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Thomson's Grass Valley Viper Digital Cinematography Camera Debuts in First Major Motion Picture – Collateral from DreamWorks

Shot almost entirely at night and on location in downtown Los Angeles, Collateral is the story of a hit man (Cruise) who hijacks a cab and forces the driver (Jamie Foxx) to traverse the city’s streets, transporting him from job to job until law-enforcement agents begin to pursue the vehicle. Award-winning director/producer Michael Mann (Ali, The Insider, Last of the Mohicans) utilised a unique blend of 35MM film cameras from Panavision, Sony’s CineAlta HD camera, and the 4:4:4 RGB output of the Grass Valley Viper camera to support his creative vision for Collateral, one that captures the personality of the city at night. It is the first major studio production and release to use this multi-media approach featuring the superior capabilities of the Viper FilmStream Camera System.

“What I like about the Viper is that it sees colours, it sees things in a different way,” said Mann. “People are reaching for more expressive ways to visualise and have emotional impact. That’s what it all comes down to, the emotional impact with which we tell a story.”

The Viper FilmStream Camera System can capture the full range of information a scene has to offer, from ambient environments such as those in Collateral to high-intensity lighting scenes. Because this information is captured digitally – and is uncompromised by any video signal processing – directors have the maximum latitude in the field and in post production to create the exact look they want. This information-capturing ability also enables the cinematographer to meet whatever environmental or technical demands their projects require.

“The use of the Viper as our primary camera (on Collateral) was based largely around the fact that we were shooting in 2.37:1 widescreen format. With other HD systems, you have to crop the image to get that format, but with the Viper, they squeeze the image, so you can use the full resolution, and that was important for us. The difference we found with that came when we did film out tests – that is where the Viper really held up,” said Dion Beebe, director of photography for Collateral along with Paul Cameron.

"With help from Thomson and the rental house Plus 8 Digital, Burbank, the Viper evolved during the course of this production to become more ergonomic and easy to use, to the point where it became our primary camera. At this point, I do see the Viper as a valid tool for making movies. The technology has arrived. It’s here. It has proven it can work – it’s a viable format,” said Beebe.

The Viper FilmStream Camera System is the only digital cinematography camera available today that is designed from the ground up to capture every detail needed for brilliant, uncompromised, uncompressed output. With three 9.2 million pixel Frame Transfer CCDs capturing 1920x1080 resolution, the Viper FilmStream camera system delivers an RGB 4:4:4 10-bit log output – uncompromised by electronic camera signal processing – to a field recorder. Part of the Grass Valley FilmStream workflow, the Viper FilmStream camera delivers its output directly into the post-production process for finishing.

Collateral will be premiered in the UK on 2 September 2004 at the Empire Cinema, Leicester Square, London.

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Thomson's Grass Valley Viper Digital Cinematography Camera Debuts in First Major Motion Picture – Collateral from DreamWorks

11th August 2004

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