In order to get the majestic imagery of Netflix’s Dark Crystal, a unique combination of the Cooke Anamorphic glass with an especially made RED Dragon was used. Cinematographer Erik Wilson explains the creation process from a technical point of view. Read on.

“You forget that they’re puppets.”

The original Dark Crystal is one of the most iconic movies of the 1980s, a dark-themed fantasy that took the puppetry skills that the Jim Henson Company had honed in over a decade of producing Sesame Street to the big screen for big audiences. It was ambitious and spectacular. When it came time to return to the world of Thra and reimagine the Dark Crystal movie for a whole new generation on Netflix, unique filmmaking tools were utilized. The result was a look for the show that transformed the puppets and, in the words of cinematographer Erik Wilson, made them “more majestic” and “forgetting that they’re puppets.”

Dynamic cinematography (Every single shot the camera moves)

Shooting started in November 2017 in a converted warehouse at Langley Studios in Slough to the west of London, with Louis Leterrier directing and Erik Wilson shooting. “I always knew it wasn’t going to be a small thing, but I still came to the project completely unprepared for the scale of it and was in awe of the aspirations for it,” says Wilson. ”I always imagined that the puppets would be hiding behind a table, and we would be filming them with a static camera, but that couldn’t have been any further from the truth. Every single shot is moving. We did one lock-off a shot in the whole series, and it never even made it into the final cut!”

Every single shot is moving. We did one lock-off a shot in the whole series, and it never even made it into the final cut! Cinematographer Erik Wilson

RED Dragon VV Anamorphic

According to DIT Jonathan Petts, Dark Crystal was shot entirely on Dragon VV with one shot on an A7s underwater (see on-set picture below). Indeed, Leterrier had made a successful proof of concept using a RED DRAGON (was suited better than Monstro and Helium for that purpose) and asked RED Digital Cinema to design a 1:1 ratio square extraction mode (4320 x 4320) from which to extract (de-squeeze) the anamorphic image created by Cooke Anamorphic/i prime lenses.

RED Digital Cinema designed a 1:1 ratio square extraction mode (4320 x 4320) from which to extract (de-squeeze) the anamorphic image created by Cooke Anamorphic/i prime lenses

Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance was shot using five of the specially modified RED DRAGON 4K at 2.2:1 with a Kipper Tie Gold Diffusion OLPF. “Everything becomes a bit sharp with 4K, and the filter helped with that,” said Wilson. Furthermore, because of the large sensor and the desire to shoot anamorphic, the Cooke Anamorphic glass was chosen.

Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance was shot using five of the specially modified RED DRAGON 4K at 2.2:1 with a Kipper Tie Gold Diffusion OLPF Cinematographer Erik Wilson

Cooke Anamorphic/i lenses

“Lenses where you blur the image so you can shoot off the set or puppeteers’ heads without actually registering what they are, are ideal – hence, anamorphic is your friend,” explained Wilson. “A lot of lenses wouldn’t fit the part because they’re designed for a slightly smaller sensor, but going through all the different lenses that I liked, I realized the Cooke lenses would actually fill this square we need to record on. We did some tests, and they were great. I really like the Cooke Anamorphic/i’s; they have personality, they have charm, and they also are technically very, very good.” “The Cooke Anamorphic/i set has a large range of focal lengths, and we used all of them, but a lot of the close-ups using the 75mm and the 100mm were very popular,” Wilson said. “The image quality and the consistency from the wider to the longer lenses were great.

A lot of the close ups using the 75mm and the 100mm were very popular Cinematographer Erik Wilson

180 days of shoot

It was a long shoot, all in all, lasting 180 days, which made it a demanding period for Wilson and the team he namechecks as doing amazing work throughout Gaffer, Andy Lowe; Key Grip, Ronan Murphy; and Focus Pullers Iwan Prys Reynolds and Jon Garwes. The end result is a hugely impressive show which is not only a technical and craft tour de force — it looks genuinely fantastical and excellent in 4K — but also a highly engaging return to the world of Thra. “I got sent the episodes before the grade, and I sat down to watch one, watched another, and then I got completely hooked and binged the rest,” Wilson said, “I forgot that I was meant to be watching it and analyzing it.”

Wrapping up

The creation of The Dark Crystal is a reference for cinematography innovation. Using modified RED cameras that were paired with Cooke Anamorphic/i glass in this exceptional environment is indeed a unique super demanding approach. With everything being CG nowadays, it’s refreshing to see old school “real” puppetry and robotics. If you aren’t familiar with this masterpiece, watch it on Netflix (the trailer is below).