Tin ManThe ARRIFLEX D-20 returnsto Oz for TV miniseries

The Kite RunnerInterview with DoPRoberto Schaefer ASC

Behind the Scenes ofthe Mazda2 SpotARRI Film & TV Commercialcreate dynamic advertisementfor the Mazda2

Eastern PromisesLondon sets the scene forDavid Cronenberg’s Russianmafia movie

MongolThe challenge of bringing the storyof Genghis Khan to the big screen

THE BOURNEULTIMATUMDoP Oliver Wood discusseshis experiences shooting thethird Bourne instalment

VisionARRIThe Biannual International Magazine from the ARRI RENTAL & POST PRODUCTION ENTERPRISES

10/07 ISSUE 5

Introducing the ARRI/Zeiss Master Zoom 16.5 – 110.A high performance T2.6 lens that maintainsoutstanding optical image quality, covering the entireANSI Super 35 frame throughout the zoom range.

This powerful zoom produces a high-contrast, high-resolutionimage which is comparable to that of a prime lens, whiledisplaying virtually no breathing or ramping. Its unique opticaldesign reduces spherical aberration and keeps the imagegeometry free of distortions - so straight lines stay straight,even up close.

Now you can choose from more ARRI/Zeiss lenses than everbefore. The Master Zoom further expands the ARRI/Zeiss lensfamily, providing you with a robust, comprehensive choice ofmatched lenses of the highest optical and mechanical quality.

ARRI/Zeiss Master Zoom 16.5 - 110mm

ARRI/Zeiss Master Primes - 14 lenses ranging from 14mm to 150mm

ARRI/Zeiss Lightweight Zoom 15.5 - 45mm

ARRI/Zeiss Ultra Primes - 16 lenses ranging from 8mm to 180mm

ARRI/Zeiss Master Diopters - 3 diopters (0.5, 1 & 2)

Your creative possibilities are endless.

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PERFORMANCE WITH POWER

Availableworldwide from

VISIONARRI

4

VisionARRI would like to thank the following contributors;Susanne Bieger, Clemens Danzer, Mark Hope-Jones, Ingo Klingspon, Tracy Mair, Heike Maleschka,Dylan Michael, Tommy Moran, Sinead Moran, Andrea Oki, Judith Petty, Bastian Prützmann,Angela Reedwisch, Andrea Rosenwirth, Stefan Sedlmeier, Marc Shipman-Mueller, Iain Struthers,Michelle Smith, Andy Subratie, Ricore Text, An Tran, Sabine Welte

CONTENTS

30 A THOUSAND YEARS OFGOOD PRAYERSDirector Wayne Wang talks about his latestfeature film

33 A SYMPHONY OF SOLOISTSThe ARRIFLEX D-20 shoots 150 musicians forSony commercial

34 THE STORY OF A YOUNG KILLERDoP Rob Hardy reflects on using the ARRIFLEX416 and Master Primes for feature Boy A

38 MONGOLDirector Sergei Bodrov recreates the story ofGenghis Khan

42 COPACABANATelevision drama combines traditional filmtechniques with digital technology atARRI Film & TV

44 SEVEN DAYS SUNDAYUp and coming director supported byARRI Film & TV and ARRI Rental

46 SIDE EFFECTARRI Lighting Rental and ARRI Media helpbudding filmmakers shoot short film

48 THE POWER TO DREAM, THE VISIONTO INNOVATEARRI celebrates 90 years of product innovation

52 25 YEARS OF ARRI FILM & TVManaging Director Franz Kraus reflects on 25years of postproduction at ARRI

55 STATE-OF-THE-ART TECHNOLOGY ATARRI SCHWARZFILM BERLIN GMBHARRI SchwarzFilm Berlin upgrades facilities

56 MOMENTS IN TIMEThe Man from U.N.C.L.E. and the hand-heldaffair with the ARRIFLEX 35

59 PANALIGHTThe ARRI Rental Group’s Romanian rental partner

60 NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

63 DID YOU KNOW?

63 TAKE 10

64 PRODUCT UPDATE

68 PRODUCTION UPDATE

ARRI PARTNERS & ASSOCIATES

ARRI SERVICES GROUP NETWORKARRI SUBSIDIARIES

AUSTRALIACameraquip, Melbourne,BrisbaneCamerasMalcolm RichardsT +61 3 9699 3922T +61 7 3844 9577rentals@cameraquip.com.au

BULGARIABoyana Film Studios, SofiaCameras, Lighting, GripLazar LazarovT +359 2958 2713director@boyanafilm.bg

CYPRUSSeahorse Films,Nicosia, PaphosCameras, Digital, Lighting,Grip, StudioAndros AchilleosT +357 9967 5013andros@seahorsefilms.com

FRANCEBogard, ParisCameras, Digital, GripDidier Bogard, Alain GauthierT +33 1 49 33 16 35didier@bogard.fralain.gauthier@bogard.fr

GERMANYMaddel’s Cameras GmbH,HamburgCameras, GripMatthias NeumannT +49 40 66 86 390info@maddels.com

HUNGARYVisionTeam, BudapestCameras, Lighting, GripGabor RajnaT +36 1 433 3911info@visionteam.hu

ICELANDPegasus Pictures, ReykjavikCameras, Lighting, GripSnorri ThorissonT +354 414 2000snorri@pegasus.is

IRELANDThe Production Depot,Co WicklowCameras, Lighting, GripJohn Leahy, Dave LeahyT +353 1 276 4840john@production-depot.comdave@production-depot.com

JAPANNAC Image Technology Inc.TokyoCameras, DigitalTomofumi MasudaHiromi ShindomeT +81 3 5211 7960masuda@camnac.co.jp

NEW ZEALANDCamera Tech, WellingtonCamerasPeter FlemingT +64 4562 8814cameratech@xtra.co.nz

ROMANIAPanalight Studio, BucharestCameras, Lighting, GripDiana ApostolT +40 727 358 304office@panalight.ro

RUSSIAACT Film Facilities Agency,St. PetersburgCameras, Lighting, GripSergei AstakhovT +7 812 710 2080act@actfilm.ru

SCANDINAVIABLIXT Camera Rental,Denmark, Norway & SwedenCameras, DigitalBjörn BlixtT +45 70 20 59 50blixt@blixt.dk

SOUTH AFRICAMedia Film Service,Cape Town, Johannesburg,Durban, NamibiaCameras, Digital, Lighting,Grip, StudioJannie Van WykT +27 21 511 3300jannie@mediafilmservice.com

SPAINCamara RentalMadrid, Barcelona, MalagaCameras, GripAndres Berenguer, AlvaroBerenguer, Sylvia JacuindeT +34 91 651 3399andres@camararental.comalvaro@camararental.comsylvia@camararental.cominfo@camararental.com

UNITED ARAB EMIRATESFilmquip Media, DubaiCameras, Lighting, GripAnthony Smythe, Hugo LangT +971 4 347 4909ant@filmquipmedia.comhugo@filmquipmedia.com

USA & CANADAClairmont Camera Hollywood,LA, Toronto, VancouverARRIFLEX D-20 RepresentativeIrving CorreaT +1 818 761 4440irvingc@clairmont.com

Fletcher Chicago, ChicagoARRIFLEX D-20 RepresentativeStan GlapaT +1 312 932 2700stan@fletch.com

AUSTRALIAARRI Australia, SydneyCameras, DigitalChristian Hilgart,Stefan SedlmeierT +61 2 9855 4300chilgart@arri.com.aussedlmeier@arri.com.auAUSTRIAARRI Rental ViennaCameras, DigitalGerhard GiesserT +43 664 120 7257rental@arri.atCZECH REPUBLICARRI Rental PragueCameras, Digital, Lighting, GripRobert KeilT +42 025 101 3575rkeil@arri.deGERMANYARRI Rental BerlinCameras, Digital, Lighting, GripUte BaronChristoph HoffstenT +49 30 346 800 0ubaron@arri.dechoffsten@arri.deARRI Rental CologneCameras, DigitalStefan MartiniT +49 221 170 6724smartini@arri.deARRI Rental MunichCameras, Digital, Lighting, GripThomas LoherT +49 89 3809 1440tloher@arri.deARRI Film & TV Services, MunichFilm Lab, Digital IntermediateVisual Effects, Sound, Studio,CinemaInternational SalesAngela ReedwischT +49 89 3809 1574areedwisch@arri.deNational SalesWalter BrusT +49 89 3809 1772wbrus@arri.deARRI Schwarzfilm Berlin GmbHFilm Lab, Digital IntermediateThomas MulackT +49 30 408 17 8534T +49 30 408 17 850thomas@schwarzfilm.deSchwarz Film GmbHLudwigsburgFilm Lab, Digital IntermediateChristine Wagner,Philipp TschäppätT +49 7141 125 590christine@schwarzfilm.dephilipp@schwarzfilm.ch

LUXEMBOURGARRI Rental LuxembourgCameras, DigitalSteffen DitterT +352 2670 1270sditter@arri.deSWITZERLANDSchwarz Film AG,Ostermundigen, ZürichFilm Lab, Digital IntermediatePhilipp TschäppätT +41 31 938 11 50philipp@schwarzfilm.chUNITED KINGDOMARRI Lighting Rental, LondonLightingTommy MoranT +44 1895 457 200tmoran@arrirental.comARRI Focus, LondonShort term lighting hire forcommercials & promosMartin Maund, George MartinT +44 1895 810 000martin@arrifocus.comgeorge@arrifocus.com

ARRI Media, LondonCameras, Digital, GripPhilip CooperT +44 1895 457 100pcooper@arrimedia.com

ARRI Crew, LondonDiary ServiceKate CollierT +44 1895 457 180arricrew@arrimedia.comUSAARRI CSC, New YorkCameras, Digital, Lighting, GripSimon Broad,Hardwrick JohnsonT +1 212 757 0906sbroad@arricsc.comhjohnson@arricsc.com

ARRI CSC, FloridaCameras, Digital, Lighting, GripEd StammT +1 954 322 4545estamm@arricsc.com

Illumination Dynamics, LALighting, GripCarly Barber, Maria CarpenterT +1 818 686 6400carly@illuminationdynamics.commaria@illuminationdynamics.com

Illumination Dynamics,North Carolina,Lighting, GripJeff PentekT +1 704 679 9400jeff@illuminationdynamics.com

10

38

4 THE BOURNE ULTIMATUMDoP Oliver Wood describes his hand-held approach to thecamerawork on the latest Bourne film

8 A VIRTUAL SPOT FOR REAL ASSETSARRI Film & TV Commercial animate 3D spot for investment bank

10 THE KITE RUNNERDoP Roberto Schaefer ASC discusses his latest collaborationwith Director Marc Forster

12 LONDON’S UNDERWORLDCo-Producer Tracey Seaward, DoP Peter Suschitzky BSC andGaffer John Colley talk about creating David Cronenberg’sRussian mafia movie Eastern Promises

16 BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE MAZDA2 SPOTARRI Film & TV Commercial generate powerful advert forcar manufacturer Mazda

22 RETURN TO OZFantasy world captured by the ARRIFLEX D-20 for TVminiseries Tin Man

24 ARRIFLEX D-20 BRINGS IDEAS TO REALITYAn update on recent ARRIFLEX D-20 projects

25 SHADOWSDirector Milcho Manchevski and DoP Fabio Cianchetti post featureShadows at ARRI Film & TV

28 EAST OF EVERYTHINGARRI Australia supply television drama

5

VISIONARRI

4

DoP Oliver Wood discusses frenetic camerawork,international locations and lighting by satellite.

The third instalment of a hugely successful film franchise based onnovels by Robert Ludlum, The Bourne Ultimatum sees Matt Damonreturn as amnesiac assassin Jason Bourne. Robbed of his identityand pursued across the globe, Bourne must turn the tables on thegovernment agency that trained him but now wants him dead inorder to avenge his murdered girlfriend and uncover the truth abouthis past. The second Bourne film directed by Paul Greengrass and thethird photographed by Oliver Wood, Ultimatum has thrilled audiencesworldwide since its August release and very quickly exceeded theinternational box office returns of both preceding films.

THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM

The Bourne Ultimatum was shot on Kodak Vision2 250D(5205) and 500T (5218) with ARRICAM Lite and ARRIFLEX235 cameras, Cooke S4 primes and Nikon mini-zooms.

Camera equipment was supplied by ARRI Media in London,ARRI Rental in Munich and ARRI CSC in New York, allworking together to provide the international service availablefrom the ARRI Rental Group.

VisionARRI: Director Paul Greengrass was with youagain on this third film; was it easy to slip backinto the working relationship?

Oliver Wood: Yes, we just went back into the same mode rightaway. It was very much an extension of what we’d donebefore; we had worked out a style on The Bourne Supremacywhich was very successful and I just kind of updated it withdifferent equipment. We had quite a big prep and theassistants made up these cameras to be able to work hand-held; very lightweight and very fast.

Paul’s style was to be completely loose and spontaneous, allthe way down the line, from the script onwards. He got thatfrom United 93, when he had complete control of the scriptand it became a daily thing that he wrote it himself with theactors. It wasn’t just the camerawork, it was the way heworked with the actors and everything – that’s where hewants to go; he wants to make it all like that.

The editors would often come back with reshoot lists of whatthey were missing, but I had dailies DVDs so if we needed togo back to a scene, I could watch the DVD and see what wedid that day. Also the sets were done with [specialist lightingcompany] Light by Numbers, so we had computer recordswe could punch in and everything would come up the sameas before.

VA: You chose ARRICAM Lite and ARRIFLEX 235cameras. What made them right for the joband how did you use them to achieve whatPaul envisioned?

OW: They were the most reliable cameras I could find. Sizeof course was a top priority – size and weight, and thenergonomics. We stripped every bit of weight off the kits wecould and anything we could add that was lightweight ratherthan heavy, we did. �

76

THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM VISIONARRI

cables and extra bits and pieces that were put together atARRI Media. Some had been custom made, so basically thosetwo suitcases went with us around the world. In New York forinstance I took the two cases from ARRI Media and the Nikonlenses that were made and then we rented the basic camerapackage from ARRI CSC in New York.

Each time we had new assistants I had to instruct them in howit all went together. Basically in Europe and England we hadthe same crew. In Germany we had a new crew, although Itook the ‘A’ and ‘B’ camera focus pullers and operators, andeveryone else in Berlin had done Supremacy with me so theywere pretty much up to speed. Then when we got to New Yorkit was a whole different ball game, but they were brilliant too;they came up with their own rigs and were very creative. Allthe different crews contributed; it was an organic process.

The camera crew list is about four pages long, and then on topof that there was a second unit. There were three cameras onthe second unit; they had to put their own packages together,based on ours. When we scouted it, this was all planned out –we decided what was going to be first unit, what was going tobe second unit – but once we were shooting there was no wayI could be there; they were completely autonomous.

VA: In Berlin you had to light a large area of the cityfor the film’s opening sequence. How did you goabout planning that?

OW: That was an enormous lighting set-up. I flew in for aweekend with my German Gaffer Ronnie Schwarz, who

actually lit the second movie, so he was very aware of whatI needed. We scouted the two basic locations; one was adrugstore and other was the station, but they were huge. Theywere supposed to be in Moscow; that’s the reason we choseEast Berlin, because the communist architecture is very similarto Moscow. Then I went back to London to start shooting againat seven o’clock on the Monday morning. Ronnie put his plansdown on a Google Earth document, so we got on the phoneand sat with computers, bringing up Google Earth documentswith little flags all over them. It was an absolutely brilliant tool;I could see his plans as he made them and suggest changesright there over the phone.

VA: The film has gone through a DI. What is yourapproach and attitude to this process?

I consider the DI a lighting tool. I’ve completely stoppedusing filters or any kind of unusual lab processes. I processeverything absolutely normally and never filter anything; I doany kind of grad or image work in the DI. The only exceptionreally was a streaking out-of-phase shutter effect in someflashbacks. Half of that was done digitally, but it worked a lotbetter in camera.

The biggest achievement of the DI was taking this huge wealthof material that was shot all over the world by a milliondifferent people, putting it together and making it look like thesame movie. �

Mark Hope-Jones

The ARRICAM Lites were used pretty much whenever therewas sync dialogue and we had to have a silent camera. Incertain cases, where there was some dialogue but the camerahad to be very mobile, then we went to the 235 – in exteriorsituations where you couldn’t hear it so much. And then wemade it even lighter if we had to put it in a running shot or ona Pogo-Cam. The 235 functioned as the smallest possiblecamera; it basically went down to the tiniest, lightest, hand-held configuration we could get.

There were always at least two cameras, but there was no ruleabout how they were allocated. The ‘B’ camera was usually anARRICAM Lite but was sometimes a 235 if it was on aSteadicam and we had to run with it. The ‘A’ camera could beeither a Lite or a 235. I would have liked to carry two 235sactually. It was used for exteriors, for all chase sequences – ofwhich there were many – like in Waterloo station, in Moroccoand anywhere the sound could be worked out. The sound manwas very forgiving with it.

VA: You had Cooke S4 primes and some speciallymade Nikon zooms. How did you put them to use?

OW: The mini-zooms were the result of collaboration betweenme and ARRI Media. I said I wanted to have two lightweightzooms and the suggestion came up that we fish around forstills zooms. We found these two Nikon digital zooms, a28-76mm and a 70-200mm; ARRI thought they could adaptthem and they did it. The Nikons became the basic lensesfor the whole show; they were used all the time because theconstant priority was for lightweight, ergonomic kit. The otherquestion was speed; I needed a lens that went to T2.8,because that’s where I needed to work.

I’ve always been very fond of Cooke lenses; I just like the look.We used the 150mm Cooke quite a bit on the Steadicam, butwe were mostly on the zooms.

VA: Shooting fast action scenes with hand-heldcameras and wide lens apertures must have beenchallenging for your crews.

OW: I was very kind to the focus pullers, I said “if you makemistakes, don’t get bent out of shape, just carry on, it’s fine.If it buzzes it’s all part of the look – zooming in and missing,zooming in and not being sharp so quickly pulling the focus –make that part of the camerawork.” Saying that madethem much more confident and in camerawork confidenceis everything.

We had extremely good operators, some of the best in theworld. I went in there and almost told them to forget everythingthey’d been taught and start again, but because they weresuch good operators it came naturally to them. They lovedletting go of all the restrictions of having to be smooth and infocus all the time and executing perfect zooms. It was a fertilearea for them to work in and they loved it.

The way we kitted out these cameras was another treat forthem; no expense was spared. The producers were greatabout getting everything I needed; I had a kind of open doorin that area.

VA: You were also shooting all over the world.Did that present any particular difficulties?

OW: Yeah it was challenging. First of all, the package we hadwas highly specialised; we had two suitcases that formed a“gizmo” package as we called it, which was all the little

“THE 235 FUNCTIONEDAS THE SMALLESTPOSSIBLE CAMERA; ITBASICALLY WENT DOWNTO THE TINIEST,LIGHTEST, HAND-HELDCONFIGURATION WECOULD GET.”

� STEADICAM OPERATOR Florian Emmerich keeps pace with Matt Damon

� PAUL GREENGRASS directs Matt Damon

� DOP OLIVER WOOD (right) supervises the ‘C’ camera crew

Photos

by:JasinBoland

©20

07UniversalStudios.AllRightsReserved

VISIONARRI

8 9

“In the financial sector the products themselves arevery interchangeable and therefore it is extremelyimportant to establish the product by giving it adistinct and trendy visual style,” says Daniela Bardini,Creative Director of Munich-based agencyServiceplan Zweite. “It is vital that the spot stands outand grabs people’s attention, leaving an indelibleimpression on their minds.”

The most recent 17-second TV commercial promotes10 successful mutual funds, which Cortal Consorsoffer at an attractive price with the slogan: “The bestmutual funds at the best prices.” Previous spots haveextended different offers but all have one thing incommon: they are all virtual commercials and werecreated entirely on 3D computers at ARRI.

The first step was to find a solid, visual icon torepresent the mutual fund, which is an essentiallyabstract product, to star in the TV spot as thestory’s hero. From discussions emerged the ideaof developing an award statuette character, alongthe lines of an Oscar, for the world of bankingcommercials. The task of developing this characterwas put in the capable hands of ARRI’s Head of 3DAnimation, Christian Deister, and Character AnimatorVladan Subotic. From a selection of scribbles andillustrations the production team chose a statuette thatresembles a young, dynamic manager. The characterwas rendered entirely in 3D and plated in virtualchrome, ready for its starring role.

“Initially we did not have an agreed-uponstoryboard,” remembers Christian Deister. “Togetherwith the client and the agency, we worked as a teamto create the story; everyone contributed ideas.”Head of ARRI Commercial Philipp Bartel adds:“It’s very motivating when the client grants thepostproduction house and the agency so muchcreative freedom. Often they went with our ideasand allowed us to implement them single-handedly.”

While still in the fine-tuning stages of character-development, the 3D team created an animaticfor previsualisation of the spot. Christian Deisterexplains: “I thought it would be best to approach thiscommercial as if it were a conventional live-actionfilm.” Using a dummy, various camera movementswere tested in an attempt to discover the best methodsof filming the statuette. “Playing the appropriate musicin the background, we wanted to create a powerfulplot to give the statues an epic quality in this short17-second spot,” he continues.

