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Sam Nicholson, ASC

hen I was growing up,
my father shot 8mm
home movies. I
remember waiting for the rolls
of Ektachrome to arrive in the
mail from Eastman Kodak
processing. After some quick
cutting and splicing, wed
thread up an old, noisy
projector, and our latest
family adventure would
magically flicker to life on
the living-room wall.
As an aspiring
cinematographer, I landed my
first job on Star Trek: The
Motion Picture, and I began to
practically memorize articles in
American Cinematographer.
I still rely on ACs
comprehensive stories and
detailed technical information
to keep me up to date on the
latest cameras, production
techniques and lighting
equipment. Over the years, the
tools have changed
dramatically, but the emotional
reward I get from shooting and
watching motion pictures
remains the same.
photo by Owen Roizman, ASC
Sam Nicholson, ASC
TO SUBSCRIBE BY PHONE:
Call (800) 448-0145 (U.S. only)

(323) 969-4333 or visit the ASC Web site
The International Journal of Motion Imaging
On Our Cover: Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi) masterminds a variety of criminal

schemes in the HBO series Boardwalk Empire, shot by Stuart Dryburgh, ASC;
Kramer Morgenthau, ASC; and Jonathan Freeman. (Photo by Craig Blankenhorn,
courtesy of HBO.)
FEATURES
34
50
64
74
82
Mob Money
Three cinematographers evoke the Prohibition era for Boardwalk Empire
War Horses
Jeffrey Kimball, ASC amps up the action for The Expendables
A Beatles Upbringing
Seamus McGarvey, ASC, BSC revisits John Lennons
youth for Nowhere Boy
Romans on the Run

Sam McCurdy, BSC annihilates Romes Ninth Legion
for Centurion
50
Where Cinematography Lives

A pictorial history of the renovated ASC Clubhouse
DEPARTMENTS
8
10
12
18
86
90
94
104
105
108
110
112
Editors Note
Presidents Desk
Short Takes: Alexa World Cup demo
Production Slate: Eat Pray Love The Milk of Sorrow
Post Focus: Lottery Ticket
Filmmakers Forum: David McFarland on Black Tulip
New Products & Services
International Marketplace
Classified Ads/Ad Index
ASC Membership Roster
Clubhouse News
ASC Close-Up: Dejan Georgevich
64
74
VISIT WWW.THEASC.COM TO ENJOY THESE WEB EXCLUSIVES

Podcasts: Phedon Papamichael, ASC on Knight and Day Morten Sborg and
Nicolas Winding Refn on Valhalla Rising
DVD Playback: Red Desert Black Narcissus Cop Out
S e p t e m b e r
2 0 1 0
V o l .
9 1 ,
N o .
The International Journal of Motion Imaging
Visit us online at
www.theasc.com
PUBLISHER Martha Winterhalter
EDITORIAL
EXECUTIVE EDITOR Stephen Pizzello
SENIOR EDITOR Rachael K. Bosley
ASSOCIATE EDITOR Jon D. Witmer
TECHNICAL EDITOR Christopher Probst
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Stephanie Argy, Benjamin B, Douglas Bankston, Robert S. Birchard,
John Calhoun, Bob Fisher, Simon Gray, Jim Hemphill, David Heuring,
Jay Holben, Mark Hope-Jones, Noah Kadner, Jean Oppenheimer,
John Pavlus, Chris Pizzello, Jon Silberg, Iain Stasukevich,
Kenneth Sweeney, Patricia Thomson
ART DEPARTMENT
CREATIVE DIRECTOR Marion Gore
ADVERTISING
ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR Angie Gollmann
323-936-3769 FAX 323-936-9188
e-mail: gollmann@pacbell.net
ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR Sanja Pearce
323-952-2114 FAX 323-876-4973
e-mail: sanja@ascmag.com
ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR Scott Burnell
323-936-0672 FAX 323-936-9188
e-mail: sburnell@earthlink.net
CLASSIFIEDS/ADVERTISING COORDINATOR Diella Nepomuceno
323-952-2124 FAX 323-876-4973
e-mail: diella@ascmag.com
CIRCULATION, BOOKS & PRODUCTS

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

ASC EVENTS COORDINATOR Patricia Armacost
ASC PRESIDENTS ASSISTANT Kim Weston
ASC ACCOUNTING MANAGER Mila Basely
ASC ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE Corey Clark
American Cinematographer (ISSN 0002-7928), established 1920 and in its 90th year of publication, is published
monthly in Hollywood by ASC Holding Corp., 1782 N. Orange Dr., Hollywood, CA 90028, U.S.A.,
(800) 448-0145, (323) 969-4333, Fax (323) 876-4973, direct line for subscription inquiries (323) 969-4344.
Subscriptions: U.S. $50; Canada/Mexico $70; all other foreign countries $95 a year (remit international
Money Order or other exchange payable in U.S. $). Advertising: Rate card upon request from Hollywood
office. Article Reprints: Requests for high-quality article reprints (or electronic reprints) should be made to
Sheridan Reprints at (800) 635-7181 ext. 8065 or by e-mail hrobinson@tsp.sheridan.com.
Copyright 2007 ASC Holding Corp. (All rights reserved.) Periodicals postage paid at Los Angeles, CA
and at additional mailing offices. Printed in the USA.
POSTMASTER: Send address change to American Cinematographer, P.O. Box 2230, Hollywood, CA 90078.

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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 - 2010/2011
Michael Goi
President
Richard Crudo
Vice President
Owen Roizman
Vice President
John C. Flinn III

Vice President
Matthew Leonetti
Treasurer
Rodney Taylor
Secretary
Ron Garcia
An LFS education is not limited to

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Robert Primes
Nancy Schreiber
Kees Van Oostrum
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HBOs new series Boardwalk Empire, which premieres on

Sept. 19, will surely be appointment television for those of you
still recovering from the enigmatic blackout that closed The Sopranos. Created by Sopranos alumnus Terence Winter, the 12-part
series promises a fresh round of criminal scheming with the Prohibition-era saga of corrupt Atlantic City treasurer Nucky Thompson
(Steve Buscemi), who rubs elbows with a rogues gallery of famous
gangsters, including Al Capone and Lucky Luciano.
Three cinematographers joined the Boardwalk mob: Stuart
Dryburgh, ASC (who shot the pilot for director Martin Scorsese, an
executive producer on the show); Kramer Morgenthau, ASC; and
Jonathan Freeman. Despite lavish production design and meticulous attention to period detail,
Dryburgh notes that the pilot eschews an overtly stylized look in favor of a muted, desaturated
palette intended to quietly capture the tone of the period and support the story. Morgenthau
and Freeman then evolved this look to reflect the narratives arc. We decided to slowly push
the tone even darker as Nuckys world starts to collapse, Freeman says. Morgenthau adds that
the duo occasionally departed from the shows overall tone to develop unique feels for specific
episodes. We were encouraged to treat each episode as its own mini-feature and, to a certain
extent, give each one a unique look, he tells New York contributor Patricia Thomson (Mob
Money, page 34).
The rest of this months articles reflect our special focus on international production. In
shooting the testosterone-laden action film The Expendables for director/star Sylvester Stallone,
ASC member Jeffrey Kimball endured a grueling shoot that combined Stateside shooting in New
Orleans with a side trip to Brazil. I needed someone who could improvise if I wanted to change
things or if conditions changed, so I went to a master, Stallone tells Michael Goldman (War
Horses, page 50). I pretty much gave Jeffrey free rein, and he rewarded me with beautiful
work.
Nowhere Boy, a melancholy account of John Lennons youth, required Seamus McGarvey, ASC, BSC to capture the feel of England in the late 1950s. We knew it was a period film
and that it had to evoke an era, but we didnt want to eulogize or fetishize the period, McGarvey explains to London correspondent Mark Hope-Jones (A Beatles Upbringing, page 64).
What we wanted was to evoke a kind of diurnal sense of the epic in the everyday, a day-in,
day-out, suburban Liverpool feel.
Centurion, a harrowing action film set in A.D. 117, follows a group of Roman soldiers
struggling to survive after their legion is annihilated by the Picts, a Celtic tribe in the Scottish
highlands. The Scottish landscape was always going to be a character in the film, says cinematographer Sam McCurdy, BSC (Romans on the Run, page 74). As our heroes try to make
their way south to safety, they are at odds with the land as much as they are with the Picts.
Closer to home, were proud to present a pictorial that shows the evolution of the ASC
Clubhouse from its earliest years to its recent, grand re-opening (Where Cinematography
Lives, page 82). As these fabulous photos illustrate, the Societys Building Committee, chaired
by the stouthearted Owen Roizman, ASC, should be commended for its tireless work on this
elegant architectural update, which beautifully preserves our headquarters historic ambience.
Stephen Pizzello
Executive Editor
8
Photo by Owen Roizman, ASC.
Editors Note
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Cinema is truly an international medium. In every country of the world, there are movies and
documentaries that define who we are and what we believe in, and they become a time capsule
of our culture.
There is a fascinating piece of film making the rounds on the Internet, a view from a streetcar
on Market Street in San Francisco in 1905, one year before the earthquake forever changed the
landscape. (A version of this can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NINOxRxze9k.) As
you watch this single-camera traveling view of everyday life, its easy to become drawn to individual people on the street, curious about their stories the man walking with his young son through
the maze of streetcars, the car filled with five portly men passing a much more upscale car with a
lone driver, the man with the butchers apron dashing across the street in front of the camera, the
boys dangerously holding onto the back of a car while running behind it. You get a real sense of
what life felt like at that time.
I get this same sense of fascination when I watch the early New York-based films of Michael
and Roberta Findlay. Though they are unabashedly exploitation films, with titles like Kiss of Her
Flesh and Body of A Female, they are also glimpses of a New York City that does not exist in that
form any more. If future generations want to know what the mean streets of The Deuce felt like,
Andy Milligans Fleshpot on 42nd Street may end up providing the answer.
I recently returned from a fantastic trip to India that was sponsored by the Indian Society of Cinematographers and Cinematographers Combine. I was treated to glimpses of Indias current filmmaking output, amazingly sophisticated movies that reflect
not only Indias culture, but also the influence of filming styles from other parts of the world. I was also privileged to visit a couple
of prominent schools dedicated to filmmaking, Whistling Woods in Mumbai and the Film and Television Institute in Pune. I was
treated to a showing of advanced students films, and the level of creativity they exhibited, from cinematography to sound design,
story construction to editing, was truly impressive. The highlight of my visit was being named an honorary member of the ISC.
The sobering part of the trip was my visit to the Film Preservation Vault, also in Pune. Its staff is committed to preserving as
many of the films and advertising materials from Indian cinema as possible. I was shown a 1913 production, recently preserved, that
demonstrated storytelling and filmic techniques that equaled the work of D.W. Griffith and Louis Feuillade. Through the vaults
considerable care and effort, 6,000 films dating from 1899 to the present have been preserved. India produces about 1,000 movies
a year. If you do the math, its staggering to think about what has possibly been lost.
I recently appointed John Bailey, ASC chairman of the ASC Film and Digital Preservation Subcommittee of the Technology
Committee. John will add his considerable expertise and passion to the excellent efforts that ASC associate members Grover Crisp
and Garrett Smith have already undertaken in this field, and he will utilize his knowledge of the industry and key players to focus
attention where it needs to be. Preserving and archiving our work is not just a matter of saving what is old; it is also determining
the right methodology for handling everything new, before formats become obsolete. (Remember Hi-8?)
When I was 13, my optometrist said I would be blind by age 30 (dont worry, it didnt happen), and I responded by watching
every movie I could get to because I wanted to have all those images in my memory when my sight went away. The Parkway Theater
in Chicago ran three double features a week of anything they could buy for $50, so I saw eclectic programs such as Charlton Heston
in Will Penny along with the Phyllis Diller film Did You Hear The One About The Traveling Saleslady? All these films formed my knowledge of what cinema was.
I cant see every movie ever made, no matter how much Id like to. But Id be disappointed if future generations were unable
to see that 1905 San Francisco film or those Indian student films. Its up to us to make sure that doesnt happen.
Michael Goi, ASC

President
10
September 2010
American Cinematographer
Photo by Owen Roizman, ASC.
Presidents Desk
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Short Takes
Taking Arris Alexa to the World Cup

By Iain Stasukevich
Sam Nicholson, ASC and his collaborators at Stargate Studios

have a long-running relationship with Arri that includes consulting
on the development of the companys 535 film camera and D-20
and D-21 digital cameras. After seeing Nicholsons demo films for
two other digital cameras, the Sony F35 and the Weisscam HS-2
Highspeed, Arri asked him to produce, direct and write something
similar for its new digital camera, the Alexa.
For the demo, says Nicholson, we wanted to design a piece
that would demonstrate the various unique qualities of the Alexa:
dynamic range, sensitivity, portability, ease of use, maintenance, and
post workflow. Those are all things that define a digital-cinema
camera.
Special attention was paid to dynamic range. Apart from resolution, a digital sensors ability to capture detail in the brightest highlights and the darkest shadows is a significant yardstick by which
almost every digital camera is measured. This was a particularly
important aspect of the Alexa demo, as the camera has a 4:3 ALEV
III CMOS 2880 x 1620 sensor with a base EI of 800 ISO, and boasts
an exposure latitude of 1312 stops.
Arri wanted to see the camera in daylight, low light and highcontrast scenarios and with greenscreen visual-effects scenes, so
Nicholson wrote a World Cup-themed story that would incorporate
those elements. The plan to unveil the film at the Directors Guild of
America ahead of NAB 2010 became a major challenge when the
Alexa delivery schedule was altered, pushing production back to a
week before the scheduled April 6 premiere. This left Nicholson and
12
September 2010
cinematographer Dana Christiaansen only a few hours to familiarize

themselves with the camera.
Nicholson and Christiaansen knew theyd be working with
certain limitations. Their prototype Alexa would only shoot at 24 fps
with a 180-degree shutter at ASA 800. ArriRaw wasnt available at
the time, so they would be capturing 10-bit 4:4:4 DPX files in Log C
on the A camera, and 30 fps ProRes 4:2:2 on the handheld B
camera. They had just enough time to check their lenses, Arri
Master Primes and Angenieux Optimo 15-40mm and 24-290mm
zooms, and get their signals straight before their first day of shooting. We didnt even have time to shoot charts or latitude tests,
Christiaansen laments. We knew very little about the camera
except its ISO rating, and that it had a 3.5K-resolution Bayer-style
chip.
Unlike the D-20 and D-21, the Alexa does not feature
an optical viewfinder and rotating shutter. Instead, it has a
1280x720-pixel F-LCOS (ferroelectric liquid crystal on silicon) EVF
and a 5-to-359-degree electronic shutter, making it much lighter
than a model with optical parts. (An Alexa with optical parts is in the
pipeline for a late 2010 release.)
Two days of photography were scheduled, one day exterior
and one night exterior. The film begins at night with a group of kids
kicking a Hacky Sack around an abandoned alley. The sack gets
kicked over a fence, and a kindly, old caretaker lets the kids in to
retrieve it, then tosses them a soccer ball. More players show up to
join the impromptu game, and suddenly, the bridge above them
splits open, showering the vacant lot with sunlight. The kids find
themselves in a huge outdoor stadium, playing for real.
Christiaansen and Nicholson started with the day exteriors,
Photos and frame grabs courtesy of Stargate Studios.
The recent
World Cup
soccer
tournament
served as
inspiration for
an Alexa demo
shot by
cinematographer
Dana
Christiaansen for
director Sam
Nicholson, ASC,
who also wrote
and produced
the demo.
Christiaansen (top) and Steadicam operator Ari Robbins (bottom) capture some of the
onfield action against a greenscreen backdrop.
shooting a soccer field in Glendale, Calif., as

a stand-in for a World Cup stadium. The
athletes played against huge greenscreens
in some shots, and in others the camera
was pointed down at the field from a high
angle to keep the horizon out of the frame.
Christiaansen and Steadicam operator Ari
Robbins filmed from the ground or from
the back of a golf cart as it zipped around
the action. It was critical that we show off
the range of the camera as far as how
much shadow detail you can get while
maintaining a clean black, all the way up
to how it handles highlight details when
14
September 2010
its overexposed, notes Christiaansen.

During the daytime soccer scenes, we
went with hard sun and no fill. We just let
the camera deal with it. (A few 4K HMI
Pars were brought out to the field but
werent used.) ND.6 and ND.9 filters were
stacked onto a base ND1.2 to keep the
Optimos and Master Primes around a T4.
According to Nicholson, pulling keys
off daylit bluescreens or greenscreens can
be a nightmare at ISOs over 250 because of
grain, especially when recording video, but
on the Alexa demo, the greenscreens
worked like a hand in the glove. One of the
defining factors of a digital camera is how

fast you can work with the recorded material on a demanding post schedule, and all
of the visual-effects artists at Stargate
thought the Alexa material keyed beautifully, even with lots of motion blur at ASA
800! Thats a great advantage for shooting
greenscreen visual effects.
The first day of filming was scheduled as a two-camera shoot, but the second
Alexa didnt show up until the next night.
When it arrived on set, at 10 p.m., it was
out of its flight case and ready within 15
minutes. The opening images of the test
film were shot at night in downtown Los
Angeles, near and beneath the oftphotographed 6th Street bridge. In one
wide shot, the L.A. skyline glitters. In
another, the moon glows huge and cool in
the sky as the blinking lights of aircraft cross
a crisp, clear frame.
We also had to demonstrate the
Alexas low-light sensitivity, great low-light
color rendition and good blacks at ISO
800, says Christiaansen. Arri made as
many of its grip-and-electric resources available to the production as possible, but
Christiaansen and gaffer Paul Samiango
didnt need the power of a 10-ton grip
truck to light up an entire street in fact,
they probably didnt even need a 5-ton
truck. We ended up using four or five 400watt Pocket Pars running off battery
blocks! says the cinematographer. Even a
1.2K HMI called for every scrim and bit of
diffusion they could jam onto the lamp
head. Aside from the Pocket Pars and a
scrimmed-down 2K Fresnel hung from the
bridge, most of the ambient light was
provided by existing streetlights. For the
shot where the bridge splits in half to bathe
the players with sunlight, a 2K Xenon spotlight was hung from a Condor just 15' from
the actors to create a huge overexposure
that would demonstrate the Alexas latitude
and highlight characteristics and help transition from the night bridge to the fantasy
world of a World Cup game. In the night
sequence, it helped that we were looking
for a raw, sketchy light design, notes
Christiaansen. We wanted the actors to
move in and out of a single light source so
we could see the camera handle extremely
underexposed areas.
The Alexas workflow was designed
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Top and middle: These before-and-after frame grabs demonstrate how visual-effects artists at Stargate
Studios used Maya and Lightwave to build a virtual World Cup stadium and After Effects to composite
the elements (note background in after frame). They had less than a week to complete the sequence.
Bottom: Christiaansen (left) and Nicholson prepare the Alexa for the next shot.
16
September 2010
to be data-centric, something the filmmakers used to their advantage. For the day
exteriors, Christiaansen output 4:4:4 Log C
through HD SDI to an SRW-1 HDCam-SR
deck while on the golf cart, and to an S.two
OB-1 digital recorder for all the handheld
and running Steadicam shots. At night, the
A camera fed the OB-1 while the handheld
B camera recorded 4:2:2 ProRes to an internal 32-GB SxS card. We mixed the two to
see if audiences could tell the difference,
says Nicholson. Theres a little more
contrast in the ProRes material, and thats
because of the linear compression. If you
like a rich black look, theres no reason you
wouldnt shoot ProRes, but if you want a
soft look in harsh light, youre going to want
to record in Log C so you can really fine-tune
your black detail in post.
Christiaansen saved a great deal of
his balancing for post. Digital-imaging technician Tyson Birmann managed the media
on set, but the two-camera crew moved so
quickly that no one really had time to think
about stopping to check on-set color correction. The cinematographer recalls, I quickly
came to trust the onboard Marshalls waveform and the incredibly accurate Alexa
viewfinder for our scene-to scene exposure.
I had Tyson set up a reference monitor to
keep track of our blacks and our exposure.
Once the data was in the computer and
backed up on the drive, Id skip through it
and check for focus and other issues.
Back at Stargate, the Log C DPX files
were transcoded into ProRes for the
1920x1080 4:2:2 offline edit in Final Cut.
Once the locked cut was conformed to
HDCam-SR tape, it was delivered to
FotoKem in Burbank, where colorist John
Daro did the final color correction on a
Quantel Pablo.
The resultant images made a splash
when they were digitally projected (at 2K) at
the DGA and at NAB. Since then, FotoKem
has also done a 35mm filmout. I saw the
filmout in FotoKems DI suite, and it looks
great beautiful, rich blacks and saturated
color, says Christiaansen.
The Alexa is a fantastic step forward
for the industry, Nicholson concludes. I
think of it as a digital-cinema camera for
people who love shooting film.
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Production Slate
An Americans Spiritual Journey

By Mark Hope-Jones
Based on a popular memoir by Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat Pray Love

follows a New Yorker, Elizabeth (Julia Roberts), who embarks on a
voyage of self-discovery that takes her around the world following a
painful divorce. The film was directed by Ryan Murphy, co-creator of
Glee (AC March 10) and creator of Nip/Tuck (AC Feb. 04), and shot
by Robert Richardson, ASC, who was collaborating with Murphy for
the first time. Via e-mail, Richardson recently discussed some aspects
of the shoot, which involved locations in the United States, Europe
and Asia.
American Cinematographer: A lot of Ryans work has
been set in fairly contained environments. What conversations
did you have with him about tackling a story that traverses
such a range of landscapes and cultures?
Robert Richardson, ASC: We rooted our initial conversations
in Gilberts memoir. In the most obvious sense, each location represented an aspect of her personal journey, whether that meant her
divorce from all that a modern woman supposedly wishes for, or the
evolution of her spiritual search, which found partial fruition in India.
Eventually our conversations moved into an evaluation of history and
18
September 2010
the importance of memory, and how to convey those themes visually.

