American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 54
◗
A Space Opera's High Notes
Right: Mindel
and crew utilized
large unbleached
muslins and
made the most
of natural light
for the site of
this crashed TIE
fighter and other
scenes filmed in
the Abu Dhabi
desert. Below: A
30' Technocrane
places the
camera over
Finn's shoulder
as he gazes
beyond a ridge
on Jakku.
T2.82⁄3 for the majority of the film.
When necessary, a 1⁄8 or 1⁄4 Tiffen Black
Pro-Mist was used. "The extra diffusion
would be used when we wanted the
highlights to bloom more than normal,"
he explains.
Abrams made it clear early in
preproduction that he wanted to employ
analog techniques whenever possible on
The Force Awakens. "In this way, shooting film was the only choice that we
could make," says Mindel, who shot
with three Kodak Vision3 film stocks:
500T 5219, 250D 5207 and 50D 5203.
The production's primary cameras
54
February 2016
were two Panavision Millennium XLs
that were repainted matte-black; the Acamera was christened "Millennium
Falcon" and the B-camera was dubbed
"Death Star." Additionally, McCleery
used 15-perf 65mm Imax cameras -
the MSM 9802 in the studio and the
MKIII in Abu Dhabi - to film plates
and establishing shots for visual-effects
supervisor and second-unit director
Roger Guyett. Due to the Imax camera's
size and weight, aerial director of
photography Adam Dale used an Arri
Alexa to shoot the aerial plates in
Iceland and Abu Dhabi. The sequence
American Cinematographer
in which Rey and Finn ( John Boyega)
are attacked by TIE fighters in the Jakku
desert was the only instance when the
65mm format was used for 1st-unit
photography. The Imax cameras were
fitted with "Imax prime lenses, the newgeneration
Imax
80mm,
and
Panavision's rebuilt 80mm and 50mm,"
McCleery notes.
Though the film contains a
significant number of practical effects,
there are still more than 2,000 digitaleffects shots in The Force Awakens.
"Computer graphics were used for set
extensions, lightsabers, creatures and
spacecraft, but it was also used to assist
the practical-effects work done incamera," Mindel clarifies. "It was necessary for us to roto out puppeteers,
[rather] than to try and hide them from
the camera.
"Schedule and budget generally
dictate what will be a digital or practical
effect," the cinematographer continues.
"Once we knew what was going to be a
digital sequence, Roger Guyett would
come in with ideas about how to shoot
it, and then we would work out where it
crosses over from first to second unit."
The parameters of that crossover were
fluid, Mindel notes, but in general, "we
assume that it's a first-unit sequence
until it's not." (See sidebar, page 60.)
Two of the main characters in The
American Cinematographer - February 2016
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - February 2016
Contents
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - Intro
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - Cover1
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 1
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 2
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - Contents
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 4
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 5
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 6
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 7
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 8
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 9
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 10
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 11
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 12
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 13
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 14
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 15
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 16
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 17
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 18
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 19
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 20
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 21
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 22
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 23
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 24
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 25
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 26
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 27
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 28
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 29
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 30
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 31
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 32
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 33
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 34
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 35
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 36
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 37
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 38
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 39
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 40
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 41
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 42
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 43
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 44
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 45
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 46
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 47
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 48
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 49
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 50
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 51
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 52
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 53
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 54
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 55
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 56
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 57
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 58
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 59
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 60
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 61
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 62
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 63
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 64
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 65
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 66
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 67
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 68
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 69
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 70
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 71
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 72
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 73
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 74
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 75
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 76
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 77
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 78
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 79
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 80
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 81
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 82
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 83
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 84
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 85
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 86
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 87
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 88
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 89
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 90
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 91
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 92
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 93
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 94
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 95
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - 96
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - Cover3
American Cinematographer - February 2016 - Cover4
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