After initial pre-rendering, the test footage wasedited to music on an Avid and so within just a fewdays the client was able to approve the spot as a“living-and-breathing” storyboard. “Pre-rendering isa fast process,” says Philipp Bartel, “but it provideseverything that is needed to properly adjust thecamera in the edit. Subsequently, in the finalrendering, only those frames which became part ofthe animatic after the picture had been locked have tobe rendered. That saves time and money.” The finalsteps toward completing the spot involved giving thevarious elements a sophisticated look, matching thecolour grading to that of Cortal Consors’ corporateidentity, and fine-tuning the camera movements andedits before completing the final compositing.

Frames from various out-takes of this production wereused for the print and online campaigns in order togive the entire media campaign a consistent look.Budget Director Clemens Dreyer concludes: “OurCortal Consors spot is now being emulated by otherbanks, which to me means that, together with ARRI,we did a great job.” �

Ingo Klingspon

Client:Cortal Consors S.A.Director of Marketing: Kai WulffBrand Manager: Konelija Klisanic

Agency:Serviceplan Zweite Werbeagentur GmbHManagement: Joachim SchöpferBudget Director: Clemens DreyerCreative Director: Daniela Bardini

ARRI Film & TV Commercial:Head of Commercial: Philipp BartelProducer: Phil DeckerHead of 3D: Christian DeisterCharacter Animators: Vladan Subotic,

Gregoire BarfetyFlame Artist: Rico ReitzColour Grading: Janna Sälzer

ARRI Film & TV Commercial pullsout all the stops for InvestmentBank Cortal Consors

A VirtualSpot forReal Assets

Amid the numerous TV spots promotingfinancial products and services on Germantelevision there is one that stands out: anavant-garde, 3D animated commercial forinvestment bank Cortal Consors, the online-affiliate of BNP Paribas. This successfulcollaboration between Cortal Consors,advertising agency Serviceplan and ARRICommercial has proved it possible to createvisually impressive television spots for afinancial institution.

� WIDE SHOT final render

� CLOSE-UP final render

11

VISIONARRI

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The boys are inseparable until one fateful day when Amir is determined to win a local kite-flying tournament to secure his father’sapproval. On the afternoon of the contest Amir finds Hassan being brutally attacked by a local thug. He does nothing to help,shattering their relationship. Shortly after, Amir and his father leave Afghanistan, fleeing the Russian invasion to begin a new lifein America. But Amir can’t forget what happened to Hassan and after 20 years of living in the US, returns to a perilousAfghanistan under the Taliban’s iron-fisted rule to face the secrets that still haunt him and to set things right.

Shot by Director Marc Forster and DoP Roberto Schaefer ASC for DreamWorks Pictures, The Kite Runner is the duo’s seventhcollaboration. Their partnership has spanned more than a decade, producing films such as the award winning Monster’s Ball andFinding Neverland, and has recently seen them embark on their eighth project together, the latest instalment of the James Bond franchise.

Authenticity was a hugely important factor of the production. Due to the obvious dangers of the conditions in Afghanistan theproduction team sought alternative locations for filming, finally settling on China which was considered to be the best fit in terms ofappearance. Much of the film’s dialogue is in Dari, the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan, and most of the actors involved,including the child actors, were native speakers.

The film was shot in 3 perforation with an ARRICAM Lite, ARRICAM Studio and ARRIFLEX 235 provided by ARRI Australia.VisionARRI spoke to Roberto Schaefer about his approach to the project and his experiences shooting in China.

VisionARRI: Can you tell us brieflywhat the movie is about?Roberto Schaefer: The Kite Runner isbased on the best-selling novel of thesame name. It is a story aboutfriendship, betrayal, loss and redemptionset against the events occurring inAfghanistan between 1977 and 2001.

VA: Which look was intended forthe film and why?RS: The story is intended to be seen as anepic in the tradition of Sergio Leone andDavid Lean. The part of the film set inAfghanistan in the seventies has a rich

and warm feeling, like the friendship ofthe two boys. The parts set in the US andAfghanistan in 2001 are cooler and lesssaturated as the life is drawn out of thecharacters and they face harsher realities.

VA: What was the reason forshooting this film in China?

RS: We shot principally in China due tothe look of the landscapes and localarchitecture, which closely resembles thatof Kabul and other parts of Afghanistan.It would have been too dangerous to tryand shoot there. Other places that wereconsidered were Turkey and Morocco,

but the Xinjiang province in far westernChina had all of the right ingredients.

VA: What was your impression ofChina as a shooting location, andwas it difficult working therewith an International team fromAsia, Australia and China?

RS: China provided us with magnificentlocations that were truly on the epicscale we wanted to portray. It wasdifficult for many reasons, extremeweather being just one of them. We hadto bring in everything from Beijing orbeyond. There is no film community in

Kashgar where we were based, evenless in Tashkurgan. There were manychallenges for a largely western crewthat was mixed with many Chinese andlocal Uygur help. Most of the departmentheads, and a good deal of the key crewmembers, came from the US, Australiaand the UK. We had to have manylevels of translators, from English toChinese, Uygur, Farsi, Pashtun andUrdu, and all the permutations within.

VA: What were the mainchallenges facing the production?

RS: The main challenges in filming werethe logistics of shooting in a place thatwas an eight hour plane ride or eightday drive from the nearest center ofproduction supplies. On top of that wehad a very hot summer and fall, and abitter cold winter. Film had to be shippedback to Beijing for developing and theneither printed there and shipped back,or sent to L.A. for telecine dailies andshipped back. That process took fromfour days at best, to three weeks,depending upon our location.

VA: Were you satisfied withthe ARRI equipment, especiallyon rough locations such as theChinese mountains?

RS: Yes, it all held up magnificently, as Ihad expected. We did bring a cameratechnician from the US with us, whoended up repairing everything from hairdryers to sewing machines and

Technocrane circuits. With the cameragear, he mostly just cleaned everythingeach night and made sure that it was allin perfect condition everyday.

VA: What aspect influenced yourdecision to take the camera andlens set-up you used?

RS: I initially wanted to shootanamorphic. I went to Germany andspent several days testing and evaluatingHawk lenses. But when I got to Kashgarand Tashkurgan and the road betweenthe two, I realized that too many of ourinteriors were tiny with few windows,the exteriors were exposed to harshelements like dust storms and extremetemperatures. I felt that it would be morethan we could handle to shoot entirely inscope. I then wanted to shoot all of mybig exteriors on anamorphics and theinteriors and dark night exteriors withspherical lenses since we were definitelydoing the DI [Digital Intermediate] rightfrom the start. Unfortunately, due tobudgetary restrictions and the schedule,I couldn’t afford to carry full sets of bothtypes of lenses, as well as 3 perforationand 4-perforation camera bodies forthe entire shoot. So we decided to use3 perforation to save some money for theDI when it was decided to go spherical.That was when I tried the Master Primelenses and fell in love with them. I usedthe T1.3 –2 range often and found themto be really quite amazing.

VA: Why did you shoot on3 perforation/2.35:1 andhow did that work for you?

RS: We chose to shoot 3 perforation tosave money on stock and lab costs toput into the post needs for the DI andgrading work. When we abandonedanamorphic, 3 perforation seemed onlynatural. The lighter weight, smaller andless cases, and faster lenses definitelymade that the right decision lookingback on it.

VA: You were one of the firstDoPs to try our new ARRI/ZeissLightweight Zoom, the LWZ-115.5-45mm. What was thatexperience like?

RS: We used the new lightweight zooma lot. It held up beautifully to the MasterPrimes in quality of image. We also usedit on our viewfinder as a variable primefor setting up shots, and it practically livedon the Steadicam. It also matched wellwith the longer Angenieux Optimo zooms.

VA: How are the Master Primescompared to the Optimo Zooms?

RS: The Master Primes were a perfectmatch to the longer AngenieuxOptimo zooms.

VA: Did you consider shooting thismovie on HD or did you think that35mm was the only way to go?

RS: Originally I toyed with the idea oflooking into shooting in HD. I thoughtabout the ARRIFLEX D-20, Viper orGenesis. What worried me was howthe equipment would hold up to theconditions, the distance we were fromany service, and storage of data andtransferring that back to the editor in L.A.I recently shot a pilot on HD and wasextremely happy that I had decided todo The Kite Runner on 35mm. �

www.kiterunnermovie.com

Clemens Danzer / Andrea Rosenwirth

An

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with

DoP

Rob

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Khaled Hosseini’s debut novel, The Kite Runner, was first published in 2003 and has since sold more thanseven million copies worldwide. Set against the political events of Afghanistan, the story is about thedoomed friendship of two childhood friends; Amir, the son of a powerful Kabul businessman, and Hassan,the son of the faithful family servant.

The

Kite

Runn

er� DIRECTOR MARC FORSTER instructs the child actors

� DIRECTOR MARC FORSTER

� DOP ROBERTO SCHAEFER ASC (left) and ‘A’Camera/Steadicam Operator Jim McConkey (right)

Photos

by:PhilBray

VISIONARRI

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Nikolai (Viggo Mortensen) works for oneLondon’s most feared organized crimefamilies. His path crosses with Anna(Naomi Watts), a midwife at a Londonhospital where a 14-year-old Russian girlhas recently died during childbirth. In a bidto uncover the teenager’s identity and finda home for the baby, Anna looks for cluesin the dead girl’s diary, but she unwittinglyholds damaging information that couldlead to the unraveling of the family’scriminal network. Nikolai must make surethis doesn’t happen. Several lives hang inthe balance as a chain of murder, deceit,and retribution reverberates through thedarkest corners of London.

The script for Eastern Promises wasoriginally developed at the BBC but waspicked up by Focus Features, a divisionof Universal Pictures, who sent it toCronenberg to direct and Paul Websterto produce. “We were so pleasedwhen David was appointed,” recollectsCo-producer Tracey Seaward. “He’s amasterful director and was always in totalcontrol of the shoot. David creates analmost instinctive relationship with eachand every department.”

The film is Cronenberg’s first to be shotentirely outside of Canada. Although hebrought most of his heads of departmentwith him, a strong UK crew wasassembled to work with them. Seawardwas involved in planning how theproduction would best organize filmingat locations around London, as well as3 Mills Studios: “About half of thelocation shooting took place at night,” shesays, “which was quite complicated dueto the fact that many of the sites were inresidential areas and therefore we had torespect the local residents.”

The dark, rain-slicked streets of Londonwere photographed by Peter SuschitzkyBSC, with an ARRICAM Studio, ARRICAMLite and Master Prime lenses supplied byARRI Media, and lighting equipmentsupplied by ARRI Lighting Rental.

Eastern Promises marks Suschitzky’seighth film with director Cronenberg.Their collaboration began in 1988 withDead Ringers, when a strong rapport wasestablished from day one. “I think weimmediately knew that we were right foreach other, I never had any doubtsanyway,” states Suschitzky. “Thingsworked very quickly between us and wewere soon able to work with very littleverbal communication. On our very firstday of shooting I knew that this wasgoing to be the most important workingrelationship of my life. And so it turnedout to be.” Both have a very intuitive wayof working and don’t set out with the ideaof a ‘look’. “To tell the simple truth, we nolonger talk about style,” he continues.“Things just happen naturally, growing, Ihope, from within the material of the filmand the narrative. We both work veryinstinctively. We never talk about makinga film look this way or that way.”

For Eastern Promises, Cronenberg’srequirements were simple: “The earlyindications that David gave me were thathe was looking for a rainy London, agrey London,” says the cinematographer.“Naturally we had to shoot with theweather that we had, but we were able toafford to wet down streets and producerain when there wasn’t any. The onlything I did was to hold the idea in myhead that he wanted it to look grey. Idon’t believe that you can put style on likean item of clothing - it has to flow from

inside the film, from inside your soul ifyou like. Everything has to work together;the costumes, the sets, the choice ofcolour of the costumes and sets, thecamera work, and the direction of course.It all has to go together.

“I have more or less the same approachwhen considering any film. I read thescript, I look at the locations, sets orconcepts of sets, the costumes and castingthat are possible choices for the film,and of course I speak with Davidapproximately about what we are goingto do. He is somebody who does a lot ofthinking about what he is going to dowith the subject, but he also leaves a lotopen to inspiration on the day, inspirationthat comes from seeing the actorsrehearse and from the set or location.He doesn’t storyboard anything. So werehearse and then we discuss where weare going to put the camera for the sceneand I spend whatever time I need, withinthe constraints of the production schedule,preparing, but I don’t know exactly whatI’m going to do until I start doing it.” �

LONDON’SUNDERWORLDPeter Suschitzky BSC films the dark side of London for Eastern Promises

The latest film from legendary Canadian Director David Cronenberg is a violent tale of theRussian mafia in London, touching on the global sex trade that exists in today’s society.

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LONDON’S UNDERWORLD

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However, Suschitzky did make a stylisticdecision about his choice of lenses,choosing the Master Primes. “On all thefilms that I have worked on with DavidI’ve opted for Primo lenses. I decided,without any intervention from David atall, to change everything on this one.I tested all sorts of lenses and I chose theMaster Primes. They looked very sharp,I felt that they had slightly less depth offield than some other lenses and I thoughtthat they would give the story the rightsort of feel.” Generally, a very smallnumber of lenses have been used on theirfilms together. Suschitzky remembers thatA History of Violence was shot almostentirely on just a 27mm. “For EasternPromises we shot mostly on a 27mm and25mm, but we would occasionally use a21mm or 35mm.”

A notable scene in the film is a dramaticfight-to-the-death between two knife-wielding assassins and the nude Nikolaiin an old London bathhouse. Filmed on aset due to concerns about the difficulty ofworking in a confined location, it tookmany months of planning, weeks ofrehearsals and three days to shoot. Thisparticular scene had to be approached ina far less controlled manner than anyother in the film because of its intenseaction. “I had to allow for the camera tobe able to move around freely,” explainsSuschitzky. “David felt that he wanted tohave considerable freedom and littledelay between shots so I had to light thatscene so that it was filmable with verysmall adjustments in any direction,whereas with other scenes I was able tolight in a more controlled manner.”

John Colley, Suschitzky’s Gaffer onEastern Promises, recalls: “There weretwo sets in particular where we had toallow for the possibility of a 360-degreecamera angle. The first was thebathhouse and the second was therestaurant. In order to be able to look inall directions Peter and I decided that acombination of Image 80s in the grid,feeding back to a dimmer desk, was amuch better alternative than any otherspace light or hard light scenario. Withover 50, we had total control of thecontrast throughout the sets. We wereable to control backgrounds and setlevels without affecting the colour

temperature. For the restaurant alone there were over 100practical channels, which initially may have seemed like over killbut the time we saved when it came to shooting and keeping arhythm made it all worth the expense and effort.”

Another set-up that Colley recollects was a car scene that wasshot without rear screen projection or bluescreen. “Both Davidand Peter wanted a traveling car scene to look as realistic aspossible,” he says. “Initially, there were a few late nights in thestudio, but the decision was made that the real world was thebest way to provide the actors with an opportunity to deliver theirdialogue. The location department worked overtime to provide uswith a suitable backdrop and flexible working conditions. Wemust have looked like a space ship traveling down Upper Streeton a low loader. There were about 15 or so small ARRI lamps,from 650W to 2kW, with various colours to match thesurroundings of the streets. I sat next to Peter at the camera witha dimming desk on my lap while he called out where the lightsshould play.”

Shooting at night around London had its advantages for Colley.“It’s the best time to go to work,” he claims. “You’ve got totalcontrol of lighting and contrast ratios. We used a combinationof Wendy lights with an underslung ARRI T24 or T12 to focuson specific areas, which worked very well for us.” Some nightsproved to be pretty hectic from a logistical point of view:“On more than a few occasions there were six or seven cherrypickers and Genie booms, as well as four or five generators.Credit to Rigging Gaffer Vince Madden and Best Boy AndyCole for keeping things running smoothly.”

Having worked with ARRI Lighting Rental on many films in thepast, Colley was confident in their level of service: “I knew theywould be able to deliver the service and equipment needed inorder to meet the demands of the schedule,” he affirms. “Byworking closely with Sinead Moran we were able to maintain abalance between budget and schedule.” Seaward also has along standing association with both ARRI Lighting Rental andARRI Media. “I have a close and trusting relationship with bothcompanies, they always provide great technical support andservice. It’s important to know that someone is always there atthe end of the phone to help you 24 hours a day.”

All involved agree that working on the film was a trulyrewarding experience. “I’m really proud to have worked onEastern Promises,” reflects Seaward. “It was a calm environment,we were always on schedule, the crew were fantastic and therewas a great camaraderie with the cast – so much so that oneday Viggo Mortensen decided it might be a good idea tobecome my assistant, the next thing we knew he was handingout cakes to all the cast and crew!”

Colley adds: “I was thrilled to have the opportunity to work withDavid and Peter. Occasionally I had to pinch myself that I wasactually on set with them. It made all those heavy lamps anddirty cables in the pouring rain worthwhile. They had such agreat understanding with each other and their energy wastempered and directed. Once we had captured the scene, wemoved on. The crew and cast involved on this film all worked sowell together.”

“I am proud of the whole film, because it’s a good one, throughand through, with everything working together; writing, acting,direction and visuals. All are seamlessly interlaced - I hope thatmy work is integrated well into the whole and feels organic,”concludes Suschitzky.

This article is dedicated to the memory of Production ManagerLisa Parker, who sadly passed away several months aftercompleting the project. Tracey Seaward worked with Lisa Parkerfor many years and pays tribute to a close colleague andfriend: “Lisa was an extraordinary and unique person; she hadan amazing passion and energy and was devoted to her job.She was well thought of by those who had worked with herover the last 15 years. I truly believe the industry suffered atremendous loss, and as a colleague and friend she willbe irreplaceable.” �

Michelle Smith

Photocourtesy

John

Colley

� DIRECTOR DAVID CRONENBERG

� AT THE CAMERA DoP Peter Suschitzky BSC, to the left 1st ADWalter Gasparovic

�

Photos

by:Peter

Mountain©20

07FocusFeatures.A

llRightsReserved.

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Behind theScenes of theMazda2 SpotARRI Film & TV Commercialand Hager Moss Film producepowerful TV advertisement.

Television spots for major carmanufacturers are among the mostdemanding of commercial productionsand usually command budgets that runto six figures. Few of these extravagantcommercials are made in Germany,so Munich-based production companyHager Moss was especially pleasedwhen it was commissioned to createtelevision spots for the Mazda2campaign. Hager Moss in turn broughtARRI Film & TV Commercial on boardand the result was an impressivetelevision commercial that provesGermany to be capable of taking onproductions of any scale.

An advertising campaign focusing onthe ‘sportiness’ of the product leaves nodoubt about its target market. TheMazda2, which is the most recent andmost compact model in the Mazda fleet,is aimed at young drivers looking to buytheir first car. In order to best appeal tothis demographic, the manufacturer andtheir advertising agency, J. WalterThompson, agreed to steer clear offamiliar campaign concepts. Theapproach had already been establishedwith a print campaign featuring a surrealcollage of images juxtaposing nakedbodies in sporty poses and cold bluetones with a metallic-green Mazda2.�

VISIONARRIBEHIND THE SCENES OF THE MAZDA2 SPOT

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“WE NEEDED A HIGH FRAME RATEOF 100FPS, SOMETIMES EVEN250FPS, IN ORDER TO ACHIEVETHE INTENDED IMAGE QUALITYIN POSTPRODUCTION.”

“WE SHOT A LOT OFFOOTAGE ANDVERY LITTLE WASBUILT AFTERWARDSIN 3D, BUT DESPITEALL THAT, EACHFRAME IS ACOMPOSITE ANDTHEREFORE ASTAND-ALONEWORK CREATED ATARRI DURINGPOSTPRODUCTION.”

A similarly avant-garde concept wasdeveloped for the television spot, inwhich a young Mazda2 driver playscat-and-mouse with five acrobatic, femaledancers in an abstract, virtual space. Theprincipal objective of the production wasto visualize and communicate the keymessages: agility, sportiness andlightness. It was immediately clear thatthe project would require a good deal ofpostproduction work. Hager Moss choseto count on the specialists at ARRI Film &TV Commercial to help meet thischallenge, having collaboratedsuccessfully with them in the past.

Initially, the main task was to come upwith a convincing design for the virtualspace in which the commercial is set.Certain similarities to the print campaign

were purposefully evoked, but the spotalso needed to stand alone as anoriginal and independent piece. ARRIArt Director and Flame/Inferno-ArtistRico Reitz worked with Director PaulaWalker to define a binding frameworkfor the style. This then allowed specificarrangements for the shoot and thesubsequent postproduction to be made.Reitz believes that meticulous planningduring preproduction and the closemonitoring of standards during filmingare the key to a smooth workflowbetween production and postproduction.“The greater the demands onpostproduction, the more involved weget in the production itself,” he says.“We feel responsible for our work, whichincludes keying, spatial design,

compositing, visual effects, as well as theblending of the real and virtual elementsinto a convincing final image.”

Implementing the concept for the spotinvolved filming the Mazda2 and thedancers in an entirely white space, sincewhite had been chosen as the keybackground for postproduction. “Initiallywe wanted to build a concave space[65 feet deep and 32 feet high] to shootin,” recalls Hager Moss Producer JürgenKraus. “But the problem with a concavespace is that you don’t have a ceiling,which restricts the camera movementand limits the use of wide-angle lenses.At some point all the camera can captureis the studio and the lighting rigs.”

DoP Rolf Kesterman found the solutionto this problem at the Roman CoppolaStudio in Los Angeles, where he cameacross the Photobubble, an inflatabledevice made of lightweight, syntheticmaterial that provides a reflection-free,bubble-shaped space and a 360-degreearea of view. The manufacturer of thePhotobubble was able to provide acustom-made, walk-in “soft box” withwhite walls, which delivered the perfectchroma key for postproduction. Only thefloor of the studio had to be painted white.

