AC feb 2010

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M E M B E R P O R T R A I T

Don McCuaig, ASC, CSC

W W W . T H E A S C . C O M

TO SUBSCRIBE BY PHONE:

Call (800) 448-0145 (U.S. only)

(323) 969-4333 or visit the ASC Web site

y earliest memories of filmare of sensory experiencesinvolving popcorn and soda

pop, plus a wide-eyed enchantmentwith the larger-than-life images onthe screen. Fate stepped in when Ibecame a student lens maker in themilitary, and I was soon thereafterhanded a camera and told to shootthe sunset.

“American Cinematographer

was incredibly helpful at theinception of my cinematographycareer, and it remains as valuable tome as my light meter. For decades,AC has provided me with theopportunity to experience mycolleagues’ work through up-closeand personal looks at sets, thesharing of technical information,and anecdotes about managingstage and location dilemmas.

“I remain a perpetual studentof my craft, and AC continues toprovide an informed resource forinformation about both film anddigital media.”

— Don McCuaig, ASC, CSC

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Director and Cinematographer Randall Einhornis a two-time Emmy nominee for his work onthe series Survivor. He has shot and/or directedover 113 episodes of The Office and directed

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The International Journal of Motion Imaging

32 Bad Moon RisingShelly Johnson, ASC pens a firsthand account of his work on The Wolfman

46 Artistry and ConscienceChris Menges, ASC, BSC receives the Society’s International Award

56 Working With the RedAC technical editor Christopher Probst offers a hands-onassessment of the Red One camera

68 Terror in TechnicolorLuciano Tovoli, ASC, AIC recalls his visual strategies for the 1977 horror classic Suspiria

DEPARTMENTS

FEATURES

— VISIT WWW.THEASC.COM TO ENJOY THESE WEB EXCLUSIVES —Q&A: John Cassaday on directing Dollhouse

Podcasts: Werner Herzog and Peter Zeitlinger on Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans• Barry Markowitz, ASC on Crazy Heart • Richard Crudo, ASC interviews Victor J. Kemper, ASC about

The Friends of Eddie Coyle

On Our Cover: The full moon transforms Lawrence Talbot (Benicio Del Toro) into a snarling werewolf in The Wolfman, shot by Shelly Johnson, ASC. (Photo by Frank Ockenfels,courtesy of Universal Pictures.)

8 Editor’s Note10 President’s Desk12 Short Takes: What’s in the Box?18 Production Slate: Fish Tank • Dollhouse78 Post Focus: Offhollywood Digital82 New Products & Services88 International Marketplace90 Classified Ads90 Ad Index92 In Memoriam: Marc E. Reshovsky, ASC94 Clubhouse News96 ASC Close-Up: Paul Cameron

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F e b r u a r y 2 0 1 0 V o l . 9 1 , N o . 2T h e I n t e r n a t i o n a l J o u r n a l o f M o t i o n I m a g i n g

Visit us online atwww.theasc.com

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PUBLISHER Martha Winterhalter————————————————————————————————————

EDITORIALEXECUTIVE EDITOR Stephen Pizzello

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TECHNICAL EDITOR Christopher Probst

CONTRIBUTING WRITERSStephanie Argy, Benjamin B, Douglas Bankston, Robert S. Birchard,

Bob Fisher, Simon Gray, Jim Hemphill, David Heuring, Jay Holben, Mark Hope-Jones, Noah Kadner, Jean Oppenheimer,

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————————————————————————————————————American Cinematographer (ISSN 0002-7928), established 1920 and in its 90th year of publication, is published

monthly in Hollywood by ASC Holding Corp., 1782 N. Orange Dr., Hollywood, CA 90028, U.S.A., (800) 448-0145, (323) 969-4333, Fax (323) 876-4973, direct line for subscription inquiries (323) 969-4344.

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OFFICERS - 2009/2010

Michael GoiPresident

Richard CrudoVice President

Owen RoizmanVice President

Victor J. KemperVice President

Matthew LeonettiTreasurer

Rodney TaylorSecretary

John C. Flinn IIISergeant At Arms

MEMBERS OF THEBOARD

Curtis ClarkRichard Crudo

George Spiro DibieRichard EdlundJohn C. Flinn III

John HoraVictor J. Kemper

Matthew LeonettiStephen LighthillIsidore Mankofsky

Daryn OkadaOwen RoizmanNancy SchreiberHaskell Wexler

Vilmos Zsigmond

ALTERNATESFred Elmes

Steven FierbergRon Garcia

Michael D. O’SheaMichael Negrin

MUSEUM CURATORSteve Gainer

American Society of Cine ma tog ra phersThe ASC is not a labor union or a guild, but

an educational, cultural and pro fes sion al or ga ni za tion. Membership is by invitation

to those who are actively en gaged as di rec tors of photography and have

dem on strated out stand ing ability. ASC membership has be come one of the highest

honors that can be bestowed upon a pro fes sional cin e ma tog ra pher — a mark

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This month’s cover story on The Wolfman (“Bad MoonRising,” page 32) comes straight from the source: cinematogra-pher Shelly Johnson, ASC, who offers a first-person account ofhis strategies for the show. The article is filled with insights thatprovide valuable context for the filmmakers’ creative choices. “Akey decision production made early on was to shoot a largeportion of the film on location, a different stylistic approach thanthe one taken on the stagebound Universal classic,” Johnsonwrites. “The idea was to ground the story in reality and integrateour storytelling elements into that setting. I liked this idea, partic-ularly for our night scenes, which we wanted to shoot at a muchlarger scale than is possible onstage.”

In discussing his work, Johnson contends that the best images are those that supportgood stories, soulfully told: “When I think back on the cinematography I’ve admired over theyears, it’s usually not the prettiest film or the film with the most dazzling action footage thatimpresses me. Although I respect those types of movies, the films that get inside me with theiremotional treatment of a story are the ones that hit home.”

Chris Menges, ASC, BSC certainly grasps the value of impactful narratives, which isjust one of the reasons he will receive the ASC International Award later this month (“Artistryand Conscience,” page 46). No less an authority than Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC pronouncesMenges “probably the greatest cinematographer working today.” Meanwhile, the self-effac-ing Menges maintains that what inspires him are “good writing and a good story, and hope-fully something with political energy.”

Over the course of his illustrious career, Menges has seen camera technologyadvance by leaps and bounds. With the advance of digital-imaging chips, today’s cinematog-raphers confront more choices than ever while deciding which format to use on a given project,but the Red One camera has generated so much interest — and debate — that we feltcompelled to examine its facets in depth, particularly after our most recent reader surveyrevealed significant interest in the topic. AC technical editor Christopher Probst has put the Redthrough its paces on dozens of shoots, and he assesses the camera in a thorough piece (“Work-ing With the Red,” page 56).

Readers have also requested more historical articles, so we’ve obliged with a lookback at one of the most visually spectacular horror films ever made, Dario Argento’s occultchiller Suspiria, shot by Luciano Tovoli, ASC, AIC (“Terror in Technicolor,” page 68). In helpingdirector Argento mount his masterpiece of operatic mayhem, Tovoli imbued the film with vividprimary colors that give it the feel of an inescapable acid trip — a daring strategy that causedthe cinematographer’s loyal crewmembers some concern: “I was always telling the productiondesigner and scenic painter, ‘More red! More blue!’” Tovoli remembers. “I made the samerecommendation to my very patient gaffer, Alberto, and, like a good friend, he asked me, ‘Areyou sure? It’s becoming quite disturbing!’ And to my inalterably happy face he asked, ‘Are yousearching to be fired?’”

Tovoli persevered, and his instincts lent the nightmarish images great power: Suspiriais now considered a classic of the genre, proving yet again that risk is often rewarding.

Stephen PizzelloExecutive Editor

Editor’s Note

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Does anyone set out to make a bad movie? I don’t mean in a tongue-in-cheek way, where youpurposely put in dialogue and situations that are blatantly ridiculous to elicit a laugh. I mean in a reallyearnest, “I-hope-this-is-the-worst-movie-ever” way?

I don’t think so. In fact, I think the bad movies we think of as guilty pleasures are the ones whosemakers were convinced they had Citizen Kane II on their hands.

I was thinking about this as I leafed through one of my favorite books. It’s a collection of theblandest postcards you could ever hope to find, the kind that look like they came off a dusty metalrack that had been in a truck stop somewhere off the interstate for decades. The book is called, appro-priately, Boring Postcards (compiled by Martin Parr and published by Phaidon). Even though the bookis filled with images like obscure turnpikes that no one would ever care about, and a factory that makesa ball bearing in only one size, as you go through the book, you instinctively start to wonder about thethought process involved in the images. Someone set up the camera there, where the building wouldlook as flat as architecturally possible, and someone else thought that picture was worth making into

10,000 postcards. It becomes an almost hypnotic journey of discovery as you study each postcard and wonder why the photographer choseto do an aerial shot of a factory that looks like nothing from the sky.

It certainly takes a great deal more effort to make an entire feature film than to take a photo, so aspiring to mediocrity would notseem to be high on a filmmaker’s list of goals. In my personal collection, I have more than 10,000 movies on DVD and Laserdisc. When Irecently inventoried them to weed out duplicates, I discovered I had a large number of films that others would call trash. Sure, I have Fellini’s81⁄2 and several different versions of D. W. Griffith’s silent films, along with milestone movies from every era in the history of cinema. But nextto those, just as neatly shelved and categorized by genre, are titles that would not be given a moment’s thought by any serious student ofcinema: The Pom-Pom Girls, The Bloodthirsty Butchers, Battle of the Amazons and The Naughty Stewardesses. And I had seen each of themmore than once.

There are a lot of one-shot wonders in my collection, filmmakers who came out of nowhere and were never seen again after theirone bad opus. But the ones that are especially impressive actually carved out entire careers making films that the average Godard fan wouldn’t think twice about. Take Al Adamson. The first time I saw The Naughty Stewardesses at a drive-in, I was blown away by the Ronettes-style title music and the graphics. Al worked in every exploitation genre, from biker chicks to horror flicks, and you could tell the man lovedmaking movies when you watched one of his five-day epics. Hikmet Avedis was the king of the tawdry sexploitation film, with credits suchas The Stepmother, Dr. Minx and Scorchy. His film The Teacher, though marketed as a sexy coming-of-age comedy, actually went into darkterritory by killing off the main character at the end (and it was Jay “Dennis The Menace” North!). And what can I possibly say about AndyMilligan that The Rats Are Coming! The Werewolves Are Here! hasn’t already said?

When I was an instructor at Columbia College in Chicago, I made my class go see a movie called Ms. 45, directed by Abel Ferrara. It’san exploitation film about a mute girl who is assaulted and gets revenge on all the men in New York. I had seen it at a grindhouse and wasimpressed by the intensity of the performances, the edgy look of the low-budget lighting, and the filmmakers’ attempt to do somethingmore than what was expected from such a movie. It was still an exploitation film, but it was an experience that remained in your mind longafter you left the dank smell and sticky floors of the theater. It entertained and excited your imagination.

So, by all means, celebrate Kurosawa, Kubrick and Coppola, because great cinema is an uplifting experience. But keep your other eyeopen for those movies that live on the ragged edge of acceptability. You just might be surprised at how good bad cinema can be.

Michael Goi, ASCPresident

President’s Desk

10 February 2010 American Cinematographer

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Crafting What’s in the Box?By Iain Stasukevich

The science-fiction short film What’s in the Box? hit theWeb shrouded in mystery. Viewers didn’t know whether it was amobile-phone commercial or the trailer for an adaptation of thevideo game Half-Life. In fact, Tim Smit — who co-wrote,directed, shot, acted in and designed visual effects for the short— intended the project to be a submission for a director’s work-shop, not the viral sensation it became.

Told from a first-person perspective, What’s in the Box?follows an unnamed scientist as he attempts to escape the terri-fying effects of an experiment gone horribly wrong. Smit is cageyabout answering the film’s titular question, but the 24-year-oldDutchman does reveal something about his own influences. Hegrew up on video games and Hollywood action movies, butbecause the Netherlands doesn’t have much in the way of anentertainment industry, he chose to pursue a career in scienceand make short films in his spare time. “Film is something I’ve

always been interested in, and even though my career choicestook precedence, the interest never went away,” he says.Indeed, while studying nanoscience at Radboud University inNijmegen, Smit produced and directed videos for the school, andin 2007, he participated in a “fake trailer” contest for the filmGrindhouse.

For his entry in the Grindhouse competition, Rise of theDirtnappers, he won a Sony HDR-SR5 Handycam. The light-weight hi-def camera records to an internal hard-disk drive anduses a 1⁄3", 2.1-megapixel CMOS sensor to capture 1920x1080HD images. It proved perfect for shooting What’s in the Box? “Iwas interested in first-person shooters [video games], particularlyHalf-Life, because they let you look through the eyes of the maincharacter,” says Smit. “I wanted to do something like that withfilm, but I didn’t have access to actors or professional gear.” Heand co-writer Thibaut Niels devised a treatment in which “theviewer would be the main character, and I’d only need a fewpeople to assist me.”

That main character is a scientist who wakes up on the

Short Takes

Imag

es co

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sy o

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m S

mit.

The woodshed atright was one ofthe 3-D elements

created for theshort film What’s

in the Box?Director, co-

writer,cinematographerand visual-effects

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woodshed’scrumbling

counterpart, andhe executed the

final composite inAdobe After

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floor of a laboratory, disoriented andsporting a bloody nose. Rushing to awindow, he sees ominous cloudsconverging on a pair of nearby towers.He retrieves a small, black box with apulsing red ring and aims it toward thetowers, and it emits a surge of energythat causes the towers to explode.Retreating from the window, he dons hisComputer Brain Interface (a headbandthat provides an informative heads-updisplay, as in a first-person-shooter videogame), grabs a few accoutrements and,still carrying the box, exits the building.

In addition to the SR5, which Smitmounted to a skate helmet, the film-maker captured some shots with a hand-held Sony HDR-HC1. He kept bothcameras at their widest zoom setting formaximum depth-of-field, and set the

shutters to 1⁄250 for outdoor scenes and1⁄50 for indoor scenes. In the openingsequence in the lab, Smit operated theHC1 while Niels provided the main char-acter’s hands. “I needed to have totalcontrol over the camera,” says Smit. “Wetried using the helmet camera at first, butI wasn’t fully able to see what the camerawas seeing, so I ended up [handholding]the camera over Thibaut’s shoulder.” Heused only the location’s existing fixturesto light the scene.

Outside, cars, bicycles andpersonal effects litter the street, theirowners strangely absent. A futuristiccityscape looms in the distance. The earthtrembles, and fiery debris rains downfrom the sky. No sooner does the scientisttake refuge in an abandoned bus thanarmed soldiers in protective white suits

flank the vehicle, their electronicallyfiltered voices cutting the silence. For thissequence, Smit wore the SR5 helmet rig,freeing his hands to work with props; hewas able to work completely on his ownuntil the soldiers appear.

Smit designed and animated all ofthe visual effects in Adobe After Effects(which he also used to color correct theshort) and Autodesk 3ds Max. “My maininterests are environmental effects andexplosions, but I’m not a professionaldigital artist, so the most difficult stuff —like the towers exploding, and the skyand clouds — required a lot of trial anderror,” he says. He did, however, capturethe empty streets entirely in camera,which “was quite tricky to do,” herecalls. “We shot most of our stuff veryearly on, between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m.,when the majority of pedestrians werestill at home. For the scene inside thebus, we looked for a street that wasn’t amajor road and had a dead end. Wefound an industrial area of Nijmegen andasked the businesses nearby if it wouldbe okay to film there, and then wedressed it up with cars and the bus,which we got for free for an hour if wepromised to show the logo of the buscompany.”

When two of the soldiers enterthe bus, the scientist straps a strange-looking gadget to his hand and points itat the nearest soldier. A thrumming

Right: An earlyCG effect

revealsominous clouds

convergingaround a pair

of towers.Below: Smit

enhancedabandoned

streets —which werecaptured incamera by

shooting earlyin the morning

— with CGrubble.

proved to be one of the most challengingeffects elements. “The majority of theeffects are 2-D, because I’m not so skilledin character animation or making 3-Dmodels, although I knew specific effectswould call for that,” says Smit. Helearned to use the software by takingadvantage of Internet tutorials andinstructional books; in the latter category,Deconstructing the Elements With 3dsMax, by Pete Draper, was especially help-ful. “I researched the artists that inspiredme and just kept practicing,” says Smit.

The only other element of What’sin the Box? that utilized a 3-D model is awoodshed that the scientist uses for shel-ter before it’s blown open by the soldiers.Smit took digital stills of a real woodshedand built its crumbling counterpart in 3dsMax. Using the SR5, he shot the smokeand dust elements against a greenscreen

set up in his back yard. Visual-effectscomposites and editing were thenperformed in After Effects. For post work,Smit downscaled the 1920x1080 footageto 960x450 to “put less strain on mycomputer.”

After it was uploaded to YouTube,What’s in the Box? soon topped 1 millionviews, and Smit has since received offersto expand the project into a feature. Inthe meantime, though, he’s busy keepingup with viewers’ demands for more,creating puzzles to unlock new contenton the film’s Web site, www.whatsinthebox.nl. As for the master’s degree innanoscience, he says, “The things I wantto do in the future are not related tophysics at all. The knowledge I’ve gainedat university helps me think about thingsand understand them better, and thatdefinitely helps me as a director.” ●


sound fills the air, and the soldiers doubleover in pain. The scientist escapes out thevehicle’s back door and runs down thestreet; suddenly, two rocket-propelledmissiles tear through the sky and obliter-ate a house at the end of the block. Agunship descends, spewing hot lead intothe street. The scientist ducks into anempty house, but not before a soldiertags him with a bullet. “For the runningscenes, we had the HC1 mounted to astabilizer,” says Smit. “It was a simplesystem, a combination of metal rods andweights, that we built in a couple ofhours. It looks like a ‘T’; I just mountedthe camera to the top of the horizontalbar, and I’d hold [the stabilizer] out infront of me. That restricted me to onearm [to use in frame], but it gave therunning shots a bit more steadiness.”

The gunship, created in 3ds Max,

Clockwise fromtop left: Smit

demonstrates thehelmet-cam rig

he used tocapture a

first-personperspective;

created in 3dsMax, this

gunship provedto be one of

Smit’s biggestvisual-effects

challenges; thedirector's concept

art for a soldier;two soldiers asthey appear in

the short.

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Hard LessonsBy Patricia Thomson

From the beginning of their professional collaboration, direc-tor Andrea Arnold put Robbie Ryan, BSC through his paces. “Thefirst shot I ever asked Robbie to do was the opening in Wasp,”Arnold says, referring to her 26-minute drama about a single motherwho is unable to feed her children and makes some unwise choices.“I asked if he could be on [actress] Natalie Press’ face as she randown a flight of stairs with four kids. He ran down backwards!”Wasp (2005) went on to win the Academy Award for Best Live-Action Short, and since then, Arnold and Ryan have continued theircollaboration with Red Road, which won Cannes’ Prix du Jury in2006 (AC April ’07), and Fish Tank, which made a splash at last year’sCannes and AFI film festivals.

For Fish Tank, which retains the raw naturalism of Arnold’sprior films, Ryan was once again running down stairs and throughcramped quarters. The film focuses on 15-year-old Mia (Katie Jarvis),a high-school dropout who lives with her party-girl mother (KierstonWareing) and prepubescent sister (Rebecca Griffiths). Mia’s solace iship-hop dancing, which she practices alone in an empty flat. One

day, her mother brings home a new boyfriend, Connor (MichaelFassbender), who soon moves in. Easygoing and attentive to bothdaughters, Connor conquers Mia’s wariness with a mix of paternalcare and charm, and the inexperienced girl is soon grappling withfeelings for him that are not familial.

