American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 48L

Imagery Sets the Tone for
“...We are both so passionate
about film... When you are
doing multi-camera shots with
a tough schedule and no more
than nine hours of sun per day
in the Turkish winter, you want
something reliable.”
In Taken, the Albanian mafi a
kidnapped the daughter of
ex-CIA agent Bryan Mills (Liam
Neeson). In that fi lm, Mills
had to use all his special skills
to track them down and get
her back, killing several gang
members in the process. In the
sequel, Taken 2, the head of the
mafi a clan gets his revenge by
kidnapping Mills and his wife
while they are on holiday in
Istanbul.
Taken 2 was directed by
Olivier Megaton and shot by
Romain Lacourbas on locations
in Istanbul, the south of Turkey,
Los Angeles and Paris, between
October 2011 and February
of this year. The director
and cinematographer had
previously worked together on
Colombiana and Transporter 3.
“Olivier and I didn’t really
consider using digital for Taken
2 because we are both so
passionate about fi lm,” says
Lacourbas. “We have worked
together on several features
and have always used fi lm.
There was no viable technical
or artistic reason to shoot
Taken 2 in digital. When you are
doing multi-camera shots with
a tough schedule and no more
than nine hours of sun per day
in the Turkish winter, you want
something reliable.
“Film helped us achieve the
Photos:
Neeson in Taken 2. Inset: (L to R) Megaton, Sarel Eloff and Lacourbas on the set.
(Photo: Magali Bragard ©2011 Europacorp, M6 Films/Grive Productions)
look we wanted,” he continues.
“The images were designed to
give a different visual identity
to each of the four countries
where the action takes place
(the United States, Albania,
Turkey and France). It allowed
us to portray a gradual cooling
of the image as the intrigue
and suspense built up. The
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movie begins in Albania with
golden tones and clear color
separation, and then moves to a
hot and summery Los Angeles.
But little by little, it reaches
a cold ambience, with higher
and more diffuse lighting in
Istanbul, where the kidnapping
takes place.”
Lacourbas chose to use
different emulsions to help
differentiate the locations. At
the beginning of the fi lm, he
used KODAK VISION3 250D
Color Negative Film 5207 and
created a more defi ned and
warm image.
For the Istanbul scenes, he
chose KODAK VISION3 500T
Color Negative Film 5219 for
colder images with more grain
in scenes where the main
drama takes place. “Sometimes
I even pushed the stock a
little, too,” Lacourbas explains.
“The choice of lenses also
accentuated the locations. The
scenes in America were shot
anamorphic, while we used
spherical lenses for the portion
in Turkey.
“I think fi lm gives an image
character even before it gets
to post-production,” adds
Lacourbas. “The desired grain
is already there, as well as the
fi neness of the details and
the softness of the contours.
It also fl attens the highlights.
We were able to slow down the
fi lm directly for stunt shots and
effects work, something you
can’t do with digital.”
Post-production on Taken 2
was done by Digital Factory
using a digital intermediate.
The fi lm releases worldwide in
October.
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American Cinematographer - September 2012

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