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

Gabriel Beristain, ASC, BSC

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come from four generationsof film actors. My familylived and dreamed films, and

as a boy I began playing with thmagical Brownie 127 camera.Soon I was shooting with a Beaulieu Super 8mm and the fantastic Bolex H16.

“When I left Mexico for Europe, I discovered cinematography was not only my passion, but also my survival kit My tools were the Éclair and the

BL, and my language guide wasAmerican Cinematographer , a permanent fixture in my back pocket.

“When I came to Americamy cameras grew bigger and I grew wiser, but one thing has stayed constant: my copy of AC which informs, motivates and inspires me and keeps the dream

of that young boy alive.”

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The International Journal of Motion Imaging

26 Master Plans John Toll, ASC emphasizes elegance for

The Adjustment Bureau

38 Weekly Wonders The cinematographers on Human Target , The Killing andFringe detail their work

50 Lessons Well LearnedCareer Achievement in Television honoreeMichael D. O’Shea, ASC reflects on a life of rich rewards

58 Photographing Movie History Presidents Award honoree Douglas Kirkland reminisces

about his remarkable career

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Bureau, shot by John Toll, ASC. (Photo by Andrew D. Schwartz, SMPSP, courtesy of Universal Pictures.)

8 Editor’s Note10 President’s Desk 12 Short Takes: Nowhere Near Here

16 Production Slate: Image Interchange Framework • The Imperialists Are Still Alive!

66 Filmmakers’ Forum: Lisa Wiegand

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OFFICERS - 2010/2011

Michael GoiPresident

Richard CrudoVice President

Owen RoizmanVice President

John C. Flinn IIIVice President

Matthew Leonetti Treasurer

Rodney TaylorSecretary

Ron GarciaSergeant At Arms

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BOARD

John Bailey Stephen Burum

Curtis Clark George Spiro Dibie

Richard Edlund John C. Flinn III

Michael GoiStephen LighthillIsidore Mankofsky

Daryn OkadaRobert Primes

Nancy Schreiber

Kees Van OostrumHaskell Wexler

Vilmos Zsigmond

ALTERNATES

Fred ElmesRodney Taylor

Michael D. O’SheaSol Negrin

Michael B. Negrin

MUSEUM CURATOR

Steve Gainer

American Society of Cine matographers

The 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 invitationto 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

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© 2010 Sony Electronics Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Features and specifications are subject to change without notice.Sony, CineAlta, HDCAM-SR, XDCAM, “make.believe” and their respective logos are trademarks of Sony.

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With digital technologies enjoying firm footholds inproduction and post, “workflow” has become a problem-atic buzzword for cinematographers. New image-capturesystems do not always jibe seamlessly with established postpipelines, and the industry still lacks a reliable standard forthe exchange of digital files. Naturally, this has createdmajor frustrations for those whose goal is achieving thehighest image quality.

The Image Interchange Framework Committee, agroup formed by the Academy Science and TechnologyCouncil, has spent the past six years working to solve thisproblem. Their mandate was to design a system thatwould preserve the information captured in a raw image

all the way through post, make it possible for different departments and facilities to easilyexchange files and information, and provide a color-managed workflow for productionsmixing digital media and film. The result of their labor is a set of components called the ImageInterchange Framework, and the Fox television show Justified , shot by Francis Kenny, ASC, isputting it to use. According to Kenny, all concerned are extremely pleased with the system. InStephanie Argy’s article (Production Slate, page 16), Ray Feeney, co-chair of the Academy Sci-Tech Council, offers encouraging words for those concerned about quality control for motionimaging: “Several studios and numerous projects are testing various aspects of the proposedframework, and so far, the results have exceeded expectations. Justified is the first show usingthe IIF to be released for broadcast, and they are absolutely ecstatic with the results.” AC willcontinue to keep our readers apprised as this important new system is refined.

This month’s focus on television production, penned by Michael Goldman, Jay Holben

and Iain Stasukevich, offers articles about three eye-catching series. Robert McLachlan, ASC,CSC discusses using Arri’s new Alexa on Fox’s Human Target ; Peter Wunstorf, ASC details hisapproach to AMC’s latest original series,The Killing; and Tom Yatsko and CSC members DavidMoxness and Greg Middleton discuss their collaboration on Fox’sFringe (“Weekly Wonders,”page 38).

Jean Oppenheimer’s profile of Michael D. O’Shea, ASC (“Lessons Well Learned,” page50) details a commitment to teamwork and excellence that led the Society to salute O’Sheawith its Career Achievement in Television Award last month. Another industry icon, associatemember Douglas Kirkland, was honored last month with the ASC Presidents Award fordecades of excellence as one of Hollywood’s top stills photographers. Jon Silberg’s piece onKirkland’s stellar career (“Photographing Movie History,” page 58) reveals an artist whose loveof cinema is reflected in every frame.

In the feature-film arena, The Adjustment Bureau , shot by John Toll, ASC, is an idealdate-night option for cinéastes and their significant others.An intriguing blend of romance,suspense and science fiction, the movie concerns a promising New York politician (MattDamon) who falls for a dancer (Emily Blunt), only to find their romance thwarted at every turnby a mysterious group of men. Senior editor Rachael Bosley’s article (“Master Plans,” page 26)pulls back the curtain to reveal the filmmakers’ methods.

Stephen PizzelloExecutive Editor

Editor’s Note

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I recently had a conversation with a fellow cinematographer who was bemoaning what he feltwas a lack of truly groundbreaking cinematography today, imagery that is so perfectly partneredwith the subject matter that the two become inseparable. He was especially concerned that digi-tal manipulation has made much of the cinematographer’s work look artificially polished to thepoint that the original photography is reduced to “data” for the computer.

I grew up during the late Sixties and early Seventies, when a revolution of filming tech-niques was in full swing. Every week at my local cinema, there were examples of great movies withgreat cinematography—images so “non-Hollywood” that they made going to the cinema anexciting adventure of unpredictability. These visuals seemed to break the mold of staid, studioconformity and spring out from a place deep within the soul. Witness the opening shot of TheGodfather , photographed by Gordon Willis, ASC. When we first saw Bonasera’s face, it was hardlywhat gangster films of the past had conditioned us to expect; his skin tone is a sickly yellow hue,the background is muddy and indistinct, and his eye sockets are murky and undefined except fora singular, beady highlight in the center of his eyes. It was described by many old-guard Hollywoodtypes of the time as being bad and amateurish. And it was completely riveting.

Or take another look at Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, photographed by Haskell Wexler,ASC. Just three years earlier, we’d seen Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton inCleopatra, captured

inglorious color by Deluxe and Todd-AO widescreen, with stunning, Oscar-winning cinematography by Leon Shamroy, ASC. Nowhere were the same two stars in a black-and-white, almost documentary-like, claustrophobic drama with rough textures thatmatched the battered psyches of the characters. That Wexler’s innovative approach to the film also won an Academy Award was atestament to the undeniable power the cinematography contributed to the emotional thrust of the movie.

In the face of evidence like this, are we to agree that the age of the cinematographer has passed, that it’s no longer possi-ble for a single artist to truly influence a piece of mass entertainment by infusing it with a uniquely original point of view?

I don’t think so. True, we work in a different industry today. The kinds of hands-on studio heads who followed in the foot-steps of Irving Thalberg are becoming harder to find, and with the financial stakes growing higher every year, a film must be some-

what of a sure thing in order to be greenlit, leading to safer artistic choices. But talent tends to migrate toward the industr y rela-tionships that allow it to flourish.

Consider the work of Matthew Libatique, ASC, who has given us the high-powered visuals of Iron Man, and who broughthis talent for diverse looks into the gritty ballet world of Black Swan. Or Wally Pfister, ASC, who has redefined perceptions of whatconstitutes spectacular image quality with his in-camera effects for Inception, and the stunning visual clarity he achieved on BatmanBegins and The Dark Knight by directly printing the film rather than using a digital intermediate. Or Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC, whohas brought his uniquely personal vision to the animated films Wall-E and How to Train Your Dragon; the emotionally stunning useof lighting effects in these films was accomplished first and foremost by hiring someone who knows about lighting: the cine-matographer.

As we move toward new forms of media and find new visual outlets for what we do, the one constant will always be theindividual artistry with which we see the world. Just as no two conductors will guide an orchestra through the complex rhythms ofMahler’s Symphony No. 6 in exactly the same way, no two cinematographers will visually interpret a screenplay in the same way.

Accompanying that artistry is a lifetime of experience, which enables us to read a script and instinctively know whether film o r digi-tal would be the best choice for the subject, and which makes all the “technical voodoo” that might befuddle others secondhandknowledge to us.

Great art has always found a way to live and breathe, and great artists will always find a way to make their voices heard.

Michael Goi, ASCPresident

President’s Desk

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Bringing Street Art to the ScreenBy Iain Stasukevich

“Street art is all about interacting with your environment andbeing aware of the context of your work,” says England-based artist

Pahnl. “Some of the best street artists, like Banksy, find environmentsand paint something relevant in them that makes the space comealive.”

In his own street art, Pahnl works primarily with paint andstencils, rendering dogs, cats and other figures interacting with theirenvironments. However, he notes, “photography is also important tothe work I do,” and that has led to an interest in film and video. Hisvideo Aerosol Amoeba , inspired by colorfully mottled spray-paintcaps, is a mesmerizing, abstract montage of paint blobs beingpressed between two panes of clear acetate. His most recent short,Nowhere Near Here, is an attempt to break away from the confines

of street art’s surfaces. Mixing long-exposure photography withstop-motion, light-stencil animation, the short follows a dog“running around the city at night, doing whatever a dog does,”Pahnl explains. The animated canine’s nocturnal activities includechasing cats and birds and interacting with other dogs. “Makingthese characters come alive and play within a space is somethingstreet artists don’t always do,” he notes.

Inspired in part by the graffiti animation of BLU (notably theepic Big Bang Big Boom ), Pahnl first experimented with the idea ofcreating his characters digitally, using still photographs as back-grounds. He also considered using stencil-art stickers in real loca-tions, “but that seemed a bit restrictive, [limited to] just the wallswhere street art often is [found].” Finally, after he saw the long-exposure light drawings of German art collective Lichtfaktor, Pahnldecided to employ light stencils to create the mischievous animals asluminous cartoon apparitions.

The artist says the production of the video “was more aboutcalculations and measurements than art and expression.” He beganby drawing storyboards set to the track that inspired the video, Röyk-

sopp’s “What Else Is There?” “Then I had to get the timing of thescenes right,” explains Pahnl. “If a scene was five seconds and I wasat 5 frames per second, then I had so many frames to play with. Towork out where the dog was going to be, I had to do a lot of loca-tion scouting and measuring.”

Once he knew what the scenes would entail and where theywould be shot, Pahnl designed more than 200 stencils in Adobe Fire-works. (The program also features a basic animation componentthat assisted him with sequencing the images.) Stencils measuring 8centimeters to 75 centimeters across were laser-printed to sheets ofacetate,cut out by hand,framed in corrugated cardboard and spray-

Short TakesFor the short

film Nowhere

Near Here, streetartist Pahnl

mixed long-exposure

photographywith stop-

motion light-stencil

animation. Theproduction “was

more aboutcalculations and

measurementsthan art and

expression,” henotes.

I

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painted black on both sides to prevent lightspill. Sheets of plain white paper were usedto diffuse the light shining through thestencils,which were also gelled for eachcharacter: blue for the hero dog, green fora second dog, pink for the cats and yellowfor the birds. The light behind the stencilswas supplied with either a high-poweredflash module or flashlight.

Pahnl photographed Nowhere Near

Here with a Nikon D90 DSLR, using 35mm,18-55mm and 55-200mm Nikkor lenses.

“You get to think about things morecreatively with these DSLRs,” he notes,citing the shallow depth-of-field and selec-tive focus that’s possible with the cameras’sensors and variety of lenses. “I know a lotof people who want to keep things sepa-rate — a still camera is a still camera,and avideocamera is a videocamera — but Ithink these cameras create new possibilitiesfor artists and filmmakers.”

Pahnl’s process for Nowhere Near

Here was based on double-exposure

photography. He shot each scene on loca-tion in Oxford, late at night on the streets,first using the light stencils and then captur-ing the background plates, merging thetwo in post. Photographing the stencils wasa matter of composing the characters in theframe and setting the camera to onlyexpose the backlit, brightly illuminatedshape, which usually meant using a narrowf-stop and a slow ASA. Animating was asbasic as taking a shot of a stencil in its place,

replacing it with the next stencil,and thentaking another shot.

In order to avoid being exposed inthe frame alongside the stencils, Pahnl woreblack. “I was dressed like a ninja a lot of thetime, and I think this is why the policestopped me so often,” he recalls wryly.“They’d see this blinking contraption on theground, and there I was, lying maybe 3meters away with a remote control, dressedall in black. I don’t blame them for stoppingme,actually!”

Because he shot characters and back-grounds separately, the camera settingstended to change with each setup toaccommodate the desired effect. “I wantedthe backgrounds to have a streaky, slow-shutter look to them, so I normally used a 5-or 10-second exposure for those,” he says.

“It was a lot of work for everyframe,” he adds. He made chalk outlines onthe ground that lined up with registrationmarks on the backs of the stencil frames, onwhich he also scribbled notes regarding

distances and positions. Scenes in which thestencil characters move behind objects in theframe — such as when the dog runs behindthe wheel of a trash bin to get at some birds— proved to be some of the most challeng-ing composites. To edit and composite theeffects, Pahnl worked in Adobe Premiere,where “the environment shots would be onone layer and the stencil layer would beabove it,” he explains. “I’d set the stencillayer to a screen-blend mode and hope it

would line up, which it did if my measure-ments were correct. It was easy when therewas a stencil just standing in the middle ofthe shot, but when I did those shots wherethe characters interacted with their environ-ment, they were usually misaligned the firsttime around, and I had to reshoot a couple

of scenes.”Pahnl used looping animationswhenever possible. Animation of the dogrunning, for instance, was always threestencils, looped. One of the most difficultanimations was a tracking 360-degree shotof the running dog. Pahnl needed 24 sten-cils to get the full 360-degree move, but heended up making only half that numberand repeating the three-stencil loop foreach angle on the opposite side of thesubject. To help maintain a repeatabledistance as he moved the shot down thesidewalk, he stretched a length of stringbetween the stencil’s position and thecamera tripod.

The final scene of the video featuresa shallow-focus standoff between the dogand an elusive feline, who turns tail andruns at the last moment. As the dog giveschase, they both disappear out of focus intothe far distance. To achieve this effect, Pahnlneeded to shoot the separate elements —dog, cat and background — at the same f-stop and successfully hand-repeat each

focus pull to tie them all together.While he was at work on Nowhere

Near Here,Pahnl was invited to contributethe piece to The Herbert Museum and ArtGallery’s exhibit of street art, which ranthrough mid-January. In addition to a dailyloop of the film, the gallery displayed mostof the actual stencils.

More and more, Pahnl finds himselfproducing work for galleries. “As a streetartist, it’s a bit strange working withgalleries,” he muses. “Street art is painting

on the street,and when you bring that intoa neutral gallery environment,no matterwhat you do, it’s going to feel a little bit arti-ficial. All media have strengths and weak-nesses. In that respect, you certainly need toadapt, but it’s important that you bring yourinfluences and the methods you’ve devel-oped from one medium into the next.” ●

Pahnl designed more than 200 stencils in Adobe Fireworks, whose basic animation componentalso helped him sequence the images.

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Justified Adopts Academy’s New WorkflowBy Stephanie Argy

When future motion-picture historians look back on the

industry’s transition to digital technology, this year’s season of the FXseries Justified might be viewed as a significant milestone, because itmarks the first real-world use of the Image Interchange Framework,a groundbreaking production and post workflow architecturedevised by a group of technologists and practitioners working underthe auspices of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Many of the “growing pains” associated with the digital tran-sition have arisen through the absence of an industry standard for theinterchange of the content of digital files. Without such a standard,many vendors and manufacturers developed their own file formatsand workflows, resulting in incompatibilities, inefficiencies, unneces-sary expenses and a loss of image quality each step of the way.

Six years ago, the Academy’s Science and Technology Coun-cil assigned itself the task of remedying these problems by finding away to improve the exchange of digital files. Almost immediately, itbecame clear that the problems could not be addressed simply by anew file format. Instead, an entirely new workflow architecturewould be necessary.

Ray Feeney, co-chair of the Sci-Tech Council, explains thatuntil now, filmmakers have essentially had two choices for digitalpost: a film-style workflow, using DPX Cineon files going through adigital intermediate, and a video-style approach, based in the colorspace of television, Rec. 709. Both approaches can produce

respectable images, but they cannot make the most of imagingdevices that are not optimized for that type of workflow, making itawkward for filmmakers to combine image-capture technologies.Feeney explains, “There are some industry-wide problems and

legacy issues left over from how movies and TV used to be shot andhow post used to be done. These issues are deep and systemic. Theyrequire a complete rethinking of how to move into the future ofdigital capture and digital post. A dedicated group of more than 50volunteers, along with a very broad spectrum of interested manu-facturers, have invested countless hours in an industry-wide effort toarrive at a next-generation set of capabilities. Several studios andnumerous projects are testing various aspects of the proposedframework, and so far, the results have exceeded expectations. Justi-fied is the first show using the IIF to be released for broadcast, andthey are absolutely ecstatic with the results.”

The legacy approaches didn’t have much room for growth,

he adds. “They were perfectly adequate and were not necessarilyhobbling the early generations of electronic-capture devices,” saysFeeney. “Today, though, we have digital-camera systems that aresubstantially better than anything that was available to filmmakersin the past. And as we move forward, devices will have even greaterdynamic range and color gamut. Neither the DPX Cineon approachnor Rec. 709-based systems are sufficiently flexible to accommodatewhat we’ve seen filmmakers requesting on set or in the DI. Thisleads to frustration, and either requires heroic efforts or results incompromised image quality.”

