Cooke S4 Prime Lenses used in fourth 'Potter' film shoot

Currently in production, DoP Roger Pratt has chosen Cooke S4 Prime Lenses for 'Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire'.
The fourth film featuring the boy wizard is the second in the series to use Cooke S4 Prime Lenses.
Academy award-nominated film 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban', directed by Oscar nominee, Alfonso Cuaron, and shot by the gifted New Zealand-born cinematographer Michael Seresin, was brought to life through the earthly wizardry of Cooke S4 Prime Lenses.
Cuaron's view of the third film in the young wizard's world is grainier and grimier than previous Harry Potter films. It feels at once more dangerous, more thoroughly enchanted and more realistic. While the first two episodes took place mostly in the corridors and classrooms of Hogwarts, this one lingers in the shadowy forests and damp meadows outside the school walls.
The setting emphasizes Cuaron's knack for evoking the haunting, sensual power of the natural world - coupled with Seresin’s brilliant cinematography which helped make it one of the top grossing films in 2004.
To help achieve these effects, Seresin selected Cooke S4 Prime Lenses, since he had up to 15 to 18 cameras on first and second unit, and needed to ensure everything matched. He used the Cooke S4 because of its stunning quality that he loves - sharp enough, but able to deliver subtleties and convey the dark, sometimes sinister, mood of the film.
Cooke S4 Primes also served the model unit on “Prisoner of Azkaban” as well, according to Stone Nigel, model unit director of photography.
“They don’t fall off on the focus very fast,” said Nigel. “It would be disastrous if Harry was sharp in the foreground and then the leading edge of our model was soft and then went into sharpness. It would look very strange.”
Specified by many of the most renowned directors of photography and cinematographers in Hollywood, Cooke S4 Prime lenses are acclaimed for their unique mechanical design and extraordinary photographic qualities.
They have been used to shoot several of the most renowned and visually beautiful motion pictures of all time, both in Hollywood and internationally.
Other recent box office releases shot with Cooke lenses include 'Ray', 'Bridget Jones's Diary', 'Chicago', 'Under the Tuscan Sun', 'O Brother Where Art Thou?' and 'Girl With a Pearl Earring'.
For more information about Cooke lenses, visit www.cookeoptics.com
(SP)