April 2015

APRIL 2015
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TWO ROBOTS & TWO FULL SETS OF MODEL MOVERS
The International Journal of Motion Imaging
On Our Cover: A self-aware robot fights for his friends and his own right to exist in the
sci-fi feature Chappie, shot by Trent Opaloch. (Image courtesy of Columbia Pictures.)
FEATURES
36
54
68
82
Electric Hero
Trent Opaloch and his collaborators step into the fray
alongside the robot hero of Chappie
54
A Wider World
Florian Ballhaus, ASC lends his talents to the Divergent
franchise with Insurgent
Star-Crossed Love
Ellen Kuras, ASC shoots on film for the period feature
A Little Chaos
Visions of Grandeur
68
A look back at the 70mm production of The Big Trail,

photographed by Arthur Edeson, ASC
DEPARTMENTS
10
12
14
22
94
100
114
115
116
118
120
Editors Note
Presidents Desk
Short Takes: Little Favour Instruments of Darkness
Production Slate: While Were Young The Gunman
Filmmakers Forum: Thom Best, CSC
New Products & Services
International Marketplace
Classified Ads
Ad Index
Clubhouse News
ASC Close-Up: Tami Reiker
VISIT WWW.THEASC.COM
82
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Enjoy our free, exclusive podcasts!
NEW: 71
Cinematographer Tat Radcliffe shares his approach to this cat-and-mouse thriller, which
COMING SOON:
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Christopher Manley, ASC, discusses

shooting and directing episodes of AMCs
acclaimed drama, which returns for its
final season on April 5.
www.theasc.com/site/podcasts/
71 photos by Dean Rogers, courtesy of Roadside Attractions. Mad Men photos by Michael Yarish and Justina Mintz, courtesy of AMC.
was recently released in the U.S. by Roadside Attractions.
A p r i l
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V o l .
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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF and PUBLISHER

Stephen Pizzello
EDITORIAL
MANAGING EDITOR Jon D. Witmer
ASSOCIATE EDITOR Andrew Fish
TECHNICAL EDITOR Christopher Probst
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Benjamin B, Douglas Bankston, John Calhoun, Mark Dillon, Michael Goldman, Simon Gray,
David Heuring, Jay Holben, Noah Kadner, Jean Oppenheimer, Iain Stasukevich, Patricia Thomson
ART & DESIGN

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Marion Kramer
PHOTO EDITOR Kelly Brinker
ONLINE
MANAGING DIRECTOR Rachael K. Bosley
PODCASTS Jim Hemphill, Iain Stasukevich, Chase Yeremian
BLOGS
Benjamin B
John Bailey, ASC
David Heuring
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American Cinematographer (ISSN 0002-7928), established 1920 and in its 95th year of publication, is published monthly in Hollywood by
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American Society of Cinematographers

The ASC is not a labor union or a guild, but
an educational, cultural and professional
organization. Membership is by invitation
to those who are actively engaged as
directors of photography and have
demonstrated outstanding ability. ASC
membership has become one of the highest
honors that can be bestowed upon a
professional cinematographer a mark
of prestige and excellence.
OFFICERS - 2014/2015
Richard Crudo
President
Owen Roizman
Vice President
Kees van Oostrum

Vice President
Lowell Peterson
Vice President
Matthew Leonetti
Treasurer
Frederic Goodich
Secretary
Isidore Mankofsky
Sergeant At Arms
MEMBERS OF THE
BOARD
John Bailey
Bill Bennett
Curtis Clark
Dean Cundey
George Spiro Dibie
Richard Edlund
Michael Goi
Matthew Leonetti
Stephen Lighthill
Daryn Okada
Michael O Shea
Lowell Peterson
Rodney Taylor
Kees van Oostrum
Haskell Wexler
ALTERNATES
Isidore Mankofsky
Karl Walter Lindenlaub
Robert Primes
Steven Fierberg
Kenneth Zunder
MUSEUM CURATOR
8
Steve Gainer
A sentient robot no longer seems like something

well only see in sci-fi movies, but hopefully when
that day comes, the result will be more like the helpful TARS robot from Interstellar than the hubristic
HAL 9000 computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
In Chappie, cinematographer Trent Opaloch
reteamed with director Neill Blomkamp to envision
an artificial intelligence that thinks, feels, and learns
on the fly. Extensive effects work was required to
help the filmmakers present a fully convincing robot
the audience can root for, and Blomkamps preference for lighting sets to accommodate 360-degree
coverage added further complexities to Opalochs
role. In discussing the project with Mark Dillon
(Electric Hero, page 36), Opaloch notes that
South African actor Sharlto Copley and stunt double
Ian Stock performed the titular robots movements
before they were digitally replaced with the animated Chappie in nearly 1,000 shots. Opaloch
adds that Copleys on-set ad-libbing often drove scenes in new directions but didnt leave
much time for adjusting lights. In a studio approach you would say, Were going to re-light
for that, but we couldnt with the way Neill likes to move. Gaffer Alan Barnes would send in
a lamp op to follow actors with a handheld light so we could read their expressions.
Florian Ballhaus, ASC faced his own set of challenges on another big sci-fi movie: Insurgent the sequel to last years Divergent, shot by Alwin Kchler, BSC. The filmmakers were
encouraged to pursue new visual strategies that would expand the sagas world while putting
a new spin on the simulated-reality environments (or Sims) introduced in the first film. As
Ballhaus relates in an interview with Michael Goldman (A Wider World, page 54), his plan
involved the strategic mixing of anamorphic and spherical lenses: In a movie that effortlessly
switches between levels of reality, both physical and emotional, we wanted to subtly set the
Sims apart from the real world. I felt that the synthetic nature of computer-generated projections lent itself to the clean look of spherical lenses versus the more analog, imperfect feel
of the anamorphics.
Ellen Kuras, ASC takes viewers not into the future, but the past, with A Little Chaos, a
17th-century romance that paired her with actor-director Alan Rickman. In a Q&A session with
Jean Oppenheimer (Star-Crossed Love, page 68), Kuras details the approach she took to
keep the story resonant for modern audiences. Although everything was authentic to the
period there were no anachronistic elements Alan didnt want the film to feel like a
rarefied period piece with no relevance to contemporary life, she says. He wanted it to feel
like a story that could happen just as easily today as in the 17th century.
In the fascinating historical piece Visions of Grandeur (page 82), Jason Apuzzo
revisits The Big Trail, an epic Western shot by ASC co-founder Arthur Edeson in the 70mm
Grandeur format. An extremely innovative film that featured John Wayne in his first starring
role, Trail is celebrating its 85th anniversary, and Apuzzos meticulously researched piece offers
readers an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at a production that large-format aficionado John
Hora, ASC lauds as monumental.
10
Stephen Pizzello
Editor-in-Chief and Publisher
Photo by Owen Roizman, ASC.
Editors Note
Each day, global, national and local events conspire to imprint upon us that were living in
a post-truth, post-common sense and, indeed, a post-reality reality. Even the most fleeting
exposure to the mainstream media is enough to prove how bereft of responsibility they and
so many other once-respected institutions have become. Hollywood has not been immune
to this trend, and by necessity most of us have reached some degree of peace with that.
Nonetheless, every so often something flies over the transom that really makes you scratch
your head. For example, a number of friends and colleagues recently forwarded me a series
of social-media postings, and their subject certainly warrants attention.
Assume for a moment that a landowner wants to build a house. After an architect
delivers a set of plans, a builder is brought in, followed by a parade of specialized contractors and subcontractors. Throughout the process, the architects thoughts, preferences and
even emotions concerning what he or she wants to achieve are incorporated in a tangible
set of plans that lay out how the house will be constructed and what it will look like in its
final form. Every detail is reviewed, and allowances are made for fine adjustments or massive
changes that may be required as work progresses.
Having been party to this sort of adventure on a few occasions, I can tell you that the
deliberations are by nature limited to a small number of participants. And though the information is eventually disseminated to the larger group of collaborators, heres the important
part: The initial intent for the look of the building is held in the heads of only a few principal creators. This is similar in many ways to putting together a movie or TV project. The producer is the landowner, the director the
architect, and the cinematographer the builder.
Which brings us back to those troubling Web postings. It seems a growing number of people within the industry are buying
into the misconception that what cinematographers do is no longer quite as thought-through and controlled as it used to be. They
believe that what comes out of todays digital cameras is just a pile of data thats whipped into shape and given its final form by a
variety of other people after the capture part is in the books and the cinematographer has left the party.
Should anyone who endorses that be reading this, allow me to educate you: Nothing could be further from the truth. Surely
the list of a cinematographers responsibilities was appreciable during the film era, but it has blown up exponentially with the arrival
of digital technology.
Production designers, costume designers, art directors, hair and makeup people, camera operators, gaffers, grips, visual-effects
specialists and a host of others all make valuable contributions to the look of a production; we are fortunate and thankful to have
them with us as we go into battle. On the postproduction side, everyone should be reminded how tremendously well-served we are
by film color timers and digital colorists. But lets be clear: None of these talented, creative individuals is charged with the authority
to conceive and execute the cinematographers list of actions any more than the cinematographer is charged with executing theirs.
We each have a role to play in the creation of visual entertainment. As cinematographers, ours is to use artistry, technical expertise and good taste to turn the directors ideas into physical reality. Only one pair of eyes is qualified to guide the look and texture of
the image from conception through delivery, and those eyes belong to the cinematographer. To proclaim differently is at best
misguided or uninformed. At worst its an outright lie.
Many industry websites are spotted with the ravings of those who are easily recognized as geniuses without rsum. With
absolute conviction, they rant and pontificate like lunatics about subjects of which they have no knowledge or, worse, just enough
to seem like they do. Maybe theyre aware of the damage thats spread in their wake. Maybe not.
At this most dubious juncture of human history, truth-telling has never been more urgently needed. And while this misleading faction doesnt seem to be going away anytime soon, they really should start to consider: When the pendulum starts to swing
the other way, the payback might not be so kind.
Richard P. Crudo
ASC President
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April 2015
American Cinematographer
Photo by Douglas Kirkland.
Presidents Desk
Short Takes
Shooting Back-to-Back Shorts

By James Friend, BSC
Although Im no stranger to either features or television

series, Ive recently found myself behind the camera for two short
films. Each presented its fair share of challenges and opportunities,
and as I consider how my collaborators and I approached these
projects, I must tip my hat to two mentors who have supported and
inspired me for many years: Paul Wheeler, BSC and Phil Mheux,
BSC.
The first short, directed by Patrick Viktor Monroe, was Little
Favour, which stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Wallace, a.k.a. Ace, an
Iraq War veteran suffering from PTSD. Seven years after returning
home, Ace is unexpectedly contacted by James (Colin Salmon), his
erstwhile commanding officer, who now finds himself in deep water
with a criminal organization led by Logan (Nick Moran). Having
saved Aces life on the battlefield, James calls in the titular favor,
asking Ace to hide his daughter, Lyla (Paris Monroe).
The film marked my first time collaborating with Patrick, who
kindly notes, My vision for Little Favour depended on a collaboration with a cinematographer who understood much more than the
technical aspects of filmmaking. A deep understanding of the [characters] inner mood was necessary. James had to be able to evolve as
I evolved through the journey toward [the films] completion.
For my part, I was thrilled with Patricks script. I hadnt read
anything like it in a short format before; it was well paced and well
14
April 2015
suited to our current time. When we got the green light for the
shoot, Patrick and I were both on other projects, so the majority of
our preproduction work was done late at night. We extensively
storyboarded key scenes, knowing that we would be working under
strict time and location limitations during our four-day shoot.
Faced with those restrictions, I approached my usual team for
the film, and I was ecstatic when they all jumped in with equal
enthusiasm. Fabrizio Sciarra operated the A camera and Steadicam,
with Danny Bishop on the B camera; we were also joined by my
longtime gaffer, Sol Saihati, best boy electric Genki McClure, and
rigging gaffer Aldo Camilleri.
The film is set entirely at night, which was both visually exciting and technically challenging for a short film with our limited
resources. Our camera package included two Sony F65s, which our
rental house, Movietech, had recently acquired. Having worked with
the F65 before, I was aware of its staggering resolution, which I was
keen to reduce, as Im not a lover of super-sharp imagery. My lenses
of choice for the project were Leica Summilux-C primes, partnered
with Cooke S4/i primes for super-wide and longer focal lengths
when shooting outside of the set. (After principal photography
concluded, we also used a Red Epic MX for a few pickups.)
Sol and I put the cameras and lenses through their paces,
lighting some test scenes entirely with candlelight and shooting at
ISO 1,600, then screening the footage in 4K resolution on a theater
screen. The results were stunning. The F65 is a great system that
affords a lot of control with an impressive dynamic range.
All images courtesy of the filmmakers.
In Little Favour, one of two recent short films shot by James Friend, BSC, Iraq war veteran Ace (Benedict Cumberbatch)
helps his commanding officer by hiding his daughter.
For Little Favour, we opted to shoot

full frame and then crop to our desired
2.40:1 aspect ratio. With the cameras
mechanical shutter set to 45 degrees, we
captured Sony Raw Lite at 25 fps to 256GB
SRMemory cards.
The film called for a lighting style
with a large amount of backlight, which
can result in unwanted flares if you diffuse
optically. So, with digital-imaging technician
Pablo Garcia (who also served as the films
final colorist), I decided to add some softening and diffusion digitally. In certain
instances, though, I also used a Schneider
True-Streak Blue filter, which creates quite
an interesting flare on the highlights in the
frame and also added a degree of cosmetic
softening. (We looked at adding these
flares digitally, but found an unconvincing
lack of interaction with the flare when the
camera was in motion.)
For the films finale, we shot in
Elstree Studios Stage 1, which served as an
abandoned warehouse where Ace and Lyla
are held by Logans gang. The scene
contains a lot of action, including a
gunfight, which we captured from a 30'
Technocrane and a Steadicam shooting 360
degrees. Working closely with production
designer Russell De Rozario, we rigged
practicals along the walls to give us background highlights. It was vital that we keep
our light off the walls to help disguise the
fact that we were on a soundstage.
Top: For the films

finale, Stage 1 at
Elstree Studios
served as the
abandoned
warehouse where
Ace and Lyla (Paris
Monroe) are held by
Logan (Nick Moran)
and his gang.
Middle: Friend lines
up a shot. Bottom:
The flame from a
lighter serves to
introduce Aces
commanding officer
(Colin Salmon)
in the shorts
opening scene.
16
April 2015
Top: The second

short film,
Instruments of
Darkness, is a
retelling of
William
Shakespeares
Macbeth with
Sean Bean in the
title role.
Bottom: Friend
captures a
medium shot
of Bean.
At the time of our shoot, the F65s

workflow was still relatively new to the
industry. We would not have been able to
wrangle all the data and maintain our
shooting ratio without the expert team at
Mission Digital, who provided us with an
on-set grading system that included two
SR-PC4 readers, each with 10GB Ethernet
PCI cards; a 10TB mini-SAS array (where we
kept our working copy); and two external
G-Speed RAID drives as secondary and
tertiary backups. (Mission Digital also
provided LTO-5 archiving.)
The on-set grading system proved
invaluable. In between setups or during our
lunch break, I would work with Pablo to
grade what wed already shot. Pablo
rendered our grades in ProRes 4:2:2 HQ and
performed a thorough QC before sending
cards back to camera. Pablo notes, Thanks
to Laura Castelli and Ezequiel Sarser from
18
April 2015
Assimilate, we created a very consistent

color pipeline. I was running the full version
of Scratch, and I had an FSI monitor nicely
calibrated by Mission Digital.
It was a luxury to view polished
dailies, and it gave everyone on set the
director, actors, producers and crew a
real buzz. This system was also beneficial
because I was unable to attend the majority
of the final grade due to filming commitments in Bulgaria; thanks to the on-set
grade, I knew the look was already well
established. As Pablo relates, The reconform process was one of the smoothest
Ive ever had. Mission Digital cloned the onset labs operating system into the grading
suite, so I was using the exact same project
as [I was] for the dailies, and all of the dailies
grades could be automatically applied to
the timeline provided by editor Nigel Galt.
With both production and post
wrapped, Im relieved to hear this from

Patrick: I could not have asked for a better
partner in the process. James willingness to
guide me where needed and, in turn, to
follow made our collaboration something I am eager to repeat as soon as possible.
The second short, Instruments of
Darkness, was directed by Vincent Regan,
who conceived the project as a way to raise
funding for his upcoming feature, Enemy of
Man. The feature is to be a retelling of
William Shakespeares Macbeth, with Sean
Bean in the title role.
As Vincent relates, We decided the
most effective way to gather material for a
promo was to shoot selected scenes, and
then edit selected shots over Macbeths
famous Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and
tomorrow speech. I knew James work on
Ghosted, and I was very keen to use him on
this promo.
When you start out with a story as
widely known as Macbeth, its critical that
you enrapture the audience from the getgo. You need them to be surprised by every
twist and turn to ensure their investment in
Macbeths journey. Accordingly, Vincent
and I agreed that the project demanded a
dramatic period look.
As it is a period piece, I was keen to
shoot on film, but the constraints of our
budget wouldnt allow it. Instead, we shot
with a single Red Epic MX, recording to
64GB RedMag SSD cards with 8:1
compression, and framing for 2.40:1 with
Top: Duncan (Charles Dance) rides on horseback with the sunset behind him.
Bottom: Stunt coordinator Steve Dent provided the horses.
Cooke S4 lenses; Im delighted with the

resulting visuals. Working with colorist Lee
Clappison and a FilmLight Baselight at
Londons LipSync Post, we later added film
grain in the highlights to help achieve a
celluloid look.
We were fortunate to work in the
beautiful Hedingham Castle in Essex for our
two-day shoot. Although visually stunning,
it was somewhat headache-inducing in
terms of access, since most of our scenes
were shot on the second floor. We lost a lot
of shooting time just getting our equipment
up the stairs. James assembled an impressive kit for us, says Vincent. Dollies,
Steadicam, even a crane. Danny Bishop
was once again on hand to help with the
operating.
We had no money, but had to
gather together some serious elements,
Vincent adds. We called in a great deal of
favors. [Stunt coordinator] Steve Dent
provided horses on our first day and stunts
on the second. [Armorer] Terry English
brought his armor up from Cornwall.
20
April 2015
The day before our first shoot day, it

snowed, Vincent continues. The castle
location looked fantastic, but as the snow
continued to fall, I realized the shoot was in
jeopardy, as my cast and crew had to travel
out from London the following morning.
Mercifully, the snow ceased at midnight, the
roads were passable, and everyone assembled.
Two feet came to rest on the ground,
but it passed; afterwards, for the remainder
of the shoot, we had beautiful sunshine. I
love these moments of alchemy, when a
potential production problem turns into
something visually stunning.
Inside the castle, we lit predominantly
with real flames, taking advantage of our
lenses T2 aperture. A lot of the time we had
the actors hold their own torches, which we
used as their key light. Of course, there are
problems that arise with real flame, not least
the need for proper ventilation. Additionally,
flame bars can be quite noisy. Luckily, for
scenes that would play under Macbeths
narration, we were able to shoot MOS at 48
fps, which gave us the opportunity to use as

much practical flame as possible. Gary
Dodkin, our production sound mixer, was
an invaluable asset to the overall film and,
indeed, to me, as the final mix betrays none
of the noise from these light sources.
To supplement the fire, I rigged 40
100-watt bulbs dimmed right down for
a warm color to an 8'x4' sheet of wood
and wired them to flicker generators. This
worked well for wider shots, but because
most of the cast wore reflective armor, we
could clearly see this static source in closer
shots.
We also used very small tungsten
and MSR heads, delicately mixing the
sources for our day scenes to emphasize the
fire, and candlelight to add a soft texture.
We further controlled the quality of light
with 4'x4' diffusion frames.
One particular moment stands out in
my memory of the shoot. We were losing
the light, and I made the huge gamble to
do a unit move to the far end of the estate
in order to get the sun setting in the back of
the shot. When youre working with horses
and armored costumes, everything moves
much slower. But we managed to have
Charles Dance (as Duncan) on horseback,
with a glorious sunset behind him. Looking
through the viewfinder, I knew we had
captured something very special. Indeed,
this was one of the most satisfying
moments of my career so far.
Both Vincent and I saw Instruments
of Darkness as a great opportunity to experiment with the look we would employ on
the feature film. Fortunately, it was an
experiment that paid off. The short showcased Vincents intentions, and all funding
for the feature has now been met. As Im
writing this, Vincent tells me, We start
preproduction for the feature this month,
and I can wholeheartedly say that without
the promo, we wouldnt be in this situation.
It was an invaluable tool for attracting
investment, and it was beautifully shot by
James who will, of course, be shooting
the feature. Good news for me!
Production Slate
New York Story