“We were among the first Europeanproductions to use this device,” saysJürgen Kraus. “The Photobubble wasideal for creating the sort of world wehad intended for this spot. It providedexcellent working conditions for theDirector and the DoP, allowing them toshoot at any focal length and move thecamera without any restrictions. Inaddition, we had the advantage thatour lighting conditions didn’t change.As a matter of fact, we lit the spaceonce and then nothing had to bechanged for the rest of the shoot, whichsaved a lot of time.”

The only remaining problem was inpinpointing the precise spatialcoordinates which would later beneeded during 3D tracking at ARRI. ThePhotobubble did not provide anyinformation about spatial relationshipsbetween individual elements because itwas completely white inside. “Wecouldn’t simply place tracking markers

on the Photobubble itself,” explains 3DArtist Christian Deister. “That wasn’t aprecise enough solution because thePhotobubble constantly moves, althoughonly slightly, due to changing airpressure. Instead we had tall polesmade, which we could use as yardsticksafter painting black measurementmarkings on them. We distributed thesepoles throughout the Photobubble andmeasured the distances between them.This allowed us to exactly recreate thesize of the space and the cameramovements during 3D tracking.”

Filming took place in June 2007 at theBarrandov film studios in Prague, withthe support of the Czech film productioncompany Etic. Though the stage waslarge enough to house the 164-footPhotobubble, it transpired that thePhotobubble itself was too small for thestunt driver to gain sufficient speed forthe choreographed skid scenes. Anaccess driveway therefore had to beconstructed that ran from outside thesoundstage into the Photobubble.

The spot was filmed on 35mm with anARRIFLEX 435. “We needed a highframe rate of 100fps, sometimes even250fps, in order to achieve the intendedimage quality in postproduction,”explains Jürgen Kraus. “25fps wouldn’thave been enough during keying ofcrucial scenes because of motion blur.”During the four days of production 12 to15 set-ups were shot daily, all of whichrequired elements to be added in post:

“There isn’t a single shot in this spotthat was created entirely in-camera,”explains the producer. “We shot a lotof footage and very little was builtafterwards in 3D, but despite all that,each frame is a composite and thereforea stand-alone work created at ARRIduring postproduction.”

The creative teams at Hager Moss andat ARRI knew that on this type of project,with an extensive postproductioncomponent, the approval process canbe very difficult. Jürgen Kraus explains:“The client and agency representativessit in front of a monitor during the shootand can watch a green car driveacross a ramp or girls fly through thePhotobubble suspended from wires. Theycan’t see a background and they can’tsee a story unfold. All they see is awhite floor that gets increasingly dirty,which could leave many wondering:how will this ever end up looking good?But we were very lucky, because in thiscase the client and their agency trustedour judgement and were able toenvisage our suggestions.”

During the course of production,exposed negative was processed andscanned at a film laboratory in Pragueand then sent to ARRI Munich. Within10 days a 60-second spot as well astwo 30-second, five 20-second and five10-second spots were offlined. Oncethe picture was locked, the actualpostproduction at ARRI started andtook six weeks to complete. �

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Later on the 60-second spot, consistingof 67 takes, was scanned again in orderto get even better colour resolution andto create clean masks. This time thescanning was completed in two steps onthe Spirit. The spot was scanned in HDwith a 10-bit data depth in order toavoid problems with the masks and thesteadiness of the images. At this stageselected takes went to Manuel Voss forkeying and rotoscoping in order to avoidcompromising the agreed-upon timeline.Rico Reitz explains: “To key 130individual takes, shot with a movingcamera, was a challenge that kept 10people busy for 12 days. And that wasa rather fast turn around.”

While the raw material was deliveredfrom Prague to Munich, the 3D team wasworking on two tasks. One was toevaluate the tracking information from thecamera and the other was to geometricallyreduce the complex 3D construction dataof the Mazda2 that the manufacturer hadprovided. This resulted in the creation of avirtual car, which behaved exactly like thereal car in the film images. “We began byestablishing the camera positions for thelocked camera shots, making sure thateverything was correct in terms ofperspective and depth of field,” explainsChristian Deister. “Then we matched thereal car with the computer-generated 3Dmodel. This allowed us to generate andrender the 3D shadows and 3D reflectionsthat were needed for the composite.”

The 3D team was also responsible forthe look of the floor. The problem wasthat the floor in the Photobubble was dullin the first place and ended up gettingquite dirty during the shoot. This led to

the idea of replacing it with a computer-generated virtual and reflective floor.Unfortunately there were no reflections ofthe real car on the floor and creatingthem in compositing proved too difficult,because of the many different cameraangles. Instead, the reflection of the 3Dmodel was used and takes of the realcar projected onto its 3D counterpart.Together they were reflected onto avirtual surface in photorealistic qualityusing XSI Softimage.

The soft light in the Photobubble resultedin a pleasing soft contrast, but in two orthree shots it made the car’s finish appearsomewhat flat. The 3D team was able toaddress this issue on Flame and create aglossier look. The 3D model of the carwas given a shiny texture and thenplaced, as a layer, over the real car.“The 3D options on Flame are limited, butwhen it comes to gloss and finish effectsthe tool is perfect,” says Rico Reitz.

The spatial design was also completedon Flame, with abstract photographictextures digitally placed on the

Photobubble to create the surroundingenvironment, a space consisting ofdynamic, blue structures for thecomposite with masks from the actualfilm. This was followed by fine-tuning ofthe lighting set-up, animation of thebackground with vibrant lighting effectsand matching of the computer-generatedand the real, filmed elements.

Certain physical improvements weremade to the dancers, who representedfigures from Nordic myths. Masks wereplaced on their pupils to create a ratherimpressive effect, while a number ofbeauty enhancements were made byretouching the dancers’ eyes, mouths,lips and teeth to meet the client’s wishes.This was followed by tape-to-tape colourgrading, to give the entire spot aconsistent look.

The spot aired in the UK immediately afterthe official launch of the Mazda2 at theIAA in Frankfurt and went on to air acrossthe rest of Europe in October. The boardof directors at Mazda Motors Europe wasvery pleased with the final result. Everyoneat Hager Moss and ARRI Commercialwere proud to have completed ademanding and expensive, yet veryenjoyable production. “The Mazda2 spotis different. Most car commercials lookvery much the same, but the Mazda2 spotlooks more like a music video than atelevision commercial,” says ARRI Head ofCommercial Postproduction Philipp Bartel.

All in all, it took only three months tocomplete the project, starting with therequest for an initial calculation andending with delivery of the 60-secondspot. Hager Moss Producer Jürgen Krausbelieves there are several reasons why

this complex production went sosmoothly. One was the close physicalproximity of the film production companyand the postproduction house. Anotherwas the trust that had been establishedbetween Hager Moss and ARRI Film &TV Commercial on previous productions.“On a project that requires such complexand extensive postproduction work, Iwant a partner that makes me feel I am

the customer,” he says. “These projectsnecessitate intensive support and closecollaboration at all logistical stages aswell as confidence in the partner’soverall abilities. In my experience,ARRI has completed all tasks brilliantly.”

Philipp Bartel knows all too well that histeam is the pillar of this success: “Wehave an exceptional crew at ARRI

Commercial. Together with the team atpunchin.pictures, they have a wealth ofcomplementary qualifications, whichthey employ freely and generously in theservice of our clients. If there are everany problems, the team sorts them outand generates a positive outcome. Thismakes for a creative and productiveenvironment.” �

Ingo Klingspon

“TO KEY 130INDIVIDUAL TAKES,SHOT WITH AMOVING CAMERA,WAS A CHALLENGETHAT KEPT 10PEOPLE BUSY FOR12 DAYS. ANDTHAT WAS ARATHER FASTTURN AROUND.”

� THE PHOTOBUBBLE interior and studio floor were keyed from white to create an abstract space��

Project:Mazda2 “Competition“Client:Mazda Motor EuropeAgency:J. Walter Thompson GmbH &Co. KG DüsseldorfHead of TV JWT:Marie-Louise SeidlCreative Director JWT:Eddy GreenwoodArt Director JWT:Igor KarpalovProduction:Hager Moss Commercial

Executive Producer:Eric MossProducer:Jürgen KrausPostproduction Supervisor:Nilou TabrizDirector:Paula WalkerDoP:Rolf KestermannEditor:Markus GollerARRI Head of Commercial:Philipp Bartel

Art Director:Rico ReitzTelecine:Stefan AndermanFlame Artists:Rico Reitz Jawed NaserMichel Tischner Chris WeingartStefan TischnerRotoscoping:Manuel Voss & Team3D Artists:Christian Deister Gregoire BarfetyAdam Dukes Lutz Pelike

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Burstyn interpreted the visuals to serve thestory through a combination of traditionalfilmmaking techniques and more stylizedlooks. He notes, “My biggest tool aroundthe camera was colour. We used a lot ofcolour, but not all at the same time. Acharacter or a location would have asingle or double colour assignation,something Nick, Production DesignerMichael Joy and I worked out duringprep. I would describe Tin Man as old-fashioned filmmaking with a twist. ThinkOrson Wells and Gregg Toland ASC.We had a lot of very classic coverageand we wanted to seduce the audienceinto thinking all is well, everything isnormal and then we’d throw in somejarring imagery or cross the axis to throweverybody off track. There’s a lot ofclever cutting in there. The Wicked Witchis transforming the world into a dark,lifeless place. The darkness is spreadingfrom her evil factory. Around her factoryand around her army there’s darkness,and it’s full of shadows and a very nastykind of greenish daylight. Now, whereverDG goes, there’s a fairy tale, golden,beautiful light around her. In the worldwhere DG comes from, it’s a normal,‘American, apple pie’ light. All that said,there’s an effort to keep these colourssubtle and the look sincere, as real asyou can expect things to be in the Landof Oz. It was a bit of a visual tightropewe had to walk, not wanting anything tobecome cartoon-like, but staying wellaway from the mundane.”

An example of some edgy imagery canbe seen in shots from DG’s perspective,sometimes shot with Willing’s antiqueEyemo and ARRIFLEX 35 IIC camerasor even with primitive, yet effectiveaccessories repurposed for the D-20.“Nick wanted the film to be apsychoanalysis of our heroine DG.He wanted a story within a story, so wedevised strange POVs that were alteredin camera. Nick has a lot of wavy glasstaken from old buildings, pieces ofchandelier and pendants from hisprecious collection that he loved tohandhold and wiggle in front of the lens.A lot of those dreams, memories andsubconscious feelings were interpretedthrough that glassware.”

The production shot for 60 days inBritish Columbia, Canada with threeD-20 cameras provided by ClairmontCamera’s Vancouver office. The camerapackage included a set of standardspeed Zeiss Primes, a few Super Speedsand three zooms of wide, medium andlong lengths. Since the single,

6 Megapixel CMOS sensor at the heartof the D-20 has the same size as aSuper 35mm film aperture the D-20 usesthe same lenses as 35mm film cameras.Says Burstyn, whose credits includeMarco Polo, the pilot of “The 4400”,City of Industry and The Boys and Girlfrom County Clare, “The great thingabout the D-20 and its 35mm perspectiveis that you have full use of the palette oflenses. This was one of the reasons whyNick wanted the D-20, to be able to beselective with his depth of focus. We dida lot of long lens stuff, a lot of verystandard lens (35, 50, 85mm) kind ofcoverage and lots of big, wide-angleshots swooping into close-ups. There’s alot of out-of-focus foreground. We tookfull advantage of that 35mm depth offield that the D-20 camera provides.”

Unlike the original adaptation, theminiseries is not a musical. “Our film ismore of a road trip,” explains Burstyn.“The main characters are alwaysmoving, hiding and making their waytowards the goal. A lot of the story isinterpreted through the action or throughthe many wonderful flashbacks.” Tocover all of these characters on theirjourney, the filmmakers incorporatedfrequent camera moves. “We took a lotfrom The Magnificent Ambersons andCitizen Kane. The camera flows throughthose big sets and arrives into a close-upor two-shot. The camera always movesso there’s a lot of crane and dolly work,a lot of hand-held. We used a lot ofoff-angles. Camera Operator Trig Singerand Dolly Grip Glen Forerider didamazing jobs, their choreography wasmagnificent to observe. Jim Van Dykedid one day of Steadicam for a scene ofthe characters running through a maze.”

In a scene where DG is threatened byan angry mob, the production usedin-camera and visual effects to bring adead tree to fruitful life. “Nobody hasany way of protecting DG, and the TinMan, the Lion and Glitch turn to her todo something. She doesn’t know quitewhat to do and without realizing it, hermagic power transforms the tree they’vebeen standing beneath. As it begins toblossom, the camera rises into itsbranches and the light changes from asomber gloom into a golden glow. Asthe camera continues to rise, we fade uplights behind moving golden gels andthe light seems to grow brighter as wedo a subtle stop-pull. We arrive at thetop of the tree already in full bloom fromthe art department’s bit of set dressing.Visual effects were later put in to makeflowers bloom on camera. It was acarefully orchestrated effort that was inconcert with the art department, lightingand visual effects.”

For Burstyn, the opportunity to translatethe story to screen was a creativechallenge partnered with the benefits ofshooting on the ARRIFLEX D-20. “It’s abeautiful camera. In this age of instantgratification, cameras that surprise youwith all the wonderful things that theycan do, this camera requires a lot of skilland a confident hand but it was a greatthrill and a privilege to use,” he says. �

Tin Man airs in December on the SCI FIChannel in the USA.

An Tran

ARRIFLEX D-20 on Tin ManTo create the fantastical world of Tin Man, an upcoming three-part, six-hourminiseries for the US SCI FI Channel, Director Nick Willing and CinematographerThomas Burstyn chose the ARRIFLEX D-20 to capture a whimsical world thatreimagines Frank Baum’s classic The Wizard of Oz. The production starsRichard Dreyfuss as a wizard named Mystic Man, Zooey Deschanel as DG (thegranddaughter of the original Dorothy) and Alan Cumming as Glitch, a man missinghalf his brain. Although Burstyn is very familiar with working in high definition video,this was his first foray shooting with the D-20. The DoP ran tests to learn theadvantages and limitations of shooting with the film-style HD camera. “My mostimportant test was to take the camera out into the darkest forest location we’d beworking in on a gloomy day in the rain and see how the darkness worked in asituation that I couldn’t light or control. We shot wide open and lit a face very subtlywith one bulb of a Kino Flo wrapped in diffusion and let the forest fall where it may.Initially I was concerned about the camera’s low ISO rating, but it has a lot morelatitude in the shadows than a film emulsion does so that assuaged a lot of thatworry of mine. Moreover, we were very pleased with the look. Great saturation,incredible accutance and resolution.”

During testing the camera crew also familiarized themselves with the menu settingsthe camera has to offer. “We ran through all the settings on the camera, shot testswith every possible variation, and settled on the one we thought was best and thatwas Log F. It was the slowest setting but it gave the least amount of noise and thegreatest amount of latitude. It seemed to be the most ‘film-like’ setting and the onethat allowed the most flexibility in postproduction. We decided that although thecamera requires a lot of lighting, the final result is quite fantastic. Lee Wilson ofAnthem Visual Effects, leader of our visual effects team loved the camera. I think thelook is closer to 35mm than any other camera can give. It was a worthwhile trade-off. But while the camera output has some of the feel of 35mm, it also deviates fromthe modern grainy vogue of 35mm: because the image is so sharp, it feels like anold-fashioned fine grain film, maybe like Kodachrome but with better colourrendition, and long latitude range.”

Return to Oz

VISIONARRI

Photocourtesy

James

Dittiger/SCIFIC

hannel

� ON LOCATION Director Nick Willng (right), Cinematographer Thomas Burstyn (left)

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The first major project to use the D-20was Hogfather, an adaptation of thenovel by Terry Pratchett for UK television.Directed by Vadim Jean, withcinematography by Gavin Finney BSC,the drama aired on Sky HD overChristmas 2006 in two feature-lengthparts. The producers were so pleasedwith how the production turned out thatthey shot with the D-20 for a secondtime this summer, teaming with Finneyagain on their next Pratchett adaptation,The Colour of Magic.

For Afrika, Mon Amour, German DoPFrank Küpper was confident theARRIFLEX D-20 was the right tool for thishistoric three-episode television perioddrama shot in Kenya, Germany, Austriaand the UK. With many CGI effects anda tough postproduction schedule,shooting digital was the logical choice.“For a production with so many VFXshots, shooting digital has lots ofadvantages. No grain, instant availabilityof the full resolution images and the35mm look all play a vital role here,” heexplained. “It was obvious that shootingHD with a camera that uses a Super35mm [sized] sensor would give the bestresults and speed up the workflow.”

The D-20 was also used betweenNovember 2006 and April 2007 toshoot the eleventh series of the BBCdrama Silent Witness, which consists often one-hour episodes. DoP KevinRowley and Producer George Ormondfelt that the use of the D-20 helped tobring an even higher quality look to thispopular crime series about a trio offorensic pathologists. “We felt it wouldgive the show a very distinctive look –glossy, classy and expensive looking,with movie ambitions. It was the depthof field that made the difference for us,”commented Ormond. The twelfth seriesof Silent Witness is now underway and isagain being shot with the ARRIFLEX D-20.

Shooting recently concluded in Canadaon The Andromeda Strain, directed byMikael Salomon (DoP Jon Joffin) who lastyear directed The Company for ScottFree Productions with D-20 cameras; ahighly prestigious US miniseries aboutthe CIA (DoP Ben Nott ACS).

Another production shot in Canada wasTin Man, a three-part miniseries directedby Nick Willing for the US SCI FIChannel (DoP Thomas Burstyn).

Feature films to have shot with the D-20include The Bank Job (Director RogerDonaldson, DoP Mick Coulter BSC),RocknRolla (Director Guy Ritchie, DoPDavid Higgs), Prisoners of the Sun(Director Roger Christian, DoP Ed Wild)and Frequently Asked Questions AboutTime Travel (Director Gareth Carrivick,DoP John Pardue).

ARRI continues to gather invaluablefeedback and respond to requests fromusers in order to further improve theARRIFLEX D-20 to meet the needs anddesires of cinematographers. Thedevelopment of a new software packagehas recently increased the sensitivity ofthe camera to provide a wider range ofsettings for use in lower light situations;the D-20 can now be set to theapproximate equivalent of 500 ISO(ASA), or even higher for certainapplications. While a new Sony FibreInterface SFI-1 facilitates high-speedshooting at up to 60fps. The unit mountsdirectly on the camera and is connectedby a single fibre cable to a fibre-equipped Sony SRW-1 HDCAM SRrecorder. Bill Lovell, Head of the DigitalDepartment at ARRI Media, comments:“The D-20 has always been capable ofoperating at 60 frames per second, butrecorders have not been able to do thesame. The Sony Fibre Interfaceconfiguration provides the solution,allowing high-speed shooting, in-cameraspeed ramps recorded directly onthe SRW-1 and a cable length of upto 500m.” �

At ARRI in Munich, VisionARRIspoke with Director MilchoManchevski and DoP FabioCianchetti about their latestfeature Shadows, an internationalco-production filmed inMacedonia last year. Togetherthey recalled their experiencesmaking the film.

VisionARRI: What’s the filmShadows about?

Milcho Manchevski: It is about a youngdoctor in Macedonia who has personalproblems and dies unexpectedly. He is abit like Lady Macbeth’s son; he’s thattype of character. I would describe thepremise of the film as: sometimes thedead are more powerful than the living.

VA: Is the film set in the world ofthe living or the dead?

MM: The film is mostly about the living,about the journey the protagonist has togo on in order to recognize that lifeoffers many possibilities.

VA: Your film is an internationalco-production. How did thatcome about?

MM: Our film is a German, Macedonian,Italian, Spanish and Bulgarianco-production. When you are makinga film in Europe, it is almost always aco-production. There are two reasonswhy: first of all, it allows you to drawfrom a larger pool of talented peoplewhen you are putting together yourteam. Secondly, it helps get your film

financed, especially if the film comesfrom a small and poor country. As amatter of fact, all the films I’ve madehave been European co-productionsinvolving three to five countries.

VA: Fabio Cianchetti, you alsocame to the project as a result ofthis co-production arrangement,is that right?

Fabio Cianchetti: That’s correct. I am partof the Italian package, so to speak.I believe it was the Producer AmedeoPagani who introduced me to MilchoManchevski; he watched several ofmy previous films and after an initialmeeting we both had a good feelingand so went to work. �

Milcho Manchevski’s

ShadowsA growing number of filmmakers have entrusted their visions to the ARRIFLEX D-20 film-style digitalcamera in all areas of motion picture and television drama production. Over the last year, the camera’sversatility has been tested on feature films, TV drama series, commercials, music videos, second unit andeffects shots.

�SILENT WITNESS

�THE COMPANY

�HOGFATHER

ARRIFLEX D-20Brings Ideas to Reality

©JanThijs

���

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SHADOWS

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VISIONARRI

VA: What was it likeworking together?

FC: Milcho is an excellent director whoknows what he wants. We shared thesame vision for what we wanted to seeon the screen. We agreed on the light,as well as the mood the film intended tocommunicate. He prefers the Americanway of working, whereas I like toexperiment, but we soon found acommon denominator. And in the endwe both got what we wanted.

