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

Levie Isaacks, 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

have always loved movies

and responded to good

stories. When I got out

of the Army and returned tocollege, I got a job answering

the phone at a TV station, and

soon I moved into the news

department. When I was

handed a Bell & Howell

camera, my love affair with

making movies began.

One of the other

cameramen at the station

showed me AmericanCinematographer, and my

eyes must have grown to the

size of silver dollars when I

saw it. I couldnt believe there

was a magazine about how

cinematographers actually

worked, one that would give

me a chance to learn with every

new issue.

I keep every issue ofAC, and Ive always used it as

a reference for techniques I

want to experiment with. AC

is a great inspiration.

Levie Isaacks, ASC

I

phot

obyOwenRoizman,ASC


4/108

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32 Anarchy in the BRDRainer Klausmann, BVK recaptures a turbulent eraforThe Baader Meinhof Complex

44 A Nazis Worst NightmareRobert Richardson, ASC reteams with QuentinTarantino on Inglourious Basterds

58 An Appetite for CrimeRobert Gantz tails a legendary French bankrobber forMesrine

70 Testing Digital Cameras: Part 2The ASC/PGA Camera-Assessment Series points the

way toward workflow solutions for digital cameras

Departments

Features

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

On Our Cover: Gudrun Ensslin (Johanna Wokalek) and Andreas Baader (Moritz Bleibtrau) spearhead agroup of German terrorists in The Baader Meinhof Complex, shot by Rainer Klausmann, BVK. (Photo by

Jrgen Olczyk, courtesy of Vitagraph Films and Constantin Film.)

8 Editors Note10 Presidents Desk14 Short Takes: Love Hate20 Production Slate: North Face

District 9

78 Post Focus: The Red ShoesMr. Hulots Holiday

86 New Products & Services96 International Marketplace98 Classified Ads98 Ad Index

100 ASC Membership Roster102 Clubhouse News104 ASC Close-Up:Alexander Gruszynski 78

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 9 V O L . 9 0 N O . 9

The International Journal of Film & Digital Production Techniques

58

44


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S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 9 V o l . 9 0 , N o . 9The International Journal of Film & Digital Production Techniques Since 1920

Visit us online at

www.theasc.com

PUBLISHER Martha Winterhalter

EDITORIAL

EXECUTIVE EDITOR Stephen Pizzello

SENIOR EDITOR Rachael K. Bosley

ASSOCIATE EDITORJon D. Witmer

TECHNICAL EDITOR Christopher Probst

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Stephanie Argy, Benjamin B, Douglas Bankston, Robert S. Birchard, John Calhoun,

Bob Davis, Bob Fisher, Simon Gray, Jim Hemphill, David Heuring, Jay Holben,

Noah Kadner, Ron Magid, Jean Oppenheimer, John Pavlus, Chris Pizzello, Jon Silberg,

Iain Stasukevich, Kenneth Sweeney, Patricia Thomson, David E. Williams

ART DEPARTMENT

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Marion Gore

ADVERTISING

ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTORAngie Gollmann

323-936-3769 FAX 323-936-9188

e-mail: [email protected]

ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR Sanja Pearce

323-908-3114 FAX 323-876-4973


ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR Scott Burnell

323-936-0672 FAX 323-936-9188


CLASSIFIEDS/ADVERTISING COORDINATOR Diella Nepomuceno

323-908-3124 FAX 323-876-4973


CIRCULATION, BOOKS & PRODUCTS

CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Saul Molina

CIRCULATION MANAGERAlex Lopez

SHIPPING MANAGER Miguel Madrigal

ASC GENERAL MANAGER Brett Grauman

ASC EVENTS COORDINATOR Patricia Armacost

ASC PRESIDENTS ASSISTANT Kim Weston

ASC ACCOUNTING MANAGER Mila Basely

ASC ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE Corey Clark

American Cinematographer (ISSN 0002-7928), established 1920 and in its 89th year of publication, is published

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

Subscriptions: U.S. $50; Canada/Mexico $70; all other foreign countries $95 a year (remit internationalMoney Order or other exchange payable in U.S. $). Advertising: Rate card upon request from Hollywood

office. Article Reprints: Requests for high-quality article reprints (or electronic reprints) should be made toSheridan Reprints at (800) 635-7181 ext. 8065 or by e-mail [email protected].

