Cinematographer Lorenzo Hagerman Chooses Codex for Amat Escalante?s riller ?Heli?
13/08/2013
Photos: Mantarraya / Martin Escalante
Set in Escalante s home state of Guanajuato in central Mexico, Heli, which had its world premiere at this year s Cannes Film Festival, tells a chilling tale steeped in the violence and social disorder of the country s drug war. The film s title character is a working-class man, struggling to support his extended family, who becomes unwittingly drawn into the cocaine trade with devastating consequences.
The film was shot by veteran cinematographer Lorenzo Hagerman, whose previous work includes the documentaries Presumed Guilty and Which Way Home, and Hagerman felt that the Codex/ARRIRAW workflow was essential to capturing the rawness and nuance of Escalante s story.
As a cinematographer, I always want to capture as much information as I can; it s a matter of subtlety, the little things that register in the image, he explains. When you use compression, slight degradations in light, little changes in color, can get lost. You may have two pixels side by side with slightly different values, but compression records them as the same, round number. You may not immediately see the difference, but you feel it. It s there.
Hagerman adds that the proven reliability of the Codex/ARRI Alexa combination was also an important consideration as the cast of Heli was primarily made up of non-pros. He would be shooting considerably more footage than if they were working with experienced actors and he didn t want to chance equipment failure. When I work, I want to forget about the gear, he says. Photography is not about operating technology; it s about language. If you re thinking about your gear, it s an obstacle. On this shoot, I could let the Codex recorder do its job and focus on doing what I love.
Hagerman shot Heli almost exclusively with available light. (Some night-time exteriors were shot using only an ordinary 60-watt light bulb for fill.) The cinematographer notes that he has come to prefer working with natural lighting through his documentary work, and insists that it s part of what gives Heli its visceral feeling of truthfulness and immediacy.
The light in Mexico is very contrasty, he observes. This is not Scandinavia where you have 12 hours of twilight. The light is rushed, harsh, especially in Guanajuato, which is in the mountains. The land is high and the sun is tough. The Codex/ARRIRAW workflow enabled Hagerman to capture the often barely perceptible variegations in the landscape and the sky, which play important symbolic roles in the film.
Just as important, the CODEX/ARRIRAW workflow translated into greater flexibility in post production. All of the original detail was preserved in the source files and accessible when the film was going through final color grading. Hagerman was particularly pleased with a night exterior that was shot with the dome light of a car and a flashlight. Initially, the shot looked very dark, but very quickly, we were able to pull out the details and achieve the look we wanted, he says. We didn t have to spend a lot of time on those scenes. When you shoot with compression, you need to do a lot of math and push it a little bit, and that can leave you with annoying artifacts.
In the end, Hagerman says, Heli was well served by the decision to capture ARRIRAW on Codex. I was very lucky to work with a production company, Mantarraya Producciones, that was not only concerned with making a film, but with making the best film possible, creatively and technically, he concludes. It s essential to use the best tools, when you want to make a film that will last forever.
About Codex
Codex, who are based in London, England, design and manufacture high-performance workflow tools for feature film, television and commercials production. These integrated systems, designed by film-makers for film-makers, manage digitalfiles and images from camera through to post production, visual effects andarchiving and include tools for color, dailies creation, archiving, review and digital asset management. Codex continues to raise the bar for digital production by combining great electronics and industrial design with cutting edge tools.
For more information please visit http://www.codexdigital.com.
###
Most recent headlines
04/08/2024
Dalet Appoints Santiago Solanas as CEO to Lead Next Era of Growth and Innovation
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, is excited to announce Santiago Solanas as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....
03/06/2024
Dalet and Veritone Reach Agreement to Distribute, Transact and Monetize Media Archives
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, a...
29/04/2024
Meet the 2024 Sundance Institute Directors, Screenwriters, and Native Lab Fellows
Even though we've been doing this for over 40 years, a spark of excitement r...
29/04/2024
The AN/PRC-158: A Resilient Communications Bridge Between Air and Ground
L3Harris is delivering manpack radios to U.S. Army CH-47 Chinooks as part of the Air-to-Ground Networking Radio program, providing seamless, resilient communica...
29/04/2024
CS President Sam Mehta: Resilient Communications are Critical to Realizing JADC2
He writes in Defense One: Despite the near-universal acknowledgement throughout the U.S. government and defense industrial base of the criticality of resilient ...
29/04/2024
Clear-Com Enhances The Kennedy Center with Seamless Communication Solutions
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
29/04/2024
Optimising audio loudness & normalisation across the Media Supply Chain
Codemill aims to revolutionize media workflow efficiency at this years NAB Show by introducing Just-In-Time (JIT) playback technology in Accurate.Video Validate...
