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The International Journal of Motion Imaging

32 Once Upon a Time in the SouthRobert Richardson, ASC saddles up for Django Unchained,Quentin Tarantinos homage to Spaghetti Westerns

50 An Unlikely HeroAndrew Lesnie, ASC, ACS explores high-frame-rate 3-D capture for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

66 A Musical RevolutionDanny Cohen, BSC sets Victor Hugos saga to song

78 An Auteurs AngstJeff Cronenweth, ASC lends a variety of looks to Hitchcock, dramatizing the directors travails on and off the set of Psycho

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On Our Cover: Django ( Jamie Foxx), a former slave turned gunslinger, blazes a trail ofvengeance in Django Unchained, shot by Robert Richardson, ASC. (Photo by AndrewCooper, SMPSP, courtesy of The Weinstein Co.)

8 Editors Note10 Presidents Desk12 Short Takes: GE.com, Juice Train18 Production Slate: Amour Promised Land90 Post Focus: Restoring Sunset Blvd. 2012 HPA Awards96 New Products & Services

102 International Marketplace103 Classified Ads104 Ad Index105 In Memoriam: Ken Lamkin, ASC106 Clubhouse News108 ASC Close-Up: Newton Thomas Sigel

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OFFICERS - 2012/2013

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My visit to the set of Hitchcock was a bit unnerving. Uponarriving at Red Studios, I found myself sitting in a directorschair with Hannibal Lecter and Ed Gein lurking directly behindme. Who scheduled this visit right before lunch? I joked,glancing back at actors Anthony Hopkins (this time portrayingAlfred Hitchcock) and Michael Wincott (as Gein). Wincotttook the bait. When I go to the craft-services truck and theyask what I want, I say, Scarlett Johansson. (Johansson co-stars as Janet Leigh.)

Hitchcock is laced with gallows humor that leavens thedrama as Hitchcock struggles to make Psycho while worryingthat his wife, Alma (Helen Mirren), is having an affair. Cine-

matographer Jeff Cronenweth, ASC offers his insights to Jay Holben (An Auteurs Angst,page 78), while director Sacha Gervasi provides his own perspective (Dramatizing theMaster of Suspense, page 82).

Robert Richardson, ASC is no slouch when it comes to cinema history, but he has methis match in Quentin Tarantino. Before the duo began work on Django Unchained, Tarantinoscreened a wide variety of titles for Richardson and other key collaborators, including SergioCorbuccis The Great Silence, Dario Argentos Suspiria, Lucio Fulcis Dont Torture a Duckling,Mario Bavas Black Sunday, Max Ophls The Earrings of Madame de , Brian De PalmasCarrie, Sergio Leones For a Few Dollars More and Howard Hawks Rio Bravo. Thats by nomeans a complete list, Richardson notes wryly in his interview with Iain Stasukevich (OnceUpon a Time in the South, page 32).

Though Tarantino probably trumps almost anyone except Martin Scorsese in terms ofthe sheer scope of his movie mania, he wisely defers to Richardson when it comes to areasof technical expertise. My input [on lighting] is so minuscule that it really doesnt exist,Tarantino concedes. I love Bobs look. I love his atmosphere. I love his hot pools of light. Ilove all that shit. Its taken my work to a different level.

Andrew Lesnie, ASC, ACS and Peter Jackson achieved a similar serendipity while work-ing together on the Lord of the Rings trilogy, a triumphant marriage of technology and visualdesign. With The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the two have upped the ante by addinghigh-frame-rate 3-D to the mix. Peter has been talking about 3-D and high frame rates foryears, Lesnie tells Simon Gray (An Unlikely Hero, page 50). It goes back to seeing aShowscan event in New Zealand when he was young and watching 70mm films in his child-hood, and it goes all the way up to the King Kong ride he created at Universal Studios, whichinvolves 60-fps projection.

Not to be outdone in terms of ambition, Danny Cohen, BSC and Tom Hooper set Les Misrables to music in a sweeping adaptation of the hit Broadway production. In tack-ling Victor Hugos epic saga, they opted for naturalistic visuals that ground the spectacle ingritty period realities. Its a story about social issues wealth, revolution and social change but the story is told through song, Cohen tells John Calhoun (A Musical Revolution,page 66). By making it as naturalistic as possible, we thought the fact that everybodyssinging wouldnt create a wall between the story and the audience.

Stephen PizzelloExecutive Editor

Editors Note

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We wish all of you a Happy New Year. We hope for peace and prosper-ity all over the world. This is a big January in the United States, as manynew faces have been elected and will be taking federal or state office thismonth. Many of us watched the campaigns and elections closely andnoted the advances in polling and polling analysis.

Nate Silvers FiveThirtyEight blog in The New York Times wasquite informative. (The title comes from the total number of electoral-college votes that can be cast: 538.) Silver made clear his methodologyas he gave new projections every day. Most readers were aware that hedhad a remarkable degree of accuracy in predicting the 2010 electionresults. Ultimately, he had a near-perfect record of predicting 2012swinners. That some candidates lost and were surprised by their lossesmakes one wonder what information they were getting. If Silver couldpredict the outcome of the election with a great degree of accuracy theday before the election, why werent the candidates able to do so aswell? Simple: wishful thinking and assumption, the mother of all mess-ups. Some candidates made assumptions about who would vote, andmany of those assumptions were wrong.

In cinematography you knew I would get back to cine-matography we see lots of wishful thinking and mistaken assump-tions, but what concerns us is the misinterpretation of numbers. Whendiscussing cameras, numbers have become a faddist sort of sloganeeringby the uninformed. We hear constant reference to 4K as the bestcamera, but that might not be the case if the camera is 4K with 4:2:0

compression. And what exactly does 4K refer to: sensor size, individual recorded frame size, etc.? There is also frequentreference to raw camera files, and many assume these files are uncompressed and unaltered. In fact, there are severalvariations of raw that are processed and compressed. Manufacturers often clearly explain that a given raw file type iscompressed, but the uninformed chatter often does not take these various and reasonable compression schemes intoconsideration. I say reasonable because as we make the welcome move toward 4K capture, we are going to be handlingenormous amounts of data, and well-made compression systems will be necessary.

In cinematography, what matters is the quality of the image. One camera might have better numbers, but theimage must serve the story and move it forward. The chatter about numbers distracts from the real purpose of images anddemeans the role of the cinematographer. Yes, we know our numbers, but numbers do not tell the whole story either inelections or in storytelling.

Stephen LighthillASC President

Presidents Desk

10 January 2013 American Cinematographer

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WWW.WARNERBROS2012.COM

F O R Y O U R C O N S I D E R A T I O N

BEST PICTUREBEST CINEMATOGR APHY

WALLY PFISTER, A.S .C.

POTENT, PERSUASIVE AND HYPNOTIC. MASTERFUL FILMMAKING BY ANY STANDARD. BRILLIANT.

K E N N E T H T U R A N ,

Bullet TrainBy Alec Ernest

When the Barbarian Group asked director/cinematographerAndrew Wonder to capture 36 hours of time-lapse photography thatcould be slowed down to a drop at any point, he recognized itwould not be a conventional job. The project was Juice Train, partof an online campaign to revitalize General Electrics website, and thesubject was the train that makes a 36-hour journey to transport550,000 gallons of Tropicana orange juice from Bradenton, Fla., toJersey City, N.J., for distribution in the Northeast.

Wonder had caught the agencys eye with his visceral docu-mentary short Undercity, for which he followed urban explorer SteveDuncan through New York City subway tunnels and sewers, and tothe top of the Brooklyn Bridge, with his Canon EOS 5D Mark II. Thevideo became a viral sensation. All I wanted to do was make some-thing I had never seen before, says Wonder.

The potential to achieve that, he continues, can only be real-ized by todays digital cameras. I could never move a film camera theway I can move my 5D. Getting that camera was like finding mypaintbrush. With todays digital tools, we can make films no one hasever seen before.

It used to be a real technical challenge to achieve time-lapse,but DSLR technology has made it easy, he continues. The challenge

now is to do it in a way that creates a new experience for the viewer. Juice Train, which presents the Tropicana trains 36-hour trip

in 156 seconds, offered such an opportunity. Prep was a six-monthjourney to get all the tools we needed from vendors around theworld, and my producer, Alon Simcha, was instrumental in thatprocess, says Wonder.

