“Some search for battle, others are born into it.” 

For years, adapting a Thomas Pynchon novel was considered a fool’s errand. That was until Paul Thomas Anderson masterfully captured the hazy, paranoid spirit of Inherent Vice. With his next splash into the Pynchonian universe, One Battle After Another not only proves his unique ability to translate the author’s complex prose but does so with a startling and urgent modern lens. The casting of Leonardo DiCaprio, following Joaquin Phoenix (as Doc Sportello), solidifies a fascinating trend of PTA pairing generational actors with Pynchon’s bewildered, soulful protagonists.

By streamlining Vineland‘s multifaceted plot, the film focuses on a more intimate, melancholic, and deeply resonant theme. The quiet apathy and lingering ghosts of a revolution gone wrong. This focus on the “aftermath” is classic PTA. The director excels at exploring the emotional spaces after the primary drama has unfolded. More specifically, where characters are left to grapple with the consequences. 

(SPOILERS AHEAD!)

What makes One Battle After Another arguably PTA’s most prescient work is its brilliant decision to ground the narrative in a modern context. The on-screen world, with its militarized police presence and public protests against anti-immigrant movements, feels ripped directly from today’s headlines. The film’s central conflict — the grassroots “French 75” movement versus the shadowy white supremacist cabal, the “Christmas Adventurers Club” — transforms Pynchon’s text into a powerful and uncomfortable mirror to our current political landscape.

This approach marks a significant return to the kind of explicit, politically charged filmmaking that defined the great American cinema of the 1970s. In an era where such directness is often avoided by major studios in a meaningful way, PTA is clearly making a bold statement. He’s championing the idea of activism and resistance in the face of creeping fascism. The film leverages Pynchon’s core truth: that reality is often far more absurd and terrifying than fiction.

CINEMA THAT IS MORE THAN FICTION…

A film like One Battle After Another doesn’t feel like a movie so much as a vital, anxious pulse beat for our current moment. PTA takes the soul from the source material, and like a used needle he dug up on Venice Beach, he mainlines its paranoia directly into the present, creating a world where the line between absurdist fiction and our own fractured reality has completely dissolved. In an age where decades of change feel crammed into a single year, this is cinema as a warning shot. It’s a declaration that the battle for a nation’s soul is far from over, and a powerful confirmation that… the revolution has only just begun.

This is The Look of One Battle After Another.

☭ ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER TECH SPECS ☭

☭ THE WORLD OF

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER ☭

The Agents of Change vs. The Agents of the State

The world is a-changing, whether you like it or not. In the universe of One Battle After Another, the agents of this change begin with the youth. The film opens on the sexy and audacious Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor), a key member of the revolutionary group, “The French 75.” As she walks down a highway overpass at dusk, the camera leads her over a makeshift immigrant detention center. This facility is guarded by a score of U.S. soldiers led by Col. Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn).

‘One Battle After Another’ Warner Bros.

Lockjaw is the very embodiment of American grit twisted into perversity. He is a lapdog to power, representing those individuals willing to do anything to be accepted by the ruling class. In other words, people like Lockjaw are unable to see anything outside the narrow confines of their own ambition. This opening image immediately establishes a clear paradigm. The stark opposition between those who strive to correct the injustices of the world, like Perfidia, and those who are willing participants in enacting that injustice, like Lockjaw.

The film then expands this paradigm even further. Beyond the immediate conflict on the street, we have the innocent victims — the immigrants being persecuted — and the ultimate victimizers, ‘The Christmas Adventurers.’ This fascist cabal, a shadowy collective of old-wealth elites, titans of industry, politicians, and select military officers, is the mastermind behind the anti-immigration rhetoric and policy sweeping over the nation.

A Revolution Born of Passion and Betrayal

Perfidia is dating a fellow French 75 member, Bob Ferguson (DiCaprio), a skilled bombmaker. It soon becomes clear, however, that his love for revolution does not exceed his love for Perfidia. On some level, his inspiration for radical action seems directly connected to his desire for her. 

‘One Battle After Another’ Warner Bros.

This dynamic is put to the test in the film’s explosive opening sequence, where the French 75 liberates the detention center under Lockjaw’s command. During the chaos, Perfidia uses her sex appeal as a weapon. She subdues Lockjaw in a move that unexpectedly awakens in him a kink for being dominated by her, sparking an immediate and intense infatuation.

‘One Battle After Another’ Warner Bros.

This daring liberation becomes a storied exploit. It grants the group notoriety and makes them heroes of the resistance. For Lockjaw, however, it becomes a personal mission to track Perfidia down. A mission driven by both duty and desire. He eventually corners her as she is planting a bomb in an office building. 

‘One Battle After Another’ Warner Bros.

He offers her an ultimatum: meet him that night at a motel, and he will keep her secret. She complies, satisfying his kink, and nine months later, gives birth to a daughter, Willa, whom Bob believes is his own.

‘One Battle After Another’ Warner Bros.

After this moment, a shift occurs…

Perfidia, perhaps driven by guilt or a renewed sense of purpose, becomes even more resolute in her revolutionary mission, but also more reckless. In contrast, Bob retreats into domestic life. He stays home with their baby, his revolutionary spirit seemingly quelled by the satisfaction of fatherhood. 

The balance is broken, and during a bank robbery, Perfidia kills a security guard. The entire group is forced to flee, leading to an intense getaway sequence. Perfidia is captured, and the surviving members of the French 75 are scattered into hiding or systematically killed. Bob is given a new identity and escapes with the baby.

‘One Battle After Another’ Warner Bros.

The Absurdity of Power and the Christmas Adventurers’ Club

One of the more absurdist, and thus Pynchon-esque, threads of the story is Lockjaw’s desperate pursuit of acceptance into the Christmas Adventurers’ Club. This racist, super-secret society is an old boys’ club that seems to be a cross between the Safari Club, Masonic Lodge, and Skull and Bones, all wrapped into one — holding a fascist grip on the levers of power. They occasionally allow certain military figures to join, but only if they meet the strict criteria: being white and having never been part of an interracial relationship, among them.

Lockjaw, haunted by his past with Perfidia, lies about his history to gain entry. To cover his tracks, he abuses his military power to search for Willa and eventually conduct a DNA test, confirming his deepest fear and hope: that she is, in fact, his daughter. This reckless pursuit is what places the aging, scattered members of the French 75 back in mortal danger and set the main action of the story in motion.

‘One Battle After Another’ Warner Bros.

In a chilling scene, the severity of the club’s ideology is laid bare. An assassin, appearing as a clean-cut, pasty Lacoste-wearing, country club-frequenting “good boy,” is guided through a labyrinth of secret hallways beneath a mansion. He enters a large masonic-like room with a small committee of wealthy men (as white as mayonnaise) who have discovered Lockjaw’s secret. They give the order to “clean up the situation,” meaning to kill not only Lockjaw for his transgression but also his potential child. This moment shows their unwavering and lethal ideology, revealing their power and stranglehold on society. This is exactly what the revolution is up against. 

☭ ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER PRODUCTION DESIGN ☭

One Battle After Another achieves an epic scope that feels both fantastical and tangibly real. The story races from the redwood forests of Northern California to the sun-baked hills of the Anza-Borrego desert and the stark reality of the Tijuana border. Creating this sprawling, yet intimate, world was the monumental task of production designer Florencia Martin, who previously collaborated with Anderson on the meticulously recreated 1970s San Fernando Valley of Licorice Pizza.

For One Battle After Another, Martin had to craft a unique vision: a sort of present-day reality that exists in a world all its own. The goal was to go “beyond the matte paintings” and create an immersive space that the audience could step into. Drawing from insights with Martin, let’s delve into how the production design team built the unforgettable world of the film, piece by practical piece.

Behind the Scenes of One Battle After Another | Warner Bros.

A Tapestry of Unseen California

As previously mentioned, the film is loosely based on Thomas Pynchon’s novel Vineland, with the story’s origins in the redwood country of Humboldt County. This set the tone for the entire scouting process. 

“We’d go to all these inland neighborhoods like Sacramento, Stockton, Fresno,” Martin explains. “It really is like a tapestry of California to me — a California that we don’t really know.”

Sacramento (L) | Stockton (R)

The production filmed across at least nine California counties and in El Paso, Texas, deliberately avoiding typical coastal sights. The Sacramento rail yards, the undulating “river of hills” near the Texas Dip in Borrego Springs, and the Otay Mesa border crossing give the film a visual identity completely distinct from other California-set movies. This adherence to exclusively finding unique, authentic locations was foundational for the film’s grounded feel.

Anza Borrego (L) | El Paso Texas (R) 

Building the Worlds Within the World

Bob and Willa’s Redwood Hideout

To create the secluded home where Bob has raised his daughter, Willa, for 16 years, the team found a single-bedroom house engulfed by redwoods. The design philosophy was one of accumulation. 

“It’s that sense of someone who found a little sanctuary… and got really settled in,” says Martin. 

‘One Battle After Another’ Warner Bros.

The space was dressed with years of history, using artwork from Anderson’s own children and baby photos from Chase Infiniti herself to create an authentic sense of a lived-in family home. In a touch of Pynchon-esque whimsy, a nearby property filled with tiny, moss-covered cars became the location for the redwood outhouse, built right amongst them as if it were another of Bob’s eccentric hobbies.

Sensei’s ‘Underground Railroad’ Apartment

For the sprawling safe house run by Sensei Sergio St. Carlos (Benicio Del Toro), the production moved to El Paso, Texas. A location scout found the Genesis Perfumeria, a shop with an “incredible fluorescent green interior” and a staircase leading to an empty second floor. This discovery sparked the entire sequence. 

‘One Battle After Another’ Warner Bros.

“That’s how his story started to grow,” Martin notes. 

Her team then built Sensei’s apartment and the entire warren of interconnected living spaces for refugees practically on that empty second floor. 

“That is one of my favorite sets I’ve ever been a part of,” Martin says, explaining how they gave a unique story and design to each family’s space.

The Sisters of the Brave Beaver Compound

Inspired by the real-life “weed nuns” of California’s Sisters of the Valley, the film features a secluded convent. The challenge was finding a location that felt authentic and not overly restored. After visiting numerous missions, the team chose La Purisima Mission in Lompoc. 

Behind the Scenes of One Battle After Another | Warner Bros.

“La Purisima was the most stripped away, the closest to being a believable space that these women would have found… and taken it over,” Martin recalls. 

Paul Thomas Anderson Behind the Scenes of One Battle After Another | Warner Bros.

It provided the perfect backdrop for the perverse paternity test scene, set within the mission’s chapel.

The Border Detention Camp

To create the chilling detention camps, authenticity and respect were paramount. Martin consulted contemporary and historic photos and worked with a military advisor. The team found an incredible location that allowed them to build their temporary camp right next to the actual border wall at Otay Mesa. 

‘One Battle After Another’ Warner Bros.

The experience was profoundly impactful, as Martin notes, “We would have Border Patrol and immigrants crossing in as we were shooting.” The design was based on the stark reality of how these centers are run and laid out, avoiding a fictionalized interpretation.

Designing the Details: From Secret Societies to Sci-Fi Tech

Beyond the major locations, the design team crafted the film’s more fantastical elements with a grounded approach. The nefarious Christmas Adventurer’s Club found its headquarters in Sacramento’s historic Reagan Mansion, its fittingly formal architecture providing the perfect backdrop for the shadowy cabal. 

For the revolutionaries’ tech, like their unique scanner devices, the team looked at a mix of real-world communication methods. 

“It was just looking at 3G networks and ham radios and satellite… and also a little bit of fantasy too,” Martin explains, resulting in technology that feels functional and, as she puts it, “already old.”

The Power of the Practical

The immersive, tangible quality of One Battle After Another is a direct result of a core filmmaking philosophy championed by Anderson and Martin: prioritize real, built environments over digital ones. 

“CGI can distance the audience, but architecture really holds you,” Martin states. 

Behind the Scenes of One Battle After Another | Photography by Thomas Anderson

From the practical build of Sensei’s apartment to the real desert hills of the car chase, every location feels authentic and lived-in. This dedication to craftsmanship grounds the film’s epic story and complex characters, making its world not just a spectacle to be watched but a reality to be experienced.

☭ ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER CINEMATOGRAPHY ☭

Paul Thomas Anderson’s films are defined by their unforgettable visual language, and One Battle After Another is no exception. Reuniting with his recent collaborator, cinematographer Michael Bauman, Anderson has crafted a film that feels both timeless and urgently contemporary. The movie’s look is a chaotic, sun-baked, and often surprisingly beautiful mosaic, shot on film and presented in a variety of large formats, including the resurrected VistaVision, 70mm, and IMAX. This vision for analog capture and ambitious presentation is a bold statement in the digital age, creating a tangible, textured world for this modern revolutionary tale.

Behind the Scenes of One Battle After Another | Warner Bros.

The cinematography masterfully walks a tightrope, balancing the kinetic energy of a genre film with the intimate, character-focused portraiture that is Anderson’s signature. Let’s break down the key cinematic choices that define the look of this epic.

Embracing the Analog: VistaVision and the Power of Film

In an era of digital precision, Anderson and Bauman made the deliberate choice to shoot One Battle After Another on celluloid, primarily using the rare VistaVision format. This high-resolution format, which runs 35mm film horizontally through the camera, captures a larger, more detailed negative, resulting in a stunningly sharp yet organic image. As Leonardo DiCaprio notes, the film feels “tactile,” a direct result of shooting in “real cars, real environments and situations.”

Behind the Scenes of One Battle After Another | Warner Bros.

The choice of film also creates a distinctive visual texture. The inherent grain structure of the film stock adds a layer of authenticity and nostalgia, separating the film’s aesthetic from the often sterile look of modern digital cinematography. The color reproduction on film, especially in the direct VistaVision prints, is described as breathtaking, with a range and depth that feels both vibrant and true to life. This analog approach grounds the film’s sometimes absurd or fantastical events in a believable, textured reality.

Behind the Scenes of One Battle After Another | Photo by Robert Pitts

Letting Darkness Be Dark: A Philosophy of Night Cinematography

One of the most striking aspects of the film’s cinematography is its approach to night scenes. In an era where many films are criticized for being overly dark or murky, Bauman’s work here is praised for its clarity and deliberate use of darkness. The philosophy is simple but effective: let darkness be dark. Rather than trying to artificially light every corner of the frame for visibility, the team embraced deep shadows and allowed light to be motivated by practical sources.

‘One Battle After Another’ Warner Bros.

This technique has a powerful effect. Night scenes look richer and more saturated, and the contrast between the pools of light and the surrounding darkness creates a sense of depth, mystery, and suspense. 

‘One Battle After Another’ Warner Bros.

As film critic Patrick Tomasso notes, “Our eyes can’t see everything at night in real life, so why should cameras?” This approach makes the darkness an active element in the composition, a space where threats can hide and characters can find temporary refuge.

Choices That Serve the Story: Embracing “Imperfection”

The cinematography in One Battle After Another isn’t afraid to be “imperfect.” It utilizes techniques that some might consider technically wrong, but that perfectly serve the film’s chaotic and disorienting story. Borderline overexposed daylight scenes convey the oppressive heat of the California desert, while unsettling, shaky handheld camera work plunges the audience directly into the frenetic energy of a chase or the paranoia of a character.

‘One Battle After Another’ Warner Bros.

As DiCaprio describes, the action sequences are “done in a Paul Thomas Anderson fashion that is very unexpected.” Anderson and Bauman eschew slick, CGI-heavy set pieces in favor of a more bare-bones, visceral approach.

Behind the Scenes of One Battle After Another | Warner Bros.

The camera is often right in the middle of the action, capturing real cars on real roads, with a “meta-jitteriness” that feels more authentic and thrilling than a perfectly smooth drone shot. These choices are deliberate decisions to prioritize the emotional and visceral experience over sterile technical perfection.

Behind the Scenes of One Battle After Another | Merrick Morton Photography

The Human Landscape: A Focus on Faces

For all its epic scale and visual pyrotechnics, One Battle After Another remains a deeply human story, and the cinematography reflects this. Anderson is a master at chronicling the human face, and this film is filled with stunning portraits that capture the complex inner lives of its characters.

Behind the Scenes of One Battle After Another | Warner Bros.

The use of large formats, such as VistaVision and IMAX 70mm, with their immense height and detail, draws the viewer incredibly close to the actors. Every nuance of a performance — a hint of doubt in Regina Hall’s eyes, a flash of fear on Chase Infiniti’s face, the weary lines on Leonardo DiCaprio’s — is captured with devastating clarity. 

Regina Hall in One Battle After Another

As critic Jim Hemphill observed, this format makes the film a “meditation on faces and the histories they illustrate.” Even amidst the chaos of a shootout or a car chase, the camera consistently finds its way back to the human element, reminding the audience of the emotional stakes at the heart of the story. 

The VistaVision Presentation

For the first time in over 60 years, Anderson has championed the projection of a new feature film from true VistaVision prints, reviving a dormant but legendary format. This provides a viewing experience for audiences that is as close as possible to the original camera negative.

Created by Paramount Pictures in 1954 as a response to the rise of television, VistaVision is a high-resolution widescreen format. Unlike standard 35mm film, which runs vertically through the camera, VistaVision orients the film horizontally. This creates a negative frame that is twice the size (8 perforations wide, hence “8-perf”), resulting in a finer-grained, higher-quality, and more detailed image. Alfred Hitchcock was a notable champion of the format, using it for classics like Vertigo and North by Northwest.

A 60-Year Hiatus and a Triumphant Return 

After its heyday in the 1950s, VistaVision’s use for principal photography waned, with Marlon Brando’s One-Eyed Jacks being the last major American film shot and released this way. For decades, the format was kept alive almost exclusively for special effects work on blockbusters like the original Star Wars and Jurassic Park, where its high resolution was ideal for compositing.

Behind the Scenes of One Battle After Another | Merrick Morton Photography

With One Battle After Another, Anderson has not only revived VistaVision for capture but has also worked with Warner Bros. to retrofit four select theaters worldwide — in Los Angeles, New York, Boston, and London — with the rare, specialized projectors required to screen true VistaVision prints. This is a significant undertaking, as these projectors must also run the film horizontally and are exceedingly rare. This allows audiences in those locations to see a print struck directly from the original cut negative, offering a viewing experience of unparalleled color and clarity.

The VistaVision Difference 

According to those who have seen the VistaVision presentation, there is a subtle but undeniable difference. The color reproduction is described as stunning, with a range and depth far greater than other formats. Cool colors appear colder, warm ones feel red-hot, and the subtle gradations across the spectrum are filled with rich detail. Anderson himself has noted that this presentation is the closest to the film’s intended look, offering a direct, unfiltered connection to the work of the cinematographer and the director. While other large formats like IMAX 70mm and standard 70mm offer their own immersive and beautiful experiences, the VistaVision print is unique in its direct photochemical lineage from the camera to the screen.

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☭ ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER

COSTUME DESIGN ☭

While epic car chases and sprawling landscapes grab the eye, the film’s character-driven story is powerfully yet subtly reinforced by the masterful work of Oscar-winning costume designer Colleen Atwood. Tasked with dressing a diverse cast of revolutionaries, white supremacists, high schoolers, and a freedom-fighting Sensei, Atwood perfected the art of what she calls “unconscious-conscious dressing”—creating looks that feel deeply authentic to the characters’ lives and circumstances, rather than costumes that scream for attention.

Dressing the Revolutionaries: The Subtlety of Living Off-Grid

Atwood’s collaboration with Anderson was organic, beginning with a serendipitous run-in. Early fittings with Leonardo DiCaprio and Chase Infiniti took place at Anderson’s own home, where he would shoot camera tests on 35mm film, allowing the team to collaboratively refine the looks.

For the revolutionaries of the “French 75,” the key was to avoid romanticizing their image. 

“It’s always a possibility in that world to over-romanticize… to want everyone to look like him,” Atwood says, referencing the iconic image of Che Guevara. “They’re living off the grid, so they don’t want you to notice what they’re wearing.” 

This philosophy is embodied in the uniform-like dressing of Deandra, whose simple attire reflects what Atwood calls a “Madonna-esque purity,” suggesting a character who is more concerned with her cause than with her clothes.

Bob’s Robe: An Accidental Icon

For Bob, the revolutionary-turned-stoner-dad, the initial idea was a simple sweatshirt. However, a fluid process of collaboration led to a more memorable choice. 

“I don’t know if it’s Paul or Leo who said, ‘What if he’s just in his robe?'” Atwood recalls. 

‘One Battle After Another’ Warner Bros.

Inspired by Jeff Bridges’ “The Dude,” Bob spends a significant portion of the film in a faded, checked bathrobe. Atwood sourced a vintage rental robe as a template, then custom-made multiples from a vintage-looking cotton-wool blend fabric, which was then heavily aged. The result is an “old, cheap dad robe” that perfectly captures Bob’s state of inertia and cozy paranoia. 

Even his shoes, a pair of Altra Lone Peak trail runners, were a practical choice influenced by DiCaprio’s preference for a wide toe box, with their subtle orange soles occasionally peeking through the grime.

Willa’s Skirt: Sweetness and Action-Ready Strength

The primary costume for the teenage Willa was inspired by a student Anderson saw wearing a petticoat skirt at a real high school dance in Eureka. Atwood took this idea and adapted it for the screen. Initially considering a faded pink, she ultimately chose blue to feel more “low-key” and less vulnerable, reflecting Willa’s emotional state. 

‘One Battle After Another’ Warner Bros.

The skirt was crafted from airy silk gazar, cut with enough volume to catch air during action sequences and layered to allow light to pass through during dark exteriors. This sweet skirt was then contrasted with a tough, beaten-up leather jacket, described by Atwood as Grease-esque. 

“It felt right for her to have this beat-up jacket — that was her treasure,” she adds.

Dressing the Villains: From Awkward Aspirants to Real-Life Elites

For the white supremacist Christmas Adventurers’ Club, Atwood drew inspiration directly from real life. 

“I went to Orvis one day in Pasadena, and I saw one of the guys there who looked just like that,” she says, recalling a golf enthusiast who inspired one of the clandestine meeting costumes. “I went and bought exactly what the guy had.” 

This grounds the film’s antagonists in a recognizable, upper-class reality.

Col. Steve Lockjaw, an aspiring club member, is deliberately dressed to look out of place. His formalwear — a brand-new navy blazer, khaki pants, and tie — is what “his mother would’ve put him in for church on Easter Sunday.” The look is awkward and ill-fitting for the situations he’s in, reflecting his desperate, sad struggle for acceptance.

Sensei’s Style: A Collaborative and Authentic Look

Sensei Sergio St. Carlos was a particular highlight for Atwood, with a look that evolved through direct collaboration with the actor. The initial idea of keeping him in his gi was challenged by Del Toro himself, who questioned, “Why would I be hanging out in my gi doing my paperwork?”

‘One Battle After Another’ Warner Bros.

Instead, the final look became a fusion of influences. He keeps his gi pants, but pairs them with a custom-made indigo denim jacket (inspired by a design from Jimmy McBride) and unique cowboy boots Atwood found on a scouting trip to El Paso. 

This piecemeal, rooted-in-reality look, combining martial arts attire with Western and custom elements, perfectly reflects the character’s unique role as a protector and guide, and exemplifies what Atwood calls the “very fluid way” the film’s costumes came together.

☭ WATCH ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER ☭

From the tangible, practical world built by Production Designer Florencia Martin to the stunning analog cinematography of Michael Bauman and the character-driven costumes of Colleen Atwood, One Battle After Another is a marvel of filmmaking at the highest level. It’s a film that demands to be seen, studied, and experienced. 

Now that you’ve explored the incredible detail and artistry that went into every frame, it’s time to witness the final, breathtaking result.

To get a taste of the film’s unique, action-packed, and visually stunning world, watch the official trailer below.

One Battle After Another is still in theaters, then it will be made available to watch on major streaming services and for digital purchase.

Feeling inspired by the incredible level of artistry in Paul Thomas Anderson’s film? The techniques used to create movie masterpieces like this are at the very core of what we teach at Filmmakers Academy. Are you ready to move beyond appreciation and start mastering skills like cinematography, lighting, and directing? Get the knowledge from professionals who have worked on films of this scale with our All Access membership. It’s your next step to becoming a well-rounded filmmaker.

JOIN OUR ALL ACCESS MEMBERSHIP TO LEARN FROM INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS! 

The post The Look of One Battle After Another appeared first on Filmmakers Academy.

Director Brady Corbet on the set of The Brutalist | Photo by Trevor Matthews

This article delves into the creation of that visual language. We’ll go beyond the surface, exploring not just how they achieved the film’s distinctive look, but why they made the choices they did. From the groundbreaking decision to shoot on VistaVision — a format rarely used in contemporary cinema — to the meticulous design of the film’s central architectural marvel, the Institute, we’ll uncover the layers of meaning embedded within the film’s visual fabric.

(SPOILERS AHEAD!)

The Brutalist tells the story of László Toth (Adrien Brody), a Hungarian-Jewish architect who survives the Holocaust and emigrates to America. He carries with him the physical and emotional scars of his past. A past that informs his unwavering dedication to his craft and his relentless pursuit of a singular, monumental vision. The film chronicles his struggles, his triumphs, and his complex relationship with a wealthy patron, Harrison Lee (Guy Pearce), as Toth strives to create a lasting architectural legacy. It’s a story about the creation of art, the clash of ideologies, and the enduring weight of history. It is also a story about America, and what the country represents.

But this isn’t just a story told with visuals. The Brutalist is a story shaped by them. The film’s use of VistaVision, its carefully considered color palette, its meticulous production design, and its bold framing choices all work in concert to create a cinematic experience that is both grand and intimate, both epic and deeply personal. We’ll explore how Lol Crawley, BSC’s cinematography captures the scale and texture of brutalist architecture, while also conveying the inner lives of the characters. Likewise, we’ll examine how Judy Becker’s production design creates a world that is both historically authentic and emotionally resonant. A world where buildings become characters and spaces speak volumes.

Prepare to enter the world of The Brutalist, a film that challenges us to consider the enduring power of architecture, the complexities of the American Dream, and the indelible mark of history on the human soul. This is a film that demands to be seen — and understood — on a grand scale.

This is The Look of The Brutalist.