One of Arnold’s chief concerns was to foster viewer empathyfor her troubled protagonist. “I knew Mia might be hard to like, butI believe if you can see the world from her perspective, you can findsome empathy for her, so I wanted the camera to stick close to herand experience the world the way she does,” she says. “I hope FishTank will help people fear teens like Mia less.”

Scenes were shot in chronological order. “I did that mainlyfor Katie because she’d never acted before,” explains Arnold. “Iwanted her to feel she knew where she was day by day. We shotthe last scene on the last day, and I feel Katie had really changed andgrown — it showed in her face.” Sequential shooting was facilitatedby the proximity of key locations, most of which were in adjacentapartment towers in Essex, England. Three side-by-side flats servedas Mia’s apartment, the production’s equipment room and thegreen room.

Unfortunately, chronological shooting also meant most

Production Slate

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In a scenefrom Fish Tank,shot by Robbie

Ryan, BSC,Connor

(MichaelFassbender)

tries to forge abond with his

girlfriend’sdaughter, Mia(Katie Jarvis),

during afamily outing.

I


major scenes were saved for the end of theshoot. “With a normal schedule, the‘bigger’ or more technical scenes tend to bejumbled around, but shooting sequentially,you end up with a heavy section at the endbecause of the dramatic arc,” notes Ryan.“That dawned on me halfway throughprep! It was fine, but we were a bitwrecked.”

Ryan shot Fish Tank in 35mm usingthree Fuji film stocks, mainly Eterna Vivid160 8543. Working with Hugh Whittakerat Panavision’s U.K. office, the cinematogra-pher chose a Panaflex Millennium XL as hismain camera because of its top-mountedmag, and because he and Arnold wantedto use Primo Close Focus lenses. “We usedthe whole range, wide and tight,” he notes.“There was a lot of ND filtering going on.”

The film’s unusual 1.33:1 aspect ratiohad several inspirations. Arnold recalls thatwhen she supervised a 4x3 transfer of RedRoad for television, she grew to like the inti-macy of the frame. Also, she was smitten byPolaroid photos she’d seen in a recent exhi-bition at the Tate Modern (Street andStudio: An Urban History of Photography),and by Polaroids in Andrei Tarkovsky’s auto-biographical collection and Barbara Hitch-cock’s The Polaroid Book. When she andRyan tested 35mm, 16mm and high-defini-tion video for Fish Tank, Ryan shot the35mm full-aperture, and when they viewedthe tests at Soho Film Lab, “it looked lovely,very home-movie,” says Ryan. Arnoldimmediately decided 1.33:1 was“absolutely right” for Fish Tank: “It suitedthe small rooms; it was intimate and put

Mia very much in the center of the frame;and it made things feel a little more claus-trophobic, which underscored Mia’s frustra-tions.”

To achieve the 1.33:1 frame, thefilmmakers had to forego the photochemi-cal finish they originally intended and createthe smaller frame digitally within the 1.85:1frame. With colorist Rob Pizzey at Ascent142 Features, Ryan strove to use the digital-intermediate process to create images that“were as close to the photochemicalprocess as possible, warts and all,” he says.“Our first few weeks of rushes were heavierand more contrasty than what Rob wasdoing in his initial grade, so they became hisreference.” Ultimately, Ryan was satisfiedwith what he was able to achieve in the DI.“I think the visuals are nice and honest, trueto what we shot.”

The cinematographer’s team on FishTank was documentary-size: three cameraassistants, a gaffer and an electrician. Herecalls, “The sparks and gaffer weren’t usedthat much; they were good, but they werealways waiting for some mission to go on!”There was no grip. “Andrea bans tripodsfrom her set,” Ryan continues. “On a shootthat’s completely handheld, you sort ofneed a grip even more, because you needsomeone to pass the camera to when youfinish the shot — the Millennium is quiteheavy! But they say if you don’t need atripod, you don’t need a grip. Poor JohnWatters, my focus puller, often had to holdthe camera for me.” Ryan eventuallyrecruited a friend to be a grip trainee. “He

Mia’s escapefrom familypressure is

hip-hopdancing,

which shepractices in an

emptyapartment inher housing

project.


beautifully, and Ryan appreciated the extraheadroom. “It didn’t make the handheld sonauseous!” he notes. The challenge wasframing multiple actors. “We just pulledback and made a wide two-shot, which isunusual for Andrea — she tends to be over-the-shoulder,” says Ryan. “Luckily, it didn’toccur too often.”

A subtle shift in framing could teaseout nuances in the main character, who ispoised between vulnerable child and sullenteen. When Mia looks out the window andwatches Connor leave for the first time,“we had a low angle, and it just didn’t feelright,” recalls Arnold. “I wanted to feel herinterest and need, so I moved the camerahigher, above her, and the change wasincredible. She seemed younger, smaller,more fragile and very needy.” Ryan adds,“Katie had an innocent look from thatangle, and when we discovered that, wetried to play on it throughout the film.”

The handheld camerawork under-scores the energy in high-adrenaline scenes,as when a panicked Mia runs after Connorwhen he leaves for good. The scene is along, continuous shot that moves fromapartment to parking lot, down two sepa-rate staircases and through two doors, all at

top speed. “This was a really importantscene, and there was no way it would havehad the same effect if we’d done a staticwide,” says Ryan.

The unfettered camera enabledquieter moments as well. In one eroticallycharged scene, Connor finds a drunkenMia passed out in her mother’s bed. Hecarries her to her bedroom, removes hershoes and pants and tucks her in while thehalf-conscious teen watches stealthily. Ryanpositioned the camera behind Jarvis on thebed, peering through the crook of her arm.“I love that shot because you totally haveher point of view,” he says. On the sound-track, her breath is heightened, and theframe rate is slowed to 40 fps. “It drawsyour attention to the sound, and sounddesign is really important for Andrea,” saysRyan.

Slow-motion recurs in a few otherkey moments between Mia and Connor.“They’re intimate, sensual moments,” saysRyan. “We tried it at 48 fps and then camedown to 40. It’s noticeably slow but has asubtlety that’s really quite good.” Arnoldand Ryan coined a word for this slow-motion effect: “slooge.”

After three collaborations withArnold, “we just have a shared language,”says Ryan. They also have great respect foreach other. Arnold observes, “You can tellso much about a photographer by the wayhe looks at a person through a lens. Robbielikes people, and that’s there in the way heframes them. He’s a poet with thecamera.”

“I’m lucky to be in this kind ofworking relationship,” says Ryan. “Some-times you struggle to get what a directorwants, and sometimes directors don’tknow what they want. Andrea knows, andshe’s happy we can achieve it. Long may itlast!”

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had no experience, but he could hold acamera!”

Panavision also supplied the produc-tion with an Arri 2-C, which Ryan used forlandscapes and some atmospheric details.“It’s very light, and any time there was a lullin the shooting, I could run off and shootloads of cutaways,” he says. “That mademy day.”

The lighting package comprisedmostly small instruments. “To be honest,the biggest light source [in Mia’s apartment]was the tellie!” says Ryan. A Nine-lightMaxi-Brute was used to create or augmentsunlight, and the crew augmented practi-cals with a mix of Kino Flos, Mini-Flos andDedolights. “The Dedo is my favorite lightbecause it does everything — it’s the bestspotlight in the world; it can be a veryintense floodlight; you can dim it; and it’sgot a really long throw. Gaffers hate thembecause they’re tiny — most gaffers havevery big hands — but they’re really versa-tile.” The largest movie light was a half-panel Wendy Light on a 40' crane; this wasused to light a large, open field Mia crossesat night.

Framing for Academy Aperture tooksome getting used to. Portraiture worked

Ryan finds an angle on Jarvis as 1st AC John Watters stands by.

➣


Redesigning DollhouseBy Michael Goldman

It had already been a high-stressmorning for cinematographer Lisa Wiegandand the rest of the crew and cast of Fox’sDollhouse by the time Joss Whedon, theshow’s creator/producer, gathered them fora sit-down on a soundstage in mid-Novem-ber. The team was not yet even halfwaythrough another long filming day, with theentire cast participating in the final scene ofthe episode at hand, “The Attic.” Whedonannounced that 20th Century Fox haddecided to cancel the show. Production on“The Attic” and the final three episodeswould continue, he added, and the entiresecond season would air.

Dollhouse chronicles the story of amysterious organization that wipes theminds of volunteers and reprograms themto perform particular missions for payingclients. The show quickly developed a cultfollowing in its first season, battling its wayto a second season despite borderlineratings. In its second season, the showswitched from shooting 35mm to digitalcapture, and Wiegand took over the cine-matographer spot from Ross Berryman,ASC, ACS. “Lisa was recommended byRodney Charters [ASC, CSC], who shot ourunaired 13th episode [‘Epitaph 1’] lastseason and brought her on as his B-cameraoperator — she had worked with him on24,” Whedon explains. “We shot ‘Epitaph1’ with digital cameras, but even before thatexperience, we felt we’d have to switch todigital if the show got renewed. Shootingthat episode digitally was the wake-up callfor me — I realized we could get moredramatic footage with less light and shootreal quickly, on a lower budget, and Iwanted that energy in the show.

“When Lisa interviewed for the job,her competence and intensity for workingthis way just sparked, and [producer] DavidSolomon and I fought to get her onto theshow,” continues Whedon. “The networkwas a little leery because it was her firstcredit as a TV-series cinematographer, butwe prevailed, and after that our good feel-ing about her work only increased.”Wiegand is eager to credit others formaking the gig work out so well, as shedemonstrates while picking at a salad

Right: Echo(Eliza

Dushku)finds anoutfit to

match hernewly

imprintedpersona in

theDollhouse

episode“Belle

Chose.”Below: Under

thesupervision

of AdelleDeWitt(Olivia

Williams,left), Topher

Brink (FranKranz,

second fromleft), Boyd

Langton(Harry

Lennix,second from

right) andPaul Ballard

(TahmohPenikett),Echo sits

down for a“treatment,”

which willerase herimprinted

personality.

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during her lunch break. “This experiencehas reinforced how important my teammembers are, and I’ve had a great team onthis show,” she says. “I’ve relied quite a biton them. I’ve learned so much, and Joss hasbeen completely supportive.”

Once it became clear Dollhousewould transition to digital capture, it wasWiegand who made the choice to shoot1080p high-definition video using Pana-sonic’s VariCam AJ-HPX3700, recording toP2 cards in the 10-bit 4:2:2 format (usingthe AVC-Intra compression scheme). Shealso worked closely with Whedon to recon-stitute the look of the show, a change moti-vated in part — but only in part — by theswitch to digital. “By the time we realizedour budget would be cut, I was already alittle frustrated with the pace [of produc-tion], and I thought we really needed avisceral, visual intensity to carry it allthrough,” says Whedon. “All these thingscame together. I realized we could savetime and money and also rethink the visualdesign of the show, which I wanted to doanyway.

“The main change Lisa helped meinstitute was to get more expressionistic —lots of sparks and pin spots and more depthand separation in the frame without actu-ally putting up walls, and just letting thingsbe a little more traumatic,” he continues. “Ithrew a little bit of my pedantic attachment

A gnarled, snow-covered tree fills the centerof the Dollhouse in one of the nightmare

sequences in the episode “The Attic.”

The Dollhouse episode “The Attic,”which finds Echo (Eliza Dushku) trapped ina perpetual nightmare in which she faces amysterious villain named Arcane, marksJohn Cassaday’s directing debut in theepisodic-television world. After directingTV news in Texas, Cassaday moved to NewYork and broke into the comic-book indus-try, illustrating such books as Desperadoes,Captain America, Planetary and, with Doll-house creator/comic-book writer JossWhedon, Astonishing X-Men.

When Whedon offered Cassaday aturn behind the camera, Cassaday waseager to oblige. He spoke to AC about theexperience, and here are some excerptsfrom the conversation:

American Cinematographer:What did you think of the premise of‘The Attic’ when it was presented toyou?

John Cassaday: When I read JedWhedon and Maurissa Tancharoen’s script,I walked over to their office and said, ‘Thisis a gift. Thank you.’ It was tremendous,and I felt like it was tailor-made for me.This episode is kind of a condensed versionof Planetary, which gave me a chance todive into all kinds of different genres fromone issue to the next. In ‘The Attic,’ wejump from Alice in Wonderland to slick sci-fi to the war in Afghanistan to a horrorfilm. It’s been mind-boggling for me.

Did the fact that the Attichadn’t been seen onscreen beforeenable you to contribute to its actualdesign?

Cassaday: A lot of it was in thescript, but I was able to tinker with manyfacets visual. I’d swing by [productiondesigner] Cameron Birnie’s office every dayduring prep, and we’d sketch differentideas. Among the pieces I helped design isa large tree that rests in the center of theDollhouse set; it was something special tosee my drawings become reality. There’salso an apocalyptic scene where we seewhat the future will bring, and it involveda big crane shot with a huge greenscreen;[visual-effects supervisor] Mike Leone and I

would go back-and-forth about what Iwanted to see [in the final image].

The episode’s nightmare land-scape lends itself to visuals that arequite unlike anything we’ve seenbefore on Dollhouse. How did youfeel about taking the show intouncharted waters?

Cassaday: It was daunting, butthere was also a comfort factor in that myepisode didn’t have to conform to every-one else’s. There are moments within theDollhouse where I had to maintain theestablished look, but then there are allthese ‘dreams’ that allowed us to play insome uncharted territory.

Your artwork shows a greatunderstanding of light and shadowand an appreciation for theiremotional impact. What was it likecollaborating with a cinematographerto realize those effects in a live-actionenvironment?

Cassaday: The visuals obviouslymatter a lot to me, and more often thannot, [cinematographer] Lisa Wiegand andher crew were making it look even betterthan what I hoped for. There’s a scene inAdelle’s [Olivia Williams] office where Iwanted to create a film-noir look withheavy shadows and lights beamingthrough the blinds. Lisa and her crew set itup superbly. Adelle says something horri-ble and threatening to Topher [Fran Kranz].She’s like a cat with a mouse, and whenshe threatens him, he backs up into thisshadow that rests on his face, like he’sputting on a mask. You can still see him,but he’s trying to hide. It was a thrill toshoot, and putting it together in the editwas just as interesting — I felt a strongcorrelation between the editing processand breaking down panels on a comic-book page.

— Jon D. Witmer

To read our full interview withCassaday, visit www.theasc.com/magazinein February.

•|• Cassaday Imprints “The Attic” •|•

www.clairmont.com

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to realism to the wind and said, ‘Let’s go forit; let’s run more handheld with lightercameras and let the visuals work with us.’”

Wiegand offered the production afew camera options, but she stronglypreferred the VariCam, which is seldomseen in the episodic world. “We really likedthe mobility of the Sony PMW-EX3s weused on the 13th episode last year, and wewanted something that could bridge thelook of that episode and the look of the restof season one, which was shot on 35mm ina different style,” Wiegand explains. “So Ichose an ENG-style camera, larger than theEX3 but not too heavy. I knew we would doa lot of handheld work and would want tobe really mobile, so ENG seemed the way togo. I didn’t feel [Panavision’s] Genesis or[Sony’s] F35 or F23 would lend themselvesto some of the smaller sets and all thehandheld work.”

Furthermore, she felt strongly that itwas more important to consider setupspeed and chip sensitivity over the advan-tages of a larger chip. She calls the Vari-Cam’s 2⁄3" chip “a happy ENG medium. Wegive up some of that nice falloff and depth-

of-field you get with bigger chips, and a bitof latitude, but we gain speed and lightingadvantages. The Red [One] would havegiven us more latitude because it capturesmore data, but we would have neededmore light; also, we shoot so much actionthat we felt the VariCam was better suitedto being bumped around. It was sort of likeshooting with reversal film instead of nega-tive: we had to nail our exposures right off.But that was okay. We had our monitorsand waveforms.

“A lot of shows that go from film todigital use the F35 or the Genesis largelybecause they’re trying to preserve or createa film look digitally,” she adds. “We weren’tconcerned with that. We were fine withletting it feel different, letting it feel digital.The show is sci-fi, it’s about technology, andit didn’t need to feel like film.”

Wiegand and associate producerChris Cheramie worked out the tapelessworkflow, which comprised recording to P2at 1080p AVC-Intra 100, with the VariCamset to the Film-rec 600% setting forincreased latitude. (The show usually usedtwo cameras rigged with Panasonic AJ-

CVF100G color viewfinders. Other Pana-sonic models were incorporated for second-unit and specialty work periodically.) RobinCharters, Rodney Charters’ son, was addedto the crew as digital-imaging technicianand built a plan to back data up to D5 tapein post. But on set, they relied exclusively onP2 cards and hard drives. “We shot straightto P2 cards, and on set, Robin downloadedthe cards to drives, creating double backups,and then sent the cards and one hard driveto Level 3 [in Burbank], where they createddailies from that data and backed up thedata to D5,” says Wiegand. “The 3700 onlygoes to 30 fps progressive, so we couldn’tovercrank as much with that model, butwhenever we did slo-mo shots, we used thePanasonic 2700, which shoots up to 60 fpsbut at 720p. We got a little less resolution,but for those shots, we were willing to givethat up for the ability to shoot 60 fps.”

There were other adjustments toconsider, she adds. She opted almost exclu-sively for Zeiss DigiZoom lenses, and thatmeant that “because the camera is an ENGcamera, we do have to back-focus everytime we change a lens, and sometimes aftera camera has warmed up a little bit.” Butshe emphasizes that the adjustment wasmerely a matter of developing a rhythm fordoing things a slightly different way. “Ourfocus pullers worked in two different ways.Our A-camera focus puller, because thatcamera was mainly handheld and movingquite a bit, liked to be near the camera andpulled by distance, so he had to back-focusa lot more than our B-camera focus puller,who pulled off a monitor because he wasoften on very long lenses and moving a lotless.”

Built onstage atFox Studios in

Los Angeles, theDollhouse sets

include(clockwise from

top left) theprimary two-

story commonarea, DeWitt’soffice and the

dining area.

➣

Beyond altering the method ofacquisition, the biggest correspondingchange instituted by Wiegand was themodification of how sets were lit. Whedonsays the lighting changes were about“creating different moods for each set —giving each set its own character and amore sci-fi feel than what we had the firstseason.” Wiegand accomplished that by re-evaluating virtually everything. She explains,

“We took out a bunch of lights that wereon the set, searching for a contrastier look.We added a lot of blue to Topher’s office,making the main area of the Dollhousewarmer so that his office and the imprintroom [where memories are erased andreprogrammed] are a lot bluer, a lot cooler.We changed many things, mainly trying toachieve an image with more contrast andcolor separation.

“There were a lot of space lights inthe main body of the Dollhouse last season,and we removed about half of them andbrought in large Chimeras with tight gridsto focus the light and keep it moody,” shecontinues. “Some of our smaller spaces hada lot of high-tech equipment, like machin-ery and monitors, which we liked to makeglow. We purchased some Rosco LitePads,which we used a lot on 24, and taped themon monitors to throw a nice, cool glow onpeople. They’re 5600°K, and since I mixcolor temperatures a lot, they helped makea nice contrast from the look of last season.One of our favorite color combos was atungsten light with Half Blue and Half PlusGreen gels. Allowing the characters totravel through different color temperaturesgave the image more depth than straightwhite light.”

Whedon now says that he “can’timagine shooting film for television anymore.” In particular, he’s in love with beingable to judge imagery on set off a 17"Panasonic monitor without having to waitfor dailies. That’s not to say the dailies color-

Dollhousecreator/

producer JossWhedon and

Dushku sharea moment

betweentakes while

shooting theepisodes

“The PublicEye” and“The Left

Hand.”

