Sundance 2017: Here Are the Cameras Used to Shoot This Years Acclaimed

Films
Filmmakers tell IndieWire what cameras they used to shoot their Sundance lms and why they
chose them.
By Annakeara Stinson and Chris O'Falt

Jonathan Olshefski shooting Quest

courtesy of the lmmaker

IndieWirereached out to the lmmakers behind the feature-length narrativeand documentary lms
premiering this week to nd out what cameras they used and why they chose them. Here are their
responses.

READ MORE: The 2017 IndieWire Sundance Bible Every Review, Interview and News Item Posted
During the Festival

Dramatic Competition & NEXT

Cory Finley, Thoroughbred
ARRI Alexa Mini. Panavision G-Series lenses.

The DP, Lyle Vincent, was very particular about getting a hold of both. They gave us exibility in shooting
and helped create the very precise, high-contrast, and slightly dreamy look we were going for.
and helped create the very precise, high-contrast, and slightly dreamy look we were going for.

Gillian Robespierre, Landline

ARRI Alexa with some vintage lenses

Landline takes place in 1990s Manhattan. My DP Chris Teague and I talked a lot about what shooting a
period movie from a recent period would look and feel like. Unfortunately, we were not able to shoot on
lm, and added a texture of LiveGrain during color correction that was designed to represent lm stock,
and its really quite extraordinary.

Geremy Jasper, behind the scenes onPatti Cake$

Geremy Jasper, Patti Cake$

ARRI Alexa Mini

It was a very ambitious shoot, and we needed to be quick and nimble. Fede Cesca, my cinematographer, is
a genius operator who likes to get up into the action. We wanted a lightweight camera that could give us
the energetic dynamics of live performance and also the intimacy of our characters.

READ

MORE: How Patti Cake$ Director Geremy Jasper Went from Indie Rocker to Breakout
Filmmaker Sundance 2017

Matt Ruskin, Crown Heights

ARRI Alexa.

We knew we were going to shoot digital and, aside from producing great images, the Alexa gives you the
ability to shoot both ProRes and RAW. We shot ProRes when we could control the light and then we shot
RAW in darker or more uncontrolled circumstances. This allowed us to keep the amount of data down
and not burn through nearly as many hard drives.
and not burn through nearly as many hard drives.

Cate Shortland, Berlin Syndrome

ARRI Alexa

Kirsten Tan, Pop Aye

Arri Alexa XT

I chose to shoot anamorphic since Pop Ayeis a road lm that, naturally, comes with abundant scenery
and landscapes. These landscapes would be done more justice with anamorphics not merely because of
the wider aspect ratio but because to me, anamorphic lenses render distance in a more interesting way. I
like the anamorphic look also because it often imbues a lm with a certain classical and non-
contemporary quality that I felt was suitable for a road movie with existential concerns. We went with
the Alexa XT and that was perfect for it because it comes with a 4:3 sensor mode. In combination with the
old 80s Hawk C-Series Anamorphic Prime lenses that we used, it gave the lms texture a dreamy and
other-worldly quality, t for the lms melancholic-surrealistic mood.

Kirsten Tan, Pop Aye

Gerard
McMurray, Burning Sands
ARRI Alexa Mini.

I originally wanted to shoot on 35mm lm, but after talking to my Director of Photography Isiah Dont
Lee, we decided the Alexa was the better choice. The Arri was perfect for the many night scenes of night
scenes we needed to capture because of its superior perfomance in low light situations. We also shot in a
lot of compact locations such as cars and dorm rooms so the smaller build of the Mini provided us more
exibility when creating our shots. Shooting digital also allowed us to move a bit faster on a very tight
schedule.
Marti Noxon, To The Bone
ARRIAlexa.

It was absolutely the right tool. Almost every DP I spoke to said it was the only camera they like to shoot
with now.

WATCH: Girl Talk Live: Female Cinematographers on How They Made Their Sundance Films Watch

Joshua Z Weinstein, Menashe

Canon C300.

Its an incredible lightweight camera that is great in low light and has a beautiful image.