Ruins were one visual key for example, the exposed ruins located
in and around Rome. Less obvious, perhaps, was the use of
unadorned images of Lizs fingers sliding across textured surfaces,
whether it was the kitchen counter in her house in New York or the
torn wallpaper in her flat in Rome the bones of history.
Her journey takes her from New York to Italy, then to
India, and finally to Bali. How many preconceived ideas did
you and Ryan have about how you wanted those countries to
look before you shot in them? Were you involved in many of
the scouts?
Richardson: Ryans concepts for each country were well
thought out. He had spent substantial time with the production
designer, Bill Groom, before I was hired, and a color palette was
nearing completion. Locations had been scouted in all countries. As
a result, a general concept for how to capture each country was
already set. I took part in one prolonged scout with Ryan and
company, and then I conducted a technical scout with the core
crew while Ryan returned to the States to proceed with rewrites
and casting.
Elizabeths transition from self-doubt to self-discovery is
segmented thematically as well as geographically: culinary
Eat Pray Love photos by Franois Duhamel, SMPSP, courtesy of Sony Pictures.
Elizabeth Gilbert
(Julia Roberts)
seeks
enlightenment
abroad in Eat Pray
Love, a film
adaptation of
Gilberts bestselling memoir
shot by Robert
Richardson, ASC.
fulfillment precedes spiritual awakening, and finally she finds love. Did you
consider approaching these stages of
her journey with different visual strategies?
Richardson: I agree with your formation of that question, because we did
segment [the film] thematically as well as
geographically. For me, the culinary-fulfillment chapter of the story was about Lizs
first step in releasing issues buried within her.
Her self-doubt did not solely dissipate as she
indulged in culinary delights; rather, she
oscillated between moments of depression,
emptiness and great elation as she learned
to let go of the things that bound her to
aspects of the life shed experienced in New
York. Rome, with its bountiful history and its
food, opened her up, but perhaps most
important were the friends she made there.
Top and
middle: After
divorcing her
husband,
Gilbert finds
romance with
David (James
Franco).
Bottom:
Richardson
captures an
overhead view
of a scene in a
New York
meditation
center.
For Liz, and for the

camera, in some
respects, it was a
lesson in learning to
do less.
For Liz, and for the camera, in some
respects, it was a lesson in learning to do
less. Once she reduced her expectations and
stopped demanding of herself that she actually had to accomplish something, she found
her greatest ecstasy in the many rhythms
that resulted. Those rhythms shaped our
visuals. The primary tone Ryan and Bill
designed for our New York scenes was cold
and steely. We eased back on that coldness
for our Rome sequences, where the images
are saturated with late-afternoon light. In
the same way, the thickness that suffuses
the images in Italy was intended to replace
the shallowness that once existed [in her
life]. This was not a written rule in our
approach, but rather a guideline, because
Lizs life is not simply one tone in one city and
another tone in the next. There is a more
complicated oscillation that is married to
20
September 2010
both her uncertainty and her resolutions. In

India, she is brought toward silence, into
meditation, into an emptiness that is
anything but empty, and the films colors
shifted with that movement; we attempted
a more natural, less manicured light, and
Julia was often covered in sweat and dust.
These scenes also have deeper blacks and
hotter whites, and the light transition was
fundamental in showing that Liz had experienced the archaeology of her mind.
Whether she will repeat history is a central
question in the film, and one she faces in
the vibrant setting of Bali.
Did all the traveling and location
work affect your choice of cameras and
lenses?
Richardson: No. Ive shot a great
deal around the world, and for me the locaTop: Richardson
rides a Panther
Galaxy Crane in
Romes Piazza
Navona. Middle:
With two birds
already in hand,
a statue reaches
out for
Richardson.
Bottom: Gilbert
experiences
Rome with her
language
teacher,
Giovanni (Luca
Argentero).
Ive shot a great deal

around the world, and
for me the locations
are not the most
influential factor in
choosing equipment.
tions are not the most influential factor in
choosing equipment. The story is the guide.
The equipment must serve the director and
the story he or she is telling. We used
Panaflex Millennium XL and Millennium
cameras and Primo prime and zoom lenses.
Did the same camera and lighting equipment travel with you
throughout the shoot, or were you
renting from local suppliers?
Richardson: Our camera package
traveled to each country, and the lighting
and grip gear was picked up from local
suppliers in Rome and New Delhi. For the
shoot in Bali, we brought the equipment in
from Australia and the States.
To what degree did you take on
local crewmembers in each country,
and did that affect how the unit func-
22
September 2010
tioned at the various locations?

Richardson: We used local crews in
each country, but my core crew key grip
Chris Centrella, gaffer Ian Kincaid, first AC
Gregor Tavenner and B-camera/Steadicam
operator Larry McConkey has been
consistent for years, and I dont believe this
film could have been completed without
their talents. Beyond this core, our crew
grew out of each country, and those
crewmembers added a taste of their own
spice, which flavored the film.
Did you shoot at a real ashram?
Richardson: We filmed in a Hindu
temple and school outside of New Delhi in
Pataudi. We had the deepest of respect for
those in the temple and the community as
a whole.
Each country must have had its
own unique challenges in terms of
things like local permits, but did all the
moving around cause you any particular cinematographic headaches?
Richardson: There is no doubt that
each country provided unique challenges.
The disparity between interiors and exteriors
in both Bali and India was the most difficult
issue for me. In those countries, it was a
constant battle to prevent the exteriors from
blooming while we were shooting day interiors.
Top: Streaming
light lends
ambience to the
dining hall of an
Indian ashram.
Middle: Richard
(Richard Jenkins)
encourages
Gilbert to clear
her mind.
Bottom: In
exchange for
lodging, Gilbert
scrubs the floors
in an ashrams
temple.
24
September 2010
What, if any, filtration did you

use?
Richardson: 85s were our primary
glass filters, and we also utilized light nets
behind the lenses.
Were you using the same lab
throughout the shoot? What kind of
dailies did you see?
Richardson: Deluxe Laboratories/
EFilm did our HD dailies. Yvan Lucas graded
both the dailies and the final, and he did an
astounding job with the negative.
Has the digital-intermediate
process made it easier to achieve consistency in the look of projects with an
international scope?
Richardson: The DI has allowed
consistency to be within the reach of more
cinematographers, but it is not the solution
to a badly shot negative or poorly captured
data. The finer the talent of the cinematographer, the smoother the post process is. In
that regard, nothing has changed.
While
experiencing
the sensual
pleasures of
Bali, Gilbert falls
in love with
Felipe (Javier
Bardem).
TECHNICAL SPECS
1.85:1
35mm
Panaflex Millennium XL, Millennium
Panavision Primo lenses
Kodak Vision2 100T 5212, 200T 5217;
Vision3 200T 5213, 500T 5219
Digital Intermediate
Printed on Kodak Vision 2383
26
September 2010
An Emotional Transformation
in Peru
By Jean Oppenheimer
The years between 1980 and 2000

were a time of terror in Peru, as Maoist
guerrillas known as Shining Path waged
war against the government. Both the
rebels and state security forces engaged in
atrocities against innocents, and no one
was spared, not even the poverty-stricken
peasants who lived high in the Andes.
According to Andean folklore, pregnant
women who were raped during the civil
war passed their fear and anguish on to
their children through breast feeding, and
those who received the milk of sorrow
were said to be born without souls.
The Peruvian film The Milk of
Sorrow, which was recently released in New
York and Los Angeles, looks at this terrible
legacy of pain and suffering through the
story of Fausta (Magaly Solier), a beautiful
but withdrawn young woman whose
mother, while pregnant with her, was
brutalized during the civil war. Fausta is so
afraid of men that she will not venture
outside unaccompanied, and so fearful of
rape that she has taken the extreme precaution of inserting a potato in her vagina.
28
September 2010
The film was written and directed by

Claudia Llosa, and cinematographer
Natasha Braier recalls that when she first
read the script, it was difficult to imagine
what direction Claudia was going to take.
With a laugh, she adds, It took a lot of
coffee over many weeks to arrive at the look
and tone.
It took a lot of
coffee over many
weeks to arrive at
the look and tone.
The film is about Faustas journey

from fear to freedom, continues Braier, a
native of Argentina who lives in England.
At the beginning of the story, she is unbalanced, broken, and cant seem to find her
place in the frame. We break her image into
fragments, placing her at the bottom of the
frame, in the corner, or off to one side, but
always with only a portion of her face visible. She is never whole and never
centered.
When her mother dies suddenly,
Fausta must earn money to pay for the
burial, and this forces her to go out into the
world for the first time. She takes a job as a
domestic servant for Aida (Susi Snchez), a
rich woman who lives in Lima. Our idea
was that in Aidas house, Fausta is all but
invisible, a nobody, so we designed the
frame not for her but for the scale of the
house and the architecture of the spaces,
says Braier. Walking through the mansion,
she is reduced to little more than a dot.
To assuage her fears, Fausta continually sings a song that she learned from her
mother. Aida, who is a concert pianist, is
enamored of the tune, but when she asks
Fausta to sing it for her, the timid young
woman refuses. Aida unstrings a pearl
necklace and promises to give one pearl to
Fausta every time she sings. Realizing that
the pearls will pay for her mothers funeral,
Fausta complies, and in so doing, she gradually develops courage and fortitude.
The long, dark corridors that she
must navigate to get to Aidas room
become a metaphor for her emotional
odyssey. We play a lot with the idea of
The Milk of Sorrow photos and frame grabs courtesy of Olive Films and Natasha Braier.
Fausta (Magaly Solier) checks on her ailing mother in a scene from The Milk of Sorrow, shot by Natasha Braier.
16 DIGITAL SR Mag
SI-2K
Digital Cinema Camera
WEISSCAM HS-2 MKII
16 DIGITAL Lenses
PRO35
MINI35
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SKATER Scope
IMS Lens Mounts
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v+LJK6SHHG 1RUPDO6SHHG5DWHVIRU0RWLRQ3LFWXUH6WDQGDUGV
v+LJKHVW3LFWXUH4XDOLW\DW+LJKHVW)UDPH5DWHV
IMS Mount
for RED One
v&XVWRPL]DEOH6HJPHQWV 3UHVHW5HFRUGLQJ0RGHV
v5$: +':RUNpRZV
{DQGPXFKHOVH
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You can shoot up to 2.000 fps and see it

right back in slow motion in 1080p without
rendering it rst - very cool.
'HQQ\&ODLUPRQW&ODLUPRQW&DPHUD+ROO\ZRRG9DQFRXYHU
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SKATER Dolly
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ZZZSVWHFKQLNGH
The WEISSCAM HS-2 offers solutions

above and beyond the competition, like
easier workow for our clients and more
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3DXO2
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ZZZ]JFFRP
:RUOGZLGH6DOHV
ZHLVVFDP#SVWHFKQLNGH
ZZZSVWHFKQLNGH
Top left: To suggest Faustas fragile state at the beginning of the film, the filmmakers seldom show her
completely. Top right: Braier checks Soliers light for the shot. Middle: Fausta helps Aida (Susi Snchez)
pick up her pearls. Bottom: The young woman appears dominated by the objects in Aidas home.
30
September 2010
repetition and variation, notes Braier. A

lot of the frames are similar, but with slight
variations, which suggest Faustas
progress. The first time Fausta goes to
Aidas room, a Steadicam shot follows her.
The second time she walks these same hallways, the Steadicam precedes her, looking
into her face. The implication is that she is
stronger psychologically. Noting the symbolism and metaphors running through the
film, Braier suggests that the heroines journey is, in some ways, a mystical one. In a
sense, she observes, this film is more
interested in poetry than narration.
The six-week shoot, all of it on location in and around Lima, included 20 days
of Steadicam work done by operator
Guillermo Garca Meza. We were following characters in small spaces, down
passageways that werent straight, so we
couldnt put down tracks, explains Braier.
Three long oners take place at an
outdoor market, and the shots were filmed
while business was in full swing because the
production wasnt allowed to close the location. For the first shot, the Steadicam is
behind Fausta as she walks down the
central aisle; for the second, it precedes her;
and for the third, it is parallel to her as a
man carries her out after she has fainted.
We didnt want the kind of wide, floating
feeling you traditionally get from
Steadicam, so we used tighter lenses than
normal, says Braier. We used a 40mm
and a 65mm for the market scenes, which
was quite demanding on Garca Meza and
focus puller lvaro Fernndez. For the rest
of the film, we mainly used a 24mm and a
40mm.
Above: Braier
and director
Claudia Llosa
at work. Right:
1st AD Pol
Rodriguez
steadies Solier
as Braier
prepares to
shoot, assisted
by focus
puller lvaro
Fernndez.
Because Perus nascent motionpicture industry focuses mainly on commercials, Braier rented her camera gear, a
Moviecam Compact MK2 and a set of Zeiss
Ultra Primes, from Servicevision in
Barcelona. (The productions lighting package was rented from Muvi Centro in Lima.)
The Moviecam was used as the A camera
(with Braier operating) and for Steadicam
work. Braier notes that her favorite prime
lenses are the Cooke S4s, but she was
concerned they might be a bit too soft for
the hazy conditions she noticed in Lima
during preproduction. We were told Lima
was always like that, so I chose the Ultra
Primes instead, but when we arrived a
month later for the shoot, there was no mist
and no haze and there wasnt for the
entire six weeks of the shoot! she says.
Shooting in the standard 1.85:1
aspect ratio, Braier used two Kodak Vision2
32
September 2010
stocks, 500T 5218 and 200T 5217, because

she felt the Kodak palette is well suited to
the [vibrant] colors of Peru. The productions footage was processed locally, and
dailies were very basic, one-light telecines
on DVCam tapes, notes Braier. The final
photochemical color timing and printing
were done at Deluxe Laboratories in
Barcelona.
One of the biggest lighting setups
was a scene early in the film, when Fausta
realizes her mother has died. The mother is
lying in bed, and Fausta sits beside her, leaning in so that their faces almost touch.
Fausta steps out of frame, and we cut to a
wider shot that reveals her standing near
the foot of the bed, smoothing out the
sheets, explains Braier. She is framed by a
large picture window behind her. As she
tends to the bed, the camera dollies in
slowly. In the moment that she realizes her
mother has died, we are on a medium shot

of Fausta. We no longer see the frame of
the window; the cityscape appears to be
directly behind her.
The whole idea of this shot was to
represent what is going to happen in the
film, continues the cinematographer. At
the beginning of the story, Fausta is living
with her mother in a hermetic world, and
now that her mother is dead, she will have
to venture outside, and because of the way
we frame her at the end of that shot, she
actually appears to be outside. In order to
avoid overexposing the view outside the
window, Braier had to maintain a high light
level inside; she had two18Ks positioned on
stands outside the window and bounced
into frames of white material. For a
budget like ours, the 18Ks were a real
luxury, she acknowledges. The exposure
was around T16, but I was lighting her
quite silhouetted her face was probably
2 stops under, and her quarter-backlight 1
to 2 stops over. All was reduced with NDs to
T4, the stop at which I shot most of the
film.
For scenes that Fausta shares with
Aida, Braier often made use of mirrors or
other reflective surfaces to present Fausta as
only a reflection, like a ghost with no physical substance. The first time she enters
Aidas room, she is dimly reflected in an old
photograph of a soldier, and at the end of
the film, when she returns to the room to
retrieve her pearls, she is again reflected in
the photograph, but her image is more
defined, suggesting that she is stronger
emotionally. The level of clarity is quite
similar in both shots, but Faustas reflection
stands out a bit more the second time
because she is wearing a bright blue dress,
so there is more color separation, notes
Braier. Also, the room is in darkness the
second time, which makes the framed
photograph more of a mirror.
One of Braiers favorite shots takes
place in a large theater where Aida gives a
piano recital. Fausta is sitting in the dressing
room we see her reflected in the mirror
when she hears a familiar melody. The
camera continues shooting into the mirror
as Fausta stands and leaves the room. Then
theres a cut to a three-minute Steadicam
shot of Fausta walking down a series of
hallways toward the stage; the camera is in
front of her, looking back at her. It was an

interesting shot to light in terms of the
concept and the storytelling, says Braier.
Fausta goes through different emotions as
she walks, and we wanted the lighting to
reflect that. At the beginning of her walk,
there is a mirror on the right side of the
frame, and she is reflected in it. For a
moment, there are two Faustas.
The ceilings in the corridors were
quite high, and Braiers crew was able to rig
Kino Flos there, along with a few practicals
and some 1K and 500-watt Fresnels going
through white diffusion. Some lights could
be placed in rooms off the corridors, creating a slightly different feel. As she walks,
Fausta goes in and out of pools of light. She
reaches the stage and peers out, watching
Aida bowing to thunderous applause.
When Fausta realizes Aida has claimed her
song as her own composition, the young
woman suddenly steps back, disappearing
into total darkness.
For her work on The Milk of Sorrow,
Braier won the Golden Camera 300 Award
at the 2009 Manaki Brothers International
Cinematographers Film Festival. Shortly
after that, the film became the first Peruvian
feature to earn an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Feature.
TECHNICAL SPECS
1.85:1
35mm
Moviecam Compact MK2
Zeiss Ultra Prime lenses
Kodak Vision2 500T 5218, 200T 5217
ERRATUM
Last months cover photo (Salt) was
shot by Andrew Schwartz, SMPSP, for
Sony Pictures. This information was
incorrect in our table of contents.
Mob
Money
34
September 2010
Unit photography by Craig Blankenhorn and Abbot Genser, courtesy of HBO.
Opposite: Atlantic City

treasurer and criminal
kingpin Nucky
Thompson (Steve
Buscemi) plays a round
of roulette with his
lady friend Lucy (Paz
de la Huerta) in
Boardwalk Empire.
This page, top: Van
Alden (Michael
Shannon, second from
right), a Bureau of
Internal Revenue
agent whos gunning
for Thompson,
prepares for a raid
with his men. Bottom:
Thompson (center)
convenes a roundtable
with mob masterminds
(clockwise from lower
left) Lucky Luciano
(Vincent Piazza),
Arnold Rothstein
(Michael Stuhlbarg),
Big Jim Colosimo
(Frank Crudele) and
Johnny Torrio (Greg
Antonacci).
A trio of
cinematographers
helps mount the
HBO series
Boardwalk Empire, a
crime drama set in
Atlantic City during
Prohibition.
By Patricia Thomson
|
ts the eve of Prohibition, and the

Womens Temperance League in
Atlantic City is celebrating its victory.
A special guest is on hand: City
Treasurer Nucky Thompson (Steve
Buscemi), the most powerful figure in
local politics. After a rousing reception,
Thompson leaves for another pressing
appointment at a nightclub, where he
joins other city officials to plot how to
exploit the new black market for liquor.

As they talk, a ship from Canada arrives
at a local dock, and a flotilla of motorboats unloads the first shipment of illegal whiskey.
As the new HBO series Boardwalk Empire illustrates, Atlantic City
was ideally situated to be Americas
bootleg capital during Prohibition. A
www.theasc.com
popular summer resort town, it was

linked by rail to New York, Philadelphia
and Baltimore. It also had a vibrant
fishing industry and secluded inlets,
ideal for smuggling alcohol from
Canada and the Caribbean. Just as
important as geography was the citys
feudalistic politics. Atlantic City had
always been devoted to serving the pleaSeptember 2010
35
Mob Money
Right:
Thompsons
ambitious
driver, Jimmy
Darmody
(Michael Pitt),
settles in for
breakfast with
his wife, Angela
(Aleksa
Palladino), and
young son.
Below: On a trip
to Chicago,
Darmodys
marriage is far
from his mind
during a private
rendezvous with
Pearl (Emily
Meade).
sures of its vacationing guests, and by

1920 it was ruled by an unelected official, Enoch Nucky Johnson, who was
a master at the game. By the mid1920s, everyone on the public payroll
owed his job to Johnson. The police not
only ignored vice laws, but also
protected bars and brothels from federal
interference.
36
September 2010
Inspired by Nelson Johnsons book

Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High
Times and Corruption of Atlantic City,
the series combines historical figures
with fictional characters. Nucky
Thompson is based on Johnson, whose
power peaked during Prohibition, and
he rubs elbows with notorious mobsters
such as Al Capone (Stephen Graham)
and Lucky Luciano (Vincent Piazza), as

well as an array of politicians. The
shows 12 episodes cover the first year of
Prohibition, and three cinematographers helped shape the look: Stuart
Dryburgh, ASC shot the pilot, which
was directed by Martin Scorsese, and
Kramer Morgenthau, ASC and
Jonathan Freeman took turns shooting
the subsequent 11 episodes.
The art and costume departments researched the period meticulously. Details such as the boardwalks
Baby Incubator sideshow and Chop
Suey restaurant were lifted directly from
photographs, and many costumes were
original pieces. But the goal with the
photography, according to Dryburgh,
was not to create a period look as such
we wanted to keep it modern.
Scorsese screened numerous gangster
films for him, but this was more to give
a sense of the period than for visual
design; the latter emerged from
Dryburghs discussions with production
designer Bob Shaw. For the overall
palette, we agreed we should avoid
bright primaries and stick with fabrics
and colors that were more muted, as was
Clockwise from
top: Scantily clad
showgirls
entertain an
audience at Caf
Beaux-Arts; Jersey
City Mayor Frank
Hague (Chris
Mulkey) and
Thompson find
their appreciation
for women and
music fulfilled by a
young lady
(Jennifer Bowles)
and her ukelele;
another showgirl,
Gillian (Gretchen
Mol), plays a key
role in the saga.
the case in that era, recalls Dryburgh.