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correction phase, handled by coloristRichard Flores at Level 3, and the finalonline, also done at Level 3 by colorist LarryField, weren’t important. Each day’s dailiesnormally went from Flores to Wiegand asJPEG files and standard-def DVDs. She alsomonitored Field’s work during the onlineprocess via ProRes files sent to her on harddrives by Level 3. Wiegand often distributednotes about the footage to the post teameach day, but she notes that the rhythm shedeveloped with Flores and Field gave bothof them an intuitive understanding of howher imagery typically needed to be tweakedto fit the show’s visual schemes. That’sbecause the production utilized a propri-etary look-up table on set that allowedWiegand to “shoot less for the actualcontrast we will have in the end,” she says.“The LUT expands our latitude somewhatso that we get more rendition out of high-lights and shadows. But we basically treatthe data more like a negative; we get moreinformation than we’ll need, and then wecan blow out highlights and crush blackswhen we go into post, if we need to.”

Wiegand never did finish her salad— duty called. Even as Whedon wanderedoff to ponder the best way to wind up hisshow with a post-apocalyptic bang thatconnects threads briefly visualized in‘Epitaph 1,’ Wiegand’s focus remainedfirmly on “The Attic.” As she packed up herlunch, she conceded, “It’s been a totallyinsane day.” And it wasn’t done yet.

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CinematographerLisa Wiegand(left) supervises asetup on locationin Malibu for“The Left Hand”while A-cameraoperator JayHunter and 1stAC Reza Tabrizifind the frame.


As I’m on my way to the airport to board a flight toLondon, my phone rings. It’s Donna Langley atUniversal. “Shelly, I want you to know that this is a darkpicture,” she says. “The images need to have atmosphere

and texture, and we’re looking for a dark and moody look. Iwant to make sure you’re up for it.” This was the first time Irecall a studio asking me to make a film dark — I’m usuallythe one trying to sell them on the idea. I assured Donna that Iwas indeed up to the task, and that I was excited about creat-ing a uniquely dark world, a world in which the Wolfmancould exist.

The Wolfman is the story of an estranged man’s journeyhome. Sent away to America as a child after witnessing hismother’s murder, Lawrence Talbot (Benicio Del Toro) returnsto his family’s English estate decades later, following hisbrother’s violent death. There, he reconnects with his father

(Anthony Hopkins) and learns the full breadth of the oldman’s manipulations and about the family’s mysterious secret:the dark curse Lawrence will inherit through an attack by amysterious creature. He also discovers, for the first time sincehis mother’s death, the true meaning of unconditional love,shown to him by Gwen (Emily Blunt), the fiancée of hisdeparted brother.

Upon reading the script, I was taken by the presence ofconflicting elements sharing the same space in the storytelling:sanity and insanity, love and hate, selfishness and generosity,truth and lies. The story was constructed using these oppositesto convey the characters’ complex emotions, their inner strug-gle to find balance between their true feelings and desires andthose affected by the curse of the werewolf. I wanted my visualplan to evoke these same complexities. My initial instinct wasto integrate opposing elements and have them share the same

Bad MoonRising

Shelly Johnson,ASC offers a

firsthand account of his visual strategies for The Wolfman.

by Shelly Johnson, ASC

•|•

www.theasc.com February 2010 33

frame: light and dark, hard and soft,warm and cool, symmetry and asymme-try.

The project had come to me onlya few days prior to my arrival inLondon. Director Joe Johnston, withwhom I had previously collaborated onJurassic Park 3 and Hidalgo (AC April’04), contacted me when he took overfor the previous director, who had leftthe film. Joe was to have three weeks’prep, and I was to have two — not a lotfor a $100-million-plus undertaking ofthis scale.

Joe is a true author of his movies.By that I mean he works in detail withPhot

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Opposite: A fullmoontransformsLawrenceTalbot into asnarling beast.This page, top:Talbot (BenicioDel Toro)returns toEngland toinvestigate hisbrother’smysteriousdeath. Middleand bottom:Shelly Johnson,ASC adjusts aremote headwhile workingwith aTechnocrane,which he anddirector JoeJohnston favorfor itsverisimilitude.“Joe prefers towork from theTechnocranebecause it’sflexible and fitsperfectly intohis directingstyle,” Johnsonnotes.


the production designer, cinematogra-pher, actors, editor, composer and soundeditors to create a whole experience forthe audience. I think his greatest gift isto keep the production team focused onstory so that all of our large-scale tech-nical decisions have a clear reason to be;they are incorporated into the movie inthe same manner story beats are repre-sented in the script.

With so little prep time, I neededto find a way to connect with theproduction team, most of which hadalready been assembled, and also withthe material. I began going through artbooks to cull ideas for my visual plan. Ifound my inspiration when I walkedinto the art department at PinewoodStudios on my first day: productiondesigner Rick Heinrichs had developedan impressive amount of concept artthat had a most haunting presence. Rickwas also there to show me his plans andconcepts, which were quite complex andmeticulous. I appreciated his manner, ashe was instrumental in getting me fullyaligned with the vision he and Joe hadbeen developing during their short timetogether.

In the concept art, Rick envi-sioned telling the story within a world ofshadows and evocative forms. He

◗ Bad Moon Rising

Top: AfterTalbot is sentto an asylum,

his father(Anthony

Hopkins) payshim a visit.

Middle: Evenin close

quarters, thetwo men don’tsee eye to eye.Bottom: Talbotreflects on hisbrother’s fatewhile visitinghis corpse in

an ice-cooledmorgue.


intended for many of his dark mansionsets to be lit by means of reflective lightsources, such as large bounce flats, togive shape to the dark moldings asopposed to enormous amounts of inci-dent light. This was something I wasconsidering implementing, too, so I wasinspired by Rick’s take on the material.

A key decision production madeearly on was to shoot a large portion ofthe film on location, a different stylisticapproach than the one taken on theearlier, stagebound Universal classic.The idea was to ground the story inreality and integrate our storytellingelements into that setting. I liked thisidea, particularly for our night scenes,which we wanted to shoot at a muchlarger scale than is possible onstage.

In thinking about the nightphotography, I knew the moon had tohave a haunting, enigmatic presence. Ichose to let the moonlight transform asthe story progressed. I didn’t want tohang the same moon effect over eachnight scene; rather, I wanted to let thescene tell me what the moon shouldlook like.

At one point in the story,Lawrence travels to a large gypsy campat the edge of the woods to meetMaleva (Geraldine Chaplin), whowarns him about the curse of the were-wolf. In the camp, moonlight appears indifferent ways — as a soft source over-head, a 20'x20' soft box loaded with 30space lights; as a silhouette source seenthrough the distant trees, created withrows of 20Ks backlighting ground fog;and, finally, as a lit sky, achieved by posi-tioning an array of Dinos low and back-lighting a night skyscape created bytowering clouds of smoke. All of thesehard and soft sources were able to co-exist within our world and create asingle overall texture for night, whenbelief surrenders to superstition.

This type of idea extended to allof our large location shoots, many ofwhich were planned for early in ourproduction schedule. Our gaffer wasJohn “Biggles” Higgins, who had comeaboard with the prior team. He is awonderful man, and he helped me

Top: Powerful shafts of light illuminate the interior of the Talbot family estate. Middle:Candlelight predominates in a dining-room sequence. Bottom: Softboxes illuminate another

room in Talbot Hall, a set built by production designer Rick Heinrichs and his crew.


enormously when it came to preparingefficiently. I talked to him a great dealabout my desire to approach the light-ing with a fearless mindset; I wanted tocreate an aggressive look that wouldemerge from darkness and focus onwhat the audience needed to see. It wasmy desire to have the sets and locationscreep out of the shadows. I wanted tosee into depth but wanted that depth toexist only in form, not detail, and Iwanted to bring the scenes into lightwhen it was appropriate.

To this end, I made detailedlighting diagrams for Biggles and hisrigging crew. He was familiar withworking on this scale and alwaysallowed ample time to place large cranesand pre-rig. This was invaluable becauseour night locations were immense.With Biggles’ help, we were able tofocus 50 or 60 light placements inadvance. When the productioncompany arrived, we only needed tosupplement the base lighting after Joehad had a chance to rehearse the scene.

One of my favorite scenes takesplace on a hilltop amid a primitiveformation of standing stones. This iswhere Lawrence inherits the curse ofthe werewolf. It’s one of the few night

◗ Bad Moon RisingTop: Gwen (Emily

Blunt), the fiancéeof Talbot’s

deceased brother,attempts to elude

the prowlingwerewolf. Middle:

Large lighting unitsprovide backlight

ambience for aclimactic sequence

in which torch-bearing men hunt

the menacingcreature in a forest.

Johnson went togreat lengths to

lend the final chasea dramatic

ambience. “Ibelieved I could

underlight theforest with 20Ksplaced [in a spotwhere the forest

floor descended],”he explains. “The

sequence could bebuilt upon images

of foregroundforms moving

before tangled,dramatic

backgrounds. Thislighting scheme

allowed us to lookup without limits

and create a senseof scale for our

characters withintheir

surroundings.”Bottom: Large,crane-mounted

softboxes providean eerie

atmosphere.

scenes we shot onstage, and we did sobecause we needed to control fog effects— in the scene, the creature pursuesLawrence through a gray fog. A 360-degree set was constructed on H-Stageat Shepperton Studios; it featured a360-degree painted backing and anexquisitely detailed foreground summitwith Druid stones.

In keeping with my desire to haveopposing elements coexist, I created amoonlight source to project through a16'-wide cutout in the top portion ofthe backing that was both hard and softfrom the same direction. I formed ahard shadow using an open-face 18Kgelled with 3⁄4 CTO and created a softsource from the same placement withan array of diffused Maxi-Brutes gelledwith 1⁄4 CTB. The soft light gave us thewrap we needed for the fog to carry thelight into some shadows, and the 18Kgave us the glint we needed to bring themoonlight to the fever pitch requiredfor the content of the scene.

We shot most of the picture onKodak Vision3 500T 5219, usingVision2 200T 5217 for day scenes. I wasimpressed with 5219 because it transi-tioned neatly to a nice, tight black thatworked very well with the lighting stylefor The Wolfman. It’s my new favoritestock, and it reminds me of the first160T 5293 stock that came out yearsago and was discontinued after a veryshort run.

Many people might expect a filmlike The Wolfman to have a widescreen


Top left: A fullytransformedTalbot vents hisrage in theforest. Top right:A diagramillustratesJohnson’s setupfor a gypsy campand thesurroundingwoods. Bottom:Talbot learnsabout thewerewolf curseafter arriving atthe camp. In thissetting, Johnsonmixed a varietyof sources tocreate abelievableambience: “All ofthese hard andsoft sourceswere able to co-exist within ourworld and createa single overalltexture fornight, whenbelief surrendersto superstition… I wanted tosee into depthbut wanted thatdepth to existonly in form, notdetail, and Iwanted to bringthe scenes intolight when it wasappropriate.”


classic The Wolf Man (1941), and it alsoappeared to be the optimum choice forour storytelling.

We worked with a crew ofwonderful English collaborators. A-camera operator Des Whelan is an oldfriend who, fortunately, was available tojoin us on the show. Pete Cavaciuti

operated the B camera, and JulianBucknall and Craig Bloor were on focus.It’s not easy to go to a foreign countryand work with people who are new toyou, but this crew put a lot of themselvesinto this project, and they will alwayshave my respect and gratitude.

Key grip Gary Hymns workedproficiently with the 30' Technocrane,from which we shot nearly everything.Joe prefers to work from theTechnocrane because it’s flexible and fitsperfectly into his directing style. He andI seem to understand that piece ofequipment and have a way of findingexpression while designing with it,whether on location or in a tight set.

Panavision U.K. provided ourcamera gear, two Panaflex MillenniumXLs and Primo prime and zoom lenses.Joe prefers to use the 4:1 zoom when-ever possible so he can make smalladjustments between takes as the sceneevolves. This is the third film I’ve donewith him, and I always try to give himspace to create; I’ll always lay a little extradance floor or make sure there is an extrafoot or two to adjust, or place theTechnocrane arm so he can move intighter or extend more laterally as hesees fit. I’ll always make an effort to lighta bit deeper and wider than we discussedas well, so that Joe can take the actorsfurther without feeling the burden ofwaiting for technical adjustments. Ialways want the set to be a creative place

◗ Bad Moon Rising

aspect ratio, but we shot it in Super1.85:1. To me, 1.85 was appropriatebecause much of what is hauntingLawrence comes from above — themoon, the upper floors of Talbot Hall— and Rick had designed many of thesets with this vertical character. Framingfor 1.85 was a nod to the style of the

Doctors in anoperating

theater watch inhorror as Talbot

transforms into asnarling man-

beast. “The sceneis sourced withgaslight, which

has a naturalfalloff and an

oddlydiscomfortingappearance,”

Johnsonexplains, addingthat the look of

this scene wasinspired by theThomas Eakins

painting TheAgnew Clinic.“The paintinghas a central

subject under afull light that

falls off quickly,rendering the

audiencemembers part of

the glazedshadows. I

emulated thattype of light

with two 8'x16'light boxes fitted

with LightControl Grid.”


for him, never a technical toy store.Although The Wolfman is set in

1891, at the beginning of the electricityage, we decided that incandescent light-ing would be present in the city, andcandlelight would predominate in thecountryside. Joe, Rick and I oftendiscussed how this would serve as avisual representation of Lawrence’sjourney into the past.

I was in a quandary as to how toshoot many of our candlelit scenes. Wehad planned a number of shots in whichBenicio would walk the length of along, dark hallway with a solitary candleilluminating the space. Because I’m notfond of shooting at a T1.3, I decided tolook at options for believably electrify-ing some candles. I am not accustomedto pushing film, but one day in our firstweek, I found myself in a situationwhere Joe needed one more setup atmagic hour and we were out of light.We were losing the location the nextday, so I force-processed the 5219 by 1stop and rated it at ASA 800. To mysurprise, the film pushed beautifully;there was only a slight increase in grainand no real contrast issues under ourlighting conditions. The printer lightsshowed we were getting a true ASA-800 rating from the process at DeluxeLaboratories in London. With that, Ibelieved we had discovered how toshoot our candlelit scenes.

We shot a test and achieved our

◗ Bad Moon Rising

Top photos:Talbot

explores hisancestral

home withnaturalsources

lighting theway — a

candle at nightand artificial“sunlight” inthe daytime.

Johnsonreveals that

the film’smany candlelit

scenesrequired him

to come upwith a viableway to boost

theillumination.

“We shot atest and

achieved ourbest look

using double-wicked

candles shotwide open on

Primo primelenses at T1.9

on our pushed5219 … I’m

fortunate thatI was in an

environmentthat allowed

for creativesolutions toemerge and

wascollaborating

with a crewthat could

back up theseideas with a

mastery oftheir craft.”

Bottom: Thewerewolfbares his

fangs.

best look using double-wicked candlesshot wide open on Primo prime lensesat T1.9 on our pushed 5219. It was sucha simple solution that I might not haveexplored it so soon if I hadn’t had topush that one, post-magic-hour shot.I’m fortunate that I was in an environ-ment that allowed for creative solutionsto emerge and was collaborating with acrew that could back up these ideas witha mastery of their craft.

A central scene in the film takesplace in an operating-room theater,where doctors who are trying toconvince Lawrence that his afflictionsare delusional are suddenly provedwrong when the full moon appears. Thescene is sourced with gaslight, which hasa natural falloff and an oddly discom-forting appearance. To help establish aneerie presence in our mental-institutionscenes, we referenced Thomas Eakins’painting The Agnew Clinic, whichdepicts a Victorian Era medical proce-dure using a lone, monochromaticgaslight source. The painting has acentral subject under a full light that fallsoff quickly, rendering the audiencemembers part of the glazed shadows. Iemulated that type of light with two8'x16' light boxes fitted with Light

An uneasy Gwen makes her way through Talbot Hall with only candles to

light her path.

Control Grid. We suspended themfrom chain motors so we could remotelyadjust the light level and angle as thescene unfolded. The set was built with avertical aesthetic, which aided in re-creating the feel of the Eakins painting.

While scouting for a location forour climactic night pursuit through thewoods, I found myself standing alone inBourne Wood on a Sunday afternoon.Forests are always a bit of a challenge forcinematographers, because it’s difficultto light a thick forest without making itlook like you’re using an array of movielights. This particular forest had anextraordinary sculptural appearance,and I thought these forms could lookparticularly haunting at night. I found aspot of high ground where the forestfloor descended and formed a small hill.I thought about using the low area as alight well; I believed I could underlightthe entire forest with 20Ks placed there.This would be a new, exciting way tolight night. The sequence could be builtupon images of foreground formsmoving before dramatic, tangled back-grounds. This lighting scheme allowedus to look up without limits and create asense of scale for our characters withintheir surroundings. The final look isindeed an artificially lit forest, but Ibelieve this type of aggressive sourceincorporated within the storytelling willengage the audience in an exciting way.

With so many componentscoming together to form an overalllook, I wanted to have one consistentelement that could be integratedthroughout the film and anchor all ourvisual ideas. I wanted the highlights tohave a pearlescent, glowing look, andthe coexisting blacks to be rich, havingan ominous effect on values thatadjoined them in the frame. Usingsample images and Photoshop, Idevised a look called The Black LayerLuminance technique. I showed mytechnique to colorist Jill Bogdanowiczat Technicolor along with the stepsneeded to accomplish the effect inPhotoshop. Jill translated that intosomething she could implement in thedigital-intermediate bay. She is quite a

◗ Bad Moon Rising


Johnson framesDel Toro on one

of thecinematographer’s

favorite sets: aprimitive

formation ofstanding stonesconstructed as a

360-degree set onH-Stage at

SheppertonStudios. The set

featured apainted backingthat completely

surrounded a fauxhilltop dressed

with Druid stones.“In keeping with

my desire to haveopposing

elements co-exist,I created a

moonlight sourceto project througha 16'-wide cutoutin the top portion

of the backingthat was bothhard and soft

from the samedirection. I formed

a hard shadowusing an open-

faced 18K gelledwith ¾ CTO and

created a softsource from thesame placementwith an array of

diffused Maxi-Brutes gelled with

¼ CTB.”

STANDING STONES 3-31-08

Ground Row of single tube Flos.

(216) Located under rostrum.

(DMX)

34' 16'

E)

Green Screen rigged to

pullies pulled snug to perms

to be lowered as needed for

effects shots

Vertical Support

Topper

genius. She takes a luminance key offthe lower blacks and subtly defocusesthem, and then she punches throughthose areas with silvery highlights andcomes very close to what I did in mysamples. We are combining that with acertain amount of desturation, and thetotal look gives a sense of richness withthe heightened impression of anguish Iwas hoping to achieve.

In discussing the cinematography

on a project of this size and scale, onecan spend hours discussing how many20Ks were lined up in a given place, orthe technical intricacies of shooting acomplex sequence. A cinematographercan also speak in artistic terms,discussing the intensity a compositionmight bring to a screen moment, or thestorytelling attributes found in the colorspectrum. Ultimately, though, the cine-matographer is just one of the people

Makeup expert Rick Baker demonstratessome of the steps required to “animalize”

Del Toro.

43

involved in the creation of a film.Certain moments in a script will evokedifferent emotions in me than theywould in anybody else. Everyoneinvolved with a film brings to it his orher own, unique history, and everyone’spassion must coalesce into a finished

work. This, to me, is the great intangi-ble of filmmaking: what happens whenspecific people come together to tell aspecific story.

I believe that is one reason whycrewmembers such as those we had inLondon can become emotionally

attached to a project. Filmmaking is aninterchange of creative ideas that eitherhits upon a point of collaboration ordoesn’t. I believe that when minds cometogether who are meant to be together,that creatively charged atmosphere isconveyed on the screen and directly tothe audience. That’s how truly greatfilms have affected me. When I thinkback on the cinematography I’veadmired over the years, it’s usually notthe prettiest film or the film with themost dazzling action footage thatimpresses me. Although I respect thosetypes of movies, the films that get insideme with their emotional treatment of astory are the ones that hit home.