❑ THE BRUTALIST TECH SPECS ❒

• Runtime: 3h 34m (214 minutes)
• Color: 
  • Color 

• Aspect Ratio: 
  • 1.66: 1 

• Camera: 
  • Arri Alexa (one shot)
  • Arricam LT, Cooke S4 Lenses
  • Arricam ST, Cooke S4 Lenses
  • Arriflex 235, Cooke S4 Lenses
  • Arriflex 416, Zeiss Super Speed Lenses (some scenes)
  • Arriflex 435, Cooke S4 Lenses
  • Beaumont VistaVision Camera, Leica R Lenses
  • Digital Betacam (epilogue)

• Negative Format: 
  • 16 mm (Kodak Vision3 250D 7207, Vision3 500T 7219)
  • 35 mm (also horizontal, 3-perf, 2-perf, Kodak Vision3 250D 5207, Vision3 500T 5219)
  • ARRIRAW (one shot)
  • Video (epilogue)

• Cinematographic Process: 
  • Digital Betacam (source format, epilogue)
  • Digital Intermediate (master format)
  • Super 16 (source format, some scenes)
  • Super 35 (source format, some scenes)
  • Techniscope (source format, some scenes)
  • VistaVision (source format)

• Printed Film Format: 
  • 35 mm 
  • 70 mm 
  • D-Cinema 
  • DCP Digital Cinema Package

❑ THE WORLD OF THE BRUTALIST ❒

The Brutalist is not confined to a single time or place. The epic spans continents and decades, tracing the journey of László Toth, a Hungarian-Jewish architect who escapes the ashes of post-war Europe to pursue the American Dream. This transatlantic narrative, encompassing both the devastation of the Holocaust and the burgeoning optimism of mid-century America, presented a unique world-building challenge for the filmmakers. The film needed to evoke multiple distinct settings, each with its own historical and emotional weight, while maintaining a cohesive visual language. While much of the principal photography took place in Hungary, the film’s story traverses a far wider geographical and emotional landscape.

“Brutalism, as an architectural style, is often seen as cold and impersonal. But I think there’s a beauty in its honesty, in its refusal to hide behind ornamentation. That’s something I wanted to explore in the film.” —Brady Corbet

‘The Brutalist’ A24

FROM POST-WAR EUROPE TO THE PROMISE OF AMERICA

The film’s early scenes are crucial for establishing Toth’s backstory and motivations. These scenes depict the trauma of the Holocaust and the challenges of rebuilding a life in its aftermath. Ultimately, he is searching for a new beginning. 

‘The Brutalist’ A24

The film then shifts to America, specifically evoking the atmosphere of Pittsburgh in the 1950s. This was a period of significant urban renewal and architectural innovation in America. It was a time of both optimism and underlying social tensions. Pittsburgh, with its industrial heritage and its own history of immigration, provides a fitting backdrop for Toth’s story. It’s a city built on steel and ambition, but also a city grappling with the complexities of progress and the displacement it can cause.

‘The Brutalist’ A24

BRUTALISM: MORE THAN JUST CONCRETE

The film’s title, and its central architectural focus, is Brutalism. This architectural style, which emerged in the mid-20th century, is characterized by its use of raw concrete (béton brut in French, from which the term “brutalism” derives), its massive forms, and its emphasis on functionality. Brutalism was often associated with social housing projects, government buildings, and universities — structures intended to embody a sense of civic purpose and democratic ideals.

‘The Brutalist’ A24

However, Brutalism has also been criticized for its perceived coldness, austerity, and even inhumanity. It’s a style that evokes strong reactions, and its use in the film is undoubtedly deliberate. For Toth, brutalist architecture may represent a rejection of the ornate, decorative styles of the past. A desire to create something new and enduring. Something that speaks to the raw realities of the human condition. It’s a style that reflects both his personal trauma and his unwavering belief in the power of architecture to shape society. 

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❑ PRODUCTION DESIGN ❒

Judy Becker’s production design for The Brutalist is not merely about creating aesthetically pleasing sets. It’s about building a world that embodies the film’s complex themes, reflects the protagonist’s turbulent inner life, and serves as a tangible manifestation of his artistic vision. Her work on the film is a masterpiece in using architecture and design to tell a story, creating spaces that are both historically resonant and deeply symbolic. This goes beyond simply finding locations. It’s about constructing meaning through the built environment.

MORE THAN DECORATION: PRODUCTION DESIGN AS CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

From the outset, Becker understood that The Brutalist demanded a production design approach that went beyond surface decoration. The architecture, particularly the central structure of the Institute, needed to function as a character in its own right, reflecting the complexities and contradictions of László Toth, the Hungarian-Jewish architect at the heart of the film. This required a deep dive into the history of brutalist architecture, the cultural context of post-war America, and the psychological impact of trauma and displacement.

Corbet (center left) and Becker (center right) | Photo courtesy of A24

THE INSTITUTE: A MONUMENT TO TRAUMA AND TRANSCENDENCE

The Institute, Toth’s magnum opus, is the film’s most significant design challenge and its most powerful visual statement. Becker’s description of it as a “factory-slash-crematorium disguised as a church” is deliberately provocative, revealing the layers of meaning embedded within its design. 

“[The Institute is a] factory-slash-crematorium disguised as a church.” —Judy Becker

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This is not a building that offers easy comfort or simple beauty. It’s a structure that confronts the viewer, forcing them to grapple with the darkness of the past and the ambiguities of the present.

Next, let’s examine the several key influences of the Institute’s design.

BRUTALIST ARCHITECTURE 

The film’s title, of course, points to the dominant architectural style. Brutalism, with its emphasis on raw concrete, massive forms, and functional design. However, Becker’s Institute is not a generic brutalist structure. It pushes the style to its extremes, creating a building that is both imposing and unsettling. 

CONCENTRATION CAMP ARCHITECTURE 

Becker’s reference to concentration camps is crucial. The Institute’s starkness, its lack of ornamentation, and its imposing scale evoke the architecture of these sites of unimaginable horror. The disguised smokestacks, functioning as church towers, are a particularly chilling detail, adding a layer of dark irony and subversive commentary. 

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This connection to the Holocaust is not gratuitous. It’s directly linked to Toth’s personal history and his struggle to reconcile his past with his present. 

MARCEL BREUER 

Becker cites a specific real-world example as inspiration. A synagogue in her hometown designed by Marcel Breuer, a prominent modernist architect. This temple features a hidden Star of David shape, only visible from above. 

This concept of hidden meaning, of a building that reveals its true nature only from a particular perspective, resonates with the Institute’s design. It suggests that Toth’s architecture contains layers of symbolism and personal significance that are not immediately apparent. 

The Institute, therefore, is not just a building. It’s a physical manifestation of Toth’s trauma, his ambition, his artistic vision, and his complex relationship with his adopted country. It’s a monument to both memory and the desire to transcend the past.

BEYOND THE INSTITUTE: CREATING A COHESIVE WORLD

While the Institute is the film’s centerpiece, Becker’s work extends to every aspect of the film’s world. Thus, it creates a cohesive and believable environment that spans decades and continents.

EARLY DESIGNS 

The film depicts Toth’s earlier work, including furniture designs and a library. These designs, while still rooted in a modernist aesthetic, are less overtly brutalist than the Institute. These reflect Toth’s evolving style and his initial attempts to find his place within the American architectural landscape.

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THE CONSTRUCTION SITE

The evolving construction site of the Institute is a significant setting in the film. Becker’s team meticulously recreated the look and feel of a mid-century construction site, using period-appropriate materials, tools, and techniques. This attention to detail adds to the film’s authenticity and provides a dynamic backdrop for the unfolding drama. This also helped show the passage of time, along with the scale.

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HUNGARY AS AMERICA: THE ART OF TRANSFORMATION

The decision to film primarily in Hungary presented a significant challenge. How to convincingly recreate American settings, particularly those of 1950s Pittsburgh, on a different continent. This required a close collaboration between Becker’s production design team and Lol Crawley, BSC’s cinematography team.

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Becker’s team focused on sourcing period-appropriate props, furniture, and vehicles, transforming Hungarian locations into believable American homes, offices, and streetscapes. The opening interrogation room, a completely fabricated set, exemplifies the level of detail and control achieved by the production design team.

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The choice of locations was also crucial. Hungary, with its own rich architectural history and its mix of urban and rural landscapes, offered a surprising degree of versatility. However, careful framing, strategic set dressing, and the skillful use of lighting were essential to conceal any telltale signs of the European setting.

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Judy Becker’s work on The Brutalist is a powerful example of how production design can elevate a film from a simple narrative to a rich, multi-layered work of art. Her meticulous research, her attention to detail, and her deep understanding of the film’s themes and characters have resulted in a world that is both visually stunning and emotionally resonant. 

The buildings, the sets, the props — they are not just background elements. They are active participants in the story, shaping our understanding of the characters and their world. This is production design at its finest. A craft that transforms the mundane into the meaningful, the ordinary into the extraordinary.

❑ THE BRUTALIST CINEMATOGRAPHY ❒

Lol Crawley, BSC, is a cinematographer known for his bold visual choices and his ability to create atmosphere and emotion through light, composition, and camera movement. His work on The Brutalist is no exception. He crafts a visual language that is both grand and intimate, echoing the film’s thematic concerns of ambition, legacy, and the human cost of progress.

VISTAVISION: A DELIBERATE CHOICE, NOT A GIMMICK

The decision to shoot The Brutalist on VistaVision, a large-format film system rarely used in contemporary cinema, was not a stylistic flourish, but a fundamental choice driven by the specific needs of the story. Crawley emphasizes that the decision was “motivated by this desire to shoot on a larger film format” and that it “earned its place” rather than being an “affectation or anything like that, or a gimmick.”

Lol Crawley, BSC on location of The Brutalist | Photo by Bence Szemerey

According to Crawley, the rationale behind choosing VistaVision was twofold…

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

 Brady Corbet wanted to evoke the cinematic language of the 1950s, the era in which a significant portion of the film is set. VistaVision, popularized by directors like Alfred Hitchcock in films such as Vertigo and North by Northwest, provided a direct link to that cinematic heritage. It wasn’t simply about nostalgia. It was about tapping into a visual vocabulary associated with a specific time and place. 

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ARCHITECTURAL REPRESENTATION

The wider field of view offered by VistaVision was crucial for capturing the scale and grandeur of brutalist architecture without introducing the distortion that can occur with wider-angle lenses on smaller formats. 

“[We wanted to] celebrate the space.” —Lol Crawley, BSC

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As Crawley explains, the larger negative area allows for a “wider field of view” without needing “a wider angle lens to achieve that.” This results in a “truer” representation of the buildings, with “lines [that] are less distorted.” This was particularly important for showcasing the clean lines and geometric forms that characterize brutalist structures. 

LENSES: SHAPING PERSPECTIVE WITH LEICA R AND COOKE S4

Crawley’s lens choices for The Brutalist were specific and carefully considered, utilizing two distinct sets of prime lenses to complement the different film formats employed and shape the film’s visual narrative. This wasn’t about finding one “do-it-all” lens, but about selecting optics with specific characteristics for particular effects.

LEICA R LENSES (PAIRED WITH VISTAVISION)

For the sequences captured on the unique Beaumont VistaVision camera, Crawley employed Leica R lenses. Originally designed for Leica’s 35mm still photography cameras, these vintage full-frame lenses possess the necessary image circle to cover the large, horizontal VistaVision negative. Leica R glass is renowned for its distinct character. They have pleasing bokeh, beautiful flares (when pushed), excellent center sharpness, and a slightly warmer, less clinical feel than many modern cinema lenses.

Using these vintage optics on the VistaVision format contributed significantly to the film’s period aesthetic. They added a subtle layer of nostalgia and optical character that complements the historical setting and the grandeur of the large format.

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COOKE S4/I LENSES 

For the portions of the film shot on standard 35mm, Crawley utilized the industry-standard Cooke S4/i prime lenses. These modern cinema lenses are famous for delivering the classic “Cooke Look” – a unique combination of sharpness and smoothness. They possess a flattering rendering of skin tones, beautiful bokeh, and a gentle focus fall-off.

Plus, they provide a reliable, high-quality, and distinctly cinematic image often favored for narrative filmmaking. Using the Cooke S4s for the standard 35mm sequences provides a consistent, high-quality look.

Dual Lens Sets: Crafting Visual Texture

The deliberate choice to use two different sets of lenses, paired with distinct film formats (VistaVision and standard 35mm/Super 35mm), allowed Crawley and director Brady Corbet to create varied visual textures within the film.

The Leica R lenses on VistaVision provided a grander, perhaps slightly more romantic or vintage feel for certain sequences. Whereas, the Cooke S4/i lenses on standard 35mm offered a reliable, classically cinematic look for others. This approach adds another layer to the film’s sophisticated visual language.

Regardless of the specific lens set, the choice of focal length remained crucial for shaping perspective and emotion:

• Wider Lenses: Employed to capture the imposing scale of the brutalist architecture and vast landscapes. Potentially creating feelings of isolation or emphasizing the environment’s impact on the characters.
• Normal Lenses: Utilized to provide a more naturalistic perspective. Grounding scenes of dialogue and interaction in a relatable visual field.
• Longer Lenses: Used to compress perspective, isolate characters, intensify close-ups. This draws the audience into specific emotional moments, highlighting nuances in performance.

By carefully selecting both the lens type (Leica R vs. Cooke S4) and the focal length for each shot and sequence, Lol Crawley masterfully shaped the audience’s perception, enhancing the emotional resonance and thematic depth of The Brutalist.

CAMERA MOVEMENT: A DANCE BETWEEN FORMALISM AND FREEDOM

Crawley describes the camera movement in The Brutalist as a balance between “formalism” and “intimacy.” This duality reflects the film’s thematic concerns, contrasting the rigid, controlled world of architecture and ambition with the messy, unpredictable reality of human relationships.

Lol Crawley, BSC on set | Photo by Bence Szemerey

FORMALISM

In scenes featuring Harrison Lee, the wealthy patron, the camera often remains static or moves with a controlled, deliberate precision. This reflects the power dynamics at play and the formality of their interactions. Tripod shots, smooth dolly moves, and carefully composed frames would be characteristic of this approach.

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INTIMACY

In contrast, scenes involving more personal moments, or moments of emotional turmoil, often employ a handheld camera. This creates a sense of immediacy and vulnerability, drawing the audience closer to the characters’ experiences. 

Crawley mentions a particularly striking example. A scene where the Steadicam operator, Attila Pfeffer, transitions from a smooth Steadicam shot to a handheld mode within the same take. This daring technical feat reflects the film’s willingness to break with convention in order to serve the emotional needs of the story.

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This deliberate shifting between camera styles is not arbitrary. It’s a carefully orchestrated visual strategy that adds depth and complexity to the film’s narrative.

LIGHTING: SCULPTING WITH SHADOWS AND NUANCE

Crawley’s approach to lighting in The Brutalist is characterized by a strong emphasis on naturalism and a willingness to embrace shadows. 

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He describes his process as “lighting it to replicate what the best version of how we found it.” 

Meaning that he draws inspiration from the existing light in a location and then subtly augments it to create consistency and control.

Lol Crawley on set | Photo courtesy of International Film Festival Rotterdam

This doesn’t mean that the film is devoid of stylized lighting. In the furniture showroom scene, for example, Crawley uses Venetian blinds to create a “noir-ish quality.” They cast dramatic shadows and shape the light to enhance the mood. This demonstrates his ability to blend naturalistic and stylized approaches, creating a lighting design that is both believable and emotionally expressive. He also worked with Judy Becker on a fabricated light for the Library, something that is seen in other films.

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PRACTICAL LIGHTING

Crawley frequently uses practical lights — lights that are visible within the scene, such as lamps, windows, or overhead fixtures — as a key source of illumination. This adds to the film’s realism and creates a sense of depth and texture.

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NATURAL LIGHT

Whenever possible, Crawley utilizes natural light, shaping and modifying it with reflectors, diffusers, and flags to achieve the desired effect. This creates a soft, believable light that feels organic to the environment.

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SHADOWS

Shadows are not avoided; they are embraced as a crucial element of the visual composition. Crawley creates depth with shadows to sculpt the actors’ faces and to add a sense of mystery or drama.

Lol Crawley, BSC on location of The Brutalist | Photo by Bence Szemerey

A CINEMATOGRAPHIC VISION REALIZED 

The choice of VistaVision gives the film its own visual identity. Lol Crawley’s cinematography on The Brutalist is a vital component of the film’s success. His technical skill, his artistic sensibility, and his deep understanding of the story have resulted in a visual language that is both striking and emotionally resonant. From the grand sweep of the VistaVision format to the intimate details of the lighting and camera movement, every choice is deliberate, serving the narrative and enhancing the audience’s experience. This is cinematography that goes beyond mere visual spectacle; it’s cinematography that tells a story.

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❑ COSTUME DESIGN ❒

While architecture forms the imposing backbone of The Brutalist, costume designer Kate Forbes masterfully uses clothing to flesh out the characters, chart their emotional journeys, and subtly reinforce the film’s themes. Her work on the film is not simply about dressing actors; it’s about crafting a visual language that speaks to the passage of time, the weight of personal history, and the complexities of the American Dream. Forbes, with three decades of experience, brings a nuanced understanding of period detail and a punk-rock spirit of resourcefulness to this challenging project.

Costume Designer & Stylist Kate Forbes | Courtesy of Each is Every

AUTHENTICITY ON A BUDGET: SOURCING AND CREATING THE WARDROBE

The Brutalist spans several decades, from 1947 to 1960, demanding a wardrobe that accurately reflects the evolving fashions of the era. However, as Forbes reveals, the film operated on a “limited budget,” necessitating a creative and resourceful approach to sourcing costumes. This wasn’t about commissioning lavish, custom-made pieces for every scene. It was about meticulously curating a wardrobe that felt authentic and lived-in, while still serving the narrative needs of the film.

“The script itself drew me in 100%. I thought it was an amazing script, and I’ve always loved ‘The Fountainhead,’ the Ayn Rand book, and there seemed to be echoes of that in ‘The Brutalist.’” —Kate Forbes

Forbes and her team embarked on a transatlantic treasure hunt, collaborating with “seven costume houses in the end in the U.K. and [the rest of] Europe.” This involved scouring vintage stores, costume rental houses, and private collections for original pieces from the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. This approach not only ensured authenticity but also added a layer of texture and history to the costumes, imbuing them with a sense of lived experience.

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The sheer scale of the wardrobe was daunting. Forbes estimates that over 750 to 1,000 costumes were used for the extras alone, highlighting the meticulous attention to detail required to create a believable period world. This wasn’t just about dressing the leads. It was about populating entire scenes with characters who felt authentically rooted in their time and place.

CHARACTER THROUGH COSTUME: DEFINING PERSONALITIES AND RELATIONSHIPS

Beyond reflecting historical accuracy, the costumes would play a crucial role in defining the characters and their relationships.

LÁSZLÓ TOTH (ADRIEN BRODY)

Forbes emphasizes Toth’s “defiant independence,” a quality that sets him apart from the “sea of suits” represented by Harrison Lee and the American establishment. This suggests that Toth’s clothing, even as he achieves success, might retain a certain individuality, a subtle rejection of conformity. 

In a pivotal scene where Toth reunites with his wife, Erzsébet (Felicity Jones), Forbes made a conscious choice to dress him in a grey sports jacket and pale blue shirt, signifying “a moment of hope and serenity.” This departure from his usual attire underscores the emotional significance of the reunion.

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HARRISON LEE (GUY PEARCE)

Lee’s costumes, as a wealthy patron, were impeccably tailored and expensive, conveying his status and power. This creates a visual contrast with Toth’s more individualistic style. The choice of his ties was a selection between sapphire and deep red.

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ZSÓPHIA (RAFFEY CASSIDY)

Her introductory outfit is one that helps to display the tense situation she is in during her interrogation scene.

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BEYOND THE SURFACE: SYMBOLISM AND SUBTEXT

Forbes’s approach to costume design goes beyond mere period accuracy. She uses clothing to convey subtle nuances of character, emotion, and theme. The choice of a grey sports jacket and pale blue shirt for Toth in the reunion scene is a prime example of this. It’s not just a random outfit. Rather, it’s a deliberate choice that signifies a shift in his emotional state.

Similarly, Forbes mentions the “Lee Harrison ties,” carefully selected in shades of “sapphire and deep red.” These seemingly minor details contribute to the overall visual language of the film, hinting at the underlying power dynamics and the contrasting personalities of the characters.

UNPLANNED MAGIC: EMBRACING THE UNEXPECTED

Forbes also highlights the importance of being open to unexpected moments of serendipity. She describes a scene featuring Emma Laird in a red dress, set against red curtains. 

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This striking visual juxtaposition wasn’t meticulously planned; it was a happy accident, a moment of “unplanned magic” that arose from the confluence of costume and set design. Forbes’s willingness to embrace these unplanned moments, to recognize their beauty and incorporate them into the film’s visual tapestry, speaks to her experience and her intuitive understanding of using costumes to shape a story. She also explains how this helps capture “how life goes.”

Forbes describes herself as having a “punk spirit,” an attitude that informs her approach to filmmaking. This doesn’t mean she’s creating punk-inspired costumes for a period piece. Instead, it speaks to her resourceful, independent, and anti-establishment approach. She values individuality and authenticity, and she’s not afraid to break the rules or challenge conventions to achieve her vision. This punk spirit is evident in her willingness to source original vintage pieces, to collaborate closely with actors, and to embrace the unexpected moments that can elevate a film’s visual language.

❑ WATCH THE BRUTALIST ❒

The Brutalist stands as a filmic monument to the power of collaborative filmmaking, a symphony of vision orchestrated by director Brady Corbet and brought to life by the artistry of Lol Crawley, BSC, Judy Becker, Kate Forbe, and the entire creative team. It’s a film that demonstrates how every visual element — from the grand sweep of VistaVision cinematography to the subtle details of costume and production design — can contribute to a powerful and unforgettable cinematic experience. 

This isn’t just a film about architecture. This is a film that uses architecture, light, and design to explore the complexities of human ambition, the weight of history, and the enduring search for meaning. Thus, proving that independent films can be just as beautiful as blockbusters.

“The film is, in many ways, a meditation on the American Dream, its promises and its pitfalls. It’s about what it means to strive for greatness, and what we lose in the process.” —Brady Corbet

The Brutalist is available on your friendly neighborhood streaming service. 

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WORK CITED:

• Haigh, Chris (Host). “Finding the Frame Podcast: Featuring Lol Crawley, BSC and Judy Becker.” Filmmakers Academy Podcast, Season 2, Episode 5, February 25, 2025. https://www.filmmakersacademy.com/blog-deconstructing-the-brutalist/.  
• Jules, Jadah. “Q&A: Kate Forbes on the clothes behind ‘The Brutalist’.” Washington Square News, 4 Mar. 2025, https://nyunews.com/arts/2024/03/04/kate-forbes-the-brutalist/.
• “The Brutalist: the art of costume in a period production.” Peris Costumes, 6 Feb. 2025, https://www.periscostumes.com/the-brutalist-the-art-of-costume-in-a-period-production/.

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Before the advent of Barbie, a little girl’s connection with her dolls was exclusively a motherly one. So, while at its core the movie explores the themes of the mother-daughter relationship, the filmmakers valiantly attempt to free Barbie from any conflation with patriarchy — because quite simply, we’re all Barbie. 

From its opening sequence which pays homage to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, the Barbie movie breaks the mold of cinematic universes. The film’s auteur director, Greta Gerwig, conveys the impact of the titular doll by capturing the imagination of millions of girls around the world. Barbie encourages young girls to look outward and represents the endless possibilities of what they may achieve if they so desire. 

(SPOILERS AHEAD!)

Beyond the elaborate dance numbers and choreography is a fish-out-of-water story that shifts into a reversal of roles. In her Barbie movie, Gerwig reveals another side of the iconic doll that is much more than a piece of merchandise geared toward young girls ages 3-12 years of age. 

The director cleverly illustrates the idea that anyone can imagine themselves in the titular role of Barbie, and pink isn’t a dreadful by-product of the patriarchy, but rather a color with a history of empowering women.

Now, some may feel a sense of unease or even resentment about how the Barbie movie makes them feel — but that’s on purpose! The film doesn’t only challenge gender roles but also holds a mirror up to the audience in the real world. In Barbie Land, the gender roles are flipped and women hold every position of power, while the men serve as second-class citizens who vie for the Barbies’ attention and approval. 

What Gerwig does so well is take said gender roles of circa 1959, and flip them on their heads. Ruth Handler envisioned more in life for her daughter than only becoming a housewife or a secondary role in the workplace. Barbie could be a doctor instead of a nurse. A pilot rather than a flight attendant. A president over a first lady. 

So, why emasculate Ken? Ken doesn’t just represent men but in this mirror world, he also represents the women and how they are treated in a patriarchal society. After he turns Barbie Land into a Kentriarcy, he asks, “How does that feel?” Not only is he addressing Barbie, but the audience, too. 

Photo credit: Jaap Buitendijk | Warner Bros.

Such themes make Barbie more than just a fantastical comedy but also a meditation on today’s world and the relationship between genders. Just as the Kens need more than “Beach,” women desire a purpose in life that extends beyond motherhood. 

Discover how Gerwig and her team of filmmakers adapted the world of the iconic doll for the silver screen, while masterfully conceiving a new kind of cinematic universe that is quite simply a fantastical marvel.

This is The Look of Barbie.

CONTENTS:

• Tech Specs
• The World 
• Production Design
• Cinematography
• Costume Design
• Practical FX

💋 BARBIE TECH SPECS 💋

• Runtime: 1 hour 54 minutes (114 minutes)
• Color: 
  • Color 

• Aspect Ratio: 
  • 2.00: 1 

• Camera: 
  • Arri Alexa 65, Panavision System 65 Lenses

• Laboratory
  • Company 3, Los Angeles (CA), USA (dailies)
  • Company 3, New York (NY), USA (color, finish)
  • Warner Bros. De Lane Lea, London, UK (digital dailies)
• Negative Format: Codex
• Cinematographic Process: 
  • ARRIRAW 6.5K, source format) 
  • Digital Intermediate (4K, master format)

• Printed Film Format: 
  • D-Cinema
  • DCP Digital Cinema Package 

Join Filmmakers Academy starting at just $4.99/mo.!

💋 THE WORLD OF BARBIE 💋

The world of Barbie Land is a feminist paradise where every day is as sunny and as fabulous as the last. 

Speaking of paradise, have you heard of the Barbie Paradise Pool Playset?! 

Well, to be fair, this waterfall is closer to a bird bath — but a girl can dream…

But just before you start thinking the whole movie is just one big ad, we would insist that merchandising is foundational to the very concept of Barbie. Plus, there’s much more depth than your average commercial spot. Barbie is a collective force that must seek self-awareness from the real world to improve the quality of life for its class of Kens. It’s an allegory, duh! 

