Cinematography

[Sawyer]

Cool to see Wally Pfister praising this in the comments.

 

[THE WOLF]

When Reeves and Fraser connect

 

[Elayis]

Nice to see official confirmation that they're going with the classic logo.

Spoiler

/s

 

[Gothamsknight]

When Reeves and Fraser connect

That is so beautiful

 

[OutOfBoose]

I love his work for Zero Dark Thirty.

One of my favorite cinematography works of the past 10 years.

 

[BatLobster]

Fraser and Wally exchanging praise on Instagram is very sweet. Welcome to the family Greig!

 

[MovieSlave]

Really good choice for cinematographer!

Casting aside, the costume designer is the next big piece of news I'm waiting on.

Same here. Once they start filming I am going to be so excited waiting for set photos, whether official or from fans sneaking pics from scenes being shot outside.

 

[Gothamsknight]

Fraser and Wally exchanging praise on Instagram is very sweet. Welcome to the family Greig!

Absolutely! I honestly didnt even see Wally's comment until you mentioned. 2 incredible Cinematographers involved with Batman

 

[Iceman]

More good signs

 

[Pennywise]

I approve of Fraser for cinematographer!

Loved his work on Rogue One, and he seems to be doing an awesome job with The Mandalorian based on the leaked footage!

 

[Kane52630]

Quality aside... The opening for Snow White was great.

 

[mclay18]

Fraiser is a great choice. Whether they choose to go back to film or stick with the Alexa 65, he'll make it look great.

 

[TheGuy]

 

[C Prometheus]

Fraiser is a great choice. Whether they choose to go back to film or stick with the Alexa 65, he'll make it look great.

Based on the set photos, it seems that they're filming on some sort of ARRI Alexa. Considering Fraser's affinity with the Large Format look and the fact that both he and Reeves have previously used the Alexa 65, I'd wager that will be the primary camera they use for the film.

Here's a couple of cool videos for anyone interested in learning more about Large Format cinematography works and why digital cinema cameras have rapidly dominated the film industry over using film stock. The first one, of course, heavily features Grieg Fraser explaining his opinion on the matter.

 

[mclay18]

To me, the Arri Alexa is one of the few digital cameras that actually are comparable to 35mm cameras in terms of film-like output. The other cameras out on the market can be hit or miss (like Red, Canon and Varicam), depending on the filmmakers. Alexa has been consistent with many different productions, DPs, and studios.

I remember one early digital studio feature, Date Night, looked cheap as hell (and you could tell it was HD). It had a great DP, Dean Semler, who shot it on the Panasonic Genesis. I was stunned Fox let Semler and Shawn Levy use that crappy camera.

For me, if I had to shoot digitally, it would be Alexa or bust.

 

[Kane52630]

Plus it's THE camera they use for all the A24 films.

 

[C Prometheus]

To me, the Arri Alexa is one of the few digital cameras that actually are comparable to 35mm cameras in terms of film-like output. The other cameras out on the market can be hit or miss (like Red, Canon and Varicam), depending on the filmmakers. Alexa has been consistent with many different productions, DPs, and studios.

I remember one early digital studio feature, Date Night, looked cheap as hell (and you could tell it was HD). It had a great DP, Dean Semler, who shot it on the Panasonic Genesis. I was stunned Fox let Semler and Shawn Levy use that crappy camera.

For me, if I had to shoot digitally, it would be Alexa or bust.

Part of that is apparently due to Arri's approach to making the Alexa versus how other companies approach designing their cinema cameras. If I remember it correctly, RED and the others started off focusing on pushing the technical limits of how much resolution their cameras could get (which has its own benefits, that David Fincher can testify to), while Arri designed the earlier Alexas less to focus on the sheer technical resolutions and instead focused on yielding a similar sort of dynamic range to that of film stock and in a resolution closer to that of the human eye. Then they started incorporating more proper 4K shooting cameras in their lineup to meet the technical requirements Netflix put out for cameras used on their original streaming shows.

However there is one other digital cinema camera out there besides the various Arri Alexa's that I think yields similarly stunning visuals: the Panavision DXL2, which is basically a Panavision hotrodded RED Monstro. Ari Aster and his DP used it on Midsommar earlier this year and the crew working on The Witcher used it for that show too. I think the Alexa is probably more applicable to more types of films, but the DXL2 seems to really shine when you need to push the colors towards a more saturated Technicolor type look.

 

[Invader Joker]

Interesting interaction from Fraser's Instagram.

 

[Blade Hoarder]

Isn't he lensing Dune as well? Dude is blessed.

 

[OutOfBoose]

Dune and Batman. No pressure on the guy at all.

 

[C Prometheus]

View attachment 30949 View attachment 30951

Interesting interaction from Fraser's Instagram.

Sounds to me like Fraser probably won't be shooting this on film stock. And going off his previous reasonings in that video I linked up earlier in the thread, I think he's spot on.

35mm film stock isn't bad at all (nor are 16mm or 8mm), in fact it's quite stunning and does have a certain character and charm to it that most digital cameras can't match... but it's not the end all be all of filmmaking either. It's just another tool at a cinematographer's disposal. And with the rapid return of 65mm/Large Format happening in recent years via the latest digital cinema cameras, there are absolutely valid reasons for filming in those formats over traditional film stock.