By John Calhoun
There are many different varieties of New York movie, and

just as many looks associated with the city onscreen. In their three
back-to-back New York-set films Frances Ha (AC June 13),
Mistress America and now While Were Young writer/director
Noah Baumbach and cinematographer Sam Levy have captured the
city in black-and-white and color, and with varying degrees of grit
and polish.
With each new project, we reviewed what we had done in
the previous one, says Levy. We plotted things that we might like
to do differently, things that we might like to do similarly, and new
things to try. Frances Ha is black-and-white; Mistress America,
which premiered at this years Sundance Film Festival, is in color; and
While Were Young takes their color to a larger scale, venturing into
several different neighborhoods and social environments in Brooklyn
and Manhattan, and unifying the settings with a classical visual style.
While Were Young tells the story of 40-something couple
Josh (Ben Stiller) and Cornelia (Naomi Watts), whose world is shaken
up when they meet 20-somethings Jamie (Adam Driver) and Darby
(Amanda Seyfried). Josh is a documentary filmmaker who has been
struggling for years to complete his latest project; Cornelia is the
daughter of a renowned documentarian who was also Joshs
mentor. Jamie is an aspiring filmmaker who attaches himself to
22
April 2015
and flatters Josh, and he and his wife bring a charge of youthful
enthusiasm and experimentation to the older couples lives.
I really loved the script, says Levy. I had a natural affinity
for the story before even thinking about anything technical. There
are so many scenes I could identify with as a filmmaker, as a New
Yorker, and as someone in his 40s. So that was the start. And
because I had already done two projects with Noah, we had a great
shorthand. We went through the script scene by scene and created
a preliminary shot list, and then went through it again and did a
second pass. What emerged from this process, he continues, was
a template for our photographic philosophy.
Much of that philosophy related to camera movement. We
wanted to have very dynamic movement, both with the characters
and the camera, but we wanted to do it in a classical way, the cinematographer notes. We didnt want to use a Steadicam; we
wanted to use a dolly, and we were very strict about that. And
whenever possible, we wanted to do scenes in one shot. There are
many scenes that arent one shot, but when we had some coverage, we wanted to really understand why.
To illustrate their desired style of camera movement, Levy
cites a shot of Cornelia and Darby walking in Brooklyns BedfordStuyvesant neighborhood. There are two-and-a-half to three pages
of dialogue, and its all done in one shot, he says. At the beginning of the shot, theyre probably 100 yards away, walking toward
the camera, and then they cross camera right as they round a
While Were Young unit photography by Jon Pack, courtesy of A24 Films.
Cornelia (Naomi
Watts) and her
husband, Josh,
rediscover their
sense of
adventure when
they befriend
a 20-something
couple in the
feature comedy
While Were
Young.
Top:
Cinematographer
Sam Levy (right,
behind camera)
shoots a scene
with Ben Stiller
as Josh. Bottom:
Josh opts for inline skates as
transportation
through the
streets of
New York.
corner. As they move left to right, the

camera dollies with them for a good 30 feet
or so. Then they cross the street and the
camera pans with them, and we did an iris
rack because they were going from the
sunny side of the street into shadow. What
I really like about that particular shot is that
the camera is totally static until they round
the corner, and then, in response to their
movement, the camera moves and pans
with them in one continuous action.
24
April 2015
The production carried an Arri Alexa

Plus camera from Arri Rental New York,
which the filmmakers had also used on
Mistress America. Levy and Baumbach
opted for the Alexa after testing an array of
digital cameras. We tested in different
lighting environments, at different times of
day and night, in available light and artificial
light, the cinematographer recalls. We
watched the tests projected in a theater,
without any manipulation. The Alexa was
the most satisfying the least electronic,

the most creamy and luminous. The crew
recorded 2K ProRes files to internal SxS
cards, and digital-imaging technician Loc de
Lame backed up the media on set.
Framing for the 1.85:1 aspect ratio,
Levy employed Zeiss Super Speed lenses for
the bulk of the shoot. Most of the movie
was shot with a 50mm Super Speed, which
is my favorite lens, Levy notes. When we
werent using a 50mm, we used either a
35mm or an 85mm, or sometimes a
65mm.
Occasionally, a Canon CN-E 30300mm (T2.95-3.7) was also used, to
incorporate an actual zoom in the shot or
sometimes just to be telephoto, the cinematographer adds. In one example, toward
the end of the film, a wide shot takes in the
Appel Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center,
where Cornelias father is being feted, and
then zooms in on Josh, who has just
entered wearing in-line skates. (It makes
sense in the movie.)
While Were Young was shot primarily on location in New York, often in apartments that presented all the expected challenges. The tightest of our primary locations was probably Josh and Cornelias
Josh and Cornelia

develop a new
perspective on
their priorities.
apartment, Levy says of the Brooklyn location. The living room and dining room had
great available light, but the kitchen, which
is between those two rooms, got very little.
I did a lot of testing at that location to see if
we should try to extend daylight into the
kitchen with HMI instruments, or if we
should just turn on some practical tungsten
lamps and have the differentials in color
temperature.
Levy opted for the latter solution.
While blue bulbs were used in practical
chandeliers hanging over an island counter
26
April 2015
in the kitchen, the rest of the practical

fixtures in the ceiling and around the counters were fitted with uncorrected tungsten
globes.
One benefit to shooting with the
Alexa and having a monitor on set is that
you can see a pretty good depiction of how
tungsten and daylight are working
together, the cinematographer observes.
Its not [exactly] how its going to look [in
the finished movie], but its a pretty decent
approximation of how blue the daylight will
be and how orange or warm the tungsten
will be. I really embraced the phenomenon

of those colors coexisting. Its the kind of
thing that can look amazing on film, but its
a much more theoretical process of using a
color meter and anticipating. Its one aspect
of shooting digitally that I enjoy. This previsualization process that a calibrated monitor
gives you can sometimes push things in a
different direction.
The mix of color temperatures was
repeated in the location used for Cornelias
fathers apartment, which had a similar
issue, Levy explains. There were windows
with available light or that you could push
light through, and then a kitchen where it
was difficult to extend the daylight. Rather
than trying to fight that, we just used tungsten practicals [in the kitchen].
Overall, Levy and Baumbach strove
for a realistic, unadorned style, but one
particular sequence called for something
slightly more stylized. In the sequence, the
principal characters attend an ayahuasca
ceremony, where they imbibe a psychedelic
brew. It was a rare instance when Noah
spoke to me very specifically about lighting, says Levy. He said it should be a little
brighter at the beginning, and then, when
we time-cut, it should be darker. I wanted to
make it as dark as possible, because these
guys are tripping and they wouldnt have a
Josh sits with his father-in-law, Leslie (Charles Grodin) his mentor and fellow documentarian.
lot of lights on. The cinematographer also

didnt want to utilize any tricks to represent
a hallucinatory state. We just wanted to be
there with them so that its believable.
With my gaffer, John Raugalis, and
my key grip, Michael Yurich, I ended up
using paper lanterns wrapped in several
layers of unbleached muslin, with a 250
diffusion frame underneath the [lanterns],
so it was very soft and very warm, Levy
continues. In the brighter part, the bulbs
were probably at 50 percent, and in the
darker part, they were at 10 or 15 percent.
All the dark stuff was shot on a 50mm at
T1.3. Im usually hesitant to have really shallow depth of field, because I think it can be
distracting, but in the case of the ayahuasca
sequence, I thought it was appropriate.
Super Speeds have a very sharp fall-off; the
way they render a shallow depth of field is
extreme. I feel we benefitted from that.
David Feeney-Mosier, our 1st AC, was
masterful working within these constraints
and holding focus.
The film was completed at New York
28
April 2015
post house Box with colorist Pascal Dangin;

the files were converted to DPX via FilmLights Baselight. One of Levys main goals in
the color correction was to retain the glistening, silver-blue tone he had conceptualized during shooting what light in New
York looks like on an overcast day, bouncing
off the concrete and steel and glass, he
says. We were thinking about the colors
the way you might have seen them in a
great print from the 1970s.
Another important part of post was
integrating the various movies made by
While Were Youngs multiple onscreen
documentarians. Theres Joshs documentary, which hes been making for 10 years
with different formats, Levy says. We
made the decision that he hasnt shot any
of it with film. We did a few days of shooting on a Sony HDW-F900R, a Canon GL1
and a Panasonic AJ-SDX900. Then theres
Jamies documentary, which he makes
within While Were Young, and for that we
decided to use a Sony PMW-200. All of the
footage is important because it appears in
the movie, but the cameras are also props.

We did a lot of testing for what they would
look like when the characters hold them.
Jamie is also seen almost constantly shooting with a GoPro camera. There are a few
moments when we cut to that footage, so
Adam Driver actually had to be recording.
We had to archive all of that footage just in
case, and sure enough, Noah did decide to
use it.
It really is a story about three generations of filmmakers, and how things are
changing and adapting, Levy concludes.
The technology plays a part in the telling
of the story that we see onscreen.
TECHNICAL SPECS
1.85:1
Digital Capture
Arri Alexa Plus; Sony HDW-F900R,
PMW-200; Panasonic AJ-SDX900;
Canon GL1; GoPro
Zeiss Super Speed, Canon CN-E
Globetrotting for
The Gunman
By Iain Stasukevich
Photographed by Flavio Labiano and

directed by Pierre Morel, The Gunman is a
loose adaptation of the novel The Prone
Gunman by French crime author JeanPatrick Manchette. In the film, Sean Penn
plays Jim Terrier, a former mercenary whos
being hunted for his connection to an
assassination in the Congo eight years prior.
Terrier is further haunted by his past in the
form of old friends turned rivals and old
flames rekindled. In true thriller fashion, The
Gunman wraps action, drama and intrigue
in a slick, glossy package, but as Labiano
explains, theres a deeper substance to its
style.
American
Cinematographer:
What camera system and lenses did
you use on this project?
Flavio Labiano: We got two Arri
Alexa XTs, so we could shoot with anamorphic lenses. We rented the Alexas from
Service Vision in Spain and had one set of C
30
April 2015
Series anamorphic lenses delivered from

Panavision Paris. The lenses arent all necessarily equal to one another, but they do give
you this kind of organic, old look, which is
great for fighting the extreme sharpness of
the digital sensors. [The footage was
captured in ArriRaw.]
The film seems to want us to get
inside Terriers head. How did you
convey that visually?
Labiano: We used stocking diffusion
and old Kowa anamorphics for shots when
Terrier is thinking back to the time when he
and Annie [Jasmine Trinca] were in love.
Those lenses give you the most beautiful
flares, and we were always trying to find the
best way to put the sun on them. We only
had a few focal lengths: 40mm, 50mm,
75mm, and a [Nipponscope] 85mm.
Did you bring your own style as
a director of photography, or did the
project demand something specific?
Labiano: In the end, everything
adjusts. You can do your prep and your
scouting, go over all the references and
have your talks with the other departments,
but you cant predict a film [entirely]. Maybe
in prep you were planning to do 20 shots

with lights everywhere, but then you show
up to the set and find out that you have
only five hours to do everything. You end
up making some compromises, and
through the schedule and the time and the
resources and politics, a film ends up growing its own look.
How did that process play out
for The Gunman?
Labiano: Actually, the first thing we
filmed was the scene with Terrier in the
hotel room getting ready to shoot the
mining minister. We lit this scene to have a
very contrasty look. We shot that in half a
day in Barcelona in the daytime, with
tented windows the same day we shot
the airfield night exteriors. From there, we
just took that path through the rest of the
film. It was a risk starting the film with such
an extreme look, but if they dont fire you
after the first day, then youre okay.
You shot in South Africa, the
United Kingdom and Spain, and each
location has its own specific look and
feel. For instance, the scenes set in
South Africa feel hot and bright.
The Gunman unit photography by Joe Alblas, courtesy of Open Road Films.
Mercenary-turned-humanitarian Jim Terrier (Sean Penn) is hunted for his connection to an

assassination in the Congo in the thriller The Gunman.
Top: Terrier assesses his surroundings. Bottom: The crew adds sunlight to a scene.
Labiano: That was one of the questions: how to photograph heat. When you
go to these countries and take photos, it
always looks like a beautiful day, but really
youre sweating and miserable. Its very difficult to [capture] that in a film. But we
wanted that harsh lighting, so we waited
until the sun was very high, or else I would
put in my own sun 18Ks and 12K Pars
on cranes and kick the reflections straight
to camera. We filtered the light a little bit
warmer with CTO and CTS, brought in
32
April 2015
negative fill to make the shadows darker,

and used makeup to keep everyone looking
a little sweaty. Its mostly the direction of the
light and overexposing the highlights. Open
up a little bit one stop is usually enough
so the highlights become hotter on the
shoulder. Once you go into the [grade], its
easy to make it brighter or darker.
The dialogue scene between
Terrier and Cox [Mark Rylance] in the
corporate tower serves as a narrative
focal point of the London sequence.
How did you film it?

Labiano: We asked the location
manager to find an office in London, facing
south, where the sun hits the building as a
kind of backlight when looking at the
windows. It was an expensive location, so we
had to go in and get out very fast, and it had
to be very well planned. We shot one side in
the morning, and in the afternoon we
turned around. We were surrounded by glass
that reflected every light we had, so we tried
to shoot with as much natural light as possible except for the faces, which we lit with
[Dedolight] Tecpro Felloni LED panels. You
can dim the lights without changing their
color temperature, and you can adjust the
color temperature by turning a little knob.
I used a lot of negative fill there as
well. It was more a job for our key grip [David
McAnulty] in London than our gaffer [Chris
Day]. In the end I think the exterior was
about 1 stops over [compared] to the
faces. You could still see London in the background.
The Barcelona scenes possess a
distinctly different look something
soft and warm.
Labiano: Barcelona has a much more
Mediterranean look. For the villa [that
belongs to Felix, played by Javier Bardem],
my reference was the work of Gordon Willis
[ASC] and The Godfather. I always saw it in
my mind as a Corleone-type villa. Half of it
we filmed in London. When you see
windows and stone walls, we were on location 40 minutes north of Barcelona, in the
Peneds region. When Terrier and Annie are
in the corridors being chased by the mercenaries, we were on a soundstage in Wimbledon.
The raid on the villa features a lot
of different elements, with action in and
outside of the house. Did you have a
second unit?
Labiano: The second unit was there
[with director of photography Juan Miguel
Azpiroz], and they helped us with the mercenaries surrounding the house and all of the
shooting afterwards. The second unit had
three or four Red Epics. Sometimes I would
lend them lenses, but they had their own set
of Panavision Primo anamorphics.
Our B camera was almost always on a
Steadicam operated by Ramn Snchez. We
also did a lot of handheld. Pierre operated
Left: Terrier goes to Stanley (Ray Winstone) for advice. Right: Cinematographer Flavio Labiano plans a shot.
the A camera [throughout the shoot], which

sometimes had a big ALZ3 270-840mm
[Primo Anamorphic Zoom T4.5].
How does it impact your job
when the director also operates the
camera?
Labiano: Once you have the director
on the front line, everything happens much
faster. Problems get solved right away.
What camera ISO did you use?
Labiano: We mostly shot 800, and
when we went to night exteriors we pushed
to 1,200.
There are a lot of night exteriors
in the Barcelona part of the film. How
did you shoot those?
Labiano: Ninety percent of the
movie was filmed on locations, so we had to
constantly adapt. For a lot of these locations
on La Rambla, we couldnt lay cables, but
because our Tecpros and Kino Flo Celeb
LEDs were battery-powered, we could just
hang lights from a balcony or wherever. This
was the first time I didnt have to run power
on a film set, though we didnt use batteries for interiors or for dialogue scenes,
because we didnt want to be in the middle
of the scene and have a light go down.
The light is again different once
the story gets to Gibraltar. Its hard and
cool, very coastal.
Labiano: Gibraltar looks basically
the same as Africa. You can see Morocco
from there, so I wanted it to feel different
than Barcelona. But we never went to
34
April 2015
Gibraltar it was all shot in Barcelona. I

had to constantly remind myself to not
make the whole film look the same.
Here the conflict between Cox
and Terrier comes to a head during a
bullfight. How did you stage this
sequence?
Labiano: Bullfighting is not allowed
anymore in Barcelona, so before we started
principal photography we went down to
shoot a real bullfight in Madrid with a dozen
cameras and filmed most of the wide shots
that appear in the movie. Then we shot
most of the footage with the actors in the
middle of the summer at La Monumental, a
gorgeous old Moorish arena in downtown
Barcelona one of the oldest in Spain. The
thing is, in Madrid they dont celebrate the
bullfights until the sun goes down, from 7
to 9 p.m., because of the primetime TV
rights. But in Barcelona we were restricted
by the actors schedules, which meant we
had to shoot our arena during the day. La
Monumental is an open space, and the sun
hits it all day, so gaffer Jos Luis Rodrguez
had to silk the whole place for three or four
days with a giant 300-by-90-foot silk to
match the Madrid footage.
Did you color grade on set?
Labiano: We did, with [digital-imaging technician] Jess Haro using Pomforts
LiveGrade. There was so much material for
the editors every day, we needed to give
them something that was ready to go. It
was limited, but it worked. For the dailies,
we had Scratch Lab to create specific LUTs

for the different countries. That helped a lot
when shooting pickups for one location in
another, like when we had to shoot a barn
in London for a barn in Spain.
Where did you post the film?
Labiano: We did a 2K color grade
with Jean-Clement Soret, [working] on
[Autodesk] Lustre at Technicolor London.
Other than the infrared look [added to some
point-of-view shots], everything else was
just balancing color and exposure, setting
the looks of the different countries.
Given that you couldnt
completely predict the films look in
advance, how do you feel about the
way it ultimately turned out?
Labiano: I think that under the
circumstances, we did a good job. Even if
we [could have had extra] time to do more
sophisticated photography, we still might
have said no because it wouldnt match
the rest. The story gives you the look, and
you have to go with it.
TECHNICAL SPECS
2.40:1
Digital Capture
Arri Alexa XT, Red Epic MX
Panavision C Series, Primo, ALZ3; Kowa;
Nipponscope
Electric Hero
Canadian cinematographer
Trent Opaloch reteams with
director Neill Blomkamp for
Chappie, the story of a thinking,
feeling robot that threatens
the status quo.
By Mark Dillon
|
36
April 2015
happies title character is the first robot that can think and
feel. Hes an illicitly modified security android, the brainchild of Deon Wilson (Dev Patel), designer of police
automatons for a defense manufacturer in a near-future
Johannesburg. Hoping to stimulate Chappies creativity,
Wilson forges an uneasy alliance with rappers Ninja and YoLandi Visser of the real-life South African band Die
Antwoord, appearing in the film as fictionalized versions of
themselves who are more interested in recruiting the robot
as gang muscle.
Back at the corporation, Wilsons colleague Vincent
Moore (a mulleted Hugh Jackman) and boss Michelle Bradley
(Sigourney Weaver) are threatened by Wilsons A.I. invention
and set out to destroy it. Moore, a former soldier, decides to
take on Chappie with his own side project: a massive, armed,
remote-controlled behemoth. As the battle erupts, Chappie
must fight for his friends and his own existence.
Unit photography by Stephanie Blomkamp,

courtesy of Columbia Pictures.
Chappie is director Neill

Blomkamps third feature, following
District 9 (AC Sep. 09) and Elysium (AC
Sep. 13), all of which were shot by
fellow Vancouver resident Trent
Opaloch. In the early 2000s the pair
began collaborating on music videos,
commercials and shorts, including three
promoting the Halo videogame. The
cinematographers credits also include
last years Captain America: The Winter
Soldier.
Blomkamp and his co-screenwriter and wife Terri Tatchell,
initially set the story in the U.S., but
transposing Die Antwoord to that
culture didnt feel natural, so they
Opposite and this page, top: A sentient security android, illicitly reprogrammed by Deon Wilson
(Dev Patel), must battle to save his friends and himself in the action-adventure Chappie.
Bottom: Cinematographer Trent Opaloch lines up a shot.
shifted the locale to the directors

hometown of Johannesburg. I was
listening to Die Antwoord while working on Elysium, the director says of the
edgy Cape Town musicians. I liked the
visuals in their videos, and I got the idea
of this band raising a robot that is a
blank slate. It was a comment on nature
versus nurture and the weirdness of
having an artificial-intelligence droid in
such an environment.
As Johannesburg was also the
www.theasc.com
setting for District 9, the filmmakers

were determined not to repeat themselves. In District 9, we were shooting
more in the Soweto townships, whereas
in Chappie we focus on the urban center
of Johannesburg and the big-business
office parks, says Opaloch in a separate
interview. We see a different side of the
city and South Africa in this movie. He
and Blomkamp embarked on preproduction for Chappie in August 2013.
The 60-plus days of principal photograApril 2015
37
Electric Hero
Top and middle: Before he became Chappie, Security Android 22 worked with the police.
Bottom: Director Neill Blomkamp (left) oversees a dolly shot.
38
April 2015
phy spanned October 2013 to February

2014.
The filmmakers fundamental
challenge was to present a digital robot
hero that is not only believable, but
sympathetic. To create Chappie, as well
as the police droids and Moores
monster machine, the filmmakers
harked back to their technique for creating District 9s earthbound aliens.
In this case, South African actor
Sharlto Copley, star of Blomkamps
previous films, donned a skintight gray
leotard with tracking marks and
performed Chappies movements and
spoke his lines. Vancouver effects shop
Image Engine later digitally replaced
Copley or stunt double Ian Stock
with the animated Chappie in nearly
1,000 shots. The movies other animated
droids were also based on human performance, but their actors adopted more
rigid movements than Copley, underscoring the notion that these robots
didnt possess Chappies self-awareness.
(For shots that show robots interacting
with human characters, the filmmakers
frequently shot separate passes for each
performer.)
Additionally, New Zealands
Weta Workshop provided practical
robots for shots in which the machines
are inert, such as a scene in which
dangling police droids are carried
through the production line on an overhead track. A couple of prop robots were
on camera for a lighting reference as

they moved through the environment,
and the rest were added later via digital
duplication.
Blomkamp says he prefers the
flexibility thats afforded by lighting sets
for 360 degrees, even if he often does
not end up needing that full range of
coverage. I literally begin to rip out my
hair if Im standing on set and stuff takes
too long, the director says. Theres an
argument you can make for beautiful
shots you spend a day lighting, but thats
at the expense of a bunch of other interesting shots that are 90-percent as cool.
Im always going to choose a lot of
footage in the edit bay over less footage
that looks unbelievably good.
That didnt leave Opaloch much
time for adjusting the lights to accommodate Copleys ad-libbing, which
would often drive scenes in a different
direction, the cinematographer says.
In a studio approach you would say,
Were going to re-light for that, but we
couldnt with the way Neill likes to
move. Gaffer Alan Barnes would send
in a lamp op to follow actors with a
handheld light so we could read their
expressions. You try to find that balance
where it looks good enough to move on
Top and bottom:

Vincent Moore
(Hugh Jackman), a
former soldier
working for a
defense company
run by Michelle
Bradley
(Sigourney
Weaver), seeks to
replace police
androids with his
own side project.
Middle: Blomkamp
and crew prepare
the scene.
www.theasc.com
April 2015
39
Electric Hero
Top: Moore explains his invention to a news reporter (Kevin Otto).

Bottom: Blomkamp observes a scene with Otto and Jackman.
40
April 2015
and everybodys happy.

