American Cinematographer - January 2014 (Gnv64)

J ANUARY 2014
$5.95 Canada $6.95

AMC_0114_pCV1_R_00-00_COVER 12/2/13 4:50 PM Page 1
AMC_0114_pCV2_p001_Layout 1 11/23/13 3:50 PM Page 1
AMC_0114_pCV2_p001_Layout 1 11/23/13 3:51 PM Page 2
HAVE YOU TRIED
CINE XENAR III PRIMES?
The next generation of superb digital cinematography primes has arrived.
Fast, robust, accurate and physically matched for user-friendly operation,
they offer a high-resolution telecentric design with even image brightness
and minimum breathing. Due to a brilliant iris blade design, Cine Xenar IIIs
produce a desirable bokeh when imaging with a shallow depth of field.
Whats more, the lenses are capable of ultra-close
focus, down to 11 (25cm) from the sensor plane.
Made in Germany by Schneider-Kreuznach,
Cine Xenar IIIs are priced to own and built to last.
CHECK WITH YOUR
Phone: 818-766-3715 800-228-1254 email: info@schneideroptics.com
For More on Cine Xenar III promos
www. s c h n e i d e r o p t i c s . c o m
LOCAL RENTAL HOUSE
TODAY

d a e c u d o r p
u m i n i m d n a
a r e f f o y e
t s u b o r
e g t x e n
N I C
th

g a m i n e h w h e k o b e l b a r i s e d
a i l l i r b a o t e u D . g n i h t a e r b m u
c i r t n e c e l e t n o i t u l o s e r - h g i h a
a m y l l a c i s y h p d n a e t a r u c c a , t
c l a t i g i d b r e p u s f o n o i t a r e n e
R A N E X E

o h t p e d w o l l a h s a h t i w g n i g
e X e n i C , n g i s e d e d a l b s i r i t n a
g i r b e g a m i n e v e h t i w n g i s e d
e p o y l d n e i r f - r e s u r o f d e h c t a
a s a h s e m i r p y h p a r g o t a m e n i
E M I R P I I I R

d l e i f f o
s I I I r a n e
s s e n t h g
, n o i t a r e
. d e v i r r a
? S

K C E H C
I I r a n e X e n i C
n i e d a M
n w o d , s u c o f
e r o m s t a h W
d a e c u d o r p
C O L

R U O Y H T I W K
l i u b d n a n w o o t d e c i r p e r a s I I
e r K - r e d i e n h c S y b y n a m r e G n
n e s e h t m o r f ) m c 5 2 ( 1 1 o t n
f o e l b a p a c e r a s e s n e l e h t , e
g a m i n e h w h e k o b e l b a r i s e d
T N E R L A C

. t s a l o t t l
, h c a n z u e
. e n a l p r o s n
e s o l c - a r t l u
o h t p e d w o l l a h s a h t i w g n i g
S U O H L A TTA

. d l e i f f o
E S
e new
/T2.2
h t f k A

n e X e n i C n o e r o M r o F
5 1 7 3 - 6 6 7 - 8 1 8 : e n o h P
wwwwww.. ss cc hh nn ee ii dd

s o m o r p I I I r a n
o f n i : l i a m e 4 5 2 1 - 8 2 2 - 0 0 8
dd ee rr oo pp tt ii cc ss .. cc oo mm *Pr
C O L

m o c . s c i t p o r e d i e n h c s @ o
romotions end Midnight 2/28/14
T N E R L A C

O T
S U O H L A TTA

Y AAY D O
E S
AMC_0114_p002_Layout 1 11/23/13 3:42 PM Page 1
The International Journal of Motion Imaging
36 Folk Implosion
Bruno Delbonnel, ASC, AFC creates a 1960s vibe for
Inside Llewyn Davis
50 Daydream Believer
Stuart Dryburgh, ASC, NZCS blends drama and fantasy
on The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
64 A Curious Camera
Rob Hardy, BSC captures a 19th-century romance for
The Invisible Woman
76 And She Was
Hoyte van Hoytema, FSF, NSC envisions the futuristic
love story Her
DEPARTMENTS
FEATURES
VISIT WWW.THEASC.COM
On Our Cover: Folk singer Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) falls on hard times as he
struggles to crack the Greenwich Village music scene in Inside Llewyn Davis, shot by
Bruno Delbonnel, ASC, AFC. (Photo by Alison Rosa, courtesy of CBS Films.)
10 Editors Note
12 Presidents Desk
16 Short Takes: Lu
22 Production Slate: The Book Thief American Hustle
86 Post Focus: HPA Awards
88 New Products & Services
92 International Marketplace
93 Classified Ads
94 Ad Index
95 Clubhouse News
96 ASC Close-Up: Michael Bonvillain
J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 4 V O L . 9 5 N O . 1
50
64
76
AMC_0114_p003_00 toc 11/23/13 4:42 PM Page 3
The International Journal of Motion Imaging
In an exclusive online podcast, cinematographer Elliot Davis will discuss his creative approach to Man of Tai Chi, which
follows the spiritual journey of a young martial artist whose unparalleled skills lead him to compete in a brutal underground
fight club. The movie marks the directorial debut of actor Keanu Reeves, who also plays a key role.
Left: Chen Lin-Hu (Tiger Hu Chen)
demonstrates his martial-arts
prowess in Man of Tai Chi.
Right: Director Keanu Reeves and
cinematographer Elliot Davis set
up a shot on set.
J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 4 V O L . 9 5 N O . 1
Martin Alberto Montellano: Gravity. Why?
Emmanuel Chivo Lubezki [ASC, AMC].
Kenny Kraly Jr: Gravity and Thor: The Dark
World.
Charles Kennedy Jr.: I say Gravity as well. Its
a visual achievement and not just from an
effects standpoint the sweeping camera
movements are out of this world (no pun
intended).
Mac Eiteagain: Only God Forgives. Its dark as
hell, but the use of light, angles and shots adds
tension and suspense to give it a really gritty
look.
Juan Namnun: Rush the rain, the rain.
Ysidro Sore: Metallica Through the Never
because it brought the 3-D concert experience
to a whole new level both visually and story-
telling-wise. Also because the music rocks lit-
erally!
Scott Gleine: Maybe its not the flashiest pick,
but Id like to acknowledge Adam Stones
underrated work [in] Mud. There is a certain
texture and nuance to the photography of that
film which really makes the viewer feel drawn
into the setting and tone of the story, making
the overall experience more vivid and fulfilling.
Ignacio Aguilar: Prisoners. It seems that digi-
tal acquisition has allowed Roger Deakins [ASC,
BSC] to take more risks, [but] he still delivers a
natural and source-motivated look with tremen-
dous contrast and very deep blacks. His
approach is low key, but adds a lot to the pic-
tures narrative and atmosphere. Loved his
night-exterior scenes.
Victor Arias: Gravity, of course, though I real-
ly did enjoy Sofian El Fanis work in Blue Is the
Warmest Color. It was beautifully shot. The
scenes between the two main characters were
shot mainly in close-ups, which helped give the
film realism and a docu-type feeling.
Ricardo Valdez Esquer: Stoker or Prisoners.
William Richard Borowski: Gravity, Only
God Forgives and Spring Breakers are the three
films of the year with the best cinematography,
in my opinion.
Matthew Smith: Larry Smiths work on Only
God Forgives shows a sophisticated eye for sat-
urated color that rivals the Italian greats of the
70s, and also demonstrates that the man can
produce a gorgeous image in all kinds of differ-
ent lighting situations.
Lizzie Ford-Madrid: 12 Years a Slave and
Spring Breakers.
Sulekh Suman: Amongst the films Ive seen,
Captain Phillips, Out of the Furnace, The Secret
Life of Walter Mitty, 12 Years a Slave and Ram
Leela (from India) all stand out. Nebraska, Gravi-
ty, Only God Forgives and Blue Is the Warmest
Color, all shot on digital, looked flawless.
Cailin Yatsko: La Grande Bellezza (The Great
Beauty).
Matthew A. MacDonald: From the opening
sequence to the subtly redemptive conclusion, I
felt thoroughly transported by The Place Beyond
the Pines, thanks in large part to Sean Bobbitt,
BSCs impeccably crafted, textured images; sub-
tle yet evocative lighting; and camerawork that
always served indeed elevated and never
distracted from the story.
Jan Veldhuizen: The Conjuring. The realistic
lighting, the subtle camera movement and the
powerful zooms gave me the creeps. And Pris-
oners, [because] Roger Deakins seems to under-
stand and feel every single line of the script.
Tanmay Toraskar: Inside Llewyn Davis, [for
its] great, stylized evocation of the 60s and the
heart-wrenching, emotional capture of the
musical performances. Hats off to Bruno Del-
bonnel [ASC, AFC].
SEE AND HEAR MORE CINEMATOGRAPHY COVERAGE AT WWW.THEASC.COM
THIS MONTHS ONLINE QUESTION: Whats your pick for the best-shot movie of 2013, and why?
To read more replies, visit our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/AmericanCinematographer
P
h
o
t
o

a
t

r
i
g
h
t

b
y

K
C

C
h
e
n
.

B
o
t
h

i
m
a
g
e
s

c
o
u
r
t
e
s
y

o
f

R
a
d
i
u
s
-
T
W
C
.
AMC_0114_p004_00 toc 11/29/13 6:07 PM Page 4
AMC_0114_p005_R_Layout 1 11/26/13 1:18 AM Page 1
J a n u a r y 2 0 1 4 V o l . 9 5 , N o . 1
T h e I n t e r n a t i o n a l J o u r n a l o f M o t i o n I m a g i n g
Visit us online at
www.theasc.com

PUBLISHER Martha Winterhalter
EDITORIAL
EXECUTIVE EDITOR Stephen Pizzello
SENIOR EDITOR Rachael K. Bosley
ASSOCIATE EDITOR Jon D. Witmer
TECHNICAL EDITOR Christopher Probst
PHOTO EDITOR Julie Sickel
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Benjamin B, Douglas Bankston, Robert S. Birchard,
John Calhoun, Michael Goldman, Simon Gray,
David Heuring, Jay Holben, Noah Kadner,
Jean Oppenheimer, Iain Stasukevich,
Patricia Thomson
ART DEPARTMENT
CREATIVE DIRECTOR Marion Kramer
ADVERTISING
ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR Angie Gollmann
323-936-3769 FAX 323-936-9188
e-mail: gollmann@pacbell.net
ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR Sanja Pearce
323-952-2114 FAX 323-876-4973
e-mail: sanja@ascmag.com
CLASSIFIEDS/ADVERTISING COORDINATOR Diella Peru
323-952-2124 FAX 323-876-4973
e-mail: diella@ascmag.com
CIRCULATION, BOOKS & PRODUCTS

CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Saul Molina
CIRCULATION MANAGER Alex Lopez
SHIPPING MANAGER Miguel Madrigal
ASC GENERAL MANAGER Brett Grauman

ASC EVENTS COORDINATOR Patricia Armacost
ASC PRESIDENTS ASSISTANT Delphine Figueras
ASC ACCOUNTING MANAGER Mila Basely
ASC ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE Nelson Sandoval
American Cinematographer (ISSN 0002-7928), established 1920 and in its 94th year of publication, is published
monthly in Hollywood by ASC Holding Corp., 1782 N. Orange Dr., Hollywood, CA 90028, U.S.A.,
(800) 448-0145, (323) 969-4333, Fax (323) 876-4973, direct line for subscription inquiries (323) 969-4344.
Subscriptions: U.S. $50; Canada/Mexico $70; all other foreign countries $95 a year (remit international
Money Order or other exchange payable in U.S. $). Advertising: Rate card upon request from Hollywood
office. Article Reprints: Requests for high-quality article reprints (or electronic reprints) should be made to
Sheridan Reprints at (800) 635-7181 ext. 8065 or by e-mail hrobinson@tsp.sheridan.com.
Copyright 2014 ASC Holding Corp. (All rights reserved.) Periodicals postage paid at Los Angeles, CA
and at additional mailing offices. Printed in the USA.
POSTMASTER: Send address change to American Cinematographer, P.O. Box 2230, Hollywood, CA 90078.

Telecine &
Color Grading
Jod is a true artist with
a great passion for his craft.
John W. Simmons, ASC
Contact Jod @ 310-713-8388
Jod@apt-4.com
6
AMC_0114_p006_masthead 11/23/13 4:43 PM Page 6
OFFICERS - 2013/2014
Richard Crudo
President
Owen Roizman
Vice President
Kees van Oostrum
Vice President
Lowell Peterson
Vice President
Victor J. Kemper
Treasurer
Frederic Goodich
Secretary
Isidore Mankofsky
Sergeant At Arms
MEMBERS OF THE
BOARD
Curtis Clark
Richard Crudo
Dean Cundey
George Spiro Dibie
Richard Edlund
Fred Elmes
Victor J. Kemper
Francis Kenny
Matthew Leonetti
Stephen Lighthill
Michael OShea
Lowell Peterson
Owen Roizman
Rodney Taylor
Haskell Wexler
ALTERNATES
Isidore Mankofsky
Kenneth Zunder
Steven Fierberg
Karl Walter Lindenlaub
Sol Negrin
MUSEUM CURATOR
Steve Gainer
American Society of Cine ma tog ra phers
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 invitation
to those who are actively en gaged as
di rec tors of photography and have
dem on strated out stand ing ability. ASC
membership has be come one of the highest
honors that can be bestowed upon a
pro fes sional cin e ma tog ra pher a mark
of prestige and excellence.
Backstage Equipment, nc. 8052 Lankershim Bl. North Hollywood, CA 91605 (818) 504-6026 Fax (818) 504-6180 backstaged@aol.com www.backstageweb.com
Come visit our showroom or call for our latest Magliner product catalog
We are the largest retailer specializing in Magliner customized products and accessories for the Film and Television Industry in the world
New York Showroom C.W..H. 364 W. 36th St. New York, NY 10018 (877)-Mr-CASTER (877-672-2783) backstage@cwih.com www.cwih.com
e are the largest retailer specializing in Magline WWe

e are the largest retailer specializing in Magliner customized products and accessories for the Film and T

elevision Industry in the world m and TTe

o
E n 2 h o H h tt rr oo NN
h
. l B m i h s r e k n a L 55 00 8 . c n e , t n e mm p i u q E ee
N
g a t s k c a B
. t S tt 66 33 . WW 4 6 3 . H . . W . C m o o rr w oo hh S k r o YYo w e N

T
9 4 C a b
c
0 8 1 6 - 4 0 55 8) 8 1 88 (( x Fa F
6
6 2 0 6 - 4 0 5 ) 8 1 8 ( 5 0 6 1 9 AA
8
C , w d o o w yy
Y
l l o
c a b ) 3 8 7 2 - 2 7 6 - 77 ( 7 8 ( RR E T SS AA CC M - r M - ( ) 7 7 8 11 00 00 11 YY NN , k r o YYo w ee NN

o
b m o c . b e w e g a t s k c a b . m w w w m oo a c . l o a @@ d
m
e g a t s k c a
w o cc . h i w c . w c w w m o c . h i w c @ e g a t s k c
8
AMC_0114_p008_00 board 11/29/13 6:03 PM Page 8
Best Cinematography
Eric Steelberg, ASC
For Your Consideration In All Categories Including
Best Picture of the Year
Written for the Screen and Directed by Jason Reitman
Based on the Novel by Joyce Maynard

Love, longing and the search for self-fulfillment are key
themes in this months spotlighted projects.
The Coen brothers Inside Llewyn Davis, shot by Bruno
Delbonnel, ASC, AFC, follows the misadventures of a
downtrodden folk musician struggling to catch a break
while mooching his way through the Greenwich Village
music scene of 1961. Suffused with melancholia, the story
required Delbonnel to provide a bleak, wintry ambience that
would emphasize the Sisyphean futility of the main charac-
ters quest. This film couldnt be beautiful or golden it
had to be uncomfortable, Delbonnel tells Benjamin B
(Folk Implosion, page 36). The question was how to
come up with a very sad, very dirty image without falling
into the extreme of a completely blue winter, which bores me you know, yellow equals
warm, blue equals cold. We went toward dirty magentas and cyan, two colors that oppose
each other.
For The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Stuart Dryburgh, ASC, NZCS was tasked with help-
ing director Ben Stiller blend more realistic scenes with the elaborate fantasy sequences that
spring from the main characters active imagination. Walters fantasy world is always sharper,
brighter and more vivid, Dryburgh tells Iain Stasukevich (Daydream Believer, page 50).
Intimate secrets inform the plot of the 19th-century romance The Invisible Woman,
shot by Rob Hardy, BSC, who discovered a kindred spirit in the movies star and director, Ralph
Fiennes. In senior editor Rachael Bosleys finely detailed article (A Curious Camera, page
64), Hardy says he was keen to collaborate with Fiennes on both of the latters chosen disci-
plines: A lot of what cinematographers do is informed by what actors do, and it goes
beyond the technical; were all telling the story together. Id worked with directors who had
been actors, and their understanding of actors and performance gave me a whole new
perspective, so I was really interested in working with an actor/director.
Her explores a different kind of romance set in a near-future Los Angeles, where a
lonely corporate writer (played by Joaquin Phoenix) falls in love with his computers sophisti-
cated new operating system. Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema, FSF, NSC helped direc-
tor Spike Jonze fashion a warm but subtly alienating feel for the movies urban utopia. Spike
wanted a future that felt a little more tactile than it does in most films, Van Hoytema
explains in Michael Goldmans Q&A with him and Jonze (And She Was, page 76). The
main reference was a book of photos called Illuminance by Rinko Kawauchi. The photos are
dreamy studies of what appears to be very trivial. Theyre square photos with a kind of muted
palette, and they are extremely sharp and crisp, yet romantic and poetic. Echoing Hers
theme of technological bonding, Jonze adds, I sent Hoyte the script, and we had a couple
of long Skype sessions where we really hit it off. He is a great listener. If I had an idea about
how to shoot something, he wanted to understand it, and then take that idea and make it
better. If he didnt understand it, he kept pushing and bending the logic until he could. I think
hes an incredible artist.
Stephen Pizzello
Executive Editor
Editors Note
P
h
o
t
o

b
y

O
w
e
n

R
o
i
z
m
a
n
,

A
S
C
.
10
AMC_0114_p010_00 editor's note 11/23/13 4:44 PM Page 10
Happy New Year, and the best of everything to you and yours during these next 12 months!
In the April 2006 issue of this magazine, I wrote a column addressing the problem of
excessive working hours and its terrible effect upon those of us who make our living on set.
Nothing has changed since then; if anything, the situation has gotten worse. Now, almost any
casual chat with a crewmember will come to mention the weariness and exhaustion inherent
in our way of life. Its sad that everyone seems to accept this as necessary, because its anything
but. Recent personal experience and discussions with colleagues across all the crafts suggest
that its once again time to put this troubling situation on everyones front burner.
A good place to start is with a statement made by a man who was one of the most
honored and respected individuals in the business, late ASC legend Conrad Hall. Speaking on
behalf of all cinematographers, I can assure you his words are as valid today as they were
when he issued them 11 years ago:
Our responsibility is to the visual image of the film, as well as the well-being of the
crew. The continuing and expanding practice of working extreme hours can compromise
both the quality of our work and the health and safety of others.
The reasons we work such punishing hours are varied and often illusory. Certainly, in
many instances, poor planning and incompetent scheduling can be blamed. Unchecked greed
on the part of studios and producers is also a default excuse. But whats happening to us is
much more insidious, and its similar in many ways to the story about the frog in the pot of water who becomes aware too late that
the temperature has been incrementally turned up to a boiling heat. Just compare the amount of work fit into the average day on
any production today to what it was a mere decade ago, and youll see what I mean.
We are doing more in less time than ever before. One popular weekly series with which Im familiar spends seven days shoot-
ing an episode that plays for 42 minutes on the air. To achieve that, the crew commonly spends up to 98 hours a week on the job
not including travel to and from the set. In terms of page count, theyre completing the equivalent of a full-length feature every
10 days. Ten years ago, that would have been unimaginable, but today, we accept it. Short of those involved in waging war, is there
another line of work that demands so much of people?
In a sense, we have only ourselves to blame. Weve become so good at our jobs that we make the delivery of a first-class
product look easy under any circumstances. Producers are keenly aware that people drawn to our profession are, by nature, Type
A problem solvers. They know we will rise to any challenge and go to almost any lengths to complete the task. They also know we
are freelancers and happy to be employed. This gives them a tremendous advantage, especially when they realize how easy it is to
use our passion against us.
No one who does our job was ever a 9-to-5 person. None of us is lazy, nor did we get into this thinking our jobs would have
any sense of normality as most people understand it. But at some point, our employers need to wise up and understand that whats
at stake is not only our safety and quality of life, but also the value of their product. Until someone high up in the food chain real-
izes how destructive unduly long working hours are, there is not much we can do. We should pray that it doesnt take someone
getting seriously hurt or killed, like Brent Hershman in 1997 to turn things around.
So, the beat goes on, at least for the time being: more work piled into less time than ever before, crewmembers walking
around like zombies, exhaustion as a way of life. Perhaps this will change only after we force the people who impose these condi-
tions on us to stand by our side for every minute of our working shift.
Then again, they probably wouldnt last through lunch.
(For more on this issue, check out Who Needs Sleep?, an amazing documentary made by Haskell Wexler, ASC.)
Richard P. Crudo
ASC President
Presidents Desk
12 January 2014 American Cinematographer
P
h
o
t
o

