American Cinematographer - January 2024

January 2024 The International Publication of the American Society of Cinematographers
Dariusz Wolski, ASC and Ridley Scott

Napoleon
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HOYTE VAN HOYTEMA ASC, FSF, NSC
© 2022 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
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COVER STORY STORARO AND HIS DIRECTORS
G O TO W W W. E X P E R I E N C E O P P E N H E I M E R .CO M F O R M O R E
DECEMBER 2022 / 1
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JANUARY 2024 VOL. 105 NO. 1
Contents Features
16 The Professionals: The Killer and Ferrari
Erik Messerschmidt, ASC discusses his work on two features about
characters in crisis, with Michael Mann commenting on Ferrari.
32 Napoleon: The Intimate and the Epic

Dariusz Wolski, ASC and Ridley Scott offer their analysis of an impressively
mounted motion picture that presents the French emperor and military
commander in both private and public moments.
44 First Love in Focus: Priscilla

Philippe Le Sourd, ASC, AFC crafts evocative imagery tracing the arc
of Priscilla Presley’s relationship with Elvis.
16
52 Life Anew: Poor Things
Robbie Ryan, BSC, ISC and director Yorgos Lanthimos build a fantasy
world to tell an outrageous tale of physical and spiritual rebirth.
Departments
52
8 President’s Desk
10 Shot Craft: Basics of Blocking
62 The Virtual World: Volume Work for Poor Things
66 Clubhouse News
68 New Products and Services
71 Ad Index
72 Wrap Shot: Napoléon (1927)
VISIT THEASC.COM
On Our Cover:
Napoleon Bonaparte (Joaquin Phoenix) leads French troops into
battle in Napoleon, shot by Dariusz Wolski, ASC and directed by
Ridley Scott. (Image courtesy of Apple Original Films.)
2 / JANUARY 2024
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AMERICAN
CINEMATOGRAPHER
MANUAL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
PAPERBACK EDITION4 Stephen Pizzello
WEB DIRECTOR and PUBLISHER

David E. Williams
This budget-conscious version
of our revised 11th edition of EDITORIAL
our essential technical refer- MANAGING EDITOR Andrew Fish
ence is now available from the
American Society of ASSOCIATE EDITOR Max Weinstein
Cinematographers. SHOT CRAFT and TECHNICAL EDITOR Jay Holben
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Rachael K. Bosley, Iain Marcks
With the same content as our
hardback version, this
VIRTUAL PRODUCTION EDITOR Noah Kadner
edition is designed for on-set VISUAL EFFECTS EDITOR Joe Fordham
use and is a must-have for WRITER/RESEARCHER Tara Jenkins
cinematographers and other
ASSOCIATE WEB EDITOR Brian Kronner
motion-imaging profession-
als — at a reduced price.
Edited by M. David Mullen,

CONTRIBUTORS
ASC and ASC associate Benjamin B, John Calhoun, Mark Dillon, Sarah Fensom,
member Rob Hummel, Michael Goldman, David Heuring, Michael Kogge, Matt Mulcahey,
contributors to this edition
include Society members Jean Oppenheimer, Phil Rhodes, Patricia Thomson, Peter Tonguette
Bill Bennett, Christopher
Chomyn, Richard Crudo,
Richard Edlund, John C. CREATIVE DIRECTION and DESIGN
Hora, Levie Isaacks, Dennis
Edwin Alpanian
Muren, James Neihouse,
Sam Nicholson, Steven
Poster, Christopher Probst,
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Pete Romano, Roberto
Schaefer and David Stump.
COPY NOW! ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR Sanja Pearce
323-952-2114 / Fax 323-952-2140 [email protected]
Topics covered in this edition ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR Jeff Victor
of our “filmmaker’s bible” 310-241-3166 / 847-721-2730 [email protected]
include:
• Evaluating digital cameras SUBSCRIPTIONS, BOOKS and PRODUCTS

• Taking ownership of your sensor CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Saul Molina
• The color science behind modern
CIRCULATION and EVENTS COORDINATOR Carlos Molina
lighting instruments
• Virtual production/emissive screens
• Digital versions of day-for-night and infrared ASC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Terry McCarthy
cinematography ASC SPONSORSHIP and EVENTS DIRECTOR Patricia Armacost
• Imax/large-format cinematography
• Specialty lenses CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER Alex Lopez
• Variable frame rates CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER Natalia Quiroz
• ASC Color-Decision List (ASC CDL) MEMBERSHIP and EVENTS ADMINISTRATOR Salvador Maldonado
• Academy Color Encoding System (ACES)
DIRECTOR OF FINANCE and ACCOUNTING Thanh Lai
STAFF ACCOUNTANT Ariola Lopez Lamas
American Cinematographer (ISSN 0002-7928), established 1920 and in its 105th
year of publication, is published monthly in Hollywood by ASC Holding Corp.,
Order today — for yourself or as a gift 1782 N. Orange Dr., Hollywood, CA 90028, U.S.A., (800) 448-0145, (323) 969-
4333, Fax (323) 876-4973, direct line for subscription inquiries (323) 969-4344.
— at store.ascmag.com/collections/ Print subscriptions: U.S. $39; Canada/Mexico $59; all other foreign countries
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books-videos Advertising: Rate card upon request from Hollywood office. Copyright 2024 ASC
Holding Corp. (All rights reserved.) Periodicals postage paid at Los Angeles, CA
and at additional mailing offices. Printed in the USA. POSTMASTER:
Send address change to American Cinematographer, P.O. Box 2230,
Hollywood, CA 90078.
4 / JANUARY 2024
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OCTOBER 2023 / 5

American Society of Cinematographers
The ASC is not a labor union or a guild,

but an educational, cultural and
THE WORLD’S LEADING INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL professional organization. Membership is
by invitation to those who are actively en-
ON MOTION IMAGING DELIVERS THE INSIDE STORY gaged as directors of photography and have
OF MODERN CINEMATOGRAPHY demonstrated outstanding ability. ASC
membership has become one of the highest
honors that can be bestowed upon a
professional cinematographer — a mark
of prestige and excellence.
OFFICERS 2023/2024
Shelly Johnson
President
Charlie Lieberman
1st Vice President
John Simmons
2nd Vice President
Patti Lee
3rd Vice President
Charles Minsky
Treasurer
Dejan Georgevich
Secretary
Christopher Chomyn
Sergeant-at-Arms
MEMBERS
OF THE BOARD
From new camera systems and lighting options to the creative Patrick Cady
use of virtual-production methods, American Cinematographer Steven Fierberg
examines the latest tools and techniques while maintaining Michael Goi
Shelly Johnson
sharp focus on essential creative collaborations and the Patti Lee
artistry of visual storytelling. Charlie Lieberman
Karl-Walter Lindenlaub
• Print Edition – Learn from the best Charles Minsky
and build your permanent reference collection Lowell Peterson
Lawrence Sher
• Digital Edition – Access AC magazine content John Simmons
anywhere you are while on the go Eric Steelberg
• AC Archive – Dive deep into more than John Toll
100 years of information and inspiration Amelia Vincent
Mandy Walker
SUBSCRIBE TODAY ALTERNATES
Dejan Georgevich
store.ascmag.com/collections/subscriptions Denis Lenoir
Steven Poster
Mark Irwin
Christopher Chomyn
ASC MUSEUM
Steve Gainer, Curator
Richard Edlund, Co-Curator
6 / JANUARY 2024

OCTOBER 2023 / 7

President’s Desk
PORTRAIT BY JOHN SIMMONS, ASC.
“John was one of the icons we all admired.”
SHORTLY AFTER ARRIVING IN TORUŃ, POLAND FOR CAMERIMAGE, there across the table, speaking his truth as he always had. The type
I was met with the sad news that one of our most respected ASC mem- of connection he created seemed to show me a path toward embrac-
bers, John Bailey, had passed. The festival’s opening ceremony was ing his ideals for the betterment of us all. He was a man of integrity,
thoughtfully prepared by honorary Society member Marek Żydowicz, and his unquestionable passion for stories made me appreciate being a
who presented a film clip of John accepting his Camerimage Lifetime cinematographer.
Achievement Award four years ago. Marek’s choice of this speech was I think any cinematographer who had an opportunity to speak with
poignant, in that John detailed the Polish perseverance to maintain and John — or, better still, got to know him in even a small way — became
protect all of their art forms amid centuries of seemingly impossible a more introspective artist, a more open-minded interpreter of story,
political turmoil. Through John’s eloquent example, we all learned the and a more nuanced author of images. Any of us who develops those
importance of caring and deep humanitarian values. The Polish people qualities will have the tools to contribute to our art form in a truly sig-
were honoring John — but John was honoring them. nificant way.
John was one of the icons we all admired as we moved through our
careers. He was unique among cinematographers, educating us by
making accessible the vast language of film, and by showing us how a
story told with individuality could make a great impact on an audience.
He taught us, in his insightful manner, how filmmakers from around the Best regards,
world could refine their artistic approach and immersive perception
to compel an audience to feel something complex, beautiful, political,
evocative, innovative, contemplative or impassioned in a whole new
way.
I remember being intimidated by John when I first met him, in 2002, Shelly Johnson
while we were both working with the Academy in the Cinematographer’s ASC President
Branch. Once I got to know him, I recognized that there was not a mo-
ment when he wasn’t speaking his truth, which I found endearing. In
recent years, he became more involved again with the ASC, serving on
the Board of Governors. When I was elected president, John was right
8 / JANUARY 2024
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For Your Consideration
O U T S TA N D I N G A C H I E V E M E N T I N C I N E M AT O G R A P H Y
(THEATRICAL FEATURE FILM)
ED LACHMAN, ASC
WINNER
CAMERIMAGE
FILM FESTIVAL
SILVER FROG
“The film’s haunting and hypnotic visuals represent a new career pinnacle
for camera wizard ED LACHMAN, who shows why
CINEMATOGRAPHY IS INDEED A GENUINE ART FORM.”
Peter Travers
“ED LACHMAN’s “Shot by

gothic-toned ED LACHMAN
compositions are in a LUSTROUSLY
MESMERIZING TIMELESS
throughout.” black-and-white.”
A Satire by Pablo Larraín
FILM.NETFLIXAWARDS.COM
p. 8-9 President's Desk V4.indd 9 12/5/23 11:52 PM

Shot Craft By Jay Holben
Basics of Blocking
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, DISTRIBUTED BY COLUMBIA PICTURES.

BREAKDOWNS AND DIAGRAMS BY JAY HOLBEN. IMAGES ON THIS PAGE FROM
A breakdown of a scene from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Blue arrows indicate performer movement and red arrows
indicate camera movement. (A red arrow aimed upward indicates pushing in, and downward indicates pulling out.)
Blocking is the practice of with a first-time director who isn't over-the-shoulders, close-ups, The Fundamentals
directing actors where to move yet adept at blocking, or with an extreme close-ups and inserts. You should approach blocking
in a given scene or shot. The “actor’s director” who just wants That’s the basic approach, but with the following in mind:
term is borrowed from traditional to fine-tune performance and it is often more interesting for the Clarity — Can the audience
theater, where it became com- leave the rest to you. In any case, audience if the characters move clearly see what they need to
mon parlance around the 1960s, it is a key skill to understand and during the conversation. Further, see in order to understand what’s
reportedly inspired by 19th-cen- incorporate into daily on-set dis- you can combine several shots happening? Is one actor’s move-
tury theater directors who would cussions with the director. into one by having an actor move ment hiding another’s important
plan actors’ movements on scale from a point far from the camera action? In animation, there’s a
models of sets using small blocks Talking Heads (wide) to one very near camera concept that the audience should
to represent the performers. Narrative filmmakers often (close-up). Blocking is determin- understand the story even if it
Blocking is an important photograph conversations, ing who moves where, and when. is played only in silhouette. Try
component of visual storytelling, typically between two peo- A director will often have an to apply that philosophy to your
and although it generally falls ple. The simplest way to block idea of blocking in their head blocking.
under the purview of the director, this is to have the actors stand (or on paper) before you get to Geography — This is so im-
it’s equally important for the (or sit) facing one another. We a scene, but this will frequently portant, and something that many
cinematographer to understand can then cover the scene with change once the actors start their directors overlook. The audience
how to use this tool creatively. countless possible combinations work. should always understand where
You may find yourself working of masters, two-shots, singles, the actors are within a particular
10 / JANUARY 2024
p. 10-15 Shot Craft V4.indd 10 12/5/23 11:55 PM

Close Encounters schematic: The colored circles represent moving actors and gray circles
represent non-moving performers. "H" is Harry, the focal character. The numbers in the circles
represent actor movement: The dark-green actor moves from 1 to 2 to 3, magenta 4 to 5, orange 6
to 7, light-green (a previously unseen actor) moves in at 8. Camera-position numbers indicate the
chronological order in which the scene plays out (not the frame number from the previous page).
location. Sometimes confusion unbreakable rules.

and disorientation can be pow- Within the composition, lines
erful narrative tools, but when are formed between the actors
your audience starts to wonder and between them and the
— “Wait, where are we?” — then environment. A short study of
you’ve taken them out of the perspective in traditional art and
experience. (This can easily hap- graphic design can help you un-
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, DISTRIBUTED BY COLUMBIA PICTURES.
pen with poorly blocked action derstand lines.

sequences.) It can also be beneficial to
This aspect of blocking is think of your actors’ positions and
related to the “180-Degree Rule,” try to form geometric shapes and
which posits that when two patterns in their placement and
characters speak, you draw an movement. Three actors, with two
imaginary straight line between of them facing the third, can form
their eyelines, and all of the shots an “A” or “L” shape, or, if all three
for the scene should be on only are in a line, an “I” shape. Think-
one side of that line. Crossing the ing of these configurations can
line can disorient the audience by help you organize and form final
violating the established geogra- compositional tableaus. You can
phy of the scene. also think about circles, polygons
Story — Where the actors or triangles between the actors
are in the frame and how they and between the actors and the
relate to each other is a critical environment.
component of visual storytelling. The more characters there are
Is one character in the scene in your scene, the more complex
more powerful than another? If your coverage will be. Block-
so, perhaps the "stronger" char- ing can greatly simplify this by
acter should be larger and more moving the characters to achieve
prominent in the frame. You can multiple elements of coverage in a
accomplish this by positioning single shot.
the “weaker” one farther from the Along those same lines, the
camera, lower in the frame, less more complex and interesting
in focus, in shadow, and so on. your blocking is, the harder it
Whatever you choose, the power might be to plan, rehearse and
dynamic should be reflected in cover. You need to allot time for
your strategy. this so the crew can set up the
Compositional Aid — Each necessary equipment and re-
element of blocking helps to form hearse the camera movement. In
the basis of the composition that independent production, this time
will be framed when completing is very rare. When you’re shooting
the shot. 8-12 (or more) pages of script a
day, it’s difficult to take four hours
Shapes, Lines and Space to block, set up and rehearse a
Many tutorials about blocking single shot, but that is sometimes
note the use of space, shapes what’s required to get interesting
and lines. These are good rules blocking and coverage.
of thumb, but, as with three-
point lighting (AC July ’19), they Masterful Blocking
are a foundation and not a set of Steven Spielberg is a master of
JANUARY 2024 / 11

Shot Craft
IMAGES FROM RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, DISTRIBUTED BY PARAMOUNT PICTURES.

From a scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark, with arrows indicating
performer (blue) and camera (red) movement.
Motivation and Business actor and camera blocking. Let’s around him.
As any actor will tell you, a move in blocking needs to be moti- take a look at some examples The main coverage and block-
vated by something. Why is that actor moving? It’s up to the di- from two of his films, Close En- ing for the scene begins with a
rector and actor to determine the motivation that makes sense counters of the Third Kind, shot tertiary character standing and
in the overall narrative and emotional context of the scene. by Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC, HSC, crossing the room to hand a file to
That brings us to “business.” This is a term that describes and Raiders of the Lost Ark, shot the lead controller, Harry (David
what an actor is doing, like removing their eyeglasses, looking by Douglas Slocombe, BSC. Anderson). The camera dollies
around the room for a suitable cloth to clean them, finding one Early in Close Encounters (see back and pans right with the ter-
and then using it. images, pages 10 and 11), an tiary character to reveal Harry sit-
All of this takes place during a conversation between two ac- air-traffic controller receives a call ting at his station. There’s another
tors. The need to clean their glasses is what motivates an actor from a pilot about an unidentified air-traffic controller between the
to move, while the act of removing their glasses, looking for the flying object near his plane. The camera and Harry, who is sitting
cloth and cleaning their glasses is business. scene is told entirely from the far from his console (although
Generally, the more business you can give an actor — as point of view of the air-traffic you don’t notice this) to provide
long as it’s organic to the scene and character — the more nat- controller, and we never leave foreground and allow us to see
ural the conversation will appear. that location. Spielberg and Zsig- Harry and for the camera to rake
Business can motivate movement and help you refine your mond build the tension through the shot across his instrument
blocking. careful camera moves, subtle panel. The camera pushes in on
— Jay Holben actor blocking and overlapping di- Harry during the early exchange,
alogue. Part of the genius of this and as interest in the situation
scene is that the air-traffic con- increases, the tertiary character
troller never loses his focus as the comes back into the shot, leaning
situation becomes increasingly in over Harry’s right shoulder,
urgent; he’s oblivious to everyone listening in. Then there’s a cut to a
12 / JANUARY 2024

“THE BEST PICTURE OF THE YEAR.” Leonard Maltin
“Eigil Bryld’s invaluable cinematography

evokes the desaturated colors and
fine-grained look of ‘70s films.”
Toronto Star
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

IN ALL CATEGORIES INCLUDING
BEST PICTURE
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
EIGIL BRYLD
Sign up at FocusInsider.com for exclusive access to early screenings, film premieres
and more. For more on this film, go to FocusFeaturesGuilds2023.com. © 2023 FOCUS FEATURES LLC.

