American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 28

Left: From their perch on a fire-escape balcony, series co-creator Baz Luhrmann, Rexer and writer Nelson George prepare for a crowd scene.
Right: The crew captures a performance on set.

Rexer reports that most of the dance
sequences were shot at either 48 or 72 fps.
"Baz wanted us to over-crank whole scenes.
He would play them back at regular speed
and then, at certain points, elongate the
images for a moment or two." Action
sequences, such as Shaolin jumping from
roof to roof to escape local gang members,
also tended to be shot at 72 fps, as well as
with either a 90- or 45-degree shutter angle.
"It really accentuates the action," observes
Rexer. "We varied the shutter angle on both
action and dance sequences, depending
upon whether I wanted to capture the movements or the blur."
As to the difficulties of shooting a
normal 180-degree shutter on today's city
streets, now that so many streetlamps have
switched to LED lights, Rexer notes that "the
frequencies aren't the same and the streetlamps flicker. After some research and experiments, I found that a 144-degree shutter
eliminated the flicker."
The Movi operated in Majestic Mode
- i.e., by a single operator - for much of its
use on the shoot. Wearing an Easyrig with a
Flowcine Serene to take some of the weight
from the Movi was some help to the operator, though it wasn't always a possibility. In
one scene Voegeli had to climb out of a
limousine and track Shaolin's briefcase as the
graffiti-artist-turned-deejay is taking it to a
meeting with Grandmaster Flash
(Mamoudou Athie). "I am crouching down,
hand-holding the Movi, following the briefcase," relates Voegeli. "[Then] I rise up into
the scene, into a classic over-the-shoulder of
Shaolin." With a laugh he adds, "I couldn't
28

October 2016

have gotten out of that limo in an Easyrig."
In another situation the Movi was
used to re-create a 1970s photo taken by
photographer Joe Conzo - whose images
influenced the entire production - here
featuring Zeke and his friends on a boulder
in St. Mary's Park. The Movi was also
employed to pass the camera from inside a
limousine, through the window to another
operator, who walked across the street and
entered a building, where it was seamlessly
hooked onto an overhead pulley and
continued shooting from its new vantage
point. It was also suspended in the center of
a school stairwell and panned like a
corkscrew, as Voegeli describes, to follow
Zeke and his unrequited love interest
Mylene (Herizen Guardiola) up three flights
of stairs.
"Every day on set," Burke enthuses,
"was about trying something beyond what
has been and is being done on other shows,
and pushing the new technology and utilizing old technology in new ways to better tell
the story."
The Movi and Steadicam were both
used so extensively that Rexer attests it was
like having multiple A cameras. "Jeff, Andy,
Michael, gaffer Scott Ramsey - my whole
team was great. When Andy had to leave,
Tim Norman assumed the B camera and
Movi reins, followed by Derek Walker, who
operated on the last couple of episodes.
Both were excellent, as was Ron Petagna,
the construction coordinator on the show.
He and his department were incredible.
They could build anything - and everything
was well-built. Lamont Crawford and the
American Cinematographer

grip team were exceptional; [they were]
responsible for all the crane and amazing
dolly work. Danny Beaman is one of the
best dolly grips that I have ever worked
with."
Crowley performed the final color
grade at Technicolor PostWorks New York,
employing FilmLight's Baselight system. The
work was completed in ProRes HQ 4:4:4:4
for a UHD ProRes HQ 4:2:2 final deliverable.
The facility also contributed visual effects to
The Get Down with Autodesk's Flame.
"My crew and I had all worked
together before, but none of us had ever
worked with Baz," Rexer adds. "Right from
the get-go he and Catherine created an
unusually collaborative environment. Baz
really wanted input from everybody on the
crew, and he appreciated what everybody
brought to the table. He only directed the
pilot, but he was present, either on-set or
watching via live feed, for every frame we
shot. I can't stress enough how his and
Catherine's spirit of collaboration made this
such a fun and satisfying project to work
on."

TECHNICAL SPECS
1.78:1
Digital Capture
Red Epic Dragon, Weapon 6K
Arri/Zeiss Master Prime;
Zeiss Compact Prime, Jena;
Angenieux; Duclos rehoused Tokina;
GL Optics rehoused Sigma;
Lensbaby Composer

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American Cinematographer - October 2016

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