american cinematographer 02 2009

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NEW!

26 2 Worlds in 3 DimensionsPete Kozachik, ASC details his strategies for the 3-D stop-motion movie Coraline

40 Dead ReckoningBill Pope, ASC blends old and new tricks to honor the origins of The Spirit

52 Embracing AnamorphicJohn Bailey, ASC exploits the widescreen format on theensemble comedy He’s Just Not That Into You

60 Citizen of the WorldDonald McAlpine, ASC, ACS receives the ASC International Award

Departments

Features

V i s i t u s o n l i n e a t w w w. t h e a s c . c o m

On Our Cover: Coraline crawls through a portal to the Other World in the 3-D stop-motion featureCoraline, shot by Pete Kozachik, ASC. (Frame grab courtesy of Laika, Inc., and Focus Features.)

8 Editor’s Note10 Short Takes: Circus14 Production Slate: The International

Reverie68 Post Focus: Restoring Manhatta72 New Products & Services82 International Marketplace83 Classified Ads84 Ad Index86 Clubhouse News88 ASC Close-Up: Peter Suschitzky

52

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 9 V O L . 9 0 N O . 2

The International Journal of Film & Digital Production Techniques

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F e b r u a r y 2 0 0 9 V o l . 9 0 , N o . 2The International Journal of Film & Digital Production Techniques • Since 1920

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OFFICERS - 2008/2009

Daryn OkadaPresident

Michael GoiVice President

Richard CrudoVice President

Owen RoizmanVice President

Victor J. KemperTreasurer

Isidore MankofskySecretary

John HoraSergeant At Arms

MEMBERS OF THE BOARDCurtis Clark

Richard CrudoCaleb DeschanelJohn C. Flinn IIIWilliam A. Fraker

Michael GoiJohn Hora

Victor J. KemperStephen Lighthill

Daryn OkadaRobert PrimesOwen RoizmanNancy SchreiberDante Spinotti

Kees Van Oostrum

ALTERNATESMatthew LeonettiSteven Fierberg

James ChressanthisMichael D. O’Shea

Sol Negrin

MUSEUM CURATORSteve Gainer

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to those who are actively en gaged as di rec tors of photography and have

dem on strated out stand ing ability. ASC membership has be come one of the highest

honors that can be bestowed upon a pro fes sional cin e ma tog ra pher — a mark

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The recent trend toward 3-D production continueswith Coraline, a digital stop-motion fantasy about agirl who discovers a menacing parallel world behind

the walls of her family’s new home. The project’s ambi-tious cinematography was supervised by PeteKozachik, ASC, who brought considerable experienceto the table(top) after serving as director of photogra-phy on The Nightmare Before Christmas and CorpseBride.

Adding a third dimension to stop-motion cine-matography took Kozachik, director Henry Selick andtheir collaborators down some fascinating avenues. Ina detailed, firsthand account (“2 Worlds in 3 Dimen-

sions,” page 26), Kozachik outlines some of the trickiest aspects of 3-D production, aswell as the filmmakers’ solutions. “My advice to anyone starting out fresh with 3-D is toseek counsel from a veteran of 3-D production and experiment when you have enoughexperience to be conversant,” he cautions.

Bill Pope, ASC brought a similar willingness to push creative boundaries to TheSpirit, based on Will Eisner’s comic-book character and directed by graphic-novel titanFrank Miller. Digging further into an approach previously used on Sin City and 300, twobig-screen adaptations of Miller’s own work, Pope shot the picture largely against green-screen, including eye-popping dry-for-wet sequences shot with a Phantom high-speedcamera at frame rates of 200 to 400 fps. “You can do the dumbest stuff in the world, andwhen you’re filming at 400 fps, suddenly you’re a poet,” Pope quips in his chat with asso-ciate editor Jon D. Witmer (“Dead Reckoning,” page 40).

Long a champion of the anamorphic format, John Bailey, ASC explainsprecisely why in a Q&A about his work on the romantic comedy He’s Just Not That IntoYou (“Embracing Anamorphic,” page 52). “This movie is an ensemble piece with inter-cut, parallel stories of five women and the men in their lives,” Bailey tells New Yorkscribe Pat Thomson. “I felt the wider aspect ratio would allow us to be intimate withthem yet keep them together in the same shot in a way that was more accommodatingthan 1.85:1.”

This issue also showcases a hearty salute to Society stalwart DonaldMcAlpine, the recipient of this year’s ASC International Award. As contributing writerJon Silberg observes in an enlightening profile (“Citizen of the World,” page 60), theAustralian cameraman has made a truly global mark with his work on acclaimed exportsfrom his homeland (My Brilliant Career, Breaker Morant), bold collaborations with coun-tryman Baz Luhrmann (Romeo+Juliet, Moulin Rouge), and an impressive string of Holly-wood blockbusters (among them Patriot Games, Mrs. Doubtfire and The Chronicles ofNarnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe). He was also the man behind the cameraon one of my personal favorites, the biting Bruce Beresford comedy Don’s Party, whichI’ve watched and enjoyed with a few equally obsessive friends more times than I’m will-ing to admit. Good onya, Don.

Stephen PizzelloExecutive Editor

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Editor’s Note

8

In Britney Spears’ music video“Circus,” the singer performs in thetitular setting among burlesque

dancers, elephants and pyrotechnics,creating a kaleidoscope of visual andaural sensations. It’s a typically dynamicmilieu for director Francis Lawrence andcinematographer Thomas Kloss, whoseongoing partnership has yielded boldresults on an array of music videos,including Avril Lavigne’s “Sk8er Boi,”

Aerosmith’s “Jaded” (for which Klosswas nominated for an MTV award forBest Cinematography), and The Back-street Boys’ “The Call” (AC July ’01).“I’ve worked with Francis since early inhis career, and the relationship hasn’tchanged very much,” says Kloss. “Fromthe beginning, he never overburdenedme with information or requests, but healways had good visual references thatwere essential to the project.”

While prepping “Circus,” Klossand Lawrence looked at old circusphotographs but didn’t really find whatthey were looking for. “We didn’t wantthe video to look like a period piece,”explains Kloss. “We wanted to give it acontemporary look but also play withwell-known images that people under-stand.” Although Kloss didn’t use otherfilms as references, he found inspira-tion by chance at the local cinema. “Iwent to see the restored Lola Montès[1955], and it had exactly the kind ofsoft, organic look Francis and I wantedfor the video.”

To create that look for “Circus,”Kloss tapped Otto Nemenz for someArri Swing & Tilt lenses — “but weused them without the swing-and-tiltactually in place,” he notes — andCooke Panchros. (He shot Super 35mmwith two Arri 435s.) “All modern lensesare so well-designed and sharp thateven with flares, there’s very littledistortion or refraction,” Klossobserves. “Francis and I didn’t want tomake the video pristine-looking; wewanted a softer, silkier look.” Theproduction’s package also included afew Cooke S4 primes, which were usedon the B camera.

“When we used filters, weapplied grease or Vaseline in a veryspecific way, and we put a little more of

it on the filter when we were using anS4, of course,” continues the cine-matographer. “We would look throughthe lens, see the highlights, and thenpaint onto the filter with our fingers tocreate certain abstractions and refrac-tions, or to stretch lines in the frame.”He used a 1⁄4 Tiffen Black Pro-Mist fordiffusion. “I wanted to stay away froma completely crisp image, and becausepost is digital, you can go a littlestronger on that diffusion because youcan always bring it back in the transfer;you add a little bit of black, and theimage becomes sharper again.”

Kloss carried out the transferwith colorist David Hussey at Company3. “Our goal on the shoot was to[create most of the look] in-camera,creating flares and shafts and beams oflight that looked good coming throughthe lens,” says Kloss. “In the last 10years, we’ve seen so much electronicpost work in films and music videosthat I think it’s good if the pendulumcan swing back a little bit. It’s nice toshoot something with classic beautylighting and compositions and let thestory play.”

This sensibility extended toevery aspect of the production. “Fran-cis built a lot of practicals into the artdirection,” notes Kloss. “There werehanging lights next to the circusbanners with Britney and the dancerswalking through, and lights on theburlesque stage, along with other oldtheater lights. For wide shots, we usedNine-light Maxi-Brutes, but everythingelse was done with old-fashionedtungsten lamps as practicals. Westarted with those and then just accen-tuated them.

“I feel that Francis has alwayscalled on me for things that have a

Britney Spears as Ringleaderby Jim Hemphill

Short Takes

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Top: Spearsshimmers in

the spotlight.Middle: The

big-top settinglends a surreal

ambience.Bottom: Ashower of

sparkssilhouettes the singer.

10 February 2009

tried to light in a way that we couldconstantly keep moving without stop-ping between each setup to relight, sowe decided on a general 45-degreebacklight with soft fill light; that way,we had most of the situations pre-litwith dimmers. We adjusted up or downa bit while Britney was getting ready orchanging wardrobe. Then, as soon asshe showed up on set, we were readyto get maximum coverage. On a musicvideo, it’s important to get enoughangles to avoid repeating shots,because people always want to seenew angles and images.”

“Circus” was shot on KodakVision3 500T 5219, which Kloss rated atISO 320. “It was perfect for what wewanted,” he says. “There’s so muchlatitude and contrast control with thatnegative if you really expose it well. Aproject like this lets you really use thatlatitude and maximize the palette fromthe absolute jet black on the edges ofthe frame all the way to the blown-outwhites of the highlights.”

“Circus” was not without chal-lenges — including working withelephants and a wall of fire that couldonly stay lit for 15-20 seconds at a time— but Kloss says his longtime partner-ship with Lawrence kept things onschedule. “We shot two 12-hour daysand got everything we needed. That’sone of the advantages of working witha director who has the experience toknow what coverage he needs.”

Although Kloss has shotfeatures, including Fear and Showtime,he notes that short-form projects havedistinct advantages. “On a movie, youusually establish a look and justcontinue it for months. Videos andcommercials keep you fresh.” �

12 February 2009

darker, more intense look, and I tend topaint out of the black, not the white,”he adds. “I like to start with all thelights off and start lighting a step at atime, and this project lent itself to thatapproach. We started with a dark stageand no light, then slowly illuminatedwhat we wanted to see.

“We wanted the lighting to havetwo distinct looks, one natural and onetheatrical. For the natural look, we usedvery simple paper China balls aroundthe camera to give Britney the minimumamount of fill and put a bit of glow inher face. The other look was for thereverse, which we lit to look like there’sa strong light coming from a followspot, from the audience area or fromthe other side of the stage. When Brit-ney’s dancing on the burlesque stage,one strong follow spot creates a puresilhouette.” Lighting the reverse shotswith strong spotlights had an addedbenefit: “On a big stage or in a bigspace, it helps you create a fake 3-Dfeel with a little bit of smoke and back-light. It instantly creates the sensationof a theatrical performance.”

For most of the shoot, both Arri435s were handheld. “That helpedmake everything feel a little moreorganic,” says Kloss. “Our idea was togive it a strong basic look with strongcontrast and then shoot for coverage. I

Top: Spears andher backgrounddancers stay in

step. Middle: Theringleader cracksher whip. Bottom:

The star primpsfor her

performance inthe mirror of

a makeup table. Right:

CinematographerThomas Kloss

(holding monitor)shows Spears

some footage onset. China balls

were used to casta soft glow on the

singer’s face forclose-ups in the

makeup-tablesequence.

14 February 2009

Banks as Bad Guysby Mark Hope-Jones

Director Tom Tykwer read EricSinger’s screenplay for The Internationalseven or eight years ago, but it wasn’tuntil late 2007 that he was sufficientlyhappy with it to start filming. The longgestation period allowed careful fine-tuning of the story, which follows Inter-pol agent Louis Salinger (Clive Owen) ashe attempts to uncover the corrupt prac-tices of an international bank. It alsomeant, quite by chance, that productioncoincided with the current global finan-cial crisis, which makes the film’spremise of banks as omnipotent villainseven more resonant. “We were thinkingof making a film reminiscent of the para-noia thrillers that Alan Pakula andSydney Pollack made in the 1970s,” says

Tykwer. “But instead of the SecretService or CIA being the system withinthe system, we wanted to suggest it’sthe institutions of world finance thatseem to be the new governments thatsecretly rule our lives.”

Tykwer collaborated on the filmwith cinematographer Frank Griebe, whohas shot all of his pictures, most recentlyPerfume: The Story of a Murderer (ACFeb ’07). “The International almostseemed like a period film to us becausewhen you see a film in the cinema now,the characters simply don’t talk the sameway they do in movies like All the Presi-dent’s Men [1976],” says Griebe. Otherdifferences involve pacing and camera-work. “I always felt that if you want tomake a film feel fast, you should makethe story move fast rather than thecamera,” says Tykwer. “A movie that is

fast-paced because it contains oneevent happening after another is differ-ent from a movie that [feels] fastbecause of the intensity of the camera-work.”

“The style of The Internationalhad to be very clear and precisebecause there are so many scenes andso much important dialogue,” saysGriebe. “You have to hear what thecharacters are saying to follow the story,which is why we didn’t use too manyvisual gadgets. We only did handheld orSteadicam shots for action scenes; a lotof the time, we had the camera on adolly or a tripod.”

Tykwer was fascinated by theidea that images in the film should formpart of the system Salinger is trying tofight. Rather than have the camera runwith the character, he wanted Salinger

Financial Intrigue and a Flashy SLR VideoProduction Slate

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Globe-trottingInterpol agentLouis Salinger

(Clive Owen)draws a beadon his quarry.

to run through compositions that werenot dictated by his movements; the char-acter is often dwarfed by architecture,suggesting a tiny individual trappedwithin an immovable system. “Tom wasconcerned that these wide architecturalimages wouldn’t look sharp enough in35mm, so I suggested shooting somescenes in 65mm with the Arri 765,” saysGriebe. Tykwer agreed and also decidedto shoot a few key close-ups of Salingeron 65mm to intensify the anxiety in hisexpression. “It provided a contrast andmade a statement that his face is asimportant for us to look at as the pristinearchitecture shots that represent theperfectly shaped system,” says thedirector.

Most of The International wasshot on 3-perf Super 35mm, and theproduction used an Arricam Studio andLite, an Arri 235 and Arri 435s suppliedby Arri in Munich, which also providedthe 765, grip gear, lighting equipmentand lab work. Griebe had the secondunit shoot some material 4-perf to giveTykwer more flexibility in post. “TheStudio was our A camera, and we usedthe Lite for Steadicam and handheldwork,” says the cinematographer. “The235 can fit into tight spaces, and if Tom

didn’t need sound for a scene, we’dshoot with the 235 or 435 to give us thatextra flexibility. We shot every setupwith two cameras, and there was somuch dialogue we usually used the Arri-cams.”

Repeating his choice of lensesfrom Perfume, Griebe combined ArriMaster Primes with the 16.5-110mmMaster Zoom and 24-290mm Ange-nieux Optimo zoom. “We didn’t use a lotof longer lenses,” he says. “It’s more ofa classical style; we typically shot witha 27mm on the A and a 50mm on the B.

Tom likes to use zooms because we canwork quickly, and both zooms were T2.8,so I was shooting almost everything atthat stop. I only shot wide open on theMaster Primes once or twice. TheMaster Primes cut very well with theMaster Zoom, but the Optimo is a bitsofter, so I used it mainly if we neededa close-up with a very long lens. Forsome setups, I’d tell the B-camera oper-ator to look for faces or little details, andthe Optimo is perfect for that.”

As Salinger delves deeper intothe bank’s misdeeds, he comes to real-

Left: Along theway, Salingerteams withdistrict attorneyEleanor Whitman(Naomi Watts).Below:CinematographerFrank Griebe(right) lines upthe camera fordirector TomTykwer.

American Cinematographer 15

16 February 2009

ize the illegal activities within thesystem stretch into his own organiza-tion, and before long, he becomes atarget. Teaming up with a district attor-ney, Eleanor Whitman (Naomi Watts),Salinger travels to New York, Berlin,Istanbul and Milan on a life-and-deathchase to topple the bank. A dramaticshowdown at the GuggenheimMuseum in New York sees Salingerand Whitman run into heavily armedassassins. “We felt that if we had aslow buildup of tension through themovie, it would grow toward thissequence, where it explodes and hitsthe audience full-on,” says Tykwer.“Many action movies open with a spec-tacular sequence that sets a standardthe filmmakers have to keep runningafter, but we chose not to set a hysteri-cal pace. When the action happens, it’sall the more overwhelming.”

Because the Guggenheimsequence involves considerabledestruction, it was never going to befilmed entirely on location. The produc-tion’s soundstage work was based atStudio Babelsberg in Germany, but noneof the available stages was largeenough to accommodate even a partialreconstruction of the Guggenheim inte-rior. Finally, the filmmakers located anold locomotive warehouse nearby andhad it refurbished by a structural engi-neer to suit their needs. Even then, onlythree levels of the Guggenheim’sfamous spiral rotunda would fit beneaththe building’s ceiling, so they weredressed first as the upper levels, thenredressed for shots of the lower levelsand the lobby.

Tykwer relished the opportunityto effectively become curator of theGuggenheim for the sequence, and hechose to display the works of JulianRosefeldt, a German video artist. “Ourfilm is about a guy who has to huntdown an organization that represents aseemingly invisible system, and Ithought video art was quite a logicalthing to feature because it’s not physicallike sculpture or paintings,” says Tykwer.“We built a 3- or 4-meter model of theGuggenheim that we could stand insideand figured out exactly where we were

going to put the video screens and whatwe were going to do.”

“I think we had 50 or 60 separateprojections,” says Griebe. “The moviewas produced by Sony, so we askedthem for projectors, and there wereendless technical discussions aboutlens and projector sizes. The biggestproblem was the light power becausewe wanted the video images to have alot of contrast, but I had to add someother lights to shoot the scenes. We dida lot of tests, including one where Ididn’t add any lights at all; it lookedreally spooky with the screens as theonly source, but it was too dark, so wegradually added lights until we foundthe right level. What made it difficult isthat the Guggenheim [interior] is more orless white, so there are reflections andbounce light coming from every corner.Eventually, we used the projectors asthey came because if you want morepower, you have to use something like aBarco, which was too big. All the videoprojections were on hard disk, and wecould control them with time code tomake sure the right content wasonscreen at the right time. It was verycomplicated, but I doubt anyone in theaudience will realize how much work itinvolved!”

The fact that the video projec-tions partially dictated how much addi-tional light Griebe could use for thescenes was actually something of ablessing, because there was very littleroom to rig lights either at the museumor onstage. “There was no possibility ofputting up a lighting rig on the stagebecause the roof would not have takenthe weight,” says gaffer Helmut Prein.“A tower rig was also impossiblebecause of the shape of the set in corre-lation to the stage building. It was fortu-nate that the projectors necessitatedlow light levels because that promptedus to investigate helium balloons. Weconsidered getting a custom-made ellip-tical 24K balloon, but there wasn’tenough time. Instead, we created asingle soft source comprising three 4.8Khelium tubes positioned side by side atthe top of the set, above a layer of Cali-fornia Sunbounce medium diffusion.”�

The production shot some scenes inside the GuggenheimMuseum in New York, but other parts of that sequence werefilmed on a replica set built in an old locomotive warehouse

in Germany (above and below).