Shot Craft
keeps Indy moving and energetic.

(See “Motivation and Business”
sidebar, page 12.)
Indy then crosses out of the
shot, and Brody follows him. The
camera follows Brody, keeping
him mostly centered in the frame
as he sits on the arm of a couch
and Indy pulls a suitcase from his
closet and begins packing. Indy
places the suitcase close to cam-
era, so as he stands at the case,
he’s in a close-up, with Brody
small in the background. For
Indy’s most prominent moment
here — when he asks about his
former love, Marion — he is in a
close-up and facing the camera
(in contrast to the majority of the
scene, in which he’s moving and
ancillary).
As Brody gets serious, Spiel-
berg pushes in on him to get the
Raiders of the Lost Ark schematic: Green is Brody and blue is Indy. With careful placement of a single dolly
character in a medium single.
track and coordination of the actors, the filmmakers achieve multiple angles of coverage in a single shot.
Brody delivers the point of the
shot similar to the one we started into a dirty single on Harry and light to go after the Ark of the scene, noting the danger that’s
with, tracking in with yet another then cuts back to the wide — as Covenant. Indy is excited, child- coming. Indy dismisses him and
character from across the room, the final character slides in over like and energetic, but Brody is the camera agrees, pulling back
and the camera dollies with him Harry’s right shoulder and delivers the more important character in and panning left as Indy crosses
back to the previous composition the moment it’s all been leading this scene: He delivers the heavy the room far from Brody, dropping
as he leans into the tableau over to: “Ask them if they want to warning that sets up the stakes him out of the shot entirely.
Harry’s left shoulder. The filmmak- report …” for the film. Indy takes something out of his
ers cut to a close on Harry, and The simplicity of coverage and This whole scene is covered desk drawer, then crosses back
then the camera pulls back as an- expert blocking within the frame in a single shot, except for one and settles into a two-shot with
cillary conversations happen with make this extremely tense scene insert. Spielberg and Slocombe Brody. Now Indy’s standing above
overlapping dialogue. The stakes feel authentic. accomplish this with a diago- him, assuming the power position
get kicked up with a cutaway In Raiders of the Lost Ark (see nal dolly track in the set, and in the scene. He reveals he’s
to another air-traffic controller images, page 12 and above), blocking within the frame. It starts taken his pistol out of the desk
deeper in the room, who leans a conversation between two with Indy answering the door and and tosses it into his suitcase,
back in his chair to get a look at characters is elevated by sim- standing in the hall with Brody. with the camera making a whip
the action — showing us that it ple camera moves and expert After a moment, Indy gestures pan with the pistol to a close shot
now has everyone’s attention. blocking. Brody (Denholm Elliott), for Brody to enter the room, and of the gun on top of his jacket and
Along the same camera axis an associate of Indiana Jones the camera pans and dollies with whip.
that Zsigmond and Spielberg just (Harrison Ford), comes to deliver them. Brody takes his place cen- With this oner, Slocombe
pulled out on, he pushes back the news that Indy has the green ter frame with Indy at his right. and Spielberg convey Indy’s
Indy then crosses to the left side enthusiasm and Brody’s parental
of the frame and fixes drinks from gravity by see-sawing the power
Blocking is an important component of visual a table in the middle of the room. between the two as the tone of
storytelling, and although it generally falls Do we need to know why the scene shifts. Compared to
under the purview of the director, it’s equally there’s a whiskey decanter and the rest of the film, it’s a quiet
two glasses on a table in the mid- moment and easily overlooked,
important for the cinematographer dle of the room? No. It justifies his but it’s key to the narrative.
to understand how to use it creatively. move and works for the scene; it
14 / JANUARY 2024

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The Professionals:
The Killer and Ferrari
Erik Messerschmidt, ASC shoots two stories about men whose
business and private lives spin out of control.
A
By Patricia Thomson
pair of films shot by Erik Messerschmidt, ASC

premiered at the Venice International Film Festi-
val last August, and both were collaborations with
leading directors: David Fincher’s The Killer and
Michael Mann’s Ferrari. Messerschmidt recently
spoke with AC from Spain about his work on each
production.
16 / JANUARY 2024
p. 16-31 Ferrari-The Killer V4.indd 16 12/5/23 11:56 PM

The Killer | A Devil of a Job “David was particularly interested in exploring
The Killer’s state of mind through the camera’s
Fincher and Messerschmidt didn’t discuss the look of The Killer as much
as its tempo and structure. perspective.”
Adapted from a graphic-novel series, the film follows a methodical,
nameless assassin (played by Michael Fassbender) whose life spirals out
of control after a job goes horribly wrong in Paris. He tries to restore a
sense of order by punishing those responsible.
Messerschmidt won an Academy Award for Fincher’s Mank (AC Feb.
’21), and his collaborations with the director span the Netflix series crisp, with a deeper depth of field.”
Mindhunter and the feature Gone Girl — with Messerschmidt serving as For the scenes set in the Dominican Republic, “David wanted a dirty,
gaffer for Jeff Cronenweth, ASC (AC Nov. ’14) on the latter. humid feeling,” he adds. “I thought it would be interesting if we could get
“David is fastidious,” he says. “He is very prepared, but very collab- the image to feel almost as if there was condensation inside the lenses,
THE KILLER IMAGES COURTESY OF NETFLIX. FERRARI IMAGES COURTESY OF NEON.
orative and considerate of what it is everyone’s bringing to the project. so diffusion felt like the obvious choice. I have a love/hate relationship
He shares his goals for the film with you, and he shares the techniques with diffusion, because I never feel like I can adequately control the ef-
that he wants to use in a really elegant way. So, you begin to understand fects in changing lighting conditions — especially with soft backlight
quite quickly what he’s looking to achieve on a given shot, a given scene and veiling flare — so I was apprehensive at first. I found the DaVinci
or even on a given film. Resolve plug-in ‘Scatter,’ which emulates optical filter effects in the DI
“On this film, David was particularly interested in exploring The suite. I shot some tests and was amazed with the results and how much
Killer’s state of mind through the camera’s perspective,” recalls Mess- control I had.”
erschmidt. “The Killer in his natural state is very much in control of his The Killer’s target in Paris had to have an apartment with large win-
environment — nothing surprises him, and we wanted the audience to dows, and when a practical location proved difficult to find, the film-
immediately connect to his confidence.” makers took a piecemeal approach. “The apartment across from The
He notes that, in general, “when the camera follows an actor, it is al- Killer’s [stakeout spot] is an amalgamation — a physical facade built in
most always just behind or just ahead of the action — never in abso- the town square and a CG set extension for the top floor,” says Messer-
lute sync with the actor’s physical performance. This gives the camera schmidt. “The interior of that apartment was built onstage without any
an inherently subjective point of view; in the audience’s subconscious, practical glass for the windows. We used a nine-camera setup outside a
it becomes a ‘character’ in the scene. However, when The Killer was in window in Paris that ultimately served as The Killer’s POVs of the street
control, we wanted the frame to be in absolute lockstep with Micha- activity, and as a reference for matte painting and set extension. We cap-
el’s performance, so the audience would feel completely connected to tured the entirety of the action in one setup, which meant David and
him, viewing him through a window as if the camera is part of his state editor Kirk Baxter had numerous choices in the edit — from long-lens
of mind. A-camera operator Brian S. Osmond and B-camera operator POVs to static wide shots, all in matching light. The interior of The Kill-
Mick Froehlich worked with Michael to rehearse every action down to er’s roost was built onstage in New Orleans and lit with an array of ROE
the millimeter, much like rehearsing a ballet.” LED video panels, which used the lighting reference images we captured
For moments when The Killer is out of his comfort zone, the cine- in Paris as a basis for image-based exterior lighting on the set.”
matographer adds, “we freed the camera, allowing it to be looser and The planning and previs were done “on the back of a napkin with a
unconstrained, handheld — antithetical to his preferred mental state.” ballpoint pen,” he adds.
International Pursuit Returning to Red

The story travels between Paris, the Dominican Republic, New Orleans, Fincher has only shot with Red cameras since The Social Network (AC
Florida and Chicago, and it unfolds in chapters, with title cards naming Oct. ’10), and he and Messerschmidt continued that practice on The Kil-
each location. Says Messerschmidt, “We started in Paris, where we shot ler, teaming a Red V-Raptor ST 8K VV with Leitz Summilux-C primes.
all the exteriors, apartment plates and airport scenes. The Dominican “On this film, I knew we were going to use a lot of mixed color tem-
Republic scenes were shot in the DR, mainly in and around Santo Do- peratures and be in some situations with very low light levels,” Mess-
mingo; the house seen in that chapter is a real location on the north side erschmidt says. “The Red has extraordinary dynamic range, captures a
of the island. The company then traveled to New Orleans — which also wide color gamut and has exceptional spectral sensitivity. It’s also quite
doubled for Florida — where the ‘Brute’ scenes were shot. From New small, which was helpful since we had numerous situations where we
Orleans, we traveled to Chicago to shoot both the Chicago and New York had to mount the camera to motorcycles or cars, or in car interiors, or
sequences. Ultimately, shooting concluded in Los Angeles, where we underneath a seat or in airplanes. I love that camera.”
shot our LED process work.” Of his lens choice, he notes, “I have shot with Summilux-C almost ex-
The filmmakers strove to differentiate each setting through color and clusively for the past five or six years. I find myself continually returning
contrast. Messerschmidt explains: “The movie starts out in Paris, which to the Super 35 format and Summilux lenses; I find that their simplicity
has a creamy grayness to the days and cool shadows that contrast with and somewhat predictable nature appeals to the type of work I like to
the sodium-vapor practicals at night. When things fall apart, The Kill- do.”
er goes to Dominican Republic, and life is really a mess for him; that’s In the final grade, colorist Eric Weidt “applied distortion and our
where the movie is the most confused, and we’re using the most filtra- Scatter effects, and the VFX team painted in anamorphic flares as part of
tion [that was added in post]. From there, the film sequentially becomes our process,” Messerschmidt adds. “We’ve been doing that since Mind-
sharper and more focused, paralleling his journey. Chicago is the most hunter. That way, we can tailor flares shot by shot.
JANUARY 2024 / 17

THE PROFESSIONALS: THE KILLER AND FERRARI
Previous spread: Michael Fassbender (left) and Adam Driver as the “There are many things I like about anamorphic, particularly the way
eponymous characters of The Killer and Ferrari, respectively. This they flare. Unfortunately, I often find they flare when I least want them
page, top: The Killer surveys his surroundings in the hours leading to, and they’re difficult to control in low-contrast situations. I also find
up to an assignment in Paris. Bottom: Erik Messerschmidt, ASC
the lack of consistency in resolution and close-focus limitations frus-
behind the camera.
trating, so I prefer to shoot spherical. Given our success with digitally
enhanced flares in the past, we thought we could take it a step further. I
fully believe that the cinematographer’s job doesn’t end at picture wrap
and that the post ‘printing’ process is just as important as principal pho-
tography. When I look at the great photographers, their contact sheets
are all heavily marked with crop marks and printing test strips — so for
me, VFX and post effects are merely an extension of that idea and part
of my job.”
In a similar vein, some shots in The Killer look handheld, but the effect
was created in post. “There are sequences where we thought the unsta-
bilized handheld camera would meld well with the state of mind of the
character, and so we shot a series of handheld tests. We ultimately elect-
ed to shoot the film stable, on a head on the dolly, and then destabilize
it to taste digitally. That was a process we had really refined on Mind-
hunter, and it allowed us to perfectly tune the amount of shake, shot-to-
shot, in the assembly stage. It was fascinating to me because in post, we
could have a very agitated moment, particularly in the fight sequence,
and then over the course of 20 or 30 frames, stabilize it for a moment. It
almost gives the sense that we’ve changed the frame rate, but in fact, all
we’ve done is stabilize the shot slightly.”
To achieve this, the crew shot most of the film in 6K 17:9 mode on
the Red, with a 17-percent center crop. “This leads to a framing reticle
of 5,102x2,171, which translates to a frame size slightly larger than the
S35 Academy aperture,” Messerschmidt notes. “In situations where we
wanted more overscan area for aggressive handheld, we switched the
camera to 7K mode for another 15 percent of additional capture raster
to work with.”
Battling “The Brute”

The Killer’s fight with “The Brute” (Sala Baker), an assassin who has

AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER THEASC.COM
The Killer finds his target in an apartment (pictured here)

and puts him in the crosshairs (bottom). Middle: Director
David Fincher confers with Fassbender on set.
attacked The Killer’s girlfriend, involved extensive stuntvis. The action is

set outside and within The Brute’s house, which sits on stilts in a bayou.
“We found a location outside New Orleans that everyone liked, and we
shot all the exteriors there,” Messerschmidt says. “Because the fight se-
quence required many setups, we elected to build the interior on stage in
New Orleans at Second Line Studios.”
Fincher told stunt coordinator Dave Macomber he wanted the fight
“to be exhausting to watch … to go on longer than you would expect,”
says Messerschmidt. For the stuntvis, “Dave built the interior of the
house out of cardboard boxes onstage, then choreographed and re-
hearsed the fight sequence with the stunt performers over the course
of several months. As part of that process, he shot a camera-directed
stuntvis that represented an assembled scene so that we could look at
it, make suggestions about adjustments and send it back. That process
went on for several weeks.

Below: The crew shoots Fassbender on location in the

Dominican Republic. Bottom: Messerschmidt opted for
the compact Red V-Raptor, which he found particularly
advantageous for mounting on cars or motorcycles.
“There’s a thing we do with fight sequences in cinema where we

often deliberately disorient the audience because it makes the scene
more interesting or more exciting,” he continues. “We agreed that that
was something we didn’t want to do because we wanted the audience to
be oriented in the layout of the home. So, we were very dogmatic with
the screen direction; we were very particular about what direction the
actors were going and made sure they had some geographic reference
for which room they were in — where they were going and where they
had come from.”
Silhouetted Mayhem
Messerschmidt notes that the exterior of the bayou house called for his
“most elaborate lighting setup, but it was relatively small. The art de-
partment installed streetlights on the street, and we had a condor with
20 / JANUARY 2024

JANUARY 2024 / 21

Tech Specs: 2.39:1

Camera | Red V-Raptor ST 8K VV
Lenses | Leitz Summilux-C
Below: Inside his home in Florida, an assassin known as The Brute

(Sala Baker) plays a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with The Killer.
Bottom: The crew shoots Fassbender and Tilda Swinton (portraying
The Expert) in Chicago, which doubled for New York City.
some SkyPanel 360s to light the distant fog. I use a lot of atmosphere,
but when we shot that sequence it was very windy, so we were struggling
with the consistency of the atmosphere from shot to shot. It was very
challenging.”
Though still sharply focused, the fight is sporadically steeped in
shadow, with the characters in silhouette. “David thought it would be
interesting if we got the sense that both of these characters are trying
desperately to stay quiet, as if not to disturb the neighbors — silent and
in the dark.”
Driven by Necessity
Asked about his past description of his lighting as “janitorial,” Messer-
schmidt clarifies, “I would say that my approach to lighting is driven by
necessity, not by desire. I don’t walk into a location and think about all
the lights I’m going to put in; I walk into a location and usually think
about all the things I’m going to get rid of. Often, the result is the need
for one or two lights.”
On The Killer, he continues, “The general lighting approach was
around color split tone. We were interested in cool shadows and warm
highlights, which is certainly not a new idea. I was using quite a bit of
cool toplight to add a little color to the shadows and then surrounding
the actors with generally warmer incandescent or fluorescent practicals.
We did a lot of work with LED tubes and LiteGear LiteMats. In general, it
was a minimalist approach.”
22 / JANUARY 2024

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JANUARY 2024 / 23

Enzo Ferrari (Adam Driver) works with

his team to keep his auto empire afloat
as it faces impending bankruptcy.
PHOTO BY LORENZO SISTI.

