DP John Mathieson harnessed Kodak 35mm film to bring a sense of nostalgic adventure to 'Jurassic World Rebirth'

Once upon a time dinosaurs ruled the Earth! These days they rule at the box office. Despite their extinction some 65 million years ago, the prehistoric creatures are a hugely popular attraction for modern moviegoers.

Indeed, the realistic and exciting depictions of these reptiles rampaging around in the Jurassic Park/World series have been a major factor in the franchise's consistent success, earning Universal Pictures over $6 billion at the global box office so far, and a ranking of seventh in the list of highest-grossing movie franchises of all time.

Steven Spielberg directed the first two features in the franchise and served as executive producer on all subsequent installments in the series. All but one of those features, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018), were shot on 35mm film.

The task of continuing the analog filmmaking tradition with Jurassic World Rebirth, the seventh installment overall, plus the goal of delivering an action-packed adventure that felt both nostalgic and authentic to its Spielbergian roots, fell to director Gareth Edwards and cinematographer John Mathieson BSC, using KODAK 35mm as the sole capture medium.

Set five years after the tumultuous events in the 35mm-originated Jurassic World Dominion, (2022, dir. Colin Trevorrow, DP John Schwartzman ASC), the planet's ecology has become largely hostile to dinosaurs. Those creatures that endure live in isolated tropical environments where the climate resembles that in which they previously flourished. One such place is Ile Saint-Hubert, a no-go island in the Caribbean archipelago housing an abandoned research facility of InGen, the bioengineering company responsible for cloning extinct dinosaurs and the creation of the original 'Jurassic Park' theme park.

A pharmaceutical corporation hires a specialist team – covert operations expert Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson), palaeontologist Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey), and team leader Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali) – to locate three of the largest prehistoric creatures of land, sea and air, and secure DNA samples for a radical drug that could potentially bring life-saving benefits to humankind.

However, their top-secret mission becomes troublesome when they encounter a stranded family whose boat has been capsized by marauding aquatic creatures, and even more so when they discover the island is not just a haven to the dinosaurs they are seeking but also home to failed genetic experiments, including a six-limbed mutant Tyrannosaurus Rex called 'Distortus rex.'

Filming on Jurassic World Rebirth commenced in the middle of June 2024, with an initial five-week stint on location in the rainforests, mountains and on the beaches of several national parks in Thailand. Filming then moved to Malta for a further five weeks, where the movie's waterborne stunt sequences were shot in water tanks at Malta Film Studios, involving boats being placed on large hydraulic gimbals, and also on the nearby Mediterranean Sea.

In August, production took place on the sound stages of Sky Studios Elstree, UK, for six weeks, where sets included the research rooms and tunnel network of the dilapidated InGen facility, with exteriors encompassing a precipitous cliff face constructed on the studio backlot. The movie's opening sequence took place for a week in New York, and production officially wrapped on October 15. No reshoots or pick-ups were necessary.

“People love dinosaurs,” says Mathieson, whose many previous analog credits as cinematographer include Gladiator (2000), Kingdom of Heaven (2005), Great Expectations (2012) and Detective Pikachu (2019). “Those prehistoric creatures have a perennial intrigue for audiences, and ours were big and unusual.

“The producers wanted this film to recapture and honor the suspenseful tone and the sense of wonder in the original Jurassic Park trilogy, particularly the first film, where the concept was about humans within dinosaur environments.

“However, in the early stages after I came on board, there was a resistance to shooting on film. Amongst the bones of contention, there was a misapprehension that capturing on film would prove to be prohibitively expensive. It was thought we would likely shoot well over 20,000 ft, around four hours of footage, every day.

“I demolished this mistaken assumption by explaining that, because of the on-set discipline that comes with film, when the cast and crew are all focused on their respective A-games, and the fact that this was mainly a single-camera shoot, it would be impossible to achieve such a high shooting ratio. Unlike digital, you don't just keep on rolling camera when you shoot on film.

