American Cinematographer - August 2019 - 68

To Be King

Legato, Deschanel and Magnopus virtual-production producer A.J. Sciutto observe the action.

knows how to use all the visual tools
- [such as] Cinema 4D for lighting,
Resolve for color adjustment, Avid for
editing, etc. Instead of just describing
an idea, he will put together a mockup
to show how a sequence will evolve.
He can show the director what we are
intending to do. Not just talk it
through, but actually show it to him.

Deschanel: The movie feels very realistic because the animals look so real
- and because it was filmed in a way
that 'senses' the hand of the filmmakers. The way the camera moves, the
dolly work, everything. There's the
sense of a human observing and
following what is happening.
I think there is something about

feeling the human touch behind the
camera, not just for the sake of classic
filmmaking, but because we as human
beings want to feel that some person is
guiding us. I think that is the key to
the whole thing.
Legato: Making it feel like
shooting a typical movie was
[assisted] by the [NaturalPoint]
OptiTrack system. [Ed. note: See sidebar,
page 60.]
Deschanel: It was quite amazing. What was supposedly the camera
was, in actuality, a [physical] representation of a camera that captured action
taking place in virtual reality. We had
a 25-foot-square area covered by
OptiTrack, where we could maneuver
the camera either handheld or on a
Steadicam. The dolly and the crane,
however, were encoded to read where
the camera was on the track or at the
end of the crane arm, so there was no
need for OptiTrack.
We had a [physical] dolly on a
stage, but we didn't have a [true] dolly
grip for a while. Don't ask why!
There's a real artistry to moving a
dolly - a ballet, a dance - and the
person doing it needs to understand
how to move effortlessly with the

Legato notes that VR goggles and controllers enabled the filmmakers to explore the virtual set - in order, for example,
to find proper camera angles, or to determine and virtually mark such elements as the appropriate positioning for dolly track
- but when it came time to execute the shot, most of the camera crew removed the goggles and used the real-world monitors.
Some notable exceptions included instances when Legato would operate a zoom, or Tieche would pull focus, and it was
helpful to see both the camera and subject to determine the timing and measurement of the lens adjustment. Or, Legato
recalls, "for the stampede [where the animals] are going [toward] the cliff - I was essentially the drone operator, and Caleb
was doing the fine-tuned camerawork. In that case I was in VR, because it was the only way I could fly it and know where I was
going, and where to bank.
"Or you could be holding onto a branch in VR," he continues, "and you could watch the camera, and then when the
camera settles, you put the branch back, so when he pans back you know it's in the shot - exactly like you would on a [set]."
As a further benefit of entering the virtual world, Legato says, "you could see that if you took a step to the right, you might
be on a rock, so you wouldn't necessarily put a camera there - you might go above it or around it. And when you're [later]
operating the shot, you know that if you pan over too far, that's where the rock is. You have an awareness of your surroundings,
and that helps, psychologically, to make you operate the shot a little better and more intuitively, because you're not a magic
camera that's floating out in space. You are taking into account the physical limitations, if you want them. And if you don't want
them, you can just move the rock out of the way."
"Sometimes [director] Jon Favreau would sit in VR [at] a little 'virtual video village,' and watch the camera department
shooting the shots," adds Magnopus virtual-production supervisor Ben Grossmann. "[This] gave him a more natural interface
to suggest changes to the shots, because he could see both the camera feed and the scene at the same time."
68

August 2019

ASC 100th Anniversary

American Cinematographer - August 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - August 2019