american cinematographer

J U LY 2012

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Dean Cundey, ASC

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’ve been fascinated withmovies since elementaryschool, not just the stories,

but particularly the ‘How didthey do that?’ part. In highschool, I wandered into a camerastore and discovered a magazinethat crystallized it all for me:American Cinematographer.Every month after that, I wouldhead to the store for the latestissue, and I eventually convincedmy parents to subscribe for me.

“AC tells the stories and reveals the techniques offilmmaking’s photographicartists. The magazine opened up the world of cinematographyand visual storytelling to me, and it illuminated the skills and illusions the greatcinematographers used — it told me ‘how they did it.’

“AC followed me throughUCLA film school and into myprofessional career. It’s still withme every month.”

— Dean Cundey, ASC

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The International Journal of Motion Imaging

30 Ancient AliensDariusz Wolski, ASC teams with Ridley Scott on 3-D Prometheus

42 High AnxietyDan Mindel, ASC and Oliver Stone blaze a trail with drug-dealing kidnappers in Savages

54 Hair-Metal HeroesBojan Bazelli, ASC breaks down a key concert sequence from the high-energy musical Rock of Ages

64 Shooting J.R.Rodney Charters, ASC, CSC and Rob Sweeney return toSouthfork for a reboot of Dallas

DEPARTMENTS

FEATURES

— VISIT WWW.THEASC.COM TO ENJOY THESE WEB EXCLUSIVES —DVD Playback: Bell, Book and Candle • The Siege of Firebase Gloria • Shame

On Our Cover: Space explorer Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) follows clues to an aliencivilization in a remote corner of the universe in the 3-D sci-fi thriller Prometheus, shot byDariusz Wolski, ASC. (Photo by Kerry Brown, courtesy of 20th Century Fox.)

8 Editor’s Note10 Short Takes: Keane’s “Silenced by the Night”16 Production Slate: Trishna • Two and a Half Men72 New Products & Services82 International Marketplace83 Classified Ads84 Ad Index86 Clubhouse News88 ASC Close-Up: Peter Lyons Collister

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J u l y 2 0 1 2 V o l . 9 3 , N o . 7T h e I n t e r n a t i o n a l J o u r n a l o f M o t i o n I m a g i n g

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CONTRIBUTING WRITERSStephanie Argy, Benjamin B, Douglas Bankston, Robert S. Birchard,

John Calhoun, Michael Goldman, Simon Gray, Jim Hemphill, David Heuring, Jay Holben, Mark Hope-Jones, Noah Kadner,

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monthly in Hollywood by ASC Holding Corp., 1782 N. Orange Dr., Hollywood, CA 90028, U.S.A., (800) 448-0145, (323) 969-4333, Fax (323) 876-4973, direct line for subscription inquiries (323) 969-4344.

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OFFICERS - 2011/2012

Michael GoiPresident

Richard CrudoVice President

Owen RoizmanVice President

John C. Flinn IIIVice President

Victor J. KemperTreasurer

Frederic GoodichSecretary

Stephen LighthillSergeant At Arms

MEMBERS OF THEBOARDJohn Bailey

Stephen H. BurumRichard Crudo

George Spiro DibieRichard Edlund

Fred ElmesMichael Goi

Victor J. KemperFrancis Kenny

Isidore MankofskyRobert Primes

Owen Roizman Kees Van Oostrum

Haskell WexlerVilmos Zsigmond

ALTERNATESMichael D. O’Shea

Rodney TaylorRon GarciaSol Negrin

Kenneth Zunder

MUSEUM CURATORSteve Gainer

American Society of Cine ma tog ra phersThe ASC is not a labor union or a guild, but

an educational, cultural and pro fes sion al or ga ni za tion. Membership is by invitation

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

of prestige and excellence.

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Back in 1979, when I was 12 years old, I was sitting infront of the TV when a large egg appeared on the screen.Ominous sounds echoed through our family den, punc-tuated by the eerie shriek of an unearthly alarm klaxon. Acrack began fracturing the egg, flashing shafts of whitelight poured out, and a baritone voice intoned, “Alien.Rated R.” Seconds later, I ran off to corner my bemusedfather and begin a relentless, obsessive campaign toconvince him that he “must accompany” me to my firstR-rated movie.

My dad eventually caved and took me to our localtheater, where I was literally sweating with anticipation. Ididn’t really know what I was in for, but I knew it was

gonna be scary, and that it would involve a weird creature from outer space. The lights wentdown and I was not disappointed — Alien kept my heart hammering for two hours, and Ishot about 2 feet out of my chair when H.R. Giger’s horrifying monster sprang from JohnHurt’s chest, spraying bloody viscera all over the Nostromo’s crewmembers and walls.

Needless to say, I’m excited that Ridley Scott is back in the director’s chair forPrometheus, a film he has coyly refused to refer to as a “prequel.” He concedes that themovie contains “strands of Alien’s DNA” in its plot, which concerns a group of space explor-ers who discover an advanced extraterrestrial civilization with close ties to mankind’s origins.Dariusz Wolski, ASC joined Scott for the journey, and the two filmmakers detailed theirapproach in separate interviews with Benjamin Bergery (“Ancient Aliens,” page 30).

Dan Mindel, ASC, BSC embarked on a different kind of odyssey with Oliver Stone onthe dramatic thriller Savages, which concerns a pair of marijuana growers whose shared girl-friend is kidnapped by a drug cartel. Mindel embraced the chance to work on a project thatallowed him to capture most of the action on location with a variety of film stocks and in-camera effects: “After being tied to big CGI films for the past few years, Savages was atotally refreshing experience,” he tells Iain Stasukevich (“High Anxiety,” page 42). “We keptthe digital effects to a minimum and did as much as we could practically. Running aroundreal locations and really blowing things up was a welcome change!”

If you have fond memories of Eighties rockers with glorious coiffures, Rock of Ageswill allow you to “hold on to the feelin’,” as Journey’s Steve Perry sings in his signature tune“Don’t Stop Believin’.” Bojan Bazelli, ASC offers Pat Thomson an overview of his approachwhile also breaking down a key sequence in which Tom Cruise (as satyr-like rock god StaceeJaxx) gyrates his way through Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead or Alive” (“Hair-Metal Heroes,” page54).

Eighties nostalgia may have also inspired Dallas, a reboot of the iconic television seriesthat scored high ratings from 1978-1991. Rodney Charters, ASC, CSC and Rob Sweeneytook Jean Oppenheimer on a verbal tour of Southfork, where scheming tycoon J.R. Ewing(Larry Hagman) contends with the latest generation of his dysfunctional clan (“ShootingJ.R.,” page 64).

Stephen PizzelloExecutive Editor

Editor’s Note

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10 July 2012 American Cinematographer

Road-Trip RomanceBy Iain Stasukevich

The music video for Keane’s “Silenced by the Night” tells thestory of a man and a woman on a journey of discovery across theAmerican Southwest. “They’re free spirits willing to take chances,”says cinematographer Alejandro Lalinde. “During their travels theyfall in and out of love, not knowing where their road or their lives willtake them.”

For the improvisational six-day shoot, director Chris Sims andhis small crew took the actors, Meghan Edwards and Julien Borno,on a road trip from Los Angeles to Austin, Texas, where Keane wasscheduled to play the 2012 South by Southwest Music Festival, andthen back again. “Music videos are usually shot in one 14-hour day,and you’re doing a lot of fast work at an extreme pace,” says Lalinde.“This was more like shooting six music videos. Whether it was 10 atnight or 11 in the morning, we were rolling the camera.”

In addition to Sims and Lalinde, the crew comprised 1st ACRobby Hart, a production coordinator and a producer. A chase vanfollowed the lovers in their ’80s-era Volvo while Lalinde and Simstraded operator duties in the back seat. To get the camera into suchtight quarters, Panavision Hollywood’s Guy McVicker streamlined thePanavised Red Epic-M to the stripped-down camera body, a 5"touch-screen LCD monitor, an anamorphic lens and a battery. Theoperator pulled his own focus with a lightweight follow-focusattachment, leaving Hart to concentrate on maintaining the camera,lenses and accessories. “It was unconventional for all of us, includingRobby,” says Lalinde. “It was like working with a photo assistant.”

The camera’s reduced size allowed the operator to shootmore easily from the chest or lap. That suited the documentaryaesthetic Sims had in mind. “When I was putting the Epic together,I thought, ‘We need to treat this like a 16mm camera: small, self-

contained and mobile,’” says Lalinde.He and Sims sought out the older C-Series optics for their

softening effect on the digital image and the irregular qualities oftheir anti-reflective coatings. They used 30mm, 50mm, 75mm and100mm lenses in the C-Series line, as well as a 40mm E-Series lens“that was very close to the look of the C-Series,” says Lalinde.

Depending on the lens, Lalinde could only come as close as30" to his subjects before needing a diopter to maintain focus. Thelonger the lens, the farther out from the film plane its close focus is.When necessary, he used full or split Tiffen diopters. At Panavision,McVicker removed the diopters from their 138mm retaining rings tomake them easier for the filmmakers to manipulate by hand in frontof the lens.

The handheld glass elements allowed Lalinde to smearsunlight across the frame and bend the focus, giving the image anethereal quality. “We did anything to distort the foreground,” hesays. “We shot into the sun and other sources to create flares.Depending on the source and the angle of light coming into thelens, you can create all sorts of artifacts. It’s just something thathappened while we were shooting, and the effect was differentevery time.”

A mattebox was occasionally employed to facilitate TiffenIRNDs, which Lalinde used to maintain a shallow-focus T-stop(between T2.3 and T2.8) at all times. He also utilized a SchneiderPola for some shots.

McVicker provided Lalinde with a spreadsheet describing theanamorphic-compatibility issues inherent in various digital cameras.“You will usually have cropping issues shooting 2:1 anamorphicwith a digital format,” the cinematographer explains. “The Red MXhorizontally crops the image about 49 percent, and the Arri Alexa[with the 16x9 Alev-III sensor] horizontally crops it about 39 percent,so your field-of-view is not what it would be with a full-frame

Short Takes

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A man andwoman (Julien

Borno andMeghan

Edwards)embark on a

journey ofdiscovery in

the musicvideo for

Keane’s“Silenced by

the Night,”shot by

AlejandroLalinde anddirected byChris Sims.

I

35mm-sized sensor, and you lose [horizon-tal] image resolution. When you capture inthe 5K ANA mode with the Epic, you getabout a 27-percent crop, so whereasnormally a 30mm anamorphic lens wouldbe the equivalent field-of-view of a spheri-cal 15mm on 35mm film, it’s more like a19mm on an Epic. You have to be carefulabout picking the right digital camera whenyou’re going to shoot anamorphic.”

The footage for “Silenced” wascaptured in 5K ANA mode with a 7:1compression-ratio setting for the RedcodeRaw files. Frame rates varied from 24-96fps. (25 fps was the intended frame rate forthe video’s U.K. broadcast.) The teamcarried four 128GB Redmag cards and shotas much footage nearly every day.

The pace didn’t leave a lot of timefor precision lighting. Other than somebattery-operated F&V LED panel lights, anda 4K HMI that was used for Keane’s perfor-mance in Austin, “everything was prettymuch sunlight and existing street lighting,anything that could offer us a source orexposure,” says Lalinde.

He cites Terrence Malick’s The Tree ofLife, shot by Emmanuel Lubezki, ASC, AMC(AC Aug. ’11), as a primary reference for themusic video. “Lubezki’s work communi-cated such deep human emotions, andthat, to me, is cinema,” observes Lalinde.Taking a cue from Lubezki’s approach toTree of Life, Lalinde says he used “bounceand natural light. [It was about] findingwhat looked great and using it to ouradvantage.”

He kept the Epic’s ISO setting at 800for the duration of the shoot. “I usuallydon’t go below ISO 640 on the Epic,


Top: Lalinde says theshoot was “about

finding what lookedgreat and using it to

our advantage.”Middle: Lalinde

handheld diopters infront of the lens to

bend focus and smearlight across the frame.Bottom: Lalinde (with

camera), 1st AC RobbyHart (second from

right) and Simscapture a shot of

the couple at an abandoned

gas station.

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because the lower you go, the less highlightprotection the camera offers. I’ll go all theway to ISO 1,600, and I like the way the digi-tal noise degrades the image, but in the endit’s all about [protecting] the highlights.”

ISO 800 was sensitive enough tocapture subtle details in even the dimmestlight, such as a dusk scene in which thelovers approach an emotional and literalcrossroads that was lit with only the Volvo’sheadlights.

“The shoot was very free form,” saysLalinde. “Chris showed me reference imagesof places along the road, forgotten Ameri-cana, the America that has started to decaybut still evokes this sense of history and char-acter. We planned as much as we could, butwe were searching for the story as we wentalong.”

From Los Angeles, the filmmakersheaded east on Interstate 10, taking detoursonto dirt roads or wandering into open fieldswhenever a location caught their eye. Morn-ings were typically used for travel, openingup the late afternoons and evenings toshooting while the sun was low on the hori-zon.

Keane’s performance for the videowas shot at night at a limestone quarryoutside Austin. Lalinde describes the setup as“one light source, with the camera doingcircles around the band.” Local key grip RichBond improvised white and silver bouncesurfaces with insulation panels purchased atLowe’s, and local gaffer Janet Jensen hookedthe 4K HMI to a generator in the bed of aFord F-150. The truck drove in circles aroundthe band, which performed almost 30 takesof the song.

“The HMI was the only source, and itcreated these moving shadows and silhou-ettes,” says Lalinde. “You can’t really see theentire band, but it was interesting to see howthe light wrapped around them.” He andSims took turns handholding the camera,covering the action on each band memberwith wide and close-up angles.

Lalinde was not able to be involved inthe color correction, which Sims and coloristBrandon Chavez performed at New Hat inSanta Monica, but he is happy with the resultand proud of what he and his collaboratorsaccomplished with minimal resources. “Inour case,” he notes, “shooting anamorphicadded a lot of production value.” ●

Above: Thecouple stands

atop their Volvoon the open

road. Right: Simskeeps an eye on

the action asLalinde frames

up theproduction’s

Red Epic camera.


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Setting a Classic Tragedy in Modern-Day IndiaBy John Calhoun

Trishna is collaboration number 10 for director MichaelWinterbottom and Danish director of photography Marcel Zyskind,and so, inevitably, the two covered a bit of familiar ground. It was thepair’s third time shooting in India, although unlike the earlier films,Code 46 (AC Sept. ’04) and A Mighty Heart, Trishna is entirely setthere and steeped in the country’s atmosphere and culture. It wasalso shot with Winterbottom’s customary tendency towards cine-matographic improvisation and discovery, but what that means on apractical level is that each Winterbottom experience is a fresh one forZyskind.

“Michael wants to see how the scene evolves, and he wantsthe freedom to, say, move in for a close-up at any time,” saysZyskind. “We tend to cover the scenes a lot — one angle here, oneangle there, a little wider, then tighter. In a sense, it’s conventionalcoverage, but it’s done in an unconventional way because we haveno script for how to do it.”

Rehearsals are verboten, and “the shooting ratio is very high.”This strategy endures whatever format is involved, whether it’s the

Mini DV Sony PD-150 used for In This World (AC Dec. ’03) or the35mm rig used for The Killer Inside Me (AC July ’10).

But with Trishna, says Zyskind, the filmmakers may havefound a new constant in their working lives: the 2K Arri Alexa.“Camera-wise Trishna was unusual, in that we finally used a formatI think we’re going to use again!” says the cinematographer. Ingeneral, he adds, digital capture is well suited for shooting on loca-tion in places like India, where “it isn’t easy taking a big film crewout. The Alexa is built for this, and in terms of the image quality, it’sgreat.”

Freely adapted from Thomas Hardy’s novel Tess of thed’Urbervilles, Trishna is set in the Indian state of Rajasthan and inMumbai, contrasting environments that embody the conflicts expe-rienced by the title character (played by Freida Pinto). Trishna is atraditional village girl who goes to work in a nearby resort andbecomes involved with the owner’s British-educated son, Jay (RizAhmed). Trishna becomes pregnant and has an abortion, a fact shehides from Jay, and eventually moves with him to Mumbai. But thedifferences between the two — and the familial and social expecta-tions that weigh on them — set the stage for disaster.

Apart from some tweaks in the final color correction, Zyskind

Production Slate

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Trishna (Freida Pinto) and Jay (Riz Ahmed) steal a moment together in Trishna, shot by Marcel Zyskind.

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and Winterbottom did not create a majorvisual separation between country and city.“What changes mostly is the backdropitself, whether it’s Trishna’s village, the hotelor Mumbai, which is always crazy with traf-fic and people,” says the cinematographer.More noticeable distinctions are presentbetween exteriors, which are frequentlyshot with longer lenses and on dolly orSteadicam, and interiors, which are moreoften handheld and close on the actors.

