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The International Journal of Film & Digital Production Techniques

On Our Cover: Batman (Christian Bale) is back in The Dark Knight, shot by Wally Pfister, ASC. (Photo by Stephen Vaughan, SMPSP, courtesy of Warner Bros.)

Features 30 46 54 64

Departments

8 10 14 18 68 74 78 79 80 82 84 88

Batman Looms Larger Wally Pfister, ASC combines Imax and 35mm formats on The Dark Knight

A Not-So-Super Hero Tobias Schliessler spoofs superhero genre with Hancock

Spy vs. Spy

46

Dean Semler, ASC, ACS updates Get Smart

Laugh Factory

ˇ Vanja Cernjul lampoons network comedy on 30 Rock

Editor’s Note Global Village: Torn from the Flag Short Takes: On a Tuesday Production Slate: Before the Rains

54

WALL·E Post Focus: CineSync Streamlines Dark Knight Effects

New Products & Services International Marketplace Classified Ads Ad Index In Memoriam: Burton “Bud” Stone, Honorary ASC Clubhouse News ASC Close-Up: Bill Taylor 64

V i s i t u s o n l i n e a t w w w. t h e a s c . c o m

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CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Saul Molina CIRCULATION MANAGER Alex Lopez SHIPPING MANAGER Miguel Madrigal ———————————————————————————————————— ASC GENERAL MANAGER Brett Grauman ASC EVENTS COORDINATOR Patricia Armacost ASC PRESIDENT’S ASSISTANT Kim Weston ASC ACCOUNTING MANAGER Mila Basely ASC ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE Corey Clark ———————————————————————————————————— American Cinematographer (ISSN 0002-7928), established 1920 and in its 88th 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. Subscriptions: U.S. $50; Canada/Mexico $70; all other foreign countries $95 a year (remit international Money Order or other exchange payable in U.S. $). Advertising: Rate card upon request from Hollywood office. Article Reprints: Requests for high-quality article reprints should be made to Sheridan Reprints at (800) 394-5157 ext. 28. Copyright 2007 ASC Holding Corp. (All rights reserved.) Periodicals postage paid at Los Angeles, CA and at additional mailing offices. Printed in the USA. 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.

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Editor’s Note hen a summer blockbuster inspires sequels, the folks behind the camera must create bigger thrills as the franchise advances. After successfully re-imagining Gotham City in Batman Begins, director Christopher Nolan and cinematographer Wally Pfister, ASC topped themselves by filming portions of The Dark Knight in Imax 65mm. “It’s ironic,” Pfister notes, “because many filmmakers are trying out digital cameras that actually capture less resolution and information, and we’re going in the opposite direction, upping the ante by capturing images with unparalleled resolution and clarity.” The filmmakers ultimately shot several key action sequences in 15-perf 65mm, marking the first time a major motion picture has mixed the 35mm and Imax formats. “I think the fact that it was unprecedented was a big selling point for the studio,” Nolan muses. “They probably didn’t truly get what we wanted to do until they saw the first test reel, which blew them away.” Judging by the details in David Heuring’s comprehensive article (“Batman Looms Larger,” page 30), audiences will also be impressed. While The Dark Knight brings a somber, operatic tone to its superhero saga, Hancock offers a lighthearted but still action-packed take on the genre. Will Smith stars as the titular hero, a homeless man endowed with super-powers but freighted with human flaws. Despite the movie’s whimsical slant, cinematographer Tobias Schliessler faced complex logistics, including lighting challenges that resulted from director Peter Berg’s mandate of handheld camerawork. “I wouldn’t say [the movie] was shot like a documentary, because Peter rehearsed the actors, but it was shot very freely,” Schliessler tells writer Jay Holben (“A Not-So-Super Hero,” page 46). Slapstick is also in high supply on Get Smart, an update of the gleefully silly TV series that initially aired from 1965-70. Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway portray this generation’s Maxwell Smart and Agent 99; their antic attempts at espionage were captured by Dean Semler, ASC, ACS, who once again stood behind Panavision’s Genesis. “My crew is now very familiar with the Genesis, and they’ve learned to discover the camera,” he tells Noah Kadner (“Spy vs. Spy,” page 54). “It is different in that it’s a computer instead of a film camera. But it’s 2008, and the digital era is no longer the future — we’re in it.” If your ribs can stand further tickling, tune in to the next season of 30 Rock, the popular NBC series that skewers network comedy. Based on creator and star Tina Fey’s ˇ experiences as head writer on Saturday Night Live, the show is shot by Vanja Cernjul, who landed the gig after shooting a string of indie features and the pilot for Ugly Betty. He enjoys the visual variety the series affords: “We don’t have one formula for the whole show, because the look is really based on the storylines,” he tells Jon Silberg (“Laugh Factory,” page 64). “Even within an episode, we can be very realistic for one storyline and extremely stylized for another.” This issue also marks two milestones, one sad and one happy: the passing of honorary ASC member Burton “Bud” Stone (In Memoriam, page 82), and a groundbreaking that will pave the way for the ASC’s future (Clubhouse News, page 84). Bud helped lay a solid foundation for cinematographers and the Society, and his generous spirit will surely grace the halls of the refurbished Clubhouse.

8

Stephen Pizzello Executive Editor

Photo by Douglas Kirkland.

W


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Global Village Torn from the Flag: Laszlo Kovacs, ASC Takes a Final Bow by Bob Fisher

Left: Budapest’s Corvin Circle, the site of a major battle of the 1956 Hungarian uprising, is shown during a lull in the fighting. The flag with the hole in the center became the emblem of the revolution. Right: A Soviet tank dumped into a Budapest public toilet entrance during the fighting.

10 July 2008

egendary cinematographer Laszlo Kovacs, ASC earned his final credit for the documentary Torn from the Flag, which revisits a subject close to his heart: the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, when citizens rose up against the Communist regime but were crushed by the Soviet Army. (The title refers to the Communist hammer-and-sickle insignia that was ripped from Hungarian flags during the uprising.) As very young men, Kovacs and fellow Hungarian Vilmos Zsigmond (future ASC) shot much of the footage of the rebellion featured in “Torn from the Flag,” which also includes interviews with “freedom fighters,” politicians and historians. At the time of the uprising, Zsigmond had graduated from the Academy of Drama and Film in Budapest, and Kovacs was in his final year of study

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there. The young cameramen borrowed a 35mm Arri camera, took some film stock from the school and documented civilians battling the Soviet Army with small arms, Molotov cocktails and their bare hands. Bullets were flying, and the Soviets were arresting and executing people caught with cameras or film. After the revolt was crushed, Kovacs and Zsigmond made a perilous trek on foot across the border into Austria, smuggling out their exposed film. Torn from the Flag was conceived by Klaudia Kovacs (no relation) and codirected by her and Endre Hules, who spent six months on the project. Although Klaudia hails from Hungary, she says she “knew absolutely nothing about the revolution while I was growing up.” She met Zsigmond at an exhibition of his still photography in Los Angeles around 1999. “I just walked up to him and introduced myself; we have a mutual friend, still photographer Peter Sorel [SMPSP], who is also a Hungarian expatriate. Vilmos and other Hungarians

he introduced me to started telling me about their experiences during the revolution.” In 1998, a Hungarian TV network asked Klaudia to produce a short segment about the uprising. She conducted interviews with expatriates living in Los Angeles. “Hearing their stories was a cathartic experience,” she recalls, “but the TV station withdrew its offer at the last moment.” She turned to George Adams, a producer with whom she had collaborated on plays and short films. He encouraged her to make her own film and agreed to contribute as associate producer. “George was with me during the entire nine-year process of making this film,” she says. “He is a fantastic collaborator.” In 1999, Klaudia and Adams wrote a letter to Zsigmond describing her intentions for the film and asking if he would agree to be interviewed on camera. When they met, he volunteered to film the interviews; later, when he took a feature-film assignment, he intro-

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Right: Laszlo Kovacs, ASC, shown on location with writer-director Klaudia Kovacs as the two filmed interviews for the documentary. Below: Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC confers with Kovacs.

duced Klaudia to Laszlo Kovacs, who stepped into the breach. Both cinematographers also agreed to larger roles as executive producers on the project. “Laszlo and Vilmos and I were on a journey together,” says Klaudia. In addition to providing insight, the veteran cinematographers helped to give the project credibility, she adds. They introduced her to people at Panavision in Los Angeles, who selected her for the company’s New Filmmaker Program, which provided free camera gear. She got additional support from Sparks, Ltd., a rental house in Hungary partially owned by Zsigmond. They also introduced her to people at Technicolor, which provided postproduction support, including the digital intermediate (DI).

12 July 2008

The filmmakers researched and gathered footage and still photographs from archives in the United States, Hungary and Russia. Joseph Miko, another cinematographer who filmed in Hungary during the uprising, arranged to have the Hungarian National Film Archive provide his footage at no charge. (Miko died in May 2008 at the age of 87.) Scenes of the uprising came in a range of formats, including Betacam, DigiBeta and VHS; that material was color-corrected and up-rezzed to 16x9 high-definition video in the DI. The filmmakers are currently seeking funding to make a 35mm print. The archival material is intercut with footage from about 30 interviews, which were done in the U.S., Hungary,

Russia and Italy. In discussing the right look for the interviews, Laszlo and Klaudia watched the drama Reds, shot by Vittorio Storaro, ASC, AIC, and the documentary The Fog of War, shot by Peter Donahue and Robert Chappell (AC March ’04). According to Adams, they agreed that the subject called for a strong, dramatic look. “Laszlo chose black backgrounds for the interviews,” says Adams. “He wanted the audience totally focused on the person talking. He lit half of the subject’s face and left the other half in shadows, and he used an eyelight to make intimate contact with the audience.” Interviews were shot with a Panavised Sony HDW-F900, mostly with an 8-72mm T1.9 Primo Digital zoom lens. When Laszlo’s failing health made his participation impossible, his assistant, Zoltan Honti, stepped up to cinematographer. “I’d ask myself what Laszlo would have done with each person,” he says. “Then I’d put a face partially in shadows and put a sparkle in the eyes.” Zsigmond says Torn from the Flag carries an important message: “People were incredibly brave during the uprising, and that shouldn’t be forgotten.” Klaudia recalls, “Laszlo was very proud of his contribution to this movie; he often said, ‘I owe it to my country. Generations have grown up with little or no knowledge of the Hungarian Revolution, and we have an obligation to tell them what it was like.’ “Many people told me I’d never make this film,” she continues, “but Laszlo never questioned whether I could. For that, I’m very grateful to him.” Torn from the Flag was given its world premiere at AFI Fest 2007. It has since screened at a number of other festivals, including one in Tiburon, Calif., where it won the Golden Reel Award for Best Cinematography. I

Photos by George Adams (top) and Peter Sorel, courtesy of Klaudia Kovacs.

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Short Takes On a Tuesday Exploits Panoramic Format

For the short film On a Tuesday, director David Scott Smith and cinematographer Svetlana Cvetko framed the action in the 3.18:1 aspect ratio inspired by the panoramic setting on their Kodak Advanced Photo System (APS) still camera. The production gained access to San Francisco’s City Hall to tell the story of a couple (Peter Holden and Sally Nacker) getting married in the middle of a busy afternoon.

14 July 2008

t’s a story about a couple getting married,” says first-time director David Scott Smith of his short film On a Tuesday. After a pause, he adds, “Actually, it’s more about a beautiful moment hidden within a busy life.” For the most part, that describes how Smith and cinematographer Svetlana Cvetko approached the film: start with a broad concept and then dial into its deeper meaning. Smith’s background is in motionpicture editing, which is how he and Cvetko met. An expatriate of the former Yugoslavia, Cvetko came to America in the late 1980s as a still photographer who was interested in making a transition into cinematography. She settled in

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the San Francisco Bay Area and took film classes through the University of California-Berkeley extension program. One of her first film projects was a documentary about the conflict in Bosnia, No War, which she shot and directed. After five trips to the Balkan Peninsula, she had accumulated a mountain of footage, and a friend introduced her to Smith, who agreed to cut the film for her. They have worked together in varying capacities ever since. On a Tuesday takes place over the course of an afternoon in and around San Francisco’s City Hall. The filmmakers scouted the location using their Kodak Advanced Photo System (APS) camera; the short-lived 24mm APS film format is

distinctive for its native 1.77:1 aspect ratio, which Cvetko knew would represent the standard 1.85:1 frame. “It just wasn’t feeling strong,” she recalls. “It looked very ordinary, and we knew we didn’t want this movie to be ordinary.” Many professional APS cameras come equipped with three different frame settings: the native 16:9 “H” frame, the 4:3 “C” frame, and the 3:1 “P” frame. Setting her camera to the P setting, Cvetko took a second look. “It was breathtaking. The space was just asking to be seen that way.” She handed the camera to Smith, who agreed they’d stumbled upon something unusual and exciting. “The story is a very simple one; what we needed was

Photos by Victoria Smith, Marcy Maloy and Svetlana Cvetko, courtesy of David Scott Smith.

by Iain Stasukevich

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Right: The extrawide frame encouraged Cvetko (below left) to experiment with her compositions while emphasizing the characters’ surroundings. Bottom: The woman’s eyes follow her new husband as he runs back to work. The film, Smith says, is “about a beautiful moment hidden within a busy life.”

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another layer of beauty to help capture the essence of the film,” he says. Smith and Cvetko decided to shoot On a Tuesday in Super 35mm (using Kodak Vision2 5205 250D) with the intention of finishing on film. Smith scanned one of the panoramic APS photos they’d taken while scouting and used Adobe Photoshop to measure the image size, which was 3.18:1. Lee Utterbach in San Francisco provided the production with an Arri 535B and Cooke S4 prime lenses. The team couldn’t afford a custom 3.18 ground glass, so during prep, Cvetko shot a framing chart and matted off the picture area on all the video-assist monitors. Initially, the

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filmmakers were concerned the effect might not work in post, so Smith asked Cvetko to use 3.18 framing but shoot for 2.35 safe. 1st AC Tom Spingola mounted a masked 8" LCD monitor above the camera’s eyepiece so Cvetko could check the frame without straying from the camera, but even so, shooting for two different aspect ratios quickly became a troublesome experience. “It was really stressful on the first day,” says Cvetko. “I’m very obsessive about my composition, and switching between the eyepiece and the monitor wasn’t working for me. Shooting digitally definitely lends itself better to operating by a monitor, but with film, I really love that final check of looking through the eyepiece.” This is one instance where the trust Cvetko and Smith had built paid off on set. “At the end of the first day, David saw my frustration and said, ‘Just go for it and we’ll make it work,’” she recalls. “He didn’t want me to have to constantly worry about whether it was better for 2.35 or 3.18.” Once she was free to experiment more confidently with the panoramic frame, Cvetko discovered it offered as

many challenges as it did opportunities. While the ultra-widescreen format proved ideal for isolating and accentuating the finer details of City Hall’s sweeping Beaux Arts design, it was less so for shooting singles of the two actors sitting shoulder-to-shoulder in conversation, as they do in one scene in the building’s rotunda. This scene, which takes place just minutes prior to the civil ceremony, is an important one for the couple and a defining moment for the style of the film. “We couldn’t get singles,” says Smith. “It wasn’t until Svetlana started exploring that she came up with this anti-framing, putting the groom far on the right in one shot, whereas traditionally he would be framed to the left. The same goes for the bride, who is framed to the left.” When the two shots are juxtaposed, they seem to bring the couple closer together. Getting permission to shoot in and around San Francisco City Hall was a coup; the building had been off-limits to short-form productions for almost a decade in the wake of a feature-production accident that caused a devastating flood in the building’s rotunda. On a


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Cvetko and Smith share a moment with Nacker on location.

Tuesday was allowed to shoot there “because of our professionalism, because our crew size was 50, and because of our incredibly experienced gaffer, Arthur Aravena,” says Smith. Smith and Cvetko knew they would be working under strict time and location limitations, so they made sure to block out every shot before a single frame of film was exposed, using the APS camera as a storyboarding tool. “I took photos that truly represented what I was looking for,” recalls the cinematographer. “On set, I was trying to match the framing of the stills and keep the natural element of the building. To me, there is no difference between cinematography and photography; I try to compose every frame so it looks like a still photo if you freeze it.” As physical production drew near, Cvetko noticed the quality of the sunlight entering City Hall was changing from day to day. Three months had passed since the first location scout in January, when the winter sun was lower in the sky and entered the building’s windows more directly. By April, many of the naturally lit interior locations she had fallen in love with were doused in shadows. The unpredictable local weather didn’t help, either. “When we did the original scout, we were there on what were probably going to be the two most beautiful days of the year,” says Cvetko. “The day we actually shot it, it was probably the rainiest and darkest day of the year!” Fortunately, she knew ahead of time she’d be shooting

almost wide open even on a bright day and placed an order for some big daylight-balanced lamps as backups. “Shooting in City Hall meant facing a challenging combination of some really bright places and some really dark places, and it was interesting to watch Svetlana work with Arthur to balance all that out,” notes Smith. Production wrapped after two weeks of weekend shooting. Alpha Cine Labs in Seattle processed the footage, and Smith, who planned to edit the film, had the footage transferred to HDCam SR 4:4:4 masters at Encore Hollywood, where colorist Steve Porter collaborated with the filmmakers on the digital intermediate (DI). Cvetko and Smith were so pleased with Porter’s work on the dailies that very little color-correction was needed at the DI stage. At that point, most of the work went into properly composing the film’s unique aspect ratio on the final print. Multiple finishing formats were considered, and in the end, the filmmakers decided a flat print hard-matted for 3.18 would be best. The final transfer to film was performed at EFilm, and there was some concern about whether the HD online master transferred to 35mm would retain enough resolution for an acceptable theatrical presentation, “but when we saw the first test print, it looked fantastic,” says Smith. Cvetko adds, “We are both perfectionists, and we wanted to have as great a film as we could afford.” I 17

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Production Slate Colonial Drama and Futuristic Comedy

Tragedy in India by Jean Oppenheimer An adulterous affair between an English spice exporter, Moores (Linus Roache), and his Indian housemaid, Sajani (Nandita Das), sets the stage for tragedy in Before the Rains, a drama set in India in 1937. Equally in jeopardy is the plantation owner’s right-hand man, T.K. (Rahul Bose), whose knowledge of the illicit relationship makes him an accomplice in the eyes of his fellow villagers. Torn between loyalty to the tradition of his culture and allegiance to Moores and the opportunities he offers, T.K. serves as a thinly veiled metaphor for the promise and perils of British Colonialism. Before the Rains was directed and shot by Santosh Sivan, ISC (The Terrorist, AC April ’99) amid the lush 18 July 2008

forest and majestic mountains of Kerala, a state in southern India. Sivan was born and raised in Kerala and brought with him a special feel for the surroundings. “The landscape hasn’t changed much since the 1930s,” he says. “People have worked hard to maintain the ecological balance in the area, so nature hasn’t been tampered with. “Before the Rains is very much about the land,” he continues. “Rather than use telephoto lenses, I wanted to go with a wide kind of feel, where you have people, frogs and insects in sharp focus in the foreground while the background is slightly blurred.” He favored 16mm and 18mm lenses for these shots. Sivan, who attended the Film and Television Institute of India, points to the late Subrata Mitra, the great Indian cinematographer who worked with Satyajit

Ray, as perhaps his greatest influence, especially in terms of framing. “In Ray’s films, people are almost always seen in relation to the landscape and the sky; they are either dominating the landscape or being eaten up by it. I wanted to achieve something similar in Before the Rains.” The story’s themes were a major influence on the visual design. To help underscore the clash of cultures, Sivan tried to incorporate contrasting images and/or colors within the shots. Some occurred naturally, such as the contrast in skin tones between the pale Moores and his Indian mistress. At other times, production design and wardrobe were crucial, as in the contrast between Moores’ neutral-colored attire and Sajani’s bright saris and sparkling jewelry. ¢

Before the Rains photos by Alphonse Roy, courtesy of MIP/Roadside Attractions.

