American Cinematographer - October 2015 - 28

Storyboards for a surgical scene whose shooting technique was based upon the "attack on
the Death Star" sequence in Star Wars.

enough overall contrast. What started to
work better was to introduce stronger
sources through the windows and correspondingly reduce the ambient levels
inside. If memory serves me correctly, we
began the shoot with the interior LED
levels set at 80 to 100 percent, but by
episode three they were down to 25 to
35 percent."
The first episode - and the
second to be shot - was scripted to
occur at sunrise, and represents the
results of Palmer's realization. "The idea
was low sunlight, and if you look at the
28

October 2015

quality of that type of light, you will see
peachy, warm highlights and very indigo
fill." Implementing this look required
"conventional sources," he adds. "We
used 2.5K [HMI] through the windows,
warmed up with a Full CTS gel." Palmer
also used in-camera settings in pursuit of
his photographic goals: "Because all the
LED practicals were 5,600K daylightbalanced, it became a simple matter of
setting the color temperature on the
camera to 4,300K. This kept the light
coming through the windows warm, but
really cooled down the fill light."
American Cinematographer

The production's sets were
constructed at Longcross Studios in Surrey,
just a few miles southwest of London.
"The production designer, Malcolm
[Thornton], was fantastic," Palmer
enthuses. "Over the Christmas holidays
the art department poured this hardened
resin floor across the whole set. It was half
an acre at least - it was enormous. When
we came back for the last month of prep
in January, this immaculate floor was in
place and it remained pristine for the 10
months [of production]. The beauty of it
was that it was designed to function as a
studio floor. We only laid one track over
the course of the shoot and that was
because the camera had to move in a
dead-straight line. You could dolly
anywhere on dolly wheels, even at
290mm - the [long] end of the Angenieux Optimo 24-290mm [T2.8] zoom."
Other lenses included what Palmer calls a
"standard set" of Cooke S4s.
Creative filtration included the
occasional use of a Vantage Blue-Vision
filter, which adds an anamorphic-style
horizontal streaking flare. "We did look
into shooting anamorphic, but the costs
were too high," Palmer accepts. "I only
used [the filter] when there was a definite
point source in frame."
In addition, Palmer made extensive use of an Optex Excellence periscopeborescope system from Take 2 Films in
London. "When I went to interview for
the job, I had a gut feeling that a device
of this type would prove invaluable. I had
been doing some research on the making
of the 'attack on the Death Star'
sequence in Star Wars and knew that the
filmmakers had shot the scene with a
camera and periscope lens suspended
from an overhead track. The producers
agreed that this would make a good
starting point as an approach to filming
the surgical scenes."
Such decisions, however, are not
made lightly, given the budgetary implications of such a specialized piece of equipment. "It's a really expensive lens,"
Palmer concedes. "We shot tests in all its
configurations and showed these tests to
the Sky [network] execs. The presentation
must have gone down well, because we
were allowed to have the lens as part of

American Cinematographer - October 2015

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