Because Winterbottom likes toshoot fast and from a number of vantagepoints, two cameras were always needed,though they were never running simultane-ously. Because only one Alexa was availablewhen shooting commenced, the filmmak-ers supplemented with a Red One, which

was later replaced by a Red One MX, andthen finally by another Alexa. Zyskindrecalls, “The main camera was always theAlexa, but during the first couple of weekswe used the Red quite a lot; the Alexawould be on the Steadicam or doing handheld shots, and the Red would beprepared to quickly grab a dolly shot.” (Afew shots were captured with a Canon EOS5D Mark II.)

Because of speed and financialconsiderations, the ProRes 4:4:4 imageswere recorded to SxS cards rather than arecording device.

The lenses were Zeiss Ultra Primesand Angenieux 15-40mm and 24-290mmOptimo zooms; the latter were used mostlyfor quick focal-length changes rather than

zooming within shot. Zyskind kept a 1⁄8Tiffen White Pro-Mist filter on the lens “justto soften the image slightly.”

The small-scale production was typi-cal of Winterbottom’s method. Zyskind’screw included Winterbottom veterans 1stAC Henry Landgrebe and 2nd AC StefanoBarabino, both of whom “knew what toexpect,” says Zyskind. “When we workwith new people, they’re sometimes a littlesurprised at how fast we actually work.Henry was my second AC on three or fourof Michael’s films, and this was his first filmas focus puller. On a Michael Winterbottomfilm, where you have no rehearsals and a lotof handheld with wide-open lenses, pullingfocus is quite a feat!”

The lighting package on Trishna wassimilarly spare, and a local gaffer and light-ing crew were employed only for largersetups. The rest of the time, Zyskind set upthe lighting. Transportation of equipmentwas also a bit ad-libbed. “We took the seatsout of a local bus that was slightly biggerthan a minibus, and we fit all the [lightingand] camera gear in the back,” he says.“What I had with me at all times were a1.2K HMI, some small Kino Flos, someLitepanels LED lights and a couple of Chinaballs.” The bus was inconspicuous enoughthat “we could leave it in the backgroundof certain shots, and it was fine.” ➣

Above: Trishnaspends time

with her familyand others intheir village.

Right: She andJay continue

their affair insecret at his

father’s hotel.


Crowd control was a constant chal-lenge, especially in Mumbai. “In certainlocations, like a busy train station or busstation, we’d go in and quickly grab acouple of shots with the Canon 5D beforewe’d start with the Alexa,” Zyskind recalls.“Then we’d bring in the Alexa and shootthe scene again. When you’ve got a bigcamera, you can suddenly have 50 peoplecrowding around you. When we had theRed with us, we’d sometimes send an oper-ator out with it to shoot somewhere else asa decoy, and then we’d quickly take theAlexa handheld and shoot in another partof the station. We didn’t use any extras;those are all just people in the background.We try to catch them in real situations, andthen place our actors in amongst them.”

The main hotel setting was actuallythe hotel where the crew stayed inRajasthan. “We’d wake up in the morning,step outside and start shooting,” the cine-matographer recalls. “At other times we’dgo into Jaipur to film, and it would take us45 minutes to get there. Because the trafficis so bad, you can’t get around in big trucks,so we’d put the actors in smaller cars, comein with our little equipment bus, and set upand shoot.”

Jaipur, the Rajasthan capital, was thelocation for several motorcycle-riding sceneswith Trishna and Jay. Zyskind shot most ofthese from another motorcycle. “I satbehind the driver, like the Tour de France,”

he says. “We used the Canon 5D for acouple of shots, just to get angles thatwould be quite impossible to get otherwise.There were times when holding out theAlexa with one arm wouldn’t have beenwise!”

For night street scenes in both Jaipurand Mumbai, the workhorse lights werefour battery-powered Litepanels 1x1 LEDfixtures. “What’s very nice about them isthat they’re bi-color, which means I couldturn the knob one way for daylight color,another way for tungsten, keep it in themiddle for a mix, and slide a little diffusionin front if I wanted it to be softer,” Zyskindsays. “Going into the streets at night, wewere trying to not attract too much atten-tion, and those lights were great becausewe could put them on rooftops here andthere and in alleys to throw some sidelighton our actors. Of course, we’d use availablelight from the shops as much as possibleand just add a little bit to bring up theactors’ faces. We shot wide open at nightalways, but with a base of 800 ASA, andwith the Ultra Primes, the Alexa is a reallyfast camera.”

In one scene, Trishna is pursuedthrough the streets of Jaipur at night by agroup of young men. “We put up a fewlights, did a Steadicam shot in front of her,and then I quickly ran a little farther up thestreet, put the lights in a couple of otherpositions, and did another angle,” says

Zyskind. The sequence continues as Jay zipsin on his motorcycle and rescues Trishna,and then drives her into the countryside,where they kiss for the first time. The“moonlight” ambience required theproduction’s largest lighting setup: threeHMIs (a 12K, a 6K and a 1.2K), supple-mented by the Litepanels.

Litepanels units were also used formany interiors. They were augmented by aKino Flo Diva-Lite during the importantscene in which Trishna reveals to Jay that shehas had an abortion. “It can be quite diffi-cult filming two people cuddled up in bedagainst a flat wall,” says Zyskind, who usedthe Diva-Lite with some diffusion to suggestambient window light on the actors. “Thescene played out for 10- or 12-minute takes,and it was quite emotional, so I knew Iwouldn’t be able to change around thelighting after one take. Because we don’t doany rehearsals, I’m sort of judging before-hand what’s going to happen in the scene.In that sense, working with Michael can betricky — sometimes you’d like to scrim thelight or close the flag a little bit! Thankfully,digital grading enables you to make quite alot of changes like that in post.”

The post process on Trishna wascompleted at Prime Focus in London, wherethe filmmakers worked with colorist TomRussell. “It was quite a simple grade,” saysZyskind. “We added warmth and contrastto some scenes because the Alexa can lookflat. We kept Mumbai cooler than the coun-tryside just to give it a less personal, slightlymore modern feeling.”

Since completing Trishna, Zyskindhas mainly stayed close to home in Copen-hagen, where he recently wrapped the firsttwo episodes of the latest season ofDenmark’s hit TV series Forbrydelsen (TheKilling). “It’s the first time I’ve shot in myhome country in awhile,” he says. “I cansleep in my own bed at night, which is apleasure!”

TECHNICAL SPECS

2.40:1Digital CaptureArri Alexa; Red One, One MX; Canon EOS 5D Mark IIZeiss Ultra Prime, Angenieux Optimo

Trishna searches for a way out as she becomes increasingly unhappy with Jay.

Sitcoms Are Easy? Sure.By Steven V. Silver, ASC

When executive producer ChuckLorre first called to say he wanted me toshoot his new multi-camera sitcom, Two anda Half Men, I was ecstatic. He told me theshow would be set in Malibu and would starCharlie Sheen as hedonistic, womanizingjingle writer Charlie Harper and Jon Cryer ashis more sensible, uptight brother and house-mate, Alan. I’d grown up watching bothactors and had always been a fan. Better still,I love Malibu and have lived there for most ofmy life. I would be leaving it every morning,driving across town, and attempting to re-create its beauty on a Warner Bros. sound-stage.

The show’s main setting is the livingroom of Charlie’s spacious beachfront house.My lighting for the series was originallyinspired by the color palette and texture of avintage still photo that shows Hugh Hefnerand some Playboy Bunnies in the den of hisbachelor pad. I’ve always loved that photo,which looks like it was taken in the early1960s. The tone is soft and cosmeticallysmooth, but the image also has some cool tones and deep contrast. Warm, incandescent light emanates from stylishpracticals; turquoise and teal colors accent

the room’s dark corners and serve to highlightthe cabinets and shelves in the background.Using a similarly sexy approach to Charlie’shome seemed to work with the Malibu Iknew, and the style also became a point ofdevelopment for his womanizing-but-still-charming character.

My general approach to the show’slighting is fairly straightforward: for dayscenes, I allow “sunlight” to stream into therooms and around window areas; for nightscenes, I add practical units in the frame andthen augment those with keylights. I allow thesources to play several stops over, and I createan acceptable fill level to control the moodthroughout the show. I project soft lighting atthe show’s female characters when the storycalls for that additional cosmetic touch. We’restill shooting on film (Kodak Vision2 500T5218), and I light by eye except in very low-light situations. (I don’t like the key level toslide below 6 footcandles.)

One of the most unique aspects of theliving-room set is the ocean backdrop. A fewyears before I started working on the show, Iwas doing some tests with an 8x10 bellowscamera. One of the test shots showed PointDume as seen from Paradise Cove, and thatshot has served as our 70' ocean backing forall these years. During the first season, we didour best to shoot around this static backdrop.

Chuck asked me to make the water movefor the following season.

I researched several ways to do this,but it wasn’t until I saw the Gam SX4(Professional Scenic Projection System withLoop Tray) that I became truly inspired. Byteaming this with ETC Source Four Revolu-tion units, we could create an effect thatlooked like the vertically dancing flames of acampfire, and we could project this fire unithorizontally onto the back of our “water.” Itlooked great to the eye, and test footagehelped me sell the effect to the producers.We now use 19 of those units across our 70'backing.

One episode, “A Fishbowl Full ofGlass Eyes,” called mostly for swing sets,built from the ground up for the week.Although this is usually the case, instead ofhaving our normal two days to light for amassive amount of shooting, we were cutdown to one. The other prep day was dedi-cated to an on-location night shoot at thebeach in Malibu.

To fully tell this story, I have to beginwhere all shooting concepts begin: thescript. The first time I read a script, I clear mymind and try to visualize the final image.What is the mood of the scene? The tonalquality? The emotional weight and densityof the image? Going through this mental


Left: In a scene from the Two and a Half Men episode “A Fishbowl Full of Glass Eyes,” Alan (Jon Cryer) returns the expensive wedding ring that his divorcedfriend Walden (Ashton Kutcher) has gifted to him in frustration. Right: Cinematographer Steven V. Silver’s sketch depicting his idea for lighting the beach scene,

which required a moonlit-night look.

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process helps me leave the real world for amoment and shift my brain toward cinemafantasy and a “what could be” state ofmind. I read the script again, this time pictur-ing the blocking of the actors and where Ithink they might be in relation to the set. Ithen build a shot sequence in my head,which helps me to quickly begin conversa-tions with the director and other depart-ments. By preparing this way, I can have anintelligent opinion on various topics, such aswhere and how I think the sets should belaid out; what the perimeters of the back-grounds may be for the art department; thesize and scope of the production, and howthat will affect the hiring of extra crew andthe ordering of specialty equipment, and soon.

As the show progressed, Sheen’scharacter was replaced by a new character,Walden Schmidt (Ashton Kutcher), whobuys the beach house and befriends Alan.Walden is going through a divorce and giftshis valuable wedding ring to Alan, whothinks about pawning it but eventuallyreturns it to Walden. Here is the scene I’d liketo discuss:

BEACH LOCATION EXT. BEACH – CONTINUOUS (NIGHT 2)

(Alan, Walden)

A somber Walden is standing and lookingat the ocean. Alan crosses in and hands

him the ring.

ALANHere.

WALDENMy ring. Thanks.

Walden puts the ring back on his finger,then:

WALDENYou know what? I was right the first time.

I don’t need this anymore.

ALANAre you sure?

WALDENPositive.

Walden takes off his ring and throws it intothe ocean.

WALDENI feel better already.

ALAN(whimpers) Oh, good.

Walden crosses off. Alan watches him for abeat, then turns and runs into the ocean.

ALANMy precious! My precious! My precious!

He dives into the waves over and over,searching for the ring.

In my mind’s eye, this initially seemedlike a straightforward scene. Had I notalready shot the ocean for the show a fewyears prior, I’d have simply treated this scenelike any other location, albeit with its inher-ent challenges. However, I had shot a nightswimming sequence in the ocean yearsearlier. I was more fortunate then, becausethe scene called for the swimmer to berevealed by a helicopter searchlight, whichset up a source we could use as our key. Forthis scene, though, the audience had tosomehow believe Alan could see into thenight ocean well enough to search for a ring.

The last time I’d shot the ocean, Ipounded the water with 18K HMIs fromboth sides of the beach. The foam from thebreaking waves read fine, but beyond thebreakers the water registered as entirelyblack. The illusion that Alan could find orwould even bother to search for a ring inthat darkness seemed improbable.

I live out by the beach and grew uptaking night swims during full moons withfriends. On those evenings, there’s enoughambient light to see your way around on thebeach. The moon’s reflection shimmering offthe water’s surface helps to silhouette thehorizon from the night sky. On summernights, if there were waves and the tide washigh enough to cover the rocks, we’d surf allnight. Remembering this inspired my “whatcould be” approach and helped develop theway our beach scene would be shot.

I researched shooting day-for-nightand checked with the producers to see if

Silver’s technical solution to the scene’s requirements involved a Sourcemaker tube lighttethered to a boat to create reflections on the ocean, as well as a large fixture mounted to a

Champion crane to provide background “moonlight” along the beach.

they were open to chroma-key workonstage for sound-recording considera-tions. However, we all agreed that the bestvisual outcome would be achieved by goingout on a night location. Fortunately, theproducers shared my concern about theactors seeing into the darkness of the water,and they remained open to any and all ideasof lighting techniques. I pursued my vision,guided by the memory of those full-moonsummer nights and my rough storyboardideas.

After reviewing the storyboards withthe director, we decided the scene coveragewould be mastered both from the houseview to the ocean and looking back at thehouse — with four cameras rolling on eachdirection for the dialogue. There would be aseparate setup that would carry Jon to theocean and film him swimming in the moon-light.

I knew I needed to create the illusionof the full moon, and that it needed to beframed low in the sky, directly above thehorizon. I booked a barge from Long Beachthat had been used on Pirates of theCaribbean and planned to load a BebeeNight Light on it as our moonlightsource. Because there was a limit as to howclose the barge would be able to anchoroffshore, I also researched the possibility oftethering Sourcemaker’s 10'x26' tube lightto a ship. I noted that the weather forecastcalled for higher winds and a chance of rain.

The rest of my research yielded littleinformation. I decided to cancel the bargeand Bebee light and book the Sourcemaker

balloon and two boats, one to fly theballoon and the other to accommodate atag line in case the wind wouldn’t allow theballoon to stay still in the night sky. The ideawas to accept the boat and balloon in theframe and paint them out later, leaving intheir place the reflection for a digitallycreated moon.

In addition, I ordered a 160' Cham-pion crane so we’d have something rigid toproject from the beach if the wind came upand the balloon was a bust. The crane wasreportedly able to reach 40' from where itstood; this would allow us to stretch it outover the water and shoot lights from theocean side back at us.

Leading up to the shoot, I checkedthe winds on Windfinder.com several timesa day. At night, after very long days, I wouldgo down to the beach and test the accuracyof the Windfinder website. I knew I mighthave to pull the plug at any time, cancelsome of the gear I’d ordered and adjust theplan.

Two days before the Malibu shoot,the weather took a promising turn. Windreports alluded to possible low winds for afew hours during our shoot. I crossed myfingers and told production to confirm all ofthe equipment.

When I arrived at our location, thecrane was at full extension out over theocean, and I immediately saw that the armwas about 50' too short to do the job aswe’d conceived it. Fortunately, I had acontingency plan: the crane would act asour background moonlight source, project-

ing down the beach in both directions. Forthe purposes of our setup, it workedperfectly.

I then turned my attention to theballoon on the boat. I asked the boat crewhow close they could get to the shorebecause at that point, they seemed way outin the ocean. We got them in as close aspossible and had them anchor up. It was stilllight out, and we were waiting for the windto drop down. Whether our moonlight wasgoing to be effective was still a question.

Around 5 p.m., clouds began gather-ing far out at sea. The winds died down, andI instructed the techs on the boat to begininflating the balloon, which required 13tanks of helium and about an hour tobecome fully filled. I could tell before theballoon was filled that the effect would besuccessful.

The wind cooperated and held still.Within two hours, the shoot was finished,and the producers were satisfied and ontheir way home. I drove home late andwoke early the next morning. That was oneof the most interesting weeks of my career.

TECHNICAL SPECS

1.78:135mmPanaflex Gold IIPanavision Primo Kodak Vision2 500T 5218 ●

The crew prepares for the setup as Silver(right) coordinates logistics.


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The Dark Knight Rises Wally Pfister, ASCKiller Joe Caleb Deschanel, ASC

The Gangster Squad Dion Bebbe, ASCThe Odd Life Of Timothy Green John Toll, ASC

Lincoln Janusz KaminskiMoonrise Kingdom Robert D. Yeoman, ASC

47 Ronin John Mathieson, BSC The Trouble With the Curve Tom Stern, ASC, AFC

Lawless Benoit Delhomme, AFCLife Of Pi Claudio Miranda, ASC

Stoker Chung-hoon Chung Inside Llewyn Davis Bruno Delbonnel, ASC, AFC

Captain Philips Barry Ackroyd, BSC Oblivion Claudio Miranda, ASC

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter Caleb Deschanel, ASC


In 1979, Ridley Scott helped to give the science-fictiongenre new life with the dark thriller Alien, shot by DerekVanlint (AC Aug. ’79). The director may very well haveredefined the genre again with Prometheus, captured in

3-D by Dariusz Wolski, ASC. Prometheus begins at the end of our century, as scientists

working at an archeological site uncover a map of distant starsthat matches drawings found in primitive cultures across theglobe. This remarkable coincidence inspires a manned missionto explore the planet to which all the maps point. Upon arriv-ing on the planet in their spaceship Prometheus, a team ofastronauts discovers mysterious caverns filled with increas-ingly disturbing evidence of an advanced alien civilization.Things then go very bad, but we won’t say more, as the film-makers were keen to avoid spoiling the surprises when theyspoke to AC.

