We caught up with Geoff just as he was preparing to leave for IBC.
Marc Shipman-Mueller: Geoff, we know you to be on the forefront of new camera technologies, why did you choose Super 16 film for this spot?
Geoffrey Boyle: We wanted to shoot film, but 35 mm would have broken the budget. Keep in mind that we had planned to shoot high speed with two cameras. Once you telecine on a Spirit, for material that goes out to standard TV, you cannot tell the difference between 35 and 16.
MSM: Why did you choose film instead of HD?
GB: Partially for the look, and partially because we wanted variable speed and high speed. Plus the 16 equipment is so light and portable. We shot that whole spot in 2 days. You can move a 16 mm camera around a hell of a lot faster than you can move any HD camera. We had the second unit change positions all the time to grab shots we needed, it just allowed us to work faster and to get it done in 2 days.
Another advantage of film became apparent in post. I had a look in mind, and the director, Sam Murphy, had envisioned a different look. So we shot it pretty clean, and then during color grading, we worked out a look somewhere in-between. This was possible since there is so much information on film, there is so much that you can manipulate afterwards and pull out what you want. Seamus, the colorist at The Mill, helped a great deal and I am very pleased with the look we got.
MSM: What cameras did you use?
GB: We rented two ARRIFLEX 16SR 3 HS cameras from Take 2, and they worked faultlessly, even though it got a bit rough at times. Michael Kennedy, our second unit camera operator, had to get close ups of the Rugby players as they invaded the garden, he was right in there with them, and he and the camera got kicked around a bit. He got some nasty bruises, but the camera was just fine. Dan Lightening, first unit camera operator, got buried under the dinosaur bones in the museum shot. To get the dramatic effect of the bones coming down, he had to get very close, and was pummeled with fake dinosaur bones. The guys took a bit of a beating, but the cameras were fine.
MSM: What speeds did you shoot at?
GB: Most the scenes were shot between 75 and 150 fps, some at 25 fps. I also used a 45 degree shutter because we wanted somewhat choppy action, we wanted it to look urgent. In post we sometimes took frames out of the high speed material to make it look even choppier, as if we had shot with an even smaller shutter angle.
MSM: What film stocks did you use?
GB: Most shots were done on 7205. The green screen stuff (in the museum) was shot on 7217.
MSM: What lenses did you use?
GB: The main unit had a complete set of Super Speeds from 9.5 to 85 mm, and the Zeiss 11-110 was used on the second unit for flexibility. The 11-110 cut perfectly with the primes On the garden shot with the kids we used the 85 mm prime to compress the action and make the positioning of the kids look more dangerous. The breaking windows are shot from below on a 9.5mm prime.
MSM: That looks like a fun shoot. What scene did you enjoy the most?
GB: The office. It was chaos. The effects guys were great. They had air cannons go off blasting paper in the air, and at some point I think there is a water cooler flying through the shot. It was organized chaos.
MSM: What was the most difficult scene?
GB: The shot where the Rugby player slides across the office table towards the camera was tricky. The camera was tracking back as they ran towards us and slid across the table, and it was difficult to physically get everything where we wanted it to go. Also to keep everything steady was difficult. We shot it two ways: one as steady as we could make it, and one with a bit of shake. As it turned out, the director liked the shaking, and we even added more in post. We started this shot at T5.6 in the afternoon with a 90 degree shutter running at 50 fps, and when we did the last take we were at T1.3 with a 180 degree shutter running at 25 fps, barely making it in the fading light. Our producer, Sharon Kersley, was glad that we could finish the setup by opening up to T1.3.
MSM: Thank you, Geoff.
Marc Shipman-Mueller
|
