American Cinematographer Magazine-November 2009 PDF

NOVEMBER 2009
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1 9 2 0 S I N C E • T E C H N I Q U E S P R O D U C T I O N D I G I T A L & F I L M O F J O U R N A L I N T E R N A T I O N A L T H E
A M E R I C A N C I N E M AT O G R A P H E R • N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 9 • W H E R E T H E W I L D T H I N G S A R E , T H E B O X , T H E D A M N E D U N I T E D, A N T I C H R I S T, E M M Y N O M I N E E S • V O L . 9 0 N O. 1 1
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N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 9 V O L . 9 0 N O . 1 1
The International Journal of Film & Digital Production Techniques
On Our Cover: Unruly 9-year-old Max (Max Records) takes a soulful stroll with Carol in Where the Wild
Things Are, shot by Lance Acord, ASC. (Photo by Matt Nettheim, courtesy of Warner Bros.)
Features 34 Wild Kingdom

Lance Acord, ASC envisions the classic children’s book
Where the Wild Things Are
48 Pandora’s Predicament
Steven Poster, ASC creates surreal imagery for The Box
58 Kicked Off the Pitch

Ben Smithard immortalizes a notorious English coach
48
in The Damned United
66 The Root of All Evil

Anthony Dod Mantle, BSC, DFF lends eerie ambience
to Antichrist
76 Quality Viewing
The spotlight shines on this year’s Emmy Award
nominees for cinematography
58
Departments 8
10
Editor’s Note
President’s Desk
12 Short Takes: Synaesthesia
18 Production Slate: The Private Lives of Pippa Lee
Cairo Time
78 Post Focus: Restoring Apollo 11 Footage
84 New Products & Services
92 International Marketplace
94 Classified Ads/Ad Index
96 In Memoriam: Richard Moore, ASC
98 Clubhouse News 66
100 ASC Close-Up: Anastas Michos
V i s i t u s o n l i n e a t w w w. t h e a s c . c o m
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N o v e m b e r 2 0 0 9 V o l . 9 0 , N o . 1 1
The International Journal of Film & Digital Production Techniques • Since 1920
Visit us online at
www.theasc.com
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PUBLISHER Martha Winterhalter
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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 Davis, Bob Fisher, Simon Gray, Jim Hemphill, David Heuring,
Jay Holben, Mark Hope-Jones, Noah Kadner, Ron Magid, Jean Oppenheimer,
John Pavlus, Chris Pizzello, Jon Silberg, Iain Stasukevich,
Kenneth Sweeney, Patricia Thomson, David E. Williams
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ART DEPARTMENT
CREATIVE DIRECTOR Marion Gore
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American Cinematographer (ISSN 0002-7928), established 1920 and in its 89th year of publication, is published
monthly in Hollywood by ASC Holding Corp., 1782 N. Orange Dr., Hollywood, CA 90028, U.S.A.,
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4
AMC_0909_p013:Layout 1 8/6/09 11:12 AM Page 1
Stefan Sonnenfeld
Colorist. Entrepreneur. Fanatic.
© Kodak, 2009. Kodak and Vision are trademarks.

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AMC_1109_p006:00 board 10/6/09 2:54 PM Page 6
American Society of Cinematographers

The ASC is not a labor union or a guild, but
an educational, cultural and professional
organization. Membership is by invitation
to those who are actively engaged as
directors of photography and have
demonstrated outstanding ability. ASC
membership has become one of the highest
honors that can be bestowed upon a
professional cinematographer — a mark
of prestige and excellence.
OFFICERS - 2009/2010
Michael Goi
President
Richard Crudo
Vice President
Owen Roizman
Vice President
Victor J. Kemper
Vice President
Matthew Leonetti
Treasurer
Rodney Taylor
Secretary
John C. Flinn III
Sergeant At Arms
MEMBERS OF THE BOARD

Curtis Clark
Richard Crudo
George Spiro Dibie
Richard Edlund
John C. Flinn III
John Hora
Victor J. Kemper
Matthew Leonetti
Stephen Lighthill
Isidore Mankofsky
Daryn Okada
Owen Roizman
Nancy Schreiber
Haskell Wexler
Vilmos Zsigmond
ALTERNATES
Fred Elmes
Steven Fierberg
Ron Garcia
Michael D. O’Shea
Michael Negrin
MUSEUM CURATOR
Steve Gainer
6
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AMC_1109_p008:00 editor's note 10/6/09 3:21 PM Page 8
Editor’s Note hen I was still in short pants, I reveled in the unruly antics
W of Max, the 9-year-old hero in Maurice Sendak’s pithy but

pictorially splendid children’s book Where the Wild
Things Are. Lately, I’ve been reliving Max’s malfeasance
through my 3-year-old son, Nicholas, who occasionally gives
the tantrum-throwing tot a run for his money. Despite my
concern that too much Max may inspire additional mischief, I
inevitably cave when Nicholas begs for one more look at the
book — or, as a true child of the digital age, another glimpse
at the online trailer for the new live-action movie that’s sprung
from its pages.
Australian correspondent Simon Gray’s story on Spike
Jonze’s big-screen rumpus (“Wild Kingdom,” page 34) takes you straight into the belly of the
beast — literally. The Wild Things movie and Simon’s coverage were a long time coming, but
both were worth the wait; the otherworldly, emotionally affecting images crafted by Lance
Acord, ASC honor Jonze’s uncompromising interpretation of Sendak’s world. “The essence of
Spike’s approach was to go out and film the wild things as if we were making a ‘fly-on-the-
wall’ wildlife documentary about creatures in their natural environment,” Acord explains.
Inventive visuals are also evident in The Box, a thriller that marks the third collabo-
ration between Steven Poster, ASC and director Richard Kelly, a teaming that began on the
indie hit Donnie Darko. AC contributor Jay Holben digs deep into the duo’s use of digital tech-
nology in an article filled with insights on “image capture” (“Pandora’s Predicament,” page 48).
As Poster points out, “The workflow is different on every movie now, regardless of whether
you shoot film or digital. I started a dialogue [involving] Panavision, LaserPacific, our editorial
department, our post supervisor, and Thomas Tannenberger and his visual-effects team to nail
down exactly what the workflow was going to be.”
Fans of British soccer will surely enjoy cinematographer Ben Smithard’s work on The
Damned United, which recounts the ups and downs of a football manager trying to survive the
pressures of England’s Premier League (“Kicked Off the Pitch,” page 58). London correspondent
Mark Hope-Jones details Smithard’s every move, right down to his use of vintage tube-video
cameras to capture an authentic ’70s vibe. “That footage looks great because the colors are all
over the place and a bit desaturated,” says Smithard. “There’s no other look like it; it’s the
equivalent of someone from Kodak giving you 300 rolls of mint film stock from the 1970s!”
Aberrant psychology is the order of the day in Lars von Trier’s controversial drama
Antichrist, a cause célèbre at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. To get the details about the film’s
remarkable photography, Jon Silberg tracked down Anthony Dod Mantle, BSC, DFF, last year’s
ASC and Academy award winner for Slumdog Millionaire, for a Q&A (“The Root of All Evil,”
page 66). “[Lars] always works intuitively, but this whole project became unusually intuitive and
irrational as the film slowly began to realize itself,” says Dod Mantle, later adding, “I will go
all the way for a true artist if he’s doing something different, even if there are difficulties and
disagreements.”
This issue also offers a recap of the year’s Emmy Award nominees for cinematogra-
phy (“Quality Viewing,” page 76). “When you’re standing there with that statue in your hand,
you are struck by how cool it is to be acknowledged by your peers,” says Michael Weaver, who
Photo by Douglas Kirkland.
won a statuette for Californication. “All the blood, sweat and tears you sacrifice during your
career actually mean something, and people notice the work. It was an amazing honor.”
Stephen Pizzello
8 Executive Editor
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AMC_1109_p010:00 letters 10/6/09 2:51 PM Page 10
President’s Desk
t was late afternoon in Chicago 31 years ago. I was riding in a car with some friends, and
I we stopped for a traffic light at the corner of Clark Street and Diversey Avenue. I was in
the passenger seat, and I looked casually out the window. And there she was. She was
brunette, in her mid-twenties, about 5' 5". She was wearing older but not faded blue jeans
and a sleeveless white blouse. She had on brown sandals with straps that crossed her feet
twice, and no polish on her toes or fingers. She was clutching a laundry basket filled with
dry, semi-folded clothes. She was waiting for a bus.
The orange tone of the low sun reflected off the glass windows of a building across
the street, throwing softly speckled patterns of light on everything around her, but she
remained in a calm space, a spot on the sidewalk where the light only glowed as if coming
from a source undefined. The warm summer breeze wafted her hair lightly, and she stepped
toward the curb and craned her neck to look down the street for the bus. She reached up with
her right hand to brush her long hair out of her eyes. She wore one ring, a simple silver one.
The traffic light changed about 15 seconds after we stopped, and my friends and I went on our way. She never saw me, and
I don’t believe my friends saw her. She wasn’t especially remarkable; she wasn’t a drop-dead beauty or a traffic-stopping
bombshell. Yet not a month has gone by in 31 years when I haven’t thought of that girl. Mostly it’s a passing thought, an image
that crosses my mind in the midst of dealing with daily duties. Sometimes it’s more than that, a curiosity about who she is and
where she is now. It wasn’t sexual, the way you would imagine a teenaged boy would think of a slightly older woman. It was
sensual, an appreciation for that particular moment in time and the sweet melancholy of knowing that this was all there would be
of the encounter.
Cinematographers frequently reference other works while developing the unique style for the project we’re shooting. Often
it’ll be another film. Many times it’ll be a painting, a still photograph, clips from a magazine or even a piece of music. Anything that
stirs an emotion and leaves an impression carries with it the seed that can be adapted to another expression of art. But your own
life experiences frequently inspire the most sublime transpositions into cinematographic form.
We keep a mental catalogue of these experiences to draw on as needed. They inspire our art and speak to the depth of our
ability to understand how our circumstances affect our state of mind, how we find substance in our physical surroundings. And
they create memories as vivid as something happening right now, moments we have deemed important in our lives, sometimes
not knowing why.
While shooting the film The Fixer, I was looking for a way to depict the humble surroundings of a poor priest who is hear-
ing the confession of a man in search of redemption. I remembered an early Christmas morning when I was a child. The sun had
not yet risen, and everyone was asleep. The living room was suffused with the dark blue ambience of pre-dawn, and the Christ-
mas-tree lights sparkled gently in the somber atmosphere, an oasis of hope. I proceeded to light the scene at hand with that feel-
ing — not the exact colors, but the feeling of that room. When the director saw the dailies, he said it reminded him of the sound
of steam radiators heating up in winter. The editor remarked that the room had the smell of old wood and crisp air.
I have no doubt that someday I will have to film a scene that has the same ethereal quality of the encounter with that woman
31 years ago, and I will break down the technical components necessary to make it achievable and understandable to all the other
craftspeople involved in creating motion pictures: the camera assistants who must order the proper lenses, the electricians who
need to get the right lights, the grips who will need to rig the cranes, the assistant director who must schedule it at the right time
of day, and the art department who must have props in the proper color palette.
But the inspiration will be mine. That’s what makes me a cinematographer.
Michael Goi, ASC

President
10 November 2009
AMC_1009_p011 :Layout 1 8/27/09 1:15 PM Page 11
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AMC_1109_p012p016:00 short takes 10/6/09 2:50 PM Page 12
Short Takes
Senses Work Overtime in Synaesthesia
by Iain Stasukevich
ynaesthesia is the phenomenon that
S
Top and middle:
The short film occurs when one sensory stimulus
Synaesthesia
offers a visual triggers a different kind of sensation
exploration of — seeing colors when you hear music,
the eponymous or smelling one thing while you taste
condition, in
which one another. Synaesthesia is the latest
sensory project from the Bay Area directing team
stimulus of Ian Kibbey and Corey Creasey. The
triggers a
different filmmakers met while attending classes
sensory at UC-Berkeley, found that they shared a
response. For lot of the same ideas, and began
instance, in the
scene pictured shooting low-budget music videos under
here, a boy the moniker Terri Timely. Since then,
(Jordan they’ve produced more than 25 music
Gimkan) listens
to his food. videos, commercials, and short films.
Bottom: The A byproduct of this work is a large
boy’s family, backlog of visual ideas — the genesis of
including his
mother (Pearl Synaesthesia. “Cats jumping out of
Wong) and speakers or plugging headphones into
father (Larry food — those ideas had come to us
Kitagawa),
move through separately,” Creasey explains. “Years
their sensory later, we learned about synaesthesia,
stew all but and it clicked.” Adds Kibbey, “It helps to
oblivious to one
another. have a concept to work with; otherwise,
your film becomes this mishmash of
imagery and sound.”
Synaesthesia depicts an evening
in the life of a nuclear Asian family,
during which each member experiences
a different form of the condition. The first
scene involves one of two young sons
sitting at the dinner table as he plugs a Photos and frame grabs courtesy of Terri Timely.
set of headphones into different kinds of
food — each of which has its own,
distinctive sound. In the kitchen, the
mother is chopping up a cookbook and
scooping the strips onto a baking pan,
while the father drops a sheaf of paper
into the toaster. A book pops up, and Dad
places the toasted tome on a tray and
walks it through the dining room and into
the living room. There, another boy is
sitting on the rug, sniffing record albums
and calling out colors for each one (in
Cantonese, with deliberately incorrect
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spent in Vietnam at the outset of their

commercial careers. In particular, the film
was influenced by the architecture and
design on display in Ho Chi Minh City’s
Reunification Palace. “There’s a retro-
future vibe in Vietnam,” Creasey offers.
“They’re really into the American ’70s
there, but it’s interpreted through modern
Vietnamese culture.” Kibbey adds,
“When we were in Vietnam, we couldn’t
tell if it was a Western expression of
Eastern aesthetic, or the other way
around.”
Sell worked closely with
production designer Na Young Kim to
Above: The boxy, subtitles). The mother opens the oven another, and then everything turns into ensure that his camerawork com-
retro set, realized and removes her baking pan, which chaos at the end.” plemented her boxy, retro set design.
by production
designer contains a papier-mâché turkey. Back in The film was shot by Constructed in Terri Timely’s studio in
Na Young Kim, the living room, a reel-to-reel player cinematographer Donavan Sell, a Bay Fremont, Calif., the home is configured
enabled the clicks on, running a ribbon of text across Area resident who met Creasey while like a railroad apartment, with one room
filmmakers to
track from room to the tape head; along with the music that the two were students. (Sell attended leading directly into the next. By putting
room. Below, left begins to play, all manner of weird classes across the Bay at the Academy the camera on a dolly, Sell was able to
to right: Grip objects begin to pop out of the stereo of Art University.) Sell was looking for a follow the father as he walked from the
Keith Pikus,
camera assistant speakers: eggs, grass, smoke, director with a good story, and Creasey kitchen through the dining room and into
Jeremy Wong, fireworks, cats. The film ends with a was looking for a cinematographer. the living room, capturing each
cinematographer bang — literally — when the son in the They were introduced by mutual friends environment in a single move. When the
Donavan Sell, and
directors dining room plugs his headphone jack and eventually collaborated on three actor reached the living room, the camera
Ian Kibbey and into his belly button and explodes. projects over the next three years until was aimed straight down the length of
Corey Creasey According to the filmmakers, the Creasey met Kibbey, who turned the the house, presenting the audience with
fine-tune one
of the tracking family analogy works on two levels. twosome into a trio. Sell recalls being a view of the entire set.
moves. “We wanted to see what would happen impressed by the way the young Sell and Kim tried to give each
when all these manifestations existed Berkeley students clicked. “Ian’s got the room a distinct look. “We used a lot of
in one space,” Kibbey points out. “Each energy, and Creasey is very technical,” saturated colors,” says Kim. “Donavan
person’s neurological system takes in he notes. “Both of them are always and I talked a lot about the color
different sensory information, and coming up with interesting concepts, schemes. The kitchen has a pale, sky-
they’re also a family that isn’t which are hard to come by.” blue color. The dining room has a lot of
communicating. There are few times Synaesthesia was partially saturated colors with the food, and the
when they actually acknowledge one inspired by the time Creasey and Kibbey living room has dark, natural tones.” Sell
notes, “Na Young’s production design
really dictated the lighting, because I
didn’t know what I would be doing until I
got there.”
Kim also attended the Academy of
Art University, where she studied
painting along with her production-
design courses. “It helped me understand
light and colors, and how colors can be
changed by the light,” she says.
“Production design isn’t just designing a
space; it’s working with the director of
photography and understanding how
light affects that space.”
Sell’s cinematography was
inspired by Wong Kar-wai’s 2046 and In
the Mood For Love, both of which were
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Creasey (top) the Red camera Terri Timely had

prepares for the recently purchased. Prior to
fireworks display
that emanates Synaethesia, most of their projects had
from the family’s been shot on film. “I liked it, for a digital
stereo speakers camera,” Sell comments. “You still have
at Synaesthesia’s
climax. to treat the image like a video image
and light for the highlights, but I was
surprised at its latitude, and the
accessories made it feel like a film
camera. I can be a little lazy when it
comes to lighting video, so I brought my
meter, and the camera was spot-on with
my readings.”
The biggest plus for Sell was the
Red’s PL mount, which enabled him to
use Zeiss Superspeed MKII primes.
“The fact that this camera lets me use
the lenses I’m used to means a lot to
me,” he enthuses.
“The piece is meant to be
visually stylized,” says Creasey. “We
tried to adhere to the conventions of
traditional cinematic imagery, but it
does have a slightly different look than it
would if we had shot on 35mm. In the
end, our visual choices were really more
about the lighting and the art direction
than the choice of camera.”
Sell dialed in the 1920x1080 HD
image on set, using Red Alert software,
shot mostly by Christopher Doyle, HKSC. bouncing them into 12x UltraBounces and exported color reference clips that
Singling out particular aspects of those for fill. Source Four Pars were used as served as guidelines after they delivered
films, he cites Doyle’s use of “super- the actors’ key lights; the one exception their footage to Spy Post in San
saturated colors [and his tendency to] to this approach was the boy at the Francisco. The final color grade was
push them further than they would go table, who was lit with a 2K space light. performed by Carey Burens on a DaVinci
normally, [as well as his strategy of] not In the dining room, the light coming 2K, but the majority of postproduction
lighting people with tungsten light or through the window seems too orange time was dedicated to rendering out r3d
daylight — maybe something that for natural light; to elicit this eerie (Redcode RAW) files for editorial.
matches the set more, but not orange glow, the cinematographer So far, Synaesthesia has been a
practically motivated. doubled up Rosco Straw filters. Another big hit on the Web, and the short has
“On Synaesthesia, we didn’t window, hidden offstage in the kitchen, even inspired an interactive installation
have to hold to conventions, and it didn’t was skinned with Rosco Teal to match at Scion Space in Culver City, Calif.
have to be textbook,” he adds. “I love the rest of the room. Creasey and Kibbey feel both thrilled
2046, but I could never get away with “The dining room was a tough and vindicated. “The thing we try to do
creating that kind of look in my regular set to light because we had to travel with all of our work is to tap into the
work.” past it,” Sell remarks. “There’s so much strange things people think about every
With few practicals and just one going on in the living room. You can see now and again, like ‘What does a
visible window (in the dining room) at that the walls have swatches of color on tomato sound like?’” Creasey says.
his disposal, Sell opted for a less them — more Source Fours. We gave “Synaesthesia is not uncommon, and
motivated lighting strategy, choosing the father and the boy special lights: red our film is just a visual way of
instead to let the environments speak and white lights that simulate the presenting this condition that everyone
for themselves. In each space he set a fireworks going off in the speakers.” experiences on some level.” I
base exposure with overhead 2K space In addition to shaking out their
lights, then created fill by placing 5K creative cobwebs, everyone on the
Fresnels on the camera side and project was determined to shoot with
16 November 2009
11_09 prod slate:00 production slate 10/5/09 11:17 AM Page 18
Production Slate
Women in Transition
Pippa’s mother,
Suky (Maria
Bello),
struggles to get
through another
morning in a
scene from The
Private Lives of
Pippa Lee, shot
by Declan
Quinn, ASC.
The Private Lives of Pippa Lee photos by Gene Page, courtesy of Screen Media Films.
Discovering Pippa Lee lesbian photographer (Julianne Moore) kitchen, and her present-day dining
by Claire Walla — and reconsider her present situation, room. Shaw created a set that put the
including her budding affection for a kitchen and the dining room back-to-
Writer and filmmaker Rebecca neighbor’s son, Chris (Keanu Reeves). back, and in front of the kitchen he
Miller published her first novel, The With such a mix of characters, attached the front portion of a pickup
Private Lives of Pippa Lee, in 2008. time periods and emotional undercur- truck. The transition begins with a two-
Shortly after its release, Miller, whose rents, Miller wanted to create a unified shot of Chris and Pippa in the truck and
feature credits include Personal Velocity story that would unfold fluidly. “When I then moves to a close-up of Chris before
(AC April ’02) and The Ballad of Jack and came to write the screenplay, I realized pulling focus on the kitchen behind him,
Rose (AC April ’05), teamed with Declan pretty early on that the way to [achieve while Pippa reminisces about her child-
Quinn, ASC to fine-tune Pippa Lee for the continuity] was for the camera to actu- hood. After we watch an imagined
big screen. ally be moving from one world to the exchange between an older Pippa and
The film centers on a 50-year-old next,” says Miller. Quinn collaborated her mother, the camera pans right to
woman, Pippa (Robin Wright Penn), who closely with production designer Pippa’s present-day dining room, where
moves into a sleepy Connecticut retire- Michael Shaw to create sets that we see Pippa and Herb eating dinner.
ment community with her husband, Herb combined elements from two to three “That transition moves from
(Alan Arkin), who is 30 years older. Pippa different scenes, so that the camera present-day to past to present-day
proceeds to fall delicately into a midlife could physically roll from one time again in three shots,” says Quinn. “It
crisis that causes her to reflect on her period directly into another. had to be done quickly, and all of these
aimless adolescence — marked by a The most complicated of these transitions were complicated to set up. I
pill-popping mother (Maria Bello) and an transitions involves three different sets: thought at first it would take half a day
association with her aunt’s partner, a Chris’ pickup truck, Pippa’s childhood to shoot one, but each transition only
18 November 2009
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Suky’s dramatic hood home, where her mother is frost-