Ferrari | Man and Machines Mann also suggested having a look at his library. “It was a library of
immense proportions,” recalls Messerschmidt. “In one section were sev-
Set in 1957, Ferrari covers a pivotal few months in the life of Enzo Ferrari eral aisles of books dedicated to the Ferrari company and Enzo himself,
(Adam Driver) when he’s facing bankruptcy and personal crises. While and the history of motor racing. Michael also showed me and [cam-
he and his wife, Laura (Penélope Cruz), are struggling to recover from era operator] Roberto De Angelis quite a few films of what motor rac-
the death of their son, she edges closer to discovering her husband’s ing looked like in that era, particularly the accidents, to get us into that
secret — his longstanding relationship with a mistress, Lina (Shailene headspace.”
Woodley), with whom he has another son. Meanwhile, to save his busi-
ness, Ferrari decides to bet everything on the grueling Mille Miglia race, Location Based
which covers a thousand miles across Italy. Mann insists on shooting on location, and many of the sites used in Fer-
Describing Ferrari as “a family man who had two significant relation- rari were the real deal. The mausoleum where Enzo and Laura’s son is
ships in his life which were in direct conflict, and then a third relation- buried is, in fact, the Ferrari family’s mausoleum. Real locations were
ship with machines,” Messerschmidt says the overarching goal was to also used for the Ferrari home’s exterior and the barbershop Enzo visits
“give each of those two parts of his life a distinct visual aesthetic. The every day for a shave.
scenes between people and the racing sequences needed to have two As for the racing action, “most of it was shot in Emilia-Romagna and
different feels.” Reggio Emilia around Modena,” says Messerschmidt. “The race registra-
tion was shot in the correct location in Brescia where the race started.
To the Library The Futa Pass sequence was shot at the Gran Sasso. We built the French
In his discussions with Mann about the film’s look, “the thing that kept Grand Prix track at a test track outside Turin, and we shot some of that
coming up was Italian painting, and in particular Renaissance portrai- sequence at the Imola Formula 1 track as well.”
ture: Caravaggio, Titian, Tintoretto,” says Messerschmidt. “Most of our In fact, most of Messerschmidt’s prep was devoted to scouting lo-
early conversations were about light.” cations and planning pre-lights. “I returned to some locations many
The cinematographer subsequently developed an approach he calls times with [production designer] Maria Djurkovic and/or [gaffer] Ja-
“very natural and simple, but also low key.” nosch Voss, and we would discuss different methodologies for how we’d
24 / JANUARY 2024

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JANUARY 2024 / 25

2023_11_SONY_BoysInTheBoatAd_ASC.indd 1 11/20/23 7:08 PM
BOTTOM PHOTO BY EROS HOAGLAND.
Race Opera
Interview by Fred Schruers
Director Michael Mann shares how he and Erik Messerschmidt, ASC

explored the grandiosity and humanity of Enzo Ferrari.
American Cinematographer: This project was in development for

a long time, through different directors and casts. How did you
approach narrowing the focus of the story?
Michael Mann: When [potential director] Sydney Pollack and I got
together on it around 2000, there was the idea of [focusing on] these
three months in the spring of 1957. In the intensity of those months,
you can explore a fractal [of] Enzo’s whole life. All the conflicts are
contained in this crucible of these operatic events of 1957 — his
revelation to his wife, Laura, that he’s had another family for 12 years
with another woman, as he and Laura are still reeling from the death
of their son, Dino. Conflicts we may see neatly resolved in mov-
ies don’t neatly resolve in life; we wind up going to our grave with
the contradictions intact. There’s also the story of the factory that
they’ve built from nothing since 1947. It’s now 10 years later, and
Top: Messerschmidt and director Michael Mann on set.
everybody’s competing for a seat in a Ferrari. But at the same time,
Above: The filmmakers’ shooting methods helped achieve
racing in that period is so unbelievably dangerous. Half of the racing
their goal of having the picture cars driven at actual race speed.
team from 1956 to 1958 was dead by the end of ’58.
pre-light and what color palettes we would use.” dual-ISO capability and array of internal ND filters. “Depending on the
lenses we were using for a given shot, I would switch between 8K and 6K
Optical Considerations modes,” he notes. “For portraiture-style close-ups, we would shoot with
Messerschmidt shot most of the drama on the Venice 2, primarily for its primes, and in 8K, with a shallower depth of field. When we switched to
26 / JANUARY 2024

Mann directs Driver between takes.
There is always the near presence of sudden death, as in the demise the film, which is much like the way it works in a Caravaggio painting.
of test driver Castellotti, which was witnessed by a fellow driver. It’s dramatic because — Erik was terrific doing this — the light has its
They have all made a bargain with this — ‘It’ll never happen to me.’ own mind, and people move in and out of it. In a very subliminal way,
Until it happens to one of our friends, then we give it up forever on the believability is increased. It’s not theatrically designed from shot to
Sunday, then we’re back practicing by Wednesday, and we’re back on shot, or setup to setup, to a preconceived notion, which to me is a false
the track the next Sunday. The driver [who witnessed the crash], Jean way of thinking about it. In the scene where Enzo and Laura argue, the
Behra, was stopped on the road next to the Autodromo di Modena. lights are in a room the characters really move through.
[Castellotti] hit it too fast and the car was out of control, just exactly
what we shot in the movie. You have a medium shot, and you see that The moody interiors are a striking contrast to the vivid racing action.
car and see what happens. You don’t interfere with the objective real- I wanted the scenes between people to be monochromatic and dark
ity of the horror of it with nifty camerawork, nifty compositions, lots of and more-or-less conventional, with static cameras and a certain state-
cuts. You know, there’s a million ways you could shoot that, but I want- liness — the actors are performing, and the dynamics are happening
ed it to feel as neutrally observed as possible — a very pedestrian within that frame. The cars are shot in exactly an opposite way. That’s
camera angle with no cuts. We [did] a lot of testing to get a projected the only time you see that vivid red, and the cars are slashing through
car to do what we wanted. All the pieces of that car in the air are not the frame; there’s a lot of agitation, a lot of camera movement. The
CGI. That’s all real. camerawork, along with the sound, is very expressive of the internal
experience of racing. Some of the stuff was handheld, right up into
What do you appreciate about Erik Messerschmidt, ASC’s approach people’s faces. The idea was to feel you’re in the car.
to cinematography? The most innovative technology we used had to do with how the
I love Erik’s lighting because he really lights — [he’s] very proactive. cameras were mounted. Buried within replica cars, we built in a tubular
I’m not a fan of the strange style that started to show up about six chassis with hard mounts for where I thought I might place cameras.
years ago of passive illumination, as if there’s some virtue in not being We had a rail — say, from the right rear wheel for the low-down shots
artistically expressive. I’ve always liked very aggressively making all the way up the side of the car to the fender above the right front
something look like something for a reason. Erik was a gaffer, and he’s wheel. It’s electronically controlled, and we were able to [move the
spectacularly confident with moving lights and achieves things in 20 camera on the rail via a remotely operated slider] and run the car at
minutes. He and I had a very specific approach to how light works in about 110 miles an hour while that was happening.
zooms and longer lenses, we switched back to 6K.” I wanted a lens that was a little bit softer, with some halation artifacts
The cinematographer’s main lenses were Panavision Panaspeed in the highlights, so the film would have a period feel. He modified the
primes custom-tuned by ASC associate Dan Sasaki, the company’s se- Panaspeeds to create spherical-aberration artifacts to help support that
nior vice president of optical engineering and lens strategy. “I told Dan aesthetic.”
JANUARY 2024 / 27

Messerschmidt aimed to make the scenes depicting Ferrari’s personal life

— with wife Laura (Penélope Cruz, below) and mistress Lina Lardi (Shailene
Woodley, bottom) — visually distinct from the film’s racing scenes.
TOP PHOTO BY LORENZO SISTI.

Messerschmidt also made extensive use of zoom lenses — many of tools like the [P+S Technik] Skater Scope, a probe lens that’s a T5.6. So, I
which were similarly modified, chief among them a Panavision Primo knew I needed a camera that was very light-sensitive.
11:1 and a Fujifilm Fujinon Premier 75-400mm. “I also had a Panavision “We put the Skater Scope, paired with various Panaspeeds, on the
12mm H Series, which is a unique, beautiful lens. The H series 12 covers Steadicam quite a bit, which required the manufacturing of a special
full frame and is very lightweight.” plate so that the camera could be balanced on the sled,” he notes. “It was
In regard to the production’s use of the Venice 2, the cinematogra- a lot of weight for Roberto to carry, but he was happy to take on the chal-
pher adds: “I knew Michael likes to work quickly and that he likes certain lenge. And it allowed us to get the lens incredibly close to a character’s
face while executing a Steadicam shot, which is very unique.
“There are many close-ups and tracking shots where the camera
feels abnormally close to the characters,” he adds. “It’s used in dramatic
moments.”
Red for Racing

When the film’s action moves to the track, “we wanted the audience to
feel like they have to wipe the mud off their goggles, to feel like they
smell the gasoline,” Messerschmidt says. “So, the kind of techniques we
usually use when shooting cars — close-up, POV, reverse POV, establish-
ing shot — were less interesting to Michael because he felt like they were
all slightly observational. A lot of what we were trying to do was bring
the frenzied energy of racing.
“In many cases, our technique was quite simple,” he continues. “Ro-
berto did an enormous amount of handheld work on the film, often
holding the Venice 2 Rialto in his lap in the car with the actors and pre-
cision drivers, as if he was the navigator.”
28 / JANUARY 2024

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JANUARY 2024 / 29

“That meant we were able to quite quickly mount a camera anywhere

on the vehicle with very minimal rigging, and the mounting tubes could
PHOTO BY JORDAN TEMKIN, COURTESY OF LIGHTCRAFT.

bolt right into the frame.
“There were little hidden sections of the body panel that we would re-
move, and there would be threaded holes, which could receive pre-man-
ufactured pipe starters that served as the base for our camera mounts.
The car could be driven at the speed that was appropriate, and we didn’t
have to worry about the mount suddenly falling off because it had been
strapped to the car — it was literally bolted to the frame of the vehicle.
That required quite a bit of prep.” The cinematographer adds that he
minimized the use of stabilized heads and gimbals, noting, “Michael was
An example of a heavy-lift FPV drone rig, similar to the type used
very clear that he wasn’t afraid of vibration. He wanted the audience to
on Ferrari.
feel every bump on the road.”
Overhead View | Drone Work on Ferrari Capturing Track Action

Most of the car sequences were shot with six cameras. The unit mounted
Drone-mounted cameras were used to capture aerial angles in to the bolts was typically a Venice 2 (sometimes in Studio mode, some-
Ferrari, though specialists at Lightcraft (AC Sept. ’23) were origi- times in Rialto), a Red Komodo or a Red V-Raptor. “In cases where we
nally brought on to fly drones as an RF-relaying system. “The drone needed to be really small, we used the Komodo or Raptor,” says Mess-
would fly high and then chase the cars — it would have antennas erschmidt. Referencing the Venice 2’s “internal NDs, strong lens mount
that I would actively point at the cars,” says Lightcraft CTO/drone
and high ISO capability,” the cinematographer notes that he “knew there
pilot Davis DiLillo. “Then we would pipe everything back to the
would be situations where we would have five or six cameras work-
village, so the focus pullers, camera operators and Erik could see
everything and adjust iris on the fly. We were able to shoot these ing over an enormous racing set. So, the remote control of ND filtra-
long stretches of road without having to pick up and reset to get all tion was extremely attractive, as I could maintain a specific iris position
this content.” without asking assistants to change filters.”
Production soon decided to put the drones to greater use, For the tracking vehicles, the production used a variety of tools, in-
however. “I would say Ferrari was our first movie with high-speed cluding Filmotechnic’s U-Crane. “We also used a fixed tracking vehicle,
tracking with the heavy FPV [first-person-view] drone,” says DiLillo. a Subaru WRX with a remote head from Allan Padelford attached to it,”
“It was a very good litmus test. They’re kind of a hybrid between an the cinematographer adds. “That car was capable of performing at the
arm car and a helicopter. We were able to merge those gaps with same speed and level as our picture cars, so it could exist in the racing
this aircraft; we could track these cars at that high speed, have sequences and keep up with the cars at the real pace.
longer lenses on them, and keep up and compose these beautiful
“The third vehicle we used extensively was the Biscuit Jr. Rig, also
images of those cars in Italy.”
from Padelford. It’s a self-contained platform you can drive at extremely
As the team pushed what was possible with FPV drone tech-
nology, they relied on Erik Messerschmidt, ASC’s expertise. DiLillo high speeds with actors in the car, but not actually driving the car.”
had worked with the cinematographer on the FX series Legion,
flying FPV drones carrying LED lights in-frame to create other- Ever-Present Danger
worldly orbs. On Ferrari, “Erik very much ensured that lighting was When Maserati beats Ferrari’s time-trial record, Enzo immediately sets
proper and exposures were where he wanted them, and focused on out to challenge him. The attempt ends in a spectacular crash that kills
determining camera angles. He was hands-off with us, kind of like a the test driver. “The special-effects team did extensive testing in terms
director. It was a very unique perspective.” of launching the car, with the goal to be as accurate as possible,” Mess-
— Tara Jenkins erschmidt says.
At one point in the Mille Miglia race, a crash kills the driver and 11
bystanders, including children. “We only had one car we could crash
The intensity is underscored by color. “We discussed that we never for that stunt, so we had to be quite sure that it would land in the right
wanted to see the color red in the film until you see the cars, and that is place,” Messerschmidt says. “The planning started very early in the prep,
the only time you see the color red in the film,” says Messerschmidt. “I and we did all sorts of exploratory methods for launching the car. Ulti-
love that about Michael: He is so detail-oriented and loves those sorts mately, we decided to build a self-driving vehicle that could be driven
of rules.” remotely with a cannon inside it that could be remotely actuated. So, the
car could drive at full speed and then be launched with a push-button
Critical Car Mounts and land in the correct orientation. And it actually landed perfectly! The
Mann was determined not to fake velocity: He wanted the picture cars tumbling of the car was very lucky.”
to go at speed.
“We worked with the manufacturers of the replica car bodies we A Simple Plan
were using to make sure we had fixed mounting positions within the car The Mille Miglia starts at night and called for Messerschmidt’s larg-
frames that we could bolt the camera directly to,” Messerschmidt says. est lighting setup. “I think we used four or five cameras, shooting
30 / JANUARY 2024

Tech Specs: 2.39:1

Cameras | Sony Venice 2; Red Komodo, V-Raptor
Lenses | Panavision Panaspeed, Primo zoom, H Series;
P+S Technik Skater Scope; Fujifilm Fujinon Premier
PHOTO BY JORDAN TEMKIN, COURTESY OF LIGHTCRAFT.
simultaneously, for the starting-line sequence,” he says, “so we were Ferrari pushes his way through a crowd after a disastrous
shooting in multiple directions at any given moment. crash involving one of his cars.
“Exterior night is the hardest because it’s always the thing that looks
the most contrived,” he continues. “I’m very averse to moonlight. Fortu-
nately, we had excellent historical references for what the starting line
looked like.
“After the cars leave the starting line, the script called for a fast-paced
sequence on the road at night,” he continues. Michael wanted that scene
to be very raw and frenetic as the cars jockey for starting position. They
were traveling well over a mile and I had limited lighting options.”
The solution? Lighting with car headlights only.
“I was quite worried about that sequence, but it turned out to be one
of my favorite sequences in the movie,” says the cinematographer. “It

was also raining during the shoot that night, which added an additional
element of texture that I really enjoy.”
JANUARY 2024 / 31

Napoleon: The Intimate
and the Epic
Dariusz Wolski, ASC and director Ridley Scott work at a quick
pace with multiple cameras to frame nuanced character work
and grand battlefields. By Michael Kogge
32 / JANUARY 2024
p. 32-43 Napoleon V4.indd 32 12/6/23 12:04 AM

