Sony F65 4K camera stretches its legs in this Tom Cruise hit.
By David Whitehead
Tom Cruise: Hollywood genius, or pseudo-religious, sofa-jumping crank? Doesn’t matter, he has another blockbusting film we should all sit up and take notice of — Oblivion. The storyline is excellent, and the breathtaking scenery and effects are stunning. And a large factor is undoubtedly the use of Sony’s new F65 4K camera. Indeed, Oblivion was one of the first major motion pictures shot using this camera.
Director of photography Claudio Miranda ASC, who won an Academy Award for The Life of Pi, has said publicly the movie was shot in Raw format and a great deal of the VFX (video effects) were also shot in 4K leading to the very sharp 2K image upon the movie’s release.
Apparently the F65 was chosen when production commenced in March 2012. Between Miranda and director Joseph ‘Joe’ Kosinski, they decided the camera suited the feel they were going for for the movie.
Oblivion director Joe Kosinski with the Sony F65 camera on set.
By pushing the camera’s boundaries and limits, Miranda says he felt he captured “cleaner, more resolute” images, making the most of the G65’s very wide colour gamut.
The workflow of the F65 also impressed the DOP: “With the right preparation for the amount of data shot, the production team easily managed the data pipeline and as a result they were able to take full advantage of the F65’s much heralded dynamic range and how well it holds the highlights”.
Miranda concluded by saying that he thought Oblivion would give people serious food for thought about Sony’s flagship F65 4K camera, in part due to its amazing performance in low light and also because some of the movie’s key scenes, including the sky tower sequences, were all achieved in-camera, with extensive use of on-set front projection.
He made particular reference to shooting in Iceland, a country of amazing natural beauty and how the team best used the F65 to reproduce textures in capturing its stunning landscapes in full 4K resolution.
More Behind-The-Scenes images of Kosinski and the crew shooting with the Sony F65:
