Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/773214
www.postmagazine.com 10 POST JANUARY 2017 BITS & PIECES C M Y CM MY CY CMY K STAR: CINEMATOGRAPHER ROBERTO SCHAEFER SHOOTS FOX PILOT WITH PANASONIC VARICAM 35 HOLLYWOOD — Star is a new Fox TV music drama from Academy Award and Golden Globe nominee Lee Daniels (Empire, Precious). Exposing the cut-throat music industry, Star follows three talented singers as they navigate the road to stardom. The se- ries features Jude Demorest as the ti- tle character, Queen Latifah, Benjamin Bratt and Lenny Kravitz. The series' pilot was shot by cinematographer Roberto Schaefer, ASC, AIC (Quantum of Solace, Finding Neverland, Monster's Ball) on Panasonic (us.panasonic. com) VariCam 35 cinema cameras. Executive producer Daniels, who also directed the pilot, has consistently worked with Schaefer since their col- laboration on 2012's The Paperboy. Star alternates between fantasy and reality, so one of Schaefer's big- gest challenges was to keep his three young leads looking glamourous, yet grounded in reality. "Lee didn't want the show to look like anything on TV," explains Schaefer. "He wanted it to have a raw look. He loved the way we did The Paperboy, although there was no way [Fox] was going to let us shoot on Super 16, which is how we shot The Paperboy. We looked for ways to give it an un- usual and distinct look." Schaefer had tested the VariCam 35 on a Pepsi commercial with Daniels a month before they went into prep for Star. "The commercial was going to be shot in New York City in a dark limousine with an African American actor," says Schaefer. "There were also scenes with a bunch of people on a subway car where we couldn't change any of the lighting. I knew that I wanted to have the option of using the native 5,000 ISO, so I did a few tests and I liked what I saw. I shot the commercial with it and everyone was very happy, so we decided that was the way to go with Star." Star had similar production and lighting challenges. For scenes that took place in a low-ceiling ware- house, Schaefer and crew did not have enough room to hang lights so they had to work primarily with practicals. Most of the practical loca- tions ranged from a disco/strip club to houses and apartments that had limited rigging capabilities. "We had to shoot all over Atlanta and some of the moves were massive and there's always horrible traffic there," reveals Schaefer. "We were always up against the gun to get the shots. For the night exteriors, there were times I was able to use small- er lights, or no lights, because I was using the [native] 5,000 ISO." Unlike Netflix and Amazon, Fox TV does not have 4K delivery require- ments, so Schaefer shot the pilot in full HD (1920x1080) because he want- ed the show to have a rougher look and didn't want editorial to reframe or zoom in on his carefully designed shots. He captured 12-bit AVC Intra 444 files, as well as separate proxies to take home for viewing. Knowing his director would not want to view V-Log footage on a monitor, Schaefer created approxi- mately 10 different LUTs, pushing con- trast and allowing highlights to clip. "It has a definite gritty look to it," admits Schaefer. "It's not ugly by any means, but it just has a very strong look. It's not one of these totally manufactured looking shows where everything looks so smooth." The pilot was graded at LA's Post Mango. Schaefer worked closelywith dailies colorist James Bills to make sure the final color grade looked consistent to their dailies. "Because they had the LUTs to drop back in, it wasn't a big shift," explains Schaefer. "It was basically a one-day grade. We lifted some faces, reduced some of the highlights, or did a little bit of tweaking here and there. Lee and I were on the same page from the beginning, so it was really import- ant that when he was looking at the monitor, he's seeing what we're going for. There were times when I would click from the LUT to V-Log to look at the exposure and Lee would look at the monitor and go, 'What's this? This looks too normal.' I would put the LUT back on and he would be, "That's better." Knowing that we were in agreement made it easier — and it didn't change later on." SEAGATE & DJI PARTNER ON DRONE STORAGE LAS VEGAS — At the Consumer Electronics Show is Las Vegas, unmanned aerial vehicle manufactur- er DJI (www.dji.com) announced a partnership with Seagate Technology plc (www.seagate.com), a storage solutions company. The two will work jointly to solve the data demands of UAV users. As drone cameras gain resolution and drone flight times grow longer, DJI and Seagate are focusing their efforts to securely and efficiently store, manage, download and share the hundreds of gigabytes of data that can be generated from a single drone mission. "DJI is proud to pioneer advances in drone technology, and we are excit- ed to work with Seagate on develop- ing innovative ways to manage the increased data flows generated by our most sophisticated products," says Michael Perry, director of strategic partnerships for DJI. "Our unparalleled UAV expertise and Seagate's deep data prowess mean our customers can look forward to smart, efficient and reliable ways to manage their growing drone data storage needs." The DJI Inspire 2 UAV captures 5.2K video, and as such, a 25-minute flight can generate about 120GBs of data. Higher resolution cameras drive the need for more efficient solutions for UAV users to offload, playback, share and backup their footage. "Seagate is honored to partner with DJI to help UAV users tack- le their evolving and unique data needs," adds Tim Bucher, senior vice president of Seagate Consumer Solutions. "Seagate is committed to working together with DJI to evolve UAV workflows so users can focus on what matters most — capturing data in flight to bring new and amazing experiences to the world." The companies intend to an- nounce their first product collabora- tion later this year.