2026.3.10
In the commercial production for the Cadillac F1® Team 2026 Season Livery Launch, renowned director Sam Pilling and Director of Photography Pat Scola insisted on returning to tradition, choosing film cameras as their creative medium. However, this was not merely a nostalgic tribute. The shoot required extreme macro cinematography, where the lens had a complex macro shot of the F1 car to capture every inch of detail.
To achieve this, the Cinemotion Robotics team joined the project with their professional robotic arms. To break through in a space-constrained and demanding macro environment, they utilized the 360° periscope version of the DZOFILM X-tract 18–28mm Probe Lens. This setup perfectly combined the precision of mechanical movement with the delicacy of optical imaging.
Q: Introduce yourself and describe your specific role and involvement in this production?
Yann: I’m Yann, co-owner of Cinemotion Robotics and movement designer. I was involved in this production to execute mostly scraping shots and macro shots for the Cadillac F1 release video.
Q: This project utilized a combination of Arriflex film cameras paired with Motion Control (MoCo) rigs. What was the cinematographic rationale behind choosing this specific technical setup?
Yann: Director Sam Pilling and cinematographer Pat Scola wanted to shoot the full piece on film. Pat asked me if it was possible shoot film on motion control, doing macro shots of an F1 car, on a dry lake bed, took it as a challenge, and said yes.
Q: What led to the decision to pair the DZOFILM X-tract 18–28mm lenses with this production?
Yann: The main difficulty when shooting film on motion control is staying nimble with a large and heavy camera body. To compensate for that, I immediately thought about using the X-tract 18–28 in its 360° periscope version, allowing the entrance pupil to be separated from the main body of the camera.
Q: How did the DZOFILM X-tract lenses perform when capturing directly onto a physical film emulsion?
Yann: The lens performed great, with very good flare control, and it cut very well alongside the Arri / Zeiss Master Primes that were used when the shot wasn’t macro.
Q: Shooting on film is high-stakes. How did crew member implement to ensure technical precision on set?
Yann: Film is always more technical than shooting digital and requires much more attention and concentration on set. To me, it emphasizes teamwork within the crew — everyone helps each other to reduce as close to 0% the chances that something can go wrong in the process.
Q: What is the atmosphere like behind the scenes on a celluloid film set?
Yann: On set, everyone is more focused and methodical during both the preparation and execution of each take, but the atmosphere isn’t tense. With a very good crew, people are used to working with this medium and everything runs smoothly.
Q: We are seeing an increasing number of projects return to celluloid. In your view, is this a fleeting nostalgic preference, or are we seeing a legitimate emerging trend in modern film production?
Yann: We tend to see more and more films and commercials shot on film these days. I think people are choosing film both for its look and for the very different experience on set. The director and DP are often freer to do what they originally intended, since the only thing visible on the monitor is a pixelated sd video tap signal that gives just a hint of what the final result will be.
This means the final result is mostly anticipated by the DP and director based on their experience, rather than judged from a perfect HD signal where many people can give feedback and potentially alter the original intention of the director and DP.
Cadillac Formula 1® Team 2026 Livery Reveal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlBnuKPbTO0
