6223 ARRI News - Media Ma#41830 - ARRI Group
6223 ARRI News - Media Ma#41830 - ARRI Group
6223 ARRI News - Media Ma#41830 - ARRI Group
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PERFORMANCE WITH POWER<br />
Introducing the <strong>ARRI</strong>/Zeiss Master Zoom 16.5 – 110.<br />
A high performance T2.6 lens that maintains<br />
outstanding optical image quality, covering the entire<br />
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This powerful zoom produces a high-contrast, high-resolution<br />
image which is comparable to that of a prime lens, while<br />
displaying virtually no breathing or ramping. Its unique optical<br />
design reduces spherical aberration and keeps the image<br />
geometry free of distortions - so straight lines stay straight,<br />
even up close.<br />
Now you can choose from more <strong>ARRI</strong>/Zeiss lenses than ever<br />
before. The Master Zoom further expands the <strong>ARRI</strong>/Zeiss lens<br />
family, providing you with a robust, comprehensive choice of<br />
matched lenses of the highest optical and mechanical quality.<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong>/Zeiss Master Zoom 16.5 - 110mm<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong>/Zeiss Master Primes - 14 lenses ranging from 14mm to 150mm<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong>/Zeiss Lightweight Zoom 15.5 - 45mm<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong>/Zeiss Ultra Primes - 16 lenses ranging from 8mm to 180mm<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong>/Zeiss Master Diopters - 3 diopters (0.5, 1 & 2)<br />
Your creative possibilities are endless.<br />
Available<br />
worldwide from<br />
arri.com<br />
10/07 ISSUE 5<br />
Vision<strong>ARRI</strong><br />
The Biannual International Magazine from the <strong>ARRI</strong> RENTAL & POST PRODUCTION ENTERPRISES<br />
Tin Man<br />
The <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX D-20 returns<br />
to Oz for TV miniseries<br />
The Kite Runner<br />
Interview with DoP<br />
Roberto Schaefer ASC<br />
Behind the Scenes of<br />
the Mazda2 Spot<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> Film & TV Commercial<br />
create dynamic advertisement<br />
for the Mazda2<br />
Eastern Promises<br />
London sets the scene for<br />
David Cronenberg’s Russian<br />
mafia movie<br />
Mongol<br />
The challenge of bringing the story<br />
of Genghis Khan to the big screen<br />
THE BOURNE<br />
ULTIMATUM<br />
DoP Oliver Wood discusses<br />
his experiences shooting the<br />
third Bourne instalment
<strong>ARRI</strong> SERVICES GROUP NETWORK<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> SUBSIDIARIES<br />
AUSTRALIA<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> Australia, Sydney<br />
Cameras, Digital<br />
Christian Hilgart,<br />
Stefan Sedlmeier<br />
T +61 2 9855 4300<br />
chilgart@arri.com.au<br />
ssedlmeier@arri.com.au<br />
AUSTRIA<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> Rental Vienna<br />
Cameras, Digital<br />
Gerhard Giesser<br />
T +43 664 120 7257<br />
rental@arri.at<br />
CZECH REPUBLIC<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> Rental Prague<br />
Cameras, Digital, Lighting, Grip<br />
Robert Keil<br />
T +42 025 101 3575<br />
rkeil@arri.de<br />
GERMANY<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> Rental Berlin<br />
Cameras, Digital, Lighting, Grip<br />
Ute Baron<br />
Christoph Hoffsten<br />
T +49 30 346 800 0<br />
ubaron@arri.de<br />
choffsten@arri.de<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> Rental Cologne<br />
Cameras, Digital<br />
Stefan Martini<br />
T +49 221 170 6724<br />
smartini@arri.de<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> Rental Munich<br />
Cameras, Digital, Lighting, Grip<br />
Thomas Loher<br />
T +49 89 3809 1440<br />
tloher@arri.de<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> Film & TV Services, Munich<br />
Film Lab, Digital Intermediate<br />
Visual Effects, Sound, Studio,<br />
Cinema<br />
International Sales<br />
Angela Reedwisch<br />
T +49 89 3809 1574<br />
areedwisch@arri.de<br />
National Sales<br />
Walter Brus<br />
T +49 89 3809 1772<br />
wbrus@arri.de<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> Schwarzfilm Berlin GmbH<br />
Film Lab, Digital Intermediate<br />
Thomas Mulack<br />
T +49 30 408 17 8534<br />
T +49 30 408 17 850<br />
thomas@schwarzfilm.de<br />
Schwarz Film GmbH<br />
Ludwigsburg<br />
Film Lab, Digital Intermediate<br />
Christine Wagner,<br />
Philipp Tschäppät<br />
T +49 7141 125 590<br />
christine@schwarzfilm.de<br />
philipp@schwarzfilm.ch<br />
LUXEMBOURG<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> Rental Luxembourg<br />
Cameras, Digital<br />
Steffen Ditter<br />
T +352 2670 1270<br />
sditter@arri.de<br />
SWITZERLAND<br />
Schwarz Film AG,<br />
Ostermundigen, Zürich<br />
Film Lab, Digital Intermediate<br />
Philipp Tschäppät<br />
T +41 31 938 11 50<br />
philipp@schwarzfilm.ch<br />
UNITED KINGDOM<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> Lighting Rental, London<br />
Lighting<br />
Tommy Moran<br />
T +44 1895 457 200<br />
tmoran@arrirental.com<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> Focus, London<br />
Short term lighting hire for<br />
commercials & promos<br />
Martin Maund, George Martin<br />
T +44 1895 810 000<br />
martin@arrifocus.com<br />
george@arrifocus.com<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> <strong>Media</strong>, London<br />
Cameras, Digital, Grip<br />
Philip Cooper<br />
T +44 1895 457 100<br />
pcooper@arrimedia.com<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> Crew, London<br />
Diary Service<br />
Kate Collier<br />
T +44 1895 457 180<br />
arricrew@arrimedia.com<br />
USA<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> CSC, New York<br />
Cameras, Digital, Lighting, Grip<br />
Simon Broad,<br />
Hardwrick Johnson<br />
T +1 212 757 0906<br />
sbroad@arricsc.com<br />
hjohnson@arricsc.com<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> CSC, Florida<br />
Cameras, Digital, Lighting, Grip<br />
Ed Stamm<br />
T +1 954 322 4545<br />
estamm@arricsc.com<br />
Illumination Dynamics, LA<br />
Lighting, Grip<br />
Carly Barber, Maria Carpenter<br />
T +1 818 686 6400<br />
carly@illuminationdynamics.com<br />
maria@illuminationdynamics.com<br />
Illumination Dynamics,<br />
North Carolina,<br />
Lighting, Grip<br />
Jeff Pentek<br />
T +1 704 679 9400<br />
jeff@illuminationdynamics.com<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> PARTNERS & ASSOCIATES<br />
AUSTRALIA<br />
Cameraquip, Melbourne,<br />
Brisbane<br />
Cameras<br />
Malcolm Richards<br />
T +61 3 9699 3922<br />
T +61 7 3844 9577<br />
rentals@cameraquip.com.au<br />
BULGARIA<br />
Boyana Film Studios, Sofia<br />
Cameras, Lighting, Grip<br />
Lazar Lazarov<br />
T +359 2958 2713<br />
director@boyanafilm.bg<br />
CYPRUS<br />
Seahorse Films,<br />
Nicosia, Paphos<br />
Cameras, Digital, Lighting,<br />
Grip, Studio<br />
Andros Achilleos<br />
T +357 9967 5013<br />
andros@seahorsefilms.com<br />
FRANCE<br />
Bogard, Paris<br />
Cameras, Digital, Grip<br />
Didier Bogard, Alain Gauthier<br />
T +33 1 49 33 16 35<br />
didier@bogard.fr<br />
alain.gauthier@bogard.fr<br />
GERMANY<br />
Maddel’s Cameras GmbH,<br />
Hamburg<br />
Cameras, Grip<br />
Matthias Neumann<br />
T +49 40 66 86 390<br />
info@maddels.com<br />
HUNGARY<br />
VisionTeam, Budapest<br />
Cameras, Lighting, Grip<br />
Gabor Rajna<br />
T +36 1 433 3911<br />
info@visionteam.hu<br />
ICELAND<br />
Pegasus Pictures, Reykjavik<br />
Cameras, Lighting, Grip<br />
Snorri Thorisson<br />
T +354 414 2000<br />
snorri@pegasus.is<br />
IRELAND<br />
The Production Depot,<br />
Co Wicklow<br />
Cameras, Lighting, Grip<br />
John Leahy, Dave Leahy<br />
T +353 1 276 4840<br />
john@production-depot.com<br />
dave@production-depot.com<br />
JAPAN<br />
NAC Image Technology Inc.<br />
Tokyo<br />
Cameras, Digital<br />
Tomofumi Masuda<br />
Hiromi Shindome<br />
T +81 3 5211 7960<br />
masuda@camnac.co.jp<br />
NEW ZEALAND<br />
Camera Tech, Wellington<br />
Cameras<br />
Peter Fleming<br />
T +64 4562 8814<br />
cameratech@xtra.co.nz<br />
ROMANIA<br />
Panalight Studio, Bucharest<br />
Cameras, Lighting, Grip<br />
Diana Apostol<br />
T +40 727 358 304<br />
office@panalight.ro<br />
RUSSIA<br />
ACT Film Facilities Agency,<br />
St. Petersburg<br />
Cameras, Lighting, Grip<br />
Sergei Astakhov<br />
T +7 812 710 2080<br />
act@actfilm.ru<br />
SCANDINAVIA<br />
BLIXT Camera Rental,<br />
Denmark, Norway & Sweden<br />
Cameras, Digital<br />
Björn Blixt<br />
T +45 70 20 59 50<br />
blixt@blixt.dk<br />
SOUTH AFRICA<br />
<strong>Media</strong> Film Service,<br />
Cape Town, Johannesburg,<br />
Durban, Namibia<br />
Cameras, Digital, Lighting,<br />
Grip, Studio<br />
Jannie Van Wyk<br />
T +27 21 511 3300<br />
jannie@mediafilmservice.com<br />
SPAIN<br />
Camara Rental<br />
Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga<br />
Cameras, Grip<br />
Andres Berenguer, Alvaro<br />
Berenguer, Sylvia Jacuinde<br />
T +34 91 651 3399<br />
andres@camararental.com<br />
alvaro@camararental.com<br />
sylvia@camararental.com<br />
info@camararental.com<br />
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES<br />
Filmquip <strong>Media</strong>, Dubai<br />
Cameras, Lighting, Grip<br />
Anthony Smythe, Hugo Lang<br />
T +971 4 347 4909<br />
ant@filmquipmedia.com<br />
hugo@filmquipmedia.com<br />
USA & CANADA<br />
Clairmont Camera Hollywood,<br />
LA, Toronto, Vancouver<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX D-20 Representative<br />
Irving Correa<br />
T +1 818 761 4440<br />
irvingc@clairmont.com<br />
Fletcher Chicago, Chicago<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX D-20 Representative<br />
Stan Glapa<br />
T +1 312 932 2700<br />
stan@fletch.com<br />
4 THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM<br />
DoP Oliver Wood describes his hand-held approach to the<br />
camerawork on the latest Bourne film<br />
8 A VIRTUAL SPOT FOR REAL ASSETS<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> Film & TV Commercial animate 3D spot for investment bank<br />
10 THE KITE RUNNER<br />
DoP Roberto Schaefer ASC discusses his latest collaboration<br />
with Director Marc Forster<br />
12 LONDON’S UNDERWORLD<br />
Co-Producer Tracey Seaward, DoP Peter Suschitzky BSC and<br />
Gaffer John Colley talk about creating David Cronenberg’s<br />
Russian mafia movie Eastern Promises<br />
16 BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE MAZDA2 SPOT<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> Film & TV Commercial generate powerful advert for<br />
car manufacturer Mazda<br />
22 RETURN TO OZ<br />
Fantasy world captured by the <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX D-20 for TV<br />
miniseries Tin Man<br />
24 <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX D-20 BRINGS IDEAS TO REALITY<br />
An update on recent <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX D-20 projects<br />
25 SHADOWS<br />
Director Milcho Manchevski and DoP Fabio Cianchetti post feature<br />
Shadows at <strong>ARRI</strong> Film & TV<br />
28 EAST OF EVERYTHING<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> Australia supply television drama<br />
CONTENTS<br />
4<br />
38<br />
10<br />
Vision<strong>ARRI</strong> would like to thank the following contributors;<br />
Susanne Bieger, Clemens Danzer, Mark Hope-Jones, Ingo Klingspon, Tracy Mair, Heike Maleschka,<br />
Dylan Michael, Tommy Moran, Sinead Moran, Andrea Oki, Judith Petty, Bastian Prützmann,<br />
Angela Reedwisch, Andrea Rosenwirth, Stefan Sedlmeier, Marc Shipman-Mueller, Iain Struthers,<br />
Michelle Smith, Andy Subratie, Ricore Text, An Tran, Sabine Welte<br />
VISION<strong>ARRI</strong><br />
30 A THOUSAND YEARS OF<br />
GOOD PRAYERS<br />
Director Wayne Wang talks about his latest<br />
feature film<br />
33 A SYMPHONY OF SOLOISTS<br />
The <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX D-20 shoots 150 musicians for<br />
Sony commercial<br />
34 THE STORY OF A YOUNG KILLER<br />
DoP Rob Hardy reflects on using the <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX<br />
416 and Master Primes for feature Boy A<br />
38 MONGOL<br />
Director Sergei Bodrov recreates the story of<br />
Genghis Khan<br />
42 COPACABANA<br />
Television drama combines traditional film<br />
techniques with digital technology at<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> Film & TV<br />
44 SEVEN DAYS SUNDAY<br />
Up and coming director supported by<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> Film & TV and <strong>ARRI</strong> Rental<br />
46 SIDE EFFECT<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> Lighting Rental and <strong>ARRI</strong> <strong>Media</strong> help<br />
budding filmmakers shoot short film<br />
48 THE POWER TO DREAM, THE VISION<br />
TO INNOVATE<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> celebrates 90 years of product innovation<br />
52 25 YEARS OF <strong>ARRI</strong> FILM & TV<br />
Managing Director Franz Kraus reflects on 25<br />
years of postproduction at <strong>ARRI</strong><br />
55 STATE-OF-THE-ART TECHNOLOGY AT<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> SCHWARZFILM BERLIN GMBH<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> SchwarzFilm Berlin upgrades facilities<br />
56 MOMENTS IN TIME<br />
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and the hand-held<br />
affair with the <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 35<br />
59 PANALIGHT<br />
The <strong>ARRI</strong> Rental <strong>Group</strong>’s Romanian rental partner<br />
60 NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD<br />
63 DID YOU KNOW?<br />
63 TAKE 10<br />
64 PRODUCT UPDATE<br />
68 PRODUCTION UPDATE
THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM<br />
DoP Oliver Wood discusses frenetic camerawork,<br />
international locations and lighting by satellite.<br />
The third instalment of a hugely successful film franchise based on<br />
novels by Robert Ludlum, The Bourne Ultimatum sees Matt Damon<br />
return as amnesiac assassin Jason Bourne. Robbed of his identity<br />
and pursued across the globe, Bourne must turn the tables on the<br />
government agency that trained him but now wants him dead in<br />
order to avenge his murdered girlfriend and uncover the truth about<br />
his past. The second Bourne film directed by Paul Greengrass and the<br />
third photographed by Oliver Wood, Ultimatum has thrilled audiences<br />
worldwide since its August release and very quickly exceeded the<br />
international box office returns of both preceding films.<br />
4<br />
VISION<strong>ARRI</strong><br />
The Bourne Ultimatum was shot on Kodak Vision2 250D<br />
(5205) and 500T (5218) with <strong>ARRI</strong>CAM Lite and <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX<br />
235 cameras, Cooke S4 primes and Nikon mini-zooms.<br />
Camera equipment was supplied by <strong>ARRI</strong> <strong>Media</strong> in London,<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> Rental in Munich and <strong>ARRI</strong> CSC in New York, all<br />
working together to provide the international service available<br />
from the <strong>ARRI</strong> Rental <strong>Group</strong>.<br />
Vision<strong>ARRI</strong>: Director Paul Greengrass was with you<br />
again on this third film; was it easy to slip back<br />
into the working relationship?<br />
Oliver Wood: Yes, we just went back into the same mode right<br />
away. It was very much an extension of what we’d done<br />
before; we had worked out a style on The Bourne Supremacy<br />
which was very successful and I just kind of updated it with<br />
different equipment. We had quite a big prep and the<br />
assistants made up these cameras to be able to work handheld;<br />
very lightweight and very fast.<br />
Paul’s style was to be completely loose and spontaneous, all<br />
the way down the line, from the script onwards. He got that<br />
from United 93, when he had complete control of the script<br />
and it became a daily thing that he wrote it himself with the<br />
actors. It wasn’t just the camerawork, it was the way he<br />
worked with the actors and everything – that’s where he<br />
wants to go; he wants to make it all like that.<br />
The editors would often come back with reshoot lists of what<br />
they were missing, but I had dailies DVDs so if we needed to<br />
go back to a scene, I could watch the DVD and see what we<br />
did that day. Also the sets were done with [specialist lighting<br />
company] Light by Numbers, so we had computer records<br />
we could punch in and everything would come up the same<br />
as before.<br />
VA: You chose <strong>ARRI</strong>CAM Lite and <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 235<br />
cameras. What made them right for the job<br />
and how did you use them to achieve what<br />
Paul envisioned?<br />
OW: They were the most reliable cameras I could find. Size<br />
of course was a top priority – size and weight, and then<br />
ergonomics. We stripped every bit of weight off the kits we<br />
could and anything we could add that was lightweight rather<br />
than heavy, we did. �<br />
5
THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM VISION<strong>ARRI</strong><br />
The <strong>ARRI</strong>CAM Lites were used pretty much whenever there<br />
was sync dialogue and we had to have a silent camera. In<br />
certain cases, where there was some dialogue but the camera<br />
had to be very mobile, then we went to the 235 – in exterior<br />
situations where you couldn’t hear it so much. And then we<br />
made it even lighter if we had to put it in a running shot or on<br />
a Pogo-Cam. The 235 functioned as the smallest possible<br />
camera; it basically went down to the tiniest, lightest, handheld<br />
configuration we could get.<br />
There were always at least two cameras, but there was no rule<br />
about how they were allocated. The ‘B’ camera was usually an<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong>CAM Lite but was sometimes a 235 if it was on a<br />
Steadicam and we had to run with it. The ‘A’ camera could be<br />
either a Lite or a 235. I would have liked to carry two 235s<br />
actually. It was used for exteriors, for all chase sequences – of<br />
which there were many – like in Waterloo station, in Morocco<br />
and anywhere the sound could be worked out. The sound man<br />
was very forgiving with it.<br />
VA: You had Cooke S4 primes and some specially<br />
made Nikon zooms. How did you put them to use?<br />
OW: The mini-zooms were the result of collaboration between<br />
me and <strong>ARRI</strong> <strong>Media</strong>. I said I wanted to have two lightweight<br />
zooms and the suggestion came up that we fish around for<br />
stills zooms. We found these two Nikon digital zooms, a<br />
28-76mm and a 70-200mm; <strong>ARRI</strong> thought they could adapt<br />
them and they did it. The Nikons became the basic lenses<br />
for the whole show; they were used all the time because the<br />
constant priority was for lightweight, ergonomic kit. The other<br />
question was speed; I needed a lens that went to T2.8,<br />
because that’s where I needed to work.<br />
6<br />
� STEADICAM OPERATOR Florian Emmerich keeps pace with Matt Damon<br />
� PAUL GREENGRASS directs Matt Damon<br />
� DOP OLIVER WOOD (right) supervises the ‘C’ camera crew<br />
I’ve always been very fond of Cooke lenses; I just like the look.<br />
We used the 150mm Cooke quite a bit on the Steadicam, but<br />
we were mostly on the zooms.<br />
VA: Shooting fast action scenes with hand-held<br />
cameras and wide lens apertures must have been<br />
challenging for your crews.<br />
OW: I was very kind to the focus pullers, I said “if you make<br />
mistakes, don’t get bent out of shape, just carry on, it’s fine.<br />
If it buzzes it’s all part of the look – zooming in and missing,<br />
zooming in and not being sharp so quickly pulling the focus –<br />
make that part of the camerawork.” Saying that made<br />
them much more confident and in camerawork confidence<br />
is everything.<br />
We had extremely good operators, some of the best in the<br />
world. I went in there and almost told them to forget everything<br />
they’d been taught and start again, but because they were<br />
such good operators it came naturally to them. They loved<br />
letting go of all the restrictions of having to be smooth and in<br />
focus all the time and executing perfect zooms. It was a fertile<br />
area for them to work in and they loved it.<br />
The way we kitted out these cameras was another treat for<br />
them; no expense was spared. The producers were great<br />
about getting everything I needed; I had a kind of open door<br />
in that area.<br />
VA: You were also shooting all over the world.<br />
Did that present any particular difficulties?<br />
OW: Yeah it was challenging. First of all, the package we had<br />
was highly specialised; we had two suitcases that formed a<br />
“gizmo” package as we called it, which was all the little<br />
Photos by: Jasin Boland © 2007 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved<br />
“THE 235 FUNCTIONED<br />
AS THE SMALLEST<br />
POSSIBLE CAMERA; IT<br />
BASICALLY WENT DOWN<br />
TO THE TINIEST,<br />
LIGHTEST, HAND-HELD<br />
CONFIGURATION WE<br />
COULD GET.”<br />
cables and extra bits and pieces that were put together at<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> <strong>Media</strong>. Some had been custom made, so basically those<br />
two suitcases went with us around the world. In New York for<br />
instance I took the two cases from <strong>ARRI</strong> <strong>Media</strong> and the Nikon<br />
lenses that were made and then we rented the basic camera<br />
package from <strong>ARRI</strong> CSC in New York.<br />
Each time we had new assistants I had to instruct them in how<br />
it all went together. Basically in Europe and England we had<br />
the same crew. In Germany we had a new crew, although I<br />
took the ‘A’ and ‘B’ camera focus pullers and operators, and<br />
everyone else in Berlin had done Supremacy with me so they<br />
were pretty much up to speed. Then when we got to New York<br />
it was a whole different ball game, but they were brilliant too;<br />
they came up with their own rigs and were very creative. All<br />
the different crews contributed; it was an organic process.<br />
The camera crew list is about four pages long, and then on top<br />
of that there was a second unit. There were three cameras on<br />
the second unit; they had to put their own packages together,<br />
based on ours. When we scouted it, this was all planned out –<br />
we decided what was going to be first unit, what was going to<br />
be second unit – but once we were shooting there was no way<br />
I could be there; they were completely autonomous.<br />
VA: In Berlin you had to light a large area of the city<br />
for the film’s opening sequence. How did you go<br />
about planning that?<br />
OW: That was an enormous lighting set-up. I flew in for a<br />
weekend with my German Gaffer Ronnie Schwarz, who<br />
actually lit the second movie, so he was very aware of what<br />
I needed. We scouted the two basic locations; one was a<br />
drugstore and other was the station, but they were huge. They<br />
were supposed to be in Moscow; that’s the reason we chose<br />
East Berlin, because the communist architecture is very similar<br />
to Moscow. Then I went back to London to start shooting again<br />
at seven o’clock on the Monday morning. Ronnie put his plans<br />
down on a Google Earth document, so we got on the phone<br />
and sat with computers, bringing up Google Earth documents<br />
with little flags all over them. It was an absolutely brilliant tool;<br />
I could see his plans as he made them and suggest changes<br />
right there over the phone.<br />
VA: The film has gone through a DI. What is your<br />
approach and attitude to this process?<br />
I consider the DI a lighting tool. I’ve completely stopped<br />
using filters or any kind of unusual lab processes. I process<br />
everything absolutely normally and never filter anything; I do<br />
any kind of grad or image work in the DI. The only exception<br />
really was a streaking out-of-phase shutter effect in some<br />
flashbacks. Half of that was done digitally, but it worked a lot<br />
better in camera.<br />
The biggest achievement of the DI was taking this huge wealth<br />
of material that was shot all over the world by a million<br />
different people, putting it together and making it look like the<br />
same movie. ■<br />
Mark Hope-Jones<br />
7
A Virtual<br />
Spot for<br />
Real Assets<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> Film & TV Commercial pulls<br />
out all the stops for Investment<br />
Bank Cortal Consors<br />
Amid the numerous TV spots promoting<br />
financial products and services on German<br />
television there is one that stands out: an<br />
avant-garde, 3D animated commercial for<br />
investment bank Cortal Consors, the onlineaffiliate<br />
of BNP Paribas. This successful<br />
collaboration between Cortal Consors,<br />
advertising agency Serviceplan and <strong>ARRI</strong><br />
Commercial has proved it possible to create<br />
visually impressive television spots for a<br />
financial institution.<br />
“In the financial sector the products themselves are<br />
very interchangeable and therefore it is extremely<br />
important to establish the product by giving it a<br />
distinct and trendy visual style,” says Daniela Bardini,<br />
Creative Director of Munich-based agency<br />
Serviceplan Zweite. “It is vital that the spot stands out<br />
and grabs people’s attention, leaving an indelible<br />
impression on their minds.”<br />
The most recent 17-second TV commercial promotes<br />
10 successful mutual funds, which Cortal Consors<br />
offer at an attractive price with the slogan: “The best<br />
mutual funds at the best prices.” Previous spots have<br />
extended different offers but all have one thing in<br />
common: they are all virtual commercials and were<br />
created entirely on 3D computers at <strong>ARRI</strong>.<br />
The first step was to find a solid, visual icon to<br />
represent the mutual fund, which is an essentially<br />
abstract product, to star in the TV spot as the<br />
story’s hero. From discussions emerged the idea<br />
of developing an award statuette character, along<br />
the lines of an Oscar, for the world of banking<br />
commercials. The task of developing this character<br />
was put in the capable hands of <strong>ARRI</strong>’s Head of 3D<br />
Animation, Christian Deister, and Character Animator<br />
Vladan Subotic. From a selection of scribbles and<br />
illustrations the production team chose a statuette that<br />
resembles a young, dynamic manager. The character<br />
was rendered entirely in 3D and plated in virtual<br />
chrome, ready for its starring role.<br />
“Initially we did not have an agreed-upon<br />
storyboard,” remembers Christian Deister. “Together<br />
with the client and the agency, we worked as a team<br />
to create the story; everyone contributed ideas.”<br />
Head of <strong>ARRI</strong> Commercial Philipp Bartel adds:<br />
“It’s very motivating when the client grants the<br />
postproduction house and the agency so much<br />
creative freedom. Often they went with our ideas<br />
and allowed us to implement them single-handedly.”<br />
While still in the fine-tuning stages of characterdevelopment,<br />
the 3D team created an animatic<br />
for previsualisation of the spot. Christian Deister<br />
explains: “I thought it would be best to approach this<br />
commercial as if it were a conventional live-action<br />
film.” Using a dummy, various camera movements<br />
were tested in an attempt to discover the best methods<br />
of filming the statuette. “Playing the appropriate music<br />
in the background, we wanted to create a powerful<br />
plot to give the statues an epic quality in this short<br />
17-second spot,” he continues.<br />
� WIDE SHOT final render<br />
� CLOSE-UP final render<br />
VISION<strong>ARRI</strong><br />
After initial pre-rendering, the test footage was<br />
edited to music on an Avid and so within just a few<br />
days the client was able to approve the spot as a<br />