It’s a delicate phenomenon,because a cinematographer has to beready to give of himself to an audience.Actually, I don’t think I was truly readyto do that, to step well outside of mysafety zone in order to communicate anidea with the director and the actors,until just a few years ago. I had to learn

◗ Bad Moon Rising

44

Large arms were employed to light and shoot a city square.

how to take a risk without being 100-percent assured of the outcome, to trustthe feeling that my concept was theappropriate direction to take.

When I see or read interviewswith my favorite cinematographers,such as ASC members Gregg Toland,

James Wong Howe, Conrad Hall andAllen Daviau, I notice that when theydiscuss their artistry, they almost alwayspass the credit for their accomplish-ments to another person. They shotsome of the most incredible images inmovie history, and they understood that

they could not claim cinematography tobe a solitary form, but rather an essen-tial component of the art of film. I thinkthe collective spirit of the entire produc-tion team is what makes great thingshappen on the screen. For me, TheWolfman’s success will be measured bythe truth with which it reaches theaudience. ●

45

For smaller setups, such as this funeral cortege, dolly tracks and a pole-mounted fixture sufficed.

TECHNICAL SPECS

Super 1.85:1

Super 35mm

Panaflex Millennium XL

Primo lenses

Kodak Vision3 500T 5219, Vision2 200T 5217

Digital Intermediate

Printed on Kodak Vision 2383


Later this month, director of photography ChrisMenges, ASC, BSC will receive the ASCInternational Award in recognition of a 50-year careerin film and television that has taken him to the far

corners of the earth. It is a career that shows no sign ofabating; he recently wrapped London Boulevard for first-time director William Monahan and Route Irish for long-time collaborator Ken Loach. These latest two creditsillustrate a common thread that runs through Menges’work: the knack of teaming up with interesting new direc-tors, often shooting their first films, and also sustainingrelationships with directors across many years and manyprojects. Loach is a classic example: Menges made such an

ArtistryandConscience

Chris Menges, ASC, BSC receives the Society’s International

Award for creating a litany ofoutstanding images.

by Mark Hope-Jones

•|•


impression on the director while oper-ating the camera on Poor Cow (1967),Loach’s first feature, that Loach askedhim to photograph the next one, Kes(1970), Menges’ first movie as cine-matographer. Kes had a profoundimpact on British cinema and markedthe beginning of a creative partner-ship that endures to this day.

Other acclaimed directors whoworked with Menges early in theircareers and sought him out againinclude Stephen Frears, Bill Forsyth,Neil Jordan and Roland Joffé. Thelatter three established relationshipswith Menges during a period ofintense creativity for the cinemataog-rapher, when he abandoned documen-taries and turned his full attention toshooting features. He won AcademyAwards for two collaborations withJoffé, The Killing Fields (1984; ACApr. ’85) and The Mission (1986; ACFeb. ’87); the latter also broughtMenges his first ASC Award nomina-tion.

After he spent a decade focusingon directing, Menges returned to cine-matography with Jordan’s MichaelCollins (1996; AC Oct. ’96), earninganother set of Academy and ASCnominations. He was nominated bythe ASC and the Academy again lastyear, along with Roger Deakins, ASC,BSC, for Stephen Daldry’s The Reader

(2008), a film Menges took over whenproduction delays and previouscommitments forced Deakins fromthe project. “When I started out, Chriswas kind of my idol — and always hasbeen, actually,” says Deakins. “I thinkhe’s probably the greatest cinematog-rapher working today.”

Menges was born just over ayear into World War II in the ruralcounty of Herefordshire, England, ashort distance across the border fromwhere he now lives in Wales. Comingfrom a family of musicians whoworked in the theater, he developedan early interest in the arts. He had a

cousin with a job at the BBC, and itwasn’t long before Menges’ interestgravitated towards filmmaking. At theage of 17, he was introduced to AlanForbes, who would become an earlymentor. “At that time, we were living inNorth London, and I became anapprentice to Alan,” recalls Menges.“He was an American making docu-mentary films for the cinema and tele-vision in London. He was really theman who taught me the basics of cine-matography, editing and sound. I washis assistant, and he was a one-manband, so I had a rich opportunity tolearn different genres and techniques.Ph

otos

cou

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Chr

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This page:Mengescontributedstunningimagery to TheMission (1986),for which heearned anAcademy Award(near left) and anASC nomination(below). “Thelight in Colombiaand Argentinawas inspiring,and the crewwas superb,”says thecinematographer,who tends toshun thespotlight.“[Producer]David Puttnamtold me I shouldattend theOscars because,as he rightlynoted, thenominationbelonged to theentire shootingcrew.”


He was a great teacher.”By the time Forbes returned to

the United States, at the end of the1950s, Menges had cut his teeth on anumber of gritty social documentariesand dramas. He had also built up someuseful industry contacts, and he quicklyfound a job in the cutting room atDerek Knight & Partners in Soho,which in turn led to work as a camera-man for Alan King Associates. Oneparticularly influential person to whomhe was introduced by Forbes was cine-matographer Brian Probyn, BSC.Menges describes Probyn as “anothervery good teacher” and worked sporad-ically as his assistant on short films,including The Saturday Men (1962),which came straight out of the natural-istic tradition of Free Cinema. In 1963,Menges joined the World in Action teamat Granada Television and swiftlybecame a highly experienced camera-man. Over the next few years, his work-ing relationship with Probyncontinued; it was for Probyn that heoperated on Loach’s Poor Cow, Menges’first taste of feature-film work.

World in Action was a hard-hitting, investigative-journalism pro-gram that aired in Britain from 1963to 1998. “They sent me all over theplace with really good journalists likeAlex Valentine, Stephen Peet andMichael Parkinson,” says Menges.

“We covered news stories such as thefighting in Angola, the uprising inZanzibar, the civil war in Cyprus,Spain under Franco, and, most impor-tantly for me, we went to SouthAfrica during the time of apartheid.

Armed with a Bolex and looking a bitlike a student, I went up to Bulawayoin Matabeleland with Alex Valentineto make a documentary about theNdebele’s support for the AfricanNational Congress, which was a realeducation. All of these things were

amazing — to be that age and to betraveling, learning and seeing — butSouth Africa was important becausewhen I was asked to direct A WorldApart [1988], I knew I could film it inBulawayo. I knew I’d have politicalsupport from the ANC groups I’d metand could give the city enough of afeel of Johannesburg, because, obvi-ously, we couldn’t actually shoot thefilm in South Africa.”

Experiences such as these madeMenges an international filmmakerfrom the earliest years of his career.Many of the documentaries he shotinvolved traveling to dangerousregions and taking extraordinary risks,especially the films he made withdirector Adrian Cowell. Their firstcollaboration was Raid Into Tibet(1966), a 30-minute documentarythat followed a group of Khambaguerrillas as they crossed the borderinto Tibet and attacked a Chinesemilitary convoy. Menges, Cowell andjournalist George Patterson accompa-nied the Khambas on a grueling trekacross the mountains and filmed theraid. Several Chinese soldiers werekilled during the attack, and the raid-ing party eventually fled when one ofthe guerrillas was shot.

Menges and Cowell alsoworked together on a series of filmsabout illicit opium production in the

◗ Artistry and ConscienceNear right:

Menges (right)deplanes with

journalistMichael

Parkinson in1964 while

covering theCyprus Civil

War andZanzibar

Revolution forthe British TV

program Worldin Action. Far

right: Mengesgives youngactor David

Bradley a“butcher’s

look” whileshooting Kes

(1970).

“The things I go forare good writing

and a good story,and hopefully

something withpolitical energy.”

— Chris Menges, ASC, BSC


Golden Triangle. The pair had visitedBurma during an earlier filmmakingtour of Southeast Asia, but their1972-73 expedition into the Burmesemountains for The Opium Warlords(1974) proved far more treacherous.“We were with the Shan State Army,a group fighting for independencefrom Burma, and we had a lot of trou-ble,” Menges recalls. “Remnants ofthe Kuomintang [who fled Chinaafter losing a power struggle with theCommunists after World War II] hadcome to Burma to run the opiumtrade, and they declared war on theShan State Army. For a year-and-a-half, they chased us from mountain tomountain, ambushing us and tryingto blow us up. During the long marchfrom northern Shan State to the Thaiborder, we carried our shot rushes inpolystyrene boxes on mules — muchof the footage remained exposed andundeveloped for over a year. The fivemules with our rushes had big crosseson them, and our instruction to thearmy was that they were the only onesto save when we were ambushed.”

The 1960s and 1970s weredominated by documentary work for

Menges, though he grabbed opportu-nities to build on his fiction-filmexperience between projects. “Havingjust come out of the Amazon withAdrian Cowell on The Tribe ThatHides From Man [1970], where wewere searching for the Kreen-Akrore[tribe] with the Txukahamae, I caughtthe train to Cheltenham the day afterarriving back in London to operate onIf… [1968]. That film was a learning

curve for me and an important projectfor two reasons: one was working with[director] Lindsay Anderson, and theother was working with [cinematog-rapher] Miroslav Ondrícek [ASC,ACK], who had shot A Blonde in Love[1965].”

An appreciation for Czechcinema was one of the things thatdrew Menges and Loach togetherwhen they met on Poor Cow. “I

Top left: In 1964, Menges crossed into Tibet at an altitude of 19,000' withthe Khambas, who attacked a Chinese military convoy. “We were chased

back into Nepal by the Chinese army,” he says. Top right: Covering the civilwar in Angola. Bottom: In 1969, Menges (right) makes his way through

Vietnam with soundman Ivan Sharrock, “a friend and somebody to be withwhen all hell breaks loose.”

Ang

ola

phot

o by

Chr

is W

angl

er.


suspect we were both profoundlyaffected by films coming fromCzechoslovakia, such as Peter andPavla [1964] and A Blonde in Love —Milos Forman’s early films,” saysMenges. “Those films had a real senseof irony, of sensitivity, of catching themoment and of natural light. Theywere moving and also funny.” Loachrecognized that Menges’ skills as adocumentary cameraman could helpgive Kes a similar style. “Doing docu-mentaries, you learn to catch every-thing that comes at you,” saysMenges. “I’m sure that must havebeen partly what appealed to Ken

about my work.”Though his documentary expe-

rience undoubtedly informedMenges’ approach to drama, thecameras generally used for the twogenres differed far more at the start ofhis career than they do today. In 1963,when Menges joined World in Action,Éclair released the NPR, the firstsilent, portable 16mm camera with acoaxial magazine. “It was a revolutionbecause you could pick it up and walkwith it,” says Menges. “You had areflex viewfinder that swiveled withyour eye, so you could boom thecamera up and down and your eye

would stay with the eyepiece.” Bycontrast, “on Kes, the camera was in ahuge, lead-lined blimp that took twopeople to lift it off the ground.”

Interestingly, the freedoms andlimitations of different formats andgenres led Menges to the sameconclusion: what the camera does isalways subordinate to what ishappening in front of it. Shootinghandheld with the NPR, “yousuddenly realized it’s no good gettinggreat pictures if you can’t hear whatpeople are saying,” he explains. “In away, the real test when you’re on afilm set is to shut your eyes and listen

Clockwise from top left: Menges (right) confers with cinematographer Miroslav Ondrícek(center) and Czech interpreter Jirina Tvarochova while serving as camera operator on If… (1968);finding a frame with director Neil Jordan (center) and operator Mike Roberts on Michael Collins

(1996); learning “the ways of the cowboys” and “what makes Tommy tick” while filming TheThree Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005) with director Tommy Lee Jones; experiencing

“harmony” with director Jim Sheridan (at camera) on The Boxer (1997).

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to the dialogue.” On Kes, the equip-ment was cumbersome and the workrate slow, but for Menges, it was afascinating experience because helearned so much about what makes afiction film succeed. “The first thingabout Kes is that it’s beautifully writ-ten,” he says. “The next thing is thesensitive direction and great acting,and then, almost down at the bottomof the list, are the framing andphotography.”

The catalyst for Menges’ even-tual renunciation of documentarywork was a British film he made inSpanish Harlem called East 103rdStreet (1981). He explains, “It wasn’tuntil then that I realized I’m scared ofdocumentaries, because I recognizedthat however hard you try not toexploit people, you can end up in asituation where you do. That film wasput out in America, and I wasn’tconsulted; it was about a family with adrug history, and I think I should havebeen allowed to discuss it with thefamily before it was broadcast in NewYork. Also, ATV got about $30,000for the transmission, and I think that

money should have been put towardssomething that helped the family andhelped with addiction in New York.What they did was rotten, and that’s

why I stopped.”Following this disquieting expe-

rience, Menges made a decisive transi-tion into feature films. After shootingLooks and Smiles (1981) for Loach, he

was asked to work on Angel, Jordan’sfirst film. “Neil is a writer from a totallydifferent tradition,” says the cine-matographer. “It was exciting becausehe didn’t know much about movies,and I was learning about Irish politics.For Neil, it was a true baptism of fire,and in a way, it was also that for me.”

Another director to make astrong impression on Menges at thattime was Alan Clarke, for whom heshot Made in Britain (1982). Mengesdescribes Clarke as “probably the bestdirector I’ve worked with other thanKen Loach. He was a complete inspi-ration because everything wasSteadicam or handheld; every time wedid a shot, he would harden it up andgive it real energy. Alan was a cham-pion of catching the moment. It wastotally different from what Ken does,and yet they both have enormousenergy and a kind of logic that servesthe writing.”

While working on A Sense ofFreedom (1979) with director JohnMackenzie, Menges met Forsyth,who later asked him to shoot LocalHero (1983). Set in a small fishingvillage on the west coast of Scotland,the film charmed critics and audi-ences alike; its exquisite locationphotography won universal praise andbrought Menges his first BAFTAnomination. “Bill is a smashing blokeand a really good director,” saysMenges. “I don’t know why the hellhe doesn’t make more films. It wasjust a fabulous experience. One day,Burt Lancaster was sitting in his chairon the office set, and I was looking athis desk while we were waiting. Imoved two of the pens on the desk,and this voice growled, ‘Don’t touchmy props. They’re my memory.’ Eventhat was an education: actors’ propsare important to them!”

The accolades garnered byalmost every film Menges worked onduring that period led to one oppor-tunity after another. “It probablyhelped that Kes was a well-liked film,and when Angel came out, [producer]David Puttnam agreed to have me on

Capturing a contemplative moment on The Reader (2008). Menges shared the film’s cinematographycredit with his good friend Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC; the duo earned Academy, ASC and BAFTA award

nominations for their work.


“I think Chris is probably the greatest

cinematographerworking today.”

— Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC

Local Hero,” says Menges. “Then,when Local Hero came out, Roland[ Joffé] asked me to do The KillingFields, and Puttnam agreed to that aswell.” Joffé was determined to giveThe Killing Fields, which is set amidthe horrors of the Khmer Rougeregime in Cambodia, an authenticfeel. “Roland wanted someone who’dbeen in a few bloody conflicts,” saysMenges. “In addition to whathappened in Burma, I’d done severalfilms for the BBC in Vietnam.During prep, we went to Thailandand talked endlessly about how togive it the quality of the documen-taries I’d shot in Saigon. The KillingFields was an extraordinary film, andit was entirely Roland’s vision. A lot of

talented people gave their hearts to it,but he made that film, and as far asI’m concerned, it was Roland whowon the Oscar for cinematography.”

Before taking a break to try hishand at directing, Menges shot TheMission for Joffé, an experience hedoes not look back on as fondly as TheKilling Fields, despite the fact that itearned him another Oscar. He isdismissive of his directorial effortsduring the years that followed, thoughA World Apart won awards at Cannesand from the New York Film Critics.“At least two of the films I made werecomplete disasters, ill-conceived andbadly made,” he says. “So to be invitedback to shoot Michael Collins and towork with Neil [ Jordan] and [opera-

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Above: Menges (inbackground, far

right, with whitesweater) won his first

Academy Award forThe Killing Fields

(1984), directed byRoland Joffé (center,

in dark shirt). Right: Examining

storyboards for TheReader with directorStephen Daldry and

script supervisorSusanna Lenton. “We

had a few days toshoot a very complex

set of ideas,” Menges recalls.

tor] Mike Roberts and all those actorswas very, very important. It’s a film Iwarm to myself, and it was lucky thathe asked me, because I was in a bit ofa grump at that stage.”

Since then, Menges has worked

on a steady stream of interestingprojects, including Jim Sheridan’s TheBoxer (1997), for which he earned anASC nomination (AC June ’98); SeanPenn’s The Pledge (2001); Jordan’s TheGood Thief (2002); Frears’ Dirty Pretty

Things (2002); Tommy Lee Jones’ TheThree Burials of Melquiades Estrada(2005); and Richard Eyre’s Notes on aScandal (2006). “I think the things Igo for are good writing and a goodstory, and hopefully something withpolitical energy,” he says. “The prob-lem is that what you read on papermay not necessarily turn out to be agood film. You can only give it yourbest and pray.” Menges continues tooperate the camera on his films. “Forme, looking through the finder duringrehearsals and during a take helps mediscipline my sense of framing, of howto catch a character, of light, and ofhow to tell the story. I believe that ifyou don’t operate, you lose a lot ofthose skills because you’re probablylooking at a video monitor that givesyou no real sense of the performanceor the light.”

When Deakins left film schoolin the mid-1970s, he sought Mengesout to ask his advice about how to


In 1988, Mengesdirected his firstfeature, A WorldApart, which hedescribes as his

“best experience”on a set. He

enlisted fellowBSC member

Peter Biziou ascinematographer.

54

become a documentary cameraman.“One of the first television documen-taries I did was about a ’round-the-world yacht race,” says Deakins.“Chris and I were working for thesame TV company at the time, andI’m sure he’d already turned the jobdown.” Menges recalls it distinctly:“Oh, God, I just couldn’t do it — beon a yacht going around the worldand be sick every day!” Deakins tookthe project on and was excited to beusing one of the cameras Menges hadrecently brought back from Burma.Two decades later, Deakins wasequally excited to share cinematogra-pher duties with Menges on TheReader. “I’m flattered to be on thesame [title] card as him, really,”reflects Deakins.

Since becoming an ASC memberin October 2003, Menges has visitedthe Clubhouse and met with fellowmembers, but, he notes, “it’s a long wayaway from the Radnorshire hillside

where we live, surrounded by sheep! ButI get American Cinematographer everymonth. I’ve been reading it since I was17, and I find the combination ofinformation and ideas totally exhila-rating; without it, one could feel really

isolated and miss out on learning newideas and new tricks.” As for the ASCInternational Award, he says, “I don’tknow quite why I’ve been chosen, butI’m really thrilled.” ●

Mengesspends somequality timewith an animalfriend inWales, wherehe has a homein a steepvalleysurrounded bymoorland,trees andwildlife. “Thefarm pulls meback to earth,”he says.

55


Since the birth of cinema, it has been the cinematogra-pher’s charge, if not calling, to wrangle the technical toserve an artistic goal, and the recent, rapid evolution ofdigital technologies has added layers of complexity to

this challenge. Forging into new territories, experimentingwith new media and pushing the boundaries of possibilitieshave always been check-boxes in our mad-scientist jobdescription, and over the past decade I’ve had opportunitiesto explore the pros and cons of several digital motion-picturecameras, including Panasonic’s VariCam; Sony’s CineAltafamily, which includes the F900, F950, F23 and F35cameras; Panavision’s Genesis; Vision Research’s PhantomHD; and Red Digital Cinema’s Red One. Naturally, each ofthese platforms presented its own learning curve in terms ofboth practical handling and image control.

AC ’s recent reader survey revealed significant interestin the subject of shooting with the Red, so my goal with thisarticle is to discuss some aspects of that camera’s particularusage. I have shot some of my favorite projects with the Red,and I’m extremely proud of the imagery I have created withit, but the Red, like any other camera platform, is not perfect.

