PERFECT SCORE

The filmmaking skill and shorthand of longtime collaborators director Paul Dugdale and cinematographer Brett Turnbull combined with composer Hans Zimmer’s intuition for pairing image and sound resulted in a concert film with a difference, capturing an epic ensemble of musicians in a concert venue and on location. 

Hans Zimmer has scored some of the biggest films in cinema history. Now the composer — renowned for powerful and exuberant live performances and adding to the emotional impact of countless movies — is the focus of his own concert/documentary film, Hans Zimmer & Friends: Diamond in the Desert, directed by Paul Dugdale and lensed by Brett Turnbull. 

“The project started as a live concert film in Dubai. We then explored incorporating the landscape and city into the fabric of the performances as a set or backdrop to Hans’ compositions. After spending time with him in pre-production we realised Hans was a captivating raconteur, and brilliant and honest conversationalist, so we proposed introducing the documentary element and Coffee and Cigarettes-style conversations.” 

Dugdale was approached by producer Michael Marto who had a vision for the film and thought Zimmer and the director would be a perfect fit. “The film includes a dedication to Michael because he tragically passed away before the film was completed. It wouldn’t have happened without Michael, and I am forever grateful to him,” says Dugdale. 

Working on concert films that feature multiple elements excites Turnbull, who found the location-based aspects “like going back to my roots. I started out shooting music videos”. Stepping away from the concert environment “gives the film breathing space to let your imagination go in a different direction before being brought back into the show”. 

During location scouts in Dubai, Zimmer was keen to impart his vision. “When he performs live, each musician is a strong character with a backstory. Hans is a showman too but doesn’t necessarily take centre stage. He facilitates everything and allows the musicians to shine,” says Turnbull. “He wanted to encapsulate the mood of the films, the visuals of which were displayed on screens in Dubai’s Coca-Cola Arena, supported by stunning lighting design from John Featherstone at Lightswitch.” 

Zimmer shared vast references with Dugdale and had “phenomenal intuition” about how image and sound is paired. “He could reference the styles of many DPs. I learnt not only from his knowledge of cinema, but how he approaches each project from an emotional standpoint,” says Dugdale. 

“We had ready-made visual references to each piece of music in the form of the movies they were written for. Some were driven by leaning into that aesthetic. We were in the Middle East, so where else could we capture the opening performance from Dune but the desert?”  

Outside of that, the main source of creative inspiration was always the music which Dugdale refers to as “the script”. Music with no vocal demanded more and “is less predictable in structure and pace than regular ‘pop’ music. We aren’t anchored to the vocal or singer most of the time, pushing us to explore other ways to tap into the emotion of the music, which I loved.” 

The iconic helipad at the Burj Al Arab was an obvious location to film and where a sequence celebrating Inception’s score was captured. The Dark Knight performance was shot in a disused level of a skyscraper, lit and art directed to feel in keeping with the movie’s high drama. “Whereas something like Interstellar at Al Wasl Plaza leant into ways of staying low and framing the performance against the ceiling, a 360-degree colossal projection surface onto which bespoke syncopated visuals created by Northhouse punctuated the music. Producer Simon Fisher, Amy James and the SiFi Productions team coordinated so many departments for that to work,” says Dugdale.  

The filmmakers “did not want to rely on locked off coverage because there were so many instruments to cover on stage. Every shot needed a purpose and intention to increase drama or emotion”. The “most ferocious part” of The Dark Knight suite is Dugdale’s favourite as “it’s so aggressive and powerful”. He wanted the pictures to be as confrontational as the music. “The cameras are all dutching, and the cut, by brilliant editor and long-term collaborator Simon Bryant, is staccato and precise. It’s brutal, but we had to go there.”  

For the Dunkirk sequence, Zimmer was insistent Dugdale and the team push the edit to the limit. “By the end, the cameras are shaking and probably less than a second a shot. It’s wild but the music demanded it. Other times we hold shots long; several are over three or four minutes in length, pushing and pulling with the music. Texture in the edit is crucial.” 

