Interview with cinematographer Jean-Marie Dreujou, AFC, about “Wolf Totem”, a film by Jean-Jacques Annaud

par Jean-Marie Dreujou

[ English ] [ français ]

Jean-Marie Dreujou, AFC, will participate in this year’s Camerimage festival as a member of the jury. He will also be the only French – and AFC – representative in the international competition for the Golden Frog with Wolf Totem, a film by Jean-Jacques Annaud. This interview was conducted with him just before he left for Poland. (FR)

What does Camerimage mean to you ?

Jean-Marie Dreujou : This is the first time I’m participating. I’ve been aware of this festival for a long time, but I had never had the opportunity to go... It will be an opportunity for me to meet many foreign cinematographers, to exchange points of view, and to watch movies. As I am a juror in the Polish competition, I will observe the work of directors and cinematographers whose work I’m not familiar with, on films that sometimes aren’t even released in France... The documentary section seems exciting to me... I can not wait to experience it all !

Wolf Totem is also competing in the international section. What is your feeling ?

JMD : The film was released in France in February, but has since gone on to a successful run abroad. Jean-Jacques Annaud was even on a promotional tour in October in Germany when it was released there. Personally, I haven’t watched the film in a long while, and I’m quite happy to have the opportunity to rediscover it in a theatre with a bit of hindsight, in optimal screening conditions.
Besides the film, there will be a Master Class moderated by Benjamin B. which will be devoted to the night-time equestrian pursuit scene (in the first third of the film). I shot that scene partially in day for night in the grandiose scenery of the Mongolian highlands.

 Une scène de la séquence en nuit américaine - DR
Une scène de la séquence en nuit américaine
DR

This scene was troublesome to prepare, particularly because of the torches carried by the riders who had to create “keylight” throughout the scene. The torches had a retro look (the film is set in 1969) but whose ultra-powerful LED lights took us a long time to find. This included finding the right compromise between light output and correction of the quality of the lighting. Besides the fact that we were filming in extremely cold conditions, the lifespan of the batteries was a real challenge. Once the torched had been manufactured, we had pretty much gotten the hardest part out of the way !

The film was released in 3D, did you film the entire move in 3D  ?

JMD : We shot with two 3D rigs but in the end, 75% of the film was spatialized. Most of the complex scenes involved many cameras, and even though we had one or two scenes at the end actually shot in 3D, everything else had been done conventionally. There were only a few “set ups” like the inside of the yurts which were entirely filmed in 3D due mainly to the smoke, which is very hard to manage when you want to spatialize a scene in postproduction. The film is very uniform in that sense, despite the different methods we used to assemble it.

Why did you decide to release the film in 3D ?

JMD : This was something the producers requested, because all large-budget Chinese films are now released in 3D. It’s sort of become a production standard ever since digital screening has become the norm in China. But unlike what you might believe, Jean-Jacques didn’t consider it to be a constraint. You should know that he is enthusiastic about 3D and has quite a bit of experience shooting in 3D (he was one of the first to film in Imax 3D in the 90s), and he took on the challenge head-on, by delving enthusiastically into the project.

Your experience filming in 3D ?

JMD : It’s interesting, but it is a huge constraint... Mainly because of the problem with the splitter mirror that causes a lot of problems with flares, reflections, and prop lighting. As soon as you’re shooting out-of-doors in direct sunlight, or against the light, you’ve often got problems with the image. As spatialization has made enormous technical progress, we can really now begin making films in 3D.

Tournage de nuit avec ballon éclairant - DR
Tournage de nuit avec ballon éclairant
DR

What moments do you best remember from shooting ?

JMD : Here is an excellent memory : besides the fact that I had just about every means possible and imaginable for a cinematographer – two cranes always available, two 100kW Softsuns, three 50kW, etc., — I met two young actors playing leading roles, of whom one was Chao Fong, who only spoke Chinese, and who learned English during shooting in order to communicate with us… Our close relationship and the incredible devotion to the project of people from different cultures is what I will best remember from our lengthy shooting in China.

Interview conducted by François Reumont for the AFC, and translated from French by Alex Raiffe.