highs and lows, ing a birthday cake for young Pippa
exacerbated by
her drug (Madeline McNulty). The camera
addiction, follows a piece of cake that a waiter
eventually lead physically brings from one set to the
to a tearful
confrontation next. Because the scene was shot on
with Pippa location, the crew had to rip pieces
(Blake Lively, away from the original kitchen set and
bottom photo).
rebuild it inside the actual restaurant.
“It was a fairly open space, so it wasn’t
too difficult,” Quinn says. “First, we
rigged some lights in the ceiling to
create a warm, ambient toplight in the
restaurant — a mixture of 32K Kinos
gelled with Lee Chocolate and Lee Pale
Gold, along with a few paper lanterns
hung under the Kinos to mix in a whiter
light. The camera transitions to the
accounts for a few seconds in the kitchen set, and for that portion of the
movie, and the schedule didn’t allow me scene we stuck some Kino Flo tubes
that kind of time. So we made foamcore behind the window to simulate daylight
miniature models in prep and tried to in the kitchen. There was very little
think it through very thoroughly so we space between the kitchen-set wall
could do it as quickly as possible on the and the restaurant wall, but Kinos can
actual day of shooting.” be squeezed into some very tight
Although the sets for most tran- spaces.”
sitions were carefully constructed The bigger challenge was keep-
inside a small warehouse in Connecti- ing the pink frosting on the cake pink:
cut, where the majority of the film’s sets the camera pans from a warmly lit Ital-
were built, the crew had to artfully ian restaurant to a cooler environment,
assemble one such set on location. The and the cake actually turned blue in the
action in the transition moves from a process. Correcting it back to pink was
present-day restaurant, where Pippa, one of the most significant adjustments
Herb and their grown children are Quinn made to Pippa Lee in the digital-
eating, to the kitchen in Pippa’s child- intermediate suite.
Another major adjustment was
altering the light and shadows for a
scene that is supposed to take place
early in the morning, when Chris drops
Pippa off at her house. Because of the
production schedule, the scene had to
be filmed in “open shade” during a very
shadowy part of the day. “I had to rely
on the DI process to make it feel murky,
and it took a lot of power windows to
make it work,” recalls Quinn. The cine-
matographer supervised the DI over
two weeks at Technicolor New York,
where he worked with colorist Tim
Stipan.
When Quinn began prepping
Pippa Lee, he had recently wrapped
Jonathan Demme’s Rachel Getting
Married, which was shot with handheld
high-definition video cameras. Miller
20 November 2009
and Quinn agreed that look wouldn’t

suit Pippa Lee. “We both thought it
would be nauseating to have the
camera moving that much when the
story moved so much,” notes Miller.
The camera is never idle,
however; it constantly moves inward,
gradually pushing into Pippa onscreen.
Quinn explains, “The fact that it’s sitting
on a dolly gives the visuals a grounded
feeling, so by moving the camera a little
bit all the time, we add a bit of tension.”
The production used a camera
package from Panavision New York.
Quinn employed a Millennium for the
first two weeks of the show, but “we
decided we needed a lighter camera, so
we switched to a Panaflex XL.” His lens
selection comprised a full set of Super
Speed prime lenses and a Primo 3:1
zoom. Quinn used the latter for a high-
Top: The adult speed shot at the end of the film, but he
Pippa (Robin
Wright Penn)
used the Super Speeds for all other
enjoys a quiet material because he wanted to capture
dinner with her some lens flares. “The older Super
husband, Herb
(Alan Arkin).
Speeds flare much more than the newer
Middle: Pippa lenses and create a nostalgic feel,” he
and Herb’s son, explains. “Everything looks as if it was
Ben (Ryan
McDonald), sits
filmed 20 years ago.”
down to The XL was used mostly for
breakfast. scenes with a heightened sense of
Bottom: In one of
the film’s
emotion, such as the moment when
flashbacks, young Pippa takes a handful of her
Pippa’s parents mother’s diet pills in an act of defiance
throw a lively
party.
and confronts her mother about her
addiction. The two women, high on
speed, melt into a semi-violent
confrontation in Pippa’s bedroom. Miller
wanted to do the scene in a two-shot,
but she also didn’t want the camera to
be completely still. Quinn dangled the
lightweight XL in front of the two char-
acters by hanging it from latex surgical
tubing, which allowed him to stay
focused on the action while retaining
some degree of motion. “Latex tubing
has incredible elasticity,” he notes.
He also used that technique for
many of the scenes between Pippa and
Chris. This works particularly well
during an intimate moment that takes
place in Chris’ truck. Miller explains,
“We wanted the camera to breathe in a
sense, so that when you watch them
fall in love, there’s a slightly airy feel.”
22 November 2009
AMC_0807_p015 6/29/07 11:51 AM Page 1
During prep, Miller and Quinn

watched films that included Black
Narcissus and High Society. Quinn
recalls, “We fell in love with the Techni-
color process and tried to bring an
aspect of that look to the present-day
story. The most interesting film in terms
of color was Black Narcissus, for which
Jack Cardiff [ASC, BSC] used a cool fill
light with a warm sunlight effect.” To
achieve a similar effect, Quinn often
used Pale Amber Gold gels on sunlight
sources and Pale Lavender gels on fill
lights. “I’d compare it to a gelato color
— delicious,” says Miller. “We wanted
the film to be delicious!”
Quinn also used colored gels to
differentiate the periods that snake
through the story. For the scenes that
take place in the 1960s, during Pippa’s
childhood, he created warm, slightly
pink tones; for the 1970s, he went for a
cooler tone “more reminiscent of the
Above: Quinn
dangles the music of that period,” he says; and for
camera from a the 1980s, the scenes are warm. The
rig made of latex production’s lighting package included a
tubing, a device
he used to 12K tungsten light, a few Nine-light
achieve a Maxi-Brutes, and some small tungsten
number of shots units. “I bounced bigger lights outside
in the picture.
Right: The and tried to bring light through windows
cinematographer whenever possible; when we were on
prepares a more the sets, we’d sometimes remove a
conventional
setup while wall and bring in a fill light from 20-30
Miller checks feet away so it would have a gentler
a monitor. effect.
“You don’t need anything fancy
to make a film,” he adds. “A movie is
driven by the emotions of the charac-
ters, and the mood and tone are driven
by the script. The most important thing
is to connect with the director’s vision,
and Rebecca was very articulate about
how she saw the story.”
TECHNICAL SPECS
1.85:1
35mm
Panaflex Millennium, XL
Panavision Super Speed and Primo
lenses
Kodak Vision2 500T 5218,
200T 5217
Digital Intermediate
24 November 2009
AMC_0909_p051 :Layout 1 7/27/09 4:35 PM Page 1
In the
widescreen
feature Cairo
Time, a
Canadian
woman (Patricia
Clarkson) visits
Egypt for the first
time and
becomes
increasingly
fascinated by its
culture — and
one Egyptian in
particular. Top:
“This was our
‘love scene,’ so
the light had to
evoke the
passion present
between Juliette
(Clarkson) and
Tareq
(Alexander
Siddig),” says
cinematographer
Luc Montpellier,
CSC. Bottom: For Egypt’s Allure two by placing a Canadian woman, Juli- naturally. I was drawn to Cairo Time
a scene in by David Heuring ette (Patricia Clarkson), in a foreign land. because of the character arc and the
which Juliette
visits Tareq at a
As she waits for her husband to arrive, opportunities for the cinematography to
“men only” café, Luc Montpellier, CSC grew up in she strives to contain her growing inter- underscore those changes. There are no
the filmmakers a small town in Ontario, studied film at est in the foreign culture so she can special effects, and because the
surrounded
Clarkson with
Ryerson University in Toronto, and experience it with him. But her thirst for photography must be honest and ring
cool colors to began his career shooting music videos. experience draws her into the chaotic true, the cinematography almost
set her apart In the mid-1990s, he moved into narra- and mysterious world of Cairo, and becomes more important than it would
from the
environment.
tive filmmaking, and has since compiled some basic truths about her life are be in another kind of picture.”
credits that include Away From Her, revealed as a result of the cultural dislo- In spite of Cairo’s scenic beauty,
Emotional Arithmetic and The Saddest cation. the filmmakers wanted to avoid a
Music in the World (AC Aug. ’04). “The cinematographer’s respon- picture-postcard look. Locations were
Cairo Time is Montpellier’s third sibility is to translate abstract ideas into chosen partly based on Juliette’s state
collaboration with director Ruba Nadda, reality,” says Montpellier. “Once I of mind at particular moments in the
following Sabah and Aadan. The new submit myself to a concept, the techni- story. Montpellier endeavored to create
film reverses the pattern of the previous cal means of how to achieve it comes images that would evoke the appropri-
Cairo Time photos courtesy of Foundry Films and Luc Montpellier.
26 November 2009
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Top to bottom: ate feelings in the viewer even if the

A conversation picture had no sound; he says this goal
between
Juliette and made light and its connection to the
Tareq is set emotional drama extremely important.
against the The filmmakers also believed the
Great Pyramid
of Giza to script and the chaotic backdrop of Cairo
underscore a called for the counterpoint of a more
feeling of controlled, classical approach to framing
solitude;
Montpellier and camera movement. They decided to
(left) and 1st AC avoid a documentary aesthetic, and that
Andy Jekabsons choice had many ramifications for the
capture the
scene; rest of the shoot. “Because we were
preparing the shooting on location in a chaotic city of
final shot of 20 million, without the resources we’d
the film,
Montpellier have at hand in Toronto or Los Angeles,
waits for the our challenge was to create order out of
right light on the chaos,” says Montpellier. “We faced a
pyramids;
Montpellier, paradox. We had to be at the right
Jekabsons and places, rolling at the right times, control-
Egyptian ling the uncontrollable.”
key/dolly grip
Ehab Atiya line The color palette was detailed
up the final and precise. Cairo is represented by
dolly shot of the the warm earth tones that dominate
picture.
the urban landscape there. At the
beginning of the film, Juliette is dressed
in and surrounded by cooler, more
modern tones, and she slowly
progresses to warmer, more golden
tones as she begins to explore and
engage with the ancient city. On loca-
tion during prep, Montpellier did exten-
sive testing for wardrobe, makeup,
filtration and skin tones, and to gauge
the local light patterns, using a Canon
5D camera and film-stock-emulation
software. “Throughout the shoot, it was
a challenge to balance interiors and
exteriors because of the extremely
bright African sun, and I wanted to see
how far I could push the film stock and
still maintain detail outside windows,”
he says. “I wanted to avoid blinding the
actors by bringing up interior levels.
However, there are many scenes where
the characters go from inside to outside
on a balcony, and that meant I couldn’t
ND the windows. It was important for
me to know how far I could go with inte-
rior levels.”
Nadda and Montpellier chose to
shoot widescreen (Super 35mm) to inte-
grate the performers with the environ-
ment, to isolate single characters in the
frame when emotionally appropriate,
and sometimes to create the simple
28 November 2009
Filming
widescreen
classicism of a still photograph. “We
enabled made an effort to frame Juliette within
Montpellier to static shots as she first ventures out into
isolate
characters
the city,” says Montpellier. “As she
within the frame begins to explore and feel more comfort-
for dramatic able, the use of the Steadicam becomes
effect. In this
scene, Juliette’s
more prevalent. We hope that helps the
husband (Tom audience share in her emotional state.”
McCamus) The cinematographer used Tiffen
arrives
unexpectedly
Soft/FX filters throughout to subtly flare
and puts an end the whites, varying the strength accord-
to her potential ing to the situation and the focal length
love affair.
Middle: As
of the lens. He chose two Moviecam
Andris Matiss Compact MKIIs, Cooke S4 primes lenses
mans the and a 12:1 Angenieux Optimo zoom; all
Steadicam for a
walk-and-talk,
gear came from Panavision Toronto,
the crew uses ¼ “whose support was crucial to our
grid diffusion to success,” he says.
soften the harsh
sunlight. Bottom:
Tareq takes
Juliette on a tour
of Cairo. “Getting
a crane on the
bridge was a
challenge,
considering that
we were unable
to ban traffic,”
notes
Montpellier.
30 November 2009
Montpellier used Kodak Vision2 adaptive engineering. Cranes and ies and some 575-watt Pars to get light
250D 5205 for most daylight situations. dollies were often customized. The lack inside the car,” recalls the cinematogra-
“5205 enabled me to shoot from early of legitimate rental houses meant that pher. “Again, our concern was to
morning all the way to magic hour with- equipment was located and rented balance the interiors and the exteriors.
out compromising grain; I changed ND through an informal network of We’d be dragging a car behind a pickup
filtration as the day went on to maintain crewmembers. truck with all our lamps strapped to it
a consistent look.” He used a slower Shots of cars moving through the with about 50 ratchet straps. We would
stock, Kodak Vision2 50D 5201, for a legendary Cairo traffic were perhaps the have handlers and grips hanging off the
day’s shooting in the White Desert, a most difficult to achieve, according to truck and waving for people to clear the
barren location several hours outside Montpellier. Standard towing rigs and way. If they didn’t move, our people
Cairo. In the scene, Juliette listens to a process trailers don’t exist there. “We would jump off the truck and try to move
friend confess her infidelity while she made a rig with three or four car batter- them physically. We would also have a
herself secretly considers cheating on
her absent husband. “We chose the
location to help create the right
emotional impact,” says Montpellier.
“The uncertainty and feeling of losing
one’s points of reference were evoked
by the landscape. When we first arrived,
I couldn’t open my eyes without wearing
sunglasses. There are chalky white and
cream-colored rock formations as far as
the eye can see, with the sun beating
down. It’s an extremely low-contrast
situation. Shooting the 50-speed stock
allowed me to get the right levels with
few hassles. I needed every bit of lati-
tude I could get, and 5201 gave me that
while capturing the subtle gradations of
white and cream.
“We used the 12:1 Optimo with a
doubler to accentuate the layers of
eroded rock formations, creating other-
worldly shapes,” he adds. “You’d almost
think you’re in Antarctica, but instead
you’re in the desert! There’s a surreal
quality to it.”
In Cairo, the filmmakers worked
hard to compensate for a lack of stan-
dard materials. There were no blimped
generators, and there were shortages of
flags and scrims. The locals gathered
large sheets of Styrofoam and painted
them black, and a pitchfork-like metal
tool would then be stabbed into the
edge of the Styrofoam at the desired
angle and mounted on a C-stand. Mont-
pellier says the technique worked so
well that he used it on subsequent
shoots. As a substitute for scrims, the
crew purchased a variety of fishnet
stockings that would knock down the
light by a half of a stop or more.
Montpellier says the local
crewmembers had an amazing knack for
31
Top left: Director vehicle ahead of us trying to find the

Ruba Nadda and owners of parked cars and pleading
Montpellier line
up a shot. Top with them to move them. Sometimes,
right: A tow rig our people would just pick the cars up
devised by local and carry them out of the way so we
crew enabled the
filmmakers to could keep moving and finish the shot! It
capture traveling was an amazing feat.” police hauled them in for filming without censor wasn’t around the B camera, it
shots. “What we A government censor accompa- a permit, but they talked their way out of was surreptitiously turned on, capturing
call process
trailers in North nied the filmmakers on every shoot day, the situation. Another time, they tried to a scene that was lit by “spill” that
America do not but on days when no official shooting capture footage of some children labor- Montpellier “accidentally” sent over
exist in Cairo, so was scheduled, Montpellier often went ing in a carpet-making business but from the fake setup. “It was worth the
this called for
some creative out with his focus puller and a local were thwarted by the censor. They then risks,” he says. “Without that footage,
engineering,” crewmember to capture street scenes proceeded to pretend to set up a big the movie would be very different. It
says Montpellier. that helped frame the story. Once the shot in a nearby area, and when the gives a sense of how it is to live in
prime choice
15mm – 40mm
optimo cine lenses from 15mm to 290mm