Aiming for a “grace to the camera movement”, the operators were encouraged to hold shots long, offering maximum versatility to push and pull the edit later. “It is a film about people, so composition and showing chemistry between players was vital. Orchestral music can be formal, and as a result unemotional. Hans and his musicians are the opposite; they’re a rock band with virtuoso players and classical instruments, they’re all heart,” adds Dugdale. 

Inventive collaboration 

When making a concert film, collaboration is more critical than ever. “The live show already exists, so in effect we’re making a documentary. However, simply showing up and pointing some cameras at the stage, is not the way to make a great concert film. Adjusting the show to make it more camera-friendly is ideal,” advises Turnbull.  

“In theatre and live events, lighting is designed to have maximum effect on the human eye rather than for cameras. The stage will be super bright, then incredibly dark. Daylight at one moment then tungsten the next. On top of that, most theatrical lighting (especially LED lamps) fail to represent pleasing skin tones. I aim to understand the artistic intentions of the show, be sensitive to what the designer’s trying to achieve, and collaborate with them to translate their vision onto the screen. That means adapting their light show for cameras.” 

Show designer John Featherston facilitated a successful creative union and was happy for Turnbull to shoot test footage and share notes to ensure everything Turnbull needed to change was efficiently marked out. When filming the show, it is a sympathetically adjusted version of what people see and should not disturb the live audience. 

Turnbull likes to take a more traditional director of photography role on concert movies. “I’ll oversee all camera and lighting, but once we get on set, it’s too much to handle, especially in situations where I do all-nighters on lighting and the camera crew arrives at 8am.” 

Therefore he generally delegates some responsibilities. In this case he handed over to  senior camera operator Nick Kauffamn, to take charge of camera duties on the load-in and shoot days. “I generally do the advance camera planning, equipment lists and previs. Then dive into lighting, often at the tail-end of the tour’s overnight focus and programming session. Nick did a great job as always, of getting everything in place, and troubleshooting any issues. Along with a great team from SR Films (tech manager Bolke Burnaby-Lautier, lead focus puller Julia Cereijo, and key grip Jelle Ector).” 

As a sophisticated design process is involved in many live shows, accurate scale CAD drawings are often available for Turnbull to work with, as well as 3D models of the stage set and venue. “If  a composite model doesn’t exist, I make one, so I can put people on the stage and use virtual cameras to pre-visualise shots and determine best lens and grip choices.”  

Interview technique 

Black-and-white 4:3 documentary-style interviews with stars and filmmakers with whom Zimmer has collaborated –  including directors Denis Villeneuve and Christopher Nolan, actors Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya and musicians Billie Eilish and Pharell Williams – are interspersed throughout the performances, shot over 10 months by DPs James Rhodes, James Tonkin, Ryan Booth and Nyk Allen. 

“The production of the concert was so grandiose, tech heavy, neat in its construction, precise and epic. For the interviews we wanted to strip back everything we could, so you focused on what they were saying, capturing the authenticity and removing any artifice,” says Dugdale.  

Adopting stripped back on-the-shoulder, handheld coverage, “placed the viewer right in the room” and Zimmer and Dugdale “loved how it begins black-and-white and 4:3 and cuts to an epic wide screen majestic desert, helping the music feel even more epic”. 

Scores that soar 

Local Dubai company Go Aerials shot all drone sequences, using kit including DJI Inspire 2, Mavic 2 Pro, Alta X heavy lifter (for the Alexa Mini LF), and Rhino FPV. “For the Dark Knight performance, Paul said, ‘It’s like a villain’s lair, and there’s a helicopter outside pointing a searchlight through the window.’ Directors often have ambitious ideas like that; and so they should,” says Turnbull. “But there was a government building nearby, making it a sensitive area to fly anything, let alone a full-sized helicopter.” 

