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 The International Journal of Film & Digital Production Techniques

Deadly Scent
Frank Griebe brings his nose for drama to the
compelling thriller Perfume

Living in Limbo
Gabriel Beristain, ASC, BSC channels a spirit in
The Invisible

Full Circle
Michael Ballhaus, ASC reflects on his celebrated career
after earning the ASC International Award 48
A Northern Light
A salute to the late Sven Nykvist, ASC, who left a
legacy of indelible images

8 Editor’s Note
12 Global Village
On Our Cover:
Gifted with a 16 DVD Playback
keen sense of smell, 22 Production Slate
Jean-Baptiste Grenouille
(Ben Whishaw) is drawn
86 Short Takes
to the scent of a fair 90 Post Focus
maiden (Karoline Her-
furth) in Perfume, shot
94 New Products & Services
by Frank Griebe. (Photo 104 Points East
by Jurgen Olczyk, 106 International Marketplace
courtesy of Paramount
Pictures.) 107 Classified Ads
108 Ad Index
no Clubhouse News
112 Wrap Shot

Visit us online at
www. tin.ease. com
 February 2007 Vol. 88, No. 2
The International Journal of Film & Digital Production Techniques • Since 1920

www.theasc.com

PUBLISHER Martha Winterhalter

EDITORIAL

Cinesaddle EXECUTIVE EDITOR

SENIOR EDITOR Rachael K.

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 Shoot
smart
Save Adapting a literary work to film is never easy, but
Patrick Suskind's 1985 novel Perfume: The Story of
a Murderer presented a particularly tricky chal¬
lenge, given that the plot revolves around a protago¬

time. nist
Grenouille
—malevolent scent expert Jean-Baptiste
whose main attribute is his exceptional
—

sense of smell. How does one

..
indispensable ...as necessary
as my exposure and colour
temperature meters.”
—
Russell Boyd acs. asc.
D.P.- Master and Commander
“... along the way I relied heavily on
the predictions of the program...
I’m very happy with the
Sunpredictor™ and the results
that I’m getting in remote areas
of China on the ‘Kite Runner’.
Keep up the good work!”
—
convey olfactory abili¬
ties in a primarily visual medium? According to cine¬
matographer Frank Griebe, the movie's director, Tom
Tykwer, came up with a solution that was right on the
nose: "Tom's approach was
very simple. He said, 'The
book doesn't smell, so the movie shouldn't, either!' We
suggest it all visually in a very simple way: people see
the fish market full of raw, bloody fish, and they know
it stinks; they see a field of lavender and know it smells wonderful. We show Grenouille
taking in smells by cupping his nose, and by doing close shots of his nose, and that's it!"
As a fan of the book, I'm pleased to report that the screen version of Perfume does
a fine job of immersing viewers in the
sights, sounds and smells of 18th-century France. In
fact, the filmmakers are so adept at placing us in Grenouille's big-buckled shoes that we
can almost empathize with his murderous
quest for the ultimate aphrodisiac. As Griebe
notes in his interview with Jay Holben ("Deadly Scent,"
page 36), "Our goal was a subtle
visual enhancement of Grenouille's discoveries and passion."
Gabriel Beristain, ASC, BSC confronted a different but equally complex conundrum
with The Invisible, whose lead character, trapped in spirit form between life and death,
cannot be seen by anyone around him. Shooting at
practical locations in Vancouver, British
Columbia, Beristain and director David Goyer sought to visualize their hero's plight with as
many in-camera tricks as possible, a strategy the cinematographer found invigorating. As
he relates to interviewer Jon Silberg ("Living in Limbo," page 48), "When [an] in-camera
effect works, it can be the greatest satisfaction you can have as filmmaker."
This month's issue also applauds two master cinematographers who have
provided
viewers with a rich legacy of memorable movies. On Feb. 18, the ASC will
recognize the
consistent brilliance of longtime member Michael Ballhaus by
presenting him with the
International Award. This honor, given annually to a cinematographer born outside the
United States, formally affords the German cameraman his rightful place in the
pantheon.
Although best known for his work with directors Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Martin

Roberto Schaefer asc.
“... I’ve tried several different
programs and there’s no
that this is the best sun
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been devised..”
Charles Lieberman
—
Scorsese, Ballhaus has lent his "flying eye" to a staggering list of quality pictures. He has
also distinguished himself as a teacher, a gentleman, and a truly fine ambassador for his
craft. I was eager to chat with him about his fascinating career, and I
question sincerely hope the
resulting article ("Full Circle," page 58) reflects the love of cinema that informs his many
ever accomplishments.
On a sad note, our celebration of Sven Nykvist, ASC ("A Northern Light,"
page 78),
d.p. takes the form of a memorial. As most of you know, Nykvist passed
away on Sept. 20,

2006, at the age of 83. Although we noted his passing in a December obituary, we felt his
Find out more and download a remarkable achievements mandated a closer look. Historian Robert S. Birchard
gathered
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 Mutant Monster Terrorizes South Korea in The Host
by Bob Davis
Right: Nam-ju
picture to drama, from light comedy to
(Doo-Na Bae), a

champion archer, something serious," says the cine¬

aims her arrow at
matographer. "We decided to do this by
a marauding
mutant creature.
manipulating tone and color saturation.
Below: The We move from the bright reds, yellows
show's director and blues of the riverfront to the dark
ofphotography,
grays and blacks of the sewers."
Hyung-ku Kim,
rides atop a Indeed, The Host begins in
crane. broad daylight, on the banks of the Han
River, where the creature wreaks havoc
on picnickers, parking lots, and a snack
stand operated by Kang-du (Kang-ho
Song) and his family. When the
monster snatches Kang-du's 10-year-
old daughter and disappears into the
depths, her father fears the worst.
Government agents declare the
monster host to be spreading an
unidentified virus and quarantine Kang-
du. When he receives a garbled call
The director of The Host, Joon- from his daughter's cell phone,

Cinematographer Hyung-ku Kim wil

try anything. As the director of
photography on some of the semi¬
nal movies in the Korean New Wave —
Spring in My Hometown, Beat, One
Fine Spring Day, Woman Is the Future
of Man and A Tale of Cinema
—
has tested himself on a diverse array of
ho
success
Bong, credits much of the film's
to Kim and visual-effects
supervisor Kevin Rafferty (of The
however, he escapes the military hospi¬
tal and sets out to infiltrate the heavily
guarded sewer system and find the girl.
Orphanage). Rafferty digitally generated Early scenes, like the one in
the film's monster, a giant, mutant which a shell-shocked Kang-du tries to
Kim
lizard/bat/guppy with a series of explain to a policeman what transpired
retractable mandibles, from detailed on the riverbank, take place in locations

projects. His latest, The Host
(Gwoemul), which played to a packed
house at AFI Fest 2006, is an effects-
laden monster flick.
miniatures created by artists at Weta
Workshop. But Kim kept the production
team focused on the story's emotional
core. "I'd been captivated by Kim's work
since seeing Peppermint Candy in
2000," recalls Bong. "So, in 2003, when
I was prepping Memories of Murder, I
flew to Beijing, where Kim was shoot¬
ing Chen Kaige's Together[ACAug. '03],
and literally begged him to work with
that are naturally high-tone. "Lots of
white walls!" as Kim recalls. But inter¬
estingly, that conversation takes place
through the plastic curtain behind
which Kang-du is quarantined. "I
wanted to express in my lighting the
material of the plastic, to emphasize its
ability to trap him," says Kim. "I put one
Kino Flo overhead to create some
shadow on the actor's face and another

me." beside the camera for a little fill. But

MPaciocgtunuorreftless.y
For Bong, The Host is not so plastic is a very tricky material. The
much throwback to drive-in monster
a overhead light created irregular,
movies as it is a political satire-cum- random reflections off the plastic, and
dysfunctional family drama, and Kim's the fill lights created highlights on the
choices emphasize the story's human plastic and areas of slight overexpo¬
elements. "My goal was simple: to sure. All of this decreased the contrast,
mirror the film's evolution from genre but luckily, it gave the scene an appro- Phot s
12 February 2007
 Movies should inspire kids
to be heroes. Not smokers.

Movies have the power to amuse, delight, industry are in a unique position to
teach and inspire. voluntarily reduce or eliminate smoking
scenes in movies directed at youth.
Unfortunately, they may also have an
influence on a kid’s decision to smoke. You have the power to help prevent
Studies suggest that youth exposure youth smoking-just by losing one
little prop.
to smoking in movies can increase their
risk of starting smoking.1'2,3 For more information on our youth
Kids should not smoke. Producers, smoking prevention efforts, please visit
directors, actors and others in the movie www.philipmorrisusa.com

References
Youth
Smoking
1. Sargent, J.D., Beach, M.L., et al. (2005). Exposure to movie smoking: Its relation to smoking
initiation among US adolescents. Pediatrics, 116,1183-1191.
2. Sargent, J.D., Dalton, M.A., et al. (2002). Viewing tobacco use in movies: Does it shape attitudes
that mediate adolescent smoking? American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 22(3), 137-145.
3. Pechmann, C., and Shih, C. (1999). Smoking scenes in movies and antismoking advertisements Prevention
before movies: Effects on youth. Journal of Marketing, 63, 1-13.

©2006 Philip Morris USA Philip Morris USA

 Right: As the Working in the standard 1.85:1
monster attacks
on the banks of
aspect ratio, Kim used an Arricam
the Han River, Studio fitted with LDS (Lens Data
Kang-du(Kang- System) Ultra Primes. He used three
hoSong) tries in
vain to lead his
Fuji stocks: Eterna 500T 8573, Eterna
250D and Super F-64D 8522. He
daughter, Hyun-
seo (A-sung Ko), wanted The Host to have the high
to safety.
contrast and rich blacks he had
Below: After
she and another achieved with the bleach-bypass
child are process on Memories of Murder, and
imprisoned in a this time around, he was able to
sewer system
by the creature,
achieve most of the look with a digital
the resourceful intermediate (Dl), which he carried out
Hyun-seo spies at HFR in Seoul. "A Dl was not an
a possible

means of option on Memories of Murder, but this

escape. priately weird mood." Host's final act. Having evaded a mili¬ time around we figured we had so
The film's central sequence tary blockade, Kang-du races under the many digital effects that we might as
takes place during downpour. "In the
a Han River Bridge. The camera, over¬ well try it," says Kim. "But everything
rain, the colors fade away naturally, so head, tracks Kang-du, backlit by a —

the film stocks, the art direction [by

these scenes act as a protracted transi¬ single 20K, for 15 seconds as he disap¬ Seong-hie Ryu], and even the weather
tion between the saturated daylight of pears into the darkness of actual
—

contributed to the overall visual

the opening sequence and the abyss
into which Kang-du is headed," says
Kim. Though the rain was mostly artifi¬
cial, the cinematographer insisted the
production shoot those scenes on
cloudy days. "I learned on Memories of
Murder that shooting extended scenes
in rain is a nightmare," says Kim, who
lit close-ups of his wet subjects with
Kinos fitted with a bit of grid cloth. "All
rain looks different, but if the skies
don't match from shot to shot, the audi¬
ence will never buy it."
sewage tunnels.
Bong laughs as he recalls the
problems he caused for Kim with his
desire to film at real locations. "A
couple of scenes take place in a very
long, straight, subterranean passage¬
way, and there was absolutely no place
to hide any lights!" says the director.
Kim rejected lighting from behind the
camera as unrealistic. "We tried some
specially manufactured industrial-sized
flashlights," recalls Kim, "but the actors
couldn't easily manipulate them." In the
design."
That design, which hinged on a
slow desaturation of colors, was in
large part a setup for the film's finale. In
the closing scenes, the Korean military
attempts to take out the monster by
spraying it with a toxic chemical, Agent
Yellow, the release of which creates a
sudden burst of color in an otherwise
desaturated image. The inspiration for
Agent Yellow was both political and
meteorological. Kim explains: "During
some springs in Korea, there's an apoc¬

The filmmakers used a Cable- end, the actors carried off-the-shelf alyptic environmental condition,
cam shot to mark the transition to The flashlights. hungsa. Yellow sand blows in from the
deserts of China. It's actually quite
unsettling; it feels like the end of the
world."
Bong initially planned to use
specially outfitted tanks to deliver
Agent Yellow, but the team discovered
that the tanks' ejection process discol¬
ored the yellow powder. After the film¬
makers ruled out painting white clouds
yellow in post, they decided on a low-
tech solution: "We poured the yellow
powder into a bomb-like ball, crossed
our fingers, and dumped it onto the

scene," says Bong. Noting that he is

pleased with the results, Kim adds,
"There's a saying in Korea: if you ask us
to do it, we'll make it work." ■

14
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The Premiere Frank Capra
Collection:
American Madness, It
Happened One Night,
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town,
You Can't Take It with You,
Mr. Smith Goes
to Washington [ 1932-1939)
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owed the film noir movement of the next
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Walker shifted toa completely
different style for the romantic comedy
It Happened One Night, the film that put
Capra on the map. The movie fulfills the
most important requirement of any love
story: two characters that the audience
wants to end up together. Clark Gable
and Claudette Colbert's iconic perfor¬
mances are enhanced by Walker's glori¬
ously romantic lighting, which makes
both characters look gorgeous.
After the success of It Happened
One Night, Capra was in a position to do
whatever he wanted, and he eventually
used his new clout to make the social
satire Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. In this
story of a decent man who inherits a
fortune, Capra developed themes that
oped in You Can't Take It with You, a
hilarious farce that marked Capra's first
collaboration with actor James Stew¬
art. One year later, they reteamed on
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, one of
Capra's best and most personal films.
This stop/ of a principled young senator
fighting corruption is both an inspira¬
tional tale and a prescient examination
of the media's power to bring out the
worst in human nature. The complexity
of the piece is echoed in Walker's visu¬
als, which balance documentary-style
realism and stylized Flollywood roman¬
ticism.
Overall, Walker's luminous
images have been beautifully captured
in these excellent DVD transfers,
although the Deeds pressing exhibits
some picture flaws. Each film is accom¬

$59.95 he would focus on for the rest of his panied by an audio commentary by
career: the role of the individual in Frank Capra Jr., who proves to be an
When Joseph Walker, ASC American society, the intersection astute commentator on his father's
worked with Frank Capra for the first between money and power, and the work. His recollections of his father's
time, on That Certain Thing in 1928, the conflicts between institutions and relationships with studio executives
director tested Walker's patience to the communities. and collaborators are a delight for

point that the cinematographer asked
Columbia executive Sam Briskin not to
assign him to any more Capra pictures.
Walker changed his mind after he saw
the completed film, however, and the
cinematographer and director eventually
collaborated on 20 pictures, five of which
are included in the recently released,
indispensable boxed set The Premiere
Frank Capra Collection.
The first film in the set is Ameri¬
can Madness, which is new to DVD. This
smart and funny tale of bank in crisis
a Deeds, Walker frames the heroine in
reflects New Deal thinking and
addresses issues both political and
personal; the movie has a lot to say
about class, and it's equally insightful in
its exploration of male-female relation¬
ships. Most of the story takes place in an
elaborate bank set, which Walker often
lit in a chiaroscuro style that foreshad¬
The movie features a terrific
performance by Capra favorite Jean
Arthur, whose work is greatly aided by
Walker's use of lighting and composition
to illustrate her character's changing
feelings toward hero Gary Cooper. The
early scenes in which Arthur views
Cooper with condescension are lit in a
flat, slightly harsh manner that under¬
scores the methodical way in which she
means to destroy him. But as Arthur's
character grows to love and respect
close-ups in which subtle gradations of
light convey her softening feelings.
Capra and his collaborators
experimented on Deeds, eschewing
conventional coverage for longer takes
and opting for editing that prioritizes
emotional continuity over spatial conti¬
nuity. This approach was further devel¬
anyone interested in Hollywood's
golden age. On American Madness and
You Can't Take It with You, Capra
shares the commentary track with film
scholar Catherine Kellison.
Supplemental material also
includes four featurettes totaling 70
minutes; these feature interviews with
Capra Jr., Kellison, and film historians
Jeanine Basinger and Richard Pena.
The featurettes cover Capra's family
life, his collaborations with other
artists, his golden period at Columbia,
and his later years as a mentor to young
filmmakers. There is some overlap
among the interviews, documentaries
and commentary tracks, but this is
understandable given the massive
amount of supplementary material
here.
The highlight of the bonus mate-

16 February 2007
 MEM B E R PORTRAIT

OWEN ROIZMAN, ASC

44 /I / I hen I was a young
cinematographer
trying to learn my
craft, I was always curious about
how other cinematographers
achieved their art. I wanted to
know what kind of equipment
they used, which film stocks they
chose, how they exposed their
negatives, and any other bits of
information I could glean from
them. I turned to American

Cinematographer magazine
for the answers. There have been
lots of changes in technology
and equipment over the years,
but fortunately my curiosity and
insatiable quest for knowledge
have remained the same. I still
look to AC each month to fulfill
those desires

Owen Roizman, ASC

TO SUBSCRIBE BY PHONE:

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

(323) 969-4333 or visit the ASC web site

WWW T H E A S C COM
 TWENTY-ONE CINEMATOGRAPHERS AT WORK
by Benjamin Bergery

Bn Reflections, professional cinematographers analyze their craft in terms of technique

and aesthetics in an array of
wide-ranging lectures given to college classes. Each
lesson includes 35mm film frames and lighting diagrams
The cinematographers also discuss
many other
depicting specific setups.
aspects of their profession, such as
working with directors, handling politics on the set, and time management.

Level: College through Professional • Paperback • 268 pages • ISBN # 0-935578-16-1

Available online at WWW.theaSC.COm

Or order by phone (800) 448-0145 (U.S. Only) • (323) 969-4344
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 rials is Kenneth Bowsers 1997 documen¬
tary Frank Capra's American Dream, a
feature-length overview of the director's
work that contains interviews with key
collaborators and admirers such as Oliver
Stone, John Milius and Allen Daviau,
ASC. Also included are theatrical trailers
and radio promotions. All of this adds up
to a feast for Capra fans.
—
Jim Hemphill
Reflections in a Golden Eye
(1967)
2.35:1 (16x9 Enhanced)
Dolby Digital Monaural
Warner Home Video, $19.98
"Any fulfillment at the expense of
normality is wrong and should not be
allowed to bring happiness," observes
frustrated U.S. Army Maj. Weldon
Penderton (Marlon Brando) in Reflections
in a Golden Eye. "In short," he continues,
"it's better, because it's morally honorable
for the square peg to keep scraping about
in a round hole rather than to discover and
use the unorthodox one that would fit it."
Full of self-loathing, Penderton is an offi¬
cer and teacher at a base in the American
South, where he lives with and largely
ignores his equally frustrated and occa¬
sionally abusive wife, Leonora (Elizabeth
Taylor). Leonora is fiercely engaged in a
sexual affair with a neighboring officer, Lt.
Col. Langdon (Brian Keith). Langdon,
unhappily married to the frigid and
emotionally disturbed Alison (Julie
Harris), is torn between his feelings of
responsibility for his fragile wife's condi¬
tion and the growing passion he holds for
Leonora. As the days go by during an
unusually warm autumn, tensions rise
when the mysterious Pvt. Wilson (Robert
Forster) begins to pay clandestine visits to
the Penderton household in the night.
Conflicted by his closeted desires,
18 February 2007
Penderton assumes that Wilson has
come for him, but it soon becomes
painfully clear that Wilson has designs
on Leonora. Before the season ends, the
complicated and deceitful relationships
between these two homes erupt with
cataclysmic results.
John Huston's peculiar and
absorbing adaptation of Carson
McCuller's Reflections in a Golden Eye
has long been an obscure cult title, avail¬
able only in an out-of-print VHS edition
and through rare showings on cable tele¬
vision. The movie was shot in Italy by
cinematographer Aldo Tonti, and his
work on the picture has two distinct
traits: wide-open exteriors of fields and
forests that surround the base, and tight,
dramatically lit interiors of the homes in
which the main characters fester. The
exterior sequences especially highlight
the various characters' penchant for
horseback riding, and are all cleverly
character-specific — Penderton's riding
is shot tightly and fragmented; Leonora
and Langdon are passionate and
competitive as they jump hurdles; and
Wilson brazenly rides naked through the
forest.
The most controversial aspect of
the film's look was Huston's decision to
use a special lab process to desaturate
the colors and leave a sepia, golden
sheen. As reported in AC in December
1967, Italy's Technicolor lab worked for
several months to create process of
a deny the powerful dramatic tension that
desaturation that would meld Tonti's
images into Huston's vision. After
assessing the polarized responses of
audiences and critics during the first
week of release, Warner Bros, recalled
all the "gold" prints and replaced them,
against Huston's wishes, with standard
color prints that featured a more pedes¬
trian palette.
Warner Home Video recently
released Reflections in a Golden Eye as a
stand-alone DVD and as part of the
Marlon Brando Collection boxed set, and
the picture looks the way Huston origi¬
nally intended. The anamorphically
enhanced presentation restores the
picture's widescreen aspect ratio, and
Warner Home Video has seen fit to add
the golden sheen back to the image — a
disquieting visual detail that only adds to
the film's strange, tension-filled narrative.
The crisp, well-balanced transfer is very
good and features exceptional detail. The
monaural sound is clean and solid, with
emphasis on composer Toshio Mayuzumi's
fluid, occasionally jarring score.
The supplements include an array of
trailers for the Brando vehicles featured in
the boxed set, including the bizarre trailer
for Reflections in a Golden Eye, which
offers a glimpse of the picture's original
color balances. The DVD also features a 23-
minute segment of silent, behind-the-
scenes footage of the principal performers
and creative team shooting the film.
Presented full frame, this 16mm black-and-
white footage is fascinating to watch and is
backed by Mayuzumi's score.
Forty years after its theatrical
release, Reflections in a Golden Eye
remains an enigmatic and worthwhile
dramatic piece. It's easy to understand why
the taboo topics of homosexuality, adultery
and mood disorders might have been off-
putting to audiences in 1967, but the film's
frank depiction of marital despair and self
loathing was certainly ahead of its time for
American cinema. Passionately made by an
excellent director who was trying to etch
something new into commercial cinema,
the movie features outstanding work by its
four principal performers, particularly Taylor
and Brando. Whether you're a first-time
viewer or a fan of the film, it's difficult to
lies at the heart of it.
Kenneth Sweeney
—
Lady Vengeance (2005)
2.35:1 (16x9 Enhanced)
Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1
Tartan Video, $22.95
After making a splash in the U.S.
with his ferocious 2003 thriller Oldboy,
South Korean filmmaker Chan-wook Park
experience the difference
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 concluded his "Vengeance Trilogy" with
Chinjeolhan geumjassi, a title that liter¬
ally translates into the misleadingly
subtle "Kind-Hearted Ms. Geum-Ja,"
but has been perhaps more appropri¬
ately marketed in the U.S. as Lady
Vengeance.
As in Oldboy and Park's earlier
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, the
drama in Lady Vengeance is based on
the notion that unjust punishment
demands carefully plotted, stylish,
brutal payback. A chilly and often
disturbingly funny affair, Lady
Vengeance recalls the "ancient
proverb" that opened Quentin Taran¬
tino's similarly violent revenge opus,
Kill Bill: "Revenge is a dish best served
cold."
The film
begins after the 13-year
imprisonment of Lee Guem-ja (Yeong-
ae Lee), who was forced to confess to
the kidnapping and murder of a 6-year-
old boy. Hardened by her years behind
bars, Lee cleverly earns her freedom
and immediately embarks on a plan to
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simultaneously reunite with her daugh¬
ter and punish the twisted school¬
teacher (Min-sik Choi) who was actually
responsible for the boy's death (as well
as the cruel murder of several other chil¬
dren). This culminates in a remarkably
poignant climax in which the parents of
the youthful victims grapple with their
own desires for bloody
revenge and the
moral issue of vigilantism. Does a ruth¬
less killer deserve an equally violent
demise? (This is not to suggest that the
film's finale is simply a lively debate on
one of the most pressing moral issues of
our time. Instead, Park's
unflinching
depiction of the group's savagery
reveals just how ugly "justice" can
become.)
Director of photography Chung-
hoon Chung previously shot a segment
of the 2004 horror anthology Three
Extremes and Oldboy for Park, and his
work here features similarly provocative
Super 35mm widescreen cinematogra¬
phy. Lee's face serves as a beautiful
example of how a performer and cine¬
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matographer can combine their talents
to create expressive images, as the
character transforms throughout the
picture from soft, girlish beauty to hard-
edged killer and back again. Extreme
close-ups of Lee dominate the film;
these are generally punctuated by wide
shots before and after and a paucity of
medium angles.
On this DVD, Chung's comments
in an informal-yet-informative audio
commentary with Park and art director
Cho Hwa-sung describe how the color
red thematically represents the anger-
fueled main character, who is frequently
seen in her trademark chic crimson eye
shadow and high-heeled shoes. The
filmmakers used a variety of visual cues
to help distinguish sequences set in the
past and present. In many contemporary
scenes, a bleach-bypass-type look
(achieved in a digital-intermediate
process) often dampens the colors, and
was used because Chung "wanted it to
feel more bucolic." He adds that the
effect also used to
was varying degrees
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on many shots featuring Lee, depending
on her character's emotional state. (A
more intense use of this effect
employed in a scene in which Lee visits
a steel works, where she contracts a
smith to build a vicious-looking firearm
of her own design.)
intricate
Whimsically, faux dirt and
scratches were digitally added to
certain flashbacks to visually mark the
temporal transition, while an overlaying
peach hue was also applied.
In their commentary, the film¬
makers candidly describe how their
discussion reveals a true creative collab¬
NEXT MONTH'S
oration filled with trial and error, as the
REVIEWS
was filmmakers experimented with different
choices in prep, production and post.
Tartan Video's DVD carefully 7500(1977)
reproduces all the subtle color and tonal Cinematographer:
changes described by the filmmakers Vittorio Storaro, ASC,
and seen during the film's brief U.S. AIC
theatrical release in 2006. Also included
is a separate commentary by Park, a
thoughtful commentary by Lincoln
Center Film Society program director /?ifgsy(1991)
Richard Pena, a nicely produced making- Cinematographer:
of documentary, and several trailers. Allen Daviau, ASC

ideas and motivations constantly While Lady Vengeance is not for

changed throughout the production, the squeamish, it offers a glimpse into

especially in terms of the bleach-bypass the burgeoning South Korean film scene
effect, which often resulted in higher and a unique take on familiar Hollywood Superman II:
contrast than the director desired. At themes as seen through the prism of The Richard

one point, Chung dryly derides Park for another culture. Donner Cut

forcing his crew to pull up set floors to

—

David E. Williams (1978/2006)

get certain low-angle coverage that Cinematographers:
was eventually discarded in the editing Geoffrey Unsworth,
room. "Can you please tell them to go
BSC and
find another job if they don't like it?" the Robert Paynter
director artfully shoots back. The further
 A Rogue Astronaut and an Enduring Author

fantastical
premise yet dreamed up by
filmmakers Michael and Mark Polish.
The picture is their fourth collaboration
with cinematographer M. David Mullen,
ASC, following Twin Falls Idaho (see AC
artists do you like? What kind of paint¬
ings do youlike?"'
"David is really a facilitator in
that way," affirms Mark. "Pie's not one
to say, 'I think it should be like this.'"

