Dean Semler needs to return........nope, it's John Seale

[biolumen]

Looks like Dean Semler might be off Fury Road, replaced by John Seale, who was DoP for Miller on 'Lorenzo's Oil'.

I first noticed that Semler was no longer listed on the 'Fury Road' IMDb page.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1392190/

I then did some searching and found this in the February newsletter from the Australian Cinematographers Society (ACS)

Dean Semler generously squeezed time into his Sydney preproduction schedule for Fury Road, to screen one of his latest films, In the Land of Blood and Honey.

http://www.cinematographer.org.au/03_en ... asp?ID=288

However, 2 months later in the April newsletter from the ACS, it not only says that...

ACS members are currently working on the following projects:

- Don McAlpine ACS ASC as DOP on "Enders Game" in New Orleans
- David Eggby ACS shooting "Riddick" in Montreal
- John Seale ACS ASC in pre production "Mad Max-Fury Road" in Namibia
- Stephen Windon ACS "Fast & Furious 6" in London
- Andrew Lesnie ACS ASC "The Hobbit" in New Zealand...

http://www.cinematographer.org.au/03_en ... asp?ID=311

...but it also links to a 'postcard' from Semler who's at Shepparton Studios, London checking out a crane demo.

http://www.cinematographer.org.au/01_cm ... asp?ID=737

Doesn't sound like a man busy working on Fury Road, does it?

Finally, if.com.au had a recent status update for the movie and sure enough, they too list Seale as the cinematographer.

http://if.com.au/2010/04/30/inprod/Mad- ... YXEQX.html

If Semler is off, I can only speculate as to why. He was a big man. Quite obese, by the looks of it. He's up there in age as well. It could be a medical reason, or some other personal reason.

Seale is no slouch, though. Aside from working with Miller and Peter Weir (on Witness, Mosquito Coast, Dead Poets Society), he also won an Oscar for 'The English Patient', a movie that was largely filmed in the deserts of Tunisia.

[Stef-Man]

if.com.au says: Shooting from May to september 2012.

This is no longer a year long shoot then?

[seriz]

interesting, thanx for the infos.

[biolumen]

I found a great interview with Seale from 6 months ago. Here are a couple of quotes.

Seale on 3D

As for the future of 3D, Seale is not completely sold on the current Hollywood trend. “I believe it has a lot of problems technically.” He adds, “The amount of money pouring out, the time and energy wasted on the set, with actors standing down, I hate that. I like working fast and furiously.”

Seale on shakycam

Seale is not a fan of another prevailing cinematic trend. “There are a lot of films being made that are extremely handheld and energetic visually; I’m not too sure I agree with those because too many people are saying it took them out of the film. George Miller, when he made Lorenzo’s Oil [1992], said this will be a hard hitting film. I want the audience to be emotionally washed out like the original parents [who sought to find the oil which would enable their child to live longer]. I thought, ‘Man. That’s fantastic! That’s really taking moviemaking to the heights of absorption.’”

Also

He believes, “Put the cameras in a position of jeopardy and you will get a better film.”

If Seale is the new DoP, I find it strange that he now has to shoot a movie in 3D (his first no less) only a few months after knocking the process as "time and energy wasted on set"....unless, of course, 3D has been dropped altogether (reason for Semler's departure?).

Not sure what he means by putting "cameras in a position of jeopardy", but it sounds like something you'd want for this movie.

http://www.flickeringmyth.com/2011/09/p ... -with.html

[biolumen]

penny cabot
‏@penny90041

my dear friend Dean semler has decided not to do mad max. instead he will be working with angelina jolie

http://twitter.com/#!/penny90041/status ... 0063659011

[PacificMuscle]

Indeed Seale has replace Semler.

The shoot will now be on Arri Alexa in 2D with a post conversion to 3D.

[kickherintheguts]

Indeed Seale has replace Semler.

The shoot will now be on Arri Alexa in 2D with a post conversion to 3D.

Cool, I can live without the 3-D.

[biolumen]

I was afraid that Semler might have left for creative reasons. Looks to be the case. That's a real shame, and I hope there's no bad blood between Semler and Miller. I'd still like to see him shoot a sequel if it gets to that point.

As for the post conversion 3D, that's bullshit. Post conversion 3D is crap. Well, all 3D is crap, but post converted 3D is the crapiest of the crap. Yeah, they're getting better at it (or so I hear), but it does not and never will compare to a movie shot in 3D. And what a waste of money, too. All that time, material and dollars spent designing and building custom 3D camera rigs........only to decide not to use them (except on Happy Feet 2, apparently). I only imagine that they're doing it this way to save money since the test shoots back in late 2010 apparently revealed no major technical issues.

The shoot will now be on Arri Alexa

Someone should clue in Panavision Asia's Marketing Director Martin Cayzer [Edit: unless he's speaking about lenses only]. Quote dated May 9.

I’m delighted to say that Panavision Asia Pacific is in the best shape it’s been in for some time having secured features like Fury Road, I, Frankenstein, The Railway Man, The Sapphires and The Great Gatsby as well as TV series such as Spartacus and Winners and Losers.

http://www.content-technology.com/peopleasia/?p=243

Cool, I can live without the 3-D.

That's not the point. If the fake 3D looks as bad as I fear, the movie will get negative press and/or bad word of mouth over it. I can only hope that they're carefully prepping all their shots for the conversion, and that they use all the computing power they can muster to properly render it. But still...

[PacificMuscle]

Someone should clue in Panavision Asia's Marketing Director Martin Cayzer [Edit: unless he's speaking about lenses only]. Quote dated May 9.

Panavision rent Alexas.

They did build their own rigs, then tested Red Epic then Alexa.

As for the post conversion 3D, that's bullshit. Post conversion 3D is crap. Well, all 3D is crap, but post converted 3D is the crapiest of the crap. Yeah, they're getting better at it (or so I hear), but it does not and never will compare to a movie shot in 3D. And what a waste of money, too. All that time, material and dollars spent designing and building custom 3D camera rigs........only to decide not to use them (except on Happy Feet 2, apparently). I only imagine that they're doing it this way to save money since the test shoots back in late 2010 apparently revealed no major technical issues.

The figure I heard for the conversion is $18m.

[biolumen]

Panavision rent Alexas.

Thanks for the clarification Pete. That answers a few other questions I had as well.

They did build their own rigs, then tested Red Epic then Alexa.

What I meant about wasting money on custom rigs was in reference to the article I'm linking below, which states in part...

For 'Road', a customised digital cinema camera system was constructed, based on the Dalsa 4M60 sensor, which had the left and right cameras shooting in parallel at a higher resolution than what was available at the time.

...which I assumed meant they spent a lot of money on something they ended up not using. Again, thanks for the clarification.

http://www.darkhorizons.com/news/20770/ ... ry-cameras