N
apoleon Bonaparte, in life, was the bane of European
aristocrats, transforming France into a 19th-century
military juggernaut and bringing the Western world to
its knees. In death, he has challenged some of the most
accomplished filmmakers, eluding their attempts to
fully capture his story onscreen. Abel Gance envisioned
telling the tale across six motion-picture epics, yet only
managed one, Napoléon (1927; see Wrap Shot, page 72). In the wake of the
success of 2001: A Space Odyssey (AC June ’68), Stanley Kubrick devoted
years to developing a Napoleon project that never came to fruition.
Such was not the case for director Ridley Scott and longtime collabora-
tor Dariusz Wolski, ASC. With Napoleon, they tackled “le petit corporal,” as
his troops affectionately called him, head on.
A Moment’s Notice
Scott is famous for the intensity and speed of his productions, and Wolski,
who has collaborated with him since Prometheus (AC July ’12), is ready at
a moment’s notice for whatever he proposes. That includes jumping from
one project to the next, as they did with The Last Duel, House of Gucci (both
featured in AC Jan. ’22) and Napoleon. “We were actually finishing Gucci
in Rome, and Ridley said, ‘You know, Malta is an hour away on the plane.
Should we just go check it out for the next one?” Wolski recalls. “Literally
the day after we wrapped Gucci, we were in Malta scouting.”
Common Grammar
ALL IMAGES COURTESY OF APPLE ORIGINAL FILMS.
Wolski says despite hailing from different countries, he and Scott share a
similar understanding of cinematic grammar, which gave them “an instant
shorthand.” He explains, “I was raised in Warsaw in the communist days,
and I watched a lot of movies when I was very young — instead of going
to school, I’d go to old revival theaters. That was quite an education: black-
and-white, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton. Then I got into the English Free
Cinema; European filmmakers like Bergman, Fellini, Pasolini, all the Ital-
ians; and ’70s American movies. I was really influenced by all that stuff,
even Tarkovsky. It was quite beautiful, because when I eventually started
working with Ridley, we realized we grew up with the same terms.”
One of the films Wolski and Scott discussed in prep for Napoleon was
Gance’s silent epic, which Wolski happened to see onscreen at Radio City
Music Hall in 1981, a year after he arrived in the United States. “Francis
Ford Coppola’s father [Carmine] was conducting the music because Fran-
cis was responsible for restoring it and re-releasing it,” Wolski says. “Abel
Gance was still alive, and I remember there was a standing ovation. Francis
brought the phone on the stage and faced the audience so that Abel Gance,
91 and in France, could hear the applause.”
The only film Scott and Wolski watched in prep was Scott’s debut fea-
ture, The Duellists (shot by Frank Tidy, BSC). “We watched it a few times,”
says Wolski. “It’s set in Napoleonic times, but much smaller in scale. The
costumes, the vibe, the feeling — everything was kind of like Napoleon, but
the small version.”
Neoclassical paintings from the period were also an influence, particu-
larly The Coronation of Napoleon by court painter Jacques-Louis David. “The
coronation scene in the film is trying to be a complete ripoff of the paint-
ing,” Wolski says with a chuckle.
62-Day Shoot
Principal photography was completed entirely on location in 62 days. Scott’s
team can work at such a pace because of the multi-camera technique he
JANUARY 2024 / 33

Previous spread: Napoleon Bonaparte
(Joaquin Phoenix) arrives on the shores of
St. Helena. This page: Napoleon marries
Joséphine (Vanessa Kirby), with whom he
shares a hot-and-cold love life.
has been refining since American Gangster, shot by Harris Savides, ASC
(AC Dec. ’07). Whereas traditional filmmaking calls for one or two cam-
eras to cover a scene, Scott prefers deploying four for a dialogue scene
and as many as 11 for action-oriented material.
Though the director’s methods call for the simultaneous supervision
of many cameras, Wolski has embraced the strategy. He captured most
scenes in Napoleon with four Arri Alexa Mini LFs.
The cornerstone of the team’s previs are detailed storyboards drawn
by Scott — who trained in fine art at England’s Royal College of Art —
which his collaborators have dubbed “Ridleygrams.” Wolski uses the
sketches to arrange the cameras in any given location. “When you have
multiple cameras, you want to be able to put them in the right place,” the
cinematographer says. “And sometimes it’s a question of inches — one
camera’s a little bit tighter, a little wider just to accommodate the whole
setup in a space so that the cameras don’t see each other.”
Shaping the Space

The multi-camera system is designed not only for production speed,
but also to protect the actors’ performances — and when fine-tuning
camera placement, the latter is Wolski’s main objective. “It’s always to
create a space for actors to do their thing,” he says. “There has to be an
atmosphere to it.”
Wolski shapes that atmosphere through lighting, which, to him, is
just another element in the space. “If it’s the palace, then you just use
windows or candles, but you try to be true to the source. Because Ridley
likes to use multiple cameras, you basically light the space and let ac-
tors just move within it. We have this way of staging scenes that can be
very dramatic. Because you have different points of view of this space
from multiple cameras, an actor can move from one place to another
and it creates a completely open canvas to see what happens. There’s
no formula. If you have a big window with light coming through, if the
actor looks sideways, you’re going to have a beautiful half-light, and if
34 / JANUARY 2024

the actor looks away from the window, they’re going to be in silhouette.” LED “Candles”
Key grip Dutch Holland notes, “Ridley likes to move very fast and Many locations prohibited the use of real candles. “We were shooting
therefore is not a fan of over-complicated rigs or even camera moves. in serious English estates, and I was slowly finding out that we couldn’t
Dariusz lights extremely efficiently and often in 360 degrees. We had to use candles in some places, but could in others — it was an open dis-
have all the bases covered and the ability to change things quickly with- cussion all the time,” Wolski says. “And I understand, because the walls
out too much fuss. We had to be extremely well-organized and efficient had 18th-century paintings worth way more than Julian Schnabel and
as a crew to keep the pace, but still try to be slick, safe and professional.” Damien Hirst!”
Holland adds that the production “had a 45-foot [ServiceVision] Scor- To solve the problem, Wolski’s electrical crew simulated candles with
pio and a Viper all-wheel-drive articulated base with a Libra head. The tiny, dimmer-controlled flexible LED filaments that could flicker. Wolski
Viper has leveling jacks and a leveling column. It was built for Panavi- shot tests of the real and simulated candles next to each other, assessing
sion London by Bickers Action; it literally goes anywhere and takes up to how they flickered on the human face. “In the whole film, 50 percent is
a 50-foot crane on a very small footprint. [The Scorpio and Viper were] real candlelight and 50 percent isn’t,” he says. “Any time I was very close
used regularly on our exterior locations. We would use smaller modular
[Grip Factory] GF-Jib or smaller Scorpios for our interior locations.”
Low-Light Champions
A major challenge on this production was that many interiors were low
light, illuminated solely by candles. Says Wolski, “For candlelight and
especially dark interiors and exteriors, I used Panavision 65 Vintage
primes. [ASC associate member] Dan Sasaki [of Panavision] built three
sets for me a few years ago, and I use them all the time; I used them on
The Last Duel and House of Gucci, and on News of the World with Paul
Greengrass [AC March ’21]. When you really have to go low-light, with
those lenses you just can go anywhere. None of them are super sharp.
None have edges or anything special — they’re just nice lenses.
“There’s so much conversation about lenses. I’m fine with what I
have,” he adds. “I don’t need to experiment anymore.”
Throughout the production, Scott and Wolski also relied quite a bit
on zoom lenses for quick and proper framing, especially when four or
five camera crews might be operating in the same space at once. (See Top: Daniele Massaccesi, AIC captures Phoenix for a sequence
that finds Napoleon on the frontline of war. Bottom: Dariusz
“Extensive Optics,” page 42.)
Wolski, ASC behind the camera.
JANUARY 2024 / 35

A crane and balloon fixtures
were deployed for this
large-scale interior, which
set the scene for Napoleon’s
infamous coronation.
“We shot a minimum of four cameras every day Wolski often ran 11 cameras simultaneously for these scenes. Some
on some epic scales. There were lots of pieces were fitted to gyro-stabilized Filmotechnic Flight Heads on U-Cranes,
Holland explains, “either on a [Ford] Raptor base or a [Mercedes] ML63
of the puzzle to put together.” AMG, or we used a U-Crane Mini on a Polaris. Sometimes we used all
three! Ground cameras were on Steadicam, sliders and dollies — and
sometimes on crash boxes or just on a steady bag on the floor.
to actors, I tried to keep the real candles close, because that’s the hardest “[Gaffer] Jonathan Spencer and I stuck to Dariusz and Ridley’s sides
light to fake. But a lot of the background chandeliers and candelabras in all day, every day to make sure we heard the information first — either
those huge spaces had to be fake. The electrical department spent days on the set or in the video/DIT trailer,” Holland continues. “We were al-
and days basically wiring those little fake candles for some of the chan- ways with them. There was a lot of information flowing, and [1st AD] Ray
deliers. It was quite a job. Then Charley Henley, our VFX supervisor, had Kirk had a brilliant handle on the sharing of that information, and on the
to put flames on top of them in post.” crew. We shot a minimum of four cameras every day on some epic scales.
There were lots of pieces of the puzzle to put together.”
Large-Scale Battles
Re-creating some of Napoleon’s legendary battles was a Herculean task, Seizing a Port
given the scope Scott desired. Some sequences required massive out- The siege of the French port city of Toulon, during which Napoleon leads
door sets and bluescreens, and some called for hundreds of horses and the charge to capture a fort from the British, depended on a combination
soldiers gathered in square formations. of day and night sets with bluescreens. Fort Ricasoli in Malta doubled as
Production designer Arthur Max made geological surveys of the se- Toulon, because much of Maltese architecture is built from sandstone
lected battle locations and used them to create 8'x8' miniature landscape and resembles the look of southern France during the Napoleonic peri-
maps complete with model forests and villages. Scott and Wolski ar- od. (Other locations in Malta were used to shoot interiors, the final scene
ranged toy-soldier units to determine how to cover the action. A histori- in St. Helena, parts of Napoleon’s time in Elba, and some scenes in the
cal adviser, Lorris Chevalier, was on hand to ensure accuracy. Paris streets.)
“You strategize first with a map and the landscape model, then you The battle had to be broken down into three components. “The fort
strategize before you shoot and set things up,” Wolski says. “It seems was only 10-feet-by-10-feet deep out there, and there was a big cliff, so
like a lot of stages of preparedness, but when you roll, you’re just rolling. we could only shoot the battle from below,” Wolski says. “Once the sol-
“You create an event and then try to capture it,” he adds. “It’s a little diers get on top of the fort, there was an elevated set. We actually built it
bit like shooting a rock concert. The horses can only run so much for so in exactly the same space that Ridley built the Coliseum for Gladiator [AC
long, and if you run horses full speed over such a huge distance, after May ’00]. Where the soldiers fire the cannons and where they look down,
three or four takes they’re exhausted. Ridley loves horses, so he puts [in] we had to put a bluescreen and then shoot the plates, the sea explosions
as many cameras as he can, knowing it’s going to last two hours and be and all that stuff.”
over. So, if you don’t catch it, good luck!” The bluescreens were rigged via “40-foot shipping containers on
36 / JANUARY 2024

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A camera rigged to a tracking vehicle helps
capture a gritty battle scene. Bottom: Napoleon
and his troops brace for combat against Austrian
and Russian forces at Austerlitz.
trailers, with 20-by-20s and skirts, making them about 30 feet high,” Wolski adds that the snowy airport set was dotted with swimming-
Holland says. “We also used some local telescopic handlers and truss pool-like “gaps” — ranging from approximately 6'x6' to 20'x20' — where
frames as mobiles.” surfaces of “fake ice” were placed. “Eventually, the cavalry [comes in for]
the attack, and you see them falling at the beginning in a wide shot. The
Victory on Ice 2nd unit filmed all the soldiers falling on their knees and closer stuff.”
The Battle of Austerlitz had two sets. The first was a woodland area in The latter material was shot by Daniele Massaccesi, AIC, who also served
Farnham, in the Surrey Hills, U.K. — the same location where Scott shot as the film’s A-camera operator.
the opening battle scene of Gladiator. In the scene, an incognito Napo-
leon scopes out the forest where he and his troops later camp. The second Last Conflict
site was a vast, snowed-in English airport that doubled for the frozen During the Battle of Waterloo, where Napoleon was finally defeated, the
lake in what is now the Czech Republic. Wolski explains that these two French and opposing forces were camped a mile apart. Wolski and Scott
sets were sometimes composited together — for example, in a sequence maintained that actual distance in their staging of the action. “When we
where Napoleon looks out at the enemy camp. For this setup, Phoenix shot everything on the French side, we always left one or two cameras
was filmed in the actual forest, while the “huge, wide shots of this other on the English side, so we could shoot whatever was happening out here
set were basically his POV,” the cinematographer says. “So, when you from over there, even though there was a mile of distance,” says Wolski.
look over his shoulder toward the enemy camp, the foreground of the “It was two completely separate groups with radio transmitters. Some-
shot is in the forest, and everything else is an extension [incorporating times we used to forget about them and then discover — ‘Oh, there’s a
footage from] the other set that we shot at the airport. long lens!’”
TOP PHOTO COURTESY OF NETFLIX. BOTTOM PHOTO BY KARL-WALTER LINDELAUB, ASC, BVK.
38 / JANUARY 2024

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NAPOLEON: THE INTIMATE AND THE EPIC
Director Ridley Scott holds court with the cast.
“I’m Not Doing Radio Plays,

Dariusz Wolski, ASC mentioned that Abel Gance’s Napoléon was an
influence, and that you nearly included a version of that film’s mem-
I’m Making Cinema”

orable snowball fight in your film.
Abel Gance was a spectacular art director. I was going to start on the
snowball fight, [but] then everyone said, ‘Everyone’s seen Abel Gance’s
Interview by Michael Kogge movie.’ I said, ‘No, they haven’t. It’s a four-hour number, and not every-
one wants to sit through four hours.’ As to not including the snowball
Ridley Scott comments on Napoleon and his longtime collaboration fight, I don’t regret it — except that when you make a film, you always
with cinematographer Dariusz Wolski, ASC. think, ‘Maybe I should have put that in.’ I’d even storyboarded the fight,
which [involved] cadets in a snowy quadrangle. The younger cadets
American Cinematographer: What inspired you to make a film about are being brutally pounded by the older cadets, while behind a column
Napoleon? is a small cadet making snowballs. What’s interesting is he’s putting
Ridley Scott: I was a very successful commercial director. I had a good stones into each snowball. He flings one, strikes the older cadet on the
office in Paris, and from that, I really got to feel and enjoy the French head and there is blood. You cut, [and] they’re in an office standing
culture: their food, their restaurants, the importance of wine. Almost on a mat before the commandant. ‘What is your name, boy?’ The boy
by accident, I discovered a short book, a 100-page novella called The says, ‘Napoleon, sir.’ ‘Your second name?’ ‘Bonaparte.’ That was the
Duellists, about two soldiers in Napoleon’s army, which I turned into a beginning of the movie.
movie. In that film you have a working-class Harvey Keitel, and Keith
Carradine, who is playing upper class. So, you have a clash of cultures, That sounds like a terrific scene. Did you film it?
a clash of class in the same army. Napoleon brought this about: He put No, no, no, I’m a director who’s very conscious of his budget and very
together the two classes because he figured he needed them both. respectful of anyone who is crazy enough to give me money to make
The film ends on an image of Harvey Keitel — except to me, Harvey a movie.
Keitel was the shape and dream of Napoleon Bonaparte.
Jump many years on, and I had done Gladiator and had a good Why did you want to tackle a subject as grand as Napoleon?
experience with Joaquin [Phoenix]. I’m shooting a film called The Last The personal life of Napoleon is hard to fathom unless you actually
Duel and I’m two kilometers from where I shot the calvary charge in take a look at the man and the letters that he wrote with great pas-
The Duellists. And it all suddenly tumbled back. I’m not saying we sion. I would say [he had] an almost immature passion for this woman,
wrote the script fast, but The Duellists was an endorsement to me that Joséphine. What was it that made him need her? It went beyond the
we already had a roughed-out version of Napoleon, though I couldn’t bedroom because the bedroom eventually will wear out. There was a
quite get there. This pushed the new film home. need he had for her. She didn’t realize she needed him until he said,
40 / JANUARY 2024