Aug. '99), Jackpot, and Northfork {AC Mullen adds, "Michael and I have a
May '03), and it trades some of the lyri¬ similar aesthetic, and when a director
cism of their earlier films for a romantic, and you have the same tastes, it can
Norman Rockwell-style palette of "fall, immediately make things easier. Plus,
earthy tones," according to Michael working together over the years, we've
Polish. Picking up where Michael leaves definitely worked out a shorthand."
off, Mark adds, "On Astronaut Farmer, That shorthand proved indis¬
we had the browns, the oranges, and pensable for Astronaut Farmers ambi¬
In The Astronaut Rocket Man the tious 33-day shooting schedule — the
yellows, whereas Northfork was
Farmer, ex-
NASA astronaut
by Jon D. Witmer gray." longest Mullen has yet enjoyed with

BWarocnuseft.y
Charles Farmer Mullen met the Polish brothers the Polishes. Focusing on Charles
(Billy Bob On a clear Texasmorning, The when he was attending the graduate Farmer and his family, the story follows
Thornton) Dreamer goes film program at CalArts, where Michael the characters as they construct a
fashions his through its pre-launch
own rocket —
checklist. Mission control is located in a was an art student. When the brothers Mercury-Atlas rocket complete with a
dubbed, trailer near the barn that is
serving as a were preparing to shoot their first sync- space capsule that should propel
appropriately

bFRFAsoaitcprrreohhmnomayateudsn,
launch pad. In charge of monitoring the sound short, they were referred to Charles into orbit around Earth before
enough. The
Dreamer. flight from the ground is teenager Shep¬ Mullen, who had built up a solid reel and bringing him safely back to the ground.
At left. Farmer ard Farmer (Max Thieriot), and manning a good reputation by shooting nearly all As the launch date nears, Farmer's
discusses his
the capsule atop the Mercury-Atlas of his classmates' projects. As Michael dream piques significant media interest
dream of space
flight with his rocket is his father, Charles (Billy Bob recounts, "David was very well while rustling a feather or two at
family. At right. Thornton), an ex-NASA astronaut who is educated in the language of film, and he NASA, the FBI and the FAA.
Farmer settles
determined to make his own space understood the artistic background we Astronaut Farmer is the first
in at the
controls. flight, despite government opposition. were from. Instead of talking about Polish brothers project that was backed
The film at hand is The Astronaut things in terms of his style of filmmak¬ by a major studio, Warner Bros., from
Farmer, which is doubtless the most ing, he'd come to us and say, 'What the outset. Michael recalls, "The studio The

22 February 2007
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 Right: Farmer's stocks, and he filmed Astronaut Farmer
seemingly
farfetched on three: Super F-64D 8522, Super F-
scheme 250D 8562 and Eterna 500T 8573. "We
generates avid used a lot of smoke in the interiors, and
media interest.
Below: Members the Eterna stock was flatter in contrast
of the show's than 8562," he notes. "Also, early on
camera crew set
we weren't sure we'd finish with a digi¬
up a low-angle
tal intermediate [Dl], so I thought for
dolly shot.
day interiors with smoke I'd want the
contrast of 8562, and for night scenes
without smoke I'd use the Eterna, and
everything should match." Mullen over¬
exposed everything by % of a stop, and
some scenes, such as a night exterior

showing the Farmer family at the local

agreed to give us a certain amount of
money, and we had to find states that
had both the right look and the right
[economic] incentives." New Mexico
met both criteria, providing practical
locations for almost every scene.
Mullen and the Polish brothers
share an affinity for the anamorphic
2.40:1 format, and Mullen filmed Astro¬
naut Farmer \N\lh a Panavision package
that included a Panaflex Millennium, a
Gold II, Primo anamorphic primes, a
Primo zoom, and a few older C- and E-
Series primes for handheld work.
Mullen's 1st AC, Keith Eisberg, who
also worked on Twin Falls Idaho and
Northfork, responsible for prepping
was
the package at Panavision, and Mullen
enthuses that "Keith is very knowledge¬
able about anamorphic. He tested all of
our lenses and got a good set together,
and he also had Panavision shave down
the pola rings and the mattebox filter
trays so we could push them tighter
against the lens and get rid of any
vignetting on the wider-angle Primos,
such as the 35 and 40mm."
Mullen also singles out key grip
Brad Heiner, with whom he'd previously
collaborated on Akeelah and the Bee
and D.E.B.S:, gaffer Steve Litecky, who
"was not only very creative but also very
organized — he made my life so much
easier"; and 2nd-unit cinematographer
Philip Pfeiffer for their contributions to
Astronaut Farmer.
Mullen's loyalty to Panavision is
matched by his devotion to Fuji film
fair, were also pushed one stop. (The
fairground scene was shot almost
exclusively with available light;
Mullen's crew added some string lights
across the top, Nine-lights on tele¬
phone poles in the four corners of the
fairground, and a China ball for close-
ups.)
In addition to smoking some
locations, Mullen experimented with
Men's Smoque filter. "I originally got
the filter so my inserts would retain the
smoked look of the wide shots," he
explains. "Usually when you get that
close to an object, you aren't looking
through enough smoke to see the
effect, which can make the insert look
too clean and sharp. I eventually real¬
ized that if there wasn't a visible shaft
of light in the scene — if it was more
of a foggy haze from the windows —
the Smoque filter could substitute for
smoking the set. The only trouble with
the filter arose when an actor crossed
the window and blocked the light for a
moment, causing the smoke effect to
disappear until the window was
unblocked. In that regard, it's a slightly
artificial effect, but when the lights are
in the frame, it provides a very convinc¬
ing atmospheric haze." On close-ups,
Mullen consistently used a #1 Glimmer
Glass filter on the lens.
Mullenexperimented with
smoke effects during filming of the
capsule's re-entry into Earth's atmos¬
phere. Inside the capsule, Thornton
wore a 1960s-era spacesuit complete

with a helmet that featured a curved

glass facemask, which provided reflec-

24 February 2007
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 Right: Director of
photography M.
David Mullen,
ASC (left)
discusses a
setup with
Michael Polish,
Mark Polish and
1st AD Andrew
Coffing. Below:
Farmer gets his
flight plan off the
ground despite
government
opposition.
tions galore. Knowing that any rig —
it offered
plenty of other opportuni¬
placed outside the capsule's window ties for creativity. Taking his cue from
would reflect in the mask, Mullen set to the work of Caleb Deschanel, ASC on
work with a smoke machine and a fan. The Right Stuff, Mullen integrated his
"Reducing the amount of smoke oil and interior lighting into the capsule,
putting in a higher mix of water, we disguising small fluorescent fixtures as
blew what was essentially steam past work lights. Additionally, for a shot in
the window," says Mullen. "Then I which the sun moves across the
trained some Par cans with orange gels capsule window, the cinematographer
right on the smoke. By using it as a "put a 1K Par can on a menace arm rig
bounce, the bright-orange smoke blow¬ and swung it across the window. The
ing past the window actually created window was tented in, and I wrapped
the key light on Billy's face." everything in black so you can only see
Despite the capsule's close quar¬ the light. You actually do see the Par
ters— "It was like shooting in a bath¬ can reflected in his helmet, but at the
room: we had two angles," says Mark time you see his face light up, so
same
it works as the sun."
Another tool Mullen had at his
disposal was a Panatate from Panavi-
sion, which was used to create the illu¬
sion that the capsule was spinning.
"The Panatate is a ring-shaped device
that attaches to a geared head, and it's
geared itself," he explains. "The
camera is set in this rig, and when you
crank the handle, it rotates around the
gear."
The brisk
shooting schedule had
the filmmakers shooting late into the
day, enabling them to capture some
magnificent magic-hour exteriors. "The
film ends with probably the most
gorgeous sunset I've seen in my entire
life," says Mullen. "We were getting a
wide shot of the family car pulling up
next to Farmer, and behind all of that
the sky was blood red. I assume every¬
26 February 2007
one's going to think it was an effect,
but it's exactly how it looked. It's like a
Technicolor sunset.
"The trouble was, we didn't
have time to shoot the close-up of Billy
against the sunset, so I had to figure
out how to re-create it," he continues.
"I ended up putting a white backing
behind his head at night, and I lit it
through gobos to project patterns of
orange and red on the white cloth. It
looked a bit like a Star Trek sunset from
the old TV show, but it was out of focus
enough to cut to and look like the same
sky behind his head."
After the production wrapped,
the filmmakers were given a greenlight
for a Dl at Warner Bros. Motion Picture
Imaging. (Lab work was done at Tech¬
nicolor.) "The negative was scanned at
4K on a Spirit and then down-rezzed to
2K for the color correction on a Base-
light," reports Mullen, who viewed the
results via a Christie projector. Colorists
Jan Yarbrough and Mark Dinicola
carried out the grade with the filmmak¬
ers, and although the directors were
impressed with the range of options
the Dl presented, Michael says
Mullen's original footage provided a
stable foundation. "One thing about
working with David is that the original
negative is always really good. He's
always exposing the film like that's the
final deal. We'd never had the luxury of
a Dl before, and we weren't even sure
we'd have it on this film, so he wasn't
looking for fixes."
"We didn't want to
overly stylize
the movie using the Dl process," says
Mullen. "We just tried to enhance
what we captured outdoors in New
Mexico and match things a little better.
Probably the most extreme thing we
had to do was change the color of
some trees. We started shooting in
September, and by October most of the
green trees on our ranch location had
turned a brilliant yellow. At first we
thought about correcting the yellow
trees to match the earlier green ones,
but then we decided that it would look
better to make the green trees yellow
instead."
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 story as a musical. After producers
David Kirschner and Corey Sienega
came aboard, the screenplay evolved
into a drama focusing on Potter's
romance with Warne and her develop¬
ment as an artist. Chris Noonan (Babe)
signed direct Miss Potter, and
on to
Renee Zellweger was cast in the star¬
ring role.
As an Australian working with
an American lead, Noonan needed to
cast British actors and crew for the

remaining key roles in order to meet

financing requirements. That eliminated
Above: A Rabbit From Her Hat initially faced rejection. It was only after Babe cinematographer Andrew Lesnie,
Children's book
author Beatrix
by Patricia Thomson she self-published The Tale of Peter ASC, ACS, a fellow Australian. After
Potter (Renee Rabbit and sold out the first small interviewing several U.K. candidates,
Zellweger) Peter Rabbit, now 105 years old, edition that a publishing house signed Noonan chose Andrew Dunn, BSC. Not
searches for
remains one of the most enduring char¬ heron. only did Dunn have a solid track record
inspiration in
the English acters in children's literature. Genera¬ Potter's love life was also with period films (Mrs. Henderson
countryside in a tions of toddlers have been entertained stymied by Victorian mores. She rejected Presents, Gosford Park, The Madness
scene from
Miss Potter.
by his adventures in the cabbage patch, suitors proposed by her parents and ulti¬ of King George, The Crucible), but, says
Below: The but few people know much about his mately fell in love with Norman Warne, Noonan, "he just struck me as being a
writer shares creator, Beatrix Potter, the author and
a
publisher of Peter Rabbit, but her somewhat eccentric person who is a bit
letter with a
illustrator of 23 children's books. parents opposed any suitor who had to of an artist in his own right. And we got
four-legged
friend. Born in London to well-to-do work for a living. The duo became along very, very well."
parents, Potter took a deep interest in secretly engaged, but Warne died of a Miss Potter naturally divided
the flora and fauna in the Lake District, sudden illness before the wedding. A itself by time and place into several
where her family vacationed, and she breach with her parents followed, and distinct looks. There was London vs. the
developed into a talented botanical Potter lived independently off of income Lake District, and Potter's childhood vs.
illustrator, but her scientific ambitions from her books. She later married and her adulthood. Given the importance of
were thwarted by the constraints of the settled in the Lake District, purchasing the Lake District to Potter's life, the film¬
Victorian age. She received no formal vast tracts of land that today constitute makers opted for a widescreen format
education; when an uncle tried to enroll the core of the Lake District National to take fulladvantage of the scenery.
her in the Royal Botanical Gardens' Park. Shooting in anamorphic 2.40:1, Dunn
school, she was rejected because of her Fourteen years ago, Potter's rich and camera operator Gerry Vasbenter
gender. Potter fared much better with biography attracted writer Richard worked with Panaflex Millennium and
children's books, though there, too, she Maltby Jr., who initially imagined her Millennium XL cameras mounted with
E-Series primes. These were supple¬
mented with some C-series primes and
an Angenieux 50-500mm anamorphic
zoom. "I was pleasantly surprised [to
find the Angenieux]," says Dunn. "With

TCWecohinosutrft.esy
anamorphic, one does get used to being
restricted to prime lenses, so to find a
good zoom lens is a benefit."Given its
T5.6 aperture, the zoom was used
mostly to make adjustments during

bPBAoapltheioeytxrys,
tracking or crane shots on exterior
action sequences. "It was Robert
Altman who taught me to lose my evan¬
gelical disregard for the zoom on
Gosford Park [see AC Jan. '02]," says
Dunn. "In that film, every shot is
moving, and we zoom the whole time. Mis
28 February 2007
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 Right: At the Technocrane, which created one of
printing press, Dunn's favorite shots: "It starts on the
publisher
Norman Warne top of the printing press, and you follow
(Ewan the papergoing through this wonderful,
McGregor) and
Potter check the
noisy machinery, then you come up on
proofs for her
Beatrix and Norman's faces. It's like
first book, The they're giving birth. Their love was never
Tale of Peter
consummated, but here they're coming
Rabbit. Below:
During Warne's together through her creation."
visit to her On this and other interiors, Dunn
parents' house. used
Potter shows
Fuji Eterna 500T 8573. "We tested
him her about 10 different stocks, and there's a
writing
studio. great texture to the Fuji, particularly the
500T, for interiors and low light. It's very
grain-free and gorgeous." Elsewhere, he
used Fuji Eterna 400T 8583 and Super F-
You can hide the zoom within camera allowed Dunn to fill the interior with 250D 8563.
moves, and enhance and embellish sufficient smoke. Lighting was "mini¬ TheBluebell Railway was
without drawing attention to anything. malist," he says. "We put some gelatin another key location that effectively
The use of zoom can be very elegant and on the windows to create a cooler look. conjured up the Industrial Revolution.
subtle." There are movielights coming through Located outside of London, it's a tourist
To create the feeling of London the window and a couple of hard lights attraction that offered
a historic railway

during the Industrial Revolution, the
team studied period photographs
collected by production designer Martin
Childs. "You don't realize how polluted
the cities were at that time, particularly
London, where there was fog and smoke
in the air all the time," says Noonan. The
scene that best conveys this look is at
the printing press, when the pages of
Peter Rabbit first come rolling off the
press and are fine-tuned by Potter and
her publisher. Fortunately, London's
array of museums includes the Type
Museum, which is filled with antique
printing presses in good working order.
"It had all that texture and grime," notes
Dunn. Being an enclosed space, it also
with practicals in the room, which isn't
as long as it may appear. Because of the
lack of space outside, my gaffer, David
Smith, and I devised a way of using
mirrors to multiply and harden the lights
that we could use — to focus, give
some direction and ease of movement.
We employed some hot, hard-edged
Goyas with Par cans with a mix of
chocolate, lavender and peacock gels to
give an apparent greater depth to the
room. It's what I call 'sleight-of-hand
lighting.'" In addition, a Chimera half¬
dome was used for modeling, and a
LitePanels LED served as an eyelight.
The production repositioned the
massive presses to accommodate a 15'
station complete with antique news¬
stands and functioning locomotives
dating back to the 1850s; it served as
the setting for an emotional farewell
scene between Potter and Warne. "Like
America, Australia is a young country,
and you have to work very hard to get
anything old to look real,” notes
Noonan. "In England, there are lots of
people interested in preserving that
stuff in a way that's very accurate. That
makes a huge difference to a film¬
maker."
Nonetheless, Dunn still had his
work cut out for him. "We were trying to
make this littlerailway station in the
middle of the countryside feel like a
massive, bustling, dirty station in
London," says the cinematographer. "I
think we succeeded. That's one of the
tricks with smoke. We wererelying on it
to fill the frame and veil the countryside

beyond the station." The smoke, steam,

and rain created by the special-effects
department were also dramatically
motivated by the farewell scene. Fortu¬
nately, the weather cooperated — to a
degree. "We were very lucky with the
overcast conditions. If it had been sunny,
it would have been nightmare," says
a

Dunn. Flowever, a blustery wind did

keep blowing away the atmosphere.
More challenging than the fickle

30 February 2007
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 Director of or backings outside windows. "The
photography
Andrew Dunn, space was very limiting to the style and
BSC checks range of lighting we could use," says
the meter.
Dunn. "It was also restricting for the
guys who had to crawl to set lights, so it
took a little bit longer [to light], and we
had to cut a few more corners than we

might have otherwise." Dunn's philoso¬

phy was to treat the set like a practical
location, then focus on creating a "light¬
ing narrative" that conveyed the
passage of time. "So much happens in
that space. It's easy just to wash a place
with light and put the actors in there, but
to create a sense of life over time — to
make it feel like it has a story and looks
different from one time to the next — is
English weather, however, were the we constructed the Potters' four-story the challenge."
interiors of the Potter family home. London house in a one-story cowshed Dunn was aided in this task
by
These were built on the Isle of Man. on the Isle of Man," says Noonan. "It's a the evolution in lighting between the
Because the island's barren landscape testament to Andrew's lighting and 1870s and early 1900s, when gaslight
doesn't resemble that of the Lake Martin's design that you never question and candles gave way to electrical
District, the production filmed interiors it." The foyer, staircase, drawing room, lamps. During the flashbacks, Dunn
there, converting two cowsheds into conservatory, and dining room were all relied mostly on actual flame. "The
stages. Half of the 48-day shooting built inside a shed with a 221 ceiling. Eterna [8573] stock is so responsive! We
schedule took place there. "Remarkably, Little room was left for lights overhead supplemented the darker recesses with

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covered wagons and Zip lights, using a house [in London] that dates to 1870, wonderful sense and
of freedom, space
mixture of CTO, apricot, and straw and it's a beautiful house, but it's rather energy," says Dunn. That is reflected in
and Gothic." This was the tone the framing: characters associated with
[gels]." Once the Potter household had severe

electricity, the look became cooler with
slightly more fill, though Dunn retained
hot splashes in the background. There
also was more toplight and an altered
downstairs, which utilized cooler, harder the countryside are often shown
lighting. Upstairs, in Potter's attic enveloped by the landscape. "When we
bedroom and workspace, the filmmak¬ shot Heelis, her future husband, there's
ers created a more inviting atmosphere a free and easy way of framing. It's a

balance between interior and exterior.
"In a small, low-ceilinged set, heat is of
paramount importance," notes Dunn.
"We used mostly small, focusable 650-
and 1000-watt units with cutters, nets,
gels, and mirrors to create some inter¬
esting backgrounds. They're so often
beautifully out of focus, so there is
always the suggestion of another story
waiting to be told around the corner. I
with softer, warmer light. "The golden
light brings an audience to empathize
with the inner emotions of the character
Renee is creating," says the cinematog¬
rapher. "Beatrix disappears into her
wonderful world, and we are privileged
to join her. My team created an ambi¬
ence where the imagination could flour¬
ish. We used a plethora of colored gels
—
natural way of doing it, because there's
more greenery and flowing shapes. The
lines within the frame are softer and
more lateral in the countryside. In town,
Beatrix is corseted and the frame is
too."
Dunn, too, felt the magic of the
countryside. "We filmed in the
vegetable patch where Beatrix Potter

love to intrigue the audience and draw
them in by using these sorts of tech¬
niques."
Another contrasting element was
the downstairs world of the parents vs.
the upstairs children's quarters. "Beat¬
English rose, pale salmon, loving
amber, pale gold, and chocolate, to
name a few. Beatrix's parents rarely
come up into that room, and when they
do, the air suddenly gets more chilly."
This upstairs/downstairs con¬
trast is paralleled in Potter's other
actually played as a child, and in places
she drew. The Potters' summer house is
still owned by the family who owned it
100 years ago. Every summer, Beatrix
got to escape into this wonderful world
of creatures. I can see it now in my
head: the wall where the cat is sitting

refuge, the Lake District. "As a child, and where the rabbits might be. It was
rix's parents were terribly strict, and
London at that time was quite corseted, when she's running free with her wonderful, a privilege." ■
hard and harsh," says Dunn. "I live in a brother and the animals, there's a

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Film And Digital Technologies Combine To Provide
Superior Results Under Widely Varied Conditions!
From braving the elements in Philadelphia to staging TV-integrated fight scenes created an LCD video wall, with tiled
shot at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, the crew ol "Rocky Balboa” had a myriad images, for me to direct the cameras
of filming challenges. Let BP Clark Mathis, 1st Assistant Brian Osmond, and over Clearcom, as well as engineering
a mobile playback console that could
Clairmont Camera's Mike Condon provide some insights into the production.
be fed by any camera. We didn't
MATHIS: "Shooting the finale at have a single minute of down-time or
LAS VEGAS
To shoot special in-the-ring footage in Mandalay Bay was a unique a missed shot because of technical

conjunction with a live HBO telecast of an challenge, but I was able to sleep at glitches break-downs!"
or
actual title bout, as well as other scenes, night because of 1st AC Brian OSMOND: "I was
initially concerned
fourteen cameras were employed. On the film Osmond, Clairmont's Mike Condon, about how robust the fiber-optic
DIT Peter Gray and Joe Cirincione of
side were 35mm sound, 16mm, hand-held and system would be. But in retrospect, we
Evertz. I have never
anything so
seen
strung that stuff everywhere and it
high speed cameras, with the digital side
covered by six of Clairmont's highly modified technically complicated achieved with rocked! I can only imagine our plight
such flawless results. They created a without the fiber; endless battery
Sony F900/3 HD units used for hand-held,
redundant fiber optic network that changes, BNC hell, wires everywhere
Steadicam and tripod-mounted shots.
could feed up to six of Clairmont's Sony and problems galore. Not so with
F900/950 cameras at any given point fiber. When a camera would move
CONDON: "Toprovide producer/ in the Mandalay Bay arena and not they could simply unhook one cable
director Sylvester Stallone with access interfere with the HBO crew. They also and go to another pre-rigged point."
to the HD footage we set up a
Clairmont Video Village at Mandalay
Bay and cabled the venue with Evertz Evertz ECAS fiber optic systems were
ECAS fiber optic systems. We also employed to link network of six F900 HD
a
cameras to a Clairmont Video
bundled in the Evertz 5600 MSC village and
Master Clock for timecode and display monitors. Evertz Master Clock,
routing switchers, image display processor
genlock, routing switchers and signal and 40" LCD were also used.
distribution amps. We also used an
Evertz MVP multi-image display
processor and a 40" LCD. Two people
were able to
put everything in place in
about two hours."