In a scene from Before the Rains, Moores (Linus Roache, left) and T.K. (Rahul Bose), his right-hand man, chart the path of a new mountain road in India that will bring Moores great wealth.

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Not surprisingly, the concept of contrast extended to the lighting — “warm light and cold light meeting each other” is how Sivan describes it. He tried to shoot exteriors when the light was fleeting, in early morning or at magic hour, and consistently used an 85 or 81EF filter on the lens. The cold light of early dawn, dusk and the night sky is juxtaposed with the warm light of interiors and fire-lit exteriors. T.K.’s living quarters, essentially a shack on Moores’ property, is hazy with thick, honey-colored light. “We dimmed the [practical] bulb down to 30 percent and augmented that light with a bank of tungsten lights wired through dimmers. The look of most interiors was modeled on the paintings of Raja Ravi Varma, who is an icon in India. He painted gods and goddesses in beautiful light and costumes, and his feel for light has been a big influence on many Above: Moores and his maid, Sajani (Nandita Das), steal away to the forest for an intimate encounter. Right: In T.K.’s quarters, T.K. and Moores debate what to do with Sajani, who asks for help after being beaten by her husband.

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of my films, especially this one.” Sivan tried to minimize the use of artificial light outdoors. When he needed it, usually for a night scene, he set up big sources pushed through large frames of white diffusion. He points to one such “magic sky shot,” which shows villagers carrying torches crossing a bridge on their way to seize T.K., whom they suspect of killing Sajani. Sivan waited until just after dusk to film the scene and relied on HMIs pushed through diffusion. The flames from the torches contrast markedly with the cold sky. Both kinds of light can also be seen during a sequence in which Moores and his wife (Jennifer Ehle) are entertaining a British official. The inside of the Moores’ home is lit with Jem Lights dimmed down to a golden glow. (Ostensibly, the light comes from the chandeliers and lamps scattered throughout the house.) During the scene, the Moores’ dog starts barking, and Moores grabs his rifle and goes out to investigate. A short distance from the house, he finds Sajani in the bushes, battered and bruised. HMIs pushed through white diffusion keep the foreground a chilly blue, while the warm light of the house stands out in the background. In one of the film’s most arresting sequences, T.K. is tried by the village council for Sajani’s murder. A panicstricken T.K. cowers on the dirt floor in the middle of the circle, surrounded by village elders who sit in rows of chairs. One of the villagers crouches next to T.K., holding a large metal spoon that he thrusts into a ceremonial dish of flames. He hands the red-hot spoon to T.K., who must slowly drag it across his tongue. This is repeated three times, and T.K.’s guilt or innocence will be determined by whether his tongue is burnt. T.K is seen in tight close-up, with the villagers seated perhaps 10' behind him. The flames dance between his face and the camera. Everything is in focus: the flames, T.K.’s face and the villagers. “I used a wide-angle lens, I think an 18mm,” recalls Sivan. “And I maximized the depth-of-field by shooting at f11.” The trial takes place in a court-


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Above: As the monsoons finally begin, Moores contemplates his ruinous actions. Below: Director/ cinematographer Santosh Sivan, ISC discusses a scene with Roache and Jennifer Ehle, who plays Moores’ wife.

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yard that is open to the sky. “We put a big scrim across the top and cut out all the sunlight,” continues Sivan. “I wanted ambient light from the top but wanted the flames next to T.K. to always dominate.” According to Sivan, the most challenging part of the 33-day shoot was the construction of the road that Moores is building in order to expand his business. It is imperative the road be built before monsoon season begins, and Moores hires dozens of locals for the job. “It’s very difficult to start building a road,” declares Sivan with a laugh, “so we found one that had been abandoned. We actually had three or four different

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stages of road building, each in a different location. We used two cameras for these scenes; one was on a crane and the second was locked off.” Sivan relied on an Indian crane, manually operated, for many of the shots. Frequently, the director/cinematographer began scenes by pulling back from a close-up or medium shot, as when Moores’ wife and son arrive at the dock, or during the antiBritish protest when the villagers block the road into town. “I like the idea of things being revealed,” he muses, “and I like the idea of motion because it serves to lead an audience into a scene. I also like rack-focuses because they slowly

shift an audience’s attention.” Equipment was rented from a variety of rental houses, although Sivan uses his own lights. The production also had a Jimmy Jib and an 80' Akela crane; the latter was used for a shot of T.K. climbing onto an elephant. “The crane had a trunk like an elephant,” laughs Sivan. “The elephant was a little confused by it!” Although Before the Rains is set in the 1930s, Sivan didn’t want a typical period look. “I wanted to give the story a somewhat contemporary feel, which is why I chose Cooke S4 lenses. In India, we normally use Zeiss lenses, but I tested both brands and liked the sharpness of the Cookes.” He also used an Angenieux 25-250mm zoom. The production’s cameras were an Arri 535B and an Arri 435. During his interview with AC, Sivan repeatedly praised his crew, which included production designer Sunil Babu, sound man Paul Schwartz, gaffer and 1st AC Anjuli Shukla, and Bcamera operator Alphonso Roy. Before the Rains was shot in standard 1.85:1 on two Kodak Vision2 stocks, 500T 5218 and 100T 5212. “I like the way the colors jump out at you,” explains Sivan. The negative was processed and scanned at Prasad Film Labs in Chennai, and the digital intermediate (DI) was carried out at Hollywood Intermediate in Burbank. Sivan did not make any extreme alterations during the digital grade, but he says the DI process proved helpful in matching the light in some shots. An example is the scene in which Moores carries Sajani’s lifeless body into the river and sinks it. The wide shot shows Moores wading into the water, carrying the corpse, but the water was so cold it was impossible to do the close-up of Moores submerging her. Instead, the filmmakers set up a tub of warm water near the river, and, with the camera shooting from above, the actor released the body into the water. “Matching the light reflection on the water to the wide shot required time and patience,” says Sivan. ¢


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Expert Eyes Enhance WALL·E by Iain Stasukevich With the Pixar film WALL·E, director Andrew Stanton wanted to pose the question, “What if humanity left the earth but forgot to turn the last robot off?” He posits the answer in the shadows of monolithic towers of garbage piled as high as skyscrapers, killer dust storms that sweep across a desolate landscape, and the plight of the titular character, a stoic trashcompactor on wheels who ekes out a lonely existence trying to make sense of the remains of the civilization that abandoned him. WALL·E (which stands for Waste Allocation Load-Lifter: Earth Class) differs from other Pixar films in that there is very little dialogue; the hero and his computerized co-stars communicate mostly through beeps, squeaks and chirps. “When you take away dialogue from the pot of elements you can use to tell a story, something has to fill that vacuum,” says Stanton. “All of the remaining elements, including camerawork, must rise to another level.” On WALL·E, as on every Pixar film, two technical directors, one specializing in lighting and the other in camerawork, share a screen credit for “director of photography”; they serve in roughly the same capacities that a light24 July 2008

ing cameraman and operator would on a live-action set. Danielle Feinberg supervised the lighting team, and Jeremy Lasky supervised the camera team. “From the very beginning, Andrew used the term ‘more filmic’ to describe how he wanted the movie to look,” recalls Feinberg. “At first, people thought he meant photo-realistic, which was not what he meant at all.” Lasky adds, “He meant he wanted the movie to feel photographed. He wanted the audience to believe the robot is in a real environment doing something and our cameras just happened to capture it.” “I was inspired by the work of Harris Savides [ASC] in Finding Forrester,” says Stanton. “I was very attracted to the way they were holding the focus; there seemed to be a very narrow, shallow focus throughout the entire movie, and it was always where the focus of your interest should be.” The animation package Pixar uses, Marionette, has the ability to calculate depth-of-field, f-stops and focal lengths, and can effectively emulate most of the other functions of a real motion-picture camera. But Stanton felt the images it captured never looked as if they came from a real camera. When he raised this concern with Pixar’s in-house software team, “they looked at the formulas they’d copied out of the American Cinematographer Manual and said their math was correct — the

cameras and lenses were doing what they were supposed to be doing,” he recalls. Lacking practical experience in cinematography and the kind of programming knowledge required to address the problem, Stanton set out to find someone who could help. WALL·E producer Jim Morris, a former president of Lucas Digital, tapped an Industrial Light & Magic alum, cinematographer Marty Rosenberg, who subsequently showed up at the Pixar campus with a 35mm Panavision camera and a set of spherical and anamorphic lenses. The plan was to shoot a practical lens test that could be easily re-created in a digital environment; Lasky and Stanton would compare footage from the practical test with that of their computer-simulated camera. Prior to WALL·E, Pixar software didn’t have the ability to discern the differences between spherical and anamorphic lens characteristics, so all of its 2.39:1 features originated with a Super 35 frame. “We wanted to give this film a specific anamorphic look reminiscent of ’70s sci-fi films,” says Lasky. “With the existing software, we felt the depth-of-field was never right. We could never defocus things enough, even at f2 or f1.4.” For the camera test, the Pixar art department created cardboard and Styrofoam mock-ups of WALL·E and his love

WALL·E images courtesy of Pixar/Walt Disney Co.

The makers of WALL·E sought the advice of several prominent visual consultants, including ASC member Roger Deakins, to lend the animated movie’s images the feel of real, live-action photography.

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Right: WALL·E (an acronym for Waste Allocation Load-Lifter: Earth Class) shares a tender moment with his paramour, EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator). Below: Recalling his experience with the production, Deakins says, “I think what they wanted was to get a better understanding of what it was like on a live-action set — how I moved the camera, how I lit the set, how I considered the lighting from shot to shot and scene to scene.”

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interest, a capsule-shaped automaton named EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator), and positioned them on a grid in the atrium of Pixar’s office building. Rosenberg shot the models at different relative positions and at different aspect ratios. He even photographed lens flares and Christmas lights, racking in and out of focus to create the subtle effect of a lens breathing. When the CG and film tests were played back, the results were definitive. “They didn’t match at all,” says Stanton.

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“We finally had proof.” He returned to the programmers with the footage. “That put a bee in their bonnet,” he says. “They’re the kind of guys who can’t let it go if you’ve proven they made a mistake.” The programmers made the necessary changes to their code, which, aside from upgrading their “lens package,” also allowed for more realistic camera movements. The Pixar camera was conceived as a nodal camera, meaning that when it pans and tilts, the lens is the point around which the layout artist makes his or her move. There’s no change in perspective, and the effect lends itself to a 2-D look, almost like classic cel animation. Real cameras pivot from positions behind the lens, so Lasky asked his programmers to move their axis point behind the lens and slightly below it. Now, when he pans or tilts the camera, he’s rewarded with a very subtle perspective shift in the image. “Most people will never notice it, but subconsciously, it makes you feel like there’s a camera in the CG space.” With that accomplished, Stanton was almost ready to bring his vision to life. He and his team had the proper tools; what they needed was someone to show them how to properly use them. Enter Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC. “I was talking to Andrew and Jim about bringing in a visual consultant, and Jim asked for a list of people I wanted,” recalls

Lasky. “Roger Deakins was at the top of that list because his craft is so finely honed.” The filmmakers also wanted to consult with Savides, who was then at work on Zodiac (AC April ’07). “I think what they wanted was to get a better understanding of what it was like on a live-action set — how I moved the camera, how I lit the set, how I considered the lighting from shot to shot and scene to scene,” says Deakins. “Everybody’s got his own preconceptions about what cinematography is.” He began by conducting a lighting demonstration for Lasky and Feinberg. He recalls, “I did what people like to think I do as a cinematographer: I lit a set with a lot of lights and kept adding lights — backlights, kickers, specials and so on — until I had about 20 lights up. Then I said, ‘I bet that’s what you think I do, but it’s not what I do at all.’ Then I broke it all down and showed them how I really light a set.” He avoided the requisite keylight-backlight-fill light scheme and instead used a less formulaic, story-based approach. “It’s a balance between how you can imagine that scene and how you can actually do it in reality,” says Deakins. Before he made suggestions about WALL·E, Deakins spent some time familiarizing himself with Pixar’s work methods. He was surprised to learn that the camerawork is done first, without any knowledge of what the


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Right: The lonely robot ponders his place in the vast universe. Below: WALL·E is overjoyed to learn that he’s not alone after all.

lighting designer will do; layout artists use the same lighting studies and storyboards as the lighting directors, but neither has immediate access to the other’s work. Animating lighting is one of the last steps a shot must go through. “Roger didn’t understand how we could possibly make the movies we make doing things this way,” Lasky recalls with a laugh. One of Deakins’ first suggestions was that the camera and lighting departments be combined so the camera team could set their frame and make lighting suggestions and the lighting team could rapidly respond to their requests. The departments could not be combined for logistical reasons, but Feinberg’s team did feed lighting information to Lasky’s team, bringing the departments much closer. “That gave us

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a lot more flexibility,” Feinberg says. Pixar’s films tend to be lit so audiences can see every detail of the animation. “Everyone wants his or her stuff shown in the best light, so everything gets a high-school-portrait kind of attention,” notes Stanton. Not surprisingly, he had different ideas for WALL·E. Feinberg built a test shot from scratch; the scene was set inside the robot’s truck before the set or the robot was even finished. Deakins encouraged Feinberg to work primarily with the scene’s practical sources: some Christmas lights and a television. “It created a lot of shadows and had a very stark feeling,” says Feinberg. The second and third acts of the film take place on a massive, Vegasstyle spaceship called the Axiom. There, at Stanton’s request, Feinberg

tried to maintain a minimalist aesthetic, letting the digital actors move through the scene rather than lighting the scene for the actors — an idea inspired by Savides. “Lighting the Axiom was very different than lighting Earth,” she recalls. “It was closer to how we traditionally do things, but we didn’t overpolish anything.” Meanwhile, over in layout, Lasky was tinkering with new ways to operate the camera. With the upgraded optical system and a properly oriented camera, he had to treat his virtual camera more like a real one. One of Deakins’ recommendations was that the team avoid moving the camera in ways that wouldn’t make sense to the audience, breaking the illusion of reality. With that in mind, Lasky created two different styles of movement for the story’s two environments; for action set on Earth, he created a handheld look accentuated by subtle frame adjustments and shifts in focal length, and on the Axiom, he created sleeker, more graceful moves. “I’m really impressed by what Jeremy and Danielle have done,” says Deakins. “There are sequences in the movie that are just so filmic.” And Stanton couldn’t be more pleased. “I don’t know if it’s going to be obvious to the audience, but we feel the difference,” says the director. “It’s as though this story really happened, and we were there to capture it.” I

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- UNleashed Magazine

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Batman Looms Larger The Dark Knight, shot by Wally Pfister, ASC, combines 35mm and Imax 65mm to depict the Caped Crusader’s latest adventure. by David Heuring Unit photography by Stephen Vaughan, SMPSP

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n the summer of 2006, during early preparations for The Dark Knight, director Christopher Nolan told Wally Pfister, ASC he was going to try to convince Warner Bros. to allow them to use the Imax format for a handful of scenes in their sequel to Batman Begins (AC June ’05). Nolan had been interested in exploring the large format’s potential in a fictional project for some time. “I’ve always been fascinated by large-format photography’s immersive quality, the impact it has on the huge screen,” says the director, “and I’d never seen a fiction film or a Hollywood movie that employed that degree of immersion on the visual side.”

I

Many Hollywood features, including Batman Begins, have been presented on Imax screens via Imax’s digital DMR (Digital Remastering) process, which scans a 35mm interpositive, applies grain reduction and other image-processing algorithms, and generates a 70mm Imax negative. But a feature-length narrative film combining 35mm images with the native Imax format, in which a 65mm negative travels horizontally through cameras and projectors, had never been attempted. Nolan and Pfister were impressed by an Imax presentation of Batman Begins — “Not only was grain not an issue, but you could see details that you never saw on the

Photos and film frames courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.


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35mm prints,” recalls Pfister — and they subsequently “stuck a toe in the water” by shooting an Imax visualeffects plate for The Prestige (AC Nov. ’06); at the time, Nolan told Pfister the shot was also serving as a test of the format’s viability in a feature film. After Nolan suggested combining Imax with the 35mm anamorphic format on The Dark Knight, he and Pfister shot a series of Imax tests in Nolan’s backyard, then put the camera in the back of a pickup truck and shot a night test on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood using only existing light. “We wanted to find out what we could put on the negative with this bigger camera and its slower lenses in a variety of conditions,” recalls the cinematographer. “We also wanted to push the film to see how that looked. Chris subsequently did a range of scanning tests at 4K and 6K with varying degrees of DMR processing. We also did exposure and density tests. “The results were very successful and encouraging,” he continues. “Chris spent some time figuring out what the post path would be [see sidebar on page 36], and I came up with a realistic breakdown of the costs, which were roughly four times the cost of shooting only 35mm. Chris then set about convincing Warner Bros. to try something that had never been done before. I don’t think that was easy, but among his many other skills, Chris is a very smart marketing person!” Nolan notes, “I think the fact that it was unprecedented was a big selling point for the studio. They probably didn’t truly get what we wanted to do until they saw the first test reel, which blew them away.” The filmmakers received permission to shoot a number of action sequences in Imax; these would include the opening sequence, which depicts a huge bank heist, and the climactic closing scenes. By the time production

Opposite page: Batman (Christian Bale) comes down hard on crime in Gotham City. This page: The Caped Crusader faces a formidable new foe in the ghoulish Joker (Heath Ledger).

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Batman Looms Larger

Top: One of the Joker’s henchmen, Grumpy (Danny Goldring), turns on his boss during a bank robbery. Middle: Director of photography Wally Pfister, ASC (at eyepiece, with director Christopher Nolan, center) aims an Imax camera at Ledger. The robbery sequence and others were shot in the 65mm Imax format, marking the first time a feature-length narrative film combined 35mm images with Imax footage. Bottom, left and right: A pair of “stunt clowns” descend from a skyscraper window to a nearby rooftop during the robbery. Their landing was captured with a Steadicam by operator Bob Gorelick.

