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Emmerich’s Aliens Shot with Hawks

Roland Emmerich’s Independence Day: Resurgence hit the planet on 24 June, twenty years after the release of the original Independence Day.

Cinematographer Markus Förderer, ASC, BVK chose Hawk Anamorphic V‑Lite prime and V‑Plus zoom lenses on Red Epic Dragon and Weapon cameras for the project, an interesting decision when looking at Director Roland Emmerich’s lens choices in the past. This is the second time that Roland Emmerich has employed the Hawks. His first look at the lenses was on Stonewall, again with Markus Förderer. He was so pleased with the look and the ability to work quickly due to the Hawk V‑Plus 45-90mm/T2.8 and the Hawk V‑Plus 80-180mm/T2.8 zooms that he approved their use on Independence Day: Resurgence, knowing full well it would be a VFX intensive film. 

Markus said:

Roland switched to spherical a long time ago because he loves zooms. He loves to work fast. We don’t want to change lenses all the time. But now Hawk’s Front Anamorphic Zooms allow us to have the speed of the zoom along with the true anamorphic characteristics. The visual effects people tried to push us towards spherical, but Roland wouldn’t allow any discussion. When he saw the way these lenses render skin and skin tones, that was it.

For the full in depth discussion about Independence Day: Resurgence and his use of the lenses, see below: 

http://www.vantagefilm.com/en/credits/testimonials/markus-frderer-10488

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