Clairmont's modified F900s have many

special features that set them apart
from the pack. These include rugged
stainless steel B4 lens mounts,
repositioned controls, custom carry
handles with controls, 12v outlets and
Steadicam mounts, and a host of other
improvements. They combine the
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contemporary digital technology
fTVf
m Mr
Rocky Balboa's Director of
Photography Clark Mathis,
1 st Assistant Brian Osmond
(right) and crew had to cope
with freezing cold
temperatures on location in
Philadelphia. Arricam LT
cameras with Master Prime
lenses provided exceptional
performance under a wide
range of weather and
lighting conditions.
PHILADELPHIA
A mix of indoor and outdoor shots, including
many at night in bitterly cold conditions.
Arricam Lite cameras were used, in conjunction
with Master Prime and Angeniuex lenses.
MATHIS: "We were fortunate to be one
productions to use the
of the first U.S.
Master Primes, thanks to Clairmont,
and I was simply blown away. Their
resolving power, contrast, ability to
handle flares, and their low-light
performance surpassed anything I have
seen or used. Much of the film takes
place at night and I wanted to render
Philadelphia in a way we haven't seen
before. Instead of an 18K, I was able to
use a 400w HMI Source4 to light
church steeple a half-mile away! During
the day the Master Primes were no less
impressive. It's nearly impossible to flare
them! We could shoot with complete
freedom in any direction without
worrying about floating flags for every
kick and ping. In a scene where the sun
is actually in frame, the Master Primes
held density and rendered a perfectly
round white circle. The only evidence
it's the sun hanging there is the burned
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doesn't fall off when you shoot at for handheld —and how robust they
are in studio mode. The viewing system
higher T-stops, either. I was able to
achieve extreme deep focus (T16-22) allows me to see perfectly in low-light
with superb optical quality." situations. The superiority of the Arricam
OSMOND: "The Master Primes video tap was a blessing."
are
scary sharp and fast —leaving little OSMOND: "As light as the Arricams
room for error. But with bright focus are, I had my reservations when we hit
scales, engraved both sides, and plenty the streets of Philadelphia. But they're
of distance marks that are spaced really solid. And while I could apply
right, these lenses are a breeze to use. all sorts of accolades, the feature I
Their optical performance is nothing liked best was the viewfinder. It's
short of amazing. Excellent edge-to- bright and sharp...a huge benefit to
edge clarity and sharpness —even at T the operators and focus-pullers. And it
1.3. And, unlike other lenses I've used flips over...very useful when you've
a that virtually froze on focus in got two cameras jammed together in a
exceptionally cold environments, the bar on location."
cam-action Master Primes maintained MATHIS: "Clairmont did amazing
an
total ease of operation." job of supporting me every step of the
MATHIS: "Angeniuex 4:1 and 12:1 way. We basically used every type of
had fantastic contrast and camera in their inventory, from the
zooms
sharpness that allowed me to intercut Sony F900s to a 300 FPS Wilcam.
without fear." Everything performed flawlessly under
OSMOND: "From focus-puller's point
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of view the Angeniuex 12:1 had a great of the variables in moviemaking, one
range and solid optical performance." thing is a welcome constant: Clairmont
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Perfume, shot by Frank Griebe, tells a
gifted and abominable

Ke was one ofthe most

the tale of an 18th-century prodigy
personages in an era that
who kills to concoct the ultimate knew no lack of gifted
and abominable person¬
aphrodisiac. ages,” writes German novelist Patrick
Siiskind of his main character, Jean-
by Jay Holben Baptiste Grenouille, in the 1985
novel Perfume: The Story of a
Unit photography by Jurgen Olczyk Murderer. In the 18th-century tale,
 Opposite:
Blessed with an

unusually keen
sense of smell,
Jean-Baptiste
Grenouille (Ben
Whishaw)
strives to invent
the most
beautiful scent
in the world in
Perfume: The
Story of a
Murderer. This
page, top: On his
first trip to Paris,
Grenouille is
captivated by the
aroma of a young
maiden (Karoline
Herfurth) selling
plums. Below:
Director of
photography
Frank Griebe
lines up a shot
on location.

Grenouille is born to his fishmonger Martin Scorsese and Ridley Scott. years earlier, but I never imagined I’d
mother amid the stinking fish heads Finally, producer Bernd Eichinger be making a film about it,” says
and food scraps in one of Paris’ filth¬ offered the project to German direc¬ Griebe.
iest marketplaces. Mysteriously, this tor/writer Tom Tykwer, who, with The cinematographer recalls
remarkable circumstance leaves him co-writer Andrew Birkin, spent that his collaboration with Tykwer
with no personal scent of his own, another two years adapting the dates to 1985, when they made the
but an extraordinary sense of smell. seemingly unadaptable book to the short film Because. “I met Tom
As child, he is enraptured with all screen. Once a script was in place,
a through my girlfriend, who was
the smells of the world and possesses Tykwer turned to cinematographer working at a cinema where Tom was
an infallible Frank Griebe, a longtime friend who projectionist,” says Griebe.
memory for aromas. a

The eerily silent, observant had shot all of the director’s films. “Whenever I was there, Tom and I
Grenouille is soon enslaved in the “I’d read the novel Perfume about 15 would always talk about movies. I
noxious world of a
the
tannery on
outskirts of Paris. After years of
backbreaking labor, he accompanies
the tanner on a trip into Paris, where
he discovers a world of new

fragrances and the astonishing

concept of captured aroma:
perfume. As he wanders the city
streets, he discovers a scent so

Paicroctumruoerfsnte.sy
wonderful he is compelled to follow
it to its source with deadly results.
—

Soon, the challenge of re-creating

that scent becomes his life’s work.
Siiskind’s novel became a

smash success, and over the years,

bring it to the silver
Phot s attempts to
screen involved Stanley Kubrick,

American Cinematographer 37
Deadly Scent
Right: Growing
up in an
orphanage
outside Paris, the
young Grenouille
sees little
evidence of
human kindness.
Below: Griebe
prepares to film
a street scene

using an EasyRig
and an Arri
Master Zoom
lens.

had gone to film school in Berlin with the festival’s Golden Frog for
to taking in smells by cupping his nose,
be assistant, but I did a little and by doing close shots of his nose,
a camera
Director-Cinematographer Duo.)
bit ofeverything before I met Tom. One of the challenges of and that’s it!”
After abouta year of
constantly talk¬ bringing Perfume to the screen was Finding locations to suggest
ing movies with me, Tom finally said finding a way to convey the world of 18th-century France was another
we should make one that obsesses
together. He scents Grenouille challenge. “Paris is completely differ¬
wanted to be a director, and I wanted (played by Ben Whishaw). Reviving ent today, so we had to start
looking
to be a
cinematographer so we Smell-O-Vision was out of the ques¬ in places like Croatia,” says Griebe.
went off to make a short, and then tion. “Tom’s approach was very “The price was right in Croatia, but
went on to make
[the features] simple,” says Griebe. “He said, ‘The the locations we were finding were
Deadly Maria; Winter Sleeper; Run, book doesn’t smell, so the movie extremely far from one another —
Lola, Run; The Princess and the shouldn’t, either!’ We suggest it all each was at least two hours from the
Warrior and Heaven.” (Griebe visually in a very simple way: people next, and we would have spent far
earned Camerimage Golden Frog the fish market full of raw, bloody much time
see too traveling. We then
nominations for Run, Lola, Run and fish, and they know it stinks; they see turned to Barcelona, which was
The Princess and the Warrior, and last field of lavender and know it smells
a more expensive but offered locations
year he and Tykwer were honored wonderful. We show Grenouille that were much closer together. We
used Girona, which is just an hour
from Barcelona, to shoot all the
scruff of the city, and used Figueres,
about 30 minutes from there, as our
backlot for the tannery, the dungeon
and anything else we needed. Of
course, weshot the lavender fields in
southern France, which is the only
place in Europe to find such fields.”
Defining the film’s look
involved a great deal of visual
research. “We started by watching
period movies, including Sleepy
Hollow, Vidocq, Revolution, Les
Miserahles, Amadeus, the original
Oliver Twist, Barry Lyndon, From

38 February 2007
 Left: Eager to
learn how to
capture and
create scents,
Grenouille
becomes an

apprentice to
Italian perfumer
Baldini (Dustin
Hoffman). Below:
Griebe checks
his light levels
while filming a
scenein which
Grenouille's late-
night
experimentation
at Baldini's takes
a grisly turn. A
dimmed-down
China ball on a

handheld boom
was a favorite
tool for
mimicking the
look of
candlelight.

Hell, The Elephant Man, Bram kinds of new smells, we start to
Stokers Dracula and Brotherhood of more powerful colors to represent
the Wolf” recalls Griebe. “We found those wonderful scents,” says the
that every period movie that had cinematographer. “These colors
been shot on location didn’t really appear in the sets, costumes, props
add During prep, Tykwer and
Griebe spent two weeks storyboard¬
ing the film in Barcelona. Tykwer
made the drawings himself, and
Griebe notes that Stiskind’s novel

get the dirt and grit of the city that and lighting. We tried to keep it provided some visual cues. “Many
we wanted for Perfume. We needed a subtle; we never worked literally, parts of the book are very descriptive
about light, especially the key scene
filthy city to get the real feel for the suggesting that yellow represented
smells of it. this particular smell or red that where Grenouille meets the young
smell. Our goal was a subtle visual woman with the yellow plums whose
“We also went through the
works of Caravaggio and enhancement of Grenouille’s discov¬ scent intrigues him,” he says. “As it is
Rembrandt, and I found a great eries and passion.” described in the book, she only has a
German book called The Night,
which features paintings of cities,
rooms and all different locations in a

very dark palette, done by all the

‘dark’ painters,” he continues. “There
was another great book called
Masters of Candlelight, which
features works by Georges de la Tour,
Godfried Schalcken and Joseph
Wright. Both of those books formed
a major influence on the look of our

film.”
Perfume begins with a very
cool, monochromatic color palette,
and as Grenouille discovers more
scents, the palette warms and opens
up. “When Grenouille goes to Paris
for the first time and experiences all

American Cinematographer 39
 Deadly Scent
Right: After
spending months
in the
wilderness,
Grenouille
arrives in Grasse
and immediately
detects the
lovely scent of
Laura(Rachel
Hurd-Wood),
whom he
follows to her
home. Below:
The filmmakers
prepare a crane
shot in the
garden labyrinth
behind Laura's
home.

single candle to light her work, and Tykwer and Griebe originally seem odd, our plan went from 1.33
he hides in the shadows behind her discussed shooting Perfume in the towidescreen. If we couldn’t do 1.33,
so he can
get close and smell her.” traditional Academy 1.33:1 aspect we had to
go to the opposite extreme,
Although the director’s drawings ratio, but they decided against it an aspect ratio that would allow us to
formed the basis for much of the because of the difficulty of theatrical really show the epic journey
film’s look, Griebe says Tykwer “is exhibition. “We felt 1.33:1 was Grenouille goes on. In my gut, 1.85
very trusting with me. We’ll talk perfect for many aspects of this story, just wasn’t right for that.” For finan¬
about the look and what we both but today you can’t release a 1.33 film cial reasons and because they
—

have in mind, but he lets from in theaters,” notes Griebe. “You knew they would finish the picture
me go really
there, which is a very freeing way to just have two [exhibition] choices, with a digital intermediate (DI) —
work.” 1.85 and 2.40. Although it might the filmmakers decided to shoot 3-
perf Super 35mm.
Working without any filtra¬
tion on the lens, Griebe shot Perfume
on three Kodak Vision2 negatives:
500T 5218, 200T 5217 and 100T
5212. “I used 5218 for all of the night
scenes,and the rest of the [film-stock
choices] were determined by weather
conditions,” he says. “I used 5212
when it was
very sunny, especially for
the scenes in the lavender fields, and
I used 5217 whenever it was over¬

cast.” The cinematographer rated the

stocks at their recommended ISO.
The
production tapped Arri
headquarters in Munich for most of
its needs; Arri Rental Division
supplied camera, grip and lighting
equipment, and Arri Film 8c TV

40 February 2007
Services did photochemical and
digital lab work. Griebe filmed
Perfume with Arricam Studios and
Lites and used an Arri 435 for addi¬
tional work. “By truck, Munich is
only a day’s travel from Barcelona, so
if something ever went wrong, Arri
was right there for us, which made

things a lot easier,” says the cine¬

matographer. “Arris service was
perfect, and I love that everything
was all in one place.”

Perfume gave Griebe a chance

to take out Arris latest lenses, the
Master Primes, and he was extremely
happy with the results. “We had a full
range of Master Primes on the show,
and we also had the new Master
Zoom [16.5-110mm], which is a
Above: Helium
wonderful, wonderful lens that change focal lengths without any the sense of smell,” he explains. “I did
lighting balloons
perfectly matches all the prime fuss; it keeps us moving quickly and many tests with the Revolution and were

lenses. It’s also a very large lens, is much easier oneveryone.” other snorkel/borescope systems, instrumental in
the labyrinth
For sequences that called for and I found the Kenworthy system to
probably the biggest I’ve ever lighting scheme.
worked with! We also had an the camera to be extremely close to be the simplest to move around.” Below: Laura
As Grenouille chases the plum
Angenieux Optimo [24-290mm] its subject, Griebe used the and her

seller’s beautiful scent, the young girlfriends enjoy

zoom, and as big as that is, it looked Kenworthy/Nettman Snorkel Lens a game of hide-
woman retreats from the city streets
small next to the Master Zoom! The System. “Especially for the first and-seek in the
Master Zoom was the lens of the day murder, the girl selling plums to adark, secluded courtyard, where maze, unaware
that Grenouille
because Tom likes zooms very much. [Karoline Herfurth], we wanted to she slices up her unsold fruit by is lurking in the
He likes the fact that we can quickly be very close to the bodies to suggest candlelight. A single candle burns shadows.

American Cinematographer 41
Deadly Scent
Right: A crane
shot captures a
key moment in
Grenouille's
journey. Below:
After Laura's
father spirits
her away to a
remote location,
Grenouille
follows,
bringing along a
portable set of
his perfuming
tools.

on the table, and Grenouille slow¬ tiny mirror on the front element that Barry Lyndon sequences with only
ly approaches her from behind. allowed us to get very close and candlelight, they had problems with
He inches toward her, inhaling maintain great depth of field.” flicker, too, and they had to
her aroma, and the camera moves Given the story’s period, completely seal the set. But if the
as close to her skinpossible.
as Griebe had to find an effective way to actors are moving with the flame,

The Kenworthy/Nettman Snorkel create and suggest firelight for interi¬ then you can’t control [the flicker] at
allowed Griebe to put the lens in the ors and night scenes. “We tested all. I decided the only solution was to

position of Grenouille’s nose and actual candlelight, and although I augment the candlelight and elimi¬
hover mere inches above the line of was happy with the levels of expo¬ nate the problem of flicker alto¬

the actress’ neck and shoulder. “We sure we were getting, I wasn’t happy gether.”
wanted to see her
body and his nose with the flicker— it became horribly Griebe decided to use a China
very close,” says Griebe. “The Snorkel distracting. I read that when Kubrick ball with a standard 200-watt bulb
is a very good system; there’s a very and John Alcott [BSC] shot the on a handheld boom. The lantern
was fed into a rheostat dimmer and
brought down near the 50-percent
range to warm the source and bring
down the intensity while an electri¬
cian held it just out of frame and
followed the actor through the scene.
“I think that feels just like candlelight
—

soft and warm — and it was easy

to do,” says Griebe. “We didn’t try to
put any special bulbs behind the
candles.”
The sets built onstage at
Bavaria Film in Germany were
designed without hard ceilings so
that Griebe could create ambient

light with a large, soft source over¬

head. Anexample is the home and
workshop of Baldini (Dustin
Hoffman), an Italian perfumer with
whom Grenouille apprentices. Built

42 February 2007
 The Perfume

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 Deadly Scent found this to be very effective. With
four lOKs and four space lights over¬
head, I can quickly go from bright
daylight to a very dim night ambi¬
ence and then fill that from the floor
with some soft, blue light.”
Keeping things soft, Griebe
often used tungsten helium balloons
as key
lights for interior scenes, and
turned to larger balloons for a

complex night sequence in a garden

labyrinth.
After learning all he can from
Baldini, Grenouille journeys to the
town of Grasse to further refine his
skills. He learns the of
enfleurage,
art

extracting an object’s essential oils by

encasing it in a layer of odorless fat,
which absorbs the scent. Bent on

Above: The
creating the most beautiful scent in
on the largest stage at Bavaria Film, the gridcloth and onto the stage. For the world, Grenouille extracts oils
production films
the set lit from above with
the townspeople was a
daylit scenes, Griebe’s crew hung from a number of maidens, and the

of Grasse 12x12' softbox faced with full grid- four 6K space lights between the jewel in his aromatic crown is Laura
convening in the cloth diffusion. Several feet above Ultrabounce and gridcloth for a bit
town square. (Rachel Hurd-Wood), who is closely
the gridcloth face was a large piece of of extra punch. “I keep the soft
Right: guarded by her father (Alan
Condemned to Ultrabounce; a 10K fixture was hung source very
high above the stage and Rickman) because of a recent spate
death for at each corner of the softbox and use the lOKs to bounce first and of murders. In the
committing garden labyrinth
aimed up into the Ultrabounce, then
multiple murders, come
through the diffusion,” behind their home, where Laura and
Grenouille seizes creating bounce that fed through
a explains the cinematographer. “I’ve several party guests play a game of
the moment and
introduces his
ultimate creation,
which promptly
puts the crowd
under his spell.

44 February 2007
hide-and-seek, Grenouille waits for well as for the focus
puller, especially tucking a fixture into a space without
the moment to make his move. if you’re
doing Steadicam, which can a lot of hardware, but I feel it’s a very

Griebe recalls, “That was a very diffi¬ be a nightmare for focus if you’re modern light. The effect is very
cult location for us. The house was wide open.” different from [an incandescent]
on a hillside, and we couldn’t bring For most of his lighting, tungsten light, and it doesn’t always
Griebe used tungsten sources, mostly feel or look right in a period setting.
any equipment trucks up there. We
had incandescent “I sometimes Even if you diffuse it, the light quality
noplace to put a light on the hill¬ ones.

side and could do very little to the used Kino Flos because they’re is very different, so I was slow to use
structure itself. We found the only compact easy to get into tight
and them on this film.”
locations. We shot in a lot of real Information he gleaned from
way to light that sequence was by
locations, and Kinos be great for the pages of this magazine prompted
positioning four tungsten helium can
balloons over the maze.”
Some of the most visually
extraordinary moments in Perfume

INTRODUCING
show Grenouille enshrouded in
shadows. The film opens with one
such image — his face emerges from
blackness to a point just on the

THE 300LT
threshold of visibility — and the
effect is palpable. The motif is
repeated when Grenouille follows the ,
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the 300LT UHF bodypack sytem (300UPR receiver and
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confront the consequences of his smallest wireless microphone package yet.
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According to Griebe, these moments (794-806MHZ)
were created by eye, with no metering Digital LCD display with
multi-function readout
or special post work, although he and

the DI team at Arri had to finesse the Twin high-gain antennas

Balanced mini-plug output with
look-up table (LUT) to get just the
locking connector
right black level on the print.
Small Size (3.85" H X 2.5" W X 1.0"D)
On set, it was merely a matter
of trusting the toe of the emulsion to Supplied mini and XLR output cables
resolve an image in massive underex¬ Comes with EX-503L lapel microphone
with mini lock-down connector
posure. “We shot most of the picture
Includes shoe-mount on receiver,
with the Arri Master Zoom, which is
metal belt-clip on transmitter
a T2.8, healthy stop,” says Griebe.
a
Powered by 2 AA batteries (not supplied)
“For that deep shadow work, we just
took light off, and I went by eye. I
don’t really feel you can measure
those kinds of low light levels; you MSRP $650

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45
 Deadly Scent
experience with a DI, and during
prep he had a long talk with colorist
Peter Doyle, whose credits include
The Lord of the Rings and the last two
Harry Potter films. “Peter was in
Germany while we were prepping
Perfume,” says Griebe, “and he gave
me a very
interesting take on the DI
process. He said I should [shoot the
movie] as though I were finishing it
photochemically. He said, ‘That’s the
best way to approach a DI.’
Sometimes cinematographers rely on
the DI process to refine their lighting,
and although that can save time on
set, the result looks different to me.
Griebe and some Griebe to lighting tool on
try a new Barger. Arri brought in six of them I’d rather do it on the set and know
extras on
location in
Perfume: the Barger Bag-lite. “I read for us, and they were perfect. I like I’ve got it right.
about the Barger light in American them very much and used them with “We did
France, where use
digital-grading
the production Cinematographer and was very Chimeras, or sometimes we just used tools considerably on two key
traveled to
intrigued by it. We sometimes have them as large bounce sources. They sequences,” he continues. “First,
capture lavender
fields in bloom. trouble with American lights in don’t take up a lot of room but they because of scheduling, we arrived in
Europe — some of them don’t pass put out a lot of light. It became one the lavender fields one week too early
European safety standards. But there of the fixtures we used the most.” to catch the flowers in full bloom,
was no problem at all with the which
Perfume marked Griebe’s first meant they didn’t have the

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extraordinary color we wanted. The printed it to Vision Premier, the rience,” Griebe concludes. “We shot
DI was definitely helpful with that. blacks became too strong and we on such tight schedule, 70 days,
a

Second, for the scene where completely lost Grenouille in the that we were often forced to simplify
Grenouille murders the plum girl, we shadows. Even with the regular and only get what we absolutely
used selective coloring for her death. Vision stock, we had to do a number needed. That kept the shoot very
I wanted her dead skin to be very of tests to right so
get the LUT just fast-paced and exciting. Now, after a
wouldn’t lose his detail in the nice rest, I am looking forward to the
pale, almost pure white. This was we

much, much easier to do in the DI deep shadows. When we finally hit next one!”
than with the right LUT, it worked perfectly.” ■
makeup and lighting, and
it was much faster. Over the course of After the negative was
that sequence, as Grenouille tries to scanned at 2K on an Arriscan,
TECHNICAL SPECS
capture the scent of her body, we colorists Florian “Utsi” Martin and
took her flesh tone from its natural Traudel Nicholson, working with 2.40:1
color to a gray/white, and it
very Autodesk’s Discreet Lustre, tackled Super 35mm (3-perf)
worked wonderfully.” different sections of the film; deliv¬
Arricam Studio, Lite; Arri 435
The filmmakers decided to ery dates compressed the grade into
mere eight weeks. “Actually, our
print Perfume on Kodak’s regular a
Arri, Angenieux and
Vision 2383, forgoing the contrastier rushes from Arri werefantastic, so Kenworthy lenses
Vision Premier. “There are some much so that Tom came out of edit¬
Kodak Vision2
moments in the film, like when ing and told me he wanted the final
500T 5218, 200T 5217,100T 5212
Baldini opens the door and finds coloring just like the rushes!” recalls
Grenouille in the shadows, that were Griebe. The color-corrected files
Digital Intermediate
just on the edge of exposure,” were filmed out at 2K with an