The first challenge was finding a camera that could record1080p at 60 fps. I wanted to use the Sony F3 because it offeredbroadcast controls and a very cinematic image, but the specs said thecamera was only capable of 720p/60p, says Wonder. I hoped therewas a workaround and contacted Cinedeck about its recorders to seewhat was possible. They pointed me to the Cinedeck RX recorder,which was able to take the dual link out of the camera and record itas 1080p/60p ProRes. Once we discovered the Cinedeck RX, thewhole shoot came together. It also allowed us to record directly totwo eSATA drives and provided full-screen waveforms, eliminatingthe need to offload footage with a computer, change SSD modulesor use scopes. We couldnt have done the shoot without it.

Next, with help from Panavision New York, he tracked downa JDC 32mm anamorphic lens, thinking that by shooting 2x anamor-phic on a 16x9 sensor, he could achieve an aspect ratio of 3.55:1. Iwanted the image to be like a proscenium stage, he says. I wantedthe audience to look around the frame and find different details eachtime they watched the video.

Short TakesFor Juice Train,part of an online

campaign forGeneral Electric,

director/cinematographerAndrew Wonder

and hiscollaborators

mounted twoSony F3 camerasto the front of alocomotive and

recorded thetrains 36-hour

journey fromFlorida to

New Jersey.

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When the team scouted the train,they discovered that for safety reasons, theycould not place a camera directly center onthe front it would have to be 2' to the leftor right. We werent given an opportunity toshoot any tests, so we decided to put twocameras on the front of the train so that ifboth images felt too much to the side, wecould stitch them together in post, Wondersays. I attended some of Sonys 3-D traininglast year, and I thought if I could implementthose techniques into our Juice Train work-flow, it would help our post team espe-cially since putting tracking marks on theroute wasnt possible. We used the F3s inter-nal gen-lock to sync the two cameras, and Iused a Transvideo 3-D monitor to help syncthe two images as we framed the camerasup. The cameras were 4 feet apart, so wecouldnt use the convergence on the monitorto perfectly sync the images, but it wasenough that I could check a few points onthe horizon line to get the cameras as close aspossible.

Panavision continued to work with thefilmmakers as the details of the shootchanged. Wonder explains, They adaptedtheir custom fiber-optic converters so wecould run cable from the front of the train toour control room 200 feet back, and whenwe decided to add a second camera, theysourced another JDC lens for us and madecustom cables to sync the cameras.

Abel Cine Tech in New York helpedus figure out the best way to set up and usethe Sony F3s in this scenario, he adds.

Rigging grip T.J. Beatty worked withWonder to determine the best way to mountand weatherproof the cameras withouthampering the ability to run cable out ofthem. T.J. built waterproof Plexiglas cases forthe F3s that were white on the outside andblack on the inside to help moderate temper-ature, says Wonder. They had built-in AC-powered fans to prevent overheating, andclear optical flats that we could change mid-journey if they were damaged or too dirty tobe cleaned.

Because of the trains schedule, theteam had one day actually 12 hours todo all the rigging. The crew also included 1stAC James Madrid, gaffer Smokey Nelson, keygrip Shiloh Eck, and operators David CobraEllis and Nora DeBroder. We werent able totest our rigs before the shoot and didnt


Top: Theproductions

F3 cameraswere mounted

with JDC32mm 2x

anamorphiclenses and

control boxesrented from

PanavisionNew York.

Middle: Thecameras

protectivehousings were

built byrigging grip

T.J. Beatty.Bottom: The

crampedcontrol roomon the train

housed a 17"Sony

referencemonitor (left),two CinedeckRX recorders(right), paint

boxes andFI+Z units.

WWW.WARNERBROS2012.COM


REX REED,

ARGO IS A TRIUMPH. A MOVIE THATDEFINES PERFECTION. EACH PIECE FITS

SEAMLESSLY AND EVERY DETAIL WORKS.EXEMPLARY AND METICULOUSLY

DETAILED. IT IS A GREAT FILM.

B E S T P I C T U R E

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHYRODRIGO PRIETO, ASC, AMC

know how much vibration to expect fromthe train, so we rigged the cameras to T.J.sboxes using Matthews Master SuctionCups, says Wonder. Wed used those tomount [Canon] C300s to a crop-dustingplane on our previous job and wereimpressed with how well they absorbedvibrations. We mounted each F3 to thesuction cup and then attached it to thebottom of the Plexiglas box.

Eck attached the camera boxes to thefront of the train using fabricated speed-railbrackets. We had 11 cables running out ofeach camera back to the control room,which was the size of a Porta-Potty, recallsWonder. James and Smokey had to live in itfor two days. There was only one take!

Juice Train would seem to be a jobthat didnt require a gaffer, but Wonderexplains that Nelsons role was unique.When we scouted the train, we discoveredthere was only a single Edison outlet in the

locomotive, and it was 72 volts. Smokeycame aboard and helped us source aninverter that would convert that to 120 voltsand give us the ability to run up to 1,500watts of our control station off the outlet.Throughout the shoot, he made sure nothingwent wrong with the inverter, checkedconnections and the rig, and helped Jamescontrol the cameras. He was more a SwissArmy knife than a gaffer!

Each camera recorded in ProResthrough the Cinedeck onto 6TB SonnetFusion F3 eSATA hard drives, which couldrecord the entire 36-hour journey withoutrequiring a change of SxS cards. With a 17"Sony OLED monitor, Madrid controlled eachcamera with paint boxes and Preston FI+Zunits. During the day, we had no way to getND, because the ND on an F3 is a switch,notes Wonder. So we had to adjust iris, ISOand shutter speed instead. We were some-times at 15,000 with an iris at 11 or 16. To

minimize motion blur, we never went belowa shutter speed of 1125, even at night.

While Madrid and Nelson sat in thecontrol room, Wonder and the others usedCanon 5Ds and C300s to capture footage ofthe train from the ground to give the POVshot context. We used Zeiss ZE primes andCanon L zooms for that work, says Wonder.Sometimes the three of us only had fiveminutes to set up before the train came intothe station, and we had to coordinate up tofive cameras at once.

In addition, Anthony Jacobs and MaxSainvil of Perspective Aerials provided a dronerig for some aerial shots of the train; thesewere captured with a Sony NEX-FS100.

The two F3s each captured a 36-hourpanoramic clip without a hitch, but when theteam started going through the footage atpost facility Omega Darling, they discoveredthat with a little perspective control in AdobeAfter Effects, they could make one cameraPOV look centered. When we tested stitch-ing the images together, it gave us almostexactly the same result but required a lotmore rendering time, Wonder explains. Sowe decided to just use the one angle. OmegaDarling did some After Effects work tocontrol the image blur and speed changes.

Our editor, Matt Kliegman, did anamazing job of cutting down a vast quantityof footage and figuring out how to use oneperspective to create a narrative, he adds.

The result is a 156-second ultra-wideshot of the trains POV, with some moments like the afternoon sun sparkling throughthe trees and flaring the lens slowed downto emphasize certain aspects of the journey.We used our grading session with [colorist]Sal Malfitano at The Mill to emphasize theseslowed-down moments, and we used powerwindows and vignettes to help direct the eyeto different parts of the image, saysWonder. Sal created a look with a lot ofpunch that also feels natural and real.

This was a great project because itprovided so many technical challenges myteam had to overcome, concludes Wonder.No one had ever thought of doing time-lapse this way, and I am thankful to theBarbarian Group for dreaming it up andgiving us the opportunity to bring it to life.

Juice Train can be viewed atwww.GE.com.


Top and middle: Two frame grabs illustrate the 3.55:1 aspect ratio of the unsqueezedanamorphic footage. Bottom: Wonder helps rig the control room.


Enduring LoveBy Benjamin B

Amour, directed by Michael Haneke and shot by DariusKhondji, ASC, AFC, takes place almost entirely in the Parisian apart-ment of an elderly couple, Anne (Emmanuelle Riva) and Georges(Jean-Louis Trintignant). The story follows Annes gradual descentinto physical incapacity and dementia following a stroke. Georgespromises to keep her at home, and her degradation challenges hislove for her as he courageously becomes her caretaker. They gradu-ally become isolated from the world outside, including their daugh-ter (Isabelle Huppert). AC recently spoke with Khondji about his workon the picture, his second feature with Haneke (following the U.S.remake of Funny Games in 2007).