VA: One of your co-producers isBlue Eyes Fiction, a new Germanproduction company. How didthat relationship come about?

MM: At the beginning we had contactswith various companies. When we got tothe crucial point, where decisions neededto be made, Blue Eyes quickly decided tocome on board. We had very little timebecause we wanted to shoot the film assoon as possible and having them onboard allowed us to pull the trigger. If we

hadn’t shot the film last summer, I thinkwe would never have shot it.

VA: Was it the German producerswho suggested ARRI for thefilm’s postproduction?

MM: Yes, and I am very happy wedecided to go with ARRI. Working withARRI was the best part of this entireprocess, starting at the preparation stageand all through production andpostproduction. To me, what was mostimpressive was the competence of theARRI staff. Our project was in goodhands and it was a real comfort,especially after all the problems we hadencountered at the outset. We felt verysafe here. We were able to solve someof the problems that we were previouslyunable to resolve. ARRI was the icing onthe cake on this project; they saved us!

VA: What problems had youencountered prior to workingwith ARRI?

MM: We experienced all kinds ofproblems. One was the fact that some ofthe visual effects made in Bulgaria didnot turn out the way we had intended.We had done the work there because ofthe complicated co-production contract.At ARRI we were able to fix the visualeffects; we worked on some of theproblematic set-ups and now they work.The shoot was very difficult andcomplicated as well, and some of ourshots did not turn out the way we hadhoped. Things like that always happen,but I had never been to a place wherethese problems were tackled with somuch competence and enthusiasm. Thepeople I worked with at ARRI, especiallythe DI Colourist Rainer Schmidt of ARRIFilm & TV, were so wholeheartedlycommitted. At ARRI people are not justprofessionals, they are committedprofessionals. To me, that is the only wayto work. If you look at this as just anotherjob that needs to get done, then it is somuch harder to make it to the finish line.

VA: Which camera did you use?

FC: We used the ARRIFLEX 535 and aSteadicam. We also used Cooke lenses.

VA: Was this the first time youhad finished a film using theDI process?

MM: Yes. Before, we had just used thetraditional lab process.

FC: For me it was the first feature filmentirely finished in a DI, though I did havesome experience of it from commercialsand from collaborations with BernardoBertolucci. The DI opened up an array ofnew possibilities. Rainer [Schmidt] wasvery important; he showed us the rightway and I am very happy to have crossedpaths with him. We got along splendidlyand shared the same thoughts on manyissues. He was at my side when things gota bit tricky and that was very reassuring.

VA: You had only a week to dothe colour correction. Was that allyou thought you needed or wereyou afraid this wasn’t going tobe enough time?

MM: I was very much surprised how fasteverything got done. At the beginning Ithought that we hadn’t scheduled enough

time and I was very nervous about that.But in the end we finished everything inless time then we had planned on. Themost important aspect was that thebiggest bulk of the work had alreadybeen completed when we arrived here.We only had to fine-tune and make somecreative decisions, which were thenexecuted promptly.

VA: Would you want go through aDI again?

MM: Absolutely. The DI grants you muchgreater freedom and simplifies theproduction. Not all problems have toget solved on set. There are problemsthat can’t be solved on set, not evenwith all the time and money in the world.What I enjoyed most was the possibilityto shape the emotional as well as thenarrative focus during postproduction.That is unique.

VA: You had very little time tofinish the film, since you wantedto present it at the TorontoInternational Film Festival.

MM: That’s true. We got into the SpecialPresentation section and really had toget our act together and work hard.Again ARRI surprised us; everything was

finished when they said it was going tobe finished, which wasn’t always thecase on this production.

VA: Could you see yourselfshooting a film in Germany?

MM: Sure, very much so. I would needsome time to really understand thenuances, but I do believe that people arethe same everywhere. I’ve shot a lot inMacedonia, France, England and Japanand I don’t think I would have problemsshooting in Germany. There are manythings I like about this country, forexample the way work gets done here.In my experience, working with Germancompanies has always been verystraightforward, honest and transparent.I like that; it is a rare thing to find. Thiswas also the case at ARRI. Now, it isvery difficult for me to imagine workinganywhere but at ARRI.

FC: I would very much like to work inGermany again, but there are so manygood DoPs in Germany that it is hard tofind work here. Maybe it would bepossible on another internationalco-production. �

Heike Maleschka / Ricore Text

� EDITING a car crash sequence

� IN DISCUSSION DoP Fabio Cianchetti, DI Colourist RainerSchmidt and Director Milcho Manchevski (left to right)

“THE DI GRANTS YOU MUCH GREATERFREEDOM AND SIMPLIFIES THEPRODUCTION. NOT ALL PROBLEMSHAVE TO GET SOLVED ON SET. THEREARE PROBLEMS THAT CAN’T BE SOLVEDON SET, NOT EVEN WITH ALL THE TIMEAND MONEY IN THE WORLD.”

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28

East of Everything is a six by one-hour television drama series, shot on location in thebeautiful sub-tropical region of Byron Bay in New South Wales for Australia’s nationalbroadcaster ABC Television.

Created by highly-regarded writers Deb Coxand Roger Monk, who both live near Byron Bay,East of Everything is the story of a restless travelwriter who is called to his dying mother’s bedsidein a ramshackle resort on the eastern most point ofAustralia. While there, he is beset by localdifficulties and painful reminders of his past, butcomes to realise that this derelict town, whichbecame his parents’ ‘paradise lost’, may hold thekey to his own salvation.

East of Everything features a stellar cast ofAustralian actors such as Richard Roxburgh, TomLong, Gia Carides and Susie Porter. Produced byFiona Eagger, whose previous television creditsinclude The Society Murders and CrashBurn,the show was directed by Stuart McDonald andMatthew Saville. Director of Photography BrendanLavelle, ACS had already established a workingrelationship with both directors on the hugelysuccessful TV series The Secret Life of Us.

Though digital video formats are becomingincreasingly common on television dramaproductions in Australia, the team chose to shootthe series on Super 16mm film, mainly due to theisolated filming location and its distance from majorcentres capable of providing technical support.

“Film equipment is proven to be robust andextremely portable,” says Lavelle. “It is well suitedto the tight production requirements of a locationshoot, within the inevitable tight deadlines. Inaddition, using film gave us flexibility in capturingthe wide range of textures and contrasts at thevarious locations. The different landscapes weretreated as other ‘characters’ in the story and wephotographed them at all times of day and night tocapture their many moods. Because of the shortwinter daylight hours during the shooting period,the film’s exposure latitude also gave more chancesto preserve those moods at either end of the day.”

Lavelle opted for Kodak Vision2 film stocks, makinguse of 250D (7205), 200T (7217) and 500T (7218).The production package was provided by ARRIAustralia and consisted of two ARRIFLEX 16SR 3cameras equipped with Canon zoom lenses of11.5-139mm and 7-63mm, plus a set of Zeissprime lenses ranging from 9.5mm to 50mm and aCanon Century 300mm telephoto lens with doubler.The telephoto lens was mostly used to cover surfingaction at the mythical ‘Broken Head Bay’, wherethe series is set, as well as shots of the occasionalmigrating whale. Two sets of Schultz tripod legswith O’Connor and Sachtler 150mm fluid headscompleted the package.

“ARRI Australia representatives Christian Hilgartand Geraldine Quinn visited the location duringpreproduction to ensure we had a package thatsuited our needs,” continues Lavelle. “For a shortperiod we also had the chance to use the newARRILEX 416 camera and put it through its paces.

“The production was keen to have the cost andtime-saving benefits of 800ft film magazines, whichare not typically seen on ARRI cameras in Australia,but the team arranged to have these imported for usfrom ARRI Germany and they were used to greateffect. In fact, it was the first time these magazineshad been used on a local production in Australiaand they were of great benefit, with increasedrunning time and greatly reduced wastage. In spiteof the extra weight, they were also successfully usedfor hand-held shooting on many occasions, mountedon an Easyrig camera support and equipped withzoom lens, matte box and follow focus.

“The shoot was completed successfully and on time,with no losses due to equipment or weather,”concludes Lavelle. “All involved feel that we havemade a television series to be proud of and whichdoes justice to the beautiful region of Byron Bay.” �

Tracy Mair

EAST OF EVERYTHINGARRI Australia on location with Cinematographer Brendan Lavelle

� DIRECTOR OF EPISODES 4, 5, & 6, Matthew Saville, lookingthrough the camera with DoP Brendan Lavelle; Cast and crew atMain Beach, Byron Bay; Susie Porter as Eve Pritchard; Directorof the first 3 episodes, Stuart McDonald; The crew on location atBroken Head; The art department team work on the constructionof the main set, the Far Out East resort; DoP Brendan Lavelle(from top left)

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30

A THOUSAND YEARSOF GOOD PRAYERS

Wayne Wang’s latest film, A ThousandYears of Good Prayers, based on ashort story by award-winning authorYiyun Li, marks the director’s departurefrom mainstream Hollywood movies anda return to his roots in independent film.A low-budget, character-driven piece,A Thousand Years of Good Prayers is setin the Chinese American community, aworld in which Wang is very much athome. He himself is a Hong Kong nativewho immigrated to the United States andlater studied film at the CaliforniaCollege of Arts and Crafts in Oakland.

The film tells the story of Mr. Shi (HenryO), an elderly Chinese gentleman whocomes to the U.S. to look after hisrecently divorced daughter Yilan (FayeYu), though their worlds quickly collide.

Mr. Shi is concerned with the loss oftraditional Chinese values while hisdaughter, an independent womanconsumed with work and her affair witha married Russian man, feels her fatheris encroaching upon her life. It is theunexpected friendship with an Iranianwoman (Vida Ghahremani) of his ownage and a trip across the U.S. thateventually helps Mr. Shi to reconcilewith his estranged daughter.

Wayne Wang’s earlier films includeA Man, a Woman, and a Killer, Chan IsMissing, Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heartand Slam Dance. His Hollywoodbreakthrough came with The Joy LuckClub in 1993, which he followed withfilms such as Smoke, Blue in the Faceand Maid in Manhattan. His most recent

people and the culture of the Chinese inAmerica. And, I always try to make filmsabout what I know best.

VA: You overcome the gapbetween Asian and westernculture so easily. What isyour secret?

WW: There is no secret. There is only theon-going process of accepting the conflictand using the best of both cultures.

VA: How did the fact that you livein America affect your point ofview on China?

WW: It gives me a more objective viewof China, I think. It makes me appreciatewhat’s unique and positive about Chinaand yet see the problems more clearly inthe same way. I’m dealing with beingboth American and Chinese.

VA: After 17 movies, what haschanged for you personallyin filmmaking?

WW: I learned that being truthful to thecharacters in the film is the key toeverything. And to find the conflict inwhat the characters want gives me thetension that I need to build each scene.

VA: Has your style ofdirecting changed?

WW: It has changed a lot. I no longerstrive to control and perfect everything.Instead I’ve learned to use what is reallyin front of me and make it serve myultimate goal for the film.

VA: Or has your cultural approachto China changed?

WW: It has become a fusion of somekind. Some people in China recentlysaid that I’m not Chinese. I’m proud ofthat; I’m more than simply a Chinese,I’m a Chinese-American and a citizen ofthe world – a truly contemporary, globalperson with a unique fusion culture.

VA: You are very experiencednow; what is different in yourrecent work compared to yourearly films?

WW: Every film is still very different.I don’t see them as routine; I try to dodifferent things. Big Hollywood films...small personal films... but I keep it freshso that I learn something new every time.

VA: What was most importantfor you in your new movie AThousand Years of Good Prayers?

WW: That there are many things whichdetermine how your relationship todifferent people work, but ultimately thereis something called destiny or fate whichyou can affect to a certain degree inhow you are, how you relate to peopleand what you do every day – not only inthis lifetime but perhaps in other ones too.

VA: What did you experienceduring this production? What didyou like or dislike? What was funand what was difficult?

WW: I enjoyed the freedom I had onevery aspect of the production andbecause of this, I was able to work veryinstinctively. I worked very closely withmy cinematographer, Patrick Lindenmaierand we both enjoyed trying to find thetruth in every moment of each scene.Everything was fun and difficult at thesame time. There are alwayscontradictions in anything we do.

VA: Concerning your crew: do youprefer working in big teams or insmall teams?

WW: I really like working in a smallclose-knit team – the smaller the better.

VA: How do you choose your crewfor each production? I noticedthat you work a lot with differentpeople, not with the same editorsor DoPs each time. �

An Interview with Director Wayne Wang

� YILAN (FAYE YU) and her fatherMr. Shi (Henry O) at Yilan’s apartment

� DIRECTOR WAYNE WANG

film A Thousand Years of Good Prayerspremiered at the Toronto InternationalFilm Festival in 2007, in conjunctionwith companion piece The Princess ofNebraska, also based on a short storyby Yiyun Li.

Less than a month later A ThousandYears of Good Prayers was awardedthe Golden Shell for Best Film at theSan Sebastian Film Festival.

VisionARRI: Mr Wang, with yourwork you seem to be a masterof bringing Chinese themes to awestern audience.

Wayne Wang: I don’t think of myself as amaster. I feel that because I am Chineseand have been living in America for thelast 30 years I know the community, the

©2007

Good

Prayers,LLCPhilipp

Koller,Photographer

“I NO LONGER STRIVE TOCONTROL AND PERFECTEVERYTHING. INSTEAD I’VELEARNED TO USE WHAT ISREALLY IN FRONT OF ME ANDMAKE IT SERVE MY ULTIMATEGOAL FOR THE FILM.”

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VISIONARRI

WW: I have worked with some people onseveral films; my editor has been withme for four or five films. We have verysimilar tastes and have worked out ashorthand way of working together. Ihave worked with some DoPs on severalfilms – Amir Mokri is one of them. I dowant to work with people on a moreregular basis but it’s very difficult findingthe right person. I enjoyed myrelationship with Patrick Lindenmaier,we worked together several times, colourcorrecting during the transfer from digitalto film and I now appreciate workingwith him as a DoP.

VA: During your filmmakingcareer, from 1975 up until now,there has been a transition fromanalogue to digital. What do youthink about the developments?

WW: It has not always been easy. In thebeginning I was very suspicious of everyaspect of it; Patrick helped me throughsome of that. The technology has reallychanged in the last three or four yearsand now I believe that the future willbe digital.

VA: Do you shoot on film ordigital? When and how do youdecide which format to use?

WW: I think I will use digital more now.I like the freedom I get from the camerasthat are getting so good and I also likethe fact that it can look so organic in theend on film. In the future I believe thatfilm will be phased out when theatresconvert to digital projections.

VA: What equipment did youuse for A Thousand Years ofGood Prayers?

WW: We shot on an HDW 900RHDCAM and used zoom and fixed focus

lenses from Fujinon. The camera wasone of the first models of this new type.It had the serial number 17! We usedthe so-called CineGamma to avoidgetting excessively stark images inhigh-contrast situations.

VA: Is there a technical aspect thatwas very important in this movie?

WW: It was very important for the film tolook natural and not “digital.”

VA: Did you have to makecompromises during the shoot fortechnical reasons?

WW: We had to wait often for the sun orthe light to be appropriate before wecould shoot.

VA: For A Thousand Years of GoodPrayers you chose to work withSwiss postproduction companies.

How was this experience, inparticular your collaborationwith Schwarz Film andPatrick Lindenmaier?

WW: I have worked with Patrick beforeat Andromeda Film and Schwarz Film.I really like their creative capabilitiescombined with their expert technicalexperience. I have had very goodexperiences with them each time.

VA: How is the technicalequipment and working methodcompared to the US or China?

WW: The technical and working methodat Andromeda Film and Schwarz Film ismore precise. And I particularly valuetheir creative contributions besides theirtechnical ones. This is the key differencecompared with China or the US.

VA: Which digital workflow didyou utilise for your film?

WW: The film was shot on HD 24fpsprogressive. The offline was completedin HD as well. Working on Avid’s,Adrenalin made it possible to createsubtitles and do a preliminary colourcorrection during the initial visualization.The online edit and the colour correctionwere later completed – uncompressed –at Andromeda Film. Afterwards werendered the film in 2K files at Schwarz Film.

VA: Were you conscious ofsignificant cultural differencesthroughout this workflow?

WW: No, as I have mentioned before,I’m very western and global in mythinking. The only difference may be theextreme care of details and precisionwhich I appreciate a lot!

VA: Is it inspiring to work inEurope for you or is it a burdento travel so far for postproduction?

WW: I love travelling to Europe and Ilove Switzerland. I want to work theremore – maybe even shoot a film there.

VA: After so many years inAmerica, could you considerreturning to China to make a film?

WW: Maybe. I scouted China manytimes when I made The Joy Luck Cluband ended up shooting there forexteriors only because it is very difficultto work there. They have the latesttechnology and the skills, but they don’thave the care, the organization or themental precision to do a really great job.

VA: Apart from commercialaspects, which of your movies areyou most proud of having made?

WW: A Thousand Years of Good Prayers. �

Andrea Oki

A Symphony of Soloists

Standing amid the faded grandeur, DoP AntonioPaladino explains the concept of the shoot: “We have150 musicians and our assignment is to film every oneof them playing one single note. They’re all individualmusicians and were playing together for the first timeon our first shooting day; it wasn’t at all clearwhether or not they’d actually be able to play thispiece of music but they’ve pulled it off really well.”

Produced by production house Academy foradvertising agency Fallon, the commercial was slatedas an HD shoot at an early stage due to uncertaintyabout how much material would have to be shot inorder to get adequate coverage. Paladino opted toshoot with Cooke S4 lenses on two ARRIFLEX D-20s,having used the film-style digital camera for the firsttime only weeks before, on another commercial.Equipment was supplied by ARRI Media in London.

Despite its dilapidation, the theatre is a listed andtherefore protected building, so the crew were unableto hang a lighting grid from the ceiling, nor even put asingle nail in a wall. “We’re using helium balloons,”says Paladino. “8kW tungsten tubes - three for the mainhall and one for the stage; they’re on strings so we canmove them around and angle them. The practical bulbsthat are strung around the hall were already there. We

didn’t want it to look over-lit; it’s a moody location, sowe wanted the lighting to have a moody look. I didn’twant the faces or the sheet music to be too bright.”

HD Technician and AC Gavin MacArthur was giventhe responsibility of overseeing the camera signalsfrom the Director’s monitors, as well as remotelycontrolling aperture settings, which were generallyT2.8 and one-half or wider. “We calibrated themonitors to all match during our test day at ARRIMedia,” he says. “We also have Astro monitors setup here so I can keep an eye on waveform displaysno matter how the cameras are configured.”

Postproduction of the commercial is taking place atThe Moving Picture Company (MPC), with a tightturnaround of just seven weeks. “Unfortunately Ican’t be there for the grade,” says Paladino. “But Idon’t think much will change with what we’ve shot.The location is stunning and the costumes are socolourful, everything already looks amazing. All themonitors were calibrated so what we see is reallywhat we’re getting. It’s such a great advantage ofshooting on HD – I can just look at a monitor undera dark cloth and see exactly what I’m getting; it’s avery satisfying process.” �

Mark Hope-Jones

A THOUSAND YEARS OF GOOD PRAYERS

©2007

Good

Prayers,LLCPhilipp

Koller,Photographer

� THE MUSICIANS form a spiral; each play a single note in turn� DIRECTOR NICK GORDON� LINING UP A SHOT: DoP Antonio Paladino, 1st AC Alex Reid

and Director Nick Gordon (left to right)

Once a centre-point of Victorian London’s social scene, the 2000-capacity theatre withinAlexandra Palace, unseen by the public for more than 65 years, is a crumbling vestigeof its past. Scheduled for restoration, the theatre is in such a magnificent state ofdisrepair that it resembles an elaborately designed set, which is the very reason it hasbeen selected as the location for a new commercial advertising Sony’s next generationof WALKMAN digital media players.

The ARRIFLEX D-20 captures performances from 150 separate musiciansfor Sony’s latest WALKMAN commercial.

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VISIONARRI

34

The Story of a Young KillerBased on Jonathan Trigell’s novel of the same name, Boy Afollows the story of Jack, a child murderer released back intosociety as an adult. As the 24-year-old attempts to start againin a world outside of confinement and rid himself of his formerlife, the story moves between the present and past, taking theviewer on a journey to discover who Jack really is. Thequestion at the core of the film is; can Jack really escape thepast and start again – and is it right that he should? �

3736

VISIONARRITHE STORY OF A YOUNG KILLER

Originally produced by Cuba Picturesfor Channel 4, the worldwide rights forBoy A were recently snapped up byThe Weinstein Company following asuccessful screening at the TorontoInternational Film Festival. Directed byJohn Crowley and photographed byRob Hardy, the production was shot withtwo ARRIFLEX 416 cameras and MasterPrime lenses. Camera equipment wassupplied by ARRI Media and lightingequipment by ARRI Lighting Rental fromtheir Manchester branches.

Director of Photography Rob Hardydiscusses how he tackled thiscontroversial and thought-provokingsubject – his subtle approach,camerawork and favourite scenes.

VisionARRI: The production has beenshot in Super 16 using ARRIFLEX416 cameras. How was thisdecision made?

Rob Hardy: I fell out of love with 16mmsome time ago. We had a passionateaffair but it fizzled out, mainly due tofamiliarity and partly because there wasnothing new, it just wasn’t goinganywhere for me. I preferred 35mm anddare I say it, HD started to show its facein an impressive way. But all thatchanged when I saw the 416. It was loveat first sight. I am not a camera geek,and not particularly technical, but I

instinctively knew that this was a goodthing. The 416 stood out, a 16mmcamera with 35mm capabilities. The lookthrough is crystal clear and I could use35mm lenses without getting neck ache.

