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O C T O B E R 2 013

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The International Journal of Motion Imaging

On Our Cover: Formula 1 racers Niki Lauda (Daniel Brhl, left) and James Hunt
(Chris Hemsworth) go head-to-head for the 1976 Drivers Championship in Rush,
shot by Anthony Dod Mantle, ASC, BSC, DFF. (Photo by Jaap Buitendijk, courtesy
of NBC Universal.)

FEATURES
38
54
66
78

Full Throttle
Anthony Dod Mantle, ASC, BSC, DFF shifts Rush into
high gear

54

Beyond the Law


Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC breaks down his lighting
for Prisoners

Naval Campaign
William Webb, ASC recounts his tour of duty on NCIS

Magic Touch

66

Guillaume Schiffman, AFC keys the speed-typing


romance Populaire

DEPARTMENTS
10
12
14
22
86
90
94
95
96
98
100

Editors Note
Presidents Desk
Short Takes: ASC Harris Savides Heritage Awards
Production Slate: After Tiller Don Jon
Post Focus: CSI
New Products & Services
International Marketplace
Classified Ads
Ad Index
Clubhouse News
ASC Close-Up: Steve Gainer

VISIT WWW.THEASC.COM

78

The International Journal of Motion Imaging

SEE AND HEAR MORE CINEMATOGRAPHY COVERAGE AT WWW.THEASC.COM

John Bailey, ASC offers observations on the artistry of legendary Mexican cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa in the latest
installment of his blog, Johns Bailiwick. Stills, video clips and links to other resources enhance Baileys comments. Figueroa
is the subject of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art exhibit Under the Mexican Sky: Gabriel Figueroa, Art and Film, which
opened on Sept. 22 and will remain on view until Feb. 2, 2014.
THIS MONTHS ONLINE QUESTION: Which cinematographers body of work has influenced you the most, and why?

Darek Kuzma: Roger Deakins [ASC, BSC], for


the images that haunt my memory long after the
films have ended; Conrad L. Hall [ASC], for giving
new meaning to true cinematic beauty; Janusz
Kaminski, for the flawless movie worlds he creates; and, recently, Sean Bobbitt [BSC], for his
magnificent work on Shame and Byzantium.
Iain Trimble: Roger Deakins has been the most
influential cinematographer in my career. From
film to digital, black-and-white to color, his
images always serve the story first. He is a gentleman, a teacher and a progressive filmmaker.
Richard Vialet: Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC, for
his boldness, his guts, his versatility, his dedication
to the aesthetic element of cinematography, and
his creativity in telling a story. If I could even come
close to the work he did on 21 Grams or Biutiful,
Id be a happy cinematographer.

Brandon Hyde: Seamus McGarvey [ASC, BSC].


His work with light and darkness has molded my
approach to lighting, and the fluidity with which
he tells a story is one that I strive to achieve. Anna
Karenina was as beautiful a film as youll ever see.
Hes a master.

Luca Costantini: Emmanuel Lubezki [ASC,


AMC]. His work with natural light and frame
composition defines him as a painter.

Geert Arentsen: Christopher Doyle [HKSC]. He


is intuitive and versatile. Imagine Chungking
Express and Hero coming from the same
Karthi Keyan: Wally Pfister [ASC]. He never source!
disturbs the storytelling.
Jared Caldwell: Darius Khondji. There is no
Clarke Mayer: Gordon Willis [ASC], for his movie that looks quite like Seven.
emphasis on shadow just as much as light.
Matthew Espenshade: Ive been heavily influDavid Joshua Smith: I dont think cinematog- enced by Harris Savides [ASC]. Like Gordon Willis,
raphy would be where it is today without Gregg he didnt fear the darkness. Like Lance Acord
Toland [ASC].
[ASC], he never cried for attention. Like Conrad
Hall, he found moments of beauty when the
Will Getchell: Ben Seresin, ASCs work really story needed it most.
interests me. He knows how to create beautiful,
vibrant images. And he puts the camera in places Pragathi Surana: Takeshi Hamada. Departures
that I didnt think it could go. He is an innovator. is a piece of art!

Matt Ryan Hayslett: Robert Richardson [ASC].


Flawless and beautiful images every time. He has Jorge Corral: Oliver Wood and Dean Cundey
[ASC]. Ive had the privilege to work with both,
a distinct style but tweaks it to fit every film.
and they are exceptional professionals who have
Nick Castronuova: Jack Cardiff [BSC]. He the ability to become one with the camera.
experimented with color and shadow without
worrying about realism or motivation. Still, he Michael Brandon McGee: Vittorio Storaro
understood and maintained a degree of formali- [ASC, AIC]. Hes created some of the most beauty in his framing and placement. Combined with tiful images in cinema. His use of color is unparhis experimentation, this created something alleled. Darius Khondji [ASC, AFC] is in the same
extraordinary. His two best works by far are The class.
Red Shoes and Black Narcissus.

Andrew Rodger: For me, its Matthew Libatique [ASC]. He has such a wide palette, but his
work is always flawless and visually stunning.
Zebastian Boiardt: James Wong Howe [ASC].
Black-and-white never looked the same.
Camille Collazo Photography: Michael Slovis
[ASC]. His work on Breaking Bad is groundbreaking.

To read more replies, visit our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/AmericanCinematographer

Figueroa photo by Manuel lvarez Bravo. Photo and frame grab courtesy of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and American Cinematographer archives.

Left: Figueroa reviews light tests for the film Sonatas


(1959), directed by Juan Antonio Bardem. Right: A
frame grab from Enamorada (1946) shows the eyes of
Mara Flix (Beatriz Peafiel).

O c t o b e r

2 0 1 3

V o l .

9 4 ,

N o .

1 0

The International Journal of Motion Imaging

Visit us online at

www.theasc.com

PUBLISHER Martha Winterhalter

EDITORIAL
EXECUTIVE EDITOR Stephen Pizzello
SENIOR EDITOR Rachael K. Bosley
ASSOCIATE EDITOR Jon D. Witmer
TECHNICAL EDITOR Christopher Probst
PHOTO EDITOR Julie Sickel
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Benjamin B, Douglas Bankston, Robert S. Birchard,
John Calhoun, Michael Goldman, Simon Gray,
David Heuring, Jay Holben, Noah Kadner,
Jean Oppenheimer, Iain Stasukevich,
Patricia Thomson

ART DEPARTMENT
CREATIVE DIRECTOR Marion Kramer

ADVERTISING
ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR Angie Gollmann
323-936-3769 FAX 323-936-9188
e-mail: gollmann@pacbell.net
ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR Sanja Pearce
323-952-2114 FAX 323-876-4973
e-mail: sanja@ascmag.com
CLASSIFIEDS/ADVERTISING COORDINATOR Diella Peru
323-952-2124 FAX 323-876-4973
e-mail: diella@ascmag.com

CIRCULATION, BOOKS & PRODUCTS


CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Saul Molina
CIRCULATION MANAGER Alex Lopez
SHIPPING MANAGER Miguel Madrigal

ASC GENERAL MANAGER Brett Grauman


ASC EVENTS COORDINATOR Patricia Armacost
ASC PRESIDENTS ASSISTANT Delphine Figueras
ASC ACCOUNTING MANAGER Mila Basely
ASC ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE Nelson Sandoval

American Cinematographer (ISSN 0002-7928), established 1920 and in its 93rd year of publication, is published
monthly in Hollywood by ASC Holding Corp., 1782 N. Orange Dr., Hollywood, CA 90028, U.S.A.,
(800) 448-0145, (323) 969-4333, Fax (323) 876-4973, direct line for subscription inquiries (323) 969-4344.
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Copyright 2013 ASC Holding Corp. (All rights reserved.) Periodicals postage paid at Los Angeles, CA
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POSTMASTER: Send address change to American Cinematographer, P.O. Box 2230, Hollywood, CA 90078.

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American Society of Cinematographers


The ASC is not a labor union or a guild, but
an educational, cultural and professional
organization. Membership is by invitation
to those who are actively engaged as
directors of photography and have
demonstrated outstanding ability. ASC
membership has become one of the highest
honors that can be bestowed upon a
professional cinematographer a mark
of prestige and excellence.

OFFICERS - 2012/2013
Richard Crudo
President

Owen Roizman
Vice President

Kees Van Oostrum


Vice President

Lowell Peterson
Vice President

Victor J. Kemper
Treasurer

Frederic Goodich
Secretary

Isidore Mankofsky
Sergeant At Arms

MEMBERS OF THE
BOARD
Curtis Clark
Richard Crudo
Dean Cundey
George Spiro Dibie
Richard Edlund
Fred Elmes
Victor J. Kemper
Francis Kenny
Matthew Leonetti
Stephen Lighthill
Michael OShea
Lowell Peterson
Owen Roizman
Rodney Taylor
Haskell Wexler

ALTERNATES
Isidore Mankofsky
Kenneth Zunder
Steven Fierberg
Karl Walter Lindenlaub
Sol Negrin
MUSEUM CURATOR

Steve Gainer

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Auto-racing fans have long praised the same familiar


movies as the best onscreen depictions of their favorite
sport. Grand Prix (1966), Le Mans (1971) and Days of Thunder (1990) typically comprise the front row of dramas set in
the world of organized racing, but Ron Howards Rush may
finally steal pole position from this elite field.
Recounting the real-life thrills of the 1976 Formula 1
Drivers Championship, the movie follows the pedal-to-themetal showdown between British rogue James Hunt (Chris
Hemsworth) and his exacting Austrian rival, Niki Lauda
(Daniel Brhl). Heading Howards pit crew was cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle, ASC, BSC, DFF, who deployed
nine different digital cameras to capture the high-speed
action from every conceivable angle. Our comprehensive coverage of this adrenalized movie
includes a detailed article on the cinematography by Mark Hope-Jones (Full Throttle, page
38); a sidebar interview with Howard by Fred Schruers (A Director Shifts Gears, page 42);
a full rundown of the projects digital pipeline (Organizing a 9-Camera Workflow, page
44); two dozen images, including unit stills, frame pulls and behind-the-scenes shots; and,
finally, a diagram detailing the camera placements for one of the movies pulse-elevating race
sequences. Im sure even Mario Andretti would approve.
This months special focus is lighting, and David Williams piece on Prisoners (Beyond
the Law, page 54) presents an in-depth primer on the topic. In discussing their work on the
tense kidnapping drama, Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC and chief lighting technician Chris Napolitano break down both their general approach and their specific strategies for several key
sequences. The result of their efforts is a naturalistic movie that creates suspense through the
interplay of light and shadow on its characters. I like photographing a human face, says
Deakins. I find that more interesting than anything else, and thats what I will continue to
do.
Associate editor Jon Witmer is a huge fan of the enduringly popular television series
NCIS, so he was eager to report for duty when the show granted him VIP access (Naval
Campaign, page 66). The tour he took with cinematographer William Webb, ASC and the
rest of the shows production team helped him produce an article so thorough it will surely
satisfy the most die-hard viewers. Webb has also directed several episodes, and he reports,
Its a fantastic experience, and it has changed me as a cameraman. Im much more empathetic to the directors plight, to the millions of questions hes attacked with every day.
Two years after charming audiences with his Oscar-nominated cinematography in The
Artist, Guillaume Schiffman, AFC is back plucking heartstrings with the French romantic
comedy Populaire. Set in 1958, the story focuses on a shy young secretary (Dborah Franois)
who falls for her handsome, self-assured boss (Romain Duris) as he grooms her for speedtyping glory. Schiffman and director Rgis Roinsard lend the movie a stylized look that pays
homage to the classic screen romances of yesteryear. As Schiffman explains to Jean Oppenheimer (Magic Touch, page 78), In this sort of film, you know at all times that youre not
in real life its more like somebody is telling you a story, and that allowed me to be less
natural and more poetic with the lighting.

Stephen Pizzello
Executive Editor
10

Photo by Owen Roizman, ASC.

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I get questions. Oh, I get questions .


Sometimes they come from seemingly well-informed individuals who have worked in the
business for a long time yet still dont know anything about the ASC or what role the cinematographer plays in a motion-picture production. Ill do my best to fill in the blanks.
For the record, the ASC is not a union. It is a professional, educational and fraternal group
and the oldest organization in the motion-picture industry. Our roots date back to 1919,
when the Static Club of America (headquartered in Los Angeles) and the Cinema Camera Club
(located in New York City) merged to form the entity we now know and love. The ASC is also
an honorary group, with membership by invitation only to elite directors of photography who
have consistently distinguished themselves. To give you an idea of the rare honor the ASC suffix
reflects, understand that in the history of the medium, fewer than 800 individuals have been
granted the right to use them.
We are based in Hollywood; our legendary Clubhouse, at the southeast corner of Franklin
Avenue and Orange Drive, was built in 1903, and we have occupied it since 1937. We currently
have about 300 active members. Our associate membership is made up of about 150 technologists, equipment suppliers and manufacturers, and representatives of related companies.
Among our many efforts, we have published American Cinematographer magazine since
1920. We also publish the industry bible, the American Cinematographer Manual, currently in
its 10th edition and available in print and digital formats. Each February for the past 27 years, we have celebrated the ASC Awards for
Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography, an event that attracts nearly 1,600 people.
Our motto is Loyalty, Progress, Artistry, but you might also add Education to that, because we have a great many studentrelated initiatives. Throughout the year, when ASC members are not shooting, we routinely participate in practical demonstrations and
panel discussions. We also mentor students and lecture at schools around the world. This fall, we are introducing a series of master
classes that will be taught by our most esteemed members; it promises to be the absolute best of its kind in the world.
In recognition of the radical changes the cinematographer has experienced over the past decade, our Technology Committee has
become the leading voice in shaping the evolution and introduction of new technologies throughout the world. Without its influence,
we would now most certainly be burdened with the most inferior imaging workflows.
It is proper that we consider ourselves artists-scientists, with a somewhat heavier emphasis on artists. As the directors
right hand, the cinematographer is the directors closest collaborator during prep, throughout production, and then again in post,
when we supervise the films printing at the lab and/or its digital mastering. This work goes to the heart of every ASC members commitment.
What right do I have to claim that the cinematographer is the directors closest collaborator? Its simple. As film is a visual art, the
cinematographer is the only individual privy to the projects entire visual plan. The cinematographer is also the person charged with transforming the directors interpretation of the story from something written or verbal (and often quite ephemeral) into physical reality. And
dont forget that ours is the most immediate of the arts and crafts that make up a film. The critical nature of what we do is summed
up in blunt form: If theres no light, theres no show.
But all that aside, perhaps the most acutely defining trait weve nurtured for over 94 years is the passion we have for the job. Its
something we cherish and guard preciously, and I believe it sets us apart from most everyone else.
And it is exactly this ethic that we need to bring with greater vigor to the community. Society has changed, as have movies and
television. But the nature of our work and the motivations that drive us to do it have not. Without our vigilance, a magnificent art form
could easily be lost forever. If you think something better will come along to fill the void, youre wrong.
Of course, passion will still exist. Can it be manufactured on demand? I dont think so. But dont worry, were working on that, too.

Richard P. Crudo
ASC President

12

October 2013

American Cinematographer

Photo by Douglas Kirkland.

Presidents Desk

Short Takes

ASC Honors 3 with Harris Savides Heritage Awards


By Jennifer Wolfe

The ASC presented Harris Savides Heritage Awards to three


student cinematographers from Chapman Universitys Dodge
College of Film and Media Arts during an awards ceremony at the
Clubhouse in June. Ryan Broomberg won the graduate competition
for The Bright Side; Mishka Kornai won the undergraduate competition for Straight Down Low; and Drew Heskett and Ryan Westra
won the documentary competition for We Are the Land.
The Bright Side
Director: Sarah Wilson Thacker
Cinematographer: Ryan Broomberg
The Bright Side is a 1940s-era musical romance that merges
fantasy song-and-dance sequences with the gritty realities of a nation
preparing for war.
Director Sarah Wilson Thacker, cinematographer Ryan
Broomberg and their collaborators referenced two period gangster
dramas, HBOs Boardwalk Empire and the feature Road to Perdition
(2002), for mood, lighting and camera moves, and the musical
Moulin Rouge (2001) for how it blends fantasy and reality. We
stayed relatively wide and let the composition and lighting tell the
story, says Broomberg. We knew we didnt need tons of angles to
14

October 2013

tell the story, and we didnt have time to overshoot every scene. If the
camera moved, it was motivated by an action or a feeling. For the
most part, the filmmakers employed single-camera setups, reserving
a B camera mainly for inserts and establishing shots. One notable
exception is an emotional scene set in the rain; for that, two cameras
were used to simultaneously capture medium and close-up coverage
of the performances.
Broomberg shot the picture with Panavised Red One MX
cameras and Zeiss Super Speed prime lenses provided by Panavision
Hollywood. He captured in the 2.0:1 aspect ratio in 4K, recording in
Redcode 36 to Red CF Cards. He used a range of Schneider Black
Frost filters on the lens to bloom practical lights and soften skin tones
and textures, and he worked closely with production designer Rachel
Aguirre to make sure the sets could incorporate vintage lamps and
filament bulbs as much as possible. The filament bulbs looked
amazing with the Black Frost, he notes.
The cinematographer used the in-camera Redcolor LUT for
viewing images on set. The raw image looks very flat and dark, and
I wanted to view an image that was as close as possible to the look
we wanted to achieve and then make tweaks in the final color correction, he explains. The Redcolor LUT crushes the blacks and brings
up the highlights, which is what I intended to do in the timing. Also,
by using the LUT, I gave myself a little more latitude in the highlights
and the blacks in the raw file. During setups, I toggled between raw
and Redcolor preset to see the range I was working with.

American Cinematographer

The Bright Side photos by Joe Mackedanz. Photos and frame grab courtesy of the filmmakers.

Leo (Aric Chase Damm) spins Hazel (Aryn Wuthrich) during a musical number in this frame grab from the The Bright Side, shot by Ryan Broomberg.

Top: Crewmembers
prepare for a
song-and-dance
sequence. Bottom:
Broomberg eyes a
setup from behind
the camera.

