American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 63

The Horsemen
employ sleight-ofhand "cardistry"
and other tricks in
order to abscond
with the computer
card.

about different ways to light them, and
[options] if we were planning extravagant shots."
Toward the beginning of the
film, the Horsemen - comprising J.
Daniel Atlas ( Jesse Eisenberg), Merritt
McKinney (Woody Harrelson), Jack
Wilder (Dave Franco) and newcomer
Lula (Lizzy Caplan) - must beat a
hasty retreat from a stage after their
mysterious nemesis ruins their
triumphant return to the global arena.
They attempt to depart via a preplanned escape route, which entails
sliding down a metal chute from the
roof of the facility to waiting vehicles.
When they reach the bottom of the
chute, however, their magically inclined
adversary pulls a stunt of his own and
things go horribly awry.
Deming notes that the production ran four different passes to get the
coverage Chu wanted for the sequence
- employing a combination of real
inclined slides and horizontal chutes
with cables to pull the actors through.
According to Struthers, "sometimes
[the shots were captured] with the
Alexa, and other times with the Sony
a7S." Deming adds, "One [pass]
included the actors going down a huge
real slide while holding GoPros and

pointing them toward their faces.
Another pass had our stunt people slide
down that slide," filming their own
bodies while clothed in the appropriate
actor's wardrobe and often with real
actors sliding in front of them. "The
third pass involved the actors and the
camera operator [Peter Cavaciuti] in a
horizontal tube as we pulled them
along with pulleys, filming them with
the Alexa camera to get full bodies.
And then we also did a POV pass
where the operator followed them
down a real chute, filming them with
www.theasc.com

the Alexas." For all passes down a real
slide, the actors and stunt people were
"always on wires, harnesses and pulleys
so they wouldn't collide," Struthers
notes.
No sequence better illustrates the
challenge the production faced in
portraying complex "cardistry" and
other magic-related techniques than
what Chu calls the movie's "flagship
moment." It's a scene in which the
Horsemen attempt to pull off the
seemingly impossible theft of a waferthin computer card, which contains
July 2016

63



http://www.theasc.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - July 2016

Contents
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - Intro
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - Cover1
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 1
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 2
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 3
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 4
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - Contents
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 6
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 7
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 8
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 9
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 10
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 11
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 12
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 13
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 14
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 15
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 16
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 17
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 18
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 19
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 20
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 21
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 22
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 23
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 24
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 25
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 26
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 27
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 28
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 29
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 30
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 31
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 32
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 33
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 34
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 35
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 36
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 37
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 38
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 39
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 40
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 41
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 42
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 43
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 44
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 45
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 46
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 47
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 48
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 49
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 50
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 51
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 52
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 53
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 54
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 55
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 56
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 57
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 58
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 59
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 60
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 61
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 62
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 63
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 64
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 65
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 66
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 67
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 68
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 69
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 70
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 71
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 72
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 73
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 74
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 75
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 76
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 77
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 78
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 79
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 80
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 81
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 82
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 83
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 84
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 85
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 86
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 87
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 88
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - Cover3
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - Cover4
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