In re-creating the Battle of Austerlitz, an old English airport doubled for the frozen lake that drowned many soldiers.
‘We’re getting divorced.’ For him to get divorced from her was tragic these cameras, what do you think?’ And the gaffer said, ‘Actually, I
because he needed a successor. So, you’ve got an evolving personal kind of enjoy it.’
story. Once she’d left his side, he looked after her really well. He even When you’ve got one camera, you do everything one way. Mean-
took the baby that he’d wanted through her [and] gave her the baby to while, the actor off camera is quietly getting exhausted. When you
hold, which I thought was an incredibly beautiful thing to do. come around to him, now he’s tired. I saw that the repetition was killing
and slowing down the acting, and I like to keep the acting very alive.
Is it true you created more scenes for Joséphine during production? So, if you don’t rehearse too much, you know what you want, and
Once she was out of the picture, I missed her. So, I started digging you begin with at least two cameras, then you can easily do four. You
through her letters during editing. One of the most beautiful letters ac- do a medium shot and a close-up from each side with the same key
tually helped me with the ending, because I did not want to have Na- light — what’s the difference? Then you move to six or eight. That’s
poleon salute at Waterloo and get arrested and go away. I wanted to where Dariusz is a master. He’ll just call me and say, ‘Okay, give me 40
go on and on and on because that’s what happened. At the very end, minutes.’ I think he loves to move fast as well, and he is suited to me
when he’s on St. Helena, he’s imprisoned by an English governor who because he can cope and he thinks beautifully with the light.
hates his guts. But that English governor had two daughters. Napoleon
was enchanted by them and was seen to often sit and chat with them. How do you block a scene for multiple cameras?
One day, one daughter was able to wear Napoleon’s hat and wave his I storyboard everything. My boards are very specific, from medium
sword around in the orchard. That sat with me — my God, what an shot [to] close shot [to] wide shot. I can even imagine the location, so
image! Over that I put the letter of Joséphine, who wrote, ‘You’ve had I draw the location and we tend to look for that location. The geometry
a go at Emperor and failed. Join me and let me now have a go to see is everything.
how well we do.’ And then he died.
How do you make sure the cameras don’t capture the lights or other
What makes Dariusz such a valuable collaborator? cameras and their operators?
He copes with me! My pressure on Dariusz is huge. He has to be I’ll do wide and, if we can get in, medium and close. Now we’ve
able to cope with an ambition of wide shots and close shots all shot evolved into an age where the cameraman is in shot. I’ve usually
together. That’s tough, [but] Dariusz is a master of that. I was a pretty dressed him in the costume of the scene. All I’ve got to do is give him
good camera operator myself on 2,000 commercials, then The Duel- a glass of wine and take out the camera!
lists, then Alien. I’ve [always] worked very closely with a DP because
frequently it’s the frame that is the most important thing. After that, it’s Blade Runner was famously overlooked upon its original release.
how you balance the light. Why do you think that was?
I did a thing [with multiple cameras] on American Gangster with Sometimes I think the visuals [were] so strong that people couldn’t
another cameraman [Harris Savides, ASC], who was very good. I got cope with the visuals and [still grasp] the story, which is very straight-
on well with him, and he honestly did a terrific job on the film. But I forward. So, you’ve got to be careful with your visuals. But then I think,
started to introduce three cameras, four cameras, [and] he didn’t like ‘Well, wait a minute. I’m not doing radio plays, I’m making cinema!’
that. I heard him talking to the gaffer, saying, ‘I can’t cope with all of
JANUARY 2024 / 41

NAPOLEON: THE INTIMATE AND THE EPIC
Tech Specs: 2.39:1

Cameras | Arri Alexa Mini LF, DJI Zenmuse
Lenses | Angénieux EZ; Panavision 65 Vintage, Primo Zoom Plus, Primo
Zoom LF, Primo Zoom; Nikon telephoto; Zeiss CP.3
Above: Stefan Stankowski operates camera for a scene in which more lenses, like Zeiss CP.3s, that we could ‘sacrifice’ in the worst-case
Napoleon lays out his doomed plans for the Battle of Waterloo. scenario. There was no way we could fly those vintage lenses — definite-
Below: A defeated Napoleon meets with Arthur Wellesley, Duke of ly not expendable.” He adds that the Mini LFs were also used for drone
Wellington (Rupert Everett) before being exiled to St. Helena.
shots that required slow-motion work.
To capture close-ups during the Waterloo sequence, select stunt per-
Heavy-lift drones and DJI Inspires — the former carrying Mini LFs — formers in uniform held boom poles rigged with DJI Zenmuse cameras
recorded the warring parties from above. on small XM2 remote heads as they rushed into “combat,” joining square
First AC Alberto “Niño” Torrecilla notes that the Mini LFs were need- formations of soldiers. “The squares were three in a row, and a real
ed for aerial battlefield shots that would require CG work. “Higher reso- square was actually 600 men,” Wolski notes. “Ours were smaller, like 200
lution was requested,” he recalls, “and I remember quite well requesting or 300, but they still looked pretty impressive. In the real battle, there
were probably 10 squares. In our film, the other squares were digitally
replicated for the big wide shots. But once you go into battle, you only
see one square because the action happens around one square at a time.”
Extensive Optics
“Ridley loves zooms — he loves the idea that he can adjust the size
even during the shot,” Torrecilla says. “He loves finding the right frame
through a zoom lens without wasting time changing lenses. He will al-
ways use zooms until there’s a need for a fast prime or wider prime.
“We carried two Panavision Primo Plus 11:1 35-400mm zooms and
one Panavision Primo LF 11:1 40-470mm, as well as a bunch of An-
génieux EZs — [approximately] five EZ-1s and five EZ-2s,” he adds,
the latter of which suited tight interiors and enabled handheld and
Steadicam work. “There was also a modified Nikon 300mm Nikkor T2
42 / JANUARY 2024

Joséphine sits in a candlelit chamber
of the Château de Malmaison.
“In the whole film, 50 percent is real candlelight baseline to grade in real time. “I was using Pomfort Livegrade to control
and 50 percent isn’t. Any time I was very close my IS-Mini LUT boxes,” Nguyen adds. “On each cart, I always carried at
least 12 LUT boxes because of the number of cameras we were using.”
to actors, I tried to keep the real candles close, Scott and Wolski played extensively with color during the shoot.
because that’s the hardest light to fake.” “They like to push everything to the edge — they don’t seem to like
anything that looks too ‘normal,’” Nguyen says. “Every part of the story
has a different look. This was all previewed on set and done through a
telephoto lens with a Panavision 65 mount in the back. Then, during the combination of in-camera settings and color grading. If it’s an exterior,
weeks of battles — including Waterloo and the Russian campaign — we Dariusz likes to see what nature gives us that day, and then we adapt and
added more Panavision Primo 3:1 zooms with doublers to the package, create the most interesting look possible while trying to keep it natural.”
along with another Panavision Primo LF 11:1 zoom and another couple For battle sequences, while Wolski was on the battlefield determin-
of those EZs.” ing camera placement, Nguyen was stationed with Scott in video village.
Torrecilla is a fan of the spherical Panavision prime lenses that Wols- “Ridley wants to know what’s happening on set at all times,” the DIT
ki has been using. “Through the years, Dan and his team have improved says. “By the time Dariusz returned to the village, I hopefully would have
every single one of those lenses,” he says. “On The Last Duel, Dan built done my best to make sure everything was dialed in as close as possible
a super-wide 17mm 65 Vintage prime that was fast, marvelous and had for him to look at and start fine-tuning the image.
no distortion, and he built another two for Napoleon. We started with the Nguyen adds that he considers himself lucky to have Scott and Wolski
three existing sets — but during the shoot, just when we needed them, a “involve me so much in their process. No matter how many cameras or
fourth set showed up with a brand-new 17mm. And for the final, massive how much of a challenge Ridley creates for Dariusz, he knows that Dar-
Toulon night-battle scene, a fifth set arrived. iusz will somehow figure out the puzzle. On the rare occasion he can’t
“It was a blast,” Tottercilla adds of his work on the production. Noting solve it, they patiently work together to find the solution.”
that this was his fifth film with Wolski and Scott — including The Mar-
tian and All the Money in the World — he says his work with the crew is “Everything Is Intuition”
“like being with family by now. We had a great time. [Three films] hap- Whether it’s color or camera angles, Wolski attributes his choices to in-
pened in a row — The Last Duel, Gucci and Napoleon — but I think we stinct. “Some people can talk about their work and explain it,” he says.
really went ballistic on this last one.” “I can’t. There’s a lot of homework, a lot of research, a lot of trying to
understand the period, trying to understand the characters. After that,
Live Grading on Set you just capture it. Everything is intuition.”
As Scott watched the action unfold from video village, he was constant- Shooting Napoleon was an undertaking worthy of its subject, he adds.
ly fine-tuning the image. “Ridley always wants to see the live image as “It was huge — I mean huge. Absolutely phenomenal. You’re never going
close to the final image as possible, so we’re doing on-set live grading on to have so many horses, so many amazing horsemen, so many great ac-
every scene, on every camera,” says DIT Ryan Nguyen. Nguyen applied a tors, so many incredible costumes, so many incredible sets. Ridley has a
slightly modified Rec 709 LUT provided by Company 3 to the footage as a hard time beating himself, but for me, this film’s right up there.”
JANUARY 2024 / 43

First Love in Focus:
Priscilla
Philippe Le Sourd, ASC, AFC reteams with director Sofia Coppola
to tell the story of Priscilla and Elvis Presley.
C
By Tara Jenkins
onveying the intensity of first love as experienced

by a shy teenage girl was an experience Philippe Le
Sourd, ASC, AFC won’t soon forget. “You connect
with a character like that, and when you operate the
camera, you put all your emotion in it,” he says. “You
put all your passion into every frame and every light-
ing choice to make sure it’s all aligned.”
Le Sourd is discussing Priscilla, his latest collaboration with writ-
er-director Sofia Coppola. Adapted by Coppola from Priscilla Presley’s
44 / JANUARY 2024
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ALL IMAGES COURTESY OF A24.
memoir, Elvis and Me, the film follows the title character from her first
encounter with Elvis Presley, when she is a 14-year-old military brat liv-
ing in Germany, to her divorce from him 10 years later. Despite Elvis’
fame, the story is an intimate, quiet portrait of first love grounded in
Priscilla’s point of view.
Noting that sensitive young women navigating unfamiliar terrain
also shapes the perspectives of many of Coppola’s prior works, Le Sourd
observes, “Sofia knows this type of character very well. It’s a subject she
understands.”
A Different Flavor
Priscilla is Le Sourd’s fourth collaboration with Coppola, following La
Traviata (co-directed with Francesca Nesler), On the Rocks and The Be-
guiled (AC Aug. ’17).
Despite the film’s thematic similarity to Coppola’s past projects, she
was keen to give Priscilla its own visual language. “It was interesting for
Sofia and me to play with the different feelings you can create within a
film,” Le Sourd says. “We had more use of color, handheld work, 16mm,
Super 8, Steadicam, zooms. Sofia doesn’t usually move the camera too
Opposite: Priscilla Presley (Cailee Spaeny) poses for a
much, so it was good to do something different, to create a different
photograph with husband Elvis (Jacob Elordi) on their
flavor.”
wedding day. This page, top: Upon leaving the military base
Le Sourd turned to Bolex H-16 (with Kodak Vision3 250D 7207 film shortly after meeting Priscilla, Elvis promises he’ll keep in
stock) and Super 8mm (Vision3 50D 7203 and Ektachrome 100D 7294) touch. Above: The couple share a moment.
cameras to create an authentic 1960s “home movie” look for some
scenes of the young couple. But he shot most of the picture digitally — a
JANUARY 2024 / 45

FIRST LOVE IN FOCUS: PRISCILLA
first for him — on the Arri Alexa 35, which he paired with Panavision
Ultra Speed lenses. “Sofia doesn’t like ‘bigger than life,” he notes. “She
prefers 1:85 or 1:66, so we framed for 1:85.”
In general, the filmmakers avoided re-creating famous images of the
couple. “I found it not very interesting to copy important moments, but
instead to give an interpretation of this couple together,” says the cine-
matographer. “I want you to feel that these memories, these moments,
are connected to you. This becomes something different.” Photographs
by William Eggleston were an inspiration, he adds.
Embracing Digital
Although the choice to go digital was dictated by budget, Le Sourd found
he loved shooting digitally. “First of all, you get better sleep at night —
you’re less concerned about [what you’ll see at] the lab at 10 o’clock the
next morning. Also, finding the right camera is about texture. Because
this film is very intimate, it was about how the digital camera would help
the interpretation of skin tone, which was the first thing I tested.”
Le Sourd positioned the camera close to the actors, and he found him-
self shooting close-ups on a 50mm to keep a sense of the environment
Top: Priscilla and Elvis ride bumper cars in the early days of their
without allowing it to dominate the frame. An Angénieux HR 25-250mm
romance. Bottom: Philippe Le Sourd, ASC, AFC on set.
3.5 zoom lens helped give Priscilla’s life at Graceland a claustrophobic
feel. The cinematographer offers an example of a shot where the camera
zooms out from her slowly as she sits framed in a window looking out
on the grounds. “Sofia wanted to [zoom] until Priscilla was very, very
46 / JANUARY 2024

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Interior and exterior shots of the Presleys’ Graceland estate all around, and eight Robe Esprite LEDs inside the room for the rays of
cast the mansion as a space of enormity and isolation. light slowly moving. I didn’t know until the film was edited if [the scene]
would work, but it was interesting to find a solution for the emotion.” He
small in frame,” Le Sourd says. “We used the full extent of the zoom, adds that the ability to see on set exactly what his images would look like
starting at 250mm and going all the way wide to 25mm.” gave him greater freedom to “play.”
Although Le Sourd loved the way the Alexa rendered skin tones, he Another scene that called for experimentation is one of Elvis’ perfor-
felt its “super clean” rendering of white needed a bit of adjustment, “es- mances. Le Sourd explains, “The challenge of this film was the budget.
pecially because [the décor in] Graceland is so white,” he says. “So, we did When we started, Sofia had to cut 15 pages. One of the scenes that was
some tests and ended up adding grain in the DI to add a bit of texture.” cut down was [Elvis performing]. For a film that is so much about inti-
macy, it was important how we counterbalanced that with the scene of

Expressive Choices his singing.
Color was particularly important. “You can have an idea about color “I found an image of one man’s silhouette — a character playing alone
when you read a script, and then it becomes a discussion with the di- in a jazz club,” he continues. “I suggested to Sofia, ‘Let’s light him in sil-
rector,” Le Sourd says. “Sofia likes a more neutral color. The ’60s did not houette, with just one light from the back, and that will tell the story.’ So,
look like Kodachrome … the sky was no more blue than normal, the yel- I used one light, fully backlit, with a bit of smoke and 20 extras.”
low and greens weren’t more vibrant.”
Le Sourd preferred to let the emotions of a scene inform his color Graceland Onstage
choices. He cites a climactic scene in which Priscilla visits Elvis in Las Lacking permission to shoot at Graceland, the filmmakers built portions
Vegas as their relationship is dying. “That was probably one of the most of the iconic site on soundstages in Toronto. “Tamara [Deverell] is a fan-
interesting challenges for me: the last scene in Elvis’ bedroom in Las tastic production designer,” Le Sourd says. “Every day we talked about
Vegas. I needed to find something visually that stuck with the idea of this color and space and what fit for the scene. One problem for us was Elvis’
moment. I found through testing that orange and red [neon lighting] bedroom, because there weren’t any reference pictures. Tamara had to
gave the impression of love, living, blood, hurt, bleeding. That was the invent a world. We shot 10 days on that set. It’s very challenging when
idea. This scene was also shot in studio, so we had the freedom to devel- you have 20 scenes on a bed! Figuring out the coverage becomes very
op the scene with lighting compared to shooting in a hotel in Las Vegas technical.”
on the 50th floor. Behind the windows, we had eight SkyPanel S360s Deverell researched the colors Elvis was known to favor at that time
48 / JANUARY 2024

Priscilla’s unhappiness grows as she reads of
rumors about Elvis’ infidelity. Bottom: Backstage
with director Sofia Coppola, costume designer
Stacey Battat and Spaeny.
and worked with Le Sourd to create a lush, dark space that incorporat-
ed the singer’s preferred golden browns and marine blues. Avoiding a
feeling of sameness in the bedroom scenes was a matter of “where you
put the camera for the mise en scène, for the director and the actor,”
says Le Sourd. “Where and when does the actor enter and leave a shot?
It’s also about size of the frame and the film grammar we developed for
this story.”
Filming in Canada in the winter became a challenge when the film-
makers needed to create Los Angeles, where Priscilla finally makes her
escape. “For the L.A. scene set inside, it was fully raining and the scene is
supposed to be sunny,” Le Sourd recalls. “At one point, the producers and
director look at you and say, ‘What are you going to do?’ I work with all
types of light — I think between LED and old tungsten lights and HMIs,
there is always a different tool you can play with. For this scene, I used
eight Dino lights and 12 lamps. I think only the Dino could do that work
and make such a difference.”
Delicate Approach
How the characters were framed and the timing and motivation of close-
ups were important to the storytelling. In this regard, Le Sourd points to the place with her,” Le Sourd says. “Where they sit together was import-
a key scene early in Elvis and Priscilla’s relationship: “For Sofia and me, ant. There was one sofa, one chair. You feel that you shouldn’t put them
it was important to figure out how to show Priscilla’s first visit to his on the bed, so it’s about where you put them and place the camera to
bedroom — that, and how to do the kiss, how to do the intimacy and not feel the emotion. Intimacy is also about light. For this film, the direction
have it feel gross or judgmental.” of the light was more ambient in order to be natural, and rarely over the
With Priscilla’s perspective in mind, the filmmakers’ approach to the characters. We were creating these very soft ambient atmospheres, with
couple’s first bed scene “was about simplicity — we wanted to discover sometimes more specific accent lighting in a room.”
JANUARY 2024 / 49