As to the larger-than-life characters of the human variety, the brazenly
confrontational Ninja and the pale,
ethereal Visser called for an especially
vivid color palette, which was coordinated with production designer Jules
Cook and costume designer Diana
Cilliers. And whereas the look of the
majority of the sets leans toward the
realistic, the art department got decidedly more flamboyant with Die
Antwoords lair.
The location was an abandoned
Soweto power station which tragically collapsed five months after the
crew filmed there, the result of scavengers stripping metal from its main
support in which the fictionalized
rappers have carved out a section. It is
there that Wilson activates Chappie and
where the droid learns to speak, read,
paint and fight. The walls were decorated with blacklight paint and
enhanced with neon-yellow and pink
lockers. Opaloch notes that he used

more colored light there than he has
since his music-video days.
There were so many holes in the
ceiling and in the walls that it was effectively an outdoor location, the cinematographer recalls. We were there for
weeks, shooting eight-page scenes over
multiple days, and of course the sun was
going from one side of the building to
the other.
Key grip J.P. Ridgway adds, The
location was a biggie. We had a rigging
team to complement the lighting team,
and one of the main concerns was
blacking down the ambience during the
day.
For daytime scenes, the crew lit
the overall space with HMIs, and for
night scenes with Dino lights and 20K,
10K and 5K tungsten fixtures. They
would begin shooting day-for-day until
the sun faded, at which point they
Top: The reporter interviews Bradley. Bottom: Blomkamp and crew prepare a scene
inside the manufacturing facility.
www.theasc.com
April 2015
41
Electric Hero
would turn on their HMIs. Then, when

it got too dark to maintain the daytime
look, they would move on to night
scenes, switching to the tungsten lights
or repositioning the sources and replacing their gel packs.
For close-ups, Opaloch introduced Barnes who obtained lights
from Panalux SA to Kino Flo Celeb
200 and 400 DMX LED fixtures,
which they tried to match to the plants
practical sources. I have since used the
Celebs fanatically, says Barnes.
Theyre user-friendly and dimmable,
and the [dial-in] color control makes
them indispensable.
The sequence of Chappies
birth begins with the lifeless robot
seated camera left, his back against a
blue-tinged rock slab, with Wilson
beside him in reddish light. The crew
used Rosco Primary Red, Steel Blue and
Glacier Blue gels on their fixtures and
accentuated practicals which
included strands of bulbs as well as fluorescent tubes with additional gels.
Chappie comes to life and gets to his
feet, ushered forward by Wilson and
Die Antwoord. As the characters shift
about, they trade moments in the various colored lights.
The films of Steven Spielberg
influenced the production, particularly
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (shot by Allen
A childlike
Chappie makes
new friends,
learns about
music and
television, and
fist-bumps with
Yankie (Jose
Pablo Cantillo).
42
April 2015
Electric Hero
Chappie is recruited as gang muscle.
Daviau, ASC; AC Jan. 83) and A.I.

Artificial Intelligence (shot by Janusz
Kaminski; AC July 01). Like the title
characters of those films, Chappie is a
nonhuman with a childlike perspective
learning to get along in the world.
Additionally, Blomkamp notes, I
wanted to have more controlled,
Spielbergian camera movements. This
meant that, unlike District 9, in which
Opaloch frenetically chased the action
as though he were a documentary
cameraman, the Chappie crew typically
kept the camera on a hybrid dolly or 50'
Technocrane.
44
April 2015
A-camera operator Manoel

Ferreira always composed with movement in mind, so for most setups
Ridgway and his grip crew laid track or
rigged a 10' slider. The same went for
Dale Rodkins B camera, which often
utilized a skateboard dolly. Rodkin also
handled
numerous
Steadicam
sequences, including a slow-motion
shot of Chappie and his newfound
gangster friends leaving the lair, ready
for battle.
Opaloch and Blomkamp also
drew inspiration from the real world,
looking at stills by photojournalists. The
Big Picture, the photo blog of The Boston

Globe, proved a particularly fertile
source. The subject matter might be
completely irrelevant, but what grabs
our attention could be a person in the
frame, or the way the light bounces off
colored ground or a painted wall,
Opaloch explains. Well bounce emails back and forth for weeks and then
talk about scenes and vibes.
As with their previous features,
they shot Chappie primarily with Red
cameras, in this case the Epic
Mysterium-X. Weve always had a
great experience with Red, and it served
us well, the cinematographer says.
Footage was captured on up to four
Epic MX cameras at a time, in 5K
anamorphic Redcode Raw, to 128GB
RedMags and usually at 5:1 compression. The crew had the HDRx highdynamic-range setting on during the
day, and often stepped down to 3:1
compression at night.
That was a special favor to the
visual-effects guys, as wed only initially
budgeted for 8:1 [compression], South
African digital-imaging technician
Richard Muller recalls. My data wrangler, Peter Nielsen, would give me a
dirty look when Id pitch up with several
full RedMags, each with only one take
on them. (Luke Campbell served as
DIT during a pickup shoot at
Electric Hero
Top: Chappie protects Yo-Landi Visser (who plays a fictionalized version of herself) from gunfire.
Middle and Bottom: Chappie leaps into action to battle Moores robotic creation.
Vancouvers Bridge Studios for a scene

that involved Jackman and a bathroom
mirror. It was the only set the production built.)
Splinter units used Sony PMW46
April 2015
EX3s to capture footage for purposes

such as news reports and broadcast
interviews. And for large-scale battle
scenes involving robots, air strikes and
explosions, still more cameras were
employed, including a Sony HDC1500 in a Cineflex stabilizer and an

eight-blade drone or octocopter,
notes Muller, custom built by its pilot,
John Gore, to carry a gimbal-stabilized
Photon 320 FLIR infrared camera and
a GoPro camera at the same time.
GoPro Hero3 Black cameras were also
used for robot POVs.
For one sequence, the producers
asked the crew to go to CNN studios in
New Yorks Time Warner Center to
shoot a segment in which anchor
Anderson Cooper, appearing as himself,
delivers a newscast about the robotic
police scouts. I told them, It would be
really cool to meet the guy, but why
dont you just get the crew that does his
show to do it? Opaloch recalls.
Otherwise you get a bunch of film
dummies trying to make it look like
their show. The real crew would knock
it out of the park. And so they did.
Opaloch shot Chappie in the
2.40:1 aspect ratio with Panavision
anamorphic prime lenses. I grew up
loving movies from the 1970s [that
were] more often than not shot in
Panavision anamorphic, he says.
Theres something about the way [the
format] renders backgrounds and
throws your attention to the focal
plane.
The crews extensive Panavision
lens package included E Series, G Series
Electric Hero
Chappie breaks through a window to help his friends.
and C Series primes. Opaloch credits

Taylor Matheson, his 1st AC on
Elysium and The Winter Soldier, for
providing valuable intel. (1st AC duties
on Chappie were handled by Justin
Hawkins.) Taylor has a little black
book with info on every Panavision lens
hes ever used, the cinematographer
explains. You may have a 35mm thats
funky if you try to shoot under T4, but
it might clean up at T4.5, so we would
switch to whichever series was the best
at the focal length we wanted. Opaloch
primarily shot at T2.812 or T2.823.
When it comes to shooting
actors, Blomkamp says, I typically dont
like short lenses. The resulting distortion feels like Im manipulating the
audience. I gravitate towards a sweet
spot in the middle 30mm to 40mm
[in spherical, or 60mm to 80mm in
anamorphic] is around the range of
perspective the human eye is used to
seeing.
The crew sparingly used an ATZ
70-200mm T3.5 anamorphic zoom for
longer focal lengths, as well as an
AWZ2 40-80mm T2.8. If were on a
48
April 2015
Technocrane, it saves so much time to

throw a wide zoom up there, Opaloch
notes. You dont have to bring down
the arm, change the lens and rebalance
the head. If the suns going down, you
can get a lot more footage.
The cinematographer used
Tiffen IRND and Schneider True-Pol
filters, as well as Schneider ND grads to
hold sky detail, but nothing to provide
an overall look. I appreciate what can
be done in post so much that its never
been my approach to lock something
into the image that is going to restrict
you later, he says.
For scenes inside the robotmanufacturing facility, the production
shot in a large factory that makes Denel
Rooivalk attack helicopters. A number
of dialogue scenes transpire in the space,
where Moores massive killing machine
looms ominously in the background.
The rooms existing light consisted of
many banks of Cool White florescent
tubes, which Blomkamp wanted to
keep to convey the look of the everyday
workplace. Those lights gave us a sense
of scale for the room, Opaloch elaboAmerican Cinematographer
rates. We would just kill some of the

off-camera sources and we would do
what we could with the actual circuit
box. We would also send guys up in scissor lifts to apply negative fill so there
was a little falloff on the white wall,
adding depth.
The crew rigged 1.2K HMI
fixtures in the ceiling for backlight as
well as a corrected 20K tungsten light
for the scene in which the roof opens
and Moore sends his killer robot
airborne. Celebs were used for closeups.
One of the movies largest-scale
scenes occurs at night, when the police
scouts are shut down and a number of
citizens take to the streets to protest and
riot. For aerial views of the angry throng
running rampant in a downtown square,
the crew employed an Epic MX on a
bungee rig, mounted in a helicopter and
operated by C-camera operator Lars
Cox, who was shooting over an actors
shoulder. The crew ran three more Epics
on the ground, along with multiple
Sony PMW-EX3s for news coverage.
Some illumination was provided
Electric Hero
Top: Opaloch, Blomkamp and crew prepare for an action scene.

Bottom: Ninja (playing himself) is caught amid the chaos.
50
April 2015
by a police helicopters searchlight, but

Opaloch describes the effect as underwhelming. Barnes adds, We used an
ArriMax 18/12K on a 120-foot
[Condor] to supplement the searchlight, and our Dino package on cherry
pickers eight separate units
helped to backlight [the action]. The
crew also panned several large Xenon
lights, positioned high up on scaffolds
and lifts, across buildings and rioters.
For most other night exteriors,
Barnes says, we played off the color of
practical street lights, which were often
supplemented with additional fixtures
from our art department [led by Emelia
Weavind]. Generally we went with
sodium-vapor bubbles.
Opaloch and Muller established a
look-up table that lowered and cooled
the Epics default black levels. It also
slightly brought down the general saturation but still kept the feeling warm
Electric Hero
Blomkamp and
Opaloch plan
out a shot.
and sunny, which reflects Joburg at that

time of year, Muller explains. From
that basic look, we would make small
tweaks depending on mood.
Muller evaluated images on Sony
OLED monitors, and Opaloch would
bounce between the DIT station and
Blomkamps monitor. Often the iris
52
would be remotely controlled from

within the DIT tent. Doing movies
with multiple cameras, I feel more
comfortable at my monitor so I can see
what the B and C cameras are providing and make sure it mixes in well, the
cinematographer says.
Using a mix of Pomfort
LiveGrade and a prototype of

FilmLights Baselight Flip, Muller sent
ASC CDL and TIFF reference files
from the set to dailies colorist Michele
Wilson, who worked at a lab set up by
Non-Linear Evolution in a temporary
suite within the main Johannesburg
production offices. Wilson would grade
the footage to match the references and
level out footage from the various
cameras. Jordan Koen, the dailies data
manager, would then render all the
dailies and send out DNxHD files to
editor Julian Clarke and MP4 files to a
Pix server for rushes, which were
viewed nightly.
Footage was also forwarded to
digital-intermediate colorist Andrea
Chlebak at Vancouvers SkyLab
Motion Picture Services (formerly
Digital Film Central), and she would
then send back select style frames. Most
creative grading decisions took place in
the rough-cut stage; SkyLab encoded
pre-graded footage in OpenEXR file
formats into a customized ACES

pipeline that allowed coloring decisions
to be made in parallel to editorial and
visual-effects processes.
Opaloch, occupied with one of
his many commercial shoots, did not sit
in on the final grade, but Blomkamp
regularly visited SkyLabs FilmLight
Baselight grading theater. Grading was
performed in 2K anamorphic and
screened on a Christie 4K projector,
with a Dolby PRM-4200 monitor
used for broadcast reference.
We were trying to maintain an
element of realism in the color, says
Chlebak. However, there was room
for a bit of playfulness, which we
addressed through saturating certain
colors and emphasizing certain color
palettes to correspond with each set of
main characters. Neill would choose a
costume or set piece to [accentuate].
There is a color accent in every scene.
Returning to South Africa
reminded Opaloch how far he and his
collaborators have come since they

began work on their first feature.
When we did the proof of concept that
led to District 9, it was mostly Neill,
Sharlto, Terri and I, driving around in a
minivan, which is pretty crazy, he
recalls. Now, Opaloch is working in the
big-budget stratosphere, starting up his
next Marvel project, Captain America:
Civil War. Its a big movie, he says.
Im looking forward to it.
TECHNICAL SPECS
2.40:1
Digital Capture
Red Epic MX; Sony PMW-EX3,
HDC-1500; GoPro Hero3 Black;
FLIR Photon 320
Panavision E Series, G Series,
C Series, ATZ, AWZ2
53
AWider
World
54
April 2015
With Insurgent,
Florian Ballhaus, ASC helps
director Robert Schwentke
propel the Divergent franchise
in new visual directions.
By Michael Goldman
|
Unit photography by Andrew Cooper, SMPSP, courtesy of Lionsgate.
icking up where last years Divergent

ended, Insurgent continues the story
of Tris Prior (Shailene Woodley), a
Divergent who does not fit neatly
into the faction structure of the storys
post-apocalyptic society. Having
escaped from the Big Brother-style
government headed by the nefarious
Jeanine Matthews (Kate Winslet), Tris
is now on the run with her comrade-inarms and love interest, Four (Theo
James).
Neil Burger was in the directors
chair for Divergent (AC April 14), and
while he remained attached to Insurgent
as an executive producer, he passed the
directorial reins to Robert Schwentke,
who in turn called on longtime collaborator Florian Ballhaus, ASC to serve as
director of photography. Although they
were continuing an established story, the
filmmakers stress that they felt liberated
to venture into new directions when it
came to designing Insurgents visuals.
We were free to elaborate, expand, and
build upon what Neil and [Divergent
cinematographer Alwin Kchler, BSC]
had done, Schwentke says. My view all
along was that this was a lovers-on-the-
Opposite and this

page, top:
Divergent Tris
Prior (Shailene
Woodley) is on the
run alongside Four
(Theo James),
escaping
government forces
led by the
tyrannical Jeanine
Matthews (Kate
Winslet). Bottom:
Cinematographer
Florian Ballhaus,
ASC discusses a
scene with 2ndunit director of
photography
Lukasz Jogalla.
run narrative, and that made it a different animal than the first one. Plus, we
have new locations, since our story takes
[the characters] to factions that were
not part of the first movie. We had not
seen [the environment] of the
Factionless, for example, in the first
movie; that is completely new, and so is
the Amity Faction. That freed us to
invent in ways we thought were right
for the narrative. We got to widen the
world quite a bit.
www.theasc.com
Additionally, whereas Divergent

shot predominantly in and around
Chicago where the story takes place
principal photography for Insurgent
relocated to Atlanta. (Visual effects
were utilized to extend sets and unite
Chicago skylines with Atlanta locations.) Insurgents storyline also greatly
expands on the concept of Sims, or
simulated-reality environments, which
were introduced in the previous film.
With so many new elements in
April 2015
55
A Wider World
A remote-controlled multi-rotor drone was deployed to capture low-level close-up aerial shots.
the sequel, Ballhaus agrees that he and

Schwentke were indeed encouraged to
start fresh, to explore new directions.
At the heart of the cinematographers
design was a plan to shoot predominantly in the anamorphic 2.40:1 format,
but to capture the Sim sequences with
spherical lenses in order to differentiate
56
April 2015
them from reality, he explains.

We wanted to make the world
feel a bit bigger, with more action and
more scope, Ballhaus continues. In a
movie that effortlessly switches between
levels of reality, both physical and
emotional, we wanted to subtly set the
Sims apart from the real world. I felt
that the synthetic nature of computergenerated projections of Tris fears lent

itself to the clean look of spherical
lenses versus the more analog, imperfect
feel of the anamorphics.
Ballhaus tested a number of
anamorphic lenses before deciding to
mix and match Arri/Zeisss T1.9
Master Anamorphics (ranging from
35mm to 100mm), Vantage Film
Hawk V-Lites (28mm and 110mm), a
V-Series 25mm, and a Hawk V-Plus
45-90mm T2.8 zoom. He estimates
that about 70 percent of the anamorphic work was done with the Master
Anamorphics. For the Sim sequences,
he turned to T1.4 Leica Summilux-C
primes (ranging from 18mm to
100mm) in combination with the occasional Arri/Zeiss Ultra Prime LDS
(from 14mm to 180mm, all T1.9).
The Master Anamorphics came
out just prior to our shooting this
movie, Ballhaus elaborates. What I
liked was that they gave us the beauty of
anamorphic in terms of getting every
pixel on the sensor, but they didnt have
all the distortions that you typically
Top: Inside the

dining area for the
Amity faction.
Middle: Four
converses with
Peter (Miles Teller,
right) as Tris looks
on. Bottom: Tris
and Four share a
moment alone.
associate with anamorphic lenses. They

are incredibly sharp and have very little
barrel distortion, and that was great for
most of the movie. There were also
times when we wanted that more traditional anamorphic look, which the
Hawks provided, with more of the classic anamorphic distortion and the
dramatic focus falloff. That can be interesting when shooting digitally with such
sharp imaging sensors; we embrace the
imperfections, rather than running from
them like we did in the film days, when
we wanted everything as sharp as possible. Mixing in the Hawks [with the
Master Anamorphics] gave me the best
of both worlds.
To expedite the switch from
anamorphic to spherical lenses, the
production took advantage of the Open
Gate capability of its Arri Alexa XT
cameras. As 1st AC Heather Norton
explains, Unlike previous film shoots,
where we had to physically remove and
change over the optical viewing block
and video taps in order to utilize both
anamorphic and spherical formats with
the same cameras, with the newest
version of the Arri Alexa XT Open
Gate camera, we simply had to reboot
the camera to a different sensor size and
select the user settings that would give
www.theasc.com
April 2015
57
A Wider World
Top: Tris, Four and

Caleb (Ansel
Elgort, right) go
on the run.
Bottom: The
crew readies a
camera vehicle.
everyone the [desired] frame lines and

aspect ratio. And during prep, we were
able to streamline the process by preselecting and saving our user settings for
each sensor size and camera speed, so
that all of those menu and sub-menu
items could be established each time
with just the push of a button. We preset
three settings for the anamorphic 2.40:1
aspect ratio: up to 75 fps in Open Gate
[using all 28.17mm by 18.13mm of the
sensor], up to 96 fps in full 4:3
58
April 2015
[23.765mm by 17.82mm], and up to

120 fps in 16:9 [23.76mm by
13.365mm].
The filmmakers recorded in the
ArriRaw format to 512GB Codex XR
capture drives mounted in the cameras
integrated recorder. Digital-imaging
technician Dave Satin applied a basic
look-up table created by Technicolor to
Ballhaus specifications for on-set viewing on Sony OLED monitors. Capture
drives were backed up on set using the
Codex Vault system, and shuttle drives

were then ingested at the near-set
production office in Atlanta.
Technicolor processed dailies using its
Near-Set Dailies system, with location
colorist Jeff Mack essentially following
the template designed by Ballhaus and
applied on set under his supervision.
Dailies were then distributed via the
Dax online viewing system. Ballhaus
says the camera crew exchanged notes
while watching the dailies in a near-set
trailer equipped with an NEC iS8-2K
DLP projector and an 8' screen.
Typically, the first unit utilized
three Alexa XT cameras, with two in
studio mode and one reserved for
Steadicam, which was operated by P.
Scott Sakamoto. In a departure from
Ballhaus previous collaborations with
Schwentke, the Steadicam was
employed frequently on Insurgent. This
is my fifth movie with Robert, and in
the past he has been reluctant to use
Steadicam, Ballhaus relates. He
dislikes how floaty it can be. But we
had a lot of action on this movie a lot
of running and movement. We had one
of the best Steadicam operators in the
business, so Robert really embraced the
A Wider World
Top: Jack Kang
(Daniel Dae
Kim, left),
representative
for Candor,
meets with
Four and Tris.
Middle: Visual
effects were
utilized to extend
sets and unite
Chicago skylines
with Atlanta
locations.
Bottom: Director
Robert Schwentke
and Kim go over
a scene while
Woodley and
James take
a break.
added possibilities of using this tool

once he knew that we were not compromising control of the framing.
As Ballhaus explains, a number of
other tools were also used to underscore
Insurgents action, including lots of
Technocrane work, a Libra head
mounted on a Grip Trix motorized
dolly to let us track in front of the
actors for running shots, and a KFX
Technology Aurora remote head, which
was frequently placed on a jib arm to
position the camera into small spaces or
to execute moves where dolly track
might otherwise get into the shot.
In keeping with the notion of
action thats very closely tied to our
characters and attempts to utilize actors
in the sequences as much as possible, as
he says, Ballhaus also called on Atlantabased low-altitude aerial specialists
Yonder Blue Films, who provided a
remote-controlled multi-rotor drone
the filmmakers referred to as the octocopter. The drone was employed to
capture low-level close-up aerial shots
with perspectives that would not be
possible with a traditional helicopter.
(Traditional helicopters were used,
however, to capture visual-effects plates,
skylines and backgrounds during a
second-unit shoot in Chicago, overseen
by visual-effects supervisor/2nd-unit
60
April 2015
director James Madigan.) The octocopter was outfitted with a Red Scarlet
camera (using Zeiss ZE primes), which
Ballhaus says was the only high-resolution system lightweight enough for the
drone to carry.
We wanted a lot of movement
and energy close to the actors as they
were running, while obviously attending
to the safety of the actors as our first
priority, the cinematographer explains.
The octocopter was a great solution.
We storyboarded some sequences and
did tests to figure out exactly how close
we could get to the actors. It allowed us
to fly over them as they were running, or
start with a close-up and pull away. At
one point, we started about 10 feet away
from [Woodley] as she ran on a rooftop,
then pulled away from her and went
straight up. We got amazing, dynamic
movement that was unlike anything I
have ever gotten in a similar situation
with any other tool.
Schwentke
estimates
that
Insurgent includes some 1,000 visualeffects shots, largely to alter skylines and
backgrounds to represent the franchises
futuristic Chicago, and to augment the
Sim sequences. Accordingly, the project
involved extensive greenscreen photography in both its exteriors and interiors.
Nevertheless, Ballhaus says he strove to
maintain a naturalistic approach to his
lighting.
In the end, with the greenscreens, all you do is match an exterior
plate that you want to look as naturalistic as possible, or you try to anticipate
what the plate might look like without
tying your hands too much, Ballhaus
submits. We were always working off a
plate or some kind of template that we
tried to match. For much of the movie,
it was really the sets that dictated the
lighting, and those were designed by our
production designer, Alec Hammond,
with [the lighting] in mind. A lot of the
lights were built-in, and we used a lot of
LEDs, which often were the best choice
because they are incredibly flexible. We
could do high-speed shooting within
the same set, just amping it up three
stops with an existing [LED] fixture,
A Wider World
without having to switch everything
out. (The Alexa XT cameras were
cranked up to 120 fps for certain highspeed shots, but for select ultra-highspeed sequences, the production utilized
a Vision Research Phantom Flex4K
camera system.)
The particular solution for any
given environment was also dependent
on the nature of the faction involved.
The Factionless, for example, dwell in a