Arrilaser Recorder. Printed on Kodak Vision 2383

explains Griebe. “It looked absolutely
perfect in the DI suite, but when we “Perfume was a fantastic expe¬

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47
 The Invisible, shot
by Gabriel Beristain, ASC, BSC presents the
challenge of a main character trapped in spirit form.
by Jon Silberg
Unit photography by Doane Gregory

48 February 2007
 Opposite:
After
being
love story whose protagonists

I he new film The Invisible is a

beaten

are brought together by very by gang

members,
unusual circumstances. Annie
Nick (Justin
(Margarita Levieva), the terror Chatwin)
of her high school, is erroneously becomes a

disembodied
told that a fellow student, Nick
spirit trapped
(Justin Chatwin), has informed between life
and death.
police about her latest heist, so she This page, top:
and her posse track Nick down and Frustrated by
pummel him, leaving him for dead his spirit form,
in the woods at night. The next day, Nick tries
desperately
an unscathed Nick returns to school to make a
but soon realizes he is invisible to connection
with his
everyone. He concludes that Annie
cold and
and her gang murdered him, and he
unemotional
is now a disembodied spirit. mother

Eventually, however, he realizes he (Marcia Gay

Harden).
has a chance of rejoining the world
Below: Nick
of the living if he can somehow lead he learns more about Annie, a con¬ ASC, BSC, with whom he had made also keeps
the authorities to his body in the nection forms between the two, and Blade: Trinity. “David is a director a close watch

who understands the importance of on Annie

woods. eventually, though she still cannot (Margarita
Meanwhile, in his invisible see him, Annie becomes able to hear photography and light,” says Levieva),
Beristain. “For example, I couldn’t
state, Nick observes some surprising him speak. This gives her a key role whose
friends are
things about his friends, his seem¬ in Nick’s plan to lead the police to light the interiors of our high-school
responsible
the of the crime. location without putting Muscos
ingly cold mother (Marcia Gay scene for his

Harden), and, most significantly, To make The Invisible, direc¬ or 100K SoftSuns outside, and we strange
didn’t have the condition.
Annie, whose difficult home life has tor David Goyer reteamed with cin¬ budget for that, so I
contributed to her lawless ways. As ematographer Gabriel Beristain, asked if we could shoot [those

PVBicutosuerenasf.
courtesy
Phot s
American Cinematographer 49
 Living in Limbo
Right: Believing to our film right away,” says the cin¬
Nick has ratted
her out to the ematographer. uBad Timing is a very
police, Annie interesting film that really makes the
lets her posse of the
most [Austrian] locations;
pummel him — the mood of the locations
only to watch changes
as their as the characters get darker and
punishment darker. It was a great reference for
goes toofar. The Invisible.”
Below: After
returning to the The team decided to visually
site of Nick's delineate the film’s three acts main¬
beating, with
Nick's spirit ly through lighting. “The first act is
tagging along, totally naturalistic,” says Beristain.
Annie is
“Then, in the second act, we
stunned to
increase the contrast somewhat but
discover that
the body has keep a certain naturalism. In the
gone missing. third act, we walk away from natu¬

ralism completely.”
The film begins at Nick’s
house, where he lives with his moth¬
er. Beristain lit these interiors with

“elegant, beautiful light streaming

in the windows.” His crew
placed a
number of 6K and 18K HMI Pars
outside on a terrace and either
aimed them at the windows or

bounced them into a mirror to con¬

centrate and control the beam. To

create a little fill inside, Beristain
used a fixture
designed by his gaffer,
Danny Eccleston, on The Ring2 (see
AC April ’05): a Razor Light, which
is essentially a Kino Flo tube inside
scenes] at a time in the afternoon two pieces of metal
tubing that can
when the light through the win¬ be adjusted to control the beam.
dows would be right. Many in the These compact units feature strips
production were against that for of Velcro that facilitate easy attach¬
various reasons, but David support¬ ment to walls and other
objects.
ed me.” Beristain says
he feels com¬
The Invisible was shot in 50 fortable lighting to about a 4-stop
days at practical locations in range with the emulsions he used,
Vancouver, British Columbia, which Kodak Vision2 500T 5218 and
doubled for an unnamed city in Vision2 250D 5205, and he made
Washington State. The filmmakers it a
point not to jeopardize a realis¬
decided the picture’s look should tic look with an excess of fill. “We
evolve as the supernatural elements didn’t just create shafts of light and
come into play. During prep, then fill it all up. We let it go into
Beristain and Goyer examined a areas that read dark on the meter.

number of visual references, and at Nick’s bedroom was about 10 feet

one point Beristain brought over a by 15 feet, and I getting bounce
was
copy of Nicolas Roeg’s Bad Timing: from the walls and the ceiling. I
A Sensual Obsession. “David has an found I got a beautiful backlight on
encyclopedic knowledge of movies, his bed from the light bouncing off
and when I brought him Bad the floor. If it had been too much, it
Timing, he understood its relevance would’ve given me tremendous

50 February 2007
[lens] flare, but just right it was per¬
fect. That’s where an excellent key
grip like Kevin Black becomes so
important. He understood at exact¬
ly what point we were celebrating
that bounce and when it would
become a problem.”
The scenes inside the tiny
apartment Annie shares with her
parents and younger brother were
filmed in a cramped apartment
whose rooms were lit in a rather
harsh, toppy way with practical.
Beristain used small units like the
Razor Light close-ups of Levieva
on
to prevent shad¬
in the location, just
ows from being too harsh, and over

the course of the picture, he gradu¬

ally increased the fill on her face,
even as the rest of the film gets
harsher-looking, in order to convey
the sense that Nick is starting to see
more of her vulnerability.

The movie’s second act kicks

in when Annie and her posse track
Nick down as he walks along a
country road at night. “When we see
the car appear behind Nick, that’s
when his and Annie’s worlds collide
and everything becomes dark,” says
Beristain. “The rest of the second act
is about Nick coming back’ to find
out what happened to him.” At this
point, the cinematographer began
to use harder light, and later, during

the digital grade at Technicolor

Digital Intermediates, he and col¬
orist Jill Bogdanowicz affected these
scenes to simulate the look of cross-
processed color-reversal film. “I’ve
and lets her long hair fly free as A cable-
shot cross-processed reversal,” says are scenes when Nick is walking in scene
mounted
Beristain, “and my wife, Elizabeth, is the street, trying to find out what is she moves to the music. Production
platform, used
a photographer who has done won¬ reality, and we couldn’t do anything designer Carlos Barbosa built the in conjunction
with
derful work with cross-processed with the exteriors,” says the cine¬ nightclub set inside an abandoned a

Steadicam rig,
reversal film. I like that look very matographer. “They were dull, so we warehouse, and at first, Beristain allowed the
much.” went with this kind of cross- thought he would use colored rock filmmakers to
’n’ roll-type lights to set the scene, achieve some
He notes, however, that it can processed look to help give those
but he found he really liked the unique
be difficult to control the look pho- scenes life.”
perspectives.
Late in the second act, Nick effect of a large spotlight moving
tochemically, so he chose to create it
follows Annie into nightclub, across Annie’s face. “I wanted it to
digitally in post. The freedom to dial a

in such techniques helped add where he watches her try to dance really burn her face and hair on the
something interesting to shots that away her guilt about his murder. In picture,” he says. “I kept saying to the
were made in areas where little pro¬ this scene, Annie sheds the black ski gaffer, John Dekker/More spot!’ She
was 4 to 5 stops over. Of course, with
duction design was possible. “There cap she has worn in every previous
American Cinematographer 51
 Living in Limbo

Above: Annie the latitude ofnegative today, it still

passes Nick's didn’t go white. So in
spirit in a the DI, we
high-school went in and did the ‘Superman
hallway. Note Returns technique,’ where we’d grab
dolly tracks at
lower left — the just the highlights, create a lumi¬
filmmakers nance matte, and then extend it and
strove to create diffuse itslightly to give the high¬
many of the
film's effects in lights what they used to get when
real time, in overexposed areas would go over the
camera. Top shoulder of the curve.”
right: Annie For the film’s third act,
and one of her
“I
accomplices stopped following the rules of natu¬
(Ryan Kennedy, ralism totally,” says Beristain. His
left) intimidate
crew put all of the lighting instru¬
Nick's friend
Pete (Chris ments on dimmers, and he dimmed
Marquette), who them selectively during a take to
fingers Nick as
achieve
the snitch.
an expressionistic look.
Lower right: During a climactic confrontation
A remote head between Annie and Nick’s mother at
on a crane
the local hospital, “the two women
captures a
high-angled walk into a corridor, and as
they talk,
shot in the the lights in the background and the
high school. fill light on Annie’s face gradually
Cinematographer
Gabriel dim down to the point where there is
Beristain, ASC,
just one source of light in her face.
BSC credits
You won’t notice it, but it creates an
director David
Goyer for atmosphere on a subconscious level.
allowing him to It makes you feel what the scene is
shoot these
about.”
scenes at the
appropriate time Beristain filmed The Invisible
of day. in Super 35mm using Panaflex

52 February 2007

Platinums and Primo prime and
zoom lenses. “I believe nothing
compares to the quality of prime
lenses, but the Primo and
Angenieux Optimo zooms are phe¬
nomenal options, and in most cir¬
cumstances I do not mind mixing
them,” he notes. Working in 4-perf,
he protected the top and bottom of
the frame in order to allow for some
repositioning in post, and, more
importantly, to avoid a pan-and-
scan for non-theatrical exhibition.
He worked with two or three
cameras for much of the shoot,
despite initial resistance from pro¬
duction. “The producer said, ‘You
will make this a three-camera shoot
over my dead body!’” Beristain
recalls. “But after two weeks, they
saw it was good for the film and
saved us time. I had cameras set
angles you might think would not
work, and they sometimes turned
out to be in the perfect position. In
the scene where Nick is knocked
down in the woods, there was a
down low the ground
camera near
that caught the perfect angle.
Nobody would have thought to
stage the shot that way; we only got
it because of the third camera.”
The cinematographer notes
that he normally rates his film
stocks slightly lower than their rec¬
ommended ISO in order add densi¬
ty to the negative, but on The
Invisible he often had to go in the
opposite direction. “For low-light
scenes, I prefer to underexpose
rather than push,” he says. In the DI,
he was able to bring most of the
underexposed images to where he
wanted them, though he admits,
“My harshest critics will notice
some grain in some of the shots
for where everyone is looking for Nick
in the forest the day after he disap¬
pears. It would’ve been impossible
to put Muscos in there because of all
A remote head
angles in on
Levieva.
the trees, and we didn’t have the
budget for too many big lights, so we
had to shoot with just sunlight, and
when a cloud came, I was a bit
underexposed. But you have to look
for it to see that we brought the shot
up in post.”
During the shoot, Beristain
used Kodak’s Look Management
System to communicate with
Technicolor-Vancouver, which han¬
dled the front-end lab work, and he
strove to build the desired look into
the hi-def digital dailies that were
screened on location via an HD DLP
projector. “You never know in
advance exactly how these dailies
transfers will be used,” he says. “Even
though you’re going to rescan the
film when you do the DI, you never
know if the original HD version will
be used for television or the DVD. So
I try tomake the dailies reflect where
I intend to go later.”
Early on, Beristain and Goyer
American Cinematographer 53
 Living in Limbo
Right: A crane determined that they didn’t want
arm is used to
The Invisible to look too flashy or
capture a
scenic setting. effects-oriented. Instead, they want¬
Below: A ed to let the camerawork and per¬
location in
Vancouver
formances tell the story. Beristain
doubled for the recalls, “We originally talked about
rooftop of giving Nick his own light — he
Annie’s
would cast no shadows and look dif¬
building. Here,
Chatwin and ferent from everyone else in the
Levieva's stunt frame. But then we realized that
double perform wouldn’t be appropriate for this pic¬
a death-defying
gag with a ture. OnBlade 2 [shot by Beristain
wire-harness and directed by Guillermo Del
rig.
Toro], we had a blue light follow the
main character wherever he went,
but on that film we had big sets on
soundstages, whereas on The
Invisible we were
shooting in apart¬
ments, on streets and in school cor¬

ridors. It just didn’t make sense to go

to that level of artificiality.”
Instead, the filmmakers used
in-camera techniques to sell the idea
that their main character was invisi¬
ble everyone else. In one scene set
to

in classroom full of students, a

a

frustrated Nick grabs a book off a

nearby desk and throws it at a book¬
case,causing the bookcase to col-

54 February 2007
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James Mathers: Cinematographer, Digital Cinema Society

Living in Limbo
Beristain (right)
and
together.
Goyer
seek the best
“We did a few scenes like
angle for a shot that,” he continues. “There’s a scene
of Levieva. where Nick runs down the corridor
of the school and crashes right into
a
girl, who collapses and drops her
books all over the place. He looks
again, and she’s upright, still walking
and holding all of her books. When
he knocks her over, we go in to a
closer shot of him. Meanwhile, out
of frame, the girl gets up, composes
herself, gets an identical pack of
books, and the prop master sweeps
the books off the floor; we then pan
back to her walking as
though noth¬
ing has happened. On some takes,
lapse. Immediately, he looks back at lapse, and meanwhile, a prop person we went back too
quickly and
the desk and finds the book is in its replaced the book on the table with caught the prop master sweeping
original location, and when he a duplicate, so when we
pan back, the books! But when this kind of in¬
glances back at the bookcase, it’s the book’s right there. As we did the camera effect works, it can be the
upright and undisturbed. “We did pan, the prop master, Bryan greatest satisfaction you can have as
that in camera,” says Beristain. “The Korenberg, was working frantically filmmaker.”
camera follows the book as it hits to rebuild the shelves, and when But Beristain is very
we
happy
the shelves and causes them to col¬ panned back, the shelf back with the way even
was the subtlest of

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camera moves contribute to telling was making from inside a basket on where they need to go. It’s not an
The Invisible's story. “On The Spanish a crane.We bring the basket right to arbitrary ‘big shot’; it’s really about
the deck of the house, and then we small moves that are meaningful. It’s
Prisoner [AC March ’98], I really
have in front of the our way of taking the audience by
enjoyed the fact that [director] someone cross

David Mamet used the camera as a camera to distract the audience from the hand and saying, ‘Let’s enjoy the

character,” he notes. “Sandy the movement of John getting out of ride.’” ■

Mackendrick taught me how to do the basket and moving over to Nick’s
that when I was in film school, and I mother. From there, John moves to
Nick as he walks over to get a piece of
applied it for the first time in my
cake and then heads downstairs.
professional work on Caravaggio,
thanks to the marvelous artistic dis¬ Then, in the same shot, we pull back
position of [director] Derek to the terrace, where there is another
Jarman.” To establish the importance basket and another waiting for
crane

of camera movement from the get- John, and we crane down so we can TECHNICAL SPECS
go,Beristain and Goyer decided to see Nick through a glass wall as he
2.40:1
begin The Invisible with an elaborate goes downstairs. Once we’re down¬
stairs,we come back off the crane
Super 35mm
move; it starts out as a helicopter

shot from above Nick’s house, moves and push into Nick in his room. Panaflex Platinum
down into the house as a party is “We planned it in the morn¬ Primo lenses
taking place, follows Nick through ing and did three takes in the after¬
Kodak Vision2
the party and down a flight of stairs, noon,” he continues. “It was tricky
250D 5205, 500T 5218
and resolves on a close shot of Nick. because of the potential reflections
“It starts with a real helicopter shot, in the windows and glass wall, but
Digital Intermediate
and then we dissolve to a Steadicam the shot is effective. It tells people
shot that the operator, John Clothier, that the camera is going to take them

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 Michael Ballhaus, ASC, tors who haveencouraged his cam¬
their

All cinematographers have

own
philosophies about era
glide and soar with
to swoop,
master of the
360-degree the art form. Some advocate lyrical abandon. A native of
dolly move, reaches an
tableau-like
while others
composition,
prefer more
Germany, he gained a great reputa¬
tion with his early work for prolific
artistic
pinnacle by kinetic displays of camera magic. wunderkind Rainer Werner
Michael Ballhaus, ASC unquestion¬
earning the Society’s ably belongs to the latter camp, but
Fassbinder, who pushed him to
shoot fast and think the
on
fly. After
International Award. he has a simple, sensible explanation
immigrating to the United States in
for his roving eye: “If it’s a movie, it’s the early 1980s, Ballhaus began a
got to move.” close and enduring collaboration
Throughout his career, with Martin Scorsese, whose pen¬
by Stephen Pizzello Ballhaus has partnered with direc¬ chant for dynamic camerawork is

58 February 2007
 Opposite:
legendary. He has also shot films for Michael
John Sayles, James L. Brooks, Mike Ballhaus, ASC
Nichols, Francis Ford Coppola, takes obvious
relish in his
Robert Redford, Wolfgang Petersen
chosen career.
and Barry Sonnenfeld, among "If everyone
others. knew how much
I loved doing it,
Along the way, Ballhaus has they wouldn't
created a jaw-dropping body of give me any
work. His 15 films with Fassbinder money!" he
enthuses. This
would alone merit a career achieve¬
page, top: A
ment award; particularlynotable youthful
titles include Whity, Beware of a Ballhaus
operates a
Holy Whore, The Bitter Tears ofPetra broadcast
von Kant, Martha, Fox and His camera during
Friends, Chinese Roulette, The his television

Stationmaster’s Wife and days in Baden-

The Baden. Bottom:
Marriage of Maria Braun. But his Ballhaus
Stateside output is even more (standing in
center) gets
impressive. Ballhaus has earned Ballhaus’ career in the arts “My parents influenced me a lot,”
Ballhaus says. “Right after the war, ready to roll —
Academy Award nominations for was almost preordained. He was literally —
Broadcast News, The Fabulous Baker born in Berlin in 1935 to stage they founded a cultural agency and while shooting
the 1969 film
Boys and Gangs ofNew York, and the actors Oskar Ballhaus and Lena began inviting orchestras and con¬
Deine
latter picture also earned him an Hutter, who encouraged his creativ¬ ductors to come to Coburg to play
Zartliclikeiten
works by the great German com¬
ASC Award nomination. His other ity. He recalls that in 1943, “with (Your
bombs falling on Berlin every posers: Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms. Tenderness) on
U.S. credits include After Hours,
The Ibiza with a
Color of Money, The Last Temptation night,” the family took refuge in the Two years later, they founded the camera

quiet Bavarian town of Coburg. Frankische Theater, which was assistant,

of Christ, Working Girl, GoodFellas,
director Herbert
Postcards from the Edge, Guilty by
Vesely (seated
Suspicion, Bram Stoker’s Dracula,

BWPUFCria2ncMPoCtevuoi0orscelautd.mxhlb,sy,
in car) and
The Age of Innocence, Quiz Show, Air producer Peter
Schamoni
Force One, Primary Colors, (right).
Something’s Gotta Give and The
Departed. Suffice to say, the man
knows his way around a camera.
The American Society of

Cinematographers will formally

applaud Ballhaus for his artistry by
presenting him with the ASC
International Award at the organi¬
zation’s annual awards gala, to be
held on Feb. 18 in Los Angeles.
Although he has earned many acco¬
lades over the years, Ballhaus says
the International Award is particu¬
larly special. “This award comes

ABMMailcoPhueSfs,
from the best cinematographers in
the world, which means a lot to me.
I’ve worked pretty hard over the
years, but I’ve also been very lucky,”
he says with characteristic modesty.
“Making movies was a hobby that I

Phot s courtesy turned into my job. If everyone

knew how much I loved doing it,
they wouldn’t give me any money!”
American Cinematographer 59
 Full Circle
photography was Christian Matras. ed operators for these big electronic
He didn’t speak a word of German I got a job,
cameras.
and I worked in
and the gaffer didn’t speak a word of TV for almost nine years in Baden-
French, but they could still commu¬ Baden and Munich.” After gaining
nicate with each other, and it was experience shooting TV movies on
great watching them work. They film, he shot his first theatrical fea¬
would hold up five fingers or 10 to ture, Der Klassenaufsatz, when he
indicate whether they would need a was just 25. “I learned that making a
5K or 10K. I was fascinated to know movie involves teamwork. The
how all of the machinery worked director and I well
prepared. I
were

with all of the tracking shots.” was a

Indeed, Ballhaus feels that his up-
close observation of Ophuls’gliding
camera
have influenced his
may
own
style. “When the movie came
out, I saw it many times, and I just
loved the way he moved the camera.
I also loved what he did with color.”
After
studying photography
for two years and becoming “an offi¬
cially certified 35mm photogra¬
Above: The headquartered in an old castle near pher,” Ballhaus moved with his wife,
cinematographer's
Coburg. I was going to school, but in Helga, to Baden-Baden, where she
parents, stage
actors Lena Hutter my free time I did everything I could had landed a job at a nearby theater.
and Oskar to help out at the theater. It was a lot “I started looking for a job, and I
Ballhaus, actively of fun.”
encouraged their
eventually got an offer to be an assis¬
good operator, thanks to my
work with those big TV cameras, but
I needed help with the lighting. I
knew what I wanted, but I didn’t
know exactly how to achieve it. The
assistant andgaffer helped me, but if
they did something I didn’t like, I
told them so. I couldn’t tell them
exactly how to use a 5K or 10K, but I
learned while doing it.”
After mastering the basics of
his craft, Ballhaus began honing his
skills. Fate intervened while he was
producing, directing and shooting a
documentary in Ireland. He received
a phone call from a friend, Ulli

son's artistic Ballhaus’ love of cinema took tant on a

documentary about Lommel, who was in Almeria, Spain,
pursuits. Below: root in his teen years.After develop¬ Greece,” he recalls. “I kept telling the
Ballhaus' late
preparing to produce and act in a
wife, Helga, was
ing aninterest in still photography, director to move the camera, but he Western titled Whity (1970). “Ulli
also an actor.
he had an opportunity to visit a fam¬ was anold-fashioned guy, and I asked me, ‘Do you like Fassbinder?’ I
Here, she appears ily friend, renowned director Max don’t think he appreciated my sug¬ said, ‘Yes, why?’ And he replied, ‘Do
as Viola in a
Ophuls, on the set of Lola Montes. “I gestions very much!” you want to shoot a movie with
production of
was there when
Shakespeare's they shot the big cir¬ Ballhaus hoped to find work him?’ I answered, ‘Sure, when does it
Twelfth Night, in a cus scenes, and it was on feature films but
amazing to see initially had no start?’ He said, ‘You should be here in
photo taken by her 300 extras and all of these cameras, luck. “Then this TV station opened
husband.
two days!’ Two days later, I arrived in
cranes and lights. The director of up in Baden-Baden, and they need¬ Almeria to meet Mr. Fassbinder.”
Now ranked among the great¬
est German directors, Fassbinder

was much less experienced than

Ballhaus at the time. However, he
was well on the way to earning a rep¬
utation as a brilliant filmmaker with
a mercurial and often abusive per¬
sonality. Working at an almost
superhuman pace, Fassbinder would
ultimately direct 43 films before
dying of an apparent drug overdose
in 1982, at age 37. He took a jaded
view of human nature and could be

downright sadistic with colleagues

and friends. On nearly every picture,
he worked with the same group of

people, over whom he exerted a

Svengali-like influence and control.

60 February 2007
He often let his mood swings dictate
his casting choices, handing plum
roles to those who pleased him and
relegating offenders to secondary
parts. After Ballhaus accepted the
job to shoot Wluty, he soon began
wondering what he’d gotten himself
into. “Fassbinder and I got off to a

pretty rocky start. He saw me as a

TV guy and never wanted to hire me
in the first place. I think he was
also a bit insecure because I had shot
a lot more movies than he had. I
must say, he didn’t treat me very
well. There was one scene where I
was concerned because we were

jumping the line, and I told him I

couldn’t put the camera where he
wanted it. He reacted by asking the
producers to fire me. I didn’t
unpack my suitcase for two weeks
because I thought, ‘This isn’t going Ballhaus shot
to last long.’” 15 films with
brilliant but
Lommel confirms that
mercurial
Fassbinder was determined to “tor¬ director Rainer
ture” Ballhaus at the outset. Werner

“Fassbinder wanted Jost Vacano Fassbinder,

including The
[future ASC] to shoot Whity, but he Bitter Tears of
was unavailable. When Michael Petra von Kant
(above)and The
arrived, Rainer said to me, ‘Tell him
Marriage of
to hell — I want Jost!’ He had
go to Maria Braun
no choice but to try out Michael, (left), both of
which star
though, and he gave him one of the Fassbinder
most difficult setups ever. It was a favorite Hanna
four-minute traveling shot between Schygulla.
five characters with a lot of focus Below,
Ballhaus frames
shifts, and it was almost impossible a shot for the
to do. I knew it was one of 1978 drama

Fassbinder’s sadistic ideas; he want¬ Despair as an

attentive
ed to see Michael fail. He asked Fassbinder
Michael how long it would take him kneels behind
him.
to get [the scene] together, and

Michael replied, ‘Just give me a cou¬

ple of hours.’ When Fassbinder

returned, they did a few takes. After
each one, he would ask Michael,
‘Was that okay for you?’ And
Michael would say, ‘Yeah, that was
fine.’ Fassbinder just grinned tri¬
umphantly, expecting the worst. A
couple of days later, Rainer and I
watched the dailies of that scene.

