In some of their earliest discussions about the new film The Water Man, both director, producer, and actor David Oyelowo, and cinematographer Matt Lloyd, ASC, CSC, knew that the look of the film would need to be more majestic than a spherical lens could provide. Then, Lloyd met up with Michael Koerner of Koerner Camera of Portland, Oregon, who would provide the lenses and cameras for the project.
Season 4 of Star Trek: Discovery will bring viewers further into the story than previous seasons, as lead director of photography Philip Lanyon added shooting in full frame to his creative look. Lanyon was the driving force behind using full frame for Discovery, although the decision to introduce full frame was also somewhat technically driven. “Discovery used virtual production environments in Season 4 and the large format can effectively give you softer backgrounds, which was important to control moiré and other artifacts you can get on a LED wall,” he said, “but shooting in full frame is what I wanted for the look and feel of Season 4.”
Sony Electronics today introduced the Venice 2 digital cinema camera, the new flagship model and latest addition to its lineup of high-end digital cinema cameras. The company says the Venice 2 builds upon the strength of the original Venice with new features including a compact design, internal recording, and the option for two different sensors: the newly developed full-frame 8.6K sensor or the original 6K Venice sensor. The Venice 2 also inherits popular features from the original Venice including color science, Dual Base ISO and 8-stops of built-in ND filters.
In an industry that relies heavily on collaboration to combine technical excellence with inspiring creativity, the last two years have been a unique challenge. The Zeiss cinema lens team, meanwhile, has worked hard to not only continue communications, but to also expand and improve its capabilities across the Americas. Whether it’s from behind masks or monitors they have been actively engaging with the filmmaking community, unveiling new technology, maintaining channels, sponsoring online events and film festivals, and producing their Studies in Cinematography series with the likes of Greig Fraser, ASC, ACS, Matthew Libatique, ASC and Alice Brooks, ASC.
Projects that originate on film are increasingly rare and one current standout is the HBO series Succession. Working with film creates some interesting challenges and opportunities for Light Iron senior colorist Sam Daley, whose involvement in the series goes back to the pilot episode.
The film We Are Lady Parts is Nida Manzoor’s anarchic and irreverent music comedy about a Muslim female punk band – called Lady Parts – who are on a mission to find a lead guitarist and maybe, just maybe, get a proper gig. It was the first time she and cinematographer Diana Olifirova had worked together, but Olifirova described all the people on board for the series as a dream team.
A cinematographer, executive producer, and whiskey aficionado, Johnny Derango was corresponding with the owner of The Bottle Haus, an online liquor retailer, who it turned out was looking for someone to create a series of commercials to promote their business on social media. “The directive given to me was to do a commercial that gives the bottles personality, as well as be funny,” said Derango. “It was very open ended, so I had to conceptualize that.”
“When you’re preparing a film you can indulge in dreamy conversations –– it’s an essential part of the process that gets infused into the work,” says cinematographer Sam Levy. “But once you’re on set, and the clock is ticking, you find yourself a passenger on a moving train. Sometimes it’s a slow-moving train, but that train is moving. This was very much the case when we shot Karen Cinorre’s new film Mayday.”
Purpose built for cinematography and made in Germany, the Leitz Elsie lenses are designed for full frame performance at a size, speed, and price point to serve a broad range of productions. The set features a consistent aperture of T2.1 across all 13 lenses from 15 mm to 150 mm.
Some of the world’s most spectacular views are best seen from halfway up a wall of rock. That’s a place where gear has to be reliable, whether it’s crucial safety equipment or the cameras that let the rest of us experience the same dizzying panorama. It’s also a familiar situation to alpinist Renan Ozturk, whose experience includes some of the steepest climbing challenges on the planet as well as documentary filmmaking and photojournalism covering everything from the freezing Himalayas to the African deserts of Chad.
