Cinematographer Mihai Mlaimare Jr. on The Harder They Fall
06/09/2024
The Harder They Fall may be the first western M laimare has shot, but the cinematographer is no stranger to the genre, having grown up watching them on Romanian TV. I love westerns and feel that all filmmakers deep inside want to do a western at one point, he says. When I read the script, I got hooked to it right away. Music is such a big part of the process for Jeymes, and the script had so many music notes in it that it showed it would be a different type of western while still paying tribute to the genre itself. It had all the right ingredients to be special.
Samuel had a specific aesthetic in mind for the film and brought paintings by the African-American artist Kadir Nelson to his first meeting with M laimare. Nelson's work is vibrant, illustrative, and full of color, and Samuel desired to capture a similar style for the film's visuals. He wanted the look of the film to be a photograph printed on high-gloss paper, M laimare says. He wanted that saturation and high contrast and glossiness.
M laimare, in turn, found inspiration in Dutch photographer Pieter Henket's 2018 book Congo Tales, which featured large-format stills of the Congolese re-enacting popular folktales. Henket employed colored lights to achieve a similar kind of saturation and contrast found in Nelson's paintings. During the shoot, digital-imaging technician Eli Berg loaded images of both artists' work into his system as reference points. Thats how we got a lot of ideas like going deep blue in the shadows, M laimare says. Sometimes the inspiration might just be framing, but the whole idea of tweaking coloring in that way was pretty great.
After M laimare came aboard the project, plans were made in earnest to commence production, but then the coronavirus pandemic put the world on hold prior to the start of principal photography. We all thought it would be a few weeks only, but it turned out to be much longer, the cinematographer recalls. But then, three or four months after, I got a call from Jeymes. He was like, Okay, were going, are you ready?' I couldnt believe it. In a week I had to drive to Santa Fe!
Covid precautions forced the filmmakers to rethink all their traditional shooting methods. We all tried to figure out how to make a movie in the middle of a pandemic while being safe and dealing with all the extra gear, M laimare says. But it went incredibly fast. With all the restrictions, we had to learn to do things in a different way. We did only 10-hour days. It was hard to find time to have lunch, but on the other hand, you could feel that the crew was well rested. We never did crazy Fraturdays' or anything like that. When you have a rested crew, everything goes much smoother.
Samuel and M laimare decided that since they were making a western, it was a no-brainer to go widescreen and anamorphic. M laimare immediately approached Panavision, with whom he's had a long-standing relationship. The cinematographer is also a self-confessed fan of Panavision's Millennium DXL2 camera system. I remember trying it the first time when it came out, and one thing that blew me away was the [Primo electronic] viewfinder, he shares. I think its by far the best viewfinder on the market. I started on film, where you have your eye in the viewfinder the whole time. I cannot function otherwise. I operate and have a hard time looking at a monitor. I really need a good viewfinder, and the whole combination with the color science made it an absolutely perfect tool.
He also appreciates how DXL2 holds highlights. You know that you have at least three stops where you have recoverable image in the highlights, he says. It paid off well for us because the ground in New Mexico is so reflective. The fact that everybody was wearing cowboy hats made the perfect combination. We didn't need to fly silks, and we could shoot in the middle of the day in the harshest sun, and everybody would look great.
For 2018s The Hate U Give, M laimare had shot on DXL2 with a set of Auto Panatar anamorphic primes, which have a 1.3x squeeze ratio. For The Harder They Fall, the cinematographer says, I really wanted to find something similar to the Auto Panatars. My main concern was the loss of resolution when going to 2x anamorphic.
After an initial conversation with Dan Sasaki, Panavision's senior vice president of optical engineering, Dan asked me to come over, and he showed me a set of T Series modified to a 1.85 squeeze factor, M laimare continues. The 1.85x squeeze allowed the cinematographer to capture 5604x4320 images with DXL2, as compared to 5184x4320 when 2x anamorphic is paired with the camera. That extra resolution put my mind at ease. They were also a little softer and ended up having these amazing swirly bokeh there are so many interesting things about them. Dan showed me only two lenses, and I was sold on them right away.