I have so far used the Red to photograph more than 50music videos and commercials. The first was the music videofor Chris Brown’s “Forever,” which I shot in early 2008,when the camera was still fairly new in the marketplace. Atthat time, few rental houses had them, and even fewer rentalhouses or post facilities knew how to handle them. As withany new technology — and certainly with any new model ofworkflow — there were some growing pains. I’d shot loads ofdigital imagery with other platforms, but I quickly foundthat many aspects of working with the Red were unique to

AC’s technical editor shares some tips and observations about

shooting with the Red One digital camera.

by Christopher Probst

•|•

WorkingWiththe

Red


the camera. For example, early on, youcould quickly get bogged down justtrying to define the best codec to use soyou could edit your files on an Avid;the Red was launched with a postprotocol geared primarily toward usingFinal Cut Pro, leaving post facilitiesinitially at a loss as to how to edit andonline footage in other systems.

There are several things youshould take into consideration beforeselecting the Red for a job. It shouldfirst be noted that, in my opinion, thecamera is presently not well suited forlow-light, warm-colored scenes; itsnative color temperature is around5,000°K, and the manufacturer recom-mends the camera be rated at 320ASA. The camera designers’ decisionto balance what I would regard as amedium-sensitivity sensor towarddaylight was a little shortsighted. Thepermanent color-temperature bias ofthe Red is “locked in” at polar oppo-sites of the real-world shooting condi-tions cinematographers typically face:we mainly need less sensitivity indaylight and more sensitivity in artifi-cial lighting situations.

Let me explain: If you’re plan-ning to shoot an intimate, candlelitinterior, you will likely be shooting invery low light levels in color tempera-tures near 2,000°K. No matter how youset the Red’s “viewing” settings — youcan adjust the monitoring look-uptable to display any color-temperaturesetting you desire — you will not beaffecting how the “raw” image isrecorded. This means you might bedramatically reducing the blue-channelinformation that the “blue-hungry”sensor receives. The result, dependingalso on your lighting and exposure,might be an objectionable amount ofnoise in the image.

The “remedy” isn’t much of one:If you place a color-correction filter onthe camera to compensate for using thedaylight-balanced technology in atungsten-or-lower color-temperatureenvironment, you will need to use atleast an 80C blue filter. An 80Cabsorbs more than a full stop of light,Fram

e gr

abs

and

phot

os c

ourt

esy

of C

hris

toph

er P

robs

t.

Opposite and this page: The music video for Katy Perry’s “Waking Up in Vegas” was shot entirely onlocation in Las Vegas by cinematographer Christopher Probst (shown operating the camera in the

middle photo on this page), who used Red One cameras (Build 20 of the firmware) and Arri MasterPrime lenses.


so if you apply it, your 320-ASA digi-tal camera will be rated below 160ASA. Most cinematographers wouldnot select a 100-ASA or even 200-ASA negative in a low-light circum-stance. We would, in fact, probably usea 500-ASA tungsten stock and push itas much as one stop, yielding an ASAof 640-1,000, depending on how werate the film and force-processing onour meter. The difference betweenshooting low-light scenes with 100-to-160-ASA sensitivity vs. 500-to-1,000-ASA sensitivity speaks for itself.

Over the course of my experi-ences with the Red, I’ve grappled withhow to best address this low-lightproblem. I almost always choose thefastest lenses possible, Zeiss Super-speed T1.3 primes or the newer ArriMaster Primes, which are also T1.3.The Red is often selected based onbudgetary limitations, and if that’s thecase on your project, obtaining thecostlier Master Primes will be tricky.On the music video for Katy Perry’s“Waking Up in Vegas,” however, wewere able to obtain Master Primes. LasVegas casino interiors, though adornedwith a dizzying array of blinking,glowing and flashing lights, are actu-ally quite dark. Shooting wide-open onMaster Primes and balancing mysupplemental lighting to the existingambience allowed me to capture someof my favorite Red footage to date.

As of this writing, Red DigitalCinema has said that when it releasesits next camera, the Epic, later thisyear, One owners will have the optionof upgrading the One’s sensor to thenew Mysterium-X chip, which willreportedly offer increased sensitivityand reduced noise. The company’sliterature does not provide an ASArating for the new imager but suggeststhat the sensor performs comparably ataround 800 ASA. This will be a greatstep toward solving the low-light prob-lem, and I look forward to testing theupgrade when it becomes available.

The Red One’s CMOSMysterium sensor utilizes what iscalled a “rolling” shutter to achieve its

◗ Working With the Red

Above: Framegrabs from ChrisBrown’s “Crawl,”

which Probstshot in

downtown LosAngeles using

Red’s beta-onlyfirmware update,

Build 21, in 4KAnamorphic

mode. Right:Probst at work

on anotherproject.

image capture. Unlike Arri’s D-21camera, the Red has no physical rotat-ing reflex mirror; like many digitalcameras on the market, it uses an elec-tronic-shutter scheme to create aneffective scan-rate at which a frame islooked at on the sensor. Problems arisewith all electronic rolling shutterswhen the camera is moved veryquickly, like with a whip-pan; or whenthe camera travels at a fast rate perpen-dicular to a stationary object; or if thereis a very rapid momentary change inthe exposure condition. In theseinstances, strobing, partial exposure ora skewing of the geometric lines in theframe can occur.

Strobing caused by camerapanning has been a consideration withfilm cameras for decades, but a rollingshutter can also create split frames ofexposure with very fast changes in theframe. For example, I recently shot thevideo for Chris Brown’s “Crawl” indowntown Los Angeles using a Redand anamorphic lenses. In one scene,we had several paparazzi flashbulbsgoing off in-shot. Because still-photoflashes are very brief in duration, manyof the subsequent exposed “frames” onthe Red recorded half of the flash inone frame, and the other “half ” in thesubsequent frame. I found this effect tobe very distracting but was unable todeal with it on set.

The Red has also exhibitedsensitivity to heat, which can affect theimage and camera in peculiar ways.The camera does have settings thatallow you to control its fan functions,but even with the camera set to run thecooling fan continuously — which youcannot do if you’re also recording on-

set sound — the Red has exhibitedseveral problems in hot environments.This is due in part to the camera’sdesign: the heat-sink ventilation is

located on the bottom of the body. Aswe all know, heat rises. The main chas-sis of the Red is basically analuminum-alloy cylinder, and whenthe camera gets hot, the heat risesinside this tubular body and literallycooks the electronics inside from thetop down. As the sensor overheats,several hairline vertical “scratches”begin to appear in the image; thesedefects appear on the viewing outputto the monitor and are also recorded tothe “raw” .r3d files. I have witnessedthis on many occasions with manydifferent Red bodies. The only way tosolve this problem is to take the camerainto a colder environment and allow itto cool down. Once it cools, the streaksin the image will go away. So if you’replanning to shoot a big Western inDeath Valley in the middle of summer,you should carefully consider whetherto use the Red — or at least bring lotsof ice packs to place around the body.

I have also found the Red’sonboard-battery harness to be verytemperamental. I’ve had dozens of Redcameras power themselves off after theslightest jostling of the onboardbattery. The contact pins that engagethe batteries are prone to intermittentfailure, and when that happens, thecamera shuts down. This is, of course,also a service issue for the camera-rental house, but I have experienced


Eminem paysthe ultimateprice for histransgressionsin the musicvideo for “WeMade You,”directed byJoseph Kahnand shot byProbst withRed cameras(Build 20). Thevideo won the2009 MTVVideo MusicAward for BestHip-Hop Video.

“I’d shot loads of digital imagery withother platforms, but I quickly found thatmany aspects of

working with the Redwere unique to the camera.”


this problem with Red camerasprovided by rental houses in all parts ofthe world. Potential Red users shouldbe aware of this, because no one canguarantee the particular hardwareoption/upgrade being used on individ-ual Red cameras in the field.

This spontaneous powering-down problem is compounded by the

fact that the Red One has a slow boot-up time, which I affectionately call “thelongest 90 seconds of your life.” I havebeen in situations where we weregetting ready to roll, the set was lockedup, all cuing was at the ready, and as theslate was placed in front of the camera,the battery connection failed, and wehad to release everything because it

would then take approximately twominutes for the Red to return to a roll-ready state.

There are several workaroundsfor this problem. One is that you canrun the camera off a tethered blockbattery that is not physically mountedon the camera. However, the camerawill not indicate when these blockbatteries are running low, so powerinterruptions can occur in this scenario.There have been improvements to theonboard-battery mounts, and morethan one configuration is availablefrom third-party manufacturers. Still,this is an ongoing problem, and as Redcameras age in the rental market, theirconnection ports will need to be prop-erly serviced in order to help preventthis dreaded occurrence. Additionally,to avoid reboot delays when changingbatteries, most rental houses now carry“hot-swap” options so that the camerawill never lose power as batteries orpower-supply sources are changed.

Certain kinds of vibrations canalso create problems with the recordingdevices used with the Red One. Whenchoosing which recording medium touse, you should take vibration — phys-ical as well as the kind caused by loudnoise levels — into consideration. Thethree most prevalent data-captureoptions currently being used with Redcameras are: 1) recording to CompactFlash cards that insert directly into thebody; 2) saving the files to an onboardRed Drive; and 3) using onboardRedRAM drives.

The Compact Flash card, theleast expensive option, offers the short-est recording time but is a fairly stableand proven recording medium.Occasionally you might encounter abad card — I have lost takes to a cardstating a failure after a whole take wasexecuted — but, for the most part, thisis the most dependable way to savedata on the camera. However, withmost CF cards offering full-resolution4K recording times comparable to a1,000' magazine of 35mm film, thereported time savings of shooting digi-tal and not having to constantly reload


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film is moot. Also, CF cards do placelimits on the recordingspeed/resolution that can be used; a16GB CF card will not allow shooting2K 120 fps using Redcode 36, whereasRed Drives and RedRAM drivessupport that.

Red Drives offer substantiallylonger recording times; you can defi-nitely outrun even the longest film-load scenario, with more than 120minutes of capture time available at4K. But there is a catch: If you are in avery jarring environment, or even ifyou’re just around loud sounds, youmight experience a number of dropped

frames while recording your data to aRed Drive. On one of my Red projects,a commercial, the sound of the talentyelling in a room created hundreds ofdropped frames. The incident couldhave gone unnoticed if the assistanthadn’t been keeping an eye on theonboard monitor while the monitorwas not “zoomed in.” (When “zoomedin,” you lose the data-display informa-tion on the onboard monitor thatshows dropped frames have occurredduring a take.) It’s ironic that the Redis so often used to shoot music videos,where loud playback is the norm. It issomewhat frustrating that if we don’t

want to risk dropped frames with theRed Drive, we must either switch tothe shorter-record-length CF cards oracquire RedRAM drives, the mostexpensive recording option.

The RedRAM drive utilizes thesame solid-state technology as CFcards, internally arraying a number oflaptop flash drives together to allow upto 40 minutes of 4K Redcode Rawinformation. The catch is that theRedRAM drive is approximately fivetimes more expensive than a standardRed Drive and roughly nine timesmore expensive than a 16GB Red CFcard. However, many filmmakers findthat the long recording time andcomparative stability around vibrationsmake this the best recording option ofthe three.

A discussion of the Red One’squalities would be incomplete if itdidn’t touch upon the resolution/compression options the system offers.It is remarkable that Jim Jannard wasable to bring a 4K camera to the marketat a price point accessible to almosteveryone, but the adage, “If it soundstoo good to be true, it probably is,”comes to mind. In order to discuss theRed One’s resolution, it is first neces-sary to discuss the system’s MysteriumBayer-pattern CMOS sensor.


Probst alsoused the Red

One on a pairof commercials

for Honda(right) and HP(below). Both

spots wereshot using

Build 20.

Bayer-pattern imagers incorpo-rate a unique system to derive RGBcolor information in order to form animage. In this chip architecture, thesensor is laid out with groups of fouradjacent color receptors: two greenphotosites are arranged diagonally andare flanked by individual red and bluephotosites. This sort of checkerboardpattern is repeated across the entiresensor. (See illustration above.) Colorinformation for a specific region of theimage must therefore be interpreted byde-Bayer-processing the green “pixel”photosites group with their adjacent redand blue photosites to calculate a cumu-lative RGB value. Put more plainly,with a Bayer pattern, each photosite onthe sensor does not represent an indi-vidual RGB value of color information.Just how this color-receptor schemetranslates into effective resolution canlead to confusion when comparing it toother sensor technologies with differentresolution designations.

For this reason, it is difficult tocompare resolution properties of a 4KBayer-pattern camera to a camera thatderives data from oversampled pixels orfrom a sensor that utilizes co-sitedphotosites, individual photosites that

feature separate RGB “co-sites” toyield a true one-to-one pixel-to-RGBvalue. It’s true that the Bayer-pattern

information that comes from the RedOne’s sensor is technically 4K data, butin the real world, the only way theMysterium could deliver true 4K reso-lution would be if the sensor were used

as a monochrome chip, delivering ablack-and-white picture. In thatscenario, each photosite sample wouldbe discrete and would not be averagedwith any adjacent photosite data; everyphotosite would contribute discretelyto the overall resolution. Unfortunately,with a Bayer-pattern imager, eachphotosite on the sensor does not gener-ate an RGB value. And because aBayer-pattern sensor must use colorinformation from at least four adjacentphotosites to derive a single RGBvalue, it is necessarily true that the effec-tive resolution derived from the 4KBayer data is less than 4K.

The cinematographer’s goal withany format is to use it to the best of itscapabilities and capture as much infor-mation and latitude as possible. Withthat in mind, I state that the Red Oneshould only be used in the highest-resolution setting possible for a givenshooting scenario. The system doesallow you to record in a number oflower resolutions, and with differentdegrees of compression, but to do so isto step onto a very slippery slope.

Let’s suppose for a moment thatyou’re hired to shoot a job whose endresult is standard high-definition

This illustrationdetails a smallsection of a Bayerpattern, which theRed One’sMysterium sensorutilizes to deriveits colorinformation. Notethat for everysquare four-photosite clusterwithin this scheme,there are twogreen photositesfor every single redand blue photosite.De-Bayerprocessing istherefore requiredto derive RGB datavalues.

“In the real world, the only way theMysterium coulddeliver true 4K

resolution would be if the sensor were used as a

monochrome chip.”



1920x1080 24p imagery. You mightthink it would make sense to simplyshoot the project at that resolution,thereby avoiding all the down-rezzinghassles in post. But whenever I haveshot the Red at any resolution settingother than 4K, there has been a markeddifference in image quality. I’ve had theopportunity to do direct frame compar-isons of a scene that was shot at full 4K16x9 resolution using Redcode 36, andthen, in the same lighting and compo-sition, at 2K resolution for slow-motion. The difference from 4K to 2Kwas startling. I was viewing the footagein its purest form, straight from the de-Bayered .r3d files on a properly cali-brated system capable of displayinghigh resolutions, so I was able to trulyinspect my digital “negative.”

The Red camera alters its resolu-tion and speed settings by physicallychanging the way it “looks” at its sensorto gather its image data. (See illustra-tion on p. 65.) In basic terms, as youlower your resolution settings on thecamera, the camera physically looks atless and less of the sensor. So when youswitch from 4K to 2K, you effectivelyswitch from looking at the full Super


Another ofProbst’s Red

projects, a kookyU.K. ad for theflavored drink

Oasis, was shot inThailand but set inTokyo. In the spot,a giant comic-book

rubber duck that“hates” ordinary

water wreakshavoc on those

foolish enough notto enjoy Oasis.


35mm-sized sensor to looking at anarea half that size, comparable to Super16mm.

This characteristic comes to thefore when capturing material at higherframe rates. Suppose you want tocapture a shot at 24 fps and then, withthe same composition, do a take inslow-motion at 72 fps. Currently, withBuild 20 of Red One firmware, youmust switch the camera to 2K resolu-tion in order to shoot 72 fps. Andbecause the camera is now scanninghalf the sensor size it was scanning inthe 4K take, you must change lenses onthe camera to compensate. Thisbecomes increasingly problematic if theshot in question is a wide shot. If youoriginally rolled with a 14mm UltraPrime on the camera, you need a 7mmprime lens to achieve the same field-of-view when you switch to 2K 72 fps.Certainly, extreme-wide-angle 35mm-format lenses exist, but they oftenexhibit certain distortion characteristicsand are usually slower than their stan-dard-focal-length counterparts. Theneed to switch the lenses at all is

nuisance enough, but if you want toaccomplish wide slow-motion shots,you must therefore carry a separate setof wide 16mm-format lenses to coverthe 2K Super 16mm scan size.

Red Digital Cinema hascorrected much of this problem in itsnext camera system, the Epic S35,which will offer up to 100 fps in 5Kresolution and 125 fps in 4K resolution.Additionally, the Epic line will featureseveral different “brain” modules withdifferent sensor options, includingSuper 35-sized Mysterium-X chips,full-frame 35mm still photo, 645format, and even 617 format-sizedMonstro sensors. These cameras willalso feature improvements in theRedcode compression-setting options.

This brings me to one of the most important considerations for those considering the Red platform:compression. One of the miracles of the Red One is also one of itsAchilles’ heels. Taking what should be amassive file of RAW 4K image data andrecording it to a small CF card wouldseem to require some form of internalcomputational alchemy that Red isn’tkeen to publicize. (It is based on theJPEG 2000 compression algorithm).However, in general terms, if you breaka 12-bit 4K Bayer-pattern moving-image file down to its mathematicalcomponents, it would add up to some-thing like the theoretical data boxedbelow.

Currently, Red’s highest

Theoretical uncompressed 4K image data:4K 16x9 image (4096 x 2304 pixels) = 9,368,064 pixels per frame

12 bits per pixel = 12 x 9,368,064 = 112,416,768 bits per Bayer-pattern frame112,416,768 bits /8 = 14,052,096 Bytes14,052,096 Bytes /1024 = 13,722 KB

13,772.75 KB /1024 = 13.401 MB per frame13.401 MB x 24fps = 321.627 MB per second or 2573 Mb/s

This is a simple illustration demonstrating the various scanning sizes the Red One uses in its different resolution settings. Note that as theresolution goes down, so does the physical size of the sensor used.

compression standard — Redcode 36at 23.98 fps — records approximately1.8 GB per minute, or .03 GB persecond, which calculates to roughly240 Mb per second. When youcompare that to an uncompressed datarate of 2573 Mb/s, you can see thatRedcode 36 offers a compression ratioin the neighborhood of approximately10:1. What this means in terms ofimage-making is that there are somedefinite trade-offs in terms of dynamicrange and subtleties in the range oftones.

I have seen this in practical testswith the camera. In one instance, aPhantom HD camera was set up side-by-side with a Red One on the cameraprep floor to shoot the same “scene.”The file that the Phantom HD gener-ated at 2K resolution was, on average,approximately 8 times larger than theRed’s 4K file. Given that significantamount of compression, coupled withthe Bayer-pattern sensor’s

color/resolution considerations, I havea hard time calling the Red’s .r3d filestrue RAW data.

One final aspect to touch uponis post. Just as with film cameras, howyou handle the post process for the

Red is as important to the camera’sperformance as how you light andcapture your imagery. With the Red,“post” really begins the moment thedata is removed from the camera onset. Careful handling of unprotecteddata — footage that has not beenbacked up to multiple duplicate drives— is paramount. The importance ofhaving properly trained individualsperforming this task cannot be over-stated. Once the Red’s data exists ondrives as master .r3d files, a wholerange of various image-handling —and quality-affecting — options openup.

Without detailing every pipelinepossible for processing and manipulat-ing Red material, I would point outthat there are several different methodsto de-Bayer, down-rez and online theraw data to enable color correction andassembly of an edited project.Different color-correction platforms— DaVinci, Luster, Pablo and your


WE WANT YOUR OPINION!The 10 Best-Shot

Films of 1998-2008Our 80th anniversary readers’ poll covered the years

1894-1997, and it’s time to bring it up to date.

Films from every nation are eligible, provided they

were theatrically released between 1998 and 2008.

