Elton John's larger-than-life, rags-to-riches story is given the musical treatment in the new movie Rocketman from Paramount Pictures. The film is depicted as a true fantasy even though the script doesn't shy from some of the more rock n' roll aspects of the British superstar's lifestyle.
DP George Richmond on the set of Rocketman.
The stress on fantasy really allows you to go into the musical side of things and to push the use of fantastical images to tell the story, says George Richmond, BSC, who reteams with director Dexter Fletcher from Sunshine on Leith (2013), a musical set to tracks from Scottish band The Proclaimers.
This is Richmond's third musical counting his experience as a camera operator for Dion Beebe, ASC on Rob Marshall's Nine in 2009. While Nine was shot on film using spherical lenses from Panavision, Rocketman, was shot with a Panavised ARRI Alexa and G Series anamorphic lenses arranged at Panavision London.
Now that I've shot three, I find musicals one of the most fun forms of filmmaking, says Richmond whose cinematography credits also include Eddie the Eagle and Tomb Raider (2018). Everyone seems to enjoy their craft, and it's most enjoyable for me to be able to listen to the music and try to move the camera to the rhythm.
Taron Egerton as Elton John.
He adds, There were some terrific ideas in this script too including a great character arc for Elton as a 6-year-old, through his struggle with addiction and fame, to coming out of rehab. The way the script is structured with scenes of rehab at the beginning and end, and at various points in between, allows you to jump into whatever time period you want to tell the story.
The screenplay by Lee Hall (Billy Elliot) charts the pop icon's early years as a working-class north London lad, then as a prodigy at the Royal Academy of Music. The story follows his eventual musical partnership with songwriter Bernie Taupin, and his preparations to release Honky Ch teau, his 1972 breakthrough album.
Taron Egerton (who appeared with Elton John in Kingsman: The Golden Circle which was lensed by Richmond) stars as John. Jamie Bell plays Taupin, Bryce Dallas Howard is Elton's mother Sheila, and Richard Madden is Elton's manager John Reid.
While needing a lightweight camera to assist in the fluid camera moves he was plotting, Richmond's principal criteria in acquisition was to buck the trend of filming with large-format cameras.
Dexter Fletcher and Taron Egerton.
I wanted to try to create an image more in keeping with how we remember the 1950s to 1970s period, by not putting too much information (resolution) into it.
He selected to work with the Super 35 chip of the Alexa Mini shooting ARRIRAW 2.8K for the anamorphic and open gate 3.4K for the VFX spherical footage.
The other key decision was to shoot anamorphic, he says. I'm a great fan of anamorphic. You can infuse a sense of period into the project just by the lens choice but when we combine Panavision G Series lenses with the amazing set design, lighting design and costume design of Rocketman then it makes my job a lot easier.
Rather than song and dance numbers, Rocketman features a number of narrative-led fantastical set pieces for which Richmond devised complex, fluent camera moves.
The sequence choregraphed for the song Rocket Man is the film's center piece. It begins with Elton at his party popping pills and drinking booze, then he throws himself into a swimming pool, sinks to the bottom of a now impossible large underwater space and sees a younger version of himself singing back at him. He's pulled out of the pool, and we see him in an ambulance singing snatches of the song as medics try to put an oxygen mask on him. In a space that resembles the loading area of a hospital, his stomach is pumped of pills. We transition into some fantastic industrial space where he gets undressed and changed in a graphic silhouette with the LA skyline in background. Then, suddenly, we're out into the Los Angeles Dodgers stadium where Elton begins to sing and then goes up like a firework and explodes. You can imagine how much fun it was to create those images, which looked terrific with the anamorphics, he says.
Richmond's focus puller, Dave Cozens, worked with Panavision London to have correctors/shims added to the wide G Series to reduce the falloff on the top and bottom portions of the frame.
Generally, when shooting wide open on the wide anamorphics you get focus aberrations on the outside of the frame but with careful calibration you can tune those aberrations out of the top and bottom but leave them on the side. That allows you to increase the amount of useable focus when shooting wide or close to actors so the top of their heads, for example, are not out of focus while retaining faster fall off at the sides for a vintage anamorphic look.
Another sequence set to Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting was conceived as a single long-shot and required considerable preparation. It starts out with Elton in a pub, moves with him outside into an alley, through a fence then into and around a funfair populated by crowds of (1960s gangs) Mods and Rockers where a fight breaks out. It then tracks back the same way to settle Elton once more in the pub. The sequence is used to transition Kit Connor, who played 12-year-old Elton to Egerton playing Elton as a young man.
Richmond explains that the camera was mounted on a Stabileye head attached to a straight 4-foot-long metal bar and carried through the sequence by key grip David Appleby and camera B grip Craig Sheils.
This allowed us to move the camera from ground level to full reach during the shot and it is small enough so as to be discreet, very mobile and not in the way of the lighting, he says. It's stabilized but gives a slig
Europe Stories
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
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...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
23/08/2026
Offers up to 10 bands of compression
Parish Audio's latest release allows users to place individual compressors anywhere in the frequency range, but tak...
21/08/2026
Hardware-style timing shifts for software instruments
Following on from the release of Omniclock, Rapid Flow have launched a new sequencer plug-in that can ...
21/08/2026
Highly anticipated synthesizer ships in October 2026
Iceland-based Love Synthesizers have announced that their highly anticipated synthesizer is now availab...
21/08/2026
Masterpiece PBS The Forsytes has expanded its cast as its begins production in ...
21/08/2026
The BBC has unveiled first-look pictures from The Witch Farm, a new ghost story and mystery set in the Welsh countryside, coming soon to BBC iPlayer and BBC One...
21/08/2026
The BBC and BritBox have revealed the first look of Edward Bluemel as Hercule Poirot in the forthcoming six-part series Hercule from Mammoth Screen and Agatha C...