Copyright 2007 ASC Holding Corp. (All rights reserved.) Periodicals postage paid at Los Angeles, CAand at additional mailing offices. Printed in the USA.

POSTMASTER: Send address change toAmerican Cinematographer, P.O. Box 2230, Hollywood, CA 90078.

4


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OFFICERS - 2009/2010

Michael GoiPresident

Richard CrudoVice President

Owen RoizmanVice President

Victor J. KemperVice President

Matthew LeonettiTreasurer

Rodney TaylorSecretary

John C. Flinn IIISergeant At Arms

MEMBERS OF THE BOARD

Curtis ClarkRichard Crudo

George Spiro DibieRichard Edlund

John C. Flinn IIIJohn Hora

Victor J. KemperMatthew LeonettiStephen LighthillIsidore Mankofsky

Daryn OkadaOwen RoizmanNancy SchreiberHaskell Wexler

Vilmos Zsigmond

ALTERNATES

Fred ElmesSteven Fierberg

Ron GarciaMichael D. OShea

Michael Negrin

MUSEUM CURATOR

Steve Gainer

American Society of Cinematographers

The ASC is not a labor union or a guild, butan educational, cultural and professionalorganization. Membership is by invitation

to those who are actively engaged asdirectors of photography and have

demonstrated outstanding ability. ASCmembership has become one of the highest

honors that can be bestowed upon aprofessional cinematographer a mark

of prestige and excellence.


9/108

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Cinematic ambition is evident in every frame of TheBaader Meinhof Complex, which earned a Best Foreign

Film nomination at the 2009 Academy Awards. Shot byRainer Klausmann, BVK, the tense political thriller retraces

the history of the Red Army Faction, which tore a violentswath through West Germany for a decade, beginning in

the late 1960s. The filmmakers enjoyed extraordinary coop-eration from German authorities, who allowed them to use

locations that included even Bismarckstrasse, a six-lanehighway that serves as one of Berlins main thoroughfares.

We couldnt believe that, marvels director Uli Edel,noting that the production needed the access to film key

scenes of student protests at the capitals biggest opera house, the Deutsche Oper. Toclose one of the main veins of the city for three days and nights, just so we could restage

that scene, was amazing. Klausmann amplified the historical realism by capturing thedrama with an intense, documentary-like camera style. Finding a visual approach to the

film was easy because to my mind, you cant play around with history you have to go

for the facts, he tells London correspondent Mark Hope-Jones (Anarchy in the BRD, page32.) As our coverage confirms, however, executing this strategy was far from simple.

The makers of the four-hour crime epic Mesrine(An Appetite for Crime, page58) faced equally daunting logistics while telling the story of a flamboyant bank robber who

thoroughly enjoyed his status as Frances most wanted man from 1973-79. The Frenchgovernment extended extraordinary privileges to the production, which managed to shut

down one of the busiest intersections in Paris, Porte de Clignancourt, to shoot the filmsclimax. Its unheard of, cinematographer Robert Gantz tells Jean Oppenheimer. That

plaza is a major entry and exit point for Paris.A pair of Americans working abroad, director Quentin Tarantino and cinematog-

rapher Robert Richardson, ASC, brought European flavor to their work on the World War II

revenge drama Inglourious Basterds. The filmmakers shot most of the picture at BabelsbergStudios near Berlin but peppered the project with scenes staged at various locations in bothGermany and France. The resulting visuals reflect Tarantinos fondness for both homage and

audacious framing: Quentin and I will have these interesting little battles while Imcomposing a shot, Richardson tells European correspondent Benjamin Bergery (A Nazis

Worst Nightmare, page 44). I naturally move to one side or the other, especially whenshooting anamorphic, whereas Quentin enjoys dead-center framing. For singles in particu-

lar, were just cutting dead-center framing from one side to the other, with the actors look-ing just past the barrel of the lens.