To light the musical number that


introduces the main characters, Leo (Aric
Chase Damm) and Hazel (Aryn Wuthrich),
the crew installed 12 Mole-Richardson
300-watt Fresnels into an archway setpiece
Aguirre designed. The fixtures were wired
to a dimmer board and programmed to
do an alternating pulse and a chase pattern,
and to dim 50 percent; these transitions
were all programmed to match cues in
the song. It gives the scene a big Broadway feel, the cinematographer says. We
wanted this sequence to have a golden
feel, and we achieved that by dimming the
Fresnels.
Another number, Crossfire,
depicts a fantasy sequence inside a movie
theater. Broomberg explains, In this scene,
Leo and Hazel share a fantasy that theyre
transformed into movie stars while theyre
16

October 2013

watching a movie about the war. The song


has an arc, with layers of highs and lows; its
about the contrast between chaos and
calm, and finding the happiness within. We
wanted a different look and feel for every
verse and chorus to show the progression
of Leo and Hazels journey, and we accomplished this with choreography, lighting,
production design, composition and
camera moves.
For example, at the start of their
fantasy, Hazel and Leo are lying on the
ground, facing up toward the camera. We
used a Frazier Lens System to shoot an overhead angle that spins 180 degrees and
booms up on them as they calmly sing the
first verse. This transitions into the next
shot, which is the chorus, and this brings us
into the chaotic world of the war with
confetti explosions and gunfire. While
American Cinematographer

theyre singing and spinning around to


defend themselves, we do a counter dolly
next to them to convey unease.
To backlight the chorus, electricians
hung a Mole-Richardson 9K Maxi-Brute
and a 4'x4' panel of 250 diffusion on the
second floor of the theater. We used this
[setup] to backlight a few other scenes in
the film, notes Broomberg. We liked the
lights warmth and punchiness. A 2K Fresnel aimed into a 12'x12' muslin bounce
provided fill. For the gunfire, lighting gags
were created to help sell the CG muzzle
flashes that were inserted later in post.
The second verse of Crossfire
transitions into a dance that is performed
in front of a 20'-long strip of light bulbs,
which key the scene. Broomberg and
gaffer Doug Potts found the light strip at
the location during a tech scout. To uplight
the medium shots that were motivated by
the light strip, Potts created a 3 4 low-lying
book light with a 4'x4' piece of foamcore,
a 1K open-face and unbleached muslin.
Broomberg was keen to employ
uplighting as often as possible because in
our tests, it looked stunning on the
actors. In another scene, he used a 2K
Fresnel at a -frontal low angle as Leo and
Hazel run across the stage, casting tall
shadows on the background wall. Following a suggestion from my mentor, Johnny
Jensen [ASC], we opened the Fresnel lens
to sharpen the actors shadows, adds
Broomberg.
For the edit, the .R3D files were
transcoded to 2K XML and ingested into
Avid Media Composer. Once the cut was
complete, the sequence was exported as
an EDL for final conform and grading in
Autodesk Lustre.
Straight Down Low
Director: Zach Wechter
Cinematographer: Mishka Kornai
A neo-noir set in the inner city,
Straight Down Low, directed by Zach
Wechter, follows a shrewd teenaged
detective who must solve a curious gangland crime in order to protect the girl he
loves. The film is a modern take on the classic love triangle, pitting The Student
against gang leader Tyson, who uses love

interest Amber as a shield.

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Cinematographer: Jeff Cronenweth, Academy Award nominee

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Inspired by Rian Johnsons Brick, shot


by Steve Yedlin (AC May 05), the filmmakers opted for a look cinematographer
Mishka Kornai describes as deconstructed
noir. He explains, Its a very low-contrast
image rather than one defined by blownout whites and crushed blacks. The idea
was to capture the noir sensibility, but with
a modern noir palette.
To create a monochromatic light
18

October 2013

effect as The Students flashlight pans


around Tysons dark room, Kornai employed
a low-pressure sodium lamp specially flown
in from Michigan. The unique orange
glow emitted by this legacy streetlight
fixture is entirely devoid of other color, creating a visual atmosphere similar to blackand-white film, he says. The vintage source
was attached to a Menace Arm with Cclamps and shaped with gobos. It was
American Cinematographer

Straight Down Low photos by Brian Tran, courtesy of the filmmakers.

Top: The Student


(Shamar Sanders)
investigates a
gangland crime
in Straight Down
Low, shot by
Mishka Kornai.
Middle: The crew
prepares a dolly
shot. Bottom:
Kornai (right)
frames a shot
with 2nd AC Jeff
Geukens (left)
and dolly grip
Joe Gabay.

about the size of a large, heavy microwave,


with a bulb shaped like a Coke bottle. My
gaffer, Eli Just, and key grip, Ryan von Bengfort, had to keep it perfectly level at all times
because if the sodium vapor had collected,
the bulb would have exploded!
Framing 16:9 for a final aspect ratio
of 2.40:1, Kornai shot the picture with a
Sony F65 CineAlta, an Angenieux Optimo
24-290mm zoom lens and Zeiss Compact
Prime CP.2 lenses. The camera captured in
F65Raw-Lite and recorded to 1TB SRMemory cards. Data transfer and backup was
handled via Sonys SR-PC4. The F65 is the
state-of-the-art camera right now, not to
mention expensive to rent, so it was a blessing to be able to shoot a student project on
it, says Kornai. Chapman also has a Red
One MX, which I sometimes prefer to even
the Epic or Scarlet, but the F65s resolution,
dynamic range and color processing are
unmatched.
Flashback sequences shot in Tysons
bathroom were captured in 3-D with a
beam-splitter stereoscopic camera rig
custom-built by stereographer Jacob
Mendel. Zach and I wanted the flashbacks
to be a departure stylistically, but we didnt
want to do the clichd blown-out look or
some other overused effect, says the cinematographer. We had a long conversation
about what a flashback is, in a narrative
sense, and decided we needed to suggest
an objective point-of-view.
The scenes were played back in 2-D
to create what Kornai calls a sensory-overload alternation between the left and right
eye. Id seen something like it in music
videos and thought it would be very interesting narratively. We liked the idea of
going from a clean-cut perspective to an
almost hyper-real one.
The original camera files were
converted to 1080p DNxHD for the offline
edit in DaVinci Resolve 9. For the online, the
files were transcoded to 16-bit 2K DPX files,
and then reassembled using an EDL in
Autodesk Smoke. Color correction,
handled by Ntropics Trevor Durtschi, was
completed using exported DPX sequences
in Autodesk Lustre. The finalized 2K DPX
files were re-ingested into Smoke as a single
sequence, and final titles and sound were
merged with the footage.

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We Are the Land


Directors: Lauren Lindberg,
Drew Heskett and Ryan Westra
Cinematographers:
Heskett and Westra
Tackling the controversial topic of
hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the
documentary We Are the Land follows
Native American activist Pauline Matt as she
tries to protect her homeland, the Blackfeet
Indian Reservation in Montana.
Under the Chapman University initiative Project W: Stories of Women Creating
Change, Lauren Lindberg, Drew Heskett
and Ryan Westra were individually selected
to collaborate on a short film on a subject of
their choosing. With a shared interest in
ecological issues and indigenous rights, the
three filmmakers decided to tell Matts story.
The biggest challenge they
confronted was the extreme cold of the
wintertime shoot, which involved location
work in northern Montana and in Williston,
N.D., where fracking is already in progress.
It was around -10F the entire time,
20

October 2013

recalls Heskett. You really need to think


carefully about exactly what you want to do
with the camera in that kind of cold,
because there isnt much time to mess
around with its settings. You have to previsualize what you want to get, what your Fstop will be and what your shutter speed
will be. Then, you take your hands out of
the gloves!
Westra notes that there were some
advantages to shooting in the extreme
conditions. For one thing, the snow
provides a really nice natural bounce. For
scenes of Pauline in the woods harvesting
branches for a prayer ritual, we didnt need
any lights because the snow reflected
sunlight on her face so beautifully. Also,
there is very little ambient sound when
youre out in the wilderness in a really cold
environment, so for that scene, the audio is
almost entirely natural.
The filmmakers shot with Canon
EOS 6D and 60D DSLRs, capturing in 16:9
1920x1080 24p. They used two Canon
L-series lenses, an f1.2 50mm and an f2.8
70-200mm zoom. I just like Canon, and so
American Cinematographer

does Ryan, Heskett says of the teams


choice. Ive shot on Canon cameras since
my still-photography days in high school.
Acquiring roughly 40-50GB of
material a day, the filmmakers recorded to
SD memory cards, and then transferred to
a 1.5 TB hard drive for storage and backup.
For the edit in Final Cut Pro 7, the
camera files were transcoded to Apple
ProRes 4:2:2 using MPEG StreamClip.
Archival photographs licensed from Getty
Images were rotoscoped by Westra in
Adobe After Effects, then imported into
FCP for conform and finishing.
The ASC Heritage Award is named
for a different ASC cinematographer each
year. Savides, who died in 2012, earned
Independent Spirit Award nominations for
the features Gerry, Elephant, Last Days, Milk
and Greenberg. His credits also included
The Game, The Yards, Finding Forrester,
Margot at the Wedding and Zodiac. He also
shot award-winning music videos for
Madonna, R.E.M. and Michael Jackson,
among others.
Honorable mentions for ASC Harris
Savides Heritage Awards were as follows:
Graduate: American Film Institute
fellows Petr Cikhart (First in Flight) and
Martin Kobylarz (Wolves from Another
Kingdom). Undergraduate: Nick Reinhard
of Florida State University (Cootie Contagion) and Daniel Rink of Brooks Institute
(Ai). Documentary: Dan Duran and Sam
Price-Waldman of Chapman University
(Wolf Mountain).

We Are the Land photos courtesy of the filmmakers. Top right photo by Alex Lopez.

The documentary We Are the Land was


shot in North Dakota (top left) and Montana
(bottom left). Above: Co-cinematographers
Drew Heskett (left) and Ryan Westra at the
Harris Savides Heritage Awards ceremony.

Production Slate

Unique Perspectives on Abortion


By Rachael K. Bosley

When George Tiller, M.D., was assassinated in his church in


Wichita, Kan., one Sunday morning in 2009, the number of physicians qualified to provide third-trimester abortions in the United
States shrank from five to four. By focusing on those four doctors and
the patients they serve, the new documentary After Tiller illuminates
a controversial facet of health care that is often in the headlines but
seldom presented in all its complexity. Unless you understand whats
going on with the woman [who seeks a late-term abortion], you
cant support it how could you? observes Shelley Sella, M.D., one
of the specialists featured in the film.
No one who sets out to make a documentary can know how
it will finally take shape, but that question loomed especially large for
After Tiller directors Lana Wilson and Martha Shane because of the
films topic, which made fundraising difficult, and the doctors acute
intersecting concerns about privacy and personal security, which had
increased exponentially after Tillers murder. In fact, when the directors commenced shooting with cinematographer Emily Topper, in
May 2010, only two of the four physicians, Warren Hern, M.D., and
LeRoy Carhart, M.D., had agreed to participate, and both were quite
wary. Its always a question with a vrit film: Will it happen? Will it
materialize? Will it unfold in a way that makes it possible to make a
film? And that was especially true on this project, says Topper. The
22

October 2013

doctors were initially so guarded I wondered if we would be able to


make a film about them. It took a long time to earn their trust; it
was one small step at a time.
Tiller had been a friend and colleague of all four physicians,
and the two who initially declined to participate in the film, Sella and
Susan Robinson, M.D., had worked with him at his clinic. Dr. Tiller
had a very clear policy of doing no media, so the female doctors did,
too, explains Shane. Once they started to get a little more
distance [from Kansas] and opened their new practice in Albuquerque, they started to think harder about it. Then, they participated in Rachel Maddows documentary [MSNBCs The Assassination of Dr. Tiller] and did not experience an uptick in death threats,
and I think that gave them more confidence.
Roughly a year into the After Tiller shoot, Robinson and Sella
came aboard. We made it clear to all the doctors that we would
protect any part of their privacy they wanted to have protected,
Shane continues. At first we thought we might have to [avoid
showing] their homes and their cars, for instance. In some cases that
was true, but in other cases the anti-abortion movement already
knew where they lived.
Topper recalls that Shane and Wilson were specific about
their visual plan from the beginning. They had a clearly designed
vision in their heads, and they wanted to privilege the cinematography because they fully understood how it could contribute to the
tone they wanted, she says. One [reference] they brought up

American Cinematographer

After Tiller frame grabs courtesy of Oscilloscope Laboratories.

The
documentary
After Tiller, shot
by Hillary Spera
and Emily
Topper, features
medical doctors
(clockwise from
top left) LeRoy
Carhart, Shelley
Sella, Warren
Hern and Susan
Robinson.

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Makes a scene on any set.

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Top: Dr. Sella puts


a patient at ease.
Middle: A long
day takes a
temporary toll on
Dr. Robinson.
Bottom: Dr. Hern
comforts a
patient.

early on was the documentary Last Train


Home [2009], which is vrit but doesnt
feel like it. It has a lot of tableau scenes,
shots are often held a lot longer than is typical, and many scenes play out in a master. I
24

October 2013

tried to keep that in the back of my mind as


we worked.
There are two components to After
Tillers look: vrit footage, which encompasses activity in and around the clinics (and,
American Cinematographer

eventually, glimpses of the doctors


personal lives), and portrait-style interviews
with each doctor. For the first shoot, which
lasted two weeks and involved Herns clinic
in Boulder, Colo., and Carharts clinic in
Bellevue, Neb., Topper shot vrit material
with Shanes own Sony PMW EX-1 (recording 1920x1080 24p in 35Mbps HQ and
capturing to SxS cards), and interviews with
the doctors with a locally rented Canon EOS
5D Mark II and Canon L-series 24-105mm
T4 zoom (recording 1920x1080 to CF
cards).
Existing light was the rule for vrit
material, but Lana and Martha did not
want the clinics to look institutional or ugly,
so they were very careful about the art
direction, says Topper. Whenever they
had a chance to make things prettier, they
took it getting a houseplant just so, or
making sure the window light was streaming in in an attractive way. For the interviews with the doctors, she continues, the
goal was a warm, cozy feel, with a nice
falloff in focus. Martha and Lana wanted
the doctors to look as motherly and fatherly
as possible. Lighting for these scenes was
a simple bounce setup and depended on
what could be rented locally, usually a small
Kino Flo or Lowel Rifa.
The initial shoot enabled the directors to create a piece to show potential
funders, and they had to wait for more
funding to come through to resume shooting. It was a difficult project in that regard
because funders kept saying, This looks
interesting, but we just want to see where
youre going to come down on this issue,
recalls Shane. A lot of them were reluctant
to support the film until they could see a
rough cut, and we understood that.
By the time they could resume
shooting, Topper was in India on another
feature, so the directors brought on cinematographer Hillary Spera. Shane notes
that because After Tillers shoot progressed
sporadically over 18 months, it made
sense schedule-wise to have two cinematographers. Later in the shoot, when
Hillary landed another feature, Emily
rejoined us, and then Hillary was able to
come back to supervise the color timing.
Given the settings and subject
matter, both directors believed it essential to
have a woman behind the camera, and

Shane emphasizes that Topper and Spera


had both impressed them with their vrit
work. Hillary and Emily are very patient
cinematographers, and that was key. We
wanted After Tiller to be the antithesis of
reality TV in terms of style, and we could tell
by looking at their work that they would
deliver that. Also, they are both really
wonderful people, and that was just as
important because we knew wed be sharing a hotel room and spending a lot of time
together in tiny spaces! (It was a crew of
three; the directors took turns recording
sound. It was the smallest setup it could
possibly be, says Spera.)
The filmmakers agree that After
Tillers look really fell into place when Spera
joined the team, in part because she
suggested shooting the vrit material with
a Sony PMW-EX3 and Letus Ultimate
adapter, which enabled them to use a range
of vintage Zeiss 35mm film lenses she has
collected over the years. We were shooting in some fairly bland environments, and I
knew the vintage primes would allow us to
use shallow focus and some softness to
temper the fluorescent lighting and drab
interiors and make the clinics look warm
and inviting, which is what the directors
wanted, says Spera.
I had used this camera/lens package on a number of previous documentary
projects, and Id built it specifically so that I
could move quickly while still getting great
images, she continues. Ive collected two
sets of Zeiss primes [ranging from 18mm to
135mm] that were made for a Contax
26

October 2013

camera back in the day, and had them


rehoused to fit my Letus adapter. Its more
common to shoot docs with zoom lenses,
but I think primes elevate the image, and I
work very quickly with them. Most of the
lenses are f1.4, but some of the wider ones
are f2.8. On this movie, I tried to get the
lens as wide open as possible to limit the
depth-of-field, and I sometimes used the
[EX3s] internal ND filters to help with that a
bit.
Because a majority of the clinics
patients are walk-ins, the filmmakers
showed up each day not knowing whether
they would have anything to shoot. Shane
explains, Wed set up our equipment in a
room off to the side and wait. When a
patient showed up, the counselor would
explain that there were filmmakers in the
clinic and briefly describe our project, and
then shed say, If youre interested in learning more, you can go talk to them. A lot of
them just didnt come to see us. I would
estimate that fewer than 10 percent did.
When we couldnt film a patient with a
doctor, wed try to shoot other activity in
the clinic.
As with all vrit work, patience and
sharp observational skills were key. Spera
recalls, I spent hours upon hours with
patients and doctors, watching and listening. Sometimes I could only observe
through the audio feed of a lav mic in
another room, and I had to be ready at a
moments notice if we were granted
permission to film. I tried to learn all the
ways grief and joy were exhibited so I could
American Cinematographer

try to sense an individuals emotions without having to look her or him in the eye,
because I felt this would make me less
intimidating and more of a fly-on-the-wall.
Gradually, it became intuitive to be around
people in extreme grief and be sensitive to
both their privacy and their emotional
processes.
Patients faces never appear on
camera. Their emotions are conveyed by
voice and body language, often through
close-ups of their hands as they speak.
Those small gestures were so pronounced
to me it became almost a non-issue that we
couldnt show their faces, Spera says. The
50mm Zeiss prime was great for isolating
those details, she adds.
Hillary moved everything in a more
filmic direction, and Martha and Lana were
very pleased with the results, so my job was
to pick up where she left off when I came
back on, says Topper. Whatever parts of
her camera package she couldnt leave with
us we re-created with gear from local rental
houses. (Speras Zeiss lenses were also
adapted to a Canon mount so they could
be used for the DSLR material, which was
shot with a rented 5D or Speras own 7D.)
Negotiating the small spaces in the
clinics was a constant challenge for the
cinematographers. It was a matter of finding a spot in the room where I could stay
backed off and still choose the angles that
would best tell the story, says Spera.
Topper adds, It was always a judgment call
about the comfort level of doctor and
patient. On a couple of occasions, we were

Emily Topper photo by Djakhangir Zakhidov, courtesy of Topper. Hillary Spera photo by Michael Seta, courtesy of Alaska Film.

Cinematographers Emily Topper (left) and Hillary Spera at work on other projects.

1945: Warm Pro-Mist

1946: Warm Soft/FX

1947: Bronze Glimmerglass

When shooting 42]/vviwi


ii`iviL>>
DON BURGESS, A.S.C.
Legendary cinematographer Don Burgess was seeking a period look when shooting the hit
HGCVWTGpq*GEJQUGVQIKXGGCEJ[GCTQH,CEMKG4QDKPUQPoUECTGGTTGRTGUGPVGFKPVJGNO
KVUQYPUWDVNGNQQMYKVJCFKHHGTGPV6KHHGPNVGTp+YCPVGFKVVQDGEQOGUQHVGTYCTOGTCPF
RTQITGUUKXGN[CNKVVNGENGCPGTYKVJVJGEQNQTUNGUUOWVGFCU,CEMKGOQXGFENQUGTVQRNC[KPI
HQTVJG&QFIGTUq&QPUC[U#UHQT6KHHGPNVGTUp+oXGDGGPWUKPIVJGOHQT[GCTUsVJG
EQPUKUVGPE[OCMGUVJGOCRTQFWEV+MPQY+ECPTGN[QPq

TM

FILTERS

The Tiffen Company


90 Oser Avenue, Hauppauge, NY 11788 Visit us at tiffen.com

2013 The Tiffen Company. All trademarks or registered trademarks are property of their respective owners.
These images are from 42 Legendary Pictures Productions LLC. & Warner Bros Entertainment Inc.