lair underneath a long-abandoned
water-treatment facility. Gaffer Chris
Culliton explains, The idea is that the
Factionless have been cast off from their
original allegiances and live, wraith-like,
along the seams of the other factions.
Their environment is a sort of hodgepodge of found objects and improvised
solutions. The only sunlight that reaches
Tris and Four are

arrested in
Candor and
subjected to a
truth-serum
trial.
62
April 2015
them is incidental, just slivers [created

with] 10K beam projectors. That was
contrasted with practicals and odd,
thrown-together lighting sources that
the Factionless have created themselves.
Florian wanted [most of the environment] lit with the practicals that they
created, so it was important that there
was a wide variety of sources and color
temperatures. The Factionless lair has a
verisimilitude, because all the [practical]
light fixtures were actually handmade.
One of the most challenging
environments was the Erudite laboratory, a futuristic space where Jeanine
conducts Sim studies with a machine
that allows her to view both the subject
and a holographic representation of
what is going on in the subjects mind.
The finished film, Schwentke notes,
includes six extended, effects-heavy Sim
sequences. We really tried to push the
envelope with the Sims, he says. That
was one thing that really appealed to me
about the movie that you can use
these Sims to externalize the inner landscape of the characters, to translate their
emotional states and their fears into
A Wider World
Peter keeps Tris

in check when
she returns to
the Erudite
laboratory and
agrees to
undergo
Jeanines tests.
dramatic sequences. You seldom have

the opportunity as a storyteller to translate emotional inner states into external
imagery in this way. We wanted to find
a visual correlative to an emotion.
Ballhaus adds, For the Sim
scenes, we shot fairly wide open with
the Leicas to get the beautiful focus
falloff in an otherwise slightly cleanerlooking world those lenses are stunning when theyre close to wide open.
The added benefit of shooting the Sims
spherically was that [those scenes] were
very visual-effects-intensive, and it gave
them more flexibility in terms of
reframing later in post.
Ballhaus describes the Erudite
laboratory as a huge, open space with
an enormous glass wall dividing Jeanine
and the subjects. There are layers of
glass and reflections, and at its heart is a
main room surrounded by a couple
thousand glass tubes.
Culliton explains that within this
main room is a section designed to
make viewers feel like they are actually
seeing the machine think. A particularly stylized lighting method was
devised for this part of the set, based on
a combination of color-switching light
projections and LED instruments.
With regard to the latter, Culliton backlit the light channels with LiteGear
64
April 2015
April 2015
A Disney Classic Brought to Life

Together, Haris Zambarloukos, BSC and Kenneth Branagh
have made the otherworldly Marvel pic Thor, the stylish Michael
Caine vehicle Sleuth, and the spy thriller Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.
Each of those projects also was made on 35mm lm. Their latest
collaboration, a live-action update of Disneys Cinderella, adds yet
another completely different project to their body of work.
When he got the call, Zambarloukos was initially hesitant.
When I read the script, I began to realize what a great
opportunity it was, he says. Its an ancient, timeless story with
versions in many cultures. Within
Disneys version of the tale is a tragic
orphan story that is almost Dickensian.
And after our rst meeting, I realized
why Ken wanted to do it its a chance
to make a classic, the rst of its kind, in
a new way. Its a big responsibility.
Envisioning the right look for
Cinderella, said to be the rst in a series
of classic Disney animated properties to be updated to live action,

the lmmakers referred to Fragonard, a Rococo painter best
known for exuberant paintings like The Swing.
The lm is set in a pseudo-16th century Europe, and we could
take liberties with it, explains Zambarloukos. Fragonard did
the same thing thats what Rococo was, taking elements from
the culture of the time but adding playfulness to it. It was an
exceptionally clever reference point, and it guided me very well.
We were also inspired by the original Disney version there are
some spectacular frames there in the
sense that things were hand-drawn and
meticulously made. Theres an exceptional
humanity to it.
We wanted shots to
breathe, to stay back,
with very slow takes,
master shots and
precise compositions.
That meticulous and humane approach

extended to every aspect of the new
production, from the sumptuous costumes
to extensive, complex sets reminiscent of
a grander era of lmmaking. The choice
to shoot on 35mm lm, with lower-speed emulsions, in the

anamorphic format, was in tune with that aesthetic.
approach. He generally overexposed by a third of a stop, which is

standard procedure for him.
Theres something quite special about 50 ASA, or 200

ASA, and (PANAVISION) PRIMO anamorphic lenses, says the
cinematographer. We wanted to echo the feeling of 70mm, and
those lenses, so crisp and clear, have some of that. Also, it makes
the technique harken back to those classic lms. We wanted
shots to breathe, to stay back, with very slow takes, master shots
and precise compositions.
Kodak has a way of reproducing colors very authentically, he

relates. When you start combining certain hues within a frame,
youve got to be careful that theyre all replicated and you actually
get that richness. And at the same time, we wanted warmth and
warm light, so we used almost exclusively tungsten. Theres no
LED and no HMI on this lm at all.
Zambarloukos planned to shoot at about T4, which required a

tremendous amount of light. He says his eye became accustomed
to the bright levels, and his imagination learned to translate to
what the lm was seeing.
Ramping up to this large-scale, studio cinematography is
done in steps, he says. One of my heroes is Laird Hamilton, a
champion big-wave surfer. He says that to get to the point where
you can ride a 100-foot wave, you have to do it one foot at a time.
Thats a great analogy. I take things one step at a time, and Kens
trust makes me feel secure.
The lm was shot almost entirely on
sets and stages at or near Pinewood
Studios in the U.K. The visual effects
are surprisingly few, mostly around
transformation scenes, such as when
a pumpkin becomes a carriage. All the
interiors were shot on KODAK VISION3
200T Color Negative Film 5213, and
exteriors were shot on KODAK VISION3
50D Color Negative Film 5203, usually
done with just reectors and natural light.
The rich colors of the production
design every costume was handmade
played an important part in the look
of the lm. The three-week test period
helped Zambarloukos dial in on an
Calling it an exercise in subtlety, Zambarloukas says he

maintained a delicate balance between warmth and darkness
by carefully wrapping keylight, using touches of warm ll, and
factoring in skin tones, candlelight, and color in the production
design. The most important example is a breathtaking scene
where Cinderella enters the ballroom, shot on the 007 Stage at
Pinewood.
Theres no formula for it, he reveals. Its that process of
imagining, creating and seeing it. We had to be quite subtle in
our lighting and just let the faces and costumes come through,
without being bright or at. Ken has
a way of blending the action and the
drama, and that choreography helps the
emotional aspect effortlessly.
Cinderella is in theaters this spring.
The images in the original, animated
Cinderella have inspired an appreciation
for art in children for decades, notes
Zambarloukos. We also hoped to
make something inspirational and
worthwhile to show to kids, and I think
we succeeded.
Photos: Previous page: Kenneth Branagh, Haris
Zambarloukos, BSC and Lily James on the set of
Disneys live-action feature inspired by the classic fairy
tale, Cinderella. This page, top: Setting up a scene from
Cinderella. Bottom inset: Zambarloukos and Branagh.
(Photos by Jonathan Olley, Disney Enterprises, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.)
Andrij Parekh Bets on
When Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck the pair that

made waves with their rst feature Half Nelson in 2006
approached cinematographer Andrij Parekh with the
script for Mississippi Grind, he was instantly drawn to the
material. And as it was to be their fourth collaboration,
the trio were on the same page when it came to the look.
Parekh proposed shooting 2-perf 35mm on an ARRICAM Lite

Camera, which he had recently used on Sophie Barthes Madame
Bovary. I think it saves 50 percent on stock and processing. A
400-foot magazine is eight minutes, and you can roll 22 minutes
on a 1,000-foot mag, so time on the camera is not as much of an
issue.
They showed me a lot of 1970s lms, says Parekh, an

NYU Tisch graduate. From that, the inspiration
for Mississippi Grind was clear. They were attracted
to Robert Altman lms like California Split, John Schlesingers
Midnight Cowboy, and Wim Wenders Paris, Texas. All lms I love.
Thats the style and feeling we tried to give to this lm long,
slow zooms mixed with handheld.
Coupled with sharp lenses we used the LEICA

SUMMILUX-C and an ANGENIEUX OPTIMO 24-290 for our
Altman zooms for this lm the resolution and grain structure
looks more like 3-perf. Its the magic bullet combination, in
my humble opinion. And of course, the native aspect ratio of
2-perf is 2.39:1, perfect for a road movie full of landscape and
cityscapes.
Mississippi Grind, which premiered at Sundance, stars Ryan

Reynolds and Ben Mendelsohn as two down-and-out, lost souls
traveling across the American Midwest in search of fortune and
better days. Parekh wanted it to feel like a 70s road movie, and to
give it the texture of those lms a sense of timelessness of
another era, he explains. The lm is a journey, and we tried to
capture the feeling of the Midwest and the South with all the
decay, the timelessness, and the nostalgia.
The aesthetic look of a lm is always where

Parekh begins, then he decides how to best arrive at the end
practically. All the references pointed toward lm. The trio of
lmmakers, who rst met in New York in 2004, have always shot
on lm, and its how they know how to work together.
For Parekhs goals of matching the image to the patina of an

America past its prime, he used KODAK VISION3 500T Color
Negative Film 5219 and KODAK VISION3 250D Color Negative
Film 5207, underexposed 2/3 of a stop, and processed normally.
I wanted the blacks slightly milky with some desaturation, and
underexposure helps me achieve that slightly worn look.
Early on in prep, the discussion inevitably came up regarding
format. They were on a tight budget and Parekh didnt want
to add more pressure to that, but based on all of the creative
discussions theyd had, it seemed that lm was the way to go.
I believe
shooting on
film creates
a different
energy on set
than shooting
digital. People
respect it.
Photo: Electric City Entertainment
I believe shooting on lm creates a different energy on set

than shooting digital, adds Parekh. People respect it. Im not
bashing digital in any way. Its no longer oils versus acrylic, as
the digital image can be quite beautiful. Shooting digitally can be
liberating because there are no constraints, but as a result, no
one rehearses, crew and director run in and out of the frame, and
its because they can. There is no incentive not to. But I think the
main reason to shoot lm, outside of aesthetic reasons, is for the
performance. Many great actors often deliver a performance on
take one or two. I wanted everyone to be ready for Ben and Ryan
to do that, and shooting lm ensured that. We rehearsed, and we
were prepared for them to deliver.
HOSTAGE DRAMA SEIZES

GRITTY LOOK OF
When Rodney Taylor, ASC read the script for Supremacy,
he saw a story that could benet from Super 16 origination
and a gritty, handheld aesthetic. The cinematographer
mentioned Black Swan, The Hurt Locker and a couple of other
recent Super 16 lms in his rst meeting with Deon Taylor,
the basketball player-turned-director. He immediately liked
the idea, even though the lm had been budgeted for digital
video.
Supremacy is the hard-hitting story of a white supremacist,
recently paroled, who takes an African-American family
hostage. The lmmakers found some Gordon Parks
documentary photographs that had an edgy, dimly lit mood
with an ominous hint of violence, and used them as a starting
point for developing a look for the lm.
I wanted the house to be really warm and inviting, to go
against the horrible things that happen, and to show that this
is a real home, the cinematographer relates. At the same
time, Deon and I both wanted very natural skin tones. So
in general I kept the light on the actors a bit more blue, and
neutralized that in post.
The result was a warm, tungsten-lit environment and
natural skin tones. For the villain, and in some prison scenes,
Taylor occasionally added a bit of green to make the image
feel slightly dirtier.
For nighttime interiors, he used a mix of KINO FLOs,
tungsten sources and China balls. For day interiors, Taylor
wanted the HMI light to feel invasive through the windows,
and he relied on lms graceful overexposure attributes in
those situations.
One thing I love about lm is the way that you can

overexpose and take it right to the brink of washing out
it can look really great there sometimes, if youre trying
to make a statement, says Taylor. After everything that
happened in the house at night, I wanted the feel of the light
coming in the next morning. I wanted the audience to almost
squint during those rst few shots.
Two cameras ARRI 416s with older prime ZEISS Super
Speed lenses were used in most scenes inside the house.
Taylor says that the smaller cameras cost much less than
a high-end digital package and allowed for exibility and
efciency. Paul Sanchez usually operated the second camera.
The lm stocks were KODAK VISION3 50D Color
Negative Film 7203, KODAK VISION3 250D Color
Negative Film 7207, and KODAK VISION3 500T
Color Negative Film 7219.
The house interiors were inside an actual house
location, but new walls were built inside the rooms to
render smaller spaces and a claustrophobic feeling.
That also meant the lmmakers could easily avoid
night shoots.
It was really important to stay really mobile with
the cameras, Taylor explains. I wanted the freedom
to put the camera up and go without having cables
running all over the house. We transmitted the video
signal wirelessly for Deon to look at, but there were
no cables anywhere in the house. I personally think
I can shoot faster on lm because I can just pick up
the camera and roll.
There are tools to add grain these days,

but even as sophisticated as digital post has
become, I feel like doing it on the original
negative is so powerful and results in such a
different feeling.
At times, Taylor used zoom lenses for sunlit day exteriors,

especially with action. Outside, I usually shot at a (T)2.8,
he says. I wanted to keep that shallow depth of eld. I also
wanted some of the sun ares, and the zooms helped us stay
exible in terms of composition.
Taylor chose emulsions to match in terms of grain,
factoring in the 2.35 extraction from the negative.
We had plenty of light and the 50 daylight was beautiful,
he notes. During testing, I found that higher-speed stocks
rendered too much grain in the blue layer to match the
interiors. With the 50D, the grain in the blue skies matches
the grain from the 500-speed stock interiors. Also, the night
interiors are very dark. Theres always a beautiful patina of
grain that is just right. Outside, the 50D has just the same
amount of grain in the sky. So it balances perfectly.
In the digital intermediate, in addition to timing out the
added blue, the lmmakers found an interesting treatment
for some ashback scenes.
I was going for a vintage, old Polaroid look, says Taylor.
We added what almost looks like a purple grad lter at
the top of the frame, and you can see it on foreheads and
skin tones. Its the idea that sometimes old Polaroids have
interesting imperfections.
Both director and cinematographer are pleased with the
way the lm turned out.
I love the grittiness and the claustrophobia, and I really
attribute that to the Super 16, adds Taylor. There are tools
to add grain these days, but even as sophisticated as digital
post has become, I feel like doing it on the original negative
is so powerful and results in such a different feeling. I think
that organic feel you get from the grain in the negative is
something we havent really replicated yet. I just love the
craft and artistry of exposing the lm.
Photos: Left and center: Joe Anderson portrays Garrett Tully.

Top right: Alex Henderson as Jamar and Dawn Olivieri as Doreen
(Photos by Rodney Taylor, ASC.)
SUPER 16
D E L I V E R S C I N E M AT I C I M A G E R Y F O R
realism, while being careful

to never get near caricature
or an overly exotic stereotype
of India. And we created a
stark contrast with color and
lighting with the rest of the
lm, which takes place in
Mumbai in the 1980s.
Cinematographer Petra
Korners latest feature, Umrika,
starts out in a small mountain
village in India in the
mid-1970s. When Ramakant,
a young boy from the village
who discovers that his brother
long believed to be in
America has actually gone
missing, he begins to invent
letters on his behalf to save
their mother from heartbreak,
while setting out on a journey
to nd him.
The script has humorous
and dramatic aspects, but
Korner and director Prashant
Nair agreed that it should be
photographed with a classic
dramatic approach.
We never intended for this
story to have an indie-lm
look per se, Korner explains.
We wanted something
atmospheric and cinematic,
but also warm and vibrant,
especially in the rst act.
We talked about the village
having a certain enchantment,
almost bordering on magic
In looking at reference
materials and identifying
the right approach, Korner
realized that Nair responded
to a lm aesthetic. I started
looking at all the lms we
were referencing in terms of
look and feel, and we realized
that even the most recent
ones had almost exclusively
been shot on lm.
Texture and timelessness
played a big part, adds
Korner. Umrika is a period
lm, encompassing the
70s and 80s in a region of
the world where nothing is
slick, minimalistic or clean.
To photograph this place
and this period which
we all associate with a very
organic, textured look in a
modern-feeling medium felt
double-wrong.
Korner says 35mm 2-perf
format was comparable
cost-wise with high-end
digital, but there were no
sync-sound 2-perf cameras
available in India, which
initially led her to Super 16.
We then critically viewed

a lot of Super 16 lms, and
came to the conclusion
that aesthetically it was the
perfect choice for Umrika,
Korner reveals. We knew
that grain and texture were
going to be a considerable
part of the look, especially
since we wanted to crop our
already small negative to a
widescreen 2.35:1 aspect
ratio, and we were ready to
embrace that.
up and switch from handheld

to studio modes, she says.
They are rugged in all terrains
and weather conditions, and
there is a proven workow in
post.
Super 16 is also a fantastic

format because the small
cameras, in our case the ARRI
416, are fast and easy to set
Korner chose lenses with

an eye to counteracting
the inherent softness of
Super 16, while not wanting
The lm stocks were

KODAK VISION3 500T
Color Negative Film 7219 for
interiors and night exteriors,
rated at E.I. 320, and KODAK
VISION3 250D Color
Negative Film 7207, rated at
200, for day exteriors.
Something that film will always have in its favor is the fact
that it helps audiences suspend their disbelief much faster
than a look we subconsciously relate to modern technology.
something that imposed an
overly modern or sharp look.
She used COOKE S4 glass,
augmented by a couple of
SK4s at wider focal lengths.
The approach to color was
extremely detailed. Contrary
to most Indian lms, we
avoided garish primary colors
and indulged more in the
tertiaries, she says. In the
village, you cannot nd any
hint of blue, other than the
open blue skies. The mother
plays a very important role in
the lm, and we assigned a
specic shade of magenta to
her character that is always
present in some way. When

the boy leaves the village,
he takes his brothers scarf
with him, which also has the
mothers color. In the city we
made sure to eliminate most
warm colors reminding us of
the village, especially yellows
and reds. These colors only
resurface with Radika, the girl
our protagonist falls in love
with.
capture the rich world going

on outside through the open,
glassless windows and door
frames.
She adds, All of our

day exteriors look rich and
wonderful; we had plenty
of sky detail, and in all the
scenes inside the dim village
huts, we were still able to
Every single department

answered with glee when
told, she says. Actors are
always happier, because
they know that lm is more
attering when it comes
to skin. ADs are happy
because they have observed
that everyone is more
concentrated and focused
on a lm set. Directors
learn to cut between takes
again, which makes the
editorial department happy.
All departments have this
precious time between takes
to make quick adjustments.
Colorists are much happier
with lm, because they have
so much more to work with,
not only in terms of latitude,
but also in terms of color
information.
Umrika won the Audience