If you havent already guessed, the theme of this issue is international produc-

tion, and it is also reflected in Production Slate articles about the features North Face(shotat rugged locations in Austria and Switzerland) and District 9(shot in South Africa), along

with a Short Takes piece on the British project Love Hate.This issue also includes another installment of our coverage of the ASC/PGA

Camera-Assessment Series (Testing Digital Cameras: Part 2, page 70). This time around,key participants outline the workflow solutions applied to tests involving seven digital

motion-picture cameras.

Stephen Pizzello

Executive Editor

Editors Note

8


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Since being elected president of the

ASC, Ive been asked by a number of

people what my favorite movies are

and what I believe in. I dont intend for this

column to be about me, but in the interest

of helping the filmmaking community get

to know me better, I offer these admittedly

random insights. My favorite films are an

eclectic bunch, a bakers dozen that have

all imparted some pearl of inspiration in

just the right way.

The Graduate (1967) My favoritefilm. Ive seen it more than 120 times in theaters since I was 8. The cine-

matography, by Robert Surtees, ASC, taught me the emotional value of shadow

and widescreen composition. And then there was Katharine Ross.

Lavventura (1960) I fell asleep the first two times I tried to watchAntonionis examination of the idle Italian rich because I kept waiting for him

to get back to the plot about the missing girl. It wasnt until I realized what he

was saying about emotional disconnection through architectural composition

that I felt the characters plight acutely; Anna may be physically lost, but all of

us are emotionally lost as well.

Winged Migration(2001) Yes, its 90 minutes of birds flying, but thisfilm made me feel like I knew what it was like to fly with them. Its rare that a

movie can change my perspective on something I see every day. This one did.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly(1968) Eli Wallachs search for thegrave with the gold is still one of the greatest moments in movie history. As he

frantically scans all the graves, the combination of photography, editing and

music is so overwhelming that you completely forget his character cannot read.Spirited Away (2001) Hayao Miyazakis animated masterpiece

created an amazing world of fantastic creatures and unusual events and made

it all seem real through the eyes of a child. I still want to take a ride on that

train skimming the surface of the lake.

Ctait un rendez-vous (1976) Claude Lelouch mounted a 35mmcamera on the front of a Mercedes and tore through the streets of Paris at 6

a.m. at 85 mph, blowing past red lights and driving up on sidewalks in one

unbroken nine-minute take. Pure cinema. Watch it on the big screen and sit in

the front row.

King Kong(1933) A big movie in the best sense of the word. This getsdown to the core of what makes movies magical.

All That Jazz(1979) You can accuse Bob Fosse of ripping off Fellinis812 all you want, but I happen to like open-heart surgery with my musical

comedy. A perfect partnership of dance, choreography, photography and edit-

ing, it was the natural successor to the unbroken-take, MGM style of dance on

film that Vincente Minnelli did so well in the 1940s and 1950s.

Cemetery of The Elephants(1975) Armando Robles Godoy managesto tell the story of a mans life from boyhood optimism to old age and disillu-

sionment in the space of 15 minutes and makes it emotionally devastating and

unbearably poignant.

The Creeping Terror (1964) Hideously awful and enormously enter-taining movie about a space creature that looks like a big, walking carpet with

Presidents Desk


13/108

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an orifice that swallows women whole. You will not be able to get the dance-hall music out of your head no matter how hard you try.

Pandoras Box (1929) It was a tossup between this and BusterKeatons Sherlock Jr. (1924) for my favorite silent film. Pabsts examinationof the morality of an immoral girl was one of the pinnacle film achievementsin early cinema. You cannot watch the ending without wanting to step into

the story and take Louise Brooks away.

Day for Night(1973) Franois Truffaut shows all the problems that

happen when you make a movie and still manages to make it seem like themost fun you could ever have. Like real life.

L.A. Story(1991) It took a lot for me to move to Los Angeles, and Ihad a hard time even tolerating the place, but Steve Martin showed me I was

taking everything a bit too seriously. Thank you, Steve.In terms of my beliefs:

I believe working in the motion-picture industry is the best job in theworld, and anyone working in the business who doesnt feel that way should

get out of it and do something else.I believe we will be using film until we no longer feel compelled to

compare every new digital medium tofilm, and when I hold a roll of film inmy hands and look at the individual frames through a light bulb, Im looking

at the greatest wonder in the world.