When the lights came on, he stood

up with tears in his eyes, hugged me,

American Cinematographer 61
Full Circle
After relocating
to the U.S. in
the early 1980s,
Ballhaus began
his long and
fruitful
collaboration
with director
Martin
Scorsese with
thepitch-black
comedy After
Hours. Top: The
movie's hapless
protagonist,
Paul Hackett
(Griffin Dunne,
right) seeks the
help of a
sympathetic
bartender (John
Heard) as
he tries
desperately to
escape an
endless
evening of
misadventures
in lower
Manhattan.
Middle:
Ballhaus,
Dunne and
Scorsese share
and said, ‘Ulli, this guyis a fucking
a laugh during
the shoot.
genius!’ That was the start of their
Bottom: The
filmmakers long and beautiful relationship.”
After passing this test,
capture the
authentic feel Ballhaus quickly came to recognize
of a New York
Fassbinder’s skill as a filmmaker. “I
street at night.
knew right awaythat he was very,
very talented. Everything he suggest¬
ed was great. He often tried to make
things as complicated as possible,
but I found I could cope with him
and his ideas. He never said anything

complimentary to me when we
looked at dailies, though. He was

very rough.
“Looking back, he was the
most important thing that happened

in my life during that period. First of

all, he was the guy in Germany at the
time, because he did the most excit¬

ing movies. He had great stories,

most of which he wrote himself, and
he pushed me all the time. He
worked very fast, so I always had to
be well prepared, because he never

gave me much time. On most of his

movies, the longest schedule we had
was around 20 days. We actually shot
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant,

62 February 2007
which is over hours
long, in 10
two

days! Because did those movies

we
with almost no money, we didn’t do
that many takes and didn’t shoot a
lot of coverage. The pay was very
low, but we did it because Rainer
was very good, and it was exciting to
work with him.”
Over the course of their col¬
laboration, Ballhaus maintained a
discreet distance from Fassbinder’s
inner circle. “I had family, and I
a

didn’t be
dependent on him
want to

the way some of the others in his

group were. That’s why I shot films

with a few other directors while I
was still
working with Rainer. He
always hated that, though; he got
jealous and often tried to punish me
for it.” To keep the relationship sta¬
ble, Ballhaus did his utmost to real¬
ize Fassbinder’s visual ideas, no mat¬
ter how complex. This willingness to Above: In The
Color of Money,
do “whatever it took to get the shot”
Scorsese's ultra-
paid dividends not only with kinetic sequel to
Fassbinder, but also with all of The Hustler, Paul
Newman
Ballhaus’ subsequent collaborators.
reprises his role
“I try never to tell a director, ‘No, I as "Fast Eddie"
can’t do that.’ I’ve always felt that if Felson, who
takes hotshot
someone has an idea, I want to ful¬
pool shark
fill his vision. Sometimes it takes a Vincent Lauria
little more time or can be a little (Tom Cruise)
under his wing.
expensive, but if someone can think Left: Ballhaus
up the idea, there’s usually a way to works out one of
accomplish it. Fassbinder often the show's many
elaborate trick
asked me to do tricky moves or
shots. Scorsese
tricky lighting, and I always found recalls,
ways to do them. If you like an idea "Sometimes I'd
think it was
and really want to do it, you can.”
going to take 17
To be sure, the films Ballhaus or 18 takes to get
shot for Fassbinder reveal the merits a ball to go into a
certain hole, but
of this attitude. InWhity, for exam¬ functional family in the American offering to pay her; to underscore then we'd nail it
ple, there are a number of stunning¬ Southwest of 1878 — but also add Whity’s faux pas, the camera glides in two takes!"

ly photographed scenes that an ironic subtext to the picture’s around the bed he occupies, linger¬

emerged from the duo’s willingness Western settings and motifs. The ing on the money in his out¬
to experiment. The film was movie also marks the first appear¬ stretched hand to create a frozen
Ballhaus’ first in the anamorphic ance of the famous “Ballhaus cir¬ moment of dramatic intensity. “The
format, and he made maximum use cle,” 360-degree dolly move that
a idea behind my circular dolly moves
of the wide frame. The constantly the cinematographer frequently is to treat special scene in a special
a

gliding camera, dramatic zooms
and stylized lighting not only serve
the story — which concerns the
bizarre relationship between a
mulatto servant and a wealthy, dys¬
uses to highlight key moments in
his films. In Whity, this move occurs
when the servant (Gunther
Kaufmann) insults his prostitute
girlfriend (Hanna Schygulla) by
way,” says Ballhaus. “I try to find an
appropriate scene for the circle in
every film I do.”
The making of Whity was so
chaotic that it inspired Fassbinder to

American Cinematographer 63
 Full Circle
Ballhaus has make whole movie about the
a
pit-
also teamed with
falls of filmmaking. Titled Beware of
a number of
other prominent a
Holy Whore (1970), this angst-
directors. Top: filled exploration of ennui concerns
With James L.
a director and
Brooks in production team who
Washington, D.C. find themselves stranded in an

while shooting Italian hotel, mid-shoot, when they

Broadcast News,
run out of film stock and funding.
for which
Ballhaus earned Left to their own devices, they get
his first Academy drunk, have sex, and let their neu¬
Award
roses run amok.
Holy Wlwre is filled
nomination.
Middle: Ballhaus with wry references to Fassbinder’s
has collaborated
previous movies and offers uproari¬
with his former
student, director
ous
insights into the dynamics of his
Wolfgang filmmaking troupe. Ballhaus
Petersen (right), escapes this scrutiny relatively
on the thrillers
Air Force One
unscathed, although his onscreen
and Outbreak. counterpart does receive a tongue-
Standing behind lashing or two from the Fassbinder
Ballhaus is his
character. “Thankfully, most of the
son, Florian, who
has also become incidents depicted in Holy Wlwre
an accomplished didn’t involve me,” Ballhaus says.
cinematographer. “When
Bottom: Ballhaus
we were
shooting Whity, my
listens as wife and kids were there. I had
go to

cinematographer to bed at a reasonable hour because

-turned-director
I had to get up very early in the
Barry Sonnenfeld
offers morning. I usually heard all the wild
suggestions to stories later. I didn’t have a clue
actor Will Smith
about what going on because I
was
on the set of the
1999 comedy was
concentrating on my job! You’ll
Wild Wild West. notice that my character only
appears briefly in Holy Whore,
because I was never part of the
funny business.” (Fie admits, howev¬
er, that he did have to dodge a few
Cuba Libres hurled by Fassbinder
and his associates.)
Ballhaus’ other films with
Fassbinder are also notable for their

craftsmanship and visual ingenuity.

The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant
(1972), a hothouse drama about a
lesbian fashion designer’s triangular
relationship with her mute,
masochistic assistant and a beautiful
model, was adapted from a
Fassbinder play and shot entirely in
one room at a real location. “The
apartment was pretty small, so there
weren’t a lot of different angles to
exploit,” Ballhaus recalls. “Instead,
we concentrated on the atmosphere,
on the
lighting, and on creating nice
close-ups and two-shots. We had to

64 February 2007
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 Full Circle
bars foreshadow a
lighting style that
Ballhaus later applied to some of the
bar scenes in Scorsese’s films, partic¬
ularly GoodFellas.
Originally made for German
television, Martha (1974) is fasci¬
nating for some of the stylized tech¬
niques used to tell the tale of a high-
strung housewife (Margit
Carstensen) terrorized by her dom¬
ineering husband (Karlheinz
Bohm). Mirrors are used to great
effect, and careful compositions and
camera moves
help to convey
Martha’s gradual subjugation. The
film also features one of Ballhaus’
most innovative 360s, which occurs

during a scene in which Martha first

encounters her future husband and
tormentor. “Rainer said, ‘This is a
Ballhaus is come with interesting shots that
up Fox and His Friends (1974) is veryimportant scene, and the audi¬
renowned for his
would connect the people who were notable for its frank presentation of ence should
use of circular really remember the
in this small space. We used a lot of
dolly moves, homosexuality. Although Ballhaus moment when these characters
which add
deep focus, and wealso tried to once dismissed this compelling pic¬ meet for the first time. What do you
emphasis to the whenever
key scenes.
move camera
possi¬ ture as “pretty awful,” he now con¬ think we should do?’ I thought
Above: The ble. There was not a lot of cutting, cedes that “you do learn a lot about about it andsuggested a 180-degree
cinematographer's and some of the shots four what the characters think and feel,
camera circles a
were
dolly move around them. He
minutes long, which was the longest and what their whole world is
game of stickball replied, ‘Why not go all the way
in the 1996 drama you could go with a mag that held about.” Eagle-eyed viewers may around them?’ That was a problem,
Sleepers. Right: 300 feet of film.” notice that the film’s
luridly lit gay because the square
Leonardo DiCaprio
where we shot
and Martin Sheen
have a secret

rooftop meeting in
The Departed
(2006). This shot
was ultimately cut

to save screen

time, which led

Ballhaus to
lament, "When
you've done some
nice moves and
they don't make
the cut, you feel a
little bit sad!"

66 February 2007
 Photo from Cinematographer Style ©2006 T-Stop Productions

2007 ASC International Achievement Award

Congratulations Michael
 Full Circle
the scene had a slope, and when you
lay down 360 degrees of dolly track
it has to be level. To level it out, we
had to raise
portion of the track
a

about a foot off the

ground and
have the actors step over it. Then,
when we tracked around, Rainer
made the actors circle each other in
the opposite direction, so it became
a sort of double move. It was a great
effect.” (For maximum enjoyment
of this movie, viewers should take
note of Martha’s address in the film,
21 Douglas Sirk Street — an hom¬
age to Fassbinder’s favorite director
—

and watch closely for Ballhaus’

cameo as a
tongue-waggling lecher.
Laughing uproariously at this
memory, Ballhaus recalls, “I told
Rainer I would never do that in real

Ballhaus'
life, and he said, ‘So do it in a

experience with movie!”’)

compressed Ballhaus is particularly proud
schedules
of his work on Chinese Roulette
proved helpful
on Scorsese's (1976), the story of a young girl who
The Last
gets revenge on her callous parents
Temptation of
Christ, starring by forcing them to endure a humil¬
Willem Dafoe. To iating truth-telling game that expos¬
capture the es their most personal flaws and fail¬
crucifixion
ures. With its use of a
scene, the crew roving cam¬
mounted a era, glass reflections and very precise
camera behind mise en scene (featuring composi¬
the cross,
tions that Ballhaus often refrained
resulting in a
spectacular on the fly), Chinese Roulette is a tour
perspective that de force of graceful camerawork.
approximates “After
Christ's point of
we
picked the actors and the
view. location, Rainer went to Paris for
two weeks and wrote the script,”
Ballhaus remembers. “Fie came

back and prepped for two weeks,

and we shot it in four weeks. He cut

it in two weeks. So going from the

first idea to the finished movie took
no more than three months. It was

an
interesting film that was fun to
shoot because the camera becomes
like a character in the movie. It’s
very stylish, and all of the moves
were very well planned and execut¬
ed. The blocking was very rigorous.”
(On a side note, Ballhaus’ wife,
Helga, served as the show’s produc¬
tion designer.)
After photographing The

68 February 2007
Stationmaster’s Wife (1977), notable ticular scene with him,” says together, my patience was running
for its long pans, complicated setups Ballhaus. “We planned to do about out.”

and eight shots to get the sequence, and The conflict boiled over while
expressive camera moves,
Ballhaus and Fassbinder mounted when I started preparing it and Ballhaus prepping Fassbinder’s
was

next project, the 15-hour television

The Marriage of Maria Braun
(1978), which earned many awards
and became Fassbinder’s
biggest
international hit. Starring Schygulla
lighting it, he went off to his trailer.
About half an hour later, he came opus Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980).
back after taking a little sniff of “I had my deal in place, but before I
cocaine and said, ‘No, we won’t do it started working on Alexanderplatz, I

in the title role, the movie follows a this way, we’ll do it in one shot.’ You shot a movie with another director.

World War II bride’s journey of sur¬ have to be very patient in those situ¬ When I came back to Berlin to do a

ations, but after scout for Rainer, he decided to pun-

vival in postwar Germany. The film so many years

begins, quite literally, with a bang —

a moment Ballhaus will never for¬
get. “The first shot of the movie
shows Maria and her husband sign¬
ing their marriage certificate in a
rubble-strewn street. Rainer wanted
the explosion to happen right after
they signed the certificate so the
piece of paper would get blown
away. This Italian special-effects guy
set up the charge with a little bit of

powder, but it just gave off a small

puff. Fassbinder complained, so the
guy added some more powder, but
Rainer was still not happy with the
results. So then the guy got pissed
and put too much powder in the
charge, and when it exploded, I flew
backwards along with the camera, COLOR CORRECTION • EDITING • DUPLICATION • TELECINE
which was ruined!”
Ballhaus maintained a desat-
urated palette for the wartime
scenes and gradually added more
color and illumination as the war

years fade and Maria’s prospects

brighten. He was aided in this strat¬
egy by his wife, who once again
served as production designer.
‘Maria Braun was the first movie I
shot with Fuji film stock,” he notes.
“I used the high-speed stock. I used
•
Exceptional customer service and more.
very little light and shot wide open
sometimes. We did some scenes

basically with candlelight. Helga

was careful to keep the colors very

muted in the early scenes because

those were very poor times in
Germany.”
Maria Braun marked the end
of Ballhaus’ collaboration with 818.777.1111 . 800.892.1979
THE FILMMAKERS DESTINATION
Fassbinder, whose drinking and digital
WWW.UNIVERSALSTUDIOS.COM/STUDIO
drugging had begun to take a heavy
toll. “I remember discussing a par¬ UNIVERSAL
TECHNICAL OPERATIONS

69
 Full Circle
Right: Ballhaus
and Scorsese
created an
instant gangster
classic with
GoodFellas
(1990). In this
diner scene, the
cinematographer
executed a

combination
dolly/zoom move
that caused the
background to
change size
behind actors
Robert De Niro
and Ray Liotta.
"It's a subtle
effect," Ballhaus
notes, "but I
wanted the
audience to
realize that this
was a key turning
point between
these two
characters."
Below: In 1992, ish
Ballhaus and
me
again for working with quit. The producer tried to talk me Rainer always said that he would
director Francis
someone else, and he wouldn’t out of it, because he knew that never be old, that he would have a
Ford Coppola speak to me directly. He would say whenever Fassbinder flipped out short life, but it was still a blow
indulged in an to his assistant, ‘Tell the cameraman and didn’t show up, my crew when we got the news.”
array of classic
and I
this and that.’ He had played these could
moviemaking simply continue with the Ballhaus’ firstjob on U.S. soil
techniques on games before with others, and I work. But I stuck to my guns.” was Dear Mr. Wonderful (1982), a
Bram Stoker's
Dracula. "Francis
thought it would be just for one day, In 1982, Ballhaus struck out German-financed, New York-based
but the next day it was the same in direction
shared a
a new
by moving to project directed by Peter Lilienthal,
constant stream thing. I thought, ‘My God, I have to America. While staying at his old an old friend from his TV days. His
of creative work with this guy for one whole friend Lommel’s house, he received first full-fledged American produc¬
ideas," the
year, and he’s behaving like this?’ I a
phone call from his wife, who told tion was John Sayles’ 1983 romance
cinematographer
notes. decided I couldn’t do it anymore. I him Fassbinder had died. “It was
Baby It’s You. “I was very nervous to
had no other jobs lined up, but I
shocking. Ulli and I both cried. do my first American movie,
because all of a sudden I was on
my
own, and I didn’t know if John
would have the same ideas and feel¬
ings about the story. I felt a little sick
to my stomach, but then we
got
started, and for me it was a major
revelation that there was not such a

big difference between Germans

and Americans they laugh and
—

cry about the same things. That’s

why American movies are so suc¬
cessful all over the world. It was

great working with John, and I had

a
very good time with the actors.”
Two of the film’s
producers,
Amy Robinson and Griffin Dunne,
later helped Ballhaus connect with
Scorsese. Ballhaus had observed
Scorsese at the 1981 Berlin Film
Festival, where the director present-

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 Full Circle

Left: Ballhaus ed Raging Bull and made an impas¬ ask him if he can do it.’ I looked at so enthusiastic about
my shot
and Scorsese
sioned speech about film preserva¬ the list very carefully and counted
inspect some designs. He was very, very helpful in
tion. “I thought Raging Bull was the the shots, and there were 600.1 told
silverware getting exactly what I wanted. We
while
filming best movie I had seen,” Ballhaus
ever
Marty, ‘I can do it, but can you do it? had a lot of fun figuring out what
the
elegant, recalls. “Itreally blew me away. Later, If you are willing, I think we can do
lavishly detailed type of lens to use, how fast or slow
drama The Age while Marty was making his speech, it together.’ And that’s how it hap¬ to move the camera and in what
of Innocence. I turned to my wife and said, ‘I want pened. I remember setting up a shot direction. It was like rediscovering
Right: The to work with that on the
camera crew
guy someday.’” very first night. Marty went how to make movies —
together.
The cinematographer got his wish in back to his trailer, and 15 minutes He
dollies around really gave me back my faith in
costumed 1984, but only after a false start. “My later
they called him and said, ‘Hey, myself about how to make films.”
dancers during first movie with Marty was supposed Michael’s ready.’ From that moment That sense of renewed enthu¬
an elaborate
to be The Last Temptation
ballroom of Christ. on, he never left the set because he siasm is also apparent in the duo’s
sequence. It was at Universal and was a big- had time second collaboration, The Color of
never to go back to his
budget movie. I met Marty in Los trailer again!” Money (1986; see AC Nov. ’86),
Angeles, and we liked each other Looking back on that shoot, which Ballhaus ranks among his
immediately. I went on a scout to Scorsese credits Ballhaus for rein¬ favorite projects. The dynamic, fast-
Israel, and we already had about 300 vigorating his approach to cinema paced sequel to The Hustler allowed
costumes ready. Three weeks later, at a crucial point in his career. the cinematographer to create some
Universal pulled the plug, and I went “When Last Temptation was can¬ extremely flashy shots on, above
from being in heaven to falling hard celled, I had to rethink who I was and around pool tables — includ¬
to Earth. I was devastated because I and the kinds of films I wanted to ing a dazzling array of his beloved
thought I might work with
never make,” the director says. “I’d gotten circular and semi-circular dolly
Marty again. But then After Hours myself in slower frame of mind,
a shots. Working in real Chicago
came along.” where I felt encumbered by bigger poolrooms, Ballhaus lit the games
Made for $4 million 40 productions. I started planning to
over
primarily with low-hanging fluores¬
nights, After Hours (1985) was a do a smaller film again, an inde¬ cent light banks that allowed him

project that played to Ballhaus’ pendent film, and the experience I create a moody, dramatic ambience.

strengths. A pitch-black comedy had working with Michael was a “I lit the movie the way these pool
filled with homages to Hitchcock, sort of rebirth for me. On halls lit. I illuminated the
After were

Lang and German Expressionist Hours, we had the chance to see if tables’ felt surfaces,
letting the areas
lighting, the picture required both we could make a film with the ener¬
beyond the tables fall off into dark¬
artistry and speed. “When Marty got gy level I had when I did Alice ness.” Scorsese credits Ballhaus —

the offer to do After Hours, he said to Doesn’t Live Here Anymore or Taxi and stars Paul Newman and Tom
[producer] Amy Robinson, ‘Here’s Driver. The great thing about Cruise, who became deft with their
my shot list. Show it to Michael and Michael on that film was that he was pool cues — for helping to make

72 February 2007
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some of the show’s trick shots look

easy: “Sometimes I’d think it was
going to take 17 or 18 takes to get a
ball to go into a certain hole, but
then we’d nail it in two takes!”
By contrast, Ballhaus did
endless takes with director James L.
Brooks on Broadcast News (1987;
AC April ’88), but was rewarded
with his first Academy Award nom¬
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he does a lot of takes — I’ve never

done as takes with another

many
director,” he says, noting that the
film was shot at about 40 locations
in and around Washington, D.C.
“He appreciated the fact that I never
studio equipment, inc. EL.n
used a lot of setup time; the whole cranes arms bases remote systems dollies pedestals
newsroom set was basically pre-lit,

so he had a lot of time to work with

the actors.”
In 1988, Ballhaus and
Scorsese reteamed on The Last
Temptation of Christ, which had
been resurrected with a much
smallerbudget and a tight 60-day
schedule. Shooting on location
amid the soft, dusty light of
Morocco, Ballhaus and the crew
worked very long days to help
Scorsese achieve his passion project.
“It was tough, and we all worked

really hard, but we did it for Marty

because he wanted to make the
movie so badly. There was a great

atmosphere on the set. Every morn¬

ing we started rolling with the first
light, and we were still shooting
when the sun went down.”
Scorsese notes that he and
Ballhaus relied on faith to capture
one of the film’s most memorable
shots, which approximates Christ’s
point of view as he is raised up on
the cross. “I designed that shot on
paper, but then we had to figure out
how to do it with the actual cross,”

saysthe director. “Once we deter¬

mined the best way to mount the
camera, we had to hope for the best,
because we didn’t have video assist
and no one could look
through the IA (888) 883-6559 TX (888) 758.4826 FL (888) 337-8243 Canada (866) 848-2602 UK OH 44 77 11 98 32 98
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we were
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nally had around 75 setups planned © Chapman/Leonard Studto Equipment; Inc.

