What made you decide to shoot with ALEXA XT cameras?
This is India's most expensive movie to date and we needed a very reliable camera; I knew I could count on the ALEXA XT to faithfully convey to the viewer what I was seeing. I love the flexibility that the ALEXA has and I'm very impressed with how skin tones are rendered -- our cast is diverse and the ALEXA handled all our skin colors beautifully. To my eyes, there is no other camera that can handle this as well; there's a certain softness to it, almost an organic grain structure. I feel it's the closest I can get to a film look or even better, with a soft patina that isn't as harsh-looking as some other digital cameras. In the DI suite, I didn't need to do as much defocusing, softening, and contrast reduction as I might have had to with another camera. The ALEXA's low-light sensitivity was also a huge bonus; I definitely think we were able to use smaller lighting instruments in general than we would have in the past.
Why did you record in the ARRIRAW format, and how did you use the Open Gate mode?
We had to shoot in different locations with varying weather conditions, from continuous rain in Mahabaleshwar to scorching summer heat in Hyderabad and then freezing cold in Bulgaria. Attempting to battle the weather gods is fruitless, so latitude was the only option. Gathering as much information as possible meant I could decide on the aesthetic look I wanted -- ARRIRAW was the obvious choice. The extensive visual effects in the film were another reason why I chose to record ARRIRAW, the highest quality possible with ALEXA.
I like the Open Gate format, as it records the full 3.4K sensor area for an optimal up-sample in post to a 4K DCP, which we did with spectacular results for some cinemas that have 4K projection. For the majority of the film I shot ARRIRAW 4:3, going to ARRIRAW 16:9 for 120 fps shots and using Open Gate for VFX shots. The film integrates approximately 2,500 VFX shots; we shot greenscreen as extensions of existing sets, and the ALEXA is quite beautiful for greenscreen work.
