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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Alien: Covenant Not Being Shot on Red?

I don't see "Logan Lucky" from Soderbergh in the "shot on Red" section or talked about in the forum neither. Was it shot on Red or did Soderbergh switch too?
 
Yeah that's Def an alexa viewfinder. From Danny Mcbrides wrap photo

Screenshot_20161210_233405_01.jpg
 
Ha...great song choice. Looks very promising.

LV-426 ?
 
Maybe Scott wants his both worlds (Alien & Blade Runner) to have that classic Alexa look in S35's depth. Just a thought, since this seems the first project for both Scott and Wolski in Alexa .
 
Ruff said:
I worked as a VFX DP for a location unit on the film.

We shot Alexa XT with Panavision glass.

There was a Shotover Hydra unit working parallel to us. They were using Red Dragons for their plates.
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I'm interested in why they changed? They've been using Red for a while now, so it would be interesting to know the reasons for it.
 
2K should be long dead for major features. Crikey, a lot of independent productions moved to 4K years ago. FFS. Low res does not mean you care about "the story". I understand that 2K is cheaper, so I would understand if they were shooting Blackmagic. But ARRI 2K is not cheap, AFAIK. Note to producers: cinema is not TV.

If 4K doesn't matter then neither does lens choice - take your pick, because there are very cheap and very good photographic lenses out there that cost $50 outright a piece. Sure, they are very difficult to use on film productions but hey, the story matters more, right?

OTOH, it's not my money, so...
 
Karim D. Ghantous said:
2K should be long dead for major features. Crikey, a lot of independent productions moved to 4K years ago. FFS. Low res does not mean you care about "the story". I understand that 2K is cheaper, so I would understand if they were shooting Blackmagic. But ARRI 2K is not cheap, AFAIK. Note to producers: cinema is not TV.
.
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No, cinema is not TV. For TV, you don't have 1500+ VFX shots, many of which have over 120 elements, to get done in a fairly restricted time frame. And all at a quality level that holds up on huge theater screens. When simply compositing some of these shots can take hours per frame - even at 2K - well, that's when reality sets in.

It's easy to say that 4K should be the finishing format for everything if you haven't worked on large, VFX-heavy features. From your post, it sounds like you haven't done that.
 
BALAJI SUBRAMANYAM said:
Maybe Scott wants his both worlds (Alien & Blade Runner) to have that classic Alexa look in S35's depth. Just a thought, since this seems the first project for both Scott and Wolski in Alexa .
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"Alien: Covenant" has been shot with spherical lenses. Both "Alien" and "Blade Runner" were anamorphic, as most of Ridley Scott's pictures before "Gladiator" ("The Duellists", "Someone to Watch Over Me" and "Black Rain" are the exceptions).
 
Karim D. Ghantous said:
2K should be long dead for major features. Crikey, a lot of independent productions moved to 4K years ago. FFS. Low res does not mean you care about "the story". I understand that 2K is cheaper, so I would understand if they were shooting Blackmagic. But ARRI 2K is not cheap, AFAIK. Note to producers: cinema is not TV.
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These days you can find an old Alexa and let's say, a set of Zeiss Standard or Ultra Prime lenses, and get very good deals. The Alexas still work very well (built as tanks) and even at 2K 4444 offer very, very good quality for 2K DCP projection. Even if you need RAW for one scene or two, or individual shots, it's very easy to use an external recorder (Odyssey, Gemini, etc) and shoot 2.8K. It's a production friendly process with an easy workflow, really hard to beat for independent and low to medium budget shows or features, IMHO.

At least that's the reality here in Spain, where a lot of 35mm trained people enjoy Alexas and Prores a lot because it's easy and straightforward for them. And they care more about color and latitude than resolution for their work. Blackmagic cameras are still VERY FAR from the quality of the Alexas at 2K 4444.
 
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Ignacio Aguilar said:
"Alien: Covenant" has been shot with spherical lenses. Both "Alien" and "Blade Runner" were anamorphic, as most of Ridley Scott's pictures before "Gladiator" ("The Duellists", "Someone to Watch Over Me" and "Black Rain" are the exceptions).
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Yes. What I meant was for upcoming Blade Runner 2049 and Alien Covenant where both use Alexa XT with spherical lenses not Alexa 65 or Red VV. Just a thought on Scott's sudden choice on Alexa S35 over Red.
 
Ignacio Aguilar said:
"Alien: Covenant" has been shot with spherical lenses. Both "Alien" and "Blade Runner" were anamorphic, as most of Ridley Scott's pictures before "Gladiator" ("The Duellists", "Someone to Watch Over Me" and "Black Rain" are the exceptions).
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Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but would this be due to the fact that it is easier for post? I had recently worked on a Post/CG heavy commercial and the on-set Post Soup mentioned that it drives them crazy when they're given footage shot on Anamorphics due to the fact that its hard to replicate the "distortion" look created on the lenses.
 
M Most said:
It's easy to say that 4K should be the finishing format for everything if you haven't worked on large, VFX-heavy features. From your post, it sounds like you haven't done that.
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4K acquisition ought to be the default for digital productions.

I have no ambition to be a colorist, compositor or VFX artist; and I have no ambition to work on VFX-heavy films, even if I was asked. At that point you may as well make the production an animation.
 
One of the reasons they shot Red before was the size of the Epic made it easier for 3D. I guess that's less relevant now that the mini exists and more post-3d. I guess its back to DP preference. Deakins was never going to shoot 2049 on Red.
 
Darrell Ham said:
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but would this be due to the fact that it is easier for post? I had recently worked on a Post/CG heavy commercial and the on-set Post Soup mentioned that it drives them crazy when they're given footage shot on Anamorphics due to the fact that its hard to replicate the "distortion" look created on the lenses.
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It's not hard, they just need lens references. If a production is VFX heavy, making lens references is a must and any VFX supervisor would demand it if anamorphics are involved. The reason for spherical is an artistic choice. Some cinematographers like it better because it's "cleaner". For IMAX productions using 65mm for some shots it's much smoother to intercut spherical with the 65mm shots. Just look at how jarring The Dark Knight looks when it's intercutting between 65mm and anamorphic 35mm, it's like night and day. If Prometheus is shot using Alexa XT and 65mm for some shots, it's understandable that they used spherical lenses. As for Blade Runner 2049, I know that Deakins prefer having a cleaner image. I seem to remember him saying that he doesn't like the distortion of anamorphics and he find it strange to use them on digital sensors since it's not longer about fully making use of the 35mm frame as the anamorphics do on 35mm film. It's in line with why David Fincher also doesn't shoot on anamorphics, because it's distortion for distortions sake, not creating a clean good image.

Personally I have a love/hate relationship with anamorphics. I think that using them it should be about getting that distortion effect. If you want a nostalgic feel to the cinematic image it's great. However, it makes no sense really when taking into account that we use better and better cameras that push technology to give use perfect images and then we slap on anamorphics to destroy much of that. Seeing a 4K IMAX sized image shot on high end spherical lenses is mind blowing. I don't really get why creating an optical effect that distorts the image so it feels like looking through something rather than being there is a good idea? And with the real-estate of the resolution, we have a very good looking 2.35:1 image out of spherical shot movies, with all the reframing capabilities that gives you.
 
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