As silly as it may sound, we werent
trying to do anything tricky or showy
with the photography. We just wanted
to quietly capture the tone of the period
and support the story. The only real
trick was to desaturate everything just a
little so it wasnt too vibrant.
More than half of the series was
shot in New York City locations
(primarily in Brooklyn) that suggested
the luster of bygone days. These

included private clubs, a Masons lodge
and a Methodist church in a Hasidic
neighborhood. Throughout the city,
there are these gems encased in rotting
faades, says Freeman. The decision to
shoot in New York was arrived at
quickly. Atlantic City doesnt look like
that Atlantic City any more; it looks like
Trump World, notes Dryburgh.
The productions flagship set, the
www.theasc.com
Atlantic City boardwalk, was built

outdoors on a vacant lot in Greenpoint,
Brooklyn. The boardwalk portion was
45' wide and 300' long, a mere suggestion of the actual boardwalks 8-milelong expanse in the 1920s. The structure
is flanked on one side by a beach, which
in turn was buttressed by a giant,
permanent bluescreen, and on the other
side by a row of storefront shops, the
Ritz Hotel (where Thompson lives), a
September 2010
37
Mob Money
Right: Amid the

luxury of his
penthouse suite,
Thompson talks
business with
Commodore
Kaestner (Dabney
Coleman). Below:
Darmody listens in
as Al Capone
(Stephen Graham,
left) discusses
strategy with
Torrio.
supper club, and the entrance to the

amusement pier, whose marquee shimmers with hundreds of lights. All of the
storefronts functioned as practical sets
and could be shot from any angle. (CGI
completed the pier and boardwalk and
added tall buildings behind the storefronts.)
The first question I was asked
was, Which direction should the
boardwalk face? recalls Dryburgh. I
wanted to maximize exposure to the
38
September 2010
sun, so we positioned it to face south.

That way, the last light in the winter
would skim along the sides of the buildings. We had to bear in mind that wed
be shooting there in winter as well as
summer. Freeman notes, Its very
similar to the light in Atlantic City. If
you look at photos from that time, the
sun is often lighting the fronts of the
buildings. Obviously, having that huge
bluescreen wall created shadow and sun
issues, but for the most part, direct sun
didnt hit [the bluescreen] for much of

the day.
Scorsese and Dryburgh were
given 30 days to shoot the 70-minute
pilot. The hour-long episodes were
budgeted for 12 days each, plus one day
for second unit. While Morgenthau
was shooting one episode, Freeman was
prepping the next, and vice versa. Both
cinematographers found this schedule
appealing. Its 100-percent better,
because if you shoot every episode of a
series, you can feel like a factory
worker, Morgenthau says. Freeman
adds, Its like youre prepping a minimovie with the director. Theres less
money wasted because youre getting
exactly the equipment you need, and
you save time because youve done
preliminaries ahead of time. And,
frankly, I wasnt as exhausted as I would
have otherwise been.
Boardwalk Empire was shot in
3-perf Super 35mm framed for
1.78:1. The productions camera package comprised Panaflex Platinum,
Millennium and Millennium XL
cameras, Primo primes, and Angenieux
Optimo 24-290mm, 17-80mm and
15-40mm zooms. For the pilot,

Dryburgh used Primo zoom lenses
instead of the Optimos, as well as the
new Panavision Compact (T2.8) 1990mm, which was very, very useful, he
says. Its small enough to put on
Steadicam or use handheld, and it
allows you to move very quickly
between setups without lens changes.
Dryburgh reports that Scorsese
briefly considered shooting on 16mm.
Hed seen Spike Lees Miracle at St.
Anna and liked the look of the 16mm
material, recalls the cinematographer.
After testing, however, the team opted
for the greater range and control of
35mm. We were going to have visualeffects shots, and that was a major
consideration, says Dryburgh. So
Martin and I looked at 16mm and
Above: Eager to expand his responsibilities, Darmody meets with his boss in Thompsons
opulent office. Below: A lighting diagram details the approach in Thompsons penthouse suite, a
large set of interconnected rooms built onstage at Steiner Studios.
www.theasc.com
September 2010
39
Mob Money
35mm side-by-side and said, Well,

what is it about 16mm that we like, and
can we add that to the 35mm?
Ultimately, we produced a look in
telecine that put in a bit more grain and
a bit more contrast, as well as desaturation. So we got the look of 16mm with
the control of 35mm.
When
Morgenthau
and
Freeman started working on the show,
the pilot hadnt been completed, so they
had only some footage and a few
approved clips to view. Because of
conflicting schedules, they were unable
to speak to Dryburgh, either. So
Freeman, who tackled the first episode,
came to his first meeting with episode
director Timothy Van Patten armed
with images from the Ashcan school,
New York artists who were active in the
early 20th century. I would describe the
Ashcans as a hybrid of gritty realism
and Expressionism/Impressionism,
says Freeman. Those two tones were
really strong in the pilot, and very
inspiring. Tim just laughed, because he
had all these books of the Ashcan artists
Top: The nightlife

crowd enjoys the
show at
Babettes Supper
Club. Bottom:
Overhead and
floor sources
illuminate the set
as the crew
prepares for the
supper-club shot
with a stand-in.
40
September 2010
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Mob Money
that he was going to show me. So we
were completely in sync.
Freeman and Morgenthau subsequently exchanged the baton by watching each others DVD dailies, visiting
each others sets, and talking several
times a week. They also shared the
crew, which included gaffer John
Oates, key grip Charlie Sherron,
A-camera operator Bill Coleman, and
B-camera/Steadicam operator John
Buzz Meyer. Both cinematographers
tried to maintain the look of the pilot,
but also let it evolve. We decided to
slowly push the tone even darker as
Nuckys world starts to collapse, says
Freeman.
We were
encouraged to
treat each
episode as
its own minifeature.
The Atlantic City boardwalk set, measuring 45' wide by 300' long, was built outdoors on
a vacant lot in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. All of the storefronts could also serve as practical sets;
CGI was used to complete the pier and boardwalk and add tall buildings to
the skyline behind the storefronts.
42
September 2010
Though the cinematographers

coordinated that evolution, stylistic
consistency wasnt a rigid rule. Much
like series writers who build an overarching storyline but also create selfcontained dramas that run for an
episode or two, Freeman and
Morgenthau could develop a look that
played for just one or two episodes. We
were encouraged to treat each episode
as its own mini-feature and, to a certain
extent, give each one a unique look,
says Morgenthau.
For example, Freeman exaggerated his natural inclination toward sidelight in a storyline involving Harrow
( Jack Huston), a World War I veteran
whose face was severely disfigured in
combat. The character wears a tin half-
Mob Money
The shows three cinematographers are (top to bottom) Kramer Morgenthau, ASC (far right,
with director Jeremy Podeswa); Jonathan Freeman (right, with director Tim Van Patten); and
Stuart Dryburgh, ASC, who shot the pilot.
44
September 2010
mask with his features painted on it.

That was actually common for a lot of
veterans whod been disfigured that
way, notes Freeman. Though Harrows
mask is literal, he continues, many
characters are hiding behind masks,
including Nucky; his girlfriend
Margaret [Kelly Macdonald]; and his
brother, Elias [Shea Whigham]. So I
thought Id play more with half-light in
the episode. I often do a lot of sidelighting, but in this case I let the other side
of the face almost fall off completely,
not just with Harrow, but with all the
characters at certain moments. He also
pushed a chiaroscuro look at times,
heightening contrast not just in deeper
shadows, but in higher highlights, so
the skin tone sometimes became
alabaster. Ironically, because modern
film stocks are so great at retaining
highlights, thats actually hard to
achieve.
Morgenthau, in turn, favored
toplight. Kramer uses toplight in
exquisite ways, creating very moody
faces that just have a prick of eyelight,
says Freeman. In terms of our split, he
had a lot more work with the Al
Capone/Chicago storyline, so tonally, it
becomes its own little style within a
style.
Morgenthaus toplight was on
display the day AC visited Steiner
Studios, where Thompsons penthouse
suite and other sets were built. The crew
was filming a scene in which
Thompson accepts a visit from Jimmy
(Michael Pitt), a former protg who
has partnered with the wrong people
and is about to face Thompsons wrath.
Number 25 at 75 percent! Oates yells
into his walkie-talkie. Overhead, a
chicken coop comprising five 500watt Photofloods in a chicken-wire
frame comes up. These units cover
every inch of Thompsons suite, hidden
behind the removable muslin ceiling.
They were designed to be ambient
light, but Im actually using them as key
light in some positions, Morgenthau
explains. The toplight shapes peoples
faces in a more imposing way and
makes Nucky look more powerful. I
Mob Money
want to fill out the faces in the room, but
not see so much that theres no mystery.
For the reverse on Jimmy, Morgenthau
reverts to lighting through windows, the
norm for daytime scenes, pushing a 20K
through a black-lace curtain and cutting
it right at Jimmys brow.
The chicken coops and 20Ks
were part of a sizable permanent stage
package. When the Steiner sets were
built, Dryburgh successfully argued for
them to be built on an elevated platform; the production settled on a height
of 8'. I was very strong on that, because
that enabled us to approach the
windows without seeing the deck, he
says. I also wanted the ability to have a
full ceiling, but be able to lift a corner of
it. The general rule of thumb was to key
it from the windows, so we talked a lot
about windows with Bob Shaw. Then
we did extensive rigging around the
outside of the building so we could
direct beams of sunlight or the glow of
the sky from wherever was appropriate.
Sunlight came from eight 20Ks on
motorized trusses around the perimeter
of the set, while 30 Skypans were on
hand to light the painted ocean-view
backdrop on one side and storefront set
pieces on the other. On the floor were
various additional units, including a 10K
that raked the set piece and a 20K on
standby to provide light from angles
unavailable to the truss. Everything was
wired to a dimmer board.
In the 1920s, electricity was a
luxury, so the filmmakers tried to avoid
using practicals during day scenes.
Theres a temptation to use them
because theyre so beautiful, but in 1920,
electricity was a precious resource, says
Morgenthau. Nucky has many practical
lamps on everywhere in his hotel suite,
but somebody like Jimmy is in a coldwater flat and wouldnt have his lights on
during the day.
The Atlantic City boardwalk
spared no expense on its lighting,
however. Boardwalk signage was meant
to create excitement, so the boardwalk
set featured marquees with hundreds of
bulbs. Behind the amusement-pier
marquee, a 20K Fresnel on a lift ampli-
Above: The
crew sets up a
bluescreen shot
on the beach
set adjacent to
the boardwalk
set. Right: A
crane-mounted
source provides
nighttime
illumination
on location
in a real
neighborhood.
46
September 2010
fied that illumination, providing backlight, while more light emanated from
the storefronts (supplied by 2Ks or 5Ks
on stands). Maxi-Brutes were used to
light the side alleys, and Skypans
provided a wash on the bluescreen. Its
not tricky, its just big, Oates says of the
boardwalk lighting. We had a lot of
equipment going on. When AC visited
this set, hovering near the actors was a
huge moonbox designed by Oates and
Sherron. Hung from a 135' lift, the
12'x12' softbox contained 6K space
lights, all on a dimmer, and provided
either keylight (Morgenthau) or fill
(Freeman). The Flyswatter, a 20'x20'
silk positioned on a Condor, was used
to control light on sunny days. Its
basically a moving cloud, says
Morgenthau.
All the storefronts were rigged
with practicals, and some had extra
features. The Ritz lobby and adjacent
dress shop, where Thompsons girlfriend works, have skylights, which were
common to the luxe architecture of the
day. They were actually dimmable light
boxes that could be switched from
daylight to incandescent light; they held
1,200-watt Pars for day and Blondes for
night. A lot of thought went into those
skylights! says Dryburgh.
The full splendor of the boardwalk is captured in wide shots, which
the filmmakers didnt hesitate to use. A
big, beautiful crane shot brings Nucky
and Jimmy out of the Ritz and through
the complete madness of the night
before Prohibition, notes Dryburgh.
Theres all kinds of mayhem going on,
and we follow them with this big
Technocrane shot that reveals this
whole world, then brings them to the
entrance of Babettes Supper Club. Its
very nice.
Entire scenes were sometimes
played quite wide. Thats something
Kramer and I picked up from the pilot,
notes Freeman. We werent afraid to let
things play in two-shots. As for crane
shots, says Morgenthau, we did a
shorthand version, because we had a lot
fewer days than they had on the pilot!
In the pilot, the camera moves
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Mob Money
Martin Scorsese, who directed the pilot and serves as an executive producer on the series,
confers with his cast while Dryburgh and his crew await the next take.
with the characters a lot in classic

Scorsese fashion, says Dryburgh.
Moves were accomplished with dollies,
cranes and Steadicam, although regarding the latter, Dryburgh observes,
Martin is cautious how he uses it. He
doesnt like Steadicam to be too noticeable. We all think of the famous shot in
the restaurant in Goodfellas, but when
you think about it, youre not aware of
the moving camera, youre aware of
making that journey with the characters.
We tried to apply that idea to our

Steadicam shots.
One such shot, executed by pilot
Steadicam operator David Thompson,
follows Buscemi into a Victorian
funeral parlor. Then we go down an
elevator to the basement, where theres
an embalming room with a body on the
table, says Dryburgh. Theres a secret
panel, and behind this is a full-on
whiskey distillery, complete with big
vats and lots of steam. Its a labyrinthine
space, and we follow Nucky through all
those subterranean corridors.
The productions practical locations offered many opportunities for
interesting camera moves. This was the
case in the John Wesley United
Methodist Church in BedfordStuyvesant, whose meeting room served
as the interior of Babettes Supper Club,
where Thompson conducts his backroom deals. With a horseshoe-shaped
balcony ending in matching staircases
and smaller rooms radiating off the
main hall, the location provided

wonderful options. As Shaw recalls,
We were scouting for the Womens
Temperance League, and I said, Am I
crazy, or could this be a nightclub?
Freeman found the balcony useful for
solving a problem inherent in the location. He explains, Babettes is a wideopen space that needed to be filled with
people, but dressing 200 extras in period
attire and period-correct hair and
makeup is an extremely expensive
proposition. By selecting the right
angles, we could use the balcony to
block off part of the set and give the
impression the place was full; we could
also have people in the foreground and
see people on the other side of the
balcony, then fill the hole on the main
floor with extras, but in truth, there were
none beyond that point.
Lighting at Babettes was motivated by the blaze of lights rimming the
riverboat stage and bar, plus the small
practical lamps on each table. Two 8K
tungsten balloons evened out ambient

lighting, while other units came and
went, including 10K booklights on
either side of the hall, Source 4 Lekos
and Baby Juniors highlighting specific
tables, a 5K backlighting the crowd, a
spotlight aimed at the stage, and Kino
Flos to edge and lift the deep background.
While shooting the pilot,
Dryburgh and Scorsese screened film
dailies. Thats something people dont
do much any more, and it was great,
says Dryburgh. After the pilot, the
production switched to DVD dailies.
Dailies and the final color correction
were handled by Technicolor New
York. For his episodes, Morgenthau
used a Canon EOS 40D and Adobe
Lightroom to color correct digital stills
at wrap and send them to the lab. By
morning, the series dailies colorist, Josh
Olive, would send corrected frame
grabs. In general, we desaturated the
image quite a bit, probably more than
Stuart did, says Morgenthau. Its

printed very dense, the opposite of the
flat, bright look you usually see in a lot
of television shows. Its got a really
strong, cinematic look that was dialed
right into the dailies.
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War Horses
D
Director Sylvester Stallone
enlists Jeffrey L. Kimball, ASC to
capture outlandish action for
The Expendables.
By Michael Goldman
|
50
September 2010
espite spending decades making iconic, testosteroneinfused imagery, Sylvester Stallone insists he has never
directed an action picture that compares to the macho
pedigree found in front of and behind the camera on his
latest film, The Expendables. The movie, which stars Stallone,
Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Bruce Willis and Jason Statham,
among others, tells the tale of a band of aging mercenaries
who are lured into one last mission in a fictional South
American country, where they tangle with a corrupt dictator,
pirates, traitors and rogue CIA operatives, among others.
The filmmakers undertook a grueling shoot in Brazil
and New Orleans, where cast and crew alike had to navigate
waves of practical explosions, uncomfortable environments
and dangerous stunts, all while heeding the limitations of
budget and schedule. Recognizing the constraints early on,
Stallone sought a battle-proven crew, and foremost among his
choices was Jeffrey L. Kimball, ASC. The two had previously
Unit photography by Karen Ballard, courtesy of Lionsgate.
worked together when Kimball shot The

Specialist (1994), which starred Stallone,
but The Expendables marks their first
collaboration with Stallone in the directors chair. I needed someone who could
improvise if I wanted to change things or
if conditions changed, so I went to a
master, says Stallone. I pretty much
gave Jeffrey free rein, and he rewarded
me with beautiful work.
To further anchor the camera
department, Stallone and Kimball
enlisted other action veterans with whom
they had previously worked, including
A-camera operator/2nd-unit cinematographer Vern Nobles, who has worked
with Stallone on several films. Kimball
notes that Nobles and Stallone have an
unusually good rapport and had already
worked together blowing stuff up, which
was important experience for this film.
Nobles company, Cinesail Camera
Rentals, supplied much of the projects
camera package, which was rounded out
by Keslow Camera. Planning to shoot
Opposite, left to right: Yin Yang (Jet Li), Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone),
Toll Road (Randy Couture) and Hale Caesar (Terry Crews) comprise a band of mercenaries
on their last mission in The Expendables, directed by Stallone. This page, top: Ex-Expendable Gunner
Jensen (Dolph Lundgren, center) finds himself in Ross sights. Bottom: Cinematographer Jeffrey L.
Kimball, ASC (left, wearing hat) observes as Stallone checks the frame with C-camera operator Michael
Applebaum (at viewfinder).
www.theasc.com
September 2010
51
War Horses
The Expendables
make their
headquarters in
a neon- and
fluorescent-lit
tattoo parlor run
by Tool (Mickey
Rourke).
both 4-perf and 3-perf Super 35mm,

the filmmakers carried seven Arri
cameras an Arricam Studio, two
Arricam Lites, an Arri 535B, two Arri
435ESs and an Arri 235 and an array
of Zeiss Ultra Prime and Angenieux
Optimo zoom lenses.
Kimballs regular gaffer, Dan
52
September 2010
Delgado, was unavailable at the beginning of the shoot, but he joined the
team once the production moved to
New Orleans. Gaffer Michael Ambrose
handled the Brazil portion of the shoot
with help from Brazilian gaffer Walerio
Rosa, and Ambrose has high praise for
Rosa and his crew. Kimball notes that
his teams close collaboration with

special-effects supervisor Andy Weder
and stunt coordinator Chad Stahelski
enabled the production to safely capture
intimate action imagery. There was lots
of pyro on this project, says Kimball.
We had both Vern and [Steadicam
operator] Jody Miller doing Steadicam
work, and we also did lots of handheld.
The boys had to wear fire suits and
visors whenever there was danger, and
their work was remarkable. We were
fortunate to have a team that seasoned.
Among the films extravagant
action pieces are a pyrotechnic sequence
involving almost every member of the
cast; a gruesome fistfight in a cramped,
ancient tunnel; a wild car chase
combined with a shootout; and an
explosive aerial assault on a pier by a
dive-bombing seaplane. I dont think
many action scenes are shown from the
characters point of view, muses
Stallone. They are more from the
directors point of view. On Rambo, I
thought the most economical and original way to shoot [the action] would be
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War Horses
Stallone takes
the wheel while
Li rides shotgun
during a carchase sequence
filmed in New
Orleans. Stallone
called in stunt
coordinator Terry
Leonard and
cinematographer
Matthew
Leonetti, ASC to
shoot the
complicated
action sequence
while Kimball
remained
focused on mainunit work.
through Rambos eyes if he were

directing, what would his style be? But
The Expendables is an ensemble picture,
so its somewhat of a blend. I thought,
This is not supposed to hang in the
Louvre. I wanted it to be disjointed and
rough, not choreographed. If you really
were filming a big battle with five
cameras, [their footage] would not all
flow together, so we set up the
[cameras] to film the action wed
scripted and told the operators they
were on their own. We said, Do the
best you can, and well use the most
interesting shots from the characters
perspectives.
54
September 2010
War Horses
Above: Statham rides in the open nose seat of a Grumman Albatross seaplane to capture
a harrowing dive-bombing sequence in-camera on location in Brazil. Below: The villainous
Munroe (Eric Roberts) holds the Expendables contact, Sandra (Giselle Iti), captive in an
inner sanctum lit entirely with candles.
56
September 2010
Referring to this approach as

multi-camera craziness, Nobles
describes shooting the action as
chaotic. Sly likes bumps on zooms and
is stylized about camera movement.
There really is no A or B or C camera in
that sense. Everyones running an A
camera, for the most part.
No sequence better illustrates this
embrace of improvisation than the
climactic battle, which takes place in
front of the presidential palace in the
fictional country of Vilena. The palaces
inner courtyard, where the battle begins,
was a location in Rio de Janeiro. The
action then moves to an expansive outer
perimeter, a set that covered almost an
acre in a New Orleans parking lot; this
is where the pyrotechnics and complex
action pieces were filmed.
Both locations posed major lighting challenges. To light the expansive
New Orleans set, Kimballs crew rigged
an HMI helium balloon specially
designed by balloon-light coordinator

Dar Larizadeh from a 120'-high
Condor over the center of the courtyard, with 50K and 100K SoftSuns on
Condors at each end of the perimeter to
serve as backlight, plus six 18K HMIs
and two 7K Xenons strategically placed
on Condors. There was so much
running around [during the sequence],
and the SoftSuns let me shoot 360
degrees, says Kimball. I had a couple
of Condors with 18Ks on the other side,
too, so I could always attempt to give
them moonlight, and gunshots and
those types of effects are better with a
little backlight. Sometimes we also put
was difficult because its not the filmproduction center of the country,
Ambrose continues. Our lighting
package was trucked in from So Paolo,
but Jeffrey also wanted to use 50K and
100K SoftSuns, which were not available in Brazil. David Pringle [of
Luminys Systems] helped us get two
50K units from Colombia; they cleared
customs after all kinds of issues and
arrived on set the night before our first
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There was lots of

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up big, gold reflectors to simulate firelight on people.