When I met with John Crowley and LynnHorsford [Producer] the first thing theytold me was that we were to shoot onfilm, not HD. We wanted a film look andfeel, but the budget couldn’t stretch to35. The 416 was the perfect choice.Also, I knew there would be a certaindegree of hand-held work involved;again, this was 416 territory.

VA: What visual approach didyou decide on with John Crowleyfor the story? Did Crowley giveyou any visual references orwere you influenced by anyoneor anything?

RH: Meeting John Crowley was aninspirational time for me. He trusted meimplicitly, which is rare for a newcollaboration such as this. I felt I wasable to stamp a personal visual styleonto the film without it beinginappropriate or egotistical. We talkedin depth about the story, about that maincharacter’s trajectory and how this couldbe achieved through the cinematography.John was open to anything, which is notto say he didn’t have a clear idea aboutwhat he wanted; rather, he knew what

he didn’t want. Consequently, I wasable to formulate a ‘visual plan’ withoutany restrictions.

The only film we really talked about wasAlan Clarke’s Elephant, a 1980s BBCproduction that has rarely been seen.There was a cold observing quality to itthat seemed appropriate. It is anincredibly uncompromising film, a truework of art. We took the idea and ranwith it. I made sure that my SteadicamOperator, Roger Tooley, had seen the filmas it is a Steadicam operators dream.

I would like to say that I studiedpaintings or other cinematographers’work but I didn’t, my main influencecomes from music. Rhythm, timing andmelody are how I see images. I prefer tokeep my mind free from the clutter ofother peoples’ way of seeing, which isprobably why I have no pictures on mywalls at home.

VA: Can you describe the styleof camerawork?

RH: One thing that John and I agreed onat a very early stage was our dislike for‘Brit Grit’. Hand-held work seems suchan obvious route to ‘spray on’ emotion.That isn’t to say we didn’t use a hand-held camera, we did, there is somethingabout operating a hand-held camera thatgets you close to the emotion of acharacter, it becomes very immediate.However, I wanted everything we did tobe subtle, layered, considered. Wethought very hard about how to approacha scene before we dived in. I wanted tocreate an elegant feel overall, and thatmeant combining hand-held withSteadicam, as well as formal static wideshots and slow creeping tracking shots. Ithink in the end these things combinedvery well. It is easy to be flashy, it is alot harder to be restrained and subtle,but I think we achieved it.

VA: You chose to use Master Primelenses on Boy A, what is it youlike about them? Were thereparticular focal lengths that wereused more than others?

RH: What can I say about these beautifulthings without gushing embarrassingly.Probably a focus puller’s worstnightmare, but enter stage right the verytalented Mr. Ritchie Donnelly; my focuspuller on Boy A. He appeared suitablyunfazed by the challenges that thesebeasts unleashed upon us duringproduction. I chose them becauseinitially they seemed very similar toPrimos. The focal lengths make moresense to me than those of the Cookes orthe Ultra Primes and of course the speedwas a big part of the decision process.I shot most of the film wide open atT1.3, partly for creative reasons andpartly because I was using very slowdaylight stocks on low lit interiors. Myrefusal to use hard highlights and myliking for under-lit soft sources made itparticularly hard for Ritchie. I tended touse the mid range in the set; the 21, 40and 65mm were particular favourites ofmine. I was interested in creating a hazysoft flare and found that by using a one-eighth Black Pro-Mist or one-quarterClassic Soft filter, combined with adegree of camera flare, I was able toachieve the subtle look I wanted. Itadded another layer to an image thatwas sometimes too crisp. I’m completelysold on these lenses.

VA: The story moves between thepresent and past, looking at theattempts of the main character(Jack) to readjust to a worldoutside of prison and at whathappened to him as a youngster.Did you decide to representthe present and pastdifferently visually?

RH: John and I deliberately set out tokeep that transition as seamless as

possible. Jack’s character is continuallytormented by his past but it remainsintrinsically part of his every being andas he discovers, almost impossible toseparate. To have a different visual stylefor past and present would have beenthe obvious thing to do. Audiences aresmarter than that. I wanted both pastand present to look the same. Theaudience should feel what Jack is feelingin order to understand the complexitiesof the character. So I photographedthem in exactly the same way, as if thestory itself were linear.

VA: Are there any shots that cometo mind that were particularlydifficult, or a particular shot thatyou are most proud of? Can youdescribe how they were achieved?

RH: There are a couple of shots in thefilm, which demonstrate our methods insubtlety and in taking a differentapproach. In the story Jack saves a littlegirl from a car crash, an act ofredemption perhaps, and whilst workingat a warehouse he is called onto the floorbecause “somebody wants to see you”.Jack is understandably afraid. We followhim through a tunnel of blue pallets onSteadicam until we enter the open spaceof the warehouse floor where five peopleare waiting for him, one of them being aphotographer who wants to take hispicture for the local newspaper. Jackhesitates. At this point we were supposedto cut and then drop into singles and twoshots as the scene plays out, but Isuggested we continue the shot for theduration of the scene. So the camerafollows him and begins to circle the fivepeople as the scene plays out. It was allabout looks and words said by the actorsthat enforced Jack’s paranoia. Roger

[Steadicam Operator] circled them twiceuntil the scene ended. The result wasamazing. What we got was the energyof the scene without any breaks in it,enabling the actors to play it out for real,thus enhancing the drama. It was a longshot and took 16 or so takes to achievebut it worked beautifully. The thing thatpleases me most about it is that you arenot aware of the camera, you are onlyaware of the story that is unfoldingbetween the characters.

The second shot is during a scenebetween Jack as a boy and his friendPhilip, whom he commits the heinouscrime with. Philip is telling Jack how hisolder brother has raped him. It is Philip’sonly open display of genuine emotion,and a poignant moment. I wanted toreflect visually how Philip’s charactercould feel so small and vulnerable. Onewould assume that we would start wideand go in to a close-up to capture theemotion of the child. I decided to do theopposite. I suggested to John that wemove away from the kids as Philip’sstory progresses to deeper and darkerlevels. We constructed what I call an‘invisible’ crane shot. It started as a lowwide shot and slowly, very slowly,moved to an overhead and then justsimply kept going up and up into theheavens. It ended as Philip ended hisstory. Once again, because the subjectmatter is so engaging I didn’t want theaudience to be camera aware, the shotprogresses so slowly that we hardlynotice the movement until all of a suddenyou realise that you are way up in thesky looking down upon these twovulnerable children.

Having said all of that, I think myfavourite shot in the film is a simple midshot of the character Zeb, the son ofJack’s caseworker Terry, sitting in Terry’skitchen conversing with his dad for thefirst time in a long while. It’s a greatscene. I cannot explain why, but this shotto me is the closest I have ever come tofulfilling my vision. Everything about it,to me, is aesthetically perfect. To anyoneelse, it may seem unremarkable.

Rob Hardy and John Crowley arecurrently in preproduction on theirsecond project together, Is ThereAnybody There? �

Michelle Smith

“I WAS INTERESTED IN CREATING A HAZY SOFTFLARE AND FOUND THAT BY USING A ONE-EIGHTH BLACK PRO-MIST OR ONE-QUARTERCLASSIC SOFT FILTER, COMBINED WITH ADEGREE OF CAMERA FLARE, I WAS ABLE TOACHIEVE THE SUBTLE LOOK I WANTED.”� DIRECTOR JOHN CROWLEY

� DOP ROB HARDY at the camera on location

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MongolThe Early Years of Genghis Khan

The Mongolian ruler Genghis Khan remains one of the mostlegendary and controversial figures of world history. In the early13th century he laid the foundation for one of the world’s largestempires by uniting the feuding tribes of Central Asia. In recognitionof this achievement, Mongols continue to worship him as the father ofthe Mongol Nation. Others, however, remember him as the ruthless,warmongering conqueror who annexed China, Persia and Russia,and even had ambitions in Europe. The new film Mongol tells a lesserknown side of the story – that of a little boy named Temüjin, whoendured tremendous hardship before becoming the first ruler of theMongol Empire, later to be known as Genghis Khan.

Director Sergei Bodrov Sr. (Prisoner ofthe Caucasus, Bears Kiss) felt a strongconnection to this tale of a young manfighting to fulfil his destiny: “Mongol wasa very personal film for me,” he says.“I very much related to Temüjin’s plight.Many historical accounts describeGenghis Khan as a monster and massmurderer; but I wanted to show adifferent man, a man I admire becausehe overcame the most dire and hopelesscircumstances to become the leader of anation and the ruler of an empire. Let’snot forget, the Mongol Empire was ahighly organized and efficient empirewith an early form of an administration.That’s why, to this day, Genghis Khan ismuch more to the Mongols than thefounder of Mongolia. They still worshiphim like a God.”

Bringing this incredible story to the bigscreen was a challenge, even for afilmmaker as experienced and recognizedas Bodrov. The internationalco-production, involving Russia, Germanyand Kazakhstan was shot in China andKazakhstan with camera equipmentsupplied by ARRI Rental, Munich. Behindthe camera were two DoPs: RogierStoffers (Character, Quills) and SergeyTrofimov (The Peshawar Waltz, DayWatch), who shot the mass battle scenes.Communication and logistics were of vitalimportance in making this method ofworking a success.

The majority of the film was shot in InnerMongolia, an autonomous region inNorthern China that borders Mongoliaand is actually home to more Mongolsthan Mongolia itself. “It was a complexdecision to shoot there,” recalls Bodrov.“A lot of it had to do with budgetaryconsiderations, but first and foremostit was important to me to shoot at theoriginal locations in Inner Mongolia,

the cradle of the Mongolian culture andthe heart of the old Mongolian empire.Also, we had heard a lot of good thingsabout filming in this area, in terms of theavailability of personnel.”

The production had to hire two peoplefor each position, one Russian and oneChinese; additionally they had crewmembers from Germany, Japan, Ukraineand Mongolia. Consequently, there wasneed for a team of about 30 translatorsand on occasion the melting pot ofcultural mentalities did lead to somefriction. “We had to pay our dues,”continues Bodrov. “But the fantasticlocations and our extremely professionalcrew helped us make an exceptionalfilm with breathtaking images at areasonable price.” With a smirk on hisface, he adds: “We are more or lessexperts now on filming in China andcould teach expensive seminars.”

Of course the shoot wasn’t just taxing onthe crew. On location in these remoteareas of Inner Mongolia the ARRICAMs,ARRIFLEX 435 and 235 cameras weresubjected to exceptionally harshconditions. “We had to deal withextreme temperatures and with a lot ofsand and dust,” says DoP SergeyTrofimov. “We had to clean the equipmentconstantly. But the ARRI equipmentperformed exceptionally well, even underthese extreme conditions. I believe thesecameras speak for themselves.” �

“WE HAD TO CLEAN THEEQUIPMENT CONSTANTLY.BUT THE ARRIEQUIPMENT PERFORMEDEXCEPTIONALLY WELL,EVEN UNDER THESEEXTREME CONDITIONS.”

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MONGOL

Sergei Bodrov was also aware thatreliability was an absolute priority for thecamera kit. “I have always worked withARRI equipment and it would have beena mistake to use anything else,” he says.“Especially in our high-risk business, it isextremely important to rely on partnerswho are 100% trustworthy. ARRI wasdefinitely the right choice for such alogistically challenging shoot. We werefilming in the most remote locations andthe equipment had quite a journey to get

there. Everything was flown to Beijing,where the shipment had to pass customs;then, after an additional 4-hour flight toa small provincial airport, the equipmenthad to go on a 12-hour car ride beforereaching our location in Inner Mongolia.A lot can happen on such a long journey.At one point, half of the cases arrivedwet; we had to dry and test everything,but it all worked perfectly.”

Another challenge was finding a way toview dailies. The exposed film had to be

taken to a laboratory in Hamburg andthe processed footage sent back toChina. “Obviously it was an issue thatwe couldn’t view what we had shot,”says Trofimov. “The first dailies made itback to China three weeks into the shoot.The second set got there two weeksbefore we wrapped. It was very risky.The suspense was great, but when thedailies finally arrived, we didn’t have thetime to properly check them; we just dida rush screening.”

The look of the film was determinedby the fact that it interweaves twoemotionally contrasting storylines, butalso by the key role played by thelandscape. Sergey Trofimov explains howthey decided on a visual approach:“We just went ahead and storyboarded

everything, at least the part that I shot.That’s when we realized that severalcompositions didn’t fit into the story andwe had to make some adjustments. Themain story is quite simple; it is the storyof a young man, a story about his life,his friends and his enemies. The imageswere therefore kept rather simple in termsof composition. But then there is also theB-story, the romance. We decided to useCooke lenses, which are a little softerthan the Ultra Primes and therefore moreappropriate for the love story. The battlescenes were another issue altogether.We shot them mostly hand-held, but therest of the film was made ratherconventionally, using a lot of dolly andstatic shots. We wanted to show thebeautiful landscape and not distract fromit with attention-grabbing camera work.”

During postproduction, the main taskswere to blend the various storylineswhich were shot at multiple locations andto create a homogenous and consistentlook. Trofimov himself supervised thecolour grading process of the entire film.A rough cut of Rogier Stoffers’ footagehad been colour graded already but thefine-tuning was Trofimov’s responsibility.“Rogier Stoffers footage wasn’t shotdifferently,” he explains, “it was just adifferent part of the story. Working thisway allowed me to analyze the role eachpart was to play in the film ahead oftime; then I went ahead and figured outhow to proceed. On one hand thelandscapes, such as the steppe and themountains, had to play an importantpart. On the other hand we were dealingwith various intense and different

emotional states. This required verysophisticated colour grading because itwas important to find a balance betweencontinuity and differentiation. I hope wefound the right way.

In every regard – creatively, technically,politically and personally – this was avaluable experience,” concludesTrofimov. “And I believe that the endresult will meet all expectations.”

Mongol received its world premier atToronto International Film Festival inSeptember 2007 and its Europeanpremier at Cinema Rome Film Festivalin October 2007. �

Bastian Prützmann / Andrea Rosenwirth

“I HAVE ALWAYS WORKED WITHARRI EQUIPMENT AND IT WOULDHAVE BEEN A MISTAKE TO USEANYTHING ELSE.”

�� Filming of the third battle

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Having worked together many times, Schwarzenberger andBorsche have developed a distinctive approach, preferring toassemble the final version of their films in the traditional way,on an analogue cutting bench. The director/DoP finds thisprocess to be much more creative than working on an AVID,even though the software tools would make it easier and fasterto experiment with different approaches. He and Borsche insistthat the actual physical handling of the negative and theamount of additional effort required when working on theanalogue cutting bench – laying in the film, rewinding andfast-forwarding – means greater thought and discipline has tobe given to defining one’s goals. This, so they argue, results inthe high concentration levels they deem necessary consideringtheir great sense of responsibility for the material. This way ofworking, however, most certainly benefits from the fact thatSchwarzenberger already has a general editing concept inmind when he begins shooting.

While Copacabana was, like Schwarzenberger’s other films,shot on 35mm and edited on an analogue editing bench, itwas the first of his productions to be digitally finished in HDresolution. Produced in 2006 for German-language TV stationsMDR and ORF, it aired in the fall of 2007. The story centres on

a family coming together to celebrate a couple’s 35th weddinganniversary. During the festivities many unresolved issues andwell-kept secrets from the past surface, forcing the family to pulltogether in order to overcome these problems. The stellar castincludes Bruno Ganz, Nicole Heesters, Christiane Paul andFriedrich von Thun.

Schwarzenberger and Borsche’s traditional working methodsmeant that finishing Copacabana in HD required a flexibleworkflow that could accommodate traditional practices – suchas cutting dailies on 35mm – while also taking advantage ofnewer digital systems. This, of course, affected the picture aswell as the sound editing, but in the end an HD master wasgenerated from the edited 35mm negative. The televisionaudience, however, will not yet be able to enjoy the wonderfulHD quality, because the film will initially be down-convertedand aired in an SD (Standard Definition) version. But withmore and more high-resolution television sets finding their wayinto the homes of viewers, nothing stands in the way of HDCopacabana reruns in the future. �

Ingo Klingspon

� XAVER SCHWARZENBERGER on camera

CopacabanaThe postproduction experts at ARRI in Munich have supported manyprestigious national and international film and television projects,guiding them through the various stages of production. For XaverSchwarzenberger’s most recent television drama Copacabana, theirexpertise was put to use combining traditional film techniques withdigital technology.

A native of Vienna, Xaver Schwarzenberger is among the most versatile and sought-afterfilmmakers in the German-speaking world. His large body of work as a DoP includesmany of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s films, such as Berlin Alexanderplatz, Lola, LiliMarleen, Querelle and Die Sehnsucht der Veronika Voss, as well as the box-office hitsSchtonk! and the Otto films. In recent years he has worked increasingly in television, onproductions including Andreas Hofer – Die Freiheit des Adlers, Eine Liebe in Afrika,Annas Heimkehr and Margarete Steiff. Though he started out as a DoP,Schwarzenberger now works exclusively in the dual role of director/DoP. To him,cinematography and directing are inextricably linked; he considers his work behind thecamera to be but one aspect of his responsibilities as a director.

In the 1990s Schwarzenberger began his collaboration with the editor Helga Borsche,who won the Bundesfilmpreis in 1984 for her work on Ediths Tagebuch and has overseveral decades cut film and television productions for notable directors such as HansW. Geißendörfer and Mika Kaurismäki.

�EDITOR HELGA BORSCHEat the cutting desk

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Writer/Director Niels Laupert based the film, which is his first feature, on an idea he got in 2000 afterreading an article in one of Germany’s leading newspapers, Süddeutsche Zeitung: “The article talkedabout two 16-year-old Polish boys who, on a Sunday in January 1996, made a bet to kill a man the verysame day,” he recalls. “Later that night, they attempted to carry out their bet, but the first man they cameacross survived their attack. They went on, having learned from the first incident, to attack a second manand this time succeeded in killing him. The two adolescents were tried as adults and sentenced to 25 yearsof imprisonment.

“The article shocked me,” Laupert continues. “But at the same time I couldn’t stop thinking about thisincident. How could it have happened? Why did all natural inhibitions fail? I knew from the outset that Ididn’t want to make an intellectual film about the issues raised by this tragedy. First and foremost I wantedto tell a story, utilizing all the available creative and technological possibilities. It was important to me toinclude the environment and surroundings of the protagonists and therefore we didn’t want to limit the storyby cutting together a series of close-ups. That’s why Super 35mm was our first choice and why we decidedto go with the 2.35:1 format.”

Filming was split into two stages and centred around a high-rise apartment complex in a neighbourhood ofLeipzig called Grünau, which looked very similar to the real crime scene in Poland. “The filming of the firststage commenced in January of 2005,” says Laupert. “ARRI Rental in Munich provided the ARRIFLEX 535and Zeiss Ultra Prime lenses for the shoot, while lighting and stage equipment came from ARRI Rental inBerlin. We shot on Fuji 250D and 500T film stocks. The second part of the filming started in May 2006and for that we used an ARRICAM LITE. Additional footage, documentary footage and taped interviewswith the convicts needed to be shot as well. It took several attempts to establish contacts in Poland; we hadto make numerous requests before the convicted felons agreed to be interviewed and the Polish authoritiesgranted us filming permits.”

Interviews with the culprits, who were sent to different prisons,were conducted in October 2005 and October 2006. “Forpractical and budgetary reasons we shot the Polish part of theproduction on a Sony HDCam,” says Laupert. “We weren’tsure how the two convicted criminals, who at that point hadalready served 10 years of their sentence, would react to usbeing there. I didn’t want to interrupt the concentration of aninterview by changing reels. Plus the Polish authorities hadstipulated that the crew entering the prison could consist of nomore than 4 people.”

The entire postproduction for the film was completed at ARRIFilm & TV Services in Munich, where Alex Klippe wasresponsible for the DI workflow. Super 35mm footage wasscanned on an ARRISCAN in 2K and combined with digitizedHD footage in the online edit. The challenge duringpostproduction was to integrate the HD footage with the 35mm.This was necessary because in several scenes the documentaryfootage had to blend seamlessly into the fictional material: “Idecided not to attempt to distinguish the two types of footage inorder to avoid taking the viewer out of the story,” says Laupert.“I didn’t want to create a sort of docu-fiction format.”

Experienced DI Colourist Manfred Turek was in charge ofthe digital colour grading. The primary colour grade wascompleted in a Lustre Suite and the final grade, involvingseveral shapes and masks, was subsequently completed in theLustre Master Suite, after a large-screen 2K digital projection.A further difficulty during the digital colour correction wascaused by the fact that part of the shoot had taken placeduring winter and another part during spring, and somescenes required shots from both parts. This had been achallenge for makeup and continuity during filming and later,during postproduction, for Turek, who had to match thevarious lighting conditions.

“In the last few weeks before the premiere we worked in allareas of postproduction at the same time,” recalls Laupert.“We took advantage of the fact that we could complete theentire finish and mix in one physical location. It was a verydemanding time: we had to match the various materials, such as35mm and HD, complete the VFX work and finish retouching, allat the same time. Simultaneously we had to complete the soundediting and the sound mix. ARRI supported us during this difficulttime with their know-how and their passion.”