Jim Houston, vice president of technology and engineering

Production Slate

Justified , shot by ASC member Francis Kenny, is the first production to take advantage of the Image Interchange Framework, a groundbreak ingworkflow architecture that allows far greater quality control.

I

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www.theasc.com March 2011

at Sony Pictures, concurs. “With film, cine-matographers could learn what to expect— how Deluxe processes were differentfrom Technicolor processes, how Kodakwas different from Fuji — but with digital,it’s the Wild, Wild West.”

To address these problems, the Sci-Tech Council formed the Image Inter-

change Framework Committee, a group ofcolor scientists, engineers and representa-tives from various manufacturers and facili-ties, and challenged them to create aforward-thinking new framework forproduction and post. Chaired by Houston,the IIF Committee has worked to devise asystem that could preserve the informationcaptured in a raw image all through post,make it possible for different departmentsand facilities to easily exchange files andinformation, and provide a color-managed

workflow for productions mixing digitalmedia and film. The new architecture alsohad to be able to support both the film-style workflow and the digital-style work-flow, so that users could choose to work ineither one or mix them.

The result is a set of componentsknown as the Image Interchange Frame-work. Last year, an evaluation programbegan, with post facilities testing the IIFsystem and manufacturers making proto-

type implementations. But the team stillneeded a production trial.

Meanwhile, Francis Kenny, ASCwas prepping the second season of Justi-

fied . He had shot the first season withSony’s F35, and when he looked at the rawfootage from the camera, he realized thatthere was far more information available

than what was ending up in the finalversion of the show. “Last year, we werelosing everything on both ends of theimages, the shadows and the highlights,”he recalls. “It was sad.”

Kenny consulted with Curtis Clark,ASC, the chairman of the ASC TechnologyCommittee, to see if Clark had any sugges-tions about how to enhance the look of thefootage. Clark and the Tech Committeehad been actively supporting the Acad-emy’s work on the IIF architecture, and he

saw in Justified an opportunity for theframework to make its real-world debut.The Academy team was already workingwith Clark, Autodesk, Sony Electronics andothers on developing and testing the look-up tables and pieces needed to implementthe IIF system with the Sony F35 and SRW-9000-PL cameras configured for S-Log/S-Gamut, which enable both cameras tocapture an extended dynamic range ofscene tones with a wide color gamut.

Kenny had shot a demo for the Sony SRW-9000-PL and timed it at Colorworks usingthe facility’s custom LUTs. He thought theyimproved the look of his piece, and hedecided the next step was to use IIF LUTs.

Knowing Kenny would be using theSony SRW-9000-PL for the new season of Justified , Clark helped Kenny set up tests

with Encore, the post facility that hadworked on the first season. Encore, andespecially the show’s colorist, Pankaj Bajpai,embraced the idea of using the IIF systemand did multiple tests on existing materialto see if the results would meet Kenny’sexpectations. Bajpai, Clark and Kennyincorporated the IIF framework, collaborat-ing with Sony and Autodesk, the manufac-turer of the Lustre, which Bajpai uses tocolor correct the series. The incorporationof the framework was simple: it used the

standard IIF transforms rather than anyparticular “secret sauce.” Bajpai notes thatthe framework has worked without asingle hitch so far, while pointing out aconsideration that’s unique to TV showsusing the process: even when shows wereshot on film, they suffered a severe loss ofdata after they went through the telecineprocess and were converted to video linear— so severe, in fact, that the conversionradically curtailed the benefits of film’s

This diagram illustrates the various steps involved in the IIF-ACES workflow.

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dynamic range. “The IIF system is so farahead of video linear,” he asserts. “There’sactually more information.”

The basic goal of the IIF system is totake images from a variety of sources(including film, digital and CGI), apply trans-forms to them so that they can all worktogether within a common space, and thenoutput the color-corrected images properlyfor any of a wide range of delivery situa-tions. It does this with three separate typesof transforms:

1) The Input Device Transform takesinto account the characteristics of thecamera shooting the scene and convertsthe material into the IIF system’s workingcolor space, the Academy Color Encoding

Specification, or ACES.2) The Reference Rendering Trans-

form then maps the ACES image to OutputColor Encoding Space, encoding the imagewith an unlimited color gamut and adynamic range exceeding that of anycurrent or anticipated output device.

3) The Output Device Transformaccounts for the limitations of a particulartype of display and adjusts the gamut andcontrast of the color-corrected image tomatch the specs of that device, so that it

will be displayed properly.ACES is set up to have a dynamic

range of more than 30 stops and a colorgamut that covers the visible gamut. Fromthe start, the goal was to have ACES repre-sent all possible colors, using fixed RGBprimaries to cover the visible gamut withhigh-precision 16-bit half-floating pointnumbers.

When raw footage is put throughthe three transforms, it will appear on the

chosen output device with a basic lookapplied to it. On Justified , that look is a film-like appearance. Applying a look like thismeans that colorists no longer have tospend the majority of their time getting thebasic image into usable shape; instead, theycan move immediately into the morecreative part of their work. “Now the colorsession is strictly what it is supposed to be,which is the place where the final creativeadjustments and tweaking get put intoplace,” says Feeney. “It’s all about separat-ing the lab work from the creative work.With the traditional photochemicalapproach, the lab work was the processingand developing, and then the creative workwas the final color timing. But with digital

files, the colorist is essentially doing the labconversion from whatever world the file wasin for the particular camera to the world ofthat particular post house, and then doingthe creative work on top of that.”

The developers of the IIF systemstrove to design a process that can beconfigured to be as familiar as possible tothose accustomed to working in film, butcan also be configured to suit those whoprefer working in a traditional video linearstyle. The overall structure of the framework

can be made to mirror that of a film work-flow, in which an image or file with themost possible information (analogous to afilm negative) can be manipulated and givena look for display and exhibition (similar tothe look of a film print). Because the IIFarchitecture can work with film-style toolsand terms, color adjustments can be madein terms of printer lights, which Bajpai saystransforms his communication with cine-matographers. “In the past, if somebody

asked me to ‘add two points of yellow,’ Iwould move the trackball in the direction ofyellow and interpret what those two pointsof yellow might mean. In the linear videoworld, there isn’t any specific way in whichyou can click something to add two pointsof yellow. For me, this is one of the most

exciting aspects of the IIF system.”Kenny recalls that when he shot hisfirst digital feature, How High , he wouldlight the set to eye, as he would have forfilm, but the image would look terrible onthe DIT’s monitor. He would then relight,watching the monitor, only to find that theset now looked terrible to his eye. With thisyear’s workflow on Justified , he says, hecan now once again light the set to his eyeand know the results will be true.

That is a key goal of the IIF architec-ture, says Feeney. “This is supposed toallow cinematographers the confidenceand freedom they had when it was a filmworld, but with the advantages of a DI, andwithout the heroic levels of work it takestoday to keep a DI from jumping the rails,”he says.

Kenny says using IIF in tandem withthe new Sony camera has made a world ofdifference on Justified. “This season isgoing to raise a lot of eyebrows,” hepredicts. “People are going to say, ‘Whoa,what are they doing? It’s so different from

last year!’” He says he has already receivedpraise from the producers and the studio.“They say, ‘Whatever you’re doing, don’tstop. The show looks great!’”

Justified is only the first toe in thewater, however. What the IIF team needsnow is for many features and TV shows toadopt the architecture so it can be chal-lenged and further developed. That willrequire the interest and participation ofeveryone involved in image creation, fromthe producer down to the colorist. “We’re

at a very critical point,” says Feeney. “Thecore scientists, a very dedicated group,have been working on this for six years, butit hasn’t been well publicized. Now peoplewho make images for a living should knowabout it.”

For more information on the IIFsystem, visit www.oscars.org/science-technology/council/projects/iif.html.

Kenny says hisuse of the new

workflow, intandem with

Sony’s SRW-9000-PL camera, hasproduced eye-

popping improve-ments in image

quality.

➣

7/29/2019 AC mar 2011


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want 35mm. She wanted the images to begrainy, and she also wanted a lot oftexture.”

“I understand why someone mightwant to shoot digital, but I didn’t become afilmmaker to shoot digital,” says Durra. “Ifeel that film picks up something that digi-tal can’t, and that’s what excites me.”

Crosignani, who had previously shot

some short films on Super 16mm, says, “Iknew it was going to work well for usbecause of the small locations we wereworking in, and because we had to move sofast.” Obtaining the proper texture was key.“Zeina showed me her thesis film, whichshe’d shot on 35mm at New York Univer-sity, and said, ‘I don’t want it this clean.’ Shewanted something rawer.” At the sametime, “she felt that pushing 16 would bestylizing it too much. She wanted the grain,but didn’t want to call attention to it.”

The two collaborators had knowneach other since their student days at NYU;Durra was in the graduate-film program,and Crosignani, a native of Uruguay, was inthe undergraduate program. “I was shoot-ing grad thesis films, and I shot one thatZeina produced,” recalls Crosignani, whowent on to earn a master’s degree in cine-matography at the American Film Institute.

When Durra began prepping Impe-rialists, she interviewed Crosignani along

with other cinematographers. “Of all thedirectors of photography I met, Magela justunderstood me,” says the director. “It’s veryimportant that a cinematographer under-stand your language, because then theywant to help you get your film across.”

“I really loved the script, and itseemed like an incredible opportunity forme to film in New York,” says Crosignani.

Imperialists was shot over 23 days inearly 2009, but this short burst of filmmak-ing followed an extensive preproductionprocess. Durra had many visual referencesto show Crosignani and productiondesigner Jade Healy, including works byDanish painter Vilhelm Hammershoi (for thewinter light), Japanese photographer DaidoMoriyama (for his city shots), and a numberof films. The French New Wave figuredheavily, as did 1960s movies by Antonioniand Fellini. “Some of the references were

from La Dolce Vita , which also had a maincharacter moving through different strata ofsociety,” notes Crosignani.

In sharing her references, Durramade it clear that the graininess of 16mmwas just a piece of the visual atmosphereshe wanted to create. “She wanted a lot oftexture in every location,” says Crosignani.“For instance, she’d show us pictures ofbathroom tiles and say, ‘I want these tiles,but I don’t want the wall to be this white; I

A Woman of 2 WorldsBy John Calhoun

The first shot in The Imperialists AreStill Alive! features lead actress ÉlodieBouchez wearing a Keffiyeh around herface and nothing else. Cast as Asya, a NewYork visual artist of French upbringing andmostly Arab descent, Bouchez is also acting

as stand-in for writer/director Zeina Durra,who grew up in London but whose ethnicbackground mirrors Asya’s. The character isan expression of the filmmaker’s own iden-tity, that of a 21st-century woman who isnot caught between Muslim and Westernworlds but straddles them, easily navigatingNew York Bohemian culture while remain-ing vitally connected to the political realitiesof the Middle East and post-9/11 America.

The opening shot is certainly atten-tion grabbing, but if one can look beyond

the naked actress to take in the wholeframe, other details may become apparent:grain, for example. The kind of grain associ-ated with film, that is. The Imperialists AreStill Alive! is a low-budget indie shot notwith a DSLR, but with that longtime indiestalwart, Super 16mm. “I didn’t have topitch it at all — Zeina was definitelycommitted to Super 16,” says cinematogra-pher Magela Crosignani of the film’s direc-tor. “She did not want digital, nor did she

The Imperialists Are Still Alive!,

shot by MagelaCrosignani,follows Asya

(ÉlodieBouchez), a

French-Arabartist living inNew York. In

this scene, Asyavisits St. Nick’s

Jazz Pub inHarlem.

I

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I am extremely honored to have received the 2010

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences John A.

Bonner Award. This would not have been possible without

all of you. I’d like to express my sincere gratitude to my

very gifted and loyal staff, my colleagues, my peers, my

family, but most importantly to all of you cinematographers

who inspire me. Thank you so very much!

Denny Clairmont

WOW!

www.clairmont.com

7/29/2019 AC mar 2011



want it to be dirty.’” Consequently, scouting

became a matter of walking around NewYork and knocking on doors to find theperfect locations. Asya’s Chinatown loft wasdiscovered in this manner. “We had a lot ofmaterial to shoot in the loft or just outsideit,” says Crosignani. “What caught Zeina’sattention at that location was the red on thestairs to the loft, and the texture of thewalls.” She adds that a gallery was chosenbecause of the view outside its windows.“What was visible outside a window was

important to Zeina.”

Shooting with an Arri 16-SR3 andZeiss Super Speed lenses, Crosignani usedKodak Vision2 250D 7205 for day interiorsand exteriors and Vision3 500T 7219 fornight interiors and exteriors. “That was acombination of needing the sensitivity ofthe film and not having enough money tolight a block in New York City!” she notes.“A lot of our lighting was practical. Wedidn’t have large lights or Condors.”

The loft was challenging because “it

had really large windows, and we knew wedidn’t have the budget to gel them, nor thetime to change gels when necessary,”continues the cinematographer. “That’s partof what led me to shoot a daylight-balancednegative.” Filming at the loft took placeover a week in February. “Some days were

snowing and cold and cloudy, and otherswere like a heat wave,” recalls Crosignani.“It was tricky to keep [lighting] consistentwithout having lights outside — we wereon the third floor. We used a lot of naturallighting and added to that inside, mostlywith 2-by-4 Kinos rigged above thewindows at an angle and Jo-Lekos [a 400-watt Joker HMI inside a Source Four], whichallowed me to bounce light at more difficultangles.”

The story includes numerous streetsequences, many of them at night. Scenesof Asya traversing the city streets with herboyfriend, Javier (José María de Tavira), aresometimes so dark that “you see the lightsin the street but can’t really see their faces,”acknowledges Crosignani. “Zeina said, ‘Idon’t care to see their faces; I want to feelas if they’re walking around Chinatown,and it’s not always lit.’”

Given that so many of Durra’s refer-ences were black-and-white, “I think if shecould have muted the colors of the city, shewould have,” the cinematographer contin-

ues. “But we knew we had to deal withsodium-vapor streetlights and the colors ofChinatown, so we decided to embrace andexpand upon them.”

A series of bars also served as loca-tions, and they are partly distinguished fromeach other by the use of color. The naturaltones of scenes in the loft give way to thegolden hues of the trendy Bungalow 8, orthe blue-green of a neighborhood bar. Atone location, St. Nick’s Jazz Pub in Harlem,the filmmakers even enhanced the existing

color. In this scene, Asya has a catharticmoment dancing to an African band. “Iwanted to separate that scene from theother colorful ones and push it even further,make it more red and more yellow,” saysCrosignani. “The ceilings were very low, sowe used some low-profile Pars, some battenlights and some LEDs that our gaffer, DerekGross, owned.”

Another scene, in which Asyadances with Javier on an East Village street

Top: Karim (Karim Saleh) and Tatiana (Katarina Muller) soak in the ambience at the hipChelsea lounge Bungalow 8. Bottom: Asya feels a romantic spark with Javier (José María de Tavira),

a Mexican graduate student.

7/29/2019 AC mar 2011


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frame add texture. Zeina cared aboutdetails that are usually left for bigger-budget films, and that’s part of what madethis indie film exciting to shoot — there wasnever a sense of sacrificing the visuals tobudget limitations.”

The digital grade for Imperialistswas carried out at Goldcrest, where thefilmmakers worked with colorist JohnDowdell. “The things we had to work onmost were scenes that we shot night-for-day,” recalls Crosignani. A breakfast sceneat a Chinatown diner, for example, wasshot after sundown. “There’s a window inthe scene, and we worked a lot on justgetting that window to be bright, andbalancing the interior and exterior to makeit look as close to morning as possible. Wealso worked to get rid of the warmth andcolors that you relate more to night. There

were also some scenarios where we had tocreate windows, like some of the interiorcar scenes. A lot of it was just making surethe blacks were black.”

Whatever format she uses, Durra islikely to continue carrying the torch for film.“I really believe in film,” she says. “I believesomething special happens when light hitsthe negative, something magical. Peopleshould understand that shooting on video isnot just an economic choice, but also anaesthetic one. It’s a distinctive choice not to

shoot on film.”

TECHNICAL SPECS

1.85:1

Super 16mm

Arri 16-SR3

Zeiss Super Speed

Kodak Vision2 250D 7205,Vision3 500T 7219

Digital Intermediate ●

to music emanating from a nearby car,captures a somewhat different mood. “I feltthe location lighting was too warm, and Iwanted a little color separation there, so weadded some cyan backlight,” says Crosig-nani. “The flare from that adds to theromantic little moment while keeping it

gritty. It’s a New York exterior, and we’re notbeautifying the street, but there’s a littleshine in the background. There was a tonalrange in the story — some scenes are purelove story, some more political and funnier— so there had to be range in the visuals.But the goal was always to keep it simple.Zeina doesn’t like overcomplicated setups,and she doesn’t like coverage at all.”

Indeed, Durra says, “I think stan-dard coverage is really taking away from the

potential of cinema’s language.” Most ofImperialistswas shot handheld (with Crosig-nani operating) because Durra did not wantto limit the actors’ movements. The mainlenses were the 12mm and 16mm“because Zeina wanted to be close in prox-imity to the actors but also wanted to allow

for the cast to be part of the frame withouthaving to shoot close-ups of each one ofthem,” says the cinematographer. Some-times the frame contains up to five actors,with extras often moving through thescenes to maintain the bustling city atmos-phere. “Zeina wanted to show peoplewalking around the frame in full-lengthshots because the way they are dressed alsoadds texture to the image,” says Crosig-nani. “Even the cars passing through the

Clockwisefrom top left:A scene set in

the 90-year-oldNom Wah Tea

Parlor on DoyersStreet in

Manhattan;Crosignani lines

up a shot onanother project;Asya and Javier

share a close

moment duringa cab ride.

