American Cinematographer - April 2017 - 68
◗ Legal Power Right: In an episode of sister show Chicago P.D., State's Attorney Mark Jefferies (Carl Weathers) gets a drink at local bar Molly's - a set shared by all of creator Dick Wolf's Chicago series. Below: Kevin Atwater (LaRoyce Hawkins) and Dawson converse on a bench in the Windy City. "We wanted a different energy in the visuals than a rescue show like Fire," the cinematographer notes. "And we wanted a different feel than the downand-dirty grittiness of Chicago P.D. or the clinical feel they have on Chicago Med." To capture that new feel, Wiegand worked with Arri Alexa Plus cameras, sourced from VER Camera in Chicago. The show typically employed two cameras, with a third joining the 68 April 2017 fray during courtroom-trial scenes. "I've been using Alexa almost exclusively ever since it came out," says Wiegand. "I love that camera and don't understand why anyone would want me to shoot on anything else." Not a fan of higher resolutions, Wiegand opted to record 1920x1080 HD ProRes 4:4:4:4 files onto Sony Pro+ SxS cards. "I know at some point [a requirement to shoot 4K] will become a truth, but to me the whole American Cinematographer fight over resolution at this point is bulls---," she opines. "I don't need more sharpness in peoples' skin. There's plenty already. I don't see that much sharpness when I'm talking to people in real life." To further soften the image, Wiegand periodically employed Tiffen Glimmerglass and Black Satin filters; the Black Satins typically only go to a factor of 3, but Tiffen created two sets of level 4 and 5 filters for Wiegand back on Chicago Fire. The only 4K footage on Chicago Justice came courtesy of a Sony FDRX3000 4K Action Cam, which was used for an episode in which the camera was mounted to a helmet to provide a first-person point of view of a character firing a machine gun. Wiegand knew just who to strap the helmet to in order to get the shots. "That's like Tari Segal's dream," Wiegand says. "She used to be in ROTC, she loves guns, and she loves camera operating." Segal adds, "Wardrobe dressed me in full camo fatigues, and props gave me a working M4 to fire full-load blanks. They gave me some training, but I already had experience handling firearms so it was fairly easy to just enjoy