The Big Picture

To make a movie based on one of world’s most famous toy brands is to venture into a particularly public arena, where everyone has at least a passing familiarity and expects a certain recognizability. In bringing Barbie to the big screen, director Greta Gerwig and cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC therefore had to find the right balance between the authentic and the inventive. Working with an inspired script by Gerwig and Noah Baumbach, larger-than-life production design by Sarah Greenwood, and Panavision System 65 large-format spherical optics, Prieto helped realize a world that’s been welcomed by fans and newcomers alike, inviting one and all to participate in the fun and share in the joy. Gerwig has called the look of the film “authentic artificiality.” Here, Pietro speaks about his experiences in Barbieland and beyond.

What happens to a film when an actor's face is changed? Over the past year, everyone in the film world has started talking about artificial intelligence. Will the technology enable different and better films, or will it just make everyone unemployed? And how does AI affect how directors and actors create their art? In collaboration with SF Studios, Gothenburg Film Studios and The Ingmar Bergman Foundation, Göteborg Film Festival is producing an AI-generated version of Persona, featuring Alma Pöysti in Liv Ullmann's role as Elisabet Vogler.

"It's an intimate, emotional and immersive psychological drama, as well as spectacular event cinema," says cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema FSF NSC ASC, as he reveals details about capturing Christopher Nolan's nail-biting thriller, Oppenheimer, in Imax (15-perf) format using Kodak 65mm large-format film, including, for the very first time, sections on 65mm black and white shot in Imax. "I am super proud about the result and know it will provoke a lot of interesting discussion and debate," he adds.

Greig Fraser, ACS, ASC, is an award-winning Australian cinematographer. His artistic composition together with his flowing, immersive approach to cinematography has made him a go-to director of photography for a number of high-profile directors. His most well-known work includes Zero Dark Thirty (2012), Lion (2016), Rogue One (2016), Vice (2018), Dune (2021), and The Batman (2022). Fraser also returned to the Star Wars franchise with the 2019 television series The Mandalorian. Recently, Fraser shot Dune: Part Two, which will be in theatres in November. He has since joined the jury for the 2023 FilmLight Color Awards. Fraser spoke via email with Digital Cinema Report about his relationship with color and his collaboration with 2022 FilmLiight Color Awards nominee Dave Cole, for their work on the grade of Dune.