We look at the making of The Forest, the latest horror film from Focus Features. Set in Japan’s infamous Aokigahara Forest, the story follows an American woman who braves the mysterious wooded terrain in search of her missing twin sister. Director Jason Zada discusses the experience of making his first narrative feature, and how he and cinematographer Mattias Troelstrup, made a creepy movie the old-fashioned way - using practical effects without CGI. “Part of that plan was to use a split diopter on the lens, an old film trick where you focus both on the background and foreground at the same time,” explains Troelstrup. “It’s in a lot of old movies where depth of field was so shallow due to the film stocks at that time...”
Reviews of new equipment in the semipro and professional markets include Panasonic’s AG-DVX200PJ 4K camcorder and its many attractive features, such as 4K at 60p, a new image-stabilization feature, ND lters, autofocus and a motor- ized zoom. While 4K and UHD cap- ture are available, the camera’s ability to down-convert 4K to 1080p in 10-bit, 4:4:4 quality is also impressive.
4 TRIK CARA MENGGUGURKAN JANIN ATAU ABORSI KANDUNGAN
Jason Zada + Panasonic AG-DVX200PJ 4K camcorder review
1. FEBRUARY 2016 VOL. 10 NO. 1 hdvideopro.com
BreakingTrends
50 A BOY AND HIS…DOG?
The ARRI ALEXA Plus and the DepthKit
supply the tools for the proof-of-concept
short MILES, powerful visionary work
that earned a huge development deal
and a greenlight as a full-length feature
By Kevin H. Martin And Simon Wakelin
Postproduction
56 THE FUTURE OF STORYTELLING
Google and The Mill team up to bring
immersive cinema-quality filmmaking
to mobile devices
By Dan Brockett
HDIndependents
62 ROAD TRIPPIN’
A fascination with Charles Manson
serves as the backdrop for Manson
Family Vacation, an exploration of family
and friendship for estranged brothers
who go on a creepy adventure following
the death of their father
By David Alexander Willis
INSIDE STORYInthefirstissue
of 2016, we
take a look at some innovative digital
technology in both film and advertising,
while also appreciating the more analog
aspects of filmmaking.
Cinematographer Salvatore Totino,
ASC, AIC, reveals the challenges of lensing
Concussion, shot on the ARRI ALEXA XT.
Will Smith stars as Dr. Bennet Omalu,
the forensic neuropathologist who dis-
covered how repeated impacts to the
skulls of professional football players led
to chronic traumatic brain injury. Totino
had just wrapped Everest before joining
the production, choosing to use Cooke
S4s most of the time. “There’s a bit of
the art and the craft getting lost [with
digital] now, and I admit I push against
that to try and keep my work processes
very organic,” he tells us.
We look at the making of The Forest,
the latest horror film from Focus Features.
Set in Japan’s infamous Aokigahara Forest,
the story follows an American woman who
braves the mysterious wooded terrain in
search of her missing twin sister. Direc-
tor Jason Zada discusses the experience
of making his first narrative feature, and
how he and cinematographer Mattias
Troelstrup, DFF, made a creepy movie
the old-fashioned way, using practical
effects without CGI. “Part of that plan
was to use a split diopter on the lens, an
old film trick where you focus both on
the background and foreground at the
same time,” explains Troelstrup. “It’s in
a lot of old movies where depth of field
was so shallow due to the film stocks at
that time.”
We examine breakthrough work from
Google, who created the first immersive,
live-action film made solely for mobile.
Part of the Google Spotlight Stories, HELP
was directed by Justin Lin (Fast & Furious,
Star Trek 3) through Bullitt Productions,
who worked with renowned effects com-
pany The Mill to design a full 360º camera
rig equipped with an array of four RED
EPIC DRAGON digital cinema cameras.
We discuss with Gawain Liddiard, visual
effects supervisor at The Mill, the continual
need to push what’s technically and cre-
atively possible, by engineers and artists,
to deliver the best experiences on mobile
to audiences worldwide.
