|
 |
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
Wolverine’s first team mission involves a trip to Angola to investigate a possible source of Adaman-tium. The scene was shot north of Sydney. “That was a huge night exterior in the jungle, and it was originally scouted and planned as a day exterior,” recalls Mathis. “Don and I had to come up with a lighting plan on Monday, and our crew had only Tuesday to pre-rig everything, which they accomplished in a driving rain. We put up three 125-foot construction cranes that each had 800 1,000-watt Par cans on dimmers. We also had a Condor with three Lightning Strikes units, and the physical-effects team added another Condor with rain towers. The Par cans were in frames wrapped in quarter-grid diffusion, which we had to punch holes in to let all the rainwater drain out.”As Wolverine works for Stryker, he begins to realize that Stryker’s intentions are evil. This becomes apparent as he explores his associate’s laboratory and a zoo-like series of mutant holding cells in a secret facility. The set was built on Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbor, a historical site featuring huge shipyards, an imperial prison and other buildings. “It was rather amazing doing all the night work out on that island,” says McAlpine. “Every day at sunset, we’d get in a little ferry and steam under the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Then, in the morning, we’d steam back at dawn, which was quite calming. We had to work very carefully because of the site’s historic status.”“We lit the cages using the kind of culvert pipe you’d run under a driveway out in the country — it was about 1 meter in diameter,” notes Mathis. “The pipes were 30 feet long, and we put three Very Narrow Spot Par cans in the tops and hung one tube over each cage. It acted like a long snoot and kept the light contained within each cage. The snoots burned out 3 stops over key at times, giving a hot toplight to the cages. We hung space lights for ambience. At the end of the cages, the doors were supposed to open into sunlight. We shot at night and hung a 100K SoftSun outside, across the way, on a construction crane. That gave us a single-source sunlight-backlight effect as Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) steps through the doorway. It’s a cool effect.”A signature scene in the movie involves the painful infusion of unbreakable Adamantium into Wolverine’s skeleton and claws; this project was code-named “Weapon X.” The multi-level industrial set was constructed onstage at Fox Studios Australia and featured extensive practical lighting and an acrylic water tank. The filmmakers used a 30' Technocrane to capture shots transitioning from level to level. “I had a real challenge with the tank because we wanted a lot of light in there,” recalls McAlpine. “Tungsten lighting from the outside would have distorted or even cracked the acrylic, and there wasn’t enough room inside the tank to safely install practical underwater lights. About three weeks before we were to shoot the scene, I was introduced to these new LED lights that are packed in strips; it’s almost like they were designed just for that tank! They ran nice and cool, and we could attach them directly to the acrylic on the outside, creating the high-tech look we wanted. It worked out remarkably well.” Mathis adds, “The LEDs were daylight-balanced and gave off a striking, cool glow that contrasted with the warm tungsten lights on the rest of the set. We also placed Source Four Lekos at regular intervals to play as worklights; people would go in and out of the hard toplight on metal walkways. We rounded out the lighting with space lights and lots of practicals built into the set.”Wolverine ultimately escapes from the “Weapon X” program on a motorcycle, and he is pursued by several Humvees and a helicopter. Confident in his indestructibility, he hurls himself at the chopper and brings it crashing to the ground. The resulting explosion was captured on location in Paradise, New Zealand, by seven cameras, including Arri 435s in crash housings. “A piece of debris from the helicopter explosion landed right on top of one of the crash housings, and it cracked the magazine wide open,” recalls Belling. “We managed to get the negative out and were able to salvage the footage. Amazingly, it didn’t actually damage the camera. Those 435s are tough little guys!” The film’s finale involves a battle between Wolverine and the all-powerful Deadpool. The scene takes place atop a cooling tower at Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island. Portions of the fight were captured onstage in Vancouver on partial sets and in front of greenscreen. “Because it was meant to be a day exterior, we had to re-create sunlight,” says Mathis. “We planned to do it with 100K SoftSuns, like we’d done in Sydney, but there weren’t any available in Vancouver. We hung about 900 1,000-watt Par Cans in large, vertical softboxes at one end of the stage. We needed the Pars to be as far away as possible so the light would be relatively even from side to side and wouldn’t look artificial. We also hung about 150 space lights for ambience. For fill, we aimed 20Ks into 12-by UltraBounces. It all looked great.”Throughout principal photo-graphy, McAlpine viewed high-definition-video dailies, but in Vancouver, the filmmakers had access to 35mm dailies. He notes, “It was quite exciting to see the power of a full 35mm projector compared to most of the HD systems we get for dailies. That privilege is becoming pretty rare these days.”McAlpine and Hood worked on Wolverine’s DI at EFilm with colorist Steve Scott. “I worked with Steve on Peter Pan [AC Jan. ’04], and he’s a real magician,” enthuses McAlpine. “He picks up on what you’ve done and takes it just that little extra step forward. On films like this, there are an awful lot of slugs in the DI for incomplete visual-effects shots, so you time everything on either side of them, and then it’s pretty easy for someone else to fill in the gaps as the shots are finished.”The cinematographer says he enjoyed his first foray into a comic-book franchise. “You can’t call it X-Men without making an action movie, but Gavin placed everything into a very solid and human dramatic frame,” he notes. “Hugh is quite remarkable in both the energy he can engender in front of the camera and his ability to act in a more tender range. It’s a real tour-de-force that broadens the whole concept a bit.”
|
|
| |
<< previous || next >>
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
