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AnonymaEine Frau in BerlinWorld War II drama postsat ARRI Film & TV
HungerDoP Sean Bobbitt BSC onshooting 2-perforation
CrusoeThe adventures of RobinsonCrusoe and the ARRIFLEX D-21
American GladiatorsIllumination Dynamics lightsthe gladiatorial arena
PRINCECASPIANDirector Andrew Adamsonand DoP Karl WalterLindenlaub ASC, BVK talkabout the latest instalmentof The Chronicles of Narnia
VisionARRIThe Biannual International Magazine from the ARRI RENTAL & POSTPRODUCTION ENTERPRISES
06/08 ISSUE 6
VISIONARRI
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VisionARRI would like to thank the following contributors;Shuta Atsumi, Natasha Back, Susanne Bieger, Katja Birkenbach, Lisa Buschek, Romain Geib,Mark Hope-Jones, Ingo Klingspon, Tommy Moran, Sinead Moran, John Pardue, Judith Petty,Steve Pugh, Angela Reedwisch, Mark Rudge, Marc Shipman-Mueller, Michelle Smith,Andy Subratie, Mark Villa, Sabine Welte, Andreas Wirwalski, Tracy van Wyk
CONTENTS
28 TWO ROUGH-AND-READY SISTERSSAVE SERBIAN CINEMASerbian film Charleston & Vendetta gets colourfulin a DI at ARRI Film & TV
30 DESERT OASISShooting in the UAE with the Middle East’slargest rental facility, Filmquip Media
32 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONSABOUT TIME TRAVELA report from DoP John Pardue on shootingHBO/BBC Films’ farcical sci-fi comedy
36 ARRI TRUE BLUEThe next generation of ARRI lighting products
38 ARRI DIGITAL FILM: DESIGNINGVISUAL EFFECTSA look at the role of Jürgen Schopper, CreativeDirector of Visual Effects at ARRI Digital Film
42 LIGHTING THE GLADIATORIAL ARENALighting Designer Oscar Dominguez on lightingNBC’s American Gladiators
44 TRADITIONAL ART TAKES VOYAGEINTO NEW MEDIASixteenth century painting recreated using theARRIFLEX D-21 in Data Mode
46 100 YEARS AND BEYONDPreserving films for future generations witha separation master
50 ARRIFLEX 416 PLUS HSNew high speed 416 offers higher frame rates
52 NEW LONG ULTRA 16 LENSESFour new focal lengths for Super 16
54 AROUND THE WORLD AT 300FPSARRI Media’s Hi-Motion camera provides slow-motion footage for leading sports broadcasters
56 DIGITAL GRADING ON BASELIGHT HDARRI Film & TV Commercial introduces digitalcolour grading with software-based tools
57 PRODUCT UPDATE
58 MOMENTS IN TIMEThe ARRI Blimp rides the Czech New Wave withClosely Observed Trains
61 NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
65 SIX OF THE BEST
66 PRODUCTION UPDATE
ARRI PARTNERS & ASSOCIATES
ARRI SERVICES GROUP NETWORKARRI SUBSIDIARIES
AUSTRALIACameraquip, Melbourne,BrisbaneCamerasMalcolm RichardsT +61 3 9699 3922T +61 7 3844 [email protected]
CYPRUSSeahorse Films,Nicosia, PaphosCameras, Digital, Lighting,Grip, StudioAndros AchilleosT +357 9967 [email protected]
FRANCEBogard, ParisCameras, Digital, GripDidier Bogard, Alain GauthierT +33 1 49 33 16 [email protected]@bogard.fr
GERMANYMaddel’s Cameras GmbH,HamburgCameras, GripMatthias NeumannT +49 40 66 86 [email protected]
HUNGARYVisionTeam, BudapestCameras, Lighting, GripGabor RajnaT +36 1 433 [email protected]
ICELANDPegasus Pictures, ReykjavikCameras, Lighting, GripSnorri ThorissonT +354 414 [email protected]
IRELANDThe Production Depot,Co WicklowCameras, Lighting, GripJohn Leahy, Dave LeahyT +353 1 276 [email protected]@production-depot.com
JAPANNAC Image Technology Inc.TokyoCameras, DigitalTomofumi MasudaHiromi ShindomeT +81 3 5211 [email protected]
NEW ZEALANDCamera Tech, WellingtonCamerasPeter FlemingT +64 4562 [email protected]
ROMANIAPanalight Studio, BucharestCameras, Lighting, GripDiana ApostolT +40 727 358 [email protected]
RUSSIAACT Film Facilities Agency,St. PetersburgCameras, Lighting, GripSergei AstakhovT +7 812 710 [email protected]
SCANDINAVIABLIXT Camera Rental,Denmark, Norway & SwedenCameras, DigitalBjörn BlixtT +45 70 20 59 [email protected]
SOUTH AFRICAMedia Film Service,Cape Town, Johannesburg,Durban, NamibiaCameras, Digital, Lighting,Grip, StudioJannie Van WykT +27 21 511 [email protected]
SPAINCamara RentalMadrid, Barcelona, MalagaCameras, GripAndres Berenguer, AlvaroBerenguer, Sylvia JacuindeT +34 91 651 [email protected]@[email protected]@camararental.com
UNITED ARAB EMIRATESFilmquip Media, DubaiCameras, Lighting, GripAnthony Smythe, Hugo LangT +971 4 347 [email protected]@filmquipmedia.com
USA & CANADAClairmont Camera Hollywood,LA, Toronto, VancouverARRIFLEX D-20 RepresentativeIrving CorreaT +1 818 761 [email protected]
Fletcher Chicago, ChicagoARRIFLEX D-20 RepresentativeStan GlapaT +1 312 932 [email protected]
AUSTRALIAARRI Australia, SydneyCameras, DigitalStefan SedlmeierT +61 2 9855 [email protected]
AUSTRIAARRI Rental ViennaCameras, DigitalGerhard GiesserT +43 664 120 [email protected]
CZECH REPUBLICARRI Rental PragueCameras, Digital, Lighting, GripRobert KeilT +42 025 101 [email protected]
GERMANYARRI Rental BerlinCameras, Digital, Lighting, GripUte BaronChristoph HoffstenT +49 30 346 800 [email protected]@arri.de
ARRI Rental CologneCameras, DigitalStefan MartiniT +49 221 170 [email protected]
ARRI Rental MunichCameras, Digital, Lighting, GripThomas LoherT +49 89 3809 [email protected]
ARRI Film & TV Services, MunichFilm Lab, Digital IntermediateVisual Effects, Sound, Studio,CinemaInternational SalesAngela ReedwischT +49 89 3809 [email protected]
National SalesWalter BrusT +49 89 3809 [email protected]
ARRI Schwarzfilm Berlin GmbHFilm Lab, Digital IntermediateAngela ReedwischT +49 30 408 17 8534T +49 30 408 17 [email protected]
Schwarz Film GmbHLudwigsburgFilm Lab, Digital IntermediateChristine Wagner,Philipp TschäppätT +49 7141 125 [email protected]@schwarzfilm.ch
LUXEMBOURGARRI Rental LuxembourgCameras, DigitalSteffen DitterT +352 2670 [email protected]
SWITZERLANDSchwarz Film AG,Ostermundigen, ZürichFilm Lab, Digital IntermediatePhilipp TschäppätT +41 31 938 11 [email protected]
UNITED KINGDOMARRI Lighting Rental, LondonLightingTommy MoranT +44 1895 457 [email protected]
ARRI Focus, LondonShort term lighting hire forcommercials & promosMartin Maund, George MartinT +44 1895 810 [email protected]@arrifocus.com
ARRI Media, LondonCameras, Digital, GripPhilip CooperT +44 1895 457 [email protected]
ARRI Crew, LondonDiary ServiceKate CollierT +44 1895 457 [email protected]
USAARRI CSC, New YorkCameras, Digital, Lighting, GripSimon Broad,Hardwrick JohnsonT +1 212 757 [email protected]@arricsc.com
ARRI CSC, FloridaCameras, Digital, Lighting, GripEd StammT +1 954 322 [email protected]
Illumination Dynamics, LALighting, GripCarly Barber, Maria CarpenterT +1 818 686 [email protected]@illuminationdynamics.com
Illumination Dynamics,North Carolina,Lighting, GripJeff PentekT +1 704 679 [email protected]
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4 THE RETURN TO NARNIADirector Andrew Adamson and DoP Karl Walter LindenlaubASC, BVK, discuss shooting Prince Caspian, the next chapter inThe Chronicles of Narnia
8 BALANCING GRACE AND ANGUISHARRI Film & TV assist in creating the look for World War II dramaAnonyma – Eine Frau in Berlin
10 HUNGERDoP Sean Bobbitt BSC reflects on filming DirectorSteve McQueen’s debut feature in 2-perforation 35mm
12 CRUSOEDoP Jon Joffin talks about working with the new ARRIFLEX D-21
16 THE CINEMA EXPERIENCE: GRADINGON A LARGE SCALEInterview with Cinematographer Jules van den Steenhoven NSC
18 A TALE OF TWO SISTERSGaffer Mark Clayton and Best Boy Benny Harper discusslighting historic properties for The Other Boleyn Girl
20 THE AIR WAS CHARGED WITH EMOTIONARRI Film & TV helps recreate the fall of the Berlin Wall for TVminiseries Wir sind das Volk
22 ARRIFLEX D-21The ARRI Rental Group introduces you to their upgraded filmstyle digital camera
VISIONARRI
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NARNIAAndrew Adamson, who has directedboth Narnia films, was keen to developa distinctive look for the second moviethat would emphasise both the passageof time between the two stories and theirthematic differences. “The first film wasreally the birth of Narnia,” he says.“The story was set not long after Narniawas created and on top of that it was astory about winter turning into spring,so everything was new and fresh. Thisstory takes place 1,300 years later,after several hundred years ofoppression and lots of Narnians haveactually been driven into the woods bythe Telmarines, whose world is dark andsinister, so the movie itself has a muchdarker visual tone. It affected everythingfrom lighting to production design,location and costumes.”
Increasing the amount of location filmingover that done on The Lion, the Witchand the Wardrobe was anotherimportant consideration for Adamson ashe went into preproduction. This waspossible partly because the wintersetting of the first film had necessitated alot of stage work whereas the second isset in the summertime, but also becausePrince Caspian is painted on a broadercanvas from the outset. “One of the
ideas of the first film was that it startedsmall and expanded,” continues thedirector. “The kids start by goingthrough a wardrobe and seeing just alittle bit of Narnia. Then spring comes asthey travel on and Narnia expandsthrough the movie. So in a sense westart with a larger world to begin withon this second one, but I also think thatfilming on location just brings a lot tothe performances and to what you cando with the camera.”
Filming on location exposed the crew tothe hazards of unpredictable weatherand constantly changing lightconditions, especially in Central Europe.Though Lindenlaub made efforts to planeach day’s shooting according to themovement of the sun, he ensured that hehad four ARRIMAX 18K HMIs with himwherever the production went, even ifthey had to be carried in by hand. “Itested them and realised how importantit is on a film like this to have a lightthat can produce something that looks abit more like daylight and is flexibleenough to carry around,” he says. “AnARRIMAX doesn’t take any more workthan putting an 18K up on a stand, butit has a lot more power and thecharacter of the light is closer to
sunlight. We had four of them and thoselights kept us shooting on a lot of dayswhen other movies would probably havehad to shut down.”
The Czech Gaffer, Václav “Enzo”Cermak, echoes Lindenlaub’s praise ofthe ARRIMAX fixtures. “We used themto create big shafts of light in the forestand all round the set,” he says. “Youcan also bounce them, or go through12-by-12 soft, so they can provide fill aswell as a strong sunlight source. Thegood thing is that if you want to bounceit you don’t have to move it that muchbecause it’s so powerful. You can leaveit far enough away from the actors andstill bounce enough light to give themkey or half light.”
With the ARRIMAX units, the crew alsohad MaxMovers – the ARRI automatedstirrup that enables remote pan, tilt andfocus of various lighting fixtures. “TheMaxMover is good because you canput it in a corner somewhere, on a lift,and you have control without having toput someone in a basket,” says thecinematographer. “In some places youcan’t get someone in a basket, or youmight not even have a basket. I think it’sa great idea for location work.”�
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is the second feature film to be adapted from thechildren’s books of C.S. Lewis, following The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which was ahuge hit in late 2005. Shot by Karl Walter Lindenlaub ASC, BVK Prince Caspian was filmed inNew Zealand and various locations in Central Europe with a vast package of ARRI lighting andcamera equipment. The ARRI Rental Group was able to supply and support the production acrosstwo continents, drawing on resources from ARRI Rental in Munich, ARRI Australia, ARRI LightingRental in London and ARRI Rental Prague.
The Return to
“IT’S NOT ONE OFTHOSE EFFECTSMOVIES WHEREYOU JUST SPENDSIX MONTHS INFRONT OF AGREENSCREENAND FIGURE OUTALL YOURBACKGROUNDSLATER. WEACTUALLY SHOTVERY COMPLEXEFFECTS SCENESON LOCATION…”
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VISIONARRI
Enzo recalls a moment on the shoot forwhich the MaxMover proved invaluable,when they were on location by a river inSlovenia. “We were on a bridge andneeded to light actors under the bridge,”he recalls. “So we put the MaxMoverwith an 18K at the end of a Foxy Craneand were able to actually get the 18Kdown to the level of the water, giving a¾ backlight and also fill light when weturned around. The MaxMover system isbrilliant because its adjustable fitting letsyou mount any tungsten unit from a T-12up to the 24K. You can also use a 6KPar, up to the 18K ARRIMAX or any18K Fresnel and a 12K Par as well.”
On top of the ARRIMAX HMIs, theproduction made use of a lightingpackage so extensive that it comprisedlamps supplied from ARRI rental outlets
in Prague, Munich and London. “Weused everything, from a candle up to thebiggest light we could get from ARRI,”says Lindenlaub. “One of the bigadvantages of having an ARRI packageon this film was that we were close toMunich and could be serviced by carwithin three hours, so we got all thesupport we could possibly need. Theywere also very generous in shippingbrand new stuff to New Zealand for us.”
With a scheduled 1,500 or so visualeffects shots and Adamson’s preferencefor location shooting, it was necessaryto film a great many sequencesinvolving effects outside of the controlledenvironment of a sound stage. “Wewanted to take advantage of thelandscape,” continues Lindenlaub. “It’snot one of those effects movies where
you just spend six months in front of agreenscreen and figure out all yourbackgrounds later. We actually shot verycomplex effects scenes on location andwe wanted at the same time to raise thebar on the scale – make it more epicand just bigger looking.”
Visual Effects Supervisors Wendy Rogersand Dean Wright shared theresponsibility of collecting vast amountsof data during the shoot, all of whichwould be vital for the work to be done inpostproduction. They worked closely withthe camera crew, organising referencemarkers, plate shots, HDRI (HighDynamic Range Imaging) and ‘witness-cams’, which were 24p video camerasused to capture as many different anglesof each scene as possible. The weatherwas just as much a problem for thesetasks as for the filming itself, as Wrightrecalls. “It is frustrating because wewould love to always have any referenceplate shot in exactly the same lightconditions as the hero shot, but whathappens many times is that you’refighting the weather and time constraintsand of course the director wants to keepshooting with the actors.”
In order to help the effects team gatheras much metadata as possible, a newARRI DCS-2 Data Capture System wasdeveloped that recorded informationabout what the camera and lens weredoing for each take. “It was kind ofprototyped for the film,” says Rogers.“We didn’t have it available for all thecameras and lenses, so it wasn’t used asextensively as I imagine it will be on thenext films, but it was great because wecould get text files out of the camerasand have information about focallengths, frame rates and so on.” Thecinematographer, whose crew had toactually use the DCS-2, was keen for it tobe as inconspicuous as possible. “Themost important thing is that these thingsremain practical,” he explains. “But it sitscomfortably on the camera and didn’tbother any of the operators. It justneeded to be synced up for the timecodewhenever the camera was powered up,which wasn’t a big deal, it’s just onemore thing you do very quickly.”
The fact that Adamson wanted to shootwith multiple cameras in order tomaximise coverage and take fullest
advantage of the child actors’ limitedtime on set necessarily meant a sizeablecamera kit. “We had a great package,”affirms Lindenlaub. “In New Zealand wehad two sound cameras – an ARRICAMStudio and Lite, plus a back-up body, a235 and a 435 Xtreme. Then in Europewe had even more; we had an extraARRICAM Lite and the second unitpackage got almost as big as the firstunit, so it was quite a lot of gear.”
Having a number of cameras filmingmany of the scenes meant there waflexibility of coverage, despitethe meticulously planned previs thatAdamson worked out in order toaccommodate both the effects elementsand his desire for a constantly movingcamera. “On certain scenes we
followed the previs completely withthe ‘A’ camera and then tried to getadditional footage with the othercameras on the spot,” says Lindenlaub.“Then there were other scenes where wewould purely go by performance. Foraction and grab shots the 235 is just thenicest little camera there is; I love it. Youcan quickly pick it up and find an extraangle, or it’s wonderful to film handheldstuff with. There wasn’t a firm rule tohow we shot each scene; there was anice mix of things so it didn’t get boring,let’s put it that way!”
Though he had never used them beforeon a job, Lindenlaub opted to shoot withthe ARRI Master Primes. “I did extensivetesting and had a lot of support fromARRI,” he says. “We tested foreverything – for day, dusk, dusk-for-night,day-for-night, firelight – every applicationthat I knew would happen in the film.The resolution of these lenses seemed to
be so high that I could safely shootfirelight at T2.8 and still be able to pulldetail out of the flame. At the same time Ihad the feeling that in the shadows I hadmore detail than with most other lensesI can think of. They were wonderful; Iactually tried to shoot all the exteriorswith them too, and only used zoomswhen we shot very quick action stuff orhad to put the camera on a crane.”
The film was shot 4-perforation Super35, with a 2.39:1 centre crop, as thisgave Adamson ample scope to reframeup or down for effects elements in the DI,which was done at Framestore CFC inLondon. Though the DI grade proveduseful for smoothing out weather andlight inconsistencies in locationsequences as well as manipulatingcontrast and shadows, Lindenlaub didnot approach the film any differentlyknowing he would have these tools at hisdisposal. “My general attitude on a DIfilm is to light as well as I can,” he says.“I don’t think a DI is a fix for badlighting; it’s a tool like anything else andit gives you a lot of options, but with thatcomes a danger that the cameraman canlose control of the image. I still carry myfilters, for example, even if I know I havea DI; but it’s simply about getting thebest negative possible.” �
Mark Hope-Jones
THE RETURN TO NARNIA
� DIRECTOR ANDREW ADAMSON checks the framing from behind an ARRICAM Lite
� DoP KARL WALTER LINDENLAUB ASC, BVK sits on the dolly as another shot is prepared
“WE USEDEVERYTHING,FROM A CANDLEUP TO THEBIGGEST LIGHTWE COULD GETFROM ARRI”
�
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urrayClose©DisneyEnterprises,Inc.and
WaldenMediaLLC.AllRightsReserved
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images you can see this strange haze overBerlin,” says the cinematographer. “It wascaused by smouldering fires and dustkicked up from the debris by the wind,which created a strange, almost fairytaleatmosphere.” To enhance this mood theground needed to look very pale, whichmeant it had to be brightened uprepeatedly during production. Artificialdust clouds were used and the exteriors ofthe city began to blur under this layer ofhaze looming above the city. Charactersstand out in sharp contrast to the almostwhite ground, which creates the look of aphotographic negative. Neuenfels wantedto see what he calls the “end-of-a-wardialectic” – a mix of lethargy andoptimism – reflected in the faces of theoppressed German women. “It’s amixture of grace and anguish,” he says.
Neuenfels opted for the ARRICAM Studioand ARRICAM Lite as his principalcameras. At times he also used thelightweight ARRIFLEX 235 and shot the4-perforation images and plates for VFXscenes with an ARRIFLEX 435 Xtreme.David Laubsch, the VFX Supervisor, stoodby from day-one with advice and support.
Creating a sense of “grace” requiredsome help from the ARRI lab during colourgrading. ARRI Lead Digital Colourist,Rainer Schmidt, explains: “To enhance thisdusty look of the exterior shots, we had tocounteract the digitally simulated bleachbypass process with a softer gradationand increased colour saturation, except forthe greens in the trees which wedesaturated.” Schmidt and Neuenfels alsohad to pay close attention to the colour ofthe actors’ lips and the texture of theirfaces: “The face is always the cosmos of aperson,” explains Neuenfels. The coloursof the costumes were an issue as well; inparticular the bluish-green coat of leadactress Nina Hoss had to be adjusted,frame by frame, to maintain its originalcolour. Neuenfels spent three weeks atARRI’s Munich headquarters in order tomeet these challenges and meld the hazymood with the motifs of productiondesigner Uli Hanisch. Partial shading wasadded to the on-set lighting design duringthe digital grade so that the contrast andfocus of the image remained on thecharacters, without rendering the overalltone too dark and gloomy.
Neuenfels describes a “very dark andphosphorescent yellow/green look” asbeing his goal for scenes taking place inthe basements of residential buildings inpost-war Berlin, which were shot in abrewery in Cologne. The DoP asked tohave the protective coating removedfrom the extremely light-sensitive Zeisslenses so he could create “amazinglight reflexes and light cones” with themilitary flashlights of the Soviet soldiers.In order to further enhance the post-warera mood, the VFX team at ARRI –headed by Henning Rädlein – andDI/VFX Producer Katja Müller, didadditional work using matte paintingsand retouched images to accentuateperiod details.
Equal importance was placed on the film’ssound mix at ARRI, following MartinScorsese’s dictum, “sound is 50 percent ofthe movie.” Daniel Vogl, ARRI ProductionManager for sound, used digital, real-timeimages in 2K resolution which the gradingdepartment had made available to himand his team for the mix: “High-resolutionimages such as these let us fully graspeach scene or sequence, thereby allowingus to most accurately recreate the sound,”he explains. This type of collaboration isan advantage ARRI can offer because ofthe range of its facilities located in oneplace. All of the digitized data necessaryfor a particular workflow is stored on acluster-server to which members of eachpostproduction team have access. DoPNeuenfels speaks highly of this structure:“ARRI has always been very innovative.Everything here is concentrated under oneroof; that’s why I think there is no betterpostproduction house in Europe.”
