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
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...
02/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/07/2026
Standalone processors acknowledged for the innovation and value they bring to Pro AV
Cobalt Digital, a leading designer and manufacturer of signal processing ...
02/07/2026
Synamedia announced today the appointment of Dr Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transitio...
02/07/2026
Screen Australia backs audience-led filmmaking with new insight-driven initiativ...
02/07/2026
Screen Australia refines guidelines for Narrative Content Development and Docume...
02/07/2026
Maxon Autograph: Introduction to working with Tables
Simon Ubsdell July 1, 2026
0 Comments
An overview of Autograph's ridiculously powerful tables...
02/07/2026
Boston Conservatory's Soir e Breaks Records to Fund Student Scholarships The event achieved 127 percent of its fundraising goal in an evening celebrating ...
02/07/2026
How Adam Rosenwach Pivoted from Music to Med Tech Without Missing a Beat What do the rehearsal room and the boardroom have in common? More than you might thin...
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...
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.