Our look at the proof-of-concept short
MILES is an intriguing read, innovative
work so fine that it was picked up by
Lionsgate to be made into a full-length
feature. We chat with creator Oliver Daly,
DP Isaac Bauman and effects supervisor
Andrew Gant on the making of this com-
pelling short set in California’s teenage
off-roading motocross world. Daly will
write and direct the film, a contemporary
nod to Steven Spielberg’s classic E.T. in
work that blurs the boundaries between
humanity and technology.
Reviews of new equipment in the
semipro and professional markets include
Panasonic’s AG-DVX200PJ 4K camcorder
and its many attractive features, such as
4K at 60p, a new image-stabilization
feature, ND filters, autofocus and a motor-
ized zoom. While 4K and UHD cap-
ture are available, the camera’s ability
to down-convert 4K to 1080p in 10-bit,
4:4:4 quality is also impressive. For the
DSLR market, we review the beautiful
Zeiss Milvus lenses, as well as Canon’s
XC10, a compact handheld 4K camera
versatile enough for use with car mounts
and professional drone systems.
Finally, “Misinformation” is on point,
demystifying whether it’s time for you to
move up to 4K, and we travel with the inde-
pendent feature Manson Family Vacation,
a well-received film that lies somewhere
between buddy comedy movie, road trip
flick and suspense thriller. Shot on the
Canon EOS C500, the film treks along-
side two brothers who visit the infamous
Manson Family murder sites, all in an
effort to bond again after many years apart.
—Simon Wakelin, Editor
CourtesyofTerritoryStudio
2 n HDVideoPro | hdvideopro.com hdvideopro.com | February 2016 n 3
2. Retro
4K
The Panasonic AG-DVX200PJ is the world’s first 4/3” sensor
with a fixed Zeiss lens capturing 4K up to 60p. But will
a fixed-lens camcorder be a hit in the modern age?
BY SIMON WAKELIN
Panasonic’s desire to offer the new handheld 4K AG-DVX200PJ with an integrated lens
system may seem a step backward in HD evolution, at first glance, but a closer look reveals that the sleekly
designed camcorder has merit for a variety of professional uses. Upon its release, the first question asked was
probably the most obvious: Why no interchangeable-lens system? It’s an apt question in light of numerous
DSLR and 4K manufacturers falling over themselves to offer us swappable lens systems at affordable prices.
I also had my own trepidations over the new 4K offering before attending Panasonic’s hands-on demonstra-
tion in Los Angeles last November, but came away satisfied that the DVX200 has a very significant place
in a large segment of the semipro and professional markets.
First, an overview: The DVX200 is Panasonic’s next generation of large-sensor, multi-format profes-
sional camcorders capable of capturing 4K/UHD, HD and SD footage with cinematic DCI 4K 4096x2160.
A suite of top-end features includes 4K/24p and 1080/60p recording with V-Log L gamma, giving a full
12-plus stops of dynamic range, a function emulating the natural grayscale of the V-Log L gamma found in
Panasonic’s professional-level VariCam 35. This allows for a comparable filmic tonality with natural, subtle
26 n HDVideoPro | hdvideopro.com hdvideopro.com | February 2016 n 27
3. skin tones approaching around 85% of the latitude available on
the versatile VariCam.
Barry Green, Emmy®-award-winning producer and writer,
who has authored a number of books on Panasonic professional
camcorders, and is a respected technical moderator at DVXuser.
com, opened Panasonic’s presentation by clearing up some mis-
understandings regarding the design of the fixed-lens 4K offering.
“A lot of people wanted to see a next-generation Panasonic
AG-AF100 interchangeable-lens cinema camera,” outlines Green
on consumer sentiment. “But while other manufacturers are busy
making interchangeable-lens cameras for filmmakers, this is a 4K
camcorder for everyone else shooting industrials, reality television,
documentary, event production, and, sure, occasionally film. This
isn’t what everyone else is doing, and unique because of that.”
The camcorder has a solid build, with the demo unit handling
nicely at the event. It’s not light, but very well balanced, with
design touches such as a run/stop button located on the top
handle with a sliding cover so as not to be pressed accidentally.