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started, four major action sequences were planned for Imax, but “Chris and I knew that if we had the money and the cameras, and if it made sense, we would add other scenes,” says Pfister. “For instance, we quickly decided to shoot all the aerial work in Imax because of what we’d gain in resolution.” In the end, 15-20 percent of the movie — roughly 30 minutes of screen time — was originated in Imax. In Imax presentations of The Dark Knight, shots filmed in Imax will fill the screen, and material shot in 35mm anamorphic will appear in the center of the frame. (Hard cuts are planned between the two types of images.) For standard 35mm presentations, a 2.40:1 image will be extracted from the Imax footage; Nolan and editor Lee Smith could choose which portion of the frame to extract, depending on the shot. “Even in the 2.40:1 presentations, the Imax sequences will be sharper and clearer, with improved contrast and no trace of grain,” says Pfister. “It’s ironic,” muses the cinematographer, “because many filmmakers are trying out digital cameras that actually capture less resolution and information, and we’re going in the opposite direction, upping the ante by capturing images with unparalleled resolution and clarity.”


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One of the first puzzles to solve was how to best compose for the Imax frame. The production was advised to enlist a large-format director of photography for that work, but with Nolan’s support, Pfister decided he and his crew could adapt quickly enough to use the format effectively on their own. “We just needed to shoot and learn,” he says. “There’s a whole booklet about how to film in Imax, but our inclination was to break all those rules. In the end, we incorporated some of the ideas to a degree, but for the most part, we did what felt right to us and addressed composition shot-byshot.” Imax protocol stipulates maintaining an enormous amount of headroom because in most theaters, seeing the top third of the screen requires craning one’s neck. “The rule of putting the crosshairs on top of the head seemed a little extreme,” says Pfister. “Plus, we felt like we were wasting all this great negative. So we put the crosshairs on the eyes for close-ups. A ‘normal’ close-up is often way too big in Imax — if you hold it for a while, the audience is going to be looking at one eye or the mouth. You have to back up a bit. “Chris didn’t want any of us

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freaking out about makeup flaws and the like, but the reality is that you see every little detail — that piece of camera tape down the street in the frame, the one you don’t normally worry about, had to be removed. We had to condition everyone on the crew to a higher level of discipline, especially [production designer] Nathan Crowley and his team. Everyone had to be meticulous.” During the week he spent testing Imax MSM 9802 and MKIII cameras and Hasselblad lenses in Toronto, 1st AC Bob Hall found a number of limitations that had to be overcome or avoided. The cameras were incompatible with Cine Tape or Panatape, electronic focus assist

devices that camera assistants have come to depend on, and the viewfinders were not up to standard quality. The stiffness of the Hasselblads’ mechanisms meant focus could only be adjusted with specially modified Preston remote motors. “When we saw the depth-offield test projected, it was pretty scary,” recalls Hall. “It was a close-up, and very little of the face was in focus. I didn’t dwell on how hard and complex [the job] was going to be, and I don’t think that hit any of us until we saw the dailies from the first day’s bank-heist sequence. It was an epiphany for everyone. We were seeing extremely wide shots with the depth of field of a telephoto shot.” ¢

Above: The Joker attempts to intimidate Gotham’s strongwilled assistant D.A., Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal). Left: Batman’s alterego, billionaire Bruce Wayne, finds he has a new rival for Dawes’ affections: District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), whose battle against the Joker has severe personal consequences.



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Batman Looms Larger After being captured, the Joker languishes in a jail cell with more common criminals. The top photo is a behind-thescenes shot taken on set, while the bottom image shows the look of a finished film frame.

The production went forward with three MSM 9802s and one MKIII. The MSM is the lightest Imax camera; the MKIII is capable of frame rates up to 60 fps. The MKIII proved to be more durable and was used on car mounts, whereas the MSM was used on a Steadicam rig, a Libra IV head and on motorcycle rigs. Each camera was set up with a 2.40 ground glass, but

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this was more of a reference for the operators than actual framing parameters. The 500' magazines lasted about 100 seconds at 24 fps. “Normally, that’s considered waste, and you wouldn’t even bother loading that on a camera,” Hall points out. “Bob Gorelick, our Steadicam operator, said the MSM in its smaller configuration was only slightly heavier than a [Panavision] Genesis.”

The production carried four medium-format Hasselblad lenses: 50mm, 80mm, 110mm and 150mm. Pfister and Nolan favored the 50mm and, less often, the 80mm. As the shoot went on, says Hall, the filmmakers became bolder about using the 110mm. Also, they quickly learned what kinds of shots to avoid. “Because the Imax screen is so huge, you tend to follow the action that’s in


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focus, and that helped us,” Hall says. “Also, we saw that certain actions had to be minimized to an extent. Strobing was an issue, and we learned which fast shots and what kinds of moves we could get away with. Chris is very astute about what is usable and what isn’t; he realized that in extremely difficult shallowdepth-of-field shots, some moments would be out of focus. His intent was to get certain important beats, and once we had those in focus, we could move on.” The Dark Knight centers on the relationship between Batman (Christian Bale) and police Lt. Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) and their attempt to curb crime in Gotham. They are joined by District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), who, with Batman alter ego Bruce Wayne, forms a love triangle with Assistant D.A. Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal). A new villain, the Joker (Heath Ledger), presents a difficult challenge for law enforcement because of his nihilistic methods. “In this film, Batman is going in a new direction, and the environments we created are completely different from those in Batman Begins — Wayne Manor has burned down, and the Batcave has been replaced by a brightly lit secret bunker,” says Pfister. “We wanted to suggest a colder, more modern world, and rather than going dark with everything, we had fun with some brighter environments. The red-yellow patina of Batman Begins came naturally from the sodiumvapor lamps we used so much, and Dark Knight’s different environments became an excuse to play with colors a bit more.” The new film features three distinct tones: one is slightly bluegreen; another is neutral, almost black-and-white; and the third is a rust-like tinge that references Batman Begins. “Early on, I suggested to Wally that because the film is called The Dark Knight and is

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Batman assists with an interrogation of the Joker that turns a bit physical.

about, metaphorically, extremely dark subjects, it would be interesting to play against that for much of the film and make things as bright as possible, even as the material gets darker,” says Nolan. “I encouraged Wally to be open to different textures for different scenes and not be too rigid in terms of an overriding style, and he really warmed to that. His style of photography is very naturalistic and very subtle; he’s very good at making things feel real with an unforced and natural beauty, and that’s what we were really after on this film.” The 35mm material was shot with Panavision cameras, two Millennium XLs and a Platinum,

and the production carried the same E-Series and C-Series anamorphic lenses Pfister had used on The Prestige, along with some Panavision Super High Speed lenses. The picture was filmed on two Kodak Vision2 emulsions, 500T 5218 (rated at EI 400) and 250D 5205 (rated at EI 200). In certain situations, Pfister pushed the stock a stop to gain speed while maintaining solid blacks. “I’m not a guy who changes film stocks to create a different look,” he notes. “I like to have a simple set of tools and change the look with lighting and exposure. 5205 has a very solid grain structure, and I usually use it all day long with ND filters during the brightest parts of the day. By the end American Cinematographer 35


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Batman Looms Larger

A Hybrid Finish n their previous collaborations, Christopher Nolan and Wally Pfister, ASC chose a traditional photochemical finish over a digital intermediate, but their decision to shoot portions of The Dark Knight in 15-perf 65mm Imax for eventual 35mm and Imax exhibition necessitated a departure from that practice. David Keighley, executive vice president of Imax Corp. and president of its post subsidiary, DKP 70mm Inc., was integral to Dark Knight’s post path. “David oversaw the process that brought Batman Begins to Imax screens, and he’s not only very proficient technically, he also has a very good eye for color and density,” says Pfister. “Chris and I knew that in David’s hands, our material would not be over-manipulated or taken in the wrong direction.” During the shoot, the production’s Imax negative was shipped to CFI Technicolor in Los Angeles for processing, and DKP 70mm then made 35mm printdowns, screened them, and discussed the results with Pfister by phone; the printdowns were also shipped to the set and projected as dailies. Occasionally, Keighley made 70mm prints of this footage and checked its quality on an Imax screen. Front-end lab work for the production’s 35mm material was done at CFI, Astro Labs in Chicago, and Technicolor in London. Technicolor’s Hollywood facility handled the back-end and release prints; Pfister and color timer David Orr timed the 35mm images using the traditional photochemical process. After shooting was complete, and after the editing process was well under way, DKP 70mm scanned select Imax takes at 8K

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resolution on a unique Northlight scanner. Then, Pacific Title and other facilities made 2.40:1 extractions from the 1.33:1 Imax negative to conform to the framing and movement decisions made in the Avid by Nolan and editor Lee Smith. That process resulted in a 35mm anamorphic negative, which was combined with effects shots and used to generate 35mm release prints. To bring scenes shot in 35mm to Imax screens, where images are projected in 1.43:1, DKP 70mm scanned the 35mm interpositive at 4K, and an Imax team in Toronto applied digital DMR (Digital Remastering) processing to degrain and sharpen the images. The process stayed at 4K until the images were filmed out onto 65mm back at Keighley’s facility and combined with the Imax material for print. “The final Imax print combined the 4K DMR filmout, 5.6K and 8K Imax filmouts, and 18K contact prints from the Imax negative,” says Keighley. “People suggested Chris and Wally should have covered themselves by shooting key sequences in both 35mm and Imax, but the 2.40:1 extraction from the Imax frame looks beautiful,” he continues. “In fact, due to the oversampling, it’s probably the best 35mm anamorphic image we’ve ever seen. If we’d had time to scan the original negative at 6K, we could have produced even higher quality. The information is on the negative — 35mm film captures the equivalent of 6K and a color bit depth of 14 bits plus.” As they did with the Imax prints of Batman Begins, Keighley and his team screened each of the 80 Imax prints of Dark Knight in real time to ensure quality. “We’re a small group of hands-on people who really care about images,” he says. “We pay attention to all the details all the way to the screen.” — David Heuring

of the day, the filtration is out, and we’re not scrambling to change stocks.” The first 66 days of the shoot took place in Chicago, mostly on location. “Chicago is the most spectacular-looking city, and to be able to shoot the smallest throwaway scene in such large-scale, real locations adds grandeur and texture [to the picture],” says Nolan. “A lot of the key imagery in Batman Begins was shot in Chicago, and the city was very accommodating, so I wanted to do as much of The Dark Knight on location there as possible.” Asked if there was a connection between the decision to shoot Imax and the vastness of many of the locations, Nolan says, “They were very much tied together. I talked extensively with Wally and Nathan Crowley about using the full height of the Imax screen, and when we scouted locations, we were very mindful of getting a lot of height and scale to really use that frame. One of the biggest challenges I put to Wally was that we would have a lot of nighttime photography where we put the camera on the ground to shoot people walking towards the camera, yet we’d still see the tops of the tallest buildings. In terms of hiding lights and keeping them out of frame, that’s an enormous challenge, but he and his team came up with some pretty innovative solutions for that.” One solution was to light the action with fixtures that appear in frame as practical sources. Also, many of the basic decisions about lighting were rooted in the locations. Much of the story plays out in bright, vast spaces, uncluttered expanses that emphasize Batman’s solitary nature. Several major Chicago locations were buildings designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, including the IBM building at 330 N. Wabash. A number of locations from Batman Begins were revisited, including Lower Wacker Drive and the Old Post Office.


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The shoot began with the bank-heist sequence, which was shot in the Old Post Office. The scene was a trial-by-fire of the Imax idea and was chosen in part because it unfolds in the daytime. Built in 1921, the Old Post Office features a granite-and-marble lobby where most of the heist action takes place. Huge windows lined one wall, where gaffer Cory Geryak and his crew used a dozen 80' Condors with 7K Xenon lamps to mimic shafts of sunlight. Additionally, 100K Softsuns came through giant bay windows at both ends of the space. Existing fluorescents were augmented by new high-output fluorescent fixtures. “Stylistically, it was a fairly uncomplicated lighting setup, but because of the size and shape of the Imax frame, which left very little room to hide lights, the setup was huge in scale,” says Pfister. The most complicated exterior situations in Chicago were the chases on Lower Wacker Drive and a series of rooftop scenes. The filmmakers had shot a major chase on the same two-mile stretch of Lower Wacker for Batman Begins and knew

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the stacked thoroughfare would offer several advantages: it’s effectively a covered set, so weather is less of a concern, and the overhead concrete offers places to mount additional lights. Pfister’s crew positioned Par cans to highlight the arches that line the river side of the street and stationed BeBee Night Lights on Upper Wacker and the overhead deck of lanes to throw light on the background buildings across

the river. “With two miles of road to light up, there’s only so much you can do, even on a budget like ours,” says Geryak. “We’d shot anamorphic on Batman Begins at a T2.8, pushing the film half a stop, so we knew we could get away with it. In situations like Lower Wacker, sometimes it’s better to create points of light. For one section, we had a foundation of existing sodium-vapor lights and

For a key scene involving Batman, Dent and Police Lieutenant James Gordon (Gary Oldman, at left in bottom photo), gaffer Cory Geryak and his crew had to find a way to light a circular Steadicam move that would show the scene’s actors and background in 360 degrees. Key grip Mike Lewis solved the problem by devising an overhead rig containing Kino Flo tubes. The rig was skirted around the sides and aimed through Light Grid.



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Batman Looms Larger Members of the show’s specialeffects team prepare a miniature truck and driver for a collision with a miniature remotecontrolled Batmobile (below) staged in a scalemodel tunnel.

added some soft white tungsten lights by strapping them to pillars. For chase shots, that gives you a little more life in the negative and the feeling of speed as they flicker and flash by.” Typical of the interior situations in Chicago was Bruce Wayne’s home, a vast penthouse apartment that actually comprises a number of

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locations. The biggest scene there depicts an elegant party for Dent that is eventually crashed by The Joker. The penthouse bedroom was filmed in the top floor of Hotel 71, a boutique hotel on the Chicago River. The party scenes were filmed in a ground-floor hotel lobby, ostensibly Wayne’s living room; in order to create the illusion of being on the top

floor, the production lined the windows with greenscreen material that was backlit by 40 2K tungsten lights and later replaced with city views. The art department created large bookshelves along one wall to hide the lobby’s elevator banks and hung cascades of tiny Christmas lights between the shelves. There was also a smattering of practical table lamps. Geryak floated four 8K cylinder-shaped tungsten balloon lights to create a foundation. “We could move them around to keep the light side-y or edgy,” he says. “There were also existing ceiling lights that we replaced with Par 38 cans, straight down, with diffusion taped over them to help with the ambience.” Pfister was the A-camera operator, and on close work, he and Geryak often worked in tandem, with Geryak handholding a lightweight softbox containing Litepanels LED lamps; diffusion frames are interchangeable on the device. “Our light is often toppy or side-y, and Wally wants to see a little ping of light in the second eye,” says the gaffer. “Because we’re often hand-


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Left: Camera rigs on trackmounted platforms captured the action involving the miniature vehicles and tunnel. Below: Crewmembers use a remote to test out the ultimate Bat-toy.

held, the eyelight can’t go on the camera, so we’ll hold it off-axis on the other side. I’m always watching him and his frame line, and he often signals to push it in or pull it back as he’s shooting. He likes to judge that light through the camera.” Several key scenes take place on rooftops, including the roof of police headquarters, where Gordon lights up the Bat Signal to summon Batman. These shots required some of the most elaborate lighting setups, with Geryak and his crew spread out over multiple city blocks. A week and a half of rigging, followed by a 10-hour day of prelighting, preceded the actual shoot days. Pfister shot as wide open as possible to best capture the nighttime cityscape. To augment the skyline, roughly a dozen buildings were lit from inside through windows Pfister chose. Points of light were also emanating from the tops of parking structures. Sodiumvapors and bare bulbs were scattered across neighboring roofs. Color temperature was varied for a realistic urban look. At Geryak’s request, Lee

Filters developed a combined Full + Half CTS gel for the BeBee lights “to help us [avoid] the color fading of gels when they’re doubled up on the BeBee,” says the gaffer. “About 60 Maxi-Brutes were shooting light up the sides of neighboring buildings. We tried to create a streakier, architectural feeling this time, as opposed to the more general washes we used

on Batman Begins. In the first movie, Gotham tends to be a little more gritty and seedy.” One important scene on the roof of police headquarters provides a glimpse into the efficient and flexible mode of working that Nolan and Pfister maintained in spite of the sprawling size of the production. After putting their heads together



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Batman Looms Larger Right: In a frame from the film, Batman speeds through the city on his Batpod, which is armed with grappling hooks, cannons and machine guns. An updated version of the classic Batcycle, the Batpod was conceptualized by production designer Nathan Crowley and built by special-effects supervisor Chris Corbould. Bottom left: As on Batman Begins, the filmmakers captured highintensity chase footage using an Ultimate Arm-Lev Head combination mounted on a Mercedes SUV. Technician George Peters built a bigger, stronger Lev Head to accommodate the extra weight of the Imax cameras. Bottom right: Batman spins out during a street skirmish with the Joker and his minions.

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about the best way to shoot several pages of dialogue involving Gordon, Batman and Dent, Nolan and Pfister decided to do the scene in a single circular Steadicam move, maximizing the Chicago skyline in the background. “In the story, these three men form a triumvirate, and it was very important to bind them together and show them in this massive environment,” says Nolan. “The question was how to light the faces while seeing 360 degrees,” says Geryak. “We thought it would be great to do a nice soft toplight and then come in with an eyelight, but there wasn’t anywhere to tether a balloon up there. We were

shooting anamorphic, so we did have some headroom above the frame. Key grip Mike Lewis suggested rigging a truss coming over the top of a stairwell door. We knew it would take about 90 minutes to set up, but we also knew that once it was finished, we could burn through the pages very quickly. Chris is really smart about making those time investments up front, and he agreed to it. Mike used some very clever counterbalancing on a rig that shot out over the edge a good 15 or 20 feet. We built an 8-by-8 softbox housing four Kino Flo fixtures shooting through Light Grid and skirted around the sides.”

“I’m pleased to note that we used the exact Steadicam master, the first take of that scene, in the edit,” says Nolan. “I try to be very realistic about which coverage we’re going to use, and I try not to put people through that process if the results aren’t going to be in the movie. If I hadn’t worked with Wally and Cory for years before, I’m not sure I would have been prepared to make the leap of faith and say, ‘Okay, we won’t film for an hour and a half, but then we’ll have a very versatile setup.’ But I knew from experience that they could deliver. Similarly, they knew I wasn’t just changing the shot on a whim. In preserving that creative


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Left: A more detailed view of the customized Mercedes SUV, which also served as a tow vehicle. Below: Other shots for the Batpod chase were captured with cameras mounted on motorcycles.

spontaneity, even on the grander scale of a film like this, the experience of working with people previously is a huge advantage. That spontaneity is possible because of trust and thorough preparation.” The production also filmed in the United Kingdom for 53 days, returning to the cavernous Cardington hangar to film sets and shooting on location at Battersea Power Station on the outskirts of London. Some set pieces from Batman Begins were redressed, but the street-exterior sets seen in the first film were much less prominent on the schedule. The exterior of the Pruitt building, an eight-story structure built inside the 200'-high hangar by fire brigades for practice and testing, makes an encore appearance in The Dark Knight. This time, its interior also appears in a climactic sequence. Batman’s sleek secret bunker was built in the hangar at Cardington, a walled open space that measures 200' long by 60' wide and has no support columns. Onscreen, the entire ceiling of the bunker emits light. “Cardington is an enormous

space, and it took a bit of engineering to light it from above,” says Perry Evans, a veteran of Batman Begins who served as gaffer for the U.K. shoot. “Our lights couldn’t interfere with the construction that supported the ceiling, so we brought in a rock ’n’ roll-lighting company that built a

huge gantry that hung 40 feet above the set.” Evans and his team hung 300 space lights about 15' above the actual ceiling; each lamp had six 800watt bulbs, diffusion and silk skirting. The production tested various materials for the actual ceiling to find



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Batman Looms Larger The Joker unleashes mayhem on Gotham. At right, a spectacular explosion destroys the city’s hospital in a scene staged on Chicago’s west side at Cicero Avenue and Lake Street, using a redressed building that was once part of a candy factory. Below, left and right: The Joker’s criminal activities give him money to burn.