There’s no doubt that Angenieux Optimo 35mm film lenses deliver
exceptional optical performance and value. They feature extremely
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expansive 15 to 290mm range is provided by just four Optimo
Cairo. I think it’s an integral part of the blay, who had worked in the Middle
film.” East on Brian De Palma’s Redacted (AC
Montpellier had other thrills, Dec. ’07). Montpellier emphasizes that
such as the opportunity to light and resourcefulness and openness to local
photograph the Great Pyramid of Giza solutions were the foundation of a
and the Nile River at night. In both successful shoot. “You’d be ignorant not
cases, he used uncorrected HMI lamps, to open your eyes to the way that things
in some cases with the lenses removed, are done elsewhere in the world. Some- Errata
to get the necessary levels. He was able times when you don’t have the right
to isolate and adjust the color tempera- equipment, you end up being more Some of the text in last
tures in the digital intermediate, which creative. It was part of my evolution as month’s Q&A about Mad Men was
was done at 2K at Technicolor Toronto. a cinematographer, and being a North erroneously altered during the
He also used the DI to fine-tune scenes American going through these cultural production process. The quote that
with high contrast or widely varying skin experiences made me somewhat like begins at the bottom of page 40
tones, and to adjust interior and exterior our main character.” should read: “Sometimes we’ll
levels in building and vehicle shots. throw out a suggestion, such as
Technicolor Toronto also processed the TECHNICAL SPECS asking if a scene can be twilight
production’s footage, which meant the 2.40:1 instead of night; sometimes it would
filmmakers sometimes didn’t see 3-perf Super 35mm just look better to glow the windows
dailies, which were on DVD, for a week Moviecam Compact MKII soft blue instead of having it be
or more. Cooke and Angenieux lenses night, with nothing out there.” And
Montpellier was able to bring his Kodak Vision2 50D 5201, 250D 5205; the question that begins at the
key Canadian crew to Egypt for the Vision3 500T 5219 bottom of page 41 should read:
shoot. The focus puller was Andy Digital Intermediate “With all the unusual colors and
Jekabsons, the operator was Andris Printed on Kodak Vision 2383 textures in the wardrobe, do you
Matiss, and the gaffer was Scott Trem- I ever shoot wardrobe tests?”
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AMC_1109_p034p047:a_feature 10/5/09 10:38 AM Page 34
Wild Kingdom Lance Acord, ASC helps bring a children’s classic to life
with Where the Wild Things Are.
by Simon Gray
Unit photography by
Sonny Geras, Ben King and Matt Nettheim
t may seem hard to believe now, Visually echoing the work of who is sent to bed without his supper
I
but Maurice Sendak’s Where the Francisco Goya, one of Sendak’s after making mischief. Using his
Wild Things Are caused quite a favorite artists, Wild Things springs imagination, Max transforms his
stir when it was first published in straight out of Freudian psychoana- room into a jungle where he tames a
1963. Despite winning the lytical theory, which maintains that group of fantastic creatures: cantan-
coveted Caldecott Medal for Most children learn to deal with strong kerous, furry, two-legged beasts
Distinguished Picture Book, the slen- emotions by projecting them onto resplendent with claws, teeth, scales
der, tableau-style volume — which fantasies. and horns.
has a grand total of just 10 sentences Now considered a classic of In bringing Max’s rambunc-
— drew strong criticism from child children’s literature, Wild Things tells tious adventures to cinematic life,
psychologists, who deemed its the story of Max (played in the movie director Spike Jonze reunited with his
images too disturbing for children. by Max Records), a 9-year-old boy longtime collaborator, cinematogra-
34 November 2009
pher Lance Acord, ASC. “Working bushfire had burnt away all the possible, we’ve excluded the color Opposite: 9-year-
with Spike again was the great attrac- undergrowth, leaving behind green. Photographically, green can be old Max (Max
Records), the
tion of doing this film,” offers Acord, scorched earth and blackened trees a comforting color because it looks newly crowned
who is quite familiar with the psycho- with white leaves. Dotting the barren tranquil and fertile, and we want the king of the wild
logical complexities of Jonze’s work landscape were structures resembling forest to be a wild, untamed place of things, watches
the sunset with
after shooting the features Being John huge bird’s nests — the homes of danger and adventure.” Carol in Where
Malkovich and Adaptation (AC Dec. the wild things. “Gembrook is a In the sequence that was being the Wild Things
’02). “I initially thought the project perfect example of the type of loca- shot, Max is crowned king of the wild Are, directed by
Spike Jonze and
might involve extensive use of animation we wanted for the land of things and issues his first royal procla- based on the
tronics and greenscreen, but Spike’s the wild things,” Acord notes while mation: “Let the wild rumpus begin!” acclaimed
enthusiastic reconceptualization was keeping a watchful eye over prepara- Acord observes, “The wild things children’s book
by Maurice
unique and very exciting. He was tions. “We can see deep into the forest occasionally like to build large, Sendak. This
adamant about not making an with long lenses, and the strong dangerous fires. They are not mean in page, top: Max
effects-driven movie.” contrast provides a unique palette. their destructiveness — just some- has a heart-to-
heart — and
Principal photography took Production designer Keith ‘K.K.’ what rowdy!” face-to-face —
place in Australia during winter and Barrett was the driving force in creat- To create the wild things moment with
early spring of 2006. Locations were ing a forest that wasn’t something onscreen, Jonze opted for suit- K.W. Bottom:
Cinematographer
shot around the state of Victoria, we’d already seen on film. Whenever performers whose work was Lance Acord,
while studio shoots were undertaken ASC (left,
at Central City Studios in Melbourne. wearing hat) and
camera operator
“We had a nice low sun path for the Simon Harding
entirety of the shoot, and when the follow Max’s
wind blew from the Antarctic, the adventure.
light was so clear and bright I was
Images courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.
getting meter readings higher than

anywhere else I’ve shot,” recalls
Acord.
AC caught up with the cine-
matographer while the production
was doing night shoots in Gembrook
Forest, north of Melbourne. The
location had been transformed into a
menacing land of smoke and fire,
with large, mysterious silhouettes
visible on the ridgeline. A recent
American Cinematographer 35
Wild Kingdom
Shooting on augmented with minimal visual-

location around effects work — a decision designed
the state of
Victoria in to allow realistic emotional interac-
Australia, the tion between Records and the other
filmmakers actors. “Spike wanted the experience
found a variety
of environments to be tactile for both Max and the
for the wild suit-performers,” Acord explains.
things’ island. “He didn’t want to use CG creatures
“Each location
was chosen to or force Max to perform to a green-
visually screen. He knew that using suit-
reinforce Max’s performers would create some
emotions,” says
Acord. limitations, but it was a worthwhile
“[Viewers] can tradeoff — the opportunity of
then interpret having the suit-performers interact
his emotional
experiences with Max adds so much to the natu-
within the visual ralism of the young actor’s perfor-
context of a
forest, desert or
windy cliff-top.”
36 November 2009
mance. Spike found an amazing three cameras, however, each of the and we also use lots of foreground Max and the
wild things howl
group of actors, many from here in wild things appears dynamic, nimble elements, such as unexpected at the setting sun
Australia; they had no experience as and strong. Acord points out, glimpses through trees. I’m in two of the
suit-performers, but they were really “Achieving that energy onscreen all constantly amazed at how lifelike film’s many
scenes set
attuned to the subtleties of the script comes down to establishing the best their movements appear.” around dusk.
and the nuances of the voice perfor- combination of lenses, framing, Enabling some of the more “Time in the land
mances.” camera movement, staging and elaborate stunts with the wild things of the wild
things is
Watching the suit-performers blocking. Getting those elements were lightweight versions of the crea- somewhat
go through rehearsals with the naked right is a constant learning curve. ture suits that were specifically indeterminate,”
eye, it’s readily apparent that one of When the creatures are running designed for the second-unit stunt says Acord.
“There’s a
the main challenges is their bulky around and ‘rumpusing,’ the opera- performers. This group was directed dreamlike
costumes, which restrict their physi- tor’s right in there with them — the by John Mahaffie and photographed ambiguity in
cality and range of motion; the crazier the camerawork, the better by Brad Shield. Acord explains that many of the
sequences, and
performers have difficulty simply the result. The depth of the frame is the lighter suits “incorporated brac- in the overall
moving around and walking down accentuated with handheld camera- ing where the head connected to the timeline of the
the forest paths. When viewed on work, point-of-view shots and very body. That meant less nuanced film. That’s how
it was written.”
monitors fed from the sequence’s long lenses to compress the space, motion, but the stunt-suit perform-
Wild Kingdom
the existing landscape to get the
right height. The four lamps on the
towers were gelled with either grid-
cloth or 252 1⁄8 White Diffusion.
“Lance doesn’t like the spray effect
you get by punching through smoke
with a hard light, but we also don’t
want to diffuse the lamps so much
that they negate the flicker effect of
the fire,” continues Engeler. “At vari-
ous angles, these lamps provide the
soft moonlight and also backlight the
smoke high up in the trees. Around
the camera, Par bars provide the fire-
light effect; for moonlight, six Ruby
Sevens are directed straight up into a
20x20 Ultrabounce, which provides
an ambience for the foreground.”
“The intention is to maintain a
sense of depth in the forest,” Acord
explains between setups. “The forest
is quite dense, we’re shooting at
Above: Jealous of ers were able to run and jump and light for the smoke, silhouetting the night, and the creatures themselves
the attention his
mother (Catherine
generally move more than the creatures and the back- to are quite dark, in the same tonal
Keener) has been performers in the more refined suits.” midground trees,” explains gaffer range as the trees and groundcover.
giving her The lighting of the Gembrook Karl Engeler during a break in film- So we have different layers: there’s a
boyfriend, Max
puts on a
sequence involved a simple approach ing. “The fire effect, which plays deep background layer of backlit
monstrous display that nevertheless required a week of subtly on the foreground trees, is smoke; a row of trees silhouetted in
in the kitchen rigging. A circular area measuring extended with flame bars, Par cans front of that; a layer of trees more
before running
away from home.
approximately 600 square meters, the and Ground Rows.” A varying frontlit by the firelight; and, finally,
Below: After location was surrounded by eight 12- mixture of Lee 250 and 216 diffusion the creatures, which are silhouetted
running away, Light Dinettes and another eight was applied to these lamps, as well as in front of that.”
Max finds a
small boat he
Nine-light Maxis gelled with ¾ to the 12- and Nine-lights. A very soft, Acord’s other night exterior
uses to sail to the Full CTO. The lamps were run top-to-three-quarter back moon- featured a soft, toplit, starlight look.
island of the wild through a series of dimmers that kept light effect was provided by two 24Ks Engeler and his crew built a large
things. The night
portions of his
them at levels ranging from 25 to 80 and two T12s on 30' scaffold towers, moon-box, constructed with a truss
journey were percent. “These lamps provide back- with Engeler and his team using and containing 12 12K space lights,
shot day-for-night,
and Acord took
advantage of the
digital
intermediate to
finesse the look.
"The DI meant
I could shoot
under open
shade in
daylight or
dappled light
under trees and
grade it for
twilight; I could
also use the
open sun and
grade those
scenes for
moonlight,"
he notes.
38 November 2009
Left: For a night

sequence filmed
in Gembrook
Forest, Acord
and gaffer Karl
Engeler lit in
layers “to
maintain a sense
of depth,” the
cinematographer
explains.
“There’s a deep
background
layer of backlit
smoke; a row of
trees silhouetted
in front of that; a
layer of trees
more frontlit by
the firelight; and,
finally, the
creatures, which
are silhouetted
in front of that.”
Below: As his
relationship with
with gridcloth on the outside of the lenses, such as those in the 75mm to through the mind of Max, examining the wild things
box. The rig was then hung off a 150mm range, I kept things at T5.6 to how a child comes to terms with his grows more
construction crane, casting a soft T8 because we were shooting hand- place in the world. Spike and David tenuous, Max
talks things over
ambient light. Acord says, “Lighting held and Max often could be off his explore how Max processes all the with Alexander.
nights in this way is my biggest fear, mark.” complexity of emotions in his rela-
because it’s inherently a bit unrealis- Asked how such a slim tome tionships with his family and the wild
tic and I always approach lighting could be translated into a feature- things.”
with the motivation in mind. It length film, the cinematographer The film begins in the family
works for this film, however, because points out that Jonze’s film (which home, where Max argues with his
the scenes often comprise ‘moments’ the director co-scripted with David sister and feels jealous of his mother’s
in the story, and the timelines within Eggers) dramatically expands the affection for her boyfriend. Acord
individual sequences are ambiguous story’s emotional and psychological says he and Jonze were determined to
and purposefully dreamlike.” scope: “Spike’s approach to Where the differentiate Wild Things from other
The cinematographer em- Wild Things Are is thematic rather children’s movies by avoiding
ployed Kodak Vision2 Expression than a narrative-driven storyline common clichés of the genre. “In
500T 5229 for all night scenes. “I contained within a three-act struc- terms of the camerawork and light-
prefer the softer blacks and slightly ture. The script interprets the themes ing, the beginning of the film is some-
desaturated color of that stock; of yearning and empowerment what conventional,” notes Acord. “I
Expression isn’t as ‘snappy’ as 500T
5218. For day exteriors, I used 250D
Vision2 5205, rated at 250 but expos-
ing for the highlights. I kept the
shadow side of faces 2 to 3 stops
under, and because I was using more
of the stock’s toe [dark] range, the
contrast was flattened out. That was
my approach on all the day exteriors,
even if we were on the shadow side a
lot. I knew I could lift the image
slightly in the DI. We used the 5205
well into the magic-hour period, and
it held up very well. I love the look of
a wide lens with a background falling
off, so our wider lenses, such as the
27mm, were at T2.8. On the longer
Wild Kingdom
wanted to impart a sense of realism are based on Sendak’s often bewil-
and not overly polish Max’s home dered childhood impressions of his
life. In films about children, there’s newly-arrived relatives from Europe.
usually a kind of aspirational, fairy- Spike and David continued that idea,
tale quality to the home life itself; it’s using particular aspects of people
often a nice Craftsman house in they know. Each ‘wild thing’ repre-
Pasadena with warm, glowing lights sents specific emotions, echoing
in the windows, and the family dog’s Max’s relationships in the real world.
a golden retriever. I liked the idea of Carol [voiced by James Gandolfini]
downplaying all this a bit, letting is the alpha-male of the pack, the
things be a bit more ordinary and father figure for Max; he’s strong and
rough around the edges. There are ambitious, the kind of guy you hope
plenty of kids out there who live with will like you. K.W. [Lauren Ambrose]
just their mom, and their mom’s is like that friend of your sister’s
boyfriend, and not everyone gets who’s too old for you and you know
along all the time. This film is more it. Judith [Catherine O’Hara] and Ira
honest in that regard. It was impor- [Forest Whitaker] are the slightly
tant to keep the camera right there self-loathing aunt and uncle who
with Max, particularly in the scenes always hang around. Douglas [Tom
when he’s by himself, playing in his Noonan] is the rooster of the pack,
fort or with his toy boat.” the one who gets things done by
In a departure from the book, soldiering through everything.
Max’s room doesn’t morph into a Alexander [Paul Dano] is the
jungle; instead, he leaves the house youngest of the bunch; as the
and finds his way to a boat that trans- teenager, he’s jealous of the attention
ports him to the land of the wild Max gets from the adults.”
things. More than just scary The wild-thing performances
monsters, the creatures are emotional were created in two stages. First, the
beings that serve clear thematic voices of Whitaker, Gandolfini and
purposes in the film. Acord notes, the other main actors were recorded
“The creatures in the original book onstage in Los Angeles as the group
After spinning a
yarn that
convinces the
wild things to
crown him king,
Max’s first royal
act is to declare
a “wild rumpus.”
40 November 2009
Wild Kingdom
Right: Max bids Spike’s approach was to go out and
adieu to K.W.
and Douglas
film the wild things as if we were
before returning making a ‘fly-on-the-wall’ wildlife
home. Acord documentary about actual feral crea-
explains, “The
script interprets
tures in their natural environment.
the themes of We shot in forests and on sand dunes
yearning and and cliff-tops, in all kinds of weather.
empowerment
through the mind
If you’re going to go to the trouble of
of Max, shooting on location, you really want
examining how to see that interaction of the environ-
a child comes to
terms with his
ment with the creatures, the rain and
place in the mud, with leaves falling on them and
world.” Below: all the things that happen in the real
K.W., Douglas
and Carol stand
world. We wanted to have a direct
on their marks physical interaction between Max
while Acord and the world of the wild things.
(foreground left)
and Harding
“It was a big conceptual deci-
(foreground acted out scenes with large foam certainly reminiscent of James, while sion with many logistical implica-
right) don props in front of three video cameras. Ira feels like Forest at times,” says tions,” Acord continues. “The reality
EasyRigs to
frame the scene
Acord explains, “They all wore head- Acord. “It was amazing to see the suit- of shooting with a very large creature
from Max’s bands with microphones really close performers bring their respective contingent was an extraordinarily
eye level. to their mouths, all of which was in characters to life with physical complicated undertaking. Simply
shot, and everyone was dressed how gestures and body language.” getting the suit-performers onto
they felt their particular character Another early, major decision location often required using a four-
might dress. The result was like a was to shoot most of the film on loca- wheel-drive stake-bed truck to drive
bizarre, avant-garde theater piece!” tion. “Normally, a film like this would each one individually up dirt roads
The suit-performers then studied the all be shot on stage, and if you went we cut through the forest; then, later,
footage to craft their own characteri- on location, it would be one that had we’d have to walk them down paths
zations, which retained many of the been thoroughly prepped,” Acord that had been cleared and smoothed
voice actors’ physical traits. “Carol is explains. “However, the essence of out. When we got into the stage
42 November 2009
Wild Kingdom
Having learned work, we realized just how hard we’d view,” the cinematographer says. “A support system that reduces the load
Max was never
a king to begin
made it for ourselves! There is a lot to lot of scenes start from premises like, on the operator’s neck and shoulder
with, a be said for this process, however. In ‘This is Max,’ ‘This is Max seeing muscles by suspending the camera
crestfallen Carol many ways, suited characters, like these things’ and ‘This is what Max and distributing the weight to other
roams the island
in solitude.
Chewbacca in Star Wars, still hold up sees.’ One of my key references was parts of the body. “Max’s eye level is
because they are intrinsically interest- [ASC member] Caleb Deschanel’s somewhere between the waist and
ing; their tactile quality is quite work on The Black Stallion, which I shoulder, and the best way to hand-
enchanting. Puppets and guys in suits showed to the crew during prepro- hold in that position was with the
still work, especially with kids.” duction.” However, there were times EasyRig,” he says. For handheld
Jonze’s approach also deter- when Acord felt that a different work, Acord favored the Optimo
mined the style and extent of visual approach would better serve the 15mm-40mm zoom, and the
effects, specifically the CG compo- story. “With strictly subjective 27mm-68mm compact Panavision
nent of the creatures’ faces, handled imagery, it’s often hard to provide the zoom. “Panavision Primos are such
by Framestore in London. “When the viewer with an understanding of beautiful lenses; they have a silky
CG work had just started, I saw some setting and place. Since each location smoothness in terms of contrast, and
of the first tests, and there was a very was chosen to visually reinforce fantastic color rendition. I consid-
broad range of motion,” Acord Max’s emotions, I often fought for ered using Zeiss high-speeds because
explains. “You saw a lot of the crea- shots that would orient viewers by of how compact and light they are,
tures’ mouths and teeth; there was a showing them exactly where Max but in the end I opted for the Primos.
true realization of the potential of was physically. They can then inter- “The 27mm felt like Max’s
CG. For Spike, I think it was too pret his emotional experiences within perspective on the world, and that
much. Through the course of trying the visual context of a forest, desert or length was used mostly when he’s
different approaches to the anima- windy cliff-top. Finding a balance awestruck at what he’s seeing — it
tion, they ended up with a result that between point-of-view shots and lends an impressionistic feel to the
looks like the best animatronics more objective establishing shots of image. When we were photograph-
imaginable. It’s not a full-fledged Max in the environment was the ing Max, we stayed in the 40mm-
realization of CG by any means; it’s topic of many on-set discussions I 100mm range, and for moments
very restrained and balances the use had with Spike.” when Max examines things and takes
of the suit-performers and the suits Shooting extensive handheld a hard look at what’s going on
themselves.” coverage from Max’s point of view around him, we were in the 100mm-
Acord and Jonze tell Max’s required the lens to be at a very 200mm range.”
story with a simple but effective awkward operating height. Acord Concerns about scale dictated
photographic approach. “We always made things easier on himself and most of the filmmakers’ decision-
tried to stay true to the concept of his operators by employing an making once Max gets to the island.
shooting the film from Max’s point of EasyRig, a vest-mounted camera- “In addition to showing the crea-
44 November 2009
Careful handling of archive film

