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Leica look on video - Ripley...

JTC

JTC

PFM Villager...
Just started watching 'Ripley' on Netflix; for those that don't know, it's a period drama filmed in B&W, and the reason I bring it up (having only watched one episode thus far) is to call out the superb visuals - the closest I've seen to a movie having the 'Leica look'. The tonality and aesthetic is incredible. It's filmed on an Alexa LF (i.e. a large format sensor camera) in 4K, probably using adapted Leica lenses to get 'the look', and it's just absolutely gorgeous. Each frame is a worthy photo in its own right, it seems. Someone got something VERY right about this shoot! Check it out...
 
I think I heard last night on R4 Front Row that it was produced by the same guy who did Schindler's List?
 
Watched the first two episodes last night. Just beautiful visually, to the extent it almost distracts from the narrative!
Almost every shot taken like a fine classic photograph, beautifully composed, the depth of field carefully considered, the bokeh used to maximum effect, tones and lighting spot on, quite a lot of vignetting in evidence too. Many scenes would easily make a classy gallery wall. A love letter to classic monochrome photography.
 
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I've been enjoying it as well. It took me 15 minutes of viewing to recognise that every shot is static - at least so far ( I'm on episode 3) - only the actors move and the composition is pretty perfect for every shot.

The cinematographer, Robert Elswit, also did There Will Be Blood - a similarly distinctive piece of work

There's a very good article / interview about the cinematography of Ripley here

www.vanityfair.com

Inside the Stunning, Devious Cinematography of Netflix’s ‘Ripley’

Director Steven Zaillian and cinematographer Robert Elswit reveal the methods, ideas, and secrets of their new series’s meticulous black-and-white visuals.
www.vanityfair.com www.vanityfair.com
 
I think Elswitt is quite keen on his Panavision lenses, i've not watch the series yet but just watched the trailer and it looks a bit soft pointing to older lenses.
Stills photographers seem to go gaga over German and Japanese lenses, but for those that don't know, quite lot of cinematographers like and use Cooke lenses, they are of warmer colour balance compared to other makes of lens, how important this is now because of digital camera is open to debate!
My favorite DP Bruno Delbonnel who shot amongst other films Amelie (that i think is one of the most beautiful films ever made) used Cooke lenses amongst others...the Cookes are made in Leicester.
If you watch the film Drive You can see in some of the scenes the look of the Cooke S4, think the night shots are done on Zeiss primes as they're so clean looking.
Cooke do make a range of smaller primes for Mirrorless too, so if someone fancies treating themselves ;)

A lot of the older photographic lenses have a really nice quality on modern digital cameras, the older Nikon AI Canon FDs etc, the Zeiss Planar 80 T* is a amazing lens on Mirrorless camera.
And if your budget can't stretch that far the Helios 44-2 58mm f2 Prime lens was used quite a bit of the film Dune II (rehoused in a body to work with an Arri), yours for £30, i think they original came on the Zenit/Zorki still cameras.

cookeoptics.com

Home - SP3 launch

Academy Award® winning cine lenses for multiple film and digital applications. Easily maintained, accurate, and reliable – get the Cooke Look.
cookeoptics.com cookeoptics.com

 
I heard somewhere that it was filmed using adapted Summicrons. Certainly has the exact same look I get from the Q2 when converted to mono...
 
Space is the Place said:
I think Elswitt is quite keen on his Panavision lenses, i've not watch the series yet but just watched the trailer and it looks a bit soft pointing to older lenses.
Stills photographers seem to go gaga over German and Japanese lenses, but for those that don't know, quite lot of cinematographers like and use Cooke lenses, they are of warmer colour balance compared to other makes of lens, how important this is now because of digital camera is open to debate!
My favorite DP Bruno Delbonnel who shot amongst other films Amelie (that i think is one of the most beautiful films ever made) used Cooke lenses amongst others...the Cookes are made in Leicester.
If you watch the film Drive You can see in some of the scenes the look of the Cooke S4, think the night shots are done on Zeiss primes as they're so clean looking.
Cooke do make a range of smaller primes for Mirrorless too, so if someone fancies treating themselves ;)