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a type of Perspex that allowed enough light through while hiding the actual elements. Around the entire light rig, the crew hung a series of 20'x20' white sheets to contain and smooth out the light. The thorough prep, which included six weeks of rigging, made for smooth shoot days in the bunker. Evans kept a couple of Image 80s on hand for closer work.

The script called for a light gag where the lights in the bunker come on and off in dramatic fashion. Possibilities discussed included dimming lights up, starting in the center and expanding concentrically, or in a chase, one at a time. During prep, Evans and his team programmed a variety of options and Nolan chose a method that followed the action. As Batman walks toward the elevator to exit, the lights go off in rows moving away from camera until Batman is seen in dramatic silhouette, lifted out of the frame by the elevator. Then the last

light goes out. “That was a fun challenge,” says Evans. “It took a couple of takes, but once we got it right, it looked really good.” Shots done in the Pruitt building inside the Cardington hangar were meant to intercut with shots done from a helicopter as a SWAT team slides out a window on a rope. In the story, the building is under construction, and that cued most of the lighting decisions. “Wally decided to go with the harshness of plain bulbs in the interiors,” says Evans. “We tested some normal bulbs and just couldn’t get them to


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flare enough. In the fighting that takes place there, we wanted a sense of disorientation and a certain brutality. We found a type of security light, and the art department made a little cage for it so it would look like a light you’d see on a construction site. There were dozens of temporary support posts in there, and we could clip our lights to them quickly and easily, depending on the shot. Sometimes we’d augment with a 1K Par or a 650-watt bulb off-camera.” The iconic Battersea Power Station was the setting for several scenes, including a giant explosion. Again, the vastness of the building meant that lighting the entire expanse was impossible, and 20Ks and ¼ Wendy lights were scattered about strategically to indicate the

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structure’s outlines and lend some depth. “We planned a really massive fireball, and Wally didn’t want to overexpose and lose the detail of the explosion,” says Evans. “So instead of shooting wide open or near, we were going to shoot with a T4.5 or T5.6. That meant instead of one full Wendy on a cherry-picker, we needed much more. “Also, because the scene is in Imax, you see so much area,” he continues. “We had to have a lot of light, and we needed to get it up to where the shadows would be at the proper angle. We ended up rigging four Wendy lights together and hoisting them 180 feet with a construction crane. A full Wendy is 192 650-watt medium-angle bulbs — it’s the same size bulb used in a

Above: The Joker’s big-rig truck is upended in a spectacular stunt staged on LaSalle Street in Chicago. The truck was driven by veteran stuntman Jim Wilkey, who triggered an explosive that shot a large steel post into the ground, causing the truck to flip end-over-end. No visual effects were used in the shot other than removal of the steel post, which was visible during the flip. The stunt was photographed with three Imax cameras and two 35mm cameras. “The height of the flip and unusually large Imax frame made it a challenge to hide the lighting from the five camera positions,” says Pfister. “Lights were just outside of the frameline on most of the shots.” Middle: Emerging unscathed from the wreckage, the Joker opens fire. Bottom: A finished frame from the film.



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Batman Looms Larger

SWAT officers crash through the windows of a building in a stunt executed on a greenscreen stage.

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Mini-Brute. So altogether, we had 768 bulbs. We anchored the rig with sailing line, which has no elasticity, tied off to two industrial forklifts. We could lock it steady by moving the forklifts.” Putting the production in

perspective, Pfister notes that one important difference between The Dark Knight and Batman Begins was that the filmmakers had a very successful film behind them this time around. “We didn’t have to worry about pressure from the

studio or pressure from the audience in terms of their expectations,” he says. “Also, there were a lot of details we sweated on the first film that we didn’t have to worry about this time — there was much we already knew how to do. That allowed us to really concentrate on the storytelling.” As for shooting Imax, he continues, “You face new technical and creative challenges on every film, and eventually, you find a way to overcome them. We were so determined to make this a success that we had to keep reminding ourselves no one had done this before on this scale. We’ve broken new cinematic ground in shooting a dramatic feature using the best-quality imagecapture system there is. Chris had the vision and the guts to fight for it, and there were a lot of naysayers all along the way. I think the film proves them wrong, absolutely. I’m grateful to my crew and must also thank the


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put together a great team and really challenged them, and the results are truly astounding.” I For a related article, see Post Focus on page 68.

Dent stands by as the Bat Signal is used to summon the Caped Crusader.

TECHNICAL SPECS 2.40:1 Anamorphic 35mm and 15-perf 65mm

people at Imax, beginning with Greg Foster, David Keighley, Lorne Orleans and Mike Hendricks, for their advice and assistance. I must also mention that a good friend and colleague lost his life during the filming of this movie, [special-effects technician] Comway Wickliffe; he was an exceptional artist whom we

will miss dearly.” Although Pfister is inclined to add shooting Imax to the list of challenges any filmmaker might confront, Nolan observes, “I don’t know of anybody working on a large-scale film project who’s had to do something so radically different and do it with such efficiency. Wally

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A Not-So-Super

Hero

Hancock, shot by Tobias Schliessler, blends action and comedy in the tale of a homeless man with superhuman abilities — and very human flaws. by Jay Holben Unit photography by Frank Masi, SMPSP and Scott Garfield mong superheroes, certain traits appear to be consistent: noble intent, great power tempered by great responsibility, and human alter egos. But in the new film Hancock, the titular character (portrayed by Will Smith) is a homeless alcoholic and unlikely savior. Although he gets the

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job done, Hancock’s special abilities are a burden to him. His relationship with the citizens of his hometown, Los Angeles, is tenuous at best, and it isn’t until he saves a public-relations executive, Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman), that he begins to understand the importance of public opinion to a superhero’s career.

Hancock is the third feature collaboration between writer/director Peter Berg and cinematographer Tobias Schliessler, following The Rundown and Friday Night Lights. “This is a different kind of superhero movie in that Peter wanted it to be grounded in reality,” says Schliessler. “We wanted a kind of heightened

Images courtesy of Columbia Pictures.

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realism, but not something so overly stylized that you wouldn’t believe these events could be happening right now. We increased the color saturation slightly, adding some brighter colors to the sets and more colors to the lighting, but we did not want it to feel like a comic-book movie at all.” Berg decided to shoot the movie completely handheld, with two cameras (operated by Dave Luckenbach and Lucas Bielan) almost always running simultaneously. “I wouldn’t say it was shot like a documentary because Peter rehearsed the actors, but it was shot very freely,” remarks Schliessler. “After a rehearsal, Peter had Dave and Lucas put the cameras up and shoot the scene, and he’d call out directions as necessary — asking one operator to go in tighter, for example — but he pretty much let the operators run freely with the actors. If he didn’t get what he needed, he’d make adjustments for the next take, but for the most part, the coverage was achieved very organically. “Peter had worked with Lucas and Dave before and was very comfortable with them,” he continues. “For the most part, I concentrated on lighting and Peter worked with the operators. Peter and I have a

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common language and understand each other very well, and I knew his choices would be exactly what we needed for this film. The operators were also on that same page, and it all fell in quite naturally.” Berg’s penchant for long takes required the use of 1,000' magazines throughout the shoot. Further adding to the operators’ load was the camera — the filmmakers chose the Panaflex Platinum over the lighter Millennium XL — and the lenses, Panavision Primo 11:1 and 4:1 zooms. “It wasn’t uncommon for one camera to start on a 24mm, snap in to a 275mm for a moment, and then snap out wide again in a single shot,” says Schliessler, who estimates each camera weighed 70-80 pounds. “Dave and Lucas were real troopers, and I don’t really know how they did it. They were going with the flow, creating a kind of dance between the two cameras and the actors. Sometimes the cameras would catch each other, and sometimes they’d run into each other, but for the most part, it worked amazingly well.” To keep the action rolling for particularly long periods, when one camera rolled out, Berg would continue with the second camera while the first was reloaded instead of cutting the scene. Then, with a fresh roll of film, the first camera would slip

back into the mix and shoot through the second camera’s reload. To capture a four-page dialogue scene with Hancock, Embry, and Embry’s wife, Mary (Charlize Theron), on the patio of a restaurant in downtown Los Angeles, three cameras worked this way to maintain the intensity of the scene. “We just kept shooting, moving around the table with the three cameras,” recalls Schliessler. “It took an hour and a half of constant shooting, but we got the scene and were wrapped by lunch!” To light the scene, Schliessler placed an electric candle in the center of the table. “It was 4 or 5 inches high and about 4 inches around,” he explains. “We put a bigger socket in there with a stronger bulb, and it created a really beautiful, warm glow on all their faces. For scenes like that, when I knew Peter wanted to shoot without interruption and without relighting, I would go into the environment and try to find a source that would allow us to shoot 360 degrees and also look good on the actors. The actors were always free to move about and improvise their blocking; Peter didn’t want any marks on the floor or anything to lock anyone into a specific action. Once we were lit for a scene, we wouldn’t change anything for closeups; we’d just shoot and shoot until

Opposite page: Unconventional superhero John Hancock (Will Smith) leaves his mark on the city he protects. This page: After being saved by the hero, PR wizard Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman, in car) helps Hancock craft a new image and smooth over relations with his hometown of Los Angeles.


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A Not-So-Super Hero Near right: Bottle of booze in hand, Smith prepares for liftoff. Unlike most superheroes, who protect themselves with respectable alter egos, the homeless Hancock is always on the job, and to take the edge off, he’s prone to flying under the influence. Far right: Cinematographer Tobias Schliessler on location.

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we were done.” Key grip Michael Anderson, who had worked with Schliessler on Dreamgirls (AC Dec. ’06), created two “pseudo-dollies” to take the load off the operators’ legs during such long takes while maintaining their mobility. “Peter was adamant that he never wanted to see tripods or a dolly on the set, so we came up with a couple of solutions,” explains Anderson. “One, which we called the ‘Silver Bullet,’ was just a low frame about 2 inches off the ground with swivel casters. We put a padded apple box on the frame, and the operators could still handhold the camera. They could use the Silver Bullet as a chair, or we could wheel them around for a kind of handheld dolly move.” The second solution was “a small three-wheeled stool. We attached arms, a back, and a little tray where the operators could put their feet, and we could move them around. Both worked really well.” Usually maintaining a T2.8 on interiors and a T5.6 or T8 on day exteriors, Schliessler shot Hancock with three Kodak Vision2 film stocks, 200T 5217 (day interiors), 500T 5218 (night exteriors and darker interiors), and 50D 5201 (day exteriors). “I really liked 5201 for the daytime work; it had good contrast and finer grain, and it looked sharp with our oversaturated look.” He used a Schneider 1-

stop polarizer for day exteriors. “It enhances some colors without losing highlights,” he notes. One day exterior that proved particularly challenging for Schliessler and his crew took four days — spread over two weekends — to shoot. In the scene, Hancock stops a bank robbery that involves hostages and a shootout with police. Schliessler had his hands full dealing with the Southern California sunshine, which he describes as “crazy — it comes in and out of clouds and haze all day long! When it does stay clear, it’s straight up in the sky until about 6 p.m., when it drops very fast. Wherever we could, I tried to bring in diffusion to cut out the natural sunlight and then use a BeBee Night Light to create a lower-angle sunlight.” To execute Schliessler’s plan, Anderson brought in a 40'x30' frame of light gridcloth carried on a Champion driving crane, and gaffer Bob Krattiger brought in two 15-6K BeBees to push through the gridcloth. One was positioned at each end of the block, and either light could move out of the way if the cameras were looking in its direction. “It was a little crazy to coordinate,” recalls Anderson, who also had to worry about removing the gridcloth whenever the sun ducked behind a cloud. “We only had one

block closed down, and there was nowhere to put the crane when we weren’t using it. I’d have the driver drop off the frame into these big racks we created and then circle the block with traffic until we needed him again.” The bank interiors were shot in an empty building in downtown Los Angeles, in a 200'x100' lobby surrounded by 25'-tall windows. “It was a big building with a lot of glass, and there was no lighting inside at all,” says Schliessler. “We had to bring in all the practical lighting. [Production designer] Neil Spisak worked with us to design huge practical ceiling fixtures that were beautiful and effective.” Those units, Krattiger explains, “were about 16-by-16 feet, designed around LumaPanels, and we had 60 of them in the location. We had three Lumas in each fixture, which are all DMX-dimmable, so we had complete control over them. “The windows were too wide to gel, so we had to balance all the interior lighting to daylight,” he continues. “Outside, I had a 15-light BeBee out front and another out back. Because of sightlines, the BeBee in back was 150 to 200 feet away, so we had to add a couple of Condors with 18K HMIs to get equal punch and hide them in the courtyard


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A Not-So-Super Hero

Putting Viewers in Harm’s Way ike most summer spectaculars, Hancock opens with a high-octane action sequence: the Los Angeles Police Department is engaged in a high-speed chase on the 105 freeway, and Hancock arrives to save the day, causing a great deal of damage in the process. The show’s 2nd-unit director/stunt coordinator, Simon Crane, and 2nd-unit director of photography, Paul Hughen, wanted to put viewers in the middle of the action while preserving director Peter Berg’s mandate of entirely handheld camerawork. Of course, placing camera

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operators and assistants in cars that will be hit by other cars isn’t possible, so Hughen approached Gary Thieltges, president of Doggicam Systems, to see if the production could rig five of Doggicam’s wireless radiocontrolled Sparrow heads into five cars for a one-shot stunt spectacular. “For a stunt like this, safety is paramount,” says Hughen. “The only way to put operated cameras right in the action safely was with remotely operated units. I had worked with the Sparrow heads in a limited capacity before, but never with five heads working simultaneously.” Hughen, Crane and Thieltges began planning the sequence, which incorporated 12 cameras (including the five that would be at the heart of the action), two months before it was scheduled to be shot. “Our biggest challenge was figuring out the radio 50 July 2008

frequencies,” recalls Thieltges. “With five cameras in five different cars, we needed 10 radios that would have clear signals. With the walkie-talkies on the set, the helicopter communications, and the wireless controls of two cars in the pack — in addition to the location, which was about 100 yards from Los Angeles International Airport — finding clean frequencies took a lot of research and testing.” Doggicam Systems holds two FCC licenses on specific frequencies and has more than 100 channels to work with, from the lower ISM band of 900 MHz up to microwave channels in the 6.4 GHz range. These signals also incorporate an encryption coding (originally developed in World War II) to help protect against other frequencies stepping into a specific Sparrow Head’s range. The filmmakers used three Sparrow Head 200s and two of the new Sparrow Mini heads, all armed with Arri 235 cameras. To keep the human operators at a safe distance while maintaining a solid ¼-mile (or less) radio distance to ensure a clean signal, Thieltges outfitted a large bus with five remote stations to hold the operators, assistants and Sparrow Head technicians for each camera. The five radio towers were mounted to the top of the bus, which blended in with the dozens of vehicles featured in the scene. “It was a big challenge to work out all the frequency issues, but Gary and his team were amazing, and the sequence came off nearly flawlessly,” says Hughen. “The Doggicam System worked without a hitch.” “The cameras weren’t locked down, which helps give the sequence an immediacy and sense of danger,” notes Thieltges. “The cameras are right in the action, capturing a subjective point of view.” — Jay Holben

behind the bank. The interior set and fixtures had to be up for four weeks for the pre-rig, and we were again limited to shooting at the location on weekends, so the entire rig had to stay in place while we were shooting elsewhere.” Although he’s clumsy, careless and often drunk, Hancock’s powers are on par with Superman’s: superhuman strength and speed, immunity from bullets, and the ability to fly. However, Hancock’s aerial acrobatics — performed with far less grace than the Man of Steel’s — put him closer to the ground, weaving around buildings and taking out chunks of architecture along the way. To create interactive lighting for the flying scenes, which were filmed on a greenscreen stage with Smith suspended by a wire rig, Anderson employed his RT5, a silent remote-control rig that travels on I-beam track and has controls to pan and tilt each individual light. The Hancock rig held two 20Ks on a 360-degree, 45'-long track. “The challenge was to get the fixtures to move and articulate quietly so we could actually roll sync sound on the greenscreen stage,” recalls Anderson. “We had to integrate all these sound baffles for the tractors and get the right texture of the wheels to roll on the I-beam tracks. It’s all controlled by a single joystick, so it’s a lot like playing a video game.” Because of the collateral damage caused by Hancock’s actions, Embrey convinces Hancock to turn himself in to the police, hoping that the show of remorse will improve the public’s opinion of the hero. To film Hancock’s incarceration, the production moved into an abandoned jail in Whittier, California, where they faced a daunting logistical challenge. “We weren’t able to turn on the power to the facility because it was tied into a specific state system and would set off all kinds of alarms,” explains Krattiger. “Basically, we had to power this two-story facility completely with our own fixtures. What makes that


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challenging is the cells; they’re physical structures designed to keep people in, so cabling is quite an ordeal. “Rigging gaffer D.J. Lootens discovered we could run some cabling through the air-conditioning ducts, and then he also discovered every two cells had their own small water-heater between the walls,” Krattiger continues. “We could get a cable into the small shaft between the cells where the heater sat, and from there we were able to feed 100 amps into each cell to power a little fluorescent fixture. In the rest of the facility, we used [Kino Flo] Image 80s in the ceilings and some Par cans to create pools of light.” After getting out of jail, Hancock becomes entrenched in a battle in a hospital, a sequence shot onstage at Sony Studios in Culver City. The set featured a 120'-long corridor lined with about a dozen rooms, and to light the hallway, Spisak and Schliessler incorporated 1'-wide floor-to-ceiling fluorescent banks behind frosted glass along the walls. “We came up with the idea that as the fight progresses, the power would get knocked out little by little, and the corridor would get darker until we were just down to emergency lighting,” says Schliessler. “Since we were doing this lighting gag, we wanted to actually see the fixtures go out one-by-one, and we figured if we worked them into the walls, we’d get a much better feel.” The fluorescent banks comprised 8' and 6' Kino Flo tubes. Krattiger explains, “Since the fixtures themselves were going to be in the shot, we didn’t want them to overexpose too much, so we ran all the lamps back to a dimmer board, where Scott Barnes was running the show. Scott programmed cues to knock out some tubes and flicker some others as the damage happens. We added a few Image 80s to supplement the lighting and ran those back to the board, too; because there are eight independent channels on an

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Left: Too hurt to fly after a hospital punchup, a bruised and battered Hancock leaps away from a scene. Below: To light the action, which director Peter Berg wanted to shoot on location rather than on a greenscreen stage, Schliessler and his crew hung three 24' Airstar Hybrid Tube balloons from 60' Condors.