Even Mattel, the company behind Barbie, is a patriarchal force in the film that tries to manage and control Barbie. In any case, it’s essentially all played for laughs and Mattel’s ineptitude even leads to some loveable Barbie flops from over the decades. 

Except for Allan. Whoever created that guy should have been fired and is hopefully burning in — oh, hello Allan! 

Barbie Movie | Warner Bros.

What’s his deal? And did you see that cardigan? BLAH! Anyway…

The Land of Barbie is a direct foil to the outside world, specifically represented by Century City in Los Angeles and Venice Beach. In a fish-out-of-water sequence, Barbie and Ken are struck by the patriarchy. Men serve in most positions of power but “hide it better” as one businessman discloses to Ken. Barbie not only contends with catcalling construction workers and the male gaze, but even her target audience that she once inspired no longer shares her unwavering optimism.  

The Barbie movie is jam-packed full of popular film references and easter eggs — one of our favorites was from The Matrix. In this case, Stereotypical Barbie must choose between maintaining the status quo with the pink heel or entering the real world with the Birkenstock. Will she accept a flatfooted existence like the rest of us? 

Barbie Movie | Warner Bros.

Another reference was a la Jon Voight in Midnight Cowboy as Barbie and Ken wander the streets dressed in western-themed wear. Plus, there was the montage of traveling between worlds. That was highly reminiscent of Buddy the Elf trekking from the fantastical North Pole to the real world of The Big Apple. 

The movie then shifts into a reversal of roles plot as Ken takes the real world’s patriarchal ideas, and slinks back to Barbie Land to plan a total Ken takeover. The genders subsequently face off. However, the Barbies somehow withstand the combined might of a Ken-wide serenade, even fighting off the unadulterated charm of the Kens’ cover of Matchbox Twenty’s Push. 

Barbie Movie | Warner Bros.

“I wanna push you a-round, well I will, well I will! I wanna push you down, well I will, well I will. I wanna take you for graaaannted!”

Jealousy ensues leading to an epic dance battle showdown where many Kens courageously fall to rolled ankles and wardrobe malfunctions.

💋 PRODUCTION DESIGN 💋

The Barbie movie had the monumental task of taking a miniature, idealistic plastic world and making it a life-sized reality. Fortunately, the production design was in the very capable hands of Sarah Greenwood, who is also known for her work on Anna Karenina and Darkest Hour. 

Greenwood along with longtime collaborator set decorator Katie Spencer, conceived of the contrast between the pastel world of Barbie Land and the gritty streets of Los Angeles. The reason Gerwig chose Greenwood and Spencer was because of their reputation as builders of complete worlds. 

(L) Set decorator Katie Spencer and (R) Production designer Sarah Greenwood | Photo credit: Laurie Sparham

Production took place 20 miles northwest of London at Warner Bros’ Leavesden Studios. Interestingly enough, the production took place amidst a gray and dreary English winter. So, inside the dull, dreary hellscape that is an English winter, the Barbie production shone bright like a pink gemstone amidst a perfect summer day. 

PRE-PRODUCTION:

Greenwood and Spencer found inspiration for Barbie Land directly in the merchandise. Most notably, the Barbie Dreamhouse playhouses. This was in conjunction with the midcentury modernism of Kaufmann Palm Springs Desert House by Richard Neutra and the photography of Slim Aarons. Neither playing with Barbies as children, the duo ordered their first dreamhouse off of Amazon and made up for lost time. 

“We were literally playing with it with the Barbie dolls we had in the office.” —Sarah Greenwood, Filmmaker Magazine

The filmmakers found themselves motivated by what Barbie represented, especially when her first dream house was released at a time when few women owned their own houses. Gerwig’s vision was to create an “authentic artificiality,” like a hand-painted backdrop of the sky or an oversized toothbrush and hairbrush. In fact, the cloth they used was over 800 feet long and 50 feet high. As the director puts it, “Everything needed to be tactile, because toys are, above all, things you touch.” 

“We’re not recreating Mattel, we are interpreting the dream houses through the last 70 years,” Greenwood tells IndieWire. “And it’s an amalgam of all the [Palm Springs] houses. But it had to work for our story and also to make it suitable.”  

CONSTRUCTING BARBIE’S DREAMHOUSE

The result was the 360-degree, open-air neighborhood of dollhouses otherwise known as Barbie Way. Its open architecture allowed the filmmakers to cross-shoot into the houses. Then, they downscaled the structures by 23% to match how a Barbie doll fits in a toy dreamhouse. While it helped contain more in the frame, it also made the ceilings closer to the head and rooms traversable by merely a few steps. 

While each dreamhouse’s design forgoes walls and doors that may be unsuitable for you and me, its architectural design is more than fitting for a doll. “Dreamhouses assume that you never have anything you wish was private — there is no place to hide,” Gerwig says to Architectural Digest. In place of walk-in closets are vitrines inspired by toy boxes containing fabulous outfits and every kind of accessory imaginable. 

The real challenge was figuring out how to make the house stand without any walls. They used a pink-stoned chimney that runs up the center of the structure to hold it all up. In an interview with Filmmaker Magazine, Spencer notes their success in making the house feel like a toy by playing with absence. 

“It’s the space,” she says, “it’s what you don’t have…. Your wallpaper is not just behind you. It’s all three-dimensional things that are behind that, which are the trees, the mountains of houses, other actors, so that was quite tricky.” 

Their architecture was inspired by past dreamhouses, like the 1970s bohemian model, which was itself designed with luxury trimmings. For example, its lamps were inspired by trompe l’oeil Tiffany, and according to AD, her clamshell headboard was upholstered in velvet and had a sequined coverlet. 

The fantasy fuchsia home is complete with a coiling slide that leads down to a kidney-shaped pool bordered by yellow umbrellas and Philippe Starck chaise lounge chairs. 

Barbie movie | Warner Bros.

THE COLOR PINK

“I don’t think we have seen or will ever see a film with more pink in it,” says Barbie movie producer David Heyman. 

Barbie Movie | Warner Bros.

Of course, not just any shade of pink would do in the Barbie movie! Not all pinks are created equal as Greenwood mentions that there are “nasty pinks out there as well.” Their shade of pink, known as Baker-Miller pink (#FF91AF), was also used in the 1950s to treat depression. Barbie fans may better know it as Pantone 219. In fact, outside Mattel’s executive conference room in the movie sits a giant chip of Pantone 219. Overall, they tested about 100 kinds of pink, and out of those selected 12 key shades. 

“It’s also the quantity of color and light,” explains Greenwood to Filmmaker Magazine. “If the colors had been off-putting — and I think that’s a good word to use — it would’ve been horrendous. But the colors and that pink were so pure. And Rodrigo Prieto’s lighting was so pure: like, a thousand sky pans in the roof and big soft suns. The wattage was fantastic. 

“Normally when you go on a film set, it’s all focused into this little dark corner and everything else is black,” the production designer continues. “It was the opposite with us. Everything was colorful from wall to wall. It was just brilliance and light and color. You walk onto those stages out of the gray Watford [UK] winter, and it was just like being bathed in something. Better than going on holiday. It was an amazing color therapy.”

BARBIE MOVIE PRODUCTION:

There’s no time, logic, or physics in Barbie Land, says Greenwood. Just as the imaginary world of Barbie Land lacks fire, water, and electricity, most of the movie’s production turns to in-camera and practical effects over CGI. Gerwig had many philosophical conversations with the filmmakers about the nature of dolls and properly conveying the laws of their reality. 

Amco | BACKGRID

Greenwood and her team also made use of miniatures for their set extensions in Barbie Land. Once they photographed them they added them in post-production. “You get miniatures within miniatures,” says Greenwood. “We like this layering, of not quite knowing where it is and what you are looking at.” 

“Everything in camera [is] tangible, due to the fact that we made all the set extensions. When you drive past the cinema and you’ve got all the shops and you’ve got the beachfront, and all the little houses when she’s standing on the roof and looking beyond… We made all of them as 1:18 scale miniatures. They’re all made in the same way we make all the sets, and then they’re put in post…. It’s all in camera. And it also means that when the actors walk in, they are in the world, it’s a completely immersive experience. In this instance, it really helped.” —Greenwood, Filmmaker Magazine

DANCE PARTY

In an instantly iconic moment, the Barbies get jiggy with it at a spectacular dance party. It has all the flash and pomp you would expect in a Barbie movie, full of sparkly lights, your favorite music, and never-ending fun! 

“It’s disco, it’s a bit of Studio 54, a little ‘Sweet Charity,’ it’s got sparkles. It’s Greta’s love of Barbie. She had lots of Barbies, but her favorite era was the ’80s.” —Katie Spencer, IndieWire

WEIRD BARBIE HOUSE

The ostracized ‘Weird Barbie’ (Kate McKinnon) lived in a structure with a twisted design inspired by the houses of Norman Bates in Psycho and Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird. And just like the Bates house in Psycho, Weird Barbie’s lair constructed of blocks and triangles sits atop a hill. 

Barbie Movie | Warner Bros

While the Barbie Dreamhouse cul-de-sac was an actual set, Weird Barbie’s house was actually a miniature. 

“With the purity of the color, the shape, texture, lighting and everything, there was nowhere to hide, so it all had to be real. There is one sequence that was put in in post—and I don’t think it’s the best sequence. It is when she’s walking up to Weird Barbie’s house. It’s too far, too cartoon, and kind of wrong. It should have been done differently — I wasn’t around when it was done.” —Sarah Greenwood, Filmmaker Magazine

VENICE BEACH

Venice Beach served essentially as a foil to the beach in Barbieland. A particular crossover element that extended into both worlds was the lifeguard station. In Barbieland, it was smaller and ombre in blues and pinks, which is contrasted by the real-world whites and browns. 

Behind-the-scenes video of Barbie: The Movie | Warner Bros.

“I’ve always loved the palm trees on Venice Beach that have the graffiti on,” says Greenwood. “I just think they land on Venice Beach and they are alien. This place is alien to them, but they are alien within it and this is where Jacqueline’s costumes were sublime. When you’re landing in the real world it is heightened.” 

MATTEL HEADQUARTERS

Gerwig wanted Mattel to feel like a “halfway house” between the two worlds. The execs of Mattel had an awareness of Barbieland and how to travel there. 

“Everything about their world was slightly combined and very monochromatic until you went upstairs into the boardroom,” explains Greenwood. “You go into that boardroom and what we did, rather than doing a blue screen, we did a painted cloth outside. And we slightly played with the architecture of Los Angeles.”

What the filmmakers did was bring in the snowy mountains, added Warner Bros. Discovery in center frame, and aspects of downtown Los Angeles. 

“We wanted it to look like the Emerald City, but in gold.” —Sarah Greenwood, TheWrap

THE MAGICAL KITCHEN

The filmmakers dubbed the kitchen at Mattel headquarters “The Magical Kitchen,” haunted by the creator of Barbie, Ruth Handler. The 1950s-style kitchen feels purposefully out of place from the rest of the corporate office building. It’s like entering another dimension made for the late Barbie creator.  

“Just in the corner, she’s got her own little doll’s house, which is like the Barbie house, with flamingos and things like that,” describes Spencer. “And she used to type up scripts for movies, so there’s lots of movies there. She’s making gold clothes on her sewing machine.”

BARBIE LAND AND THE KEN TAKEOVER

According to Greenwood, the rules of Barbie Land included no black or white colors. “Nothing from the real world,” she says. 

Meanwhile, upon Ken’s return, he paints it black as he turns Barbie Land into the patriarchy. Ken is quick to lay claim on Barbie’s dream house, remodeling it into his Mojo Dojo Casa House replete with leather sofas and rootbeer fountains. Gerwig told Greenwood and Spencer to go for it when they asked if they could make it ugly. 

So, they filled the place with mini-fridges and Hummers giving it the feel of an Ivy League frat house. 

“What I love as well is all the television screens that he places in peculiar places like the chimneys and in the gardens because there’s no walls, of course,” explains Spencer. “It’s all playing the same footage of horses cantering slowly towards camera and then stopping. And there is a sort of melancholia about that as well, so it’s the comedy and the pathos.”

By the time we reach the end of the film, there’s a balance between Barbie and Ken. And not just that but the misfit Barbies, as well, with Weird Barbie’s stairs and her vulture mailbox. 

💋 BARBIE CINEMATOGRAPHY 💋

The impressive cinematography of the Barbie movie was the result of three-time Oscar-nominated director of photography, Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC. Who better to take on nearly every cinematographer’s nightmare of balancing numerous shades of pink in perhaps the pinkest movie ever? 

When conversations began with Gerwig and her team, Prieto was planning Killers of the Flower Moon in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Pretty much in every way, Barbie is the polar opposite of the upcoming Scorsese film — which Prieto acknowledges was a huge challenge. 

PRE-PRODUCTION:

Echoing the production design, it was Prieto’s plan to cinematically convey a world of make-believe with the audience feeling like they’re in a box. Accomplishing such a feat includes painted backdrops (as mentioned above) and embracing the feeling of being on a stage.  

Pre-production began via Zoom conversations with Gerwig and production designer Sarah Greenwood. Gerwig was inspired by movies of the 1950s and musicals like Singin’ in the Rain and The Wizard of Oz. These weren’t the only inspirations for the filmmakers as The Umbrellas of Cherbourg influenced Prieto’s lighting and color decisions. 

CAMERA AND LENSES

To capture Barbie and friends with frontal camera movements, Prieto chose the big sensor camera Alexa 65 for its shallow depth of field. As for glass, they went with the Panavision System 65 Lenses. 

However, for the real world, they used a regular sensor over the big sensor so the depth of field felt more “like a regular movie.” 

TECHNIBARBIE

Prieto devised the Lookup Tables (LUTs) for the Barbie film with one primarily for Barbie Land and another for the real world, in addition to a few select others. The main LUT for Barbie Land was based on the three-strip Technicolor utilized in movies of the 1930s – 1950s. This would give Gerwig the saturated colors of her favorite musicals. Greta coined their new LUT, ‘TechniBarbie’. 

Barbie Movie | Warner Bros.

The LUT they used for the real world was inspired by a film negative to give the impression of celluloid even though they shot on digital. By contrast, the palette very much feels flatter and grittier than its fantastical dollhouse foil. 

PRODUCTION:

One of the biggest challenges for the Barbie movie cinematography was bridging the gap between fantasy and reality. This is where the production design and cinematography truly come to a head. The beach in Barbie Land contains a few otherworldly variables. For one, the beach simply goes on forever, and the water is, well, not water. It’s actually solid! Prieto and his team shot plates for the walls so visual effects could extend the painted backdrop of the sky. 

When it came to reality, Prieto allowed his team to work a “little more sloppy” in terms of camera movement to accentuate the imperfections of the real world. 

Photo (L) | Credit: Hollywood Pipeline and Photo (R) | Credit: MEGA

“It’s what’s beautiful about life,” explains Prieto, “the messiness and the unpredictability of things. We used longer lenses sometimes, which in Barbie Land was a no-no because everything needed to feel sort of close and wide. I think it’s relatively subtle, but I mean, certainly simply being in Venice, California, versus being in a studio in London automatically created a big difference.”

The production contains big musical numbers with epic choreography that is reminiscent of some of the most iconic musicals. Prieto had lensed choreography sequences in the past on music videos but the Barbie movie was about capturing the timeless quality of musicals. One of Prieto’s favorite movies is All That Jazz, specifically with how Bob Fosse finessed the choreography with the camera work. 

“I worked closely with the choreographers and it was all really thought out of what the camera was going to do, where it was going to be. It was amazing. I really enjoyed it and also coming up with the lighting for all that and designing it with my gaffer and my dimmer operator.” —Prieto, TheWrap

LIGHTING

The sky was literally the limit when it came to light motivation for Barbie Land, where every day was sunny. If you noticed, in every shot, the characters were backlit by the gorgeous sun. On different corners of the stages, the filmmakers rigged big fixtures known as soft suns, along with another on a lift. Even though it’s artificial, Prieto was keen on making the lighting feel like a true exterior. 

Barbie Movie | Warner Bros.

When communicating with his team about lighting, Prieto would say, “‘OK, now we’re doing this angle, turn that one on, turn this one on,’ or sometimes when the camera pans around, we’d literally dim the soft sun down, so that when you pan the camera around now it’s backlit again, so we took away one sun and brought up another.”

One of the challenges was dealing with the pink and magenta bounce on the actors from all the pink props. What made it even more difficult was that there was no black in Barbie Land, so their hands were tied when it came to negative fill. So, instead, they turned to neutral fill and draped everything in gray that wasn’t on camera. 

Barbie Movie | Warner Bros.

Returning back to The Umbrellas of Cherbourg as a reference, Prieto felt the frontal lighting made Catherine Deneuve look innocent. Since they wanted lateral and frontal camera moves on tracks instead of oblique camera angles, they had to use high-key lighting. So, then, they had to contend with creating the illusion of depth with their lighting.  

“I had to figure out how to get the sensation of dimensionality and depth with color,” Prieto tells TheWrap. “So that’s the sort of world we were navigating, trying to make it feel like a miniature but not exactly, try to make it feel like a daytime exterior but not exactly. So that was always that balance of artificial but feeling somehow authentic to that world.” 

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💋 BARBIE COSTUME DESIGN 💋

Starting from the opening of the film when Barbie stands like the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey, wearing her first-ever outfit, a legendary black and white swimsuit from circa 1959, her character journey transitions from a reflection of what others behold in her to her own liberation of becoming human. It was essential that the wardrobe help illustrate Barbie’s trajectory. 

It’s no surprise that one of the first people Gerwig sought out for her Barbie film was Costume designer Jacqueline Durran. The two had previously collaborated on Little Women which earned Durran an Academy Award. The Oscar-winning costume designer masterfully replicated Barbie’s most iconic wardrobe that dazzled Barbiecore adorning audiences. 

Barbie Movie | Warner Bros.

The germ for Barbie’s coveted closet began right at the source. Durran wanted to pay homage to Barbie’s most fabulous looks and connect with the memories of the Barbie fanbase. This achievement was conducted with the help of Kim Culmone, the head of design for fashion dolls at Mattel. Culmone and her team were tasked with digging into the Barbie archives to support Durran’s team. 

Durran also worked closely with production designer Sarah Greenwood to ensure their colors and designs matched. This wasn’t their first collaboration as they had all worked together before and had already developed a “shorthand” form of communication. With pink as their primary color, they chose gold as a contrasting color inspired by Mattel’s back catalogs. In the wardrobe, this pink/gold contrast is most notably exhibited in Barbie’s gold sequined disco jumpsuit. 

WHAT INSPIRED THE BARBIE WARDROBE?

Durran had perhaps the greatest of all challenges — meeting the aesthetical expectations of fans who each have their own personal connection to the ubiquitous doll. So, how did she pull it off? There was their relationship with Mattel that granted authenticity to their approach to both fabric and design. 

For example, the rollerblading outfit was an updated version of ‘Hot Skating Barbie’. “I looked up all of the rollerblading and roller-skating costumes that Barbie’s ever had and then I thought, well, let’s do “Hot Skating Barbie.” Durran and her team used the same fabric as the original but modified its design. 

“Instead of her wardrobe being a reflection of her character, it’s a reflection of the wider idea of Barbie.” —Jacqueline Durran, Harper’s BAZAAR

However, there were occasions where they decided to replicate the design to exaction. The discontinued Barbie costumes had to appear exactly the same or audiences wouldn’t identify with them. The designers encountered a mountain of work scaling each costume to fit the civilization of Barbies and Kens. 

Barbie Movie | Warner Bros.

The costume designers crafted every article of clothing by hand and down to custom silk screening. Committed to its fanbase, the Mattel team wanted to adhere to Barbie’s “toyetic” nature in the real world. From the iconic 1950s swimsuit to the cowboy attire, such wardrobe decisions were key to defining Barbie and Ken from regular people. It’s even better if it doesn’t make sense. Like when Ken strolls around in flat boxing shoes meant for smooth surfaces, in the fake grass and gravel of Barbie Land. 

BARBIE CHANEL COLLABORATION

The Barbie production’s collaboration with Chanel was a result of Durran’s long-standing relationship with the luxury fashion house and the pink-suited Chanel Barbie of the 2000s. Margot Robbie’s Stereotypical Barbie sports the Chanel suit when meeting President Barbie (Issa Rae) at the White House. This, of course, was under the direction of Chanel’s creative director Karl Lagerfeld, who also designed a Barbie collection inspired by his personal image in the 1990s. 

Chanel also helped bridge the gap for some costumes that were never featured in the Barbie collection. Even though Chanel doesn’t make menswear, they helped the production by crafting Ken’s ski suit. So, ultimately, Chanel was the cornerstone of the Barbie movie’s legendary wardrobe. 

“There’s the kind of piece de resistance which is the full Chanel look when Barbie has to really look her best,” explains Durran to THR. “And I thought, let’s just do the complete thing head-to-toe Chanel and it’s great. I think it’s kind of a high point.” 

In addition to their collaboration with Chanel, the Barbie production also featured dressware and accessories from Zara, Stuart Weitzman, and Gap. 

WESTERN-THEMED BARBIE OUTFIT

The western-themed outfits Barbie and Ken wear once they enter Venice Beach are much more than a wardrobe of convenience. After the cat-calling construction workers, Barbie and Ken switch threads to blend into the real world. Not only were the cowboy costumes inspired by Midnight Cowboy. Their Wild West theme also conveyed the idea that the toys were very much out of place in a uniquely American patriarchal realm. 

In creating the Western look, the biggest challenge was finding pink denim. Durran tells Entertainment Weekly how they had to print a denim texture on pink stretch fabric. “There were lots of different versions of it, with a waistband, without a waistband. It took a long time just to work, to get the exact details of it.”  

KEN’S ‘KENTRIARCHY’ OUTFITS

Throughout the first part of the movie, Ken is dressed to function as another one of Barbie’s accessories. So, when he returns to Barbie Land, he can’t help but overcompensate. 

Barbie Movie | Warner Bros.

His wardrobe is a cross between a 1980s action hero and a horse-obsessed frat boy. What ties every Kentriarchy outfit together is his lightning-flaring headband, which was taken from the pattern on his tracksuit with a horse galloping amidst lightning flashes. In fact, Ken’s fascination with horses is one of his few interests that doesn’t involve Barbie’s approval of him. And this is reflected in his wardrobe as he takes control of Barbie Land. 

The action hero-inspired part of the wardrobe was influenced by Sylvester Stallone. “Those images were kind of around in the early prep when we were first talking about what Ken would look like,” says Durran. While describing it as over-the-top would even feel like an understatement, Ryan Gosling embraced the look — particularly the fur coat! And, yes! The fur coat also has a pattern of horses on its inner lining. “That’s one of my favorite things,” says Durran. 

Durran and her team shopped for many of Ken’s retro sportswear outfits with the help of shoppers based in the U.S. They then imported the clothing back to London for Duran and her team, who were in much need of it. 

BARBIE’S CLIMACTIC OUTFIT

The yellow outfit Barbie wears at the climax near the end of the movie is an opportune moment for Durran, because the costume designer explains that it denotes Barbie “as she’s becoming human.” 

The costume stands out from Barbie’s other wardrobe with its bias-cut dress that drapes. One of Barbie’s most popular costumes over the past decade is a yellow dress that Durran considered copying. 

“But it wouldn’t really be recognizable enough,” Durran tells Variety. “We wanted a soft yellow and wanted it to have less pop. So, we printed that yellow onto white silk, and because of the cut, it clings to the body. That’s not really a Barbie characteristic — the Barbie characteristic is to be cut straight and to create a shape that falls away from the body.” 

💋 PRACTICAL FX 💋

A team of craftspeople in the art department was essential to pulling off the look of Barbie. While it was important to create everything first by hand, such as the miniatures, the visual effects department would then scan them into CG models. This allowed the filmmakers to retain an authentic color and texture.  

BARBIE EMBRACES PRACTICAL EFFECTS OVER CGI

While production designer Sarah Greenwood feels there’s a time and place for CGI, she notes that Gerwig decided early on that she wanted to embrace practical effects. Returning to the opening sequence inspired by 2001, the legs were very much real — as were all of the rocks. Only the sky was created with CGI in post-production. 

“You’re making a toy,” says Greenwood, “and if you don’t, if it’s not real and it’s not there, it’s kind of irrelevant.”

Barbie Movie | Warner Bros.

The crew actually constructed the pair of legs so the little girls actually interacted with them. 

The goal for Gerwig and her team of filmmakers was to create the look and feel of a diorama box rather than an overly polished CGI finish. So, even the stars and flowers were hung on wires and strings. 

LEAVING BARBIE LAND

A fan-favorite part of the Barbie movie was the montage sequences of Barbie leaving and returning to Barbie Land. It was reminiscent of Buddy the Elf leaving the North Pole. 

According to cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC, he found the practical effects of the transitionary scenes challenging but fun. The fantastical journey involved a car, boat, rocket ship, and snowmobile, among other modes of transportation. The primary motor for their “journey” was a conveyor belt that’s typically used in stage productions. 

“The script just said, ‘and now they’re on a boat, and now they’re on the spaceship,’ but didn’t specify anything,” the cinematographer tells TheWrap. “But we, as a team, came up with this idea of it being very theatrical. Sarah Greenwood, the production designer, is brilliant. She made this very theatrical thing where you’d have the foreground, the foreground ground moving on a belt, and the vehicle was a cut-out that had a little bit of dimension on a fake road that little lines were moving, and then the next layer was maybe the desert on a flat painting which was moving at different speed, and then another layer was mountains that were moving in another speed.” 

Everything from the dolphins to the seagull was operated by puppeteers. This suits comedy especially well because the actors can interact and improvise with handmade props and objects. “They were actually seeing dolphins,” explains Prieto, “they were seeing the cut-out mountains. So it was great fun. Pretty challenging, but fun.” 

💋 WATCH BARBIE 💋

Watch Greta Gerwig’s authentically artificial world full of a civilization of Barbies and Kens! And book your tickets at your local movie theater to see the Barbie movie in all of its synthetic splendor! 

After Barbie leaves theaters, it will be available on your friendly neighborhood streaming service. 

