Anamorphic F65 A.I.
JON FAUER: Let’s talk about your wonderful work on Ex Machina. What cameras did you chose and why? ROB HARDY ROB HARDY: The key thing with every project is to find the right ingredients to implement the impressions you get when you first read the script. Every film has it’s own distinct personality. There are many different ways of looking at something and it is through testing that you get the answer to what a film’s visual personality might be. Whether it’s a combination of cameras and glass or something else, I generally start with an idea in my head about what I think it will be, but sometimes new concepts crop up. Something may present itself as a surprise, and suddenly you’re looking through the camera and you can sense it. You think, “This is the right combination. This is the way the film should look.” The key to that process is choice, which is why I feel it’s a shame that people are so quick to write off film, compared to digital, these days. I’m not one to say one is better than the other. I just think it’s a shame that we’re losing our sense of choice. It is incredibly important that we still maintain choices. On a recent HBO project, we tested four different formats and three types of digital cameras. We tested 16mm, 35mm, anamorphic, Red, Alexa and F65. It’s wonderful to sit in the screening room and see the difference between these cameras and the different personalities they have. I think it would be a shame if it really just boiled down to two choices or even one. That’s just rubbish. It’s homogenization. It goes against every creative bone in my body. 61
The F65 ... performed in a way that I thought illustrated it to be a great companion to film. It just read the faces in a way that I felt was spot on and rendered the landscapes in the style that we wanted.