Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Claudio Miranda, ASC on Tomorrowland

20/06/2014

Last year we interviewed Claudio Miranda, ASC about his work as cinematographer on Oblivion. It was among the first major features to be shot with the Sony F65 camera. We spoke to Claudio recently about Tomorrowland, directed by Brad Bird, with George Clooney and Britt Robertson. Locations were Vancouver and Valencia, Spain. The Walt Disney Pictures production is due to be released in 2015.

Jon Fauer: Claudio, what can you tell us about this production?

Claudio Miranda: I can't really talk too much yet about Tomorrowland. We shot with the Sony F65 and F55 cameras.

That's the interesting part of this story. How did you use F65 and F55 together? Was there a difference in look and so on?

With Oblivion, the main camera was the Sony F65, and for the small cameras we used REDs. But on Tomorrowland we were able to use F55 cameras when we wanted to get into small, tight places or required a lightweight package. So it was a great complement to the F65.

The F65 was your A camera and the 55s were grab cameras?

Yes. The F55 cameras were for grab, Steadicam, mounts, rigs, and action cam kind of situations.

What were the significant differences between the cameras?

Naturally the F65 is still the sharpest one. There's a mechanical shutter on the F65 and it has a greater selection of internal ND filters.

Could you see the difference in the dynamic range, shadows and highlights?

The F65 has a larger dynamic range. It's still a stronger camera. It's just a more powerful beast. There's just a lot of horsepower behind that so there's still more latitude in the F65 than the F55. But for action shots, the F55 cuts really well with the F65.

I don't have any issues using the F55. In fact, I used it often. For the size, it's actually pretty great. I love the internal NDs. It has a great form factor. It's easy to play and record. Every now and then the director wanted to do some action sequences to run at 20 or 22 fps to kind of tighten up the pace a little bit. In the beginning this was only available with the F65. Then as future updates were implemented, the F55 was able to do the same. So we learned and grew with the camera as it evolved.

It was similar to the way we grew up together with the F65 on Oblivion. On Oblivion, at the beginning the F65 camera did 24, 30 or 60 fps, but it didn't do 48 fps. Halfway through the movie its software was updated to have frame rates 1-60 fps, which the director really wanted. Now the F65 can do 120 fps. And the F55 can do 240 fps 2K RAW and 60 fps 4K RAW. The F55 is an amazing little camera that just fits. It has a great, nice, open beautiful color space. It's simple to use.

I guess you recorded RAW on both cameras?

We recorded RAW on both cameras. In the beginning, for all my camera tests, I used the F55. For simple camera tests and scouting I just went directly to the SxS cards. I didn't even have a camera crew on some of the tests. I went out with a little zoom lens, and I tested with practical lights and I just did it by myself. It was really simple. During scouting or prep, if someone asked how something would work with blue screen, I could just pull the camera out, shoot and put in a blue screen. It was that simple.

What frame rates did you mostly work at with these cameras?

Mostly 24p

Did you have the new EVF for the F65 this time? I think you were not happy with the EVF on Oblivion?

Yes, we had the new EVF. And we had the same OLED finder on both the F65 and the F55. These new ones were great.

So you were able to see focus and everything else?

Correct. It was much better.

Which lenses did you use on this show?

We used the ARRI/ZEISS Master Primes and the Fujinon Premier Zooms again. Same as the Oblivion package.

We did some interesting testing in the beginning. Brad Bird, the director, wanted to shoot dual formats. He wanted to shoot 4:3 format, which might originally have made it an ARRI Alexa production. And then, for another part of the story, he wanted it to be 2.39:1 anamorphic. To achieve that, we tested the Sony F65 with 1.3x Hawk anamorphics. If you rotate them 90 degrees, that would make the format 4:3. And if you rotate them back to normal then you get 2.39:1. That would have been interesting: in one part of the story you'd have vertical flares and the other part of the story you'd have horizontal flares. These tests were very intersting, but we didn't shoot the movie this way.

Did you have the same DIT-Alex Carr?