Ambrose adds, The Brazil shoot
came first, so we had to establish our
lighting style there. Our approach was
to keep it real, with lighting motivated
by the actual environments as much as
possible. At the same time, we had
major action stars in the film, and we
wanted to see their faces. The trick was
to create the right dark, edgy atmosphere while maintaining proper exposure on faces.
Obtaining specialty lighting
equipment and support services in Rio
day of shooting. We also had to do a lot

of research to find Condor suppliers
because we needed at least 125 feet of
arm length. The vendor [Trimak of Rio
de Janeiro] managed to get us a brandnew, 135-foot JLG Lift, as well as 65foot and 80-foot lifts in both
articulating and straight-arm models.
The 50K SoftSuns were almost always
on those lifts.
As many as eight cameras rolled
War Horses
simultaneously for the New Orleans
portions of the battle. While improvising with handheld cameras, Nobles,
Miller and their respective focus pullers,
Rick Osborne and Nicolas Restrepo,
were all dressed in protective fire suits.
Miller recalls that Stahelski was very
careful in terms of making sure we were
safe and giving us a heads-up about
which direction [debris] might be
coming from. He also knew our eyes
would be limited to the eyepiece, so he
had a stunt guy on us to literally pull us
Our approach was

to keep it real, with
lighting motivated
by the actual
environments as
much as possible.
The trick was to
create the right
dark, edgy
atmosphere while
maintaining proper
exposure on
faces.
Top: Paine (Steve

Austin, wielding club)
attacks Ross in a
subterranean tunnel.
The production filmed
this sequence
beneath a Civil Warera fort in New
Orleans. Middle:
Stallone bounds over
A-camera
operator/2nd-unit
cinematographer
Vern Nobles. Bottom:
Stunt coordinator
Chad Stahelski (right)
works through the
fight with Stallone
and Austin.
off a camera if something went in a

different direction.
To extend the cameras reach over
50' and into a variety of angles to better
capture wide shots of the chaos,
Kimball had a Super Technocrane
attached to a Chapman Titan Crane.
The Super Technocrane is cantilevered
off the Titans platform, so you can
articulate it, says Kimball. You can
look around 90 degrees or over a wall;
58
September 2010
We were under the

most horrific time
crunch you can
imagine. It was
difficult, but Jeffrey
is like an old, calm
boxer. He was
perhaps the most
grounded person
on the set.
under a Civil War-era fort in New

Orleans. The tunnel, which features low,
arched ceilings, was an amazing challenge, recalls Delgado. We had to be
ready to light any direction, and the
whole main cast was there. Kimball
explains, We had 4-foot 5,600K fluorescents half-corrected with CTO to
make them [look] like daylight fluorescents. We then put UltraBounce into
the crest of the arched ceiling so the
fluorescent light would hit it and come

back down to illuminate the tunnel. We
also had a number of China hats hanging down, which gave me the opportunity to come in with little Chimeras on
the movie stars when I needed to. A mix
of 3,200K and 5,600K blue lights
half-corrected off the fluorescents on
the ceiling gave me about a T2 stop in
the tunnel, which was a nice blue tone.
Much of the action in the tunnel
www.sylvania.com/entertainment
2010 OSRAM SYLVANIA OSRAM and KREIOS are registered trademarks of OSRAM GmbH Photo Credit: Image Source / Getty Images
you can do lots of things you could

never do with a straight crane. You can
steer each wheel on the Titan it is
very maneuverable and self-leveling.
We were able to articulate it in all sorts
of different configurations, and it was
flexible in rough terrain.
Completing the sequence pushed
the production right to the limit of its
shooting schedule. We were under the
most horrific time crunch you can
imagine, says Stallone. We ran four
units some of the time. We had to light
four different sections of the battlefield
and jump from one to the next. Jeffrey
and his guys never wavered. In the last
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days, we were out of money, and we

hadnt finished filming the ending yet.
We said, Lets go for it, and we basically went non-stop for 36 hours. It was
difficult, but Jeffrey is like an old, calm
boxer. He was perhaps the most
grounded person on the set.
Leading into the courtyard battle
is a more claustrophobic confrontation:
a cluster of fistfights set beneath the
presidential palace and involving most
of the cast. In reality, the fights were
shot in a horseshoe-shaped tunnel built
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War Horses
The films climactic

battle, set outside
the presidential
palace in the
fictional South
American country
of Vilena, was
actually staged
across almost an
acre of land in New
Orleans.
was shot with the camera on a

Steadicam, but the filmmakers also used
a Western Dolly to speed across the
tunnels brick floor for an extended
tracking shot as Stallone and actress
Giselle Iti ran full-bore through the
hall. There were no elevations, no subfloorings, no side chambers, Stallone
details. A side room where my character fights someone was a whole different
area of the building, not connected to
the tunnel. [The tunnel] was just a hall.
It was the most cramped, unhygienic
area you can imagine shooting in the
tide goes in there every night, and there
was moss, fungus, and animal droppings. We made it work with the style of
fighting we used, with radical angles and
60
September 2010
massive cuts, but it was incredibly difficult.

A particularly outrageous stunt in
the movie shows Stallone and Stathams
characters procuring a vintage
Grumman Albatross seaplane and divebombing a dock filled with soldiers.
Statham rides in an open nose seat, and
as the plane goes into a perilous nosedive, he fires a flare gun to ignite the
ordnance on the dock below. Aside
from some CG machine-gun fire, the
sequence was largely captured incamera on location in Brazil. Kimball is
At the end of
the day, wed
all discuss how
those scenes were
evolving, and
second unit would
go back and
add whatever was
missing. We
constantly had
multiple units
working.
an old hand at coordinating aerial
photography his credits include Top
Gun (AC May 86) and Statham
volunteered to do the stunt himself.
Behind the actor, the filmmakers
mounted an Arri 235; as the Albatross
flew, Nobles followed in a pursuit helicopter piloted by Fred North, remotely
operating a camera mounted on the
nose of the helicopter with a Super G
gyro-stabilized aerial camera mount.
The Albatross, Nobles says, was going
about 110 mph and dive-bombing the

side of a hill while I captured close
shots, medium shots and wide shots.
The explosions on the dock below were
real, and we could feel the heat when we
passed by. Fred is an unbelievably good
pilot, though, and he kept us safe.
Eventually, a Brazilian second unit blew
the living daylights out of the dock. It
was wild.
The macho hijinks didnt end
there. In New Orleans, for instance, a

car-chase sequence in which Lundgrens
character attempts to kill Stallone and
Lis characters was so complex that
Stallone decided to bring in outside
help to get it in the can on time; he
asked stunt coordinator Terry Leonard
and
cinematographer
Matthew
Leonetti, ASC to shoot the entire chase
while Kimball stayed focused on mainunit work. First unit was really busy,
War Horses
Stallone leaps into action on the New Orleans set.
and my own second unit was very busy,

so Terry and Matt took over the car
chase, says Nobles. The fight between
Dolph and Jet that follows the chase
604
Full CT Eight Five
642
Half Mustard Yellow
643
Quarter Mustard Yellow
650
Industry Sodium
651
HI Sodium
652
Urban Sodium
653
LO Sodium
was arranged and shot by me and

[second-unit stunt coordinator] Noon
Orsatti. We would bring video of it to
Sly, and hed direct it remotely as he
went from unit to unit on our tight

schedule.
Usually, action scenes like that
would start with close-ups done by first
unit, and then [second unit] would
continue it in the same style, with the
kind of fighting style we developed for
Rambo a bit of 90-degree shutter, a
bit of Dutching and continual camera
movement, Nobles continues. Then, at
the end of the day, wed all discuss how
those scenes were evolving, and second
unit would go back and add whatever
was missing. We constantly had multiple
units working. It was grueling.
Examples of the productions
complexities abound. For instance, the
opening sequence was shot in the hold
of a massive oil tanker, and hours of
laborious design and logistical work
were also devoted to lighting the stronghold of Vilenas dictator solely with
candles. In every case, the crew points to
the director as the glue that held everything together throughout the brutal
New LEE
Urban
effect
filters
Create a Sodium effect
with tungsten or daylight
Think LEE
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62
He gave me my way on a lot of the

looks, and I was fortunate that he liked
what I came up with. Hes a very interesting director, because he enjoys letting
everyone participate in determining the
final look of the movie, as long as they
have something useful to contribute.
TECHNICAL SPECS
2.40:1
3-perf and 4-perf Super 35mm
Arricam Studio, Lite; Arri 535B,
435ES, 235
Zeiss and Angenieux lenses
Stallone and Crews feel the heat from one of the productions many pyrotechnic displays.
schedule. Sly has a real intensity about

what he wants to do, but also a real
sense of humor and a real trust in his
team, says Kimball. He was very clear
about what he had in mind for the characters and the emotional content of the
scenes, but he made it my job to interpret that content in terms of the look.
Kodak Vision3 500T 5219;

Vision2 50D 5201, 250D 5205
Printed on
Fuji Eterna-CP 3514DI
63
Nowhere Boy, shot by

Seamus McGarvey, ASC, BSC,
tells the story of John Lennons
formative years.
By Mark Hope-Jones
|
A Beatles
Upbringing
I
ts the final day of principal photography for Nowhere Boy,

and AC is on location with the cast and crew in Hanwell,
West London. The Parish Church of St. Marys is standing
in for St. Peters Church in Woolton, Liverpool, where,
during a garden party on July 6, 1957, 16-year-old John
Lennon performed with his skiffle band, The Quarrymen, and
met fellow teenager Paul McCartney. Beyond the church, a
small field has been dressed to re-create that famous day, its
perimeter festooned with bunting that quaintly frames a
picturesque scene of 1950s English summertime. Director of
photography Seamus McGarvey, ASC, BSC, calls for his pan
glass as a small outcrop of cloud threatens to interrupt the
64
September 2010
unseasonably warm sunshine and, with it, the filming. After a

brief search, the pan glass is found, and McGarvey lifts it to
his eye as he tilts his head skyward. There, he says. Now I
look like a proper cinematographer!
Lennon and McCartney would, of course, go on to
form a songwriting partnership that made the Beatles the
most successful rock n roll band of all time, but Nowhere Boy
is the story of Lennons pre-fame adolescence. Written by
Matt Greenhalgh, who also penned Control (AC Nov. 07),
Nowhere Boy is the feature-directing debut of artist Sam
Taylor-Wood, and the production was filmed on a modest
budget in Liverpool and London.
Unit photography by Liam Daniel, courtesy of The Weinstein Co. and Daniel.
The closing day at Hanwell was

one of the most elaborate of the shoot,
with several cameras and a multitude of
extras, but the crew knew they would
have to work with whatever the weather
threw at them. On a larger-scale film,
we probably wouldve had a lot of big
silks to block the sun, and have lit from
underneath, notes gaffer Lee Walters.
But we had to go with what we had,
and, fortunately, it was a good day. With
a low-budget film, theres no going back
another time!
At the garden party, Lennons
mother, Julia (Anne-Marie Duff ), and
his aunt, Mimi (Kristin Scott Thomas),
stand in the crowd and watch The
Quarrymen perform on the back of a
flatbed truck. There is tension between
the sisters, who have always disagreed
about what is best for John (Aaron
Johnson). Julia, ill-equipped for motherhood, gave him up when he was 4 but
later encouraged him to pursue music
after introducing him to rock music and
buying him a guitar. The strict and
disciplined Mimi, who took John in and
raised him, is convinced that music will
never be anything other than a distraction. It is the relationships between
Lennon and these women, as much as
his emergence as a musician, that form
the focus of the film.
Although Nowhere Boy is TaylorWoods first feature, she and McGarvey
have been collaborating on a variety of
artistic projects for more than 12 years.
Ive worked on 10 of Sams video
installations and done the lighting for
many of her photographs, says
McGarvey. When youre working with
an artist, youre exercising totally different cinematographic muscles, and its
an interesting dynamic. I love the sort of
evolution thats happening in British
film, with artists like Steve McQueen,
Willie Doherty, Damien Hirst, the
Chapman brothers and Sam working
on film. What defines them is that
theyve got an amazing vision and soul.
Theyre not afraid of unbridled emotion
in their work, and I think thats something other filmmakers sometimes trip
over they get snared by formula, or
Opposite: John
Lennon (Aaron
Johnson) yearns
to break away
from life in
Liverpool. This
page, top: The
aspiring musician
spends what little
money he has on
45s. Middle: The
small home
Lennon shares
with his Aunt
Mimi (Kristin Scott
Thomas) and
Uncle George
(David Threlfall)
was a set built
onstage at Ealing.
Bottom: Seamus
McGarvey, ASC,
BSC and 1st AC
Jennie Paddon
(foreground)
prepare to capture
a close-up of
Johnson as
director Sam
Taylor-Wood
stands by.
www.theasc.com
September 2010
65
genre, or emulation of Hollywood. Its
liberating for the cinematographer
because theres mutual trust, and you
have a degree of creative autonomy that
can go missing on a lot of films where
directors are more doctrinaire about how
they want their films to look.
Rather than giving rise to an
overly stylized visual approach to the
material, Taylor-Woods artistic background contributed to an uninhibited
creative atmosphere that helped the
filmmakers develop an appropriately
muted look. We knew it was a period
film and that it had to evoke an era, but
we didnt want to eulogize or fetishize
the
period,
says
McGarvey.
Sometimes you can just get carried
away with the evocation. What we
wanted was to evoke a kind of diurnal
sense of the epic in the everyday, a dayin, day-out, suburban Liverpool feel. We
had beautiful costumes and production
design, but we didnt really have the
money for huge shots showing period
cars and lots of extras, so the film, just in
terms of the mise-en-scne, has a very
restrained feel. It doesnt wallow in
period detail, and that extends to the
photography as well.
When it came to choosing a
format, McGarvey opted for anamorphic, which proved helpful for the stage
work at Ealing Studios, where sets for
the storys small homes were built.
Anamorphic is generally considered
good for epic films, but it offered us a
way of exploring those spaces, notes
McGarvey. We never floated walls,
even though some walls were designed
to float. We tried to work within these
small, pokey rooms and be restricted by
them, so you do get a very real sense of
claustrophobia. Not cheating it meant a
lot of those interiors are quite wideangle perspectives, which gives you that
feeling of proximity to the performer. It
also means that youre often working at
minimum focus, which is very difficult
for the focus puller. On this film, Jennie
Paddon did an extraordinary job.
We shot on C-Series lenses, and
we used the 40mm and 50mm quite a
lot, he continues. We also had a 60mm
Top and middle:

Over the course of
the film, Lennon
rekindles his
relationship with
his mother, Julia
(Anne-Marie Duff),
who shares his love
of music. Bottom:
With Paddon
assisting and
Taylor-Wood
looking on,
McGarvey angles in
for a handheld shot
in Julias home.
66
September 2010
Lennon and his

band, The
Quarrymen,
make their debut
in front of a
small but
welcoming
crowd at a
garden party at
St. Peters Church
in Woolton. AC
was on hand
during the
filming of this
scene, which was
actually shot in
Hanwell, West
London.
that we called The Orphan because its

very rarely used, and I loved that one.
For the exteriors in Liverpool, we
moved into slightly longer focal lengths.
We shot predominantly on primes,
although we did have zoom lenses for
crane shots and things like that because
it saves so much time. But I really like
the look of the C-Series lenses; theyre
older, which is nice for a period film,
and they have a certain softness in the
highlights. We combined them with a
68
September 2010
bit of diffusion, usually or [Tiffen]

Black Pro-Mist filters, and thats really
as close as we got to devising a look.
McGarvey felt no need to impose
a consistent T-stop, as is often done on
anamorphic productions. Day exteriors
were sometimes shot at T8, while at
other times he chose to shoot almost
wide open. Some people go to extraordinary lengths to shoot at T5.6 for an
entire picture, including changing
stocks during a scene, he says. Of
course, lenses do perform differently at

different stops, and if you look at it on an
analyzer there will unequivocally be a
difference in quality, but sometimes you
want to shoot wide open and you want
that vignette because it has a poetic
effect and looks interesting. I love
distortions, whether theyre done with
filtration, with the aberrations of a lens,
or through an overexposed or underexposed image; all of these things are part
of the palette of cinematography, and
they have subtle, emotional effects on
the viewer.
The production occupied one of
the smallest stages at Ealing, and a lack
of both space and money precluded the
use of TransLites outside the sets
windows and doors. Instead, production
designer Alice Normington created
painted backdrops, working with
McGarvey to perfect the illusion. I
actually prefer the look of painted backdrops, says the cinematographer.
TransLites are normally correctly
exposed photographs, but when the
cameras looking out of a window, I tend
to light the exterior overexposed because
it feels more natural, and its very difficult to overexpose a TransLite. Alice had
the backdrops painted slightly paler, in
diffused pastel colors, so I didnt have to
blast the light at them. They worked
well if I flared out the light on the
windows and created a kind of rounded
and opalescent halation; the Black
Tiffen Pro-Mists really helped with
that. For the sunlight, we had 10Ks
coming through the windows, plus wed
bounce Nine-light Maxis into a 12-by12 Griffolyn for a soft ambient source. I
was consciously embracing the flare that
happened with the combination of the
C-Series lenses and the filters.
I love it when you create lighting
for a scene that isnt perfect, when it
feels like youre fighting the exterior
light, because it enhances the realism,
he continues. I remember sitting with
the great Eduardo Serra [ASC, AFC]
and asking him about The Hairdressers
Husband [1990] I told him I loved
the exteriors from inside the hairdressers shop, and he said, Oh, that was
all stage. Those exteriors look so pale
and beautiful and overexposed, but he
actually created that ambient daylight
on a stage with fluorescents. We were
sitting in a restaurant in Camden, and
he was Contre-jour [against the light].
He said, Look at me and dont take
your eyes off me, and describe the background: is it bright, dark or the right
exposure? I kept my eyes on him and
said, Its all flaring out. And he said,
Thats how I lit The Hairdressers
Husband. It was an inspiration to me.
For night interiors, McGarvey
worked closely with Normington to
incorporate practical fixtures into the
sets, adapting table and floor lamps with
Photoflood bulbs and improved insulation. These, like all the other lighting
fixtures, were on dimmers, and they
were supplemented with hidden
sources, such as small Fresnels. In order
to achieve a soft toplight that would fit
in the tight sets, McGarvey drew inspiration from a photo hed seen of a light
Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC devised for
Revolutionary Road (AC Jan. 09), and
asked his gaffer to make something
similar. We mounted 250 25-watt
golf-ball bulbs on a 6-foot circular
Top: Lennon
runs through a
song for his
new friend and
bandmate, Paul
McCartney
(Thomas Brodie
Sangster).
Middle:
McGarvey
works handheld
to capture an
altercation
between the
two. Bottom:
With McCartney
helping to front
the band, The
Quarrymens
popularity
grows.
70
September 2010
board and diffused them to create one

big circle of soft light, explains Walters.
To keep light off the walls, we skirted it
like a space light, but only to a depth of
about 10 inches, so it was less than a
foot from the ceiling. The dimmers
were on separate feeds, so you could
have a middle circle on, or an outer
circle, and adjust the levels without any
color-temperature shift in the greens
and magentas. It was tungsten, so it just
warmed up.
Another light that suited the
cramped conditions onstage was a
Photoflex OctoDome from Walters
own kit. Its like an umbrella light for
stills photography, but it has a constant
light source, he says. You can use
either an 800-watt tungsten or a 400watt MSR bulb, so its good for both
daylight and tungsten work. It was a real
space-saver in the studio, and its great
for close-ups because its octagonal and
looks round in the actors eyes. We also
used it outside. Theres a shot of John
standing on the bank of the River
Mersey in Liverpool, looking out, and
we put the OctoDome on a Manfrotto
Mega Boom so we could swing it out in
front of him; it was great for picking up
the emotion in his eyes. Its so light and
easy, and you can pretty much put it
anywhere. We used it handheld all the
time for exteriors.
Most of Nowhere Boy was shot in
single-camera setups, with McGarvey
operating a Panaflex Platinum. Usually
I have an operator, but on lower-budget
films, its sometimes nice to get back in
the saddle again, he says. There are a
lot of static shots in the film, partly
because there wasnt much space to
move or track in Mimis house, but I
tend to work off a dolly anyway, for ease
of selecting camera height and because
its a nice platform from which to work.
We did have a few second-camera days
where Pete Robertson came in to help
out on B-camera [a Millennium XL],
and he did some extraordinary work.
But generally speaking, Sam, as a
photographer, thinks with the Cyclops
vision of a single lens, so when we did
have two-camera setups, I tried not to
make them too disparate and certainly

didnt ever do any cross-shooting. Her
focus was on the actors, and I had to
keep her attention on one at a time.
As John rekindles his relationship
with his mother, flashbacks to his early
childhood hint at disjointed, traumatic
memories of a time when Julia and his
father were fighting for custody of the
boy. This presented an opportunity to
be more expressive with the visuals, and
for these scenes, McGarvey wanted a

much more saturated look, with more
contrast, he says. I did lots of tests
with cross-processing and shooting on
reversal, but we decided that was too
extreme. Instead I used Fuji [Eterna]
Vivid 160, a beautiful stock that gave
me the saturation I needed. [The rest of
the picture was shot on Kodak stocks.]
We pushed the Fuji quite a bit further,
and Fuji might not be pleased, but it
stribution
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McGarvey checks the light on Johnson and Sangster for a scene depicting one of
The Quarrymens recording sessions.
certainly had the attributes we needed

to play with in terms of color and saturation. Im afraid we tortured the poor
stock it was screaming with pain in
72
the digital intermediate!