I believe I was never complete until I met my wife, Gina, and eventhough my son calls everything Daddy the cat, his toy truck, his break-

fast the first time he said it, he was saying it only to me.I believe I will always remember Mary Carlisles cameo as Impy the

secretary in the 1932 Technicolor short film The Devils Cabaret, but I willnever remember what I had for dinner the night before.

I believe new technology is great and valuable and will be replaced bynewer technology as soon as I learn the previous version.

I believe daydreaming is not only worthwhile, but an important artisticactivity to be encouraged and nurtured but not if you work on the electric

crew.

I believe William A. Fraker, ASC, BSC is no mere mortal, but a benevo-lent angel sent to earth to remind us that we work in a magical, romanticindustry.

I believe I will never get over being accepted as a member of the ASC.Never. Dont even get me started on the whole president thing.

I believe that as phenomenal as the 1930s and the 1970s were in thehistory of cinema, the best is yet to come. The craft of cinematography is a

living, breathing and constantly evolving art form. Visual storytellers are whatwe are in any media. There are young filmmakers out there who have

absorbed the best of the past and have a vision for the future. You aint seen

nothing yet.

Michael Goi, ASCPresident

12


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Blake and Dylan Ritsons short film

Love Hateis a cautionary tale aboutthe perils of being too nice. At the

center of the tale is Tom (BenWhishaw), an affable milquetoast who,

despite his prejudices, does his best to

put on a happy face for his job, hisacquaintances and, on occasion, his ex-girlfriend. He maintains his positive

veneer until one fateful afternoon whenhe is confronted by the physical mani-

festation of his inner ire, which arrivesin the form of an attractive and very

assertive female (Hayley Atwell). Shes

had enough of Toms antics as abumbling pushover and is determined to

turn him into a full-time hater.Love Hate is the third film writ-

ten and directed by the Ritson brothers,

following the comedic shorts Out ofTime (2004) and More More More(2007), which earned screenings at the

Berlin, London and Turner ClassicMovies film festivals, among others;

Love Hate has followed suit, winningthe Jury Award at the Palm Springs

ShortFest and a nomination for Best

British Short at the Edinburgh Interna-tional Film Festival. The filmmakers

were interested in shooting Love Hatein HD, which became an especially

exciting prospect after producer Scott

Jacobson got in touch with Arri MediaU.K.s Milan Krsljanin, who in turnoffered to supply the production with

Arris D-21 film-style digital camera.They came across as extremely articu-

late and thoughtful people, remarksKrsljanin. They were looking for a tech-

Embracing Inner Angerby Iain Stasukevich

Short TakesThe formerly

wimpy Tom (BenWhishaw)

exults in thedemonic

influence of hisinner Hate,

which takes theform of anattractive

female (HayleyAtwell) in the

19-minute shortLove/Hate,

directed byBlake and Dylan

Ritson. Theproject was shot

by John Lynch,who

used Arrisproprietary

Mscope formatwith the

companys D-21digital camera.

14 September 2009


17/108

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18/108

The Ritsons knew that using

anamorphic lenses would lend theirproject a bigger look, and they set out to

find a cinematographer who under-

stood the anamorphic format. Theyeventually partnered with John Lynch,

whose credits include music videos forBlur (Song 2), Robbie Williams

(Millennium) and Bjork (All is Full ofLove). Lynch immediately saw the

benefits of using the wide aspect ratioto capture Toms plight: When its

anamorphic, you can have Tom on oneside and Hate on the other, and you see

their relationship in one frame, he

says.The story charts the descent of

somebody whos generally a nice guy

into this dark place, Lynch continues. Iwanted to map that with the camera, so

we started off with a lot of spacearound him, framing-wise, and then got

increasingly claustrophobic. The light-ing becomes darker and more contrasty,

like a 4:1 ratio, and I used less diffusion

on the lamps to make it more punchy.While writing the script, the

Ritsons envisioned a realistic look forLove Hate, with conditions ranging from

daytime exteriors in bright sunlight tonighttime interiors in poorly lit under-

ground tunnels. Adding to the realism,the filmmakers shot on location all

around London over the course of fivehectic days, with 25 to 30 setups per

day. With a limited lighting packagethat essentially comprised LED panels,

Dedo lights, bits of poly silver and an

16 September 2009

nology to help them express their ideas

in a more cinematic way, and while alot of filmmakers are using digital

formats to cut costs, sometimes the

power of the image is compromised. Ithought shooting anamorphic would be

of interest to them, and they jumped atthe idea.