The focus has a fast and accurate response, and there are two
viewfinders—an eye-level finder, plus a bright touch-screen LCD
that hides away when not in use. The LCD is bright, with a reso-
lution of 2.76 million pixels and a diagonal size of 4.3”. When
your eye goes to the EVF, a sensor turns off the LCD. ND filters
offer 1/4, 1/16 or 1/64 exposure, while other user-assignable
buttons, as well as the focus assist button, are also on the body.
Examine the optics closer, and it’s clear that Panasonic con-
tinues its commitment to offering top-quality glass. A newly
Intraframe HD, .MOV or MP4 format. AVCHD is also available.
Interestingly, shooting 4K for HD creates a notable increase
in color resolution and bit depth by down-converting image
capture to 1920x1080, neatly done by merging 2x2 pixels together
to convert 3840x2160, 8-bit 4:2:0 into 1920x1080, 10-bit 4:4:4
footage in post.
Each 2x2 block ends up summing together luma and chroma
information to create a single 1x1 pixel, interpolating an image
with smoother gradations and reduced noise, plus increased
color resolution and bit depth. 8-bit 4:2:0 contains all the luma
samples and half the chroma samples in both directions, so
dropping pixels gives you 4:4:4 at half the resolution. Remember,
8-bit recognizes only 256 shades per pixel, while 10-bit allows
for 1,024 shades.
While the camcorder is optimized toward long recording
times at an internal recording of 8-bit 4:2:0, the recognition
that higher-quality capture may be required is addressed with
full 10-bit 4:2:2 available via HDMI 2.0 output to an external
recorder (8-bit 4:2:2 also can be chosen). This is the recom-
mended method of capture for the widest dynamic range using
the aforementioned V-Log L gamma setting. Internal recordings
at 8-bit 4:2:0 will need one of eight other Log styles available
on the menu.
Additionally, using the two provided card slots allows simul-
taneous backup and relay recording with standard SD cards.
The ease of flawlessly dragging and dropping footage onto the
Final Cut timeline is another nice touch here. Other features
include a 5-axis stabilizer, an improvement compared to the
previous image stabilizer found in the Panasonic AG-AC160A.
This is only available in HD mode, however, not in 4K and
UHD recording modes.
While this new AG-DVX200 should appeal to a large demo-
graphic, ENG shooters probably will most appreciate the 4/3”-
sized sensor with options to manually override auto controls
whenever time permits. Meanwhile, capturing important footage
in more automated modes makes it an attractive choice. Come
to think of it, if you find yourself with a fancy camera system
using interchangeable lenses, yet use a trusty zoom most of the
time, the AG-DVX200 camcorder should be a worthy replace-
ment, or companion, to your current setup.
Panasonic is offering a free downloadable firmware upgrade
that adds the following: a fast scan mode to the menu options
for 4K/24p, UHD/29.97p, UHD/23.98p and UHD/25p record-
ing modes to minimize potential skewing; color reproduction at
higher brightness levels, improved to accommodate a wider range
of skin tones; the potential for black dot noise in 4K/UHD has
been reduced; playback image aspect ratio has been corrected,
so imagery is properly displayed in 16:9 when a 480i/576i
squeeze video is played; and, finally, the ISO gain value display
in high-sensitivity mode has been improved. The AG-DVX200
has a suggested list price of $4,695.
Speaking of useful tools, a zoom, focus and iris remote is avail-
able for the DVX200, the VariZoom rock-style Zoom & Focus/Iris
Lens Control, a device offering precise control over these camera
functions (varizoom.com/product-p/vzsrock-zfi.htm). HDVP
Learn more about the AG-DVX200PJ at panasonic.com/broadcast.
developed ƒ/2.8 Leica Dicomar 13x zoom sits on the camcorder,
offering a healthy zoom range in all formats. The lens (in 35mm
equivalents) at 4K/24p is 29.5mm to 384.9mm, and at HD,
28mm to 365.3mm. There’s also a feature that zooms in 1.5x
on the sensor when shooting at 1080p resolution, a cool touch
that effectively makes it a 19x lens with no loss in resolution.