Other devices McGarvey utilized
to give flashbacks an unusual look
included a mesmerizer lens and diffu-
sion filters. We had Harrison

Diffusion 1, 2 and 3, he recalls, and we
called them George Filters in honor of
George Harrison! We also used optical
flats and put either nose grease or
Vaseline on the edges to flare it out, and
we sometimes attenuated the image
with Sharpies by drawing on the glass
to darken areas of the frame and create
a gauze between the real image and the
film plane. We were also using much
hotter lights I would overexpose
highlights by 4 or 5 stops. It definitely
gave those sequences a different look.
At the start of the shoot, the
filmmakers werent sure they would do
a DI, so McGarvey approached it as
though the film would go down the
traditional photochemical path.
Deluxe [London] was our lab, and Ive
got a good relationship with [color
timer] Clive Noakes, so we were printing selected takes for him to see,
although we were actually watching our
dailies on DVD, recalls the cinematog-
rapher. I would do a grayscale, but I

wasnt trying to put a look on the film at
that stage by grading the dailies. I think
sometimes that can be misleading
because youre not in control of the
look. Halfway through the shoot, we
learned we were going to do a DI, and
although Id been quite keen on printing it normally, when we got to the DI,
at Lipsync, I was very glad to have it.
We had a wonderful colorist, Stuart
Fyvie, and we did some stuff that
wouldnt have been possible photochemically. Once I had those tools at
my disposal, I found myself using
them.
Fyvie and McGarvey graded
the film in 2K on a Quantel iQ Pablo
after it was scanned at 4K on a
Northlight. Pablo isnt known as a
color corrector, notes Fyvie, but it does
have some powerful color-correction
and compositing tools, so we were able
to fix things like a boom mike dropping
into shot quite quickly. We also did a
.LQR)OR
few visual-effects shots here at Lipsync,

such as taking out PVC double-glazed
windows and replacing them with
lattice windows. The goal was to make
the film look as though it had been done
in a lab; the idea of the grade was to
avoid a clever or processed look. We
evened things out, but we didnt ever
create a look that wasnt already there.
Back on the set, as the last day of
the shoot draws to a close, AC joins
McGarvey at a monitor as he watches
one of the final shots being rehearsed.
On the screen, tiny but framed in glorious widescreen, the young actors
portraying Lennons first band stand
shoulder to shoulder, with the lateafternoon sun backlighting their carefully coiffed teddy-boy hairdos.
Anamorphic, McGarvey observes,
was invented for snakes, funerals and
Quarrymen.
TECHNICAL SPECS
2.40:1
Anamorphic 35mm
Panaflex Platinum,
Millennium XL
Panavision lenses
Kodak Vision3 500T 5219,
Vision2 200T 5217;
Fuji Eterna Vivid 160
$/D&DUWH

ZZZNLQRIORFRP 1RUWK+ROO\ZRRG:D\%XUEDQN&$86$YRLFH

Romanson the Run

Sam McCurdy, BSC hunts
for heavy weather while
shooting Neil Marshalls
Centurion on location in the
Scottish Highlands.
By Stanley Manders
|
74
September 2010
uring the Roman Empires long occupation of the

British Isles, it eventually abandoned its efforts to
control Caledonia, the northernmost territory that
centuries later became Scotland. Some historians
concluded that the hit-and-run tactics of the regions fierce
defenders were simply too much for the overly extended
Roman troops, but anyone who has endured a winter in the
Highlands might argue that the bone-chilling cold alone was
probably enough to discourage the invaders. Im sure the
weather up there was a strong incentive for the Romans to
retreat, attests cinematographer Sam McCurdy, BSC, who
shot his latest project, Centurion, in the region.
Directed by Neil Marshall, Centurion is loosely based on
the tale of Romes Ninth Legion, which disappeared without
a trace in A.D. 117. The film suggests that the soldiers met
Unit photography by Jay Maidment, SMPSP, courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.
Opposite: Roman
centurion
Quintus (Michael
Fassbender) must
run for his life
after Pict
tribesmen
ambush the
Ninth Legion,
slaughtering
most of its
soldiers and
capturing others.
This page: The
cunning and
relentless Pict
tracker Etain
(Olga Kurylenko,
top) tricks the
legions general,
Titus Virilus
(Dominic West,
below), and
leads him
straight into the
trap.
their doom while hunting the Picts, a

loose confederation of Celtic tribes
whose Latin name, Picti, translates as
the painted or tattooed people. In the
film, the Picts ambush the Romans and
capture their general, Virilus (Dominic
West). A small band of survivors led by
Quintus Dais (Michael Fassbender)
attempts to rescue Virilus while evading
the Picts with the help of a female
warrior, Etain (Olga Kurylenko).
One of the great things about
being good friends with Neil is that I
knew about this project well in
advance, says McCurdy, whose previous features with Marshall include Dog
Soldiers, The Descent (AC Sept. 06) and
Doomsday. That time helps so much,
because you have a chance to really
think about what youre going to do and
how youre going to approach things.
Centurion was originally [designed to
be] a much smaller film; wed just
finished Doomsday, which was the
www.theasc.com
September 2010
75
Romans on the Run

biggest, most complex film wed done,
and we wanted to do something smaller.
We initially thought about shooting
Centurion on 16mm almost documentary-style, as if the cameraman happened
to belong to the Roman legion and was
reporting on the battles they endured.
But then we started to get our cast
together, and suddenly we had a proper
budget. We eventually decided to shoot
Super 35mm with multiple cameras, and
we soon found ourselves on a location
scout that took us all over the U.K.
Although some things changed
mainly the way we were going to make
the picture we still wanted that raw,
real look.
One of the most significant benefits of the larger budget was the ability to
include extensive aerial photography.
On our location scouts, it became clear
that this was something the film was
crying out for, says McCurdy. The
Scottish landscape was always going to
be a character in the film; as our heroes
try to make their way south to safety, they
are at odds with the land as much as they
are with the Picts. We needed to see
them in that context, surrounded by the
landscape, with the wind and rain and
snow. A good part of the budget went
into the aerial work, and it required extra
time to take our cameras up the side of a
mountain or two. We wanted the audience to feel like theyre stuck with our
heroes in this bleak, desolate place in the
middle of nowhere.
The filmmakers considered shooting anamorphic, but at the time, it was
not possible to obtain three sets of
matching lenses, according to McCurdy.
The new Hawk anamorphic lenses are
stunning, but they just werent available
when we were preparing to shoot, he
recalls. The productions camera package,
supplied by Take 2 Films, comprised
Arricam Lites, Arri 435 Xtremes, Cooke
S4 prime lenses and Angenieux Optimo
24-290mm and 15-40mm zooms. Neil
and I started using the S4s on Doomsday,
and hed really liked the look of them,
says McCurdy.
The productions mountainous
Scottish locations included sites in
Top and middle:

After luring the
Romans into a
wooded valley,
the Picts bombard
them with
fireballs. Bottom:
Director Neil
Marshall (far left,
wearing hat)
supervises the
staging as
cinematographer
Sam McCurdy,
BSC (in baseball
cap) meters the
scene.
76
September 2010
Badenoch, Strathspey and Glenfeshie

Estate in the Cairngorms. Location
shooting is all about logistics, and the
most difficult aspect of that was the
company moves from one place to the
next up in the mountains, says
McCurdy. The great thing about being
in the middle of nowhere is that you can
shoot 360 degrees for miles and not see
a house or telephone pole, but you also
have to plan for every contingency.
Theres a reason why there is no sign of
man in these types of locations: its
inhospitable terrain, and there are few
roads and no electricity. We had to take
everything with us.
The production set up base camp
in Aviemore, located in the center of the
Cairngorms National Park. The shoot
was set to begin in October 2009, but
delays pushed the start date right into
the dead middle of winter, January and
February, McCurdy says. This was
actually fortunate for us, because we
were going to get exactly the kind of
weather we were after: bad weather. It
was important to have real snow, wind
and rain. You can eat up a lot of budget
trying to fake weather or chase it.
For snow sequences, the team
crawled up mountainsides aboard snowmobiles in pre-dawn darkness, hoping to
arrive before sunrise to take advantage of
the seasons short daylight hours.
McCurdy recalls, We usually had a unit
call at 5 a.m. or so, in pitch blackness,
and then wed be on the side of a mountain for a few hours before the light
became shootable at about 10 a.m.
Then, if weather didnt set in, wed be off
at about 3 p.m.
McCurdy shot the picture on
Kodak Vision3 500T 5219 and Vision2
200T 5217, which he rated normally.
The light levels were so low that we
didnt really need to use NDs to hold the
detail in the sky, he notes.
For supplemental lighting, he
primarily relied on reflector boards. It
was the only practical solution, given our
situation, he says. The lighting crew
built up an array of reflectors in all shapes
and sizes that could be folded down
easily. They were primarily made of poly
Top to bottom:
Etain and her
Pict followers
pursue the
Roman survivors
on horseback
over rugged
terrain; after
accepting shelter
from an exiled
Pict woman, the
soldiers hide as
the trackers
search her
home; Pict chief
Gorlacon (Ulrich
Thomsen) turns
the tables on
the Roman
invaders bent on
wiping out his
tribe.
www.theasc.com
September 2010
77
Romans on the Run
Right: The hardy

Roman survivors
assess their
dwindling
options as the
Picts hunt them
down in the
Scottish
mountains.
Below: The
resourceful Picts
exploit the
element of
surprise.
foam and highly reflective silver pebble

foil. On a good day, we could literally
reflect light from one mountainside to
the next. They were also great for closeups; they enabled us to bounce that
extra little gleam into Olgas eyes or into
other actors faces.
The crew also brought small
generators on location, but they were
noisy and invariably ran out of petrol, so
78
September 2010
we could never rely on them, continues

the cinematographer. Taking big lights
up there was never a real option, but we
always had some battery-powered
daylight-balanced lamps on hand, just
for a twinkle. But the reflectors were our
saving grace.
In order to take the best advantage of his few hours of winter light,
McCurdy relied heavily on Sunpath.
The beauty of that software is that you

can simply plug in your telemetry and
figure out exactly what time you have to
shoot a particular mountainside if you
want three-quarter lighting, he says.
We could plan all those things in
advance, which partially dictated our
scheduling. He notes that the microclimates on each peak mandated constant
weather checks, which came hourly
from local offices. A five-day forecast
allowed us to rough the schedule
together, but those hourly reports were
the difference between getting our shots
or just wasting our effort. It was like
having another first AD on the set
telling us what was possible.
Microclimates and long-range
weather forecasts are not often taught as
part of a cinematography curriculum, but
they should be, he observes. Its something you have to learn in the field, I
suppose, but the film school approach to
cinematography is often very much based
on studio situations, where things can be
contained and controlled. Thats not real
life. And the fantastic thing about
weather is that it can give you extremes.
Though one might think such a
Over the years I have used just about every piece of equipment Clairmont Camera has ever owned; time-lapse film cameras to super high-speed digital
cameras and now the Alexa. I love Clairmonts custom gear and incredible service; it keeps me coming back! In visual effect shooting we always are
inventing on the fly. With difficult setups like hanging off a 70-story building, complex driving rigs or doing in camera visual effects having equipment
and service you can depend on is essential. I would recommend Clairmont Camera to anyone in the industry.
Sam Nicholson, ASC
Chairman / CEO Stargate Studios
H o l ly wo o d
8 1 8 - 7 6 1 - 4 4 4 0
Va n c o u v e r
6 0 4 - 9 8 4 - 4 5 6 3
To r o n t o
4 1 6 - 4 6 7 - 1 7 0 0
A l b u q u e r q u e
5 0 5 - 2 2 7 - 2 5 2 5
M o n t r e a l
5 1 4 - 5 2 5 - 6 5 5 6
Romans on the Run
McCurdy checks
his exposure on
location.
production would have a series of cover

sets, in fact, there was just one: a tiny
cave where the Roman soldiers take
refuge for a night. Our production
designer, Simon Bowles, had worked
with us on The Descent, which was
almost all caves, notes McCurdy. For
Centurion, he constructed this fantastic
little cavern. It was built in sections, so

we could take it with us wherever we
went, but we never really needed it
except for insurance purposes. Inside, it
was about as big as the interior of an
SUV, and we motivated the lighting
with firelight and a little shaft of blue
from outside.
For the sequence depicting the

Picts surprise attack on the Ninth
Legion, the filmmakers took advantage
of both the landscape and the local
weather. Led by the traitorous Etain, the
Romans march north on a road flanked
by hills and dense woods that are
shrouded in mist. Suddenly, dozens of
massive fireballs hurtle through the low
fog, rolling through the column of
soldiers and knocking them flat. The
Picts then swarm the disoriented
Romans with unrestrained ferocity. We
managed to see the location a few days
before shooting there, and we were able
to observe a few of the fireballs in
action, recalls McCurdy. They were
very lightweight, just chicken-wire
frames covered in cloth, and once they
started rolling, the flames just sort of
trailed off the back and disappeared
from the front.
The location was a place that
never got direct sunlight, so we were
never going to be affected by the direc-
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tion of the sun, continues the cinematographer. Atop the hillsides, we laid
down huge banks of fog that drifted
down to the road, so it was like shooting
inside a large softbox. The overall stop
was high enough that I could expose for
the fireballs and retain all the detail of
the flames. It was luck that this freakish
location allowed us to just have a few
stops of difference, which was easily held
by the Kodak stock. (The fireballs later
received a touch of CG flames to fill in
visible bare spots, and they were further
enhanced in the digital grade, which
McCurdy carried out with colorist Asa
Shoul at Technicolor London.)
Three cameras covered the
massacre. To save time, we kept the
cameras fairly stationary and simply
restaged the action around them,
McCurdy explains. Given the hilly,
wooded location, it was easier to move
our performers than to reposition our
cameras. The combination of the fog and
trees became a background that was
almost completely generic and interchangeable, especially because we were

constantly shifting focal lengths. So we
choreographed all of the stuntwork and
action to the cameras, each of which had
different lenses. If we needed wide shots,
the A camera had the shorter primes,
while the B camera might have an
Optimo 24-290mm zoom, and so on.
Handling the movies extensive
aerial work were Flying Pictures and
cinematographer John Marzano, whose
recent credits include Robin Hood (AC
May 10). As it often happens, the
aerial work was pushed off to the very
end of our schedule, McCurdy says.
You spend months talking to production about it, and they always position it
at the very end. Our problem was that
spring was coming, and there was no
way we wanted to lose all that snow and
mist wed shot. We made a point of
rescheduling the aerial shoot so we
wouldnt be leaving Scotland for our
locations in Surrey before we had
footage to look at. Following a lateseason snowfall, the helicopters were

dispatched for another two days of
shooting. They were fantastic, says
McCurdy. We specifically chose Flying
Pictures because theyd done aerials for
Braveheart [AC June 96], which was a
strong influence for Neil and me. They
knew how to get the kinds of jagged,
dark, brooding landscapes we wanted.
We never worried that they might give
us perfect sunsets instead!
TECHNICAL SPECS
2.40:1
3-perf Super 35mm
Arricam Lite, Arri 435 Xtreme
Cooke and Angenieux lenses
Kodak Vision3 500T 5219,
Vision2 200T 5217
The ASC
celebrates the
grand re-opening
of its historic
Clubhouse.
By Jon D. Witmer
|
Where
Cinematography
Lives
O
n June 3, ASC members joined colleagues from many

sectors of the film industry and members of the
Hollywood community at 1782 North Orange Dr.,
Hollywood, to celebrate the completion of an epic
undertaking: the renovation and expansion of the Societys
historic Clubhouse. Before cutting the ribbon, ASC President
Michael Goi; building committee chair Owen Roizman,
ASC; Hollywood Chamber of Commerce President/CEO
Leron Gubler; and Los Angeles City Councilman Tom
LaBonge all offered remarks, and afterward, guests were
ushered inside for a tour of the facility.
82
September 2010
The ASC purchased the Clubhouse in 1936 from

silent-film star Conway Tearle, who had lived in the Spanishstyle bungalow since the 1920s. Prior to that, the Society,
founded in 1919, housed American Cinematographer and
administrative staff on the 12th floor of the Hollywood
Guaranty Building. Tearles house, one of the first structures
built on Orange Drive, and conveniently located just a block
north of Graumans Chinese Theater, offered ASC members
a place to relax after a days work, as well as a venue for large
social gatherings and educational functions. On Feb. 28, 1937,
following minor renovations that transformed the private resi-
Renovation and ribbon-cutting photos by Isidore Mankofsky, ASC; Chris Mankofsky; and Matt Turve.
Opposite: The
venerable ASC
Clubhouse as it
appeared circa
1950. This page:
Hollywood has
grown up around
the building at
1782 North
Orange Dr.; here
is how the neighborhood
appeared in 1905
(top), 1957
(bottom left) and
1980 (bottom
right).
dence into a place suitable for business,

ASC President John Arnold welcomed
his fellow Society members to their new
home.
Over the decades, the Clubhouse
continued to evolve, notably with the
addition of a second building, for AC
staff, at the rear of the property. (This
allowed the editors to move out of the
Clubhouses small cupola.) About 10
years ago, the Society began planning a
significant renovation, a concentrated

push that would bring the Clubhouse
into the 21st century and enhance its
capabilities for hosting educational and
professional events. The plans moved
forward in 2006, when staff moved out
of the Clubhouse and into offices generously provided by the Academy of
Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In
May 2008, the ASC broke ground on
the construction project, which has
www.theasc.com
added 1,500 square feet to the main

building while preserving the character
and spirit of the original structure. In
addition to an overall facelift, the old
boardroom has become a larger seminar
room, complete with a projection screen
and digital projector; the library has
been expanded to serve as the new
boardroom; a new Members Room has
been added; and the bar/lounge has
been expanded and christened Billys
September 2010
83
Where Cinematography Lives
Clockwise from above: The Clubhouses foyer as it appeared in

1937; the foyer following the recent renovation; the
Clubhouses great room in 1937; the renovated great room;
the great room in 1968.
Bar, in honor of the late William A.

