Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

WOLF TOTEM by Jean-Jacques Annaud Shot in D by Jean-Marie Dreujou AFC

23/03/2015

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 !
LINK: http://www.angenieux.com/zoom-lenses/news/wolf-totem-by-jean-jacques-a...
See more stories from angenieux

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

07/10/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Media Operations from Ingest to Distribution

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

23/07/2026

Scaling Smart with Vivid Broadcast

Download Now! To receive a short case study showcasing Vivid Broadcast's audio setup, please enter the following details: -- First Name* First Name ...

23/07/2026

Sony Unveils FX5 Full-Frame Camera

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

23/07/2026

Sachtler To Show Akti8T Fluid Head, Flowtech75 Tripod At IBC 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

23/07/2026

NextGen TV Launches in Cleveland

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

23/07/2026

Yospace Stitched 11.57 Billion Ads into Live Streams During World Cup

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

23/07/2026

At IBC2026 Witbe Will Showcase Tests That Build Themselve...

Witbe brings its AI-native testing and monitoring infrastructure to Amsterdam: demonstrations on real devices, a peer-reviewed technical paper in the conference...

23/07/2026

Quickplay Caretta Research Evergent and Yospace Announce...

Quickplay, Caretta Research, Evergent, and Yospace have announced that the renowned IBC Pride Happy Hour will once again bring the vibe and fun back to IBC on F...

23/07/2026

IBC2026 Interra Systems Brings Trusted Media Intelligence...

At IBC2026, Interra Systems will present this year's focus: operational AI at scale for QC, monitoring, and captioning workflows. The industry has moved pas...

23/07/2026

Illusionfx is finally coming!

Illusionfx is finally coming! Alex Perea July 23, 2026 0 Comments The new website is now live to mark the occasion. Since the last update, feedback h...

23/07/2026

Evergent showcases AI agents for streaming retention at I...

Evergent (5.A86) will showcase its Agentic Revenue Orchestration Platform for streaming services, sports leagues, pay-TV operators at IBC2026 (RAI Amsterdam, 11...

23/07/2026

Brian Jones Named NCTCs New CFO

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

23/07/2026

Scripps Unites TV Operations Under Dean Littleton's Leadership

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

23/07/2026

2D House is First North American Rental Facility to Offer...

David Dvir, 2D founder (left), Sundeep Reddy (center), and Jean-Marc Bouchut (right), both of Zeiss...

23/07/2026

Screen Australia announces new national documentary accelerator program

Screen Australia announces new national documentary accelerator program 23 July 2026 Screen Australia has today announced the Above the Line Documentary Accel...

23/07/2026

Centra returning as the official food partner of The Traitors Ireland

RT Commercial has today announced Centra as the official food partner once again of The Traitors Ireland, coming to RT One and RT Player later this year. Ce...

23/07/2026

Honda sponsors Today with David McCullagh on RT Radio 1

RT Commercial today announced Honda as sponsor of Today with David McCullagh RT Radio 1, weekdays 9am 11am. Broadcasting directly after Morning Ireland in ...

23/07/2026

RT NEWS ANNOUNCES NEW JOURNALIST REPORTING FROM ACROSS CORK AND KERRY

RT News is pleased to announce Barry Gallagher has been assigned as the new journalist covering news from Cork, Kerry and the wider Southern region Working al...

23/07/2026

GeForce NOW Sets Sail With Path of Exile: Curse of the Allflame' Joining the Cloud

Lock in and load up the cloud. GFN Thursday brings fresh updates and new adventu...

22/07/2026

ESPN's AutoMic Technology Pays Off at Wimbledon; Baker Credits Team, AELTC for Successful Fortnight

Among other tweaks to coverage, the broadcaster added announce positions in the ...

22/07/2026

Australian Sports Technologies Network Reports Industry Growth of 16% in 2026

The Australian Sports Technologies Network (ASTN) has reported a sharp acceleration in Australia's sportstech sector, with revenue growth rising from 10% in...

22/07/2026

Production Wins, Man!': Men in Blazers' Founder Roger Bennett on Winning the FIFA World Cup as a Digital Media Brand

From a retrofitted broadcast bus to packed Match Day Live! events, Bennett detai...

22/07/2026

TMRW Sports Appoints Brendan Donohue as President, Flag Football

TMRW Sports has named Brendan Donohue as President, Flag Football, where he will lead the company's professional flag football business in partnership with ...

22/07/2026

Stephen Arnold Music Creates Audio for FIFA World Cup Projection Mapping Display at Rockefeller Center

Stephen Arnold Music (SAM) designed and produced soundtracks for nine projection...

