2015-03-23 : WOLF TOTEM by Jean-Jacques Annaud Shot in 3D by Jean-Marie Dreujou AFC
WOLF TOTEM by Jean-Jacques Annaud
Shot in 3D by Jean-Marie Dreujou AFC
Production: China Film Co and Rep rages
Distribution: Mars Distribution
Releases on February 19 in China, February 25 in France
In 1967, a young Beijing student, Chen Zhen, is sent to live among the nomadic herdsmen of Inner Mongolia. Caught between the advance of civilization from the south and the nomads traditional enemies - the marauding wolves - to the north; humans and animals, residents and invaders alike, struggle to find their true place in the world.
Adapted from Jiang Rong's best-seller in China, Wolf Totem has been shot in 3D. Jean-Marie Dreujou AFC, told us about his experience with Ang nieux lenses during the shooting.
Jean-Marie Dreujou : Wolf Totem is my second chinese movie experience: I shot in 2001 Balzac et la petite tailleuse chinoise ( Xiao ai feng / Balzac and the little chinese Seamstress ) of Dai Sijie. For this movie, I used a 25-250 HR that I mixed with a Zeiss serial Distagon. We were, by that time, 4 french people to make this movie, entirely in Chinese.
Wolf Totem is my forth movie with Jean-Jacques Annaud, it takes place in 1969. A young student coming from Beijing is sent in Central Mongolia, in a tribe of nomadic shepherds. In this infinite, hostile and vertiginous country, he will learn a lot about community, freedom, responsibility and also about the most frightening but venerated creature of the steppes the wolf!
Photo Credits China film Co LTD Rep rage
What about the mixing of the teams?
I shot all over the world, I already found myself alone to shoot in a foreign team.
Presently, we have 450 persons in the team, 9 of whom are French. The image team is made up of 27 technicians on camera, 17 on machinery, 19 for electricity, one translator because only my Chinese gaffer speaks English. Thanks to the cinema language being universal, and to the technician skills, we always manage to understand each other.
Denis Scozzesi, my Head Rigger accompanies me. His skill and our complicity are essential to coordinate every camera movement.
What are the equipment you use on the shooting?
I shoot with 5 cameras! (3) 2D cameras and (2) 3D cameras. I use a Screenplane for 3D cameras, on which I set either 16-42 3D packs or 30-80 3D packs. On 2D cameras, I mainly use Ang nieux zoom! 15-40 & 28-76, 24-290 & 28-340. We shoot about in native 3D and in 2D. The movie will then be entirely spacelized to go out on cinema screens in 3D.
What are your feelings concerning Ang nieux lenses?
I liked to use the new 28-340 on Wolf Totem with the Angenieux 2x extender. I appreciate its very homogeneous optic quality. When I started as an operator, I frequently used Panavision lenses such as 24-275, with a 2.8 aperture, which was an enormous advantage when shooting in 35 argentic mm. I alternated this lens with the Ang nieux 25-250 HR which had an inferior aperture. I used the 24-290 Optimo as soon as it came out, as it exactly matched my need in term of quality of skins and in colorimetry. It was for me the ideal lens. I also found these qualities, of course, with the 28-340, as well as with the lightweight Optimo 15-40 & 28-76. I could switch from a fixed camera with long focal to a shoulder camera with harmony. My shooting method is really focused on that. I usually mix with Cooke S4 and it works very well because I find the same quality.
Concerning cameras, what do you use?
In 2D I shoot with some ALEXAS, and in 3D, with RED. I register in RAW, so that we quickly link the two systems. Olivier Garcia accompanies me. He has set up a laboratory on site and fixes all the issues. We also link quickly, thanks to Ang nieux lenses.
According to you, to what does this Angenieux distinctiveness come from?
To a very good manufacturing quality. With the Alexa associated to OPTIMO, I can find exactly what I obtained with argentic. The mixing is bluffing !
How do you make your technical choices according to the constraints?
I often have a camera on a crane and two others on travelling or slider, with the zoom lenses. We can quickly choose adapted focal, especially when we have to catch the looks of our wolves. The difficulty comes from the fact the movie takes place over several seasons. In Mongolia, going from one to the other is visible daily. The yellow quickly turns from brown to green (between winter and spring) and from green to brown (between summer and fall).
The second difficulty remains in following the evolution of a small wolf (one character of the movie) from its birth in April until the beginning of fall. We created a complex work plan in order to conciliate those two constraints.
Andrew Simpson has raised 16 wolves, whose 4 youngest were filmed for the main role. We started to shoot very wide plans, in summer of august 2012, with a very small team, in very isolated spots in Mongolia which could not fit the whole team.
Then, we shot a complicated winter stage: wolves attacking horses in the night and a blizzard. It was terrible, but men and equipment resisted!
When the little wolves were born in April, the shooting went on. Two more cuts have again been necessary, in order to let them grow up and also to respect the season's evolution.
We are now starting the winter'stage shooting, in the cold and snow.
How do you manage between prime lenses and lenses?
I use very few prime lenses. Generally speaking, since we have 15-40 and 28-76, I almost don't use them anymore.