American Cinematographer: Whats it like to work withHaneke?

Darius Khondji, ASC, AFC: Nothing is left to chance withMichael. Everything is thought out and planned ahead of time. He isextremely meticulous and rigorous. The whole film was story-boarded, and we knew all the camera positions ahead of time sometimes the day before, sometimes weeks ahead of time forcomplicated shots. For example, the opening dolly shots, when thepolice break down the front door to the couples apartment, wererehearsed many times weeks before the shoot. We never used dollytracks; the apartments wood floor was leveled and sandpapered sothat we could dolly on it smoothly. The camera operator, JoergWidmer, did a superb job.

We understand you shot with the Arri Alexa. Whatmade you decide to go digital?

Khondji: I proposed the idea to Michael. He was a little skep-tical at first, but then he embraced the idea because he thought,and rightfully so, that it would be easier for the actors because wewouldnt have to reload as often. I was also able to light more withpracticals because you need less light overall with digital. That alsohelped us.

I believe this was the first feature shot in ArriRaw, and we hadsome problems because the de-Bayering process wasnt completelyfinished yet. Our dailies werent sharp, and Michael was very frus-trated by this. I always want to try things, I always want to goforward, but Im going to let digital advance a little bit before I useit again. All these digital cameras are wonderful, but theyre notcompletely finished yet. In two or three years, digital will be incred-ible; after all, its already wonderful.

One problem I see with digital is a form of laziness on set.Some filmmakers say they will create a negative with good wave-forms and then determine everything else in post. I want to workthe opposite way. Of course, every film requires a different approachto under- and overexposure, but, for example, I dont want to createa good signal and then lower it in post. I prefer to underexposeinstead. Or, if a director asks me to shoot a film in a desert with acompletely overexposed image, Im ready to overexpose it, to fry thesensor! (laughs) I want to give a real direction to the cinematogra-phy. Otherwise, what is our work about?

Amour is infused with a very strong realism, like somuch of Hanekes work.

Khondji: Michael has a desire for the true. Everything has tobe very true or real, words he uses all the time. My crew and Iadopted that vocabulary on the set; my gaffer, Thierry Baucheron,

Production Slate

Am

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Anne(EmmanuelleRiva) and her

husband,Georges (Jean-

LouisTrintignant),

enjoy anevening at home

in a scene fromAmour.

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FOR SCREEN ING INFO RMAT ION , PLEASE V I S I T WWW.WARNERBROS2012 . COM


BEST PICTUREBEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

JOHN TOLL, ASC FRANK GRIEBE

BEAUTIFULLY PHOTOGRAPHEDBY FRANK GRIEBE AND JOHN TOLL AND ELEGANTLY CRAFTED.

JOE MORGENSTERN,


and key grip, Cyril Kuhnholtz, wouldpropose something by saying, This is truer.Michael would say to me, for example, Thelighting you did here is pretty, but I cantread a book in this light; therefore, it isnttrue. I want them to be able to read with thelight of the practical. Sometimes I wouldadd a fixture in the direction of the practicalto extend its effect, and he would toleratethat, but he would say, It cant only bepretty. It must also be functional. Some-times, in the moment, it was frustrating, butit led me to enter into another lightingapproach that is magnifique. I loved it. Ilearned a lot on this film, and on the filmsIve worked on since then, I have striven towork on the truth of the lighting, which hasmade it more beautiful to me.

This movie has a lot of depth-of-field. There are only a few scenes in theliving room where you see a focus shift.

Khondji: With Michael, you alwaysneed more sharpness and more depth-of-field, so we shot at T4 almost all the time.With another director, I might have shotmore open, but in this case I had tocompensate for the lack of depth-of-field ofthe digital sensor. I found T4 with the Alexato be the equivalent of T2.8 with film. Withfilm I would have shot between T2.5 andT2.8, but there I was at T4, and sometimeseven at T5.6, trying to give more roundnessto the depth-of-field. I mixed Cooke S4 andS5 primes, which I often do. I started with

Top and middle:Georges is

alarmed when hiswife suddenly

seems incapableof speech during

breakfast.Bottom: Georges

informs thecouples daughter(Isabelle Huppert)

of Annesdeteriorating

condition.


the idea of shooting fairly open with the S5sduring my tests. I like the S5s because youcan open them up, and theyre very beauti-ful between T1.3 and T2. Their lack ofdepth-of-field makes the image very beauti-ful and fragile. Its almost like shooting witha large-format negative.

Part of the films sobriety comesfrom its limited focal lengths. Whatfocal length did you use most often?

Khondji: 35mm. Robert Bressonshot everything with the 40mm. MichaelHaneke shoots everything with the 35mm,which isnt available in the S5s yet.

Almost the entire film takes placein the apartment, a set built on a sound-stage. What was your lightingapproach?

Khondji: Michael created a detailedlighting framework, which he started byhimself and we then refined together. Indefining the orientation of the apartment,we decided the windows of the bedroomand living room would face north so thatthere would be no direct sunlight. Thoserooms are lit by the bounce off a big build-ing across the street that is visible throughthe windows. The kitchen is the only placewhere sunlight enters directly, in the morn-ing. Whats more, its never the same light-ing from scene to scene. There are sunnydays, cloudy days, rainy days and so on. Wefollowed Michaels directions like a musicalscore, continuously changing the lightingaccording to the moment in the day, theweather and the season. Because we kneweverything in advance, we preset the light-ing settings ahead of time, and we coulddetermine the proportion of daylight to

practicals. We had everything on dimmersto define the light intensity. I wanted thelighting to be very true. I wanted you to feelthe light coming in from the outside, andfor the light to be very spatial, to really bepart of the dcor, just like the colors of thewalls. Many people have told me they cantreally tell its a soundstage, not a location.

What was your lighting setup?Khondji: All the fixtures were tung-

sten. For daylight I wanted very big sources,so as to light the entire window. We put24Ks with heavily diffused Chimeras 5 or 6meters [16'-20'] away from the windows,shining directly through them, and we hungsheer curtains on the windows that alsodiffused the light. Above each window weinstalled 4-by-4 Kino Flos with diffusionsimilar to tracing paper; these were skirtedand channeled to extend the window lightinside. Underneath each window outsidewere soft lights shooting up, becausedaylight does that: it doesnt just come fromabove, it also [bounces] up from the groundand lights up the window and the windowedges. When the street windows were inshot, we lit the greenscreen outside. [Visual-effects supervisor] Julien Meesters fromMikros Image did a wonderful job of [comp-ing in] street footage behind the sheers.

Did you have any lighting abovethe set?

Khondji: All the rooms were lit fromabove with space lights gelled with CTBand going through very thick, unbleachedmuslin. These top sources were played very,very low. Depending on the scene and themoment of the day or evening, they hadalmost no impact, or a little more. They

could provide fill to offset the contrast fromthe window light. The big vestibule and thelittle hallway leading to the kitchen also hadtoplight, but it was much more tungsten-balanced so that when the practicals are on,there is more fill coming down from the ceil-ing. But I found that the toplight couldquickly become fake looking, so I dimmedthe ceiling lighting a lot.

There are few close-ups in thefilm, but you present the charactersfaces beautifully with a very naturallook. An example is the kitchen-tablescene in which Anne has her firststroke.

Khondji: That scene was shot withtwo cameras, so it was very complicatedbecause I had to light the two actors andthe two backgrounds at the same time in avery tight spot. The only source of light wasthrough the window. The key on each actorwas provided by a 10K, and it was moreheavily diffused on him than on her.

Tell us about the DI.Khondji: We actually did two

passes. I did the first with [colorist] DidierLefouest at Digimage, with very specificnotes from Michael, and Michael did thesecond in Austria. He wanted to see myversion and then do his own because he isso meticulous. We graded in 4K, and I mustsay that the 4K DCP we saw at Cannes wasmuch more beautiful than the 2K DCP I sawafterwards. There really is a big difference.