A lot of the older photographic lenses have a really nice quality on modern digital cameras, the older Nikon AI Canon FDs etc, the Zeiss Planar 80 T* is a amazing lens on Mirrorless camera.
And if your budget can't stretch that far the Helios 44-2 58mm f2 Prime lens was used quite a bit of the film Dune II (rehoused in a body to work with an Arri), yours for £30, i think they original came on the Zenit/Zorki still cameras.

cookeoptics.com

Home - SP3 launch

Academy Award® winning cine lenses for multiple film and digital applications. Easily maintained, accurate, and reliable – get the Cooke Look.
cookeoptics.com cookeoptics.com

Click to expand...
I've been using a Helios a lot lately, on my old A7 R3 with an adapter that allows it to be used as a macro lens too. Probably been using it more than the "good" camera and lens setup.
 
JTC, Leitz do make cine prime lenses so you maybe correct, quite a few rental places do them now, i find it amusing that they are engineered to have a subtle vignetting and less resolution towards the edge of the frame, that will explain the softness if they are the lenses used.
There some limitations when using a wider stills camera lens on a cine camera, say something like a 24mm, 28mm or 35mm as there will be barrel distortion which changes the look of the shot and shape of the actors face, the same length cine lenses are often corrected for this, you can do a big close up on someone face and still included some of the scene and context behind.
Thanks for the heads up JTC, i'm looking forward to watching the series, so good that so much creativity has gone into the cinematography.
F11D, yes it's funny how well the older lenses work on modern digital cameras, certainly better than the film camera they were meant for! You can really see their character.
 
The short focal length Leica R lenses have all rocketed in value over the last 5 years - gone up up 4-5 x their previous value. For instance, the 19/2.8 Elmarit-R v 1 is now about £2.5-3 k. I sold my copy of this lens for £795 before the cine guys bought them and converted them to Arri PL mounts. 35 Summilux-R (F1.4) lenses now go for north of £5k!

Mind you that's a whole lot cheaper that the current Leica C cine lenses.
 
To me it seemed more like an overdeveloped Tri-X look. But I expect they can do what they like with digital, a bit of grain, a bit of contrast, etc.
 
Love the photography, like the Ferannia P30 film look. Fellini's favourite film. Most appropriate. Now they've relaunched the Ferrania film factory, worth a test roll.
 
JTC said:
Just started watching 'Ripley' on Netflix; for those that don't know, it's a period drama filmed in B&W, and the reason I bring it up (having only watched one episode thus far) is to call out the superb visuals - the closest I've seen to a movie having the 'Leica look'. The tonality and aesthetic is incredible. It's filmed on an Alexa LF (i.e. a large format sensor camera) in 4K, probably using adapted Leica lenses to get 'the look', and it's just absolutely gorgeous. Each frame is a worthy photo in its own right, it seems. Someone got something VERY right about this shoot! Check it out...
Click to expand...
Thanks for bringing this to my attention. Just had a quick look on the laptop and it looks gorgeous. I'll get the projector and 2 meter screen set up to watch this some evening.
 
Completed it tonight. Very enjoyable despite its very slow pace, but the quality of the acting and writing made it one to savour. And yes, every frame is beautifully shot.
 
And just in case anyone is confused 'large format' in video camera terms ends up being just about 35mm full frame, it's a confusing terminology, i'm guessing intentionally. It's like calling anything larger than 35mm 'medium format' in stills cameras.

I just watched the trailer, it looks to me to have a very film like curve, with lots of blocking on shadows and a smooth transition as it goes up the exposure curve. I guess a very film S type exposure curve. They don't appear to have added lots of noise which means that it doesn't have a 'fake' feel to me, and so it's a modern look as well as an old look if that makes sense.

I'm unlikely to watch it since I don't have netflix, but maybe one day.
 
Agree the photography is excellent. But after 2 episodes I am afraid to continue because I might have nightmares. Very sinister and oppressive! But I suppose that is in its nature.
 
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