Alex was with me. And the first camera assistant was Dan Ming, who worked with me on Life of Pi.

And how did you deal with on-set, near-set and dailies?

Alex and I would, at the end of the day, go through the rough looks for the day.

Were you setting different looks for each shot or go through it like one lights?

It was mostly like one lights. Sometimes I gave it a little bit of a look, which is nice on the F65 and really easy to do. It's interesting. Alex could access the color wheels on the camera and we could give little corrections to each camera on the fly. Alex is pretty great at doing that. There were some new updates that gave Alex a lot of control.

And in terms of viewing dailies with the director and production, how did you do that?

We had a theater for watching dailies. Furthermore, I always have a great monitor and I'm always looking at it. Basically my monitor works as my on-set dailies viewer. I know it well. At the end each day, we spend anywhere from fifteen minutes to a half an hour just grading the dailies. And then, Alex will take a look file that he sends on a USB stick to the dailies processing people.

What monitor did you use on set?

The same as last time: a 25-inch Sony BVM OLED Monitor. Because the F65 doesn't output 4K for live viewing, I can see what I need to know in HD.
LINK: http://www.ocon.com/claudio-miranda-asc-on-tomorrowland/...
See more stories from ocon

Most recent headlines

26/12/2024

M&E Not Ready to Fully Embrace AI in 2024

Talking about artificial intelligence in 2024 is akin to talking about the internet in 1994 everyone's excited about it and thinks it will have an enormous ...

26/12/2024

Check Out All the Must-See Trailers From Netflix's NFL Christmas Gameday Live

Back to All News Check Out All the Must-See Trailers From Netflix's NFL Chr...

26/12/2024

Beyonc Delivers Epic Gift of a Halftime Performance + "Beyonc Bowl" Is Coming to Netflix Soon!

Back to All News Beyonc Delivers Epic Gift of a Halftime Performance "Beyonc...

26/12/2024

Get in the Game With Squid Game' Season 2 Complete Coverage Guide

Back to All News Get in the Game With Squid Game' Season 2 Complete Coverage Guide Entertainment 26 December 2024 Global Link copied to clipboard Are...

26/12/2024

Cheers to 2024: GeForce NOW Recaps Year of Ultimate Cloud Gaming

This GFN Thursday wraps up another incredible year for cloud gaming. Take a look back at the top games and new features that made 2024 a standout for GeForce NO...

24/12/2024

PARTICIPATE AT SERIES MANIA FORUM 2025

The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is calling for applications from South African film and television filmmakers to be part of the NFVF's delegat...

24/12/2024

FCC Fines Paramount Global $244,952 for Emergency Alert Violations

WASHINGTON, D.C. The Federal Communications Commission Enforcement Bureau said Paramount Global is being fined $244,952 for violations of emergency alerting rul...

24/12/2024

Streamer Carnegie Hall+ Features Holiday Programming and Music

NEW YORK Carnegie Hall's video-streaming channel, Carnegie Hall+, said it will celebrate the holiday season by offering a wide selection of holiday-themed o...

24/12/2024

PlayersTV Acquires Cloud Media Center

LOS ANGELES PlayersTV, an athlete and fan-owned media company, has announced the acquisition of Cloud Media Center, an AI-driven sports adtech and media distrib...

24/12/2024

The Best Playlists of 2024

The Best Playlists of 2024 The top playlists we created in 2024, from dad rock to dembow. By Tara Bellucci December 23, 2024 Image by Kelly Davidson Tak...

24/12/2024

From Generative to Agentic AI, Wrapping the Year's AI Advancements

Editor's note: This post is part of the AI Decoded series, which demystifies AI by making the technology more accessible, and showcases new hardware, softwa...

23/12/2024

Broadcast and the IT industry: an inevitable evolution?

At IBC2024, Grass Valley CTO Ian Fletcher told attendees at GV Forum that broadcast is now an IT industry. During our discussions at the show, TVBEurope heard v...

23/12/2024

Cracking creation: Fun facts from Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

According to co-director Nick Park, the production team embraced technology to help create the iconic duos latest adventure By Jenny Priestley Published: Dec...

