vojtek - the bear who went to war

1. army bear
story of Wojtek – a bear who was enlisted into the Polish Army.
combination of fl exibility, and affordable fi lmic good looks
temperatures and the mud and rain of Scotland, to
the dry and dusty heat of the Israeli desert, the F3
held up well, and the combination of the F3 and
Ultra Prime lenses ensured the look of the fi lm was
very close to shooting on real fi lm stock.”
The kit was hired from Pro Motion Hire’s Brighton
offi ce, with Pro Motion’s Andy Holland working
closely with Animal Monday to help create the
perfect shooting package. Staron shot at 50Mb/s to
Compact Flash using an external recorder backed
up on SxS media, with Lavis transferring rushes
onto separate drives daily, a process simplifi ed by
the F3’s XDCAM workfl ow, which also allowed the
crew easy access to daily rushes with playback on
the camcorder’s viewfi nder.
“In the dust and the heat of Israel, fi le-based
production was the best solution,” says Lavis, who,
transcoded to ProRes 422 for edit on FCP. Initially
Staron considered shooting the fi lm’s reconstruction
sequences on 16mm fi lm but settled on the F3.
Lavis explains: “With the F3 we would be able
to give the reconstruction scenes a fi lmic look, plus
there was going to be a lot of compositing so it
would be a big advantage for it to be shot digitally.”
Pro Motion Hire’s Holland adds: “It was a pleasure
to be able to see the fruits of all of those pre-production
kit discussions. I’m very happy Animal
Monday went with the F3 and Ultra Primes. The fi lm
looks sensational – an intriguing story, imaginatively
told with visual fl air, which really needed a set up
which was up to the job.”
One of the most satisfying virtues of the F3 for
Lavis was the ability to pair it with the best lenses
via its PL mount adaptor. “Being able to use the
Ultra Primes in combination with the F3 was a real
killer combination – it produced beautiful results.”
THE SHOOT SPONSORED BY SONY
PMW-F3
The PMW-F3 equipped with the Exmor
Super35 CMOS sensor specifi cally
developed for digital cinematography
brings a true ‘fi lm look’ and superior image
quality into reach for independent movies, pop
promos and commercials, as well as making the
F3 an ideal B-camera for high-end feature fi lm
production. The PMW-F3K comes with three
high quality Sony Prime lenses, while the PMW-F3L
is also available without lenses for those with
their own 35mm glass. Based on XDCAM EX’s
high-speed workfl ow it offers seamless integration
with leading NLEs.
Above: The F3 has two memory card slots for recording onto
both SxS PRO and SxS-1 cards using the PCI Express interface
to achieve high data transfer. The cards can resist considerable
vibration and have a unique salvage function which can restore
content damaged by power loss or memory disconnection during
recording. There is also the option of the new 64GB card giving
even greater recording times.
The Producer publishes four
times a year. You can register
for a free subscription at
www.pro.sony.eu/theproducer
To fi nd out more about Sony
cameras, formats and media,
go to www.pro.sony.eu/media
Sony specialist_x2.indd 20 27/01/2012 15:08