Panavision’s Post

#Cinematographer Phedon Papamichael ASC GSC shares his journey and take on #filmmaking. Click the link below to see the full interview! https://lnkd.in/e2Hbe7Ub

"If I had to be a Panavision lens, I'd want to be a Primo. There's a distinct quality to them--they're sharp, but not too sharp, painterly in the out of focus areas, minimal flaring, great contrast and quite user friendly. Definitely my favorites." #DOP Waleed Sokkar details his process and approach to photography. "Lens choice is probably the 1st or 2nd decision any cinematographer has to consider. Lenses make the world of a difference when it comes to the look of our photography, how it renders colors, skin & light, so I choose lenses accordingly, usually after doing various lens tests to determine which is most fitting for the story and subject matter. My general approach to principal photography is a mixture of being well prepared during scouting / previsualization and also leaving space to be intuitive in finding compositions or ideas on the day. I'm big on getting inspired by the location, where the light naturally falls and using that to inform the photography and lighting to a degree. Lighting has always been used to draw attention to things way before it was used in cinema, such as in renaissance paintings, but even further back--think back to pre-electricity when they used candles on the table during dinner to see the food they were eating. In cinema however, we use it as a way to grab attention by exposing for what the focus of the scene is and drawing attention there, or vice versa. One thing I always have with me is my light meter. I've gotten into the habit of metering light due to being an analog photographer. This is monumental for understanding lighting ratios and what different exposures look like. I might be a geek I guess, because I find the numbers and metering quite amusing. The best advice I've ever received was to 'worry less about the future and what’s gonna happen, so you don’t have to worry twice.' As a filmmaker today, you're constantly questioning yourself and your career, comparing yourself to others--whether you're doing enough, if you’ll make ends meet, or if you're even good enough altogether. In the end, all these questions don't really matter. Life is short--do what you love and be present, so you don’t wake up one day and regret how you spent your time here."

“[Co-showrunner] Jon Steinberg and I have had a great partnership with Light Iron since we launched our series The Old Man for FX in late 2019. When Disney greenlit our next series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Light Iron was our first call, and the team recommended we work with Charles Bunnag. Since Charles had done extensive work with ILM’s StageCraft technology on The Mandalorian, we knew he would be the perfect fit for our ambitions, as ILM had just built a new volume stage for our series in Vancouver.” Co-showrunner Dan Shotz details the collaboration with #LightIron senior colorist Charles Bunnag for the series #PercyJackson and the Olympians, shot by cinematographers Pierre Gill CSC and Jules O’Loughlin ACS ASC. “Charles was on our series from day one as we built the overall look for this show. While we created assets for the ILM StageCraft volume wall, Charles helped us define how the backgrounds would read on the digital screens. It was crucial to have someone with Charles’ experience guiding us. He was instrumental in creating the initial look, the dailies look, and our final look. His collaboration with Pierre Gill and Jules O’Loughlin was beautiful to watch.” Bunnag adds: “Dan’s mandate was that everything had to feel real and not like a fantasy. Even though this is a show that deals with fantastic elements and the gods of Olympus, every kid who watches it needed to feel that they were already in this world and not like it was some fantasy that they could only dream about. Once that baseline was set with Dan, we then pushed the look while still staying within the mandate of ‘real.’ The in-camera finals we received in the DI looked great, with all the interactive lighting benefits one would expect from a virtual production stage. Pierre Gill and Jules O'Loughlin shot such incredible images with such intention that it allowed me to go further than usual with my first pass just based on instinct. From there, the DI allowed to us to take the integration of the shots to another level by pushing and pulling contrast levels and adding atmosphere and lighting effects.”

CSC Nominee for Commercial #Cinematography, Kristofer Bonnell takes us #behindthescenes of the #chevrolet "Go Beyond" spot. "In the early stages of pre-production, director Goh Iromoto and I spoke about wanting to use lenses that maximized the expansive landscape of Kananaskis in Alberta, Canada. Right from the beginning, we both saw the spot being shot with anamorphic lenses and that brought us to Panavision. We knew we had a long list to choose from. After some scouting and discussions, we ultimately found that because the mountains were so close and large in scale, we would not be doing them any justice by cropping off the peaks of the mountains in every shot. Anamorphic lenses quickly became the wrong choice for the spot and our situation. After Panavison shared the news about their Ultra Panatar II lenses available for our dates, the decision was easy. With the 1.3x squeeze combined with the large sensor of the Venice 2, it gave us the anamorphic characteristics of 2x squeeze but with the height to frame in the mountain landscape. It was perfect for capturing the stunning Fortress Mountains of Kananaskis. We ended up using a combo of Sony Venice 2’s and Sony FX3’s for most of the spot. All of the drone footage was captured by our extremely talented friends at Flow Motion Aerials on Inspire 3’s and FPV drones. We sprinkled in a little GoPro footage for some trick shots and there are some quick moments of footage captured with the Ember Freefly camera and Red Gemini for the underwater footage. I also left an old Canon "5D" Mark 3 I had kicking around out overnight in the mountains for some time-lapse footage. I could talk about this job all day as it was definitely a dream job for me. We joked the whole time about calling it 'Chevy, The Movie.' It was an 'all hands on deck' job and one that could not have happened in 4 days of shooting without all the incredibly talented people involved."

