Faux Amis: Alexa 35, Broadcast Zooms and a 6-Day Paris Shoot

Constraint: shoot an indie short across two continents with a small footprint. Solution: pick tools and workflows that maximize reach and minimize grip time. Theo Matza leaned on one camera platform and inventive optics to make Paris feel both vast and predatory.

Matza kept prep compact—two weeks of location wandering with DoP Max Fly-Goldstein, then bringing a core American operator, gaffer and sound artist to Paris while Angelo Chammah marshalled local crews and rentals. Shooting days were tight: 6 production days in Paris, 1 day in New York.

"I wanted the geography itself to become part of the comedy and the story."
Theo Matza, writer/director

Method: sustained voyeuristic zooms were achieved by pairing standard Fujinon zoom lenses with an "incredible box lens made for sports broadcasting," then stacking focal extenders to turn the broadcast optic into a telescope without sacrificing light. Albrecht Gerlach at PhotoCineRent in Paris helped identify and source the broadcast zoom. For contained, high-tension interiors Matza used multiple camera operators on opposite sides of a hallway to create handheld, kinetic coverage that the edit later punched together.

"We shot on the Alexa 35 camera with Fujinon zoom lenses, and also this incredible box lens made for sports broadcasting."
Theo Matza, writer/director

Kit

• Camera: Alexa 35
• Lenses: Fujinon zoom lenses; sports broadcast box lens with stacked focal extenders
• Days: Paris 6 production days; New York 1 production day
• Format: not stated
• Frame rate: not stated
• Aspect ratio: not stated

Post: Matza finished the edit within five months with Jefferson Randall in the room and mixed with sound collaborator Tim Perdoch; the tight shoot plus deliberate optic choices let the team shape a clear visual voice in limited time.