For me, there was something verymusical about this film. The lighting varia-tions felt like a musical score that incorpo-rated the time of day, the weather and theseason. I felt like a violinist working with avery, very good orchestra conductor. Its truethat I had less freedom than Ive had withother directors, but it was a fascinatingexperience nevertheless. You know, I wouldhave loved to have had the opportunity towork with Bresson and Bergman, and work-ing with Michael Haneke on a film like thisfelt like the same level of filmmaking. Hehas the same rigor and desire for truth.

TECHNICAL SPECS

1.85:1Digital CaptureArri AlexaCooke S4, S5

Director of photography Darius Khondji, ASC, AFC (center) and director Michael Haneke (thirdfrom right) confer with their collaborators on the set.

WWW . WA R N E R B R O S 2 0 1 2 . C O M

B E S T P I C T U R E

B E S T C I N E M A T O G R A P H Y

ANDREW LESNIE ACS, ASC


A Conscience DecisionBy David Heuring

To present the rural setting of thedrama Promised Land with the richestdetail and greatest clarity possible, Swedishcinematographer Linus Sandgren, FSF anddirector Gus Van Sant brought an unusualformat to the big screen: Super 1.85:1achieved with a 4-perf Super 35mm nega-tive and Hawk 1.3x anamorphic primelenses. The format, which boosts imagesize on the negative, is made possible bythe combination of DI techniques and the1.3x lenses. It has been used in somecommercials, but never in a feature film,Sandgren attests. By shooting 4-perfSuper 35mm in a squeezed ratio of 1.42:1,we worked with a negative area that was70 percent larger than Academy 1.85:1and 30 percent larger than 3-perf Super1.85.

Promised Land follows Steve Butler(Matt Damon), a salesman for a natural-gascompany who arrives in a small, economi-cally depressed town in upstate New Yorkwith his work partner, Sue (Frances McDor-mand), and tries to talk the locals into sign-ing over the drilling rights to their farmland.It isnt an easy sell, and as he spends moretime talking to the townspeople, Butler

struggles with whether he is doing the rightthing.

In prep, Van Sant and Sandgrendiscussed their mutual admiration forphotojournalism of the latter 20th century,particularly images captured with Leicacameras, and decided to try to capture asimilar level of detail in Promised Landsrural locations (in Avonmore and Apollo,Pa.). Sandgren tested a range of formats todetermine how best to deliver this look.They took inspiration from large-format stillphotography, especially the work ofStephen Shore, but also the reportage-styleimages of Steve McCurry, Mitch Epsteinand Eve Arnold. There were conversationsabout shooting 65mm, but that format wasdeemed impractical. Anamorphic 2.40:1was considered, but Van Sant decided hewanted a 1.85:1 aspect ratio to make theimages feel more natural, says Sandgren.Gus thought these Kodachrome stills shotin the American countryside in the 1970sand 80s were perfect. You see a lot ofdetail, not much grain, and everything hasnice latitude, with nothing really blowingout. Theres exposure everywhere, but itsstill contrasty.

The images they were viewing hadfaded slightly with age, and Van Sant alsoliked that quality. Sandgren found that a

combination of overexposing and pullprocessing the negative helped. By overex-posing 13 of a stop and pull processing 1stop, we got even exposure and great,strong contrast. The blacks are dense butsoft. (Deluxe Laboratories in New Yorkprocessed the productions negative.)

He shot most of Promised Land ontwo Fujifilm Eterna Vivid negatives, 250D8546 and 500 8547. For bright day exteri-ors, he occasionally used Fujifilm F-64D8522. I wanted to get a lot of saturationso that we could perhaps mute it later [inpost], he says. I wanted everything tohave color. In window highlights with whitecurtains, the Vivid stocks seemed to registerthose subtle tones of cyan or yellow thatexist in the world. Those reportage photoswe were referencing blow most peoplesminds because they make you feel likeyoure there, and the Vivid stocks helped us[achieve] that same effect by capturing evenminimal saturation. By pull processing, wemaintained even exposure and maintainedhighlights, and I found that the mid-tones,where most of the important information is,maintained contrast, while the blacks andthe highlights were softened. The blacksdont develop enough to be completelycontrasty, and the highlights dont processenough to burn out. White clouds are


Prom

ised

Land

pho

tos

by S

cott

Gre

en, c

ourt

esy

of F

ocus

Fea

ture

s.

Upon arrivingin a rural town

to pitch thelocals on a

fracking plan,Steve Butler

(Matt Damon,left) finds

retiredengineer Frank

Yates (HalHolbrook) to

be a verytough sell.

I

detailed, and blacks are deep yet dull. Facesget a beautiful shine. Our testing showedwe couldnt achieve this look any other way,even in the DI. (The final digital grade wasdone at Technicolor Hollywood with coloristMark Gethin.)

The Hawk V-Lite 1.3x anamorphiclenses, which he teamed with ArricamStudio and Lite cameras, are just great very well manufactured, contrasty andbeautiful and they contributed signifi-cantly to the look as well, he continues.

They have their own unique characteris-tics, like out-of-focus highlights in the back-ground that are not quite circular. In combi-nation with the rich detail of the negative,the lenses gave us an image thats justamazing.

Sandgren notes that the pull-processed material looks less grainy thanthe material that was processed normally,even at night, and he attributes that in partto the increased resolution of the 4-perfsqueezed image. I didnt pull process the

first night exterior [a dialogue betweenDamon and John Krasinski in a parking lot]because I was afraid it was going to get toodark, he says. Later, we shot in a similarenvironment and did the pull processing,and it looked so crisp. It was very successful.The pull processing doesnt bring up thegrain; you can lift it up with the gammacurves in the DI. In the end, there were onlytwo scenes that we didnt pull process, andthey were both from the first day of theshoot.

Van Sant values simplicity, and Sand-grens in-camera techniques, as well as hislighting and framing, were in harmony withthat aesthetic. We could move fast andcapture things quickly with confidence, andbecause we were already using the righttechnique, what was happening in front ofthe camera could give us some coolsurprises, says Sandgren. That was nice.

Most mornings during the shoot,Van Sant spent the first hour or so devisingthe blocking for a scene. Then, the actorswould retreat for wardrobe and makeup,and Sandgrens crew would go to work.Lighting was minimal, and clean setswere encouraged no cameras, dollies orlighting in the spaces until after blocking.Blocking and shot selection, like most of


Top: A farmer(Scoot McNairy)gives Butler the

cold shoulder.Bottom: The

salesman enjoysa warmer

welcome from a local

schoolteacher(Rosemarie

DeWitt) in thetown bar.

2012 Sony Electronics Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Features and speci cations are subject to change without notice. Sony, CineAlta, and the make.believe logo are trademarks of Sony.

HD, 2K, 4K and beyond. With Sony 4K, your future is bright. Even if youre distributing in HD, Sony 4K gives you beautiful, super-sampled pictures with higher contrast and greater sharpness. The F55 camera upgrades your imagery with true color, on-board 4K recording and electronic global shutter, while the F5 offers a 4K sensor and super-sampled HD recording. They join the 8K-sensor F65, not to mention a full spectrum of Sony 4K tools to create the ultimate in immersive viewing. Experience incredible Sony 4K recorders, monitors, digital cinema projectors, a nonlinear editor, a home theater projector and even a home television. Sony 4K: delivering tomorrows performance, today.

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Van Sants decisions, were always based oncharacter and on the actors instincts. Sand-gren and his gaffer, Patrick Murray, usually litthe room rather than the shot, with someminor adjustments after blocking. Mostscenes were filmed with two cameras.

Gus wanted the sets to be veryopen for the actors when it came to block-ing, the cinematographer recalls. If wedidnt need to use movie lights, that waspreferred. Sometimes we needed light, but

only on interiors and night exteriors. Weused sodium-vapor and mercury-vaporstreetlights sparsely and randomly in thetown. We didnt use very big units, but wehad a lot of small units on Condors so wecould fill [night exteriors in town] with dirtymixed light.

Nothing was too planned out, hecontinues. We didnt want the light tolook as if it was meant to be in a space inthat perfect, filmic way. I wanted it to be a

little off. Our plan was to kill any light sourcethat didnt feel authentic. I was also veryallergic to wide squares reflected in the eyesof the actors. I hope you dont see any!Key grip Bart Flaherty and costume designerJuliet Polcsa collaborated to create 8'x8' and4'x4' frames with a variety of fabrics inshades of yellow, blue and white. Theframes were used to soften faces andreflected abstract, less noticeable patternsin eyes.