P h o t o o

f M a g e l a C r o s i g n a n i b y M a t t h e w L i b a t i q

u e A S C

7/29/2019 AC mar 2011


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A promising politician discovers hispath isn’t entirely of his own makingin The Adjustment Bureau, directed

by George Nolfi and shot by John Toll, ASC.

By Rachael K. Bosley

•|•

MasterPlans

George Nolfi, the writer/director of The Adjustment Bureau, is on speakerphone, addressing John Toll, ASC,the film’s cinematographer. Nolfi is at Technicolor New

York, and Toll is at Technicolor Hollywood, and they have just finished watching a color-timed version of the moviefrom beginning to end for the first time together via

Technicolor’s “Tech-2-Tech” link, which enabled them to view identical 2K images on both coasts in real time.

It has been almost a year since principal photography wrapped, and Toll’s work on the pictureis nearly finished. Hisinvolvement in post will eventually comprise four weeks’

worth of intermittent work at Technicolor, encompassing the

digital timing, carried out with colorist Mike Hatzer andsenior assistant colorist Chris Jensen, as well as subsequentadjustments to the answer print, the digital-cinema packagefor 2K and 4K theatrical presentations, and the HD masterfor ancillary markets. He invited AC to sit in on a number of these sessions, providing a glimpse of the minutely detailed

work a cinematographer so often does in the final stages of amovie’s creation. As Toll scrutinized the picture in differentcolor spaces and resolutions, the filmmakers’ considerableambition was clearly evident on the screen.

Loosely adapted from Philip K. Dick’s short story

“John, thank you. It looks beautiful.”

7/29/2019 AC mar 2011



Adjustment Team , The Adjustment

Bureau follows David Norris (MattDamon), a New York politician whofalls in love at a critical juncture in hiscareer only to have his relationship withthe woman, Elise (Emily Blunt),

thwarted at every turn. After Davidlearns that what appears to be coinci-dence is in fact design — that mysteri-ous men with unusual powers are

working to keep him and Elise apart —he must decide whether pursuing therelationship will harm them both.

With its blend of suspense,romance, contemporary politics andelements of science fiction, The

Adjustment Bureau is not easy to catego-rize, and this made it an intriguing

proposition for the creative team and arather singular challenge for Nolfi, ascreenwriter ( Oceans 12 ) who wasmaking his directing debut. Toll recalls,“Throughout the shoot, I would period-ically ask George to describe what kindof film we were making. His answer

would change at times, but eventually we settled on calling it ‘a romantic,political, metaphysical suspense film.’ Itcould be the first one of that genre! U

n i t p h o t o g r a p h y b y A n d r e w D . S c h w a r t z , S M P S P , c o u r t e s y o f U n i v e r s a l P i c t u r e s .

Opposite: Senate hopeful DavidNorris (Matt Damon) greets his fanson the streets of Manhattan. Thispage, top: Adjustment Bureauagents Harry (Anthony Mackie, left)and Richardson (John Slattery, nextto Mackie) join other agents to

monitor events on Election Night.Middle: René Burri’s São Paulo,

Brazil , one of the many stills thatinfluenced the filmmakers’approach. Bottom: John Toll, ASCprepares to shoot.

➣

7/29/2019 AC mar 2011



“This was a tough picture for afirst-time director, incredibly difficult,”continues Toll. “When you’re workingin a clearly defined genre, the answers tomany questions tend to become self-explanatory once you fall into that

genre. But because of the multifacetednature of this story, it wasn’t obvious where the punctuation should be foreach department: How beautiful is‘beautiful’? How real is ‘real’? Those arenot obvious questions, and the answersdo come out of the writer/director’spoint of view.”

“I was besieged,” Nolfi recalls.“When you write a script, there are a lotof instances when you suggest some-thing, and then many other peoplemake decisions about how to use thatsuggestion, or whether to use it at all.But when you direct, you have to have apoint of view on every decision; if youdon’t, then it just drifts. That was themost overwhelming aspect of the shoot:making hundreds of decisions a day.

The overall feel or tone of a film is irrev-ocably shaped by all those decisions youhave to make ‘on the day,’ typically under fairly intense time pressure.”

What helped to unify the visualplan was Nolfi’s concept that the

Adjustment Bureau, the organization of men following David and, in fact,controlling everyone’s destiny, hasmankind’s best interests at heart. “Oneof the earliest ideas I had was to useincredibly beautiful images to convey

what the world would be like if the Adjustment Bureau controlled every-thing,” says Nolfi. “The world withinthe Bureau is perfect-looking, but eventhe real world outside is a little morebeautiful because of the Bureau’s influ-

ence. That was one of the first things Italked about with John: how to create areality that’s recognizable but slightly more beautiful than what you’re used toseeing.”

“The goal,” says Toll, “was anidealized version of modern New York that wasn’t so cosmetically beautiful thatit looked totally romanticized. We

wanted to feel reality, but we didn’t wantto create a gritty, grungy movie. It was a

◗ Master Plans

Top: In a momentthat changes both

of their lives, Davidencounters Elise

(Emily Blunt) in ahotel men’s room.

Middle: Harry racesdown Broadway

after failing to stopDavid from

boarding a bus,where he meets

Elise again.Bottom: Richardsoninterrogates David

after heaccidentally

glimpses theAdjustment Bureau

at work in hisoffice.

7/29/2019 AC mar 2011



matter of finding that fine line.” This was accomplished mainly

through a judicious and extensive use of locations throughout New York City —the production had to make 25 full crew moves over the course of the 70-day

shoot to fit them all in — and anemphasis on formal compositions thatshowcased the grand architecture atsuch sites as the New York PublicLibrary, which provided interiors for

Adjustment Bureau headquarters;Madison Square Park, the neighbor-hood where David lives; the Waldorf-

Astoria, where David and Elise firstmeet; and the old U.S. Custom House,

which figures into the story’s climacticchase. “We wanted to use locations tosuggest the Adjustment Bureau is guid-ing humanity to a more perfect place,”Nolfi explains. “I’m a huge fan of U.S.architecture from about 1900 to 1940,and New York has that in spades. It alsohas a lot of exterior and interior spacesthat I knew could be tied together tosuggest a single, majestic location.”

One influence on the filmmakers’approach was René Burri’s photo São

Paulo, Brazil , which is explicitly refer-enced in the high-angle shot that intro-duces Adjustment Bureau agents Harry

(Anthony Mackie) and Richardson(John Slattery), who are monitoringDavid. “George showed me a collectionof photos that included the Burri shotand many architectural images of New

York, and they suggested a way tohandle architecture that would help ustell the story,” says Toll.

“But our main visual inspiration was New York itself,” he adds. “It’s sorich visually that just moving around thecity constantly exposes you to ideas.”

Nolfi wrote several specificManhattan locations into the script, andeven before Toll officially came aboardthe production, he joined Nolfi forpreliminary scouts of those sites whilehe was in New York on another project.Scouting subsequently occupied muchof their formal prep, which was almosteight weeks. “That time was hugely important,” says Nolfi. “John and I spenthundreds of hours in cars and vans, just

Top: Damon and Mackie wait in the foreground as Toll (wearing red cap) and the crew prep acrane shot on a ferryboat. Middle: On the ferry, Harry tells David more about the mysterious

Bureau.Bottom: David rallies his supporters in front of one of New York’s most famouslandmarks.

7/29/2019 AC mar 2011



moving through the city and looking atthings.”

The filmmakers also spent preptime storyboarding key actionsequences, including a daytime chasethat starts at Madison Square Park and

ends at Union Square. The scene begins when David boards a bus at 23rd andBroadway and encounters Elise for thesecond time. Harry, who was supposedto prevent David from getting on thebus, gives chase on foot as the vehicleheads down Broadway. The scene ends

when Elise disembarks at UnionSquare. “George and I walked that[nine-block] stretch of Broadway several times in prep, and all the variousbeats within the sequence were very carefully boarded, which helped usenormously when we shot it,” says Toll.“We filmed it in December, when daysare very short, and it involved a lot of traffic control. We did it pretty much asboarded and even had time to expandon the boards. We never would havebeen able to do that without carefulpreparation, or without the very experi-enced New York crew we were very fortunate to have.”

David and Elise’s dialogue on thebus was shot in a 360-degree green-

screen environment at Steiner Studios. Toll explains, “Working with gaffer JimPlannette and key grip Mitch Lillian,rigging grip Jim Bonice built the green-screen and, with rigging gaffer Clay Liversidge, built lightboxesthatstretched the entire length of both sidesof the bus onstage. There were 30 unitson each side of the bus, all on a dimmerboard, and they held 1K nook lights.

They were on truss and could be raisedand lowered, depending on the shot.

We primarily lit through the windows,adding interior bounce fill as needed

with a variety of small Fresnels.“In the story, this scene takes

place in winter, and we waited to shootthe exterior part of it until the end of our schedule in December, after theleaves had dropped from the trees — we

were hoping for overcast skies to helpthe winter look,” he continues. “So

when we shot the bus interiors, I lit for

◗ Master Plans

Top: Steadicamoperator StephenConsentino films

an exchangebetween David

and Bureau agentsRichardson and

McCrady (AnthonyRuivivar, behindDamon). Middle:

Upper-echelonBureau agent

Thompson(Terence Stamp)

takes charge

when Davidproves difficult.

Bottom: Toll anddirector George

Nolfi plan a shoton location.

7/29/2019 AC mar 2011


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VISIONARY

CONGRATULATIONS ROGER ON THIS WELL-DESERVED HONOR

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7/29/2019 AC mar 2011


an exterior overcast ambience, hopingthat’s what we would get when we shotthe exteriors. Fortunately, that’s what wedid get, and when [visual-effects super-

visor] Mark Russell shot the back-ground plates in January, he was able to

wait for similar conditions.”Indirect light was favored formany sequences in the film, and Tollnotes that this had to do with bothpractical considerations and story points. “Many of our locations wereexamples of the ‘canyons’ of New York,

where we were in the shadows of build-ings most of the time, but the lightchanged dramatically and very quickly as the sun moved in and out frombehind the buildings. For shortersequences, the contrast of the sunlightcould look great, but maintaining light-ing continuity for extended sequences

was very difficult, even impossible attimes. So I worked with first AD Steve

Apicella to try and schedule the longerscenes to take advantage of continuouslight [indirect/shadow] and avoid thetimes of day that would give us variableconditions.

“For the moments when directsunlight becomes important to thestory, we thought it would be interesting

to have the sun appear during thosescenes rather than have it be therethroughout,” he continues. “In the mostimportant of these scenes, which showsHarry at Madison Square Park beforeDavid gets on the bus, we were at thelocation for a few days and had the flex-ibility to take advantage of weather andtime of day, so we timed the scene so it

would start in overcast/shadow andeventually have a moment of directsun.”

The most visually complicatedscenes in the picture showcase one of the Adjustment Bureau’s supernaturalabilities: a Bureau agent can quickly transport himself to a specific locationin New York by donning a hat and step-ping through a specific doorway. Hecan, for example, open a seemingly normal door in a municipal building inLower Manhattan and step out into

Yankee Stadium.


◗ Master Plans

Top: David tries toexplain the Bureau’s

plan to Elise. Middle:The couple’s desire to

change their fatesends them through

the streets of NewYork, with Bureau

agents in hot pursuit.Bottom: Consentino

films Damon andBlunt emerging from

a subway station in

Midtown, anothersegment of the chase.

7/29/2019 AC mar 2011


There are several of these scenesin the film, and, in keeping with theiroverall goal of a naturalistic feel, thefilmmakers spent a good deal of preptime working out how to capture thetransitions in ways that would de-

emphasize their fantastic aspects. “We wanted these events, which seemedimpossible, to appear believable,” says

Toll. “We used a variety of techniques toachieve this, and the most interesting is

when the camera moves through thedoor with the actors, making the transi-tion with them in what appears to be asingle continuous shot — usually aSteadicam move executed by SteveConsentino, our B-camera/Steadicamoperator.

“Each of these scenes needed its

own technique in making the transitionfrom one unique environment toanother,” continues Toll. “In one of theless complicated ones, we did aSteadicam move with John Slattery and

Anthony Ruivivar [playing anotherBureau agent] running down a street in

Soho. The camera follows them into abar, where they open a closet door andstep through onto a busy street inChinatown, closing the door behindthem. The hostess enters the shot as shefollows them, only she opens the doorand finds a closet filled with coats. Tocapture this scene, we hung a green-screen in the closet, and John and

Anthony ran into the closet and tried tohide so we wouldn’t see them when the

Top: David and Elise find their way to Adjustment Bureau headquarters. Bottom: Toll and gafferJames Plannette (at left in background) confer as the crew prepares to shoot.


“We wanted

these events,

which seemed

impossible, to

appear believable.”

7/29/2019 AC mar 2011



hostess opened the door. Anthony couldn’t get out of the shot because the

closet was too small, so Mark [Russell]had to remove him digitally in post. It

was actually pretty funny when we wereshooting because we were losing thelight and going pretty fast, so we didn’trehearse with the hostess, and she didn’tknow Anthony would be standing therelooking at her when she opened thedoor.”

The most intricate sequenceinvolving door transitions came to be

the same rooftop they have just left.“The idea is that they’re confronting thefull power of the chairman, so reality is

warping, and they’re caught in an infi-nite loop,” says Nolfi.

To make the fantastic appear

plausible, Nolfi wrote the Escher Stairsas one continuous shot, with the cameramoving with David and Elise from themoment they enter the stairwell to themoment they step out onto the roof thesecond time. With that mandate, Tollspent prep time working with Russell,production designer Kevin Thompsonand art director Steve Carter to deter-mine how to achieve what Nolfi

wanted. The solution involved a 50'SuperTechnocrane, a set onstage atSteiner that was about 75 percentgreenscreen and 25 percent practical,and background plates shot from theroof of 30 Rockefeller Plaza.

“I wasn’t sure how we wouldapproach the Escher Stairs when I firstread the script,” says Toll. “We wantedthe shot to have a Steadicam-type feel,but doing the single continuous move

with a Steadicam would have been very difficult — the actors would be runningat full speed both up and down thestairs, and we also wanted the move to

include a rise in camera height on theroof to see down into the city. So wedecided to try it as a crane shot.”

After doing a thorough set of storyboards, the team had previsualiza-tion company Proof create a 3-Danimation of the scene. “Working withGeorge and John,” explains Russell, “wedecided to shoot the actors on a set that

was a partially constructed stairwell with an upper and lower landingsurrounded by greenscreen. From there,

with the help of the grip, art and cameradepartments, we did a camera test todetermine what should be built practi-cally and what would be completeddigitally in post.”

“By working all this out in prep, we learned not only how we might dothis shot, but also that only a smallamount of the set could be a practicalbuild because of the space required forthe crane arm,” notes Toll. “Kevin

known as “the Escher Stairs,” aftergraphic artist M.C. Escher, and it

appears near the end of the film asDavid and Elise attempt to track downthe chairman of the Adjustment Bureauto change their fate. After runningthrough Bureau headquarters, thecouple enters a stairwell, runs up twoflights of stairs and emerges on arooftop that offers a spectacular view of the city. Seeing no escape, they turnaround, run back down the stairs andthrough the door, only to step out onto

Top: Crane technician Paul McKenna (left) and A-camera 1st AC Chris Toll work with the SuperTechnoto film part of the “Escher Stairs” sequence. Bottom: Grip Dana Hook lends a hand for another part

of the shot.

◗ Master Plans

7/29/2019 AC mar 2011


Thompson and Steve Carter thendesigned and built as much of the stair-

well and exterior rooftops as was possi-ble.” This build comprised a stairwell

with one complete side, an open top,and a partial side that would later be

extended with CGI.“We spent a day rehearsing theshot with stand-ins,” Toll continues.“For the rehearsal, we used a 30-foot

Technocrane and positioned it perpen-dicular to the stairs so we could reachboth rooftops by swinging the armalong the length of the stairway, which

was about 20 feet long with an 8-footrise from bottom to top. The totallength of the move was about 40 feet

when we included the actors’ move-ments on the rooftops. The chassisremained fixed in position, and the key to the whole shot was keeping thecamera very close to the actors andrapidly moving in a straight line by constantly extending and retracting thearm as it swung in an arc up and downthe stairs. Camera operator BruceMcCallum worked with grips Rick Marroquin, Dana Hook and KevinLowry and crane technician PaulMcKenna to work out the shot step-by-step.It’s one of those shots that looks

fairly straightforward onscreen but was very complicated to execute.”

On the day of shooting, the teamswitched to a 50' SuperTechnocrane “togive us a little help in keeping the movestraight by minimizing the angle of thearc,” says Toll, and Russell’s crew placedtracking dots all over the greenscreen, as

well as mock Empire State Buildingsand Central Park cards for eyelines.

Visual-effects artists at Phos-phene (supervised by John Bair) created

the digital portion of the shot. Russellexplains, “Phosphene took thephotographed greenscreen element andtracked the movement of the camera in3-D, and we used that data to shootlive-action background plates from thetop of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, using aZebra motion-control crane, whichbarely fit in the elevator. The crane wasable to match the camera position forthe chosen take, but because the speed

of the camera during the plate with theactors was so fast, we had to shoot thebackground plates at a much slowerframe rate, 6 fps, in order for the Zebrato match the move.”