b
y

D
o
u
g
l
a
s

K
i
r
k
l
a
n
d
.
AMC_0114_p012_00 presidents desk 11/23/13 4:44 PM Page 12
AMC_0114_p014_p015_Layout 1 11/23/13 3:43 PM Page 1
AMC_0114_p014_p015_Layout 1 11/23/13 3:44 PM Page 2
Casualty of War
By Peter Tonguette
German cinematographer Kay Madsen had long wanted to
collaborate with filmmaker Korstiaan Vandiver, and earlier this year,
he finally got his chance, but Madsen admits that he was slightly
taken aback when Vandiver suggested that they team up on a short
film for the 168 Film Festival. Its a faith-based festival, Madsen
says, and Im not a man of religion. Ive been in two churches in my
life, so I wondered what I would be getting into.
After agreeing to participate, Madsen had to wrap his head
around another of the festivals requirements. It turned out that the
168 was not a metaphor, but rather a literal rule: [They] give you
168 hours to write, shoot and edit a 10-minute short.
Madsen was game, but he did not immediately have to grap-
ple with the logistics involved in a seven-day shoot because Vandiver
first broached the idea in late February, and work on the film would
not begin until May. After three months passed, Vandiver contacted
Madsen to say they were hours away from production. Korstiaan
called me and said, It has started. Im writing a script now. We want
to shoot in two days, recalls Madsen.
There was no prep time, and although Vandiver had decided
on locations for the project, which focuses on an Iraq War veteran
suffering from post-traumatic-stress disorder, there was no time to
scout them. The production could not afford movie lights, so
Madsen had to trust that the available light in the locations, which
were in Studio City and Culver City, would be sufficient. Madsen
recalls, I said to Korstiaan, You know what? Since this is a faith-
based project for a faith-based festival, Ill try to have faith in your
choice of locations and just jump into it!
Lu is set primarily in a grimy motel room where ex-Marine
Luis Lu Larham (Nate Parker) grapples with memories of a horrific
incident he experienced during the war. When the filmmakers
arrived at the designated motel, they found themselves at odds with
the owner, who had developed cold feet about turning one of his
rooms over to the crew.
Fortunately, contingency arrangements had been made at a
second motel, so the team moved on. The second one turned out
to be much better, so that was lucky, says Madsen. Vandiver, whom
Madsen describes as a man of faith, did not call it luck. He was
always saying, Look, theres someone involved here who is helping
us, Madsen recalls. [My response] was, Yeah, okay, lets just
make the best of it.
Madsen brought his own Red Epic onto the project, which he
captured at 5K full frame. He says he appreciates the Epics ease of
use: I like a very stripped-down, simple, lightweight camera thats
also balanced, something that can sit on your shoulder easily for the
whole day. Ergonomics proved especially important on Lu, which
he shot entirely handheld. I love operating the camera myself,
especially on handheld shots, which become like an intimate dance
with the actors. You almost feel like a member of the cast.
The cinematographer used a set of Lomo Illumina S35 T1.3
prime lenses. Theyve been out in the field for four or five years, but
theyve been under almost everyones radar, Madsen observes.
They have their imperfections, but thats actually why I love them.
With modern digital cameras, the image can be almost clinical. I try
Short Takes
Luis (Nate
Parker), an Iraq
War veteran,
holes up in a
motel room to
grapple with
post-traumatic-
stress disorder in
Lu, a 10-minute
short written,
shot and edited
in 168 hours.
I
U
n
i
t

p
h
o
t
o
g
r
a
p
h
y

b
y

L
o
u
i
s

K
r
e
u
s
e
l
.

P
h
o
t
o
s

a
n
d

f
r
a
m
e

g
r
a
b
s

c
o
u
r
t
e
s
y

o
f

t
h
e

f
i
l
m
m
a
k
e
r
s
.
AMC_0114_p016_p020_00 short takes 12/12/13 1:03 PM Page 16
One Look. All Speeds
The Cooke Look
NEW
T2.8
T2.3
T1.4
T2.0
CookeOpticsLimited
British Optical Innovation and Quality Since 1893.
cookeoptics.com
T: +44 (0)116 264 0700
Canada, South America, USA:
T: +1-973-335-4460
to counter that by using lenses that have
certain imperfections because I want the
image to have a more organic feel.
Because he didnt have the luxury of
preparing a shot list or storyboards, Madsen
carefully surveyed the motel room on the
first day of shooting. While scanning for
potential problems, he found only pluses.
There was a big window, which gave us
keylight, and it had an opaque curtain,
which helped us shape or cut the light.
The curtain was either drawn to
varying degrees or closed entirely, depend-
ing on the ambience Madsen sought or the
time of day he was trying to simulate. For
night scenes, we closed the curtains almost
completely, allowing just a little bit of light
to seep in and provide a moonlight glow,
and we changed the cameras color temper-
ature from 5,600K to 3,400K, says
Madsen.
The night scenes were shot at T2 at
ISO 800, and Madsen made creative use of
the rooms two built-in practicals. The
fixtures were slightly recessed in the ceiling,
so they created nice pools of toplight and
prevented spill from hitting the walls, which
kept the backgrounds darker and helped
separate our foregrounds, Madsen says.
The cool glow from the large TV set
provided additional fill, and we put a 150-
watt bulb in a cheap scoop to bounce soft
tungsten light from the bathroom door into
a dark corner of the room.
The window curtain also proved
useful as Madsen began planning an over-
head shot of Lu lying in bed. To simulate a
flash of lightning, a crewmember whipped
the curtain open and shut. It was a simple
theatrical lighting trick, Madsen com-
ments. We discovered the effect acciden-
tally while we were playing around with the
curtain! The lightning dissolves into an
arresting flashback that helps to explain Lus
troubled state of mind: a blindingly bright
image of the soldier in his battle fatigues,
pointing his rifle at a group of Iraqis. The
action is obscured, but a bloodied hand is
visible among the smoke and debris, indi-
cating that the mission has gone wrong.
The motel room offered other pleas-
ant surprises. In an early montage
sequence, Lu is shown shadowboxing,
doing pushups and drinking alcohol. To
vent his angst, he punches a bathroom wall.
The crew could not actually damage the
wall, but they didnt have to. When we
explored the bathroom, we discovered
these two big holes in the wall, Madsen
says. So, we staged a shot with Nate
Top: A flashback reveals the source of the vets torment. Bottom: Lu rides out a long night at the motel.
where we started on a close-up, with him
punching the wall out of frame, and then
panned down to show him pulling his fist
back from one of the holes.
Lu switches to its other main location
for a sequence in which Lu seeks a measure
of relief by visiting an Iraqi woman who
survived the incident. Having relocated to
the United States, the woman hosts Lu in
her bright, airy home.
Prior to Lus visit, as the woman
contemplates a Webcam message he has
sent, she walks outside to dip a foot in her
pool, where the water is a strange shade of
green. The pool had turned green a few
days earlier, after the pump went bad, says
Madsen. Instead of despairing, he and
Vandiver considered the emotional subtext
the hue could lend to their story. Green is
the color of hope, muses the cinematogra-
pher. At the same time, a green pool is
something thats been sitting there without
seeing a lot of care.
The filmmakers were constantly on
the lookout for small moments they could
weave into their narrative. The story is
compressed into 10 minutes, so we
wondered how to give it a bit of breathing
room, says Madsen. He cites a seemingly
unremarkable shot of the woman taking a
teapot off her stove just before she receives
Lus message. To subtly suggest that the
womans routine is about to be disrupted,
Madsen framed the teapot more promi-
nently in the foreground, making it the only
object in sharp focus.
Madsen pulled focus himself most of
the time, and he used shallow depth-of-field
selectively. Sometimes its great to isolate
certain elements, he says. Theres one shot
in the motel room that starts from a
distance, and its completely out of focus as
we walk in. Then we find Lu leaning on the
wall, smoking a cigarette. We basically walk
into focus.
Madsen also served as the projects
editor, loading the 5K files into Final Cut
Pro X. With the help of a Red Rocket card,
we were able to do real-time editing, but its
not always easy to wear two hats. The
mandated running time of 10 minutes
forced him to be ruthless with the footage,
and on the final day of editing, the cut had
to be reduced from a length of 17
minutes. We had some shots in there that
we really liked, he laments, but there was
just no room for them.
Color correction was performed
using a built-in FCPX tool to crush the
blacks a little bit, and to play with the satu-
ration, he says. Apart from small adjust-
ments, the final look is pretty much how it
came out of the camera.
Madsen and Vandiver managed to
beat their deadline, but the cinematogra-
pher says they essentially turned seven days
into 14 by working well into the night.
Reflecting upon the experience, he says he
doesnt regret his leap of faith. If the condi-
tions are right, you can achieve great results
with very little means. I like that lean
approach to filmmaking.
Top and middle:
Lu is moved by a
meeting with
Mila (Saye
Yabandeh),
whose family he
killed in Iraq.
Bottom:
Cinematographer
Kay Madsen at
work on location.
2013 Canon U.S.A., Inc. All rights reserved. Canon and EOS are registered trademarks of Canon Inc. in the United States and may also be registered trademarks or trademarks in other countries.
MAN & BEAST - A docu-drama
Director: Dante Ariola, DGA Award winner
Cinematographer: Jef Cronenweth, Academy Award nominee
EXPERI ENCE THE CANON EOS C500 CI NEMA CAMERA
CONTACT US: 1.855.CINE.EOS - CINEMAEOS.USA.CANON.COM/C500
Cinematographer Jef Cronenweth used the EOS C500 to shoot Man
& Beast from the jungle to Manhattans concrete jungle. With a 4K/2K
workow, a 4:2:2 50 Mbps codec, RAW data output and full compatibility
with either EF or PL-mount lenses, he was able to tell the story with
incredible resolution and exibility. You can see how he shot it, and
watch the full movie, on our website. Made for a broad range of high-end
productions, the EOS C500 is ideal for everything from major motion
pictures to big budget TV shows. With it, the world truly is your stage.
GO WHEREVER THE
STORY TAKES YOU.
A Dark Chapter in German History
By Jean Oppenheimer
Directed by Brian Percival and shot by Florian Ballhaus, ASC,
The Book Thief focuses on 11-year-old Liesl (Sophie Nlisse), who is
sent to a small German village during World War II to live with foster
parents Hans and Rosa Hubermann (Geoffrey Rush and Emily
Watson). Liesl arrives with a book she has stolen, even though she is
illiterate. When Hans teaches her to read, she discovers the power of
words to nourish and heal the soul.
For Ballhaus, who moved to the United States from Germany
when he was 19, The Book Thief was an especially meaningful
project. Its always very moving for a German to do a movie about
World War II, he says, and this one was even more personal for me
because my parents were of Liesls generation, and they also grew up
in a small town. (Ballhaus is the son of veteran cinematographer
Michael Ballhaus, ASC, BVK.)
American Cinematographer: What look and feel were
you and Percival aiming for?
Florian Ballhaus, ASC: The novel [by Marcus Zusak], which
is narrated by Death, moves back-and-forth in time, but the structure
of the screenplay was instead quite linear. We wanted the audience
to be emotionally engaged with Liesl as quickly as possible, so we
decided to film it almost exclusively from her perspective. Experienc-
ing civilian life during World War II through the eyes of a young girl
meant we had to resist the drab, desaturated images of wartime that
are so common. Instead, we chose to follow the books lead and
present these terrible times with the imaginative perspective of a
child. As Zusak does in the novel, we used color to suggest the
emotional temperature of the scenes; that was very important. We
also knew from the start we wanted this to be a widescreen movie.
We considered anamorphic, but I felt that look was too modern for
the time period. We instead chose Leica Summilux-C [18mm to
100mm] primes, which are beautiful and magical, especially when
you shoot fairly wide open, and Angenieux Optimo zooms, a 4:1
and a 12:1.
Why did you choose the Arri Alexa?
Ballhaus: We considered shooting on film because this is a
historical movie, and we didnt want the extremely clean look you
get with digital. However, we also didnt want to give up the advan-
tages of digital, particularly the ability to do long takes, which is
useful with child actors. I also appreciate having the ability to do on-
set grading; I try to set the look with the DIT and keep it the same
all the way through. We did tests with the Alexa and found that by
adding grain [in post], we could create something similar to the look
of film. Also, the Leicas focus fall-off at T2.0 gave us some added
texture. We wanted to record in ArriRaw, and German productions
usually use ProRes, so I brought over [DIT] Dan Carling from
England. We had worked together on two previous films, and he
understood exactly what ArriRaw entailed. We started shooting
with the Alexa, and halfway through production, the Alexa XT came
out, and we were able to use one of those as a third camera on the
latter half of the shoot. The XT is easier to work with because it has
built-in ArriRaw recording.
How did you do the shot in the opening sequence
where the camera swoops down on the speeding train,
Production Slate
T
h
e

B
o
o
k

T
h
i
e
f
p
h
o
t
o
s

b
y

J
u
l
e
s

H
e
a
t
h
,

c
o
u
r
t
e
s
y

o
f

2
0
t
h

C
e
n
t
u
r
y

F
o
x
.

Liesl (Sophie
Nlisse) tries
out her new
reading skills
alongside
Max (Ben
Schnetzer), a
Jewish
refugee, in
The Book
Thief.
I
AMC_0114_p022_p034_00 prod slate 11/23/13 4:45 PM Page 22
enters the train compartment as if
through the roof, and floats through
the car before finally settling on Liesl?
Ballhaus: We built the train car, put
overhead tracks inside, and attached a small
jib arm and a stabilized remote head that
allowed us to float over the heads of the
passengers and move around the car very
freely.
Was the Hubermanns three-
story house built as a single set?
Ballhaus: Originally the basement
and first floor were to be one set, but I felt
that would complicate shooting on the
main floor because it would be so high off
the ground. So instead, three separate sets
were built. Production designer Simon Elliott
did a terrific job. Although those sets were
some of the smallest Ive worked in, they
had a very open layout, with doors and a
hallway helping to create a sense of depth.
We restricted ourselves to the reality of
what was there. I hate taking out walls
because I feel that places you outside that
world. Also, because so much of the story
hinges upon the need to hide, and the
desperation of being caught, it was neces-
sary to feel trapped inside the world we
created. The windows were really small,
which was accurate for the time, and ceil-
ings were frequently visible in shots, which
contributed to the sense of claustrophobia.
How did you approach lighting
the house?
Ballhaus: We had cold blue light
coming through the windows and warm
interior practicals. My gaffer, Janosch Voss,
and his crew built soft boxes to create the
skylight; the larger boxes were 12-by-8 feet
and consisted of nine space lights, each
with six 800-watt bulbs, all on dimmer
boards. The smaller boxes were 8-by-8 feet
with six space lights. Each box was covered
in Light Grid and motorized so it could be
lowered and raised. For sunbeams, we
placed 20Ks and 12Ks on stands between
the soft boxes, and when we were shooting
in the kitchen, we removed a piece of the
ceiling so that spill from the space lights
could provide rimlight on the actors. We hid
China balls throughout the kitchen that
were diffused with either bleached or
unbleached muslin, and sometimes we
threw up 4'x4' frames of 250. At times, we
also used [Lowel] Rifas and/or Linestras.
Top: Hans
Hubermann
(Geoffrey Rush)
leads his wife,
Rosa (Emily
Watson), and
Liesl through
the train
station. Middle:
Hans entertains
Liesl and Rosa
in the kitchen.
Bottom: The
familys
basement is
another key
setting.
How did you light the base-
ment?
Ballhaus: The physical layout of the
basement allowed us to shoot from a vari-
ety of angles. There were two small, narrow
windows that justified adding little streaks
of light on the interior brick walls. We
placed 12Ks outside the windows and hid
China balls and Linestras throughout the
room. Small practicals provided a warm
glow. Additional light came into the base-
ment through the open kitchen door.
Janosch used mirrors and reflectors around
the room very creatively, catching the light
and producing little hits on the walls that
really helped bring out the texture of the
brick. He has a great eye for the subtleties
of shaping light, and was extremely smart
about using a single light, yet catching it in
many different ways.
What was your strategy for
making camera moves in the house?
Ballhaus: We used handheld spar-
ingly because we wanted to emphasize its
raw power. One example is when the family
is frantically hiding Max [Ben Schnetzer], a
Jewish refugee. Otherwise, the camera
usually was on a PeeWee dolly or a
Bazooka. One shot that works beautifully is
the one after Hans stands up for a neighbor
who is being arrested. He sits at the kitchen
table, distraught, realizing he has put his
Top: A Nazi is
silhouetted by
the flames of
burning books at
a rally in Liesls
village. Middle: A
Technocrane is
used to capture a
shot of the
event. Bottom:
Cinematographer
Florian Ballhaus,
ASC on the set.
www.arri.com/qr/asc/ana
ARRI MASTER ANAMORPHIC LENSES. TRULY CINEMATIC.
STRETCH YOUR IMAGINATION
> BEAUTIFUL SKIN TONES
> LARGE IMAGE FIELD
> OVAL OUT-OF-FOCUS HIGHLIGHTS > LOW DISTORTION
> CINEMATIC BOKEH
> FAST T-STOP OF 1.9
AMC_0114_p027_Layout 1 11/26/13 1:50 AM Page 1
entire family in jeopardy. Brian had this
beautiful idea that rather than pushing in
on Hans or playing the shot in close-up, we
should pull out very gently from Hans and
Rosa, who is trying to comfort him. We see
the two of them framed in their little world
and can sense how trapped they are.
How did you approach the
Kristallnacht sequence?
Ballhaus: That sequence is another
instance where we went handheld for
emotional impact. Fortunately, [A-camera
operator] Florian Emmerich is particularly
gifted in that capacity, and we could shoot
most of this difficult sequence in a very
dynamic way. The exception is the last
image, a high-angle shot we did with a 30-
foot Technocrane to [suggest] Deaths
point-of-view. Initially we thought of play-
ing the whole scene from a high angle, but
Brian thought that might make it almost
pretty and graceful, which was the last
thing we wanted to do. We wanted to put
you in the belly of the Nazi beast. We used
a lot of blue, yellow and cyan motivated
by neon signage on the storefronts to
create a sense of urban danger. We put a
20-by-30-foot soft box on a huge scissor lift
to create a backlight wash on the Kristall-
nacht set [constructed at Babelsberg
Studios]; we placed the soft box just beyond
the faade of the buildings and put
Condors on either end of the street. We
had to return the scissor lift long before we
wanted to because Airbus couldnt finish
building their planes without it!
What was your approach to the
Nazi rally and book burning in Liesls
village?
Ballhaus: Thats one of the pivotal
moments in the story because she suddenly
realizes that what she thought were joyful,
patriotic activities, like singing Nazi songs,
are not so innocent. When the school bully
orders her to throw a book into the bonfire,
she has to decide who she is as a person.
For the shot of Himmel Street residents
arriving at the rally, we again chose a high
angle with the Technocrane. Its nighttime,
and people are carrying torches. The bonfire
was our main source, and we tried to light
as much as possible with real flames and
then augmented with flame bars. German
child-labor laws dont let kids work past 10
p.m., and it didnt get dark until 8 p.m., so
we got an enormous tent, blacked it out
inside, and did all the closer shots in there
with flame bars.
Tell us about the library that Ilsa
[Barbara Auer], the mayors wife, opens
to Liesl.
Ballhaus: That house, both exterior
and interior, was a practical location, and
we dressed one of the rooms to look like a
library. When Liesl first enters the house,
there had to be an element of danger and
fear because she has no way of knowing if
Ilsa will be a friend or foe. Im a huge fan of
Hitchcocks Notorious, and it inspired our
approach to the scene where Liesl first steps
into the foyer. The surprise is that the library
is warm and inviting, filled with the colors
and textures of the books, as well as warm
practicals. We had 18Ks outside the librarys
back window and a 6K out the side
window, all bounced into 12-by-12s of
UltraBounce. Inside, China balls and Rifa
lights gave Liesl a beautiful rimlight. Later,
when she starts breaking into the house, we
turned off all interior practicals to eliminate
any sense of warmth.
An earlier scene of Liesl and Rudy
[Nico Liersch] racing down a street has a
feeling of innocence and exhilaration.
Ballhaus: The running was an
important element because it is the only
expression of their childhood joy and free-
dom. We had a stabilized remote head on a
camera car, so they could really run all out.
For their regular walk-and-talks, to and from
school, the camera was handheld on a rick-
shaw.
For the final sequence of the film, we
effectively depart from the intimate perspec-
tive and adopt a high-angle, detached view,
again with the Technocrane. This vantage
point makes it clear we are firmly in Deaths
point-of-view. The air is thick with dust and
fog. We used Condors with 20-by white
solids to block out the sun and bounced the
remaining available light into UltraBounces.
How did you approach the DI at
Technicolor London, and were the
filmout and DCP 2K or 4K?
Ballhaus: They were 2K. [Colorist]
Paul Ensby really understood the look Brian
and I wanted, and with the [Autodesk]
Lustre he applied a print emulation that
gave the palette a very filmic tone. There is a
tendency in digital for the blacks to become
red, and by adding cyan to the blacks, Paul
achieved a very film-like look.
I had so many great collaborators on
this show. In addition to Paul, Dan, Janosch
and Florian, whom Ive already mentioned,
my 1st AC, Peter Byrne, and key grip, Florian
Prinz, were brilliant. Our visual-effects super-
visor, Florian Gellinger, also did an amazing
job. My first name is very unique in the
United States, but on this film, there were
four Florians!
TECHNICAL SPECS
2.40:1
Digital Capture
Arri Alexa, Alexa XT
Leica Summilux-C and Angenieux Optimo
Gaffer Janosch
Voss provides
fill with a
China ball
during a walk-
and-talk.