30

October 2013

for about nine months, working with Apple


ProRes 422 LT QuickTime files in Final Cut
Pro 7. (Throughout the shoot, the directors
saved footage on two portable LaCie drives,
with one serving as backup. To transcode
footage for the edit, they used Sony
XDCam EX Transfer Utility and Canon EOS
Movie.) The archival footage in the film
was ripped from DVDs or came from online
sources, and Mike Nicholson at Picturebox
[in Austin, Texas] used After Effects to uprez it and treat it with some filters, reports
OToole. Ive found that After Effects is as
good at up-rezzing low-quality material as
the more expensive options, and [the filters]
allowed us to create a look that helped
unify that mix of footage. To output the
final for color correction, OToole went back
to the original camera files and used
Compressor to cross-convert them to
ProRes HQ.
For the color correction, at Nice
Dissolve Digital Cinema in Brooklyn, N.Y.,
colorist Moritz Fortmann graded on DaVinci
Resolve 9. Spera, who spent a day in the
grading suite with him, recalls, I think the
biggest challenges were matching the
mixed fluorescent lighting in the clinics, and
timing out the strobing of those fixtures
because we had to rely on existing light so
often.
After Tiller went through a number
of informal test screenings before and after
it landed a spot in the U.S. Documentary
Competition at the 2013 Sundance Film
Festival. We tested every possible way to
tell the story, says Shane. Topper recalls
seeing early and final cuts and being quite
struck by the difference. I felt the early cut
was quite safe in a way, she says. It was a
very warm portrait of these four people,
and it was missing the harder questions that
are raised in the final cut. I am just so thrilled
Martha and Lana pushed past that to make
the film what it is now. Its a great portrait,
but there is also a really intense conversation
playing out while you watch it.

TECHNICAL SPECS
16:9
Digital Capture
Sony PMW-EX3, PMW-EX1;
Canon EOS 5D, 7D
Zeiss, Canon, Fujinon
American Cinematographer

Jon (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) pumps iron in


Don Jon, shot by Thomas Kloss.

A Ladies Man Evolves


By Patricia Thomson

Don Jon is the kind of porn movie


even a mother could love. Its about Internet porn, but ultimately, thats just a
catalytic converter or accelerator for the
humor within the story, says director of
photography Thomas Kloss.
Don Jon is a stylish comedy about
how familial experiences and media shape
our ideas about whats desirable in the
opposite sex. Porn is just one player; romantic movies are another, as are Cosmopolitan
covers, beauty pageants, womens beach
volleyball and TV commercials.
When the movie begins, Jon (Joseph
Gordon-Levitt) is a successful Don Juan. He
and his buddies regularly hit the clubs and
bring women home for one-night stands.
Jon supplements these experiences with
daily doses of Internet porn, but his habit
causes problems when he falls for a
dime a 10-rated woman, Barbara
(Scarlett Johansson) whose expectations
have been shaped by a steady diet of
romance movies. Eventually, Jon meets an
older woman, Esther (Julianne Moore),
who motivates him to try a different route
to bliss.
Kloss, a 30-year veteran of commercials and music videos, has shot his share of
features (among them 2011s Conan the
Barbarian), but few low-budget ones.
Nonetheless, the Los Angeles-based cine-

Don Jon photos by Daniel McFadden, courtesy of Relativity Media.

able to film a group discussion, and we went


into the room ahead of time and arranged
the furniture, moving it closer in so we could
quietly move around behind the patients to
shoot over their shoulders.
Another unpredictable element
during the shoot was the anti-abortion
movement, whose supporters maintain nearconstant vigils outside the clinics. Lana and
Martha explained to the protestors that we
were profiling the doctors, and the protestors
were happy to be filmed because they
wanted their voices heard, says Topper. I
was nervous about that material, nervous
about shooting images that could play into
stereotypes on both sides of the debate, but
I feel we didnt do that. Spera adds, I
found shooting the protests really hard, but
for psychological reasons rather than logistical ones. I never felt totally unsafe, but I
always kept that other eye open. There were
a lot of them and only three of us. We were
usually right next to them, but sometimes Id
throw a long lens on the camera and shoot
from down the block.
After Tiller also includes footage,
some from TV news, of larger protests
related to Carharts practice. During the
course of filming, Nebraska enacted a law
banning abortion after the 20th week of
pregnancy, and when Carhart tried to move
the abortion component of his practice to
another state, abortion opponents rallied to
prevent it. (They were successful in Iowa but
unsuccessful in Maryland, where Carharts
clinic is today.) Shane recalls, Nebraska
introduced that law shortly after we started
shooting, and we just tried to be there as
much as possible as Dr. Carhart tried to find
another site for his practice. The news
footage filled in a lot of the details we
missed. We wanted to make a film that
would explore moral and ethical issues, an
essay film, but we felt it needed a driving
narrative backbone, and Dr. Carharts story
gave us that.
Shane notes that the films editor,
Greg OToole, who shares a writing credit
with her and Wilson, had a huge hand in
shaping the story. When we sat down to
start crafting the film, he had so many great
insights. Creating the building blocks of the
story was a collaborative process that
involved all three of us.
OToole worked on the edit fulltime

Top: Jon joins his


father (Tony
Danza), mother
(Glenne Headly)
and sister (Brie
Larson) for a meal
after church.
Bottom: Barbara
(Scarlett
Johansson)
catches Jons eye
at a club.

matographer cast his hat in the ring when


he heard Gordon-Levitt was hiring for his
feature-directing debut. They had met once
before, when Kloss shot a spot for (500)
Days of Summer. But during the interview,
Kloss made it clear that traditional comedy
was not his mtier. I said to Joe, Looking
at my work, you can see Im not a bright-litcomedy kind of guy. I like contrast. I like
working out of the dark. I like to separate
faces from dark backgrounds.
That was music to Gordon-Levitts
ears. I didnt want to make a movie that
looked like the standard contemporary
American comedy, says the director, who
also wrote the script. A lot of those movies
dont have much visual style; they tell the
story with dialogue and performances, and
32

October 2013

the camerawork stays very formulaic. I


didnt want to do that. I had lots of ideas
about how to use the camera to help tell
this story, and I wanted a cinematographer
who was excited by that. Thomas definitely
was.
I also wanted to hire Thomas
because he has so much experience shooting beautiful women, adds Gordon-Levitt.
Thats a whole cinematic language unto
itself: how to make someone look like that
traditional image of a woman.
The director explains that he had
three looks in mind: In the first act, were
in Jons normal routine, and I wanted to
make that very flashy, so our references
were Michael Bay movies and MTV that
sort of high-gloss, high-octane filmmaking
American Cinematographer

with lots of movement, lots of whipping


around. It was mostly camera on tripod,
long lenses, and trying to get that whip-pan
motion into every scene.
In the second act, he gets involved
in a very traditional relationship with
Barbara, so I wanted traditional Hollywood
camera language. We were referencing
Frank Capra and Steven Spielberg slow,
smooth movements, mostly on dollies.
In the third act, Jons beginning to
break out of his mold and find a more
organic way of relating to the world. That
was almost exclusively handheld, and we
were referencing John Cassavetes and
French New Wave.
That progression is mirrored in the
lighting, he adds. We talked about a lot of
hard, bold light for the first act; soft sources,
like China balls and muslin bounces, for the
second act; and organic-looking lighting for
the third act.
Gordon-Levitt also knew from the
beginning that he wanted to shoot on film.
I wanted it to look like a classic movie, he
says. Also, my experience on set as an
actor is that when you roll film, something
happens; I think the whole crew feels it.
Kodak supplied the production with
two Vision3 negatives, 500T 5219 and
200T 5213, which Kloss rated normally.
Shooting 4-perf Super 35mm, he chose a
camera package comprising two Panaflex
Millenniums and a Lightweight (for
Steadicam), Panavision Primo prime lenses
and two Angenieux Optimo 24-290mm
T2.8 zoom lenses.
Principal photography took place
over 27 days in Los Angeles, New York City
and Hackensack, N.J., with a mix of stage
and location work. The most elaborate
lighting setup was the nightclub Jon and his
friends frequent, a practical location that
offered just a few strobes and some lighting
at the bar. We wanted a cool, ambient
look, says Kloss, who deployed Full Blue
gels on fixtures throughout the space. Fill
was provided by Nine-Light Maxi-Brutes
through a 12'x12' Half Grid, and more Pars
were pre-rigged to backlight Gordon-Levitt
on the dance floor. For close-ups of the
actor, Kloss positioned a Kino Flo directly
above him. Joe wanted to look chiseled
and three-dimensional, he notes. He
wasnt so interested in looking good.

Kloss (in white


hat) watches
playback with
Gordon-Levitt
and Julianne
Moore. GordonLevitt notes, I
had lots of ideas
about how to use
the camera to
help tell this
story, and I
wanted a
cinematographer
who was excited
by that. Thomas
definitely was.

Kloss veered away from this toplight


formula for the women. When we had
women in the frame, I usually went with
a backlight or three-quarter-backlight
scenario, then had a front light that was as
soft as possible. Thats always the simplest
way to do beauty lighting. We always had
one or two 12-by frames [with Nine-Light
Maxis gelled Full Blue] on wheels that could
make soft sidelight.
The cinematographer took extra
measures for Johansson because of her
characters significance. When Joe first spots
Barbara at the bar, she wears a cherry-red
dress and is standing in orange light. Shes
the only person in the club who has warm
light on her, says Kloss. Thats one of the
more distinct lighting setups we created.
We used three 650-watt Fresnels; two were
gelled with Full CTO for a warm sidelight,
and one was diffused with Opal and
provided frontlight at a particular moment
in the scene. With the rest of the club lighting being Full Blue, she stood out quite a
bit! For subsequent shots of Johansson in
the club for instance, when she takes her
turn on the kissing couch we just gave
her a warm edgelight and a bit of warm
front fill, says Kloss.
Gordon-Levitt, in turn, got special
treatment for his porn-mode close-ups,
when his face is supposedly lit by the
computer screen. Kloss tested various
options and ultimately arrived at four Kino
Flo tubes, two above camera and two
below camera. We toyed with LitePanels
[LEDs], but the Kino Flo tubes were a bit
broader and looked a little more over-the34

October 2013

top, which is what Joe wanted. He didnt


want it to look too real because at those
moments, Jon is lost in his imagination.
The same principle applied to closeups of Johanssons rapturous face as she
loses herself in romance movies. Kloss
created an enhanced replica of light bouncing off the cinema screen and onto her face,
softening four 575-watt Arri HMIs with an
8'x8' Half Grid that the camera poked
through.
But as Jon and Barbaras relationship
sours, Johanssons beauty light slips away.
When her character confronts Jon about his
cache of porn sites, for instance, she is very
toplit, says Kloss. For her final appearance,
at an outdoor caf, she is lit only with available light.
Likewise, for the scene showing Jon
finally entering into a healthy relationship,
sunlight illuminates his and Esthers faces in
tight close-ups. For this, Kloss used 4'x8'
foamcore to bounce sunlight onto Moore,
who was in the shade.
The authentic porn footage and
other media clips that had to be integrated
into the picture created a few challenges for
the post team at Modern VideoFilm in
Burbank. The challenge was creating a
consistent look, because the footage came
in almost every possible resolution, as well
as different frame rates, says Craig Price,
Modern VideoFilms DI editor. Zara Park, the
facilitys senior DI producer, elaborates, We
typically did a clip pull from DVD to a bridge
dub DigiBeta, ran it through an Alchemist or
Teranex box to HDCam-SR, ingested into
the Quantel Rio or Pablo, did some processAmerican Cinematographer

ing, graded the material and then sent it


back to the Quantel Rio or Pablo box for
more processing.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt wanted a
treatment for the porn that would make it
feel as if it were being viewed on a laptop,
says Price. We up-rezzed it to 2K, did some
resizing [to achieve an R rating instead of an
X], and then used the Pablo to Quantize it.
For footage that had fields, we ran it
through the box to combine the fields, and
then used Twixtor to change the frame rate
to 24 fps. The less degraded the footage,
the less pre-processing had to be done.
Finally, I used a solarization effect to make
the contrast transitions a lot less smooth, as
if you were looking at a low-resolution
QuickTime movie. At that stage, I applied a
lot more of the effect to the better-quality
footage, trying to balance its feel with the
feel of the most degraded material.
Modern VideoFilm also handled the
DI process for Don Jon. The negative was
scanned at 2K (on a Thomson Spirit 4K or, if
it was footage that would incorporate CGI,
a Northlight); colorist Gregg Garvin did the
color correction on DaVinci Resolve 9; and
the result was filmed out at 2K to Kodak
Vision3 2254 on an Arrilaser Film Recorder.
ModernVideo Film created a 2K DCP, and
FotoKem created release prints.
Kloss says he relished the opportunity Don Jon gave him to tell a story with
cinematography. My reel proves I can do
polished photography, but this movie was
an exercise in making the photography part
of the storytelling. Having shot music videos
and commercials for 30 years, I really
enjoyed this experience. I was able to work
with a talented, open-minded director who
had a vision from the very first minute, and
I was able to shoot truly amazing actors. It
made me want to shoot more features.

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Full Throttle

Anthony Dod Mantle, ASC, BSC, DFF


buckles up on Ron Howards
fast-moving Formula 1 racing drama.
By Mark Hope-Jones
|

ore than a few car-racing movies have come unstuck by


paying insufficient attention to the off-track human
drama, but the story of the 1976 Formula 1 season, on
which Ron Howards film Rush is based, overflows with
personality and dramatic tension. The closely fought battle

38

October 2013

between James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and Niki Lauda


(Daniel Brhl) for the Drivers Championship marked 1976 as
a transition year in the sport. Lauda was a cool and determined
Austrian, the first of a new breed of mentally focused and physically fit drivers. Hunt was an English playboy of the old
school, a suave, chain-smoking womanizer who was quick to
use his fists and never far from a drink.
The season was punctuated by Laudas near-fatal crash
at the German Grand Prix, from which he returned to race
again after just six weeks, despite severe and disfiguring facial
burns that had not yet healed. Having resumed with four races
still on the calendar, Lauda and Hunts duel was only decided
at the final Grand Prix in Japan, where Hunt endured dangerously heavy rain to take the title. His victory was a last hurrah
for the romantic notion of a racecar driver who could stay up

American Cinematographer

Unit photography by Jaap Buitendijk. Frame grabs and photos courtesy of NBC
Universal. Additional photos by Jakob Bonfils and Rupert Lloyd Parry, courtesy of
the filmmakers.

Opposite: Formula 1 racing rivals James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth, left) and Niki
Lauda (Daniel Brhl) go head-to-head for the 1976 Drivers Championship. This
page, left: Hunt poses for pictures with female admirers while a disciplined Lauda
keeps his eyes on the track. Top right: Anthony Dod Mantle, ASC, BSC, DFF
handholds a camera inside the replica Lauda car. Bottom: Lauda questions Hunts
priorities in a frame grab from the movie.

all night partying and then win a race in


the morning; in the wake of Hunts
triumph, the flamboyance of Formula 1
was gradually shackled by corporate
interests.
The challenge of capturing the
glitzy, global nature of a 1970s F1 season
swiftly became apparent to Rush
cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle,
ASC, BSC, DFF. Initially, I was hoping wed go to Monza, Monaco,
Nrburgring and Spa, but we very
quickly realized we wouldnt be able to
go to the real tracks, he says. Aside from
a few wet days at Brands Hatch and two
days on the Nrburgring circuit, racing
scenes were shot at other tracks and
desolate airfields in England, with grid
starts and pit lanes created on a 200-yard
strip of asphalt at Dunsfold Park in
Surrey, where we had to flip between
countries, sometimes overnight, and
tactically make it work for our budget,

says Dod Mantle.


The restriction of not being able
to travel to the real locations meant that
archival footage would have to play a
pivotal role in the film, and that a
successful collaboration between Dod
Mantle and the visual-effects department would be crucial. We had a very
tight, respectful and creative alliance
with [visual-effects supervisor] Jody
Johnson from Double Negative, says
the cinematographer. Jody came in
early and hard, because what we were
attempting was clearly going to be difficult to achieve.
Long before principal photography began, the filmmakers spent several
months sifting through material from
the period. Dod Mantle was working
with Howard and his team for the first
time, and notes, All I could do was be
very honest and tell them what my
instincts said about which bits of archive
www.theasc.com

footage we could and couldnt use, even


though I wasnt completely sure at that
point where we were going with the film
aesthetically.
Archive clips were put on a server
for the group to view and comment
upon, and once Howard and Dod
Mantle had selected some they liked, the
clips were edited together with camera
tests and sent to colorists at Company 3
in London and Johnson at Double
Negative to see how far they could be
pushed in post. The archival material
was graded and de-grained, and the
camera tests graded and subjected to
grain, in order to meet somewhere in the
middle. I was thinking about how to
get this footage looking good enough to
marry with the footage I was going to
shoot myself and not bump in and out of
an uneven palette, because that would
have depressed me beyond measure,
says Dod Mantle.

October 2013

39

Full Throttle
Top: The
filmmakers used a
wide selection of
archival photos,
such as this 1970s
image featuring
two grid start
girls, for
reference. Bottom:
These shots
served as look
references for
angles captured
by Indiecams
mounted directly
onto the racecars.