The color correction of the

Escher Stairs was the focus of many hours in the DI suite, and this work wasexpedited by Technicolor’s Tech-2-

Tech service, which enabled Russell andNolfi to participate from New York,

where the editing, sound and visualeffects came together, while Toll worked

with Hatzer and Jensen in Hollywood.(Nolfi later joined Toll in Hollywood tosign off on the final.) “We originally intended to do the DI in New York, but

then that schedule changed, and I hadcommitments in L.A. that would haveinterfered with my ability to be in New

York continuously for that process,” says Toll. “With Tech-2-Tech, I was able to

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do the timing in L.A. and periodically do simultaneous sessions with George,

who could see real-time color correc-tions onscreen in New York. This also

worked well when Mark wanted tocheck visual-effects shots against our

work-in-progress; he could insert shotsinto scenes we had begun to time andsee how things were blending before he

made final versions of those shots. Thathelped enormously in making adjust-ments to both the overall grade and the

visual-effects shots.” Timing the Escher Stairs began

with Toll’s pre-grade of the greenscreenplate and the two background plates(one for each rooftop shot). ThePhosphene team then combined those

plates with a fourth, showing Adjustment Bureau agents coming upthe stairs toward David and Elise at theend of the shot, and added CG stairsand CG floor tiles. “After many monthsof fine-tuning and clean-up, we arrivedat a decent-looking composite that thenneeded to be dialed in to match the restof the film,” says Russell. “To enable

◗ Master Plans

Left: Harry has another clandestine meeting with David. Right: Damon and the filmmakers at work in Lower Manhattan.

6

7/29/2019 AC mar 2011


John and Mike Hatzer to adjust thebalance between all of the shot’s layersin the final stage, we generated alpha-channel mattes that isolated each of thedifferent elements.

“This was certainly the most

complicated shot in the film,” addsRussell, “and it was a true collaborationon every level.”

Speaking with AC during a break at Technicolor Hollywood, Nolfiobserves that the creativity, skill anddetermination applied to the EscherStairs sequence were characteristic of his collaborators throughout the shoot.“I was incredibly blessed,” says thedirector. “Thanks to everyone’s creativeand technical competence, I could say some general thing like, ‘Well, I think

we need to go more realistic here,’ andknow they would take that creativedirection and figure out how to accom-plish what I wanted.” Turning to Toll,he adds, “I can’t remember a singleinstance when you guys came back to

me and said, ‘There’s no way to dothat.’”

“No,” Toll responds dryly, “wehad those conversations before we gotback to you.”

The collective opportunity the

movie presented, the cinematographerobserves, was inspiring to everyone. “It was a unique script shot in a fantasticplace with a director who was interestedin telling the story with images. Whatmore could you ask for?” ●

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7/29/2019 AC mar 2011



This year’s survey of visually interesting prime-time televi-sion shows focuses on Fox’s Human Target , shot by Robert McLachlan, ASC, CSC; AMC’s The Killing ,shot by Peter Wunstorf, ASC; and Fox’s Fringe , shot by

Tom Yatsko and CSC members David Moxness and Gregory Middleton.

Human Target Cinematographer:Robert McLachlan, ASC, CSC

Robert McLachlan, ASC, CSC fondly recalls early “Alexa moments” late last year, when he used the new Arri

Alexa digital camera for the first time on Fox’s Human Target . The Vancouver production had just switched, late in seasontwo, from shooting with Arri’s D-21 to the Alexa at the strongurging of McLachlan, producer/director Steve Boyum andline producer Grace Gilroy. Those moments included imme-diate success using the Alexa in twilight for a day-exterior shotthat he wasn’t initially sure the sensor could read adequately in

fading light, but which ended up matching well. They alsoincluded a location scout where McLachlan overcameconcern about shooting inside a poorly lit hotel. “There wasno way to hide lights,” he recalls. “I had that familiar, sinkingfeeling: How are we going to light this in the time we’ve got?

Then I remembered that the practical ceiling fixtures wouldprobably give more light than we needed. Sure enough, my gaffer was soon changing existing bulbs, and we were good togo.”

McLachlan has used a variety of digital formats, and heis not prone to hyperbole, but at press time, having just

wrapped Human Target ’s fourth episode with the Alexa, he was using terms such as “game-changing technology” and“quantum leap.”

Human Target follows a security expert who putshimself in harm’s way to protect clients targeted for death. Forthe show’s required action style, McLachlan wanted a light-

weight, mobile camera capable of excelling in low light, but

film cameras were not among the available options. The Alexa was not yet available when the show launched in early 2010,so Clairmont Camera of Vancouver provided the production

with Arri’s D-21. When Clairmont offered two Alexas late last year,

however, the production quickly accepted, even though itsD-21 workflow was humming along well into season two.McLachlan acknowledges that switching acquisition systemsmid-season is rare, but says it was the right move. “I’ve beenmaking my living as a cameraman for more than 30 years, andin my opinion, this is the first quantum leap in filmmakingtechnology I’ve seen since I started out. Every other change

has been incremental, but the Alexa is a game-changer. It cansignificantly impact how we shoot, how many lights we takeon location and even how we choose locations. Once theindustry gets the recording system into a form that’s accept-able in terms of archival considerations, I think cinematogra-phers will be able to shoot with a state-of-the-art digitalcamera without a lot of cables.”

To avoid disrupting Human Target ’s post pipeline, thefilmmakers continued to record to HDCam-SR tape, eventhough the Alexa can record to Sony SxS memory cards in theProRes format. (McLachlan expects the workflow to evolve to

Cinematographerson the series Human

Target , The Killing andFringe discuss their

work.

By Michael Goldman, Jay Holben and Iain Stasukevich

•|• Weekly Wonders

7/29/2019 AC mar 2011



onboard solid-state recorders eventu-ally.) Clairmont had supplied the D-21

with Arri fiber technology in order tosmoothly record high-bandwidthsignals at variable frame rates over longdistances from the recorders, but there

was no corresponding fiber link to go with the Alexa. Thus, Clairmont had to

improvise a solution in just 10 days,according to Garry Gosnell, camerarentals’ manager at ClairmontVancouver.

“Human Target demanded fiberfrom the outset because of the nature of the show — they had to maintain asignal at distances far from therecorders,” Gosnell explains. “They runtwo or three cameras connected to acentral DIT recording area from vary-ing distances. That would require huge

cabling if not for a fiber system. The Alexa is a similar system, and we figuredout how to integrate our own fiber solu-tion, producing four or five custom unitsthat we had on the cameras the first day they started using them.” That solutionis a combination of various fiber tech-nologies that permits transmission of single or dual-link HD-SDI or

ArriRaw signals to SRW-1 HDrecorders. H

u m a n T a r g e t f r a m e g r a b s p r o v i d e d

b y R

o b e r t

M c L a c h

l a n .

M c L a c h

l a n p

h o t o

b y

L i a n e H e n t s c h e r .

A l l i m a g e s c o u r t e s y o

f F o x

B r o a d c a s t i n g

C o .

Above (from left):Human Target ’sChance(Mark Valley), Guerrero(Jackie Earle Haley) andWinston (Chi McBride)take aim in a framegrab from the Arri D-21that has a basic LUTapplied. Left: Chanceenters a Siberian prisonin this frame grab fromthe D-21, set to 3,200°Kand lit with HMIs.Below: RobertMcLachlan, ASC, CSCwields an Arri Alexa.

➣

7/29/2019 AC mar 2011



With the Alexa, McLachlan alsohad to quickly build a new set of look-up tables for on-set viewing. “It requireda lot of scrambling to get LUTscreated,” he recalls. “I set up a standardtest scenario on set with a model — a

gray card, a color card, black, white andso on — and set the camera at all the various ISOs available through themenu. I also underexposed a couple of stops, since the menu only goes up to1,600 ISO, and did one that was equiv-alent to 3,200 ISO. We passed all thatmaterial to our [dailies] colorist at

Technicolor Vancouver, Thor Roos, who corrected them and sent themback, and that became our new baseLUT.”

To guard against inconsistenciesin LUTs or dailies, McLachlan grabsRAW frames on set from his 23"Cine-tal monitor, downloads themdirectly from the monitor via a USBstick, color corrects them using Apple’s

Aperture, and sends stills to EncoreHollywood colorist Phil Azenzer, whohandles the final timing, and others.

The cinematographer reportssmooth sailing, particularly in low light.“Our most recent episode included anight scene on a hotel rooftop where we

had very limited lighting options, and Ican’t imagine it would look nearly asgood on another format, even film,” heobserves. “The camera read into thedeep urban background way more thaneven [Kodak Vision3 500T] 5219

would if you pushed it one stop. It evenpicked up the urban glow reflectingsnow in the air!”

The D-21 was “extremely lighthungry,” notes McLachlan, whereas the

Alexa has been performing strongly in

the lowest light, reducing focus-pullingheadaches for camera assistants. “Usingthe D-21 is kind of like shootinganamorphic in the sense that you needquite a bit of stop to make the lenses

work,” says McLachlan. “We gotfantastic-looking images once we gotused to working at much higher lightlevels, but our assistants really had to

work to pull focus — it’s either there, orit isn’t.”

◗ Weekly Wonders

These three frame grabs were all shot at night with the Alexa set to ISO 1,240. Top: A dimmed-down200-watt Gem Ball provided light in the foreground while an 18K lit the background from a roofthree

blocks away, providing enough stop to shoot at a T4. Middle: A Mole 10K positioned 300' awayilluminated this rooftop scene. Bottom: Two small Kino Flos helped illuminate Haley.

7/29/2019 AC mar 2011



“We rated the D-21 at about 200ISO, so for focus we were shooting

wide open,” says A-camera focus puller Jessica Moskal. “The Alexa is the oppo-site side of that spectrum.”

Gaffer Mike Kolafa says HumanTarget requires “a pretty hefty studio-lighting package,” especially for itsstanding set, the main character’s two-story organizational headquarters,

which includes a bullpen that uses botha large truss rig overhead and a large

TransLite. In both cases, says Kolafa,the switch to the Alexa has meant fewerand smaller bulbs.

The same is true of location work. “I was amazed by what thecamera read when we shot our firstnight exterior with it,” says Kolafa.“And with a night interior, where wemight have brought in a 600VistaBeam for the D-21, we used a

four-bank Kino Flo or a Kino Flo 200Barfly with the Alexa. We carry quite afew other lights that we don’t use asmuch as we did before. You still balancethe frame, but at lower light levels, withless intense sources.”

Noting that the Alexa “seesthings the human eye doesn’t,”McLachlan says the camera haspresented his lighting team with “a bitof a learning curve.” He elaborates, “It’s

Top: This Alexaframe grab is takefrom a 360-degreeSteadicam shot inhotel lobby litentirely withexisting practicalsThe Alexa was set

to ISO 640. MiddleMcLachlan addedFull CTO to a 10Koutside thewindow to createthis late-afternoonlook, shot with thD-21 set to ISO 32Bottom: This D-21frame grab wascaptured with thecamera set to ISO200.LEDs havebeen added to theTransLite outsidethe window to

bring the backingto life.

7/29/2019 AC mar 2011


like going from shooting a really brightanamorphic picture, where you’re tryingto shoot a T4 or T5.6 to make the lenses

work, to working with almost no lightin the room. For the first couple weeks

with the Alexa, every time I walked

from my monitor to the set, I’d think someone had turned the lights downafter I left my monitor; the image onthe monitor was bright, crisp and clean,and the set would be downright gloomy.

This is even more pronounced in nightexteriors. Unlit, distant buildings at ISO1,240 become visible, while the blacksstay solid and clean.”

“I think our HMI package will bescaled back considerably, and we’vealready reduced what we carry to loca-tions and use in the studio,” says Kolafa.“We still haul around a couple of VistaBeams, a couple of Image 80s andeight 5Ks, but next season those will bereplaced by much smaller fixtures. Itused to be a given that we’d use lightingballoons and lifts with 18Ks on nightexteriors, but with the Alexa, we usethem less, and in some locations wedon’t need them at all.”

McLachlan is using the samelenses he used with the D-21, mainly

Angenieux Optimo 15-40mm, 25-

75mm and 24-290mm zooms and a fullset of Cooke Primes. “The only realdifference is that we don’t have to work close to wide open all the time any more,” he says.

“I’m a dyed-in-the-wool filmlover, and given any choice, I probably

would have shot this show on Kodak 5219,” he continues, “but TV seems tobe all digital capture now, and I don’tunderstand why anyone wouldn’tchoose the Alexa. I would definitely use

it for any theatrical feature or TV show that involves night or low-light work,assuming the onboard recording issuecan be resolved. I think the only mater-ial film handles better now is day exteri-ors, but my opinion could be based onthe fact that we don’t have proper day-exterior LUTs yet!”

— Michael Goldman

The Killing Cinematographer:Peter Wunstorf, ASC

As the network behind the series Mad Men ( AC Oct. ’09), Breaking Bad ,Rubicon and The Walking Dead ,

American Movie Classics is quickly building a reputation for originalprogramming that stretches the bound-

aries of television. The network’s latestseries, The Killing , is a police drama that

ventures far beyond the cliché proce-dural into a powerful study of secretsand emotions.

Adapted from the Danish televi-sion series Forbrydelsen (Crime) , The Killing chronicles the investigation of a

young girl’s murder in Seattle. The pilotand each of the 12 subsequent episodesencompass only one day in the investi-gation, dividing story time among three

perspectives: that of the victim’s grievingfamily, that of the Seattle politician whois the prime suspect, and that of thepolice detective trying to solve the case.

Behind the camera is Peter Wunstorf, ASC, who is photographinga TV series for the first time. Though hehas shot 11 TV pilots, 10 of which werepicked up, he had vowed not to take onan entire series. “I said I never would,”he acknowledges, “but when I was

shooting the pilot for The Killing , I real-ized that if there was ever a series thatcould sustain my interest, this was it. By the time we reach the end of the season,

we’re only 13 days into the investiga-tion. This allows us to stay with ourcharacters in real time.”

Although most prime-time TV series are now captured digitally, AMCisn’t following that trend. “During my

initial interview with [executiveproducer/writer] Veena Sud and [direc-tor] Patty Jenkins, I was informed that

AMC were ‘film snobs,’” Wunstorf recalls with a laugh. “Of course, I had noproblem with that!”

Shooting 3-perf Super 35mm,the production uses two PanaflexMillennium XLs and a Platinum,“although it’s generally a single-camerashow,” he continues. “We’re shootinglow-con [Kodak] Vision2 [500T]

Expression 5229, which works beauti-fully for the look we’re after.” Wunstorf rates the 5229 at the suggested ISO of 500, but he often underexposes by oneor two stops. “I’m not afraid of that,” heasserts. “I’m often playing the bottom of the negative, and that’s one of thereasons I chose 5229. It’s a much softerstock, and it handles that underexposurereally well. We’re frequently working

with very low light levels. An example is


◗ Weekly Wonders

In a scene from The Killing, police detective Sarah Linden (Mireille Enos) makes agrim discovery.

F r a m e g r a b s c o u r t e s y o

f A M C

7/29/2019 AC mar 2011


7/29/2019 AC mar 2011



◗ Weekly Wonders

the car scene in the pilot that we wereshooting at dusk. We pulled the 85,pushed the stock and shot for 20minutes. I was worried about how everyone would react to the dailies, butit turned out to be one of Veena’sfavorite scenes, as well as mine.”

Wunstorf notes that his initialphone interview with Sud and Jenkins

was inspiring and informative. “I love it when writers inspire you with words. Inmy first meeting with Veena, she usedthe term ‘sad elegance,’ and I immedi-ately thought of two films, Birth [shotby Harris Savides, ASC] and Jennifer

Eight [shot by Conrad L. Hall, ASC],the former for the mood and the latterfor the content. It turned out she andPatty and been referencing those twofilms! Veena also said she wanted this to

be ‘the Unforgiven of cop shows.’‘Simplicity’ and ‘loneliness’ were key

words. That gave me a lot to work within conceptualizing the look.

“I’m trying to do things very simply, which helps create the appropri-ate look and also works logistically,because lighting simply definitely lendsitself to the pace of a series. I’m not one

to have lights coming from four differ-ent directions, anyway. When you look at work by Harris Savides, RogerDeakins [ASC, BSC] or Gordon Willis[ASC], you see it’s all beautifully simple.”

Though The Killing is set inSeattle, it’s shot in Vancouver, and theproduction thoroughly scouted key locations in Seattle, including City Hall,to make its sets look authentic.

The pilot was shot over 14 days inMay 2010, which made creating Seattle’s

winter weather a bit of a challenge. “Weused a lot of 20-by-20 or 40-by-40Quarter Grid ‘fly swatters’ to diffuse thesunlight and shade the main action, and

then we’d bring in a large negative fill,”says Wunstorf. “I rarely use lights onexteriors; it’s usually negative fill and softsilver or Ultrabounce to shape the light.I try to use and supplement natural lightas much as possible because the simpler

we keep it, the faster we move. When wedo use lights on exteriors, the winterlight levels in Vancouver can be so low that I only need [Kino Flo] Image 80s toshape the light, or maybe a 6K HMIbounced through layers of diffusion.

“On interiors such as the highschool, we usually turn off most of theoverhead lights and play or supplementthe window light,” continues the cine-matographer. “I always tell students,‘When you walk into a room, start turn-ing off lights and see how it looks. Youcan do a lot by taking away, and you canshape existing light without a lot of tools.’ In the school hallways, we’llchange out the fluorescents when we seedaylight in the background, but other-

wise, we leave them and correct in

telecine.“Another simple and fast thing

we’re doing is billowing 6-foot-widesheets of trace paper under existing fluo-rescents, turning them into large, softsources. We can then remove the fixture’sdiffuser to change the intensity if we

want to. Then, by turning off some of the background fixtures, we change abright/harsh space into something softerand moodier. We also did this in a super-market.