“living-and-breathing” storyboard. “Pre-rendering is<br />
a fast process,” says Philipp Bartel, “but it provides<br />
everything that is needed to properly adjust the<br />
camera in the edit. Subsequently, in the final<br />
rendering, only those frames which became part of<br />
the animatic after the picture had been locked have to<br />
be rendered. That saves time and money.” The final<br />
steps toward completing the spot involved giving the<br />
various elements a sophisticated look, matching the<br />
colour grading to that of Cortal Consors’ corporate<br />
identity, and fine-tuning the camera movements and<br />
edits before completing the final compositing.<br />
Frames from various out-takes of this production were<br />
used for the print and online campaigns in order to<br />
give the entire media campaign a consistent look.<br />
Budget Director Clemens Dreyer concludes: “Our<br />
Cortal Consors spot is now being emulated by other<br />
banks, which to me means that, together with <strong>ARRI</strong>,<br />
we did a great job.” ■<br />
8 9<br />
Ingo Klingspon<br />
Client:<br />
Cortal Consors S.A.<br />
Director of Marketing: Kai Wulff<br />
Brand Manager:<br />
Agency:<br />
Konelija Klisanic<br />
Serviceplan Zweite Werbeagentur GmbH<br />
Management: Joachim Schöpfer<br />
Budget Director: Clemens Dreyer<br />
Creative Director: Daniela Bardini<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> Film & TV Commercial:<br />
Head of Commercial: Philipp Bartel<br />
Producer: Phil Decker<br />
Head of 3D: Christian Deister<br />
Character Animators: Vladan Subotic,<br />
Gregoire Barfety<br />
Flame Artist: Rico Reitz<br />
Colour Grading: Janna Sälzer
The Kite Runner<br />
An interview with DoP Roberto Schaefer ASC<br />
Khaled Hosseini’s debut novel, The Kite Runner, was first published in 2003 and has since sold more than<br />
seven million copies worldwide. Set against the political events of Afghanistan, the story is about the<br />
doomed friendship of two childhood friends; Amir, the son of a powerful Kabul businessman, and Hassan,<br />
the son of the faithful family servant.<br />
The boys are inseparable until one fateful day when Amir is determined to win a local kite-flying tournament to secure his father’s<br />
approval. On the afternoon of the contest Amir finds Hassan being brutally attacked by a local thug. He does nothing to help,<br />
shattering their relationship. Shortly after, Amir and his father leave Afghanistan, fleeing the Russian invasion to begin a new life<br />
in America. But Amir can’t forget what happened to Hassan and after 20 years of living in the US, returns to a perilous<br />
Afghanistan under the Taliban’s iron-fisted rule to face the secrets that still haunt him and to set things right.<br />
Shot by Director Marc Forster and DoP Roberto Schaefer ASC for DreamWorks Pictures, The Kite Runner is the duo’s seventh<br />
collaboration. Their partnership has spanned more than a decade, producing films such as the award winning Monster’s Ball and<br />
Finding Neverland, and has recently seen them embark on their eighth project together, the latest instalment of the James Bond franchise.<br />
Authenticity was a hugely important factor of the production. Due to the obvious dangers of the conditions in Afghanistan the<br />
production team sought alternative locations for filming, finally settling on China which was considered to be the best fit in terms of<br />
appearance. Much of the film’s dialogue is in Dari, the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan, and most of the actors involved,<br />
including the child actors, were native speakers.<br />
The film was shot in 3 perforation with an <strong>ARRI</strong>CAM Lite, <strong>ARRI</strong>CAM Studio and <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 235 provided by <strong>ARRI</strong> Australia.<br />
Vision<strong>ARRI</strong> spoke to Roberto Schaefer about his approach to the project and his experiences shooting in China.<br />
Vision<strong>ARRI</strong>: Can you tell us briefly<br />
what the movie is about?<br />
Roberto Schaefer: The Kite Runner is<br />
based on the best-selling novel of the<br />
same name. It is a story about<br />
friendship, betrayal, loss and redemption<br />
set against the events occurring in<br />
Afghanistan between 1977 and 2001.<br />
VA: Which look was intended for<br />
the film and why?<br />
RS: The story is intended to be seen as an<br />
epic in the tradition of Sergio Leone and<br />
David Lean. The part of the film set in<br />
Afghanistan in the seventies has a rich<br />
10<br />
and warm feeling, like the friendship of<br />
the two boys. The parts set in the US and<br />
Afghanistan in 2001 are cooler and less<br />
saturated as the life is drawn out of the<br />
characters and they face harsher realities.<br />
VA: What was the reason for<br />
shooting this film in China?<br />
RS: We shot principally in China due to<br />
the look of the landscapes and local<br />
architecture, which closely resembles that<br />
of Kabul and other parts of Afghanistan.<br />
It would have been too dangerous to try<br />
and shoot there. Other places that were<br />
considered were Turkey and Morocco,<br />
but the Xinjiang province in far western<br />
China had all of the right ingredients.<br />
VA: What was your impression of<br />
China as a shooting location, and<br />
was it difficult working there<br />
with an International team from<br />
Asia, Australia and China?<br />
RS: China provided us with magnificent<br />
locations that were truly on the epic<br />
scale we wanted to portray. It was<br />
difficult for many reasons, extreme<br />
weather being just one of them. We had<br />
to bring in everything from Beijing or<br />
beyond. There is no film community in<br />
Kashgar where we were based, even<br />
less in Tashkurgan. There were many<br />
challenges for a largely western crew<br />
that was mixed with many Chinese and<br />
local Uygur help. Most of the department<br />
heads, and a good deal of the key crew<br />
members, came from the US, Australia<br />
and the UK. We had to have many<br />
levels of translators, from English to<br />
Chinese, Uygur, Farsi, Pashtun and<br />
Urdu, and all the permutations within.<br />
VA: What were the main<br />
challenges facing the production?<br />
RS: The main challenges in filming were<br />
the logistics of shooting in a place that<br />
was an eight hour plane ride or eight<br />
day drive from the nearest center of<br />
production supplies. On top of that we<br />
had a very hot summer and fall, and a<br />
bitter cold winter. Film had to be shipped<br />
back to Beijing for developing and then<br />
either printed there and shipped back,<br />
or sent to L.A. for telecine dailies and<br />
shipped back. That process took from<br />
four days at best, to three weeks,<br />
depending upon our location.<br />
VA: Were you satisfied with<br />
the <strong>ARRI</strong> equipment, especially<br />
on rough locations such as the<br />
Chinese mountains?<br />
RS: Yes, it all held up magnificently, as I<br />
had expected. We did bring a camera<br />
technician from the US with us, who<br />
ended up repairing everything from hair<br />
dryers to sewing machines and<br />
Technocrane circuits. With the camera<br />
gear, he mostly just cleaned everything<br />
each night and made sure that it was all<br />
in perfect condition everyday.<br />
VA: What aspect influenced your<br />
decision to take the camera and<br />
lens set-up you used?<br />
RS: I initially wanted to shoot<br />
anamorphic. I went to Germany and<br />
spent several days testing and evaluating<br />
Hawk lenses. But when I got to Kashgar<br />
and Tashkurgan and the road between<br />
the two, I realized that too many of our<br />
interiors were tiny with few windows,<br />
the exteriors were exposed to harsh<br />
elements like dust storms and extreme<br />
temperatures. I felt that it would be more<br />
than we could handle to shoot entirely in<br />
scope. I then wanted to shoot all of my<br />
big exteriors on anamorphics and the<br />
interiors and dark night exteriors with<br />
spherical lenses since we were definitely<br />
doing the DI [Digital Intermediate] right<br />
from the start. Unfortunately, due to<br />
budgetary restrictions and the schedule,<br />
I couldn’t afford to carry full sets of both<br />
types of lenses, as well as 3 perforation<br />
and 4-perforation camera bodies for<br />
the entire shoot. So we decided to use<br />
3 perforation to save some money for the<br />
DI when it was decided to go spherical.<br />
That was when I tried the Master Prime<br />
lenses and fell in love with them. I used<br />
the T1.3 –2 range often and found them<br />
to be really quite amazing.<br />
Photos by: Phil Bray<br />
VA: Why did you shoot on<br />
3 perforation/2.35:1 and<br />
how did that work for you?<br />
VISION<strong>ARRI</strong><br />
� DIRECTOR MARC FORSTER instructs the child actors<br />
� DIRECTOR MARC FORSTER<br />
� DOP ROBERTO SCHAEFER ASC (left) and ‘A’<br />
Camera/Steadicam Operator Jim McConkey (right)<br />
RS: We chose to shoot 3 perforation to<br />
save money on stock and lab costs to<br />
put into the post needs for the DI and<br />
grading work. When we abandoned<br />
anamorphic, 3 perforation seemed only<br />
natural. The lighter weight, smaller and<br />
less cases, and faster lenses definitely<br />
made that the right decision looking<br />
back on it.<br />
VA: You were one of the first<br />
DoPs to try our new <strong>ARRI</strong>/Zeiss<br />
Lightweight Zoom, the LWZ-1<br />
15.5-45mm. What was that<br />
experience like?<br />
RS: We used the new lightweight zoom<br />
a lot. It held up beautifully to the Master<br />
Primes in quality of image. We also used<br />
it on our viewfinder as a variable prime<br />
for setting up shots, and it practically lived<br />
on the Steadicam. It also matched well<br />
with the longer Angenieux Optimo zooms.<br />
VA: How are the Master Primes<br />
compared to the Optimo Zooms?<br />
RS: The Master Primes were a perfect<br />
match to the longer Angenieux<br />
Optimo zooms.<br />
VA: Did you consider shooting this<br />
movie on HD or did you think that<br />
35mm was the only way to go?<br />
RS: Originally I toyed with the idea of<br />
looking into shooting in HD. I thought<br />
about the <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX D-20, Viper or<br />
Genesis. What worried me was how<br />
the equipment would hold up to the<br />
conditions, the distance we were from<br />
any service, and storage of data and<br />
transferring that back to the editor in L.A.<br />
I recently shot a pilot on HD and was<br />
extremely happy that I had decided to<br />
do The Kite Runner on 35mm. ■<br />
www.kiterunnermovie.com<br />
Clemens Danzer / Andrea Rosenwirth<br />
11
LONDON’S<br />
UNDERWORLD<br />
Peter Suschitzky BSC films the dark side of London for Eastern Promises<br />
The latest film from legendary Canadian Director David Cronenberg is a violent tale of the<br />
Russian mafia in London, touching on the global sex trade that exists in today’s society.<br />
Nikolai (Viggo Mortensen) works for one<br />
London’s most feared organized crime<br />
families. His path crosses with Anna<br />
(Naomi Watts), a midwife at a London<br />
hospital where a 14-year-old Russian girl<br />
has recently died during childbirth. In a bid<br />
to uncover the teenager’s identity and find<br />
a home for the baby, Anna looks for clues<br />
in the dead girl’s diary, but she unwittingly<br />
holds damaging information that could<br />
lead to the unraveling of the family’s<br />
criminal network. Nikolai must make sure<br />
this doesn’t happen. Several lives hang in<br />
the balance as a chain of murder, deceit,<br />
and retribution reverberates through the<br />
darkest corners of London.<br />
The script for Eastern Promises was<br />
originally developed at the BBC but was<br />
picked up by Focus Features, a division<br />
of Universal Pictures, who sent it to<br />
Cronenberg to direct and Paul Webster<br />
to produce. “We were so pleased<br />
when David was appointed,” recollects<br />
Co-producer Tracey Seaward. “He’s a<br />
masterful director and was always in total<br />
control of the shoot. David creates an<br />
almost instinctive relationship with each<br />
and every department.”<br />
The film is Cronenberg’s first to be shot<br />
entirely outside of Canada. Although he<br />
brought most of his heads of department<br />
with him, a strong UK crew was<br />
assembled to work with them. Seaward<br />
was involved in planning how the<br />
production would best organize filming<br />
at locations around London, as well as<br />
3 Mills Studios: “About half of the<br />
location shooting took place at night,” she<br />
says, “which was quite complicated due<br />
to the fact that many of the sites were in<br />
residential areas and therefore we had to<br />
respect the local residents.”<br />
The dark, rain-slicked streets of London<br />
were photographed by Peter Suschitzky<br />
BSC, with an <strong>ARRI</strong>CAM Studio, <strong>ARRI</strong>CAM<br />
Lite and Master Prime lenses supplied by<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> <strong>Media</strong>, and lighting equipment<br />
supplied by <strong>ARRI</strong> Lighting Rental.<br />
Eastern Promises marks Suschitzky’s<br />
eighth film with director Cronenberg.<br />
Their collaboration began in 1988 with<br />
Dead Ringers, when a strong rapport was<br />
established from day one. “I think we<br />
immediately knew that we were right for<br />
each other, I never had any doubts<br />
anyway,” states Suschitzky. “Things<br />
worked very quickly between us and we<br />
were soon able to work with very little<br />
verbal communication. On our very first<br />
day of shooting I knew that this was<br />
going to be the most important working<br />
relationship of my life. And so it turned<br />
out to be.” Both have a very intuitive way<br />
of working and don’t set out with the idea<br />
of a ‘look’. “To tell the simple truth, we no<br />
longer talk about style,” he continues.<br />
“Things just happen naturally, growing, I<br />
hope, from within the material of the film<br />
and the narrative. We both work very<br />
instinctively. We never talk about making<br />
a film look this way or that way.”<br />
For Eastern Promises, Cronenberg’s<br />
requirements were simple: “The early<br />
indications that David gave me were that<br />
he was looking for a rainy London, a<br />
grey London,” says the cinematographer.<br />
“Naturally we had to shoot with the<br />
weather that we had, but we were able to<br />
afford to wet down streets and produce<br />
rain when there wasn’t any. The only<br />
thing I did was to hold the idea in my<br />
head that he wanted it to look grey. I<br />
don’t believe that you can put style on like<br />
an item of clothing - it has to flow from<br />
VISION<strong>ARRI</strong><br />
inside the film, from inside your soul if<br />
you like. Everything has to work together;<br />
the costumes, the sets, the choice of<br />
colour of the costumes and sets, the<br />
camera work, and the direction of course.<br />
It all has to go together.<br />
“I have more or less the same approach<br />
when considering any film. I read the<br />
script, I look at the locations, sets or<br />
concepts of sets, the costumes and casting<br />
that are possible choices for the film,<br />
and of course I speak with David<br />
approximately about what we are going<br />
to do. He is somebody who does a lot of<br />
thinking about what he is going to do<br />
with the subject, but he also leaves a lot<br />
open to inspiration on the day, inspiration<br />
that comes from seeing the actors<br />
rehearse and from the set or location.<br />
He doesn’t storyboard anything. So we<br />
rehearse and then we discuss where we<br />
are going to put the camera for the scene<br />
and I spend whatever time I need, within<br />
the constraints of the production schedule,<br />
preparing, but I don’t know exactly what<br />
I’m going to do until I start doing it.” �<br />
12 13
Photos by: Peter Mountain © 2007 Focus Features. All Rights Reserved.<br />
LONDON’S UNDERWORLD<br />
However, Suschitzky did make a stylistic<br />
decision about his choice of lenses,<br />
choosing the Master Primes. “On all the<br />
films that I have worked on with David<br />
I’ve opted for Primo lenses. I decided,<br />
without any intervention from David at<br />
all, to change everything on this one.<br />
I tested all sorts of lenses and I chose the<br />
Master Primes. They looked very sharp,<br />
I felt that they had slightly less depth of<br />
field than some other lenses and I thought<br />
that they would give the story the right<br />
sort of feel.” Generally, a very small<br />
number of lenses have been used on their<br />
films together. Suschitzky remembers that<br />
A History of Violence was shot almost<br />
entirely on just a 27mm. “For Eastern<br />
Promises we shot mostly on a 27mm and<br />
25mm, but we would occasionally use a<br />
21mm or 35mm.”<br />
A notable scene in the film is a dramatic<br />
fight-to-the-death between two knifewielding<br />
assassins and the nude Nikolai<br />
in an old London bathhouse. Filmed on a<br />
set due to concerns about the difficulty of<br />
working in a confined location, it took<br />
many months of planning, weeks of<br />
rehearsals and three days to shoot. This<br />
particular scene had to be approached in<br />
a far less controlled manner than any<br />
other in the film because of its intense<br />
action. “I had to allow for the camera to<br />
be able to move around freely,” explains<br />
Suschitzky. “David felt that he wanted to<br />
have considerable freedom and little<br />
delay between shots so I had to light that<br />
scene so that it was filmable with very<br />
small adjustments in any direction,<br />
whereas with other scenes I was able to<br />
light in a more controlled manner.”<br />
John Colley, Suschitzky’s Gaffer on<br />
Eastern Promises, recalls: “There were<br />
two sets in particular where we had to<br />
allow for the possibility of a 360-degree<br />
camera angle. The first was the<br />
bathhouse and the second was the<br />
restaurant. In order to be able to look in<br />
all directions Peter and I decided that a<br />
combination of Image 80s in the grid,<br />
feeding back to a dimmer desk, was a<br />
much better alternative than any other<br />
space light or hard light scenario. With<br />
over 50, we had total control of the<br />
contrast throughout the sets. We were<br />
able to control backgrounds and set<br />
levels without affecting the colour<br />
temperature. For the restaurant alone there were over 100<br />
practical channels, which initially may have seemed like over kill<br />
but the time we saved when it came to shooting and keeping a<br />
rhythm made it all worth the expense and effort.”<br />
Another set-up that Colley recollects was a car scene that was<br />
shot without rear screen projection or bluescreen. “Both David<br />
and Peter wanted a traveling car scene to look as realistic as<br />
possible,” he says. “Initially, there were a few late nights in the<br />
studio, but the decision was made that the real world was the<br />
best way to provide the actors with an opportunity to deliver their<br />
dialogue. The location department worked overtime to provide us<br />
with a suitable backdrop and flexible working conditions. We<br />
must have looked like a space ship traveling down Upper Street<br />
on a low loader. There were about 15 or so small <strong>ARRI</strong> lamps,<br />
from 650W to 2kW, with various colours to match the<br />
surroundings of the streets. I sat next to Peter at the camera with<br />
a dimming desk on my lap while he called out where the lights<br />
should play.”<br />
Shooting at night around London had its advantages for Colley.<br />
“It’s the best time to go to work,” he claims. “You’ve got total<br />
control of lighting and contrast ratios. We used a combination<br />
of Wendy lights with an underslung <strong>ARRI</strong> T24 or T12 to focus<br />
on specific areas, which worked very well for us.” Some nights<br />
proved to be pretty hectic from a logistical point of view:<br />
“On more than a few occasions there were six or seven cherry<br />
pickers and Genie booms, as well as four or five generators.<br />
Credit to Rigging Gaffer Vince Madden and Best Boy Andy<br />
Cole for keeping things running smoothly.”<br />
Having worked with <strong>ARRI</strong> Lighting Rental on many films in the<br />
past, Colley was confident in their level of service: “I knew they<br />
would be able to deliver the service and equipment needed in<br />
order to meet the demands of the schedule,” he affirms. “By<br />
working closely with Sinead Moran we were able to maintain a<br />
balance between budget and schedule.” Seaward also has a<br />
long standing association with both <strong>ARRI</strong> Lighting Rental and<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> <strong>Media</strong>. “I have a close and trusting relationship with both<br />
companies, they always provide great technical support and<br />
service. It’s important to know that someone is always there at<br />
the end of the phone to help you 24 hours a day.”<br />
All involved agree that working on the film was a truly<br />
rewarding experience. “I’m really proud to have worked on<br />
Eastern Promises,” reflects Seaward. “It was a calm environment,<br />
we were always on schedule, the crew were fantastic and there<br />
was a great camaraderie with the cast – so much so that one<br />
day Viggo Mortensen decided it might be a good idea to<br />
become my assistant, the next thing we knew he was handing<br />
out cakes to all the cast and crew!”<br />
Colley adds: “I was thrilled to have the opportunity to work with<br />
David and Peter. Occasionally I had to pinch myself that I was<br />
actually on set with them. It made all those heavy lamps and<br />
dirty cables in the pouring rain worthwhile. They had such a<br />
great understanding with each other and their energy was<br />
tempered and directed. Once we had captured the scene, we<br />
moved on. The crew and cast involved on this film all worked so<br />
well together.”<br />
� DIRECTOR DAVID CRONENBERG<br />
� AT THE CAMERA DoP Peter Suschitzky BSC, to the left 1st AD<br />
Walter Gasparovic<br />
VISION<strong>ARRI</strong><br />
“I am proud of the whole film, because it’s a good one, through<br />
and through, with everything working together; writing, acting,<br />
direction and visuals. All are seamlessly interlaced - I hope that<br />
my work is integrated well into the whole and feels organic,”<br />
concludes Suschitzky.<br />
This article is dedicated to the memory of Production Manager<br />
Lisa Parker, who sadly passed away several months after<br />
completing the project. Tracey Seaward worked with Lisa Parker<br />
for many years and pays tribute to a close colleague and<br />
friend: “Lisa was an extraordinary and unique person; she had<br />
an amazing passion and energy and was devoted to her job.<br />
She was well thought of by those who had worked with her<br />
over the last 15 years. I truly believe the industry suffered a<br />
tremendous loss, and as a colleague and friend she will<br />
be irreplaceable.” ■<br />
14<br />
15<br />
�<br />
Michelle Smith<br />
Photo courtesy John Colley
16<br />
VISION<strong>ARRI</strong><br />
Behind the<br />
Scenes of the<br />
Mazda2 Spot<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> Film & TV Commercial<br />
and Hager Moss Film produce<br />
powerful TV advertisement.<br />
Television spots for major car<br />
manufacturers are among the most<br />
demanding of commercial productions<br />
and usually command budgets that run<br />
to six figures. Few of these extravagant<br />
commercials are made in Germany,<br />
so Munich-based production company<br />
Hager Moss was especially pleased<br />
when it was commissioned to create<br />
television spots for the Mazda2<br />
campaign. Hager Moss in turn brought<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> Film & TV Commercial on board<br />
and the result was an impressive<br />
television commercial that proves<br />
Germany to be capable of taking on<br />
productions of any scale.<br />
An advertising campaign focusing on<br />
the ‘sportiness’ of the product leaves no<br />
doubt about its target market. The<br />
Mazda2, which is the most recent and<br />
most compact model in the Mazda fleet,<br />
is aimed at young drivers looking to buy<br />
their first car. In order to best appeal to<br />
this demographic, the manufacturer and<br />
their advertising agency, J. Walter<br />
Thompson, agreed to steer clear of<br />
familiar campaign concepts. The<br />
approach had already been established<br />
with a print campaign featuring a surreal<br />
collage of images juxtaposing naked<br />
bodies in sporty poses and cold blue<br />
tones with a metallic-green Mazda2.�<br />
17
BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE MAZDA2 SPOT<br />
“WE NEEDED A HIGH FRAME RATE<br />
OF 100FPS, SOMETIMES EVEN<br />
250FPS, IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE<br />
THE INTENDED IMAGE QUALITY<br />
IN POSTPRODUCTION.”<br />
A similarly avant-garde concept was<br />
developed for the television spot, in<br />
which a young Mazda2 driver plays<br />
cat-and-mouse with five acrobatic, female<br />
dancers in an abstract, virtual space. The<br />
principal objective of the production was<br />
to visualize and communicate the key<br />
messages: agility, sportiness and<br />
lightness. It was immediately clear that<br />
the project would require a good deal of<br />
postproduction work. Hager Moss chose<br />
to count on the specialists at <strong>ARRI</strong> Film &<br />
TV Commercial to help meet this<br />
challenge, having collaborated<br />
successfully with them in the past.<br />
Initially, the main task was to come up<br />
with a convincing design for the virtual<br />
space in which the commercial is set.<br />
Certain similarities to the print campaign<br />
were purposefully evoked, but the spot<br />
also needed to stand alone as an<br />
original and independent piece. <strong>ARRI</strong><br />
Art Director and Flame/Inferno-Artist<br />
Rico Reitz worked with Director Paula<br />
Walker to define a binding framework<br />
for the style. This then allowed specific<br />
arrangements for the shoot and the<br />
subsequent postproduction to be made.<br />
Reitz believes that meticulous planning<br />
during preproduction and the close<br />
monitoring of standards during filming<br />
are the key to a smooth workflow<br />
between production and postproduction.<br />
“The greater the demands on<br />
postproduction, the more involved we<br />
get in the production itself,” he says.<br />
“We feel responsible for our work, which<br />
includes keying, spatial design,<br />
compositing, visual effects, as well as the<br />
blending of the real and virtual elements<br />
into a convincing final image.”<br />
Implementing the concept for the spot<br />
involved filming the Mazda2 and the<br />
dancers in an entirely white space, since<br />
white had been chosen as the key<br />
background for postproduction. “Initially<br />
we wanted to build a concave space<br />
[65 feet deep and 32 feet high] to shoot<br />
in,” recalls Hager Moss Producer Jürgen<br />
Kraus. “But the problem with a concave<br />
space is that you don’t have a ceiling,<br />
which restricts the camera movement<br />
and limits the use of wide-angle lenses.<br />
At some point all the camera can capture<br />
is the studio and the lighting rigs.”<br />
“WE SHOT A LOT OF<br />
FOOTAGE AND<br />
VERY LITTLE WAS<br />
BUILT AFTERWARDS<br />
IN 3D, BUT DESPITE<br />
ALL THAT, EACH<br />
FRAME IS A<br />
COMPOSITE AND<br />
THEREFORE A<br />
STAND-ALONE<br />
WORK CREATED AT<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> DURING<br />
POSTPRODUCTION.”<br />
DoP Rolf Kesterman found the solution<br />
to this problem at the Roman Coppola<br />
Studio in Los Angeles, where he came<br />
across the Photobubble, an inflatable<br />
device made of lightweight, synthetic<br />
