported for usfrom ARRI Germany and they were used to greateffect. In fact, it was the first time these magazineshad been used on a local production in Australiaand they were of great benefit, with increasedrunning time and greatly reduced wastage. In spiteof the extra weight, they were also successfully usedfor hand-held shooting on many occasions, mountedon an Easyrig camera support and equipped withzoom lens, matte box and follow focus.

“The shoot was completed successfully and on time,with no losses due to equipment or weather,”concludes Lavelle. “All involved feel that we havemade a television series to be proud of and whichdoes justice to the beautiful region of Byron Bay.”

Tracy Mair

EAST OF EVERYTHING ARRI Australia on location with Cinematographer Brendan Lavelle

DIRECTOR OF EPISODES 4, 5, & 6, Matthew Saville, lookingthrough the camera with DoP Brendan Lavelle; Cast and crew atMain Beach, Byron Bay; Susie Porter as Eve Pritchard; Directorof the first 3 episodes, Stuart McDonald; The crew on location atBroken Head; The art department team work on the constructionof the main set, the Far Out East resort; DoP Brendan Lavelle(from top left)


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A THOUSAND YEARSOF GOOD PRAYERS

Wayne Wang’s latest film, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, based on ashort story by award-winning authorYiyun Li, marks the director’s departurefrom mainstream Hollywood movies and

a return to his roots in independent film.A low-budget, character-driven piece,A Thousand Years of Good Prayers is setin the Chinese American community, aworld in which Wang is very much athome. He himself is a Hong Kong nativewho immigrated to the United States andlater studied film at the CaliforniaCollege of Arts and Crafts in Oakland.

The film tells the story of Mr. Shi (HenryO), an elderly Chinese gentleman whocomes to the U.S. to look after hisrecently divorced daughter Yilan (FayeYu), though their worlds quickly collide.

Mr. Shi is concerned with the loss of traditional Chinese values while hisdaughter, an independent womanconsumed with work and her affair witha married Russian man, feels her father

is encroaching upon her life. It is theunexpected friendship with an Iranianwoman (Vida Ghahremani) of his ownage and a trip across the U.S. thateventually helps Mr. Shi to reconcilewith his estranged daughter.

Wayne Wang’s earlier films includeA Man, a Woman, and a Killer , Chan IsMissing, Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart and Slam Dance . His Hollywoodbreakthrough came with The Joy Luck Club in 1993, which he followed withfilms such as Smoke , Blue in the Face and Maid in Manhattan. His most recent

people and the culture of the Chinese inAmerica. And, I always try to make filmsabout what I know best.

VA: You overcome the gapbetween Asian and westernculture so easily. What is

your secret?

WW: There is no secret. There is only theon-going process of accepting the conflictand using the best of both cultures.

VA: How did the fact that you livein America affect your point of

view on China?

WW: It gives me a more objective view

of China, I think. It makes me appreciatewhat’s unique and positive about Chinaand yet see the problems more clearly inthe same way. I’m dealing with beingboth American and Chinese.

VA: After 17 movies, what haschanged for you personally in filmmaking?

WW: I learned that being truthful to thecharacters in the film is the key toeverything. And to find the conflict inwhat the characters want gives me thetension that I need to build each scene.

VA: Has your style ofdirecting changed?

WW: It has changed a lot. I no longer

strive to control and perfect everything.Instead I’ve learned to use what is reallyin front of me and make it serve myultimate goal for the film.

VA: Or has your cultural approachto China changed?

WW: It has become a fusion of somekind. Some people in China recentlysaid that I’m not Chinese. I’m proud of that; I’m more than simply a Chinese,I’m a Chinese-American and a citizen of the world – a truly contemporary, globalperson with a unique fusion culture.

VA: You are very experiencednow; what is different in yourrecent work compared to yourearly films?

WW: Every film is still very different.I don’t see them as routine; I try to dodifferent things. Big Hollywood films...small personal films... but I keep it freshso that I learn something new every time.

VA: What was most importantfor you in your new movie AThousand Years of Good Prayers ?

WW: That there are many things whichdetermine how your relationship todifferent people work, but ultimately there

is something called destiny or fate which you can affect to a certain degree inhow you are, how you relate to peopleand what you do every day – not only inthis lifetime but perhaps in other ones too.

VA: What did you experienceduring this production? What did

you like or dislike? What was funand what was difficult?

WW: I enjoyed the freedom I had onevery aspect of the production andbecause of this, I was able to work veryinstinctively. I worked very closely withmy cinematographer, Patrick Lindenmaierand we both enjoyed trying to find thetruth in every moment of each

2007 12 Issue5 VisionARRI

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