For a day-interior scene in whichButler appeals to the locals at a town meet-ing in the high-school gymnasium, the film-makers switched off the existing mercury-vapor practicals because they were toonoisy, and Sandgrens crew rigged a combi-nation of diffused ArriMax M18s overheadand 18K ArriMaxes and ArriMax M40sthrough windows to emulate sunlight.

Van Sant wanted Sandgren toemulate the reactive style of cameramovement he admired in certain films fromthe 1970s. Gus was concerned that wemight not be able to move the cameramuch in some of our locations, says Sand-gren. We found an Elemack Jib that theoperator rides, and we used it extensively.

Early on, Van Sant asked Sandgren ifhe could work without monitors or play-back. I said, Sure, that would be fun!says the cinematographer. I operated theA camera, and I trusted my B-camera oper-ator, Davon Slininger, completely. Of course,it took a few days to get used to thismethod, but when we saw dailies, it was allgood. Working without monitors saved us alot of time. It eliminates a lot of discussions.Gus encouraged all of us to trust ourinstincts. It was like an organized pledge towork together. Everyone felt included.

TECHNICAL SPECS

Super 1.85:14-perf Super 35mmArricam Studio, LiteVantage Hawk V-Lite 1.3xFujifilm Eterna Vivid 250D 8546, 500 8547; F-64D 8522Digital Intermediate

Top: Butlers work partner, Sue (Frances McDormand), questions his strategy. Bottom: Cinematographer Linus Sandgren, FSF.

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www.red.com 2012 Red.com, Inc. All rights reserved.

The smallest camera makes the biggest images.

This still frame was pulled from 5k RED EPIC motion footage. Hitchcock 2012 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved. Not for sale or duplication.

The visions always clear in my mind but the trick on every project is to get it up on the screen, fully realized. No excusesI absolutely hate compromise. After shooting The Social Network, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and Hitchcockall on REDI came to the conclusion that compromise has been removed from the equation. With RED, my vision becomes my reality. For what its worth, I feel much better now.

Jeff Cronenweth, ASC


OnceUponaTimein the

SouthRobert Richardson, ASC reteams

with Quentin Tarantino on Django Unchained, the story of a

former slave seeking revenge.

By Iain Stasukevich

|

www.theasc.com January 2013 33

Q uentin Tarantinos previouscollaborations with RobertRichardson, ASC, Kill Bill (ACOct. 03) and Inglourious Basterds(AC Sept. 09), quoted liberally

from the visual vocabularies of ItalianSpaghetti Westerns, but with DjangoUnchained, the writer/director blazes hisown trail. This time, says Tarantino,Im doing a Spaghetti Southern.

He goes on to explain that thebleak, pitiless universe of SpaghettiWesterns seemed like the ideal settingfor the story of a freed slave in the ante-bellum South. The former slave, Django(Jamie Foxx), is trained in gunslingingby a charismatic bounty hunter, Dr.King Schultz (Cristoph Waltz), whothen hires him to help him track a posseof bandits called the Brittle Brothers. Inreturn, Schultz agrees to help freeDjangos wife, Broomhilda (KerryWashington), from the clutches ofwealthy plantation owner CalvinCandie (Leonardo DiCaprio).

It has long been Tarantinoscustom to screen dozens of movies forhis key creatives early in prep to helpestablish the language of the universethey will create. For Django Unchained,Richardson recalls, these screeningsincluded Sergio Corbuccis The GreatSilence, Dario Argentos Suspiria, LucioFulcis Dont Torture a Duckling, MarioBavas Black Sunday, Max Ophls TheEarrings of Madame de , Brian DePalmas Carrie, Sergio Leones For a FewDollars More and Howard Hawks RioBravo. Thats by no means a completelist, adds Richardson.

The cinematographer and hiscore crew gaffer Ian Kincaid, 1st ACGregor Tavenner and key grip ChrisCentrella have worked together forso long that the cinematographer canissue any number of specific commandswith the mere wave of a hand.Richardson also wears a headset thatenables him to communicate withthem, and occasionally other crewmem-bers, from his perch behind the camera.Bob has trained all of us to be sensitiveto the way a scene progresses, saysTavenner. Even a single close-up canPhot

os b

y A

ndre

w C

oope

r, SM

PSP,

cou

rtes

y of

The

Wei

nste

in C

o.

Opposite: Django(Jamie Foxx, right)saddles up alongsidebounty hunter Dr.King Schultz(Christoph Waltz) inDjango Unchained.This page, top tobottom: Plantationowner Calvin Candie(Leonardo DiCaprio)poses an obstructionto Djangos ambitions;director QuentinTarantino eyeballs a setup;cinematographerRobert Richardson,ASC shares a directionvia headset.


contain a lot of information, so you haveto be able to feel what that moment isreally about.

Tarantino and Richardson agreethat they are finding their own grooveafter more than a decade of collabora-tion. This is the most Ive ever workedwith one cinematographer, so the rela-tionship is really getting solid, says thedirector. Bob isnt trying to imposeanything on me. Richardson notes thatTarantino might not have always feltthat way. When we first workedtogether, on Kill Bill, I brought alongmy gaffer, key grip and first AC, andQuentin hadnt worked with someonewho came with his own crew, he says.I think he was afraid we would battle

him, which was not the case. The direc-tor is the one with the vision, and weserve him or her. The only path to creat-ing a great film is to support the direc-tor. Quentin is the master.

Bob always lines it up the way Iask, and then I look through theviewfinder and it sucks its not magi-cal, the director concedes, chuckling.Bob has very strong opinions, but hedoesnt editorialize. He just wants toknow whats in my head. Thats a crazyamount of trust.

The filmmakers decided to shootanamorphic 2.40:1 and use the samePanavision Primo lenses they hadchosen for Inglourious Basterds.Tarantinos affection for wider focal

lengths meant the 40mm or 50mm wasoften on the camera. Quentin doesntlike the foreground-background separa-tion that a long lens creates, notesRichardson. When a lighter cameraconfiguration or a focal length notcovered by the Primos was needed, thecinematographer used Panavision E-Series primes. The eight E-Serieslenses, which range from 28mm to180mm, are completely compatiblewith the Primos, says Tavenner, andtheyre not only beautiful, theyre alsobeautiful wide open. Bob has atendency to light to a T3.2. (The lenspackage also included Primo 48-550mm ALZ11, 40-80mm AWZ2and 70-200mm ATZ zoom lenses.)

Once Upon a Time in the South

Right: Djangotakes a dip in a

hot spring. Below:Richardson rides

at the end of aGrip Factory

Munich GF-16crane to get a

shot of Foxx inthe water.


After principal photographycommenced, Tarantino continued torevise the script based on his work withthe actors, or to reflect casting changes.Because of this, tests involving new setsand costumes were shot wheneverTarantino, Richardson, Kincaid,costume designer Sharen Davis andproduction designer J. Michael Rivacould find a free moment on set.Kincaid recalls, Wed sometimes haveour riggers set up panels of differentcolors and textures of paint in an envi-ronment that wed lit in the style weintended to use in those particular loca-

tions, and then send a B camera over toroll some footage. That way, Michaeland Sharen could adjust their colors toour lighting. (When Riva diedsuddenly mid-shoot, art director DavidKlassen assumed the productiondesigners responsibilities in addition tohis own.)

The 120-day shoot took thefilmmakers to Simi Valley and SantaClarita, Calif.; Jackson Hole, Wyo.; andNew Orleans, La. The California loca-tions, Melody Ranch Studios in SantaClarita and Big Sky Ranch in SimiValley, doubled for sites in Texas, where

the first part of the story takes place.Thats where Django is freed bySchultz thats the Western part ofthe movie, says Tarantino. Then wemove to the winter wonderland, whereDjango becomes a bad-ass bountyhunter; we shot all that up inWyoming. Then we moved down toLouisiana, where we wanted to drenchthe movie in Southern atmosphere.Richardson describes the differencesbetween the West and the South interms of Technicolor processes: anearthy British Technicolor look wassought for the West, and a more satu-

Clockwise from top:Django and Schultzventure throughwhat Tarantino callsthe winterwonderland, whereDjango becomes abad-ass bountyhunter; Richardsonand 1st AC GregorTavenner frame up asnowman; the crewfilms a scene onlocation inWyoming,surrounded byvintage charcoalsilks.


rated IB Technicolor look was the goalfor the South.