material that provides a reflection-free,<br />
bubble-shaped space and a 360-degree<br />
area of view. The manufacturer of the<br />
Photobubble was able to provide a<br />
custom-made, walk-in “soft box” with<br />
white walls, which delivered the perfect<br />
chroma key for postproduction. Only the<br />
floor of the studio had to be painted white.<br />
“We were among the first European<br />
productions to use this device,” says<br />
Jürgen Kraus. “The Photobubble was<br />
ideal for creating the sort of world we<br />
had intended for this spot. It provided<br />
excellent working conditions for the<br />
Director and the DoP, allowing them to<br />
shoot at any focal length and move the<br />
camera without any restrictions. In<br />
addition, we had the advantage that<br />
our lighting conditions didn’t change.<br />
As a matter of fact, we lit the space<br />
once and then nothing had to be<br />
changed for the rest of the shoot, which<br />
saved a lot of time.”<br />
The only remaining problem was in<br />
pinpointing the precise spatial<br />
coordinates which would later be<br />
needed during 3D tracking at <strong>ARRI</strong>. The<br />
Photobubble did not provide any<br />
information about spatial relationships<br />
between individual elements because it<br />
was completely white inside. “We<br />
couldn’t simply place tracking markers<br />
on the Photobubble itself,” explains 3D<br />
Artist Christian Deister. “That wasn’t a<br />
precise enough solution because the<br />
Photobubble constantly moves, although<br />
only slightly, due to changing air<br />
pressure. Instead we had tall poles<br />
made, which we could use as yardsticks<br />
after painting black measurement<br />
markings on them. We distributed these<br />
poles throughout the Photobubble and<br />
measured the distances between them.<br />
This allowed us to exactly recreate the<br />
size of the space and the camera<br />
movements during 3D tracking.”<br />
Filming took place in June 2007 at the<br />
Barrandov film studios in Prague, with<br />
the support of the Czech film production<br />
company Etic. Though the stage was<br />
large enough to house the 164-foot<br />
Photobubble, it transpired that the<br />
Photobubble itself was too small for the<br />
stunt driver to gain sufficient speed for<br />
the choreographed skid scenes. An<br />
access driveway therefore had to be<br />
constructed that ran from outside the<br />
soundstage into the Photobubble.<br />
The spot was filmed on 35mm with an<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 435. “We needed a high<br />
frame rate of 100fps, sometimes even<br />
250fps, in order to achieve the intended<br />
image quality in postproduction,”<br />
explains Jürgen Kraus. “25fps wouldn’t<br />
have been enough during keying of<br />
crucial scenes because of motion blur.”<br />
During the four days of production 12 to<br />
15 set-ups were shot daily, all of which<br />
required elements to be added in post:<br />
VISION<strong>ARRI</strong><br />
“There isn’t a single shot in this spot<br />
that was created entirely in-camera,”<br />
explains the producer. “We shot a lot<br />
of footage and very little was built<br />
afterwards in 3D, but despite all that,<br />
each frame is a composite and therefore<br />
a stand-alone work created at <strong>ARRI</strong><br />
during postproduction.”<br />
The creative teams at Hager Moss and<br />
at <strong>ARRI</strong> knew that on this type of project,<br />
with an extensive postproduction<br />
component, the approval process can<br />
be very difficult. Jürgen Kraus explains:<br />
“The client and agency representatives<br />
sit in front of a monitor during the shoot<br />
and can watch a green car drive<br />
across a ramp or girls fly through the<br />
Photobubble suspended from wires. They<br />
can’t see a background and they can’t<br />
see a story unfold. All they see is a<br />
white floor that gets increasingly dirty,<br />
which could leave many wondering:<br />
how will this ever end up looking good?<br />
But we were very lucky, because in this<br />
case the client and their agency trusted<br />
our judgement and were able to<br />
envisage our suggestions.”<br />
During the course of production,<br />
exposed negative was processed and<br />
scanned at a film laboratory in Prague<br />
and then sent to <strong>ARRI</strong> Munich. Within<br />
10 days a 60-second spot as well as<br />
two 30-second, five 20-second and five<br />
10-second spots were offlined. Once<br />
the picture was locked, the actual<br />
postproduction at <strong>ARRI</strong> started and<br />
took six weeks to complete. �<br />
18 19
BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE MAZDA2 SPOT<br />
Later on the 60-second spot, consisting<br />
of 67 takes, was scanned again in order<br />
to get even better colour resolution and<br />
to create clean masks. This time the<br />
scanning was completed in two steps on<br />
the Spirit. The spot was scanned in HD<br />
with a 10-bit data depth in order to<br />
avoid problems with the masks and the<br />
steadiness of the images. At this stage<br />
selected takes went to Manuel Voss for<br />
keying and rotoscoping in order to avoid<br />
compromising the agreed-upon timeline.<br />
Rico Reitz explains: “To key 130<br />
individual takes, shot with a moving<br />
camera, was a challenge that kept 10<br />
people busy for 12 days. And that was<br />
a rather fast turn around.”<br />
While the raw material was delivered<br />
from Prague to Munich, the 3D team was<br />
working on two tasks. One was to<br />
evaluate the tracking information from the<br />
camera and the other was to geometrically<br />
reduce the complex 3D construction data<br />
of the Mazda2 that the manufacturer had<br />
provided. This resulted in the creation of a<br />
virtual car, which behaved exactly like the<br />
real car in the film images. “We began by<br />
establishing the camera positions for the<br />
locked camera shots, making sure that<br />
everything was correct in terms of<br />
perspective and depth of field,” explains<br />
Christian Deister. “Then we matched the<br />
real car with the computer-generated 3D<br />
model. This allowed us to generate and<br />
render the 3D shadows and 3D reflections<br />
that were needed for the composite.”<br />
The 3D team was also responsible for<br />
the look of the floor. The problem was<br />
that the floor in the Photobubble was dull<br />
in the first place and ended up getting<br />
quite dirty during the shoot. This led to<br />
20<br />
“TO KEY 130<br />
INDIVIDUAL TAKES,<br />
SHOT WITH A<br />
MOVING CAMERA,<br />
WAS A CHALLENGE<br />
THAT KEPT 10<br />
PEOPLE BUSY FOR<br />
12 DAYS. AND<br />
THAT WAS A<br />
RATHER FAST<br />
the idea of replacing it with a computergenerated<br />
virtual and reflective floor.<br />
Unfortunately there were no reflections of<br />
the real car on the floor and creating<br />
them in compositing proved too difficult,<br />
because of the many different camera<br />
angles. Instead, the reflection of the 3D<br />
model was used and takes of the real<br />
car projected onto its 3D counterpart.<br />
Together they were reflected onto a<br />
virtual surface in photorealistic quality<br />
using XSI Softimage.<br />
The soft light in the Photobubble resulted<br />
in a pleasing soft contrast, but in two or<br />
three shots it made the car’s finish appear<br />
somewhat flat. The 3D team was able to<br />
address this issue on Flame and create a<br />
glossier look. The 3D model of the car<br />
was given a shiny texture and then<br />
placed, as a layer, over the real car.<br />
“The 3D options on Flame are limited, but<br />
when it comes to gloss and finish effects<br />
the tool is perfect,” says Rico Reitz.<br />
The spatial design was also completed<br />
on Flame, with abstract photographic<br />
textures digitally placed on the<br />
Photobubble to create the surrounding<br />
environment, a space consisting of<br />
dynamic, blue structures for the<br />
composite with masks from the actual<br />
film. This was followed by fine-tuning of<br />
the lighting set-up, animation of the<br />
background with vibrant lighting effects<br />
and matching of the computer-generated<br />
and the real, filmed elements.<br />
Certain physical improvements were<br />
made to the dancers, who represented<br />
figures from Nordic myths. Masks were<br />
placed on their pupils to create a rather<br />
impressive effect, while a number of<br />
beauty enhancements were made by<br />
retouching the dancers’ eyes, mouths,<br />
lips and teeth to meet the client’s wishes.<br />
This was followed by tape-to-tape colour<br />
grading, to give the entire spot a<br />
consistent look.<br />
TURN AROUND.”<br />
�� THE PHOTOBUBBLE interior and studio floor were keyed from white to create an abstract space<br />
�<br />
The spot aired in the UK immediately after<br />
the official launch of the Mazda2 at the<br />
IAA in Frankfurt and went on to air across<br />
the rest of Europe in October. The board<br />
of directors at Mazda Motors Europe was<br />
very pleased with the final result. Everyone<br />
at Hager Moss and <strong>ARRI</strong> Commercial<br />
were proud to have completed a<br />
demanding and expensive, yet very<br />
enjoyable production. “The Mazda2 spot<br />
is different. Most car commercials look<br />
very much the same, but the Mazda2 spot<br />
looks more like a music video than a<br />
television commercial,” says <strong>ARRI</strong> Head of<br />
Commercial Postproduction Philipp Bartel.<br />
All in all, it took only three months to<br />
complete the project, starting with the<br />
request for an initial calculation and<br />
ending with delivery of the 60-second<br />
spot. Hager Moss Producer Jürgen Kraus<br />
believes there are several reasons why<br />
this complex production went so<br />
smoothly. One was the close physical<br />
proximity of the film production company<br />
and the postproduction house. Another<br />
was the trust that had been established<br />
between Hager Moss and <strong>ARRI</strong> Film &<br />
TV Commercial on previous productions.<br />
“On a project that requires such complex<br />
and extensive postproduction work, I<br />
want a partner that makes me feel I am<br />
Project:<br />
Mazda2 “Competition“<br />
Client:<br />
Mazda Motor Europe<br />
Agency:<br />
J. Walter Thompson GmbH &<br />
Co. KG Düsseldorf<br />
Head of TV JWT:<br />
Marie-Louise Seidl<br />
Creative Director JWT:<br />
Eddy Greenwood<br />
Art Director JWT:<br />
Igor Karpalov<br />
Production:<br />
Hager Moss Commercial<br />
the customer,” he says. “These projects<br />
necessitate intensive support and close<br />
collaboration at all logistical stages as<br />
well as confidence in the partner’s<br />
overall abilities. In my experience,<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> has completed all tasks brilliantly.”<br />
Philipp Bartel knows all too well that his<br />
team is the pillar of this success: “We<br />
have an exceptional crew at <strong>ARRI</strong><br />
Executive Producer:<br />
Eric Moss<br />
Producer:<br />
Jürgen Kraus<br />
Postproduction Supervisor:<br />
Nilou Tabriz<br />
Director:<br />
Paula Walker<br />
DoP:<br />
Rolf Kestermann<br />
Editor:<br />
Markus Goller<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> Head of Commercial:<br />
Philipp Bartel<br />
VISION<strong>ARRI</strong><br />
Commercial. Together with the team at<br />
punchin.pictures, they have a wealth of<br />
complementary qualifications, which<br />
they employ freely and generously in the<br />
service of our clients. If there are ever<br />
any problems, the team sorts them out<br />
and generates a positive outcome. This<br />
makes for a creative and productive<br />
environment.” ■<br />
Ingo Klingspon<br />
Art Director:<br />
Rico Reitz<br />
Telecine:<br />
Stefan Anderman<br />
Flame Artists:<br />
Rico Reitz Jawed Naser<br />
Michel Tischner Chris Weingart<br />
Stefan Tischner<br />
Rotoscoping:<br />
Manuel Voss & Team<br />
3D Artists:<br />
Christian Deister Gregoire Barfety<br />
Adam Dukes Lutz Pelike<br />
21
Return to Oz<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX D-20 on Tin Man<br />
22<br />
To create the fantastical world of Tin Man, an upcoming three-part, six-hour<br />
miniseries for the US SCI FI Channel, Director Nick Willing and Cinematographer<br />
Thomas Burstyn chose the <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX D-20 to capture a whimsical world that<br />
reimagines Frank Baum’s classic The Wizard of Oz. The production stars<br />
Richard Dreyfuss as a wizard named Mystic Man, Zooey Deschanel as DG (the<br />
granddaughter of the original Dorothy) and Alan Cumming as Glitch, a man missing<br />
half his brain. Although Burstyn is very familiar with working in high definition video,<br />
this was his first foray shooting with the D-20. The DoP ran tests to learn the<br />
advantages and limitations of shooting with the film-style HD camera. “My most<br />
important test was to take the camera out into the darkest forest location we’d be<br />
working in on a gloomy day in the rain and see how the darkness worked in a<br />
situation that I couldn’t light or control. We shot wide open and lit a face very subtly<br />
with one bulb of a Kino Flo wrapped in diffusion and let the forest fall where it may.<br />
Initially I was concerned about the camera’s low ISO rating, but it has a lot more<br />
latitude in the shadows than a film emulsion does so that assuaged a lot of that<br />
worry of mine. Moreover, we were very pleased with the look. Great saturation,<br />
incredible accutance and resolution.”<br />
During testing the camera crew also familiarized themselves with the menu settings<br />
the camera has to offer. “We ran through all the settings on the camera, shot tests<br />
with every possible variation, and settled on the one we thought was best and that<br />
was Log F. It was the slowest setting but it gave the least amount of noise and the<br />
greatest amount of latitude. It seemed to be the most ‘film-like’ setting and the one<br />
that allowed the most flexibility in postproduction. We decided that although the<br />
camera requires a lot of lighting, the final result is quite fantastic. Lee Wilson of<br />
Anthem Visual Effects, leader of our visual effects team loved the camera. I think the<br />
look is closer to 35mm than any other camera can give. It was a worthwhile tradeoff.<br />
But while the camera output has some of the feel of 35mm, it also deviates from<br />
the modern grainy vogue of 35mm: because the image is so sharp, it feels like an<br />
old-fashioned fine grain film, maybe like Kodachrome but with better colour<br />
rendition, and long latitude range.”<br />
Burstyn interpreted the visuals to serve the<br />
story through a combination of traditional<br />
filmmaking techniques and more stylized<br />
looks. He notes, “My biggest tool around<br />
the camera was colour. We used a lot of<br />
colour, but not all at the same time. A<br />
character or a location would have a<br />
single or double colour assignation,<br />
something Nick, Production Designer<br />
Michael Joy and I worked out during<br />
prep. I would describe Tin Man as oldfashioned<br />
filmmaking with a twist. Think<br />
Orson Wells and Gregg Toland ASC.<br />
We had a lot of very classic coverage<br />
and we wanted to seduce the audience<br />
into thinking all is well, everything is<br />
normal and then we’d throw in some<br />
jarring imagery or cross the axis to throw<br />
everybody off track. There’s a lot of<br />
clever cutting in there. The Wicked Witch<br />
is transforming the world into a dark,<br />
lifeless place. The darkness is spreading<br />
from her evil factory. Around her factory<br />
and around her army there’s darkness,<br />
and it’s full of shadows and a very nasty<br />
kind of greenish daylight. Now, wherever<br />
DG goes, there’s a fairy tale, golden,<br />
beautiful light around her. In the world<br />
where DG comes from, it’s a normal,<br />
‘American, apple pie’ light. All that said,<br />
there’s an effort to keep these colours<br />
subtle and the look sincere, as real as<br />
you can expect things to be in the Land<br />
of Oz. It was a bit of a visual tightrope<br />
we had to walk, not wanting anything to<br />
become cartoon-like, but staying well<br />
away from the mundane.”<br />
An example of some edgy imagery can<br />
be seen in shots from DG’s perspective,<br />
sometimes shot with Willing’s antique<br />
Eyemo and <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 35 IIC cameras<br />
or even with primitive, yet effective<br />
accessories repurposed for the D-20.<br />
“Nick wanted the film to be a<br />
psychoanalysis of our heroine DG.<br />
He wanted a story within a story, so we<br />
devised strange POVs that were altered<br />
in camera. Nick has a lot of wavy glass<br />
taken from old buildings, pieces of<br />
chandelier and pendants from his<br />
precious collection that he loved to<br />
handhold and wiggle in front of the lens.<br />
A lot of those dreams, memories and<br />
subconscious feelings were interpreted<br />
through that glassware.”<br />
The production shot for 60 days in<br />
British Columbia, Canada with three<br />
D-20 cameras provided by Clairmont<br />
Camera’s Vancouver office. The camera<br />
package included a set of standard<br />
speed Zeiss Primes, a few Super Speeds<br />
and three zooms of wide, medium and<br />
long lengths. Since the single,<br />
� ON LOCATION Director Nick Willng (right), Cinematographer Thomas Burstyn (left)<br />
6 Megapixel CMOS sensor at the heart<br />
of the D-20 has the same size as a<br />
Super 35mm film aperture the D-20 uses<br />
the same lenses as 35mm film cameras.<br />
Says Burstyn, whose credits include<br />
Marco Polo, the pilot of “The 4400”,<br />
City of Industry and The Boys and Girl<br />
from County Clare, “The great thing<br />
about the D-20 and its 35mm perspective<br />
is that you have full use of the palette of<br />
lenses. This was one of the reasons why<br />
Nick wanted the D-20, to be able to be<br />
selective with his depth of focus. We did<br />
a lot of long lens stuff, a lot of very<br />
standard lens (35, 50, 85mm) kind of<br />
coverage and lots of big, wide-angle<br />
shots swooping into close-ups. There’s a<br />
lot of out-of-focus foreground. We took<br />
full advantage of that 35mm depth of<br />
field that the D-20 camera provides.”<br />
Unlike the original adaptation, the<br />
miniseries is not a musical. “Our film is<br />
more of a road trip,” explains Burstyn.<br />
“The main characters are always<br />
moving, hiding and making their way<br />
towards the goal. A lot of the story is<br />
interpreted through the action or through<br />
the many wonderful flashbacks.” To<br />
cover all of these characters on their<br />
journey, the filmmakers incorporated<br />
frequent camera moves. “We took a lot<br />
from The Magnificent Ambersons and<br />
Citizen Kane. The camera flows through<br />
those big sets and arrives into a close-up<br />
or two-shot. The camera always moves<br />
so there’s a lot of crane and dolly work,<br />
a lot of hand-held. We used a lot of<br />
off-angles. Camera Operator Trig Singer<br />
and Dolly Grip Glen Forerider did<br />
amazing jobs, their choreography was<br />
magnificent to observe. Jim Van Dyke<br />
did one day of Steadicam for a scene of<br />
the characters running through a maze.”<br />
In a scene where DG is threatened by<br />
an angry mob, the production used<br />
in-camera and visual effects to bring a<br />
dead tree to fruitful life. “Nobody has<br />
any way of protecting DG, and the Tin<br />
Man, the Lion and Glitch turn to her to<br />
do something. She doesn’t know quite<br />
what to do and without realizing it, her<br />
magic power transforms the tree they’ve<br />
been standing beneath. As it begins to<br />
blossom, the camera rises into its<br />
branches and the light changes from a<br />
somber gloom into a golden glow. As<br />
the camera continues to rise, we fade up<br />
lights behind moving golden gels and<br />
the light seems to grow brighter as we<br />
do a subtle stop-pull. We arrive at the<br />
top of the tree already in full bloom from<br />
the art department’s bit of set dressing.<br />
Visual effects were later put in to make<br />
flowers bloom on camera. It was a<br />
carefully orchestrated effort that was in<br />
concert with the art department, lighting<br />
and visual effects.”<br />
For Burstyn, the opportunity to translate<br />
the story to screen was a creative<br />
challenge partnered with the benefits of<br />
shooting on the <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX D-20. “It’s a<br />
beautiful camera. In this age of instant<br />
gratification, cameras that surprise you<br />
with all the wonderful things that they<br />
can do, this camera requires a lot of skill<br />
and a confident hand but it was a great<br />
thrill and a privilege to use,” he says. ■<br />
Tin Man airs in December on the SCI FI<br />
Channel in the USA.<br />
An Tran<br />
Photo courtesy James Dittiger/SCI FI Channel<br />
VISION<strong>ARRI</strong><br />
23
<strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX D-20<br />
Brings Ideas to Reality<br />
A growing number of filmmakers have entrusted their visions to the <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX D-20 film-style digital<br />
camera in all areas of motion picture and television drama production. Over the last year, the camera’s<br />
versatility has been tested on feature films, TV drama series, commercials, music videos, second unit and<br />
effects shots.<br />
The first major project to use the D-20<br />
was Hogfather, an adaptation of the<br />
novel by Terry Pratchett for UK television.<br />
Directed by Vadim Jean, with<br />
cinematography by Gavin Finney BSC,<br />
the drama aired on Sky HD over<br />
Christmas 2006 in two feature-length<br />
parts. The producers were so pleased<br />
with how the production turned out that<br />
they shot with the D-20 for a second<br />
time this summer, teaming with Finney<br />
again on their next Pratchett adaptation,<br />
The Colour of Magic.<br />
For Afrika, Mon Amour, German DoP<br />
Frank Küpper was confident the<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX D-20 was the right tool for this<br />
historic three-episode television period<br />
drama shot in Kenya, Germany, Austria<br />
and the UK. With many CGI effects and<br />
a tough postproduction schedule,<br />
shooting digital was the logical choice.<br />
“For a production with so many VFX<br />
shots, shooting digital has lots of<br />
advantages. No grain, instant availability<br />
of the full resolution images and the<br />
35mm look all play a vital role here,” he<br />
explained. “It was obvious that shooting<br />
HD with a camera that uses a Super<br />
35mm [sized] sensor would give the best<br />
results and speed up the workflow.”<br />
The D-20 was also used between<br />
November 2006 and April 2007 to<br />
shoot the eleventh series of the BBC<br />
drama Silent Witness, which consists of<br />
ten one-hour episodes. DoP Kevin<br />
Rowley and Producer George Ormond<br />
felt that the use of the D-20 helped to<br />
bring an even higher quality look to this<br />
popular crime series about a trio of<br />
forensic pathologists. “We felt it would<br />
give the show a very distinctive look –<br />
glossy, classy and expensive looking,<br />
with movie ambitions. It was the depth<br />
of field that made the difference for us,”<br />
commented Ormond. The twelfth series<br />
of Silent Witness is now underway and is<br />
again being shot with the <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX D-20.<br />
24<br />
Shooting recently concluded in Canada<br />
on The Andromeda Strain, directed by<br />
Mikael Salomon (DoP Jon Joffin) who last<br />
year directed The Company for Scott<br />
Free Productions with D-20 cameras; a<br />
highly prestigious US miniseries about<br />
the CIA (DoP Ben Nott ACS).<br />
Another production shot in Canada was<br />
Tin Man, a three-part miniseries directed<br />
by Nick Willing for the US SCI FI<br />
Channel (DoP Thomas Burstyn).<br />
Feature films to have shot with the D-20<br />
include The Bank Job (Director Roger<br />
Donaldson, DoP Mick Coulter BSC),<br />
RocknRolla (Director Guy Ritchie, DoP<br />
David Higgs), Prisoners of the Sun<br />
(Director Roger Christian, DoP Ed Wild)<br />
and Frequently Asked Questions About<br />
Time Travel (Director Gareth Carrivick,<br />
DoP John Pardue).<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> continues to gather invaluable<br />
feedback and respond to requests from<br />
users in order to further improve the<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX D-20 to meet the needs and<br />
desires of cinematographers. The<br />
development of a new software package<br />
has recently increased the sensitivity of<br />
the camera to provide a wider range of<br />
settings for use in lower light situations;<br />
the D-20 can now be set to the<br />
approximate equivalent of 500 ISO<br />
(ASA), or even higher for certain<br />
applications. While a new Sony Fibre<br />
Interface SFI-1 facilitates high-speed<br />
shooting at up to 60fps. The unit mounts<br />
directly on the camera and is connected<br />
by a single fibre cable to a fibreequipped<br />
Sony SRW-1 HDCAM SR<br />
recorder. Bill Lovell, Head of the Digital<br />
Department at <strong>ARRI</strong> <strong>Media</strong>, comments:<br />
“The D-20 has always been capable of<br />
operating at 60 frames per second, but<br />
recorders have not been able to do the<br />
same. The Sony Fibre Interface<br />
configuration provides the solution,<br />
allowing high-speed shooting, in-camera<br />
speed ramps recorded directly on<br />
the SRW-1 and a cable length of up<br />
to 500m.” ■<br />
�<br />
�SILENT WITNESS<br />
�<br />
�THE COMPANY<br />
�HOGFATHER<br />
�<br />
© Jan Thijs<br />
Milcho Manchevski’s<br />
Shadows<br />
At <strong>ARRI</strong> in Munich, Vision<strong>ARRI</strong><br />
spoke with Director Milcho<br />
Manchevski and DoP Fabio<br />
Cianchetti about their latest<br />
feature Shadows, an international<br />
co-production filmed in<br />
Macedonia last year. Together<br />
they recalled their experiences<br />
making the film.<br />
Vision<strong>ARRI</strong>: What’s the film<br />
Shadows about?<br />
Milcho Manchevski: It is about a young<br />
doctor in Macedonia who has personal<br />
problems and dies unexpectedly. He is a<br />
bit like Lady Macbeth’s son; he’s that<br />
type of character. I would describe the<br />
premise of the film as: sometimes the<br />
dead are more powerful than the living.<br />
VA: Is the film set in the world of<br />
the living or the dead?<br />
MM: The film is mostly about the living,<br />
about the journey the protagonist has to<br />
go on in order to recognize that life<br />
offers many possibilities.<br />
VA: Your film is an international<br />
co-production. How did that<br />
come about?<br />
MM: Our film is a German, Macedonian,<br />
Italian, Spanish and Bulgarian<br />
co-production. When you are making<br />
a film in Europe, it is almost always a<br />
co-production. There are two reasons<br />
why: first of all, it allows you to draw<br />
from a larger pool of talented people<br />
when you are putting together your<br />
team. Secondly, it helps get your film<br />
financed, especially if the film comes<br />
from a small and poor country. As a<br />
matter of fact, all the films I’ve made<br />
have been European co-productions<br />
involving three to five countries.<br />
VISION<strong>ARRI</strong><br />
VA: Fabio Cianchetti, you also<br />
came to the project as a result of<br />
this co-production arrangement,<br />
is that right?<br />
Fabio Cianchetti: That’s correct. I am part<br />
of the Italian package, so to speak.<br />
I believe it was the Producer Amedeo<br />
Pagani who introduced me to Milcho<br />
Manchevski; he watched several of<br />
my previous films and after an initial<br />
meeting we both had a good feeling<br />
and so went to work. �<br />
25
VA: What was it like<br />
working together?<br />
SHADOWS<br />
FC: Milcho is an excellent director who<br />