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WORK CITED:

• IndieWire
  • The Design Rules of Barbie Land Included ‘No Black, No White, Nothing from the Real World’ 
• Architectural Digest
  • Inside the Barbie Dreamhouse, a Fuchsia Fantasy Inspired by Palm Springs 
• Filmmaker Magazine
  • “I Think We Sampled 100 Pinks”: Production Designer Sarah Greenwood and Set Decorator Katie Spencer on Barbie
• TheWrap

• • ‘Barbie’ Production Designers Reveal Set Secrets, From the Key to Kendom to a Painted LA Skyline
  • ‘Barbie’ Cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto Explains the Rules That Conjured the ‘Artificial Reality’ of Barbie Land 
• Time
  • How Greta Gerwig Got Barbie — From the Clothes to the Dream House — Just Right 
• The Hollywood Reporter
  • ‘Barbie’ Costume Designer Jacqueline Durran Has One Rule for Good Barbiecore
• Entertainment Weekly
  • Hidden details (Sylvester Stallone! Faux denim! Horses!) in Barbie’s costume design 
• Harper’s BAZAAR
  • Why Is It So Deeply Satisfying to Dress Like Barbie? 
• Comicbook.com
  • Barbie Costume Designer Explains How They Make Her Feel Real
• Dexerto
  • Margot Robbie’s Barbie legs were made using practical effects 

The post The Look of Barbie: The Movie appeared first on Filmmakers Academy.

(SPOILERS AHEAD!)

Nolan tells the tale in the way he does best — presenting non-linear timelines to thematically converge on the political destruction of the scientist after his public opposition to creating more weapons of mass destruction following the war. Oppenheimer is professionally ruined, labeled a Communist sympathizer, and his government clearance is revoked. Once he gave the United States the A-bomb, he was no longer useful to the emerging world power. 

At one point in the film, Kitty Oppenheimer (Emily Blunt) says, “You think because you let them tar and feather you that the world will forgive you? They won’t.” 

OPPENHEIMER ‘PUSHING THE BUTTON FEATURETTE’:

The filmmakers had the unique challenge of conveying the interrelationship between the brightest minds in academia and the war effort that was increasingly suspicious of communism. The rising USSR, though among the Allied forces, rivaled American hegemony. Even as Lieutenant General Leslie Groves (Matt Damon) interviewed Oppenheimer for the Manhattan Project, it was clear the scientist’s sympathies for the Soviets played to his detriment. This was later emphasized when Oppenheimer struggled to achieve Q-level clearance — and it would ultimately be revoked for that very reason. 

However, what motivated Oppenheimer wasn’t the bomb itself. The idea that a weapon so great would not only end the Second World War but end all wars was enticing for a man whose sights were set on bettering humankind. Needless to say, their work only ended up perpetuating the demand for more weapons of mass destruction. 

THE TECHNICAL MARVEL OF THE AMERICAN PROMETHEUS

Even though the stakes are so astronomically high that there’s even a chance the detonation could destroy the Earth, the film retains a sobering, noirish quality through the perspective of Oppenheimer. 

Christopher Nolan confirms this very idea with the LA Times, “All the films I’ve made, one way or another, are film noirs. They’re all stories about consequences. And with Oppenheimer, the consequences are the fastest to arrive and the most extreme.” 

J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) and director Christopher Nolan, Universal Pictures

Over 100 theaters obtained specialized equipment to properly screen the 70mm prints, and the technical innovations and modifications are in and of themselves a marvel, necessitating a theatrical viewing to properly watch the film as it was intended. With a weight of over 600 pounds, the final prints for Oppenheimer unravel to over 11 miles. About less than a mile longer than the ground flattened by the bomb at the test site. 

Christopher Nolan made the film on the largest scale possible because the idea was for audiences to experience the film in a theater. That way they could adequately exhibit the phenomenon of the nuclear trial, codenamed: TRINITY. 

It is said when Oppenheimer witnessed the raw power unleashed in the Jornada Del Muerto desert, he was struck by a verse from the Bhagavad Gita… 

“Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”  

Keep reading to unravel the filmmaking behind the tale of an enigmatic scientist whose paradoxical plight was to risk the destruction of the world in order to save it. 

This is The Look of Oppenheimer.

CONTENTS:

• Tech Specs
• The World 
• Production Design
• Cinematography
• Costume Design
• Practical FX

OPPENHEIMER TECH SPECS

• Runtime: 3 hours (180 minutes)
• Color: 
  • Color 
  • Black and White 

• Aspect Ratio: 
  • 1.43: 1 (IMAX 70mm: some scenes)
  • 1.90: 1 (Digital IMAX: some scenes)
  • 2.20 : 1 (70mm and Digital)
  • 2.39 : 1 (35mm)

• Camera: 
  • IMAX MKIII, Panavision Sphero 65 and Hasselblad Lenses
  • IMAX MKIV, Panavision Sphero 65 and Hasselblad Lenses
  • IMAX MSM 9802, Panavision Sphero 65 and Hasselblad Lenses
  • Panavision Panaflex System 65 Studio, Panavision Panspeed & System 65 Lenses
• Negative Format: 65 mm (also horizontal, Kodak Vision3 50D 5203, Vision3 250D 5207, Vision3 500T 5219, Eastman Double-X 5222)
• Cinematographic Process: 
  • IMAX 
  • Panavision Super 70

• Printed Film Format: 
  • 35 mm(anamorphic, Kodak Vision 2383)
  • 70 mm(also horizontal, also IMAX DMR blow-up, Kodak Vision 2383)
  • D-Cinema 

⚛ THE WORLD OF OPPENHEIMER ⚛

The story of Prometheus is one that is in the bones of our origins. Eons ago when humanity was first conceived, we had to decide how to best sacrifice to the gods. With the help of the titan Prometheus, we tricked Zeus into accepting the bones and fat of animals as their tribute while keeping the meat for ourselves. 

Outraged once he discovered he was deceived, Zeus took back fire from humanity as punishment. Pitying the cold and hungry humans, Prometheus ventured up to Mount Olympus and brought fire back down so humanity could prosper. For his treachery, Zeus chained Prometheus to a stone on a far-off island where his regenerative liver would be eaten by an eagle every day for eternity. 

The “fire” that the American Prometheus provided to humankind is more than a weapon of mass destruction. As a theoretical physicist, J. Robert Oppenheimer was motivated by innovating the field and the possibilities of quantum field theory, spectroscopy, and theoretical astronomy. But just as fire could be used for creation or destruction, Oppenheimer’s work could either power the world or obliterate it. 

OPPENHEIMER FEATURETTE ‘TRINITY TEST’:

The film does not put its sights on showing the nuclear devastation at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Rather, it focuses on the moral implications that overcome the scientist who contends with the guilt of constructing such a weapon. What the audience is eventually treated to is the grand spectacle of the first atomic bomb test on July 16, 1945. It’s like waiting for some titanic Lovecraftian monster to reveal itself. 

Fast forward to 1947, just a few years after the war and Oppenheimer is now the director of Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ. Still very much plagued by the shockwaves of his efforts. While chairing the General Advisory Committee of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, he lobbied for international control of nuclear power to prevent an arms race with the Soviet Union. When he opposed the development of the hydrogen bomb in 1949, this was a bridge too far for the national security state. Oppenheimer became a target for the Second Red Scare, sabotaging his reputation and security clearance. 

Any other instance, outside the Trinity Test, where the atomic bomb is felt throughout the film is consequentially in the mind of Oppenheimer. Such as when he stands before a cheering audience at Los Alamos after Japan surrenders and while facing a particularly heated interrogation years later in a private tribunal that functions as a kangaroo court. In no way could he take the fire back from humanity. It was too late. 

PRODUCTION DESIGN

The filmmakers launched into pre-production in January 2022 and wrapped principal photography in May of that same year. With such a quick turn time, production designer Ruth De Jong had her work cut out for her. Her collaboration with Nolan, producer Emma Thomas, and executive producer Thomas Hayslip began even a year earlier in 2021. 

There were plenty of locations to consider from Princeton, New Jersey to Cambridge and Zurich — not to mention, New York and Los Angeles. De Jong largely worked within the theoretical physicist’s beloved desert, replicating the 1940s top secret laboratory town of Los Alamos. 

Oppenheimer | Pushing The Button Featurette | Universal Pictures

Designing Non-Linear Timelines

Comprised of a non-linear timeline, Oppenheimer alternates between when the theoretical physicist is developing the science and theory for the atomic bomb and his later public destruction due to his opposition to furthering nuclear development. Nolan finds a clear way to define the contrast between Oppenheimer’s “Fission” timeline in color and Strauss’ “Fusion” timeline in black and white.  

We open with Oppenheimer at Cambridge before turning his studies to the University of Göttingen, the world’s leading center of theoretical physics, then becoming a professor at Berkley and his eventual recruitment as the director of the Manhattan Project. 

This is woven along with the 1954 timeline with an aged, pensive Oppenheimer who faces a private security hearing that questions his allegiance to the U.S. and its national security. Then, it is fused with yet another storyline in black and white, following the 1959 confirmation hearing of Admiral Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr.). 

“It was lots of hard work,” says De Jong. “With every film, you have to start somewhere. You can’t overanalyze too much. Chris [Nolan] likes to work closely with his designer in prep. We had some wonderful time to talk together to talk concepts and have the script to use as our guide, and we dove in.” 

PRE-PRODUCTION

When it came to research and development, the production designer found herself obsessed with each and every little detail. To this, Nolan told her, “Ruth, I’m not making a documentary snooze fest.” This clarified to De Jong that she didn’t have to be so married to the reality of the time period and instead bottle its essence. This was a story about the forward-thinking Oppenheimer, after all. 

Pushing The Button Featurette | Universal Pictures

Location scouting for the epic vistas took them through Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico. Ultimately, they found that New Mexico would supply more than enough scenery to match the historic desert detonation. So, they set up shop in Santa Fe to plot the production. 

Oppenheimer | Pushing The Button Featurette | Universal Pictures

They worked off of a detailed recreation of Los Alamos that De Jong illustrated, and ultimately physically rendered it as a 3D white model. It became so extensive that they moved it into the backyard of the production office. Vision, however, sometimes outweighs the cost. So, they had to downscale it as they realized the heavy price of recreating the entire town. 

“Chris liked to call it ‘our little Western town,’ which is a few small buildings and two gunslingers, and that’s about all you see,” says Thomas Hayslip. “But there’s nothing little about Los Alamos, and much of our work was as much about creating the illusion of the place as it was recreating it.” 

OPPENHEIMER PRODUCTION

The production of Oppenheimer predominantly took place in New Mexico and California. They focused their world-building efforts on a select number of locations that fit Nolan’s story like a puzzle. There weren’t any additional pieces left over. This allowed the filmmakers to work efficiently within their allotted five months. 

Oppenheimer | Pushing The Button Featurette | Universal Pictures

“New Mexico was really going to be the source of where we filmed everything,” says De Jong. “We ended up filming a lot of D.C. interiors in New Mexico, and Pasadena doubled for the Berkeley shots.” 

While there, they were immersed in the region far from a soundstage and without a centralized home base. Starting her mornings in Santa Fe, De Jong would typically end up wrapping each day in Belen where they constructed their Trinity Test site. 

While Nolan initially considered filming all the Los Alamos scenes on location, he eventually changed his mind once he saw it. The director resolved to only film the interior scenes there due to how much the outside had changed. Exteriors would have been too difficult with its modern buildings on location, replete with its own Starbucks. So, instead, they constructed the town at the 21,000-acre retreat known as Ghost Ranch in Northern New Mexico. 

Pushing The Button Featurette | Universal Pictures

Authentic Interiors and Exteriors

Shooting the interiors at the actual locations of Los Alamos imbued a sense of authenticity and timelessness to the film, from the laboratory where the bomb was assembled to the office space where the scientists feverishly collaborated.  

Oppenheimer | Pushing The Button Featurette | Universal Pictures

For the exteriors, they constructed all 360 degrees of the structures, not just the camera-facing sides. “We want it to feel like you are right there, you are in this,” De Jong says. “This is happening, this is real. This isn’t a backlot.” 

Oppenheimer | Pushing The Button Featurette | Universal Pictures

As far as Oppenheimer’s house, it’s still standing. This permitted Cillian Murphy and Emily Blunt the latitude to authentically channel their performances. 

Pushing The Button Featurette | Universal Pictures

This also extended to Oppenheimer’s home at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton where they shot both interiors and exteriors, including its surrounding grounds. 

Oppenheimer | Pushing The Button Featurette | Universal Pictures

Pushing The Button Featurette | Universal Pictures

The Oppenheimer production also received permission to use Einstein’s old office at the Institute for Advanced Study and to redress it as Oppenheimer’s. This is because Oppenheimer’s office was remodeled over the years whereas Einstein’s office was preserved for the period. 

When shooting on location wasn’t viable, De Jong constructed sets where possible. For instance, they shot the New York hotel scenes at Amy Biehl High School in Albuquerque. When Oppenheimer was received by President Truman (Gary Oldman) in the White House, the interiors were actually shot in various Santa Fe state buildings. 

Oppenheimer | Pushing The Button Featurette | Universal Pictures

TRINITY TEST SITE

The centerpiece of the film is the infamous Trinity Test site where the first atomic bomb was detonated. The scale of the site and the blast were important because it was intended to send shockwaves throughout the entire film. Everything depended on the viability of this set piece. Its two main features include the 100-foot steel tower and the bunker where Oppenheimer and the scientists watched the test. 

Oppenheimer | Pushing The Button Featurette | Universal Pictures

The U.S. military gave Nolan and his production permission to shoot at White Sands Proving Ground, but since it’s an active military base, there were too many hoops to jump through. For one, they would have to go dark for military training drills and lose 6-8 hours each day. 

Pushing The Button Featurette | Universal Pictures

Ultimately, it made more sense for the Oppenheimer production to pick another space in open New Mexico to replicate the place of the Trinity Test site. They chose Belen to do so because it shared the same mountain range, and was the place where Oppenheimer watched the original detonation. 

Oppenheimer | Pushing The Button Featurette | Universal Pictures

De Jong and her team built the set piece as large as possible while still staying within budget. They of course don’t share the benefit of an endless military budget. From the circular windows to the detonation button, the bunker had all the trappings of a top-secret military bunker of the 1940s. This was crucial for the sequence of shots leading up to the pushing of the button. 

Oppenheimer | Pushing The Button Featurette | Universal Pictures

Pushing The Button Featurette | Universal Pictures

⚛ OPPENHEIMER CINEMATOGRAPHY ⚛

Christopher Nolan teamed up yet again with the one and only Hoyte van Hoytema, ASC, NSC, FSF to lens the Oppenheimer biographical drama. The two titans of the film industry previously collaborated on Interstellar (2014), and continued with Dunkirk (2017), and Tenet (2020). 

Typically, when Nolan initiates a project with van Hoytema, they go out to lunch and the director shares his new idea. Since Nolan only makes a few copies of the script, he invites the seasoned DP to his house to read it. For Oppenheimer, Nolan wanted van Hoytema to read the script before he did any other research. 

In an interview with Kodak, the Oppenheimer DP says, “I discovered that he had boiled down the story into a dramaturgical structure that was very personal, intimate, and thrilling. In our previous films the emphasis was on the action, but for this film, he wanted a very simple, unadorned style to the photography, especially on faces to support the unfolding psychological drama.”

Oppenheimer | Pushing The Button Featurette | Universal Pictures

However, one of the biggest technical challenges was shooting lots of close-ups on large format and keeping the audience engaged on faces for an intimate outcome.

“To a certain extent,” van Hoytema tells British Cinematographer, “we felt like we somehow had to grasp the grand principles of quantum physics, as well as finding a way for us to make the audience understand it. And, of course, quantum physics is a very abstract form of physics. And there are very few people in this world who really understand it on the level of J. Robert Oppenheimer… he’s a genius. And my mind, for sure, doesn’t even tip to the places that he could go. Yet, we felt as filmmakers we could understand things on an intuitive level.” 

Read more about the cinematography of Oppenheimer at British Cinematographer!

“The style of photography that Hoyte and I adopted for this movie was to be very simple yet very powerful,” Nolan says. “No barrier between the world of the film and the audience, no obvious stylization other than the black-and-white sequences. But particularly with the color sequences, we wanted very unadorned, simple photography, as natural as possible, revealing lots of textures in the world. Whether it’s the costumes or the sets or locations, you’re looking for real world complexity and detail.”

What fascinated Hoytema was the descriptions of the bomb from firsthand accounts. There were those who said it appeared like a mushroom cloud while others spoke of the morning sky “suddenly lit by searing bright white before turning golden yellow, then red to beautiful purple and violet.”

They were subjective responses, says the DP, “I found it really compelling as I sought to get to the essence of what those people experienced during that period and on that particular day.” 

IMAX FILMMAKING

What better way to capture the immense power of an atomic bomb than on IMAX (15-perf) format using KODAK 65mm large format film? 

According to van Hoytema, IMAX preserves the full 18K resolution of the image because if you get it in camera, you can make a contact print. Otherwise, the process involves scanning, digitizing, and taking it back to film. “There’s not a more refined, not a more depth-giving medium in the world than doing it exactly in that way,” says the cinematographer.

Pushing The Button Featurette | Universal Pictures

They shot on the IMAX MSM 802 MKIII and MKIV cameras along with the Panavision Panaflex System 65 Studio Cameras. The 5-perf 65mm “work horse” cameras permitted them to record dialogue. 

“Large format photography gives clarity and places the audience in the reality you are creating for them,” van Hoytema tells Kodak. “Of course, as the film has grand vistas and deals with the explosion of the world’s first atomic bomb, it had to be a blast, and there is nothing better than IMAX for creating that spectacular cinematic experience.”

Oppenheimer | Pushing The Button Featurette | Universal Pictures

What Nolan relishes about large-format photography is its clarity before anything else.

“It’s a format that allows the audience to become fully immersed in the story and in the reality that you’re taking them to, says Nolan. In the case of Oppenheimer, it’s a story of great scope and great scale and great span. But I also wanted the audience to be in the rooms where everything happened, as if you are there, having conversations with these scientists in these important moments.”

IMAX CAMERAS AND FILM STOCK

They filmed on KODAK VISION3 250D Color Negative Film 5207 for bright day interiors and exteriors. For low-light and night scenes, they switched to KODAK VISION3 500T Color Negative Film 5219. 

Director Christopher Nolan and DP Hoyte van Hoytema | Universal Pictures

“The 250D and 500T are workhorse speeds that I knew would cover pretty much all of the lighting situations I would encounter, explains van Hoytema. “And even though the larger surface area of the emulsion means the grain is finer – especially in IMAX – they still had enough texture for me. There’s still nothing that beats the resolution, depth, color and roundness of the analog image, nor in the feeling overall that film conveys. When you watch an analog print, especially in an IMAX theatre, the level of impact is freaking inspiring.” 

BLACK & WHITE FILM

Just as the film portrays the first test of detonating an atomic bomb, Oppenheimer also has its own first in the form of celluloid. Oppenheimer was shot on IMAX black-and-white film photography for the first time ever, combined with IMAX 65mm and 65mm large-format film. Nolan and Hoytema had wanted to shoot black-and-white on large format for some time and felt that it would benefit the confirmation hearing of Strauss, set in 1959. 

Oppenheimer | Pushing The Button Featurette | Universal Pictures

“The reason for the black-and-white was very much a way of separating those two narratives, so that on an intuitive level you could easily jump from one to the other,” explains van Hoytema. In a way, we had already done that with the blue and the red color coding in ‘Tenet.’ Black-and-white seemed a very obvious way to do it in this film.”

Since black and white 65mm celluloid didn’t exist, they made a request to Kodak to manufacture it for them. 

Oppenheimer | Universal Pictures

“It was a gutsy choice,” van Hoytema says. “One of my very first phone calls was to Kodak, enquiring if they had any 65mm large-format B&W filmstock,” the DP recalls. “But they had never made that before, and early on it was uncertain as to whether they would or could achieve it in time for this production. But they stepped up to the plate and supplied a freshly manufactured prototype DOUBLE-X 5222 65mm filmstock, delivered in cans with handwritten labels on the outside.”

However, you cannot simply load the black and white film into a camera made for color due to its emulsion’s thickness and breakability. Just like the scientists in the film devising the bomb, a team of camera engineers and lab technicians from IMAX, Kodak, Panavision, and Fotokem experimented with the prototype 65mm black and white Kodak film stock. 

They modified the IMAX cameras to accommodate the film stock, adjusted the pressure plates, and made new gates. Hoytema also had to overcome the static in the film, scratching of the negative, and fogging issues. Sometimes they needed to agitate the bath differently and other times it wasn’t so obvious. “We had to keep a very keen eye on the whole process,” Hoytema tells BC. 

LENSES

Optical innovations and special equipment were essential to the look of Oppenheimer. Dan Sasaki of Panavision re-engineers lenses and optics as well as builds them from the ground up for a specific purpose. 

Sasaki constructed the equivalent of a snorkel lens for the IMAX camera to shoot underwater cinematography and capture extreme macro shots. The lens is a large waterproof long tube that allowed them to convey the atomic world of physics. 

Oppenheimer | Pushing The Button Featurette | Universal Pictures

Hoytema was fascinated by Peter Kuran’s book ‘How to Photograph an Atomic Bomb’ and referenced it while replicating the Trinity explosion. He investigated the side development of extremely high-speed, ultra-light sensitive, and split-field cameras and long lenses to record the nuclear explosions. 

The director of photography selected the 50mm and 80mm as his preferred lenses that he believes “touch the sweet spot of immersiveness in IMAX.” 

“Anything beyond those focal lengths and you start to diminish the immersive quality of the image,” says the Oppenheimer DP. “If you go too long the image appears compressed and more graphic, as if you’re looking at a sort of flat screen. Anything too wide becomes more like a fishbowl, where the edges start to fall off too fast. So, the 50mm has become our wide lens, the 80mm our tighter lens. On close-ups they give you the right proximity and wideness, and everything around starts to function like the peripheral vision of your eyes.” 

Oppenheimer | Universal Pictures

Sasaki helped deliver close focal optics like the Hasselblad Panavision Sphero 65 and Panavision System 65 lenses. This would allow the filmmakers to get closer to the actors in low-light situations shooting at T1.4 instead of T4. 

CAMERA MOVEMENT & LIGHTING

They used cranes and dollies to move the camera and van Hoytema even lugged the heavy 50-pound IMAX camera on his shoulder for handheld shots. 

Oppenheimer | Pushing The Button Featurette | Universal Pictures

Pushing The Button Featurette | Universal Pictures

“Yes, it’s heavy, but it’s perfectly manageable,” he insists to the folks at Kodak. “We were not doing long takes, and I only had the IMAX camera on my shoulder in short bursts. Plus, I had a rock-solid crew with whom I have worked on many films before. My key grip Kyle Carden and dolly grip Ryan Monro were very sensitive and sensible towards my needs in wrangling the camera and making sure that I got it on and off my shoulder in good time. I must also mention Keith Davis, my genius focus puller, in getting the cameras ready in the first place to do some run-and-gun work.”

Oppenheimer | Pushing The Button Featurette | Universal Pictures

Oppenheimer | Pushing The Button Featurette | Universal Pictures

Authentic and natural sources informed the film’s lighting. Even when it came to inside the mind of the theoretical physicist, the “interpretive work” was motivated by reality with a helping hand of added creativity from veteran gaffer R. Adam Chambers ICLS.  

They used a mix of old-fashioned Tungstens and the extra punch of 18K ARRIMAX HMIs with newer fixtures like the ARRI Skypanels. 

Pushing The Button Featurette | Universal Pictures

“I have to say that LED lighting has come on dramatically in the last few years,” remarks van Hoytema. “The lighting is rich, the color rendering indexes are way up there, and the controllability is great. Adam, together with his brothers Noah and Shane, have developed an extremely solid, no-latency, 100% wireless DMX control system. This meant our lights were instantly controllable from the board as soon as we put them up.”

Van Hoytema didn’t use any lights inside the room for the Oppenheimer hearing sequence in Room 2021. Instead, all their lights came from outside the windows as they followed the color of real daylight from the board, matching it perfectly with ambient light. The DP notes, “It’s such a fast and versatile way to work.” 

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⚛ COSTUME DESIGN ⚛

From Oppenheimer’s wide-brimmed hat to Strauss’ handmade suits, the cast was dressed by the one and only Ellen Mirojnick, who conveyed the pomp and dignity of the 1930s and 1940s period with her masterful costume design. 

“What I found really interesting about Oppenheimer’s story was learning how in-sync both their geniuses were in exploring an unknown landscape through the experimentation of fission and fusion, literally and figuratively,” says Mirojnick. 

The costume designer carefully selected clothing for each character, accentuating their unique personas, quirks, and position in society — be it in the scientific, political, or military communities. 

The biggest challenge for the costume designer above all else was handling the extras. The scale of the movie is large full of European academics, American students, scientists and their families at Los Alamos, soldiers, military personnel, and politicians, and that’s only about half of what Mirojnick and the costume department contended with. 

“There were scientists, soldiers, mothers, workers, and children, of all shapes and sizes, over a period of a number of years,” Mirojnick says. “Additionally, the team were tasked with making sure each season was represented correctly whilst being mindful of the actors who were shooting outside in the cold of a New Mexico winter.”

J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER

Beginning with Robert Oppenheimer, he was an academic who was well-traveled and of means. Mirojnick focused on his silhouette, which of course was capped by his wide-brimmed hat that took extensive research and persistence to get just right. She describes it as a “porkpie crown with a somewhat Western brim.” 

Its origin unknown, Mirojnick sought out hatmakers in New York and Italy for help, but they came up empty-handed. Eventually, it was the Hollywood hatmaker Baron Hats that came through and recreated its infamous shape. 

Photo Credit and Copyright by Elisa Sandez

“Only Chris had the ability to shape it just so,” recalls Mirojnick. “When Chris touched it, magic would happen. He’d flip it or turn it a bit or squeeze the brim slightly to get it how he saw it in his mind’s eye.”

Oppenheimer | Universal Pictures

The costumer accented the silhouette with blue shirts that the theoretical physicist preferred and also highlighted Murphy’s blue eyes. With his wide-brimmed hat and his K-6 badge, Oppenheimer appears as the sheriff of his own town. 

J. Rober Oppenheimer | Oppenheimer | Universal Pictures

When Oppenheimer moves to the desert, Mirojnick keeps the same kind of suit but alters it to a sandy color. They used a tan whipcord fabric from hard-twisted yarns that played beautifully against the blue. 

KITTY OPPENHEIMER 

Beginning as a Bay Area socialite, Kitty Oppenheimer (Emily Blunt) brought a distinct intellectual flavor of smart yet fashionable dress that soured with children in a domestic setting. 