Image 80, you can DMX-control each tube in the fixture, so Scott did the same kind of effect [with the Image 80s] as the action progressed. It worked really well.” The filmmakers used 9-light Fay globes for the hospital’s emergency lighting. Schliessler notes, “At the end of the scene, the power is out, the emergency lights are on, and, of course, the fire sprinklers go off — it’s a very dramatic look.” Hancock makes his escape by bursting through a ninth-story window and plummeting to the street below. Injured and unable to fly, he can still super-jump, and with a few grand leaps, he makes his escape. “Peter decided he didn’t want to shoot that sequence against greenscreen; he wanted to do it for real,” says Schliessler. “We shot the scene at night in downtown L.A., just across from City Hall. Hancock leaps out of the hospital building, lands, is nearly hit by a car, and then starts taking bigger and bigger leaps to get away.

It’s all covered in one continuous shot after he lands on the street.” To capture the action, 2ndunit director/stunt coordinator Simon Crane supervised the rigging of two massive cable rigs 40' above the street, one for Smith and one for camera operator Bielan. “Peter wanted to keep the [camerawork] handheld,” explains Schliessler. “We flew our camera right alongside Will all the way down the street.” Krattiger adds, “The shot runs about three city blocks — he’s basically leaping from the Cal Trans building to the Los Angeles Times building, right down the center of the street. Unfortunately, a new police station was being built right there at the time, and that structure was belowgrade, so we couldn’t hide anything behind it. That caused some headaches!” “You approach these kinds of sequences with a wish list,” muses Schliessler. “I tried to scout those locations two or three times at night American Cinematographer 51


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A number of special rigs were employed to capture Hancock’s heroics (see sidebar, p. 50), including a Flying-Cam unmanned helicopter (left) and various camera cars (right). To film POV shots of Hancock’s erratic flight path through the Los Angeles cityscape, Flying-Cam pilots Emmanuel Previnaire and Bruno Ziegler used the system’s pilot-in-relay capability, trading control of the helicopter back and forth to cover different portions of one long take.

to get a feel for what we would need. We were basically looking 180 degrees down three city blocks and two cross-streets at night. I didn’t want to push the film, so I knew we had to light most of the area Hancock would move through to a T2/2.8. Fortunately, we had amazing support from [producer] Ian Bryce on this; there’s just no way we would

have accomplished it otherwise.” The setup required dozens of cranes, starting with several 30-ton, 60' construction cranes to support the two stunt-flying rigs. In addition, Schliessler and Krattiger lined Hancock’s flight path with three 24' Airstar Hybrid Tube balloons hung from 60' Condors. The Hybrids combine 12 1K halogen tungsten

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A Not-So-Super Hero


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globes and four 1.2K HMI globes; striking the globes in various combinations allows the user to dial in the desired color temperature. “The Airstars took care of the area up above the street level,” explains the gaffer. “We never really got up in the air with a meter; we just had to go by eye and see what looked good. We put a 20K on the roof of the Times building, positioned four 15-6K BeBees around the area, scattered other Condors with 20Ks, and put one Condor with a couple of 24light Dinos deep down the street. “We partially corrected all the HMI fixtures with 1⁄2 CTO and let the tungsten lighting stay clean to get a little mix of color,” Krattiger continues. “We had seven generators placed throughout downtown to power the whole setup, which was quite large.” Schliessler notes that the scene required about five days of

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pre-rigging, and when the night of the shoot arrived, there were more than 30 electricians on location. “When it gets that big, I’m really in the hands of my gaffer and rigging gaffer, and I just have to hope that everything is in place,” says the cinematographer. “We show up, turn everything on, make a few adjustments and shoot!” During the production, the filmmakers screened hi-def DVD dailies, and Schliessler was often able to view select print dailies at Technicolor with colorist Mark Sachen before heading to work in the morning. “DVD dailies are just silly — you can’t judge anything off them,” he notes. “I like to go straight to the colorist. He can bring up the negative and I can see exactly what I have on film, and then I can help dial in the look we want for the dailies.” Despite the challenges posed by the production, Schliessler

describes the experience as “great fun. We had a great cast, I had a great crew, and we had great support from Ian Bryce, a producer who is very knowledgeable and always has the picture’s best interest in mind. And I love working with Peter Berg; he’s a great director and gives you a lot of freedom. This was just one of those films that everyone had a great time making.” I

TECHNICAL SPECS 2.40:1 Super 35mm Panaflex Platinum Primo lenses Kodak Vision2 50D 5201, 200T 5217, 500T 5218 Digital Intermediate Printed on Kodak Vision 2383

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AMC_0708_p054p063:c_feature

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Spy vs. Spy Dean Semler, ASC, ACS captures covert mayhem for the action comedy Get Smart, an adaptation of the popular 1960s television series. by Noah Kadner Unit photography by Tracy Bennett ostalgia buffs and re-run junkies fondly recall the TV series Get Smart, a spy spoof that amused home viewers from 1965-1970. Created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, the show satirized the Cold War and James Bond movies, featuring Don Adams as hapless Agent 86, Maxwell Smart, and Barbara Feldon as his considerably more competent partner, Agent 99. Together, they fought the crime syndicate Kaos, often armed with nothing more than sight gags and one-liners. After being revived as a feature in 1980 (The Nude Bomb) and a short-lived TV series in the early ’90s, Get Smart is back as a big-

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budget feature. The project reunited director Peter Segal and cinematographer Dean Semler, ASC, ACS, who had previously collaborated on The Longest Yard and The Nutty Professor 2. In this new version, Smart (Steve Carell) and Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway), under orders from The Chief (Alan Arkin), set out to prevent the villainous Siegfried (Terence Stamp) from unleashing nuclear war. Get Smart is the fourth feature Semler has shot with Panavision’s high-definition Genesis camera, following Apocalypto, for which he earned an ASC nomination (AC Jan. ’07); Click; and I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry. “Because we can see dailies

and judge focus instantly, we can reshoot right away if we need to, rather than two or three days later,” he notes. “And directors like it because they can keep rolling and working with the actors.” “Dean completely sold me on the idea of doing Get Smart digitally,” says Segal. “One of the best parts was that the executives from Warner Bros. could witness his entire process in the color-timing tent on the set. And Steve Carell said he felt subliminally more relaxed and improvisational because he didn’t hear the clock ticking as film ran through the mag.” One key to Semler’s success with the Genesis is EFilm’s


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Photos courtesy of Warner Bros.

Opposite: The capable Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway) and her bumbling partner, Agent 86, a.k.a. Maxwell Smart (Steve Carell), use their heads to crack a case. This page, top: The kooky spooks sprint into action. Bottom: Cinematographer Dean Semler, ASC, ACS continued his exploration of Panavision’s Genesis camera on the shoot.

Colorstream Remote color-management viewing system, which uses 3-D look-up tables (LUTs) to process incoming digital footage and emulate a specific film look. “Colorstream produces an image on my HD monitor with the same color and contrast that will appear on a theater screen,” explains Semler. “It perfectly matches both a negative and print stock, in this case Kodak [Vision2 500T] 5218 rated at 500 ASA and printed on Vision [2383] stock. Each morning, the Genesis was plugged into the Colorstream, and my 6-by-6-foot tent was set up by camera utility Tim Megasawa — we had no need for a digital-imaging technician [DIT] on this shoot. I was in the tent riding the cameras’ iris controls remotely while the operators worked; it was a very unique and special system.” Semler had many of his frequent collaborators on board throughout the production, which started in Los Angeles and moved on to Montreal; American Cinematographer 55


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Spy vs.Spy Top and middle: In an homage to an iconic gag from the Sixties TV series, Smart and 99 use a telephone booth to discreetly descend to the underground headquarters of Control. Bottom: Director Peter Segal shows Carell and Hathaway how to “dial in” for a scene.

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Washington, D.C.; and Moscow. These included gaffer Jim Gilson, key grip William “Bear” Paul, Acamera 1st AC Tony Rivetti, Acamera operator Andrew Rowlands, and B-camera operator Richard Merryman. For Get Smart, Semler chose to work mainly with Panavision Primo zoom lenses. He recalls, “The A camera usually had the 4:1 [17.5-75mm T2.3] zoom on, and the B camera used the 11:1 [24275mm T2.8]. I tend to keep the lighting levels very low with the Genesis. If I’m shooting wide open on A camera, I can go to a 270degree shutter or add +1⁄2 of gain on B camera in order to get the lenses to match. “When I’m shooting outside, I normally use the Genesis as I would a tungsten negative and add 85 and ND.6 filters, which brings it down to about 64 ASA,” he continues. “I might use an 81EF if the light is getting too warm outside. Sometimes I’ll use a Tiffen Black Pro-Mist for beauty lighting, and I also experimented with Formatt’s new HD filter, which is subtle and takes the edge off very slightly. I always keep in mind that when we print to film, the image is going to soften up a little anyway.” Semler screened dailies digitally in a specially outfitted trailer operated by projectionist Bobby Hatfield, who was also responsible for cloning the HDCam SR tapes to which the cameras recorded. “Bobby made the clones through the Colorstream and down-converted to Avid for the editors,” says Semler. “He could make slight corrections like a lab timer does overnight, per my instructions. For example, if I shot without an 85 filter, he could put it back in, or if we shot under fluorescent light, he could take a little green out. Bobby was a very integral part of the team.”


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The original Get Smart TV series opened with a famous credit sequence in which Smart walked down a corridor with a seemingly endless number of doors closing just behind him. Paying homage to this memorable staging, an early scene in the film shows Smart crossing the Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C., on his way to the secret underwater corridor that leads to Control headquarters. To capture the corridor sequence, Semler shot Carell walking down a set comprising only a floor, with stacked greenscreens to provide lighting separations. Visual-effects supervisor Joe Bauer worked with Zoic Studios to add the walls, ceiling and mechanically intricate doors as Smart heads toward the Control briefing room. To light the Cone of Silence set, Semler mainly employed practicals integrated into the walls by production designer Wynn Thomas. The room also featured wet concrete floors meant to suggest its underwater location. “The actual location was an old warehouse in San Pedro,” recalls Semler. “We put red practical lights off in the distance just to get

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reflections on the water. The actors were lit with soft light from Kino Flos.” After receiving his orders, Smart, now partnered with Agent 99, flies to Russia on a commercial airliner to investigate. Never one to keep things simple, he ends up falling out of the plane through the lavatory, and 99 follows with a parachute. “The parachute

sequence, led by aerial-stunt coordinator Guy Manos, features some extraordinary photography captured by cinematographer Norman Kent in the skies over Florida,” says Semler. In addition to wide shots featuring stunt players, the aerial unit captured background plates; aerial-unit and second-unit plate work was supervised by Don McCuaig, ASC, who

Left: Prior to his promotion, the paper-pushing Smart carries a stack of work through Control’s main corridor, which was created in post by visual-effects supervisor Joe Bauer and a team of effects experts at Zoic Studios. Below: On set, the Control corridor comprised a series of greenscreens that provided lighting separation for an endless series of sliding doors added in post by the effects team.



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Spy vs.Spy Right: A secretservice agent (Cedric Yarbrough, far left) stands by as the President of the United States (James Caan) and Control’s Chief (Alan Arkin) brief Agents 99 and 23 (Dwayne Johnson). Below: Smart fumbles his way through a meeting at Control.

shot much of that material on 35mm (Kodak Vision2 50D 5201, 200T 5217 and 500T 5218) using Panavision Panastars and Primo lenses. “The majority of the aerial work was captured with a SpaceCam operated by Dwayne McClintock,” says Semler. “We used a Flying-Cam [mini-helicopter] for the low and dangerous stuff.” In photographing the principals for the skydiving sequence,

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Semler and Segal eschewed greenscreen photography whenever feasible, opting for digital rear-projection instead. The production enlisted Curly Whittaker of Staging Techniques to provide the projectors and screens, which were used onstage at Warner Bros. and in Montreal. In order to provide enough illumination to offset the movie lighting on the actors, Whittaker set up two Christie Roadie 25K digital projectors

simultaneously converged onto a 22'x40' Screenworks rear-projection screen; the Roadies were capable of projecting full 2K resolution at 25,000 lumens. Bauer fed the projectors with 1080p material transferred to D5 and processed through a Thomson/Technicolor LUTher color-space converter in order to provide accurate gamma and color matching between the screen and the live action. “We used lots of 18Ks and 20Ks [daylight and incandescent sources, respectively] as needed to match the look and temperature of the original plates,” recalls Gilson. “We also used Softsuns, and the grips put up 25 30-footlong cutters to keep light off the screen. It got interesting at times because the lights occasionally needed to be right where the screen was, which was impossible. But Dean’s a real genius at cheating things around so they look totally natural.” After landing safely, Max and 99 enjoy a more relaxed


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moment as they stroll through rural countryside at dusk, with the outskirts of Montreal standing in for Russia. “The Genesis gave me a huge advantage at magic hour,” notes Semler. “I managed to have the Steadicam pulling back with the actors and the B and C cameras off to the sides, walking with them. They also paused in two positions, and the side cameras stopped and did the over-theshoulder coverage. That enabled us to get everything done at the same time, with the actors feeling totally free. We took it right up to 2,000 ASA on the Genesis with +1 gain and a 360-degree shutter. At the end of the scene, I stepped out of my tent and it was dark outside, but the scene looked beautiful on the monitor.” Montreal’s Olympic stadium stood in as the futuristic headquarters of Siegfried and Kaos. “For the stadium, we bounced a dozen or so 18K HMIs into UltraBounce frames to create an overall ambience,” says Semler.

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Left: Kaos kingpins Siegfried (Terence Stamp, left) and Shtarker (Ken Davitian) are Control’s key enemies. Below: The masterfiends finalize their plans for world domination at a giant war table. Kino Flo fixtures were placed beneath the table to illuminate its “missile map.”

“We shot two interior scenes with Terence Stamp using the outside light spilling in. In one, he sits at a desk playing a violin, with only a warm practical-light effect added; in the second, we had a war table that was actually an elevator stairwell closed off and covered with a map of the world that was lit from underneath by Kino Flos. We finished both scenes by lunch, and Terence said he would fly home the next day after the dailies

report. But then we took the tapes off the cameras, cloned them in the projection trailer, and had the dailies report right away, so he was able to fly home that afternoon!” Smart and 99 finally arrive at their objective: a bakery on a Moscow riverbank that is suspected of being a front for nuclearweapons manufacturing. The setting combines shots taken on location in Russia with additional exteriors shot in Montreal and



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Spy vs.Spy

Above: An elaborate sequence that begins on an airliner required a full-scale plane-interior set. Top right: Carell spruces up beneath an overhead camera on a lavatory set. Column at near right: 99 and Smart ponder a new predicament from their seats; a trapdoor in the lavatory sends Smart hurtling through the sky. Semler praises the show’s aerial unit for the “extraordinary” photography they contributed.

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interiors captured at the Budweiser brewery in Los Angeles and a vacant mail-sorting facility in Montreal. To shoot 99 infiltrating the bakery through an air-conditioning vent, Semler tracked Hathaway with a 50' Super Technocrane fitted with a Libra head. “The Techno was expertly operated by my longtime dolly grips, Jeff ‘Moose’ Howery and John Murphy,” notes the cinematographer. On the bakery exteriors, the production was able to use larger equipment. Gilson recalls that for a segment captured on location in Russia, “we had two lighting towers loaded with 12K Pars. They were 80-foot Condors in a condition that probably wouldn’t be considered 100-percent usable here in the States, but it’s fascinating to see how people do things in other countries. When we matched the exterior in Montreal, we brought in a lot of big gear, like Maxi-Brutes, and then did more rigging and testing.” When the bakery explodes, Smart and 99 leap from the roof to the safety of a neighboring building. To accommodate the extensive stunt work and pyrotechnics, the rooftop was re-created as a set at Warner Bros. “We originally planned to use either Translites or greenscreen,” says Semler. “As it


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turned out, all of the firelight from the propane explosions really lit up the background, so we decided to just surround the set with black, and Joe did a great job of adding the Moscow skyline in post.” In addition to the bakery exterior, the Russia sequences include a nighttime trip through Moscow’s picturesque Red Square, where Semler was able to shoot primarily with the location’s existing lighting. Gilson details, “I was sent ahead to Red Square early with a light meter and a digital camera to determine the level of lighting. There was a mixture of sodium-vapor and incandescent industrial-lighting units on top of a large department store. Dean was pretty confident there was enough base-level illumination to work with the Genesis, so we just augmented that with small cosmetic lights on the actors.” Later, with the war against Kaos still raging, Smart and 99 must try to prevent an assassination during a concert. The sequence was filmed in downtown Los Angeles at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, an iconic building designed by Frank Gehry. Semler found the interior’s existing orchestra lighting to be suitable for base-level ambience, which he boosted with Airstar 8K tungsten balloons. “We didn’t really have to bring in any major lighting,” he says. “I also loved shooting the exterior of the hall; the reflective metal gave us an incredible number of highlights. Those are sometimes a concern with digital, but we never had any problems.” Get Smart’s finale finds Max and 99 in a speeding SUV, barreling down railroad tracks toward an oncoming train. The Chief attempts to rescue his endangered employees with a low-flying propeller plane, which was realized entirely via CGI. The sequence was filmed in the Vernon train yards

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Above: The crew captures greenscreen footage of Carell for another airborne gag involving a smaller airplane. Column at near left: Smart hangs for dear life onto the towline pulling an aerial ad, which hurtles him past a city bus and an SUV.



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Spy vs.Spy

Staging Techniques provided the production with rear projectors and screens for sequences requiring process photography.