knows what he wants. We shared the<br />
same vision for what we wanted to see<br />
on the screen. We agreed on the light,<br />
as well as the mood the film intended to<br />
communicate. He prefers the American<br />
way of working, whereas I like to<br />
experiment, but we soon found a<br />
common denominator. And in the end<br />
we both got what we wanted.<br />
VA: One of your co-producers is<br />
Blue Eyes Fiction, a new German<br />
production company. How did<br />
that relationship come about?<br />
MM: At the beginning we had contacts<br />
with various companies. When we got to<br />
the crucial point, where decisions needed<br />
to be made, Blue Eyes quickly decided to<br />
come on board. We had very little time<br />
because we wanted to shoot the film as<br />
soon as possible and having them on<br />
board allowed us to pull the trigger. If we<br />
26<br />
hadn’t shot the film last summer, I think<br />
we would never have shot it.<br />
VA: Was it the German producers<br />
who suggested <strong>ARRI</strong> for the<br />
film’s postproduction?<br />
MM: Yes, and I am very happy we<br />
decided to go with <strong>ARRI</strong>. Working with<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> was the best part of this entire<br />
process, starting at the preparation stage<br />
and all through production and<br />
postproduction. To me, what was most<br />
impressive was the competence of the<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> staff. Our project was in good<br />
hands and it was a real comfort,<br />
especially after all the problems we had<br />
encountered at the outset. We felt very<br />
safe here. We were able to solve some<br />
of the problems that we were previously<br />
unable to resolve. <strong>ARRI</strong> was the icing on<br />
the cake on this project; they saved us!<br />
VA: What problems had you<br />
encountered prior to working<br />
with <strong>ARRI</strong>?<br />
MM: We experienced all kinds of<br />
problems. One was the fact that some of<br />
the visual effects made in Bulgaria did<br />
not turn out the way we had intended.<br />
We had done the work there because of<br />
the complicated co-production contract.<br />
At <strong>ARRI</strong> we were able to fix the visual<br />
effects; we worked on some of the<br />
problematic set-ups and now they work.<br />
The shoot was very difficult and<br />
complicated as well, and some of our<br />
shots did not turn out the way we had<br />
hoped. Things like that always happen,<br />
but I had never been to a place where<br />
these problems were tackled with so<br />
much competence and enthusiasm. The<br />
people I worked with at <strong>ARRI</strong>, especially<br />
the DI Colourist Rainer Schmidt of <strong>ARRI</strong><br />
Film & TV, were so wholeheartedly<br />
committed. At <strong>ARRI</strong> people are not just<br />
professionals, they are committed<br />
professionals. To me, that is the only way<br />
to work. If you look at this as just another<br />
job that needs to get done, then it is so<br />
much harder to make it to the finish line.<br />
“THE DI GRANTS YOU MUCH GREATER<br />
FREEDOM AND SIMPLIFIES THE<br />
PRODUCTION. NOT ALL PROBLEMS<br />
HAVE TO GET SOLVED ON SET. THERE<br />
ARE PROBLEMS THAT CAN’T BE SOLVED<br />
ON SET, NOT EVEN WITH ALL THE TIME<br />
AND MONEY IN THE WORLD.”<br />
VA: Which camera did you use?<br />
FC: We used the <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 535 and a<br />
Steadicam. We also used Cooke lenses.<br />
VA: Was this the first time you<br />
had finished a film using the<br />
DI process?<br />
MM: Yes. Before, we had just used the<br />
traditional lab process.<br />
FC: For me it was the first feature film<br />
entirely finished in a DI, though I did have<br />
some experience of it from commercials<br />
and from collaborations with Bernardo<br />
Bertolucci. The DI opened up an array of<br />
new possibilities. Rainer [Schmidt] was<br />
very important; he showed us the right<br />
way and I am very happy to have crossed<br />
paths with him. We got along splendidly<br />
and shared the same thoughts on many<br />
issues. He was at my side when things got<br />
a bit tricky and that was very reassuring.<br />
VA: You had only a week to do<br />
the colour correction. Was that all<br />
you thought you needed or were<br />
you afraid this wasn’t going to<br />
be enough time?<br />
MM: I was very much surprised how fast<br />
everything got done. At the beginning I<br />
thought that we hadn’t scheduled enough<br />
time and I was very nervous about that.<br />
But in the end we finished everything in<br />
less time then we had planned on. The<br />
most important aspect was that the<br />
biggest bulk of the work had already<br />
been completed when we arrived here.<br />
We only had to fine-tune and make some<br />
creative decisions, which were then<br />
executed promptly.<br />
VA: Would you want go through a<br />
DI again?<br />
MM: Absolutely. The DI grants you much<br />
greater freedom and simplifies the<br />
production. Not all problems have to<br />
get solved on set. There are problems<br />
that can’t be solved on set, not even<br />
with all the time and money in the world.<br />
What I enjoyed most was the possibility<br />
to shape the emotional as well as the<br />
narrative focus during postproduction.<br />
That is unique.<br />
VA: You had very little time to<br />
finish the film, since you wanted<br />
to present it at the Toronto<br />
International Film Festival.<br />
MM: That’s true. We got into the Special<br />
Presentation section and really had to<br />
get our act together and work hard.<br />
Again <strong>ARRI</strong> surprised us; everything was<br />
VISION<strong>ARRI</strong><br />
� EDITING a car crash sequence<br />
� IN DISCUSSION DoP Fabio Cianchetti, DI Colourist Rainer<br />
Schmidt and Director Milcho Manchevski (left to right)<br />
finished when they said it was going to<br />
be finished, which wasn’t always the<br />
case on this production.<br />
VA: Could you see yourself<br />
shooting a film in Germany?<br />
MM: Sure, very much so. I would need<br />
some time to really understand the<br />
nuances, but I do believe that people are<br />
the same everywhere. I’ve shot a lot in<br />
Macedonia, France, England and Japan<br />
and I don’t think I would have problems<br />
shooting in Germany. There are many<br />
things I like about this country, for<br />
example the way work gets done here.<br />
In my experience, working with German<br />
companies has always been very<br />
straightforward, honest and transparent.<br />
I like that; it is a rare thing to find. This<br />
was also the case at <strong>ARRI</strong>. Now, it is<br />
very difficult for me to imagine working<br />
anywhere but at <strong>ARRI</strong>.<br />
FC: I would very much like to work in<br />
Germany again, but there are so many<br />
good DoPs in Germany that it is hard to<br />
find work here. Maybe it would be<br />
possible on another international<br />
co-production. ■<br />
Heike Maleschka / Ricore Text<br />
27
28<br />
EAST OF EVERYTHING<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> Australia on location with Cinematographer Brendan Lavelle<br />
East of Everything is a six by one-hour television drama series, shot on location in the<br />
beautiful sub-tropical region of Byron Bay in New South Wales for Australia’s national<br />
broadcaster ABC Television.<br />
Created by highly-regarded writers Deb Cox<br />
and Roger Monk, who both live near Byron Bay,<br />
East of Everything is the story of a restless travel<br />
writer who is called to his dying mother’s bedside<br />
in a ramshackle resort on the eastern most point of<br />
Australia. While there, he is beset by local<br />
difficulties and painful reminders of his past, but<br />
comes to realise that this derelict town, which<br />
became his parents’ ‘paradise lost’, may hold the<br />
key to his own salvation.<br />
East of Everything features a stellar cast of<br />
Australian actors such as Richard Roxburgh, Tom<br />
Long, Gia Carides and Susie Porter. Produced by<br />
Fiona Eagger, whose previous television credits<br />
include The Society Murders and CrashBurn,<br />
the show was directed by Stuart McDonald and<br />
Matthew Saville. Director of Photography Brendan<br />
Lavelle, ACS had already established a working<br />
relationship with both directors on the hugely<br />
successful TV series The Secret Life of Us.<br />
Though digital video formats are becoming<br />
increasingly common on television drama<br />
productions in Australia, the team chose to shoot<br />
the series on Super 16mm film, mainly due to the<br />
isolated filming location and its distance from major<br />
centres capable of providing technical support.<br />
“Film equipment is proven to be robust and<br />
extremely portable,” says Lavelle. “It is well suited<br />
to the tight production requirements of a location<br />
shoot, within the inevitable tight deadlines. In<br />
addition, using film gave us flexibility in capturing<br />
the wide range of textures and contrasts at the<br />
various locations. The different landscapes were<br />
treated as other ‘characters’ in the story and we<br />
photographed them at all times of day and night to<br />
capture their many moods. Because of the short<br />
winter daylight hours during the shooting period,<br />
the film’s exposure latitude also gave more chances<br />
to preserve those moods at either end of the day.”<br />
Lavelle opted for Kodak Vision2 film stocks, making<br />
use of 250D (7205), 200T (7217) and 500T (7218).<br />
The production package was provided by <strong>ARRI</strong><br />
Australia and consisted of two <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 16SR 3<br />
cameras equipped with Canon zoom lenses of<br />
11.5-139mm and 7-63mm, plus a set of Zeiss<br />
prime lenses ranging from 9.5mm to 50mm and a<br />
Canon Century 300mm telephoto lens with doubler.<br />
The telephoto lens was mostly used to cover surfing<br />
action at the mythical ‘Broken Head Bay’, where<br />
the series is set, as well as shots of the occasional<br />
migrating whale. Two sets of Schultz tripod legs<br />
with O’Connor and Sachtler 150mm fluid heads<br />
completed the package.<br />
“<strong>ARRI</strong> Australia representatives Christian Hilgart<br />
and Geraldine Quinn visited the location during<br />
preproduction to ensure we had a package that<br />
suited our needs,” continues Lavelle. “For a short<br />
period we also had the chance to use the new<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong>LEX 416 camera and put it through its paces.<br />
“The production was keen to have the cost and<br />
time-saving benefits of 800ft film magazines, which<br />
are not typically seen on <strong>ARRI</strong> cameras in Australia,<br />
but the team arranged to have these imported for us<br />
from <strong>ARRI</strong> Germany and they were used to great<br />
effect. In fact, it was the first time these magazines<br />
had been used on a local production in Australia<br />
and they were of great benefit, with increased<br />
running time and greatly reduced wastage. In spite<br />
of the extra weight, they were also successfully used<br />
for hand-held shooting on many occasions, mounted<br />
on an Easyrig camera support and equipped with<br />
zoom lens, matte box and follow focus.<br />
“The shoot was completed successfully and on time,<br />
with no losses due to equipment or weather,”<br />
concludes Lavelle. “All involved feel that we have<br />
made a television series to be proud of and which<br />
does justice to the beautiful region of Byron Bay.” ■<br />
Tracy Mair<br />
� DIRECTOR OF EPISODES 4, 5, & 6, Matthew Saville, looking<br />
through the camera with DoP Brendan Lavelle; Cast and crew at<br />
Main Beach, Byron Bay; Susie Porter as Eve Pritchard; Director<br />
of the first 3 episodes, Stuart McDonald; The crew on location at<br />
Broken Head; The art department team work on the construction<br />
of the main set, the Far Out East resort; DoP Brendan Lavelle<br />
(from top left)<br />
VISION<strong>ARRI</strong><br />
29
© 2007 Good Prayers, LLC Philipp Koller, Photographer<br />
A THOUSAND YEARS<br />
OF GOOD PRAYERS<br />
An Interview with Director Wayne Wang<br />
� DIRECTOR WAYNE WANG<br />
� YILAN (FAYE YU) and her father<br />
Mr. Shi (Henry O) at Yilan’s apartment<br />
30<br />
Wayne Wang’s latest film, A Thousand<br />
Years of Good Prayers, based on a<br />
short story by award-winning author<br />
Yiyun Li, marks the director’s departure<br />
from mainstream Hollywood movies and<br />
a return to his roots in independent film.<br />
A low-budget, character-driven piece,<br />
A Thousand Years of Good Prayers is set<br />
in the Chinese American community, a<br />
world in which Wang is very much at<br />
home. He himself is a Hong Kong native<br />
who immigrated to the United States and<br />
later studied film at the California<br />
College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland.<br />
The film tells the story of Mr. Shi (Henry<br />
O), an elderly Chinese gentleman who<br />
comes to the U.S. to look after his<br />
recently divorced daughter Yilan (Faye<br />
Yu), though their worlds quickly collide.<br />
Mr. Shi is concerned with the loss of<br />
traditional Chinese values while his<br />
daughter, an independent woman<br />
consumed with work and her affair with<br />
a married Russian man, feels her father<br />
is encroaching upon her life. It is the<br />
unexpected friendship with an Iranian<br />
woman (Vida Ghahremani) of his own<br />
age and a trip across the U.S. that<br />
eventually helps Mr. Shi to reconcile<br />
with his estranged daughter.<br />
Wayne Wang’s earlier films include<br />
A Man, a Woman, and a Killer, Chan Is<br />
Missing, Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart<br />
and Slam Dance. His Hollywood<br />
breakthrough came with The Joy Luck<br />
Club in 1993, which he followed with<br />
films such as Smoke, Blue in the Face<br />
and Maid in Manhattan. His most recent<br />
film A Thousand Years of Good Prayers<br />
premiered at the Toronto International<br />
Film Festival in 2007, in conjunction<br />
with companion piece The Princess of<br />
Nebraska, also based on a short story<br />
by Yiyun Li.<br />
Less than a month later A Thousand<br />
Years of Good Prayers was awarded<br />
the Golden Shell for Best Film at the<br />
San Sebastian Film Festival.<br />
Vision<strong>ARRI</strong>: Mr Wang, with your<br />
work you seem to be a master<br />
of bringing Chinese themes to a<br />
western audience.<br />
Wayne Wang: I don’t think of myself as a<br />
master. I feel that because I am Chinese<br />
and have been living in America for the<br />
last 30 years I know the community, the<br />
people and the culture of the Chinese in<br />
America. And, I always try to make films<br />
about what I know best.<br />
VA: You overcome the gap<br />
between Asian and western<br />
culture so easily. What is<br />
your secret?<br />
WW: There is no secret. There is only the<br />
on-going process of accepting the conflict<br />
and using the best of both cultures.<br />
VA: How did the fact that you live<br />
in America affect your point of<br />
view on China?<br />
WW: It gives me a more objective view<br />
of China, I think. It makes me appreciate<br />
what’s unique and positive about China<br />
and yet see the problems more clearly in<br />
the same way. I’m dealing with being<br />
both American and Chinese.<br />
VA: After 17 movies, what has<br />
changed for you personally<br />
in filmmaking?<br />
WW: I learned that being truthful to the<br />
characters in the film is the key to<br />
everything. And to find the conflict in<br />
what the characters want gives me the<br />
tension that I need to build each scene.<br />
VA: Has your style of<br />
directing changed?<br />
WW: It has changed a lot. I no longer<br />
strive to control and perfect everything.<br />
Instead I’ve learned to use what is really<br />
in front of me and make it serve my<br />
ultimate goal for the film.<br />
VA: Or has your cultural approach<br />
to China changed?<br />
WW: It has become a fusion of some<br />
kind. Some people in China recently<br />
said that I’m not Chinese. I’m proud of<br />
that; I’m more than simply a Chinese,<br />
I’m a Chinese-American and a citizen of<br />
the world – a truly contemporary, global<br />
person with a unique fusion culture.<br />
VISION<strong>ARRI</strong><br />
“I NO LONGER STRIVE TO<br />
CONTROL AND PERFECT<br />
EVERYTHING. INSTEAD I’VE<br />
LEARNED TO USE WHAT IS<br />
REALLY IN FRONT OF ME AND<br />
MAKE IT SERVE MY ULTIMATE<br />
GOAL FOR THE FILM.”<br />
VA: You are very experienced<br />
now; what is different in your<br />
recent work compared to your<br />
early films?<br />
WW: Every film is still very different.<br />
I don’t see them as routine; I try to do<br />
different things. Big Hollywood films...<br />
small personal films... but I keep it fresh<br />
so that I learn something new every time.<br />
VA: What was most important<br />
for you in your new movie A<br />
Thousand Years of Good Prayers?<br />
WW: That there are many things which<br />
determine how your relationship to<br />
different people work, but ultimately there<br />
is something called destiny or fate which<br />
you can affect to a certain degree in<br />
how you are, how you relate to people<br />
and what you do every day – not only in<br />
this lifetime but perhaps in other ones too.<br />
VA: What did you experience<br />
during this production? What did<br />
you like or dislike? What was fun<br />
and what was difficult?<br />
WW: I enjoyed the freedom I had on<br />
every aspect of the production and<br />
because of this, I was able to work very<br />
instinctively. I worked very closely with<br />
my cinematographer, Patrick Lindenmaier<br />
and we both enjoyed trying to find the<br />
truth in every moment of each scene.<br />
Everything was fun and difficult at the<br />
same time. There are always<br />
contradictions in anything we do.<br />
VA: Concerning your crew: do you<br />
prefer working in big teams or in<br />
small teams?<br />
WW: I really like working in a small<br />
close-knit team – the smaller the better.<br />
VA: How do you choose your crew<br />
for each production? I noticed<br />
that you work a lot with different<br />
people, not with the same editors<br />
or DoPs each time. �<br />
31
© 2007 Good Prayers, LLC Philipp Koller, Photographer<br />
WW: I have worked with some people on<br />
several films; my editor has been with<br />
me for four or five films. We have very<br />
similar tastes and have worked out a<br />
shorthand way of working together. I<br />
have worked with some DoPs on several<br />
films – Amir Mokri is one of them. I do<br />
want to work with people on a more<br />
regular basis but it’s very difficult finding<br />
the right person. I enjoyed my<br />
relationship with Patrick Lindenmaier,<br />
we worked together several times, colour<br />
correcting during the transfer from digital<br />
to film and I now appreciate working<br />
with him as a DoP.<br />
VA: During your filmmaking<br />
career, from 1975 up until now,<br />
there has been a transition from<br />
analogue to digital. What do you<br />
think about the developments?<br />
WW: It has not always been easy. In the<br />
beginning I was very suspicious of every<br />
aspect of it; Patrick helped me through<br />
some of that. The technology has really<br />
changed in the last three or four years<br />
and now I believe that the future will<br />
be digital.<br />
VA: Do you shoot on film or<br />
digital? When and how do you<br />
decide which format to use?<br />
WW: I think I will use digital more now.<br />
I like the freedom I get from the cameras<br />
that are getting so good and I also like<br />
the fact that it can look so organic in the<br />
end on film. In the future I believe that<br />
film will be phased out when theatres<br />
convert to digital projections.<br />
VA: What equipment did you<br />
use for A Thousand Years of<br />
Good Prayers?<br />
A THOUSAND YEARS OF GOOD PRAYERS<br />
WW: We shot on an HDW 900R<br />
HDCAM and used zoom and fixed focus<br />
32<br />
lenses from Fujinon. The camera was<br />
one of the first models of this new type.<br />
It had the serial number 17! We used<br />
the so-called CineGamma to avoid<br />
getting excessively stark images in<br />
high-contrast situations.<br />
VA: Is there a technical aspect that<br />
was very important in this movie?<br />
WW: It was very important for the film to<br />
look natural and not “digital.”<br />
VA: Did you have to make<br />
compromises during the shoot for<br />
technical reasons?<br />
WW: We had to wait often for the sun or<br />
the light to be appropriate before we<br />
could shoot.<br />
VA: For A Thousand Years of Good<br />
Prayers you chose to work with<br />
Swiss postproduction companies.<br />
How was this experience, in<br />
particular your collaboration<br />
with Schwarz Film and<br />
Patrick Lindenmaier?<br />
WW: I have worked with Patrick before<br />
at Andromeda Film and Schwarz Film.<br />
I really like their creative capabilities<br />
combined with their expert technical<br />
experience. I have had very good<br />
experiences with them each time.<br />
VA: How is the technical<br />
equipment and working method<br />
compared to the US or China?<br />
WW: The technical and working method<br />
at Andromeda Film and Schwarz Film is<br />
more precise. And I particularly value<br />
their creative contributions besides their<br />
technical ones. This is the key difference<br />
compared with China or the US.<br />
VA: Which digital workflow did<br />
you utilise for your film?<br />
WW: The film was shot on HD 24fps<br />
progressive. The offline was completed<br />
in HD as well. Working on Avid’s,<br />
Adrenalin made it possible to create<br />
subtitles and do a preliminary colour<br />
correction during the initial visualization.<br />
The online edit and the colour correction<br />
were later completed – uncompressed –<br />
at Andromeda Film. Afterwards we<br />
rendered the film in 2K files at Schwarz Film.<br />
VA: Were you conscious of<br />
significant cultural differences<br />
throughout this workflow?<br />
WW: No, as I have mentioned before,<br />
I’m very western and global in my<br />
thinking. The only difference may be the<br />
extreme care of details and precision<br />
which I appreciate a lot!<br />
VA: Is it inspiring to work in<br />
Europe for you or is it a burden<br />
to travel so far for postproduction?<br />
WW: I love travelling to Europe and I<br />
love Switzerland. I want to work there<br />
more – maybe even shoot a film there.<br />
VA: After so many years in<br />
America, could you consider<br />
returning to China to make a film?<br />
WW: Maybe. I scouted China many<br />
times when I made The Joy Luck Club<br />
and ended up shooting there for<br />
exteriors only because it is very difficult<br />
to work there. They have the latest<br />
technology and the skills, but they don’t<br />
have the care, the organization or the<br />
mental precision to do a really great job.<br />
VA: Apart from commercial<br />
aspects, which of your movies are<br />
you most proud of having made?<br />
WW: A Thousand Years of Good Prayers. ■<br />
Andrea Oki<br />
VISION<strong>ARRI</strong><br />
A Symphony of Soloists<br />
The <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX D-20 captures performances from 150 separate musicians<br />
for Sony’s latest WALKMAN commercial.<br />
� THE MUSICIANS form a spiral; each play a single note in turn<br />
� DIRECTOR NICK GORDON<br />
� LINING UP A SHOT: DoP Antonio Paladino, 1st AC Alex Reid<br />
and Director Nick Gordon (left to right)<br />
Once a centre-point of Victorian London’s social scene, the 2000-capacity theatre within<br />
Alexandra Palace, unseen by the public for more than 65 years, is a crumbling vestige<br />
of its past. Scheduled for restoration, the theatre is in such a magnificent state of<br />
disrepair that it resembles an elaborately designed set, which is the very reason it has<br />
been selected as the location for a new commercial advertising Sony’s next generation<br />
of WALKMAN digital media players.<br />
Standing amid the faded grandeur, DoP Antonio<br />
Paladino explains the concept of the shoot: “We have<br />
150 musicians and our assignment is to film every one<br />
of them playing one single note. They’re all individual<br />
musicians and were playing together for the first time<br />
on our first shooting day; it wasn’t at all clear<br />
whether or not they’d actually be able to play this<br />
piece of music but they’ve pulled it off really well.”<br />
Produced by production house Academy for<br />
advertising agency Fallon, the commercial was slated<br />
as an HD shoot at an early stage due to uncertainty<br />
about how much material would have to be shot in<br />
order to get adequate coverage. Paladino opted to<br />
shoot with Cooke S4 lenses on two <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX D-20s,<br />
having used the film-style digital camera for the first<br />
time only weeks before, on another commercial.<br />
Equipment was supplied by <strong>ARRI</strong> <strong>Media</strong> in London.<br />
Despite its dilapidation, the theatre is a listed and<br />
therefore protected building, so the crew were unable<br />
to hang a lighting grid from the ceiling, nor even put a<br />
single nail in a wall. “We’re using helium balloons,”<br />
says Paladino. “8kW tungsten tubes - three for the main<br />
hall and one for the stage; they’re on strings so we can<br />
move them around and angle them. The practical bulbs<br />
that are strung around the hall were already there. We<br />
didn’t want it to look over-lit; it’s a moody location, so<br />
we wanted the lighting to have a moody look. I didn’t<br />
want the faces or the sheet music to be too bright.”<br />
HD Technician and AC Gavin MacArthur was given<br />
the responsibility of overseeing the camera signals<br />
from the Director’s monitors, as well as remotely<br />
controlling aperture settings, which were generally<br />
T2.8 and one-half or wider. “We calibrated the<br />
monitors to all match during our test day at <strong>ARRI</strong><br />
<strong>Media</strong>,” he says. “We also have Astro monitors set<br />
up here so I can keep an eye on waveform displays<br />
no matter how the cameras are configured.”<br />
Postproduction of the commercial is taking place at<br />
The Moving Picture Company (MPC), with a tight<br />
turnaround of just seven weeks. “Unfortunately I<br />
can’t be there for the grade,” says Paladino. “But I<br />
don’t think much will change with what we’ve shot.<br />
The location is stunning and the costumes are so<br />
colourful, everything already looks amazing. All the<br />
monitors were calibrated so what we see is really<br />
what we’re getting. It’s such a great advantage of<br />
shooting on HD – I can just look at a monitor under<br />
a dark cloth and see exactly what I’m getting; it’s a<br />
very satisfying process.” ■<br />
Mark Hope-Jones<br />
33
34<br />
The Story of a Young Killer<br />
Based on Jonathan Trigell’s novel of the same name, Boy A<br />
follows the story of Jack, a child murderer released back into<br />
society as an adult. As the 24-year-old attempts to start again<br />
in a world outside of confinement and rid himself of his former<br />
life, the story moves between the present and past, taking the<br />
viewer on a journey to discover who Jack really is. The<br />
question at the core of the film is; can Jack really escape the<br />
past and start again – and is it right that he should? �<br />
VISION<strong>ARRI</strong><br />
35
� DIRECTOR JOHN CROWLEY<br />
THE STORY OF A YOUNG KILLER<br />
Originally produced by Cuba Pictures<br />
for Channel 4, the worldwide rights for<br />
Boy A were recently snapped up by<br />
The Weinstein Company following a<br />
successful screening at the Toronto<br />
International Film Festival. Directed by<br />
John Crowley and photographed by<br />
Rob Hardy, the production was shot with<br />