ARRI is also responsible for the digitalsubtitling of the film, necessitated by thedecision not to dub scenes involving theRussian actors. The final mix and finalapproval will also take place in Munich,which means that in the case of Anonyma,ARRI Film & TV has completed the labwork, DI, visual effects, TV mastering,sound and final finish of the film.Furthermore, Technical Director MarkusKannewischer is currently producing aDCP that will play on all major serversmaking it possible for the producer anddistributor of the film, Constantin Film, tosupply theatres with digital content as wellas celluloid prints. �
Andreas Wirwalski
Balancing GraceandAnguishARRI’s sophisticated colour grading evokes powerful emotions in WorldWar II drama Anonyma – Eine Frau in Berlin
The highly anticipatedscreen adaptation of thebestselling book Anonyma –Eine Frau in Berlin, directedby Grimme Award-winnerMax Färberböck, is duefor release in October 2008and will subsequently airon German television as atwo-part miniseries. The filmowes its dramatic lightingand cinematography to theaward-winning DoP BenedictNeuenfels BVK, AAC, whogives the heavily bombedBerlin setting a hazy andotherworldly feel.
The story is set during the last days ofApril 1945, when the Red Army marchedinto Berlin. Russian troops, emulating theterror the Wehrmacht and SS hadunleashed upon Eastern Europe during theoccupation, raped thousands of Germanwomen and girls among the rubble anddebris of what used to be Berlin. One ofthe victims, a young, nameless woman(“Anonyma”), makes the sombre decisionto look for a Soviet soldier who mightbecome her protector. Before long shefinds herself in a relationship with anofficer named Andrej – but whether this isa matter of love or surrender is a questionthey each have to answer for themselves.
Constantin Film, the Munich-based mediaconglomerate, produced the film togetherwith Günter Rohrbach (Das Boot, Dieweiße Massai). The film is adapted fromthe anonymous diary entries of a journalistlater identified as Marta Hiller, whopassed away in 2001. Her book receiveda great deal of international attentionwhen it was first published in 1959 and itspopularity has not waned; a new Germanedition came out in 2003 and went
straight to the top of the nationalbestseller list.
The part of the nameless woman is playedby Nina Hoss, who received a GermanFilm Award in 2008 for her role in Yella.The stellar supporting cast includes SandraHüller, who also has a German Film Awardto her name (for her role in Requiem) andIrm Hermann, who had previously workedwith the legendary German DirectorRainer Werner Fassbinder. The cast wasrounded out by Russian actors playingthe Soviet soldiers, including the Russianfilm and television star Evgenij Sidikhin,who plays the male lead. Early in theproject the producers set their sights onthe accomplished German Writer/DirectorMax Färberböck, who most recently haddirected the film September, about therepercussions of 9/11. Prior to that,Färberböck had caused quite a stir withhis award-winning Aimée & Jaguar,about the relationship during World WarII of a lesbian couple. In similar fashion,Anonyma – Eine Frau in Berlin,interweaves the struggle of femalecharacters with historical events of the time.
DoP Neuenfels also had experience onfilms set during this period of history,having recently shot an Austrian film aboutlife in a concentration camp. On thismovie, which won the 2008 Oscar forBest Foreign Film, Neuenfels developed afaded, almost monochrome look, thoughhe determined to do something verydifferent for Anonyma: “Because the filmdepicts such tragic events I decided not togo for a gloomy, depressing look,” hesays. “Besides, the story is aboutliberation, so I needed to be able to shootand feel the open air. That’s why I chosenot to go for the typical grey, desaturatedlook of war dramas. Even during times ofwar there is sun and colour.”
During preparation a large number of testswere conducted, in close collaborationwith Sepp Reidinger (ARRI Head of Lab &DI), to sync up all of the production andpostproduction departments that would beinvolved at various stages, and achievethe desired look. For the exteriors,Neuenfels and Färberböck drewinspiration from old black & white filmfootage shot by the Soviets. “In those
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The 2-perforation format offers a financiallyeconomical route to the image quality of 35mmwhen a 2.39:1 widescreen aspect ratio is desired.As film is advanced by two perforations instead ofthe traditional four perforations, the previouslyunused space between frames is eliminated.This translates to less raw stock as the quantityof film used is reduced.
Having worked on a number of low-budgetfeature films, Bobbitt had become very interestedin the resurgence of 2-perforation. “I think theprimary benefit of using 2-perforation is cost,which is of paramount importance to theproduction, particularly on a low-budget film,”states Bobbitt. “For Hunger we were able toshoot 2-perforation with an aspect ratio of 2.39:1on 35mm for an additional cost of only £12,500,compared to Super 16. That represents fantasticvalue for quality, when you think that the actualsurface area of the exposed negative is muchgreater in 2-perforation 35mm than it is inSuper 16.”
The natural widescreen aspect ratio of2-perforation also meant that Bobbitt could shoota true 2.39:1 frame. “Super 16 has to go througha blow-up in the DI for 35mm projection, so thereis an increase in the amount of grain and the sizeof grain, which is fine if that’s what you arelooking for – if you are looking for a gritty,dramatic feel – but on this film we specificallydidn’t want that,” he says. “We were hoping forsomething that would go against the grit andgrain of the story itself – something a little bitglossy. So in that regard 2-perforation fitted thebill and offered a solution that would be moreeffective in terms of the DI.”
As 2-perforation uses less stock, itnaturally increases the running time of amagazine, which made it possible forBobbitt to fulfil the director’s desire forlong takes. “Steve wanted to do veryextensive shots, where the actiondevelops in the frame,” recalls Bobbitt.“In particular, there is a dialogue scenebetween two characters in the centre ofthe film that is over 20 minutes long,which Steve wanted to capture in asingle take. Using a 1,000-foot roll of2-perforation 35mm meant that we wereable to do that, so we did four takes ofthis scene, and I don’t know of any otherfilm format that we could have donethat in.”
While 2-perforation has its advantagesthere are two factors that Bobbitt believesanyone using the format should be awareof. “Because there is almost no frame linebetween frames, if you have a reallystrong highlight at the top of a frame itcan bleed through to the next,” headvises. “I pushed that as far as I couldand it never bled through more than 4%,which will be lost in projection cut-off
anyway. The other consideration, ofcourse, is if you do get a hair in the gateor a boom in shot then there is no waythat you can move the image around tolose them, so you do have to go again.But neither of those were an issue duringthe production itself.” Bobbitt alsorecommends that a frame leader is shotfor each camera and ground glass. “Asthere is no SMPTE frame or anything setup, there is no standard frame for thetelecine and everything else to beaccurate – so you do need to establisha very accurate frame reader.”
Hunger will have a theatrical releasebefore it is aired on Channel 4. Thefilm’s postproduction involved a numberof facilities, with processing and telecinecarried out at Todd-AO and a DigitalIntermediate at Dragon DI. Release printswill be produced by Deluxe. Before filmingbegan Bobbitt shot tests and followed theentire 2-perforation workflow all the waythrough in order to check for any possibleloopholes. “The initial tests I did withTodd-AO just showed that they neededto upgrade some of their sound syncing
software, which they were able to do,” heexplains. “We then took the negative toDragon DI and did a rough DI. They usethe ARRISCAN and the ARRILASER, bothof which are set up for 2-perforation. Wescanned the negative, graded the negativeand then burnt it back and printed it so wecould prove that the whole chain worked –and it did, first go. The workflow is verystraightforward and exactly the same asworking in 3-perforation; it’s still just35mm film, only the frames are squeezedcloser together.”
One thing Bobbitt is certain of – without2-perforation Hunger would never havebeen originated on 35mm. “If we hadn’thad 2-perforation, and recognised thesavings in cost, then that would have beenvery much to the detriment of what wewere trying to achieve with this film,” hestates. Bobbitt’s certainty that the choice offormat benefited the film was reflected inits selection to open the ‘Un CertainRegard’ section of the 61st Cannes FilmFestival, where it was awarded theCamera d’Or. �
Michelle Smith
2-perforation makes widescreen 35mm affordable for low-budget feature
Hunger
Photo:StevePugh
Photos:N
atasha
Back
Turner Prize winner Steve McQueen, widely regarded as one of Britain’s leading contemporary artists,has directed his first feature film – about IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands. Produced by Blast! Films forChannel4/Film4, who co-funded the project as part of an initiative to commission new work from artists forthe screen, Hunger is based on the final weeks of the Irish Republican’s life; Sands died aged 27 in 1981after 66 days of refusing to take food while imprisoned for possession of firearms at the notorious MazePrison near Belfast.
Photographed by Sean Bobbitt BSC, who had previously worked with McQueen on a number of film installation projects,Hunger was one of the first productions to utilise the 2-perforation 35mm camera movements now available through the ARRIRental Group. Camera equipment was supplied by ARRI Media in London and consisted of a 2-perforation ARRICAM Studio,ARRICAM Lite and ARRIFLEX 235. Lighting equipment was supplied by ARRI Lighting Rental.
� DoP SEAN BOBBITT BSC stands to the right of camera preparing a shot
� SEAN BOBBITT co-ordinating a location exterior shot
� DIRECTOR STEVE MCQUEEN talks his actor through the scene
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Filming for the series has begun in England, wherethe production is, at the time of press, nearingthe end of its first two weeks of photography,after which it will travel to South Africa and theSeychelles for 17 weeks of location work.Cinematographer Jon Joffin was keen to use therecently updated ARRIFLEX D-21 film style digitalcamera system for the fortnight in England, havingphotographed two previous projects – Flirting withForty (2008) and The Andromeda Strain (2008)– on the ARRIFLEX D-20. Crusoe is being directedby the highly experienced television director DuaneClark. “I haven’t worked with Duane before, but it’sproving a real pleasure,” says Joffin. “He’s donea lot of CSI episodes [CSI: NY, CSI: Miami,CSI: Crime Scene Investigation] and alsoMeadowlands, which I always thought was avery interesting show.”
The production has been based in Yorkshire duringits time in England. “We’re shooting a flashbackthread here in York, set before the character getsshipwrecked,” explains Joffin. “It’s nice because thissection is a story on its own; the reason I wanted todo this show is because the scripts are full of littlestories and action sequences, and just read reallynicely. Also it’s a period show, set in the 1600s,so it’s exciting being able to work in theseunbelievable period locations, with amazingcostumes and some really fine actors.”
One of the most imposing locations is York Minster, the largestGothic cathedral in northern Europe. As is often the case withhistoric buildings, restrictions on how equipment can be usedat York Minster influenced the cinematographer’s creativeapproach. In particular the lighting kit, supplied by ARRILighting Rental in London, was dictated to some degree bypractical limitations. “The thing about York Minster is that it’sso vast,” explains Joffin. “We talked about putting up aconstruction crane with really big lights on it, but that wasn’tpossible, mainly because of weight restrictions on the roads.So we were basically just using lights coming in through thewindows and supplementing them a bit inside. The scene is aflashback, so we could shoot it as the character remembers it,which gave us a bit of license with the lighting. We didn’tmake anything look unreal, but we bumped up the backlightand put in a strong shaft of light from a 10K Xenon fixture upon a 20-foot scaffold, which worked really well. The flashbackshows the character’s idealised memory of his wife surroundedby rose petals, so we were blowing all these petals into the airwith cannons inside the cathedral. It looked great because wewere using the D-21 at 60 frames per second.”
In general, Joffin makes no distinction between the lights heneeds for a D-21 shoot and those he would require if shootingon film. “My lighting needs would have been very similar ifI had been on film,” he says. “The only difference was that ifI were shooting on film, I probably would have chosen 500ASA stock for inside York Minster, so there would have beena speed advantage.” Part of the reason for this is that thecinematographer chose to select Logarithmic 4:4:4 RGB(Extended Range) output from the D-21, which is rated at 200EI/ASA equivalent. “I’ve always shot in Lin [Linear] modebefore,” he continues. “This is the first show I’ve done in Log[Logarithmic] mode and it has blown me away; it’s made merealise what I was missing out on!”
Although the default EI/ASA equivalent rating of Logarithmicoutput from the D-21 is 200, Joffin was able to use look uptables (LUTs) in Cinetal monitors on set to see how the imagefaired at EI/ASA equivalent ratings between about 100 and400. “It’s nice to look at other LUTs and see what you’re goingto be able to do with the image later,” he explains. “We don’tapply these other ASA ratings to the dailies, but if I feel like ashot is looking a bit dark, I can quickly flick to 400 on themonitor and see how much detail I’m going to be able to pullout. In real world situations you often need a bit more light soyou bump the ASA up a bit; with Linear output that can meanthe image getting a bit noisy, but the Log tests we did lookedreally good. I definitely feel like the D-21 is faster [than theD-20]; I would certainly use the higher ASA equivalents if I wasin a jam, but in general I try to keep the ASA as low as possible.”
Before making the decision to use Logarithmic output for thefirst time, Joffin spent a day testing at ARRI Media in London.“The interesting thing was that I wanted to compare the Linearand Log modes,” he continues. “So I was going to set up twocameras side by side, but Bill Lovell [Head of the DigitalDepartment at ARRI Media] told me that I could use only onecamera, because the D-21 can run Linear and Log feedssimultaneously. As great as Linear looks, when you put it nextto the Log output it looks like video next to film.�
“...OUR SHOW IS SET INTHE 1600s, SO IT’S ALLWINDOWS AND CANDLES,AND THE WAY THE LOGHELD DETAIL AND COLOURSATURATION IN THE CANDLEFLAMES WAS JUST AMAZING.”
CRUSOEThe new ARRIFLEX D-21 is put to workon NBC’s desert island drama seriesThe story of Robinson Crusoe, a fictional Englishman who sails to sea in 1651and becomes shipwrecked on a desert island where he remains for 28 yearsbefore returning to civilization, is one of the best known in history. First publishedin 1719, the novel by Daniel Defoe was an immediate success and quicklybecame the most widely read book ever written in English. Countless spin-offs,translations and adaptations have marked the 289 years since the castaway’sfirst incarnation, continuing into the modern age with television and film versionsdating back to 1913. The latest re-telling of this famous tale is being undertakenby UK independent producer Power and takes the form of a 13-part televisionseries entitled Crusoe, scheduled for broadcast on US channel NBC in late 2008.
� DoP JON JOFFINwith the ARRIFLEX D-21
�DIRECTOR DUANE CLARK at work in York Minster cathedral
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I really saw that difference withcandlelight; our show is set in the 1600s,so it’s all windows and candles, and theway the Log held detail and coloursaturation in the candle flames was justamazing. A lot of the time we’re crashinghot shafts of light from 18Ks throughwindows and bouncing them off the flooror a table into the actors’ faces. It’s reallyexciting to be able to do that and notadd any other lights in the room. WithLinear I always found I had to add a littlebit of fill light, but with Log that fillsometimes isn’t necessary, which meansscenes are quicker to light and also lookmore natural.”
Joffin’s choice of high speed ARRI MasterPrime lenses aided this tendency towardminimal and natural-looking lighting, andhe took full advantage by shooting atT1.3 both on location and on built sets.“I’ve got to say that the Master Primesblow me away; they’re just so fantastic,”he says. “Even at T1.3 they look sharp;I remember in the old days when weshot with the original Zeiss SuperSpeeds, they were T1.3 lenses as well,but you generally had to shoot them atT2 or T2.8, and they looked better at T4.But these Master Primes look as good tome at T1.3 as they do at T2.8. There’ssomething about the quality of the out offocus background that I just love. Thebokeh is so buttery and beautiful; it’salmost addictive. You’ll be shooting on a
25mm and find yourself putting NDfilters in front of it because you wantthose out of focus backgrounds. I justfell in love with the look.”
Though the D-21 has an option to recordraw, uncompressed data in Data Mode,it was decided that the best workflow forCrusoe was HD output recorded viafibre interfaces to SR recorders. Theproduction did, however, benefit fromanother advantage of the new D-21 –automatic Defect Pixel Correction (DPC)– with which Joffin already had someexperience. “I actually had a prototypeversion of the DPC on my previousshow,” he says. “We shot for 20 daysand I only saw one defect pixel, whichwas amazingly good.”
The sophisticated Cinetal monitors usedon set were necessitated by the fact thatLogarithmic images have to beprocessed through a LUT before beingdisplayed in order to replicate what thefilmmakers will be working with inpostproduction. A special LUT wasdeveloped by Laurent Treherne, aTechnical Director at Ascent Media inLondon, where postproduction is beinghandled for the English shoot. “I lovethose Cinetal monitors, they’reunbelievable,” enthuses Joffin. “Whenwe were about to shoot The AndromedaStrain there was no real solution forapplying LUTs on set and the Cinetalshave totally changed that. The beauty of
the system is seeing what you’re goingto get; it means you’re able to make littlecorrections and really finesse things. Iknow there are some DoPs who shoot inLog mode and they’re not fussy aboutthe LUTs, but I can’t say that personally.It’s a hard sell to directors as wellbecause they want to see exactly whatthey’ll get, and of course they should.”
In order to view the Cinetal monitors incontrolled conditions, Joffin had ablacked-out tent erected on every set,inside which he could judge imageswithout any interference from other lightsources. “We have waveform monitors onthe cameras and in the tent, but wemainly use the one in the tent. The Cinetalis so good that I tend to judge exposurewith it,” says Joffin. “Then I check on thewaveform monitor to see if things areclipping or see where the highlights areif I’m trying to match close-ups.”
Being able to see the effects of differentiris settings with such precision andimmediacy meant the cinematographerwas comfortable making even majorexposure adjustments in shot. “Peoplesometimes say that moving the tentaround and shooting with an HD camerais much slower,” he says. “But there’s onearea where I actually find it faster, andthat’s when you’re shooting the kind ofscene where you’re panning around andyou have someone in the foregroundwho’s bright but an extra in the
background who’s dark. You can actuallygo on the iris and make changes in shot,just looking at the Cinetal monitor. I liveon the iris; if I don’t have it in my hand Idon’t feel like I have control of the shot.We have the LCS system in the tent forboth cameras and I’m on it full-time.On my last show with the D-20 we wereshooting in Hawaii and we did shotswhere we followed characters frominside a hotel room out onto a balconyoverlooking the ocean; I had shots whereI started at T1.3 and ended up at T11 –huge iris pulls.
“It also helps when you don’t have time tofinish your lighting,” continues Joffin.“With film you have to run around takinglight readings and know exactly whereyou are because all you have is the videoassist. For almost any shot on this showI’m often pulling up to two or three stops;it’s really handy for shots where you dollyaround someone, where you might starton a key light that looks quite flat so youwant to close the iris down a bit, but thenopen it up as you come around. Or shotswhere you have people in the foregroundwho walk away from you and you startwide open so the background is playingreally hot and then close it down as theyget into the distance. It’s amazing havingthat control; I couldn’t live without it.”
For certain sequences Joffin is using ahand-cranked ARRIFLEX 435 film camera,which allows him to make multiple
in-camera exposures that would beimpossible with the D-21. “We’re evendoing some quadruple exposuresin-camera,” he says. “I’d used the hand-crank thing on a modified ARRI III before,but it shook the camera around like crazy.This 435 system is just fantastic; you cantake the camera off the tripod and hold itin your hand or even hand-crank up to150 fps, which is unbelievable. I’vealways carried a 435 on my previousD-20 shoots. It means you can do highspeed shots, or sometimes you havebarely any light and need to very quicklypick up a film camera and grabsomething. I’m very comfortable cuttingthe digital and film images together.”
The film style features of the D-21, suchas its optical viewfinder, helped the crewswitch between the two formats withease. Joffin also had a Digital ImagingTechnician (DIT), Neil Gray, to helpcoordinate the digital workflow. “Neil hasbeen great, as has Chris Plevin [one ofthe camera operators, who had previousD-20 experience],” he says. “Chris cameup with the idea of us doing our ownclones at night and applying the LUT fordailies, because we were quite a wayfrom London. We started off doing thatourselves, but the problem was that theediting department needed burned-in timecode, so we did have to start sending thetapes up to London for cloning.”
Although Crusoe will not involve asmany visual effects as previous D-20shoots Joffin has worked on, thecinematographer has already noticedadvantages to the D-21 in Log modethat will make things easier when itcomes to postproduction. “There isn’t ahuge amount of VFX work on this show,but certainly some,” he says. “We’redoing composites of the city, painting inold buildings and cleaning the image ofmore modern elements. The nice thing is Idon’t think we’ll have to do as much skyreplacement as we would on a Linearshow because the Log mode seems to beable to hold the skies much better.” �
Mark Hope-Jones
“YOU CAN ACTUALLYGO ON THE IRISAND MAKECHANGES IN SHOT,JUST LOOKING ATTHE CINETALMONITOR. I LIVEON THE IRIS; IF IDON’T HAVE IT INMY HAND I DON’TFEEL LIKE I HAVECONTROL OFTHE SHOT.”
“...MASTER PRIMESLOOK AS GOOD TOME AT T1.3 ASTHEY DO ATT2.8. THERE’SSOMETHING ABOUTTHE QUALITY OFTHE OUT OF FOCUSBACKGROUND THATI JUST LOVE.”
� THE CAMERA CREW prepare a shot
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VisionARRI: Jules, you are one of Europe’s mostrenowned cinematographers. You studied at theNetherlands Film and Television Academy [NFTA] inAmsterdam and you are one of the founders of theNetherlands Society of Cinematographers.
Jules van den Steenhoven: Yes, Theo Bierkens and I founded theNSC in 1992, on Jost Vacano’s [ASC, BVK] suggestion, as astep towards a larger European organisation. Later, this led toIMAGO, the European Federation of Cinematographers. In thespring of 2008 IMAGO held its annual meeting inAmsterdam, of which ARRI was a sponsor, among others.
VA: Your latest film, Hardcover, is a situationcomedy set in the world of petty criminals.Christian Zübert [Lammbock (2001)] directed.You have collaborated with him in the past, onDer Schatz der weissen Falken [2005]. How didyou and Christian Zübert get to know each otherand what connects you two?
JS: I believe it was Tom Spiess and Sönke Wortmann, theproducers at Little Shark, who brought us together. Tom andSönke knew my work from the Emmy Award-winning Dutchtelevision series All Stars. Christian and I understand eachother quite well and I’m very impressed with Christian’s workand his talent. Plus, I see the awards we received for DerSchatz der weissen Falken, as well as the nomination it got forthe German Film Award, as proof that we work well together.
VA: For the 92-minute theatrical version ofHardcover you decided to work in the DigitalIntermediate in 2K. What sort of considerationsled to this decision during prep?
JS: For several years now I have finished all my films in 2Kdigital. Floris [2004] and Wild Romance [2006] were bothfinished in the DI – once you’ve done that, there’s no turningback. Digital postproduction allows you to bring out thenuances of each individual frame to a much greater extent,which of course helps the story you are trying to tell. It’s a bigtime saver on the set as well, because I already know whichaspects I can work on in postproduction. If you can shoot threeor four additional setups every day then that not only benefitsthe storytelling, but also helps keep the budget down.
