The ARRI booth at Camerimage

Every year Camerimage gets better and better. For those who have not had the pleasure of attending, the festival is dedicated to the art and craft of cinematography held annually in Lodz, a small town in Poland, two hours from Warsaw. Screenings, retrospectives, exhibitions, seminars, discussion groups and workshops are attended by a large number of cinematographers, camera assistants and students.

The atmosphere is wonderful - everyone there is dedicated in some way or other to cinematography, and everyone openly shares their experiences. Almost as important as the well-organized events during the day are the informal gatherings in the evening (or late evening, as is often the case), where cinematographers exchange their years of experience and discuss shooting styles and tricks of the trade. With over 360 cinematographers attending from 36 countries along with 1200 film school students and 50,000 cinemagoers, the festival is on a truly international scale.

As one of the main sponsors, ARRI was represented in the main festival hall by the ARRI Rental Group who had a stand presenting the perfect opportunity for all to ask questions and receive informal demonstrations of the ARRIFLEX D-20 film-style digital camera, the ARRIMAX 18/12 with the Maxmover, the ARRIFLEX 235, ARRICAM Studio, ARRIFLEX 416, ARRI/Zeiss Master Zoom, Ultra Prime 8R and Ultra 16 lenses.
It’s impossible to capture every facet of this unique event, but below is a selection of activities that ARRI was involved in.

Monday 27th November

“Lighting with Paint & Lights Workshop” with Cinematographer, Jon Fauer ASC,

Jon Fauer expertly led the workshop.

An audience of more than 200 cinematographers, camera assistants and producers were treated to a workshop session in the Opus film studio. Cinematographer and Director Jon Fauer, ASC  first showed a number of classical paintings, while contemplating how they would have been lit with modern lighting instruments and techniques.

While working his way through art history, he also pointed out how technology changed the style of paintings. One example was the camera obscura, a human-sized box with a pinhole that projects an image onto one of the inner walls. Artists could all of a sudden look at a realistic image, which influenced the way they painted. Trains and tin tubes for paint were two of the enabling factors that led to the impressionist style of painting.

One audience member is operating the ARRICAM Lite, while others are staging a short scene.

Then the practical part began. Fauer gave an overview of set procedures, and proceeded to light and stage a scene in a living room set.

Members of the audience took the positions of director, cinematographer, camera operator, camera assistant and gaffer, while Fauer enjoyed his self-appointed role as first assistant director. He coached the teams while they worked out a short scene to be captured with an ARRICAM Lite on a dolly.

The workshop ended with an exercise where a product (Polish beer, in this case) was lit for a commercial. Lighting for a product can be a challenging task, and Fauer gave various options for how this can be best approached. An extensive question and answer session concluded this workshop.

Monday, October 27, Afternoon Workshop

“The Super 16 Renaissance” Workshop with Cinematographers Chistophe Chassée, Jon Fauer ASC and ARRI’s Marc Shipman-Mueller

Christoph Chassée on the set of Tango, Tango with the ARRIFLEX 416.

 "The Super 16 Renaissance" workshop in the afternoon was presented by Marc Shipman-Mueller, Product Manager for Film Cameras and Lenses at ARRI. He presented the features of the new ARRIFLEX 416 cameras, and reported on the enthusiasm the pre-production models have already generated. Over 50 feature films, TV movies, commercials and documentaries have already been shot with 16 pre-production cameras, providing ARRI with ample feedback on how to improve the final production camera, which will be available for sale starting December of 2006. Shipman-Mueller told the story of one customer, who liked the 416 so much that he refused to return the pre-production model, and instead offered to purchase it. Other cinematographers showered equal praise on the viewfinder, the silent operation and the lightweight ergonomic design of the 416.

Fauer continued by talking about the tremendous changes that the Super 16 film format has gone through in the last five years. He said, "With the improvements in film stock, lenses and scanning technology, Super 16 looks as good as 35mm looked five years ago. This means that Super 16 is the ideal medium for independent feature films and high definition television."

Cinematographer Christoph Chassée concluded the workshop by relating his experience of working with the 416 camera and the Ultra 16 lenses during the TV movie Tango, Tango.

