It was determined during prep that Arriflex cameras could offer both Tattersall and ILM what they required photographically. We had a great relationship with Arriflex and their U.K. rental house, Arri Media, on Young Indy, so it was a logical step to work with them on Episode I, the cinematographer states. We used Arris 435ES and 535B cameras. The 435 is great because its a high-speed unit and can run up to 150 fps—which makes it the highest-speed camera of its kind—and it has plate-quality image stability, which is quite extraordinary. The entire film was really a big exercise in plate photography, since so much of our first-unit production footage was going to be digitized and used for effects shots.
Arri also did a tremendous amount of work in developing their Data Capture System [DCS], which supplied ILM with all the information they needed in order to know exactly what the camera was doing and where it was physically positioned during each shot. That made it easier for them to do their digital work.
We still had a surveying team working with us during the shoot, collecting spatial and topographical information, but the DCS—unit recorded everything regarding the camera itself: focus, aperture, zoom controls, the geared head, the dolly, et cetera, and fed it into a laptop. Together with the information collected by the survey team, ILM had a very good idea of what we were doing on each shot; they could replay any camera move in the virtual environment, which avoided the usual laborious match-moving process. The DCS required the camera assistant to do about 30 seconds of extra work on each take, but overall it had very little impact on our work.
Another novel tool used on Phantom was the Hawk anamorphic lens systems supplied by Arri Media. Tattersall remarks, Those lenses are new to Arris kit, and Id never used them before, but they have a great range of primes, from 30mm to 250mm, and two zooms. In the past, Ive used Cooke or Zeiss lenses with Arri cameras, but now Ill have another choice with the Hawks. The cinematographer adds that chart tests were done with the Hawks, and full optical specifications were forwarded on to ILM. He explains, Because of their complex design, each [model of] anamorphic lens has its own unique characteristics, and any individual set has variations. All have their different strengths and weaknesses. For instance, some anamorphics tend to have aberrations at the top or side edges, or sometimes even a bit of general vignetting at the four corners. ILM had to determine the characteristics of the Hawks because they had to re-create those artifacts in their virtual photography so the entire film would feel cohesive.
The Hawk primes are rated from T2.2 to T3, but Tattersall maintained a T4.5 while working on stage. The rule of thumb is that anamorphics work best at about two stops over their minimum, he says, adding that the coatings on the Hawks prevented lens flares even in harsh backlight.
Tattersalls use of filtration was specifically inspired by the fine camerawork that Gilbert Taylor, BSC contributed to the first Star Wars picture. The filter used throughout much of the original film—especially in the desert, which George quite liked—was a nylon-stocking net stretched in front of the lens. We experimented with a lot of nets, low-contrast filters, and diffusion. In the end, we decided to use a 14 Tiffen ProMist for everything, including close-ups and wide shots. George really wanted to take the edge off things, which is of course more flattering on the actors. However, there were a situations in which ILMs advice was to shoot clean, and that theyd add the filtration effect later.
That was the case with the wide shots inside the Mos Espa hanger where Anakin prepares his podracer. It was a very complicated environment for ILM because there were a lot of steam, smoke and atmospheric effects in there, in addition to the huge bluescreen behind these ships. Keying that blue was already going to be difficult for them, so we took the filter off.
The complexity of the foreground and background elements in this particular scene (and others) also required it to be covered in VistaVision, although 4-perf was the standard format throughout the production. Generally, the 8-perf cameras were utilized for wide, panoramic shots, and those in which the bluescreen element was more than 50 percent of the frame, Tattersall details. Its generally more convenient to use the 35mm cameras, so virtually all of the dialogue scenes and close-ups were done in 4-perf, but the masters and extremely complicated shots were done in VistaVision.
Tattersalls main film stock on Episode I was Kodaks lower-con Vision 320T 5277. We also used [EXR] 5245 in Tunisia, since there was certainly plenty of light! Tattersall says. Going back a bit, the reason for choosing a T4.5 as our general stop came from discussions about the bluescreen work, knowing that we wanted crisp edges on the background objects while keeping focus on the foreground action. Carrying that depth was crucial, and required the deeper stop. If there were no bluescreens, we could work comfortably at a T2.8 or less.
Now, to work with a 100 ASA stock like [EXR] 5248 at a T4.5 on our large sets, with a softlight approach, would have required such an enormous amount of light that the heat would have been unbearable. While testing faster stocks, I just preferred the 320T, and although Kodak describes it as low-contrast, I dont find it to be such.
Tattersalls production team was largely composed of fellow Young Indy veterans, although we had plenty of people calling who would have worked on a Star Wars film for free, the cameraman says with a laugh. My gaffer, Eddie Knight, and I have done a few films together now, and he was my first choice. He then chose his own electrics crew. The camera crew included Trevor Coop, the operator, Graham Hall and Ben Butler, our focus pullers, and our loaders, Jason Coop and Shaun Evans.
Principal production began in June of 1997 at Leavesden Studios, the 286-acre filmmaking facility located outside London. Tattersall notes, Leavesden wasnt built as a studio—it was an old Rolls Royce aviation factory before it was converted for film work. The advantage for Rick and George was that they could lease the entire facility; they didnt have to share anything with other productions, which is the usual situation in a studio setting. Because of that, many sets could be built at once, and left standing indefinitely. Our production designer, Gavin Bouquet, had about 15 quite large spaces to work with, which gave us the room to have some 25 fully constructed sets to shoot on.
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