An Interview with Jules van den Steenhoven NSC about his experience in the Cinema GradingSuite at ARRI Schwarzfilm Berlin during the Digital Intermediate for the feature film Hardcover.
The Cinema Experience
Grading on aLarge Scale
� JULES VAN DENSTEENHOVEN
VA: Hardcover was the first film to be colour gradedin the brand new Cinema Grading Suite at ARRISchwarzfilm in Berlin. How did you like working ina movie theatre?
JS: I was impressed. The grading suite in Berlin is the largest inEurope with a 500 square foot screen and 23 seats. Workingwith a digital 2K projector and an analogue 35mm projectorside-by-side offers completely new possibilities as you aresitting in front of a movie screen, just like the audience,while you’re finishing the film. I would recommend to all mycolleagues to colour grade using digital projectors and amovie theatre screen. It allows you to see much more detail,compared to a monitor, and you can therefore enhance thevery best in each frame.
VA: As a cinematographer, what have you takenaway from that experience?
JS: The biggest advantage is that you can go through theentire film in real time. Also, as you don’t have to work frameby frame you can work on entire scenes at once. Being ableto go back and forth through the film gives you a tremendousamount of freedom; I love that. And it has a positive impact onthe end result. Every cinematographer knows about having tomake compromises, but in the case of Hardcover I had muchmore control over contrast, lighting and colour than I wouldhave on an analogue system. The automatic tracking featureallowed us to create masks, working from the brightness andcolour of the objects we tracked, for even the smallest details.What was most convincing though, was how extremely steadythe image was during colour grading. There was no technicaldamage and I had a much wider colour palette available tome. All in all, I had much more control.
VA: What was your collaboration with colour graderAndreas Reuber like?
JS: Andreas was fantastic, the smallest instruction and heimmediately knew what I meant. A good relationship with agreat colour grader, like Andreas, is very important to mebecause it’s easy to get lost in the maze of new possibilities.That’s why it’s vital that the colour grader understands you andcan translate suggestions and ideas brilliantly – and quickly.
VA: Could you imagine shooting your films digitallyin the future as well as grading them digitallyduring postproduction?
JS: I still think that there is no digital format out there thatmakes shooting as easy, fast and cheap as film – or createsthe same results as film does. Although, I have to admit thatI’m not yet familiar with the ARRIFLEX D-21. In the end, what isimportant is the story that one intends to tell. And you can tella story using any format, from 8mm to 70mm film, or digitalformats such as the ARRIFLEX D-21 and the Red One. You caneven use a DV camera that costs 500 Euros. But there is stillno way around carefully planning your shoot, because thebasic concept and the mood of a film is created with theon-set lighting and set design. Having accomplished that,it allows you to take full advantage of the colour paletteand the contrasts in postproduction, especially in theDigital Intermediate.
VA: Your current film is another Dutch production,Brief voor de koning. What particular challengesare you facing on this film?
JS: Brief voor de koning is a Dutch-German co-production[Eyeworks and Heimat Film]. It’s an adaptation of the bestDutch children’s book of the last century, which incidentally,was quite successful in Germany as well. The story is set inthe middle ages. We shot a lot of day-for-night, a techniqueI could take advantage of due to the possibilities digitalpostproduction offers.
Produced by Tom Spiess and Sönke Wortmann of Little SharkEntertainment, Hardcover was a co-production for WDR/ARTEand was distributed by Universum Film in April 2008. �
Katja Birkenbach
“DIGITAL POSTPRODUCTIONALLOWS YOU TO BRINGOUT THE NUANCES OFEACH INDIVIDUAL FRAMETO A MUCH GREATEREXTENT…”
Photo:Menke
Photo:T.Ehling
Photo:T.Ehling
VISIONARRI
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Following their collaboration on the successful 2005 televisionadaptation of Charles Dickens’s Bleak House – the first BBCperiod drama to be shot on HD – Director Justin Chadwick andDoP Kieran McGuigan were sought out by producers behindThe Other Boleyn Girl, an HD feature based on the historicalnovel by Philippa Gregory. The film charts the tempestuousrelationships between Anne Boleyn (Natalie Portman), hersister Mary (Scarlett Johansson) and Henry VIII (Eric Bana),with whom both girls have affairs. The sisters alternately findand fall from royal favour, pushed by their socially ambitiousfather to vie for position in a court made dangerous by theKing’s fickle affections and his desperation for a male heir.Henry’s caprice stretches family ties to breaking point and theBoleyn’s soon learn that there is not only everything to gain atthe top, but also everything to lose.
On Bleak House Chadwick and McGuigan developed a tenseand edgy visual style that was achieved by the combination ofa bold lighting strategy with the use of two cameras for almostevery setup. One camera tended to shoot a given scene froma fairly conventional angle, with the subjects illuminatedevenly, while the other was positioned perpendicular to theaction and often shot into deep shadow, with the subjects lit byhard rim light. McGuigan is habitually frugal with fill light,which results in high contrast images and also means he veers
towards low, side lighting rather than top light, in order toprevent the actors’ eyes from falling into too much darkness.
Gaffer Mark Clayton explains that the DoP employed broadlythe same strategy on The Other Boleyn Girl: “He’s done asimilar thing again. I think perhaps it’s slightly more brightly litthan Bleak House, mainly because you want Scarlett andNatalie to look nice and also you want to be able to see thebig interiors.”
Filming involved a great deal of location work at a variety ofmagnificent historic properties across England, includingLacock Abbey, Great Chalfield Manor and Haddon Hall. TheNational Trust owns several of these buildings, so their periodcharm and authenticity came at the price of strict stipulationsabout the rigging that could be built and equipment that couldbe used. “We had a very nice woman from the National Trustcalled Rosy,” continues Clayton. “She followed the productionaround, looked after us and checked everything was alright.There are certain things you can and can’t do; it’s prettyrigorous but completely understandable.” Best Boy BennyHarper adds, “It doesn’t really stop us doing what we want todo, or get in the way, because we know about the limitationsand everything is planned for in advance.”
A Tale of Two Sisters
McGuigan’s preference for side lightingeased the pressure of such limitations, asClayton explains: “Kieran likes to lightthrough windows anyway; he doesn’tlike top light, so we pretty much justused the windows. What we did do in alot of the places, partly because we shotso many night scenes during the day,was to build huge blackout tents outsidethe windows.”
The tents were constructed with scaffoldframes and completely enveloped thelocation windows. A waterproof outerskin was lined with black velvet on theinside, which allowed the crew absolutecontrol over light entering the rooms. Fornight scenes the velvet provided totalblackout, while for day scenes a whitedrape could be lowered on a pulleysystem within the tent and lit by 18Ksand 10Ks. This gave the windows aneven, white illumination when filmedfrom inside, with the light nicely brokenup by the period, leaded frames.
“We used these tents whenever we couldat the locations, although there was abig cost implication,” says Clayton. “Butit did help us get through the schedulebecause we could change very quicklyfrom night to day and it also meant wedidn’t have to wait for the sun at all. Alot of these old buildings are nothing butwindows; at Penshurst Place there were25-foot high windows, though Kieran stillpreferred to keep the lights coming inquite low, just above head height. I didoften try to get some space lights in upabove, just as a kind of get-out-of-jailcard really, though I suspect that Kieranwouldn’t have had any of them giventhe choice.
“We ended up using more light than wethought we would, because it was HD,although a lot of people think theopposite is true. We often had to put inan 18K where otherwise we might haveused a 6K and that would then give usproblems with the windows, becausethey can blow out on HD. So it was abalancing act getting enough lightcoming in to give us the depth of fieldwe needed without losing information inthe widows themselves.”
Although the lighting package itself wasrelatively standard and few locationsnecessitated particularly unusual setups,the challenge for the lighting crew wasthe sheer number of different historicbuildings and the logistical problemsof rigging and travelling between them.One location that proved especiallydifficult was Dover Castle, where accesswas so limited that equipment had to betransported in small loads to a set thatwas separated from the generators by2000 feet of cabling.
“We did have some rather interestingtimes shooting at Dover, partly becauseof the weather,” recalls Harper. “Wewere shooting there one morning andMark, with one of the electricians andsome other crew, was the first to go upthere, but between them getting into thecastle and the rest of us heading upthere, the wind got so bad that theyclosed the castle with them inside and usoutside. There’s just a certain level ofwind where they’ll shut it down becauseof the danger from falling rocks, so thatmorning was quite busy for the oneelectrician who had managed toget inside!”
The windy conditions prompted thecastle authorities to forbid the use oflamps on external scaffolding, soMcGuigan’s technique of lightingthrough existing windows had to behastily modified. “We got away with itin a way,” says Clayton, “because thewindows in the thick castle walls were sodeep. We were able to put lights backinto the recesses as though they werecoming through the windows, but it wasa proper plan B moment.” The lampsthey used were smaller than the 18KsMcGuigan had wanted to punch throughthe windows, so his freedom with thecamera was restricted, but the solutionat least allowed them to shoot, albeit incramped conditions. “It was oneoccasion where being as short as I amwas actually a good thing,” saysHarper, “because I could climb into thegaps in these windows!”
Adapting to circumstances and thinkingcreatively allowed the lighting team tohelp McGuigan achieve the bold look hewas striving for at difficult locations andwith a far from extravagant lightingpackage. “The kit itself was prettyconventional, but what’s extraordinaryabout the film is the way Kieran has litit – the contrast,” concludes Clayton.“Usually period films are quite brightlyand softly lit, but this is much darkerand more contrasty, reflecting thefilm’s story.” �
Mark Hope-Jones
How location lighting, supplied by ARRI Lighting Rental in London, played its part in telling astory of sixteenth century sibling rivalry in The Other Boleyn Girl
Photos:AlexBailey©2006
UniversalStudios.AllRightsReserved
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The Todesstreifen set, which included anextended section of wall, was built inthe Czech capital, Prague. Another setthat was built in Prague recreated theentrance to the now famous GethsemaneChurch, located in what used to beEast Berlin. Prior to the wall’s demise,during the last weeks of the formerGerman Democratic Republic (GDR),citizens used to gather there to protestpeacefully, demanding a trulyrepresentative democratic governmentand the right to travel freely. In Berlin-Mitte, the central borough of modernBerlin, an entire intersection was closedoff for almost three weeks to allowconstruction of a set recreating theBornholmer Straße border crossingwhich was at Swinemünder Bridge. Itwas there that, from around 11:30 p.m.on November 9th, 1989, the first EastGerman citizens crossed the border rightunder the noses of befuddled borderguards. Berger is adamant that suchelaborate sets were an absolute must:“When television viewers watch about400 people cross that border,” he says,“they will sense that the air was chargedwith emotion.” The director testifies thathe strongly felt such emotion himselfwhile filming there from mid-Augustthrough mid-November of 2007.
For scenes shot on location in Berlin, theproduction had to rely heavily on certaintricks of the trade. Greenscreens, forexample, were used to allow the lateraddition of set extensions – includingpeople and buildings – duringpostproduction. Anachronistic elements,from more recent times, had to beremoved using retouching techniques.For a night scene depicting a historicmass-demonstration in Leipzig, a crowdof 1,000 extras holding candles and
lights was gathered. But in reality tensof thousands of East Germans hadattended this demonstration back in1989, so the visual effects experts atARRI had to duplicate extras to createa more accurate depiction. Theentrance to the Gethsemane Churchset was also digitally extended usingmatte paintings to recreate the entirefront of the church all the way up tothe spire. Similarly, a long NVA(Nationale Volksarmee) militaryconvoy riding along a GDR freeway,which on set actually consisted of nomore than a few trucks and one jeep,was digitally extended. DI/VFXProducer Nina Knott attests that theconvoy could have been extendedstill further by the ARRI visual effectsteam, had the production deemedit necessary.
David Laubsch, VFX Supervisor,was on location in Prague and Berlinthroughout filming. Early on in theprocess, the effects team at ARRIand the film crew had talked aboutwhich sequences could be shot onlocation and what visual elements hadto be added using CGI. “We hadto balance out creativity and cost,”explains the director, who worked veryclosely with ARRI to achieve the happiestcompromise. Laubsch was impressedby Berger’s meticulous preparation:“Thomas had a complete storyboardthat included every single setup,” hesays. “For the Todesstreifen sequencehe even had a model which he used towork out the blocking of the actors andthe camera.”
As is increasingly the case on modernproductions, the postproduction schedulewas extremely tight on Wir sind das
Volk, with over 100 effects shots tocomplete in a very limited amount oftime. One notable scene, in which anactor is suspended from a steel wire,required two to three days of digitalretouching. “That was a tremendousamount of postproduction work for aone-second action effect,” says Laubsch,laughing. ARRI Film & TV maintainedconstant communication with productionin order to meet deadlines not only forthe visual effects, but also the HD scanof all footage (16mm and 35mm) andindeed every other element of thepostproduction, for which ARRI wasalso responsible. �
Andreas Wirwalski
ARRI Film & TV helps recreatethe fall of the Berlin Wall
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The postproduction team at ARRI Film & TV have recently been working on a highprofile two-part miniseries produced by Munich-based Olga Film and entitled Wir sind das Volk. Due to air on the German channel Sat.1 later in the year, theminiseries is directed by Thomas Berger, an actor’s director known for his attentionto detail and for his work on the ZDF drama series Kommissarin Lucas (2003-2007).The story of Wir sind das Volk is set against events leading up to the fall of theBerlin wall on November 9th, 1989 and follows an East Berlin woman whocourageously opposes the crumbling socialist regime. The series was shot withcameras, lighting and stage equipment supplied by ARRI Rental, reflecting the ARRIGroup’s ability to supply and guide projects of any scale through every stage ofproduction, from filming to final delivery.
While location scouting, Thomas Berger discovered that, “Berlin has received a complete facelift, to theextent that there is hardly an extended section of the Berlin wall to be found.” This left the director withlittle choice but to use sets and extensive location dressing to recreate the Berlin of the late 1980s. One particularly impressive set, which was a highlight of the production, was an almost 700-foot longreplica of a notorious stretch of the Berlin wall known as the ‘Todesstreifen’ (‘Death Strip’). This set included barbed wire, searchlights and spring-guns, and was built to create the authenticenvironment needed to film a failed escape attempt by the protagonist.
� DIRECTOR THOMAS BERGER prepares actorsfor a scene
� TODESSTREIFEN before and after the VFX adaptation
VISIONARRI
� ON LOCATIONActor Hans WernerMeyer (left)
Photo: © Sat.1/Dirk Plamböck
Photo: © David Baltzer
Creating a digital camera that produces cinematic images is no trivial undertaking. It takes leading edge technology, a strong research & development team and continued feedback from the field. Based on input from the manycinematographers, camera assistants and rental houses whohave worked closely with our film style digital camera in recentyears, we have taken a close look at all parts of the imagecreation chain and have re-designed the image processingsoftware. Combined with various internal hardware changesand optimized sensor timing, the ARRIFLEX D-21 emerges asthe most cinematic digital camera. All existing D-20 camerashave already been upgraded to D-21 status.
Image QualityProbably the most important change is the improvement to the D-21 image quality. While the D-20 was no slouch in this department, the D-21 images have an improved coloursaturation and increased sharpness. A higher MTF wasachieved by re-writing the image reconstruction (debayering)algorithm and by carefully fine tuning the interaction betweenthe optical low pass filter and the down sampling algorithm. A cleaner signal path, improved internal power management,the automatic correction of defect pixels through Defect PixelCorrection (see DPC sidebar) and the elimination of variousartifacts have led to improved low light performance. Colourmanagement Look Up Tables (LUTs) for 100, 200, 250, 320,400, 500 640 & 800 ISO equivalent are now available, inaddition to Log C and Log F.
Beyond its image quality, the D-21 is distinguished by itsoperational flexibility. The D-21’s unique construction allowsdifferent output signals to be generated, accommodatingdiverse production needs and workflows. In HD Mode, HDoutput options include Lin or Log, 4:2:2 YCbCr or 4:4:4 RGB and Normal or Extended Range.
Alternatively or simultaneously, the D-21 can output the rawBayer data. In Data Mode, the full resolution of the entire D-21 sensor can be utilized, delivering a larger image thanthat of HD, offering numerous benefits (see D-21 Raw DataMain Features) for productions.
ARRIRAWGreat strides have been made towards a feasible method forrecording raw data. The 12-bit ARRIRAW format contains theraw Bayer data and can be used up to 30fps. Connecting the D-21 to a suitable recorder is as easy as using two BNCcables, thanks to the ARRIRAW T-Link method, which packs theARRIRAW data into a standard dual link HD-SDI stream (seeARRIRAW T-Link). Close co-operation with manufacturers of data recorders ensures a method of recording and previewingimage data. ARRI software tools that are currently in beta testingcan process the ARRIRAW files through advanced imagereconstruction (debayering) algorithms. The ARRI software canoutput either an HD image or a 2K data file. The 2K data files areas easy to grade as data files scanned from film, since a specialcolour conversion matrix and LUTs in the ARRI software createdata files of the same pixel raster and film-like colourimetry as film scans.
ARRIFLEX D-21Based on extensive feedback collected over the last three years, we haveundertaken a major upgrade of our film style digital camera. While retainingthe same housing and the same sensor as the D-20, the ARRIFLEX D-21 showssignificant improvements to the image quality, simpler operation and newaccessories. Further new options include the ARRIRAW T-Link transport methodfor raw data and the use of anamorphic lenses.
An upgrade to the ARRI film style digital camera
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Anamorphic FilmingSince the raw data format transports all pixels of the 4:3 aspect ratio D-21 sensor, the D-21 is the only digital production camerathat allows the use of standard anamorphic lenses, expanding the creative choices of directors and cinematographers whochoose to work with digital images.
The D-21 sensor has a 4:3 aspect ratio, allowing the use of anyanamorphic lens. Here is the original 4:3 (=1.33:1) image from the D-21, shooting a test chart at ARRI CSC with an Optimo 24-290 and an anamorphic rear-adapter.
By stretching the image in postproduction a 2.66:1 image isobtained. The proper 2.39:1 aspect ratio can now be achieved by cropping the sides.
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ARRIFLEX D-21
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Easy Operation and UpdatesThrough suggestions from the field we have further simplifiedthe controls of the D-21. Even though the D-20 has alreadybeen praised for its simple operation, we know how high thepressure on the set can be, and how crucial a simple menuwith easy to understand commands is. The D-21’s frame ratecan now be set only once on the Video Menu, and the VideoMenu structure has been simplified for faster and saferoperation. For remote situations, it is possible to control
the camera from a laptop via an Ethernet connection. The LOCK sliding switch on the camera left side display willnow lock the buttons on that display, as well as the jogwheelon the back to avoid accidental operation.
Software updates can now be achieved through a simpleWindows program, and are being distributed through thesame method already successfully used for ARRI film cameras.
While modern image sensors are veritable miracles oftechnology, the very fact that they crowd millions of tiny picture elements (pixels) into the smallest possible spacecreates also some defect pixels. Careful quality control duringthe manufacturing process ensures that most pixels perform justfine, but some pixels provide no signal, some too much signaland others a signal with too much noise. Moreover, it isdifficult to determine when a given pixel will decide to go bad.This is an issue affecting all digital cameras, and while it hasbeen dealt with in the D-20 through a manual method forcreating a defect pixel map, it has been greatly improvedthrough a fully automatic defect pixel detection and correctionsystem (DPC) in the D-21.
The detailed functionality is complex, but the basic conceptworks like this: the D-21 constantly checks each pixel in eachframe against a reference field of surrounding pixels to identifydefect pixels. It does this based on the fact that even small
image details will bleed a tiny amount into surrounding pixels(see images). If a defect pixel is identified, the D-21 uses aspecial algorithm to replace it. At 60fps, the D-21 evaluates a staggering 42 million pixels per frame, that works out to 2.5billion pixels each second. Amazingly, the whole analysis andcorrection procedure works in real time. Thanks to theprocessing power of the D-21’s FPGAs (Field ProgrammableGate Arrays, essentially re-programmable computer chips), the DPC adds no delay to the image processing pipeline.
Because the DPC catches and replaces not only dead anddefect pixels, but also pixels that exhibit visibly more noisethan their neighbours, the D-21 gains the added benefit of avery subtle noise reduction in the dark parts of the image. As the DPC works automatically on each pixel of each frameas soon as the camera is turned on, there is no more humanintervention necessary.
Defect Pixel Correction (DPC)One of the obstacles that has stymied the use of raw data inthe past has been the problem of how to get data easily fromthe camera to a recorder. ARRI engineers have found a way toutilize a standard dual link HD-SDI connection to transport theraw D-21 Bayer data. This new transport method is calledARRIRAW T-Link (Transport Link). It allows any recordercapable of recording an uncompressed dual link HD-SDIstream to record raw D-21 Bayer data, greatly simplifying the raw data workflow for manufacturers and users alike.
The properties of the dual link HS-SDI connection are definedin SMPTE 372M. The standard specifies a maximum data rateof 2.97GB/s, which is enough bandwidth to carry the 12-bitD-21 raw Bayer data. SMPTE 372M also defines a number ofstandardized source signal formats to be sent through twoBNC cables (affectionately known as Link A and Link B).
One of those source signal formats is the RGBA format. RGBA stand for red, green and blue plus an alpha channel,technically called 4:4:4:4 (R’G’B’+A) / 10 bit. The ARRIRAW T-Link works by mapping the 12-bit raw Bayer data into this
RGBA data stream, so that it can be transported via a dual linkHD-SDI connection. Any recorder that is capable of recordinga SMPTE 372M-compliant RGBA signal and playing it backwithout compression or further encoding can record this signal. If the signal is recorded by a data recorder, the additionaloption of a live preview exists. The data recorder can extractthe original D-21 raw Bayer data out of the RGBA datastream, and use a real-time image reconstruction (debayering)algorithm to display the 4 : 3 image as a 1440 × 1080 previewHD image. If anamorphic lenses are used on the D-21 a suitably“de-squeezed” image can be displayed on an HD monitor.
A similar process is used in postproduction. The original rawBayer data is extracted from the RGBA stream, and advanceddebayering algorithms are used to reconstruct a pristine imagein HD or 2K. Doing this in post has the added advantage thatit does not have to be done in real-time, so a significantlybetter image quality and greater flexibility are possible. Notethat throughout the whole process, the image always staysuncompressed, at the highest quality.