Chassée said that the brighter viewfinder has also a higher resolution, which helped him during low light and night shoots. He stated, "With the 416, I feel that I can now see exactly what the film will see." He also mentioned that he insists on shooting with modern lenses (Ultra 16 and Ultra Primes), as the gain in image quality is enormous. He concluded, "Especially in Super 16, it is very important to use a good lens. I have gone as far as shooting tests to convince the producers to spring for the Ultra Primes, and when they see the difference, they always go for it. "

Tuesday, 28th November

“ARRI/Zeiss Lenses in Action” Seminar with Holger Sehr of Zeiss and ARRI’s Marc Shipman-Mueller

Holger Sehr, Product Manager from Zeiss and Shipman-Mueller presented the "ARRI/Zeiss Lenses in Action" seminar. After Shipman-Mueller outlined the advantages of the new Ultra 16 lenses and reported on the first successful use of the pre-production lenses that have accompanied the pre-production 416 cameras, Sehr spoke about some of the most important lens quality criteria in detail. Image characteristics such as chromatic aberrations, spherical aberrations and geometric distortions were discussed.
Sehr explained the reason for those aberrations and showed how they are dealt with in modern lenses, accompanied by many image examples. Then the lights were dimmed and a lens projector was used to project a test pattern through the Ultra 16 lenses and older lenses of similar focal length. One audience member commented, "I knew the new lenses were better, but I did not realize that there is such a huge difference! Now I know what to look for when I evaluate lenses. This was very useful.”

Friday, 1st December

“35mm Handheld Camera Workshop” with Cinematographer Andreas Höffer and Focus Puller Jörg Günther

Cinematographer Andreas Höffer presented a workshop on the theoretical and practical aspects of handheld work in feature filmmaking. Assisted by Focus Puller Jörg Günther, he discussed the creative possibilities and practical challenges when using handheld cameras and demonstrated this with the ARRICAM Lite and ARRIFLEX 235 cameras.

Saturday, 2nd December

“ARRIFLEX D-20 Film-Style Digital Camera Workshop” with Cinematographer Gavin Finney, BSC and Bill Lovell of ARRI.

Bill Lovell, ARRI’s Product Manager for Digital Cameras, gave a presentation on the latest technical developments of the ARRIFLEX D-20 and how the camera is being used on a variety of international productions. Gavin Finney, BSC showed key scenes from the recently completed major two-part TV drama, Terry Pratchett’s Hogfather for Sky TV. This was followed by a practical workshop during which the audience was invited onto the film set to take part in familiarizing themselves with the new technology. During this time various camera and lighting techniques were demonstrated, including explanations on the ease of use of the Astro waveform monitor.

Cinematographer Style Screening with Jon Fauer, ASC

The art and craft of filmmaking was celebrated with the screening of Cinematographer Style
to an audience of 1500.

The 90-minute documentary sponsored by ARRI, Kodak and Technicolor, weaves a collage of commentaries by 110 cinematographers on the art of telling stories with moving images. Director Jon Fauer, ASC explained, “Our goal was to take the audience on a journey into the hearts and minds of many of the world’s most gifted cinematographers.” The audience was not disappointed. After the screening, Fauer conducted a question and answer session.

Festival Awards
Over 300 films were submitted for the competition including; Babel, The Black Dahlia, Bobby and The Departed, to name only a few.

The following Cinematographers received awards:

• Golden Frog: Guillermo Navarro for Pan’s Labyrinth
• Silver Frog: Dick Pope for Illusionist
• Bronze Frog: Ricardo Della Rosa for The House of Sand
• The Lifetime Achievement Award
  Robby Müller
• Special Award to The Director With Unique Visual Sensitivity
  Istvan Szábó
• Lifetime Achievement Award to the Director with Unique Visual Sensitivity
  Ken Russel
• Special Award for Outstanding Cinematography Achievements in the Field of Music Clips and Videos and Advertising Spots
  Daniel Pearl, ASC
• Special Award for Innovative Achievements in Motion Picture
  David Samuelson

200 Student Films were submitted with the following receiving awards:

• Golden Tadpole: Pawel Dyllus for Wild Duck Season
• Silver Tadpole: Imri Matalon for Road Marks
• Bronze Tadpole: Kolja Raschke for Firn

Special Award  for Duo - Director & Cinematographer
Tom Tykwer and Frank Griebe received the prestigious Golden Frog, awarded to the “Duo Director & Cinematographer”. They met in 1986 and have since collaborated on such feature films as “Deadly Maria” ,“The Princess & the Warrior”, “Run Lola Run” ,and most recently,  “Perfume – the Story of a Murderer”.

ARRI also hosted the DoP dinner with over 100 in attendance. Now recognized as a regular international event at the festival, the evening provided further opportunities for the cinematographers to meet and discuss the technical and creative aspects of their craft in a relaxed setting.

Marc Shipman-Mueller and Judith Petty