two <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 416 cameras and Master<br />
Prime lenses. Camera equipment was<br />
supplied by <strong>ARRI</strong> <strong>Media</strong> and lighting<br />
equipment by <strong>ARRI</strong> Lighting Rental from<br />
their Manchester branches.<br />
Director of Photography Rob Hardy<br />
discusses how he tackled this<br />
controversial and thought-provoking<br />
subject – his subtle approach,<br />
camerawork and favourite scenes.<br />
Vision<strong>ARRI</strong>: The production has been<br />
shot in Super 16 using <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX<br />
416 cameras. How was this<br />
decision made?<br />
Rob Hardy: I fell out of love with 16mm<br />
some time ago. We had a passionate<br />
affair but it fizzled out, mainly due to<br />
familiarity and partly because there was<br />
nothing new, it just wasn’t going<br />
anywhere for me. I preferred 35mm and<br />
dare I say it, HD started to show its face<br />
in an impressive way. But all that<br />
changed when I saw the 416. It was love<br />
at first sight. I am not a camera geek,<br />
and not particularly technical, but I<br />
36<br />
“I WAS INTERESTED IN CREATING A HAZY SOFT<br />
FLARE AND FOUND THAT BY USING A ONE-<br />
EIGHTH BLACK PRO-MIST OR ONE-QUARTER<br />
CLASSIC SOFT FILTER, COMBINED WITH A<br />
DEGREE OF CAMERA FLARE, I WAS ABLE TO<br />
ACHIEVE THE SUBTLE LOOK I WANTED.”<br />
instinctively knew that this was a good<br />
thing. The 416 stood out, a 16mm<br />
camera with 35mm capabilities. The look<br />
through is crystal clear and I could use<br />
35mm lenses without getting neck ache.<br />
When I met with John Crowley and Lynn<br />
Horsford [Producer] the first thing they<br />
told me was that we were to shoot on<br />
film, not HD. We wanted a film look and<br />
feel, but the budget couldn’t stretch to<br />
35. The 416 was the perfect choice.<br />
Also, I knew there would be a certain<br />
degree of hand-held work involved;<br />
again, this was 416 territory.<br />
VA: What visual approach did<br />
you decide on with John Crowley<br />
for the story? Did Crowley give<br />
you any visual references or<br />
were you influenced by anyone<br />
or anything?<br />
RH: Meeting John Crowley was an<br />
inspirational time for me. He trusted me<br />
implicitly, which is rare for a new<br />
collaboration such as this. I felt I was<br />
able to stamp a personal visual style<br />
onto the film without it being<br />
inappropriate or egotistical. We talked<br />
in depth about the story, about that main<br />
character’s trajectory and how this could<br />
be achieved through the cinematography.<br />
John was open to anything, which is not<br />
to say he didn’t have a clear idea about<br />
what he wanted; rather, he knew what<br />
he didn’t want. Consequently, I was<br />
able to formulate a ‘visual plan’ without<br />
any restrictions.<br />
The only film we really talked about was<br />
Alan Clarke’s Elephant, a 1980s BBC<br />
production that has rarely been seen.<br />
There was a cold observing quality to it<br />
that seemed appropriate. It is an<br />
incredibly uncompromising film, a true<br />
work of art. We took the idea and ran<br />
with it. I made sure that my Steadicam<br />
Operator, Roger Tooley, had seen the film<br />
as it is a Steadicam operators dream.<br />
I would like to say that I studied<br />
paintings or other cinematographers’<br />
work but I didn’t, my main influence<br />
comes from music. Rhythm, timing and<br />
melody are how I see images. I prefer to<br />
keep my mind free from the clutter of<br />
other peoples’ way of seeing, which is<br />
probably why I have no pictures on my<br />
walls at home.<br />
VA: Can you describe the style<br />
of camerawork?<br />
RH: One thing that John and I agreed on<br />
at a very early stage was our dislike for<br />
‘Brit Grit’. Hand-held work seems such<br />
an obvious route to ‘spray on’ emotion.<br />
That isn’t to say we didn’t use a handheld<br />
camera, we did, there is something<br />
about operating a hand-held camera that<br />
gets you close to the emotion of a<br />
character, it becomes very immediate.<br />
However, I wanted everything we did to<br />
be subtle, layered, considered. We<br />
thought very hard about how to approach<br />
a scene before we dived in. I wanted to<br />
create an elegant feel overall, and that<br />
meant combining hand-held with<br />
Steadicam, as well as formal static wide<br />
shots and slow creeping tracking shots. I<br />
think in the end these things combined<br />
very well. It is easy to be flashy, it is a<br />
lot harder to be restrained and subtle,<br />
but I think we achieved it.<br />
VA: You chose to use Master Prime<br />
lenses on Boy A, what is it you<br />
like about them? Were there<br />
particular focal lengths that were<br />
used more than others?<br />
RH: What can I say about these beautiful<br />
things without gushing embarrassingly.<br />
Probably a focus puller’s worst<br />
nightmare, but enter stage right the very<br />
talented Mr. Ritchie Donnelly; my focus<br />
puller on Boy A. He appeared suitably<br />
unfazed by the challenges that these<br />
beasts unleashed upon us during<br />
production. I chose them because<br />
initially they seemed very similar to<br />
Primos. The focal lengths make more<br />
sense to me than those of the Cookes or<br />
the Ultra Primes and of course the speed<br />
was a big part of the decision process.<br />
I shot most of the film wide open at<br />
T1.3, partly for creative reasons and<br />
partly because I was using very slow<br />
daylight stocks on low lit interiors. My<br />
refusal to use hard highlights and my<br />
liking for under-lit soft sources made it<br />
particularly hard for Ritchie. I tended to<br />
use the mid range in the set; the 21, 40<br />
and 65mm were particular favourites of<br />
mine. I was interested in creating a hazy<br />
soft flare and found that by using a oneeighth<br />
Black Pro-Mist or one-quarter<br />
Classic Soft filter, combined with a<br />
degree of camera flare, I was able to<br />
achieve the subtle look I wanted. It<br />
added another layer to an image that<br />
was sometimes too crisp. I’m completely<br />
sold on these lenses.<br />
VA: The story moves between the<br />
present and past, looking at the<br />
attempts of the main character<br />
(Jack) to readjust to a world<br />
outside of prison and at what<br />
happened to him as a youngster.<br />
Did you decide to represent<br />
the present and past<br />
differently visually?<br />
RH: John and I deliberately set out to<br />
keep that transition as seamless as<br />
� DOP ROB HARDY at the camera on location<br />
possible. Jack’s character is continually<br />
tormented by his past but it remains<br />
intrinsically part of his every being and<br />
as he discovers, almost impossible to<br />
separate. To have a different visual style<br />
for past and present would have been<br />
the obvious thing to do. Audiences are<br />
smarter than that. I wanted both past<br />
and present to look the same. The<br />
audience should feel what Jack is feeling<br />
in order to understand the complexities<br />
of the character. So I photographed<br />
them in exactly the same way, as if the<br />
story itself were linear.<br />
VA: Are there any shots that come<br />
to mind that were particularly<br />
difficult, or a particular shot that<br />
you are most proud of? Can you<br />
describe how they were achieved?<br />
RH: There are a couple of shots in the<br />
film, which demonstrate our methods in<br />
subtlety and in taking a different<br />
approach. In the story Jack saves a little<br />
girl from a car crash, an act of<br />
redemption perhaps, and whilst working<br />
at a warehouse he is called onto the floor<br />
because “somebody wants to see you”.<br />
Jack is understandably afraid. We follow<br />
him through a tunnel of blue pallets on<br />
Steadicam until we enter the open space<br />
of the warehouse floor where five people<br />
are waiting for him, one of them being a<br />
photographer who wants to take his<br />
picture for the local newspaper. Jack<br />
hesitates. At this point we were supposed<br />
to cut and then drop into singles and two<br />
shots as the scene plays out, but I<br />
suggested we continue the shot for the<br />
duration of the scene. So the camera<br />
follows him and begins to circle the five<br />
people as the scene plays out. It was all<br />
about looks and words said by the actors<br />
that enforced Jack’s paranoia. Roger<br />
VISION<strong>ARRI</strong><br />
[Steadicam Operator] circled them twice<br />
until the scene ended. The result was<br />
amazing. What we got was the energy<br />
of the scene without any breaks in it,<br />
enabling the actors to play it out for real,<br />
thus enhancing the drama. It was a long<br />
shot and took 16 or so takes to achieve<br />
but it worked beautifully. The thing that<br />
pleases me most about it is that you are<br />
not aware of the camera, you are only<br />
aware of the story that is unfolding<br />
between the characters.<br />
The second shot is during a scene<br />
between Jack as a boy and his friend<br />
Philip, whom he commits the heinous<br />
crime with. Philip is telling Jack how his<br />
older brother has raped him. It is Philip’s<br />
only open display of genuine emotion,<br />
and a poignant moment. I wanted to<br />
reflect visually how Philip’s character<br />
could feel so small and vulnerable. One<br />
would assume that we would start wide<br />
and go in to a close-up to capture the<br />
emotion of the child. I decided to do the<br />
opposite. I suggested to John that we<br />
move away from the kids as Philip’s<br />
story progresses to deeper and darker<br />
levels. We constructed what I call an<br />
‘invisible’ crane shot. It started as a low<br />
wide shot and slowly, very slowly,<br />
moved to an overhead and then just<br />
simply kept going up and up into the<br />
heavens. It ended as Philip ended his<br />
story. Once again, because the subject<br />
matter is so engaging I didn’t want the<br />
audience to be camera aware, the shot<br />
progresses so slowly that we hardly<br />
notice the movement until all of a sudden<br />
you realise that you are way up in the<br />
sky looking down upon these two<br />
vulnerable children.<br />
Having said all of that, I think my<br />
favourite shot in the film is a simple mid<br />
shot of the character Zeb, the son of<br />
Jack’s caseworker Terry, sitting in Terry’s<br />
kitchen conversing with his dad for the<br />
first time in a long while. It’s a great<br />
scene. I cannot explain why, but this shot<br />
to me is the closest I have ever come to<br />
fulfilling my vision. Everything about it,<br />
to me, is aesthetically perfect. To anyone<br />
else, it may seem unremarkable.<br />
Rob Hardy and John Crowley are<br />
currently in preproduction on their<br />
second project together, Is There<br />
Anybody There? ■<br />
Michelle Smith<br />
37
Mongol<br />
38<br />
The Early Years of Genghis Khan<br />
VISION<strong>ARRI</strong><br />
The Mongolian ruler Genghis Khan remains one of the most<br />
legendary and controversial figures of world history. In the early<br />
13th century he laid the foundation for one of the world’s largest<br />
empires by uniting the feuding tribes of Central Asia. In recognition<br />
of this achievement, Mongols continue to worship him as the father of<br />
the Mongol Nation. Others, however, remember him as the ruthless,<br />
warmongering conqueror who annexed China, Persia and Russia,<br />
and even had ambitions in Europe. The new film Mongol tells a lesser<br />
known side of the story – that of a little boy named Temüjin, who<br />
endured tremendous hardship before becoming the first ruler of the<br />
Mongol Empire, later to be known as Genghis Khan.<br />
Director Sergei Bodrov Sr. (Prisoner of<br />
the Caucasus, Bears Kiss) felt a strong<br />
connection to this tale of a young man<br />
fighting to fulfil his destiny: “Mongol was<br />
a very personal film for me,” he says.<br />
“I very much related to Temüjin’s plight.<br />
Many historical accounts describe<br />
Genghis Khan as a monster and mass<br />
murderer; but I wanted to show a<br />
different man, a man I admire because<br />
he overcame the most dire and hopeless<br />
circumstances to become the leader of a<br />
nation and the ruler of an empire. Let’s<br />
not forget, the Mongol Empire was a<br />
highly organized and efficient empire<br />
with an early form of an administration.<br />
That’s why, to this day, Genghis Khan is<br />
much more to the Mongols than the<br />
founder of Mongolia. They still worship<br />
him like a God.”<br />
Bringing this incredible story to the big<br />
screen was a challenge, even for a<br />
filmmaker as experienced and recognized<br />
as Bodrov. The international<br />
co-production, involving Russia, Germany<br />
and Kazakhstan was shot in China and<br />
Kazakhstan with camera equipment<br />
supplied by <strong>ARRI</strong> Rental, Munich. Behind<br />
the camera were two DoPs: Rogier<br />
Stoffers (Character, Quills) and Sergey<br />
Trofimov (The Peshawar Waltz, Day<br />
Watch), who shot the mass battle scenes.<br />
Communication and logistics were of vital<br />
importance in making this method of<br />
working a success.<br />
The majority of the film was shot in Inner<br />
Mongolia, an autonomous region in<br />
Northern China that borders Mongolia<br />
and is actually home to more Mongols<br />
than Mongolia itself. “It was a complex<br />
decision to shoot there,” recalls Bodrov.<br />
“A lot of it had to do with budgetary<br />
considerations, but first and foremost<br />
it was important to me to shoot at the<br />
original locations in Inner Mongolia,<br />
the cradle of the Mongolian culture and<br />
the heart of the old Mongolian empire.<br />
Also, we had heard a lot of good things<br />
about filming in this area, in terms of the<br />
availability of personnel.”<br />
“WE HAD TO CLEAN THE<br />
EQUIPMENT CONSTANTLY.<br />
BUT THE <strong>ARRI</strong><br />
EQUIPMENT PERFORMED<br />
EXCEPTIONALLY WELL,<br />
EVEN UNDER THESE<br />
EXTREME CONDITIONS.”<br />
The production had to hire two people<br />
for each position, one Russian and one<br />
Chinese; additionally they had crew<br />
members from Germany, Japan, Ukraine<br />
and Mongolia. Consequently, there was<br />
need for a team of about 30 translators<br />
and on occasion the melting pot of<br />
cultural mentalities did lead to some<br />
friction. “We had to pay our dues,”<br />
continues Bodrov. “But the fantastic<br />
locations and our extremely professional<br />
crew helped us make an exceptional<br />
film with breathtaking images at a<br />
reasonable price.” With a smirk on his<br />
face, he adds: “We are more or less<br />
experts now on filming in China and<br />
could teach expensive seminars.”<br />
Of course the shoot wasn’t just taxing on<br />
the crew. On location in these remote<br />
areas of Inner Mongolia the <strong>ARRI</strong>CAMs,<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 435 and 235 cameras were<br />
subjected to exceptionally harsh<br />
conditions. “We had to deal with<br />
extreme temperatures and with a lot of<br />
sand and dust,” says DoP Sergey<br />
Trofimov. “We had to clean the equipment<br />
constantly. But the <strong>ARRI</strong> equipment<br />
performed exceptionally well, even under<br />
these extreme conditions. I believe these<br />
cameras speak for themselves.” �<br />
39
MONGOL<br />
“I HAVE ALWAYS WORKED WITH<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> EQUIPMENT AND IT WOULD<br />
HAVE BEEN A MISTAKE TO USE<br />
ANYTHING ELSE.”<br />
Sergei Bodrov was also aware that<br />
reliability was an absolute priority for the<br />
camera kit. “I have always worked with<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> equipment and it would have been<br />
a mistake to use anything else,” he says.<br />
“Especially in our high-risk business, it is<br />
extremely important to rely on partners<br />
who are 100% trustworthy. <strong>ARRI</strong> was<br />
definitely the right choice for such a<br />
logistically challenging shoot. We were<br />
filming in the most remote locations and<br />
the equipment had quite a journey to get<br />
40<br />
there. Everything was flown to Beijing,<br />
where the shipment had to pass customs;<br />
then, after an additional 4-hour flight to<br />
a small provincial airport, the equipment<br />
had to go on a 12-hour car ride before<br />
reaching our location in Inner Mongolia.<br />
A lot can happen on such a long journey.<br />
At one point, half of the cases arrived<br />
wet; we had to dry and test everything,<br />
but it all worked perfectly.”<br />
Another challenge was finding a way to<br />
view dailies. The exposed film had to be<br />
taken to a laboratory in Hamburg and<br />
the processed footage sent back to<br />
China. “Obviously it was an issue that<br />
we couldn’t view what we had shot,”<br />
says Trofimov. “The first dailies made it<br />
back to China three weeks into the shoot.<br />
The second set got there two weeks<br />
before we wrapped. It was very risky.<br />
The suspense was great, but when the<br />
dailies finally arrived, we didn’t have the<br />
time to properly check them; we just did<br />
a rush screening.”<br />
The look of the film was determined<br />
by the fact that it interweaves two<br />
emotionally contrasting storylines, but<br />
also by the key role played by the<br />
landscape. Sergey Trofimov explains how<br />
they decided on a visual approach:<br />
“We just went ahead and storyboarded<br />
�� Filming of the third battle<br />
everything, at least the part that I shot.<br />
That’s when we realized that several<br />
compositions didn’t fit into the story and<br />
we had to make some adjustments. The<br />
main story is quite simple; it is the story<br />
of a young man, a story about his life,<br />
his friends and his enemies. The images<br />
were therefore kept rather simple in terms<br />
of composition. But then there is also the<br />
B-story, the romance. We decided to use<br />
Cooke lenses, which are a little softer<br />
than the Ultra Primes and therefore more<br />
appropriate for the love story. The battle<br />
scenes were another issue altogether.<br />
We shot them mostly hand-held, but the<br />
rest of the film was made rather<br />
conventionally, using a lot of dolly and<br />
static shots. We wanted to show the<br />
beautiful landscape and not distract from<br />
it with attention-grabbing camera work.”<br />
During postproduction, the main tasks<br />
were to blend the various storylines<br />
which were shot at multiple locations and<br />
to create a homogenous and consistent<br />
look. Trofimov himself supervised the<br />
colour grading process of the entire film.<br />
A rough cut of Rogier Stoffers’ footage<br />
had been colour graded already but the<br />
fine-tuning was Trofimov’s responsibility.<br />
“Rogier Stoffers footage wasn’t shot<br />
differently,” he explains, “it was just a<br />
different part of the story. Working this<br />
way allowed me to analyze the role each<br />
part was to play in the film ahead of<br />
time; then I went ahead and figured out<br />
how to proceed. On one hand the<br />
landscapes, such as the steppe and the<br />
mountains, had to play an important<br />
part. On the other hand we were dealing<br />
with various intense and different<br />
VISION<strong>ARRI</strong><br />
emotional states. This required very<br />
sophisticated colour grading because it<br />
was important to find a balance between<br />
continuity and differentiation. I hope we<br />
found the right way.<br />
In every regard – creatively, technically,<br />
politically and personally – this was a<br />
valuable experience,” concludes<br />
Trofimov. “And I believe that the end<br />
result will meet all expectations.”<br />
Mongol received its world premier at<br />
Toronto International Film Festival in<br />
September 2007 and its European<br />
premier at Cinema Rome Film Festival<br />
in October 2007. ■<br />
Bastian Prützmann / Andrea Rosenwirth<br />
41
Copacabana<br />
42<br />
The postproduction experts at <strong>ARRI</strong> in Munich have supported many<br />
prestigious national and international film and television projects,<br />
guiding them through the various stages of production. For Xaver<br />
Schwarzenberger’s most recent television drama Copacabana, their<br />
expertise was put to use combining traditional film techniques with<br />
digital technology.<br />
A native of Vienna, Xaver Schwarzenberger is among the most versatile and sought-after<br />
filmmakers in the German-speaking world. His large body of work as a DoP includes<br />
many of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s films, such as Berlin Alexanderplatz, Lola, Lili<br />
Marleen, Querelle and Die Sehnsucht der Veronika Voss, as well as the box-office hits<br />
Schtonk! and the Otto films. In recent years he has worked increasingly in television, on<br />
productions including Andreas Hofer – Die Freiheit des Adlers, Eine Liebe in Afrika,<br />
Annas Heimkehr and Margarete Steiff. Though he started out as a DoP,<br />
Schwarzenberger now works exclusively in the dual role of director/DoP. To him,<br />
cinematography and directing are inextricably linked; he considers his work behind the<br />
camera to be but one aspect of his responsibilities as a director.<br />
In the 1990s Schwarzenberger began his collaboration with the editor Helga Borsche,<br />
who won the Bundesfilmpreis in 1984 for her work on Ediths Tagebuch and has over<br />
several decades cut film and television productions for notable directors such as Hans<br />
W. Geißendörfer and Mika Kaurismäki.<br />
Having worked together many times, Schwarzenberger and<br />
Borsche have developed a distinctive approach, preferring to<br />
assemble the final version of their films in the traditional way,<br />
on an analogue cutting bench. The director/DoP finds this<br />
process to be much more creative than working on an AVID,<br />
even though the software tools would make it easier and faster<br />
to experiment with different approaches. He and Borsche insist<br />
that the actual physical handling of the negative and the<br />
amount of additional effort required when working on the<br />
analogue cutting bench – laying in the film, rewinding and<br />
fast-forwarding – means greater thought and discipline has to<br />
be given to defining one’s goals. This, so they argue, results in<br />
the high concentration levels they deem necessary considering<br />
their great sense of responsibility for the material. This way of<br />
working, however, most certainly benefits from the fact that<br />
Schwarzenberger already has a general editing concept in<br />
mind when he begins shooting.<br />
While Copacabana was, like Schwarzenberger’s other films,<br />
shot on 35mm and edited on an analogue editing bench, it<br />
was the first of his productions to be digitally finished in HD<br />
resolution. Produced in 2006 for German-language TV stations<br />
MDR and ORF, it aired in the fall of 2007. The story centres on<br />
�EDITOR HELGA BORSCHE<br />
at the cutting desk<br />
VISION<strong>ARRI</strong><br />
a family coming together to celebrate a couple’s 35th wedding<br />
anniversary. During the festivities many unresolved issues and<br />
well-kept secrets from the past surface, forcing the family to pull<br />
together in order to overcome these problems. The stellar cast<br />
includes Bruno Ganz, Nicole Heesters, Christiane Paul and<br />
Friedrich von Thun.<br />
Schwarzenberger and Borsche’s traditional working methods<br />
meant that finishing Copacabana in HD required a flexible<br />
workflow that could accommodate traditional practices – such<br />
as cutting dailies on 35mm – while also taking advantage of<br />
newer digital systems. This, of course, affected the picture as<br />
well as the sound editing, but in the end an HD master was<br />
generated from the edited 35mm negative. The television<br />
audience, however, will not yet be able to enjoy the wonderful<br />
HD quality, because the film will initially be down-converted<br />
and aired in an SD (Standard Definition) version. But with<br />
more and more high-resolution television sets finding their way<br />
into the homes of viewers, nothing stands in the way of HD<br />
Copacabana reruns in the future. ■<br />
Ingo Klingspon<br />
� XAVER SCHWARZENBERGER on camera<br />
43
� THE LEADING<br />
ACTORS<br />
Ludwig Trepte and<br />
Martin Kiefer<br />
44<br />
SEVEN<br />
DAYS<br />
SUNDAY<br />
The challenge of<br />
combining HD and Super<br />
35mm in the DI Process.<br />
Niels Laupert’s feature film Seven Days Sunday premiered on June 23, 2007 at the<br />
25th Munich Film Festival, where Laupert, an HFF film school graduate, received the first<br />
annual Mentor Award. The film, which tells the true story of two juvenile murderers,<br />
was produced by fellow HFF graduates Thomas Bartl and Alex Dierbach. Another HFF<br />
student, Anne Bürger, assisted DoP Christoph Dammast for the second half of the shoot.<br />
Writer/Director Niels Laupert based the film, which is his first feature, on an idea he got in 2000 after<br />
reading an article in one of Germany’s leading newspapers, Süddeutsche Zeitung: “The article talked<br />
about two 16-year-old Polish boys who, on a Sunday in January 1996, made a bet to kill a man the very<br />
same day,” he recalls. “Later that night, they attempted to carry out their bet, but the first man they came<br />
across survived their attack. They went on, having learned from the first incident, to attack a second man<br />
and this time succeeded in killing him. The two adolescents were tried as adults and sentenced to 25 years<br />
of imprisonment.<br />
“The article shocked me,” Laupert continues. “But at the same time I couldn’t stop thinking about this<br />
incident. How could it have happened? Why did all natural inhibitions fail? I knew from the outset that I<br />
didn’t want to make an intellectual film about the issues raised by this tragedy. First and foremost I wanted<br />
to tell a story, utilizing all the available creative and technological possibilities. It was important to me to<br />
include the environment and surroundings of the protagonists and therefore we didn’t want to limit the story<br />
by cutting together a series of close-ups. That’s why Super 35mm was our first choice and why we decided<br />
to go with the 2.35:1 format.”<br />
Filming was split into two stages and centred around a high-rise apartment complex in a neighbourhood of<br />
Leipzig called Grünau, which looked very similar to the real crime scene in Poland. “The filming of the first<br />
stage commenced in January of 2005,” says Laupert. “<strong>ARRI</strong> Rental in Munich provided the <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 535<br />
and Zeiss Ultra Prime lenses for the shoot, while lighting and stage equipment came from <strong>ARRI</strong> Rental in<br />
Berlin. We shot on Fuji 250D and 500T film stocks. The second part of the filming started in May 2006<br />
and for that we used an <strong>ARRI</strong>CAM LITE. Additional footage, documentary footage and taped interviews<br />
with the convicts needed to be shot as well. It took several attempts to establish contacts in Poland; we had<br />
to make numerous requests before the convicted felons agreed to be interviewed and the Polish authorities<br />
granted us filming permits.”<br />
Interviews with the culprits, who were sent to different prisons,<br />
were conducted in October 2005 and October 2006. “For<br />
practical and budgetary reasons we shot the Polish part of the<br />
production on a Sony HDCam,” says Laupert. “We weren’t<br />
sure how the two convicted criminals, who at that point had<br />
already served 10 years of their sentence, would react to us<br />
being there. I didn’t want to interrupt the concentration of an<br />
interview by changing reels. Plus the Polish authorities had<br />
stipulated that the crew entering the prison could consist of no<br />
more than 4 people.”<br />
The entire postproduction for the film was completed at <strong>ARRI</strong><br />