Prometheus was shot primarily on soundstages atPinewood Studios, including the 007 Stage, the largest inEurope. Some exteriors, notably scenes set near the spaceship’sground-level hangar, were filmed on Pinewood’s backlot. Theopening scene of an archeological site was shot on the Isle ofSkye in Scotland, and there was a week of principal photogra-

AncientAliens

Dariusz Wolski, ASC and Ridley Scott discuss their approachto 3-D digital capture on the sci-fi

thriller Prometheus.

By Benjamin B

•|•

www.theasc.com July 2012 31

phy in Iceland, whose striking land-scapes stood in for the alien planet.Wolski is proud of the movie’s very reallandscapes. “Iceland is phenomenal,” hesays. “It had daylight for 20 hours a daywhen we were there, and the sun wasalways low and beautiful. If it wascloudy, it was also stunning. It’s anamazing place to shoot — and I’ve shotfour Pirates of the Caribbean movies inthe tropics, so I know the difference!”

After using the Red One MX for3-D digital capture on the last Piratesmovie, On Stranger Tides (AC June ’11),Wolski decided to shoot Prometheuswith the Red Epic, which had just beenreleased. He chose the Epic for its smallsize — “it’s a little bigger than aHasselblad” — and 5K capability.Although he shot Prometheus in 5K at5:1 compression (occasionally switchingto 3:1 compression for scenes with veryfine detail, like water or foliage), henotes that the original photography hadto be converted to 2K in post to matchthe resolution of the visual-effects work.“On a movie with this many visualeffects, going to 4K would have quadru-pled the visual-effects budget,” notesWolski. “But, at the same time, wealready have 4K projectors, so things aremoving along. When we can capture inUni

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Opposite page: InPrometheus, aliensknown asEngineers haveclose ties tohumankind. Thispage, top: AnEngineer in battlearmor. Middle:After traveling toa far-flung planet,space explorersShaw (NoomiRapace), Millburn(Rafe Spall), Fifield(Sean Harris) andHolloway (LoganMarshall-Green)explore thesurface. Bottom:CinematographerDariusz Wolski,ASC (left) anddirector RidleyScott frame up a shot.


5K, do visual effects and other postwork in 4K, and then project in 4K, Ithink it will look as good as Imax.”

Prometheus is Scott’s first 3-Dfeature, as well as his first foray intodigital capture, and the director says heloves the “clarity” of the latter. “I reallylove the picture quality of the Red. Butwhen you have that kind of clarity, it’svery easy for your lighting to becomeharsh, so you definitely have to payattention to that.”

Scott sums up the capabilities ofthe Red Epic with a series of questionsand answers: “Do you have to fill? Yeah.Can you shoot with no light at all? Yes.Does it hold up? Absolutely, but youdon’t want the whole film to look likethat. So we moved around in verydifferent lighting levels and situations. Ithink Prometheus is a pretty good show-case for Red. Dariusz made it lookabsolutely beautiful in both 2-D and 3-D.”

“The biggest challenge of thisfilm was to make it as dark as possible,and at the same time be able to see thecharacters’ faces,” adds Wolski. “Thequestion was how far we could push it.Both Ridley and I love the moody stuff,but you don’t want to go too far.”

As for 3-D, Scott says it “seemeda good match” for Prometheus. What’smore, he continues, “If you’re used to

◗ Ancient AliensTop: The mission’s

android, David(Michael Fassbender,center), accompaniesHolloway and Shaw

as they investigate atemple dominated

by a giant, sculptedhead and filled withmysterious ampules.Middle: Toplight forthe temple set was

created by a 40'cluster of space

lights suspendedfrom the ceiling and

aimed downthrough a

hexagonal piece ofGrid Cloth. Bottom:

Fifield and Spallstumble across an

unfamiliar life form:the serpent-like

Hammerpede.


shooting, there is no goddamn differ-ence between 2-D and 3-D — you’veeither got an eye, or you haven’t. And ifyou’re a director who hasn’t got an eye,you’d better make sure your cameramandoes!”

Asked if he believes the editingrhythm should be slower in 3-D than in2-D, Scott responds, “No, that’srubbish. That’s only when you don’tknow what you’re doing. We all knewwhat we were doing, so it was prettystraightforward.”

Though Alien is a memorableexample of anamorphic cinematogra-phy, Scott decided to capturePrometheus’ widescreen images withspherical lenses. “I do like anamorphic,but spherical is a much better enabler —I like the sharpness,” says the director. “Ihave a great preference for sphericalnow, unless I’m really going to go forthat shallow-focus look.”

Working with 3ality TechnicaAtom 3-D rigs, which were designedfor the Epic, Wolski shot most ofPrometheus with Angenieux Optimozooms. He explains, “In 3-D, lenschanges are complex, and re-aligningthe cameras is time-consuming. Ridleylikes to move fast, and he likes to usemultiple cameras, so I decided on fourmain rigs: two with 15-40mmOptimos, and two with 28-76mm

Top to bottom:As the spacecraftPrometheusapproaches itsdestination,David preparesto awaken Shawfrom hypersleep;the androidexamines astrangesubstance withinone of theampulesdiscovered in thealien temple;crewmemberFord (Kate Dickie)observes asDavid removesthe armor from a petrifiedEngineer’s head.


Optimos. We also used a Steadicam rigwith Zeiss Ultra Primes, which shavedthe weight as much as possible.

“Those Angenieux zooms arephenomenal,” he adds. “I think the shortOptimo zoom is the most revolutionarylens in the industry right now. You canshoot a whole movie with two zoomlenses!” (The camera package wasprovided by Panavision London.)

Scott notes that he has enjoyedusing multiple cameras simultaneouslysince Gladiator (AC May ’00). “If I’mdoing some dialogue, I’ll shoot A and B,probably in opposition to each other —we’ll get in there somehow,” he says. “Soif something drifts, or something goodhappens by accident, you’ve got it bothways.” The multiple-camera technique,he continues, is “not a problem if youknow what you’re doing. Whenever Ican, I will try to keep the actors’ fresh-ness alive. That’s of total importance.And because I’m not cutting and settingup again, I’m saving an enormousamount of time. This is why we shotPrometheus in 82 days.”

Wolski details the multi-cameramise-en-scène: “We were using three orfour cameras at any given time. First youdo two wide shots, and then you shoottighter. Then you go to close-ups withtwo longer lenses; they’re easier to hide,and you can still find a place for the

◗ Ancient Aliens

Top and middle:An Engineer

settles into hispilot seat.Bottom: A

vicious creatureexamines its

surroundingsnear a fallen

Engineer.

third camera. With Ridley it’s like apuzzle: you look at the scene, putcameras all over the place, and then seewhich ones work. You move one a littleto the right, another a little to the left,dolly one out. You roll the scene, andwhen one camera doesn’t workanymore, another dollies in and picksup the scene, and you get this incrediblefluidity. You can do a three-page scenewith three camera setups, and then youdo another version and you’re done. It’sextremely efficient.”

Wolski notes that sometimesmultiple viewpoints just won’t work“because the lighting would be too flat,and Ridley’s the first one to understandthat. But with a clever design, you canget away with a lot, and Ridley loves achallenge. It’s almost as if we’re lookingat each other and saying, ‘How far canwe push it?’ Of course, it becomes crazyat some point, and then we back off andagree to do the close-ups separately. ButI believe you get more interestingimages because of the challenge —because you have to hide the camera,because you have to drop the cameralower or higher, because your overs arenot perfectly matched and because youreyelines aren’t, either. I think ofPrometheus as an extremely stylized andcontrolled documentary.”

Wolski’s elegant lightingapproach for the spaceship inPrometheus was to integrate most of thesources into the set in close collabora-tion with production designer ArthurMax. Many sources either appear aspracticals or were strips hidden in nooksin the walls or troughs in the floors andceilings. In fact, the set was lit almostentirely with LEDs, along with somefluorescents. “This film lent itself tousing modern lighting,” says Wolski,“and we designed the spaceship with alot of LEDs controlled by very complexdimmer boards.” When he did add aneyelight or fill light on a stand, he woulduse “the same lights I had on the set.Tungsten light was the biggest no-no;everything is blue-green, warm green orjust blue.”

Asked about his color scheme,

Scott replies, “Funnily enough, I wentfor a lot of white. Then it became, ‘Howwhite is white?’”

Wolski notes, “I would defineRidley’s white as a little on the coolside.”

The LEDs and fluorescents hadvariations in color. Wolski states thatboth daylight sources had green spikes,but rather than try to correct the colortemperature, he chose to, within limits,use the greenish and bluish tints as real-istic industrial lighting. “We decided toplay the lights for what they were. Someof the cool white LEDs are greener,while some are bluer. We just let themplay as the sources on the ship.” Indeed,the ship’s interior is distinguished by arich variety of blues, greens and yellowsthat were heightened by Wolski’s choiceof a consistent 4,000°K setting on theEpic, which also yielded slightly coolexteriors.

Panalux in London provided theproduction’s lighting package, andgaffer Perry Evans credits SteveHoward for his technical assistance.Panalux provided hundreds of daylightLED units, including 2' square panels,as well as smaller custom sizes, alongwith LED controllers. There were alsohundreds of RGB LED sources thatcould be programmed for differentcolors, including daytime, night and red

(for “emergency” scenes). The filmmak-ers also used 200 “off the shelf ” indus-trial fluorescents, which were outfittedwith dimming electronics.

The art department left slotsopen in the set for square LED panellights, and also created troughs in thefloors and walls for LEDs and fluores-cents. Evans recalls that the team alsoput light fixtures behind grating, creat-ing ad-hoc vents. He notes that a stan-dard LED panel was roughly equivalentto a 500-watt tungsten light, withconsiderably less power consumption.

Rigging all the LEDs and fluo-rescents into the set was a major chal-lenge for the electricians, because theyhad to wait for the set builders to finishbefore installing the fixtures. “We werealways a day behind them, and that wastough,” says Evans. A complex web ofcables was then wired to a PanaluxVizilink dimming-board system. Somesoundstages had literally thousands ofchannels. “Every light was dimmable,”says Evans, adding that the dimmingboard could be remotely controlled withan iPad on the set.

Scott asked that the spaceship’slighting be dynamic so it could react tothe actors. Evans recalls, “Once Ridleysaw that we could play with the lights,he pushed it to the limit. He’d say,‘When he walks in the room, bring


Vickers (Charlize Theron) takes refuge in an escape pod.


those lights up, and when he touchesthis desk, switch those things on.’ Idon’t recall doing a single shot on thespaceship without a light change. I mustadmit, Ridley put us through our paces.There was never a dull moment!”

Evans adds with some pride thathis uncle, Ray Evans, was the gaffer onAlien. “When I got this job, I couldn’twait to tell him, and he couldn’t wait tosee the set. Ridley invited him down,and when he saw the spaceships, he wasgobsmacked how we were doing it allwith LEDs!”

“Alien was incredibly avant-gardefor its time,” notes Wolski. “Ridleyinsisted on having practicals in theframe, and at that time, everything wasmuch more cumbersome, so he had touse projections. The soft lights on theset were maybe 2Ks with gels. On thisfilm, we expanded on that approachusing better technology.”

Wolski used a mix of coloredsources in the large hangar on theground floor of the Prometheus, whichhad a giant door that opened on a tallgreenscreen in the backlot of Pinewood.The interior of the hangar featured amix of daylight fluorescents and tung-sten Par cans built into the set, vehicleswith powerful LED headlights,daylight streaming in, and a cluster ofsix HMI 4K Pars suspended from acrane that simulated work lights on thebottom of the ship.

Wolski laughs and notes thatthere was “a traffic jam” above thehangar, with different cranes lifting thehangar door, suspending the HMIs,and flying two 40'x40' silks to keepsunlight off the actors and the green-screen. “It was the usual problem withshooting greenscreen, which is that youspend more time lighting a screen thatwon’t exist than lighting the people whodo!” he observes.

In one scene, a dangerous icestorm sweeps in on the hangar. Wolskishot this as a day exterior, with a singlepatch of sunlight on lead actress NoomiRapace (at Scott’s suggestion), beforeswitching to night-for-day when thestorm arrives, leaving only two

◗ Ancient Aliens

Top: Largefixtures

illuminate thePrometheus

ship’s hangar, aset built atPinewood

Studios; aninfected

crewmemberturns on his

team; Theronblasts away

with aflamethrower.


suspended boxes of HMI Pars and themixed-temperature work lights on thePrometheus to illuminate the swirl ofparticles generated by wind machines.

As they go through the caves onthe planet, the astronauts come upon avast cavern with a giant, sculpted head,which marks the beginning of theirtroubles. Wolski lit the area with a 40'cluster of space lights diffused throughGrid Cloth and CTB gel that wassuspended high above the set. Theedges of this rectangular source weretaped off to create a hexagon that wouldprovide a smaller reflection on the astro-nauts’ helmets. The crew also positionedHMI helium balloons to provide somesidelight on the actors. The other prin-cipal sources in the scene were warmLED practicals at the base of the neckof the astronauts’ spacesuits, and power-ful LED flashlights whose beams weredefined by a bit of smoke on set. Wolskiwould occasionally add some fluores-cents or LEDs on a stand to help illu-minate the actors’ faces during dialoguesequences.

Stereographer James Goldman,who also worked with Wolski on the 3-D Pirates, explains that Prometheuswas shot parallel, meaning that theconvergence of the left and right imageswas accomplished in post. He adds that

◗ Ancient Aliens

Top to bottom:On location in

Iceland, aSuperTechno

crane angles inon Rapace; a car-mounted Pursuit

Crane tracksactors traveling

over Iceland’sterrain in ATVs;

crewmemberscapture a shot of

performerssuspended fromwires during the

staging of astorm sequence.

shooting parallel facilitates visual-effectswork because those artists don’t have tocompensate for keystoning of toed-in,converging cameras.

Goldman notes that the Optimo

zooms were quickly aligned after focal-length changes. “We could snap in from24mm to 60mm, and the rig techs did alittle adjustment.” He says Dan Sasakiand Jim Budd at Panavision were

instrumental in helping to tweak theoptics, and modifying them to facilitatetracking adjustments. Goldman moni-tored the stereo image with a 3alityTechnica Stereo Image Processor, andBrainstorm’s Qtake was used to create aconverged 3-D image for the filmmak-ers to view on set.

Goldman supervised the changesin IO (interocular distance) in coordina-tion with Scott and Wolski. He notesthat Scott favored a big IO with moredepth, but that he saved extreme 3-Deffects, like jutting foregrounds, “for thebig moments when he wanted people tojump out of their chairs.” In general, hecontinues, Scott “adjusted his style to 3-D and tended to put less in the fore-ground than he usually does.”

On the set, images were moni-tored by digital-imaging technicianRyan Nguyen at a station next toWolski, who set the color “in camera.”The files were then prepared for editor-ial at an off-set station run by camera-

◗ Ancient Aliens

40

Theron is surrounded by Red Epics mounted on 3ality Technica’s 3-D rigs.

data supervisor Jeroen Hendriks. “Wedid everything in-house,” Wolskiexplains. “Downloads from camerawent to Jeroen’s station, and then theimage went straight to editorial andstayed there all the way to the final colorcorrection, which was actually mini-mal.” (The filmmakers carried out thefinal grade at Company 3 with StephenNakamura.)

Wolski chose a 24" Sony monitoras the absolute image reference on theset. Hendriks explains that each take’ssettings were saved in a Red MetaDatafile that accompanied the footagethrough the workflow. “Ridley lovedwhat we saw on the monitor,” notesWolski. “He said, ‘This is it. Don’t messwith it.’”

Hendriks explains that visual-effects supervisor Richard Stammersdefined a window of 4,800x2,000 pixelsin the 5K image to create the 2.39:1widescreen frame, leaving 100 pixels oneither side to allow for convergence

adjustments and some vertical room forreframing. After Hendriks and his crewcloned the 5K originals, they usedRedCine-X software to verify theRMD file, and then defined a conver-gence setting for each take (as providedby Goldman). This metadata was thensent via Skype to the off-set station,where color-corrected and converged 3-D dailies were created for the editors.The final 3-D convergence was accom-plished toward the end of post during aconvergence run, in tandem with thefinal grade.