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outside Los Angeles, along with additional inserts shot onstage using both greenscreen and digital rear-projection; McCuaig’s unit covered the major stunts. “We did a good amount of driving at speed with the main actors on top of the SUV,” recalls Semler. “That was exciting, and I think being outside and in the action really helped them out performance-wise.” The scene’s denouement shows Smart and 99 separately searching the wreckage of the SUV and train, with each convinced that the other has met an untimely demise. Because the sequence was shot late in the day, Semler worried about lighting continuity. “Almost everything else that had been shot had been in full sun, so I was concerned this wasn’t going to match. I recalled my early days working with director George Miller and his producer, Byron Kennedy, on


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The Road Warrior. Their theory was that when you’re shooting action, if the action is fast enough, the audience is very forgiving. It can almost be raining in one shot and you’ll get away with it. “Ultimately, we had no choice but to shoot,” he continues. “Peter and I devised two threecamera setups that would give us all the coverage we needed in the short time we had. The sun went behind a low cloud, and then it was going to be gone. Once again, I used +1 gain and a 360-degree shutter for 2,000 ASA. I stepped out of the tent and was once again surprised by how dark it was — I guess I will eventually get used to the Genesis’ ability to see in the dark! When I watched the dailies in the trailer, I saw we’d gotten away with it.” Semler carried out the digital intermediate (DI) at EFilm

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with colorist Steve Bowen. “Steve is sort of like a postproduction policeman for me, offering advice like, ‘I think you went too far for this,’ or, ‘Next time, you should try this,’” Semler says with a grin. “I learn a lot just watching things get pieced together, and it was a great experience. However, by the time I got into actually finishing the movie, it had already gone through three or four temporary DIs for studio previews. That’s a very different approach, and I think cinematographers should try to get in there on the initial preview timings just to make sure everyone is on the same page.” Having done his part to maintain Control and stave off Kaos, Semler ponders the digital path he traveled on Get Smart, noting wistfully that he still shoots film when a project calls for it, as on the recently completed feature

Appaloosa. “My crew is now very familiar with the Genesis, and they’ve learned to discover the camera. It is different, in that it’s a computer instead of a film camera; the assistants really need to learn the software and the menus. But it’s 2008, and the digital era is no longer the future — we’re in it.” I

TECHNICAL SPECS 1.85:1 High-Definition Video and 35mm Panavision Genesis, Panastar Primo lenses Kodak Vision2 50D 5201, 200T 5217, 500T 5218 Digital Intermediate Printed on Kodak Vision 2383

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Laugh

Factory 30 Rock, shot by ˇ Vanja Cernjul, immerses viewers in the backstage lunacy of a network comedy show. by Jon Silberg Unit photography by Nicole Rivelli ˇ anja Cernjul had almost no background shooting episodic television when he became director of photography on the popular NBC comedy 30 Rock midway through last season. His experience shooting independent features had landed him a job shooting the pilot for Ugly Betty, and that gig led to 30 Rock. Accustomed to lighting locations as opposed to ˇ standing sets, Cernjul brought an approach to both projects that was welcomed by creatives who wanted their shows to avoid a traditional sitcom look. ˇ Cernjul graduated from the Academy of Dramatic Arts, Univeristy of Zagreb, in 1995, and earned an M.F.A. in film at New York University in 1998. “I was one of the few students at NYU focused on cinematography, and that worked out great for me,” he recalls. “I shot a lot and worked with some very talented students, and when they went on to

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direct independent films, they asked me to shoot them.” Two such projects were I’ll Take You There, directed by the late Adrienne Shelly, and Rain, directed by Katherine Lindberg. His credits also include The Mudge Boy and Wristcutters: A Love Story. On 30 Rock, actress/writer/ producer Tina Fey presents a fictionalized and often bizarre take on the world she inhabited when she served as head writer on Saturday Night Live. Her character, Liz Lemon, contends with a loony group of collaborators, including nerdy writers; an insecure diva, Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski); a loose-cannon comic, Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan); and a crusty corporate executive, Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin), who mentors the ditzy Lemon despite their different personalities. The look of the 30 Rock pilot, which was shot inside New York’s Rockefeller Plaza by Michael Trim, reflected the original tone of the

writing: comedy rendered in a naturalistic style. When NBC picked up the series, sets were constructed across the East River at Silvercup Studios; these included the writers’ room, Lemon’s office, Donaghy’s office, cast dressing rooms, and a backstage area where viewers glimpse the production of the SNL-like show-within-the-show. To a great extent, these sets were lit from grids above the action, resulting in a look that was fairly typical for a sitcom. Soon, however, the series moved beyond that style as it ventured onto real locations and explored everstranger plotlines. The second season’s scripts delved deeper into Jordan’s chemically induced perceptions, and as fantasy elements were introduced, even the “real-life” scenes began taking on an increasingly surreal quality. By ˇ the time Cernjul joined the show, the producers wanted the visuals to keep pace with the oddball tone of the scripts, and show-runner/director

ˇ 30 Rock photos courtesy of NBC. Cernjul photo by Ron Baldwin.


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Don Scardino was pondering a more stylized visual approach that would subtly sell some of the wilder gags. “All you have to do is follow the writing,” ˇ says Cernjul. “We don’t have one formula for the whole show because the look is really based on the storylines. Even within an episode, we can be very realistic for one storyline and extremely stylized for another.” ˇ To illustrate this point, Cernjul cites the episode “Rosemary’s Baby,” whose main plot concerns an aging comedy writer, Rosemary (Carrie Fisher), whose early work was inspirational to Lemon but whose life has become rather desperate. To help out her onetime idol, Lemon recruits Rosemary for her own writing staff, with unfortunate results. “We did a lot of location work with Carrie Fisher in her character’s run-down neighborhood and in a bookstore, and we lit those scenes very realistically, respecting all the natural sources,” ˇ says Cernjul. Scenes in Rosemary’s apartment, a set built at Silvercup, were shot in a similar style. By the time Liz visits the apartment, she no longer sees Rosemary as a hero, but as a cautionary figure. “The story becomes almost tragic at a point, which is what great comedy is able to do — be tragic and make you laugh at the same time,” says the cinematographer. “We lit the apartment with some big lights through the windows and just a little bit of light inside. It was all meant to look very real. “In the same episode, there is another storyline about the ‘page-off,’ which is a big battle of the NBC pages. For those scenes, we used colorful mixed lighting that was inspired by the look of Fight Club, shot by Jeff Cronenweth [ASC]. I thought the styles of the two stories worked very well together dramatically and stylistically, even though the approaches were so different.” Much of the action in 30 Rock involves the back-and-forth between Lemon and Donaghy in the latter’s

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plush office. This set offers the opportunity to alter the lighting based on the time of day, and ˇ Cernjul’s approach to the space helps compensate for the stars’ significantly different skin tones. “Tina is fairskinned and Alec is very tan,” he notes, adding that the primary issue is not exposure, but rendering realistic color for each actor. Near the end of the last season, the series began shooting on Fuji Eterna 400T 8583, switching from Kodak Vision2 Expression ˇ 500T 5229, and Cernjul notes that although both emulsions have more than enough latitude to handle a variety of skin tones, he still finds it challenging to make the actors’ very different complexions read naturally onscreen. “We try to even that out with lighting so they don’t have to use heavy makeup,” he remarks. Baldwin is frequently positioned in or near the chair at his character’s desk, which allows ˇ Cernjul to light with 5K and 10K tungsten units through the windows; these units, as well as the lights illuminating the backdrop outside, are often gelled with 1⁄2 CTB. Fey, on the other hand, is usually placed in front of the desk or in the doorway, and her lighting is motivated more by warmer fixtures in night scenes and warm sunlight for day scenes. Gaffer Kenneth Dodd creates this look with 4'x8' book lights, 2K Blondes gelled with CTO (1⁄2 for the fill and 1⁄4 for the key), bounced into beadboard and then softened with 216 diffusion. Dodd explains, “The fall-off is

faster using book lights than it is when you just put light through diffusion. That approach helps us control the look in small sets.” “We light Jack’s office primarily with the big soft lights through the window and the book lights ˇ inside,” says Cernjul. “Everything else is practicals on the set, and we use a lot of flags to shape that light.” ˇ (In a friendly jab at Cernjul’s ethnicity, Baldwin refers to this setup as “the Croatian forest,” according to the cameraman.) The less luxurious sets — the writers’ room, other offices and dressing rooms — are motivated by fluorescent lights, but the illumination for several of these areas is actually provided by diffused tungsten lights. “We have real Kino Flo fluorescents in the hallway, in the writers’ room and over the writers’ table, but in some of the offices and dressing rooms, we have Redheads clamped above a 12-by-12 gridcloth overhead coming down through diffusion like a big bay light,” says Dodd. “We popped out ceiling tiles and installed the kind of grate peo-

Opposite page: Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) and Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) enjoy a tony gathering in an episode of 30 Rock, which goes behind the scenes on a popular comedy series. This page, top: Comedian Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) performs in a skit. Bottom: Cinematographer ˇ Vanja Cernjul at work on another project.



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Laugh Factory Lighting is used to even out skin-tone differences between Fey, who is fair, and Baldwin, who is tan, when they are in the same scene. In Donaghy’s office (far right), where they frequently meet, Baldwin is often keyed with cool fixtures through the windows while Fey is positioned close to warm practicals.

ple use with fluorescents, but as long as it’s lit, you can’t see what kind of light it really is.” “Unfortunately, we have a lot of scenes in the hallway, where logic dictates that the light come from ˇ above,” Cernjul laments. “I prefer to light from the floor, so we sometimes use a few lights on stands, adding diffusion to make them look like one large source rather than many smaller ones.” For most of ˇ these “fluorescent” settings, Cernjul maintains a neutral tungsten ambience, but in a few key areas, such as Lemon’s office and Maroney’s dressing room, he adds some CTO and/or Cosmetic Peach gel. The look often becomes more unusual in the studio and backstage area. “We can get a little funky in those areas because the average viewer doesn’t know what really happens backstage on a network show,” says Dodd. “When we’re doing one of the skits, we don’t have to do anything a specific way. There was one bit where Tracy was playing the Wolf Man in a Thriller-like music video, and all we used were hard backlights on the smoke and some passive bounce behind the camera as fill. Another time, we did a dream sequence where Donaghy becomes Richard Nixon, and all we used were very hard 5Ks overhead aimed through snoots and just blar66 July 2008

ing down on him.” In an episode in which Lemon wants to present herself in an incredibly good light to a former boyfriend, she waits for him on the studio floor in light designed for one of her performers. “We lit her like a supermodel,” says Dodd. “We used a big soft source and then slightly harder back edges. It’s not at all how we’d normally light Liz Lemon.” Throughout the second season, the production spent more time on locations, often shooting secondary plotlines concurrently with a second unit in order to be able to do the location work without expanding ˇ the schedule. Cernjul notes, “We’re proud that whenever we go out on location, we try to show New York as much as possible. We do some lighting outside but try to make the most of existing light sources. I love mixing color temperatures, and we do that on the street with sodium-vapor and fluorescent lights and whatever else we find. I always try to simulate the color temperature of the source in the frame rather than having everything look [neutral]. We’ve also started mixing color temperatures in the studio so that the difference between the look of locations and studio work isn’t so noticeable.” The production has shot a number of scenes in real restaurants, where they also try to respect the

existing sources. “The problem is that restaurant lighting is often overhead, and it’s not nearly enough to read,” notes Dodd. “So the production designer might put in some sconces or lamps for us to use as practicals, and then we use China balls above the tables, usually with 250-watt tungsten bulbs dimmed down. We don’t often use locations that feature windows, so we don’t have to worry about building our light level up to match. We did do a day scene in the Rainbow Room, and we covered all the windows with ND.3 and ND.6. I prefer that combination to ND.9 because it gives you more control; if it gets a little darker outside, you can just pull one gel. We lit everything inside the Rainbow Room with HMIs to build up the light level so the film could hold detail inside and out.” For an episode late last season, the production had one of its most complicated location shoots yet: Lemon had to run through John F. Kennedy Airport to try to catch up with her ex. This was a day interior shot in an active terminal at JFK that had large windows everywhere. “We lit with HMI balloons — an 8K and a 16K — and 18K, 6K and 4K HMIs,” recalls Dodd. “We had to use a lot of lights to build up the interior because we could see out all those windows. We had three hours to pre-


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rig and then 90 minutes to shoot, but it worked well. It’s fun to have those kinds of challenges.” Another facet of 30 Rock’s cinematography that has evolved is the camerawork. When the series began, Scardino leaned toward single-camera shooting, sometimes with elaborate masters, but he and other directors segued into covering almost everything with two cameras — one wide, one tight. “We usually have a 32mm lens on the A camera and a ˇ 65mm or 75mm on B,” saysCernjul, who uses Cooke S4 prime lenses. The cameras, Arricam Lites, are almost always handheld. “Our A-camera operator, Peter Agliata, spent years on Law & Order and is one of the best handheld operators in the industry,” says the cinematographer. “And Matt Clark, who’s been with me since my student days, operates the B camera and is also the 2nd-unit director of photography. Our camera assistants, Jeff Dutemple on A and Jonathan Beck on B, are also excellent.” They have to be, he adds, because he likes to work at a T2.8 or even a T2 in order to throw the walls behind the actors out of focus. “With those wide apertures, handheld cameras that move all the time, and 65mm and 75mm lenses, the assistants have to be on top of their game all the time,” he says. “Don Scardino describes what he wants from the camerawork as ‘catching lightning in a bottle,’” notes

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Agliata. “It’s about staying with the actors and making it look like we’re catching them live. Using two cameras all the time is a luxury that can create complications — sometimes, there’s one sweet spot that both operators want to get to. But we always work it out, like a little ballet.” The operators on 30 Rock, like the actors, seek to help the material but not overstate it. “It’s a comedy show, but if you force a camera move to punch a joke, you telegraph it, and it’s not funny anymore,” says Agliata. “It’s about keeping up with the actor; if he nails a joke, you want to be right there with the camera movement. Too much or too little can hurt the joke, and you have to get it right every time.” ˇ Cernjul keeps a 1⁄2 Tiffen Black Diffusion/FX filter on the lens unless he’s shooting a close-up, in which case he sometimes switches to a #1. “It’s my favorite diffusion. It’s almost undetectable, and it takes the edge off and brings the highlights down a bit without adding any kind of halo. It’s part of our whole look.” When production told ˇ Cernjul it would be switching to Fuji film stock, he tested Eterna 500T and 400T. “Even though we’d been shooting on a 500-ASA stock, I preferred Eterna 400; I really liked the softness of the contrast and colors. In fact, we were tweaking 5229 in post to make the colors even more pastel and soften the contrast. The 400speed Fuji is closer to what we want,

so we tweak it less.” ˇ Cernjul communicates with the show’s telecine colorist at PostWorks, Bobbie Thomas, via Kodak’s Look Manager System, into which he has programmed his own look-up tables. (The LUTs were unaffected by the switch to Fuji, he notes.) “The grips built a station on the camera cart for the Look Manager equipment,” he explains. “I take stills during the blocking rehearsals, view them in Look Manager, and make some decisions about how I want them to go. I send a Jpeg to Bobbie, and she can send one back to me on my cell phone so I can get an idea what she’s up to. I try to bring the look of the dailies as close to the final look as possible. “There’s never enough time for me to go to the telecine sessions, but with this method, I can constantly communicate with the colorist using pictures instead of words. My cell phone has become as important as my light meter!” I

The look of the show’s backstage scenes can vary widely, depending on the action. Far left: Kenneth (Jack McBrayer) and Jenna (Jane Krakowski) act up behind the scenes. Near left: Camera operator Chris LaVasseur and 1st AC Jeffrey Dutemple capture a shot of Krakowski.

TECHNICAL SPECS 1.78:1 35mm Arricam Lite Cooke S4 lenses Fuji Eterna 400T 8583 Telecine by PostWorks American Cinematographer 67

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Post Focus The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conference, held annually in Las Vegas, Nevada, has become a main stage for manufacturers to showcase technological advancements that impact a variety of audio-visual workflows through every phase of production, from prep through post. AC was on the NAB show floor this year, and some items about the tools that were unveiled have already appeared in New Products and Services. However, we also examined some tools that directly affect the cinematographer’s vision as motion pictures travel down the post pike. Our coverage will continue over the next few months in these pages and online (www.theasc.com). What follows is a look at some of the most noteworthy developments for post professionals. CineSync Streamlines Dark Knight Effects by Jon D. Witmer Based on Apple QuickTime technology, the CineSync remote review and approval system from RSR synchronizes the timeline and playback of movies while offering drawing and text-annotation tools, allowing users in different corners of the world to communicate clearly and efficiently. The program, which received a Pro upgrade in time for NAB, has proven particularly beneficial in keeping geographically distant visual-effects houses on the same page. Corresponding with AC via email, Rory McGregor, RSR’s CineSync product manager, writes from Australia, “CineSync is simply about allowing people to have a fully interactive ‘visual’ conversation, providing an absolute visual context for everything being discussed. You don’t need to try to describe something on the screen; you 68 July 2008

RSR’s CineSync review-and-approval application was used during The Dark Knight ’s postproduction to streamline communication between director Christopher Nolan in Los Angeles and visual-effects facilities in London and Paris.

can point to it, circle it or play the footage, and everyone else in the review session — wherever they are in the world — will instantly know what you mean.” Since its introduction, CineSync has been put through the paces on dozens of features, including Blood Diamond and Iron Man. After working with the program on Superman Returns, visual-effects producer Joyce Cox recommended it to her collaborator on

The Dark Knight, visual-effects supervisor Nick Davis. “My last couple of shows had all been in London, so there was no real need for it,” says Davis. For The Dark Knight, though, postproduction spanned half the globe; visualeffects work was divvied up among Paris facility Buf and London facilities Framestore CFC, Double Negative and Cinesite, and director Christopher Nolan remained in Los Angeles for editing. Davis continues, “[Based on]


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Screen grabs courtesy of RSR and Warner Bros.

While synchronizing QuickTime-file playback for all users logged into a session, regardless of their location in the world, CineSync allows users to draw and write on their screens, with the results appearing simultaneously in front of everyone else in the session.

Joyce’s recommendation and the recommendation of others on [The Dark Knight] who had used it, CineSync seemed to be the perfect tool. I’m actually not sure we could have done the post without it.” Visual-effects work on The Dark Knight began in January 2007. As Davis circumnavigated the world with the production, he used CineSync to stay in touch with his collaborators. “I used [CineSync] from Hong Kong, Chicago, L.A., London and Paris,” he says. “Wherever we were, I was able to stay in contact with the director and the vendors. It was my main communication with Buf. It really makes the world a much smaller place.” Each of the facilities involved acquired its own CineSync license. Davis and his crew orchestrated when sessions would happen, making sure everyone would have access to the sequences requiring review by posting them to a secure FTP site. McGregor notes this is crucial to both CineSync’s efficiency and the studio’s peace of mind: “During a CineSync session, the only information passing through the CineSync servers are the synchronization commands. The CineSync server sees someone drawing an arrow or writing a note or hitting the play button, and it then instantaneously instructs all the other clients to do the same. It doesn’t require much bandwidth because it’s not trying to stream

the media or push huge amounts of data around. It has been embraced by the studios because it means they retain control over the distribution of their clips.” Working at QuickTime resolutions suited The Dark Knight ’s review sessions, according to Davis. “Our focus was really on content — do you like the layout of this shot? Do you like the animation? Do you like where we’re taking it? When it came to analyzing anything on another level” — such as color and contrast — “we did that on film.” In addition to eliminating the need for collaborators to gather in front of one monitor, CineSync’s QuickTime support and smaller file sizes speeds the dialogue between facilities by creating a faster option than uploading and downloading higher-resolution footage to and from an FTP. “It saves time, and at the end of the day, that’s one thing you can never buy back,” Davis concludes. McGregor notes that the new CineSync Pro expands the program’s functionality by “allowing users to review stereoscopic material, both projected and also on the desktop, and to output mono and stereo HD images to a projector or monitor. It also has synchronized color, aspect-ratio and masking controls; 3-D LUT [look-up table] support; a standalone offlineannotation mode for marking up

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At this year’s NAB conference, RSR debuted the new CineSync Pro, with color controls, stereoscopic review and 3-D LUT support among its upgraded features.

