AC Mai 2010

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M E M B E R P O R T R A I T
Julio Macat, ASC
W W W . T H E A S C . C O M
TO SUBSCRIBE BY PHONE:
Call (800) 448-0145 (U.S. only)
(323) 969-4333 or visit the ASC Web site
hen I was 4, my mother
took me to see my first
motion picture, 101
Dalmatians. When it ended, I
refused to leave my seat, staying
to watch it two more times.
Moving images had cast their
spell on me. Later, films such as
Casablanca and Lawrence of
Arabia compelled me to
understand the language of
cinematography.
I got my first look at
American Cinematographer at
UCLA, and I was riveted by the
cinematographers explanations of
scenes. Our unwritten rule is to
share our techniques for the
betterment of our craft; this is the
engine that drives us and inspires
innovation in our field. AC is still
the perfect platform for sharing
the details of our creative
processes and discussing the tools
we use to achieve our goals.
Julio Macat, ASC
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Litepanels
A Vitec Group brand
Mauro Fiore, ASC

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The International Journal of Motion Imaging
24 Armor Wars
Matthew Libatique, ASC hits heavy-metal beats on Iron Man 2
40 Wonders of the Sea
A team of cinematographers dives beneath the waves
for Oceans
50 Lost and Found Families
Xavier Prez Grobet, ASC, AMC explores three
womens dramas on Mother and Child
56 Dark Secrets
Eric Kress, DFF deepens mystery for The Girl With
the Dragon Tattoo
72 Deep Visual Roots
A pictorial recap of ASC Awards weekend
DEPARTMENTS
FEATURES
VISIT WWW.THEASC.COM TO ENJOY THESE WEB EXCLUSIVES
DVD Playback: The African Queen House of the Devil The Man Who Shot Chinatown: The Life
and Work of John A. Alonzo
On Our Cover: Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) takes a stand against new enemies in Iron Man 2,
shot by Matthew Libatique, ASC. (Photo by Franois Duhamel, SMPSP, courtesy of Para-
mount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment.)
8 Editors Note
10 Presidents Desk
12 Short Takes: ASC Heritage Award Winners
18 Production Slate: The Man Next Door Academy Sci-Tech Awards
72 Post Focus: Restoring A Star Is Born
74 Tricks of the Trade
76 New Products & Services
84 International Marketplace
85 Classified Ads
86 Ad Index
87 Clubhouse News
88 ASC Close-Up: Fred Elmes
M A Y 2 0 1 0 V O L . 9 1 N O . 5
50
40
M a y 2 0 1 0 V o l . 9 1 , N o . 5
T 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
Visit us online at
www.theasc.com

PUBLISHER Martha Winterhalter
EDITORIAL
EXECUTIVE EDITOR Stephen Pizzello
SENIOR EDITOR Rachael K. Bosley
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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
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John Pavlus, Chris Pizzello, Jon Silberg, Iain Stasukevich,
Kenneth Sweeney, Patricia Thomson
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CIRCULATION, BOOKS & PRODUCTS

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American Cinematographer (ISSN 0002-7928), established 1920 and in its 90th year of publication, is published
monthly in Hollywood by ASC Holding Corp., 1782 N. Orange Dr., Hollywood, CA 90028, U.S.A.,
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4
OFFICERS - 2009/2010
Michael Goi
President
Richard Crudo
Vice President
Owen Roizman
Vice President
Victor J. Kemper
Vice President
Matthew Leonetti
Treasurer
Rodney Taylor
Secretary
John C. Flinn III
Sergeant At Arms
MEMBERS OF THE
BOARD
Curtis Clark
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Owen Roizman
Nancy Schreiber
Haskell Wexler
Vilmos Zsigmond
ALTERNATES
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MUSEUM CURATOR
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American Society of Cine ma tog ra phers
The 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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6
Its always fun watching filmmaker friends progress to bigger
and bigger projects. I first met Matthew Libatique, ASC at the
Sundance Film Festival back in January 1998, when he and direc-
tor Darren Aronofsky broke out of the pack with the black-and-
white, ultra-low-budget brainteaser Pi. More recently, associate
editor Jon Witmer and I visited Matty on the L.A. set of Iron Man
2, where we found him sitting with director Jon Favreau at a row
of monitors on an enormous set built at the Sepulveda Dam,
facing one of the largest greenscreens ever built. Matty appeared
unfazed by the epic setup, relaxing in a directors chair with his legs
stretched out, ankles crossed and boots resting on the monitors
support stand. Sneaking up behind him, I couldnt resist a jovial barb: Hey, look at Mr. Big Shot,
with all his lights on cranes! Turning to Favreau, I added, Ive known this guy since he was
lighting scenes with two flashlights and a bounce card.
Matty responded with his usual enthusiasm. I know, Dude, isnt this insane? He
proceeded to take us on a guided tour of the 600'x200' set, which boasted an awe-inspiring
arsenal of lighting equipment. Its not like the old days, thats for sure, he said. This setup is
big. Every time we want to change our lighting, we have to move a crane.
To be sure, theres nothing small about the Iron Man sequel, which promises to be one
of the summers blockbusters. Witmer, ACs resident expert on comic-book heroes, put super-
human effort into his article about the production (Armor Wars, page 24), delivering compre-
hensive coverage despite being tapped for a three-week stint on jury duty as his copy deadline
loomed.
The logistics were just as daunting on the nature film Oceans, a seven-year undertaking
that showcases stunning underwater footage captured by 21 cinematographers. European
correspondent Benjamin B penned an outstanding overview (Wonders of the Sea, page 40)
after interviewing six members of the production team.
Arthouse fare is also on our agenda. ASC member Xavier Prez Grobet applied an obser-
vational camera style while shooting the indie drama Mother and Child (Lost and Found Fami-
lies, page 50), moving the camera very little and very precisely. Our work was about blocking
the scene and then trying to find a frame that would capture different moments of the scene
without requiring a camera move. Meanwhile, Eric Kress, DFF persuaded director Niels Arden
Oplev to abandon his initial plan to employ a wild, handheld camera on The Girl With the
Dragon Tattoo (Dark Secrets, page 56), and to instead adopt what the director describes as
a slow-burning style with constant movement. Kress says the two ultimately agreed that an
overly showy visual approach might somehow [overshadow] the intricacies of the plot, so we
opted for a very natural style, with a subtle color palette based upon the cold light of a Swedish
winter.
Rounding out this issue is a pictorial recap of the ASC Awards (Deep Visual Roots, page
63), which put cinematographers in the spotlight over two consecutive weekends. One highlight
was an impassioned speech by Lifetime Achievement Award winner Caleb Deschanel, ASC, who
expressed his affection for a time-honored format: I love the uncertainty of shooting on film
and not knowing what you are going to get. Its the jolt you get when you see those images for
the first time. I love the mystery of seeing them onscreen.
Stephen Pizzello
Executive Editor
Editors Note
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8
I have thousands of films in my personal collection, including the first films from a number of ASC
cinematographers. As I watch those early efforts, what strikes me is that the talent that would ultimately
propel those artists to the top was always there. You could see it in their approach to the material; despite
low budgets, short shooting schedules, bad actors and even worse video transfers, that elusive talent to
light and shoot something in a unique and compelling way shines through.
One film from the 1960s, Lila, Mantis in Lace, revolves around a woman who takes LSD and subse-
quently becomes murderously unhinged whenever men approach her. Her hallucinations include projected
images of contrasting splashes of color on her face and jarring in-camera exposure effects. Its a tour-de-
force of creativity on a shoestring budget, and the stylized visuals elevate this B movie to the level of truly
effective filmmaking. The cinematographer? The late, great Laszlo Kovacs, ASC.
Another future ASC member forever made the chainsaw an iconic horror symbol. Shooting in the
blazing heat of a Texas summer, and using 16mm film with an ASA of 16 and tons of visual creativity with-
out tons of money, Daniel Pearl, ASC made 1974s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre a visual rollercoaster ride
that is impossible to forget.
One of the features of the new Friends of The ASC subscription site is devoted to rising stars in the field of cinematography. They
may be students or young cinematographers, or even shooters who have been working for a number of years but havent been recognized
for the excellent images theyve created. Every month, an ASC cinematographer will choose someone they think is exceptional and discuss
why he or she thinks that person has what it takes to make a mark in this demanding field.
Because your average ASC cinematographer has so many opportunities to view films that are outside the mainstream, we are often
exposed to innovative, groundbreaking work that hasnt yet been noticed by the industry at large. For example, many of us are asked to
attend annual screenings of student work. We are frequently impressed by the sophistication of the visual approaches we see, and we make
mental notes of the projects and cinematographers that stand out.
Sometimes we are invited to view films that do not yet have distribution. When I first came to Los Angeles, I was an unknown cine-
matographer who didnt have connections with anyone here in the business. A screening of an independent film Id shot was set up at a
local theater, and, although the budget was very low, I was proud of what I accomplished on that film, so I sent invitations to all my cine-
matography heroes, none of whom I had ever met.
Five minutes before the film was to screen, it was evident that almost no one the producers had invited was going to attend. I had
no expectations that my blind mailing to the greatest cinematographers in the world was going to have much of an effect, so my disap-
pointment was tempered by the understanding that they were probably always busy. Just then, Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC came walking up,
holding one of the promo cards Id sent out. He went to the box office and said he was invited to attend the screening. I ran up to him and
introduced myself, thanking him for coming to see this small movie he knew nothing about.
Vilmos and I sat together during the film. He asked me questions about how I did this and that, and complimented the things he
found effective in the lighting and composition. After the screening, I told him how much it meant to me that he came to see the movie. He
said, Well, you invited me, so I came!
That is the spirit of this new feature weve included on the Friends site. It excites us to see the potential in someone who is doing
good work early in his or her development, and its encouraging to a young cinematographer to have his or her work recognized by some-
one in the profession who has achieved success. It goes straight to the heart of one of the ASCs most important missions: to recognize,
educate and encourage new talent.
Michael Goi, ASC
President
Presidents Desk
10 May 2010 American Cinematographer
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Bakshi, Shannon Win ASC Richard Moore
Heritage Awards
By David Heuring
Each year, the ASC Heritage Award is named for a distinguished
ASC member and given in recognition of outstanding achievement
in student filmmaking. This years award, named for Richard Moore,
ASC, was given to two cinematographers, graduate student Benji
Bakshi of the American Film Institute and undergraduate Garrett
Shannon of Loyola Marymount University.
Bakshis winning entry, Life on Earth, follows a troubled girl who
develops an interest in the natural world as a way of escaping a dull
existence in a group foster home. Scenes in the group home, filmed
in a disused sanitarium, were lit in an institutional way with fluores-
cents, providing contrast with livelier, colorful scenes captured in the
Los Angeles Arboretum in Pasadena.
Shooting Super 16mm, Bakshi used an Arri 16SR-3 and Zeiss
Super Speed prime lenses supplied by Clairmont Camera. He shot
Kodak Vision2 500T 7260. Processing was done at Technicolor, and
the final color correction was handled at Entertainment Post on a 2K
Lustre system. The schedule comprised roughly eight shooting days.
AFI strongly emphasizes supporting the story as opposed to
showing off [visually], notes Bakshi, and I felt that with this story,
we could really say something. Our producer, Kip Pastor, conceived a
very relevant story, and [director] Jeff Keith and I wanted to keep it
authentic. One fear I had going in was that the images would end
up being too safe, too normal or too beautiful; I wanted to make
sure there was enough darkness and mood. We wanted the images
to support the unsettling nature of the story, and the choices we
made were designed to accomplish that.
For example, we chose 7260 because it has an energetic grain
structure, even in the highlights, which meant we could get a grainy
feel without having to push the stock. We went for a desaturated
color palette in the institutional setting, and we played with the idea
that the green fluorescent light was a little nasty, whereas the greens
in the exteriors were beautiful.
Bakshi prefers to desaturate color with practical methods
rather than leaving that step for post. If you desaturate using a post
effect, the skin tones tend to get sickly or unpleasant, so we delib-
erately tried to make the desaturation happen around the character,
using production design across the separate worlds. We also used
haze in the interiors to obtain a slightly desaturated effect.
Bakshi didnt move the camera at all until the main character
discovers her interest in nature through a TV program she happens
to see. In the gardens, movement becomes expressive, and the cine-
matographer made full use of the exposure curve. I love the look
of highlights I think thats what makes something cinematic and
moody, he says. In the garden, we had very dark shadow areas
Short Takes
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Life on Earth, shot by Benji Bakshi (above)
concerns a troubled girl stifled by her life
in a group home.
I
and really bright highlights. Theres a nice
moment when she is walking through the
dark shadows of the bamboo trees; I had a
highlight in the background that was prob-
ably 5 stops over, and shadows were 3-4
stops under. I put the exposure in the
middle and let it go, and we got a beautiful
shot without losing detail. I didnt have to
worry about containing or knocking down
those bright highlights.
By the end of the film, the girl has
taken her first steps toward finding her way
in the world. This is somewhat of a silly
business to embark on unless it really means
something to you, Bakshi says of the film
industry. What was really meaningful to
me about this story is the real struggle that
this character undergoes. Each of us on the
creative team connected with this girl on
some level; we brought our life experiences
to the project. In the story, we see how
mankind is instinctively drawn to nature,
and how we often get detached from our
origins there. I think thats a godly
message.
Shannons winning entry, In Memo-
riam, was directed by Corey Todd Jones.
The story follows a young writer (Michael
Medino) as he attempts to fulfill the dying
wish of a friend, an elderly Polish expatriate.
Shannon and Jones envisioned a measured
pace and a poetic, lyrical approach. For
inspiration, they looked to Terrence Malicks
The New World (AC Jan. 06) and Days of
Heaven (AC June 79). Location choices
were considered as important as the right
dialogue or blocking. Locations played a
key role in the film because they established
the mood and guided the characters, says
Shannon. For most of the movie, the main
actor is alone, and we wanted his emotions
to evolve with the background.
Those decisions played into other
aspects of the visual strategy. We opted to
frame for 2.40:1 to incorporate wider land-
scapes as opposed to more vertical fram-
ing, says Shannon. We tried to match the
settings colors and lighting with what the
character was feeling. Because the film
focuses so heavily on landscapes, we tried
to use wider lenses on exterior scenes for
both wide shots and close-ups, and that
took a little getting used to. We wanted the
backgrounds to be in focus; shooting Super
16 helped in terms of creating greater depth
of field, but I also shot at a slower stop than
I would normally use with that format.
Shannon used spherical Zeiss Super-
speed lenses and an Arri 16SR-2. For day
exteriors, he shot Kodak Vision2 50D 7201
or 250D 7205. In tungsten light, he used
Vision2 200T 7217. In post, the images
were transferred to HDCam on a Spirit
Datacine at Matchframe Video.
We were looking for saturated but
naturalistic colors, and we knew we wanted
maximum latitude in the highlights because
of the predominance of day-exterior loca-
tions, says Shannon. We had a lot of
challenging locations, and the size, weight
and 11-minute running time per 400-foot
load were all selling points for the SR-2.
The cinematographer relied on judi-
cious blocking and natural light in many of
the exterior scenes. Because we had a
small crew and were shooting outdoors,
Corey usually deferred to me when we were
blocking, says Shannon. That enabled us
to make best use of the sun. We agreed
that the way the light looked was more
important than strictly matching its angle.
Above: In Memoriam follows Jude (Michael Medino), a young writer