As her role as a wife and mother carried her off into the desert by the winds of destiny, her choice of clothing turned more practical and casual while still clinging to the stylish vestiges of her previous life.  

JEAN TATLOCK 

Mirojnick didn’t have many references for Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh) outside of some headshots. 

Florence Pugh and Cillian Murphy | Oppenheimer | Universal Pictures

This meant she had to get creative with Tatlock and invited Pugh to dream up what her character would eventually wear. Together they let the character’s personality inform the style of dress and the character’s movements. 

ADMIRAL LEWIS STRAUSS

Meanwhile, Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr.) adorned handmade suits, and custom shirts, and was perfectly manicured in every scene. Mirojnick and her team even recreated his ties from old photographs. Every part of Strauss’ outfit exuded affluence, wealth, and success. 

Oppenheimer | Universal Pictures

What informed Mirojnick’s design for Strauss and his Senate confirmation hearing was an old photograph from the event. In the photograph, Strauss wore a narrow dark pin-striped suit, white shirt, and yellow tie with a dark blue stripe. 

Even though the sequence is in black and white, Mirojnick and her team carefully crafted each article of clothing to perfectly match the photo. 

PRACTICAL FX

The idea for Oppenheimer was to do as much as possible in camera with practical effects and miniatures over CGI and VFX. Nolan proudly insists that the film has absolutely zero CGI shots. 

“Chris wants everything to feel authentic, whether shooting in the actual places where the people in the Manhattan Project lived or building things from scratch,” producer Charles Roven says. “He also likes films to feel hand-made, not made in a studio or generated with computer-generated imagery. You feel that throughout the movie, particularly in the area of practical effects, whether it’s putting snow on the ground, or creating ripples in a pond, which is a recurring motif in the movie, or how he approached the first atomic bomb explosion.”

Oppenheimer | Pushing The Button Featurette | Universal Pictures

Van Hoytema also prefers the physical world to the world of VFX. He tells British Cinematographer, “I always get a big kick out of enabling shots or enabling ways of storytelling that you haven’t seen before, and especially in these times where people think they can do whatever they can come up with in CGI… I always like to challenge myself and find the equivalent of a good CGI [shot] in the physical world, because I just think that the physical world brings us a certain level of tangibility that is unobtainable in CGI.”

Oppenheimer | Pushing The Button Featurette | Universal Pictures

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REPLICATING THE ATOM BOMB

Visual effects supervisor Andrew Jackson was given the ultimate challenge of making a mushroom cloud explosion without CGI. Using solely practical effects, Jackson had to recreate the spectacular Trinity Test of July 16, 1945. 

Pushing The Button Featurette | Oppenheimer | Universal Pictures

Oppenheimer | Universal Pictures

“I knew from the beginning that the Trinity test was going to be one of the most important things for us to figure out,” says Nolan. “I had done a nuclear explosion via computer graphics in The Dark Knight Rises, which worked very well for that film. But it also showed me that with a real-life event like Trinity, which was well documented using new cameras and formats developed for recording that event, computer graphics would never give you the sense of threat that you see in the real-life footage.”

Oppenheimer | Pushing The Button Featurette | Universal Pictures

Nolan continues, “There’s a visceral feeling to that footage. It becomes tactile, and in becoming tactile it can be threatening as well as awesome. So that was the challenge. To find what you might call analog methods to produce effects to evoke the requisite threat, awe, and horrible beauty of the Trinity test.”

This weighed so heavily on the director that he invited Jackson to be the first person to read his script when it was finished — after his wife and producer Emma Thomas, of course. That way he could begin dreaming up how to make it practical without launching a nuke for the sake of cinema. 

Assisting Jackson with the atomic endeavor was special effects supervisor Scott Fisher. They conducted experiments that ranged from smashing together ping pong balls to developing luminous magnesium solutions. Using small digital cameras, they filmed closeups of the experiments at varying frame rates. 

“Their whole unit was one, big science project,” says van Hoytema. “I was very jealous that they got to play around so much with all that kind of stuff.”

ATOM BOMB WITH PRACTICAL EFFECTS

The explosion was a delectable recipe of gasoline over propane and other fuels because Fisher notes that it gives “so much bang for your buck.” In addition, they used magnesium and aluminum powder to enrich the brightness and provide its raw atomic appearance. 

Pushing The Button Featurette | Universal Pictures

“We did a bit of that on this because we really wanted everyone to talk about that flash, that brightness. So we tried to replicate that as much as we could,” he explained.

When Jackson and Fisher showed their work to Nolan, he affirmed that they were on the right track and tasked them with figuring it out on IMAX cameras. This is where Sasaki’s long, fish-eyed probe lens came in handy. 

So, combining magnesium flares with gasoline and black powder explosions, among other things, they experimented with combinations of imagery that both the main unit and Jackson had shot. 

Oppenheimer | Pushing The Button Featurette | Universal Pictures

“You just start visualizing combinations,” says Nolan, “and experimenting with combinations of imagery to give the feeling of what this must have felt like to watch this. And what that gave me in the edit suite was this thread, this connecting set of analog techniques that confuse scale, from the particle world of quantum mechanics to the vast universe, astrophysics, et cetera, and all the points in between.”

The finished product was one of immense power and distinction — the world would never be the same. 

“There was a definite feeling of what we are seeing is both beautiful and dangerous, in equal measure”, says Nolan. “And that’s what we had asked for. So we always knew that the sequence would be a collage rather than one iconic shot. If there is an iconic shot, I think it’s the profile of Oppenheimer seeing it.”

Oppenheimer | Universal Pictures

According to Universal Pictures, “how the actual atomic explosion images were created for the film remains top-secret.”

CONVEYING ATOMIC PHYSICS

The filmmakers cut the film with extraordinary images of atoms and subatomic particles without the use of CGI. This meant that the filmmakers had to imagine other ways to represent the microscopic world that Oppenheimer dreamt of. 

“We’ve gotta see the world the way he [Oppenheimer] sees it,” Jackson remembers Nolan saying. “We’ve gotta see the atoms moving, we’ve gotta see the way he’s imagining waves of energy, the quantum world. And then we have to see how that translates into the Trinity test. And we have to feel the danger, feel the threat of all this somehow. Let’s do all these things, but without any computer graphics.” 

Nuclear Cinematography | Oppenheimer | Universal Pictures

The techniques that Jackson, Fisher, and the FX team used to recreate the nuclear explosion were also used to convey Oppenheimer’s internal world. 

“There’s one sense in which computer graphics is the obvious way to do it, but I didn’t feel we were going to get anything that would feel personal and unique to Oppenheimer’s character,” says Nolan. “We were able to generate this incredible library of idiosyncratic and personal and frightening and beautiful images to represent the thought process of somebody at the forefront of the paradigm shift from Newtonian physics to quantum mechanics, who is looking into dull matter and seeing the extraordinary vibration of energy that’s within all things, and how it might be unleashed, and what it might bring.”

Abstract Cinematography | Oppenheimer | Universal Pictures

“We try and grow that thread to its ultimate release, this kind of vibrating energy that follows through the whole film, to its ultimate release in this incredibly destructive event”, Nolan tells IGN. “And so some of what they did was absolutely tiny and magnified, sort of miniature, as it were, or even beyond that really, microscopic. And some of it was absolutely vast and required intense concentration on set.” 

The film showcases some of the fallout in the gymnasium at Los Alamos as Oppenheimer addresses a crowd following the Japanese surrender. As he speaks, he imagines the nuclear fallout from the impact of the bombs, the filmmakers utilize a combination of VFX and LED technology to tremble as the scene unraveled. 

Oppenheimer | Universal Pictures

The final results are MIND-BLOWING. But you will have to get tickets and head to the theater to see for yourself!

⚛ WATCH OPPENHEIMER ⚛

As Robert Downey, Jr. says, “Do yourself a favor and go see this on as big a screen as you can.” 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYPbbksJxIg 

Oppenheimer is currently playing in theaters. After that, it will be available on your friendly neighborhood streaming service. 

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WORK CITED: 

• British Cinematographer
  • BC Archive 
• NBC
  • Oppenheimer Featurette Highlights Realism of Nolan’s “Monumental” WWII Bomb Thriller 
• Universal Pictures
  • Oppenheimer | Pushing The Button Featurette 
• Kodak
  • Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema NSC FSF ASC gets up-close  personal using Kodak 65mm large-format film on Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’ 
• Albuquerque Journal
  • Production designer Ruth De Jong transported New Mexico back to the 1940s in ‘Oppenheimer’
• Universal Pictures
  • “Oppenheimer” Production Notes
• YMCinema
  • Christopher Nolan “Oppenheimer has Zero CGI Shots”
• IGN
  • Oppenheimer: How Christopher Nolan Built an Atomic Bomb
• IndieWire

• • Kodak Had to Engineer Brand-New 65mm Film Stock for the Black-and-White ‘Oppenheimer’ Sequences 
  • Striving for Authenticity, Cillian Murphy and Emily Blunt Filmed in the Oppenheimers’ Actual Los Alamos House
• Bounding Into Comics
  • ‘Oppenheimer’ Special Effects Supervisor Reveals How The Film Recreates The Trinity Nuclear Explosion

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Moreover, one can take away how the art of theatrical storytelling is a collective effort that cannot be solely claimed by one lone narcissist, like the romanticized writer, Conrad Earp (Ed Norton). From the Host (Bryan Cranston) to playwright Conrad Earp to the director Schubert Green (Adrien Brody) and to each character performed by a star-studded ensemble, each has a hand in defining the story and its larger meaning. 

This latest installment into Wes Anderson’s repertoire explores its meaning within a Russian Doll of plots from the writer to the play to the TV broadcast filming the play, only to extract the truth through its layers of character intervention and exploration. 

In this way, the film is about infinity, both inside and out. The film props open a window into the creative process where inspiration is sought as a means to acknowledge the connection between the artist and their work. 

Augie Steenbeck (Jason Schwartzman) in Asteroid City, shot by DP Robert Yeoman. Photo courtesy of Pop. 87 Productions/Focus Features

Somewhere between the third and fourth walls lies the very nature of imagination and how it ultimately plays into the performance and meaning of a theatrical work of art. 

“You can’t wake up if you don’t fall asleep!” 

Follow along as we plunge into the imagination of Wes Anderson, highlighting his team of collaborators while learning what inspired them, and how they constructed the worlds that fall in a story within a story…

This is The Look of Asteroid City.

CONTENTS:

• Tech Specs

• The World 

• Production Design

• Cinematography

• Costume Design

• Stop-Motion Animation 

✰ ASTROID CITY TECH SPECS ✰

• Runtime: 1 hour 45 minutes (105 minutes)
• Color: 
  • Color 
  • Black and White 
• Aspect Ratio: 
  • 1.37: 1 (some scenes)
  • 2.39: 1 (theatrical ratio)
• Camera: 
  • Arricam LT, Cooke S4 and Zeiss Master Anamorphic Lenses
  • Arricam ST, Cooke S4 and Zeiss Master Anamorphic Lenses
• Laboratory:
  • • Company 3, London, UK (digital intermediate)
    • FotoKem Laboratory, Burbank (CA), USA (film processing)
    • Hiventy, Malakoff, France (film processing)

• Negative Format: 35 mm (Kodak Vision3 200T 5213, Eastman Double-X 5222)
• Cinematographic Process: 
  • Digital Intermediate (4K, master format) 
  • Master Scope (anamorphic, source format) 
  • Super 35 (source format, some scenes)

• Printed Film Format: D-Cinema 

✰ THE WORLD OF ASTEROID CITY ✰

Set in a 1950s desert town somewhere between California and Arizona, Asteroid City takes place in the post-WWII Atomic Era when science fiction and the pursuit of knowledge and technology captured the public imagination; some would say, it served in a vacuum of crumbling dogmas. Even though humankind still looks to the sky for answers, the intervention of intelligent alien life hardly imparts any peace of mind. In the world of Asteroid City, humanity is met with silence. Communication is still only one-sided and the interstellar visitors don’t seem in the slightest bit interested to make direct contact. 

Augie Steenbeck (Jason Schwartzman) in Asteroid City, shot by DP Robert Yeoman. Photo courtesy of Pop. 87 Productions/Focus Features

The majority of the ‘50s took place under the presidency of retired 5-Star General of the Army and Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe, Dwight D. Eisenhower. Otherwise, known to his friends as “Ike.” Ike stood before a new world superpower with its attention turned optimistically toward the possibility of infinite new worlds, while still silently contending with the aftermath of the one they left behind after the war. 

The idea of Manifest Destiny is deeply entrenched in the psychology of America as it spread west until it reached the Pacific. Now, with its influence spread across the globe, our imagination is captured by the stars above, wondering and entertaining the possibility of new worlds. 

The story of stargazing teenage geniuses is right out of a Karen Russell anthology and reminiscent of short stories like, “The Star-Gazer’s Log of Summer-Time Crime.” Like Russell, Anderson constructs almost a fable-like setting of Asteroid Day, commemorating an ancient meteorite crash site. 

Junior Stargazers in Asteroid City, shot by DP Robert Yeoman. Photo courtesy of Pop. 87 Productions/Focus Features

MULTI-LAYERED STORYTELLING

Asteroid City is a film best described as “a Russian doll,” a multi-layered story, comprised of three unique plots that vary significantly on the scale between reality and fiction. In other words, it’s an embedded narrative that follows a writer, his play, and a teleplay, the titular town of “Asteroid City.” 

But how did the auteur director create contrast between these separate plots?

Behind the scenes of Asteroid City. Photo credit: Roger Do Minh

Wes Anderson is one of few directors with a unique, globally trademarked style that’s undeniably all his own. His greater sensibilities toward themes and tropes, best conveyed essentially through a theatrical, literary style, are captured with the same air of fuzzy self-awareness you observe while watching a play. When a filmmaker wants their look for a project to feel as if it’s filmed in some plush playhouse in Connecticut, or perhaps out of the imagination of a particularly gifted yet severely introverted outcast adolescent — all in pastel, of course — they will unwittingly describe this look as “Wes Anderson.” 

The Golden Era

In an interview with IndieWire, Anderson expressed how he was always captivated by the aura and mystique of a backstage story and the theater as a whole. What particularly struck Anderson about directors like Elia Kazan was how they worked with a new form of acting both on stage and on film. Anderson considers the time as a bygone era that was “the most cinematic ever.” 

Even the structure of Asteroid City harkens back to the presentation of old Hollywood. With the opening of credits, title cards with act and scene numbers, and an intermission to break up both halves of the film. This approach to structure is nothing new for Anderson whose other works benefit from this theatrical presentation.

The look of Asteroid City is couched in an uncanny desert town characterized by a nearby crater from a meteorite. While it also serves as a fitting spot to sit back with a strawberry daiquiri in hand and watch a marvelous display of mushroom clouds from nearby nuclear tests. Anderson had a “Euro take” on the American West and was inspired by the likes of Wim Wenders and his Berlin point of view. 

Below are photographs from Wim Wender’s collection, Written in the West.

✰ PRODUCTION DESIGN ✰

Let’s next explore the film’s production design. First off, there’s a theatrical play with a red, sunbaked color palette in Anderson’s signature pastel that beautifully complements the aqua and turquoise features of the scenery. 

While on top of that is the behind-the-scenes making of the play in classic, inky black and white. You can practically choke on the cigarette smoke. 

An additional layer includes a host with the trappings of Rod Serling that informs the audience that they are in fact watching a TV broadcast of a play that doesn’t actually exist. 

Southwest color palette in Asteroid City, shot by DP Robert Yeoman. Photo courtesy of Pop. 87 Productions/Focus Features

Northeast color palette in Asteroid City, shot by DP Robert Yeoman. Photo courtesy of Pop. 87 Productions/Focus Features

Pre-Production

The filmmakers develop the color palette after Anderson presents his narrative’s main ideas. During prep, they shoot tests on different color walls with various swatches of cloth. 

Director of Photography Robert D. Yeoman, ASC shares an example from The Grand Budapest Hotel:

In a work that is set in the 1950s United States, Anderson’s longtime production designer Adam Stockhausen (since 2012’s Moonrise Kingdom) brings together both east coast and west — the frontier desert town in the southwest and an urban news broadcast studio in the east. 

Stockhausen started as he does on any other project, asking questions to determine the needs. For example, is it being filmed on a stage or on location? In the case of Asteroid City, it’s a fictional town that doesn’t exist on the map. This gives them some flexibility on where they film. Then, there are big-picture questions. How much of the set needs to be constructed? In their case, all of it. 

CLASSIC DESIGN INSPIRATIONS

Another reason for multiple viewings is to soak in the underlying themes and fully appreciate the production design from the little bridge that leads nowhere to every cactus peppering the background. Visual influences for the look consisted of various references from Looney Tunes to Bad Day at Black Rock. 

In fact, there were many classic references that helped set the tone and matched the feel of the project. The films of Billy Wilder, for one, were a huge point of reference. Stockhausen was struck by Kiss Me, Stupid, particularly its single stage with a gas station and painted backdrop of a town. “Something about that was exciting in terms of the artificiality of the world of Asteroid City,” Stockhausen tells Focus Features. 

CONSTRUCTING THE TOWN OF ASTEROID CITY

Stockhausen’s impressive attention to detail stems from the fact that everything you see on screen was designed from scratch. “Everything was physically built and laid out” to give actors and crew “the sense of living in a real town,” says associate producer Ben Adler. 

Behind the scenes of Asteroid City. Photo Credit: Valerie Saudon

While the setting of the film is in the American southwest, the production took place in the town of Chinchón in Spain. So, the background you see that appears like it’s from a Looney Tunes cartoon (or a Spaghetti Western for that matter) was built from the ground up in a watermelon field. 

Behind the scenes of Asteroid City. Photo Credit: Valerie Saudon

Although, it wasn’t a stroll in the park for Jeremy Dawson and the locations team since that field you see was part of 137 different farms. This tends to be the case in Europe, Stockhausen explains to Filmmaker Magazine, “where the land has been divided and subdivided by generations into smaller and smaller parcels of lands until the point where you’ve got our little town, which was a few thousand feet.” 

Asteroid City, shot by DP Robert Yeoman. Photo courtesy of Pop. 87 Productions/Focus Features

Incredible Attention to Detail

Rest assured that there were no shortcuts taken in the construction of the set. According to Stockhausen, it was all meticulously laid out in advance. “If we’re on the 40mm lens and we have 15 chairs in the luncheonette, then Midge is going to feel this far away. If we went to the 35mm lens and we only had 12 chairs, it would feel like this.”  

And let’s just marvel for a moment at the vending machines stacked full of sandwiches, cocktails, and bullets. 

Asteroid City Exhibition, London

One of the production designer’s regrets was assembling the crater in pieces and not building the gigantic crater into one set piece. As one set piece, it would have allowed them more mobility with the camera. 

FORCED PERSPECTIVE

Stockhausen took all the forced perspective tricks that he normally would employ on a stage with backdrops of landscapes and inflated the scale outside. Due to the nature of the landscape, other than cacti there isn’t anything between the mountains and the characters. 

Behind the scenes of Asteroid City. Photo Credit: Valerie Saudon

The mountains themselves were very large miniatures constructed by Stockhausen and his team. Their buttes and mesas had to appear like the ones you would see in Monument Valley — 3,000 feet tall and two miles apart. So, Stockhausen and his team made their large miniature versions at 75 feet tall and 1,500 feet apart. 

Behind the scenes of Asteroid City. Photo Credit: Valerie Saudon

“For us,” says Stockhausen, “the experiment was trying to figure out that sweet spot where objects are far enough that our brains believe that they are truly huge, but not so far that we are just wasting money building bigger sets.”

Behind the scenes of Asteroid City. Photo Credit: Valerie Saudon

3D MODELING IN PRE-PRODUCTION

During the pandemic, productions were forced to create alternate forms of collaborative techniques in order to continue work. For instance, Shane Hurlbut, ASC implemented the Insta360 into his scouting and prep process to streamline communication between department heads. Likewise, Adam Stockhausen leveraged 3D modeling software to virtually design the set and camera planning. 

Stockhausen was over the moon with the results that the 3D modeling software brought to his process. 

Are you interested in learning more about how 3D modeling software can improve your pre-production? 

In his Cinematographer Essentials Series, DP Justin Jones demonstrates how he uses Cinema 4D in pre-production to ensure precise results in production. Join Filmmakers Academy today to access Jusin’s series!

✰ ASTEROID CITY CINEMATOGRAPHY ✰

The film was lensed by none other than director of photography Robert D. Yeoman, ASC in what appears sun-shiny Kodachrome. Yeoman tells Focus Features that they shot anamorphic color film in the desert. 

The film was shot on the Arricam LT and Arricam ST with Cooke S4 and Zeiss Master Anamorphic Lenses. It’s a Wes Anderson flick, which means a planimetric composition with room-to-room tracking shots and whip pans that usually provide a comedic reveal or some kind of periscope effect. 

Augie Steenbeck (Jason Schwartzman) and Midge Campbell (Scarlett Johansson) in Asteroid City, shot by DP Robert Yeoman. Photo courtesy of Pop. 87 Productions/Focus Features

Pre-Production

Yeoman starts laying the visual groundwork for Asteroid City when location scouting. He and the other department heads are aided by an animatic. Yeoman describes it as “an animated cartoon of the movie” acted out entirely by the auteur director. Anderson started making animatics after Fantastic Mr. Fox. (Please let the animatic hit the internet!) 

Throughout pre-production, the animatics serve as their Bible. They used it to plot all the camera movement and lighting in advance. Yeoman claims this process improves their accuracy by the time they step on set. They might switch out a lens but overall they know exactly what they’re walking into. 

This was incredibly important because timing is everything when blocking intricate scenes. So, Yeoman and Stockhausen had to collaborate to ensure the placement of buildings aligned with the blocking and dialogue. Yeoman says plainly, “If the dialogue takes place in a minute, we need to make that shot within a minute, not a minute 10.”

ASPECT RATIO

When the film opens, our eyes aren’t treated to the pastel color palette but to black and white imagery in a 1950s New York City broadcast studio at a square 1.37: 1 (4:3 Academy) aspect ratio. 

Southwest and Northeast in Asteroid City, shot by DP Robert Yeoman. Photo courtesy of Pop. 87 Productions/Focus Features

When we switch to the world of Asteroid City, the aspect ratio opens to 2.39: 1 and we’re treated to technicolor as the camera pans 360 degrees in a dynamic single shot. 

ASTEROID CITY LIGHTING

No stranger to a lo-fi approach, Anderson carried the concept to the film’s lighting, preferring the sun to be the dominant source. The director told Yeoman that he wanted all-natural lighting and no movie lights. Not only because the overwhelming sun is a primary feature of Asteroid City, but to keep the set as small and intimate as possible. According to Yeoman, Anderson likes to keep it to himself, the DP, a focus puller, second AC with a slate, a dolly grip, and a boom op. “In his dream world, he would have eight people making the entire movie.” 

Behind the scenes of Asteroid City. Photo credit: Roger Do Minh

While in pre-production, Yeoman confirmed that he could use skylights for the interior scenes, comparing its effects to “the early days of cinema when they put a nice soft silk overhead and you shot the interiors with the overhead sun.” 

Behind the scenes of Asteroid City. Photo Credit: Valerie Saudon

So, production designer Adam Stockhausen built skylights into all of the buildings where they shot interiors. For example, in the luncheonette, the only thing between the sun and the actors is a soft piece of diffusion. “Wes loved that we didn’t use lights on the interiors,” recalls Yeoman. “He was thrilled.” 

Behind the scenes of Asteroid City. Photo credit: Roger Do Minh

Embracing the Sun

Now you’re probably wondering how Yeoman dealt with the hard shadows from the overhead sun, especially while filming during summer. It wasn’t easy maintaining a consistent light. “With lights, you can fill in some of the face,” explains Yeoman. “But Wes was eager not to use lighting. We used large white bounce cards to put some light into people’s faces.” 

At first, Yeoman wasn’t crazy about this approach but eventually came around to the harsh light, feeling as if it was almost a character. Films like Paris, Texas weren’t afraid to shoot at high noon, and even though it challenged the cinematographer, he learned to embrace it. 

The gaffer would sometimes add light from underneath with a white card, as well. Then, later they tweaked the image a bit when they did the digital intermediate. 

Lighting New York City Sequences

Of course, natural lighting wasn’t used for the black-and-white New York theater world. As previously noted, Elia Kazan was a primary inspiration so Yeoman and his team pre-lit it so they could just flick the studio lights on when the actors walked in. 

Yeoman used this opportunity to create a contrast between the world of Asteroid City and New York. He leaned on expressionistic lighting techniques and also the neon and glitter of One from the Heart.

WES ANDERSON STYLE & CINEMATIC LANGUAGE

When we watch a Wes Anderson film, we have certain expectations. The composition must be symmetrical and with deep focus. The camera movements should be precise and every shot has a specific purpose. We want 90-degree pivots, swish pans, and plenty of dolly moves. Better yet, blend them all together into one crazy shot! Yeoman credits part of this precision to operating with one camera instead of two or three. 

On a Wes Anderson movie set, you will see crew members standing in for the actors, prepping long dolly moves and other blocking, setting marks, and working together as one big family. Many stars appear in Anderson’s films so one of the expectations from the director is to check any big egos at the door. As Yeoman puts it, “Everyone’s there because they want to be.” 

BRECHTIAN DISTANCING EFFECT

Wes Anderson’s use of the Brechtian Distancing Effect in Asteroid City even outdoes his Best Picture-winning The Grand Budapest Hotel, creating an alienating distance from the audience to the character on screen. 

And one can see why the actor Jones Hall (Schwartzman) playing Augie Steenbrook struggles with the meaning he is supposed to feel. Each character, and corresponding actor, contend with their own meaning and place in the play, and therefore, the universe. 

DUELING SCREENS

After the mechanic (Matt Dillon) declares their car useless, Augie and his four kids find themselves effectively stranded at a stargazing convention in the remote, unfinished desert town of Asteroid City. Augie is forced to call his father-in-law Stanley Zak (Tom Hanks) who has no love for him, especially now that his daughter is dead and Augie is a widower. 

Augie Steenbeck (Jason Schwartzman) and Stanley Zak (Tom Hanks) in Asteroid City, shot by DP Robert Yeoman. Photo courtesy of Pop. 87 Productions/Focus Features

Wes Anderson conveys this tense moment with dueling screens. Augie, confined in a small phonebooth, and Stanely, at his spacious, luxurious house. 