The large source above thecenter of the set was motivated by thedomed skylight at the top of theGuggenheim’s rotunda. White silk skirt-ing was hung on a circular alloy pipesurrounding the helium tubes, and anadditional outer circle of black skirtingprovided complete control of the light.“In the end, it looked like a space lightwith a diameter of 13 meters,” saysPrein. “The falloff from that source wasextremely natural; between the top flooron the stage and the bottom, there wasa loss of only 11⁄2 stops.”

At that point, the filmmakersdidn’t know how much light would beavailable on location at the real Guggen-heim, so they decided to set thesequence at dusk and keep the light assoft as possible. About 70 4'x4' Kino Floswere hidden in the elevator areas oneach floor, and 6' tubes were positionedbehind screens in the rotunda; all lightswere DMX-controlled. Additional light-ing came from three Kino Flo Flatheadspunching through an 8'x8' grid cloth on arotating base on a scissor lift.

When it came to the locationshoot in New York, Griebe’s lightingoptions were fairly limited. “TheGuggenheim is a complicated buildingto light,” he notes. “The people therewere very friendly, but we couldn’tmount anything to the structure inside,so we had to light from outside. We

needed quite a bit of light, so we had six18K ArriMax units controlled byMaxmovers on a rig suspended from acrane directly above the skylight.” Thedome of the skylight was covered with a45'x45' grid cloth, and a few 12KArriSuns were positioned on the roof toeven out the falloff of the down lights.“Inside, we supplemented with about10 Kino Flos on each floor of the rotundaand three helium balloons,” addsGriebe. “But most of the light wascoming through the skylight.”

Prein installed daylight bulbs inabout 80 triangular house lights insidethe museum and gelled them to re-create the look of the studio footage. “Itwas a really exciting moment to arriveat the Guggenheim after a night shoot tosee whether our ideas about how tomatch the real museum to our stagework had worked out,” he recalls. “I gotthere with our New York gaffer, RussEngels, and Gregor Wilson, the unitproduction manager, and we all had tosmile when we looked at the lightingsetup. It matched the look we had devel-oped in Babelsberg perfectly.”

Griebe shot The International onKodak Vision2 500T 5218, 200T 5217and 100T 5212. “Sadly, the new Vision3wasn’t available at that time,” he says.Throughout the shoot, he viewedHDCam dailies. “I took a lot of stills andsent them to [Arri] with notes, and the

rushes were graded accordingly,” he says.“We didn’t print any shots, but the HDrushes were so good that Tom said all theway through editing that he wanted themovie to look exactly like the rushes.”

The digital intermediate, carriedout at Arri Schwarzfilm in Berlin, wasGriebe’s second experience with theprocess. On Perfume, it was primarily theintense color scheme that necessitated aDI, and Griebe used very few filters on set.For The International, he again tended toavoid filtration, “but the main reason forthe DI this time was all the visual-effectsshots,” he explains. “Probably half theshots in the movie are effects shots, butit’s the kind of film where you don’t wantthe audience to notice them. We did somearchitectural enhancements and lots ofeffects for the Guggenheim action scenes,and we had a great relationship with[visual-effects house] UPP and [visual-effects supervisor] Viktor Muller, who wasalways on set with us.”

In post, the 65mm footage wasscanned at 4K and the 35mm footage at2K on an Arriscan. “We didn’t do anythingtoo major in the grade,” says Griebe. “Wewere mainly just balancing things out.Tom and I didn’t want to get carried awayby imposing different looks on certainscenes; we wanted to keep the look asnatural as possible, and making even littleadjustments to effects elements in thegrade can take a lot of time.

“It was a very special experience tomake a film with a big studio, especiallyas we got to work in Berlin and didn’t haveto go to Hollywood,” he concludes.“Maybe next we’ll do a short movie — 10days around the world with just thecamera and a few lenses! Sometimes it’sgood to go back to the basics.”

TECHNICAL SPECS2.40:1

Super 35mm (3-perf and 4-perf),65mm

Arricam Studio, Lite; Arri 235, 435, 765Arri and Angenieux lenses

Kodak Vision2 500T 5218, 200T 5217,100T 5212

Digital IntermediatePrinted on Kodak Vision Premier 2393

18 February 2009

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Creating Reverieby Steve Hullfish

Canon’s recent release of theEOS-5D Mark II, a high-end amateurdigital SLR camera, is providing aglimpse into the possible direction fordigital cinematography. The camera hasa full-size (36mmx24mm) 21-megapixelCMOS sensor capable of shooting 50-25,600 ISO.

One of the first Americanphotographers to shoot with a prototype

version of the camera was VincentLaforet, a photojournalist and commer-cial still photographer. His interest in theMark II was piqued when he noticed itwas capable of shooting high-definitionvideo (1920x1080p), and on short notice,he produced a 1-minute 55-second testfilm, Reverie, that attracted a lot ofattention on the Web. The film’s imagesshow what can be done with a camerathat is capable of shooting 30 fps at3,200 ISO and above.

Prior to Reverie, Laforet had not

shot a motion picture of any kind. WhenCanon agreed to loan him the prototypefor a single weekend, “I was sweatingbecause I knew I had to produce some-thing,” he recalls. “Immediately, Idecided to get a helicopter because oneof my specialties is aerial photography.In the meantime, my assistant wastrying to figure out the camera and set itup; we had no user manual, and timewas of the essence.”

In less than 12 hours, Laforetassembled a cast and crew, outlined astory and chose locations. “If anyonehad asked me to shoot a film or video amonth earlier, my top concern wouldhave been lighting, which is incrediblytime-consuming,” he says. “But thiscamera is so sensitive to low light thatyou can really rely on natural light, and Ithink that’s where my skill as a photo-journalist really came to bear — I knewI could walk into a room and add maybeone light source to make it look beauti-ful.”

Laforet shot with just two light-ing instruments: a ProFoto 7B strobepack, a strobe unit that has a modelinglamp, and a Litepanels Mini, a smallLED. His grip gear included threeAvenger suction mounts with someMagic Arms by Bogen, regular still-

Right: A CanonEOS-5D Mark IISLR mounted to

the hood of acar produces a

dynamicnighttime drive.The driver wasilluminated by

an LED lightpositioned near

the car’sspeedometer,but the rest ofthe sequence

was litnaturally by

architecturallights,

headlights andother existing

fixtures. Below:The New York

skyline isreflected in amale model’s

sunglassesduring a

helicopter shotcaptured with a

15-35mm lensand an LED

light attachedto a monopod.

20 February 2009

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22 February 2009

camera grip gear and some safetycables. He rigged a Ken-Lab KS-8 gyroon a monopod for the running shot andhelicopter scenes. Laforet used his ownCanon prime and zoom still lenses. “Interms of what’s in the final film, it’s a15mm fisheye f2.8, a 16-35mm f2.8zoom lens, a 50mm f1.2, an 85mm f1.2,a 200mm f2, a 24mm f3.5 and a 45mmf3.5,” he says. The latter two lenseswere used for shots of a man andwoman in Brooklyn with Manhattan andthe Brooklyn Bridge behind them.

“In my opinion, there are threerevolutionary things about this camera,”says Laforet. “One, you can use theprime lenses you already own. Two, thecamera is very small and very light; oneof the aerial shots was done with meholding a monopod beneath the skids ofthe helicopter, shooting straight downover the Empire State Building. Three,the camera’s ability to capture detail inlow light is incredible; we were shootingat 1/30th of a second at f2 at 1,600 ASA.It’s that stuff you can just see with yournaked eye but usually can’t capture onvideo or stills. With this camera, you canpretty much go anywhere and shootwhat you see, adding a very minimalamount of lighting.”

Laforet’s two assistants workedon the shoot along with an assistantdirector, a makeup artist and the twomodels. The tiny footprint of the crewand gear also allowed them to shootwith no lighting pre-scout, no filmpermits and no FAA oversight of theaerial shoot.

Laforet says the camera’s low-light capability was especially importantfor the driving shots that travel throughTimes Square. “The shot of the rearviewmirror and the wide shots of the carwere done with the LED light sittingwhere the speedometer is, lighting thedriver’s face — everything else isnatural [light].”

The camera’s light sensitivityenabled Laforet to rely on some unusualsources, as in a beautiful shot of afemale model on a cobblestone street.“There’s only one light, the modelinglight on a stand that was very high. Itwas a bare bulb with the reflector, no

Top: Laforet usedhis own Canon

24mm and 45mmlenses to

capture shots ofa couple’s

embrace withthe Brooklyn

Bridge servingas a romantic

background.Middle: This

shot of a femalemodel on a

cobblestonestreet was

illuminated byjust two

sources: frontallight from a bare

bulb andreflector

positioned highon a stand, andbacklight from

the headlights ofLaforet’s Jeep.

Architecturalaccent lights

providedadditionalambience.

Bottom: Themodels kiss

against adreamlike

background ofdefocused

lights.

M E M B E R P O R T R A I T

RON GARCIA, ASC

W W W . T H E A S C . C O M

TO SUBSCRIBE BY PHONE:

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

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

n the mid-1960s, while Iwas working in theaerospace industry and

studying fine art at Art CenterCollege of Design, a racing-boatmanufacturer asked me to makea film about his boat in the six-hour Lake Havasu inboard boatrace. During that firstexperience behind the lens, I fellin love with the camera andnever looked back.

“While struggling tolearn cinematography by trialand error, I discovered theAmerican CinematographerManual, which led me toAmerican Cinematographermagazine. After 42 years ofshooting, AC is still my go-toreference in my never-endingquest for film excellence.”

— Ron Garcia, ASC

“I

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24 February 2009

diffusion. There’s a bit of backlight fromthe headlights of my Jeep. On the tightheadshot of her, we used a flashlightand the brake lights from my car.”

Laforet even used Adobe Photo-shop to light a scene. “For the scenewith the model’s face lit by the TV, weplugged the DVI cable from the laptopinto the HDMI port of my TV, loaded agray slide into Photoshop CS3, andmessed with the lightness parameterslider to create the flickering blue light,”he explains.

The full-frame sensor size of the5D allows for beautiful depth of field,and Laforet took full advantage of thatin many shots. In one example, a silhou-

etted scene, the lights in the back-ground go deeply out of focus to createa nice bokeh effect. “That’s a 400mmlens focused in as close as you can withjust two normal tungsten lightbulbs inthe background,” he says. “The tung-sten lights were probably 20 yardsbehind her, and I was maybe 6 feet fromher.”

The scenes from the helicopterare among the most impressive inReverie. “The shot I wanted from themoment we started on this was thesunglasses reflecting the Empire StateBuilding,” says Laforet. “It took quite afew years of flying to know the exacttime to take off to get that perfectbalance. We took off about 15 minutesbefore sunset. For the shot of the model,I had a 15-35mm lens, and my assistantwas holding the LED light on a monopodbehind me. Everything and everyonewas securely safety harnessed andwired.”

The post process on Reverie waseasy because the Mark II records inH.264 compressed QuickTime format.“You stick the CF card into yourcomputer, drag the files onto your desk-top, drag them into Final Cut Pro andthen edit,” says Laforet. “There’s norendering.”

Three ASC members recentlyweighed in on Laforet’s observation thatthe Mark II is a “game changer” forcinematography. “Faster sensitivity is

not always a cure-all in low light,” notesM. David Mullen, ASC. “Dynamic rangeis also a factor because you don’t wantbright areas to overexpose too quicklyand unnaturally.”

Curtis Clark, ASC says he wouldwelcome the ability to shoot at a veryhigh ASA as long as there aren’t detri-mental trade-offs in the images. “Obvi-ously, using small lights is a lot cheaperthan using large ones. In artistic terms,being able to increase the depth of fieldaffects not just photographic style butalso the ability to render details withinthe scene, and that, of course, wouldimpact set design and art direction.”

Stephen Goldblatt, ASC, BSCfinds the idea appealing but notes thatfilm technology is advancing to meetthe challenge posed by digital formats.“Shooting Vision3 [500T] at 400 ASAand T2 gives you superb results at nightin the streets,” he says. “It would begreat to be able to shoot at T2.8 or atT4, but I’m not super-excited about itbecause ASA is just part of the equa-tion.”

That’s not to say Goldblatt can’tfind a use for the technology, however.“I use Canon digital cameras to takereference shots of every set when I’mdoing a movie,” he says. “Ending upwith an MPEG file that you could adjustquickly on your computer at the end ofthe day would be fantastic. Generallyspeaking, stills do the trick, but some-times they don’t. This is like anotherarrow in the quiver.

“I think Reverie looks so beauti-ful because it’s a full-frame sensor witha very, very shallow depth of field, andLaforet was using lovely Canon lenseswide open,” adds Goldblatt. “And let’snot forget there’s a very good eyebehind the camera. Not everybody cango out with that camera and get thoseresults.”

TECHNICAL SPECS3x2

High-Definition VideoCanon EOS-5D Mark II

Canon lenses�

Above: Laforettook creative

advantage of thedepth-of-field

characteristicsinherent to the5D’s full-framesensor. In thisshot, a 400mm

lens turnstungsten lightsinto a pleasing

backgroundeffect. Below:

Reveriefilmmaker

Laforet.

26 February 2009

Exciting events tend to happen assoon as conditions are right, andHenry Selick’s stop-motionfeature Coraline, based on NeilGaiman’s supernatural novella,

rides in on a host of new innova-tions, including advanced machine-vision cameras and the emergence ofpractical 3-D. Most instrumental wasthe birth of Laika Entertainment,Phil Knight’s startup animationcompany in Oregon, fresh and eagerto try something new.

Pete Kozachik, ASC details his approach to the 3-D digital

stop-motion feature Coraline, whoseheroine discovers a sinister world

behind the walls of her new home.

by Pete Kozachik, ASC

Unit photography by Galvin CollinsAdditional photos by Pete Kozachik

2 Worldsin

3 Dimensions


I made it a priority to line uptalented and experienced camera-men early. Leading their three-manunits were cinematographers JohnAshlee, Paul Gentry, Mark Stewart,Peter Sorg, Chris Peterson, BrianVan’t Hul, Peter Williams and FrankPassingham. Most of the cameraassistants and electricians had shoot-ing experience of their own, makingthe camera department pretty wellbulletproof. With more than 55setups working at the same time, weneeded guys who were quick, orga-nized and versatile.

From the beginning, we knewthe two worlds Coraline inhabits —the drab “Real World” and thefantastic “Other World” — would bedistorted mirror images of eachother, as different in tone as Kansasand Oz. Camera and art depart-ments would create the differences,keeping the emphasis on Coraline’sfeelings. Among the closest filmreferences for the supernaturalOther World were the exaggeratedcolor schemes in Amélie, which weused when the Other Mother isenticing Coraline to stay with her.The Shining and The Orphanageprovided good reference for interiorswhen things go awry.

Image banks such asflickr.com were a good source forreference pics, and including thoseshots in my lighting and cameranotes helped jump-start crews onnew sequences. Artist TadahiroUesugi supplied a valuable influencefor the show; his work has a graphicsimplicity, like fashion art from theFifties, with minimal modeling butan awareness of light. It helped inspirit to guide us away from excessgingerbread, which is typical in bothart and lighting for stop-motion.

Before hiring on, I sought a way to improve on limitations of digital SLRs we encountered on Corpse Bride (AC Oct. ’05). Onthat show, fuzzy video-tap imageswere animators’ most commoncomplaint. Most promising was the

Opposite:Coraline’s“Other” parentsusher her intoher new home.This page, top:CinematographerPeter Williams(right) andanimator JanMaas preparethe scene.Middle andbottom: The“Real” and“Other” kitchen,with the formerutilizing forcedperspective.

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s.

Above: In a real-world scene,

Coraline’s fatherplugs away in hisstudy. Right: This

shot of the scene’slighting setup

shows the floor-supported

modular gridsystem that

gaffer/cameramanBryan Garverdesigned for

individual stop-motion

setups. He andcinematographer

John Ashlee litthe scene.

28 February 2009

MegaPlus EC11000, a machine-vision camera based on a 4K KodakCCD sensor. It sported thesefeatures:

• Able to double as its own tap, outputting sharp 1K or 2K mono at fast frame rates

• Thermoelectric sensor cooling for low noise in long exposures

• Physically large 36x24mm sensor• Among the cameras tested, its

response curves were most similar to film

• Rugged, machinable aluminum body

• Nikkor F mount• Sensor housed in a dust-free,

inert-gas-filled chamber• Software-development

documentation for custom user applications

Unlike dSLRs, each camerahad to be tethered to a smokin’ fastPC (running our custom applica-tion) that grabbed productionframes and served as a higher-resanimator guide and color display tocheck lighting. The company R&Dteam worked hard on the ambi-tiously spec’d software, delivering a

workable beta version before movingon to other projects. It is an excitingstep forward with a lot of features,including 3-D diagnostics and two-way serial communication withKuper motion-control. Our onlyseriously missed target was capturespeed, which I hope to revisit withnew data-transfer technology.

While we were in prep, RealDfounder Lenny Lipton told Henryabout his new 3-D system. Henry sawits creative storytelling potential andbelieved it would help immerse theaudience in our handcrafted worlds.One short visit to RealD fired myenthusiasm; Lenny’s process hadovercome every technical snag thatmade 3-D infamous, taking inge-nious advantage of D-Cinema tomake it smooth and dependable. Hisvision of 3-D as a new tool for thecinematographer was infectious.

We sought the advice of severalother 3-D advisers who providedbasic theory, knowledge from first-hand experience and strongly heldopinions that were not always inagreement. Lenny wisely noted thatwe had to choose which advice tofollow and find our own way.

To follow this story, one mustunderstand two 3-D parameters:interocular distance and convergence.Interocular distance (IO) is thedistance between left and right eyes; itaffords us the separate views we inter-pret as 3-D roundness. By adjustingIO, we can expand or contract the 3-D volume of a shot. Convergence isthe amount our eyes toe-in to alignboth images of an object; it gives us asense of our distance from an object.On Coraline, we worked backwards,adjusting alignment of image pairs tocontrol audience eye convergence.That way, we could pull objects out ofthe screen or push them back.

Because puppets hold still formultiple exposures, we could shift asingle camera left and right tocapture both 3-D views. That was thebeginning of our “3-D sliders.” Myfirst instinct had a two-axis rig sliding

2 Worlds in 3 Dimensions

Left: AnimatorTravis Knightworks on ascene in Dad’s“Real” study.Below:Coraline’s“Other” fatherputs anentertainingspin on things inthe “Other”version of thesame space.

horizontally to achieve the desiredIO and back-panning to converge onobjects. Lenny advised leaving outthe convergence axis and aligning inpost by sliding one image over theother. We needed extra picture widthfor that maneuver, which a 3K cropof our 4K sensors allowed.

