A new “behind the scenes” video from Sony Cine, Sony’s cinematographer community portal, has shown some of the techniques and technology that’s allowed the Gran Turismo movie to be made.
The four-minute video unsurprisingly focuses on the cameras used by the Gran Turismo crew, led by director Neill Blomkamp and director of photogrpahy Jacques Jouffret. However it does also give us the chance to see some making-of footage and perhaps a couple of final cut clips we’ve not seen before.
Naturally the centerpiece is the Sony VENICE camera, and its all-important Rialto sensor. This full-frame, IMAX-certified camera has an 8K sensor which, crucially, can be separated from the main body.
That allows film-makers to place the sensor assembly in compact spaces and put the bulky body somewhere more accommodating — with the two connected by up to 18 feet of fiber-optic cable.
It’s something of which Blomkamp is more than happy to extol the virtues: “It literally is not possible to put a cinematic-level, 6K/8K sensor, into the LMP2 race car’s cockpit unless we had Rialto, so it was genuinely essential.”
Leo Holba, first assistant camera on the movie, also notes the VENICE’s capabilities when it comes to dynamic range. That allows camera operators to set the camera stop and let the cars drive off, with the unit unfazed by wildly different lighting conditions.
We also see some more conventional filming techniques, including the use of a boom to replicate that classic “coptercam” Gran Turismo third-person driving view. Jouffret comments that everything is designed to convey a sense of speed, with the cameras mounted low to the track.
Interestingly Holba also mentions that the on-track filming doesn’t use full stabilization, to create a sense of raw footage rather than staged. It should, he says, “feel gnarly, especially the night stuff in the rain” and should look great on the big screen. This is something already noted by lucky viewers who’ve had a chance to see the film already.
PlayStation’s Carter Swan — who eagle-eyed fans will note is wearing a cap with an incorrectly colored GT logo on it — remarks on how “extravagant” the movie is. The production visited Hungaroring, as we saw last year, but also Austria’s Red Bull Ring and the Slovakiaring. Dubai, the scene of GT Academy winners’ first endurance race, is also featured, though it looks like Le Mans is digitally recreated.
You’ll be able to watch the Gran Turismo film as part of the Platinum package for the GT World Series Showdown in Amsterdam in a little over two weeks — and GTPlanet has discounts available for tickets — with a worldwide release scheduled for August 11.
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