what King Kong films with:

[Yi Fong Yu]

http://img-nex.kongisking.net/kong/m...x270-mpeg4.mov

just a little FYI.

i was one of those people that emailed them about the camera! =^). 2bad they didn't mention my name! =^). having never worked on a film set i was surprised @the amount of digital interfaces that make film loading/focus pulling much easier than in the past, where everything was much bigger, heavier nonsesible.

wireless? that's crazy! all in all very good docu. charles, etc. people that have worked in the industry will see familar things.

one thing i have a question on is, are the models they are using in the film "the absolute best"/top of the line? it certainly looks that way.

PS anybody know if PJ is financing king kong himself or a studio giving him money?

[Imran Zaidi]

Wow what a great little piece. Thanks for posting!

[John Hudson]

Arri including the the Arricam LT I believe is one of the best you can use.

http://www.arri.com/infodown/cam/broch/arricam_e.pdf

Did you see all of those lenses! :O

[Yi Fong Yu]

yesh, anyone know how much the whole setup is? the arricam itself, the lenses they have, etc.? it looks so small compared to the film cams of old! almost XL2-like =^).

PS anyone know if king kong will be PJ financed or new line financed?

[John Hudson]

The LightT is specifically made for hand held form what I understand (explaining the smaller size).

The price? Wow. I have no idea. I'd guess a $500,000 for the camera? No idea really. I think those kinds of lenses are several and up to $50,000.

I dont think New Line is invloved with this production. It's Universal.

[Rob Lohman]

I've been watching (and saving, hehe) the whole making of series
on www.kongisking.net and must say it is a great series.
Fun things to watch and some good information on the way they
make films. The last two where very interesting!

Imran: you can still see/download all the previous episode from
www.kongisking.net, it's a great little making of series!

[Mathieu Ghekiere]

<<<-- Originally posted by Rob Lohman : I've been watching (and saving, hehe) the whole making of series
on www.kongisking.net and must say it is a great series.
Fun things to watch and some good information on the way they
make films. The last two where very interesting! -->>>

I agree, I really hope PJ puts them on the dvd.
I really like it that he always (well now) really gives fans and filmbuffs a big look behind the screens, like those documentary's from LOTR. Just great to know he's so obsessed by dvd's and making off's too.
Really, those 4 disc editions really set a high standard.
The way to go for filmmakers!

[Joshua Starnes]

I posted a reply earlier, and it's not here. Weird.

PS anybody know if PJ is financing king kong himself or a studio giving him money?

Universal is paying for it. And they're paying PJ the biggest director's fee ever.


Does anyone else think it's weird that, even though Panavision has a large presence in Australia and New Zealand, they're using mainly ARRI cameras and Optex lenses?

[Boyd Ostroff]

Moderator Note:

Josh: the reason that your reply didn't appear is because Yi Fong created two different copies of this thread in different forums. You replied to the other thread. I have merged both threads here. Sorry for the confusion; in the future we ask that you please refrain from double-posting to avoid this sort of confusion.

Thanks!

[Yi Fong Yu]

oops, sorry about that. i created a new thread in the wrong forum and created it correctly here. i forgot about the other one.

josh, do you know how much universal is investing in this movie and how much they are paying PJ? i bet they won't post THOSE types of info kingiskong!!! =^).

anybody know how much those arricams cost? charles? anybody?

mathieu, although the extended edition docus are good i do not think they are on the same quality-levels as the lucasfilm documentaries. lucas is documentary-type of guy and it shows on all his making ofs. my fav is "the beginning". i mean you want to know about documentaries that's the only way to go. LOTR's bonus is quite boring without some good editing/artistic measures like the lucasfilm ones. in fact i can't think of any DVDs that have making ofs that come remotely close to lucas's set of documentaries.

rob, didya email Peter!!! I DID! i was one of the many that sent in questions about the camera type. i even asked what type of camera jack black used but they didn't talk about it.