73
 Full Circle
—

it’s like 24mm or 28mm or

18mm, and then it’s 50mm and

85mm. The light is not soft and not
bounced. It’s more harsh, direct
light, with a lot of darkness in it. It’s
rich colors — rich reds, rich blacks.
It’s not smooth and soft; it’s dark,
shadowy, direct lighting.”
Among the movie’s many
exhilarating moments is a three-
minute Steadicam shot that follows
mobster Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) and
his girlfriend (Lorraine Bracco) into
the Copacabana nightclub. After
crossing a street and entering the
club through a side door, the couple
make their way down a winding
hallway, pass through the kitchen
and emerge into the main dining
area, where deferential attendants
Ballhaus, for the crucifixion scene, but we only showstopping rendition of “Makin’ escort them to a prime table in the
Scorsese and
had two days to shoot it. When I sat Whoopee” from atop a grand piano. front row. Ballhaus blocked out the
actor Daniel
down with Michael to discuss it, he This scene, of course, was the one complex timing with Steadicam
Day-Lewis are
surrounded by said, ‘You’ve got to start thinking Ballhaus singled out for his signature operator Larry McConkey and assis¬
production about what your most essential shots 360 move, which turned the tant director Joe Reidy, with Scorsese
designer Dante
Ferretti's are. We can do it if we
exactly as
start sequence into a classic. “We did the making suggestions and adjust¬
spectacular sets the sun is coming up and if we assign piano scene in six hours because it ments. According to Scorsese, nail¬
for Gangs of
a precise amount of time to each was well-rehearsed,” he
New York, says. “We had ing this shot took “12 takes or so.”
which was shot
shot. If we find that a shot requires it choreographed and then rehearsed Ballhaus recalls his only frus¬
at Cinecitta five minutes and we’re still shooting it with a video camera. I had a lot of tration was that comedian Henny
Studios in
after seven or eight, we’ll have to freedom on that movie. The director, Youngman, who appears onstage as
Rome.
abandon the shot and move on.’ We Steve Kloves, was not experienced, himself at the end of the shot, kept
blocked out about 45 minutes for the but he also had ego. He was a
no
blowing his lines.
longest shot, and the others ranged wonderful collaborator who really Later in the shoot, Ballhaus
from five minutes to 20. Michael took care of the actors.” convinced Scorsese to add a subtly
based this approach
what he’d
on During the Nineties, Ballhaus disorienting camera move to a diner
done with Fassbinder, and he helped cemented his reputation as one of scene in which Hill realizes that his
me cut 75 setups down to 50.” the world’s top cinematographers. supposed ally, Jimmy the Gent
Ballhaus earned his second He and Scorsese began the decade in (Robert De Niro), may want to kill
Oscar nomination for The Fabulous spectacular fashion with GoodFellas him. To convey that their relation¬
Baker Boys (1989; AC Nov. ’89), the (1990), a turbo-charged gangster ship is shifting, Ballhaus executed a
story of two struggling nightclub saga that became an instant land¬ combination dolly/zoom that
musicians (played by Jeff and Beau mark of the genre. If The Godfather stretches the background beyond
Bridges) whose act takes off after was
high opera, GoodFellas was street the two characters, recalling the
they team up with a female singer theater at its most muscular and classic acrophobia shots from
(Michelle Pfeiffer). His strategy for intense. When he was interviewed for Hitchcock’s Vertigo. “It’s a subtle
this film was to use “deliberately the book Martin Scorsese: A Journey, effect,” Ballhaus notes, “but I wanted
ugly” lighting for early scenes set in Ballhaus told author Mary Pat Kelly, the audience to realize that this was

tawdry venues — “a lot of cheap col¬ “This is totally different from what a
key turning point between these
ors, green and pink gels” — and then I’ve done so far on other movies. We two characters.”
show the musicians in a steadily are
using a lot wide angles, up
more Ballhaus adds that he will
improving light until they reach their to extreme wide angles, and extreme never
forget his reaction to the final
apex during a gig at a spectacular high angles. We’re using a lot of long cut of GoodFellas: “It was so fasci¬
resort hotel, where Pfeiffer belts out a lenses, so there’s nothing in between nating to see what Marty had done

74 February 2007
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 Full Circle
Throughout
his career,
presents an impeccably lit, painterly
Ballhaus has
re-creation of New York high socie¬
been a loyal ty during the Gilded Age. Gangs, a
user of Arriflex
cameras, which
sprawling epic shot at Cinecitta
he lauds
Studios in Rome, details the street-
for their level savagery between murderous
dependability criminal factions of a bygone era.
and technical “

innovation.
TheAge of Innocence is one of my
very favorites among all the movies
I’ve shot,” he says. “It was a dream to
work on — the costumes, the col¬
ors, the camera movement.”
Ballhaus earned his third Academy
Award for Gangs, and he graciously
maintains that his job was made

easy by “the incredible artistry of

our
production designer, Dante
Ferretti, who built the most amaz¬
with the editing and everything else and Gangs of New York (2002; AC ing sets.”
that I almost forgot I’d shot the Jan. ’03). Polar opposites in tone, During the rest of this pro¬
movie! It was really brilliant.” these two pictures — both set in ductive decade, Ballhaus demon¬
Scorsese and Ballhaus would 19th-century New York — show strated his range by tackling come¬
reteam twice during the Ballhaus at the height of his artistry.
more
dy (Postcards From the Edge, What
Nineties, on the period films The The former, an elegant adaptation of About Bob?), musical drama {The
Age of Innocence (1993; AC Oct. ’93) Edith Wharton’s acclaimed novel, Mambo Kings), “courtroom noir”

76
(Guilty by Suspicion, AC March ’91);
classic horror (Bratn Stokers
Dracula, AC Nov. ’92); cerebral
drama (Quiz Show); action-adven¬
ture (Outbreak, Air Force One) and
politics (Primary Colors). Since
2000, he has dabbled in golf (The
Legend of Bagger Vance), romance
(Something’s Gotta Give), and more
gangland violence with Scorsese
(The Departed; AC Oct. ’06).
Attempting to sum up his
admiration for Ballhaus, Scorsese
cites his good friend’s “courteous
nature andpositive, open attitude.”
He adds, “I always complain, but he
finds the good side of every bad sit¬
uation. Things sometimes become

overwhelming, but he’ll always say,

‘Don’t worry, we’re gonna be able to
do it.’ He always supports you emo¬
tionally and psychologically, and he
The Ballhaus
always say something like, ‘Marty, doing the big tracking shot!’ He
family in
today is an exciting day.’ And I’ll say, always reminds me that despite all Hollywood,
‘Why?’ And he’ll answer, ‘Because the difficulties, we’re blessed to be 1997.

always has a smile in the morning, today we get to do that great shot we doing this kind of work.” ■
which is interesting to me, because I discussed three days ago.’ Suddenly
don’t smile in the morning! He’ll I’ll remember, ‘Oh, right, we’re

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 Richardson, ASC reprinted from
The late Swedish ASC at the age
are

of 83 (see In

I he recent death of Sven Nykvist,

coverage of Nyvkist’s passing in The

cinematographer

Gyberg.
Memoriam, AC Dec. ’06) com¬ Los Angeles Times. Nykvist’s own

pelled a number of his friends comments have been derived from

Sven Nykvist, ASC

bB87oap-E90nrydik.
and colleagues to reminisce interviews that were circulated by
left an indelible about his life and achievements. The the Paul Kohner Agency and conver¬
following are some of their observa¬ sations with EX. Feeney, Tony Peyser
mark on cinema.
tions, along with a selection of and Robert Goldrich that first
Nykvist’s own thoughts (in italics) appeared in L.A. Weekly (December

Phootns
about his work. The quotes from
Compiled by 26, 1980), the Los Angeles Herald
Robert S. Birchard Nora Ephron and Robert Examiner (January 25, 1981), and

78 February 2007
Backstage (February 5,1988).
ASC President Daryn Okada:
“When Sven received the ASC
Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996,
it was a historic occasion: he was the
first recipient of the award who had
not been born in the United States.
His spanned more than half of
career

the history of the motion-picture

industry. His parents were Swedish
missionaries who built a hospital in
what was then called the Belgian
Congo, and Sven’s early credits
included a documentary about Albert
Schweitzer’s work in that country. He
was
only 23 when he earned his first
cinematography credit on 13 Chairs,
and he earned his last credit in 1999
for Curtain Call.
“Sven received countless hon¬
ors and tributes,
including Academy
Awards for Cries and Whispers and Opposite: Sven
Fanny and Alexander. He was noted Nykvist, ASC
prepares to
for his long and innovative collabora¬
practice his
tion with Ingmar Bergman, and he craft. This page,
collaborated with many other notable top: Nykvist and
his key
directors, including Lasse Hallstrom, collaborator,
Woody Allen, Roman Polanski, Louis director
Ingmar
Malle, Alan Pakula, Norman Jewison, Bergman, put
their heads
Philip Kaufman, Peter Yates and Liv together. Bottom:
Ullmann. He was the ultimate team Nykvist adjusts
his lens under
player who spoke lovingly of the con¬
Bergman's ever-
tributions made by the actors, pro¬
observant eye.
duction designers, and other collabo¬
rators. He and his work were inspira¬

tional for our members and for film¬

makers everywhere in the world.”
Owen Roizman, ASC: “The
first
thing about Sven that comes to
my mind is that he was a true gentle¬
man, a very kind man. He had a good
sense of humor, which was a side of
him that many people didn’t know.
My wife, Mona, is Swedish, and every
time we got together with Sven, she
and he would be talking in Swedish
all the time. She’d have him laughing
and he’d be telling her stories, and
they always had a great time together.
He was so humble and full of life, and
he achieved so many great things that
we should all be grateful for what he
gave us.”
“How come I am
cinematogra-

American Cinematographer 79
 Right: Nyvkist
rides the dolly
while filming an
interior shot of
actress Liv
Ullmann for
Cries and
Whispers. The
cinematographer
earned the first
of his two
Academy
Awards for his
work on the
show. Below:
Nykvist,
Bergman and
crewmembers
shoot another
Cries and
Whispers scene
with actors
Ullmann and
Anders Ek.

pher? I have thought about that many room

together with him, and he was such a genius — the most artistic
times. One day I was standing in the telling stories about Africa, I would be cinematographer of our generation.
studio, photographing stills, and sud¬ looking and put my fantasy into the He was a master of natural lighting.

denly I understood. Of course: when pictures on the screen. I was 4 or 5 You could call it poetic-realist light¬
my parents came home from Africa years old then, and I think that was ing; it was very realistic, but also
—

they only came home to Sweden
every fourth year for half a year —
my father would show the slides he
had shot in Africa. Sitting in the dark
the important thing that got me inter¬
ested in pictures.”
Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC:
“Everybody loved Sven so much. He
romantic. His work was exceptional,
and with all the different kinds of
movies he made, he’d always find the
right light to capture the mood and
style of the film.”
“Even if I am not shooting a pic¬
ture, I am always going around study¬

ing light. Ifyou study a thing, you get a

passion for it. I prefer to work with as
few lights as possible — the more nat¬
ural, the more realistic. I want a picture
not to look lit. The room you're shoot¬

ing should look like a room. You should

feel that you're in the real room, and
you don't have that feeling if you have
effects on every wall. I remember years
ago, as soon as we saw a painting
hanging on a wall, we had to have a lit¬
tle aura around it. This came from that
time when we shot in black-and-white
and had to the walls from the
separate
faces because sometimes they had the
same contrast. That was what
they did

80 February 2007
in the Fifties and Sixties, and I did it,
too. Now I try to make everything very

simple, which isn’t easy. It took me 30

years to find simplicity in lighting and
camera movements.

“Bergman said that Winter

Light was going to take place from 11
a.tn. to 2p.m. during a Sunday church

sermon. I said, ‘Oh, that will be very

easy to do because the light doesn’t
change at all.’ Ingmar said, ‘You’re so
wrong. I’ll show you how the light
changes during those three hours’
“The script had the church

being in absolutely shadowless light

except for 30 seconds, when hard sun¬
light comes through at the most impor¬
tant moment in the picture. We went

up to the northern part of Sweden and

satin different churchesfrom 11 until 2
and studied the light. I took still pic¬
tures every five minutes to see exactly

how the light changed. I then had the

photographs printed up and placed in
my script so we could follow the light
the whole time. Direct light was never
put on anyone because we couldn’t see
any shadow except for those 30 sec¬
High Performance Low Cost
(I ISI0\
onds. If we saw shadows in the dailies,
we reshot the scene. I really had to

experiment to find another kind of

realistic photography. It was a very
hard time.”
Allen Daviau, ASC: “Sven was
one of those people who showed
what an international art form cine¬
www.cavision.com
ma is. The range
and variety of work
showed what a very versatile cine¬ sales@cavision.com
matographer he was. Winter Light is
one of those remarkable
pictures. I
can picture how he and Bergman
spent so much time looking at how
the light shifted at different times of
the day in that church. It’s the most
wonderful study of the changing
mood in a single building over the
course of a day. But it does not show

off and draw attention to itself; it’s

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 Right: Nyvkist
“With Bergman, we seldom
shot the features
Another Woman, made more than three takes, and we
Crimes and didn’t shoot than 90,000 feet
Misdemeanors
more
of
and Celebrity (as film. Usually in rehearsals we’d make
a kind
well as a of‘scenario’ that included both
segment of New master shots and close-ups ...so that
York Stories) for
we really did not shoot so much cover¬
Woody Allen, an
ardent admirer age. That is what is interesting about
of Bergman's European films: they are not so fast-
films. Below: In
1988, Nyvkist paced as American [films]. You cover
teamed with much more in American films, so you
director Philip have many more possibilities when
Kaufman on The
Unbearable you sit down at an editing table. You
Lightness of can
get a very fast fluidity in the tempo
Being, which of the cutting.”
earned the
Robert Richardson, ASC, a
cinematographer
Academy, ASC camera apprentice on Cannery Row.
and BSC Award “For an Ingmar Bergman film, clashes. Under “Sven maintained a style that
Bergman’s direction,
nominations.
you can’t shoot by routine, you always these tests are a collaboration between appeared to be effortless. His work
have to progress. That’s the challenge the designer, costume designer,
set altered the perspective toward light¬
he sets for us. Bibi Andersson is a makeup director and me. Together we ing. It blurred a line between docu¬
delight to photograph, and I have eliminated the combinations that did mentaries and features that you
made so many films with her that I work
not together in harmony.” often see [blurred] today, and it was
always know just where to start the Director Nora Ephron, who all in the way he shaped light.”
lighting. But we still do tests. I have to worked with Nykvist on Sleepless in “Natural and real movement is
balance her clothes, makeup and hair Seattle and Mixed Nuts: “In addition what I in the
want composition of a
against that of the other players, and tobeing one of the greatest cine¬ picture. There’s danger when you
a
also against the various backgrounds. matographers, Sven was one of the become a director of photography if
The objective in these tests is always to fastest, because he worked with you can’t operate the camera. Sitting
make the lighting very simple. In The Bergman and they never had any behind the camera gives you a feeling
Touch, Bibi was always seen in cos¬ money. He was an inspiration and a of control over framing, movement
tumes in different shades rebuke because he knew the easiest
of red, and and lighting. It creates a special energy
we made tests
trying to eliminate any way to do everything.” for me. In Hollywood I am forbidden
to [operate] because
of the union. But
when I am at home in Sweden, work¬
ing with Bergman, I always operate
myself, because we have such a clear,
close contact we don’t want to have
someone between us. A lot of
European directors of photography
bring their own operators, focus
pullers and gaffers to America, but I
don’t. I want to learn from new people,
and I want them to learn from me.”
William A. Fraker, ASC, BSC:
“Sven and I were very, very close, and
we both worked with the same crew.

In other words, I would do a picture

with the operator and assis¬
camera

tant, and he would use them on the

next picture. He was a magnificent
human being, besides being a mag¬
nificent cinematographer. He was
one of those
people I really enjoyed

82 February 2007
 Otto Nemenz

CONGRATULATES
Donald M. Morgan, ASC
for receiving the
ASC Television Career

Achievement Award

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 A Northern light
knowing and associating with. I real¬ would have done it differently.’”
ly loved him.” “I learned the rudiments of my
Ed Lachman, ASC: “Dino De craft at photography school in
Laurentiis hired Sven for three pic¬ Stockholm, and the years, I
over
tures starting with King ofthe worked with various cameramen and
Gypsies
[1978], and I was hired as standby various directors, acquiring experi¬
cinematographer. Sven accepted the ence. But it was not until I
joined
mechanics of the Hollywood process Bergman in 1951 that I learned how
and didn’t fight it. He was always so to light in the
way that I now consider
serene, calm and flexible. He didn’t to be the right way. As a theater direc¬
have toget on camera. On Hurricane tor, he was so interested in light. He
[1979], I did diagrams of Sven’s showed me how to transfer this tech¬
lighting setups, in part in case we nique of lighting in the theater to his
had to reshoot something, and in motion pictures. Ingmar is so artistic,
part out of admiration for the sim¬ and at the same time so aware of the
plicity of his lighting technique. He technical capacities of the [camera].
always tried to do something the eas¬ His mind is so quick and receptive, not
iest way and preferred natural light only to the poetic imagery, but also to
—
black-and-white a more classic medi¬
um than color — the cameraman
could paint with light more than he
could in color. When
we began with
color, we had such severe technical
limitations, and we had to have light
everywhere. Today, however, we have
come to learn how to light dramatical¬
ly in color, and on the camera and in
the lab we can realize effects
undreamed ofwith black-and-white.
“One of my favorite films is
John Hustons The African Queen,
photographed by Jack Cardiff [BSC],
When I was in Leopoldville, I bought a
piece of photographic equipment
Huston had left down there, a portable
developing machine, so that I could

shooting when the light was in the scientific aspects of picture-mak¬

the right position, using the smallest
lighting instruments possible. At the
end of the shoot, I presented him
with a book of those lighting dia¬
grams, and he said, ‘Oh my God, if
I’d known it looked that difficult I
develop my tests on the spot. We cam¬
ing. Many of us in films always tried to eramen owe a
big debt to Huston, who
make every shot very pleasant, very has broken ground for us in the field of
pretty, very nice. Bergman took that color. His Moulin Rouge and Moby
all away and showed how to find truth Dick, both photographed by Oswald
in lighting and camera movement. Morris [BSC], gave us a new way of
“At time, considered
one we using color. And with Reflections in a

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 Bundled up for
Golden Eye, photographed by Aldo
cold weather,
Tonti, he gave us a whole new range of Nyvkist uses a
effects with desaturated color.” standard form
of illumination
Kemper, ASC: “I met
Victor J.
while shooting
Sven when he was honored with an One Day in the
ASC Award, and I found him to be Life of Ivan
Denisovich
one of the gentlest, sweetest guys. He (1970).
listened, and he never tried to force
his conversation on you the way so
many people do. Knowing his back¬
ground and his achievements, I was a
little surprised to find he lacked the
ego you usually find in Hollywood. It
was most refreshing.”

“A cinematographer makes so

many different pictures that it is not

enough just to be technically advanced
and very artistic. You must be adapt¬
able. A director has a special point of
view, [and] it is very important for the
cinematographer to follow the direc¬
tors thoughts. And, of course, you have
to work with each director as closely as
possible. So I think it’s very good not to
have too much ego. It is very much
dependent on how you are as a ductiondesigner, the producer, every¬
human being. It is very important to one. Theonly thing that is really
be able to discuss and behave in a good important is that which is shown on
relation with other people — not only the screen.” ■
with the director, but [also] with the
sound man, the art director, the pro¬

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 Mixing Eras for Meat Loaf
by Elina Shatkin

visual adventure."
The story's different time periods
were delineated with distinct color
palettes. The present-day scenes are
cold and desaturated (in some cases
almost monochrome), and the flashbacks
are rich and warm. "We started creating
the looks on set with the lighting and
gels and then accentuated them in
telecine," says Presant, who relied on
colorist Arnold Ramm at Encore for the
telecine coloring enhancements.
Knowing that the present-day
scenes would eventually be
bluish-gray,
Presant was careful not to inject much
color into the frame. He lit with single¬
color lamps and often gelled the lights
with 1/2 to Full CTB and V\ Plus Green. He
also worked with production designer
Paul Jackson to ensure the sets and
props had little color. For the flashbacks,
Presant created a sepia look by gelling

the lights with Vi to Full CTS.

Using a da Vinci color-correction
system, Ramm achieved the desired
looks by layering various color effects.
Meat Loaf's he Meat Loaf video "It's All
latest video,
Coming "When Paul called me about this "Because the piece is essentially desat¬
Back To Me Now" allowed director video, I was very excited because I urated for a classic 'film print' approach,
featuring Marion
Raven, is a P.R. Brown and
cinematographer thought it would be a chance for us to do we kept a small amount of color in the
layered ghost Jaron Presant to explore a more theatri¬ something different from what we shots that feel black-and-white," says
story in which
cal aesthetic than the design-oriented normally do," says Presant. "Paul's the colorist.
the singer "Straight black-and-white
remembers his videos they had previously created. The videos tend to be very layered and graph¬ would have been too harsh a contrast for
lost love. video for the song, a duet between Meat ics-heavy, and we're usually shooting on the color palettes used throughout the
Cinematographer Loaf and Marion Raven, tells a neo-
Jaron Presant sets with giant greenscreens. But he video. I was able to desaturate the origi¬
and Encore Gothic tale of lost love that fluidly shifts wanted this video to be very cinematic, nal negative on a base layer, and then I
colorist Arnold between past and present. As young so almost everything was done on set,
Ramm
applied a hint of silver/blue to the top
desaturated
lovers, the pair moves into a house occu¬ and we really got to play with practical layer. For the flashbacks, I took the look
sequences set in pied by ghosts, and Meat Loaf mistakes lighting effects." to a more extreme value of bleached-out,

JParcgoersauabrfntset.sy
the present day the ghosts for suitors. Inflamed by jeal¬ Presant shot the video in Super aged yellow." Presant notes, "I think
and applied a
hint of ousy, he drives Marion away, and she 35mm to give it an epic feel. "Paul keeps Arnold is one of the best colorists for
silver/blue. dies in crash. Years later, Meat Loaf
a car
joking that someday he wants to do a achieving strong looks that feel natural.
recalls these events while singing to his video at 10:1, because he likes the idea He paid very close attention to color tran¬
lost love, until it is
finally revealed that of images that are completely horizon¬ sition zones because it's in those
he is ghost battering around in the
a tal," says the cinematographer. "He defi¬ that
nuances things can sometimes feel
long-abandoned house. nitely wanted this one to be a grand forced." Frame
86 February 2007
 The video was shot over two days
in mansion in Los Angeles' West
a

Adams district. "The budget was large,

but the idea was far larger than the
budget," acknowledges Presant. "We
knew we weren't going to have as much SYDNEY FILM SCHOOL
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lighting and shots in a way that would
allow him to shoot different lighting
scenarios (one for the past, one for the THIS LIFE. GO FOR IT.
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depending on whether it was a flashback
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Fax:602-493-2468
most of the video at a T2.8. "That way we
didn't need to adjust the lighting to use Jimmy Jib Lite Jib Lite with Cable Drive
Now you can
the 11:1 Primo zoom," he explains. "At *

T2.8 you get shallow depth of field, but in

$6,250 add 360 Dutch *
Smooth, cable operated pan/tilt head
Needs no electricity
control to your *
Super dependable with quick setup
the quick pace of a music video it gives *

Jib Lite! Anyone can operate

your 1st AC a fighting chance to keep
*
Can be extended to an 18ft reach

tight, long-lens shots in focus. With

things changing very quickly, often with
no marks, giving [1st AC] Wade Whitley

the extra depth of field was the least I

could do. He did a fantastic job."
Presant had three cameras on the
shoot, two Panavised Arri 435s and an
Arri 35-MI fitted with a hand crank, and

87
 rates. Some of the most beautiful shots

happened when I would crank it forward

for a while and then crank it back to add
multiple exposures, then crank it forward
again. Paul actually directed the singers
and actors to make very stark changes in
their performances, so that on one of the
exposure levels they would look happy
and on another they would look angry. I
tried to frame their bodies in the same

spot to achieve a ghosting effect as their

head position shifted." He stuck with
focal lengths between 35mm and 50mm
for the hand-cranked work. "That
footage was supposed to convey the
sense of a distant era, so I didn't want
the [look] to feel modern."
Using vignettes and Power
Windows to separate characters from
backgrounds and call attention to
specific areas of the frame, Ramm
combined layers of imagery to enhance
the video's surreal quality. "Maintaining
consistency in contrast and density were
the considerations with the hand-
cranked and multiple-exposure shots,"
says Ramm. "Because double and triple
exposures add density to the negative, I
rode exposure changes on the fly as the
film was transferred. The consideration
on those shots was that they had to
make sense with the rest of the scenes,
yet still stand out in an attractive way.
Before we decided on a final look for
those shots, Paul, Jaron and I got a bit
technical by viewing images of our
master scenes combined with the multi¬

ple-exposure and hand-cranked footage.