“We’re also tailor-making softsources by taping a Kino tube to a wall orcorner and bowing trace around it. It’ssoft, fast and cheap, and the light falls off quickly. Harris Savides said, ‘You canlight a movie with very few lights,’ andI’m taking this to heart!”

Wunstorf likes to make frequentuse of ND grads, even stacking them toshape the image. “The camerawork onthis show is fairly static,” he notes.

Top: The victim’sparents (Brent

Sexton andMichelle Forbes)embrace at the

county morgue asdetectives Lindenand Holder (JoelKinnaman) wait

for them toidentify the body.

Bottom: Kris(Gharrett Paon),

one of thevictim’s

schoolmates,vents in the

police

interrogationroom.

7/29/2019 AC mar 2011


“When I can get away with it, I’ll usegrads to bring down the sky or a

window, or slip them in from thebottom to take down the ground. Sure,

you can do that kind of thing in thetelecine, but I prefer to do as much in-

camera as possible.“We’re not going for a really heavy, overly manipulated look,” hestresses.

The camera package comprisesPanavision Primo prime and 4:1 and11:1 zoom lenses, as well as a few UltraSpeeds for low-light situations. “We’remostly using primes, typically at T2.8 orunder,” says Wunstorf. “But I’ve usedthe zoom from time to time, and I actu-ally zoom with it. Zooming creates adifferent feel than dollying, and therehave been a few instances when a very slow, creeping zoom helped accentuatethe tension in a scene.”

The show’s three main sets arethe mayor’s office at City Hall, thepolice station, and the apartmentbelonging to the victim’s family. Themayor’s office features floor-to-ceiling

windows and glass walls. Outside the windows is a large TransLite depicting a view of Seattle. The main interior light-ing consists of two soft boxes, space

lights through 20'x12' Light Gridframes. “We also have 2K Blondesgelled with Half Blue skimming theframes to add some blue ambience

when necessary,” adds Wunstorf. “Thisallows us to go cool or warm [viadimming the space lights] with theoverhead light. We also use warm andcool through different sections of theframe depending on the feel we’re after— day, dusk, et cetera. Everything is ona dimmer, so shaping the light is fairly

fast.“We use a lot of coops around the

perimeter set,” he continues. “Theproduction designer, Michael Bolton,built a walkway between the City Hallset and the TransLite, and [gaffer]Owen Taylor lit that with diffused Molecoops, and some of that light bleeds intothe interior as well. On the floor, tosupplement the existing lighting formediums and close-ups, we use China

7/29/2019 AC mar 2011



balls, covered wagons and bare Kinotubes wrapped in snow blankets. With allthe glass, multiple reflections are a chal-lenge, but [camera operator] Marty McInally rectifies them quickly, working

with grips and the art department to

angle the [gimbaled] glass walls and flagthe reflections.” The police station, Wunstorf

explains, “is lit primarily with practicalfluorescents, a mix of Warm Whitesgelled with Minus Green and Kino Flotubes. At night, we might turn on sometungsten practicals. Two of the mainoffices are rigged with soft boxes holdinga mix of 3,200°K and 5,500°K Kinotubes. We can turn on however many blue or white tubes we need to get aspecific color temp. This gives the hall-

way, interrogation rooms and officesdifferent hues, and we occasionally putthem all in frame — for instance, we canbe in the 3,200°K interrogationroom and through its window see the

Warm White hall and into a 4,000°K office.”

The apartment set is covered withmuslin panels, above which are spacelights. Some are colored with1⁄2 CTB so

Wunstorf can control his color tempera-ture by dimming individual units. “I’m

not keying with the overhead fixtures inthe apartment,” he explains. “Rather, I’musing them as a soft top fill or ambienceand lighting more from the floor andthrough the windows — a lot of theapartment scenes take place in thekitchen. I do a lot of keying through the

windows and then shape that with Chinaballs or by bouncing lights off muslin.”

Each installment of The Killing covers a 24-hour period, often fromdawn to night. “We try to create a visual

arc for each episode,” says Wunstorf. “I’malways confirming the time of day withour script supervisor.

“The best part of working on thisshow is having an executive producer

who cares deeply about the look and wants a very cinematic style,” he adds.“Veena drives us to do strong work thatalso looks realistic. It doesn’t get any better than this.”

— Jay Holben

Top: Holder at thecrime scene.

Middle: Lindenand Holder

question thevictim’s best

friend, Sterling(Kasey Rohl).

Bottom: PeterWunstorf, ASC

lines up a shot ofEnos. Behind thecinematographer

are director Ed

Bianchi (wearingred jacket) and

1st AD DavidMarkowitz.

◗ Weekly Wonders

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FringeCinematographers:David Moxness, CSC;Greg Middleton, CSC, and

Tom Yatsko

From the very beginning, Fringe was a special television program. Co-created by J.J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzmanand Roberto Orci, it evokes the spooky procedural elements of classic shows likeThe X-Files and The Twilight Zone butalso incorporates the speculative scienceand futurism of Michael Crichton.

The title refers to the FBI’sBoston-based Fringe Division, a groupof scientists and agents who deal with allthe “weird, mysterious events thatthreaten the safety of the United Statesand its residents.” In the show’s first twoseasons, mad scientist Walter Bishop(John Noble); his estranged son, Peter(Joshua Jackson); and FBI agent OliviaDunham (Anna Torv) thwarted abioterrorism plot and discovered aparallel universe. In season three, they raced to stop a doomsday device thatcould destroy both worlds.

Cinematographers David Mox-ness, CSC; Greg Middleton, CSC and

Tom Yatsko are shooting the series’

current season. Filming Fringe hasalways been a collaborative effort;

Yatsko shared the first season with FredMurphy, ASC, and Michael Slovis,

ASC, and when production movedfrom New York to Vancouver forseasons two and three, Moxness andMiddleton joined Yatsko as regularseries cinematographers. (MichaelBonvillain, ASC shot the pilot.)

More and more single-cameraproductions are putting cinematogra-

phers on an alternating schedule to savetime and money, but Moxness notesthat the strategy has creative benefits as

well. “It gives you more prep time withthe director, the locations and thescript,” he says. “You come in betterprepared to steer your team down thecorrect path.”

The overall visual strategy is tounderstate the strangeness of the eventsin a given script. “Even though this is a

science-fiction show, we all agreed that we could make the strange thingsresonate by taking a realistic approach— odd things make a bigger impact

when they seem to be happening in anormal world,” says Yatsko. “But thecinematography also has to make sense

for each episode, so I don’t think you cansay there’s a typical Fringe look.”

Subtle, recurring details in thecinematography include a contrasty image, a constantly mobile camera, anddefocused objects in the foreground of many shots. “We utilize the foregroundto generate interest in the shot, shootingthrough objects or glass,” saysMiddleton. “If something like that isn’tpart of a set, we’ll often put steel rods or

pieces of [lighting] stands right in frontof the lens, out of focus.”

Shooting 3-perf Super 35mm,the production employs three PanaflexMillennium XLs (one built forSteadicam use), Panavision Primoprime and zoom lenses, and three

Kodak Vision2 film stocks, 500T 5260,200T 5217 and Expression 500T 5229.“Shooting film is a real treat,” saysMoxness. “Film stocks are versatile, andour cameras can go anywhere instantly;

we’re not tethered to any DIT station ormonitors. That gives us a nice amountof creative freedom.” (A Canon 5DMark II HDSLR has been used forselect shots this season, includingunderwater work and rear-screen

Above: WalterBishop (JohnNoble) enjoys aRed Vine whileexamining acadaver in theFringe episode “New Day in theOld Town.” LeftCinematographeTom Yatskostudies the lightin the show’s

alternate univerfor the season-two finale.

F r i n g e p h o t o s b y L i a n e H e n t s c h e r a n d M

i c h a e l C o u r t n e y , c o u r t e s y o f F o x B r o a d c a s t i n g C o .

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driving plates.)Shooting in Vancouver during

the fall and winter months alsocontributes significantly to the visuals.“The light in the Pacific Northwest is sodistinctive, really bleak and beautiful in

its own way,” says Yatsko, “but it’s justnot interesting when it’s the same all thetime.” To help create variety, the cine-matographers sometimes shoot day exteriors with 5260 or 5229 and tung-sten lighting, or use a Tiffen AntiqueSuede in front of the lens.

“We have a pretty big lightingpackage, so that’s where we have themost freedom to play with the look of our show,” says Yatsko. “What we lack istime. We’re striving for a cinematic feel,and that’s a tall order on an eight- ornine-day schedule.”

Some episodes feature morecrane moves than others; sometimes thecrane is a SuperTechno 50, and some-times it’s a jib arm. The low-angle prismlens attachment is another familiar pres-

ence on set. “It looks like a compactscoop,” says Middleton. “You can put iton the front of a 4:1 [Primo zoom] andtilt the camera down to get the lensabout a half-inch off the ground. Sinceit’s just a prism, you only lose half a stop,

and it doesn’t invert the image.”Some storylines offer moreopportunities for visual experimentationthan others. In the season-two episode“White Tulip,” directed by Yatsko andshot by Moxness, the Fringe Divisiontracked down time-traveling scientist

Alistair Pek (Peter Weller). Over thecourse of the episode, the charactersrelive a single day multiple times, andeach iteration is slightly different fromthe last.

Pek had implanted the time-machine controls in his body, and whenhe activated them, his body and the airaround it vibrated. The filmmakers

wanted to achieve this effect in-camera,and insert-unit director of photography Ryan McMaster suggested renting a

◗ Weekly Wonders

8

Clockwise from top left: FBI Agent Broyles (LanceReddick), FBI Agent Dunham (Anna Torv), Walter

Bishop and Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson) study anentity from another dimension in the episode “The

Man From the Other Side.”

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Mitchell Mark II that Panavision hadmodified by switching out the sprocketsthat held the film in place for rollers,

which caused the image to slip and slidearound the gate, creating wobbly doubleexposures. The scenes were shot in three

passes: at 24 fps with the Panaflex, at 12fps with the modified Mitchell, and at24 fps in a clean pass with the Panaflex.During the Mitchell pass, Weller shook his body to exaggerate the effect of themotion blur. “In dailies it looked like thecamera was broken, but when wecombined the passes in post, it helpedtell the story in an interesting way,” saysMoxness. “And it was much moreorganic than, say, shooting it normally and creating the effect in post.”

When a storyline deals with thealternate universe discovered in seasontwo, the filmmakers use a variety of

visual cues to help the viewer recognize which universe they’re in. In seasonthree’s “Entrada,” shot by Middleton,the action in the two universes is inter-

cut, a first for the plotline. Yatsko’s cine-matography on season two’s “Peter” setthe look for the parallel universe —emphasizing more saturated color andstronger contrast — but Middletonnotes that the visual differences

between the two worlds have sincebecome less stark. “When you developan approach for something like that,

you plan on doing things that way forthe run of the show,” says Middleton.“But the show evolves as you shoot it,and you adapt. The two worlds havestarted to look more and more alike,and now we mainly use art directionand costumes to cue the viewer in to

where they are.”In “Entrada,” Peter is drugged by

the parallel-universe Olivia, and strug-gles to focus on her as he succumbs tothe toxin. Middleton had the idea to usea Lensbaby 2.0 with a Panavisionmount on the Millennium XL forPeter’s POV. “When you manipulatethe Lensbaby’s bellows with your

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fingers to move the focus, [the result]looks like someone’s eye isn’t workingproperly,” he says. He mounted aCanon 5D to a hospital gurney toachieve Olivia’s drugged-out POV.

Yatsko observes that the series’

visual consistency can be attributed inlarge part to the Vancouver crew. Herefers to gaffer David Warner, key gripDavid Dawson, A-camera operatorChris Tammaro and Steadicam opera-tor Lou Gruzelier as “the sentinels of Fringe .”

“They know what works for theshow and what doesn’t,” adds Moxness.“Because one of us is always in prep

while another [cinematographer] isshooting, we’re not always informed asto how another cinematographerapproaches a particular set that mightreappear in one of our episodes. Havingthe same key crew helps us keep itfluid.”

— Iain Stasukevich●

4

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A sk Michael D. O’Shea, ASC about his long and distin-guished career, and he’ll tell you about all the people

who helped him along the way. He seems morecomfortable giving compliments than getting them, but

he was on the receiving end last month, when he washonored with the ASC’s Career Achievement in Television

Award.O’Shea’s extensive list of credits includes the TV series

CSI: Miami, Jack and Bobby, Bones and Eli Stone ; the pilotsfor Everwood , Once and Again and The Player ; and the minis-eries and telefilms BlindAmbition and The Letter.He has also

shot a number of theatrical releases, including Robin Hood: Men inTights,Here on Earth , The New Guy and Big Momma’s House . He has earned five Emmy nominations,beginning in 1992 with Doogie Howser, M.D.,his first TV series as a director of photography. He earned two nomina-tions in 1997, one for the series Relativity , the other for thetelefilm Love, Honor and Deceive (directed by fellow ASCmember Michael Watkins); another in 1999, for the minis-eries The ’60s ; and the most recent one for CSI: Miami , for

which he took home the prize.Born and raised in Los Angeles, O’Shea was a star

LessonsWellLearned

Michael D. O’Shea, ASC, this year’s Career

Achievement in Television honoree,

credits his mentors forhis success.

By Jean Oppenheimer

•|•

7/29/2019 AC mar 2011



baseball player in high school.Recruited straight out of school, heaccepted an offer from the BaltimoreOrioles, playing on its farm team forfour years. During the off-season, he

worked part-time as a laborer on the

Warner Bros. lot.Henri Lehman, the assistanthead of the Warner Bros. cameradepartment, was a close friend of thefamily and had known O’Shea since he

was a kid. When O’Shea gave up base-ball, he approached Lehman aboutpursuing cinematography. “I knew nothing about cameras, but I heard it

was a field where I could learn some-thing every day, and I liked that idea,”says O’Shea. “Plus,” he admits with alaugh, “they paid a lot.”

Lehman wasn’t very encourag-ing, explaining that nepotism played arole in who got jobs. But O’Shea wasdetermined. “I asked him, ‘What do Ihave to do to prove myself?’” Fromthen on, every night, when his shift onthe labor crew ended, he would headover to the camera department and

work for free, learning how to load

magazines, cut filters and stock theassistants’ carts for the next morning.

There was another young man moon-lighting there, a mail boy named Dick Rawlings Jr. (now ASC), who alsoharbored dreams of becoming acameraman. After a year, Rawlings wasoffered a job as a loader. Three weekslater, O’Shea was hired. “That was Juneof 1965,” remarks O’Shea. “On July 10,I got married. So suddenly I was P

h o t o s c o u r t e s y o f M i c h a e l O ’ S h e a .

Opposite:Michael D.O’Shea, ASCchecks his lightwhile shooting

Mel Brooks’Robin Hood: Mein Tights (1993)on the WarnerHollywood lot.At the camera ithe backgroundare A-cameraoperator MichaGenne (withhands on head)and 1st ACMichael ChavezThis page, top:O’Shea, workinas A-cameraoperator, and hson, Sean, posefor a shot on thset of Fear (1990), shot byRobert M.Stevens, ASC.“This was Sean’first picture as aloader,” O’Sheanotes proudly.“He has sincebecome a verysuccessful firstAC.” Bottom:O’Shea works afirst assistant o

the CBS series TRome With Lov(1969).

“Suddenly I wasmarried and had acareer. If that isn’t

a gift …!”

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◗ Lessons Well Learned

married and had a career. If that isn’t a

gift …!” Two years later, O’Shea moved

up to second assistant on the TV seriesDaktari , shot by Fritz Mandl. “Fritz

was such a lovely man,” says O’Shea.“To show you what a fair man he was,he had a son who wanted to be in thecamera department. Fritz could havegot rid of me and let his son in, but hedidn’t. That’s a big part of how Ilearned to do things; it was all aboutfairness and honesty. I had a father like

that, and then I was lucky to work fora man like that.”

Jeremiah Francis O’Shea, anémigré from Ireland, had a profoundinfluence on his son. “I never heardhim say a bad word about anybody,”asserts the younger O’Shea. “He was

very fair and treated everybody equally.He passed away in 2007 at the age of 100½, and I will never stop missinghim.” O’Shea remains close to his 96-

year-old mother. “My dad was very

quiet, but my Italian-Americanmother is more outspoken. She hasalso had an enormous influence onme.” After a reflective pause, he sayssimply, “My parents are my heroes.”

Once O’Shea started working,he seldom stopped. From Daktari hemoved over to Gunsmoke , which filmedon the CBS lot. It was there thatO’Shea met future ASC members

John C. Flinn III and Lloyd Ahern, who became lifelong friends. “Three

Irishmen?” says O’Shea, cocking an

eyebrow. “We hit it off real well — too well, sometimes!”

“I’m so excited Mike is receivingthe award this year,” says Flinn, whoreceived the Career Achievement in

TV Award last year. “I asked him topresent to me last year, and he asked meto present to him this year. How cool isthat? I get to go up there and get even!”

When Gunsmoke went onsummer hiatus, O’Shea moved over toBarefoot in the Park as a first assistant.

Director of photography HowardSchwartz, ASC would end up playing aspecial role in O’Shea’s life. “Howard

was a marvelous teacher and a hardtaskmaster. I was pretty raw, and hetookme under his wing. He taught meabout the importance of composition;he also taught me to pay attention to

what’s going on around me and speak up if I feel something doesn’t look right.He said that if I stayed with him, he

“My parents aremy heroes.”