Sprocket-free film transport system
Software based pin-less image
Above: Jonze gives Records a lift to the location. Below: Acord takes five with Ira. stabilisation
PRSTM Perforation Recognition System
tures as Max sees them, we were keep Max low in frame. Spike was
always pushing the disparity of scale always pushing things in this regard Universal format scanning
in frames where Max and the crea- and sometimes we would have Max High quality capturing unit up to 2K
tures appear together,” Acord notes. on his knees to further enhance the Best price - performance ratio
While the tallest suit-performer, in effect. There are a lot of composi- Upgradeable modular design
full costume, was more than 7' tall tions like that in the movie, and the Prepared for realtime scanning
(the rest were somewhere between 6' strategy works perfectly to establish Easy and intuitive user interface
and 7'), Acord accentuated their Max’s place amid the creatures.”
height in relation to Max by compos- Where the Wild Things Are was
ing shots from unusual angles. “Max shot in both full-frame and
would be right down at the bottom 3-perf Super 35, using a 2.35:1 aspect
of the frame, sometimes cropped ratio. The cameras designated for
right at the neck. The frame would be first-unit performance coverage Sprocket-free Transport
crowded with the creatures, with were primarily 3-perf, while the
their sheer size pushing the frame second unit utilized full frame to
itself outwards and upwards as Max allow for reframing in post. Two
just hangs on at the very bottom. cameras were utilized for every
Whenever possible, we would utilize setup, with a third employed as Touchscreen User Interface
grade differences in the terrain to necessary. The package comprised
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45
Wild Kingdom
Acord and you may have only one chance at
Jonze catch
their breath
capturing with a younger actor.”
before the next One of Acord’s favorite
rumpus begins. sequences is when K.W. swallows
Max to hide him from an angry
Carol. He found the discussions
about how to visually represent K.W.’s
gullet onscreen eerily reminiscent of
the filmmakers’ debates about the
“portal” sequences in Being John
Malkovich. “Charlie Kaufman’s script
described the portal very vaguely as
‘the membranous tunnel,’ and we had
hours and hours of discussion about
what that meant exactly. K.W.’s
insides were also the subject of much
two Panavision Millennium XLs, and there’s a best lens to use,” says discussion, because the emotional
Acord’s own Aaton 35-III (equipped Acord. “Using two or three cameras psychology of that scene — Max’s
with a P+S Technik modified can obfuscate that position, and symbolic rebirth and his realization
viewfinder) and a Panavised Arri sometimes you feel you didn’t quite of how he feels about his mother — is
235. On the A and B cameras, the get the shot. I really only like using very deep. The final product was a
most common lens configurations second and third cameras when the furry sling; when the fur was wet it
were a 40mm and 75mm, or a 50mm shot has already been found; the had a texture like the stomach lining
and 100mm. “For any given scene additional cameras help in obtaining of a cow. The less you saw of it, the
there’s a best place for the camera that one specific, dramatic beat that better, and I did what I could to keep
46
the lighting contained on Max and let at one point and said, ‘Is this actually “That sped up the process with
it fall off gently onto the walls of possible?’ I’d worked with kids who Stefan because we had a good,
K.W.’s stomach. I also added a low- weren’t much older than Max on The balanced pass of the entire film,
level backlight to the stomach lining Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, and the which allowed us to spend a couple
by just the tiniest amount — the dye time restrictions with child actors can of weeks fine-tuning the look in
in the fabric was black, but the base be a real challenge, especially when Santa Monica.”
for the dye gave a hint of a purple you’re shooting on location. The DI Additional reporting by Jon D.
warmth when it was backlit.” meant I could shoot under open Witmer. I
Dailies were supplied by shade in daylight, or dappled light
Digital Pictures in Melbourne and under trees, and grade it for twilight;
viewed as Final Cut Pro HD files. I could also use the open sun and
Where the Wild Things Are is Acord’s grade those scenes for moonlight. A TECHNICAL SPECS
first use of a digital intermediate. good percentage of the film is done 2.40:1
Scanning was done on an Arriscan at that way; being able to subtly manip-
1080 onto HDCam-SR 4:4:4 in RGB ulate luminance, saturation and 3-perf Super 35mm
color space. One of the main reasons contrast was indispensable on a Panaflex Millennium XL;
for having a DI was the amount of picture like this.” Aaton 35-III; PanArri 235
footage shot day-for-night, day-for- A basic look was applied to the
twilight and day-for-predawn. “Time film at London’s Framestore, where Panavision Lightweight Primo
in the land of the wild things is some- Acord and Jonze spent a week and Angenieux lenses
what indeterminate,” Acord notes. evening out the composite work. Kodak Vision2 Expression 500T
“There’s a dreamlike ambiguity in Final grading was then done by 5229, Vision2 250D 5205
many of the sequences, and in the Stefan Sonnenfeld at Company 3 in
overall timeline of the film. That’s Santa Monica, Calif. “We got pretty Digital Intermediate
how it was written. Spike came to me far along in London,” Acord says.
47
AMC_1109_p048p057:b_feature 10/5/09 10:49 AM Page 48
Pandora’s
Predicament
The thriller The Box, shot digitally by Steven Poster, ASC,
puts a surreal spin on a moral dilemma.
by Jay Holben
Unit photography by Dale Robinette
n these tough economic times, cause two things to happen: the cou- “Matheson’s story was one of the
I
it’s difficult to imagine a scenario ple will receive $1,000,000, and most intriguing, thought-provoking
in which a young couple strug- someone they don’t know will die. and suspenseful premises I’d ever
gling to make ends meet would Directed by Richard Kelly, stumbled across,” says Kelly. “I des-
turn away the gift of a large sum The Box is based on “Button, perately needed to know what hap-
of money. In The Box, such a couple Button,” a 1970 short story by pened to this couple, and I needed to
(played by Cameron Diaz and James Richard Matheson. The story was know who the mysterious Arlington
Marsden) is told that all their prob- adapted for television for the 1985 Steward [Langella’s character] was. I
lems can be solved with the press of reincarnation of The Twilight Zone, had hundreds of questions, and I
a button — literally. According to a but Kelly optioned the theatrical- wanted to be the one to provide the
mysterious stranger (Frank feature rights to the story directly answers and take the story to the
Langella), pushing this button will from Matheson several years ago. next level.”
48 November 2009
Opposite page:
Norma Lewis
(Cameron Diaz)
finds herself
divided over how
to handle a
bizarre moral
dilemma in The
Box. This page,
top: Norma and
her husband,
Arthur (James
Marsden), are
told they will
receive a million
dollars if they
push the button
contained in a
mysterious box,
but a person they
do not know will
die as a result.
Cinematographer
Steven Poster,
ASC notes,
“Every time the
box was shown
onscreen, I
treated it like a
commercial
product,
The film’s director of photog- emphasizing the
raphy is Steven Poster, ASC, who sheen of the
plastic protective
also shot Southland Tales and top and the rich
Donnie Darko for Kelly. “Richard wood grain on
and I have been partnered since the the sides.”
Middle: Arthur
day we met, literally,” says the veter- raids a stash of
an cinematographer. “We became cash in a
collaborators the first day we started sequence shot in
a basement set
working together, and it has been built onstage.
that way on all the movies. Richard Bottom: Poster
begins to collaborate with me at the poses with
Panavision’s
script stage, sometimes even before Genesis camera
a studio is involved. There are sever- on location in
al others who come into the process Boston, where
the locals
early, including Richard’s producing undoubtedly
partner, Sean McKittrick, produc- appreciated his
tion designer Alec Hammond and taste in baseball
caps.
visual-effects supervisor Thomas
Tannenberger.”
This approach makes for a
very tight-knit crew and an extend-
ed prep process, which in turn lead
Photos courtesy of Warner Bros.
to a smooth production. “Every film

I’ve done has been ridiculously
ambitious for its schedule and
budget,” Kelly remarks. “As soon as I
finish a script, I get it out to all these
guys and start to plant the seed of
the production in their heads. It can
be a year or more before we actually
go into official prep, and it makes
Pandora’s Predicament
Gears, so after each scene was shot
we could play back the good takes
and photograph the empty set for
clean plates. We couldn’t shoot
handheld in any of those sequences
because it would have added too
much time and expense to track the
effect in post. We had to be really
judicious about our camera move-
ment in those scenes; we had one
sweeping Technocrane shot with
Arlington because that’s all we could
afford! We didn’t compromise any-
thing; we just had to plan more care-
fully and be judicious.”
Langella had to perform with
tracking balls glued to the affected
side of his face. “I think Frank was
The enigmatic such a difference to have that time to would allow us to create something nervous about it at first, but he’s a
Arlington discuss and consider the script. If truly fantastic. I think today’s audi- veteran actor,” says Kelly. “After a few
Steward (Frank
Langella) Steven can start wrapping his mind ences are very attuned to spotting days, I think he started to love it
explains the around this project a year before we the old tricks and effects — they’re because it gave him something phys-
stakes to start shooting, it’s going to make for very savvy. I wanted Arlington ical to play with. He used it.”
Norma. “Notice
the part of a much better production all Steward to be a legendary character, Poster notes that the team-
Langella’s face around.” an icon. I wanted him to be some- work Kelly fosters was critical to
that has been For The Box, one early consid- one people just can’t take their eyes accomplishing the effect. “The work
burned away,”
Poster says. eration was the character of Steward, off when he’s onscreen.” Thomas Tannenberger and I do
“This couldn’t the mysterious keeper of the fateful The choice of digital versus together is pretty symbiotic,” says
have been done device. Kelly conceived the character practical makeup effects was not an Poster. “He knows my level of
with prosthetic
makeup. Every as someone who’d had half his face easy one. Going digital added a few understanding of visual effects, and
time we showed burned away in an accident, and the days to the production schedule and I know his level of understanding of
his face in a filmmaker was insistent that this created additional costs and compli- photography, and that makes it real-
shot, we had to
shoot clean effect be achieved digitally with the cations. “Every scene with Arlington ly fun to work with each other. One
plates to use for help of Tannenberger and his com- had to be shot with motion, and we thing I did on The Box that I hope to
background pany, Gradient Effects. “That was a had to be sure to shoot clean plates do on every project from now on
replacements.”
big debate for a while,” recalls Kelly. so Thomas and his team could paint was to bring everyone together very
“I always wanted to do it digitally away portions of Frank’s face,” says early in prep to discuss workflow —
because I knew the digital process Poster. “We used recordable Hot the workflow is different on every
50 November 2009
Top: Arthur
downs some
bubbly at a
wedding
reception. Poster
notes that
lighting was
built into the set
because “we
were seeing
straight down
into the set,
which gave us
nowhere to
position movie
lights.” Middle:
Poster
contemplates his
exposure for the
reception scene.
Bottom:
movie now, regardless of whether Steadicam
operator Jody
you shoot film or digital. I started a Miller tracks
dialogue between Panavision, Diaz through the
LaserPacific, our editorial depart- reading room at
the Boston
ment, our post supervisor, and Public Library.
Thomas and his visual-effects team Poster observes,
to really nail down exactly what the “That sequence
was lit mostly by
workflow was going to be.” existing
The decision to make overhead
Steward’s face a digital effect firmly fluorescents, but
we added some
pushed The Box into the digital fill light that was
realm. “It became clear to me that handheld and
this would be a perfect movie to moving with the
camera.”
shoot digitally, and we decided to go
with Panavision’s Genesis camera,”
says Poster. The early workflow dis-
cussions revolved around the use of
the Codex digital recorder to record
the highest possible quality image
from the Genesis. Unfortunately, the
budget would not allow for a Codex,
and the Panavision SSR-1 (Solid
State Recorder) was not yet avail-
able, so the team used the standard
HDCam-SR on camera. Every day,
each HDCam-SR tape was cloned
on the set, and the clones were sent
to LaserPacific for ingestion into the
post pipeline. When reports were
received that the ingestion was suc-
cessful, the original tapes were sent
back to the production offices.
Poster had shot some tests
and commercials with the Genesis,
but The Box was his first digital fea-
ture. “I took the same approach to
the Genesis that I do to any new film
stock or imaging device: I took the
Top: One of the
show’s most
impressive sets
is Langley Air
Force Base’s
historic wind
tunnel, which
recently closed
down after 78
years of
operation.
Bottom: “After a
great deal of
discussion
about how to
create light in
this very
complicated
location where
none existed,
production time to understand the dynamic uation. “55 IRE as middle gray is to find his exposure. Focusing the
designer Alec range, and once I understood where engineering baloney,” he maintains camera on the card, he’d then set the
Hammond
designed this my limits were in terms of boosting, with a laugh. “You can work with aperture to suit his desired IRE
Kino Flo lighting noise, underexposure and shadow that all day long, but you’re throwing range on the waveform and light the
ring that could areas, I went out and shot it as away a lot of bottom range if you do. rest of the scene by eye. “At some
be raised and
lowered on though I were shooting film.” I took all the tests I shot with the point, working with a specific emul-
chain motors,” Through testing, Poster determined Genesis through the digital-inter- sion or imaging medium becomes
Poster explains. that the Genesis has a base ISO of mediate process with [colorist] Dave intuitive, and your instincts tell you
“We also added
the light boxes 640, and he then began to experi- Cole at LaserPacific. I didn’t have to how a particular scene is going to
ringing the ment with various gain settings. “I do it all the way through to filmout, look,” he observes. “With testing
platform.” found that the gain didn’t track in a because if I see it in the DI suite at behind me, I relied on that instinc-
linear fashion,” he notes. “As I went LaserPacific I know that the filmout tual understanding of the Genesis
up in gain, there was almost a geo- will match what I saw on the screen. for the entire shoot.”
metric increase in speed to the point By pushing the footage as far as we Testing included more than
where I realized I wasn’t going to be could, I quickly learned the limits of the standard technical charts and
able to come up with a meter setting the medium — where it was solid lighting ratios. During prep, Poster
that would relate to it. At that point, and where it got noisy. After that, I actually took the camera to specific
I decided not to use my meter at all.” felt I had a solid understanding of locations the production planned to
Using a waveform monitor the chip’s latitude.” use in Boston, Mass. “One really
and his own trained eye, Poster Working from the waveform, amazing location was a water-treat-
found a key exposure range between Poster used an 18-percent gray card ment plant called Deer Island,” he
28 and 45 IRE, depending on the sit- and positioned it where he wanted recalls. “There are huge treatment
52 November 2009
Above: Arthur approaches a teleportation device that takes the form of a large water
column. Below: During filming of the scene in the Boston Public Library, Marsden
extends a finger toward the empty geometric outline for the visual effect.
structures that look like giant eggs. HPS/SON fixtures, which the com-
Because of the nature of the loca- pany manufactures to augment
tion, there is so much free methane street lighting. “We used five of the
gas floating around that the slightest [Luminys] fixtures, and they were
accident could cause the whole great,” he recalls. “We shined one
plant to explode!” right down the lens a couple times to
For safety and budget rea- get a really great flare. Another really
sons, Deer Island is lit almost entire- nice aspect of that location was the
ly with high-pressure sodium-vapor prevalence of hoses — that made
fixtures, traditionally a troublesome our wet-down very easy!”
non-continuous-spectrum source Another location Poster
for film and digital. High-pressure scouted with the Genesis was the
sodium-vapor lights (HPS/SON) Boston Public Library, which served
run about 2700°K, with an average as the setting for several sequences: a
CRI of about 85. After shooting tests chase into the reading room, a
with the Genesis at the location sequence involving a “water coffin”
and manipulating the results in the effect, and others. “The library has a
DI suite, Poster decided to augment huge atrium with a large, diffused
the location’s existing lighting with skylight, and you can see into each of
Luminys stand-alone high-output the wings from the atrium,” Poster
53
Above: This notes. “It’s a really dynamic location remarkable ability to blend all those takes place in the mid-1970s, I felt
finished but has a terrible mix of lighting — color temperatures so smoothly,” he the Genesis look could stand on its
composite
shows a fluorescent fixtures, sodium fixtures, continues. “The color science of the own. Richard was a little harder to
worker tungsten fixtures, daylight and Genesis chip is remarkably close to convince. When we made Donnie
preparing to mixes within those! Over the years, Kodak’s Vision2 [500T] 5218. It’s Darko, he was a film purist and only
teleport the
Lewises’ son. the fluorescents have been replaced amazing how well the camera han- wanted to work with anamorphic
“Underwater haphazardly with different types of dled those sources.” 35mm. On Southland Tales, we had
lights were bulbs and different color tempera- He adds, however, that his to go to 3-perf Super 35mm, and
used to create
the glowing tures. It’s a real mishmash of color goal on The Box wasn’t to create dig- that was a tough decision for him.
light beneath temperatures! ital images that looked just like film. Convincing him to consider digital
the water’s “When I tested the Genesis in “HD is its own medium, and I treat- took a lot of discussions!”
surface,” Poster
notes. “The real there, I was astounded by its ed it as such. Even though The Box “I was very nervous about
water surface
was replaced
by visual
effects to
create
movement and
hide the light
sources.”
Below: One of
the live-action
elements for
the scene is
created on a
greenscreen
stage.
54 November 2009
b-the box_p56_REV:b_feature 10/7/09 2:19 PM Page 56
Director Richard continues Kelly. “Although he and
Kelly and Poster Harris Savides [ASC] used the Viper
scope out a
scene on their
on that film, the look they achieved
third movie proved to me that you can achieve a
together. period look with new digital cam-
eras. The images the Genesis creates
transfer beautifully to film, and the
grain the picture picks up when it’s
printed on film really completes the
image for me. After the first week of
dailies, I knew the Genesis was the
right choice for us.”
For lens filtration, Poster tried
to stay with filters that would have
been available in 1976. “I worked
shooting digitally,” Kelly confirms. ough testing and we decided never with low-cons, double fogs, Mitchell
“In particular, I was worried about to shoot wider than a 270-degree diffusion, anything that would have
motion blur with Steadicam and shutter. We also worked with filters been available then, but I settled on a
tracking shots, I was worried about to find a look that felt like the 1970s very light level of Tiffen White Pro-
day exteriors, and I was worried and wasn’t a distraction for the Mist. This more modern filter gave
about creating anything that audience. us just the edge we needed with the
screamed ‘video!’ We did a lot of “The film that really opened Genesis imaging chip, blending the
R&D with different types of looks. my mind to using digital, especially palette without drawing attention to
To make sure we wouldn’t get too for a period piece, was David the image.”
much motion blur, Steven did thor- Fincher’s Zodiac [AC April ’07],” While shooting on location in
56
Boston, the filmmakers were able to editor are sitting in the editing room working with the Genesis again. “It
watch projected dailies by creating with a much smaller screen, they would be interesting to use it on a
their own portable theater. The back don’t tend to cut in closer images that piece that goes even further into the
half of a 40'-long storage trailer was are more appropriate to a TV show past, like an 18th-century story,” he
partitioned off and painted black. To than a big-screen feature. Just about muses.
create a low-budget screen, Poster the only drawback is that you tend to “Several people have told us
used stretched white-blackout mate- spill food all over yourself while eat- The Box doesn’t look like anything
rial. Dailies were projected with a ing lunch in the dark!” they’ve seen before, and that makes
Panasonic PT-AE2000U full-HD- Poster notes that his involve- me very happy,” says Poster. “It’s
compatible LCD projector. “We had ment in the post process comprised always a great thing to give audi-
a projectionist on a short daily call, “not just color-timing the final, but ences a little something new!” I
and we’d watch dailies off the cloned also timing individual elements
HDCam-SR tapes every day at along the way. Each visual-effects
lunch,” says Poster. “I’m a big fan of shot needs a base timing for the TECHNICAL SPECS
watching projected dailies; it really effects artists to work from, and I try
makes a big difference. First of all, it to get those elements close [to the 2.40:1
allows for the collective experience of desired look]. We also did three pre- High-Definition Video
everybody watching the footage view versions of The Box, and
together in a darkened room. The although I was off shooting another Panavision Genesis
project becomes much more person- picture, I came in on the weekends
al for everyone, and the crew gets to sit with Dave Cole and refine the Primo lenses
much more excited about what we’re timing for those. Because we did Digital Intermediate
all working on. Projected dailies also that, we shaved about a week off the
convey the true scope of the images, final DI session.” Printed on Kodak Vision 2383
so that later, when the director and Kelly says he looks forward to
57
AMC_1109_p058p065:c_feature 10/7/09 1:00 PM Page 58
Kicked Off
the
Pitch
ritish actor Michael Sheen “a beautiful game.”
B
The Damned United, has made a name for himself Based on David Peace’s novel
shot by Ben playing a string of real-life The Damned Utd, the film was
characters, including former directed by Tom Hooper and shot by
Smithard, colorfully Prime Minister Tony Blair, cinematographer Ben Smithard. It
recalls the brief, comic performer Kenneth Williams examines Clough’s disastrous 44-
and broadcaster David Frost. His lat- day tenure as manager of Leeds
disastrous tenure of est incarnation is Brian Clough, a United in 1974, which ended with
an English football legendary English soccer manager him being sacked after getting the
of the 1960s and 1970s and the cen- club off to its worst start in 15 sea-
manager. tral character in The Damned sons. A flashback structure cuts
United. Clough, who died in 2004, between this short spell at Leeds and
by Mark Hope-Jones was a charismatic but controversial the events that led up to it: Clough’s
figure, adored by some and despised years as manager at Derby and his
Unit photography by by others for his outspokenness burgeoning rivalry with Don Revie
Laurie Sparham and a confidence that bordered on (Colm Meaney), the highly success-
arrogance. He is often referred to as ful manager who took Leeds to the
“the greatest manager England top of the First Division before
never had,” and he passionately accepting an offer to manage the
upheld the idea that football, as soc- national team. A staunch critic of
cer is called in most of the world, Leeds’ aggressive playing style,
could rise above the brutality of pro- Clough steps into Revie’s shoes with
fessional matches in the 1970s to be the brash ambition of changing a
58 November 2009
winning formula and soon meets

determined resistance.
“I’ve always loved football,
and I read David Peace’s book,
which was fantastic,” says Smithard.
“It took me awhile to get a meeting
with Tom, but when I did finally
meet him, I made sure I was well
prepared.” Once on board, Smithard
wasted no time in building good
relationships with the costume and
art departments, which would be
crucial to re-creating the look of
England between 1967 and 1974. “I
was talking to those departments
pretty early on,” continues the cine-
matographer. “There were extensive
recces of locations, and [production
designer] Eve Stewart’s work with
the textures at those locations played
a major part in the look of the film; Opposite: Leeds
she did an amazing job with the captain Billy
Bremmer
interiors, which made my job much (Stephen Graham)
easier.” performs a slide
Still photographs were an tackle in the mud.
This page, top:
important inspiration for Smithard Brian Clough
as he set about crafting a look. (Michael Sheen)
“Period photographs of football reacts to a
competitor’s play
matches were useful because you as assistant
don’t just see the players on the coach Peter
pitch; you see the crowd, the archi- Taylor (Timothy
Spall) tries to
Photos courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics. Additional photos courtesy of Ben Smithard.
tecture of the stadium, the dirt and calm him. Middle:

grime,” he says. “The composition of Filming one of
black-and-white stills from the Clough’s TV
interviews.
Fifties and Sixties by Cartier- Bottom: Upon
Bresson and the other great photog- arriving in Leeds
raphers was the main influence. I’ve for his new job,
Clough meets the
got a huge library of photographic press, one of his
books. I have a real love of docu- favorite activities.
mentary, which ties in with
reportage and photojournalism. For
me, it’s about truth and honesty; if
you look at that in practical ways, a
lot of The Damned United is shot
with available light, much more
than you’d think. I’d hate for anyone
to feel that the film looks lit.”
The influence of social pho-
tography manifests itself in some
unconventional compositions that
appear throughout the film.
Characters are often positioned in
the lower half of the frame with vast
spaces above their heads, or at the
Kicked Off the Pitch

