Jules O'Loughlin, ASC, ACS, Blends Reality with Mythology on Sony VENICE 2 for ‘Percy Jackson & the Olympians’

Filmmaker Interview: O’Loughlin Reveals the Rules of Percy Jackson & the Olympians

Starring Walker Scobell as the titular character, Percy Jackson & the Olympians explores the coming-of-age antics of teenage demigods. Now in its second season, the series has undergone a visual evolution under O'Loughlin, much like the young cast of the film.

"The most important rule that we have for Percy Jackson & the Olympians is that it has to be grounded," O'Loughlin said. "I've been working with the showrunners, Dan Shotz and Jon Steinberg, for some years — we did Black Sails together, we did See, and after that, The Old Man — and they want their shows to feel grounded."

"[The series] is fantastical, but to the average character in the [show], they don't see the monsters. They just see other human beings. They don't see the fantastical world."

To achieve this grounded feel for the show, O'Loughlin and the production team focused on real locations and physical sets rather than using the Volume. Even going as far as terraforming an entire landscape to craft the right set. 

"We used a lot of Volume in Season 1. And in Season 2, we decided that apart from car and bus travel, which we did continue to shoot on Volume stages or against LED screens, we would go back to a more traditional way of shooting," O'Loughlin explained. "We thought with the Volume, there were times where it just didn't tick that realism box to the extent that we wanted…and we've moved away from that to try to shoot on location or to make sets as much as we can and then do CGI set extensions where needed.”

This was most evident in a chariot race sequence in Episode 2 of Season 2, where the young cast rode and battled between real chariots. Using blue screen and then compositing the footage later would have been cost-prohibitive, so it was decided that the production would build their own chariot course. 

"The chariot race was a really interesting one because in pre-production you're spit-balling about how you're going to do it," O'Loughlin explained. "Do we find a football field somewhere or a stadium? Do we shoot it against blue screen? A whole bunch of questions are being thrown out. But there were three things that were driving the decisions on how we shot that sequence."

"The first thing is the safety of our principal cast, who are young actors; they aren't stunt people. Second of all, is animal welfare. And the third thing was, once again, it had to be grounded," O'Loughlin continued. "And in the end, after lots of discussions, we decided that we would build our own chariot course. What we called the Circus Minimus."

"So when you see the race, in so far as the location is concerned , there are no visual effects,."

Built near the shooting location for Camp Half-Blood, the Circus Minimus track was the first step toward achieving a grounded look for the race. The second challenge was figuring out how to shoot the young cast. While blue screen was again considered, O'Loughlin and his Director James Bobin, opted for a mechanical solution.

"We came up with a version of an insert car. Normally, you'd put a motor vehicle on the trailer, you'd haul it with a big truck, and you have all your cameras around it, and you'd drive around the street shooting," O'Loughlin said. "We did a similar thing where we built a process trailer, and we were able to mount two wheelless chariots on track. One chariot could move north-south, and the other one could move east-west.”

Using the both the 1926 and 1959 version of Ben-Hur starring Charlton Heston as reference, O'Loughlin leaned on traditional filmmaking tricks to add intensity and speed to the race. From reduced shutter angles and frame rates to composition tricks and unique camera placements using the VENICE 2 Extension System, the entire sequence was shot with the actors on a real set.

"Me and the director James Bobin, were on the back of the insert truck with all our monitors and then on the process trailer, we were running cameras, either on Steadicam or mounted, O'Loughlin explained further. "We were able to shoot our principal cast with the hero chariots closing in on one another, and our cast sword fighting, and then moving apart. Or we'd get rid of one of them and just run a single chariot with stunt performers on real chariots in the background."

"We'd do things like counter tracks, cameras low to the ground, wide angles, and then super telephoto as they came around corners. Lensed up parallel tracking with chariots, with foreground crowd, and arena elements flashing through frame" O'Loughlin added. "We pulled all the tricks out of the book to make it look fast and exciting." 

Filmmaker Interview: The Sony VENICE 2 Recipe of Percy Jackson & the Olympians

For Season 1 of the series, the Sony VENICE 2 was paired with a set of Cooke anamorphic lenses that were tuned specifically for the Volume. As the show shifted gears to shoot predominantly on location or on physical stage sets for Season 2, O'Loughlin kept the same combination of camera and lenses, even keeping it for his work in the upcoming third season. 

"Just the way that [the VENICE 2] renders color, there's so much depth and so much latitude," O'Loughlin said. "It was such a great recipe, the VENICE 2 paired with the Cooke anamorphics, which we had tuned in Season 1. It was quite a tune that we did to those lenses, and we've stuck with that formula now through three seasons."

Beyond the camera itself, the VENICE 2 and the VENICE 2 Extension System gave O'Loughlin and his team added versatility. Whether the camera operators were shooting handheld or a certain composition required a unique mounting setup, the Extension System offered novel solutions. 

"For the Season 2 finale battle, we ran two RIALTOs in handheld mode with the grips carrying the main body in a backpack. That gave the operators incredible versatility and ability to move and react," O'Loughlin said. "And there are certain mounts that we used on the chariot. There is a sequences where Percy falls off the back of the chariot and is dragged. So we had mounts that were low, looking up at Daniel Diemer, who played Tyson, and another mount that was right on the back of the chariot when Percy was dragged.”

The second-unit camera teams also heavily utilized the VENICE 2 Extension System, placing cameras right in front of the horses on the chariots and low down by their hooves. And while O'Loughlin did use the FX3 in certain scenarios, the Extension System enabled him to use his main camera system with the tuned Cooke anamorphics. 

A Show of Endless Challenges, A Show of Endless Possibilities

Percy Jackson & the Olympians is the first show where O'Loughlin will stay on past a second season. With Season 3 now shooting, O'Loughlin looks back on the show thus far. From mentoring members of the young cast in cinematography to working with what he calls "the best camera crew in the world," the series continues to offer him rare and exciting moments.

"I shot a Western some years ago, and I'd stop my camera crew occasionally and go, 'Okay, guys, just stop and take it all in. We're shooting a Western. And I did the same thing with the chariot race," O'Loughlin said. "How often does a cinematographer or a crew get to do that? It's such a rare and exciting thing."

Catch Season 2 of Percy Jackson & the Olympians now on Disney+. To learn more about the VENICE 2 and the other cameras in the Sony Cinema Line, visit our Camera Comparison Chart.