The Sting of the 70s
By Mark Dillon
American Hustle is a fictional drama
inspired by a controversial FBI operation that
nabbed crooked government officials at
federal, state and municipal levels in the late
1970s. Code-named Abscam, the initia-
tive was run out of Long Island, N.Y., and
used undercover methods and the help of
convicted con man Melvin Weinberg. The
film traces five characters and their respec-
tive schemes: Weinberg-like con man Irving
Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) and his equally
duplicitous British mistress, Sidney (Amy
Adams), are forced to work with FBI Agent
Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper) on the
sting, which targets New Jersey politician
Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner), among
others. Meanwhile, Rosenfelds vengeful
wife, Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence), threatens
to blow down the whole house of cards.
The production is the first collabora-
tion between director David O. Russell and
cinematographer Linus Sandgren, FSF.
Russell sees the film as the final installment
in a loose trilogy that includes The Fighter
(AC Jan. 11) and Silver Linings Playbook.
Its about people who are reinventing
themselves from the start of the movie,
when they are in a broken place, says
Russell. Its about very specific characters
with very specific worlds, and theyre as
dramatic and emotional as they are funny.
They have their enchantments. The way
they drink, eat, dance, make love and listen
to music is as important to me as the story.
Russell approached Sandgren
because he found the cinematographers
last feature, Gus Van Sants Promised Land
(AC Jan. 13), beautiful and lush, which is
the visual tone he wanted for American
Hustle. They moved forward together after
a couple of Skype conversations. I dont
like pretense in filmmaking, Russell
observes. Linus is not a pretentious person,
yet he is an artist. Hes very collaborative,
easygoing and passionate, and has strong
opinions that come from his soul, and thats
all stuff I want. Also, hes willing to throw
down and run-and-gun the way we had
to!
Principal photography ran 42 days,
and Sandgren estimates that it involved
more than 100 locations. Although the
story is set in New York and New Jersey, the
production shot largely in Boston and
surrounding cities, in part because entire
blocks in those areas have changed little
since the 1970s. Many interiors and exteri-
ors were captured in Worcester, while
Malden substituted for Camden, N.J., and
Medford provided the Rosenfelds Long
Island home. Warehouse space in the area
was used for set builds that included hotel
interiors and Sidneys Upper East Side apart-
ment. Politos office and a legal firm were
shot in Salem. Sandgren says he and gaffer
Patrick Murray had a very happy and
smooth experience with New England
lighting-equipment house High Output and
its Charles River Studios location, where the
crew shot poor-mans-process car scenes.
The production wrapped with a few days
shooting in New York City, grabbing exteri-
ors such as the Plaza Hotel.
Russell professes great affinity for
1970s American movies, and says he was
inspired on American Hustle by Chinatown
(AC May 75) and the films of Hal Ashby.
Sandgren, meanwhile, avoided other
movies in the course of two months of
prep. Instead, for inspiration he looked
back on documentary photography from
the period, mainly Fred Herzogs work, he
says.
We didnt use very precise [visual]
references, Sandgren continues, but as
we were driving around in the van, scout-
ing, David kept telling us the story of the
film from the different perspectives every
day, all the time. He described a colorful and
enchanting world, and an intimate and raw
feel. He wanted to see the blood in the
actors faces.
I wanted the actors to shine, so my
main approach was to always add colors to
the light, to make it juicy, he continues.
The actors keylight was often shiny gold,
which we created with warm practical
shades, dimmed tungsten lights like
pancakes, or Peppers gelled with Straw
103. As fill, I always brought in comple-
mentary colors a lot of cyan, greens,
pinks and reds in the interiors to enhance
the colorfulness of the scene. I worked
closely with our production designer, Judy
Becker, and costume designer, Michael
Wilkinson, to create a lush palette. We all
appreciated texture, so wallpaper and
costumes had a lot of that.
Sandgren filmed American Hustle in
2-perf 35mm Techniscope for a final aspect
ratio of 2.40:1, a strategy Russell also
employed on The Fighter and Silver Linings
Playbook. I wanted to shoot on film, and
there was a discussion about it, Sandgren
recalls. If you want a colorful, rich-looking
period film, I feel its easier to get there by
pushing film stocks than by going digital.
He initially suggested shooting anamorphic
as well. We wanted to give the film that
1970s texture, and I felt that vintage
anamorphic glass would give us that,
Sandgren says. We wanted characteristics A
m
e
r
i
c
a
n

H
u
s
t
l
e
p
h
o
t
o
s

b
y

F
r
a
n
o
i
s

D
u
h
a
m
e
l
,

S
M
P
S
P
,

c
o
u
r
t
e
s
y

o
f

S
o
n
y

P
i
c
t
u
r
e
s

E
n
t
e
r
t
a
i
n
m
e
n
t
.

From left: Sidney (Amy Adams), FBI Agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper), New Jersey politician
Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner) and Irving and Rosalyn Rosenfeld (Christian Bale and Jennifer
Lawrence) are the players in an FBI sting in American Hustle, shot by Linus Sandgren, FSF.
I
like [lens] flares, as well as elements that
could be more rough and a little gritty.
But shooting anamorphic was
complicated by Russells preference for
shooting long takes on a Steadicam a 4-
perf 400 magazine would have run 4.4
minutes. In fact, Sandgren says, after the
first couple weeks of shooting, the film
went completely into Steadicam.
The cinematographer describes the
typical approach to a scene: David is a very
passionate storyteller, and he involved us all
deeply in the story. He played a lot of music
on set and even sang for us. We would talk
the scenes through, then he would rehearse
the actors properly, and then wed basically
just start the camera. David often came up
with new lines of dialogue and found new
camera angles as we were rolling, forcing
props and set to remodel for the camera.
He kept us all at full attention! He inspired
the actors and a 20-person orchestra of
crewmembers to improvise and do our best
work. It was like playing jazz.
This improvisational approach made
the 2-perf format, with its 8.8-minute
mags, more attractive. I also thought the
added grain of 2-perf would help with the
1970s look, says Sandgren. Two Arricam
Lites were the main cameras, and the
production occasionally used an Arricam
Studio. Geoffrey Haley was the A-
camera/Steadicam operator, Greg Lunds-
gaard handled the B camera, and Davon
Slininger operated C camera. David Thom-
son did some additional B-camera work.
Sandgren and Russell watched the action
together on a wireless handheld monitor
(provided by Wolf Seeberg Video), which
allowed them to walk and talk and figure
out camera positions on the fly. I dont
stand by any video village, Russell says.
Sandgren chose old Canon K35 and
Zeiss Standard Speed T2.1 prime lenses,
which were provided (along with the
cameras) by CamTec in Burbank. The 24mm
was the favorite, given the mostly tight loca-
tions and Russells compositional style. I
love a face way up in the foreground and
then people two or three layers deep, the
director says. Sandgren adds, A wider lens
is better if you want to see whats going on
in the background, and there were always a
lot of people in our shots. However, we
didnt want it to look distorted, and it felt
like the 24mm was perfect on 2-perf.
Sometimes we changed it for a tighter lens,
but generally we just moved in [with the
24mm] because wed basically shoot whole
scenes in one take all the angles.
American Hustle was shot on Fujifilm
Eterna Vivid 500 8547 and Vivid 250D
8546, both of which were discontinued in
March 2013, just as the production got out
the door. Sandgren notes that on Vivid
stocks, light from Cool White fluorescent
tubes reads as rich green-and-blue hues.
We used it as a positive color, he says. In
real life, the fluorescent tubes in most places
say, in the subways of New York are
dirty looking. But with Vivid we got a swim-
ming-pool color, which we used to a great
extent in the backgrounds.
Russells shooting style necessitated
lighting for 360 degrees, so in prep, Sand-
gren worked with Becker and set decorator
Heather Loeffler to incorporate golden and
warm white practicals into the sets to serve
as keylights. He credits Murray and key grip
Anthony Cady with extensive pre-lighting
and pre-rigging; their crews gelled windows
with NDs to balance interiors with exteriors,
and supplemented natural daylight from
outside with a mix of ArriMax 18s, ArriMax
M40s and ArriSun 60s through diffusion
frames and silks. We also often
augmented with daylight 2-by-4-bank Kino
Flos over windows, which complemented
the golden practicals or Cool White tubes
nicely, adds Sandgren.
At night, we usually used Condors
with 12-light Maxis gelled with urban vapor,
backlit to camera. I was always trying to mix
colors to help give the rooms depth for
example, tungsten with 103 as one color
and mercury-vapor as another. To simulate
mercury vapor, we used Cool White fluores-
cents or tungsten with CTB and Plus
Green, or HMIs with CTO and Plus
Green.
My strategy was to light the set so
Top: DiMaso
and Rosenfeld
discuss artistry
and more at a
local museum.
Bottom: With
gaffer Patrick
Murray
wielding an
LED China ball
to provide fill,
the filmmakers
capture the
scene.
that when you stood in the middle of it, the
background was properly illuminated, he
continues. But in some cases, if that had
been the extent of the illumination, the
actors would have looked too dark, and we
wanted them to shine. The solution was a
China ball full of LED LiteRibbon that was
rigged on a sound boom and carried around
by Murray. We could dial the LiteRibbon
between daylight and tungsten and also
dim it, Sandgren explains. Patrick ran
around with it to fill faces. As the camera
moved 360 degrees, the shiny fill light was
also moving, so you cant see it. Patrick
would find the position and dial it down or
up a little. He was basically painting with
light spontaneously! With that, we could
move around in that moody world in an inti-
mate style and still give the actors that shiny
look. That China ball was our savior!
The DI was performed at EFilm in
Hollywood by colorists Yvan Lucas and Tom
Reiser, who graded on an Autodesk Lustre.
An Arriscan was used to scan the film nega-
tive at 6K for 4K output, and an Arrilaser
was used for the filmout. Sandgren partici-
pated in the grading remotely on weekends,
monitoring the teams work from a theater
at Company 3 in London and conveying
feedback by phone. Sandgren says the
degree of grading was not huge and
largely addressed skin tones. Yvan and
Tom did delicate adjustments to the natural
print colors, he says.
Musing about Russells think-on-
your-feet methods, Sandgren concludes,
David carries the film close to his heart, and
he projects that onto his crew as the camera
rolls. He encouraged all of us to perform
fearlessly. It was a very emotional and inspir-
ing experience.
TECHNICAL SPECS
2.40:1
2-perf Super 35mm
Arricam Lite, Studio
Canon K35 and Zeiss Standard Speed
Fujifilm Eterna Vivid 500 8547, 250D 8546
Digital Intermediate
ASC to Salute Cundey,
Serra, Rawlings Feb. 1
ASC members Dean Cundey,
Eduardo Serra and Richard Rawlings Jr. will
be honored for their respective bodies of
work at the 28th Annual ASC Awards for
Outstanding Achievement in Cinematog-
raphy next month.
Cundey will receive the ASC Life-
time Achievement Award in recognition of
his work on such features as Jurassic Park,
Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Back to the
Future, The Thing and Halloween.
Serra, who was born in Portugal
and resides in France, will receive the ASC
International Award. His credits include
Defiance, Blood Diamond, Girl with a Pearl
Earring, The Wings of the Dove and The
Hairdressers Husband.
Rawlings will receive the ASC
Career Achievement in Television Award
for his work on such series as Desperate
Housewives, Boston Public and L.A. Law.
The ASC Awards will be held Feb. 1
in the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood &
Highland in Hollywood. As part of the
festivities, the Society will host an Open
House Jan. 25 at the Clubhouse, 1782 N.
Orange Dr., Hollywood.
For more information, visit
www.theasc.com or call (323) 969-4333.
ERRATUM
On page 34 of our Oct. 13 issue,
we incorrectly identified the crewmem-
ber pictured with Don Jon director
Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the films cine-
matographer, Thomas Kloss. Kloss is not
in the photo.
Here is a photo of Kloss at work
on the production.
Top: Rosenfeld
and Sidney, his
mistress, get
close amid some
dry cleaning in
this frame grab.
Bottom (from
left): Script
supervisor Tracy
Scott, Sandgren
and director
David O. Russell
watch Bale and
Lawrence play a
scene.
A
fter a New York Film Festival screening of Inside Llewyn
Davis, someone asked directors/writers Joel and Ethan
Coen about the meaning of Ulysses, the cat in the film.
One of the brothers deadpanned, We wanted to make
an odyssey where the hero doesnt go anywhere.
Set in the early 1960s, Inside Llewyn Davis follows a
struggling folk singer (played by Oscar Isaac) in New York
City who sleeps on friends couches, occasionally plays the
Gaslight Caf, pines after his friends partner, Jean (Carey
Mulligan), and pursues said cat after it escapes from another
friends apartment. Davis also goes on a car trip to see an influ-
ential manager in Chicago in an attempt to jump-start his
career.
Despite flashes of humor, a sense of sadness and
pessimism pervade the story, and this is underscored by the
bleak, muted cinematography by Bruno Delbonnel, ASC,
AFC. In fact, Delbonnel describes the film as a kind of
requiem for Davis late singing partner, Mike, who has
committed suicide before the story begins. When I read the
script, I thought it was like a folk song, and it seems to me that
American folk songs have something very sad and unhappy in
their stories, he observes. That was the idea behind the look
of the movie: How to convey this sadness?
The cinematographer recalls that the visual brief from
the Coen brothers was deceptively simple. They said they
wanted a slushy New York. When I suggested the album cover
for The Freewheelin Bob Dylan, they said they had that image
in mind as well. In that picture, Dylan walks with a woman
on a New York street under a wintry sky. He is wearing a
jacket that doesnt seem quite warm enough, and they are
treading on dirty, melted snow. We had to feel the winter and
Folk
Implosion
Bruno Delbonnel, ASC, AFC
and colorist Peter Doyle create a
unique visual tone for the Coens
Inside Llewyn Davis.
By Benjamin B
|
AMC_0114_p036_p049_a_feature 11/23/13 4:45 PM Page 36
www.theasc.com January 2014 37
At first, Delbonnel wanted to
bring in a camera operator, but the
Coens asked him to operate, like Roger
does, and he was delighted to comply.
During prep, Lillian suggested adding a
Mo-Sys remote head and a jib arm to
Dec. 12), and the French cinematogra-
pher was able to work with two of
Deakins regular collaborators, gaffer
William OLeary and key grip Mitch
Lillian. Lillian recalls that Delbonnel
quickly became part of the family.
that dirty feeling when the snow starts
to melt, says Delbonnel.
Another inspiration came from
folk singer Dave Van Ronk, whose
album Inside Dave Van Ronk features a
cat on the cover, and whose memoir,
The Mayor of MacDougal Street, chroni-
cles the milieu depicted in the film: the
Greenwich Village folk scene just before
Dylan appeared and revolutionized
American music.
Delbonnel shot the picture on
35mm with the same combination of
film negative, cameras and lenses he has
used consistently for five years: Kodak
Vision3 500T 5219, Arricam Studio
and Lite, and Cooke S4 primes. I also
have a 24-290mm Angenieux
[Optimo], just in case, he says. I dont
like zoom lenses, but they can be practi-
cal.
The Coens often work with the
same crew, and their usual cinematogra-
pher is Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC. The
directors called on Delbonnel because
Deakins was busy shooting Skyfall (AC
U
n
i
t

p
h
o
t
o
g
r
a
p
h
y

b
y

A
l
i
s
o
n

R
o
s
a
.

P
h
o
t
o
s

a
n
d

f
r
a
m
e

g
r
a
b
s

c
o
u
r
t
e
s
y

o
f

C
B
S

F
i
l
m
s
.