Top: Derby
County
chairman Sam
Longson (Jim
Broadbent)
doesn’t like
what he sees on
the field.
Middle:
Following his
departure from
Leeds, Don
Revie (Colm
Meaney) makes
a splash by
attending a
Leeds match.
Bottom: Clough
greets the
Leeds United
team as it
comes off the
field.
extreme edge of frame. “If you start

a film off with that kind of grammar,
I think the audience will get used to
it very quickly,” says Smithard. “We
actually decided on a lot of those
frames when we went out on recces.
Tom liked putting people on the
opposite side to where you would
normally put them in a composed
image and also having lots of air. It
allows you to see the environments,
which I love. If the landscape and
geography are part of the story, then
it makes sense to shoot with the
landscape and characters in the
same frame.”
Smithard shot primarily with
spherical Panavision Primos, and he
found that this approach to compo-
sition meant the wider focal lengths
were coming out of the box quite
frequently. “Tom likes to use the
10mm a bit more than I usually
would — I tend towards the
14.5mm,” he says. “We had the
whole range of Primos up to
150mm and also the wide and long
Primo zooms. The storytelling lens-
es, 17.5mm to 50mm, were on the
camera a lot, but we did keep using
the 10mm and 14.5mm because
they really increase the landscape.
Tom said he’d loved using the Zeiss
60 November 2009
Top: Longson
prepares to
confront Clough
about his team
selection in the
Derby
clubhouse.
Bottom: In
another Derby
clubhouse
scene, Taylor
watches Clough
prepare for
Revie’s arrival.
rectilinear 8mm on John Adams few days. We shot the black-and- nal footage of the interviewer and
[2008]. Panavision doesn’t really white material on Eastman new footage of Sheen as Clough,
have a flat-field 8mm, but I was quite [Double-X] 7222, which is one of Smithard made the bold decision to
glad of that because it might have the few stocks that hasn’t changed utilize vintage tube video cameras;
been a step too far! much over the years and still has a he turned to a company called
“I wasn’t trying to keep to a natural grain in it. The Ektachrome Golden Age Television Recreations
particular stop,” he continues. “I’d was a bit too sharp for what we for period-accurate cameras that
shoot between T2 and T5.6 depend- wanted, so I pushed it 2 stops and could be used in shot. Dicky Howett
ing on whether we had lots of light had it cross-processed at Film and at GATR explains, “We supplied
or not very much. I tend to prefer Photo London.” three EMI 2001 cameras, two of
Zeiss Super Speeds because I like to For TV-interview scenes that which needed to provide live feeds.
push [exposure] as far as I can. I necessitated cutting between origi- Because the 2001s are so old and
don’t shoot T1.3 for shallow focus; I
shoot it out of necessity, and if there
were a T1.1 lens, I’d want it.”
The Damned United contains
various forms of original footage
from the time, including black-and-
white and color pitch-side action
coverage as well as television inter-
views. In order to match this original
material and evoke the period, the
filmmakers shot a number of differ-
ent formats. “The majority of the
film was shot on 35mm Fuji color
negative, but we also shot some
Photos by Ben Smithard.
16mm black-and-white and 16mm

Ektachrome 100D [7285],” he says.
“I used my own Bolex camera, and
unfortunately, it broke halfway
through the shoot, but we were able
to borrow an Aaton XTR-Prod for a

aspect ratio of 1.85:1, because we
would have lost a lot of the height at
some of the locations if we’d gone
widescreen,” notes Smithard. “Our
line producer requested that we
shoot 3-perf, which was fine because
Tom and I are really careful about
how things are composed. When we
set the frame, we were always happy
with it, so I didn’t feel as though we
lost anything by not having space at
the top and bottom to manipulate in
post.”
The production ran two cam-
eras most of the time, with Smithard
and focus puller Adam Coles on the
A camera. “For the second camera,
we had Vince McGahon, who’s a
great Steadicam operator,” he says.
“Tom would jump on my camera
now and then and do all the static
Top: Shortly after require so much ancillary equip- should have shot the whole film with wide shots because he loves to be at
taking over as
coach of Leeds
ment, we put equivalent-age porta- those cameras, but they were too the viewfinder. In fact, you can’t
United, Clough bles that actually work, Ikegami 79s, unreliable — they’d run for about 30 keep him away from the camera —
takes the team inside two of the EMI 2001 shells. minutes before the tubes heated up he’s like a big kid!”
into a charity
match. Bottom:
The Ikegamis fed a live signal to so much it seemed like they were One occasion on which
Working period monitors and modern going to blow up! That footage Hooper operated was for a flashback
together for recording devices.” looks great because the colors are all scene that takes place in Clough’s
Derby, Taylor
and Clough
The live feed allowed over the place and are all a bit desat- office at the Derby stadium. With his
celebrate their Smithard to compose shots that urated. There’s no other look like it; team playing archrivals Leeds
team’s long-shot showed the actors, the EMI 2001s it’s the equivalent of someone from United, Clough is too anxious to
victory over
Leeds.
filming them and the live period- Kodak coming up to you and giving watch and spends the match pacing
look image on vintage monitors, all you 300 rolls of mint film stock from back and forth inside, chain-smok-
in one frame. “When I switched on the 1970s!” ing. Along one wall of his office is a
the Ikegami and pointed it at The production’s main cam- high, opaque window, beyond
Michael, it was just amazing,” he eras were an Arricam Lite and an which silhouetted supporters sit on
says. “I honestly wondered if we Arricam Studio. “We chose a final a tiered stand that overlooks the
pitch. Each time a goal is scored, the
supporters roar and leap to their
feet, breaking up the light entering
the room. “It was a great device to
enhance Clough’s nervousness — a
good sound device and a good light-
ing device,” says Smithard. “The
thing was not to have any lighting
inside the room at all; I didn’t want
to break up the flow of the filmmak-
ing by taking lights inside. We had a
few 4K HMIs outside the window
and built a rostrum for the extras to
stand on. With the wide shot of
Michael standing by the door, it’s
simply the people moving that casts
a rippling shadow over him. We also
62 November 2009

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are in the final.” situation, although obviously, you’ve
Another scene for which got to do a test first!”
Smithard was able to take a bold Smithard had film cans made
approach to the lighting takes place up with nails sticking out of them
in Clough’s house during a night- for the candles, and while he was
time power cut. The cocksure man- helping the gaffer, Stuart
ager has just been sacked from his Drummond, set them up, “I man-
Derby job, and a loyal group of fam- aged to stab my hand on one of the
ily and friends have gathered at his nails. It didn’t hurt much, and we
candlelit home to offer their sup- shot the scene, but the next day it got
port. “I asked Tom if he would mind so painful I had to go to hospital. I
me lighting that scene with just can- thought they’d just give me some-
dles, and he replied that he’d always thing for it, but they kept me in
Cinematographer shot the opposite way, looking wanted to do a scene that way,” overnight, put me on a drip and said
Ben Smithard
prepares to film
toward the window. Tom operated recalls the cinematographer. “The they were going to operate on me in
on the field. the shot with a 10mm, just going whole room was lit with about 20 or the morning! Luckily, I had the next
backwards and forwards on the 30 single-wick candles — the dou- day off. The surgeon came round in
track. I shot handheld with the other ble-wick candles burn too high and the morning and pumped me full of
camera to get a lot of the tighter give off too much smoke. I used antibiotics. He wanted to put my
shots. I’d be running up and down Zeiss Ultra Speeds [T1.4] that day hand in a cast, but I talked him out
the track with Tom shouting that I because I needed the extra speed, of it because I had to be on set 12
was in his shot and me telling him he and I also pushed the stock, Fuji hours later. So I gave blood for Tom
was in my shot as well! It was an [Eterna] 500T, 2 stops to 2,000 ASA. Hooper, as well as providing him
interesting way to shoot it, and both You’ve got to throw away your light with a candlelit scene!”
his wide stuff and my tighter shots meter and trust your instincts in that For the 2K digital grade,
64
which was carried out at Molinare in variations in colors very well. Within go out and shoot another one just
London, Smithard and Hooper Baselight, there are some very clever for the sake of it. Put it this way: I am
worked with colorist Gareth emulations of older photographic very passionate about it.” I
Spensley on a Baselight 8. (Film processes like early Technicolor, and
prints were done at Deluxe.) “After we often used those as jumping-off
chipping away at the look during the points by throwing the filters at the TECHNICAL SPECS
shoot, you get to the grading, and grade and discussing where they
that last 20 percent of the image can were taking us. Ultimately, it was Super 1.85:1
be made to look the way you want it more important to get the feel of the
3-perf Super 35mm, Super 16mm
to look,” says the cinematographer. period rather than just the look. It and Tube Video
“Tom was in there every single day, took some time to match the
and he allowed me to push it. The footage from those old tube cameras Arricam Lite, Studio;
grade was a very collaborative and with the standard-definition archive Aaton XTR-Prod; Ikegami 79
successful process. It was the first footage of the time, because the Panavision Primo,
time I’d worked with Gareth, and he chromatic spill was bad. Also, we Zeiss Ultra Speed lenses
was fantastic.” had to sharpen the tube-camera
Fuji Eterna Vivid 160 8543;
“Ben and Tom brought in a footage a bit. But we didn’t have to Eterna 250D 8563, 500T 8573;
lot of football-photography books do too much, and we could never Kodak Ektachrome 100D 7285;
that had obviously been referenced have emulated the look of those Eastman Double-X 7222
during the shoot, and our goal was cameras in a post suite.”
Cross-Processing by Film and
to re-create the feel of those photos,” For Smithard, The Damned Photo London
recalls Spensley. “In general, we tried United was “one of those dream
to keep the palette from looking too projects. I haven’t shot another fea- Digital Intermediate
varied to mimic the way older film ture since then because I feel it’s a Printed on Kodak Vision 2383
stocks ACS_ADVT_7.25x4.875.ai
didn’t necessarily pick up
4/30/2008 great film, AM
11:06:14 and I’m not in any rush to
65
AMC_1109_p066p075:d_feature 10/5/09 11:42 AM Page 66
The Root of All Evil
Anthony Dod fter wrapping Slumdog American Cinematographer:
A
Millionaire for Danny Boyle, The opening of the film, which
Mantle, BSC, DFF cinematographer Anthony shows the child wandering through
uses digital Dod Mantle, BSC, DFF head-
ed to Germany to shoot
the apartment and spotting his par-
ents having sex, is very lyrical and
cameras to Antichrist for another favorite beautiful. What made you and Lars
craft ominous collaborator, Lars von Trier.
Aesthetically, Antichrist is very dif-
decide to use high-speed photogra-
phy for that and other moments in
images for ferent from von Trier and Dod the movie?
Lars von Trier’s Mantle’s previous collaborations,
Manderlay and Dogville (AC May
Anthony Dod Mantle, BSC,
DFF: Lars is never one to be very
Antichrist. ’04), but it retains von Trier’s stamp specific about such things, even with
of bleakness and angst. The story of me, but he always has a series of
a young mother, She (Charlotte images in his head to begin with. In
by Jon Silberg
Gainsbourg), and her psychologist the opening scene, which is a pro-
Unit photography by husband, He (Willem Dafoe), gets logue of sorts, there is this terrible
off to a shocking and tragic start moment, and we were trying to cre-
Christian Geisnaes
and tells an increasingly bizarre ate some sort of distance from it —
story, offering nightmarish ele- to take that experience as far into
ments and moments of horror another, different hemisphere as
before transforming into some- possible. Let’s face it: the seventh shot
thing entirely less describable. in the film is a penis entering a vagi-
Dod Mantle recently spoke to na. It’s at an angle you could associ-
AC about the difficult artistic and ate with all sorts of pornographic
emotional journey he took with imagery, but I would strongly argue
von Trier on the project. that because of the high-speed pho-
66 November 2009
Opposite page:
He (Willem
Dafoe) and She
(Charlotte
Gainsbourg)
succumb to lust
in a forest
teeming with
evil. This page,
top: After their
attempt at
“couple’s
therapy” erupts
in violence, She
hunts for her
husband. Bottom:
Cinematographer
Anthony Dod
Mantle, BSC, DFF
(right) inspects
some filtration.
tography, it becomes something else. handheld as the SI-2K [Mini], which world, and it will get better and bet-
I think it’s one of the most beautiful I used for much of Slumdog ter. I was very pleased with the
images I’ve shot; it just happens that Millionaire [AC Dec. ’08]. There’s a [images] I was able to get. [Ed.
Photos courtesy of IFC Films and Trust Nordisk ApS. Additional photos courtesy of Anthony Dod Mantle.
it’s a penis traveling into a vagina! lot to be said for the Red’s images, Note: Dod Mantle shot at 25 fps
We used a [Vision Research] especially its resilience in the shad- and used Redcode 36.]
Phantom [HD] for all high-speed ows, and there’s a lot to be said for As for the visual style we had
work, and we used a Red One for the its power in definition. But it clips in mind, Lars is basically trusting as
rest of the movie. Lars and [his pro- very quickly in the highlights, and I a collaborator; he assumes the
duction company] Zentropa pre- think 16mm and 35mm cameras choices I make are appropriate for
ferred digital capture, and the com- are much better for handholding. the film based on my expertise and
pany has hard economic constraints That said, the Red is new to the the experiences we’ve had working
that determine which equipment
they will use. As with many compa-
nies on smaller budgets, they prefer
to own and rent to themselves. The
Red fit their economic plan. I’d used
both cameras before; there’s a lot I
like about the Red in terms of image
resolution, particularly in the shad-
ows, and the Phantom is a great
high-speed camera. We could shoot
at 1,000 fps with the Phantom,
whereas the Red can only go to 110
fps.
Did the Red prove well suited
to the visual style you and Lars had
in mind?
Dod Mantle: The Red is still
very difficult to use as a handheld
camera. I think it needs a lot of
development to be as easy to use

Top: A
concerned He
checks on his
wife after
another
upsetting
interlude.
Middle: Director
Lars von Trier
counsels his
leads. Bottom:
He uses
psychotherapy
in an attempt to
reconnect.
together. On this film, he left me

more to my own devices in prep
than is normal. This was because of
his intermittent periods of anxiety
or because he just felt a little less
physically strong than usual. The
whole visual evolution of Antichrist
was governed by that factor. Lars
chose not to operate much on this
film, and that inevitably became
frustrating for him because he
enjoys holding the camera so much.
On the day, I may have been the next
best thing. It was my task to do the
best I could under what were, at
times, rather unusual shooting con-
ditions.
68 November 2009
A Phantom high-
speed camera
was used to
shoot the
movie’s
intensely erotic
opening scene,
which reveals
the cause of
She’s emotional
breakdown.
Although Dod
Mantle
concedes that
some may
consider a
portion of the
sequence to be
almost
pornographic, he
asserts,
How did you light for the raphy — oranges, yellows and reds speak for Lars. I’ve spent the last 25 “Because of the
high-speed
high-speed work? — and on set, I showed Lars what years in his company but am no photography, I
Dod Mantle: We were shoot- their effects would be. We ultimately expert on that subject as of yet! would strongly
ing at 1,000 fps, so I was pouring a decided to shoot as clean as possible. When you and Lars started argue it
becomes
lot of light on the sets! I was lighting It was quite an elaborate process in talking about the project, did you something else.”
some of those apartment interiors post to try to get the look of real discuss the meaning of the images?
with 18Ks, 12Ks and 100K Soft Suns. black-and-white. Dod Mantle: About a year
There are, for example, high-speed The film is inspiring strong, before we began shooting, I started
scenes of He and She in the shower, mixed reactions. Some people are having meetings with him, and
with the water running down their gasping in horror and claiming it’s things were somewhat strained. It’s
faces, and I’ll tell you, it was boiling misogynistic, and others are saying not easy getting that kind of specific
hot in there! it’s brilliant and beautiful. information out of him. He always
How did you create the Dod Mantle: I fear that in cin- works intuitively, but this whole
black-and-white images? ema, it’s possible to be brilliant, project became unusually intuitive
Dod Mantle: The images were beautiful and misogynistic, but to and irrational as the film slowly
captured on the color matrix. I used me, Antichrist is far from misogynis- began to realize itself. A lot of the
some softening diffusion on the lens, tic. It’s such a personal piece of work images are straight from his psyche.
but we really had to strive to attain for Lars, and I’m glad it has an effect. The fact that he has them is enough
black-and-white during the digital Some people are moved and don’t for me initially. He’ll explain what he
grade. I tested the typical filters you’d know why; some people are moved can, but there are some things in this
use for black-and-white cinematog- and do know why. I have no desire to film that just can’t be articulated in a

Top: The
Phantom
camera also
lends a surreal
ambience to a
hailstorm of
acorns. Bottom:
Production
designer Karl
Juliusson at
work in the
practical cabin
that was
shipped to
Germany for
the shoot.
normal way. I had to try to under- artistic or personal? executing this movie that he did on
stand why he wanted things a cer- Dod Mantle: Neither specifi- his earlier films. All the production
tain way. That gave me some kind of cally, but in making a film, it’s diffi- can do in such a situation is attempt
system of logic. As long as I had cult to segregate the artistic territory to surround the director with peo-
something to go on, it was okay. from the personal. In terms of artis- ple he can trust, people who are
Regarding the recurring tic results, I’ve always maintained loyal to realizing his project to the
motif of the three beggars, is there that any film and any filmmaker can best of their abilities. I will go all the
a Danish cultural reference I’m only ever be as good as his director. way for a true artist if he’s doing
missing? What are the three beg- An auteur such as Lars will always something different, even if there
gars? ultimately be the defining factor in are difficulties and disagreements.
Dod Mantle: Perhaps they his films; how he is is how the film All I care about in this complicated
represent the editor, the photogra- will be. He suffers from anxiety and artistic vocation of ours are loyalty
pher and the special-effects supervi- is medicated appropriately, and he and honesty; any lack thereof can
sor! What do I know? It’s certainly can go in and out of clarity as we all create massive imbalance.
not Hans Christian Andersen, if do from time to time, but in his case One of the things we debated
that’s what you’re asking. Lars is an it’s slightly more extreme. He’s an had to do with the scenes we shot at
expert in creating these enigmas; amusing man even on a bad day, but the couple’s house in the forest. It
they appear and recur. I would leave if you don’t know him, it can be was a real house made of 180-year-
it as the right of authorship. quite unnerving. He spent up to sev- old wood. It had been used in
You have said this shoot eral hours at a time away from set, Norway as a winter shelter for ani-
strained your relationship with just trying to find a space to be in, mals, and the production designer
Lars at times. Were your issues and he didn’t have the same joy in broke it down, sent it to Germany,
reconstructed it in a forest and
developed it as a beautiful interior.
Originally, there was a plan to build
a double of the house in a studio.
When you’re working in an interior
and you want to see the exterior,
Bottom photo by Anthony Dod Mantle.
you’ve got to get lights in somehow,

and I wanted to at least have an
open roof to facilitate lighting and
walls that we could fly — things that
filmmakers have been doing for a
hundred years. Otherwise, I would
have liked to plate the windows
using greenscreen so I could put
lights outside without having them
appear in the shot. Six weeks before
70 November 2009
AMC_1109_p071_R:d_feature 10/7/09 12:31 PM Page 71
we were to shoot, Lars and some oth-

ers involved in the production pulled
the studio version of the house, so
we had to shoot everything in the
real house. I had to light the interiors
with small practicals and Kino Flos,
and Lars wanted to see 270 and 360
degrees. I knew he’d brought every-
body and this house to a forest in
Germany because he wanted to see
the exterior detail of nature through
the windows! It’s the kind of difficul-
ty cinematographers go through all
the time, but the look was very
important to Lars, and [shooting in a
practical house] certainly made it
very difficult to achieve.
I suspect the strongest confu-
sion reared its head in the offline
editing, which involved an editor
who had little idea about how far the
material could be taken in the grade
in terms of lighting. It’s common
knowledge that before the era of dig-
ital cinematography, cinematogra-
phers such as Gordon Willis [ASC]
often used a lot of lights to create the
illusion of darkness simply by attain-
ing a quality negative and printing
down in the lab. The same applied
here. When working with quality
actors who are playing their hearts
out half-naked in improvised scenes,
the cinematographer has to have the
courage and security to light up to
see performance, knowing he can
pull it down to wherever the ulti-
mate lighting level should be in the
final. What can happen in the digital
dailies and in editing a format such
as the Red is that the editor and
director can sit with a somewhat
alienating contrast ratio, with either
too much or too little information
for the director to know exactly what
the visual intent was at the moment
of shooting. Sometimes it is better to
consult the director of photography
rather than light a bonfire too early.
If you know your exposures and
know what you’re doing while
shooting, then it is fundamental to
know what you can do with the
material afterwards. That’s true
71