The film was initially conceived as a 30-minute graduationproject for the HFF in Munich and had received funding fromthe FFF-Bayern to the tune of 50,000 Euros. “But the longer Iworked on the story,” continues the director, “the more I cameto realize that I couldn’t possibly tell it in 30 minutes.”Additional funding was therefore raised, from public as wellas private sources, to transform the short into a feature. AfterAngela Reedwisch at ARRI Munich, a staunch proponent of thecontroversial project, committed her support, several othercompanies followed her lead. “Even though this was just asmall film by an unknown director, we received the fullattention and support of the ARRI team,” concludes Laupert.“I really appreciated their professionalism and enjoyed thefriendly environment. I am very happy to have completed myfilm at ARRI.” �

Sabine Welte

Niels Laupert’s feature film Seven Days Sunday premiered on June 23, 2007 at the25th Munich Film Festival, where Laupert, an HFF film school graduate, received the firstannual Mentor Award. The film, which tells the true story of two juvenile murderers,was produced by fellow HFF graduates Thomas Bartl and Alex Dierbach. Another HFFstudent, Anne Bürger, assisted DoP Christoph Dammast for the second half of the shoot.

SEVENDAYSSUNDAYThe challenge ofcombining HD and Super35mm in the DI Process.

� CHECKING A SHOT: Director Niels Laupert, DoP Christop Dammast,Theresa Luther, Gaffer Oliver Menebröcker, 1st AC Korkut Akir (left to right)

� 1ST AC KORKUT AKIR

� DIRECTOR NIELS LAUPERT and team on set

SUPER 35MM FOOTAGE WASSCANNED ON AN ARRISCANIN 2K AND COMBINED WITHDIGITIZED HD FOOTAGE INTHE ONLINE EDIT. THECHALLENGE DURINGPOSTPRODUCTION WAS TOINTEGRATE THE HD FOOTAGEWITH THE 35MM.

� THE LEADINGACTORSLudwig Trepte andMartin Kiefer

��

�

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Side EffectSet amidst the sordid underworld of drugs in London, Side Effect is a ten-minute short film written and directedby Mark Fortune. Entirely self-financed, the low-budget project was sponsored by ARRI Lighting Rental, whereFortune trained as a Lighting Technician, and ARRI Media, where cinematographer Stephen J. Nelson works asCamera Technician Trainer.

“I suppose the initial impetus to make it came from Steve,” says Fortune. “We bumped into each other and gottalking. He knew I’d made a film a few years ago and suggested I make another, explaining that with all thenew media packages like Final Cut Pro and also the new generation of cameras, you can affordably achievequite a high level of autonomy.”

Having been convinced that the advance of prosumer technologies could maximise directorial control evenwith a minimal budget, Fortune revived Side Effect, a script he had already tried to film once before. “Steveand I talked about the visual approach,” he says. “I like for things to be natural; for any light that is used tohave a reason for being there. I went to drama college myself so am very keen to serve the actors. One of thehigh points of Side Effect is the acting; Nick Tennant as the lead gives a superb performance and the wholecast are very strong. I like to let the camera roll, though I’m not a big fan of improvisation, so prefer the actorsto find the freshness within a structure.”

Though they had originally talked about shooting on a SonyPD-150 to keep costs down, when ARRI Media offered its helpto the tune of a camera package, Nelson pushed for HD. Thefilm was shot on a Sony HDW-750 with a film-style Canonzoom and down-converted to DigiBeta. “It was quite acompact kit,” says Nelson, “because the schedule was prettytight and we wanted to travel light.”

For some shots of the principal character, a skittish, twitchydrug dealer, Nelson suggested the use of higher shutterspeeds, a technique lifted from his background in film. “Ithelped contrast that character with the young kid who’s moreslow and dopey,” he explains. “The dealer is almost frenziedin a way, so the idea was to make him look almost staccato inhis movements and accentuate his nervous energy.” When itcame to a scene in which the dealer takes heroin, Nelsonexperimented with hand-held dioptres and shift-and-tilt lenses,creating unusual focus effects in camera to reflect thecharacter’s state of mind.

With a tight schedule and budget, the small crew carefullyplanned when to shoot each scene in order to minimiseequipment requirements. “It was guerrilla filmmaking really,”says Nelson. “Getting the best you can as quick as you can.Some things we spent more time on than others, like thelighting for the end scene in the lounge, which was difficultbecause Mark wanted a really wide, high master shot, whichof course revealed all the positions where I wanted to putlights. Balancing that with all the other shots when we went incloser was a challenge. It’s just the restrictions of working onlocation rather than a sound stage – trying to fit yourself intosomeone’s living room. We had some good people whooffered up their houses for an evening and were even graciouswhen we told them to be quiet in their own home.”

Nelson’s lighting kit, provided by ARRI Lighting Rental,included Dados, an ARRILUX 400, 1.2K HMIs, a 2.5KARRISUN and Chimera soft boxes; for outdoor scenes he usedpoly boards to flag and bounce the available light. Fortunewas able to discuss lighting solutions with Nelson on atechnical level, drawing on the training that got him started inthe industry.

“I did a four year apprenticeship at ARRI Lighting Rental,” saysFortune. “I did my City and Guilds Electrics Parts One andTwo, and got my HGV license – it was a full apprenticeship.If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be making films again now.They gave me an opportunity to get into the industry on aprofessional level; I’ll always be grateful to them for givingme that start.

“Once we’d wrapped I did the offline on an Apple G4 athome,” continues Fortune, “and then it went to Steve who didsome grading on his system. All the postproduction was doneon our own Apple Macs.”

The film had its first public screening at the Final Cutcompetition in Brighton and has since been featured at theBacup Film Festival, Lancashire and the Sefton Short FilmFestival, and will go on to be entered in about 60-80 festivalsaround the world. �

Mark Hope-Jones

ARRI Media and ARRI Lighting Rentalsupport budding filmmakers fromwithin their own ranks.

��WRITER AND DIRECTOR, MARK FORTUNE (top)

�DOP STEPHEN J. NELSON (middle)

�DIRECTOR AND DOP discussing a shot (bottom)

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A landmark year came in 1937 with thedesign and development of the reflexmirror shutter camera, the ARRIFLEX 35.This design, incorporating a reflexviewfinder that allowed precisecomposition and critical focusing, placedthe company at the very forefront ofmotion picture engineering worldwide.Its position was fortified in 1938 by theintroduction of the first ARRI Fresnellampheads, which would remainstandard lighting units for decades tocome. The ARRIFLEX 35 was producedand utilised throughout the Second WorldWar, though bombing raids on Munichnecessitated temporary relocation of thecompany, and in 1946 its follow-up, theARRIFLEX 35II, went into production.

As film industries across the worldpicked up again after the devastation ofthe war, filmmakers immediately realisedhow important and revolutionary a toolthis camera was. In 1947 it was usedfor the first time in Hollywood by DelmerDaves for the Humphrey Bogart andLauren Bacall movie Dark Passage,which opened with an extraordinary30-minute POV (point of view) sequence,made possible by the camera’s precision

framing and extreme portability. Thefollowing year legendary documentarianRobert J. Flaherty used ARRIFLEX 35IIsfor Louisiana Story, which put thecamera through its paces in theunforgiving terrain of the Louisianabayous. Flaherty was so impressed bythe immediacy and accuracy of thereflex viewfinder that he often operateda camera himself.

On the other side of the world IndianDirector Satyajit Ray used an ARRIFLEX35II to film Pather Panchali, the first partof his lauded Apu Trilogy, between1952 and 1955. Ray was a completenovice, as were his collaborators, but thesimplicity and portability of their camerakit permitted versatile location filmingwith a minimum of crew throughout theprotracted low-budget shoot. Mitradeveloped a system of bounce lightingwhereby lamps were aimed at cheapwhite sheets angled at the performers inorder to create a soft, natural light. Bythis method, which would go on to beutilised by cinematographers worldwide,Mitra could simulate daylight withextraordinary ease and effectiveness.The resulting black and white

cinematography was stunning and playeda big part in the success of the film.

The 1950s also brought the dawn of theage of television and the sheer volume ofprofessional image acquisition increasedexponentially. The cost benefits of 16mmfilm made the format appealing to newsgatherers and sports broadcasters, soin 1952 ARRI introduced the firstprofessional 16mm camera incorporatinga reflex viewfinder, the ARRIFLEX 16ST.This model became perhaps the mostubiquitous 16mm camera ever producedand aside from its applications intelevision, provided an introduction toshooting on film for many aspiring youngdirectors. Martin Scorsese used one toshoot his short films and RobertRodriguez launched his career in 1992with El Mariachi, a $7,000 feature shotentirely on an ARRIFLEX 16ST.

The early 1960s saw a spate of updatesto the design of the ARRIFLEX 35mm reflexcamera. These refinements resulted in arange of models offering variable shutter,high speed filming, a bayonet mountand with the ARRFILEX 35IIC in 1964,a much-improved viewing system.�

�ROBERT RICHTER and AUGUST ARNOLD (1918)

The Power to Dream,the Vision to Innovate

90 YEARS OF ARRIThe story of ARRI began in 1917, when school friendsAugust Arnold and Robert Richter formed a smallcompany in Munich as an outlet for their passion forall things technical and enthusiasm for the emergingdiscipline of motion picture engineering. Havingsuccessfully assembled their first film printing machinefrom sprockets and old parts sourced from a fleamarket, it did not take the pair long to generate somecapital through the sale of several more printers.They also immersed themselves in film productionwith the help of cameraman friend Martin Kopp,catering for the post-war boom in demand forwesterns with features such as Texas Fred’sHoneymoon and Deadly Cowboys.

With the money they made from the printers and theirprolific filmmaking, Arnold and Richter beganinvesting in new camera and lighting technologies. In1924 they commenced production of the first mirrorfacet reflectors with electric bulbs and also designed amobile generator to power them. That same year theydeveloped ARRI’s first camera, the KINARRI 35, whichwas rented to other cameramen when they weren’tshooting, thus sowing the seeds for the worldwiderental group that exists today.

ROBERT RICHTER on camera with Karl Dittmannshooting The Train Robbers (1920)

VISIONARRITHE POWER TO DREAM, THE VISION TO INNOVATE

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That same year, Director Richard Lestermade use of ARRIFLEX IIB cameras forA Hard Day’s Night, his mad-capmock-documentary that follows theBeatles as they prepare for a televisionappearance. The lightweight camerasallowed Cinematographer Gilbert TaylorBSC to keep up with John, Paul, Georgeand Ringo as they dashed fromscreaming fans, while the reflexviewfinder permitted hand-held zoomand telephoto shots. The sheer freedomand energy of this filming style resultedin ground-breaking images and the filmis credited with inventing a plethora ofmusic video techniques.

In the mid 1960s ARRI brought out theARRFILEX 35IICT/B, which was fittedwith a two perforation movement, due tothe growing popularity at that time ofTechniscope. This widescreen processhad been developed by TechnicolorItalia and combined a two perforationpull-down with a 2.35:1 gate, resultingin two images being exposed on top ofeach other within the four perforationAcademy area. Sergio Leone was onedirector who took advantage of this cost-saving system, putting it to use for hislow-budget western A Fistful of Dollars in1964. After the massive success of thisfilm, Leone again used TechniscopeARRIFLEX cameras for the sequelsFor a Few Dollars More (1965) andThe Good, the Bad and the Ugly(1966), as well as the seminalOnce Upon a Time in the West (1968).

1972 saw ARRI introduce the first everself-blimped 35mm camera, theARRIFLEX 35BL. Weighing a fraction ofa blimped camera, the compact 35BLcould be used hand-held and mademobile, sync-sound 35mm filming areality. The first film to capitalise on itspossibilities was Across 110th Street,which was shot that same year onlocation in Harlem, New York. Soonthe 35BL was a firm favourite ofcinematographers and was used on avast number of films over the next fewdecades. Haskell Wexler ASC used onefor his Oscar-winning work on Bound forGlory (1976), while Vittorio Storaro shotwith 35BLs for all three films that wonhim the Best Cinematography AcademyAward: Apocalypse Now (1979), Reds(1981) and The Last Emperor (1987).

Stanley Kubrick, a lifelong cameraenthusiast with an extraordinary

knowledge of motion picture technology,used ARRIFLEX cameras on every film hepossibly could after discovering theARRIFLEX 35IIA while directing andphotographing his second feature Killer’sKiss in 1955. He shot A ClockworkOrange on his own ARRIFLEX 35IICs in1971 and bought 35BLs when they werereleased, using them for Barry Lyndon(1975), The Shining (1980) and FullMetal Jacket (1987). For his final filmEyes Wide Shut (1999), Kubrick shotwith an ARRIFLEX 535B, having madeuse of the developing ARRI product linefor almost half a century.

In 1981 ARRI unveiled the finalincarnation of the 35mm body designthat began life in 1937. The ARRIFLEX35IIIC was developed at the request ofGerman Cinematographer Jost VacanoBVK,ASC who had been hired to shootWolfgang Peterson’s World War IIU-boat drama Das Boot. The IIICfeatured a single lens mount and apivoting viewfinder that allowed Vacanoto capture running low-angle shots withinthe cramped submarine interior.

In 1982 the subsidiary ARRI Video, nowknown as ARRI Film & TV was set upand made a name for itself inpostproduction for commercials, dramas,domestic and international feature films.Today it offers a complete post-production workflow, providingeverything from lab servicesto state-of-the-art image and audiopost services.

The 35BL’s replacement came in 1990with the release of the ARRIFLEX 535, asilent studio camera boasting a wealth ofelectronic functions. CinematographerMichael Ballhaus ASC made use of thecamera’s ability to perform exposure-compensated speed ramps on FrancisFord Coppola’s Dracula in 1992.Janusz Kaminski ASC chose the 535 forSpielberg’s visually stunning Schindler’sList while Vittorio Storaro combined the535 with an ARRIFLEX 765, the 65mmcamera released in 1989, onBertolucci’s Little Buddha (1992).

The 1990s brought a number of otherimportant developments, most notablythe ARRIFLEX SR 3 16mm camera in1992, which quickly made its mark onthe television drama industry, and theversatile ARRIFLEX 435 in 1994, whichbecame a staple on promo and featuresets. ARRI moved in a new direction in1998 with the launch of the ARRILASER,which was complemented by theARRISCAN in 2004, placing ARRI atthe head of the field in the rapidlyexpanding world of DI transfers andopening up new possibilities forpostproduction workflows.

The turn of the twenty-first century hasseen ARRI step up the pace further still,on its release of cutting edge products.The innovative ARRICAM Studio andARRICAM Lite cameras debuted in 2000and have since been used on manymajor features including Chicago(2002), King Kong (2005) and

The Departed (2006). In 2003 came theARRIFLEX 235, a compact 35mm MOScamera that was used to great effect inThe Bourne Ultimatum (2007), as well asthe ARRIFLEX D-20, a film-style digitalcamera that represents the next stage inthe company’s, as well as the industry’shistory. Most recently, the release andextraordinary success of the ARRIFLEX416 16mm camera in 2006 has provedthat traditional markets remain buoyantand that the wealth of formats nowavailable has simply widened therange of tools available to themodern cinematographer.

In order to use cameras, filmmakers havealways needed light for exposure andover the last ninety years the ARRI brandhas become well known for its robust,well made lighting products. Sincedeveloping the first mirror facet reflectorin 1924, to the ARRI GIGANT in 1952,the ARRISONNE 2000W in 1972 andthe ARRI Studio range in 1988, ARRI hasstrived to produce the lighting equipmentto meet the varied demands of thetechnicians who apply the technology. Thenewest and brightest fixture, the ARRIMAX18/12, launched in 2005 has takenlighting to new levels using a uniqueconcept for beam control, eliminating theneed for spread lenses. The ARRIMAX’swork can be seen on Indiana Jones 4,Batman: The Dark Knight and TheChronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

In the very beginning innovation,reliability and durability were Arnoldand Richter’s business principles andthat same mind-set remains today.

In order to best serve creativeprofessionals ARRI has always adaptedto the latest trends and has developedthe appropriate technology accordingly.In a rapidly evolving industry ARRI notonly provides state-of-the-art technology,but equally as important, worldwideservice and technical support.

Despite the awards and accolades inrecognition of technical achievements,ARRI believes that it is all aboutempowering creative professionals torealize their imagination and vision.That philosophy still stands today andwill continue for the next ninety yearsand beyond. �

Mark Hope-Jones

�DOP JOST VACANO in the submarine set on Das Boot with a purpose built gyro-rig and prototype IIIC.First Assistant Peter Maiwald holds the remote focus unit (1981)

�GRAHAM HILL films a training lap with an ARRIFLEX 16ST mounted on the car (1952)

�ARRI DEVELOPED its largest lamphead so far, the ARRI GIGANT 20kW (1952)

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�1984

We have been very successful in the past with our studiofacilities. We had guests such as the bands Queen and DieÄrzte. Numerous times the Bambi awards, one of Germany’sleading film and television award shows, has been broadcastdirectly from our studio here in Munich. In addition, a greatnumber of very successful game shows such as Ruck-Zuck, Herzist Trumpf, Die Bullyparade and Hopp oder Top have beenrecorded at the ARRI Studios. Initially we recorded on 1”C, lateron Betacam SP and finally on Digital Betacam. Another popularlive broadcast from the ARRI Studios was the show Bitte meldeDich. A highlight of our studio days was the show WahreWunder, which was hosted by Sabrina Fox and Christopher Lee,and later Dietmar Schönherr. In October of 1999 we had thehonour of welcoming Bill Gates and Edmund Stoiber, who wereguests on Sabine Christiansen’s talk show. That day remains oneof the most talked-about days in ARRI history because Bill Gatesgot stuck in our glass elevator and had to wait there to berescued. Luckily help came quickly. Today, the studio no longerplays a prominent role in our day-to-day business. The smallerstudio was recently turned into a state-of-the-art sound mixingstage called Stage I. The larger studio is now rented outexclusively to the ZDF television network for the taping of theirhighly successful political comedy show Neues aus der Anstalt.

In the past we have co-produced a number of projects,including Edgar Reitz’s series Heimat and the 1988 featurefilm Burning Secret, with Klaus Maria Brandauer and FayeDunaway. Today all of our co-productions are handled byour affiliate B.A. Productions.

VA: Did the new video venture face a lot ofcompetition back then?

FK: The benchmark for us as a young company was London. Inthose early days we focused on commercial production, studiorental and postproduction; our competitors were companiessuch as Molinare, VTR and Rushes in London. There was localcompetition here in Munich as well; TV-One (Mark Mender)had a great reputation when it came to 3D animation and theAV-Hartwig Company had made a name for themselves in therealm of telecine for commercials, with the help of their starcolour grader Bertl Grabmayr (whom we subsequently broughtover to ARRI TV). Bavaria’s telecine division was mostlyfocusing on feature film production and wasn’t a realcompetitor, but the Gürtler Company was, when it came tovideo transfers. Much later, Germany’s Neuer Markt broughtsome new competitors such as Das Werk. �

In November 1982 ARRI gained a new subsidiary with the creation of ARRIVideo GmbH, the postproduction department of the ARRI Group, which nowoperates under the name of ARRI Film & TV Services GmbH. Managing DirectorFranz Kraus recalls the company's first steps, its development and prospects.

25 Years ofARRI Film & TV

�1985 �1988 �1993

�ARRI FILM & TV havecompleted the postproductionof many successful nationaland international feature films

�FRANZ KRAUS,General ManagerARRI Film & TV

VisionARRI: In 1982 the partners of ARRICinetechnik, Robert Arnold and Dr WalterStahl, decided to start up a new ARRICinetechnik affiliate. The new entity wasfirst called ARRI Video and later ARRI TV.Today it is known as ARRI Film & TV. Whydid they decide to enter the video sector?

Franz Kraus: Back then ARRI Cinetechnik consistedof camera and lighting rental departments, a filmlaboratory and a sound department providingpostproduction-related services. When the 1” formatwas introduced, the timing just seemed right for anexpansion into the video sector, especially since ithad always been the intention of the partners todevelop additional ARRI products for the newlyfounded postproduction division.

VA: When did you join ARRI and what wasyour background?

FK: After working as a research associate andproject supervisor at the Heinrich Hertz Institute inBerlin for ten years, I joined the one-year-old ARRIaffiliate ARRI Video GmbH as a technical director inNovember 1983. Soon the company was renamedARRI TV Production Services GmbH. Rolf Müllerwas the general manager at that time. In1986/1987 he was succeeded by two generalmanagers: Roman Kuhn, who was responsible forthe creative side of the business and Josef Brauner,who was responsible for business affairs. In 1987I was promoted to become the third generalmanager, responsible for all technology-relatedmatters. Later, when Josef Brauner left the companyand Roman Kuhn went on to start his ownproduction company, I remained as the sole generalmanager. In June of 2001, I was appointed to theboard of directors of ARRI AG. I am responsible forresearch & development as well as the service armof the ARRI Group.

VA: What were the objectives and goals ofthe newly-created video endeavour?

FK: The goal was to make the company the marketleader in terms of technology and quality. Evenback then, we had been forerunners in the German

video industry. ARRI TV was the first company onthe continent with a Quantel Paintbox FGS 4000from Bosch, a Quantel Harry and a Kodak CineonSystem. In the beginning we were mostly active inthe areas of studio rental, film scanning, videopostproduction for commercials, and transfers.But because we were always willing to tackleextraordinary challenges we were able to attractpeople with extraordinary abilities and ambitions –people like Roman Kuhn, with his creative andinnovative ideas in the area of design and effectswork, and Andreas Kern, who, long before theadvent of Flame, worked with engineers at LENZ todevelop incredible software for stabilizing imageframes, which was later used at ARRI TV.Also Peter Doyle, whose work in high-resolutionimage manipulation contributed greatly to theinception of ARRI Digital Film in 1994, and let’snot forget Dr. Johannes Steurer, who was initiallythe head of Digital Film and later became theproject manager responsible for the developmentof the ARRILASER.

