r/TrueCinematography

For my latest fan edit I present to you, my interpretation of On The Silver Globe, one of the most ambitious, raw and intricate sci-fi’s of its time (1976)

First of all, this movie as it was released is not finished. The film at around 84% complete was shut down by the polish government. All costumes and footage was ordered to be destroyed and the director was issued an order to leave the country within 48 hours. For over 10 years, the complete portions of this film existed in attics and basements. It was not until much later that everything was scrapped together and the film was presented in a fragmented fashion. The missing scenes were filled in with a narrator reading what could have been.

My approach to this edit was to present this film in as complete a way as possible. Some scenes are missing music and sound effects (ambient noise, battle sounds) so I took the liberty of completely overhauling the soundtrack and adding in needed sound effects. There is one portion of a song I left in from the original, it totals about a minute or less. So every song you hear was handpicked by me, sound painted over every absolutely stunning scene.

Every frame is a painting, the cinematography in this film is just surreal. Remember that this was filmed in 1976, it is just so way ahead of its time in many ways. Truly a marvel.

I will tell you right now, this film is HEAVY.
Every line of dialogue rolls off the tongue in true Shakespearean style. A creative decision that will elevate this movie for some, and maybe clutter it for others. Very deep thoughts and ideas being displayed in this movie from beginning to end. For me, this is where the movies real charm comes from.

The missing scenes where a narrator voices what was supposed to be filmed have been removed. For me it takes you out of the experience and further complicates an already hard to interpret story. I have added in my own way of bridging together these scenes in the form of some text that will appear here and there throughout the movie.

Cool tidbit about the first portion of this film. Much of it was filmed in a found footage style. Literally like watching GoPro footage, but in 1976! This means they were handling some pretty big and expensive cameras in some very innovative ways. Groundbreaking stuff.

This movie at its core is about the human condition and how our nature to be free is often contradicted by our own dogmas we as a society create.

I hope I have done this phenomenal piece of work some justice. This movie was originally slated for release around the same year the first Star Wars come out. The vibe could not be any different lol but it makes you wonder what could have been.

This film is truly a piece of history. Everyone who is a fan of cinema should experience it at least once.

I hope to see you all on The Silver Globe,

Cheers!

Original runtime - 2 hours and 46 minutes

New runtime - 1 hour and 46 minutes

Camera package:

• Sony Venice 2 with Rialto
• DZO Probe Zoom 18–28mm T8
• Olympus OM 21mm / 24mm

Core lighting package:

• 12x SkyPanel S60 (built into a 6x8m soft ceiling box)
• Astera Titan tubes (pixel-animated for motion lighting)
• Astera Hydra + AputureMC for small interior accents
• Standard grip: floppies, solids, frost frames, negative fill for chroma spill control

Pre-production / previs

I started by pulling the studio's floor plan and an FBX model of the car from production, combined them in Unreal Engine, and used that to figure out exact camera-to-screen distances before ever stepping on set. That let me solve the biggest problem of LED-wall shooting in advance: car placement relative to the screens to maximize reflections, instead of hunting for it live on set.

One issue I hadn't accounted for: a gap in coverage between the top screen and the LED curve, directly above the car. I built a 6x8m softbox out of 12 SkyPanel S60s to cover it — even, gentle top light is critical for car work, any unevenness shows immediately in the paint.

Shot-by-shot problems worth knowing:

1. Eye → windshield → hood → front 3/4 shot: Used the DZO Probe at 24mm to avoid distorting the actress's face, then zoomed to 18mm during the push-in for a subtle dual-zoom feel. Asked the LED studio for a green-tinted sky gradient on the ceiling specifically to push more saturation into the car's paint.
2. Logo close-up → wide reveal: Deliberately left the actress in silhouette with only screen spill as fill — kept all visual attention on the car's lightning-bolt logo, since the next cut goes straight into the dashboard.
3. Interior dashboard shot: Switched to the Olympus 21mm for its close focus and low weight — the Laowa I'd planned originally couldn't physically tilt-up inside the car on the MoCo rig. We had to rig a blue chroma screen overhead (the LED ceiling wasn't sized right for this angle) and flag aggressively — spill light on a chroma screen turns black into grey and kills your key.
4. Rear window fly-out, 180° pan to CGI: The real fight here was moiré. At f/8 on probe lenses, anything closer than ~3m to the LED panel started strobing. Switched to OM 21mm specifically for the extra blur it gave at distance, and treated 3m as a hard minimum working distance from the panel for the rest of the shoot.
5. Final wide-to-close: OM 24mm let me get close to both car and screen without triggering moiré, while still pulling back for a full-length wide. Added a slight cool tint to the front/rear via diffusion frames to separate the car from the background and push a more dimensional look.

What I'd like feedback on

The wheel-logo shot (#2) relied entirely on screen/softbox bounce for the car's surface — no direct lighting at all on the body. It worked, but I'm curious whether others here would have added a hard kick somewhere on that panel for more shape, or if you think the flat bounce reads better for car paint in motion. Also open to hearly anyone's experience with the 3m moiré threshold — has that number held up the same way on other LED volumes you've worked on?

Final result (Vimeo, watch in HD if you can — a lot of this only reads properly at full res):
https://vimeo.com/1087042632

Happy to answer anything in the comments.

a documentary about a date. the text you send after. the one you're still waiting on. modern loneliness looks a lot like a full night out. Read Receipts captures what happens when the night ends and the silence begins. directed by Tenley E Raj. coming soon. 🤍

after the freeze is going to barcelona. 🌊 official selection @ love & hope international film festival — oct 14-17, 2026. see you there. full film drops on youtube after the fest.