Cinematography

Sony Upgrades Venice to Include 4K HFR Shooting

Thu, 01/31/2019 - 13:56 -- Nick Dager

Sony is upgrading the capabilities of its Venice motion picture camera system by introducing high frame rate shooting, advanced remote-control functionalities and Cooke/i3 and Zeiss extended metadata support, as part of its latest firmware update. Both the free upgrade to firmware Version 4.0 and the optional HFR license will be available in June.

Growing Number of Oscar Nominees Embrace Dolby Technology

Wed, 01/23/2019 - 12:44 -- Nick Dager

Dolby Laboratories congratulates this year’s Academy Award nominees who have tapped into the audio-visual power of Dolby technologies to draw audiences into their stories. Five of the eight Best Picture nominees this year used both Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. And all five films nominated for Sound Mixing and Sound Editing awards this year were presented in Dolby Atmos.

Three of the five Best Animated Film nominations also utilized Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos.

ASC Picks Top 100 Films in 20th Century Cinematography

Tue, 01/08/2019 - 11:49 -- Nick Dager

The American Society of Cinematographers celebrates its 100th anniversary today and to mark the occasion, the society released their members’ list of 100 Milestone Films in the art and craft of cinematography of the 20th century. The list is the first of its kind to showcase the best of cinematography as selected by professional cinematographers. The list culminates in a Top 10, with the other 90 titles unranked. The Top 10 films are:

Trainor Tackles Alaska

Wed, 12/19/2018 - 12:43 -- Nick Dager

Braving the challenging weather and Kodiak brown bears of Alaska, cinematographer Tom Trainor served as director of photography on the new Animal Planet documentary series, Into Alaska. Season one of the series, which showcases the wildlife inhabiting Alaska's national refuges and the men and women who protect them, is currently in rotation on the cable channel.

Hannah Claims a Cinematic First

Tue, 12/04/2018 - 11:18 -- Nick Dager

The makers of the Screen Gems feature film The Possession of Hannah Grace are claiming an interesting cinema technology first: the project was shot in Boston using Sony A7S II mirrorless digital cameras combined with large format Hawk 65 anamorphic lenses from Vantage, an unlikely combination featuring lenses designed for large digital sensors combined with a full-frame camera with a DSLR form factor and a price tag under $3,000. Nevertheless, the filmmakers say it made for a high-quality, cost-effective production workflow.

Where the Wild Things Aren’t

Fri, 11/30/2018 - 10:45 -- Nick Dager

Director of photography Joe Callahan recently completed principal photography on a feature-length documentary about wildlife rescue and rehabilitation in India. The documentary, aiming for premium festival berths, profiles the pioneering work of Wildlife SOS, a worldwide organization dedicated to protecting and conserving India’s natural heritage, forest and wildlife wealth. The majority of location work on the documentary (working title, Where the Wild Things Aren’t) took place last June all across India—jungles, deserts and the teeming cities of Jodhpur, Delhi and Agra.

Capturing Vintage Queen

Mon, 11/12/2018 - 15:25 -- Nick Dager

Newton Thomas ‘Tom’ Sigel, ASC chose a full range of original Cooke Speed Panchros, with a slightly new housing and updated mechanics from Arri Rental UK, to shoot the early years documented in the 20th Century Fox/Regency production of Bohemian Rhapsody. Sigel needed to capture the idealistic energy of Freddie Mercury and his future bandmates when he first came to London in 1970. To accomplish this, he made use of a full vintage set of Cooke Speed Panchros, with a very light net at the back of the lens and a special LUT for the Alexa SXT that was specifically designed for the period. This set-up was used for the entire first act of the film, with Sigel relying mostly on the 40mm lens, with the 25, 32 and 50 as secondary lenses.

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