who befriends an elderly Polish expatriate. Top right: Director of
photography Garrett Shannon sets up a shot at a creek bed in Belden, Calif.
Bottom right: The cast and crew rehearse a dolly move outside a
cabin in Mineral, Calif.
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A Window into the Soul
By Noah Kadner
Winner of the cinematography prize in the World Cinema-
Dramatic category at this years Sundance Film Festival, the intimate
thriller The Man Next Door (El Hombre de al Lado) is set almost
entirely in the Curutchet House, a famous Le Corbusier structure in
La Plata, near Buenos Aires, Argentina. The celebrated ramps and
spiral staircases of the house date from the 1950s; it was the sole
residential structure that Le Corbusier designed for the Americas.
The films plot is a classic tale of familiarity breeding contempt.
Leonardo (Rafael Spregelburd) is a meticulous, successful architect
living a tranquil life with his wife, daughter and maid in their designer
home. Their bliss is interrupted in the opening shot of the movie, as
their brash next-door neighbor, Victor (Daniel Aroz), begins demol-
ishing a wall to build a window looking right into Leonardos home.
The two men attempt to settle their differences amicably, but tension
simmers just beneath the surface, and the dispute slowly escalates
into a full-blown existential crisis for Leonardo.
The Man Next Door was co-directed and co-shot by Argentin-
ian filmmakers Mariano Cohn and Gastn Duprat. Longtime collabo-
rators, the duo previously created a variety of experimental video-art
exhibits and several programs broadcast on Argentinian television.
Cohn and Duprat also have two features to their credit: Yo Presidente,
a documentary about several former Argentinian presidents, and El
Artista, which won a host of awards during its 2009 festival run.
Cohn and Duprat planned The Man Next Door over a four-
year period. It took us all those years of negotiation to secure the
location, because the house is uninhabited and set up like a
museum, recalls Cohn. We knew the concept really required that
special principal location in order to work as a story. The script, writ-
ten by Gastns brother, Andres, is not exactly based on real events,
but Andres had a neighbor somewhat similar to Victor.
Cohn and Duprat shot The Man Next Door on their own
Sony PMW-EX1, a relatively inexpensive high-definition prosumer
camera. We previously shot El Artista with this camera, notes
Duprat. We like its image quality, and its the camera that
responded best to the minimal lighting setups we planned to use on
this film. It also enabled us to shoot with the smallest possible crew.
Our sound recordist mixed boom and wireless mics directly into the
camera, so we could check sound and picture as we shot.
The film opens with a split screen showing simultaneous
interior and exterior perspectives of the demolishing of the wall. It
was the only shot that utilized two cameras, one on either side. A
scenic flat was constructed on top of an existing structure to stand
in for the wall. If wed broken down a real wall of this historic Le
Corbusier house, wed probably be doing this interview from jail,
says Cohn with a smile. It was a complicated shot that we had to
get right on the first take, because we only had a single fake wall
prepared. Cohn adds, We shot mostly in chronological order. We
were simultaneously editing on a PC running Sony Vegas as we
shot, so we would quickly see how the story was coming together.
Production Slate
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In the
Argentinian
thriller The Man
Next Door, an
existential
standoff ensues
when the
affable but
coarse Victor
(Daniel Aroz)
attempts to
build a window
that directly
faces the
showcase home
occupied by his
smug,
aesthetically
fussy architect
neighbor,
Leonardo (Rafael
Spregelburd).
I
That gave a lot of confidence to the actors
because they could visualize each scene,
and it would help them a lot with their
performances.
We shot during the day and night,
as called for in the script, Cohn continues.
Every day in the script was equivalent to a
full day of filming. This was very practical
because we could shoot and download the
footage for each day in sequence. Wed
insert each scene and shot into its place in
the edit to see exactly how the story was
coming together. When we started each
new shoot day, we could go back and refer
to the previous days work as needed.
Lighting was limited to 25-watt off-
the-shelf fluorescent lights and some reflec-
tor boards. We used the kinds of fluores-
cent lights youd find in a supermarket
here, says Cohn. The Curutchet House
has many large windows with a view to a
forest and was perfectly designed for lots of
indirect sunlight. It had the perfect natural
lighting for making a movie. We wanted to
add the least amount of artificial light possi-
ble and work with available light whenever
we could.
In keeping with their minimalist
approach, Cohn and Duprat used no lens
filtration. We only used the cameras built-
in ND filters, says Duprat. We also stuck
mostly with the cameras built-in zoom lens,
supplemented occasionally with a wide-
angle lens adapter from Sony. We shot a lot
of handheld, with some tripod work and
also a shoulder support.
During the production, the
Curutchet House remained open as a
museum, which meant daily visitors.
Tourists would come by and ring the door-
bell while we shot, says Duprat. Theyd
also want to take pictures of the structure.
It wasnt part of our original plan, but we
decided to film the tourists and incorporate
them into the story. We also tried as much
as possible to film each scene with a single
take; this reduced the possibilities for
camera placement and movement some-
what, but it made a big difference to us.
When you watch the movie, you might not
notice this because we worked hard to
make it look natural.
The movie definitely has a heavy
dose of mise-en-scne, he adds. The
house is the storys third protagonist, so we
Top: Leonardo attempts to block out the noise emanating from Victors construction
work. Middle: Victor's attempts at charm fail to sway the architect's wife (Eugenia Alonso),
who stubbornly opposes his plans. Bottom: While listening to avant-garde music, Leonardo
and a friend suddenly realize that some of the jarring sounds they hear are actually
coming from Victors place.
www.theasc.com May 2010 17
tried to keep the camera inside the house,
and we have a lot of shots of the house
with no one in it.
Outside of the house, one additional
location was the interior of Victors van,
where he invites Leonardo to join him for a
tense but relatively civil discussion of their
differences. We tried to use as little addi-
tional lighting as possible in the van, says
Cohn. We shot those takes during the day
and tried to bounce in natural light with
reflector boards. We used our tiny 25-watt
fluorescents as needed for additional fill.
Other notable sequences show
Victor surreptitiously entertaining Leonar-
dos daughter (Ins Budassi) with a tiny pair
of boots he puppeteers with his fingers on
a small set within the window hes
constructing. The miniature was posi-
tioned in such a way that it had nice natural
light falling on it, says Duprat. Victor has
a special relationship with Leonardos
daughter, and it was important to us to
show his geniality.
After completing the edit in Sony
Vegas, the filmmakers turned to Buenos
Aires post house Cinecolor, where they did
a digital intermediate in HD using Assimilate
Scratch. The final graded master was
output to Kodak Vision Premier 2393 on an
Arrilaser. We spent a great deal of time
working on the composition of the images,
and we tried to be almost artisanal both in
the shooting and in the finishing of the
project, says Cohn. This included the
color temperature we chose from scene to
scene, the framing, the color grading and
the final filmout. Diego Bliffeld, our assistant
director, participated in all stages of the
process with us.
At the Sundance screening, no one
could guess how we shot the movie, he
adds. Most folks thought wed shot
35mm, or with the Red, or with a high-end
professional Sony camera not a little
XDCam prosumer model! But we have
always worked in video, so we know the
medium by heart. We know how to get the
maximum quality out of a camera like the
EX1. After Sundance, Sony contacted us
and offered a prototype of a brand-new
camera for our next project. Well see how
it goes!
TECHNICAL SPECS
1.85:1
(16x9 original)
Digital Capture
Sony PMW-EX1
Digital Intermediate
Printed on Kodak Vision Premier 2393
Top: The crew
films a scene in
which Victor
insists on giving
Leonardo the gift
of a crude,
homemade
sculpture. Middle:
Directors/
cinematographers
Gastn Duprat
(left) and Mariano
Cohn play back a
take on their
Sony PMW-EX1.
Bottom: Cohn
captures a close-
up of Aroz.
www.clairmont.com
I shot the first three seasons of Supernatural with a
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the studio wanted to make a move into the digital world.
One thing I wanted to make sure of was a seamless
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I had set my mind on two D-21s for our A and B
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On Supernatural we go to hell each week in our
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hell. You know what I'm talking about: weird things
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A Supernatural Transition
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514-525-6556
of the Truelight real-time 3-D LUT hardware
system. Through the use of color-manage-
ment software and hardware, this system
enables accurate color presentation in the
DI preview process.
Dr. Klaus Anderle, Christian
Baeker and Frank Billasch, for their contri-
butions to the Luther 3-D LUT hardware
device and color-management software.
Luther was one of the first color LUT proces-
sors widely adopted by DI facilities. This
innovation enabled accurate color presenta-
tion by facilities that had analyzed projected
film output and built 3-D LUTs to emulate
print film.
Steve Sullivan, Kevin Wooley,
Brett Allen and Colin Davidson, for the
development of the Imocap on-set perfor-
mance-capture system. Developed at Indus-
trial Light & Magic, Imocap successfully
addresses the need for on-set, low-impact
performance capture.
Hayden Landis, Ken McGaugh
and Hilmar Koch, for advancing the tech-
nique of ambient occlusion rendering.
Ambient occlusion has enabled a new level
of realism in synthesized imagery and has
become a standard tool for CG lighting in
motion pictures.
Bjrn Hedn, for the design and
mechanical engineering of the silent, two-
stage planetary friction drive Hedn Lens
Motors. Solving a series of problems with
one integrated mechanism, this device had
an immediate, significant impact on the
industry.
Scientific and Engineering
Awards
(Academy plaques presented for
achievements that exhibit a high
level of engineering and are
important to the progress of
the industry)
Per Christensen, Michael Bunnell
and Christophe Hery, for the develop-
ment of point-based rendering for indirect
illumination and ambient occlusion. Faster
than previous ray-traced methods, this
computer-graphics technique has enabled
color-bleeding effects and realistic shadows
for complex scenes.
Dr. Richard Kirk, for the overall
design and development of the Truelight
real-time 3-D LUT hardware device and
color-management software.
Volker Massmann, Markus
Hasenzahl, Dr. Klaus Anderle and
Andreas Loew, for the development of
the Spirit 4K/2K film-scanning system. The
Spirit 4K/2K has distinguished itself by
incorporating a continuous-motion trans-
port mechanism, enabling full-range, high-
resolution scanning at much higher frame
rates than non-continuous transport scan-
ners.
Michael Cieslinski, Dr. Reimar
Lenz and Bernd Brauner, for the develop-
ment of the Arriscan film scanner, enabling
high-resolution, high-dynamic range, pin-
registered film scanning. The Arriscan
utilizes a specially designed CMOS-array
sensor mounted on a micro-positioning
platform and a custom LED light source.
Capture of the films full dynamic range at
Academy Salutes Sci-Tech
Achievements
By Jay Holben
This years Academy Awards for
Scientific and Technical Achievement were
handed out in a Feb. 20 ceremony hosted
by actress Elizabeth Banks. The star of the
evening, however, turned out to be the digi-
tal-intermediate process awards were
presented for nearly every aspect of the
process.
Here is a list of the winners:
Technical Achievement Awards
(Academy Certificates presented for
accomplishments that contribute to
the progress of the industry)
Mark Wolforth and Tony Sedivy,
for their contributions to the development
I
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c
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s
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o
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A
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M
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P
.
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S
.
Front row (left to
right): Academy
President Tom Sherak,
actress Elizabeth Banks
and Sci-Tech
Committee Chairman
Richard Edlund, ASC.
2nd row: Bjrn Hedn,
Hiro Sakai, Andreas
Loew, Christophe Hery,
Masaaki Miki, Frank
Billasch and Tim
Hawkins. 3rd row: Dr.
Richard Kirk, Dr. James
Logie, Steve Chapman,
Mark Wolforth, Tony
Sedivy and Paul
Debevec. 4th row:
Gyula Priskin, Tamas
Perlaki, Darrin Smart,
Wolfgang Lempp and
Martin Tlaskal. 5th
row: Mark Jaszberenyi,
Dr. Reimer Lenz, Per
Christensen, Michael
Bunnell, Greg Pettitt
and Michael Cieslinski.
6th row: Dr. Klaus
Anderle, Brad Walker,
Bill Werner, D. Scott
Dewald, Dr. Mark
Sagar and Volker
Massmann. 7th row:
Bernd Brauner, Colin
Davidson, Ken
McGaugh, John
Monos, Markus
Hasenzahl and
Christian Baeker. Last
row: Hayden Landis,
Hilmar Koch, Brett
Allen, Steve Sullivan
and Kevin Wooley.
THE ACADEMY RECOGNIZES EXCELLENCE. SO DO WE.
Heres to this years OSCAR
nominees that brought their stories to life with the unmistakable look of lm. KODAK Film.
Kodak, 2010. Kodak is a trademark of Kodak.
Oscar is a registered trademark of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
kodak.com/go/motion
various scan resolutions is implemented
through sub-pixel offsets of the sensor
along with multiple exposures of each
frame.
Wolfgang Lempp, Theo Brown,
Tony Sedivy and Dr. John Quartel, for the
development of the Northlight film scanner,
which enables high-resolution, pin-regis-
tered scanning. Developed for the DI and
visual-effects markets, the Northlight was
designed with a 6K CCD sensor, making it
unique in its ability to produce high-resolu-
tion scans of 35mm 8-perf film frames.
Steve Chapman, Martin Tlaskal,
Darrin Smart and Dr. James Logie, for
their contributions to the development of
the Baselight color-correction system, which
enables real-time digital manipulation of
motion-picture imagery. Baselight was one
of the first digital color-correction systems
to enter the DI market.
Mark Jaszberenyi, Gyula Priskin
and Tamas Perlaki, for their contributions
to the development of the Lustre color-
correction system, which enables real-time
digital manipulation of motion-picture
imagery. Lustre is a software solution that
enables non-linear, real-time digital color
grading across an entire feature film,
emulating the photochemical color-timing
process.
Brad Walker, D. Scott Dewald,
Bill Werner and Greg Pettitt, for their
contributions furthering the design and
refinement of Texas Instruments DLP
Projector technology. Working in conjunc-
tion with the film industry, Texas Instru-
ments created a high-resolution, color-accu-
rate, high-quality DI projection system that
could closely emulate film-based projection
in a theatrical environment.
Banks, the evenings hostess, greets the crowd.
22
Fujifilm Corp., Ryoji Nishimura,
Masaaki Miki and Youichi Hosoya, for
the design and development of Fujicolor
Eterna-RDI intermediate film, designed
exclusively to reproduce motion-picture
digital masters. Eterna-RDI 8511/4511 has
thinner emulsion layers with extremely effi-
cient couplers made possible by Super-Nano
Cubic Grain Technology. This invention
allows improved color sensitivity with the
ability to absorb scattered light, providing
extremely sharp images. Eterna-RDI emul-
sion technology also achieves less color
cross-talk for exacting reproduction.
Paul Debevec, Tim Hawkins,
John Monos and Dr. Mark Sagar, for the
design and engineering of the Light Stage
capture devices and the image-based facial-
rendering system developed for character
relighting in motion pictures. The combina-
tion of these systems allows for the creation
of photorealistic digital faces as they would
appear in any lighting condition.
Left: During the ceremony, 15 awards were