We started shooting in the forest with the Nat Love Gang, and the way that swirly bokeh looked was quite amazing, he adds. A 12mm H Series spherical [lens] would have given a wider field of view, but looking at the widest T Series and what it was doing to those trees and the falloff and
LINK: | https://www.panavision.com/highlights/highlights-detail/a-different-ty... |
See more stories from panavision |
Most recent headlines
09/12/2024
Dalet Named an IDC Innovator in Media and Entertainment
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced that it has been named an IDC Innovator in the IDC Innovators: ...
09/11/2024
Dalet Expands Leadership Team to Fuel Next Stage of Growth
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced three new members of its executive team. Tara Bryant joins as Chi...
16/09/2024
DirecTV, Disney Agree on Outlines of New Deal That Ends Blackout
BURBANK & EL SEGUNDO, Calif. Over the weekend on Sept. 14, DirecTV and The Walt Disney Company announced that they have reached an agreement in principle for a ...
16/09/2024
TV Tech Announces Best of Show Winners at 2024 IBC Show
TV Tech has announced its Best of Show Awards for the 2024 IBC Show which ends today in Amsterdam. The awards were judged by a panel of industry experts on the ...
16/09/2024
TVBEurope Best of Show IBC2024 winners announced
By Jenny Priestley Published: September 15, 2024 Future's Best of Show at IBC2024 awards have been announced, with exhibitors from across the show floo...
16/09/2024
VSI adopts OOONA Integrated for streamlined localization
OOONA, a leading provider of professional management and production tools for the media localization industry, announced today that its flagship platform, OOONA...
16/09/2024
Philips Sonicare Hooks Up with Thursday Dating App for a...
From garlic breath to red wine-stained teeth, and even that sneaky bit of lunch stuck in between the gaps nothing kills the dating vibe faster than an unkempt s...
16/09/2024
Dalet Named an IDC Innovator in Media and Entertainment
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced that it has been named an IDC Innovator in the IDC Innovators: ...
16/09/2024
Lightware Expands Global Presence with New High-Tech Cent...
Lightware Visual Engineering, a leading manufacturer of connectivity solutions for the professional integrated systems market and a pioneer in signal management...
16/09/2024
Imagine Celebrates Milestone at IBC2024 - 4000th Selenio...
Imagine Communications is marking a milestone at IBC2024 (13-16 September, RAI Amsterdam, stand 1.B73), where the company will celebrate shipping the 4,000th un...
16/09/2024
Imagine Communications Expands Partnership with Google Ad...
Imagine Communications, a leading provider of ad tech solutions for TV broadcast, announces a significant advancement in its partnership with Google Ad Manager....
16/09/2024
LucidLink Illustrates its Integration into Adobe After Ef...
LucidLink, the storage collaboration platform for the world's largest studios, brands, and creative professionals, will be exhibiting at IBC 2024 at the RAI...
16/09/2024
Ross Video Introduces Carbonite Ultra Solo
Ross Video, a global leader in video production technology, announced the launch of Carbonite Ultra Solo, a compact UHD production switcher that is designed to ...
16/09/2024
Ross Video Launches Ultricore Tally
Ross Video, a global leader in video production technology, today announced the launch of Ultricore Tally, a full-featured and versatile tally control and manag...
16/09/2024
HAND welcomes SimplyTV and BB Media to API Program
HAND (Human & Digital) the first global B2B Talent ID registry platform for efficient discoverability, royalty collection, and revenue tracking of notable real ...
16/09/2024
TMT Insights Polaris Platform Transforms BBC Studios Glob...
TMT Insights is partnering with BBC Studios on a multi-year project to help it transform its digital media supply chain. Through a combination of TMT's Pola...