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images prior to a synchronized review; and magnification tools.” CineSync Pro is also the first version of the system to be offered for Linux as well as Mac and Windows, and McGregor adds that the updated program “is already gaining traction as an essential part of the internal workflow of many facilities. The new features make it much more than an international client review tool.” For more information, visit www.cine sync.com or www.cinesync.com/pro. PRESS RELEASES MTI Correct v7 Among its slate of new releases for NAB, MTI Film unveiled Correct v7, an enhanced version of the company’s award-winning digital film restoration and finishing software, Correct DRS. Correct v7 allows restoration artists to work more efficiently by eliminating repetitive and routine tasks. “It’s a major advance,” says MTI Film CEO Larry Chernoff. “The goal was to provide power and simplicity.” Among the improvements is a streamlined user interface, including a unified tool panel with all of the soft-

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ware’s various plug-ins integrated into a single screen. Artists can quickly switch between tools for dust-busting, paint, scratch removal and other common functions. The new version also features a revamped keyboard layout with new hotkeys to speed routine tasks. MTI offers Correct v7 in customized packages, with specialized toolsets designed for specific applications and the skill level of the user. For example, one package is tailored to digital-intermediate (DI) work while another targets television post. Additionally, the Restoration Artist Pack offers basic tools for new and less experienced users focused on routine tasks, while the Restoration Expert Pack boasts a full set of tools for senior artists engaged in the most complex and creative restoration assignments. David McClure, MTI Film product manager, notes, “We recognize restoration operations are complex, with a lot of variation in both the character of the work and the experience of the artists.” One highlight of v7 is the addition of Macros to the Paint and Scratch Removal tools so that actions applied to one frame can be reapplied to other frames or sequences. Another advance is improved Detection functions within the Scratch Removal and Digital Restoration System tools, which allows scratches, blemishes and chemical stains to be automatically identified and eliminated. McClure

adds, “The new Paint and De-warp tools allow for the easy removal of complex problems like splices and tears.” A new feature in Animated Masks allows users to add key frames or moving regions within masks, and new algorithms developed for AutoFilter can more easily detect and remove dust. Additional features in v7 include help functions attached directly to each tool; an enhanced Clip Manager, providing new fields for easy clip naming; Metadata Server functionality, making SAN operation more efficient and flexible for workgroup environments; and an enhanced Stabilization tool with improved tracking and handling of camera motion with automatic edge replacement. For more information, visit www.mtifilm.com. Thomson, FilmLight Demo Telecine System Thomson and FilmLight collaborated at NAB to conduct a show-floor demonstration in which FilmLight’s Baselight color-grading system interacted with a Thomson Grass Valley Spirit system as a telecine controller. According to Thomson, this marked the first time a software-based color corrector fully controlled a telecine system. The demonstration involved a Baselight HD running version 3.3 of the Baselight software while connected to a Spirit 4K scanner. The FilmLight’s


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Baselight version 3.3 software can be employed with any Baselight system and any model of the Thomson Grass Valley Spirit product line, including Spirit HD, Spirit 2K, Spirit 4K, the Shadow telecine and the Spirit DataCine. Emphasizing the broad implications for all post workflows — with a particular impact on high-end commercials — Jeff Rosica, senior vice president of Thomson’s Broadcast & Professional Solutions, observes, “Today’s post industry is changing rapidly, and a telecine or film scanner has to integrate perfectly into the wider workflow to make it a productive and profitable workhorse. By integrating our products with other equipment, we’re helping our customers innovate and stay competitive.” As a result of the collaboration between Thomson and FilmLight, the Baselight, via its Blackboard control panel, can now emulate a hardware grading system in a traditional linear workflow, performing such functions as primary and secondary color correction, grain management and other filmstock-dependent settings. All of these functions are then carried out in the Spirit scanner using the Spirit’s signal processing. Additionally, this new technology enables the Baselight software to control the Spirit for ingest while operating in a nonlinear environment. Other hybrid modes of operation are also possible. For more information, visit www.thomsongrassvalley.com and www.filmlight.ltd.uk. ¢

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ARRIFLEX 235 ON BOARD BATTERY SYSTEM The new Oppenheimer 235 OB Battery System easily mates to your Arriflex 235 camera and allows the use of standard Anton Bauer, IDX, PAG, or Frezzi batteries to power the camera at all speeds. By using a standard battery, you reduce costs and increase run time. The OppCam Riser Base provides additional 24V and 12V power outlets. The system is simple, reliable and cost effective. Available now! Problem solving ideas and innovative products since 1993!

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AJA Video Cards AJA has expanded its Xena and Kona product lines, introducing the Xena 3.5 software upgrade to the company’s Windows-based line of video playback and capture cards and the version 6.0 software update for the Mac-based uncompressed 10-bit Kona 3 video card. Following the recent incremental version 3.1.1 Xena upgrade — which featured extended support for Adobe Production Premium CS3 applications, Vista 64 and Autodesk Combustion 2008, as well as realtime cropping and matting of RedCine 2K DPX material to 2048x1080 or 1920x1080 for editing or output — Xena 3.5 provides realtime DVCPro HD capture, playback and editing support in Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 and AJA’s Machina stand-alone deck-control, playback and capture application. Nick Rashby, president of AJA Video Systems, says, “We continue to extend the capabilities of our Xena family of products for Windows, and with the introduction of DVCPro HD support in version 3.5, we offer a powerful, compressed, HD real-time workflow, saving our customers time and disk space in the process.” In an effort to optimize support for Red Digital Cinema workflows, the version 6.0 software for the Kona 3 video card adds Redspecific video outputs for some of the unique frame sizes that RedAlert and RedCine software applications can create. Support for the frame sizes that may be produced when working with Red will also be enabled for the AJA TV software application, a stand-alone QuickTime video player utilizing the Kona card video outputs and providing a simple way to play back and review clips. The AJA TV application is a free utility that installs with the AJA software driver. For more information, visit www.aja.com.

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Digital Vision Film Master v4.0 Visitors to Digital Vision’s NAB booth were given a look at the upcoming Film Master v4.0 grading and finishing system, which offers realtime 4K capabilities and the new Turbine render accelerator. The booth also showcased Film Master v3.6, which is currently available and features extended support for QuickTime, MXF and AAF with the ability to natively grade DNxHD, IMX50, P2 and XDCam media; a revised control surface with a lower profile and faster response times; and enhanced support for the ASC Color Decision List (CDL). Version 4.0, slated for release later this year, features significant processing improvements, optimizations and grid-processing developments, enabling new performance benchmarks in file-based finishing. Film Master v4.0 will allow facilities to begin editing, conforming, grading and finishing 4K material instantly, without any ingest delays. Direct SAN grading will also simplify data management by reducing the number of project copies in the facility and enabling users to offload tasks such as conform, dust-busting, versioning and titling to the back room, keeping high-end grading theaters available for client sessions. Unlike 8- or 10-bit processing, which can produce crushing and banding in low-detail areas of the color space, Film Master v4.0’s floating-point processing eliminates clip-

ping, crushing or banding when performing extreme grading or lighting changes. This feature particularly benefits projects incorporating visual effects, ensuring that all of the detail in the rendered file is available in the grade. Floating-point processing also enables Film Master users to incorporate high-dynamic-range sources with log and linear material for true-color, resolution-independent workflows. Powering Film Master v4.0’s real-time capabilities is Turbine, a new high-performance render accelerator for all Digital Vision software. With Turbine, facilities can assign as many Intel CPU cores as are necessary to a project, creating a scalable range from eight cores to 480 and beyond. This performance boost enables real-time 4K grade reduction and other DVO image processing, as well as the ability to run multiple 2K or HD projects in faster-than-real time. “The increase in 4K production has put pressure on facilities to provide fast, affordable 4K post and DI services,” says Simon Cuff, Digital Vision president. “There is a tremendous opportunity to improve efficiency by enabling users to do more tasks in parallel and by processing massive files faster. We focused our efforts on optimizing these tasks so that our customers can offer clients the highest possible image quality without risking their profitability.” For more information, visit www.digitalvision.se.


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Celco Big Shot 65 Celco touted the newest addition to its line of motion-picture film recorders, the Big Shot 65 large-format recorder. Boasting pristine, ultra-highresolution images and increased speed, the Big Shot 65 can support 5perf, 8-perf and 15-perf 65mm image formats. With a host PC running Red Hat Linux (and including Gigabit Ethernet), the Big Shot 65’s operating software comprises Celco Extreme Command Line and the FilmOut Pro Graphical User Interface (GUI). The FilmOut Pro GUI controls the recorder and includes imaging tools such as sharpening, degrain, image formatting, resizing and colormanagement functions. FilmOut Pro also features an interactive A/B image comparison slider, allowing users to view images before and after different image-processing tools have been applied, and the FinalView tool displays the final image and its exact position on film. With 36-bit color resolution, the Big Shot 65 supports resolutions that include high-definition 1920x1080, 2K, 3K, 4K, 6K and 8K, as well as userdefined resolutions. Supported file formats include Cineon, DPX, SGI, TIF, TIFF, TGA, ALS, JBT, JFIF, JPEG, JPG, PCT, PIC, PICT, RGA, RGB, RLA, SHT, YUV and BMP. Recording at 4K to 15perf 65mm Kodak Vision2 50D 5201 negative, the recorder can operate at 9 seconds per frame. (The recorder also supports Vision2 200T 5217 and Vision Color Intermediate 2245/5245 film stocks.) For more information, visit www.celco.com. I

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New Products & Services Panasonic Updates VariCam Updating its popular VariCam HD camera, Panasonic has unveiled the AJHPX3700 and AJ-HPX2700 P2 HD camcorders. These new 2⁄3" P2 HD models offer master-quality, full-resolution, 10-bit 4:2:2 AVC-Intra 100 recording; variable frame rates in one-frame increments; HDSDI output of 23.98PsF/24PsF; and a multigamma function, including Film-Rec, which simulates the latitude of film stocks. Panasonic has positioned the VariCam 3700 as the flagship model of the P2 HD VariCam line, delivering the camera with full native 1920x1080 acquisition and independent frame recording with 10-bit 4:2:2 sampling. Additionally, with three 2⁄3" 2.2-megapixel CCDs, the camera is capable of a 4:4:4 RGB dual-link live output, resulting in pristine images ideal for visual effects. Tailor-made for commercial, feature-film and episodic-television production, the VariCam 3700 is also capable of recording in AVC-Intra 50 and DVCPro HD. Designed for sports, documentaries and independent films, the VariCam 2700 also boasts three 2⁄3" CCDs, producing independent-frame 1080 and 720 images. Like the 3700, the 2700 can also record in AVC-Intra 100, AVC-Intra 50 and DVCPro HD. When shooting in 720p mode, the camera can capture from 1 to 60 fps. Both new VariCams are switchable between 59.95-Hz and 50-Hz recording, and each camera features five P2 card slots, allowing continuous recording, card 74 July 2008

selection, hot-swapping, loop recording, pre-recording, interval recording and one-shot recording. With five 32GB P2 cards installed, operators can record up to 200 minutes in AVC-Intra 100 at 1080/24p, 400 minutes in AVC-Intra 100 at 720/24p, 320 minutes in other AVCIntra 50 formats and 160 minutes in other AVC-Intra 100 or DVCPro HD formats. Additional image-enhancing features found in both cameras include 14-bit A/D processing, Chromatic Aberration Compensation (CAC) to maximize lens performance, Dynamic Range Stretching (DRS) for wide variations in lighting, unique shutter-angle settings, built-in scan reverse and full control of matrix and color correction for precise image matching. The 3700 and 2700 also share a high sensitivity of F10 at 2,000 lux, and both incorporate 48-kHz/16-bit, fourchannel digital audio recording. Text memos and shot markers can be added, and proxy data recording is possible with the optional AJ-YAX800G board. Other features include scene files, user buttons, user-menu and focus-assist functions and newly designed twowheel (ND and CC) optical filters. Both the 3700 and 2700 VariCams are backed by Panasonic’s fiveyear limited warranty. For more information, visit www.panasonic.com /broadcast. Arri D-20 Turns 21 Based on feedback from field users, Arri has significantly upgraded the Arriflex D-20 film-style digital camera, incorporating the new features in the Arriflex D-21. Combining the immediacy of digital cameras with high-end film-style functionality, the D-21 incorporates Arri Imaging Technology (AIT) to produce images with a cinematic look and feel. Through its single Super 35mm-sized CMOS sensor (with a native 1.33:1

aspect ratio), the D-21 offers the same cinematic depth of field that characterizes 35mm-film footage, and the camera is compatible with both spherical and anamorphic 35mm-format lenses. The camera also boasts a bright optical viewfinder, variable-frame-rate shooting and compatibility with Arri film-camera accessories. Images captured with the D-21 feature improved color saturation and increased sharpness over those captured with the original D-20 thanks to a higher modulation transfer function (MTF)

achieved by rewriting the down-sampling algorithm from scratch and carefully finetuning the interaction of the optical lowpass filter to the new algorithm. A cleaner signal path, improved internal power management, Defect Pixel Correction (DPC) and the elimination of various artifacts have also led to improved low-light performance. Additionally, color management look-up tables are now available for ASAs 100, 200, 250, 320, 400, 500, 640 and 800. The D-21’s raw sensor information can be transported in the new ArriRaw format via the camera’s HD-SDI link, embedded in the standard RGBA 4:4:4:4 transport protocol. Arri software tools currently undergoing beta testing can process the ArriRaw files through advanced de-Bayering algorithms and output either an HD image or a 2K data file. Completing the D-21 camera pack-


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age, Arri has introduced a number of new hardware pieces, including the S-5 shoulder set and ground glasses for 1.33:1, 1.78:1, 1.85:1 and 2.39:1 formats. All D-21 cameras come equipped with the FEM-2 addition, which provides a built-in radio for wireless lens and camera control and enables the use of Arri Controlled Lens Motors (CLMs) without any additional boxes. As with the D-20, the D-21’s modular architecture allows upgrading when advances in sensor, electronics or firmware technology become available. For more information, visit www.arri.com. Clairmont Increases High-Speed Inventory Clairmont Camera recently added specially modified high-speed NAC Memrecam fx K4 cameras to its rental roster of digital cameras and support equipment. Able to record up to 1,000 fps while maintaining 1280x1024 resolution (and up to 168,000 fps at lower resolutions), the camera system features a 35mm progressive-scan CMOS imaging sensor with ultra-high light sensitivity. NAC’s Memrecam fx K4 is capable of recording and storing mega-pixel images for up to 14 seconds while shooting at 1,000 fps, and once the camera’s internal memory is full, it is easily downloaded to the supplied portable PC computer for data storage and rendering to postproductioncompatible file formats. Clairmont also offers portable external storage drivers for transporting downloaded image data from location to the post facility. The camera continually records while it is powered on, though it only saves the image data when triggered;

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the camera’s trigger can be set to start, center, end or any position in between. When set to center, for example, the camera saves 4.9 seconds of data before and after the trigger point. The footage can then be quickly reviewed via the camera’s NTSC-video output. Clairmont’s technicians have equipped the NAC camera with a PL mount, enabling compatibility with a wide range of popular 35mm cinema lenses. A custom “riser/power converter” has also been added to the bottom of the camera to facilitate the use of Arri matteboxes and follow-focus systems while providing power for onboard monitors and other electronic accessories. The camera and all required accessories are available through Clairmont’s Hollywood, Toronto, Vancouver and Albuquerque offices. For more information, visit www.clairmont.com or call (818) 761-4440. JVC Expands Pro Lineup JVC Professional Products Company has extended its reach in the professional HD marketplace with the 720p/1080i signal-selectable GYHD200UB ProHD camcorder. The new camcorder provides a selectable live-transport-stream output capability of 1080/60i and 50i signals or 720/24p, 25p, 30p, 50p and 60p through its IEEE 1394 connection. The selected output signal can be recorded into JVC’s ProHD DR-HD100 hard-disk recorder or the new MR-HD200U camera-mounted media recorder as either MPEG2 transport-stream files (.m2t) or QuickTime files (.mov). The GY-HD200UB also offers fullframe 1280x720 progressive imaging

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and 720p recording as well as a 14-bit A/D converter and a 14.4v powersystem standard. The selectable 60p and 60i acquisition capability of the GYHD200UB is ideally suited for HD news and sports acquisition, and filmmakers benefit from the native progressiveimage capture and the “overcranked” recording for slow-motion images during 24p final output. JVC’s GY-HD200UB is currently available with a suggested list price of $5,995, which includes a 16:1 Fujinon lens and Anton-Bauer battery system. Additionally, the camcorder head can be purchased alone (model GYHD200CHUB) for a suggested price of $5,695. For more information, visit http://pro.jvc.com. Sony XDCam Family Grows Hot on the heels of its PMW-EX1 camcorder, Sony has unveiled the upgraded PMW-EX3, featuring similar functionality to the earlier version while allowing users to make lens choices through a new interchangeable-lens system. Sony has also introduced the PMW-EX30 deck and the PHY-60K professional hard-disk unit. Features of the EX3 camcorder include genlock and timecode in/out for multi-camera operation. The camcorder’s 8-pin remote connector allows the RM-B150 or RM-B750 remote controllers to adjust basic camera parameters such as gain, iris, white balance, pedestal and gamma for use in studio configurations. Specifically designed for use with the XDCam EX camcorders, the 1.8", 60 GB PHU-60K external-storage unit features a USB 2.0 interface, giving users approximately 200 minutes of recording time in 35 Mbps HQ (highquality) mode and 260 minutes in 25 Mbps SP (standard-play) mode. A new “dumping” system, powered by a 3-D G sensor, protects the unit from a 1.5m drop, and buffer memory is used to allow recording immediately after powering on the unit. Additionally, a salvage function enables restoration of content damaged by battery/cable disconnection or other accidental power

losses during recording. Approximately 12 hours of continuous operation are possible with a small-size BP-U30 battery. When attached to a camcorder, the PHU-60K hard-disk unit functions like an SxS Pro card, offering thumbnail views on the LCD panel of the camcorder or the new PMW-EX30 deck, a solid-state memory recorder/player. The 1080i/720P-switchable EX30 includes an HDMI digital connection for use with an external monitor in addition to an HD-SDI in/out for recording live HD content or dubbing to other formats. The deck can also be used as an SxS Pro card reader/writer or to feed content to existing HD or SD nonlinear editing systems. Lastly, Sony’s Clip Browser software, which ships for free with each XDCam EX camcorder, is receiving a version 2.0 upgrade, enabling XDCam EX content to be used within a DV editing workflow. Optional plug-in software for Clip Browser 2.0 will export XDCam EX files on SxS memory cards to Professional Media discs, allowing XDCam HD optical-disc products to seamlessly interoperate with content shot by an XDCam EX camcorder. Other plug-in software will enable XDCam EX files to be viewed on a range of portable consumer devices or to be uploaded to video-sharing websites. For more information, visit www.sony.com. I SUBMISSION INFORMATION Please e-mail New Products/Services releases to: [email protected] and include full contact information and product images. Photos must be TIFF or JPEG files of at least 300dpi.


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International Marketplace

FEATURES: . Forward & Reverse Drive Directions 0 . Drive Arm rotates 360 . MODULAR DESIGN a. Mount drive unit camera left or right b. Above or below lens

www.DonanCamera.com 78 July 2008


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SWISS JIB camera crane. 35’ - Portable and versatile with 5 Lightweight Carbon Fiber sections. Reach of 9 to 35. Excellent Condition. Includes heavy duty western style dolly/base with off road tires/ studio wheels and track wheels. Crane and weights in shipping cases. Many spare parts. $16000. Call for photos and specs 800 316-0067.

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Advertiser’s Index

Classifieds

WANTED STEADICAM’S AND [email protected] or 805-498-1658.