The company credo has, and will always be, to remainone step ahead of the competition. I distinctly recall theheated debate surrounding the tape formats DigitalBetacam and D1. Initially I was pretty much the onlyperson proclaiming Betacam as the superior formatin terms of user-friendliness, but that soon changedand everyone stopped working on the expensive,yet vulnerable and much less flexible D1 format.

�POSTPRODUCTIONwith GVG 300-Mixer,1986

�HOMO FABER: Sam Shepard stars in Volker Schlöndorff’s acclaimed film

�BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ: Faßbinder’s tremendous work was digitallyrestored in 2006

�ROSSINI: At the helm was Helmut Dietl. ARRI was in charge of the entirepostproduction (picture and sound)

���

VISIONARRI

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25 YEARS OF ARRI FILM & TV

54

FK: ARRI Video started 25 years ago as a small company withonly a handful of employees. Some of them, such as GüntherBornkessel, Oswald Schacht and Erich Harant, are still with thecompany. Today, ARRI Film & TV has 200 employees. The filmlaboratory and the sound department have been integrated.We have recruited colour graders from the film laboratory andtrained them in new digital technologies, so they are nowcompetent analogue as well as digital colour graders. Wehave integrated these new digital technologies with traditionalfilm laboratory processes. In addition, building the new soundstudio in 2002 has been a milestone for us. Also, with theintroduction of the ARRISCAN, we have successfully taken thestep from HD postproduction of feature films to high-resolutionfile-based 2K/4K postproduction and are today the marketleader in Germany when it comes to DigitalIntermediate/Grading.

VA: In retrospect, are you content with the results ofthe last 25 years and where will the journey leadto over the coming years?

FK: To be content only means to be complacent; we still have alot to accomplish in the future. We want to position ourselves

better for the years to come and have already begun thisprocess by acquiring Schwarz Film AG in Switzerland.As a result we now have additional film laboratories andpostproduction facilities in Berlin and Bern, as well as smallerfacilities in Zurich and Ludwigsburg. This has been a majorstep towards becoming even more flexible when it comes toservicing productions. This will also be an opportunity to reachpast the borders of Germany and attract additionalinternational productions.

The tasks for the future will include quickly and entirelyswitching the TV and commercial divisions to HD andreplacing the photochemical film laboratory with a creativelyand technologically superior digital high-resolutionpostproduction process (DI). Also, in the future, the deliveryformat for TV will be HD and for feature films, 4K.

An additional challenge will be to further interface the rentaland the postproduction services to accommodate theincreasing number of digitally-shot productions, which will alsobe finished digitally. The shift to digital production will posenew challenges that the service providers have to meet.We want to be prepared for this change. �

VA: What was the corporate structure of ARRI Videoand later of ARRI TV?

FK: In actuality, it was a give-and-take arrangement and only afew rather superficial hierarchies existed. As a matter of fact,no-one worked a 40-hour week and no-one worked solely toearn money. Everyone really loved their jobs here at ARRI andto this day I consider that to be the secret of our success. Sure,a lot has changed since the inception of the company, but stilltoday the people who work here love their jobs.

VA: The film laboratory had been around for manyyears before ARRI TV was founded and had beenpart of ARRI Cinetechnik. Why did it later becomea part of ARRI TV?

FK: Cinetechnik was never the appropriate home for the sounddepartment and the film laboratory. Both divisions had, andhave, a very different clientele compared to Cinetechnik, so in1992 it was decided to integrate the sound department at bookvalue into ARRI TV. To this day, the sound department remainsan integral part of the company. In 2002 the film laboratorywas also amalgamated into ARRI TV, after which the new entitywas named ARRI Film & TV. We always intended to combinedigital and analogue technologies. The ARRISCAN andARRILASER were to become integral parts of the film laboratory.In addition, this was a fantastic opportunity to continue thetraining of our competent film laboratory staff. They werealready very familiar with the analogue technologies and wereeager to learn more about the new digital technologies.

VA: Have the clients changed over the years?And which areas have been the main focus –commercial, TV or feature films?

FK: Like I said, initially the main business of ARRI TV camefrom the commercial sector, while the film laboratory andsound department tended to work on feature films. These days,however, the majority of our clients are feature film productions,followed by television and then commercial productions.

VA: How has the affiliate changed over the last25 years, in terms of personnel and technology?

In late 2006, ARRI Film & TVServices acquired Schwarz FilmBerlin Postproduction GmbH.The new entity, now called ARRISchwarzfilm Berlin GmbH, greatlybenefits from the vast experienceand extensive know-how of itsgeneral managers, PhilippTschäppät and Josef Reidinger, andhas proved a tremendous success.

Now boasting one of the largest gradingcinemas in Europe, ARRI SchwarzfilmBerlin has successfully completed itstransition from a film laboratory focusedpredominantly on television productions toa full-service postproduction houseequipped with the latest technology.ARRI’s leading position in the world of

film and television postproduction, withregards to film processing and the DigitalIntermediate process, has been invaluableduring the reorganisation of the company.

In Germany, both national andinternational high-end films are for themost part shot in Berlin and its surroundingareas. ARRI Schwarzfilm Berlin can nowoffer optimal conditions for the completionof these highly ambitious projects, not onlybecause of its convenient location but alsobecause of its expanded service portfolioand considerably enlarged facilities. Thehighly qualified workforce is well-versedin analogue as well as digitalpostproduction and works with state-of-the-art technology to provide an all-encompassing support structure. �

SCHWARZFILM

STATE-OF-THE-ART TECHNOLOGY ATARRI SCHWARZFILM BERLIN GMBH

�2001 �2003 �2006 �2007�1993 �1995 �1997 �1997

�FOCUS: Since 1995, ARRI has regularly been entrusted with thepostproduction of the Hager Moss produced spot

�EXPO 2000: Elaborate postproduction for Producer/Director Josef Kluger’sfilm for the German Pavilion

�ZDF MONDAY CINEMA: Has been an eye catcher for many years

�

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THE MANFROM U.N.C.L.E.The ARRI 35 Camera Affair

Of the many espionage shows to hit television screens duringthe 1960s, few are as well remembered and highly regardedas The Man from U.N.C.L.E. At the height of the Cold War theworld of the secret agent captured the public imagination andnone characterized the genre more famously than Ian Fleming’sdashing James Bond. Cinema screens became inundated bythe fictional exploits of secret agents and television ProducerNorman Felton was keen to seize the moment. In 1962, justprior to the release of the Bond film Dr No, he drewinspiration from Ian Fleming’s travelogue book Thrilling Citiesto create the character of a sophisticated crime fighter whoseassignments would take him all over the globe. At a lunchmeeting in New York Felton presented his concept to Fleming,who suggested a name for the protagonist: Napoleon Solo.Though he would subsequently collaborate with Felton ondeveloping the character, Fleming’s involvement was curtailedafter a threat of legal action from producers Albert Broccoliand Harry Saltzman, who felt his connection to the Soloproject might prove detrimental to the success of their Bondfilms. Thereafter Felton’s collaborator on the development ofwhat would become The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was Sam Rolfe,best known for co-creating and producing the classic westernseries Have Gun Will Travel.

Under Rolfe’s guidance the show movedaway from Felton and Fleming’s originalvision of Solo as a lone, globe-trottingcrime fighter. Instead Solo would workfor an international organization knownas U.N.C.L.E. (United NetworkCommand for Law and Enforcement),which would combat the minions of thenefarious T.H.R.U.S.H. crime syndicatearound the world. Interestingly the serieswould feature no overt mention of thecold war or communism; indeed Solo’ssidekick, Illya Kuryakin, would beRussian – a controversial idea only ayear on from the Cuban Missile Crisis.

After considering several actors includingRobert Culp and Harry Guardino,Robert Vaughn, the star of Felton’s seriesThe Lieutenant, was cast as the suaveNapoleon Solo. Vaughn was anacclaimed stage actor whoseperformance alongside Paul Newman inThe Young Philadelphians had earnedhim an Academy Award nomination andled to a role in The Magnificent Seven.Illya Kuryakin would be played byScottish actor David McCallum, whosepopularity with female fans soon assuredhim a co-starring role. In direct referenceto another of Felton’s early influences,Hitchcock’s North by Northwest, Leo G.Carroll was cast as Alexander Waverly,head of U.N.C.L.E.

Felton recruited another veteran ofThe Lieutenant to serve as DoP, FredKoenekamp ASC, who recalls: “Norman

asked if I would come over and do theshow and of course I was delightedbecause I’d only been a Director ofPhotography for a year at that time. Iwas very excited about it.” Koenekampsought out the highly respected CameraOperator Til Gabbani: “I contacted himas I wanted somebody that could dohand-held work, particularly because onan action-type show like that you canuse it as a second camera. Til couldhandhold an ARRIFLEX just beautifully.”

Gabbani had been instrumental inbringing the immense versatility andfinancial benefits of the lightweight ARRI35 to the attention of Hollywood studios.After purchasing one whilst working onlocation in Munich, he presented thehead of 20th Century Fox with a seriesof tests which left no doubt that the imagequality of the ARRI was no different tothat of the Mitchell they were using.Given that the studio was spending somesixteen thousand dollars an hour shootingthe feature Adventures in Paradise andthat the ARRI could save an hour a day,they were duly convinced and bought thecamera. David McCallum later recalled:“The crew was like family and the bigdaddy was Fred Koenekamp. Also TilGabbani, with his cigar in his mouth andhis camera strapped to his hand with aband. Til used to teach me how to workone; I did a hand-held shot one day anddropped the camera down before Iclicked it off. He gave me such a row; hesaid ‘when they look at the dailies, they

shouldn’t know if the shot has been doneon a crane, on a dolly, or hand-held.’Til could even walk with the hand-heldcamera rock-steady.”

Use of the ARRI 35 became an intrinsicelement of the action-packed show,allowing the crew to swiftly achieveexciting, kinetic shots: “We particularlyused it whenever we had any kind of afight scene because you could get inthere and move around with it, and notworry about a dolly and all the specialequipment,” says Koenekamp, who stillremembers the grueling schedule: “Fromthe very beginning they had a producerat MGM studios who said to me ‘now it’sup to you to make sure this is done onschedule’ and that was a big challenge,because in those days we shot an hour-long show in six days and had as manyas 20 to 30 sets per episode.”

The principal camera was a MitchellBNC which, thanks to the MGMmachine shop, was fitted with the samemount as the ARRI, meaning lenses wereinterchangeable. “We had a reputationon the MGM lot for the way we wereshooting the show,” says Koenekamp,“particularly for the use of the hand-heldcamera. It got to a point where we wereusing two cameras most of the time,which was kind of unheard of in thosedays, especially on a tight-budget show.But with Til using the hand-held ARRI andanother operator on the Mitchell, wewere getting two shots for one.”�

MOMENTSIN TIME

� TOGETHER ON SET DoP Fred KoenekampASC and Operator Til Gabbani (left to right)

� SIDE BY SIDE, an ARRIFLEX and Mitchell being used on set simultaneously

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The owners of Panalight Italy had considered setting up a rental facilityin Romania ever since supplying equipment for Cold Mountain, which shotthere in 2003. Since that time, the country has become increasingly popularwith international filmmakers, prompting Panalight to build contacts withlocal technicians and pave the way for the opening of a new outlet.

December 2005 brought the firstofficial opening and by February2006 Panalight Romania was fully

up and running. Diana Apostol, General Manager,explains: “From the beginning the company’sinventory was comprehensive enough to supplyboth movies and commercials with cameras, lenses,accessories, lights, grips and generators, as wellas any consumables that technicians may needduring productions.”

Another important selling point of the fledglingPanalight Romania, in terms of raising interest fromproduction companies, is the fact that it houses aTechnocrane 30. The versatile crane arrived at thecompany in June 2006 as a result of collaborationwith Orion Telescopic.

After its first year of trading, Panalight Romania’sdedicated and enthusiastic team of technicians andadministrators has already elevated the company toa strong position. The various markets that it set itssights on have been very effectively targeted andPanalight is now among the most successfulindependent rental houses in the country. The teamis determined to consolidate this position over thecoming year and strengthen the company’s marketshare still further.

A crucial step toward developing a truly regionalbase in Bucharest, capable of servicing productionsboth in Romania and abroad, was the partnershipformed in June 2007 between Panalight andARRI Rental Germany. A promising relationship haddeveloped throughout 2006 and this agreement hasofficially sealed the partnership. The first productionto benefit from the collaboration was AdamResurrected, a European project that was shot inBucharest this year with lights and grip equipmentsupplied by Panalight, and cameras supplied byARRI Rental.

Clearly indicating their confidence in the Romanianoperation, Panalight Italy has invested around onemillion Euros in creating a new building inBucharest that is scheduled for completion by theend of 2007. This purpose-built facility will bothhouse the company and provide a meeting placewhere DoPs, technicians and other production teammembers can interact. The state-of-the-art buildingwill also contain all the technical resources andspace necessary for top-level productions.

Substantial investments have additionally beenmade in the equipment and tools that technicianswill use to test and maintain the company’sinventory. These are of the highest precisionpossible, allowing rigorous evaluation of everycomponent of a shooting kit, including electroniclens testing, all of which are necessary to ensure aproperly serviced and fully functional rental fleet.

With the combined resources of the Panalightnetwork and those made available by thepartnership with ARRI, Panalight Romania is now ina position to supply and support productions withwhatever equipment they may need, whether it be a16mm, 35mm, digital or high speed shoot. Thecompany is committed to maintaining an inventoryof the latest motion picture technologies and isproviding development opportunities for techniciansthrough collaborations with local film schools. �

PanalightARRI Rental Partner in Romania

The mobility of the ARRI also allowed thecrew to avoid costly process shots fordriving sequences, as Koenekamprecalls: “They were still using processphotography to get shots in the car andthings like that, which is slow andexpensive. Til and I got together one dayand we were chit-chatting about thehand-held camera when he said maybewe could figure out a way to be on thecar and shoot it live. One of the firstthings we did – I can remember the shot– was Til and I lying on a piece of foamrubber on the hood of a convertible car;we put the rubber on there so wewouldn’t slide off. I had a hand-heldlight which ran off a battery in the trunkof the car and Til had the ARRI. Insteadof process photography we were outrunning around the streets shooting forreal. Of course as the show went on thegrips did a wonderful job of makingbetter mounts, so that we could mountthe camera on the hood and not havesomebody lying on the car. It was agiant step forward and we went on forthe next four years doing all our worklive like that.”

Koenekamp also arrived at a novelsolution to ease the pressure duringautumn when the number of hoursavailable for shooting exteriors became

limited. Though few had everexperimented with the technique before,he would shoot later into the evening andget the lab to force process the negative.Doing so allowed him not only tolengthen the shooting day, but also to usefewer lights. The slightly increaseddevelopment costs were more than offsetby electricity savings alone: “We gaineda full stop on the lens,” he explains, “andthat meant you were cutting your lightdown in half, so it worked out very well.”

Fortunately, given the hectic pace ofproduction, traveling to locations waslargely unnecessary, due to the resourcesat the studio. “In those days MGMprobably had the greatest facilities inHollywood,” enthuses Koenekamp.“Besides the main lot they had twobacklots: on Lot 3 there was a jungle,a western street, a train station and asmall lake. Then on Lot 2 there was aNew York street, a French street and amansion with a swimming pool that youcould use. Over the years I’ve actuallyhad people ask me ‘where did you shootso-and-so, what city did you have to goto?’ And I say we didn’t go anyplace, itwas all shot right there on the backlots.”

By the close of the first seasonU.N.C.L.E. had become a worldwide

craze and its renewal was assured.With an increased budget for the secondseason, the producers elected to startshooting in colour. “It was a wonderfultransition,” says Koenekamp. “I canremember Norman Felton coming downto the set and saying ‘well I’ve got goodnews for you: we’re not only gettingpicked up for next season, but we’regoing on in colour.’ I was just thrilled,because I badly wanted to shoot colour.”

A total of 105 episodes of The Manfrom U.N.C.L.E. were shot over fourseasons between 1964 and 1967. FredKoenekamp, who received two EmmyAward nominations for his work on theshow, remained until midway throughthe final season, when MGM offeredhim the opportunity to shoot an ElvisPresley feature. He was replaced for thelast few episodes by Ray Flin and RobertHauser. Til Gabbani stayed on until theend, becoming so expert with the ARRI35 that he took to training otheroperators in how best to use it. Withoutthe tireless efforts of the crew and theingenuity of those who photographedU.N.C.L.E., such an ambitious showwould have been logistically impossible.That it remains popular to this day is atestament to the quality of their work. �

Dylan Michael

� THE ‘POOR MAN’S PROCESS’, Koenekampand his operator would lie on the hood of a carwith a hand-held ARRIFLEX, using just a piece offoam rubber to keep them from sliding off

� A PRESENTATIONof the Technocrane

� From left to right:Diana ApostolGeneral ManagerAna Maria NagyRental ManagerOana GheorgheAssistant GeneralManagerIon Ticu (Nini)Generator OperatorDumitru Marian(Gabi)Light & GripTechnicianOana ApostolIT TechnicianAndrei ZikeliCamera Technician

�

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News from around the world

All in One

A total of 10 employees and one trainee make upARRI Australia’s full-time staff, with differentdepartments working together to pool knowledgeand maximise flexibility. The service department,which supports the in-house rental fleet and servicescustomers’ equipment, is made up of threetechnicians. Camera Floor Manager Aaron Georgeis highly experienced in the camera rental business,Rey Adia has serviced lighting and camera kit incountries all over the world, while Allyn Laing bringshis film school education and experiences as acinematographer to bear for the benefit of clients.

In Australia, the vast distances between populatedareas mean high transport costs and shootinglocations that are often many miles from any form ofinfrastructure; dispatch and logistics are thereforecomplex and vital tasks for the rental office.

ARRI Australia provides seven different professional services from one facility to asupply area populated by fewer than 30 million people, but who are spread overliterally an entire continent and beyond. Based in Sydney, the company representsARRI throughout the whole of Australia, as well as New Zealand.

General Manager Stefan Sedlmeier, who comes from abackground of supplying film scanning technology, seeshis task as maintaining a powerful and far-reaching facilitywith a small but multi-skilled team of employees. Crucially,the company is able to support the digital intermediateproducts it sells with top-level servicing back-up,coordinated by Tom Altenried, who was formerly DISService Manager at ARRI Munich.

One of the first ARRIMAX 18K lamps to be sold anywherein the world went to Australia in 2006. Lighting SalesManager Richard Curtis spent years working as a gaffer inAustralia and has a wealth of knowledge not only aboutthe different lighting units available but also how they canbe used on set.

Client Contact Rich Lock utilises his project managementbackground to combine such tasks with supporting clientsthrough shoots and running the office, while also putting hisdegree in marketing to use by designing marketingcommunications strategies.

Geraldine Quinn joined the ARRI Australia team at thebeginning of 2007. She has experience as a productionmanager and knows both the industry and her client basevery well. As Client Relationship Manager she developsand maintains contacts not only in production but also withproduction service providers who might be of benefit tointernational features shooting in Australia.

Christian Hilgart, who set up ARRI Rental Cologne in 2000,brings a comprehensive knowledge of motion picturetechnology to his role as Rental Manager. AccountantSeamus Maher efficiently manages the control of the differentdepartments and facilitates ARRI Australia’s responsibilitiesas a company in its own right rather than just an agencywith his knowledge of Australian and New Zealandgovernment regulations.

In order to best service productions that base themselves inother key centres of the customer area such as Queensland,Victoria, New South Wales, Wellington and Auckland,ARRI Australia has established a network of rental partnersand so can offer local support to its clients, wherever theydecide to shoot.

� (from front clockwise) Stefan Sedlmeier, General Manager; Geraldine Quinn,Client Relationship Manager; Rey Adia, Senior Service Engineer;Richard Curtis, Sales Manager Lighting; Allyn Laing, Preparation Technician;Aaron George, Camera Floor Manager; Tom Altenried, Service EngineerDigital Intermediate Systems; Seamus Maher, Accountant; Rich Lock, ClientContact; Jasmine Lord, AFTRS Intern; Christian Hilgart, Rental Manager

� AROUND 8,000 visitors attended SMPTE 2007 in Sydney

� GENERAL MANAGER STEFAN SEDLMEIER, demonstrates theARRIFLEX 435 Xtreme at ARRI Australia’s booth

� ARRI AUSTRALIA’S facility at Macquarie Park,Sydney

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?Did youKnow

The Lord of the Rings 2001More than 1800 Hobbit feet were produced. Each pair wouldtake over an hour to apply and could only be used once asthere was no way of removing the feet at the end of the daywithout damaging them. They were all shredded after use inorder to prevent a black market in stolen Hobbit feet.

It is common practice to have two units shooting at any onetime, but during filming of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy therewere occasions when there were up to nine units operating atany given time. This meant there would often be between threeto five hours of dailies to review.

The Good, the Bad andthe Ugly 1966Like the two preceding films in the Dollars Trilogy, The Good,the Bad and the Ugly was shot using Techniscope, a 2 perforationwidescreen format that offered a cheaper alternative to theconsiderable cost of anamorphic production of the time.