A historic plantation in Wallace,La., called Evergreen served as Candiesplantation, Candieland. The productionused Evergreens mansion and slavequarters for some interiors and exteriors,as well as its oak-tree alleys and sugar-cane fields. The art department spentfive months constructing a 90'-wide-by-45'-high faade for the mansionexterior, which featured six GreekRevival-style columns that were 30'high. The first and second floors wereart-directed approximately 20' into thefaade to match the two-story interiorset built at Second Line Studios in NewOrleans.

The one-camera setup is a hall-mark of Richardson and Tarantinoscreative collaboration. Rarely, a B-camera will come into play, and if itdoes, Tarantino operates it. Whenpeople ask Quentin why he doesntshoot with multiple cameras, he says, Idirect, I dont select, says Richardson.He will reluctantly shoot B-cameracoverage for action sequences, but eventhose shots are specifically tailored.

Tarantino describes two differentapproaches to camera moves in DjangoUnchained in terms of other filmmakers:When were outside, its Sergio Leoneand Sergio Corbucci. Inside, especiallyin Candies mansion, its Max Ophls.Richardson elaborates, One of thethings Quentin brought up almostimmediately [in prep] was how Fulciand Corbucci use the zoom. Often theirwork utilized zoom actions that mimic adolly but have a vastly different sensibil-ity. Whether the choice was budgetaryor aesthetic is open to argument, but weembraced it as an aesthetic. We screenedOphls films for the long, fluid cameramoves. Django became a combination ofthese two styles; we were often doingcrane moves or dollies in conjunctionwith a zoom. When Tarantinorequested it, Richardson would punctu-ate the drama with snap zooms, whichhe pulled by hand.

The Candieland mansion interi-ors exhibit a really elegant, 1940s-


Top: The BrittleBrothers and their

masked possestalk Schultzs

wagon. Middle: Aremote-operatedcamera on a GF-8

crane capturesthe bandits.

Bottom: 40'x40'truss frames

fitted with 24DMX-controlled6K space lights

and skinned withGelfab Full Blue

Silent Grid Clothprovide somemoonlight

ambience.


studio-film look, with big, sweepingcrane shots, says Tarantino. Bob andMichael Riva and I screened 35mmprints of films like The Exile and Letterfrom an Unknown Woman for thosescenes.

In one such shot, the cameratracks Candies right-hand man,Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson), as hewalks through the kitchen and thenmoves through a swinging door into the dining room, where Candie, Shultzand Django are dining with Candiessister, Lara Lee (Laura Cayouette), andhis lawyer, Leo Moguy (DennisChristopher). Richardson is riding aGF-8 crane with the Primo AWZ2 setat 80mm. He zooms back with Jackson,and the crane tracks with Jackson as hemoves from one room to the other untilthe camera passes through a wall toframe the dinner table in a wide shot.The crane tracks past Jackson as hestops at the head of the table, andcontinues tracking down the length ofthe room. Slowly, the arm of the craneswings around the far end of the tablewhile zooming into a medium close-upof Foxx in profile. Meanwhile, Centrellaand his crew fly in the outside wall toprovide Richardson with a wider frame.As the camera came around to theprofile shot of Jamie, we dimmed downSamuels backlight and brought upJamies backlight, notes Kincaid.

When a crane shot is required,Richardson prefers to ride with thecamera instead of operating remotelyfrom the ground. Typically, Tarantinowill ride the crane first to showRichardson what he has in mind, andthen, after a couple of rehearsals,Richardson will take the reins. Usually,Centrella and crane tech Mike Duarteoperate the chassis, and dolly grip DanPershing handles the arm. Richardsonfavors OConnors 120 EX fluid headover gears.

For another shot in the mansion,the camera was on a 45' GF-16, shoot-ing through the banister of the mainstaircase. The focus starts on the hem ofLara Lees dress as she escorts Broom-hilda upstairs to Schultzs room. The

Top: The Brittle Brothers ride toward their intended victims. Middle: The camera tracks alongside one ofthe riders. Bottom: The 40'x40' moon box is further supported by two 12K HMI Pars, an ArriMax on a

125' Condor and two 15-light Bebee Night Lights on location at Big Sky Ranch.


camera booms up the stairs, tilts toreveal the women, and follows them ateye level around the second-floorbalcony. We were on 50 or 60 feet oftrack starting at the door, recallsCentrella. We tracked with the bottomof the dresses and boomed up to the topof the steps, and then we swung aroundand tracked backwards towardsSchultzs room.

An unconventional source wascarried in front of the actresses to keythem in the candlelit scene: a 3' Chinaball holding four dimmable 300-wattTeflon-wrapped household bulbs.These bulbs are used at constructionsites, and I noticed them while myhouse was under construction andwondered if their [translucent] rubbercoating made them any quieter thanother household bulbs, Kincaidexplains. So when we got down toLouisiana, I tested them, and we foundthey hum about 75 percent less thanany other bulb. That made [soundmixer] Mark Ulano jump for joy!

When Tarantino devised a movethat couldnt be accomplished with adolly or crane, Richardson tappedSteadicam operator Larry McConkey,SOC, a frequent collaborator. Bobdemands perfection, and for him tohand the shot to me involves a greatdeal of trust and, I think, a bit ofreluctance, says McConkey. Tarantinoorchestrated two long Steadicam shotsfor McConkey, but ultimately decidedto shoot just one: the introduction ofCandies slave master, Billy Crash(Walton Goggins). The sequence calledfor two shots: a close-up of Crashs feetcoming down the mansions main stair-case, and a medium Steadicam shottracking Crash down the stairs andswinging around to follow him outside,where a line of potential slave fightersawaits his inspection. Billy is this bigthing with spurs, a cowboy hat andguns, says McConkey. Quentinwanted a close-up of those feet comingdown the stairs, bang! bang! bang!bang!

For the close-up, a set of over-sized steps was built on the mansion-


Top: Schultzexecutes a bountykill in anticipation

of his reward.Middle and

bottom: The crewrigged charcoals

to control thedaylight ambience

around theWestern town.

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interior set at Second Line. The banis-ter was removed from the camera side,and the grips rigged 32' of track parallelto the angle of the staircase and used awire rig to motivate the camera.Because the sequence involved interiorand exterior spaces, the master had tobe staged on location at Evergreen.Though Riva had designed the entry-way of the faade to match the full-sized set at Second Line, it was neverintended to accommodate interiors, sodoorways and ceilings were missing andthe main staircase was foreshortened.

There wasnt much traction onthose stairs [at Evergreen], McConkeyrecalls, and Walt was wearing spursthat made his feet several inches longer,so he couldnt get the balls of his feet allthe way on the step. He had to balancehimself like a dancer, with his hands inthe air, as he came down. That imagewas so incongruous with Crashs evilnature it was pretty funny.

As Goggins descended the stairs,McConkey rode a modified GF-16crane parallel with the actor, framinghim in a medium profile at the sameprofile angle as the close-up, and thenstepped off the crane at the bottom ofthe stairs to follow him onto theveranda. The shot ends on the lawn,with Crash sizing up one of the morephysically intimidating potential fight-ers. With a shot like that, notesMcConkey, youre not just followingan actor. You have to be aware of thesubtleties of each moment, and everymove has to be just right. We finallyfound [what we wanted] at the end ofone of the takes. I was framed onWalton, and then I tilted up slowlywhen he looked into the mans face, andthen tilted back down with him. Asecond later, he shoots the man in thechest. Its comedy and brutality in onetake.

Richardson recalls that Tarantinowas more improvisational in devisingshots on Django than he was on theirprevious collaborations, which involvedhandwritten shot lists provided eachmorning. Quentin still knew exactlywhat he wanted to shoot, but this time,


Top: Candies right-hand man,

Stephen (Samuel L.Jackson), keeps

tabs on Djangosenslaved wife,

Broomhilda (KerryWashington).