Opposite: Llewyn
Davis (Oscar
Isaac) takes the
stage at the
Gaslight. This
page, top: In a
frame grab
from the film,
Davis arrives
in Chicago.
Bottom:
Cinematographer
Bruno Delbonnel,
ASC, AFC films
the opening
shot.
the grip package, but Delbonnel
declined. I told Mitch, Im not Roger
Deakins; I dont want that, recalls the
cinematographer. Then, during the
first week of shooting, Joel or Ethan
would say, Bruno, what if we moved the
camera a little bit this way? And we
would have to re-lay the dolly track.
After a week of that, I told Mitch that I
finally understood, and yes, we should
add a jib arm!
Roger and Mitch have created a
system that is very flexible and saves
time, continues Delbonnel. You dont
have to measure the track down to the
millimeter because you can reframe very
easily with the jib arm. Also, the jib
gives you a 6-meter [19'] range, so you
can go farther than the track, which we
often did.
We broke the remote head out
at least once a day the Coen brothers
are used to it because Rogers always on
the remote and on the jib arm, says
Lillian. We also use the jib to keep
actors from having to walk on the
tracks. And you can do compound
moves; youre not stuck in one direction.
The jib also keeps the dolly and opera-
tor away from the lighting.
Delbonnel and the Coens share a
fondness for wide-angle primes. We
shot most of this film with the 21mm
and 27mm, says the cinematographer.
The Coens told me some of their films
were almost entirely shot with the
27mm. Delbonnel adds that the 40mm
and 50mm primes were used for car
scenes because they were more practi-
cal in that setting. The mise en scne is
Folk Implosion
Davis is saddled
with a friends cat
after he
accidentally lets it
out of the
apartment.
straightforward, with angles and
reverses for dialogue scenes, and few
unusual vantage points. Using the
French word for shot breakdown,
Delbonnel observes, The Coens
dcoupage is very simple, very classical.
There are no embellishments.
Though much of Inside Llewyn
Davis has classical editing, the filmmak-
ers shot many scenes with continuous
master shots, notably the musical
performances, which were often filmed
without interruption. Lillian notes that
with the Coens, a lot of the coverage
happens within the master. The masters
tend to evolve into something elabo-
rate. There are a few fast camera moves
motivated by the wayward Ulysses.
Lillian cites a 100' dolly move on a New
York street that follows Davis as he tries
to catch the cat. Fortunately, says
Lillian, dolly grip Rick Marroquin is a
fast marathon runner!
Delbonnel has a predilection for
soft lighting. My signature is a source
with double diffusion, and sometimes I
do triple diffusion. Then, I add a little
fill inside, or not. If I do, its very soft,
and its usually a poly [polystyrene
bounce] or something simple. I rarely
use hard lighting, although I did for a
couple of scenes on this film.
Lillian notes that Delbonnel
often used book lights, with one
bounce surface and another diffusion
Top: Jean (Carey
Mulligan) talks
with Davis in
Washington
Square in this
frame grab.
Bottom: The
filmmakers capture
the pairs walk-
and-talk.
surface at 45 degrees. Usually, we aimed
the light into an Ultra Bounce and then
diffused it with a Light Grid Cloth.
When working in interiors,
Delbonnel preferred to stay on set near
camera, and left the details of creating
large external soft sources, including the
initial choice of diffusion, to OLeary
and Lillian. I told them I wanted light
coming in through here, with this angle
of light, and then I let them work, says
Delbonnel. Then, if it wasnt diffused
enough, or if it was too diffused, Id ask
them to change diffusion material.
In general, I start with too much
light because its much simpler and
faster to add Grid Cloth and lower it 1
or 2 stops than it is to change the source
to a smaller unit, the cinematographer
continues. I often start with an 18K
and big elevator stands because I may
suddenly decide to go up 6 meters. My
source is always pretty heavy-duty to
start with, but its more efficient in the
end. Thats the principle of a big source:
you can work very quickly.
Delbonnel wanted to keep the
backgrounds of the interiors dark. My
idea was to light the characters in the
set, add very little to the backgrounds
and let the light fall off. Because the
source is rather close to the actor, the
light [falls off ] quickly. My basic princi-
ple was to always have black someplace
in the image. He also often gave the
hero a slightly higher contrast than the
other characters in the scene.
Inside Llewyn Davis has a unique
pictorial texture: skin glows with a
smooth sheen, there is an extended
range of grays, and the colors are a little
desaturated. Delbonnel defined all these
details ahead of time by shooting tests
and working with Technicolor supervis-
ing digital colorist Peter Doyle, an ASC
associate member and frequent collabo-
rator, to define the look. On all the
films I work on, I try to have a concept
that I stick to for the entire film, so that
I know what the DI will be when Im
doing my exposure on the set, says
Delbonnel.
Delbonnel notes that Doyle was
essential to defining the look of Inside
Folk Implosion
Top: Davis, Jim (Justin Timberlake) and Jean watch a performance in the Gaslight Caf.
Middle: Davis meets Jim and Al Cody (Adam Driver) for a recording session.
Bottom: Delbonnel and co-director Joel Coen prep a dinner scene.
Llewyn Davis, just as he was on Faust,
Dark Shadows (AC June 12) and Harry
Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, among
other projects. For his part, Doyle
appreciates the collaborative process
fostered by Delbonnel and the Coens.
Bruno and the Coens really look for
input, as opposed to [going by] a style
guide and a swatch of Pantone numbers
and Lee gels, says Doyle. This film
was all about the mood.
Doyle explains that the 35mm
negative was scanned at 4K on a Spirit
Datacine, then downrezzed to 2K using
Technicolors custom algorithm.
During production, he says, the film-
makers received DI dailies with a full
grade, which enabled the Coens to edit
color-timed images. That meant that
when we sat down to do the DI, we had
a very clear direction of what was work-
ing and what wasnt, says Doyle. It
was more of a refining process than a
development process.
Top: Davis travels to Chicago with eccentric musician Roland Turner (John Goodman). Bottom:
Davis and Turners driver, Johnny Five (Garrett Hedlund), wait for Turner at a gas station.
Delbonnel and Doyle did the
final grade in 2K at Technicolor-
Postworks NY, using a Baselight with a
fair amount of custom tools, some
developed by ASC associate member
Joshua Pines, vice president of color
imaging R&D for Technicolor. The DI
was completed in about two weeks.
Doyles approach to the digital
grade is to put an automatic correction
in place that is responsive to the images
exposure. He gives an analogy to sound
recording: If youre listening to a classi-
cal-music recording and the sound
mixer is constantly riding the faders, you
kind of feel it. But if they set up really
good microphones and just let it go, it
becomes more honest theres more
integrity to it. In the grading world, we
sometimes say, You can feel the grade.
You can feel the colorist riding the
blacks and the whites, which is certainly
a valid aesthetic. But for a film like
Inside Llewyn Davis, performance is
everything, and everything else just
supports that. Obviously, our grade is a
very strong manipulation, but I wasnt
changing it on a shot-by-shot basis, nor
was I drawing all those shadows by
hand. Thats what Brunos lighting was
for.
Doyle is quick to add that this
interactive DI approach is only possible
Right and
bottom left:
Davis plays for
Bud Grossman
(F. Murray
Abraham) at the
Gate of Horn in
Chicago in these
frame grabs.
Bottom right:
Isaac confers
with Joel Coen.
Folk Implosion
15, 20, 32 ... Introducing the 73 Hydrascope
Equipment that works in any environment
weather resistant and tough
LOCATIONS: California: 888 883 6559
New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Ohio & Florida: 888 758 4826
UK: +44 1 92 326 5953
TELESCOPING CRANES
With Stabilized Remote Camera Systems
CHAPMAN/LEONARD
Studio Equipment, Inc.
DOLLIES...
Super PeeWee IV
Part of the PeeWee series
Time Saving Camera Support for all your needs!
Hustler IV
Pedestals, Mobile Cranes, Arms & Bases
www.chapman-leonard.com
Ask about our Sound Stage in Florida
CHAPMAN/LEONARD
Studio Equipment, Inc.
with someone as precise as Delbonnel.
This works because Bruno is so metic-
ulous about his exposures. He knows
exactly what will happen [in the DI], so
he can light for it, whereas if I were
constantly bending the gamma and
changing everything on a shot-by-shot
basis, he wouldnt really know what his
contrast ratio would be. I grade for his
lighting, and he lights for my grade.
Delbonnel likens his digital work
with Doyle to a special lab process such
as ENR. Its exactly the same
approach: When you use ENR, you
dont expose normally, you expose for
the ENR.
Doyle explains how they arrived
at Inside Llewyn Davis unusual pastel
coloring and pale flesh tones: I got rid
of the blue channel, which I do a lot
these days, and remapped the colors so
that the skin tones had just enough of a
twist to not be realistic, to be a little
romanticized, like a memory. To desat-
urate the skin would look unnatural, so
instead we bent the RGB curves of the
negative so the skin tone would be
completely neutral with Brunos expo-
sure. Its a very delicate thing to do.
This film couldnt be beautiful or
golden it had to be uncomfortable,
Delbonnel says. The question was how
to come up with a very sad, very dirty
image without falling into the extreme
of a completely blue winter, which bores
me you know, yellow equals warm,
blue equals cold. We went toward dirty
magentas and cyan, two colors that
oppose each other.
Delbonnel and Doyle also
applied a bloom to the image, suffus-
ing the highlights with a softened
texture. The bloom was a way to
Folk Implosion
Top: Davis
thumbs for a
ride along the
highway.
Bottom: The
exhausted
singer rests
on the bus.
AMC_0114_p045_R_MK_Layout 1 11/30/13 11:21 AM Page 1
smooth things out, and it was part of the
sadness I wanted, says the cinematogra-
pher. I wanted the feeling of old lenses
without coating, with a lot of flare and
blooming. You sense that the whites are
exploded. Peter and I went very far, and
it interested the Coens a lot because the
image has an old, rather strange look.
Delbonnel strove to create an
image with limited contrast and a wide
palette of gray tones. There are real
blacks, but a very great latitude of grays
moments when we couldnt do it, like
the gas-station exterior. I added a lot of
frontlight, but some contrast remained.
So, in the DI, we darkened the image.
Delbonnel lit many interiors
with simple soft light. Early in the film,
Davis arrives at Jeans and meets Troy, a
folk-singing soldier. The Coens shot
two angles on the dialogue sequence:
one shot going from Troy to Jean with
a window in the background, and one
on Davis with a dark background. To
light Troy and Jean, Delbonnel hung
about 6' of unbleached muslin on a C-
stand and bounced a Joker 800 HMI
fitted onto a Leko fixture. The cine-
matographer likes the Lekos small
plane shutters, which allow for cutting
the light without changing its quality.
You dont need to diffuse because its
already so diffused, and it gives whats
needed without fill, he observes.
Delbonnel adjusted the intensity
of the soft lighting to match changing
daylight. Fortunately, it was a gray
day, he recalls. The name of the game
was to balance the source with daylight.
We could easily change the intensity of
the light by simply swiveling the
muslin. We put a second source aimed
at the muslin and left it off. That way,
we could add level if there was a lot of
variation outside. He also added some
negative fill on Mulligans right side to
shape her face.
By the time the team changed
angles to shoot Davis, the daylight was
too feeble. Delbonnel had his crew
hang a light box with 3'-square LED
panels from the windows on the floor
above. The boxes were hung above the
apartment windows, hidden from the
camera for the first angle, and then
were lowered to shine through the
windows once the daylight faded.
Delbonnel added a small Grid Cloth
frame close to the actor to diffuse the
hard LED sources; the light then fell
off in the background. The lighting is
different on him, more directional. I
liked it being a little hard. Though the
two angles match, the slightly harder
lighting on Davis serves to isolate him
from the others.
and very few whites, he says. You
always need some white to give a refer-
ence, like the blacks. To get that big
range of grays meant lighting a lot,
because you have to expose to get grays.
He maintained a firm grasp on
contrast ratios in interiors and, with
more difficulty, exteriors. His goal was
to obtain a reduced latitude. Most
scenes have a very low contrast ratio,
maybe 5 stops from the whites to the
blacks, says Delbonnel. There are
Folk Implosion
Delbonnel checks the light on Isaac for two different scenes.
When Jean meets Davis in a caf,
the filmmakers staged the scene at a
table next to the window. The main
source came from two low Arri 18K
HMIs bouncing up into a horizontal
Grid Cloth frame outside, right above
the window. Delbonnels crew had to be
ready to quickly change levels to match
the background buildings outside the
window. To keep the contrast constant,
we added singles and doubles to the
source as the outside light fell, recalls
the cinematographer. Because the
outside was a little overexposed, the
street contrast was already diminished,
so there are no blacks, only grays.
Its the same lighting on both of
them, with a little more fill on her I
do take care of my actresses! There was
a white diffusion frame above her to
diffuse the light a little. We kept him a
little darker, and hes a little closer to the
window. We may also have had a little
poly on her as well, to unclog the
blacks.
On day exteriors, Delbonnel
sought to reduce contrast by adding soft
frontlight. When Davis and Jean meet
in Washington Square Park, the cine-
matographer used the cloudy daylight
as his bounce source. His crew posi-
tioned four 12'x12' frames of Ultra
Bounce covered with unbleached
muslin around Mulligan, two on each
side of camera. The frames were very
close to Carey, maybe 3 meters [10']
Most scenes
have a very low
contrast ratio,
maybe 5 stops
from the whites
to the blacks.
away, recalls Delbonnel. It was a gray
day. To adjust the level of fill, he either
changed the inclination of the frames or
added solids to reduce the bounce. The
lighting on Davis is similar, but with a
little less fill. Thats my principle: I
work with contrasts of very soft light,
says Delbonnel.
He turned to hard light for two
sequences, the Gaslight Caf, where
Davis takes the stage and also sits in the
audience, and the Gate of Horn in
Chicago, where Davis does an
impromptu audition for Bud Grossman
(F. Murray Abraham), a powerful music
manager. The Gaslight was re-created
in a New York hangar, and Delbonnel
started by setting a level of fill from
above with a grid of about 2,000 15-
watt bulbs on the ceiling. That gave
me a fill-light base, so I didnt have to
spend my time adding fill. I needed to
modulate this fill, so we turned these
strings of bulbs on and off by sections.
The fill light was my exposure refer-
ence, at 2 stops under.
When Davis is onstage,
Delbonnel added two hard sources, a
1K Par 64 pointing straight down, and
an 800-watt follow spot from the side,
with beams that fell near the actor with-
out lighting him directly. The cine-
matographer filled the space with
smoke to make the dark areas more
readable.
In another Gaslight scene, Davis
and Jean are seated in the audience and
joined by Jim ( Justin Timberlake).
Delbonnel lit the table with a 1K
Dedoflex Octodome on the right of
frame. Its very soft and diffused, he
notes. The backlight in the background
was provided by a 2K open-faced
Folk Implosion
48
Ethan (left) and
Joel Coen join
Delbonnel at
the monitor.
Blonde, and there were also a few other
hidden lights.
When Davis goes to Chicago, he
has a fateful meeting with Grossman,
who asks him to perform one of his
songs in the empty club. The Coens
were unsure about how to render this
pivotal point in the story. When I
spoke about it with Joel and Ethan, they
would say, We dont know how to do it,
but we want it to be different from the
rest of the film, Delbonnel recalls. I
didnt like the set because it was too
dark, but Joel wanted to shoot there
precisely because it was dark.
Delbonnel set up two 20Ks to
shine harsh beams of daylight through
twin entry doors onto the manager;
these did not reach Davis face. A
20'x20' Mattflector out of frame
bounced light back into the room to
provide general fill. Delbonnel added
some fill to the darkened singer by
bouncing a 10K on some unbleached
muslin laid out on the floor. The resul-
tant scene is in stark contrast to the rest
of the film, with violent highlights and
deep shadows.
Looking back at his collaboration
with the Coen brothers, Delbonnel
says, It was a pleasure and an honor to
work with them. They gave me total
freedom from the beginning to the end.
Peter and I did the DI without them
thats how much they trusted us.
When we finished the DI, we
watched the film together, and they
made just two or three comments.
There were one or two scenes that they
felt were a little too dark. For example,
they wanted it a little brighter on Oscar
when he sings in the Gate of Horn, and
they were right. I think it was the only
power window we did!
TECHNICAL SPECS
1.85:1
35mm
Arricam Studio, Lite
Cooke S4
Kodak Vision3 500T 5219
Fantasy and reality merge
to spectacular effect in
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,
directed by Ben Stiller and shot by
Stuart Dryburgh, ASC, NZCS.
By Iain Stasukevich
|
Daydream
Believer
AMC_0114_p050_p063_b_feature 11/23/13 4:54 PM Page 50
J
ames L. Thurbers short story The
Secret Life of Walter Mitty is the lively
tale of an excruciatingly ordinary
man with an extraordinary imagina-
tion, and since its publication, in 1939,
its titular character has become a
catchall reference to daydreamers every-
where. Hes a classic everyman with a
rich fantasy life, observes Stuart
Dryburgh, ASC, NZCS, who shot the
new adaptation of Thurbers story for
director Ben Stiller. Stiller, who also
plays the title role, says Thurbers
creation resonates because the idea of
the life we lead in our heads, the things
we feel but dont say, the person we
imagine ourselves to be, is something all
of us can relate to. Its really human
stuff.
In the film, Mitty works as an
asset manager for Life magazine, where
he manages a vast archive of
photographs. He is contending with
change in almost every area of his life:
his mother (Shirley MacLaine) is
moving into an assisted-living facility,
Life is downsizing and preparing to
transition from print to digital publica-
tion, and his romance with a co-worker,
Cheryl (Kristin Wiig), is just getting off
the ground. When Lifes most cele-
brated photographer, Sean OConnell
(Sean Penn), suddenly disappears with
the negative for the publications final
cover shot, Mitty hits the road to track
him down.
There is a moment early in the
film where Mittys assistant, Hernando
(Adrian Martinez), pledges solidarity
with OConnell because the photogra-
pher still shoots film. Appropriately
enough, Dryburgh and Stiller also shot
on film, a choice Stiller calls important,
if only from a karmic viewpoint. After
all, the story is about an analog guy
caught in the transition to a digital
world. But I love film and will always
prefer it; I think it might be a genera-
tional thing.
Dryburgh notes that there were
practical considerations as well. Film
cameras are still a bit more rugged than
digital cameras, so there are practical
advantages when you get into rugged U
n
i
t

p
h
o
t
o
g
r
a
p
h
y

b
y

W
i
l
s
o
n

W
e
b
b
.

P
h
o
t
o
s

a
n
d

f
r
a
m
e

g
r
a
b
s

c
o
u
r
t
e
s
y

o
f

2
0
t
h

C
e
n
t
u
r
y

F
o
x
.