PS day66 talks about dailies. they use FIREWIRE?!?!?1?! what? 40gb that's it?

the bit about transferring to SD/HD/hard-drive all at the same time is awesome.

my fav part is PJ looking @rushes on DVD!!! wowzA!

[Rob Lohman]

Yi: nah I didn't. I couldn't really think of something really original
at that point and as it turned out there where massive replies
anyway. Fun idea though to think that PJ read your e-mail!! <g>

The new episode 66 is very nice again. I knew most of that stuff
by visiting the IBC show every year here in Amsterdam, but very
nice to see indeed!

[Joshua Starnes]

josh, do you know how much universal is investing in this movie and how much they are paying PJ? i bet they won't post THOSE types of info kingiskong!!! =^).

I don't know how much Universal is spending on it, but it's got to be at least $100 million. Maybe even $120 million. I don't think it will shoot super high (like, say, Spider-Man 2) because they are filming in New Zealand and you can still get lots of bang for your buck there - plus Jackson really knows how to stretch a dollar. It's mind-boggling to me that the LOTR films 'only' cost $100 million or so each.

From what I've heard, Jackson is pocketing $20 million up front to direct Kong - and possibly some of the back end as well. Which, I believe, makes that the largest upfront payday for a Director, ever.

rob, didya email Peter!!! I DID! i was one of the many that sent in questions about the camera type. i even asked what type of camera jack black used but they didn't talk about it.

They did talk about Black's camera in one of the really early diaries, one of the first five. They talk about how it is an original, hand-crank 35mm camera from the time period that was renovated by the production so that it can expose film - because some of the stuff that Black's character is going to shoot will make it's way into the final cut of Kong. He had to take lessons on how to crank it at the right speed to get the right film speed, while simultaneously keeping the camera steady, which is evidently quite a trick.

lucas is documentary-type of guy and it shows on all his making ofs. my fav is "the beginning". i mean you want to know about documentaries that's the only way to go.

I agree, though I really like the LOTR DVD's. I wouldn't mind seeing a 4-disc Star Wars DVD, either :)

The Episode III BTS videos they have on StarWars.com are spectacular.

anybody know how much those arricams cost? charles? anybody?

I've seen some ARRI 535's pop up on eBay every so often for between $60,000 and $100,000, though I doubt those have all the digital bells and whistles these do. Tex-Cam here in Houston has some (in fact, that's the only type of 35mm camera you can rent in Houston, that and some old 435's). I'll ask them next time I'm down there - I don't know if they'll tell me, but I'll ask anyway.

[Brent Marks]

I thought this video was excellent....




But its all about the spectable put into movies...

SS DOV SIMENS BABY



Holla

[Dennis Liu]

These videos are great - they're simple, humourous and down-to-earth. Really entertaining and interesting too, to see how a big scale production works.

Dennis

[Charles Papert]

That was a nice piece. Not that I'm working on blockbusters at the moment but gents--welcome to my world!

The Arricams are a nice setup. It was a good move for Arri to partner with Moviecam in design; the Arris have always been bulletproof but often bulky, and the Arricam represents a really good direction fort them. Yi, I would guess around $220K for the LT and a bit more for the ST (studio model), but fully loaded with all of the accessories (not lenses) probably another $100K.

Josh, generally on a picture this size it's the DP's preference of camera system, which is based on many factors such as familiarity or lens preference. The lenses are actually Zeiss/Arri Ultraprimes (may be sold by Optex but not one of their own products). I know a number of DP's who only use Panavision, and almost as many who are Arri fans.

Yi, I didn't watch the section on dailies but DVD dailies have become standard--I even had them on the comparatively puny 500K feature I shot last month. Almost everyone prefers to screen film dailies, but directors are coming around to the convenience of HD dailies as well.

Regarding the wireless lens controls--our main man Chris Hurd visited me on set last year and recently posted a little clip of us chatting about a very similar system on my Steadicam. It's more fun listening to the Kiwi accents though!