Armed with a couple ofprototype 3-D sliders, John Ashleebegan experimenting with usingforced-perspective sets withouttipping our hand. We learned that a1Ú2-scale background looked naturalin normal stereo, and a ¼-scalebackground would work in weakerstereo. We made a composite ofseveral elements built at differentscales, scaling a camera move tomatch, to see if a composite in 3-Dwould hold together. It soundedpromising, and it works just fine aslong as you carefully set up eachelement, scaling everything, espe-cially distance to camera and the IOdistance.

Paul Gentry set out to empiri-cally determine benchmarks for IOdistance. He shot puppets in amatrix of close-up, medium andfull-body shots at different focallengths and IOs. We projected eachframe in 3-D and rated puppet headsfor normal, extreme and reducedroundness. Not surprisingly, wefound that the closer you get to thesubject, the smaller the IO you need.And we quickly found out howpainful excessive IO can be Ñpainful enough to pull an audienceright out of the narrative, if not thetheater.

The big surprise was how littleit takes to create a normal sense ofroundness. We reasoned thatpuppets would look natural bysetting IO as measured betweenCoralineÕs puppet eyes vs. thedistance between a pair of humaneyes Ñ 19mm puppet vs. 64mmhuman. But to our surprise, normal-feeling roundness in puppet close-ups ranged from 1-3mm IO, and inwide shots from 3-10mm IO.

We had simplified by limitingthe test to a single subject, a goodstarting point in setting up shots andhelpful for newcomers to the show.But things quickly got more complexin deep sets that featured objectsboth close to and far from camera. Atthat point, we needed more than anIO cheat sheet; we had to rack upenough experience to makeinformed judgment calls. As with anyother aspect of cinematography, withexperience, we gained confidenceand a more instinctive approach.

We all agreed 3-D had to beused to enhance story and mood, likeany other photo technique. Alongwith the story arc, lighting arc and

color script, we decided to impose acomplementary Òstereo arcÓ on theshow. Henry wanted 3-D depth todifferentiate the Real World from theOther World specifically in sync withwhat Coraline is feeling. To do that,we kept the Real World at a reducedstereo depth, suggesting CoralineÕsflat outlook, and used full 3-D in theOther World. At first, full 3-D opensup a better world for Coraline, butwhen things go bad, we carefullyexaggerate stereo depth to match herdistress.

3-D adviser Brian Gardnerpointed out the emotional effects ofplacing a subject behind or in frontof the screen. Similar to shooting up


30 February 2009

or down on a character, we couldassign power in a confrontationscene by thrusting a character outinto the theater, with the weakerposition being behind the screen.The technique also helped toemphasize moods as different as inti-macy and menace. We found that asetting receding deeply behindscreen creates a sense of space andfreedom and is more effective atevoking pleasant feelings than bring-ing everything out into the theater.You might notice this in Coraline’sestablishing shots, interior as well asexterior. Sometimes we did theopposite, crowding images intotheater space to invoke claustropho-bia or discomfort.

A particularly involved use of3-D included a big effort from the artdepartment. Henry wanted to createa sense of confinement to suggestCoraline’s feelings of loneliness andboredom in her new home. His ideahad interiors built with a strongforced perspective and shot in 3-D togive conflicting cues on how deepthe rooms really were. Later, we seeestablishing shots of the moreappealing Other World rooms shotfrom the same position but builtwith normal perspective. Thecompositions match in 2-D, but the3-D depth cues evoke a different feelfor each room. These “master twin”shots depended on building theforced-perspective sets to an exactcamera position. New angles usuallyrequired a new build.

Because IO was run on amotion-control channel, we couldchange it during a shot. We had thesame freedom to animate alignmentin post. The combination became apowerful tool for creative work aswell as solving technical issues. Themost common use was on cameratrucks that went from wide views toextreme close-ups. In one case, weanimated the IO from 0.5mm to18mm, starting on a frame-fillingface and ending on a wide shot ofhouse and yard. This allowed a deep

Ashlee’sphotography of

Coraline’s “Real”(top) and “Other”

(middle) bedroomswas complicated

by a moving-camera match-dissolve in 3-D;

there was asignificantdifference

between the sets’physical depth.

Bottom: Cameraassistant/motion-

control operatorDean Holmes

programs a movethat will mimic

the feel of ahandheld camera.


3-D effect at the wide end whilemaking it easy for the audience tofuse left and right in the close-up.

We also tried animating IOsettings on locked-off close-ups,hoping to get an effect as startling asHitchcock’s simultaneous zoom-and-dolly trick. For better or worse,it is barely noticeable — viewers

unconsciously adjust to compensate.Our production cameras

comprised 38 MegaPlus EC11000sand eight Nikon D80s, and ourprimary lenses were Tamron andSigma zooms and Nikkor primesranging from 14mm to 105mm.With very few exceptions, we did notcompromise lighting and camera-

work for 3-D constraints. Contrastand depth of field remained usefulcreative tools, requiring just a littleextra care, as did camera movement.We used composition, color, focallength and filtration in a wide, unre-stricted range, concentrating onstorytelling.

One of our larger scenes


Left: Coralineencountersthree ghostchildren on oneof her foraysinto the OtherWorld. Belowleft: Chris Tootleanimates theghosts, whowere shot in aseparate pass.The models areattached to amotion-controlrig that alsocarries lightsthat createinteractiveillumination forCoraline. Belowright: ChrisPeterson’s crewsets up a downangle ofCoraline for thescene.

depicts an apple orchard that occu-pied several sets up to 30' long and20' deep. Mark Stewart shot twosequences there using 5K and 2Ksources — larger lights than usualfor stop-motion, but the reducedexposure time helped animatorskeep their rhythm. He used blue andpale-green gels, tight contrast ratios,large bounced sources and a soft keyas the recipe for impending rain.Motion-controlled gobos providedsubtle, moving cloud shadows.

He switched to cooler gels andhigher contrast for a scary moon-light battle pitting Coraline and herfriend, Wybie, against a disembodiedhand. We played key continuitylooser in this rapid-cuttingsequence, concentrating on makingpowerful images. I doubt most view-ers will notice that, but they will feelthe scene change to awkward pre-teen romance, played a little brighterand with lower contrast for ahappier mood.

Our first “master twin” shot isin the Real Kitchen, wide onCoraline and her mother against thewindow. Paul Gentry used direc-tional soft boxes to throw backlightin through the window, with justenough front fill to keep it all look-ing rainy and bleak. Later, we see thesame composition but on a muchmore appealing Other Worldkitchen. Paul used rose and yellowgels on focal spots to create poolsand wall scrapes, making the setbright and warm. By gradually dark-ening walls farther from center, hemade the kitchen a stronger lure.

John Ashlee’s Real Worldversion of Dad’s Study has a rainy-day window key similar to that in thekitchen but accomplished withcheater lights, as the window was toosmall and distant to carry the load.In one shot, we see Coraline and herfather reflected in his ancientcomputer monitor. John triedvaliantly to set it up for real, evenmaking a 2" working display, butoptical geometry wasn’t on our side.Instead, he shot both reflected facesseparately, and they were latercomposited along with a realcomputer display.

The most finicky “mastertwin” interiors were Coraline’s Realand Other bedrooms, alsophotographed by John Ashlee. Hischallenge was a moving-cameramatch-dissolve in 3-D that wascomplicated by two sets with radi-cally different physical depths. Ittook numerous move tests andrebuilding architecture, evenbedposts, to line up on a pivotalframe in the dissolve, followed byextra finesse in post. John lit eachbedroom for maximum differencein mood; Other bedroom scenes hadwarm practicals and multiple spotsshaping and picking out detailsdesigned to delight, but it was neveroverly bright, allowing bright moon-light to play a part. In stark contrast,he rendered the Real bedroom withchilly soft light from the overcast sky.

32 February 2009

Above: As they venture

deep into aforest, Coraline

and a companiondiscover there

is a physicallimit to the

Other World,which recedes

into a milky-white limbo.

Below: Lit bycinematographer

FrankPassingham, the

Plexiglas setgives animator

Phil Dale plentyof light. The

rigs supportingCoraline and the

cat were paintedout in post and

replaced with asecond pass.


34 February 2009

To create a magic, self-illumi-nated garden, Paul Gentry balanceda combination of fiber-optics, smallincandescents and LEDs embeddedin fanciful animated flowers, plusblack-light-activated paint. I suspectthe growing flowers will be mistakenfor CG work, but it is all real stuff.Sometimes we shot Coraline sepa-rately so flowers could be animatedin reverse by trimming them frame-by-frame.

Frank Passingham rendered amore dangerous version of thegarden, tinting it with poisonousgreen moonlight and carefullydiminishing glowing plants whileraising contrast. In quite the oppo-site tone, he made the Other houseexterior a beacon of light, overpow-ering the full moon with warm prac-ticals in windows, outdoor lanternsand architectural lighting. In effect,the house itself became the key lightfor a charming conversationbetween Coraline and a wise cat.

I wish George Pal were alive toaccept our salute to his 1940s-eraPuppetoons. He would smile inrecognition at a sequence using

sequentially sculpted series offigurines rather than flexiblepuppets. Brian Van’t Hul shot a rous-ing brass band of circus mice march-ing in formation, requiringanimators to keep track of hundredsof replacement mice and change outeach mouse for each frame. Brian,who was also the show’s visual-effects supervisor, juggled differentscales of sets and characters withcomplex camera moves throughoutthe scene.

I discovered that real circusesaren’t lit with great finesse, so tocreate more magic, Brian enhancedthe tent interior with Mini Floswashing up walls for a more appeal-ing background. The mice them-selves worked in hard-edgedspotlight that was brighter andcooler than the background. Brianalso rigged a few practicals overheadfor atmosphere, creating hot pointsof blown-out circus colors. Forreverse angles on Coraline, he usedsoft uplight to suggest bounce fromthe spectacle offscreen.

Coraline discovers an opulent19th century theater in the Other

basement, where she enjoys a vintageburlesque followed by a breathtakingtrapeze act. Peter Sorg used manyMR16 architectural lights to streakup walls and low-voltage halogensfor footlights. Adding other practi-cals, mini spotlights on motion-control movers and a central Chinaball for fill, Peter surpassed thegrandeur of our reference, which wasthe London Opera House.

We took full advantage of 3-Din the trapeze act, and I suggest yousee the movie twice so you can watchthis scene with glasses on and off. It isan effective use of animated IO andconvergence; it adds scope andexcitement without nuking theeyeballs.

Peter turned right around andrelit his theater sets for a muchspookier note. Coraline’s flashlightand some very dimmed-down prac-ticals provide the apparent sources;they were augmented with focalspots and mini-profiles that we hopewill go unnoticed. A blazing spot-light comes on to reveal a cocoon inthe form of a large taffy wrapper,overpowering any other lighting.

2 Worlds in 3 DimensionsFor an exterior

view ofCoraline’s

“Real” house,cinematographer

Mark Stewartsurrounded his

subjects withbounced light

to create an overcast,

rainy-day look.

Peter carefully balanced backgroundpracticals to remain just visibleenough to describe the space butdraw no attention.

In a more somber sequence,Peter used a fireplace as a flickeringsource on Coraline, who sits alone ina dark room as the embers die. Awide shot emphasizes her isolation asthe firelight grads off quickly fromwhere she sits. Small bulbs in the fire-place were rigged to flicker in syncwith off-screen focal spots underDMX motion-control.

The Other living room takeson three separate characters, the firstbeing a duplicate of the dreary nightlook in Coraline’s Real World. Thesecond phase is a colorful come-onin which every piece of furnitureglows as a saturated neon source.The self-illuminated props had clus-ters of red, green and blue surface-mount LEDs embedded throughouttheir translucent silicone forms. Byadjusting the colors on separateDMX dimmer channels, ChrisPeterson could match production artwithout using gels. Backlit purplewalls were created with traditionalgels on movie lights, but the out-of-gamut color came back bluish. Wegot closer by reddening them to thepoint where they looked completelywrong on set but just fine whenphotographed. The room comes tolife as furniture and lamps dim up inan overlapping cascade of light cues.Steve Switaj fabricated a DMX cardthat could handle 48 channels, morethan normally available under Kupercontrol, and Chris used every one ofthem.

At one point, Coraline isthrust into a dark, dank iron-platecell where she meets three pale-greenghost children. Chris Peterson shotthe ghosts separately on motion-controlled rods against greenscreenthat covered the set walls. The samemotion-control rigs repeated themovement during animation ofCoraline, and this time they carriedlight bulbs, creating interactive light

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36 February 2009

Passingham’slighting of an

“Other” housenight exterior is

enhanced byTrue Blue-gelledmoonlight, fiber-

optic starspunching

through blackbacking and ahorizon glow.

were motion-controlled to counter-rotate against each other.

Later, when things go bad, theportal is dusty, dark and full ofcobwebs. Peter Williams hid sourceswherever he could, relying on hiddencutouts and small hidden sourceswithin the tunnel. This was one ofmany sets where white LEDs wereput to good use. They worked well asObie lights, too — right on the lens.

For an even darker tunnel,Peter used a candle carried byCoraline as the only source. Hemounted a tiny, high-current lampat the tip of the candle and hid itfrom camera with an equally smallpiece of blackwrap. The lamp got sohot it had to be turned off betweenexposures. With a candle flameadded by the visual-effects team, thesource looks genuine, with naturalfalloff.

The last shot in the movie wasactually shot last. Mark Stewart setup on five stages to shoot elementsthat would be combined into onelong, meandering camera move thatwould go through a garden party

that appears to emanate from theghosts. Chris activated glow-in-the-dark stars on Coraline’s sweater withUV tubes and augmented with blue-gelled movie lighting.

With each frame so dearlybought, stop-motion lighting usuallystrives to see character detailthroughout, and this is sometimes inconflict with dramatic purposes.Peter Williams took a walk on thedark side with Coraline runningdown a midnight hallway, letting herpass through pools of toplight andareas where she is a dim silhouette.

Overexposing highlights —normally to be avoided — helpedPeter Williams and FrankPassingham create a flawless whitelimbo for some sequences. At thepoint where highlights reached theirmaximum pixel value, they had noretrievable detail, thus hiding shad-ows and imperfections in the set. Inone such scene, Coraline wandersout of an Other World forest anddiscovers the artificial world to beunfinished beyond what OtherMother needs to carry out her deceit.

The forest gradually simplifies asCoraline moves further into it, and iteventually devolves into white noth-ingness. Frank created that void witha table made of milky Plexiglas thatwas underlit by Kino Flos andsurrounded by a white wall. He wasalmost able to eradicate the tableedge in-camera with exposure, andvisual effects finished it off. Echoingthat, another scene features a climac-tic chase in a giant spider web that issuspended over a featureless, milkyvoid. On multiple sets, both camera-men used front light on white cycs tocreate the limbo effect.

Because Coraline crawlsthrough a portal to get to and fromthe Other World, there are a lot oftunnel scenes in the film. ChrisPeterson shot the friendly version, acushy, organic-looking tunnel thatglows with moving purple and cyanpatterns projected by Source FourLekos from behind its translucentwall. (The magazine’s cover shotshows this look.) He created thepatterns by taping scraps of color gelonto pairs of large Plexiglas discs that


and then rise up over the house,landing in the same composition asthe film’s opening shot. Soft, yellowkeylight and enveloping bounce fillrendered a more appealing color andcontrast ratio than the standard cold,rainy look.

With five different mo-co rigsin play, Brian Van’t Hul and NicMarrison took the precaution oftracking each rig as it played back itsversion of the move. They compen-sated for variances that turned up,making all the elements track eachother accurately.

I like to think we all came outof Coraline’s 83-week shoot a littlesmarter about 3-D cinematography.Perhaps fellow first-timers will findthe following notes useful:

Besides getting more intuitiveabout setting up, we learned to makethe most of a big 3-D moment — ittakes planning, not overdoing IOdistance. That includes using modestsettings for several shots leading upto the big moment.

We learned that a quick cutdoesn’t register 3-D in the eyes of theviewer. The shot has to be onscreenlong enough to fuse, and only thenshould you concentrate on thesubject. Increasing IO is futile on ashort shot; it exacerbates viewer diffi-culty and does not make the shot feeldeeper.

Although we strove to avoid“coming out” shots for puregimmickry, Coraline includes a fewlegitimate uses of the effect. In everycase, we made the emergence as slowas the tempo allowed so viewerscould follow. We also did our best toconnect emerging objects to thebackground — an outthrust handwas much more effective when thearm and shoulder were also visible.

Most 3-D purists insist onstaying sharp throughout the frame,the theory being that we concur-rently fuse and focus on objects inthe real world, and not doing bothwill cause eyestrain. We learned thatbackgrounds can be successfully shot

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soft in most circumstances, providedthat we give the viewer no reason tolook back there. (That’s our job asfilmmakers in 2-D or 3-D.)

Soft foregrounds are a littletricky but can be used with care,especially in accordance with theaforementioned provision. In 3-D,it’s annoying to look through a

tangle of soft-focus branches to see asharp character, but if the branchesare in another part of the frame, itseems to work. Our most successfuluse of shallow depth of field usedrack-focus between close and distantcharacters who were conversing. Ithink it helped that character voicesguided the eye in sync with racking

focus. Had there been a smallerimage sensor available with thermo-electric cooling and dust protection,I would have preferred it, just fordepth of field in 3-D. Such a sensorwould likely have trimmed ourwrite-to-disk time as well.

We had been warned thatdigital paint-out of puppet supportswould not work in 3-D because thedigital paint would reveal itself, float-ing in the same space as the removedsupport. That’s true if one is workingon a 3-D computer model, but wewere going to work on left and right2-D images. It was not the disasterpredicted, but compositors had to bevery consistent on both “eyes.”

Brian Van’t Hul shot a lot oflive-action effects elements with aRed One, all in 2-D, amid concernthat they would be revealed as “flat.”Time and money limited us to thisapproach. The best example of hissuccess is a sequence featuring thick


38

Cinematographer/visual-effects

supervisor BrianVan’t Hul layered

several 2-D fogelements to

create theillusion of 3-D

depth for this scene.

ground fog that was added in post.By layering several 2-D fog elementsin proper 3-D alignment, he createda believable illusion of full depth.

One theory our work upheldwas that scenic flats would revealthemselves in 3-D. We had to movepainted backgrounds significantlyfarther from the set, even when seenout a window. Fortunately, we werein a big building.

Stop-motion’s characteristiclack of motion blur sometimescaused a stuttering effect in 3-Dhorizontal motion, especially in fastcamera pans. This was over andabove the effect in traditional 2-Dfilm projection. Oddly enough, itcreates less readability than if themotion had natural blur. The visual-effects team added motion blur toseveral shots that especially neededhelp.