Once it was established that this


approach worked, the archival footage
could provide a skeletal structure for
each major race. Wed get to the point
where, for example, a seven-second
sequence of Monza footage became the
creative foundation and palette for our
40

October 2013

entire Monza scene, continues the cinematographer. Out of that wed take
colors, costumes, buildings and other
elements, and simulate them in the
scenes wed shoot.
Aiming for a final aspect ratio of
2.40:1, Dod Mantle chose Arri Alexas
American Cinematographer

as his main cameras, recording in the


uncompressed ArriRaw format to maximize dynamic range and flexibility in
post. Shooting in England from
February to May, youre in situations
where you cant control the weather or
even sometimes the lighting, he says.
We had extras getting hypothermia on
days when it was bright but we needed
rain, and then when the sun was due to
come out, it rained and I had to slam on
the lights. I knew that would happen,
and thats why I needed the latitude.
In front of the sensor, he opted for
older lenses, including Baltars and
Cooke S2s. I got hold of the most
ancient lenses I could subject my assistants to working with! Sometimes they
almost had to use a mallet to turn the
focus rings. It allowed us to deteriorate
the look, adding aberrations and genuine
flare organic photographic elements
that broke down the definition while
keeping that amazing ArriRaw latitude.
Monaco was one of the settings in
the archived footage that influenced
Dod Mantles visuals. I wanted to identify colors to push, and Monaco was
good for that because it had such a colorful look to it, with the yellows and cyans
of the reversal [film stock] of that time,

he says. I started showing Ron pictures


of reversal processes and Cibachromes. I
wanted it to look like a sexually exciting
old painting full of blood and fashion and
lovely bare legs, and debonair soldiers
who could die at any given moment.
The archive shots had to stand up
to visual-effects work that removed
unwanted elements and added others that
were necessary to the story, usually cars.
In some cases, CGI could make an
archive shot usable when the quality
wasnt quite there. A good example was
some fantastic aerial archive footage over
a track, with thousands of people and all
kinds of other elements we couldnt hope
to replicate, says Dod Mantle.
Unfortunately, it was underexposed by 3
stops, damaged and grainy. I worked on it
with Double Negative and couldnt get it
right, but then Ron had the great idea of
adding a foreground CG element of the
helicopter screen and some controls,
which, of course, allowed the background
to fall off.
To achieve the shot, explains
Johnson, We photographed a periodcorrect helicopter, re-created it digitally
and added that to the shot. Then, we
looked at what lens the background was
filmed with and matched that with our
foreground piece, tying all the elements
together with focus, buzz, blooming and
camera movement to make it look like
something shot handheld inside the helicopter. The original was actually shot
from a mount on the outside.
Another archive clip Dod Mantle
found inspirational was an extremely
bumpy shot taken aboard a car racing at
Monaco. You really felt the vibrations,
and it got me thinking that these cars are
like beasts, he says. Traveling at such
speed, you cant even register what theyre
doing. Everything looks beautiful and
sexy on the outside, but underneath are
these nuts and bolts that are shaking and
struggling. It made me look more analytically at the cars these strange, attractive death machines.
He started searching for ways to
capture the violent, animalistic nature of
the vehicles up close. I was looking for a
group of cameras. Both Ron and I work

An Indiecam mounted to a rear wheel on one of the replica cars captured the perspective
shown in the bottom image.

www.theasc.com

October 2013

41

on Howard spoke to AC about Rush


just steps away from one of the
storys real-life settings: an old racetrack
at the hilltop Crystal Palace park in
South London. Vintage and mock
Formula 3 cars snarl in the background
of the scene, which takes place early in
the movie, six years before the main
characters engage in their Formula 1
duels of 1976.
The days racing shots are intermingled with some droll business
involving the entourage of English
driver James Hunt, whose legend is
growing as the story begins. Howard
knows the terrain well. Rush takes place
at about the time when Happy Days was
the number-one TV show, he says. I
was just a little younger than these guys
were, so I remember the way the media
was intensifying its interest in celebrities.
Howard was initially drawn to
Rush by the screenplay, written by his
Frost/Nixon collaborator Peter Morgan.
Peter finds an interesting common
ground for adversaries and, therefore,
for the audience, he says. Without
sentimentalizing, he does find humanity.
Howard observes that Rush cine-

42

October 2013

A Director Shifts Gears

matographer Anthony Dod Mantle,


ASC, BSC, DFF likes to operate with
a curious camera. Its always about finding something in the frame or something in the character that answers a
question or piques ones curiosity. That
gives each frame a lot of energy and a
lot of life.
Anthony and I almost instantly
recognized a shared sense of what Rush
ought to look and feel like away from
the track, he continues. The challenge
was policing ourselves to carry that
aesthetic onto the track, where logistical
factors like crowds, scheduling,
mechanical failures and dangerous race
conditions threatened to push us into
more conventional choices. The answer
was lots and lots of prep on our own
time, so when circumstances allowed us
to get something right, we could go like
hell.
Howard says the joy in shooting
Rush was how he and Dod Mantle were
able to surprise themselves. Despite all
the prep and planning we did, there was
always an excitement about discovering
a new possibility and just grabbing it.
Its not faux documentary, but it does
have a kind of discovered feel and, I
hope, much less of a staged feel.
American Cinematographer

|
He recognizes that
this strategy presented
editors Dan Henley and
Mike Hill with a huge
editorial challenge. Its
not just cutting the heads
and tails off the scenes
and putting them
together in the right
rhythm. They have to
really roll up their sleeves
and help create the sense
of reality. And given the
way were shooting the
movie, there are more
than a handful of ways
to approach [various
sequences]. I always have
a point of view, but I
dont tell them [right
away] because I always
want to see what they
discover with the footage first.
Howard reserves special praise
for Rushs art department, led by supervising art director Patrick Rolfe, for its
deep research on the movies era. The
team festooned production-office
corridors with a variety of images, and
those reinforced all our instincts as to
the look and feel not only photographically, but also atmospherically. [The
photos influenced] wardrobe, props,
our color palette, and even the body
language of characters and the feel of
the background actors. Those images
seeped in to create a unified aesthetic
that informed our choices in every
shot.
The director concludes that he,
Dod Mantle and their collaborators
sought to dimensionalize the drama
so that audiences feel really rewarded
that theyve experienced something,
and a little surprised by the journey
theyve gone through with the characters. Its not necessarily the journey they
expected.
Fred Schruers

Top: After hitching


a ride with future
wife Marlene
(Alexandra Maria
Lara), Lauda finds
himself stranded
with her when her
car breaks down.
Middle: A driversside rig captures
Lauda taking the
wheel of another
car after two
awestruck fans
offer him and
Marlene a lift.
Bottom: Hunt
attempts to settle
down by marrying
model Suzy Miller
(Olivia Wilde), but
soon finds the
relationship
suffocating.

quite closely with Canon, so we knew we


could pull in the new C300s, and my
contact at Canon, Satake-san [Yoshifumi
Satake, developer of the C300], provided
great support throughout the shoot. But
I also wanted something smaller; I
thought it would be exciting if we could
develop shots like the onboard shot from
Monaco and take them further. Having
just worked with Indiecams small 1080p
HD cameras on Trance (AC May 13),
Dod Mantle turned to them again. He
brought in a longtime collaborator, Jakob
Bonfils, a grip, camera technician, operator and car expert, to find innovative ways
of mounting the 4"-long Indiecam
cameras, equipped with C-mount lenses,
onto the racing cars. I knew Id be
incredibly busy at times and that in my
absence, Jakob would insist the
Indiecams were not rigged anywhere
obvious, but in strange places, says Dod
Mantle. I wanted them next to anything
that moved or breathed or vibrated
anything that made the car seem alive.
Jakob has followed my visual
tendencies since I passed through film
school in Denmark, where he taught, he
adds. He offers a rare combination of
technical knowledge, inventive engineering, and visual flair and integrity in storytelling.

www.theasc.com

October 2013

43

Organizing a 9-Camera Workflow

ine digital camera systems were


used on Rush, and two German
companies, Cinepostproduction in
Berlin and Farbkult in Cologne, collaborated to handle the on-set image
workflow. Three people staffed our
mobile lab: a data wrangler, a DIT and
a colorist. At the peak of production,
when the race unit was filming, we had
to double our manpower to have two
shifts of three people working around
the clock.
Cameras and recording formats
were as follows: Arri Alexas captured
ArriRaw on Codex Recorders and (as
an initial backup) in ProRes 4:4:4:4 to
SxS cards; Canon C300s captured in
MPEG2 8-bit CanonLog 1920x1080
24ps to CF cards; Indiecam GS2K and
POV cameras captured in 10-bit raw in
4:2:2 uncompressed QuickTimes to
Hyperdeck Shuttle SSD; the Phantom
Flex (used by a splinter unit) captured in
CineRaw 12-bit variable resolution and
frame rate on CineMags; the V.I.O.
POV.HD captured in QuickTime
H.264; the Red Epic (used for visualeffects plates) captured in Redcode 5K
5:1; and the Canon 1D and GoPro
cameras (both rarely used) captured in
QuickTime H.264.
We ingested all the cameras file
formats directly into Colorfronts OnSet Dailies without transcoding them.
(The developers at Colorfront provided
us with special software builds that
enabled us to read Indiecams raw video
format.) Within OSD, we synced
sound, did the QC, and did the 2K
dailies grading with Anthony Dod
Mantle directly on the original files,
most of which were raw/un-demosaiced. From OSD, we could directly
render into the desired editorial codec,
DNxHD, and create Web dailies.
All camera data was backed up
three times in the original camera
formats. To streamline the workflow for
the conforming stage of post, we carefully amended the camera files of the
Indiecam, V.I.O., GoPro and Canon
1D cameras. We assigned filenames in a
Red- or Alexa-like fashion; some files

44

October 2013

An Indiecam,
shown here with
a Cmotion
Cvolution lenscontrol unit
provided by
Camadeus, was
just one of the
many cameras
contributing
images to the
productions
digital
workflow.

had to be re-wrapped into a different


file container altogether while preserving the original video byte stream; and,
finally, we altered the QuickTime files
so they would have a meaningful timecode track and tape-name information.
All in all, we tried to preserve as much
information present on set as possible
while ensuring there would be no
degradation of the footage.
For all footage, MD5 checksums
were created and stored centrally. We
did this with custom software because
all available software turned out to be
too slow. Because of the nature of frame
sequences, at the end of the shoot there
were more than 12 million files under
our watch.
The 66-day shoot generated
about 140 Terabytes of data. Because
we stored footage in three locations, we
had to move more than 400 TB of
camera data during the shoot.
Accordingly, we had four workstations
and three storage servers, all connected
by 10-Gigabit fiber channel network.
In the Farbkult van, we had two
Mac workstations and a 104 TB
Supermicro Raid 6 NAS. In the
Cinepostproduction 3D Cinema
Trailer, there was another NAS, an
Ardis Raid 6 DDP with 40 TB, and the
Colorfront OSD system running on
two Z800 workstations. The Cinema
Trailer was equipped with a 3.7-meter
(roughly 12') screen and a Christie 2K
projector. There were also two Z400
American Cinematographer

slaves doing the OSD rendering in the


background.
For the length of the shoot, we
had a dedicated 10-kilowatt diesel
generator supplying us with power
around the clock.
All footage was stored in three
places: One copy was on the
DDP/NAS, and the other two were
single bulk 3 TB SATA disks, one of
them Mac and the other Windows
formatted. Immediately after the server
received the footage, QC, sound syncing and grading could begin in the
Cinema Trailer.
In OSD, all footage was first
brought into Log C. (We couldnt
utilize ACES because it had limited
support at the time.) Thanks to OSD
and GPU-based rendering, we could
process all output formats (H.264 and
DNxHD) faster than real time.
Dailies were delivered in 1080p
on USB thumb drives and uploaded to
Cineposts Copra online-dailies system.
Avid DNxHD36 1080p24 MXF files
were created and delivered daily to
editorial on a shuttle drive. We also
exported 2K DPX files for the visualeffects team because that work
commenced during the shoot.
At the end of the shoot,
Company 3 received the NAS and the
two sets of naked SATA drives with all
the footage.
Erhard Giesen, Valentin Steiner
and Gregor Baumert

Two Indiecam models were used,


the IndieGS2K and IndiePOV, with the
GS2Ks global shutter proving more
effective at capturing fast movement.
Powered by lightweight IDX batteries,
they recorded uncompressed 10-bit
4:2:2 raw images to Blackmagic
HyperDeck Shuttles and were positioned not just all over the car, but on the
drivers and actors as well. Bonfils
explains, I made some custom mounts
that actually sat on the drivers shoulders
and chests so we could get their side-toside movements as they went through
corners. We also mounted Indiecams on
the sides of helmets; it was quite complicated, because Anthony wanted to be so
close to the eye that we were almost
touching the actors face. Dod Mantle
adds, I basically wanted the audience
inside the helmet behind the wheel at
speed.
The cinematographers search for
unusual onboard perspectives was relentless. Key grip Rupert Lloyd Parry recalls,
For one of the grid starts, Anthony
wanted to be underneath the rear wing
of a car and pan across to all the other
cars as the race began. He also wanted to
track up the sides of cars as they were
racing, which was quite challenging
when they were going 100 mph. We
came up with a small onboard slider
system that worked off Preston motors,
allowing us to track pretty much
anywhere on the car. We got some good
stuff, but it was hard, because there were
a lot of forces acting on the system. Our
enemy and our friend was vibration;
while it gave us amazing dynamism, it
was just as quickly undoing bolts and
unscrewing Indiecam lenses!
Miniature remote heads had to be
constructed for the car-mounted slider
and for onboard shots that panned or
tilted, and the Indiecams had to be
adapted to work with a Cmotion focuscontrol system. The team at Indiecam
worked hard to move this technology
forward for us, notes Dod Mantle. He
operated the slider remotely from a
Subaru Impreza pursuit vehicle, which
was also equipped with a gyrostabilized
Alexa on an arm for plate and action

shots. Wed be chasing the cars at 120


mph, which was dreadfully nauseating
after lunch, he recalls. I would be in
there struggling with inertia and trying
to do these little slides and moves that
told the story, and [1st AD] Lee
Grumett was next to me, telling me
when the race beats were coming. [Bcamera/Steadicam operator] Alastair
Rae and [B-camera 1st AC] David
Penfold were also working very hard

here with a large team of grips.


Another important tracking vehicle was one nicknamed The Mule,
which was usually equipped with Canon
C300s. Lloyd Parry explains, We had a
spare replica racing car that was built for
us, and we rigged a few camera points on
it. The Mule was great because it could
join in amongst the other cars and race
properly, with a racing driver at the
wheel. It allowed us to charge right up

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Full Throttle
Top: A close-up of
Hunts eye captures
his focused
intensity on the
racetrack. Middle:
Indiecams were
mounted on the
actors helmets to
capture such shots.
Bottom: This photo,
taken in prep,
inspired Dod
Mantle to employ
the helmet rigs.

behind the other cars and get some really


extreme shots that we could never have
got from a conventional tracking car.
Dod Mantle notes, I preferred the
racing drivers trained eye with The
Mule to anything any operator, including myself, attempted to simulate!
Dod Mantle usually operated the
A camera and tried to oversee the
Indiecam setups, but with up to 27
cameras on set (divided among the
onboard team, plate units, splinter units,
and a second unit directed by Todd
Hallowell), he had to put a lot of trust in
his collaborators. Michael Wood, our
second-unit cinematographer, was
fantastic at incorporating my ideas about
lighting and operating, says Dod
Mantle. Todd is a very strong collaborator with Ron and has a certain way of
doing things, and I put Michael with
him because I knew hed work well with
Todd, while also being strong enough to
bring the things Id said to him. It was all
very busy, but it worked well.
The Indiecams were delivering
impressive footage, but Dod Mantle
decided he wanted to get even deeper
inside the cars, so he asked Bonfils to
look for a smaller camera solution. I
found the [1080p] V.I.O. POV.HD
camera, which is basically just a lens and
a cable, says Bonfils. Its very wide
angle and has pretty hard compression
[H.264, recorded to 32GB SDHC
cards], but used for short moments in
the cut, we could live with the lower
quality. I put them in places where it
would not normally be possible to put a
46

October 2013

American Cinematographer

www.theasc.com

October 2013

47

Full Throttle

Top: Dod Mantle captures a scene from the cockpit of Laudas car as a driver speeds past
him. Bottom left: A remote-controlled, car-mounted slider rig was constructed so the
Indiecams could capture unusual onboard perspectives. Bottom right: Multiple Indiecams
mounted on Hunts vehicle.

camera, getting shots of the tiny things


that move and turn when you press
down on a cars accelerator.
The style of camerawork in much
of the archival material provided another
source of inspiration for Dod Mantles
visual approach. He notes, With motor
racing at that time, the cameras were
always struggling to catch the moment,
48

October 2013

so I tried to educate myself and my operators about how and when to incorporate that idea. We didnt do it too much,
because if you do, you get this incessant
wobbling, but if there was an emotional
or story-based reason to have a camera
slightly struggling to shoot through a
fence, or doing a slightly unmotivated
push, then we did it. The unpredictabilAmerican Cinematographer

ity of life and death in motor racing was


why this film had to have a kind of
inquisitive, slightly unstable language.
For scenes involving human
drama, Dod Mantles camerawork was
guided by the contrasting characters of
Hunt and Lauda. One of the first things
I said to Ron was that I saw Hunt as a
kind of animal. I felt that in the early

Full Throttle

Top: This frame


grab from the
movies climactic
sequence, set at
the Fuji
Speedway in
Japan, shows the
grade reference
for the scenes
final look.
Middle: This
grid-start setup,
constructed at
Dunsfold Park in
Surrey, was used
for the films
Monza and
Nrburgring
races. Bottom:
The Mule, a
tracking vehicle
constructed from
a spare replica
car, was
equipped with
Canon C300s to
capture tight,
dynamic midrace shots.

50

October 2013

parts of the story, Hunt should be pushing the edge of the frame, almost like a
lion in a cage. We move with him, but
hes always pushing at the frame. And I
thought Lauda was much more linear,
so everything with him should be more
directional at the beginning. I could
sense that Ron wasnt used to talking to
a cinematographer about something like
this so long before shooting, but he took
it onboard straight away.
Working on the airfield sets in
England, trying to re-create exotic racetracks in far-off countries, Dod Mantle
was often at the mercy of the elements.
We had large lighting rigs on the main
sets cranes with three 18Ks on them,
for instance and I was constantly in
allegiance with God and the assistant
directors, trying to anticipate the
weather, he says. We were lucky with
our Brazil scenes because we had an
amazingly sunny afternoon very early in
the year, and we were lucky again with
the South Africa scene, which was basically a single day when we brought all
the South African paraphernalia to the
set.
It was impossible to light the
onboard racing shots, and the latitude of
the small HD cameras was restricting,
but Dod Mantle made great efforts to
hold exposure in the skies by using NDs
and graduated filters. He notes, I made
a pact with Ron that I was never, ever
going to put the focus of these small
lenses anywhere near infinity, because
American Cinematographer

when you put it out into normal-range


cinematography, the image falls apart.
They cant compete with ArriRaw, but I
could use them as macros with foreground elements to justify the close
focus, and the soft falloff is like a painting.
Though lighting options were
limited on location, it was necessary to
calculate sun positions for each corner of
each racetrack and then match them
when it came to the studio shoot. Dod
Mantle explains, We shot every single
race against greenscreen, replicating all
the moves through the bends with the
actors sitting in cars, so I had to know
exactly where the sun was supposed to
be at every moment of every race to get
the lighting right.
For the two most dramatic races
of the season, the German Grand Prix at
the Nrburgring (where Lauda had his
accident) and the final showdown at the
Fuji Speedway in Japan, rain was a critical factor. I wanted to make Fuji look
like Dantes Inferno, foreboding and
apocalyptic, says Dod Mantle. It was
vital for the audience to understand how
difficult it was for the drivers to see
anything. They could only tell where the
bends were by the posts on the side of
the road. Johnson recalls, There was
discussion on one of the recces about
whether wed need enormous rain cranes
for all the Fuji racing shots, because the
cars would travel hundreds of meters in
a shot, and we needed rain on them
throughout. Anthony and I looked at
each other and at the same moment
realized we just needed to wet down the
track, because the cars would throw up
enough rain to get all the interaction incamera, and then visual effects would be
able to give the broad strokes of the rain
in the atmosphere, in the distance and in
the foreground. Working with Anthony
so closely allowed us to function as just
another tool in his repertoire, helping
him to achieve his vision as efficiently as
possible.
Dod Mantle was keen to refine
the films look even as it was being made,
so he turned to Erhard Giesen of
German post facility Farbkult to develop

Full Throttle

Marlene
exults as
Lauda takes
the checkered
flag in a
key race.

and supervise the on-set workflow. I


have worked with Erhard since
Antichrist [AC Nov. 09], he notes.
Giesen brought in Cinepostproduction
of Berlin, Germany, to assist with the
process. (See sidebar on page 44.) We
basically had a 2K cinema on wheels
following us around for the entire
shoot, says the cinematographer, referring to Cineposts 3D Cinema Trailer.

After long days on set, I would sit with


the grader and, with the limited tools we
had, force the material into the zone I
envisaged. I wanted everyone to understand that this was the film we were
making, and I worked deliberately to
push the material as far as I could from
any sad, desaturated, typical 70s look,
which I had no intention of simulating!
In preparation for the final grade,

the editorial team at Company 3


London used the EDL from the offline
edit to go through all the original material that was to be used in the film and
transcoded everything into 10-bit DPX
2K anamorphic, according to Patrick
Malone, director of digital film services
at the facility. They used a combination
of tools Blackmagic Design DaVinci
Resolve (on Mac), Scratch Lab and
Adobe After Effects because no
single tool proved ideal for handling all of
the many original file formats. Then,
using Autodesk Smoke, one of Company
3s conforming artists built the online
project based on the offlines EDL,
resulting in a complete timeline for the
show in 10-bit DPX 2K anamorphic.
Dod Mantle worked with colorist
Adam Glasman on the final grade,
which was done on the Resolve (on
Linux). It was a big job, and you never
have enough time for the grade, says
Dod Mantle. Like the whole production, the grade was a labyrinth.

