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Friday, March 29, 2024
Shooting in ILM’s New StageCraft Volume Virtual Production Facility: DP Pierre Gill on Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Filmmaker Magazine: In the first season of Disney+’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians, the titular teenaged demigod and his compatriots travel across the country, with stops from St. Louis to Las Vegas, on a mission to prevent war among the Greek gods.
However, cinematographer Pierre Gill and his crew never left the vicinity of Vancouver.
The volume is an incredibly cool piece of technology, and I think that it is definitely the future of staging movies. I've been thinking about how to apply this tech to theatre, and I think that one actually really good example is the recent broadway production "The Shark Is Broken," which featured a wrap around LED video wall that encompassed the entire boat set. When I saw this performance I genuinely got a little bit motion sick because of how the waves and water crashed around the boat. I think that this could be an interesting case of using a single location in a show, and I don't think that every show could pull off something like this. Another example is from my community theatre actually, which for the musical "shrek" had two massive projection walls, and used photo real imagery to make it seem as if the characters were actually exploring a real 3d space.
This is pretty cool. A lot of the incredibly in-depth discussion about lenses is well above my paygrade personally, however, I was pretty invested reading about the lengthy process that occurred while trying to identify the ideal lens situation for this filming process. I think that people who do this super high level cinematography, similarly to people who do fancy sound work, have got to have some sort of superhuman skills. As someone who is a casual consumer of media, I can guarantee I would probably see no differences between 85% of the lenses that were tested. It is so impressive how someone’s eye can be so well trained to pick up on such subtle shifts and changes. Similarly impressive is the whole filming with the massive LED screen concept. The ability to have such a realistic look, when it’s just on a screen behind the actors, is crazy, and truly a testament to the crazy types of technology that exist for entertainment today.
Filming something in one city is incredibly difficult, especially if the story involves the characters being in different cites. I didn’t watch the film, but I feel like shooting the environment with a 95-foot LED wall is very impressive, and I honestly had no idea one could even do that. I’ve done filming before during high school, and a couple of my friends are REALLY into film, so when I do films with them they keep using technical terms which I’ve picked up on, both with camera shots and equipment. It’s really cool reading about so many lens and how they work for the film, although I will admit, I got a little distracted and lost interested midway a little, but its so cool knowing that a different lens can achieve a different effect. Its feel similar in lighting, in how a different lens on a light can make or break the look of the beam.
I personally love this cinematography in the Percy Jackson TV show and it was very interesting to hear the Director of Photography’s takes on why the decisions were made the way they were. I think especially with a lot of big battle scenes and representing gods and humans and scenes filmed with water or underwater the photography needed to be considered with extra care going into this production. I love hearing about the different equipment that was experimented with before filming took place and how different looks were achieved such as the looks in the final battle between Percy and Aries. It was fascinating to hear about how some of these effects were Implemented especially because most of the show was filmed on sound stages and was in Vancouver. I know this is how most TV shows are filmed in this current era and I was very impressed with how the photography was able to look different from other shows filmed on sound stages with LED screens.
I’ll be honest and say that I have mixed feelings about the volume. On one hand, it allows us to be able to film all of our shots in one location, rather than on location, which can be much more time and cost effective. However, I really do think that film studios should opt to do most of their filming on location when possible. My issue with the volume is that when used poorly, it just kind of looks like a green screen, and it makes the entire show feel much more fake. I felt this happened with Percy Jackson, and even though I couldn't exactly place what the issue was, it did take me out of the moment of the show a little bit. Using Percy Jackson as an example, the budget was so high in that show that I really think that they should have been able to shoot some of their scenes on location instead of on the volume.
Something I always appreciate is how certain people in industry we'll have things that they get hyper specific about. What specific lens is used in a film or TV show is almost never something that anyone cares about but it's something that matters regardless of whether or not it's the most important thing it is certainly a very important thing. And with the rise of LED walls the choice of lens is more and more important because it's the difference between seeing an LED wall and seeing a mountain range in the distance. It's been really fascinating to be able to watch as LED walls slowly become more and more able to replace green screen. It started on small scale the small scenes with one actor in a couple scenes and now it can be the scene for an entire show and on top of that one of the most helpful parts of it is the ability for actors two see their environment even if it's worked to the cameras view it's still easier to imagine then a green screen.
When Gill discussed adjusting lenses for the perfect shot without using filters, it really struck a chord with me. I've spent countless hours trying to enhance photos with filters for that smooth look, while here they are, fine-tuning lenses to achieve it straight out of the camera. It's truly inspiring and makes me eager to experiment more with my own camera, perhaps even investing in a lens to elevate my skills. But what truly amazed me was the Volume setup. As someone who's delved deep into DIY photography tricks on YouTube, the idea of having complete control over every aspect of the environment, from lighting to background, is mind-blowing. It's like having a cheat code for filmmaking. And the ingenious way they addressed the LED ceiling's color balance issues? Absolutely genius. It's made me reconsider the lighting in my own shots and brainstorm how I can get creative with what I have at home.
