23 replies to this topic

[Shrublands]

Now on the CBn main page...

'Quantum of Solace' Chooses DALSA 4K For Complex Visual Effects Shot

Shot of Craig and Kurylenko will be captured by eight DALSA 4K Origin cameras

New Bond takes a shot at 4K

By Carolyn Giardina

March 24, 2008

"Quantum of Solace," the 22nd film in the James Bond franchise, will feature a complex visual effects shot captured digitally in 4K resolution, which offers four times the amount of picture information typically captured by most digital cinematography cameras.

The shot for the Marc Forster-helmed title is being lensed using eight shutter synchronized 4K Origin cameras from Dalsa, one of only two companies now shipping 4K digital cinematography cameras. Specifics are being kept under wraps, but the shot will feature Daniel Craig in his role as James Bond and Olga Kurylenko as the film's lead Bond girl, Camille.

Director of photography Roberto Schaefer and consulting visual effects cinematographer David Stump collaborated on the shot.

"The Dalsa Origin was the only uncompressed, high-resolution, low-noise camera system we could count on to do what we needed to do," visual effects designer Kevin Tod Haug said.

Added Stump: "Working with uncompressed 4K gave us the ability to mine the maximum amount of detail from the scene."

Dalsa shipped the camera packages from Los Angeles to Movietech Camera Rentals at Pinewood Studios in the U.K., where both companies prepped the cameras, which recorded 4K data to eight Codex digital disk recorders. In total, more than 3.8GB of image data were recorded every second, Dalsa Digital Cinema president Rob Hummel said. The Codex disk packs were delivered to Sohonet in London for backup, after which the files were delivered to London-based visual effects house Double Negative.

"For the effects to keep pace with audience expectations, we need to keep upping the ante," Stump said.

"Solace" is scheduled for release Oct. 31 in the U.K. and Nov. 7 in the U.S. and elsewhere.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

[Shrublands]

I suspect that this is how Daniel Craig and Olga Kurylenko’s...

Spoiler

...faces will be added to the freefall stunt work. The actors filmed in the BodyFlight chamber at Bedford in the UK, stunt people above Mexico.

A bit more detail here


[Box]James Bond "Quantum of Solace" Chooses DALSA 4K Origin Camera for Complex Visual Effects Shot

WOODLAND HILLS, CALIFORNIA--(Marketwire - March 25, 2008) - DALSA Digital Cinema (TSX:DSA) today announced that the next James Bond motion picture, "Quantum of Solace," starring Daniel Craig as James Bond, will feature a complex visual effects shot captured with eight DALSA 4K Origin cameras.

As with most of James Bond's missions, the details surrounding the cameras' use must be kept top secret for the time being. However, the company revealed that the technically ambitious visual effects shot featured Mr. Craig and actress Olga Kurylenko, and involved simultaneously shooting with eight shutter-synchronized DALSA Origin 4K cameras. "Quantum of Solace," the 22nd James Bond film and the second to star Daniel Craig, is scheduled for release on October 31st, 2008 in the UK, and November 7th in the US and internationally.

The decision to go with DALSA was made by Visual Effects Designer, Kevin Tod Haug. Kevin remarked, "The DALSA Origin was the only uncompressed, high-resolution, low-noise camera system we could count on to do what we needed to do. The folks at DALSA were completely supportive of all our complex needs. We could not have done this sequence without them."

DALSA shipped all the camera packages from Los Angeles to Movietech Camera Rentals at Pinewood Studios. Working closely with Movietech, the cameras were all prepped for the complex shoot. The eight DALSA cameras recorded their data to eight CODEX

[Judo chop]

Thanks shrub. Don't know what all that means, but I'm pretty sure it's going to look better than the last time Bond tried a neat-o CGI special effect.

Sounds like Bond is pushing the limits and breaking barriers again. Just like he oughta be.

[HellIsHere]

New Bond takes a shot at 4K
By Carolyn Giardina
HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

March 24, 2008

"Quantum of Solace," the 22nd film in the James Bond franchise, will feature a complex visual effects shot captured digitally in 4K resolution, which offers four times the amount of picture information typically captured by most digital cinematography cameras.

The shot for the Marc Forster-helmed title is being lensed using eight shutter synchronized 4K Origin cameras from Dalsa, one of only two companies now shipping 4K digital cinematography cameras. Specifics are being kept under wraps, but the shot will feature Daniel Craig in his role as James Bond and Olga Kurylenko as the film's lead Bond girl, Camille.

Director of photography Roberto Schaefer and consulting visual effects cinematographer David Stump collaborated on the shot.

