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No Time To Die (2021) - spoiler free until US release


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So here we have it…..hopefully the film that breathes life into cinemas around the world again. Saw it here in Europe in a packed cinema (in Gibraltar) on October 1st the release date. We have a vaccinate everyone and get on with life policy here in case you thinking about COVID-19 packed cinemas issues.

Will not comment or discuss the film until our friends in USA have seen it. Enough to say I really enjoyed it and the cinematography was great aside from a few needless anamorphic flares that’s pandering to the YouTube generation that equates flares with great camera work haha. Interesting to see no digital cameras in use at all. Sorry Roger Deakins (love your podcast by the way…by far the best out there) but your beloved Arri Alexa nowhere to be seen hahah. The texture of the film was great and it was what a big screen piece should look like to my eyes as a child of the 60s and a cinema goer since the early 70s I have a visual reference to what a film should look like….

Here are the tech specs.

Arriflex 235, Panavision C-, E- and G-Series Lenses 
Arriflex 435 ES, Panavision C-, E- and G-Series Lenses 
Arriflex 765, Zeiss 765 Lenses (some shots) 
IMAX MKIV, Hasselblad Lenses (some scenes) 
IMAX MSM 9802, Hasselblad Lenses (some scenes) 
Panavision Panaflex Millennium XL2, Panavision G-Series Lenses 
Panavision Panaflex System 65 Studio, Panavision Sphero 65 Lenses (some shots)

and

35 mm (Kodak Vision3 50D 5203, Vision3 250D 5207, Vision3 500T 5219) 
65 mm (also horizontal) (Kodak Vision3 250D 5207, Vision3 500T 5219)

 

 

Edited by Stephen Perera
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On the above a question….the Hasselblad lenses they use are they the same ones I have on my Hasselblad Zeiss V system re-housed for cinema cameras? For example the 80mm Planar and 50mm Distagon and so on?

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28 minutes ago, Stephen Perera said:

On the above a question….the Hasselblad lenses they use are they the same ones I have on my Hasselblad Zeiss V system re-housed for cinema cameras? For example the 80mm Planar and 50mm Distagon and so on?

This one is for car chase lovers

 

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  • Stephen Perera changed the title to No Time To Die (2021) - spoiler free until US release
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4 hours ago, David Mullen ASC said:

Could be that a BTS person was allowed to add it, or VFX needed a plate for reflection elements or to see around a piece of rigging that would have to be painted out, etc.

Yep, that's most likely what it is. Could also be for promotional stills. 

Edited by Tyler Purcell
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Linus at it again! I'm so happy he was able to make a 300 million dollar movie. WOW he must be over the moon. Could have asked for a better DP to shoot a Bond film. 

Of course, I'm always dubious about mixing 35mm and 65mm, never been a fan of that. I understand why they did it, there are a lot of complications associated with shooting entirely with 65mm. Still with a 300 million dollar budget, they could have had Panavision make them a new camera lol ?

Still, excited to see. Not very many early screenings in the US, which is a shocker. I usually get to go, but with Covid and stuff, they're not doing wider early releases like they normally do. Sadly no film prints of this one, I think the days of doing wide film prints are gone for the time thanks to covid. Oh well! 

Edited by Tyler Purcell
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OK so forgive the ignorance here but when the camera is on a crane or remote head or whatever they call it what is the method for pulling focus....for example if when the glorious Aston Martin is speeding towards the camera at full speed.....aside from not making life difficult and shooting over f11 on a wide

 

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Stephen Perera said:

OK so forgive the ignorance here but when the camera is on a crane or remote head or whatever they call it what is the method for pulling focus....for example if when the glorious Aston Martin is speeding towards the camera at full speed.....aside from not making life difficult and shooting over f11 on a wide

 

 

 

 

Remote (wireless) focus pulling with the aid of image from the video tap,
feedback from a Cinetape or similar Ultrasonic Rangefinder Tracking System,
Gut feeling... ?

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6 hours ago, Stephen Perera said:

OK so forgive the ignorance here but when the camera is on a crane or remote head or whatever they call it what is the method for pulling focus....for example if when the glorious Aston Martin is speeding towards the camera at full speed.....aside from not making life difficult and shooting over f11 on a wide

With modern follow focus controllers, also show the cinetape gauge. So you can see where your focus "should" be and simply turn the knob to match. Honestly, it's pretty bulletproof with cinetape. 