Middle: Jacksonclimbs the stairs

inside theCandieland set,

illuminated by a24K Lightweight

Dino bounced offan unbleached

muslin andthrough a

bleached muslin.Bottom: Dolly grip

Dan Pershingmaneuvers

Richardson aroundthe cast.

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he was willing to come in and develop ascene based on the moment, which wasa little unusual in my experience withhim, he says.

In terms of lighting, says thedirector, my input is so minuscule thatit really doesnt exist. I love Bobs look. Ilove his atmosphere. I love his hot poolsof light. I love all that shit. Its taken mywork to a different level.

On day exteriors, there wasnt alot we could do for the wide shots, ofcourse, but wed often try to situate thesun behind the actors when they wereout in the open, says Kincaid.Otherwise, wed try to stage day exteri-ors in forested areas. In both cases, thegrips rigged 30-by-40-foot vintagecharcoals overhead that shaded every-thing, but still allowed nice soft lightthrough. When we got into close-ups,wed bring in some negative fill andpassive fill big muslin bounces to addlight and big solids to take it away.

The films numerous wide nightexteriors, many of which were shot atBig Sky Ranch, were a larger concernfor Richardson, particularly when azoom lens was involved. How do youlight a vast Western landscape for aT4.5 or T5.6? he muses. He oftenpushed Kodak Vision3 500T 5219 toISO 1,000. Im sure we were seeing upto a mile of background in every direc-tion, says Kincaid. There was no lightout there, and there wasnt supposed tobe any. The only motivation was moon-light ambience.

In one scene, the Brittle Brothersand a posse of torch-wielding banditsride across the countryside in pursuit ofDjango and Schultz. Richardsons crewused four 15-light Bebee Night Lightsand three 40'x40' truss frames with 24DMX-controlled open-bottom spacelights each to light the action. GelfabFull Blue Silent Grid Cloth was hungbeneath the trusses to cool the toplight.Most of the time, we were told inadvance if the shot would involve thePrimo zoom, Kincaid recalls.Sometimes wed start with doubles inall the lights or three globes in each ofthe space lights, and when the zoom


Top: A ride throughthe cotton fields

ends with a bang.Middle: Steadicam

operator ScottSakamoto, spottedby Pershing, leads

Foxx on a walkaround Candieland.Bottom: A 15-lightBebee Night Light

gelled with HalfStraw illuminates

the exterior of theCandieland mansion,

built on location atthe Evergreen

plantation.

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came, wed snap on all six globes in eachof the 24 space lights, pull the doublesout, and Bob would push the film.

Night interiors were keyed with amix of flame sources. Back then, prac-ticals were candles, kerosene lamps andwhale-oil lamps, says Klassen. Thefilmmakers used candles and period-correct fixtures that ran on propane.We drafted the special-effects depart-ment to help us, says Kincaid. Theyhad propane running into 3-foot and 4-foot flame bars. In a small room, weduse three 4-foot bars in front of bigmuslin bounces and just let the flamesdo the flickering.

Gas fixtures feature more promi-nently in the Candieland mansion andthe exclusive Cleopatra Club, where thepracticals were augmented withdimmable 650-watt peanut bulbs.Theres a subtle difference between thefeel of gas lamps and electrical ones, butwe never used [our lights] to key thescene, says Kincaid.

Paper lanterns holding 300-watthousehold bulbs dimmed 33-66 percentwere also used for augmentation. Forlarge night interiors, Kincaids crewbuilt walls of these household bulbs,using as many as 200, behind frames ofbleached muslin. We like a dimmed-down, crushed bulb that emits a reallygentle light, so rather than use some-thing like a Photoflood, well use largepanels of household bulbs and crankthem way down on the dimmer tocreate a big, soft glow, notes the gaffer.

Richardson also tapped a softbook light, a 12-light Maxi-Brute orNine-light Mini bounced offunbleached muslin and back throughbleached muslin, using 8'x12' or 12'x20'frames, depending on the size of theroom. We usually had the lights backedoff far enough that they were easy tocontrol, but we werent afraid to put thegrips to work! says Kincaid. They putup lots of solid floppies and 20-by-4-foot bottomers and toppers.

When working with softer light,Richardson favored the Primo primesover the E-Series anamorphics. APrimo is so truthful in its translation of


Top: The cameratraveled along a 32'

track riggedparallel to an

oversized staircasebuilt onstage in

order to capture aclose-up on the

boots of slavemaster Billy Crash(Walton Goggins).

Middle and bottom:Steadicam operator

Larry McConkey,SOC rode a crane to

get the widemaster shot of

Crash descendingthe staircase and

walking outside theplantation home.

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stockings varied in their styles andpatterns, but [the effect] mostlydepended on how it was stretched andmatched to the different focal lengths,says Tavenner. Over the years, all thesenets have gotten mixed up in my kit, soI just grab a stocking and judge the qual-ity by eye.

soften a shot, hed ask Tavenner to gluea stocking across the rear element of thelens. This was done mostly for scenes setin the South to reduce overall contrastand add a slight bloom to the highlights.That reflects the nature of the lightdown south, which is kind of humid, alittle glowing, Tavenner notes. The

whats in front of it, says Tavenner.With the older anamorphic lenses, youcan throw all that light at a scene andthey will soften it. Bobs lighting is sosoft that he benefits from the Primosability to capture all that resolution anddetail.

When Richardson wanted to



Top: Django finds himself

surrounded afterevents in

Candieland take aviolent turn.

Bottom, left andright: Richardsonfinds two frames

on Jackson.

Deluxe Laboratories and itssubsidiary EFilm in Hollywoodhandled the productions post workflow,processing the negative, creating filmand digital dailies, and facilitating theDI. Colorist Yvan Lucas supervised allof the timing; ASC associate AdamClark timed the film dailies, which wereviewed by Tarantino, cast and crew; andBenny Estrada timed the digital dailies,which were generated from 2K scans ofthe negative and screened byRichardson and editorial using eVue,part of EFilms CinemaScan system.

Richardson notes that Tarantinoinitially wanted to try a photochemicalfinish, but ultimately conceded to therealities of digital distribution. Hewants to get this film in as manytheaters as possible, Richardsoncomments. Even so, he continues, mywork with Yvan essentially duplicatedwhat we would have done in the lab. Weworked in points. Of course, there aremore variables in the digital space, so we


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48

Trailing Foxx and Waltz, Richardson rides the GF-16 into the sunset.

can work with quarter points, but theconcept remains the same.

Deluxes proprietary AdjustableContrast Enhancement silver-retentionprocess was applied to the Westernportion of the story in the print dailies,and the team applied a digital approxi-mation of that look to the CinemaScandailies and to the final grade. Throughtesting, we ended up at a near 50-percentapplication of ACE, which Deluxenumbered 152, says Richardson. Thecreative intention was to create a desatu-rated look with deeper blacks. WhenDjango and Shultz travel to the South,ACE was dropped, and the result was anapparent increase in chroma. In the digi-tal realm, Yvan added 15-percent desat-uration and an increase in contrast tomimic the look of ACE, but there is noway to fully replicate the chemical prop-erties of the process digitally.

The film was vastly more beauti-ful, in my opinion, adds Richardson.Soon, unfortunately, this process will be

more and more difficult to see due tothe rise of digital cinema and the slowburnout of the companies that producefilm stock.

Most of the work in the finalgrade involved evening out the densitiesbetween shots, however. Richardsonexplains, Quentin prefers to start at thebeginning of a scene and work his waythrough it, even if one angle might berepeated at the end of the scene. So, letssay you have a 15-page scene to befilmed over a number of days. Theweather is never going to be consistent,so there will be mismatches. I tend towant to shoot the actors backlit, know-ing that if it gets overcast, backlightlooks more like overcast weather thanfrontal light. But sometimes it didntserve Quentin best to shoot that way.But thats okay. Hes not there to makea beautiful-looking picture; hes there tomake a great movie, and thats what Isigned on for. Always have, always will.