"The Dalsa Origin was the only uncompressed, high-resolution, low-noise camera system we could count on to do what we needed to do," visual effects designer Kevin Tod Haug said.

Added Stump: "Working with uncompressed 4K gave us the ability to mine the maximum amount of detail from the scene."


Dalsa shipped the camera packages from Los Angeles to Movietech Camera Rentals at Pinewood Studios in the U.K., where both companies prepped the cameras, which recorded 4K data to eight Codex digital disk recorders. In total, more than 3.8GB of image data were recorded every second, Dalsa Digital Cinema president Rob Hummel said. The Codex disk packs were delivered to Sohonet in London for backup, after which the files were delivered to London-based visual effects house Double Negative.

"For the effects to keep pace with audience expectations, we need to keep upping the ante," Stump said.

"Solace" is scheduled for release Oct. 31 in the U.K. and Nov. 7 in the U.S. and elsewhere.

[MkB]

This is cool news, but already posted a couple hours ago in this thread.

[marktmurphy]

3.8GB a second? Wow; that is a lot of image.

[Qwerty]

[Moderator's Note: Topics merged]

[Loomis]

Anyone have any idea of what this freefall stunt is going to look like? Presumably, they'll fall out of a plane or chopper and, erm, well, tumble through the sky, like in, uh, MOONRAKER? Towards what, though? And how will they survive? No parachutes, one imagines. Grabbing onto passing aircraft? Anyhoo, should be a highlight of the film.

[Shrublands]

Anyone have any idea of what this freefall stunt is going to look like? Presumably, they'll fall out of a plane or chopper and, erm, well, tumble through the sky, like in, uh, MOONRAKER? Towards what, though? And how will they survive? No parachutes, one imagines. Grabbing onto passing aircraft? Anyhoo, should be a highlight of the film.

Some think it

[stamper]

I hope they did not use that camera of a "oh James !" "X mas comes once a year" moment !

[Qwerty]

Now on the CBn main page...

'Quantum of Solace' Chooses DALSA 4K For Complex Visual Effects Shot

Shot of Craig and Kurylenko will be captured by eight DALSA 4K Origin cameras

[craigbegins]

Neat! Glad they're doing things properly in terms of visual effects I may be a little late, but it sounds more and more like this film will be slightly less grounded in reality than Casino Royale.

Edited by craigbegins, 25 March 2008 - 06:30 PM.

[Royal Dalton]

And after going to all this trouble, they'll probably end up doing the DI at 2K.

[Gri007]

[quote name='Shrublands' post='853652' date='25 March 2008 - 18:03'][quote name='Loomis' post='853648' date='25 March 2008 - 17:52']Anyone have any idea of what this freefall stunt is going to look like? Presumably, they'll fall out of a plane or chopper and, erm, well, tumble through the sky, like in, uh, MOONRAKER? Towards what, though? And how will they survive? No parachutes, one imagines. Grabbing onto passing aircraft? Anyhoo, should be a highlight of the film.[/quote]

Some think it

[stamper]

Probably, but that's not a problem Dalton, even reduced in size, the SFX will look good if captured as bigger size, a bit like Blade Runner SFX were done in 70mm to the movie 35mm.

[Shrublands]

So basically it will be a remake of the PTS in Moonraker.

Well let

[frankwalker]

I was an extra on a movie "Little Man" where they used the procedure that Shrublands is predicting in his hidden spoiler comment at the top of the thread.

They used what appeared to be 35mm movie cameras, sometimes 3 or 4 at once. The shooting procedure looked surprisingly simple to me, involving the use of a mirror ball at the end of each scene. They had to do this through almost the entire movie for the main character, and I'm guessing there was a lot of post-production work to control and apply the procedure, since they had a huge number of people listed in the credits for some type of technical work, I don't recall what they called it.

The result looked good in the movie when I saw it on TV, but maybe not as high quality as what Eon would want for QoS since they would like it to look really good in the theatres, so maybe that's why they're using the 4K cameras.

By chance I've been reading up on another 4K camera, the "Red One", maybe that's the other 4K camera they considered: http://www.red.com
It's relatively low-cost (about $18K US for the body and aprox $20K for a few lenses and accessories) and in limited production, apparently was used on "Jumper".

Edited by frankwalker, 25 March 2008 - 08:42 PM.

[SecretAgent007]

Cool, I wasn't aware there were any 4K cameras available yet. 4k is the equivalent of 35mm film resolution, which is used (35mm)for most motion picture formats.