Enabling anamorphic capturewith the HD camera is Arris proprietary

Mscope format, which takes advantageof the D-21s 35mm-size sensor to

capture full-aperture anamorphicimages while recording to a 16:9 HD

source. Using Mscope, the D-21s dual-

stream HD output splits the cameras4:3 image into two 16:9 HD frames,wherein all of the even lines are

recorded to the first frame, called the E-

frame, and all of the odd lines are

recorded to the second frame, calledthe O-frame. Each separate 1920x1080

frame possesses the captured images

full horizontal resolution and half thevertical resolution (1728x720 pixels),

with a border of 180 lines top andbottom, and 96 pixels left and right, so

a single stream can be viewed as aletterboxed 2.40 image on an HD moni-

tor. Both data streams are captured tothe same HDCam SR tape and recom-

bined on a postproduction workstation,creating a single 2:1 squeezed image

containing 1728x1440 pixels of the

sensors 1920x1440 native scanningresolution. Despite the complexities ofthe hardware, its actually a simple

workflow solution.

Right: Mscopeexploits the

D-21sdual-stream HD

output by splittingthe cameras 4:3images into two

16:9 HD framesthat can later be

recombined in

post to create asingle 2:1

squeezed image.Below: Blake and

Dylan Ritsonreview a scene.


19/108

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18 September 2009

18K for some day interiors, Lynch took

advantage of the D-21s variable ASA tomake the most of whatever illumination

was naturally available to him. Itreated the camera as if I were using

film, the cinematographer remarks. I

floated around the 500 mark when wewere inside, and went down to

between 50 and 100 when we wereoutside. I went to 800 ASA once, when

we were underground in a subwaywalkway.

Tom and Hate enter the subter-ranean walkway on their way home

from a party. Its a dark scene, and thewhole idea is that Tom is drunk,

explains Blake Ritson. We put John

and the camera on a rickshaw, and themovement adds a queasy quality to theshot. Lynch elaborates, The walkway

had LED lights in the roof, which shiftedcolor every 10 seconds, from green to

blue to red. Its an unusual effect, and itadded to the beauty of the scene. For a

small amount of fill, Lynch also posi-

tioned a handheld Sun Gun near thecamera.

As the film progresses, Tombecomes increasingly infatuated with

Hate, and in one scene, the two share a

bath. Despite the scenes sinisterundertones, Lynch and the Ritsons

chose to light it with soft candlelight.Its got a very romantic feel, says

Dylan. Lynch adds, We had a smallChina ball in the bathroom with us, but

I ended up putting my jacket over it, soin the end there was nothing there

apart from the candles. The camerawas set to 500 ASA, and my meter was

coming up E, which means theres noth-

ing there. But I was still very comfort-able Im not afraid of the dark.

Through most of the shoot,

Lynch kept his Hawk anamorphic lensesat a T2.8, eschewing the notion of a

sweet spot in the middle T-stoprange. Shooting wide open allowed him

more flexibility in low-light situations,although it also kept 1st AC Nathan

Mann on his toes. Milan let us know

we could set the camera up in differentways, like if we wanted to calibrate the

exposure to be biased towards high-lights or shadows, Lynch explains. I

didnt want to bias towards darkness,because when we went outside wed

have to recalibrate the camera. I set theexposure calibration in the middle of

the exposure range and treated it likefilm.

Post work for Love Hate wascarried out at Londons Ascent 142.

Because it was the first project to use

Mscope, a proprietary Smoke plug-in

called Spark was developed specificallyfor the image recombination. The grade

was performed on a da Vinci Resolve bycolorist Rob Pizzey, who also used the

system to unsqueeze the HD picture

into a flat 2.40:1 image. The final filmwas mastered to HDCam SR, and an

anamorphic film print was also struck toKodak Vision 2383.

