London, UK –  Director Roland Emmerich and award-winning
cinematographer Anna Foerster, ASC used Codex Onboard Recorders on the Sony
Pictures feature film White House Down. The film stars Channing Tatum,
Jamie Foxx and Maggie Gyllenhaal, and depicts a paramilitary invasion of the
White House in Washington, DC.

“Codex is a fully
developed, fantastic way of working,” says Foerster. Emmerich agrees. “The
Codex Recorders did what every tool should do: perform so flawlessly that we
forget they are there.”

In early 2010,
Foerster was one of the first directors of photography to use the ARRI Alexa
camera, shooting a feature film using a prototype of the camera and Codex
Recorders. That film, Anonymous, was set in the visually rich period of
Elizabethan England, and it earned Foerster the German Film Award for best
cinematographer. Anonymous was also directed by
Emmerich.

For White House
Down, Emmerich and Foerster envisioned a look that differed from that of a
standard action film. The story unfolds over the course of a single morning.
The movie was shot almost entirely on stages in Montreal.

“White House
Down is more contained than Roland’s previous action epics,” says Foerster.
“It’s more grounded in a single building, and it’s limited to a handful of
people. There’s a lot of physical action – running, shooting, fighting.”

That physicality
was a major factor in the decision to shoot with the Alexa/Codex combination,
according to Foerster. “We knew we’d have a lot of quick movement, and a lot of
Steadicam,” she says. “We liked the size and balance of the Alexa with the
Codex.”

Foerster says that
Codex was a given. The Codex recorded images in ARRIRAW format, and SxS cards
simultaneously recorded ProRes 444 images as a backup and to capture metadata
for visual effects. There was no color correction on the set.

A fibre optic link
connected the DIT data station with the SAN at the Technicolor offices, cutting
down on transfer time and ensuring copies of the data in two separate secure
sites. On location, shuttle drives were used. Reports were consolidated to
cloud storage for easy access. Images were monitored and QC’d at several stages
to ensure integrity.

“The Codex 512Gb
Datapacks worked perfectly,” says Digital Imaging Technician Julie Garceau. “We
never have any problems. The product is rugged and dependable, and Codex is
always improving it.”

A digital
intermediate post path was followed at Sony Colorworks, with colorist Steve
Bowen.

Foerster says that
the Codex recorders allowed her to focus on the artistic aspects of her job.

“The Codex is a
well-designed tool,” she says. “You don’t need to worry about it. It’s peace of
mind. Technology should not clog your mind with technical information. I would
recommend it to anyone.”

About Codex Digital

 Codex Digital, who are based in London,
England design and manufacture high-end digital equipment for motion picture
and television production, products include the award-winning high-resolution
media recorders and a range of media management stations to manage the entire
workflow of a digital production from set to post production. The company is
setting new standards for end-to-end production workflow.

For more
information please visit www.codexdigital.com.

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