Welcome back to the Grading Glossary with #LightIron, where we're lifting the shadows on the "suite slang" of the #colorgrading process, illuminating terminology that can help you make the most of your next #postproduction adventure. Today we're learning about "highlight role off" with Light Iron Los Angeles senior #colorist Ethan Schwartz: highlight roll off (verb): Reducing the gradient values of highlight and shadow detail. In a sentence: "What We Do in the Shadows is dark, colorful and comedic...I had to roll off the neon sign highlights while maintaining the saturated color..."

#Cinematographer Phedon Papamichael ASC GSC reflects on the creative dialogue between cinematography and directing. Here, Papamichael also reflects on the key lessons he’s learned from his multiple collaborations with directors Alexander Payne and James Mangold. Click the link to see the full interview! https://lnkd.in/e2Hbe7Ub

#Cinematographer Adam Stone takes us #behindthescenes of #Bikeridersfilm, captured in widescreen #Anamorphic on #KODAK #35mm film using #Panaflex Millennium XL2 and #System65 cameras with #Gseries lenses and serviced by #Panavision Woodland Hills. "The Bikeriders look is simple, organic, and a bit rough-hewn. It’s meant to pay homage to a tactile bygone era when the motorcycle subculture took root in America. Think cigarettes, musty bars, flat beer, blue oil-laden exhaust plumes, chrome, and old leather jackets. We strove to make the imagery as authentic as possible so we opted to shoot on film and the production was entirely location based. The movie is based on Danny Lyon’s photobook, The Bikeriders, so a lot of inspiration was pulled from his visuals. I was also captivated with the work of Jim Miteff. His work, though similar to Danny Lyon, was a bit more subversive and raw. (And, yes, I revisited Easyrider and The Wild One). Panavision has the best lenses and service in the business. Jeff Nichols and I shoot all our projects on film and we’ve used XL2s on every collaboration since Mud. The XL2 is a total workhorse. It’s compact and has never let production down. The G Series have been my go-to lenses for over a decade--they are the most gorgeous lenses on the planet. The combination of G Series and film is ethereal--the fall-off, bokeh, and imperfect analog feel has always been appealing to me. This project was particularly challenging because we had to shoot actors on bikes, without helmets, and in a safe, interpersonal way that’s engaging to the audience. We trialed many methodologies--eBike, pursuit car, and hard-mounted on a Slingshot--we finally had a eureka moment when rigging a trike so we could shoot handheld 3’ from the actor(s). Shooting in this configuration felt as if you, the audience, were actually on the bike--it was super visceral and engaging. Inspiration is everywhere. A beautiful sunset, an esoteric film, a song, a painting, a sublime recipe, and even a social media post can cultivate creativity and inventiveness. It’s easy to stay inspired with so many talented artists that inhabit this planet."

“I had an amazing time with lots of learnings and growth on this one, there were days on set when it felt like Kim our Director took us to church during takes." The Standard Bank Rise "Above the Noise" commercial was shot by #cinematographer Rick Joaquin (@rickjoaquim) and speaks to the importance of self-belief and the strength of individuals who carve out their own paths in life. The film portrays multiple stories and carefully selected music that perfectly complements the narrative of each of the artists it follows. Director: @kimg0307 Production: @0307_films DOP: @rickjoaquim Camera + Lenses provided by @panavisionofficial, lighting provided by @panaluxworld South Africa and shot at Gold @island_studios in Johannesburg South Africa Shot on Alexa Mini + @cookeoptics Speed Panchros + @truelensservices 58mm Petzval lens + Supertechno30 Technocrane

We can't forget it, Jake. It's #Chinatown--released on this day 50 years ago! #Cinematography by John A. Alonzo ASC, Chinatown was shot on #35mm film on #Panavision #Panaflex cameras with #Cseries lenses. 📷 BTS Photo credit: Orlando Suero