◗ Dark Majesty During Princess Aurora's christening ceremony, Maleficent places her infamous curse upon the infant. Semler reports that Stromberg's previous experience in visual effects and production design was particularly advantageous. "He was still directing actors, of course, but he could also clearly see way beyond what was on the video monitor. He'd frequently say things like, 'Don't worry about that cherry picker or those lights in shot. When we take them out later you'll see a beautiful waterfall with fairies skimming across the water.'" After conducting comparison tests between the Arri Alexa, Panavision Genesis and Sony F65, the filmmakers decided the Alexa best suited Maleficent's extensive visual-effects requirements. Any misgivings Semler may have felt about abandoning the Genesis - his camera of choice since Click (2006) - quickly dissipated. "I believe that images from the Genesis still look the closest to film, but only by a tiny degree," he says. "I loved using the Alexa; it's a great camera. I was able to slightly shift the color temperature incamera, usually by around 100 to 200 degrees - a simple and subtle but incredibly effective tool that I used a lot." Maleficent's main unit carried 34 July 2014 American Cinematographer