Wolski concludes by recallingthat Alien was a key influence on himearly in his career. “I feel very lucky tohave had a chance to work with Ridley,”he says. “I was very influenced by hisfilms when I started out, and I know Iwas subconsciously repeating certainshots that had impressed me.” Whileshooting Prometheus, he thought a lotabout Alien, as well as Stanley Kubrick’s2001: A Space Odyssey (AC June ’68). “It’s

hard not to be influenced by those films— they’re the reason so many of usbecame filmmakers, and they stay withyou.”

Looking back, Scott offers hisfinal thoughts about Prometheus:“Working with Dariusz was absolutelymarvelous. It was fun to revisit sciencefiction, an old genre, and he and hiscrew made the whole thing a great ride!”

●

TECHNICAL SPECS

2.40:1

3-D Digital Capture

Red Epic

Angenieux Optimo, Zeiss Ultra Prime

41


In Oliver Stone’s Savages, friends Ben and Chon (AaronJohnson and Taylor Kitsch) are living the high life in moreways than one. They operate a successful marijuana growhouse and dispensary, live in a Southern California beach-

front property, and share a sexual relationship with the beau-tiful Ophelia (Blake Lively). When a Mexican crime cartelcontrolled by Elena (Salma Hayek) and her enforcer, Lado(Benicio Del Toro), makes a play for their territory, Ben andChon find themselves running from both criminals and acorrupt DEA agent (played by John Travolta).

Shot by Dan Mindel, ASC, BSC, Savages recalls twoof Stone’s expressionistic collaborations with RobertRichardson, ASC, Natural Born Killers (AC Nov. ’94) and U-Turn (AC Oct. ’97). Like both of those pictures, Savages wasshot completely on location with a variety of film stocks,optics and in-camera effects.

Mindel was keen to shoot with anamorphic lenses, butusing the widescreen format almost wasn’t an option. “WhenI first spoke to Oliver and producer Eric Kopeloff, theyweren’t really planning to shoot a ’Scope movie,” recallsMindel, whose only spherically shot feature is Domino (ACNov. ’05). “But one of the very first things I said to Oliver was,

Dan Mindel, ASC, BSC teams with Oliver Stone on Savages, which

pits a pair of marijuana growers against a drug cartel.

By Iain Stasukevich

•|•

HighAnxiety


‘We have to shoot anamorphic. If youwant to shoot Super 35 or digitally, thenI’m really not your guy.’

“I think Oliver was caughtunawares because he hadn’t made a’Scope film in a long time, and I thinkhe sort of forgot what a powerfulmedium it is,” Mindel continues. “Hebegan to consider the anamorphic filmshe’d done and reflected on what theissues were. Eventually he came aroundand fully embraced the idea.”

Working with Panavision inWoodland Hills, Calif., Mindel chosehis favorite set of Primo and C-Seriesanamorphic lenses, as well as somePrimo anamorphic zooms (3:1 ALZ3,11:1 ALZ11, ATZ 70-200mm andAWZ2 40-80mm), to go with PanaflexMillennium XLs. “Since Skeleton Key[2005], we’ve had a numbered set ofPrimo and C-Series lenses that we tryto use on every picture,” he reveals.“They’re hand-picked, and each hasdifferent characteristics in terms of colorand sharpness. My crew and I knowthese lenses intimately, and I take a lotof pleasure in acquainting others withthem. After a couple of weeks of shoot-ing, Oliver was able to see the subtledifferences in each one.”

“Occasionally some new[anamorphic lenses] will come in on ashow, and we’ll run them up against ourset,” notes 1st AC Serge Nofield, whoworks with Panavision to track Mindel’sfavored set. “We’ll shoot a ton of livetests with charts and also scenes withactors, because a focus chart really doesn’t tell a story like we’re eventuallygoing to tell it.”

The production’s locationsincluded sites in and around LosAngeles, as well as sites in Malibu, theSan Fernando Valley, Orange County,Simi Valley and Santa Clarita. Second-unit work was also shot (by Matthew J.Lloyd, CSC) in Mexico and Indonesia.

Shooting entirely on locationmeant a company move more or lessevery day, so Mindel’s approach was tokeep things “natural and simple, to letthe film and the lenses do what they do.That meant when we got to a location,Phot

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Opposite page:Ruthless drug-cartel enforcerLado (Benicio DelToro) shotgunssmoke into themouth of kidnapvictim Ophelia(Blake Lively).This page, top tobottom: Beforeshe iskidnapped,Ophelia chillswith her twoboyfriends,marijuanagrowers Chon(Taylor Kitsch,left) and Ben(Aaron Johnson);the businesspartners consultwith theirassociate, Spin(Emile Hirsch,seated);cinematographerDan Mindel,ASC, BSC metersLively while sheand directorOliver Stonerehearse a scenewith Kitsch andJohnson.


we didn’t try to change what was there.We enhanced it or left it alone.”

“One of the biggest challengeson this job was just getting the gear tosome of the locations,” says gaffer ChrisPrampin. “We shot on the beach and inthe hills above Malibu, for example.Luckily, we had a great rigging crew tohelp us get our equipment up there.”

Prampin and Mindel worked outof a 48' truck full of HMIs and tung-sten lamps, while rigging gaffer JohnManocchia supervised a second 48'truck filled with cables, which he andhis crew would run on location whilerigging key grip Kevin Fahey installedframes and grids. When the situationcalled for it, Manocchia would also takedrop-loads of additional lamps andrough in the lamp positions ahead oftime.

A four-story house perched on acliff in Malibu served as Ben andChon’s Laguna Beach home. Thesetting offered natural beauty but was

◗ High Anxiety

Top: Hot toplight illuminates a dinner scene. Bottom: The enforcer uses his gun to emphasize a point.“Lado is incredibly scary and violent, but initially I tried to photograph him in a way that wasn’t

classically scary,” Mindel says. “We wanted him to look as pedestrian as possible when he first appearsonscreen, and once the violence kicks in, we begin using unsettling colors to manipulate the viewer into

feeling a certain way about him.”

bring out the background, and thenlight the set locally.”

The filmmakers wanted to usecolor expressionistically as the storyevolved. Ben and Chon’s home is

also relatively inaccessible, and shootinginside required some special considera-tions. “Because it overlooked thePacific, the house was filled with anincredible amount of bright light on itswest side,” says Mindel. “It was difficultto shoot with backlight in the after-noons, so in the mornings we’d shootout toward the sea, and in the eveningwe’d look the other way.”

Mindel balanced the indoor lightlevels by gelling the windows with NDand surrounding the house with 18KHMIs gelled with 1⁄2 and 1⁄4 CTO.The crew had to work within the prop-erty’s limits, utilizing every inch of patioand deck space. Scaffolding helpedthem reach windows on the upperfloors. Whenever possible, 10K and20K tungsten Molebeams gelled with1⁄2 and 1⁄4 CTB were used to punchstrong shafts of sunlight into the houseto help give the daylight a more direc-tional feel.

Shooting at night on a large-scale production usually means settingup Condors, 18Ks and lighting

balloons, but that wasn’t possible in theMalibu house and other settings in thearea. “We ended up using smaller lights,2K Blondes and 1K Redheads,” Mindelexplains. “We’d hang them in trees to

Top: Surgical fixtures and implements contribute to the intimidating ambience as Lado confrontshis captive. Bottom: The bound and shackled Ophelia languishes in her cage.



initially portrayed as a Mediterranean-style paradise; the ocean is blue andcrystal clear, the foliage is emeraldgreen, and the inhabitants dress in kalei-doscopic hues. After Elena and Ladokidnap Ophelia, the colors become lesssaturated and harsher as the violenceescalates, progressing to the bleached-out, sun-blasted extremes of the climaxat the Mexican border.

“Just as some movies reflect theauras of their characters with soothingcolors, I tried to create an acidic, Day-

Glo feel for some of the heavier charac-ters in Savages,” says Mindel. “These arecolors much like what you’d find insignage and décor in places like Tijuana— blue, yellow, pink and green. It was anidiosyncratic approach to photograph-ing our idiosyncratic characters.”

He cites the brutal henchmanLado as an example. “Lado is incrediblyscary and violent, but initially I tried tophotograph him in a way that wasn’tclassically scary. We wanted him to lookas pedestrian as possible when he first

appears onscreen, and once the violencekicks in, we begin using unsettlingcolors to manipulate the viewer intofeeling a certain way about him.”

In a scene that shows Ladotorturing one of his cartel associates(Demían Bichir) in a basement, Lado’ssingle-minded brutality is expressed bya single shaft of greenish daylight.Outside the location, Mindel’s crewpositioned a Bebee boom truck with 156K HMIs tinted 1⁄2 Plus Green, focus-ing all of the light through the room’sonly window. The bounce from thefloor was redirected around the roomwith white cards and beadboard.Prampin describes the resultant look as“low light from the side that under-scores Lado’s evil nature.”

Though she is equally evil, Lado’sboss, Elena, always looks glamorous.Mindel lit Hayek with covered wagons,batten strips of four 500-watt ECTPhotofloods softened with Lee 250Half White, and a 2K Blonde bouncedinto a book of unbleached muslin andLee 129 Heavy Frost.

Throughout the shoot, the film-makers looked for any excuse to experi-ment with color. “We’d get to a sceneand just go through the rolls to see what

◗ High Anxiety

Top: Cartel bossElena (Salma

Hayek) is as evilas her

henchmen, butMindel used

glamorouslighting to

emphasize herbeauty. Bottom:Elena dialogues

with corruptDEA agent

Dennis (JohnTravolta).


worked,” recalls Prampin. “We used alot of Lee Chrome Orange, 219Fluorescent Green, 1⁄4 to Full PlusGreen and Urban Sodium. When wecould use a Condor at night, we’d putUrban Sodium on our HMIs to warmthem to look like streetlights.”

Savages includes several drivingscenes, day as well as night, and for thelatter Mindel opted to light only thecars. Instead of using a process trailer, hehad key grip Charley Gilleran hard-mount the camera to the picture cars. Asmall tow trailer was fitted with asoundproof wood housing for twoHonda EU2000 generators. The trailerwas then hitched to the bumper of the

picture cars, which Fahey’s crew coveredwith speed rail to facilitate the hangingof several Kino Flos and 500-watt Parcans. “The rigs were drivable enoughthat we actually had the actors doing thedriving,” Prampin remarks. “We evendrove them on the Century Freeway.”

Because they weren’t lighting thestreets, the filmmakers tried to shoot inareas that were already bright enough tobe visible in the background. “Selfishly,perhaps, I wanted to use as little light aspossible to demonstrate that you don’thave to shoot digitally to shoot atnight,” says Mindel. “Film really doesjust see what the eye sees, but if youmistreat it, the results can be volatile.”

He shot interiors and nightscenes on Kodak Vision3 500T 5219,

Top to bottom: The crew deploys white bounce cards and large blacks for negative fill; Steadicamoperator Chris Haarhoff captures a shot of Lado taking aim; a low-angle dolly shot amps up the ensuing

gun battle.

“Film really doesjust see what theeye sees, but if you mistreat it, the results can

be volatile.”


and day exteriors on Vision3 200T 5213and Vision2 100T 5212. (He prefers toshoot day exteriors without an 85 filterand then correct the image later in post.)A few scenes were filmed on Eastmanblack-and-white Double-X 5222, andEktachrome 100D 5285 color-reversalstock was cross-processed to give a fewscenes an extreme look. The produc-tion’s negative was processed atFotoKem, which also created a combi-

nation of digital and film dailies underthe supervision of ASC associate MarkVan Horne.

The movie’s black-and-whiteprologue in California and epilogue inIndonesia were shot by Lloyd’s secondunit. After conducting extensive tests atFotoKem, Mindel decided to push-process these scenes 2 stops with noexposure compensation, then bring theimage down 2 stops. “The black-and-

white shots weren’t as over-the-top assome of the other looks we tested,” saysLloyd. “We ended up with a blooming,luminous image, and we were easily ableto get our detail back by printing down.”

To create a flashback to Chon’schildhood, Mindel combined an Arri 2-C hand-cranked camera with cross-processed color-reversal stock. Theresult was pleasing enough that he tookthe same approach to a scene in whichChon, an ex-Navy SEAL, and Ben, aBuddhist, hijack a cartel vehicle filledwith cash. “Ben is forced to transformfrom passive to aggressive,” notesMindel, “so we shot part of the sequencehandheld on color reversal, just to giveOliver some mad frames to cut into thesequence. Cross-processing the filmmade the colors go completely nuts.”

Much of the responsibility for framing and camera moves wasplaced in the hands of A-camera operator Philippe Carr-Forster and B-camera/Steadicam operator ChrisHaarhoff. “I’ve been an operator since1986, and I was given more freedom onthis film by Dan and Oliver than I’veever previously experienced,” says

◗ High Anxiety

Top: Ben dons aMexican “Day ofthe Dead” mask

when forcebecomes

necessary. Bottom:Lado enlightens

Ben with a flare.


Carr-Forster. “They left lens choicesand camera moves up to us. Oliverwould have to approve everything, buthe was primarily focused on the actors.

“It was like going back to the old English system, when the cameraoperator would set up the shot and thecinematographer would light it,” Carr-

Forster continues. “We tended to movevery quickly. This made the focuspuller’s job extremely demanding, andSerge did a stellar job.”

Although the shoot often felt likea large-scale guerrilla production, thecrew notes that shots were executedwith almost tactical precision. “It was a

hectic shoot, but Oliver knew exactlywhat shots he needed, and once we hadthem we’d move on to the next scene,”says Nofield.

Carr-Forster recalls a night onlocation in a sketchy neighborhood inEast L.A.: “We didn’t know what Oliverhad planned. We did a company movefrom a rooftop downtown to a very darkstreet in East L.A. We arrived at a houseand found out that Chon was going todrive up to the property, knock on thefront door, demand repayment of somemoney, and then break the door downand go inside.” The scene, which wasshot handheld, was quickly rehearsed.“When the thug refuses to let Chon in,Chon breaks down the door and pusheshim aside,” recalls Carr-Foster. “Thethug, not a stunt man, went flying acrossthe room, and by take three he had fourbroken ribs! It’s weird to be there with acamera in the middle of chaos, notknowing what will happen next.”

Nofield kept action in focus bylaying marks whenever possible.“Whether I used them or not is another

◗ High AnxietyTop: The grim

figure of Deathhovers over Chon’s

shoulder. Bottom:The partners make

a macabreimpression as theyfight back. Mindelnotes, “The Día delos Muertos threadthat runs through

the film wassomething that Ideveloped with

productiondesigner Tomas

Voth. He’d broughtin some art

examples, andthey reminded me

of my travelsthrough South

America. You see itin the streets:

candles burning atcrossroads with

offerings offlowers. I was very

interested inbringing those

little things intothe film.”

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story,” he jokes. “But I am a marks guy.Laser pointers, verbal and visualcommunication with second assistants,Cine Tape — I do all those things.

“Phil [Carr-Forster] likes to

shoot in a freestyle kind of way,” headds. “He always has a slider on thedolly. Sometimes he has two sliders, ifyou can imagine one slider mounted ontop of another, so the camera is sliding

all over the place; it’s almost like aSteadicam on a dolly. When you’redealing with that, there aren’t any marksto get!”

Savages’ 60-day shoot ended withthe explosive finale at the Mexicanborder, which was shot at Pyramid Lakein Santa Clarita. Ben and Chon have setup a prisoner exchange — Ophelia forElena’s daughter — but they don’t real-ize they’re walking into an ambush.

Mindel worked closely with 1stAD Donald Murphy to organize thework at Pyramid Lake to take the bestadvantage of natural light. Morningswere used to stage vehicle approachesand main action beats in the center ofthe canyon, afternoons were dedicatedto aerial stunts, and magic hour wasreserved for the sequence’s closingmoments.

“The finale was kind of like ourgrip expo,” Gilleran jokes. 30'x30'frames of UltraBounce or Silent LightGrid were tabled and hung from heavy-

◗ High Anxiety

52

Mindel totes a reflector in the desert.

duty Gradall hydraulic booms, whichwere used to diffuse or bounce brightsunlight, or to create negative fill inovercast conditions. When necessary,fill was provided by 18Ks aimedthrough bleached or unbleachedmuslin.

MovieBird 35 and 45 cranes anda 50' SuperTechnocrane were rolled outeach day, though Carr-Forster oftenwent handheld, even while shootingfrom a helicopter, while Haarhoff oper-ated a Steadicam. For the finale, Carr-Forster covered the fight involving Ben,while Haarhoff covered Chon’s fight.“We had two cameras covering thesame scene in separate masters,” saysCarr-Forster. “It was a very differentway of doing things, but we hope itcaptured the intensity of the scene.”

Stone carried out the final colortiming with colorist and ASC associatemember Stefan Sonnenfeld atCompany 3, which handled the 2K DI.Mindel knew in advance that he

wouldn’t be able to participate becauseof a prior commitment, so he gaveStone a booklet of stills he’d taken onset with his iPhone and tweaked iniPhoto. “They were more portraits thansnapshots of the scene,” says the cine-matographer. “Sometimes I’d justphotograph pieces of art direction. Theidea was just to give Oliver a taste ofwhat the scene was about.” Ultimately,however, the director “toned down thecolor I used on set for his own reasons.

