20
CREATION
September 2018
ARRI allows Dying to
Survive to thrive
One of China’s biggest box office
hits this summer, Dying to Survive,
tells the real-life story of Yong
Cheng, a cancer survivor and drug
store owner, who started helping
leukemia patients by selling un-
approved pharmaceutical drugs
underground.
The critically acclaimed com-
edy-drama was produced by Hao
Ning and Zheng Xu, and was di-
rected by first-time feature-maker
Muye Wen. Director of photogra-
phy Boxue Wang captured Dying
to Survive with ARRI’s Alexa XT Plus
and Alexa Mini, and chose ARRI
Skypanels and M-series luminaires
for the film’s lighting.
As to why he chose ARRI,
Wang’s response was straightfor-
ward: “I trust ARRI — its stability,
colour science, dynamic range and
highlight/lowlight roll-off are al-
ways very good. I’ve used ARRI ever
since I started shooting digitally.”
For Dying to Survive, the film
was set around the year of 2002
and required an “everyday sort
of plot”; the Alexa’s colour, which
Wang described as “very true to
life”, made it a perfect match.
“There was a scene when Yong
Cheng was locked outside of his
drug store and had to climb in from
the window, so he took a torch-
light to find the phone number
that Shouyi Lu gave him,” Wang
continued. “I only put a very small
Director of photography Boxue Wang used ARRI cameras and lightings to shoot the
Chinese box office hit Dying to Survive.
LED tube on the roof to light up the
background — all other light was
from his torchlight. If I remembered
correctly, I raised the sensitivity to
1280 with the aperture wide open.
The image may be a little grainy
but the texture was outstanding.”
Wang also deployed a shoul-
der-mounted multi-cam approach,
with several cameras used to
capture the performance of each
individual character. “Alexa XT as
well as Amira are both cameras that
are suitable for shoulder mounting
— the ergonomics were designed
specifically for it,” said Wang. “The
XT was heavier than the Alexa Mini,
but it still felt good. I used Alexa
Mini for the spaces that were small
and hard to manoeuvre around.
“Some sequences were done
with Steadicam; for these the Alexa
Mini was very flexible. Most of the
time, we shot with an Alexa XT and
an Alexa Mini.”
To light up the film, Wang also
used lights from ARRI’s M-Series
and SkyPanels. The largest light
deployed was an ARRIMAX 18K,
which was used for the night
scene at the pier. Because the
area was large, the 18K was used
in conjunction with a Chinese
balloon to light the background.
For the smaller areas, the M90,
M40 and M18 were used, as Wang
reviewed: “When we were shoot-
ing the main scenes in the drug
store, a lot of the shots were keyed
with an M90 outside the window
with a diffusion. By adding some
SkyPanel or fluorescent lights for
the background, the atmosphere
was just what we were looking
for.”
And regardless of indoors or
outdoors, Wang has made it a
habit to use the M-series as the
key light. “They are very bright
and can be used to simulate the
sun. It’s small, so it’s easy to handle
— that’s why I liked it so much.”
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