presented to 45 individual recipients.
Right: Edlund offers his overview.
further development of the 5 D 54PL from early 2009
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23
A
few weeks before the end of principal photography on
Iron Man 2, ACis on location with the filmmakers at Los
Angeles Sepulveda Dam, where the production has
erected and illuminated a massive greenscreen that
emanates a nighttime glow visible for miles. The set represents
only part of the exterior of Stark Expo, a showcase for the tech-
nological wizardry of Stark Industries and its head honcho,
Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), who has recently revealed to
the world that he is the armor-clad superhero Iron Man. The
rest of the expo exterior was a combination of location work at
a Los Angeles high school and CG extensions. The trick is to
fulfill what people liked about the first film, but do it in a differ-
ent way and on a larger scale, says director Jon Favreau.
Judging by the scope of this particular set, the production will
succeed on both counts.
Armor Wars
Armor Wars
Cinematographer
Matthew Libatique, ASC
and director Jon Favreau shoot
to thrill with the action-packed
Iron Man 2.
By Jon D. Witmer
|
Creating the greenscreen at the
dam required hundreds of shipping
containers to be stacked, covered in
plywood and a thin coat of plaster, and
painted chroma green. The screen lines
three sides of a courtyard measuring
roughly 600'x200'; the elaborate setup
includes working fountains fitted with
waterproof LiteGear LiteRibbon
LEDs, as well as a portion of a bridge
supported by four cylindrical columns,
each topped with two T8 Technologies
Lumapanel Pro 44s, two Clay Paky
Alpha Profile 1,200-watt moving
fixtures, and two Martin Mac 2000 U
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Opposite: Justin
Hammer (Sam
Rockwell) introduces
War Machine onstage
at Stark Expo in Iron
Man 2. This page, top:
Iron Man and alter
ego Tony Stark faces
threats on multiple
fronts. Middle: SHIELD
operative Black Widow
(Scarlett Johansson)
infiltrates Stark
Industries. Bottom: Ivan
Vanko (Mickey Rourke)
readies his own attack.
Washes. Installed in the columns are
Barco Versa Tubes, which create pulsing
LED-lighting effects. Additional ambi-
ence is provided by Condor-supported
Sourcemaker lighting balloons.
During a break between setups,
Matthew Libatique, ASC points to the
top of the greenscreen, which is lined
with 20Ks and PRG Bad Boys, the
punchiest mover we could get, he says.
Gaffer Mike Bauman notes, They have
a ton of throw, an incredible zoom range
and a lot of speed, so we can highlight
sections of the set really quickly with
them. With four cameras set to roll,
Libatique is soon called back to video
village, where Favreau commiserates with
Downey and co-star Gwyneth Paltrow,
who is reprising her role as Pepper Potts.
Although the expo seems to
signify a high-water mark for Stark, he
actually finds himself at a troubling cross-
roads. To the chagrin of the U.S. govern-
ment, he has given up weapons
manufacturing and refuses to hand over
the technology behind his Iron Man
armor, putting him at odds with his long-
time friend, Col. Rhodes (Don Cheadle),
and forcing the government to back
Stark Industries rival, Justin Hammer
(Sam Rockwell). Meanwhile, the
Strategic Homeland Intervention,
Engagement and Logistics Division
(better known as SHIELD) has infil-
trated Stark Industries with a beautiful
operative code-named Black Widow
(Scarlett Johansson). Worse still, Russian
scientist Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke)
has decided the time is ripe to act on a
personal vendetta against Stark and his
family legacy. Tying the plots threads
together, Libatique observes, Its really a
portrait of someone whos become too
famous. Tonys dealing with fame, his ego
and his conscience all at the same time.
The film reunites Favreau with
Libatique, who also shot Iron Man (AC
May 08). When Favreau asked
Libatique to return for the sequel, I
didnt have any reservations, says
Libatique. Id learned so much from the
first film, and I wanted an opportunity to
know what Id learned from beginning to
end. I like to think that when you stack
Armor Wars
Top and
middle: Starks
(Robert
Downey Jr.)
workshop has
been
refurbished
with an LED
grid beneath a
Lucite floor
representing a
giant
holograph
tablet for
Stark to
interact with
and a hall
of armor to
showcase each
iteration of his
Iron Man suit.
Bottom:
Matthew
Libatique, ASC
checks
Downeys
exposure as
Versa Tubes
simulate floor-
projected
holographs.
these two films together, they have the
same visual language.
Also returning for the sequel were
Bauman, key grip Tana Dubbe and
camera operator Colin Anderson.
Libatique notes, My focus puller on the
first film, Peter Berglund, became the B-
camera operator, and Mark Santoni was
the A-camera first AC. The continuity
between the two films made it a lot easier
and very enjoyable for me. We could
work more quickly as a collective because
we understood the dynamics of the fran-
chise. Those dynamics include a
predilection for improvisation that
emphasizes performance over camera-
Top: A TransLite
gives Starks
mansion a view
of the Pacific
while
Lumapanels
offer some
daylight
ambience.
Middle: When
Stark throws a
party, his
mansions
lighting
instantly
switches to
party mode
thanks to Clay
Paky Alpha
Profile 300s
positioned
above the set.
Bottom left:
Libatique takes
five with
Downey and
Don Cheadle,
who plays Col.
Rhodes. Bottom
right: Stark and
Rhodes don
armor for a
brawl in Starks
home gym.
work. Jons approach is so dissimilar to
that of other directors Ive worked with,
says Libatique. Because hes also an
actor, hes performance first. Its about
keeping the equipment distant and keep-
ing the light as naturalistic as possible.
We wanted to provide a culture of free-
dom and let the actors work the space.
This time around, Libatique didnt
do his own operating. He explains, Jon
is at the monitor, and he makes decisions
very quickly. To maximize my collabora-
tion with him, I had to be right next to
him, and on this film I felt a partnership
with him that I didnt feel on the first one
because I was engulfed in my operating
responsibility. In the scheme of things, I
cant let the film get away from me, and
on a movie of this scale, what I do is
largely management.
Although dialogue-heavy scenes
were infused with improvisation, Favreau
did hew closely to storyboards and previs
for action sequences. There are certain
parts of the movie that are untouchable,
but there are also parts where I want
complete freedom, he notes. The
combination weve arrived upon is to
keep the connective tissue very sponta-
neous and loose so the action elements,
which weve been planning for two years,
dont feel stale.
To help define the action
sequences, visual-effects supervisor Janek
Sirrs tapped previs company The Third
Floor. The companys approach included
motion-capture work of stunt performers
running through the paces of particular
sequences. Libatique then came into an
office fitted with camera-tracking equip-
ment and was handed a tablet monitor
that served as a virtual camera, allowing
him to frame shots, execute moves and
even scale his own size, all using the
motion-capture data. Sirrs explains, We
laid down a little dance floor, and Matty
could roll around on a wheeled stool and
pretend to be on a dolly. We put the
tablet on a handheld camera mount and
weighted it so it felt like a real camera on
his shoulder. The rudimentary shots
Libatique composed were then refined
under the supervision of animation direc-
tor Genndy Tartakovsky.
Sirrs describes the methodology as
sort of a James Cameron approach to
previs, referring to the directors use of
similar virtual-camera technology on
Avatar (AC Jan. 10). That technology
has become so available that its changing
the nature of previs. This is the fastest
way to do it and the most naturalistic; its
wrong to suppose that someone who may
be good at building a 3-D model will
know how you would follow action as the
camera operator would on set. This is a
way of injecting that talent back into the
equation. Libatique confirms, It was a
much better way for people to get a sense
of how the film was going to be shot.
The production was based in Los
Angeles, mostly at Raleigh Studios
Manhattan Beach. I try to keep the
work in L.A. when I can, says Favreau.
You have access to a tremendous talent
pool, and as a director I find its much
easier to work here, especially if youre
going to be changing things on the fly,
because the infrastructure is here. I love
shooting other places, too, if the script
calls for it, but it was clear that L.A.
would serve this material the best.
One of the biggest challenges for
Libatique was underscoring Starks posi-
tion at the vanguard of technology with
the practical fixtures the production
employed. This is one of the richest men
in the world, so we cant buy our practi-
cals from Home Depot, he notes.
Everything had to be intelligent tech-
Armor Wars
After leaving
Starks party,
Rhodes flies an old
version of the Iron
Man armor to
Edwards Air Force
Base (right), where
he delivers it to
Hammer for study
(below). These
scenes were shot
on location at
Edwards.
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nology, and it had to look classic enough
to have some shelf life we didnt want
it to look embarrassingly dated 10 years
from now. That made it challenging but
fun as well. Fortunately, he adds, Mike
Bauman is really good at staying up on
technology, and our lighting-fixtures
foreman, Al DeMayo, made phenome-
nal contributions. Al also worked on the
first film, but this time he had to reinvent
a lot of what we were doing.
This challenge was especially
pronounced inside Stark Expo, particu-
larly when Stark first appears onstage.
Backed by a contingent of female
dancers, his entrance called for a light
show set to AC/DCs Shoot to Thrill.
The most elegant light show Ive ever
seen was Radioheads at the Hollywood
Bowl, says Libatique. Bauman figured
out that they used Versa Tubes, which
look like fluorescents but have LEDs
inside; you can send video patterns
through them, change their color or
make them solid. The Versa Tubes were
integrated into the set in a proscenium
configuration complemented by moving
fixtures that Libatique strove to integrate
as graphic elements within the frame.
What I worked on more than anything
was configuration, and Bauman chose
the lights, says Libatique.
We ended up using close to 300
moving fixtures, in addition to about
1,000 Versa Tubes, says Bauman. It was
a constant discussion with [production
designer] Michael Riva, because most of
Armor Wars
Top: Tony Stark
doffs his Iron
Man armor
onstage at
Stark Expo as
the Ironettes
dance behind
him. The
sequence called
for intricate
lighting effects
executed by
lighting
programmers
Scott Barnes
and Joshua
Thatcher.
Middle: An L.A.
high school
served as one
part of the
expos exterior.
Bottom and
opposite: The
remainder of
the exterior
was filmed at
the Sepulveda
Dam, where the
production
constructed a
massive
greenscreen
around three
sides of a
600'x200'
courtyard.
A
fter serving as second-unit director
of photography on Iron Man,
Jonathan Taylor, ASC was asked to
both shoot and direct Iron Man 2s
second-unit work. I wanted a consis-
tency between both units, and Jonathan
did a wonderful job on our first film,
says director Jon Favreau. He has a
great eye, and he integrates well with
the first unit. There was definitely a
synergy between both units, which you
dont always have on these types of
movies. Director of photography
Matthew Libatique, ASC agrees,
noting, Directing and shooting second
unit on Iron Man 2 was a lot to handle,
but Jonathan was up to the task. Hes
such a seasoned veteran. He under-
stands stunts, he has a great knack for
knowing where to put the camera, and
hes great at getting the right tool for the
job.
Taylor gained his experience
climbing the ranks of the camera
department in the United Kingdom,
where he started on the series
Thunderbirds and transitioned into
second-unit and visual-effects work on
such features as Superman, Superman II
and Batman, as well as main-unit work
on Full Metal Jacket and other films. His
first director of photography credit came
on the model unit for Stargate in 1994.
Then I did Independence Day, and
things took off, he says. I found a
niche, and people started to recognize
thats what I did.
In 2006, Taylor was invited to join
the ASC, an acknowledgment from his
peers of his collaborative spirit and skill.
Im not going to go out and do some
interesting shots that dont fit the
movie, says Taylor. The important
thing to me is to make sure my work
and the first units work fit seamlessly.
The danger is to concentrate on the
stunt and forget that it should be inte-
gral to the story.
When you do second unit, its all
about trust and communication, he
continues. Its about talking to the
director and the cinematographer,
getting into their heads, understanding
their vision and executing it.
As principal photography got
underway on Iron Man 2, Taylor
recounts, Id go to the prelights with
Matty, and wed work out what second
unit would do. Then, if I wasnt shoot-
ing, I would always go to their set with
my gaffer and my assistant director,
Michael Moore. We had lighting
diagrams from the main unit and photo-
graphic references as well, and we
worked with Gamma & Densitys 3cP
System, which is a good, simple way to
share information when you have multi-
ple units.
While filming Iron Man 2s action
sequences, Taylors approach was to
shoot the previs almost to the letter, he
says. But you also have to do extra
coverage to create leeway in post. An
action piece can fall apart very quickly
unless its well covered, so you have to see
opportunities and follow up on them. It
was not uncommon for the second unit
to roll as many as 13 cameras at once to
capture elaborate stunts.
Looking for opportunities to
enhance the first units work also meant
suggesting tools and camera systems that
werent originally on the table, including
using VistaVision for background
plates, says Taylor. I thought that
would be useful on this project.
VistaVision gives you great leeway in
post because you can recompose within
the frame, you can zoom in, and, of
course, the quality is superb.
Taylor credits the many second-
unit directors hes worked with for
preparing him for his own turn in the
directors chair. There are all sorts of
little tricks you learn just by observation
and osmosis, he says. He also empha-
sizes the contributions of his crew,
including gaffer Dan Riffel, key grip
Richard Mall, operators Joseph Cicio
and Kent Harvey, 1st ACs Kevin Potter
and Louie DeMarco, and 2nd ACs
Scott Whitbread and Tony Muller. All
my crew have been with me for at least
10 years, says Taylor. Im loyal to them,
and they are loyal to me. One needs that
support, especially when youre both the
second-unit cinematographer and
second-unit director. You can only
achieve that if you have a very strong
crew.
Jon D. Witmer
| Taylor Leads 1st-Rate 2nd Unit |
2nd-unit director/cinematographer Jonathan Taylor, ASC is flanked by camera operators Kent
Harvey (left) and Joseph Cicio (right) inside the Japanese Garden, the setting of the climactic
battle involving Iron Man, War Machine and a bevy of armored drones.
Director Jon Favreau confabs with Downey and Cheadle for a scene set at a Senate hearing.
Filming inside the Pasadena Masonic Temple, the crew built a floor-supported soft box fitted
with 250- and 500-watt bulbs on batten strips wired to dimmers and shone through Light Grid.
the stage was going to be defined by the
lighting and video elements. [Lighting
previs program] ESP Vision proved crit-
ical in that discussion. We used 1,500-
watt and 700-watt Clay Paky Alpha
Beams, augmented by High End
Systems Showguns and Showbeams for
strong shafts and beam effects; Varilite
VL3000s and VL3500s mixed with
Clay Paky Alpha Profile 1200s as
general key and fill; and Mac 2000
Washes for ambience. Lighting
programmer Scott Barnes was charged
with designing the light show for the
dance number, and Libatique says
Barnes work was spectacular. It was like
a big demo, a big palette of movement,
and we could take the best pieces and
put them into the portion that was actu-
ally going to be in the film.
Behind the stage was a 30'-high-
by-74'-wide screen comprised of FLED
io11 LED tiles, through which the film-
makers ran video images. While Barnes
handled the dimmer board controlling
the moving fixtures, lighting program-
mer Joshua Thatcher was the gate-
keeper, Libatique says, of the content on
the LED wall. Bauman adds, Josh
handled three different media servers: a
PRG MBox for the FLEDs and two
Catalysts for the Versa Tubes. He was
able to use a lot of MBox effects and
layering to get looks that Matty and Jon
wanted.
I couldnt imagine doing a movie
of this size without Al, Josh and Scott,
says Libatique. Obviously, there were a
lot of people involved, but in broad
strokes, the ideas would come from me
and Mike, the problem-solving would
come from Al, and the execution would
come from Barnes and Thatcher.
Starks cutting-edge technology
also extends to his home, in particular in
his workshop, which has undergone
some remodeling since the first film.
Favreau explains, We wanted to up the
tech level in Tonys workshop so it looks
like hes taken a technological leap.
Libatique adds, On the first film, they
discovered this potential for holographic
technology as a way for Tony to work
with materials in a non-monitor situa-
tion. On this movie, Riva came up with
this idea for the floor, making it a giant
tablet Tony could walk across, and wher-
ever he went, he could have a holo-
graphic image pulled up in front of him.
Onstage at Manhattan Beach,
LEDs were installed in a grid pattern
meant to represent the holograph
projectors beneath the Lucite floor
and wired to custom-made LED
dimmers controlled by a Whole Hog
III. Thatcher controlled the floor via
pixel mapping, treating each LED as a
pixel that was fed content from a media
server, which also fed data to other inter-
active sources. Meanwhile, Barnes
33
controlled fixtures rigged from three
movable pieces of truss hung from the
sets ceiling. Each rig held two Clay
Paky Alpha 1200s and some Kino Flo
VistaBeams it really gave us a ton of
flexibility, says Bauman. Libatique adds,
We could position them in various parts
of the room and bounce the moving
lights into cards. Very seldom did we use
them direct; wed use them as sort of
movable Source Fours we could control
from the dimmer board, which Mike and
I like to do because we can keep every-
thing off the set and still have control
without putting guys on ladders.
No matter how complicated the
rig, I want to be able to improvise when I
get on set, the cinematographer adds,
noting that the moving fixtures allowed
him to quickly blade the light down or
change the color temperature to match a
practical on the floor.
The Clay Pakys were also used in
combination with Versa Tubes to create,
in-camera, a sense of interaction with the
holographic effects that would be added
by Sirrs team in post. Having such inter-
active cues on set, Sirrs enthuses, really
sells the final effects. Subconsciously,
those little cues tie everything together.
Cutting-edge lighting design is
evident throughout Starks seaside
manse. His house was more dialed-in
than anybodys house could ever be, says
Libatique. One of the best examples
where everything came together from a
lighting perspective is the scene where
Tony has a birthday party, and his house
looks like a club. All the can lights were
Clay Paky Alpha Profile 300s built into
the set, so they could turn into this
moving-light extravaganza.
The party is interrupted when
Rhodes, frustrated with the hosts irrev-
erence, decides to take the Mark II Iron
Man armor and personally deliver it to
the government. A brawl ensues between
Stark, in his Mark IV armor, and
Rhodes, in the Mark II, but Rhodes
manages to get away with the suit and
present it to Hammer at Edwards Air
Force Base. Shooting on location at
Edwards was kept simple. Libatique
recalls, We ended up shooting scenes at
Armor Wars
Top to bottom: Libatique and camera operator Colin Anderson prepare a shot of Stark racing at
the Monaco Grand Prix; after the second unit shot on location in Monaco, the sequence was
completed at Downey Studios, where the crew floated 40'x60' frames of Light Grid to control
sunlight; Vanko dons his Whiplash armor and attacks Stark mid-race.
the hangar doors, so there was already a
relationship between light and dark, and
even when we shot inside the hangars,
we would find a space with as much
depth as possible, and Id use a lot of
existing light. When theyre analyzing
the Mark II, we put two VistaBeam
600s on [Matthews] Max menace arms
as toplight, and we got the stop up to
around T8.5 so we could bury the back-
ground a bit.
Taking his exposures with a
reflective-light meter, Libatique typically
maintained a shooting stop of T2.8. I
think its a nice compromise I like as
little depth of field as possible, but its
still fair for the focus puller. Bauman
notes, With Matty, theres really not a
lot thats ever at key exposure. Usually
Gwyneth and Robert were 1 or 1 stops
underexposed. Libatique explains, Key
light doesnt feel genuine to me. Even
though I was doing a big movie with
major stars, I wanted it to feel as if wed
just walked into a location and found
that lighting. One way I do that is by
trying to keep the faces down.
The production shot 4-perf Super
35mm using a camera package from
Panavision Hollywood. Panaflex
Millennium XLs served as the A and B
cameras, which almost always ran simul-
taneously. Libatique carried a set of
Primo primes, but we primarily used
[Angenieux] Optimo 15-40mm and
28-76mm zooms. We used them as vari-
able primes, and they gave us some flex-
ibility with the actors improvisation.
In contrast to Starks digs, Vanko
prepares for his war on Stark in a low-
tech workspace. The set was described
to me as being not unlike Max Cohens
apartment in Pi, Libatique says with a
laugh, referring to the indie he shot for
Darren Aronofsky (AC April 98). It
was that rare opportunity to go lo-fi in
the movie, which is, in a lot of ways, my
comfort zone. We used shop lights, clip
lights, compact fluorescents and weird
desk lamps with bare bulbs.
Libatique shot Kodak Vision
500T 5279 in Vankos workspace
because I liked how it accentuated the
varying color temperatures. (He used
Vision2 50D 5201 and 200T 5217 and
Vision3 500T 5219 elsewhere in the
production.) Libatique has long
employed color temperature as a means
Armor Wars
Above: A visual-
effects composite
from one of Iron
Man's many
flying sequences.
Right: Image 80s
provide
illumination
while filming
live-action
elements for a
flying sequence
onstage.
of creating contrast and suggesting
conflict, and the character arcs in Iron
Man 2 are rife with turmoil. Theres
always a conflict within [Stark], whether
it be physical illness or complete irrever-
ence, so I introduced more of a conflict of
color in his world as well, but more subtly
than I did with Vanko. Ive always been a
believer in a controlled palette, so if Ive
introduced two colors, Ill avoid intro-
ducing a third in the same frame.
Believing the technology that
powers the Iron Man armor was stolen
from his family, Vanko constructs his
own Whiplash armor and confronts
Stark in a spectacular action sequence at
the Monaco Grand Prix. Filming the
sequence required the second unit, shot
and directed by Jonathan Taylor, ASC, to
shoot background plates and shots of a
speeding Rolls Royce along the actual
Monaco circuit. (See sidebar on p. 32.)
Taylor recalls, The Monaco police force
and auto club were very cooperative, but
because its a working city, we had only
an hour or two for each section of track.
It was just frantic, and we literally had
only one hit at it. Second-unit first AD
Michael Moore and I planned the whole
thing at Manhattan Beach. It was a
question of getting all the equipment set
up and having a well-oiled machine.
Taylors equipment list included a high-
speed camera-tracking vehicle, a Porsche
928 rented from Propulsion in Paris,
driven by Jean-Franois Dubut and
mounted with VistaVision cameras from
Geo and Procam; an insert car rigged
with VistaVision cameras, Arri 435s
and Canon EOS 5D Mark IIs; and
a Mercedes SUV-mounted Russian
Arm rented from Bickers Action.
Additionally, ground cameras were posi-
tioned to grab shots of the Rolls speed-
ing by, and even a helicopter, rented from
Flying Pictures, was employed for aerial
shots. We had all the toys, and we ran a
whole convoy around the track, Taylor
continues. It was quite a trick to pull the
whole thing off.
In addition to the location work, a
section of track was constructed at
Downey Studios, where both units
completed the sequence. For lighting,
Tana floated 40-by-60 Light Grids to
try to control the overall ambience and
keep it soft, says Bauman. Equipment-
wise, however, the second unit had its
hands full. Taylor details, We used a
couple of Photo-Sonics cameras for
some high-speed crashes with the race-
cars. We also had a high-speed track
alongside and synced with the racecars
so we could launch everything at the
same time and run parallel to the cars.
[Second-unit key grip] Richard Mall
built the track, and we had four cameras
on it: a VistaVision, a Phantom and two
Arri 435s.
Taylor also incorporated Canon
EOS 5D Mark II DSLRs, fitted with
Canon lenses, as crash cameras. One of
the problems with doing action stuff is
finding interesting places to put the
camera, says Taylor, adding that he
could actually put the 5Ds on the cars
we were going to crash. We cut holes for
the lenses in small Pelican cases that we
painted to match the cars. We got some
amazing shots. Of course, its not film
quality, but for a 12-frame cut in an
action piece, it holds up very well.
After Whiplash makes his auspi-
cious debut, Hammer enlists him to
create an army of drones for the govern-
ment. Whiplash instead pits the drones
against Iron Man, who by films end is
backed up in battle by Rhodes, now
sporting his very own War Machine
armor. We were talking about CG
characters with War Machine, Iron Man
and the drones, so the question was,
A Technocrane
is employed
for an early-
morning scene
in which Iron
Man enjoys a
balanced
breakfast
courtesy of
Los Angeles
famous Randys
Donuts.
How much do we really need to do
practically? says Libatique. Janek and I
agreed that there needed to be physical
interactivity with the foreground action
to sell the background visual-effects
work. We decided to build as big as we
could to get a sense of scale and those
physical relationships.
The production built the set,
dubbed the Japanese Garden, inside
Sony Studios Stage 30. Sirrs explains,
Theres a waterfall and a stream running
through the middle of the set, and we
wanted to capture as much of that with
live plates as possible. Weve also got
missile hits, and we wanted to set off real
pyro on the stage to get the atmosphere
in there. Even if you have to paint some-
thing in later [with CG], it feels better if
you have a real visual benchmark.
The Rag Place provided the blue-
screen that surrounded the set; this was
lit with Kino Flo Image 80s (fitted with
Super Blue tubes) positioned along the
top and bottom of the screen. To light
the set, Libatique turned to a technique
that had served him well for the climax
of Iron Man: hanging Image 80s from
the ceiling. Bauman explains, Tana and
[key rigging grip] Charley Gilleran
designed and built a 40-by-60 box
containing Image 80s mixed with
daylight and tungsten tubes and run
through Light Grid. We underexposed a
bit to get some reflectivity. The source
was low-intensity but very broad, and we
could pick up highlights that the CG
guys could then work from. We also
used Image 80s as soft ambient back-
light, and we put up truss with some
VL3000s so we could highlight different
areas.
Armor Wars
optimo cine lenses from 15mm to 290mm
primechoice
15mm 40mm
Theres no doubt that Angenieux Optimo 35mm film lenses deliver
exceptional optical performance and value. They feature extremely
fast apertures with outstanding contrast and color reproduction
and the most advanced zoom mechanics available. In fact, an
expansive 15 to 290mm range is provided by just four Optimo
Favreau and Downey prepare to shoot inside-the-helmet footage. Framing the actor in a
tight close-up, the camera tracked left and right while Versa Tubes simulated Iron Mans
heads-up display.
The main unit was primarily
responsible for filming the dialogue
between Stark and Rhodes before they
don their masks and blaze into action,
after which the second unit stepped in to
complete the in-camera elements. Taylor
notes, VistaVision came to the fore.
[Steadicam operator] Chris McGuire
manned a Revolution rig, which is great
for fight sequences. We put the
VistaVision camera on that, and
although we were shooting background
plates, we still had people running
through the action. Sirrs adds, Even
though we were going to put digital suits
in there, we had people with partial suits
stand in and go through the motions as
a reference for how it should look.
Iron Man 2s negative was
processed by Deluxe, and throughout
the shoot Libatique viewed select print
dailies (timed by ASC associate member
Adam Clark). In the morning, I would
look at the print, and at lunch Id watch
the digital version with Jon, he recalls.
With print dailies, I feel like I can go
into the digital intermediate knowing
what I have.
As on Iron Man, Libatique plans
to carry out the digital grade at EFilm
with colorist (and ASC associate
member) Steven J. Scott. The cine-
matographer emphasizes that although
he achieves as much of the desired look
as possible in-camera, the DI is an
absolute necessity on this film. I have to
manage the Iron Man suit from envi-
ronment to environment, and we dont
want it dominating the look of the
movie. With a DI, I can isolate the suit
and make sure the color stays true to
what were trying to articulate. Chasing
the color photochemically would be a
nightmare.
When Favreau spoke to AC, he
was looking forward to the DI. On any
film, you have very lofty expectations
when you set out, and then the concerns
become more pragmatic because youre
just trying to finish the job, says the
director. Its nice for the last people who
touch the film to be your color timer and
your cinematographer, because they can
bring a little bit of perspective from not
being as closely involved in every step of
postproduction. When you get to the
DI and can sit down with the cine-
matographer in that dark room, its your
film together again.
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Vision 2383
T
he Disney film Oceans begins with a question, asked by a
boy on a beach: What is the ocean? The answer that
unfolds in the following 90 minutes takes the form of a
dazzling nature film that defies categorization. The
movie starts in the sand underwater, with an iguana slowly
making its way from the ocean floor to the surf, finally putting
one claw on dry land. A little later, a rocket takes off in the
distant skies, and its bright glare is reflected in the iguanas eye.
With a few simple shots, Oceans has visually evoked the story
of evolution.
The film offers many such rich moments. In the sardine-
run sequence, an army of dolphins rushes to meet a gigantic
school of fish, starting a feeding frenzy that is soon shared with
sharks and birds. There is drama when baby turtles hatch in the
sand and make the dangerous journey to the nearby water,
preyed upon by a flock of rapacious birds along the way. The
film is also replete with scenes that reveal mans kinship with
animals.
The camera is the invisible hero of Oceans. It is placed
and moved in novel ways that give the viewer the impression,
time and again, of seeing marine life as it has never been seen
before. The film is the brainchild of Jacques Perrin, who has
long experimented with new formats for nature films, starting
with Microcosmos (AC Jan. 97), about the world of insects, and
including Winged Migration, an epic that follows birds around
the planet (AC July 03). Perrin produced Oceans and co-
directed it with Jacques Cluzaud, a collaborator on Winged
Migration. Cluzaud notes, These films are a matter of going
ever further and continually asking ourselves, What can we
invent? Jacques Perrin is not interested in making a film weve
already seen. Were always looking for something more.
Wonders
ofthe
Sea
21 cinematographers contribute
spectacular imagery to the nature
film Oceans, directed by Jacques
Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud.
By Benjamin B
|
Oceans was a seven-year undertak-
ing that involved 340 weeks of shooting
spread over almost five years and 54
locations, notably several wildlife sanc-
tuaries. The films 21 cinematographers
included 10 underwater specialists, and
there were up to six units shooting
simultaneously. The filmmakers also
researched, designed and built an array
of custom camera tools so they could
achieve what they wanted.
Cluzaud recalls that the starting
point was a script comprising poetic
sequences that had working titles such as
the dragon and the rocket, caval-
cades, sea feasts, chilling out on the
beach, predator and the night world.
Before we set out to shoot, we asked
ourselves which animals could illustrate
a specific sequence, and then we selected
those that seemed the most interesting,
he says. For example, the beginning of
the film was called the conquest of the
shore, and we chose the iguana for its
prehistoric look. Our choices were about
which species would best serve the
sequence, and from there, we decided
where to shoot and when.
Cluzaud emphasizes that the
films point of view was defined by a
desire to identify with its animal
subjects. The two key words were prox-
imity and dynamism. We told the
operators to seek out the animals gazes
and eyelines. We spent a lot of time and
effort to catch an animals gaze and film P
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.
Opposite: An
Asian
Sheepshead
Wrasse is one of
the many exotic
sea creatures
featured in
Oceans. This
page, top:
Weddell Seals in
the Antarctic.
Middle and
bottom: Divers
explore colorful
nooks while
swimming
through
underwater
caves in
Hienghine,
New Caledonia.
it like a character. I think what distin-
guishes this film in particular is that we
are dealing with characters: you experi-
ence the animals differently because they
are filmed differently.
Identifying with the animals also
meant being a fish among the fish, he
continues. There are very few static
shots. The principle was to always be
moving because living things move
even the tiny feet of a starfish are
moving, however slowly. With fast
species such as dolphins, the question
was what could we invent to follow them
at full speed both above and below the
water. We created the Thetys head
above, and the Torpedo and the Polecam
below. Weve seen whales, dolphins and
sharks underwater before, but never at
such a speed.
Cinematographer Philippe Ros
shot Oceans night sequences, among
others; was involved in developing some
custom tools; and supervised the work-
flow as digital-imaging director. The
production decided to shoot Super
35mm for material above the water, and
high-definition video for underwater
work except for slow-motion material.
Ros explains that the main reason for
choosing HD was the ability to run
cassette loads of 50 minutes. The
production designed and built four
autonomous underwater housings for
the diver operators. The housings were