“After being tied to big CGIfilms [including John Carter and StarTrek] for the past few years, Savages wasa totally refreshing experience,” Mindelconcludes. “We kept the digital effectsto a minimum and did as much as wecould practically. Running around reallocations and really blowing things upwas a welcome change!” ●

53

TECHNICAL SPECS

2.40:1

Anamorphic 35mm

Panaflex Millennium XL, Arri 2-C

Panavision Primo, C-Series

Kodak Vision3 500T 5219,200T 5213; Vision2 100T 5212;Ektachrome 100D 5285;Double-X 5222

Cross Processing by FotoKem

Digital Intermediate


Bojan Bazelli, ASC and his collaborators break down theirapproach to a key sequence in the big-screen adaptation of

Rock of Ages.

By Patricia Thomson

•|•

David Lee Roth was once asked why Van Halen’s stageshow was so big, and he replied, “What we’re doing isjust like high school: it’s all about who has the loudeststereo and the biggest back tires.” This over-the-top

world is celebrated in Rock of Ages, a love story set on theSunset Strip in 1987. Adapted from the Broadway musical,which showcases such hits as David Lee Roth’s “Just LikeParadise,” Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock ’n’ Roll,” Journey’s “AnyWay You Want It” and Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead or Alive,”the movie reunites director Adam Shankman and cinematog-rapher Bojan Bazelli, ASC, who first teamed on anotherperiod musical, Hairspray (AC Aug. ’07).

During their 12 weeks of prep together, Shankman and

Hair-MetalHeroes


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Bazelli researched concert performancesand music videos of the era, watchinghundreds of the latter. “The commondenominators were heavy backlight,with the singers’ long hair burning inthe light, and primary colors, and Adamand I decided to integrate both of theseelements into our film,” Bazelli reports.“We decided to give the shows a satu-rated look with very vivid yellows,greens, blues and reds, and we decidedto never put more than two primarycolors together at the same time. We

also planned to make camera angles andcamera moves a big part of the stagedrama — you see a lot of sweepingcrane moves.”

The storyline, which followsaspiring performers Drew (DiegoBoneta) and Sherrie ( Julianne Hough)as they meet, fall in love, and try tobreak into the business at a Sunset Stripnightclub called the Bourbon Room,called for a lot of dark club interiors andnight exteriors, and this was a keyreason why the filmmakers chose toshoot digitally with the Arri Alexa.“We knew we’d be shooting very fast,very complicated moves in places that

would offer limited space to hide lights,a scenario where film would struggle,”says Bazelli. “Our ability to shoot at avery low exposure with the Alexa gaveus a rich, textured look that suited theworld of rock ’n’ roll, which is mostlynocturnal. And Adam was excited aboutemploying modern digital tools tocapture that world; he felt we could bemore creative if we went digital.”

The production had time for oneround of camera tests, which involved aside-by-side comparison of the Alexa(capturing in ArriRaw) and a 35mmfilm camera that was carried all the waythrough to a filmout at Deluxe in New

Opposite: StaceeJaxx (Tom Cruise)delivers a show-stopping rendition ofBon Jovi’s “WantedDead or Alive.” Thispage, top: As Drew(Diego Boneta,background) lookson, Sherrie (JulianneHough) makes hercase to BourbonRoom owner DennisDupree (AlecBaldwin, right) andhis cohort Lonny(Russell Brand). Left:Bojan Bazelli, ASC(left) and directorAdam Shankmandiscuss the scene.


◗ Hair-Metal Heroes

York. “I was pleasantly surprised by thequality of the Alexa image, which lookedtruly great,” says Bazelli. “Until the abil-ity to capture in ArriRaw became avail-able, I didn’t think any digital cameracould start putting nails in the coffin offilm, but this is a digital image that reallydoes offer a film-like feel.

“However,” he adds, “I still lovethe look of film, which is why I’mcurrently shooting The Lone Ranger onfilm.”

Rock of Ages is the first digitallycaptured motion-picture musical, andBazelli acknowledges that the formatposes at least one clear advantage for thegenre: “When you’re shooting a musical,which involves so many people andtricky logistics, the possibility of seeingthe image immediately on set is defi-nitely helpful. We could tell right awaywhen any changes were necessary.”

One drawback to digital capture,he continues, is cost, especially for a

multi-camera project like Rock of Ages,which had five Alexas rolling on everymusical performance. “People like to saydigital is less expensive than film, but I’dsay it’s twice as expensive on a show likethis,” he observes, noting that in addi-tion to the costs of renting cameras andCodex recorders, the production had tokeep more than 100 digital mags onhand to facilitate the data-verificationprocess. “The data on each mag had tobe cloned on set, checked and thencloned again and checked by the lab.Then the lab had to generate LTO-5tapes for the studio for QC and archiv-ing before that mag could be erased andreturned to the set. This process tookthree to four days.

“If you’re shooting five camerasand averaging four magazines percamera, you need 20 mags for one day’swork. And since you can’t get them backfor three days, you have to have another20 in reserve for the next day, 60 forthree days, and so on.”

Bazelli is quick to note that OttoNemenz in Hollywood gave theproduction a good deal on its camerapackage, which included Cooke S4prime lenses, Angenieux Optimo 12:1

Right: Lonny andDennis improvise anumber in Dennis’office. Below: The

A and B camerateams workhandheld to

capture the pair’sperformance.

(24-290mm) and 3:1 (15-40mm and28-76mm) zooms, and a set of newLeica Summilux lenses. “The Leicasare great, and I wanted to use them forthe whole picture, but they were in thetest stage at the time, so we could onlyget them for two weeks,” he says. “I shotour night exteriors on the Sunset Stripand at the Hollywood sign with them.They’re high speed, T1.4, and highresolution, and they proved to beperfect for such scenes. They’re lesscontrasty than Arri Master Primes.”

Rock of Ages’ 70-day shoot tookplace in Miami, where the productioncordoned off four blocks to serve as asection of the Sunset Strip. At thenearby Ice Palace Film Studios, theyutilized three stages: one for construc-tion, one for dancers and rehearsals, andone for sets. In addition, two practicallocations were required for stage perfor-mances. The Fort Lauderdale musicvenue Revolution served as theBourbon Room, and Miami’s SeminoleHard Rock Hotel & Casino stood infor Dodger Stadium, where rock godStacee Jaxx (Tom Cruise) performswith his band, Arsenal.

More than half of the movie is

set in the Bourbon Room, which is runby Dennis Dupree (Alec Baldwin). Indressing the location, productiondesigner Jon Hutman worked withBazelli and his lighting team, led bygaffer Tony “Nako” Nakonechnyj andtheatrical-lighting designer MikeBaldassari, to create fixtures that couldfunction as period-accurate practicalsonstage and throughout the club.“During our research in prep, wenoticed that Par cans were key to the

period look,” says Bazelli, “so we workedwith Jon to have a lot of them in shot,whether we were backstage or onstage.”

Baldassari rigged silver Par canson six-lamp bars onstage, where they arevisible in shot, but hanging overheadwere modern Pars with scrollers thatenabled Bazelli to change the colorwash and brightness instantly from thelighting console. “We put period-accu-rate silver octagonal gel frames in frontof the scrollers, so if you looked at the


Realizing theirdreams at long last,Drew (top) andSherrie (bottom)get their respectivemoments in thespotlight onstageat the BourbonRoom.


stage from the front, they looked likethose old Pars, but actually they weremodern Pars in costume,” saysBaldassari.

Rock of Ages takes two approachesto musical numbers: some are

performed onstage, while others occurwhen characters break into song ineveryday settings. Typically, those light-ing styles are separate and distinct, buton some occasions one song combinesboth. Such is the case with “Wanted

Dead or Alive,” Jaxx’s first performance.“We called that ‘a journey through thelife of a rock ’n’ roll star,’” says Bazelli.Ambitious in theme, choreography,design and logistics, the sequence illus-trates the complexity of meshing a “realworld” scene with a musical number.

The song begins in the BourbonRoom greenroom, where a Rolling Stonereporter (played by Malin Ackerman) isinterviewing Jaxx. “What’s it like to bethe Stacee Jaxx?” she asks. He replies,“I’m a cowboy,” and then launches intothe Bon Jovi song. Singing all the while,he walks out of the dressing room into abackstage loading area, where he isjoined by a host of groupies, and thenproceeds to the stage in the BourbonRoom, where roadies are setting up forhis show. Boxes are piled next to thestage, and Jaxx climbs them like a stair-case.

“As Jaxx tells his tale, I wanted tosuggest the darker, moodier side of his


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Performances in the Bourbon Room required a mix of film lighting and theatrical lighting. The diagram above shows the color key for thetheatrical-lighting setup created by Mike Baldassari. Diagrammed on the opposite page is the setup itself.

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LIGHTING BY:MIKE BALDASSARI

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character,” says Bazelli. “We did that bytransitioning from the warmth of thegreenroom to the harsh, specularcrosslight of the nightclub. We lit thegreenroom set with low-angle Arri750HPLs with XS Video ProChimeras and 40-Degree LCDs, andArri 650s with XXS Chimeras and 40-Degree LCDs, and we then used open-faced Arri 2Ks and 5Ks on Tom as he

meandered into the club location.When he exits the greenroom, he entersa world of toplight that evolves as hetravels into the low-angle Fresnel light-ing backstage, and then into the 5Kopen-face crosslight of the club’s moshpit.

“As Jaxx climbs onstage, we tran-sition from film lighting to theatricallighting, which we accomplished by

having Mike Baldassari create and illu-minate a pathway onto the stage,”continues Bazelli. “Then, once Jaxx isonstage, we use an in-camera transition— a 360-degree move coupled with alens flare — to cut from his nightclubperformance to his performance atDodger Stadium, suggesting his rise tothe top of his profession.

“The camera begins the 360around Jaxx when he steps onstage, andthe song was choreographed so thathalfway through the move, Tom wouldbend down, allowing a Mac 700 to flarethe lens,” he continues. “We then cut toan identical flare when he pops back up,and the camera move continues toreveal that he’s performing in a differentvenue, a huge stadium packed withthousands of fans. His band is at thepeak of its fame, with pyrotechnics blaz-ing, a wall of light and spotlights galore.The song concludes with a simple tran-sition: we cut back to his close-up onthe Bourbon Room stage, using thesame color and tone of the arena shot.The circle is complete.”

The sequence called for fivecameras and three locations, but it allhad to feel like one continuous shot.


Top: Drewenjoys another

triumphantmoment onstage

at the BourbonRoom. Bottom:The filmmakers

prepare to shoot the

performance.

Key grip Ross Jones coordinated thecamera moves, which needed to be asdynamic and sweeping as the music wasloud. Meshing the film lighting with thetheatrical lighting was key. “I lovedmixing the two lighting systems on thismovie, and Mike and Nako workedclosely to make it look seamless,” saysBazelli. “One of the more interestingparts of our job was creating transitionswhere we could fold Nako’s stage light-ing into Mike’s concert lighting, andvice versa.”

The greenroom portion of Jaxx’smusical number was shot on a set builtat Ice Palace, and thus was the moststraightforward to capture. In additionto creating warm ambience with theChimeras, Nako worked with Hutmanto create practicals that combined LEDand incandescent fixtures and allowedfor color adjustments. Meanwhile,camera moves during the interview weredone handheld and on dolly tracks, andthen a Steadicam move accompaniedJaxx out of the room.

The Revolution nightclub wasn’tan easy location. It featured a deep,horseshoe-shaped balcony that reducedceiling space, and its passageways

couldn’t always accommodate the vari-ety of cranes the filmmakers wanted touse. Also, the floor comprised manylevels. Jones explains, “The mosh pit wasabout 4 feet lower than the dance floor.Everywhere you went, you never had along run on the same floor. We wantedto do dynamic, sweeping camera moves,so we had to build Technocranes invarying sizes to deal with the small hall-ways and doorways. Thank goodnessour Technocrane provider, Cinemoves,was able to offer us many differentoptions to build, because we wereconstantly changing for that location.”What’s more, the filmmakers often hadto vacate the space for the club’s ownshows or rehearsals.

All of the camerawork and light-ing elements flowed from the choreog-raphy, which continued to evolve untilthe cameras rolled. Shankman, Bazelliand Cruise rehearsed the number exten-sively onstage at Ice Palace, and, fortu-nately, key crewmembers could watchsome of those weekend rehearsals.“That made all the difference in theworld,” says Jones. “We knew exactlywhat Tom’s timing would be, how fasthe’d move from Point A to Point B, and

so on. It was critical that we knew thosedetails ahead of time, because when Tomcame in ready to shoot, he was ready togo! We didn’t want him to have to waiton us.”

During Cruise’s final rehearsal onlocation, Bazelli brought in an Alexa.“That was a great help because then wecould see how it would look on camera,”says the cinematographer. “On the dayof shooting, there were only a few finallighting adjustments based on Tom’sperformance and aesthetic needs. Iwould turn to Mike and say, ‘Let’s addmore color to the backlight,’ or ‘Let’sturn off the side spot.’”

The filmmakers started pre-rigging the Bourbon Room a monthbefore the scene was shot — and wellbefore Cruise’s choreography was set —so units were placed in nearly every nookand cranny, and enough dimmer chan-nels were established to cover everycontingency. “The goal was that Tomwould look chiseled no matter where hemoved on the stage,” says Bazelli.

Background lighting in the clubcame from Arri 750HPLs and 3KBarger Lites softened with XS VideoPro Chimeras and 40-Degree LCDs.

A-camera/SteadicamoperatorStephenConsentinogets close tothe actiononstage,assisted by 1st AC JohnHolmes.


“We like to create sheens behind thingswith big, soft sources and then use setpieces to create silhouettes,” says Nako.Kino Flos and JDR Mini Par Cans were

also rigged overhead. “The JDRs areincandescent halogen-projector-typeglobes in a Mini Par Can configura-tion,” says Nako. “We used a lot of those

for Tom’s walk up the ramp and into thebackstage area. Tom is being hit with abit of toppy backlight from real Par cans— the theatrical lighting — while asoundboard guy in the shot is being litwith the Mini Par Cans.”

“The sharp overhead light createda very interesting play of light andshadow on Tom’s torso — he’s shirtlessfor most of the movie,” adds Bazelli.

The filmmakers considered anumber of ways to achieve the in-camera transition, but the simplest solu-tion proved to be a Steadicam move,which was accomplished by A-camera/Steadicam operator StephenConsentino. “We called it ‘humanmotion control,’” says Bazelli.

The move starts very close toCruise and cuts on the moment whenhe bends down and allows a Mac 700 toflare the lens. “When we shot the rest ofthe move in the arena three or fourweeks later, Stephen repeated the move,matching the speed and angle, but


62

Bazelli and 1st AD Chris Carreras discuss a setup.

because of the greater distance betweenTom and the source we used a morepowerful light, a Martin Mac 2K ProfileSpot,” explains Bazelli. “We simplyoverlapped [the shot]. In the arena, welit for a cool palette at first, matchingthe cool tones of the Bourbon Roomperformance, so the transition isn’timmediately obvious.”

Once Jaxx is revealed to be in acrowded stadium, the cool palettechanges to a warm one, and the fire-works begin. Showers of sparks eruptfrom the floor, spotlights flick across thearena, and hundreds of stage lightsprovide material expression of Arsenal’spower. “I was amazed by the Alexa’sdynamic range on this scene,” notesBazelli. “It held bright fire and sparkswith no problem, retaining all the colorin the highlights.”

Shankman wanted to create awall of light behind the band thatspelled out “Jaxx,” and the team accom-plished this by using four giant pods

that each contained 36 Pars withscrollers dressed in octagonal gel frames.1K Pars were mounted on tall towerslining the stage and on trusses overheadto form an “XX” that hangs over thestage (a reference to the singer’ssurname). “The sign was so bright I hadto stop down the lens in order topreserve detail in the highlights,” saysBazelli.

Visible on amplifiers and on thestage floor are vintage Vari-Lite VL2Cspot luminaires. “Those are some of thelast still working in North America,”says Baldassari, who spent two monthstracking them down. “That was thepopular moving light in 1987, butnobody has them anymore. I was able tofind somebody in Nashville who hadabout a dozen of them.”

Bazelli says he and Shankman arevery pleased with the finished scene: “Ithink the transition is great; it looksseamless, and it doesn’t feel like technol-ogy is superseding emotion. The trick

was to create the same color tempera-ture, the same brightness in the back-light, so that there would be no visiblechange between the two shots.” Bazelliand colorist Kostas Theodosiou finessedthe transition in the final color correc-tion at FotoKem, where a Kodak film-emulation look-up table was applied tothe entire picture.

