Alien: Covenant: (2017)
Who the Devil Shot It: cinematographer Dariusz Wolski
Director: Ridley Scott
Cameras: Arri Alexa XT and Alexa Mini
Lenses: Angenieux Optimo DP Rouge 16-42mm and 30-80mm zooms, Panavision 19-90mm Primo Compact Zoom, and Panavision PVintage primes
Cecil B. DeMille (located under the camera, pointing) on the set of 1934’s Cleopatra. The film was nominated for five Oscars, including Best Picture.
A prosthetic noggin soon to be severed from its body by a rampaging Sylvester Stallone on the Thailand set of 2008’s Rambo. Pic taken by unit stills photographer Karen Ballard. Check out more of Karen’s work here.
(Above) Marlon Brando and director Bernardo Bertolucci (seated by camera) on the set of 1972’s Last Tango in Paris. I believe the camera is an old Mitchell.
(Above) The wooden crane and 16mm Bolex used for the opening shot of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974). The film’s director, Tobe Hooper, passed away a few days ago and as a tribute American Cinematographer Magazine posted this set pic and shared a few videos about the making of the original Chain Saw, which you can find here.
I can’t get enough of the “Flashback” posts that American Cinematographer Magazine has been sharing on its website. Here are a few set pics from the most recent “Flashback,” which revisits the magazine’s feature on The Shawshank Redemption and its legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins from the June 1995 issue.
(Above) In case you were wondering how Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 made Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord fly. Pic comes from the Instagram feed of Guardians writer/director James Gunn – which is crammed full of awesome set shots from the film.
Guardians Vol. 2 is out on DVD/OnDemand this week. Check out this interview I did with the film’s cinematographer Henry Braham for Filmmaker Magazine. The movie was the first to use Red’s new Weapon 8K Vista Vision camera.
In Get Carter, a London gangster (Michael Caine) travels to the industrial berg of Newcastle to investigate the death of his brother. Here’s director Mike Hodges on how he settled on Newcastle:
“As soon as I saw those huge rust-coloured bridges stretching across the Tyne I knew this was (Jack Carter’s) manor. Tough, ruthless and uncompromising. I moved into the city for a week or more and walked its streets looking for locations to use. They came in an abundance. Gentrification was a word unknown in 1969. That said, I had happened upon a city in violent transition. It was a place that somehow captured the cataclysmic rupture slowly happening to British society but not yet visible to most of its inhabitants.”