Wonders of the Sea
Top: An
intrepid
cameraman
captures a
bold shot of a
great white
shark off
Mexicos
Guadalupe
Island. Middle:
The
filmmakers
take viewers
straight into a
formation of
bigeye trevally
in the Indian
Oceans Cocos
Islands.
Bottom: A
clownfish gets
his close-up in
Nouma, New
Caledonia.
outfitted with Sony HDW-F900/3s
shooting in HDCam format, which
was the HD standard in 2005, when
shooting began.
Speedy animals were shot from a
boat, and Sony HDC-950s were used
in those instances because the camera
head could be separated from the
camera body; the camera heads were
placed in small capsules that were then
fitted to custom-designed Polecams or
Torpedoes linked to the boat via fiber-
optic cable, a technology the filmmak-
ers refined over a year of development.
The Polecam consisted of a submerged
camera capsule attached to a large trian-
gular support fastened to the side or the
prow of the boat. The Polecam could
not be used to shoot backwards because
the boats wake would spoil the shot, so
it was used to capture side angles of the
creatures right below the surface of the
water. For shots from the back of the
boat, camera capsules were placed in
Torpedoes that were attached to the
stern with a long, metal leash; this
arrangement allowed for shooting as far
as 100 meters away and avoided the
boats wake.
The Panavised Sony cameras
were outfitted with Zeiss 6-24mm and
17-112mm DigiZooms. In order to get
the proximity requested by the film-
makers, the dominant underwater focal
length was about 7mm, which Ros says
is equivalent to about 18mm in 35mm.
The lenses were often set to the hyper-
focal distance. Underwater camera
operator Ren Heuzey recalls, The
directors really did want us to be a fish
among the fish. The fish could not be
shown to be curious of the camera. We
also had to avoid seeking out the fish
the image had to float by itself. You
couldnt feel the camera chasing after
the animal. Another rule was to always
shoot with natural lighting.
Heuzey shot a unique sequence
while moving with a large blanket octo-
pus that unfolded an orange cape as it
glided above the ocean floor. I call that
the Batman shot, he says. To get the
images, I shot for 12 days, spending
three or four hours underwater per day.
First, you have to gain the animals
acceptance so he understands youre not
a predator. You dont want to startle the
blanket octopus, or it will let go of its ink
and change color. Heuzey often swam
in the direction of the current, using the
flow to help stabilize the image. He
notes that he was given a very specific
shot list. For example, the directors
asked me to match the blanket octopus
to the sails of a sailboat featured in
another shot. That took me a couple of
days.
Working with wild animals
demanded patience and persistence,
and produced many surprises. Heuzey
remembers an orca that sought him out
after he had returned to his boat. He
dove back in, and the orca led him away
from the boat and gave him a private
show. When I blew bubbles, he blew
bubbles, and when I nodded, he
said they wanted a close-up for the edit,
so we went back the following year and
we got the shot!
The work was a mixture of joy
and frustration, he continues. It was
fantastic at certain moments, and
completely depressing at others.
Sometimes I just missed an extraordi-
nary shot because I was a little too tight,
and I was only too tight because Id
zoomed in for no particular reason right
before the whale jumped. Many of the
most spectacular jumps were shot at 50
or 100 fps. Drion used an Easy Look
unit with the video assist to simulate the
slow-motion playback. Although the
land-based footage was shot in 3-perf
Super 35mm, less predictable material
was shot in 4-perf to allow for reframing
in post.
Drion also remembers moments
of bliss: Youre there with hundreds of
dolphins jumping around you, and
youve been looking for this shot for two
years. Youve already seen dolphin caval-
cades, but they didnt have the same
energy, the same sea, the same every-
thing! Theres a kind of miraculous
synchronicity, and thats also due to the
directors, who wanted this shot and sent
you back to the same spot the following
year because you didnt get what they
needed the first year. Its stubborn work
at every level.
Drion was also the operator for a

Wonders of the Sea
Top left: A cloud of krill. Bottom left: Filming
sea nettles in Monterey Bay, Calif. Above: For
shots taken from the back of boats, camera
capsules were placed in Torpedoes that were
attached to the stern with a long leash, which
allowed the filmmakers to avoid the boats
wake while shooting.
used a variety of Angenieux zoom
lenses, including the Optimo 17-
80mm, the Optimo 24-290mm and an
HR 25-250mm.
Drion recalls that his job
involved a blend of patience, guesswork
and reactivity. As example, he cites the
shot of a huge shark leaping out of the
ocean, capturing a bull seal in its jaws.
We spent a lot of time on that shot,
and the game was to follow a seal,
hoping it would be eaten by a shark, he
says. That shot was the result of stub-
bornness, ours and the productions! We
had to throw away 20 or 30 1,000-foot
loads, unprocessed. We didnt get the
shark the first year, so we went back in
the second year and got it. Then they
nodded. It was incredible I felt like
we knew each other.
The productions main film
camera was the Arri 435, which was
used on boats, in helicopters and on
land. An extensively modified Arri 2-B
was used in the tiny Birdy Fly heli-
copters that could hover above whales
and other large mammals without star-
tling them. Much of the above-water
work was done with a 435 on a small
crane with a Thetys, a rugged, gyrosta-
bilized head designed and built by the
production. Because whales and other
mammals are less threatened by smaller
boats, the Thetys rig was often put in an
inflatable Zodiac. Operating the Thetys
was cinematographer Luc Drion, who

Wonders of the Sea
violent storm sequence, which shows
large boats dwarfed by powerful waves.
In one shot, a warship is filmed head-on
and then completely obscured by a huge,
oncoming wave. Drion reveals that the
scary image was shot from a helicopter.
The waves were 15 meters [49'] high.
Because they were spaced far apart, wed
go down above the water when the wave
was low, and the pilot would look behind
him to get back up before the next wave
arrived. Drions Arri 435 was in a gyro-
scopic Stab-C mounted on a side
bracket. I had absolute trust in the heli-
copter pilot. To get the waves to hide the
ship, I would say, Lower, lower, but
when he refused, I didnt insist! It was
impossible to use a rain deflector, so the
camera assistant, wearing a harness,
would lean out of the chopper and wipe
the lens by hand.
Part of an especially memorable
underwater night sequence was shot off
a dock. The protagonists are squillas and
crabs, and the filmmakers created an
underwater dolly setup complete with
tracks to follow Joe the crab as he
hustles along the underwater reef. To key
the scene, Ros set up Dino lights shining
down into the water through cookies.
The Dino bulbs were made to flicker
independently to emulate dappled wave
patterns underwater. The sequence also
contains a macro shot of the squillas
extraterrestrial eye, which was shot in a
shallow pool that afforded more lighting
control.
One of the major challenges in
post was matching HD to the film
footage, which was scanned at 4K by a
team (including Tommaso Vergalo, Juan
Eveno and Franois Dupuy) at
Digimage Cinema in Paris. The results
look seamless, which is especially
impressive given that most of the digital
footage was shot in the 8-bit HDCam
format, which has a recorded horizontal
resolution of 1,440 pixels. Ros empha-
sizes that he designed the workflow with
the final goal of 2.40:1 exhibition in
mind. To create an HD image that
would match the 35mm as closely as
possible, he did extensive testing and
worked in coordination with Olivier
Top: To capture
side angles of
animals just
below the
surface of the
water, the
filmmakers
used the
Polecam rig, a
submerged
camera capsule
attached to a
large triangular
support
fastened to the
boat. Middle:
Macro shots of
squillas were
captured in a
shallow pool
that afforded
more lighting
control.
Bottom: A
radio-controlled
Birdy Fly
helicopter was
used to capture
dynamic
footage of
whales and
other
mammals.
Garcia and Christian Mourier to
develop a series of custom gamma
curves and scene files for the video oper-
ators to use. The low-contrast curves
were varied to address different lighting
conditions. To accommodate different
sea coloring, Ros notably reduced and
isolated the blue or green vectors in the
F900 multi-matrix menu. He also
tweaked the levels in the detail menu for
murkier scenes.
Ros and his team created two
simple knobs on the underwater hous-
ing to apply this range of settings. One
knob was for the ocean color, and the
other for the scenes contrast and visibil-
ity. Each knob had five settings, creating
25 possible combinations, or, as Ros
says, 25 digital film stocks. Matching
HD to film, he continues, had two
components: preserving the highlights
and getting maximum resolution when
shooting, and reducing noise in post. In
production, we strove to have the right
gamma curve for the highlights, the
right saturation for the sea, and the right
setting in the detail menu, usually
between -45 and -60, for the scene.
I knew that up-converting from
HD to 4K in post would work if the
images had little noise, but the thing we
couldnt correct for was the solarizing
effect, when you lose detail in the
whites. So we always chose to protect
the whites, even if it meant more noise.
But when we didnt have strong high-
lights in the image, we used curves that
had less noise. Thats why we had
several gamma curves.
Key for Ros was the constant
communication between production
and post, and the constant verification
of the dailies by the cinematographers,
the digital-imaging technicians (led by
Franois Paturel) and the colorists. Ros
also instituted a daily testing procedure
that accustomed the operators to evalu-
ate the rendering of a test chart. Above
a certain threshold, around 2K, its not
the number of pixels that matters, but
the quality of your pixels, he observes.
Thats why we did a lot of work on
certain menus and, especially, why we
diminished the level of noise. When you
can get rid of the noise, each pixel is
cleaner, and you can increase your MTF
because you can then discern detail.
Def2shoot in Paris applied a
proprietary noise-reduction process to
the HD material and a degraining
The filmmakers
employed an
underwater
dolly to great
effect,
especially for a
night sequence
that follows a
crab hustling
along a reef.
process to the 35mm. The HD up-
conversion to 4K was done after the
digital grade, using a custom Digimage
process. Digimage also applied a propri-
etary process called wide range to get
slightly stronger whites in the filmout,
and created multiple digital negatives,
which were used to print positives
directly so as to avoid the loss of two
extra generations. For the DCP master,
selective focus was applied to 200 shots
as a way of emphasizing certain
elements in the frame.
Perrin asked an old friend, cine-
matographer Luciano Tovoli, ASC,
AIC, to shoot a few fictional sequences
that are absent from the U.S. version of
the film, and also to supervise the DI at
Digimage. Jacques said he wanted an
eye to harmonize the different footage
according to the vision of the directors,
says Tovoli, who spent 12 weeks on the
grade with Ros and colorist Laurent
Desbrures. I was lucky to work closely
with Laurent and Philippe, says Tovoli.
As always with Perrin productions, the
atmosphere was one of honesty and
profound respect for the professionalism
of others.
The main challenge, notes Tovoli,
was matching disparate footage cut
together in a scene. One scene could
contain shots done three years apart in
different seas they were edited
together to look like reversal shots,
explains Tovoli. Desbrures adds that
another challenge was the multitude of
ocean currents, which created variegated
colors, sometimes even in the same shot.
He cites the sardine run as an example.
Its amazing you get a variety of
nuances from blue to cyan and then
magenta which appear with small
changes of depth. Another difficulty
came from murky waters, which the
colorist brightened by enhancing beams
of light.

