American Cinematographer - May 2010 - 39

The main unit was primarily responsible for filming the dialogue between Stark and Rhodes before they don their masks and blaze into action, after which the second unit stepped in to complete the in-camera elements. Taylor notes, “VistaVision came to the fore. [Steadicam operator] Chris McGuire manned a Revolution rig, which is great for fight sequences. We put the VistaVision camera on that, and although we were shooting background plates, we still had people running through the action.” Sirrs adds, “Even though we were going to put digital suits in there, we had people with partial suits stand in and go through the motions as a reference for how it should look.” Iron Man 2’s negative was processed by Deluxe, and throughout the shoot Libatique viewed select print dailies (timed by ASC associate member Adam Clark). “In the morning, I would look at the print, and at lunch I’d watch the digital version with Jon,” he recalls. “With print dailies, I feel like I can go

into the digital intermediate knowing what I have.” As on Iron Man, Libatique plans to carry out the digital grade at EFilm with colorist (and ASC associate member) Steven J. Scott. The cinematographer emphasizes that although he achieves as much of the desired look as possible in-camera, the DI is “an absolute necessity on this film. I have to manage the Iron Man suit from environment to environment, and we don’t want it dominating the look of the movie. With a DI, I can isolate the suit and make sure the color stays true to what we’re trying to articulate. Chasing the color photochemically would be a nightmare.” When Favreau spoke to AC, he was looking forward to the DI. “On any film, you have very lofty expectations when you set out, and then the concerns become more pragmatic because you’re just trying to finish the job,” says the director. “It’s nice for the last people who touch the film to be your color timer and

your cinematographer, because they can bring a little bit of perspective from not being as closely involved in every step of postproduction. When you get to the DI and can sit down with the cinematographer in that dark room, it’s your film together again.” ●

TECHNICAL SPECS
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24mm – 290mm

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American Cinematographer - May 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - May 2010