In a dreamlike
sequence with
the dark
overtones of a
Grimm fairytale,
She attempts to
conquer her
fear of an
ominous
footbridge.
whether you’re shooting 35mm or layers of high-speed photography storyboards. He is a visionary, and he
with a cell phone. and combined them [in post]. I’d imagined this kind of transition
It’s strange that someone like light the scene naturalistically, and without a cut that feels very different
Lars, who has worked with digital then I’d flip the lights in the other from the push in. The audience per-
formats with a lot less latitude than direction and shoot the water under ceives the shot as seamless in one
the Red, wouldn’t understand that. the bridge at different frame rates, do sequence, but the atmosphere of the
Dod Mantle: Lars is one of the passes for the foreground and for the shot, aside from the obvious addi-
most technically knowledgeable and background — basically anything tion of the human limbs, is different.
competent people I’ve ever worked we could do to destroy any naturalis- It’s enigmatic. To me, it’s a transition
with. More than anyone else on his tic references. We brought in mist from an earthly lovemaking scene to
films, he is fully capable of under- and fog and lit them differently for something that completely tran-
standing any technical issue and texture. It’s a painting, scends that, a scene with apocalyptic
finding a solution with you on the really. For Lars and me, these were undertones. The tree was built on
spot. Antichrist was an extremely some of the most enjoyable location very near where we put up
complicated technical mosaic of cin- moments on the entire film. the house, and the ground was dug
ematic experimentation and explo- You did some of that work out underneath. The mo-co rig
ration camouflaged by a modest with a moving camera, didn’t you? allowed us to do the whole thing in
budget and a short shooting sched- Dod Mantle: Yes. We used a several passes; first was the portion
ule. We got through, but not without motion-control rig under the fine with Charlotte and Willem, and then
moments of confusion and doubt, hands of Allan Ohlsson and my we did passes of the limbs, which
and those things tend to get inflated German grip, Bernd Maier. We were belonged to about 18 enthusiastic
by people close to the creative core of shooting multiple passes, but we male film students from Germany. I
the film who have motives of their wanted to stay away from the larger think we also used a few prosthetic
own. mo-co units. These shots were all limbs in places where people would-
Can you talk a bit about the worked out and storyboarded with n’t have been able to fit under the
scenes you shot using multiple [visual-effects supervisor] Peter tree.
passes? Hjorth. We have worked together Where did you do the digital
Dod Mantle: In one of the over the last 15 years, and Peter has grade, and what were some of the
‘visualization sequences,’ as we called been a great creative support for Lars challenges of that work?
them, She is traveling across the on many films. An example of this Dod Mantle: We worked at
bridge in the forest. Lars and I had work is the scene of He and She Film I Vest in Trollhättan, Sweden,
talked about going for the complete- making love under a tree. I push in because Zentropa got funding from
ly non-naturalistic look of a paint- with a handheld camera to the back that sector. This meant we had to
ing. I think that when you have of his neck, and it settles. Then there travel 500 kilometers to sit in front of
images that last for up to 30 seconds is a quick, linear movement back a computer that would fit in my
in cinema, people start to perceive that reveals all these human limbs bathroom. Such is the world of film
them differently, more like they reaching out from the roots of the financing these days. I graded the
would a painting. So we did many tree. That’s an image Lars had in the film with one of my longtime collab-
72 November 2009

Dod Mantle’s and we did a lot of work with layer-
portrait of the ing to achieve that. Some shots took
director
illustrates one eight hours to render! The shot of
of the film’s the woman over the bridge,
flashback approaching the house, had 25 lay-
looks.
ers. If there’s a machine that can do
60 layers, I’ll use them all! The hard-
est part actually wasn’t the more pic-
torial sequences or the black-and-
white sequences; it was balancing the
naturalistic scenes inside the house.
The filmout was done at the same
facility, and the prints were turned
around by my old colleagues at
Nordisk Film in Copenhagen. All
visual-effects material came from
several post facilities in Poland and
Photo by Anthony Dod Mantle.

orators, Stefan Ciupek, and [col- Vision’s Film Master; the suite did Sweden. The entire post team, led by
orist] Dirk Meier from Farbkult in not exist at the facility in Sweden Karin Maarbjerg, had to work very
Cologne; they were the biggest sup- before we got there, but Lars Dela hard to make the Cannes deadline in
port to me throughout the project. worked very hard to get it up to time.
The 2K workflow, from graded scratch. I like to explore a lot in post, Much of the color in the film
dailies through final filmout, worked not just color and effects, but also dif- is bold and saturated. What did you
so well under ridiculous time con- ferent techniques. Portions of and Lars discuss about color?
straints. We graded on Digital Antichrist are meant to be painterly, Dod Mantle: Green was a spe-
74
AMC_1109_p075_R:d_feature 10/7/09 12:51 PM Page 75
cial color for Lars, and I’m known for comments directly. But once we were us all. Are humans more good than
my lack of love for the color green. able to look at shots together, there evil? Willem’s character implies he
And on digital systems, green is one wasn’t a lot of time wasted on indeci- has solutions and wants to make
of the worst colors to contend with. sion. Lars is very specific about what everything work out, and when they
Lars had a very specific green in he likes. don’t work out that way, the audi-
mind; he wanted you to feel like the From Frankenstein to The ence has to figure out who was right
forest is enveloping you, and he had Exorcist, horror narratives fre- or wrong. I think the meaning of
a very clear idea about which hue of quently present scenarios in which Antichrist is something people can
green would have that effect. science tries to conquer the natural debate forever. Films should create
Sometimes I would try to twist it or supernatural world. In debate. That’s what ultimately keeps
around and tease him with some- Antichrist, the psychologist hus- us alive in cinema. I
thing I thought might have a similar band is up against …
effect, but he always brought it back Dod Mantle: … something he
TECHNICAL SPECS
to what he liked. It’s very difficult to can’t handle! Yes.
discuss these things if you and your Did you and Lars discuss this 2:1
director aren’t in the same room, idea?
looking at exactly the same calibrat- Dod Mantle: Lars has been 4K and 2K Digital Capture
ed display, and Lars stayed in through a great deal of therapy for
Red One,
Denmark during the grading ses- his depression and anxiety. He’s been Vision Research Phantom HD
sions partially because he was not fit open about that. All people have
enough to travel and partially to deep bouts of sadness or melancholy, Cooke S4 primes,
complete the sound mix in time for fear or anxiety, and at times we all Century 28-70mm zoom,
Cannes. Sending the graded material lose faith or trust in what we’re Lensbaby 2.0
to him only worked if Stefan or I doing. I can only suspect Lars is deal- Digital Intermediate
could be in the room to hear his ing with something fundamental to
75
AMC_1109_p076p077:e_feature 10/6/09 2:45 PM Page 76
Quality Viewing This year’s Emmy-nominated cinematographers

enjoy the spotlight.
Kodak held its annual dinner
honoring cinematographers
nominated for Emmy Awards.
The gathering at The Bistro
Garden in Studio City was a
celebration of filmmaking with
some of today’s most talented
visual artists.
(Front Row L-R):
George Mooradian; Kramer
Morgenthau, ASC; Michael
Slovis; James Carter, ASC.
(Back Row L-R):
Lukas Strebel; Ivan Strasburg,
BSC; John Aronson; Kodak’s Kim
Snyder; Michael Trim; Mark
Doering-Powell; Ousama Rawi,
BSC, CSC; Michael Weaver;
Matthew Clark.
roomful of prominent cine- important or meaningful. But when special.’ Once winning the award
A
matographers applauded tele- you’re standing there with that statue sank in, the feeling became one of
vision’s top behind-the- in your hand, you’re struck by how elation. It is very special when your
camera talents at Eastman cool it is to be acknowledged by your peers have decided your work
Kodak’s 28th annual “Salute to peers. All the blood, sweat and tears deserves an honor.”
Cinematography” dinner, held on you sacrifice during your career Lukas Streibel, who won in the
Sept. 11 at the Bistro Garden in actually mean something, and Miniseries or Movie category for
Studio City. Several ASC board people notice the work. It was an Little Dorrit, shared his own anec-
members and past presidents amazing honor, especially after the dote: “The morning after my return
attended the ceremony, joining an Kodak dinner, where you hang out to London, we had our burglar
array of award-winning directors of with the other nominees and get to alarm checked. When the technician
photography. know them as people and fellow saw the golden angel on the kitchen
The level of accomplishment artists. There’s a mutual appreciation table, he asked if I had won a
in the room did not go unnoticed by that puts it on a more personal level.” badminton tournament — or was it
the nominees, who seemed awed to Echoing Weaver’s sentiments ballroom dancing?”
be surrounded by so many legendary was Ousama Rawi, BSC, CSC, whose Also earning Emmys were
cinematographers. That heady feel- sumptuous period work on The cameramen Todd Liebler and Zach
ing continued at the actual Emmy Tudors won the Emmy for One- Zamboni, who won in the
ceremony, where the winners found Hour Series. “When I heard my Nonfiction Programming category
themselves a bit stunned to be in the name called, my first feeling was for Anthony Bourdain: No
Photos courtesy of Kodak.
spotlight. Michael Weaver, who numbness. I had already persuaded Reservations; and director of photog-
triumphed in the Half-Hour Series myself that I wasn’t going to be the raphy Derek Carver and cameramen
category for his work on the winner. Maybe I should have Michael Applebaum, John
dramatic comedy Californication, believed the fortune-cookie message Armstrong, Marc Bennett and Eric
summed up his feelings a few days I got at Chin Chin the night before Freeburg, who topped the Reality
later: “From a distance, you may the Kodak dinner; it said, ‘Be Programming field with Out of the
think an award may not be all that prepared to receive something Wild: The Alaska Experiment.
76 November 2009
AMC_1109_p076p077:e_feature 10/5/09 10:59 AM Page 77
Following is a complete list of Emmy nominees (* denotes winner):

Outstanding Cinematography, Outstanding Cinematography,
Half-Hour Series Miniseries Or Movie
Matthew Clark Michel Amathieu, AFC

30 Rock, “Apollo, Apollo” Into The Storm (HBO)
(NBC) John Aronson
Mark Doering-Powell Gifted Hands: The Ben
Everybody Hates Chris, Carson Story (TNT)
“Everybody Hates Back Talk” Mike Eley Above: Haskell
Wexler, ASC
(CW) Grey Gardens (HBO) Outstanding Cinematography, congratulates
George Mooradian Ivan Strasburg, BSC Reality Programming Strasburg.
Below: Aronson
According To Jim, “Heaven Generation Kill, “Combat and Weaver chat
Opposed To Hell” (ABC) Jack” (HBO) Derek Carver (director of about their
Michael Trim Lukas Strebel* photography), accomplishments.
Weeds, “No Man Is Pudding” Little Dorrit, “Part 1” (PBS) Michael Applebaum (camera),
(Showtime) John Armstrong (camera),
Michael Weaver* Marc Bennett (camera),
Californication, “In Utero” Outstanding Cinematography, Eric Freeburg (camera)*
(Showtime) Nonfiction Programming Out of the Wild: The Alaska
Experiment, “What Did I Sign
Adam Beckman Up For?” (Discovery Channel)
Outstanding Cinematography, (director of photography) Cinematography Team
One-Hour Series This American Life, “John Survivor, “The Camp Is
Smith” (Showtime) Cursed” (CBS)
Michael Slovis Robert C. Case Bryan Donnell (director of
Breaking Bad, “ABQ” (AMC) Whale Wars, “Nothing’s Ideal” photography)
James L. Carter, ASC (Animal Planet) Intervention, “Chad” (A&E)
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Cinematography Team Per Larsson (director of
“For Warrick” (CBS) Deadliest Catch, “Stay Focused photography),
Kramer Morgenthau, ASC Or Die” (Discovery Channel) Sylvestre Campe (camera),
Life On Mars, “Out Here In Cinematography Team Petr Cikhart (camera),
The Fields” (ABC) Expedition Africa, “Episode Tom Cunningham (camera),
Christopher Manley, ASC 101” (History) Peter Riveschl (camera)
Mad Men, “The New Girl” Todd Liebler (camera), The Amazing Race, “Don’t Let
(AMC) Zach Zamboni (camera)* A Cheese Hit Me” (CBS)
Ousama Rawi, BSC, CSC* Anthony Bourdain: No Tim Spellman (director of
The Tudors, “Episode 303” Reservations, “Laos” photography)
(Showtime) (Travel Channel) Top Chef, “The Last Supper”
(Bravo)
I
AMC_1109_p078p083:00 post focus 10/6/09 2:52 PM Page 78
Neil Armstrong
Post Focus The images were sent to Earth using
repositions the
Apollo 11 lunar
slow-scan television (SSTV), a low-band-
TV camera about width mode of video communication.
70' from the Scan converters, capable of 320 lines of
lunar module
after removing it
resolution at 10 fps, were used to adapt
from the MESA these images to a standard U.S. NTSC
(Modular broadcast TV signal (525 lines at 30 fps).
Equipment
Storage Area).
The tracking sites converted the signals
and transmitted them to Mission Control
in Houston using microwave links, Intel-
sat communications satellites and AT&T
analog landlines. By the time the images
appeared on international television,
they were substantially degraded.
For the restoration, a team of
Apollo-era engineers who helped
One Giant Leap for Clarity been degaussed, recertified and reused. produce the 1969 live broadcast of the
by David Heuring At tracking stations in Australia and the moonwalk acquired the best of the
United States, telemetry tapes recorded broadcast-format video from a variety of
The images from the July 1969 the transmissions from space, but a sources. These included a copy of a tape
Apollo 11 moonwalk are burned into three-year search for these tapes proved recorded at NASA’s video-switching
our collective consciousness. Neil unsuccessful. center in Sydney, Australia, where
Armstrong’s momentous hop from the Lowry Digital’s work on the downlinked television was received for
ladder of the lunar landing module to the project was divided into two stages. transmission to the U.S.; original broad-
surface of the moon is a symbol of the From the roughly 21⁄2 hours of Apollo 11 cast tapes from the CBS News Archive
20th century and of humanity’s urge to video, 15 highlight sequences were recorded via direct microwave and land-
explore. The millions who saw the murky selected and restored first so they would line feeds from NASA’s Johnson Space
black-and-white pictures on live televi- be ready in time for the anniversary. Center in Houston; and kinescopes,
sion were group witnesses to history in a These 15 scenes represent the most found in film vaults, that had not been
way that was wholly unprecedented; in significant moments of the 31⁄2 hours seen for 36 years. Another source was a
recognition of the historic nature of the Armstrong and Aldrin spent on the lunar reel of 8mm film from a wind-up camera
images captured on their space missions, surface, including Armstrong’s “one that had been handheld and aimed at a
Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael small step,” the planting of the American video monitor at a tracking site in
Collins were made honorary members of flag, Aldrin running and jumping to Australia; this 8mm film includes the
the American Society of Cinematogra- demonstrate the moon’s weaker gravity, only existing copy of some brief portions
phers, joining luminaries like Thomas and a pause to take a congratulatory call of the telecast.
Edison and George Eastman on a very from president Richard Nixon. The rest of One major puzzle for Lowry Digi-
exclusive list. the footage was restored in a second tal was deciphering the various formats,
To mark the 40th anniversary of phase that was finished in September. frame rates and resolutions in the source
the Apollo 11 mission, NASA entrusted The original images had been material. Conversion techniques moved
Photos courtesy of Lowry Digital.
the moonwalk images to Lowry Digital. captured using a custom-designed video fields and frames ahead and back to
The company’s résumé includes more camera and beamed to earth at 10 fps. make the 10 fps material work in 25 fps
than 400 restorations, including Citizen Armstrong’s famous descent of the PAL or 30 fps NTSC. Other material had
Kane, Rashomon and The Robe. ladder was captured while the camera been translated to VHS format. The 8mm
Astonishingly, the original record- was mounted on the leg of the Apollo 11 film images were recorded at 16 fps. All
ings of the video images transmitted lunar landing module. Later, the camera these different formats and translation
from Apollo 11 to NASA did not survive. was moved to a tripod, where it captured techniques added their own artifacts and
According to NASA, the original 1" video- such images as the flag being planted flaws to the images. In some cases,
tape copies of this footage seem to have and the astronauts toying with gravity. audio from the Apollo 11 mission
78 November 2009
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. ER
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Top and middle: provided Lowry Digital with a reference

Before-and-after for reproducing the proper speed of move-
comparisons of
the footage in ments, which was sometimes distorted
which the due to the various frame rates and stan-
astronauts plant dards conversions.
the American
flag on the moon. Other issues included lag, smear-
The footage was ing, and bleed; each of these problems
digitally restored required a specially tailored software
utilizing Lowry
Digital’s solution designed by Lowry’s team. Some
proprietary issues were introduced in the original
Lowry Process, photography — the camera had limited
which uses
temporal image- dynamic range and trouble compensating
processing for the extreme contrast of light in space
science to — while other problems were introduced
reduce noise,
improve detail in transmission, translation and recording;
and regain for example, the SSTV converter was
proper contrast, sometimes unable to handle the blackest
resolution and
noise levels. areas of the image and would revert to
Bottom: Patrick middle gray. Still other flaws were the
Edquist, project result of the media aging over four
manager of the
restoration, decades.
reviews footage. Lowry enlisted the help of Apollo-
era engineers to trace the various flaws
back to their cause. “The NASA people
provided us with very valuable informa-
tion that helped us get to the bottom of
these problems,” says senior algorithm
scientist Kimball Thurston. “If you can
understand what caused a problem, you
are very often taking the first step toward
defining a solution.”
“To address these unique prob-
lems, our in-house team developed a
range of specific proprietary tools,” says
Lowry COO Mike Inchalik. “We did not
use third-party software to repair or
restore the Apollo images — all of the
tools and image-processing functionality
were written here and are exclusive to
Lowry Digital.”
For example, the facility developed
“vignetting correction” that addressed
the variations in brightness across the
frame. (These variations are typical of an
analog tube camera from that era.)
The Lowry Process was also a
crucial tool. This proprietary technique
uses temporal image processing and
powerful imaging algorithms to reduce
noise and improve detail. The process
compares information from a large
number of consecutive frames in a
sequence and uses the similarities and
differences between those frames to
regain proper contrast, resolution and
80 November 2009
noise level in each frame.