This is our first time with theformat and we found it to be a really

exciting process, Blake enthuses. Itpresented us with a lot of creative

possibilities. Krsljanin adds, All ofthe elements came together nicely.

The filmmakers really used their tools

to capture the insecurities of the char-acters in a visually compelling way.They had a great cinematographer and

a great cast; it was a match made inheaven. I know theyll continue to

make big moves in the motion-pictureindustry.

TECHNICAL SPECS2.40:1

High-Definition VideoArri D-21

Hawk lensesDigital Intermediate

Printed on Kodak Vision 2383I

Right: Themilquetoast

eventuallyrealizes his

embrace of Hatehas turned his

life upside-down.Bottom:

CinematographerJohn Lynch.


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22/108

20 September 2009

A Perilous Peakby Jon Silberg

In the early 1930s, as Adolf Hitlersgovernment set about working Germany

into the racist and nationalistic fervor thatwould perpetuate World War II, moun-

taineers who were keen to conquer the

treacherous north face of SwitzerlandsEiger Mountain provided the perfect

iconography for the propagandists. TheGerman film North Face (Nordwand)

depicts the attempt by German moun-taineers Toni Kurz (Benno Frmann) and

Andreas Hinterstoisser (Florian Lukas) toscale the peak. Players in their story

include the cynical newspaper editor(Ulrich Tukur) who wants to exploit their

pursuit, and the climbers young journalistfriend (Johanna Wokalek), who hopes the

story will be her big break but grows

increasingly worried about the pairs

safety.North Face was directed by

Philipp Stlzl and photographed by KoljaBrandt, who won Germanys Lola Award

for his work on the picture. The two hadcollaborated on a number of music videos

and commercials, but Brandt speculates

that it was his documentary-styleapproach to the 2006 feature Tough

Enough that sold Stlzl on his ability tomeet North Faces challenges.

Stlzl was inspired by KevinMacdonalds documentary/dramatic re-

enactment hybrid Touching the Void (ACMarch 04) and hoped to achieve a simi-

lar degree of realism in North Face. Heand his collaborators eventually decided

to first shoot stunt climbers on location,then shoot the actors in a studio, and do

some elaborate compositing in post. In

accordance with this plan, Stlzl, Brandt

and a skeleton crew comprising acostumer, an assistant director and a

few assistants traveled to Switzerlandsix months prior to principal photography

and set about shooting on the Eiger andother nearby locations.

Brandts goal was to get the

camera in close to the climbers whilemaintaining the ability to read the

surrounding environment. To achievethis, he and B-camera operator Tommy

Ulrich were suspended by rope along-side the professional climbers and

filmed with Arri 235s, pulling focusthemselves. I love to have the camera

on my shoulder and be right whereeverything happens, says Brandt, who

spent three months training at a climb-ing gym before the shoot. And luckily,

Im not afraid of heights! The impetus

Political Climbers and Extraterrestrial Immigrants

Production Slate

N o r t

h F a c e p

h o t o s a n

d f r a m e g r a b s c o u r t e s y o

f M u s i c B o x F i l m s A d d i t i o n a l p

h o t o s c o

u r t e s y o

f K o

l j a B r a n

d t

The Germanfilm North Face

depicts anattempt bychildhood

friends AndreasHinterstoisser

(Florian Lukas,left) and ToniKurz (BennoFrmann) to

scale thetreacherous

north face ofEiger Mountain

in 1936.


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to keep the cameras close to theclimbers was inspired in part by RobertCapas still photography. Capa alwayshad the camera really near to the thinghe was shooting he said, If your

pictures arent good enough, you arentclose enough, says Brandt. Philipp andI didnt want to have a lot of shots fromfar away with long lenses.

He did use long lenses, however,to delineate the perspective of the spec-tators who gather at a cozy hotel at thefoot of the mountain to witness theclimb. The spectators were watchingthe climb through a telescope, and forthat perspective, we used long lenses toemphasize how much distance there is

between them and the things theyrelooking at on the mountain, he says.They couldnt know what was reallyhappening out there, even though theycould see it.

