Backlot a Final Look at the Industry Far and Wide
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backlot A Final Look at the Industry Far and Wide Chris Evans, as Captain America, and director of photography McGarvey (far right) on the set of The Avengers with an ARRI film camera, which was used for select slow-motion shots. represented the biggest — and riskiest — transformation in the firm’s history. The digital cinema- ARRI CAMERAS SURVIVE tography market is extremely competitive. And, says ARRI man- aging director Franz Kraus, there was internal debate over whether THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION the venerable company was jump- Top cinematographers were anxious about abandoning film. Then the iconic camera maker ing the gun. “[Film cameras] was launched the Alexa, and it’s everywhere, from Hugo to the next Bond movie By Carolyn Giardina a market we owned,” he explains. “There was some concern within S Director oF photog- right lenses and film stock, to for Scarlett Johansson. She is a the company that it wasn’t right raphy Seamus McGarvey “I can make sure an actress is beautiful actress and looks won- to go that early into digital was preparing to shoot The going to look her best. I was derful in the film. I don’t think cameras.” A Avengers last year, he was, worried that the resolution that actors need to fear that every But now that the shift has taken he confesses, “genuinely wor- and crispness of digital would pore is going to be laid bare on the place, ARRI’s new digital cameras ried.” Because the Marvel pro- mitigate against that, producing big screen.” already have begun to win over duction — which Disney releases an effect that was too abrupt One of the most iconic brands many of the industry’s leading cin- May 4 — would require extensive for the audience.” on Hollywood film sets, ARRI ematographers — some of whom postproduction visual-effects To his surprise, McGarvey cameras have been around since first had to be convinced that work, shooting with a digital found that the Alexa digital cam- the Munich-based company was digital was a viable option. camera was preferable to using era, which camera manufacturer founded by August Arnold and Certainly, they had reason to film. The problem was McGarvey, ARRI launched in 2010, actually Robert Richter in 1917. (The first trust the company, whose cam- an Oscar nominee for his work on did have a “gentle” look and didn’t two letters of each of their last eras, lighting and postproduction 2007’s Atonement, never had shot a require diffusion filters to soften names formed the name ARRI.) technology have become ubiqui- sney I feature digitally. the image. “I’m very impressed And in the past few years, the tous by combining Hollywood cre- /d AL “I love the way film will render with how it renders skin tones,” 95-year-old company has over- ativity with German engineering. skin tones and reacts to light,” he says McGarvey. “I didn’t use any hauled its line of cameras, moving Dark Passage, Easy Rider, Taxi de rosenth A Z says, noting that by choosing the diffusion, and I haven’t needed from film to digital. The change Driver and Apocalypse Now are www.thr.com | The hollywood RepoRTeR | 121 backlot From left: Deakins, first assistant cameraman Andy Harris, Judi Dench ARRI’ S 95 YEARS Of CINEMA HISTORY and director The Munich-based manufacturer’s cameras have been used on Sam Mendes everything from spaghetti Westerns to the latest 3D movies on the set of Skyfall. ▼ 1917 ARRI is founded by filmmakers and inventors Robert Richter (left) and August Arnold. just a few of the classics brought image the camera produces, and to the screen with ARRI motion I find the flexibility it gives me on 1924 ▲ The first Arriflex picture film cameras. set very much an advantage.” camera, KINARRI 35, “The impact Arriflex has had on In terms of television produc- makes its debut. the movie, television and docu- tion, the Alexa has grabbed a mentary industries is immeasur- “pretty good share” of the prime- 1966 ► Over the years, some of the world’s most able,” says Michael Goi, president time episodic market, according respected cinematographers have used ARRI of the American Society of to ARRI president and CEO Glenn cameras, including Tonino Delli Colli (right), Cinematographers. “In an indus- Kennel. It has been used on House, seen here on the set of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly with director Sergio Leone. try where evolution and change Alcatraz, Homeland, Game of is a given, the craftsmanship of Thrones, The Good Wife, NCIS and 1972 ARRI introduces its first Arriflex is a constant.” NCIS: Los Angeles. Kennel esti- HMI lights at the Munich Olympics. The company’s bullish move mates that a whopping 75 percent toward digital, as exemplified of last season’s pilots were lensed 2011 ► Anonymous, directed by the ARRI Alexa, already has with the Alexa, and this year, “we by Roland Emmerich picked up an impressive list of con- don’t see any loss of share.” (right) and shot by verts. Robert Richardson used it on Basic Alexa camera pack- Anna Foerster (left), is the first feature Hugo, his first digitally lensed (and ages, without lenses, range from ctures film to use ARRI’s I 3D) feature, and it earned the cin- $86,000 to $170,000. With an Alexa camera. mount p A ematographer his third Academy estimated 2,500 sold worldwide, r A jk/p Award. Another 2012 best pic- ARRI has survived the digital I ◄ 2012 tend ture nominee, Extremely Loud & revolution without losing its I From left: Franz p bu Incredibly Close, shot by two-time standing in the industry. AA Kraus, Wolfgang ; j I rr A Riedel and Oscar winner Chris Menges (The Managing director Kraus F Killing Fields), also used the Alexa. describes ARRI as “a digital Johannes Steurer accept an Academy (The Artist, the best picture winner, company with the skill of preci- Award of Merit e/courtesy o e/courtesy stuck with ARRI film cameras, sion mechanics” and recalls that for the ArriLaser W n cro fitting for a movie that celebrated its digital charge began during the film recorder. A r; bry A the past.) late 1990s with the development st I tr Upcoming films lensed with the of the ArriLaser film recorder, IA 2012 ▼ umb which enabled a practical way to L Alexa include Abraham Lincoln: Robert Richardson (in black suit to right of Martin Scorsese) wins the jo/co Vampire Hunter, photographed do full digital postproduction and cinematography Oscar for Hugo, the first Alexa-lensed production to win that honor. A ner b by five-time Oscar nomineeCaleb then returned the finished movies I (3); re (3); Deschanel, and the James Bond to film. I rr A movie Skyfall, which nine-time The importance of that change F Oscar nominee Roger Deakins is in how movies are assembled was shooting. underscored when the ArriLaser ctures; courtesy o courtesy ctures; “Whether I were shooting was honored with an Academy I Skyfall or any other film, I would Award of Merit — an Oscar statu- nd sony p A consider the Alexa as a very prob- ette and the highest recognition I rr A able choice,” says Deakins, who bestowed by AMPAS for technical F first used the camera on 2011’sIn advancement — at the Academy’s : courtesy o : courtesy Time, his first digital feature. “It 2012 Scientific and Technical t F e is probably a mistake to compare Awards. (It also was the 18th time L rom top top rom a digital image captured by the an ARRI product was recognized F se Alexa or any digital camera to one by the Academy.) The ArriLaser WI ock L on film. Suffice to say I like the contInued on pAge 124 c 122 | The hollywood RepoRTeR | 05.03.12 .