John Schwartzman, cinematographer of Sony’s upcoming untitled Spider-Man movie, revealed on the RedUser.net forums that shooting started on Monday for the film and that they are using Epic Digital Cameras, much like how The Hobbit will be shot in 3D:
Today was Epic, Monday December 6 marks the first day the Red Epic camera was used to shoot a major studio motion picture. I can say for certainty the camera does exist and boy is it ready for primetime, as a matter of fact it’s a true game changer. We shot in 3D with 4 Epics mounted on 2 3ality TS-5 rigs today, we did 22 set ups, including running high speed and the images look stunning! I do believe the sensor is iso 800 minus 1 stop for the mirror in daylight and iso 640 in tungsten light but that is really for every dp to determine for themselves, Brook Willard and I figured 640 tungsten but that’s just a number. For the first time in digital cinematography, small size doesn’t come with a resolution penalty, as a matter of fact there isn’t a higher resolution camera available other than IMAX, and this one weighs 5lbs with an ultra prime on it, suddenly 3D isn’t a 100lb beast! We had the cameras on dollies and a libra head today and we flew the 3D rig like it was an Arri 435. You guys told me you could do it in September and here we are today, Congratulations.
I am lighting by eye except that I’ve had to re-train myself to work at lower light levels because the camera is so sensitive. The images we made today were stunning, rich beautiful color and the resolution of a vistavision camera all in a package the size of a Hasselblad 501. We are shooting 2.40 at 5K, there wasn’t a hiccup from the cameras all day, the data was flawless, and there was a lot of it. I can tell you without these cameras it would be impossible to move a 3D rig in the ways that THIS story demands, if Jim and the crew hadn’t made these cameras available to us I don’t think we could have shot this movie the way our director envisioned it in 3D. Guys you’ve trusted me to take these out on their maiden voyage and I can tell you that after today I won’t let you down.
In related news, Irrfan Khan talked to The New York Times about being cast as Nels Van Adder, who in the comics becomes Proto-Goblin:
Q. In "Spider-Man" you’re playing a character not that many people have heard of. What can you tell us about Van Adder?
A. Is that his name? These science-fiction names don’t mean a lot to me. He’s a character who, I think, was not in the comics or perhaps a minor character. I’ve read some pages, but the whole script hasn’t been made available to me.
Q. How did you get the role?
A. My manager told me that the director Marc Webb was approaching us. I spoke with him, and he sounded very engrossed, and I was interested. I’m expectant and really looking forward to it.
Q. Have you had to do any training in preparation for the part? And what about being in 3-D?
A. You don’t do training for action. You’re waiting for action. You just strap yourself into a harness and go. Two dimensions, three dimensions — "Avatar" really made a difference in terms of 3-D, but beyond that I haven’t thought about it.
Directed by Marc Webb, the film stars Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Martin Sheen, Denis Leary, Campbell Scott, Julianne Nicholson, Khan and Annie Parisse. It is scheduled for a release on July 3, 2012.