Film & TV Services in Munich, where Alex Klippe was<br />
responsible for the DI workflow. Super 35mm footage was<br />
scanned on an <strong>ARRI</strong>SCAN in 2K and combined with digitized<br />
HD footage in the online edit. The challenge during<br />
postproduction was to integrate the HD footage with the 35mm.<br />
This was necessary because in several scenes the documentary<br />
footage had to blend seamlessly into the fictional material: “I<br />
decided not to attempt to distinguish the two types of footage in<br />
order to avoid taking the viewer out of the story,” says Laupert.<br />
“I didn’t want to create a sort of docu-fiction format.”<br />
Experienced DI Colourist Manfred Turek was in charge of<br />
the digital colour grading. The primary colour grade was<br />
completed in a Lustre Suite and the final grade, involving<br />
several shapes and masks, was subsequently completed in the<br />
Lustre Master Suite, after a large-screen 2K digital projection.<br />
A further difficulty during the digital colour correction was<br />
caused by the fact that part of the shoot had taken place<br />
during winter and another part during spring, and some<br />
scenes required shots from both parts. This had been a<br />
challenge for makeup and continuity during filming and later,<br />
during postproduction, for Turek, who had to match the<br />
various lighting conditions.<br />
“In the last few weeks before the premiere we worked in all<br />
areas of postproduction at the same time,” recalls Laupert.<br />
“We took advantage of the fact that we could complete the<br />
entire finish and mix in one physical location. It was a very<br />
demanding time: we had to match the various materials, such as<br />
35mm and HD, complete the VFX work and finish retouching, all<br />
at the same time. Simultaneously we had to complete the sound<br />
editing and the sound mix. <strong>ARRI</strong> supported us during this difficult<br />
time with their know-how and their passion.”<br />
The film was initially conceived as a 30-minute graduation<br />
project for the HFF in Munich and had received funding from<br />
the FFF-Bayern to the tune of 50,000 Euros. “But the longer I<br />
worked on the story,” continues the director, “the more I came<br />
to realize that I couldn’t possibly tell it in 30 minutes.”<br />
Additional funding was therefore raised, from public as well<br />
as private sources, to transform the short into a feature. After<br />
Angela Reedwisch at <strong>ARRI</strong> Munich, a staunch proponent of the<br />
controversial project, committed her support, several other<br />
companies followed her lead. “Even though this was just a<br />
small film by an unknown director, we received the full<br />
attention and support of the <strong>ARRI</strong> team,” concludes Laupert.<br />
“I really appreciated their professionalism and enjoyed the<br />
friendly environment. I am very happy to have completed my<br />
film at <strong>ARRI</strong>.” ■<br />
Sabine Welte<br />
VISION<strong>ARRI</strong><br />
SUPER 35MM FOOTAGE WAS<br />
SCANNED ON AN <strong>ARRI</strong>SCAN<br />
IN 2K AND COMBINED WITH<br />
DIGITIZED HD FOOTAGE IN<br />
THE ONLINE EDIT. THE<br />
CHALLENGE DURING<br />
POSTPRODUCTION WAS TO<br />
INTEGRATE THE HD FOOTAGE<br />
WITH THE 35MM.<br />
� CHECKING A SHOT: Director Niels Laupert, DoP Christop Dammast,<br />
Theresa Luther, Gaffer Oliver Menebröcker, 1st AC Korkut Akir (left to right)<br />
� 1ST AC KORKUT AKIR<br />
� DIRECTOR NIELS LAUPERT and team on set<br />
� �<br />
�<br />
45
Side Effect<br />
46<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> <strong>Media</strong> and <strong>ARRI</strong> Lighting Rental<br />
support budding filmmakers from<br />
within their own ranks.<br />
Set amidst the sordid underworld of drugs in London, Side Effect is a ten-minute short film written and directed<br />
by Mark Fortune. Entirely self-financed, the low-budget project was sponsored by <strong>ARRI</strong> Lighting Rental, where<br />
Fortune trained as a Lighting Technician, and <strong>ARRI</strong> <strong>Media</strong>, where cinematographer Stephen J. Nelson works as<br />
Camera Technician Trainer.<br />
“I suppose the initial impetus to make it came from Steve,” says Fortune. “We bumped into each other and got<br />
talking. He knew I’d made a film a few years ago and suggested I make another, explaining that with all the<br />
new media packages like Final Cut Pro and also the new generation of cameras, you can affordably achieve<br />
quite a high level of autonomy.”<br />
Having been convinced that the advance of prosumer technologies could maximise directorial control even<br />
with a minimal budget, Fortune revived Side Effect, a script he had already tried to film once before. “Steve<br />
and I talked about the visual approach,” he says. “I like for things to be natural; for any light that is used to<br />
have a reason for being there. I went to drama college myself so am very keen to serve the actors. One of the<br />
high points of Side Effect is the acting; Nick Tennant as the lead gives a superb performance and the whole<br />
cast are very strong. I like to let the camera roll, though I’m not a big fan of improvisation, so prefer the actors<br />
to find the freshness within a structure.”<br />
��WRITER AND DIRECTOR, MARK FORTUNE (top)<br />
�DOP STEPHEN J. NELSON (middle)<br />
�DIRECTOR AND DOP discussing a shot (bottom)<br />
VISION<strong>ARRI</strong><br />
Though they had originally talked about shooting on a Sony<br />
PD-150 to keep costs down, when <strong>ARRI</strong> <strong>Media</strong> offered its help<br />
to the tune of a camera package, Nelson pushed for HD. The<br />
film was shot on a Sony HDW-750 with a film-style Canon<br />
zoom and down-converted to DigiBeta. “It was quite a<br />
compact kit,” says Nelson, “because the schedule was pretty<br />
tight and we wanted to travel light.”<br />
For some shots of the principal character, a skittish, twitchy<br />
drug dealer, Nelson suggested the use of higher shutter<br />
speeds, a technique lifted from his background in film. “It<br />
helped contrast that character with the young kid who’s more<br />
slow and dopey,” he explains. “The dealer is almost frenzied<br />
in a way, so the idea was to make him look almost staccato in<br />
his movements and accentuate his nervous energy.” When it<br />
came to a scene in which the dealer takes heroin, Nelson<br />
experimented with hand-held dioptres and shift-and-tilt lenses,<br />
creating unusual focus effects in camera to reflect the<br />
character’s state of mind.<br />
With a tight schedule and budget, the small crew carefully<br />
planned when to shoot each scene in order to minimise<br />
equipment requirements. “It was guerrilla filmmaking really,”<br />
says Nelson. “Getting the best you can as quick as you can.<br />
Some things we spent more time on than others, like the<br />
lighting for the end scene in the lounge, which was difficult<br />
because Mark wanted a really wide, high master shot, which<br />
of course revealed all the positions where I wanted to put<br />
lights. Balancing that with all the other shots when we went in<br />
closer was a challenge. It’s just the restrictions of working on<br />
location rather than a sound stage – trying to fit yourself into<br />
someone’s living room. We had some good people who<br />
offered up their houses for an evening and were even gracious<br />
when we told them to be quiet in their own home.”<br />
Nelson’s lighting kit, provided by <strong>ARRI</strong> Lighting Rental,<br />
included Dados, an <strong>ARRI</strong>LUX 400, 1.2K HMIs, a 2.5K<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong>SUN and Chimera soft boxes; for outdoor scenes he used<br />
poly boards to flag and bounce the available light. Fortune<br />
was able to discuss lighting solutions with Nelson on a<br />
technical level, drawing on the training that got him started in<br />
the industry.<br />
“I did a four year apprenticeship at <strong>ARRI</strong> Lighting Rental,” says<br />
Fortune. “I did my City and Guilds Electrics Parts One and<br />
Two, and got my HGV license – it was a full apprenticeship.<br />
If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be making films again now.<br />
They gave me an opportunity to get into the industry on a<br />
professional level; I’ll always be grateful to them for giving<br />
me that start.<br />
“Once we’d wrapped I did the offline on an Apple G4 at<br />
home,” continues Fortune, “and then it went to Steve who did<br />
some grading on his system. All the postproduction was done<br />
on our own Apple Macs.”<br />
The film had its first public screening at the Final Cut<br />
competition in Brighton and has since been featured at the<br />
Bacup Film Festival, Lancashire and the Sefton Short Film<br />
Festival, and will go on to be entered in about 60-80 festivals<br />
around the world. ■<br />
Mark Hope-Jones<br />
47
�ROBERT RICHTER and AUGUST ARNOLD (1918)<br />
The Power to Dream,<br />
the Vision to Innovate<br />
90 YEARS OF <strong>ARRI</strong><br />
The story of <strong>ARRI</strong> began in 1917, when school friends<br />
August Arnold and Robert Richter formed a small<br />
company in Munich as an outlet for their passion for<br />
all things technical and enthusiasm for the emerging<br />
discipline of motion picture engineering. Having<br />
successfully assembled their first film printing machine<br />
from sprockets and old parts sourced from a flea<br />
market, it did not take the pair long to generate some<br />
capital through the sale of several more printers.<br />
They also immersed themselves in film production<br />
with the help of cameraman friend Martin Kopp,<br />
catering for the post-war boom in demand for<br />
westerns with features such as Texas Fred’s<br />
Honeymoon and Deadly Cowboys.<br />
With the money they made from the printers and their<br />
prolific filmmaking, Arnold and Richter began<br />
investing in new camera and lighting technologies. In<br />
1924 they commenced production of the first mirror<br />
facet reflectors with electric bulbs and also designed a<br />
mobile generator to power them. That same year they<br />
developed <strong>ARRI</strong>’s first camera, the KIN<strong>ARRI</strong> 35, which<br />
was rented to other cameramen when they weren’t<br />
shooting, thus sowing the seeds for the worldwide<br />
rental group that exists today.<br />
ROBERT RICHTER on camera with Karl Dittmann<br />
shooting The Train Robbers (1920)<br />
A landmark year came in 1937 with the<br />
design and development of the reflex<br />
mirror shutter camera, the <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 35.<br />
This design, incorporating a reflex<br />
viewfinder that allowed precise<br />
composition and critical focusing, placed<br />
the company at the very forefront of<br />
motion picture engineering worldwide.<br />
Its position was fortified in 1938 by the<br />
introduction of the first <strong>ARRI</strong> Fresnel<br />
lampheads, which would remain<br />
standard lighting units for decades to<br />
come. The <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 35 was produced<br />
and utilised throughout the Second World<br />
War, though bombing raids on Munich<br />
necessitated temporary relocation of the<br />
company, and in 1946 its follow-up, the<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 35II, went into production.<br />
As film industries across the world<br />
picked up again after the devastation of<br />
the war, filmmakers immediately realised<br />
how important and revolutionary a tool<br />
this camera was. In 1947 it was used<br />
for the first time in Hollywood by Delmer<br />
Daves for the Humphrey Bogart and<br />
Lauren Bacall movie Dark Passage,<br />
which opened with an extraordinary<br />
30-minute POV (point of view) sequence,<br />
made possible by the camera’s precision<br />
framing and extreme portability. The<br />
following year legendary documentarian<br />
Robert J. Flaherty used <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 35IIs<br />
for Louisiana Story, which put the<br />
camera through its paces in the<br />
unforgiving terrain of the Louisiana<br />
bayous. Flaherty was so impressed by<br />
the immediacy and accuracy of the<br />
reflex viewfinder that he often operated<br />
a camera himself.<br />
On the other side of the world Indian<br />
Director Satyajit Ray used an <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX<br />
35II to film Pather Panchali, the first part<br />
of his lauded Apu Trilogy, between<br />
1952 and 1955. Ray was a complete<br />
novice, as were his collaborators, but the<br />
simplicity and portability of their camera<br />
kit permitted versatile location filming<br />
with a minimum of crew throughout the<br />
protracted low-budget shoot. Mitra<br />
developed a system of bounce lighting<br />
whereby lamps were aimed at cheap<br />
white sheets angled at the performers in<br />
order to create a soft, natural light. By<br />
this method, which would go on to be<br />
utilised by cinematographers worldwide,<br />
Mitra could simulate daylight with<br />
extraordinary ease and effectiveness.<br />
The resulting black and white<br />
VISION<strong>ARRI</strong><br />
cinematography was stunning and played<br />
a big part in the success of the film.<br />
The 1950s also brought the dawn of the<br />
age of television and the sheer volume of<br />
professional image acquisition increased<br />
exponentially. The cost benefits of 16mm<br />
film made the format appealing to news<br />
gatherers and sports broadcasters, so<br />
in 1952 <strong>ARRI</strong> introduced the first<br />
professional 16mm camera incorporating<br />
a reflex viewfinder, the <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 16ST.<br />
This model became perhaps the most<br />
ubiquitous 16mm camera ever produced<br />
and aside from its applications in<br />
television, provided an introduction to<br />
shooting on film for many aspiring young<br />
directors. Martin Scorsese used one to<br />
shoot his short films and Robert<br />
Rodriguez launched his career in 1992<br />
with El Mariachi, a $7,000 feature shot<br />
entirely on an <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 16ST.<br />
The early 1960s saw a spate of updates<br />
to the design of the <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 35mm reflex<br />
camera. These refinements resulted in a<br />
range of models offering variable shutter,<br />
high speed filming, a bayonet mount<br />
and with the ARRFILEX 35IIC in 1964,<br />
a much-improved viewing system.�<br />
48 49
THE POWER TO DREAM, THE VISION TO INNOVATE<br />
50<br />
50<br />
That same year, Director Richard Lester<br />
made use of <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX IIB cameras for<br />
A Hard Day’s Night, his mad-cap<br />
mock-documentary that follows the<br />
Beatles as they prepare for a television<br />
appearance. The lightweight cameras<br />
allowed Cinematographer Gilbert Taylor<br />
BSC to keep up with John, Paul, George<br />
and Ringo as they dashed from<br />
screaming fans, while the reflex<br />
viewfinder permitted hand-held zoom<br />
and telephoto shots. The sheer freedom<br />
and energy of this filming style resulted<br />
in ground-breaking images and the film<br />
is credited with inventing a plethora of<br />
music video techniques.<br />
In the mid 1960s <strong>ARRI</strong> brought out the<br />
ARRFILEX 35IICT/B, which was fitted<br />
with a two perforation movement, due to<br />
the growing popularity at that time of<br />
Techniscope. This widescreen process<br />
had been developed by Technicolor<br />
Italia and combined a two perforation<br />
pull-down with a 2.35:1 gate, resulting<br />
in two images being exposed on top of<br />
each other within the four perforation<br />
Academy area. Sergio Leone was one<br />
director who took advantage of this costsaving<br />
system, putting it to use for his<br />
low-budget western A Fistful of Dollars in<br />
1964. After the massive success of this<br />
film, Leone again used Techniscope<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX cameras for the sequels<br />
For a Few Dollars More (1965) and<br />
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly<br />
(1966), as well as the seminal<br />
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968).<br />
1972 saw <strong>ARRI</strong> introduce the first ever<br />
self-blimped 35mm camera, the<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 35BL. Weighing a fraction of<br />
a blimped camera, the compact 35BL<br />
could be used hand-held and made<br />
mobile, sync-sound 35mm filming a<br />
reality. The first film to capitalise on its<br />
possibilities was Across 110th Street,<br />
which was shot that same year on<br />
location in Harlem, New York. Soon<br />
the 35BL was a firm favourite of<br />
cinematographers and was used on a<br />
vast number of films over the next few<br />
decades. Haskell Wexler ASC used one<br />
for his Oscar-winning work on Bound for<br />
Glory (1976), while Vittorio Storaro shot<br />
with 35BLs for all three films that won<br />
him the Best Cinematography Academy<br />
Award: Apocalypse Now (1979), Reds<br />
(1981) and The Last Emperor (1987).<br />
Stanley Kubrick, a lifelong camera<br />
enthusiast with an extraordinary<br />
�DOP JOST VACANO in the submarine set on Das Boot with a purpose built gyro-rig and prototype IIIC.<br />
First Assistant Peter Maiwald holds the remote focus unit (1981)<br />
�GRAHAM HILL films a training lap with an <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 16ST mounted on the car (1952)<br />
�<strong>ARRI</strong> DEVELOPED its largest lamphead so far, the <strong>ARRI</strong> GIGANT 20kW (1952)<br />
knowledge of motion picture technology,<br />
used <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX cameras on every film he<br />
possibly could after discovering the<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 35IIA while directing and<br />
photographing his second feature Killer’s<br />
Kiss in 1955. He shot A Clockwork<br />
Orange on his own <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 35IICs in<br />
1971 and bought 35BLs when they were<br />
released, using them for Barry Lyndon<br />
(1975), The Shining (1980) and Full<br />
Metal Jacket (1987). For his final film<br />
Eyes Wide Shut (1999), Kubrick shot<br />
with an <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 535B, having made<br />
use of the developing <strong>ARRI</strong> product line<br />
for almost half a century.<br />
In 1981 <strong>ARRI</strong> unveiled the final<br />
incarnation of the 35mm body design<br />
that began life in 1937. The <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX<br />
35IIIC was developed at the request of<br />
German Cinematographer Jost Vacano<br />
BVK,ASC who had been hired to shoot<br />
Wolfgang Peterson’s World War II<br />
U-boat drama Das Boot. The IIIC<br />
featured a single lens mount and a<br />
pivoting viewfinder that allowed Vacano<br />
to capture running low-angle shots within<br />
the cramped submarine interior.<br />
In 1982 the subsidiary <strong>ARRI</strong> Video, now<br />
known as <strong>ARRI</strong> Film & TV was set up<br />
and made a name for itself in<br />
postproduction for commercials, dramas,<br />
domestic and international feature films.<br />
Today it offers a complete postproduction<br />
workflow, providing<br />
everything from lab services<br />
to state-of-the-art image and audio<br />
post services.<br />
The 35BL’s replacement came in 1990<br />
with the release of the <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 535, a<br />
silent studio camera boasting a wealth of<br />
electronic functions. Cinematographer<br />
Michael Ballhaus ASC made use of the<br />
camera’s ability to perform exposurecompensated<br />
speed ramps on Francis<br />
Ford Coppola’s Dracula in 1992.<br />
Janusz Kaminski ASC chose the 535 for<br />
Spielberg’s visually stunning Schindler’s<br />
List while Vittorio Storaro combined the<br />
535 with an <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 765, the 65mm<br />
camera released in 1989, on<br />
Bertolucci’s Little Buddha (1992).<br />
The 1990s brought a number of other<br />
important developments, most notably<br />
the <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX SR 3 16mm camera in<br />
1992, which quickly made its mark on<br />
the television drama industry, and the<br />
versatile <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 435 in 1994, which<br />
became a staple on promo and feature<br />
sets. <strong>ARRI</strong> moved in a new direction in<br />
1998 with the launch of the <strong>ARRI</strong>LASER,<br />
which was complemented by the<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong>SCAN in 2004, placing <strong>ARRI</strong> at<br />
the head of the field in the rapidly<br />
expanding world of DI transfers and<br />
opening up new possibilities for<br />
postproduction workflows.<br />
The turn of the twenty-first century has<br />
seen <strong>ARRI</strong> step up the pace further still,<br />
on its release of cutting edge products.<br />
The innovative <strong>ARRI</strong>CAM Studio and<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong>CAM Lite cameras debuted in 2000<br />
and have since been used on many<br />
major features including Chicago<br />
(2002), King Kong (2005) and<br />
VISION<strong>ARRI</strong><br />
The Departed (2006). In 2003 came the<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 235, a compact 35mm MOS<br />
camera that was used to great effect in<br />
The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), as well as<br />
the <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX D-20, a film-style digital<br />
camera that represents the next stage in<br />
the company’s, as well as the industry’s<br />
history. Most recently, the release and<br />
extraordinary success of the <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX<br />
416 16mm camera in 2006 has proved<br />
that traditional markets remain buoyant<br />
and that the wealth of formats now<br />
available has simply widened the<br />
range of tools available to the<br />
modern cinematographer.<br />
In order to use cameras, filmmakers have<br />
always needed light for exposure and<br />
over the last ninety years the <strong>ARRI</strong> brand<br />
has become well known for its robust,<br />
well made lighting products. Since<br />
developing the first mirror facet reflector<br />
in 1924, to the <strong>ARRI</strong> GIGANT in 1952,<br />
the <strong>ARRI</strong>SONNE 2000W in 1972 and<br />
the <strong>ARRI</strong> Studio range in 1988, <strong>ARRI</strong> has<br />
strived to produce the lighting equipment<br />
to meet the varied demands of the<br />
technicians who apply the technology. The<br />
newest and brightest fixture, the <strong>ARRI</strong>MAX<br />
18/12, launched in 2005 has taken<br />
lighting to new levels using a unique<br />
concept for beam control, eliminating the<br />
need for spread lenses. The <strong>ARRI</strong>MAX’s<br />
work can be seen on Indiana Jones 4,<br />
Batman: The Dark Knight and The<br />
Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.<br />
In the very beginning innovation,<br />
reliability and durability were Arnold<br />
and Richter’s business principles and<br />
that same mind-set remains today.<br />
In order to best serve creative<br />
professionals <strong>ARRI</strong> has always adapted<br />
to the latest trends and has developed<br />
the appropriate technology accordingly.<br />
In a rapidly evolving industry <strong>ARRI</strong> not<br />
only provides state-of-the-art technology,<br />
but equally as important, worldwide<br />
service and technical support.<br />
Despite the awards and accolades in<br />
recognition of technical achievements,<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> believes that it is all about<br />
empowering creative professionals to<br />
realize their imagination and vision.<br />
That philosophy still stands today and<br />
will continue for the next ninety years<br />
and beyond. ■<br />
Mark Hope-Jones<br />
51
25 Years of<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> Film & TV<br />
In November 1982 <strong>ARRI</strong> gained a new subsidiary with the creation of <strong>ARRI</strong><br />
Video GmbH, the postproduction department of the <strong>ARRI</strong> <strong>Group</strong>, which now<br />
operates under the name of <strong>ARRI</strong> Film & TV Services GmbH. Managing Director<br />
Franz Kraus recalls the company's first steps, its development and prospects.<br />
Vision<strong>ARRI</strong>: In 1982 the partners of <strong>ARRI</strong><br />
Cinetechnik, Robert Arnold and Dr Walter<br />
Stahl, decided to start up a new <strong>ARRI</strong><br />
Cinetechnik affiliate. The new entity was<br />
first called <strong>ARRI</strong> Video and later <strong>ARRI</strong> TV.<br />
Today it is known as <strong>ARRI</strong> Film & TV. Why<br />
did they decide to enter the video sector?<br />
Franz Kraus: Back then <strong>ARRI</strong> Cinetechnik consisted<br />
of camera and lighting rental departments, a film<br />
laboratory and a sound department providing<br />
postproduction-related services. When the 1” format<br />
was introduced, the timing just seemed right for an<br />
expansion into the video sector, especially since it<br />
had always been the intention of the partners to<br />
develop additional <strong>ARRI</strong> products for the newly<br />
founded postproduction division.<br />
VA: When did you join <strong>ARRI</strong> and what was<br />
your background?<br />
FK: After working as a research associate and<br />
project supervisor at the Heinrich Hertz Institute in<br />
Berlin for ten years, I joined the one-year-old <strong>ARRI</strong><br />
affiliate <strong>ARRI</strong> Video GmbH as a technical director in<br />
November 1983. Soon the company was renamed<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> TV Production Services GmbH. Rolf Müller<br />
was the general manager at that time. In<br />
1986/1987 he was succeeded by two general<br />
managers: Roman Kuhn, who was responsible for<br />
the creative side of the business and Josef Brauner,<br />
who was responsible for business affairs. In 1987<br />
I was promoted to become the third general<br />
manager, responsible for all technology-related<br />
matters. Later, when Josef Brauner left the company<br />
and Roman Kuhn went on to start his own<br />
production company, I remained as the sole general<br />
manager. In June of 2001, I was appointed to the<br />
board of directors of <strong>ARRI</strong> AG. I am responsible for<br />
research & development as well as the service arm<br />
of the <strong>ARRI</strong> <strong>Group</strong>.<br />
VA: What were the objectives and goals of<br />
the newly-created video endeavour?<br />
FK: The goal was to make the company the market<br />
leader in terms of technology and quality. Even<br />
back then, we had been forerunners in the German<br />
52<br />
video industry. <strong>ARRI</strong> TV was the first company on<br />
the continent with a Quantel Paintbox FGS 4000<br />
from Bosch, a Quantel Harry and a Kodak Cineon<br />
System. In the beginning we were mostly active in<br />
the areas of studio rental, film scanning, video<br />
postproduction for commercials, and transfers.<br />
But because we were always willing to tackle<br />
extraordinary challenges we were able to attract<br />
people with extraordinary abilities and ambitions –<br />
people like Roman Kuhn, with his creative and<br />
innovative ideas in the area of design and effects<br />
work, and Andreas Kern, who, long before the<br />
advent of Flame, worked with engineers at LENZ to<br />
develop incredible software for stabilizing image<br />
frames, which was later used at <strong>ARRI</strong> TV.<br />
Also Peter Doyle, whose work in high-resolution<br />
image manipulation contributed greatly to the<br />
inception of <strong>ARRI</strong> Digital Film in 1994, and let’s<br />
not forget Dr. Johannes Steurer, who was initially<br />
the head of Digital Film and later became the<br />