“Overall, we had an incredibleteam on this movie,” says Bazelli.“Everyone worked together to bringAdam’s vision to life.” ●

TECHNICAL SPECS 2.40:1

Digital Capture

Arri Alexa

Cooke S4, Angenieux Optimo,Leica Summilux

63

The nighttime soap opera Dallas ran for 14 seasons onCBS, from 1978 to 1991, and was one of the most popu-lar TV series of all time. The famous 1980 episode“Who Done It?” — which revealed the identity of the

family member who had gunned down J.R. Ewing (LarryHagman) — was, at the time, the highest-rated TV episodein history. Last month, 21 years after the final episode aired,the Ewing family returned to the small screen.

The new Dallas, produced by TNT, focuses on the nextgeneration of the oil and cattle dynasty and, perhaps notsurprisingly, finds J.R.’s son, John Ross ( Josh Henderson),and Bobby’s son, Christopher ( Jesse Metcalfe), engaged inthe same bitter power struggle that divided their fathers. In aninspired bit of continuity, some of the actors from the original


Shooting J.R.Rodney Charters, ASC, CSC and

Rob Sweeney explain theirapproach to Dallas, which reunitesthe scheming J.R. Ewing with his

dysfunctional clan.

By Jean Oppenheimer

•|•


series are reprising their roles, includingHagman, Patrick Duffy (who playsBobby) and Linda Gray (who playsJ.R.’s ex-wife, Sue Ellen).

Rodney Charters, ASC, CSC,best known to television audiences asthe director of photography on 24 (ACFeb. ’04), shot the pilot for Dallas andthe majority of its nine episodes. He wasunder contract to another show(Shameless) when the pilot was pickedup, so the first two episodes were shot by Rob Sweeney, and the third was co-shot by Sweeney and Brown Cooper,the second-unit cinematographer/B-camera operator on the otherepisodes.

The series was shot in and aroundDallas and uses the same sprawlingranch house as the location forSouthfork, the Ewing family home.“Sprawling,” however, is actually a rela-tive term. Charters laughs as he notes,“We went out of our way to dwell oncertain angles of the house because it’snot what is considered ‘big’ today. Butwe couldn’t not show it because it’s suchUni

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Opposite page:Elena Ramos(Jordana Brewster,far left) andRebecca Sutter(Julie Gonzolo, farright) flank theEwings — (left toright) John Ross(Josh Henderson),Sue Ellen (LindaGray), J.R. (LarryHagman), Bobby(Patrick Duffy),Ann (BrendaStrong) andChristopher (JesseMetcalfe) — whorekindle theirlongstandingfamily feud in theseries Dallas. Thispage, top tobottom: J.R.schemes with hisson, John Ross;cinematographerRodney Charters,ASC, CSC;cinematographerRob Sweeney.


an iconic image.” Sets for the interior of the home

were constructed in a former industrialbuilding south of Dallas and wereconsiderably larger than the originalseries’ sets, with background plates shotout the windows of the Southfork loca-tion. “The building is concrete and hadreally bad acoustics,” relates Charters.“We had to drop proper sound bafflesabove the set and off to the sides.”

The two-camera show was shotwith Arri Alexas recording to SxS cardsin ProRes 4:4:4. “I love ProRes 4:4:4,”notes Charters. “At the higher ISOs[above 2,000], the noise that results isvery organic in structure. Arri went outof its way to design a chip that doesn’tcreate fixed-pattern noise. When theAlexa gets noisy, it still has a randomquality to it, like the grain in film.”

Charters first used the Alexa onthe TV reboot of Charlie’s Angels, and heimmediately recognized it as “a gamechanger because it eliminated the needto carry large HMIs. By the time I gotto the Dallas pilot, we no longer carried18Ks; we had downsized to an Arri1.8K, an HMI that plugs into a stan-dard wall socket.”

To accommodate the tight sched-ule of a weekly series, Dallas was shotmainly with zoom lenses: 15-40mm,28-76mm and 24-290mm AngenieuxOptimos, and a 135-420mm Primo.The production also carried a few Primoprimes and several Ultra Speed Z-SeriesMKII primes. (Panavision Dallassupplied most of the camera equip-ment.)

Another concession to the tightschedule was that Charters worked“British style,” which he defines asfollows: “I gave the operators muchmore autonomy to work with the direc-tor, which freed me up to concentrate onlighting. Sometimes my gaffer, DannyEccleston, and I would move ontoanother set and pre-light while theoperators were finessing their moveswith the dolly grips and getting sharps[focus marks].

“My collaboration with the digi-tal-imaging technician happened after

◗ Shooting J.R.

Top: The enterprising John Ross hires a crew to drill for oil. Middle: Elena and John Rosscelebrate when the well erupts. Bottom: Sodium-vapor units were used for the night exterior at

the well, when John Ross’ operation is shut down.


we recorded a take with the secondteam,” he continues. “I’d take the SxScard to the DIT, where I’d create a look-up table for the scene using Gamma &Density software so I could lock in thelook for subsequent processing down-stream. I didn’t tie the camera into awaveform monitor on the DIT cart. I litusing the video-village monitors, whereI’d occasionally use the built-in digitalwaveform display and sometimes evenan exposure meter!”

The look of the show reflects theperception that many people have ofTexas as a place that is always hot anddusty. It’s an image that has beenmolded, to great extent, by motionpictures. Charters knows from experi-ence how cold the city of Dallas can be.“We shot the pilot in the spring, and itwas so chilly I was wearing a downjacket. But we wanted to keep [thepopular impression] of a hot, dusty envi-ronment, and that’s the look and feel theseries maintains.”

To keep the actresses lookingtheir best, Eccleston suggested usingAirstar’s Gaffair 400 and 1200 HMIlighting balloons, which he had intro-duced to Charters on the Charlie’s Angelspilot. “You don’t have to use helium withthem,” notes the gaffer. “You inflatethem with a hair dryer, put in a plug,and then this tiny air pump goes into theback and continually pumps air into it.They’re like normal lights in that youjust put them on stands. We used themany time we had a close-up of the ladies,and they loved them.” (Charters alsoadded a Tiffen Glimmer Glass 1 filter tothe lens for those shots.)

Kino Flos, LEDs and SoftSuns(3.5K Pars and 10Ks) were used exten-sively on the show. “The 10K SoftSun isa modest light,” submits Charters, “butit has the ability to spread light over abroad distance because it’s 4 feet long. Itperfectly replicates sunshine comingthrough a window, and the lamp is fullydimmable.” Because the lights were sosoft, he didn’t use any diffusion withthem.

Charters notes that the series wasstaged fairly traditionally. “We weren’t

Top: Bobbyadvises hisnephew to steerclear of furtherdrilling. Middle:John Ross andChristophercarry on theirfathers’ rivalry.Bottom: A GripCloud, designedby AnthonyVietro, diffusesthe sunlight atthe SouthforkRanch location.


chasing people around like we did on24. Dallas is more formal than that.”The camera was usually on a dolly, butso many directors wanted to use theSteadicam that, in the end, about 30percent of the season was shot with it.Charters considers the Steadicam “moreof an observer’s position. It can [seem]too fluid, too floaty, and it can take youout of the moment.” When theSteadicam was used, he tended to incor-porate it into walk-and-talks or tightinterior locations. Robert Gorelick,SOC, the show’s A-camera/Steadicamoperator, observes, “We never used it asa stylistic approach, as it was used onER and The West Wing.”

Perhaps the biggest kick Chartersgot on Dallas was shooting the eruptionof an oil well. “It has always been mydesire to shoot a gusher!” he confesseswith a laugh. He explains that his father,a professional photographer, spent 20years shooting offshore oil rigs after oilwas discovered off the coast of NewZealand. The senior Charters ran hisown photography shop, and Rodneygrew up carrying camera bags andworking in darkrooms. “There is noth-ing quite as magical as seeing an imagecome up in a tray,” he says.

For the oil well in Dallas, “wewanted a rig that could be hidden in agrove of trees, where we could find it ina helicopter shot, and we needed it to godown 3,000 feet or so,” says Charters.“Well, oil rigs are $20 million apiece,and they don’t move easily. A rig fordrilling water wells turned out to beperfect for our needs.” The “oil” in thescene was actually soy sauce, which wasjust sticky enough to cling to faces andclothes.

When the well erupts for the firsttime, it’s a day scene. It was a one-offshot, although it was run again forclose-ups. To get extra angles, Chartersadded a couple of Canon EOS 5D and60D DSLR cameras to the mix. “TheCanons can get all sorts of awkwardshots that bigger cameras can’t,” hereflects. “They fit in refrigerators andother unusual spaces.”

An 85' Strada crane towered over

◗ Shooting J.R.

Southfork’sinterior sets

were constructedinside a former

industrialbuilding south

of Dallas.

the well, providing high-angle views.The crane was used throughout theseries, but usually at half that height.“The motor broke one day, and we hadto push it,” Charters recalls with a laugh.“It took about 20 of us!”

The second big scene at the welltakes place at night. Bobby discoversthat John Ross has been drilling withoutpermission, and he drives out to the wellto shut it down. “We felt that in a night-time situation like that, a sodium-vaporindustrial light would be sitting halfwayup the rig,” says Charters. “I always carrytwo or three of them because whenyou’re shooting an industrial complex,they’re a perfect match for what’salready there.”

A 400-watt industrial sodium-vapor fixture was tied near the top of therig and served as the keylight. A coupleof Kino Flos were placed on the ground,about 100' back, suggesting the lightemanating from nearby tents where theworkers slept. “Bobby is going to the oilwell for a confrontation, so we decidedto approach the scene from inside thecab of his truck,” explains Charters. “Ashe drives up, the camera is looking overhis shoulder out the windshield, and

suddenly the oil well emerges out of thedarkness. It’s this blaze of light.” SmallLED lights were attached to surfaces inthe cab to provide a little ambience.

After Bobby orders the men tostop working, John Ross andChristopher get into a fistfight. “Forthat scene, we worked 24-style — the Acam was handheld with the 15-40mmOptimo at about 20mm, and the B cam

was on the dolly with the 3:1 Primo allthe way out to 420mm, and the mater-ial was intercut,” recalls Charters. “Ithink that approach helps tremendouslywhen you’re following close-ups andthere’s a lot of action. The A cam wasright in the characters’ faces as oil wascoming down. We had a spinner on thelens, and the operator was completelycovered in plastic bags and still got terri-

Left: A-camera/Steadicam operatorRobert Gorelick,SOC trains one ofthe production’s ArriAlexa cameras onDuffy and Strong.Below: An overheadframe diffuses thesunlight on Duffyand flags providenegative fill as B-camera operatorBrown Cooperframes the action.



bly drenched. But the camera was okay.”Charters is excited that the Alexa

allows him to work at such low lightlevels. “With the Alexa, lights you takefor granted become significant players.Somebody hitting the brake lights inthe car in front of you can light yourwhole scene. I love it!”

The ability to use small lightsenabled the production to rely on housepower rather than running generators insome situations. Sweeney recalls a sceneset in Sue Ellen’s office on the 20th floorof a Dallas skyscraper: “We didn’t haveto drop cable 20 floors down a stairwell.We could light the scene with panellights, Kino Flos and Jokers. Thebiggest light I used was an Arri 1.8K.”

Sweeney hardly needed any

movie lights for the Cattlemen’s Ball, ahuge night exterior that was shot at theAmerican Airlines Center in Dallas.“That’s where the [NBA] Mavericksplay,” he notes. “It was a huge set piecefor us.”

The scene shows gleaminglimousines driving up and droppingelegantly clad guests off at the plaza infront of the building. “We used theStrada crane, which added great scaleto the scene, and the Steadicam with a14mm lens,” Sweeney recalls. “We didlow-angle shots that brought peopleout of their vehicles and wrappedaround the fenders of the cars. You seetheir boots as they step out, but you alsosee all the way to the sky with that widelens. We also did side-angle tracking

shots on a dolly.”Providing primary lighting for

the scene were three huge monitors thatare permanent fixtures outside thearena. They ran continuous footage ofdifferent images, and although just onescreen is visible on camera, the lightemanating from all three screens provedso strong that it was actually too muchlight for the scene. “We put a dark-brown graphic on each screen, and thelight immediately dropped 2 stops,” saysSweeney. “I walked onto the set andthought, ‘I don’t know if I want it thatdark,’ but there was no time to change it,and, luckily, everything turned out to befine. We also used Lightning StrikesPaparazzi Lights to create flashbulbeffects.”

With the exception of Gorelick,Eccleston and Sweeney’s gaffer, SkipMcCraw, the show’s crew was local, andthey earned high marks from the out-of-towners. Key grip Kerry Rike actu-ally worked on the original series.“There were two stars on this show:Larry Hagman and Kerry Rike!” laughsEccleston.

Charters notes that everywherehe goes, even in his native NewZealand, people seem excited by theprospect of a new Dallas. “People aregalvanized by the idea of the Ewings’return, especially when they hear thatactors from the original series arecoming back!” ●

◗ Shooting J.R.

Above: AnAirstar Gaffair

400 and anoverhead KinoFlo illuminate

Duffy and MitchPileggi in the

RylandTransportationoffices. Right:Charters andgaffer Danny

Eccleston conferbetween takes.

TECHNICAL SPECS 1.78:1

Digital Capture

Arri Alexa; Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 60D

Angenieux Optimo; Panavision Primo, Ultra Speed Z-Series MKII B

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Warner Bros. Opens London StudioBy Mark Hope-Jones

The new Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden is the first Holly-wood-owned studio to exist in England for more than half acentury, and one of the largest film-production facilities in theUnited Kingdom.

When Warner Bros. acquired the studio in 2010, it had mostrecently been home to all eight Harry Potter films. It has since under-gone a $160 million refurbishment, and now offers clients a highlyfunctional environment to meet any and all production needs.Located near Watford, just north of London, the site offers a specialpublic tour, “The Making of Harry Potter.”

The property began as RAF Leavesden when the Air Ministryrequisitioned the land in 1940 for an aircraft factory. After the war,the De Havilland Aircraft Co. continued to manufacture aeroengines at the facility until Rolls Royce took over, changing produc-tion to helicopter engines. The factory closed in 1992.

Leavesden Studios was created when Eon Productionstapped the property’s massive hangars, runway and backlot for theJames Bond movie GoldenEye (AC Dec. ’95) after it proved impos-sible to book space at Pinewood Studios, Bond’s traditional home.The alterations made at Leavesden were specific to the Bondproduction, but they sowed the seed of an idea for an independentstudio. A consortium purchased the property with that goal in mindand worked on redeveloping the property while servicing suchproductions as Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (AC Sep. ’99) andSleepy Hollow (AC Dec. ’99), as well as commercials and TV produc-tions.

Dan Dark (pictured), the facility’s senior vice president and

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managing director, notes, “Those original development plans didn’tcome to fruition, and the studio went through various differentowners until Roy Button, the head of production for Warner Bros.,decided to find a facility Warners could fully control for the HarryPotter films. Warner Bros. initially leased the facility for the first twoPotter productions, and during that time, Roy and I were tellingsenior management what a great asset the site would be. Eventu-ally Warner Bros. agreed to purchase the property.”

The recent renovations involved stripping the original build-ings back to their steel frames to allow for a completely new infra-structure of utilities and services. “We’ve reformatted the originallayout to improve the efficiency of the space,” says Dark. “We hadthe opportunity to take a big step back and start with an almostclean canvas, so we were able to consider what today’s filmmakersrequire. The scale of the studio has always been very much at theforefront of our minds, because it’s the scale that makes it work so


well. With a quarter of a million square feetof stage space and 100 acres of securebacklot, productions have a lot of room tomaneuver. That level of flexibility is some-thing we’ve worked hard to offer.”

WBSL offers four of the biggestsoundstages in the U.K., each at more than30,000 square feet; another four stagesmeasuring around 20,000 square feet; anda multi-use stage that contains one of thelargest filtered and heated water tanks inEurope. The stages are connected by115,000 square feet of covered space,which can be partitioned into different areasand used for costume, props, camera, gripand other support-services requirements.

Other facilities include an extensivehard standing area, carpentry and millmachine shops, dry hire edit rooms, offices,workshop spaces and a stills studio. The100-acre backlot incorporates level areas,the runway, open fields, hills and clear hori-zons. A range of en-suite dressing roomsand hair and makeup rooms are locatedwithin the central complex, adjacent to the stages. In addition, the studio offers acafé that can feed 1,200 people in less thanan hour, a 50-seat theater, and a CiscoTelePresence meeting room.

WBSL has also established its ownon-site production-rentals division, with aninventory that covers an extensive range oflighting equipment, scaffolding and otherproduction supplies for stage and locationwork. The rental division has already begunservicing a number of Warner and non-Warner clients in the U.K. and beyond.

“Security is a big consideration forproductions today, and we were able todesign that into the whole ethos of thestudio from day one,” notes Dark. “Thedesign allows for totally separate and securehubs with independent swipe-card entry,even when multiple productions are on thestudio at once.”

Warner Bros. implemented an arrayof green policies throughout the design andbuild. The studio assigns sustainability coor-dinators to all of its U.K. productions,promoting energy conservation, recycling,composting, responsible waste disposal,and carbon-footprint management.

For additional information, visitwww.wbsl.com.