22/07/2026

Harmonic Donates $25,000 to Venezuela Earthquake Relief Through Global Empowerment Mission

Harmonic has announced a $25,000 donation to Global Empowerment Mission (GEM) fo...

22/07/2026

Telemundo Acquires Exclusive U.S. Spanish-Language Rights to UEFA Mens Club Competitions Beginning 2027/28

Telemundo has announced it has acquired from UC3 exclusive U.S. Spanish-language...

22/07/2026

The Rest Is Football Returns to Netflix for 2026/27 Premier League Season Through 2028 European Championship

The Rest Is Football, hosted by Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, and Micah Richards, ...

22/07/2026

Sports Studio and TheSoul Group Announce YouTube and Social Distribution Partnership

Sports Studio has announced a partnership with TheSoul Group to distribute Free ...

22/07/2026

Daktronics Concludes 2026 High School Video Summit

Daktronics has concluded its 2026 High School Video Summit, a two-day hybrid event combining virtual sessions with hands-on host school visits across the countr...

22/07/2026

FOR-A America to Exhibit at MMCA 2026 with First U.S. HVS-Q12 Sale Announced

FOR-A America will exhibit at the MMCA Show in Pensacola, Florida (July 21-24), marking the company's first appearance at the house of worship AV event. FOR...

22/07/2026

New York Yankees Select Lumen Technologies for Stadium and Data Center Connectivity

The New York Yankees have selected Lumen Technologies (NYSE: LUMN) to connect Ya...

22/07/2026

IBC 2026: Calrec To Exhibit IP Audio Ecosystem, Announce New Products

Calrec will exhibit at IBC 2026 (Stand 8.C47) with demonstrations of its IP-native audio ecosystem built around the Argo console range, and will announce two ne...

22/07/2026

Solid State Logic Appoints Algam EKO as Italian Distributor

Solid State Logic has announced the appointment of Algam EKO as its distributor for SSL large format consoles in Italy, covering the Live, Broadcast, and Studio...

22/07/2026

FloSports Launches Free Streaming Channel on Prime Video

FloSports has announced the launch of the FloSports Channel, a free ad-supported streaming channel premiering on Prime Video in the U.S. on July 21. The channel...

22/07/2026

Savannah Bananas Deploys Calrec Audio Infrastructure for Banana Ball TV REMI Broadcasts

Banana Ball TV (BTV), the broadcast operation of the Savannah Bananas, has insta...

22/07/2026

SiriusXM and Audacy Announce Agreement To Add 42 Local Stations to SiriusXM

SiriusXM and Audacy have announced an agreement bringing 42 Audacy sports, news, and talk stations from 29 U.S. markets to SiriusXM. Twenty-three Audacy sports ...

22/07/2026

Overtime, FOX One Partner on Social-First FIFA World Cup Series Race to Glory for the Creator Generation

The collaboration produced more than 500 short-form videos across four cities th...

22/07/2026

Green Bay Packers Escalate In-House Video Production With New Content Studio

At 2,600 sq. ft., the new home of digital content houses a main studio, podcast space, and an auxiliary control room NFL franchises are accelerating their prod...

22/07/2026

ERA II Vocal Codex from Eduardo Tarilonte

Library now available in Engine Player Another of Eduardo Tarilonte's popular sample libraries has just been moved over to Engine Audio's Engine Pla...

22/07/2026

Cloudvocals improved FlashTrack FT-15 DSP Microphone

All-in-one mic & DSP interface overhauled Cloudvocal have just refreshed the design of their all-in-one mic, audio interface and DSP processor, introducing ...

22/07/2026

Electro-Harmonix launch the Deluxe Big Muff Pi 2

The final boss of the lost dual-op-amp circuit Electro-Harmonix have just introduced the Deluxe Big Muff Pi 2, which they say offers their latest take on t...

22/07/2026

Clear-Com Delivers Integrated Communications for Fryderyk Awards Gala in Krakw

eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......

22/07/2026

IAB Tech Lab Updates Podcast Technical Measurement Guidelines

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/07/2026

FCC Adopts Plan for C-Band Auction in July 2027

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/07/2026

LTN surpasses 3000 satellite-to-IP migrations as FCC vote...

Proven managed IP solution helps broadcasters confidently navigate the future of broadcast distribution LTN announces it has completed successful satellite-to-...

22/07/2026

Chaos Releases V-Ray 7 Update 4 Connecting Real-Time Work...

Today, Chaos announced V-Ray 7, update 4, eliminating the need for asset conversions and tool switching, which slow down media and entertainment pipelines. Arti...