23/12/2024

Mapping the great wave: how Lux Aeterna produced data-centric visuals for Tsunami: Race Against Time

VFX house Lux Aeterna used wave height data from the National Oceanic & Atmosphe...

23/12/2024

DAZN acquires Australia's Foxtel in $2.2 billion deal

We are committed to supporting and investing in Foxtel's television and streaming services, across both sports and entertainment, using our world-leading te...

23/12/2024

Looking back at 2024: the industry trends that stood out

From AI to IP, the cloud to virtual production, key industry executives take a look back at some of the biggest trends that impacted the media and entertainment...

23/12/2024

BOOST GRAPHICS THE SPECIALIST INTERNATIONAL GRAPHICS SUBS...

Boost Graphics, the specialist international graphics and virtual production subsidiary of EMG / Gravity Media, the leading force in production and content & me...

23/12/2024

LucidLink Earns TPN Gold Certification to Advance Secure...

LucidLink, the leading storage collaboration platform revolutionizing how global teams work, proudly announces its achievement of the prestigious Trusted Partne...

23/12/2024

Mediagenix Welcomes Bruno Langlais as Business Developmen...

Mediagenix, a leader in software solutions for content strategy, content value management, and content scheduling, announces the appointment of Bruno Langlais a...

23/12/2024

NextGen TV Live Spanish Captions Debut on PMVG Test Bed S...

WCTEPublic Media Venture Group (PMVG) has announced that it is now providing real-time translation of closed captioning from English to Spanish on PMVG's Ne...

23/12/2024

Deltatre Appoints Charlie Mitchell to Head Up Sports in t...

Deltatre, the tech company behind the media and sporting moments that matter, has appointed Charlie Mitchell as Head of Sports for the Americas. Charlie will sp...

23/12/2024

Media Excel Welcomes Industry Veteran Matthew Goldman to...

Media Excel, a global leader in real-time video solutions, proudly announces the appointment of Matthew Goldman to its Technical Advisory Board. A distinguished...

23/12/2024

Disguise Nikon and MRMC bring Studio Extreme immersive ac...

Disguise the company behind the virtual production technology used on commercials for Apple Music and Lenovo, as well as feature film Daddio starring Sean Pen...

23/12/2024

Moments Lab and Bitcentral Partner for AI-Powered Content...

Leading AI and video search company Moments Lab is pleased to announce its integration with Bitcentral. The integration enables Bitcentral Oasis MAM users to en...

23/12/2024

ABC Commercial Partners With Amagi to Launch Suite of FAS...

Amagi, the global leader in cloud-based SaaS technology for broadcast and connected TV (CTV), today announced that ABC Commercial has partnered with Amagi to la...

23/12/2024

Digital Alert Systems Vice President of Global and Govern...

Digital Alert Systems, the global leader in emergency communications solutions for media providers, today announced that Ed Czarnecki, the company's vice pr...

23/12/2024

New Matthews Multipurpose Adapter for Moving Lights

Matthews Studio Equipment, known for the heftiest hardware, has a new solution to simplify mounting live production moving lights to standard grip equipment. Th...

23/12/2024

Matthews Studio Equipment Debuts RoadBags

Matthews Studio Equipment expands its trusted Road-line with the launch of RoadBags, durable fillable sandbags available in three sizes. Whether in the studio o...

23/12/2024

Sport Lisboa e Benfica Enhances Stadium Communications wi...

Sport Lisboa e Benfica, one of Portugal's most prestigious football clubs, has partnered with Clear-Com to upgrade the communications system at the Est dio...

23/12/2024

Black Box at Hamburg Open 2025

At stand B6.734, Black Box will showcase its Emerald KVM-over-IP solution, which enables smarter studio control with secure remote access from anywhere, along...

23/12/2024

OOONA Partners with Audio Description Associates

OOONA, a leading provider of professional management and production tools for the media localization industry, announced today a partnership with Audio Descript...

