Jordan Levy, veteran commercial DP, has lensed FCA US’s new “the Summer of Jeep” campaign staring Jeremy Renner, with Cooke Anamorphic/i lenses. The campaign–which began airing in the U.S. on July 10–was directed by Levy’s friend and long-time collaborator Jeff Tomsic, with whom he has worked for a decade.
To create the look and style of the campaign, Levy meticulously chose a mixture of modern and old-school tools. For example, when lighting the majority of the interiors, Levy opted to use tungsten lights instead of LED sources. And one of the first decisions Levy made with the director was to shoot using Cooke Anamorphic/i lenses.
“Jeff and I shot a TV series together the year Cooke released the new Anamorphic/i prime set, and just fell in love with the imagery and look of these lenses,” explained Levy who’s well versed in “The Cooke Look®” and cites using Cooke S4/i spherical primes throughout his commercial film career, and then discovering and using re-housed Cooke Speed Panchro sets for vintage looks while shooting digital.
For the Jeep job, 20/20 Camera Rentals provided Levy with two ALEXA Minis and one ALEXA SXT, a full set of 10 Cooke Anamorphic/i’s ranging from 25mm to 300mm, plus the new 35-140mm zoom. Over the course of the week-long shoot, Levy used multiple Pursuit Systems vehicles to be able to capture the driving footage–including a Ford Raptor Pursuit, which he operated himself for all the off-road footage.
The city location was the interior and exterior of Los Angeles clubs Black Rabbit Rose and Madame Siam on Hollywood Blvd. Levy and his crew (headed up by Nick “Sodapop” Franchot as key grip and Steve Francis as gaffer) built a 12×26 foot soft box constructed with truss and eight ARRI SkyPanels, and flew it over Hollywood Blvd. with an 50-foot Gradall lift. Levy also credits his great camera crew for a lot of the b-roll footage, including Jeremiah Pitman, Dennis Noyes, Adam Frisch and Vincent Foeillet, with Chris Geukens as the key First AC managing the department.
Levy, with director Tomsic, also decided that they wouldn’t do any camera mounts or process trailer work, preferring instead to shoot handheld inside the Jeeps to be more in the style of an independent film. Levy loved working with the Cooke Anamorphic/i 65mm here, with its close focus of about 5.5 inches from the front of the lens. He said, “The ability to cover the action from wide on the talent to then go down to a close up of the interactions with the Jeep’s touchscreen is something normally one would have to use diopters for in standard anamorphic lenses. The 40mm also became a favorite of ours on the shoot, being wide and small enough to be stuffed in the back seat of Jeep Wrangler!”
“Heretic” and “Maria” Set As Red Carpet Premieres At AFI Fest
The American Film Institute (AFI) has announced that Heretic, the psychological thriller starring Hugh Grant, and Maria, based on the life of opera singer Maria Callas starring Angelina Jolie, will round out the Red Carpet Premieres section at this year’s AFI Fest. The Heretic Gala Screening will take place on Thursday, October 24, and the Maria Gala Screening will be held on Saturday, October 26. The complete Red Carpet Premieres section includes the world premieres of Music By John Williams, Robert Zemeckis’ Here, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl and Clint Eastwood’s Juror #2. All Red Carpet Premieres will take place at the historic TCL Chinese Theatre. The full lineup for AFI Fest 2024 will be unveiled on October 1.
“At the heart of AFI Fest is an unwavering dedication to celebrating the best in global cinema--together,” said Bob Gazzale, AFI president and CEO. “We look forward to uniting artists and audiences once again to be inspired by the art form in a powerful sense of community.”
Heretic follows two young missionaries (Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East) who are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed (portrayed by Grant), becoming ensnared in his deadly game of cat-and-mouse. The film is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods and produced by Stacey Sher, Beck, Woods, Julia Glausi and Jeanette Volturno. The film will be released nationwide by A24 on November 8.
Directed by Pablo Larraín, Maria presents a tumultuous and beautiful depiction of one of the world’s most renowned artists and reimagines the legendary soprano in her final days in Paris, as Callas (Jolie)... Read More