Impact of budgets
The budget a film has affects what technology a production company can afford to use.
Warner Brothers:
Wonder Woman 150m GBP
Aquaman 160m GBP
Wonder Woman 1984 200m GBP
Belstone Pictures:
Tank 432 150k GBP
Tucked 49k GBP
Production Technologies
- Cameras + Stock/Storage
- Lights
- Green Screens
- Motion Capture
- CGI including graphics, animation, etc.
- Other editing
*Need to know distribution/ marketing/ exhibitions technologies*
Belstone Pictures- Cameras
Hired in 1 x Arri Alexa camera
13,000 GBP camera rental
Lens- Zeiss Super Speed MKIII T1.3 Lens Set
- Expensive to hire for a low budget company
- Wide Angle lens used to create claustrophobic atmosphere in the tank
Positive impact on production
The Arri Alexa is digital. This means that video footage is stored on internal memory cards in a digital format. Does not need to be developed/ processed like film stock- reduced costs further.
Digital filming means companies can use higher shooting ratios. They can store a lot of footage digitally in a cheap way, they can film shots multiple times, get lots of coverage of the same scene from different angles and have freedom too choose which ones they want to use in the edit.
- Digital camera tend to be lighter and more portable than traditional film cameras. Highly useful when filming in tricky terrain such as muddy fields.
- The light weight makes handheld shots easier
- Easier to film inside compact spaces- e.g. inside the tank
- Cheaper than 35mm
Can operate with a small crew
Negatives of digital filming
- Some audiences don't like the "feel" or "aesthetic" of digital footage. It tends to look more gritty and amateur in some situations. Especially on a low budget. Colours tend to be less rich.
Link to budget/ money
Hire costs were high and their budget was low. Mean they had to shoot a lot in one day, e.g. 10-12 pages of script. If they slowed down, they would have to pay more daily rental costs for equipment.
Equipment costs + Low budgets= Fast Paced Shooting and High Pressures Schedules
Tucked- Cameras
- Hired an Arri Alexa Mini
- 400 pounds a day
- Even lighter than the Arri Alexa full size- easier to do shots on jibs, gimbels, etc.
- Great for swooping shots around drag club
Summary- Impact of shooting on digital video cameras
Negative:
- The shots sometimes look more grainy or amateur and audiences often don't like this
- Colours can be less rich
Positive:
- Easy to set up and move around
- Check back on footage to see if it's good
- Don't need expensive film stock or processing fees- can store in memory cards
- Cost less to hire than 35mm camera
- Operated with small crew of less experienced people
Warner Brothers- Cameras
Wonder Woman- Main Camera
- Panavision Millennium XL2
- 35mm film
- Over 1000GBP a day
- Approx 7 months of filming= over 200,000GPB
Lenses
- Panavision Primo Spherical Lenses
- Usually come in a set at least 9
- Approx 3000GBP a week= approx 85,000GPB
Film Stock
Kodak 5219 Stock (500 speed tungsten)
- Approx 900 pounds per 1000ft
- Aproxx 10 minutes of actual filming time
- Films shoot on ratio of 10:1, e.g. 10 minutes of shooting for approx. 1 minutes that ends up in the actual film.
For a 2h 20 minute movie this works out as approx. 126,000GPB just for film stock
Film Processing and Development
- Can cost between 15,000 and 50,000GPB depending on film format
- Requires specialist machinery, staff and lot of time.
Wonder Woman 1984- IMAX cameras
- Was shot on 70mm IMAX cameras- twice as expensive
- Audiences like the experience of IMAX films
Impact of shooting on 35mm/ 70mm film
Negative:
- Set up time- takes ages
- Heavy, large and tricky to move unless you have experienced crew
- Cannot check back the camera footage- another must to have experienced crew
- Need more than one unit shooting to save time
- Very high cost
Positive:
- Look more beautiful, smoother, richer, deeper tones and texture
- Feel like there is higher quality- attracts audiences
- IMAX 70mm can attract audiences
Not the only camera they used
Other cameras Warner Brothers hired
- Arri 35-Slow motion work
- 200 pounds a day approx.
