American Cinematographer - June 2008 - 17

THE NEW 320 DUAL-CHANNEL WIRELESS MICROPHONE The Merkits, a rival band of warriors, pursue Temudgin and his wife across the plains. locations. The relationship of the characters to their landscape is exceedingly important.” Trofimov, who stepped in when filming resumed, concurs: “It was important to feel that the mountains and steppes are so huge and Man is so small.” Mongol was shot in Super 35mm 2.40:1, and three units were employed on all three major battle scenes. The cameras included an Arricam Studio, an Arri 235 and two Arri 435Xtremes, and the lenses comprised Cooke S4 primes, a 24-290mm Angenieux Optimo T2.3 zoom, an Elite 120-520mm T3 zoom, a 10mm Zeiss Ultra Prime and a 300mm Canon T2.8 telephoto lens. (The equipment came from rental houses in Munich, Hamburg, Hong Kong, Beijing and Moscow.) The picture was filmed on three Kodak Vision2 stocks, 50D 5201, 250D 5205 and 500T 5218. The first battle occurs when Temudgin’s warriors, assisted by blood brother Jamukha (Honglei Sun), attack the Merkits, who have kidnapped Borte. The second battle pits Temudgin against his blood brother, who has reluctantly joined forces with Targutai. The final, massive confrontation takes place in a violent thunderstorm, with Targutai, Jamukha and the Merkits allied against Temudgin. “The main unit filmed the most important wide shots, as well as the shots with Temudgin,” recalls Trofimov, who operated the A camera on this unit. “Then the second unit would shoot coverage and make bluescreen shots. Some rough editing was done on the set, and the second unit would then shoot whatever details were still needed. They made great contributions to the film.” The second unit, which worked almost exclusively on battle scenes, was led by director Guka Omarova, visual-effects supervisor Nikita Argunov and cinematographer Lena Ivanova; the latter worked with Trofimov on Night Watch and Day Watch. A third unit, dubbed “Unit 2A,” shot landscapes and took care of several small scenes, such as the death of a key monk late in the film. Rafic Galeev served as cinematographer on this unit; Guka Omarova directed. According to Bodrov, more than 600 extras — plus their horses — were used in the final skirmish. The director relied upon the seasoned stuntmen from Kazakhstan and Krygyzstan who had worked with him on the 2004 film Nomad, and those stuntmen trained hundreds of non-professional extras and horses over a two-month rehearsal period. To capture majestic shots of horses and riders galloping across the plains and engaging in combat, Trofimov often used Filmotechnic’s Russian Arm and Flight Head, a rig that was mounted to the roof of a jeep. “We would be inside the jeep, looking at a monitor and operating by remote,” he says. “It was especially dangerous The new 320UPR discrete dual-channel UHF receiver is smaller and lighter than all previous units. It has 240 user-selectable frequencies for each channel, stereo output, digital LCD displays with multi-function readout, and separate Power On/Off switches for each channel. It operates on just 2 "AA" batteries and has a unique dual-function DC jack. Optional NiMH batteries can be recharged while in the 320UPR, or the receiver can be powered from an external, optional power supply. Additionally, the 320UPR comes with both dual-plug XLR and a stereo mini-plug output cable, removable shoe-mount, and flexible high-gain antennas. Available initially in systems with 2 bodypacks (320ULT system), or 1 bodypack and 1 plug-in transmitter (320ULX system). Carrying case included ® P.O. Box 10, Franklin Square, NY 11010 (516) 328-7500 • FAX: (516) 328-7506 For full specifications e-mail azdenus@azdencorp.com or visit our Web site: www.azdencorp.com 17

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American Cinematographer - June 2008

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