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What Kubrick could be doing with today's cameras


Adriano Ven

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I just watched this video and tought about the story on Kubrick and the candlelit scenes on "Barry Lyndon".


What would he be doing with today's cameras and lenses?


Of course cinematographers aren't using f0.7 lenses on day to day basis but, for example, Master Primes and Cooke 5 are pretty bright and camera ISO technology are advancing everyday.


With a camera capable of a base ISO 5000 and a Master Prime on T1.3 candlelit scenes would be just the start on the cinematography crative process.


What do you think?

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I just watched this video and tought about the story on Kubrick and the candlelit scenes on "Barry Lyndon".

 

What would he be doing with today's cameras and lenses?

 

Of course cinematographers aren't using f0.7 lenses on day to day basis but, for example, Master Primes and Cooke 5 are pretty bright and camera ISO technology are advancing everyday.

 

With a camera capable of a base ISO 5000 and a Master Prime on T1.3 candlelit scenes would be just the start on the cinematography crative process.

 

What do you think?

The more important point to take away from "Barry Lyndon" is that Kubrick pulled off what everyone is now able to do so easily with technology made for the NASA Space Program. Since he was always pushing the envelope then, it stands to reason that he'd be doing things no one else is with today's technologies if he were alive. Edited by Bill DiPietra
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The more important point to take away from "Barry Lyndon" is that Kubrick pulled off what everyone is now able to do so easily with technology made for the NASA Space Program. Since he was always pushing the envelope then, it stands to reason that he'd be doing things no one else is with today's technologies if he were alive.

What is you guys opinion: Would Kubrick have gone digital? Seeing as he was always evolving and probably loved technology.

but I think the artist in him wouldve return to 35mm. Sorry if this has been discussed on these boards.

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Guest Stephen Murphy

Funnily enough I was speaking to Larry Smith the other day and he's convinced Kubrick would have tested current digital cameras to exhaustion but would have chosen To continue to shoot film.

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I think he would've used film primarily as well if only because he wouldn't want anyone later on mucking with the raw files. This isn't to say film has less range in it-- rather that it's more cost prohibitive to rescan film then it is, these days, to re-open a copy of resolve on your laptop.

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Funnily enough I was speaking to one Larry Smith the other day and he's convinced Kubrick would have tested current digital cameras to exhaustion but would have chosen To continue to shoot film.

 

According to Spielberg, he was planning on utilizing digital technologies for Artificial Intelligence had he lived to produce it.

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I don't think we know what Kubrick would have done -- one argument for him embracing digital is that he wanted to own everything, his own cameras, lenses, dollies, editing equipment, so imagine if he could also do his own post production all the way to release as a DCP without needing a lab? And considering his attempt to control every aspect of second-unit work, since he didn't like to travel, he probably would have liked the idea of somehow a digital camera transmitting a live image to him wherever in the world it was.

 

Also, I just saw a documentary about "The Shining" where they mentioned Kubrick cutting out the last two minutes of the movie, an epilogue in a hospital, two days after release in the theaters, requiring someone go to every theater and do a physical splicing job to the release print. Making that sort of last minute change is a lot easier with a digital release.

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Sure he did -- all those helicopter shots in "The Shining", the fall and winter establishing shots of the hotel, the snowcat sequence, etc. were all second unit, shot by Doug Milsome (not the helicopter shots). And then there were all the Africa plates used for "2001". And "Eyes Wide Shut" had some shots done in Manhatten. And he had some pretty elaborate ideas on how he could control what was shot by second unit -- he was thinking of having the Africa photographer for "2001" somehow compose through a grid and telephone Kubrick and transcribe all the details in each grid section so Kubrick could then tell him how much to pan or tilt. It got so complex that it was decided that it would be easier just to go to Africa twice and reshoot anything Kubrick didn't like.

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Not to dispute anything you're saying David, but a childhood friend of mine's father was the 2nd unit camera operator and actually took the helicopter shots. He told me about it once and said despite what everyone says about Kubrick, he was actually very hands-off and they were sort of told to do whatever they wanted.

 

Edit: I actually googled his name and "The Shining" and this article came up: http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/0114.html

Edited by Josh Gladstone
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He may have been hands off about the helicopter shots but having just watched two Kubrick documentaries in a row, he was clearly not hands off with most people doing any sort of work for him. Watch the BBC documentary "Kubrick's Boxes" for example...

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he was clearly not hands off with most people doing any sort of work for him.

I've heard stories of him checking the darkroom on the camera truck for dust every morning and of him firing a 2nd AC for carrying a magazine across set without the loop cover on it.

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Also, I just saw a documentary about "The Shining" where they mentioned Kubrick cutting out the last two minutes of the movie, an epilogue in a hospital, two days after release in the theaters, requiring someone go to every theater and do a physical splicing job to the release print. Making that sort of last minute change is a lot easier with a digital release.

 

I'm not sure taking a laptop to every theater to do a quick edit seems all that easier to me. I mean presumably it would require rendering a whole new DCP every time unless the DCP itself could be edited somehow?? It's an interesting question I hadn't thought about! Does the DCP have a playlist of some kind that could help with this kind of thing?

 

On the face of it turning up with a splicer and some scissors seems a lot easier.

 

Freya

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I'm not sure taking a laptop to every theater to do a quick edit seems all that easier to me. I mean presumably it would require rendering a whole new DCP every time unless the DCP itself could be edited somehow?? It's an interesting question I hadn't thought about! Does the DCP have a playlist of some kind that could help with this kind of thing?

 

On the face of it turning up with a splicer and some scissors seems a lot easier.

 

I'm being slow, I guess you would only need to make a new DCP and go around copying it onto all the hard drives or even just replacing all the hard disks with new ones might be the easiest thing. The difficult bit would be generating all the new keys for each venue and not getting it all confused I guess.

 

Freya

Edited by Freya Black
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He may have been hands off about the helicopter shots but having just watched two Kubrick documentaries in a row, he was clearly not hands off with most people doing any sort of work for him. Watch the BBC documentary "Kubrick's Boxes" for example...

 

 

Jon Ronsons "Kubricks Boxes" is the best.

 

https://vimeo.com/78314194

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Great discussion!


I'm gathering all the content I was not aware of. Thank you all.


___________________


Is really impossible answer this question I brought up but gives us the sense of wonder that he would be making big steps ahead of us.


An ISO 5000 as your base gives you a new sense to light a scene.

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Jon Ronsons "Kubricks Boxes" is the best.

 

https://vimeo.com/78314194

Yup. Hadn't heard anything about it until a friend sent me the link. Also, when I was in Paris there was a Stanley Kubrick exhibit at the French Cinematheque. Absolutely astonishing. His personal lens kit and ARRI cameras were there as well as the tons of research materials he'd gathered for the never-produced "Napolean."

 

The man was far beyond meticulous.

Edited by Bill DiPietra
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