We previewed these scenes through our
program switcher in the telecine bay by
either mixing the images, or splitting
them on the screen."
The resultant
images look as
Top: Flashbacks two were used at all times. Most often to alter the frame rate on the
were treated with
fly, and he though they come from different eras but
he used a Primo Macro Zoom (14.5mm- could even run the film backwards to somehow possess stylistic unity. "Paul
a bleached-out,
yellow look. 50mm) on the A camera and the 11:1 create multiple exposures. The chaotic, wanted to convey that this is a ghost
Middle: Presant Primo zoom on the B camera; he layered imagery that resulted was then story, and we knew it needed to be an
created in-camera
effects with a
reserved Primo prime lenses for hand- interspersed with the more precisely eerie world with shadows and dark
hand-cranked Arri cranked shots and Steadicam work. composed shots in the video. "By using corners," says Presant. "The video
35-111. Bottom two: "We were on the 17.5mm and 21mm the speed dial on the back of the needed to have an air of mystery. For me,
In the present day,
the Gothic tale quite a bit, and on the longer end we camera, I was able to get a sense of the big challenge was creating images
takes a twist used the PMZ at 50mm on one camera where 24 fps was. I wanted the shots to that had a lot of grandeur but did not feel
when it is
and the 11:1 at 200mm on the other." vary between 6 and 24 fps, so I figured forced. I think we achieved a nice
revealed that Meat
The modified 35-111 had a hand out where a 12-frame base was and balance of visuals and
Loaf is the one storytelling." ■
who is dead. crank on the side that allowed Presant hand-cranked the camera at different

88 February 2007
REMI ADEFARASIN. BSC RUSS ALSOBROOK, ASC PETER ANDERSON, ASC HOWARD ANDERSON 111. ASC HOWARD
ANDERSON JR.,ASC MICHAEL BALLHAUS, ASC DION BEEBE, AS^ACS BILL BENNETT, ASC GABRIEL BERISTA1N, ASC, BSC
LARRY BRIDGES JONATHAN BROWN STEPHEN .H. BURIg } BILL BUTLER, ASC BOBBY BYRNE, ASC RUSSELL
CARPENTER, ASC JAMES CHRESSANTHIS, AS Dfc'f ER < K, ASC JACK COOPERMAN, ASC ERICSON CORE {j
RICHARD P. CRUDO, ASC DEAN CUNDEY. ASC (£R Gk*
|SC ALLEN DAVIAU, ASC ROGER DEAKINS, ASC, BSC
PETER DEMING, ASC CALEB DESCHANEL.ASC RON kFORGE SPIRO DIB1E ASC ERNEST DICKERSON. ASC
BILL DILL. ASC RICHARD ED LUND, ASC JON FAUER \N INTLEROY, ASC. SI EVEN 11 HR BERG, ASC WILLIAM A.
FRAKER, ASC, BSC MICHAEL GOI, ASC STEPHEN GOU^J \DA.M GREENBERG. ASC
ROBBIE GREENBERG, ASC HJENNER HOFMANN, ASC.
MARK IRWIN,
RICHARD KLINE, ASC FRED
ASC, CSC LEVIE ISAACKS, ASC
KOENEKAMP, ASC LASZLO B
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BSC JACK
SC VICTOR |.
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FRANCIS KENNY, ASC

LASZLO, ASC DENIS LENOIR,

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STEPHEN LIGHTHILL.ASC WALELL PI NT AUB.ASC
)ENLAUB. ASC WW*
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CHRIS MANLEY STEVE
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ASC HIRO NARITA.
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MIC \T I N| ^k.|\SC WOODY OMENS, ASC DANIEL
PEARL, ASC FERNE
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ANTHONY RICHMOND,

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RO.’^P f!AN, ASC NANCY SCHREIBER, ASC
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NEWTON THOMAS SIGEL, ASC BRAD I
VITTORIO STORARO, ASC, A1C RODNEY TAYLOR
HASKELL WEXLER, ASC GORDON WILLIS, ASC R ALPH
f™ B. SIX, A SC*
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ZSIGMOND. ASC

Cinematoqrapher
"FANTASTIC! Anyone interested in the genesis of creativity
StyTe
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A great work."
Daryn Okada, ASC, President, American
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uJOHN DOWDELL III musicbyFLORIAN SCHLAGBAUERJHOMAS SCHIAGBAUER, CHRISTIAN BISCHOFF cinematography by JEFF LASZLOJON FAUER, ASC, BRIAN HELLER, DAVID MORGAN
associate producer FRANZ WIESER producer JON FAUER executive producer VOLKER BAHNEMANN directed byJON FAUER

-4RRI Kodak
) 2006 T-Stop Productions Inc.
 need to maintain the filmmakers'
aesthetic intentions, was to use a

complete 4K digital workflow," says

Grover Crisp, vice president of asset
management and film restoration at
Sony Pictures. "It's no secret that the
original negative has not existed for 40
years. For many years, Mr. Kubrick had
control of the title, and when we
needed aprint, he would oversee the
making of it. Certainly the film is
worthy of the highest-quality preserva¬
tion and restoration. It never had the
careful treatment it deserved."
Crisp began examining restora¬
tion options for Dr. Strangelove in
2003, as the picture's 40th anniversary
approached. There were chemical
stains, scratches and dirt either printed
into or physically on all existing film
elements, "just about any problem you
can think of," says Crisp. "Some mate¬

rial wasn't manufactured that well

when the film was new, and some had
not been handled well for many years.
We determined the best elements for
restoration were a fine-grain master
positive, a duplicate negative and a
print; each element was a different
number of generations away from the
original negative, resulting in wide
variations in density and contrast.
"In 2003, digital film restoration
at 4K resolution from beginning to end
wasn't really being done," he contin¬
ues. "Then, about a year ago, I
began
discussing this film with the people at
Cineric, a New York lab we had used
for other restoration projects. They

Indusctrie.,
were looking into creating 4K work-

flows, including digital intermediates

The peerless Restoring Dr. Strangelove considered a gem in the Columbia [DIs], For several years, I've felt that the

CPoiclcoutmuurbrfeteassy
Cold War comedy at 4K Pictures
Dr. Strangelove library, and Sony Pictures Dl process is a good model for digital
recently received by David Heuring recently gave it added luster with a 4K film restoration, but even today, 4K is
a 4K digital
digital restoration, the first such treat¬ not routine. Cineric was having specific
restoration at
Cineric, a first
Stanley Kubrick's 1964 comedy ment for a black-and-white title. "We equipment built for that purpose. Even¬
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to felt that the only do the film
for a black-and- way to tually, we decided to go into the
white title. Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, shot justice, given the different [film]
many project."
by Gilbert Taylor, BSC, has long been elements, their poor condition, and the Cineric's proven expertise with Phot s
90 February 2007
 The restoration
photochemical film restoration gave team decided to
Crisp additional confidence. "It helps a clean up a series
great deal to have people doing the of atomic
explosion shots
digital work who have experience with that originated
traditional photochemical processes as 16mm stock
—

people who know film, how it footage.

works and how to handle it, and what
you can and can't get out of it," he
says. "I've found that it's very easy for
people who are not steeped in film
history from a technical perspective to
make some drastic mistakes, even if
they have the best intentions."
Cineric spent about six months
on Dr. Strangelove. Its team began by

sorting through the supplied film

elements and choosing the best-qual¬
ity sequences or, in some cases, indi¬
vidual frames. "In some cases, we had
to take a shot from a print," recalls Dan
DeVincent, Cineric's digital director and
restoration specialist. They used a
specially adapted Oxberry film scanner
to convert the various elements into
data files in 10-bitlog DPX, and DeVin¬
cent created look-up tables (LUTs)
designed to optimize the scanner for
each element and achieve the dynamic
range of 35mm film. "We could use an
LUT on the scanner to bring a shot from
the print a lot closer to the fine-grain,
and bridge it further using density and
contrast correction," says DeVincent.
"After noise and dirt removal, we used the film. We had several prints that times transparent to a degree. Auto¬

approved by Kubrick's team, and mated tools tend to leave artifacts in

a digital filtration process to make the were

final blend." Leon Vitali, who worked closely with that situation. Grover felt any
artifacts
Cineric
engineers developed a Kubrick for many years, was a big help were unacceptable, and after frame-
wetgate scanning technique that elim¬ to Grover and me in the early stages in by-frame digital cleaning, it looked
inated many flaws. Da Vinci's Revival terms of the correct look for the film. great."
automated image-restoration software But we also had to use our knowledge Sometimes judgment calls had
found and fixed other imperfections. of the characteristics of films and to be made on "mistakes" that were

During later passes, the Cineric team processes of that period." part of the original experience of
corrected more dirt and scratches, as One flaw that required special seeing the film. The Cineric team
well as anomalies such as flicker and attention showed up in the main title deferred to Crisp on these questions.
unsteadiness. Density fluctuations sequence. "They were artifacts that "There are a couple of model shots
were addressed in a final color-correc¬ were probably left over from the high- where you can see the wires, and
contrast elements originally used to Grover felt that was part of the film's
tion pass. "We're working at a very
high level of technology, but the last 10 make the main titles," says DeVincent. historical value — it represents the

yards is the human factor," notes
DeVincent. "Even the automated tools
need the correct calibration, or the
result is either artifacts introduced or
anomalies left in the image. There's a
tremendous amount of sensitivity
required to maintain the original feel of
"They were probably always there. way things were done at the time,"
Back then, most opticals were not says DeVincent.
made at the quality they are today. It's The series of atomic explosions
the kind of thing that automated that end Dr. Strangelove necessitated
restoration tools have a hard time with another judgment call. Most of the
because the flaws are not consistent, shots appear to have originated as
and they are very low in density, some¬ 16mm stock shots, and they exhibited a

American Cinematographer 91
 The original
Sohonet Opens in
negative had
not existed for Los Angeles
40 years, and by Noah Kadner
elements that
were already
several Sohonet, a London-based high¬
generations speed bandwidth connector for the
removed had
movie industry, recently opened an
not been well

preserved. office much closer to Hollywood, at

Some of 1666 20th Street in Santa Monica, Cali¬
Cineric's work
fornia.
included
removing dust The company, which also has an
specks and office in Sydney, Australia, offers dedi¬
scratches and
cated, high-speed connections
secure,
restoring
contrast, as primarily via fiber optics. Sohonet was
evidenced in established in 1995 as a network
these before
alliance between visual-effects houses
(top) and after
(bottom) frames in London (including Moving Picture Co.
of Gen. Buck and Framestore-CFC) to facilitate the
Turgidson transfer and
(George C. sharing of visual-effects
Scott) taking a assets. Over the years, it has evolved
call from his into a global broadband service
mistress in the
War Room. provider. Clients use Sohonet for trans¬
ferring dailies, effects shots and digital
intermediates, as well as for instant
messaging, video conferencing and e-
mail. Recent productions that made use
of Sohonet's services include Batman
Begins, Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory, Superman Beturns and Borne.
Dave Scammell, president and
CEO of Sohonet, says the company
decided to open an office in the Los
Angeles because of growing
area
demand for local personnel from major
Hollywood studios and effects houses.
lot of dirt and scratches; this was the tools as the
project proceeded. "We "We've been operating in L.A. for about
compounded by additional stains could give those companies valuable three years through Aarmadillo, our
printed into the surviving 35mm feedback, and they could give us new sales representative company," says
elements. The decision was made to versions and tools to test," says Balazs Scammell. "We were already moving
clean these shots up. Nyari, president of Cineric. "That kind of assets around L.A., and also between
A Lasergraphics Producer 2 collaboration was extremely helpful. L.A. and major production hubs like
Motion Picture Film Recording System Digital restoration is still a young Australia and the U.K. We needed to
was used to record out to film. Because science, and the technology is evolving have a strong local support base and
the recorder had been designed for use very quickly. Collaboration is good for move beyond operating our systems
with color intermediate film, the film- both companies; we get the customized remotely. The new office is also going to
out process had to be adapted for Dr. tools we need, and they see which be useful for of
some our smaller
Strangelove. Cineric used other propri¬ refinements would be most beneficial." clients, as we're making quite a big
etary LUTs to ensure that any future A pristine print of the restored commitment to our network. We're
home-video editions of the picture Dr. Strangelove premiered at the going to be able to offer them a higher
retain the exact look of the restored film London Film Festival last fall. "We had level of service."
master. a great response from the audience," Sohonet's
pricing structure is
Because the Dr. Strangelove Crisp. "Festival audiences are determined
says by the network speeds indi¬
restoration broke new ground, Cineric especially appreciative of this kind of vidual clients request. "Most of our
and software companies Autodesk and work." customers are migrating from 100-
da Vinci worked hand in hand to refine
megabits-per-second to 1-gigabit-per-

92 February 2007
 HydroHex & TOllS-
HydroHead-
second connections," says Scammell. ing fiber in L.A., but we'd like to lay Now available with a third axis for
"We're also running 10-gigabit links to some in the future." even more range Of motion.
some customers. The bandwidth across Sohonet's sister company, Codex
fiber connections is theoretically almost
unlimited, but as we go faster, there's an
additional cost consideration. Ulti¬
Digital, recently released an on-set
recording device, the Codex Digital
Recorder (see New Products, AC Jan.
JmiluP
9^. we know wet
5335 McConnell Avenue
mately, our speeds are limited by what '07), that features a built-in Ethernet link Los Angeles, CA 90066
optimized for a direct connection to Tel: 310/301-8187 Fax: 310/821-9886
people want to pay."
High-definition (HD) digital Sohonet. The recorder is designed to www.hydroflex.com
dailies are rapidly becoming an industry capture high-resolution material at up to
standard, and Sohonet facilitates the 4K uncompressed resolution directly
transmission of footage from production from digital-cinema cameras (Arri D-20,
set to studio office. For example, HD Panavision Genesis, Thomson Viper)
footage stored in the HDCam format is using onboard hard-drive arrays. "With
recorded at approximately 144 megabits the Codex Digital Recorder, there is

per second. This bit rate enables a 1-
gigabit Sohonet link to move HDCam
dailies at speeds faster than real time.
Transfers can potentially move even
more rapidly when higher levels of
compression are used, such as DVCPro-
HD, which runs at 100 megabits per
second, and MPEG-2, which can operate
atlower, variable bit rates.
every opportunity to create a complete,
data-centric workflow," says Scammell.
"When you're shooting digital, we can
send your footage to an executive's
desktop in London, L.A. or New York
within minutes of it being shot, for
example."
Sohonet's long-term goals
include providing solutions for

CSoMmpcoucWneicailtulafristmn.sgs,y
Sohonet leases its lines from 22 customers that go beyond moving their

fiber-optic providers in order to provide data. "As digital capture becomes more
redundancy protection for its clients. prevalent, we see our service becoming
"We prefer not to be tied to any one more about how to best use your data,"

provider," says Scammell. "For example, says Scammell. "We want to help our
between London and L.A. we have a clients design a complete workflow."
diverse connection triangle. We go from For more information, visit
London to L.A., L.A. to New York, and www.sohonet.co.uk or call (310) 449-
New York to London. Each leg has its 8600. ■
own provider, soif one section goes

Brian
byPhot
down, we still have redundant capabil¬
ity. We also lay our own fiber-optic cable
whenever feasible. We're currently leas¬

www.thtasG.coa 93

Sony Welcomes F23 to
CineAlta Family
by Jon D. Witmer
Band Pro Film & Digital hosted
the One World on HD conference in
Burbank, California, in mid-December.
Day one featured an engaging collo¬
quium between members of the inter¬
national press and such ambassadors
of new technology as Band Pro's
Amnon Band, Michael Bravin, Jeffrey
Cree and Gerhard Baier; Sony's Rob
Wilcox and Andy Berger; and Zeiss'
Dr. Winfried Scherle. The following
day Band Pro opened its doors for an
open house that featured a smorgas¬
bord of new products from companies
ranging from JVC to LitePanels to
Arri, with many more in between.
Through both days, however, nobody
could deny the focused interest
targeted at Sony's new F23 CineAlta
camera.
fps at 4:4:4 and 1 p to 60 fps at 4:2:2,
all at full 1920x1080 HD resolution.
Sony's SRW-1 VTR can be
either top- or rear-mounted, much like
a magazine on a traditional film
camera, and when a situation calls
for a smaller configuration, the
camera and recorder can be tethered
via a dual-link HD-SDI cable, keeping
the camera as light and compact as
possible.
As demonstrated by the mag-
style docking of the VTR, the F23 is
designed to be "film friendly." In this
vein, the camera body can accept a
variety of film camera accessories
ranging from bridge plates to matte-
boxes and follow-focus units. Addi¬
tionally, the F23 has integrated a
harder material for its B4 lens mount,
increasing durability and reliability
across the numerous lens changes
encountered in film-style shooting.
During his discussion of the
F23, Cree also noted the camera's
As
Jeffrey Cree, Band Pro's increased dynamic range, with about
HDVS Manager explained, the "F" in an extra half
stop on the top end
F23 places the camera in its rightful when compared with the F900R.
lineage with the other CineAlta Additionally, with a lens and
cameras, the F900 and F950, while viewfinder but no mattebox, the
the "23" refers to the three 2.2- camera weighs in around 32 pounds.
megabit %" CCDs. Also touching on Other features include a 24-volt
the camera's
heritage, Sony Electron¬ adapter so the 12-volt camera can
ics' director of content creation accept 24-volt film accessories; easy
marketing, Rob Wilcox, noted how the switching to low mode for Steadicam
F23 builds on the F950 and features a thanks to the camera's top-mount
new, friendlier interface that he attrib¬ feature; custom look-up tables,
utes to industry feedback, including including Log gamma; and an "Assis¬
notes given to Sony by the ASC. tant Panel" remote controller, which
Able to support 1080/23.98p, connects to the camera with a single
24p, 25p, 29.97p, 50p, 59.94p, 50i and cable and allows remotely
users to
59.94i, the F23 shares the HDC-F950's start and stop the camera and VTR in
1920x1080 RGB 4:4:4 design while addition to enabling such functions as
bringing undercranking and over¬ changing frame rates and shutter
cranking functionality to the table. angles.
Used in conjunction with Sony's SRW- The F23 is slated to ship this
1 VTR, the new camera system is spring. For more information, visit
capable of capturing and recording www.bandpro.com.
variable-speed images from 1 p to 30
 Instant Archiving with
Sony's HVR-V1U
by Jon D. Witmer

Ever attentive to the prosumer

market, Sony also took some time at
Band Pro's HD Summit to discuss its
new HVR-V1U HDV camcorder. The

camera touts the 3 ClearVid CMOS

Sensor systemcombined with the

Sony Enhanced Imaging Processor
and a 20x Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T*
lens, enabling 1080/24p recording
with 2:3 pulldown.
Complementing the capabili¬
ties of the 3 ClearVid CMOS Sensor,
the Enhanced Imaging Processor
separates the image data into its
texture and brightness components
while processing them independently,
and handles the video signal output in
1920x108Qp and 4:2:2 color space.
Additionally, the photo diode sensors
on the 3 ClearVid CMOS Sensor are

rotated 45°, maximizing the photo¬

sensitive surface area and eliminating
vertical smear in the image.
Ensuring the high quality trans¬
mission of the image to the sensor,
the Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* lens
features a 62mm filter diameter,
multilayer coating, extra-low disper¬
sion glass, aspherical glass, and
excellent spectral characteristics that
result in reduced chromatic aberra¬
tion. Furthermore, the lens features
20x optical zoom capability with a
digital extender that increases the
zoom ratio to approximately 30x

(however, this digital extender is not

available when shooting in progres¬
sive mode). Sony also offers an
optional 0.8x wide-conversion lens
that attaches easily via the lens's
bayonet mount.
Some of the camcorder's other
features include a 3.5" (measured
diagonally) LCD display; a supplied
shotgun microphone; dual XLR audio
inputs with variable control; six
assignable buttons; comprehensive
picture profile settings; and the ability
to easily save camera settings using

Memory Stick Duo media.

95
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and Kern Zoom lenses recording unit to be used with such unveiled. Designed to interface with
cameras as the HVR-Z1U, HVR-A1U Zeiss DigiPrime and DigiZoom lenses,
Also new from stock in
16/Super16
and DSR-PD170P. The HDV1080i as well as other high quality %" HD
•
Spring driven cameras H16 SBM
•
Electronic cameras H16 EL stream is recorded as native HDV lenses, these two diopters enable
•
Kern lenses + all film accessories
files (.M2T), while the DV stream is
Your full-service agents in the USA recorded as AVI files (.AVI: DV Typel).
When attached to the camcorder, the
-
CHAMBLESS Cine Equipment, GA
Phone (706) 636-5210 operational status of the HVR-DR60
www.chamblesscineequip.com can be checked right on the
-

PROCAM, AZ, phone (928) 708-9901 camcorder's LCD and viewfinder.

www.bolex-usa.com
Other features of the HVR-
-
TCS New York, phone (212) 247-6517 DR60 include rubber shock absorbers;
www.tcsfilm.com
a 3G sensor that shuts off power to
Manufacturer’s international service the HDD and retracts the recording
BOLEX INTERNATIONAL SA heads from the disk platters if the
CH- 1400 YVERDON-LES-BAINS unit is dropped; and a 14-second
SWITZERLAND
buffer memory that prevents the loss
Phone +41 24 425 60 21
Fax +41 24 425 68 71 of video footage if the 3G sensor
E-mail bolex@bluewin.ch
96 www.bolex.ch
 TENURE-TRACK FACULTY IN FILM AND VIDEO

extreme close-up work or wide-angle
shots with a shallow depth of field.
Employing a unique, achro¬
matic dual-lens assembly that mini¬
mizes color fringing and spherical
aberration, the DigiDiopters ensure a
high resolution, high contrast image
with consistent precision across the
frame. Furthermore, Zeiss' propri¬
Emphasis on the Integration of Live Action, Animated and Computer-Generated Imagery
Columbia College Chicago is an undergraduate and graduate college in downtown Chicago whose
principal commitment is to provide comprehensive educational opportunities in the arts,
communications and public information, within a context of enlightened liberal education.
Columbia is the fifth largest private educational institution in Illinois, with a Fall 2006 enrollment
of more than 11,500 students. The successful candidate will be required to excel at integrating
filmed live action, animated sequences, and computer-generated imagery with the goal of teaching
production-oriented and critical studies classes within the Film and Video Department. Additional
responsibilities include advising students, participating in college-wide and Film and Video
Departmental committees; participating in student registration; creating curriculum; and assisting
with the Film Department Production Fund as well as student independent projects.

etary T* anti-reflective coating A terminal degree and/or a distinguished record of professional achievement are
reduces light loss and flare and required. Applicants should have extensive experience of professional film
production with the ability to assist students in learning filmmaking craft, from entry
makes the DigiDiopters a perfect
level to the creation of exhibition-ready and advanced projects. Documentary and
match for the DigiPrime and Digi- experimental filmmaking experience will be welcomed as part of a broad portfolio,
the principal need is in fictional narrative filmmaking. Candidates should be familiar
1

Zoom lenses in terms of color

with and competent in both traditional film formats and related digital media,
balance, contrast and overall image including the integration of live action, animation, and computer-generated imagery.
quality.
Columbia College Chicago encourages qualified female, GLBT, disabled, international
Attaching easily to the front of andminority classified individuals to apply for all positions. No phone calls, please. We offer a
the lens or to each other with a competitive salary and an excellent benefits package. For consideration, please submit a resume
and a cover letter to:
single thumbscrew, the diopters also
feature a unique self-centering Email: hrrecruitment@colum.edu
mechanism that maintains the Columbia College Chicago
Film & Video Faculty - Reference #1018/#1019 Search
proper distance between the diopter 600 S. Michigan Avenue
+1 and +2
and the lens. Lastly, the Chicago, IL 60605

diopters, which weigh about 10

ounces each, can be stacked
Columbia e
COLLEGE CHICAGO
together to create a +3 magnifica¬
www.colum.edu
tion.
For more information, visit
www.digiprimes.com or www.band
pro.com.
Innovision Probes CSI rn ' L h,\ ’ .

