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Poseidon is the Greek God who looms largest within the lifetime of his demigod son, Perseus “Percy” Jackson (Walker Scobell). However it’s Helios and Apollo that the movie crew of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” has to take care of essentially the most.
Season 2 of the Disney+ collection follows Percy and his pals/frienemies from Camp Half Blood on a quest for the Golden Fleece (sure, that one), however the present shoots in and round Vancouver — and the important thing to efficiently integrating the reside motion and VFX components, grounding the actions of Gods and mortals, is the proper of sunshine.
You do type of should sacrifice a goat to seize a sunny day within the Pacific Northwest within the fall.
“I all the time say, because the DP, if that is going to be on stage, it needs to be beneath a heavy, cloudy sky as a result of it’s gotta be delicate gentle. And I do know I can create delicate gentle realistically on set. If there’s solar, it’s gotta be dawn or sundown. The solar needs to be coming by means of at a extremely low angle and actually heat. However if you need this scene to be beneath a solar at 10 a.m., no, we will’t pull that off on stage,” collection cinematographer Jules O’Loughlin instructed IndieWire.
“Percy Jackson and the Olympians” does each, making use of huge stage areas but in addition spending lots of Season 2 outside. If an atmosphere takes place outdoors with a sunny or a minimum of a transparent really feel, they shoot it outdoors. It doesn’t all the time work out, as with the daughter of Athena Annabeth’s (Leah Jeffries) tense encounter with the Sirens (sure, these ones) in Season 2. “It poured with rain, and we had screens excessive of the set maintaining the rain off the actors, and also you’ve solely received six or seven hours of daylight, and also you’ve gotta go quick,” O’Loughlin mentioned. “But when there’s an opportunity that there could possibly be solar, we need to shoot outdoors.”
Even in one of the vital advanced scenes of the season, the Episode 2 chariot race (clearly, a camp for the youngsters of Greek Gods has a chariot course), O’Loughlin and his group needed to account for variable situations throughout capturing days to realize a normalized look. “With the climate in the course of the chariot race, we had cloud, pouring rain, we had full solar. It’s not simply the horses going round, however it’s the sequence that takes place within the stadium as nicely. We had a whole combine, and so my job in that state of affairs is to try to match as a lot as doable utilizing huge black solids held up by machines to create adverse fill and to create form on the faces, and likewise to cowl the set from rain.”
Controlling the climate was the least of it. “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” constructed a customized course of rig with two chariot cockpits — one that would transfer north-south and one that would transfer east-to-west — the place the actors might safely stand; then the shot might have actual horse-drawn chariots being pushed behind them, and a truck pulling the rig at some velocity in entrance. O’Loughlin clearly studied the 1925 and 1959 variations of “Ben-Hur” intently whereas planning the race. However he additionally took technical cues from Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator” to visually convey the chariot-driving with actual depth with out killing 100 horses (allegedly).
“For me, it was about understanding the lowered shutter — capturing at 19 and 20 frames and enjoying it again at 24 simply to offer it additional velocity,” O’Loughlin mentioned. “Then with the ability to velocity it up and likewise doing lengthy lens [shots] from outdoors the course, with the automobile flying across the outdoors. So, fence posts and spectators and flags are flying by means of the foreground, with the chariot behind.”
However the principle focus of the chariot race, and of all tv actually, is what’s taking place on the actors’ faces. One of the crucial vital issues that O’Loughlin has performed on all three seasons of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” (the Season 3 shoot is scheduled to wrap in March 2026) is the work he’s performed behind the digicam with the present’s younger solid.
“I actually took it on board to try to assist them find out about what the digicam is doing and what the digicam is definitely seeing,” O’Loughlin mentioned. “I’ll say, ‘Pay attention, it is a 75mm [lens]. In the event you throw a glance simply previous digicam right here or there, it’ll be far more highly effective. In case your look is simply too large, your viewers isn’t going to attach with you as a lot as when you throw the look right here.’”
The solid responded to O’Loughlin after which some. Dior Goodjohn, who performs the brash daughter of Ares Clarisse, was the primary member of the “Percy Jackson” solid who requested to shadow O’Loughlin on certainly one of her days off, and now all of the core members of the Quest for the Golden Fleece and their nemesis Luke (Charlie Bushnell) have performed so.
“Dior turned up with a pocket book and a pen and requested me one million questions after which adopted me round in every single place on set,” O’Loughlin mentioned. “For me, it’s essentially the most rewarding factor to have the ability to speak about my craft to people who find themselves actually , proper? And likewise to assist them as actors. Over the seasons, they’re rising in leaps and bounds.”
So, what’s a cinematographer’s recommendation to younger actors to make use of the instruments of cinematography to their benefit?
“I say to them, ‘Pay attention, this season has been launched. Watch it and luxuriate in it, however then return and watch your efficiency in a bodily approach. Watch the sunshine and the lens and the digicam placement, how the place you’re in relation to the digicam adjustments your efficiency and what it does for you. Be taught that about your self [and learn] what works for you,’” O’Loughlin mentioned. “On the finish of the day, it’s a dance between actor and digicam and lights and all the opposite features.”
Season 2 of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” is streaming on Disney+.
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