The 10 Best-ShotFilms of 1998-2008

Our 80th anniversary readers’ poll covered the years

1894-1997, and it’s time to bring it up to date.

Films from every nation are eligible, provided they

were theatrically released between 1998 and 2008.

Submit your picks online* by March 31st at www.theasc.com.

The nomination form will include room for comments,

which might be included in our coverage of the results.

*Subscriber login required

WE WANT YOUR OPINION!

66

“The Red has a slow boot-up time,

which I affectionatelycall ‘the longest 90 seconds of

your life.’”

own Apple computer — offer differentways to ingest Red material: filesconverted to DPX; platforms that caninternally work from the raw .r3d code;or converting the raw footage to tape,such as laying the material down toHDCam-SR. Each of these optionspresents its own plusses and minuses interms of the ease of post and will havea different impact on the look of theimage.

Digital cinematography is evolv-ing daily, and as the specifics of thetools we use change, the need for cine-matographers to embrace that changeand maintain our role as the author ofthe image is critical. Digital motion-picture cameras have altered the film-production paradigm, but theirpresence need not be a death knell forartistry or quality. Just as film hasevolved and matured over the lastcentury, so, too, will digital capture, andthat is something I’m very excited towitness and embrace. ●

67

The author,shown heretaking a breakon the set, hasused the RedOne on morethan 50projects.


The horror film is stylistically rooted in GermanExpressionism of the 1920s, but the 1970s found thegenre in transition. Smash Hollywood hits such as TheExorcist (1973), Jaws (1975), Carrie (1976) and The Omen

(1976) not only offered graphic shocks, but also transformed orcompletely shed the genre’s traditional trappings of ghouls,ghosts and goblins. Instead, the characters and situationsbecame somewhat familiar, the settings were contemporaryand even homey, and the films’ largely naturalistic cinematog-raphy firmly grounded the fantastic in reality.

A world away, in Italy, filmmaker Dario Argento hadcarved out a unique niche in the fright-film business with suchthrillers as The Bird With the Crystal Plumage (1970) and DeepRed (1975). These atmospheric stories, populated withdemented killers and boasting grotesque set pieces, drip withequal parts gore and suspense — pop-culture products of thechanging times. Flush with success, yet seeking a new creativedirection, Argento then decided to envelop himself in themacabre lore of Old Europe. Working with fellow screenwriterDaria Nicolodi, he concocted a heady tale of witchcraft and theoccult set in a ballet academy poised on the edge of Germany’sBlack Forest. There, a young American student, Suzy ( Jessica

Harper), becomes the target of Mater Suspirium, the Motherof Sighs, a demonic headmistress whose murderous minionsdispatch those around Suzy with operatic aplomb. Their elab-orate, Grand Guignol-style deaths unfold in a series of blood-chilling sequences.

The evocatively titled Suspiria (1977), photographed byLuciano Tovoli, ASC, AIC, is a feast of intensely expressiveimages and sound. A creative touchstone among horroraficionados, the picture stands as an example to all filmmakersseeking to create tangible onscreen synergy between story,design, direction and cinematography.

Inspired in part by the Technicolor grandeur of WaltDisney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Argentowanted to achieve a palette rich with primary hues and deepblacks. Tovoli notes that when Argento approached him aboutthe project, “I had not seen any of his films, but, of course, Iknew him as a very successful director.” At the time, Tovoliwas perhaps best known for his work in MichelangeloAntonioni’s The Passenger (1975). “Horror films did not inter-est me at that moment of my professional life — I was a veryimpressionable guy, you see,” he continues. “But I do remem-ber one summer afternoon in my apartment, when I heard a

Terror inTechnicolor

Luciano Tovoli,ASC, AIC

recalls the detailsof his approach

to DarioArgento’s

legendary horrorfilm Suspiria.

by Stanley Manders

•|•


loud noise coming from the street. Ilooked out and saw a huge crowdsprinting from one movie theater toanother. I later discovered that boththeaters were showing Argento’s TheCat O’ Nine Tails [1971], and they werehoping to find a free seat! I said tomyself, ‘A director who provokes suchbrisk movement in a crowd should be avery good one!’ After that I searched tosee all of his movies. Ignorance is acurable sickness!”

Tovoli was intrigued by Argento’sideas for Suspiria. “I think describing itas a Gothic fairytale is correct, butnormally, the director and cinematogra-pher do not sit down the first day wemeet and say, ‘This time we will do aGothic fairytale.’ Instead, we startspeaking about many subjects relatingto — or sometimes not relating to —the film we have to do. A good director,or in this case a great one, does not giveprecise recipes or strict commands, butinstead searches to influence his collab-orators with the originality of hisdream.”

For Tovoli, one fundamental issueon Suspiria was “the choice of colors andthe way I utilized them in accordancewith [production designer] GiuseppeBassan, who was working underArgento’s inspired guidance. We wereoften making our decisions in the flowof the shooting, without too many elab-orate consultations or directions, butjust in a kind of magic comprehension.

“I decided to intensively utilizeprimary colors — blue, green and red —to identify the normal flow of life, andthen apply a complementary color,mainly yellow, to contaminate them,”continues Tovoli. “A [horror] film bringsto the surface some of the ancestral fearsthat we hide deep inside us, and Suspiriawould not have had the same catharticfunction if I had utilized the fullnessand consolatory sweetness of the fullcolor spectrum. To immediately makeSuspiria a total abstraction from whatwe call ‘everyday reality,’ I used theusually reassuring primary colors only intheir purest essence, making themimmediately, surprisingly violent andPhot

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In Suspiria, Suzy (Jessica Harper) arrives at a mysterious ballet academy and is immediately thrust into amulti-hued realm with increasingly surreal settings.


provocative. This brings the audienceinto the world of Suspiria.” But thebrightly hued artifice also has a certaindistancing effect on the viewer. “You sayto yourself, ‘This will never happen tome because I have never seen suchintense colors in my life,’” says Tovoli.“This makes you feel reassured and, atthe same time, strangely attracted toproceed deeper and deeper into thiscolorful journey.”

The film’s opening shots quicklytransport the audience, as Suzy makesher way through the Munich airport onher way to the ballet academy. “Withcolors forbidden in reality, the Munichairport becomes Suspiria airport,” saysTovoli. “Then, the first close-ups of herin a cab, as it’s raining furiously outside,express perfectly the dynamics of the fullcolor palette I sought for the rest of thefilm — the pulsating, mixing and alter-nating primary and complementarycolors.” Like Disney’s Snow White, towhom Harper bears more than a pass-ing resemblance, Suzy is soon lost in astrange world of magic and witchcraft.

“I was deeply inspired by Jessica’sinteresting face, by its volumes andproportions, and her beautifully expres-sive eyes,” Tovoli says of his star. “After Iprepared the light and she arrived on theset, she was immediately shining so bril-liantly that I was astonished every time,as was Argento. Of course, I tried tolight her laterally as much as possible,with almost no light in the axis of the

◗ Terror in Technicolor

Suzy is“welcomed”by the strictMiss Tanner(Alida Valli),

who rules theacademy

through fearand

intimidation.Throughout

the film,Tovoli’s

widescreencompositionshighlight the

dramaticproduction

design.


camera, to add a sense of perspective toher face. On other films, I had regis-tered the fact that the lens loves somefaces, but in Jessica’s case, the relation-ship was really phenomenal.”

The theatrical, expressionisticapproach Argento and Tovoli soughtfor Suspiria was unusual for the time,especially for a contemporary film. “Itwas surprising for a great part of ourcrew, who had never met a cinematog-rapher who wanted to put the strongestpossible lights so close to the actorsthrough colored-velvet screens,” saysTovoli. “But it was very new for me aswell. I had never lit a film like thisbefore. For many years at the beginningof my career, I prayed only for the mostnatural light possible.”

Tovoli recalls a pledge that he and future ASC member NestorAlméndros made while they wereattending the Centro Sperimentale diCinematografia in Rome. “Wepromised over two glasses of goodTuscan red wine to never abandon themarvelous religion of real light,” he says.“I respected that oath for maybe adecade, but then I started to be quitebored. Alméndros, who was much moreserious about this kind of thing than I,continued in the same direction withthe most enviable success. Meanwhile, Istarted to study the work of the black-and-white cinematographers workingat Cinecittà in Rome, in Hollywoodand elsewhere. I searched to reconstruct

their unbelievable lighting and complextechnique; I watched the films over andover to learn how they achieved suchgreat artistic results.” Among hisfavorites were Italian cinematographersAnchise Brizzi, Arturo Gallea, UbaldoArata, Carlo Montuori, MassimoTerzano, Otello Martelli, Aldo Tontiand, later, Aldo Graziati and Gianni DiVenanzo. “Working in black-and-whitewith Antonioni, Di Venanzo brought asubstantial change to the technique,utilizing many small diffused lights for

interiors instead of bigger Fresnel units,”Tovoli notes.

The cinematographer was ini-tially reluctant to sign onto Suspiria“because I was conscious of my lack ofexperience and, more importantly, mylack of real passion for that kind of film,”he explains. “I’ve never accepted a jobjust to take a job. Also, even in the mostinsignificant film, I always searched tofind some significance. That, of course,was not at all the case with Suspiria. Butfortunately, Argento insisted I join him,

Top, far left:Director DarioArgento (left)and Tovoliprepare a shotof actress JoanBennett, whoplays MadameBlanc, thesternheadmistressand leader ofthe secretcoven thatplots againstSuzy.


and I still do not know why.“I chose my camera crew very

carefully,” he continues. “I brought inIdelmo Simonelli, one of the bestcamera operators, a true star. When hesaid, ‘This is by far the best take,’ it wasby far the best take! I also brought the

best first camera assistant, PeppinoTinelli; the best grip, MarioMoreschini; and the best gaffer, AlbertoAltibrandi, whose nickname was‘Gnaccheretta’ [Castanet].”

With only a few weeks of prep,Tovoli began camera and lighting testsin earnest. “After my first conversationwith Argento, I vaguely imagined howto technically achieve this radical depar-ture from my previous lighting style, butalso, I needed to know if I had trulyabandoned naturalism,” he says. “OnThe Passenger, I searched to force thestrength of the real light, often overex-posing, bringing the negative near theshoulder of the sensitometric curve toburn up some of the detail. In a way, thisis what I did on Suspiria as well, but at amuch higher level, ‘overexposing’through the intensity of a specific colorin a specific shot, with the negative[Eastman 5254] carefully exposed at the

center of the curve. I utilized this tech-nique on every shot in the film. I wasalways telling the production designerand scenic painter, ‘More red! Moreblue!’ I made the same recommendationto my very patient gaffer, Alberto, and,like a good friend, he asked me, ‘Are yousure? There is already a lot of green. It’sbecoming quite disturbing!’ And to myinalterably happy face he asked, ‘Are yousearching to be fired?’”

Part of Tovoli’s approach was tomake extensive use of frames of brightlycolored velour and tissue paper set infront of Arcs positioned very close tothe performers. “I wanted to create lightthat would simulate the color comingfrom pots of paint thrown very respect-fully on the actors’ faces, recallingJackson Pollock’s fundamental gestureof splashing pure color on the canvas. Inmy imagination, our canvas was ouractors’ faces. Soon, someone calmlyexplained to me that this was not possi-ble for multiple reasons, and I wasforced to find an alternative method oflighting the actors’ faces and, to anextent, the backgrounds, with thestrongest possible light as close to thesubject as possible. While shooting, ouractors were very often reasonablyworried they might be burned!”

Tovoli also employed mirrors tochange the quality of the light. “Thestratagem of the mirrors could doublethe distance between our light sourcesand the scene,” he explains, noting thathe was inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’suse of mirrors in his work. “If I have tochoose one impressive reference, whynot go directly to the best? It’s alwaysbetter to tap in at the highest level! Iutilized mirrors not to destroy enemyships, as Archimedes did in the warbetween Siracusa and Rome, but todestroy with a violent shaft of hyper-colored light a universally ‘elegant’ or‘refined’ image. This was driven by mydesire to always go beyond what wouldbe conventionally accepted. Theaesthetic concept on Suspiria — andArgento will forgive me if I pretend tospeak for him — was never to subtract,but to add.”


After amysterious

infestation isdiscovered in

the girls’dorm, the

students aremoved tomakeshift

quarters in adance studio,

which takeson a sinisterlook as Suzy

and Sara(Stefania

Casini) sharetheir fears. Toheighten such

dramaticcontrasts incolor, Tovoli

(bottomphoto, lighting

the scene)employed

Technicolor IBprinting tocontrol his

hues.

Bassan’s extensive use of wildlytextured backgrounds, geometric shapesand colored surfaces add greatly to thepicture’s crazy-quilt visual quality, andTovoli sought to keep such elements incrisp focus. “Sharpness has always beenanother of my profound beliefs, in partas a form of respect for the opticsspecialists who work hard every day toimprove the rendering of the lenses,” hesays. “I do not use, or very scarcely use inlighter values, diffusers or colored filters.And I absolutely never used them onSuspiria. In general, I am not interestedin ‘pictorial’ images. Watching a film, Iget bored and lose interest when I seediffused smoke where there is not anyjustification for it apart from the desireto create a nice atmosphere. I’mtempted to call the fire brigade!

“When I first started to dophotography, Ansel Adams, EdwardWeston and Henri Cartier-Bresson,among many others, opened my eyes tothe vast territory of sharpness andcontrast as primordial values in photog-raphy — and cinematography, ofcourse. On Suspiria, I lived with the illu-sion that I could make sharp the simple,flat volume of a monochromatic wall byusing the pure intensity and pulsatingvibrations of the color itself.”

Using Mitchell BNC and Arri 2-C cameras, Tovoli shot Suspiria in2.35:1 Technovision anamorphic, aformat he loves deeply. “The gloriousTechnovision anamorphic lens!” heexclaims. “The incredibly passionateEnrico Chroscicki believed so stronglyin great panoramic images that he wentto Paris in the early 1950s to search forthe survivors of Henri Chrétien, theFrench astronomer who designed theHypergonar lens, from which the firstanamorphic lens was later derived.Chroscicki told me he also met with avery old collaborator of Chrétien’s inNice, and found in a dusty drawer notonly the original drawings of two lensesbut also a single optical anamorphicelement to be put in front of a normalprimary lens. Thanks to this almostarchaeological discovery — I baptizedhim the Winkelmann of lenses —

Suzyencounters amysteriouswitch whocasts a spellupon her. Thesimple effectwas createdwith a piece ofmirrorreflecting backinto the lens;dust wasadded to theair to helpcarry the light.



Chroscicki, in his little workshop inRome, made just one lens! It was a50mm, and he rented this single lens foryears before he had the money to builda full series of anamorphic lenses. Howcould I not shoot Suspiria with Enrico’sanamorphic Technovision lenses?Vittorio Storaro [ASC, AIC] has shotall his films with Technovision lenses!”

Eastman 5254, a 100-ASA nega-tive, “had beautiful contrast values andcolors, which I admired, and that was soimportant for the Technicolor processseparations we were to make from ournegative, because we planned to force,violate and deteriorate the image’snormal color range,” he adds. From theoutset, the filmmakers intended to useTechnicolor’s legendary dye-transferprinting process as the final step increating the haunted realm of Suspiria.Technicolor Rome shut down its IBprinting in 1978, making Argento’s filmone of its last dye-transfer projects.Tovoli recalls, “Technicolor Romeapplied the negative-developing andpositive-printing system with extremeaccuracy, and they agreed, maybe for thefirst time in their history, to make aminor but important modification forus. They agreed to lose a diffuser thatwas typically used to slightly flash theyellow-cyan-magenta imbibed matrix,thus preventing any possible bleeding ofthe colors outside the physical contoursof each image. The possible bleeding ofcolors was exactly what I was searchingfor with Argento — we wanted morecontrast, more vibrating colors — so Iproposed to Carlo Labella, the nicestman and a very talented color timer, thatwe lose this little attenuation of thecolor contrast. I am not ready to forgethis friendly smile as he listened to myapparently absurd proposal!” Also, forthe matrix printing of the cyan layer, labtechnicians used a special filter that wasmore selective for the color red, whichwas particularly complicated to renderin the dye-transfer process but also a keycomponent of Suspiria’s palette. Thefilter enabled the post team to faithfullyreproduce all the information present onthe original negative.


This page andopposite: Sara

is stalkedthrough the

academygrounds inone of thefilm’s most

expressive andfrighteningsequences.

Seekingrefuge, she istrapped in a

room filledwith barbed

wire.

Tovoli recently revisited Suspiriaat Technicolor Rome to supervise a newHD transfer, which will result in a Blu-ray release this spring. “I worked with avery talented colorist, Fabrizio Conti,and we tried to stay as close as possibleto the look of the original,” he says. “Ithink we did an extremely good job, butit is impossible to compare even the bestdigital master to a film printed withTechnicolor’s dye-transfer process,especially for a film as extreme asSuspiria!”

The cinematographer’s bold useof color is showcased in one of Suspiria’smost bravura sequences, in whichSuzy’s friend Sara (Stefania Casini) isrelentlessly pursued by an unseenassailant. Terrified, she runs through alabyrinth of colorfully hued corridors inthe boarding school, finally slammingshut a heavy door behind her. Leaningagainst it, she sees a straight razorslowly slide between the door and thejam as her attacker tries to flip open thesimple lock. In a panic, Sara spots a tinywindow that offers possible escape.Climbing through it, she cannot clearlysee the room she is entering. She jumpsto the floor, only to find the chamberfilled with coils of barbed wire. Trappedand helpless, she struggles in this blue-tinged nightmare until the killer reachesher. “That is one of my favorite scenesbecause Argento left me free to create acolor symphony following only myemotion and taste,” says Tovoli. “That isvery rare in the relationship between thedirector and the cinematographer.Looking at that sequence today, I real-ize I made it in a state of total pleasure,going on shot after shot with my collab-orators, almost blindly utilizing the newalphabet of colors that had become ourinstinctive color language. The red, ofcourse, is the aggression and danger, theblood that the unknown pursuer willsoon force out of your body with hisknife. The blue is the terrifying deathsentence already pronounced and acolor that accompanies you into thesinister world of death. The delicateorange coloration of the little windowhigh in the wall of the room is the


momentary illusion of safety, a paintingdone with colored lights. Then there isthe shining metallic blue of the barbedwire, like a carnivorous plant that willcapture and almost digest you forever.Such a very rich bouquet of gifts for acinematographer! Thanks, MaestroArgento! The sequence of colors in thefrantic pursuit was not planned at all. Imade it absolutely on the inspiration ofthe moment.”

Conversely, another key set piecefinds Argento and Tovoli bleeding offtheir elaborate color scheme to render analmost monochromatic milieu ofnocturnal mayhem. In the sequence,blind pianist Daniel (Flavio Bucci) andhis guide dog enter the vast KonigsplatzSquare at night, the pale gray stone ofthe surrounding buildings starkly setagainst the darkness. Atop one roof, animposing statue of a huge bird of preypeers down on the frightened man.Daniel cannot see that the creaturedisappears, but hears the flapping ofgreat wings as something swoops downover the square at him as his dog barksincessantly. Then, in one of the greattwists in horror cinema, Daniel ismurdered, with his shockingly red bloodpunctuating the moment.

For Tovoli, the Konigsplatz

Square offered a tremendous lightingchallenge. “What kept me up at nightwas the dimension of the location,” thecinematographer says. “Since then, Ihave lit bigger spaces, including thehuge Pula Arena in Croatia for JulieTaymor’s Titus [1999; AC Feb. ’00].Knowing that Hitler utilized the

Konigsplatz Square for his parades andspeeches did not reassure me at all! Wedecided to not use color in the scene toenhance the loneliness of the emptyspace and make the sudden explosion ofbloody red [more dramatic].