Tech Specs: 1.85:1

Cameras | Arri Alexa 35, Bolex H-16, Super 8mm
Lenses | Panavision Ultra Speed Prime, Angénieux HR, Kern Vario-Switar
Film Stocks | Kodak Vision3 250D 7207, 50D 7203, Ektachrome 100D 7294
Priscilla takes a pause from reading at the counter of a local diner.
“For me, finding the right camera is about Shaping POV

texture. Because this film is very intimate, it Throughout the shoot, Coppola avoided ending scenes on Elvis. “For the
scene when Priscilla opens the newspaper at breakfast [and learns Elvis
was about how the digital camera would help is cheating on her], we did a shot and reverse, but we ended on her. Sofia
the interpretation of skin tone, which was the wouldn’t [end the scene] on him, so you feel intimate with Priscilla. Most
first thing I tested.” of the time, we cut on the close-up.”
He commends Coppola for her exacting vision. “At one point, we were
shooting an argument between Priscilla and Elvis, and I asked Sofia
if she wanted a reverse on him, and it was a ‘No.’ His voice was strong
enough. We didn’t need a close-up on him.”
Le Sourd always does his own operating, and he found that partic-
ularly rewarding on this project. “You create something more intimate
with the actor, the fact that you are so close. They trust you with lighting,
framing and emotion. Not to be able to operate, for me, would be very
sad. You feel when you operate that you are the first audience for the
movie, the first witness, and I receive that as a gift.”
50 / JANUARY 2024

cinegearexpo.com

Life Anew: Poor Things
Robbie Ryan, BSC, ISC and director Yorgos Lanthimos maintain
their intuitive methodology on a grand-scale production.
P
By Iain Marcks
oor Things cinematographer Robbie Ryan, BSC, ISC and both of us. Yorgos hadn’t worked extensively in a studio environment
director Yorgos Lanthimos have a partnership steeped before, and I was continuously adapting to the grand scale of the project.
in experimentation with optics, angles and film stocks. We took the same minimalist approach that we took with The Favourite,
Their first feature collaboration was The Favourite making use of a single camera and simple equipment. Our experience
(AC Dec. ’19), a location shoot crafted with unusually with lower-budget filmmaking really served us well.”
wide-angle photography and natural light. They con-
tinued to experiment on their latest effort — this time New Terrain
within the context of a fantastical atmosphere created almost entirely Poor Things is a playful patchwork of Alasdair Gray’s satirical 1992 novel
onstage at Origo and Korda Studios in Hungary. of the same name, Victorian horror and snippets of fairy tales. Bella
“Yorgos had a very specific vision for Poor Things,” Ryan says. “He Baxter (Emma Stone) possesses an adult body and the mind of a child,
wanted this to be a fantasy world. It was a bit of a learning curve for thanks to her surrogate father, Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe), a
52 / JANUARY 2024
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PHOTOS BY ATSUSHI NISHIJIMA AND ATTILA SZŰCS, COURTESY OF SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES.
Frankenstein-ian scientist who has created Bella in his lab by reanimat- Opposite: After leaving her home to experience life, Bella Baxter
ing a drowned pregnant woman and replacing her brain with that of the (Emma Stone) finds the promise of bluer skies. This page, above:
unborn infant. Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe) reanimates Bella with the help
of a fresh corpse. Below: Bella is whisked off on a libidinous
The reanimation process accelerates Bella’s mental development, and
romp by opportunistic cad Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo).
soon she pines for a world beyond the plush confines of Baxter’s London
townhouse. A fling in Lisbon with the comically arrogant dandy Dun-
can Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo) leads to an unscheduled absconsion to
Alexandria, a marooning in Marseilles, and a stint at Madame Swiney’s
bordello in Paris. When Bella finally returns home, she possesses the
personal experience and assurance of a fully formed individual.
The fanciful Victorian milieu was new terrain for Ryan, who has
leaned into naturalism and location-based shooting throughout his
career, which includes his work on the features American Honey, Mar-
riage Story, Slow West, Philomena and Fish Tank. Ryan joined Poor Things
shortly after production designers Shona Heath and James Price began
their work. By then, he notes, they were “already flying.”
Testing Ideas
Between April and the start of production in late September 2021, Ryan
conducted tests with Lanthimos in London to evaluate lenses and film
stocks with early costume and production-design elements. “Testing
provides an invaluable insight into Yorgos’ thought process,” the cine-
matographer says.

Lanthimos also gave Ryan a list of films for visual inspiration. Chief Onstage in Budapest
among them was Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 feature Bram Stoker’s The production worked primarily out of Origo Studios in Budapest. One
Dracula, shot by Michael Ballhaus, ASC, BVK (AC Nov. ’92) — particularly set, the Lisbon hotel square and harbor, was filmed at Korda Studios,
for its use of special-effects techniques that recall early cinema. and the filmmakers also made use of a handful of nearby locations.
Ryan scouted each set virtually, using scale 3D models built in Unreal
Engine by concept artists Jonas Bethge and Antonio Niculae. “The pro-
gram allowed us to view their designs in real time and make changes as
needed,” says Ryan. “Once Yorgos approved the design, it became the
template for the physical sets.”
Some stage-set exteriors made use of static backdrops or, in the case
of a cruise ship at sea, a 197'x33' LED volume of CG-animated water and
sky plates provided by London VFX facility Union. (For more on the vol-
ume work, see The Virtual World, page 62.) To photograph these sets in
the way he and Yorgos were accustomed to, Ryan enlisted gaffers Andy
Cole and Gromek Molnár to light each one as if it were a natural en-
vironment. The Lisbon harbor, with its open-air café, was the largest.
“The task was complex, and we had to be ahead of the game with our
pre-rigging,” says Ryan.
“The first step is to create a sky,” Cole explains. “For Lisbon, which
has a sunny climate, we needed powerful lighting to mimic the sun.”
Ambient daylight came from Arri SkyPanel S60s covered with half silk
in 20'x20' and 40'x40' light boxes.
The harbor’s immense painted backdrop (created by scenic artist
Steve Mitchell) — which would be frontlit — proved a challenge for
Ryan, who initially wasn’t sure whether the equipment on hand would
Enjoying her first taste of freedom, Bella gazes with wonder
evenly illuminate such a large surface. “We deployed around 80 Sky-
at the film’s fanciful version of Lisbon.
Panels from the top and doubled up [with another 80] on the bottom to
ensure a sufficient exposure,” Cole says, “but it wasn’t just a matter of
quantity. We had to be strategic about the placement, so we positioned
another row farther away to target the middle of the backdrop. All told,
54 / JANUARY 2024

there were more than 800 S60s on that stage.” to keep the exterior [lights] out of shot — while at the same time having
In an effort to keep the set clear of anything that might inhibit the enough light coming into the set — was a challenge.”
filmmakers’ freedom of movement, rigging gaffers Ádám Stankovits and Many of the black-and-white scenes take place in Baxter’s house. For
Attila Bilik hung a row of 24 24K Dino lights and another of 26 12K Dinos these interior shots, in particular those that feature views of the exterior
high above the backdrop and directed them toward the harbor, along through the windows, Ryan used condors to boom 18K Arrimax Fresnels
with 1/4 Wendy lights for street scenes and height-adjustable Arrimax
18Ks through 1/2 CTS for skipping off the ground and walls of the café.
The primary difference between the Dinos and Wendys, Cole notes, is
that “a Dino has a wider spread, and a Wendy has a more powerful, fo-
cused throw.” He adds that “the blend of tungsten and daylight proved to
be quite effective when it all hit the intended target.”
An Evolving Palette
Bella’s arrival in Lisbon marks a new life for her, resplendent in vivid
color — a dramatic visual shift from her sheltered, monochromatic exis-
tence back home. Ryan shot the black-and-white sequences on Eastman
Double-X 5222. “Yorgos prefers more contrast in the black-and-white
scenes, which calls for harder light,” he notes.
“You can be bold with black-and-white,” Cole observes. “Even with
the hard shadows and bright highlights, the result is usually pleasing on
the actors’ faces and on the set. For color, I’m partial to using Lee Half
Soft Frost on a frame, and I also use Silent Grid Cloth in the usual Quar-
ter, Half and Full densities. For black-and-white, we often just removed
[any diffusion] entirely.”
This boldness for the black-and-white sections was easier to achieve
Top: The production’s Lisbon set was built at Budapest’s
with exteriors. “Indoors, getting the lighting equipment into the right
Korda Studios, on the largest soundstage in continental
position without it appearing in the frame became a challenge, because
Europe. Above: Robbie Ryan, BSC, ISC dollies with Stone
we didn’t want to see lighting equipment in the 8mm lens, which shows for a dance sequence.
everything on the set,” says Ryan. Adds Cole, “Because we were lighting
from the outside, and very rarely had [any fixtures] on the floor, trying
JANUARY 2024 / 55

LIFE ANEW: POOR THINGS
“Style Must Resonate With the Story”

Writer-director Yorgos Lanthimos tells AC why Robbie Ryan, BSC, ISC
is a favorite collaborator, how they approached their biggest produc-
tion to date, and how their aesthetic and technical choices enliven
their work.
Interview by Iain Marcks
How would you describe your creative partnership with Robbie

Ryan?
It’s like with many people I work with more than once: It’s about getting
along, being comfortable with each other, having similar taste, and
being able to communicate easily. It’s a two-way communication that’s
easygoing. It’s a pleasure working with Robbie, where I never have to
second-guess our decisions.
In general, do you prefer long-term partnerships over engaging new

collaborators?
I think both are quite important. Working with people more than
once allows us to build a relationship and progress together — but Lanthimos confers with Stone on set.
sometimes, new voices and different inputs are needed, especially if
the project is quite different. Infusing the creative process with new
people is also beneficial. What was the rationale for using VistaVision for Bella’s reani-
mation scene?
Robbie said your respective and shared experiences on lower-bud- We were drawn to VistaVision for its depth and larger format,
get films prepared you well for Poor Things. Do you agree? which I’m keen to explore further. Unfortunately, the limited
For me, it was more about maintaining our approach to filmmaking availability of cameras made it challenging to use extensively.
despite the larger scale, bigger budget and shooting in a studio with VistaVision creates an incredible depth that suits certain scenes
extensive lighting setups, which was new for us. Before, all of my beautifully, so it made sense to reserve it for the reanimation. If
films have been [done with] just natural light. We managed to keep we can access the right equipment to cover all situations, I’d love
the intimate and personal atmosphere we’re used to; we kept on-set to delve deeper into this format in future projects.
personnel to a minimum, sometimes even rigging mics to avoid having
a boom operator in the room. This maintained intimacy despite the How did your choice of lenses contribute to telling the story?
change in scale. Significantly. We built large sets and used wide-angle lenses,
which sometimes captured the studio ceiling and lights, neces-
Why do you prefer shooting film? sitating postproduction work. This approach helped create small
Shooting on film, to me, looks better as an end product, and I much figures within a massive, slightly artificial world. It was essential
prefer the process of shooting on film. There’s a sense of freedom and to convey the world through Bella’s unique perspective, [to make]
attention to detail during shooting, and the surprises during devel- it feel handcrafted and a bit removed from reality. Lens choices,
opment are mostly positive. Film already has a personality and look, camera movement and set design all contributed to creating this
making the editing process more about refinement than creation from distinctive world.
scratch. I’ve shot digitally but prefer film; I just find it more pleasing.
Robbie described your lens choices and format choices as
What motivated your choice to shoot black-and-white and more than just intellectual or technical decisions — he said they
Ektachrome? excite you creatively.
We ended up shooting more black-and-white than initially planned These choices operate on two levels: Intellectually, you consider
due to how well it looked on the sets and costumes during tests. the story and theme, seeking the best stylistic fit, but there’s
The contrast between black-and-white for Bella’s early journey and also a personal desire to be excited by the process, to try new
color for her later journey, especially in London, was striking. As for things and explore different filmmaking methods. It’s crucial not
Ektachrome, we used it strategically due to its lighting requirements, to choose a style just for the sake of it; it must resonate with the
[and] mostly for exterior scenes, though [those were] shot in the stu- story. However, exploring and testing new techniques can lead to
dio. The challenge was to harmonize the color-negative footage with unexpected fits for your story. This excitement and discovery are
Ektachrome’s contrast and color saturation in postproduction, as the vital for keeping everyone engaged and add another layer to the
differences were significant. intellectual aspect of filmmaking.
56 / JANUARY 2024

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Ryan and crewmembers capture a rooftop “exterior”
onstage at Origo Studios in Budapest.
over the backlot sets, which included the house with a cobblestone street From Arricam to VistaVision
in the front and a walled yard in the back. Ryan’s camera of choice for Poor Things was Arri’s Arricam ST, which he
Ryan contrasts this approach with the one he used for a scene in calls “our workhorse for the 35mm format,” particularly for its HD-IVS
which Bella, Godwin and their humble assistant Max McCandles (Ramy video tap and top-mounted magazine. He sometimes used an Arricam
Youssef) go for a daytime walk in the park. “I was getting more daring LT as a second camera.
by then,” he recalls. “Since it was an exterior scene and the weather was Harking back to cinema’s early days, Poor Things is framed in 1.66:1,
favorable, we had the opportunity to bring in bigger lights closer to the and Ryan reports that Lanthimos was initially keen to shoot some se-
action to achieve that well-lit black-and-white look.” quences with an 8-perf Beaumont “Beaucam” VistaVision camera, but
the only available camera had a modified Arri IIC motor that proved too
Reanimating Ektachrome noisy for dialogue scenes. The filmmakers ended up deploying the cam-
Ryan filmed color sequences on Kodak Vision3 500T 5219 and a limited era — paired with adapted Leica APO Summicron-R and Telyt-R lenses
run of 35mm color-reversal based on Kodak’s Ektachrome 100D 5294. — exclusively on Bella’s reanimation sequence, which featured only voi-
“Yorgos had learned that Marcell Rév [ASC, HCA], who shot Eupho- ceover. “Both the camera and lens package for the VistaVision Beaucam
ria [AC Aug. ’22], managed to get Kodak to produce a 35mm run of Ek- came from Geo Film in California,” says A-camera 1st AC Olga Abramson.
tachrome,” says Ryan. “We were fortunate enough to find a lab, Andec “The lenses [ranged] from 19mm to 135mm.”
Cinegrell Filmtechnik in Berlin, that could perform the E-6 process on Says Ryan, “While it was technically challenging to shoot, the reani-
35mm motion-picture film. They were not used to handling large proj- mation is one of my favorite scenes to watch. It has nods to the classic
ects like ours, but our line producer, Kasia Malipan, helped them deliver Frankenstein films. With the back-and-forth between black-and-white
what we needed, and the results were astounding.” and Ektachrome, the bombastic soundtrack, and the use of VistaVision,
Ryan estimates that he shot 25 percent of Poor Things on Ektachrome, it all seems kind of mental, but the film is really chugging along at that
including the opening shot, the exteriors in Lisbon and on the cruise point.”
ship, and the sequence depicting Bella’s reanimation. He shot the rest
of the color material on 5219, which was processed along with the 5222 A Lucky Mistake
at the National Film Institute Filmlab in Hungary. Dailies were graded One technical challenge was related to the Beaucam’s power supply,
by Benedek Kabán, and the final grade was performed by Greg Fisher at which required separate sources for the motor and accessories, includ-
Company 3 in London. ing Abramson’s Light Ranger focus assist and other Preston controls,
58 / JANUARY 2024