ARRIRAW T-Link
Here is a 200 × 150 pixel excerpt from a D-21 image. The camera was looking at ablack piece of cardboard with tiny holes,some with red, green and blue gels, placedbefore a light box to create an image withvery small and detailed image content. Thepurpose of these images is to illustrate theDPC process. The actual DPC is beingperformed on the raw Bayer data, and thusdifficult to show.
A further zoom-in reveals a (simulated)bad pixel that hasturned completely green.It is easy to see here thateven pixel-sized detailsof image content lookdistinctly different from a defect pixel.
The DPC has identified the bad pixeland replaced it with a new pixel. Whilea simple averaging of surrounding pixelshad been tried originally, that turned outto be not completely invisible and tendedto “smear” the image content. So aspecialised algorithm had to be createdto ensure that the newly calculated pixelblends perfectly into its surroundings.
ARRIFLEX D-21 Data Recorder Postproduction
The D-21 VideoMenu in standardmode. A cleaned upmenu structuremakes operation ofthe D-21 on the setsafer and faster
The D-21 Video Menuin advanced mode
D-21 Raw Bayer Data
RGBA TransportStream Mapping File Formatting
HD PreviewImage RGB Image
Real-time Image Processing
RGBA Format
RecorderFile Format
D-21 Raw Bayer Data D-21 Raw Bayer Data mappedinto RGBA transport stream
HD Preview Image RGB Image
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D-21 Raw Bayer Data
RGBA Format
D-21 Raw Bayer Data
Recorder FileFormat Unpacking
RGBA TransportStream Extraction
ImageReconstruction
Non-real-time Image Processing
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Recorder FileFormat Unpacking
RGBA TransportStream Extraction
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AccessoriesA number of new hardware pieces complete the picture. A new shoulder set S-5 has been created specifically for the D-21. Similar to the ARRICAM shoulder set infunctionality, the S-5 can accept a quick release plate, which attaches directly to a tripodhead. Additional ground glasses for the 1.33, 1.78, 1.85 & 2.39 formats will soon beavailable. D-21 cameras can be equipped with the FEM-2 addition, which provides a built-in radio for wireless lens and camera control. The FEM-2 also contains motor driveelectronics, so the ARRI Controlled Lens Motors (CLM) can be plugged directly into thecamera without any annoying extra boxes. And last but not least, the SONY Fiber RemoteSFR-1 allows the remote control of a SONY HDCAM SR field recorder through the D-21’sfiber optic link SONY Fiber Interface SFI-1.
For us as an equipment manufacturer, developing a film camera and developing a digitalcamera are processes with interesting similarities and differences. While both share elementswe are very familiar with, like an optical viewfinder, a mirror shutter, PL mount lenses,similar ergonomics and accessories, there is a basic difference that required theestablishment of a whole new department within ARRI: in a digital camera we areresponsible for the actual image creation. The proprietary technology that creates the uniquelybeautiful D-21 images has now been given its own name: ARRI Imaging Technology (AIT).
AIT stands for the smart orchestration of acustom designed CMOS sensor, a finely tunedoptical low pass filter, a powerful imaginghardware engine and advanced imageprocessing algorithms. Each part of the D-21 iscustom developed to perform optimally in adigital motion picture camera, and thus we fullycontrol the D-21’s imaging chain down to thesmallest detail. This allows an optimisation of the whole system far beyond what would bepossible with off-the-shelf components. Inaddition, we are engaged in continuous testingand improvements to all parts and theirinteraction. Through AIT, the D-21 producesoutstanding images with a cinematic look andfeel, high dynamic range, high contrast and themost film-like colour reproduction of any digitalmotion picture camera.
ARRI Imaging Technology
The CMOS sensor inside the D-21was designed and developedspecifically for use in ARRI high endmotion picture cameras. Its Super 35size and 4:3 aspect ratio ensureperfect compatibility with theunequalled variety of existingspherical and anamorphic cine lenses.
The Functional Expansion Module FEM-2 contains motor drivers for lens motors, hardware andsoftware for the Lens Data System as well as a slot for an optional radio. With the Universal RadioModule URM-3 installed, the D-21 and its lens can be easily and quickly controlled by the ARRIWireless Remote System (WRS)
The SFR-1 can start (REC) and pause(PAUSE) recording of the SONYHDCAM SR field recorder. Inaddition it can play back a fewseconds of the last take (REVW) andshows when the deck is recording(green TALLY LED) or ready to record(blue READY LED).
The shoulder set S-5 has threecooling vents built into the shoulderpad that provide air to the D-21cooling shafts. A quick releaseplate can be attached to the bottomof the S-5.
A number of powerful FPGAs (FieldProgrammable Gate Arrays) constitutethe imaging hardware engine insidethe D-21. They are a crucialcomponent of ARRI Imaging Technology
D-21 Raw Data Main FeaturesSuperior Image Quality• uncompressed, unprocessed 12-bit raw Bayer sensordata (ARRIRAW)
• the output option with the highest dynamic range &lowest noise
• images are “developed” in post with AIT advancedimage reconstruction (debayering) algorithms
• decisions regarding colour space conversions andlook up tables are made in post
• upgraded image reconstruction can be applied toarchived raw data for better image quality
Use Full Sensor Resolution for 2K or HD Output• 2880×2160 (4:3) at 24 and 25fps• 2880×1620 (16:9) at 30fps• finer detail and crisper edges• 2K files have the same pixel raster and film-likecolourimetry as 2K scanned data from film
• easy, familiar post workflow• easy image reposition and cropping
Cinemascope• anamorphic lenses can be used
Flexible workflow options• simultaneous data and HD output possible for HDvideo monitoring & offline editing
• ARRIRAW T-Link: transport ARRIRAW data via duallink HD-SDI
• ingest converted data files to NLE
ARRIFLEX D-21 Main FeaturesOptical Viewfinder• zero delay • outside image area• bright, full colour image• works without power• fatigue-free viewing
ARRI Imaging Technology (AIT)• custom designed CMOS sensor• custom designed, powerful imaging hardware engine• unique ARRI image processing software• carefully tuned system integration
Cinematic Image Quality• AIT creates a cinematic look• rotating mirror shutter for film-like motion portrayal• single, Super 35 format sensor for 35 format depth of field• highest dynamic range of any motion picture CMOS camera• super sharp, alias-free images through over sampling, finely tuned optical low pass filter & advanced imagereconstruction algorithms
• extended colour space provides natural, film compatible colour reproduction
• consistent match between cameras
35 Format Film Lenses• industry standard PL mount• unequalled variety of prime, zoom & specialty lenses• compatible with spherical and anamorphic lenses (1.33:1sensor format)
Compatibility with 35 Format Film Accessories &Support Equipment• ARRI matte boxes, follow focus, wireless remote control• dollies, cranes, Steadicam, etc.
A True ARRI Camera• silent running < 20 dBA @ 24 fps, (no fan)• simple operation• robust construction• ergonomic design• variable speed (slow-motion, ramps)
Flexible Output Options: Data and/or HD Modes• simultaneous data & HD outputs possible• Data Mode: 4:3 ARRIRAW uncompressed data for film-like 2K workflow
• Data Mode: ARRIRAW T-Link• HD Mode: 16:9 uncompressed HD output• HD Mode: Lin or Log, 4:2:2 YCbCr or 4:4:4 RGB, Normal orExtended Range
• Data Mode: ARRIRAW T-Link• Fiber optic option allows cable lengths of up to 500m/1,600’
Modular Architecture• sensor, electronics & firmware can be upgraded• secure investment• long product cycle
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The lead characters in both Charleston & Vendetta (originaltitle: Carlston za Ognjenku) and Amélie are women. But unlikeJeunet’s delicate yet mischievous Parisian heroine, the sistersMala Boginja (Katarin Radivojevic) and Ognjenka (SonjaKolacaric) are tough women from the countryside. In the1920s they leave their village, which lost all of its maleinhabitants to war and blood feuds, and head for the big citytogether in search of men. The women, who remind us a bit ofBrigitte Bardot and Jeanne Moreau’s characters in LouisMalle’s western comedy Viva Maria!, rely not only on theirfirearms but also on the use of traditional, local magic.Stojanovic believes that his compatriots, “after years ofexperiencing feelings of apathy, emptiness and hopelessness,wouldn’t have been moved by a tragedy.”
Only six weeks after its Serbian release on January 31st2008, the national press reported that Charleston & Vendettahad sold 150,000 tickets, meaning this visual feast was on itsway to becoming the most successful domestic production of the last three years. For a film from this small, new country, stillsuffering the consequences of the recent war, this meant morethan a cultural victory. Recently, the online newspaper ‘blic’reported that the number of movie screens in Serbia has shrunkfrom 400 down to a mere 60, leading it to conclude that, “theimportance of a local film crossing the 100,000 viewer markcannot be overstated.” Producer Mira Tomic adds: “Our filmhas proven that if filmmakers are willing to go about their workdifferently, then we are capable of reviving Serbian cinema!”
Luc Besson introduced Charleston & Vendetta at the 61stInternational Film Festival in Cannes to a worldwide audience.For the international version he re-cut two of the five acts at hisParis film studio, Europacorp and also brought on board therenowned Japanese composer Shigeru Umebayashi. In thepast, Umebayashi has scored such classics as Wong Kar Wai’s2046 and In the Mood for Love, and recently completed Peter Webber’s Hannibal Rising.
Charleston & Vendetta was a first experience with DI for theSerbian production company Blue Pen. This, coupled with thefilm’s four million Euro budget, created a lot of pressure andsome uneasiness about the unfamiliar digital postproductionworkflow. However, the DI team at ARRI Munich, “believed inthe project from the beginning,” says ARRI Key AccountManager Angela Reedwisch, and guided the SerbianProducers Batric Nenezic and Milena Tomi through theprocess. The ARRI team worked with DI/VFX Producer PhilipHahn to combine about 400 VFX shots from various Europeanpostproduction houses. In the end, ARRI was responsible forthe lab as well as the postproduction work of Charleston &Vendetta and delivered the release prints including the theatrical trailers. �
Andreas Wirwalski
The fact that the colourful look and surreal mood of Charleston& Vendetta are reminiscent of the international box-office hitAmélie is no coincidence: Didier Le Fouest, the revered Frenchcolour grader, worked on both projects. After completing hisefforts on Charleston & Vendetta at ARRI Film & TV in Munich,Le Fouest remarked: “The DI workflow at ARRI is the best that Iknow of. I worked on the DI of Amélie back in 1999 and
know the postproduction houses Dubois and Éclair very well. As a Frenchman I don’t like saying this, but ARRI’s system is thebest.” The highly involved colour grading of the film took sixentire weeks to complete, but the final images wowedaudiences in local theatres and will soon do the same internationally.
TWO ROUGH-AND-READY SISTERSSAVE SERBIAN CINEMAIn his feature film debut Charleston & Vendetta – a visually stunning period piece with amagical quality – Serbian Director Uros Stojanovic shares his take on Serbo-Croatian historybetween World Wars I and II. The story and colourful look, created in a DI grading theatre at ARRI Film & TV, suggest an ingenious blend of Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s romantic comedy The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain and the wild Balkan films of Emir Kusturica. The film, to this day the most expensive Serbian production ever filmed, was co-produced by the FrenchDirector, Author, Producer and avowed European, Luc Besson (The Big Blue, The Fifth Element).
Photos: ©
Blue Pen
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Dubai-based ARRI Media rental partner FilmquipMedia is one of the Middle East’s largest rentalhouses, servicing the Gulf Cooperation Council(GCC), the United Arab Emirates (UAE), SaudiArabia, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait.Although Dubai is often portrayed as a hub for glitz and prestige, filming there is not always soglamorous; the shooting conditions in and aroundthe city can be quite challenging. Filmquip Media’sin-house Gaffer, Mark Sherman, regularly has tocontend with temperatures exceeding 50°C in harsh,desert environments that put equipment under threatfrom the elements. Not only that, but Dubai’s affluence has created other locations that are as luxurious as the desert is inhospitable and productions frequently make use of these two extremes on the same day.Such wildly varying filming locations mean technicians have to take extra care of equipment and paycareful attention to how it is being used and maintained; often gear must be cleaned, polished andessentially refurbished in the middle of a shooting day, under the relentless pressure of shooting schedules.
For Grips Alex Hudson and Michael Dix, one of the biggest problems is the desert sand, which becomeslike finely crushed chalk-dust in the high humidity and sticks to absolutely everything. When they lay anytype of grip equipment, such as track, legs and crane platforms, even stepping in the same area can causethe sand to shift drastically, which is something Alex never had to consider in his native UK. But, incommon with most technical crew, Alex and Michael agree that the greatest challenge is the extreme heat and humidity; just handling the equipment in 50°C heat and ingesting sufficient fluids is problematicenough, let alone producing work at the highest professional level.
Anthony Smythe, Managing Director of Filmquip Media and a DoP himself, recognizes that the climate and diverse locations make shooting in the region difficult: “The equipment is under constant stress and ourtechnical support has to be of the highest standard,” he says. “Working as a DoP you have to take theshooting conditions into account, not only the effect on the gear but also the crew. Getting a camerapackage to the top of a dune can take as long as getting an 18K to the top. Most of the time we cannottake the easy route as it is generally in our frame and we would want to keep the sand free of tracks.
“Digital filming is not popular in the region and 16mm is starting to gain ground,” continues Smythe. ”As there is no real drama industry in the UAE most of our work is 35mm and the ARRIFLEX 435ES is thework horse in this market. We need to have access to the best equipment because most of the DoPs weservice are from Europe and they expect the same standard as they get anywhere else in the world. Weare the only rental house that is a one stop shop, from Chapman/Fisher dollies to Technocranes, Tylerhelicopter mounts, underwater housings, motion control, gyro-stabilized heads, ARRIMAX, and of coursethe full range of ARRI cameras, grips and lights. Filmquip Media Crew has a full complement ofexperienced technicians on their books and are constantly training and sourcing new crew. It takes aspecial type of crew membe r to work in these challenging conditions. �
Lisa Buschek
Dubai. It seems to be growingin fame as quickly as it isgrowing in fortune. One canhardly pick up a publicationor watch the news these dayswithout this fascinating city,located in the heart of theMiddle East, being mentioned.In parallel with the city as awhole, the film industry in thecity and its surrounding areais growing. What once was adesert village location forsmall-time productions hasdeveloped into a hot spot fordynamic TVCs (televisioncommercials) and is slowlyattracting the attention of thefeature film market.
A reportfrom Dubai
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The story follows three ordinary mates whogo into a pub and get embroiled in aseries of trips back and forth through time.Our heroes frantically avoid multiple earlierversions of themselves whilst being chasedby a giant radioactive ant. They need tofind out who is trying to kill them and getback to normal time – that’s if the notion of‘normal time’ exists in this film! Along theway, Ray (Chriss O’Dowd) falls in love withCassie (Anna Farris) a woman from thefuture who has come to warn the guys of animpending disaster. Toby (Marc Wootton) isa serious film geek, and on hearing Ray’sstory of the woman from the future naturallyassumes he is pitching him a film plot. Pete(Dean Lennox–Kelly) does not believe anyof it until he discovers a time leak in thegents whilst singing Bonnie Tyler’s TotalEclipse of the Heart. He walks out of thegents to find a pub full of dead bodies.
Style of the Film Such an extraordinary situation lendsitself to a visual style that also goes toextraordinary places. Director GarethCarravich encouraged me to adopt a veryvisual approach while still retaining theordinariness of our character’s world. Thefilm has a kind of heightened naturalism.Gregory Crewdson’s photography bookTwilight was a strong influence, especiallyfor the lighting. There was a generalfeeling of wanting to avoid making a drabfilm with flat lighting and tentative design.
The look of the film was established byDesigner Kave Quinn. Much of the filmtakes place in a Victorian pub over thecourse of one night. The layout of the pub had to work so that the three versionsof the main characters could inhabit thesame place without seeing each other.Many of the different areas within the pub are crucial to parts of the story andthe design and lighting had to make each part feel separate and distinct. The audience then gets a sense of thegeography of the place.
We shot the pub interiors at PinewoodStudios and matched these to exteriors onlocation. The lighting for the pub interiorwas a very warm palette and top lit. Therewas a hint of blue light in the windowsmixed with some sodium streetlight filteringthrough. I tried to keep this slightly stylisedwarm and blue mix when it felt right. Weused practicals inside as much as possibleand gave a warm glow to complement thecolours of the wall.�
A report from DoP John Pardue about hisexperiences shootingwith the ARRIFLEX D-20
Frequently Asked QuestionsAbout Time Travel, a co-production between HBO andBBC Films, is both a comedyand science fiction film. It’s avery English take on timetravel, referencing films suchas Groundhog Day and Backto the Future. The comedyconcentrates on ordinarymale related issues so thatthroughout the fantasticjourney our guys are stillarguing about mundaneissues from their previous real world.
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT TIME TRAVEL
When we shot on location, the loom with all the various cablestended to be time consuming to re-route through different partsof the set, as well as the occasional repair. ARRI Media madesure we had lots of spares and their backup was terrific. Thecamera is pretty much the same as a film camera in manyways: it has a great viewfinder and the same control panel asa 435. It’s also wonderfully simple to operate: you only needto set the ASA and colour balance – and the stop, of course,but that was usually wide open. I ended up shooting on 320ASA, and 200 ASA when we did some green screen.
Another impressive aspect is the shallow depth of field, which issimilar to 35mm. At times it felt like there was less depth of fieldthan 35mm or perhaps the focus drops off more quickly. FocusPuller Jake Marcusson thought it was more noticeable whentrying to do a focus split on two people in the same shot (usingdepth of field charts for Cooke S4 and working to 1/1000 ofan inch circle of confusion). We often squeezed actors togethera bit to help some close splits that looked wrong.
The Astro monitor on the camera is a great help both forexposure and to look at the lighting with contrast. I used thebigger CRT monitor when I wanted to check the detail in theblacks and to really see what was happening in terms ofcolour balance. The CRT monitor is very low in contrast so the lighting often looked better on the Astro. There is the clever addition of an exposure graph on the Astro so that the exposure can be worked out with that rather than lookingat monitors which can be deceptive.
We did not get a chance to use the FlashMags for theSteadicam work as they were not quite ready. I think they wouldhave made a huge difference to the flexibility of this camera onlocation. As it was, we had to have a whole load of peoplecarrying cables and recorders – this was a bit of a performancebut it worked out fine and did not slow the shoot down.
Night and Day Exteriors The D-20 is very good at handling the exposure in exterior daysituations and I would immediately choose this high definitioncamera for a film with a lot of day exteriors or shooting in thedesert. It copes with bright skies and allows you to open up forthe shadow areas without the worry of blowing things out. Ifound that a sunny day did not look over-harsh and whiteswere very clean. In the past high def on a flat overcast day
has always looked like video, but the D-20 responds to flatlight in a similar way to film and the results were very good.
One night street scene, with a limited number of lightingoptions, is a good illustration of what we did. The shot was aSteadicam walk and talk lasting a good 60 yards; it was on a busy street and no overhead lighting or backlighting waspossible. I put a number of bright shop signs in the back of the shot, which gave me depth. We added Kinos of variouscolours from the shop windows, and a tracking balloon lighton a western dolly to give us the fill. The scene looks great and all the additional lighting really made a difference. TheDoP has to do a good lighting job for night exteriors and adocumentary available light approach would, I imagine, beless successful.
The D-20 and Postproduction The D-20 has remarkable keying ability down to a fine hair onthe back of someone’s head. Shots can be rendered quicklyand comps made on set for everyone to see. We graded thefilm at Dragon DI and the setup there is very good. ColouristGeoffrey Case really impressed me with his precision to detailand matching. I found the D-20 has a certain ‘look’ which Ilike; it suited this project and has almost become a part of the style of the film. On an artistic level, I have photographedthis picture in a different way than I would have done if it had been on 35mm film and I like the result which is a little different and suites the rather stylized nature of thephotography. I’ve always been a film guy from the first time I loaded up a magazine as a camera assistant. However, myexperiences with the D-20 have been my best experiences onhigh definition so far - mainly because it has solved theproblem of burning highlights and loosing detail in brightsurfaces which is still a problem of many high definitioncameras. I’m fond of this camera and will use it again. �
John Pardue
In the future, the derelict pub is covered in ash. I lit everythingwith large cold soft sources with some warm winter sun creepingthrough the gaps in the roof. Luckily the ambient daylight wasvery low when we shot the matching exteriors on location. Mylights had a lot more spread and I could replicate a low wintersun so that the studio and location are pretty seamless.
Choice of Camera – ARRIFLEX D-20 When the decision was taken to shoot high definition insteadof 35mm for, essentially, economic reasons we looked at theViper and the D-20 and made a choice from these. We likedboth cameras in different ways but felt that the D-20 was theright camera for this picture.
We tested the D-20 on the pub set and tried to work out howfar we could push it. I lit a very dark scene with hard lightspointing down on the bar, which were about three stops overthe key. In some of the background, there was no light at alland very little fall off from other lights. I placed a 100w lightbulb in front of the lens, which was not dimmed. A negativewas made and the test was printed and projected.
The results were very pleasing at the brighter end. The D-20handles highlights in a similar way to film with no bleeding ornasty video whites. The light bulb had a crisp edge and cleanwhites, while overexposed flesh tones were not as ugly as I’veseen on other high definition cameras. When we startedprincipal photography, I tried to get bright practicals in frameand exploit this aspect of the camera. In the gents toilet set, I created a top light made up of fluorescents and diffusion
frames. We were able to shoot into the source without it everbleeding out and ruining the shot.
Highlights look great on the D-20, but it’s a different story atthe bottom end. Underexposure is more difficult. Blacks aredenser than with film and dark wall surfaces fall off quickerthan film. It’s a case of lighting up the blacks and having somecontrol over the brightness of the backgrounds. (Since makingFAQ, the camera has been improved greatly in the shadowareas and now has a lot more latitude at the bottom end)
With proper exposure, the colour rendition of the D-20 is veryaccurate and worked well with the careful colour co-ordinationof costume and design. We tested all wall colours andwallpaper, as well as costumes, as to how they would handlewith the camera. The darker colours fell to black very quicklyand as a result, dark maroons and browns were made a littlebrighter. We avoided black in clothes altogether. By lighteningsome of the darker colours and working closely with thedesigner Kave Quinn, I saved some of the struggle of havingto independently light up the backgrounds. This can beawkward when using large ceiling pieces.
Although it is a comedy, we did want to create some very darkand menacing scenes. We wanted to create a mood withoutlosing the shadows to complete black. There is a “massacre”in the pub and Director Garath Carravich wanted a morethreatening atmosphere – something like a Caravaggiopainting in mood. I gave the “massacre” a painterly feel wherethe highlights are very bright and warm, and we kept somedetail in the shadows by adding just the right amount of fill.