16/09/2024
LOGIC becomes a launch partner for AWS Elemental MediaLiv...
LOGIC's complete package includes hardware, software, PORTAL, and comprehensive service and support. Just ahead of IBC, Amazon Web Services (AWS) unveiled ...
16/09/2024
Chaos New Short Has an Answer for Hollywood VFX Problems
Today, Chaos releases Ray Tracing FTW, a new short film that takes aim at the state of VFX and filmmaking from an artist's point of view. More than an air...
16/09/2024
Trew Audio Acquires Pinknoise Systems - Enhancing Global...
Trew Audio, a prominent leader in professional audio sales and services, is excited to announce the acquisition of Pinknoise Systems, a highly regarded professi...
16/09/2024
iodyne to Showcase Production and Broadcast Workflow Inno...
iodyne, developer of tools for media professionals including Pro Data, the world's fastest Thunderbolt storage device, will showcase an optimized productio...
16/09/2024
N.Y. Gov. Kathy Hochul Touches on Increasing TV, Film Production Credits in Paley Center Interview
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul spoke at the Paley Center for Media in Manhattan Sept...
16/09/2024
International ID Day: Thales stands up for a legal and trusted identity for everyone.
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn On the International Identity Day ID Day', ...
14/09/2024
Showcases, Subway Cars, and a Speakeasy: Inside the Spotify x Samsung Galaxy Fresh Finds Event in NYC
At Spotify, our live experiences are curated cultural moments that get people ta...
14/09/2024
L3Harris Sparks a Greener Future with Solar Carport Groundbreaking in San Diego
L3Harris CHQ and SAS representatives broke ground on a new solar carport facility in San Diego....
14/09/2024
P&G Sponsoring HBCU Go Football Season Programming
Procter & Gamble is sponsoring sports programming on Allen Media Group's HBCU Go streaming digital platform during the 2024 college football season....
14/09/2024
Colorfont Demos Cloud-Based Transkoder Processing At IBC 2024
AMSTERDAM Colorfront is showcasing its latest technology during IBC 2024 with a special focus on its demonstrations of its cloud-based solution for streaming an...
14/09/2024
AJA Video Systems Previews Virtual KONA AWS Collaboration At IBC 2024
AMSTERDAM AJA Video Systems is previewing its Virtual KONA software-defined virtualized video capture/playback solution being developed in collaboration with Am...
14/09/2024
Ikegami Unveils IPX-100 IP Mini Base Station At IBC 2024
AMSTERDAM Ikegami has introduced the Ikegami IPX-100 full-featured IP-oriented mini base station at IBC 2024....
14/09/2024
Grass Valley Unveils LDX 110, LDX C110 Cameras At IBC 2024
AMSTERDAM Grass Valley has introduced its new LDX 110 and LDX C110 entry level cameras at IBC 2024....
14/09/2024
Chyron Introduces PRIME 5.0 At IBC 2024
AMSTERDAM Chyron at IBC 2024 has unveiled PRIME 5.0, the latest version of its all-encompassing graphics platform that leverages a high-performance gRPC Playout...
14/09/2024
Grass Valley Unveils ACE-3901 Next-Gen 12G Computing Engine at IBC 2024
AMSTERDAM Grass Valley has launched the ACE-3901 Next Generation 12G Modular Agile Computing Engine and the XIP-3911-GRID firmware for the XIP Modular Processin...
14/09/2024
Atomos, Dropbox Advance Camera-To-Cloud Workflow With New Offer
AMSTERDAM Atomos is promoting a 40% discount on Dropbox Business or Business Plus plans with the purchase of any new Atomos monitor or monitor-recorder until No...
14/09/2024
OWC Launches Envoy Ultra Thunderbolt 5 SSD
OWC Launches Envoy Ultra Thunderbolt 5 SSD Brie Clayton September 13, 2024 0 Comments New SSD Revolutionizing Business and Content Creation with Unpre...
