We used Cooke and Lomo anamorphic widescreen lenses for large parts of the episode, as well as Leica spherical lenses for flashback scenes in the desert. There are scenes shot inside a bus. When we got hold of the vehicle at the end of June there wasn’t time for any modifications. Fortunately, VENICE allows for the sensor head to be separated from the main body (with CBK-3610XS Extension Kit) which makes it very small and light, plus we used an anamorphic widescreen lens that covers a wider angle of view. This configuration made it possible for us to shoot in a small space. We shot some scenes with the camera body separated from the sensor block on a stabiliser, mounted outside the bus on a bracket.

There are also scenes shot inside an Airbus A330 plane parked at Xi’an Airport, where again we used VENICE in split mode as there wasn’t much available space inside the aircraft.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the directors were studying movies and you could see they had many new ideas on all aspects of camera movement. Filming was a very collaborative experience; the directors would design many shots together and exchange ideas with me. It’s an efficient way of working and I was very happy working with such excellent directors.

For example, we designed a lot of long takes – the director would adjust the shooting plan on the spot when he saw something new in an actor’s performance. Our camera crew were able to react very quickly to make these shots happen.

The overall production with VENICE lasted a few months and it’s very pleasing to work on a film that has such a warm family feeling and really captures some history.