Again, a movie about naval fighter planes, and again, minimization of the green screen, and again, utilization of action cinema camera on shooting aerial fighting sequences. But on Devotion, the RED Komodo was heavily used. Basically, it’s like Top Gun: Maverick, just instead of the VENICE, an “Army of Komodos” was implemented on the fighter aircraft in order to capture these dramatic dogfight sequences.

Going real with cinema cameras

There’s a rumor that the producers of Devotion have asked the filmmaker to make dog fights just like in Top Gun: Maverick, but 10 times more. As you know, in TG the Sony VENICE got titles no less than Tom Cruise. However, in Devotion, the RED Komodo was used, as described by RED Digital Cinema CEO: “Devotion opens at the Toronto Film Festival tonight, shot by the mighty Eric Messerschmidt with an army of R3D Komodos”. Have a look at the pictures posted by Land:

Why Komodo?

Basically, there’re two reasons why the production has chosen the Komodo for the plane shots. First, it’s the most compact cinema camera. As opposed to the VENICE, there’s no need for an Extension System, as the camera is fairly small. Second, the main camera that shot Devotion was the Panavision DXL2 which owns RED’s Vista Vision sensor. Hence, the Komodo was the perfect match for that. The DXL2 and Komodo output the same format as R3D files. BTW, the team led by DP Eric Messerschmidt has invested tons of work in order to craft interesting rigs, like the one that you see below. The rig consists of four Panavision DXL2 paired with Panaspeed lenses and attached to a vehicle. An overkill? Maybe, but it looks super cool.

3 Komodos Attached to the Plane

According to the pictures Land posted, three Komodos were attached to the bottom of the plane. As we don’t have pictures inside the cockpit, we can guess that there are a bunch of Komodos there as well. Also, we don’t know if the Komodos were in a fixed position. However, we are guessing that the position is fixed, as the angles are different, and the cameras needed to go against fairly powerful wind conditions. Moreover, the various angles indicate to us that we’ll see very interesting aerial shots from various perspectives.

Devotion, directed by JD Dillard, is an aerial war epic that tells the harrowing true story of two elite US Navy fighter pilots during the Korean War. Their heroic sacrifices would ultimately make them the Navy’s most celebrated wingmen. The film will be screened in selected theaters in November. Watch the trailer below:

Product List

Here’re the products mentioned in the article, and the links to purchase them from authorized dealers. 

• RED Digital Cinema Komodo 6K
  • Buy on B&H
  • BUY on ADORAMA

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