project manager responsible for the development<br />
of the <strong>ARRI</strong>LASER.<br />
The company credo has, and will always be, to remain<br />
one step ahead of the competition. I distinctly recall the<br />
heated debate surrounding the tape formats Digital<br />
Betacam and D1. Initially I was pretty much the only<br />
person proclaiming Betacam as the superior format<br />
in terms of user-friendliness, but that soon changed<br />
and everyone stopped working on the expensive,<br />
yet vulnerable and much less flexible D1 format.<br />
�<strong>ARRI</strong> FILM & TV have<br />
completed the postproduction<br />
of many successful national<br />
and international feature films<br />
�FRANZ KRAUS,<br />
General Manager<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> Film & TV<br />
�POSTPRODUCTION<br />
with GVG 300-Mixer,<br />
1986<br />
�1984<br />
We have been very successful in the past with our studio<br />
facilities. We had guests such as the bands Queen and Die<br />
Ärzte. Numerous times the Bambi awards, one of Germany’s<br />
leading film and television award shows, has been broadcast<br />
directly from our studio here in Munich. In addition, a great<br />
number of very successful game shows such as Ruck-Zuck, Herz<br />
ist Trumpf, Die Bullyparade and Hopp oder Top have been<br />
recorded at the <strong>ARRI</strong> Studios. Initially we recorded on 1”C, later<br />
on Betacam SP and finally on Digital Betacam. Another popular<br />
live broadcast from the <strong>ARRI</strong> Studios was the show Bitte melde<br />
Dich. A highlight of our studio days was the show Wahre<br />
Wunder, which was hosted by Sabrina Fox and Christopher Lee,<br />
and later Dietmar Schönherr. In October of 1999 we had the<br />
honour of welcoming Bill Gates and Edmund Stoiber, who were<br />
guests on Sabine Christiansen’s talk show. That day remains one<br />
of the most talked-about days in <strong>ARRI</strong> history because Bill Gates<br />
got stuck in our glass elevator and had to wait there to be<br />
rescued. Luckily help came quickly. Today, the studio no longer<br />
plays a prominent role in our day-to-day business. The smaller<br />
studio was recently turned into a state-of-the-art sound mixing<br />
stage called Stage I. The larger studio is now rented out<br />
exclusively to the ZDF television network for the taping of their<br />
highly successful political comedy show Neues aus der Anstalt.<br />
In the past we have co-produced a number of projects,<br />
including Edgar Reitz’s series Heimat and the 1988 feature<br />
film Burning Secret, with Klaus Maria Brandauer and Faye<br />
Dunaway. Today all of our co-productions are handled by<br />
our affiliate B.A. Productions.<br />
VA: Did the new video venture face a lot of<br />
competition back then?<br />
FK: The benchmark for us as a young company was London. In<br />
those early days we focused on commercial production, studio<br />
rental and postproduction; our competitors were companies<br />
such as Molinare, VTR and Rushes in London. There was local<br />
competition here in Munich as well; TV-One (Mark Mender)<br />
had a great reputation when it came to 3D animation and the<br />
AV-Hartwig Company had made a name for themselves in the<br />
realm of telecine for commercials, with the help of their star<br />
colour grader Bertl Grabmayr (whom we subsequently brought<br />
over to <strong>ARRI</strong> TV). Bavaria’s telecine division was mostly<br />
focusing on feature film production and wasn’t a real<br />
competitor, but the Gürtler Company was, when it came to<br />
video transfers. Much later, Germany’s Neuer Markt brought<br />
some new competitors such as Das Werk. �<br />
�1985 �1988 �1993<br />
VISION<strong>ARRI</strong><br />
�HOMO FABER: Sam Shepard stars in Volker Schlöndorff’s acclaimed film<br />
�BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ: Faßbinder’s tremendous work was digitally<br />
restored in 2006<br />
�ROSSINI: At the helm was Helmut Dietl. <strong>ARRI</strong> was in charge of the entire<br />
postproduction (picture and sound)<br />
��<br />
�<br />
53
25 YEARS OF <strong>ARRI</strong> FILM & TV<br />
�1993 �1995 �1997 �1997<br />
VA: What was the corporate structure of <strong>ARRI</strong> Video<br />
and later of <strong>ARRI</strong> TV?<br />
FK: In actuality, it was a give-and-take arrangement and only a<br />
few rather superficial hierarchies existed. As a matter of fact,<br />
no-one worked a 40-hour week and no-one worked solely to<br />
earn money. Everyone really loved their jobs here at <strong>ARRI</strong> and<br />
to this day I consider that to be the secret of our success. Sure,<br />
a lot has changed since the inception of the company, but still<br />
today the people who work here love their jobs.<br />
VA: The film laboratory had been around for many<br />
years before <strong>ARRI</strong> TV was founded and had been<br />
part of <strong>ARRI</strong> Cinetechnik. Why did it later become<br />
a part of <strong>ARRI</strong> TV?<br />
FK: Cinetechnik was never the appropriate home for the sound<br />
department and the film laboratory. Both divisions had, and<br />
have, a very different clientele compared to Cinetechnik, so in<br />
1992 it was decided to integrate the sound department at book<br />
value into <strong>ARRI</strong> TV. To this day, the sound department remains<br />
an integral part of the company. In 2002 the film laboratory<br />
was also amalgamated into <strong>ARRI</strong> TV, after which the new entity<br />
was named <strong>ARRI</strong> Film & TV. We always intended to combine<br />
digital and analogue technologies. The <strong>ARRI</strong>SCAN and<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong>LASER were to become integral parts of the film laboratory.<br />
In addition, this was a fantastic opportunity to continue the<br />
training of our competent film laboratory staff. They were<br />
already very familiar with the analogue technologies and were<br />
eager to learn more about the new digital technologies.<br />
VA: Have the clients changed over the years?<br />
And which areas have been the main focus –<br />
commercial, TV or feature films?<br />
FK: Like I said, initially the main business of <strong>ARRI</strong> TV came<br />
from the commercial sector, while the film laboratory and<br />
sound department tended to work on feature films. These days,<br />
however, the majority of our clients are feature film productions,<br />
followed by television and then commercial productions.<br />
VA: How has the affiliate changed over the last<br />
25 years, in terms of personnel and technology?<br />
�FOCUS: Since 1995, <strong>ARRI</strong> has regularly been entrusted with the<br />
postproduction of the Hager Moss produced spot<br />
�EXPO 2000: Elaborate postproduction for Producer/Director Josef Kluger’s<br />
film for the German Pavilion<br />
�ZDF MONDAY CINEMA: Has been an eye catcher for many years<br />
�<br />
54<br />
�2001 �2003 �2006 �2007<br />
FK: <strong>ARRI</strong> Video started 25 years ago as a small company with<br />
only a handful of employees. Some of them, such as Günther<br />
Bornkessel, Oswald Schacht and Erich Harant, are still with the<br />
company. Today, <strong>ARRI</strong> Film & TV has 200 employees. The film<br />
laboratory and the sound department have been integrated.<br />
We have recruited colour graders from the film laboratory and<br />
trained them in new digital technologies, so they are now<br />
competent analogue as well as digital colour graders. We<br />
have integrated these new digital technologies with traditional<br />
film laboratory processes. In addition, building the new sound<br />
studio in 2002 has been a milestone for us. Also, with the<br />
introduction of the <strong>ARRI</strong>SCAN, we have successfully taken the<br />
step from HD postproduction of feature films to high-resolution<br />
file-based 2K/4K postproduction and are today the market<br />
leader in Germany when it comes to Digital<br />
Intermediate/Grading.<br />
VA: In retrospect, are you content with the results of<br />
the last 25 years and where will the journey lead<br />
to over the coming years?<br />
FK: To be content only means to be complacent; we still have a<br />
lot to accomplish in the future. We want to position ourselves<br />
STATE-OF-THE-ART TECHNOLOGY AT<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> SCHWARZFILM BERLIN GMBH<br />
In late 2006, <strong>ARRI</strong> Film & TV<br />
Services acquired Schwarz Film<br />
Berlin Postproduction GmbH.<br />
The new entity, now called <strong>ARRI</strong><br />
Schwarzfilm Berlin GmbH, greatly<br />
benefits from the vast experience<br />
and extensive know-how of its<br />
general managers, Philipp<br />
Tschäppät and Josef Reidinger, and<br />
has proved a tremendous success.<br />
Now boasting one of the largest grading<br />
cinemas in Europe, <strong>ARRI</strong> Schwarzfilm<br />
Berlin has successfully completed its<br />
transition from a film laboratory focused<br />
predominantly on television productions to<br />
a full-service postproduction house<br />
equipped with the latest technology.<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong>’s leading position in the world of<br />
VISION<strong>ARRI</strong><br />
better for the years to come and have already begun this<br />
process by acquiring Schwarz Film AG in Switzerland.<br />
As a result we now have additional film laboratories and<br />
postproduction facilities in Berlin and Bern, as well as smaller<br />
facilities in Zurich and Ludwigsburg. This has been a major<br />
step towards becoming even more flexible when it comes to<br />
servicing productions. This will also be an opportunity to reach<br />
past the borders of Germany and attract additional<br />
international productions.<br />
The tasks for the future will include quickly and entirely<br />
switching the TV and commercial divisions to HD and<br />
replacing the photochemical film laboratory with a creatively<br />
and technologically superior digital high-resolution<br />
postproduction process (DI). Also, in the future, the delivery<br />
format for TV will be HD and for feature films, 4K.<br />
An additional challenge will be to further interface the rental<br />
and the postproduction services to accommodate the<br />
increasing number of digitally-shot productions, which will also<br />
be finished digitally. The shift to digital production will pose<br />
new challenges that the service providers have to meet.<br />
We want to be prepared for this change. ■<br />
SCHWARZFILM<br />
film and television postproduction, with<br />
regards to film processing and the Digital<br />
Intermediate process, has been invaluable<br />
during the reorganisation of the company.<br />
In Germany, both national and<br />
international high-end films are for the<br />
most part shot in Berlin and its surrounding<br />
areas. <strong>ARRI</strong> Schwarzfilm Berlin can now<br />
offer optimal conditions for the completion<br />
of these highly ambitious projects, not only<br />
because of its convenient location but also<br />
because of its expanded service portfolio<br />
and considerably enlarged facilities. The<br />
highly qualified workforce is well-versed<br />
in analogue as well as digital<br />
postproduction and works with state-ofthe-art<br />
technology to provide an allencompassing<br />
support structure. ■<br />
55
MOMENTS<br />
IN TIME<br />
56<br />
THE MAN<br />
FROM U.N.C.L.E.<br />
The <strong>ARRI</strong> 35 Camera Affair<br />
Of the many espionage shows to hit television screens during<br />
the 1960s, few are as well remembered and highly regarded<br />
as The Man from U.N.C.L.E. At the height of the Cold War the<br />
world of the secret agent captured the public imagination and<br />
none characterized the genre more famously than Ian Fleming’s<br />
dashing James Bond. Cinema screens became inundated by<br />
the fictional exploits of secret agents and television Producer<br />
Norman Felton was keen to seize the moment. In 1962, just<br />
prior to the release of the Bond film Dr No, he drew<br />
inspiration from Ian Fleming’s travelogue book Thrilling Cities<br />
to create the character of a sophisticated crime fighter whose<br />
assignments would take him all over the globe. At a lunch<br />
meeting in New York Felton presented his concept to Fleming,<br />
who suggested a name for the protagonist: Napoleon Solo.<br />
Though he would subsequently collaborate with Felton on<br />
developing the character, Fleming’s involvement was curtailed<br />
after a threat of legal action from producers Albert Broccoli<br />
and Harry Saltzman, who felt his connection to the Solo<br />
project might prove detrimental to the success of their Bond<br />
films. Thereafter Felton’s collaborator on the development of<br />
what would become The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was Sam Rolfe,<br />
best known for co-creating and producing the classic western<br />
series Have Gun Will Travel.<br />
� SIDE BY SIDE, an <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX and Mitchell being used on set simultaneously<br />
Under Rolfe’s guidance the show moved<br />
away from Felton and Fleming’s original<br />
vision of Solo as a lone, globe-trotting<br />
crime fighter. Instead Solo would work<br />
for an international organization known<br />
as U.N.C.L.E. (United Network<br />
Command for Law and Enforcement),<br />
which would combat the minions of the<br />
nefarious T.H.R.U.S.H. crime syndicate<br />
around the world. Interestingly the series<br />
would feature no overt mention of the<br />
cold war or communism; indeed Solo’s<br />
sidekick, Illya Kuryakin, would be<br />
Russian – a controversial idea only a<br />
year on from the Cuban Missile Crisis.<br />
After considering several actors including<br />
Robert Culp and Harry Guardino,<br />
Robert Vaughn, the star of Felton’s series<br />
The Lieutenant, was cast as the suave<br />
Napoleon Solo. Vaughn was an<br />
acclaimed stage actor whose<br />
performance alongside Paul Newman in<br />
The Young Philadelphians had earned<br />
him an Academy Award nomination and<br />
led to a role in The Magnificent Seven.<br />
Illya Kuryakin would be played by<br />
Scottish actor David McCallum, whose<br />
popularity with female fans soon assured<br />
him a co-starring role. In direct reference<br />
to another of Felton’s early influences,<br />
Hitchcock’s North by Northwest, Leo G.<br />
Carroll was cast as Alexander Waverly,<br />
head of U.N.C.L.E.<br />
Felton recruited another veteran of<br />
The Lieutenant to serve as DoP, Fred<br />
Koenekamp ASC, who recalls: “Norman<br />
asked if I would come over and do the<br />
show and of course I was delighted<br />
because I’d only been a Director of<br />
Photography for a year at that time. I<br />
was very excited about it.” Koenekamp<br />
sought out the highly respected Camera<br />
Operator Til Gabbani: “I contacted him<br />
as I wanted somebody that could do<br />
hand-held work, particularly because on<br />
an action-type show like that you can<br />
use it as a second camera. Til could<br />
handhold an <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX just beautifully.”<br />
Gabbani had been instrumental in<br />
bringing the immense versatility and<br />
financial benefits of the lightweight <strong>ARRI</strong><br />
35 to the attention of Hollywood studios.<br />
After purchasing one whilst working on<br />
location in Munich, he presented the<br />
head of 20th Century Fox with a series<br />
of tests which left no doubt that the image<br />
quality of the <strong>ARRI</strong> was no different to<br />
that of the Mitchell they were using.<br />
Given that the studio was spending some<br />
sixteen thousand dollars an hour shooting<br />
the feature Adventures in Paradise and<br />
that the <strong>ARRI</strong> could save an hour a day,<br />
they were duly convinced and bought the<br />
camera. David McCallum later recalled:<br />
“The crew was like family and the big<br />
daddy was Fred Koenekamp. Also Til<br />
Gabbani, with his cigar in his mouth and<br />
his camera strapped to his hand with a<br />
band. Til used to teach me how to work<br />
one; I did a hand-held shot one day and<br />
dropped the camera down before I<br />
clicked it off. He gave me such a row; he<br />
said ‘when they look at the dailies, they<br />
VISION<strong>ARRI</strong><br />
� TOGETHER ON SET DoP Fred Koenekamp<br />
ASC and Operator Til Gabbani (left to right)<br />
shouldn’t know if the shot has been done<br />
on a crane, on a dolly, or hand-held.’<br />
Til could even walk with the hand-held<br />
camera rock-steady.”<br />
Use of the <strong>ARRI</strong> 35 became an intrinsic<br />
element of the action-packed show,<br />
allowing the crew to swiftly achieve<br />
exciting, kinetic shots: “We particularly<br />
used it whenever we had any kind of a<br />
fight scene because you could get in<br />
there and move around with it, and not<br />
worry about a dolly and all the special<br />
equipment,” says Koenekamp, who still<br />
remembers the grueling schedule: “From<br />
the very beginning they had a producer<br />
at MGM studios who said to me ‘now it’s<br />
up to you to make sure this is done on<br />
schedule’ and that was a big challenge,<br />
because in those days we shot an hourlong<br />
show in six days and had as many<br />
as 20 to 30 sets per episode.”<br />
The principal camera was a Mitchell<br />
BNC which, thanks to the MGM<br />
machine shop, was fitted with the same<br />
mount as the <strong>ARRI</strong>, meaning lenses were<br />
interchangeable. “We had a reputation<br />
on the MGM lot for the way we were<br />
shooting the show,” says Koenekamp,<br />
“particularly for the use of the hand-held<br />
camera. It got to a point where we were<br />
using two cameras most of the time,<br />
which was kind of unheard of in those<br />
days, especially on a tight-budget show.<br />
But with Til using the hand-held <strong>ARRI</strong> and<br />
another operator on the Mitchell, we<br />
were getting two shots for one.”�<br />
57
MOMENTS IN TIME<br />
The mobility of the <strong>ARRI</strong> also allowed the<br />
crew to avoid costly process shots for<br />
driving sequences, as Koenekamp<br />
recalls: “They were still using process<br />
photography to get shots in the car and<br />
things like that, which is slow and<br />
expensive. Til and I got together one day<br />
and we were chit-chatting about the<br />
hand-held camera when he said maybe<br />
we could figure out a way to be on the<br />
car and shoot it live. One of the first<br />
things we did – I can remember the shot<br />
– was Til and I lying on a piece of foam<br />
rubber on the hood of a convertible car;<br />
we put the rubber on there so we<br />
wouldn’t slide off. I had a hand-held<br />
light which ran off a battery in the trunk<br />
of the car and Til had the <strong>ARRI</strong>. Instead<br />
of process photography we were out<br />
running around the streets shooting for<br />
real. Of course as the show went on the<br />
grips did a wonderful job of making<br />
better mounts, so that we could mount<br />
the camera on the hood and not have<br />
somebody lying on the car. It was a<br />
giant step forward and we went on for<br />
the next four years doing all our work<br />
live like that.”<br />
Koenekamp also arrived at a novel<br />
solution to ease the pressure during<br />
autumn when the number of hours<br />
available for shooting exteriors became<br />
58<br />
limited. Though few had ever<br />
experimented with the technique before,<br />
he would shoot later into the evening and<br />
get the lab to force process the negative.<br />
Doing so allowed him not only to<br />
lengthen the shooting day, but also to use<br />
fewer lights. The slightly increased<br />
development costs were more than offset<br />
by electricity savings alone: “We gained<br />
a full stop on the lens,” he explains, “and<br />
that meant you were cutting your light<br />
down in half, so it worked out very well.”<br />
Fortunately, given the hectic pace of<br />
production, traveling to locations was<br />
largely unnecessary, due to the resources<br />
at the studio. “In those days MGM<br />
probably had the greatest facilities in<br />
Hollywood,” enthuses Koenekamp.<br />
“Besides the main lot they had two<br />
backlots: on Lot 3 there was a jungle,<br />
a western street, a train station and a<br />
small lake. Then on Lot 2 there was a<br />
New York street, a French street and a<br />
mansion with a swimming pool that you<br />
could use. Over the years I’ve actually<br />
had people ask me ‘where did you shoot<br />
so-and-so, what city did you have to go<br />
to?’ And I say we didn’t go anyplace, it<br />
was all shot right there on the backlots.”<br />
By the close of the first season<br />
U.N.C.L.E. had become a worldwide<br />
� THE ‘POOR MAN’S PROCESS’, Koenekamp<br />
and his operator would lie on the hood of a car<br />
with a hand-held <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX, using just a piece of<br />
foam rubber to keep them from sliding off<br />
craze and its renewal was assured.<br />
With an increased budget for the second<br />
season, the producers elected to start<br />
shooting in colour. “It was a wonderful<br />
transition,” says Koenekamp. “I can<br />
remember Norman Felton coming down<br />
to the set and saying ‘well I’ve got good<br />
news for you: we’re not only getting<br />
picked up for next season, but we’re<br />
going on in colour.’ I was just thrilled,<br />
because I badly wanted to shoot colour.”<br />
A total of 105 episodes of The Man<br />
from U.N.C.L.E. were shot over four<br />
seasons between 1964 and 1967. Fred<br />
Koenekamp, who received two Emmy<br />
Award nominations for his work on the<br />
show, remained until midway through<br />
the final season, when MGM offered<br />
him the opportunity to shoot an Elvis<br />
Presley feature. He was replaced for the<br />
last few episodes by Ray Flin and Robert<br />
Hauser. Til Gabbani stayed on until the<br />
end, becoming so expert with the <strong>ARRI</strong><br />
35 that he took to training other<br />
operators in how best to use it. Without<br />
the tireless efforts of the crew and the<br />
ingenuity of those who photographed<br />
U.N.C.L.E., such an ambitious show<br />
would have been logistically impossible.<br />
That it remains popular to this day is a<br />
testament to the quality of their work. ■<br />
Dylan Michael<br />
� A PRESENTATION<br />
of the Technocrane<br />
� From left to right:<br />
Diana Apostol<br />
General Manager<br />
Ana Maria Nagy<br />
Rental Manager<br />
Oana Gheorghe<br />
Assistant General<br />
Manager<br />
Ion Ticu (Nini)<br />
Generator Operator<br />
Dumitru Marian<br />
(Gabi)<br />
Light & Grip<br />
Technician<br />
Oana Apostol<br />
IT Technician<br />
Andrei Zikeli<br />
Camera Technician<br />
�<br />
VISION<strong>ARRI</strong><br />
The owners of Panalight Italy had considered setting up a rental facility<br />
in Romania ever since supplying equipment for Cold Mountain, which shot<br />
there in 2003. Since that time, the country has become increasingly popular<br />
with international filmmakers, prompting Panalight to build contacts with<br />
local technicians and pave the way for the opening of a new outlet.<br />
December 2005 brought the first<br />
official opening and by February<br />
2006 Panalight Romania was fully<br />
up and running. Diana Apostol, General Manager,<br />
explains: “From the beginning the company’s<br />
inventory was comprehensive enough to supply<br />
both movies and commercials with cameras, lenses,<br />
accessories, lights, grips and generators, as well<br />
as any consumables that technicians may need<br />
during productions.”<br />
Another important selling point of the fledgling<br />
Panalight Romania, in terms of raising interest from<br />
production companies, is the fact that it houses a<br />
Technocrane 30. The versatile crane arrived at the<br />
company in June 2006 as a result of collaboration<br />
with Orion Telescopic.<br />
After its first year of trading, Panalight Romania’s<br />
dedicated and enthusiastic team of technicians and<br />
administrators has already elevated the company to<br />
a strong position. The various markets that it set its<br />
sights on have been very effectively targeted and<br />
Panalight is now among the most successful<br />
independent rental houses in the country. The team<br />
is determined to consolidate this position over the<br />
coming year and strengthen the company’s market<br />
share still further.<br />
A crucial step toward developing a truly regional<br />
base in Bucharest, capable of servicing productions<br />
both in Romania and abroad, was the partnership<br />
formed in June 2007 between Panalight and<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> Rental Germany. A promising relationship had<br />
developed throughout 2006 and this agreement has<br />
officially sealed the partnership. The first production<br />
to benefit from the collaboration was Adam<br />
Resurrected, a European project that was shot in<br />
Bucharest this year with lights and grip equipment<br />
supplied by Panalight, and cameras supplied by<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> Rental.<br />
Panalight<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> Rental Partner in Romania<br />
Clearly indicating their confidence in the Romanian<br />
operation, Panalight Italy has invested around one<br />
million Euros in creating a new building in<br />
Bucharest that is scheduled for completion by the<br />
end of 2007. This purpose-built facility will both<br />
house the company and provide a meeting place<br />
where DoPs, technicians and other production team<br />
members can interact. The state-of-the-art building<br />
will also contain all the technical resources and<br />
space necessary for top-level productions.<br />
Substantial investments have additionally been<br />
made in the equipment and tools that technicians<br />
will use to test and maintain the company’s<br />
inventory. These are of the highest precision<br />
possible, allowing rigorous evaluation of every<br />
component of a shooting kit, including electronic<br />
lens testing, all of which are necessary to ensure a<br />
properly serviced and fully functional rental fleet.<br />
With the combined resources of the Panalight<br />
network and those made available by the<br />
partnership with <strong>ARRI</strong>, Panalight Romania is now in<br />
a position to supply and support productions with<br />
whatever equipment they may need, whether it be a<br />
16mm, 35mm, digital or high speed shoot. The<br />
company is committed to maintaining an inventory<br />
of the latest motion picture technologies and is<br />
providing development opportunities for technicians<br />
through collaborations with local film schools. ■<br />
59
�<br />
<strong>News</strong> from around the world<br />
60<br />
All in One<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> Australia provides seven different professional services from one facility to a<br />
supply area populated by fewer than 30 million people, but who are spread over<br />
literally an entire continent and beyond. Based in Sydney, the company represents<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> throughout the whole of Australia, as well as New Zealand.<br />
General Manager Stefan Sedlmeier, who comes from a<br />
background of supplying film scanning technology, sees<br />
his task as maintaining a powerful and far-reaching facility<br />
with a small but multi-skilled team of employees. Crucially,<br />
the company is able to support the digital intermediate<br />
products it sells with top-level servicing back-up,<br />
coordinated by Tom Altenried, who was formerly DIS<br />
Service Manager at <strong>ARRI</strong> Munich.<br />
One of the first <strong>ARRI</strong>MAX 18K lamps to be sold anywhere<br />
in the world went to Australia in 2006. Lighting Sales<br />
Manager Richard Curtis spent years working as a gaffer in<br />
Australia and has a wealth of knowledge not only about<br />
the different lighting units available but also how they can<br />
be used on set.<br />