73

➣

offer training and education across Sony’srange of Super 35mm digital systems,including the PMW-F3. Sony also plans tomake the DMPC available to local rentalcompanies and resellers to conduct trainingfor their customers, and to third-partyworkflow partners such as Assimilate, Avid,Blackmagic Design, Codex, ColorFront,FilmLight, MTI Film and YoYotta.

The center’s advisory board includesClark, fellow ASC members Michael Goiand Steven Poster, and ASC associatemembers Ray Feeney and Leon Silverman.

For additional information, [email protected].

EUE/Screen Gems Builds Stage 6EUE/Screen Gems has opened Stage

6 at the company’s 32-acre studio complexin Atlanta, Ga. Stage 6 is a 30,000-square-foot soundstage that offers a clear-spanspace with 40' to the grid, allowing fortwo-story sets and providing extensivefloor-to-ceiling clearance.

In April 2011, EUE/Screen Gems

opened Stage 5 at the Atlanta lot, and the37,500-square-foot space was bookedbefore construction was finished.EUE/Screen Gems chose to locate in Atlantabecause of the urban setting, proximity tothe Atlanta airport, and Georgia’s 30-percent film tax credit.

“We’re so close to the airport anddowntown,” says Kris Bagwell, executivevice president of EUE/Screen Gems’ Atlantastudios. “With multiple soundstages andmany productions working at once, we areoffering top tier service to the best in thebusiness. There’s nothing else likeEUE/Screen Gems in Atlanta. Studio execu-tives from Los Angeles feel comfortablehere, and the talent does, too.”

For additional information, visitwww.euescreengems.com.

Hollywood Center Studios Upgrades Cyc StagesHollywood Center Studios, one of

the largest independent production lots inHollywood, has upgraded its Stage 1 with apermanent, three-wall, hard-cove white cyc.The facility has also added a new special-effects stage, Stage 2a, which features asmaller permanent greenscreen cyc. The lotnow has six stages with permanent cycs.

“Our hard-cyc stages are very popu-lar shooting spaces because of their size,configurations and quality,” says TimMahoney, vice president of HollywoodCenter Studios. “They are especially popularamong our commercial clients, as [thestages] can accommodate car shoots andother large productions. They also includeamenities — such as wardrobe, dressingrooms and on-site parking — that produc-tions need.”

Measuring 63' along the back wall,38' and 49' along the two side walls, and

22' high, the cyc on Stage 1 is idealfor complex visual-effects shootsthat require large casts, sets orproduction equipment; the stageitself encompasses more than 6,500square feet. Stage 2a covers morethan 3,000 square feet, and its two-wall greenscreen cyc measures 33'wide, 35' long and 19' high. Bothcycs feature seamless coves madefrom poured concrete.

Hollywood Center Studios has

Sony Promotes F65 at New CenterSony’s Professional Solutions of

America group has unveiled its DigitalMotion Picture Center on Stage 7 at SonyPictures Studios. The facility offers hands-ontraining for directors, cinematographers andother industry professionals on the use ofSony’s F65 CineAlta digital-motion-picturecamera system and its workflows.

“This will be a place for the Holly-wood production community to share expe-riences with their peers and help make thetransition to digital production as seamlessas possible,” says Alec Shapiro, PSA seniorvice president and president of the DMPC.“Here, on one stage, filmmakers and othercontent creators can shoot 4K pictures,process them through a 4K workflow onsite at ColorWorks, and view the results viaa 4K projector.”

Curtis Clark, ASC, chairman of theASC Technology Committee, will help directthe educational and training activitiesprovided by the center. “The F65 is a seachange for our industry,” says Clark. “Wecan shoot with this camera as we do withfilm. Since cinematographers and directorshave decades of experience shooting film,they know its capabilities and what they canexpect from post finishing. With its 16-bitcolor and 4K spatial resolution, the F65expands on these capabilities. This centerwill help everyone become familiar with thepotential of this new system and the work-flow that supports it.”

In addition to the F65, the DMPC will


also completed construction of a new dress-ing-room complex for television produc-tions.

For additional information, visitwww.hollywoodcenter.com.

Quixote Offers Pre-Lit CycQuixote Studios has unveiled a pre-lit

cyc at its Quixote Griffith Park Stage 10. The plug-and-play cyc set can

accommodate the most up-to-date lightingequipment available and requires only mini-mal time for rigging and de-rigging. Thetwo-wall cyc measures 43' long (along eachwall) and 17' high; Stage 10 measures58'x94'. Productions are charged a flat price

for the stage rental, and Quixote also offershigh-quality grip services, set lighting, andcamera and art department expendables, aswell as production offices, Wi-Fi and a clientlounge.

With facilities in Los Angeles, Bostonand New Orleans, Quixote Studios’ stageshave gained a reputation for offeringcutting-edge production capabilities to awide range of feature, advertising and digi-tal-content production teams.

For additional information, visitwww.quixote.com.

M3 Studios Renovates WingMiami’s M3 Studios has added a

newly renovated wing that boasts a fullproduction hall with conference rooms,offices, makeup rooms, dressing rooms,

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kitchen, talent waiting area and greenroom.

“The plan is to have everything in-house, even a set of executive suites for ourclients to stay a week, a month, a year —however long they need to complete theirproject,” says Raul Rodriguez, founder ofM3 Studios. “I want to bring the film andTV industry back to Miami. I want to keepproduction here because it is an end desti-nation where people can work and playwithin minutes of each other. There is aneed for the industry in Miami and plenty ofroom for growth.”

For additional information, visitwww.m3studiosmiami.com.

Sim RebrandsInternational equipment and

production-service provider Sim Video isnow operating under the name Sim Digital.The change comes as the company cele-brates its 30th year in business.

The company cites its current growthtrends and plans to enter new markets asthe key reasons for the updated name. SimVideo merged with Bling Digital in 2009with the intention to create a company thatcould provide the most comprehensiveequipment and file-based workflow solu-tions in the industry. Today, the companylists the series Falling Skies and The VampireDiaries and the feature Pacific Rim amongits clients in Vancouver, Atlanta and Toronto,respectively. Sim is looking to expand itsBling workflow service offerings — includ-ing on-set data management, video assist,digital dailies, LTO tape archiving and post-production-equipment provision — in theLos Angeles market this year.

“Sim is a company that has workedhard to be at the forefront of our industry,and that means we are always evolving,”says founder and CEO Rob Sim (pictured).

“We have one of the most impressiveinventories of digital cinema tools andcutting-edge services available, and yet ourname didn’t imply it. After exploring someoptions, we ultimately focused on choosinga name that simply reflected how the indus-try and our clients refer to our services

today, and Sim Digital was born.”Jim Martin, Sim Digital’s CSO, adds,

“Productions see no boundaries on whereor how they shoot today. Our clients needto have access to our equipment andservices in any city or country they decide toshoot in, so we’ve made it a priority to bemore accessible…. We’re eager to intro-duce our services to these markets underour new design, and we believe that ourrevamped identity will serve us well in thisdigital age.”

For additional information, visitsimdigital.com.

Adorama Adds Digital Cinema DepartmentNew York City’s Adorama Rental

Co., a division of photo and video retailerAdorama, has opened its Digital CinemaDept., which offers a complete line of high-end digital video gear, including productsfrom such companies as Arri, Canon, Redand Sony.

The department was officiallylaunched with a recent gala at Manhattan’sTribeca Skyline Studio. Cinematographers

and other production professionals were inattendance as some of the department’scameras were demonstrated in live-actionsets, with plasma screens displaying thedifferent cameras’ outputs.

As Adorama Rental Co. expands itsinventory into the film and video world, itremains committed to providing concierge-style customer service, including individualconsultation with equipment experts andafter-hours tech support, whether thecustomer requires a complete feature-filmpackage or only a DSLR camera body.

For additional information, visitwww.adorama.com.

Hollywood Rentals Carries Olesen SSL Reel LiteHollywood Rentals is now carrying

the Olesen SSL Reel Lite, which incorporatesthe latest in LED technology to create a truereplacement for a 6K space light withoutsacrificing quality of light, color temperatureor CRI.

Mimicking the spread of a traditionalspace light, the Reel Lite puts out 238 footcandles at 10' — and 60 foot candles at 20'— while drawing only 4 amps. The fixturefeatures passive cooling to avoid frequencynoise, and it works with existing space-lightskirts, targets and accessories.

Reel Lite units can be daisy-chainedtogether for quick installation, and each unitfeatures DMX dimming control for exactlighting output. Reel Lites are also stackable


for easy storage, and their versatile Power-con connections can adapt to any existingcabling, such as Bates or Socapex.

The Reel Lite has gone throughextensive testing for light quality, includingtests with the Arri Alexa, Red Epic and35mm film cameras, to ensure that thequality of light meets the strict standards ofindustry professionals. The 6K Reel Lite iscurrently available, and a 2K version will beavailable soon.

For additional information, visitwww.hollywoodrentals.com andwww.olesenssl.com.

Rosco Puts LitePad in LoopRosco has introduced the LitePad

Loop. Providing soft, diffused lighting, thering light is the latest addition to Rosco’spopular LitePad line of LED lighting fixtures.

The light engine within the Loop is adaylight-balanced (approximately 5,800°K)

LitePad, which has LEDs on both the insideand outside perimeters, allowing for maxi-mum brightness. The Loop can be dimmedusing either the Rosco Single Fader Dimmeror the Rosco 2 CH/DMX Dimmer.

The LitePad Loop measures approxi-mately 9" in diameter with a 4.4" centerhole. It boasts a slim profile of only 1.3" andweighs only 2.4 pounds. Its housing ismanufactured from a durable, shatter-resis-tant plastic.

The mounting assembly — whichallows the Loop to travel backwards,forwards and vertically in order to positionthe camera lens in the center of the ringlight — is based on the industry-standard15mm rod support system, and it attachesto the camera using a ¼-20 bolt. The Loopattaches quickly and easily to the mounting

assembly via a set of high-poweredmagnets located on the back of the fixture.

Rosco offers a LitePad Loop AABattery Kit that allows users to power theLoop for hours with eight AA batteries.Rosco has also developed two cheese-plateadapters for use with Anton Bauer and V-Mount professional batteries.

The LitePad Loop is available as anindividual unit or in a Pro Kit that offersseveral additional accessories. For moreinformation, visit www.rosco.com andwww.litepadloop.com.

Petrol Transports Liteporter Petrol Bags, part of Vitec Videocom,

a Vitec Group company, has introduced theLiteporter, a professional carrying casedesigned to transport and protect a Litepan-els 1x1 LED fixture or similarly sized light,with room to hold the detachable mount-ing yoke, AC power supply with cord,power cable and Anton/Bauer battery.

Constructed of water-resistant black900D polyester and nylon, this lightweight,semi-hard carrier features an internal one-piece ABS honeycomb frame for extrastrength and equipment protection. Theinterior is lined with layers of padded,orange, brushed polyester to cushioncontents. Twin straps of hook-and-loopmaterial on either side of the Liteporteranchor the lid open for easy access. Azippered flat compartment on the under-side of the lid is ideal for storing the 1x1’scolor and diffusion gels. A soft-grip carryinghandle and padded, adjustable shoulderstrap make the Liteporter easy to carry.

For additional information, visitwww.petrolbags.com.

Band Pro Introduces NewFinderBand Pro has introduced the

NewFinder, a professional electronicviewfinder with a true 1920x1080 LCOSdisplay.

The NewFinder is a custom productconceived by Band Pro and manufacturedin partnership with Astrodesign to meet theneeds of camera operators who havewatched the resolution of digital camerasincrease without a comparable increase inviewfinder resolution. The base model usesan analog connection to keep delay to oneframe or less; a model that includes analog

77

and HD-SDI inputs is planned for the nearfuture.

The NewFinder features manualcontrol of brightness, contrast and peaking(all adjustable with dedicated knobs) as wellas peaking color options, markers and asmooth mode that uses double sampling toavoid jitter. These parameters can all besaved in one of five user profiles, and theprofile can then be assigned to one of threeassignable buttons.

The NewFinder compensates fordifferent sensor aspect ratios and can beswitched from 1.78:1 to 1.88:1. Markersinclude 1.78:1, 1.85:1 and 2.35:1. Futuresoftware upgrades will enable additionalmarkers for 4:3 as well as 1.33x and 2xanamorphic.

For additional information, visitwww.bandpro.com.

Optefex Launches Filter BusinessASC associate member Ira Tiffen has

returned to the filter-making business bylaunching a new company, Optefex. Initialproduct offerings include an anamorphic-style Blue Streak Filter.

“We embed thin cylindrical lenses inglass [to] produce cleaner, stronger star andstreak lines than with surface-etchedfilters,” says Tiffen. “Plus, we can makethem in colors besides blue and clear.”

Optefex’s Streak Filters are also avail-able in red, orange, yellow, green, violetand pink. The company also offers StarFilters that create four-point bursts of light.Other pattern configurations are also avail-

able. Like the Streak Filters, Star Filters areavailable in Optefex’s full range of colors.Both Star and Streak Filters are offered infour standard strengths: 1mm (broadest),2mm, 3mm and 4mm (finest). Thestrengths refer to the spacing between thelines on the filter; the closer together theyare, the more pronounced the effect.

Optefex’s initial range of standardsizes includes 3"x3", 4"x4", 4"x5.65",5"x5", 5.65"x5.65" and 6.6"x6.6", withother square or rectangular sizes availableupon request. The company plans to intro-duce round sizes soon.

“As long as cameramen continue toapproach me with their imaging problems,I’ll keep creating new tools to solve them,”says Tiffen.

For additional information, visitwww.optefex.com.

Schneider Optics Plays with FocusSchneider Optics has introduced the

S2000 Century/Canon 17mm T4 Tilt-FocusLens in PL mount. Ideal for use on cameraswith up to a Super 35 sensor, the convertedlens offers 360-degrees of rotation and 8degrees of tilt in any direction for remark-able control of the subject focus plane.

The lens’ tilt and rotation adjust-

ments can be made before or during a shotfor a wide variety of effects. The desireddegree of rotation is fixed via a lever whilea locking knob secures the selected tiltangle. The S2000 features a linear iris andintegral .8 module metric iris and focusgears.

Other existing lenses in the Tilt-Shiftfamily include 24mm T4, 45mm T2.8 and90mm T2.8. The list price for theCentury/Canon 17mm T4 is $7,500.

Schneider hasalso added a 17mm T4Lens to go with theCentury ClairmontSwing/Shift System,which employs bellows,wings, tilts, rises, fallsand shift for a variety of effects. This 17mmlens allows for a wider angle of view thanpreviously available; existing lenses include24mm f3.5, 45mm f2.8, 90mm f2.8 and150mm f3.5.

The Swing/Shift system lets usersdistort the shape of a subject, removeunwanted objects from the frame or shootstraight into a mirror without catching thecamera’s reflection. Access to shifts andswings also provides nearly total controlover the focus plane for extremely deep orshallow depth of field. Distant objects andextremely close ones can both be sharp inthe same frame, or users can limit focus toa particular object, isolating it even fromobjects the same distance from the lens.

Tilting or swinging the lens can alterboth apparent depth of field and an object’sshape. Shifting allows repositioning ofobjects within the frame without changingthe angle between the object and the filmplane. Combining these movements facili-tates control over perspective distortion thataffects the shape of objects. Additionally,the Swing/Shift System uses bellows with abuilt-in rack and pinion mechanism, whichextends for close focusing.

The Clairmont Swing/Shift and itslenses may be purchased individually. The17mm lens has a list price of $4,900.

For additional information, visitwww.schneideroptics.com.

Tiffen Expands Filter LineThe Tiffen Co. has introduced the

MPTV line of integrated and enhancedTiffen professional photography andmotion-picture optical filters.

The MPTV line combines Tiffen’sinnovative IRND technology with thepremium Tiffen Ultra Pol filter, giving usersa single-filter solution providing maximumlight control and unparalleled IR protectionin challenging environments. The filtershave been designed for use with CMOSand CCD cameras that demonstrate aheightened response to the red channel;


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the filters absorb pollution from the far-red(visible) and near-infrared wavelengths. TheIR absorbing component of the filters isproportionate to the ND value; the filtersare available in ND values up to 1.2, plus theadded 2-stop value of the Ultra Pol.

Made from Water White glass, theMPTV filters boast no color vignetting onwide-angle lenses. They extract the maxi-mum amount of unwanted glare from thescene, render white clouds in stark contrastagainst a dramatically dark blue sky andmake reflections from water and windowsinvisible. They also ensure rich, true colorsdespite glare’s whitewashing effect.

Tiffen has also introduced a 1⁄16

grade for its popular Pro-Mist, Black Pro-Mist and Glimmerglass filters. Pro-Mistfilters reduce contrast by moderately light-ening shadow areas without detractingfrom the overall image; Black Pro-Mistoffers the same benefits but in a subtlerform; and Glimmerglass softens fine detail,adds mild glow to highlights, and has adistinct silver sparkle.

The new filters and grades are avail-able in popular motion-picture sizes. AllTiffen filters are backed by a 10-yearwarranty and are made in the U.S.A.

