IMAX has held a special live preview footage screening event at AMC Century City 15 in Los Angeles on Tuesday, August 29, 2023, interviewing The Creator’s director, Gareth Edwards. Shot on a consumer camera (Sony FX3), Edwards elaborated on the unique and unusual indie-guerrilla style he chose to shoot this mega-budget science-fiction impressive project. The ultra-compact form factor and fast operation of the FX3, allowed the crew to shoot in multiple real locations, at a fast pace in order to maximize the efficacy of the storytelling process;. Here’s a selection of quotes by Edwards. Must read for filmmakers.
Gareth Edwards: A guerrilla filmmaker enthusiast
Gareth Edwards (1975) is a British filmmaker. He first gained widespread recognition for Monsters (2010), an independent film in which he served as writer, director, cinematographer, and visual effects artist. He directed Godzilla (2014), and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), and has returned to making original films with the science fiction thriller The Creator (2023). Edwards appreciates the power of the independent filmmakers. It’s more than power — a whole methodology. And it seems that Edwards has implemented it very well on The Creator, as its latest trailer looks gorgeous. Watch the new IMAX trailer (with the absolutely magnificent soundtrack by Hans Zimmer):
The Creator: Shot on Sony FX3
This mega-budget Hollywood film is aimed at the IMAX and was shot on a relatively cheap consumer camera, the Sony FX3. Y.M.CINEMA is one of the first reporting about this (make sure to read our articles: The Creator: An IMAX Movie Shot Entirely on the Sony FX3, The Battle for the Credit: ARRI ALEXA 65 vs. Sony FX3, The Creator BTS Released: Sony FX3 is Confirmed). Furthermore, when we dive more and more into the making of The Creator, we are exposed to the main reasons the FX3 was chosen for the job. The idea is to allow the operation of a small crew, facilitated production, and fast-paced, and real locations. All this realism was wrapped by CGI thanks to the greatness of ILM (Industrial Light & Magic). Let’s read what Edwards said at the IMAX special live preview footage screening event at AMC Century City 15 in Los Angeles on Tuesday, August 29, 2023.
Normally, you have to find and go to these locations, otherwise, you’re gonna have to build sets in a studio with a green screen and it’ll cost a fortune.
Director of The Creator – Gareth Edwards
80 locations, 8 different countries, 10,000 miles, 150 hotels
In order to shoot The Creator, Edwards and his team have traveled to more than 80 locations, 8 different countries, 10,000 miles, and 150 hotels. Hence, the advantages of a small crew and simplified shooting style are clear and logical. “Normally, you have to find and go to these locations, otherwise you’re gonna have to build sets in a studio with green screen and it’ll cost a fortune,” says Edwards, and ads: “In The Creator, we wanted to go shoot the movie in real locations, and in real parts of the world that look closest to what these images are. Then, when editing, the production designer James Klein painted over those frames and put the Sci-Fi on top. We wanted to get away from the studio and go to a proper location. We went to 80 locations, 8 different countries, traveled more than 10,000 miles, and stayed over 150 hotels”. Also Edwards states: “We didn’t really use any green screens. There was occasionally a little bit here and there, but very little. Everything you see on the screen, if it’s not sci-fi, then it was really there”.
In The Creator, we wanted to go shoot the movie in real locations, and in real parts of the world that look closest to what these images are. We wanted to get away from the studio and go to a proper location. We went to 80 locations, 8 different countries, traveled more than 10,000 miles, and stayed over 150 hotels.
Director of The Creator – Gareth Edwards
The power of a small crew
Edwards emphasizes the power of being a small crew: “We’re going to do it very differently by going to film it very small crew. We kept the crew small enough. The theory was that the costs are building a set. If you can fly everyone to anywhere in the world for that kind of money. So I was like well…let’s keep the crew small and let’s go to these amazing locations and so we went to Nepal, the Himalayas…We went to active volcanoes in Indonesia, temples in Cambodia, Thailand obviously, Vietnam, Tokyo for the mega City stuff, and then we did a little bit of Pinewood using LED technology everyone knows from Mandalorian”. Then he added a bit about the camera by saying: “Most of the time, it was just about four of us with a camera running around, and it didn’t look like this big massive movie. We tried to just be very efficient. Changes normally take 10 minutes, It took like 4 seconds”. It’s important to note that besides seeing it in the BTS, the Sony FX3 has not been confirmed yet to be utilized in The Creator. According to DP Oren Soffer, all the details will be revealed after the movie is released.
We’re going to do it very differently by going to film it very small crew. We kept the crew small enough…Most of the time, it was just about four of us with a camera running around, and it didn’t look like this big massive movie.
Director of The Creator – Gareth Edwards
Watch the whole interview below (Video shot live on location, organized, assembled, written (via editing), & edited by TheMovieReport.com.
Wrapping up
It can’t be denied that shooting a $80,000,000 production on a $4,000 USD consumer camera makes a statement. However, it seems that in The Creator, it was more than that. It’s hard to believe though, that the imagery will hold up against a giant IMAX screen. On the other hand, IMAX knows what it’s doing, and so is Edwards. And don’t forget Soffer and Fraser. Edwards keeps telling how it was important to preserve the small crew. However, a small crew could be preserved when using the Sony VENICE as well, especially when utilizing its Rialto unit. Thus, it leads us that The Creator is a marketing stunt. Anyway, it’s a good stunt as it shows the power of guerrilla filmmaking even in a high-budget Hollywood IMAX production.
Product List
Here are the products mentioned in the article, and the links to purchase them from authorized dealers.
- Sony FX3 Full-Frame Cinema Camera
I don’t think it was so much a marketing stunt as a return to the way that Gareth likes to make movies. From his early days with the BBC doing the story of “Hannibal” – the historic warrior not the cannibal – through “Monsters” he has been a run and gun visualizer very confident in the image he gets on location to tell a story. Monsters is a perfect example of that method – and frankly after his battering by Kathleen Kennedy over Rogue One reshoots – I’m sure he wanted to get back into his comfort zone of shooting fast and light. With speed and a small scale, he can knock out so many more takes and angles in a day than if he had the encumbrance of a traditionally sized crew. Will the film be better for it? Who knows – but I know for sure it will be more of the type of film he wants to deliver, being done this way. And yeah – there was probably a bit of $ coming from Sony marketing using the FX3 – for sure that makes sense. HEll, I would totally pull that move to make an $80M movie the way I want to… Good on him!
Gareth Edwards ‘The Maker: An IMAX Guerrilla Filmmaking Task’ is a pivotal show-stopper. His guerrilla-style approach on an IMAX scale is unadulterated virtuoso. A visual and imaginative disclosure, resisting standards and setting another norm in filmmaking. Credit to Edwards and the group for this excellent work!
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