D-20 – Studio and Location The main bar set was a relatively dark environment and I was able to use bigger sources above the set and achieve the correct amount of fill light to a higher level than I woulduse on film. I would not have been able to do this as easily in a location.
� DoP JOHN PARDUE hand-holds the D-20 as 1st AC Jake Marcuson pulls focus
� JOHN PARDUE lines the D-20 up for an exterior shot
“I FOUND THE D-20 HASA CERTAIN ‘LOOK’WHICH I LIKE; ITSUITED THIS PROJECTAND HAS ALMOSTBECOME A PART OF THESTYLE OF THE FILM.”
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Following extensive research andfeedback from rental houses, gaffers andother lighting professionals, the TRUEBLUE designs bring together end-userexperience with ARRI’s industry-definingexpertise to form a new core range oflighting fixtures incorporating the latesttechnology and materials. Offering awealth of cutting-edge features as well asreduced weight, compact size andmaximum light output, the True Bluescombine versatile functionality withefficient performance.
While the overall weight of the TRUEBLUE fixtures has been reduced by theiraluminium construction, there have beenno sacrifices to robustness. Manycomponents now offer greater strengthand resistance to corrosion; the paintfinish is more durable and the smoothlamp housing surfaces are easier toclean. The extensive redesign work hasprioritised quick and easy access tointernal parts such as cables andreflectors, which in turn has simplifiedmaintenance and repair.
A particular focus of the enhancements tothe TRUE BLUE lampheads has been theiradaptability to accessories. The tilt lockhas been dramatically improved by astainless steel friction disc that locks tightenough to eliminate the danger of forwardtilting when heavy, front-mountedaccessories such as Chimeras or colourchangers are in use. In addition, a newstirrup centre adjustment allows thestirrup to slide back and forth until it is positioned either at or near thelamphead’s centre of gravity, dependingon the accessories attached.
Another new feature of the TRUE BLUErange is the Stegmaier connector, a rotatable cable outlet that can be moved through 120° of turn. This easyadjustment swiftly adapts each lampheadto an ideal cable orientation for eitherceiling-grid or floor-stand mounting.
Several refinements have been made tothe barndoors of the TRUE BLUEs. Thealuminium alloy barndoor leafs are nowstronger, less susceptible to bending andfastened at the hinges by fewer andlarger bolts, which are easier to tighten.The leafs can also be moved withoutmaking any noise and do not projectlower than the base of the lamp housingwhen inserted vertically, which meansthat a lamphead can be placed on the floor without risk of damage to the barndoor.
ARRI’s new cross-cooling system,incorporated into the design of the TRUE BLUE range, has reduced the lenstemperature by 17% when the fixture is fully tilted down. While conventionalcooling is severely impaired when lamps are angled downwards, which in practice they often are, this systemovercomes the problem by encouraginga stream of air to pass around theFresnel lens and into the lamphead from the front.
The new TRUE BLUE range epitomises ARRI’s commitment to market-leading quality anddesign. Representing the next generation of ARRI lighting products, this fundamentalcollection of lampheads for studio and location applications has been redesigned downto the smallest detail and sets a new benchmark in professional lighting equipment.
ARRI TRUE BLUE
• Improved Tilt LockTight-locking friction disc prevents the forward tilting causedby front-mounted accessories
• Stirrup Centre AdjustmentSliding stirrup connection allows balancing at the tilt lock,with or without accessories
• Stegmaier ConnectorRotatable cable outlet suitable for both ceiling-grid andfloor-stand lamphead mounting
• Improved BarndoorA number of design refinements combine to make astronger, quieter and more durable barndoor
• Cross-CoolingA flow of air entering the lamphead at the lens reducesboth bulb and housing temperatures
• Easy MaintenanceEasier to clean and repair, TRUE BLUE units are alsoconstructed of longer-lasting components
TRUE BLUE Key Advantages
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During the mid ‘90s a VFX shot such asthe burning village in Joseph Vilsmaier’sSchlafes Bruder (1995) was somethingunique. Today the average feature film hasbetween 100 to 150 VFX shots, requiringabout three months of work.
Most of the time Jürgen Schopper’s workstarts with a storyboard: “The mainadvantage, from a production point ofview, is that working from a storyboardmakes budgeting easier and morereliable,” explains Schopper. “Sometimes,it even helps the narrative as well. Whenit comes to effect shots, it’s crucial to knowwhat you’re trying to say and to know itbefore you start to roll the camera.”
“What I enjoy most,” says Schopper, “is being part of the storytelling process,working with producers and directors tocreate something from the pages of ascript. It’s important to make sure that
everyone has the same visual ideas inmind.” The main tool for visualising isn’tthe computer, but a conventional penciland paper. The first rough sketches soonturn into full-blown storyboards. Then abudget is generated – shot by shot – and will continuously be refined as theproduction progresses. “Usually about adozen calculations precede the actualfinal budget of a feature film,” he says.
Schopper believes that effects are notused to spend money; on the contrary,they are there to save money. That’s whyit is important to focus on what is
ARRI Digital Film
Visualizing screenplays in his head, fleshing out their narrativestructure to aid the creation of a film – that’s what ProfessorJürgen Schopper, Creative Director of Visual Effects at ARRIDigital Film, does best. His work generally starts where a filmcamera’s ends and together with an experienced team ofproducers, 3D animators, compositing experts and colourgrading specialists, he makes sure that the confines of realitydon’t limit the virtual fantasies of filmmakers.
absolutely necessary for a film in orderfor it to work. “What distinguishes usfrom a simple service provider is the factthat here at ARRI Digital Film we see thecreative blueprint, the design itself, as amajor part of the service we render,which in turn creates a special connectionwith clients,” states the Creative Director.
Most viewers, depending on the genre,don’t even recognise VFX shots, which isoften a mark of their success. A schoolbuilding featured in Ute Wieland’s film Freche Mädchen was in fact shotduring the summer but was magicallytransformed into a snow-covered settingat Christmas time by ARRI’s VFX Team.
One genre that requires a differentapproach is that of fairy tales andfantasy films, in which the desired resultis to ‘wow’ the audience withspectacular visual effects. The viewerneeds to be impressed when the evilmagician Petrosilius Zwackelmann in theGerman fairy tale The RobberHotzenplotz (2006) flies through the airon his coat, or when the dragon in DonQuichote (2008) goes about his evilbusiness. “I like that sort of spectaculareffect much more than just helping to get‘reality’ across,” reflects Schopper.“That’s why I love working on kids’movies, because you can exaggerate toyour heart’s desire – you can create thebig images that draw viewers intotheatres and really delight them.”
Just like architectural blueprints, designsketches of proposed visual effects arescanned into a computer, 3D modelsgenerated (Maya/3DsMax) andsurfaces designed. A special team ofartists at ARRI Digital Film first renderlow-resolution animations for previewpurposes. Only after these are approvedcan fully-fledged computer images berendered. Later, they will be combinedwith background material duringcompositing on the Shake CompositingSystem to eventually create a full-blownanimation.�
“WHEN YOU’RE WORKING WITH JÜRGEN SCHOPPER YOUGET MUCH MORE THAN EXPERT TECHNICAL ADVICE. YOUALSO GET HIS TREMENDOUS CREATIVITY, HIS ABUNDANCEOF IDEAS, HIS IMPORTANT SUGGESTIONS, HIS CEASELESSENTHUSIASM, AS WELL AS HIS UNWAVERING COMMITMENT.THAT’S WHY WE HAVE WORKED ON ALL MY PRODUCTIONSTOGETHER FOR MANY YEARS NOW.”
Prof. Ulrich Limmer, Managing Partner collina filmproduktion GmbH
“JÜRGEN SCHOPPER UNDERSTANDS THE COMPLEX DEMANDS OFEVEN THE MOST SOPHISTICATED PROJECTS AND HISCOMPETENCE IN REGARDS TO CREATIVE DESIGN AND THEEXECUTION THEREOF IS UNMATCHED. WORKING WITH HIM ISWORKING IN A GREAT PARTNERSHIP IN WHICH NO ONE QUITSUNTIL THE RESULT IS NOTHING SHORT OF PERFECT.”
Ursula Woerner, Annie Brunner and Dr. Andreas Richter, Roxy Film GmbH & Co. KGVISUAL EFFECTSDESIGNING
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After finishing high school Schopperstudied design at the University ofApplied Sciences Nuremberg, at firstfocusing on illustration and typographybefore shifting his attentions having beenbowled over by Jurassic Park (1993).The tremendous success of the film led tohis school’s decision to purchase acomputer and software from Softimagefor its SGI department. It soon started tooffer a degree in computer animation,providing students with the chance tostudy the creative design of images – achance that Schopper didn’t hesitate totake up: “The courage to sit down at thecomputer came with my love of film. Ithought it was sensational that the schoolwas offering to teach us what we had
seen and admired in Jurassic Park,thereby allowing us to enter theprofessional world at a very high level.”
Fully aware that this was a time oftransition that revolutionised the filmbusiness, and continues to do so today,Schopper also knows that this period ofchange had a distinct affect on hispersonal biography. The new mediumoffered him the chance to take thetraditional techniques he had alreadylearned and apply them in the newrealm of virtual production design and storyboarding.
Another huge opportunity presented itselfto Schopper when the Universities ofApplied Sciences Nuremberg
participated in an actual televisionproduction. The digital special effects thatwere created for this production werethen sent to SIGGRAPH in Los Angelesand ended up winning the award for“Worldwide Best Student Animation.”
At that time 20th Century Fox waslooking for a VFX-Particle-Specialist.Schopper received a call fromHollywood and as a result went on tospend a year in the United Statesworking on digital effect shots for RolandEmmerich’s Independence Day (1996).The film set historic records at the box-office and won the Oscar® for BestVisual Effects.
On his return from the United States Schopper spent six months as a visual effectsconsultant on various film productions, during which time his path crossed with ARRI.He quickly realized that he wasn’t dealing with just another postproduction house:“To me, ARRI was, and is, the most interesting company in the business –technologically and historically, but also on a very personal level. An enormous poolof ideas is concentrated here in one location, coupled with the know-how of almost acentury worth of technological discoveries.”
Schopper spent the next three years at ARRI Digital Film as a Computer AnimationArtist and soon advanced to VFX Supervisor. In 2000 he was offered the position ofCreative Director. In his new capacity he began to work mostly on film productions,but also on projects for large events such as EXPO 2000.
The number of German, as well as international film productions, working with ARRIDigital Film has increased steadily. The credit roll of ARRI’s VFX department nowincludes over 80 titles, among which are all of Ulrich Limmer’s productions and alsofilms from directors such as Gernot Roll, Marcus H. Rosenmüller and Ben Verbong.
In 2001 Schopper was invited to join the faculty of the Georg-Simon Ohm Universityof Applied Sciences Nuremberg, where he now teaches film and animation in thedesign department. Both ARRI and the University recognize the value of combiningthe academic and ‘real’ world. Professor Schopper can bring new and emergingtalent to ARRI, where students can learn, while still in school, about the level ofexperience required ‘on the job.’ More than one of Schopper’s students have sincemade a successful transition into the international film business. “My students are avaluable resource. As well as their continuous input working on productions at ARRIDigital Film they keep me up-to-date about the newest tools and their capabilities,and help me stay in touch with the issues and concerns of the next generation.”
Schopper is optimistic about the developments the future will bring: “A lot ischanging in the business. Computers are faster now and software tools are morepowerful and easier to use. Something else that’s very positive is that screenplays are becoming more daring. Five years ago it would have been impossible to securefinancing for a TV production like Don Quichote. Its numerous effect shots thatinvolve creatures, often with a moving camera, have set a new standard fortelevision movies.”
Currently Jürgen Schopper is assisting the following projects: The Countess(Julie Delpy, X-Filme), Lippels Traum (Lars Büchel, collina filmproduktion) and Die Perlmutterfarbe (Marcus H. Rosenmüller, d.i.e.film.gmbh). �
Ingo Klingspon
“MAKING A FAIRY TALE COME TRUE, MAKING THE IMPOSSIBLEPOSSIBLE, THAT’S WHAT DRIVES JÜRGEN SCHOPPER. BUT HENEVER LOSES TRACK OF THE STORY TO BE TOLD AND IT’SNEVER ABOUT HIM OR ABOUT WHAT DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY ISCAPABLE OF. HIS PLAYFULNESS, COMBINED WITH HISTECHNICAL KNOW-HOW, IS WHAT MAKES HIM SO GREAT INMY EYES. AND JÜRGEN ALWAYS KNOWS HOW TO MAKEDIGITAL TECHNOLOGY AN EXCITING PART OF MY PRODUCTIONS.”
Ben Verbong, Director ‘Herr Bello’ and ’Laura’
“I DON’T HAVE TO THINKABOUT POSTPRODUCTIONWHILE I’M WRITING.BECAUSE TOGETHER WITHJÜRGEN SCHOPPER AT ARRIMUNICH WE CAN GET ANYSHOT IN THE CAN ANDALWAYS BE POSITIVE AND OPTIMISTIC!”
Marcus H. Rosenmüller, Director ‘Wer früher stirbt ist länger tot’ and
‘Die Perlmutterfarbe’
“I GOT TO KNOW JÜRGENSCHOPPER AS A VFXSUPERVISOR AND HE’SBECOME A CLOSE CREATIVECOLLABORATOR. HECOMBINES, IN THE MOSTWONDERFUL WAY,STORYTELLING WITH DESIGNIDEAS AND TECHNOLOGYPOWER. PLUS HE NEVERRUNS OUT OF IDEAS. HISCREATIVITY KNOWS NOBOUNDS AND HISKNOWLEDGE EXTENDS FARBEYOND HIS FIELD OFEXPERTISE.”
Ute Wieland, Director ‘Freche Mädchen’
“I REALLY APPRECIATE JÜRGENSCHOPPER’S CREATIVITY, HISEYE FOR THE ‘DO-ABLE’, ASWELL AS HIS FLEXIBILITYAND COMPETENCE… AND IT’SJUST A GREAT DEAL OF FUNWORKING WITH HIM.”
Robert Marciniak, Managing Partner,d.i.e.film.gmbh
“OUR PRODUCTIONS HERE ATKUK FILM ALWAYS INVOLVE360° FILM, MOTION RIDEAND STEREOSCOPY. WEOFTEN HAVE PROBLEMS THAT HAVE NEVER BEENDEALT WITH BEFORE. BUTJÜRGEN SCHOPPER ISALWAYS A COMPETENTPARTNER WHO SUPPORTSPIONEER EFFORTS.”
Josef Kluger, Managing Partner, KUK Filmproduktion GmbH
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VisionARRI: Oscar, how did youapproach your design for thelighting on American Gladiator?
Oscar Dominguez: Before the first series Isat down with the network and got asense of their expectations, as well asthose of the production company. NBC’smandate was that the show needed tobe massive and full of light and colour – a big look.
Basically the automated lights fall intotwo main categories – hard-edge lightsand wash lights, so you’ve got to thinkahead of time about the angles andbackgrounds, and pick different styles ofwash light to achieve an overall blanketof colour, with the hard-edge fixtures sortof chiselling bits out.
Once we’d set the big stuff, followingthe faces of contestants was mostly afollow spot gig. We needed to be ableto shoot anywhere, so we put arrays offollow spots all around the arena to giveus the flexibility to have key lights, backlights – everything. If we got in asituation where a crane obstructed thearray, we’d have someone run in with alittle ARRI Pocket Par and Chimera, on astick, and there you go.
VA: What systems were you usingto control all these different lights?
OD: On the first series we had threeconsoles – the Expression 2X, which wasrun by Gene Webber and basicallycontrolled all of the conventional lighting– the Maxis, Ruby 7’s, Pars and so on.The LEDs and VL 500s were controlledby a Grand MA and then the main rigwas on a Virtuoso, manned by WilliamMcLachlan, who made a realcontribution to the look of the show. For the second series we had the sameamount of money but almost twice therental time, so we had to sit down andfigure out how to create that look withfewer lights. We cut down to just twoconsoles – all of the conventional stuff onthe Expression and the rest of the rig ona Virtuoso.
VA: What other changes havebeen made for the second series?
OD: These are two very different shows,the first and the second. The first onewas done on a sound stage over atSony, whereas this one is done at theLos Angeles Sports Arena. And actually,I feel that even though we used half thelights, we’ve created a more dynamiclook because we have massive ceilings – it’s all black and much more ominous.The scale just feels larger; on the soundstage when you looked up you sawbeams in the ceiling but in the sportsarena it’s just black, so you can usethese fantastic low angles and it’s asthough the world has no end.
VA: You must have been workingwith a sizeable crew?
OD: The crew was a cavalcade of stars!My Gaffer Darren Langer wascompletely instrumental and I couldn’thave pulled this off without him; he’s justso good at managing equipment andpeople. At any given time we may havehad in excess of 25 electricians. SimonFranklyn was the Head Rigger and hehad his team, which was considerable.
VA: Does the lighting respond toaction cues during the games?
OD: We talked about that in meetingsbefore the first series and decided thatwhen a contestant failed to meet themark or got knocked off something wewould be bold and turn every singlelight in the rig to red. And then if acontestant succeeds in a challenge orbeats a Gladiator we put everything towhite and throw light all over the place.Actually it turned out to be a signature ofthe show and the light played anintegral part in making the whole thingfeel like a live event by really breathinglife into the audience and making themreact when things happen.
VA: You’ve been working withIllumination Dynamics for severalyears now. How would youdescribe the relationship?
OD: Oh, they’re like family. Otherdesigners I know just don’t have thatkind of rapport, but I find everybody atID so incredibly good to work with, it’svery family-like. And that’s the way Itreat my crew – we all break breadtogether, we go out to the pub together;it’s sort of like a Cosa Nostra type ofthing. Illumination Dynamics is anoutstanding company; I know I canphone them and tell them honestly that Ineed their help impressing a client on alimited budget and they’ll do it. No jobis too large and no job is too small. �
Mark Hope-JonesLighting the
Gladiatorial Arena
Now into its second successful series, NBC’s American Gladiators is a revival of theearly-nineties TV show format which sees contestants pitted against both each otherand resident bodybuilding ‘gladiators’ in physically demanding games and battles.For Lighting Designer Oscar Dominguez, the challenge was to combine the energy of a rock concert with the flexibility to light faces anywhere on the vast set withoutimpeding multiple cameras filming the action. Dominguez turned to long-timecollaborators at Illumination Dynamics in LA, who met his requirements bysubstantially increasing the company’s inventory of VARI*LITE 3000 Spots, VARI*LITE3500 Washes and VARI*LITE 500D Luminaires. Automated fixtures such as these,working together with conventional lighting, created the sense of spectacleDominguez had envisioned.
Oscar Dominguez discusses how he worked with theARRI Group company Illumination Dynamics todesign a lighting plan involving more than 600automated fixtures for American Gladiators.
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Commissioned by the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, where the 16thcentury work of art hangs, the short film was the idea of filmmaker Philip Haas, whoenvisioned the project as an attempt to inhabit the world of the painting and of theartist who conceived it.
The film will play in a continuous loop on a pair of screens facing one another, with the audience in the middle. While footage of the butchers at work plays on one,the other will depict the artist as he paints them – a view not shown in the painting.Carracci then leaves his screen and appears on the screen with the butchers.
By using moving images to depict the creation of The Butcher’s Shop, the museumhopes the painting will become an emotional experience that will encourage visitors to use the same sort of imaginative approach when looking at others in their collection.
Brought to life with actors in a London studio, The Butcher’s Shop was capturedusing the new ARRIFLEX D-21 in Data Mode supplied by ARRI Media in London.Behind the camera was Cinematographer Sean Bobbitt BSC, who had worked withHaas on The Situation (2006) – the director’s film about the war in Iraq.
Traditional ArtTakes Voyage intoNew Media
uncompressed data recorder from S.two. The recorder alsoprovides real-time image reconstruction of the raw data tosupply an HD preview image via an HD-SDI 4:2:2 link. ARRIhas worked closely with S.two to allow the company to recordthe ARRIRAW T-Link, for which S.two was granted ARRIRAW T-Link Certification.
Captured images are then developed in post. The raw Bayerdata is processed by sophisticated ARRI software andreconstructed frame by frame to create DPX files. Oncecreated, the DPX files can be loaded into any postproductionsystem. For The Butcher’s Shop they were taken to New York,where Haas lives, and grading was carried out at DuArt on aScratch system from Assimilate.
For Bobbitt the primary advantage of working with raw data is the fact that captured material is uncompromised by compression. “You are working with all of the pictureinformation straight off the sensor itself,” he states. “At nopoint is the data affected by compression, so you have thehighest quality material possible all the way through theworkflow. That gives you the maximum amount of latitude, inboth exposure and colour information, moving you more intothe area of film – in terms of the quality of the imagery and the potential for the manipulation of that information to createunique imagery.”
The end result didn’t disappoint. “The camera creates animage that is so clean and in this particular case – as we were recreating a historical work of art – actually adds to the viewing experience. It came out very painterly, which isexactly what we were looking for, so I’m very excited by the finished film,” concludes Bobbitt.
For the ARRI Rental Group the project provided the opportunityto put the camera’s raw data workflow to the test, for Haasand the Kimbell Art Museum it was a voyage of explorationinto new territory of interpreting art. �
Michelle Smith
The Butcher’s Shop, painted by Annibale Carracci in 1582, has beenrecreated in a 21st century adaptation using the ARRIFLEX D-21.
� CARRACCI’S 1582 PAINTING, The Butcher’s Shop
� DIRECTOR PHILIP HAAS (right) discusses a shot with DoP Sean Bobbitt BSC
� SEAN BOBBITT hand-holds the ARRIFLEX D-21 for a low-angle shot
� 1ST AC ERIN STEVENS busy at the ARRIFLEX D-21
Bobbitt had initially become interested in the potential of thefilm style camera after attending a presentation at the PlusCamerimage 2007 festival in Poland, which had included adiscussion with DoP David Higgs about his experiencesshooting Guy Richie’s latest gangster movie RocknRolla withthe ARRIFLEX D-20. “Having looked at some of the materialDavid Higgs had shot for RocknRolla I was intrigued andreally impressed with the quality of the imagery that was beingproduced in Log. I thought that theoretically it would onlyimprove in raw,” says Bobbitt. “As Philip was describing whatit was that he wanted to do, just the nature of the imagery,and the fact that we were going to be in one location in avery controlled environment – I thought it would be a reallyinteresting project to do in raw data capture.”
