The Wire

[Matthew McDermott]

Does anyone out there know what format HBO's "The Wire" is shot on? I've done some searching on the web for information but have come up short on the technical aspects. Any help is appreciated.

 

thanks in advance

[Wendell_Greene]

Not sure about this season, other than it's film, but the second season of The Wire was shot on 35mm using Panavision Cameras and lenses. There's a "Points East" article in the June 2003 issue of American Cinematographer covering the work of DP Uta Briesewitz.

 

The show is shot on real locations and also on a 95,000 square foot standing set. The soundstage has a 408' wide x 23 ' high day/night Rosco backing. All lights on the stage are tungsten balanced and Briesewitz used two stocks Kodak's Vision 500T 5279 and 5274 (200asa)

 

She favored using the 24-275mm T2.8 Primo zoom at about 250mm to "...suck out all the information [mostly] into the foreground, so it reads more prominently" and to get all the cranes in the Port of Baltimore docks "huge in the frame at the longer end of the zoom positions. She also placed the camera 400 feet or more away from the action while capturing full body shots of characters at the longest zoom postion.

 

As you can imagine with heavy zooms the camera stays on the dolly which she likes so she can use moves to hide the zooms and keep a balanced frame.

 

Not sure if Briesewitz is still the DP on "The Wire". She was the DP for the just cancelled NBC show "LAX" but keep in mind HBO and network have different production schedules and start dates so it's possible for her to have been involved in both shows.

Edited November 24, 2004 by Wendell_Greene

[Mike Panczenko]

Briesewitz is not longer the DP. Egil Egilsson replaced her during season 3. Season 2,and I think 1, but am not sure, were shot with the Millenium and she mostly used zooms and dolly.