Shot over 37 days over three time periods: October-November 2010 in Las Vegas, December 2011 in New Zealand and February 2011 again in Vegas, Cirque du Soleil Worlds Away is the latest film to be screened in movie cinemas across the UAE. Executive producer Cameron, whose company CAMERON | PACE Group shot the film, used […]
Shot over 37 days over three time periods: October-November 2010 in Las Vegas, December 2011 in New Zealand and February 2011 again in Vegas, Cirque du Soleil Worlds Away is the latest film to be screened in movie cinemas across the UAE.
Executive producer Cameron, whose company CAMERON | PACE Group shot the film, used the FUSION 3D camera system.
We dropped in with our 10 3D cameras and started shooting. But it’s a lot different than just standing back with a ring of cameras and shooting a live show. We used Steadicams for shooting close-ups enabling us to get into the action because it’s much better for 3D. I lobbied for high camera positions so when you are shooting down you get that sense of vertigo. At times we were shooting from 50 to 100 feet in the air, and you feel the height of these amazing artists performing 90 feet above the floor. You also realize the jeopardy they are in all the time, says Cameron.
The only CGI used in the film are scenes in the desert. Otherwise for the movie, the team worked with a different stage crew every four days and shot during the live Cirque du Soleil shows and as well as on the days when there weren’t any live performances. While it was cost effective to shoot during the live shows, shooting on days off enabled the team to be able to come in from different angles.
For writer/director/producer Andrew Adamson, tying a love knot around the Cirque du Soleil live shows was a journey into magical realism. The film feels “as if you strayed into a circus in a dream, says Cameron.
“The live experience of these shows is incredible. But in the movie theater, what we can give you is the experience of being right in the middle of a show where you will really get to see the detailed work that’s gone into the characters, the costumes and the choreography. There is pageantry to the live experience, but there is an intimacy to the 3D experience.”
One of the challenges for the filmmakers of Cirque du Soleil Worlds Away was that 3D involves more complicated cameras and technology and thus more time to set up the equipment.
Prep also meant meeting strict safety parameters with underwater cameras (avoiding the lethal mix of electricity and water) and camera cranes (out of harm’s way of aerialists and flying objects).
“We had to find a natural, cinematic way into the world of Cirque du Soleil,” says Adamson. “I started thinking about the way Cirque du Soleil live shows work. There is a very dreamlike quality about them. A thin thread of narrative that weaves in and out of each but allows these acts to exist within the worlds that are created. I thought this movie could do the same thing. I could find a narrative that threads these completely different shows together.”
“From the beginning Andrew had a fairly clear vision of what he wanted to do and it continued to evolve. As a producer, I kind of acted as his sounding board. The goal was to really celebrate the physical artistry of everything Cirque du Soleil is about, the design, the beauty and grace of those performances,” he concludes.