Shooting on the mountain, theteam used the weather to determinewhich scenes would be shot when andwhere. Snow, mist and general overcastconditions were the norm. The wall is anorth face, so only part of it gets direct

sun, and then only in the late afternoon,notes Brandt. He shot these scenes onFuji Super-F 64D 8522 and Eterna 250D8563, using a mix of Cooke and Ange-nieux lenses. We took two Angenieux

Optimo short zooms [15-40mm] to themountain because the short Cooke zoomlens wasnt out at the time, he says. Ishot most of the rest of the picture withCooke S4 primes, my favorite lenses.We used really long lenses for the spec-

tators perspective, including a Canon1,000mm lens for one shot. I knew wewere going to finish with a digital inter-mediate, so I wasnt worried about theslight differences between the lenses.

The Eiger region is actually verygood for shooting, he continues. Youcan go up to Jungfraujoch by train, andthere is a tourist platform made of steelthat we could attach ropes to and dropdown from. The platform is at 3,500

Bottomp

hotoKo

ljaBran

dt.Use

dwit

hpermission.

American Cinematographe

Left: Kurz anHinterstoissare joined intheir quest bAustrianclimbers EdRainer (GeoFriedrich) an

Willy Anger(Simon Schw

Below: DirePhilipp Stl(foregroundand the crewprepare to fSchwarz anFriedrich in studio, whicwas actualllarge, indusfreezer.


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meters [11,483'], and we would hangdown about 20 or 30 meters [70'-100'].

From there, we were looking downanother 100 meters [328'] to the first

ledge. The stunt doubles, who are well-known Alpinists, would be lowered, and I

would be lowered with a safety climber.The camera was on its own rope, so

when the mag was empty, an assistantcould pull it up, change the mag and

lower it back down to me. Dietmar Raiff,my great first assistant, and his crew had

all the equipment and film stock in a tenton the platform we couldnt take the

lenses or stock inside because of thetemperature difference and they

worked tirelessly, even in the worststorms.

For the studio portion of the shoot,a section of the mountains face was re-

created in an industrial freezer that

measured roughly 100'x66' and had a 49'ceiling. The cooling machines were very

loud, and we also had wind machinesgoing, so it was impossible to shoot any

sync sound, notes Brandt. But we felt itwas important to shoot in an environment

that was really cold. We wanted the audi-ence to really feelthe coldness and see

the actors breath. He shot these sceneswith an Arri 235, teaming with B-camera

operator Franz Hinterbrandner, who

wielded an Arricam Lite. To create theovercast-day look onstage, he bouncedDinos and 10Ks off the enclosures gray,

concrete walls and through butterfly nets.Just outside the frozen stage,

editor Sven Budelmann received a linefrom the camera tap so he could create

rough comps of the finished scenes.Every two or three hours, Philipp could

go out and watch a whole scene, says

Brandt. It was very helpful to have thatreference right there. He credits visual-

effects supervisor Stefan Kessner withmaking the location and studio footage

blend seamlessly in post.Most of the scenes that are not

set on the mountain take place in thehotel where the spectators gather. After

attempting to secure the actual inn at theEiger, the production decided to shoot at

a similar location in Austria. In the hotel,Brandt transitioned to an Arricam Lite and

mainly shot Fuji Eterna 500T 8573. (He

Above: Directorof photography

Kolja Brandtshoulders an

Arri 235 to filmSwiss AlpinistStefan Siegrist

(doubling forFrmann) on

Jungfraujoch.Right: Brandtpauses for a

photo op.

22 September 2009

P h o t o s

b y T h o m a s U l r i c h K o

l j a B r a n

d t U s e

d w i t h p e r m i s s i o n


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VP Technical Servic


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used 8563 for some day scenes.) Wehad a very talented production designer,Udo Kramer, who put all kinds of practi-cals in the lobby for us, says the cine-matographer. To light the hotel diningroom, my gaffer, Christoph Nickel, useda mix of 800-watt Redheads withChimeras, a couple of Lowel Rifa-litesand Zips for semisoft backlight, and a6K Barger Baglite with a Chimera forthe tables in the background. Some 1Ksbounced off the ceiling provided a little

more fill, and in the adjacent room, wehad 2Ks bouncing off big polys. All ofthe dining-room lights were on adimmer and gelled with CTO. Weworked at a very low light level T2.5to T2.8 with the 500-speed stock.That gave us a nice look and reallyhelped point out the contrast betweenthe guests comfortable environmentand the climbers who were strugglingto survive.