One of the issues that has previously stood in the way of theuse of raw data has been the problem of getting the dataeasily from the camera to a suitable recorder. Now, with thenewly developed ARRIRAW T-Link method, it is possible totransport the raw Bayer pattern data utilizing a standard duallink HD-SDI connection. During the shoot the raw Bayer signalwas recorded directly from the camera onto a Take2™
Photos: Andy Subratie
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Today postproduction houses are facingnew challenges due to the continueddigitalisation of film and soundrecording and the advent of digitalcinema workflows. The long-term storageof feature films and effects-driven TVmovies is a particular area of concern.There is still a lot of uncertainty as towhich recording systems and formats arebest suited for long-term storage,meaning the next 100 years or more.Many experts, who have seen countlessformats come and go over the years,doubt that the digital world canguarantee that data recorded for usetoday will be accessible in the decadesto come.
The Ageing Process of Colour FilmThe DI process, which has become thepostproduction standard at ARRI, endswith a film negative used to generaterelease prints. Three things happen withthis final film negative completed in theDI: it is used to create a release print(analogue projection), an HDCamSRMazband (TV/DVD) and a digital cinemamaster (digital projection). Occasionally,the DI version of the final film is printed a
second time onto colour stock forarchiving purposes. But the archive colournegative, like all colour film footage at allstages of analogue postproduction, issubject to an ageing process.
Even after processing, colour filmemulsion retains colour pigments fromorganic material, which, depending onthe storage conditions, are prone tochemical reactions. After 20, 30 or 50years the result can be unwanted colourchanges. The film industry received awake-up call as to the seriousness of thisissue in 1993 when The Walt DisneyCompany discovered the condition of its1937 animated classic Snow White. The original colour negative had fadedalmost beyond recognition and had tobe scanned frame by frame using whatwas then the brand new Cineon DigitalFile System. In the digital domain it wasfortunately possible to painstakinglyreconstruct the original colours of the film.
In order to prevent such potentialtragedies, the use of YMC (yellow,magenta, cyan) separation masters was introduced for all big and mediumbudget U.S. productions several decadesago. The separation master positive isgenerated from the edited negative,which contains all elements includingvisual effects, opticals and titles, and isexposed onto black and white stock.Though black and white, the separationmaster contains all of the colourinformation of the film because thecolour has been separated out into itscomponent elements. The mainadvantage of using black and whitestock is that it does not contain anyorganic components, only silver halides,which means it is highly durable. In fact,Kodak insists that their black and whitefilm has a shelf life of up to 500 years.
In a sense, then, we have now come full-circle and returned to the format that hasthe longest shelf life, but it has now beenintegrated with the high-tech equipmentand digital procedures (ARRISCAN/ARRILASER/digital colour grading) of the modern postproduction process.
Proven ConceptsIn the past, the edited film negative wasprojected through red, green and bluefilters, one at a time, and exposed ontoblack & white film. Just as during colourseparation in the repro-printingtechnique the red, green and blue tonesof the negative were converted into greytones on three different and RGB-separated black and white strips. Inorder to recombine the three film stripsand make a new colour negative, thethree prints were successively projectedto cumulatively create a complete colourimage that was then exposed onto film.This process required extremely preciseexposures and led to an increase of filmgrain as well as a slight imageincongruence and colour shift due toframe unsteadiness during projection.
One might reasonably ask why filmsshould not be stored digitally. After all,digital storage of a completed featurefilm (two to three-terabyte size data filesfor 2K resolution) on a hard drive isn’tvery expensive any more. This solution,however, comes with many risks in termsof data safety and management. It isnecessary to check and copy digital filesregularly; this is also true for data tapessuch as LTO, which ARRI uses as well.Another disadvantage is that due topossible writing and/or reading errorsthe data always has to be recordedtwice onto two separate tapes at thesame time.
Film, in comparison to all otherarchiving formats, has another majoradvantage: the information contained ina frame on the negative hasn’t beencoded using algorithms or modulationtechniques. Instead, the information isclearly recognisable as an image, areplica of what was filmed. That’s whyfilm continues to be the ideal format for long-term storage of film and audiorecordings.�
Making it last – preserving films for future generations with a separation master
100 Years and Beyond
ARRI Film & TV now offers a film-based option for the long-term preservation of feature filmsfinished in the DI – the separation master. ARRI views this viable alternative as a signal as wellas an appeal to both producers and film funds. The goal is clear: to preserve the cultural andcommercial value of film for generations to come by offering the only archiving method that isconsidered secure.
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VISIONARRI
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100 YEARS AND BEYOND
DI Data SafetyIn today’s industry the separation masteralternative is experiencing a renaissancein an otherwise digital age because themain goal is to store digital DI data forfuture use. The major US studios in LosAngeles began, quite some time ago, touse the colour separation method as asafety measure, so the creation of aseparation master is now a fairlystandard procedure there. One USstudio is storing its backup copies in aseparate area within a Pennsylvania saltmine; the films are safe there and can berecombined at any time.
ARRI is the first lab, not only in Germanybut also in Europe, to follow the US leadand create separation masters of all films finished in the DI – regardless ofthe acquisition format. At the end of the DI process films are available in 2K or 4K resolution. After all derivativeversions have been generated, includingthe release print and the digital master,three RGB prints are produced on ablack and white separation negative. A recombination test will then beconducted, to test the success of theseparation procedure, prior to sendingthe separation master to the archive for storage.
In the past a three channel, parallelprocedure for Y, M and C was used, in order to be able to recombine thesechannels using an optical projector,projecting all three images at once.Henning Rädlein of ARRI Digital Filmsays, “Today we assume that we will no longer have to go the optical route,meaning we won’t need to project thenegative in the future. Instead, thenegatives will be scanned in and worked on digitally.”
The ProcessFirst each individual positive is exposedthree times, generating R, G and Bframes that will be printed as aseparation master negative on 2232black and white stock from Kodak. The order is sequential – one colour-separated frame after the other. Allframes carry additional information suchas a tracking mark (for matchingpurposes), the film’s title, the exposuredate, as well as a frame ID. Before andafter each act break, a detailedoptically-readable report with instructionsin English is added (exposed onto thehigh resolution black and white stock).Later the lab will check the entireexposed negative mechanically forscratches and streaks, and make surethat the film was processed evenly. Forquality control purposes some of theRGB frames will then be recombined,including the first and last few secondsof each act.
Recombination TestsThe process of recombining works asfollows: the beginning and end of eachact are scanned in the ARRISCAN, insequential order. Each separate red,green and blue negative frame is thenscanned onto the hard drive. In the next step, using compositing software,precisely matched recombinations of thered, green and blue frames are used togenerate an RGB frame. The variousframes then simply have to be stabilised.In order to recreate the original contrastand colour, a 21-step grey scale isadded to the protocol at the beginningof each act; scanners used in the futurewill need this information as a referencefor the contrast range.
In the first tests conducted, only aminimal discrepancy of about 1 pixelwas noticed during the stabilisation ofthe image. This shows that the process of exposing (ARRILASER) followed byscanning (ARRISCAN) of a 2K image is off by only 1 pixel, which is aremarkable result. After a digitaladjustment during colour grading, usingthe grey scales, the initial image isrendered almost identically. There is,however, a noticeable increase in filmgrain caused by the process itself. Thereare several grain reduction systemsavailable, though ARRI choose not toremove grain digitally, for customerapproval purposes. As a matter of fact itis even possible to digitally add theoriginal grain structure of the emulsion(Vision2 etc.), but the team at ARRIbelieves that the decision to increase ordecrease the film grain is one thatinvolves altering the historical footageand should therefore be made by the client.
The only question that remains concernsthe recombination of frames in the future.Will the exposed black and whiteinformation be useable in 50 or soyears? “Digital systems keep changing,”says Rädlein. “Tape and data formatscome and go and that will continue tobe the case. I am certain, however, thatwe will be able to scan optical imagesin the decades and centuries to comebecause we will have to be accountablefor the millions of hours of feature films
stored on film in the archives. It willremain necessary to have an opticalsystem that can scan film negative. Most likely the optical process will beeven better understood, and high-resolution sensors will be built so thatblack and white negative can continueto be digitised to generate new digitaldata files.”
At ARRI, every effort is made to offer theseparation master service under the best
possible conditions, so clients areencouraged to complete their DI in 4K – the highest available resolution – whenever possible. “That’s when thevalue chain is used most efficiently,”concludes Rädlein. “Shoot on the bestpossible format [35mm], post the film in4K and archive the footage on aseparation master.” �
Romain Geib
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VISIONARRI
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First TestsHigh speed Cinematographer Jim Matlosz was the first to shoot areal world test: “The 416 Plus HSwas amazingly comfortableand ergonomically sound. OnceI started really working with it,the camera was super smoothand easy to work with. I didshots with a first and a secondAC and also shots by myself,there was no learning curve atall. It was super comfortable,everything was in the rightplace. I was very impressed.
Having everything integratedinto the system was absolutelyphenomenal. To have thatoption at any time to use thosefunctions without having to puton multiple boxes was great.Having the zoom control right off the body wasabsolutely amazing.
Being someone who lovesshooting on film, I would usethis camera for shootinganything from a narrative tomusic videos to commercials. I would definitely rather shootfilm than HD.
Right away you can see thelatitude in film, I don’t have toknock down lights. Everybodyalways tells you how easy it isto light HD, it’s just as easy ifnot easier with film because Idon’t have to worry about myhighlights. The combination ofshooting on Kodak stock on anARRI camera with ARRI lenses,I can be over several stops andI wouldn’t be worried.”
A Comparison of the 416 ModelsARRI 16 mm Product Range 416 416 Plus 416 Plus HSSpeed Range (fps) 1 – 75 1 – 75 1 – 150Shutter Angles (degrees) 45 – 180 45 – 180 45 – 180150 Degree Shutter Angle 1 yes yes yesSound (dbA) < 20 < 20 < 29Weight (Kg/Lbs) 2 5.5 / 12.1 5.8 / 12.8 5.8 / 12.8Viewfinder Quality +++ +++ +++Viewfinder Handling +++ +++ +++Viewfinder & Video Independent yes yes yesARRIGLOW multi-colour multi-colour multi-colourIntegrated Video Assist yes yes yesVideo Assist Quality +++ +++ +++Video Image Enhancement yes yes yesIntegrated Accessory Electronics no yes yesLens Data Display Plug 3 no yes yesTimecode yes yes yesMagazine Loads (meter/feet) 120 / 400 120 / 400 120 / 400
• Super 16 Format High SpeedFilm Camera
• 35-style Optical Viewfinder– bright, high contrast, high resolution– large exit pupil allows more eye movement– multi-colour RGB ARRIGLOW– accommodates wide diameter PLmount lenses– excellent optical quality with eyepieceextension
• High Quality Video Assist– excellent image quality– adjustable image enhancement
• Compact & Lightweight– small camera body– low profile design– 25 % lighter than 16SR 3
• Ergonomic Design– ergonomic shoulder cut-out– viewfinder removes quickly forSteadicam and remote applications– optional integrated radio & lensmotor drivers– split bridgeplate for fast switch fromtripod to shoulder
• Sound less than 29 db(A)
Main Features
ARRIFLEX 416 Plus HS
In 2006, significant improvements to Super 16 image qualitywere made through advances in lenses, film stock and posttechnology. This led to a remarkable renaissance of the Super 16 format and the debut of the ARRIFLEX 416 and 416 Plus cameras.
Since then the interest in and the use of Super 16 has grownwith more technological advances, pushing Super 16 evenfurther. New film stocks expand the exposure latitude of filmand new Ultra 16 lenses give cinematographers a complete setof nine Super 16 prime lenses from 6 to 50 mm. In post, the ARRISCAN will scan an oversampled 3K image for apristine 2K output, optionally with a wet gate and/or DICE.New degraining options make the images more palatable forthose finicky encoders.
Stunning Results in Super 16Super 16 is now routinely used for standard and high definitiontelevision productions, feature films, commercials anddocumentaries with stunning results. By shooting Super 16,productions gain many of the advantages of shooting film – the film look, its unsurpassed exposure latitude, natural colour reproduction, variable camera speeds, ramps, provenarchivability and film being the only worldwide acceptedstandard format – at affordable production costs. The small sizeand light weight of Super 16 equipment has the extra benefit ofeasy portability for fast-paced production environments.
High Speed “Plus”Based on strong market demand, we are now introducing theARRIFLEX 416 Plus HS. This new camera shares most of thefeatures that have made the 416 and 416 Plus so popular in avery short span of time. It sports the same 35-style viewfinder,high quality video assist, compact and lightweight build and thesame ergonomic design. Available only in a “Plus” version, the416 Plus HS is equipped with integrated accessory electronics.This eliminates extra boxes and cables needed for connectinglens motors and remotely controlling camera and lens throughthe ARRI Wireless Remote System.
The 416 Plus HS also uses the same magazines as the 416 Plus.Unlike the 16SR series of cameras, which needed differentmagazines for high speed, the 416 magazines have provencompletely up to the high speed task.
In order to increase the frame rate, however, three componentsof the camera had to be completely redesigned: the motor, theshutter and the suspension of the inner skeleton within the outerhousing. To pull film faster through the camera, a new motor had to be developed. Specially wound coils provide fasterrunning without increasing the size of the motor or the vibrationsit produces.
1) For 25 fps shooting with HMI, fluorescent and mercury vapor lights in 60 Hz countries2) Body, viewfinder, loaded magazine, video assist3) Lens Data Display can be connected to 416 Plus and 416 Plus HS for Lens Data Archive (LDA) use
On the heels of the very successful launch of the ARRIFLEX 416 Plus in 2006, we arenow introducing the ARRIFLEX 416 Plus High Speed, offering higher frame rates forslow-motion shots.
At higher frame rates, any vibration created by the camera can reduce imagesteadiness, and thus resolution. To ensure a steady image even at higher speeds, the mirror shutter of the 416 Plus had to be completely rethought. While the 416 Plus mirror shutter has already been dynamically balanced, the number of balancingadjustments for the 416 Plus HS mirror shutter was dramatically increased. Manymore tiny counterweights allow the ARRI camera assembly department to fine tunethe shutter balancing four times as accurately as was possible with the 416 Plus shutter.
Last but not least, the suspension between the 416 inner skeleton and the camerabody’s outer housing had to be made stiffer, again to reduce vibrations for a crisp andsharp image. All these changes combined make the 416 Plus HS the most advancedhigh speed 16 mm camera available.
Marc Shipman-Mueller
52 53
VISIONARRI
A shallow depth of field is an important narrative tool forthe cinematographer, and a feature sought after by otherformats for its cinematic quality
Name Type1 Aperture Close focus2 Length3 Front diameter Weight Horizontal angle of view4
Ultra 16 T1.3/6mm Distagon T* XP T1.3 to T16 0.20m/8” 91.6mm/3.6” 95mm/3.7” 1.0 kg/2.2lbs 90.22°
Ultra 16 T1.3/8mm Distagon T* XP T1.3 to T16 0.30m/12” 91.6mm/3.6” 95mm/3.7” 1.0 kg/2.2lbs 75.83°
Ultra 16 T1.3/9.5mm Distagon T* XP T1.3 to T16 0.30m/12” 91.6mm/3.6” 95mm/3.7” 1.0 kg/2.2lbs 66.34°
Ultra 16 T1.3/12mm Distagon T* XP T1.3 to T16 0.30m/12” 91.6mm/3.6” 95mm/3.7” 1.0 kg/2.2lbs 55.32°
Ultra 16 T1.3/14mm Distagon T* XP T1.3 to T16 0.30m/12” 91.6mm/3.6” 95mm/3.7” 1.0 kg/2.2lbs 48.17°
Ultra 16 T1.3/18mm Distagon T* XP T1.3 to T16 0.30m/12” 91.6mm/3.6” 95mm/3.7” 1.2kg/2.6lbs 37.88°
Ultra 16 T1.3/25mm Distagon T* XP T1.3 to T16 0.30m/12” 91.6mm/3.6” 95mm/3.7” 1.2kg/2.6lbs 27.82°
Ultra 16 T1.3/35mm Planar T* XP T1.3 to T16 0.35m/14” 91.6mm/3.6” 95mm/3.7” 1.1kg/2.4lbs 20.46°
Ultra 16 T1.3/50mm Planar T* XP T1.3 to T16 0.40m/16” 91.6mm/3.6” 95mm/3.7” 1.2kg/2.6lbs 14.76°
Ultra 16 Specifications
(1) T* XP is the trademark for the improved Zeiss anti-reflex lens coating that reduces flaring and other reflections. XP stands for extended performance. (2) Closefocus is measured from the film plane. (3) Measured from lens mount to lens front. This measurement shows how far the lens will protrude beyond the camera body.(4) Horizontal angle of view for a Super 16 camera aperture (DIN 15602 and ISO-5768-1998, aspect ratio 1:1.66, dimensions 12.35 mm × 7.5 mm / 0.486” ×0.295”). All data subject to change without notice
Main Features• Complete Set of Nine Close Focus Super 16 Primes– 6, 8, 9.5, 12, 14, 18, 25, 35 & 50 mm
• High Speed – T1.3– for complete control over depth of field– for shooting in low or available light– for natural looking images– for fast-paced production environments– for tight lighting budgets
• Highest Optical Performance– high contrast and resolution– T* XP coating ensures flare resistance– image geometry free of distortions evenat wide angles– minimised chromatic aberration– minimal breathing
• Smooth & Robust Mechanics• Matches other ARRI / Zeiss Lenses– same size & ergonomics as Ultra Primes– Super Colour Matched to Ultra Primes,Master Primes, Variable Primes &Lightweight Zoom LWZ-1
New Long Ultra 16 LensesARRI and Zeiss have again combined their expertise to extend the Ultra 16 lens set with four long focallengths. In addition to the existing 6, 8, 9.5, 12 and 14 mm lenses, cinematographers can now also use18, 25, 35 and 50 mm Ultra 16 lenses. Thus the Ultra 16 lens set consists of a total of nine high speed(T1.3) lenses designed specifically for the Super 16 format.
The first five Ultra 16 lenses wereintroduced in 2006 together with theARRIFLEX 416. They were originallymeant as wide-angle additions to theUltra Prime lens set. Since then, usershave quickly adopted these lenses andfound their optical quality, close focusperformance and high speed irresistible,resulting in frequent requests for longerfocal lengths.
Like the Master Primes, the Ultra 16lenses combine high speed withoutstanding optical performance. Awidest stop of T1.3 allows shooting inlow or available light to create morenatural looking images and a cinematiclook including, where necessary, ashallow depth of field.
Cinematographers used to pay dearlyfor high speed with reduced optical
performance and increased flaring. The Ultra 16 lenses, like the MasterPrimes, change all that by combiningfast speed with outstanding opticalperformance at all T-stops across thewhole focus range. This previouslyunattainable goal was made possiblethrough new manufacturing techniques,including the use of exotic glassmaterials, large diameter asphericallenses and radically shaped sphericalsurfaces. The Ultra 16 lenses exhibithigh contrast, high resolution, almost nochromatic aberration (colour fringes) anda great resistance to flaring. They aredesigned as close focus lenses, and soretain their outstanding optical qualitieseven up close.
The new T* XP multi-layer anti-reflectioncoating reduces flares and internal
reflections and creates a pleasing, gentle colour balance. Compared toconventional coatings it has a bettertransmission and a more uniformperformance from optical center all theway to the edges, resulting in highercontrast and deeper, richer blacks. TheUltra 16’s round iris opening leads toorganic-looking, pleasing out-of-focushighlights, and careful optical designensures minimal breathing.
The Ultra 16 lens scales are distinctlycolour coded to avoid confusing thedifferent lens types. The Ultra 16 lensesare equipped with yellow scales forfocus and aperture, while the UltraPrimes traditionally have white scales.The Ultra 16 lenses also have a bluering next to the PL mount, while the Ultra Prime barrel is completely black.
The Ultra 16 lenses are now the only complete set of carefullymatched modern lenses for the Super 16 format, equaled by noother Super 16 lens in optical performance. All nine Ultra 16lenses cover the whole Super 16 format and are fullycompatible with the optical quality, colour balance and
ergonomics of the other ARRI/Zeiss lenses. The Ultra 16 lensesare the perfect companions to the ARRIFLEX 416, 416 Plus and416 Plus HS.
Marc Shipman-Mueller
VISIONARRI
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The digital slow-motion department at ARRI Media in Londonhas enjoyed another diverse and successful six months ofsupplying Hi-Motion cameras for the television coverage ofprestigious sporting events around the world. Capable ofrecording true 1920x1080 HD images at up to 300fps, the Hi-Motion is gaining popularity with sports broadcasters for the incredibly detailed slow-motion images it delivers. Thecameras can be seamlessly integrated with standard outsidebroadcast (OB) systems and are frequently used for technicalanalysis during live action and breaks in action, as well as fordramatic highlight montages. Hi-Motion cameras continuouslyrecord a 22-second loop to an integrated RAM recorder whilesimultaneously providing a live feed. As soon as that live feed is cut by an operator, the preceding 22 seconds of footage areavailable for instant replay, slowed down by a factor of 6x or 12x.
Later in the year ARRI Media will be sending seven Hi-Motioncameras to cover the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Inpreparation for what will be the largest slow-motion project thecompany has undertaken, ARRI Media’s Digital High SpeedManager Andy Hayford travelled to Beijing in April with asingle camera for a test shoot of a marathon. “We filmed areal race, but for us it was primarily a practical, logistical andcommunications rehearsal to see if various things would work,including having a high-speed camera on a vehicle,” explainsHayford. “The Hi-Motion was on a gyro-head mounted on acar and was one of up to seven separate cameras – some onmotorbikes and helicopters – that were all transmitting digitalHD to antennas on the camera car. In the front footwell was acamera operator who operated the two gyro-heads on the car.In the back was the Hi-Motion technician and a director with asmall vision mixer who was cutting between all those differentfeeds. No-one’s done it quite like that before, but it workedreally well.”
The client, BOB (Beijing Olympic Broadcasting), was ecstaticwith the results of the test run and confirmed their booking ofseven Hi-Motion cameras for the games. “The cameras will beused to film slow-motion footage of a wide range of events,”continues Hayford. “We’ll be covering the marathon, thetriathlon, cycle road racing, indoor velodrome cycle racing,mountain biking, fencing, table tennis, athletic field events,badminton and gymnastics. For a lot of those events audienceswill not have previously seen footage any slower than the 3x slow-motion typical of sports coverage.”