“The bird’s [point-of-view shot]was a very clear idea of Argento’s that

we realized quite easily by running athin steel cable from the top of onetemple to the ground by a hand-releasedhook. When the ground hook wasreleased, the elastic part of the cablebrought our Arriflex camera off thesolid ground and into the air to soar overthe square. Of course, we got quiteexcited about the shot and pushed thespecial mechanical effect responsible todelay the release of the hook at the verylast possible second.” The resultingPOV effect adds an ingenious sense ofmenace to the already flamboyant scene.

“Discussing the film this waybrings back the feeling of total happi-ness, a fabulous shooting time in whicha young cinematographer not at allintimidated by the task before him tookthe opportunity to collaborate with agreat director and sweet man namedDario Argento,” muses Tovoli, whowould later shoot such Hollywoodsuspense films as Reversal of Fortune(1990) and Single White Female(1992). “I believe it is this human secret,not a technical one, that is behind thelasting long life of Suspiria.”

The author thanks D’ArienzoAntonio, Robert Hoffman, Bruce Hellerand Rob Hummel for their assistance withthis article. ●



Left: Tovoli extends his meter down to water level for a suspenseful swimming sequence as his camera is set up. Above: The cinematographer enjoys a rare calm moment during the shoot.

“The aestheticconcept on

Suspiria was never to subtract,

but to add.”


Offhollywood’s Digital PerspectiveBy Claire Walla

In 2003, after years of producing low-budget independentfeatures, building relationships, solving other people’s problems andnot making much money in the process, Mark Pederson and AldeySanchez started their own company, Offhollywood, with a mandateto do “guerrilla digital intermediates.” Armed with one Applecomputer and a copy of Final Cut Pro, they posted ultra-low-budgetproductions while keeping a close watch on new industry trends.Among the developers with whom they forged a relationship wasRed Digital Cinema, which was on the brink of introducing the RedOne camera.

Just before the One was officially unveiled, Offhollywoodagreed to purchase the first two bodies that would be released to thepublic, #0006 and #0007. (The first five cameras went to Redfounder Jim Jannard.) The investment was a shot in the dark: Peder-son had no way of knowing that Red would quickly develop a signif-icant industry presence, or that the cameras would eventuallyrevamp Offhollywood’s business model, transforming it into thefront-to-back production facility it is today.

With their keen interest in new technology, Pederson andSanchez took to Red with a great deal of enthusiasm. “Red is a veryatypical company,” says Pederson. “It’s like a bunch of mad scientistsbreaking the rules, and I think they like the fact that we have someof the same rebel sensibilities.” When Offhollywood received its Red

Post Focus

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Colorist MilanBoncich (top)

finesses aproject in

Offhollywood’snew SoHo

facility, whichboasts a prep

floor, officespaces and a

35-seat theatercapable of

screening 2-Dand 3-D DCPs

(bottom).

cameras, in 2007, Pederson and Sancheztested and posted footage every day,untangling the kinks while consulting withproductions and teaching the mechanics toother rental houses.

Eventually, Offhollywood landed aproject called Asylum Seekers, an experi-mental feature by a young director namedRonia Ajami; it was one of the first featuresto shoot fully with Red cameras. Soonthereafter, director/cinematographer DougLiman used Offhollywood’s Red cameras foradditional photography on his 2008 featureJumper. At press time, Liman was finishingpost at Offhollywood on the feature FairGame, which was shot entirely with thecompany’s Reds.

Pederson says Offhollywood’s earlywork with the Red helped the companydefine its own workflow for the camera. “Itwas very much a moving target because thecamera was such a moving target — therewere always new firmware builds,” henotes, adding that both Reds received sixfirmware updates while Asylum Seekerswas in production. “A lot of people say theRed workflow is a problem, and that frus-trates me so much because there is no suchthing as ‘a Red workflow.’ There are abunch of workflows.”

The camera captures compressedinformation in Redcode RAW, withunprocessed proxies viewable as 2K Quick-

Time files for immediate review of “dailies.”Once the QuickTime proxies are logged andcaptured in 2K, 3K or 4K, Offhollywoodtypically edits footage in Final Cut Pro, doescolor-grading using Assimilate Scratch, anduses a Digital Video Systems Clipster 3 forboth 2-D and 3-D DCP creation. Thecompany still uses the same AJA Kona 3Video System it initially purchased, whichPederson notes is a highly efficient solutionfor image capture and HD conversion. Heemphasizes, though, that each production’sworkflow depends on the importance ofthe dailies and the needs of the filmmakers.

John “Pliny” Eremic, chief operatingofficer and director of postproduction,notes that although Offhollywood is theonly authorized Red service center on theEast Coast, “we don’t just cater to Red.”The company also offers post services forprojects originating on other digital plat-forms, as well as 35mm and 16mm film.(The company has a partnership withFotoKem in Burbank whereby Offholly-wood sends film to FotoKem for digitaltransfer.) To date, Offhollywood hasprovided cameras and technical support for14 features and has done second-unit andpost work for 23 others.

Pederson and Sanchez havewelcomed colorists Robbie Renfrow andMilan Boncich and senior DI/visual-effectsartist Jim Geduldick to the team, and the

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An early investment in Red One cameras transformed Offhollywood from a “guerrilla” posthouse to the front-to-back production facility it is today.

company recently opened the doors of itsnew, larger facility in SoHo, featuring abrand-new prep floor, new office spacesand a 35-seat theater capable of screening2-D and 3-D DCPs. Offhollywood continuesto test new software and hardware solu-tions, and in addition to the growing cacheof Red Ones it owns and sub-leases fromindividual owners, the company will soonobtain Red’s new Epic camera system.

Most recently, Offhollywood hasventured into 3-D technology. Its first 3-Dfeature, The Mortician, is currently inproduction in New Orleans; cinematogra-pher Michael McDonough is using RedOnes with Element Technica Quasar 3-Drigs. Offhollywood has also invested in TheFoundry’s Nuke compositing software andOcula 3-D for 3-D post, and the company’snew theater is equipped with 3-D glassesand a Dolby Cinema Server capable ofshowing 2-D and 3-D footage. (The theateralso has a Barco DP2000 2K projector for DIwork.)

Noting that Offhollywood’s front-to-back business model makes the companyespecially well suited to 3-D workflows,Pederson muses, “I don’t know how long itwill last, but there’s going to be a momentin time when you’ll have a significantlybetter chance of selling your movie, findingtheatrical distribution and making yourmoney back if your movie’s in 3-D.”

“Technology democratizes services,”says Sanchez. “When Mark and I startedOffhollywood, we talked about how tech-nology would merge the production andpostproduction worlds. To compete, youneed to offer more added value, and I thinkone of our core strengths is our expertise onthe very bleeding edge.” ●

80

From content creation to production to post-production to delivery, the NAB Show™ focuses on the tools and techniques needed to capture your award-winning vision. See, touch and test the advancements infl uencing today’s edgiest content, from HD to 3D, editing, and the latest in online video, broadband, animation, gaming, social networking and more.

Evolve, innovate and grow, smarter than ever before. This is your opportunity to exchange solutions and strategies to overcome this changing economy and achieve maximum results. Join the global community of broader-casting® professionals who share your passion for entertainment excellence. For more information, visit www.nabshow.com.

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Osram, Mole Introduce MoleLEDMole Richardson and Osram have launched the MoleLED film-

friendly LED lighting solution. The MoleLED system unites a sophisti-cated fixture designed by Mole Richardson with Osram’s advancedremote-phosphor LED technology.

Touting 3200°K and 5600°K color, the 50-watt MoleLEDfixture offers an alternative solution for fluorescent fixtures up to 110watts or tungsten solutions up to 300 watts. MoleLED fixtures have a

rated life of over 25,000 hoursand will operate on everythingfrom a 12-volt car battery or14.4-volt Anton/Bauer or IDX V-mount battery to a 24-voltcamera battery or any DC sourceup to 50 volts. The MoleLED wasdesigned with both local andremote DMX dimming, and thefixtures can be dimmed down to10 percent without any shift incolor temperature.

Each MoleLED fixture consists of 12 Osram Kreios LED metalcore circuit boards; the 12 boards each contain 20 high-output blueLEDs topped with a remote-phosphor dome, for a total of 240 indi-vidual sources. The phosphor domes, an Osram proprietary design, areblue-light activated to produce light in two exact color temperatures,tungsten and daylight. Osram’s remote-phosphor technology offers asingle semiconductor system leading to consistent temperature behav-ior, allowing the module to easily achieve a CRI greater than 90. Spec-tral characteristics are simple to adjust with remote phosphors, and thetechnology further ensures light and color output stability over time.

“Remote-phosphor technology allows the MoleLED fixture toprovide tungsten and daylight white light that parallels both the spec-tral sensitivity curves of film and the visible spectrum, or what the eyesees,” says Leslie Trudeau, Osram Sylvania NAFTA business unitmanager for entertainment. “This is one of the many benefits overLED mixing.” Mike Parker, CEO of Mole Richardson and an ASC asso-ciate member, adds, “Unlike existing LED fixtures, the MoleLED blendsthese multiple sources into one soft light source. This single-sourceapproach renders the light more attractive to the talent and morefamiliar to the technicians.”

Built rugged and with a low profile and mobile features,MoleLEDs are ideally suited for all set-lighting needs. The fixtures alsofeature multiple rigging points and mounting options, and MoleRichardson offers a wide range of standard accessories, including barndoors, louvers and gel frames.

For more information, visit www.sylvania.com andwww.mole.com.

Sony Updates HDCam-SRSony Electronics has unveiled the next generation of its

HDCam-SR production technology, including the SRW-9000HDCam-SR camcorder, which features a “future-proof” upgradepath to 35mm imaging and file-based production. Sony has alsoannounced SR memory solid-state media and more cost-effectiveBCT-SR series tape pricing.

“HDCam-SR technology now meets the current and futureneeds of high-end cinematic and TV broadcast production,” saysRob Willox, director of Sony Electronics’ content-creation group.“SR is already file based and can support data recording in resolu-tions up to 4K as DPX today. The benefits of non-linear acquisitionare now a production requirement. The addition of solid-statemedia enhances the format’s inherent file-based design and bringsSR’s proven quality to an even wider audience.”

The SRW-9000 camcorder combines the SR format’s imagequality with the versatility of a one-piece camcorder. The full HD(1920x1080) resolution camcorder uses 2⁄3" CCDs with a 14-bit A/Dconverter and digital signal processing to capture up to 1080/60pimages with a high level of detail. Furthermore, recognizing themarket’s requirement for a 35mm “B” camera complement to itshigh-end F35, Sony has unveiled an optional upgrade path for theSRW-9000 to a 35mm imager and PL mount to increase thecamcorder’s flexibility and protect a user’s investment.

The latest HDCam-SR compression is SR Lite, a 220 Mb/sdata rate codec based on the open MPEG-4 SStP (Simple StudioProfile); SR Lite will be supported as an MXF-wrapped file to helpensure high picture quality while enabling almost real-timeexchange over a GB Ethernet connection. SR Lite is designed toprovide more efficiency and flexibility for SStP file-based production,using an open codec that is ideal for high-end cinematic and broad-cast production. Because the system is backwards compatible,content recorded on HDCam tape can also be integrated into theMXF SStP file-based operation.

Sony has also announced the next version of its popularSRW recorder, the SRW-5800/2. The updated deck will supportMXF file transfer and the 220 Mb/s data rate as well as the ability

New Products & Services• SUBMISSION INFORMATION •

Please e-mail New Products/Services releases to:[email protected] and include full contactinformation and product images. Photos must be

TIFF or JPEG files of at least 300dpi.

to record and play back 4:4:4 content at 2Xreal time. These capabilities will also beavailable to existing SRW-5800 ownersthrough optional hardware upgrades.

The SR solid-state memory cards willdeliver rapid transfer rates of more than 5Gb/s and storage capacity of up to 1TB.This new SR memory technology isdesigned to be the ideal media for futurehigh-end production, with native acquisi-tion capabilities for applications such as 3-D1080p and higher resolutions up to 4K.Sony also plans to deliver an upgrade to SRmemory on the existing SRW-9000camcorder, along with a memory adapterfor the F35 and F23.

“Our enhancements to the SR tech-nology extend far beyond productannouncements,” Willox stresses. “We’rereassuring customers that what they buynot only works now, but also supportsfuture needs and delivers a return on theirinvestment.”

The SRW-9000 camcorder iscurrently available through Band Pro Film &Digital. For more information, visitwww.bandpro.com and http://pro.sony.com.

Element Technica Goes 3-D with QuasarElement Technica, whose series of

Technica 3D Rigs are designed to preciselyposition a pair of cameras to achieve realis-tic stereoscopic digital video for broadcastand cinema applications, has begun deliver-ing its Quasar 3D Rigs to owner/operatorsand rental houses.

The Quasar is designed to accom-modate full-size digital-cinema cameras likethe Sony F23 and F35, Red One, and Panav-ision Genesis, as well as full-body box-typedigital broadcast cameras like the SonyF950 and 1500, Philips LDK and more.Regardless of the cameras utilized, theQuasar’s precision and refinement make itan ideal platform for matching zoom orprime lenses to accommodate any shootingstyle or format.

The Technica 3D Series providessmartly engineered 3-D systems that arelighter weight and less costly than previous3-D rigs, making 3-D acquisition easy fortraditional 2-D production crews. Completecamera/lens installation and alignment canbe completed in less than 15 minutes withnothing more than a set of Allen wrenchesand a mirror gauge. Wayne Miller, president

31 0/301-81 87www.hydroflex.com

UNDERWATERHOUSINGS

forRED ONE

andPHANTOM HDNOW AVAILABLE

IDX Redefines Red Camera PowerIDX System Technology Inc. has

unveiled the Redefined Elite battery systemfor powering the Red One camera. TheRedefined solution consists of two powerpackages centered on Elite batteries alongwith the sleek EL-BAPIDXA mounting plate,which is customized with V-mount andLemo technology.

Redefined Elite is a136 watt-hour high-capacity V-mount batterysystem with the uniqueIDX twin power-cartridgeconstruction as well asmultiple safety andprotection features. Inaddition to award-winning architecture, theRedefined solution offers the exclusive EliteSmart Battery mode, which quickly andeasily activates the protocol data for tighterintegration with the Red One system. V-mount battery plate EL-BAPIDXA — which

was crafted by Element Technica in partner-ship with IDX — enables operators to viewlive battery-life data by percentage in theRed One viewfinder. When the batteries aredrained, new power-cartridge pairs can beinserted into the original housing in less than30 seconds.

IDX Elite batteries are in full compli-ance with the 2009 DOT and IATA Danger-

ous Goods Regulations,meaning they can becarried aboard all nationaland international flights.Professionals also havethe option of either usingthe high-performancequad charger VL-4S ordual charger/AC adapterVL-2SPLUS. Additionalvariations of the mount-

ing plate are available and can be purchasedseparately from Element Technica.

For more information, visitwww.elementtechnica.com and www.idxtek.com.

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of Action 3D Productions, chose the Quasar3D Rigs to capture the Dave Matthews Bandconcert at the Austin City Limits Festival,Ben Harper at the Mile High Music Festival,and Gogo Bordello at the All Points WestMusic Festival. “The functionality of theTechnica 3D Rigs is such that when you’reout on location shooting, they are quick toset up and calibrate,” he says. “Oncealigned, they hold that alignment verywell.”

“Now, for the first time, the very best3-D acquisition equipment can be rentedmuch like a traditional camera package,”says Stephen Pizzo, co-founder of ElementTechnica. “Combine that with the ability tochoose your own crew as well as yourfavorite post facility, and you gain greatercreative control over the entire 3-Dprocess.”

Technica 3D systems will soon beavailable in three different sizes to accom-modate a variety of cameras. In addition tothe largest system, Quasar, the mid-sizedPulsar mounts box-style digital-cinemacameras such as the Red Scarlet, Red Epicand Silicon Imaging SI-2K. The ultra-smallNeutron is designed for tiny 2⁄3"- or 1⁄3"-imager cameras supporting C-mountlenses, such as the SI-2K Mini and the IconixHD-RH1. All three Technica 3D Rig systemscan convert from parallel to beamsplitterconfiguration and back.

Element Technica has also developeda series of intuitive hardware/software toolsto automate stereo calculation. These toolswill be available as add-on modules for thecore 3D Rig systems to enable users to intu-itively control how much or how little thesubject comes off of the screen without

requiring complex interocular and conver-gence calculation techniques. Interocular,convergence, zoom, focus and iris controlcan all be coordinated through ElementTechnica’s Stereo Assist feature; Technica3D Rig users can also choose to integratePreston motors with the system via portsand adapters.

Element Technica is coordinatingone-day operator training classes gearedtoward camera assistants through KeslowCamera and Offhollywood. For more infor-mation, visit www.elementtechnica.comand www.technica3d.com.

Petrol Bags Red OnePetrol, a Vitec Group brand, has

introduced the Petrol Red Bag (PRB-15), aninnovative camera carrier specificallydesigned to transport and protect the RedOne digital camera.

The Red Bag’s dual-directionalupside-down zippers open smoothly forquick and easy access to the smartlydesigned interior, where a removable uppertray with detachable dividers provides theperfect place to stash the Red One’s essen-

tial accessories. Rugged nylon handgrips oneither side of the tray allow for easy removaland carrying. Underneath, the Red One fitscomfortably in the bag’s lower paddedcompartment. When a panel is removedfrom the upper accessory tray, the cameracan be stored without disturbing theviewfinder. An adjustable nylon strap holds

the camera firmly and safely in place, andfour detachable padded dividers helpsecure the compartment’s contents andform pockets for additional storage.

The PRB-15 comes equipped with aseparate fabric sleeve to hold the Red One’ssteel support rods. With the rods inside, the

Fast Forward Video Launches Micron RecorderFast Forward Video (FFV) has

announced the release of its Micron HD digi-tal video recorder (DVR), a powerful, cost-effective solution for recording and playing-out broadcast-quality digital SD and HDvideo. The Micron HD offers many of thefeatures of FFV’s Omega HD DVR in a singlerack unit and at a price point specificallytargeted to today’s most budget-consciousbroadcast-grade operations.

“The Micron HD is a direct responseto many of our customers who requested aninexpensive entry-level HD DVR that couldstill measure up to the superb picture qualityof the Omega HD,” says Harry Glass, vicepresident of sales for FFV. “The single-chan-nel Micron HD is an ideal solution for broad-

casters seeking to migrate to HD operationsat a low cost per channel while maintainingSD capabilities.”

The Micron HD utilizes high-qualityJPEG2000 compression at speeds up to 100 Mb/s, making it an excellent replace-ment for SD-only DVRs and analog tapedecks. It offers up to five hours of recordtime, and its removable non-proprietary2.5" SATA drive is fully compatible withFFV’s Elite HD camera-mounted DVR. Userscan record, play and store multiple SD andHD video files, and with a simple machinecontroller, users can access a larger set offunctions and command multiple units withone keystroke.

The suggested retail price of theMicron HD DVR is $4,995. For more infor-mation, visit www.ffv.com.

Oppenheimer Camera Products’ current offerings include the OppCam

Panhandle System, LCD Monitor Yoke Mounts, Arriflex 235 On-Board System, Handheld GripSets, Macro & Ultra Wide Lenses and our Angenieux & Fujinon Carry Handle Systems.

We are currently developing a series of on-camera LCD Viewfinder Brackets, Support & Shoulder Mount Systems for Canon DSLR cameras, and Universal Monitor Yokes. We also create custom products for our clients.

Oppenheimer Camera Products has been an inno-vator of elegant, practical, reliable camera accessories since 1992. Our products are used by rental houses, production companies and cameramen around the globe. We welcome your suggestions and input!

Specialty Products for Film, Video, & HD

sleeve stores neatly against the lower cham-ber’s middle divider. An external envelope-style pocket keeps important documentsclose at hand. Additional features include aninternal envelope-style pocket of clear plas-tic mesh, Petrol’s built-in smooth-glidingwheel-and-tote assembly, Griplock inter-locking top carrying handle and a paddedshoulder strap. Petrol’s exclusive thermo-formed panels of cold-molded laminate andinjection-molded polypropylene legs safe-guard the bottom of the bag from dirt orwater. The exterior is constructed of blackballistic nylon and Cordura.

