Extraction’s Action-Packed
Mercenary Story Gets MONSTRO Treatment
DP Newton Thomas Sigel, ASC and Director Sam Hargrave
Rely on Large-Format Imaging Tools
For the action-packed feature film Extraction, cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel, ASC, doubled up on imaging technology from RED Digital Cinema to capture the edge-of-your-seat drama. The Netflix movie is directed by Sam Hargrave, the renowned stunt coordinator on hard-hitting thrillers like Atomic Blonde, Wolf Warrior 2 and Avengers: Endgame. Shot in India, Bangladesh and Thailand, Extraction follows mercenary Tyler Rake (Chris Hemsworth) on a dangerous mission to rescue the kidnapped son of an international crime lord. Hargrave was planning elaborate, exacting action sequences with fluid, highly mobile camerawork. Sigel, who had just come off the widely lauded Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, needed a camera kit that could keep up with that vision.
/////// Sigel decided to use a lightweight, compact RED DSMC2 camera with the MONSTRO 8K VV sensor for the action-driven bulk of the movie, which demanded dynamic, often handheld shooting. ////////
Sigel decided to use a lightweight, compact RED DSMC2 camera with the MONSTRO 8K VV sensor for the action-driven bulk of the movie, which demanded dynamic, often handheld shooting. It was matched with the more heavyweight Panavision Millennium DXL2 — that also uses the MONSTRO sensor — for quieter segments, like scenes set in a safehouse that reveal Rake’s backstory and character motivations.
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/////// “The final images from the RED MONSTRO and the DXL2 are pretty much the same … if I was running-and-gunning or just needed a very small profile, the DSMC2 MONSTRO was the better choice … and we would go to the smaller MONSTRO for the more kinetic, visceral handheld sequences.” ///////
“The final images from the RED MONSTRO and the DXL2 are pretty much the same,” Sigel said. “If we were on a dolly, crane or sticks, then the DXL provided a user-friendly, studio configuration. But if I was running-and-gunning or just needed a very small profile, the DSMC2 MONSTRO was the better choice. We tended to be on the DXL when we were in our studio mode, and we would go to the smaller MONSTRO for the more kinetic, visceral handheld sequences.”
Another advantage of the RED package was its 46.31mm-diagonal sensor, which is compatible with large-format lenses. Sigel selected Panavision’s H Series lenses for the bulk of the movie, and Panavision Sphero 65s for its climactic third act. He says he likes the way the lenses’ “less clinical” optical characteristics interact with the high resolution of the MONSTRO sensor. “Flaws that used to be detrimental on film become cosmetically attractive when you’re shooting with a very sharply defined, high-resolution sensor,” Sigel said. “The H Series are very subtle in those terms, but the Spheros, as a generally older lens, have more of those characteristics. They’re all beautiful. I find it ironic how lenses we used to think were almost too sharp and cold are now organic and beautiful. It’s funny how fashion changes.”
/////// Nakamura and Sigel ended up using a dramatic shot of Hemsworth, taken with the late-afternoon sun low in the sky behind him, as visual reference for the rest of the scene. Nakamura calls it “the money shot” — an emotional moment that was used to reverse-engineer the look of every shot before it. ///////
Sigel adopted one more set of lenses for the shoot. For a sequence that’s presented as a “oner” (albeit seamlessly stitched together from multiple takes), Leica’s small M-Lenses kept the profile of the DSMC2 rig as low as possible. Hargrave operated the camera on part of the 11-minute segment, including a stunt that required him to leap from roof to roof, and at one point the DSMC2 was pushed through the window of a moving car. “You have one person getting hit by a car, one person getting hit by a truck, two guys fighting and falling over a balcony two floors down on to the street, and several car chases,” Sigel recalled. “It was a very intricate, carefully planned fight scene that presented a whole slew of challenges in terms of planning and shooting and stitching.”
The production recorded REDCODE RAW with 5:1 compression, capturing the full 8K raster whenever possible, but operating in a lower-resolution mode when necessary for higher frame rates. Sigel said the extra resolution wasn’t a primary concern for him, but he knows that VFX teams appreciate the extra detail. “We needed to use helicopters to control a bridge, and we ended up in Thailand for those scenes,” he said. “We did subtle VFX extensions of existing locations and sets in order to stay grounded in the Bangladesh world.”
/////// Thanks to the careful attention Sigel and DIT Jason Bauer paid to exposure,
Nakamura was able to collect plenty of information from the RED sensors to balance the shots. ///////
Colorist Stephen Nakamura, who has worked with Sigel since the 1990s, completed the color grade at Company 3. A lot of attention was paid to matching light across elements of the aforementioned “oner” as well as in the outdoor action climax, which was shot over multiple weeks, with few options for controlling or augmenting ambient light on location. Nakamura and Sigel ended up using a dramatic shot of Hemsworth, taken with the late-afternoon sun low in the sky behind him, as visual reference for the rest of the scene. Nakamura calls it “the money shot” — an emotional moment that was used to reverse-engineer the look of every shot before it.
To help the visuals mesh, Nakamura adjusted luminance values on the brightest element in each shot as well as exposure between different shots while making judicious use of power windows. One key was to darken the background behind the principal character in shots taken at mid-day, with lots of overhead sunlight, while brightening up the principal character against the already darker background in shots taken earlier or later in the day. “That money shot was from late afternoon, so I just tried to make everything else feel like late afternoon,” Nakamura explained.
/////// “I think shooting at 8K with Panavision lenses gave us great flexibility, and I didn’t feel any restriction from the cameras … They made great images that were fairly easy to work with in post. The cameras performed very well.” ///////
Thanks to the careful attention Sigel and DIT Jason Bauer paid to exposure, Nakamura was able to collect plenty of information from the RED sensors to balance the shots. “We had all the dynamic range we needed,” he said. “We always tell cinematographers to light the way you normally light and make sure your DIT tells you if you’re clipping or crushing anything in a particular scene. I had no issues on this show. I told him, ‘This is one of your better pieces of work.’”
Sigel agrees that the MONSTRO sensor delivered the quality and range he needed in production and post. “I think shooting at 8K with Panavision lenses gave us great flexibility, and I didn’t feel any restriction from the cameras,” he said. “They made great images that were fairly easy to work with in post. The cameras performed very well.”
Special thanks to Netflix, DP Newton Thomas Sigel, and colorist Stephen Nakamura
for sharing their behind-the-scenes experience on Extraction.
RED is a proud technology partner with Panavision
RED is a proud technology partner with Panavision
The MONSTRO 8K VV sensor is available in both the modular DSMC2 and all-in-one RANGER camera systems.
DSMC2
MONSTRO 8K VV
- 35.4 Megapixel CMOS Sensor
- 40.96 mm x 21.60 mm (Diag: 46.31 mm)
- 60 fps at 8K Full Format (8192 × 4320)
- 75 fps at 8K 2.4:1 (8192 × 3456)
RANGER
MONSTRO 8K VV
- 35.4 Megapixel CMOS Sensor
- 40.96 mm x 21.60 mm (Diag: 46.31 mm)
- 60 fps at 8K Full Format (8192 × 4320)
- 75 fps at 8K 2.4:1 (8192 × 3456)
2020 | R | 1H 57M | Action Thrillers
A hardened mercenary’s mission becomes a soul-searching race to survive when he’s sent into Bangladesh to rescue a drug lord’s kidnapped son.
Starring:Chris Hemsworth, Rudhraksh Jaiswal, Randeep Hooda
Watch Extraction Only on Netflix