AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER ARTICLE DAVID FINCHER - GONE GIRL

[andy lee]

This is the future this is the way movies are now made

 

6K Red Dragon ~ framed for-5K with 2.40 extraction from that 6k frame - resized to 4k in post for final master.

 

David Fincher is once again right at the front of the Digital Film making revolution,

His latest film Gone Girl uses this technique and a post work Flow in Adobe Premiere.

 

I urge you all to read this article as it is the way forward.

Those of you on this forum with 4k cameras can use this work flow to make 2k or 1080p movies .

 

http://www.theasc.com/ac_magazine/November2014/GoneGirl/page1.php

 

 

embrace .........this has becoming the industry 'norm'.

 

more and more films now  use digital 2.40 extraction rather than anamorphic as you can shoot on your spherical lenses which are are also faster ,

Fincher and Jeff Cronenweth shot Gone Girl on Leica Summilux and WIDE OPEN at T1.3

 

 

Im sure alot of you used to do this ....shot 1080 then resize to 720 back in that day - Finchers takes that method to its latest level.

 

 

this section is very interesting

 

Quote form ASC NOVEMBER 2014 article

 

''When Red told Fincher and Cronenweth, just as Gone Girl was ramping up in late 2013, that four Epic Dragons were available, the filmmakers jumped at the opportunity to work with the new cameras — even though many of the details of building a 6K pipeline that would allow them to process their imagery at its native resolution remained to be worked out. As Peter Mavromates, Fincher’s longtime postproduction supervisor, elaborates, “We ended up with a 5K extraction out of a 6K field [that will] be distributed in 4K and 2K. But the 4K and 2K are better when you front-load the quality, which we were able to do with the 6K sensor.â€

Furthermore, “the extra pad,†as Cronenweth describes the larger sensor, afforded the filmmakers additional real estate to better control, manipulate, reposition and stabilize the frames themselves. “Based on the experience we have had on the previous movies with Red, there was no reason not to take this opportunity with the 6K sensor,†Cronenweth elaborates. “In essence, we used the 6K camera to operate pretty much like we had on the last two pictures — to create a 5K 2.40:1 frame line out of the 6K that we captured. That gave us a lot of room outside of our frame for stabilization and any repo we found necessary. This has been Fincher’s methodology all along: to use the system best equipped to help us get the most appealing images through color science and resolution.†Plus, the cinematographer adds, “the latitude was irresistible. Because we were shooting with prototypes, I would say we were working with somewhere in the neighborhood of 16 stops. But that was 15 months ago, and I feel it’s more in the 18-to-20-stop range today.â€

[JazzBox]

Wow! :O

[andy lee]

YES ...............18-to-20-stop range............wow

[Cosimo murgolo]

very interesting, thanks for letting me know this!!!!

[Daniel Acuña]

Great article! Thanks for sharing Andy.

 

I've been reading American Cinematographer for a while, it's simply one of the best magazine for DOP and filmmakers out there! You should seriously consider subscribing to it and get the digital edition ;)

[jax_rox]

Man, the RED Dragon DOES NOT have 18-20 stops of dynamic range I can tell you - unless they gave Cronenweth a special yet-to-be-released camera.

Shooting spherical and extracting 2.40 is pretty damn common and has been for a little while now. You can tell when it's just been cropped versus actually shooting anamorphic.
Personally, I'd rather just shoot anamorphic, but there are inherent issues to overcome in doing that. It's all different looks, and people should use what they like the best.

Just because these guys are doing it does not mean anamorphic is going away, it's just another way of working.

[Inazuma]

Anyone care to explain why video cameras have more dynamic range than stills cameras?

[Nikkor]

mmmh, wide open at 1/1.2 and on a 30mm wide sensor, that's not cinematic OMG.

[andy lee]

Sergio Leone was doing Techniscope 2 perf on Spherical lenses back in the 1960s - poor mans anamorphic - this is just the modern verion of that .

Its a common process going right back to the first digital films , even the stuff shot on the Thompson Viper by Fincher like Zodiac 10 years ago was 2.40 extract ..... just Fincher is pushing it to the limits with 6K and the stabalistion wiggle room it gives him

 

 

if you read the article it says they used 17" monitors to pull focus as they shot fully wide open !! - I bet that was a nightmare for the focus pullers the Dragon sensor is 34mm ,  its wider than a regular Epic sensor so an even narrower DOF !! they had to use Leicas as the rear element only just covered the sensor , as Zeiss Master Primes did not....

 

Fincher does like to push the new stuff to the limit!

[jax_rox]

Reality is - even 16:9 is an extraction from 4-perf 35mm!

This sort of practice is far from new.

I did really like the look of Gone Girl, I think Cronenweth is a great DP.

[andy lee]

Great article! Thanks for sharing Andy.

 

I've been reading American Cinematographer for a while, it's simply one of the best magazine for DOP and filmmakers out there! You should seriously consider subscribing to it and get the digital edition ;)

I have every copy for the past 25 years since I started .along with Cinefex ...its a great magazine

[Daniel Acuña]

Yep I also find hard to believe that the red dragon has 18-20 stops of DR. Maybe it has something to do with the HDRx mode on the dragon, I don't know.

[andy lee]

Jeff Cronenweth is one of the best ......his dad was a legend.

 

 

 I liked 'Hitchcock' film Jeff did too its was more brighter and more vibrant and a different look to his work with Fincher.

[andrgl]

Thanks for the link Andy. 

 

[mtheory]

Some serious recognition for Premiere.