American Cinematographer - March 2017 - 22

Top: Multiple cameras are positioned for shots of warriors on the mist-veiled wall, awaiting the
Tao Tei monster. Bottom: Camera operator Danny Chen frames an exterior shot on the wall set,
while a second crane captures a different angle in the distance.

with 2x extender. "We used the 56-152mm
on the stage," says 1st AC Brenden Holster,
"but rarely had to [switch to] the longer
Angenieux until we moved to the exteriors
to shoot the battle sequences. At that point
our C-camera team almost exclusively used
those zooms for their flexibility."
The production captured in ArriRaw
to Codex XR Capture Drives. Digital-imaging technician Grace Guo worked with a
basic Alexa LUT, tweaking colors with
Pomfort LiveGrade. She exported CDLs for
the Bling Digital post team, which generated dailies using Colorfront On-Set Dailies,
providing MXF files for editorial and raw
footage for the final grade. SJ Works
22

March 2017

provided a customized QTake video-assist
system, and images were evaluated on Sony
OLED displays.
Other cameras came into play as
well. Second-unit cinematographer Duane
Manwiller used a Red Epic Dragon on a Movi
M15 Gimbal Stabilizer for handheld shots,
and a Red Weapon Dragon was eventually
added to the package. In addition, the crew
had an Alexa Mini prototype that could be
mounted on a drone or on Steadicam. They
also flew the Alexa 65 on the Steadicam; as
Dryburgh notes, "The 65 is not much bigger
or heavier than the regular Alexa."
In one suspenseful sequence, redcaped soldiers silently stand watch on the
American Cinematographer

mist-veiled wall, awaiting the Tao Tei. The
camera cranes over them to the edge,
where one soldier is suddenly snatched by
an attacking monster. O'Neill recalls the day
as appropriately overcast, "but when we
did some close-ups, the sun came out. I had
four flyswatters with a selection of 20-footby-20-foot diffusers over the actors as well
as a couple of 20-by-20 Ultrabounces to
control the daylight."
The crew also keyed the principal
actors with big, soft HMI sources, including
an Arrimax 18/12 and a half-dozen 18Ks.
They lit nighttime wall exteriors with Airstar
balloons, including a large 16K, and hung
soft boxes containing a pair of 18Ks or Arrimax HMIs through heavy diffusion. The
greenscreen was lit with Kino Flo Image 80s
on the ground.
Dryburgh handed the baton to Zhao
Xiaoding in early June 2015, with the shoot
wrapping two months later. Zhao shot sets
at CFG Studios, including the Imperial
Palace and the prisons, and did remote
location work at ghostly Dunhuang Yadan
National Geopark and the Zhangye Danxia
National Geological Park's "painted mountains," where Garin and his band fight a
local tribe along the ancient Silk Road.
It didn't take long for Zhao and
Zhang to get back in their groove. "Usually
Zhang Yimou focuses on performances and
doesn't get involved much with photography," Zhao tells AC through a translator via
email. "I took care of all the camera positioning, composition, framing, lighting and
so on."
He remarks that while the movie's
Imax 3D release didn't factor into many
shooting decisions, "We designed some
vertical movements for the camera and for
actors and objects. This widened the depth
of field in a vertical way to provide a better
stereo viewing experience."
In another scene, Garin and some of
the warriors track Tao Tei through a
drainage tunnel leading to the basement of
an Imperial Palace pagoda that is
surrounded by stained glass. Zhao notes
that he was going for a high-contrast look
for "a strong and dangerous feeling." The
tunnel light was motivated by daylight
coming in from the pagoda above, sourced
from 6K Fresnels on an overhead truss. An
Arrimax high on a truss with gels of various

American Cinematographer - March 2017

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