Opposite: Mild-mannered Walter Mitty (Ben Stiller) is drawn into an amazing adventure in The Secret
Life of Walter Mitty. This page, top: Mitty works in the Life photo archive with Hernando (Adrian
Martinez). Bottom: Stiller dons his directors cap to work out a shot with Stuart Dryburgh, ASC, NZCS.
environments like the ones in this
movie out on the water, in the rain
and in the snow. Also, as an actor, Ben
correctly made the assumption that a
lot of actors make, which is that they
look a little better on film. No matter
how good the lighting, the digital
image has an unflattering edge to it.
Working with an Arri package
comprising Arricam Studios and Lites
and a 435, Dryburgh shot on three
Kodak Vision3 stocks: 50D 5203 for
bright sun, 250D 5207 for bright day
interiors and magic hours, and 500T
5219 for other interiors and night
work. For city streets at night, Ill use
5219 and push-process it, which brings
up the grain and the contrast, and I will
also overexpose, rating it at 800 ASA,
he says. That way we can print down
in post and bring the blacks back and
suppress grain. But actually, Im not
someone who minds film grain.
The Life offices where Mitty
works, like all of the productions New
York sets, were built onstage at
Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens.
(Office exteriors were filmed at the
Time-Life Building in Manhattan.)
Ben wanted the vibe of Jack
Lemmons office in The Apartment,
with 200 accountants clicking away on
adding machines, Dryburgh recalls.
That set had a lot of soft light built
into it, but austere architectural lighting
Daydream Believer
Top: Mitty stands
amid a swirl of
co-workers in
this frame grab.
Middle: One co-
worker, Cheryl
(Kristen Wiig), is
of special interest
to him. Bottom:
Crewmembers
fine-tune the
light in a
skyscraper
canyon for one
of the pairs
conversations.
is not always the most flattering for
people, so our challenge was finding the
balance.
To create ambience in the office
set, gaffer William OLeary and his
crew rigged a grid of 6K space lights
behind milk Plexiglas panels in a prac-
tical ceiling, and then built large soft
boxes outside the sets wraparound
windows. The soft boxes were made
with just the chassis of 6K space lights
spaced about 2 feet apart, and each box
was on four chain motors so we could
lower, raise and tip them individually,
says OLeary. We added 250 diffusion
and
1
4 CTB to create a slightly cooler
soft light to mimic sky light. When a
harder source was called for, we had
20Ks on Condors.
Dryburgh took a classical
approach to lighting the actors, a soft
key and not much fill, like the north
light of an open window in an artists
studio, he says. It tends to look good
in almost every situation, and this is the
kind of film where seeing the charac-
ters expressions and emotions was
really important. For Stillers deep-set
eyes, he continues, keys tended to be a
low, soft quarter-wraparound but with a
little more direction, on one side of the
face, to bring out detail in his eyes.
OLeary notes that Stiller could take a
little more contrast than Kristin [Wiig]
could, so wed give her more backlight,
Top: Mittys
nemesis, Ted (Adam
Scott, foreground
left), prepares to
interrupt Mittys
reverie. Middle: A
200' crane is
deployed to
capture an unusual
shot for an action
scene. Bottom: The
team films Stiller
for another part of
the sequence.
and we tended to keep her key a little
flatter and bring it close to the lens.
Depending on the situation,
keylights for both actors were 2K
Blondes through a 12'x12' Light Grid
frame, or double-diffused Mini-Brutes.
Dryburgh tended towards larger diffu-
sion sources, often using a 12'x12'
frame of Full or Light Grid. For the
relatively small sets and locations, a
large diffusion was hung off horizontal
rail and run up to the ceiling.
By contrast, the photo archive
where Mitty works is dark and almost
womb-like. Dryburgh worked with
production designer Jeff Mann to create
a set lit almost entirely by practical desk
lamps, light boxes and overhead fluo-
rescents, with 6K space lights adding a
bit of ambience.
Filming outside the Time-Life
Building was impacted by a very short
window of direct sunlight, thanks to
Sixth Avenues skyscraper canyon. At
the height of summer, when Walter
Mitty was in production, that window
was 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Much of this
action consists of walk-and-talks
between Walter and Cheryl. Those
scenes were very grip-intensive,
OLeary recalls. Wed take direct sun
off the actors with some kind of 12-by-
12 diffusion or a 20-by-20 Source
Maker Grip Cloud, and then key with
large, soft sources on the ground,
usually 18K HMIs through Full Grid.
Many times wed put a muslin on the
ground and skip a 4K or a 6K into it to
bring the source even lower.
We looked at architecture
photography by Julius Schulman and
Ezra Stoller, who shot a lot of the office
buildings on Sixth Avenue, Stiller
remarks. The photos all had a very
graphic feel and a great sense of compo-
sition, and Stuart and I talked about
trying to frame Walter in a similar way
for the first part of the movie hes
Daydream Believer
The filmmakers
utilize the Mitty
Mobile, a tracking
vehicle designed by
2nd-unit director Phil
Neilson, to film part
of Ted and Walters
battle over a Stretch
Armstrong doll.
boxed in, part of an unmoving frame.
As his world opens up, the framing
does, too.
The filmmakers used a variety of
techniques to transition from Mittys
reality to his fantasies. We had a
million camera rigs! says key grip
Mitch Lillian. Some transitions,
however, were made with a simple
move, such as the reverie in which
Mitty stands in the Life offices and
imagines he is a charismatic man of
adventure. In the office set, the camera
tracks left from a single of Cheryl as a
glacier crashes through the wall behind
her, revealing a lantern-jawed Mitty in
Arctic survival regalia. (The disinte-
grating wall and background were
created in post, but the glacier and snow
were practical effects.) One side of the
set is the Life office, with its flat, over-
head lighting and gray walls, notes
Dryburgh. Stillers keylight was cooled
with CTB, while behind him, an array
of mixed-color-temperature Kino Flo
Image 80s and 4K HMI Pars through
Light Grid created a bright Alpine sky
that bled into the set through the punc-
tured ceiling.
In another sequence, Mitty
stands on a train platform and imagines
a burning building nearby, envisioning
himself making a heroic leap into one
of the upper floors to rescue the trapped
tenants. At a certain point, Stiller
wanted the camera to boom 100' down
the side of the building and then pull
back at street level to reveal Mitty
escaping the blaze with a person slung
over each shoulder. We ended up
putting a construction crane about 200
feet in the air and rigging a descender
rig with a Libra head on computerized
Mitty lands at a
bar in
Greenland,
where he finds a
pilot willing to
assist him in his
search for a
missing Life
photographer.
winches, says Dryburgh. Then, we
used it like a giant pendulum, with
about five grips on the street manhan-
dling it 70 or 80 feet back.
In another fantasy, Mitty imag-
ines himself in a cartoonish battle over
an old Stretch Armstrong doll with Ted
Hendricks (Adam Scott), the corporate
lackey supervising Lifes transition to
digital. The struggle begins in an eleva-
tor and quickly escalates into a super-
powered slugfest, with the two
combatants smashing through the face
of the building hundreds of feet above
the pavement. Dryburgh worked with
DI colorist Stefan Sonnenfeld of
Company 3 to build a subtle contrast
and saturation ramp before the
sequences hard transition into fantasy,
which occurs in the cut between the
elevator and the building exterior as
Walter and Ted plummet towards the
ground. Walters fantasy world is
always sharper, brighter and more vivid,
and in this transition especially so!
Dryburgh says.
All of the full-blown fantasy
sequences were staged with a bias
toward practical effects and stunts, and
then augmented with visual effects
supervised by Guillaume Rocheron.
Of course, theres a lot of augmenta-
tion in certain scenes, but I think the
most successful shots are the ones that
have as many practical elements as
possible, Stiller observes. Framestore
supplied umbrella visual-effects services
for the production, assigning smaller
scenes and tasks to a dozen vendors,
including MPC Vancouver, which
handled the fight between Walter and
Ted.
The fight begins with both men
falling toward and then past the camera
in midair. This shot was created on a
greenscreen studio with a Libra-
controlled Arricam Studio rigged to a
computerized monorail platform that
tracked past the two actors as they hung
suspended in harnesses. The ensuing
chase through the streets of Manhattan
is completely wacky, says Dryburgh,
who turned this part of the sequence
over to 2nd-unit cinematographer
Craig Haagensen. (The location
elements of the sequence were shot over
several blocks in midtown over two
consecutive weekends, with some pick-
ups on Water Street in Lower
Manhattan.)
To create the impression that
Walter and Ted are literally tearing up
the streets on makeshift surfboards,
Lillian had electric carts mounted with
an Aerocrane jib arm and Libra head
from Monster Remotes. The actors and
their stuntmen mounted skateboards or
Daydream Believer
Mitty leaps
from a
helicopter into a
stormy, shark-
infested sea in
this frame grab.
When it came time
to shoot with Ben
in the actual
stormy ocean, we
had multiple
cameras running.
motorized carts, or were puppeted from
the Mitty Mobile, or MiMo, a
custom tracking vehicle devised by
2nd-unit director Phil Neilson. The
full-sized MiMo consisted of a cage
welded to the frame of a chopped
Chevrolet pickup body. The actors were
suspended from the end of a 20'
cantilevered pipe truss and
photographed by a Libra-mounted
camera at the end of a 23' Scorpio
crane. A Honda 6500 generator
provided additional juice for running
onboard HMIs.
Stiller and Dryburgh also
decided to alternate between anamor-
phic and spherical lenses to distinguish
between fantasy and reality. All of the
reality sequences in New York in the
first part of the film were shot in 4-perf
Super 35mm with Cooke S4 prime
lenses, and all of the fantasy sequences
in this portion of the story were shot
with Vantage Hawk V-Lite 2x anamor-
phic lenses. When Mitty is tasked with
recovering OConnells missing nega-
tive, a shot of Mitty sprinting down a
hallway past oversized versions of iconic
Life covers precedes his arrival in
Greenland, OConnells last known
location. From that moment on, the
entire color palette and contrast begin
to take on the values of the fantasy
world: vivid, saturated and contrasty,
says Dryburgh. At this point, the cine-
matographer switched to Hawk V-Lite
1.3x lenses, which he used for the rest of
the story. We wanted to keep the
anamorphic look, but we also wanted
more flexibility with depth-of-field and
a bit of extra picture outside of the
Scope area for visual effects, Dryburgh
explains.
The filmmakers used a 4-perf
1.37:1 Academy gate, meaning the 1.3x
anamorphosis would un-squeeze with
an effective 1.78:1 ratio, from which a
2.40:1 extraction was taken. What I
like about the 1.3 squeeze is that it gives
you an anamorphic finish, and the
longer lenses have the shorter depth-of-
field qualities of anamorphic while the
wide lenses perform more like spherical
wides, says Dryburgh. You get deep
focus from 20mm all the way up to
maybe 55mm, and over 60mm or
70mm the focus falls off quickly, as with
2x anamorphic. These lenses are also
crisp across the whole 2.40:1 frame,
avoiding the softer edges of full
anamorphic lenses.
After filming in New York, the
production moved on to Iceland, which
was used as itself and for parts of
Greenland and Afghanistan. (At this
point in the shoot, gaffer Mo Flam
stepped in for OLeary.) The amazing
thing about Iceland is that its a small
country but has an amazing range of
landscapes: deserts, lava and moss
fields, and green pastures, notes
Dryburgh. The filmmakers sought
locations with inherently distinctive
colors; Greenland was rendered in
green tones, with much of the photog-
raphy captured on Icelands western
coast, whereas the Iceland portion of
Mitty races across a grand bridge in this frame grab.
Iceland is a small
country but has an
amazing range of
landscapes.
the story featured the earthier shades of
its higher plains. Our approach wasnt
about applying a look apart from some
subtle grading choices, says Dryburgh.
We celebrated and accentuated the
colors of the landscapes and the sky as
they were.
Icelands northerly latitude
initially offered the production long
days of low sunlight. Whats hard is
that the sun is always coming and going
because of all the clouds, says Flam,
and when the light does change, it
changes rapidly. In early August 2012,
the sun rose at 4:30 a.m. and set at
10:30 p.m., but by the end of
September, daylight had already short-
ened to 11 hours. We had to be light
and fast in Iceland the word nimble
came up a lot! Dryburgh recalls.
Flam used a small HMI and
tungsten lighting package augmented
with a number of MacTech LED units.
The MacTechs dont use a lot of
power, but they pack a lot of punch, he
says. For 10 or 20 amps, you seem to
get five times what youd get with a
Daydream Believer
Top: Mitty is
guided through
the hills in
Iceland. Bottom:
The filmmakers
prep a crane
move for a
key scene.
comparable HMI, and you can run
them on small generators or portable
lithium-ion battery packs.
Mittys first stop in the
Greenland capital of Nuuk is the towns
only bar, where a drunk pilot offers him
the first clues and a helicopter flight
to OConnells last known where-
abouts. The bar was one of the few
conventionally lit locations, meaning
Dryburghs crew was able to run gener-
ators powerful enough for two 18K
HMIs. Light Grid diffusion was used
to match the lamps with the soft,
natural daylight coming through the
windows. We had to shoot at a pretty
small aperture, around T5.6-T8,
because we needed to see the helicopter
parked outside, says the cinematogra-
pher.
The main unit shot the heli-
copter takeoff, and the sequence where
the helicopter transports Mitty to the
trawler was handled by the aerial unit,
led by Alan Purwin, who also piloted
the picture ship in costume and
makeup. Mitch Lillian rigged an Arri
235 onto the vintage Bell 47 to capture
the dramatic moments as the helicopter
takes off with Walter hanging on for
dear life, says Dryburgh. The camera
helicopter was manned by [aerial cine-
matographer] Dave Nowell [ASC] and
pilot Fred North, using an Eclipse
stabilized rig carrying an Arri 435 and
[Angenieux] Optimo zoom.
Dryburgh says it was all hands on
deck for Mittys dive into the stormy,
shark-infested sea, his rescue, and the
subsequent scenes below deck on the
ship. The stunt jump from the heli-
copter was shot by the aerial unit and
Erik Wilsons second unit, which was
shooting from an RIB power boat, he
says. When it came time to shoot with
Ben in the actual stormy ocean, we had
multiple cameras running: in the water
with [underwater cinematographer]
Pete Romano; in the rubber rescue boat
with Erik Wilson and [1st AC] Glenn
Kaplan; on a fishing boat with myself
and Icelandic cameraman ttar
Gunason, a.k.a. Team Iceland; and
on the trawler with [operator] John
Buzz Moyer and Team USA. I
decided on the Team Iceland and Team
USA designations instead of the usual
A and B cameras.
Iceland has a
lot of miniature
landscapes that
photograph
very large.

The crew sometimes split into as
many as three units. Even though
Iceland is small, it can take two or three
hours to get from the glacier to the
valley, or from the plains to the hills,
Dryburgh remarks.
Mitty tracks OConnell to an
area where a volcano is on the verge of
erupting. With little time to spare, he
procures a skateboard and makes a
daredevil run down the long, twisty
road toward the valley hamlet where he
hopes to find the photographer. With
Dryburgh at the bottom of the hill,
focusing on dialogue scenes with Mitty
and his guide, Team Iceland handled
the skating stunts. Gunason broke
away from main unit to shoot aerials of
the professional stunt skater, and
Wilson was on the ground with a
gyrostabilized motorcycle-sidecar rig
and, for Stillers close-ups, a smaller
version of the MiMo.
Mitty finally catches up with
OConnell in the Himalayas, a
sequence filmed atop the glaciers of
southeastern Iceland. Iceland has a lot
of miniature landscapes that photo-
graph very large, says Dryburgh. It
seems like youre on a wide plain that
stretches for 20 miles, with 10,000-foot
mountains in the distance, but its actu-
ally 5 miles, and the mountains are only
2,000 feet tall.
The production used 4x4 Land
Rovers and snowmobiles to get actors,
gear and crew up the glacier. Flam
brought an assortment of small HMIs
Daydream Believer
Top: The team
preps a crane
shot. Bottom:
Dryburgh on
the set.
and four MacTech 960s. Wed some-
times use two or three side-by-side to
create a large wide source with Full or
Light Grid diffusion, says Flam. We
had to go off the battery packs to run
the lights. They were capable of supply-
ing 30A for almost two hours before
recharging, and between takes wed run
the generators to top them off.
After OConnell discusses the
essence of Life with Mitty, the sun
begins to set, and the pair descend
from the glacier to join a soccer match
with a group of Sherpas. We actually
shot that scene dawn-for-dusk, says
Dryburgh. That day took a bit of plan-
ning because it was quite a remote loca-
tion, the moraine outwash from a
glacier. We got up very early and off-
roaded for a couple of hours onto this
remote plain, and then figured out
where the sun would come up using our
various compasses and tables. I have
come to rely on my Helios iPhone app
for sun angles and position; its very
accurate.
The sun came up on cue. Using
Arricam Studios and Arri 435s with
long lenses, Dryburgh filmed Stiller,
Penn and the Sherpas playing soccer
into the late morning. The cinematog-
rapher recalls, We shot into the sun, so
the warm light pollutes the blacks as
Daydream Believer
Stiller confers with Dryburgh (second from left) and other collaborators.
62
AMC_0114_p062_R_b_feature 11/26/13 1:21 AM Page 62
well as the highlights. In the edit, they
used the later-morning material to
make it feel like were transitioning
from the late afternoon into the sun
setting.
HD dailies were created by
Deluxe Laboratories/Company 3 in
New York and graded by colorists
Kevin Krout and Andrew Geary. To
communicate with the dailies team,
Dryburgh used a Canon 7D to take
stills of each setup (matching the T-
stop, color temperature and ASA to the
film camera) and then performed a
simple color correction in Adobe
Lightroom or Photoshop at the end of
each day. Generally, what we were
getting on set was close to what we
wanted in the final, he comments. I
made reference to color and density in
my emails to the colorists.
For the DI, Deluxe scanned the
negative at 2K on an Arriscan,
Sonnenfeld graded the picture in
Resolve 9, and the DCP and Arrilaser
filmout were 2K. Stiller worked on the
final grade with Sonnenfeld; Dryburgh
was in and out because he was starting
to prep another feature by that time.
Stiller recalls, Our idea was to start the
film with a desaturated palette and then
slowly evolve into a more saturated
world of color.
Stefan showed me reels early in
the process, I made some minor notes,
and when I saw the final at Company 3
in September, I was very happy with the
way it looked, says Dryburgh. This
was partly, I think, because we had got
it right in the original photography.
Also, Stefan is a brilliant colorist, and
Ben has really good taste. The film was
in very good hands!
TECHNICAL SPECS
2.40:1
35mm
Arricam Studio, Lite;
Arri 435, 235
Cooke S4, Vantage Hawk V-Lite,
Angenieux Optimo
Kodak Vision3 500T 5219,
250D 5207, 50D 5203
63
T
o English cinematographer Rob Hardy, BSC, the
prospect of shooting The Invisible Woman for director
Ralph Fiennes appealed for many reasons, but the films
focus on one of Englands most prolific and popular
writers, Charles Dickens, was not among them. Im more of
an H.P. Lovecraft and M.R. James fan I love Gothic
horror, says Hardy. The only Dickens stories I read were
Rob Hardy, BSC, helps
director Ralph Fiennes envision
The Invisible Woman, which explores
a secret romance between a young
woman and Charles Dickens.
By Rachael K. Bosley
|
his short ghost stories.
According to Fiennes, it was Hardys work in an M.R.
James adaptation, the 2010 BBC short film Whistle and Ill
Come to You, which initially brought the cinematographer to
his attention. It was a kind of quirky ghost story which I really
loved, and I thought Robs framing and the simplicity of his
shots were just fantastic, Fiennes recalls. Not long after that,
he screened some of the terrorism drama Shadow Dancer while
it was still in post, and was again impressed by Hardys work.
By the time he began meeting cinematographers for The
Invisible Woman, the director says, Hardy was very high up on
the list.
Hardy, for his part, immediately responded to Abi
Morgans script for The Invisible Woman (based on Claire
Tomalins book of the same name), and was intrigued by the
possibility of collaborating with a director who would also be
the leading man. Its so important for the cinematographer to
develop a close bond with the actors, and its a sort of mystery
that fascinates me endlessly, says Hardy, whose feature cred-
its also include the Camerimage Golden Frog nominee Broken
A
Curious
Camera
AMC_0114_p064_p075_c_feature 11/24/13 11:36 AM Page 64
U
n
i
t

p
h
o
t
o
g
r
a
p
h
y

b
y

D
a
v
i
d

A
p
p
l
e
b
y
,

c
o
u
r
t
e
s
y

o
f

S
o
n
y

P
i
c
t
u
r
e
s

C
l
a
s
s
i
c
s
.