The most significant individual client for ARRI Media’s Hi-Motion cameras is Sky Sports, which airs a vast array oftelevised events ranging from Friday night boxing to rugby inthe Guinness Premiership and Heineken Cup. However, theirbiggest Hi-Motion job of the last six months has been thePremier League football. “We have supplied a great manymatches during the current Premiership season for Sky Sports,”says Hayford. “The fact that ARRI Media’s inventory of Hi-Motion cameras has increased from one to ten over thecourse of a single year has allowed us to supply such a largenumber of matches. Each game only requires one camera, but there might be up to three games in a single week, so weneed a lot of equipment.”
Sky almost invariably takes the Hi-Motion cameras out on dryhire because they have such extensive and established OBresources. The only exceptions to this are events that requirean unusual approach or solution, one example being theSolheim Cup golf tournament in Sweden late last year. “The director wanted the high speed camera to travel quicklybetween numerous locations around the 18-hole course,” saysHayford. “It would have been a logistical nightmare to put inmultiple SMPTE ‘drops’ over the large distances involved, sowe built the Hi-Motion into a golf buggy that ran off batteriespowering the system through an inverter and did the replaysvia a digital link from the buggy back to the trucks. We werecompletely mobile and it worked very well; they’re doing thesame thing for the US Open this year.”
Televised equestrian sport has also benefited from the addedelement of dynamic slow-motion footage provided by theHi-Motion. For the last two years Sky has hired a camera forthe international show jumping at Hickstead, which is one ofthe big events of the equestrian calendar. Shots of horsesjumping obstacles at 300fps have proved so popular that Skyis interested in taking two cameras in 2008. The productioncompany High Flyer also turned to ARRI Media to provide Hi-Motion coverage of horse races including the CheltenhamGold Cup over four days of the Cheltenham Festival Week,which was broadcast on the UK’s Channel 4 in March. For thisjob ARRI Media sent the camera with its own designated van,which was positioned close to the Hi-Motion on a remotestretch of track and transmitted HD images to the main OB hubvia an RF link, thereby doing away with the 2km of fibre whichwould otherwise have been necessary.
ARRI Media has continued to do Hi-Motion work for anotherwell established client over the last six months – the BBC.Again, it is football that has utilised the system mostextensively; the BBC hired Hi-Motion cameras for various FA Cup matches, including the final at Wembley in May.Following this the Hi-Motion is set to enliven the BBC’scoverage of Wimbledon, the hugely popular internationaltennis championship, in June and July. �
Mark Hope-Jones
Around the World at 300fps
A Hi-Motion sporting roundup
� A MARATHON IN BEIJING where the Hi-Motion was mounted to amoving vehicle for the first time
� THE SOLHEIM CUP international golf tournament for women in Sweden
� A PREMIER LEAGUE football match at Manchester United
� HORSE RACING at Cheltenham
�
5756
Under the supervision of Florian ‘Utsi’Martin (previously Lead Digital Colouriston The Lord of the Rings trilogy), ARRI isintroducing its clients to digital colourgrading on Baselight HD software.
Until now, commercial production housesin Germany have not given digitalgrading adequate thought. DoP’sworking on feature films have long beenaccustomed to finishing their films usingsoftware-based grading tools, but havenot had access to these tools duringcommercial postproduction. That’s whyARRI has decided to spearhead theintroduction of software-based tools tothe world of commercials.
Now ARRI Film & TV Commercial notonly offers traditional telecine on Spiritbut also the tremendously powerful DI onBaselight HD, software from Londonbased postproduction specialistsFilmLight Ltd. The ARRI Commercial teamstrongly believes that the new system willredefine the colour grading process inEurope’s commercial postproductionworld. “We now have a system at ourdisposal that allows us to finish allformats digitally without compromisingresolution or colour depth,” states PhilippBartel, Head of ARRI Commercial.
A vast amount of experience with digitalsoftware-based grading systems meansMartin is the perfect choice to lead theendeavour. Between 1998 and 2001 heworked for ARRI Munich as a DigitalFilm Compositor before heading to New Zealand to The PostHouse Ltd., in Wellington. There he played animportant part in Peter Jackson’sgroundbreaking The Lord of the Ringstrilogy, helping to shape the Lustresystem and redefine the colour gradingprocess for feature film production.Martin then returned to ARRI as aconsultant in 2005 and spent most of2007 freelancing as a colour grader oninternational commercial productions inScandinavia, Turkey and Germany. In2008 he began to focus all his attentionon introducing digital colour grading onBaselight HD to ARRI’s commercialclients and is responsible for thetechnical implementation of the newsystem, focusing on the optimisation of workflows and the training of colour graders.
Although the workflow of the BaselightHD based colour grading process isdifferent compared to that of theanalogue telecine process it will notadversely affect the timelines ofcommercial productions. All that reallyhappens is a shift in the workflow itself,
due to the use of a different system.Now, with the availability of Baselight,all footage is digitally scanned onto ahard drive using the ARRISCAN. Oncethe footage is stored on a hard drive in2K, 1K or HD, a lot of time can besaved during the actual creative processas entire sequences of material can beaccessed with a simple mouse click.Another time-saving advantage of havingall the footage available on a hard driveis that reel changes or fast forwardingare no longer necessary. The colourdepth of scanned material (10-bit Log) isalso much closer to that of the originalimage, due to the ARRISCAN’slogarithmic transfer system.
ARRI Commercial is looking forward tothe challenges that the new Baselight HDbased system will bring: “We areentering a new era in the world ofcommercial production,” commentsBartel. “We are now able to createentirely new looks, which werepreviously unachievable due to thelimitations of traditional grading tools.Our clients will experience more creativefreedom and be able to get much closerto producing their vision. It’s a chancefor agencies, in collaboration with theirdirectors and DoPs, to create images thathave never been seen before.”
ARRI enters new era in commercial postproduction
“OUR CLIENTS WILL EXPERIENCE MORECREATIVE FREEDOM AND BE ABLE TO GETMUCH CLOSER TO PRODUCING THEIR VISION”
Digital Grading onBaselight HD UPDATE
PRODUCT
Sporting an easy-to-use touchscreen userinterface, the recently developed WRC-2extends and simplifies wireless cameracontrol options.
Compatible with all new generation ARRIFLEX and ARRICAM cameras, the WRC-2 combines thefunctions of previous units such as the RCU-1 andWRC-1 with a number of entirely new features. TheWRC-2’s range of functions automatically adapts tothe camera it is being used with. The touchscreenuser interface makes remote-controlling faster andeasier than ever before. Since its functionality issoftware-based and therefore expandable, the WRC-2 is the most versatile remote control unit ARRI has ever built.
The main menu offers three different operation modes:
• Camera Control permits adjustments to the speedand shutter angle of the camera
• External Display emulates the display on the sideof pre-ARRICAM new generation cameras
• Ramp Mode facilitates compensation for in-shotchanges of speed, shutter or iris
Uniquely, the WRC-2 automatically calculates thecorrect exposure value for given ramps based onlight measurements made by the DoP on set. All ofthe ramp data can be entered with the help of theRamp Control Menu, guiding the user through thesometimes complex process of programming a
ramp. This makes the WRC-2 a very powerful toolfor providing unprecedented levels of exposuresafety and precision while saving time on set.
The WRC-2 works with the ARRI Wireless RemoteSystem (WRS) and attaches to the Wireless MainUnits WMU-2 and WMU-3, which act astransmitters. It can also be wired to an ARRIFLEX orARRICAM camera either directly or via a WirelessHandgrip Attachment WHA-2 or WHA-3 using astandard LCS cable.
The WRC-2 can automatically make exposurecompensations for speed, iris and shutter ramps. Inorder to compensate for speed or shutter ramps withthe iris, a CLM-1 or CLM-2 motor is attached to thecamera and the mounted lens selected in the LensManager. This is done automatically when using LDSlenses (Master Primes or LDS Ultra Primes), while forother lenses an Iris Table can easily be programmedand then stored in the WRC-2 internal memory.
Being software-based, the WRC-2 can be continuallyupgraded. Newly released software updates andmodules can be uploaded simply by connecting aUSB memory stick to the WRC-2 mini-USB port, sothere is no need to carry a laptop to the set.
In addition, there is downloadable WRC-2 simulatorsoftware on the ARRI website, which allows users tobecome familiar with the interface before evensetting hands on the unit (www.arri.com/wrc-2).
Introducing the New WirelessRemote Control WRC-2
WRC-2 CompatibilityCamera Item (Accessory) Software Packet CompatibilityARRICAM Studio, Lite Packet 04C or later YES435 Xtreme Packet 03C or later YES435 Adv. + FEM-2 Packet 03C or later YES, FEM-2 necessary435 ES + FEM-1 Any YES, FEM-1 necessary235 Any YES535A Any Not supported (use RCU-1 / WRC-1)535B Any YES416 Standard, Plus Packet 02D or later YES
or Plus HS16SR3 Standard or HS Any YESUMC-3 Packet 02C or later YESD-21 + FEM-2 Available shortly YES, FEM-2 necessary
VISIONARRI
� FLORIAN ‘UTSI’ MARTIN
5958
MOMENTS IN TIME A retrospective of ARRIFLEX
cameras at work on milestoneproductions
Though only 26 years old, Šofr was by 1966 already an experiencedcinematographer, having made adocumentary, several shorts and a featurefilm, which he shot with ARRIFLEX cameras.“It was during the second year of mycompulsory military service when I wasasked by the highly regarded director KarelKachyna to collaborate on a black and whiteCinemaScope feature,” recalls Šofr. “It wascalled Long Live the Republic (1965) and
was based on a novel by Jan Prochazka, who later fellvictim to the communist regime. This film was for me more than just
good training for Trains. I used the opportunity to employ the 2.55:1 formatfreely, creatively and enthusiastically; such an approach enabled me to use two non-
sync sound ARRI IICs, both equipped with a set of quite new monoblock CinemaScopelenses, the widest being a 35mm. After this very good experience I decided to use an ARRI IIC
with a blimp to shoot Trains, which I started in the winter of 1966 with my schoolfellow Jirí Menzel.”
The ARRI 120 and 300 blimps were introduced in the 1950s to allow sync sound filming with ARRIFLEX 35II series cameras. In those days, 35mm cameras that ran quietly enough to allow the simultaneous recording of
sound on set were limited to bulky studio models such as the Mitchell BNC. The ARRI blimps enabled crews to usejust one camera both for shooting wild, in situations where the 35 II’s light weight and small size overrode noiseconcerns, as well as dialogue scenes for which the relatively heavy blimp was less of an encumbrance. “The blimp wasused because my generation of directors were beginning to insist on sync sound shooting,” explains Šofr. “The ARRI 35 IIC,even inside its blimp, was not clumsy in comparison with some bigger cameras and the sound people were satisfied.”
On Closely Observed Trains, the IIC remained blimped for the majority of the shoot because this mode of filming suitedMenzel’s desire to combine traditional, understated camerawork with a strong sense of realism: “The blimp matched thevisual concept of this movie perfectly,” continues Šofr. “Image composition in the majority of situations was intentionallyderived from an old style of framing – similar to the work of pioneers during the silent era. Dominant lines within the imagewere mostly parallel with the frame edges and very rarely diagonal; figures were placed rather freely in the space withouttoo much respect being paid to rules or the routine style.”
Unlike the cinematographer’s previous, anamorphic project, Trains was shot with spherical lenses and an aspect ratio of 1.37:1.Prime lenses manufactured by Cooke were used for every set-up, due to a strong aversion Menzel harboured at that time againstzooms. “Thanks to this film being made during that fortunate epoch preceding the advent of pseudo-widescreen films, I was ableto use the Academy frame both creatively and playfully,” says Šofr. “The playfulness was concerned mostly with imagecomposition and was made possible by the fact that these were the days when the rule ‘what you compose is what you geton the cinema screen’ was actually reliable.”
Šofr wanted to augment the realism of sync sound filming with his photography and realised that lighting was the areawhere he had the best opportunity to do so, given the decision to opt for a fairly staid approach to cameraworkand composition. “The concept of the lighting and image tonality was developed carefully and strictly respectedthe character of illumination in real interiors,” he says. “HMI sources were not available, so the strongestsources were provided by carbon-arc lamps, mostly pointed through windows and of course heavilydiffused. The effect of sharp edges produced by lampshades in night scenes was simulated withhalogen-bar lamps called Ampdiodes, which were 1500W and 2000W. We also used
simple halogen 800W and 1000W units, which were usually bounced fromreflectors. Extremely low-light scenes were accomplished thanks to
the newly available and fast Orwo NP 7 film stock, whichreplaced the previous Ultra-Rapid Agfa and which
we used throughout.”
Cinematographer Jaromír Šofrand Director Jirí Menzel, Czechfilmmakers who first met atschool and have since workedtogether on 12 films spanningfive decades, were honoured at the Plus Camerimage 2007festival in Poland with a SpecialDirector-Cinematographer Duo Award. Their earliestcollaboration was on CloselyObserved Trains, Menzel’s debutfeature, which was first releasedin late 1966 and graduallygained international momentum,eventually winning an Oscar twoyears later in the category of
Best Foreign Language Film. Setduring the Second World War, thefilm centres on a small, provincialrailway station in occupiedCzechoslovakia where a youngtrain dispatcher’s preoccupationswith girls and the desperatedesire to purge himself of hisvirginity are tragically overtakenby wider social issues. A deeplyaffecting and yet irreverentlylight-hearted film, Trains standsout as an example of the heightsreached by the Czech New Wavebefore it petered out in the wakeof the August 1968 Sovietinvasion of Czechoslovakia.
Closely Observed TrainsAn ARRI Blimp rides the Czech New Wave
CLOSELY OBSERVED TRAINS
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VISIONARRIMOMENTS IN TIME
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Although a good deal of Trains was shot on location, some ofthe interior scenes required sets to be built on a sound stage.“The location shooting was complemented by filming done in astudio at Barrandov,” says Šofr. “We used a similar lighting styleto that on location, by which I mean very realistic – no backlight,no eye-light, just strict directional logic and a believable, diffusedstyle. As for the lighting contrast, I used as high a ratio as theproperties of the black and white emulsion allowed.”
While Šofr has fond memories of working with an ARRIFLEX35 IIC and ARRI Blimp 120 on his breakthrough film, he hasenjoyed keeping up with the many technical advances thathave punctuated his long and distinguished career since then.Most recently, he and Menzel worked together on I Served theKing of England, which was shot on an ARRICAM Studio andreleased in 2006. Like Trains, this film is based on a novel bythe Czech author Bohumil Hrabal and subtly blends thetragedy and bittersweet comedy of ordinary lives interruptedby extraordinary events. It has won awards at film festivalsaround the world, including Czech Lion awards for Menzel’sdirection and also Šofr’s cinematography, which took fulladvantage of the latest equipment available from ARRI: “TheARRICAM Studio served our last project very reliably and wasequipped with a wide range of lenses, from Ultra Primes toVariable Primes,” enthuses Šofr. “There were opportunities toemploy all of the features of this camera, including frame rateadjustments with shutter angle compensation.”
Though the production team had wanted to again shoot atPrague’s famous Barrandov Studios, which has been one of thebiggest studios in Europe since the war, they found that thefacility was too busy with international films to accommodatethem. “The Barrandov Studio complex has changedsignificantly since we shot Trains,” says Šofr. “But the changehas not brought too many advantages for Czech nationalcinema, as is demonstrated by the fact that there wasn’t asingle stage available for the shooting of I Served the King ofEngland. Fortunately we received significant support from theBarrandov Camera Department and Lighting EquipmentDepartment as well as the help of the laboratory and financialsupport. In the end we managed to shoot more than 95% ofthe movie on location.”
The similarities between Closely Observed Trains and I Served the King of England make them fitting bookends tothe powerful and enduring collaboration between Šofr andMenzel, especially as the director has intimated that he will notmake another film. To Šofr’s mind, the brilliance of Menzel’svision remained as strong on the last day of their workingrelationship as it was on the first: “My memories of workingwith my friend and school-fellow Jirí Menzel as a first-timedirector right up until, according to his words, being a last-timedirector, are that his conscientious and highly artistic approachto directing did not change over the course of his entirefilmmaking career,” concludes the cinematographer. “Jirí’sunerring sense of optimal casting always was and still is hismain gift, together with an ability to bring the best out of eachperson in front of the camera.” �
Mark Hope-Jones
But how did the 29-year old motion graphicdesigner get here? As a child he loved to drawand paint. As a teenager he was fascinated by theexpressive power of graffiti art, so it came as nosurprise that after graduating from high school hewent on to study graphic design for digital media
in Ulm. That’s where he learned to use the tools of thetrade: Photoshop for matte paintings, After Effects todesign the moving image and 3ds Max and Cinema 4Dto incorporate 3D elements. “Without these tools,” saysAdam, “we couldn’t do what we’re doing.”
His next stop was the postproduction world of Munich,where he worked for companies such as PICTORION daswerk and Second Unit Services before joining thecreative team at ARRI Film & TV Commercial in 2007.
His mission is clear: to help the graphic suite take off! To develop the ideas of the client further by refining andbringing them to life, and to come up with concepts thatthe client hasn’t even thought of yet.
His role also includes working on and improving screendesigns, online elements, titles and moving imagegraphics, and to make the CI for a new television formatairtight for an internal presentation – in order to give theformat a chance of actually getting made.
Examples? “In the globalized world of today, there aren’tany to be found anymore. Thanks to the internet andYouTube, trends are ever present in real time. As amatter-of-fact, you have to move away from examplesand come up with your own ideas. To be creative meansto really immerse yourself, but at the same time you haveto be able to share with others – especially when it’sabout picking the best ideas.”
One thing is for sure though: “TV, the internet and mobilephones are platforms of previously unimaginedsignificance. The moving image and the graphic designof the moving image are in greater demand than ever.”
The true challenge? “The incredible pace at which newforms of motion graphic design will develop over the nextfew years.” Adam Glauer will help his clients to keep up.
Web design and print alone are not enough for Adam Glauer, it’s the movingimage that captivates him. It’s playing with colour and the graphic design of themoving image that spurs his interest – that’s where his strength lies.
Portrait of a Motion Graphic Designer
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“THE BLIMP WAS USEDBECAUSE MY GENERATIONOF DIRECTORS WEREBEGINNING TO INSIST ONSYNC SOUND SHOOTING”
New Customer Interface at ARRI Commercial
After pursuing a degree in audio and visual designat TVA Regensburg, a regional broadcaster, Julia completed an internship at Friends Productionin Munich and went on to work as a freelanceproduction assistant and assistant editor on several feature films. Julia then worked for Pirates
’n Paradise (Düsseldorf/Munich) as a postproductionassistant before bringing her professional know-how toARRI Commercial.
During her time in scheduling Julia became familiar withthe needs of clients. Now, in her new capacity, Julia canuse this knowledge to contribute more extensively to theproduction process. Julia will liaise between customersand key technical personnel at ARRI Commercial, takingon tasks such as planning, budgeting and cost reporting.
It is the interactive aspect of her responsibilities thatparticulary excites her: “I see my role as the interfacebetween the imaginative ideas of our customers and thecreative and technical possibilities of ARRI Commercialand its team of experts.”
Julia is also looking forward to bringing her technicalbackground and experience as an assistant editor tobear: “To me, the new and exciting challenge I am facingis to pull together the perfect resources for our clients andto organize and customise them to meet the requirementsof individual jobs.”
Julia Krespelka can be reached by phone on +49 89 3809 2285 or via email [email protected]
� ADAM GLAUER
� JULIA KRESPELKA
News from around the world
In February 2008 Julia Krespelka, previously in scheduling, was appointed as a producer to the ARRI Commercials team, where she will assist clients inimplementing their productions.
Take a look at www.arricommercial.de
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VISIONARRINEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
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ARRI Film & TV Services Represented in LA
Growing Demands: Digital Acquisition in Japan
In March 2008, Thomas Nickel returned to Los Angeles after spending the last 2½years in Mumbai, India for the ARRI Group. He will now represent ARRI Film & TVServices in Los Angeles in the capacity of a consultant and primarily be responsiblefor projects that will be finished at ARRI’s lab and postproduction facilities inMunich, Berlin and Bern, Switzerland. His diverse contacts from his previous Los Angeles assignment will no doubt be of great benefit to him.
New Branch Manager at ARRI Schwarzfilm Berlin
ARRI’s Stringent Lab Quality Standards Earn Kodak Imagecare Accreditation
Berlin is becoming an increasingly important locale in the film and TV market.Recognising this, ARRI decided to acquire Schwarz Film AG more than a year ago inorder to offer their customers lab and postproduction services in Berlin as well asMunich. Since the beginning of April 2008, Angela Reedwisch has been managingthe Berlin branch office; as Key Account Manager she is also responsible forinternational sales at ARRI Film & TV Services in Munich.
�
In addition to his involvement with ARRI Film &TV Services Thomas Nickel will also consult forFilm Finances, Inc., focusing on film projects fromGermany, Eastern Europe, Russia and India.
ARRI is pleased to be able to continue to count on Thomas Nickel’s know-how and extensive experience in the realm of postproduction and wish him all the best in his new endeavours.
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“Right from the start, we knew that we would have tohandle the implementation of the KODAK IMAGECAREProgram in an ambitious and motivating way,” commentsJosef Reidinger, ARRI’s Film Lab Department Head.“Together with my colleague Andy Sollacher, internalsupervisor of the program, we convinced the staff of itsimportance and value, and kept administration to aminimum to allow them to become fully involved in thedevelopment of all the schedules. They have commentedthat it is now straightforward to maintain top qualitythrough standardised and exact procedures.
“Kodak technical representative Dieter Krinke facilitatedthis project with a great deal of competence and passion,and was a major driving force,” continues Reidinger. “He personally motivated the ARRI team and preparedsupporting documents that contributed to this success.Special thanks are also due to KODAK IMAGECAREProgram accreditor Pascal Bony of the Chalon (France)based Kodak Customer Technical Services centre for hisgreat co-operation, support and coaching.”
From Pascal Bony’s perspective, “The ARRI lab was verywell organised and operations ran smoothly. The operatorswere perceived to be handling daily routines in a veryprofessional way and all the staff were strongly committedand extremely involved from the outset. They really believein the program.”
Josef Reidinger concluded that for ARRI only the highestquality in their internal negative processing is acceptablebecause this is the basis for the calibration of thesuccessful ARRISCAN film scanners and ARRILASER film recorders.