Some actors spoke in English during filming while the rest spokein their native language, mostly Italian and Spanish, which waslater dubbed into English.

Easy Rider 1969Some of the weird lighting effects inthe LSD scene supposedly came aboutafter a can of film was accidentallyopened before it was developed.

Flags of Our Fathers 2006The Battle of Iwo Jima was recreated on location in Iceland,which has black sand beaches identical to those found on thevolcanic island of Iwo Jima. The fierce combat scenes werecaptured with ARRIFLEX 235s, chosen to allow the crew toget in close with the actors during the action to create adocumentary-like feel. All the cameras had to be encased inHydroFlex bags during filming due to the large amount ofexplosions which caused the black sand to fly everywhere.

Full Metal Jacket 1987Shot at various locations in the UK, the filmsmost impressive set was an abandoned1930s gasworks in Beckton. Scheduled fordemolition, British Gas allowed the site tobe transformed into the bombed-out city ofHue. Charges were laid by a demolitionteam and then one Sunday British Gasexecutives brought their families down tosee the place blown up. The ruins were thendressed to complete the effect, includingpalm trees brought in from Spain and onehundred thousand plastic tropical plantsfrom Hong Kong.

1 What film first inspired you to work in this industry?Pete and the Dragon, is an early film memory.I rememberqueing up for ages, usually with an older sister on a Saturdayafternoon waiting to get into see films at a local Odeon.

2 What’s your cure for the “morning after the wrapparty” feeling?Being left alone, this could take some time. Or not going.

3 Name three things that make you smile?Ava Lee Struthers – my daughter.Getting home.Nice Food.

4 What was the first car you ever owned?Ford Escort 1.3L. Bright Orange. £500. One lady owner.

5 What’s the one thing you can’t live without?Food.

6 If your life was a film, what would it be and why?I’m not quite sure… but what a strange film that would be! Ihope it would be full of wonderful emotions.

7 What’s your most embarrassing moment?It could develop into becoming this, when it’s been printed!

8 Who inspires you?To do anything – my dearest and nearest.

9 Name three people (living or dead)you’d most like to dine with?My Partner.The Person who photographed the Fake FirstMan on the Moon picture’s.Don McCullen.

10 What was the last film you saw?The Goonies.

Take

10Iain StruthersFirst Assistant Camera

Iain is currently getting wet on Gurinder Chadha’s latestfeature film Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging withDoP Dick Pope BSC. Based on the teenage novel by LouiseRennison. Angus is a cat by the way.

His other most recent credits include Wild Child with DoPChris Seager BSC, with DoP Gavin Finney BSC, and beforethat with Alan Stewart Second Unit DoP on Inkheart FredClaus and The Golden Age.

NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

News from around the world

BLIXT was founded in 1995 by swedish DoP BjörnBlixt, starting out with only two Super 16 camerasand a few accessories. Over the years it has grownsubstantially and is now one of the largest camerarental companies in that part of the world, servicingfeature films, commercials and promos in Denmark,Norway, Sweden and beyond.

The company’s inventory has expanded to includestate-of-the-art cameras such as the ARRICAM Liteand Studio, ARRIFLEX 535B, 435 Xtreme, 235, 416and SR 3 Advanced, accompanied by Master Prime,Ultra Prime, Cooke S4 and Angenieux Optimo lenses.

One of the more unusual services that BLIXT providesto clientele is their library, which has a selection ofmore than two hundred books on camera techniques,lighting techniques, gripping, directing, storyboardingand many more topics. Titles range from VittorioStoraro´s highly artistic three-volume Writing with Light,to small books on tricks of the trade. BLIXT alsosubscribe to Scandinavian, as well as international,film magazines and hold every issue of AmericanCinematographer from the last 25 years. Customersfind great joy in browsing through the company’swide selection of film literature for inspiration or tofind answers to technical questions.

In the summer of 2000, A Song For Martin, directedby two-time Golden Palm winner Bille August andshot by Swedish DoP Jörgen Persson, became the firstScandinavian movie filmed in 3 perforation Super35. BLIXT provided the 535B camera. Since this film,the 3 perforation process, with its reduced stock anddevelopment costs, has become the format of choicefor commercials and feature films made in the region.This shift has been made possible by the influx oftechnologically advanced postproduction equipmentsuch as the ARRISCANNER and ARRILASER, facilitatinga wealth of new digital intermediate workflows.

In March 2007 BLIXT Camera Rental in Copenhagen became the ARRI RentalPartner for Scandinavia. With a total population of 19 million, Scandinaviaproduces 85 feature films a year, which, per capita, makes it one of the mostproductive filmmaking regions in the world.

BLIXT Extends Reach of ARRI’s Rental Partner Network

� CEO BJÖRN BLIXT

� RENTAL TECHNICIAN Reza Farsangi, Booking ManagerMartin Samsoe and Chief Technician Dan Friis (left to right)

�CHIEF TECHNICIAN Dan Friis checking an ARRIFLEX 235

���

6564

VISIONARRI

UPDATEPRODUCT

ARRICAM Lite Facts

- Small & lightweight Super 35 syncsound camera

- Easy to operateergonomic designuser-friendly controls

- Brilliant viewfinder

- High quality video assist

- Camera speed: 1-48fps

- Electronic shutter: 0-180°

- 4, 3 or 2 perforation movement

- Modular conceptfour viewfinderstwo 100% video-only topstwo video assist unitsfour magazine types

- Extensive range of accessorieswired & wireless remote control of camera& lensexternal synchronizationramping (speed, depth of field, timing shift)

- Built-in Lens Data System

Higher Sensitivity SettingsA new software package has increased the sensitivity of theARRIFLEX D-20 to provide a wider range of settings for use inlower light situations. It is now possible to set the camera tothe approximate equivalent of 500 ISO (ASA), or even higherfor certain applications.

Sony Fibre Interface SFI-1 FacilitatesHigh-Speed ShootingThe Sony Fibre Interface SFI-1 mounts directly on the cameraand is connected by a single fibre cable, available in lengthsup to 500m, to a fibre-equipped Sony SRW-1 HDCAM SRrecorder. This configuration allows high-speed shooting at upto 60fps, including in-camera speed ramps when used inconjunction with an ARRI Remote Control Unit RCU-1.

Lightweight Matte Box LMB-15The ARRI LMB-15 is the newest addition to the ARRI clip-on matte box line, supersedingthe LMB-5. Designed around the horizontal use of standard 4” x 5.65” filters the LMB-15also comes with a new clamping back, allowing use of the clamp-on adapter rings fromthe MB-20 system. This clamping back is also compatible with the LMB-5.

ARRICAM Lite Gains SpeedFollowing requests from cinematographers for theARRICAM Lite to run faster, the motor, movement andmagazine have been analyzed closely. By optimizing allthe operational parameters, and after months ofrigorous testing, it has been possible to increase themaximum forward speed to 48fps.

All ARRICAM Lite cameras available through the ARRI Rental Grouphave been upgraded and now come with the 48fps speed increase.

ARRI Extends Range of CameraCrew AccessoriesARRI’s increasingly popular range offabric accessories for camera crew,first introduced in November 2006,has recently been extended to include16 bespoke bags and pouches. Thedesign process involved contributionsfrom camera technicians to ensure thatthe accessories specifically cater totheir practical and technicalrequirements. The range includes a unitbag, loaders pouch, filter pouches andvarious other accessory pouches, all ofwhich are highly water resistant,uniformly hard-wearing and offer aquality equivalent to that of leadingmanufacturers at highly competitiveprices. The ARRI branded bags andpouches, many of which affix to apurpose-designed utility belt, are nowavailable worldwide through the ARRIglobal network.

Lightweight Matte BoxLMB-15 Facts

- Compatibility with LMB-5 filter trays,adapter backs and light shields

- Extended coverage for wide-anglefilm and digital lenses

- Removable sunshade

- Switchable filter guide sets for both2-stage and 3-stage operation

- Light shields can be attached bothabove and below for additionalflare protection

ARRIFLEX D-20 Gains Sensitivityand High-Speed Interface

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PRODUCTION UPDATE

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ARRI CSCTitle Production Company DoP Gaffer Equipment Serviced byA Date With Murder Mineral Point Prods. Mark Melville 2 x ARRIFLEX D-20 ARRI CSC FLAre You Smarter Mark Burnett Productions Various Oscar Dominguez Automated Lighting Illumination DynamicsThan a Fifth Grader?Burn After Reading Gramecy Prods. LLC Emmanuel Lubezki ASC Bill O’Leary 2 x ARRICAM Lite ARRI CSC NY

Lighting & GripCanterbury’s Law Topanga Prods. Tom Houghton 3 x ARRIFLEX 416 ARRI CSC NYKid Nation Mountain Air Films Daryl Studebaker Oscar Dominguez Lighting Illumination DynamicsNew Amsterdam New Amsterdam Prods. Michael Slovis 2 x ARRIFLEX 416 ARRI CSC NYRighteous Kill Righteous Prods. LLC Denis Lenoir ASC Elan Yaari ARRICAM Studio & Lite ARRI CSC NY

Lighting & GripShe Lived Huntington Prep LLC Sharone Meir Iggy Scarpitti Lighting Illumination DynamicsSix Wives of Six Wives LLC Nancy Schreiber ASC ARRICAM Studio & Lite ARRI CSC NYHenry Laffey Lighting & GripThe Sophomore Sophomore Dist. LLC M. David Mullen ASC Kevin Janicelli ARRICAM Studio & Lite ARRI CSC NYWelcome to Pelican State Prods. David Dunlap 2 x ARRIFLEX D-20 ARRI CSC NYAcademiaWhat Happens 20th Century Fox Matthew Leonetti ASC Andrew Day ARRICAM Studio & Lite ARRI CSC NYIn Vegas Lighting & Grip

ARRI RENTALTitle Production Company Director DoP EquipmentAnonyma Constantin Film Produktion Max Färberböck Benedict Neuenfels ARRICAM Studio & Lite, ARRIFLEX 435, 235,

15-40mm, 17-80mm & 24-290mm AngenieuxOptimo, 3 perforation, Lighting, Grip

Body of Lies Warner Bros. Pictures Ridley Scott Alexander Witt ARRICAM Studio & Lite, ARRIFLEX 435, 235,Ultra Primes, 15-40mm, 17-80mm &24-290mm Angenieux Optimo

Captain Abu Raed Gigapix Studios Armin Matalqa Reinhart Peschke ARRIFLEX D-20Der Baader Constantin Film Produktion Uli Edel Rainer Klausmann ARRICAM Studio & Lite, Ultra Primes,Meinhof Komplex 3 perforation, Lighting, GripDie wilden Kerle 5 SamFilm Joachim Masannek Benjamin Dernbecher ARRICAM Studio & Lite, ARRIFLEX 435,- Der Schattensucher 24-290mm Angenieux Optimo, 3 perforationHexe Lilli blue eyes Fiction / Trixter Stefan Ruzowitzky Peter von Haller ARRICAM Studio & Lite, ARRIFLEX 235, Ultra

Primes,17-80mm & 24-290mm AngenieuxOptimo, 3 perforation, Lighting, Grip

Inhabited Island Art Pictures & Fedor Bondarchuk Maxim Osadchiy ARRICAM Studio & Lite, ARRIFLEX 435, 235,Non-Stop Productions Ultra Primes, 15-40mm, 17-80mm &

24-290mm Angenieux OptimoMord mit Aussicht Pro GmbH Arne Feldhusen Johannes Imdahl ARRIFLEX 16SR 3, Lighting, GripRubicon United Artists / Sony Bryan Singer Newton Thomas Sigel ARRICAM Studio & Lite, ARRIFLEX 435, 235,

Cooke S4,17-80mm & 24-290mmAngenieux Optimo, Grip

Speed Racer Warner Bros. Pictures Andy Wachowski David Tattersall Lighting, GripLarry Wachowski

The Chronicles of Narnia: Walden Media Andrew Adamson Karl Walter Lindenlaub ARRICAM Studio & Lite, ARRIFLEX 435, 235,Prince Caspian Master Primes, Master Zoom, Lighting, GripThe International Babelsberg / Sony-Columbia Tom Tykwer Frank Griebe ARRICAM Studio & Lite, ARRIFLEX 435, 235,

765, Master Primes, Master Zoom, 15-40 &24-290mm Angenieux Optimo, LWZ-115,5-45mm, 3 perforation, Lighting, Grip

Title Production Company Director DoP EquipmentMcLeod’s Daughters Millennium Television Various John Stokes, 3 x ARRIFLEX SR 3, Zeiss Highspeed- Series 8 Kim Batterham Lenses, Zeiss ZoomsEast of Everything Twenty Twenty Pty Stuart MacDonald Brendan Lavelle 2 x ARRIFLEX SR 3, Zeiss Highspeed- Series 1 Matthew Saville Lenses, Canon ZoomsVirgin Blue Good Oil Films Hamish Rothwell Jac Fitzgerald ARRIFLEX 435, LDS Ultra PrimesThe Pacific First Division Pty Tim Van Patten Remi Adefarasin 2 x ARRIFLEX 235, 3 x ARRICAM Lite, LDS

Carl Franklin Ultra Primes, Optimo SetWestfield Brilliant Films Lee Rogers Tristan Milani SR 3, 416, Zeiss Highspeed LensesVisa BoPo Brilliant Films Simon Bookallil Tristan Milani ARRIFLEX 416, Zeiss Highspeed LensesHutchinson 3 Plaza Films Nicholas Reynolds Tristan Milani ARRIFLEX 416, Zeiss Highspeed LensesShot Open AFTRS Scott Pickett Greg de Marigny ARRICAM Studio, Cooke S4’sLandcruiser Good Oil Films Matt Murphy Nigel Bluck ARRIFLEX 235, ARRICAM Studio, AnamorphicFoxtel Good Oil Films Hamish Rothwell Jac Fitzgerald ARRICAM Studio, AnamorphicThe Ball Panckhurst Productions Alex Holmes Geoffrey Simpson ARRIFLEX 416, SR 3, Zeiss Highspeed

Lenses, Canon Zoom, Angenieux

ARRI AUSTRALIA

ARRI MEDIATitle Production Company Director DoP EquipmentThe Young Victoria Young Victoria Prods Jean Marc Vallee Hagen Bogdanski ARRICAM Studio & LiteBaggy Trousers Bwark Productions Rob Kitzmann Sony 750P HD & ZoomsSilent Witness XII BBC Television Various Kevin Rowley ARRIFLEX D-20 & Zeiss PrimesART In Las Vegas ART In LV Mary McGuckian Mark Wolf ARRIFLEX D-20 & Ultra PrimesEden Samson Films Declan Rechs Owen McPolin ARRICAM Lite, ARRIFLEX 535Nutcracker HCC Media Andrei Konchalovsky Mike Southon BSC ARRICAM Lite, ARRIFLEX 235, 435, 416RocknRolla Toff Guy Films Guy Ritchie David Higgs ARRIFLEX D-20, Ultras & Master PrimesTelstar Aspiration Films Nick Moran Peter Wignall ARRICAM Lite & Cooke S4 PrimesThe Colour of Magic The Mob Film Company Vadim Jean Gavin Finney BSC ARRIFLEX D-20 & Cooke S4 PrimesWild Child Lacrosse Films Nick Moore Chris Seager BSC ARRICAM Studio & Lite, ARRIFLEX 235

ARRI LIGHTING RENTALTitle Production Company Director DoP Gaffer Rigging Gaffer Best BoyThe Young VictoriaYoung Victoria Productions Jean Marc Vallee Hagen Bogdanski Jimmy Wilson Ian Franklin Mark FunnellThe Duchess The Duchess Movie Saul Dibb Gyula Pados John Colley Vince Madden Andy ColeRocknRolla Toff Guy (RNR) Films Guy Ritchie David Higgs Dan Fontaine John Walker Andy BellUntitled 06 Untitled 06 Mike Leigh Dick Pope BSC Matthew Moffatt Kevin

FitzpatrickPrimeval 2 Impossible Pictures Jamie Paine Adam Suchitzky Stewart King Steve Anthony

Andrew Gunn Graham FrakeNick Murphy Chris Hartley

The Colour The Mob Film Company Vadim Jean Gavin Finny BSC Terry Hunt Steve Cortie Terry Robbof MagicAshes To Ashes Ashes Johnny Campbell Julian Court Dan Fontaine, Mike Parsons,

Billie Eltringham Nick Laws John Walker Andy BellSimon Archer

Echo Beach Echo Beach (Echo Beach) Jennifer Perrott John Daly BSC Tom Gates Toby FlesherBeryl Richards

Moving Moving Wallpaper (MW) Andrew Gillman Ian Leggitt Jo Allen CarolinaWallpaper SchmidtholsteinMI High MI High (MI High) Simon Hook Stephan Pehrsson Haydn Boniface Gavin OgdenMiss Austen BBC Jeremy Lovering David Katznelson Otto Stenov Wayne MansellRegretsHolby Blue 2 Red Planet (Holby) Sarah O’Gorman Ian Leggitt Jo Allen Carolina

Toby Haynes SchmidtholsteinThe Fixer Fixer Alrick Riley Vojek Sheper Mark Clayton Benny Harper

John StricklandSilent Witness XII BBC Diarmuid Lawrence Kevin Rowley Micky Brown John Attwood/

Dave Owen

ARRI FILM & TV - POST PRODUCTION SERVICES - COMMERCIALSClient Title Production Company Agency Director DoPCortal Consors Stier Serviceplan Zweite WAMazda Motors Europe Mazda2 Competition Hager Moss Commercial JWT Düsseldorf Paula Walker Rolf Kestermann

McDonald´s Brand 2007 Hager Moss Commercial Heye & Partner Martin Haerlin Sven LützenkirchenUnterhaltung mit Heidi

McDonald´s Brand 2007 Mundvoll, Hager Moss Commercial Heye & Partner Martin Haerlin Sven LützenkirchenPommes, Freundinnen,Langeweile, Münze

PLAYMOBIL Herbst 2007 e+p commercial Reiner Holzemer Peter AichholzerWilliams Formula 1 Branding R.TV Film & Fernsehen Tobias Heppermann Thomas StokowskiWagner Pizza Durchreiche Laszlo Kadar Heye & Partner Laszlo Kadar Laszlo KadarFerrero Kinder HP AlbrechtING DiBa Markenfilm Helliventures Wüschner Rower Baier Joachim Hellinger Dieter DeventerCaotina Lippenbekenntnis GAP Advico Young & Ivo Mostertman Jean Paul Seresin

Rubicam ZürichWIN WIN winwin.de Rapid Eye Movement Basis Media GmbH Lili ClemensCalgonit Tab-Regen e+p commercial Euro RSCG Gerhard Hirsch Gerhard HirschZweifel Chips Cractiv GAP Advico Young & Rubicam Nic & Sune Richard MottSaturn LED Berlin redblue MarketingMüller Milch Verkostung Made in Munich Springer & Jacoby Plot: Vivian Naefe Plot: Michael

- Food: David Hornung - Food:Wynn-Jones David Wynn-Jones

Published by the ARRI Rental Group Marketing Department. 3 Highbridge, Oxford Road, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8 1LX United KingdomThe opinions expressed by individuals quoted in articles in VisionARRI do not necessarily represent those of the ARRI Rental Group or the Editors. Due to our constant endeavour to improvequality and design, modifications may be made to products from time to time. Details of availability and specifications given in this publication are subject to change without notice.

ARRI FILM & TV - POST PRODUCTION SERVICES - FEATURESTitle Production Company Director DoP ServicesAnonyma Constantin Film Produktion Max Färberböck Benedict Neuenfels Lab, DI, TV-MasteringClara Integral Film Helma Sanders-Brahms Jürgen Jürges Lab, Sound, TV-MasteringDer Baader Meinhof Komplex Constantin Film Produktion Uli Edel Rainer Klausmann Lab, DI, VFX, TV-MasteringAlle Anderen Komplizen Film Maren Ade Bernhard Keller Lab, TV-MasteringDie Frauen des Anarchisten P’ARTISAN Filmproduktion Marie Noëlle, Peter Sehr Jean Francois Robin Lab, DI, Sound, TV-MasteringDie Welle Rat Pack Filmproduktion Dennis Gansel Torsten Breuer Lab, DI, VFX, Sound, TV-MasteringDie wilden Kerle 5 SamFilm Joachim Masannek Benjamin Dernbecher Lab, DI, Sound, TV-Mastering– Der SchattensucherEffi Briest Constantin Film Produktion Hermine Huntgeburth Martin Langer Lab, DI, Sound, TV-MasteringFeuerherz TV60Film Luigi Falorni Judith Kaufmann Lab, DI, Sound, TV-MasteringFreche Mädchen collina filmproduktion Ute Wieland Peter Przybylski Lab, DI, VFX, Sound, TV-MasteringHexe Lilli blue eyes Fiction / Trixter Stefan Ruzowitzky Peter von Haller Lab, DI, Sound, TV-MasteringJohn Rabe Hofmann & Voges Florian Gallenberger Jürgen Jürges Lab, DI, Sound, TV-MasteringPalermo Shooting Wenders Images Wim Wenders Franz Lustig Lab, TV-MasteringRubicon Babelsberg / United Artists Bryan Singer Newton Thomas Sigel LabThe International Babelsberg / Sony-Columbia Tom Tykwer Frank Griebe Lab, DI, TV-MasteringThe Reader Babelsberg / The Weinstein Stephen Daldry Roger Deakins Lab

Company