23/12/2024

Dunk The Halls: ESPN Refines Animated Altcast Tech and Ops with a Helping Hand From Mickey and Minnie

Dunk The Halls: ESPN Refines Animated Altcast Tech and Ops with a Helping Hand F...

23/12/2024

Leading Through Change: In Conversation with Michal Masset, Chief People Officer

With the holiday season in full swing, we are delighted to bring you a special digital event, Leading Through Change with Technicolor Group's Chief People O...

23/12/2024

Netflix Kicks Off NFL Christmas Games: Behind the Scenes With the Streaming Giant and Its Production Partners

Netflix Kicks Off NFL Christmas Games: Behind the Scenes With the Streaming Gian...

23/12/2024

ESPN's Tina Thornton on Producing The Simpsons Funday Football, Upcoming Dunk the Halls Alternative Broadcast on Christmas Day

ESPN's Tina Thornton on Producing The Simpsons Funday Football, Upcoming Dun...

23/12/2024

Dunk The Halls: ESPN Refine Animated Altcast Tech and Ops with a Helping Hand From Mickey and Minnie

Dunk The Halls: ESPN Refine Animated Altcast Tech and Ops with a Helping Hand Fr...

23/12/2024

NFL Christmas Gameday Live Comes to Netflix With Blimps, Hot Cocoa Trucks and Two Superstar Performances

Back to All News NFL Christmas Gameday Live Comes to Netflix With Blimps, Hot C...

22/12/2024

News Corp Announces Agreement to Sell Foxtel to DAZN for Enterprise Value of A$3.4 Billion

News Corp Announces Agreement to Sell Foxtel to DAZN for Enterprise Value of A$3...

22/12/2024

Netflix Showcases Global Anime Hits and New Releases at Jump Festa 2025

Back to All News Netflix Showcases Global Anime Hits and New Releases at Jump Festa 2025 Entertainment 22 December 2024 GlobalJapan Link copied to clipboar...

21/12/2024

L3Harris Thrusters Position NASA Probe for Closest Approaches to the Sun

Artist's concept of the Parker Solar Probe spacecraft approaching the sun. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL...

21/12/2024

Dallas Mavericks Roll Out New Streaming Platform

DALLAS and NEW YORK The NBA's Dallas Mavericks, working with Endeavor Streaming, Softtek and the NBA, have launched an official streaming platform for MavsT...

21/12/2024

Former FCC Chair Expresses Concern' Over Musk's Influence

As tech billionaire Elon Musk takes an increasingly high-profile policy role in the incoming Trump administration, a former Federal Communications Commission ch...

21/12/2024

Gray Media Renews Comscore Measurement Deal

RESTON, Va. Comscore has announced that it has renewed and expanded its measurement deal with Gray Media....

21/12/2024

Sinclair, Gray Media to Broadcast Columbus Blue Jackets NHL Games

The Columbus Blue Jackets, Sinclair and FanDuel Sports Network have signed a deal that will allow Sinclair and Gray Media stations in select markets to simulcas...

21/12/2024

Our Favorite Songs of 2024

Our Favorite Songs of 2024 Explore a playlist featuring some of the top songs of the year, as picked by members of the Berklee community. By Tara Bellucci De...

21/12/2024

Berklee Wrapped 2024: Our Top News and Stories

Berklee Wrapped 2024: Our Top News and Stories Take a look at some of our best stories of the year, including announcing our next president, hosting Andr 300...

21/12/2024

Alumna Allison de Groot Awarded 2024 Steve Martin Banjo Prize

Alumna Allison de Groot Awarded 2024 Steve Martin Banjo Prize De Groot, a former student of the American Roots Music Program, was recognized for her unique so...

20/12/2024

Thinking of Launching a Podcast? Let Our New Guide Show You How

Podcasting has become one of the most popular ways to tell stories and connect with audiences, but getting started can be intimidating, especially when it comes...

20/12/2024

2025 Sundance Film Festival Reveals 92 Projects for Feature Film and Episodic Programs

Top L-R: The Legend of Ochi, Rabbit Trap, East of Wall, Seeds Center Row L-R: Re...