For additional information, visitwww.tiffen.com.

HFC Accessorizes Industry, Distributes FujifilmEquipment manufacturer Hollywood

Film Co. has introduced an array of prod-ucts for motion-picture professionals.

The versatile, fully adjustable HFCTripod Spreader (model TS-7) has beendesigned for use on any and all surfaceswithout the need for any shims or otherleveling equipment. The durable Spreaderboasts a clear anodized aluminum

construction and easy-to-adjust large-diameterlocking hand wheels.

Additionally, the Spreaderutilizes sturdy, long-last-ing expansion collars andfolds quickly for easy

carrying.

HFC’s durable 12", 18" and 24"Base Plates are made of high-qualityaluminum and are compatible with mostpopular fluid heads. The Base Plates includeprecision, 24"-long and 19mm-wide IrisRods made of tempered stainless steel.

An Arri-type tempered aluminumSliding Bridge Plate System (model BPS-3)utilizes a 19mm or 15mm studio supportsystem with both front and rear slidingadjustments for precise camera balance. TheBPS-3 system includes a 12" dovetail baseplate and two 17"-long, 19mm-wide stain-less rods.

HFC has also developed a preciselyground, tempered aluminum Quick ReleasePlate (model QRP-9).

Additionally, Hollywood Film Co. hasjoined forces with Fujifilm’s Motion PictureDivision to offer distribution of Fujifilm’snegative motion-picture products. WhenFujifilm’s motion-picture products were firstintroduced into the North American marketin 1967, HFC served as their exclusivedistributor. The renewed agreement reflectsthe commitment of both companies to thenegative film business and reaffirms that filmis still a vital part of the motion-pictureindustry.

“HFC has many years of expertise inthe lab and production world,” says AlanFraser, vice president, Fujifilm North AmericaCorp., Motion Picture Division. “They under-stand the challenging dynamics of servicingthe camera negative film business. Greatquality and outstanding service are always awinning combination, and we look forwardto working together with them.”

“Fujifilm offers a wide selection ofquality products, and enjoys a reputation formanufacturing superb film for today’s film-maker,” says Vince Carabello Jr., vice presi-dent of HFC. “We are proud to once againprovide premium Fujifilm negative stocks toour broad customer base.”

For additional information, visitwww.hollywoodfilmco.com and www.fujifilm.com.

K-Tek Supports Small CamerasK-Tek has responded to the

ergonomic challenges of tiny-form-factorcameras such as the GoPro and iPhone witha wide range of production tools, includingthe Tadpole and Tripod Mount Case.

K-Tek Tadpoles feature a tilting ball-and-socket head for precise positioning andcreative shooting. Extendable Tadpolesallow the camera to get closer to the actionand above crowds while being operatedone-handed and with steadier movement.Made from the same quality materials as K-Tek’s award-winning boom poles, they packsmall and are available in three models thatcan extend up to 2', 3' and 6'7". Addition-ally, the compact, fixed-length (7.5") Mini-Tadpole features a mini-ball head and a ¼-20 female thread on the base.

Designed specifically for the iPhone4/4S, the Tripod Mount Case allows the

smart phone to accept a range of videoaccessories and mount to professionaltripods. Machined from a solid block ofaluminum, the rugged case features twothreaded aluminum ¼-20 mounting pointsthat allow for horizontal and verticalmounting.

K-Tek has also introduced a CameraHandgrip that features a fixed ¼-20 threadon top of a foam-covered graphite tube,offering a practical and inexpensive way tohold a small camera.

K-Tek products are made in theU.S.A. For additional information, visitwww.ktekbooms.com. ●



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All classifications are $4.50 per word. Words set inbold face or all capitals are $5.00 per word. Firstword of ad and advertiser’s name can be set in capi-tals without extra charge. No agency commission ordiscounts on clas si fied advertising.PAYMENT MUSTAC COM PA NY ORDER. VISA, Mastercard, AmEx andDiscover card are ac cept ed. Send ad to Clas si fiedAd ver tis ing, Amer i can Cin e ma tog ra pher, P.O.Box 2230, Hol ly wood, CA 90078. Or FAX (323)876-4973. Dead line for payment and copy must bein the office by 15th of second month precedingpub li ca tion. Sub ject mat ter is lim it ed to items andser vic es per tain ing to film mak ing and vid eo pro duc -tion. Words used are sub ject to mag a zine style ab -bre vi a tion. Min i mum amount per ad: $45

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Advertiser’s Index16x9, Inc. 82

AC 1, 77Adorama 9, 39Aja Video Systems, Inc. 13Alan Gordon Enterprises 82AZGrip 83

Backstage Equipment, Inc. 75Barger-Lite 83Birns & Sawyer 82Blackmagic Design, Inc. 15

Cavision Enterprises 25Chapman/Leonard Studio Equipment Inc. C3Chemical Wedding 85Cinematography Electronics 6Cinekinetic 82Codex Digital Ltd. 27Congo Films S.A. 63Convergent Design 21Cooke Optics 7

Deluxe C2DV Expo 79

Eastman Kodak C4EFD USA, Inc 19

Film Gear 73Filmtools 6Friends of the ASC 40

Glidecam Industries 17

IBC 51

Kino Flo 41

Lights! Action! Co. 83

Maccam 83Maine Media 6Manios Optical 82M. M. Mukhi & Sons 82Movie Tech AG 82, 83

NBC/Universal 37New York Film Academy 49Nila Inc. 53

Oppenheimer Camera Prod. 82

Panther Gmbh 77Pille Film Gmbh 82Polecam Ltd 75Pro8mm 82

Schneider Optics 2Siggraph 71Sony Electronics Inc. 5Super16 Inc. 82

Technicolor Content & Theatrical Services 28-29Thales Angenieux 23Tiffen 11

VF Gadgets, Inc. 82

Willy’s Widgets 82www.theasc.com 4, 52, 62, 73, 75, 83, 84

84

Society Welcomes AguirresarobeNew active member Javier Aguirre-

sarobe, ASC, AEC was born in Eibar,Guipuzoa Province, Spain. He began shoot-ing stills and experimenting with photo-graphic processes as a teenager, and hemoved to Madrid and began studying opticsand journalism when he was 16.

Four years later, Aguirresarobe wasaccepted to the Madrid Film School, wherehe studied cinematography and gainedexperience with 16mm and 35mm motion-picture production. Following graduation,he worked a number of jobs related tophotography before shooting his firstfeature, ¿Qué hace una chica como tu ensitio como éste?, directed by FernandoColomo. Shortly thereafter, he moved to SanSebastian, where he helped found an audio-visual cooperative for film professionals.

Aguirresarobe has won Goya Awards(Spain’s equivalent to Academy Awards) forthe features Beltenebros, Antartida, El Perrodel Hortelano, The Others, Soldados deSalamina and The Sea Inside, and hereceived Spain’s National Film Award in2006. His credits also include Talk to Her,Goya’s Ghosts, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, TheRoad, Twilight: New Moon and Eclipse,Fright Night (2011) and The Five-YearEngagement.

Kennel Named Associate MemberNew associate member Glenn

Kennel has worked in the motion-pictureindustry for more than 30 years. He startedhis career at Kodak, where he helpeddevelop color negative films and tools suchas the Spirit Datacine and Cineon digital filmscanners and recorders. He later joined Cine-site, where he participated in the introduc-tion of the digital-intermediate process. AtTexas Instruments, he contributed to thestandardization and deployment of DLPCinema projection systems. He then wenton to manage the feature-film-servicesgroup at Laser Pacific.

Kennel joined Arri, Inc., in 2009 asthe company’s CTO, and he was promotedto president and CEO in April 2010. He over-sees marketing, sales and service of Arricameras, lighting and postproduction equip-ment in North and South America.

Kennel is also a SMPTE Fellow, amember of the Academy of Motion PictureArts & Sciences, and author of the bookColor and Mastering for Digital Cinema,which was published in 2006.

Spinotti Named UCLA Cinematographer-in-ResidenceDante Spinotti, ASC, AIC was

named this year’s Kodak Cinematographer-in-Residence for the spring quarter at UCLA’sSchool of Theater, Film and Television. Thementorship program began with a screeningof The Last of the Mohicans, which wasfollowed by a Q&A with Spinotti moderatedby Prof. William McDonald, an ASC asso-ciate member.

With the support of Kodak, McDon-ald inaugurated the Cinematographer-in-Residence program in 2000. The programcomprises screenings, workshops and one-on-one sessions over the course of 10weeks.

“It is an honor to have Dante as thisyear’s Cinematographer-in-Residence,” saysMcDonald. “His experience, unique cine-matic eye and dedication to his craft makehim an invaluable mentor for our students.”

Society Hosts Film StudentsStudents from Montana State

University and Compass College of Cine-matic Arts recently visited the Clubhouseand participated in a lively discussion withASC members Russ Alsobrook, DionBeebe, Dean Cundey, George SpiroDibie, Michael Goi, Karl Walter Linden-laub and Daniel Pearl.

Members Busy at NAB, BEAThe National Association of Broad-

casters and the Broadcast Education Associ-

Clubhouse News


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From top: Javier Aguirresarobe, ASC, AEC;associate member Glenn Kennel;

Dante Spinotti, ASC, AIC.

ation recently held their annual conferencesalongside one another in Las Vegas, and theASC had an active presence on both fronts.

During the BEA conference, the Soci-ety presented a two-part cinematographyworkshop. Richard Crudo, ASC kicked offthe event, introducing Julio Macat, ASC,who led a show-and-tell session that alsoincluded an audience Q&A. Macat thenjoined Society fellows Daryn Okada andDavid Darby for a panel discussion aboutcamera systems that was moderated by ASCassociate Timothy E. Smith.

A number of ASC cinematographersand associate members also participated inpanel discussions and in-booth talks anddemonstrations during NAB, including activemembers Curtis Clark, Crudo, CalebDeschanel, Scott Farrar, Shane Hurlbut,Glen MacPherson, Sam Nicholson, VincePace and Dave Perkal, and associatemembers Mark Chiolis, Gary Demos andLeon Silverman. Additionally, Societymembers Oliver Bokelberg, StephenGoldblatt, Fred Goodich, Gil Hubbs,Levie Isaacks and M. David Mullen werespotted at the AC booth on the show floor.

Cinémathèque Française Spotlights RousselotPhilippe Rousselot, ASC, AFC was

recently the subject of a career-spanningretrospective at the Cinémathèque Françaisein Paris. Comprising 30 films, the seriesshowcased Rousselot’s collaborations withsuch directors as Stephen Frears (DangerousLiaisons, Mary Reilly), Tim Burton (Planet ofthe Apes, Big Fish), Neil Jordan (The Miracle,Interview with the Vampire) and John Boor-man (Hope and Glory, The Emerald Forest).The Cinémathèque also screened TheSerpent’s Kiss, directed by Rousselot andphotographed by Jean-François Robin.

Kuras Visits WinnipegThe Winnipeg Film Group’s Cine-

matheque recently hosted Ellen Kuras,ASC for a two-day event. The programbegan with a master class, and Kuras laterintroduced screenings of three features sheshot: The Betrayal (Nerakhoon), which sheco-directed with Thavisouk Phrasavath (ACApril ’08); Eternal Sunshine of the SpotlessMind (AC April ‘04); and Blow (AC March‘01).

McGarvey Shares “Cinematographer’s Choice” at PanavisionSeamus McGarvey, ASC, BSC

recently visited Panavision’s Woodland Hillsfacility to present Powell and Pressburger’sA Matter of Life and Death as a part ofPanavision’s “Cinematographer’s Choice”screening series. Photographed by JackCardiff, BSC, the 1946 feature mixes black-and-white and color cinematography.Following the screening, McGarvey detailedthe film’s impact on his development as acinematographer, and he took questionsfrom the capacity crowd, which includedboth students and professionals.

Logan Oversees Zacuto’s “Revenge”Camera-accessories manufacturer

Zacuto recently put together “Revenge ofthe Great Camera Shootout,” a sequel tothe company’s previous camera-comparisontest, “The Great Camera Shootout 2012.”The side-by-side comparison test of digital-camera systems from Sony, Arri, Red,Canon and Panasonic was overseen byBruce Logan, ASC, with further supportfrom Ryan Walters, Den Lennie, Mick Jones,Polly Morgan, Johnny Zeller, Colt Seman,and Society members Rodney Charters,Michael Negrin and Nancy Schreiber.

“Revenge of the Great CameraShootout” can be viewed online atwww.zacuto.com.

CSC Honors ClairmontThe Canadian Society of Cinematog-

raphers recently presented ASC associateDenny Clairmont with the 2012 Bill HilsonAward in recognition of ClairmontCamera’s years of support of Canadian film-makers. The award, which recognizes“outstanding service contributing to thedevelopment of the motion-picture industryin Canada,” was presented during the 55thAnnual CSC Awards. ● From top: Society members (from left) Karl Walter

Lindenlaub, Russ Alsobrook, Dean Cundey, George SpiroDibie, Dion Beebe, Daniel Pearl and Michael Goi addressstudents from Montana State University and Compass

College of Cinematic Arts; associate member Timothy E.Smith (far left) moderates a panel discussion with Society

members (left to right) Julio Macat, Daryn Okada andDavid Darby at the BEA conference; James Cameron (left)

and Vince Pace, ASC speak at the NAB Show.



When you were a child, what film made the strongest impression on you?When I was 12, I saw David Lean’s Ryan’s Daughter (1970), shot byFreddie Young, BSC, and Eric Rohmer’s Le Genou de Claire (1970),shot by my late friend Nestor Almendros, ASC. Young’s beautiful65mm work inspired me in my photography. Rohmer’s film is beau-tiful in such a natural way, and it totally holds yourinterest even though it’s simply about one man’sobsession with touching a girl’s knee.

Which cinematographers, past or present, doyou most admire?I worked for Nestor Almendros, and I was alwayshoping I could see light as he did. As a student, Iwas a huge fan of Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC, andwrote a thesis on his work. And, of course, ConnieHall, ASC. Today I love the experimentation of [ASCmembers] Bob Richardson and Matty Libatique.

What sparked your interest in photography?When I was 7, my grandfather gave me an oldtwin-lens Rolleiflex. I carried that around for a year without film, justpretending. I wanted to be a National Geographic photographer,and I got my first SLR when I was 13. I built darkrooms in every housewe moved into.

Where did you train and/or study?The USC School of Cinema.

Who were your early teachers or mentors?I was a teaching assistant for Peter Gibbons, who had been a tech-nical adviser on many of the Cinerama films. He was not a famouscinematographer, but he had such great energy.

What are some of your key artistic influences?My mother was a docent at the Cleveland Art Museum and also anarchitect. She introduced me to all forms of art, and she bought memy first Nikon F. Nestor Almendros encouraged me to study light.

How did you get your first break in the business?While I was at USC, one of the professors got me a PA job with direc-tor Randal Kleiser on an ABC Afterschool Special for $75 a week.Randal got me an internship with Bill Butler, ASC on Grease, and Iwent on to shoot second unit on Randal’s next three features. I owehim a lot.

What has been your most satisfying moment on a project?One night after work on The Replacement Killers, we were watchinga scene in dailies that we had bathed in green light, having decided

that green was the color of Mira Sorvino’s character. [Director]Antoine Fuqua turned to me and our talented production designer,Naomi Shohan, and simply said, ‘Cool.’

Have you made any memorable blunders?I’ve shot a fluorescent-lit office bullpen off-speed at 36 fps and had

the whole thing flicker in dailies. On one of my firstjobs, I was shooting time-lapse of a rotating timemachine for a Disney MOW — long exposures,shooting all night long. I didn’t understand reciproc-ity, and the dailies were black.

What is the best professional advice you’veever received?Treat everyone on a set as a human being. Learneveryone’s name, and don’t abuse any perceivedpower. I’ve witnessed such bad behavior by mega-lomaniacal producers, directors, actors and, yes,cinematographers. Even in the stress of your 18-hour day, remember that the PA has worked 23hours already.

What recent books, films or artwork have inspired you?I collect photography, and I look at it every day, especially work byIrving Penn, Phil Borges and Appalachian photographer Shelby LeeAdams. I saw a recent show of James Nachtwey’s work thatcaptured so much of the human spirit. Also, I live in Paris part time,close to the Rodin Museum, and I love sitting in the garden andstudying his powerful studies of the human form.

Do you have any favorite genres, or genres you would like to try?I’d love to photograph a period film.

If you weren’t a cinematographer, what might you be doinginstead?I’d be Jacques Cousteau, swimming with the dolphins.

Which ASC cinematographers recommended you formembership?Steven Poster, John Schwartzman and Russell Carpenter.

How has ASC membership impacted your life and career? When I started subscribing to American Cinematographer in highschool, I dreamed of becoming an ASC member. Being a membergives me instant access to such a wealth of brilliant men and womenwith whom I can trade ideas and questions. I remember going to theClubhouse once when I was a student and talking to Connie Hall allnight. I mean, how lucky am I? ●

Peter Lyons Collister, ASCClose-up

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