Bella’s initially idyllic experience aboard a cruise ship turns sour
as Duncan becomes clingy and demanding. For an in-depth look at the
LED-wall work on the cruise-ship set, see The Virtual World, page 62.
and an AJA HD10A-Plus HD/SD analog-to-digital converter for the cam-

era’s video tap. This configuration led to a “lucky mistake” at the mo-
ment when Bella opens her eyes for the first time. Ryan recalls, “The
camera’s battery started to drain, slightly slowing the frame rate, and
when the shot is played back at 24 frames per second, her eyes snap
open in this inhuman sort of way.”
“Unlike an Arricam, which has a digital voltage readout, the Beaucam
doesn’t provide real-time power monitoring,” notes Abramson. “We got
caught up in the moment and neglected to swap out the camera battery.
Technically, it was an oversight, but creatively, it resulted in this won-
derful moment.”
An Array of Optics
Ryan and Lanthimos applied a variety of lens types to the filming of
Poor Things. Through extensive testing facilitated by Manfred Jahn at
Arri Rental Munich, they narrowed their choices to three: portrait lenses,
wide-angle lenses and zoom lenses. “The portrait lenses were 58mm and
85mm [Lomography] Petzvals, which are known for their distinct bokeh,
where the center is sharp and everything else spirals out of focus,” Ryan
says. Rehoused in a cine-style aluminum chassis by True Lens Services
Limited in Leicester, U.K., these two primes were tuned to the filmmak-
ers’ specs and shot at the widest apertures — T2.1 on the 58mm and T2.3
on the 85mm — to produce a visually striking, era-appropriate look for
singles and close-ups.
The 35mm-format wide-angle lenses included a 10mm T2.1 Arri/
Zeiss Ultra Prime and an 8mm Oppenheimer/Nikkor, which Ryan de-
scribes as having “a distinct bend” that is particularly evident in the
surgical theater where Baxter’s medical students observe his warped
dissections from behind a curved railing that’s been optically twisted
into a wave. “That shot is all Yorgos,” Ryan notes. “He knows when to use
a particular lens for a specific effect and often sets up the shots himself
before showing them to me. I find myself constantly trying to catch up
with him. He’s very much a cinematographer in his own right.”
For certain moments, Lanthimos wanted to achieve a vignetted “port-
hole” effect reminiscent of early photography, so Ryan suggested using
a 4mm T2 OpTex Super Cine — a Super 16 lens — on the Arricam ST.
“He was quite pleased with the result,” the cinematographer reports. “It
captures a broad view without too much distortion and has a nice flare
at certain angles.”
Abramson found working with the OpTex lens memorable for two
reasons: “You can’t simply put that lens on a 35mm camera, because
you’ll hit the shutter. Manfred took a diagonal slice off the back of the
lens to align it with the angle of the camera’s mirror, so we could mount
it to the camera.
“Here’s where it gets a bit peculiar,” she continues. “It doesn’t actually
have a focus barrel.” The lens has a fixed focus, which, due to the ex-
treme short focal length, allows depth of field to hold focus from about
1' to infinity. “It made for some interesting moments on set when we’d
shoot a scene on the 4mm, then switch to one of the zooms. The dynam-
ic shifted drastically from me being relatively relaxed to suddenly firing
on all cylinders!”
“The major difference in lenses between The Favourite and this film
JANUARY 2024 / 59

LIFE ANEW: POOR THINGS
Tech Specs: 1.66:1

Cameras | Arricam ST, LT; Beaumont “Beaucam”
Lenses | Lomography Petzval (rehoused by TLS); Leica APO Summi-
cron-R, Telyt-R; Arri/Zeiss Ultra Prime, Master Zoom; Oppenheimer/
Nikkor; OpTex Super Cine; Angénieux Optimo zoom
Film Stocks | Kodak Vision3 500T 5219, Eastman Double-X 5222,
Ektachrome 100D 5294
Later in her journey, Bella finds work at a Paris bordello whose

madam, Swiney (Kathryn Hunter), proves a tough tutor.
was our use of zooms,” says Ryan. “Yorgos wanted a zoom that ranged
from 10mm to 180mm, which doesn’t exist. Eventually, we decided on
the Arri/Zeiss Master Zoom 16.5-110mm [T2.6], and we also used an An-
génieux Optimo 24-290mm [T2.8] for some shots.”
An Intuitive Approach
The filmmakers endeavored to use one of each lens type in every scene.
A take of the entire scene was done for each lens from different angles,
typically starting with a wide dolly setup before switching to something
closer. “Yorgos’ approach was very intuitive,” Ryan recalls. “We didn’t
work off any storyboards or shot lists. If a scene felt like it was lacking
something, we’d often switch to the 4mm lens, which always seemed to
provide what was missing.”
All of the sets were built to realistic dimensions with realistic mate-
rials, with small but significant concessions for technical purposes —
like doorways without thresholds, to avoid issues with the dolly wheels.
Wood floors, however — such as those in Baxter’s house — were built
60 / JANUARY 2024

Top: Bella and Max (Ramy Youssef) observe Dr. Godwin in his
surgery lab. Bottom: Lanthimos on set with Ryan, with whom
he shares “a two-way communication that’s easygoing.”
like real wood floors, bumps and all. “Fortunately, the wide-angle and to follow other characters, even when those characters were speaking or
fisheye lenses helped mask any bumpiness when we were off the tracks,” doing something important.
says key grip Attila Szűcs, who also acted as the dolly grip. “When we “In the first third of the film, we follow Bella closely, capturing her in
used the OpTex 4mm, you wouldn’t notice any at all.” a more chaotic and dynamic manner,” he continues. “As her character
The unique qualities of each lens also dictated a particular approach develops, our camerawork becomes smoother.”
to camera moves. The 8mm fisheye, which was too wide to hide dolly As usual, Ryan served as the A-camera operator, preferring an OCon-
track and sometimes the dolly itself, required Ryan and Szűcs to contort nor 2575 fluid head on a Chapman Super PeeWee IV+ or the end of a
themselves out of its field of view. Giraffe Compact Crane. The B camera was operated by Hungarian cine-
matographer György Réder.
Subjective Camerawork “I don’t know any other way to work besides being on the camera,”
Camera movement plays an important role in conveying Bella’s physical says Ryan. “Conveniently for me, Yorgos has a way of shooting where
and mental development. Szűcs notes, “Yorgos’ vision for the visual lan- everything revolves around the camera.”
guage of the film centers around Bella, so we had to resist the instinct

The Virtual World By Noah Kadner
LED Wall Evokes Early-Cinema

Effects for Poor Things
A 197'x33' LED wall displayed surreal

ocean vistas for scenes aboard a
steamship in Poor Things.
Most scenes in Yorgos Lanthimos’ brought onboard to advise Ryan point they could extend out with in water. We combined that with
highly stylized dark comedy Poor about the technical consider- additional effects, as needed.” mood boards and other photo-
Things were shot on tradition- ations involved in shooting on the Lanthimos wanted to evoke graphic references and eventually
al sets, but key portions of the volume, where surreal skies and early-cinema visual effects such developed a style for each scene
steamship journey that Bella seascapes would be displayed as rear projection and cyclo- that worked for everyone. Ulti-
(Emma Stone) embarks on with behind the actors on deck and, in ramas, so realism was decidedly mately, we created nine different
Duncan (Mark Ruffalo) called for a separate setup, behind a minia- not the goal. “We were intention- LED skies: six settings, three with
virtual production on an LED vol- ture of the ship. ally trying to mimic a filming style nighttime variations.”
ume — a first for both Lanthimos “Robbie was shooting on of early cinematography, where
and cinematographer Robbie film and looking for someone to a model looks like a model,” says Bespoke Solution in Budapest
Ryan, BSC, ISC. review the details and help him Barter. “The water needed to look To provide the filmmakers with
The team led by Simon understand everything necessary somewhat surreal — not com- maximum flexibility, the produc-
Hughes, creative director at Lon- to shoot on the volume,” says pletely realistic, but not modern tion created a bespoke volume
don VFX house Union, included Weber. “The main reason they CG water, either. The art depart- at Origo Studios in Budapest,
visual-effects supervisor Tim decided to shoot with virtual pro- ment referenced the fluid-effect Hungary, where the production
Barter and virtual-production duction and not greenscreen was artwork of photographer Chris was based. ICT AG and Halostage
supervisor Adrian Weber. that the ship had lots of glass and Parks, who does these slightly constructed and prepared the
other reflective surfaces. They wispy, ethereal, evolving image volume over approximately five
Surreal Effects knew an LED volume would give pieces, so the style was a little weeks.
Weber recalls that he was initially them an excellent visual starting like lava lamps or ink undulating The volume comprised 2,400
62 / JANUARY 2024
p. 62-65 Virtual World V4.indd 62 12/6/23 1:56 AM

ALL IMAGES COURTESY OF SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES. PHOTOS BY ADRIAN WEBER AND ATTILA SZŰCS.
Above: Diagrams of the upper and lower decks of the ship set, including
the LED wall to the starboard of the vessel. Right: The Arricam ST was Rewriting to Render
used to capture the majority of the film, including the LED-wall footage. “Because the environments were
so big at 23K, our initial challenge
Infiniled 2.6mm LED panels Kodak’s Ektachrome 100D 5294 was figuring out how to play back
arranged in a 197'x33' semicircle, stock for the top-deck work and everything smoothly,” says Weber.
with NovaStar processors fed by Vision3 500T 5219 for interiors. “Union’s engineers had to rewrite
four Pixera One servers. The wall To sync the film camera’s their entire render pipeline to out-
resolution was 23,040x3,840 pix- shutter speed to the LED wall’s put the backgrounds in sections.
els running at 10-bit color and 24 frame rate, Weber notes, “The That worked out to four chunks,
fps. Instead of LED panels over- sync signal was generated by one per Pixera processor.”
head, gaffer Andy Cole and crew a Rosendahl Nanosyncs HD,
installed approximately 150 Arri converted to analog, and it was 2D Plates, 3D Assists
SkyPanel S60s for fuller-spectrum processed in the camera via the The Union team created
cinema lighting. Meanwhile, four Arricam “SCB” Speed Control Box background sea/sky plates as
Arri 18K HMIs simulated sunlight — which originally was designed 6,144x3,840-pixel NotchLC files,
in the scenes. to match the recording frame rate four per environment, played
Ryan shot the volume material to old TVs — which also support- back in sync on the whole vol-
on film with an Arricam ST camera ed sync-shift to match the image ume. Because the horizon was
— as he did for much of the main playback.” reasonably far from the actors,
production — using primarily the production eschewed 3D
JANUARY 2024 / 63

The Virtual World
to review and assess how the LED

content looked in relation to the
set, well before the LED screen
and set were finished being built.”
Manual Operation
The original plan was to synchro-
nize the video content with the
lighting board via DMX program-
ming, but ultimately this essen-
tially wasn’t necessary. “We gave
the lighting team the environ-
ments,” says Weber. “They were
working with the GrandMA, and
we had the idea to take a low-
res version of the plates to use
as a base for the ‘image-based
lighting’ approach and sync the
start/stop of the timelines be-
tween Pixera and the light board.
But [because] there weren’t any
sudden changes in light, and it
was easier to trigger the loops
independently, for the most part
they operated the lights over the
volume manually.
Top: In place of LED ceiling panels, an array of Arri SkyPanel S60s were used for fuller-spectrum
cinema lighting, along with a few Arri 18K HMIs. Bottom: A look behind the wall. Miniatures Against the Wall
In addition to overseeing this
environments and mostly shot those 2D plates included 3D el- live-action ship set,” he continues. relatively traditional volume work,
fixed 2D background plates with- ements such as the water, which “As part of their design process, Barter worked on the miniature
out camera tracking. “The main we created in [SideFX] Houdini the Poor Things art department shoot, which included a depiction
factor in going 2D was Yorgos’ and [Autodesk] Maya, and com- had 3D realizations of the ship’s of the ship’s progress shot in
wishes,” Barter says. “Evoking posited with [Foundry] Nuke. deck and interior in Unreal Engine. front of a much smaller wall. The
early cinema’s rear-projection and “Though our created back- So, [I] proposed bringing into Un- footage was again shot on the
cyclorama effects was a creative ground sea/sky plates were 2D, real Engine lower-resolution itera- Arricam ST — primarily on 5219
choice that resulted in a slightly we did, in fact, utilize Unreal tions of Union’s plates.” The plates stock, with some use of Ekta-
askew perspective on the horizon. Engine to help review how the were then projection-mapped chrome 5294 as well.
Of course, the assets going into plates would look on the full-size to a 2D “surface” that displayed “We had three days to capture
behind the Unreal Engine ship all the model work, which was
— which mimicked how the LED shot by Tristan Oliver [BSC],” says
wall’s imagery would appear be- Barter. “The miniature ship was
hind the actual miniature ship. mounted on tracks in order that
“This meant that we were able it could glide slowly through the
to see how the horizon line of shot against the LED-wall skies.
our plates responded to different The [water] and ship’s wake were
camera positions, and to assess added during postproduction,
the speed of the ocean as it utilizing the [CG] seas created for
passed beside the ship, as seen the live-action LED ship shoot.”
from every camera viewpoint. Al- The production initially consid-
though further adjustments would ered shooting the miniature ship
go on to be made to the shots in real water, but this would have
during postproduction, this pre- required high-speed filming to ad-
shoot enabled Lanthimos [and I] just the scale of the water so the
64 / JANUARY 2024

movement of the waves would
appear full size — and given the
limitations of the LED wall’s re-
fresh rate, shooting at high speed
was not an option.
Other miniature work that
required LED-wall skies included
the city of Alexandria with its
dilapidated slum area, and the
mansion and grounds of Alfie
(Christopher Abbott), who enters
Bella’s life toward the end of the
film. “These were both shot on
raised platforms,” Barter says.
Parting Shots
Some angles that Lanthimos com-
posed captured frames beyond
the physical boundaries of the
LED wall, which was a “predeter-
mined directorial choice,” Barter
says. “A key part of Yorgos’ style
Robbie Ryan, BSC, ISC lines up a shot on the
is wide-angle shots, which could ship’s deck. Bottom: Actor Emma Stone, as
be slightly exasperating because Bella, looks out upon the CG seascape.
we had this giant screen and were
still managing to shoot off it! But
we were expecting that and pre- due to its sheer scale,” Barter several months,” he says, “and For full coverage of Poor
pared to do digital set extensions adds. “It’s difficult to describe the the ultimate sign-off of all LED Things, see page 52.
in every instance as needed. We feeling you get when sitting in materials was very close to the
even changed some of the skies front of this humongous sky and shoot days. For more on shooting film in
and parts of the water in postpro- ocean. The effect of the huge LED “Even when your environment an LED volume, an upcoming
duction as the edit evolved. That screen wrapping around the ship is complete before the shoot and installment of AC’s Shot Craft will
said, one of the great boons of and playing these beautiful, ar- optimized for the volume, the review a series of LED-volume-
using LED volumes is the lighting resting vistas was pretty awe-in- director still needs that time. It’s based tests of film vs. digital
and reflections you get from the spiring to us all on set. Practically crucial to work with the producers capture.
live environments. Even when you every member of the cast and to ensure that they understand
alter the backgrounds in post, it crew found themselves gazing at the importance of building that
doesn’t change the overall baked- and getting lost in the vistas at review time into the production.”
in grade reflected onto the actors, points during the shoot. We were
the sets and the models. It all shooting until midnight some-
works out very nicely.” times, but your body just doesn’t
There were additional benefits register that because you’re
for the cast, who “loved the setup looking at a constant sunset. It’s a
huge degree of immersion.”
Barter emphasizes that any
Practically every production shooting on a volume
member of the cast needs to allow sufficient time for
the director to review and sign
and crew found off on the virtual environments
themselves gazing at before the volume work com-
and getting lost in the mences. “The LED skies and seas
for Poor Things had such a unique
vistas at points during and creative visual look that the
the shoot. review process occurred across
JANUARY 2024 / 65

Clubhouse News
Latest Bulletins From the Society
EVENT PHOTOS BY STEPHEN PIZZELLO. KEMPER AND BAILEY