But yet, OPTIMO lightweight are not the most used in China vs Europe or United States
This is evolving quickly ....my Chinese team has immediately seen that those lenses are of high quality and I must fight with the set photographer who steals me systematically the 28-76 as soon as it is not on a camera !
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/07/2026
Broadcast Management Group (BMG) has announced the appointment of Kathy Samuels ...
01/07/2026
Shade has announced Custom Objects and Automations, a platform expansion releasing June 29, 2026, that adds database and workflow automation capabilities direct...
01/07/2026
FOR-A America has announced the addition of Jaz Wray and Fernando Cruz to its U.S. sales team. Both report to Ernie Leon, Senior VP and Head of Sales and Strate...
01/07/2026
NBC Sports will air all 15 MLB games nationally on Sunday, July 5, across NBC, P...
01/07/2026
Clear-Com has announced a wireless communications upgrade for Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, deploying FreeSpeak II and FreeSpeak Icon systems across both prod...
01/07/2026
England's performance team will use Sony's STATSports APEX GPS tracking system to monitor player physical data in real time during FIFA World Cup 2026 m...
01/07/2026
Adder Technology has announced the appointment of Neil Hillier as Chief Executive Officer, effective July 1, 2026. Hillier succeeds Adrian Dickens, who transiti...
01/07/2026
Bitcentral, Inc. has announced a strategic transaction creating two separate companies. The Production and Playout business will continue as Bitcentral, now own...
01/07/2026
DAZN has announced results from DAZN48, its creator initiative for the FIFA World Cup 2026. Launched in April 2026, the program received thousands of applicatio...
01/07/2026
Sarah Rose, VP, global services, Daktronics (NASDAQ: DAKT), will be inducted into the Information Display and Entertainment Association (IDEA) Hall of Fame at t...
01/07/2026
Gravity Media and the World Economic Forum's production team provided broadc...
01/07/2026
Insight Productions has announced the launch of Insight Storm, a 53-foot mobile broadcast unit built for esports production. The truck is built around a Ross Vi...
01/07/2026
ESPN has announced several content initiatives marking America's 250th anniversary, as part of The Walt Disney Company's Disney Celebrates America pro...
01/07/2026
Eleven production kits, REMI workflows, and cloud distribution bring 40 World Cu...
01/07/2026
The conference also discussed the opportunities offered an industry that is endu...
01/07/2026
The Mountain West Conference has announced the launch of MW , a direct-to-consumer streaming platform powered by Kiswe. The platform will carry live Mountain We...
01/07/2026
New AI Assistant, Multi-channel Audio, ARA2 improvements & more
Tracktion's DAW software has just received its latest major update, gaining a selection ...
01/07/2026
Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones
The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...
01/07/2026
Exclusive run of limited-edition modelling pedals
Sweetwater and Andertons M...
01/07/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is pleased to announce that the ca...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Manfrotto Introduces UNCOVER, the new premium camera bag collection for modern h...
01/07/2026
Blackmagic Design Powers Houston Tamil Sangam Literacy Competition
Brie Clayton July 1, 2026
0 Comments
Volunteers use ATEM Mini Pro, Blackmagic Desig...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
PlayBox Technology has published State of Broadcast Infrastructure 2026, an in-depth industry research report examining the technologies, operational challenges...
01/07/2026
LONDON, UK, 1 JULY Jigsaw24 has appointed Alan Henry as Head of Sales for Media and Entertainment, reinforcing its continued investment in helping broadcaster...
01/07/2026
Content Vault, the patent-pending secure content distribution platform protecting high-value media from disclosures, theft and unauthorised access, today announ...
01/07/2026
Bitcentral, Inc. a leading provider of enterprise software and digital media solutions for news, sports and entertainment broadcasters, as well as streaming pla...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Groundbreaking First Nations Screen Business Accelerator launched through nation...
01/07/2026
Chyron Launches the All-New Chyron Academy: A Reimagined, Hands-On Learning Expe...
01/07/2026
Amplium Captures Kawasaki Brave Thunders Game with Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersiv...
01/07/2026
Boris FX Optics Expands Plugin Support to Apple Photos, Capture One, and Affinit...
01/07/2026
UKTV has today announced the appointment of Matt Berry to the newly created role of General Manager - Marketing, effective 1 July.
Matt will take on this senio...
01/07/2026
Sky Zero Footprint Fund-backed TV campaign featuring Deborah Meaden challenges consumers to rethink everyday bathroom wasteWednesday 1 July 2026
Fussy asks Bri...
01/07/2026
Constituency-level analysis reveals where girls miss out most on sport - and where targeted action could unlock more than £640 million in economic and health be...
01/07/2026
Wuppertal July 1, 2026
Riedel and SKAARHOJ Expand Collaboration With SimplyLive IntegrationRiedel Communications today announced an expanded collaboration wit...
01/07/2026
Apple today introduced power-packed updates to Apple Creator Studio, a groundbre...
2015-03-23 : WOLF TOTEM by Jean-Jacques Annaud Shot in 3D by Jean-Marie Dreujou AFC