Snapshots from the set

TruColor HS from Cineo


Professional Remote Phosphor Lighting Systems

52

See TruColor HS and TruColor LS at www.cineolighting.com.

Cinematographers fret about


losing control in situations like that, but
Ive never had more control over a grade
in my life, he continues. You have to
make it clear at the outset that youre
responsible, and that you will run it.
There are hundreds of people helping
you, but its still the cinematographer,
together with the director, who ultimately defines how a film should look.
During the timing, little bits of
movement were added to Indiecam
shots that could not be panned or tilted
on set. I was trying to visualize the
personalities of the cars themselves, and
from the beginning I intended to add up
to 250 extra camera moves to those
locked-off frames during the grade, says
Dod Mantle. Grain manipulation was
another major task, easing the transitions
between archival and contemporary
footage. I also did a lot of defocusing,
with massive focus falloff on the edges,
and focused irregularly or illogically in
the frame to take the eye where I wanted

it to go, says Dod Mantle.


Howard sat in on two timing
sessions in London and subsequently
checked in from Company 3 in Santa
Monica. We streamed the 2K data
from my session in London to an identical suite in Santa Monica in real time,
says Glasman. The theaters are calibrated to exactly match, so Ron Howard
was seeing exactly the same images we
were seeing at the same time.
Once the grading was complete,
10-bit DPX 2K anamorphic files
were rendered for the filmout and
the DCDM version for the DCP.
Scratch Lab was used to do transcoding
and panning-and-scanning to create
the 1920x1080 HD master. The
filmout, done on an Arrilaser 2 to
Fujifilm Eterna-RDI 4511, was calibrated for release on Kodak Vision
2383. Deluxe Laboratories in London
made the answer print.
Throughout this entire project,
Ron was extremely open-minded,

embracing and excited, and that was


thrilling to me, concludes Dod Mantle.
When you have a collaborator like that,
you can come forward with even
bonkers ideas, and thats a very constructive and artistic atmosphere to work in.
It helped the heart of Rush to grow, and
it helped us find solutions.

TECHNICAL SPECS
2.40:1
Digital Capture
Arri Alexa Studio, Plus;
Canon EOS C300;
Indiecam IndieGS2K, IndiePOV;
Phantom Flex; V.I.O. POV.HD;
Red Epic; Canon EOS-1D; GoPro
Bausch & Lomb Baltar, Cooke S2,
Arri Master Prime,
Century, Angenieux, Kowa,
Schneider, Canon

53

Beyond the Law


Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC details his
lighting approach to Prisoners, a
police procedural with compelling
plot twists.
By David E. Williams
|

et in an unassuming suburbia, Denis Villeneuves drama


Prisoners begins as two neighboring families convene to
celebrate Thanksgiving. After two of their young daughters vanish without a trace, a tenuous string of clues and
frantic desperation leads one father, Keller Dover (Hugh
Jackman), to step well outside the law as he tracks, captures
and imprisons the man he believes responsible, Alex Jones
(Paul Dano). Meanwhile, the police investigation, led by Det.
Loki ( Jake Gyllenhaal), is uncovering a conspiracy involving

54

October 2013

child abductions that have taken place over decades.


Prisoners cinematographer Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC
says a number of elements in the story struck him as timely,
the issue of torture among them, and that he was also
attracted to the project by its emphasis on character and
performance. The dramatic success of Prisoners rests on the
acting, he says.
He had also been impressed by Villeneuves last feature,
Incendies [2010], and was keen to collaborate with the director. I heard Denis was doing this movie and got the script,
which was dense and had a lot of characters, and, to be honest,
Gothic elements that I thought went too far. I wasnt interested in that genre, but it turned out that Denis wasnt, either.
We did end up shooting the script, but it was always his intention that the final cut of the film wouldnt feature those
elements.
Prisoners unfolds mainly through the perspectives of
Dover and Loki as their respective investigations progress.
Denis and I talked at length about how to ground the movie
in those two perspectives, but we didnt want to do it in an

American Cinematographer

Photos by Wilson Webb, courtesy of Alcon Entertainment and Warner Bros. Pictures.

effects-y way, Deakins says. For a


while, we considered shooting the
whole film handheld to give it a slightly
raw feel, but that didnt feel right. Its a
dramatic story, not documentary realism. Also, there was a danger of some of
the Gothic elements being kind of overthe-top, and we wanted to play those
down, not amplify them. So, in the end,
we chose a very restrained, matter-offact style of camerawork. We didnt
need the camera to punctuate the
suspense, because the suspense is there
in the story and the characters.
I guess more and more, I want to
do less and less with the camera.
Sometimes, well, we do too much.
The subtle visual style is in some
ways reminiscent of Deakins work on
another, very different police procedural, Fargo (AC March 96). Denis
and I did actually talk about Fargo,
mostly about that sort of restraint, the
cinematographer reports. There are
some sequences in Prisoners that we did
handheld, but we became aware as we
got into it that handheld didnt work for
this story. Its kind of interesting that we
settled on this almost clinical approach
to the camera. A number of people call
it classical, or even old-fashioned.
Some people think a handheld camera,
lots of action, and zooming in and out
and finding focus as you go looks
modern. To me, thats ridiculous, and I
hate that kind of look.
Instead, the sober camerawork in
Prisoners draws the viewer into the
dramas labyrinth of emotions. This is
perhaps best illustrated by a sequence in
which Dover ruthlessly interrogates
Jones in the confines of a small, dingy
bathroom, where he has chained Jones
to a radiator. As his friend and fellow
parent (played by Terrence Howard)
looks on, horrified yet hopeful for information about his own missing daughter,
Dover beats Jones to a bloody pulp. Its
interesting because you dont actually
see a lot of the violence, says Deakins.
So much of it is implied, in part by how
long he keeps Jones captive. Somehow,
you can understand why Dover is doing
what hes doing, but he does cross a line,

Opposite: Det.
Loki (Jake
Gyllenhaal)
approaches the
RV of a
suspected
kidnapper in
Prisoners. This
page, top: Loki
mulls over the
facts of the case.
Bottom:
Cinematographer
Roger Deakins,
ASC, BSC on
location.

and it puts the viewer on the spot: What


would you do? Is this justifiable?
Thats why I approached the
story as a morality tale, a kind of microcosm of the whole idea of torture. Its
tough material but very worthwhile.
Prisoners was shot on location in
the suburbs of Atlanta, Ga., and
www.theasc.com

Deakins says his lighting approach was


determined as much by the available
locations and the blocking of action as it
was by the story itself. Deciding on the
lighting is always difficult, he says. So
often you might have an idea going in,
but you cant get trapped by that because
so much depends on the reality of the
October 2013

55

Beyond the Law

Top: Loki sits alone in a Chinese restaurant for Thanksgiving dinner; the scene was shot inside a re-dressed pancake house lit inside with 19" China balls.
Bottom left: Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman), the father of one of the two missing girls, questions Loki about the investigation. Bottom right: Loki speaks with
Nancy and Frank Birch (Viola Davis and Terrence Howard), the parents of the other missing girl.

shooting day. Denis and I looked at a lot


of visual references, and we definitely
had a look and a feel in mind when we
began, but the way it finally came out
was a much more organic process, to use
an overused expression.
Deakins shot the picture digitally
using an Arri Alexa Studio, an Alexa
Plus and Arri Master Prime lenses,
56

October 2013

capturing in ArriRaw. I needed the


exposure the Master Primes offer
because we had some very low-light
situations, he says. I rated the Alexa at
1,600 for those, but for most night
[exteriors] I usually rated at 1,250 ASA.
Everything else, apart from a few day
exteriors, was rated right at 800 ASA. I
like to shoot right in the middle because
American Cinematographer

the image will have more latitude and


more dynamic range.
Basic source lighting was the rule
throughout much of the production. As
an example, Deakins points to a rainy
night sequence in which Loki and other
police officers converge on Jones dilapidated RV, surrounding the vehicle in an
isolated parking lot. Originally we

Left: The Birch


family attends a
candlelight vigil.
Below: Deakins
surveys a row of
peanut globes
used to
supplement the
candlelight for
the vigil scene.
Combined with
the candles, the
globes gave us
a warm glow
coming from
below eye level,
says chief
lighting
technician Chris
Napolitano.

looked for a highway rest stop for this


scene, but as we discussed it, I realized
that sort of location probably wouldnt
have any sources to work from, and I
didnt want to create a moonlight look
because that wouldve looked artificial,
says the cinematographer. So, I
suggested we have the RV park by a gas
station that had a big parking lot, which
would allow us some light sources and
add depth to the landscape. I liked the
idea of this bright gas station in a sea of
blackness in the rain, and the RV parked
off in the darkness. Visually, thats how
the scene evolved, and it became one of
my favorites in the film because its such
a statement, such a harsh look.
So, we had our setting and the
lighting of the scene, and then adding to
that is the staging of the action. Loki
first appears in silhouette, coming out of
the blackness, with other officers
approaching with their flashlights, and
then we see the RV and its headlights
poking into the woods past the edge of
the parking lot. So, our lighting
approach helped dictate the location,
which then helped dictate the staging of
the scene, which led to the actual lighting it was an evolution. Basically, we

lit the film by choosing the right places


to shoot it.
Chief lighting technician Chris
Napolitano, one of Deakins regular
collaborators, elaborates: We kept the
lighting in this scene pretty simple, and
we started by boosting the RV headlights with a couple of Tweenies
mounted on the front. Then, each
policeman had a flashlight practical
fitted with 500-lumen LEDs; the
www.theasc.com

conversions were done by Independent


Studio Services, a prop house in Los
Angeles that also converted a number of
camping-style flashlights for us.
Depending on the scene, Roger would
usually warm the flashlights a bit with
CTO.
There was a large billboard near
the parking lot, and we got permission
to access it so [rigging gaffer] Kevin
Lang and the rigging crew could put up
October 2013

57

Beyond the Law

Top: Dover
confronts Alex
Jones (Paul
Dano), the man
he suspects of
kidnapping his
daughter,
outside the
police station.
Bottom: Director
Denis Villeneuve
plans a shot
with Deakins.

some 400-watt Joker Pars, aiming them


down to create pools of light. A little of
that was set up to backlight the rain, but
we didnt need that too much.
For shots [looking] the other
direction, Roger used a dozen or so 2K
Juniors to create a look off in the
distance. We put them in a nice line and
dimmed them to about 20 percent,
creating a soft glow in the background,
58

October 2013

out of focus, for depth.


Location also dictated lighting in
a unique reveal sequence that introduces
Loki on that Thanksgiving evening. He
is eating dinner alone in a near-empty
Chinese restaurant that has large glass
windows, allowing the camera to easily
pick Loki up even in relatively long
shots from outside. Whats funny is
that while scouting for that scene, we
American Cinematographer

looked at all these standard Chinese


restaurants, but none of them had an
interesting exterior, Deakins recalls. I
suggested to Denis that if we wanted to
feel Loki is alone, wed have to see inside
from the exterior. So, we kept looking,
and we finally found this pancake house
that was available. It wasnt a Chinese
restaurant, but Denis said, If we add red
chairs and chopsticks, its a Chinese
restaurant. The scene has this minimal,
ugly look, with the highway outside and
the rain coming down, and he is the
loneliest guy in the world.
The solution to lighting the interior of the restaurant was China balls,
but that had nothing to do with it
being a Chinese restaurant, Napolitano
says with a laugh. The shape of the
restaurant was kind of octagonal, with
these huge windows, so Roger came up
with a plan to light from the central
ceiling of the room with white paper
China balls. [Key grip] Mitch Lillian
and his crew put together a cable line
for us to hang them from so we could
slide them around as needed.
Napolitano used 19" China balls fitted
with sockets and 100-watt household

Beyond the Law

Loki sheds light


on the mysterys
final twists.
There was a
danger of some
of the Gothic
elements being
kind of over-thetop, and we
wanted to play
those down, not
amplify them,
says Deakins.
We didnt need
the camera to
punctuate the
suspense,
because the
suspense is there
in the story and
the characters.

bulbs, which were dimmed down to add


warmth. No fill was used, as the fixtures
cast such a soft, realistic toplight on
Gyllenhaal.
One of Prisoners key suspense
sequences takes place during a candlelight vigil, as dozens gather to raise
public awareness about the girls disap60

October 2013

pearance. Loki scans the crowd for


suspicious-looking attendees, and the
scene quickly changes gears to become a
chase through neighboring backyards.
That was a sequence Denis storyboarded, and we shot it more or less as
wed planned, Deakins says.
Again, Deakins lighting strategy
American Cinematographer

was to rely mostly on practicals. I didnt


want to put any extraneous light on the
scene by using overheads on towers or
Condors. I wanted the candles to be our
main source, so we got a lot of doublewick candles and then dummied a
number of them with electric versions
for the background; we concealed the
bare bulbs with those same little plastic
cups people generally use on candles to
protect them from the wind.
Napolitano adds, At one point, the
scene had 60 to 70 extras, so we had
about 30 of our dummy candles on
dimmers. Those double-wick candles
are never enough, and Roger came up
with the idea of mixing about 20 peanut
globes in with the candles that were
placed on the ground, and that gave us a
warm glow coming from below eye
level.
Deakins abandoned the idea of
using flicker generators for these candle
fixtures because it got too complicated
for what we were trying to do, he says.
We ended up putting them straight on
dimmers, which was quicker. I also had
2-foot and 3-foot aluminum strips
made that each had six or seven sockets,

Beyond the Law


Top: Deakins
films Jackman
in the scene
following
Dovers
violent
interrogation
of Jones.
Middle:
Villeneuve
watches as
Deakins takes
the wheels for
a remote-head
shot. Bottom:
The crew
prepares to
shoot in the
Birch home.

and wed hide those behind a pillar or an


actor to give a bit of light on something
else, to boost the effects of the candlelight.
For this scene, Deakins rated the
Alexa at 1,600 ASA because it was very
minimal lighting, and I wanted to push
[the candlelight feel] as far as I could. I
could have probably shot the whole
scene just with triple-wick candles, but
the flames would have been too large. I
find the extra bit of speed I get with
digital is a real advantage to the way I
like to work. But I wont go any further
than [1,600 ASA], not on the Alexa.
You could, but at 2,000 ASA you start
getting a bit of noise.
The wild foot chase that begins at
the vigil and moves through the neighborhood was lit entirely with many
little gags that wed rigged on the
ground well in advance, Deakins says.
One of the pluses of working in the
same neighborhood for weeks was that I
could come out at the end of a days
shoot in one place and start doing a little
bit of lighting elsewhere. The rigging
crew put in all these gags using little
mushroom bulbs on the houses and in
the backyards, and then they added
62

October 2013

American Cinematographer

Redheads behind each streetlight to


augment that light a bit. We also set up
the streetlights themselves, as none
existed at the location; basically, we
started with nothing. By the time we
came in to shoot, the backgrounds were
done, and we could shoot from virtually
any angle. Its all lit by what you see in
shot, with a little extra floor lighting on
the day.
We were getting away from the
standard night-exterior look of a huge
backlight coming down on a wet street,
you know? says Napolitano. This
approach was more suited to this type of
neighborhood. Our local crew guys
were kind of blown away by this practical-heavy approach! And Rogers attention to detail is incredible. The crew
might set 30 gags in an area, but if one
was missing, hed turn to me and say,
Chris, that overhang there doesnt have
the light I need.
Many of these gags comprised a
practical that would be visible on
camera surrounded by a ring of smaller
lights that would be just out of sight.
And then, inside some of the houses
and garages wed drop a batten strip of
150-watt RFL globes to create a soft
push of light coming out of, say, a
kitchen window into the back yard,
says Napolitano. We also placed lights
off in the distance, at different levels, to
add something in the background for
depth.
In addition to the practicals built
into the houses and streetlamps, the
electricians sometimes added securitytype fixtures bought from a local hardware store and rewired for higher
output. We could use those anywhere,
Napolitano says, and sometimes wed
use a few 1K Nooks raking across a
yard, or, at most, a couple of 2K Juniors
and Babies. But household incandescents were our go-to for much of the
scene, and we used a lot of gold bounce
cards to give a nice, soft push of light
coming from the corner to enhance
whatever fixture was working off the
house.
Napolitano adds that although
the production made extensive use of

dimmers to control lighting, the


approach was decidedly low-tech. Ive
done some huge movies that relied on
massive dimmer-board systems, but on
this movie we used old-school 1K and
2K Variacs pre-rigged into position and
marked so we could reset them as necessary. We also installed a lot of dimmers
in walls on our locations, wherever we
needed a dimmer on a practical, and
then wired another light with it. So, if

there was a bedroom light on a switch,


we would wire into it another light so
that when the actor came in, hed just hit
that switch on the wall, and it would
light the practical and our light with it.
One of Deakins biggest lighting
challenges was a night scene at the end
of the picture that shows a character
trapped in a cave-like bunker, and Loki
searching just yards away from it. The
policeman is on the verge of giving up

Beyond the Law

The investigation takes its toll on Loki.

his hunt, which would mean almost


certain death for the trapped character.
This exterior sequence was staged in the
front yard of a ramshackle house, and
largely lit by boosted household practi-

64

cals and a series of police work lights


illuminating the outer area. I struggled
with those last few shots of the film
because I was working with the idea of
how to light that house but also add

some tension, Deakins recalls. Then


we decided it would make sense for the
police to have rigged work lights, and
they could turn them off one by one as
they prepare to leave.
In essence, the trapped characters
chance of living dims as each of those
lights is extinguished. Deakins notes,
Ill always remember that wonderful
shot Connie Hall [ASC] did in Fat
City, when the aging boxer that Tully
[Stacy Keach] has just beaten is walking
down a passage, and they turn the lights
out as he goes through. I always thought
that was a wonderful shot, and I may
have had that in my mind.
To create a base illumination for
the scene, the houses porch lighting was
intensified with fluorescents until it
became a kind of bowl of light that
could reach out into the yard just far
enough to light it to the edge of [the
caves location], says the cinematographer. But justifying having enough
light to get out there from the house was

tricky. The work-light practicals then


completed the effect.
The productions dailies were
timed on location by EFilm colorist
David Picket, who graded the native
ArriRaw 2880x1620 files using
Colorfront On-Set Dailies. Deakins
viewed the results projected on a 17'
screen (at 2048x1152) and via EFilms
eVue system. Dailies were transcoded to
Avid DNxHD for editorial.
Deakins did the final timing at
EFilm in Hollywood with colorist
Mitch Paulson, who graded 2880x1620
DPX files on an Autodesk Lustre. Final
outputs were a 4K DCP, a 1920x1080
HD master, and a 4K filmout (on an
Arrilaser) to Fujifilm Eterna-RDI
4511. Deluxe Laboratories in Hollywood made the answer print.
Deakins took on Prisoners shortly
after wrapping the James Bond adventure Skyfall (AC Dec. 12), and he says
he found Villeneuves film harder to
shoot, in a way, because we didnt have

Deakins eyes
a shot
through the
viewfinder. I
approached
the story as a
morality
tale, he says.
Its tough
material but
very
worthwhile.

the luxury of all those tools and an


endless amount of prep. But in all,
Prisoners is much like the films Ive
been doing for most of my career. I like
character films. I like photographing a
human face. I find that more interesting
than anything else, and thats what I
will continue to do.