My advice to anyone startingout fresh with 3-D is to seek counsel

from a veteran of 3-D productionand experiment when you haveenough experience to be conversant.Equally important: watch dailies ona full-size screen with a real 3-Dtheater projector.

All through production, weworked in sRGB color space, so itmade some kind of sense to workfrom that familiar territory(converted to Rec709) in the 2K digital intermediate. TechnicolorDigital Intermediates accommo-dated, responsibly warning us that itwas a smaller, different gamut thanfilm. Colorist Tim Peeler lent hispracticed eye through successivegrades for RealD 3-D, 2K D-Cinema,film emulation and home video.(The film will be projected in Dolby3-D in some markets.)

With deep respect, I salute theCoraline crew for successfully shoot-ing the most ambitious and techni-cally challenging film in the

stop-motion genre. Working respon-sibly and with professionalism,everyone produced consistentlybeautiful work.

Ed. Note: A more detailedaccount of this production will beposted on www.theasc.com/magazinein February. �

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40 February 2009

“At these frame rates, youjust have to blow theheck out of them,” sayscinematographer BillPope, ASC, as

crewmembers, armed with airmovers, take positions alongside astaircase painted chroma-key green.It’s Dec. 13, 2007, day 47 of the 48shooting days in New Mexico’sAlbuquerque Studios for The Spirit,directed by Frank Miller. As opera-tor Vali Valus, 1st AC Greg Luntzeland camera tech Brannon Brownprep a Vision Research PhantomHD high-speed camera, actors

Gabriel Macht and Jaime Kingclimb the staircase and wait for 1stAD Benita Allen to yell “Action!”

“It’s the movement of theactors’ hair and clothes that reallygive you the sense of being under-water,” Pope explains. Miller’s scriptfor The Spirit calls for a handful ofunderwater sequences, but produc-er Deborah Del Prete established adictum early in prep that therewould be no below-surface shoot-ing. “I wanted to make sure thesecharacters looked their best all thetime,” says Del Prete. “If we put theactors underwater, there’s no way

their makeup could stay perfect.”The “dry-for-wet” technique thefilmmakers settled on involves cap-turing quick bursts of action athigh frame rates. “The hair andbody motion looks most like it’sunderwater at 400 to 500 fps — oreven 700 fps,” says Pope. “But atthat speed, it’s hard to act fastenough to move the narrative, sowe’ve ended up shooting between200 and 400 fps.” (Months later,speaking by phone, visual-effectssupervisor and 2nd-unit directorStu Maschwitz recalls, “The actorsneeded to learn the mysterious art

Bill Pope, ASC and director Frank Miller use digital tools and old-school tricks to bring a comic-book hero to life for The Spirit.

by Jon D. Witmer

Unit photography by Lewis Jacobs

Dead ReckoningDead Reckoning

The entire dry-for-wet effectis put to the test in a take that lastsno more than a few seconds: withair movers attacking the actors fromall sides, King (playing the sirenLorelei Rox) leaps in the air, kicksher legs and shakes her hair whileMacht (playing The Spirit) throwshimself forward in a belly flop. Thewhole thing lacks a certain grace, tosay the least, until the PhantomHD’s footage is played back.Suddenly, both actors appear to besuspended in the depths, hair andclothes swirling around them.Maschwitz shouts in excitementfrom behind the monitor, and it allclicks. Poetry.

of 500-fps acting. The great thingabout the Phantom was that wecould instantly show them play-back in beautiful slow motion onan HD monitor, and they could seethat one little flick of an eye couldturn into an incredible moment.”)

With the help of gaffer John“Fest” Sandau, Pope bolsters theunderwater atmosphere with “lightprojectors with patterns wethought looked like water,” says thecinematographer. “John poundedlights into reflecting boards andMylar, which we shook around tomake some sparkle. You can do thedumbest stuff in the world, andwhen you’re filming at 400 fps, sud-denly you’re a poet.”

The projectors, manufac-tured by Rosco, were “the simplestof all the ones we tested,” saysSandau. “Two wheels rotate infront of a light. You can put differ-ent lenses on it to get a tighter pat-tern with more throw or a widerpattern with less distance. [Keygrip] Tony Mazzucchi and his crewrigged a pipe to hang off the bot-tom of a Condor, and we hungeight of these fixtures off that.They’re DMX-controllable, andwhen we needed the extra stop forhigh speed, we’d have three or fourhitting the same space, and whenwe didn’t need the speed, we couldspread them out to cover a biggerarea. I think it’s the best water effectI’ve ever seen.”


Pulp Sensibilities“I’m a cartoonist,” says Miller.

“I believe in comic-book storiesthat are fun to draw and fun towrite.” Outside of Miller’s ownwork, there is perhaps no betterexample of such a story than TheSpirit, created by Will Eisner in aweekly series that ran from 1940-1952. Miller and Eisner were closefriends until Eisner’s death, in 2005,and Miller notes, “Will’s influenceon my work was seminal. His stuffwas advanced beyond anything I’dever seen before.” Over a career thatspanned roughly six decades, Eisnerpushed the limits of sequential art,challenging how stories could betold and ultimately ushering in the

Opposite: TheSpirit (GabrielMacht) watchesover Central City.This page, above:Ellen Dolan (SarahPaulson) consolesher father, PoliceCommissionerDolan (Dan Lauria).Below left:Director FrankMiller’s graphicsensibilitiespunctuate TheOctopus’ (SamuelL. Jackson)reaction to TheSpirit’s war oncrime. Below right:Miller (in black)explains his visionto cinematographerBill Pope, ASC.

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Lio

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42 February 2009

Dead Reckoninglong-form “graphic novel.”

Given that legacy, Miller hesi-tated when he was first approachedabout a film version of The Spirit. “Itook three minutes to say,‘Absolutely not!’” he recalls. “Then Irealized I couldn’t let anybody elsetouch it, that my understanding ofthe material was probably deeperthan almost anybody’s. Then I wasready to direct the movie.”

Taking a few cosmetic liber-ties, the film follows Eisner’s mask-,fedora- and red-tie-sporting herofrom his origin as Denny Colt, anidealistic cop who becomes a vigi-lante when he wakes up, quite alive,after being murdered. The Spiritwages his two-fisted war on crimealongside Police CommissionerDolan (Dan Lauria), and together,they go after the king of criminals,The Octopus (Samuel L. Jackson).

The Spirit marks Miller andPope’s first collaboration, but it wasnot the first time their paths hadcrossed. Pope, a longtime fan ofMiller’s comics, explains, “I still havea comic of Frank’s that I boughtwhen he did signings at [LosAngeles comic shop] Golden Applein the Eighties. It’s been read somany times it’s totally worn out.When I got the call [for The Spirit],there was never any doubt; I had todo it.” Asked why he approachedPope, Miller cites the cinematogra-pher’s work on Darkman (1990). “Ithought that was one of the bestsuperhero movies ever made,” hesays. “It had a real pulp sensibility.”

Likewise, The Spirit’s big-screen adventure bears many a pulphallmark, not least a supporting castof femmes fatale. Borrowing freelyfrom Eisner’s work, Miller’s screen-play incorporates Silken Floss(Scarlett Johansson), Sand Saref(Eva Mendes), Plaster of Paris (PazVega) and the Commissioner’sdaughter, Ellen Dolan (SarahPaulson). “Bill’s got a great eye formaking women look beautiful,” saysSandau. “He’s very much a soft-light

To capture TheSpirit’s underwater

encounter withLorelei Rox (Jaime

King), thefilmmakers utilized

a “dry-for-wet”technique that

involved blastingthe actors with

air movers whilerecording at speeds

of 200-400 fps witha Phantom HD high-speed camera. The

water effect wasfurther emphasized

with Rosco lightprojectors

suspended fromCondors.

Left: A 20'x20'section of floorwas constructedfor The Spirit’slair beneathWildwoodCemetery, andthe shadow fromthe overheadwindow framewas achievedpractically usinga 20K Fresneland a massiveframe withadjustable slats.Below: Whilemost of the filmwas shot againstgreenscreen,certain scenes— such as thoseset inside SandSaref’s (EvaMendes) hotelroom — wereshot againstblack.

guy, and he’s very careful aboutmaking sure both eyes are lit. Weused the Kino Flo BarFly quite a bit;it’s a small fixture with a lot ofpunch that works as a really niceeyelight.” Pope took his “glamourwork” even further in the digitalgrade, which he describes as “abodacious, stylistic leap into theMiller and Eisner world. Theyromanticize women to a majordegree, so we decided to go with theMGM-circa-1934 look — thewomen are diffused and everythingelse is sharp. People will either hateus or laugh with us.”

Stage Plays“With digital technology, I

feel we can recapture what film-makers like Orson Welles and FritzLang did — we can create very starkwork that is not based on the waythings really look,” says Miller.“Instead, it’s based on what’s insidethe director’s and animators’heads.” As was done on Sin City and300 (AC April ’07), two recent adap-tations of his comic-book work,Miller decided to craft The Spirit’slook by shooting largely againstgreenscreen and creating environ-ments in post. The Spirit’s green

world spilled across stages 7 and 8 atAlbuquerque Studios, with thelargest of the greenscreens runningthe length of a stage and reaching upsome 40' toward the perms. To lightthe screens, Sandau’s crew set up topand bottom rows of Kino Flo Image80s, plus a row of Kino FloParaBeam 400s and 200s to fill in agreen “cove” that obscured the bot-tom row of Image 80s from thecamera’s view. “I think we ultimate-ly ended up with about 260 fix-

tures,” says the gaffer. All the KinoFlos illuminating the greenscreenwere fitted with green tubes andrun through a dimmer board.Sandau explains, “At times wewould just need two tubes on eachfixture to get a correct level on thegreen, but when we did off-speedstuff, we could bring up eight tubestop and bottom to get a higher levelof exposure.”

“It’s almost like a stage play,where you do weeks of rehearsal


and then build a set around thatrehearsal,” says Pope of working inthe green environment. “We werefree to consult and improvise.” Themethod was stretched to its limits ina long walk-and-talk sequence thatfollows The Spirit, CommissionerDolan and Officer Morgenstern(Stana Katic) through the daytimestreets of Central City. During theirwalk, Pope explains, “they

encounter a reporter, constructionworkers and girls in an ice-creamparlor yelling for The Spirit’s auto-graph. Cabs pass by and almost runthem over. And almost none of thisexisted [onstage] except the peo-ple.”

“We put green tape down onthe green floor and told the actorsthat’s where they could walk,”explains Sandau. “To make it looklike sunlight, we put 20Ks and 10Kson Condors, and we softened thema bit. We sometimes had twoCondors and let it get a little darkerbetween them, as though the actorswere walking through the shadowof a building. We also hadFinnLight Toplights to give us anoverall ambience. The Toplights usesix Par 64 globes, and we usedmedium and wide beam 1,000-wattglobes. We used those instead ofspace lights because they’re moreefficient, have a lot more punch andare built with two frame holders;you can double-diffuse them andthen hang a larger frame below tomake a soft, almost non-directionallight.”

In an effort to simplify thepost pipeline and give the visual-effects team (comprising 10 ven-dors from multiple countries) a leg

up on their work, the filmmakersdecided early on to establish an all-digital workflow that began withPanavision’s Genesis high-defini-tion-video camera. Both Pope andMaschwitz had previous experiencewith the camera. “If you really con-trol the lighting, the Genesis pro-duces amazing results that can beseamlessly dropped into the digitalworkflow,” notes Maschwitz.

Because the Genesis has a topspeed of 50 fps, another camera wasneeded for the high-speedsequences. “We felt the PhantomHD had the best shot at holding upnext to the Genesis,” saysMaschwitz. “It has the same sizechip, so we could use the same lens-es and get the same focal lengths.”The Phantom comes standard witha PL mount, so the production’scamera (rented from Abel CineTech) was fitted with a Panavisionmount to accept Primo primes(provided by Panavision WoodlandHills).

Despite sharing compatible1920x1080 sensor sizes, the Genesis’sensor comprises a 12.4-megapixelCCD array, whereas the PhantomHD incorporates a CMOS imager.Further differences abound between

44 February 2009

Dead Reckoning“If somebody

touches it, it’sgot to be real,”

says Pope.Accordingly,

this revolvingdoor was builtonstage, whilethe rest of thebuilding wasfabricated in

post. GafferJohn Sandauestablished a

daytimeambience for

the scene withan overhead rig

comprisingdiffused

FinnLightToplights.

(continued on page 48)

46 February 2009

Pope (seated on dolly)

captures asprawling walk-

and-talksequence

onstage inAlbuquerque

Studios. LookEffects laterconstructed

the actors’surroundings

under theguidance of

visual-effectssupervisor Stu

Maschwitz.

The Spirit’s Central City has alwaysbeen a thinly disguised substitutefor Manhattan, so it’s no wonder

director Frank Miller describes thesetting of his film as “a combinationof my and Will Eisner’s versions ofNew York City.” Because principalphotography happened entirelyonstage, bringing the city to liferequired the efforts of 10 visual-effects vendors across NorthAmerica and Australia: TheOrphanage, Riot, DigitalDimension, Fuel VFX, Furious FX,Ollin Studio, Entity FX, Rising SunPictures, Cinesoup and Look Effects.

All vendors were kept on thesame page at The Orphanage, wherevisual-effects supervisor StuMaschwitz and his collaborators“did EDL-based ingest of SR tape[recorded from the PanavisionGenesis] and got 10-bit DPX out theother end,” he says. “That’s how theentire movie made its way from tapeto our Nucoda Film Master system.Everything we shot became a DPXsequence.”

A somewhat more circuitousworkflow had to be devised for theVision Research Phantom HD cam-era, which records a bayer-patternimage in a .cin file. In a documentMaschwitz drafted for the vendorsabout the workflow, he explained,

“These .cin files were converted to.dng sequences at The Orphanageand then converted to 10-bit DPXusing Adobe After Effects. This wasdone to take advantage of thePhotoshop/Lightroom raw conver-sion algorithms, which were testedto perform better than VisionResearch’s own de-bayering soft-ware.”

The 10-page workflow docu-ment provided the visual-effectshouses with step-by-step instruc-tions for creating their own 10-bitDPX deliverables in the Cineon logformat and replicating the LUT thefilmmakers viewed on set.Maschwitz wrote, “All principalphotography was monitored inRec709 HD video through a high-contrast, low-saturation LUTknown as ‘Mash4.’ The Mash4 LUTcontains subjective color correction,a film-print preview and a conver-sion to video space.”

“I determined that The Spiritwas a neighborhood’s hero,” saysMiller. “If you have a workingknowledge of Manhattan, you’ll findthat from Jane Street to HoustonStreet is Central City.” Building thatneighborhood for a daytime walk-and-talk that follows The Spirit(Gabriel Macht), CommissionerDolan (Dan Lauria) and Officer

Morgenstern (Stana Katic) downstreets, sidewalks and alleyways fellto the crew at Look Effects, led byvisual-effects supervisor Max Ivinsand visual-effects producer MelinkaThompson-Godoy.

Look’s workflow is usuallybased around Apple’s Shake soft-ware, but the team opted to workprimarily in Adobe After Effects forThe Spirit to more easily integratewith Maschwitz’s After Effects-cen-tric operation at The Orphanage.“Maya was the primary software weused for all of the 3-D tracking ren-dering,” notes Ivins. “Tracking wasdone in several packages, includingBoujou and PFTrack, and Maya forhand tracking.

“Because [the walk-and-talk]covers so much ground, you lose alot of the tracking markers,” he con-tinues. “So we pre-processed almostevery background with a method ofextracting the contrast from thegreenscreen; we were tracking thecorners, the edges and sometimesthe surface and the seams of thegreenscreen. We put that throughour 3-D tracking software and pret-ty much tracked without trackingmarkers. Figuring that out saved ushours. There were only a couple ofshots we had to hand-track.”

Simultaneous to the tracking,Look’s artists expanded the concep-tual environments created in-houseby Peter Lloyd or provided by TheOrphanage, and then projectedrough geometry onto the scene totest the accuracy of the tracks.Throughout the process, the Lookteam confabbed regularly withMaschwitz via CineSync, a remotereview and approval programenabling live, real-time interactionwith the footage (Post Focus, AC July’08).

As Central City took definiteshape, the lighting captured onstagewas tweaked to fit the actors’ newsurroundings. “There are a lot ofsubtle color corrections and shiftingof levels to get everything right for

Building Central City


the environment,” says Ivins. “Wework with what we’re given, but wealso end up doing a lot of 2-D [cor-rection].” This included darkeningthe actors when they step into a dig-itally fabricated alley, for example.

Atmosphere is everything inCentral City, and in addition to cre-ating a subtle haze to obfuscatebackground layers, the Look teamwas tasked with a night scene featur-ing The Octopus (Samuel L.Jackson), one of his goons and aflurry of snowflakes. Thompson-Godoy recounts, “Stu wanted thesnow to fall photorealistically. Heactually went to New York and shotphotos of snow against streetlights,and they proved to be a really valu-able reference.”

Part of the sequence involveda split-diopter effect, which requiredcompletely different treatment ofeach flake as it crossed from one sideof the split to the other. “It goes frombeing a little flake of snow to being abig, out-of-focus flake when it cross-es that line,” says Thompson-Godoy.“And the snow had to interact withthe people — it couldn’t look likeshining objects when it crossedthem. We had to finesse how brightthe snowflake was on the person’sbody versus on his face.”

While all of the vendorsworked with identical Mash4 LUTsas a reference, everyone delivereduncorrected, raw 1920x1080 images.Then, the LUT was re-applied inThe Orphanage’s Nucoda FilmMaster, and all of the shots werehard-matted to 1920x818 for exhibi-tion in the 2.40:1 aspect ratio.

Considering everything theLook team had to master for thewalk-and-talk sequence, Ivinsmuses, “We took something infinite-ly complex and tried to reproduce it— you’ve got shadows, reflections,depth of field and atmosphere. Itmakes you appreciate how compli-cated the real world is.”

— Jon D. Witmer

Top: A frame grab from the sequence as originally recorded with Panavision’s Genesis.Middle: The frame with the high-contrast, low-saturation Mash4 LUT applied. Bottom:The composite frame with Look’s background before the Mash4 was reapplied.

Fram

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the two systems. “Panavision hasfocused on capturing the broadestdynamic range to satisfy cine-matographers’ need for exposure,”says Maschwitz. “You can put amattebox on the Phantom, but it’sstill been designed to do ballistic-impact analysis.”