21/08/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
21/08/2026
** MEDIA ALERT **
VIZ Media Takes Over Anime NYC with BLEACH, BLACK TORCH, M...
21/08/2026
Tell us a little bit about your job I'm a Marketing Manager and work across a mix of clients and projects. No two days are ever quite the same, which defini...
21/08/2026
Beat The Lotto dives into the plot behind the 1980s National Lottery scandal
24 August 2026 at 9:35pm on RT One and RT Player
Beat The Lotto is the story o...
21/08/2026
The countdown to the most wonderful night of the year has officially begun!
Host Patrick Kielty is gearing up for another unforgettable Late Late Toy Show nig...
21/08/2026
Meet puppet duo Bellie and Whizz, who are about to explore all the big feelings ...
20/08/2026
Set up your own private remote collaboration infrastructure
SoundBridge have recently put together a tutorial video that provides users with a step-by-step ...
20/08/2026
New V-Control Pro features restore basic functionality
Neyrinck's V-Control software has long been keeping older Avid control surfaces compatible with n...
20/08/2026
TV, BritBox and Mammoth Screen have announced that filming is now underway on th...
20/08/2026
Thursday 20 August 2026
Nina Sosanya, Rizzle Kicks, Roman Kemp and Paul Whiteho...
20/08/2026
Wuppertal August 20, 2026
Transformation Church Elevates Production Communicat...
20/08/2026
The music between the notes Coming together In the middle of 2026, as conversations around artificial intelligence continue to raise questions about how musi...
20/08/2026
Arvato Systems Brings Together Digital Transformation Leaders in the Manufacturi...
19/08/2026
Studio owners invited to have their say on rates cuts
The Music Producers Guild (MPG) are inviting UK-based studios to take part in an in-depth survey that ...
19/08/2026
Vintage-inspired desktop interface revealed
Harrison's latest hardware offering sees them head into the world of audio interfaces, delivering a 10-in/12...
19/08/2026
Granular effect remains locked to scale and tempo
Described as your dream granular effect , Minimal Audio's latest creation is capable of turning any s...
19/08/2026
First polyphonic SWAM instrument incoming
Audio Modeling's latest physical-modelling orchestral instrument is just around the corner, and is now availab...
19/08/2026
There's an early Christmas gift for Bookish fans, as UKTV confirms the re-commission of the hit U&alibi drama, created by and starring Mark Gatiss. Viewers ...
19/08/2026
Wednesday 19 August 2026
Sky gives sports fans the chance to watch multiple liv...
19/08/2026
On Saturday September 5 Katie Taylor will step into the ring for the fight of her life against Flora Pili in front of 80,000 fans in Croke Park. A legendary fig...
18/08/2026
Company launch with stereo-imaging tool
Panoramic is the debut release from Panorama Labs, a new company formed by mastering engineer Nicholas Di Lorenzo. C...
18/08/2026
Control software now available for older interfaces
Focusrite have just announced the launch of an update that extends Control 2 software support for their ...
18/08/2026
Tuesday 18 August 2026
Sky Sports and The Fast and the Curious announce new partnership
Sky Sports and The Fast and the Curious have announced a new long-term...
18/08/2026
Wuppertal August 18, 2026
Riedel Brings Professional Live Production Into the Classrooms of ECURiedel Communications today announced that Edith Cowan Universi...
18/08/2026
Apple today announced changes to its business terms for apps in the European Uni...
18/08/2026
THE HEALY RAES: BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS AIRS WEDNESDAY AUGUST 19 ON RT ONE AT 9:35PM
A new documentary The Healy-Raes: Blood, Sweat & Tears airs on RT One and ...
18/08/2026
Stunning Irish performances at European Athletics and Swimming Championships rea...
18/08/2026
The two-part series begins Sunday 23 August at 6.30pm on RT One and RT Player
...
17/08/2026
New MIDI processor & macro controller revealed
SHIK have announced that they have opened pre-orders for the S32, a standalone MIDI processor and macro contr...
17/08/2026
Cover extended on innovative motorised pot system
Melbourne Instruments have just revealed that the innovative motorised pot system used in their synths and...
17/08/2026
Latest firmware version now available
1010music have just released a free firmware update that brings some nice new features to their renowned Bluebox digit...
17/08/2026
Rohde & Schwarz showcases integrated defense and test solutions at DALO Industry...
17/08/2026
Calrec's ImPulseV Virtualised Audio Mixing Engine joins NEP Platform, the industry's largest ecosystem of trusted production software, bringing scalable...
17/08/2026
Visitors to IBC 2026 will see how FilmLight is reshaping the modern post pipelin...
17/08/2026
Visitors to Stand 1.C41 can explore innovations in areas such as addressable advertising, hybrid distribution, managed services and operational simplification.
...
16/08/2026
Virtual drummer joins line-up
The latest release from Gospel Musicians adds a virtual drummer to the company's line-up, combining a pair of meticulously...
15/08/2026
In-ear monitoring line-up gains new universal models
In-ear monitoring experts JH Audio have just announced a significant expansion of their Universal-Fit r...
14/08/2026
Latest instalment delivers disco-inspired grooves
The latest addition to UJAM's virtual drum line-up has been designed with contemporary pop, disco, dan...
14/08/2026
Elite range gains giant 24-inch powered sub
The latest expansion of Yorkville's Elite range introduces what the company say is the world's first act...
14/08/2026
Friday 14 August 2026
Breaking news! Sky releases trailer for The Paper, return...
Elton John's larger-than-life, rags-to-riches story is given the musical treatment in the new movie Rocketman from Paramount Pictures. The film is depicted as a true fantasy even though the script doesn't shy from some of the more rock n' roll aspects of the British superstar's lifestyle.
