American Cinematographer - May 2016 - 22

Top: Estelle (Haley
Bennett) fuses a
robotic forearm
onto Henry.
Bottom: As Henry,
actor Andrei
Dementiev has a
GoPro mounted on
a mouthpiece for
the scene.

the interiors for the finale and the intro
scenes. When Kapinos agreed to take the
third part of production, I met with him [as
well]."
Lyass notes, "The most important
device developed for this project was the
special mask with a magnetic stabilization
system. The goal was to stabilize the motion
of Henry's footsteps while reducing the
vertical shaking when the actor walks, runs
or jumps. The final rig included Russian military technology, Japanese bearings, and a
3D-printed head mount to snuggly fit the
actor-stuntman's head. We also crafted a
GoPro-based viewfinder for the director. It
was a pretty unique feeling to shoot with
such a tiny camera on a complicated feature
like this."
The GoPros recorded at 48 fps
directly to onboard MicroSD memory cards,
capturing raw files in 1920x1440 resolution
with the cameras' Protune setting. The crew
monitored live takes wirelessly with a
22

May 2016

Teradek Cube 255 HDMI video transmitter
at 1280x720 resolution. "One GoPro had
an onboard viewfinder so the operator
could sort of see the frame," Naishuller
explains. "The other was connected to the
Teradek wireless transmitter. When we did a
big exposure change mid-shot, the second
GoPro would often be set at a different
exposure. That way we could seamlessly
switch from one camera to the other when
we went to a different exposure level."
"If the scene required fighting or a
specific stunt skill set, we'd get a stuntman
who could do it and rehearse with him and
the rig until we made it work," says Lyass.
"There were three main 'Henrys' and about
a dozen other operators for specific shots.
The thing that wasn't really clear until we
started shooting was whether an actor
needed to see what he was shooting. We
learned that after a while he would begin to
naturally feel the frame without peeking
into it. The only thing he had to focus on
American Cinematographer

was his actual action, and [if there was] a failed
take or two, Ilya and I would correct him to get
what the film needed."
Kaptur estimates that three-quarters of
the film was operated by Sergey Valyaev and
Andrei Dementiev; the latter also played one of
the villain's henchmen. "The rest was operated
by Ilya himself for the dialogue scenes, and
then by specific stuntmen for the various
specialized and extra-dangerous stunts, such
as motorcycle driving and jumping with a parachute," Kaptur explains. "Funny enough, I did
not do any filming with the helmet."
Given the GoPros' wide-angle view and
the extended takes, lighting also proved to be
a significant challenge. "When shooting 360
degrees, the first thing we had to think about
was built-in practical lighting," says Lyass. "All
the lighting sources were DMX-controlled, and
they took a lot of time to program. We wound
up doing a lot of prep the day before each
shoot day."
"As an example," says Kaptur, "in the
semi-darkness of the brothel sequence, I used
LEDs, neon tubes and concert lighting. I
attached a small Kino Flo onto Ilya's chest while
he was operating as Henry, and we rehearsed
his hand movements to avoid unnecessary
shadows.
"For exteriors," Kaptur continues, "we
used bounce cards and planned carefully to
shoot at the perfect times of day."
Kapinos carried the torch for the final
leg of production, shooting certain exteriors,
interiors, a studio sequence and the opening
titles. "It was complicated to accomplish a shot
in the final scene of the movie when we see
the reflection of Henry for the first time in a
broken mirror on a roof," Kapinos says. "We
reshot it twice, and it had to be incorporated
into footage not shot by me.
"There were also tough shots inside a T90 combat tank, which could barely fit a
person inside," Kapinos continues. "The scene
where Henry fights the tank was hard to shoot
due to safety concerns. But I think the most
complex part of the work fell onto the shoulders of our Henry actors, who were running
and jumping around with the GoPros on their
faces."
In addition to the GoPros, the filmmakers employed a Canon EOS 5D Mark II DSLR
for a sniper POV sequence that required a telephoto perspective, and for surveillance-monitor footage of enemy vans in pursuit. A Red

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