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49


J.R.R.Tolkiens The Hobbit, or There and BackAgain tells the story of how diminutive andreluctant hero Bilbo Baggins finds himselffar from home on a perilous journey. The Hobbit wrests himself from hearth and home when he is

hired by a company of dwarves to steal a vast treasure from adragon. The Hobbit is a classic heros journey that continues toresonate because it reminds us to get out there and take part inour amazing, richly divergent world, says cinematographerAndrew Lesnie, ASC, ACS, who is shooting a trilogy of filmsbased on the novel for director Peter Jackson. The themes andsubtext of the book drove my theories about the films visuals,and the character I focused on was Bilbo [Martin Freeman].Through interaction with a variety of people and creatures infaraway lands, he wrestles with self-doubt and finds courageand inner strength. He returns home wiser, more compassion-ate and forgiving. The novels storyline also involves the 13dwarves, led by Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage), whoenlist Bilbos services.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is the first movie inJacksons trilogy, and he and Lesnie have broken new ground

in using 3-D digital capture at 48 fps to make the picture.Peter has been talking about 3-D and high frame rates foryears he has always expressed an interest in more imageclarity, says Lesnie, who also shot Jacksons Lord of the Ringstrilogy (AC Dec. 01, Dec. 02, Jan. 04). It goes back to seeinga Showscan event in New Zealand when he was young andwatching 70mm films in his childhood, and it goes all the wayup to the King Kong ride he created at Universal Studios,which involves 60-fps projection.

We tested 3-D rigs for King Kong [AC Dec. 05] anddigital cameras for The Lovely Bones [AC Jan. 10], and bothtimes we decided to stay with 2-D and film, Lesnie contin-ues. But developments in 3-D and digital technologies thatbegan to surface in 2010 specifically, 3ality Technicas TS-5 3-D camera rig and Reds Epic camera combinedwith Series 2 projection systems capable of projecting athigher frame rates, made Jacksons desire to shoot The Hobbitin high-frame-rate 3-D achievable. I undertook to embracethat vision when I started prep on the movie, says Lesnie.

The first step was assembling the veritable armada ofequipment for R&D to determine how best to integrate the

An UnlikelyHero

An UnlikelyHero

Andrew Lesnie, ASC, ACSpioneers high-frame-rate 3-Dcapture for Peter Jacksons TheHobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

By Simon Gray

|


new and existing technologies. In thesecond half of 2010, Lesnie and Jacksonappointed New Zealand-based second-unit cinematographer Richard Bluck,head of technology Dion Hartley and 3-D camera supervisor Gareth Daley toassemble, refine and combine prototypeRed Epics with 3alitys 3-D rigs and anarray of other gear, including motion-control and motion-capture tools.Throughout this period, Lesnie kept intouch with fellow ASC members JohnSchwartzman, Dariusz Wolski, JeffCronenweth and Newton Thomas Sigelabout the teams progress and findings.

During AC s visit to the produc-tions Wellingtons Stone Street Studioslast year, Daley noted that both Red and3ality were extremely supportive duringall phases of the production. The RedEpics [recording on 128GB SSD cards]

and 3ality rigs were still works inprogress, with software and designupgrades that covered everything fromthe cameras to rigs to wireless systemscoming in on a regular basis. Red wasincredibly responsive, often makingfirmware changes on the same day [wediscussed an issue].

Preston Cinema Systems workedwith 3ality to create controller softwarefor its handsets, allowing the stereogra-phers to use familiar equipment tocontrol the 3-D. For the TS-5s use onthe Steadicam, 3ality replaced non-structural metal components withDelron, changed the mirror-box tomolded carbon fiber, and removed anysteel screws that werent absolutelynecessary. At the same time, Redcontinued to develop the Epics hard-ware and software at such a rate that

Bluck, Daley and Hartley often neededto retest their workflow, sometimes goingback to the beginning of the process.

The production ultimatelyacquired three TS-4 (side-by-side), fourTS-2 and 10 TS-5 (beam-splitter) rigsfrom 3ality. According to Daley, the TS-5 became the preferred rig for itsversatility, ergonomics and low profile forcamera operators Cameron McLean (Acamera/Steadicam) and Simon Harding(B camera/Steadicam). Unlike 3-D rigswhere one camera is essentially fixed, theTS-5s two cameras move equally withinteraxial changes, so the Steadicam rigremains perfectly balanced no matterwhat the stereographer does with inter-axial and convergence during the shot,says Daley.

All of the equipment had to beable to withstand New Zealands ruggedUn

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Opposite page:Bilbo Baggins(Martin Freeman)races through hisrural Hobbithomeland, theShire. This page,top: The greatwizard Gandalf theGrey (IanMcKellen)commiserates withthe royal elfGaladriel (CateBlanchett). Bottom:CinematographerAndrew Lesnie,ASC, ACS lines upa shot.


locations and accommodate Jacksonsstyle of filmmaking. The camerasystems were to be wireless and on small,light, mobile rigs so they could be takenanywhere to do pretty much anything,Lesnie explains. I wanted to be as flexi-ble as possible to enable Peter to haveready access to any and every piece ofgear to make the film he wanted.

Lesnie and Bluck also managedthe crewing of the department, includ-ing the stereographers. Each unitrequired A-camera and B-camera stere-ographers; those roles fell to Sean Kellyand Angus Ward for the main unit, andPhil Smith and James Rua for thesecond unit. Most of them had beenfirst or second camera assistants, and itwas important to Andrew and I thatthey had worked with Peter before, saysBluck. Gareth and 3ality trained themfor their new roles.

With prep deep into cameradevelopment, Lesnie and Jackson begantesting high-frame-rate acquisition.Their eventual decision to capture theentire picture at 48 fps doubled thealready huge amount of data; Lesnieestimates that over the course of 266days of principal photography, TheHobbit amassed the equivalent of 26million feet of film. This was my first 3-D shoot, my first major digital shoot,and certainly my first at a higher framerate, so the learning curve has been enor-

An Unlikely Hero

Top: Bilbo hosts a gathering in his cozy Hobbit-hole at Bag End. Middle: The dwarves in attendanceinclude Bombur (Stephen Hunter), Ori (Adam Brown), Dori (Mark Hadlow), Nori (Jed Brophy) and Gloin

(Peter Hambleton). Bottom: Freeman holds the door as director Peter Jackson discusses a scene withGraham McTavish, who plays Dwalin.


900Mhz spectrum, eliminating inter-ference when the two shooting unitswere next to each other, Daley says.Each of the productions 17 rigs wasassigned a permanent individualfrequency. We then had a completelywireless rig: picture, time code, gen-lock, focus, iris and stereo control. Wewere even able to rebroadcast metadataand footage to other departments,including video village.

We really put the Epics throughthe wringer, and they performed

mous, he notes. The increased pictureclarity that comes with shooting 5Kimages at 48 fps brings joys and horrorssimultaneously. The need for attention todetail pervades every aesthetic aspect,including hair, makeup, wardrobe andart direction. One of the joys is creatingframes that are reminiscent of paintingsby Pieter Brueghel or HeironymousBosch.

Focus becomes even more criti-cal, and we were blessed with great firstassistants: Colin Deane and BrendenHolster on main unit and DeanMcCarroll and George Hennah onsecond, continues Lesnie. They oftenhad to work in spontaneous situations.Peter and I like moving the camera, so Iaimed to give them a fighting chance bycreating a working aperture of T4 formost of the shoot thats T4 at 48 fpsin 3-D.

The first challenge for us waskeeping the cameras recording in sync ata base speed of 48 fps, says Daley. Heand Hartley worked with BabakBehesheti of Standard Deviation tocreate a wireless sync pulse generatorthat sent a constant, locked time codeand sync pulse to every rig, automaticallyspot-checking back to the master with-out the need for re-jamming or cabling.A phase bar was also created that satbeneath the slate. When cameras rolled,the LEDs sequenced, allowing for

instant sync sign-off at the data-wran-gler station. 48 fps doubled the chancesfor things to go wrong, but shooting 1petabyte [1,000,000 GB] of footage is atestament to both the cameras and thesystem setup, says Daley.

Achieving wireless rig controlover and above the competing din ofon-set wireless systems includinglocation sound, second-unit feed, light-ing, Internet and Prestons required acustom-created RS-422 controller.This allowed utilization of the

Top: Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage), Elrond (Hugo Weaving), Gandalf, Bilbo and Balin (Ken Stott)confer in

american cinematographer january 2013 us

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