LOST OLLIE
BRINGS LIFE TO A
CHILDREN'S TALE

This past March, C. Kim Miles, ASC, CSC, MySC was nominated for an American Society of Cinematographers Outstanding Achievement Award for his work on an episode of the Netflix limited series Lost Ollie. The recognition came for the very specialized and painstaking work of blending live action and animation. Achieving the right tone required an unusually close collaboration with the entire filmmaking team, especially visual effects.

Miles’s previous experience includes episodes of the superhero series Arrow and The Flash, as well as Mortal Kombat: Legacy, Lost in Space, Home Before Dark, Yellowjackets and Project Blue Book. For the latter, he won an ASC Award in 2020, and earned another nomination in 2021.

The unique experience of shooting the feature film Welcome to Marwen for Robert Zemeckis was certainly helpful for Miles on Lost Ollie. Marwen moved between reality and a miniature world that comes to life in the main character’s war-damaged mind, while Lost Ollie combines live action and puppets.

Miles says that Lost Ollie was presented to him as a combination of Toy Story and Lord of the Rings. Based on a book by William Joyce, the tale follows a stuffed toy rabbit whose quest is to reunite with its owner, with the aid of a toy clown named Zozo and a hard-bitten teddy bear named Rosy. 

“The most intriguing part was trying to tell the story from the perspective of these puppets,” says Miles. 

"THE AMOUNT OF DATA THAT HDE SAVES DESPITE THE DATA PACKAGE SIZE IS A BIG ADVANTAGE..."

One key difference between Lost Ollie and Welcome to Marwen was that the newer film was made with the ARRI ALEXA Mini LF as opposed to the ALEXA 65 used on the latter.

“Lost Ollie was my first LF show,” says the cinematographer. “Both cameras use CODEX in-camera recording, of course, but this time we were using CODEX High Density Encoding (HDE) as the file format, as opposed to uncompressed ARRIRAW. The amount of data that HDE saves despite the data package size is a big advantage, and it doesn’t seem to have much loss. It’s a really great format. On Home Before Dark, if I remember correctly, going to HDE saved us almost 40% of our data through the course of the show. The LF and the CODEX drives were flawless. We never had the slightest issue with the hardware, which is all built into the camera now. I can’t think of one incident, and I’m known as a busybody who keeps track of what’s going on in my department!”

HDE delivers benefits all along the production, making storing and moving data easier and cheaper without any sacrifice in quality or creative flexibility. HDE provides bit-exact data reduction of uncompressed camera ARRIRAW files, reducing the overall storage size of RAW images by a 2:1 ratio. When an HDE file is decoded, the result is a perfect bit-for-bit match to the original file. 

Digital Imaging Technician Ryan MacGregor loved the HDE workflow as well. “It’s given some longevity to the hardware I’ve owned for years. I’m still using the same eight-disk Thunderbolt 2A, and I’m still using a trashcan Mac Pro that I’ve had for nine years, and I’m achieving faster offloads – 25% faster than real time, which is amazing. So if we shoot 32 minutes of footage, which is a full card, it takes about 24 or 25 minutes to offload, which is great. That makes it easy to keep up, even with two or three cameras rolling. I just love how flexible it’s made everything without compromise. And it’s been completely solid.” 

MacGregor has used the same rig on his last three projects with Miles – Lost Ollie, Yellowjackets, and the feature film Champions. 

"THE LF AND THE CODEX DRIVES WERE FLAWLESS. WE NEVER HAD THE SLIGHTEST ISSUE WITH THE HARDWARE"

The format was 2.39:1 spherical, with the flat image matted to the wider aspect ratio. The switch to Mini LF came after careful consideration. 

“I had really fallen in love with the 65, the really large format, and how the field of view on a large format sensor changes not just how the optics work, but the field of view relative to focal length,” says Miles. “On the ALEXA 65, a 28mm lens has the field of view of a 14mm in 35 format. But you don’t have the optical characteristics of a 14mm lens. It’s the same field of view, but it doesn’t bend the lines or force the horizon.

