Shooting Digital 3D on Splinter Unit
for Disney's TRON: Legacy 3D
“Welcome to the grid… program.”
By Chris M. Oben, CSC Associate Member
The mid-1980s TRON era was a seminal period for many teens, including myself. As kids growing up in the 1980s we all went through ‘the TRON phase.’ Not since Star Wars could we attach ourselves to the entire experience after seeing the movie. We spent hours talking about the movie, wishing we had the action figures and playing the video game; that neon, glowing-blue machine consumed countless quarters and hours. In my town it was at the Rose Garden Chinese restaurant. I’m not sure I had ever gone in before the TRON game showed up, and I’m certain I haven’t been back since. The movie and the game had an allure that spoke to the teen psyche in those days, the good users vs. the evil Master Control Program. I remember us banding together and taking turns trying to beat the game… to no avail.
March 2009 – 3D Prep
I get a call that I had been hoping for. It was Jonas Steadman, IATSE 600, first assistant camera, ‘A’ camera focus puller and lead 3D technician for Disney’s TRON: Legacy 3D. With the blessing of DOP Claudio Miranda asc (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Steadman invites me to join the main unit camera department as they prep the biggest-budget digital-3D film ever made in Canada.
Unlike Avatar, which used 2/3-inch CCD digital cameras, a decision had been made to use full 35-mm sensor cameras for TRON: Legacy. Six freshly available Sony F35s have been delivered to the studios at Canadian Motion Picture Park in Vancouver nearly a month ahead of shooting. Three Pace-Cameron 3D rigs have also been provided. There are two ‘mini-rigs’ and a ‘maxi-rig’ all designed to accommodate the F35s. Lenses are T1.3 Arri Master Primes.
On the sound stage Miranda is holding court in the kingdom of technology. I absorb my surroundings like a sponge taking note of the types and placement of lighting fixtures for the wardrobe tests that are underway. Miranda is using a KinoFlo blanket light directly above the camera and an eight-foot two-bank KinoFlo fixture on the floor. Interestingly, he has rounded black corners made of show card on the 10-foot diffusion frame. I work out that these corners are designed to shape the specular highlights and reflections of light sources to look like practicals not ‘film-lights.’ I note that Miranda had chosen to balance the F35 at 3200K, but light with 5600K balanced sources effectively letting the blue spectrum dominate the signal that we see on the 3D monitors.
The Pace truck is up and running. This truck is an entire digital imaging, data capture, data management, post-production, 2K RealD screening facility all in a 40-foot semi-trailer. Wherever the camera goes, this truck must be within 250 metres and connected via fibre optic cables. The captain of this 3D ship is Robert ‘Bruno’ Brunelle, lead digital systems engineer.
I meet Pace 3D technician Manning Tillman. Manning is specifically responsible for the Convergence-I/O carts that each 3D rig is connected to. This is where the 3D tech and/or first AC checks the accuracy of focus, lens alignment, and convergence and sets the interocular distance. It is at the I/O cart that both of the F35s Dual Link HD-SDI signals are converted into a fibre optic signal and sent back to the Pace truck to be reconverted back to HD-SDI and recorded on one of 4 Dual 10TB Codex digital recorders.
I am introduced to Visual FX supervisor and Academy Award-winner Eric Barba. Eric and I will collaborate on a number of VFX specific shots throughout the film. I realize that ultimately this film will be in Eric’s hands as the VFX guru.
April 2009 - First day of principal photography
On day one of principal photography, we are in 2D mode. The gear has been converted and re-prepped for the 14 day, 2D portion of the work that starts the 64-day principal photography schedule. On the call sheet I am listed as digital-imaging technician. Oddly, one of my first tasks is pulling focus for main unit A camera operator, John Clothier, on a handheld shot of a motorcycle stunt from the cab of a semi-trailer. This and other rigged 2D setups are shot on 35-mm film with an Arri 435. The 2D F35s also come out to play for coverage of the chase scene shot in urban Vancouver. As a DIT I help run cables and calibrate Miranda's Sony reference monitors. Looking back, day one was very diverse in terms of my responsibilities but I realize now that I had truly just scratched the surface of the wide range of duties that I would perform over the course of filming TRON: Legacy.
April 7, 2009 - Behind the scenes
I meet with unit publicist Lee Anne Muldoon, Disney producer Justin Springer, EPK producer Steve Stone and Blu-ray content producer David Melvin to discuss EPK and the Blu-ray extra content. They ask me to DOP both. For me, this is a dream coming true. I’ll actually get the chance to shoot something related to the film.
April 22 - Main unit. Day 12. A note in the advance schedule for day 14 reads: “Welcome to TRON World. Buckle Up.”