Wonders of the Sea
Designed and
built by the
production, the
rugged,
gyrostabilized
Thetys head
was often set
up in an
inflatable
Zodiac, which
was less
threatening to
sea creatures
than larger
boats.
48
Desbrures graded the film on a
DaVinci Resolve, spending a lot of time
drawing dynamic grading windows to
compensate for constantly changing
hues and luminosity. He remembers
that one shot moving toward the surface
of the sardine run required almost 60
tracking windows. A window may only
last 10 frames and then fade out, he
notes. Sometimes he would outline a
small creature in the frame to make it
more visible onscreen. Desbrures
remembers the intense grading sessions
fondly: I didnt feel the fatigue because
I was at the heart of something that
transported me.
Tovoli recalls that the grade
evolved with time. Our first timing was
pretty contrasty, with beautiful blacks,
but the directors didnt want too much
contrast underwater because they didnt
want it to be scary, he explains. For
them, the color of the ocean was the
color of life. They wanted a blue that
isnt heavy, that is transparent, agreeable
and light, so we chose the lightest color,
because color can become threatening.
We never left any impenetrable dark
zones, even in the night sequence with
predators.
Perrin has described Oceans as an
underwater wildlife opera. Whatever
the genre may be, one word that arose
frequently during ACs interviews was
collaboration. After initial shoots with
the directors, many cinematographers
were trusted to continue on their own.
We were both amazed and yet not
surprised by what they brought back,
because we were on the same wave-
length, says Cluzaud. Having many
cinematographers meant having many
different ways of filming, and that gives
the film an incredible richness.
I never believed filmmaking was
a collaborative art, Tovoli confesses,
but this film proved me wrong. Putting
21 cinematographers and two directors
in harmony, now that is collaboration!
49
TECHNICAL SPECS
2.40:1
Super 35mm and
High-Definition Video
Super 35mm (4- and 3-perf):
Arri 435, 235, 2-B, 2-C, 35-3;
Aaton 35-III
Angenieux, Zeiss and
Cooke lenses
Kodak Vision2 50D 5201,
250D 5205, 100T 5212,
200T 5217, 500T 5218;
Fuji Super F-64D 8522
HD:
Sony HDW-F900/3, HDC-950,
F23
Zeiss and Panavision lenses
Printed on Kodak Vision 2383
W
ritten and directed by Rodrigo Garcia, the new drama
Mother and Child presents three women whose paths
intersect at a Catholic adoption agency that plays a
prominent role in their lives. Karen (Annette Bening)
comes to the agency in search of the daughter she bore at age
14 and gave up for adoption; adoptee Elizabeth (Naomi
Watts) pays a visit to try to track down her biological
mother; and Lucy (Kerry Washington) and her husband
(David Ramsey) arrive seeking to adopt a baby. Garcia has
explored womens lives to memorable effect in previous
features Things You Can Tell Just By Looking at Her (2000),
Ten Tiny Love Stories (2001) and Nine Lives (2005) but
Mother and Child doesnt employ the episodic structure that
characterized those films. Instead, each womans story is
intercut with the other stories, and they eventually prove to
be threads in the same tapestry.
The film is Garcias latest collaboration with director
of photography Xavier Prez Grobet, ASC, AMC; they first
teamed on Nine Lives and have since worked together on a
number of projects, including the TV series In Treatment and
Deadwood. One of the ASCs newest members, Grobet has
worked steadily in film and television since he moved to Los
Angeles from his native Mexico a decade ago. His recent
credits include the features The Back-Up Plan and I Love You
Phillip Morris. Shortly after Mother and Child was given its
U.S. premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, Grobet met
with AC in Los Angeles to discuss the project.
American Cinematographer: In terms of camerawork,
Mother and Child couldnt be more different from Nine
Lives, which told each of its nine stories with a single
Steadicam take. Was this movie as challenging in its own
way?
Xavier Prez Grobet, ASC, AMC: Yes. When I read
Rodrigos script, I knew we could talk about doing some-
thing visually that would be very different from Nine Lives. I
think Rodrigos projects are always interesting, and we both
really enjoy the process of looking for what each film is,
coming up with a way to tell the story that makes sense.
Mother and Child is very emotional, and we wanted to let the
story unfold in front of the camera. We talked about creat-
ing a style where the camera was more observational than
intrusive not a protagonist. We started thinking about
Women take center stage in Rodrigo
Garcias Mother and Child, shot by
Xavier Prez Grobet, ASC, AMC.
By Rachael K. Bosley
|
Lost and Found
Families
moving the camera very little and very
precisely. So when we came to the
shoot, our work was about blocking the
scene and then trying to find a frame
that would capture different moments
of the scene without requiring a camera
move.
Did that discipline ever feel too
limiting?
Grobet: Well, the difficult part is
taking it all the way through the shoot!
By week three, if youre not careful, you
start going back to what you usually do,
and you can get lost. But I actually
think that when you limit yourself that
way, you open yourself up to new possi-
bilities, and you come up with ideas
that might never have occurred to you
[otherwise]. Its very easy to slip into
the modes youre used to to think,
Oh, its this kind of scene, so I can use
#37. I know it by heart and it works.
But when you force yourself into a new
way of doing things, I think it opens up
some other part of your brain. On this
film, it was a real learning experience to
find the exact right spot for the camera
each time. What do you want to see?
Whats important in the scene? We
found some frames that I dont think
we would have found if we hadnt had
our specific visual concept in mind.
What made you and Rodrigo
decide to shoot digitally?
Grobet: Shooting hi-def came
up for budget reasons, and Rodrigo
was concerned about it initially because
he wanted this movie to look elegant.
We talked about achieving a gentle
image, one that wasnt too harsh in
terms of lighting, contrast or color.
After we shot tests with the
[Panavision] Genesis and took them to
a filmout, we agreed HD would work
for us. In fact, I think the Genesis was
perfect for this movie. We captured a
single shot with the Red [One]
because it came up at the last minute,
while we were in prep, and we could
get a Red quickly. Naomi was actually
pregnant, and we were able to fly to
New York, find a location and get that
shot. [Ed. Note: The shot, captured
with an Angenieux Optimo 28-76mm
zoom lens, is a day interior that shows
Elizabeth contemplating her fully
pregnant belly.]
Was this your first HD project?
Grobet: Yes, and getting used to
the format, especially the way it
handles highlights, took a few days.
On the first day, the windows were too
blown-out, and we wanted to capture
the detail outside, so I changed my
exposure accordingly. I was also able to
bring some [highlights] down in the
digital intermediate, which we did at
EFilm in Hollywood. It was a good
experience to see what you can accom-
plish in a DI when you shoot HD as
opposed to film. With HD, you defi-
nitely want to have a thick negative,
because if youre down a bit, its really
hard to bring it up. If youre
1
3 of a stop
over, you have lots of room to play
with, but if youre down by one stop,
youre in trouble. I always used the
Genesis on the overexposed side, rating
it at 320 ASA.
Did you use any of the look-up
tables EFilm has developed to
emulate specific film stocks?
Grobet: No, because I didnt
think any of them were right for this
film. We came up with a base LUT
through testing. EFilm applied that to
our dailies, and we were also able to see
its effect with the large HD monitor
we had on set. Hector Moreno, our
digital-imaging technician, sometimes
did minor tweaking, but I didnt really
want to play with the color timing on
set. I didnt want to get distracted, so Id
go to the base LUT and try to stay
there. I knew that from there, I could
go in different directions in the final
timing if I wanted to. The final look is
actually very close to the look of the
dailies, because I realized that by apply-
ing the LUT and looking at the HD
monitor, I could build the look I
wanted into some scenes with my U
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Opposite: Three stories depicted in Mother and
Child concern (clockwise from left) Paul (Samuel L.
Jackson) and Elizabeth (Naomi Watts), attorneys
who become lovers; Joseph (David Ramsey) and
Lucy (Kerry Washington), a couple eager to adopt
a child; and Karen (Annette Bening) and her invalid
mother (Eileen Ryan). This page, left: Elizabeth
interviews for a job at Pauls firm.
Above: Director/writer Rodrigo Garcia (left) and
Xavier Prez Grobet, ASC, AMC plan a shot.
lighting I was basically color timing
with lighting. For example, I wanted
the birthday-party scene to have a late-
afternoon look, so I put an 81EF
[filter] on the lens and then gelled the
lights orange, adding or subtracting
[gels] based on what I was seeing on
the monitor.
How early in the shoot did you
decide to do that?
Grobet: It started with the first
night scene we shot, where Karen gets
out of bed, walks down the hall and
gets into bed with her mother [Eileen
Ryan]. I wanted a night look with a
different feel, one that wasnt too blue,
and I used a Rosco filter Id discovered
on Phillip Morris called Shark Blue. I
filtered all the lights with it, and when
I saw the effect with the LUT on the
monitor, I realized I could add or
subtract gels to get the right level.
From that point on, for certain scenes
Id go beyond the base color and try to
get the level I wanted in camera by
gelling the lights. By eye the scene
sometimes looked way too colorful, but
on the monitor it looked right. When
we got to the DI, [colorist] Natasha
Leonnet didnt have to alter any levels
for those scenes.
Did using the Genesis affect
your methods any other way? What
about operating?
Grobet: I like operating on films
like this. On bigger projects, where I
need to have control over more things,
I dont operate, but on a personal film
like Mother and Child, I do. I actually
Lost and Found Families

Top: Grobet lines up a
shot of Bening as
production designer
Christopher Tandon
(left), Garcia and script
supervisor Ingrid Urich-
Sass (kneeling) look on.
Middle: In the same
location, Garcia, 1st AC
Mariana Sanchez and
Grobet (behind camera)
prepare a day-for-night
shot of Bening. Bottom:
Grobet mans the A
camera (background)
while Sanchez and key
grip Miguel Benavides
work the B camera for
a scene at Karens
workplace.
The final look is
actually very close
to the look of
the dailies.
did all my operating through the
Genesis on-board monitor; I didnt
use the eyepiece. It was pretty
comfortable. We started as a one-
camera shoot because thats what we
could afford, but we got a second
camera when we could. Working with
two cameras gives you more possibili-
ties in less time, and I think the B
camera sometimes gets the better
angle because it can be a bit looser. We
shot about half the movie single-
camera.
As a former cinematographer,
does Rodrigo get very involved in the
day-to-day details of your work?
Grobet: You might think hed
have a lot to say about my job, but hes
very respectful of his collaborators and
lets you do your work. Often he wont
tell you what he wants; hell wait to
hear your ideas. Well block the scene,
and then hell come to me and say,
Whats on your mind? Ill explain
what Im thinking, and he either
embraces it or proposes something
else. Hes very collaborative. Theres a
scene we disagreed about initially, the
one that shows Lucy and her husband
having dinner with his parents.
Rodrigo wanted to seat the couples
across from the each other and cover
the scene with two-shots, but I
thought that would feel very square. I
suggested we put the father-in-law at
the head of the table to create more
[coverage] options. It took a while to
convince him, but he eventually
agreed. By doing that, we could put the
in-laws on either side of the frame in
the first shot of Lucy and her husband,
and that suggests something about
whats going on in the scene.
When Lucy and her husband
have their final argument, the scene
ends on a striking note, with the
camera holding on Lucy as she turns
and walks down the hall and out of
focus.
Grobet: On Nine Lives, we
started exploring the idea that what
happens outside the frame can be as
important as what is in the frame. On
this movie, it became very interesting
Top: Joseph and
Lucy are
interviewed by a
pregnant woman
(Shareeka Epps) at
the adoption
agency. Middle:
The lighting setup
for the adoption-
agency scenes,
which were shot in
a second-floor
classroom at the
American Film
Institute. Bottom:
Garcia and Grobet
at work.
to find a frame and let the action
happen; if the actor went out of frame
or, in this case, out of focus it
meant something.
The films opening shot of 14-
year-old Karen with her boyfriend
has a lovely kind of distortion, an
effect thats repeated to varying
degrees in two other scenes. How did
you achieve that?
Grobet: I used a [Panavision]
Slant Focus lens and held diopters in
front of the lens and moved them
around. Sometimes I used the lens or
diopter on its own; sometimes I used
them together. It creates the feel of a
handheld camera and adds life to the
frame. We use subtler versions of the
effect when Elizabeth gives birth, and
when Karen and that boyfriend reunite
in a motel room as adults.
Which location posed the
biggest challenge in terms of light-
ing?
Grobet: Well, the trickiest spot
was the doorway of Elizabeths apart-
ment, where she has a conversation
with her new neighbors. The door-
frame was flush against the ceiling, so
there was no room to place a light. We
bounced light off the hall ceiling and
had to rely on the existing fluorescent
practicals. When I agreed to that loca-
tion, I did it on the condition that we
could change the fixtures, but when we
Lost and Found Families

54
For this late-afternoon exterior at Karens house, Grobet recalls, We were losing the light, so
[gaffer] Max Pomerlau had the big guns ready to roll with enough warmth on them to create
the right feel when the sun went down.
got there on the day, we didnt have the
new fixtures, so I ended up filtering all
the lights green and taking it down in
the DI. There was no way we could
shoot without the practicals, so I had to
embrace the green. Our biggest light-
ing setup was the nuns office at the
adoption agency because a lot of scenes
take place there; theyre all day scenes;
and we were shooting in January,
which meant we lost the light around 4
p.m. It was a second-floor classroom at
the American Film Institute that had
windows on one side, and my key grip,
Miguel Benavides, covered the
windows with a huge frame of white
silk, and my gaffer, Max Pomerlau, put
two 18Ks on separate Condors and two
6K Pars on stands outside. Fortunately,
there were some trees between the
windows and the rag that gave the light
a bit of life. Inside, I used what turned
out to be my main source on this film:
a 4-by-8 diffusion frame with a honey-
comb clipped on it and [Kino Flo]
Image 80s. We wanted all the women
to look beautiful, and those sources
were great. They threw a wide, soft
light that was controllable. The diffu-
sion was usually Opal or Full Grid,
depending on the setup.
So if the nuns office was your
biggest lighting setup, what was the
smallest?
Grobet: The single shot of
Naomi that we got in New York. We
had a couple of Litepanels and practi-
cals, some blankets and some clothes-
pins it was like a MacGyver lighting
workshop! I always find it fun to try to
make something work with whatever I
have on hand. Who knows?
Sometimes a fork or a towel can save
your life.
TECHNICAL SPECS
2.40:1
Digital Capture
Panavision Genesis; Red One
Panavision Primo, Slant Focus;
Angenieux Optimo lenses
55
S
wedish journalist Stieg Larssons crime novel The Girl
With the Dragon Tattoo took Scandinavia by storm when it
was published in 2005, and in bringing the book to the
screen, the filmmakers were well aware that creating a
look that respected the source material was crucial, according
to director of photography Eric Kress, DFF. Equally impor-
tant, however, was crafting a style that would help viewers
absorb the details of the narrative, which spans six decades and
features several key characters. [Director] Niels Arden Oplev
and I worried that giving the film too strong a look might
somehow [overshadow] the intricacies of the plot, says Kress.
So we opted for a very natural style, with a subtle color palette
based upon the cold light of a Swedish winter.
Dragon Tattoo concerns disgraced investigative journal-
ist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist), who is hired by a
wealthy industrialist, Henrik Vanger (Sven-Bertil Taube), to
find out what happened to Vangers niece, Harriet, who disap-
peared 40 years before, when she was a teenager. Vanger
believes Harriet was murdered by a member of his own family.
Mikael teams up with an expert hacker, Lisbeth (Noomi
Rapace), the girl of the storys title, to solve the case.
Oplev recalls that his initial ideas about a visual
approach were quite different from the path he and Kress
eventually took. I was leaning toward a wild, handheld
camera, like in The Bourne Ultimatum, recalls the director.
Eric, on the other hand, advocated a slow-burning style with
constant movement. His intuition about material is one of his
great strengths and one of the reasons I hired him, so I went
with his recommendation.
Born in Zurich and raised in Copenhagen, Kress grew
up on a diet of Hitchcock and French New Wave films thanks
to his parents, who ran a cinema club. Wanting to get practi-
cal experience before he enrolled in film school, he volunteered
as a lighting and dolly grip assistant on whatever projects he
could find. After attending film school in Copenhagen, he
worked as a gaffer and dolly grip before working his way up
the camera ranks. After he became a director of photography,
in 1994, one of his first jobs was Lars von Triers The Kingdom
(Riget). I was very fortunate to work on that it was entirely
handheld, which was extremely rare back then, he notes. We
watched the American TV show Homicide to study the camer-
awork.
Kress, who does his own operating, worked primarily
from a dolly on Dragon Tattoo, using it to achieve subtle moves.
An early scene finds Vanger sitting at his desk, gazing at a
photo of his missing niece until he is overcome with emotion.
Rather than starting wide and pushing in on him, Kress starts
on a medium close-up of Vanger and slowly tracks back as the
distraught man begins to weep. I think tracking back is a way
of emphasizing feelings, the cinematographer offers.
Dark Secrets
Dark Secrets
Eric Kress, DFF digs
to the roots of a twisted
family tree in the
Swedish thriller
The Girl With the
Dragon Tattoo.
By Jean Oppenheimer
|
Kress says he is a stickler for very
accurate blocking before cameras roll,
even if the actors plan to improvise
during the take. The best films are
those in which the cinematographer
pays attention to the psychology
between the characters, he remarks.
To do that, you need to know [the
precise movements of the actors], but
you also have to have the ability to act
on impulse, to push in slightly to catch
an emotional moment or to subtly
adjust the frame during a take.
A single Arricam Lite was
employed for most of the shoot. For a
few scenes, a second camera was
brought in for Steadicam work. Kress
shot most of the picture with Zeiss
Ultra Prime lenses, but when a dolly
wasnt practical, he often put an
Angenieux Optimo 24-290mm zoom
on the camera so he could ride the
framing. (The camera and lighting
packages were provided by Dagsljus AB
in Stockholm.)
Dragon Tattoo contains two espe-
cially harrowing scenes that Kress shot
handheld. In one, Lisbeth is raped by
her parole officer, and in the other, she
gets her revenge. These scenes were
terrible to do because the actors were
doing them so well, recalls Kress. In the P
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.
Opposite: Expert
hacker Lisbeth
Salander (Noomi
Rapace) pores
over some data
in a frame from
The Girl With the
Dragon Tattoo.
This page (top to
bottom): Mikael
Blomkvist
(Michael Nyqvist)
meets with
Henrik Vanger in
Vangers study;
Vanger (Sven-
Bertil Taube)
shows Blomkvist
a newsreel shot
on the day his
niece
disappeared; the
mystery deepens
as Blomkvist and
Lisbeths
investigation
progresses.
first sequence, the rapist throws Lisbeth
facedown on the bed. We wanted to be
close to her at all times, says Kress.
Were even in bed with her, looking right
into her face, with the rapist on top of her
but out of focus. We had to break down
the bed in order to position the camera
where we wanted it.
Ville Penttila, Kress gaffer, recalls
the challenge of lighting the set, which
was built in a warehouse: Arden and Eric
wanted to use wide lenses, and they
wanted to see the whole room, so we built
a long junior boom arm that could reach
from behind the camera to the bed, and
we attached a Litepanels 1x1 to it, essen-
tially toplighting the bed. For close-ups,
we came in with 2-by-2 and 2-by-4 banks
of Kino Flos, which we warmed with
some CTO. The rest of the lighting came
from the practical lamps in the room.
Lisbeths revenge also takes place in
the officers apartment. She Tasers him
and then hog-ties him on the floor. For
some shots, Kress was sitting on the bed
with the camera on his knees. We
wanted to give the scene a frantic feel and
also wanted to be able to make small
adjustments, he recalls. My great focus
puller, Daniel Wannberg, was in the room
with me. I like to keep him close at all
times.
The day scenes that take place in
Vangers office and in the guest cottage
where Blomkvist stays provide good

Dark Secrets
Top: Lisbeths new parole officer (Peter Andersson) subjects her to a particularly savage rape. Middle:
Lisbeth returns to take her revenge. Bottom: Cinematographer Eric Kress, DFF lines up a shot for a scene
depicting the characters first meeting as focus puller Daniel Wannberg assists.
examples of the movies lighting style:
cold, white shafts of light from the
windows key both sets. Penttila notes that
the 19th-century mansion that served as
the Vanger estate was perfect for the
movie but extremely difficult to light,
because the rooms we wanted to use were
on the upper levels. It was 7 meters [23']
from the ground to the bottom of the
windows. A 6K with a medium lens was
placed outside each window on a cherry
picker. Nothing could be attached to the
windows, so the crew made special gel
frames and positioned them close to the
glass; the top
2
3 of the frames were 250,
while the bottom third was CTO. It
worked great, recalls Penttila. With one
lamp, we were able to get both soft ambi-
ence and harsher light Eric wanted
harsh light on Vangers desk. Cirro Mist
gave the scene even more atmosphere.
Chimeras with 1,000-watt bulbs
dimmed down 70-80 percent provided
soft backlight in the office, adding a touch
of warmth. Kress notes that his favorite
lighting tools are Chimeras and Kino
Flos. On Dragon Tattoo, he mostly used
KF29 Kino Flos, adding
1
8 or CTS.
He prefers placing instruments on stands
or on the ground.
The interior of Blomkvists guest-
house, another set built onstage, was lit
primarily by 5Ks and 10Ks placed on the
floor outside the sets many windows and
bounced into frames of poly and bleached
white muslin. Production designer Niels
Sejer designed the set to feature hard ceil-
ings and windows along every wall. It
really gave you the sense of being there,
enthuses Kress. Most of the cottage
scenes were shot by additional cine-
matographer Jens Fischer, FSF, who
stepped in when the production ran over
schedule and Kress had to depart to
honor another commitment.
To justify all the windows, the film-
makers decided to suggest the cottage was
next to the sea. In late winter, the days
[are getting brighter], and light seems to
be bouncing into the house from every
direction, says Penttila. We didnt even
use low-boards or turtle bases. I just used
stirrups to angle the lamps about 20
degrees.
Top: Kress
checks the light
on Taube in
Vangers
guesthouse, a
set built onstage.
Cinematographer
Jens Fischer, FSF
shot a majority
of the films
guesthouse
scenes after the
shoot ran long
and Kress had
to depart for
another project.
Middle: Kress
enjoys a light
moment on
location.
Bottom: Director
Niels Arden
Oplev (wearing
purple baseball
cap) and Rapace
discuss the
upcoming shot
as Kress stands
by with the
camera.
Backdrops were placed outside
the kitchen and bedroom windows;
these were lit with 2K Blondes for
daytime scenes and Kino Flos with
tungsten tubes and CTB for night.
The other windows were covered with
white cloth. When the camera saw out
those windows, we just overlit the
cloth, says Penttila.
The filmmakers wanted to give
the films flashbacks, which show 16-
year-old Harriet and Blomkvist as a
child (Harriet was his babysitter), a
totally different look. We wanted those
scenes to have that light feeling memory
gives you, almost as if youre watching a
home movie, says Kress. We went
handheld and used slow motion I
think I shot 40 fps and went for a
high-key look. The sequences were
shot outdoors on location, and to create
as many flares as possible, Kress shot
toward the sun and bounced sunlight
into the actors faces with large butterfly
frames of bleached muslin.
A grim set of flashbacks showing
Harriet with her abusive father surfaces