14/09/2024
Blackmagic Design Announces ATEM Switchers 9.6.2 Update!
Blackmagic Design Announces ATEM Switchers 9.6.2 Update! Brie Clayton September 13, 2024 0 Comments New update adds Visca over IP control for PTZ came...
14/09/2024
AJA Unveils KONA IP25 I/O Card with Uncompressed Bi-Directional SMPTE 2110 Support at IBC 2024
AJA Unveils KONA IP25 I/O Card with Uncompressed Bi-Directional SMPTE 2110 Suppo...
14/09/2024
Live From IBC 2024: EMG/Gravity Media's Eamonn Curtin and Philip Tidmarsh Provide Update on Merger, Latest Projects
Live From IBC 2024: EMG/Gravity Media's Eamonn Curtin and Philip Tidmarsh Pr...
14/09/2024
Live From IBC 2024: NEP's Lise Heidal Talks New Middle East IP OB Facility and Uniting Teams Across UK, Europe
Live From IBC 2024: NEP's Lise Heidal talks new Middle East IP OB facility a...
14/09/2024
Live From IBC 2024: ARRI's Marc Shipman-Mueller on the Explosive Popularity of the Alexa 35 Live Multicam System
Live From IBC 2024: ARRI's Marc Shipman-Mueller on the Explosive Popularity ...
14/09/2024
Live From IBC 2024: Haivision's Jean-Marc Racine on the Power of MojoPro App and the Rise of SRT
Live From IBC 2024: Haivision's Jean-Marc Racine on the Power of MojoPro App...
14/09/2024
Live From IBC 2024: TVU Networks' Yoni Tayar on a Busy Summer of Sport and What's on Display in Amsterdam
Live From IBC 2024: TVU Networks' Yoni Tayar on a Busy Summer of Sport and W...
14/09/2024
Live from IBC 2024: Appear's Andy Rayner on Latest Processing and Compression Solutions, Company's 20th Anniversary
Live from IBC 2024: Appear's Andy Rayner on Latest Processing and Compressio...
14/09/2024
Live From IBC 2024: EVS's Jan Mokallai on Growth LiveCeption and Company's 30th Anniversary
Live From IBC 2024: EVS's Jan Mokallai on Growth LiveCeption and Company'...
14/09/2024
Live From IBC 2024: Saturday's Latest From Amsterdam
Live From IBC 2024: Saturday's Latest From Amsterdam By SVG Staff Friday, September 13, 2024 - 19:37 Print This Story The SVG Europe and SVG Americas ...
14/09/2024
Eutelsat selected by SABA WORLD to deliver educational content across the MENA region
Photo credit: GETTY IMAGES Press release - 14 September 2024 12:59 Eutelsat ...
13/09/2024
Give Me the Backstory: Get to Know Megan Park, the Filmmaker Behind My Old Ass
By Bailey Pennick One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festival is having a front-row seat for the bright future of independent filmmaking. ...
13/09/2024
SNS Previews New Workflow Innovations At IBC2024
SNS is excited to preview the latest features coming to the award-winning EVO Suite. Be among the first to test drive these workflow innovations at IBC2024, and...
13/09/2024
Spotify Pilots New Music Experience for Young Listeners on Family Plans
Spotify is committed to bringing the best listening experience to all our users, and that includes parents and families. That's why we've introduced a p...
13/09/2024
Spotify's New Countdown To' Vodcast Series Kicks Off With Artists Jelly Roll and mgk in Debut Episode
As fans patiently await their favorite artists' new album releases, the anti...
13/09/2024
The Making of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
What I've always loved about his films is that incredible warmth and that incredible imagination, cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos, BSC, GSC says of dire...
13/09/2024
US Navy Awards L3Harris $587 Million Contract for Next Generation Jammer - Low Band Program
SALT LAKE CITY, Sept. 12, 2024 - L3Harris Technologies (NYSE:LHX) has received a...