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE ASC ARCHIVE.
Above: Stephan Schenk from Arri with Camerimage Main Above, clockwise from top left: Ed Lachman, ASC appears
Competition Jury President Mandy Walker, ASC, ACS and onscreen; Peter Zeitlinger, ASC; Salvatore Totino, ASC, AIC;
Golden Frog winner Warwick Thornton. Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC.
ASC at Camerimage 2023 Jacek Laskus, Philippe Le Sourd, Wolski’s Napoleon (page 32). School Etudes Competition, ac-
The recent 31st annual EnergaCa- Stephen Lighthill, Karl-Walter Also in the Main Competition was tor-cinematographer Giovanni Ribisi
merimage International Film Festival, Lindenlaub, Matthew Lloyd, Robert Lee, directed by Kuras and photo- — an alumnus of the ASC Master
held Nov. 11-18 in Toruń, Poland, McLachlan, Erik Messerschmidt, graphed by Paweł Edelman, PSC. Class — served as jury president.
offered a great opportunity for Soci- Reed Morano, Phedon Papami- The Main Competition jurists Ribisi's first feature as a director
ety members to discuss their work, chael, Rodrigo Prieto, Frank Prinzi, included Walker (serving as jury of photography, Strange Darling,
screen recent projects, serve on Marcell Rév, Linus Sandgren, Jona- president), Dod Mantle, Lindenlaub, screened in the Cinematographers'
juries and celebrate cinematogra- than Sela, Peter Simonite, Salva- Sela and Totino. Debuts Competition.
phy. Camerimage remains a singular tore Totino, Mandy Walker, Dariusz Jurists in the Polish Films The fest’s Special Screenings
yearly opportunity for cinematog- Wolski and Peter Zeitlinger. Competition included Dreujou — a series included Prieto’s Barbie,
raphers from around the world to Also attending were American recent addition to the ASC roster. Frasier’s The Creator (AC Nov. ’23),
converge and honor excellence in Cinematographer editor-in-chief Morano served as jury president Sandgren’s Saltburn (AC Dec. ’23)
camerawork. Stephen Pizzello and ASC executive of the Cinematographers’ Debuts and Le Sourd’s Priscilla (page 44).
Attendees this year included director Terry McCarthy. Competition. The fest’s closing ceremony
ASC President Shelly Johnson and The Main Competition lineup The TV Series Competition had took place on Nov. 18 in a packed
Society members Vance Burberry, included Lachman’s El Conde (AC McLachlan aboard as jury president. CKK Jordanki theater, where the
Anthony Dod Mantle, Jean-Marie Nov. ’23); Messerschmidt’s Ferrari Former ASC President Lighthill festival’s top prize, the Golden Frog,
Dreujou, Markus Förderer, Greig (see page 16); Prieto’s Killers of the was a jurist in the Documentary went to The New Boy, a moving
Fraser, Dejan Georgevich, Adam Flower Moon (AC Dec. ’23); Mat- Shorts Competition. Australian drama about an Aborig-
Holender, Ellen Kuras, Ed Lachman, thew Libatique, ASC’s Maestro; and Also of note, in the Film and Art inal orphan placed in a convent
66 / JANUARY 2024
p. 66-67 Clubhouse News V4.indd 66 12/6/23 1:57 AM

during the 1940s. Writer, director joined Totino onstage to receive
and cinematographer Warwick a special acting award from the
Thornton was visibly moved while festival.
accepting the award. He joked that One highlight of the evening was
the night before the ceremony, he a montage of films shot by ASC
dreamed he was in a Seinfeld epi- member Peter Zeitlinger for director
sode where he was told, “No Frog Werner Herzog, who couldn’t attend
for you!” the festival due to illness. The pair
The Silver Frog went to Lachman received the festival’s cinematogra-
for El Conde, directed by Pablo pher-director Duo Award, honoring
Larraín. Speaking via video from their 30-year collaboration. The
Budapest, where he is currently imagery shown onscreen included
shooting Larraín’s biopic about astonishing footage culled from
Maria Callas with actress Angelina projects that included the features
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE ASC ARCHIVE.
Jolie, Lachman noted that El Conde Rescue Dawn (AC July ’07) and Bad Kemper and Bailey to Be Remembered
is “not an easy film to like, but we Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orle- With the recent passings of ASC greats Victor J. Kemper (on Nov.
don’t live in easy times.” ans, as well as the documentaries 27) and John Bailey (Nov. 10), AC will feature In Memoriam remem-
Robbie Ryan, BSC, ISC took Cave of Forgotten Dreams, My Best brances on each in a future issue. Both cinematographers dedicated
home the Bronze Frog for Poor Fiend, Grizzly Man and the Acade- their time to serving in the Society leadership and each was honored
Things (page 52), directed by Yor- my Award-nominated Encounters at with the ASC Lifetime Achievement Award — Kemper in 1998 and
gos Lanthimos. Ryan, who also ac- the End of the World. Bailey in 2015.
cepted his prize via video “because Prieto received the inaugural
I got a job,” credited Lanthimos as Titan award from The Hollywood
“the visual genius behind the film.” Reporter. The honor was presented
Mandy Walker accepted a belat- by THR staffer Carolyn Giardina,
ed award for her cinematography on who regularly covers cinematogra-
Baz Luhrmann’s 2022 feature Elvis phy for the trade paper.
(AC Dec. ’22), presented by Arri Before closing the ceremony,
executive Stephan Schenk. festival director Marek Żydowicz ex-
The FIPRESCI Prize, judged by pressed his hope that Camerimage
critics, went to The Zone of Interest, could help provide some inspiration
Jonathan Glazer’s drama about Aus- to eliminate negative thoughts.
chwitz commandant Rudolf Höss He then brought all the winners,
(AC Dec. ’23). Łukasz Żal, PSC told nominees and staff onstage for the
the audience, “The idea behind the festival’s traditional farewell.
film was not to see the author be- Further details can be found in
hind the camera.” He added that the our report on the ASC website.
film changed him as both a human
being and a cinematographer. Event reporting by Daniel Eagan.
Sal Totino won for best episode
of a television series with his work Guests at an ASC-BSC
on The Offer (AC July ’22), which Camerimage party, sponsored by
details the making of the legendary Netflix, included (at top) Paweł
feature The Godfather. The award, Edelman, PSC with his wife and
manager, Eliza, and Ellen Kuras,
for the episode "A Seat at the
ASC, and (bottom, from left) Peter
Table," was presented to Totino by
Simonite, ASC, CSC; Alexander
jury chair Robert McLachlan. Schwarz; Markus Förderer, ASC,
Giovanni Ribisi, who plays mob BVK; Oren Soffer; ASC associate
boss Joe Colombo in The Offer, Kavon Elhami; and Sam Levy.
JANUARY 2024 / 67
p. 66-67 Clubhouse News V4.indd 67 12/6/23 1:57 AM

New Products and Services
.
The latest tools and technology for motion-imaging professionals.
Lee Filters | Lee100 Deluxe Kit

Lee Filters has unveiled the Lee100 Deluxe Kit.
The kit introduces Lee’s ProGlass Neutral-Density Graduated
Filters, which are provided in 0.6ND Medium Grad, 0.9ND Hard
Grad and 1.2ND Medium Grad.
Also included in the kit are a Lee100 Holder; wide-angle
adapter rings (72mm, 77mm and 82mm); a Big Stopper long-
exposure filter with storage case; a Lee100 Polarizer with
clamshell case; a three-filter pouch and wrap; and ClearLee Filter
Wash and Filter Cloth.
For more information, visit leefilters.com.
Canon | RF 10-20mm
Canon U.S.A. Inc. has announced the RF 10-20mm F4 L IS STM
full-frame ultra-wide-angle lens.
The solution offers new image-stabilization technology to help
minimize wide-angle “fluttering” at outer areas of frame. It also
marks the first time Canon’s STM focus-drive motor has appeared
in the L series.
For more information, visit usa.canon.com.
Förderer | Cineflares
Markus Förderer, ASC, BVK has announced Cineflares, an
interactive lens-flare library for cinematographers, directors,
visual-effects artists, game designers and other creatives.
Cineflares allows users to explore and compare a vast
selection of cine lenses for their unique visual characteristics and
response to light. Each lens has been professionally captured
under controlled conditions utilizing state-of-the-art motion
control and high-resolution, large-format cameras.
For more information, visit cineflares.com.
Venus Optics | Laowa 8-16mm

Venus Optics has introduced the Laowa 8-16mm f/3.5-5 compact
zoom lens.
Designed for mirrorless cameras, the lens offers an angle of
view spanning 82.8-120.9 degrees, an 86mm filter thread, close-
focus capability and minimal optical distortion. It is compatible with
Sony E, Fujifilm X, Nikon Z and Canon RF and EF-M mounts.
For more information, visit venuslens.net.
68 / JANUARY 2024
p. 68-71 New Products V4.indd 68 12/6/23 1:55 AM

Vū | Vū One
Vū Technologies has introduced Vū One, a multipurpose studio
intended to make virtual production accessible to all productions
regardless of budget and technical experience.
OptiTrack | New PrimeX, SlimX,
Vū One is powered by Virtual Studio, a suite of tools that Updated Motive
includes the Vu.ai generative-content workflow, and is controlled OptiTrack has announced the PrimeX 120, PrimeX 120W and SlimX
via a mobile device. Vū One sizes range from 16'x9' to 45'x16'. 120 motion-capture cameras, and has updated Motive to v3.1.
For more information, visit vu.network. The cameras enable larger tracking areas for a wider variety
of simulation scenarios and larger cinematic virtual-production
studios. They feature 12-megapixel resolution, and the lenses
are designed with low-distortion “fast glass” for optimal marker
tracking and true 10-bit grayscale depth.
Motive 3.1 offers new user interfaces, better asset-creation
tools, and improvements in 3D viewing and graphing.
For more information, visit optitrack.com.
ROE Visual | Topaz Series,

New Investment
ROE Visual has released the Topaz Series of LED panels.
Featuring a pixel pitch of 2.6mm, the Topaz Series encompasses
curved panels that can accommodate any stage design and panels
that can be assembled to create 90-degree corners and cubes.
Separately, Creative Technology announced its investment
in ROE Visual Vanish V8T LED panels. The investment is expected Hollyland | Mars M1, Hollyvox G51
to grow the Middle East market for both companies. Hollyland Technology has released the Mars M1 Enhanced wireless
For more information, visit roevisual.com. video monitor, transmitter and receiver, and the Hollyvox G51
intercom system.
The Mars M1 supports one transmitter and two receivers,
monitoring on up to four separate standard mobile phones or
tablets, or one receiver plus two monitoring mobile devices.
The Hollyvox G51 has a range of 1,300' and operates on a
1.9GHz frequency. The hub can be powered using Sony NPF
batteries or plugged in for stationary use.
For more information, visit hollyland.com.
JANUARY 2024 / 69

NEW PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
Teradek | Teradek TV
Teradek has launched Teradek TV, a live-feed and instant-
recordings review platform that provides real-time visibility in all
stages of production, connecting creatives, producers, executives
and remote collaborators.
For more information, visit teradek.com.
DJI | Zenmuse L2 Westcott | 50mm Lens Kit for

DJI has unveiled the Zenmuse L2 aerial lidar system.
The solution integrates frame lidar and a 4/3 CMOS RGB Optical Spot
mapping camera, providing DJI flight platforms with more precise Westcott has released the 50mm Lens Kit for the Optical Spot.
and reliable geospatial data acquisition. When used with DJI Terra, The kit provides head-to-toe lighting and wide light patterns
it delivers a turnkey solution for 3D data collection and accurate across the entire background to add depth and character to
post processing. photos. Included with the lens are three gobos, five color gels,
For more information, visit dji.com. a gel ring clip and a lens-storage case. (The Optical Spot is sold
separately.)
For more information, visit fjwestcott.com.
Harbor Picture Co. | Harbor Chicago
Harbor Picture Co. has opened a studio in Chicago, offering
creative editorial, color/finishing, sound, visual effects and other
postproduction services.
Located at 358 W. Ontario St., the facility is led by executive
producer Casey Swircz.
For more information, visit harborpicturecompany.com.
For more of our latest tech reports, visit theasc.com/american-cinematographer/articles
70 / JANUARY 2024

Chroma-Q | Vista 3
Update
Chroma-Q has announced Release 4 (R4) of
its Vista 3
lighting- and media-control software.
The update contains more than 200
improvements and new features, including
support for the Newtek NDI video protocol
and Ableton Link support.
For more information, visit chroma-q.com. Your Super 8 and 16mm
Film Lab for 50 years
Elation Lighting |
Proteus Hybrid Max CAMERAS.
Elation Lighting has announced the Proteus
Hybrid Max.
The solution enables users to create FILM.
ranges of effects from a 1.8-degree shaft of
light to a 45-degree wide beam. An added PROCESSING.
frost softens light, allowing the unit to be
used as a precision wash unit at any angle
from the 170mm front aperture lens. SCANNING.
For more information, visit elationlighting.
com.
818.848.5522 • pro8mm.com
Lupo | Ultrapanel
Pro Series
Lupo has introduced the Ultrapanel Pro
Series of LEDs.
The 1x1 Ultrapanel Pro 30 Soft is capable
of 8,600 Lux at 3' with a beam angle of 120
degrees. The 1x1 Ultrapanel Pro 30 Hard
offers an output of 72,000 Lux at 3' with a
beam angle of 40 degrees.
For more information, visit lupo.it.
Ad Index
AC Manual 6 HBO / Max 3
AC Subscription 4 NBCUniversal Pictures C2, 1
Amazon Studios 5 Netflix 9, C4
ASC Store 57 Panavision C3
Astera 23 Pro8mm 71
Blackmagic Design Inc. 15 Rip-Tie Inc. 71
Brompton Technologies 31 Samy’s 37, 39
Cine Gear Expo 51 Sawyer Studios 7
DJI 47 Sony Electronics 25
Ernst Leitz Wetzlar GmbH 21 The Studio - B&H 29
Focus Features 13
JANUARY 2024 / 71

Wrap Shot
Napoléon (1927)
PHOTO COURTESY OF FILMS ABEL GANCE/DILTZ/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES.

In planning what would become his monumental silent feature Napoléon, ever-ambitious director Abel
Gance (pictured here in a black bonnet, with members of his cast and crew) initially proposed a six-film
serial to explore the life of French emperor and military commander Napoleon Bonaparte. Although Gance’s
initial vision was ultimately chopped down in length for the many versions that have appeared over subse-
quent decades, the movie remains a marvel of cinematic innovation.
The many revolutionary techniques employed by Gance and his team include jump cuts, multiple expo-
sures, superimposition, multi-cam setups, extreme close-ups, POV shots, split screens, in-camera tricks,
film tinting, handheld camerawork and rigs attached to the body of a cameraperson, a sled, a bicycle, a
horse, and a pendulum swinging above 1,200 extras. Four cinematographers worked with Gance to achieve
his awe-inspiring vision: Léonce-Henri Burel, Jules Kruger, Joseph-Louis Mundwiller and Nikolai Toporkoff.
For the film’s climactic segment, Gance went all out, mounting three Debrie Parvo cameras on top of
each other — one pointed to the left, one straight ahead, and one aimed to the right — so each could
produce one third of a widescreen panorama in a 4:1 aspect ratio (1.33:1x3). This visual strategy (dubbed
“Polyvision”) required cinemas showing the film to widen their screens and use three synchronized projec-
tors to display the full pageantry of images. (Gance was unable to eliminate the problem of the two seams
dividing the three panels of film shown onscreen, so he avoided the problem in some of the Polyvision
sequences by juxtaposing three completely different shots.)
“I felt that I lacked space in certain scenes, because the picture was too small for me,” said Gance. “Even
a big picture was too small for me.”
— Stephen Pizzello
72 / JANUARY 2024
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Cover 3_IBC.indd 3 12/6/23 2:10 AM
F O R YO U R C O N S I D E R AT I O N
I N A L L CAT E G O R I E S I N C LU D I N G
BEST PICTURE
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT
IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
THEATRICAL FEATURE FILM
Matthew Libatique, asc
“AN ABSOLUTE MARVEL

AND ONE OF THE
FINEST FILMS OF THE YEAR.
MATTHEW LIBATIQUE’s camera dances like violins in a concerto.”
Marlow Stern,
FILM.NETFLIXAWARDS.COM
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January 2024 The International Publication of the American Society of Cinematographers

Dariusz Wolski, ASC and Ridley Scott

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© 2022 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

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32 Napoleon: The Intimate and the Epic

44 First Love in Focus: Priscilla

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WEB DIRECTOR and PUBLISHER

Edited by M. David Mullen,

• Evaluating digital cameras SUBSCRIPTIONS, BOOKS and PRODUCTS

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The ASC is not a labor union or a guild,

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PORTRAIT BY JOHN SIMMONS, ASC.

“John was one of the icons we all admired.”

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“ED LACHMAN’s “Shot by

A Satire by Pablo Larraín

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CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, DISTRIBUTED BY COLUMBIA PICTURES.

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location. Sometimes confusion unbreakable rules.

pen with poorly blocked action derstand lines.

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IMAGES FROM RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, DISTRIBUTED BY PARAMOUNT PICTURES.

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“Eigil Bryld’s invaluable cinematography

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

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keeps Indy moving and energetic.

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Full Frame Flexibility

www.blackmagicdesign.com Learn More!

pair of films shot by Erik Messerschmidt, ASC

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International Pursuit Returning to Red

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Battling “The Brute”

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The Killer finds his target in an apartment (pictured here)

attacked The Killer’s girlfriend, involved extensive stuntvis. The action is

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Below: The crew shoots Fassbender on location in the

“There’s a thing we do with fight sequences in cinema where we

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Tech Specs: 2.39:1

Below: Inside his home in Florida, an assassin known as The Brute

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RGB, HSI, X,Y &

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Enzo Ferrari (Adam Driver) works with

PHOTO BY LORENZO SISTI.

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VENICE Rialto VENICE

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