A
d
d
i
t
i
o
n
a
l

p
h
o
t
o
s

a
n
d

i
l
l
u
s
t
r
a
t
i
o
n
s

c
o
u
r
t
e
s
y

o
f

t
h
e

f
i
l
m
m
a
k
e
r
s
.
and Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord
1974. A lot of what cinematographers
do is informed by what actors do, and it
goes beyond the technical; were all
telling the story together. Id worked
with directors who had been actors, and
their understanding of actors and
performance gave me a whole new
perspective, so I was really interested in
working with an actor/director.
Hardys first meeting with
Fiennes and Gabriella Tana, one of the
films producers, was memorable for all
three parties. We started drinking wine
and launched straight away into how we
saw the film, and by the end of the
evening, Gabrielle couldnt pry us
apart, Hardy recalls with a laugh.
Fiennes affirms, I felt Rob and I had a
lot in common very quickly. I explained
what I thought was the approach to the
film, and he seemed to really get it, and
I was so encouraged by the way we
connected that we met again.
Choosing a cinematographer, adds
Fiennes, is not about aesthetics alone.
Also important is who youre sharing
the day with, and Rob and I just got on
very well. I feel Ive been very lucky on
both my films, first with Barry Ackroyd
[BSC] on Coriolanus, and then again
with Rob.
The creative harmony was
cemented at Hardy and Fiennes next
meeting, when the cinematographer
arrived at Fiennes home with a copy of
Saul Leiters Early Color. I was think-
ing about what it meant to shoot some-
thing set in the Victorian era, which I
hadnt done before, and I deliberately
didnt want to go down the road of
referencing [other films], simply
because I didnt really believe anything
Id seen had represented the period in
the right way, says Hardy. That isnt to
say it wasnt correct; its just that there
was nothing in the visuals that defined
that period for me.
Even though Leiter is a contem-
porary American photographer, the sort
of truth he captured really represented
the feeling of The Invisible Woman to
me, he continues. So, I told Ralph,
Look, Im sorry I dont have any visual
Opposite: Charles
Dickens (Ralph
Fiennes) and
Nelly Ternan
(Felicity Jones)
share an intimate
moment. This
page, top: Many
years later, Nelly
considers
unburdening
herself to a
kindly preacher
(John Kavanagh).
Bottom: Fiennes
eyes a setup with
director of
photography
Rob Hardy, BSC.
references other than this, and I pulled
out Early Color. He took one look at it,
grabbed me by the hand, took me
upstairs and pointed to the wall. He had
three original Leiter prints.
That was a great moment: Okay,
weve connected now! adds Fiennes.
Imitating Leiters work was never
a goal, but Fiennes and Hardy agreed
that the surreptitious observational
nature of Leiters street photography felt
appropriate for much of The Invisible
Woman, which chronicles a love affair
that remained secret for decades. The
story begins in 1883 but unfolds mainly
through flashbacks to the 1850s as the
titular character, Nelly (Felicity Jones),
recalls meeting and falling in love with
Dickens when she was 18 and he was
45. Propriety and Dickens widespread
fame dictated that their relationship stay
under wraps he was married and the
father of 10 when they met and years
later, even after Nelly has forged a new
life for herself, she still struggles with
this burden.
Hardy says Fiennes desire to
capture the truth of the time, the truth
at the heart of the story informed every
aspect of the visual plan, beginning with
the decision to shoot film. For us that
was a no-brainer, says Hardy. The first
thing the line producer, Kevan Van
Thompson, said to me was, Lets not
postpone the inevitable: Lets consider
shooting this digitally. Meanwhile,
Ralph was standing behind him, whis-
pering, Film! Film! Film! and rubbing
his hands together like a big child! Once
A Curious Camera
Top: The players
take a bow at a
momentous
performance of
The Frozen
Deep. Bottom
left and right:
Ambience in
most night
interiors,
including the
location used for
the theater, was
provided by
overhead
tungsten sources
through
unbleached
muslin.
B
o
t
t
o
m

p
h
o
t
o
s

b
y

J
u
l
i
a
n

W
h
i
t
e
.
Kevan realized how enthused Ralph
was about using film, he was totally
onboard, and he fully supported us on
that front.
The objective, says Hardy, was a
textured image, and that led the film-
makers to also choose the anamorphic
format. I suppose we wanted to give a
certain sense of depth to every room,
every face, he says. People lived in very
small spaces in the 1850s, and we had to
turn those into landscapes, as it were,
with two, three or four people in the
scene at any one time.
He tested a range of anamorphic
optics, including Cooke Xtal Express,
before choosing Panavisions G Series
T2.6 prime lenses. I was on the verge
of going with the Crystal Express, but I
think they may have been a bit too
extreme for Ralphs taste in this
instance, he notes. The G Series
seemed to be very right for this. Theyre
beautiful, beautiful glass very gauzy
in the same way the C and E Series are,
but somehow slightly more succinct.
They gave us precision but also the
smoky, velvety quality you get with the
older anamorphics. He favored mid-
range focal lengths, with the 50mm
being the favorite. We wanted a real
sense of proximity with the actors, he
says. At times we wanted to sort of
sense their breath on the glass of the
lens.
As the filmmakers worked their
way through prep, Hardy determined
that two Kodak Vision3 stocks, 200T
5213 and 500T 5219, would best serve
the pictures numerous interiors. Ive
used Fuji pretty much exclusively, but as
I saw the other departments work
coming together, I felt Kodak would
give us the ideal color reproduction on
interiors, he says. The Victorians had
these outrageous patterns, shapes and
colors in their wallpaper and curtains,
and [production designer] Maria
Djurkovic had fantastic ideas about
using and enhancing that. We wanted
to bring it to the fore without making it
look garish, and I felt Kodak would do
that.
For day exteriors, he chose an old
Top: Dickens and
playwright Wilkie
Collins (Tom
Hollander)
celebrate the
shows opening
night. Middle:
Nelly and her
sister Maria
(Perdita Weeks)
watch as Dickens
hypnotizes their
mother (Kristin
Scott Thomas).
Bottom: Dickens
and Nelly rejoice
in her horses win
at Doncaster.
favorite, Fujifilm Super F-64D 8522. I
feel I grew up on that I shot Boy A,
one of my first films, entirely on that
stock. Its slow, but it resolves like no
other.
Fiennes was excited to find that
many of the stills Hardy took on their
location scouts immediately suggested
how both the intimacy and the mystery
at the core of The Invisible Woman could
be suggested visually. I love Robs
instinctive compositions, which are
often quite bold, says the director. He
has a brilliant eye for positioning the
camera in quite an unusual place, and he
often allows a lot of the frame to go
dark so that what is lit is very intense,
very strong. His stills became part of a
mood board I created for everyones
reference, along with some period
images and my own rather eccentric
drawings, which suggested the feeling
of a scene.
One motif in Hardys photos was
the placement of the camera behind the
subject, and Fiennes embraced this for
many shots of Nelly partly because, he
says, it could suggest a hidden-ness in
her. Hardy confesses he has a slight
obsession with the back of the head
that image has probably recurred in
almost everything Ive shot. I feel it
gives you a sense of being with that
person as shes leading you in, but theres
a slight ambiguity about it, too. I think
that can really help to push the story
forward visually. Following someone
into a room is different from being in a
room and seeing her enter; theres a big
difference between using film grammar
to observe and using a sense of proxim-
ity to experience.
In a similar vein, Hardy is often
inclined to enliven some close-ups by
adopting a slightly higher, less frontal
angle on the subject. The frontal angle
works very well as a piece of basic film
grammar, but it often feels invisible to
me, he observes. Then, there is the
idea that you, the audience, are in the
room, next to the characters, listening to
their conversation, and sometimes you
can create that effect by just raising the
camera. Its a subtle shift.
A Curious Camera
Top: Nelly exchanges confidences with Dickens for the first time. Middle: Dickens wife (Joanna
Scanlan, right) confronts him with gossip about his affair. Bottom: Nelly celebrates her birthday
with loved ones.
Fiennes found this technique
particularly effective for the scene in
which Dickens first confesses his feel-
ings to Nelly. They are seated on oppo-
site sides of a table in front of a fireplace,
and Nellys mother (Kristin Scott
Thomas) is dozing on the nearby
couch. I thought it was a strong scene,
and after the camera tracks slowly to
establish the room, we cut to a series of
static close-ups, says Fiennes. I asked
for the close-ups to be quite classic,
quite traditional, really, and after Rob
shot them, he asked if he could try some
with the camera a little higher. I agreed,
and later, when we cut it, I realized that
angle was actually much more effective.
My eyebrow is quite heavy, so on my
close-up the eye just peers out, giving it
very strong focus. And that was Rob.
Hardy adds, The idea is that Dickens
is trying to get information out of Nelly
without giving too much away himself,
and it helped that Ralph dropped his
chin at a key moment.
The storys period required a
lighting strategy that would suggest a
mix of gas and oil lamps, firelight and
candlelight, and Hardy recalls that in
developing this scheme with gaffer
Julian White, he considered such varied
references as late-period Rembrandt,
for the sense of light coming from
within the frame, and David Lynchs
Lost Highway (AC March 97), for the
way light hangs in the rooms. He
explains, I wanted the rooms to hum,
to feel alive with light. I also wanted it to
feel as though light was emanating from
the frame. There might be a fire in the
fireplace, gas lamps on the wall and
candles on a table, but it all feels consol-
idated; its not a spot of light here and a
spot of light there.
For night interiors, room tone
was established with overhead tungsten
sources dimmed down and diffused
with unbleached muslin. In larger
spaces, these sources were typically 2K
Airstar Gala balloons, and in smaller
spaces, 1K or 2K Dedoflex Octodomes
or 2K spherical balloons. (Sometimes
Par cans were bounced into a heavy
calico on the floor instead.) Then, small
Top: Hardy lines
up a shot of
Jones as gaffer
Julian White
leans in to
adjust the
source, a
muslin teepee
over a double
row of Howie
Battens dimmed
to 60 percent.
One row of
lights faced the
audience, and
the other faced
the stage to
mimic
footlights.
Bottom: In a
shot from the
scene, Nelly and
her husband
(Tom Burke)
watch their
pupils perform.
150-watt paper lanterns were put
through unbleached muslin for closer
work. I tried not to put our lights into
rooms if I could avoid it because I
wanted to give as much space to the
actors as possible, says Hardy, who
invariably shot these scenes wide open.
I will essentially light the room and
then give the room to the scene.
One night interior set in the
productions tightest location, a house
in Spitalfields that served as Nellys
modest family home, is ostensibly lit
by an oil lamp and a few candles,
and features five characters: Nelly,
Dickens and Nellys mother and sisters
(Perdita Weeks and Amanda Hale).
Dickens accompanies the women
home one evening after attending one
of Nellys performances, and his visit
stretches into the night. The scene was
shot day-for-night, and we added
Charcoal Vintage Grid from The Rag
Place to the window [in the foyer] and
let the daylight play through there,
White recalls. The curtains were
drawn in the sitting room, where
White dimmed up a 1K Lowel Rifa
on a hand dimmer when the women
entered and lit the oil lamp.
That location has changed very
little since the Victorian era, and it was
a big challenge to give a sense of scale to
that room, says Hardy, who wedged
himself into corners with a Panaflex
Millennium XL2 and 1st AC Jennie
Paddon. Using incredibly wide lenses
wasnt appropriate, and we didnt want
to just do shots of peoples faces, he
continues. How do you show the space
when you can barely back yourself into
the corner? Those were also the first
scenes we shot with Kristin Scott
Thomas, and you might say she was
very keen to know what my visual
approach was!
In fact, Thomas motivated the
creation of a very lightweight, flexible
soft source, the KST, which soon came
to serve as a beauty light for others in
the cast as well. Hardy recalls, The
gaffer I worked with in Albania on The
Forgiveness of Blood created something
he called an Oyster Light, which was
essentially a piece of foamcore and a
Chinese lantern cut in half, and it was
great except that it would fall apart in
minutes. I discussed the concept with
Julian, and he came back with a design
for the KST. It was fantastic for our
needs.
Whites design comprised two
4'x3' pieces of polypropylene honey-
comb material curved into a parabola,
and a 1K bulb held in the middle on a
plate. It was essentially a soft box that
looked liked a large segment of an
orange, says White. Wed attach Grid
Cloth and unbleached muslin to the
front, or sometimes leave it clean. There
were variations on a theme, square and
triangular. It had a base plate or 16mm
spigot to rig off, but it was so light we
could hang it from curtain rails or
picture rails with a bungee cord. We
sometimes used large S-hooks and
shock cord to hang them.
I also created several lights more
similar to the Oyster Light, using the
honeycomb plastic and a paper lantern
cut in half with an 800-watt-spacelight
fitting inside, White adds.
Hardy also relied exclusively on
tungsten sources heavily diffused
with unbleached muslin and varying
strengths of Grid Cloth to light day
interiors. I just dont believe HMIs, he
A Curious Camera
Fiennes and
Hardy prep an
interior setup.
Ill always have
a dolly, a slider
and a handheld
kit those are
my get out of
jail free card,
says Hardy.
A Curious Camera
explains. White cites the lighting of an
intimate conversation between Nelly
and her mother on a settee as a typical
day-interior approach: We set up a
Quarter Wendy and a Quarter Dino
outside an 8-by-4-foot window, blacked
the top half out, and added four layers of
Light Grid and one layer of unbleached
muslin, each separated by several inches
to knock it back. Apart from the fero-
cious heat and dramatic lack of stop, the
light looked beautiful suspended in air.
Fiennes wanted the camerawork
to strike a balance between a neutral
stance that would allow such intimate
scenes to play out, and a more participa-
tory approach that would convey the
excitement or uncertainty of a given
moment. With the exception of a few
shots, Ralph and I made those decisions
by feeling it as we went, says Hardy.
We knew from the very beginning that
there would be a rhythm we would
follow in the narrative, and at times that
rhythm would need to be staccato,
which would lead us to go to the hand,
and at times it would need to be a very
calm note, which would lead us to a very
wide shot that didnt cut.
I was very keen to let the camera
observe in a relatively still way; many
scenes are two people in a room, talking,
and I wanted the interior life of the
characters to speak, says Fiennes. But
I certainly identified quite early on that
some sequences had to have a slightly
feverish quality.
As an example of the latter,
Fiennes points to the scene in which
Nelly meets Dickens for the first time.
Set to play a small role in one of his
stage productions, she arrives at the
theater for the rehearsal, and the camera
follows her into the building and then
swirls around her as Dickens makes the
necessary introductions. The scene
begins with two long Steadicam moves
(operated by Roger Tooley) that were
cut to play as one, and then, as Dickens
begins directing the troupe, static shots
are intercut with handheld shots on the
stage. I wanted that sense of something
being slightly on edge youre present
in the moment as it unfolds in front of
This page: A few of the location stills Hardy took with his Fujifilm X100 while scouting with Fiennes and
production designer Maria Djurkovic (who serve as the stand-ins). Theyre really just immediate
reactions to the locations on my part, a way of finding a physical proximity within the spaces, a sort of
study of how we could potentially block scenes, says Hardy. Opposite page: Some of Fiennes drawings,
which he combined with Hardys stills and assorted period references on the mood board referenced
by the team throughout the shoot.
P
h
o
t
o
s

b
y

R
o
b

H
a
r
d
y
.
you, says Fiennes. I like cutting
between more classic shots and hand-
held; I think that creates an interesting
tension.
Hardy notes that this interior
scene, filmed at Drapers Hall in
London (doubling for a theater in
Manchester), was also the productions
biggest lighting setup. There were
huge windows on one side of the loca-
tion, and we were seeing 360 degrees, so
we lit almost entirely through those, he
says. Whites crew built a 40'x20' two-
tiered tower and placed three Quarter
Wendy Lights on the bottom tier and
three 20K Fresnels on the top tier,
gelling all the lights with
1
4 CTB.
Inside, we diffused the windows with
Light Grid Cloth, and we used hybrid
Airstar balloons and some smaller
lamps around the stage for fill, adds
White.
It was very tricky, says Hardy,
but we got some really lovely effects in
the end because when the moving
camera suddenly hit a light, wed get this
beautiful crisping flare in the lens all
intentional, of course!
Having used mostly handheld
camerawork on Coriolanus (AC Jan. 12),
which situated Shakespeares story of
politics and warfare in the present day,
Fiennes approached its use on The
Invisible Woman with caution, and
always instinctively. You follow
hunches, and for me, [going handheld]
is really a hunch about the immediacy in
the scene or a sense of accidental discov-
ery, says the director. If you want the
audience to feel the edginess of the
present moment, to put them literally
slightly off balance, the handheld
camera can do that, and, of course, thats
rooted in our experience with docu-
mentary footage.
But the handheld camera is also
curious, he continues. There was a
moment on Coriolanus when Barry was
shooting a close-up, and I suddenly
thought, The camera needs to invade
Coriolanus. The camera needs to know.
Funnily enough, it was the same on this
film with the scene where Nelly and
Dickens physically embrace for the first
I
l
l
u
s
t
r
a
t
i
o
n
s

b
y

R
a
l
p
h

F
i
e
n
n
e
s
.
time. It starts with the camera very still
on the two figures in the room, and
then, when she goes to him, we go
handheld and the camera invades them,
exploring them physically, as it were. Its
like its trying to understand, trying to
get under the skin and between the
fingers and lips of these two people.
That was the most challenging
scene for me in terms of lighting, and
visually, its also the scene I am proudest
of, says Hardy. At first, as they stand
on opposite sides of the room, looking
at each other, Nellys back is to the
camera and she is softly edged with
light, her face hidden, while Dickens
inhabits only the periphery of the light
softly bathing the room. Then she goes
to him, into the shadows, their frisson
happening in complete silhouette, only
their eyes betraying sentiment as they
peer from the edge of the darkness. I
wanted it to feel captured, real and,
most importantly, illicit, as it would
have felt between them.
We wanted the room to have a
very subdued feel, a real sense of a single
low source, Hardy continues. I used a
1K Rifa rigged low to the ground with a
cascade of Light Grid and unbleached
muslin falling from its edges as it leaned
toward the floor into a soft bounce of
white card; the lamp was dimmed to 25
percent and gelled with CTO.
Above, for an invisible room tone, I had
an Octodome dimmed to 25 percent
and rigged through three layers of Light
Grid and one layer of unbleached
muslin. It needed to be gauzy and
elegant and almost sourceless. Another
1K Rifa dimmed to 25 percent pushed a
light haze of light toward the camera.
My light meter read Error and
practically told me to go home, but I
ignored it, opened the lens up, and
removed the matte box to encourage as
much light to penetrate the glass as
possible. I could barely see the faces
through the viewfinder, but to me it felt
absolutely right for the moment. Ralph
liked the darkness of the scene and posi-
tively encouraged it. The wide shot of
them on opposite sides of the frame
reminds me of a cross between
Viscontis The Leopard and an unre-
stored Rembrandt thats been festering
in someones attic for a hundred or so
years: beautiful!
Fiennes also wanted to create a
sense of direct intimacy between
Dickens and Nelly in scenes showing
them together in France, perhaps the
happiest interlude in their relationship.
For most of this material, Hardy oper-
ated an Arri 3-C, and for a sequence in
which the pair walks through a field, he
encouraged the actors to take turns
operating the camera themselves. It
gives the brief but slightly bizarre effect
of a home-movie perspective approxi-
mately 100 or so years before home
movies were part of life, the cine-
matographer observes. I love the 3-C
because it forces you to operate the
camera in a very different way it
A Curious Camera
74
handles like a 35mm version of a
Super 8 camera. I think its the ultimate
tool for proximity within a 35mm
format.
Technicolor London processed
the productions negative and created
DVD dailies, and throughout the shoot,
Hardy maintained a dialogue with
colorist Steve OLeary, who timed the
images on a Spirit Datacine. Steve was
fantastic, Hardy says. Prior to the
shoot, I sent him some of my own stills
and a few Saul Leiter pictures as general
references for texture, color and compo-
sition. A lot of the labs have closed
down, so you feel you want to keep that
relationship going. Tech did a brilliant
job.
During the two weeks he spent
with colorist Asa Shoul on the final
grade at London facility Molinare,
Hardys focus was what it always is in
the DI: trying to make the image match
what was in my head when I first read
the script, he says. I wanted to shoot
this film as truthfully as possible, to
photograph exactly what I was seeing
through the lens, and I was after some-
thing very, very subtle in the timing,
literally half a point here and half a
point there. Asa is an artist, and he has
a lot of understanding and patience.
The word cant doesnt appear in his
vocabulary. (The all-2K workflow at
Molinare involved a Northlight scan of
the negative, color correction on
Baselight Eight, an Arrilaser filmout to
Kodak Vision 2242, and a DCP.
Technicolor London created the answer
print.)
Surveying his second outing
behind the camera, Fiennes observes
that for him, directing a film involves
offering up to a cinematographer the
way you see it, but also choosing a
cinematographer whose vision, whose
unique skill, is something you want to
be a part of how you make your film. I
asked Rob to do The Invisible Woman
because I love his instincts, and over
the course of shooting, I was continu-
ally thrilled by what he contributed.
There was an extremely fruitful mutual
recognition of what excited us. It was
fantastic.
75
TECHNICAL SPECS
2.40:1
35mm Anamorphic
Panaflex Millennium XL2; Arri 3-C
Panavision G Series
Kodak Vision3 200T 5213,
500T 5219; Fujifilm Super F-64D 8522
He is a great listener. Yes, he had his own ideas, but first and
foremost, he asked me a lot of questions. He always wanted
to know what I was thinking, and why. If I had an idea about
how to shoot something, he wanted to understand it, and
then take that idea and make it better. If he didnt under-
stand it, he kept pushing and bending the logic until he
could. I think hes an incredible artist.
Her takes place in a warm, inviting Los Angeles that
poses a contrast to the lonely life of its main character,
Theodore ( Joaquin Phoenix). Recovering from a divorce
and wanting to find love again, Theodore discovers a new
technology that appears to solve his problem: a sophisticated
operating system named Samantha. As Samantha evolves, it
becomes so interactive that the two fall in love.
Van Hoytema and Jonze recently discussed the project
with AC in separate interviews. What follows are excerpts
from those conversations.
American Cinematographer: Please describe how you
saw the world of Her.
Spike Jonze: It had to be a utopia warm and
comfortable and yet it also had to suggest how someone
like Theodore could feel lonely there. His world feels very
warm, but he is disconnected and lonely, and in a way, that
makes him feel worse because its a world you should not
feel lonely in.
Hoyte van Hoytema, FSF, NSC: Spikes script was a
very verbal one, but it had little pointers in it. We agreed
W
hen Spike Jonze went looking for a cinematographer
to help visualize his new movie, Her, and fill the spot
previously occupied by longtime collaborator Lance
Acord, ASC, who was unavailable, he hoped to find
someone who would understand the romantic sensibility at
the heart of the story, a technology-influenced character study
set in the near future. Impressed by the work of Hoyte van
Hoytema, FSF, NSC, Jonze called director David O. Russell,
who had worked with the Swiss cinematographer on The
Fighter (AC Jan. 11). David had as many amazing things to
say about Hoyte personally as he did about the work, and that
was really important to me, says Jonze.
I had always worked with Lance, who is very sensi-
tive and intuitive, and I wanted someone with a similar
sensibility, he continues. I sent Hoyte the script, and we
had a couple of long Skype sessions where we really hit it off.
And
SheWas
Her, shot by
Hoyte van Hoytema, FSF, NSC
and directed by Spike Jonze, finds
poetry in a virtual romance.
By Michael Goldman
|
AMC_0114_p076_p085_d_feature 11/24/13 11:41 AM Page 76
there was a lot of poetry between the
lines. Spike didnt want anything
dystopian, and he wanted a future that
felt a little more tactile than it does in
most films. With that in mind, he and
[production designer] K.K. Barrett
showed me a lot of reference photogra-
phy that they loved. The main refer-
ence was a book of photos called
Illuminance by Rinko Kawauchi, a
Japanese photographer. The photos are
dreamy studies of what appears to be
very trivial. Theyre square photos with
a kind of muted palette, and they are
extremely sharp and crisp, yet romantic
and poetic. They radiate fascination
with specific details.
Jonze: As soon as I saw that
book, it became a kind of touchstone
for this movie. The photos are colorful,
but very clean. They arent garishly
colored there are lots of whites with
strong pinks or pale blues. I thought
the use of color was very romantic, and
that became very important to us
palette-wise.
Why did you decide to shoot
digitally, and what made you choose
the Arri Alexa?
Van Hoytema: Spike wanted
the look to be pristine and clean. I had
used digital on some commercials, but
I had always shot features on film, and
the idea that cleanliness and lack of U
n
i
t

p
h
o
t
o
g
r
a
p
h
y

b
y

S
a
m

Z
h
u

a
n
d

M
e
r
r
i
c
k

M
o
r
t
o
n
,

S
M
P
S
P
.