Fraker, ASC, BSC. The exterior
grounds, including the lawn, drive and
parking lot, have also been redone. The
building behind the Clubhouse has
been renovated and now houses ACs
circulation department and some of the
Societys administrative staff. (The
magazines editorial, art and advertising
staff can still be found at the Academys
Hollywood property.)
We channeled our hopes and
84
September 2010
dreams and, sometimes, fantasies into

what the Clubhouse could be, Goi told
the crowd in early June. Roizman
added, Theres a tremendous amount
of history in these walls, and we never
wanted to lose sight of that. Both
praised the hard work and dedication of
everyone involved in the renovation,
especially ASC honorary member D.
Brian Spruill and fundraising chair
George Spiro Dibie, ASC. As a result of
everyones efforts, the Clubhouse is
Counterclockwise from above: The Clubhouse bar in 1937; the

renovated bar, christened Billys after the late William A. Fraker,
ASC, BSC; (left to right) Richard Crudo, ASC; L.A. City Councilman Tom
LaBonge; Owen Roizman, ASC; Michael Goi, ASC; Hollywood
Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Leron Gubler; and Daryn
Okada, ASC at the ribbon-cutting ceremony; the renovated
Clubhouse; ribbon-cutting attendees fill the front yard.
both a modern facility ready for the

industrys continuing evolution and a
testament to the rich history of the
filmmaking community. (The building
still doubles as a museum, housing the
Societys extensive collection of motionpicture cameras, lenses and other
items.) The Clubhouse is, Goi said, a
place where cinematography truly
lives.
In the January 1937 issue of
this magazine, it was noted, The new
home of the American Society of

Cinematographers is emblematic of
many years of patient, industrious and
sincere work on the part of the
Cinematographers of Hollywood . It
stands as a monument to the camera
profession as a symbol of their earnestness, their sincerity and their ability to
hang together. The cinematographer
may point with considerable pride to the
new home of the American Society of
Cinematographers.
www.theasc.com
September 2010
85
Post Focus
Top (left to right):
Benny (Brandon T.
Jackson), Stacie (Naturi
Naughton) and Kevin
(Bow Wow) take the
air on a fateful Fourth
of July weekend in
Lottery Ticket.
Cinematographer
Patrick Cady worked
with Company 3
colorist Dave Hussey to
fine-tune the films
summertime ambience
in the DI. Bottom:
Stacie and Kevin get
out of the heat.
Creating Summer Sizzle for Lottery Ticket

By Iain Stasukevich
Lottery Ticket tells the story of Kevin Carson (Bow Wow), a

kid from the projects who tries to keep the lid on his $370 million
lottery ticket over a long, sweltering Fourth of July weekend. Word
gets out, and soon Kevin is being chased by thugs, con men and
beautiful women who are all interested in just one thing: taking his
money.
On paper, the film seemed simple. In reality, the autumn
shoot in Atlanta, Ga., was anything but. Three inches of rain fell on
the first day of principal photography, a weather pattern that seldom
varied during the rest of the shoot. We were always getting socked
in by the rain, but we couldnt add days because our main location,
the housing project, had a wrecking ball waiting for it, recalls cinematographer Patrick Cady. So in the middle of all that, we had to
figure out how to make it look like a hot and humid summer.
Consistency was particularly important given that the story
unfolds over three days. Principal photography had its share of
cloudless days, and Cady knew that no matter how many lights
were dragged to the set, hed never be able to seamlessly match that
material with scenes shot in rainy or overcast weather. Technicolor
New York, which handled the processing and dailies, balanced the
images for contrast and color, but according to Cady, the look of the
film finally came together during the digital grade at Company 3.
Cady did this work with colorist Dave Hussey, working on a DaVinci
Resolve at 2K resolution.
One of the things Patrick and I decided to do was use a lot
of power windows to create artificial shafts of light in the background, so it would look like sunlight was hitting a building, recalls
Hussey, who also raised the overall contrast and exposure levels in
these shots. All of those warm highlights make it seem like it was
sunnier than it actually was.
86
September 2010
Then there was the matter of keying blue into shots with
blown-out, gray skies. With more than 100 exterior shots, each with
multiple windows and color keys, this was easier said than done. A
lot of those shots are moving shots, requiring Hussey to track each
one.
When Cady learned hed be shooting Lottery Ticket on film
(Kodak Vision3 500T 5219) instead of a digital format, he was
relieved. Shooting on film ended up being the number-one thing
that saved our bacon, he says. Film has the latitude we needed in
post to retain highlight detail, allowing us to balance out the overcast and sunny days. HDs more limited latitude would have given us
less to work with later; on sunny days, we would have lost the highlight detail we needed.
On set, dark day exteriors called for Maxi-Brutes and 6K, 12K
and 18K HMIs to throw more light on the actors, or to create hard
shadows and contrast in the backgrounds. Cady used cookies to
break up direct artificial light and 81 and 85 filters to add warmth to
the image. I used CTS gels on the lights rather than CTO, because
CTS has a bit more yellow in it and feels sunnier, notes the cine-
Photo by David Lee. Photo and frame grabs courtesy of Warner Bros. and Sweepstake Productions, LLC.
Kevin gets to know the neighborhood recluse, Mr. Washington (Ice Cube).
matographer. I also used gold and silver

checkerboard lam bounces outside and
Roscoflex Featherflex Soft Gold bounces
inside to sell the idea of sunlight ripping
into a room and bouncing off the walls and
floors.
Cady and Hussey also added
warmth to mid-tones and highlights. For
scenes set late in the day, more blue/cyan
was added to shadows. And power
windows were used to remove shadows to
make it seem like certain scenes were
sunnier and took place earlier in the day.
Patricks negative gave me a lot to work
with, Hussey remarks.
Night interiors and exteriors were
less of a struggle, but Cady and Hussey still
pored over them. Scenes set in peoples
homes often contain subtle shifts in color
temperature, from warm to cool, or vice
versa, depending on the tone of the scene.
It was Husseys job to make these color
transitions look natural.
For a scene in which Kevin first
meets the neighborhood recluse, Mr.
Washington (Ice Cube), Cady used
CalColor CC Cyan gels on tungstenbalanced Kino Flos to make the hallway
leading to Washingtons apartment look
foreboding. In the apartment, Cady
employed a mix of colors, such as a Cool
White fluorescent over the kitchen and
warm tungsten fixtures elsewhere. The
tricky part of the scene, he notes, was the
streetlight color coming in through the
windows. We created it by gelling some
tungsten fixtures with Roscos new Urban
Vapor gel, explains Cady. In scenes
where we wanted a true match to sodiumvapor lamps, we used Roscos Industrial
Vapor gel, which has more green.

The Urban Vapor (3152) gel also
came into play in a scene set in the apartment of Kevins love interest (played by
Naturi Naughton). The scene starts in her
living room, which was lit with dimmed
tungsten fixtures and Roscoflex Gold Soft
bounce fill, and then moves into her
bedroom, which looks as though its lit
mainly by ambient sodium-vapor lighting
from outside. The script calls for Kevin to
make a quick exit through her bedroom
window, part of a set on a soundstage, and
then emerge on a rooftop, which was a
practical location. Daves ability to facilitate
the transition from our fake streetlight to a
combination of that color and real streetlight really came in handy, says Cady.
The digital-intermediate process is
typically 80-100 hours for a modestly
budgeted feature like Lottery Ticket. Once
the producers saw what Cady and Hussey
were accomplishing in the DI, they
extended the total session time to 120
hours. Hussey describes Lottery Ticket as
the most challenging job Ive ever worked
on, and we could easily have spent twice as
much time on it.
When two people have their hands
all over the final look of the film, it can be
an anxious situation, notes Cady. If the
colorist and cinematographer arent
communicating well, you can end up
battling instead of collaborating. Good
collaboration enhances the work, and a
collaboration with someone as good as
Dave is the reason Lottery Ticket looks as
good as it does.
www.theasc.com
87
Facility News
FotoKem Opens Facility in
Raleigh Studios Budapest
In 2009, FotoKem Budapest, Raleigh
Studios and Origo Film Group formed a
strategic alliance to establish and operate a
state-of-the-art studio servicing global filmmakers and the European motion-picture
market. The resulting 52-acre complex,
named Raleigh Studios Budapest, offers
soundstages, set and location lighting,
production services, casting, training, legal
services, a 15-acre backlot, and a film lab
and postproduction facility run by FotoKem
Budapest.
FotoKems facility at Raleigh Studios
Budapest has been outfitted with high-end
2K/4K scanning, digital intermediate and
finishing solutions, including Digital Film
Technologys Scanity film scanner and
Bones Dailies software. FotoKem Budapest
offers 16mm and 35mm negative processing, as well as 2K and 4K dailies services for
feature films and commercial shoots.
When scanning on the Scanity, no
moving parts except the film rollers touch
the film. Optical pin registration ensures
image stability comparable to mechanical
systems while allowing for faster scanning
speeds and safer film handling. Scanity
utilizes a customized Time Delay Integration
sensor from Dalsa to capture the complete
densities from film with a sensitivity 50
times higher than CCD technology.
Bones Dailies offers a comprehensive
set of software tools, providing a variety of
editing and auto-conform functions, format
conversion, and data and video transfer for
dailies and DI workflows. The combined
Scanity and Bones Dailies solution helps
streamline the post process and enables
88
September 2010
scanned data to be delivered to any location

in the world using a high speed, dedicated
network.
The versatility of Scanity and Bones
Dailies will help us deliver our dailies and
digital intermediates on time and on
budget, says Allan Tudzin, managing director of FotoKem Budapest. The advanced
technology of Scanity will help us expedite
our video and data deliverables to studio
executives, producers and crew very quickly,
and with the same quality one would expect
from our post facility in Hollywood. Scanity
allows us to specifically tailor workflows to
the needs of our clients, which we are
certain they will be pleased with.
For
additional
information,
visit www.fotokem.com, www.raleighstu
dios.com, www.origofilmstudios.com and
www.dft-film.com.
Reliance Mediaworks Expands
Global Offerings
Mumbai, India-based Reliance
MediaWorks Ltd. has expanded its U.K.
operations with the installation of a second
high-end negative bath and additional facilities, enabling the company to handle
processing of bonded feature films for Hollywood, British and European producers
shooting in the U.K. The company has also
partnered with Imagica Corp. in Japan to
provide film restoration, image processing
and enhancement, and HD conversion
services to Japanese broadcasters and
studios.
Earlier this year, Reliance MediaWorks acquired the assets of Ilab U.K. Ltd.
The highly regarded lab, one of only two
film-processing facilities operating in
Londons Soho district, now offers frontend, processing, restoration, 2-D to 3-D
conversion and postproduction services to
broadcasters and studios. The lab has the
ability to handle super 16mm, 35mm, super
35mm and VistaVision film formats, and
can scan the film to any digital format; in
collaboration with Fujifilm, Reliance MediaWorks U.K. also recently unveiled the
Complete 16 program, offering a
complete package comprising 16mm stock,
processing, cleaning, prep and transfer. To
house its expanded offerings, the company
has added an additional 5,000 square feet
to its Soho facility.
As an integrated global film and
media service provider, we see a strong
business opportunity across Europe, which
is why we are making significant investments to increase the capacity of our
London lab and enable it to support work
on major feature-film productions, says
Anil Arjun, CEO of Reliance MediaWorks.
The lab has already processed several independent features.
Imagica Corp. offers a comprehensive range of services such as film processing and printing, inter-media transfer, digital
and optical compositing, editing, sound
services, DVD authoring and more. Arjun
notes, By combining Imagicas local leadership, know-how and expertise with our
experience and versatile technology, we are
geared to provide next-generation services
to Japanese filmmakers and broadcasters.
According to the agreement between the
two companies, Imagica will work closely
with Reliance MediaWorks Los Angelesbased subsidiary, Lowry Digital, a leading
film-restoration services provider.
For additional information, visit
www.reliancemediaworks.com
and
www.imagica.com.
Filmmakers Forum
Shooting Black Tulip in Afghanistan

By David McFarland
There have been periods in my life where Ive strongly considered pursuing conflict photojournalism instead of continuing down
the path of cinematography. Ive always been deeply influenced by
war photography, especially the work of James Nachtwey, Reza and
Steve McCurry. Additionally, Ive been lucky enough to work all over
the world, in such countries as Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Japan
and Mexico. So when I got the call to shoot a film in Afghanistan,
even though I had to consider the risk involved, I jumped at the
opportunity.
Black Tulip is a drama about an Afghan family dealing with life
during wartime. After the Taliban are run out of the capital, the
Dakka family returns home from a refugee camp and opens a restaurant. It quickly becomes a haven for free speech, catering to a clientele of artists and liberal thinkers. Slowly, the Taliban begin to trickle
back into the city, and it becomes obvious that the Dakkas will have
to choose between their personal safety and their hope for a new
Afghanistan.
The films director and co-writer (with David Michael ONeill) is
Sonia Nassery Cole, who grew up in Kabul and remained very
involved with her home country after moving to the United States in
the early 1980s. Black Tulip could have been shot in Jordan or
Morocco, but Sonia felt strongly that it had to be shot in
Afghanistan, with the people of her country. There was a different
cinematographer on the project before me, but just 24 hours after
he arrived with the production in Kabul, a powerful car bomb was
detonated outside the Indian embassy, and some of the windows at
the productions hotel were blown out by the explosion. The cine90
September 2010
matographer decided the situation was just too unsafe and left the
project. There was a very small window of time to shoot the film,
right at the onset of winter. I was recommended to the production
by someone who knew me as someone who shoots in funky places.
When I got the call, I was in New Orleans, and I had just enough
time to fly back to Los Angeles, get my stuff together and get on a
plane to Afghanistan.
Before I left, I spoke to a good friend, Jim Denault, ASC,
whom I often lean on for advice. He has made a career shooting in
third-world countries, and he recommended I take a couple of
pieces of equipment with me that I knew I could work with. I made
a quick trip to Ikea and bought items to make some lightweight
equipment (collapsible white hampers to make space lights, etc.).
The next morning, on the way to the airport, I called Lightspeed LA
and put together a small, documentary-style package.
Jims advice was sound, for sure, because no one in
Afghanistan had even heard of a C-stand! What little equipment
there was dated back to the 80s: a few combo stands, sandbags,
weird overheads, and the like. The gear I got from Lightspeed LA
and my Ikea accessories became my main lighting equipment, and
it was certainly the smallest lighting package Ive ever worked with.
I brought 800-watt and 400-watt Joker HMIs (one each), an Arri kit
(lamped for 220 volts), and a small rigging kit of clamps and plates.
I fitted the Ikea hampers with two mogul-based sockets and 1K
tungsten globes, one in each end. That was our package.
Because Sonia and I had so little prep time together, there
was no real chance to shot-list every scene. Instead, knowing this
was a somewhat autobiographical story for her, I decided it was
more important for us to have in-depth conversations about her life
in Afghanistan. We also had a series of long discussions regarding
Photos by David McFarland, Ian McGlocklin Sinclair and Baraat Ali Batoor.
Left: Boys study at an Islamic religious school, or madrassa. Right: Cinematographer David McFarland lines up a shot on the outskirts of Kabul.
tone, pacing and symbolism.

We decided on a very realistic visual
style. To me, cinematography is action and
reaction; its about creating a visual
language to support whats on the page,
and its about reacting to whats in front of
you (lighting, architecture, etc.).
Afghanistan is an incredible place, bombedout, deteriorated and full of urban decay.
Most of the architecture is monochromatic,
but peoples clothes are very colorful. They
wear a lot of red, green and yellow, and
Sonia and I talked about the meanings of
these colors. Having that understanding
really helped me make quicker decisions.
I shot the movie with a Red One
(Build 20), Zeiss Superspeeds and an Angenieux HR 25-250mm zoom lens supplied by
Wed hear
explosions and find
out that an RPG
had gone off in a
hotel three blocks
away, or that the
Taliban had just
stormed into a
place two miles
from us.
Birns & Sawyer in Hollywood. I opted for no

filtration other than NDs, IR cutters and
polas no diffusion and no color filters. I
often use warming filters or tobaccos, but
they werent necessary in Afghanistan.
Kabul has a really amazing and weird quality of light; its dusty and smoggy, so the
light is already diffused. I did my sun chart
and found that while we were there, the
sun, at its highest point of the day, would
be at only a 45-degree angle! Usually youre
chasing daylight to get that angle, but wed
Top: An Afghan worker toils on a street strewn with rubble. Middle: Kabuls locals
added an invaluable sense of realism to the film. Bottom: Director Sonia Cole checks
the framing as McFarland lines up a shot.
www.theasc.com
September 2010
91
Above:
McFarland
(far right)
captures a fire
while filming
in the streets
of Kabul.
Right: The
crew lines up a
dolly shot in
an alleyway.
have it at high noon, and that really helped

the overall look. We just didnt have time to
fly in overheads or try and control the light.
At most, I could fly in a bounce card or a
little negative fill, but that was about it.
My longtime gaffer, Ian McGlocklin,
and I always tried to start from the most
natural place in terms of light motivation.
At night, the available light in Kabul is a
mixed bag. With no streetlamps, the people
rely mainly on fluorescent fixtures that are
often neon colors blue, green, yellow
and pink. Many of our setups were often
enhanced by placing a 4' fluorescent tube
on a wall of an alley, or by including a gas
lantern in the frame. By attaching fluorescent tubes to the walls with zip ties and
92
September 2010
including these sources in the frame, it was

easy to create a realistic look without
having a bunch of units hitting every building in the background a luxury we
certainly did not have.
The production was staying at a kind
of guesthouse, an extended-stay hotel that
was used mostly by the United Nations. The
day I arrived, the Nov. 7 runoff elections had
just been announced, and we were told, in
no uncertain terms, that things were going
to start blowing up. On the third day of
production, Oct. 28, we were loading up
the gear to drive to our location. It was only
three blocks away, but it was too dodgy to
walk anywhere. Suddenly, as the Call to
Prayer echoed through the early morning,
there were lots of shots ringing out and

explosions. One of our guards said, Lets
go! and we hopped into the car and took
off.
Our location for the day was an
attic doubling as a madrassa (Islamic religious school) where the Taliban comes to
pick recruits. We were lighting through
a window on the second story while
bullets were flying by on the streets below.
I couldnt really tell how close they were, but
they were followed by rocking explosions.
Then my cell phone rang, and we found out
the Afghan army was running through our
guesthouse and shooting from the roof.
We had to stop for a minute and
decide what to do. Do we leave the country? Do we keep working? I called a friend
in the State Department to try to get information about what was happening, and
then a really big explosion hit, and it was all
over. It turned out that the Taliban had
attacked a U.N. guesthouse directly across
the street from ours. After a 2-hour standoff, a detonation by a suicide bomber had
killed all the attackers and five U.N. workers.
That ended the ordeal. When we found out
that all of our team was safe and the battle
was over, we decided to go back to work. I
turned my mind back to my job, which was
a great distraction from the fear and anxiety.
We kept going, and every day there
were more scary incidents wed hear
explosions and find out that an RPG had
gone off in a hotel three blocks away, or
that the Taliban had just stormed into a
place two miles from us. Ill tell you, theres
nothing as nerve-wracking as being up on a
rooftop with a 10:1 zoom and 6x6 matte
box, praying you dont get mistaken for a
gunner! But this was a movie about a free
Afghanistan, freedom of speech and
womens rights. It was an important story
that I felt compelled to help tell, and I felt it
was worth the personal risk.
Im really proud of the way Black
Tulip looks. We set out with a look in mind
and did our best to achieve it against impossible odds. Im glad I decided to do the
project. No one on the production got hurt.
I might feel very different if that werent the
case.
Ed. Note: Black Tulip will hit the festival circuit this fall.
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Sony Unveils Interchangeable-Lens Handycam

Sony has introduced the NEX-VG10 HD Handycam
camcorder, the first consumer camcorder with interchangeable
lenses and the first Handycam camcorder to feature an extra-large
Exmor APS HD CMOS sensor.
The NEX-VG10 takes Sonys Handycam line to the next level
by allowing unprecedented artistic expression that isnt possible with
conventional consumer video cameras, says Andy Bubala, director
of Sonys camcorder business. With this camcorder, video enthusiasts and photographers can now capture cinematic, full-HD movies
and premium stereo sound.
Like the NEX-5 and NEX-3 digital cameras, the NEX-VG10 is
equipped with the Exmor APS HD CMOS sensor, which is compatible with the high-grade E-mount series of smaller, lighter lenses optimized for video shooting, with silent operation and auto-focus capabilities. With a mount adapter, the camcorder is also compatible with
A-mount interchangeable lenses including Sony G Lenses and

Carl Zeiss branded lenses used by Sonys existing DSLR camera
lineup.
Coupled with Sonys Bionz processor, the camcorders Exmor
sensor realizes high-resolution video and 14-megapixel still images.
Approximately 19.5-times bigger than the standard sensor found in
conventional consumer camcorders, the APS HD CMOS sensor
enables an extremely shallow depth of field, allowing videographers
to achieve cinematic results with stunning background defocus, or
bokeh. Users can also enjoy DSLR-quality photo capture with
features like Auto HDR, Handheld Twilight and Anti Motion Blur, as
well as catch fast action sequences with a continuous burst rate of
up to 7 fps.
The NEX-VG10 can capture full 1920x1080 high-definition
video at up to 24Mbps for excellent clarity and detail, ideal for
recording Blu-ray Disc media. It also comes with an E-mount 18200mm lens, which features a powerful 11x optical zoom in addition to a silent auto-focus system and Optical Steadyshot image
stabilization with Active Mode for superior versatility.
The camcorders Quad Capsule Spatial Array stereo microphone uses advanced processing algorithms to combine signals
from four individual microphone capsules, resulting in exceptionally
clear stereo audio with high directional response, allowing users to
capture more sound from their subject and less background noise.
The camcorder also features dedicated inputs for optional external
microphones and headphones to monitor sound levels.
TruBlack technology brings higher contrast and brightness to
the NEX-VG10s 3.0" Xtra Fine LCD swivel display, delivering more
natural, realistic colors and easier viewing in bright conditions.
Turnkey HD Streamlines Mobile Production

Mobile-studio services company Turnkey HD offers streamlined equipment, support and delivery systems packaged in its
customized fleet of Mercedes Benz Sprinter vehicles. The fully
equipped Sprinters include industrial shelving, lockers, a workstation,
and a comprehensive grip and lighting package.
Currently based in San Francisco and Los Angeles, THD has
plans for expansion throughout the United States over the next few
years. We are offering an affordable, turnkey solution for live-action
film and video production, says Joel

Newman, THDs founder. Its our hope that
people take advantage of our one-of-a-kind
equipment rental, support and delivery
system, especially during a time when
budgets are being cut and support staff are
kept to a minimum.
Integrated pure sine-wave electricity
powers THDs Sprinter-based digital workstations, while ample lighting and ventilation offer a comfortable, reliable and secure base of
operations. The Sprinters come equipped with a Sony PMW-EX3 HD
camera package, a Porta-Jib Traveler Arm, a Panasonic 17" HD
monitor, a digital-imaging kit and workstation, and a versatile grip
and lighting package, which includes a Honda EU6500 generator
and an all-purpose production kit. Expendables are also available
through THD.
For additional information, visit www.turnkeyhd.com.
September 2010
Supplementing the LCD is a high-resolution, adjustable electronic viewfinder.