Left: O’Shea works as the B-camera first AC on the seminal Westernseries Gunsmoke. “On this day the operator was sick,” he recalls, “so

Dick Rawlings Sr. [ASC] stepped me up — and I’d never operated in mylife!” Right: O’Shea, operating for Howard Schwartz, ASC (at left), sits

locked in behind the camera on a rollercoaster.

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would move me up to operator in three years. It was unheard of to move up tooperator that fast! Truthfully, it was thelast thing on my mind. I just wanted tolearn to be a good first assistant.”

True to his word, three yearslater Howard moved O’Shea up tooperator on the anthology series Love

Story . Michael Landon directed thefirst episode. “Michael was a very creative director and liked to [move thecamera around a lot],” O’Shea says.“Howard said to me, ‘This is going tobe a tough job. If we start laying outshots and you think you’re going tohave a problem, just give me a wink,and I’ll make an excuse and come inand do the shot.’”

“The very first shot had me

walking behind the camera — theItalian dolly was too small to ride —bringing somebody in a door, takinghim down a hallway and into a livingroom where, after a bit of a scene, Itook him out of the room, down thehallway again and into a bathroom. I

was winking like crazy, and Howard

was just laughing!”O’Shea spent 17 years as an

operator, working primarily in TV with, among others, ASC membersRobert Stevens, Ed Brown Sr. and

James Crabbe. He says he learned fromall of them. He suggests thatCannonball Run , with director of photography Nick McLean, was thefilm that really got him started. “It wasmy first feature as the A-camera oper-

ator. Actually, my first was Raise the Titanic , with Matt Leonetti, ASC, butI didn’t finish that film. I was dealing

with some personal issues at the time. I will always [be grateful] to Matt for[giving me a second chance] on

Extreme Prejudice .”O’Shea operated on 11 films

with McLean, including Mel Brooks’Spaceballs . “When Nick didn’t havetime to pre-light scenes, he would ask me to do it and then shoot some tests.

Watching dailies the following day,Nick never failed to inform Mel that Ihad shot the tests. Mel kept telling me,‘I’m keeping my eye on you. If I everget an opportunity, I’m going to make

you a director of photography.’”In 1993, Brooks made good on

Left: Candice Bergen is at the center of attention and O’Shea is at the camera during filming of Stick (1985), directed by and starring Burt Reynolds (right)Right: On set for Robin Hood: Men in Tights, O’Shea (center) shares a laugh with director Mel Brooks (wearing sunglasses) while reviewing a take.

7/29/2019 AC mar 2011



his promise. The film was RobinHood: Men in Tights . “Mel said, ‘I’m going togive it to you, and goddamn it, you’dbetter be fast!’” recalls O’Shea. By then,O’Shea had already shot two seasons of Doogie Howser, M.D . He credits Ahern

with helping him secure that job.“Lloyd moved up to director of photography before I did. He wasdoing a series for Steven Bochco,Hooperman, and he needed an opera-tor. I went in and stayed for twoseasons. Lloyd kept encouraging me tomove up, and he kept pushing me withthe Bochco people. When they startedDoogie Howser,I operated the first year

and moved up to director of photogra-phy during the second, when FreddieMoore, ASC left.”

O’Shea brought in a youngoperator named Steve Smith, who’sstill with him today. “Mike is very generous as far as explaining how things work and how to make thingsbetter,” notes Smith. “At the sametime, he demands that the things heteaches you be done correctly. He

taught me how to talk to directors and[showed me] that you have to be ableto fix things when a shot’s not work-ing.”

In addition to Smith, O’Shea’sregular crew includes gaffer Jack Schlosser and key grip Jeff Case, whoboth started working with him on the1993 feature Geronimo. Schlosserdescribes O’Shea as “extremely supportive. He is also very demanding


Top: O’Shea,working as

second assistantfor

cinematographerEmmett Bergholtz

on the Westernseries Death

Valley Days, stepsup to the

eyepiece to checkthe shot. “I think Iwas just showing

off there,” he sayswith a laugh.

Bottom:Cinematographer

Nick McLean

(seated,foreground

center) and hiscamera crew poseon the set of Mel

Brooks’ comedySpaceballs (1987),on which O’Shea

(at camera,directly behind

McLean) was theA-cameraoperator.

“It’s always anew journey in

cinematographywhen you work

with Mike.”

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know anything about directing TV orfilm.’ Now, Mike cuts a pretty intimi-dating figure. He smiled and said,‘Listen, somebody helped me when Ifirst started, and I’m going to help

you.’ He proceeded to be an incrediblegentleman, teacher and mentor who

never usurped my position on set.“I like to pride myself on the

camerawork in my projects,” continuesPetrarca, “and that comes from Mike.He gave me an appreciation and lovefor what the camera can do. He is amaster of light and has a real sensitiv-

ity to story, and his humanity comesthrough in everything he does.”

O’Shea became an ASCmember in 1996, after being proposedfor membership by Flinn, Stevens andDonald M. Morgan. When he wasnotified that he had been selected to


6

Left: O’Shea (standing at camera) and his crew pose for a “family portrait” on set for The New Guy. Right: O’Shea checks the light in “Sherwood Forest”while filming Robin Hood: Men in Tights.

7/29/2019 AC mar 2011


receive the Society’s Career Achieve-ment in TV Award, he says, “it broughttears to my eyes. I feel very blessed inthis business. A lot of people took a lotof time to teach me.

“Knowing that my wife, Sharon, was always by my side has beenanother blessing. She always stuck withme through the tough times, when

work got slow, and has always been

encouraging. She has been a gift in my life and my career.” ●

O’Shea (at camera) confers with director Mel Brooks during filming of Robin Hood: Men in Tights.

7/29/2019 AC mar 2011



Photographing Movie History

Douglas Kirklandreceives the ASC

Presidents Award forcapturing decades of superb stills depicting

the industry’s

filmmakers and stars.

By Jon Silberg

•|•

7/29/2019 AC mar 2011



Douglas Kirkland fell in love withphotography when he was ateenager, and even today, at age 76,his home studio buzzes with activ-

ity as he works with some of the mostfamous faces in the world, fulfillingrequests from galleries, book and maga-zine publishers, and filmmakers. Overthe years, much of Kirkland’s work hasfocused on personalities who work infront of and behind the motion-picturecamera, including the 200-plus cine-matographers he has photographed for

Kodak’s “On Film” ad campaign. He isan associate member of the ASC, andlast month he was honored with theSociety’s Presidents Award in recogni-tion of his contributions to advancingthe art of filmmaking.

“Douglas is a special talent, espe-cially in terms of his amazing portrai-ture,” says Richard Crudo, ASC,chairman of the Society’s AwardsCommittee. “He has been a great friendand supporter of directors of photogra-

phy and a great promoter of the ASC. We felt it was appropriate to recognizethis with our Presidents Award.”

When Kirkland’s wife and busi-ness partner, Françoise, got the call from

ASC President Michael Goi aboutKirkland’s award, she first assumed theSociety wanted her husband’s help witha photography project. “I gave him thephone and went into another room,” sherecalls. “When he hung up, he came in

and said, ‘I have something to tell you.’He was so serious I thought it must beterrible news! But he was just thatmoved about receiving this recognition.

And he is not what you would call anoverly emotional person.”

“For me,” says Douglas, “the ASCis the singular heart of the industry. Iknow so many of the members, and somany of them have done amazing work.

There is no film without them — atleast, no viable film.”

Kirkland grew up in theCanadian hamlet of Fort Erie, Ontario(population 7,000), where an uncle’s

Kodachrome slides and back issues of Popular Photography sparked his fascina-tion with photography. He pursued hisinterest relentlessly, studying photogra-

phy at a vocational high school inBuffalo, N.Y., and taking any photogra-phy job he could find. His early gigsincluded snapping photos for Fort Erie’s

weekly newspaper and serving as anassistant at a Buffalo photography studio. All the while, his heart was seton working in New York City, the heartof the publishing industry.

In 1957 he moved to New York and was fortunate enough to get a job P

h o t o s c o u r t e s y o f D o u g l a s K i r k l a n d .

Opposite: A youthful Kirkland wields his trusty Speed Graphic camera in 1952. This page,clockwise from upper left: An even younger Kirkland, age 2, poses with his mother; Kirkland isall smiles after persuading Elizabeth Taylor to pose for Look magazine in 1961; during another

session that same year, the photographer sets up a shot with Judy Garland.

7/29/2019 AC mar 2011



assisting legendary photographer IrvingPenn, for whom he did everything fromnumbering negatives to making Type-Cprints. “I was learning a lot but not earn-ing enough to live in New York indefi-nitely,” he says. He needed to make the

leap to a staff job, ideally with one of theglossy national magazines that wereextremely popular at the time. Of course, an entire generation of talentedphotographers was chasing after thosesame staff jobs, and there were very few openings in those publications. Kirkland

went back to Buffalo, where he shot in aproduct-advertising studio. Within a

year, he was headed back to New York. When he finally moved to the

Big Apple, in 1959, he found thecompetition fierce and the cost-of-livinghigh. “I found jobs at little magazinesnobody had heard of,” he recalls. Hisearly assignments included freelancingfor Chemical Week, Business Week and aboating magazine. “I’d cover meetings ortake portraits of executives. I also didsome work for Popular Photography and

wrote reports about my experiences withdifferent equipment.”

In January of 1960, he received acall from Arthur Rothstein, the directorof photography at the popular and

highly respected Look magazine. There were two new openings, the first in 15 years. They tried Kirkland on a coupleof stories, and he landed a staff job. “It’shard to describe what that meant to meat that time,” he notes. “I had just turned25, and this was an unimaginable break.

“I was hired to do fashion andcolor,” he continues. “When I say that topeople today, they think I mean ‘colorfulpictures,’ but no, shooting color was aspecialty then. Color photography in

those days meant transparencies, and you had to get the exposure absolutely perfect. Remember, Look hadn’t hiredanybody in many years, and most of them were used to shooting a black-and-white negative and having the abil-ity to alter it in the darkroom. I was ‘thenew generation.’”

The tools of the trade were alsochanging. Medium-format twin-lensreflexes, such as the Rolleiflex with its

Top to bottom:Kirkland sets up aplayfully sensual

portrait ofMarilyn Monroe

in 1961, chatswith fashion

designer CocoChanel, and

poses withactress Romy

Schneider.

◗ Photographing Movie History

7/29/2019 AC mar 2011



one fixed-focal-length lens, were stillthe camera of choice for many photog-raphers of the day, and some even

worked with larger, bulkier gear. ButKirkland was among a younger set thatembraced shooting with 35mm Nikon

rangefinders and SLRs, Canon SLRs,and the medium-format SLRs made by Hasselblad.

Not long after being hired by Look, Kirkland was asked to accompany a writer who was going to interview Elizabeth Taylor. The year was 1961,and Taylor was among the biggestmovie stars of the day. “She had agreedto the interview but said she didn’t wantto do any pictures,” Kirkland recalls.“My editor said, ‘You go there and see if

you can persuade her to let you photo-graph her.’”

Kirkland was determined to fulfillhis assignment. Resolute but respectful— traits he continues to bring to hiscelebrity portraiture — the youngphotographer quietly approached Taylorand told her straight out that he wasnew to Look. “I said, ‘Imagine what it

would mean if you would give me theopportunity to photograph you,’’ herecalls. “She paused, then said, ‘Comeback tomorrow night at 8:30.’

“She hadn’t had any portraitsdone for quite some time — the only current pictures of her were by paparazzi,” he continues. “My picture of her became my first Look cover, and itran in other magazines all over the

world. It really put me on the map. By September of 1961 I was on the road

with Judy Garland, shooting her for amonth. That’s the way magazines did itin those days.” He was soon takingpictures of many other top celebrities of

the day, including Shirley MacLaine,Marlene Dietrich and MarilynMonroe, and this work, in turn, led toshooting on film sets.

Kirkland never worked as an offi-cial unit photographer, instead doing

what was known as “special photogra-phy” for Look, Life and other publica-tions. “It was a time when the unitphotographers were generally shootingblack-and-white with Rolleis and just

Top to bottom: Kirkland with his son, Mark, on the set of Tom Sawyer in 1972; in Kenya shooting stillsof the adventure drama Visit to a Chief’s Son in 1973; and sharing a moment with Orson Welles in 1982

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one focal length,” he explains. “There was a certain kind of photo the studios

wanted, but they couldn’t get dramaticeffects or really capture the essence andthe look of a film,” which is what theglossy magazines wanted. Accordingly,photographers like Kirkland were sentto the set to capture staged setups andbehind-the-scenes material thatfulfilled the publication’s editorial needsin a way that the unit photography of the day couldn’t.

Kirkland has done this kind of photography on more than 150 feature

films, providing a preview of the film’slook to millions of readers. Some of hisspecial photography has even made itinto poster art or other key art, such asthe shot he took with his Wideluxcamera of Julie Andrews on the moun-taintop that became part of the key artfor The Sound of Music , or theKodachrome slide of Robert Redfordand Meryl Streep used to advertise Out of Africa .

Clockwise from topleft: Kirkland exudes

the very essence ofcool at the 1983

Cannes Film Festival,takes a leap of faithon the set of Roman

Polanski’sPirates afew years later, and

chills with GeneKelly in 1987.

◗ Photographing Movie History

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Kirkland loved these assignmentsbecause they took him to the center of the filmmaking process, a vantage from

which he could observe the cast andcrew at work. “I have a fascination withthe power of cinema and watching how it all works,” he says. “I learned so much

watching cinematographers work,seeing rushes and tests of lighting andlenses. I definitely have more refinedabilities today as a result of watchingcinematographers. I may use a strobelight or a mirror or reflector rather thanthe lights they generally use, but theideas about light that I’ve learned onmovie sets have affected me enormously.

As a still photographer, you can use thelight that’s there, maybe add some light,or even light [the shot] completely, but acinematographer must think of a lot of things still photographers don’t need to

consider, such as camera movement,continuity and where you are in thestory. How fortunate to be a photogra-pher and be so close to such work!”

He recalls observing Richard H.Kline, ASC on the set of Camelot . “Thedirector, Joshua Logan, was an excellentstage director, and the photographicaspects of the shoot were primarily in[Kline’s] hands. I looked around at thismassive stage set, all the lights andeverything involved in the cinematogra-

phy of the picture, and there was thisguy, only a little older than I was at thetime, who was in control of all of it. The Sound of Music was another eye-opener.

The cinematographer, Ted McCord[ASC], was doing all this work withthese huge arc lights to get the effect he

wanted.”Occasionally, a cinematographer

has also adopted something Kirklandhas done, which happened with David

Clockwise fromtop left: Kirklandenjoys a friendlymoment withdirector Mel Brookshoots a 1991fashion spread inthe Amazon for

Town & Country magazine, createssome glamour witShowgirls starElizabeth Berkley,and keeps hiscamera abovewater on theset of Titanic .

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Bringing ENG Style toDetroit 1-8-7

By Lisa Wiegand

Coming off my first full-timeepisodic-television gig, on JossWhedon’sDollhouse ( AC Feb. ’09),I was eager to find another show.When my agent, Charles Lenhoff,secured a meeting with theproducers of ABC’s Detroit 1-8-7,

which portrays a group of homi-cide detectives being followed by adocumentary crew, the showseemed tailor-made: I’m fromDetroit, where the show is set andshot, and I have an extensive docu-mentary background.

I didn’t know anyone associ-ated with the show when I went tomeet with producers Kevin Hooks,Jason Richman and David Zabel.Jimmy Muro had shot the pilotwith a Red One, but the producerswere intent on evolving the shoot-

ing style. They wanted a show thatcould be shot quickly and on thefly, a stylistic shift from the pilot, in which characters talked directly tothe documentary crew, sometimes involving them peripherally in thenarrative. The producers decided to back away from the idea ofbreaking the fourth wall, opting instead for a more traditional narra-tive that would still incorporate a documentary aesthetic.

I suggested approaching the series like a news show, hiringoperators with documentary backgrounds and incorporating ENGnews-style lenses in our package. I had extensive experience withPanasonic’s AJ-HPX3700 VariCamthanks to Dollhouse, and I felt thatif we added ENG lenses— specifically,Fujinon HA22x7.3 BERM HD

ENG/EFP and HA 13x4.5 BERM HD ENG wide-angle lenses—wecould carry off the desired aesthetic.

We now try to keep our cameras on long lenses, far from theactors, to allow them more freedom for their performances. Many ofthem tell me they like the fact that they don’t always know whereour cameras are, because it allows them to play the scene out with-out worrying about the restrictions of the frame.

We work with the same VariCam body I used on Dollhouse,

in conjunction with the ENG lenses. Only rarely do we need themattebox; we use the filters provided in the camera (except polar-ization), recording to P2 cards, and use no cranes or Steadicam. Our

lightweight ENG system offers flex-ibility for operators Matt Valentine(A camera) and Reza Tabrizi (Bcamera).

This operator-based strategyconnects our cameramen to thecharacters and story both physi-cally and figuratively. Their workmakes the camera another charac-ter in the scene; they can begin ascene wide but still incorporate lotsof little zooms at moments thatfeel natural. They also must worktogether,like dance partners, asthey execute complex, choreo-graphed moves on our stages orlocations. (They stay out of eachother’s shots with help from dollygrips Doug Blagg and D.J.Tedesco.) The camera might followa character and just glimpse himaround a doorjamb, never show-ing him in full. Our productiondesigner, Chuck Parker, designedour two stages so we can shoot

through blinds, glass partitions,doorways and so on. When you

add in all the reflections that must be avoided, it makes a toughoperating gig.