P
h
o
t
o
s

a
n
d

f
r
a
m
e

g
r
a
b
s

c
o
u
r
t
e
s
y

o
f

W
a
r
n
e
r

B
r
o
s
.

Opposite: The
recently divorced
Theodore (Joaquin
Phoenix) struggles
with loneliness in his
futuristic
surroundings.
Cinematographer
Hoyt van Hoytema,
FSF, NSC made the
most of Los Angeles
ambient night
lighting in the
practical location. This
page, top: Theodore
downloads his new
operating system,
Samantha. Middle:
Theodore enjoys a
walk-and-talk with
Samantha, to whom
he connects via
earpiece. Bottom:
Roiling with
emotions, Theodore
checks his smart
phone for messages
from his OS lover.
texture could be something poetic was
kind of an epiphany for me. The main
reason we shot digital was to get
exactly the kind of finish that you cant
get from analog photography. I have
always loved the texture of film, and I
hope I never totally sail away from it.
Texture is one way to tell stories, but
this movie sort of imposed upon us a
different kind of thinking about
texture. It presents a future we do not
yet know, so we wanted a futuristic feel
of some type, but we didnt want to lose
the poetry, either. So, I started experi-
menting. I tested a lot of cameras,
including film cameras, the Alexa and
the [Sony] F65, and somehow, the
Alexa [in ArriRaw format] provided
the feel we wanted.
Whats funny is that throughout
the shoot, we thought we would add
some sort of grain or slight distortion
to the image in post, but when we got
to post and tried adding some grain,
we decided we didnt like it! So, in the
end, what you see is pure color correc-
tion. The images are very true to the
actual Alexa chip. The cameras color
rendition was very much in tune with
the kind of feel and poetry we wanted.
Another advantage to shooting
digital was that we wanted the Los
Angeles of the future to look slightly
brighter than it does today. Theodore
spends a lot of time alone in his apart-
ment at night, and we wanted the city
illuminated around him, so we needed
the extra stop or two the chip gives
you. I also decided to use a variety of
high-speed lenses to make the Alexa
more sensitive to light than the human
eye can see, allowing us to create a bit
of lighting architecture along the way.
However, we quickly realized we
would have to use the digital
viewfinder because we were working at
Shortly after downloading Samantha, Theodore tests the systems programming (top), but it
isnt long before he finds himself smitten with its intelligence and intuition (bottom).

And She Was
very low light levels, and we couldnt
see much through the optical
viewfinder!
Jonze: I had shot Alexa before,
and the only thing that worried me
was how it would handle daylight
Hoyte and I even talked about using
Alexa at night and 35mm during the
day. But I found that I also loved how
Alexa performs in the daytime. As
long as you make sure the whites dont
clip, it has a really beautiful creaminess
that worked great for this movie.
Tell us more about the set of
lenses you chose.
Van Hoytema: I sort of scraped
it together with [1st AC] Zoran
Veselic, and it was more of a toy box
than a set! I was totally non-dogmatic
about consistency; I used all sorts of
glass with different optical qualities
and distortions. We had lenses for
flashbacks, lenses for high-speed work,
and lenses for everyday scenes. I had a
very old set of uncoated Cooke
Panchros and an old set of Zeiss
Superspeed [MKII] lenses. I also used
a Canon K35 25-120mm [T2.8] zoom
that had a very specific flare I liked for
this film. I used that for the scene
where Theodore goes to the beach.
We understand that you didnt
use a DIT or even a video village.
Top: Theodore
spends his days
composing love
letters for
strangers.
Middle and
bottom: Van
Hoytema at
work in the
office location.
What was the reason for that?
Van Hoytema: Ive always been
irritated by the idea that you have to
have a DIT creating looks for you on
set. Plus, the focus on set diverts to the
monitor, and everyone spends his time
in the DIT tent, looking at the moni-
tor and tweaking the picture. Your
time on set is valuable, and at some
point, I think you have to trust that
some specific things can be handled
later in post. Otherwise, you can lose
that valuable time, and you can forget
to look at the people and things you
are actually filming. I wanted to focus
on what was in front of the camera. So,
Spike and I decided we didnt want a
DIT.
I considered the camera a raw
machine and viewed everything on the
monitors at a simple Log-C setting.
Thats a fairly lousy picture on set, but
we then sent our raw files to our dailies
grader, Bjorn Myerholt [of Digital
Film Tree], and he would grade the
picture according to what I had estab-
lished with him, and then send it back
on the server using [the Digital Film
Tree iOS app] Scribbeo. I could view
his work online each day and correct
things when necessary. The point is, we
took that whole process off the set, and
that gave us more freedom. In a way,
our approach was classic: we shot, sent
the material to someone else, commu-
nicated with that person every evening,
watched dailies, and then made
changes where we needed to. Digital
Film Tree tweaked Scribbeo for us so
that it was even better for color grad-
ing. On my iPad, I could see all grades
in still photos, call up those stills, draw
on the pictures, and even talk into the
microphone to give Bjorn notes about
changes I wanted to make. It was a
nice, sleek approach, and when we got
to the final grade, which I did with
Mats Holmgren at Chimney Pot [in
Sweden], it was really just a matter of
smoothing out a few things we didnt
spot when we were shooting. We were
so thorough with the dailies process
that the look was already there when
we finished shooting.
What were the primary chal-
lenges in lighting Theodores apart-
ment, where so many night scenes
take place?
Van Hoytema: Theodore spends
a lot of time in the darkness of his
apartment, and I wanted the modern
city to sort of bleed into his bedroom,

And She Was
Top: Theodore
heads home after
another days
work. Bottom: As
director Spike
Jonze (far right)
looks on, Van
Hoytema frames
up a shot of
Phoenix and Amy
Adams on a
rooftop in China,
which provided
some of the
films futuristic-
looking locations.
Conferences: April 510, 2014 | Exhibits: April 710 | Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada USA
The advances at play in media and entertainment have created unprecedented opportunity for you
to deliver innovation to the connected consumer. The digital insight you need to accomplish your
goals and play to win is here. Global to mobile, live to archive, sound and picture from
previs to post, big data or small market, NAB Show

is your channel. And this is your opportunity.
Join Us! #nabshow | www.nabshow.com
FREE
Exhibits-only
Pass code
PA02.
to extend light from the outside to the
inside. We didnt want to use a
TransLite or a backdrop, so we found
an apartment in downtown Los
Angeles that had big windows with a
great view of the city skyline. The
windows had tinted glass that inter-
fered with the exposure I needed, but
we exchanged that for clear glass,
which made the exterior about a stop
brighter.
We had to maintain a low level
of light inside the apartment so we
could read the light from the outside
properly. Our gaffer, Cory Geryak,
built light boxes that held RGB LED
lights that were all wired to a dimmer
system controlled remotely with
DMX. That gave us the ability to
change the level and color of our
sources instantly to correspond with
the colors coming in from outside.
During magic hour, for instance, we
could sort of glow them into the color
of the sky and bring that inside. We
discovered that when you have a foggy
night in Los Angeles, or when the air is
very heavy, you get more orange
sodium-vapor reflections from the
skyline, whereas on a clear night, the
light is colder. We could extend such
light characteristics in the apartment
by simply shifting around the colors,
which helped a lot. Corys crew also
rigged some Arri L-7C Fresnels in the
set to help with accurate color render-
ing and mixing. [Ed. Note: Geryaks
light boxes comprised 2'x3' panels lined
with eight rows of Litegear RGB and
Warm White ribbons, which were then
diffused with milky Plexiglas on the
face of the boxes. They were built into
practical set pieces to accommodate
wide shots, and two larger panels actu-
ally appear as walls of color in the back-
ground of some scenes.]
Jonze: It was a big deal budget-
wise to replace all those windows, but
we felt it was worth it. It made such a
difference to have light from this
incredible city actually help light the
apartment. At times, the LED boxes

And She Was
Eager to give
Samantha new
experiences,
Theodore takes
her to the beach
for a day.
were barely on, barely registering on
the light meter!
What was your approach to
filming all that close work with
Joaquin Phoenix in the apartment at
night, when Theodore is alone with
Samantha or his own thoughts?
Van Hoytema: We had a very
small crew for those scenes, and even
though we got very close to Joaquin,
we didnt take up much space or over-
load the situation with technology.
There was no hero lighting on him; I
dont really believe in that. To create
intimacy with him, we just needed the
actor and the camera, really. In certain
situations, when we had to be very
close to him physically, we favored a
wider lens and just got very close.
Jonze: At one point, Hoyte was
less than a foot away from Joaquin on
the bed, shooting handheld right next
to him. That can be hard for the actor,
but because it was Hoyte operating,
Joaquin felt comfortable. It was just

And She Was
Top: Van Hoytema goes handheld while shooting Phoenix and Olivia Wilde for a sequence
depicting one of Theodores unsuccessful blind dates.
84
Tink LEE
www.IeeIters.com
Hoyte, Zoran, me, the key grip, gaffer
and boom operator. The dimmer-board
operator was upstairs in another apart-
ment. We worked like that for two
weeks. We were all in a little bubble
together.
TECHNICAL SPECS
1.85:1
Digital Capture
Arri Alexa Studio, Alexa XT
Cooke Panchro,
Zeiss Superspeed MKII,
Canon K35
Jonze and Van Hoytema study the monitor in one of the productions vibrant locations.
85
HPA Honors 2013 Achievements
By Julie Sickel
The industrys top post professionals gathered at the Skirball
Cultural Center Nov. 7 for the eighth annual Hollywood Post Alliance
Awards, which honor outstanding achievement across several post
disciplines. Judges for the 2013 awards included ASC members
Denis Maloney, Daryn Okada and Robert Primes, and ASC associates
Ron Burdett, William Feightner, Lou Levinson and John Sprung.
HPA President Leon Silverman, general manager of digital
studio for Walt Disney, served as the evenings host, telling the
packed house, You make it all come together, and thats why we
have all come together tonight to celebrate the work you do.
Jason Stookey, vice president of sales for the National Associ-
ation of Broadcasters, presented four awards for Engineering Excel-
lence, which honor inventors, manufacturers, vendors and compa-
nies for outstanding products or technology applications. The
honorees were: DTS, Inc., for the MDA open object-based audio
specification; Nvidia, for the Grid Visual Computing Appliance; Sony
Pictures Imageworks and The Foundry, for Flix, a Web-based visual
story-development tool; and Telestream, for its 16-bit 4:4:4:4
transcoding technology.
Salvatore Totino, ASC, AIC, and Todd London, Walt Disney
Studios senior vice president of visual effects and postproduction for
feature films, presented the awards for Outstanding Color Grading
to: Anthony Smith of Encore, for the Castle episode Hunt; ASC
associate Dave Cole of Technicolor, for Life of Pi; and Tom Poole of
Company 3, for Under Armour, Brought to You by Under
Armour.
Also nominated for Outstanding Color Grading were: ASC
associate Steven J. Scott of Technicolor, for Iron Man 3; John Daro
of FotoKem, for Behind the Candelabra; Joe Finley of Modern Vide-
oFilm, for the Game of Thrones, Kissed By Fire; Maxine Gervais of
Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging, for Pacific Rim; Adam Glas-
man of Company 3, for Anna Karenina; Dave Hussey of Company
3, for Call of Duty, Masks; Tim Masick of Company 3, for Louis
Vuitton, LInvitation Au Voyage; Steven Porter of MTI Film, for Hell
on Wheels, Slaughterhouse; Adam Scott of The Mill, for Procter
& Gamble: Thank You, Mom: Best Job; Stefan Sonnenfeld of
Company 3, for Man of Steel, Star Trek Into Darkness and
Mercedes-Benz, Soul; Mike Sowa of Technicolor, for Oblivion; and
Paul Westerbeck of Encore, for CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,
Ghosts of the Past.
Awards for Outstanding Sound were presented to: Anthony
Post Focus
I
Hollywood Post Alliance President Leon Silverman addresses a packed house at the Skirball Cultural Center during the HPA Awards ceremony.
AMC_0114_p086_R_p087_R_00 post focus 12/2/13 4:13 PM Page 86
P
h
o
t
o
s

c
o
u
r
t
e
s
y

o
f

t
h
e

H
o
l
l
y
w
o
o
d

P
o
s
t

A
l
l
i
a
n
c
e
.
Moore of Factory, for Honda, Hands; Tim
Kimmel, Paula Fairfield, Brad Katona, Jed
Dodge, Onnalee Blank and Mathew Waters
of Todd AO, for Game of Thrones, The
Climb; and Erik Aadahl, Ethan Van der
Ryn, John Reitz and Gregg Rudloff of
Warner Bros. Sound, for Argo.
Awards for Outstanding Editing
were presented to: Doobie White of Ther-
apy Studios, for Nextel/Ferrari, Combus-
tion; Skip Macdonald, ACE, for Breaking
Bad, Dead Freight; and William Golden-
berg, ACE, for Argo.
Outstanding Visual Effects awards
were presented to: Simon French, William
Bartlett, Stephen Cullingford and Grant
Walker of Framestore, for Galaxy, Chauf-
fer; Joe Bauer, Jabbar Raisani, Jrn
Grosshans and Sven Martin of Pixomondo
and Doug Campbell of Spin VFX, for Game
of Thrones, Valar Dohaeris; and Lindy
DeQuattro, Eddie Pasquarello, Nigel
Sumner, Derrick Carlin and Chris Lentz of
Industrial Light & Magic, for Pacific Rim.
The HPA Judges Award for Creativity
and Innovation in Postproduction was
presented to Park Road Post Production for
its Next Generation Feature Film Workflow:
Enabling HFR 48FPS Stereoscopic 3D On Set
to On Screen.
Goldenberg, stepped to the stage to
present the 2013 Charles S. Swartz Award
for Outstanding Contribution in the Field of
Postproduction to Avid, stating working
with Avids digital editing technology when
it was released 25 years prior was one of the
transformative moments of my career.
Avid President and CEO Louis
Hernandez Jr. accepted the award on behalf
of the company. Avid has always been
warmly included as a member of the post
family, he said. We are honored as a
member of this family to be able to work
alongside you and play a small part in help-
ing you tell stories that inspire and bring joy
to the lives of so many people around the
world.
Hernandez added that it is an excit-
ing time to be working in the world of richly
edited media and the company looks
forward to the future. For Avid, the last 25
years is just the beginning.
Top left: Avid
President and CEO
Louis Hernandez Jr.
with ASC associate
member Silverman.
Top middle: ASC
associate/colorist Dave
Cole of Technicolor
accepts his award for
Life of Pi. Top right:
Colorist Anthony
Smith of Encore won
for the TV series
Castle. Bottom:
Salvatore Totino, ASC,
AIC (right) and Todd
London of Walt Disney
Studios announce
some winners.
AMC_0114_p086_R_p087_R_00 post focus 12/2/13 4:13 PM Page 87
P+S Technik Upgrades Interchangeable Mount System
P+S Technik has upgraded its Interchangeable Mount System
to a 2.0 version compatible with the Arri Alexa, Sony F55/F5/F3, Red
One and Epic, and cameras with a PS-IMS camera mount.
The updated mount supports the aperture control for elec-
tronic Canon EF lenses combined with the PrimeCircle XE controller
and features sturdier locking mechanisms for Canon EF and Nikon
mounts. IMS 2.0 works with Canon, Nikon, Leica, BNC-R or Panav-
ision mounted lenses.
For more information, visit www.pstechnik.de.
Schneider Adds Cine-Xenar III Prime, iPro 5
Schneider Optics has introduced the Cine-Xenar III series of
lenses and upgraded iPro, its add-on lens system for the iPhone.
The Cine-Xenar III range
features seven fixed focal
lengths: T2.2/14mm,
T2.2/18mm, T2.2/25mm,
T2.1/35mm, T2.0/50mm,
T2.0/75mm and
T2.0/95mm. Every lens in
the series is easily inter-
changeable and features
user-friendly focus with legi-
ble inscriptions and precise
setting mechanisms. The lenses come with a PL mount and can be
used on professional cameras such as the Red One, Arri Alexa,
Canon C series and Sony F series. An interchangeable camera bayo-
net also enables the lenses to be used with semi-professional digital
SLR cameras like the Canon EOS 7D.
Schneiders iPro 5 line is compatible with the iPhone 5 and
features an expanded series of lenses. The Series 2 family of lenses
New Products & Services
SUBMISSION INFORMATION
Please e-mail New Products/Services releases to
newproducts@ascmag.com and include full contact
information and product images. Photos must be
TIFF or JPEG files of at least 300dpi.
includes the Fisheye, which offers 180 degrees of view with a larger
image circle and sharper images; the Super Wide, which doubles
the field of view of the iPhones built-in lens; the Wide Angle, which
features edge-to-edge sharpness; the Macro, for detailed close-ups;
and the 2X Tele, specially designed for the higher-resolution iPhone
5 camera.
Users who own the original iPro lens series for the iPhone 4
and 4S will be able to use their existing lenses on the iPhone 5 by
upgrading to the new iPro 5 Series 1 case. The slide-on, two-section
case features a bayonet mount to accept both the original iPro
optics and the Series 2 lenses.
For more information, visit www.schneiderkreuznach.com
and www.iprolens.com.
Fujifilm Extends
Zoom Range
Fujifilm North
America Corp., Optical
Devices Division has extended
the range of the Premier PL 14-35mm
Cabrio ZK2.5x14 wide-angle lens from its
initial debut.
The new 14-35mm Cabrio was designed with
the latest customer feedback, especially regarding focal
length, says Thom Calabro, director of marketing and product
development for the Optical Devices Division of Fujifilm North Amer-
ica Corp. As with all of our Cabrio lenses, the 14-35mm lens is
lightweight and comfortable to use with todays smaller 4K
cameras, but weve expanded the focal-length range from its initial
NAB showing to 14-35mm at T2.9, with 200-degree focus rotation.
For shooters looking for a lightweight zoom that can be used as a
handheld, capturing wide angles in tight spaces, its ideal.
The PL 14-35mm Cabrio lens has a detachable digital servo
drive and can be used as a self-contained ENG-style lens or cine-style
lens. When used without the drive, industry-standard cine motors
can be fitted.
The digital servos 16-bit encoding assures operators that all
lens data output including the position of the zoom, iris and
focus is accurate. The PL 14-35mm lens supports Lens Data
System and /i metadata formats, and can be controlled using stan-
dard wireless controllers, as well as existing Fujinon wired and wire-
less units.
The Cabrio series also includes the recently introduced
Premier PL 19-90mm and the PL 85-300mm lenses.
For more information, visit www.fujifilmusa.com.
AMC_0114_p088_p091_00 new products 11/29/13 6:12 PM Page 88
Rokinon Offers Wide-Angle
Cine Lens
Rokinon has released its 16mm T2.2
Cine lens, a wide-angle lens for DSLR and
mirrorless cameras in both APS-C and Micro
Four Thirds formats.
The 16mm is ideal for shooting land-
scapes, architecture and interiors, or close-
ups with a shallow depth-of-field. The lens
features de-clicked apertures and follow-
focus compatibility and is solidly
constructed with 13 optical elements in 11
groups with two aspherical lenses.
The lens is available in a wide range
of mounts for Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Sony,
Canon M, Fujifilm X, Samsung NC and
Micro Four Thirds cameras.
For additional information, visit
www.rokinon.com.
3-D SinaCam Goes Basic
Solectrix has presented a 2-D sister
version of its 3-D SinaCam.
The 2-D SinaCam Basic is catered to
fit the needs of broadcast crews and has
been designed for use with OB vehicles. The
camera is lightweight and flexible with an
absolute colorfastness and maximum
image processing performance. It can be
connected with the standard Sony remote-
control panel of an OB vehicle, and a lens-
control module allows the camera to
connect directly with a studio lens.
Both the 3-D and 2-D SinaCams use
a
2
3" CCD sensor and offer up to 60 fps in
HD resolution (1920x1080). Remote heads
can be equipped with a range of lenses. A
B4-mount converter is also available, which
establishes the mechanical connection and
replicates the image size and the optical
path of the beamsplitter prism.
The camera uses a V-mount and an
Anton-Bauer battery-mount adapter.
www.sinaCAM.eu.

