christopher probst

Eager as you may be to catch what’s heading to Netflix UK next month, you can at least add the electrying sci-fi hit, Beyond Skyline, to your list of films to stream next month starting April 15. I can’t begin to express how happy I was when I had the chance to finally screen the film for a review as much as the film was able to prove its worth following its lesser-received 2010 predecessor, and rest assured, the addition of Iko Uwais and Yayan Ruhian to the roster with Frank Grillo and Bojana Novakovic was a plus.

The news was confirmed by noted film professor Christopher Probst who anchored the cinematography on the film’s adventurous production in Toronto and in Indonesia with the cast and crew led by director Liam O’Donnell. Probst delved further into the ins and outs of production with an extensive and detailed behind-the-scenes commentary in an Instagram post that leans well into the comments section, and you can certainly gather the passion applied by all involved, himself included.

Beyond Skyline is currently available on DVD, Blu-Ray and Digital HD, and is just one project that may or may not pair Grillo with Uwais in the months to come. It is also not the only Netflix acquistion of late for the Indonesian action star based on what I’ve heard and with at least four slated for arrival between now and next year, I’ll leave it to you to decide which comes first after this one. Happy guessing!

Next month, the alien invasion sci-fi action film, Beyond Skyline comes to Netflix. This project was a labor of love for director Liam O’Donnell @liamodin and I to pull together and when we first met to discuss making the movie, I pitched my fondness of old-school practical effects, classic in-camera slights of hand, creature effects work and achieving a sense of realism in integrating visual effects and practical photography. We both are fans of 80s sci-fi flicks like James Cameron’s Aliens, Predator, The Thing, etc. And those films definitely factored in the back of my mind in approaching the visual execution of our film. While we weren’t able to build every set practically, and many of the large aliens had to be achieved via CGI, I always wanted to anchor any of these elements with practical, on-set interactive lighting and effects . The film was filmed primarily in Indonesia, in Yogyakarta and Batam, while certain portions of the scenes set in Los Angeles were shot in LA and Toronto. The decision to shoot in Indonesia was not only financial but also factored into the storyline. It turned out that there was some sizeable stage space available to us in Batam that afforded us to build more sets and have a home base in close proximity to many of our exterior locations. We shot the film on Red Epic Dragon cameras @reddigitalcinema and Hawk V-Lite Vintage 74 anamorphic @hawkanamorphic lenses. . 1. Our cast of heroes led by Frank Grillo @frankgrillo1, Bojana Novakovic @bojnovak, Iko Uwais @iko.uwais and Yayan Ruhian @yayanruhiam make a stand at one of our Indonesian practical locations: the amazing Prambanan Temple ruins in Yogyakarta. 2. Another view of Prambanan as the characters discover it emerging out of a dense forest. . 3. Downtown Toronto standing in for LA for the opening of the film. In this pic, Mark (Frank Grillo) bails his troubled son Trent (Jonny Weston @jonnywestonofficial) out of jail. This scene was it with a 20x Ultrabounce overhead returning an 18K HMI, and an LRX backlight several blocks down the street. A 12x Full Grid half-light from frame right (lit with 2 2K fresnels) provides a little ground modeling to the talent. (continued)

A post shared by The ASC (@the_asc) on Mar 26, 2018 at 9:41pm PDT

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