Even though 35mm film is roughly equivalent to 4k that is only comparable to the films negative itself. The lens on the camera and any post optical processing (including making prints) as well as the lens on the projectors degrades the films resolution to where you end up with the equivalent of a little over 1080 (believe it or not) on the screen. Most of the digital projectors now in theaters are 720.

If they start shooting entire films with 4K camera's, and can do all of the post digitally, and project digitally it would look quite incredible. It may even look too sharp to some. No more film grain either.

Edited by SecretAgent007, 25 March 2008 - 08:16 PM.

[Professor Dent]

By chance I've been reading up on another 4K camera, the "Red One", maybe that's the other 4K camera they considered: http://www.red.com
It's relatively low-cost (about $18K US for the body and aprox $20K for a few lenses and accessories) and in limited production, apparently was used on "Jumper".

I didn't realize the Red camera was used on Jumper until after I saw it. I'm looking forward to checking out this movie again at home & really watching those scenes filmed with the Red camera to see if I can see a difference. This is an amazing camera & the price is also incredible. For some comparison, the Sony F23 sells for well over $100,000. Since I'm avoiding a lot of the Quantum of Solace spoilers, I can't wait to see whatever this scene is in the movie!

[Skudor]

[quote name='Shrublands' post='853678' date='25 March 2008 - 19:31'][quote name='Gri007' post='853668' date='25 March 2008 - 18:39']So basically it will be a remake of the PTS in Moonraker.[/quote]
Well let

[JimmyBond]

I was an extra on a movie "Little Man"

That's probably not something you want to admit in public

[frankwalker]

I was an extra on a movie "Little Man"

That's probably not something you want to admit in public

Wikipedia says it won several "worst film & actor" awards & critic Mark Kermode said the film's existence signalled "the end of western civilisation as we know it." !

Actually, when I saw it, it wasn't as bad as I expected, got a few laughs. Apparently it made good money. Fortunately I was always just out of camera view!

Interesting to see how things work on a shoot, I'd recommend being an extra at least once (preferably on a good movie). Surprised how much time was wasted on film camera procedures (loading, checking the gates).

[Donovan]

By chance I've been reading up on another 4K camera, the "Red One", maybe that's the other 4K camera they considered: http://www.red.com
It's relatively low-cost (about $18K US for the body and aprox $20K for a few lenses and accessories) and in limited production, apparently was used on "Jumper".

I didn't realize the Red camera was used on Jumper until after I saw it. I'm looking forward to checking out this movie again at home & really watching those scenes filmed with the Red camera to see if I can see a difference. This is an amazing camera & the price is also incredible. For some comparison, the Sony F23 sells for well over $100,000. Since I'm avoiding a lot of the Quantum of Solace spoilers, I can't wait to see whatever this scene is in the movie!

A friend of mine has ordered a Red camera so I'm looking forward to getting a look at it. He's the biggest lens-head I know. He's been talking to me about this thing for months.

This is, incidentally, a comparative graphic I created for him to use on his website. To give you a perspective on the actual size of the formats, the very middle one, DV, should be 720 pixels wide...1500% bigger than what you see here. The Red camera's frame is 4520 X 2540 pixels...over 6 times greater than the standard NTSC resolution.



Of course, Japan has announced something called "Ultra High Definition Video", with a monstrous resolution of 7,680 X 4,320 pixels. It's still in development. But from the sound of it you'd need some major harddrive space just for 5 minutes of digital information.

[frankwalker]

I was reading the El Mercurio online newspaper (from the Chile shoot area, March 26) and it looks like they interviewed some key personnel and they said the main camera they used would be the Arriflex D-20 which is a digital camera, no film, essentially HD resolution. Has a 35mm film sized sensor and takes standard film camera lenses.
http://en.wikipedia....i/Arriflex_D-20
http://www.arri.com/...m/d_20/d_20.htm

The article looks credible as they also mentioned they used 8 of those Dalsa 4K cameras for a special scene (and those cameras rent for $3,000 a day they said, each probably). And we know that is correct about them using those 4K digital cameras.

However when I checked the QoS B-roll clip they put out a few weeks ago, showing the airplanes and some Panama stuff, they usually showed a camera that appeared to have a film magazine on the back. So that's a common 35mm film movie camera I would think. In one scene a camera is on a moving dolly and there is no film magazine so maybe that is the D-20.

Anyone know for sure which cameras they will be using? I know HD cameras are being used on some movies, usually lower-budget, but I assumed they would use film for a big movie like QoS.

Edited by frankwalker, 01 April 2008 - 06:37 AM.