This style also complicates life for focus pullers Lewis Fowlerand Greg Dellerson. Our operators need to be untethered, so assis-tants have to pull focus remotely, using a wireless HD-signal broad-cast from the cameras. Our utility person, Jonah Sobol, sets up theantennas and makes sure the signal rarely wavers. It’s the kind ofsystem that other shows use for control-room viewing, but we actu-ally have our focus pullers sitting at a focusing station near videovillage, pulling focus without always knowing exactly where the

operators are in relation to the actors.The idea of pulling focus remotely was my decision,and an

important one. I wanted our operators to feel they could goanywhere to get a shot without having to maneuver around toomany people. When we started out, we were relying on a Wi-Fiwireless system, but toward the end of last year, we switched to themicrowave system to achieve more range and reliability in cold, wetconditions. Shooting in Detroit, we run into plenty of harsh weather.In fact, when the cold weather first hit, we had to make importantmodifications to our camera package, a job supervised by 2nd ACPeter Coronia. Peter recently began testing three different insulating

Filmmakers’ Forum

I

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covers for our cameras in an effort to findsome that would fit well over all the acces-sories we use (remote-focus rigs, wirelesstransmitters, etc.) and also allow our opera-tors to easily access their lenses andcontrols.

To minimize the cables that could

limit the operators’ mobility, we have a DITcart with downloading capabilities on set,but not a full DIT station. Without a full DITtent, I rely on camera settings and keepthings fairly simple. Using the camera’s Gainfeature, we shootalmost everything at6db, makingtheimages noisier and abit rougher so theshow doesn’t lookglossy. There is not alot of knob twiddlingon set, which simpli-fies the process andhelps us work fast.

We shootdocumentary-stylebut give a lot ofconsideration to light-ing. We’re onstage forabout half of eacheight-day productioncycle, and because wewant the operators to

be free to shoot 360degrees from the ceil-ing to the floor, life is quite interesting formy gaffer, Chris Reiter. We use the samelights employed by most episodic shows,but we’ve learned to hide them in creativeways. On set, most lights are positionedhigh up; we lower them as much as we can,but this can make it difficult for our gafferand operators to come together. We wantlights low enough to get onto the actors’eyes, but not so far down that they get into

the shot. Because we’re often capturingwide and tight shots in the same take, it’s aconstant balancing act to make the lightingkeep pace with our camera moves. Anglesare everywhere, the sets are huge, and wehave an ensemble cast with a wide range ofskin tones. Fortunately, we have manytalented electricians who are skilled atchoreographing moves with small handheldlights when we need an extra spark in anactor’s eyes.

We have access to lighting trucks,Condors and lifts on location. For everynight exterior, we usually position two orthree Condors carrying lights. Dependingon the blocking, we try to place themfarenough back to balance them out, whichallows us to shoot with long lenses and

avoid long shadows while lighting for 360degrees in most situations.Postproductionhas been a smooth

process. Chris Keth, our digital loader,downloads our P2 cards to two hard drives

on set. One stays withus, and the other issent to a mobile labset up for us here inDetroit by DeluxeLaboratories. Whenthe cards arereturned, we re-usethem. The Deluxemobile lab creates allour dailies, which aredelivered to us inDetroit and Los Ange-les on both DVD andUSB memory sticks. Ireally like the USBdailies; I can popthem into mycomputer and haveinstant,non-linear

access to our footage.Our online is

done at Level 3 Post in Burbank by coloristLarry Field. Larry worked with me on Doll-

house, so we can communicate in short-hand, which is crucial. Our post supervisor,Paul Rabwin, has also been instrumental infostering smooth communication betweenthe set and post.

After being away from my home-town for 18 years, the chance to shoot inDetroit has been an honor. I’m really lucky

to have had this opportunity, and I pinchmyself every day when I’m driving to work.After all, this is where I first developed mylove for cinematography. ●

“Angles areeverywhere, the

sets are huge,and we have anensemble cast

with a widerange of

skin tones.”

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Campilots Takes FlightCinematographers Volker Tittel, BVK

(pictured, left) and Holger Fleig, BVK (right)have introduced the Campilots remote-controlled multicopter camera-supportsystem. Incorporating state-of-the-art

image-stabilizing software, Campilots wasquickly recognized with a 2010 CinecAward, as well as an Innovation Awardpresented by the German government’sCommissioner for Culture and the Media.

Campilots is available for feature,documentary and commercial productions.The system incorporates a Q4 Systemsmulticopter designed by Uwe Handlos anda lightweight remote head designed byDieter Wurster, which accepts a Canon EOS5D Mark II DSLR camera. A two-person

Campilots team, comprising the cam-pilotand camera operator, keeps the multicopterwithin visual range with a remote control; inthe case of long-distance flights over theground, the cam-pilot and operator followthe multicopter in a truck or, when shootingabove water, in a speed boat. The cameraitself is operated via an HF transmitter, andfor monitoring, an HF signal is sent back

from the camera to the operator. Thesystem’s lightweight remote head can bepanned 360 degrees and tilted 180degrees.

The multicopter utilizes a lithium-ionpolymer battery. Its rotors are nearly silent,and the engines are emission-free, allowingfor indoor flights even in highly sensitivelocations. The multicopter is able to fly ataltitudes ranging from approximately 3' to330' off the ground, and it can reach a

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maximum speed of approximately 31 mph.The maximum flight duration per take is 6minutes.The system allows for low altitudeshots over wind-sensitive terrain such assand, water and snow without its rotorblades causing visible turbulence. Restric-tions can occur in strong winds, rain and

snowfall.The Campilots multicopter boasts aready-to-fly weight of less than 11 pounds,including the remote head and camera. Themulticopter measures approximately 31" indiameter and 18" high. The Campilotsteam ensures a fast system setup, andspecial film liability insurance is providedwith the Campilots service.

For additional information, visitwww.campilots.com.

Porta-Jib Rolls OutImproved FlexTrakAfter 10 years of success with its

revolutionary FlexTrak, Porta-Jib hasunveiled an improved version of the dolly

track, which can be used for both straightruns and curves. The basic unit is 40', whichcan be looped back on itself to create one17' run of parallel track; two pieces can alsobe laid parallel to create a 40' run. Eachsection can be rolled up into a compact, 2'-diameter bundle for easy transportationinside of any vehicle.

Each 40' section of the updated Flex-Trak weighs 30 pounds, 10 pounds lighterthan the previous version. While the originalFlexTrak worked best at room temperature

or above, the improved FlexTrak works wellat cooler temperatures, and it retains little orno memory from being stored in a coiledposition. These improvements are possiblethanks to an improved construction incor-porating steel-reinforced tubing, which hasthe integrity and strength to support a dollyand is processed for an ultra-smooth finish.

As with the original FlexTrak, setup iseasy, with no joints to wedge. Additionally,a leveling kit enables FlexTrak to be used

outdoors in unlevel environments; the chan-nels of the leveling kit are lightweight andmeasure only 36" long, making themextremely portable.

FlexTrak is available for $450 per 40'piece. The system works best with theLosmandy Spider Dolly. For additional infor-

mation, visit www.porta-jib.com.

Steadicam Floatswith PhantomThe Tiffen Company has introduced

the Steadicam Phantom, a low-cost rig thatperforms like the company’s top-of-the-lineUltra2.

The basic Phantom system starts witha 29"-49" telescoping carbon-fiber postcoupled to the Ultra2 stage (which featuresTiffen’s patented +/- 20-degree tilt head)and terminates in a new solid base. Outfit-ted with the Ultra2 Gimbal, SD LCD 700 nitmonitor and dual-battery mount for 12 and24 volts (either V-Lock or Anton Bauer), thePhantom fills the need for a heavy duty, highperformance, low-cost rig. Also included isthe G-70 Iso-Elastic Stabilizer Arm, Ultra2Vest, Docking and Balancing bracket, add-on weights and the Steadicam logo hardsled case with wheels. Options for the Phan-tom rig include Tiffen’s patented “go-to”motorized stage and a variety of monitors,including the 8.4", 1,400 nit HD UltraBrite2,

plus batteries, chargers, cases, cables, vehi-cle mounts and more.

The Phantom is designed to be user-friendly, field-serviceable, tool-free, straight-forward and versatile so the operator canquickly and easily configure the rig to thebest advantage for each shot. Sled length,balance and inertia can all be quicklychanged, and the rig can quickly beswitched into low mode, all without tools orextra parts.

The Phantom basic package is avail-

able for $44,950. For additional informa-tion, visit www.tiffen.com.

Element Technica DesignsAtom Rig for Red EpicElement Technica, a provider of

stereoscopic 3-D rigs for a broad range ofcameras and applications, has introducedthe Atom, a camera-specific 3-D beam-split-ter rig designed for the Red Epic digitalcamera.

Designing the Atom specifically forthe Epic has allowed for a streamlined rigwith minimum size and weight. Althoughcompact, the rig is still able to accommo-date full-sized PL and PV prime lenses aswell as smaller zooms like the AngenieuxOptimo 16-42 or 30-80mm. Like otherTechnica 3-D rigs, the Atom provides fullinterocular and convergence control, and italso allows for recording of interocular,convergence and lens metadata.

The Atom is available in eitheraluminum or magnesium construction; themagnesium model shaves 5 pounds off theweight, weighing only 13 pounds on itsown and approximately 36 pounds whenrigged with a pair of Epics. The Atom ProKit, machined of magnesium and compati-ble with both aluminum and magnesiumrigs, integrates multiplexing, sync and

power conditioning electronics in the Atomto eliminate three external componentsfrom the rig. The Pro Kit includes a pair ofEpic-specific 3-D modules to eliminate up tofour cables per camera, and as many as 12or more cables from the rig. The Pro elec-tronics are housed in a distinctive shark’s findesign assembly on the rig.

The basic aluminum Atom 3-D rigsystem is available for $64,000. For moreinformation, visit www.technica3d.com.

VF Gadgets OffersDSLR SwissCage KitVFGadgets has introduced the DSLR

SwissCage Kit from Upgrade Innovations tosecurely support a whole camera and lensconfiguration for professionals using DSLRsin video production. The SwissCage Kit isdesigned to be equally useful in bothextreme rigging and studio work.

The camera is firmly locked betweenthe threaded bottom mount and the top

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hot shoe, eliminating the risk of twistingwhen using a follow focus. The unit iscovered in 1 ⁄ 4"-20 and 3 ⁄ 8" threaded holes,15mm rods are supported, and grip-armfriendly stud pickups also offer multiple-point mounting stability.

The DSLR SwissCage Kit has beendesigned around Canon’s EOS 5D Mark II,7D and 1D Mark IV, and it will work withany DSLR that has a similar body shape. TheSwissCage allows access to change media,adjust settings and replace batteries withouthaving to remove the camera. Additionaltall cage posts are also included to ensurethat the SwissCage can be swappedbetween regular and battery-grip models.Machined from high-grade aluminum, theSwissCage weighs only 3 pounds.

For additional information, visitwww.vfgadgets.com.

Anton/Bauer Powers

Canon DSLRs

Anton/Bauer, a Vitec Group brand,has introduced Gold Mount and Elipzpower solutions for the Canon EOS 5DMark II and EOS 7D DSLR cameras. Thesenew power solutions run monitors, lights,transmitters and other accessories not possi-ble with a standard OEM battery.

Utilizing the company’s Logic Seriesbatteries, the Gold Mount solution has theability to mount to most third-party supportrigs, such as Redrock Micro, Zacuto andCinevate, and offers a counterbalance to

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the rig. The Gold Mount solution can alsobe configured in a pouch pack, which canbe worn on a belt for handheld production.

The Elipz solution is based on theElipz battery system and provides the userthe ability to power the camera and Elightzor Eledz. This can also be adapted to both a

shoulder mount or pouch-pack configura-tion.For additional information, visit

www.antonbauer.com.

Hoodman Accessorizes DSLRsHoodman has added the Hood-

Crane universal, smart hot-shoe mount forLCD accessories. The HoodCrane is specifi-cally designed for using Hoodman’s Hood-Loupe 3.0 — an eyepiece designed forglare-free viewing of LCD screens — duringDSLR video capture. A spring-release latchswings the HoodCrane up and allows it topivot out of the way for shared LCD view-ing or shooting stills. The top of the Hood-Crane also features a cold-shoe mount.

HoodCrane is available with Hood-man’s Cinema Pro Kit, which includesHoodLoupe 3.0 and HoodMag, a magnify-ing video eyecup. For more information,visit www.hoodmanusa.com.

Cel-Soft Analyzes 3-D DataCel-Soft has updated its Cel-

Scope3D stereoscopic analyzer with anautomatic logging option that generates aprintable report of depth budget and depthplot for easy reference by cinematographersand stereographers during production andby editors during 3-D post.

Cel-Scope3D is designed for use onset with live inputs as well as for reviewingand playing back 3-D media files duringpost. Available as a complete system or as

Microsoft Windows-compatible software, itallows stereoscopic camera alignment to beperformed quickly and confidently, ensuringaccurate 3-D from the moment of capture.Footage and edits in a wide range of fileformats can be viewed and accessed in realtime. Disparities are analyzed and displayedas clear and intelligible graphics on 2-D or3-D monitors. Anaglyph display, touch-screen control and auto-alarm are allsupported.

Cel-Scope3D displays can be scaledand arranged as six or eight windows onone or two PC monitors and on a 3-D moni-tor. Left and right channels can be viewedsimultaneously together with actual depthdynamics. Each display window can be setto show waveform, vectorscope and

histogram graphics as well as differences invideo parameters between each channel.Geometry issues can be identified easilyusing built-in real-time image manipulation.Quality-control tests can be performed onlive stereoscopic video sources in any SD, HDor 2K format from industry standard capturecards or Firewire inputs, or alternatively fromfile playback.

For additional information, visitwww.cel-soft.com.

S3D Plugs into MayaS3D Technologies, LLC, a research

and development company focused oncreating solutions for stereoscopic 3-Dproductions, has introduced the S3D CGIMaya Plug-in. The plug-in allows for easycreation, management and control of avirtual stereoscopic camera rig within theAutodesk Maya environment.

Fast and efficient, the S3D CGI MayaPlug-in removes the guesswork often asso-ciated with setting up a stereo camera pairwithin a CGI environment. Completely inte-

grated into the Maya user interface, theplug-in allows the animator to simply pickthe point of convergence as well as the posi-tive and negative parallax points in thescene; the plug-in then automatically setsthe correct interaxial distance. These para-meters are automatically updated over thecourse of the animated shot.

Where a project includes both CGIand live-action, the plug-in can import andexport parameters to a real stereo camerarig to ensure accurate stereoscopic match-

ing between the elements. The plug-in isalso fully compatible with S3D Technologies’S3D Calculator and takes into account all ofthe usual lens and camera variables as wellas screen size and proposed viewer distance.

The S3D CGI Maya Plug-in iscompatible with Maya 2009 and 2010 forWindows; the Mac version will be availablesoon. For more information, visitwww.s3dtechnologies.com. ●

SanDisk Enables ExtremeCompactFlash RecordingSanDisk Corporation has announced

the Extreme Pro CompactFlash card, whichboasts 128GB of storage and up to 100MBper second write speeds. With its PowerCore controller and UDMA-7 interface, the

card delivers the performance demanded byhigh-end DSLR cameras.

With a set of features optimized forprofessional photographers and videogra-phers, the 128GB SanDisk Extreme ProCompactFlash card is ideally suited forimaging applications requiring Full HD1920x1080 resolution, up to 50Mbps bitrate and 4:2:2 color sampling. The card’scombination of speed and storage letsphotographers capture more frames whenshooting in continuous-burst mode, and

enables them to record high-quality Full HDvideos. Additionally, SanDisk’s proprietaryPower Core controller distributes dataacross the card more rapidly and efficiently,and the UDMA-7 interface allows for maxi-mum data transfer between card andcamera.

The 128GB Extreme Pro Compact-Flash card is available for $1,499.99. Formore information, visit www.sandisk.com.

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International Marketplace


OppCam Grip Systems

TM

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Advertiser’s Index16x9, Inc. 74

AC 1, 4, 67, 74Aja Video Systems, Inc. 19Alan Gordon Enterprises 74

Arri 31AZGrip 74

Backstage Equipment, Inc.45

Barger-Lite 75Bron Imaging Group - US 48Burrell Enterprises 75

Camera Essentials 75Carl Zeiss Camera Lens

Division 49Cavision Enterprises C3Chapman/Leonard Studio

Equipment Inc. 23

Chemical Wedding 73, 79Cine Gear Expo 75Cinematography

Electronics 6Cinekinetic 74Clairmont Film & Digital 21Codex Digital Ltd., 25Cooke Optics 37

Deluxe C2

Eastman Kodak C4Economist 11

Film Gear 69

Filmtools 6Five Towns College 69Fujifilm 16a-d, 43

Glidecam Industries 13

Kino Flo 36Kobold 48

Laffoux Solutions, Inc. 74LitePanels 2

Maine Media Workshops 6Matthews Studio

Equipment/MSE 75

M. M. Mukhi and Sons 74Movie Tech AG 75

NAB 65NBC Universal Media Works

35New York Film Academy 57

Oppenheimer Camera Prod.74

P+S Technik 5Panasonic Broadcast

TV Division 15Photon Beard 74Pille Film Gmbh 75

Pro8mm 74Production Resource Group

45

Shelton Communications74

Sony Electronics 7Stanton Video Services 71Super16 Inc. 75

Technocrane 71Thales Angenieux 9

VF Gadgets, Inc. 74

Willy’s Widgets 74www.theasc.com 56, 75,76

Zacuto Films 75

76

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gory does not apply to Ritchie!” noted

Polito.Polito shot photographic effects(including bluescreen work) for the

feature Xanadu, and he shot minia-tures for the series Supertrain andminiseries Condominium. OnCondominium, his work included acomplex sequence in which theeponymous 13-story condo isdestroyed by a tidal wave, an effectthat required nine wind machinesand 20,000 gallons of water.