According to Inchalik, “No one
else has the tools we have invented over
the past decade to remove a myriad of
types of picture artifacts, or to reduce
noise and increase image detail. Given
that the original recordings of the Apollo
11 mission did not survive, this ability to
deal with lost picture detail, as well as
the increased noise and artifacts intro- How will you create,
duced after original photography, was
essential.” Company founder John Lowry plan and communicate
adds, “We applied a lot of the thinking your vision?
that we apply to restoration generally.
We try to ask, ‘What is it that we are
trying to reproduce here?’ You walk a fine
line all the time in that area.”
Lowry utilized some basic third-
party tools to streamline its system. One
example is Nvidia Cuda, a code library
used to accelerate the custom software FrameForge 3D Studio is the must-have previsualization software for
built at Lowry. JMR’s BlueStor Extender today’s top filmmakers. Its optically-correct storyboards will save time and
also gave Lowry Digital’s team faster money throughout the production process. Start calling the shots with
access to stored images at its Final Cut FrameForge 3D Studio today. FrameForge3D.com
Pro workstation.
In consultation, Lowry and NASA
Available at TheASC.com Store
determined that some correctable flaws
in the images, such as dirt and dust on
the camera lens, should remain. “We "/(&/*&69015*.0"/(&/*&69015*.0
could make these images ‘perfect,’ but at "/(&/*&69015*.0
a certain point you begin to lose authen-
ticity,” says Patrick Edquist, Lowry Digi- "33* )19
tal’s project manager for the Apollo 11
restoration. “There are internal reflec-
tions from the camera lens that are
clearly visible in the images as they were
beamed to Earth, and after some discus-
sion, NASA decided that those should be 1)"/50.)% 3&%
PDW700
left in. The restored footage will be as
improved as we can make it without
changing the heart of it.”
Inchalik adds, “After looking care-
fully at the options, NASA chose to treat
Lowry Digital as a sole source provider
for this restoration. That speaks to our
proprietary technology and the picture-
quality improvements it can deliver. This
work for NASA represents the first signif-
icant deployment of The Lowry Process
outside the entertainment space. The
underlying technology applies just as
well to scientific, industrial, medical,
security and military images. We’re
excited by those opportunities.”
The restored footage was deliv-
81
Left: This camera was mounted upside-down in the

Apollo 11 lunar module’s MESA compartment prior to ered to NASA on hard drives as DPX files circle for John Lowry. In the 1970s,
launch. When Neil Armstrong pulled a D-ring on the in HD resolution. NASA made video of Lowry and his company Image Transform
module porch, the MESA door opened, and the camera the 15 highlight sequences available as worked with NASA to improve images
recorded the image of Armstrong as he descended the
ladder. Right: Stan Lebar, who worked for Westinghouse
part of its anniversary celebrations. as they were sent back live from the
Electric Corporation in the Aerospace Division, developed Eventually, all of the Apollo 11 imagery Apollo 16 and 17 missions. Thanks to the
the Apollo lunar TV cameras that recorded Armstrong’s will be part of a library of space-explo- tremendous growth in computing power
first steps on the lunar surface. In his right hand, Lebar
holds the Apollo color camera first used on Apollo 10 and
ration materials accessible to television over the past several decades, the ideas
later installed in the Apollo 11 command module. In his stations, schools and other educational and methods developed by Lowry and
left hand is the Apollo 11 black-and-white lunar camera outlets. Image Transform eventually grew into
used on Apollo 9 and then on the moon by Armstrong.
Interestingly, the Apollo 11 The Lowry Process, which serves as the
project represented the closing of a heart of Lowry Digital’s current work.
82
“It’s been a delight to revisit the

Apollo program and the work we started
37 years ago,” says Lowry. “It’s been a
tremendous privilege, and very exciting.
For the Apollo 11 work, we started with the first time.” Left: Ed von Renouard was one of the first people to
see the TV pictures coming down from Apollo 11. As
some pretty rough images, and while Honeysuckle Creek’s video tech in Australia, his
they are much improved, they are still far Scenes from the Apollo 11 responsibility was to operate the slow-scan console
[from] pristine. But it’s like sitting behind restoration effort can be found at that received the 10-fps/320-line picture from Apollo
11. He also operated the scan converter, which
the lens of the camera itself: you are http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/hd/ap converted the lunar TV to U.S. standards of 30 fps and
peering out into a world that is not what ollo11.html. I 525 lines. Here he is seen filming the monitor at
it was before. It’s not the way we are Honeysuckle with a Super 8mm camera. Right: Lowry
Digital founder and chief technologist John Lowry
used to seeing it — it’s clearer. There are (seated) and project manager Patrick Edquist (far
details and depth in the pictures that we right) discuss the restoration with NASA’s Stan Lebar
have not seen before. It is quite a (left) and Richard Nafzger (second from left).
phenomenal experience to see that for
83
AMC_1109_p084p090:00 new products 10/6/09 4:31 PM Page 84
New Products & Services DIGIC 4 Imaging Processors fuel the

7D’s 14-bit A/D data conversion and its
ability to freeze fast motion in high-reso-
lution with 8 fps continuous shooting for
up to 126 Large JPEGs using a UDMA
CF card. The camera can also capture
beautiful low-light images with or with-
out a flash thanks to a wide range of ISO
speed settings from 100-6,400 (expand-
able to 12,800).
In addition to its new still-
capture capabilities, the 7D features Full
HD video capture at 1920x1080 resolu-
tion with selectable frame rates of 24p,
Fuji Adds Vivid 500 to color adjustment during telecine and

Eterna Line digital-intermediate workflows while
Following the success of its minimizing noise during scanning.
Eterna Vivid 160 color negative film, Fuji- Phedon Papamichael, ASC; Dion
film has introduced Eterna Vivid 500 Beebe, ASC, ACS; and Kramer Morgen-
8547/8647. The tungsten-balanced thau, ASC were recently tasked with
stock boasts high color saturation putting the stock through its paces.
thanks to an evolved version of the “There was a nice amount of detail in
Eterna series’ Super Efficient DIR- the shadow, but I still got a very rich
Coupler Technology; optimized gradation black,” notes Beebe. “The stock really
balance for attractive skin tones and held up under these quite extreme light- 25p or 30p; native 24p recording helps
grays across a wide range of exposure ing conditions.” Morgenthau adds, “I videographers achieve a more cinema-
conditions; high contrast with crisp, would not hesitate to choose it for a style look for their footage without the
deep blacks; and a seamless match with wide variety of projects, especially need for post-processing. The camera
Vivid 160. something that calls for a very powerful, also enables 720p HD recording at 50p
Eterna Vivid 500 incorporates intense look.” or 60p and SD recording (in a 4:3 aspect
Fujifilm’s Super Nano-structured Grain ratio) at 50p or 60p. Compatible with
technology, which precisely controls the Canon Releases EOS 7D more than 60 Canon EF and EF-S lenses,
light-sensitive structure of the silver- Canon U.S.A., Inc. has intro- the 7D gives videographers fully manual
halide grain to nanoscale, resulting in duced the EOS 7D Digital SLR camera. exposure control, and the camera
extremely fine grain. The grain configu- More than just an improvement on a provides users with the capability to use
ration is precisely engineered to a thick- previous model, the 7D satisfies the an external stereo microphone for
ness that minimizes reflections, effec- most rigorous professional require- professional audio effects or the built-in
tively limiting light scatter and boosting ments with durability, flexibility, high- monaural microphone.
sharpness. Additionally, a yellow resolution images and customizable Coinciding with the 7D’s release,
coupler has been developed for controls. Canon has announced the WFT-E5A
enhanced color formation effect during The 7D boasts significant EOS Wireless File Transmitter, exclusively for
processing. advancements, including a 19-point
Eterna Vivid 500’s optimized Autofocus system, the Canon iFCL
orange-mask density and sharpness (intelligent Focus, Color and Luminance)
balance result in improved scanning Metering System and an intelligent
characteristics, and its excellent linear viewfinder. An 18-megapixel, APS-C-
response and color balance facilitate sized Canon CMOS sensor and Dual
84 November 2009
use with the EOS 7D. The WFT-E5A

offers professional photographers a
wide range of digital connectivity
options — including IEEE802.11a/b/g
and Ethernet — ideal for commercial
and studio work. With the WFT-E5A,
photographers can fire up to 10 cameras
simultaneously, from across the room or
across the country, while maintaining
control over camera settings and remote
live view on a laptop or smart phone.
The WFT-E5A can also transfer and
display images on DLNA-compatible
televisions and photo frames, and geot-
agging is now possible via Bluetooth,
using compatible GPS devices to
append coordinate data to the images.
The EOS 7D is available in a
body-only configuration at an estimated
retail price of $1,699; it is also sold in a
kit version with Canon’s EF 28-135mm
f/3.5-5.6 IS USM zoom lens at an esti-
mated retail price of $1,899. The WFT-
E5A sells at an estimated retail price of
$699.99.
For more information, visit
www.usa.canon.com.
INNOVA
TION
Qua
lity mad
e by Den
z
FLANGE DEPTH CONTROLLER
Precision Flange Measurement to

use with all digital video cameras
Angenieux Expands fitted with 54 mm PL-Mount
Optimo Rouge Series RED One, Sony F35, Arri D-20/21
Thales Angenieux has expanded
100 % Precision – Accuracy to
its Optimo Rouge DP series of lenses 1 Micron (Collimator Technique)
with the Optimo Rouge 16-42mm large-
Quick and easy to use
format digital zoom lens.
(self-explanatory)
“The Optimo DP series incorpo-
rates the next generation of optics for Power Supply: DC 3 V (battery),
AC mains adapter 5 V DC
high-definition imaging to specifically
complement the new breed of large- Easy controlling via the on-screen
format digital cameras that are quickly display from monitor
gaining traction in the industry,” says 154 821 234
Eva Paryzka, Thales Angenieux’s sales

manager for cinema products. “Our
Optimo DP series large-format digital
zoom lenses deliver Angenieux’s indus-
try-leading optics along with superior
functionality and ergonomics. The WE ACCEPT
Optimo DP series makes no compro-
www.denz-deniz.com
85
mises and provides the image coverage while the modular construction Illumination Dynamics
of full [Super 35mm] in a lightweight increases ease of maintenance and Moves to New Facility
and compact design.” serviceability. The lenses are color- Illumination Dynamics, a
The new 16-42mm zoom was matched and compatible with the entire member of the Arri Rental Group, has
developed by Thales Angenieux’s Acad- Cooke range, including S4/i and the moved into a new location in San
emy Award-winning Optimo design new Panchro by Cooke. /i Technology is Fernando, Calif., featuring easy access,
team. The lightweight (4.2 pounds) PL- included as standard to provide vital ample space and amenities for produc-
mount lens boasts a fast aperture of camera information for postproduction tion crews. With 70,000 square feet of
T2.8, calibrated focus marks, no ramp- pipelines. warehouse space to house the
ing or breathing, and a unique mechan- For more information visit company’s expanding inventory of
ical design for precise zoom and focus. www.cookeoptics.com. motion-picture lighting, grip, automated
For more information, visit and theatrical lighting, HVAC equip-
www.angenieux.com. ment, and expendables, the rental
house offers improved equipment
Cooke Unveils 5/i Primes accessibility, working environments and
Cooke Optics Ltd. has launched customer service.
the 5/i prime lens series, designed for In addition to doubling the ware-
all PL-mount professional film and elec- house space, Illumination Dynamics
tronic cameras. provides 11,000 square feet of air-condi-
“The development of the 5/i tioned office, repair, conference and
lenses has been a labor of love for us
and we couldn’t be happier with the Otto Nemenz Takes Delivery
results,” says Les Zellan, chairman and of Sony F35s
owner of Cooke Optics. “We worked Band Pro Film & Digital has
closely with the customers to create a announced that renowned rental house
truly unique prime lens, providing Otto Nemenz International — which is
unmatched functionality yet preserving currently celebrating its 30th anniver-
the luminous ‘Cooke look’ that marks sary — has taken delivery of 10 new
our lenses out from the competition.” Sony F35 cameras.
A key feature of the 5/i primes is Otto Nemenz, president of Otto
a dimmable, illuminated focus ring with Nemenz International and an associate
member of the ASC, explains, “With the demo rooms, including separate produc-
help of our friends at Band Pro, we’re tion offices with convenient telephone
finally making the move to high defini- and Wi-Fi Internet connectivity. Repair
tion. When they showed us the Sony facilities offer excellent maintenance in-
F35 camera, we knew it was time. We house as well as equipment servicing
take pride in offering our clients only the for customers. Dedicated entries and
best products. The F35, together with spacious loading docks for each depart-
our existing cine Cooke, Angenieux and ment facilitate easy equipment pickup
Zeiss PL-mount lenses, gives us a and return.
system we’re proud to put our name For more information, visit
on.” (Nemenz is seated at left in the www.illuminationdynamics.com.
two separately toggled scales (cine- above photo with, from left, Alex
matographer and assistant), allowing Wengert, Ryan Sheridan, Fritz Heinzle Denz Offers Flange
the focus puller to read the scales in and ASC associate member Amnon Depth Controller
low lighting conditions. The aperture Band.) Denz has introduced the Flange
stops range from T1.4 to T22 across the The F35 CineAlta camera system Depth Controller for PL-mount digital-
line; the lenses available are 18, 25, 32, captures 10-bit 4:4:4 images at 1 to 50 video cameras, including the Red One,
40, 50, 65, 75, 100 and 135mm. fps from a single, Super 35mm-sized Sony F35, Arri D-21, Phantom HD and
Cooke 5/i optics offer superb sensor, which allows cinematographers Weisscam HS-2.
optical and mechanical performance, to use familiar and comfortable 35mm Based on a cross-fading princi-
control of flare, distortion, veiling glare PL-mount optics. ple, the FDC incorporates two lenses,
and spherical aberrations at full aper- For more information, visit which project two different masks onto
ture. The cam-type focus mechanism www.bandpro.com or www.ottone the camera’s sensor. When the user
allows for smooth focus adjustments, menz.com. turns the adjustment wheel on the FDC,
86 November 2009
the two projected masks shift; when the

masks align, the precise flange depth
— accurate to 1 Micron — can be read
on the scale of the adjustment wheel.
Weighing less than 1.5 pounds,
the FDC can be powered by a DC 3-volt
battery with an auto-off function or with
an AC/DC adapter; the battery has an
estimated operating time of 1,400
flange-depth measurements.
www.denz-deniz.com.
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87
K-Cam Elevates
POV Cameras
K-Tek has introduced the K-Cam
Camera Pole, designed to give users
more creative options when working
with mini HD cameras such as the Sony
HXR-MC1 and the Iconix Studio 2K. The

K-Cam extends the user’s reach and
provides an easy way to move the
camera in and out of hard to reach
places.
The K-Cam Kit includes the
Camera Pole; a lightweight, sturdy
Swivel Adapter for mounting the
camera; and a Monitor Adapter for
anchoring the camera’s control unit and
2.7" LCD monitor to the body of the pole.
(The Swivel Adapter can also be
purchased separately.) Additionally, the
Camera Pole is available in four models:
the K-Cam72K traveler, which extends
to 6'; the K-Cam99K, which extends to
8'3"; the K-Cam113K, which extends to
9'; and the K-Cam152K, which extends
to 12'8".
Like K-Tek’s Klassic Boom Poles,
the Camera Poles are crafted of high-
density graphite fiber to ensure maxi-
mum strength at minimum weight.
However, the Camera Poles feature a
“beefier” top section to provide extra
support. The poles’ telescoping sections
are held in place through the company’s
proprietary “captive collet” locking
system, and locking collars are outfitted
with a “Soft-Touch” rubber sleeve for an
easy grip and comfortable touch. The
mushroom pole base is molded from
rugged polyurethane for optimum shock
protection and long life.
www.ktekbooms.com.
Easy Calculations with pCam

on iPhone
The pCam graphical cinematog-
raphy calculator created by David
88
11_09 new prods_p.89_REV:00 new products 10/7/09 2:18 PM Page 89
Eubank is now available as an applica-

tion for the iPhone and iPod Touch.
Designed for directors of photog-
raphy, camera operators, camera assis-
tants, visual-effects supervisors,
gaffers, grips, editors, production
designers, art directors and film
students, pCam for iPhone boasts an
easy-to-use graphical interface that
helps the user understand how each
calculation is applied. The application
includes all of the
correct HD and
motion-picture camera
manufacturers’ specs
for image size and
circles of confusion.
Calculations available
in pCam include depth
of field, aperture
finder, hyperfocal,
field of view, framing
preview, angle of
view, exposure,
running time to length
of film, shooting time to screen time,
HMI safe speeds and shutters, color-
correction filters, diopter, macro, time
lapse, underwater distance, scene illu- “The beauty of a good film school is
mination, light coverage and Siemens
star. that it invites you to make mistakes,
Calculations are made instantly nthusiasm.
but never dampens your en
and automatically as each entry is At LFS I made plenty, and ignited
changed, and pCam saves entries until
the user changes or resets them. a passion.”
Professional film and video formats Duncan Jones, MA Filmmaking graduate
compatible with pCam include 8mm, 2001. His debut feature MOON won the
16mm, 35mm, VistaVision, 65mm, Michael Powell Award at Edinburgh for
70mm, Imax, 2⁄3" CCD video and HD Best New British Film.
video. Global settings allow switching
between English and Metric measuring THE LFS TWO-YEAR
systems, EI and ASA, and footcandles MA FILMMAKING
and Lux. Additionally, built-in instruc-
tions accompany each screen.
PROGRAMME
For more information, visit STARTS IN JANUARY,
www.davideubank.com. MAY AND SEPTEMBER.
MatchLens Available To find out more about training in all

departments, on a minimum of six film
on iPhone exercises, including two 35mm projects,
Developed by Don Matthew in a working studio with students from
Smith, the MatchLens calculator appli- 30 countries visit
cation for the iPhone computes equiva-
lent lens focal lengths to produce the lfs.org.uk
same field of view between two
cameras with different aperture/sensor THE LONDON FILM SCHOOL
A T R A D I T I O N O F I N N O V A T I O N
24 SHELTON STREET, LONDON, WC2H 9UB U.K. TELEPHONE: +44 (0)20 7836 9642 EMAIL INFO@LFS.ORG.UK 89
11_09 new prods:00 new products 10/7/09 12:07 PM Page 90
sizes. launched in 1999, Blackmagic Design Scenechronize Makes

Designed specifically will cease marketing 2K systems Management Easy
for the movie industry, immediately. Support for 2K systems Clever Machine, a San Fran-
MatchLens covers 16mm, will continue, and spare parts are still cisco-based software company, has
35mm and high-definition available for customer repairs. Engi- launched Scenechronize, a Web-based
video formats. The app neering will be dedicated to bug-fix application that offers users a true
also covers an extensive updates and small feature releases. production-management system, giving
list of professional still and Annual support contracts will producers, directors, department heads
point-and-shoot digital also immediately cease, and a new and crew 24/7 access to the most up-to-
camera formats, which can “pay as you go” system will be initi- date information for their film and tele-
in turn be matched across ated so customers only need to pay if a vision projects.
all standards — film, video and still fault occurs. Blackmagic Design From development to distribu-
photography. believes this will save customers thou- tion, Scenechronize streamlines
For more information, visit sands of dollars of unused support communications for the entire produc-
www.indeliblepics.com. payments. Customers can pay for any tion, saving days of wasted time thanks
repairs required, and purchase and to its automated management work-
Blackmagic Design repair of secondhand DaVinci products flows. Whether the production involves
Acquires DaVinci will be supported when possible, 10 people or 200, all the vital elements
Blackmagic Design has improving the resale value of second- — including script, breakdown, sched-
announced the purchase of all assets of hand DaVinci products. ule, casting, location information,
DaVinci Systems LLC. Accordingly, For more information, visit
Blackmagic Design will now offer www.blackmagic-design.com/davinci.
DaVinci Resolve DI color-correction
systems and DaVinci Revival film DriveSavers Recovers
restoration products for sale world- P2 Cards
wide. DriveSavers, a leader in data
“I remember back in 1988 to the recovery services, has announced that
first day I started in postproduction and it has the capacity to successfully
was shown the telecine suite with recover data from P2 solid-state
DaVinci,” says Grant Perry, CEO of memory cards. Roughly the size of a
Blackmagic Design. “I could not believe credit card, P2 cards house four high-
the quality of the images on the moni- speed, ultra-reliable flash memory reports, photos, video and dailies —
tor, and that was the moment I fell in cards laid out in a RAID array, which are managed with up-to-the-minute
love with high-quality imaging and provides increased storage capacity information, available to the entire crew
color-correction. … It’s been a while and faster data transfer rates. These anytime, anywhere.
since I was a telecine engineer, solid-state drives in rugged metal Scenechronize’s easy-to-use
however it’s incredibly exciting to be shells are a convenient and inexpen- interface enables anyone to get up and
back involved with DaVinci again! We sive way to store large amounts of digi- running in a matter of minutes. Time-
have a lot to live up to and many fantas- tal data for high-definition video saving features include automated
tic ideas, so it’s a very exciting time!” production. script importing, script revision impact
Blackmagic Design has initiated “P2 cards are considered to be analysis, breakdown and scheduling.
a wide-ranging restructuring of the one of the most durable video storage Users can organize information by
DaVinci business. The new focus will mediums available,” says Michael Hall, scene and department, and store docu-
be on the DaVinci Resolve color-correc- chief information security officer at ments, photos and video for thorough
tion and DaVinci Revival film-restora- DriveSavers. “But, like all removable record keeping.
tion products. DaVinci Resolve already media, they are inherently susceptible For more information, visit
has the power to handle complex color to physical failure and data will www.scenechronize.com. I
grades in real time even at native 4K inevitably need to be recovered from
resolutions and in stereoscopic 3-D. To these devices. We have successfully
SUBMISSION INFORMATION
accelerate development, the Resolve researched the cards and have the abil-
and Revival engineering teams have ity to overcome physical and logical Please e-mail New Products/Services
releases to newproducts@ascmag.com and
already been expanded, and further failures to these devices.”
include full contact information and product
expansion is currently underway. For more information, visit images. Photos must be TIFF or JPEG files of at
Due to the age of the DaVinci 2K www.drivesavers.com. least 300dpi.
systems, which were originally
90 November 2009
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94 November 2009
Sundance Film Festival, Park City Utah, January 21-31 sundance.org/festival