FRAME WITHIN A FRAME

Augie and Midge’s white wooden residential shacks are next to one another and as they interact, they do so from the isolation of their windows. This frame-within-a-frame approach gives the impression that they are living, breathing portraits. They strike meaningful and evocative poses that are worthy of the work of art they portray on screen. 

Midge Campbell (Scarlett Johansson) in Asteroid City, shot by DP Robert Yeoman. Photo courtesy of Pop. 87 Productions/Focus Features

The movement of the camera is done using an intricate dolly system designed by key grip, Sanjay Sami. Sami has been part of Anderson’s troupe since The Darjeeling Limited in 2007. This allowed the filmmakers to not only dolly sideways but also dolly in and out. 

Sanjay Sami behind the scenes of Asteroid City. Photo credit: Focus Features

It’s far from an easy endeavor and requires the three of them to pull it off. While Yeoman operates, Sami must simultaneously push the dolly and Vincent Scotet pulls focus. Together they can rack focus on the characters both in the foreground and background. 

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✰ COSTUME DESIGN ✰

The internet is a-buzz with how well-dressed the entire cast was from Conrad Earp’s jacket covered with cowboy illustrations to a geeky group of outcasts that appear as if they walked off a photo shoot for a high fashion clothing line. In fact, Earp’s was an original design that costume designer Milena Canonero insists is perhaps even more charming in color. 

After reading the script, the fashionista dives into the research. “I do all sorts of research — and I do love research,” she remarks. “Many of the designs come from the artistic desire to bring to the director something new and fresh.” Some of the inspiration for the costuming was taken from iconic images, from Kim Novak to Marlon Brando. 

The Wardrobe Process

Canonero sourced the costumes in mainly two ways. She searches for and buys period clothing when possible — at times even from a collector. Although, she is not unfamiliar with creating similar fabrics. “In this movie,” says Canonero, “I designed various original patterns to be hand-painted by textile artists.” 

Since the sets and costumes are carefully linked, Canonero coordinated quite a bit with production designer Adam Stockhausen. Although, there’s far more than just their surroundings the characters contend with. In fact, the psychology of the characters can be found in the film’s costume design. 

Augie Steenbeck (Jason Schwartzman) in Asteroid City, shot by DP Robert Yeoman. Photo courtesy of Pop. 87 Productions/Focus Features

Take Augie Steenbeck. He’s a war photographer with shrapnel lodged in the back of his head and wears a smart-looking safari outfit and wields a vintage Muller Schmid Swiss Mountain Camera with a 50mm f/2 Combat Lens. The Casual Photophile did some digging and found that the fictional camera is a Kiev 4M with probably a Jupiter 8a lens. 

The Psychology Behind the Fabric

When writing the script, Wes Anderson told co-writer Roman Coppola that these characters, especially the older generation, suffered PTSD from the worst war in human history. And they inflict that PTSD on the next generation which will result in the Hippy movement and Woodstock. 

You probably noticed the pistol tucked away in Stanley Zak’s (Tom Hanks) sweater wrapped around his waist like some country club outlaw. Or how Augie’s outfit is fitting for a child’s idea of what a photographer might wear. The pistols the actors wear may symbolize the desire for both physical and emotional protection or a yearning to return to a time of America’s frontier past. Or both.

Behind the scenes of Asteroid City. Photo credit: Roger Do Minh

However, this melancholy isn’t just reserved for those on the front lines. Midge Campbell laments her volatile history with men from her father, brothers, uncles, and ex-husband. She displays this deep anguish within her character with a painted-on black eye. For that, she is resigned to admitting that she isn’t the best mother to her children. 

The nostalgia impressed upon the hair and makeup was thanks to Julie Dartnell. It’s thanks to her tireless work that the cast is made timeless in classy Golden Age charm. 

✰ STOP-MOTION ANIMATION ✰

With Fantastic Mr. Fox and Isle of Dogs, Anderson proved that stop-motion animation can be cinematic. For a medium where every movement and nuance is crafted meticulously by the artist, one can see how this could appeal to a director of Anderson’s proclivities. 

Alien spaceship in Asteroid City, shot by DP Robert Yeoman. Photo courtesy of Pop. 87 Productions/Focus Features

But mixing elements of animation with live action is an interesting choice and one that seems to fascinate the director. After all, it’s that spark that an actor brings with them to live action that isn’t necessarily captured in stop-motion. At least, not in the same way. And it’s something about the nature of that creative ‘spark’ that Anderson cannot help but illustrate in Asteroid City. 

Behind the scenes of Asteroid City. Photo Credit: Valerie Saudon

The director’s love of stop-motion animation is exhibited from the spacecraft to the roadrunner, setting a youthful tone as we enter the Junior Stargazer Convention on Asteroid Day. For the animated elements of Asteroid City, the visionary director collaborated once again with puppet maker Andy Gent. Altogether they worked for two years on the project. 

The lanky alien who descends upon the ensemble of characters amidst a viewing of the astronomical ellipses is one of their stop-motion creations. It appears as if it was peeled off the pages of a children’s storybook. 

Model Maker Simon Weisse on the set of Asteroid City

Model Maker Simon Weisse on the set of Asteroid City. Photo Credit: Pop. 87 Productions/Focus Features

Wes Anderson had a very specific look in mind for the alien and employed the assistance of illustrator Victor Georgiev to convey his vision. 

The images below are part of the collection “Asteroid City, The Alien 2021.” 

In its caption on artstation.com, it reads that this 3D model was sculpted from Jeff Goldblum’s body scan. The practical costume was built by Coulier Creatures Fx. 

✰ WATCH ASTEROID CITY ✰

Released in the middle of an industrywide writer’s strike, Asteroid City even examines themes that parallel concerns that artists today warn about, such as the all-too-willing application of AI technology into moviemaking. AI is great for streamlining tedious work and cutting costs, but could AI replace human writers and performers?

Here are our two cents. AI could never replace the spontaneity of human performance or understand the impulsive act of, say, burning one’s hand. Needless to say, the very nature of art is the act of human expression. It requires experiences within the world. And at its best, the art created by AI would only ever be a hollow shell based on original work created by humans. And one thing is certain, there’s no AI algorithm that could ever create the film that is Asteroid City. 

Asteroid City is currently playing in theaters. After that, it will be available on your friendly neighborhood streaming service. 

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WORK CITED: 

• Focus Features
  • An Inside Look at Building the Town of Asteroid City
  • Making Costumes that Bring Back the Fashionable Fifties in Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City
  • Asteroid City’s Cinematographer Shares How They Created the Film’s Out-of-This-World Look

• The Film Stage
  • Cannes Review: Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City is an Absolute Delight

• IndieWire
  • Wes Anderson on ‘Asteroid City’: Mental Health, Marily Monroe, and Sending Emails to Tom Hanks
  • ‘Asteroid City’ Has the Precise Camerawork of a Wes Anderson Film — but Now in Desert Sunlight

• Filmmaker Magazine
  • “The Hard Way Every Single Time”: Production Designer Adam Stockhausen on Asteroid City

• MovieMaker 
  • Asteroid City Cinematographer Robert Yeoman on Why He and Wes Anderson Never Settle

The post The Look of Asteroid City appeared first on Filmmakers Academy.

Now, we follow the Sully family, comprising Ney’tiri (Zoe Saldaña), Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), and their five children, as they travel from the jungle of the first film to an underwater paradise. With the return of the resource-hungry humans determined to reclaim what they lost, the Sully family together with the Metkayina (Na’vi who reside in the water region) fight to protect their home and way of life. 

20th Century Studios

While the first film was 162 minutes, The Way of Water is a 192-minute technical marvel that improves upon the groundbreaking 3D technology and motion-capture CGI of the original. James Cameron returns to the themes of environmentalism and anti-colonialism while focusing on another region of Pandora’s lush and abundant world. 

The Advances of the Avatar Sequel

The visionary director is obsessed with topping each film and did not disappoint with The Way of Water. Cameron and his army of filmmakers pushed the bar of digital cinematography, performance capture, and VFX technology to bring audiences as close to the underwater world as the screen could possibly allow. 

With all the sequels out there, audiences are not used to waiting over a decade for their next fix. However, Cameron needed the blueprint (script) for the next five films of the Avatar franchise before he could commit to production. And over the course of the past 13 years, Cameron and company not only shot one movie but all of three and the first act of a fourth film. So, at least you probably won’t have to wait for another decade-plus for a follow-up film. Fingers crossed. 

• Tech Specs
• The World 
• Production Design
• Costume Design
• Cinematography
• VFX 

☵ THE WAY OF WATER TECH SPECS ☵

• Runtime: 3 hours 12 minutes (192 minutes)
• Color: Color
• Aspect Ratio: 
  • 1.85 : 1 (3-D version)
  • 1.85 : 1 (IMAX version) 
  • 2.39 : 1 (theatrical ratio)
• Camera: Sony CineAlta VENICE 3D
• Negative Format: X-OCN RAW
• Cinematographic Process: 
  • Digital Intermediate (4K) (Master Format) 
  • X-OCN RAW (common-third) (source format)
• Printed Film Format: 
  • D-Cinema (also 3-D version)
  • DCP Digital Cinema Package (4K)

☵ THE WORLD ☵

Pandora is a paradise full of nature and lifeforms that mirrors the best parts of Earth. There’s an incorruptible bond between Pandora and its inhabitants. While it looks and feels like a planet, Pandora is actually a moon in the Alpha Centauri System. Cameron describes it best: “the Garden of Eden with teeth and claws.” 

What truly makes this world magical is what the Na’vi understand as Eywa — their deity. All the tree and plant life on Pandora communicates through a neuron-like communication system that effectively functions like a massive brain that has achieved moon-wide sentience. 

In the first Avatar movie, the story was set in the jungle region home to the Omaticaya clan where the humans settled to extract its precious resources. However, The Way of Water is much different from the jungle, with an entirely new environment full of diverse flora and fauna, including a new clan of Na’vi known as the Metkayina. 

20th Century Studios

Yet, the wonderment and awe established within the first film not only continue into the sequel but blossom in an entirely fresh and authentic way. Everything from the wildlife and foliage to the culture and craftwork of the Na’vi is completely unique to the water environment and adds yet another rich layer to the world.

A Culture in Harmony with Water

The beauty of this kind of world-building is how authentic it feels. Even though this is a sci-fi film full of alien species, it feels like the filmmakers shot right on-site. You can’t see the seams between the digitally created sets and the live-action performances thanks to top-notch performance-capture technology. 

If audiences don’t look away from the screen, they will actually believe that they are submerged deep underwater with a whale-like creature swimming right at them. That’s the power of high frame rate 3D. And that’s the magic of the visual effects coupled with the expert lighting that creates a gorgeous underwater glow from the Director of Photography Russell Carpenter. 

When talking about what ‘the way of water’ means to GeekCulture, producer Jon Landau described it as a cultural philosophy of the Metkayina clan.

“They live in harmony with the water, they exist based on the way of water, something that has the ability to give life, to take life.”  

20th Century Studios

The filmmakers wanted to present this philosophy to their audience to help them consider how we should treat our own oceans. The exotic underwater world of Pandora is a new destination but also a way to show how to live in harmony with water. 

☵ PRODUCTION DESIGN ☵

Production designer Dylan Cole and co-production designer Ben Procter split the enormous load that the Avatar sequels demanded. Cole took on the monumental task of building the world of Pandora while Procter was in charge of the design for Earth. 

However, both came together to construct vehicles, ships, and animals, in addition to the worlds. In the first film, the jungle was inspired by the life in the oceans while this ocean-dominant ecosystem is motivated by land-based life. 

“We amplified the coral and played with scale,” Cole tells Variety.

The sapphire color palette was obviously motivated by the ocean so other colors had to shine bright for color differentiation. 

SEA CREATURES

The Metkayina clan bonds with the tulkun sea creatures not unlike the Na’vi of the first movie who paired with the dragon-like mountain banshees. Like a cross between whales, seals, and sea turtles, the tulkun are highly intelligent and emotional creatures that can also carry a tune with their Na’vi counterparts.

The art department created a practical fin for the actors to work with and a spot for the eyes to provide an eye line. 

“Sometimes we were dragging the fin through the water so you could have the proper resistance,” Cole tells IndieWire,” and then other times when all the kids are climbing on him, we built a set that approximated his back with the blowholes and the plating, so that we could set that in the tank and they could perform on that.”

20th Century Studios

There’s also a Jonah and the whale moment of the story where one of Sully’s sons enters the inside of one of the tulkuns. The experience is like “an enchanted cave from old fantasy stories,” only it’s alive. 

It was up to Cole to bring such fantastical creatures to life and essential to building this other section of Pandora’s world. He had to consider everything from how they would move in the water to how they functioned in the ecosystem with predators like the akula, a shark-like beast.

20th Century Studios

Cole took inspiration from the creatures of Earth. Snakes terrify the production designer so he allowed this fear to motivate his design of the akula. That’s why the akula’s mouth accentuates like that of a rattlesnake, and as it opens the top bifurcates. 

VEHICLES

When it came to the construction of the vehicles, the large “sea dragon” vehicle appealed as a technological and predatory metaphor. Procter was the mastermind behind the design. The main challenge: getting them to float. 

The look was only part of the equation while buoyancy took some time and plenty of tests. Cameron not only wanted one of the boats to run but jump waves. So, Procter and team made a 1K-horsepower, 42-knot boat that was used for photography. The data taken from the tests was implemented into the computer-generated dynamics. 

☵ COSTUME DESIGN ☵

Deborah L. Scott returned to Pandora as its costume designer for The Way of Water. Not only has Scott worked with Cameron before, but she won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design for her work on Titanic and dressed such icons as Marty McFly and the Amazing Spider-Man. 

All together, Scott’s work on the Avatar sequel took about two and a half years. For a project of this scale, that may come as little surprise. Scott began designing the costumes for the film just 8 months before performance capture. 

Over the course of past Cameron productions, Scott developed a short hand with the director in their collaborative process. So, when Scott jumped into the project, she was prepared to hit the ground running. In fact, while working on Avatar 2, she was simultaneously working on Avatar 3. 

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

Scott constructed digital costumes for every character. In an interview with Looper, she says, “The clothing is quite complex — it’s got a lot of layers. It’s a 3D map that we handed them.” Scott and her team (of 100 artisans and designers at its largest) conducted research into indigenous cultures while considering how her original design would function underwater. They crafted everything including costumes, props, accessories, and wigs. In the end, each and every garment took 200 hours per design. 

In an interview with Filmmakers Academy, Scott outlined the differences between the Omaticayan (forest clan) of the first movie and the Metkayina (ocean clan) of TWOW. While both Na’vi cultures weave, the Met style of weaving for the Omaticayan is more complex and decorative.

Since both cultures pull from their environments such as skins and grass, they are different from one another. And the Metkayina use seaweed, coral, and shells whereas the Omaticayan use bark, pinecones, and seeds. The tattoos of the Metkayina are unique to them and while both clans have black hair and similar eyes, the ocean clan stands out with wavier hair and different color eyes. 

The designs for Pandora are all grounded in our world here on Earth. Scott and her team used human ingenuity to inform their designs.

“Once you understand your cultures and use our true, well-researched, real-world to inform,” she says, “you can use the depth of your imagination and the imagination of the people that you are creating to go anywhere.” 

In the nature of indigenous peoples, the textiles are hand-crafted. They used the natural materials that they could find as well as what Scott calls “natural fantasy.” For instance, a flower is a flower to humans but the flowers of Pandora are unique and individual. This same concept was the basis of all other materials — i.e. the skin of a beast on Pandora has its roots in earthly leathers.

COSTUME DESIGN WITH PERFORMANCE CAPTURE

“When you shoot performance capture for so long,” says Scott, “you need to make sure that the actors know if they interact with their clothing. They have to know what they’re touching. It’s not like a T-shirt; the costumes are more complex, so if they need to hold their shawl or whatever, they need to have those reference pieces.” 

20th Century Studios

During her research, she discovered what materials to use for each specific costume — “front, back, and center.” With the evolution of performance capture technology, the costumes had to accommodate it. While developing the technology for markers to track the performances, Scott realized that they would be able to read every bead and knot.

“It gave me this freedom to make the costumes as complex or simple as I wanted.”

— Deborah L. Scott

During the performance capture process, the costumes weren’t necessarily fully realized. However, Cameron would give each actor an idea of what their character looked like and what they were wearing. Then, they provided reference costumes such as ponchos and capes to inform their performance and how they moved. 

They bounced back and forth between CG and live-action performances, sometimes concentrating on one or the other. Since they were shooting two movies out of order, they had to adhere to deadlines for both.

The actors were very involved in the costuming strategy, as well. For instance, Stephen Lang helped develop the military unit patch design for “Project Deja Blue” with Scott and Cameron. Sigourney Weaver would get lost in Scott’s office, which functioned like a showroom, and imagine what certain objects and textiles meant to her character. 

According to Scott, while the designs were inspired by indigenous cultures, they weren’t focused on any one tribe. They conducted research on cultures that live by water all across the world and found similarities between coastal regions in India to Africa. Their jumping-off point, however, was Fiji, Polynesia, Tonga, and Hawaii. 

☵ THE WAY OF WATER CINEMATOGRAPHY ☵

Avatar: The Way of Water is a spectacular visual marvel that was the result of new cameras, technical methodologies, and algorithms to pull off. In fact, the technical achievements outshine the story to such an extent, it’s the experience of the world that truly mesmerizes audiences. 

The cinematography of the film is a combination of carefully crafted camera moves, lighting, and layers of animation with algorithms by Wētā — some of which we will highlight below. All together, Cameron considers the process a “template.” 

The film sparks the next chapter into the 3D format. (So, if possible, you should really make an effort to see the film in theaters.) The stereoscopic 3D system for the Avatar sequel was created by bolting together multiple Sony Venice cameras that deliver high dynamic range. 

The Way of Water was lensed by DP Russell Carpenter, who worked with Cameron on his other top-grossing movie of all time (Titanic). Carpenter brought the sci-fi fantasy to life with an army of animators, motion capture artists, and graphics experts. 

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20th Century Studios

While films have traditionally shot at 24fps, Avatar 2 was shot at both a high frame rate (HFR) in addition to 3D to provide the realism needed to make the world come off the screen. Now, this isn’t the first film to shoot at HFR for that ultra-realistic look. Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy was the first film with a wide release to be filmed at HFR. 

HFR is traditionally valued more in the video game space where upward of 60fps is preferred. Where the HFR of the Hobbit films was criticized as it didn’t fit the Middle Earth aesthetic, it serves much better with a sci-fi world that is placed in our own distant reality. The way Cameron employs the HFR is sparing, using it for high-octane action sequences but shifting down to 24fps for dialogue exchanges. 

There were many challenges that the filmmakers faced with 3D. HFR is a method to help combat such challenges, however. For instance, fast camera moves don’t work well and CGI doesn’t look as good under the bright conditions needed for 3D glasses and muddy imagery. Shooting at 48fps fixes this problem by increasing the clearness and smoothness of motion in darker, frenzied circumstances.

CAMERA & LENSES

The camera system was constructed for a pristine 3D IMAX underwater experience free of distortions, artifacts, and aberrations. In addition to the Sony Venice, the camera system to capture underwater performances was devised by cinematographer Pawel Achtel from the 3D submersible beam splitter, DeepX 3D. 

For the ultimate results, they chose Nikonos 15mm lenses. What makes the Nikonos stand out is that they are tried and true lenses designed by Nikon specifically for underwater photography. There’s no need for a lens mount, lens servo motors, or lens ports as the camera is attached inside the house and the lenses are mounted outside. 

Pawel described the reasoning behind the Nikonos to Y.M. Cinema Magazine: 

Achtel DeepX 3D Beam Splitter. Photo by Pawel Achtel, ACS

Traditional underwater cinematography faces limitations in resolution with dome and flat ports and heavyweight that required the use of cranes to get in the water. 

Rather than an underwater beam splitter system housed behind a flat port, the filmmakers submerge the DeepX 3D completely underwater for optimal sharpness without chromatic aberrations or geometric distortions. And the imagery can meet and surpass 4K.  

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UNDERWATER CINEMATOGRAPHY

Historically, the challenge of replicating water through CGI was an imperfect solution to the real thing. And today, it still isn’t perfect. We know how water looks and feels and can even perceive the most subtle differences between computer-generated water and real water. 

Rather than suffer any lack of detail through digitizing water, James Cameron implemented a reliable workaround that would yield the results he demanded. This involved shooting their motion-capture performances underwater. 

Photo: 20th Century Studios

When describing the process, Cameron explains, “The key to it was to actually shoot underwater and at the surface of the water so people were swimming properly, getting out of the water properly, diving in properly. It looks real because the motion was real and the emotion was real.” 

Cameron hired Peter Zuccarini, one of the most prolific underwater cameramen to swim the oceans. On the underwater adventure, Into the Blue (lensed by Shane Hurlbut, ASC), Zuccarini was dragged by a shark and swam into the cursed crocodile-infested waters of the Amazon while filming The Motorcycle Diaries. 

While Cameron employed futuristic camera systems, like the Virtual Camera, to choose angles and compositions, he still wanted a real camera operator for a “baseline of reality” as Zuccarini describes. 

Zuccarini wielded the 180lb 3D Sony Venice camera system developed specifically for the film. The camera system employed two Venices in a box that shot through a beam splitter. 

Photo: 20th Century Studios

The grips helped with the weight of the rig with lines to time the stops. 

UNDERWATER PERFORMANCE CAPTURE

The filmmakers wanted the experience for their actors to be as authentic as possible so they could get real performances. They didn’t want to do “dry for wet” and instead decided to be the first to work with performance capture underwater. 

What started as experiments at home, then to Landau’s swimming pool, moved to Landau and Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment production company at Manhattan Beach Studios. They constructed two special kinds of tanks that recreated oceanic conditions. The larger of the two was massive in size — 120 feet long x 60 feet wide x 30 feet deep, and it could hold upward of 250,000 gallons of water. A 10-knot current was driven by a system comprised of two ship propellers (6 feet in diameter) anointed “the racetrack.” This allowed them to also work with waves. 

Photo: 20th Century Studios

Through trial and error, they discovered how light absorbs infrared underwater. Since motion capture typically uses infrared, this posed a problem for the filmmakers. They then went with ultraviolet light in order for the camera sensor to pick up while also disseminating through the water. 

They placed performance capture cameras around the tanks along with safety cameras to monitor everyone working in the water. To help control the reflection of light, they added a layer of white ping-pong-sized balls that floated at the surface.

20th Century Studios

The Challenges of Underwater Cinematography

In fact, everyone who entered the tank learned how to hold their breath for extended periods of time. From the actors to the camera operators to the person holding the light, they had to be able to hold their breath for a sufficient amount of time. So, they hired world-class freediving camera operators. 

That’s because scuba gear was out of the question since it caused too many air bubbles that acted like “wiggling mirrors” according to Cameron. This also made it impossible for the performance capture technology to read the marker dots on the actors’ bodies since it couldn’t distinguish between bubbles and dots. 

VIRTUAL CAMERA TECHNOLOGY

When it was all said and done, Cameron had devised two unique volumes (performance-capture stages) — one for the water and one for the air that sat on top of one another. Then in real-time, the computer processes data from both volumes, fusing them together, and integrates the information into Cameron’s Virtual Camera. 

The Virtual Camera is a camera system far before its time. Once Cameron chose his favorite performances with the editorial team, he used the Virtual Camera to shoot scenes “within a computer-generated world.” He could see the actors as their characters and provide direction in real-time over the diver address system. 

Underwater camera op Peter Zuccarini likens his contributions to ingredients in a soup that will later be constructed by Cameron in post: 

It was essential that the filmmakers convey the physics of the water correctly. The artists at Wētā used much of Zuccarini’s camera moves when building shots and markers were placed on the camera operator and his camera just like the actors. That way, they could build from his natural movements rather than from scratch. 

☵ UNDERWATER STUNTS ☵

Since much of the film takes place underwater, the cast underwent training with professional free diver, Kirk Krack. Much like the cast of another blockbuster this year, Top Gun: Maverick, the cast of Avatar 2 were responsible for performing under trying conditions and even switching on their own cameras. 

Learn more about the Look of Top Gun: Maverick. 

When describing the Avatar sequel compared to other water-centric movies, Krack says, “It’s the biggest diving movie of all time because it’s shot wet for wet — this isn’t Aquaman hanging on a wire with a fan in their hair. This isn’t some [VFX artist] programming what they think swimming looks like… There’s never been a movie that has done what this underwater unit did to the level we did it, to the realism of the reality we’ve done.”

20th Century Studios

In addition to instructing cast members on how to hold their breath for prolonged amounts of time, he also advised that they use enriched oxygen mixtures to reduce hypoxia and speed their recovery. 

Alongside the actors, they developed motions for how the characters would move in the ocean. There they worked on rehearsing scenes and establishing a workflow, which involved the actors switching on their cameras, adhering to safety procedures, and finding their marks. 

Virtual production supervisor Ryan Champney likened it to the moments before a rocket launch: “Safety team go, reference cameras go, hydraulics go — is everyone good?” 

Krack translated the direction from Cameron with non-verbal cues. Altogether, the actors and crew, including Krack’s team, logged over 250,000 free dives! They captured over three movies worth of performances, after all. 

☵ THE WAY OF WATER VFX ☵

James Cameron trailblazed new VFX technology and techniques from his earliest successes with The Terminator and Terminator 2. Some techniques Cameron perfected over the course of multiple films. For instance, the liquid metal villain from the Terminator sequel resulted from cutting-edge special effects first implemented in The Abyss. 

For all his efforts, Cameron received awards such as an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Southhampton for his contributions to underwater filmmaking and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Visual Effects Society.  

The original Avatar was filmed in photorealistic “stereoscopic 3D.” There was a 60/40 percent split between CGI imagery and traditional live-action imagery. Much of the CG animation implemented new motion-capture techniques with physical actors who wear suits outfitted with markers. That way,  computers and overlay digital animation recorded their movements.

The most convincing CGI merges the real with the fake, whether it’s real people or places. You could apply this concept to lighting, as well. Take Dune, and how they shot in the deserts of Jordan and Abu Dhabi for authentic lighting with sand screen (instead of green screen) and used helicopters to inform their sci-fi flying vehicles.

Learn more about how the filmmakers achieved the look of Dune!

While there are layers of animation and algorithms employed to bring the Na’vi and their world to life, it’s far from pure animation. More specifically, the real world informs the animations and the performances. In an interview with GQ, Cameron explains that previously captured data involved steps powered by artificial intelligence to translate into 3D-CG characters.  