“As it turned out, we often had well under 50 minutes of rushes every day, and some days it was just a few hundred feet. During these discussions, I also pointed out that the costs for stock and processing would balance well against the spend on a DIT in a video village and the costs for transcoding, quality control and back-ups.”

Mathieson says he additionally dismissed remaining concerns about reviewing takes on-set and the rushes workflow between the far-flung locations and the lab in the UK.

“Over the years I have shot on film more than enough times to know that it is reliable, the exposure will be correct, and to know when we have the right take in the can. With digital, it is so disrespectful to the talent when you just keep rolling for endless takes, and the judgement about a take is then made in a tent 50-yards away and declared through loud hailer or over a radio.

“With film, people gravitate towards the camera. Gareth was always nearby, with me and the actors, and was on top of things all the time. When you work like this, you can easily say to the talent, 'Let's try another one' or 'That take was lovely,' and that keeps things highly efficient.”

As for the workflow, Mathieson adds, “When you shoot on film, you're usually working with pretty serious people around you who really respect the artform. With the help of James Corless, the commercial director at Harbor in London, I made sure in advance that we had a solid workflow in place, between us on-location, the team at Kodak Film Lab and my dailies colorist, Miles Anderson, also at Harbor.

“Although I knew there would be some time lag between shooting and reviewing the rushes – five days when we were in Thailand, fewer for Malta and overnight in London – apart from the odd transport issues in the Far East, there were no problems between the lab or Harbor in processing, scanning, grading and returning the rushes to us.”

When it came to references, the DP says he and Edwards imbibed classic action/adventures involving water and jungles – notably Jaws (1975, DP Bill Butler ASC), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981, DP Douglas Slocombe OBC BSC) and Jurassic Park (1993, DP Dean Cundey ASC) – all directed by Steven Spielberg – for their filmic looks and the style of camera blocking. Edwards also admired the looks in Kingdom of Heaven (2005), which Mathieson shot on Kodak 35mm film for Sir Ridley Scott.

Mathieson framed Jurassic World Rebirth in widescreen 2.40:1 aspect ratio, and shot using Panavision Millennium XL2 35mm cameras, fitted chiefly with Panavision E-series and C-series Anamorphic prime lenses. The shooting package, supplied by Panavision in London, also included an ARRI 235 35mm camera, plus Angénieux Optimo 30-72mm, 56-152mm and HR 50-500mm zooms, plus a spherical Elite 120-520mm zoom.

“The camera package was nothing fancy at all. It's one that has been available straight off-the-shelf for decades,” Mathieson says. “The great thing about traditional 35mm film cameras is that they are incredibly robust and reliable. Beyond a battery and an HD tap, there are no electronics involved. They don't mind when things get hot, sweaty or wet, when it's a hundred percent humidity or raining the whole time, or the place is dusty. They just work.

“Things like that pose big problems for digital cameras, especially when you try to protect them with a plastic bag, which leads to overheating, trouble with circuit boards and corrupted files. Also, where are you going to set up your DIT tent and video village in the middle of a jungle? With film, the crew are actually around the camera rather than being spread out all over the place. You actively want them to come and have a look through the viewfinder.”

Regarding the lenses, Mathieson says, “Gareth is not a director who wants a squeaky-clean look. Rather he likes imperfection in the glass, the texture of grain from the film, and the beautiful colors that come by combining glass with celluloid.

“The C-series lenses give an organic look-and-feel to the image but are prone to flaring which can become a bit irritating to control. So, I mainly used the E-series lenses – Gareth was particularly fond of the T2.0 75mm – as they deliver a clean look overall, but without being too clinical or too sharp.

“Of course, I could have gone to great lengths to have the lenses tweaked and tuned, but other than checking they worked alright, things like holding the focus, that was it. We used unmodernized lenses, just as they were back in the day.”

Mathieson selected KODAK VISION3 50D Color Negative Film 5203 for all of the exterior day scenes, and KODAK VISION3 500T Color Negative Film 5219 for all interiors, exterior night scenes and the depths of the jungle. Processing was at Kodak Film Lab, based on the lot and Pinewood Studios, UK.