TECHNICAL SPECS
1.85:1
Digital Capture
Arri Alexa Studio, Plus
Arri Master Prime

65

Naval

Campaign
NCIS director of photography
William Webb, ASC invites AC to
the set as he begins shooting the
series 11th season.
By Jon D. Witmer
|
66

October 2013

ts the fourth day of shooting on the first episode of the 11th


season of NCIS. This will be the 235th episode to air since
the show successfully spun out of another Donald P.
Bellisario creation, JAG, and the same cinematographer has
been with the show from day one: William Webb, ASC.
Welcoming AC to the stages in Valencia, Calif., that
have been home to NCIS from the start, Webb leads the way
through a maze of standing sets before settling into a chair at
video village, which has been set up just outside the squad
room where Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents
Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon), Anthony DiNozzo
(Michael Weatherly), Timothy McGee (Sean Murray) and

American Cinematographer

Unit photography by Monty Brinton; Richard Cartwright; Sonja Flemming; Richard Foreman, SMPSP; Ron P. Jaffe; Cliff Lipson; and Adam Rose, courtesy of CBS Broadcasting, Inc.

Opposite, clockwise
from top left: NCIS
agents Gibbs (Mark
Harmon), DiNozzo
(Michael Weatherly),
David (Cote de Pablo)
and McGee (Sean
Murray) confer with
medical examiner
Mallard (David
McCallum) and his
assistant, Palmer (Brian
Dietzen), on the series
NCIS. This page, top:
Gibbs meets with NCIS
Director Vance (Rocky
Carroll). Middle: David
and DiNozzo step
outside with Senior FBI
Agent Fornell (Joe
Spano). Bottom:
Cinematographer
William Webb, ASC
(right) and B-camera
operator Christos
Bitsakos line up a shot
on location.

Ziva David (Cote de Pablo) work. The


scene at hand finds Gibbs in conversation with DiNozzo, McGee, Senior FBI
Agent Tobias Fornell ( Joe Spano), and
Richard Parsons (Colin Hanks), an
investigator for the Naval Inspector
General.
Between takes, Webb runs out to
confer with A- and B-camera operators
George Loomis and Christos Bitsakos,
respectively. Webb worked as a camera
assistant before enrolling at the
American Film Institute. After graduating, he interned for Robert Richardson,
ASC on Born on the Fourth of July, and
thereafter found steady employment as a
camera operator. I picked up a
Steadicam, and I worked with some
great cinematographers, including
Bobby Byrne [ASC], Bill Pope [ASC],
Jim Chressanthis [ASC] and Hugo
Cortina, Webb recounts. Cortina
brought Webb along to operate on JAG,
and when Cortina moved on, Webb
moved up to director of photography.
Webb was well into his second full
season as JAGs cinematographer when
Bellisario and Don McGill had the idea
for NCIS. Bellisario tested the waters
with a two-part storyline (season-eight
episodes Ice Queen and Meltdown)
that introduced a number of NCIS principals. When CBS ordered NCIS to
series, Bellisario asked Webb to help
www.theasc.com

October 2013

67

Naval Campaign
Top: The team
stands in the
squad room, one
of the series
many standing
sets, which is
rigged so the
crew can quickly
dial in an array
of day and night
looks. Middle:
Vance and Gibbs
work into the
night. Bottom:
Webb
maneuvers the
Steadicam
around Murray
and Weatherly
while A-Camera
1st AC Chad
Erickson (left)
keeps the action
in focus.

craft the look from the ground up.


JAG was a classically shot show,
usually with a static camera, and Don
wanted to do something very different
for NCIS, says Webb. He had me
watch The Bourne Identity, and he said, I
want you to study the way they cut, the
way they move the camera all of it.
The director, Doug Liman, did things
like jumping the line and shooting an
over-the-shoulder handheld on one side
and in studio mode on the other. It lent
real energy to the movie.
Figuring out how to achieve
something similar on an eight-day-perepisode schedule was a challenge,
Webb continues. We discovered the
best way to achieve it was to shoot as
much footage as possible, and then let
Don mix it all up in editorial. We often
ran three cameras simultaneously.
Bellisario exited the series after
four seasons, and his responsibilities as
show runner/head writer have since been
filled by Shane Brennan and, currently,
Gary Glasberg. The show has since
become more conventional in terms of
style we do a lot more with a moving
single camera, says Webb. But well still
pick one or two scenes [per episode] to
do that sort of crazy style, and every
chance I can, Ill throw in the second
68

October 2013

American Cinematographer

camera to get that odd cut.


Both cameras have been working
on this squad-room scene, and Webb
praises the operators as well as Acamera 1st AC Chad Erickson and Bcamera 1st AC Kim Erickson for their
ability to nail the shot on take one and
allow us to move so quickly. As the crew
turns around for a reverse angle on
Harmon, Webb invites AC to step onto
the set. Three large pyramidal milkedglass skylights break up the ceiling,
offering graphic detail for low-angle
shots and providing a base ambience for
day interiors. A staircase at one end of
the set leads to a second-story walkway,
where Webb steps through a door that
opens onto a catwalk above the set,
affording a vantage of the tops of the
skylights. Six-Light Maxi-Brutes run
the length of each side of each pyramid,
27 Maxi-Brutes in total; wires run along
the top and bottom of each row of
fixtures, and frames of diffusion and Full
CTB hang on the wires, ready to be slid
in front of the lights. This is all wired by
Socapex to the dimmer board, so we can
go from bright to dark, and we can actually make the sun rise on one side of the
room and set on the other, says Webb.
The electricians position two
Barger-Lite LiteStrips fronted with
Chimeras off to one side of the action.
Muslin is hung in front of the lights,
with black flags hung on either side to
eliminate spill. The resultant light helps
shape the actors and keep their eyes illuminated while matching the feel of the
skylights. Meanwhile, the grips hang
black foamcore beneath the skylight
directly over the action; the 4'x8' sheets
rest on metal bars that span the width of
the skylight and can be quickly slid into
position along wires that run along each
side. Webb credits this system to key
grip Bill Baker. One of the perks of
getting to know a set over the course of
10 seasons, he observes, is that you get
ideas. I cant tell you how many times
over the last decade Billy Baker and Jim
Krattiger, my gaffer, have blown me
away with their ideas; theyre geniuses
and tinkerers.
The crew wraps the squad-room

Top: Gibbs and DiNozzo follow a case remotely from MTAC, NCIS high-tech communications
theater. Middle: Images are projected onto MTACs main viewing screen from a projector outside
of the set. Bottom: The cast prepares for a scene inside the squad rooms elevator.

www.theasc.com

October 2013

69

Naval Campaign

Right: The team


goes over
evidence in the
laboratory of
forensic scientist
Abby Sciuto
(Pauley Perrette,
second from
right). 2K Zip
lights hang above
each of the
arched windows
in the
background to
help create a
backlit sunlight
effect in the lab.
Below: Abby
shares a
discovery with
Gibbs.

scene at a remarkable clip, and Webb is


quick to share credit for that with
episode director Tony Wharmby. Once
we start shooting, my first loyalty is to
the director, and I do my best to accommodate him, even if he has an idea thats
sort of outside the NCIS norm, he says.
Webb himself has directed four episodes
to date: Mind Games (season three),
Shalom (season four), Childs Play
70

October 2013

(season seven) and Dead Reflection


(season eight). Its a fantastic experience, and it has changed me as a
cameraman. Im much more empathetic to the directors plight, to the
millions of questions hes attacked with
every day.
When Webb directs, or when he
has to leave set for an upcoming
episodes tech scout, he taps Bitsakos to
American Cinematographer

take over cinematography duties. Hes a


very talented guy with a great eye, says
Webb. He was already shooting
projects when he started working for me
as a second AC on JAG.
Webbs prep begins when he
receives the script, which he reads
several times before our tech scout.
Somebody once told me, The first time
you read a script, read it like youre
watching it, as fast as you possibly can.
When I do that, images just pop into
my mind, and then I make all these
manic notes. The key to any narrative
production is the story. That is god, and
thats where I look for inspiration. You
stay open, and you try to break habits,
especially when youre on season 11!
The next scene takes the crew to
the elevator interior built into one of the
squad rooms walls, at the end of a long
row of windows that look out onto a
backing of the real NCIS building at
Quantico. Roughly 15' separates the
backing from the windows, with some
greenery positioned in between. Twenty
Mole-Richardson 2K Zip lights are
aimed at the backing from the ceiling;
half are open faced, half are gelled Full

Blue, and they are hung in an alternating


pattern. Beneath the Zip lights hang
four 4-bank Far Cycs; the top two banks
in each are gelled Blue, and the bottom
two are left open. The mix of gelled and
clean globes allows the crew flexibility in
creating time-of-day effects.
Looking toward the skylights,
Webb asks Krattiger what time its
supposed to be in the scene, and the
gaffer responds, 5 oclock. Webb says,
Lets make it 6. Krattiger radios
dimmer-board operator Jon Marshall on
a walkie-talkie, and within seconds, the
daylight dims into a late-afternoon
feel.
After Weatherly and Hanks have
rehearsed the elevator scene and 2nd AC
James Troost has laid marks, Webb calls
for the A camera, which dolly grip
Johnny OGrady pushes into position.
Our production designer, Rob Bacon,
has built most of our standing sets so we
can dolly right on them [without laying
track], says Webb. Our dolly grips are
wonderful. Their eyes are so attuned to
the lens position and whats happening
with the actors and the frame.
One of Gibbs signature moves
has been to stop the elevator mid-transit
to speak to someone privately. He flips
a switch, and the white light overhead
is replaced with a low-angle blue
glow. Originally, we set up both looks,
and the electricians would have to
turn off one set of lights and turn on
the other, Webb recalls. We have
since refined it with a tungsten [fluorescent] practical over the door and [bluegelled] fluorescent tubes hidden beneath
the handrails, and we actually have it
wired to the switch Mark Harmon
flips. Supplementing the white toplight
are two 2'x4' Kino Flos fronted with
narrow egg crates and mounted to the
sets ceiling, well above the frame line.
After shooting out Hanks coverage, the crew pulls the back off the elevator and turns around to shoot Weatherly,
with the squad room visible in the background. The scene is quickly wrapped,
and the crew moves on to the lab that
NCIS forensic scientist Abby Sciuto
(Pauley Perrette) essentially calls home.

Top: Webb frames up Harmon for a scene inside the autopsy set. The practical surgical lamps are
fitted with 250-watt quartz globes to cast burned-out hot spots onto the tables below. Bottom:
A low-key night scene in the autopsy set.

In story terms, Abbys lab is


supposed to be just below street level.
Three arched windows line the top of
one wall in the lab, and extras passing
feet are frequently visible outside the
windows, along an elevated platform
beyond which hangs a backing of the
Quantico Shipyard. In front of the
backing, aimed toward the windows, is a
row of Mole-Richardson 10Ks that can
serve as a sun source. Occasionally we
bring in 20Ks and Juniors, and we use
Molepars [positioned on the platform]
www.theasc.com

for sharp rays of sunlight, says Webb.


The sunlight effect is furthered in
the lab by 2K Zip lights hanging above
the arched windows. Each Zip is fitted
with an egg crate (to mitigate spill) and
hangs through a trap door in the ceiling.
If the camera looks up and toward the
windows, the lights can be pulled out
and a ceiling piece dropped into place.
The scene begins with Abby and
Gibbs, who are soon joined by Parsons,
and, after watching a rehearsal, Webb
proposes a moving Steadicam master
October 2013

71

Naval Campaign
with the Primo 19-90mm zoom
mounted on the Arri Alexa. Webb operates the Steadicam himself. I do it for
the creativity, he says. Well often
utilize [the Steadicam] in combination
with the dolly, and on location Ill take it
on a Titan crane. Well buzz along at 15
mph in motor mode, stop, go into electric, boom down into a close-up as someone gets out of a car, and continue
straight into a walk-and-talk.
This particular master isnt quite as
complicated, and when its finished, the
crew breaks for lunch. Over a plate of
broccoli and chicken, Webb notes that
after seven seasons of shooting NCIS on
film, CBS and Paramount mandated a
switch to digital acquisition. He recalls,
My producers were very supportive, as
they always are, and said, Pick any
camera you want. So I looked at everything available at that time. Because of
my long relationship with Panavision, we
started with the Genesis, which seemed
to have the least distance to go to achieve
the look wed been enjoying for seven
seasons.
After shooting season eight with
the Genesis, Webb was invited to Arris
Burbank facility to take a look at the
Alexa. He opted to switch to the Alexa
for season nine and has used the camera
ever since. Upon making the change, he
shot comparison tests, recording from
the Alexa in ProRes 4:4:4 and 4:2:2, and
studied the results at Encore with colorist
George Delaney. We determined that
the way our show is broadcast, we
couldnt see a difference, but the time and
cost differential is pretty significant, so
we chose ProRes 4:2:2. Then, I tested the
camera and studied the format until I felt
I knew it as well as the film stocks we
used to use. (The cameras record to
internally mounted SxS cards, which
loader Victoria Ketcham downloads and
QCs using 1 Beyonds Wrangler.)
Webb has collaborated with
Delaney since JAG. He describes how
their communication has evolved: I used
to send him microcassettes daily with my
notes about the light, and I even sent him
pieces of gel and diffusion I was using.
We would also go through scene-by-

Top: DiNozzo
and McGee
monitor the
interrogation
room, visible
through the
glass and lit
with the
custom
Monster Light
that hangs
above the
table. Middle:
An overhead
practical and a
clip light on the
worktable
motivate the
lighting for a
night scene
inside Gibbs
basement.
Bottom: Webb
lights through
the sets
windows for a
day-interior in
the basement.

72

October 2013

American Cinematographer

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Naval Campaign

Top and middle: Webb says that NCIS is about a 40-percent-location show, with regular visits
to ships and Los Angeles-area exteriors that look appropriate for the shows Washington, D.C.
setting. Bottom: Webb confabs with gaffer Jim Krattiger (left) and key grip Bill Baker.

74

October 2013

American Cinematographer

scene and set the look, and he would


create stills to reference as he did the final
timing. Occasionally Ill still send a note,
but I dont use the tape deck anymore. I
stand back and let him do all the color,
and I usually go in to look at his work a
day before we have to deliver. Sometimes
we tweak it, but often I dont change a
thing. I love having his fresh eye look at
the material and make creative suggestions. After 10 seasons, its become much
more of a family affair, which is the best
way to keep things fresh.
In addition to the two Alexas,
which the production rents from
Panavision Woodland Hills (along with
Primo primes and zooms), Webb occasionally incorporates a Canon C300 as a
third camera, or for inserts and shots in
tight spots. The C300 is used with
Canons Cinema lenses and set to record
in 1920x1080 resolution at 50 Mbps
onto CF cards. Weve even shot whole
scenes in cars with it. That camera blends
better with the Alexa than most of the
cameras Ive tested. Weve also used
GoPro HD Hero2s, recording to SD
cards, for quick inserts, like a 1-second
shot of a car driving right over the top of
the camera. Ive gone from being
cautiously skeptical about digital to being
very excited by it.
Filtration has been an important
factor in NCIS look from the beginning,
and Webb says there is almost always
some sort of diffusion on the lens. Over
the course of the show, Ive tested and
used an array of filters diffusion is of
special interest with hi-def. [Tiffen]
Soft/FX are some of my favorites, but
ultimately it comes down to the quality of
the light, where were shooting, the tonal
quality of the scene, and how I want the
actors to look. Today [in the squad
room], Ive been using a Soft/FX 1
combined with a net.
He notes that the switch to digital
acquisition hasnt particularly affected his
lighting. The transition was fairly
smooth. Almost all of the fixtures you see
in the sets have been hanging there for 10
years. With film, I was a T2.5 guy
thats just the way [the light] tended to
fall in. The Alexas native 800 [ASA]

gives me a bit more right off the bat, and


I often find myself shooting around T3.2.
But I try to choose my stop based on the
circumstances [of the scene] and what
were trying to achieve.
In those early seasons, trying to
move as quickly as possible while shooting with three cameras, I learned some
tricks that I still use, he adds. We float
lights all the time. Electricians will fly in
with a light, duck just below the frame as
the camera pans, and then move in to
help key someone else. We also do a lot of
dimming. For example, well dim the
lights to accentuate the depth as a character walks down a hallway.
With time to spare before the crew
is called back to work, Webb offers to
show AC some more sets. He leads the
way into MTAC, a communications
theater where the NCIS agents can
videoconference with people around the
globe via a large screen and several
smaller monitors. Positioned outside the
set, behind the viewing screen, an Eiki
projector (provided by Background
Engineers) projects the onscreen image.
Although the projected footage is occasionally prerecorded, productions preference is to set up a second camera in an
interior or exterior swing set and send a
live image through the projector so the
actors on both sides of the conversation
can react naturally to one another.
To light the actors inside MTAC
as the images play onscreen, Webb
explains, well set up LiteStrips or
Fresnels, depending on the effect we
want, and well dim them up and down as
we move the camera. Our dimmer-board
operator will watch the scene on a monitor and take visual cues. Weve also pulled
out the screen and used the projector as
the key light.
Walking over to a second stage,
Webb brings AC to the interrogation
room. Whats tough about this room is
that its basically a taupe-colored box, he
notes wryly. A table sits in the center of
the room, and over that hangs the
Monster Light, a custom-made squareshaped light thats open in the center; the
four sides are fitted with a total of 20
250-watt halogen globes individually

wired to the dimmer board so they can


be dimmed up or down in sequence as
the camera circles the table. Its on four
chains that go up to the ceiling with
hoists, so we can adjust its height and
angle it to wrap around the actors and
fill under their eyes, Webb notes. A
Dedolight is positioned in the middle of
the Monster Light to create a hot
bounce off the table.
NCIS agents monitor the interrogation room through a two-way
mirror. During ACs visit, a clear pane of
glass separates the adjacent rooms.
Webb explains, We have two pieces of
glass clear and a solid mirror.
Typically, the regular mirror will be
mounted for scenes shot inside interrogation, and the clear glass will be put
into place for scenes in the observation
room. Agents watching through the
glass are usually keyed by LiteStrips
positioned inside the interrogation room
to feel like spill from the Monster Light.
Fluorescents gelled with Midnight Blue
inside the observation room provide a
low-level backlight and fill.
From that set, Webb maneuvers
between two set walls that have been
pulled slightly apart, granting access to
Gibbs basement. Of all our standing
sets, this is probably my favorite. The
scenes we shoot in here are usually
moody, dramatic and dark. An empty
worktable sits in the middle of the space,
and above it hangs a practical work light.
We start [lighting the set] with that
practical, and we move out from there,
says Webb. We have a lot of practicals
in here. We use these little handgrips
[clip lights with silver hoods] all the
time. Sometimes we get some high-key
material in here during a day scene, but
its usually a low-key situation.
A muslin ceiling covers the basement set. Asked whether he ever creates
a base ambience through the top, Webb
responds, I never have. I feel like if
theres any ambient light in here, especially during the day, its going to come
from the windows or the door [leading
from the upstairs into the basement].
And at night, the light in here is much
more sourcey. Im a cameraman who

Naval Campaign

With 10
seasons worth
of cases under
their belts,
McGee,
DiNozzo and
Gibbs not to
mention Webb
and his
collaborators
race into action
once again.

likes to see the sources; when you have


all these practicals, when you go in for
coverage, your key can be whatever
looks beautiful because you have an
excuse for it to be there.
Exiting the basement, Webb is
suddenly standing in what appears to be
the below-decks passageway of a Navy
vessel. This set has been here for 15
years, going back to JAG. Well paint it
different colors; well add rooms or take

76

rooms away; but its the same basic set.