This was not a simple process and took an incredible amount of time and trial and error. One legendary example involves a single effects shot going through over 400 revisions. This kind of attention to detail ramped the cost excessively high and propelled the film’s late release. 

20th Century Studios

Facial performance replacement (FPR) lets Cameron digitally rework and select facial movements best suited for the performance. The technicians transfer the data from the physical performances to their digital counterparts. This technique also allows filmmakers to change lines of dialogue following principle photography without reshooting scenes.  

Post-Production Collaboration

Picking up from the process with the Virtual Camera, the technicians organized the shots into cut sequences with Nuke, After Effects, and other proprietary project files. Then, the filmmakers sent the files to the experts at Wētā FX for implementation. Their senior effects supervisor Joe Letteri and Richard Baneham of Lightstorm collaborated with a team to preserve the performances frame by frame. 

20th Century Studios

Cantina Creative collaborated with Ben Procter to conceptualize graphics and stereoscopic holograms to populate Pandora and the RDA. Early in the process, they assisted with laying out the sets and blocking action. This allowed the humans and CG characters to interact effectively with holograms, like the HoloFloor, a primary feature of the RDA’s Op Center. 

Producer Jon Landau behind-the-scenes of Avatar: The Way of Water

According to the film’s producer Jon Landau, the first film was about being photographic and didn’t necessarily need to be photo-real in the sci-fi world of Pandora. However, with advancements over the last decade, they realized they must raise the bar and “deliver something that is 100% photo-real.” 

☵ WATCH AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER ☵

Avatar: The Way of Water is currently playing in theaters. After that, it will most likely be available on your friendly neighborhood streaming service. 

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WORK CITED: 

• Filmmakers Academy Interviews
• GeekCulture: Avatar The Way of Water Producer Jon Landau…
• ScreenRant: The Way of Water’s High Frame Rater is Such a Big Deal
• The Walt Disney Company: How Avatar The Way of Water Revolutionizes Underwater Cinematography
• YMCinema: The Underwater Cinematography Behind Avatar 2
• LA Times: 13 years ago, ‘Avatar 2’ was impossible…
• Indiewire: How They Shot Underwater
• Indiewire: Making of Tulkun, Payakan, the New Pandoran… 
• Variety: Crew on the Film’s New Vehicles and Filming Underwater
• Cantina Creative
• Looper: The Way of Water Costume Designer Deborah L. Scott

The post The Look of Avatar: The Way Of Water appeared first on Filmmakers Academy.

As Jerry Bruckheimer says, “We’re going to really show you what it takes to be a TOP GUN pilot.” Bruckheimer goes on to remark that the chances of another aviation film of this caliber are unlikely to happen again anytime soon.

The filmmakers combined the latest in camera technology with elite pilot advisors and a little movie magic to capture the visceral impact of Mach-speed aviation. We will take a closer look below at how exactly they achieved such amazing aerial cinematography from highlighting camera rigs that fit in the limited space of cockpits, training the cast to help manage cinematography duties, and collaborating with experts from the U.S. Navy and Lockheed Martin.

The film’s star Tom Cruise describes Maverick best – it’s a “true love letter to aviation.”  

• Tech Specs
• The Sequel
• Production Design
• Cinematography
• Aerial Stunts
• Limited Computer-generated Imagery (CGI)

Top Gun Maverick Tech Specs

• Runtime: 2 hr 10 min (130 min)
• Color: Color
• Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1, 1.90:1 (for IMAX presentation)
• Cameras: Sony Venice
• Lenses: Main Unit | Sigma Prime; Arri/Zeiss Master Prime; Zeiss Compact Zoom; Fujifilm/Fujinon Premier Zoom, Premista Zoom; Cinemagic Revolution snorkel-lens system || Jet Interior and Exterior | Voigtländer Heliar Hyper Wide, Ultra Wide, Super Wide; Zeiss Loxia || Air-to-Air | Fujifilm/Fujinon Cabrio zoom || Ground-to-Air | Fujifilm/Fujinon Premier Zoom; Canon zoom, prime
• Laboratory: Company 3, Los Angeles (CA), USA (digital intermediate) (dailies)
  • EC3 (dailies)
• Negative Format: AXS-R7
• Cinematographic Process: Digital Intermediate (4K) (master format)
  • X-OOCN ST (6K) (source format)
• Printed Film Format: D-Cinema (also 3-D version)
  • DCP Digital Cinema Package 4K

Top Gun Sequel

Top Gun (1986) is known for cocky fighter pilots, daring aerial feats, and most of all, camaraderie. The original film was directed by the late Tony Scott, lensed by cinematographer Jeffrey L. Kimball, ASC, and produced by the conjoined forces of Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer. 

For Top Gun: Maverick, on the other hand, Bruckheimer would remain as one of the few key players from the original film. Joseph Kosinski filled the large shoes of Tony Scott and Claudio Miranda bridged the visual language between the 1986 and Maverick. Miranda and Kosinski first collaborated together on another sequel – Tron: Legacy – and worked with Cruise on the sci-fi epic Oblivion. While on Tron: Legacy they didn’t follow the visual language as closely as the original. That wasn’t necessarily the case for Top Gun: Maverick which built upon the original’s visual themes. 

DP Claudio Miranda and director Joseph Kosinski on Top Gun: Maverick, CBS Corporation

How does the sequel compare to the much-beloved original?

Like the first film, Top Gun Maverick follows a new generation of an elite squadron of ace pilots. While the filmmakers wanted to retain what audiences loved about the original, they also wanted to push the boundaries of what was possible. 

Top Gun (1986)

“Every time we approach a new project, we go into it with the intent of trying something new and shaking things up for us in terms of its technical aspects and visual style. For Maverick, it was about capturing the experience of actually being in one of these fighter jets while it’s in the air. That’s how we were able to go beyond the first film.” –Joseph Kosinski, ASC Mag

The original 1986 Paramount Pictures film parallels a sports movie a la locker room scenes, competitive sequences, and winning a trophy. However, as naval advisor Capt. J.J. Cummings puts it, “If you try to make a sports movie after we’ve been at war since 2001 […] – you’re going to lose the military audience.” 

A New Approach…

Thus, Top Gun: Maverick takes a more sobering, yet technical direction. Capt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Cruise) is now a weathered test pilot. Unlike his contemporaries who have long been promoted out of the cockpit into administrative roles, Maverick flies the most cutting-edge aviation technology produced by Skunk Works. And with a new generation of naval graduates, Maverick is called back to the San Diego air base from the first film to train them for a dangerous mission.   

Tom Cruise on the set of Top Gun: Maverick from Paramount Pictures, Skydance and Jerry Bruckheimer Films.

Screenwriters Christopher McQuarrie was afraid that if he thought about the original too much that he would overthink their story and over-correct it. Rather than try to top the original, they just tried to make a worthy movie that could fly with its own two wings. 

Not Just “Top Gun 2”

Taking off 36 years later, Top Gun: Maverick is now a box office smash hit like its predecessor and serves as Tom Cruise’s highest-grossing movie at the domestic box office. But, in the beginning, Cruise wasn’t entirely on board to reprise the role of Maverick. In fact, the film’s director, Joseph Kosinski, was asked by Bruckheimer to pitch the film to Cruise. Kosinski flew to Paris and had 30 minutes to convince Cruise in between setups of the latest Mission: Impossible production. 

Joseph Kosinski and Jerry Bruckheimer on the set of Top Gun: Maverick from Paramount Pictures, Skydance and Jerry Bruckheimer Films.

It was when he landed in Paris before the pitch when Kosinski received a call from Cruise telling him no matter what happened, it would be good to see him. Kosinski didn’t know until then that Cruise wasn’t feeling the Top Gun sequel.

The Pitch

Regarding his pitch, Kosinski tells Cinema Blend: 

“But because I had made a film with him before, I knew I had to grab him emotionally. So I opened with the idea that this is a rite-of-passage story like the first film. The first film is a drama, even though it’s wrapped in this glossy action film. This would be the same thing, but it would be Maverick reconciling with Goose’s son set against this mission that would take them both deep into enemy territory. And as soon as I said that, I could see the wheels in his head start to turn. 

“Then I pitched the idea of Darkstar, the opening sequence, what Maverick’s doing when we find him. Which I think was also important because Maverick is still Maverick, but he’s not buzzing the tower at the local air base. He’s on the cutting edge of aviation, pushing the envelope as always. But he’s alone. He’s alone at the beginning of this film. Then I talked about shooting practically, and obviously Tom’s 100% in for all that. And then the title. I said we can’t call it Top Gun 2. We’ve got to call it Top Gun: Maverick — a character story. So he pulled out his phone, called the head of Paramount, and said, ‘We’re making a sequel to Top Gun.’ And it was boom, green light.”

During the pitch, Kosinski showed Cruise videos of Navy pilots who rigged GoPros inside their cockpits. He told him that if they can’t beat this, there’s no point in shooting the film. The way Kosinski described the film was as a drama with an action film around it. 

Production Design 

The production design for the film was largely facilitated by the U.S. Navy and a list of advisors. Due to this support, the filmmakers didn’t need to recreate naval bases or aircraft because they had access across the board. This meant that they had real locker rooms, bars, and hangars in San Diego and Nevada. 

Top Gun: Maverick Locations:

• W 40th Street in San Pedro, California
• Inyokern Airport – “Kodiak” Hangar in California
• Breakers Beach, San Diego, California 
• Rimrock Lake in Yakima, Washington
• Naval Air Station Fallon – Bravo-20 in Nevada
• Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, California
• Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, San Diego, California 
• North Island Naval Air Station – Entrance in San Diego, California
• The Hard Deck (fictional) in San Diego, California 
• Naval Air Station North Island, San Diego, California 
• Washoe Meadows State Park in South Lake Tahoe, California 

Production designer Jeremy Hindle describes Top Gun: Maverick as a romance, “not sexually but how it’s lit and the way it feels warm and emotional.” Hindle recounts how Cruise told him at the beginning of production that the film is about family, and “it’s what people need.” 

Top Gun Aircraft

It was no easy feat for Hindle to find the iconic jet from the original film – a Grumman F-14 Tomcat – since they were decommissioned by the U.S. Navy. In fact, there are only six F-14s and they’re available only in Iran. Fortunately, they found a model at the San Diego Air and Space Museum thanks to their Navy advisors. However, it didn’t have an engine and had to be dismantled and shipped to them. The challenge was to make the F-14 model operational enough to open the cockpit. When you see the jet in the climactic dogfight sequence, it’s actually a F/A-18 digitally re-skinned to look like the Tomcat.

Hindle landed 20 other aircraft for characters such as Lt. Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw (Miles Teller) and Jake “Hangman” Seresin (Glen Powell). In an interview with Variety, Hindle says, “We collected those from all over the country because these were planes that are working, flying, and still doing their jobs.” The only plane that Hindle didn’t need to procure was the P-51 World War II fighter that Maverick works on at the beginning of the film. It’s not only owned by Cruise, but he took the liberty of personally flying it from Florida to California. 

Tom Cruise flying his personal P-51 Mustang. Image credit: Sony

The Darkstar

Perhaps the most notable aircraft in Top Gun: Maverick is the first jet that appeared in the film. From the opening sequence, Maverick pilots the Darkstar, an experimental, top-secret aeronautic project that’s supposedly the fastest jet ever constructed. In the engineering of the Darkstar project, the filmmakers had the help of Skunk Works, Lockheed Martin’s infamous division.  

While the Darkstar is fictional, it’s modeled after the SR-71 Blackbird. The SR-71 was developed by Skunk Works in the 1960s and is the fastest aircraft ever made. At its top speed of 2,100 MPH, it could outrun most missiles. The futuristic Darkstar, on the other hand, is developed with hypersonic technology and capable of speeds upward of 60 miles per minute. 

Behind the Scenes with Skunk Works

Along with Skunk Work designers, the filmmaker designers developed a full-scale prototype of the Darkstar. They lowered the Darkstar closer to the ground than the SR-71 and made it even more sleek and angular. Of working with Skunk Works, Hindle says, “The cockpit was mindblowing. The intel of where everything would be for a pilot – you really wanted to believe that it was real. Through their design team, we learned how to make the plane look angry, mean, insanely fast…”

Filming of the Darkstar took place at a hangar located in China Lake, California. “‘You can film anything you want, except for this building over there,’” the film’s director recounts from a conversation he had with Navy personnel, “Of course, I just instantly became focused on this hangar in this corner surrounded by barbed wire. You know, I said, ‘That looks like the perfect location for what we’re trying to do.’ They said, ‘Don’t even think about it.’ I go, ‘Can we drive over there? Take a picture?’ They let me do that. Then, I said, ‘God, it’d really be great to shoot here if I could.’ Cut to two weeks later, they call us back and they say, ‘Alright. You can shoot this hangar. Just tell us when and we’ll take whatever’s inside that out.’ So, yeah, we got to shoot that sequence in that very special place.”

Character Graphics

The character designs for the pilots were articulated through their call signs. The imagery on their helmets was motivated by the original film. In fact, the graphics were so popular among pilots after the original 1986 Top Gun, that it inspired the next generation to adopt the design. “It was Tony’s [Scott] idea on the first movie,” says Hindle, “and now everyone does it.” Before Top Gun, Navy pilots didn’t adorn the graphics of their call signs on their helmets. 

The filmmakers recognized that the graphics on the helmets provide a window into each character for the audience, from Hangman to Rooster. Hindle worked alongside Kosinkski, a graphic artist, and an illustrator to design the character helmets. 

The I-Bar 

Anyone familiar with the culture surrounding Naval aviators is also probably aware of their notorious haunts where officers hang out. That’s why the I-Bar in the film had to be true to life. The design had to include all the details like the personal mugs that every stationed officer brings with them and are subsequently kept on hooks. 

Monica Barbaro plays Phoenix, Lewis Pullman plays Bob, Jay Ellis plays Payback and Miles Teller plays Rooster in Top Gun: Maverick from Paramount Pictures, Skydance and Jerry Bruckheimer Films.

“It’s this old bar,” says Hindle. “Everything in the Navy has this old feel to it, you feel their history because they pass everything on. They don’t tear it down and build on it, and that’s how we wanted this bar to look.” All of the set dressing was authentic including the tail wings and plaques that decorated the walls. 

In Top Gun: Maverick, the I-Bar belongs to Penny (Jennifer Connelly) who inherited it. They constructed the bar on the beach after Hindle searched for the perfect location in vain.  “I scoured bars all along the beach in San Diego, but nothing worked,” says Hindle. “We actually built it in L.A., completely made of steel and dressed it so I could see it, but then we dismantled it and rebuilt it on the beach.” 

Christopher Mcquarrie, Tommy Harper, Jerry Bruckheimer and Joseph Kosinski on the set of Top Gun: Maverick from Paramount Pictures, Skydance and Jerry Bruckheimer Films.

Cinematography 

Top Gun: Maverick really stands out beyond its predecessor with its in-flight cinematography. It feels much more intimate and real since the actors feel the real effects of flying in a jet capable of heavy G-force. In order to thrill audiences, Tom Cruise understood that “you just can’t create this kind of experience unless you shoot it live.” 

Making it a reality, the filmmakers teamed up with the U.S. Navy and the TOP GUN school to shoot the film practically. Workdays typically consisted of 14 hours and resulted in roughly 30 seconds of good footage. It took months of aerial shooting which amounted to an estimated 800 hours of footage. At times, even 27 cameras rolled simultaneously. Miranda shot in 6K full-frame and framed for 2.39:1 and IMAX 1.9:1 – with the exception of when they shot on lenses that didn’t cover the Sony Venice’s full sensor. 

The director of photography Claudio Miranda previously won an Oscar for his work on Life of Pi. So, obviously, he’s no stranger to green screen and seamless VFX put to fantastical effect. Speaking of his collaboration with Kosinski to the LA Times, Miranda says, “Joe and I always try to figure out how to be as real as possible by filming in-camera and using natural lighting.” 

Director Joseph Kosinski on the set of Top Gun: Maverick from Paramount Pictures, Skydance and Jerry Bruckheimer Films.

Inspiration, Not Imitation from the Past

To overcome the challenges of practical effects, Miranda consulted with the original Top Gun DP, Jeffrey L. Kimball, ASC. In order to get the deep shadows and a dusty look that’s reminiscent of the 1984 imagery, they employed graduated filtration along with adding digital film grain during the final grade with Company 3 for “a little bit of antiquing.” While they achieved a warmer look, they also were in tune with embedding their own visual flavor. 

Learning the Mechanics of Flight Cinematography

The cast were not the only ones to launch into hyperdrive. In order to construct his camera rigs, Miranda climbed into the cockpit and hit speeds of around 4 Gs. During his experience in production, the cinematographer also acquired a pilot’s license. Miranda and his team ran months of camera tests, experimenting with in-cabin rigs. They found their sweet spot with a six-camera setup in two Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets. 

By reviewing the test footage, Claudio learned from how his own body reacted in flight.

“Because we were doing experiments with cameras I was reading menus and I realized that’s a terrible idea — as you’re spinning, I’m in the plane trying to reset the camera,” he said. “Anyway, I didn’t feel very good after that.” – Claudio Miranda, LA Times

The film’s aerial coordinator, Kevin LaRosa, Jr., tells GQ, “Our cast had to be in the aircraft for every shot. So when they’re delivering those epic performances, they are really in there pulling those Gs. Production went to great lengths to design that in-cockpit IMAX camera set up so those actors could be in there, doing that.”

Motion Picture Aerial Coordinator and Stunt Pilot Kevin LaRosa II takes a moment between aerial sequences on-set of the next Hollywood blockbuster with the CineJet.

Lenses

To keep in stride with the original, Miranda decided to shoot Top Gun: Maverick with spherical lenses. When choosing lenses, especially for aerial photography, he knew that size mattered. “In jet cockpits, when you’re pulling five to seven Gs, 10 pounds becomes 50 to 70 pounds, so we needed small and lightweight lenses with close focus.”

Main-unit prime lens package 

• Sigma High-Speed Cine primes (14mm-40mm range)
• Arri/Zeiss Master Primes (50mm upwards)
• A set of three Fujifilm/Fujinon Premier Zooms (18mm-400mm) 
  • And Premista 28-100mm T2.9 zoom
  • 3 Zeiss Compact Zooms (15mm-200mm)

Ground-to-Air unit package 

• 2 Premier zooms (24mm-400mm)
• 2 rehoused Canon lenses (a 150-600mm still zoom and a 1,000mm telephoto lens; both capable of covering 6K full-frame)

Operators deployed IBE Optics PLx2 extenders at extended focal lengths to track aircraft far off in the distance. At some points, the operators even mounted modified rifle scopes on their camera packages to keep the aircraft in their sites. 

Aerial Photography

As previously mentioned, one of the primary goals of Top Gun: Maverick was to exceed all other films centered on aeronautics. In order to achieve such a feat, they had to push beyond green screens and push the limits of what was possible. Placing the actors in aircraft at top speeds allowed them to capture authentic expressions. 

Greg Tarzan Davis plays “Coyote” in Top Gun: Maverick from Paramount Pictures, Skydance and Jerry Bruckheimer Films.

The aerial sequences were shot across California, Nevada, and the state of Washington. They are comprised of three primary elements: 

• Ground-to-Air
• Onboard
• Air-to-Air

Ground-to-Air, Top Gun: Maverick

Two additional cinematographers were hired to assist with the aerial cinematography – David B. Nowell, ASC and Michael FitzMaurice. Together, using their iPhones, they developed makeshift animatics with stick-model airplanes. 

“We built an aerial menu book of the most exciting and exhilarating camera angles and maneuvers that we could think of,” LaRosa recollects to ASC Magazine. “Then, we’d go and test them with real aircraft. We’d learn what worked and what didn’t.”

Onboard Photography

With the tremendous expense of getting the jets off the ground, the camera systems had to provide as many camera angles as possible to get the coverage they needed. However, it wasn’t as simple as cramming in the best cameras in the cockpit. The camera systems not only had to withstand the force of 7+ Gs without rattling but they also had to pass an approval process with the Navy to maintain safety standards. 

Since the actors (obviously) didn’t fly themselves, the filmmakers opted for F/A-18 models because they look similar to F-18s but include two seats – one for the pilot and the other for the weapons system operator in the back. It was all courtesy of the Department of Defense at $11,000 an hour. The actors sat in the back seat but filmed as if they were in the pilot’s seat. Four rear-facing cameras captured the actors while two forward-facing cameras captured the controls in the front with the pilot. 

Cameras in the cockpit

Above: Center Assy. – Cameras H, F, and J with Sensor Block for Camera G

Onboard Camera Rigs

Miranda told ASC Magazine that “to ensure the rigs’ viability, NAVAIR subjected them to shock, vibration and wind-tunnel testing at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland.” At first, NAVAIR engineers told Miranda that a six-camera setup wasn’t feasible. The filmmakers were challenged to think outside the box. 

In order to turn their camera system into reality, they located two F/A-18 jets without the modern heads-up displays. This freed them up to replace the cockpit’s video-recorder systems and other hardware with their battery-powered camera systems. Miranda was assisted by both his 1st AC Dan Ming and key grip Trevor Fulks in conceptualizing the six-camera setup for each F/A-18F. Fulks designed plates to mount to the cockpit’s existing threaded holes in order to rig their equipment. 

1st AC Dan Ming prepares the cockpit with cameras mounted to the jet.

The Rialto System

Pointing back at the weapons-systems officer’s seat where the actors sat was three standard Venice units. Each setup included the Rialto system to extend the 6K Sony Venice Digital Cinema cameras’ sensor blocks and separate them from the body with an extension cable. The cameras were rigged to capture over-the-shoulders (OTS) and inward-facing shots. 

A Rialto system was arranged forward over the non-actor pilot’s left and right shoulder for the OTS shots. The camera bodies were mounted behind the rear seat and the sensor blocks were mounted to the inside canopy. Since production Rialtos are too sturdy for the safety of their aerial circumstances, the filmmakers used prototypes of the Rialto with cables that could easily rip out of the sensor blocks. That way, the seats could eject in case of an emergency. 

Image credit: Sony

On the other hand, the rear-facing cameras capturing the actors were each mounted over the glare shield which is located above the console. The body, however, was mounted in the rear atop the jet’s light-control box. 

Image credit: Sony

Onboard Lenses

Weight was also a considerable factor. They utilized light, compact lenses with close focus. Not only did they keep the camera’s profile slim, but they couldn’t extend past the glare shield or obstruct the ejection seat. Fortunately, they didn’t need to worry about the extra girth of matte boxes since the Venice also has internal NDs. 

Lightweight Lenses

• Voigtländer Heliar wide-angle 10mm, 12mm, and 15mm E-mount primes 
• Zeiss Loxia 21mm, 25mm, 35mm, 50mm E-mount primes

Onboard Lighting

The sun was the primary source of light. However, without personally traveling on the aircraft to determine the best position of the aircraft, Miranda had to communicate his needs to the pilots and actors before each run. His goal was for the pilots to backlight the F/A-18s so the sun was ¾ from the rear on both sides. 

Under such conditions, they had to guesstimate their exposure – and once they set the stop there was no turning back. Miranda studied the flight paths and weather conditions during his prep before each day. This process helped inform how he set the camera exposures. 

“It got really nerve-racking because it’s really hard to predict,” Miranda tells the LA Times. “I had to set one exposure basically because we’re not auto exposing the cameras and they’re really specific. So I’d have to look 50 miles [ahead] where they’re going and know the terrain, how deep they’re going to go, and then set the exposure and hope on the way over there the weather doesn’t change.”

Exterior Mounts

The next meteoric challenge was securing the cameras to the aircraft’s exterior in a way that would produce usable footage. They also had to consider the limitations. For instance, the way the cameras were mounted to the exterior would affect the maneuver they could execute. The jets harbor inborne safety settings that won’t allow them to pull upward of 7 Gs or roll if they sense any extra weight on a wing. But Miranda notes that they would get full performance as long as the cameras were secured instead to the body or inside the cockpit of the aircraft. 

1st AC Dan Ming explains to ASC Magazine that certain maneuvers triggered extreme vibration; something that was realized when a camera came back damaged during testing. In addition, they experienced movement with the internal NDs from the vibrations. So, Ming suggested to Sony that they test the cameras with a paint mixer to replicate what they were experiencing with the jets. 

Altogether, the production amassed one exterior-rigged aircraft and two interior-rigged aircraft. Ming specifies that since the exterior rigs resulted in limited performance, they kept them separate from the interior rigs. 

The Solution

With the help of NAVAIR, they secured the cameras to the aircraft by building custom housing. They mounted the Sony Venice bodies to face the front and rear from the underside of the centerline, and then another one at the bottom of the wing facing the fuselage. The lenses used were Heliar wide-angle primes. 

Camera mounted to exterior of jet with custom housing

To capture Tom Cruise, Miranda mounted a wide-angle lens and turned it inward.

“Normally it’s not a flattering lens because if people get off to the side, they get stretched in a funny way,” says Miranda. “But since Tom stays mainly in the middle of it, it doesn’t hurt and looks kind of bad ass to see all this ground around him.” 

Amidst test flights, Miranda noticed how he could increase the cinematic experience with low-altitude flights through speeding vistas. Normally, the jets fly above the clouds but while low, the speed of the aircraft appears heightened and generated even more excitement. 

Film Crew on Top Gun: Maverick from Paramount Pictures, Skydance and Jerry Bruckheimer Films.

Three approaches to capturing high-speed maneuvers

In the past, there were no workarounds for such intense vibrations. The jet-based platforms were not fully stabilized so any movement from the wing would affect the shot. The camera jets were operated by Nowell and FitzMaurice.

1. CineJet

Top Gun: Maverick changed the game with the new rock-steady L-39 CineJet platform. LaRosa dreamt it up when superimposing an image of a camera gimbal over the nose of a jet in Microsoft Paint. It’s essentially a modified Aero L-39 Albatros trainer jet that has a six-axis gyrostabilized Shotover F1 camera system mounted on its nose. Its maneuverability and mounted cameras allowed the operator a wide field of view.

Putting his head together with the manufacturers, they developed the CineJet to withstand epic dogfights, crazy canyon runs, and as LaRosa puts it, they could really shove “the audience in the face of these afterburners.”

2. Embraer Phenom 300 camera jet

It was realized halfway through production that they needed extra air support for extended operations over water. They deployed an Embraer Phenom 300 camera jet for its speed and longer flight times. 

The filmmakers outfitted the private jet with two Shotover F1 Rush platforms – one on the nose and the other below the tail. In the jet, Nowell and FitzMaurice would operate Venice cameras with either a Fujifilm/Fujinon Cabrio 20-120mm T3.5 or a Cabrio 85-300mm T2.9-4 zoom.

