lotr film question

[theknub]

hey guys, been doing my at least monthly viewing of the trilogy. anyway, i was curious what information people had in regards to what medium the films were shot on. if i recall correctly, the first film was shot on film. then lucas and/or spielberg paid a visit to kiwi-land, demonstrated hi-def cameras and worked with PJ for a bit. after that, the next two films were shot digitally. maybe part of two was film and part digital while all of three was digital. i don't know. i was looking to see if anyone has any clarification. i do notice a difference (maybe some placebo) in the different films and since i can't find anything concrete, i figured i'd ask "the experts."


btw- im sure it is prob in one of the extras with the EE, but i have never watched all of it

[FilmmakingFiasco]

I'm pretty sure that they were all shot on film. All three films were shot (principle photographer) in just under a year. Pick-up, 2nd unit and the like were shot over the next three years.

[WriteSimply]

All shot on film, including King Kong.

The only thing that was inspired by their visit to Lucas' ILM ranch was using digital animatics. But this was back in the pre-production days when they were still trying to get the films funded.

Can't wait for LOTR EE. Must use BD 50 and DTS HDMA. No TotalHD!


fuad

[Deciazulado]

theknub, from memory, shot on film in the Super-35 process. Intended image area on the negative about 10mm x 23.9mm.
Super-35 negative scanned in 2k for making the digital intermediate (a 2k scan has 2048 pixels across the Super-35 Camera Aperture (around 24.9mm) width, so the intended image would end about 820 x 1960 pixels. (I think you already saw the results on the Aragorn pic, ne?). For the anamorphic projection prints the vertical was uprezed 2x to create the anamorphic squeeze (820 -> 1640) . (The Projector Aperture for anamorphic prints is approx 17.5mm x 21mm, 2.39 wide after the anamorphic projector lens 2x "unsqueeze")

[theknub]

and i have to defer to the ultimate wisdom

for some reason i had thought a different process was used after the first film. it was prob a play with it and see if you like it and pj decided to stick with film. of course, i remember something different and thus the post.

[Deciazulado]

the knub I think you're mistaking LOR with the SW second trilogy: First one (SW1) shot on true 35mm Scope, the other two (SW2, SW3) shot with digital 1080 cameras/systems.


oh and I found you this link here, with an article talking about the LOR process. (believe my numbers more ) (he no take into account Camera aperture/Projector aperture differences/safety area. Kind of like most people still believe Academy Sound is 1.33 which it's not. (when it's Silent/Super-35 that is ) btw the sound goes on the opposite side if one is looking at the image correctly)

[Josh]

LOTR was shot on film, then digitally corrected, and finally put back on film. The documentaries do a good job showing the process (and all the excess film).