Then you're talking about stoping down for shooting outside anyway, even with gobs of ND, they're still probably forced to shoot at a minimum of F8 unless they're shooting 50D, which I doubt. 

Edited by Tyler Purcell
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10 hours ago, Stephen Perera said:

OK so forgive the ignorance here but when the camera is on a crane or remote head or whatever they call it what is the method for pulling focus....for example if when the glorious Aston Martin is speeding towards the camera at full speed.....aside from not making life difficult and shooting over f11 on a wide

sorry didn't explain my self well Im probably asking how to use cinetape (could not remember what the horn shaped rangefinders were called haha) in the sense that ok, you get the car at 5m but speeding towards you....and assuming u adjust with a knob to 'match' well you're out of synch completely.....even with a person walking towards you....so whats the technique....the speed at which the knob is turned by the focus puller based on his/her experience and 'feel' for the movement...so basically a 'black art'???

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13 hours ago, Tyler Purcell said:

With modern follow focus controllers, also show the cinetape gauge. So you can see where your focus "should" be and simply turn the knob to match. Honestly, it's pretty bulletproof with cinetape. 

Then you're talking about stoping down for shooting outside anyway, even with gobs of ND, they're still probably forced to shoot at a minimum of F8 unless they're shooting 50D, which I doubt. 

Any of these focus aids, whether it’s the Cine Tape, Light Ranger or the Cine RT Focus Bug, are simply focus references. The focus puller still has to do the work. The Cine Tape will only read what’s dominant in frame and usually in the foreground regardless of where focus should be played. The Light Ranger and the Cine RT are more sophisticated but are still limited and cannot make the focus choices that the story demands.

For example, the Cine Tape may only read the back of the foreground head of a person rather than the person facing the camera in the classic “over the shoulder “ shot. The Cine RT cannot detect proper focus in a crowded frame such as an actor walking down a crowded New York sidewalk through a mass of pedestrians on a 400mm lens. What about an actor wearing a helmet with a visor in front of his face? What will these sensors read? Not the eyes. The Light Ranger would do better in these situations due to the graphic overlays on the digital focus monitor it employs but again, the focus puller still needs to pull focus and make the constant decisions of how and where to play focus as the story evolves in real time. The challenge is still there. Nothing is bullet proof.

Finally, I want to comment about Tyler’s claim of shooting at deep stops like a T8 while outside. I can’t speak for everyone here but I will say that most shows that I’m aware of, regardless of shooting inside or outside, shoot mostly at wide open stops to achieve a shallow depth of field that is widely considered more aesthetic. I’m currently working with the Cooke Full Frame 1.8x Anamorphic lenses on a large format sensor and my exterior stop is around a T2.8. In the spherical world, I usually live around a T2. 
 

G

Edited by Gregory Irwin
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1 hour ago, Gregory Irwin said:

Any of these focus aids, whether it’s the Cine Tape, Light Ranger or the Cine RT Focus Bug, are simply focus references. The focus puller still has to do the work. The Cine Tape will only read what’s dominant in frame and usually in the foreground regardless of where focus should be played. The Light Ranger and the Cine RT are more sophisticated but are still limited and cannot make the focus choices that the story demands.

..... what an art indeed!!!! chapeau to the focus pullers around the world

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......back to talking about the film.

Stills photographer Greg Williams is selling prints with the 007 franchise and this one in particular is a great shot of the Arricam hahaha...sorry I meant to say Daniel Craig. Anyone know the camera operator?

Screenshot 2021-10-04 at 15.25.15.png

Edited by Stephen Perera
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10 hours ago, Gregory Irwin said:

I can’t speak for everyone here but I will say that most shows that I’m aware of, regardless of shooting inside or outside, shoot mostly at wide open stops to achieve a shallow depth of field that is widely considered more aesthetic. I’m currently working with the Cooke Full Frame 1.8x Anamorphic lenses on a large format sensor and my exterior stop is around a T2.8. In the spherical world, I usually live around a T2. 
 

