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 ...
09/10/2026
September 10 2026, 06:00 (PDT) Dolby Expands Dolby OptiView Platform with New Capabilities at IBC 2026
New Sports Intelligence helps providers better unders...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
30/09/2026
Schibsted Media, one of Norways largest and most influential digital media publishers and content producers, has invested in mixers and digital signal processor...
30/09/2026
Big Blue Marble announces the addition of live multiview channels to Cloud Video Kit, its broadcast-grade video processing platform. The feature is powered by A...
30/09/2026
Leading video software provider Synamedia today announced that Telekom Slovenije, Slovenia's largest provider of telecommunications and TV services, is open...
30/09/2026
PODCAST EXPO 2026 Recorded Using Blackmagic Design Workflow
Brie Clayton September 29, 2026
0 Comments
Conference featuring 24 sessions over two days ...
30/09/2026
IBC2026 Show Report
David Kirk September 29, 2026
0 Comments
The International Broadcasting Convention has long been Europe's equivalent of the US...
30/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/09/2026
Mavis has launched Mavis Camera 8.2, the latest release of its professional camera app for the iPhone and iPad. This update brings support for iPhone 18 Pro and...
29/09/2026
Oak View Group (OVG) has announced Cisco as an Official Technology Partner, with plans to standardize infrastructure across its venue network on Cisco solutions...
29/09/2026
SportsNet Pittsburgh (SNP) won three honors at the 2026 Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards.
Program awards went to Bucs BP in the Sports Program Live category (produced ...
29/09/2026
The Professional Women's Hockey League has announced home openers for all 12 teams for the 2026-27 season, along with a broadcast partnership with CBC under...
29/09/2026
Manifold technologies has been recognized as a contributor to the Media eXchange...
29/09/2026
FuboTV has announced My Local Sports, allowing subscribers in select markets to add their local regional sports network (RSN) as an add-on to a Fubo Sports subs...
29/09/2026
Asian News International (ANI), a wire agency and video news provider based in India, has deployed Grass Valley's AMPP Media Operating System and Framelight...
29/09/2026
South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has deployed Ikegami UHK-X600 cameras as part of an upgrade to IP-based production infrastructure. The deployment ...
29/09/2026
REMI, REMCO models will drive the bulk of the broadcaster's NHL productions ...
29/09/2026
Three years in, the facility is supporting more centralized race production, com...
29/09/2026
NBC, Peacock, and NBSN are carrying all four Wild Card series with a production ...
29/09/2026
19 Nonfiction Projects Across All Stages of Production to Receive More Than $1 million in Support as Documentary Film Program Approaches 25th Anniversary
LOS ...
29/09/2026
Two new plug-ins launch alongside updated bundles
Zynaptiq have just announced the launch of two new plug-ins, alongside new and improved versions of two of...
29/09/2026
All-in-one bus processor revealed
Wes Audio's ng product range has come a long way since it was first introduced, and now includes a tasty selection of ...
29/09/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Ikegami announces that the South African Broadcasting Corporation, SABC, has chosen Ikegami UHK-X600 camera systems as part of an advance to IP-based operation ...
29/09/2026
Blendkit Offers 20% Discount to Celebrate Crossing 150K Asset Milestone
Brie Clayton September 29, 2026
0 Comments
Blendkit, the largest 3D asset libr...
29/09/2026
Interactive streaming specialist Ease Live supported more than 76.5 million fan sessions across three major European media operators during this summers FIFA Wo...
29/09/2026
Ease Live has added support for VAST (Video Ad Serving Template) to its graphical overlay technology, opening up new ways for broadcasters, streamers and rights...
29/09/2026
Rise AV has announced the launch of the inaugural Rise AV Awards, a new global awards programme celebrating the women, advocates and organisations across the AV...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Clear-Com announced that First Baptist Nashville has upgraded its production communications with a Clear-Com intercom solution as part of a comprehensive sanct...
29/09/2026
Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K Captured Action Shots for Sketch
Brie Clayton September 28, 2026
0 Comments
Camera's portable design and dynamic range...
29/09/2026
Kean Production Services Deploys AJA ColorBox to Deliver Consistent, Accurate Co...
29/09/2026
Berklee Alumni and Faculty Nominated for the 2026 Latin Grammy Awards A total of 28 Berklee alumni and faculty earned nominations across 20 categories this ye...
29/09/2026
Berklee's K-Pop & Beyond Explores Connections Between K-Pop and Hip-Hop Now in its fifth year, the series brings together artists, industry leaders, and s...
29/09/2026
NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION IN OR INTO OR TO ANY PERSON LOCATED OR RESIDENT IN, OR AT ANY ADDRESS IN, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ITS TERRITO...
29/09/2026
We tend to think we live in a digital world, with hopes and fears around artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing, data centres and the next big technolo...
2015-03-23 : WOLF TOTEM by Jean-Jacques Annaud Shot in 3D by Jean-Marie Dreujou AFC