Dark Secrets
In one of
the films
flashbacks,
young
Blomkvist
admires a
necklace
Harriet Vanger
is wearing.
Kress created
a high-key
look and
captured as
many lens
flares as
possible to
suggest a
home-movie
feel.
60
later in the film. Kress used the digital
grade, carried out at Nordisk Film, to
give these an edgier look. I made colors
stronger and added some vignetting.
At one point, Vanger shows
Blomkvist newsreel footage of a car acci-
dent that occurred on the day Harriet
disappeared. Kress created that material
with Super 16mm, using black-and-
white film stock. (He used an Angenieux
11.5-138mm zoom and a Canon
300mm lens with an Arri 16SR-3.)
When Vanger shows that footage, we
actually projected the footage wed shot
we didnt want to cheat with CGI, he
says.
I really have to credit Niels Sejer
and the art department, who did a
tremendous job making all that footage
credible, continues Kress. Niels is just
terrific; he always thinks about where
the light is coming from, what the light
source is and all those important details.
He, Arden and I enjoyed a wonderful
collaboration.
Another key sequence finds
Lisbeth on her motorcycle, pursuing a
car driven by the killer. Noomi didnt
have a drivers license for a motorcycle,
so we had to put her on a trailer, recalls
Kress. The car was also on a trailer.
Dinos on industrial cranes provided
backlight and overall ambience. For
close-ups of the actors, Penttila stood on
the trailers handholding tungsten lights
gelled with Plus Green and Full
CTS, mimicking the sodium-vapor
streetlamps that dotted the road. How
lucky we were to get that location!
recalls the gaffer. Just outside of
Stockholm, they were building a new
highway, a loop around the city. It wasnt
open to the public yet, but all the lamps
and traffic lights were in place.
When asked whether any other
happy accidents occurred during the
shoot, Kress laughs. Actually, they
happen to me every day. It can be some-
thing as simple as a light that wasnt
turned off from the previous scene that
creates a wholly unanticipated but
wonderful reflection in the scene at
hand. It can be actors doing strange
things. I think the cinematographers
job is basically to pay attention to whats
around us and use those elements in the
right way at the right time.
61
TECHNICAL SPECS
2.40:1
3-perf Super 35mm and
Super 16mm
Arricam Lite; Arri 16SR-3
Zeiss Ultra Prime, Angenieux
and Canon lenses
Kodak Vision3 500T 5219;
Vision2 250D 5205, 50D 5201;
Eastman Double-X 7222
www.theasc.com 63
T
he American Society of Cinematographers devoted two February weekends to
honoring cinematographers 2009 achievements, beginning the celebration on
Feb. 20 with the Societys annual Open House, and wrapping on Feb. 27 with the
24th annual ASC Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography.
These were the nominees for ASC Awards in competitive categories. They are
presented in alphabetical order, with the winners highlighted in boldface type:
Television/Regular Series: Eagle Egilsson, Dark Blue, Venice Kings; Jeffrey
Jur, ASC, FlashForward, The Gift; Michael A. Price, Ugly Betty, Theres No Place
Like Mode; Christian Sebaldt, ASC, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Family Affair;
Glen Winter, CSC, Smallville, Savior.
Television/Motion Picture, Miniseries or Pilot: Alar Kivilo, ASC, CSC,
Taking Chance; Rene Ohashi, ASC, CSC, Jesse Stone: Thin Ice; Jerzy Zielinski, ASC,
The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler.
Theatrical Release: Barry Ackroyd, BSC, The Hurt Locker; Dion Beebe, ASC,
ACS, Nine; Christian Berger, AAC, The White Ribbon; Mauro Fiore, ASC, Avatar;
Robert Richardson, ASC, Inglourious Basterds.
DeepVisual Roots
Photography by
David Graves, Matt Frouk, Jared Jordan, Yousef Linjawi, Chris Mankofsky,
Phil McCarten, Danny Moloshok and Logan Schneider
Caleb Deschanel, ASC makes
a stirring speech as he
receives his Lifetime
Achievement Award.
64 American Cinematographer
1
2
3
6
5
4
8
9
10
7
1. Brian Holt warms up the audience with a Jimi Hendrix guitar riff;
2. Awards Committee Chairman Richard Crudo welcomes the crowd;
3. Johnny Simmons, ASC introduces the evenings first presenter, actress
Amanda Righetti of The Mentalist; 4. Righetti hands the Regular Series
award to Eagle Egilsson; 5. Egilsson thanks the Society and his Dark Blue
team; 6. George Spiro Dibie, ASC (left) watches Sol Negrin, ASC (center)
accept the Presidents Award from his son, Michael Negrin, ASC; 7. Negrin
offers his thanks for the recognition; 8. Isidore Mankofsky, ASC watches
graduate student Benji Bakshi thank the Society after receiving the
Richard Moore Heritage Award; 9. Mankofsky explains the awards
origins and announces the two winners; 10. Undergraduate Heritage
Award winner Garrett Shannon takes his turn in the spotlight.
www.theasc.com 65
1
2
3
4
7
6
5
8
9
10
12
11
1-2. Amy Vincent, ASC introduces and greets actor Tim Roth,
presenter of the International Award; 3. International Award recipient
Chris Menges, ASC, BSC accepts Roths congratulations; 4. Menges
thanks his mentors and colleagues; 5. ASC President Michael Goi
makes a surprise announcement that the Society has chosen its eighth
honorary member; 6. Ralph Woolsey, ASC (left) presents the Honorary
Member certificate to Larry Mole Parker of Mole-Richarson;
7. A stunned and delighted Parker makes an emotion-filled speech;
8. Rodney Taylor, ASC introduces the evenings second competitive
category, Television Motion Picture, Miniseries or Pilot; 9. Actor Ryan
ONeal announces the categorys nominees; 10. Winner Alar Kivilo,
ASC, CSC thanks the Society and his Taking Chance crew; 11. John C.
Flinn III, ASC accepts the award from his good friend Michael OShea,
ASC. 12. Flinn regales the crowd after receiving the Career
Achievement in Television Award;
1
2
3
5
4
6
7
8
9
1. Tom Stern, ASC introduces one of his longtime collaborators, actor/producer Morgan Freeman, who received
this years Board of Governors Award; 2. Freeman accepts the honor with a fine speech; 3. Actresses Emily (left)
and Zooey Deschanel gently roast their father, Caleb, as they introduce him as the recipient of the Lifetime
Achievement Award; 4. Deschanel delivers a memorable speech; 5. The happy Deschanels depart the stage;
6. John Toll, ASC introduces the evenings final award, for Theatrical Release; 7. Actor Timothy Dalton prepares
to announce the winner; 8. Dalton presents the award to Christian Berger, AAC; 9. Berger thanks the Society
and his crew on The White Ribbon, noting, Several weeks with [director] Michael Haneke and me is not easy.
www.theasc.com 67
1
2
3
4
5
8
7
6
9
10 1. Heritage Award winner Bakshi and his wife, Connie; 2. Michael and Gina Goi with
Denny Clairmont and his niece, Mardrie Mullen; 3. Benita Grauman and her husband,
ASC general manager Brett Grauman, flank Morgan Freeman; 4. The Gois pose with
producer Lori McCreary (far left) and Freeman; 5. Kees Van Oostrum, ASC squires his
wife, Esther Spitz, and daughter, Sara; 6. Technicolors Charlie Herzfeld, Joey Violante,
Dana Ross and Dominic Rom; 7. Frank Kay and his wife, Darlene; 8. Russ Alsobrook,
ASC and Hollis Davis; 9. Donald M. Morgan, ASC and his wife, Patty, with Michael
Margulies and Janet Parks; 10. Linda Estrin (left) with Milt Shefter and his wife, Joy.
1
2
4
3
5
6
7
9
8
1. Linda Burum and her husband, ASC member Stephen Burum; 2. Heritage Award
winner Garrett Shannon (2nd from left) celebrates with his family; 3. ASC Events
Coordinator Patty Armacost with Aaron Schneider, ASC; 4. Karl Walter Lindenlaub, ASC with Panavision exec Larry Hezzelwood; 5. Associate member
Cary Clayton and Panavisions Tak Miyagishima; 6. Steven Fierberg, ASC and Australian director/writer Sarah Spillane with Jeffrey Schoen and Amy
Vincent, ASC; 7. Panavisions director of marketing, Suzanne Lezotte, and her husband, Eric, with Mary Matza and her husband, EFilm president Joe
Matza; 8. Rodney Charters, ASC, CSC hobnobs with Ellen Kuras, ASC; International Cinematographers Guild National Executive Director Bruce
Doering and his wife, Lynn; and James Chressanthis, ASC; 9. Lisa Rich and Robbie Greenberg, ASC with feature nominee Dion Beebe, ASC (Nine) and
his wife, Unjoo Moon.
www.theasc.com 69
8
6
3
1 2
5
4
7
9
10
1. A gang of well-wishers congratulate John C. Flinn III, ASC. From left: Lloyd Ahern, ASC; Sheri Sweeterman; Wally Sweeterman; Doris Ahern; Taylor
OShea Flinn; Skip Youngfleisch; Sharon Flinn; John C. Flinn III; Patte Youngfleisch; Carley Flinn; Kaycee Flinn. 2. David Stump, ASC and his wife,
Jennifer Law; 3. Fred Goodich, ASC and Anthony Dod Mantle, BSC, DFF; 4. Susan Poster with her husband, International Cinematographers Guild
President Steven Poster, ASC; 5. Agent Paul Hook and Seamus McGarvey, ASC, BSC; 6. John Flinn IV and his father; 7. ASC members Daryn Okada,
Owen Roizman and Caleb Deschanel form a cameramans quartet with Chris Menges, ASC, BSC; 8. EFilms Beverly Wood with Roger Deakins, ASC,
BSC and his wife, James; 9. EFilm colorist Steve Scott with one of his favorite cinematographers, Stephen Goldblatt, ASC, BSC; 10. Donald A. Morgan,
ASC and his wife, Geneva.
1
2
4
3
7
6
5
8
1. Haskell Wexler, ASC and associate member
Garrett Brown; 2. Sol Negrins crew celebrates
their favorite award winner. From left: Cari
Negrin and her husband, Michael Negrin, ASC;
Betty and Sol Negrin; Negrins longtime
operator, Lou Barlia; and Bea and Marvin
Schulman; 3. Panavisions Andy Romanoff with
Yuri Neyman, ASC; 4. Zooey, Mary Jo, Emily
and Caleb Deschanel, ASC; 5. ASC members
Jacek Laskus and Theo Van de Sande;
6. Franoise Kirkland and her husband,
associate member Douglas Kirkland, pose with
Christian Berger, AAC; 7. ASC members Rodney
Taylor and Tom Stern; 8. The ASCs
hardworking circulation department enjoys the
evening with their guests. From left: Melody
Himidian, ASC Accountant Corey Clark,
American Cinematographer Circulation Director
Saul Molina, ASC Shipping Manager Miguel
Madrigal, Vanessa Herrera, Noemi Lopez, AC
Circulation Manager Alex Lopez, Joanna
Garcia, AC Circulation Assistant Luis Garcia,
Areli Garcia and Erick Muaricio.
www.theasc.com 71
1
2
3
4
5
8
7
6
9
10
11
12
15
17
14
16
13
1. ASC Awards Chairman Richard Crudo with nominee Jerzy Zielinski, ASC (The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler) at the annual Nominees Dinner; 2. From
left: Harrison Engle; Robert Liu, ASC and his wife, Ivy; Betty and Sol Negrin, ASC; and Nancy Schreiber, ASC; 3. Larry Mole Parker and his wife, Pam, flank
Ralph Woolsey, ASC; 4. Nominee Michael Price (Ugly Betty) and ASC President Michael Goi; 5. Nominee Dion Beebe, ASC, ACS (Nine) with Goi; 6. Janice
Simpson and associate member Grover Crisp; 7. ASC honorary member Brian Spruill with Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC; 8. Crudo and Goi flank nominee Christian
Sebaldt, ASC (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation); 9. Kodaks Michael Zakula with Dora Sessler and nominee Rene Ohashi, ASC, CSC (Jesse Stone: Thin Ice);
10. Crudo and nominee Robert Richardson, ASC (Inglourious Basterds); 11. Crudo with nominee Mauro Fiore, ASC (Avatar); 12. Nominee Barry Ackroyd, BSC
(The Hurt Locker) and Goi; 13. Crudo with nominee Glen Winter, CSC (Smallville); 14. FotoKems Michael Morelli and his wife, Mary Anne, with Crudo;
15. John C. Flinn III, ASC with Cynthia Simmons and her husband, ASC member John Simmons; 16. ASC members Owen Roizman and Don McCuaig;
17. Kodaks Judith Doherty and Kim Schneider.
A Star is Born Restoration Starts With 8K Scan
By Robert S. Birchard
It was Sept. 24, 1954, and the atmosphere at Hollywoods
Pantages Theatre was electric. It was a movie premiere that rated live
TV coverage, with actor Jack Carson playing host on the red carpet
as the towns A-list gathered to see Judy Garlands comeback picture,
A Star is Born. The 3-hour-16-minute film they saw that night
became legendary, but it would never be seen again.
By the time A Star is Born played its first road-show engage-
ments a few weeks later, editor Fulmer Blangsted had trimmed the
picture by 14 minutes. But the 3-hour-2-minute cut was problematic
as the film moved into general release, and it was trimmed by
another 28 minutes so exhibitors could squeeze in an extra show a
day.
The films director, George Cukor, disowned the 154-minute
version, claiming that a carefully crafted dramatic story had been
turned into an episodic mess. Audience response was lukewarm,
and box-office receipts were disappointing. Garlands grand come-
back after a four-year absence from the screen was a bust, and
it would be seven years before she appeared in another film. Never-
theless, critics and film buffs championed A Star is Born as much for
what it might have been as for what it actually was.
In 1981, one of those buffs, Ron Haver, who was then head
of the film department at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art,
set out to reconstruct the 182-minute road-show cut of the film. The
result, revealed in 1983, included rediscovered footage and a recon-
struction of several minutes of missing scenes using available still
pictures. It clocked in at 176 minutes; the six-minute deficit resulted
from trimming pauses in the 182-minute soundtrack to snap up the
pace where it was felt that stills would not hold the attention of the
audience. Widely acclaimed, Havers reconstruction was given a
theatrical release, and it has been available on home video in various
formats. (For more details on the Haver project, see AC Feb. 84.)
The Library of Congress selected A Star is Born for inclusion
in the National Film Registry in 2000, deeming the film culturally,
historically or aesthetically significant, and Warner Bros. undertook
a photochemical preservation in 2004, making new black-and-
white color separations and a new interpositive. However, time had
not been kind to this landmark film. One of Garlands signature
songs in the film is The Man That Got Away, and A Star is Born
very nearly became the film that got away.
Our photochemical preservation was not entirely successful
in terms of correcting for color fading, says Ned Price, vice presi-
dent of mastering at Warner Bros. Technical Operations. It did
capture the color remaining in the original [Eastmancolor] negative,
but only 40 percent of the yellow layer remained in that negative,
so it yielded an image with yellowish whites and purplish blacks, in
addition to density flickering. There was also a noticeable loss of
highlight and shadow detail also a result of color fading.
Furthermore, he adds, The original 1954 YCM separation master
positives were heavy, grainy and incapable of generating a picture
that would do justice to the CinemaScope imagery of director of
photography Sam Leavitt [ASC].
A Star is Born seemed like a good candidate for a digital
restoration. However, even a famous title like that cannot be
projected to generate revenue close to what a contemporary film
might yield. Im an executive with a major film company who has
a responsibility to the company and the shareholders to make these
sorts of projects profitable, but Im also a film buff who would like
to see everything released on DVD, says George Feltenstein, senior
vice president of theatrical-catalogue marketing for Warner Bros.
Its a struggle to balance the two, but our digital restorations of
Gone With The Wind, The Wizard of Oz and North By Northwest
were sensationally successful in bringing back those films visual
splendor, and everyone agreed that [restoring] A Star is Born would
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Esther/Vicky
(Judy Garland)
laments The
Man That Got
Away in this
digitally restored
frame from A Star
Is Born (1954).
Fifty years after
the films release,
Warner Bros.
found that the
original
Eastmancolor
negative had lost
60 percent of its
yellow layer.
be a wonderful thing to do.
In preparing for the new digital
restoration, all of the films surviving
elements were taken out of storage and
evaluated. The search was meticulous, and
although it turned up several thousand feet
of alternate takes, it didnt unearth any new
footage from the finished film. Price did
uncover original separation materials for the
number Heres What Im Here For, and
the scene in which Norman Maine (James
Mason) proposes to Esther/Vicky (Garland),
both of which had been cut for the general-
release version, and he was able to improve
on the material Haver had used for these
scenes. Price explains, The separations
survived by chance an editor made dele-
tions to the separation masters but did not
realize the camera negative had been rebal-
anced to accommodate the new shortened
running time. Because of this oversight, the
scene survives in the masters.
The original four-track stereo mag
master had been erased in order to re-use
the 35mm magnetic stock back in the
1950s. That was a common practice in the
early 50s, as good stock was scarce, says
Price. There was a monophonic mag track
for the 182-minute version, but three origi-
nal mag-striped release prints were used for
most of the sound track. Warners had one
such print, and the Library of Congress
provided the other two. We also found a
35mm four-track stereo music and effects
track in France, says Price. The track was
incomplete, but it contained the majority of
Garlands vocal performances in English.
We also located isolated vocal units for
Garland and chorus, as well as the
complete orchestral scoring sessions.
It was decided to scan A Star is Born
at 8K resolution; this was done at Warner
Bros. Motion Picture Imaging on a North-
light scanner. Some might argue that an
8K scan is overkill for this feature, given that
the film stock and the early Scope lenses
limited the picture resolution on the nega-
tive, says Price, but Im unable to address
that at this moment because our ability to
see what the scans can yield is limited by
current monitoring devices. With the view-
ing equipment we have today, I cant really
tell the difference between a 4K scan and
an 8K scan. We decided to scan at 8K and
complete the color correction and digital-
restoration work at 4K.
Color timing was done by MPI
colorist Janet Wilson, who spent almost five
months on the project over the course of a
year. It was one of the more difficult
projects Ive worked on, she says. The
majority of the film was scanned from the
original negative, but there was added
material from different sources. The original
material was very early Eastmancolor, and
there was dye fading, especially in the opti-
cal dupe sections, which looked entirely
different from the surrounding camera neg.
Oftentimes when working on older films,
the original scan does not bear any relation
to how the film is actually supposed to look.
In retiming and correcting the color, it was
also important to stay as close as possible to
the filmmakers intent.
The overall work took about nine
months, says Price. Janet is as meticulous
as she is patient, and she really brought the
picture back to life. Sound was also an
important part of the restoration, and, just
as with the picture material, we were work-
ing with multiple sources. Most of the track
was re-recorded and pieced together from
the surviving stereo release prints; Jim
Young did that work at Chace Audio.
The digital restoration had its world
premiere last month at Graumans Chinese
Theatre as part of the inaugural TCM Clas-
sic Film Festival. According to Feltenstein,
the supplements on the Blu-ray, set for
release June 22, will include some material
that hasnt been seen before, including
alternate takes of the numbers Gotta Have
a Go and Lose That Long Face.
Central to the
story is
Esthers
troubled
relationship
with alcoholic