11_09 in memoriam:00 memoriam 10/5/09 11:15 AM Page 96
In Memoriam
Richard Moore, ASC, 1925-2009
ichard Moore, ASC, co-founder of “He showed me their Arri IIA newsreel
R Panavision and recipient of the Soci-

ety’s 2004 Presidents Award, died on
Aug. 16 at the age of 83 in Palm Springs,
camera, the first reflex camera, and it
really blew me away. I came back to
Hollywood with the sole right to distrib-
Calif. ute it in the western United States.”
Moore was born in Jacksonville, Moore soon found himself in
Ill., and his family moved to Los Angeles business with a college pal, future ASC
when he was 7. After graduating from member Conrad Hall. Moore recalled, cameraman and camera operator to
University High during World War II, he “The people who made decisions in the qualify for union membership, Moore
movie business were very stodgy at the was hired as the cinematographer on the
time. We took the camera around to all CBS series Daktari, in 1964. He then
the heads of camera department at the began a long, successful run as a free-
studios, but no one was interested, and lancer. He often collaborated with Lamar
we went bust very quickly.” Boren, ASC, most notably for the under-
Shortly after that, Moore was water sequences on the James Bond
introduced to Robert Gottschalk by a film Thunderball (1965).
mutual friend. Gottschalk had been Moore’s big break as principal
experimenting with underwater hous- cinematographer came with John
ings for motion-picture cameras and Huston’s The Life and Times of Judge
drew Moore into his efforts. Eventually, Roy Bean (1972). Moore recalled, “Of all
they discovered that once cameras were the directors I knew, Huston was the one
submerged, the coverage of conven- most open to everyone’s ideas, not least
tional lenses became narrow because of of which were my own. He was a gentle-
the water’s index of refraction. Their vari- man and had total control over what he
enrolled in the U.S. Navy’s ROTC ous solutions for dealing with this issue was doing. That experience put me in a
program at the University of Southern led to what became the industry’s finest totally different class.” He reteamed
California. A longtime interest in anamorphic projection lenses. It also with Huston on Annie (1982).
photography eventually brought him to sparked the creation of Panavision, a Moore became an ASC member
USC’s cinema department. “That was company that changed the face of in 1975. His cinematography credits
somewhat unusual in those days,” he motion-picture production. include the features The Scalphunters
stated during a 1998 interview. “But it “Panavision took off really (1968), The Rievers (1969), Winning
was really the only way I could see to quickly,” said Moore. “CinemaScope (1969), Myra Breckinridge (1970), WUSA
somehow get into the movie business, was breaking out, and we could barely (1970) and Sometimes a Great Notion
which was something I very much keep up with the demand for our product. (1971). He directed the feature Circle of
wanted to do.” Soon, we started building taking lenses, Iron (1978).
Moore served in the navy from and then we got into the design and “I had a tremendously enjoyable
1943-1946 and was a photographic offi- manufacture of 35mm and 65mm career,” Moore observed. “I loved being
cer aboard the USS Montpelier. After cameras. In 1959, Doug Shearer, on location, and I loved working with
graduating from USC in 1947, he found Gottschalk and I were given an Academy individuals who were really interested in
his prospects for employment at the Sci-Tech Award for the 65mm system what they were doing. I was well paid
studios were nonexistent. He made a used to photograph Ben-Hur [1959], and had a ton of unique experiences.
living by doing odd jobs and taking on among many other movies. Then it was Who could ask for more from a job?”
occasional work as a cinematographer right to the moon!” Moore is survived by his daugh-
for independent productions. “I once Soon, however, Moore became ter, Marina; son, Stephen; sister-in-law,
shot a travelogue and got a free trip to restless. “I wanted to get back to what I Mary Moore; and nephew, Joel Moore.
Europe, and while I was there, I wangled had originally gotten into the business
a meeting with Dr. August Arnold at the for: being a director of photography.” — Richard Crudo, ASC
Arriflex factory in Munich,” he recalled. After a brief stint as an assistant I
96 November 2009
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AMC_1109_p098p099:00 clubhouse 10/6/09 3:20 PM Page 98
Clubhouse News
Willis to Receive Schaefer Visits Mexico the genuine enthusiasm of the local film-
Honorary Oscar Roberto Schaefer, ASC makers and students to be really infec-
The Academy of Motion Picture recently gave a roundtable talk organized tious, and I would love to have the chance
Arts & Sciences will present an Honorary by AC and hosted by Henner Hofmann, to work with some Mexican and other
Academy Award statuette to Gordon ASC, AMC at the inaugural Proa Mexico Latin American directors. I’ve worked with
Willis, ASC, on Nov. 14 expo in Mexico City. many non-Americans and really appreci-
in Los Angeles. The The show attracted more than ate the varying ways of seeing the world
presentation will be part and telling stories.
of the inaugural Gover- “I’ve done seminars at schools
Willis, Dryburgh photos by Douglas Kirkland. Proa Mexico photo by Saul Molina. “Motion-Picture Canvas” photo by Todd Wawrychuk, ©AMPAS.
nors Awards ceremony, around the United States, but this was my
which will be held in the first time doing this kind of event outside
Grand Ballroom at Holly- of the country,” he adds. “I hope to do
wood & Highland. many more.”
“It’s a terrific honor,” — Noah Kadner
Willis told AC. “I’m a
little stunned. These Dryburgh, Hurwitz,
things usually happen Stacey Join Society
Roberto Schaefer, ASC (left) and Henner
after they throw the last Hofmann, ASC, AMC in Mexico. Born in the United Kingdom, Stuart
bucket of earth on you, so I’m glad I’m still Dryburgh, ASC spent most of his child-
standing!” 3,500 attendees and showcased 120 hood and young-adult life in New Zealand,
Born in New York City, Willis began exhibitors specializing in production and where he earned a bachelor of architecture
his cinematography career in 1970 with postproduction. The Mexico production degree from Auckland University. His first
the feature End of the Road. He shot more scene yields more than 100 features forays into New Zealand’s film industry
than 30 pictures, including the Godfather every year, along with a variety of came on such features as Middle Age
trilogy, Annie Hall, All the President’s Men, commercials, music videos and televi- Spread, Good-Bye Pork Pie and Smash
Manhattan, Klute, Zelig, Pennies From sion programming; it also plays host to Palace, and from 1979 to 1985, he worked
Heaven and The Purple Rose of Cairo. 87 film festivals. as a gaffer on numerous international
He earned an Academy Award Hofmann and Schaefer’s hour- features and commercials.
nomination for Zelig and Academy and long chat was attended by industry Dryburgh’s first credits as a cine-
ASC award nominations for The Godfather professionals and students from Centro matographer came on short films, music
Part III. The ASC presented him with its de Capacitación Cinematográfica, where videos and commercials. In 1989, he shot
Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995. Hofmann was recently named director. An Angel at My Table for director Jane
Honorary Oscars, which will also be Schaefer screened a selection of Campion, and the pair re-teamed for The
presented this year to Lauren Bacall, John his work in commercials and features Piano, which earned Dryburgh ASC and
Calley and Roger Corman, recognize extra- and discussed his collaborations with Academy award nominations in 1994. His
ordinary distinction in lifetime achieve- director Marc Forster, with whom he has
ment, exceptional contributions to the teamed on eight features, including
state of motion-picture arts and sciences, Quantum of Solace. The students quizzed
or outstanding service to the Academy. Schaefer about his experiences with
“These individuals have made lasting digital capture, including his work with
impressions on the industry and audiences the Red One camera on Leaves of Grass,
worldwide,” said Tom Sherak, president of directed by Tim Blake Nelson.
AMPAS. “I’m thrilled that [they were] Schaefer’s visit to Mexico City
selected to be honored at our new Gover- included another symposium at CCC and
nors Awards event, which will be full of interaction with some of the local
memorable moments celebrating their production houses, including Simple-
accomplishments.” mente and EFD. Thinking back on his
time in Mexico, Schaefer says, “I found
98 November 2009
AMC_1109_p098p099:00 clubhouse 10/6/09 3:20 PM Page 99
feature credits include Analyze This, Brid- You and Adventureland. He has also Andrew J. Freustel, Michael J.
get Jones’s Diary and Nim’s Island. written and directed a number of short Massimino and John M. Grunsfeld; pilot
Tom Hurwitz, ASC began his film films, including Bad Liver & a Broken Gregory C. Johnson; and Commander
career while attending Columbia Univer- Heart. Scott D. Altman were present for the
sity, where he majored in English and reli- event. The astronauts showed clips from
gion. As a student, he apprenticed in Clark, Hsui Named their 13-day mission and discussed the
cutting rooms and worked as a production Associates challenges and revelations of filming in
assistant. In 1967, with Peter Gessner, he Associate member Adam Clark space with digital and Imax 3-D cameras.
co-produced and directed the documen- began his career in the film industry in
tary Last Summer Won’t Happen, cement- 1994 as a positive developer for Deluxe ASC Members Go Behind
ing his love affair with the camera. Laboratories. In 1995, he was promoted Motion-Picture Canvas
After working as a still photogra- to positive-developing shift boss, and in ASC associate member Rob
pher, Hurwitz began working as a camera 1996 he ventured into answer printing, Hummel recently presented “Behind the
assistant on commercials, and later as a using wetgate, M-printers and C-print- Motion-Picture Canvas,” kicking off a
gaffer for commercials and features. He ers. He then spent two years as a nega- three-day focus on the history and evolu-
began earning cinematography credits on tive color timer, working on a Hazeltine tion of motion-picture formats at the
documentaries, commercials, features color analyzer, and in 1999 he became a
and telefilms, and in positive color timer, working with cine-
1991, he decided to matographers to time answer prints for
focus on shooting feature releases. Since 2003, Clark has
documentaries. His served as dailies supervisor for Deluxe’s
credits include Hollywood facility.
Valentino: The Last Before venturing into filmmaking,
Emperor, Wild Man associate member Cliff Hsui began his
Blues, Down and Out career in Hong Kong and Taiwan’s music- Academy of Motion Picture Arts & ASC associate
in America and The recording industry. He transitioned into Sciences. Following the illustrated Rob Hummel
(left) is joined
Turandot Project. He shooting and directing music videos for lecture, which featured clips from The by ASC
has served as an Sony Music in Taiwan, and then decided Great Train Robbery, The Adventures of members
adjunct professor in to continue his studies at New York Robin Hood, Lady and the Tramp and The Stephen Burum,
Allen Daviau,
the undergraduate film program at New University’s Tisch School of the Arts and Sound of Music, Hummel was joined John Bailey
York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, at FAMU in Prague. Following his stud- onstage by ASC members Stephen H. and Caleb
and he is currently writing the curriculum ies, Hsui began working as a camera Burum, Allen Daviau, John Bailey Deschanel at
the Academy.
for an MFA program in social documentary assistant, and he then made the move to and Caleb Deschanel.
for the School of Visual Arts in New York. digital-imaging technician. He currently The special focus on film formats
Terry Stacey, ASC traveled to serves as senior vice president of continued with screenings of new prints
New York City after studying at the Univer- marketing and technologies for Sim of Manhattan, photographed by Gordon
sity of Manchester in England. He found Video Los Angeles. He also works as a Willis, ASC, and The Black Stallion, shot
work at the Collec- DIT and volunteers for the Training Sub- by Deschanel.
tive for the Living Committee on Data Handling for IATSE
Cinema, shooting Local 600. Edlund Discusses Beckett
and editing Super Richard Edlund, ASC recently
8mm shorts and Deschanel, Dykstra participated in a panel discussion about
experimental music Launch Academy Panel the work of the late animator and visual-
videos. After touring Society members Caleb effects artist Adam Beckett. The
South America with Deschanel and John Dykstra recently program, “Infinite Animation: The Work
a 16mm Bolex, hosted “Astronaut as Filmmaker,” of Adam Beckett,” was presented by the
Stacey returned to presented by the Academy of Motion Academy of Motion Picture Arts &
England to work as a Picture Arts & Sciences’ Science and Sciences and included a screening of Life
documentary cameraman. He eventually Technology Council. The event explored in the Atom, a short film Beckett left
returned to New York and began notching the relationship between NASA and unfinished when he died in 1979 at the
credits on independent features such as motion pictures, with a particular focus age of 29. Beckett’s work ran the gamut
Love God, Spring Forward, American on the recent mission of the crew of the from experimental art films to heading
Splendor (AC April ’03) and Winter Pass- space shuttle Atlantis to service the the rotoscope and animation department
ing (AC Feb. ’06). His credits include The Hubble Space Telescope. Atlantis on Star Wars. I
Nanny Diaries (AC May ’07), P.S. I Love mission specialists Michael T. Good,
AMC_1109_p100:00 asc closeup 10/5/09 12:55 PM Page 100
ASC CLOSE-UP
Anastas Michos, ASC
When you were a child, what film made the strongest Have you made any memorable
impression on you? blunders?
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). I was 4 or 5 when I saw it, The first day of shooting Man on the
and the evil queen had me peeking out from behind my seat. Moon, my first ‘big Hollywood feature,’
we were on Universal’s lot. Both
Which cinematographers, past or present, do you most admire, nervous and early, I decided to calm
and why? down by stopping at Jerry’s Deli for a
Philippe Rousselot, ASC, AFC, whose sparse lighting portrays the most coffee and The New York Times. As I was reading the Op-Ed page, my
complex of emotions; Vittorio Storaro, ASC, AIC, for his use of color; cell phone rang. It was the assistant director, wondering how long I’d
Chris Doyle, HKSC, for his intuitive eye for framing; Robert Richardson, be stuck in traffic. It turns out I’d read my call sheet wrong, and I was
ASC, who has defined a style all his own; and Haskell Wexler, ASC, for well over an hour late! I arrived at the studio to see the flashing red
his iconic body of work and never-ending enthusiasm. Also, César Char- light outside the stage door. With heart in throat, I walked in to see my
lone, ABC; Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC; Nestor Alméndros, ASC; Conrad director, Milos Forman, in the middle of rehearsal, and producer
Hall, ASC … . Where do I stop? Michael Housman, who had championed me for the job, pacing. Luck-
ily, my friends had my back: camera operator Mitch Dubin was setting
What sparked your interest in photography? up the first shot (a Technocrane extravaganza), and gaffer Jack English
One summer, when I was a bored teenager, I found an old 2x2 still and key grip Chris Centrella were lighting the scene. Housman only
camera rattling around in a box. I’d shoot, guessing at exposures, and growled at me.
marvel at the happy accidents.
What is the best professional advice you’ve ever received?
Where did you train and/or study? I was working with Don McAlpine, ASC, ACS, and getting impatient
Much to my regret, I didn’t attend film school. I read voraciously about watching the director, producer and assistant director endlessly discuss
film theory and technique, and I haunted art museums and photography the next setup. Don turned to me and said in his inimitable Aussie
galleries. Of course, I also went to the movies — lots of movies. drawl, ‘Relax. Sooner or later they’ll have to come over to talk to us.’
Who were your early teachers or mentors? What recent books, films or artworks have inspired you?
Garrett Brown, whose mastery of the moving camera and ability to The films Three Monkeys and Il Divo were wonderfully and inventively
transpose our three-dimensional world into a two-dimensional one photographed. Lynn Nottage’s play Ruined resonated with me; Lauren
continues to amaze me, and Philippe Rousselot, whose mantra “fill the Flanigan’s performance at Carnegie Hall was transcendent; and
frame” when composing shots of the human face stayed with me long Kehinde Wiley’s exhibit at the Studio Museum of Harlem was superb.
after I operated for him. I’d like to thank both of them. As a camera oper- The Invention of Everything is a magical novel that reimagines Nikola
ator, I learned from every cinematographer I worked with; sometimes, I Tesla’s life.
learned what not to do.
Do you have any favorite genres, or genres you would like
What are some of your key artistic influences? to try?
I try to give each film I photograph its own look by researching it metic- I’d like to shoot a sailing film, although I know anyone in his or her right
ulously using both obvious and improbable sources. I look for a point of mind should stay away from working on the water.
view that’s unique to the script and then explore it. Having said that,
some artists that move me are (in no particular order) Caravaggio, Miles If you weren’t a cinematographer, what might you be
Davis, Sebastiao Salgado, Erik Satie, David Allen Harvey, Georges de La doing instead?
Tour, Johannes Vermeer, Gordon Parks, Joaquín Rodrigo, Romare Bear- Had I the talent and discipline, I’d be a composer or conductor. Photo-
den, Constantine Cavafy, John Coltrane and Nikos Kazantzakis. journalism would be a strong second choice.
How did you get your first break in the business? Which ASC cinematographers recommended you for
When I was a non-union documentary assistant, I was introduced to membership?
Garrett Brown and a little project called Skycam, the precursor to all the Haskell Wexler, Philippe Rousselot and Sol Negrin.
‘flying rigs.’ I went on to operate Steadicam and work on many music
videos and commercials until I finally landed a job on a no-/low-budget How has ASC membership impacted your life and career?
Photo by Claudette Barius.
union feature. It allows me the chance to engage with the next generation of cine-
matographers through ASC workshops, panel discussions and lectures,
What has been your most satisfying moment on a project? all of which I greatly enjoy. It’s also an honor to be in the same frater-
Any time my agent says, ‘They’d like to make you an offer.’ Actually, it’s nity as so many acknowledged masters.
probably when I’m sitting with the timer and we’re screening the I
answer print; that’s when I decide whether I was successful in fulfilling
whatever vision the director and I defined way back in prep.
100 November 2009

AMC_0109_pCV3:Layout 1 12/2/08 10:44 AM Page 1
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ONFILM
ONFILM
LEX DU PONT
T:: O N F I L M
““One One of of the

the things
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SSaving
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[All these programs

programs w
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FFor
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visit ww.kodak.com/go g /onfilm.
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call (800) 621-film.
621-film.
www.motion.kodak.com
www .motion.kodak.com
© Eastman Kodak
Kodak Company,
Company, 2009.
20009.
Photography:
Phot ography: © 2009 Douglas Kirkland

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The International Journal of Film & Digital Production Techniques

Features 34 Wild Kingdom

58 Kicked Off the Pitch

in The Damned United

66 The Root of All Evil

© Kodak, 2009. Kodak and Vision are trademarks.

American Society of Cinematographers

MEMBERS OF THE BOARD

W of Max, the 9-year-old hero in Maurice Sendak’s pithy but

Michael Goi, ASC

With $7 billion in box office and

ynaesthesia is the phenomenon that

spent in Vietnam at the outset of their

Creasey (top) the Red camera Terri Timely had

Cooke Optics 5/i Prime Lenses

See in the dark. Literally.

Cooke, continuing to lead the way

Suky’s dramatic hood home, where her mother is frost-

and Quinn agreed that look wouldn’t

During prep, Miller and Quinn

Cairo Time photos courtesy of Foundry Films and Luc Montpellier.

Why am I having so much fun?

I've played in some great camera rental houses.

Denny & Terry Clairmont, Alan Albert, Tom Boelens

But that's old news. Everyone in the biz knows that!

The sign of a well managed team is the morale and

Clairmont is a busy place, yet somehow, miraculously,

It is this uncanny ability of everyone you encounter to

Robert Primes, ASC

Hollywood Vancouver Toronto Albuquerque Montreal

Top to bottom: ate feelings in the viewer even if the

Top left: Director vehicle ahead of us trying to find the

optimo cine lenses from 15mm to 290mm

28mm – 76mm 17mm – 80mm 24mm – 290mm

getting meter readings higher than

Shooting on augmented with minimal visual-

Left: For a night

Careful handling of archive film

grade differences in the terrain to necessary. The package comprised

Software Image Stabilisation

Workflow & Data Transfer

to a smooth production. “Every film

winning formula and soon meets

tecture of the stadium, the dirt and calm him. Middle:

Kicked Off the Pitch

extreme edge of frame. “If you start

16mm black-and-white and 16mm

Kicked Off the Pitch

HOLLYWOOD TEL 323-469-2774 www.ottonemenz.com

Kicked Off the Pitch

The Root of All Evil

Anthony Dod fter wrapping Slumdog American Cinematographer:

The Root of All Evil

together. On this film, he left me

The Root of All Evil

you’ve got to get lights in somehow,

we were to shoot, Lars and some oth-

The Root of All Evil

The Root of All Evil

Precision Flange Measurement to

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