To bring the cameras closertogether and allow the filmmakersto see an image “that would mimicthe high-contrast world of FrankMiller as much as possible,” saysPope, look-up tables were devel-oped for both cameras that could beapplied in real time on the set.(Although the LUTs were visible onthe monitors, footage from bothcameras was recorded raw for fullflexibility in post; see sidebar onpage 46.) Maschwitz explains,“Because the Phantom doesn’t have

the same dynamic range [as theGenesis], it required its own treat-ment, and we eventually figured outa LUT that worked. The LUTs forboth cameras actually suppressedgreen to various colors, mostly gray.We also had a version that couldturn anything green into white andanything not green into black, and itcould take anything red and make itpure red. We could put Gabriel infront of a greenscreen, and on themonitor we’d see a black silhouettewith a bright red tie — you couldsee a Frank Miller drawing in realtime!” (The LUT also included aKodak Vision 2383 film-print emu-lation.)

Pope says he had no majorproblems with either camera systemduring the shoot, but he notes onedrawback to shooting digitally ingeneral: having to retire to a

blacked-out tent to check his image.“Once you’re in that tent, you’re onelevel removed, and you can makemistakes because you’re not connect-ed with reality. A cinematographer’sjob is to run the set, dance with theactors, dance with the director andmake things happen. When you stickyourself in a tent, you become likethose directors who just stare at themonitor and never get out of thechair — you’re not doing your job.

“When someone comes upwith a digital camera that lets me seethe LUT in the eyepiece, I will agreethat it’s equal to working with film.”

Practical Solutions“Too often, I feel overloaded

with color when I’m watching amovie,” says Miller. “Everything’stutti-frutti. And since I think like acartoonist, I tend to color like one.”

“We wanted this to be a black-and-white movie, but Frank definite-ly wanted the tie to be red,” notesPope, standing in his office insideAlbuquerque Studios and waiting forthe call after lunch. “So I said, ‘Ifwe’re going to have a color, it needsto have a thematic thread.’”Accordingly, the hero’s red tie servesas a reminder of the blood spilledwhen Colt was murdered and TheSpirit was born. “When bad thingsare happening, when there’s a splashof emotion, red plays a part,” saysPope.

Emphasizing the red tie calledfor some clever tricks, but Maschwitznotes that it was always pho-tographed practically — it was nevera CG fabrication. When the film-makers really wanted the tie to pop,he says, “we puppeteered a fluores-cent tie from off-camera usingmonofilament line, and we had anultraviolet light hitting it. That gaveus the foundation for some abstract-ing and some rotoscoping to get theposterized color effect.” The Spirit’sblack-and-white Chuck Taylor ten-nis shoes were similarly treated witha fluorescent paint to make the

Dead Reckoning

48 February 2009

Macht andJackson spent

days tussling inan actual mud

pit. Sandauexplains, “Wehad FinnLight

Toplightsoverhead to

provide someambience and

give the mudsome highlights,

and we had20Ks and 10Ks

through bigframes off to thesides. When we

needed to getmore light to

someone’s face,we used whatwe called the

projectionsoftbox —

basically a 2Kwith a 2- to

3-foot snoot anddiffusion. It’ssoft light, but

it’s verycontrollable.”

(continued from page 45)

treads pop in select scenes. Sandau used the UV-and-flu-

orescent trick on Sin City. “Altman,a theatrical-lighting company,makes a couple of UV fixtures thathave nice projection, but they burnan HMI-type globe and don’t have aflicker-free mode, so when we didhigh-speed, we put 4-foot UV tubesinto standard Kino Flo four-bankfixtures. The second unit used theKinos almost exclusively.” (BobFinley, a longtime collaborator ofPope’s, was the 2nd-unit director ofphotography.)

The filmmakers did not cre-ate CG actors and shot all stunts in-camera. According to Pope, therewas also a hard-and-fast rule forphysical elements shot onstage: “Ifsomebody touches it, it’s got to bereal. That’s something Stu learnedon Sin City, and it was something Ireally wanted.

“We had a movable swampon rollers with grass all over it, andwe rolled it from stage to stage,” hecontinues. The set piece makes animportant appearance when Dolanmeets The Spirit on Central City’soutskirts. A corpse lies in the grass,visible behind the two characters,whose conversation grows in vol-ume as tempers flare. The scene is“basically lit with one light,” saysPope. “The cops have pulled up andturned on their headlights [simulat-ed with Mole-Richardson SinglePars]. I told the actors, ‘Here’s yourlight. When you turn your faceaway, it looks like you’re brooding,and when you turn toward the light,it looks like you’re opening up.’ Ilook at that scene now and think it’sthe best scene in the movie, and it’sbecause the actors ran with it. Therewas nothing there, just that littlepatch of grass in the distance with abody on it. But Dan and Gabrielmade it very special.”

A handful of scenes incorpo-rated black or white backdrops.“Well-planned rotoscoping is some-times more efficient than less-than-

perfect greenscreen, and green-screens are always less than perfect,”says Maschwitz. “Diaphanousmaterial — which appears in a lotof Eva’s wardrobe — gets exponen-tially more complicated whenyou’re trying to extract it from 12different shades of green. So occa-sionally, we shot on black — some-times black-for-black, sometimesblack to replace later.”

After waking from the dead,The Spirit makes his home inWildwood Cemetery, and Poperecalls shooting inside the hero’slair with almost no greenscreen.“We had a 20-by-20-foot floorbecause we wanted that texture,and we hung black drapes allaround,” he says. As The Spirit

crosses the floor, he walks through ashadow cast by a window frame faroverhead. To achieve the effectpractically, Sandau’s crew “hung a20K with a Fresnel lens in it almostto the perms, and then we had acookie as close to the actor as wecould get it,” says the gaffer. “Theframe was probably 30-by-20 andhung by chain motors from the ceil-ing. We could move these big piecesof wood around and adjust theangle of the slats running throughit.”

Another example of a practi-cal solution employed onstageinvolves the lead-in to a flashbackthat unravels the history betweenDenny Colt and Sand Saref. As TheSpirit walks along the waterfront, a

A series offlashbacksreveal thehistory betweenDenny Colt(a.k.a. The Spirit,played in hisyouth by JohnnySimmons) andSand Saref(played here bySeychelleGabriel). ½Straw and anamber gel werecombined tocreate a sunseteffect thatSandau andPope called the“Miller Time”look, referring tothe classic beercommercials.


lighthouse beacon flares the lensand serves to segue into the past.Sandau recalls, “On the set, this ideapops up out of thin air: ‘Hey, let’s doa lighthouse!’ So I thought of abeam projector we’d set up forsomething else, and one of my guysgot up on a ladder and just pannedit in. That became a regular piecewhenever we did the waterfront.

Most of the time, it was a Mole-Richardson 2K beam projector,which has no Fresnel and a set ofconcentric rings to focus the light ina very sharp beam that projectsquite a distance. We also had a 1Kbeam projector for tighter sets. Youjust pan it through, and it really hasthe feel of a lighthouse.”

Picking NitsAfter seeing the finished film,

Pope acknowledges that somescenes don’t quite match the picturehe had in his imagination. Forinstance, when shooting the flash-back to the young Denny Colt andSand Saref (played by JohnnySimmons and Seychelle Gabriel),“the setting sun lit one side of theactors’ faces with golden light, andthe other side was lit cooler, as itwould be at sunset,” he explains.“We were meant to have a scene inwhich the foregrounds, includingthe actors, would be reality-basedand the backgrounds would bemore mannered. Instead, the entirescene came back from the vendorwith a uniformly sepia color, andthe backgrounds were renderedrealistically. It might sound like asubtle distinction, but when littlethings are projected, they aren’t sosubtle anymore.

50

Flanked by The Spirit and

Plaster of Paris(Paz Vega),Maschwitz

steels himselfto give

shape to thegreen void.

Dead Reckoning

“The movie was well done byall in the visual departments, butthere was a learning curve, and Idon’t think [the curve] was ever fin-ished,” he continues. “We set out todo quintessential Frank Millerimages, but to be ultra-Frank, every-thing should look as brazenly stylis-tic as possible. He can suggest anentire alley with just a black line, theedge of bricks and a white gash [oflight] across the character’s face.Instead of that, we ended up withsome super-real backgrounds. It’scloser to Eisner’s work, so it’s partMiller and part Eisner. It’s a hybrid.”

To keep a close eye on thework coming in from the visual-effects houses, Pope visited SanFrancisco during post and sat downin The Orphanage’s “Bunker,” whichMaschwitz describes as “the visual-effects hub of the movie, where[senior visual-effects producer]Nancy St. John and her crew kept it

all organized and I kept it all look-ing right.” The heart of the Bunkercomprises a DI suite built around aNucoda Film Master with 2K pro-jection; there, Maschwitz andAaron Rhodes, the associate visual-effects supervisor and lead colorist,oversaw all 1,966 visual-effectsshots, grading the sequences as theycame in.

The Spirit underwent a finalgrade at Modern VideoFilm, wherePope worked with colorist SkipKimball to “darken the mids overalland make it more contrasty,” saysthe cinematographer. “In the end,some wanted a little more skin tonein the actors’ faces than I cared for;I liked it colder and closer to black-and-white, but they wanted it to bemore reality-based, so there wasthat compromise.”

All parties involved — Popeincluded — are proud of theiraccomplishments, and Miller seems

to hit the nail on the head when hesays, “What I really wanted to cap-ture was the absolute enthusiasmand verve Eisner brought to TheSpirit. We’ve got a panoply of digitaleffects, but the movie isn’t cluttered.It’s focused on the story and thehero.” �

TECHNICAL SPECS

2.40:1

High-Definition Video

Panavision Genesis, VisionResearch Phantom HD

Primo lenses



51

52 February 2009

Since shooting the 1988 char-acter piece The AccidentalTourist in anamorphic 35mmfor director Lawrence Kasdan(AC Nov. ’88), John Bailey,

ASC has favored the widescreen for-mat for dramas both large andsmall. Several years ago, he took thelead in lobbying Panavision todevelop new anamorphic lenses,and in 2006, the company respond-ed with the Anamorphic Wide-Angle Zoom lens, the AWZ2 40-80mm (T2.8), dubbed “The BaileyZoom.” This was followed by theAnamorphic Telephoto Zoom, ATZ70-200mm (T3.5), and by a new setof prime lenses, the G-Series.

AC recently caught up withBailey to discuss his latest anamorphicpicture, the new ensemble comedy He’sJust Not That Into You. Directed by KenKwapis, the film is based on the best-selling book by Sex & The City writerGreg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo.

American Cinematographer:After you wrapped He’s Just Not ThatInto You, you used anamorphic againon two comparatively low-budget fea-tures, The Greatest and BriefInterviews With Hideous Men. Do youbelieve anamorphic is now feasible forany genre and any budget?

John Bailey, ASC: Panavision issupporting anamorphic again in a way

EmbracingAnamorphic

John Bailey, ASCtakes full advantageof the widescreen

format on theromantic comedyHe’s Just Not That

Into You.

by Patricia Thomson

Unit photography by Darren Michaels

more controlled frame as part of theaesthetic.

One of the great things aboutanamorphic is that you don’t have tocut as much. When you’re stagingactors, you can give them a largerfield across the frame to work in. Forshots with three or four actors, youdon’t have to be as wide to holdthem all in the frame; you can do amedium shot. In 1.85:1 or 16x9video, you might have that wideframe for just a second, but it wouldbe too wide to hold for any length oftime, so you’d need to cut in for cov-erage.

For He’s Just Not That IntoYou, you had to argue the case foranamorphic through several layersof executives at New Line. Whatargument did you make?

Bailey: This movie is anensemble piece with intercut, paral-

it wasn’t a decade ago. The develop-ment of these new anamorphiczoom lenses and the G-Seriesprimes has totally revitalized theformat, especially for young cine-matographers who’d been wary ofthe system because of the lenses’limitations or because they’d onlyshot video in film school. A lot ofyounger cinematographers areembracing it now.

Because of the wider aspectratio and horizontal stability, Iwould say anamorphic does notlend itself so freely to a verité style,but that has to be qualified becauseLars von Trier and Robby Müller[BVK] shot video with an anamor-phic attachment on Breaking theWaves, and that was very documen-tary in style. But by and large, whenyou decide to shoot a film inanamorphic, you’re accepting a


lel stories of five women and themen in their lives. We have certainscenes where many of them are inan office or a personal environmenttogether. I felt the wider aspect ratiowould allow us to be intimate withthem yet keep them together in thesame shot in a way that was moreaccommodating than 1.85:1. One ofthe things I love about anamorphicin a character-driven film is that youuse much longer lenses than you’duse in a spherical format, and thatgives you more control of the back-ground. Being able to throw thebackground out of focus really helpsyou be present with the actor. Withboth 1.85:1 and Super 35mm, yousometimes have background infocus way beyond what you want;that’s also one of the great problemswith high-definition video, ofcourse. Now, if that’s what you want,

Opposite: Anna(ScarlettJohansson) andConor (KevinConnolly) sharea reflectivemoment thanksto a mirrorstrategicallypositioned at thefar-right edge ofthe anamorphicframe. This page,top: A shot ofMary (DrewBarrymore)illustratesanamorphic’sshallow depth of field. “One of the things Ilove aboutanamorphic in acharacter-drivenfilm is that youuse much longerlenses thanyou’d use in aspherical format,and that givesyou more controlof thebackground,”sayscinematographerJohn Bailey,ASC. “Being ableto throw thebackground outof focus reallyhelps you bepresent with theactor.” Bottomleft: Bailey atwork. Bottomright, left to right:Gigi (GinniferGoodwin), Beth(JenniferAniston) andJanine (JenniferConnelly) banterduring animpromptumeeting.

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54 February 2009

Embracing Anamorphic

that’s terrific, but for the films I do,once I establish the environment, Ireally want to concentrate on theintimacy of the performances.Anamorphic is perfect for that.

Tell us how you convincedPanavision to prioritize anamor-phic-lens development in recentyears.

Bailey: It took me 10 years to

persuade them to build the first lens.I approached Phil Radin atPanavision in 1993, after I’d finishedIn the Line of Fire [AC Sept. ’93].That was the first large-scale, multi-camera film I’d done in anamor-phic, and I felt very compromised bythe number of lenses available andhow mismatched they were. I toldPhil that Panavision should design a

higher-speed, short-range zoom; atthe time, the existing [zoom] was an11:1 48-520mm, which was a T4.5,and it was very soft. You didn’t dareshoot it at anything less than a T6.3,which is absolutely impractical foran interior. I told Phil, ‘I don’t careabout having a long-range zoom. Ijust need something for masters andmedium shots to get me from one tothe other.’ I don’t like to use a bigzoom for anything; I’ve never need-ed a 10:1 because I just don’t domoves like that. I needed somethingthat would allow me to move from awide master shot into somethingtight enough that would be cuttablefor the coverage. I also wanted to beable to make a slight size adjustmenton the zoom without having tomove the dolly and change marks.

Phil did what he could, but atthat time, Panavision was goingthrough a turnover in ownership.Shortly after that, they made thedecision to get in bed with GeorgeLucas and Sony, and all the develop-ment money was devoted toPanavising the Sony HDW-F900.

One night, I was talking aboutanamorphic at a SMPTE meeting,and I called Panavision out. I said,‘Panavision was founded by BobGottschalk and Richard Moore[ASC] as an anamorphic-lens sys-tem, and if Bob were alive today,he’d kick the ass of every one of you

Right: Mary warnsAnna about the

hazards of dating.Bailey used a

prototype ofPanavision’s 70-

200mm AnamorphicTelephoto Zoom to

dolly across theaisle and move into

a close-up ofBarrymore. “That

was a very specificshot I would not

have been able to dowith any otherlens,” he says.

“Subsequently, a lotof the moves fromover-the-shoulder

into a single or froma three-shot into a

tight over were donewith that lens.”

Below, top photo:Gigi and Conor

share a meal in arestaurant with

stylish designelements shown off

to full effect. Bottomphoto: Neil (Ben

Affleck) and Bethhave a heart-to-

heart talk.

another. It makes for much moreeven-looking dailies.

Phil says Panavision is havinga very difficult time supplyingenough of these lenses to meetdemand. They’re rented almost allthe time. There is no anamorphic-lens system in the world that is asgood as Panavision’s, and this hasbeen a real boost for them.


who has abandoned your foundingmandate!’ I think I finally shamedthem, and they started to thinkabout it seriously. It still took anoth-er couple of years, and Phil Radinwas my ally all the way.

The first new lens was the 40-80mm, and even though the range isonly 2:1, I found it very useful. Then,about a year and a half ago, I wentback to Phil and said coverage wasstill an issue; from the medium shotsto the close-ups, I still had to usefixed lenses, and the Primos only goup to 100mm, so I had to use the oldE-Series lenses. There was only a135mm and a 180mm — nothing inbetween. I said, ‘Is it possible tomake a second lens that would coverfrom where the first lens ends andtake me up into a real close-uprange?’ They then came up with the70-200mm, which actually goes a lit-tle bit wider as it ties into the 40-80mm. It’s about 2⁄3 of a stop slower,but it’s still very doable for most sit-uations. Both lenses have theanamorphic lens element in front,so there’s much less loss of light.

Shooting anamorphic is nowmore like working with sphericallenses. The optical quality of both ofthese lenses is really extraordinary.The 70-200mm has as good a reso-lution and color rendition as anyprime I’ve used, and, of course,because it’s one lens, you don’t havethe color shifts you get when youchange from one fixed lens to

Barrymore andJohannson runthrough theirlines for directorKen Kwapis,who opted tostage the sceneas a dolly move(note tracks onfloor).

�

56 February 2009


On He’s Just Not That IntoYou, what kinds of situations wereappropriate for the wide-anglezooms?

Bailey: When we started pro-duction [in fall 2007], the 70-200mm prototype was still beingbuilt, and it wasn’t ready for our firstweek. There’s a scene in which DrewBarrymore and Scarlett Johanssonare wandering through the aisles ina drugstore, and Drew is checkingout different sprays and talkingabout the hazards of dating. Thecamera dollies across the aisle andthen does a slow push-in on her.

That move — across and in to aclose-up — was to be done in oneshot. Ken Kwapis and I had beenplanning the day’s shoot to get thatone shot, and we had to keep shoot-ing around it because we were liter-ally waiting for Phil to bring theprototype lens from Panavision. Wehad the dolly tracks laid, and I’d laidout the shot with my finder. As soonas Phil showed up, we slapped thelens on the camera and did the shot.That was a very specific shot I wouldnot have been able to do with anyother lens — I wasn’t able to movethe camera in close enough on the

dolly to get that shot. Subsequently,a lot of the moves from over-the-shoulder into a single, or from athree-shot into a tight over, weredone with that lens.

How would you have shotthis film before these zooms existed?

Bailey: We would have had tolay a lot more dolly track, make cor-rections on the track, or re-mark theactors a lot more. As actors workfrom take to take, their naturalinstincts tend to bring them in clos-er to each other, but it’s not so easyto make a correction if you’ve gotdolly moves along a fixed path onrails and are on a fixed lens, so youtend to get sloppier, looser composi-tions. You don’t want to change theactors’ marks because they’ve got therhythm of where they’re playing.With the short-range zoom lenses, Ijust ask the operator to tighten thecomposition by 5-10mm. That’sbeen very helpful in maintaining theintimacy and integrity of the com-positions we originally set up.

