American Cinematographer - March 2017 - 62

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Surveying the Virtual World
lot of people to make the production
process easier. Right now, when you set
up a VR camera there can't be lights or
anyone nearby because it's seeing the
whole world. As we get more involved
with the stitching and visual effects in
VR, we'll be more able to take out lights
and rigs to give the cinematographer
more tools to emotionally light the
scene.
You'll have a greater freedom in
traditional lighting. For example, as we
start digitally removing dolly tracks
there will be more innovation in the
ways you can move VR cameras. We'll
see special new devices on cranes and
we'll be able to remove those in post
with traditional techniques as well.
Stump: There's a bit of a circular
argument: For VR to succeed, it has
to succeed. VR and AR are going to
find their audience by growing their
audience and their next generation of
directors. We're right on the verge of
that now, with a wave of creatives seeing
something meaningful in VR.
They've internalized it and are beginning to socialize it. So it's going to take
a little longer for the creative community to sprout something that's truly
revolutionary.
Is shooting for VR
cinematography?
Wagener: It's very different, as
you don't per se have a single camera
and you can't pre-frame a shot and say,
'This is how the audience will look at a
scene.' You hand over those reins to the
viewer to a certain extent. It's similar to
how video games are produced, because
there you have some control over storytelling and guiding the audience. I don't
think VR will replace traditional
cinema; it's a different form of content
and experience.
Color grading adds atmosphere
and helps tell a story, and it's even more
important in VR. It's not only making it
look nice, but really guiding the viewer's
eye. It's like a creative Wild West for
directors of photography because VR
throws the traditional ways overboard
and presents a blank canvas.

62

March 2017

Stump: VR deserves a hyphenate
name as it's well beyond traditional
cinematography and may ultimately
become volumetric capture like the
Lytro camera. It already has a better
initial foothold than 3D, which didn't
catch on as well in America as it could
have due to poor initial projection at
low light levels. As little as a year ago I
was in Beijing, where 3D is enormously
popular - you can't not exhibit in 3D in
China if you want your film to succeed.
Safreed: VR can't achieve really
tight close-ups with shallow-depth-offield isolation like large-sensor cinema
cameras can today. We need better
devices to make those choices available
to the cinematographer and director. If
we had eye-tracking in the device, we
would know where the viewer was
focusing and we could do a depth-offield rack to someone's face within the
shot. Those decisions may move from
the set to something that the director
and cinematographer confer about later
in post and deliver during playback
depending on where the viewer looks.
Mansouri: It's important to
consider the cinematographers' role and
what they can do in a 360-degree
world where they may feel like they've
lost control of the frame. It's the same
state as the dawn of film. The frame is
still important in VR, and the role of
the cinematographer remains critical.
Cinematographers set the tone and
visual aesthetic; otherwise it's just taking
a camera and shooting everything you
see.
They should really experiment
and look at what's been done. The
approach is essential. If we go into it
with the wrong approach, the
issues aren't limited to one camera but
many cameras, and you can't buy your
way out in post. Someone who goes
into VR really needs to embrace it.
Alexander: I have so much
respect for cinematographers. They set
the vibe and texture - really the feeling
- for a film. We have the same issues
that need to be solved in VR. It's still
very important for us to have
good lighting and the right texture and
American Cinematographer

feel to set the mood of the piece. It can
be an almost identical creative process,
except you're not looking through a lens
and picking a focal length.
Generally at ILM we try to hide
the technology as much as possible and
spitball ideas to make sure everyone is
on the same page in terms of the mood
and feel of a piece. VR is a special case
because it's very hardware-constricted
and we still have to say things like, 'We
can't do a big area light or a bounce in
real time at 90 fps yet.' We use reference
material like animatics, other movies,
mini proofs, etc. to get everyone onto
the same page quickly, just like we do
with visual effects. It's the same
approach to starting that creative
discussion.
Evan Pesses: A camera is still a
camera and requires the same attention
to detail and a trained eye. Planning and
prep are critical. Experienced cinematographers know how important it is
to plan and communicate with all
departments. Communication with
postproduction is even more
essential with VR because no shot is
really 'in the can' until it's being viewed
on a headset.
Stromberg: One thing that will
always be needed is that critical eye.
Everything is still related to lighting,
staging, movement and camera placement. When you're making a traditional
film, you're working from a deep set of
rules - for example, on a dramatic
moment you push in on someone's face
to emphasize the emotion. There is a
similar methods-book being created as
we speak, determining how to create
those same kinds of emotions in VR.
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - March 2017

Contents
American Cinematographer - March 2017 - Cover1
American Cinematographer - March 2017 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - March 2017 - 1
American Cinematographer - March 2017 - 2
American Cinematographer - March 2017 - Contents
American Cinematographer - March 2017 - 4
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American Cinematographer - March 2017 - A
American Cinematographer - March 2017 - B
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American Cinematographer - March 2017 - 31
American Cinematographer - March 2017 - I1
American Cinematographer - March 2017 - I2
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