'Passage to Dawn' consists of five tableaux, each expressing varying moods from violence, to chaos, to pure love through intensity without contact - and all shot at 600FPS to create 'moving paintings.' In Paris, the enchanting results were projected onto 15-foot-high screens and paired with an original song by London Grammar, 'Where I Belong.'
While the series premiered overseas, all five segments were shot on location in Los Angeles. Shoot supervisor and 2D lead artist John Price spoke to us about the process: "Because the Phantom Camera shoots at incredibly high speeds, when we captured the cityscape, the lights flashed erratically and had to be recreated in Flame. Using a water texture we used the alpha properties of this clip to reveal a clean frame, creating a slower, more natural-looking glimmer."
Shooting with a high-speed camera produced beautiful results, but Price notes the challenges faced as the project transitioned from set to screen: "Shooting with the Phantom Camera demands attention to detail - the slightest oversight on set can lead to huge post production implications. If something needed removing in the scene, it would take days as opposed to hours in a typical length 23.98FPS shot. This means we had to be very vigilant on set and look out for the smallest potential problems."
And sometimes those problems aren't as technical as others! Price adds: "In Tableau 4, the dancer had to jump into the pool several times, but we only had two outfits - so with a hairdryer (and a little bit of Flame grading) we managed to dry her out so she didn't appear soaking wet."
Watch the full-length tableaux here.
Production Company: The Amoveo Company
Director: Benjamin Millepied
Executive Producer: Arielle Davis
Director of Photography: Ben Seresin
Editing Company: Arcade Edit
Editor: Christjan Jordan
VFX & Design: The Mill
Senior Executive Producer: Sue Troyan
Producer: Kiana Bicoy
Shoot Supervisor: John Price
Creative Director: Phil Crowe
2D Lead Artist: John Price
2D Artist: Tim Robbins
Production Coordinator: Jillian Lynes