3. Airbus H125 single-engine helicopter

The jets weren’t the only birds in the air. LaRosa also provided aerial camera support in an Airbus H125 single-engine helicopter. With the helicopter, they could get aerial photography in an aircraft that didn’t move at the speed of an airplane. In one example, the helicopter hovered low to the ground while a fighter jet darted past at over 300 knots. 

While the Phenom carried Shotover F1s, the helicopter was mounted with a Shotover K1, which is a larger version but designed for longer lenses. The K1 was outfitted with the larger profile of the Fujinon Cabrio 25,300mm T3.5. 

Exterior Lighting

The Navy’s love of the first Top Gun even helped grease the wheels for some special treatment. Initially, Miranda was advised that he wouldn’t have control of the direction of the aircraft carrier they were shooting on. This, of course, would have a negative impact on their backlight – aka, the sun. 

Miranda recounts to the LA Times how upset he was over this quandary. Someone passing him asked what was wrong, and he simply said that he would prefer if the sun was 20 degrees left of the ship at 4:00. Then, shortly after, the ship turned and revealed a beautiful backlight. It turned out he was talking to the captain! 

On a similar note, Tony Scott had similar issues with the original film. It took a $25,000 check to win the captain and capture the now-iconic backlight. “Tony Scott paved the way for us,” says Miranda. “I find it hard to believe that anyone else is going to ever get that kind of access again.”

Aerial Stunts

The aerial stunts were on a whole other level for Top Gun: Maverick. One of the best parts of the film experience is how you as the audience feel like you’re right there in the cockpit. While the actors took part in training for the original film, Cruise was the only one to withstand the turbulence. That said, he did throw up in his oxygen mask during his debut run. Although, Cruise quickly acclimated to the air and received his pilot’s license in the mid-90s. 

Top Gun (1986)

This time around, the aerial stunts were devised by aerial coordinator Kevin LaRosa, Jr., who also served as the lead camera pilot. His father, the stunt pilot veteran, Kevin LaRosa, Sr. was also part of the team. 

Now, as we previously mentioned, Tom Cruise and the rest of the cast didn’t actually pilot the aircraft in the film. The F/A-18, used by the Navy since 1995, is worth over $67 million alone. NAVAIR provided the jets for the production, but they were piloted by the professionals. 

Before signing on to the movie, the cast had to sign a waiver stating that they were not afraid of flying. In an interview with IndieWire, Tom Cruise says, “I was very clear in the beginning: ‘This is what it’s going to be like. It’s not for everyone. I want people to enjoy the experience. If you don’t want to be involved, totally, I understand.’”

Now, even though they didn’t pilot the planes, they had to strengthen their bodily constitution and work up to the G-Force of military fighter jets. That way, they wouldn’t need to halt filming due to sickness. 

What exactly is G-Force? 

We all know the feeling of 1 G since it accounts for the force of gravity that keeps us to the ground. The average person can typically sustain about 5 Gs, which is your average roller coaster. By comparison, military pilots must take on nearly double the force and experience upward of 9 Gs. 

In order to sustain such a tremendous force leveled at them, pilots wear protective anti-G suits and undergo intensive training exercises. This includes pool exercises and riding within the centrifuge, a device that recreates the force you feel in an aircraft. You might be wondering what happens if a pilot is unprepared for intense G force. Well, they could experience G-Loc or G-Force-induced loss of consciousness. Either or can prove fatal when operating a Mach-speed jet. 

Water exercise with cast of Top Gun Maverick

Training Program

In the run-up to production, the ensemble was subjected to a 3-month training program that essentially sufficed as a boot camp in Southern and Central California. LaRosa developed the training program where he and his father were the instructors. They worked their way from small Cessna 172 Skyhawks up to F-18s. 

The point of flying in varying planes was to begin with the fundamentals and understand spatial orientation. They also wanted actors to gain an understanding of flight, the controls, and how to land and takeoff. 

After the Cessnas, they graduated to the Extra EA-300 aerobatic monoplane that was instructed by Chuck Coleman. You’ve probably seen these planes if you watched the Red Bull Air Races or are familiar with stunt shows. From there, they moved up to the Aero L-39 Albatros, a Czechoslovakian fighter trainer jet, to get acquainted with excessive Gs. 

In-Flight Production 

After concluding their training and starting production, the actors joined the professional pilots in the sky in 90 to 120-minute intervals – a few times a day! This amounted to no more than four hours a day, which is a lot when flying the type of maneuvers they were, according to LaRosa. 

Not only did they contend with the extreme G-Force, but the cast was responsible for hitting their marks, remembering eyelines, checking the lighting, touching up their makeup such as adding extra sweat, and switching on the cameras themselves. Cruise mentioned that they even had to teach the actors about camera angles, lenses, and editing since they didn’t have unlimited time in the jets. 

LaRosa told GQ, “They’d tell their pilots, ‘Hey, I need the sun back here at five o’clock, I need a thirty-degree right bank, and I’m gonna hit these lines!’” 

Military-Grade Execution

In an interview with Men’s Journal, Miles Teller broke down the process.

“There was a lot that went into each of the flight scenes. Before we would shoot, we would go into a briefing like the military does, going over each movement and stunt very specifically–what the altitude is going to be, what our speed is going to be. The stakes are incredibly high, even if you are not actually flying the fighter jet, you need to be aware of every movement, because if the camera is pointed at you and you are even a millisecond off as far as timing, the whole scene is a bust. That means everything from the motion to the eye-line has to be perfect.”

Since the jets moved at an extraordinary speed and covered miles of terrain, it was impossible to sustain the ideal background. For additional takes, they would need to circle back around. Then, when they landed, they debriefed to review footage. Maybe two out of 10 takes were perfect. 

Limited Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI)

What sets Top Gun: Maverick apart from other films of today is its practical effects. The film’s director Joe Kosinski describes how the film is unique, even from its predecessor. 

“Our approach is a classic movie approach. The only thing they could do in the ’80s was capture this stuff, at least the exterior shots, for real. You just can’t fake what it feels like to be in one of these jets, the forces, the way the light changes, the vibration, the sense of speed, all of that. There’s just no replacement for that.” –Kosinski, Polygon

Christopher McQuarrie, Tom Cruise, Joseph Kosinski and Jerry Bruckheimer on the set of Top Gun: Maverick from Paramount Pictures, Skydance and Jerry Bruckheimer Films.

There were a few rules on Top Gun Maverick that the filmmakers set for themselves. First, everything in the air must be real from the vapor to the flight dynamics, save the bridge scene. The other rule was that there had to be real aircraft, even if they had to reskin a stand-in plane later to appear as another model. For example, the ambiguous fifth-generation jets. 

Where they did choose to use CGI was for the exterior sequences when converting the two-seater F/A-18s into single-seater F-18 models. They transferred the shot from the actors in the backseat to the front seat of an F-18 to make it appear as if they were really piloting the aircraft. 

So Real It Looks Fake

There were even sequences in the movie that appear as CGI but are actually real. When Maverick illegally takes a jet for a run to prove that a mission is possible to his trainees, it was all achieved practically. 

“I even think that it kind of looks like CG, but it’s not,” says Miranda of the sequence. “It’s totally real. They had a Blue Angel who can go below spec level and even, I think, push to 50 feet. And that’s what you see when it goes over the desert floor.”

In fact, it was the imperfections of the movie that gave it that authentic feel. Miranda says that even when they couldn’t keep a particular aircraft in shot, the energy of the movement was enough to win them over.

Miranda goes on to say, “A lot of what we wanted was using long lens and trying to keep in the frame but not doing a good job. All that makes it much more exciting and real and human,” says Miranda. One example that Miranda cites is the visceral pre-CGI clunkiness of stop-motion animation with the All Terrain Armored Transport walkers of Star Wars: Episode V.

To take it even a step further, the filmmakers chose not to clean up blemishes like the reflection of cameras. “There was talk about, do we get rid of them?” says Miranda. “But that would have made it even more synthetic. We worked so hard to get it in camera that we left them in there a little bit intentionally because we’re really capturing this.”

The Look of Top Gun: Maverick 

Top Gun: Maverick is a true cinematic experience unlike any other aviation movie of the past and likely anytime in the near future. This one-of-a-kind aeronautic epic reasserts practical filmmaking into cinematic form, especially in a time when green screen technology is the industry standard. 

Not only is the movie a perfect followup to an 80s classic, but a career milestone for one of the most successful action stars of the past 30 years. From the first film when Cruise was a budding movie star in his early 20s to now bordering 60, his presence and charisma in front of the camera are only rivaled by his abilities behind the scenes. 

Watch Top Gun: Maverick 

Top Gun Maverick is currently playing in theaters. After that, it will most likely be streamable on Paramount+. 

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT FILMMAKING TECHNIQUES, JOIN FILMMAKERS ACADEMY’S ALL ACCESS MEMBERSHIP AND GAIN COURSES AND LESSONS FROM INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS AT THE TOP OF THEIR GAME! 

Work Cited: 

• GQ.com
• LA Times
• ASC Magazine
• IndieWire
• Cinema Blend 
• Cinema Blend
• Polygon
• Slash Film
• FOX61
• Motion Picture Association
• SupercarBlondie
• SCEEN IT
• IBC 

The post THE LOOK OF TOP GUN: MAVERICK appeared first on Filmmakers Academy.

David colored some of the greatest films that will forever stand the test of time. In the full interview below, he shares key insights about his process for Dune, touches upon some of his other work, and reveals valuable nuggets of wisdom that should excite all of our readers who want to learn more about what it takes to be a colorist. 

Filmmakers Academy: Tell us about your role on Dune. 

David Cole: I was supervising and lead digital colorist so I basically headed up all of the creative for the DI with the team. I had plenty of support, too. In editorial, Bob Fredrickson was the online conform artist, and Philip Beckner supported me on color. While he worked alongside me on the master 2D version of the film, he handled most of the 3D versions of the movie. The rest of the team included DI producers, film laboratory, color science, dailies, film I/O, engineering, and DRS.

FA: When did this process start, and how long does the color process take for a film like Dune? 

DC: Well, because of the uniqueness of this film, in terms of how we actually executed it, we started talking about the whole pipeline including the film-out process way back while working on the camera tests for Vice, so that’s about four years ago. A year later camera tests were shot where Greig Fraser photographed on 65mm 15-perf, 5-perf, 35mm, Alexa LF, and Alexa 65. Greig went out to the desert and shot some footage there to get a feel for lighting on the dunes from day to dusk and then night, and also shot some pieces at the Sepulveda Dam.  We then evaluated all of the material and also tested taking the digital files to film and then scanning those back, match grading to the original digital images, and finally comparing to all of the natively shot formats. For maximum flexibility in the grade, we film it out on to negative using a custom tonal format. It’s not a printable negative, but rather the negative is used as an optical data storage medium. 

Once we had evaluated the material at Fotokem, we then visited IMAX in Playa Vista to screen it along with the core creative team and studio heads and it was decided what format was going to be used in production to capture the movie. Initially, Denis [Villeneuve] had thought film would be the way to go, but realized that the 35mm was just too grainy (especially for IMAX presentation) and that it felt too nostalgic – something that he didn’t want to convey – so it was discounted almost immediately. The 15-perf and 5-perf 65mm film looked great, but could bring a lot of potential issues to the filming because they’d been out in the desert. It’s not like films haven’t been shot in the desert—Lawrence of Arabia and similar epics were shot on film—but with limited lab access these days, getting the film out to be processed as well as just dealing with harsh climates and everything like that it was too great a challenge.

Dune (2021), Legendary Entertainment | Warner Bros Pictures

FA: The film was predominantly shot in Jordan, right? 

DC: Jordan, Abu Dhabi, Norway, and Budapest. It was decided pretty early on that if the movie was shot on an Alexa LF and then film recorded to a 1 ASA 35mm negative and then scanned back, we could get the film characteristics that we liked from a traditional 15-perf 65mm neg with minimal grain. The whole film-out process was more about everything else that film brings to the table – flicker, inter-layer interactions, weave, slight blur and halation of the highlights. We found that this hybrid approach of digital acquisition but including a photochemical process gave production maximum flexibility while aesthetically keeping all of the great characteristics of film. 

Denis always wanted this film grounded in reality, but he didn’t want it nostalgic. That’s why he didn’t want it too grainy. He didn’t want to make it feel like Lawrence of Arabia, he wanted it to feel modern or futuristic but grounded. By having film as part of this process, it allowed the audience to suspend their sense of disbelief. There’s something about the film process that just allows you to go with it. It’s almost like subliminal permission to just say, “This is real”.

The camera tests occurred months before principal photography began and during that time we also created the lookup tables (LUTs) for the film. We knew that the story would take us to planets other than Arrakis including Giedi Prime and Caladan. On those other planets and the interiors of Arrakis, we wanted a more traditional filmic style LUT, but wanted the shadows to have a softness about them – we never wanted anything pitch black, we wanted to be able to read into the darkness.

Caladan (Top) and Giedi Prime (Bottom), Dune 2021

For the exteriors of Arrakis, we created a LUT that emulated the skip bleach film process. As FotoKem is a full film laboratory, we actually put film through this photochemical treatment, scanned it to digital, and then matched it scientifically so that we had a true skip bleach emulation of film stocks that have gone through that process. Once we had that as our base building block, we softened the contrast a little bit because we didn’t want it too harsh, allowed air into the shadows, and then we manipulated the top end so that we didn’t get a lot of saturation in that part of the tonal curve.

Arrakis is one of, if not the driest inhabited planet, in the universe. There is effectively no water, particularly in the atmosphere. We didn’t want any blue skies that could imply that there’s moisture in the air so the LUT was tweaked to handle that and then further tweaked in the final grade.

Even though the palettes are muted, it’s not desaturated in the color grade. It’s only as desaturated as the skip bleach would do (in those exterior Arrakis scenes), along with the production design and wardrobe. When the colors need to pop, they do pop. For most of the visions or dream sequences, we had another creative LUT that we put in line that took us into a golden, surreal world.

That yellow world look was created during production but the other two looks were built in pre-production. Greig basically sent me a still that he’d found somewhere of this woman standing on a cliff overlooking a desert and he and Denis had agreed that’s the look. So, that was my one visual reference where we needed to go.

FA: Was this your second collaboration with Greig? Or, have you worked with him before?

Screengrab from ‘Pace It’ by Magic Dirt | Exit Films

DC: I have. We actually discovered probably about five or six months ago, that we had in fact worked together 20 years ago on a music video. I was listening to a podcast that [Greig] was on. They were talking about his early career and he said, “I used to work at this company in Melbourne called Exit Films.” He said he had shot some music videos with them and I knew that I had graded some for Exit too while working at Digital Pictures, also in Melbourne. I recalled that I had graded one called Pace It by Magic Dirt, and while I remembered the director, I couldn’t remember the DP. So I hunted it down on the internet and saw that Greig had shot it! I told him and he said that was his first-ever music video, and I think it was one of the first music videos that I’d ever colored. 

Cinematographer Greig Fraser, ACS, ASC

So, our history, unbeknownst to us, goes back 20 or so years. And then we found each other again on Vice and continued our relationship since then. But this was the second major project that I worked on with him and we are re-teaming again on The Batman.

The Batman (2022), DC Films | Warner Bros. Pictures

FA: Are you typically always brought into the project early? And how vocal are you allowed to be with someone like Greig Fraser? What does it typically look like for the colorist in making such suggestions, like tools, for instance?

DC: It’s not always the case, quite honestly. Sometimes the movie has been shot before I am awarded the job. It can be like, “Oh, you’re doing this job.” and two weeks later, I’m grading the film. But, when you can, you always want to be as involved as early as possible on a project so that you can do a lot of the heavy lifting in the R&D of look development, LUT development, technical workflow, and then oversee dailies. It’s great for the DP and core creative team to know that they can lean on you to check certain concerns during production.

They can say, “Hey, can you have a look at this and send it back to me?”  It’s always fantastic to be as involved as early as possible on any project. And, obviously, with cinematographers that I’ve worked with before, that happens because we know we’re going to work together again. Usually on the initial one, it’s not always the case—but it was with Greig. On Vice, we did a whole lot of tests before production as well, particularly as the film spanned the course of 50 years and we wanted the look of the film to illustrate that.

Vice (2018), Annapurna Pictures

In terms of my input on those tests, it’s like any relationship. You have to get to know each other. The DP usually chooses the colorist, so in those early days, I will follow the lead of the DP. And as the relationship grows, you can feel confident whether you can say things or if your input is relevant to the situation. A massive part of being a successful colorist, I believe, is really forming that relationship and bond with the key creatives be it the DP or director. Over time, that trust is built.

If I’m offering an opinion, there’s a reason why I’m relaying that point of view, and they’re willing to listen. You want people to learn to trust what you have to say. So having said that, by the time we got to Dune, we’d already done a movie together. Greig had already let me know that he trusted my vision, aesthetic and technical expertise. When we come to doing the camera test, he’s looking for all of the stuff that he needs to look at as a cinematographer – lenses, exposures, Iris settings, different camera formats, etc, and I’m there to help facilitate that. Lighting rigs, whether it’s Digital Sputniks or whatever— I can tell him if I’m seeing particular problems with color, or if certain parts of the bandwidth—the spectrum—are not being relayed or captured appropriately. I can show him where the problems are to help him make an informed decision. 

He is leading it—absolutely, because he’s the cinematographer—and I will help out and voice concerns if I see things that could get us into strife down the road. Ultimately, I’m there to make the cinematographer’s images as beautiful as they can be and remove any latent technical issues that may come down. If you’re really in a true collaboration, all creatives on the film want to make the best-looking movie they possibly can. Once you form those relationships, then it’s a massively rewarding experience. It really is a team effort. But you have to build that relationship at the beginning.

Denis Villeneuve on the set of Dune with Zendaya.

FA: What was it like working with Denis Villeneuve, who’s arguably one of the biggest directors right now and coming off of the heels of Blade Runner 2049, which was beautiful and shot by Roger Deakins? This was your first collaboration with him, right? 

DC: It is. As you know I’d had that rapport and relationship with Greig, but I didn’t with Denis. That was something that I had to build while working on the film, and I believe we’re very much of the same mindset and aesthetic. It was such a pleasure working with him, not only is he a fantastic director, but he is extremely collaborative, kind, and embracive of ideas, and everyone would bend over backwards to try to achieve his vision because he really is such a passionate, visual director, who is at the top of his game. You just want to give everything, and everyone felt the same.

FotoKem Color Grading Suite, Santa Monica

FA: How did the pandemic affect this process? The editor [Joe Walker] edited this film from home, which is something that he had never done before. Did you find yourself in a similar position or were you able to work on-site? 

DC: I work at FotoKem—so when we finished the movie, we were all at FotoKem looking on the big screen because you need to see the images in a projected environment to get as close to what the theatrical experience is. But, when everyone was locked down, Denis was in Montreal, Joe Walker was in LA, I was in LA, and everything was done virtually. I did a lot of work at home and then all the finessing was done in the theater. Likewise, all of the final visual effects reviews were done in the theater as you need to see these images at scale because you don’t want to discover that there are render hits or problems when you’re watching it in IMAX at the end of post-production. There was some work that obviously just could not be done at home, but a good portion of the key creative was done remotely.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring | New Line Cinema

FA: I know you started with Andrew Lesnie working on Fellowship of the Ring. At that time, you were one of the lead colorists, and that’s when they were starting to do Digital Intermediates. Considering your earlier films to now, what were some of the biggest challenges with Dune?  

DC: Well, as an example, when I worked on Fellowship of the Ring, we were working on a very early version of what would become Lustre. It was basically created to do LOTR. We could have up to eight secondaries (meaning up to eight shapes and/or keys), roto by hand with a simple point tracker, and that was it. We could playback 2K renders at eight frames per second. So when it was getting to crunch time, the only way we could really QC the work was to shoot on to film and then screen the print to review. Obviously, technology has improved over the last 20 years. 

Now working on Dune, we’re working on 4K files. For some of the visual effects shots, where we had to be able to frame for 1.43 as well as 2.39 and there was no way to get the composition right for both aspect ratios without a large zoom compromising one of those ratios, so there were a handful of shots —which we called mega frames-  which were 7K files. In comparison, I’m quite amazed we did what we did on Lord of the Rings, considering the limitations that we had in the technology at the time. But of course, no matter how advanced you are in technology, it’s never enough. We will still push boundaries regardless of how fast our machines are or how great our bandwidth is.

For Dune, we had to create the distinct looks of all of these worlds, both interiors and exteriors. We wanted many of the interiors of Dune to have very low light levels because we really wanted to cause the audience to experience the harshness and the burn of Arrakis when you go outside on that planet. Exposure was quite down on the interiors, so your eye Irises-out. When you go outside, you then get blasted by the sun, and you Iris-down. 

We also had to deal with multiple aspect ratios – 1.43:1 and 2.39:1. While IMAX allowed for the adjusting aspects of 1.43 to 2.39 (or 1.9 to 2.39 depending on IMAX exhibition type), the common theatrical version (and home video) was 2.39 so we needed to re-format shots created in 1.43 down to 2.39, making those framings right as well as dealing with the film-out scan-back process. Traditionally —like on Lord of the Rings— the movie was acquired on film, scanned, graded digitally, filmed back to negative film, and then it was printed—or, it went through a dupe process (so negative to interpositive to internegative and finally print).

What was unique about Dune, and Greig and I had discussed this idea for many years, was to photograph digitally, grade digitally, record to film, process, scan back, and then match grade back in the digital realm. This was the first time that we had done this process for a full-length feature, allowing us to get all of the characteristics of film but in a digital exhibition format.

The final reel of the movie – beginning when Paul explains to Jessica how to do the Fremen walk — was all shot with natural light. In the grade, we had to create that transition from nighttime to pre-dawn to dawn to day.

Courtesy of Legendary Entertainment | Warner Bros Pictures

I had to, over the course of 18 minutes, get from A to B to C to D. Especially in the canyon, where they’re meeting the Fremen, it required a massive amount of rotoscoping—and really tight rotoscoping – to allow the audience to see what they needed to see. The audience had to be able to read expressions of the eyes, faces, sign language, reaching for weapons, etc. We needed to make sure that the scenes didn’t look lit or manipulated in any way and to convey what it actually looks like when you’re in the desert at night or predawn, where it’s only ambient or moonlight and no direct light. And that was a massive undertaking. Greig knew what would be needed while shooting the scenes so we were prepared early on for a lot of work in the DI.

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FA: Are there any highlights that you’re really proud of that you would like to mention? I mean this by way of personal career standpoint, as well. Were there any milestones that you hit? 

DC: Just working on Dune is pretty amazing. I mean, it really is the science fiction film book that so many things have come from. It’s pretty cool to be able to say I helped to visually create these worlds. 

I’ve been very fortunate to contribute to world-building on quite a lot of films, Lord of the Rings, Tron: Legacy, Life of Pi—even though it’s the real world, it’s a hyper-real version of the real world; King Kong both Peter Jackson’s and Jordan Vogt-Roberts’ version on Skull Island, and now Dune; so, being able to create distinct worlds that the audience can immerse themselves in is very rewarding.

Dune (1984), Universal Pictures

FA: There was the David Lynch film that was made prior. Did you spend any time looking back at that film at all for inspiration? 

DC: I can’t speak for anyone else but I did not. It was all about discussions with Denis and Greig. Obviously, they had lots of creative development with Patrice Vermette, the production designer, and Visual Effects Supervisor Paul Lambert. Ultimately, this is Denis’ vision and that’s what we were trying to realize on the screen. It’s very different visually from David Lynch’s work.

FA: Tell us about the various versions of Dune that you had to create. 

DC: Obviously, we do a lot of creative work in the coloring of a movie, and that is what you see on the screen. But on a film, especially one of this scale, we need to technically create many different versions depending on the viewing environment. For IMAX exhibition, we had the 1.43 version. That’s the true massive IMAX screen which intercuts between 1.43 and 2.39. We then have the more common IMAX, which is 1.9 to 2.39. We have to oversee it on both the laser and Xenon projection in those two formats. There is also 3D of those formats in Xenon and laser. For IMAX alone we are creating eight versions. There is also a Dolby Vision theatrical version in both 2D and 3D, standard theatrical 2D and 3D, and then the various home video formats including HDR.

FA: Was it printed on film for IMAX? 

DC: No, digital. There was no film print released but every 2D version has gone through the film process. 

For making any film, you finish doing the creative, and then you need to fulfill all of the versions required for delivery. And thankfully, as I said earlier, I had Phil Beckner helping me so I could set some levels on the 3D as a guide for where we wanted the image to sit tonally, and he could then do all of the work to make sure that all shapes and secondaries worked in stereo (offsetting to place in Z space accurately) as well as working with the stereo conversion team to make the movie look great in 3D.

FotoKem Colorist Philip Beckner

When working in stereo (3D), it’s not as simple as just slapping the same grade on every shot and you are done as apart from shapes needing to sit correctly in 3D space. You also need to contend with the different exhibition light level targets. Your light level targets might include 3 ½ foot Lambert (ft-L), 7 ft-L, 11 ft-L, and a 14 ft-L. 

It’s amazing (and maybe surprising to some), the sheer amount of work that goes into delivering a film of this nature, just from a technical side. So, just completing the number of versions of this film, especially during the pandemic was quite an undertaking. The support of the whole team at FotoKem—producers, editors, colorists, data wranglers, DRS, and engineering—was such an amazing collaborative effort.

Supervising and Lead Digital Colorist David Cole

FA: When you’re doing a project like Dune, and you’re working at FotoKem, are you just assigned to one project at a time?  

DC: I was working on this film for over two years, but I’m not working on it consistently for that entire time. I’m involved in all the testing and the LUT creation and things like that, and then they go off and start their production. So during that time, I’m working on something else. When I get into the actual process of grading the film, the wish is always that I’m working on one project so that I can dedicate myself to it. 

On this film, I had other movies surrounding it. For Clifford the Big Red Dog, I worked with the director, DP, producer and Fotokem colleague Mike Sowa on the color through completing creative and then Mike finished up as the final VFX for that film were delivered and I transitioned to Dune. After completing the theatrical version of Dune I worked on other films before returning three months later to grade and oversee all the home video versions. Depending on the delivery schedule, you may find yourself leapfrogging and jumping around. But when you’re on a film, you always try to be dedicated to the one film if the schedules allow. That’s where having a great support team can really help out, allowing me to supervise and maximize my creative time.