“On Lost Ollie, we wanted to give the world of the puppets a gravity that felt more legitimate and less whimsical,” he says. “We looked at the 65 again and it was almost too serious a format, because of the large sensor. We also had considerations with VFX and ingesting that amount of data. We also looked at the regular ALEXA. We knew we would be close to the ground for the puppet POV, and we knew we wanted to stay wide to feel the scope of the adventure. But when we did that in 35 on wider lenses, it started to get bendy. It started to get whimsical, like a kid’s show, and it took away some of the urgency and legitimacy.”

The Mini LF was the perfect middle-ground, with some of the 65’s field of view, and focal lengths that could be wide enough without the whimsy. Extensive movement was also planned to add intensity and excitement to the adventure, and the Mini LF was well-suited there as well. 

“There’s still a wonderment in how the frames represent themselves, but it isn’t cartoonish,” he says. “And the Mini LF gave us a good solid CODEX workflow, and a proven, dependable sensor that I understand.”

"I’M A FAN OF PIX. THE TECHNOLOGY HAS GOTTEN SO MUCH BETTER. IT’S MORE RELIABLE, AND IT’S AN INDUSTRY STANDARD..."

Once the shoot was underway, the filmmakers had to adapt their approach to the realities of shooting. Their initial idea of shooting with hand-operated puppets proved impractical, and CG versions were dictated. Most shots had to be done without a puppet, by imagination to some extent. Almost every moment of the show required multiple passes on each take, followed by LIDAR and other effects requirements. Many irreversible decisions had to be made on the fly. In tandem with ILM’s collaboration tools, PIX served a key role in maintaining instant, accurate and secure communication around the imagery.

“Dailies and some editorial went back and forth on PIX,” says Miles. “I’m a fan of PIX. The technology has gotten so much better. It’s more reliable, and it’s an industry standard. I can’t remember the last time I didn’t have it on a project. It’s nice to be able to quickly pull up a reference file without having to go to the DIT and look through folders. It’s pretty quick.”

Stefan Drury and Hayden Jones of ILM, who had worked on The Mandalorian, oversaw the visual effects. Jones says, “We knew the characters had to be as believable as possible, which means not only creating finely detailed VFX but also matching and integrating the detail to the original photography. Working with the ARRIRAW plates allowed us the flexibility and creativity to keep our characters photoreal. As with all photoreal VFX work, it's always essential to have as much detail and dynamic range as possible. This gives the artist the highest quality image to work from and ensures we can match to all the subtle details of the live action footage. We were delivering the show in 4K HDR, and ARRIRAW provided both the dynamic range and the color accuracy needed, and allowed Kim and the directors to grade the final shots with as much creative flexibility as possible.”

Digital lighting artists worked carefully to understand how Miles created the mood and atmosphere for each scene. Jones says that Miles had a good sense of what was possible in VFX, and how digital lighting tools mimic the real world. The result is an organic and subtle feel that also comes across as photo-realistic – complete with imperfections in fabrics, lens distortion and flare, reflections and color. 

"HAVING ALL THE RUSHES TO HAND WITHIN ONE EASY-TO-ACCESS INTERFACE WAS A REAL GAME-CHANGER WHEN THE CREATIVE TEAM WAS SPLIT IN MULTIPLE GLOBAL LOCATION"

Due to Covid restrictions, Jones was unable to be on set for prep or the actual shoot. The creative team was divided among Los Angeles, London, and Vancouver. 

“All of the prep was remote, and therefore heavily reliant on video conferencing and remote review tools like PIX,” says Jones. “Robert Habros, the on-set supervisor, and I communicated daily via video conferencing and would look through the previous day's dailies on PIX. PIX allowed us to quickly scour through the large number of takes for the day and spot our preferred versions. As we were all finding the aesthetic for the show, and the best way to create a believable world for our characters, we could find issues with the rushes in PIX and flag them early to the relevant department. Having all the rushes to hand within one easy-to-access interface was a real game-changer when the creative team was split in multiple global locations.”

Prior to being honored as an ASC nominee for Lost Ollie, Miles shot Champions for director Bobby Farrelly, a feature film starring Woody Harrelson as a basketball coach ordered to manager a team of players with intellectual disabilities. He is currently in finishing on season one of The Brothers Sun, and wrapping up principal photography on Dear Santa, another comedy with Farrelly, this one starring Jack Black.