Alex Ross Perry on set of Golden Exits.

Don Stahl

Alex Ross Perry, Golden Exits

Aaton XTR Prod

Its the same Super 16mm camera as for the last three lms I made. Ive talked a lot, perhaps too much,
about my relationship with lm as a medium for telling the stories I like telling and Golden Exits was no
exception. Its a warm movie of interiors and texture. As always, lm is the only way to go.

Zoe Lister-Jones, Band Aid

ARRIAmira with vintage lenses.

I wanted more of a lm feel, but with the mobility and ease of digital. My DP, Hillary Spera, suggested the
Amira because of the way it handles natural light, its work ow, and how well it takes to handheld
shooting.

Michael J Larnell, Roxanne Roxanne

ARRIAlexa.

We were also able to shoot anamorphic, which meant we could t more of the image into the frame,
which was helpful for the small and tight spaces that we shot in, like the apartments within the
Queensbridge Housing Projects.

Matt Spicer, Ingrid Goes West

ARRI Alexa Mini with Panavision C-Series Anamorphic lenses.

Shooting anamorphic can be tough on a budget because the lenses tend to be slower and require more
light to achieve focus but shooting digitally allowed us to use more natural light and move a lot quicker.
The small size of the camera also allowed us to maneuver into some tight spaces and get shots that we
wouldnt normally be able to get with such big lenses.

Janicza
Bravo, Lemon
ARRI Alexa

Because its the nicest thing we had access to that wasnt lm.
Janicza Bravo shooting Lemon
Stefania Rosini

John Trengove, The Wound

ARRI Alexa Classic.

It had the sensitivity to allow us to shoot the lm with only natural, available light, often in low light
conditions. More importantly, though, was the lenses: Kowa anamorphics. The conditions we were
shooting under were close to documentary, and the Kowas countered this by re ning the visuals and
creating something like an old-fashioned matte frame around the images.

Tarik Saleh, The Nile Hilton Incident

ARRI Alexa and Hawk Lite lenses

I knew when I wrote the lm that it was anamorphic. My D.P Pierre Am is used to working with spherical
lenses and I shot my last lm on 35 stock with spherical lenses. Because we shot the lm under dif cult
circumstances in four countries I knew had to shoot digital.

Alexandre Moors, The Yellow Birds

ARRI Alexa and Alexa mini.

I have yet to meet a producer who will tell me we can afford to shoot on lm.

Alexandre Moors with DP Daniel Landin on The Yellow Birds.

Jun Geng, Free and Easy

ARRIAlexa Plus

The reason is that we were short of funding, yet we wanted to achieve the best visual effects. To my
knowledge, ARRI has the highest degree of tolerance and color rendering, which could satisfy my
requirements for the environment and lighting. Regarding the lens, we used UP group lens, which didnt
fully provide the sensitivity and stereoscopic vision, yet it was good enough to present the sense of
realism and absurdity of this project. My cinematographer, Wang Weihua, did an excellent job, offering
the best I could imagine.

Felipe Braganca, Don`t Swallow My Heart, Alligator Girl!

RED

During the preparations for the lm, me and Glauco Firpo (the DP) shotseveral tests with different
cameras. We needed something that work invery different light conditions, since we were lming
everything in real locations far way from any big city, and we also needed a camera that would be easy to
handle lming in boats, woods and other adventurous conditions. In the end, RED, was the best option.

Nana & Simon, My Happy Family

ARRI Alexa XT with Anamorphic lenses.

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Michelle Morgan, L.A. Times

The Arri Alexa.

I was very happy. My DP, Nico Wiesnet, is really into lenses. He got us some really beautiful anamorphics
that
just kind of really set the tone for us.
L.A. Times, Michelle Morgan on set.
Mikey Piliero

Amman Abbasi, Dayveon

Red Epic with a Dragon sensor and shot at 5K.