- Used for slow motion shots of up to 150 fps for some slow motion fight scenes and stunts
- Uses 35mm film
Also used...
- Phantom Flex4K- Ultra slow motion work
- Used for ultra slow fight scenes
- Huge amount of light
- Uses 35mm film
- Approx. 1000 pounds a day
- -
- Arri235- Fast paced fight sequences as its lighter/smaller
- Approx 200 pounds
- Easier to use on beach scene, better for fast paces shots- camera crew can move around quickly and do more handheld work with it
- Uses 35mm film
- -
- Digital Arri Alexa Mini 'spider cam' for drones shots
Each camera has its pros and cons.
Director or cinematography choose different cameras depending on the scenes- they get a variety of shots unlike Belstone.
Their high budget allows them to hire a range of equipment and number of crew to operate it.
Approx. 150 specialist crew members were hired to operate all camera equipment and accessories.
CGI Wonder Woman
Motion Capture and CGI
Motion Capture was used in all films of Wonder Woman to create some of the characters effects, e.g. Ares.
CGI was used to create a number of stunt sequences and scenes which physically aren't possible. Technology can help make a high concept film- makes it feel more 'high budget' to audiences.
Additional uses:
Gal Gadot was pregnant- for some scenes they used a green cloth around her stomach to edit out the baby bump.
How CGI was used?
The film wasn't entirely made with green screens and CGI. Most of the stunts and fight scenes didn't use this.
Wonder Woman 1984- Cheetah had too much/ poor quality CGI
Despite the millions of dollars for post production CGI- ended up looking unrealistic/ alienated audiences.
- In Wonder Woman there were approx. 1800 shots requiring CGI
- Average cost of CGI in a movie like WW= 30-50 million pounds
Had to employ hundreds of staff from multiple companies to complete editing- took total of 9 months
- MPC
- Double Negative
- Pixmondo
- UPP
- Platige
- Vitality Visual Effects
- The Third Floor
- Gener8
- ClearAngle Studios
- Greenhaus GFX
Approx. 1200 crew members working on special effects.
Tank 432- GCI/Special Effects
- Tank 432- minimal special effects, hard to make it look convincing with limited software
- Had to try and do most effect 'in camera' (set without CGI)
- Limited access to CGI technology- relied heavily on costumes- e.g. masks, make up to create effects
General editing
- The editor used a standard domestic software- Adobe Premiere.
- Digital and easily available on any computer- does not require special studio or equipment
- Editor stayed on set in a camper van and did some editing to check the footage, then continued from his own computer at home
Employed two crew to complete the editing and visual effects.
Cons of post production CGI
- Takes huge amount of money
- Takes huge amount of time- WW spent a whole year in post production
- Takes huge number of specialist crew and equipment
Further links to finance
More money a company spends on technology- more box office revenue they have to make in order to make profit.
Wonder woman budget- 200m GPB
Revenue- 147m GPB
Impact of using CGI/ Special Effects
Negative:
- Needs a lot of specialist equipment
- Need a lot of specialist post production crew
- Very high cost
- Puts pressure on to make high revenue box office
- If overused and noticable, audience reacts badly
Positive:
- Allows to create good fantasy film films
- Adds excitement to dramatic scenes
- Feels more epic and high quality which attracts audiences
- Can attract audiences which can increase revenue at box office.
Need to remember
If company has a lot of money, they can afford to hire a lot of high-tech post production effects. Can make film be seen as more epic and exciting but also takes a chunk of money and needs lot of crew.
If company has little money, they can only afford cheaper/ fewer items of production equipment and use minimal production effects. Can make film seem more amateur, but costs a lot less, and needs minimal crew.
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