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Star wars episode 24/1/2023 ![]() ![]() "We knew going in that our cameras had a greater depth of field, 2 to 2 1/2 times greater than 35mm film," Meyers says. Hi-def videos extreme depth of field led the filmmakers to alter their blocking methods, as well as their approach to focusing on multiple actors in a shot. ![]() They didn't have to go by that proxy to do something as detailed as lighting or setting focus." They could actually see a scene and match the lighting on a new element with much more accuracy than watching through a videotap or on a telecine in editorial. What grew out of the technology were ideas for lining up new shots, and the ability to see on set exactly how a couple of elements might marry together. Meyers says Tattersall and his crew "started out doing things the way they knew how, but as they became more familiar with the digital cameras they gradually expanded from there. And later, there's no laborious film scanning required to get into editorial or the CG environment." "Also, you get immediate feedback on focus and exposure, so you can see exactly what you shot and know you've got it. "Even if you're aggressively shooting on hi-def, you're only reloading once a day, which ends up being a really big deal," Meyers notes. That way, it didn't look like a broadcast shoot."Īdvantages to shooting on HD included being able to review shots moments after they were captured, and the elimination of downtime for breaking out a new mag and reloading. Meyers key concern during production was to create an environment that wouldn't give Tattersall and his crew "culture shock." He offers, "I didn't want people walking onto the set and thinking, Whoa, this doesn't look like a normal shoot, so I hid all of the back end the recording, the camera control, the electronics off set. It was a great experience because I was able to work from the front of the project all the way through to the back." I worked through the entire pipeline, melding all of that into the workflow. You also need a person in the camera department to work with the camera operators, assistants and the director of photography, and then take it through editorial and visual effects to a digital intermediate and color timing. You need somebody to man the HD cameras and the support systems, including the digital recording and monitoring equipment on set. "It makes sense to have an engineer responsible for the digital cameras as part of the crew. "With all of the advantages and advances you get with digital, there's a lot more to attend to regarding all of the camera systems used in principal photography," he says. Meyers acknowledges that an all-digital shoot necessitated a significant level of technical support. That enabled some of the advantages of shooting digitally to percolate up as we went along." (For Tattersalls take on the production, see AC Sept. ![]() The interplay among the crew members just fell into place on the set. Because of that, we didn't stumble out of the gate everyone on the crew knew hed be doing what he knew how to do. We were fortunate to get camera accessories from Panavision that allowed the focus puller and camera assistants to work the way they normally would. "We wanted to put in a system that was going to run faster and more smoothly, so we set everything up exactly the same, only there were digital cameras and cabling. "Our strategy was, don't reinvent the process based on technology," Meyers says. Issues such as whether to employ members of a traditional film crew were settled quickly. In order to channel the crews creativity as effectively as possible, Lucas and Meyers agreed that it was best not to change a perfectly good system simply because the cameras were rolling tape instead of film. He was also the primary troubleshooter on the technical complexities presented by this new world. ∩9), Meyers was brought onto Episode II to ensure that film artists would make a fairly smooth transition to the digital realm. Expanding on his postproduction contributions to Star Wars-Episode I: The Phantom Menace (see AC Sept. Meyers' role on Episode II represents perhaps the first significant addition to the camera crew since the Technicolor color consultant. A key collaborator in both endeavors was Industrial Light & Magics HD engineer Fred Meyers. When George Lucas decided to shoot Star Wars-Episode II: Attack of the Clones with nascent digital technology, among the immediate concerns were how to configure the digital crew that would be headed by director of photography David Tattersall, BSC, and how to streamline a high-definition (HD) postproduction pipeline that would ultimately yield both digital and film versions of the show.
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