Take Joker for instance. What I find a bit brilliant about Lawrence Sher's cinematography in that film is that aside from how great a job he does at making the footage feel like it was shot on some sort of film stock, it was primarily shot on 65mm and Large Format versions of the ARRI Alexa with rehoused/modified Medium Format still lenses. Rather than shooting in Super35 with say a 35mm or a 50mm, Sher shot more frequently on 50mm and 85mm lenses, giving a tighter look and a more pleasing compression on the actors' faces while having the same field of view that those wider lenses would have had on a smaller, traditional Super 35mm film stock camera or regular ARRI Alexa.

 

[OutOfBoose]

Well, we saw digital cameras on the set photos, so it's a fact.

I'm perfectly fine with it. I loved digital cinematography even when it was SD. Now digital cameras can do incomparably more. It's all about vision, artistic direction.

 

[Tim_Riggins]

Disappointed to see Fraser going digital as he liked an IG post of mine a while ago asking whether they’d shoot on 35mm. Yes, digital can look great, bla bla but Gotham, Batman, that universe demands film imo. No amount of fake grain and DI magic will ever make digital look like film (nor does Joker).

Thankfully, Fraser doesn’t go for a “film like” look with digital and his work on the format is great. I just figured that Reeves would want to go back to film since he couldn’t shoot Dawn on film as he wished, plus there’s a lab in London, a shame.

I know the average joe doesn’t know and doesn’t care but film remains the golden standard, Dan Mindel talked about it for example (TROS). It’s about mood, texture, soul. And you have to work much harder to get something interesting digitally, without the magic and that beautiful life and texture to it.

Digital is convenient though and that’s why the wide majority of films and shows are shot digitally. But when something is shot on film (The Lighthouse is a great showcase lately, so is The Irishman (well, anything not involving deaging) ), it stands out.

 

[C Prometheus]

Disappointed to see Fraser going digital as he liked an IG post of mine a while ago asking whether they’d shoot on 35mm. Yes, digital can look great, bla bla but Gotham, Batman, that universe demands film imo. No amount of fake grain and DI magic will ever make digital look like film (nor does Joker).

Thankfully, Fraser doesn’t go for a “film like” look with digital and his work on the format is great. I just figured that Reeves would want to go back to film since he couldn’t shoot Dawn on film as he wished, plus there’s a lab in London, a shame.

I know the average joe doesn’t know and doesn’t care but film remains the golden standard, Dan Mindel talked about it for example (TROS). It’s about mood, texture, soul. And you have to work much harder to get something interesting digitally, without the magic and that beautiful life and texture to it.

Digital is convenient though and that’s why the wide majority of films and shows are shot digitally. But when something is shot on film (The Lighthouse is a great showcase lately, so is The Irishman (well, anything not involving deaging) ), it stands out.

Look, I love the look of film too, but I think you might be waxing lyrical here a tad too much?

Ultimately film is just one of many tools at a director's disposal. 65mm film stock was used for decades in Hollywood until directors started reverting back to 35mm film to make better use of the mobility the smaller, newer cameras had to offer. Is one better than the other for it though? Not really IMO.

It all comes down to the story being told and how best to bring it to life IMO. Two of my all-time fave films are Alien and The Shining. One was shot with 75mm anamorphic Panavision lenses, the other with a variety of wide angle sephircal Zeiss Super Speeds (and some sort of 9mm lens IIRC). Both films are equally beautiful to me in their own way.

Obviously I agree that there is a certain look and feel that comes from film stock that is often difficult to match if a film is shot digitally. But often times now a days, most directors filming on 35mm film stock make the footage look so clean in post that it barely feels any different from something shot on an ARRI Alexa. Part of what excited me so much about The Lighthouse was how much its creators went out of their way to give the movie a distinctive, filmic look beyond just the 35mm stock.

And as I've said repeatedly in the past several posts now, there is another technical reason for why Fraser might opt to shoot digitally over film stock beyond just being convenient, namely the ability to use smaller, more nimble cameras while also having a Large Format look at hand. That look is back on the rise in Hollywood and Fraser seems particularly enamored with it and how immersive it is. Hell, while Reeves might have preferred to use film stock when shooting Dawn, don't forget that he made another Apes film between it and The Batman... and he also invested in using the Alexa 65.

 

[Tim_Riggins]

Reeves shot Alexa 65 on War because it’s simply much more practical to shoot a completely performance capture driven film that way (that plus large format so to speak). That’s exactly why Spielberg and Kaminski were forced to shoot The BFG on the Alexa (they only shoot on 35mm).

I’m not waxing lyrical, I’m incredibly passionate about celluloid, have studied it for years, I’m also a filmmaker and if I can never, ever shoot digitally, I would be elated. There’s never a time when watching even some of the great digital work where I don’t think “wish it was shot on film, too clean, too sterile, ugh”.

I remember Fraser actually saying he was eager to shoot on film again on Vice. “It has an instant nostalgic quality and an inherent texture that brings a certain spirit to the image.” Kinda what I’m talking about.

“I am so pleased to see that film is getting a good run with more filmmakers not just using celluloid but shooting with it really well- movies such as First Man, Dunkirk and BlacKkKlansman. Celluloid has an underlying spirit that I think filmgoers really respond to as well. The results look great, and I’d like to think the same can be said about Vice.”

Anyway, I’m sure it’ll look great and yes, some practical considerations may be behind it but yeah....