In 3D, things change dramatically from a DIT/assistant point of view. The chance for technical error increases exponentially. Bruno has his work cut out for him engineering the Pace truck, keeping the machine well oiled. There are many potential snags battled in 3D, including intermittent genlock sync and probably the biggest concern, the fibre optic cable. We all keep alcohol tech swabs in our pockets to deal with the regular need to clean fibre optic contacts connecting the convergence/IO carts.
Wardrobe / Make-up tests. Everyone knows Jeff Bridges is laid back right? After all, he is ‘The Dude.’ But what is he going to be like to work with? One day late in April, we are scheduled to photograph tests of Bridges in his black self-lit robe. In anticipation of Bridges imminent arrival, first AC Robin Lindala and I have lined up an F35, and I have pre-lit the set with an eight-foot KinoFlo on the floor and two 4x4-foot KinoFlo sidelights. The south stage door opens and in comes Bridges and an entourage of crew members. He strides across the room looking very Darth Vader-esque and ominous. He approaches me directly and says, “Hi… I’m Jeff.” I think to myself, “Yes, this is the Dude.” Introductions out of the way, one of the suit technicians turns on Bridges’s suit and we see it glow for the first time on camera.
Once Bridges’s test is complete, lamp op, Randy Jablonka and I tighten up the lighting for a closer shot. We need to simulate a low level yet shapely glow for a makeup test with Beau Garrett. We start by pulling in the two 4x4-foot sidelights and bringing the eight-foot KinoFlo on the floor closer to Garrett’s toes. Garrett plays the lead siren in the scene where Sam’s suit is put on in preparation for the disc game. Head of makeup, Rosalina De Silva, is on hand to see the results of her teams’ efforts with Garrett. Rosalina and I look at the images together and I see that she is happy with Garrett’s look.
May 2009 First ‘un-official’ Splinter Unit day. The future revisited - 80’s style! Referred to as B unit on the main unit call sheet, we are scheduled to shoot a 1980’s recreation of Flynn’s Arcade for a flashback sequence of a teenager and 40 arcade goers playing the original TRON videogame. For this 2D shot, we are using a Sony HDW-F950 camera tethered via fibre to a Codex recorder in the Pace truck 250 metres away. Second AC Herb Crowder and first AC Rusty Deluce are busy running the fibre optic cable from our small set two stages away from main unit back to the Pace trailer. This way Miranda and director Joseph Kosinski can see our work live and give feedback.
The crew gather at call time and I meet with A.D., David Klohn and gaffer Shawn McLaughlin to discuss the first shot. Relative to main unit, the crew is very small and I quickly realize that I will be stepping into a bigger role than the camera operator position indicated on the call sheet. From the very first shot it is clear that I will be responsible for deciding both camera position and lighting style. Once the 10K fill light was set up, we keyed the actor with a long four-bank KinoFlo and finally highlighted the neon on the game itself with a Dedo kit. There was a long discussion about whether the blue joystick controller of original TRON game was originally self-lit. In the end we shoot it both ways using a four-inch Kino Micro-Flo taped directly to the controller to create the blue glow.
May 11, 2009 - Blu-ray!! For the Tron: Legacy Blu-ray, my micro crew and I shoot with a Red camera alongside the main unit. First AC Robin Lindala has prepped the Steadicam and the Red package from Clairmont Camera. Our director, David Melvin wants to enhance and differentiate the look of our work for the Blu-ray from the main unit, so we choose a Clairmont 32-mm anamorphic lens for the Red. We want all the characteristic lens flares that an anamorphic lens delivers. The EPK crew has also asked us to film an interview with the production designer Darren Gilford. I suggest using the Steadicam for a walk and talk through the safe-house set using an HVX200.
July 1st, 2009 - The dance of the 50’ Technocrane. The call sheet reads: Sc. 30 - Int. Disc Game - Player Basket - Sam and other combatants rise up on rotating platform (crane down from 30 feet). Key grip Steve Sherlock and gaffer Jeff Pentecost are the stars of the show as they make setting up and lighting the blue screen look easy while the crane tech, head tech, dolly grip, focus puller and I worked out the move to the best of our ability to match the Maya rendered pre-viz. This is easily the most complex choreographed camera move we achieve on second unit. The shot takes nearly 15 takes, but ends up in the very first 3D trailer in theatres.
July 7th, 2009 - Let the games begin! Joseph Kosinski and Claudio Miranda are between setups on the main unit and have taken a moment to review a shot that we had just completed on the 2nd unit. Kosinski has a saying, “keep it nodal.” It has become became kind of a mantra that he and Miranda would use when describing the director’s vision for the visual aesthetic of the camera work for TRON: Legacy 3D. ‘Nodal’ to Kosinski means perpendicular and symmetrical, never dutch or off-angle.