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AC 16a-b Alan Gordon Enterprises 78, 79 Arri 49 Backstage Equipment, Inc. 73 Burrell Enterprises 78

Film Emporium 79 Filmtools 71 Flying-Cam 53 FTC/West 79 Fuji Motion Picture 15 Full Sail 29 Glidecam Industries 11

Cavision Enterprises 27 Chapman/Leonard Studio Equipment Inc. 19 Cinebags 78 Cinekinetic 4 CinemaGadgets.com 78 Cinema Vision 78 Cinematographer Style 62 Cinematography Electronics 71 Cooke 6 CPT Rental Inc. 79 Creative Industry Handbook 77

Hollywood Post Alliance 73 Hybrid Cases 78 IBC 85

Donan Corporation 78

New York Film Academy 25

Eastman Kodak C2-1, C4 Entertainment Lighting Service 79 Equipment & Film Design 44

Oppenheimer Camera Prod. 71, 78

K 5600, Inc. 13 Kino Flo 63 Laffoux Solutions, Inc. 78 Lights! Action! Company 78 Lite Panels 2 Los Angeles Film School 21 Matthews Studio 79 MP&E Mayo Productions 79

PED Denz 52, 78, 79 Pille Film Gmbh 78 Postworks Los Angeles 7 Pro8mm 78 Professional Sound 69

Riggin Design 69 Samy’s DV & Edit 45 Siggraph 81 Sim Video 23 Stanton Video Services 6 Super16 Inc. 79 Superflycam 6 Sydney Film School 75 Technicolor 5 Telescopic 75 Tiffen C3 Vancouver Film School 9 VF Gadgets, Inc. 79 Videocraft Equipment Pty 79 Willy’s Widgets 78 www.theasc.com 75, 80 Zacuto Films 79 ZGC, Inc. 6


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In Memoriam

n a letter dated Sept. 9, 1975, ASC President Lester Shorr wrote to new associate member Bud Stone, “Please feel that you are a full-fledged member in the ASC, and that we will be happy to cooperate with you in every way possible to make your membership of value to you and the Society.” During the three decades that ensued, Stone went out of his way to likewise cooperate with the Society, selflessly donating his time and energy and inspiring countless others to do the same. Only 24 people have been named honorary members of the ASC, and by the time Stone died, in April 2008, he was one of them. Burton “Bud” Stone was born in Englewood, N.J., on Feb. 16, 1928. His father, the chief engineer at Consolidated Film Industries (CFI) in Fort Lee, introduced the young Stone to the film business at an early age, giving him the chance to work as batboy for the CFI baseball team and later as can boy in the lab. After serving in the U.S. Navy from 1945-1947, Stone attended Florida Southern College on the G.I. Bill. With a degree in hand, he returned to the New York area, taking a job at Hollywood Film Service as an apprentice film editor. In 1953, Stone became CFI’s East Coast service manager and was soon promoted to sales manager, then general manager. He was hired by Movielab as the national sales manager, and he formed his own company, All Service Film Labs, in 1963. In 1971, after a stint as vice president of Technicolor in New York, Stone became president of Precision Film Laboratories, an affiliate of Deluxe General Inc., Hollywood. Stone began making the occasional jaunt to Hollywood to check in with the Deluxe home office. Bruce

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Berke, an ASC associate member who worked for Deluxe at the time, recalls, “Bud would show up from New York with a bouquet of flowers and walk from desk to desk, stopping to hand a flower to every female employee. Of course, he also stopped to shake hands with all the men. That was Bud — always very one-on-one with his people.” Stone’s personal touch did not go unnoticed at Deluxe, and in 1978, he was brought to Hollywood to serve as the company’s president, a position he held for the remainder of his career. Stone worked harder than ever on the West Coast, but his business acumen never clouded his relationships, according to ASC associate member and retired Deluxe employee Ron Koch: “The luckiest day of my life was when I met Bud. I went to work for him thinking it was just going to be another job, but I became part of the family. I never felt like I was going to work in the morning.”

Berke adds, “Bud was really concerned about the people he worked with regardless of whether they were vendors, employees or customers. He was as nice to the parking valet as he was to the chairman of the board.” Daryn Okada, ASC, recalls meeting Stone at Deluxe in the late 1980s, when the cinematographer was watching dailies for an independent film he’d shot. “Bud was genuinely interested in making sure I didn’t feel intimidated, which was a fantastic quality of his,” Okada recalls. “He was a very powerful man, but he brought it right down to the individuals.” Owen Roizman, ASC, who met Stone on the East Coast and got to know him after both men relocated to Los Angeles, says, “He was the epitome of the word ‘executive.’” In 1986, when the ASC inaugurated its Outstanding Achievement Awards, Stone “was one of the associate members to come aboard immediately, and he was very supportive and very generous,” recalls Michael Margulies, ASC, who co-chaired the event with Woody Omens, ASC. Margulies eventually tapped Stone to take over the Awards Chair position — the only time an associate member has ever chaired an ASC committee — and in Stone’s hands, “the awards moved to the level they’re at now, and I’m very proud of that,” says Margulies. “Bud’s talents as a raconteur, mixer and friend helped popularize the ASC Awards,” says Omens. “I looked at him as a spiritual leader in terms of getting people motivated; he had so much charisma and persuasive charm.” Roizman, who eventually became Stone’s co-chair on the Awards Committee, adds, “He wanted to have a class act, and he turned the awards into what

Photo on this page by Douglas Kirkland. Additional photos courtesy of Bruce Berke.

Burton “Bud” Stone, Honorary ASC, 1928-2008

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Top left: Burton “Bud” Stone during his service in the U.S. Navy. Top right: Stone mans the phone on the East Coast. Middle left: Stone in the 1980s. Middle right: With his wife, Judy. Bottom left: Kodak’s Bruce Berke and his wife, Darlene, flank the Stones during the ASC Awards. Bottom right: The Stones mingle with Owen Roizman, ASC and his wife, Mona.

is probably the classiest awards show in town.” By Stone’s side through everything was his wife, Judy, whom he met in college and married in 1950. “Judy was his cheerleader,” says Koch. Omens adds, “She deserves a lot of credit for sharing her dearest person with us. She’s been like a First Lady, making tremendous contributions to the ASC behind the scenes.” During the 8th Annual ASC Awards in 1993, the Society recognized Stone’s contributions by making him an honorary member, a distinction reserved for non-cinematographers held in the highest regard by the Society. “I know that meant a lot to Bud; the ASC was so important to him,” says Berke. Later, when Stone stepped down from chairing the Awards Committee, he was named Chairman Emeritus.

In 1993, Stone brought Cyril Drabinsky into Deluxe as chief operating officer. “From the first meeting, he was exceptional,” recalls Drabinsky, an ASC associate member and president of Deluxe. “He had an extraordinary amount of energy and insight into the business, and he always made everyone

feel comfortable. The lessons I learned from Bud will always be part of me.” “We’ll all miss him,” says Okada, “but I hope he inspires others to be like him. It was in his soul to be a very giving person. I hope we were able to give him as much as he gave us.” Stone is survived by his wife and three children, Ron, Jeff and Barbara. — Jon D. Witmer I


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Clubhouse News

Fraker, Burgess Judge Kodak Awards William A. Fraker, ASC, BSC will head the judging of the 2008 Eastman Scholarships for film-school students and the Kodak Faculty Grant Awards, and Don Burgess, ASC will judge the Asia Pacific, Latin America and European entries of the 2008 Kodak Filmschool Competition. Fraker and fellow jurists Randy Tack and Bart Weiss will assess applicants for the Eastman Scholarships based on work submitted by the students, recommendations from faculty, and academic achievement. 84 July 2008

The Faculty Grant is awarded to a faculty project that best cultivates a learning experience; selection is based on submitted proposals, treatments and samples of work. “We are humbled that [Fraker] would take the time to lead the judging for us,” notes Wendy Elms, worldwide manager of the Education Segment of Kodak’s Entertainment Imaging Division. Now in its ninth year, the Kodak Filmschool Competition is designed to recognize the creativity and skills exhibited by student cinematographers in the collaborative process of visual storytelling. “Don Burgess has such a vast understanding of the art and craft of filmmaking and understands the challenges faced by students,” says Elms. “He is a source of inspiration for young cinematographers all over the world, and his willingness to judge the competition entries is very significant to the participating students.” A Hot Ticket Sweltering heat failed to keep the crowd away from J.L. Fisher’s Burbank facility on May 17, where a mixer co-sponsored by the Society of Camera Operators, the International Cinematographers Guild, and the ASC filled the house. Along with opportunities to check out the latest gear from an array of vendors, the day featured a camera-movement panel moderated by George Spiro Dibie, ASC, who also recently emceed the “Movies on a Limited Budget” panel during the Newport Beach Film Festival. At the Fisher event, Dibie kept things lively on the panel of operators, grips and cinematographers; participants included Society members Ron Garcia, Richard Kline, Frederic Goodich, Affonso Beato, Isidore Mankofsky, Robert

Primes, Owen Roizman, Daryn Okada, Richard Crudo, Michael Goi, John C. Flinn III, Levie Isaacks and Henner Hofmann.

BAM Salutes Lachman The Brooklyn Academy of Music’s BAMcinématek recently hosted a 12-film retrospective of the work of Edward Lachman, ASC. The series kicked off with a screening of Ken Park (2002), which Lachman codirected with Larry Clark, followed by a a Q&A with Lachman. A few days later, the cinematographer joined director/musician David Byrne (pictured) to discuss their collaboration on True Stories (1986). Screenings also included Werner Herzog’s How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck… (1976) and Todd Haynes’ I’m Not There (AC Nov. ’07). Good Advice Society members Robert Elswit, Steven Poster and Vilmos Zsigmond are among the creative advisers for the Sundance Institute’s annual June Directors and Screenwriters Labs. The labs provide filmmakers with the opportunity to develop distinctive new work in an environment that encourages innovation and collaboration.

¢

Photo courtesy of BAM Rose Cinemas.

New Associate Members Stefan Sonnenfeld, president/managing director of digital post house Company 3, and Jurgen Sporn, vice president of manufacturing at Panavision, recently joined the Society’s roster of associate members. After working as a colorist at Pacific Ocean Post, Stefan Sonnenfeld founded Company 3 in 1997; the Santa Monica-based company added a New York facility in 2002. In addition to grading dozens of commercial and music videos, Sonnenfeld was the colorist on the features Collateral (AC Aug. ’04), 300 (AC April ’07), and Sweeney Todd (AC Jan. ’08), among many other titles. Hailing from Hamburg, Germany, Jurgen Sporn moved to the U.S. in 1966, taking a job with the Mitchell Camera Corp. In 1968, he went to work for Panavision. As a movement maker/machinist, Sporn was part of the team responsible for the design and development of the first Panaflex cameras, and in the 1980s, he contributed to the development of the 16mm Panaflex and the 35mm Panaflex Platinum.


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IBC2008 the world of content creation • management • delivery

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FREE entry to the exhibition if you register before 18 August FREE access to the IBC Big Screen Experience - watch and discuss cutting edge demonstrations and feature film presentations FREE entry to the Mobile Zone - showcasing TV on the move FREE entry to the IPTV Zone - reflecting the way consumers receive and interact with broadcast content FREE entry to the Digital Signage Zone - gain valuable handson experience with the latest technology FREE entry to the IBC Business Briefings - take part in live debates, case studies and business analysis FREE training on latest products in the IBC Training Zone FREE entry to the IBC Added Value sessions, where experts explore the best of IBC FREE entry to the prestigious IBC Awards Ceremony Experience the latest developments in broadcast technology at the New Technology Campus

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Above: The groundbreaking ceremony drew a large crowd of ASC members and industry associates. Middle, from left: ASC members Owen Roizman, Daryn Okada, Kenneth Zunder and Amy Vincent. Second from bottom: Society members Isidore Mankofsky, Victor J. Kemper and Richard Edlund enter the hard-hat zone. Bottom: Michael Goi, ASC organized volunteers to shoot the day’s festivities. Pictured from left are Adam Wilson, Goi, Charles Schner, Josh Harrison, Mark Gragnani and Seth Eubanks.

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ASC Breaks Ground The ASC hosted a groundbreaking ceremony on May 7 to launch the renovation of its historic Hollywood headquarters. Among the guests who joined ASC members and friends for the event were Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti, L.A. Councilman Tom LaBonge, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Sid Ganis, and Hollywood Chamber of Commerce President Leron Gubler. “This renovation is a continuation of our historic commitment to fellowship and progress in the art of filmmaking,” said ASC President Daryn Okada. “It will enable us to accommodate larger meetings and seminars for our members, collaborators and students while preserving the legacy of the original building, which is a treasure trove of early film history.”

The Society purchased the Clubhouse, previously a private residence, in 1936, and, after a few modifications, christened it with a grand-opening ceremony on Feb. 28, 1937. During the recent groundbreaking, Owen Roizman, ASC, chair of the Building Committee, noted, “There is a lot of history within these walls, and we will be very careful to not disturb the ghosts. Of course, no matter what, I’m sure Stanley Cortez [ASC] will still haunt us in our new surroundings!” The building project will add 1,500 square feet to the Clubhouse and will also provide a new three-story office building at the rear of the property for ASC and American Cinematographer staff. I

Photos by Jared Jordan, Danny Feld and Chris Mankofsky.



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1 3

2

1. Seated left to right are Society members Stephen Lighthill, William A. Fraker, John C. Flinn III, Robert Primes, Edlund and Woody Omens; 2. Ben Toguchi, the Society’s maintenance engineer since 1959, digs the scene; 3. L.A. Councilman Tom LaBonge and L.A. City Council President Eric Garcetti present ASC members Owen Roizman and George Spiro Dibie with a certificate honoring the Society’s long commitment to Hollywood; 4. Frederic Goodich, ASC (far left) and Primes flank Mirisch Agency reps Cecilia Banck (with scarf) and Beth Reiter; 5. Okada, Hollywood Chamber of Commerce President Leron Gubler, LaBonge, Dibie, Roizman, Garcetti, Wolcott Architecture Interiors (WAI) senior account executive Roy Huebner and WAI project manager Gianluigi Protano man their shovels; 6. WAI’s design for the Clubhouse’s entryway; 7. ASC Clubhouse’s venerable bar as it appeared in 1937.

5 4

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ASC CLOSE-UP Bill Taylor, ASC

Which cinematographers, past or present, do you most admire? You learn so much by watching a great cameraman work, and as a visualeffects supervisor, I’ve had the priceless experience of working with many of the greats, including ASC members Sven Nykvist, Jack Cardiff, Vilmos Zsigmond, Haskell Wexler, Vic Kemper, Dean Semler, Chivo Lubezki, Roger Deakins, Peter Deming and Walter Lindenlaub, and BSC members Oliver Stapleton and Freddie Francis. I’m still hoping for the chance to work with ASC members Allen Daviau, Caleb Deschanel, John Toll or Russell Carpenter, and I regret I wasn’t able to work with Owen Roizman, ASC before he retired. What sparked your interest in photography? Buying a Polaroid camera. I could do split-screens and tricky perspective and see the image right away. That’s probably why I love digital imaging: no waiting! Where did you train and/or study? I have no formal training; I was a philosophy major in my very brief college career. Ten years of experience as an optical and tabletop/product shooter at the Ray Mercer Co. taught me the basic technical skills, and 11 years as a cameraman for Al Whitlock in the Universal Studios Matte Department taught me how to see. There’s no better way to learn the aesthetics of imagery than working around great artists like Al Whitlock and Syd Dutton, not to mention Al’s friends Henry Bumstead, Bob Boyle and Harold Michelson. Who were your early teachers or mentors? At Mercer’s, a great optical cameraman named Jim Handschiegl taught me the basics of the bluescreen process. Petro Vlahos, the inventor of the Color Difference Traveling Matte system and the creator of Ultimatte, taught me the rest — starting with how to get rid of that pesky blue blur — in a couple of classes at the University of Southern California, and the friendship that followed continues to this day. But most of all, it was Al Whitlock. I cold-called him after I saw some spectacular examples of his work in a middling Universal comedy, That Funny Feeling (1965). It was all shot on the backlot with the telltale reduced-scale buildings, but there are these beautiful matte-painting shots that put the characters in a very convincing Manhattan. The photographic quality was flawless; there was none of the dupe-y quality I saw in matte shots from other studios. I had to find out how that was done, and that phone call changed my life. Years later, I wound up working as Al’s cameraman. What are some of your key artistic influences? More Whitlock influence: I love the English landscape painters, Constable and Turner particularly. They have everything to teach about composition and color. Turner’s last work leapt right into the 20th century, even though he died in 1851. Ansel Adams and Elliot Porter are the photographers who got to me first. I still think Adams’ Zone System is the best method of visualizing exposure, even in this digital age; Porter, whose meticulously composed (and rarely cropped) 4x5 color images still pack a wallop, was a master of pure craft. 88 July 2008

How did you get your first break in the business? I got a job as a driver at Mercer’s, and over time, they moved me up to optical line-up and camera. Another big break was meeting John Carpenter, who was shooting a student film on my doorstep. What has been your most satisfying moment on a project? Seeing the first screening of Lasse Hallström’s Casanova (2005). It was a wonderful mix of visual effects that worked out just as we planned and some that worked out of educated improvisation. Have you made any memorable blunders? As far as technical blunders go, I’m trying to forget! But the worst business decision I’ve made to date was falling in love with Casanova and turning out 65 added shots for cost or less. We thought, ‘Surely the studio will love us — they’ll use us on everything!’ Ha. I’m still very proud of our work and of that film. What’s the best professional advice you’ve ever received? When I asked Freddie Francis for his secret to glamour lighting, he said, ‘Put a great big light right over the lens. And get Brooke Shields if you can.’ What recent books, films or artworks have inspired you? It’s not recent, but Jack Cardiff’s autobiography, Magic Hour, is full of wonderful stories from his very long career. At 85, he decided to give up features and concentrate on short films and commercials! He himself is an inspiration. Do you have any favorite genres, or genres you would like to try? I’d love to work on a big historical epic, preferably with sea battles — something like Ben-Hur or The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964). If you weren’t a cinematographer, what might you be doing instead? I might be a philosophy professor struggling for tenure at a tiny regional college; a professional magician asking bar patrons to take a card, any card; or a still photographer trying to shoot the perfect bean. Which ASC cinematographers recommended you for membership? Harry Wolf and Bill Fraker. How has ASC membership impacted your life and career? It was a great moment when I first saw my name onscreen with the letters ASC after it. Membership has been a conduit for my continuing education about movies and moviemaking techniques; I can find the answer to almost any question by consulting an ASC member, and I’ve had the honor of contributing to that tradition. I’ve also had the chance to meet so many of my heroes in a social context, discovering they are not only human, but also incredibly generous men and women. And I suspect that being an ASC member gives me a little more credibility when I first meet the team on a new film. I

Photo by Owen Roizman, ASC.

When you were a child, what film made the strongest impression on you? As a pre-teen would-be artist, I loved the classic Disney animated movies, particularly Pinocchio (1940). For live-action, it was 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), hands-down. When I was a young teen, I loved Ben-Hur (1959) — the past brought to life on an enormous scale.

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