The PRB-15 has a recommendedprice of $499. For more information, visitwww.petrolbags.com.

Chrosziel Accessorizes Red Chrosziel now offers three matte-

boxes specially designed for the Red Onecamera, as well as a support system with abridge plate and 19mm rods.

Of the three matteboxes, MB 840 R2offers the most versatility, with its double-rotating filter stage and two identical multi-

format filter holders for 4"x5.65" horizontaland 5"x5". Both rotate independently andboast independent height adjustment. TheMB 840 R2 also features a convenientswing-away design for easy lens changes,and the mattebox mounts directly to the19mm rods without the need for anadapter. (If necessary, a tools-free clampadapter can be attached for mounting themattebox directly to the lens.) The maxi-mum lens diameter compatible with themattebox is 142.5mm; smaller diametersuse rubber bellows and retaining rings.

The MB 805 Red is a variation on thestandard MB 805 mattebox. Like MB 840R2, MB 805 Red fits directly onto the 19mm


support rods. The fixed stage is equippedwith multi-format filter holders for 4"x4"and 4"x5.65" horizontal; a second stagefeatures multi-format filter holders for5"x5" and 4"x5.65" horizontal. Both theMB 840 R2 and MB 805 Red can beupgraded with further filter stages.

The MB 456 R2 boasts a compactand lightweight (approximately 1.3 pounds)design. It can be used with 15mm supportrods or it can attach directly to the lens as asunshade. The two rotating filter stages areequipped with identical 4"x5.65"/4"x4"filter holders. The maximum front-elementdiameter is 130mm, covering most lensescommonly used with the Red One.

Chrosziel products are distributed inthe United States by 16x9 Inc. For moreinformation, visit www.chrosziel.com andwww.16x9inc.com.

AJA Releases Free iPhone AppAJA Video Systems has released the

AJA DataCalc iPhone application, a fast andsimple storage-requirement calculator forvideo and audio professionals. DataCalc canbe used in the field during acquisition or inthe edit bay during post, allowing the userto effortlessly calculate their storageconsumption and data-capturing require-ments. The application supports a widearray of video-compression formats, includ-ing Apple ProRes, DVCProHD, HDV,XDCam, DV, RGB and YUV uncompressed,and more. Supported video standardsinclude NTSC, PAL, 1080i, 1080p, 720p, 2Kand 4K.

“We’re all big fans of the iPhone andwanted to create an application that wouldbe useful to our customers in professionaldigital content creation,” says Nick Rashby,president of AJA Video Systems. “DataCalcis right in line with AJA’s product philosophy,which aims to deliver products that simplifyand streamline the often complex work-flows of video professionals. It’s a simplelittle application that has already proven tobe very handy in the field!”

The application features an intuitiveuser interface where most settings can beentered with a simple finger scroll throughlists of the most common file-format config-urations. Durations can be entered in unitsof days, hours or seconds, or in a precisetime code frame count. A “More” button

allows users to further select and specifyframe rates, frame sizes and compressiontype, as well as audio sample rates and bitsper sample. Pressing the “Information” iconon the “More” page takes users to a“Summary” page where they can reviewresults and have the option to deliver thedata via email.

DataCalc is available as a free down-load from the Apple iTunes Store. For moreinformation, visit www.aja.com.

Filmworkers Adds Digigog ServicesFilmworkers has launched the Digi-

gog digital-media processing service at itsChicago and Dallas locations. The service isaimed at facilitating the growing numberof feature film, television and commercialproductions that are choosing to captureand post their projects as data.

The Digigog offers a seamless, one-stop solution for servicing commercials,films and other projects from dailiesthrough delivery, especially those shot withdigital cameras such as the Red One andVision Research Phantom HD. Servicesinclude dailies processing for digitallyacquired media, real-time non-linear colorgrading at resolutions up to 2K, and finalassembly and deliverables production. TheDigigog’s services can also be packagedwith other services offered by Filmworkers,including visual-effects production, CGand motion-graphics design.

“Projects that originate on datahave special technical and creative require-ments,” says Reid Brody, president of Film-workers. “The Digigog has the resourcesneeded to process Red camera and otherdata files with maximum quality and effi-

JMR Stores Red DataJMR Electronics, Inc. has launched

the BlueStor Red Video Storage Server,which boasts a transfer rate of over 1.4 GB/sand is ideal for recording and streaming digi-tal video imagery captured on a Red Onedigital camera or used in complex SD, HD,2K and 4K postproduction workflows.

The 4U rack-mount 16-bay RAIDsystem offers extremely high performance,robust reliability and a wide variety of ingestand output features, making it ideal for bothpostproduction, streaming and DVR/DVTRreplacement editing applications. TheBlueStor Red also features dual quad-coreprocessors; dual 3 Gb/s internal SASexpanders; dual PCIe RAID controllers;redundant hot-swap power supplies andfans; a 19-in-1 card reader; Blu-ray writer; anNvidia Quadro FX5600 SDI graphics card; 24 GB of DDR3 ECC memory; and USB,FireWire, dual GigE and an E-SATA storageport. The system can scale up to 32 TB usingthe latest generation 2 TB disk drives.

JMR’s affordable and fault-tolerantstorage solutions are based on thecompany’s PeSAN (PCIe Storage AttachedNetwork) technology. The company’s 16-bay BlueStor PeSAN RAID systems weredeveloped to be the ultimate in high-perfor-mance Direct Attached Storage or NetworkAttached Storage for a wide range of videoapplications, including content creation,video editing and 2K/4K digital-intermediateapplications requiring extremely highsustained throughput and reliability. Forcollaborative or multi-stream SD/HD and2K/4K DIw o r k f l o w srequiring evenhigher perfor-mance andscalable storage, BlueStor PeSAN RAIDs canachieve up to 4,000 MB/s and be expandedto over 4,000 TB using the current JMRPeSAN technology.

For more information, visitwww.jmr.com.

ciency. Our staff understands the nuancesof working with data. They can help clientsreap the benefits of a data-centric mode ofproduction while avoiding the pitfalls.”

The Digigog offers overnight dailiesprocessing for data files from virtually anysource. The system generates dailies in theformat required by the project’s editorialteam, including Avid DNX-HD and AppleProRes 422, as well as uncompressed filesfor final color-correction and assembly.Deliverables for review purposes are avail-able in a variety of popular formats, includ-ing QuickTime.

The Digigog also offers real-timenon-linear color-grading services for bothfilm-based and digitally acquired projectsthrough the use of DaVinci’s Splice tech-nology, which allows the company’sDaVinci 2K Plus color correctors to gradescanned imagery directly on a SAN.Commercials and features can be gradedin context, saving time and enhancing thecreative process. Repositioning, grainreduction and other image-processingfunctions can be applied in real time.Colorist Lynette Duensing notes, “Spliceallows us to directly access Red cameraDPX conversions. It’s a seamless processfrom end to end.”

The Digigog’s proprietary softwarefacilitates importing EDLs and automatesmost aspects of the final assembly process.As color grading occurs at 2K, the work-flow results in a high-resolution masterthat can be used to produce deliverablesfor all distribution channels, including HD,SD and Internet media. Because allelements are stored in a randomly accessi-ble shared-storage environment, multipleversions of a project can be producedquickly and with ease.

For more information, visitwww.filmworkers.com. ●

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Classifieds



ASC member Marc E. Reshovsky, an award-winning cine-matographer and still photographer, died on Nov. 20 at the age of53. The cause of death was complications resulting from influenza.

Reshovsky was born on Nov. 6, 1957, in Los Angeles, Calif.His mother, Zora, was a magazine writer, and his father, Ernest, wasa freelance photojournalist. Young Reshovsky would often accom-pany his father on assignments. When Reshovsky was in his earlyteens, a local arts program introduced him to filmmaking, and oneof his Super 8mm films went on to earn accolades in National Educa-tional Television’s 1971 National Young Filmmakers’ Competition,airing nationwide on public television.

In 1975, with an eye on law school, Reshovsky began study-ing political science at the University of California-Los Angeles. Beforelong, though, his passion for crafting images led him to transfer intothe university’s film department, where he concentrated on cine-matography. After graduating with a B.A. in 1980, Reshovsky wasaccepted into UCLA’s graduate film program, but he chose insteadto begin his professional career. His first jobs were as an assistant, buthe soon found work as a cinematographer on travel and adventuredocumentaries, shooting in Europe, New Zealand, Indonesia andAlaska.

From 1982-1984, Reshovsky lived and worked in NewZealand, where he worked first as a still photographer and printer,and then as a staff cinematographer for a small production companythat created commercials, industrials and documentaries. Hereturned to Los Angeles in 1984 and quickly carved a niche in theemerging field of music videos. By 1990, he had shot some 300music videos, plus numerous long-form concerts for such acts asFleetwood Mac, Bon Jovi and Pink Floyd.

During this time, Reshovsky also took his first steps intofeature films, shooting low-budget features such as Sorority HouseMassacre (1986) and Teen Witch (1989) and doing second-unit cine-matography for Robert Richardson, ASC on Eight Men Out (1988)

and Oliver Stapleton, BSC on The Grifters (1990).In 1992, Reshovsky was nominated for a CableACE award

for his cinematography in the pilot for Red Shoe Diaries. That sameyear, he shot the music video for En Vogue’s “Free Your Mind,”which brought him the Music Video Production Association Awardfor Best Cinematography and an MTV Award nomination. He alsoshot the short films Trevor (1994) and Lieberman in Love (1995),which won Academy Awards for Best Live-Action Short Subject intheir respective years.

Reshovsky won an ASC Award in the Regular Series categoryfor his work on the 3rd Rock From the Sun episode “Nightmare onDick Street.” Three years later, in 2000, he joined the ASC; RussellCarpenter, Steven Poster and John Schwartzman recommendedhim for membership. That same year, Reshovsky was presented withthe Kodak Vision Lifetime Achievement Award for music-video cine-matography.

In 1986, Reshovsky married Sandra Matsumoto. They hadtwo sons, Zachary and Rory, and settled in Pasadena, Calif.Matsumoto died in 2004, and Reshovsky relocated to Lopez Island,Wash. In 2007, he collaborated with viola da gamba player VittorioGhielmi on the concert piece The Spectacle, based on DieterichBuxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostri cantatas.

A decade ago, while participating in a seminar on musicvideos’ impact on feature filmmaking, Reshovsky was asked aboutthe effects of then-new digital technologies, and his answer stillrings true: “We are not going to devolve because of technology.Cinematography is a language and a form of artistic expressionwhich comes from the soul.”

Reshovsky is survived by his sons; his partner, Taylor Bruce;and his faithful dog, Mochi.

— Jon D. Witmer●

Marc Reshovsky, ASC, 1957-2009In Memoriam


Houghton, Klein, du Pont Join SocietyA native of San Rafael, Calif., Tom

Houghton, ASC began working at aRedding television station when he was 15.He shot, developed and edited film for thenews and gained experience in the controlroom. In high school, he earned a Honey-well scholarship for his photography, and hepursued his passion for still and movingimages at New York University, where heearned a Master of Fine Arts in film.

Houghton’s professional career tookhim through the ranks of the electricaldepartment, and once he moved up to cine-matographer, he shot commercials and suchfeatures as Fire Down Below and FindingAmanda. His director-of-photography cred-its include the series 30 Rock, Love Monkey,Canterbury’s Law and Rescue Me. Heearned an Emmy nomination for the latter.

David Klein, ASC was born in St.Louis, Mo., and raised near Boise, Idaho. Hisfather and grandfather were photographyand cinematography hobbyists, and whenKlein graduated from high school, hisgrandfather gave him a 16mm Bolex.

While attending a filmmakingprogram at the Vancouver Film School, Kleinmet director Kevin Smith, with whom helater collaborated on the features Clerks,Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Clerks II and Zackand Miri Make a Porno. Klein also shotSmith’s forthcoming film Cop Out. The cine-matographer’s credits include the featuresFool’s Gold, The Ape and Good Time Max,and episodes of State of Grace, Gemini Divi-sion and Pushing Daisies.

Born in Wilmington, Del., Lex duPont, ASC developed an interest in photog-raphy through working on his high school’snewspaper and yearbook. After earning aBachelor of Arts degree at Brown University,he found work producing commercialanimatics in New York City. He went on tobecome a television-commercial producerbefore changing tacks and relocating to LosAngeles.

On the West Coast, du Pont workedfor two years at Aramac Camera, a divisionof Leonetti Cine Rentals, before entering the

Clubhouse News

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Top to bottom: Tom Houghton, ASC; DavidKlein, ASC; Lex du Pont, ASC.

freelance world as a first camera assistant.He later earned operating credits on suchfeatures as My Fellow Americans and AceVentura: Pet Detective, and such series asTwin Peaks and Picket Fences. While oper-ating on NYPD Blue, du Pont was promotedto director of photography, and he has sincephotographed episodes of Lincoln Heights,Saving Grace and Private Practice. He hasalso shot the features Confessions of aSexist Pig and Saving Shiloh.

Deakins Nominated for SpiritRoger Deakins, ASC, BSC recently

notched his third Independent Spirit Awardnomination, this time for A Serious Man. Hewas previously nominated for Homicide andFargo, winning for the latter.

The other nominees in the cine-matography category this year are AdrianoGoldman, for Sin Nombre (AC April ’09);Anne Misawa, for Treeless Mountain; AndrijParekh, for Cold Souls; and Peter Zeitlinger,for Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call NewOrleans.

Barber Elected to 2010 PERA CouncilASC associate Carly M. Barber of

Illumination Dynamics was recently electedto the 2010 PERA Council, which serves theneeds of the equipment-rental market formotion-picture, TV and commercial produc-tion. Other newly elected members areDaniel Gurzi of Abel Cine Tech, GregMeyers of Cinequipt, J.R. Reid of JR Light-ing, John Rule of Rule/Boston CameraRental, Mark Tye of Citation Support andMark Wofford of Production Consultants &Equipment. They join sitting councilmembers Leigh Blicher of Videofax, MarcStephens of MPS Studios, and ASC associ-ate Thomas Fletcher of Fletcher Camera &Lenses. ●


When you were a child, what film made the strongestimpression on you?Gone with the Wind (1939). I was 6 or 7, and my parents took meto see it at an old theater in Montclair, N.J. I remember thinking thescreen was the size of the sky. I was mesmerized as the film played.

Which cinematographers, past or present, do you mostadmire, and why?I’m watching a lot of films shot by Gordon Willis, ASC, as herecently got an honorary Oscar. Stunning artistry, powerful choices,and a consummate professional with one of the besteyes/sensibilities ever. He ruled the 1970s. Robbie Müller, NSC, BVKhad a huge effect on me when I was in university, and he still does.

What sparked your interest in photography?The Polaroid Land Camera. I didn’t grow up witha lot of family pictures or exposure to photogra-phy. When I was about 15, my brother boughtthat camera, and I started taking a lot ofPolaroids. I still do, and I’ll continue to do so untilthere is no more Polaroid film left on the planet.

Where did you train and/or study?I ended up at the State University of New York-Purchase by default; I couldn’t afford New YorkUniversity or Columbia University. At the time,there were less than a half-dozen film programsin the country. It turned out great because SUNY-Purchase attracted artists from the New Yorkmetropolitan area and a very eclectic group of professors. There wasno cinematography major per se. I started shooting everyone’s filmsin my class because I couldn’t afford to make many on my own. Iwas motivated, and I got into NABET 15 as a director of photogra-phy before I left school. I was kicked out of SUNY for filming a bandcalled the B-52s. At the time, I was working at the school’s equip-ment room, and my friend Charlie Libin and I had this crazy idea toshoot this band from Georgia at a club in NYC where webartended. We brought a bunch of film students and gear into thecity and had a great night shooting. For most students, that wastheir first real experience with shooting. A couple of months later,Charlie and I were editing at the school, and we were asked to leavebecause we never got the proper permissions. Oh, well. No degree.

Who were your early teachers or mentors?Deszu Magyar, who taught directing at SUNY for a couple of yearsand went on to run the American Film Institute. He influenced meas an artist and as a man. He didn’t care about Hollywood orsuccess. He always said, ‘Work hard and don’t look back. Beauthentic.’ Apart from a short stint with Ron Fortunato, ASC, I wasnever mentored by another cinematographer. I’m trying to do itnow for others.

What are some of your key artistic influences?The Futurists, the Cubists and all of those outside the box, advanc-ing guard.

How did you get your first break in the business?I bought two cases of beer, went to Ferco and then to PanavisionNew York. I made a couple friends, learned to use some camerasand kept my eye on the ball. I knew I had to get into the union. Ifailed my camera-assistant test at NABET. A month later, I screenedmy reel at NABET and got in as a director of photography — differ-ent group of guys that day! After bouncing between Los Angelesand New York, I went back to New York, walked into the GershAgency and screened my reel for Tom Turley. He called me twoweeks later and had me working with Jeff Lovinger and Bob Giraldiwithin a week.

What has been your most satisfying moment on a project?Looking at the check print for Man on Fire.

Have you made any memorable blunders?One of the first student projects I did was a filmrequiring multiple exposures. I shot it on regular16mm, and I didn’t compensate for the totalnumber of exposures. In fact, I didn’t compen-sate at all. The footage was so overexposed itwas unusable — reversal film! I think I have thatone down now.

What is the best professional advice you’veever received?Invest in yourself, and if you’re not willing to riskeverything, then don’t bother doing anything.

What recent books, films or artworks have inspired you?Book: The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb. Films: The Conver-sation, Klute and Dog Day Afternoon. Artwork: Cloud Gate, thebean sculpture by Anish Kapoor in Chicago’s Millennium Park.Music: Lou Reed’s Street Hassle.

Do you have any favorite genres, or genres you would liketo try?I’m about to shoot a small film with director Malcolm Venville. It’sa very different project for me. I’ve been shying away from biggeraction films and trying to move into more dramatic material.

If you weren’t a cinematographer, what might you be doinginstead?Cutting wood and living in the wilderness. Into the Wild with goodfood and wine.

Which ASC cinematographers recommended you formembership?Tom Sigel, Daniel Pearl and Jeff Cronenweth.

How has ASC membership impacted your life and career?I’ve always felt pressure to shoot good films, and now I feel it morethan ever. ●

Paul Cameron, ASCClose-up

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C H R I S M A N L E Y, A S CONFILM

“My early experience working for Roger Corman

taught me how to work quickly without

compromising. At its best, cinematography

reinforces the emotion or mood of a scene

the same way that the music in the score

does. It’s almost intangible–the audience is

only marginally aware of it on a subconscious

level. I believe that shooting on film is part of

the equation. There’s an emotional quotient

that you can’t measure, but the audience can

feel it. There have been experiments where

audiences looked at the same scene recorded in

both film and digital formats. They thought the

performances were better on film, even though

it was the same exact scene. … I trust my eyes.

If I see it on set, I know the audience will see

it on film in cinemas and on HD television sets.

As filmmakers, every film or still image we see

informs the images we choose to make in the

future. We are all standing on the backs of the

great cinematographers who came before us.”

Chris Manley, ASC began his career shooting

low-budget films for Roger Corman, including

The Phantom Eye which won a daytime Emmy®

Award for cinematography. His credits include

the television series Threat Matrix, CSI: NY,

Prison Break and Mad Men, which earned a

2009 Emmy® nomination for cinematography.

[All these programs were shot on Kodak motion picture film.]

For an extended interview with Chris Manley, visit www.kodak.com/go/onfilm.

To order Kodak motion picture film, call (800) 621-film. www.motion.kodak.com© Eastman Kodak Company, 2009. Photography: © 2009 Douglas Kirkland

AC feb 2010

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