Its been several different types of ships
over the years, and weve even made it
narrower and turned it into a submarine! Shooting in this set is all about
trying to make something the audience
has seen 150 times look different.
The production also frequents
real ships each season. Weve shot in an
old battleship the Navy uses for testing
up at Point Mugu; weve shot at Port

Hueneme; and weve used the Lane


Victory, an old World War II cargo ship
down in San Pedro, probably 50 times.
Its great, because these locations provide
a different texture.
Webb estimates that NCIS is
about a 40-percent-location show, and I
love that everybody does. On a longrunning show, you see the whole crew get
energized by a fun location [that
provides] something different. The Navy
has allowed us to use some real military
buildings. Weve also used several homes
in Pasadena, which has sort of an East
Coast feel and can pass for suburban
Washington, D.C.
One day we were shooting downtown [in Los Angeles], the cinematographer continues. It was supposed to be
a hot, humid day in D.C. We happened
to have a water truck because we were
shooting a night sequence later, and I had
the truck come in and hit the pavement
for this day scene. The water hit the street
and started to evaporate, creating a sort of

humidity. Well do things like that to try


to create the visual sense of being back
east.
We float black silks over our
actors a lot, he adds. It slows the light
down, but theres still enough that you
dont lose the sun effect altogether. It
gives the light a natural hue. We also
have three 18Ks with us all the time on
location. Well use them as backlight or
as a little bit of fill, and if were shooting
in a practical interior, well use them
through the windows. But if were
outside, were constantly floating silks,
flags and bounces in and out. The grips
are on their feet all the time.
To help sell the shows setting, a
D.C. unit is occasionally dispatched to
shoot background plates that are later
composited behind the actors. Over the
years, NCIS has incorporated an increasing amount of visual effects, says Webb.
Its not unusual to be on location and see
an opportunity where we can put a piece
of the Capitol or the Washington

Monument in the background. When


were supposed to be on a ship out at
sea, well paint away the coastline or the
breakwater at Long Beach. Early on, we
worried a lot about palm trees, but now
we can easily paint them out. We also
do more demolition and gunfire digitally instead of practically. It looks good,
and its a lot safer.
After lunch, the crew filters back
into Abbys lab to continue the work
from the morning, beginning with
coverage of Harmon and Perrette.
Baker has the grips hang a piece of
muslin on the wall just off camera, and
Krattiger instructs the electricians to
train a 1K into the material for some
soft bounced fill. A StripLite is also
adjusted to key Harmon; the source
causes Perrettes shadow to briefly
shroud his face during the shot, but its
an effect Webb decides is appropriate
for the scene.
Ill make things lighter or darker
or change the color of the light to evoke

a mood, the cinematographer says.


But there are certain things we dont
want to change because theyre part of
what the audience wants to see. Theres
something comforting about sitting
down, turning on the TV and seeing
this cast of characters. Part of the job is
to lift the audience up and, for an hour,
take them to this place that they love.
Im just as excited about what were
going to do this season as I was in season
one.

TECHNICAL SPECS
1.78:1
Digital Capture
Arri Alexa, Canon Cinema
EOS C300, GoPro HD Hero2
Panavision Primo,
Canon Cinema

77

Magic
Touch

A speed typist finds love in the


French romantic comedy Populaire,
shot by Guillaume Schiffman, AFC.
By Jean Oppenheimer
|

irector of photography Guillaume Schiffman, AFC


gained international recognition for his work on Michel
Hazanavicius The Artist (AC Dec. 12), a love letter to
Hollywoods silent era that won accolades around the
world. His most recent film, Populaire, is a throwback to
another era of filmmaking, but one not quite as far back.
Set in 1958, the story concerns Rose (Dborah
Franois), a shy young woman who, dismayed by the limited
job opportunities in her small Normandy village, heads for the
city of Lisieux, where she hopes to become a secretary. The
handsome and cocky Louis (Romain Duris) runs a small
insurance company, and he hires Rose despite her lack of
experience. Although she types using only two fingers, she is

78

October 2013

incredibly fast and accurate, and Louis believes that with the
right coaching, she could become the speed-typing champion
of the world.
Schiffman confesses a special affection for the storys
period. I think I am a modern guy, but my heart belongs to
American cinema from the 1950s to the 1970s, he says,
speaking to AC from Tbilisi, Georgia, where he is shooting a
feature about the Chechen War for Hazanavicius.
The cinematographer recalls his initial meeting with
Populaire director Rgis Roinsard, who had loved the look of
the OSS 117 Sixties spy-movie sendups Schiffman shot. We
got along the minute we met, relates the cameraman. We
both love old movies, and we talked about all these pictures
that few people know but we both like.
To get the look, tone and mood Roinsard desired,
Schiffman recommended shooting on film. Many romantic
comedies of that period were distinguished by deep focus and
a strong sharpness of color, even pastel tones, and Roinsard
wanted to replicate that. Rgis wanted depth-of-field and
CinemaScope, but we had neither the time nor the money to
do it. We preferred to save what money we had for the set
dressing, studio and extras. So, we shot spherical, choosing 3perf Super 35mm, for a final aspect ratio of 2.40:1.

American Cinematographer

Photos by Jair Sfez, courtesy of The Weinstein Co.

Opposite: Rose
(Dborah Franois), a
secretary in 1958
France, finds herself
on a path to glory
after her new boss
pushes her to pursue
competitive speed
typing. This page,
top: Rose holds a
typewriter while
working in her
fathers shop.
Middle: Rose
impresses Louis
(Romain Duris), the
boss of a small
insurance company,
with her typing
skills. Bottom:
Cinematographer
Guillaume
Schiffman, AFC
surveys a shot
on set.

For most of his work in France,


Schiffman uses Arri cameras because I
like the viewfinder, and the rest is basically the same mechanics in all
cameras. Because the camera would
often be stationary on Populaire, he
chose an Arricam Studio as the main
camera, which he operated. (An
Arricam Lite was used for limited Bcamera work.) His lenses were Cooke
S4 primes and Angenieux Optimo 24290mm zooms. I like S4s because they
are very crisp and sharp, but also soft.
We used the 40mm a lot. With the
32mm and 40mm, you get a nice presence of the actors for close-ups, as well
as all the background. Basically, everything we shot was between 32mm and
50mm. For the end of the film, when
Rose becomes a star, we switched to
longer lenses.
Its very important for this kind
of movie to [make] the women beautiful, continues Schiffman, who used a
Tiffen Soft/FX filter on the lens when
filming Franois and Brnice Bejo,
who plays Louis former love. The SFX
softens everything a little bit; its not
exaggerated like the old star filters, and
it doesnt interfere with practical lights.
The films of Billy Wilder and
Douglas Sirk were just some of the stylistic influences on Populaire. The filmwww.theasc.com

October 2013

79

Magic Touch

Right: Louis
reflects over a
cigarette outside
his office.
Bottom left: Rose
sits alone
outside. Bottom
right: Schiffman
lines up the shot
of Franois from
behind the
camera. Its very
important for
this kind of
movie to [make]
the women
beautiful, says
Schiffman, who
used a Tiffen
Soft/FX filter
whenever he
was filming the
female leads.

makers also threw in more modern


touches, using Peggy Sue Got Married
and even Jean-Luc Godard films
(specifically A Woman is a Woman and
Pierrot le Fou) as references. I love the
work Raoul Coutard [AFC] and Jordan
Cronenweth [ASC] did with color
palette, declares Schiffman, noting that
Cronenweth shot both Peggy Sue and
Wilders The Front Page (1974).
Schiffman shot Populaire on two
tungsten Kodak Vision3 negatives,
500T 5219 and 200T 5213. I dont like
80

October 2013

daylight stock, he notes. It gives you


magenta and [shades of ] green you just
didnt have in old movies. They only had
tungsten stock back in those days, so I
thought, Why not just go for it?
For Schiffman, the most crucial
part of any film is the preparation. I
always ask for a long prep time, and if I
cant get it, I dont do the movie, he
says. He had 12 weeks of prep on
Populaire and was involved in every
discussion Roinsard had with art director Sylvie Oliv and costume designer
American Cinematographer

Charlotte David concerning the color


scheme. We did a lot of tests with colors
because we didnt want to use too many
digital-timing effects, recalls the cinematographer. At the beginning of the
story, we use desaturated colors, pastel
tones and some browns. When Rose
becomes famous, we switch to bolder
tones, adding reds, blues and brighter
greens.
The richer colors also suggest the
growing attraction between the two
main characters. At first, Rose and Louis

are cold to one another. Gradually, as


they fall in love, the colors brighten. In
the scene in which she steps out of the
dressing room in that red dress, everything changes, observes Schiffman.
Thats where we really start having
[strong] colors. Before that, the colors
are quite desaturated. We achieved as
much of that as we could on set, with set
decoration and wardrobe, and enhanced
the effect in the digital timing.
The framing and composition
also shift as the romance develops.
Two-shots find Rose and Louis facing
each other more, and the background is
kept a little softer and defocused. We
wanted to shoot everything at T4 to get
maximum depth-of-field, and you need
a lot of light for that, especially on big
locations. My gaffer, Simon Berard, and
I had to be very ingenious and economically aware to manage that.
Schiffman is the first to acknowledge that he is not a technical guy. He
works intuitively and trusts Berard, a
longtime collaborator, to choose the
correct lights. I looked in the ground
glass, and when it looked like a 50s
movie, I said, Okay, lets shoot! the
cinematographer says with a laugh.
Simon is a great guy. We have worked
together for 10 years. We used 5K and
2K Arris, as well as many other
Fresnels. We employed HMIs only for
the regional typing competition, when

Top: Louis and Rose drive into Paris in this frame grab. The boulevard, vehicles and Eiffel Tower were all
real, Schiffman says, but the surrounding scenery and the reflection in the cars windshield were added
digitally. Bottom: Louis times Rose to track her speed.

we had to light through windows


because we couldnt hang fixtures in the
room. In period films, I generally dont
like much diffusion; I like the light crisp.
However, I used some 250 on occasion.
Fresnels, of course, are very soft and
dont require diffusion.
In this sort of film, you know at
all times that youre not in real life its
more like somebody is telling you a
story, and that allowed me to be less
www.theasc.com

natural and more poetic with the lighting, he continues. You know you are in
a movie. The most obvious example of
this is what Schiffman calls the magic
shot of the movie. Rose, who by this
time has won the regional competition,
is practicing her typing at a small desk in
front of a window, and a tall stack of
papers sits next to the typewriter. Louis
is standing beside her with his stopwatch. All of a sudden, a gust of wind
October 2013

81

Magic Touch

Top: Rose searches the room before her first contest at the Regional Championship. Bottom: The typists
ready themselves for the start of the French Nationals. This competition was staged in a hotel ballroom
and lit with fluorescent practicals in the ceiling.

82

October 2013

American Cinematographer

blows the pages in a giant, impossibly


symmetrical arc and then scatters them
throughout the room. Rose doesnt even
notice.
Its completely out of nowhere,
says Schiffman, who explains that the
action is supposed to be a kind of reverie
Louis is having. The frame-rate shift to
60 fps (accomplished in-camera)
enhances the dreamy aspect of the
scene. And remarkably, the shot
contains no CGI. We wanted to do
everything on set, reports Schiffman.
A guy on the crew glued all the pages
with some transparent substance [so
they were an inch or so apart and would
fly in perfect unison in a circular
motion]. We used 10 fans. Believe me,
we did a lot of tests to get that shot right!
But Rgis and I wanted so much to do
it for real.
The filmmakers only uses of CGI
were to create a storefront window and
add reflections to it, and for a shot of
Louis and Rose driving into Paris for

the national championships. The actors


were in a real car, on a real boulevard,
and Duris was driving. The camera
was on a traveling car in front of them,
recounts Schiffman. We had 50 period
automobiles and the Eiffel Tower in the
background; that was all real. The rest
of the shot, the surrounding scenery
and reflections in their cars windshield,
was added digitally.
The first competition Rose
enters is the Regional Championship,
which was filmed in a location normally
used for small concerts. (Most sites
were practical locations. A few interiors
were shot onstage at clair Studio in
Paris.) Dozens of anxious contestants
are in the room, each seated at a small
table with a typewriter on it. Spectators
sit in the back of the room and along
the sides. Everything in the room is in
focus, even though cigarette smoke
hangs in the air at the back of the

Top: Louis coaches Rose before the International Championship begins. Bottom: The International
Championship was staged in an old movie theater in Lieges, Belgium; the location required a
three-day pre-light.

www.theasc.com

October 2013

83

Magic Touch

Schiffman and director Rgis Roinsard confer with Franois on set.

room. (Extras puffed away on herbal


cigarettes, augmented by a smoke
machine.) The production was not
allowed to hang lights at the location, so

84

for ambience the crew placed 18Ks on


cherry pickers outside the large windows
lining one wall. A mix of 400-watt and
800-watt Jokers through Chimeras and

usually double diffused with egg crates


lit the close-ups, and this light was
mixed with bounced light from the
18Ks for medium shots, says Berard.
Two typing sessions were held in
this location. One was brighter and
warmer to suggest daytime; the other
was cooler to suggest evening. For the
latter, Schiffmans crew added CTB
to the 18Ks.
The French Nationals were
staged in a hotel ballroom that was lit
with fluorescent practicals in the ceiling. Eventually, the competition is
whittled down to two finalists: Rose
and the reigning French champion. At
this point, the camera springs into
action. The grips laid a circular dolly
track around the two women, who were
seated at separate tables but facing one
another, and then pushed the A and B
cameras around the track at full speed
as the operators zoomed in and out.
It was a difficult day for both the
operators and the dolly grips, recalls

Schiffman. We had to change dolly


grips every two takes because they got so
dizzy! By the end of the day, both the Bcamera operator, Rodolphe Lauga, and I
were completely [dazed]. An even
bigger problem was how to avoid seeing
the other dolly as we raced around and
around.
The International Championship
is held in New York City (with Lieges,
Belgium, standing in), and this scene
entailed a three-day pre-light. The
location was an old movie theatre that
featured a balcony, says Schiffman. We
had 3,000 extras, and we wanted them
to be visible, so we floated a large lighting balloon, I think a 10K, over the
audience.
The productions negative was
processed at LTC, and DuboiColor
handled the DI. The negative was
scanned at 4K on an Arriscan and
downsampled to 2K for the color
correction, which was done on a Lustre
2007. Shiffman graded the picture with

colorist Richard Deusy, with whom he


has worked exclusively for several years.
Richard doesnt work for DuboiColor,
but he does all of my films, he says.
The colors get more and more
saturated as the story progresses,
continues Schiffman. Plus, I always
like to use vignettes to make the actors
stand out a bit in the frame. It is [not
overt], but it gives a certain look to the
film.
Schiffman has been working with
the same key crew for years. Guillaume
Genini, his first AC, has been with him
for 20 years, and Berard and key grip
Laurent Menoury have been with him
for 10. We are like a gang, says
Schiffman. They know I am not technical, and that I wont say anything
before we get on the set because I dont
decide anything until were ready to
shoot. So, they are prepared for
anything. I dont know how they do it!
They never disappoint me!

TECHNICAL SPECS
2.40:1
3-perf Super 35mm
Arricam Studio, Lite
Cooke S4, Angenieux Optimo
Kodak Vision3 200T 5213,
500T 5219
Digital Intermediate

Post Focus

Assistant supervisor Julie Finlay (Elisabeth Shue) and Al Robbins, M.D. (Robert David Hall), confer in the autopsy room in this
frame grab from CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

Investigating CSIs Workflow


By Iain Blair

Now in its 14th season, the CBS series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is known for its character-driven plots, graphic violence and
polished visuals. For the past few seasons, the series has been shot
by ASC cinematographers Christian Sebalt and Crescenzo Notarile,
who take turns shooting episodes. Notarile, who joined the production in 2011, stresses the importance of integrating the cinematographers aesthetic into the post workflow starting in prep, as this will
carve the electronic path. The cinematographers job is not only
about choosing a camera. We must also consider the post house, in
this case Encore, and the workflow system set up with the editors
and the post supervisor.
The cinematographers input on CSIs workflow is even more
critical this season, the first to be digitally captured. My first AC,
Gary Muller, and my on-set data manager, Nate Lopez, are my crucial
conduits to our post supervisor, Kim Cybulski, says Notarile. Most of
the show is captured with Arri Alexas in Arri ProRes 4:4:4:4 Log C to
SxS cards, but the camera team also uses Canon 5D and 7D, GoPro
Hero Black and Canon XF105 cameras, all of which capture 24p
1080 to CF cards. Shooting uncompressed raw on a one-hour
86

October 2013

episodic series would be very difficult because of our turnaround


time in post, says Notarile. Trandscoding all that raw information
would take too long and be very costly, although that might change
in the near future. We are very proud of the look we achieve with
this compressed methodology.
We typically use 32GB SxS cards, but if were shooting long
masters or high-speed material, well use 64GB, he continues.
Our data manager downloads the footage to a computer thats
hooked up to two drives, a master drive and a shuttle drive. The
master holds the entire episode, and our post supervisor holds onto
that until the episode airs; the shuttle drive holds a days work. The
shuttle drive is shipped to Encore twice daily, he adds.
For dailies, Notarile works closely with Encore colorist Jason
Altman, whom he calls my paint brush to my workprint canvas.
He observes, My relationship with my dailies timer has been very
important to me throughout my career. I am known not only for
shooting gray scales and color charts for the lab as a reference, but
also for writing out and filming my notes for the dailies colorist,
which I call my slants and tweaks. For instance, I might write, Go
warmer on the straw side as opposed to the coral side, or, Go
cooler than 5,600K, and go more toward cyan and not HMI blue.
Noting the importance of lighting to CSIs visual signature,

American Cinematographer

Photos by producer Frank Waldeck. Frame grabs courtesy of CBS Broadcasting, Inc. and Crescenzo Notarile, ASC.