7 comments:
The volume is an incredibly cool piece of technology, and I think that it is definitely the future of staging movies. I've been thinking about how to apply this tech to theatre, and I think that one actually really good example is the recent broadway production "The Shark Is Broken," which featured a wrap around LED video wall that encompassed the entire boat set. When I saw this performance I genuinely got a little bit motion sick because of how the waves and water crashed around the boat. I think that this could be an interesting case of using a single location in a show, and I don't think that every show could pull off something like this. Another example is from my community theatre actually, which for the musical "shrek" had two massive projection walls, and used photo real imagery to make it seem as if the characters were actually exploring a real 3d space.
This is pretty cool. A lot of the incredibly in-depth discussion about lenses is well above my paygrade personally, however, I was pretty invested reading about the lengthy process that occurred while trying to identify the ideal lens situation for this filming process. I think that people who do this super high level cinematography, similarly to people who do fancy sound work, have got to have some sort of superhuman skills. As someone who is a casual consumer of media, I can guarantee I would probably see no differences between 85% of the lenses that were tested. It is so impressive how someone’s eye can be so well trained to pick up on such subtle shifts and changes. Similarly impressive is the whole filming with the massive LED screen concept. The ability to have such a realistic look, when it’s just on a screen behind the actors, is crazy, and truly a testament to the crazy types of technology that exist for entertainment today.
Filming something in one city is incredibly difficult, especially if the story involves the characters being in different cites. I didn’t watch the film, but I feel like shooting the environment with a 95-foot LED wall is very impressive, and I honestly had no idea one could even do that. I’ve done filming before during high school, and a couple of my friends are REALLY into film, so when I do films with them they keep using technical terms which I’ve picked up on, both with camera shots and equipment. It’s really cool reading about so many lens and how they work for the film, although I will admit, I got a little distracted and lost interested midway a little, but its so cool knowing that a different lens can achieve a different effect. Its feel similar in lighting, in how a different lens on a light can make or break the look of the beam.
I personally love this cinematography in the Percy Jackson TV show and it was very interesting to hear the Director of Photography’s takes on why the decisions were made the way they were. I think especially with a lot of big battle scenes and representing gods and humans and scenes filmed with water or underwater the photography needed to be considered with extra care going into this production. I love hearing about the different equipment that was experimented with before filming took place and how different looks were achieved such as the looks in the final battle between Percy and Aries. It was fascinating to hear about how some of these effects were Implemented especially because most of the show was filmed on sound stages and was in Vancouver. I know this is how most TV shows are filmed in this current era and I was very impressed with how the photography was able to look different from other shows filmed on sound stages with LED screens.
I’ll be honest and say that I have mixed feelings about the volume. On one hand, it allows us to be able to film all of our shots in one location, rather than on location, which can be much more time and cost effective. However, I really do think that film studios should opt to do most of their filming on location when possible. My issue with the volume is that when used poorly, it just kind of looks like a green screen, and it makes the entire show feel much more fake. I felt this happened with Percy Jackson, and even though I couldn't exactly place what the issue was, it did take me out of the moment of the show a little bit. Using Percy Jackson as an example, the budget was so high in that show that I really think that they should have been able to shoot some of their scenes on location instead of on the volume.
Something I always appreciate is how certain people in industry we'll have things that they get hyper specific about. What specific lens is used in a film or TV show is almost never something that anyone cares about but it's something that matters regardless of whether or not it's the most important thing it is certainly a very important thing. And with the rise of LED walls the choice of lens is more and more important because it's the difference between seeing an LED wall and seeing a mountain range in the distance. It's been really fascinating to be able to watch as LED walls slowly become more and more able to replace green screen. It started on small scale the small scenes with one actor in a couple scenes and now it can be the scene for an entire show and on top of that one of the most helpful parts of it is the ability for actors two see their environment even if it's worked to the cameras view it's still easier to imagine then a green screen.
When Gill discussed adjusting lenses for the perfect shot without using filters, it really struck a chord with me. I've spent countless hours trying to enhance photos with filters for that smooth look, while here they are, fine-tuning lenses to achieve it straight out of the camera. It's truly inspiring and makes me eager to experiment more with my own camera, perhaps even investing in a lens to elevate my skills. But what truly amazed me was the Volume setup. As someone who's delved deep into DIY photography tricks on YouTube, the idea of having complete control over every aspect of the environment, from lighting to background, is mind-blowing. It's like having a cheat code for filmmaking. And the ingenious way they addressed the LED ceiling's color balance issues? Absolutely genius. It's made me reconsider the lighting in my own shots and brainstorm how I can get creative with what I have at home.
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