Compact and easy to handle, the
NEX-VG10 gives videographers the flexibility of a removable lens with the ergonomics
and operability of a Handycam camcorder.
An intuitive jog dial and hotkeys make it
easy to navigate menus and adjust shooting
parameters, including full manual control of
iris, shutter speed, gain and white balance.
The camcorder accepts both Memory Stick
Pro Duo (including Memory Stick Pro-HG
Duo) and SD (including SDHC and SDXC)
media. Users can record up to 4 hours of
HD footage (1920x1080, FH mode) when
using the 32GB memory card.
Dual accessory shoes (Alpha Hot
Shoe/Universal Cold Shoe) allow for many
still photography and video accessories.
Theres also a choice of rechargeable
battery options, including the NP-FV100,
which provides up to 315 minutes of
continuous HD shooting.
The NEX-VG10 sells for $2,000. The
purchase includes a download voucher for
Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 10
video-editing software, which includes
powerful tools for video compositing, color
correction and sound mixing to produce HD
movies with ease; the program also allows
users to easily share their creations via DVD,
Blu-ray or the Web.
www.sonystyle.com.
Matthews Updates Car Mounts
Matthews Studio Equipment has
introduced two car-mount systems that
integrate MicroGrip technology with the
MSE family of Ball Heads to provide a
strong, safe, reliable and versatile system for
mounting cameras to automobiles, trucks,
boats, trains and low-flying planes.
Using the Matthews BH-20 Ball
Heads and a series of three suction cups,
MicroGrip heads and rods, the Pro-Mount
system accommodates camera packages
up to 26.4 pounds. Based on the Matthews
BH-30 Ball Head mounted on a 10" suction
cup and two 6" suction cups, the MasterMount integrates MicroGrip supporting
components to ensure solid, steady imaging while carrying camera loads up to 39.6
pounds.
In five minutes, you can mount one
of the newer, lighter-weight cameras utilizing the vehicles suspension system in

combination with our MicroGrip technology, Ball Mounts and suction cups, says Ed
Phillips, president and owner of MSE. Now
you can capture incredibly expensive-looking images at a very low cost in terms of
time and equipment.
Pro-Mount and Master-Mount
systems are shipped complete, with an
instructional, introductory video as well as
visuals for suggested camera placement.
MSE also offers camera risers in both 3"
and 6" lengths to offer a maximum of 9"
further extension of the camera from the
mount.
www.msegrip.com.
Polecam Introduces Lens for
Mini HD Cameras
Polecam has introduced the HRO
69, a high-quality 3.5mm lens designed for
use with the latest-generation 13" miniature 3-CCD HD cameras.
Miniature split-head cameras have
become standard tools for HD video
production in recent years, but traditional
lens manufacturers have not responded to
demand for matching high-quality optics,
says Steffan Hewitt, Polecam founder and
managing director. The HRO 69, he continues, produces far higher resolution images
than any comparable model and represents
a tremendous advance both for Polecam
operators and other program makers wanting to benefit fully from the compactness of
modern HD cameras and recorders.
Nigel Paine, camera systems sales

manager for Polecam, adds, This is the first
in a range of 3-CCD HD lenses which goes
a significant way to filling a requirement
that the HD broadcast and film markets
have been requesting very stridently. The
HRO 69 is compatible with cameras such as
the Toshiba IK-HD1, Iconix RH1, Panasonic
GP-US932 [and] Ikegami MKC300.
Polecams HRO 69 offers 69-degree
horizontal angle of view and an aperture
range from f2.2 to f16. Features include
back focus, a special bump cover to protect
the front element and a 40.5mm filter
thread-adapter option. Stainless steel locking screws for aperture and focus adjustment are provided, as are spare lens caps.
The lens weighs only .35 pounds and
measures 50mm long by 37mm in diameter
(without the filter adapter).
www.polecam.com.
Panavision Offers 3-D
Projection System
Panavision has introduced a 3-D
cinema system that incorporates filter technology developed by Omega Optical and is
compatible with white and silver screens
and film and digital projectors.
Our industry faces a challenge,
says Eric Rodli, senior vice president of
Panavision Inc. With the unprecedented
availability and popularity of 3-D content,
studios need more 3-D screens, while
exhibitors need to use their screens more
flexibly. This new 3-D system offers a highquality solution to address those issues. It
enables exhibitors to show 2-D or 3-D
content on the same screen and to convert
back and forth easily, without making major
new investments in new screens or projection equipment.
Spectral filtering in the lens or in the
projector combs the visible light spectrum, slicing it into 10 slim bands of even
and odd wavelengths of light. High-quality
dichroic passive glasses enable the audience
to consistently receive a distinctly different
image in each eye, while providing each eye

with the sensation of seeing the full color
spectrum of the stereoscopic image.
Because polarization is not required, images
can be shown on a white screen or a silver
screen.
For projectors using DLP technology,
a filter wheel is installed between the lamp

house and the light integrator; projectors
using LCOS technology use static filters.
Split lenses are provided for film projectors;
3-D film prints shown on the system are in
the over-under format compatible with
conventional 35mm projectors. Because no
ghost busting, image processing or color
correction are necessary, there is no ancillary
equipment for users to install and maintain.
Additionally, conversion from 2-D to 3-D
and vice versa is fast and easy, enabling
exhibitors to quickly move 3-D prints from

larger to smaller screens as business dictates.
In addition to the lens and filters,
Panavision offers high-quality, reusable
glasses and a cleaning and sanitizing system.
The company also provides system setup,
training and technical support. The glasses
are one key to system quality, says John
Galt, senior vice president for advanced digital imaging at Panavision. Ours have lenses
with tempered dichroic-coated glass for
exceptional color stability and consistent
performance, although they are made at a
very reasonable cost. And because our
approach is based on splitting light, were
technology neutral the glasses can be
used with film or digital systems.
Panavisions ability to project 3-D
images on white screens, which boast more
even center-to-edge illumination than silver
screens, enables more of the audience to
more accurately see the colors and image
quality of the 3-D projection, even if theyre
sitting high or low in stadium seating or off
to one side or another.
www.panavision.com.
Fujinon Becomes
Fujifilm Optical Devices
Fujinon Inc. has become Fujifilm
Optical Devices U.S.A., Inc., a new subsidiary
of Fujifilm North America Corp. Fujifilm
Corp. has identified the optical-device business as one of the companys main priorities;
this restructuring is aimed at reinforcing the
companys global objectives while taking
advantage of synergies and shared services
that will allow the company to serve its
customers more effectively.
Weve always stressed the importance of after-sales service and customer
support, and with this change, were in an
even better position to see that through,
says Hank Hayashi, president and CEO of
Fujinon. Im extremely optimistic about this
change and believe it will position us very
well for more aggressive growth in North
and Latin America.
Fujinon is a recognized technology
leader worldwide and a highly respected
provider of optics and lens assemblies to the
broadcast, digital cinema and industrial
markets. While continuing to serve those
product areas, Fujifilm Optical Devices will
also oversee CCTV, which markets lenses

for security, surveillance, factory automation and machine vision; Industrial Optics,
which distributes front-view/rear-view
automobile camera lenses, digital-cinema
projection lenses, laser-focusing lenses and
lenses for scanners and digital cameras;
and Special Products, which markets highend binoculars, including stabilized binoculars to the government and marine market.
www.fujifilm.com/northamerica.
OptiTrack Announces Virtual
Camera System
OptiTrack has introduced the Insight
VCS virtual camera system. Available at a
competitive price, the Insight VCS is
compatible with all optical motion-capture
systems.
The Insight VCS is a two-part system
consisting of a hardware camera rig and
software interface. As the hardware rig is
tracked throughout the motion-capture
volume, position and orientation data is
streamed live via the software plug-in to
either Autodesk MotionBuilder or
Autodesk Maya to drive the virtual camera
within the 3-D application. Real-time reference video is streamed out of MotionBuilder or Maya back to the VCS display,
creating a low-latency visual feedback
loop, akin to the viewfinder in an actual
digital camera.
Developed in close collaboration
with previsualization company Halon
Entertainment, the Insight VCS is an ideal
virtual-camera solution for a broad range
of applications ranging from film and
commercial previs to digital filmmaking.
In working with OptiTrack to develop the
Insight VCS, Halon helped build a tool that
puts film directors and directors of photography in a virtual world they more closely
understand, says Justin Denton, technical
developer and previs supervisor at Halon
Entertainment. The value of being able to
walk out into a space and explore a virtual
world by physically controlling a camera,
finding the perfect angles and then shooting multiple takes is truly remarkable. All of
this is achieved in a fraction of the time it
takes to keyframe a single camera take,
and the results are more natural. The
Insight VCS has proven invaluable on multi-
fixed
fixed
A new generation of
electromechanical dolly!
fixed
fixed
rear
crab
GF-Primo
GFPrimo Dolly
Dolly
front
NEW: easy to set-up low camera positions

NEW: more options for creative camera moves
NEW: more steering options for better
manoeuvrability
NEW: more sitting positions
NEW: intelligent, wireless column control
NEW: multifunctional platform system
NEW: all terrain Big Wheels
For further information www.g-f-m.net
Battery connection
drop and go
Wireless
radio control
One touch central

steering selection
Multifunctional
turnstile mount
Grip Factory Munich GmbH, Frholzener Str. 1, 85386 Eching / Munich, Germany
Tel.: +49 (0)89 / 31 90 12 90, Fax: +49 (0)89 / 31 90 12 99, E-Mail: info@g-f-m.net, Internet: www.g-f-m.net
ple high-profile film and commercial

projects for us here at Halon.
To ensure compatibility with a variety
of production pipelines, the Insight VCS has
been engineered for interoperability with
any existing optical motion-capture system
including OptiTrack, Vicon and Motion
Analysis that can track marker-based
rigid bodies and stream data to MotionBuilder or Maya. Different versions of both
the hardware rig and software plug-in are
available to fit a variety of existing pipelines
and production requirements. The hardware component is available in the VCS:Pro
or VCS:Mini configuration. The VCS:Pro
model includes a 1280x768 HD LCD display
for real-time feedback, mappable buttons
and joysticks for extensive camera control,
and a robust Redrock Micro shouldermount kit; markers and posts are also
included for a variety of configurations. The
VCS:Mini provides low cost, lightweight
and highly flexible access to the virtual
camera pipeline; the kit includes an
anodized aluminum mount pre-installed on
a wireless Xbox 360 game pad as well as
markers and posts. Comprehensive,
customizable plug-ins are available for
camera work in MotionBuilder and Maya
for control over scripts, button mapping,
scaling and camera properties; universal
versions of each plug-in are also available
for use with non-OptiTrack motion capture
systems.
Our goal has always been to offer
Tracker Trolley from Porta-Jib
Porta-Jib has introduced the Tracker
by Losmandy, an any-environment
track/trolley system configurable to any
length in 3' increments. The portable Tracker
supports cameras and fluid heads with a
total combined weight of less than 80
pounds and is ideal for shooting anywhere
from a studio to mountainous terrain.
The rails of the Tracker
system are spaced further
apart than on Porta-Jibs
Explorer Trolley, and the larger
Tracker trolley uses interchangeable inserts to accommodate three standard fluidhead bases: 100mm, 150mm
and Mitchell. The Tracker
system is larger, stronger and
less prone to tipping when
100
full-featured motion-capture systems at a

price that production companies of every
size can afford, says Jim Richardson, cofounder of NaturalPoint (OptiTracks parent
company) and lead engineer for the OptiTrack motion-capture line. With the Insight
VCS, were expanding this vision to include
the bleeding-edge virtual camera technology that Cameron made famous with
Avatar at an exceptionally low price.
OptiTrack now delivers high-performance
body, face and virtual camera mo-cap for
less than anyone else in the world.
Pricing for the Insight VCS camera rig
ranges from $199 to $5,000. Software
plug-ins to MotionBuilder and Maya for
OptiTrack systems cost $1,000. Universal
plug-ins for other motion-capture systems
sell for $2,000.
www.optitrack.com.
JVC Expands Vrit Line
JVC Professional Products has added
the 9" DT-V9L3D to its line of Vrit professional LCD monitors. Featuring a built-in
waveform monitor with over-level function,
advanced audio-level meter and time-code
support, the compact monitor is ideal for
carrying a bigger camera system. 16 unique
wheels with grooved centers lock the trolley
securely on the dovetailed rails. With integrated bubble levels on the end stop clamps,
the Tracker is designed to be safe, smooth
and quiet.
For more information, including pricing for the Tracker systems component
pieces, visit www.porta-jib.com.
New
longer:
8,26 m / 22 ft
lighter:
79 kg / 174 lbs
faster:
1,5 m/s / 5 ft/s
camera max.: 13 kg / 30lbs
buy at:
www.technocrane.com
starting from 78.000
accurate color reproduction and critical

viewing evaluation in the field or mobile
applications.
The DT-V9L3D includes two HD/SDSDI inputs with embedded audio, plus
analog component (Y/Pb/Pr) and composite
terminals to accommodate legacy equipment. The monitor features a high-performance LCD panel (800x480) housed in a
rugged metal rear cabinet that can be rack
mounted or used with the included tilt
stand. For field use, the DT-V9L3D offers
AC/DC operation and a built-in handle.
A dynamic mode is included for
outdoor visibility, while image markers,
aspect-ratio adjustment and a focus-assist
function help give the DT-V9L3D the versatility expected from a superior broadcast
monitor. Other features include an RS-232C
port for remote control, support for analog
closed captioning, traditional rotary knobs
for picture control and a built-in speaker and
headphone mini-jack.
The DT-V9L3D is available now for
$2,495. For more information, visit
http://pro.jvc.com.
Digital Vision Releases
2010 Software
Digital Vision has unveiled its
updated Nucoda grading and Phoenix
restoration products, as well as its 2010
software release.
The Nucoda grading and finishing
platform boasts a new pricing structure and
two new solutions to address the mid-range
DI grading and dailies market: the Nucoda
Fuse and an ingest, conform and edit solution called Nucoda Compose. These products join the flagship Nucoda Film Master,
which continues to serve premium content
creators and now features an entry price of
$90,000.
Continuing the companys commit-
kezia, kedo, OHM

www.gekkotechnology.com
Primatte Chromakey
Supports 64-Bit CS5
Digital Anarchy has announced the
64-bit Primatte Chromakey 3.5 blue- and
greenscreen plug-in for Adobe Photoshop.
Primatte 3.5 adds compatibility for Photoshop CS5 and 64-bit operation on Mac,
Windows and Vista systems. Version 3.5
also provides an improved interface for
easier workflow and adds behind-thescenes improvements like background
rendering to make Primatte faster and
more responsive.
Primatte Chromakey removes a
blue/green background from a still image
or footage, leaving the subject against a
ment to the image-restoration sector, Digital

Vision has introduced the Phoenix product
range. Phoenix Finish is the flagship end-toend restoration, re-mastering and delivery
system. Phoenix Refine is a mid-range solution providing a complete toolset for
advanced image restoration and enhancement. The entry-level Phoenix Touch
provides automated and manual image
cleanup and retouching.
As part of the 2010 software release,
Digital Vision has included applications to
increase the new products performance.
Turbine introduces integrated and distributed background rendering for Phoenix and
Nucoda solutions, allowing rendering of
multiple projects and compositions without
tying up the clients workstation. DVO Clarity, the next-generation of noise and grain
reduction technology, features automatic
profiling of the source media for producing
virtually artifact-free images that retain the
original sharpness. The ergonomically
enhanced DVO Fix
automatically repairs
imperfections associated with degraded
film and image
media.
The 2010
software release also
includes additional 3D tools and viewing
modes, a new colorisolation keyer (IKeyer) and updated
file-format enhance102
September 2010
transparent background with any color cast

removed. Primatte 3.5 excels in preserving
important, difficult details like wisps of hair,
translucent glass and mesh fabrics, making
it easy to convincingly place the subject on
ments, including Arri Alexa support, MFX

OP1a publishing and ALE file export.
It has always been our goal to
provide more of the companys innovative
science at multiple price points, and with
the 2010 product and software release, we
have certainly achieved this, says Martin
Bennett, vice president of marketing for
Digital Vision. This new product range
allows customers at all levels to benefit from
our technology with an array of solutions
and price points that address specific tasks
for image grading, finishing and restoration. Add to this our continued commitment to develop and include industry-leading tools for stereoscopic 3-D workflow and
image enhancement, [and] we will enable
our customers to stay ahead of the curve,
delivering premium content to clients.
www.digitalvision.se.
Digital Jungle Offers
Red Training
Digital Jungle has teamed with
Richard Salazar to present an ongoing
series of Red One training classes. The
program is broken into three levels, each
of which comprises a three-day intensive
course load covering every aspect of the
Red, from camera operation to HD digitalimaging tech support and post workflow,
all in a real-world, interactive, film-production environment.
The workshops are geared toward
cinematographers, camera assistants, digital-imaging technicians, data wranglers,
a custom background, then substitute that

background as needed. Primattes new 64bit speed takes advantage of Photoshop
Action and Batch functionality to process
large groups of images.
The 64-bit update to Primatte is
the first step in rewriting Primatte to take
advantage of new technologies, says Jim
Tierney, president of Digital Anarchy.
Weve improved the speed and further
enhanced the workflow, but Primatte 3.5 is
just the beginning.
Primatte Chromakey 3.5 for Photoshop is priced at $299. For additional information, visit www.digitalanarchy.com.
editors and post supervisors who want

to learn more about the art and science
of RAW digital cinematography. During
the training, Digital Jungle will have a
Red camera on hand with the new
Mysterium-X sensor; the training includes
camera tech, postproduction, editorial, digital intermediate and color grading, and will
incorporate guest speakers throughout the
workshops. Additionally, Salazar and Digital
Jungle plan to incorporate fundamental
stereoscopic 3-D rigging instructions for the
Red and a broad overview of 3-D post
workflows into future sessions. At the end
of the workshop, trainees are required
to pass an exit examination in order to
receive a certificate confirming they have
completed the program.
There are very few facilities that
have the experience, knowledge and technological capability to host comprehensive
training for the Red One, and Digital Jungle
is at the top of that short list, says Salazar.
Im excited to partner with Dennis Ho at
Digital Jungle for these courses and look
forward to initiating and honing the skills of
the next generation of Red professionals.
www.digijungle.com.
International Marketplace
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104
September 2010
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www.theasc.com
September 2010
105
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Cameraimage 89
Canon USA 9
Cavision Enterprises 25
Chapman/Leonard Studio
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Chemical Wedding 103, 111
Chimera 45
Chrosziel 71
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Electronics 96
Cinekinetic 104
Cinerover 105
Cinevate 19
Cinevation 27
Clairmont Film & Digital 79
Convergent Design 48
Cooke Optics 7
Dell C2
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Eastman Kodak 11, C4
EFD USA, Inc. 23
Film Gear 97
Filmtools 96
Fujji Motion Picture
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Gemini 3D Camera, LLC 4
Glidecam Industries 21
Grip Factory Munich/GFM 99
Hollywood Post Alliance 98
Innoventive Software 99
Innovision 105
JEM Studio Lighting, Inc. 100
J.L. Fisher 72
JMR Electronics, Inc. 53
K5600 43
Kino Flo 73
Kobold 49
Koerner Camera Systems 97
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LDI 107
Lee Filters 62
Lights! Action! Co. 105
Lite Panels 2
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1 Tradeshow and Conference: LDI 2010

iThe meeting place for the live design community
iThe #1 source of industry specific training
iThe place youll find all the gear for your live events
iYour connection to ongoing industry information
online and in print:
www.livedesignonline.com
October 18-24, 2010

Las Vegas Convention Center
Las Vegas, NV USA
www.ldishow.com
Backstage Las Vegas: October 18-20, 2010

LDInstitute: October 19-24, 2010
LD Projection Master Classes: October 20-21, 2010
Conference Sessions: October 21-24, 2010
Exhibit Hall: October 22-24, 2010
American Society of Cinematographers Roster