Award at the 2015 Sundance
Film Festival in the World
Cinema Dramatic category,
and was also nominated for
the Grand Jury Prize. Nair and
Korner agree that shooting on
lm was the right choice.
Korner notes that the lm

workow wasnt always easy
in some of the more remote
locations, but everyone who
looks at the nal result agrees

that it was certainly worth
the extra effort. I am a strong
believer that any system is
only as good as its nal result.
I think its wonderful to have
luxuries like instantaneous
dailies, but if that means that
the movie we are all working
so hard on wont look as good
in the end, I prefer waiting two
days!
Color grading was done
by Stefan King on a DaVinci
Resolve at Ambient Recording
in Berlin.
Something that lm will
always have in its favor is the
fact that it helps audiences
suspend their disbelief
much faster than a look
we subconsciously relate
to modern technology,
concludes Korner. Film is still
the more cinematic medium,
and Umrika is an inherently
cinematic story.
Photos: Top, left and right pages: Scenes

from Umrika (photos by Petra Korner). Left
page inset: Petra Korner, director Prashant
Nair, and 1st AC Aakash Raj. Bottom: Korner
and Raj on location. (Photos courtesy of
Petra Korner)
If ever there was proof that some individuals are natural born
lmmakers, Jason Michael Berman is it. As vice president of
Mandalay Pictures, the Baltimore native spends his days structuring
nancing for the companys ever-growing slate of independent
lms. Its a job hes been training for since he rst started playing
around with a video camera as a kid. By the time he graduated from
University of Southern Californias (USC) School of Cinematic Arts,
Berman had established himself as a producer who is unwilling to
take no for an answer.
Bermans resume is impressive. In the past decade, he has
amassed more than two dozen credits, including Ryan Piers
Williams The Dry Land, Sheldon Candis LUV, Sara Colangelos Little
Accidents and Andrew Renzis Franny. Berman spoke with us about
nding his calling and the tactile beauty of lm.
What drew you to producing?
Ive been interested in the entertainment industry ever since I was
7 years old and started playing with my moms video camera. When
I got to middle school at the Jemicy School in Maryland, one of the
rst schools in the country set up solely for the education of dyslexic
children, I helped create a lm program, because I thought the
students would really benet from being able to show people what
they saw through pictures, video, and sound. I even helped convince
Sony Electronics to donate equipment to the school. When I got
to high school, I did the exact same thing, and worked with Avid
Technology to donate an Avid to the Friends School of Baltimore. I
knew I wanted to go to lm school, though I thought that I would be
a director. When I got to USC, I realized that my skillset had been in
producing that whole time. My grandfather always said: He is really
good at making things happen!
I produced a graduate lm during my rst year at USC, a lm
called Rift, then I produced about ve more thesis lms while I was
still an undergrad. I kind of became known as the Boy Wonder thesis
lm producer.
But the Sundance Film Festival is where I became passionate
about independent lms, because the way that they are put together
is quite challenging. Each time youre doing it is like starting a new
kodak.com/go/motion
@Kodak_ShootFilm
KodakShootFilm
KodakMotionPictureFilm
company. Ive always been driven by challenges, and Ive always

been very entrepreneurial.
At what point in the process do you begin discussing
capture medium?
Very early on. Sara Colangelo came in right away knowing she
wanted to shoot Little Accidents on lm. It was the same with
Andrew Renzi for Franny and Jonas Carpignano for Mediterranea.
Clay Jeter, whom I went to lm school with, has done everything on
lm and wants to shoot his next feature, Io, on celluloid.
And all the movies have made sense to shoot on lm. Franny
made sense because of the production design. Little Accidents made
sense because we wanted to capture the gritty texture of the world
we were creating; its the same thing with Io, Mediterranea, and The
Dry Land. These lmmakers want to shoot on lm because they feel
that the texture of shooting on celluloid is true to the story.
Whats the biggest misconception people have about
shooting on film?
That the process of getting it turned around quickly to see it is a
lot more difcult. It takes a little bit more logistical planning, but as
long as you have access to FedEx, youre ne. You just have to make
sure you have a professional AC and loader handling the lm. There
are extra steps, but theyre not difcult extra steps. It just comes
down to details and management.
Why is film such an important tool for moviemakers?
Im happy that my generation of lmmakers grew up utilizing lm
because it helps you understand the responsibility of what you are
doing and what you are trying to formulate. Youre actually holding
all of this celluloid together and its something you can touch and
feel. With digital, the responsibility may not feel as great because its
all on a hard drive. But with lm, you can touch it and feel it. Being a
tactile learner, I feel like that really helped me.
Photos: Left and right images: Filming Little Accidents. Center: Jason Berman at the
Sundance Film Festival.
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The crew
shoots a scene
in which Four
attempts to
rescue Tris from
the lab.
3,200K VHO Pro LiteRibbon LEDs,

breaking the ribbon down into 8- to
10-inch segments, the gaffer explains.
Even though the wattage of the
LiteRibbon was not extremely high, we
used thousands of controllers and channels. If the light channels were supposed
to be an abstraction of the simulator
processing data, then the light needed to
feel alive.
The walls of the set were covered
with thousands of 1.5"-diameter glass
tubes, arranged perpendicularly on 6"
centers. Walking into the lab feels
essentially like being inside the walls of
a futuristic musical instrument,
Culliton opines, with curving walls and
ceilings that are studded with thousands
of glass tubes. There are also curvilinear,
Plexiglas-covered light channels that
emanate from a sort of incubus and
terminate above the testing area.
The vitreous pincushion effect
was stunning, he continues. Those
tubes presented a series of tiny windows
to the exterior of the set; during our
testing, it became clear that each tube
functioned as a sort of primitive pixel
for lights that were placed outside the
set wall. By extension, the tubes repre-
sented a real opportunity for introducing

movement into the walls themselves. In
the end, along with our partners at
PRG, we employed 15 [Barco HDXW20 Flex] digital projectors controlled
by a PRG Mbox [media server] and
distributed by a Datapath x4 [display
controller] that projected directly onto
the back of the tubes. We also covered
the entire back surface of the glass tubes
with Light Grid Cloth, because we
found it increased the luminance of the
tubes and made the effect more convincwww.theasc.com
ing. By moving a single effect through

the fields of the different projectors, we
could alter the color, shape and hardness
[of the light] instantly and create a real
sense of movement.
This wasnt the productions only
use of projection technology for lighting
effects. In another pivotal scene, as
government forces close in, Tris and
Four escape Amity territory by hopping
aboard a livestock transport train, where
a tightly choreographed fight ensues
with the Factionless characters who are
April 2015
65
A Wider World
The crew readies an action sequence in which Tris attempts to save her mother.
already inside. As it was deemed too

costly to shoot on location with a real
train and extensive greenscreen effects,
the filmmakers opted to shoot the scene
onstage with rear-screen projection.
66
A-camera operator Thomas

Lappin describes the train set as two
side-by-side railcar set pieces on
airbags, which were rigged by the
special-effects department to mimic the
trains movement. The set was

surrounded by rear-screen projection
material that had location footage
projected on it, Lappin adds. There
were 12 [of the Barco] DLP projectors
perfectly aligned behind the screens.
This setup allowed us to shoot handheld with almost no restrictions.
To create a sense of exterior light
flashing through the train cars perforated metal, the grip crew built large
soft boxes fitted with PRG OHM
DMX-controlled LED fixtures and
skinned with Light Grid Cloth. The
OHM LED units have full dimming
range and can shift between several
preset color temperatures, Culliton
describes. By moving a chase, or sometimes just a random piano key effect
through the OHM boxes, we could
create a nice shifting ambience. We
could also have it shift more blue at
times to feel like patches of open sky.
Ballhaus adds, There is the sky,
the sun, and the light that bounces off
the floor, and they are all different color

temperatures. So we break it down and
mimic each as best we can. The soft
boxes gave us the sky fill, which is a lot
cooler then the sun. So then we added
sun to the mix, and bounces that represented sunlight hitting the floor and
bouncing back.
Culliton says the sunlight
element was created using six Arri
T12s with Quarter or Half CTO,
slightly dimmed and each rigged with a
motor-driven windmill. Additionally,
we hung six [Vari-Lite] VL3500s above
the train in pairs, slightly offset, and
reflected off a series of motorcontrolled, multi-mirror spinning rigs
that were suspended above the soft
boxes. Mirrors always seem to work
perfectly for a hot, fast, moving sunlight
hit. We also used some PRG Bad Boy
moving lights, pointed directly at the
train and running a kind of shuddering
effect. All those elements, plus some
floor-based units [generating] effects
through the open door, hopefully create

a convincing feeling of movement as the
train barrels along.
At presstime, the filmmakers
were finishing up the digital intermediate at Technicolors Tribeca West facility
in Los Angeles. There, supervising digital colorist Steve Scott an ASC associate and colorist Mike Sowa
employed Autodesks Lustre 2013
color-correction platform to grade and
conform the movie in a DI room that
had been calibrated to exactly mimic
Scotts usual suite at Technicolor
Hollywood.
With postproduction nearing the
finish line, Schwentke harks back to
principal photography and says he is
especially pleased that Ballhaus pushed
for the anamorphic format. I had only
shot spherical before this project, but I
absolutely fell in love with the anamorphic lenses, the director enthuses.
Florian was right that [digitally
acquired images] can look too clean,
and the frames are more interesting to

me with the refractions and impurities.
Anamorphic afforded me the kind of
wide shots I like to have in my movies,
while still staying close enough to the
actors to feel a connection to them.
TECHNICAL SPECS
2.40:1
Digital Capture
Arri Alexa XT, Red Scarlet,
Vision Research Phantom
Flex4K
Arri/Zeiss Master Anamorphic,
Ultra Prime LDS;
Hawk V-Lite, V-Series,
V-Plus; Leica Summilux-C;
Zeiss ZE; Lensbaby
67
Star-Crossed
Love
Ellen Kuras, ASC frames a

17th-century Parisian romance in
A Little Chaos.
68
April 2015
By Jean Oppenheimer
|
Unit photography by Alex Bailey, courtesy of

Focus Features. Additional photos courtesy of
Ellen Kuras, ASC.
he period romance A Little Chaos

premiered at the 2014 Toronto
Film Festival and will open
commercially in the U.S. this
summer. Set in France during the reign
of King Louis XIV, the story blends
historical fact and poetic fiction. The
true part: Tired of living in the bustling
heart of Paris, the Sun King decides to
move his entire court to the country. He
massively expands and remodels his
hunting lodge, which becomes the
monarchys official new seat of power,
the Palace of Versailles. Toward this end,
Opposite and this

page, top: Contracted
by King Louis XIV
(actor-director Alan
Rickman), landscape
architect Andr Le
Notre (Matthias
Schoenaerts) hires
Sabine de Barra (Kate
Winslet) in the period
romance A Little
Chaos. Bottom:
Cinematographer
Ellen Kuras, ASC
plans a shot.
www.theasc.com
April 2015
69
Star-Crossed Love
he hires renowned landscape architect
Andr Le Notre to design a magnificent, expansive formal garden for the
new royal residence. It is here that the
movie transitions into the realm of
imagination: Le Notre (Matthias
Schoenaerts) chooses a female gardener
named Sabine de Barra (Kate Winslet)
to design and build a unique outdoor
ballroom and fountain, the Rockwork
Grove (which does, in fact, exist in the
Versailles gardens). The traditionalist
Le Notre and the spirited Sabine soon
find their professional relationship
evolving into something more.
Although the story takes place in
17th-century France, the film was
photographed in the United Kingdom,
most of it on historical locations,
including Hampton Court one of
Henry VIIIs many castles and
Blenheim Palace, the birthplace and
ancestral home of Winston Churchill.
The project was shot by Ellen
Kuras, ASC, whose credits include 4
Little Girls (AC Jan. 98), Summer of
Sam (AC June 99), Eternal Sunshine of
the Spotless Mind (AC April 04), Swoon,
Neil Young: Heart of Gold (AC March
06), and The Betrayal (AC April 08),
which she both directed and shot. AC
spoke with Kuras about the pleasures
and challenges of working in such
ornate surroundings.
American Cinematographer:
How did the decision to shoot on film
come about?
Ellen Kuras, ASC: Director
Alan Rickman, who also plays Louis
XIV, and I were both committed to
shooting film. Because the film takes
place in the 17th century, we wanted
the warmth, depth and roundness that
film emulsion offers. We shot 3-perf
Super 35mm for a 2.40:1 release, using
three Arricam Lites, Cooke S4 primes
and three Angenieux Optimo zooms: a
24-290mm T2.8, a 28-76mm T2.6,
and a 15-40mm T2.6 [all from Arri
Media in London]. We used three
Kodak stocks: Vision3 500T 5219,
Vision3 200T 5213, and Vision2 250D
5205.
Kuras and
crew ready the
cameras for a
location shoot.
70
April 2015
Top: Kuras shoots

from the top of a
staircase. Bottom:
A Technocrane
helps the crew
capture an
interior.
The picture was shot over seven

weeks in the Spring of 2013 and in
the U.K., crews are limited to 10-hour
days, five days a week. We used two
cameras throughout and they were
almost always on dollies, with a 50-foot
Technocrane and a GF-10 [fixedlength crane from Grip Factory
Munich] for a few scenes.
Although its always a compromise to the lighting, having a second
camera enabled us to make our days
and gave the actors more freedom. I
operated A-camera and Stuart Howell
was on the B. We used the second
camera as a complement to the A
camera, so that we were simultaneously
getting both sides of the coverage. We
were able to pre-rig most locations,
which also proved essential to making
our days. The final week of production
was spent at Ealing Studios, where
Sabines house and backyard were built
on a soundstage. We also did some
pickup interiors of the carriage, which

we shot poor-mans process. As A Little
Chaos was a budget-conscious film, it
would have been impossible to [replicate the lavish sites and dcor].
Practical locations not only offered
fantastic production value but also a
sense of scale that only comes from a
real palace.
You have favored Fuji stocks
throughout your career. Why did you
shoot on Kodak for A Little Chaos?
Kuras: Fuji had closed down
motion-picture-film operations worldwide and it wasnt available. A month
into shooting I learned that a private
individual had bought out the remaining Fuji stock in the U.K., but by then
it was too late. While its true that I
normally prefer Fuji, Kodak could not
have been more accommodating. I had
to give them advance notice as to what
stocks I needed; stocks arent as readily
available today.
www.theasc.com
April 2015
71
Star-Crossed Love
Top: Sabine
converses with
Le Notre amid
her garden
creation. Bottom:
Kuras and
Rickman discuss
a scene while
the crew readies
a camera vehicle.
Can you describe the films

visual style?
Kuras: Our main reference, in
terms of lighting, was the Dutch master
Vermeer. When we scouted the real
Versailles during preproduction, the
light was very much like a Vermeer
painting: a very strong sidelight, a strong
key light. I didnt always have the luxury
of making it happen, but thats the spirit
72
April 2015
we were looking for.

As for film references, we
watched The Remains of the Day, and I
suggested Alan take a look at The
Libertine, which has a really strong look
and is quite a dark film. He was reticent
about going that far, favoring a more
balanced, naturalistic look. He definitely
didnt want the look to overwhelm the
acting, nor to distract viewers from what
was happening in the story. Although

everything was authentic to the period
there were no anachronistic elements
Alan didnt want the film to feel like
a rarefied period piece with no relevance
to contemporary life. He wanted it to
feel like a story that could happen just as
easily today as in the 17th century.
I was very happy with the Cooke
[S4s]; we filtered the Optimo zooms
with 14 and 18 [Tiffen] Ultra Cons to
match them. I always use Ultra Cons; I
dont like filtering with fogs and I never
use Pro-Mist, which affects the appearance of sharpness. I used almost no
filtration on the primes, other than an
81EF and an occasional 18 or 14
Schneider Classic Soft. I opted for the
81EF because I didnt want the skin
tones to have that kind of reddish hue
that comes with using full correction.
The 81EF is biased toward the cool
side.
Often when shooting period
films, cinematographers will put
massive amounts of diffusion in front of
the lens to give it that kind of period
look and feel. I made a conscious decision not to do that. I did experiment
Star-Crossed Love
Top: Kuras
captures
Sabines
arrival at Le
Notres home.
Bottom: The
crew preps an
interior scene,
lit primarily
with
Octodome
fixtures.
with nets behind the lenses, but in the

end I chose not to use any. I felt the
lights and lenses supplied the softness
we wanted. I shot as wide open as I
could throughout the film because I
wanted to keep the depth of field very
74
April 2015
short to capture a more painterly feeling. Its always a challenge for the focus
puller, but 1st AC Iain Struthers did a
masterful job.
Did you favor any particular
types of lights?
Kuras: I decided not to use tungsten for the night scenes because I dont
like how tungsten picks up the red and
magenta in peoples faces when youre
shooting film. I wanted the faces to have
a more clean, alabaster feel. I ended up
using HMIs for night effects, putting
correction and coral gels on them. In
fact, I ended up using HMIs for almost
everything.
Because we were shooting on
film, and it was important to have
enough depth and detail in the shadows,
we needed more light than is expected
when shooting digital. But because we
were shooting at historical landmarks,
the amount of light we could bring into
a room was severely limited, including
light coming through windows the
shutters remain closed in some of these
rooms all year round. Wherever there
were tapestries or textiles, the number of
lumens we could have operating in the
room was actually measured. The people
who control historical sites in England
carry their own light meters and were
constantly checking the light levels.
Tapestries are so sensitive to heat that
Star-Crossed Love
Top: Rickman
steps in front of
the camera and
Kuras shoots from
over his shoulder.
Bottom: Kuras
captures Le Notre
as he surveys
the landscape.
even when we were using an Octodome,

which doesnt generate a lot of heat, they
had to be completely covered. Gaffer
Johnny Colley did an exceptional job of
finessing the light levels while creating
the moods we wanted, all within the
confines imposed on us.
There were other restrictions, as
76
April 2015
well. We couldnt do any rigging for

most of the film; everything had to play
off the floor. The Octodomes, which
can be plugged straight into the wall,
served us especially well. And while
candles were the primary means of
lighting during the 17th century, we
werent allowed to use any open flames
in most of the historical locations

because of the obvious fire hazard, and
also because of the smoke they emit.
Our truly phenomenal production
designer, James Merifield, had gotten
hold of these unbelievably beautiful,
double-wicked beeswax candles, but
sadly we couldnt use them and fake
candles werent convincing.
When we could put lights outside
windows, we most often used 18Ks
bounced into bleached muslin or if I
needed more range or distance into
Ultrabounce. One such location was the
hallway outside of Le Notres office. The
room was small and dark but had three
or four windows. We put up scaffolding
outside the windows and positioned
three 18Ks on it. Not only were these
platforms a lot cheaper than Condors,
but they also allowed us to get the lights
as far back as we wanted and to shift the
lights whenever we changed the angle of
the shot.
When Le Notre conducts his
interview with Sabine, however, Alan
wanted the shutters closed; he wanted
to just feel light coming through the
Star-Crossed Love
wooden slats. It was really dark and I
desperately needed some fill light, but
because of the sites historical status we
couldnt use wall spreaders. I casually
walked over to the shutters and opened
them the tiniest bit. Alan just as casually
went over and shut them again. It was
very funny.
Smoke is an obvious way to bring
up fill levels in a room but, again, even
water-based smoke was not allowed in
the location work. That was the real
killer for me! So, the one recourse that
Johnny and I had was to position an
Octo as far to the side of the camera as
I could to provide some needed fill light.
I had to place it up high [to keep it out
of frame], but the higher the light, the
more it spread. We double-diffused it,
and we also placed an 800-watt JokerBug atop a cabinet.
A number of sequences take
place in the Rockwork Grove. In fact,
we see it being built from scratch.
Kuras: [Laughs.] It was a virtual
mud pit. Shooting in England means
shooting in variable weather. The days
we needed to have sun and nice weather,
it rained. When we needed rain, it
would be sunny. The Rockwork Grove
was a practical set constructed in Black
Park, a public park near Pinewood
Studios. It poured the entire time we
were there. We were mud-encrusted for
weeks.
[The site, alternately referred to as
grove or garden, was circular in shape
and consisted of tiers of greenery and
stone walls.] Key grip David Maund
was spectacular in building camera platforms to negotiate our moving cameras
through the mud. Wherever and whenever we needed to move the cameras on
tracks no matter what level we were
on there would be a platform.
Tell us about the extended night
sequence near the Rockwork Grove
when Sabine attempts to close a sluice
gate that has intentionally been
opened in order to flood and destroy
her fountain.
Kuras: The sluice-gate scene,
which evolved into the trough-of-rushing-water scene, was shot in two stages.
Top: The crew

preps the
Rockwork Grove
set. Middle: A
Technocranemounted camera
captures the
flood scene.
Bottom: Multiple
cameras are
prepped for
a Rockwork
Grove shoot.
78
April 2015
The first part, revealing the henchman

opening the gate, was shot at a big
pond. [The second part, during which
the torrent of water sweeps through the
open gate and down into the trough,
was built as an exterior set next to the
Rockwork Grove location at Black
Park.] James Merifield laid a platform
[resembling a sidewalk] so that dolly
tracks could be laid next to and level
with the rushing water. A jib arm
extended from the dolly to allow me to
have full flexibility to dip up, down and
across the water.
The B-camera was rigged on an
Amphibian remote head on a 30-foot
Technocrane, which was placed facing
the open sluice gate [with the water
rushing toward it]. We protected the
camera in an underwater housing that
enabled us to dunk it into the water.
There are some really tight
close-ups in the film. Did you use
macro lenses?
Kuras: Those are actually longlens shots. I used the Angenieux 24290mm on the shot of Le Notre
walking through the garden at Sabines
house. Its nighttime and he drops by
unannounced to discuss her progress on
the Rockwork Grove. While waiting for
her, he walks into her garden for the first
time. I wanted to shoot it very impressionistically, to feel lyrical and luxurious
to make us feel like we were discovering the gardens along with Le Notre.
I consulted with James before he
built the set and told him I wanted to
lay a straight track the length of the
garden not down the center of the
garden, but rather on the outer edge of
the vegetation, so that the camera could
effectively dolly through all the plants
and flowers. For the sequence with Le
Notre, I was on the longer end of the
zoom most of the time, so that Le
Notre is in focus while all the foreground greenery is out of focus. It
created a very intimate feeling. I warned
Iain to be prepared because I might
intuitively tilt up to Andrs face or [rack
to] a foreground flower as we were
dollying along with Le Notre. Thus, the
focus itself became a means of discovery
Star-Crossed Love
Kuras and crew prep a carriage scene.
80
and a part of the storytelling.