29/04/2024
TF1 Chooses Broadpeak to Power Targeted Advertising for New Video Streaming Service
April 29, 2024 -- TF1 Chooses Broadpeak to Power Targeted Advertising for New...
29/04/2024
LG Adds Allen Media Group's Local Now FAST Channel in 223 Markets
LOS ANGELES Allen Media Group (AMG) has partnered with LG Electronics to bring 223 Local Now FAST channels to LG's free streaming service, LG Channels, avai...
29/04/2024
Ross Video Unveils Raiden Weather Graphics System
OTTAWA Ross Video has announced the introduction of Raiden, a data-driven weather graphics software that combines data gathering, processing, and visualization ...
29/04/2024
Melanie Georgieva Joins Panalux as Long Form Sales Direct...
Panalux, a leading rental provider of lighting and power solutions for the motion-picture industry and part of Panavision's end-to-end service offerings for...
29/04/2024
Cobalt Iron Earns Patent on Analytics-Based Dynamic Autho...
Cobalt Iron Inc., a leading provider of SaaS-based enterprise data protection, today announced that it has received a patent on its technology for dynamic autho...
29/04/2024
SDVI Rally Access Workstation Earns Two Top Awards at 202...
SDVI, the leading platform provider for cloud-native media supply chains, today announced that Rally Access Workstation, a fully managed solution for editing in...
29/04/2024
Premier Sports selects QuickLink Remote Commentary soluti...
Premier Sports, a premium sports broadcaster, has selected QuickLink's Remote Commentary solution for introducing professional, high-quality remote commenta...
29/04/2024
Glookast picks Jigsaw24 Media as exclusive UK channel par...
Glookast has chosen Jigsaw24 Media as the only UK channel partner to represent their portfolio of ingest and workflow optimisation products. The agreement, sign...
29/04/2024
Clear-Coms Eclipse HX and Agent-IC Technology Illuminate...
Clear-Com played a pivotal role in the seamless coverage of the recent solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. Leveraging its cutting-edge Eclipse HX Digital Matrix i...
29/04/2024
PlayBox Neo to Promote Latest Smart Media Playout Innovat...
PlayBox Neo will promote its complete range of television channel management, graphic branding and playout solutions to EMEA region media content owners and bro...
29/04/2024
RuPaul Game Show Lingo' Returns to CBS May 24
Lingo, RuPaul's word-twisting game show, returns for season two on CBS Friday, May 24. Two episodes air that night, and stream on Paramount Plus, too....
29/04/2024
ESPN, Amazon Prime Video Reportedly Close To New Deals With the NBA
ESPN and Amazon Prime Video are reportedly close to scoring television rights to the National Basketball Association, according to published reports....
29/04/2024
Judge Judy,' Hot Bench' Renewed for 2 More Years
Judge Judy and Hot Bench, CBS Media Ventures' genre-leading court shows, have been renewed through the 2025-26 TV season in more than 95% of the country, Gr...
29/04/2024
Irish Sports Broadcaster Premier Sports Taps QuickLink for Remote Commentary
Premier Sports, an Irish-based premium sports broadcaster, has selected QuickLink's Remote Commentary solution for introducing professional, high-quality re...
29/04/2024
BAFTA Television Craft Awards winners announced
The awards celebrate the craft of behind-the-scenes TV talent and the best programmes of 2023 By Matthew Corrigan Published: April 29, 2024 The awards cel...
29/04/2024
Watch: How Milk VFX helped create 259 shots for Netflix's Scoop
The team at Milk had to create and deliver the VFX and environment work for the royal residences featured in the drama from scratch By Jenny Priestley Publis...
29/04/2024
What's going on at Paramount Global?
CEO Bob Bakish is expected to leave the company as early as today, with a new leadership committee likely to run the company on an interim basis By Jenny Pries...
29/04/2024
Meet the director of media and entertainment and strategic products
Albena Ivanova, director, media and entertainment and strategic products at CHAOS talks to TVBEurope about her route into the industry By TVBEurope Staff Pub...
29/04/2024
Anna Valley brand name acquired by AV company Grand Technix
The acquisition gives Grand Technix the opportunity to expand its footprint in the audio visual and broadcast technology sectors By Jenny Priestley Published...
29/04/2024
Screen Australia announces James J. Robinson's debut feature First Light
29 04 2024 - Media release Screen Australia announces James J. Robinson's debut feature First Light First Light Principal Photography is underway on Firs...
29/04/2024
Capitol Broadcasting Becomes First Company Inducted into NC Media and Journalism Hall of Fame
Capitol Broadcasting recently became the inaugural company honored with inductio...