Chapman/Leonard's "I/I/e have used the Probe lens fnjm the

Hydrascope Cranes the present. It is the workhorse
'CSI' pilot to
Chapman/Leonard Studio of the 'CSI'shot. Used mostly on the motion
Equipment, Inc. has unleashed 32' control camera, it allows us to get inside
and 15'Hydrascope waterproof tele¬
places that a standard lens simply cannot
scoping camera cranes into the (inner body parts; air ducts, etc.). I frankly
waters of film production. Both don't know of a lens that can achieve j
cranes feature 360-degree rotation, the same results, so we keep on 'J J ’
heavy-duty construction and easy using it every episode." j -< ' 1 . m
setup, and they accept standard
Mitchell mounts. A trained techni¬ Larry Detwiler
cian isprovided with rental. Visual Effects Supervisor
CSI Miami
Slightly closer in the evolu¬
tionary chain to Nessie than its
shorter colleague, the 32' Hydras¬
cope boasts a minimum and maxi¬
mum length of 9' and 32', respec¬ A
Visual Effects Supervisor Larry Oetwiler's credits • \ )
tively (measured from the center include Return to Cabin by the Lake, TomCats, Y2K, \JL
and Quarantine. He won an Emmy for his miniature
post to the front of the nose — the work on the 1997 television movie Asteroid.
rear section measures 8'6"), and the
positioned from 19'6“
be
lens
below
can

ground level to 38' in the air

Sales & Rental
I . -4*! *■
with the Ultra CS Base column
extended and the camera overslung. Creative Ways of Imaging ***• •
HD Mini Probe Birdy Pan & Tilt Head
97
 Additionally, the Hydrascope's nose Hydrascope include a minimum to sional video editors, the Professional
has a load capacity of 75-195 pounds, maximum length range of 4'31/2" to Series 3.0 boasts some of the most
the arm with handle weigh in at 1,138 13'61/2" (measured from the center exciting features of all of Bella's
pounds and the maximum operating post to the front of the nose; the rear keyboards. Highlights include Bella's
weight for the arm works out to 2,568 section measures 4'61/2" long); a patented built-in jog/shuttle
pounds, including the 195-pound nose maximum payload of 175 pounds; controller; a NeoLite dual-LED task
load. and a total shipping weight of 1,422 light with a 12" gooseneck that plugs
Both cranes run off of 24-volt pounds. directly into the keyboard; two USB2.0
DC battery or 110-volt AC to 24-volt To learn visit
more, ports for plugging in iPods, Zunes, and
DC converter, and both have a maxi¬ www.chapman-leonard.com or call other high-speed USB devices;
mum telescoping speed of 5.4’ per (888) 883-6559 or (818) 764-6726. programmable multimedia keys; a
second. Furthermore, Chapman/ built-in wrist rest; and program-
Leonard offer two-axis and three-axis Bella Leaves its specific, color- and icon-coded
Amphibian Remote Heads, which Fingerprints on Post keycaps that provide easy-to-read
weigh in respectively at 62 and 88 Adding to its line of keyboards access to application functions in

pounds. The Hydrascopes also can be specifically designed for video addition to International Symbols that
controlled either via wheels or editors, Bella Corporation has rolled allow access to most European letters
joystick, comewith a Preston lens out three new models: the Profes¬ and symbols. Pro Series keyboards are
control and can fit through doorways sional Series 3.0, the Advantage available for Adobe Premiere Pro,
28" wide. Series 2.0 and the DV Keyboard 3.0. Apple Final Cut Pro, Sony Vegas and
Specific features of the 15' Specially designed for profes¬ Avid's Xpress, Media Composer and
Liquid.
Sharing many of the benefits of
the Professional line, the DV Keyboard
3.0 was engineered for the home
video enthusiast and accordingly
sports Bella's built-in jog/shuttle
control and two USB2.0 ports. While
the keyboard does not include Bella's
NeoLite, it does feature three power
ports for the light, which can be
purchased separately. Additionally,
the DV Keyboard is compatible with
both Mac and PC platforms and it
includes programmable Web, e-mail,
and multimedia keys as well as sticker
sets for most of the popular editing

98 February 2007
applications from Adobe, Apple, Avid,
Pinnacle Systems and Sony.
Rounding out the lineup, the
Advantage Series 2.0 has been
updated with color- and icon-coded
keycaps, two USB2.0 ports, multime¬
dia keys, and a sleek new design. The
Advantage line has also been
expanded to include keyboards for
Apple Final Cut Pro, Avid Xpress and
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The Professional Series 3.0, DV
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2.0 sell for $189.95, $129.95 and •
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$69.95, respectively. To learn more, •
Lucky Number Slevin
4 blade rotor for highly
visit www.bella-usa.com. improved stability
*
100% reliable brushless electric motor
Silent, for sound sensitive areas

Schneider's Xtreme
New Look
3 axis gyrostabilyzed remote head
Schneider Optics has deployed 360 degrees pan

two new Century Xtreme Fisheyes, 3 lbs lenses.

400 (500)film mag,
one for service to users of the Pana¬ minimal idle times
in production
sonic AG-HVX200 and the other for
the DVX100 and 100A/B. These new
AltmF^Smiwand xWfh
1
',35mi$kmd ^whimpMijicE Certified,-, more information about our full line of equipment and demo videos on
fully safe and can ffy over afpSs
optics add to the frontline established Outdoor version has beep
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thd| WWW.THEFLYINGEYEPROJECT.COM
by the Xtreme Fisheyes available for TitylfkJ'FirS'DiSalfflMat Newark I 23108 Berdon St. Woodland Hills CA 91367 - tel 818-489-7645

proponents of such Sony camcorders

as the HVR-Z1U and HDR-FX1.
Heralded by Schneider as the
broadest fisheye on the market, both KODAK
Century Xtreme Fisheyes boast
new
Interactive Educational CDs
an approximately 160-degree horizon¬
tal angle of view (180° when
measured diagonally), pronounced
barrel distortion, and HD-quality
optics. Additionally, the Century
Xtreme Fisheye interfaces neatly with
the bayonet mount at the front of the
camcorder lens, and it can also be
used with existing 15mm standard
rod systems for increased support.
Both of the new Century

COMPUTER SYSTEMS REQUIREMENTS

Kodak's interactive multimedia CD-ROMs can be used with Windows or Macintosh

Operating Systems.
AVAILABLE
Windows
486/66 or higher processor, including Intel Pentium processor; Wndows 3.1,95,98,2000, ONLINE AT
Me, XP, or Wndows NT 4 or later,16 MB RAM required.

Macintosh
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Power Macintosh (G3 or higher); MacOS 8.1,8.5,8.6,9.x or OS X (classic mode only)
CD-ROM 4X or higher; Minimum 24-bit color display; 800 X 600 screen resolution
 Slack Industrial Park houses the
Louisiana Wave Studio, a motion-
picture wave-making tank which boasts
some impressive features and is up and
running under new management.
Originally constructed by Aquat-
ech for Walt Disney Pictures' A School
Productions and used in the filming of
The Guardian, the Wave Studio is co¬

managed by Ken Atchity of Atchity

Entertainment International, Inc. and
Fred Griffin Partners. According to
Atchity, "Our goal now is simply getting
the word out 24/7 to the film commu¬
nity about this remarkable facility [and]
we're hoping the generous Louisiana
tax incentive will add a double incen¬
tive for making water pictures in
Shreveport."
Xtreme Fisheyes hit the market with a www.schneideroptics.com or call Able to generate 13 varieties of
suggested list price of $3,350. Lastly, (818)766-3715. waves up to 8' high, the 80'x100' wave
users of the Canon XL-H1 should not tank holds over 750,000 gallons of
feel
neglected; Schneider promises a That's No Tub — It's a Wave water, making it a significant addition
model for Canon's leading HDV Studio to the Louisiana film industry.
camcorder in the near future. Just six miles outside of down¬ To learn more, contact Rebecca
For more information, visit town Shreveport, Louisiana, Sealy- O'Meara at (504) 861-2188.

iiniu iJdi. /.'/

New from TECHNOCRANE: Precise and
repeatable camera movements, the perfect
tool for virtual sets and CGI.

www.technodolly.com

e
■hbhhhmiihi^1
sample 3.0
 Available in five lengths to
accommodate the user's microphone
of choice, the K-Tek Zeppelin Fleecy
takes flight with a suggested list
price of $92. To learn more,
visit www.mklemme.com, E-mail
info@mklemme.com, or call (760)
727-0593. ■

To be considered for a product review

in New Products & Services, contact Associate
Editor Douglas Bankston to make arrangements
at (323) 969-4333; E-mail: doug@ascmag.com;
product shipping address: 1313 N. Vine St„
Hollywood, CA 90028; postal service mailing
address: 1782 N. Orange Dr., Hollywood, CA
90028.

Touted ideal option for

Fuzzy Feelings from K-Tek
Adding to the Zeppelin line
of products launched in 2005, the M.
Klemme Technology Corp. (maker of
K-Tek professional boom poles and
location-recording accessories) has
introduced the Zeppelin Fleecy wind¬
as an
shotgun mikes mounted on DV
cameras in most light weather situa¬
tions, the Fleecy sports a charcoal
grey fleece exterior, backed with
tough tightweave microfiber, which
in turn is fitted over an open cell
For press-release submissions, please
include any images and full contact information
with submission. Images may be sent as color
or black-and-white prints, or digital
slides, color
files (Mac Photoshop TIFF or high-quality JPEG
format, 300 dpi) on CD. E-mailed image attach¬
ments must be a minimum of 300 dpi in the
aforementioned formats. Mailed materials will
not be returned without a self-addressed,

screen. body. stamped envelope.

OSCAR® 2004 to Horst Burbulla for the

invention and continuing development of the
Technocrane telescoping camera crane.

or 18"

4.0 5.0
 Electronic Media’s

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 Project Rebirth: 10 Years at Ground Zero
by Patricia Thomson
Website, projectrebirth.org, has a live
image of the construction site, produc¬
tion details, and perhaps the most
comprehensive and up-to-date collec¬
tion of reports on the plans, politics and
progress of the rebuild.
Time-lapse photography is the
most technically complicated part of

Project Rebirth, but interviews are an

equally important part of the mix.
Whitaker initially planned to randomly
pick interviewees at the site once a year.
He soon decided instead to follow 10
people's lives over the duration, to do a
"human time-lapse," as he puts it.
Lappin notes, "We were dealing with
Above: This is hard would it be to put a camera on a the recovery of the site, but we needed
the perspective
of one

time-lapse
cameras filming
of the
A month after the September 2001
terrorist attacks, New York cine¬
matographer Tom Lappin got a call
from Jim Whitaker, president of Imagine
roof for 10 years? How about 10
cameras?'"
By the spring of 2002, Whitaker's
the human side of the story, too — how
the people recovered, or not." Whitaker
chose individuals who represent differ¬
footage for Entertainment, Ron Howard's production ambitious project was up and running. ent facets of the event; they include a
Project Rebirth.
Positioned in company. The two had been friends Now halfway through its 10-year time¬ fireman who lost 93 friends in the
the graveyard of since working entry-level jobs on John line, Project Rebirth is a chronicle of the attacks, a woman who was on the floor
St. Paul's Waters' Hairspray, and Whitaker knew reconstruction of Ground Zero and a that one of the planes hit, and man who
Church in lower
Manhattan, this time-lapse photography was one of meditation on time and healing. The walked down from Harlem and ended
is the only time- Lappin's hobbies. He called to ask project will ultimately take two forms: a up spending three months at the site,
lapse camera whether a long time-lapse film was
set at street
documentary for theatrical release, and helping in any way he could.
level. Below: possible. a multiscreen installation at the Memor¬ Given the historical importance
The same scene "I told him it was, thinking he ial Museum (pending approval by the of the rebuild, Whitaker and Lappin
is reflected on
meant one day, five days or 10 days," World Trade Center Memorial Founda¬ wanted to use the highest-quality
the front of the
recalls Lappin. "But then he asked, 'How tion). In the meantime, the project's
camera's recording formats available. "People
protective box. were really pushing us to record it on an

electronic medium," says Lappin, "but

Jim and I were really adamant about
quality, and I was also worried about
maintaining a consistent look over 10
years. We decided 35mm was the way
to go for the time-lapse footage." The
team decided to shoot the interviews
and other footage of the interviewees

TLacopomuirfnte.sy
on 24p high-definition video, using a
Sony HDW-F900 CineAlta. "The inter¬
views are very long and intensive, and
we didn't want to be changing the film

every 10 minutes," explains Whitaker. "I

would have loved to stay on film, but the Phot s
104 February 2007
ability to stay with a subject for an unin¬
terrupted hour was more important."
Lappin is using Mitchell GC
Rackovers as his primary time-lapse
cameras, setting them to shoot one
frame every five minutes around the
clock. Developed in the 1950s for
government missile tests, the cameras
are "the industry standard for time-
lapse," says Lappin. "Between frames
is when the light bounces around the
mirror of a modern camera and clouds
the film, but this camera has a focal-
plane shutter that completely blacks it
of a light leak."
out, so there's no chance
The Mitchell bodies were furnished
with new Norris motors. "Most of these
cameras were bought off of old visual-
effects cameramen," says Lappin.
"Dave Stump [ASC] was calling all his
old friends and buying up their old
cameras, and he was able to provide us
with seven 4-perfs and three VistaVi-
sion cameras."
The VistaVisions are being used
for wide shots of the construction zone.
"The format allows us to get a wide
field of view without going to a wider
lens," says Lappin. Normally, "to get the
field of view I'd like from the 10/10 fire¬
house, for instance, I'd have to go with
a 10mm lens. But 10mm for architecture
would be nightmare — it would
a
distort all thebuildings." The VistaVi-
sion atop the N.Y. Fire Dept. 10/10
station sports a 24mm lens, while
another, in Barron's newsroom in the
World Financial Center, uses a 15mm.
"It gives us a beautiful, wide field of
view of the whole site that is distortion-
free," says Lappin.
The goal is to intercut wide
views with close-ups of the construction
and 24-fps footage of the construction
workers. "We want to tell a bit of a
story, and we'retrying to cover it like a
scene," says Lappin. Whitaker adds,
"The actual work, brick by brick, is being
done by people, and we want to see
that."
When
positioning the time-lapse
cameras, Lappin sought to avoid a
potential pitfall: "People could get
nauseous from the time-lapse. While
the buildings don't move, the reflections
on the buildings do. Everything is going
whooooosh, and it can make you dizzy."
His fix was toposition a visual anchor in
the foreground, such as the edge of a
parapet or the gravestones of St. Paul's
Church. Such details also add a note of
poetry juxtaposing old New York with
new architecture under the revolving
days and seasons, sunrises and sunsets.
To ensure that the cameras
would survive 10 years outdoors,
Lappin needed housing that was dry,
dustproof and temperature-stable. He
turned to his brother-in-law, Michael
Marmorowski, a builder on Long Island.
"He has spent a lifetime building houses
that resist harsh weather — plus, he
works for free!" says Lappin. "We've
when reload the cameras every A shot of Ground
had only one leak in five years." For we
Zero taken by a
temperature control, Lappin hit upon the three weeks. The fewer electronics, the VistaVision
idea of using ATM parts, obtaining better. In 41/2 years, we've had few camera
vents, heaters, and dehumidifiers from problems." (In contrast, WeatherBug's positioned on
the roof of the
Stego Inc. in North Carolina. "They were Web cam, which supplies the live image N.Y. Fire
seen on Project Rebirths website,
perfect, a similar compact size with Department's
similar longterm self-sufficiency." hasn't fared so well. "They've had to 10/10 station.
This is the
Reflections were another replace the computer that controls it filmmakers' key
As the moved across the four times already," says Lappin.) position
concern. sun camera
Volunteer labor and in-kind dona¬ for recording the
sky, direct sunlight and bounce from the construction of
shiny skyscrapers surrounding Ground tions have made Project Rebirth possi¬ Freedom Tower.
Zero could be problematic, so the ble. Kodak is donating the 35mm stock,
casings' windows had to be ND-filtra- and Fujifilm USA is providing HD, Beta-
tion glass with a reflective surface. Such cam, and D-5 tape. Deluxe Toronto is
glass would also help prevent the interi¬ doing the processing and dailies, Ascent
ors from overheating and passersby Media is doing the HD post, and POP
from seeing inside the box. Lappin ulti¬ Sound in Santa Monica is doing the
mately found his solution at Pancro post sound work. Numerous other
Mirrors, which makes good, affordable contributions have also helped. For
ND filters and large teleprompter glass. example, John Schmidt, a CG supervisor
The company created a hybrid. "We at Sony Imageworks, had mapped out
ended up with custom-made glass all of Manhattan in 3-D for Spider-Man
windows: Winch thick, with a 50- 3. Using that data, he crunched some
percent Titanium surface on the exterior numbers and provided Lappin with a
side. They're almost unbreakable and 3-D model of the forthcoming Freedom
very hard to scratch. Inside is a 50- Tower's position as seen from the roof
percent ND, which keeps the sun out. of the 10/10 firehouse. "He gave me the
They're optically clean with no distor¬ exact lens and angle of tilt I needed to
tion." use to set up my shot," says Lappin.
Altogether, Lappin's time-lapse The filmmakers are keenly
aware that they're recording history in
setup is a conglomerate of simple,
durable parts. "I wanted to go low-tech. the making, and the Library of Congress
I wanted to avoid anything that could sees it that way, too: it has offered to
fail.Basically, everything was going to archive all the original footage after
be unattended for 10 years, except for Project Rebirth wraps. ■
 INTEGRATING 8 & 16mm
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Navarro Nabs Golden Frog
The topprize at the 2006 Camer-
image International Film Festival, the
Golden Frog, was awarded to
Guillermo Navarro, ASC for Pan's
Labyrinth. The Silver Frog was awarded
to Dick Pope, BSC for The Illusionist, and
the Bronze Frog was awarded to Ricardo
Della Rosa for House of Sand
The ASC was well represented in
the field ofcompetition at the festival,
which is held annually in Lodz, Poland,
and is the only international festival
devoted to the art of cinematography.
Other ASC members with films in
competition were Michael Ballhaus
(The Departed], Affonso Beato (The
Queen], Robbie Greenberg (Even
Monetf, Matthew Libatique (The
Fountain), Rodrigo Prieto (Babel) and
Vilmos Zsigmond (The Black Dahlia).
The other films in competition
were Heaven's Doors, shot by Paulo
Ares; Bobby, shot by Michael Barrett;
Days of Glory, shot by Patrick Blossier;
Flanders, shot by Yves Cape; Four
Minutes, shot by Judith Kaufmann, BVK;
Jasminum, shot by Krzysztof Ptak; Copy¬
ing Beethoven, shot by Ashley Rowe,
BSC; Flags of Our Fathers, shot by Tom
Stern; Palimpsest, shot by Arkadiusz
Tomiak; and Franz & Polina, shot by
Maxim Trapo.
For more information, visit
www.camerimage.pl.
110 February 2007
Howard Tabbed for
ASC Board Award
Director Ron Howard will receive
the ASC Board of Governors Award at
the 21st Annual ASC Outstanding
Achievement Awards on Feb. 18. The
award is presented annually to an indi¬
vidual who has made extraordinary
contributions to advancing the art of
filmmaking.
"Ron Howard is a dedicated film¬
maker who is creating an extraordinary
legacy of artful and memorable films,"
says Russ Alsobrook, ASC, chair of the
Awards Committee. "He has earned the
admiration of our members for his
collaborative spirit and commitment to
the art of visual storytelling."
Howard has compiled extensive
credits in film and television as an
writer, director and producer. He won an
Oscar fordirecting A Beautiful Mind and
also co-produced that film, which won
Best Picture in the 2002 Academy
Awards competition. He won Emmy
Awards for producing the miniseries
From the Earth to the Moon and the
comedy series Arrested Development. In
2003, Howard was awarded a National
Medal of Arts from the National Endow¬
ment of the Arts.
"We have reserved this award
for individuals from other sectors of the
industry who share our passion for film-
making as a form of artistic expression,"
says ASC President Daryn Okada. "It is
meant to both recognize and inspire
artistic achievements in filmmaking. Ron
Howard brings out the best in everyone.
He has inspired countless filmmakers to
pursue their dreams."
Associate Member
Tiffen Dies
Nat Tiffen, founder of The Tiffen
Co. and a longtime ASC associate
member, died on Nov. 21. Tiffen founded
the company in 1938 with brothers Leo
and Sol. Bringing with him a passion to
provide professional cinematographers
and photographers with new and innov¬
ative filter optics, Tiffen became an icon
in the industry, many of whose members
have acknowledged his inventiveness
and creativity to their award-winning
accomplishments. In 1984, he was
recognized by the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences as the recipi¬
ent of a Technical Achievement Award
for his company's filter lamination
process. In 1999, he was recognized
again, receiving a Scientific and Engi¬
neering award. Other notable awards
include a 1998 Prime Time Emmy for
Engineering Excellence.
Tiffen, whose wife, Helen, died
in 2004, is survived by four children —
actor, Ira (also an associate member), Barbara,
Sandra and Steven — and 11 grandchil¬
dren.
Steven Tiffen, president of The
Tiffen Co., says of his father: "He was a
great man, and now he has peacefully
bGNKDuaiorilkvuelagrrmyndoos.
gone to his resting place to be with his
beloved Helen, my mother and the love
of his life. My father contributed so
much to so many people and to the
industry he loved and served. He
always considered it a privilege to work
in an industry he loved, doing what he
loved to do." ■
Phootf
HANDS-ON WORKSHOPS
Pre-register and get the latest
updates on upcoming
StudentFilmmakers workshops, in 2007
Visit www.studentfilmmakers.com
WRAP SHOT
The Last Run had a difficult time getting
lout of the starting gate for MGM in
11971. The sententious script did not
sit well with Oscar-caliber directors
John Boorman and John Huston, who
both disqualified themselves from the
production. But distinguished cine¬
matographer Sven Nykvist, ASC
remain^ waiting in the staging area as
the production sought to put an end to
the false starts.
In stepped director Richard Fleis¬
cher, and The Last Run was off and
running. Surprisingly, throughout a
notable directing career that includes
such classics as 20,000 Leagues Under
the Sea, Fantastic Voyage, Doctor Dolit-
tle, Torai Torai Tora! and Soylent Green,
Fleischer has only been nominated for an
Academy Award once, for his feature
¥¥
i

While on the beach in Spain, Sven Nykvist, ASC checks the positioning of lights while director
documentary Design for Death back in
John Huston takes a turn — albeit a brief one — behind the camera. Unsatisfied with the
1948. He did, however, make the most of
script, Huston left The Last Run, and Richard Fleischer settled into the director's chair.
that nomination by taking home the
golden statue.
Shot at locations throughout the Lifetime Achievement Award for his 1922, Nykvist, a self-proclaimed cinema
Iberian Peninsula, The Last Run has career ofphotographic excellence, buff, studied at the Stockholm Munici¬
George C. Scott playing Harry Garmes, becoming the first non-American to win pal School for Photographers. That was
an aging Chicago mob getaway driver that award (see AC Feb. '96). The long¬ followed by a stint as an assistant
who comes out of retirement in a Portu¬ time Ingmar Bergman collaborator was cameraman for the local Sandrews
gal fishing village for one last turn at the nominated three times for Academy Studios in 1941. After spending time as
wheel. Garmes must drive a dangerous Awards during his career, which a focus
puller in Italy and then focusing
criminal and his girlfriend/accomplice to spanned nearly 120 films; he won for on documentary work, he got his first

France, but the trio soon become victims Cries and Whispers (1973) and Fanny chance to work with Bergman on
of a double cross. Forced to flee back to and Alexander (1983). His other nomina¬ Sawdust and Tinsel (a.k.a. The Naked
the coast, the band makes a final stand tion was for Philip Kaufman's The Night] as director of photography in
against would-be assassins. Unbearable Lightness of Being [ 1988), a 1953.
Despite the uncertainty about a film that also earned him ASC and BSC No matter who was directing,
director, Nykvist provided the stunning Award nominations. Sadly, he died on however, Nykvist maintained the same
camerawork for which he was well- Sept. 20, 2006, at the age of 83. (See approach to each picture, relying on the
known throughout his career. "Every tribute on page 78.) basic principles of trusting his eye and
picture defines its own look, and that All of Nykvist's work has the his instincts. "It's an unusual occupa¬
definition begins with the director's common thread of focusing on a charac¬ tion," he related. "It's both an art and a
intentions for the script," Nykvist noted ter's face and eyes. "The truth of the craft. Every time I start a picture, on the
in American Cinematographer in 1996. characters is in the eyes; that's how the first day it seems as if I am starting all
"Some directors have their own ideas audience gets to know them as human over again, and I love it. Until I find

about staging, lighting and composition. beings," he revealed. "It opens up their something I like better, I'll probably do
Others are mainly interested in the souls. It is very important to light so that this work forever."
actors. You must be able to form a rela¬ the audience can see what's behind —

Douglas Bankston
tionship with both types." each character's eyes."
In 1996, Nykvist received the ASC Born in Moheda, Sweden, in

112 February 2007

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ON \A
LOWELL PETERSON, ASC

"I did some stage acting in my youth, which may

explain the strong affinity I feel for my actors.

On a television series, the cast and crew can

become a supportive and collaborative family.

I believe that the most powerful shot in the
cinema is the close-up. There is a kind of
intimacy between the actor and the camera
that can be as expressive as the words in the
script. Rather than light the sets and have
the actors walk through them, I light faces,
often working backwards from the close-up to
determine the blocking and lighting of a scene.

Through cinematography we reveal the truth in

the performance. We help the actors build their
characters from episode to episode, sometimes
over several seasons. On a hugely popular show
like Desperate Housewives, the images can
become iconic. Their meaning can be
understood in different cultures across

the world.”

Lowell Peterson, ASC earned an Emmy®

nomination for Six Feet Under, and ASC
Outstanding Achievement Award nominations
for Just Ask My Children, Second Chances and
Profiler. His other credits include episodes of
Knots Landing, Lois & Clark, The Client and
Desperate Housewives.

[All these productions were shot on Kodak motion picture film.]

For an extended interview with Lowell Peterson, ASC

visit www.kodak.com/go/onfilm.

To order Kodak motion picture film,

call (800) 621 - film.
www.kodak.com/go/motion
© Eastman Kodak Company, 2007.
Photography: © 2007 Douglas Kirkland