Can you describe the postproduction process?
Kuras: We encountered a number
of problems in processing the film.
Deluxe and Technicolor had both closed
their processing labs mere weeks before
we started production. We had no
choice but to process our film at the only
remaining lab in London, whose work
was sketchy at best. It wasnt until I got
to the grade that I saw all of the inconsistencies in the processing. In a single
shot the face tones went from magenta
to green to magenta to green. That kind
of inconsistency comes from not changing the developing bath enough, as well
as an inconsistency in bath temperature.
Months after we finished color timing,
another lab opened in London. We were
just unlucky to get caught in that limbo
period.
You hadnt noticed anything in
the dailies?
Kuras: I wasnt seeing projected
dailies and the inconsistencies were not

always obvious, although they were
problematic later in the grade. Its rare
these days to see dailies in a lab, especially because our locations were often
an hour to an hour-and-a-half outside
of London. Often, due to budget and
editorial constraints, cinematographers
are seeing dailies on DVDs. I didnt
want to see compressed digital files, so
the production very kindly agreed to put
my dailies on a drive.
Given the processing problems,
you must have had a lot of work to do
in the grade.
Kuras: Yes. Its always tricky to
correct for variations in emulsion due to
processing. In previous times not so
long ago, I might add lab technicians
prided themselves on consistency and
quality. I think this is still the case,
although there are more post houses
doing work and its not all of the same
standard. In terms of our grade, we had
to put a ride in the shot to accomplish
several corrections during the course of

one shot. Normally, one correction at
the head of a shot would play out during
the entire shot. But in this case for
example, for skin tones we had to
make several corrections within the
same shot to help us address the change
in skin tone.
It was extremely time-consuming. Grading was done at LipSync in
London. Though I have a long-term
relationship with Deluxe and Company
3, the production company had already
made an equity deal with LipSync and
so I was obligated to go there. Alan was
with me in the grade, and when I had to
leave before we finished, he took over
and supervised the rest, along with the
effects shots.
Did the film require any CGI?
Kuras: Not a lot, but some, like
the very last shot, which pulls out to
reveal the more organic Rockwork
Grove amidst the Versailles formal
gardens. There were also certain shots
that required blue- or greenscreen to

help us with location disparities, such as
when Sabine first gets out of the
carriage at Le Notres office. On the
reverse, we had to put up a big bluescreen beyond the carriage because, well,
we were supposed to be in Paris!
TECHNICAL SPECS
2.40:1
3-perf Super 35mm
Arricam Lite
Cooke S4, Angenieux Optimo
Kodak Vision3 500T 5219,
200T 5213; Vision2 250D 5205
Digital Intermediate
81
Visions
of
Grandeur
I
The Big Trail, shot by ASC

co-founder Arthur Edeson in the
70mm Grandeur format, turns 85.
By Jason Apuzzo
|
82
April 2015
t was the movie that made John Wayne a star and nearly
ruined his career. It was the most ambitious Western of its
time and nearly ended the genre for good. Its a movie
about which everything was genuinely big, from its 70mm
Grandeur cameras, to its payroll of 20,000 extras and five
separate casts, to its epic behind-the-scenes tales of
Prohibition-era carousing. It was director Raoul Walshs
sprawling, rambunctious 1930 feature, The Big Trail, and
nothing about it was small including its legacy.
All images courtesy of the Margaret Herrick Library.
Opposite: Raoul
Walshs 1930 epic,
The Big Trail, tells
the tale of
settlers and
outlaws trekking
from Missouri to
Oregons
Willamette Valley.
This page, top:
Cinematographer
Arthur Edeson,
ASC, on location
amid Wyomings
Teton mountains,
stands beside a
rock formation
resembling a
mans profile.
Bottom: Young
trail scout Breck
Coleman (John
Wayne) hands a
rifle to Ruth
Cameron
(Marguerite
Churchill).
As The Big Trail celebrates its

85th anniversary this year, its worth
looking back at this hugely innovative
film that not only transformed the
young Marion Morrison into John
Wayne, but set a new course for cinematography and movie exhibition
even if that path would not be revisited
for years to come. Indeed, The Big Trail
was the granddaddy of all widescreen
epics, the forefather of todays Imax and
3D extravaganzas, and the first
Hollywood production designed to
compete with the nascent medium of
television. And yet, despite its many
innovations, The Big Trail may be the
most important Hollywood film few
people really know about.
Written by former trapper and
surveyor Hal Evarts, The Big Trail offers
a window into the American frontier,
both real and imagined, as it tells a
rough-and-tumble story of settlers and
outlaws blazing a pioneer trail from
Missouri to Oregons Willamette Valley.
Along the way, the travelers led by
tough young trail scout Breck Coleman
(Wayne) fight the elements and each
other, while encountering warring
Native American tribes and herds of

stampeding buffalo.
Neither Walsh nor his cinematographer, Arthur Edeson, ASC,
were strangers to innovation. A cofounder of the American Society of
www.theasc.com
Cinematographers in 1919, Edeson had

teamed up with Walsh for the specialeffects epic The Thief of Bagdad in 1924.
Edeson photographed the thriller The
Lost World, with stop-motion effects by
Willis OBrien, the following year,
April 2015
83
Visions of Grandeur
Crewmembers set up lights on location.
before he and Walsh reteamed for

1929s In Old Arizona, Hollywoods first
outdoor sound Western. For that
production, Edeson experimented with
camouflaging microphones a vital
technique in the early sound era and
earned his first Oscar nomination.
None of these challenges, however,
could have fully prepared Edeson for
the biggest new thing in cinematography circa 1930: Grandeur.
The Fox Grandeur camera, also
known as the Mitchell FC (Mitchell
Fox camera), was the mad, unwieldy
creation of studio mogul William Foxs
engineers. Running a newly devised
70mm, 4-perf version of the 1928
Eastman Type II Cine Negative
Panchromatic film, the hefty cameras
more than doubled the width of
conventional cinema images (48mm
versus 21mm in actual image width)
and featured a bold 2.13:1 aspect ratio.
They also left more than twice the usual
84
April 2015
amount of film space for an optical

sound track (.240 mils versus .100 mils),
a vital advantage in the new sound era.
William Fox had conceived the
Grandeur system to revolutionize the
cinema. With astonishing prescience, he
had predicted the threat of broadcast
television to Hollywood as early as the
late 1920s, reasoning that audiences
wouldnt pay to attend movies if they
could watch entertainment at home for
free. His solution was simple: go big. As
Fox would tell Upton Sinclair (in the
1933 book-length interview Upton
Sinclair Presents William Fox), I reached
a conclusion that the one thing that
would make it possible to compete with
television was to use a screen ten times
larger than the present screen, a camera
whose eye could see ten times as much
as at present. It was the same solution
Hollywood would adopt in the 1950s
with such formats as Cinerama, ToddAO and CinemaScope, and later with
Imax. William Fox saw the threat to

the movie industry even then, says
John Hora, ASC. And he put his
money where his ideas were.
One of Foxs Grandeur cameras
can be seen on display at the Hollywood
Heritage Museum; another, in more
complete condition, was shown to AC
by private collector Richard Bennett.
Seen in person, what immediately
stands out about the Grandeur is its
enormous size. With a fully loaded
70mm magazine, its easy to imagine
the Grandeur rivaling later 15-perf
Imax cameras for sheer immobility. A
Grandeur shoot would not move
quickly.
For Arthur Edesons purposes,
however, the most pressing aspect of
Foxs Grandeur cameras was their need
for high-quality lenses befitting the
extraordinary image resolution of
70mm film. Writing about The Big
Trail in AC (Sept. 30), Edeson noted,
Walsh (right) observes the set alongside the hooded camera used by Edeson,
as script girl Marie Boyle (lower right corner) looks on.
Even though the lenses I used were the

product of what is probably the most
efficient and exacting optical firm in the
world, I found that I had to test at least
ten or a dozen individual lenses to
obtain one which met all of my tests
perfectly. In the same article, Edeson
mentioned using a 50mm lens for The
Big Trail; based on original Mitchell
Camera purchase orders uncovered by
Bennett, its also possible the cinematographer would have had 75mm,
105mm and 150mm lenses at his
disposal.
For Edeson, nothing about
shooting The Big Trail was going to be
easy. Film running through Grandeur
cameras, for example, had a tendency to
buckle and curl, not only ruining the
film but also burning out camera motors
a tough problem to overcome in
remote locations. Several motors would
be burned out in just the first week of
shooting in Arizona.
Yet the most onerous aspect of
shooting with the Grandeur especially for personnel trained during the
silent era was having the cameras
controlled by a sound truck, so that
audio and picture could be properly
synchronized. For camera veterans like
Edeson, it was a case of the cart pulling
the horse sometimes almost literally.

In the films colorful production
log, The Log of The Big Trail, Hal
Evarts describes tracking shots with 50
crewmembers hauling a dozen cables
stretched from a sound truck to a twotiered camera sled supporting three
70mm Grandeur cameras and three
conventional 35mm cameras being
pulled by 20 mules. If the mules got out
of line, the shot would be thrown out of
focus. Not so simple, as Evarts drily
puts it, this taking of a talking picture in
the open.
Further complicating matters was
that each take had to be perfect, both for
picture and for sound, because audio
dubbing technology was still in its
infancy. They had to have incredible
discipline on the set to avoid costly
mistakes in sound, notes legendary
sound designer Ben Burtt. Actors had
to know their lines; you couldnt drop
something off-camera without ruining
the take. It must have been an amazing
process.
The primitive state of postproduction audio also dictated that Edeson
would be photographing five different
casts, one each for the English, Spanish,
Italian, French and German-language
versions of the film. Whats more, the
85
Visions of Grandeur
Top: A
production still
from the film.
Bottom: Walsh
(lower left) leans
against the twolevel platform as
technicians
attend to six
motion-picture
cameras, several
covered with
blimps. A
soundman
(right) works on
the top tier.
film would be simultaneously shot in

Grandeur 70mm by Edeson and in
35mm by Lucien Andriot, ASC.
Edeson also felt that the
Grandeur images were too large to
support conventional close-ups, so the
production would mostly do without
them. At the same time, the background
detail visible to the Grandeur lenses was
so extreme that Walsh and his team
would have to invest enormous time
(and money) populating backgrounds
with thousands of extras, cattle, horses,
wagons and buffaloes. And if a wandering sightseer a mile in the background
happened to pass into frame and ruin a
shot (as occasionally happened), everything would have to be set up again.
The idea that widescreen made
it necessary to stage even more action
background action as well as foreground
action for the camera is amazing,
says film critic Leonard Maltin. What
knocks me out is just the enormity of
86
April 2015
Visions of Grandeur
70mm negative of the final scene in the film.
88
April 2015
the production, and the vast amount of

detail that it captures.
Even with a $2 million budget, a
crew of 200 (including 22 in the camera
department), and an ex-cowboy director whod once driven cattle from
Veracruz to Texas, The Big Trail was
looking like a big risk. Of course, it was
the kind of risk Raoul Walsh was used
to taking. After all, hed just cast an
unknown prop hand working on the
Fox lot to star in the film.
Walsh was used to directing
inexperienced actors. For his first film,
the semi-documentary The Life of
General Villa, hed famously asked
Pancho Villa to restage the Battle of
Durango for the cameras. Savoring the
publicity, the general gleefully obliged.
By comparison, directing Marion
Duke Morrison an unknown 23year-old fresh out of USC would be
easy.
Walsh was dynamic, manly,
forward-moving, bold, a craftsman,
John Waynes son Ethan Wayne recalls.
At the John Wayne Enterprises
archives, Ethan showed AC a carved
bone knife given by Walsh to Wayne,
commemorating The Big Trail s
Wyoming shoot. Cradled in a bone
sheath, the huge knife has an archaic
quality that captures both the film and
the primitive circumstances in which it
was shot.
AC and John Wayne Enterprises
also identified previously unseen
footage from behind the scenes of The
Big Trail, culled from a collection of
Waynes home movies. The extraordinary footage features rare glimpses of
wagons being lowered down a cliff,
Raoul Walsh hard at work, and John
Wayne and Ward Bond joking around
in front of the Tetons. Waynes casual
confidence, especially at age 23, is
uncanny.
John Wayne at that point in his
life was simply a beautiful man, says
film critic and historian Richard
Schickel. Whatever awkwardness he
had was covered over by his energy and
general pleasure in his work. He obviously liked being an actor.
He was a born movie star, adds

Scott Eyman, author of the best-selling
biography John Wayne: The Life and
Legend. He had that physique, he had
that smile, he had charisma, he had
presence. Your eye goes to him when
hes on camera. Still, the young actor
had to learn on the fly as the huge
production kicked off in Yuma, Ariz. on
April 21, 1930.
Immediately, Edeson began
getting arresting images with his
Grandeur camera huge, detailed
vistas of pioneers trekking off toward an
infinite horizon. Documentary-like
panoramas with breathtaking depth of
field began pouring into the Fox labs.
Like Ansel Adams with a large-format
camera, Edeson and his Grandeur were
capturing the sublime landscape of the
still-pristine West. The Fox studio brass
had never seen anything like it. In The
Log of The Big Trail, Evarts writes that
Fox officials informed Walsh that the
opening scenes were the greatest that
had ever been received in Hollywood.
Indeed, Grandeurs depth of field
in stopped-down, daylight situations
was so great that Edeson began referring to the effect as pseudo-stereoscopic. At the same time, the
cinematographers compositions never
let foreground characters get swallowed
up by natures spectacle. Taking full
advantage of Walshs long takes,
Edesons foreground figures ramble
across the wide frame, casually asserting
their dignity against natures indifference like migrant Dust Bowl families in
Dorothea Langes photographs.
Most importantly, Edesons
deep-focus compositions allow the
audiences eye to wander from foreground characters to background vistas.
The film is very modern-looking in
terms of the use of widescreen, says
Hora. They knew right away what
they were doing in terms of how to use
the frame, how to have people cross it
instead of panning with them.
Theres a kind of involvement
you get, because youre participating in
the image, Hora continues. In terms
of the screen and composition, it wasnt
Visions of Grandeur
Walsh (pointing) gives direction, while Edeson (lower left) sets up the camera.
equaled until CinemaScope came in

and then Todd-AO. Eyman agrees:
Photographically, its a masterpiece.
Walsh felt so confident about his
material that he improvised one of the
most epic sequences of 1930s cinema:
Using primitive log booms and pulleys,
he lowered his wagons, pioneers and
livestock over the side of a 350' cliff at
Spread Creek, Wyo. This lowering of
the wagons would become the signature sequence of the film, Walshs
Fitzcarraldo-like flourish, and a prime
spectacle for the Grandeur cameras.
The lowering of the wagons over those
cliffs is just stupefying, enthuses
Maltin.
The production was also,
presumably, recording better motionpicture sound than ever before thanks in
part to Grandeurs oversize optical
track. As Robert Gitt, founder of
UCLAs film-preservation program,
explains, The 70mm Grandeur
90
April 2015
formats extra-wide variable-density

track had the potential to provide
greater audio fidelity with a significantly
improved signal-to-noise ratio.
Whether Grandeur achieved this
higher fidelity is difficult to judge today,
because surviving prints borrow heavily
from the films narrower 35mm soundtrack. Still, Burtt feels the filmmakers
achieved extraordinary results. Its an
amazing film for sound, he says, in the
sense that I look at it and I say, How the
heck did they edit and re-record this in
1930? The dialogue editing is pretty
good. They had good microphone
coverage. There are a lot of scenes with
foreground dialogue and background
action with wagons, or people, or
crowds that are balanced very nicely.
Maltin agrees, noting, The sound is as
naturalistic as the imagery. Its hard to
believe this was made so early in the
talking era.
The shoot took its toll, however,
as the production rumbled on over

4,000 miles in seven states. Dragging
his team across burning deserts in
Arizona, over snowdrifts in Jackson
Hole, or through the tall timber of
Sequoia National Park, Walsh pushed
his cast and crew to the limit. The Big
Trail required its onscreen pioneers to
struggle through rainstorms, hunt
buffalo, ford the Snake River in
Wyoming, and fight off a band of 725
horse-mounted Native Americans
(made up of Cheyennes, Crows,
Shoshones, Blackfeet and Arapahos
not all of whom got along). Most of this
was being done under conditions similar to those encountered by the original
pioneers.
According to Evarts log,
Wagons were overturned, extra women
were spilled from wagon seats or saddles
into waist-deep mud, drenched to the
skin, in danger from lurching wagons
and trampling stock. There were scores
Visions of Grandeur
The wagons, cattle and pioneers forge their way through the water and mud.
of accidents and broken bones. Walshs

roughneck crew which included exTexas Rangers, Chicago gunmen,
Swedish sailors and ex-Marines also
92
took to brawling.
Another source of friction was
drinking, with the cast getting hooked
on Prohibition-era moonshine called
moose milk. Walsh blamed the drinking binge on the films New York-based
cast, whom he took to calling the
Booze Trust.
The name of the picture should
have become The Big Drunk, Walsh
would later crack in his autobiography,
Each Man in His Time. The cast probably scattered more empty whiskey
bottles over the Western plains than all
the pioneers.
At night, animals ran rampant
through the camp. Pack rats ran off with
actor Bill Macks toupee, actress
Marguerite Churchills earrings, and
actor Tully Marshalls false teeth. One
crewmember awoke with a bear cub on
his chest, cozily cuddled up to his beard;
a cook quit after a moose stuck its head
into the mess tent, while another moose
kicked actor El Brendel in the groin.
In the midst of the chaos, Walsh
remained a tower of strength, impressing both cast and crew with his leadership. He was a gallant man, relates
Schickel, who knew Walsh in his later

years. He had the right stuff.
Finally, after shooting what
Walsh estimated to be 500,000' of
70mm film and 700,000' of 35mm film
on a movie boasting 93 feature players,
1,800 head of cattle, 1,400 horses and
500 buffalo with 700 assorted dogs,
pigs and chickens production
wrapped on August 20, 1930.
There was only one problem:
Hardly anyone was destined to see the
70mm epic Walsh had just made. Upon
The Big Trail s release, only two theaters
in the country Graumans Chinese in
Hollywood, and the Roxy in New York
had been refitted with a 70mm
Grandeur projection system. With most
theaters having just undergone costly
upgrades for sound, there was simply no
Depression-era money left to refit for
70mm. So everyone else was going to
see (and hear) The Big Trail on 35mm in
the conventional 1.33:1 aspect ratio.
What they saw and heard was a decent
Western, but nothing spectacular.

Without Grandeur, The Big Trail failed
to live up to its name.
Its so spectacular in widescreen
that if enough people had actually been
able to see it the way it was intended to
be seen, it could have been a different
story, says USC professor Rick Jewell.
Instead, the 70mm Big Trail would not
be seen widely until it was restored
by preservationist Peter Williamson at
the Museum of Modern art, in collaboration with Ralph Sargent and others
in the early 1980s.
Although the 35mm Big Trail
grossed $945,000 domestically, with
$242,000 in foreign receipts, it wasnt
nearly enough to recoup the movies
budget, which had ballooned to $2.5
million. Already overextended financially, Fox Film would go into receivership shortly after The Big Trail s release,
eventually merging with Darryl
Zanucks Twentieth Century Pictures
to create todays 20th Century Fox.
John Wayne would temporarily be

banished to the purgatory of serials,
with the Western genre soon to follow.
And widescreen cinematography
viewed as costly and impractical
would be put back on the shelf until the
early 1950s.
Still, everything new about The
Big Trail including its 70mm
imagery, higher fidelity sound, and
John Wayne would prove its appeal
in years ahead. The legacy of The Big
Trail would ultimately be as big as the
frontier it depicted. As Hora puts it,
The Big Trail is monumental.
93
Filmmakers Forum
Shooting a Procedural Western in Winnipeg

By Thom Best, CSC
Through the changing seasons of the prairie countryside, my

daily commute to set has provided a lot of time for me to reflect on
my latest shooting experience. I grew up here in Manitoba; this was
where, in my fathers photo studio, my dreams of working in film and
television were born. I left almost 30 years ago in order to pursue a
career behind the camera a career I discovered existed through
reading American Cinematographer when I was a kid. I consider it
serendipitous to be back here, shooting a dramatic series, and writing about it in these pages.
The Pinkertons is a 22-episode, first-run syndicated TV show,
a procedural Western if you will, set in 1865 Kansas City, Mo. It
follows the exploits of the fabled Pinkerton National Detective
Agency, and specifically its founder, Allan Pinkerton (Angus
Macfadyen); his son William (Jacob Blair); and Kate Warne (Martha
MacIsaac), Americas first female detective.
The real-life agency became legendary for utilizing then-revolutionary methods in its investigations, including the use of mug
shots, police lineups, the first database of archived newspaper clippings of criminal activity, and new technologies such as the optically
improved microscope (thanks to Carl Zeiss) and the electric telegraph. Just as the agency employed the latest technologies in its
work, we are utilizing new technologies to bring these stories to life
while maintaining the style of a classic Hollywood Western.
I was excited by the prospect of shooting a Western, and the
bar was set high when executives likened the series to premium
94
April 2015
cable shows such as The Walking Dead and Boardwalk Empire. But
I had to wonder: Why shoot in Winnipeg? Not exactly the first place
that comes to mind for this genre. Well, beyond the obvious answer
(the province offers an aggressive tax credit), Missouri and Manitoba
do share a similar topography. Additionally, Winnipeg was called
Little Chicago in the early 1900s, and Chicago was where the
actual Agency offices were located (although this isnt the focus of
the first season).
Together with pilot director Paul Fox (a true Western
aficionado), production designer Rjean Labrie (who routinely pulls
rabbits out of his arse) and the wonderful costume designer Heather
Neale, we established a look inspired by the modern-day Westerns
Ride With the Devil (shot by Fred Elmes, ASC) and The Assassination
of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Roger Deakins, ASC,
BSC). We very quickly agreed on a color palette of muted earth
tones that respects the period, and we chose to embrace a classic
cinematic style where camera movement would be motivated and
shots would have scope with actors placed within wider frames
we really wanted to stretch our 16:9 frame. Handheld would be
used sparingly and only with intent. And we would always look for
interesting and unusual angles to support the drama. We knew
going in that with the amount of work to do each day, standard
coverage of master, mediums, overs and close-ups would not be
possible for every scene. Something would have to give. It was an
approach perhaps more suited to a feature, but weve stuck with it
as much as possible even as the show, now in series mode, has
evolved.
Our sets are primarily located in the town of Grosse Isle, just
All images courtesy of the filmmakers.
In 1865 Kansas
City, Allan
Pinkerton
(Angus
Macfadyen,
right), his son
William (Jacob
Blair, left) and
Kate Warne
(Martha
MacIsaac,
middle) run the
Pinkerton
National
Detective
Agency in the
syndicated
television show
The Pinkertons.
Top: An aerial view of the train station and street sets.