“I have always liked slow-speed daylight filmstocks, right from the start of my career,” Mathieson declares. “I like the 50D as it has a hard dynamic range, the most gorgeous colors and the blacks are super-black. It was absolutely perfect for the outdoors exteriors we shot in the bright sunshine in Thailand and Malta.

“Then, of course, when you go into the jungle during the day, where every leaf in the canopy is looking for a bit of photosynthesis, the environment gets dark really quickly. In those instances, I went with the more sensitive 500T. It's a great filmstock as you don't need to worry too much about the peaks and troughs of exposure, especially when you push the negative.”

He adds, “I avoided shooting at night in the jungle, as that is very difficult and time-consuming to illuminate. So, we shot the night scenes day-for-night and used hard lighting to adjust the color temperature to create the idea of moonlight dancing off a leaf, often wetting down those big green leathery fronds to help kick up a bit of blue-tinted reflection.”

Mathieson's crew included Chris Plevin ACO as A-camera operator, with Lewis Hume pulling focus as 1^st AC. Guido Cavaciuti operated B-camera and Steadicam, supported by Alberto Torrecilla, with Dave Wells heading the grip team. Chuck Finch worked as chief lighting technician.

“My crew were wonderful, but I have to give a particular shout out to Dave and the grips. They did a lot of hard work, humping gear through the jungle, getting bitten by leeches and creepy-crawlies whilst setting up dolly tracks, more often than not in bottom of a river bed. Their skill and expertise also shone when we shot in Malta, where we did a lot of work using the 45ft Technocrane and 75ft Super Technocrane on the boat and water sequences.”

Mathieson says he is yet to be convinced about the quality of LED lighting fixtures for filming and opted for a traditional package.

“Our lights were shipped from London but got caught up with Houthi rebels in the Gulf of Aden, and we only saw them again when we returned to London. So, we had to source gear and pool what we could from Bangkok for our stints in Thailand. Apart from a box of Astera tubes, I didn't use any LED lights at all. We had large and small ARRI Fresnels and a lot of heavy ARRI HMIs to penetrate light into the jungles in Thailand to get some detail in the background.”

The DI grade was conducted by freelance colorist Paul Ensby at Goldcrest in London.

“Gareth and I were into keeping things as true as possible to the look of the original franchise films, and aimed to give this one a film-out look from yesteryear. Paul dug-out an old Kodak 2383 print film emulation LUT and worked in RGB printer lights, as you would have done at the lab way back when whilst making film release prints.

“We also tried not noodle too much with the pictures – no custom curves, no crushing of the blacks, no fiddling with windows or secondaries. We just let the film be what it is, with its color and grain. Gareth was really into this process and abided by the rules religiously in going for a filmic look. If anyone's going to say this film looks different, or nostalgic, this was a big part of it.”

Despite a brief encounter with a mangrove snake and successfully warding off a variety of jungle fevers that beset some of the crew, Mathieson says he enjoyed working with Edwards and the challenge of making a new chapter in the Jurassic Park/World saga.

“This type of filmmaking, where we could only haul a limited amount of grip, camera, lens and lighting equipment, up-and-down hill through the undergrowth, where the only level place to set up dolly tracks was in a dank riverbed, reminded me of how we made films 30 years ago. You necessarily have to compromise on any grand ideas you might have had, use what you are given, and keep things simple. But it also means you can move more quickly and get more shot each day.”

As for shooting on film, he reflects, “I'm delighted that shooting on film remains a creative choice. Look at the features that were nominated over the last couple of years, all the top ones were all shot on film – like Oppenheimer, Killers of the Flower Moon, Maestro, Poor Things, Nosferatu, Maria, Anora and The Brutalist. They're all different to one another, but they all have great visual appeal that audiences really respond to.

“I wouldn't care if I never saw another digital camera again; they send me to sleep. When you're shooting on film, you're actually your own master again. You're taking back what you got into this for in the first place. I'm glad I was able to use film to give this movie the sense of nostalgic adventure it needed.”

Jurassic World Rebirth, in theaters July 2.