Willy Levels Widgets
Willys Widgets has released a line of
four-way leveling heads for jib arms and
other devices.
Various models of the heads are
available in configura-
tions that adapt to
Mitchell and Euro
fittings. The heads are
also available in the
reverse configuration
of Mitchell to Euro, as
well as Mitchell to
Mitchell and bolt
styles for various
models of jib arms.
Willys also offers geared, locking and
rotating camera offsets in many configura-
tions, including Euro and Mitchell models.
For additional information visit
www.willyswidgets.com.
Blackcam Provides
Remote Control
BlackcamSystem has introduced
compact and portable remote-controlled
camera tracking
systems. The versa-
tile systems are
ideal for capturing
unique perspec-
tives from angles unreachable by conven-
tional handheld, tripod or full-sized
remote-controlled camera-support
systems. Blackcams can be installed in,
around or above a stage or set (overslung
or underslung) for dynamic moving shots.
BlackcamSystems are controlled via
cable or a wireless remote. They are avail-
able in three sizes to accommodate a vari-
ety of cameras. The full-sized Blackcam
model B40 accepts a range of cameras,
including Arri Alexa M, Red Epic and Scar-
let, and Sony F5/F55/P1. The B40 is also
compatible with a 3-D mirror rig. The mid-
sized B20 is compatible with Bradleys
Camball HDC 15, and DSLR cameras such
as the Canon 5D. The super-compact B10
fits in a suitcase-style carrier for on-board air
transport and is ideal for tiny HD cameras
like GoPro, Modula Baby MKII, SinaCam
and Indiecam.
Each BlackcamSystem includes a
camera cradle, dolly, track, production
cabling and remote-control system. The
track comes in linear or curved segments for
a dynamic configuration. The Blackcam
dolly features a vertical capacity of up to 15
degrees uphill, and the unit can be powered
using AC with cables or via battery, which
runs the system for at least two hours per
charge on average.
Additional customizations are avail-
able for each system.
www.blackcamsystem.com.
90
91
Nikon Lights Videos
Nikon has released the LD-1000 LED
Movie Light, an optional lighting accessory
for Nikon 1 and Coolpix cameras.
The LD-1000 is compact and light-
weight. It features a built-in diffusion panel
that enables natural, even exposure and
smooth textures with soft light. The bracket
can also be removed from the movie light,
allowing it to be held in the hand for free
control over the angle of lighting. Addition-
ally, the LD-1000 offers continuous lighting
with a live measure of degree and effect
while shooting.
The light comes in black or white for
a suggested retail price $99.95.
www.nikonusa.com.
PAG Taps Into Power
PAG has introduced camera-specific
D-Tap Power Leads for a range of popular
cameras, including the Canon C300/500,
Blackmagic Cinema Camera and Nikon
D800 DSLR. Models for other cameras are
available on request.
When used in combination with a
PAG V-Mount Plate, the Leads make it
possible to achieve extended camera run
time and a higher current draw using
PAGlink or standard PAG V-Mount batter-
ies. PAG V-Mount Plate assemblies allow
for clamping to either 15mm or 19mm
camera accessory/mattebox rods (rails/bars)
for cameras where its not possible to
mount larger batteries directly. The V-
Mount Plate can be configured to sit hori-
zontally or vertically, above or below the
rods, so that it does not obstruct the
camera display or other accessories. A D-
Tap output is incorporated, allowing the
power connection to be made using the
camera-specific D-Tap Power Lead.
www.paguk.com.
z&) wtst Msgsslls Ilti. Iar|ss|, |k )I))
|lsst. &I&-&1&-))zz www.jrs&mm.tsm
Cameras
Film
Processing
Scanning
(SD/HD/2K)
NOW IN 2K DATA
The ajtr & ttjtrts fsr
jrsiattlss ssi ltgst fsstsgt
!J||k k||J|k MK !J||k 1MM1MM

& s r j . w w w z z ) ) - & 1 & - & I & . t s s l |
, | s s | r a I . i t l I s l l s s g s M t s t w ) & z
NOW IN 2K D
M M 1 M M 1 k | | J ! K M k | J | | k k | | J !
t g s t s s ffs t s g t l i s s s s l t t a i s r j
r s ffs s t r t j t t & r t j a he T

m s t . m m
) ) I ) k |
A TTA AAT NOW IN 2K D
International Marketplace
(623) 561-6490 ( 33) 55 4499 6622 6611-66 0
w
w
w
.
d
a
n
a
d
o
l
l
y
.
c
o
m
Butter Smooth.....Completely Silent
AMC_0114_p092_p094_00 marketplace&ad index 11/29/13 6:15 PM Page 92
Classifieds
EQUIPMENT FOR SALE
4X5 85 Glass Filters, Diffusion, Polas etc. A
Good Box Rental 818-763-8547
14,000+ USED EQUIPMENT ITEMS. PRO VIDEO
& FILM EQUIPMENT COMPANY. 50 YEARS
EXPERIENCE. New: iLLUMiFLEX LIGHTS &
FluidFlex TRIPODS.
www.UsedEquipmentNewsletter.com AND
www.ProVideoFilm.com
EMAIL: ProVidFilm@aol.com
CALL BILL 972 869 9990, 888 869 9998.
Worlds SUPERMARKET of USED MOTION
PICTURE EQUIPMENT! Buy, Sell, Trade.
CAMERAS, LENSES, SUPPORT, AKS & MORE!
Visual Products, Inc. www.visualproducts.com
Call 440.647.4999
SERVICES AVAILABLE
STEADICAM ARM QUALITY SERVICE OVER-
HAUL AND UPDATES. QUICK TURNAROUND.
ROBERT LUNA (323) 938-5659.
MISCELLANEOUS
HIRING manager for Red, Epic, Scarlet rental house,
Burbank area
Call: 626-674-7999 e-mail: 37887392@qq.com
CLASSIFIED AD RATES
All classifications are $4.50 per word. Words set in
bold face or all capitals are $5.00 per word. First word
of ad and advertisers name can be set in capitals with-
out extra charge. No agency commission or discounts on
clas si fied advertising.PAYMENT MUST AC COM PA NY ORDER.
VISA, Mastercard, AmEx and Discover card are ac cept -
ed. Send ad to Clas si fied Ad ver tis ing, Amer i can
Cin e ma tog ra pher, P.O. Box 2230, Hol ly wood, CA
90078. Or FAX (323) 876-4973. Dead line for payment
and copy must be in the office by 15th of second month
preceding pub li ca tion. Sub ject mat ter is lim it ed to items
and ser vic es per tain ing to film mak ing and vid eo pro duc -
tion. Words used are sub ject to mag a zine style ab bre vi -
a tion. Min i mum amount per ad: $45
CLASSIFIEDS ON-LINE
Ads may now also be placed in the on-line Classi-
fieds at the ASC web site.
Internet ads are seen around the world at the
same great rate as in print, or for slightly more you
can appear both online and in print.
For more information please visit
www.theasc.com/advertiser, or e-mail: classi-
fieds@theasc.com.
Advertisers Index
AC Chemical Wedding 83
Adorama 29, 45
AJA Video Systems, Inc. 31
Alan Gordon 93
Arri 27
AZGrip 92
Backstage Equipment, Inc. 8
Birns & Sawyer 92
Blackmagic Design, Inc. 25
Canon USA Video 21
Carl Zeiss SBE, LLC 19
Cavision Enterprises 92
CBS Films 5
Chapman/Leonard Studio
Equipment Inc. 43
Cinebags Inc. 93
Cine Gear Expo 71
Cinematography
Electronics 89
Cinekinetic 92
Convergent 35
Cooke Optics 17
Creative Handbook 84
CTT 74
Eastman Kodak C4
Film Gear (International), Ltd.
47
Filmotechnic USA 75
Filmtools 6
Fox Searchlight 11
Glidecam Industries 33
Grip Factory Munich/GFM 8
Hollywood Post Alliance 89
Jod Soraci 6
Kino Flo 63
Koerner Camera Systems 8
Lee Filters 85
Lights! Action! Co. 93
Maccam 62
Matthews Studio
Equipment/MSE 92
M.M. Mukhi & Sons 93
Movie Tech AG 92, 93
NAB 81
NBC Universal 59
Nevada Film Commission 48
Next Shot 47
No Subtitles Necessary 90
Panavision, Inc. C3
Panther Gmbh 49
Paramount Pictures 9, 13
Pille Filmgeraeteverleih
Gmbh 92
Pro8mm 92
Red Digital Cinema C2-1
Samys DV & Edit 23
Schneider Optics 2
Sony Electronics, Inc. 14-15
Sony Pictures Entertainment
7
Super16, Inc. 92
SXSW 91
Technocrane 61
Willys Widgets 92
www.theasc.com 90, 94
94
Szalay Joins Society
New member Attila Szalay, ASC,
CSC, HSC was born in Budapest, Hungary.
His family moved to England for a year
before settling in Alberta, Canada, where
Szalay became interested in filmmaking. He
studied film production and cinematography
at Sheridan College in Toronto.
After graduating in 1982, Szalay
began working as a camera assistant on
National Film Board documentaries, TV
dramas and music videos. Between 1990
and 1996, he worked with his mentor, Laszlo
George, CSC, HSC, on more than 30 projects
as an A-camera operator. Szalay became a
director of photography in the mid-1990s.
His film and television credits include
The Outer Limits, The X-Files, Smallville, The L
Word, Peacemakers, Touching Evil, The
Mountain, Masters of Horror, Iron Road, Fear
Itself, The Pillars of the Earth, Defiance and
Cult. He has received multiple nods for Best
Cinematography from the CSC as well as a
2011 Emmy nomination for his work on The
Pillars of the Earth. He is currently filming the
series The Bridge in Los Angeles.
Kodak Places Navarro in
Residence at UCLA
Guillermo Navarro, ASC has been
named the 2013 Kodak cinematographer-in-
residence at the University of California, Los
Angeles School of Theater, Film and Televi-
sion.
The program, sponsored by Eastman
Kodak Company, began in 2000 to enhance
the learning experience of students with
insight from renowned cinematographers.
Navarro will work with students over the
course of 10 weeks.
Previously honored cinematographers
include: Richard Crudo, ASC; Roger Deakins,
ASC, BSC; Dante Spinotti, ASC, AIC; John
Bailey, ASC; Stephen H. Burum, ASC; Vilmos
Zsigmond, ASC; Victor J. Kemper, ASC; Joan
Churchill, ASC; Laszlo Kovacs, ASC; Owen
Roizman, ASC; Conrad L. Hall, ASC; Dean
Cundey, ASC and Allen Daviau, ASC.
Starz Salutes Morgenthau
The 36th Starz Denver Film Festival
honored Kramer Morgenthau, ASC with
its George Hickenlooper Honorary Award.
This is the second year Starz has
bestowed the award, which was created to
honor Hickenloopers talent and warm
heart along with the quality of filmmaking
he inspired. Morgenthau worked with Hick-
enlooper on The Big Brass Ring, Dog Town,
The Man from Elysian Fields and Mayor of
the Sunset Strip. Last years inaugural award
recipient was actor Andy Garcia.
Smith Joins ETC
Associate member Garrett Smith
has been named the senior creative liaison
for Entertainment Technology Consultants,
a provider of production and consulting
services to the entertainment technology
sector. Smith is joined by Matt Cowan, who
will assume the role of chief creative engi-
neer. The pair will focus on technology
developments that enhance the creation,
processing and display of content for the
entertainment industry.
The industry is evolving rapidly and
undergoing a major shift in direction. We
need to provide our clients with the exper-
tise and vision to lead, says H. Loren
Nielsen, ETCs president and co-founder. I
cannot imagine two people I would rather
have onboard to help guide the transition
than Matt and Garrett.
Smith joins ETC after serving for
decades as head of mastering and produc-
tion technology at Paramount Pictures.
Ive had the good fortune of work-
ing on some groundbreaking projects
during my career, and ETC is engaged in
some of the most interesting work going on
in the entertainment technology industry
today, says Smith. Im excited.
Clubhouse News
P
h
o
t
o

o
f

C
l
u
b
h
o
u
s
e

b
y

I
s
i
d
o
r
e

M
a
n
k
o
f
s
k
y
,

A
S
C
;

l
i
g
h
t
i
n
g

b
y

D
o
n
a
l
d

M
.

M
o
r
g
a
n
,

A
S
C
.
N
a
v
a
r
r
o

p
h
o
t
o

b
y

K
e
r
r
y

H
a
y
e
s
,

S
M
P
S
P
.

M
o
r
g
e
n
t
h
a
u

p
h
o
t
o

b
y

J
a
y

M
a
i
d
m
e
n
t
,

S
M
P
S
P
.
Top: Attila Szalay, ASC, CSC, HSC.
Middle: Guillermo Navarro, ASC.
Bottom: Kramer Morgenthau, ASC.
AMC_0114_p095_00 clubhouse news 11/29/13 6:05 PM Page 95
When you were a child, what film made the strongest impres-
sion on you?
The Wizard of Oz (1939).
Which cinematographers, past or present, do you most
admire?
Bob Richardson [ASC], for his great taste, his eclectic body of work,
and the way he makes outrageously hot toplight look natural.
Gordon Willis [ASC], for his impecca-
ble control and his work with Francis
Coppola and Woody Allen, among
many others. Vittorio Storaro [ASC,
AIC], because if hed shot nothing
besides Apocalypse Now, hed still be
a hero. Its such a beautiful hallucina-
tion. Also, Roger Deakins [ASC, BSC],
John Alton [ASC], Gregg
Toland [ASC], Emmanuel Lubezki
[ASC, AMC] too many to list, actu-
ally. One of the things they all have in
common is that theyve worked with
great directors and made classic
movies.
What sparked your interest in photography?
When I was 6, I got a Polaroid Swinger camera. Black-and-white, and
the picture developed in 60 seconds. Amazing.
Where did you train and/or study?
The University of Texas at Austin.
Who were your early teachers or mentors?
My first job out of college was working in New York City with
commercial director/cameraman Steve Horn. His sense of lighting,
lensing and texture was very inspiring. I then had the great good
fortune to work with a gaffer named Peter Bloor on Homeboy, a film
shot by Gale Tattersall and directed by Michael Seresin [BSC]. (Thanks,
Mike Trim.) That really opened my eyes and led to a real appreciation
of that Peter Bizou [BSC]/Chris Menges [ASC, BSC]/Alan Parker sensi-
bility. I also learned to run a heavy-head Brute Arc.
What are some of your key artistic influences?
Music, cartoons, formal black-and-white portraiture and, of
course, films.
How did you get your first break in the business?
The teaching assistant in my first film class asked me to operate for
his thesis film. Id never operated in my life. After the cinematogra-
pher left, I ended up shooting the rest of the film myself (with the
help of a great Austin crew).
What has been your most satisfying moment on a project?
Running across the Brooklyn Bridge on Cloverfield, directing the heli-
copter and its light all around the bridge; screening dailies for my
first feature amongst friends and seeing the images projected; and,
of course, surfing during lunch on Lost.
Have you made any memorable blunders?
Oh, yeah .
What is the best professional
advice youve ever received?
Never stand when you can sit, and
never sit when you can lie down.
What recent books, films or
artworks have inspired you?
Films: Django Unchained, The Place
Beyond the Pines, Mud and
Gravity. Books: Paulo Coelhos The
Alchemist, Bruce Blocks The Visual
Story and James Ellroys Bloods a
Rover. Music: Fleet Foxes, Jack White,
Jay-Z and KCSN radio.
Do you have any favorite genres, or genres you would like to
try?
Drama.
If you werent a cinematographer, what might you be doing
instead?
I cant really imagine.
Which ASC cinematographers recommended you for
membership?
Steven Poster, Alan Caso and Kees van Oostrum.
How has ASC membership impacted your life and career?
In addition to it being a great personal honor, I love the Clubhouse
and being able to meet and spend time with other
cameramen. Thats the best part of all.
Michael Bonvillain, ASC Close-up
P
h
o
t
o

b
y

S
a
m

E
m
e
r
s
o
n
.
AMC_0114_p096_00 asc closeup 11/24/13 11:48 AM Page 96
AMC_0114_pCV3_Layout 1 11/23/13 3:51 PM Page 1
W
E

M
A
K
E

F
I
L
M
.

Y
O
U
,

T
H
E

I
N
D
U
S
T
R
Y
,

M
A
K
E

I
T

P
O
S
S
I
B
L
E
.

K
o
d
a
k
,

2
0
1
3
.

K
o
d
a
k

i
s

a

t
r
a
d
e
m
a
r
k
.
M
otion picture lm
has been part of Kodak from
the very beginning, and it
continues to be part of Kodak as w
e begin again.W
e are proud to supply the lm

that m
akes your im
ages and stories incredible.For uncom
prom
ising beauty,
shoot on KO
DAK M
otion Picture Film
. Kodak.com
/go/m
otion
AMC_0114_pCV4_Layout 1 11/23/13 3:52 PM Page 1

American Cinematographer - January 2014 (Gnv64)

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

American Cinematographer - January 2014 (Gnv64)

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

J ANUARY 2014

$5.95 Canada $6.95

CIRCULATION, BOOKS & PRODUCTS

ASC GENERAL MANAGER Brett Grauman

AMC_0114_p022_p034_00 prod slate 11/23/13 4:45 PM Page 28

AMC_0114_p050_p063_b_feature 11/23/13 4:55 PM Page 59

You might also like