AmericanCinematographer201201

editorial, and we just weren’t comfortable
with that. But John Schwartzman
[ASC] was working with the Epic on
The Amazing Spider-Man and helping
to pave the way. By the time they
wrapped, RedRocket could handle the
Epic footage, and Spider-Man had
made a huge number of cards available,
so we shot the last 20 percent of Dragon
Tattoo with the Epic.
“We made sure not to switch
cameras within a sequence,” he continues.
“Although the Epic has a lot more
resolution and slightly different color
range than the One, the color is close
enough that we were confident all our
footage would match.”
Indeed, at press time the digital
grade was underway at Light Iron with
colorist Ian Vertovec ( The Social
Network), and Cronenweth reports that
“matching between the two cameras has
been as seamless as anticipated. We’re
working with a Quantel Pablo 4K
color-correction system and a Sony 4K
projector in a theater-type setting. We’re
basically just fine-tuning the original
footage as captured on set, making some
subtle adjustments to better match
shot-to-shot within a scene, and doing
some repositioning.”
The filmmakers found one of the
Epic’s most significant advantages to be
its HDRx function, a simulated high
dynamic range mode that enables a
secondary, darker track of video to be
The production’s digital Red cameras were frequently required to capture low-light situations.
recorded, allowing for 1-5 stops of
selectable highlight bracketing via the
secondary, faster-shutter exposure track.
“We used that to get about 3 more stops
of latitude,” says Cronenweth. “It
records on a separate track that’s a frame
off, and you then use software to sync it
back. It really fills up the data cards by
doubling the recorded information, but
for certain situations it’s invaluable.
“We also like the fact that the
Epic is smaller and lighter than the One
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