Notarile refers to gaffer Jon Haney and key


grip Bob Fischer as my right and left
arms. He reports that his lighting aesthetic
changes from episode to episode depending on the script, how it motivates me, how
the episode director motivates me, and my
own frame of mind at that time. I have
always lit spontaneously, from the gut. For
me, light meters have always been a lastminute check before calling out an official
stop of exposure.
The overall goal is to maintain the
feature-film quality mandated by [executive
producer] Jerry Bruckheimer, and that crispy
back edge of light that CSI is famous for. I
love it when our backlight edges the dark
side of the face, sculpting it out. When you
do it properly, you feel that third dimension
of depth. Notarile uses 5K beam projectors
to provide this edge, along with Source
Four Lekos. Jon Haney redeveloped the
wattage of the Source Fours to make them
extra punchy, with razor-sharp crispness,
he notes. I love to juxtapose color temperatures, such as blue backlight against a
warm key. I do not put much light on the fill
side of the face; I leave it almost black, but
with just enough texture from bounce light
to reach in, grab onto the bone structure
and feel its physiognomy, and to see that
pupil of the eye. Akira Kurosawa once told
me that without that dot of light in the eye,
you cant feel the persons soul. My keylight
is usually softened enough not to create a
hard shadow from the nose. When the key
light wraps around the face just perfectly in
that Rembrandt way, it always makes me
smile.
Notarile likes to double diffuse to
polish this even further, and to use Kino Flos
just under the lens for what my gaffer calls
eyeliners, to get that tickle of light in the
actors eyes. My gaffer and key grip are
constantly figuring out how to hide lights
reflected in [lead actor] Ted Dansons
glasses. This is a perpetual task of angles. Its
like playing pocket pool!
One of the greatest advantages to
having rotating cinematographers on an
episodic series, he observes, is, I can physically be there for the final timing of an
episode, which means I can elect not to
bake in certain looks when were shooting.
This protects me from the many voices and
opinions that arise during the edit, and

Top: Supervisor
D.B. Russell
(Ted Danson)
oversees the
Las Vegas Crime
Lab. Middle:
Investigator
Nick Stokes
(George Eads)
interrogates a
suspect. Bottom:
Series cocinematographer
Crescenzo
Notarile, ASC
adjusts a
practical light on
the autopsy set.

www.theasc.com

October 2013

87

Above: Notarile finds an angle. Top right: Stokes surveys a


crime scene. Bottom right: The shooter in a diner massacre
(Yves Bright) fires his weapon in this frame grab from one of
the shows flashback sequences.

gives the producers the option to make


changes.
At Encore, the shows dailies are
transferred into a proprietary color corrector
developed by the company. Altman grades
the material using Notariles reference LUT,
and the corrections are then exported in the
form of an ASC CDL. The cinematographer
explains, Even though Jason is working
mainly in primaries and therefore cannot
achieve our final intended look, I try to
ensure that my dailies are as close as possible to the vision I established with the director in prep, and that they look as beautiful
as possible. They will be looked at over and
over again in the editing room for weeks
and weeks, with every producer sitting in at
one point or another before the picture is
locked.
In the Avid online session, also done
at Encore, the editor imports the Alexas
original camera files, along with native file
formats from the other cameras used occa88

October 2013

sionally, into a single project. When the


online edit is complete, the entire project is
exported as uncompressed 10-bit RGB MXF
media for final color correction, which is
done by Encores Paul Westerbeck on a
Nucoda Film Master. Westerbeck starts his
work by putting up the Arri K1S1 LUT.
Then, says Notarile, he just goes with his
instincts. Paul is a genius! He is my final
paintbrush for my final painting, my heart
and mind!
CSI used to be finished on a
DaVinci 2K, but they changed to the
Nucoda because the DaVinci couldnt use
plug-ins, such as streaks, film grain and
grain reduction, which are very important to
the look of the show, he continues. By
understanding these technologies and their
capabilities, I can create with Paul very interesting and evocative looks in the final color,
and be completely free and non-committal
during the shooting process.
Working with a Panasonic 300 Pro
American Cinematographer

Plasma monitor, Notarile and Westerbeck


can finetune with the most detailed brush
strokes, says the cinematographer. I love
this stage, because I can truly see the result
of my efforts.
Summing up, Notarile observes that
the difference between baking it in and
committing and using the telecine suite
as an arsenal of extra tools up your sleeve
is a matter of mindset. With film, I would
always try to capture the look on the negative, but digital is a very different medium,
and it requires a different way of thinking
and executing. Once you accept that, the
creative muscle of your imagination will be
re-energized. Filmmaking is a perpetual
tweaking of ones own sensibilities.

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90

October 2013

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American Cinematographer

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options for interviews and standups, as well as
the ability to match ambient color temperature
when lighting a room or filling in a shadowed
face outdoors. The LS Traveler Trio Plus,
complete with tote and wheel case, weighs
46.5 pounds.
For additional information, visit
www.litepanels.com.
Maccam Illuminates SumoLight
Maccam is distributing the SumoLight
S100 Bi-Color, a high-power, lightweight LED
that boasts excellent color fidelity, high efficiency and powerful output.
The S100 features a color-temperature
range of 3,000K-5,700K and 0-100-percent
dimming in all modes, with a 95-percent CRI
and 99-percent TLCI (Television Lighting Consistency
Index). The S100 also incorporates 30- and 60-degree
interchangeable
lenses;
according to Maccams
photometrics, the fixture
produces nearly 50 footcandles and 500 lux at a distance
of 3 meters (almost 10') with the 60-degree
lens, and nearly 150 footcandles and 1,600 lux
at the same distance with the 30-degree lens.
Additional features of the SumoLight
S100 include a snap-on soft box, lantern soft
box and Sumo octagon diffusion accessories;
convection cooling; DMX/RDM control;
adapters for Gold-mount or V-mount batteries;
a variety of stand- or hanging-mount options;
MicroLens diffusion; a polycarbonate honeycomb light-control grid; and rugged allaluminum construction.
The SumoLight S100 is also available as
a daylight-only or tungsten-only unit. The
fixtures are available in the U.S. through
Maccam and in Europe through Lightequip.
For
more
information,
visit
www.maccam.tv and www.lightequip.de.

Come visit our showroom or call for our latest Magliner product catalog
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92

Barger-Lite Adapts
Chimera OctaPlus
Barger-Lite has introduced an adaptor to fit the
Chimera OctaPlus 5 and
OctaPlus 7 Lightbanks
onto the front of BargerLites 6-Lite V2, enabling
the full front-screen
coverage Barger-Lites are
known for.
Chimera OctaPlus
Lightbanks create lovely,
broad light while providing
versatility. Each covers a
large area and produces round catch lights
in a subjects eyes. The OctaPlus Lightbank 5
front screen is 150cm (59") in diameter and
45cm (17.7") deep; the OctaPlus Lightbank
7 front screen is 210cm (82.7") in diameter
and 68.5cm (27") deep. The Barger 6-Lite
V2 adds almost no depth.
For additional information, visit
www.bargerlite.com.
Manfrotto Highlights
Spectra LEDs
Manfrotto Distribution has released
the Manfrotto Spectra lineup, a professional
series of LED lights.
Our Spectra LED series is designed
for independent photographers and videographers to be the lightest and most
compact 1x1 panels available, says Will
Holowka, product manager for Manfrotto.
These LEDs are easily portable for any shot
you need and deliver superior image quality.
Spectra LEDs are designed to offer
optimal color and skin-tone rendition. The
smaller, on-camera units use AA batteries,
while the 1x1 panel features mains operation with an Anton/Bauer or V-lock battery
option. The panels are available in spot and
flood versions, as well as a bi-color unit to
accurately blend light for various shooting
conditions without
the need for gels.
For additional
information, visit
www.manfrotto.us.

Fotodiox Focuses on
LED Fresnels
Fotodiox, a manufacturer and
distributor of photography and videography accessories and equipment, has
unveiled a line of LED Fresnel lights for film,
television and studio-photography work.
The compact DY-200 and DY-200w
LED Fresnels offer focusable, dimmable
light and remain cool-to-the-touch while
providing powerful output. Available in
5,600K daylight and 3,200K tungsten
color temperatures, the units feature accurate, flicker-free light; low power draw;
and remote-controlled power and focus. A
separate ballast unit and an adjustable
yoke can either mount on a floor stand or
hang from a lighting grid.
The lights feature on-board controls
for a full range of light levels, as well as
control over the motorized focus to create
a wide floodlight or a powerful spotlight.
Each units intensity and focus can be
adjusted through a ballast control box with
an integrated LED display, a wireless
remote, or through connection to any
DMX-compatible lighting-control system.
Additional features of the DY-200
and DY-200w include a focusable beam
spread of 12-75 degrees, 9,100-60,000
lux-per-meter luminance, a removable and
collapsible barn door with gel holder clips,
a U-shape light stand and hanging
bracket, and a silent and flicker-free fan.
The DY-200 and DY-200w lights include
either the daylight or tungsten light unit,
power-supply ballast with cables, DMX
cables, handheld wireless remote control
and safety cable wire. The lights are available on the Fotodiox website for
$1,199.95.
For additional information, visit
www.fotodioxpro.com.

www.danadolly.com

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94

October 2013

American Cinematographer

CLASSIFIED AD RATES
All classifications are $4.50 per word. Words set in
bold face or all capitals are $5.00 per word. First word
of ad and advertisers name can be set in capitals without extra charge. No agency commission or discounts on
classified advertising.PAYMENT MUST ACCOMPANY ORDER.
VISA, Mastercard, AmEx and Discover card are accepted. Send ad to Classified Advertising, American
Cinematographer, P.O. Box 2230, Hollywood, CA
90078. Or FAX (323) 876-4973. Deadline for payment
and copy must be in the office by 15th of second month
preceding publication. Subject matter is limited to items
and services pertaining to filmmaking and video production. Words used are subject to magazine style abbreviation. Minimum amount per ad: $45

CLASSIFIEDS ON-LINE
Ads may now also be placed in the on-line Classifieds at the ASC web site.
Internet ads are seen around the world at the
same great rate as in print, or for slightly more you
can appear both online and in print.
For
more
information
please
visit
www.theasc.com/advertiser, or e-mail: classifieds@theasc.com.

Classifieds
EQUIPMENT FOR SALE
4X5 85 Glass Filters, Diffusion, Polas etc. A
Good Box Rental 818-763-8547
14,000+ USED EQUIPMENT ITEMS. PRO VIDEO
& FILM EQUIPMENT COMPANY. 50 YEARS
EXPERIENCE. New: iLLUMiFLEX LIGHTS &
FluidFlex TRIPODS.
www.UsedEquipmentNewsletter.com AND
www.ProVideoFilm.com
EMAIL: ProVidFilm@aol.com
CALL BILL 972 869 9990, 888 869 9998.
Worlds SUPERMARKET of USED MOTION
PICTURE EQUIPMENT! Buy, Sell, Trade.
CAMERAS, LENSES, SUPPORT, AKS & MORE!
Visual Products, Inc. www.visualproducts.com
Call 440.647.4999

www.theasc.com

SERVICES AVAILABLE
STUCK? BLOCKED?
Give me 30 minutes (at no cost to you):
212.560.2333. www.laurienadel.com
STEADICAM ARM QUALITY SERVICE OVERHAUL
AND UPDATES. QUICK TURNAROUND. ROBERT
LUNA (323) 938-5659.

MISCELLANEOUS
HIRING manager for Red, Epic, Scarlet rental house,
Burbank area
Call: 626-674-7999 e-mail: 37887392@qq.com

October 2013

95

Advertisers Index
AC 94, 95
Adorama 19, 59
AJA Video Systems, Inc. 33
Arri 9
ASC 73, 97
AZGrip 94

Eastman Kodak C4
EFD USA, Inc. 13, C3

Backstage Equipment, Inc.


92
Band Pro Film & Digital 5
Barger-Lite 93
Birns & Sawyer 94
Blackmagic Design, Inc. 11

Glidecam Industries 25
Grip Factory Munich/GFM 91

Camerimage 89
Canon USA Video 17
Carl Zeiss SBE, LLC 21
Cavision Enterprises 31
Chapman/Leonard Studio
Equipment Inc. 35
Cinebags Inc. 95
Cinematography
Electronics 8
Cinekinetic 94
Cineo Lighting 52
Codex Digital Ltd. 49
Cooke Optics 7

J.L. Fisher 53

Thales Angenieux 36-37


Tiffen 27, 45

K5600 15
Kino Flo 65

Visionary Forces 92
Visual Products 8

Lee Filters 77
Lights! Action! Co. 95
Lowel 45

Willys Widgets 94
Welch Integrated 76
www.theasc.com 84, 92,
95

Denecke 94
Duclos Lenses 8

Film Gear (International), Ltd.


51
Filmotechnic USA 64
Filmtools 75

Hasselblad Bron, Inc. 61


Hertz Corporation 23
Hollywood Post Alliance 93

Maccam 6
Matthews Studio
Equipment/MSE 75
M.M. Mukhi & Sons 95
Movie Tech AG 94, 95
NBC Universal 63
Next Shot 91
Nila, Inc. 51
Ovide Broadcast Services 96

96

Panther Gmbh 85
Pille Filmgeraeteverleih
Gmbh 94
Powermills 94
Pro8mm 94
Red Digital Cinema C2-1
Schneider Optics 2,
Slamdance 99
Sony Electronics, Inc. 28-29
Super16, Inc. 95

The highly anticipated


10th Edition of the
American Cinematographer Manual
is now available!
Known as the lmmakers bible for several
generations, this invaluable resource is more
comprehensive than ever moving into digital
image capture. The 10th AC Manual was edited
by Michael Goi, ASC, a former president of the
Society. He is a key speaker on technology and
the history of cinema.
Completely re-imagined to reect the sweeping
technological changes our industry has
experienced since the last edition, the 10th AC
Manual is vibrant and essential reading, as well
as an invaluable eld resource. Subjects include:

6" x 9", Full Color


Hardbound edition 998 pages
Two-Volume Paperback
Volume One 500 pages
Volume Two 566 pages
iPad ebook
Kindle ebook

Digital capture and workow terminology


The explosion of prosumer cameras in
professional use
Previsualization
3-D capture
LED lighting
The Academy Color Encoding Specication
(ACES)
Digital camera prep
and more!
The AC Manual is available in a hardbound
edition, iPad and Kindle editions, and a twovolume print-on-demand paperback.

www.theasc.com

Clubhouse News

Clockwise from top left: Associate members Jill Bogdanowicz,


Marc Dando, Rich Abel and Pete Abel.

Bogdanowicz, Dando, Abels


Named Associates
New associate member Jill
Bogdanowicz is the senior supervising digital colorist at Modern VideoFilm. A native of
Rochester, N.Y., she began her career as an
intern at Eastman Kodak. She holds a bachelors degree in art from State University of
New York College at Geneseo. She started
working at Cinesite in 1999 as an assistant,
and she subsequently spent eight years as a
senior digital-intermediate colorist at Technicolor. Bogdanowicz paints, which she says
inspires her work as a colorist.
Associate Marc Dando is a manag98

October 2013

ing director at Codex, where he oversees


the companys worldwide operations.
During his tenure at the company, Codex
has become a leader in digital-camera
recording and workflow technology for film
and television production. He has spurred
the development of a number of products
and forged alliances with other innovators
to support the growth of digital production.
He recently facilitated the integration of the
Codex recording platform into the Arri
Alexa XT camera line.
Associate members Pete and Rich
Abel co-founded AbelCine in 1989. Before
that, each brother had a hand in the film
American Cinematographer

McGarvey, Cooke Optics


Honored by BSC
Seamus McGarvey, ASC, BSC
received the British Society of Cinematographers Best Cinematography Award for his
work on Anna Karenina. BSC President
John De Borman presented McGarvey with
the honor in July in Los Angeles. The two
appeared in a short video that documented
McGarveys acceptance. His children, Sam
and Stella, handed him the statuette. This
award is so cherished and so treasured,
McGarvey says in the video. I wanted to
thank everyone at the BSC for selecting me
for this award and deeming me worthy of
it.
The video played during the BSC
Summer Luncheon, hosted at Pinewood
Studios. During the event, the Society also
honored Cooke Optics, presenting the
company with the BSC Bert Easey Technical
Award. A former head of the camera
department at Denham and Pinewood
Studios, Easey was integral in the formation
of the BSC. The award was collected by
ASC associate Les Zellan, chairman and
owner of Cooke Optics.
For more information, visit
www.bscine.com.

Photo of Clubhouse by Isidore Mankofsky, ASC; lighting by Donald M. Morgan, ASC.

industry, with Pete working as a camera


and optical technician, and Rich working as
a camera technician. Since AbelCines
founding, Pete has guided strategic and
business development, working with
managers and specialists to determine
which new technologies and services to
bring into the company. He also serves as
AbelCines director of marketing. As director of operations, Rich has guided the
development of AbelCines service, product-development and research-related
departments since the companys inception.
He drives the companys IT and system
strategies, as well as inventory and fulfillment development.

SUBMIT YOUR FILM

TODAY!

JAN. 17-23, 2014 PARK CITY, UTAH

EXTENDED DEADLINE:

OCTOBER 18TH

By Filmmakers, For Filmmakers

WWW.SLAMDANCE.COM

Steve Gainer, ASC

When you were a child, what film made the strongest impression on you?
Song of the South (1946). When I was 6, I saw this projected in the
Alabama Theatre in downtown Birmingham, Alabama. Gregg
Tolands [ASC] spectacular color cinematography started the ball
rolling.

What has been your most satisfying moment on a project?


Recently, while shooting the feature Shreveport, director Ryan
Phillippe and I were 80 feet up in a Condor. Even though I despise
heights, a moment of serenity came over me as I witnessed the most
astonishingly beautiful composition of my career.
Have you made any memorable blunders?
While still an assistant, I coned
a roll in the bag in the hot
desert sun. The first AC, Brian
Sweeney, took one look at the
sweat pouring down my face
and said, Oh, no!

Which cinematographers,
past or present, do you
most admire, and why?
Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC is
my all-time favorite. His work
is beyond compare. Early on, I
asked him how he lit a [particular] scene, and he said, Go
back and look. You can see
the light. I thought he was
being mystical remember, I
worshiped him but then I
watched again, and he was
right: I could see the lighting
unit reflected in a table!

What is the best professional advice youve ever


received?
Always let the people youre
working with know if you are
unsure about something. Its
much better than explaining
why a mistake was made.

What sparked your interest in photography?


I was a professional musician out of school, and between bouts of
starvation I would shoot stills as a pastime.
Where did you train and/or study?
I never attended film school or had any formal instruction. I ran the
lab at the Paramount Pictures Camera Dept., and to get the film
machines clean, I would run a few test rolls every day. That gave me
an opportunity to shoot film every single day and learn. How lucky
can a guy be?
Who were your early teachers or mentors?
One day at Paramount, Barry Sonnenfeld called me to his trailer. He
was sitting on the porch, smoking a stogie. He said, So, I hear you
want to be a cinematographer. Got some advice for you: just overexpose, and youll be fine! You know what? He was right! (Not so
much for HD, though.)
What are some of your key artistic influences?
Vittorio Storaro, ASC, AIC suggested many years ago that I study
Caravaggio and La Tour. I also have an affinity for Van Gogh, especially his later works.

What recent books, films or artworks have inspired you?


Films: The Skin I Live In, Melancholia and Skyfall.
Do you have any favorite genres, or genres you would like to
try?
I would love to shoot a Woody Allen picture. That would be nirvana.
If you werent a cinematographer, what might you be doing
instead?
I would probably still be a starving guitarist.
Which ASC cinematographers recommended you for
membership?
Roy Wagner, Victor J. Kemper, Isidore Mankofsky and Sol Negrin.
How has ASC membership impacted your life and career?
Sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure this is not all a
dream. It has definitely made me focus on the art form and no
longer take any job for granted, as I now represent something far
greater than just my own career. What a blessing!

How did you get your first break in the business?


I literally walked onto the lot at Paramount, waved at the guard like
I belonged there, and walked to the camera department!

100

October 2013

American Cinematographer

Photo by Sam Urdank.

Close-up

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