Overall, there’s a nice retro feel to the DVX200 that recalls
its distant relative, the AG-DVX100, and if history is anything
to go by, then this 4K iteration should be a huge success. You
may recall how the DVX100 was scoffed at by advanced shoot-
ers when released, only to become one of the most sought-after
camcorders in the marketplace. Back in the days of the Hi8 and
MiniDV revolution, owners fell over themselves purchasing the
DVX100 for its 24p look and cine-like gamma, capturing in
progressive mode to emulate the look of film that was, at the
time, the Holy Grail of filmmaking. It finally meant there was
no need to crush those blacks before de-interlacing and frame
blending to acquire a cinematic look.
In many ways, the DVX200 is the same beast, only now at
4K! The 4/3” sensor is gigantic, not quite that of Super35mm
or full-frame sensors, but still 16 times larger than the original
DVX100. It’s a sensor size allowing for nice depth of field, help-
ing to isolate subjects while creating beautiful bokeh effects.
Recording modes at 4K do restrict the camera to 24p, but
UHD fares better with up to 60p (including 25p and 50p
frame rates for the PAL market); 120 fps is also offered in HD
mode, with 200 Mbps capture available in low-compression
Panasonic’s new AG-DVX200PJ handheld
camcorder offers 4K, UHD and 120 fps HD with
high frame rates and 12-plus stops of dynamic
range, shooting 24p when filming in 4K and 60p
in UHD, including 25p and 50p frame rates for
the PAL market. The camcorder records up to
200 Mbps in Intraframe HD, .MOV or MP4,
plus AVCHD in 4:2:0 color space, but also has
the capability to output 10-bit 4:2:2 via its
HDMI port. There’s also an option to convert
UHD 3840x2160 8-bit 4:2:0 recorded footage
into 1920x1080 10-bit 4:4:4 footage in post.
28 n HDVideoPro | hdvideopro.com hdvideopro.com | February 2016 n 29
4. How director Jason Zada
and cinematographer Mattias
Troelstrup, DFF, stepped
outside their comfort zones
and into The Forest
A few years ago,Jason Zada got the idea to make
Facebook scary. Take This Lollipop, a short-form interactive
experience that won Zada an Emmy®, used Facebook pictures
and messages of existing users to integrate them into a horror
story all their own making. It was viewed by over 100 million
people globally and garnered 13 million Facebook Likes, making
it the fastest-growing FB app of all time. Thus, it goes without
saying that Zada enjoys immersing his viewers in the story.
As a commercial director, Zada has worked with high-profile
advertising agencies like Crispin Porter + Bogusky and Saatchi
& Saatchi. It was his love of nontraditional storytelling that
brought him to The Forest, his first narrative feature film, and
his love of branching out beyond his own style that brought
him to cinematographer Mattias Troelstrup, DFF.
Set in Aokigahara at the base of Japan’s Mount Fuji, known
as the Suicide Forest, The Forest follows Sara (played by Natalie
Dormer of The Hunger Games and Game of Thrones fame) as
she searches for her twin sister (also played by Dormer) after
she has been reported missing. In real life, the forest is part of
Japanese folklore, said to have demonic powers, with hundreds
of suicides occurring there over the years. (Unable to shoot in
Aokigahara, the filmmakers chose a forest in Serbia.)
“I was looking for the unicorn amongst the scripts that
I was reading,” says Zada, a native of Hawaii, “and it didn’t
seem to exist. Then I got this fantastic pitch from David S.
Goyer about this idea, this place and this story [Goyer has
written and produced the Christopher Nolan Batman films].
Darkly
Through
Woods,The
BY VALENTINA I. VALENTINI
ShayanAsgharnia
hdvideopro.com | February 2016 n 39
5. I was infatuated with it, and we spent two years developing it.”
HDVideoPro had the opportunity to catch up with Zada and
Troelstrup via Skype from two opposite ends of the world to
talk about making horror without CGI, shooting in unpredict-
able forests and working with the seriously impressive Dormer.