Also, the zooms are quicker. Ifyou’re using fixed lenses, you have totake out the matte box, take out thelens, put on another lens, change thedonut and the lens rods. It’s not thatit takes so much time, but at times, itcan break the actor’s flow. When Iwant to keep the dramatic focustogether, having the ability to changefocal lengths without changing lens-es makes a big difference.

How did you approach thenight scenes?

Bailey: On most night streetlocations, I was working at a T2.8 orT3 with the 40-80mm. When I gotin close for coverage with the longerlenses, I’d add a bit of supplementallight and build it up to a T3.5. Or, ifI were in a real problem, I would justforce-develop a stop — there arefour or five shots that were force-developed. My normal rating is veryconservative; I overexpose by abouthalf a stop, anyway.

In the scene in the drugstore,

Above: Alex(Justin Long)

shares hisbartender’s

wisdom withGigi. Below:

Bailey (far left,in white shirt)

surveys the setwhile Kwapis

(wearingheadphones)confers with

his cast.

we were shooting at a T4-4.2 usingthe 70-200mm, which is a T3.5 lens.Panavision originally hoped itwould be a T3 or even T3.2, but itdidn’t work out that fast. But it’s fine.The great thing about shooting fullaperture, which you do withanamorphic, is your field of infor-mation is so large that even whenyou force-develop a stop, you’ve gotvery high-quality images.

Did you keep the zoom lens-es on the camera most of the time?

Bailey: Our lenses includedsome Primos, a few E-Series and C-Series lenses and a 3:1 [270-840mm]zoom, but the two new zooms are sogood I kept them on almost all thetime. I switched back and forth fromone to the other. Keeping the samelens on not only saves time, but alsoeliminates the question of having tomatch lenses. Your shot-to-shotcolor and density balance is perfect.I didn’t feel at all compromised interms of the resolution of the lenses.In fact, I think the 70-200mm issharper than most prime lenses. Ialmost always put some diffusion onit! If I were doing an action film, I’dprobably shoot it straight, but forwomen, I always put slight diffusionon it — black nets or [Tiffen] WhitePro-Mists or a combination of thetwo. If you use the right diffusion,you can cut the edge without mak-ing the lens seem soft.

Have any other develop-ments bolstered the viability ofanamorphic in recent years?

Bailey: Kodak’s Vision2 stockshave made a huge difference. Youhave that extra speed and finer grainand can force-develop withoutbeing compromised. Also, theadvances made in intermediatestocks are absolutely fantastic. WhenI’m doing an A-B, trying to matchquality between a print from theoriginal negative and a fourth-gen-eration release print, they’re veryclose. You don’t have the loss in qual-ity from answer print to release printthat you used to have. [email protected]

[email protected]

SI-2K Digital Cinema Camera

Thank YouDir. Danny Boyle,DoP Anthony Dod Mantleand their team

for using the SI-2K Mini in the challenging project to intercut digital and celluloid captured images for the splendid feature film Slumdog Millionaire.

© Anthony Dod Mantle

© Pille Film Rental | www.pillefilm.de

57

�

You did a digital intermedi-ate on He’s Just Not That Into You,and you’ve written in these pagesthat you’re not a fan of the DIprocess. How was your experience?

Bailey: New Line told uswhen we were in prep that we couldfinish photochemically, but they

changed that right at the pointwhere we would have been startingthe process. Because the film isanamorphic and had a very highlyresolved image, Ken and I arguedthat we should not be forced to do aDI — particularly a 2K DI — butNew Line made us do it.

The matter was further com-plicated by the fact that I was in NewYork on another film when the timecame to do the DI. I had a great dealof support from Ken, from [colorist]Stefan Sonnenfeld at Company 3,and from our New Line executive,Rick Reynolds, but I was still 2,500miles away. I flew to Santa Monicaon the weekends to look at what hadbeen done and give notes, but I ulti-mately had very little control. Stefanand Ken did a really good job, andI’m happy with their work, but thefilm still doesn’t look the way itwould have if we’d finished it onfilm. For instance, I feel the gammais a little flatter somehow; it shouldhave had a more dramatic look.Company 3 has a wonderful process,but I feel that a negative [struckfrom] a DI doesn’t have the sameluminosity or transparency that afilm-to-film finish has — and it cer-tainly doesn’t have the resolution!

58

The crew sets up tocapture a

sailboatsequence with

Affleck and co-star Bradley

Cooper.


I’m looking at a print from a 2Kvideo master, and I’d say the original35mm anamorphic negative isequivalent to at least an 8K digitalfile. As far as I’m concerned, using aDI on an anamorphic film is likedown-rezzing your image from35mm to 16mm.

Even though I’m not able todo the power windows and second-ary color-control when I answer-print on film, there’s a satisfaction Ihave in maintaining the workflowon film all the way through. Everytime I’ve done a DI, no matter howgood the colorist is, I feel an increas-

ing disconnect. When I shoot,answer-print and release on film, Ifeel a more immediate connectionwith my work, and for me, that’svery important. �

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59

Donald McAlpine, ASC, ACS,who will accept the ASCInternational Award thismonth, is truly an interna-tional cinematographer, hav-

ing shot some of the films thatraised Australia’s movie industry toworldwide prominence in the 1970sand, since then, more than twodozen films for Hollywood studios.Two of McAlpine’s feature credits,

Gillian Armstrong’s My BrilliantCareer (1979) and Bruce Beresford’sBreaker Morant (1980), were amongthe well-received films that show-cased the power and beauty comingout of the Australian industry of thetime. Since working on his firstAmerican picture, Paul Mazursky’sTempest (1982), the cinematograph-er has kept busy on a variety of pop-ular Hollywood projects, including

John McTiernan’s Predator (1987;AC Aug. ’87); Phillip Noyce’s PatriotGames (1992; AC June ’92) andClear and Present Danger (1994);Baz Luhrmann’s frenetic Romeo +Juliet (1996) and Moulin Rouge(2001; AC June ’01); and GavinHood’s Wolverine, the upcoming X-Men spinoff.

McAlpine credits his upbring-ing in various parts of rural New

Well-traveled Australian cinematographer Donald McAlpine, ASC, ACS earns the Society’s

International Award.

by Jon Silberg

Citizenof the World

60 February 2009

to Sydney sent his life on anothercourse.

McAlpine took a group ofstudents to visit the headquarters ofthe Australian BroadcastingChannel, the country’s relativelynew network. Fascinated by what hesaw, he inquired about a job. Herecalls, “I had the 16mm camera I’dused to create the film loops, and Isaid, ‘If I capture the end of theworld on film, would you guys buyit?’ They gave me four 100-foot rollsof black-and-white and a sheetexplaining what [images] they need-

South Wales, Australia, with help-ing him develop “an early sense ofopen space and country.” When hisfather contracted tuberculosis andwas sent to a sanatorium, youngDonald began earning money atthe age of 12, doing farm work dur-ing the harvest. The experiencecould have led to an occupation as asharecropper, a common path atthe time, but a life of farming didnot appeal to him. Instead, he usedsome of the money he made to takea four-week boat tour of Europeafter he finished high school. Thatturned into a full year of workingodd jobs in England, France andBelgium. “I found the way to meetpeople and really learn about acountry is through work,” herecalls.

After returning home,McAlpine enrolled in college as aphysical-education and sciencemajor. Several of his teachers werecoaches for Australian teams thatwere preparing to compete in the1956 Olympics, and McAlpinehelped them by shooting 16mmand 8mm film loops of the athletes’performances; such films were apopular teaching tool at the time.Upon graduating, McAlpine beganteaching phys-ed in a high school inrural Parkes, and he had been teach-ing for several years when a field trip

ed to put together a news story. Ishot one about Parkes, a rail townthat was in the process of transfer-ring from steam to diesel, and I gota lot of visually graphic material oflocomotives on turntables.”

ABC used his footage andasked for more, so McAlpine creat-ed a visual essay about the wheatharvest, chartering a plane to makeit as impressive as possible. “The sta-tion loved it because they were try-ing to be a national network, butthey were always short of rural-based material,” he recalls. “I made

Opposite: ASCInternationalAward recipientDonaldMcAlpine, ASC,ACS. This page,above: EwanMcGregor andNicole Kidmanshare a duet inMoulin Rouge(2001), whichbroughtMcAlpine hisfirst ASC andAcademy Awardnominations.Bottom left: Onthe set ofMoulin Rouge,McAlpine (right)watchesplayback withdirector BazLuhrmann andKidman. Bottomright: McAlpineat work onBruceBeresford’sBreaker Morant(1980).


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more money for one of those essaysthan I did for one week of teaching,but it wasn’t just about the money;it was a great ego boost. The head-master eventually told me the workI was doing for ABC was interferingwith my teaching, and he told me tocease and desist. When I called thestation to tell them, they offered mea full-time job. That was all I need-ed to hear! I became an assistantcameraman and then a camera-man.”

That opportunity led to a jobwith Film Australia, a government-supported company that creatededucational films and cinemashorts on 35mm. “We got to travelall over the world,” he recalls. “Itwas very exciting.” McAlpine washappy working at Film Australia,and although the thought of shoot-ing a feature occasionally crossedhis mind, there was very little fea-ture production in Australia in thelate 1960s and early 1970s.Eventually, however, he heard that ayoung director named BruceBeresford was seeking a cinematog-rapher to shoot an outrageouscomedy, The Adventures of BarryMcKenzie (1972). “Bruce’s produc-tion manager was looking at thecore of people shooting 35mmneg,” says McAlpine. “I’d shotshorts and some commercials, andthe production manager asked mefor names of people I thoughtcould shoot a feature. I gave himthree names, and he came back andsaid, ‘Bruce watched their work, buthe also saw a little film you did, andhe’s very interested in having yoube his cinematographer if you’rewilling to leave your job at FilmAustralia.’ I said, ‘Be careful if you’restanding in the doorway!’ Withinweeks, I was in London preparingmy first feature.”

He notes that the era markedthe “rebirth” of the Australian filmindustry, part of a public-relationseffort by the government to addressthe perception that Australia had an

Citizenof theWorldTop to bottom:

McAlpine takesa break with

actor WilliamHolden on the

set of PeterCollinson’s TheEarthling (1980);

thecinematographer

(standing withPolaroid camerain hand) and hiscrew work in a

tight location onBeresford’s The

Club (1980);McAlpine

prepares a shotfor Puberty Blues

(1981), anothercollaboration

with Beresford.

62 February 2009

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image problem. “People thought ofus as a big farm with no industryand no culture,” says McAlpine.“The country did have a thriving[film] industry in the 1920s; theymade wonderful films and kept upwith the change to sound, and inthe 1930s, it was going great guns.Then the Hollywood studiosmoved in and said they wanted tobe a part of it. Everyone thoughtthat was great, but the studiosbought up most of the Australianproduction facilities and closedthem down to prevent competition.Then World War II happened, andthe industry really stopped until1969.”

After shooting two comedieswith Beresford, McAlpine beganshooting four films a year inAustralia. A small group of film-makers was starting to do seriouswork, often focusing on Australia’shistory. When McAlpine shot thedrama The Getting of Wisdom forBeresford, he felt he was taking astep in his own artistic develop-ment. “It was the life story of anAustralian author, sort of a mini MyBrilliant Career, and it was the firsttime I had a chance to shoot beautyinstead of just story.”

My Brilliant Career camenext, and McAlpine’s cameraworkon the lush historical dramabrought him a lot of attention. “Ithink we were trying to find anidentity,” he says of his fellow film-makers Down Under. “A lot of thefilms we were doing were about ourown history, similar to America’sWesterns. It was really us trying totell ourselves as much as anybodyelse that we Australians have anidentity of our own. Everyone [inthe Australian industry] was sort ofthrilled on a whole different levelthan happens today; we had smallcrews, and everybody was workingoutrageous hours and giving theirall. A cinematographer never gotmore than two answer prints, butwe had remarkable people in the lab

and got the very best out of thosetwo prints. We may have been igno-rant about some techniques and notthat efficient, but we were certainlyworking hard.”

Breaker Morant, set duringthe Boer War, was a big productionfor the country at the time, and thereaction it received internationallywas also significant. “It was my firsteight-week shoot — so lavish!”McAlpine recalls with a chuckle. “Ihadn’t done anything on that scale

before. There’s a scene where theBoers attack the fort and the soldiersdefend the door with a machinegun, and I remember Bruce[Beresford] saying, ‘We’ve got toshoot this with seven cameras.’ AndI said, ‘What the hell are you talkingabout?’ I was ignorant about shoot-ing that kind of action. So we got inall the extra cameras for a day, andeverybody had one! We shot thefinale over two dawns, and then we’dcontinue on to about 10 or 11 a.m.

Above: Thecinematographerat work on PaulMazursky’sTempest (1982),“doing what Ihave to do,” henotes wryly.Below: Tempestactors SusanSarandon andJohn Cassavetteswait withMcAlpine onlocation inGreece.


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64 February 2009

Of course, Bruce was right aboutbringing in all the extra cameras!”

When Mazursky began prep-ping Tempest, a fantasy very looselybased on Shakespeare’s TheTempest, it so happened that TheGetting of Wisdom, My BrilliantCareer and Breaker Morant openedsimultaneously in New York.Mazursky was impressed by thelooks of all three films, and he con-tacted McAlpine about Tempest. In

short order, the cinematographerfound himself working with biggercrews and more gear than he’d everhad before. “It’s amazing howaccepting I was of all of that,” herecalls. “I got used to it very quickly.I took it and ran with it!” He even-tually shot three more films forMazursky: Moscow on the Hudson(1984), Down and Out in BeverlyHills (1986) and Moon OverParador (1988).

McAlpine collaborated withNoyce, a fellow Aussie, on the spythrillers Patriot Games and Clearand Present Danger, and the cine-matographer admired Noyce’sability to work on star-drivenblockbusters and keep the focus onstorytelling. “Phil is one of the beststorytellers I’ve ever worked with,”he says. Although McAlpine founda great deal to like about workingin the Hollywood system, heacknowledges that he has encoun-tered what so many creative peoplein Tinseltown must cope with:typecasting. “Hollywood tries totypecast everybody. After Downand Out in Beverly Hills came out,I received four different scripts formovies with dogs! But I’ve alwaystried to do something different. If Ihave to choose between two scriptsI like, I’ll go with the one that’s leastlike something I’ve done before.”

That interest in diversity hasled McAlpine to take on comediessuch as Parenthood (1989) andMrs. Doubtfire (1993), dramas suchas Medicine Man (1992) and TheMan Without a Face (1993), andeffects-heavy fantasies such as PeterPan (2003; AC Jan. ’04) and TheChronicles of Narnia: The Lion, theWitch and the Wardrobe (2005; ACDec. ’05).

In 1996, Luhrmann, anotherAussie, offered McAlpine a newcreative challenge. Luhrmann’sdirectorial debut, Strictly Ballroom,had impressed 20th Century Foxenough to get them interested inhis next project, an adaptation ofShakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.The project wasn’t a “go” yet, butMcAlpine accepted a meeting withLuhrmann to see what the directorhad in mind. “I was between films,and I’d been impressed withStrictly Ballroom,” he recalls. “I metBaz in his offices above a defunctChinese restaurant, and when Iwalked in, the place was full of,well, ‘hippies’ is too strong a word,but they were certainly very infor-

Citizenof theWorld

Above:McAlpine anddirector/actorPaul Newman

work out a shoton Harry & Son

(1984). Below:Jack Ryan

(Harrison Ford)races to protect

his family inPatriot Games

(1992).

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mal. I was old enough to be theirgrandfather! But Baz’s strength ishis ability to sell anyone on hisideas. I asked him what age grouphe was aiming for, and he said,‘We’re basically aiming it at 12-year-old girls.’ So I asked, ‘Who’stranslating the language for 12-year-old girls?’ He said, ‘Every wordwill be Shakespeare’s.’ I started tolose interest at that point, but he’ssuch an enthusiast that he ensnaredme.”

Luhrmann told McAlpineFox had the same concern aboutthe language, and the studio want-ed him to shoot a scene so execu-tives could get a better idea of howit would play. “They wanted a prop-erly lit scene on 35mm, and I toldBaz that would be an absolute dis-aster because they would judgeonly that scene — they wouldn’tuse it to imagine what the wholefilm could be like,” the cinematog-rapher recalls. “Instead, I suggestedwe shoot video of big slabs of thescript. What I wanted to prove tomyself, I realize in retrospect, wasthe idea that this Shakespeareandialogue could be understood inthe situations described in thescript. I just couldn’t visualize itworking, and if I couldn’t visualizeit, I doubted the studio could. SoBaz and the studio agreed, and weshot with a small video camera. Itold him not to worry about thelook and to put all the money hehad for the test into the sound.Everybody wanted to know howthe dialogue would work in con-text, so they had to be able to hearit!

“We shot big slabs of thescript in the rain, staying under abridge to keep dry. We work-shopped the scenes, and we hadLeonardo DiCaprio [playingRomeo] and a great ensemble ofAustralian actors, few of whommade it into the final film. Then[editor] Jill Bilcock got hold of thefootage and cut it using the freneticR

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Top to bottom: AdevastatedRomeo (LeonardoDiCaprio)approaches hislover’s coffin inLuhrmann’sRomeo+Juliet,which McAlpinecalls “probablythe mostrewarding filmI’ve ever workedon”; actressSonia Bragacozies up to thecinematographeron the set ofMazursky’sMoon OverParador (1988);director RonHoward amusesMcAlpine whileworking onParenthood(1989).


66 February 2009

style you see in the film. I realizedthere and then that it wasenthralling and involving and thelanguage was absolutely under-standable, and that’s when I signedon.”

Shot in Mexico, Romeo +Juliet “was probably the mostrewarding film I’ve ever worked on,”continues McAlpine. “I was shoot-ing another film up in Canada whenRomeo + Juliet was released, and my

wife and I went to see it on aSaturday afternoon in Calgary. I hadto speak to the manager to get a seatbecause it was sold out, and we satthere surrounded by teenagers, andthey were all talking and shoutingbefore the movie started, as kids do.I thought we wouldn’t be able tohear any of the film, but as soon asthe opening scene came on, every-one in the audience just shut up. Itwas one of the greatest moments in

cinema in my career! The onlynoise I heard through the film wasthe sound of some girls sobbing atthe appropriate places.”

Moulin Rouge, his next col-laboration with Luhrmann, wasalso extremely rewarding forMcAlpine, who spent a year prep-ping the picture with Luhrmannand production/costume designerCatherine Martin, Luhrmann’swife. The film brought McAlpinehis first ASC and Academy Awardnominations. “Baz is someone whocan get the best out of every grip,electric, cameraman and actor,” henotes. “He inspires everyonearound him, and he has brilliantjudgment.”