One of the biggest recent shoots was a televisioncommercial for the Suzuki Motor Corporation, which used aD-20 for the main camera and combined it with an ARRIFLEX435 for high speed sequences. The DoP Mr Syuhei Umenefrom Crank, one of the major local production companies,commented, “This camera [the D-20] does not have a videolook; you cannot distinguish it from film cameras. The bigadvantage of the D-20 is that you can operate it as though itwere a film camera, which for this shoot meant we only hadto prepare one set of accessories, even though we had a D-20 and a 435.”
Mr Syuhei Umene has shot other commercials on the D-20,including one for Hitachi washing machines. For this shoot,the D-20 proved advantageous because it meant he wasable to avoid the magazine changes associated withshooting on film in scenes featuring a child, whose
unpredictable performance required constant readiness andthe freedom to keep the camera rolling.
Though the D-20 is popular for commercials in Japan,almost two-thirds of the productions that NAC hire the filmstyle digital camera to are music promos. In January 2008,NAC Rental supplied four ARRIFLEX D-20 cameras for a livemusic performance by the band Remioromen at the TokyoInternational Forum. Three of the cameras were placed onPanther dollies in front of the stage while the fourth waspositioned over to one side.
Mr. Ajisaka, who is a freelance DoP and who has selectedthe D-20 for a number of live music shoots, said, “The D-20delivers a warm, film-like picture with its depth of field andits rotating mirror shutter, and the operation is very simplefor conventional film camera users. This is an obviousadvantage compared to other conventional HD cameras.”
Over the past 12 months major investments havebeen made in the Berlin facility. New offices andHD suites have been built as well as what the
facility’s Managing Director Josef Reidinger – whooversaw the expansion – describes as, “Europe’s biggestgrading cinema.” The first feature films to be graded inthis cinema at 2K resolution have been Hardcover, a LittleSharks Entertainment production directed by Christian
Zübert, as well as Tengri, the first movie to be shot on a2-perforation 35mm camera supplied by ARRI Rental,Germany. Tengri is a production of CineDok and isdirected by Marie-Jaoul de Poncheville. Currently theSony feature The International, directed by Tom Tykwer,who made Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, is in thefinal stage of postproduction.
NAC Rental, the Tokyo-based ARRI rental partner, has been hiring ARRI’s digital camerasystem to the Japanese market since the autumn of 2006. Their current fleet of fiveARRIFLEX D-20 cameras, which will all be upgraded to D-21 specifications over the course ofthe next six months, are in constant demand, mainly for music promos and commercials.
News from around the world News from around the world
Thomas Nickel can be reached by phone on + 1 323 378 6012 or via email at [email protected]
� ANGELAREEDWISCH
� THOMAS NICKEL
On 10 April 2008, ARRI GmbH in Munich became the first laboratory in Germanyto successfully gain KODAK IMAGECARE Program certification. ARRI achievedPhase 1 accreditation with a remarkable score of 229 points, or 99% – virtuallythe highest possible level of compliance.
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NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
64
News from around the world
The South African launch of the ARRIMAX was held at Media Film Service’s offices in Cape Town lastNovember, when local crew and production staff wereinvited to ‘come and play with MAX’. “It has alwaysbeen our mission at Media Film Service to provide thelatest and best equipment to the South African industryand we are very excited to be in a position to add yetanother state-of-the-art ARRI product to our repertoire,”commented Corrie van Wyk, Group Lighting andTechnical Manager at Media Film Service.
The ARRIMAX’s unique reflector concept for beamcontrol and optical system dazzled the local industryand the launch caused quite a buzz. Jim Browne,Lighting Manager at Media Film Service, said: “The ARRIMAX is perfect for local productions thatneed maximum light output. It combines the variablebeam spread of a Fresnel with the light output of aPAR, providing an extremely powerful source ofillumination from a single unit – and from anenvironmental point of view, uses the same powerconsumption as a standard 18K lamp.”
Since its launch there has been a great deal of interestin the lighting fixture and the ARRIMAX’s first fewmonths in South Africa have been extremely busy.Mario Mohammed, a Cape Town-based Gaffer,remarked: “It is an amazing lamp! The quality isstunning and it is a great saving for production as theillumination it provides means we don’t need to spendextra on banks of lights. I am so impressed.”
ARRI’s brightest HMI, the ARRIMAX 18/12, recently arrived in South Africa and isnow available for hire through Media Film Service, an ARRI Rental Partner withfacilities in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban.
ARRIMAX Shines in South Africa
On 1st July 2008, Media Film Service began welcoming clients to a new branch –in sunny Mauritius.
Media Film Service Crosses the Ocean!
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The facility, to be run by Richard and Kate Sysumm,is kitted out with a basic video and grips package, a full range of daylight lighting, a comprehensivestills lighting complement, consumables, and a100kva generator.
Mauritius, a small island destination off the East coastof Africa, is serviced by regular flights from Europe,Australia and South Africa. This gives easy andefficient access to the splendors of this beautifulcountry for shooting in untouched and uniquelocations. All that the local and international filmcommunity needed was excellent equipment and tried and tested service, both of which Media Film Service now provides.
Richard Sysum opened the Durban branch of MediaFilm Service in 2001. It was the first of the MediaFilm Service outlets to offer lighting equipment inSouth Africa and has since grown from a small one-man operation to a facility capable of handlinginternational feature films. Richard’s unquestionable
success with the Durban setup positioned him as theperfect man to head up a new venture overseas.
Media Film Service is constantly looking for new and innovative ways of servicing the local andinternational film industry in South Africa, and withthe establishment of the Mauritius branch, this visionis taking on new and exciting dimensions.
VISIONARRI
The Count of Monte Cristo (1934)Often hailed as the greatest screen adaptation ofDumas’ 1844 novel, this version stars Robert Donatas Edmond Dantes, the young sailor who isimprisoned on false charges and returns as the Countof Monte Cristo years later to exact his revenge. At one point Dantes fights in a pistol duel which isfilmed with a single shot that starts in close-up andtracks backwards as the combatants walk away fromeach other, skilfully keeping them both on the edge offrame until they turn, now in long shot, and fire.
The Mark of Zorro (1940)Basil Rathbone features again in the classic duel forwhich this film is remembered, this time againstTyrone Power’s Zorro. Director Rouben Mamoulianopted to shoot the sequence with long takes, fully utilising the skill of both his actors andchoreographer Fred Cavens, who by this time washighly sought after in Hollywood. Power becametypecast in swashbuckling roles, eventuallysuccumbing to a heart attack while filming anotherduelling scene for Solomon and Sheba in 1958.
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)A wartime gem from the British filmmakingteam of Powell and Pressburger, ColonelBlimp tells the story of a lifelong friendshipthat develops between a German and anEnglishmen who, despite being strangers,find themselves having to fight a duelduring the Boer War. Rising above thepropagandist tone defining most Britishfilms of the time, this is a humane andmoving character study that unfolds beforethe backdrop of a changing Europe.
For The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, cinematographerKarl Walter Lindenlaub mounted an ARRIFLEX 235 to a shield inorder to film a climactic duel with swords between the evil KingMiraz (Sergio Castellitto) and Peter Pevensie (William Moseley).Here below is a selection of six other famous cinematic duels.
The Duellists (1977)Ridley Scott’s directorial debut ispractically a duel from start to finish.Adapted from a story by Joseph Conrad,it tells of two French officers during theNapoleonic wars whose first meetingsparks a minor argument that escalatesinto a bitter conflict and consumes theirlives. As they duel with both pistols andswords on many occasions over manyyears, the deadly rivalry self-perpetuatesand its origin, as well as the meaning ofhonour itself, becomes blurred.
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)At a cost of $2m, Robin Hood was more expensive than any preceding WarnerBrothers film and also the first from that studio to be presented in Technicolor. ErrolFlynn dons the obligatory green tights as Robin, whose adventures culminate in a duelwith Sir Guy of Gisbourne, played by Basil Rathbone, who had previously lockedblades with Flynn in Captain Blood (1935). Fight choreographer Fred Cavens wasresponsible for making the untrained Flynn appear a convincing match for Rathbone,who was an accomplished fencer.
Barry Lyndon (1975)Inspired by paintings of the time, Stanley Kubrick worked closely withCinematographer John Alcott, BSC and pushed the boundaries of filmtechnology to create this lavish portrayal of a young man’s rise throughthe social ranks of eighteenth-century Britain. Forced to flee rural Irelandafter winning a duel fought for love, Barry slowly claws his way up inthe world, gradually leaving all recognisable human emotion by thewayside. Eventually drifting into an absurd duel with his stepson, hedeliberately fires his pistol wide of its mark before being shot andseriously wounded.
of the Best…Duels
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PRODUCTION UPDATE
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ARRI CSC Title Production CompanyDoP Gaffer Equipment Serviced byAmerican Gladiators AM GLAD Prods Various Oscar Dominguez Automated Lighting Illumination DynamicsBart Got A Room Bart Got A Room LLC Hallvard Braein 2 x ARRIFLEX SR 3 Advanced ARRI CSC FLAKings of Appletown 415 Crystal LLC/ Daniel Pearl ASC 2 x ARRICAM Lite & ARRIFLEX 235ARRI CSC FLA
Oak Films 3-perforation, Cooke S4 PrimesRecount 35 Days Inc. Jim Denault 3 x ARRIFLEX 416, ARRI CSC FLA.
ARRIFLEX SR 3 Advanced30 Rock NBC Vanja Cernjul Jerry DeBlau 2 x ARRICAM Lite 3-perforation ARRI CSC NY
Cooke S4 PrimesSpread Katalyst Films Steven Poster ASC Elan Yaari Lighting & Grip Illumination DynamicsState of Play Universal Rodrigo Prieto ASC, AMC Robby Baumgartner Lighting Illumination DynamicsThe Soloist DreamWorks Seamus McGarvey BSC Randy Woodside Lighting Illumination DynamicsThe Wrestler Off The Top Rope Inc. Maryse Alberti David Skutch ARRIFLEX 416, ARRIFLEX SR 3 ARRI CSC NYTree of Life Cottonwood Emmanuel Luezki ASC 2 x ARRICAM, ARRIFLEX 235 ARRI CSC NY
Master PrimesTropic Thunder DreamWorks John Toll ASC Randy Woodside Lighting Illumination DynamicsWoody Allen Perdido Prods. Harris Savides ASC 2 x ARRICAM Lite ARRI CSC NYSummer Project Cooke S4 Primes
ARRI RENTALTitle Production Company Director DoP Equipment
Street Fighter – The Hyde Park Films Andrzej Bartkowiak Geoff Boyle 2 x ARRICAM Lite, ARRICAM Studio, Legend of Chun Lee ARRIFLEX 435 Advanced, ARRIFLEX 235Lippels Traum collina filmproduktion Lars Büchel Jana Marsik ARRICAM Studio & Lite, ARRIFLEX
435 Advanced, Lighting, GripThe Lovely Bones DWNZ Productions Ltd Peter Jackson Andrew Lesnie ACS 2 x ARRICAM Lite, ARRIFLEX 435 Advanced,
ARRIFLEX 235, 16.5-110mm Master ZoomThe Reader The Weinstein Company Stephen Daldry Roger Deakins ASC, BSC ARRICAM Studio & Lite,
Chris Menges BSC Master Primes, Lighting, GripLaura elsani Film Ben Verbong Theo Bierkens ARRICAM Lite 2-perforationWüstenblume Desert Flower Filmproductions Sherry Hormann Ken Kelsch ARRICAM Studio & Lite, Lighting, GripFlores Negras – epo-film David Carreras Nestor Calvo Pichardo ARRIFLEX D-20, ARRIFLEX 435 ESSchwarze BlumenDark Sky Stillking Films Stephen Sommers/ Mitchell Amundsen/ Lighting, Grip
Greg Michael Jonathan TaylorEin Date fürs Leben antares media Andi Niessner Bernd Neubauer ARRIFLEX 16SR 3, Lighting, GripDas Duo – Sterben TV60Film Maris Pfeiffer Gunnar Fuss ARRIFLEX 416 Plus, Lighting, Gripstatt erbenBunraku Bunraku Productions Guy Moshe Juan Ruiz-Anchia ARRICAM Studio & Lite, ARRIFLEX 435
Advanced, Lighting, GripMists of Time MOD Producciones Alejandro Amenábar Xavi Giménez 2 x ARRICAM Studio, ARRICAM Lite,
16,5-110mm Master Zoom, Master Primes
Title Production Company Director DoP Equipment
McLeod’s Daughters Millennium Television Various Henry Pierce 2 x ARRIFLEX 416, ARRIFLEX SR 3, – Series 8 Zeiss High Speeds & ZoomsThe Pacific First Division Pty Ltd David Nutter, Remi Adefarasin BSC 2 x ARRIFLEX 235, 3 x ARRICAM Lite,
Tim Van Patten LDS Ultra Primes, Optimo SetLong Weekend Arclight Films Jamie Banks Karl Von Moeller 2 x ARRIFLEX D-20, ARRIFLEX 235,
Ultra Primes, Canon Zoom, AngenieuxThe Vintner’s Luck Ascension Films Niki Caro Denis Loire 2 x ARRIFLEX 416, Ultra Primes, – NZ Shoot 15-40mm Angenieux, 24-290mm AngenieuxSheridan 8MM Commercials Tim Gibbs Garry Philips ARRIFLEX 235, Master Primes The Lakes Synergy Films Jeff Hogan Jeff Hogan ARRIFLEX 435, 14mm Ultra PrimeTelstra 9MM Nicole Ryan Matt Stewart ARRIFLEX 416, 11.5-138mm Canon
6.6-66mm CanonMcDonald’s Olympics Soma Films Sean Meehan Sean Meehan ARRICAM Lite, CookesSmith’s The Guild Mat Humphrey Andrew Lesnie ACS ARRICAM Lite, 15-40mm Angenieux,
17-80mm AngenieuxDonna Hay Engine Lachlan Milne Lachlan Milne ARRIFLEX 235 3-perforation, Master PrimesQantas Engine Finnegan Spencer Lachlan Milne ARRIFLEX 235 3-perforation, Master PrimesHCF Engine Lachlan Milne Calvin Gardiner Master PrimesGlass Windermere Blue Jayne Montague Carl Robertson ARRICAM Studio, Master PrimesRexona 8 Commercials Eden Matt Stewart ARRIFLEX 416, Canon ZoomsNice Cowboys Arena Films Ben Phelps John Brawley ARRIFLEX 435, Ultra Primes
ARRI AUSTRALIA
ARRI MEDIATitle Production Company Director DoP Equipment
Quantum of Solace B22 Limited Marc Forster Roberto Schaefer ASC ARRICAM Studio & Lite, ARRIFLEX 435,ARRIFLEX 235, Master Primes
Green Zone Compound Films Paul Greengrass Barry Ackroyd BSC ARRICAM Lite, ARRIFLEX 235The Boat That Rocked Frigate Films Richard Curtis Danny Cohen ARRICAM Lite, ARRIFLEX 435, Ultra PrimesBright Star Bright Star Films Jane Campion Greig Fraser ARRICAM Lite, ARRIFLEX 235Little Dorrit BBC Television Dearbhla Walsh, Lucas Strebel ARRIFLEX D-21, Ultra Primes
Adam SmithCrusoe Power Duane Clark Jon Joffin ARRIFLEX D-21, Master PrimesLark Rise to Candleford BBC Television Alan Grint Mark Partridge ARRIFLEX D-21, Zeiss PrimesBalloon Wars Zeppotron Yann Demange Tat Radcliffe ARRIFLEX D-20, Ultra PrimesEasy Virtue Easy Virtue Films Stephan Elliott Martin Kenzie ARRICAM Studio & Lite, Cooke S4 PrimesThe Children Tightrope Pictures David Evans David Luther ARRIFLEX D-20, Cooke S4 PrimesBoy Meets Girl ITV Granada Alrick Riley Sean Van Hales ARRIFLEX D-20, Zeiss PrimesSharpe’s Peril Sharpe’s Peril Tom Clegg James Aspinall ARRICAM Studio, ARRIFLEX 435, Ultra PrimesCommander La Plant Productions Gillies MacKinnon Nigel Willougby ARRIFLEX 416, Ultra Primes
ARRI LIGHTING RENTALTitle Production Company Director DoP Gaffer Rigging Gaffer Best BoyGreen Zone Compond Films Paul Greengrass Barry Ackroyd BSC Harry Wiggins Ian Franklin Steve OdonaghueThe Boat That Rocked Frigate Films Richard Curtis Danny Cohen Paul McGeachan Pat Miller Will KendalBright Star Bright Star Films Jane Campion Greig Fraser Mark Clayton Benny HarperLittle Dorrit BBC Television Dearbhla Walsh, Lucas Strebel Stewart King Steve Anthony
Adam SmithCrusoe Power Duane Clark Jon Joffin Paul Slatter Jim Wall Mark FunnellBalloon Wars Zeppotron Yann Demange Tat Radcliffe Gary Davies Laurance DuffySleep With Me Quite Funny Films Marc Jobst Florian Hoffmeister Dan Fontaine John WalkerSpooks 7 (Spooks) Colm McCarthy Damien Bromley, James Summers, Richard Potter
James Welland Brandon EvansLesbian Vampire Killers Skyline (LVK) Phil Claydon David Higgs Dan Fontaine John WalkerPlus One (Plus one) Sarah O'Gorman Ian Liggett Michael Onder Pawel PolakSilent Witness BBC Television Diarmuid Lawrence, Alan Almond BSC Micky Brown Dave Owen
Alex Pillai, Peter Butler, Susan Tully Dominic Clemence,
Noel Probyn, Nic Knowland
ARRI FILM & TV - POST PRODUCTION SERVICES - COMMERCIALSClient Title Production Company Agency Director DoP
Kraft Foods Jacobs Balance Hager Moss Film JWT Frankfurt Louis van Zwol Rutgar Storm“Flight Attendant”
Mercedes Benz Driving Experience “Faces” Hager Moss Film King Khalil Jens Junker Christian StangassingerKellogg GmbH Filmteam Helliventures Leo Burnett Markus Goller Brita MangoldAllianz SE AGCS Construction GAP Films BBDO Berlin Charley Stadler Fraser TaggartMcDonald’s Hüttengaudi 2008 FRAMES filmproduktion GmbH Heye & Partner Badly Andreas BergerDeutschland GmbHSevenSenses GmbH Slam Tour mit Kuttner SevenSenses GmbH Adam Glauer Ole ReussBayerisches Schluss mit dem Unsinn darkofilms Brainwaves KG Andreas Grassl Winnie HeunSozialministeriumARD Ich weiß, wer gut e+p commercial München Xynias, Wetzel Christian Ditter Christian Rein
für dich ist Werbeagntur GmbH Holsten Castle made in munich filmproduktion BBDO Moscow David Wynn-Jones David Wynn-Jones
gmbh
Published by the ARRI Rental Group Marketing Department. 3 Highbridge, Oxford Road, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8 1LX United KingdomThe opinions expressed by individuals quoted in articles in VisionARRI do not necessarily represent those of the ARRI Rental Group or the Editors. Due to our constant endeavour to improvequality 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.
ARRI FILM & TV - POST PRODUCTION SERVICES - FEATURESTitle Production Company Director DoP Services
Alle Anderen Komplizen Film Maren Ade Bernhard Keller Lab, TV-Mastering (HD), VFXDie Tür Wüstefilm Anno Saul Bella Halben Lab, DI, TV-Mastering (HD)Flame & Citron Wüste Medien GmbH Ole Christian Madsen Jørgen Johansson Lab, DI-ServicesGround Under Water Flying Moon Lenka Hellstedt Mark Stubbs LabLaura elsani Film Ben Verbong Theo Bierkens Lab, DI, TV-Mastering (HD)Lippels Traum collina filmproduktion Lars Büchel Jana Marsik Lab, DI, TV-Mastering (HD), VFX, SoundMammoth Zentropa Entertainments Berlin Lukas Moodysson Marcel Zyskind Lab, DI-ServicesReine Männersache Constantin Film Gernot Roll Gernot Roll D-21, DI, LabMord ist mein Geschäft, Liebling! Rat Pack Filmproduktion Sebastian Niemann Gerhard Schirlo Lab, DI, TV-Mastering (HD), VFX, SoundMorphus Provobis Karola Hattop Sebastian Richter Lab, DI, TV- MasteringNinja Assassin Warner Brothers/Fünfte James McTeigue K. W. Lindenlaub Lab
Babelsberg ASC, BVK
Perlmutterfarbe d.i.e. film Marcus H. Rosenmüller Torsten Breuer Lab, DI, TV-Mastering (HD), VFXTengri Cine Dok Marie Jaoul de Poncheville Sylvie Carcédo Lab, DI, TV- MasteringWüstenblume Desert Flower Filmproductions Sherry Hormann Ken Kelsch Lab, DI, TV-Mastering (HD)Whiskey mit Wodka Senator Film Andreas Dresen Andreas Höfer Lab, DI, TV-Mastering (HD)
Running Time of Running Time of400ft Magazine 1000ft Magazine
2-Perforation 8 min 34 sec 21 min 26 sec
4-Perforation 4 min 17 sec 10 min 43 sec
The 2-perforation format, with a widescreen look made famous by the likes of Sergio Leone, disappeared at the end of theseventies. Until now.
Today’s modern super fine grained film stocks and ultra sharp lenses combine to achieve a 2-perforation image of superbquality, and as a result the ARRI Rental Group has introduced a new 2-perforation movement.
Ideal for cost-conscious filmmakers looking to compose a widescreen image, the format achieves a natural CinemaScope aspectratio of 2.39:1 on standard 35mm film stock. The quantity of film used is reduced because it is advanced by two perforationsinstead of the traditional four perforations. This translates to less stock and, consequently, a reduction in processing costs.
Achieve cost savings and retain the quality of 35mm with 2-perforation.
WHEN IT COUNTS...
5Perforation65mmARRIFLEX 765
4Perforation35mmARRICAM StudioARRICAM LiteARRIFLEX 535BARRIFLEX 435ARRIFLEX 235
3Perforation35mmARRICAM StudioARRICAM LiteARRIFLEX 535BARRIFLEX 435ARRIFLEX 235
2Perforation35mmARRICAM StudioARRICAM LiteARRIFLEX 235
*To capture 10 hours of images: 2-perforation needs 72 x 400ft rolls, 4-perforation needs 154 x 400ft rolls.(Saving calculation based on 50ft waste with 4-perforation and 25ft waste with 2-perforation)
www.arri.com
2-Perforation Uses 53% Less Film Stock*
1Perforation16mmARRIFLEX 416ARRIFLEX 416 PlusARRIFLEX 416 Plus HSARRIFLEX16SR3AdvancedARRIFLEX16SR3AdvancedHigh-speed
