American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 28
Top: The crew
preps for a
scene.
Bottom (from
left): Director
Jon M. Chu,
cinematographer
Alice Brooks and
actress Stefanie
Scott (who
portrays Jem's
sister, Kimber)
view footage on
a Blackmagic
Pocket Cinema
Camera display.
tested CinemaDNG but ended up with
ProRes because it was better for our workflow, and in our tests we liked the way
ProRes looked. We wanted Kimber's
camera to feel digital, and we wanted the
Red to feel more analog."
Also intercut in the movie are flashbacks in the form of home movies shot by
Jerrica and Kimber's father when the sisters
were kids. Brooks tested out DV, Hi-8, Digi28
November 2015
tal 8, and even thought about shooting
with the Epic for these scenes and degrading the footage to look like VHS. In the end,
she ended up shooting with an actual VHS
camera from the mid 1980s - the Panasonic OmniMovie. "As we were going
through prep," Brooks says, "we set rules
for ourselves, and one of them was that we
didn't want anything to feel plastic or fake.
When we projected the VHS, there was a
American Cinematographer
quality to it that we loved, and one of my
favorite shots in the movie is actually shot
on VHS."
The majority of Jem and the Holograms was shot with two Epics capturing
5K resolution to RedMags with 6:1
compression in the 2.39:1 aspect ratio.
Brooks chose Panavision PVintage Prime
lenses, which are from the mid-1970s and
based on Panavision's Ultra Speed Primes.
Brooks primarily shot with a 35mm on the
A camera and a 50mm on the B camera,
and for close-ups she used a 75mm on the
A and a 100mm on the B. Wider lenses
were generally only used for concert
sequences.
According to Brooks, lens flares were
a deciding factor in the filmmakers' choice
to use PVintage Primes. "When the lenses
were combined with the Epic, we ended up
with these soft, pink-like flares - and
almost everything about Jem is pink," she
notes. "We loved the flares so much that
we didn't use hard mattes; we just
completely embraced the flares." The cinematographer adds that the lenses' softness
also helped hide the "digital-ness" of the
Epics. To soften even more, Brooks used
Schneider Optics ¼ and ½ Classic Soft
filters.
➣
American Cinematographer - November 2015
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - November 2015
Contents
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - Cover1
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 1
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 2
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - Contents
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 4
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 5
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 6
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 7
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 8
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 9
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 10
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 11
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 12
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 13
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 14
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 15
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 16
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 17
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 18
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 19
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 20
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 21
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 22
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 23
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 24
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 25
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 26
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 27
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 28
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 29
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 30
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 31
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 32
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 33
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 34
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 35
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 36
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 37
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 38
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 39
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 40
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 41
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 42
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 43
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 44
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 45
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 46
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 47
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 48
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 49
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 50
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 51
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 52
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 53
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 54
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 55
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 56
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 57
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 58
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 59
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 60
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 61
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 62
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 63
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 64
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 65
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 66
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 67
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 68
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 69
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 70
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 71
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 72
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 73
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 74
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 75
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 76
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 77
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 78
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 79
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 80
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 81
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 82
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 83
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 84
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 85
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 86
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 87
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 88
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 89
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 90
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 91
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 92
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 93
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 94
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 95
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 96
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - Cover3
American Cinematographer - November 2015 - Cover4
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