Being honored with theASC’s International Award “wastotally unexpected,” he says. “Overthe years, I’ve read in AmericanCinematographer about the otherpeople who’ve gotten the award,but it never occurred to me that I’dbe considered for it. I don’t reallythink of myself as an Australian orAmerican cinematographer; I thinkof myself as a citizen of the world.I’ve never really considered mynationality as a brand.

“The thing I love most aboutmy job is the interaction with peo-ple,” he continues. “Next to thedirector, the cinematographer is theone on a film who interacts moreclosely with more people than any-one else. It’s very rare to find a fieldwhere 100 people are all workingtogether to realize a single creativeendeavor. When it’s working likethat and I’m part of the team, life ispretty good.” �

Citizenof theWorld

Above: DirectorMartin Ritt (right)

chats withMcAlpine and

actors Jane Fondaand Robert De

Niro on the set ofStanley & Iris

(1990). Below: Thecinematographer

on location inNew York Armory

for John Badham’saction comedyThe Hard Way

(1991).

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Lowry Digital Restores Manhattaby David Heuring

Anthology Film Archives, theBritish Film Institute, the Library ofCongress, the Museum of Modern Art,the National Gallery of Art, and the

Nederlands Filmmuseum in Amsterdamrecently collaborated on the restorationof the 1920 silent short Manhatta, one ofAmerica’s earliest avant-garde films, atLowry Digital in Burbank.

To make the roughly 12-minutefilm, noted still photographers PaulStrand and Charles Sheeler spent almost

a year capturing angular shots of New Yorkskyscrapers, clouds of urban steam andsmoke, and glistening harbor waters with aDebrie L’Interview Type E motion-picturecamera. The editing juxtaposed similar anddissimilar images to create a symphoniceffect that Strand described as “expressiveof the spirit of New York, of its power andbeauty and movement.”

Following its completion, Manhattawas screened several times under a varietyof titles, among them New York theMagnificent and Fumeé de New York (TheSmoke of New York), but in 1927, the orig-inal negative was lost. The BFI discovereda print of the film in its collection in 1949,and Manhatta was soon back in circula-tion, albeit in poorly duped 16mm reductionprints. Eventually, the BFI source print wasdestroyed because of nitrate deterioration,and only a single 35mm black-and-whitedupe negative survived. This elementserved as the source for Lowry’s digitalrestoration, which was overseen byarchivist, curator and conservator BrucePosner.

Although the 35mm dupe negativewas an improvement over the 16mm printsin circulation, it still displayed manydefects, notes Posner. “The problemsincluded buildup of dirt, scratches, tears,holes, bad splices, varying grain andcontrast and blocked highlights,” he says.“There were also weave and jitter move-ments in multiple directions, cross-frameluminance shifts, processing and printing-light flares, poor tonal grading andimproper stabilization and breathingcaused by mis-registration between indi-vidual frames along the strip of film.”

Compounding matters were imageflaws in the original cinematography; forexample, most of the rhythmic vibrationsappear to have been introduced by hand-cranking the camera while it was looselymounted on a tripod and uneven process-ing and printing via a primitive rack-and-tank system. Ultimately, all those flaws

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Pictured in thisshot from the

1920 silent shortManhatta is the

J.P. MorganBuilding on

Wall Street. Therestored frame

is above; theshot at right

shows theoriginal frame,

whose flawsincluded a

horizontal lightflare and

mottled dirtmarkings.

68 February 2009

were photographed into the film at vari-ous stages of duplication.

Posner conducted tests at severalLos Angeles-area companies using a 2Kscan of Manhatta that was created on aSpirit DataCine at Post Logic. (The imageswere radically off-centered, precludingthe use of a pin-registered scanner.) Afterviewing the results and considering bids,he chose Lowry. “Their work proved thebest, and they seemed to have a realisticunderstanding of the considerable chal-lenges involved,” he remarks.

Lowry Chief Operating OfficerMike Inchalik describes the task of restor-ing Manhatta as “painstaking.” Heexplains, “Because we usually repairdamage by borrowing from an undam-aged area within that frame or fromanother frame, restoration gets exponen-tially harder when the film is so flawed.Manhatta was damaged to an extentwhere it became difficult for artists torepair it without leaving a trace. A humanbeing can create the necessary pixels tomake a seamless repair over the courseof five frames, but what about 100frames? When you add warping, flickerand inconsistent luminance, there areserious hurdles to overcome.

“To do the heavy lifting, you haveto use automation because the computerwill repair things in precisely the sameway, frame after frame, without a trace,”he continues. “That allows the artist to goin and find usable image areas fromwhich to borrow to make repairs. Ourcompany was founded on the invention oftemporal image processing, and we’recontinually expanding what’s possiblethrough the use of that technology.”

The Lowry team spent more than900 hours on Manhatta between October2007 and September 2008, and thatincluded both automated work and the“hands-on” efforts of Lowry’s staff. Eachof the film’s 11,223 frames was re-regis-tered, stabilized and cleaned; scratches,splices, rips and tears were repaired; andflicker and flare were reduced.

Posner notes that many of thesteps in the restoration process intro-duced new problems that had to besolved in turn. For example, the stabiliza-tion process resulted in further exaggera-

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70 February 2009

tion of pre-existing vertical scratchesthat ran across multiple frames. Beforeprocessing, the scratches flowedstraight through the frame, but afterprocessing, they jumped back and forthfrom frame to frame.

Another mysterious problem wasa slight 1-to-6-frame-long fogging of thefilm stock at the beginning and end ofeach shot. Posner speculates the flarescould have been caused by the start-stoppositions of the shutter in the cameraduring shooting, or in the printer duringduplication. It is also possible that shortends of fogged raw stock were used.Much of the damage shows as whiteflashes where the negative was nearlysolid black. The same frames alsodisplayed the detritus of cement splicing,a white or black horizontal line acrossthe frame, and defects such as nitrate

punches and rips. The restoration’sbudget precluded the repair of all thesedefects, so the restoration team decidedto remove 102 irreversibly damagedframes.

The restored picture was digitallygraded by Lowry colorist Rick Taylor, whoworked in a Baselight suite, and a keyreference for this work was 14 singleframes Sheeler had saved from the orig-inal camera negative to make photo-graphic prints. The pristine, vintagephotos helped the team determine theideal contrast, tone scale and color andalso provided exact dimensions for thefilm frames, which had been printed invarying sizes on the 35mm dupe nega-tive. The restored picture was formattedto fit an aspect ratio of 1.30:1.

Taylor modulated the overalltonal scale, keeping whites and blacks

within acceptable technical standards fordigital, film and video color spaces.According to Posner, the filmout filesregistered perfect film-grain reproduction,while the video files were modified toappear slightly sepia-colored to match thefilm output. Decisions about such thingsas grain were made by Posner in consul-tation with archivists from the varioussponsoring entities. “We worked withsome of the world’s most knowledgeableexperts on silent film and still photogra-phy to realize a digital duplicate of … the35mm original,” says Posner.

“Early negative stocks were quitegood, but the print stocks weren’t,” hecontinues. “Since Manhatta was shot offand on over the course of nearly a year,the lab work varied greatly from batch tobatch. Seeking a global ‘look’ for the filmgrain became a serious consideration. Asa conservator, you’re trying to make some-thing as close to the original experienceas possible. After cleanup and repair, youoften need to re-introduce some grain, butyou don’t want to introduce anything thatlooks fake. We resolved those questionsas best we could in concert with ourrestoration partners. Lowry’s files workedextremely well with the 35mm fine-grainstocks.”

It is not known whether Strand andSheeler intended to have a musicalaccompaniment for Manhatta, though therecord shows this was done at some of itsearliest screenings. For the DVD of therestored film, silent-film accompanistDonald Sosin was commissioned tocompose a new orchestral score that wasperformed by the 39-piece Slovak Sinfoni-etta. The music was conducted by PeterBreiner and edited and mixed in DolbyDigital 5.1 at Chace Audio Productions inBurbank.

The 35mm archival negatives andprints were processed and printed at YCMLaboratories and are being preserved bythe Museum of Modern Art and theNederlands Filmmuseum. Lowry alsogenerated 2K digital files and HDCam-SR4:2:2 tapes formatted for different exhibi-tion and broadcast purposes; this materialis being preserved at the Library ofCongress, where Manhatta is listed in theNational Film Registry. �

Pictured arebefore (bottom)

and after (top)versions of aharbor view.Flaws in the

source materialincluded visiblethumbprints on

the print,vertical print

scratches andunderexposure.

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Kuro Loft Opens DoorsThe Pioneer South Coast Plaza

retail store has partnered with Media-Mation, Inc. to open the Kuro Loft.Designed to be a home-entertainmentplayground for Hollywood’s creativeindustry, the Loft showcases today’s

advanced display technologies.The entrance welcomes visitors

with Pioneer’s high-end music system,the X-Z9, an iPod/USB/MP3 soundsystem that upconverts compressedaudio into full dynamic sound. Movingdeeper into the space, visitors pass

through the Pioneer Hallway, whichmarks the historical evolution ofPioneer’s plasma televisions from theworld’s first 50" 1080p plasma (Elite Pro-FHD1) to the first generation of Kuro.

The main area of the Kuro Loft isthe TV Taste Test, which allows visitorsto compare their choice of HD content(cable, Blu-ray, video games, etc.)distributed to six 50" flat-panel displaysfrom Pioneer, Sony, Samsung and Pana-sonic. These screens are mounted on acustom-made exhibit wall and arecontrolled by a central equipment rackhoused inside this stand.

The final section of the Kuro Loftis the Ultimate Kuro Living Room, ahome theater consisting of best-in-classaudio and video products to accompanythe award-winning Kuro television.

The Kuro Loft is available byappointment only. For more informationor to schedule an appointment, visitwww.kuroloft.com.

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72 February 2009

Panavision Adds Phantom to RentalsPanavision has announced an

agreement with Abel Cine Tech andVision Research for acquisition of Phan-tom HD high-speed digital cameras. Thecontract makes Phantom HD camerasand custom accessories available forrent in a complete Panavised packagealong with Panavision’s inventory ofoptics, including anamorphic lenses.Abel Cine Tech, the exclusive NorthAmerican agent for Vision Research’sPhantom HD and 65, supplies thecamera systems, technical support andtraining to Panavision.

Peter Abel, president of AbelCine Tech, notes, “Our strategic relation-ship with Panavision moves PhantomHD into an arena we have eagerlysought since the camera’s inception.With their experience and unique posi-tion in the market, we couldn’t hope fora more accomplished partner thanPanavision to make this objective a reality.”

Each Panavised Phantom HDcamera system will include two newproducts, the 512 GB CineMag flashstorage magazine and the CineStationdownload station. These products speedproduction and enhance workflow bothon and off the set. Panavision is the firstto supply this full system (twoCineMags and one CineStation) to eachPhantom HD package.

For more information, visitwww.panavision.com, www.abelcine.com or www.visionresearch.com.


EX3 Gets Pro35 AdapterP+S Technik has introduced a ½"

Pro35 lens adapter designed specificallyfor Sony’s PMW-EX3 camcorder, offer-ing users the ability to use professionalPL-mount 35mm cinema lenses with theEX3’s B4 mount. With the adapter, userscan enjoy the same depth of field, focallengths and angles of view found in35mm film cameras. ZGC, Inc., theexclusive North American distributor forP+S Technik, offers the ½" Pro35 in apackage that also includes a support kitwith bridge, two extension handles, tworegular handles and a battery.

P+S Technik recently received aGTC Award for it Pro35 family of imageconverters.

For more information, visitwww.pstechnik.de or www.zgc.com.

Clairmont Renting v3 MOE LensesClairmont Camera is now renting

Vision III Imaging’s v3 MOE (MovingOptical Element) lenses. Available in24mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm and135mm focal lengths, the lenses capturedifferent points of view relative to theplane of focus, thereby adding realism,depth and shape to scenes and subjects.

Compatible with any industry-standard PL-mount film or digitalcamera, the lenses incorporate patented

v3 parallax scanning technology. Thelens iris rotates in a simple circle, withthe amplitude (distance off center) andfrequency (cycles per second) adjustableby the camera operator. (The normalfrequency for shooting at 24 fps is 4.3cycles per second; this can easily beadjusted for off-speed shooting.)

Clairmont’s rental package alsoincludes the lens controller and cabling.For more information, visit www.clairmont.com or www.inv3.com.

Redrock Micro Offers dSLR KitsCapitalizing on the high-quality

video afforded by a number of digitalSLR cameras, Redrock Micro now offersa variety of accessories designed totransform the cameras into production-ready cinema solutions.

Redrock Micro’s dSLR accessoryline includes a 15mm support system, afollow-focus with 35mm lens gearing foraccurate and repeatable focusing, aswing-away mattebox for light manage-

ment and easy lens changes, a shouldermount and handgrips for steady hand-held use, and a support cage forenhanced stability and low-angle shots.The accessories are available in a dSLRCinema Bundle or a dSLR Field CinemaBundle; Redrock’s modular designallows users to add more pieces as theysee fit.

For more information, visitwww.redrockmicro.com.

Egripment Extends Crane LineEgripment Support Systems has

expanded its product line with the TDTand Scanner Elite crane systems.

The TDT Remote Crane Systemcombines a lightweight remote cameracrane and remote head in a single prod-uct. Portions of the remote head are builtinto the front section of the arm, and thecontrols at the back of the crane are builtas a part of the weight bucket. The

system is available in 20' (TDT 6) and30' (TDT 9) configurations, each of

which can support up to a 44-pound load.

The Scanner Elite is Egripment’sfollow-up to the successful ScannerSystem, which was introduced in 1997.The Elite is longer (21'), reaches higher(24') and carries a larger payload (up to100 pounds) than the original Scanner.Nevertheless, the Scanner Elite remainsa compact crane system that can beoperated either by one person handlingall controls at the rear of the arm or bytwo people, with separate crane andcamera operators.

For more information, visitwww.egripment.com.

Telescopic Introduces Techno-Jib 24North Hollywood-based Tele-

scopic LLC has introduced the Techno-Jib 24 telescoping jib arm. The devicecan instantly extend or retract, enablinginnovative shots otherwise achievableonly with a telescoping crane.

A single operator can controldiverse camera movements and opera-tions (including zoom and focus as wellas telescoping the jib arm) through acustomizable user interface. Controlsand a viewing monitor mount easily oneither side of the arm and can be posi-tioned for optimal viewing and userconvenience. The Techno-Jib can alsobe fitted with a remote head for opera-tion with conventional hand wheels.

The Techno-Jib 24 extends from

a minimum reach of 9' to a maximum of24'. The arm travels at speeds of up to 5'per second, and a soft-stop featureguarantees an automatic smooth stopevery time. Units come standard with aMitchell-mount adapter and can easilyaccommodate most remote heads ineither an under- or over-slung configura-tion. Adjustable weights ensure jib armbalance with all popular head/cameracombinations. A smaller version — theTechno-Jib 15, with a maximum reachof 16' — is also available.

For more information, visitwww.telescopicjib.com.

Panasonic Unveils Portable RecorderPanasonic has introduced the

solid-state AG-HPG20 P2 Portablerecorder/player, which supports the 10-bit AVC-Intra codec as well as formatsranging from DVCPro HD to DV andserves as a master-quality deck for fastfile-based recording.

The HPG20 allows users to playand review P2 cards on its 3.5" LCDscreen, manage clip files and metadata,record content from a wide range ofcameras via its HD-SDI input, and back-up data onto hard disk drives. Featuringtwo P2 card slots, the HPG20’s solid-state design holds up to the demands offield operation while weighing only 2.5pounds.

Recording and playback formats

74 February 2009

75

supported by the HPG20 include1080/60i, 1080/50i, 720/60p and720/50p in AVC-Intra and DVCPro HD4:2:2; and 480/60i and 576/50i inDVCPro 50, DVCPro and DV. The unitplays back content automatically, withno need to change settings, and canoperate in 50Hz or 60Hz. For addedversatility, the HPG20 supports up-,down- and cross-conversion for HD orSD transmission. It also allows “confi-dence playback” from P2 files stored ona hard disk drive.

The unit’s HD/SD-SDI and IEEE1394 input interfaces open the door fora variety of applications in HD or SDproduction and allow the HPG20 to bepaired with a wide range of tape-basedand solid-state cameras andcamcorders from multiple manufactur-ers. Additionally, the recorder can playback to large HD production monitors ortransfer uncompressed content to HD-SDI-equipped decks and storagenetworks. When connected to alaptop’s IEEE 1394 output, the unitserves as a transcoder to HD-SDI-equipped monitors for full real-timeplayback from the timeline.

In addition to viewing recordedfiles in a thumbnail view, users cancopy or transfer select clips from one P2card to another, copy selected clipsfrom a hard disk drive onto a P2 card,edit a clip’s metadata and save a textmemo to individual clips when record-ing or previewing. P2 cards can also be

76 February 2009

hot-swapped for continuous recording.Other features include an SD

card slot for loading metadata or savinguser files, and helpful recording func-tions like a waveform/vectorscopedisplay, loop record and auto recordcommands that accompany the HD-SDIsignal. Internal speaker and headphone(M3 mini) jacks are also included.

For more information, visitwww.panasonic.com/broadcast.

Alan Gordon Expands LineAlan Gordon Enterprises, Inc. has

expanded its product line with batteryblocks designed for use with both filmand HD camera systems. The Triton CineHD Battery Block 15 AHR uses nickel

metal hydride cells, and the TritonBeltBattery Belt and Cadblock Battery bothuse NICAD cells. Compatible with anyof the standard connections currentlyused in the industry, the batteries areavailable in 12-, 14.4-, 26-, 28.8- and 30-volt configurations.

The batteries’ smart technologyincorporates built-in microprocessors,which manage battery efficiency andprovide charge termination, voltage cut-off and an easy-to-read fuel gauge.

The battery blocks are manufac-tured in the company’s Hollywood facil-ity. For more information, visitwww.alangordon.com.

Red Apple StudioCruzer Makes DebutCaseCruzer has introduced the

Red Apple StudioCruzer, a carry-on casedesigned to protect a Red One cameraand an Apple MacBook Pro laptop.

The case’s interior provides asnug fit for the One, with separate,modular cutouts for the body, LEDviewfinder and lens. The lid compart-ment provides a tight wrap for a 15" or17" MacBook Pro, with a separatecutout for the power supply.

Offering superior mobility overvaried terrain, the StudioCruzer featuresmounted urethane wheels and a 17"retractable extension handle. The casealso features side and front carryinghandles. Metal reinforced padlockprotectors add strength and security,and the case is waterproof, airtight anddustproof, with a neoprene O-ring sealand an automatic purge valve.

