American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 73
held. "Mike pulled his own focus,"
recalls Förderer. "He doesn't come from
a typical film-school background, and
he comes up with images that are really
fresh and interesting. It's not always
about having nice backlight or great
framing. He breaks all the rules and gets
really nice results."
The filmmakers tested a number
of digital cameras during preproduction.
Although Förderer says he "felt the
[Arri] Alexa looked the most film-like
and held details in highlights nicely,"
they opted for the Epic as the primary
camera "because it's much smaller," the
cinematographer explains. "We wanted
to shoot fast, and having a small, lightweight package - while still getting an
image that would give us flexibility and
quality in post - was a key factor.
"Digital gives me more flexibility
in lighting," Förderer continues. "I don't
have to fill the blacks as much. But digital images tend to not have the kind of
'life' to them that film does. Texture is
really important with digital cameras,
and [to create texture] I like to shoot at
a higher ASA and underexpose a little
bit. Some cameras are better for that
than others - their noise looks more
like film grain. Most of the time I was
rating the cameras at 1,250 or 1,600
ASA to create some noise and get a little
texture and life in the image. I also
ended up applying some film grain in
the DI process, which I think helps the
image a lot." The filmmakers monitored
in RedGamma3 and RedColor 3 on set,
and did no color grading until the DI,
which was conducted at Harbor Picture
Company in New York City with
colorist Joe Gawler, who graded the 4K
raw files using Blackmagic Design's
DaVinci Resolve for a final 2K output.
Ian's study of iris patterns called
for a number of extreme close-ups of
eyes. "That was actually one of the
things that caught Mike's attention
about my work," offers Förderer. "Hell
starts with an extreme macro of an eye,
and he really loved the way it looked.
For I Origins, we did some early tests in
Mike's New York apartment, shooting
our own eyes to determine how we
Top and middle: The couple explores the city together. Bottom: Ian and Sofi's wedding day darkens
following a call from Ian's lab.
wanted to light the macro shots - since
the eye is like a mirror, you see all the
reflections of the light sources and the
camera itself. We took a black trash bin,
mounted LED lights and cut a small
hole in it; then we put the bin over our
www.theasc.com
heads and shot through the hole. It
worked great to eliminate the reflections, so we created a larger version [for
production]: a 20-foot-by-20-foot black
box with one strong M18 HMI very far
away so that the reflection could be
September 2014
73
http://www.theasc.com
American Cinematographer - September 2014
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - September 2014
Contents
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - Cover1
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 1
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 2
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - Contents
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 4
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 5
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 6
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 7
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 8
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 9
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 10
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 11
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 12
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 13
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 14
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 15
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 16
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 17
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 18
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 19
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 20
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 21
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 22
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 23
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 24
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 25
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 26
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 27
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 28
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 29
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 30
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 31
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 32
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 33
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 34
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 35
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 36
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 37
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 38
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 39
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 40
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 41
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 42
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 43
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 44
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 44a
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 44b
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 45
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 46
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 47
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 48
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 49
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 50
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 51
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 52
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 53
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 54
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 55
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 56
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 57
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 58
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 59
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 60
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 61
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 62
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 63
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 64
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 65
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 66
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 67
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 68
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 69
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 70
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 71
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 72
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 73
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 74
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 75
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 76
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 77
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 78
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 79
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American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 81
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 82
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 83
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 84
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 85
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 86
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 87
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 88
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 89
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 90
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 91
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American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 100
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 101
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 102
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 103
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 104
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 104a
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 104b
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 105
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 106
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - 107
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American Cinematographer - September 2014 - Cover3
American Cinematographer - September 2014 - Cover4
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