In April 1981, Polito joined theASC after he was recommended formembership by Harry Wolf andJoseph Biroc. He quickly becameimmersed in Society activities, serv-ing on the Board of Governors from1982 to 1987. During those sameyears, he also served on the Editor-ial Advisory Committee, overseeingthe Society’s publishing activities,including AC . In 1982 and ’83, hewas chairman of the MembershipCommittee, and he served as chair-

man of the Constitution and By-Laws Committee in 1986. Hechaired the ASC Summer Golf Tour-

nament in 1984 and ’85.At around the same time he

joined the ASC, Polito began teaching atUSC’s film school. He continued toshoot, taking on projects that would fillthe summer months between academicyears. In 1989, he retired from both film-making and teaching.

Polito is survived by his wife,

Lucille; sons Gregory, Stephen, Richardand Douglas; daughters Mary, Christine,Michele, Joan and Lisa; 24 grandchil-dren; nine great-grandchildren; hisbrother, Robert; and numerous niecesand nephews.

— Jon D. Witmer●

Emmy-nominated cinematogra-

pher Eugene E. “Gene” Polito, ASC diedon Nov. 28, 2010, at the age of 92.Polito was born on Sept. 13, 1918,

in New York City. His family soonmoved to Los Angeles, where hisfather, cinematographer Sol Polito,ASC, went to work for WarnerBros. Introduced to filmmaking atan early age, Gene developed aninterest in still photography, apassion he nurtured while studyingfor a degree in mechanical engi-neering at the University of South-ern California.

Polito’s senior year at USCwas marked by the attack on PearlHarbor and the United States’entry into World War II. Upon grad-uating, Polito put his degree to usefor the defense industry, taking a job at Douglas Aircraft as a designengineer. After the war ended, hefully embraced his passion forphotography and cinematographyand transitioned into the film

industry with a job as a “lily boy”for Technicolor. “The ‘lily’ was awhite-faced target with threepanels,” he explained in a first-personpiece in AC in June 2003. “As soon as thedirector said, ‘Print it,’ the lily boy ran outand stuck a lily in front of one actor’sface.” The camera then rolled on the lily,and back at the lab that section of filmwas used to determine the appropriateprinter lights for the preceding shot.

As Polito worked toward becoming

a director of photography, he workedunder such masters of the craft as ASCmembers Joseph Ruttenberg, CharlesRosher, Russell Metty, Ray June, NorbertBrodine, Winton Hoch andJames WongHowe, in addition to his father, Sol. Hewas forever grateful for his engineeringbackground; when he was under contractas a cinematographer for C.V. WhitneyPictures, he was tasked with designingand supervising the construction of two

65mm cameras, and he later designed

four 3-D camera rigs for Universal.Polito’s first job as a cinematogra-pher was on The Loretta Young Show ,

and over the years he notched credits onsuch series as Lost in Space , Mannix , It Takes a Thief and Alias Smith and Jones.He also shot such telefilms as The Sound of Anger ; Drive Hard, Drive Fast ; All Together Now ; Death Scream ; and My Sweet Charlie , which brought him anEmmy nomination. His feature creditsincluded Westworld and its sequel,

Futureworld ; the Cheech and Chongvehicle Up in Smoke , and MichaelRitchie’s Prime Cut .

Ritchie was a frequent collabora-tor, and in the June 1972 issue of AC ,Polito spoke about their creative partner-ship, which included shooting a televi-sion special for Universal in six days,working out of a station wagon, on loca-tion, with essentially no lights. “I think itis fair to say that the ‘workaday’ cate-

Gene Polito, ASC1918-2010In Memoriam

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American Society of Cinematographers RosterOFFICERS – 2010-’11

Michael Goi,President

Richard Crudo,Vice President

Owen Roizman,Vice President

John C. Flinn III,Vice President

Matthew Leonetti,Treasurer

Rodney Taylor,Secretary

Ron Garcia,Sergeant-at-Arms

MEMBERSOF THE BOARD

John Bailey

Stephen H. Burum

Curtis Clark

George Spiro Dibie

Richard Edlund

John C. Flinn III

Michael Goi

Stephen Lighthill

Isidore Mankofsky

Daryn Okada

Robert Primes

Nancy SchreiberKees Van Oostrum

Haskell Wexler

Vilmos Zsigmond

ALTERNATES

Fred Elmes

Rodney Taylor

Michael D. O’Shea

Sol Negrin

Michael B. Negrin

Roger DeakinsJan DeBontThomas Del RuthBruno DelbonnelPeter DemingJim DenaultCaleb DeschanelRon DexterCraig Di BonaGeorge Spiro DibieErnest DickersonBilly DicksonBill DillStuart DryburghBert Dunk Lex DuPontJohn DykstraRichard EdlundEagle EgilssonFrederick ElmesRobert ElswitGeoffrey ErbScott FarrarJon FauerDon E. FauntLeRoy Gerald FeilSteven FierbergGerald Perry FinnermanMauro FioreJohn C. Flinn IIIRon FortunatoJonathan FreemanTak FujimotoAlex FunkeSteve GainerRon GarciaDejan GeorgevichMichael GoiStephen GoldblattPaul GoldsmithFrederic GoodichVictor GossJack GreenAdam GreenbergRobbie GreenbergXavier Perez GrobetAlexander GruszynskiChangwei GuRick GunterRob HahnGerald HirschfeldHenner HofmannAdam HolenderErnie HolzmanJohn C. HoraTom HoughtonGil HubbsShane HurlbutTom HurwitzJudy IrolaMark Irwin

Don McAlpineDon McCuaigSeamus McGarvey Robert McLachlanGeary McLeodGreg McMurry Steve McNuttTerry K. MeadeSuki MedencevicChris MengesRexford MetzAnastas MichosDouglas MilsomeDan MindelCharles Minsky Claudio MirandaGeorge MooradianDonald A. MorganDonald M. MorganKramer MorgenthauPeter MossM. David MullenDennis MurenFred Murphy Hiro NaritaGuillermo NavarroMichael B. NegrinSol NegrinBill NeilAlex Nepomniaschy John Newby Yuri NeymanSam NicholsonCrescenzo NotarileDavid B. NowellRene OhashiDaryn OkadaThomas OlgeirssonWoody OmensMiroslav Ondricek Michael D. O’SheaAnthony PalmieriPhedon PapamichaelDaniel PearlEdward J. PeiJames PergolaDon PetermanLowell PetersonWally PfisterBill PopeSteven PosterTom Priestley Jr.Rodrigo PrietoRobert PrimesFrank PrinziRichard QuinlanDeclan QuinnEarl RathRichard Rawlings Jr.Frank RaymondTami Reiker

Levie IsaacksAndrew JacksonPeter JamesJohnny E. JensenTorben JohnkeFrank JohnsonShelly JohnsonJeffrey JurWilliam K. JurgensenAdam KaneStephen M. KatzKen KelschVictor J. KemperWayne KennanFrancis Kenny Glenn Kershaw Darius KhondjiGary KibbeJan KiesserJeffrey L. KimballAdam KimmelAlar KiviloDavid KleinRichard KlineGeorge KoblasaFred J. KoenekampLajos KoltaiPete Kozachik Neil KrepelaWilly KurantEllen M. KurasGeorge La FountaineEdward LachmanKen LamkinJacek LaskusAndrew LaszloDenis LenoirJohn R. LeonettiMatthew LeonettiAndrew LesniePeter Levy Matthew LibatiqueCharlie LiebermanStephen LighthillKarl Walter LindenlaubJohn Lindley Robert F. LiuWalt LloydBruce LoganGordon LonsdaleEmmanuel LubezkiJulio G. MacatGlen MacPhersonConstantine MakrisDenis Maloney Isidore Mankofsky Christopher Manley Michael D. MarguliesBarry MarkowitzSteve MasonClark Mathis

ACTIVE MEMBERSThomas AckermanLance AcordLloyd Ahern IIHerbert AlpertRuss Alsobrook Howard A. Anderson IIIHoward A. Anderson Jr.James AndersonPeter AndersonTony AskinsCharles AustinChristopher BaffaJames BagdonasKing BaggotJohn Bailey Michael BallhausAndrzej Bartkowiak John Bartley Bojan BazelliFrank BeascoecheaAffonso BeatoMat Beck Dion BeebeBill BennettAndres BerenguerCarl BergerGabriel BeristainSteven BernsteinRoss BerrymanMichael BonvillainRichard BowenDavid Boyd

Russell BoydJonathan BrownDon BurgessStephen H. BurumBill ButlerFrank B. ByersBobby ByrneAntonio CalvachePaul CameronRussell P. CarpenterJames L. CarterAlan CasoMichael ChapmanRodney ChartersJames A. Chressanthis

T.C. ChristensenJoan ChurchillCurtis Clark Peter L. CollisterJack CoopermanJack CoufferVincent G. Cox Jeff CronenwethRichard CrudoDean R. Cundey Stefan Czapsky David Darby Allen Daviau

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Robert RichardsonAnthony B. RichmondBill RoeOwen RoizmanPete RomanoCharles Rosher Jr.Giuseppe RotunnoPhilippe RousselotJuan Ruiz-AnchiaMarvin RushPaul RyanEric SaarinenAlik Sakharov Mikael SalomonHarris SavidesRoberto SchaeferTobias SchliesslerAaron SchneiderNancy SchreiberFred SchulerJohn SchwartzmanJohn SealeChristian SebaldtDean SemlerEduardo SerraSteven Shaw Richard ShoreNewton Thomas SigelJohn SimmonsSandi SisselBradley B. Six Michael SlovisDennis L. SmithRoland “Ozzie” SmithReed SmootBing Sokolsky Peter SovaDante SpinottiTerry Stacey Ueli SteigerPeter SteinTom SternRobert M. StevensRogier StoffersVittorio StoraroHarry Stradling Jr.David StumpTim SuhrstedtPeter Suschitzky Alfred TaylorJonathan TaylorRodney TaylorWilliam TaylorDon ThorinJohn TollMario TosiSalvatore TotinoLuciano TovoliJost VacanoTheo Van de SandeEric Van Haren Noman

Kees Van OostrumChecco VareseRon VargasMark VargoAmelia VincentWilliam WagesRoy H. WagnerRic WaiteMichael WatkinsJonathan WestHaskell WexlerJack WhitmanGordon WillisDariusz WolskiRalph Woolsey Peter Wunstorf Robert YeomanRichard YuricichJerzy ZielinskiVilmos ZsigmondKenneth Zunder

ASSOCIATE MEMBERS

Alan AlbertRichard AschmanVolker BahnemannKay BakerJoseph J. BallAmnon BandCarly M. BarberCraig BarronThomas M. BarronLarry BartonBob BeitcherMark BenderBruce BerkeBob BiancoJohn BickfordSteven A. Blakely Mitchell BogdanowiczJack BonuraMichael BravinWilliam BrodersenGarrett BrownRonald D. BurdettReid BurnsVincent CarabelloJim CarterLeonard ChapmanMark ChiolisDenny ClairmontAdam Clark Cary ClaytonMichael CondonSean CoughlinRobert B. CreamerGrover CrispDaniel Curry Ross DanielsonCarlos D. DeMattosGary Demos

Mato Der AvannesianRichard Di BonaKevin DillonDavid DodsonJudith Doherty Cyril Drabinsky Jesse DylanJonathan ErlandJohn FarrandRay Feeney William FeightnerPhil FeinerJimmy FisherScott FleischerThomas FletcherSalvatore GiarratanoRichard B. GlickmanJohn A. GreschJim HannafinWilliam HansardBill Hansard, Jr.Richard HartRobert Harvey Charles HerzfeldLarry HezzelwoodFrieder HochheimBob HoffmanVinny HoganCliff HsuiRobert C. HummelRoy IsaiaGeorge JobloveJoel JohnsonJohn JohnstonMarker KarahadianFrank Kay Debbie KennardMilton Keslow Robert Keslow Larry KingenDouglas KirklandTimothy J. KnappRon KochKarl KresserChet KucinskiDoug LeightonLou LevinsonSuzanne LezotteGrant LoucksHoward Lukk Andy MaltzSteven E. ManiosRobert MastronardiJoe MatzaAlbert Mayer, Jr.Bill McDonaldAndy McIntyreStan MillerWalter H. MillsGeorge MiltonMike Mimaki

Rami MinaMichael MorelliDash MorrisonNolan Murdock Dan MuscarellaIain A. NeilOtto NemenzErnst NettmannTony NgaiMickel NiehenkeJeff OkunMarty OppenheimerWalt Ordway Michael ParkerWarren ParkerDoug Pentek Kristin PetrovichEd Phillips

Nick PhillipsJerry PierceJoshua PinesCarl PorcelloHoward PrestonDavid PringlePhil RadinChristopher ReynaColin RitchieEric G. RodliAndy Romanoff Daniel RosenDana RossBill RussellKish Sadhvani

David SamuelsonSteve SchklairPeter K. SchnitzlerWalter SchonfeldJuergen SchwinzerRonald ScottSteven ScottDon ShapiroMilton R. ShefterLeon SilvermanGarrett SmithTimothy E. SmithKimberly SnyderStefan SonnenfeldJohn L. Sprung

Joseph N. TawilIra TiffenSteve TiffenArthur TostadoBill TurnerStephan Ukas-Bradley Mark Van HorneRichard VetterJoe ViolanteDedo WeigertFranz WeiserEvans WetmoreBeverly Wood

M A R C H 2 0 1 1

Jan YarbroughHoyt YeatmanIrwin M. YoungMichael ZachariaBob ZahnNazir ZaidiMichael ZakulaLes Zellan

HONORARY MEMBERS

Col. Edwin E. Al drin Jr.Neil A. ArmstrongCol. Michael CollinsBob FisherDavid MacDonaldCpt. Bruce McCandless IILarry ParkerD. Brian Spruill

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Clockwise from top left: Roizman with his wife, Mona, and son, Eric;Roizman greets Anthony Palmieri, ASC; Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC; JohnSimmons, ASC; Rodney Taylor, ASC; Isidore Mankofsky, ASC; WoodyOmens, ASC; and ASC President Michael Goi.


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When you were a child, what film made the strongestimpression on you?When I was in the seventh grade, we were shown a Twilight

Zone episode titled “Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.” Theentire story takes place in one man’s mind in a split second as heis being hanged, and this resonated profoundly with me.

Which cinematographers, past or present, do you mostadmire, and why?The ASC roster has dozens of myheroes who inspire me to tears andawed silence! Quintessentially, I wouldsay Gregg Toland, ASC, for his use ofblack-and-white and audaciousperspectives; Vittorio Storaro, ASC,AIC, for his spiritual and metaphysicaluse of color; Conrad Hall, ASC, for hisartistic machismo and precise story-telling; Gordon Willis, ASC, for shoot-ing The Godfather; and Owen Roiz-man, ASC, for his friendship andcreative guidance.

What sparked your interest in photography?When I was growing up, there were hundreds of photographybooks in my house, from Lucien Clergue to Irving Penn to ManRay. My father was an award-winning art director in advertising,and one of his photographers was Richard Avedon. As a child, I

stuffed my pockets with Avedon’s Polaroids after watching himshoot with such vigor and class.

Where did you train and/or study?I received a four-year scholarship to New York University throughmy photography, but I eventually transferred to New York Insti-tute of Technology to follow a mentor film teacher who inspiredme conceptually. Of course, my most important training hasbeen in the field; I started as a camera PA and worked with manygreat cinematographers as I moved up.

Who were your early teachers or mentors?

The first were my parents, who to this day are both magnificentartists. My first mentor on a film set was a very gutsy cine-matographer by the name of Tony Mitchell, whom I assistedexclusively.

What are some of your key artistic influences?I love tear sheets. I collect thousands of them and keep them innotebooks for reference. They’re mostly work by photographersand painters who inspire me with lighting, compositions, colorschemes, concepts, etc.

How did you get your first break in the business?My father’s advertising agency had an in-house productioncompany that made Mercedes-Benz and JC Penney commer-

cials. I started out working as a PA during my summer breaksfrom school.

What has been your most satisfying moment on a project?Moving up to camera operator on Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a

Time in America.

Have you made any memorableblunders?Yes, the all-time classic for a cameraassistant: turning on the light in thedarkroom before I put the lid back onthe film can, consequently fogging theentire 1,000'roll of exposed film. Theworst part was finding the courage toinform the director of photography.

What is the best professional adviceyou’ve ever received?

From Owen Roizman: ‘There’s no need to have an ego as a man.Let your work on that screen be your ego.’

What recent books, films or artworks have inspired you?Truly, reading interviews with my colleagues every month in American Cinematographer inspires me! I am currently looking

at Bill Brandt’s bookShadow of Light for a personal project, andI’m also reading Notes on the Making of Apocalypse Now . TheSocial Network reminded me that smart filmmaking can alwayscatapult something formulaic and familiar into that extraordi-nary stratum.

Do you have any favorite genres, or genres you wouldlike to try?I would love to shoot a surreal horror film or a classic Western.

If you weren’t a cinematographer, what might you bedoing instead?

I would love to score feature films!

Which ASC cinematographers recommended you formembership?Julio Macat, Alan Caso, Jim Chressanthis and Nancy Schreiber.

How has ASC membership impacted your life and career?When I was invited to join the ASC, I cried. It is an honor and aprivilege to be associated with the best in the world, to engagein artistic and technological conversations with them and thenbring that energy into my own work. ●

Crescenzo Notarile, ASCClose-up

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AC mar 2011

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