actor Norman
Maine (James
Mason). These
images were
both cropped
from the
restored
CinemaScope
frames.
Creating a Virtual New York for 24
By Douglas Bankston
Season eight of the series 24 features a United Nations peace-
keeping crisis and a nuclear terrorism threat hanging over New York
City. The show isnt shot in New York, nor has the production traveled
across the continent to film typical establishing shots, but that is the
real U.N. headquarters visible in the background behind the Counter-
Terrorism Units office. Thanks to Stargate Studios digital chicanery,
24s director of photography, Rodney Charters, ASC, CSC, is able to
exploit virtual New York sets without ever leaving L.A. This idea of
texture-wrapping reality into a virtual space and then reshooting it,
motion-tracking it and slaving it to real camera movement is what
were into, says Stargate founder Sam Nicholson, ASC.
Virtual sets are not new, but the most photo-realistic ones are
usually seen in big-budget projects courtesy of VistaVision or high-end
datacine cameras. That idea was turned on its head with the intro-
duction of Canons EOS 5D Mark II digital SLR, which is capable of
high-definition-video recording. The camera has an 18-megapixel
sensor and costs $3,000-$4,000 fully outfitted. A standard HD
sensor is down in the 6-, 8- or 12-megapixel range, says Nicholson.
Still-photo plate elements as well as high-definition moving
elements are shot in High Dynamic Range, which enables Nicholsons
team to access a lot of color depth and range, he says. A standard
HD frame is about 6MB uncompressed in DPX, whereas any one of
our Virtual Backlot frames is running at 100-200MB. They are massive,
but I can zoom in 800 percent and the resolution holds up.
If you composite a foreground element into a 2-D HDR back-
ground, the resulting image will look flat and fake, and 24s handheld
shooting style complicates matters. The plates have to be what we
call dimensionalized texture-mapped onto three-dimensional
surfaces, explains Nicholson. When you move handheld on your
foreground subject, your background retains all the proper parallax so
that it doesnt appear to be flat. The midground is really what this is
about: The further out you go toward infinity, the flatter things
become, so the background can be flat while the midground is
dimensionalized and the foreground is live action. We can do that to
such an extent now that we can walk entire city blocks in a photo-real
virtual environment.
For example, the CTU helicopter pad is supposed to be on a
grassy knoll on Roosevelt Island, with the U.N. complex across the
water in the background. In actuality, the helicopter and the actors are
shot in Rye Canyon in Valencia, Calif. Charters explains, We shoot
our actors running across a grassy knoll in Valencia with an extreme
long lens, and we push a 20-by-20 greenscreen on wheels behind
them. Were cowboy-framing them, and as long as we keep them on
the greenscreen, it sells. As the helicopter pulls away, we want to
follow it; Stargate segues from traffic across the shore and boats
going by into the hi-res file, and we can chase the helicopter with
extraordinary resolution. You look at the sequence and think the
actors are in New York.
The Canon 5D shoots HD video in 1920x1080 24p in AVCHD
compression, a much lower resolution than the HDR still frame, so
Nicholson embeds only the elements in motion in the massive HDR
background plate. Each completed frame can be a composite of 20
or more different types of images. We combine multiple resolutions
of motion pictures, still images, computer graphics and digital matte
paintings into a single, very-high-resolution background plate,
explain Nicholson. Our background environments are then digitally
matched with the live-action foreground camera dynamics of each
take.
Another helpful byproduct for cinematographers is the ability
to freeze time. We can shoot the perfect magic-hour backdrop for
any scene, says Nicholson, and it will stay magic hour for as long
as necessary because were on a set, lighting it for magic hour.
It is critical for the director of photography to be a part of
that process on set, he notes. We can do a finished-quality high-
definition composite on set with two cameras handheld, and the
cinematographer can see how to light and frame the greenscreen
sequence. If the sun is dipping in and out of trees, he can see that in
real time and tune the reactive lighting accordingly. Rodneys involve-
ment at this level is why we get the realistic look we get on 24.
Tricks of the Trade
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The New York skyline is added to a scene from 24 via background
elements shot with the Canon EOS 5D Mark II digital SLR.
S.two Ships FlashDock
S.two Corporation has added
the FlashDock transfer station to its
family of uncompressed digital film
production solutions. The FlashDock is
a portable editorial ingest and archival
station for FlashMag solid-state
magazines from the OB-1, S.twos
onboard digital film recorder.
Supporting uncompressed 4:4:4 RGB and raw data includ-
ing ArriRaw the FlashDock provides multiple transfer target inter-
faces, including dual-link HD-SDI, eSATA, USB 2.0, Gbit Ethernet,
RS422 and SAS. FCP-style XML and Avid-style ALE metadata files are
generated and made available over Ethernet or to a USB device for
automated editorial ingest. An optional Expansion Chassis provides
two half-height LTO3/4 drive bays and is powered from the Flash-
Dock for true on-location archival backup capability. The FlashDock is
capable of operating on 100-240-volt AC or 24-volt DC power, and
is designed for use on remote shoot locations, in the studio or in a
post facility.
This is the workflow component that our OB-1 customers
have been looking for, says Chris Romine, president of S.two. It is
economical, field portable and facility friendly, and satisfies both
dailies generation and backup requirements with a user-friendly
touch-screen LCD interface.
The first FlashDock production units have begun shipping to
sales and marketing partner Band Pro Film & Digital. For more infor-
mation, visit www.bandpro.com and www.stwo-corp.com.
FTC Makes Smooth Moves
Filmotechnic Canada Ltd., a Toronto-based camera-support-
equipment rental and manufacturing company, has introduced the
2-Axis Rotary Damper & Level Control Nose Mount for Technocrane
and MovieBirds telescopic cranes.
The 2-Axis Rotary Damper & Level Control consists of two
fully adjustable rotary hydraulic cylinders with axel shafts apposed at
90 degrees in a single, lightweight, compact aluminum body. The
upper cylinder is perpendicular to the crane arm and the lower cylin-
der is inline with the arm. Each X- and Y-axis has a rotational range
of +/-75 degrees.
When a crane arm is panned left or right, the Rotary Damper
absorbs the stop and start inertia, as it does when the crane tele-
scopes in or out. The faster the move, the more resistance is
provided by the special hydraulic fluid inside the rotating cylinder.
The Rotary Damper further eliminates dynamic rotational stress on
a cranes arm sections.
The 2-Axis Rotary Damper & Level Control was originally
designed to work with the Flight Head V on our Russian Arm to
improve its performance, says Oleksiy Zolotarov, president of FCL.
New Products & Services
SUBMISSION INFORMATION
Please e-mail New Products/Services releases to:
newproducts@ascmag.com and include full contact
information and product images. Photos must be
TIFF or JPEG files of at least 300dpi.
Schneider Intros IRND Filters
Schneider Optics has developed a range
of absorptive IRND filters designed to address
the demanding requirements of todays high-
definition cameras.
Many hi-def cameras have a high sensitiv-
ity to light just beyond the visible range. While this
can be beneficial in extending the cameras color
gamut to more closely approach that of film, the light in the IR spec-
trum can also cause unwanted false color shifts and prevent the
cameras imagers from capturing true black tones. To solve this prob-
lem, Schneiders Platinum Series IRND filters limit the light striking the
cameras imager to the visible spectrum. By carefully calculating the
cutoff frequency in nanometers, Schneider has produced a near-
infrared cut filter, eliminating the near-infrared
light leakage and letting the camera maintain
true color rendition in the blacks while main-
taining high MTF of its lenses and camera
system.
Schneider Platinum Series IRND filters are
free of off-axis color shift regardless of the focal length and can
be stacked without introducing reflections. They can also be used as
standard ND filters with all HD video and film cameras. The filters are
available in standard video and cine sizes, including 4x4, 4x5.65, 5x5,
5.65x5.65 and 6.6x6.6, plus rounds in 138mm, 4.5" and Series 9.
Each filter is available in -, 1-, 2-, 3- and 4-stop densities.
For more information, visit www.schneideroptics.com.
Alex Chibisov, FCLs vice president and chief
engineer, adds, We developed a compact,
lightweight but heavy-duty hydraulic
damper that would eliminate rotational
stress on the arm and allow the gyros in the
FHV to work freely, as they should. Then it
became clear we could remove our leveling
system from the RA, lightening the nose,
because the damper also automatically levels
the FHV using gravity. The mass of the head
and camera, resisted by the dampers
hydraulic fluid, results in a smooth leveling
process every time, whether moved slowly or
aggressively.
Zolotarov notes, When we tested
the Damper prototype and saw how the
FHV behaved, a second and maybe more
significant application came to mind: replac-
ing the heavy electronic leveling gear on the
Techno and MovieBird series of telescopic
cranes.
The 2-Axis Rotary Damper & Level
Control offers a quiet, responsive, purely
mechanical camera-head leveling system,
with no electronics that might fail. It also
offers a 30-pound reduction in nose load on
both Techno and MovieBird cranes; the
weight savings can be applied to an
increased camera load or a reduction in the
cranes counterweight.
The 2-Axis Rotary Damper & Level
Control has a payload capacity of approxi-
mately 220 pounds. The Russian Arm
version weighs 14.3 pounds, and the
MovieBird/Technocrane nose mount weighs
21.2 pounds. Mounting options include
Mitchell to Mitchell, Filmotechnic to Mitchell
and Mitchell to Filmotechnic.
For additional information, visit
www.filmotechnic-canada.ca.
Cinevate Accessorizes DSLRs
Cinevate has introduced two support
options for DSLR camera systems, the
Medusa cage and the Uno rig.
The Medusa cage features a dove-
tailed, quick-release tripod plate allowing
users to quickly remove
their rig from the rails on
the fly and two vari-
mount, form-fitted hand
grips adding stability,
comfort and countless
options for handling and
bracing the cage. Support-
A T R A D I T I O N O F I N N O V A T I O N
24 SHELTON STREET, LONDON, WC2H 9UB U.K. TELEPHONE: +44 (0)20 7836 9642 EMAIL INFO@LFS.ORG.UK
T H E L O N D O N F I L M S C H O O L
Its an extraordinary thing to teach
film without reducing it to techniques
and rules, and yet teach the rigour
and effort that is necessary to
improve your work.
THE LFS TWO-YEAR
MA FILMMAKING
PROGRAMME
STARTS IN JANUARY,
MAY AND SEPTEMBER.
To find out more about training in all
departments, on a minimum of six film
exercises, including two 35mm projects,
in a working studio with students from
30 countries visit
lfs.org.uk
Paz Fabrega, 2006 MA Filmmaking graduate.
Paz's first feature Agua fra de mar won the
Tiger Award at the Rotterdam Film Festival
2010. She was selected for the 2009 Cannes
Cinefondation Residence programme.
ing standard 15mm rails
and
5
8" grip rods, the
Medusa also boasts a vari-
mount top plate and
includes a " 20 and
3
8"
quick-release tripod mount.
Inspired by Cinevate
CEO Dennis Woods inter-
actions with still photogra-
phers and filmmakers, the Uno rigs unique
link system allows a wide range of configu-
rations customizable to the users shooting
style and a large array of camera platforms.
The Uno rig includes an 11.8"-long, 15mm
solid carbon chassis; one vari-mount Uno
grip; a tripod mount; a baseplate system;
and one vari-mount shoulder stock.
Features include CNC machined aluminum
components and 360 degrees of flexibility
on all parts.
www.cinevate.com.
Thoma Provides Remote Control
Thoma Film und Videotechnik has
introduced the Remote Kit, capable of
converting conventional tripod heads into
full-scale remote systems. The user-friendly
Remote Kit can be assembled and disman-
tled in 20 minutes with no mechanical
handling.
With the Remote Kit, remote-
controlled panning and tilting is based on
friction-wheel drives
with DC motors and
integrated digital
rotary encoders,
guaranteeing jitter-
free operating. The
electronics function
via power steering
and joystick control,
and the system
boasts extreme accuracy with 400,000 steps
per 360 degrees of motion.
With near-silent (less than 25 dB)
mechanics, the Remote Kit is ideal for both
studio and location shooting. The mounting
kit fits into a small, easy-to-transport case.
Furthermore, the robust Remote Kit boasts
hardened-steel construction, offering
protection against accidental damage. The
Remote Kit and its electrical plug connec-
tions are watertight according to IP65.
The Remote Kit is compatible with all
modern Sachtler tripod heads, and Thoma
is currently developing the system to be
compatible with Vinten heads. For more
information, visit www.thoma.de.
Rose Brand Illuminates Neoflex
Rose Brand has introduced Neoflex,
a flexible strip of diffused LED lighting avail-
able in a variety of colors. 70-percent more
efficient than cold-cathode neon, Neoflex
maintains a consistent color temperature
throughout its 50,000-hour lifespan.
Neoflex is a rugged, easy to main-
tain alternative for outdoor installations.
Neoflex is available in Diffused 120-volt and
Diffused 24-volt, and both varieties come in
Amber, Blue, Green, Red, Orange, Cool
White and Warm White. Color Jacket Mini
Neoflex, which features color embedded in
the diffusing plastic as well as in the LEDs
allowing color accents even when not
illuminated is also offered in the 24-volt
configuration.
www.rosebrand.com.
Barco Acquires Element Labs
Belgium-based Barco has an-
nounced its acquisition of the products,
intellectual property rights and know-how
of Element Labs, an LED video-systems
expert based in Santa Clara, Calif.
Element Labs products have
added a spectacular dimension to numer-
ous concerts, events, corporate headquar-
ters and flagship stores around the world,
says Paul Matthijs, vice president of Barcos
Video & Lighting Solutions business. This
transaction will help to accelerate the turn-
around which is underway in our Video &
Lighting activities by enabling Barco to
address a wider segment of the market.
With immediate effect, the name
Element Labs ceases to exist. Structured
as an asset sales transaction, Barco obtains
all product designs, rights and intellectual
property of Element Labs. Element Labs
core team in Santa Clara will function as
Barcos hub for creative LED solutions.
www.barco.com.
MediaRecall Joins Deluxe
Deluxe Entertainment Services
Group, Inc. has acquired the assets of
metro-Chicago based MediaRecall Hold-
ings, LLC, a fast-growing player in the digi-
tal video services arena.
Founded in 2007, MediaRecall
offers a cost-effective, high-speed digital-
video workflow process and related tech-
nologies around digitizing, clip selecting,
meta-logging and transcribing enterprise-
scale video archives, enabling them to be
more easily searched and monetized online.
The companys core expertise revolves
around a highly trained North American-
based 2,000-person distributed-media
workforce and its proprietary technologies,
including web-enabled digital services tools,
a digital video search platform and a work-
force management system.
Remaining in its current metro-
Chicago offices, the business will now oper-
ate under the name MediaRecall by Deluxe,
and it will report to Gray Ainsworth, Deluxe
Digital Medias senior vice president of
operations. Deluxe continues to look for
ways to add value for content owners and
provide unique services that create true
partnership opportunities, says Ainsworth.
MediaRecall entered the booming online
video space at the right time as large
content owners are trying to find more effi-
cient ways to get their content digitized and
searchable online. MediaRecall did a terrific
job on the client projects we have done
together, and this transaction was a logical
next step for us.
George Deeb, current CEO of
MediaRecall, adds, Our team is very
excited about deepening the relationship
we have with Deluxe. We look forward to
bringing our technologies into the Deluxe
pipeline for film studios and television
networks in addition to the non-Hollywood
market.
www.bydeluxe.com and www.mediare
call.com.
Fujifilm Establishes
New York Office
Fujifilm North America Corporations
Motion Picture Products Division has
announced that, following the elimination
of its reseller network, all customers of its
motion-picture products will be served on a
direct basis nationwide. The announcement
accompanied news that Richard Kalinsky
has been appointed key account executive
for the eastern United States.
Motion picture film customers
demand the highest levels of personal
attention and care, says Graeme Parcher,
group vice president of Fujifilm North Amer-
ican Motion Picture Division. Our own
professional staff is in the best position to
provide Fujifilm customers with the high
level of service and collaboration they need.
We can only do this by controlling the distri-
bution of our products.
The east coast is a critically impor-
tant region in motion picture film and tele-
vision production, Parcher continues. The
continued growth in the region, particularly
in the metro New York area, has prompted
us to take this new approach to personally
serving our customers.
www.fujifilmusa.com.
Sony Opens 3-D Center
Sony Corporation has opened the
Sony 3D Technology Center, located at Sony
Pictures Studios in Culver City, Calif., to train
and nurture a community of experts in the
rapidly growing market of 3-D entertain-
ment. The new center offers professionals
from across the industry a hands-on oppor-
tunity to learn more about the techniques
and equipment used to create top-quality 3-
D productions of all kinds, including sports,
television and movies. The center also
features Sonys top-of-the-line business and
professional products, which are widely
used in capturing, manipulating and display-
ing 3-D productions.
Our mission is to support the spread
of high quality 3-D throughout the market-
place, says Chris Cookson, president of
Sony Pictures Technologies, Sony Pictures
Entertainment, and Chief Officer of the
Sony 3D Technology Center. Modern tech-
nologies and techniques can create much
more natural and realistic 3-D than most
people had experienced in years past, so we
have an interest in helping the industry as a
whole seize this opportunity to give audi-
ences really great 3-D experiences. People
must reliably and consistently be able to
enjoy what is presented in 3-D for it to gain
acceptance in the long term.
Making 3-D is easy, but making
good 3-D is hard, adds Buzz Hays
(pictured), senior vice president of the Sony
3D Technology Center. Ive had the plea-
sure of making 3-D movies with Hollywoods
true pioneers over the last five years, and I
am excited to dedicate my time fully to shar-
ing what weve learned as this medium
makes its way toward primetime.
www.sony.net.