Bottom: The crew shoots a scene with the Ronin camera rig.
north of Winnipeg, where the Prairie Dog

Central steam locomotive runs. The train
station there is a period building that we
have dressed for Kansas City. Several of our
sets are built inside, and a limited street set
surrounds the station.
We shoot 10 pages a day in five-day
blocks, which makes it challenging to maintain quality. Im very thankful for the expertise of the Winnipeg crew, who are committed and hard working, and have gleaned a
tremendous amount of knowledge while
working on major productions that have
come through here. My gaffer, John Clarke,
and key grip, Bill Mills, are second to none.
Ive long admired the work of
Deakins and John Seale, ASC, ACS (Witness
and Dead Poets Society are among my
favorites) for their naturalistic sensibilities,
and for this show, Ive employed a simplified, natural approach. I call it stylized naturalism generally a strong key light, softcut for faces and wrapped around, with no
backlights and little or no fill. For separation:
kickers or low edges.
When it comes to this time period,
Im particularly concerned with the types of
illumination that were available then not
many! Everything is an extension of firelight,
whether its a candle, lantern, campfire or
coal fire. Ive used this as an opportunity to
keep the image warm, which I find more
pleasing for actors faces as it minimizes variations in skin tones within any given scene.
Im also always looking for ways to create
contrast, so weve taken to placing lanterns
in almost every interior and exterior night
shot; A-camera operator Paul Suderman
95
and B-camera operator Marcus James are

now acutely aware of composing with
those lanterns for a little poor mans
contrast.
The show is a family entertainment,
but as we started production it wasnt yet
clear how far any particular element
language, violence, the amount of blood
could be presented. We began with a very
serious, dramatic approach, including a
lighting style that was a callback to Westerns such as McCabe and Mrs. Miller (shot
by Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC) with extensive
use of smoke in interiors; even though
smoking is not shown onscreen, the
amount of smoke generated by our many
lanterns is plenty to justify this approach. I
have maintained that style even as the overall tone has become less serious. The
dramatic imagery also serves to lend some
mystery to our limited sets, which we need
to keep interesting for 22 episodes.
Our primary camera package comes
from Raw Camera in Vancouver, and our
main bodies are two Red Epic MXs. We
record RedCode Raw to RedMag SSD cards
with 6:1 compression. Delivering the show
in 4K was a directive from the top, so this
5K camera future-proofs the series as much
as any current technology can. I had previously used the Red One camera on another
pilot and, truthfully, was not impressed at
Top left: Shooting

with a drone on
the street set.
Top right:
Cinematographer
Thom Best, CSC
checks the frame.
Middle: The crew
prepares a
stagecoach scene.
Bottom: The crew
prepares to shoot
with a barrel/horse
rig on the back of
a pickup truck.
96
April 2015
the time. I loved the images it produced, but

in my estimation the camera was not ready
for the rigors of production we experienced a lot of record errors where the
camera would shut down any time there
was vibration or even gunfire. The Red
system has since come a long way, and I
have to say shooting with the Epic has been
a very good experience. Our lenses include a
full set of Arri/Zeiss Ultra Primes, as well as
18-80mm and 45-250mm Arri/Fujinon
Alura zooms (both T2.6), which live on the B
camera. I rate the cameras at 640 ISO and
generally leave it there for all interior and
exterior work; for some night scenes I will
push it as far as 1,280, but I find it too noisy
beyond that.
Weve also utilized Nikon D800 and
D810 DSLRs for numerous shots. In one
instance, we shot a Civil War flashback
sequence with a DSLR and a 35mm Lensbaby for a swing-shift look. These cameras
are especially useful for squeezing into
places where our production cameras might
not fit, or where its too dangerous to rig
them. We have gotten unique shots by
mounting the DSLRs on stagecoaches, locomotives and cliff edges. 4K delivery dictates
minimal use, but as a means of getting
otherwise impossible shots, they are fantastic.
We have also employed, to great
effect, an Aeronavics SkyJib multi-rotor
airframe, mounted with a Canon EOS Rebel
T3i with a 17-85mm f4-5.6 Canon EF-S lens,
for aerial shots of our town set and the
prairie countryside. Its a great piece of kit
owned and operated by 1st AC Casey Harrison, who maintains all the necessary
permits. And weve used DJIs Ronin, a
handheld camera gimbal, to shoot horse
riding/chases from the back of a pickup
truck through some very rough terrain. The
results were amazingly smooth shots. Weve
also used it to shoot actors who were
harnessed to a barrel/horse rig in the back of
that truck. Its an awesome tool that lets you
get shots that even a Steadicam cant,
although its by no means a one-man operation.
Typically, I prefer to shoot digital as I
would film and leave the color-correction for
post, because in television, youre always
working against the clock. But in this particular instance, due to our delivery schedule
The crew shoots a scene with a Nikon D810 on a

Cinedrive motion-control system and two Red Epics.
and the fact that post is handled on the

other side of the country, its been essential
to set the various looks on set with my DIT,
Daniel Quesnel. Hell load stills of each shot
to an iPad that I can check and adjust
throughout the day. Our colorist, Arlene
Moelker, is doing a beautiful job maintaining the look we achieve on set.
We have a fairly standard lighting
package for a show of this type, but the LED
lighting were using has revolutionized my
approach. The Kino Flo Celebs 200, 400
and 400Q have become my primary
fixtures of choice. I was introduced to them
on the series Played and have come to fully
embrace them as an essential part of my
98
April 2015
lighting. Their ability to go from tungsten to

daylight and any temperature in between,
while also being dimmable without losing
color temp, makes them incredibly versatile
and a big time saver. The guys now
know that every setup will include the
Celebs; they are the first units off the truck
and the first to set up.
We also use small LED lighting units
from LiteGear. The LiteRibbon can be
battery-operated and is especially useful for
amplifying the light from the practical
lanterns. We have placed them in woodburning stoves for firelight, and we have
several custom-built lanterns that can be
handheld by the actors.
Working in Winnipeg has presented

its own challenges. Its not that remote, but
you have to plan if you require something
special gear-wise. Our grip and lighting
supplier, William F. White, is a national
inventory and can supply whatever we need
with notice. It has also been incredibly
windy on the prairies this year, so much so
that putting up overheads or negative fill
has been impossible at times; weve used a
perforated fabric called White Windbounce
from The Rag Place that works well in
moderate winds. There is no LRX or equivalent in the province, so big night-lighting
sources have to be assembled. And the cold
brings additional challenges. The cameras
work fine since they are little heaters
themselves, but for the actors, when were
shooting in -40 temperatures, their eyes
wont stop watering and their breath
begins to show on interiors.
In the end, shooting The Pinkertons
has been both memorable and meaningful,
as its brought me back to where it all
began. Ive spent most of my career shooting film and I will always have a love for it,
but the march of progress and the new
technologies it brings are a reality. I think
the film-versus-digital argument is finally
over, and people understand the strengths
and weaknesses of both. There is no magic
to either medium other than what filmmakers make of them. As much as I fought to
continue shooting film on Queer as Folks
fifth and final season, I am thankful I was
urged to shoot digital, as it was a great
opportunity to embrace the new wave
on a show that already had an established
look. And I like that producers now understand the digital workflow and things have
become streamlined in post.
I will say, though, that shooting digital can be a double-edged sword. For all the
creative freedoms it offers, it also democratizes the process, and one needs to guard
against cinematography by committee. The
raw image can now be manipulated to such
a degree that its authorship can be in question. That said, good lighting will always be
the cinematographers principal contribution and art.
New Products & Services

Reflex Unveils 35mm Scanner
Burbank-based Reflex Technologies, an archival services
company that offers high-quality scanning of narrow-gauge film and various
video formats, has extended its digitalscanning services to include 35mm film.
Reflexs 35mm scanner has been
under development for the past two
years and includes all the unique filmhandling characteristics of its narrowgauge-film companion. Both machines
have been designed and built internally
by Reed Bovee, our chief technology officer, who combines the skill of an engineer with his experience as a filmmaker,
says ASC associate Tim Knapp, president
of Reflex Technologies.
Both scanners are sprocket-less; the
software automatically recognizes the
format being scanned, and the scanners use lasers to sense the
perforations and to trigger the camera off the most spatially relevant
perforation. The 35mm scanners gate has been scaled up, but
otherwise its identical to the smaller-gauge scanner in every respect,
and is capable of holding even highly warped film flat at the point
of image capture.
For illumination, were again using a strobe, says Knapp.
In our 16mm machine, we [originally] used a xenon strobe, but
weve [since] replaced that with the same LED unit were using in
the 35mm scanner. The LED strobe provides high intensity with low
energy, absolutely uniform flash-to-flash consistency, and very stable
color temperature. Its a major improvement.
There are significant differences between scanning narrowgauge and 35mm film. Bovee explains, The 35mm image size is a
little over five times larger than the image area of 16mm film. The
scanning resolution is 5K rather than 2K. The roll weights are different. And we expect to handle more color film, including more color
negative.
In terms of its film handling, the 35mm Reflex scanner is
essentially the same as the companys unique narrow-gauge unit.
The control logic and tension-sensing mechanism are the same,
although the maximum tension is different as recommended by
SMPTE standards because of the difference in roll weights.
Reflex Archival Services has built a reputation for being able
to scan film that other services consider extinct due to its highly
distressed condition; the Reflex 35mm scanner will fully and gently
handle such film in the 35mm format. Knapp emphasizes that the
company has designed the scanner to produce high-quality scans of
archival films in every condition, including those that have been
100
April 2015
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.
carefully stored and well preserved.

Reed has designed the new scanner to enable us to provide
35mm service to the most discerning archivists, says Knapp. We
take pride in assuring our clients that they can use our output as their
new digital archival masters and as access copies, and put their valuable films back into storage. Archivists have been able to trust us
with their 8mm, 16mm and archival video materials, and now they
can trust us to provide the same high level of assurance with
35mm.
For additional information, visit www.reflextechnologies.com.
Fujifilm Updates IS-mini
Fujifilm North America Corp. has released IS-mini Manager
Plus+, a significantly enhanced version of the Mini Manager software
for the companys IS-mini digital color-adjustment device.
The IS-mini is a small hardware device that takes an incoming
HD-SDI digital-camera motion-picture image and converts the color
information via two sets of 1D LUTs and 3D LUTs to outputs of both
HD-SDI and HDMI connections all in record time while delivering
high picture quality. The newly improved Mini Manager version 2.3.3
adds several powerful features to the user-friendly interface, bringing post-house color-correction abilities to any on-set professional or
home user on a personal computer. Several features require activation of the IS-mini Manager Plus+ license (a $500 value).
The IS-mini can work with whatever
flavor of Log images are coming
from the camera. Connection is
easy: input HD-SDI from the
camera, connect the IS-mini output
to a monitor and the USB to a
laptop, then edit the color as the
camera captures in real time.
Because the IS-mini can be
powered by way of a 5-volt USB port,
its very portable. Additionally, the Mini Manager software can
archive an unlimited number of edited LUTs, and can also export and
send them to the post team. The IS-mini can also store one LUT in
its own non-volatile memory, allowing it to be used as a LUT box
without a computer connection.
Multiple IS-minis, connected by way of a USB hub, can be
accessed from within the main screen of Mini Manager 2.3.3 and
within the color-correction window. During color correction, the
changes can be immediately sent to only one IS-mini or to all the
connected units in unison; Mini Manager will cascade the monitorcalibration correction, enabling precise grading even with low-end
monitors. Additionally, 4K monitor calibration is made possible
through multiple IS-mini units feeding four inputs.
Time-code logging has been newly added so looks can be
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saved for future color grading. The Webbased LUT browsing tool allows users to
access hundreds of ACES-based camera LUTs
from Fujifilm, including many with negative
and positive film-stock emulations. In addition, Mini Manager Plus+ has the capability
of importing and exporting LUTs from many
different color-corrector format types, allowing simple exchange of looks between the
set and post house. For digital-imaging technicians and colorists, the new Tone Curve
tool and 12-vector color manipulation functions will be particularly beneficial. The
enhanced color-measurement tool in the
monitor-calibration section now features
automatic grayscale and RGB measurements
for demanding color professionals.
For additional information, visit
www.fujifilm.com/products/motion_picture/.
Tiffen Goes Solo
The Tiffen Co. has announced the
availability of the Steadicam Solo camera
stabilizer. Ideal for both DSLRs and
camcorders, the Solo can be used handheld,
as a monopod or with a Steadicam arm and
vest. It boasts a sleek and lightweight frame,
and durability to match the larger Steadicam
models.
Capable of being folded to a compact
25"x6" profile, the Solo system readily
supports cameras weighing up to 10
pounds. The closely engineered three-axis
gimbal design enables the precise movements and excellent stability demanded by
professional operators, while the ergonomic
foam handle and grips which control the
four-section telescopic post provide a high
level of comfort.
Other features include a quickrelease camera-mounting plate,
push-on lock, push-button release,
positive-positioning clamping,
standard 14-20 and 38-16
camera mounting, and simple
dual knob fore-aft vernier
adjustment.
The Steadicam Solo is available as an
upgradeable
handheld
camera stabilizer or as a
complete system with sled,
arm and vest.
www.tiffen.com/steadicam.
102
April 2015
Pictorvision Flies Heavy-Lift

Drones
Pictorvision has announced that it
has received FAA approval to fly two new
heavy-lift drones for aerial cinematography.
Pictorvisions two new drones are
the PV-HL1, which will fly a Red Dragon for
up to 15 minutes, and the PV-HL2, which
will fly a Red Dragon for up to 20 minutes.
Alternatively, we can trade off some of this
extended flight time in order to fly heavier
payloads, up to 20 pounds, allowing
productions even greater choices in
cameras and lenses, notes Tom Hallman,
Pictorvisions president.
The two new drones join Pictorvisions original PV-ML1 medium-lift
unmanned aircraft, which carries a GH4
camera package and has already successfully shot for multiple clients.
www.pictorvision.com.
Kodak Announces
Studio Support
Kodak has announced that it has
finalized new film-supply agreements with
all six major Hollywood studios. As part of
these agreements, Kodak will continue to
provide motion-picture film to 20th
Century Fox, Walt Disney Co., Warner Bros.
Entertainment Inc., NBC Universal Inc.,
Paramount Pictures Corp. and Sony Pictures
for their movie and television productions.
Film has long been and will
remain a vital part of our culture, says
Jeff Clarke, Kodaks chief executive officer.
With the support of the studios, we will
continue to provide motion-picture film,
with its unparalleled richness and unique
textures, to enable filmmakers to tell their
stories and demonstrate their art.
The agreements make it possible for
Kodak to continue to manufacture motionpicture film while also pursuing new opportunities to leverage film production technologies in growth applications, such as
touch screens for smart phones and tablet

computers. This also positions the company
to remain the premier supplier of camera
negative, intermediate stock for postproduction, and archival and print film.
With the support of the major
studios, the creative community can
continue to confidently choose film for their
projects, says Andrew Evenski, Kodaks
president of Entertainment & Commercial
Films. Weve been asking filmmakers,
What makes a project film worthy? Their
responses have varied from the need for its
exceptional depth to its distinctive grain, but
overwhelmingly, the answer is the story.
They need film to tell their stories the way
they envision them, and hold a strong desire
for it to remain a critical part of their visual
language. Enabling artists to use film will
help them to create the moments that
make cinema history.
www.kodak.com/go/motion.
Rosco Expands Backdrop Rentals
Rosco has launched the SoftDrops
line of fabric backdrops for the film and
television industry. Printed on woven cotton
and offered in Frontlight, Backlight or
Day/Night Backdrop technologies, SoftDrops can be produced in seamless sizes as
large as 40' high by 170' wide. This large,
seamless size allows filmmakers to shoot
from any angle or position, avoiding visible
seams. The ultra-matte finish is semitranslucent and requires less light to illuminate than vinyl.
Rosco has also announced the
expansion of its North American rental facilities for its award-winning backdrops.
Roscos backdrop rental inventory will now
be stored and shipped from Stamford,
Conn. as well as the existing Sun Valley,
Calif. facility, minimizing the shipping time
and cost to customers working in the eastern part of the region. As in the Sun Valley
location, Rosco backdrops are also available
for same-day pickup from Stamford.
Rosco Digital Imaging has supplied
backdrops for the film and television industries for more than 20 years. The rental
inventory consists of more than 1,000 backdrops, and can be viewed on the Rosco
Digital Imaging database at www.roscodig
ital.com.
In addition to backdrop rentals, Rosco

Digital Imaging produces custom backdrops
in Frontlight, Backlight and Day/Night
options. Custom backdrops can be
produced in vinyl or using Roscos new SoftDrop technology.
www.rosco.com.
Chimera Enhances Lightbanks

Chimera has introduced the Super
Pro X line of Lightbanks, which feature
clean-close backs that wrap around the light
fixture without excess material, allowing
smoother operation and better rotation of
the Lightbank.
The original Super Pro Lightbanks will
be phased out, although Chimera will keep
them available for special order. The Super
Pro X Lightbanks are available in white or
silver, in the following sizes: XXS (12"x16"),
XS (16"x22"), Small (24"x32"), Medium
(36"x48"), Large (54"x72"), Small Strip
(9"x36"), Medium Strip (14"x56") and
Large Strip (21"x84").
As with all Chimera Lightbanks, the
Super Pro X Lightbanks are completely handcrafted in the United States. For more information, visit www.chimeralighting.com.
Elation Re-Imagines Strobe
Elation Professional has introduced
the Protron 3K high-powered LED strobe
light. Capable of blasting out 80,000 lumens
of power from 200 3-watt cool-white LEDs,
its energy-efficient design and affordable
price tag make it an attractive choice for an
array of applications. Compact and lightweight at only 17.2 pounds, the Protron 3K
104
delivers the same output as xenon strobes

but boasts a low peak power output of only
900 watts with high- or low-power-mode
options.
Utilizing special optics and new LED
driver technology, the Protron 3K includes
built-in macros for such effects as burst and
pulse. Additionally, thanks to regulated
silent cooling fans, the fixture can operate
full-on without causing thermal-out issues.
The Protron 3K is controllable via
four DMX modes for a variety of control
options. A host of features come standard,
including 3- and 5-pin DMX in/out, and
powerCon in/out connections (with
included powerCon cable). A four-button
control panel with LCD menu display makes
for easy navigation through DMX and
manual settings, and an auto-sensing
power supply allows the Protron 3K to
operate anywhere in the world.
The Protron 3K comes in a robust
housing and includes electronic dimming
for full output control. Other benefits
include a long average LED life of 50,000
hours, greater reliability and less maintenance than traditional xenon strobes.
www.elationlighting.com.
Birns & Sawyer
Distributes Cineroid
Birns & Sawyer is now distributing a
number of products from Korean supplier
Cineroid to the U.S. market.
The Cineroid LM400-VCD is an allpurpose LED light kit with AC adapter,
yoke, barn doors, diffusion and carrying
bag. The unit, which can be used as an oncamera light or mounted on a stand,
features variable color temperature from
3,000K to 5,400K, 30 steps of dimming, a
wide beam spread of 120 degrees, a builtin DMX port, and a CRI of 91.
The LM400-VCD incorporates four
14"-20 threaded mounting holes, one on
each side of the fixture, to allow users to
orient the light either horizontally or vertically. The included yoke attaches to the
sides of the light and can mount to a stand
with a baby (58") pin.
The Cineroid EVF4RVW electronic
viewfinder features a 3.5" Retina LCD
display with 960x640 resolution and a
metal housing. The device has 3G/HD/SDSDI and HDMI inputs, and a 3G/HD/SD-SDI
output enables loop-through. The optical
loupe has an adjustable diopter and can be
detached completely or flipped open to
view the display as a monitor.
The EVF4RVW boasts a comprehensive set of confidence features, including
multiple waveform and vectorscope display
options. Peaking is available in red or white,
and various clip guides include color and a
range of zebra patterns. Two types of falsecolor displays translate exposure values into
six different colors. Crop guide superimposes darkened bars on the screen to aid in
framing shots that will be cropped in post,
and the screen size can be changed for use
with anamorphic lenses. Additional
features include pixel-to-pixel, screen flip,
monochrome mode, interchangeable
battery plates, and a mini XLR power input.
Cineroids PG32 3G Pattern Generator and Converter is a handheld device with
HDMI and HD-SDI outputs and inputs that
can be mounted on any video camera. The
PG32 is designed to calibrate and set up a
camera quickly. In addition to outputting
SMPTE standard patterns, the PG32 works
as an HD-SDI to HDMI cross-converter and
video monitor with waveform and
vectorscope display. It contains a soundlevel meter and internal speaker. One
battery mount for Sony NPF batteries is also
included.
www.birnsandsawyer.com.
106
Red Expands Global Support