The solution was flying a small LED spotlight on a heavy lifter drone, with Turnbull and Dugdale communicating with the team from Go Aerials as they flew outside the window. The interior was lit with low light levels which the camera’s sensitivity was rated to.  

Sweeping shots in the concert venue were achieved using a Ross Video EagleEye cable-based camera system. Attached by four rigging points, the system uses ground or aerial based winches and the cables wind onto drums, allowing the camera to move anywhere within that space in three dimensions.  

“Paul doesn’t just fly a cablecam around in a gratuitous way. He loves cinematic moves, straight dollies in, and simple tracking moves from left to right. If it’s a more complex move, it’s motivated and has purpose; something we both feel strongly about,” says Turnbull. 

A 45-foot MovieBird crane was repositioned over different nights of the show, allowing them to shoot above instruments higher up at the back of the stage, and further back on other nights, capturing the scale of the space and using more dramatic movement. Seemingly impossible shots were also achieved by two 30ft Towercam XL (one on a tracking dolly base with flight head), a MoSys L40 remote head, two Vinten Osprey Elite peds, plus a couple of Panther and Fisher 10 dollies and track. 

Full-frame freedom 

Being pragmatic is essential when shooting concert films as it is not always possible to achieve shots using one camera or lens brand. “The Mini LF has been our first choice, as we prefer to shoot concert films full frame if possible. Most live multi-camera directors are reluctant to work in that format because you have so little zoom range,” says Turnbull.  

“TV cameras and lenses conventionally used on live events have massive zoom ranges (eg. 122x, 24x, 14x) whereas when shooting Super 35 or full frame, you can be all the way down to 2x or 3x zoom range. That’s scary! These stages are big, and many cameras sit in one place for the whole show. You need to be very confident to embrace shooting on full-frame. Dugdale’s very decisive and knows what he wants for the edit. We’ll put a 12mm prime on a camera and leave it on all night.” 

Traditionally, concert film close-ups tend to be shot on long lenses far away and can feel detached. But shooting more like a drama, “getting into the action but with a wide-angle perspective” makes the viewer feel more engaged. “Being able to have selective focus on wide lenses is one of the joys of shooting full-frame,” adds Turnbull. “Having the focus fall off dramatically, pulling your eye to the action, separating layers and feeling engaged. These close-ups are intimate and powerful, rather than feeling like they’re shot from a telescope.” 

As the film was created for cinema and premiered at the BFI IMAX, the filmmakers had that in mind throughout, particularly with the cadence of the edit. “We only filmed a single concert performed in front of an audience but some tracks we could capture in the afternoon, getting cameras physically close and in places we wouldn’t normally be able to with a paying audience,” says Dugdale. “The grammar of it felt more intimate, being less reliant on longer lenses than one can be forced into in a sold out arena.” 

In the concert venue, as well as 16 Alexa Mini LFs, two Sony Venice 2 (telephoto cameras only, using dual native ISO for high sensitivity) and Sony FR7 PTZ remote cameras were used as at the time of shooting it was not possible to achieve the long lens shots using cinema lenses at that range. “In the past we had to use a TV lens with an optical adaptor, so out of the rear you project an HD 2/3-inch chip sensor-sized image, but then blow it up to cover a larger sensor. In doing so, you lose optical quality and you light,” says Turnbull.  

“The Venice 2 was a life saver because we could use the dual ISO, set the camera to 3200 and there was no noise. Our solution was pushing the sensitivity of the Venice, adding a TV lens with another piece of glass on the back to cover the sensor to capture close-ups of the range needed. Since the Alexa 35 came out, we’re now using that instead.”  

The new Sony FR7 was buried amongst the action as it is compact, offers pan, tilt and zoom, and is full frame so a wide-angle 12mm lens could be attached to shoot next to a musician. “You can still have very dramatic fall off of focus,” adds Turnbull. “As long as you’re recording LOG on those Sony cameras, you can reasonably match the ARRIs, especially when the perspectives are so different, cutting from intimate footage to a telephoto camera at the back of the room.” 