OFFICERS 2009-10
Michael Goi,
President
Richard Crudo,
Vice President
Owen Roizman,
Vice President
John C. Flinn III,
Vice President
Matthew Leonetti,
Treasurer
Rodney Taylor,
Secretary
Ron Garcia,
Sergeant-at-Arms
MEMBERS
OF THE BOARD
John Bailey
Stephen H. Burum
Curtis Clark
George Spiro Dibie
Richard Edlund
John C. Flinn III
Michael Goi
Stephen Lighthill
Isidore Mankofsky
Daryn Okada
Robert Primes
Nancy Schreiber
Haskell Wexler
Kees Van Oostrum
Vilmos Zsigmond
ALTERNATES
Fred Elmes
Rodney Taylor
Michael D. OShea
Sol Negrin
Michael B. Negrin
108
September 2010
ACTIVE MEMBERS
Thomas Ackerman
Lance Acord
Lloyd Ahern II
Herbert Alpert
Russ Alsobrook
Howard A. Anderson III
Howard A. Anderson Jr.
James Anderson
Peter Anderson
Tony Askins
Charles Austin
Christopher Baffa
James Bagdonas
King Baggot
John Bailey
Michael Ballhaus
Andrzej Bartkowiak
John Bartley
Bojan Bazelli
Frank Beascoechea
Affonso Beato
Mat Beck
Dion Beebe
Bill Bennett
Andres Berenguer
Carl Berger
Gabriel Beristain
Steven Bernstein
Ross Berryman
Michael Bonvillain
Richard Bowen
David Boyd
Russell Boyd
Jonathan Brown
Don Burgess
Stephen H. Burum
Bill Butler
Frank B. Byers
Bobby Byrne
Antonio Calvache
Paul Cameron
Russell P. Carpenter
James L. Carter
Alan Caso
Michael Chapman
Rodney Charters
James A. Chressanthis
Joan Churchill
Curtis Clark
Peter L. Collister
Jack Cooperman
Jack Couffer
Vincent G. Cox
Jeff Cronenweth
Richard Crudo
Dean R. Cundey
Stefan Czapsky
David Darby
Allen Daviau
Roger Deakins
Jan DeBont
Thomas Del Ruth
Bruno Delbonnel
Peter Deming
Jim Denault
Caleb Deschanel
Ron Dexter
Craig Di Bona
George Spiro Dibie
Ernest Dickerson
Billy Dickson
Bill Dill
Stuart Dryburgh
Bert Dunk
Lex DuPont
John Dykstra
Richard Edlund
Frederick Elmes
Robert Elswit
Geoffrey Erb
Scott Farrar
Jon Fauer
Don E. FauntLeRoy
Gerald Feil
Steven Fierberg
Gerald Perry Finnerman
Mauro Fiore
John C. Flinn III
Ron Fortunato
Tak Fujimoto
Alex Funke
Steve Gainer
Ron Garcia
Dejan Georgevich
Michael Goi
Stephen Goldblatt
Paul Goldsmith
Frederic Goodich
Victor Goss
Jack Green
Adam Greenberg
Robbie Greenberg
Xavier Perez Grobet
Alexander Gruszynski
Changwei Gu
Rick Gunter
Rob Hahn
Gerald Hirschfeld
Henner Hofmann
Adam Holender
Ernie Holzman
John C. Hora
Tom Houghton
Gil Hubbs
Michel Hugo
Shane Hurlbut
Tom Hurwitz
Judy Irola
Mark Irwin
Levie Isaacks
Andrew Jackson
Peter James
Johnny E. Jensen
Torben Johnke
Frank Johnson
Shelly Johnson
Jeffrey Jur
William K. Jurgensen
Adam Kane
Stephen M. Katz
Ken Kelsch
Victor J. Kemper
Wayne Kennan
Francis Kenny
Glenn Kershaw
Darius Khondji
Gary Kibbe
Jan Kiesser
Jeffrey L. Kimball
Adam Kimmel
Alar Kivilo
David Klein
Richard Kline
George Koblasa
Fred J. Koenekamp
Lajos Koltai
Pete Kozachik
Neil Krepela
Willy Kurant
Ellen M. Kuras
George La Fountaine
Edward Lachman
Ken Lamkin
Jacek Laskus
Andrew Laszlo
Denis Lenoir
John R. Leonetti
Matthew Leonetti
Andrew Lesnie
Peter Levy
Matthew Libatique
Charlie Lieberman
Stephen Lighthill
Karl Walter Lindenlaub
John Lindley
Robert F. Liu
Walt Lloyd
Bruce Logan
Gordon Lonsdale
Emmanuel Lubezki
Julio G. Macat
Glen MacPherson
Constantine Makris
Denis Maloney
Isidore Mankofsky
Christopher Manley
Michael D. Margulies
Barry Markowitz
Steve Mason
Clark Mathis
Don McAlpine
Don McCuaig
Seamus McGarvey
Robert McLachlan
Geary McLeod
Greg McMurry
Steve McNutt
Terry K. Meade
Suki Medencevic
Chris Menges
Rexford Metz
Anastas Michos
Douglas Milsome
Dan Mindel
Charles Minsky
Claudio Miranda
George Mooradian
Donald A. Morgan
Donald M. Morgan
Kramer Morgenthau
M. David Mullen
Dennis Muren
Fred Murphy
Hiro Narita
Guillermo Navarro
Michael B. Negrin
Sol Negrin
Bill Neil
Alex Nepomniaschy
John Newby
Yuri Neyman
Sam Nicholson
Crescenzo Notarile
David B. Nowell
Rene Ohashi
Daryn Okada
Thomas Olgeirsson
Woody Omens
Miroslav Ondricek
Michael D. OShea
Anthony Palmieri
Phedon Papamichael
Daniel Pearl
Edward J. Pei
James Pergola
Don Peterman
Lowell Peterson
Wally Pfister
Gene Polito
Bill Pope
Steven Poster
Tom Priestley Jr.
Rodrigo Prieto
Robert Primes
Frank Prinzi
Richard Quinlan
Declan Quinn
Earl Rath
Richard Rawlings Jr.
Frank Raymond
Tami Reiker
Robert Richardson
Anthony B. Richmond
S E P T E M B E R
Bill Roe
Owen Roizman
Pete Romano
Charles Rosher Jr.
Giuseppe Rotunno
Philippe Rousselot
Juan Ruiz-Anchia
Marvin Rush
Paul Ryan
Eric Saarinen
Alik Sakharov
Mikael Salomon
Harris Savides
Roberto Schaefer
Tobias Schliessler
Aaron Schneider
Nancy Schreiber
Fred Schuler
John Schwartzman
John Seale
Christian Sebaldt
Dean Semler
Eduardo Serra
Steven Shaw
Richard Shore
Newton Thomas Sigel
John Simmons
Sandi Sissel
Bradley B. Six
Dennis L. Smith
Roland Ozzie Smith
Reed Smoot
Bing Sokolsky
Peter Sova
Dante Spinotti
Terry Stacey
Robert Steadman
Ueli Steiger
Peter Stein
Robert M. Stevens
Tom Stern
Rogier Stoffers
Vittorio Storaro
Harry Stradling Jr.
David Stump
Tim Suhrstedt
Peter Suschitzky
Alfred Taylor
Jonathan Taylor
Rodney Taylor
William Taylor
Don Thorin
John Toll
Mario Tosi
Salvatore Totino
Luciano Tovoli
Jost Vacano
Theo Van de Sande
Eric Van Haren Noman
Kees Van Oostrum
Ron Vargas
2 0 1 0
Mark Vargo
Amelia Vincent
William Wages
Roy H. Wagner
Ric Waite
Michael Watkins
Jonathan West
Haskell Wexler
Jack Whitman
Gordon Willis
Dariusz Wolski
Ralph Woolsey
Peter Wunstorf
Robert Yeoman
Richard Yuricich
Jerzy Zielinski
Vilmos Zsigmond
Kenneth Zunder
ASSOCIATE MEMBERS
Alan Albert
Richard Aschman
Volker Bahnemann
Kay Baker
Joseph J. Ball
Amnon Band
Carly M. Barber
Craig Barron
Thomas M. Barron
Larry Barton
Bob Beitcher
Mark Bender
Bruce Berke
Bob Bianco
John Bickford
Steven A. Blakely
Mitchell Bogdanowicz
Jack Bonura
Michael Bravin
William Brodersen
Garrett Brown
Ronald D. Burdett
Reid Burns
Vincent Carabello
Jim Carter
Leonard Chapman
Mark Chiolis
Denny Clairmont
Adam Clark
Cary Clayton
Michael Condon
Sean Coughlin
Robert B. Creamer
Grover Crisp
Daniel Curry
Ross Danielson
Carlos D. DeMattos
Gary Demos
Richard Di Bona
Kevin Dillon
David Dodson
Judith Doherty
Cyril Drabinsky
Jesse Dylan
Jonathan Erland
John Farrand
Ray Feeney
William Feightner
Phil Feiner
Jimmy Fisher
Scott Fleischer
Thomas Fletcher
Salvatore Giarratano
Richard B. Glickman
John A. Gresch
Jim Hannafin
William Hansard
Bill Hansard, Jr.
Richard Hart
Robert Harvey
Charles Herzfeld
Larry Hezzelwood
Frieder Hochheim
Bob Hoffman
Vinny Hogan
Cliff Hsui
Robert C. Hummel
Roy Isaia
George Joblove
Joel Johnson
John Johnston
Marker Karahadian
Frank Kay
Debbie Kennard
Milton Keslow
Robert Keslow
Larry Kingen
Douglas Kirkland
Timothy J. Knapp
Ron Koch
Karl Kresser
Chet Kucinski
Doug Leighton
Lou Levinson
Suzanne Lezotte
Grant Loucks
Howard Lukk
Andy Maltz
Steven E. Manios
Robert Mastronardi
Joe Matza
Albert Mayer, Jr.
Bill McDonald
Andy McIntyre
Stan Miller
Walter H. Mills
George Milton
Mike Mimaki
Rami Mina
Michael Morelli
Dash Morrison
Nolan Murdock
www.theasc.com
Dan Muscarella
Iain A. Neil
Otto Nemenz
Ernst Nettmann
Tony Ngai
Mickel Niehenke
Marty Oppenheimer
Walt Ordway
Michael Parker
Warren Parker
Doug Pentek
Kristin Petrovich
Ed Phillips
Nick Phillips
Jerry Pierce
Joshua Pines
Carl Porcello
Howard Preston
David Pringle
Phil Radin
Christopher Reyna
Colin Ritchie
Eric G. Rodli
Daniel Rosen
Dana Ross
Bill Russell
Kish Sadhvani
David Samuelson
Peter K. Schnitzler
Walter Schonfeld
Juergen Schwinzer
Ronald Scott
Steven Scott
Don Shapiro
Milton R. Shefter
Leon Silverman
Garrett Smith
Stefan Sonnenfeld
John L. Sprung
Joseph N. Tawil
Ira Tiffen
Arthur Tostado
Bill Turner
Stephan Ukas-Bradley
Mark Van Horne
Richard Vetter
Joe Violante
Dedo Weigert
Franz Weiser
Evans Wetmore
Beverly Wood
Jan Yarbrough
Hoyt Yeatman
Irwin M. Young
Michael Zacharia
Bob Zahn
Nazir Zaidi
Michael Zakula
Les Zellan
HONORARY MEMBERS
Col. Edwin E. Aldrin Jr.
Neil A. Armstrong
Col. Michael Collins
Bob Fisher
David MacDonald
Cpt. Bruce McCandless II
Larry Parker
D. Brian Spruill
September 2010
109
Clubhouse News
Top (left to right): Bill Taylor, ASC; Jonathan Erland;

Daryn Okada, ASC; Arthur Max; Rosemary
Brandenburg; Caleb Deschanel, ASC; Michael
Wilkinson; and Robert Ryan. Bottom (left to right):
Rob Engle; Pete Kozachik, ASC; Eric Brevig; Jon
Landau; Rob Hummel; and Pierre Routhier.
Okada, Deschanel Illuminate

Solid-State Sources
Daryn Okada, ASC recently moderated a panel about the potential impact of
solid-state light sources on motion-picture
production for the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Science and Technology
Council. Titled Illuminating the Future,
the discussion included Caleb Deschanel,
ASC; set decorator Rosemary Brandenburg;
production designer Arthur Max; makeup
artist Robert Ryan; and costume designer
Michael Wilkinson.
JL Fisher Hosts Social
JL Fisher recently hosted its fifth
annual barbecue mixer at its Burbank facility. Co-sponsored by the Society of Camera
Operators, the International Cinematographers Guild and the ASC, the event brought
together colleagues from throughout the
motion-picture industry for a day of social110
September 2010
Goi Shares Low-Budget Tips

ASC President Michael Goi recently
traveled to New York City to conduct a
seminar on low-budget filmmaking
presented by StudentFilmmakers.com and
co-sponsored by Ikan, Tiffen and AC. Held
at the French Institute Alliance Franaise,
the seminar focused on Gois experiences
directing the feature Megan is Missing (AC
Nov. 08), shot by Keith Eisberg and Joshua
Harrison. Producer Mark Gragnani, actress
Amber Perkins, and Marc Klaas (founder of
the KlaasKids Foundation) joined Goi for
the seminar, which also included a screening of the film.
Members Aid in Shootout
Society members Robert Primes,
Shane Hurlbut, Stephen Goldblatt and
Stephen Lighthill recently contributed to
The Great Camera Shootout 2010, a
three-part Web series presented by Zacuto.
The series compared 35mm motion-picture
film with footage captured by Canons 5D
Mark II, 7D, 1D Mark IV, 550D and T21
Rebel; Nikons D3S; and Panasonics GH1.
Other cast members included Jens Bogehegn, Philip Bloom, Gary Adcock, Ryan
Emerson, Steve Weiss, Rick McCallum, Stu
Maschwitz, David Wexler, Kevin Shahinian,
David Robin, the Bui brothers, Carlos
Lascano and Boris Wexler. To view the
webisodes, visit www.zacuto.com/shoot
out.
Members Offer 3-D Perspective
Peter Anderson, ASC; Pete
Kozachik, ASC; Bill Taylor, ASC; and associate members Hoyt Yeatman and Rob
Hummel recently participated in the series
Getting Perspective III: Exploring the Craft
of 3-D Movie Technology, presented by

the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences Science and Technology Council.
Spanning three evenings hosted by Rob
Engle, senior stereographer and 3-D visualeffects supervisor at Sony Imageworks, the
series presented conversations with filmmakers, 3-D demonstrations and a screening of the 2008 concert film U2 3D. Other
participants in the series included visualeffects producer Matt DeJohn, stereoscopic
supervisor Phil McNally, stereoscopic engineer Pierre Routhier, editor Olivier Wicki,
producer Jon Landau, and directors Eric
Brevig and Catherine Owens.
Barron Discusses Zendas Effects
ASC associate member and visualeffects supervisor Craig Barron recently
joined sound designer Ben Burtt for a
screening of The Prisoner of Zenda at the
Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center in
San Rafael, Calif. Shot by James Wong
Howe, ASC, the film was one of the first
Hollywood sound productions in which one
actor in this case Ronald Colman
appeared in the same shot as two different
characters. Barron and Burtt discussed the
films groundbreaking photographic and
sound effects and presented camera tests
as well as behind-the-scenes footage shot
by actor Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
Hummel Goes 3-D
ASC associate Rob Hummel, the
CEO of Prime Focus Post Production in
North America, was among a host of industry experts who spoke at the recent 3-D
Next conference. Designed as a briefing
for the entertainment industry and allied
businesses, the one-day event examined
emerging 3-D industry sectors, including
film, television, video games, Internet and
mobile, in an attempt to separate the facts
about contemporary 3-D from the various
fictions.
Photos courtesy of AMPAS. Top photo by Greg Harbaugh. Bottom photo by Ivan Vejar.
izing seasoned with technology demonstrations from an array of manufacturers and

vendors. Additionally, George Spiro Dibie,
ASC moderated a panel discussion,
Designing the Moving Frame, which
featured ASC members Victor J. Kemper,
Donald A. Morgan, M. David Mullen,
Daniel Pearl and Roberto Schaefer.
Dejan Georgevich, ASC
When you were a child, what film made the strongest impression
on you?
I was 11 when I saw a 16mm screening of On the Waterfront (1954) in
a crowded church-basement hall in Montclair, N.J. The films visceral,
organic, in-the-moment feel had a profound impact on me.
Which cinematographers, past or present, do you
most admire?
Conrad Hall, ASC, for being a brilliant, eclectic visual storyteller; Vittorio Storaro, ASC, AIC, for his operatic camera
and inspired use of color; Gordon Willis, ASC, for his bold,
expressionistic camera and daring in the world of darkness;
Chris Menges, ASC, BSC, for exquisite location photography and catching the moment; and Chris Doyle, HKSC, for
his anarchist visual energy and celebration of beauty.
What sparked your interest in photography?
I recall struggling with a Bell & Howell projector that
seemed twice my size in elementary school, going up and down stairs to
screen films for the primary-school kids. The power of the image it
projected made a very strong impression on me.
Where did you train and/or study?
I double-majored in mass communications and international relations in
college, and during my senior year, I decided my future was in motion
pictures it encompassed my interest in arts and humanities, as well as
my passion for photography. I went on to New York Universitys graduate-film program.
Who were your early mentors?
Director Lee Rothberg, who hailed from the golden age of television and
was also an ace camera operator with a terrific eye for composition and
a great feel for camera movement. Also, a gaffer named Bill Lister honed
my knowledge of lighting with both hard and soft sources.
What are some of your key artistic influences?
Growing up in a household of professional opera singers gave me a deep
appreciation for and love of music. My father never really understood the
filmmaking process until I took him into an editing room. There, he came
to understand how time signature and tempo, phrasing and color, and
mood and tone influence my medium. When Im doing research for a
project, I reference artists such as Caravaggio, Edward Hopper, Henri
Cartier-Bresson and Gordon Parks, depending on whats appropriate for
the project.
How did you get your first break in the business?
I saw an ad tacked on the school bulletin board that said PA/Stage
Manager Wanted. I turned up at Lee Rothbergs commercial-production
house and almost walked out when I saw 20 other starving students
standing around the lobby.
112
September 2010
What has been your most satisfying moment on a project?

In 1993, while working on HBOs documentary Arthur Ashe: Citizen
of the World, I was escorted to a secret location in Johannesburg,
South Africa. When Nelson Mandela, who was soon to be the first
freely elected president of South Africa, walked into the room, I was
completely taken by his aura. He could immediately
read the people around him and make them
comfortable.
Have you made any memorable blunders?
It was a World Wildlife Fund documentary shoot in El
Salvador. In Miami, I packed extra batteries and a
charger with the lighting and grip equipment. We
arrived in El Salvador, but our equipment stayed in
Miami. As our van chugged through San Salvador, all
we found were heavily armed soldiers and very outof-date batteries that werent compatible with our
camera equipment. Fortunately, we were able to
jerry-rig the batteries to our partially cannibalized camera. When
youre going to a third-world country, always keep your equipment
with you!
What is the best professional advice youve ever received?
Lee Rothbergs mantra: Keep calm, cool and collected at all times.
What recent books, films or artworks have inspired you?
Music: Alexa Wildings recent release, Bridges. (Shes my daughter!)
Books: Emerson: Mind on Fire by Robert D. Richardson Jr., and The
Painter of Battles by Arturo Perez-Reverte. Art: Neue Galeries exhibition Brcke: The Birth of Expressionism in Dresden and Berlin, 19051913.
Do you have any favorite genres, or genres you would like
to try?
A fantasy, a period piece and a Western.
If you werent a cinematographer, what might you be doing
instead?
International diplomacy.
Which ASC cinematographers recommended you for
membership?
Sol Negrin, Gerald Feil and Wally Pfister.
How has ASC membership impacted your life and career?
Through ASC members past and present, I have the ability to tap into
the history of an industry I love. Theres something magical about
when we get together and talk about what we do. There is camaraderie, but there is also the important ability to access a fellow ASC
member if Im backed into a corner and need help.
Photo by Sonja Georgevich.
Close-up
ONFILM
C H R I STO P H E R B A F FA , A S C
I think the cinema is perhaps the most powerful

art form, because it encompasses all of the
other art forms in a unique way. Its a universal
language with 24 images linked together to
create each second of life. The cinematographers
role is to interpret those seconds, and translate
the vision shared by producers, writers, and
directors into moving images on the screen.
This process of helping directors tell their
stories is very satisfying for me. I believe that
being a cinematographer is in your DNA. You
have to be in synch with the emotional and
psychological elements of a story. Like painters,
cinematographers explore thoughts and feelings
through composition, light and darkness, contrast
and color, all in pursuit of an overall theme,
expression, or ideology. Clearly, the choices we
make about which lms to use our canvas
and how to expose them remains one of the
greatest tools for communicating those themes.
Christopher Baffa, ASC is a University of
Southern California lm school alumnus
who began his career lighting and shooting
independent lms produced by Roger
Corman. A short list of his subsequent
credits includes the feature lm Running
With Scissors, the pilot for The Closer, and the
television series Popular, Nip/Tuck and Glee.
For an extended interview with Christopher Baffa,
visit www.kodak.com/go/onlm
To order Kodak motion picture lm,
call (800) 621-lm.
Eastman Kodak Company, 2010.
Photography: 2010 Douglas Kirkland

2010 09

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SEPTEMBER 2010

Windows. Life without Walls. Dell recommends Windows 7.

If you can imagine it,

Call 1-800-873-1290 or visit www.dell.com/smb/imagine

Sam Nicholson, ASC

photo by Owen Roizman, ASC

Sam Nicholson, ASC

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

The International Journal of Motion Imaging

On Our Cover: Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi) masterminds a variety of criminal

Romans on the Run

Where Cinematography Lives

VISIT WWW.THEASC.COM TO ENJOY THESE WEB EXCLUSIVES

The International Journal of Motion Imaging

PUBLISHER Martha Winterhalter

CIRCULATION, BOOKS & PRODUCTS

ASC GENERAL MANAGER Brett Grauman

The Camera Department can be a production or rental

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American Society of Cinematographers

John C. Flinn III

An LFS education is not limited to

THE LFS TWO-YEAR

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To find out more about training in all departments,

Cooke Continuing to Lead the Way

Cooke Optics 5/ Lenses

For details on our 5/ T1.4 Primes, go to:

cookeoptics.com T: +44 (0)116 264 0700

HBOs new series Boardwalk Empire, which premieres on

Photo by Owen Roizman, ASC.

50Mbps MPEG-2 4:2:2

Michael Goi, ASC

Photo by Owen Roizman, ASC.

Kodak, 2010. Kodak and Vision are trademarks.

Taking Arris Alexa to the World Cup

Sam Nicholson, ASC and his collaborators at Stargate Studios

cinematographer Dana Christiaansen only a few hours to familiarize

Photos and frame grabs courtesy of Stargate Studios.

shooting a soccer field in Glendale, Calif., as

its overexposed, notes Christiaansen.

defining factors of a digital camera is how

Record natively to Apples ProRes 422 codec

The best lenses to express what you have in mind . . .

All the performance and range to capture your imagination.

for over 75 years . . .

An Americans Spiritual Journey

Based on a popular memoir by Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat Pray Love

the importance of memory, and how to convey those themes visually.

For Liz, and for the

both her uncertainty and her resolutions. In

Ive shot a great deal

tioned at the various locations?

What, if any, filtration did you

The years between 1980 and 2000

The film was written and directed by

The film is about Faustas journey

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