Weighing 15 pounds, the RedApple StudioCruzer measures22"x14"x9" and comes with an uncon-ditional lifetime warranty. The manu-facturer’s recommended price is $320.

For more information, visitwww.casecruzer.com.

Ikan Unveils LCD MonitorIkan’s V8000HDMI 8" on-camera

HD monitor features a widescreen LCDpanel and a number of input options,including HDMI, component, S-Video

and composite. The monitor is capableof displaying images in 1080i, 720p and480p. Key features of the V8000HDMIinclude built-in support for various DVbattery plates, built-in support for V-mount and AB batteries, safe areaguides for 1.78:1 and 1.33:1 aspectratios, and video pass-through for allanalog inputs.

Ikan also offers the monitor’searlier incarnation, the V8000HD, in adeluxe kit that includes a hard case fortransporting the monitor, a 970 L-serieslithium ion battery (capable of poweringthe V8000HD for over three hours), theICH-750 battery charger, an AC poweradapter, a DC car adapter and a heavy-duty camera mount.

For more information, visitwww.ikancorp.com.

Christie Projects Brilliant3DChristie, a leader in digital

cinema projection, has unveiled its Bril-liant3D technology, enabling 3-Dcontent to be projected in full 2K resolu-tion for digital cinema projectors utiliz-ing 1.2" DMD chips from Texas Instru-ments. Christie’s new technologyprovides 33 percent more brightness for3-D content and uses only a single lenssystem.

“Brilliant3D will enable ex-hibitors to project 3-D movies onto thelargest screens while reducing bothlamp and electricity expenses,” saysCraig Sholder, vice president ofChristie’s Entertainment Solutions.“Christie engineers initiated develop-ment of this technology so that audi-ences would have the most compelling3-D experience.”

Joseph Peixoto, RealD’s presi-dent of worldwide cinema, adds, “Thisadvancement, combined with our RealDXL system, enhances the 3-D experiencetremendously. Together, we can fillscreens up to 75 feet in width with truetriple-flash-capable technology, making3-D films even brighter and clearer.”

Brilliant3D will be available onChristie’s CP2000-SB, CP2000-XB andCP-2000-ZX 2K DLP Cinema projectors.Christie’s CP2000-M digital cinemaprojector, based on the .98" DMD chip,will also feature Brilliant3D technology.In addition, Christie has announced anew suite of variable-prime zoom lensesthat enable a convenient and cost-effec-tive single-lens solution for 2-D and 3-Dcontent regardless of format.

For more information, visitwww.christiedigital.com.

77

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78 February 2009

shop CS4 and Windows Vista 64-bit(x64). Version 3.0.2 of the Knoll plug-in,which enhances the lighting in Photo-shop images to produce dramatic ornatural effects, takes advantage of thefaster performance and better memoryhandling of Vista x64.

Features of Knoll Light Factory3.0.2 for Photoshop CS4 includeimproved performance, better usability,photo-realistic lighting effects such aslens flares, real-time preview withresize capability, 110 lighting presets,16-bit color support for better lookingglows and gradients, and Mac Intelcompatibility. Digital Anarchy’s otherPhotoshop products have been fullytested to support Photoshop CS4 in bothMac and Windows 32-bit environ-ments, and they will be updated for theWindows 64-bit environment in early2009.

For more information, visitwww.digitalanarchy.com.

Digieffects Simulates Camera, Projection ArtifactsDigieffects is shipping Simulate:

Camera, a plug-in package offering aspecialized collection of effects formimicking camera and projection arti-facts within Adobe CS4 and Apple FinalCut Pro 6.

Effects featured in Simulate:Camera include Archive, a film-degra-dation effect; Overexpose, for addingvariations in exposure to otherwisestable footage; and Destabilize, usefulfor emulating camera shake. Addition-ally, as with all Digieffects softwarelaunched since Jan. ’08, Simulate:

Camera includes Randomizer andPresets; Randomizer adjusts multipleparameters within the user interface,causing new and unpredictable results,while Presets allows users to moveeffect parameters between supportedhost applications. Robert Sharp, presi-dent of Digieffects, notes, “Theseeffects, like many of the latest releasesand upcoming releases from Digief-fects, are designed to be straightfor-ward, affordable, every-day usablestaples of visual postproduction.”

HDCameraGuide.com LaunchesHDCameraGuide.com is now

online, featuring exclusive video inter-views, product introduction videos, avideo-rich Learning Center, an Interac-tive Lens Selector and much more. Thesite will also work with manufacturersto produce product demonstrations andinstructional videos.

“There’s a lot of great HD equip-ment out there, and a wide range ofsupport products, but it’s not alwayseasy to determine what to buy,” saysMichael Grotticelli, the Web site’seditor-in-chief. “HDCameraGuide.com isa single-source product-marketing sitethat connects buyers with manufactur-ers’ products.”

The site is designed to help usersdecide which HD camera, lens, battery,tripod, microphone and eventeleprompter is best for their require-ments. Visitors can also rate camerasaccording to a five-star system and addcomments. There’s even a section onhistoric cameras that have made theirmark on the industry.

For more information, visitwww.hdcameraguide.com.

Knoll Light Factory Plugs into CS4Digital Anarchy has announced

the full compatibility of its popular KnollLight Factory plug-in with Adobe Photo-

Simulate: Camera is available fora recommended price of $99. For moreinformation, visit www.digieffects.com.

B&G Adds Budget Forms ProB&G Designs has added Budget

Forms Pro to its line of production soft-ware. Designed for budgeting shorts,features, commercials, music videos,documentaries and more, Budget FormsPro comprises budgeting templatescompatible with any version ofMicrosoft Excel.

The Budget Forms Pro CD-Romcontains three different sets of budget-ing forms: the film budget, the A.I.C.P.commercial budget and the music-videobudget. Each template contains acomplete seven-page set of profes-sional budgeting forms covering allareas of production, from prep throughpost, with a complete line-item break-down and a top-sheet budget summary.The top-sheet summary features allrelevant production information, includ-ing the complete budget breakdown andgrand total.

Compatible with any size andtype of production, Budget Forms Procan be easily customized for an individ-

ual project’s needs. Users can changeline-item names and percentageamounts, and add comments and addi-tional information to the top-sheetbreakdown.

Budget Forms Pro is available fora suggested price of $129.99. For more information, visit www.movieforms.com.

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Cine-tal Announces Authorized Service CentersIn an effort to provide high-qual-

ity, around-the-clock customer supportfor its line of image processing, colormanagement and display solutions,Cine-tal Systems has launched an inter-national network of authorized servicecenters. Initially, the network will includethree sites staffed by dedicated, factory-trained technicians: Imagica Digix inTokyo, Japan; Janusz Rupik in Warsaw,Poland; and Cine-tal’s headquarters inIndianapolis, Ind. The company plans toadd several additional authorized servicecenters in the coming months located inleading media-production centers world-wide.

“We feel that it is imperative tobe able to respond to our customers’support needs at anytime andanywhere,” says Bob Caldwell, Cine-tal’sdirector of customer support. “If a clientencounters an issue on a Saturday inTokyo, it can now be resolved through alocal source that same day.”

Cine-tal’s authorized servicecenters will provide both pre- and post-sale customer support. Services rangefrom product demonstrations andcustomer training to systems repair andtechnical support. 24-hour emergencysupport is also available through eachlocation. “Our aim is not only to providetimely response when problems arise,but also to serve as a resource to ourcustomers, helping them to get the mostout of our products,” says Caldwell.

For more information, visitwww.cine-tal.com.

Sachtler Ships Upgraded FSB CellFollowing testing by product

developers and selected users,Sachtler’s FSB Cell battery for MiniDVand HDV cameras has been optimizedand is now shipping.

The FSB Cell’s underside is fash-ioned like a camera plate and can befastened perfectly onto Sachtler’s FSBfluid heads, ensuring secure locking andhandling features; by mounting thebattery directly onto the fluid head, thebattery’s weight (1.43 pounds) increases

80 February 2009

stability without adversely influencingcamera balance, maintaining smoothand steady pans and tilts.

Depending on the type ofcamera, the FSB Cell can provide anoperating time of up to eight hours.Additional equipment, such asSachtler’s 8LED on-camera light, canalso be powered by the FSB Cell.

For more information, visitwww.sachtler.us.

Schneider Introduces Tru-Cut IR-750 FilterResponding to HD cameras’ high

sensitivity to light in the infrared spec-trum, Schneider Optics has introducedthe Tru-Cut IR-750 filter, designed toeliminate IR light before it reaches thecamera’s sensor; use of the filter resultsin more vibrant colors and truer blacks

from both CCD and CMOS sensors.The Tru-Cut IR-750 filter main-

tains a high MTF (modulation transferfunction) in the visible spectrum, and itscoating meets or exceeds military stan-dards for durability, making it easy toclean. Like all Schneider professionalfilters, the Tru-Cut IR-750 is manufac-tured from crystal-clear, water-whiteoptical glass that is diamond cut, preci-sion ground, and polished to the mostexacting tolerances.

Tru-Cut IR-750 filters are avail-able in 4"x4", 4"x5.65", 5"x5",5.65"x5.65" and 6.6"x6.6" rectangularsizes, plus 138mm, 77mm, 4.5" andSeries 9 round sizes.

For more information, visitwww.schneideroptics.com.

Vicon Adds T10Vicon has added the T10 to its

recently introduced MX T-Series motion-capture cameras. The T10 replaces theMX3+ as Vicon’s entry-level camera,offering 3 times the resolution alongwith faster performance, 3-D on-boardtracking, backwards compatibility andnew high-powered strobes thatincrease camera range and detail.

The T10 is a 1-megapixel camerathat enables users to capture finerdetails in larger volumes, and with GigEEthernet, data streaming is 10 timesfaster than with the previous MX3system. “The new T10 camera delivers

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a robust motion-capture solution forbody or facial performance that is veryeasy to set up and use,” says RobinPengelly, senior vice president of Vicon’sEntertainment Division. “It’s ideal forcustomers who require the fidelity andpower of a Vicon T-Series system butare working in smaller studio spaces.”

For more information, visitwww.vicon.com.

Alan Gordon Offering Engraved Scene SlatesAlan Gordon Enterprises, Inc.

now offers two styles of engraved sceneslates.

The combo slate measures12"x9.25" and is made of heavy-dutyplastic. Engraved letters and dividinglines provide a durable, longer-lastingalternative to silk-screened lettering.

Machined from Alder wood, the clapsticks provide a distinctive pitched clap.The combo slate also comes with a dry-erase marker.

The insert slate measures 5"x4"and is made of white acrylic. The slate isideal for tight shots that preclude theuse of a full-sized slate.

For more information, visitwww.alangordon.com. �

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84

86 February 2009

Hofmann Appointed Education DirectorSergio Vela, president of

Mexico’s National Counsel for theCulture and the Arts, has appointedHenner Hofmann, ASC, AMC to afour-year term as general director of theCentro de Capacitación Cinematográ-fica, located in Mexico City. Hofmann,who helped found the AMC and servedas that organization’s president from1992-2001, was selected from a finalpool of nine candidates.

No Subtitles Honored in Santa FeNo Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo

and Vilmos, directed by James Chres-santhis, ASC (AC Sept. ’08), won theBest Documentary Film Award at theSanta Fe Film Festival in December.Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC (pictured),one of the film’s subjects, received aLuminaria Lifetime Achievement Awardat the ceremony.

Vincent LaudedAmelia Vincent, ASC was

honored with a Women’s InternationalFilm and Television Showcase award atthe organization’s inaugural awards

Slumdog Golden at CamerimageDirector of photography Anthony

Dod Mantle, BSC, DFF was awarded theGolden Frog for his work on SlumdogMillionaire (AC Dec. ’08) at the 2008Camerimage Festival in Lodz, Poland.The jury comprised still photographerRyszard Horowitz, editor Steven Rosen-blum and cinematographers GabrielBeristain, ASC, BSC; Stephen Gold-blatt, ASC, BSC; Juan Ruiz-Anchia,ASC; John Toll, ASC; Pierre Lhomme,AFC; Nicola Pecorini; and Nigel Walters,BSC.

The jury awarded the Silver Frogto César Charlone, ABC, for Blindness(AC Sept. ’08), and the Bronze Frog toRainer Klausmann, BVK, for The BaaderMeinhof Complex.

The 16 films in competition thisyear also included 33 Scenes from Life,shot by Michal Englert; Changeling, shotby Tom Stern, ASC, AFC (AC Nov. ’08);Doubt, shot by Roger Deakins, ASC,BSC; The Duchess, shot by Gyula Pados,HSC (AC Sept. ’08); Elite Squad, shot byLula Carvalho; For My Father, shot byCarl F. Koschnick, BVK; Four Nights WithAnna, shot by Adam Sikora; Gomorrah,shot by Marco Onorato, AIC; Go WithPeace, Jamil, shot by Aske AlexanderFoss; The Hurt Locker, shot by BarryAckroyd, BSC; La Rabia, shot by SolLopatin; Tulpan, shot by JolantaDylewska; and A Woman in Berlin, shotby Benedict Neuenfels, BVK.

AC contributor Benjamin Bergerymoderated two master classes duringthe festival, one featuring Lhomme andBruno Delbonnel, AFC, the other featur-ing Society members Stern, Ellen Kurasand Kramer Morgenthau. Also,Deakins participated in a lighting work-shop.

For more information, visitwww.pluscamerimage.pl.

ceremony in December. The goal ofWIFTS is to recognize women who havedistinguished themselves in theirrespective fields. Awards were alsopresented to actress Alfre Woodard,producer Gale Anne Hurd, film distribu-tor Adrienne Fancey, and musician andhumanitarian Ada Ho.

Primes Goes CampingRobert Primes, ASC partici-

pated in a three-day VariCamp alongsidedirector/cinematographer Suny Beharand digital-imaging supervisor NickTheodorakis in December. The hands-onworkshop covered all aspects of thePanasonic VariCam cameras, includingthe new 2700 and 3700 models.

Burdett, Levinson Join New LaserPacific DivisionASC associate members Ron

Burdett and Lou Levinson have beenappointed to LaserPacific’s new digitalmotion-picture mastering and remaster-ing division. Burdett will serve asgeneral manager, and Levinson willserve as the supervising colorist.

“Ron Burdett brings incredibleperspective and experience to the taskof creating motion-picture masters —he has been a post-industry pioneer formore than 25 years,” says Brian Burr,LaserPacific’s CEO. “While technologywill be an important component of ourservice delivery … having an expertsuch as Lou Levinson guide our creativehand as we make technology decisionswill truly put the focus on our customers’products.” �

Clubhouse News

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88 February 2009

When you were a child, what film made the strongest impression on you?When I was 6 or 7, my father asked a colleague if he would bring his9mm film projector to show a few films for my birthday party. Hebrought a few Chaplin shorts, The Rink (1916) and The Immigrant (1917)among them. For most of us, this was the first time we had seen movingimages, so the effect was very powerful. I have never forgotten the joyand laughter and sense of magic I experienced along with my friends aswe watched the images projected onto a sheet hastily pinned to thewall. When I reached the age of 14 or 15, I was already a movie addictimpatient to see the latest Kurosawa or Bergman movie.

Which cinematographers, past or present, do you most admire?There are many colleagues working in different parts of the worldwhose beautiful work I love. Also, ever since I went to film school, I’veadmired the best cinematographers of the silent period, which for meculminated with Sunrise (1927), and I have gone on admiring the best ofall periods. I would only add that despite one’s efforts, if the movie isnot good, then the cinematographer’s work has little meaning.

What sparked your interest in photography?My father, Wolfgang Suschitzky, was a photographer and cinematogra-pher (Get Carter), so naturally, as a child, I was curious to understandwhat he did in that darkroom and on those locations.

Where did you train and/or study?Institute des Hautes Etudes Cinématographiques in Paris.

Who were your early teachers or mentors?At film school, the cinematographer-in-residence, Jean PierreMundviller, had started work as a newsreel cameraman and thenbecame a movie cinematographer in pre-revolution Russia. He’d beenone of the cinematographers on Napoleon (1927). He took me to theroof of the school building, where he’d had a hand-cranked camerainstalled. My first lesson on it consisted of him singing the marchingsong that French cameramen sang to keep a steady 18 fps. He thenproceeded to teach me how to make a fade in the camera and how todo a dissolve. To a very young student in the middle of the French NewWave, all that seemed to be a waste of time. However, those are themost treasured memories I have of the school, and the early lesson thatI tended to dismiss as not being of any practical use made me think,years later, of our early, pioneering colleagues; because all effects werein-camera, they had to make decisions we are never obliged to make,such as choosing to stop a scene on a good take, winding the film backfor a dissolve, and then taking the camera to the next location and goingfor the first take! It filled me with respect for the achievements of thesilent era. Mundviller died only a few years after I studied with him, butcontact with him made me feel I had touched the hand of someone whowas present at the birth of the movies.

What are some of your key artistic influences?My artistic influences are music, which I have always loved above allother arts; the best photographers of my childhood and youth, including

Eugene Smith and Bill Brandt; and the movies of Kurosawa, Bergman,Antonioni and Fellini. After that comes painting, particularly Bruegel,Goya, Velásquez, Titian and the German Expressionists.

How did you get your first break in the business?My first break came when I got a job as a second camera assistant oncommercials and then documentaries. I was then lucky enough to getthe chance to shoot my first movie when I was 22.

What has been your most satisfying moment on a project?I think the most satisfying moments have been those when I’ve felt Iwas able to contribute to a good movie, proposing something the direc-tor might not have thought of and having it all happily received. Othersignificant moments have involved taking my children to a set on whichI was working.

Have you made any memorable blunders?If our careers last long enough, we all make blunders. I am no excep-tion, but as some of mine involve other colleagues, I won’t mentionthem here!

What is the best professional advice you’ve ever received?I was once invited to a dinner where Billy Wilder was one of the guests.He asked me what I was doing, to which I replied, ‘Oh, a small movie.’He said, ‘There’s no such thing, just good ones and bad ones.’ For therest, I listened to an inner voice that said, ‘Develop as many interests asyou can, as you will need them to fill the long gaps between movies andenrich life in general.’

What recent books, films or artworks have inspired you?Last week, I re-read My Last Breath, Luis Buñuel’s autobiography, whichinspired me and made me laugh a lot.

Do you have any favorite genres, or genres you would like totry?My favorite genre as a spectator is probably comedy. However, theprofession thinks of me as someone suitable for the darker side of life!

If you weren’t a cinematographer, what might you be doinginstead?I would love to have been a musician, but I was certainly not goodenough, and I would like to have been a collector and dealer of paint-ings, but I wasn’t rich enough!

Which ASC cinematographers recommended you for member-ship?John Bailey and Allen Daviau.

How has ASC membership impacted your life and career?The ASC makes me feel I am in touch with my peers, even if I can’tattend the meetings. �

ASC CLOSE-UPPeter Suschitzky, ASC

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