HDVP: You two had to come together fairly quickly before
filming this project, and no one actually predicted that you’d
end up as the lead pair on it. Why was that?
Jason Zada: I had been given a long list of recommended
cinematographers, and when I came upon Mattias’ work, there
was something that really stuck with me. I liked how he captured
people with just some natural light and not much else; how he
was able to be up close and personal with the actors, which in
turn makes the audience really feel a part of what’s going on.
Mattias understood the approach I wanted—the very cinematic
and almost fantastical world that I wanted to create—and we
instantly clicked because of that.
Mattias Troelstrup: I think Jason wanted somebody that
was different from him, and he was really clear about that from
the beginning. He told me that a reason he picked me was
because I was outside of his comfort zone. And, vice versa, that
I could push him out of his comfort zone, too.
HDVP: Jason, this is your first feature film, and Mattias, it’s
your first horror. Tell me about readying yourselves for it all.
Troelstrup: I’m a big fan of horror movies, but not gore
horror movies, the more psychological ones with more elements
to them. This script had that. There are a lot of thriller moments
but where you could still see if she was feeling sad, anxious or
scared. That’s where the naturalistic lighting helps. It was easier
for us to see that she was any of those emotions with having
dark shadows on her eyes.
I spent a lot of time listening to Jason about how his trip to
Japan was, which was very interesting to me because I’ve never
been to the actual forest where people commit suicide. The
more I listened to him and found out this was actually a really
creepy place, I started gathering the images in my mind of how
we would approach this movie.
HDVP: And what cameras,
lenses and techniques did you use
to achieve these goals?
Troelstrup: I wanted a camera
that could show Natalie’s skin and
show her feelings, but that could also
handle the night shoots. We had a
lot of night shooting.
Zada: I have a hard time with
the way a lot of night scenes, in every
genre, are lit—this giant moonlight
source-y thing coming up from the
cornerofthescreenwithlotsofsmoke.
So one of our early conversations
was about how we light night in this
forest without making it look like
it’s lit. How do we give this forest a
mood? The forest is a character in
the movie, so it had to be dealt with
visually in a certain way. And my
production designer Kevin Phipps
was just a genius in that department,
too. [Phipps’ credits include The Fifth
Element, Troy and Eyes Wide Shut.]
in it, and it’s more about a person falling apart, even though, of
course, there are things that still make it a horror film.
Zada: It is a scary movie, but there’s a story and there are
characters. With Sara, I wanted the audience to experience what
she’s going through so as to not lead it to just some gratuitous
scare. As for sticking with horror, when you do something that’s
very specifically a part of a genre that people notice, those types of
scripts tend to keep coming your way, so I was reading lots of genre
scripts. As a kid, I had been fascinated with movies like Rosemary’s
Baby, The Shining and The Exorcist—movies that were a bit on the
slower burn in the beginning that would get you hooked on the
characters, atmosphere and story. That’s the type of movie I wanted
to make, and so we crafted The Forest to be like that.
Troelstrup: I had never done horror before as a DP, but I
really liked this script, and I liked how Sara shifts from A to B,
from beginning to end. More than the gore parts of it, I was
interested in this process of her looking for her sister, and all
that happens to her on that trip.
HDVP: What were the visual goals for this film?
Troelstrup: We didn’t want to go too high contrast, but not
necessarily as flat as Scandinavia can be. We wanted color and
vibrancy in the scenes that were set in Japan, a part of the world
Sara has never seen before. We didn’t want to shoot a movie that
looked completely flat, but wanted to keep it very naturalistic in
its tone because it is, again, a thriller with psychological journey
elements to it. There are only a few characters in the film, and
I wanted to make something where Natalie’s face looked great,
Troelstrup: The camera that could do all that was the ALEXA
XT. It stays looking pretty cinematic, but doesn’t have a stylized
feel to it, if you don’t give it that. Instead of filtration, we chose
Cooke S4 lenses, which have a much softer look to them and are
beautiful for showing a character more than that stylized look.