Kodak Releases Film
Calculator App
Kodak has released the Kodak Film
Calculator and Glossary application as a free
download from the iTunes App Store. The
tool determines the running time for any
length of film in any format and how much
film is needed for a specific duration,
making complex mathematical calculations
quickly and conveniently.
This is the first Kodak Cinema Tool
to be made available as an
application for mobile-
device users, says Nicole
Phillips, Kodaks director of
Web marketing for the
Entertainment Imaging Divi-
sion. We plan to release
additional applications in
the near future, with the
goal of helping filmmakers
bring their visions to the
screen. This Film Calculator
app provides quick, on-the-
spot answers to questions
wherever and whenever they arise. As we
begin our foray into mobile tools, we look
forward to offering new ways to connect
our customers to information they need,
effortlessly.
Information can be entered into
fields where data is known, including
format, length, run time and frame rate.
The app then calculates and supplies the
other variables. Film length can be
measured in feet or meters for all formats,
including Super 8mm, 16mm, 35mm, 3-
perf 35mm and 65mm film. The intuitive
user interface includes a reset button that
makes recalculating data easy, and the film
format drop-down menu allows switching
and comparing formats at the touch of a
finger.
The app also includes Kodaks Glos-
sary, which provides instant definitions for
hundreds of filmmaking terms. The Glos-
sary is designed to help filmmakers and
their collaborators communicate clearly and
accurately.
www.kodak.com/go/motion.
ZipCalc App From ZipCam
ZipCam Systems has released the
ZipCalc DP freeware planning tool.
Designed primarily for cinematographers
and key grips, ZipCalc DP provides interac-
tive simulations and graphical plots of cable-
camera flight paths, helping users deter-
mine the best flight path for cable-
suspended tracking cameras such as the
ZipCam.
Ben Semanoff, president of ZipCam
Systems, notes, ZipCalc enables produc-
tions to take full advantage of our cable-
camera system and saves them time and
money while helping them get the shots
they need, even over challenging terrain
and obstacles. Users can input values for
key factors that affect the cable cameras
flight path; as users adjust values, ZipCalc
DP displays the flight path changes in real
time.
ZipCalc DP is available for free down-
load from the ZipCam Systems Web site. For
more information, visit www.zipcam.com.
Avid Updates DS
Avid has introduced version 10.3 of
its DS finishing solution, combining
advanced effects, compositing and graphics
capabilities with new features designed to
deliver real-time finishing and accelerate the
rendering process of popular file-based
formats. DS is also now optimized to handle
Red, 2K and ArriRaw projects, and it
supports the Red Rocket Accelerator Card,
which decodes .R3D files, alleviating the
CPU of this process.
DS version 10.3 allows post facilities
and high-end independent professionals to
more effectively manage file-based project
pipelines by reducing ingest and conform
requirements. In particular, DS 10.3 offers
native conform from Avid Media Composer
for .R3D and ArriRaw files, enabling
customers to instantly re-create complete
timeline information including effects,
titles and colors for real-time playback
and faster rendering. Additionally, AVX2
support offers customers a simple path for
total conform of visual effects generated in
Media Composer and Avid Symphony edit-
ing systems. Customers can also benefit
from the full creative effects toolset at any
stage of the editorial process with a new
AVX2 plug-in interface, making it possible to
use Boris FX and Sapphire effects in DS from
any offline Avid project.
DS version 10.3 can be downloaded
now from Avids download center. For more
information, or to download a trial version,
visit www.avid.com.
The Foundry Upgrades Nuke,
Allies with GenArts
Visual-effects software developer
The Foundry has released the Nuke 6.0 and
NukeX 6.0 composting engines, designed
to meet the latest creative and workflow
needs.
Nuke 6.0 incorporates a completely
new shape rotoscope and paint toolset
based on a rewritten core curve library and
new RotoPaint node. This release introduces
a flexible, non-destructive layer-based hier-
archy integrated with Nukes animation and
tracking capabilities and supporting per-
object attributes such as blending modes
and motion blur. As an additional benefit,
The Foundrys Keylight keyer is included as a
standard feature with Nuke 6.0.
NukeX 6.0 extends the range of
tools usually found in the compositing envi-
ronment, adding an integrated 3-D camera
tracker, automated and manual lens-distor-
tion tools, FurnaceCore (The Foundrys re-
engineered set of Furnace plug-ins) and a
DepthGenerator plug-in. Both Nuke and
NukeX are fully script compatible, with
Nuke capable of viewing and rendering
nodes created using the extended NukeX
toolset. Offering visual-effects users two
different Nuke products enables facilities of
all sizes to implement a Nuke solution to fit
a range of artist and customer needs.
Additionally, The Foundry and
GenArts Inc. have entered into a broad
strategic alliance. Under the terms of the
agreement, GenArts will acquire The
Foundrys Tinder and Tinderbox plug-ins
business, and the two companies will enter
into an arrangement to collaborate closely
to expand the capabilities of the Nuke plat-
form. This strategic alliance allows the
development teams from The Foundry and
GenArts to work closely together to fully
maximize the functionality of their future
products, opening the door to more effec-
tive delivery of new technology as the host
platform and plug-in development can be
more synchronized.
For additional information,
visit www.thefoundry.co.uk and
www.genarts.com.
82
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PROFESSIONALS IN
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June 4-5, Expo and Premier Seminars
June 3-5, The Film Series & Competition
June 6, Master Class Seminars
The Studios at Paramount, Hollywood, CA
phone: 310.472.0809
fax: 310.471.8973
email: info@cinegearexpo.com
www.cinegearexpo.com
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May 2010 85
EQUIPMENT FOR SALE
USED EQUIPMENT. PRO VIDEO & FILM EQUIPMENT
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cans.1 original WW2 case and 1 new aluminum,1 crank
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offer.nancy @ 212 595 3361.
USED EQUIPMENT. PRO VIDEO & FILM EQUIPMENT
COMPANY. (888) 869-9998, providfilm@aol.com.
www.UsedEquipmentNewsletter.com.
435 & 535B Camera Package - Mint Condition - $75,000
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MENT COMPANY. (972) 869-9990.
Classifieds
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Steadyrig eBay store to view our range of products
PRO VIDEO & FILM USED EQUIPMENT LIST:
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Advertisers Index
16x9, Inc. 84
AC 1, 4
Aja Video Systems, Inc. 11
Alan Gordon Enterprises
85
Arri 29
AZGrip 84
Backstage Equipment, Inc.
77
Burrell Enterprises 84
Cavision Enterprises 13
Chapman/Leonard Studio
Equipment Inc. 7
Cine Gear 83
Cinematography
Electronics 81
Cinekinetic 84
Cinema India 60
Cinerover 84
Clairmont Film & Digital
19
Convergent Design 48
Cooke Optics 6
Deluxe C2
Eastman Kodak 9, 21, C4
Film Gear 79
Filmtools 81
Five Towns College 79
FTC West 84
Fuji Motion Picture 45
Glidecam Industries 5
Ikan Corporation C3
Innovision 84
Kino Flo 55
Laffoux Solutions, Inc. 84
Lensrentals.com 82
Lights! Action! Co. 84
Litegear 35
Lite Panels 2
London Film School 77
Los Angeles Film Festival 75
Lowell 43
Maine Media Workshops 80
Mole-Richardson 49, 84, 85
Movie Tech AG 85
MP&E Mayo Productions 85
New York Film Academy 15
Oppenheimer Camera Prod.
84
Panther Gmbh 61
PED Denz 23, 85
Photon Beard 85
Photo-sonics, Rental 54
Pille Film Gmbh 85
Pro8mm 84
Production Resource Group
62
Rag Place, The 6
Shelton Communications 85
Stanton Video Services 81
Super16 Inc. 84
Technocrane 6
Telescopic, LLC 85
Thailand Film Commission
22
Thales Angenieux 38-39
Tiffen 43,
VF Gadgets, Inc. 85
Willys Widgets 84
www.theasc.com 77, 80,
82, 86
Zacuto Films 85
Zipcam Systems 33
86
Society Welcomes Medencevic
Born in Derventa, Bosnia-Herze-
govina, new ASC member Suki
Medencevic developed an early interest
in both science and art. Before graduat-
ing from high school, he chose to focus
on photography, and he became one of
only five students accepted in the
National School of Dramatic Arts depart-
ment of cinematography in Belgrade. He
furthered his education at the renowned
National Film School in Prague, where he
earned a masters degree in cinematog-
raphy and also won the Chancellors
Award and the Jaroslav Kucera Award
for his accomplishments behind the
camera.
Medencevic came to Los Angeles
in 1991 as a guest of the University of
California-Los Angeles, where he taught
and conducted workshops. Since then,
he has compiled credits on features,
short films, special-venue films, docu-
mentaries and commercials, shooting a
variety of formats that range from 70mm
to high-definition video.
For his work on The Great Water,
Medencevic was nominated for a Golden
Frog at the 2004 Camerimage Interna-
tional Festival of the Art of Cinematogra-
phy and won the Best Cinematography
award at Spains Mostra Valencia festival.
He remains committed to still photogra-
phy, demonstrating particular interest in
architectural and fashion photography,
and collections of his stills have been the
subject of multiple solo exhibits.
Clubhouse News
Deakins Wins Spirit Award
Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC won
the cinematography prize for his work
on Ethan and Joel Coens A Serious Man
during the 25th Film Independent Spirit
Awards. Deakins won a Spirit Award in
1997 for Fargo, and was also nominated
in 1991 for Homicide.
Deakins competition this year
comprised Andrij Parekh, for Cold Souls;
Peter Zeitlinger, for Bad Lieutenant: Port
of Call New Orleans; Anne Misawa, for
Treeless Mountain; and Adriano Gold-
man, for Sin Nombre (AC April 09).
Fiore Visits Alma Mater,
Wins Oscar
Mauro Fiore, ASC won this
years Academy Award for cinematogra-
phy for his work on Avatar (AC Jan. 10).
He was nominated alongside Bruno
Delbonnel, ASC, AFC, for Harry Potter
and the Half-Blood Prince; Barry
Ackroyd, BSC, for The Hurt Locker (AC
July 09); Robert Richardson, ASC, for
Inglourious Basterds (AC Sept. 09); and
Christian Berger, AAC, for The White
Ribbon (AC Jan. 10).
In the weeks before the Oscar
ceremony, Fiore returned to his alma
mater, Columbia College Chicago,
where he visited the schools new Media
Production Center and spoke with
students.
Wexler Reminisces at Egyptian
Following a recent screening of
Elia Kazans black-and-white epic Amer-
ica, America at the Egyptian Theatre in
Hollywood, cinematographer Haskell
Wexler, ASC participated in a Q&A
moderated by film historian Foster
Hirsch. Also joining the conversation
were actors Stathis Giallelis and Lou
Antonio. Thinking back on the frugal
production and bemoaning an absence
of dailies that resulted in what he consid-
ers over-filled exteriors, Wexler mused,
Id like to reshoot a lot of this film.
Later, when Hirsch asked Wexler how he
and Kazan had arrived at the films style,
Wexler responded, I was just trying to
make a good picture!
Rosen Named Prime Focus
International CTO
ASC associate member Daniel
Rosen has been named international
chief technology officer of global visual-
entertainment-services group Prime
Focus. Based in Hollywood and reporting
to Prime Focus Global CEO Namit Malho-
tra, Rosen will oversee technical opera-
tions for all Prime Focus North American
locations and, together with his counter-
parts in the United Kingdom and India,
will further integrate the companys
studios around the world. Rosen previ-
ously led engineering efforts at Warner
Bros., DreamWorks SKG, Dalsa Digital
Cinema, Cinesite and other organiza-
tions. Daniels expertise in imaging,
experience integrating global technical
processes and leadership abilities are
simply unparalleled in our industry, says
Malhotra. The talent and skills he brings
are going to be a key part of our execu-
tion, and were thrilled to have him on
our team.
Friends of the ASC Now Open
The subscription-only Friends of
the ASC service is up and running, offer-
ing a wealth of behind-the-scenes tips,
tricks and tales straight from the lips of
ASC members. Exclusive online content
includes Tech Tips video tutorials; Ask
the ASC, where Friends can pose ques-
tions to ASC cinematographers; ASC
Legends, a collection of filmed inter-
views with ASC members; Anatomy of
a Scene, offering a close examination of
well-known scenes from famous films;
and Rising Stars, in which ASC
members highlight the work of up-and-
coming cinematographers.
For more information, or to
become a Friend of the ASC, visit
www.theasc.com/friends_of_the_asc.
When you were a child, what film made the strongest impression
on you?
The film that grabbed my imagination was The Day the Earth Stood Still
(1951), directed by Robert Wise. I was 12 years old and was on vacation
with my family in the Midwest. It was haunting: the spaceship, the huge
robot, the words that would save the world. I was entranced. I stayed
and watched it a second time.
Which cinematographers, past or present, do you most admire?
Im a great admirer of Sven Nykvist, ASC; his lighting and
camerawork take the art to a fantastic new level. Also,
Gianni Di Venanzo; Carlo Di Palma, AIC; and Gregg
Toland, ASC. More recently, I find the work of ASC
members Nestor Almndros, Jordan Cronenweth, Caleb
Deschanel and Vilmos Zsigmond inspiring.
What sparked your interest in photography?
My dad gave me his Leica camera at an early age, and it
was my ticket to exploring the world. I began to under-
stand about controlling the image while tinkering with a
light on a still-life photograph I was setting up. I noticed
that putting the light behind the subject gave the picture
a very beautiful, new quality. Backlight made all the difference.
Where did you train and/or study?
I studied still photography at the Rochester Institute of Technology. I
went on to New York Universitys graduate-film program, where I had
good hands-on experience. After NYU, I was invited to become a fellow
at the American Film Institute. There, I learned in greater depth film
history and analysis, furthered my experimentation and experience
making student films, and was afforded an introduction to Hollywood.
Who were your early teachers or mentors?
At NYU, I was teaching assistant to the wonderful Czech cinematogra-
pher Beda Batka, who opened my eyes to the power of camera and
lighting to tell a story. At the AFI, Frank Daniel and Tony Velani were great
influences.
What are some of your key artistic influences?
Photography: Edward Weston, Andr Kertsz, Alfred Stieglitz and Henri
Cartier-Bresson. Painting: Edgar Degas, Wilhelm Hammershoi and Pieter
de Hooch. Music: John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis and
Phillip Glass. Films: Sasha Hammid and Maya Deren, Fritz Lang, Ingmar
Bergman, Federico Fellini and Francis Coppola.
How did you get your first break in the business?
At the AFI, I worked with David Lynch on Eraserhead. I also had the
amazing luck of collaborating with John Cassavetes, the resident film-
maker at the AFI. When he asked me to shoot The Killing of a Chinese
Bookie, I enthusiastically signed on. So early in my career, I benefitted
from working with two extremely talented and original filmmakers.
What has been your most satisfying moment on a project?
One that comes to mind is a choice made on Kinsey. Bill Condon and
I grappled with how to combine the decades-long biographical aspect
of the story with the sexual-history interviews conducted by Kinsey and
his students. We decided that by alternating color with black-and-
white stock a difficult choice from the production and distribution
perspectives we could take the story to another level. The audience
response to that choice was extremely satisfying.
Have you made any memorable blunders?
One day late in the schedule on Blue Velvet, we were
upstairs in a building with no elevators. The crew was
extremely unhappy about having to carry the gear up
four narrow flights of stairs, so I permitted them to
bring up only half the lighting Id asked for. It was
already the end of another long day; the actors
moods were frayed, and the rehearsal went on and
on. Soon I regretted not having the gear left on the
truck. We were well into overtime, and at that point, I
was stuck with providing a soft toplight that I didnt
think David would be happy with. He loved it, and its
become a classic, elegant Lynchian moment: Dean
Stockwell sings In Dreams to Dennis Hopper using a work light as his
microphone.
What is the best professional advice youve ever received?
Its the directors movie. The director is always right.
What recent books, films or artworks have inspired you?
An exhibit at MoMA of Monets Water Lilies, Paul Outerbridge photos
at the Getty Center, and the films The Lives of Others and The
Constant Gardener.
Do you have any favorite genres, or genres you would like to
try?
Ive always wanted to turn an opera into a film.
If you werent a cinematographer, what might you be doing
instead?
Id like to be a chef. I love the art and science of cooking its creative,
but in the end, it has to please the audience!
Which ASC cinematographers recommended you for member-
ship?
Haskell Wexler, Steven Poster and Vilmos Zsigmond.
How has ASC membership impacted your life and career?
It is an honor to be accepted by those Ive always admired. Its also an
opportunity to support the community of young filmmakers. After all,
thats where we all started.
Fred Elmes, ASC Close-up
E R I C S T E E L B E R G
ONFILM
Film has been a part of my life since I can
remember. I went to a lot of movies while I was
growing up and remember getting lost in the
imagery and stories. My parents bought me a
plastic camera at a young age. I just loved looking
through the lens and taking pictures. In high
school I helped create a film class. My friends
wanted to be writers, directors and producers so
I became the cinematographer by default, and it
came natural to me. At 15, I shot my first short
film for friends taking a summer production
workshop at the University of Southern California,
and can remember the emotion and magic when
we projected the first roll of 16 mm black-and-
white film. This is a collaborative endeavor.
You listen, discuss, and work together to execute
your vision. Cinematography is developing a
recipe of compositions and lighting to set the
appropriate tone for each scene while being as
elegant and transparent as possible. Beauty is
born out of that. The decisions I make about
using different lenses, lm stocks, and lighting
are all part of the visual grammar of lmmaking.
Every DP expresses it differently and there is
no right or wrong. Thats what makes it an art.

Eric Steelberg is in the dawn of his career.
In addition to many award-winning short lms
and commercials, his recent cinema credits
include Juno, (500) Days of Summer, Up In the Air
and the upcoming release of Going The Distance.
[All these lms were shot on Kodak motion picture lm.]
For an extended interview with Eric Steelberg,
visit www.kodak.com/go/onlm.
To order Kodak motion picture lm,
call (800) 621-lm.
www.motion.kodak.com
Eastman Kodak Company, 2010.
Photography: 2009 Douglas Kirkland

AC Mai 2010

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