There are some mixed media aspects of the lm that we shot with camera phones. I do like Red and their
pursuit to push the technologies of cameras forward but I am fairly agnostic to cameras. Whatever is
right for the job. Red worked this case since 35mm didnt work out. We wanted a camera that would
capture maximum data to preserve the images of the south.

Mark Palansky,Rememory
Arri Alexa with special anamorphic lenses / Sony A7

I love the Alexa because, for me, it provides the warmth in the skin tones and an overall crisp, but smooth
image that doesnt feel digital or affected. We also shot close to 200 speci c memories on the Sony A7. It
actually provided a similar dynamic range to the Alexa, but was much more portable, and allowed us to
get truly intimate with the subjects we were shooting for a more realistic memory POV.

Brett Haley, The Hero

Arri Amira/ The Alexa

The majority of the lm was handheld and my DP (Rob Givens) wanted a lighter camera so that his
operation work would not feel too choppy or shaky. We wanted a present and active camera style but not
one that was distracting or over-stylized. The Amira was great for that. We also used the Alexa out tted
with anamorphic lenses for certain sequences in the lm that were not handheld. I love shooting digitally.

It gives you the maximum control over the image and as the editor of the lm I was able to edit on
nights and weekends on my laptop to make sure things were working as we shot. As amazing as it is to
shoot on lm, I came up in the digital world and am addicted to that work ow.

Macon Blair, I Dont Feel At Home In This World Anymore

Alexa mini.

Its fast and light and mainly because the DP Larkin Seiple had such a deep familiarity with it, he was able
to use it to aim for a more lmic look.
Justin Chon, Gook
REDDragon.

It was the right tool for us because of its weight. We had a lot of handheld shots.

Cristin Jimnez, Family Life

Sony FS7

We were going to have a small crew, so we needed a camera that could t with that rationale and with the
fact that we were mainly shooting interiors where there was not always going to be a lot of space. We
brought three cameras to the location, shot some footage with different lenses, did grading and analyze
the pros and cons with cristin petit-laurent, the DOP. We knew that movement was going to be a key
element in terms of camera work and the results with the FS7 in that aspect made us go for it with no
doubts.

Shooting Family Life

Andrea Novoa

Documentaries

Joe Piscatella, Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower

Sony PMW-EX1, EX3, Sony Slog2 and Sony A7S.

Because footage was shot over a ve-year span multiple cameras were used. Some of the cameras were
chosen because they were easier to shoot on the y during protest scenes where tear gas and pepper
spray were being used.

READ MORE: Fox Searchlight Buys Documentary Step For More Than $4 Million Sundance 2017
READ MORE: Fox Searchlight Buys Documentary Step For More Than $4 Million Sundance 2017

Rory Kennedy, TAKE EVERY WAVE: The Life Of Laird Hamilton

RED,ARRI Amira, Cannon c300, Go pros.

We needed different cameras for a range of needs from shooting interviews, verite and capturing
dramatic scenes on the water. Sound was also important to me, both on and off the water, so that was
another challenge.

Feras Fayyad, Last Men In Aleppo

Canon 70D, canon 5D mark III and Sony A7S 4k

We are lming in the war very close tobombings, the small-sized cameras helped a lot to transfer the
image with good accuracy and the ability to record for a long period oftime.

Yance Ford, Strong Island

Canon C300 and 5D

Shooting Strong Island

Joslyn Barnes

Adam Sobel, The Workers Cup

Canon C300

Our primary camera was the Canon C300, which is very durable and excellent in low-light conditions.
Our primary camera was the Canon C300, which is very durable and excellent in low-light conditions.

Austin Peters, Give Me Future

ARRI Alexa Amira

We wanted to come back with the highest quality image with the most information possible. This is my
rst feature lm and the Alexa is a movie camera. We knew we had to shoot digital because we would be
shooting so much so to me it seemed like an obvious choice.

Ramona S. Diaz, Motherland

Canon C300

It was the right tool because my DP said it was the right tool. Because of the nature of the lm its a
purely verite lm, no voice overs, all sync (except for cutaways) I needed my DP to be as comfortable
with the gear as she could possibly be.