Zada: A lot of the look that I had Mattias go for was a sense
of hyper-realness, because the story is told from our lead char-
acter’s perspective as she sees everything unfolding through her
eyes. There has to be some sort of hyperrealism or surrealism
that’s there for that purpose. All three of us—me, Mattias and
Starring Natalie Dormer
and Taylor Kinney, the
horror feature The Forest
follows an American
woman’s search for her
missing twin sister in
Japan’s Aokigahara, the
Suicide Forest, at the base
of Mount Fuji. The film is
Jason Zada’s narrative
feature directorial debut,
following the success
of his Take This Lollipop
interactive short form.
Zada and cinematographer
Mattias Troelstrup, DFF,
shot with the ARRI ALEXA
XT and Cooke S4s. For the
paranormal aspects of the
film, it was essential to
Zada to light practically,
to great effect.
All photos by James
Dittiger/Gramercy Pictures
Darkly
Through
Woods,The
40 n HDVideoPro | hdvideopro.com hdvideopro.com | February 2016 n 41
6. Troelstrup: In a sense, but not as messy. I like to operate
in a controlled manner and have the camera as still as possible
when I’m doing handheld.
HDVP: What was it like working with Natalie Dormer,
someone who has some serious acting chops and has been part
of such big franchises?
Zada: You really need someone who has a lot of depth in
order to play a character that unravels psychologically on screen.
Natalie was at the top of my list, and she was at the top of the
studio’s list—which doesn’t always happen. She got the charac-
ter, she got the motivation, and she was excited to play twins,
but mostly, I loved how she really wanted to explore what was
going on beneath the pages in order to bring the character to
life. She’s one of the smartest, most engaged actors, I think. She
understands lighting and camera movement, and is always asking
why something is where it is or why the camera is at a certain
use a split diopter on the lens, which is an old film trick where
you focus both on the background and foreground at the same
time. It’s in a lot of old movies where they needed it because
the depth of field was so shallow due to the film stocks at that
time. So we used it to have Sara in the foreground and some-
thing happening in the background and have both in focus at
the same time. It’s weird because it looks off, which totally helps
us in visually showing her fall apart.
We shot a lot of handheld when she hits the forest. We
stayed with her face and stayed with her when she gets scared.
I was right up there in her face, so that the audience can feel
scared with her. And she had the flashlight on her iPhone that
she used to reveal things. It would be me holding the flashlight
behind the lens as I was shooting her POV. We stuck to really
simple stuff like that.
HDVP: That seems very The Blair Witch Project of you.
position because she wants to be a part of the total process.
Troelstrup: I agree. From the first moment I met Natalie,
she came right up to me and said, “Hey, we’re going to be good
friends.” I’d never had that before. Instead of just being this big
star who couldn’t talk to anyone, Natalie wanted me to help
her and wanted to help me in return. “Anything you need,” she
said. She was very clever to become friends with me from the
get-go, because then we had a solid collaboration really early
on. That meant I could be right in her face with the camera
without overstepping boundaries, and she could also tell me
if something was too much, or for me to back off. We had a
great connection, and that was such a big deal for me. You feel
like you have a team player onboard. HDVP
Distributed by Focus Features, The Forest releases on January 8,
2016 in the United States.
Darkly
Through
Woods,The
Kevin—had to work really closely with how we achieved that
look while still maintaining the naturalism in Sara’s face.
HDVP: For the paranormal aspects of the story, were those
done in-camera or CGI or special effects?
Zada: I grew up with a lot of practical effects, like in The
Exorcist. Scenes I thought were the scariest ones were done
practically, so it was important to me that our sets were built
practically and that all the creatures were done practically. Hav-
ing things that are real, that actors can react to, it’s just so much
more interesting—and behind-the-scenes, too, we got to work
with this really talented team at Millennium FX.
Troelstrup: Jason has this incredible way of working, where
he has every single thing storyboarded and it’s all happening
in a very controlled environment. That’s not to say he locks us
in—there was still freedom to make changes and suggestions—
but he made sure we had a plan. And part of that plan was to
42 n HDVideoPro | hdvideopro.com hdvideopro.com | February 2016 n 43