If a camera is handheld or Steadicam, the remote systems used have quite small, stabilised heads that cannot manage a big payload. Go-to lenses included the Angénieux Optimo EZ series which are well-suited to handheld shots and the ARRI Signature Zoom offering a “clean and true” look. 

“I love the Optimo Ultra 12x; they’re the only full frame lens with a significant zoom range,” says Turnbull. “The only specialist lens we used for a few shots in the Dark Knight sequence was a Laowa probe lens, shooting at 24mm.” 

Full-frame primes used for the concert sequences included the Laowa 12mm Zero-D and Zeiss Supreme Radiance set. Zoom lenses used included Optimo, including Atlas 1.6x extender for some; ARRI Signature plus 1.7x extender; Fujinon Premista; Zeiss Compact; Sigma and Sony FE for Sony FR7 E-mount cameras. Speciality lenses included IBE Raptor macro primes and a Canon UJ90x9mm 2/3” TV lens with PL-B4 adaptor/optical expander. 

Equipment for the location shoots was drawn from the main multicam package, generally using between three and six cameras, including a drone for certain scenes. The camera package was provided by PhotoCinerent (Paris), Camalot (Amsterdam) and Eurogrip (Belgium via SR Films), with some additions locally via ActionFilmz Dubai. 

Turnbull used Tiffen Glimmer Glass to “take the edge off, especially the way specular highlights react. When there are various haze levels and cameras at different distances from the stage, I try to equalise things a bit using filters too.” 

For the concert sequences, small remote dollies, remote towers and tracking towers were used as they are less intrusive. Robotic systems such as Motion Impossible’s Agito dolly systems were also chosen, with two Agito Trax track-based remote camera dolly systems on a 360-degree track for the Al Wasl Plaza, emphasising the curved aesthetic. 

Live wires 

Lighting decisions were made through a collaborative approach between Dugdale, Turnbull and show designer John Featherstone. “We talked about ideas together and then John drew up the design, his team rigged the moving lights, we looked at that together and decided what we liked and balanced the lighting for the cameras,” says Turnbull. 

The Al Wasl dome had a pre-installed lighting rig which Featherstone added to with a few small floor fixtures and his team pre-programmed lighting for that track. Dugdale and SiFi commissioned video content and Featherstone’s team treated it much like their own show, programming lighting cues around the music. 

Lighting fixtures at the concert venue (provided by PRG) spanned a variety of theatrical fixtures from manufacturers such as Robe, GLP, Clay Paky, and Martin. The helipad was lit with Robe BMFL wash beam, Patt 2017, Mac Aura XB, and Ayrton Cobra whereas the Expo dome’s house lighting rig included Ayrton Huracán  LT, Perseo and Domino moving lights. Featherstone worked alongside his daughter and lighting director Hailey and lighting programmer Chris Herman. 

The location package included 18K Arrimax and various Arri SkyPanels, various smaller & more portable LED units from Aputure, Nanlite, Hudson Spider, Astera & Rosco, plus a Lightbridge reflector kit. Helium HMI balloon lights plus JCB booms were used for the “Gladiator” night exterior scene. Gaffer Elie Kolko from ActionFilmz Dubai, was a great help with finding appropriate gear and crew, and managing lighting logistics around a very tight schedule.  

Planning makes perfect 

Being diplomatic and conscientious about prep results in the greatest opportunity for creativity when shooting a concert film. “Get in early with any live event when you’re planning to put cameras in a room and they’re charging money for tickets. If you know what you want to do you can try to negotiate good positions for cameras.” 

Spending time trying to pre visualise is also important as well as making sure camera movement is motivated. “You don’t just do things for the sake of it. You’re serving the story,” he adds. “In a live show, there’s a different kind of narrative; dramatic highs and lows and different paces. It’s about being in tune with the music and presentation of the show including the creative aspects and choreography and then using tools when they are suitable and holding back when they are not.”