Trophy
Courtesy of Sundance

Shaul Schwarz and Christina Clusiau, Trophy

Canon
C100, 5D, Sony FS7, F55

When we began production on this lm three years ago we were using Canon C100 and Canon 5Ds. A
little over a year ago we moved to the Sony FS7 and Sony FS5. We love the look of the Sony FS7 and Sony
FS5, but we also love using Canon 5D cameras. They are light and versatile allowing us to be more
discreet at times and not so invasive to the characters we are documenting. Carrying a lot of gear as a
two-person crew was hard. Depending on the shoot, we had to gure out the logistics of charging
batteries with limited electricity at hunting camps in the african bush. Also, some of the hunts were
physically challenging and took a lot of endurance. We had to make sharp choices of what cameras and
gear to use so we could walk with 15 miles a day, if needed.
gear to use so we could walk with 15 miles a day, if needed.

Susan Froemke & John Hoffman, Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman

ARRI Amira

All three DPs shot on the Arri Amira, which gave them the dynamic range and large sensor to capture the
beauty of these landscapes and adjust to whatever was thrown at them by production.

Jiuliang Wang,Plastic China

Panasonic AG-AF103A

READ MORE: Quest: How a Photo Essay Turned into a Documentary About 8 Years in the Life of a
North Philly Family

Jonathan Olshefski, QUEST

DVX100, Canon 5D, Mark 2, Mark 3

Early on it was the DVX100, but I transitioned to the Canon 5D Mark 2 and later the Mark 3. I used both
cameras because they are great in low light and most of the shooting situations were low light. The
Canon 5D was cheap, but also had an amazingly cinematic image quality. The act of manually focusing
everything probably was really good for my development as a cinematographer. It forced me to be
constantly attentive.

Shooting Step
Amanda Lipitz

Amanda Lipitz, Step

Canon C300, 5D

We used a combo of a Canon C300 and a 5D. The 5D was helpful for lming in the school because it was
less conspicuous and invasive. The girls knew we were lming, but we could be a little more discreet. The
C300 was our camera of choice for everything else it was great for lming movement and effective in
the homes, which were often under-lit. We would bring in lights at times, but its hard to get intimate
verit moments when the house feels like a movie set, so we more often than not relied on our C300 to
deliver a professional image in occasionally dif cult circumstances.

Kyoko Miyake, Tokyo Idols

Sony FS7, Canon 5D Mark III

Pascale Lamche,Winnie
Sony FS7, Canon 5D

The budget was tight, so they were the best we could afford. The Sony did the beautiful shots in
Johannesburg, Soweto and Transkei and was not too obtrusive in volatile situations. The 5D was handy,
for moving fast, rigging to a Ronin and being more readily available in S.A for last minute access
permissions.

THIS ARTICLE IS RELATED TO: Filmmaker Toolkit and tagged Sundance 2017

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Comments
C | JANUARY 25, 2017 1:29 PM

Wowwwwwww, so much variety. They shouldve just called this article The Alexa at Sundance
Reply

NEL | JANUARY 25, 2017 2:54 PM

I have to agree, boring, boring digital. There is such a wildly widespread notion among producers that digital is
cheaper, its been said that its not necessarily, and in most cases can even end up cheaper if youre DISCIPLINED.
Too much laziness, the truth is that digital is easy, its instantaneous, its there and its simple. Film requires discipline,
being smart, not shooting hundreds of hours of footage just because you can (hem hem), being prepared, in short, I
just think many producers just dont want the hassle and put in the least amount of effort.
James Ponsoldt shot The Spectacular Now on anamorphic 35mm for a budget of 2.5 million dollars. It CAN be done
if you really want to.
If you want to shoot lm, really want to stand out (and you will with all the Alexa epidemic), you will make it work,
you might have to sacri ce some things, but the result will be worth it. Film is still king, nothing comes close to it, its
mysterious, gorgeous, its authentic.
La La Land is a celebration of that, and even if you dont know about lm and digital, you WILL feel it subconsciously.
Film is wonderful.
Reply

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