[Excerpt]

…

Leaning Away from 3D

The production team initially envisioned Cowboys & Aliens as a 3D movie, and spent much of the prep time investigating the possibility of shooting it in a stereo format. But the grit and sand of the desert locations threatened the 3D mirror elements, and the preponderance of bright day exteriors in the desert made a digital format seem unwise. The cumbersome camera rigs were also a consideration, as was the fact that polarizing filters – often used on the big vistas that are important elements in the classic Western – are potentially problematic on a 3D rig. 

“We knew we’d have a lot of day exteriors, and I’ve always been averse to shooting digital in day exteriors,” says Libatique. “Shooting film is going to be better then trying to struggle with a format that clips in the highlights. I think some of these problems have been mitigated, but they still exist. 

“The more we learned, the more we felt that 3D might hurt the film as a film,” he says. “I felt that anamorphic 35 mm would work better with the way Jon handles performance and coverage. But the main reason we came to a consensus was that anamorphic allowed us to adhere to Western cinematic language.”

…

Read the full story here: http://www.studiodaily.com/main/news/headlines/Cinematographer-Matty-Libatique-on-Cowboys-and-Aliens_13344.html