29/04/2024
Rebrand and Refresh: SailGP Talks Bringing its Graphics Operations Inhouse for a Bright New Look to Keep Viewers Illuminated
Rebrand and refresh: SailGP talks bringing its graphics operations inhouse for a...
29/04/2024
Reflecting on a Storied Career: Sean McManus Looks Back While Keeping an Eye on the Future
Reflecting on a Storied Career: Sean McManus Looks Back While Keeping an Eye on ...
29/04/2024
Drones Take Flight Inside MSG: How Sky Candy Studios is Upping the Excitement for Knicks, Rangers Playoff Series
Drones Take Flight Inside MSG: How Sky Candy Studios is Upping the Excitement fo...
29/04/2024
Netflix Announces a Diverse Lineup of Polish Titles to Debut in 2024 With Established Creators Returning With New Series and Films
Back to All News Netflix Announces a Diverse Lineup of Polish Titles to Debut i...
29/04/2024
Tonight on Smoke and Mirrors: Fanyana feels embarrassed about his sexual mishap
Tonight on Smoke and Mirrors: Fanyana feels embarrassed about his sexual mishapDon't miss Monday, 29 April's riveting episode of South African soapie Sm...
29/04/2024
SEA.AI Navigates the Future With AI at the Helm
Talk about commitment. When startup SEA.AI, an NVIDIA Metropolis partner, set out to create a system that would use AI to scan the seas to enhance maritime safe...
28/04/2024
Mediahaus delivers the first SRT live-streaming sports production over 5G with URSA Broadcast G2
Mediahaus delivers the first SRT live-streaming sports production over 5G with U...
27/04/2024
L3Harris Chair and CEO Christopher E. Kubasik Discusses 1Q24 On CNBC's "Closing Bell: Overtime"
On April 26, L3Harris Chair and CEO Christopher E. Kubasik joined CNBC's Mor...
27/04/2024
Audinate Adds Major New Features to Dante Connect
PORTLAND, Oregon Audinate Group Limited, the developer of the Dante AV-over-IP solution, announced significant new additions to Dante Connect, its cloud-based D...
27/04/2024
Bell Media Launches New Portfolio of FAST Channels
TORONTO Bell Media has launched 10 English and French-language FAST channels featuring entertainment, factual, news, and sports programming. The new free stream...
27/04/2024
Study: Broadcast TV Evening News Avoids Serious Economic Issues
An extensive new analysis of the news segments in the broadcast evening news programs of ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS has found that broadcasters devoted most of their...
27/04/2024
Hughes Opens Manufacturing Facility and Private 5G Incubation Center in Maryland
GERMANTOWN, Md. EchoStar's Hughes Network Systems has opened a new manufacturing facility and private 5G incubation center in Germantown, Maryland....
27/04/2024
Broadcasting Legend Harry Pappas Dead At 78
Harry Pappas, one of three brothers who founded Pappas Telecasting Companies in 1971, died April 24. He was 78 years old....
27/04/2024
Televisa Selects Synamedia For Broadcast Distribution Overhaul
ATLANTA and LONDON Mexican telecommunications and broadcast company Televisa has selected Synamedia for an overhaul of its broadcast distribution....
27/04/2024
Participate in the Survey - The Impact of AI on Media and the Creative Industry
Participate in the Survey - The Impact of AI on Media and the Creative Industry Pascal Wagner April 26, 2024 0 Comments By participating in this surve...
27/04/2024
SDVI Rally Access Workstation Earns Two Top Awards at 2024 NAB Show
SDVI Rally Access Workstation Earns Two Top Awards at 2024 NAB Show Brie Clayton April 26, 2024 0 Comments SDVI, the leading platform provider for clo...
27/04/2024
Berklee's Music and Health Institute Launches Community Health Musician Certificate
Berklee's Music and Health Institute Launches Community Health Musician Cert...
27/04/2024
Charter Reports Higher Q1 Profits Despite Broadband, Video Losses
Charter Communications reported higher first-quarter profits despite continued cord-cutting and competition for broadband customers....
27/04/2024
Environmental Groups Aim To Make Unscripted TV More Sustainable
Two environmentally-focused groups are partnering to engage the unscripted TV world in finding better ways to address climate change. Reality of Change is an ec...
27/04/2024
Sarah Garcia Named Weekend Anchor at Telemundo 40 in Texas
Sarah Garcia has been promoted to weekend anchor at KTLM McAllen, Texas, known as Telemundo 40. Starting April 27, she will anchor Noticias Telemundo 40 weekend...
27/04/2024
CBS Sports Kicks Off FAST Channel for UEFA Champions League on Pluto TV
CBS Sports said it launched a new 24-hour free, ad supported streaming television (FAST) channel devoted to the UEFA Champions League....