American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 16

Formula One expert Sebastian Vettel (top) looks on as his fellow drivers take
the Q50 Eau Rouge for a spin on the racetrack.

16

January 2015

American Cinematographer

David operated one of the three
F55s himself, using Nikon AF-S Nikkor 2870mm f2.8 and 70-200mm f2.8 zooms.
Olivier Merckx operated another F55 on a
Steadicam, with the Angenieux Optimo 1540mm T2.6 zoom, and the third F55 served
as an over-the-shoulder camera rigged
inside the car and fitted with an 18mm
Zeiss Super Speed T1.3. The F55s recorded
internally to SxS cards in the MPEG-4 SStP
HDCam SR 4:4:4 codec for the principal
25-fps work, and XAVC HD 4:2:2 for in-car
and slow-motion shots where bandwidth
economy was key.
Other cameras included a Red Epic
Dragon mounted on a drone and internally
recorded to SSD RedMags at 5K and 8:1
compression, and three GoPro Hero3s for
helmet and space-restricted in-car mounts.
"The decision on the crash cameras was
rough," recalls David, who ultimately opted
to use four Blackmagic Production Camera
4Ks, which recorded in ProRes 4:2:2 HQ at
3840x2160 resolution. Considering all of
the cameras and related accessories, David
says, "it was a huge undertaking for
[production manager] Ronald Meier."
Given the scale of the racetrack,
lighting equipment was mainly used to
reinforce available light. "We used a lot of
natural light where we could - bounces
and reflectors," David remembers. "We
also had both tungsten and daylight fluorescents." Outside, though, the filmmakers
were at the mercy of the Spa circuit's
famously variable weather. The need to
settle on an exposure before the car went
out was risky, admits David. "We had glaring sun, then huge rain," the cinematographer explains. "We set the exposure for the
weather, and overall the cameras
performed really well." There were, he says,
"considerations as to how we exposed
each camera to bring out nice skin tones
and make it all match." To this end, David
used settings he describes as "reasonably
flat," including Protune options on the
GoPros. Otherwise, he says, "we shot
everything as standard as we could. The
biggest thing for me was to make sure the
F55 firmware was up to date and the
settings were correct."
Key grip Koenraad Firlefijn and technical camera operator Joakim Thörnqvist
had a single day to pre-rig the one-of-a-



American Cinematographer - January 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - January 2015

Contents
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - Intro
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - Cover1
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 1
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 2
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - Contents
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 4
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 5
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 6
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 7
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 8
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 9
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 10
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 11
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 12
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 13
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 14
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 15
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 16
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 17
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 18
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 19
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 20
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 21
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 22
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 23
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 24
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 25
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 26
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 27
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 28
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 29
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 30
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 31
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 32
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 33
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 34
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 35
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 36
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 37
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 38
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 39
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 40
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 41
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 42
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 43
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 44
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 45
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 46
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 47
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 48
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - K1
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - K2
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - K3
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - K4
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - K5
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - K6
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - K7
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - K8
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - K9
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - K10
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - K11
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - K12
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 49
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 50
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 51
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 52
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 53
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 54
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 55
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 56
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 57
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 58
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 59
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 60
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 61
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 62
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 63
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 64
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 65
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 66
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 67
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 68
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 69
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 70
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 71
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 72
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 73
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 74
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 75
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 76
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 77
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 78
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 79
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American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 81
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American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 84
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American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 90
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American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 94
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 95
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - 96
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - Cover3
American Cinematographer - January 2015 - Cover4
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