How did you use the Prime 65 and Vintage 765 lenses?

The first four or five weeks in Munich involved quite a bit of VFX, so I shot with the newer Prime 65 lenses and they performed perfectly. But then we were travelling to Washington, Hong Kong and Hawaii, with less VFX, and I instinctively felt that I needed a change. There wasn’t time to test the Vintage 765 lenses, but I took them because I knew they were beautiful and softer, and the wrap-around and fall-off would be different. It was a leap of faith and they are slightly more irregular in the colors, but it was an intuitive thing and I was very pleased I did it. 

What was the ALEXA 65 like on location?

Sometimes the resolution itself was helpful. At one very difficult nightclub location it was impossible to get a crane inside the building, so we replicated a crane shot by shooting certain tracking elements with a dolly and then reframing in post to give the impression of a track and jib from a tight close-up to almost a full figure.

At other locations the difficulty was a lack of electricity, but I wanted to catch places the way we see them. I didn’t push the ASA, I just exposed what I could, sometimes a couple of stops under and struggling in some areas of the picture; but the blacks were still solid and as you lifted the image up for the dailies, it was robust and peaceful, and that was incredible to work with.

I was shooting in natural light in a place called Tong Lau, a very poor area in Hong Kong that’s like an organic painting – there’s so much detail, so many little things you can see. If you hold the camera and take your time, letting the audience slowly feel this place, it’s like licking the windowsills of these slum buildings. So yes, it was an amazing advantage having the ALEXA 65 on the journey.