The Creator lands in cinemas this Friday, and director Gareth Edwards recently took part in a press conference that also included our great pal Rob Wainfur of The Bearded Trio. Rob had chance to put some questions to Gareth, specifically asking about the lightweight and portability of the new cameras used to not only bring the film to the screen but to make shooting scenes quicker and faster – a potentially huge change to the way films are shot.
When I asked him about these cameras and whether they will become an industry standard, Gareth Edwards said :
“I hope it becomes an industry standard for cameras to get lighter. I don’t think there’s any cameraman in the world that enjoys holding this really heavy brick hours on end. I’m a bit of a wimp, so I was looking for a very lightweight, small camera.” He also explained how there seemed to be a technology breakthrough a year before shooting so pursued the idea of using these super lightweight cameras. Edwards also mentioned how the light sensitivity on these new cameras had improved:
“Don’t know if you remember, but the way they measured the sensitivity to light, it was like a hundred ISO, or two hundred ISO. And if you were in an interior space that was a little dark, you’d have an eight hundred ISO. Well, these new cameras shoot at 12,800 ISO. And so, you can basically film in moonlight.”
This brought so much freedom shooting on set and in particular the various real-world locations Edwards used for the filming of The Creator. Because the cameras were so good in various light conditions and coupled with more powerful LED lighting, they no longer needed to use giant cranes and rigging for lighting, instead opting for lights on poles very much like the microphones.
“We thought, let’s have someone with a pole and a light. And that way, as the actors are given freedom to sort of go any direction they want, and I can quickly move with them, the lighting can quickly change in an instant.”
The portability of the new cameras and lighting allowed a change of scene with lighting to be done in seconds instead of 20 to 30 minutes. This resulted in more material being shot and the scenes looking more naturalistic which was a look Gareth Edwards was going for throughout the movie.
Edwards also explained how he wanted to film The Creator much like an independent movie and how he enjoys a good ending. When he has an idea for a movie he likes to work backwards as he often has the idea for the climactic ending first, and as a result The Creator is a self-contained movie and unlikely to have a sequel. He then laughed and said I hope this doesn’t get played back in a few years time when a sequel is released.
- Hardcover Book
- Fujikawa, Jenn (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 208 Pages - 10/10/2023 (Publication Date) - Insight Editions (Publisher)