G

This is sort of surprising to me. Is this a change since the days of shooting primarily film or is shooting wide open more common than I realized? I'd heard a t4/t5.6 split for exteriors was most common, but that was years ago and I don't even remember from whom. 

I thought the extreme "shallow focus" aesthetic was mostly a YouTube/5D Mark II thing.

If I'm not mistaken shooting t2 day exteriors would require about ten stops of ND (for a base 800 ISO camera)? 

Edited by M Joel W
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11 hours ago, Gregory Irwin said:

I’m currently working with the Cooke Full Frame 1.8x Anamorphic lenses on a large format sensor and my exterior stop is around a T2.8.

I don't know how you're getting this without gobs of ND on the front. 

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3 hours ago, M Joel W said:

If I'm not mistaken shooting t2 day exteriors would require about ten stops of ND (for a base 800 ISO camera)? 

It depends on what kind of light and how bright it is outside. 
 

G

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2 hours ago, Gregory Irwin said:

We shoot 1280 ISO with  ND 1.2 or ND1.5. 24FPS/180 degree shutter. 

That's some magic potion.

I shoot with an ND 1.5 mostly with 250D, outdoors in broad daylight and it barely gets me into the F8 range. Last weekend I was on a shoot with 50D and we were using the same filter and I was barely able to hit F2 in the shade. 

I have no idea how you can shoot outdoors in broad daylight with 1280 ISO and an ND 1.5 to get F2. Mind blown at that formula. I guess California bright is not the same as other places lol ?

 

Edited by Tyler Purcell
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42 minutes ago, Tyler Purcell said:

That's some magic potion.

I shoot with an ND 1.5 mostly with 250D, outdoors in broad daylight and it barely gets me into the F8 range. Last weekend I was on a shoot with 50D and we were using the same filter and I was barely able to hit F2 in the shade. 

I have no idea how you can shoot outdoors in broad daylight with 1280 ISO and an ND 1.5 to get F2. Mind blown at that formula. I guess California bright is not the same as other places lol ?

 

It is interesting to note that Southern Cal has a different quality of light than most places. There the sky is white vs. for instance, the Georgia blue sky. The reflectivity is vastly different. But regardless of that, we rarely shoot in direct uncontrolled sunlight. Of course we use it as a backlight and that creates the formula for the open exposures that are more in shadow. You know the age old adage: shoot facing east in the morning and west in the afternoon. We also regularly fly 40’x40’ framed silks and blacks up high on condors to control the daylight  - especially during the middle of the day when the light is too toppy to look any good. That will turn the hard sunlight into more of a soft ambient source while the big movie lights bang in there to create shape. That’s what makes the wider open stops possible with the same amount of ND. 
 

G

Edited by Gregory Irwin
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26 minutes ago, Gregory Irwin said:

It is interesting to note that Southern Cal has a different quality of light than most places. There the sky is white vs. for instance, the Georgia blue sky. The reflectivity is different. But regardless of that, we rarely shoot in direct sunlight. Of course we use it as a backlight and that creates the formula for the open exposures that are more in shadow. We also regularly fly 40’x40’ silks and blacks up high on condors to control the daylight. That’s what makes the wider open stops possible. 
 

G

I'm not in the position to work with that kind of grip package or anything even close to it, but that makes sense. Still quite a bit less ND than I'd expected. Sunny 16 would imply 9-10 stops of ND I think but using direct sun as key.

Back in the film days, was a f4/f5.6 split more common for exteriors or were you shooting exteriors wide open then too? Maybe I am just wrong here – figuring lenses are sharpest around that stop and so assuming that's what you'd use for exteriors when shooting film, back when sharpness was a virtue.

I'm from a very DIY background so it's interesting to me hearing how larger sets are run. 

And sorry for going off topic... excited to see the movie.

Edited by M Joel W
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3 hours ago, Gregory Irwin said:

We also regularly fly 40’x40’ framed silks and blacks up high on condors to control the daylight  - especially during the middle of the day when the light is too toppy to look any good. That will turn the hard sunlight into more of a soft ambient source while the big movie lights bang in there to create shape. That’s what makes the wider open stops possible with the same amount of ND. 

Exactly, very controlled light, I mean if you're gonna be somewhere for most of the day, you gotta do that honestly. 

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