Red Digital Cinema has expanded
the reach of its global support through the
addition of new Authorized Rental House
and Dealer programs.
Red Digital Cinema carefully
selected Authorized Dealers to create a
support network extension in a variety of
genres, including stills, cinema, broadcast,
in-flight videography, television and more.
Customers can experience services such as
product demos, technical assistance, product purchases, and mail-in/drop-off for
repair services. New location service areas
and companies include the U.K. (CVP and
WTS Broadcast), the Asia Pacific region
(Seika DI, DVInside), North America (Aerial
Media Pros, Omega Broadcast Group,
Samys Camera), Russia (Feel Systems Co.,
JC Group), Denmark (Goecker A/S) and
Norway (Interfoto).
Additionally, Red now has more
than 80 Authorized Rental House locations
worldwide. All locations have met the
necessary requirements to become an
Authorized Rental House, including a minimum inventory level of Red cameras as well
as an in-house technical staff with a
confirmed knowledge of and experience
with Red products. This program ensures
that customers will get the best possible
service when choosing Red.
www.red.com/locations.
Redrock Micro Supports Gimbals
Redrock Micro has announced a
suite of products that increase performance
and add important features for popular
gimbals such as the Freefly Movi, DJI Ronin,
Defy and others. Redrocks Gimbal Gear
consists of the updated MicroRemote wireless remote-focus system, FlexCable superflexible cables, PowerPack power distribution, and camera rigging options.
The popular MicroRemote has been
updated with new designs and features for
gimbal use. The compact torque motor is
now even smaller, logging in at 86mm total
height, and features a new angled cable
port for more compact rigging. The
updated wireless hand unit is 30-percent
smaller and lighter and includes an updated
radio with a 1-mile line-of-sight range. New
MicroRemote 2.0 firmware increases
performance and reliability, and adds new

features such as electronic backlash adjustment; the firmware is a free upgrade and is
customer-installable.
The PowerPack for gimbals enables
a single lithium-polymer battery to safely
power all gimbal accessories, including
onboard monitor, wireless video transmitter
and wireless remote focus. When using the
MicroRemote, a fourth power port can be
used to power your camera or other
camera-top accessory. Packaged cables are
available for the most popular accessories
from SmallHD, TVLogic, Marshall Electronics, Teradek and Paralinx. A built-in alarm
protects the LiPo battery and connected
gear from low-voltage damage.
The lightweight and flexible FlexCables improve gimbal balance and performance with less drag and easier cable
wrangling. The cables can be wrapped,
twisted and bent to keep the rig tight without damage or crimping. FlexCables are
available for the MicroRemote and PowerPack; preconfigured cable kits for the
Freefly Movi and DJI Ronin are optimized
for each gimbals connectors and layout.
www.redrockmicro.com.
Gripix Accessorizes GoPros
Gripix has introduced an accessory
system for GoPro cameras, providing functionality, mounting versatility and easy operation. Ideal for both motion and still
images, Gripix gives users the ability to
smoothly and instantly start/stop recording.
Constructed of rugged and lightweight
aluminum, ABS and other materials, Gripix
accessories are also waterproof.
At the heart of the system is the
Gripix Wi-Fi Trigger Handle, which is
ergonomically designed for easy handling.
The pistol-grip mount integrates with a full

array of Gripix tools, each adding creative
advantages to the shooter. The intuitive
Swift-Lock adapter is
essential to the system,
offering quick and secure
interchangeability when
going from one Gripix
mount to the next.
The Wi-Fi Trigger
Handle also houses GoPros
own legacy Wi-Fi or new
Smart Remote for a clean
and integrated system. The
wireless controller neatly
nests within the handle via
a hinged door; a recessed
viewing window reveals
the Wi-Fi display screen so
all pertinent data is clearly
within view.
Complementing the
Wi-Fi Trigger Handle, Gripix offers a modular system of versatile camera-mounting
options. The Low-Pro suitcase-grip attachment swiftly locks to the Wi-Fi Trigger
Handle for handy positioning and features a
cold shoe for convenient mounting of standard add-ons. The Hi-Top adjustable
camera pole gives users an added 18-25"
of extended reach. The Side Grip Cage
attachment provides multiple mounting
points for attaching accessories. Gripix
plans to add still more tools throughout
2015.
www.gogripix.com.
CineBags Launches Stryker
CineBags has introduced the CB35
Stryker, which boasts a completely
customizable interior that makes the bag a
perfect fit for medium-sized HD cameras,
DSLR rigs with multiple bodies and lenses,
accessories, and an 11" laptop.
Measuring 21"x15"x10", the CB35
Stryker features a padded shoulder strap,
108
removable dividers, a cargo mesh pouch,

waterproof fabric, heavy-duty padding and a
CineBags key chain.
www.cinebags.com.
Timecode Systems
Upgrades Slate
Timecode Systems has introduced
the Denecke TS-TCB Slate, which combines
the convenience and functionality of a digital slate with the timeless appeal of a clapper
board. The compact, high-spec, intelligenthardware clapper slate is the result of a
collaboration between Denecke and Timecode Systems. The TS-TCB integrates the
functionality of the Timecode Buddy Wi-Fi
Master into the solid, dependable Denecke
TS-3 slate; integration into the MovieSlate
app also enables an intelligent and automated logging tool.
Based on the success of the Wi-Fi
Master, Timecode Systems has also unveiled
the Pulse multi-functional time-code and
metadata hub. The Pulse generates highly
accurate time code, genlock and sync with
zero drift; the integrated Wi-Fi can be used
to share all of this information with multiple
iPads. When paired with an Arri Alexa, the
Pulse offers users full wireless camera control
and status monitoring, access to full metadata, and lens-motor control, all from an
iPad.
Additional features of the Pulse
include: the ability to use a second Ethernet
port for operating camera accessories; a
data port that allows for metadata exchange
and control from other cameras; and a small,
high-resolution, blue OLED display with flexible mounting and powering options.
www.timecodebuddy.com.
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
Red Giant Unveils

New Magic Bullet Suite
Red Giant has announced Magic
Bullet Suite 12. Delivering a powerful colorcorrection and grading experience, Magic
Bullet Suite 12 includes a host of new
features and improvements to existing
tools, and introduces the all-new Magic
Bullet Film. Built on the same foundation as
Red Giant Universe, Magic Bullet Suite 12
includes GPU acceleration for Magic Bullet
Looks, Colorista III, Mojo, Cosmo and Magic
Bullet Film, bringing real-time color correction and grading directly to the editing host
application.
New features in Magic Bullet Looks
include 198 new Looks presets based off of
popular films and TV shows, as well as nine
new tools such as color space, four-way
color, and film negative and film print.
Colorista III has been streamlined dramatically, and now integrates with Adobe
Creative Clouds masking and automatic
tracking features. The all-new Magic Bullet
Film gives footage the look of motionpicture film by emulating the entire photochemical process, from the original film
negative through color timing to the final
print stock.
Magic Bullet Suite integrates seamlessly within an artists host application of
choice, providing powerful, real-time tools
directly on the users editing timeline. GPU
acceleration further improves the workflow
by making previewing and rendering faster
than ever. The tools are fully compatible
with Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro,
and include additional host support for Final
Cut Pro X, Avid and other industry-standard
110
NLEs. (Support varies depending on the

tool.)
www.redgiant.com.
Technicolor-PostWorks
Acquires The Room
Technicolor-PostWorks New York
has acquired The Room, the high-performance finishing studio that has been
hosted on its premises for the past three
years. Under the terms of the agreement,
The Rooms staff, equipment and dedicated
4K workflow will be integrated into the
Technicolor-PostWorks facility at 110 Leroy
Street. Additionally, Ben Murray, founder of
The Room, will assume a new role as vice
president, Creative Services for TechnicolorPostWorks.
Technicolor-PostWorks COO Rob
DeMartin says the objective of the move is
to leverage the creative talent, workflow
and technology that have made The Room
the finishing facility of choice for a growing
number of independent filmmakers and
other content creators. The Room has
honed a client-centric approach to featurefilm postproduction, combining efficient
data and workflow management, state-ofthe-art technology, team-based operations
and personalized service. Recent credits
include the features St. Vincent, Her and
The Giver, and the series True Detective and
Marco Polo.
Murray will apply a similar approach
to the full range of Technicolor-PostWorks
film and television operations. Ben will be
our creative and technical lead, focusing on
workflow design, training, talent manage-
ment and recruiting, says DeMartin. He

will work with clients in preproduction, oversee project management, collaborate with
our engineering team, and assist in overall
strategic planning.
We aim to streamline services for
both features and episodic television,
Murray adds. We will work to provide
increasingly nimble technology and a more
responsive level of service across the board.
www.technicolorpwny.com.
Dell Upgrades Precision M3800

Dell has announced updates to its
Precision M3800 mobile workstation for
video editors and other high-end users.
Incorporating customer feedback, Dell has
added a 4K Ultra HD touch-display option,
Thunderbolt 2 technology, and an Ubuntubased developer edition.
The Dell Precision M3800 is now
available with 4K Ultra HD (3840x2160)
resolution and IGZO2 technology on its
15.6" UltraSharp touch display made with
Corning Gorilla Glass NBT, delivering rich,
saturated color and excellent brightness. The
M3800 also features 10-finger multi-touch,
providing customers with an intuitive way to
interact with the workstation.
With the addition of a Thunderbolt 2
port, users can take advantage of transfer
speeds up to 20 Gbps, enabling viewing and
editing of raw 4K video while backing up
the same file in parallel. Dell has also added
more storage options and increased the
total available internal storage up to 2TB.
Boasting the same portability and
sleek design as the previous generation, the

new Precision M3800 has a starting weight
of only 4.15 pounds and a form factor less
than 0.71" thick. The system also includes a
fourth-generation Intel Core i7 quadprocessor, professional-grade Nvidia Quadro
K1100M graphics, and up to 16GB of
memory.
The highly configurable Precision
M3800 mobile workstation gives users the
flexibility to build a system tailored to their
individual needs. The system is available
with Ubuntu as well as Windows 7 and
Windows 8.1.
www.dell.com.
Invisible Chainsaw
Plugs in Diffusion
Invisible Chainsaw has released the
Variable Diffusion plug-in for Adobe After
Effects on Mac OS X. Powered by a proprietary algorithm that emulates the look of incamera light scattering, the plug-in is able to
perform several valuable functions, including beautifying skin, visually integrating
112
layers in a visual-effects compositing shot,

applying expressive color looks to footage,
and closely re-creating the look of real glass
diffusion filters. Variable Diffusion comes
bundled with more than 500 presets and is
available for purchase and as a free demo
download.
At the heart of Variable Diffusion is
its massive library of presets, which are cate-
gorized based on function: Stylized Looks,

Skin Enhancers, Real Filter Emulations,
Grading Utilities and Light Wrapture.
Beyond the presets, the plug-ins controls
allow for simple, intuitive adjustments. Variable Diffusions interface avoids overly technical controls in favor of a more intuitive
experience that is further improved by the
bundled Presets Peeker, a tool for finding
the right preset as quickly and easily as

possible. As an extension of Invisible Chainsaws focus on usability, supplemental online
resources such as video tutorials are available to help users get up and running
quickly.
www.invisiblechainsaw.com.
Digital Anarchy Fights Flicker
Digital Anarchy has introduced
Flicker Free 1.0 for Avid Systems. Flicker Free
analyzes on the fly, renders quickly, and
easily produces beautiful flicker-free
footage. Presets allow the software to tackle
a wide variety of flicker problems while
fitting easily into any editors workflow.
Among the issues Flicker Free can
solve are: rolling bands caused by
camera/light sync problems, variations in
exposure that impact time-lapse footage,
flickering in archival footage, light flicker
due to off-speed shooting, and onscreen
TV/monitor flicker. The software analyzes
the footage and smoothes out the luminance over multiple frames, giving the video
a consistent brightness. Only the luminance

is adjusted; the rest of the image remains as
it was meant to be. Flicker Free is resolutionindependent and will work on any sized
footage.
www.digitalanarchy.com.
113
International Marketplace
114
April 2015
Classifieds
CLASSIFIED AD RATES
All classifications are $4.50 per word. Words set in
bold face or all capitals are $5.00 per word. First
word of ad and advertisers name can be set in capitals
without extra charge. No agency commission or
discounts on classified advertising.PAYMENT MUST ACCOMPANY ORDER. VISA, Mastercard, AmEx and Discover
card are accepted. Send ad to Classified Advertising, American Cinematographer, P.O. Box 2230,
Hollywood, CA 90078. Or FAX (323) 876-4973. Deadline for payment and copy must be in the office by 15th
of second month preceding publication. Subject matter
is limited to items and services pertaining to filmmaking
and video production. Words used are subject to magazine style abbreviation. Minimum amount per ad: $45
EQUIPMENT FOR SALE

4X5 85 Glass Filters, Diffusion, Polas etc. A
Good Box Rental 818-763-8547
14,000+ USED EQUIPMENT ITEMS. PRO
VIDEO & FILM EQUIPMENT COMPANY. 50
YEARS EXPERIENCE. New: iLLUMiFLEX
LIGHTS & FluidFlex TRIPODS.
www.UsedEquipmentNewsletter.com AND
www.ProVideoFilm.com
EMAIL: ProVidFilm@aol.com
CALL BILL 972 869 9990, 888 869 9998.
Worlds SUPERMARKET of USED MOTION
PICTURE EQUIPMENT! Buy, Sell, Trade.
CAMERAS, LENSES, SUPPORT, AKS & MORE!
Visual
Products,
Inc.
www.visualproducts.com Call 440.647.4999
www.theasc.com
April 2015
115
Advertisers Index
Aadyn Technology 79
Abel Cine Tech 89
AC 106
Adorama 11, 61
AJA Video Systems, Inc. 51
Alan Gordon Enterprises 114
Arri 9
Arri Rental 17
ASC Master Class 108
Aura Productions 109
DPS 7
Duclos Lenses 91
Backstage Equipment, Inc.

85
Birns & Sawyer 97
Hawk 35
Hertz Corporation 59
Hexolux/Visionsmith 111
Horita Company, Inc. 115
Cam-a-lot Audio Visual 31

Cammate Systems 109
Cavision Enterprises 114
Chapman/Leonard
Studio Equip. 101
Chimera 75
Chrosziel 112
Cine Gear Expo 117
Cinegears, Inc. 8
Cinelease 59
Cinematography
Electronics 97
Cinekinetic 114
Convergent Design 87
Cooke Optics 25
Creative Masters Series 119
CTT Exp & Rentals 107
CW Sonderoptic Gmbh 33
Eastman Kodak 64a-i, C4

Film Gear (International) Ltd.
C3
Filmotechnic USA 93
General Dynamics 63
Glidecam Industries 99
Grip Factiry Munich/GFM 111
Jod Soraci 109

Jonathan Kutner 107
J.L. Fisher 67
K5600 103
Kingf Film USA Group 115
Kino Flo 81
Koerner Camera 109
Lights! Action! Co. 114
Litegear 80
Red Digital Cinema C2-1

Samys DV & Edit 43, 45, 47
Scheimpflug Digital 79
Schneider Optics 2
Servicevision USA 113
Skylab HQ 52
Super16, Inc. 114
Teradek, LLC 5
Thales Angenieux 29
Tiffen Company 19
TNS&F Productions 115
TV Logic/Preco, Inc. 92
UCLA Health MPTF (Motion
Picture and TV Fund) 21
Ushio America, Inc. 8
Vantage 35
Visionary Forces 115
Maccam 95
Mac Tech LED 15
Welch Integrated 105
MAT Berlin 23
Willys Widgets 114
Matthews Studio
www.theasc.com 104, 110,
Equipment/MSE 53
116
M.M. Mukhi & Sons 114
Mole-Richardson /Studio Depot
115
Movcam Tech. Co., Ltd. 73
Movie Tech AG 114, 115
Nila, Inc. 97
Otto Nemenz International
27, 77
Ovide 66
116
P+S Technik
Feinmechanik Gmbh 115
Panavision 13
Paralinx 49
Pille Filmgeraeteverleih
Gmbh 114
Pro8mm 114
Clubhouse News
From left: Joaquin Sedillo, ASC; Martin Cayzer; and Rob Sim.
Cayzer, Sim Named

Associate Members
New associate member Martin
Cayzer currently serves as the chief executive officer of Arri Rental, responsible for over
350 employees across 18 rental facilities.
Prior to joining Arri in 2012, Cayzer was
managing director of Panavision Asia Pacific
for 13 years, where he managed operations
118
April 2015
and distributors in Australia, New Zealand,

India, China and Southeast Asia. Cayzer
started his career in the industry with a role
at Samuelson Film Service 34 years ago.
New associate member Rob Sim
currently serves as chief executive officer of
Sim Digital, originally known as Sim Video,
which he co-founded in 1982 with the
intention of providing film and broadcast
producers with the latest in video-equipment rentals. Sims leadership propelled the
company forward to become the first rental
house in Canada to offer high-definition
cameras and production equipment. His
dedication and commitment to new technologies allowed for an expansion of
services to include digital cinema and
broadcast cameras, lenses and postproduction tools. In 2011, Sim received the Bill
Hilson Award from the Canadian Society of
Cinematographers for outstanding service
contributing to the development of the
motion-picture industry, as well as the 2014
Directors Guild of Canadas Honourary Life
Member Award honoring an individual
whose contribution to the industry has had
a beneficial impact on the guild and its
members.
Acord Serves as Sundance
Panelist, Juror
Lance Acord, ASC participated in a
panel discussion entitled Design Inspiration at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival in
Park City, Utah. Acord was joined by

production designer K.K. Barrett and
costume designer Casey Storm to discuss
their creative processes for visual design and
how they contribute to the overall art of
cinematic storytelling. The panel was
moderated by Mike Jones. Acord also
served as a juror for the U.S. Dramatic
Competition along with film editor Sarah
Flack, directors Cary Fukunaga and Edgar
Wright, and actress Winona Ryder.
Coffee and Conversation
With Goi
The Society recently hosted a Coffee
and Conversation with Michael Goi, ASC,
moderated by Jim Hemphill. Goi discussed
how he creates a new style for each season
of American Horror Story using classic film
influences ranging from Japanese ghost
stories to Douglas Sirk melodramas. He also
described his strategy for creating different
looks in camera rather than in post, and the
atmosphere of trust that must exist
between a cinematographer and the actors
in order for everyone to generate the best
work. In addition, Goi stressed the importance of lighting for the emotional reality of
each scene, and how to maximize time and
resources in order to create elaborate
camera moves on a tight television schedule. He also discussed his transition to
directing on the series.
Photo of Clubhouse by Isidore Mankofsky, ASC; lighting by Donald M. Morgan, ASC.
Society Welcomes Sedillo

New active member Joaquin
Sedillo, ASC grew up in Flagstaff, Ariz.,
spending countless hours looking for the
prettiest or most dramatic light for snapping
pictures with his Vivitar 110 camera. Sedillo
attended film school at the University of
Southern California, and after graduation he
received his first professional job as a grip on
a low-budget feature for director Jay Roach.
Sedillo continued on as a 2nd AC/loader
before moving on to 1st AC for Wally Pfister,
ASC; Glenn Kershaw, ASC; and Victor
Hammer. Sedillo eventually stepped into the
role of cinematographer for the television
series Veronica Mars.
Sedillo continues to work as a cinematographer on numerous television shows,
and his most recent credits include Gossip
Girl, American Horror Story and Glee. Sedillo
also serves as a mentor to nearly a dozen
USC film-school students and hosts an intern
each summer through the Emmy Foundation.
Tami Reiker, ASC
When you were a child, what film made the strongest impression on you?
When I was 8 I saw Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, and I
loved the feeling of being swept away, feeling like I was really living
in Charlies world. I mean, who wouldnt want to fall into a
chocolate river?
What has been your most satisfying moment on a project?

When Lisa Cholodenko invited me into the editing room and I saw
High Art for the first time. It was exciting to feel like the vision wed
spent months discussing was up there on the screen.
Have you made any memorable
blunders?
Sitting in a picture car, I forgot that
the actors mics were on, and everyone on the process trailer could hear
me talking. You only make that
mistake once.
Which cinematographers, past or

present, do you most admire?
Harris Savides [ASC], Anthony Dod
Mantle [ASC, BSC, DFF], Christopher
Doyle [HKSC]. They seem like theyre
always pushing the envelope, and Im
always excited to see their movies.
What sparked your interest in
photography?
From an early age I wanted to be a
painter. Luckily, my parents immediately discerned I had absolutely no
talent for painting and put a Canon
SLR in my hands. That started my lifelong love of photography.
Where did you train and/or study?
New York University.
Who were your early teachers or mentors?
I had no specific mentors, but I was lucky to assist many great cinematographers. I used to keep a notebook in the darkroom, and
during breaks Id run in and copy down their lighting diagrams [and
their] choices of filters and film stocks.
What are some of your key artistic influences?
John Cassavetes, Lars von Trier, Jean Paul Gaultier, Sarah Burton,
Henry Darger, Andy Goldsworthy, Donald Judd, Helen Levitt, Emmet
Gowin, Jack Pierson, Nan Goldin. A couple of films I always go back
to are Krzysztof Kieslowskis The Double Life of Veronique and Lynne
Ramsays Ratcatcher.
How did you get your first break in the business?
After college I worked for a private detective. Our job was to tail
victims of medical malpractice suits. He drove and I hid in the backseat with a loaded 16mm clair camera to see if we could film someone carrying groceries with that broken arm. From that, I saved up
enough money to buy my own 16mm camera package, and I started
shooting low-budget features, music videos and documentaries.
120
April 2015
What is the best professional

advice youve ever received?
Pick your battles, and never eat the
fish.
What recent books, films or
artworks have inspired you?
Ben Richardsons work on Beasts of
the Southern Wild was so raw and so beautiful. I love the look that
Hoyte van Hoytema [FSF, NSC] created for Spike Jonzes film Her.
Also, Mary Weatherfords paintings and a great memoir called The
Removers by Andrew Meredith.
Do you have any favorite genres or genres you would like to
try?
Who doesnt want to shoot a Western?
If you werent a cinematographer, what might you be doing
instead?
Id be a photojournalist or an organic farmer in Maine.
Which ASC cinematographers recommended you for
membership?
Emmanuel Lubezki, Jeff Cronenweth and Francis Kenny
How has ASC membership impacted your life and career?
The great thing about the Clubhouse is that you get to meet some
of the incredible legends of filmmaking people youve
worshipped from afar for years and, at the same time, catch up
with old friends.
Photo courtesy of Relativity Media.
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APRIL 2015

The International Journal of Motion Imaging

A look back at the 70mm production of The Big Trail,

The International Journal of Motion Imaging

LOOK FOR MORE AT WWW.THEASC.COM

Enjoy our free, exclusive podcasts!

Christopher Manley, ASC, discusses

was recently released in the U.S. by Roadside Attractions.

The International Journal of Motion Imaging

Visit us online at www.theasc.com

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF and PUBLISHER

ART & DESIGN

SUBSCRIPTIONS, BOOKS & PRODUCTS

ASC GENERAL MANAGER Brett Grauman

American Society of Cinematographers

Kees van Oostrum

A sentient robot no longer seems like something

Photo by Owen Roizman, ASC.

Photo by Douglas Kirkland.

Shooting Back-to-Back Shorts

Although Im no stranger to either features or television

affords a lot of control with an impressive dynamic range.

All images courtesy of the filmmakers.

For Little Favour, we opted to shoot

fact that we were on a soundstage.

Top: For the films

Top: The second

At the time of our shoot, the F65s

Assimilate, we created a very consistent

wrapped, Im relieved to hear this from

Cooke S4 lenses; Im delighted with the

The day before our first shoot day, it

fps, which gave us the opportunity to use as

New York Story

There are many different varieties of New York movie, and

corner. As they move left to right, the

The production carried an Arri Alexa

the most satisfying the least electronic,

Josh and Cornelia

in the kitchen, the rest of the practical

will be. I really embraced the phenomenon

lot of lights on. The cinematographer also

post house Box with colorist Pascal Dangin;

the movie, but the cameras are also props.

Photographed by Flavio Labiano and

Series anamorphic lenses delivered from

in prep you were planning to do 20 shots

Mercenary-turned-humanitarian Jim Terrier (Sean Penn) is hunted for his connection to an

negative fill to make the shadows darker,

How did you film it?

the A camera [throughout the shoot], which

Gibraltar it was all shot in Barcelona. I

we had Scratch Lab to create specific LUTs

Unit photography by Stephanie Blomkamp,

Chappie is director Neill

shifted the locale to the directors

setting for District 9, the filmmakers

phy spanned October 2013 to February

on camera for a lighting reference as

Top and bottom:

Top: Moore explains his invention to a news reporter (Kevin Otto).

and everybodys happy.

lockers. Opaloch notes that he used