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From the World of John Wick: Ballerina

Hawk class-X enhance drama and action

In the decade since Keanu Reeves introduced John Wick to cinema audiences, three sequels have continually raised the bar on stylish action, not to mention box office, with more than a billion dollars in ticket sales. Jonathan Sela, ASC set the look in the original film with Hawk V‑Lite Vintage’74 Anamorphics. Now comes the feature film spinoff officially titled From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, directed by Len Wiseman and starring Ana de Armas as a graceful but deadly assassin bent on revenge.

Director of photography Romain Lacourbas, ASC, AFC says that the script opens in the John Wick milieu, but quickly moves into a different realm in terms of style, mood and locations, which were more reality-based. Still, the anamorphic format was quickly deemed the right approach. More than half of the film is set in Prague, on real locations, and much of the stage work was also done in the Czech capital. Testing was facilitated at Vantage Prague, part of Europe’s largest network of rental houses. The project began shooting in late 2022, becoming one of the first in Europe to combine the Alexa 35 and the anamorphic format.

“We considered large format spherical, but it was important to feel the background as much as possible,” says Lacourbas. “The Alexa 35’s color traits and mind-blowing dynamic range worked well with the lenses. We wanted to feel the colors in the locations, the set design, and the production design, and we didn’t want a super fuzzy, out-of-focus background.”

“That combination of 2x anamorphic lenses and the Super 35 sensor allowed us to work with shallower depth of field, without going large format anamorphic, which would have meant a more cumbersome camera, a lighter squeeze and a depth too shallow for what we were after,” he says. “The 2x squeeze was another reason to stay with old school Super 35 format – it’s very flattering for faces, and the bokeh gives you that vertical squeeze so typical of the anamorphic look. When it’s compared side by side with large format anamorphic, it’s very apparent.”

Lacourbas and Wiseman wanted all of the anamorphic feeling, and that extended to the distinctive distortion that comes with the format. “We embraced it,” he says. “Even though this was our first film together, it felt like we were in tune. It’s about playing with that distortion without crossing the line to where it just doesn’t fit the movie anymore.”

The proximity of the subject is a major factor there as well, he says. Focal lengths almost never went longer than 65 mm, and the 28, 35 and 45 mm models were used extensively – wide and close was often the starting point. The 55 macro, usually used on close-ups, offers a distance of only .35 meters.

“The Hawk lenses are pretty small and light for anamorphics, so you can achieve a lot when it comes to action,” says Lacourbas. “Being super close but wide on the lens pays off because your character is still seen within the surrounding world. It’s a significant advantage. We used the 55 macro a lot for this – it’s pretty amazing. You’re pushing the lens, but that’s also where and when accidents happen – and I’m into that kind of accident. The way the lens shapes people and objects can be amazing, and it happens more with the wider lenses up close.”

Lacourbas might attenuate or enhance the effect depending on the specific emotional valence of a given scene.

“I tend to stay away from perfectly sharp, clean, cold lenses,” he says. “I’m more into the funkiness. And I love to be surprised by it. You never know for sure until you put your eye in the finder.”

The European segment of the production was served by Vantage Prague. The package included three Alexa 35s, a set of the class‑X, two zooms, as well as Kowa anamorphics – a 50 and a 75 mm were used for specific applications on about 5% of the film.