1st AD Bruce Franklin and I had transferred the circled takes from the HD Framestore onto a laptop and hopped into a shuttle with our script supervisor Elspeth Grafton, to join Kosinski and Miranda on main unit. I remember thinking, "This is crazy - all this technology and we're literally driving to another set for approvals . . ." But we all understood that TRON is a treasured Disney franchise and that Kosinski and Miranda had clearly taken it on as their baby. So much had gone into the prep and previz for TRON that we knew we needed absolute approval before we moved on to the next setup. Kosinski watched the final take from our second unit setup and said, "This one's good. You got it."
Kosinski and Miranda were largely inseparable on the set of TRON: Legacy 3D. It is a very clear example of the importance of the partnership between director and cinematographer. The realization of Kosinski’s vision is largely made possible through Miranda’s careful choreography of the technical components of camera, grip and lighting.
Generally speaking, a 2nd unit has a certain comfort zone built in where everything occurs at a sightly slower and considered pace than on main unit simply because 2nd unit is normally scaled back in terms of manpower and equipment. This is generally true in a typical 2D feature film setting, however . . . not in 3D. In 3D nothing is simple.
The sheer size of the 3D rig means that two people are necessary to move from one support to another . . . say from sticks to a remote head.
The fastest lens change takes between 10 and 20 mins. Shots cannot be 'cheated' for the camera in 3D the way we typically do in 2D. In 3D time had to be spent determining interocular and convergence settings on every setup whether it was a 'tiny' insert of an elevator button being pressed or an arena wide master of a light disk being thrown at an opponent in the disk battle.
In reflecting on the time I spent as cinematographer / operator on the set, I can wholeheartedly say that every ounce of my accumulated experience and knowledge was brought to the table in order to achieve the shots required of us on splinter unit every single day. To this end, we were congratulated by producer Justis Greene for completing every shot we set out to get without exception.
Sunday July 12th, 2009. Final day of principal photography. Most of the crew exceeds another 70-hour week. In my case, it is a seventh straight day. We wrap as the sun comes up, shake hands and admire Kosinski’s new TRON-ified glowing light strip jacket complete with light disk gifted to him by the costume department. Then, at long last, it is time for the crew to take some well-deserved rest.
February 2010
I accept the supervising producer position at Greedy Productions in Vancouver. Responsibilities include producing and shooting The Making of TRON: Evolution, the Video Game for Disney Interactive/Propaganda Games.
March 5th, 2010
The first TRON: Legacy 3D trailer is released on-line. This is the first time I see the material since we shot it. I am amazed by the fact that my work as DOP/operator is featured in seven of the 50 shots in the two-minute trailer.
December 2010
My wife, Stanka, and I attend the cast and crew only screening in Vancouver. For most of the movie, my jaw is open as I drool over the imagery and the incredible CG work. It seems like 20 per cent of the disk game is footage from our 2nd unit. Possibly due to the incredible Daft Punk soundtrack, this is the most immersive 3D that I have ever experienced. Jeff Bridges’s on-screen presence dominates and his performance is seamless. My wife and I and the audience love the film. There’s enthusiastic applause as the credits roll. It’s a big moment, yet, sadly, the entire splinter unit camera crew, including electrics, grips and script supervisor, is un-credited.
January 2011
I see TRON: Legacy in IMAX 3D. It’s an entirely new film to me, and I am impressed that nearly half the film is extended into the full IMAX frame. It is an even more immersive experience.
My Duties on TRON
TRON: Legacy 3D: lighting cameraman/ A Cam OP 3D & 2D; lighting cameraman / OP for the test unit (wardrobe & makeup); DIT for the main unit; witness camera, assistant / OP.
TRON: Legacy EPK: original cameraman
TRON: Legacy Blu-ray content: DOP / OP / Steadicam.
The Making of TRON: Evolution, the videogame: supervising producer / DOP
TRON: Legacy 3D, Splinter Unit Crew:
Lighting cameraman / OP: Chris M. Oben
1st ADs: Bruce Franklin & Brad Jubenville
VFX supervisor: Eric Barba
Dgital system engineer: Robert ‘Bruno’ Brunelle
1st ACs: Robin Lindala, Rusty Deluce, Dan Venti & Simon Jori
2nd AC: Ahmad Al-Tamimi; 2nd AC witness camera: David Wesley Kyle
Pace 3D Data System tech: Manning Tillman
Gaffers, Shawn McLaughlin, Jeff Pentecost & Simon Hunt
Key grips: Steve Sherlock & Jesse Regimbal
Makeup: Rosalina De Silva
Stunt coordinators: David Leitch & Scott Ateah
Script supervisor: Elspeth Grafton.
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Chris M. Oben
Director of Photography / Steadicam / DIT - IATSE 669