� (from front clockwise) Stefan Sedlmeier, General Manager; Geraldine Quinn,<br />
Client Relationship Manager; Rey Adia, Senior Service Engineer;<br />
Richard Curtis, Sales Manager Lighting; Allyn Laing, Preparation Technician;<br />
Aaron George, Camera Floor Manager; Tom Altenried, Service Engineer<br />
Digital Intermediate Systems; Seamus Maher, Accountant; Rich Lock, Client<br />
Contact; Jasmine Lord, AFTRS Intern; Christian Hilgart, Rental Manager<br />
A total of 10 employees and one trainee make up<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> Australia’s full-time staff, with different<br />
departments working together to pool knowledge<br />
and maximise flexibility. The service department,<br />
which supports the in-house rental fleet and services<br />
customers’ equipment, is made up of three<br />
technicians. Camera Floor Manager Aaron George<br />
is highly experienced in the camera rental business,<br />
Rey Adia has serviced lighting and camera kit in<br />
countries all over the world, while Allyn Laing brings<br />
his film school education and experiences as a<br />
cinematographer to bear for the benefit of clients.<br />
In Australia, the vast distances between populated<br />
areas mean high transport costs and shooting<br />
locations that are often many miles from any form of<br />
infrastructure; dispatch and logistics are therefore<br />
complex and vital tasks for the rental office.<br />
�<br />
� <strong>ARRI</strong> AUSTRALIA’S facility at Macquarie Park,<br />
Sydney<br />
� AROUND 8,000 visitors attended SMPTE 2007 in Sydney<br />
� GENERAL MANAGER STEFAN SEDLMEIER, demonstrates the<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 435 Xtreme at <strong>ARRI</strong> Australia’s booth<br />
Client Contact Rich Lock utilises his project management<br />
background to combine such tasks with supporting clients<br />
through shoots and running the office, while also putting his<br />
degree in marketing to use by designing marketing<br />
communications strategies.<br />
Geraldine Quinn joined the <strong>ARRI</strong> Australia team at the<br />
beginning of 2007. She has experience as a production<br />
manager and knows both the industry and her client base<br />
very well. As Client Relationship Manager she develops<br />
and maintains contacts not only in production but also with<br />
production service providers who might be of benefit to<br />
international features shooting in Australia.<br />
Christian Hilgart, who set up <strong>ARRI</strong> Rental Cologne in 2000,<br />
brings a comprehensive knowledge of motion picture<br />
technology to his role as Rental Manager. Accountant<br />
Seamus Maher efficiently manages the control of the different<br />
departments and facilitates <strong>ARRI</strong> Australia’s responsibilities<br />
as a company in its own right rather than just an agency<br />
with his knowledge of Australian and New Zealand<br />
government regulations.<br />
In order to best service productions that base themselves in<br />
other key centres of the customer area such as Queensland,<br />
Victoria, New South Wales, Wellington and Auckland,<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> Australia has established a network of rental partners<br />
and so can offer local support to its clients, wherever they<br />
decide to shoot.<br />
�<br />
VISION<strong>ARRI</strong><br />
61
�<br />
NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD<br />
<strong>News</strong> from around the world<br />
62<br />
BLIXT Extends Reach of <strong>ARRI</strong>’s Rental Partner Network<br />
In March 2007 BLIXT Camera Rental in Copenhagen became the <strong>ARRI</strong> Rental<br />
Partner for Scandinavia. With a total population of 19 million, Scandinavia<br />
produces 85 feature films a year, which, per capita, makes it one of the most<br />
productive filmmaking regions in the world.<br />
BLIXT was founded in 1995 by swedish DoP Björn<br />
Blixt, starting out with only two Super 16 cameras<br />
and a few accessories. Over the years it has grown<br />
substantially and is now one of the largest camera<br />
rental companies in that part of the world, servicing<br />
feature films, commercials and promos in Denmark,<br />
Norway, Sweden and beyond.<br />
The company’s inventory has expanded to include<br />
state-of-the-art cameras such as the <strong>ARRI</strong>CAM Lite<br />
and Studio, <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 535B, 435 Xtreme, 235, 416<br />
and SR 3 Advanced, accompanied by Master Prime,<br />
Ultra Prime, Cooke S4 and Angenieux Optimo lenses.<br />
One of the more unusual services that BLIXT provides<br />
to clientele is their library, which has a selection of<br />
more than two hundred books on camera techniques,<br />
lighting techniques, gripping, directing, storyboarding<br />
and many more topics. Titles range from Vittorio<br />
Storaro´s highly artistic three-volume Writing with Light,<br />
to small books on tricks of the trade. BLIXT also<br />
subscribe to Scandinavian, as well as international,<br />
film magazines and hold every issue of American<br />
Cinematographer from the last 25 years. Customers<br />
find great joy in browsing through the company’s<br />
wide selection of film literature for inspiration or to<br />
find answers to technical questions.<br />
In the summer of 2000, A Song For Martin, directed<br />
by two-time Golden Palm winner Bille August and<br />
shot by Swedish DoP Jörgen Persson, became the first<br />
Scandinavian movie filmed in 3 perforation Super<br />
35. BLIXT provided the 535B camera. Since this film,<br />
the 3 perforation process, with its reduced stock and<br />
development costs, has become the format of choice<br />
for commercials and feature films made in the region.<br />
This shift has been made possible by the influx of<br />
technologically advanced postproduction equipment<br />
such as the <strong>ARRI</strong>SCANNER and <strong>ARRI</strong>LASER, facilitating<br />
a wealth of new digital intermediate workflows.<br />
�<br />
��<br />
� CEO BJÖRN BLIXT<br />
� RENTAL TECHNICIAN Reza Farsangi, Booking Manager<br />
Martin Samsoe and Chief Technician Dan Friis (left to right)<br />
�<br />
�CHIEF TECHNICIAN Dan Friis checking an <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 235<br />
Did you<br />
?<br />
Know<br />
The Good, the Bad and<br />
the Ugly 1966<br />
Like the two preceding films in the Dollars Trilogy, The Good,<br />
the Bad and the Ugly was shot using Techniscope, a 2 perforation<br />
widescreen format that offered a cheaper alternative to the<br />
considerable cost of anamorphic production of the time.<br />
Some actors spoke in English during filming while the rest spoke<br />
in their native language, mostly Italian and Spanish, which was<br />
later dubbed into English.<br />
Full Metal Jacket 1987<br />
Easy Rider 1969<br />
Shot at various locations in the UK, the films<br />
most impressive set was an abandoned<br />
1930s gasworks in Beckton. Scheduled for<br />
demolition, British Gas allowed the site to<br />
be transformed into the bombed-out city of<br />
Hue. Charges were laid by a demolition<br />
team and then one Sunday British Gas<br />
executives brought their families down to<br />
see the place blown up. The ruins were then<br />
dressed to complete the effect, including<br />
palm trees brought in from Spain and one<br />
hundred thousand plastic tropical plants<br />
from Hong Kong.<br />
The Lord of the Rings 2001<br />
Some of the weird lighting effects in<br />
the LSD scene supposedly came about<br />
after a can of film was accidentally<br />
opened before it was developed.<br />
More than 1800 Hobbit feet were produced. Each pair would<br />
take over an hour to apply and could only be used once as<br />
there was no way of removing the feet at the end of the day<br />
without damaging them. They were all shredded after use in<br />
order to prevent a black market in stolen Hobbit feet.<br />
It is common practice to have two units shooting at any one<br />
time, but during filming of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy there<br />
were occasions when there were up to nine units operating at<br />
any given time. This meant there would often be between three<br />
to five hours of dailies to review.<br />
Flags of Our Fathers 2006<br />
The Battle of Iwo Jima was recreated on location in Iceland,<br />
which has black sand beaches identical to those found on the<br />
volcanic island of Iwo Jima. The fierce combat scenes were<br />
captured with <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 235s, chosen to allow the crew to<br />
get in close with the actors during the action to create a<br />
documentary-like feel. All the cameras had to be encased in<br />
HydroFlex bags during filming due to the large amount of<br />
explosions which caused the black sand to fly everywhere.<br />
Take<br />
10<br />
Iain Struthers<br />
First Assistant Camera<br />
Iain is currently getting wet on Gurinder Chadha’s latest<br />
feature film Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging with<br />
DoP Dick Pope BSC. Based on the teenage novel by Louise<br />
Rennison. Angus is a cat by the way.<br />
His other most recent credits include Wild Child with DoP<br />
Chris Seager BSC, with DoP Gavin Finney BSC, and before<br />
that with Alan Stewart Second Unit DoP on Inkheart Fred<br />
Claus and The Golden Age.<br />
1 What film first inspired you to work in this industry?<br />
Pete and the Dragon, is an early film memory.I remember<br />
queing up for ages, usually with an older sister on a Saturday<br />
afternoon waiting to get into see films at a local Odeon.<br />
2 What’s your cure for the “morning after the wrap<br />
party” feeling?<br />
Being left alone, this could take some time. Or not going.<br />
3 Name three things that make you smile?<br />
Ava Lee Struthers – my daughter.<br />
Getting home.<br />
Nice Food.<br />
4 What was the first car you ever owned?<br />
Ford Escort 1.3L. Bright Orange. £500. One lady owner.<br />
5 What’s the one thing you can’t live without?<br />
Food.<br />
6 If your life was a film, what would it be and why?<br />
I’m not quite sure… but what a strange film that would be! I<br />
hope it would be full of wonderful emotions.<br />
7 What’s your most embarrassing moment?<br />
It could develop into becoming this, when it’s been printed!<br />
8 Who inspires you?<br />
To do anything – my dearest and nearest.<br />
9 Name three people (living or dead)<br />
you’d most like to dine with?<br />
My Partner.<br />
The Person who photographed the Fake First<br />
Man on the Moon picture’s.<br />
Don McCullen.<br />
10 What was the last film you saw?<br />
The Goonies.<br />
63
PRODUCT<br />
UPDATE<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> Extends Range of Camera<br />
Crew Accessories<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong>’s increasingly popular range of<br />
fabric accessories for camera crew,<br />
first introduced in November 2006,<br />
has recently been extended to include<br />
16 bespoke bags and pouches. The<br />
design process involved contributions<br />
from camera technicians to ensure that<br />
the accessories specifically cater to<br />
their practical and technical<br />
requirements. The range includes a unit<br />
bag, loaders pouch, filter pouches and<br />
various other accessory pouches, all of<br />
which are highly water resistant,<br />
uniformly hard-wearing and offer a<br />
quality equivalent to that of leading<br />
manufacturers at highly competitive<br />
prices. The <strong>ARRI</strong> branded bags and<br />
pouches, many of which affix to a<br />
purpose-designed utility belt, are now<br />
available worldwide through the <strong>ARRI</strong><br />
global network.<br />
Lightweight Matte Box LMB-15<br />
The <strong>ARRI</strong> LMB-15 is the newest addition to the <strong>ARRI</strong> clip-on matte box line, superseding<br />
the LMB-5. Designed around the horizontal use of standard 4” x 5.65” filters the LMB-15<br />
also comes with a new clamping back, allowing use of the clamp-on adapter rings from<br />
the MB-20 system. This clamping back is also compatible with the LMB-5.<br />
64<br />
Lightweight Matte Box<br />
LMB-15 Facts<br />
- Compatibility with LMB-5 filter trays,<br />
adapter backs and light shields<br />
- Extended coverage for wide-angle<br />
film and digital lenses<br />
- Removable sunshade<br />
- Switchable filter guide sets for both<br />
2-stage and 3-stage operation<br />
- Light shields can be attached both<br />
above and below for additional<br />
flare protection<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong>CAM Lite Gains Speed<br />
Following requests from cinematographers for the<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong>CAM Lite to run faster, the motor, movement and<br />
magazine have been analyzed closely. By optimizing all<br />
the operational parameters, and after months of<br />
rigorous testing, it has been possible to increase the<br />
maximum forward speed to 48fps.<br />
All <strong>ARRI</strong>CAM Lite cameras available through the <strong>ARRI</strong> Rental <strong>Group</strong><br />
have been upgraded and now come with the 48fps speed increase.<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX D-20 Gains Sensitivity<br />
and High-Speed Interface<br />
Higher Sensitivity Settings<br />
A new software package has increased the sensitivity of the<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX D-20 to provide a wider range of settings for use in<br />
lower light situations. It is now possible to set the camera to<br />
the approximate equivalent of 500 ISO (ASA), or even higher<br />
for certain applications.<br />
Sony Fibre Interface SFI-1 Facilitates<br />
High-Speed Shooting<br />
The Sony Fibre Interface SFI-1 mounts directly on the camera<br />
and is connected by a single fibre cable, available in lengths<br />
up to 500m, to a fibre-equipped Sony SRW-1 HDCAM SR<br />
recorder. This configuration allows high-speed shooting at up<br />
to 60fps, including in-camera speed ramps when used in<br />
conjunction with an <strong>ARRI</strong> Remote Control Unit RCU-1.<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong>CAM Lite Facts<br />
VISION<strong>ARRI</strong><br />
- Small & lightweight Super 35 sync<br />
sound camera<br />
- Easy to operate<br />
ergonomic design<br />
user-friendly controls<br />
- Brilliant viewfinder<br />
- High quality video assist<br />
- Camera speed: 1-48fps<br />
- Electronic shutter: 0-180°<br />
- 4, 3 or 2 perforation movement<br />
- Modular concept<br />
four viewfinders<br />
two 100% video-only tops<br />
two video assist units<br />
four magazine types<br />
- Extensive range of accessories<br />
wired & wireless remote control of camera<br />
& lens<br />
external synchronization<br />
ramping (speed, depth of field, timing shift)<br />
- Built-in Lens Data System<br />
65
PRODUCTION UPDATE<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> RENTAL<br />
Title Production Company Director DoP Equipment<br />
Anonyma Constantin Film Produktion Max Färberböck Benedict Neuenfels <strong>ARRI</strong>CAM Studio & Lite, <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 435, 235,<br />
15-40mm, 17-80mm & 24-290mm Angenieux<br />
Optimo, 3 perforation, Lighting, Grip<br />
Body of Lies Warner Bros. Pictures Ridley Scott Alexander Witt <strong>ARRI</strong>CAM Studio & Lite, <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 435, 235,<br />
Ultra Primes, 15-40mm, 17-80mm &<br />
24-290mm Angenieux Optimo<br />
Captain Abu Raed Gigapix Studios Armin Matalqa Reinhart Peschke <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX D-20<br />
Der Baader Constantin Film Produktion Uli Edel Rainer Klausmann <strong>ARRI</strong>CAM Studio & Lite, Ultra Primes,<br />
Meinhof Komplex 3 perforation, Lighting, Grip<br />
Die wilden Kerle 5 SamFilm Joachim Masannek Benjamin Dernbecher <strong>ARRI</strong>CAM Studio & Lite, <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 435,<br />
- Der Schattensucher 24-290mm Angenieux Optimo, 3 perforation<br />
Hexe Lilli blue eyes Fiction / Trixter Stefan Ruzowitzky Peter von Haller <strong>ARRI</strong>CAM Studio & Lite, <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 235, Ultra<br />
Primes,17-80mm & 24-290mm Angenieux<br />
Optimo, 3 perforation, Lighting, Grip<br />
Inhabited Island Art Pictures & Fedor Bondarchuk Maxim Osadchiy <strong>ARRI</strong>CAM Studio & Lite, <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 435, 235,<br />
Non-Stop Productions Ultra Primes, 15-40mm, 17-80mm &<br />
24-290mm Angenieux Optimo<br />
Mord mit Aussicht Pro GmbH Arne Feldhusen Johannes Imdahl <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 16SR 3, Lighting, Grip<br />
Rubicon United Artists / Sony Bryan Singer Newton Thomas Sigel <strong>ARRI</strong>CAM Studio & Lite, <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 435, 235,<br />
Cooke S4,17-80mm & 24-290mm<br />
Angenieux Optimo, Grip<br />
Speed Racer Warner Bros. Pictures Andy Wachowski David Tattersall Lighting, Grip<br />
Larry Wachowski<br />
The Chronicles of Narnia: Walden <strong>Media</strong> Andrew Adamson Karl Walter Lindenlaub <strong>ARRI</strong>CAM Studio & Lite, <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 435, 235,<br />
Prince Caspian Master Primes, Master Zoom, Lighting, Grip<br />
The International Babelsberg / Sony-Columbia Tom Tykwer Frank Griebe <strong>ARRI</strong>CAM Studio & Lite, <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 435, 235,<br />
765, Master Primes, Master Zoom, 15-40 &<br />
24-290mm Angenieux Optimo, LWZ-1<br />
15,5-45mm, 3 perforation, Lighting, Grip<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> AUSTRALIA<br />
Title Production Company Director DoP Equipment<br />
McLeod’s Daughters<br />
- Series 8<br />
Millennium Television Various John Stokes,<br />
Kim Batterham<br />
3 x <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX SR 3, Zeiss Highspeed<br />
Lenses, Zeiss Zooms<br />
East of Everything<br />
- Series 1<br />
Twenty Twenty Pty Stuart MacDonald<br />
Matthew Saville<br />
Brendan Lavelle 2 x <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX SR 3, Zeiss Highspeed<br />
Lenses, Canon Zooms<br />
Virgin Blue Good Oil Films Hamish Rothwell Jac Fitzgerald <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 435, LDS Ultra Primes<br />
The Pacific First Division Pty Tim Van Patten<br />
Carl Franklin<br />
Remi Adefarasin 2 x <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 235, 3 x <strong>ARRI</strong>CAM Lite, LDS<br />
Ultra Primes, Optimo Set<br />
Westfield Brilliant Films Lee Rogers Tristan Milani SR 3, 416, Zeiss Highspeed Lenses<br />
Visa BoPo Brilliant Films Simon Bookallil Tristan Milani <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 416, Zeiss Highspeed Lenses<br />
Hutchinson 3 Plaza Films Nicholas Reynolds Tristan Milani <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 416, Zeiss Highspeed Lenses<br />
Shot Open AFTRS Scott Pickett Greg de Marigny <strong>ARRI</strong>CAM Studio, Cooke S4’s<br />
Landcruiser Good Oil Films Matt Murphy Nigel Bluck <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 235, <strong>ARRI</strong>CAM Studio, Anamorphic<br />
Foxtel Good Oil Films Hamish Rothwell Jac Fitzgerald <strong>ARRI</strong>CAM Studio, Anamorphic<br />
The Ball Panckhurst Productions Alex Holmes Geoffrey Simpson <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 416, SR 3, Zeiss Highspeed<br />
Lenses, Canon Zoom, Angenieux<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> LIGHTING RENTAL<br />
Title Production Company Director DoP Gaffer Rigging Gaffer Best Boy<br />
The Young VictoriaYoung Victoria Productions Jean Marc Vallee Hagen Bogdanski Jimmy Wilson Ian Franklin Mark Funnell<br />
The Duchess The Duchess Movie Saul Dibb Gyula Pados John Colley Vince Madden Andy Cole<br />
RocknRolla Toff Guy (RNR) Films Guy Ritchie David Higgs Dan Fontaine John Walker Andy Bell<br />
Untitled 06 Untitled 06 Mike Leigh Dick Pope BSC Matthew Moffatt Kevin<br />
Fitzpatrick<br />
Primeval 2 Impossible Pictures Jamie Paine Adam Suchitzky Stewart King Steve Anthony<br />
Andrew Gunn Graham Frake<br />
Nick Murphy Chris Hartley<br />
The Colour The Mob Film Company Vadim Jean Gavin Finny BSC Terry Hunt Steve Cortie Terry Robb<br />
of Magic<br />
Ashes To Ashes Ashes Johnny Campbell Julian Court Dan Fontaine, Mike Parsons,<br />
Billie Eltringham Nick Laws John Walker Andy Bell<br />
Simon Archer<br />
Echo Beach Echo Beach (Echo Beach) Jennifer Perrott John Daly BSC Tom Gates Toby Flesher<br />
Beryl Richards<br />
Moving Moving Wallpaper (MW) Andrew Gillman Ian Leggitt Jo Allen Carolina<br />
Wallpaper Schmidtholstein<br />
MI High MI High (MI High) Simon Hook Stephan Pehrsson Haydn Boniface Gavin Ogden<br />
Miss Austen BBC Jeremy Lovering David Katznelson Otto Stenov Wayne Mansell<br />
Regrets<br />
Holby Blue 2 Red Planet (Holby) Sarah O’Gorman Ian Leggitt Jo Allen Carolina<br />
Toby Haynes Schmidtholstein<br />
The Fixer Fixer Alrick Riley Vojek Sheper Mark Clayton Benny Harper<br />
John Strickland<br />
Silent Witness XII BBC Diarmuid Lawrence Kevin Rowley Micky Brown John Attwood/<br />
Dave Owen<br />
Published by the <strong>ARRI</strong> Rental <strong>Group</strong> Marketing Department. 3 Highbridge, Oxford Road, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8 1LX United Kingdom<br />
The opinions expressed by individuals quoted in articles in Vision<strong>ARRI</strong> do not necessarily represent those of the <strong>ARRI</strong> Rental <strong>Group</strong> or the Editors. Due to our constant endeavour to improve<br />
quality and design, modifications may be made to products from time to time. Details of availability and specifications given in this publication are subject to change without notice.<br />
66<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> CSC<br />
Title Production Company DoP Gaffer Equipment Serviced by<br />
A Date With Murder Mineral Point Prods. Mark Melville 2 x <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX D-20 <strong>ARRI</strong> CSC FL<br />
Are You Smarter Mark Burnett Productions Various Oscar Dominguez Automated Lighting Illumination Dynamics<br />
Than a Fifth Grader?<br />
Burn After Reading Gramecy Prods. LLC Emmanuel Lubezki ASC Bill O’Leary 2 x <strong>ARRI</strong>CAM Lite <strong>ARRI</strong> CSC NY<br />
Lighting & Grip<br />
Canterbury’s Law Topanga Prods. Tom Houghton 3 x <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 416 <strong>ARRI</strong> CSC NY<br />
Kid Nation Mountain Air Films Daryl Studebaker Oscar Dominguez Lighting Illumination Dynamics<br />
New Amsterdam New Amsterdam Prods. Michael Slovis 2 x <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 416 <strong>ARRI</strong> CSC NY<br />
Righteous Kill Righteous Prods. LLC Denis Lenoir ASC Elan Yaari <strong>ARRI</strong>CAM Studio & Lite <strong>ARRI</strong> CSC NY<br />
Lighting & Grip<br />
She Lived Huntington Prep LLC Sharone Meir Iggy Scarpitti Lighting Illumination Dynamics<br />
Six Wives of Six Wives LLC Nancy Schreiber ASC <strong>ARRI</strong>CAM Studio & Lite <strong>ARRI</strong> CSC NY<br />
Henry Laffey Lighting & Grip<br />
The Sophomore Sophomore Dist. LLC M. David Mullen ASC Kevin Janicelli <strong>ARRI</strong>CAM Studio & Lite <strong>ARRI</strong> CSC NY<br />
Welcome to Pelican State Prods. David Dunlap 2 x <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX D-20 <strong>ARRI</strong> CSC NY<br />
Academia<br />
What Happens 20th Century Fox Matthew Leonetti ASC Andrew Day <strong>ARRI</strong>CAM Studio & Lite <strong>ARRI</strong> CSC NY<br />
In Vegas Lighting & Grip<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> FILM & TV - POST PRODUCTION SERVICES - FEATURES<br />
Title Production Company Director DoP Services<br />
Anonyma Constantin Film Produktion Max Färberböck Benedict Neuenfels Lab, DI, TV-Mastering<br />
Clara Integral Film Helma Sanders-Brahms Jürgen Jürges Lab, Sound, TV-Mastering<br />
Der Baader Meinhof Komplex Constantin Film Produktion Uli Edel Rainer Klausmann Lab, DI, VFX, TV-Mastering<br />
Alle Anderen Komplizen Film Maren Ade Bernhard Keller Lab, TV-Mastering<br />
Die Frauen des Anarchisten P’ARTISAN Filmproduktion Marie Noëlle, Peter Sehr Jean Francois Robin Lab, DI, Sound, TV-Mastering<br />
Die Welle Rat Pack Filmproduktion Dennis Gansel Torsten Breuer Lab, DI, VFX, Sound, TV-Mastering<br />
Die wilden Kerle 5 SamFilm Joachim Masannek Benjamin Dernbecher Lab, DI, Sound, TV-Mastering<br />
– Der Schattensucher<br />
Effi Briest Constantin Film Produktion Hermine Huntgeburth Martin Langer Lab, DI, Sound, TV-Mastering<br />
Feuerherz TV60Film Luigi Falorni Judith Kaufmann Lab, DI, Sound, TV-Mastering<br />
Freche Mädchen collina filmproduktion Ute Wieland Peter Przybylski Lab, DI, VFX, Sound, TV-Mastering<br />
Hexe Lilli blue eyes Fiction / Trixter Stefan Ruzowitzky Peter von Haller Lab, DI, Sound, TV-Mastering<br />
John Rabe Hofmann & Voges Florian Gallenberger Jürgen Jürges Lab, DI, Sound, TV-Mastering<br />
Palermo Shooting Wenders Images Wim Wenders Franz Lustig Lab, TV-Mastering<br />
Rubicon Babelsberg / United Artists Bryan Singer Newton Thomas Sigel Lab<br />
The International Babelsberg / Sony-Columbia Tom Tykwer Frank Griebe Lab, DI, TV-Mastering<br />
The Reader Babelsberg / The Weinstein Stephen Daldry Roger Deakins Lab<br />
Company<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> FILM & TV - POST PRODUCTION SERVICES - COMMERCIALS<br />
Client Title Production Company Agency Director DoP<br />
Cortal Consors Stier Serviceplan Zweite WA<br />
Mazda Motors Europe Mazda2 Competition Hager Moss Commercial JWT Düsseldorf Paula Walker Rolf Kestermann<br />
McDonald´s Brand 2007 Hager Moss Commercial Heye & Partner Martin Haerlin Sven Lützenkirchen<br />
Unterhaltung mit Heidi<br />
McDonald´s Brand 2007 Mundvoll, Hager Moss Commercial Heye & Partner Martin Haerlin Sven Lützenkirchen<br />
Pommes, Freundinnen,<br />
Langeweile, Münze<br />
PLAYMOBIL Herbst 2007 e+p commercial Reiner Holzemer Peter Aichholzer<br />
Williams Formula 1 Branding R.TV Film & Fernsehen Tobias Heppermann Thomas Stokowski<br />
Wagner Pizza Durchreiche Laszlo Kadar Heye & Partner Laszlo Kadar Laszlo Kadar<br />
Ferrero Kinder HP Albrecht<br />
ING DiBa Markenfilm Helliventures Wüschner Rower Baier Joachim Hellinger Dieter Deventer<br />
Caotina Lippenbekenntnis GAP Advico Young & Ivo Mostertman Jean Paul Seresin<br />
Rubicam Zürich<br />
WIN WIN winwin.de Rapid Eye Movement Basis <strong>Media</strong> GmbH Lili Clemens<br />
Calgonit Tab-Regen e+p commercial Euro RSCG Gerhard Hirsch Gerhard Hirsch<br />
Zweifel Chips Cractiv GAP Advico Young & Rubicam Nic & Sune Richard Mott<br />
Saturn LED Berlin redblue Marketing<br />
Müller Milch Verkostung Made in Munich Springer & Jacoby Plot: Vivian Naefe Plot: Michael<br />
- Food: David Hornung - Food:<br />
Wynn-Jones David Wynn-Jones<br />
<strong>ARRI</strong> MEDIA<br />
Title Production Company Director DoP Equipment<br />
The Young Victoria Young Victoria Prods Jean Marc Vallee Hagen Bogdanski <strong>ARRI</strong>CAM Studio & Lite<br />
Baggy Trousers Bwark Productions Rob Kitzmann Sony 750P HD & Zooms<br />
Silent Witness XII BBC Television Various Kevin Rowley <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX D-20 & Zeiss Primes<br />
ART In Las Vegas ART In LV Mary McGuckian Mark Wolf <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX D-20 & Ultra Primes<br />
Eden Samson Films Declan Rechs Owen McPolin <strong>ARRI</strong>CAM Lite, <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 535<br />
Nutcracker HCC <strong>Media</strong> Andrei Konchalovsky Mike Southon BSC <strong>ARRI</strong>CAM Lite, <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 235, 435, 416<br />
RocknRolla Toff Guy Films Guy Ritchie David Higgs <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX D-20, Ultras & Master Primes<br />
Telstar Aspiration Films Nick Moran Peter Wignall <strong>ARRI</strong>CAM Lite & Cooke S4 Primes<br />
The Colour of Magic The Mob Film Company Vadim Jean Gavin Finney BSC <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX D-20 & Cooke S4 Primes<br />
Wild Child Lacrosse Films Nick Moore Chris Seager BSC <strong>ARRI</strong>CAM Studio & Lite, <strong>ARRI</strong>FLEX 235<br />
67