The negative was processed by

Arri Film & TV Services, which alsoprovided DI services to the production.The negative was scanned at 2K on anArriscan, colorist Traudl Nicholsongraded the picture on an AutodeskLustre Master, and the finalized fileswere filmed out via an Arrilaser. Brandtemphasizes that the time spent in the DIsuite was important because it enabledhim and Stlzl to work through someimportant creative issues. Philipp has avery good eye, and he started grading it

before I was able to get there, says thecinematographer. During the shoot, wehad talked about having soft blacks, notcrushed blacks, and going for a look thatwouldnt take the audience away fromthe mountain. But when I got to the DIsuite, the picture had really crushedblacks and an aqua-color, 1950s kind oflook. I know Philipp, and I wanted him tohave an opportunity to experiment, so Isaid, It looks good.

After a week of roughly gradingit, I wrote him an e-mail over the week-end and said, I think were wrong withthis look. We met again on Monday inthe DI room, and he asked what Idmeant, and I reminded him how wedtalked about it initially. After that, we gotthe picture to the look you see now,which I am very happy with. Thats whatI like about the DI: its a process. You cantry everything out.

Brandt marvels at the fortitude

displayed by climbers like Kurz andHinterstoisser. You have to respectthem. Today, we climb mountains withlots of equipment and warm jackets,and they didnt have any of that. Wecould call a helicopter if we needed it.We could change our clothes when theygot wet. We could have hot tea. Im aphysical guy, and I love that kind ofwork, but when I look at what thoseclimbers achieved back then, it reallytouches me.


Super 35mm (3-perf)Arri 235; Arricam Lite

Cooke, Angenieux andCanon lenses

Fuji Super F-64D 8522; Eterna 250D8563, 500T 8573

Digital Intermediate

24 September 2009

Above: Thisframe grab

shows a climberat work on the

Eiger. Below: B-camera operator

Thomas Ulrich(hanging from

the Jungfraujochplatform)

prepares to filmon location in

Switzerland.

B

h K l j B

d U

d i h

i i


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28/108

Right: Wikus VenDe Merwe

(Sharlto Copley)marvels at the

mothership thatbrought an alienspecies to Earth

in District 9,directed by Neill

Blomkamp and

photographed byTrent Opaloch.

The film wasshot almostentirely onlocation in

Johannesburg,South Africa.

Below: Theentrance to

District 9, wherethe aliens are

sequestered andforced into a

humiliatingexistence.

Aliens in South Africa

by Jay Holben

In the winter cold and swirlingdust of Johannesburg, South Africa,

military teams mobilize quickly toround up a group of illegal immigrants

and return them to District 9, theirslum in Soweto. There, like so many of

South Africas poor, these lost andconfused souls survive in corrugated

steel shanties. But the inhabitants of

District 9 arent human. In fact, theyarent even from this planet.

Directed by Neill Blomkamp,

District 9(based on Blomkamps shortfilm Alive in Joburg) follows a race of

extraterrestrials that have inadver-

tently landed on Earth and are subse-

quently sequestered by the govern-ment. The project is the first feature

for Blomkamp, a visual-effects artist,and cinematographer Trent Opaloch,

who has collaborated with Blomkampon commercials and music videos in

Vancouver, British Columbia.Blomkamp, a native of Johan-

nesburg, was keen to shoot all eightweeks of principal photography on

location in South Africa because he

knew the conditions and textures ofthe real Soweto could not be effec-tively re-created anywhere else. The

studio [Sony Pictures] talked aboutshooting some of the movie in New

Zealand, but we just couldnt re-

create Johannesburg on a backlot or

stage, says Opaloch. The texturesthere are really amazing. In the end,

we shot about 95 percent of the moviein Johannesburg, with a little bit of

splinter work in Wellington, NewZealand, and some motion-capture

work in Vancouver.A number of large-scale

productions have been shot in thearea, and there is good support for

[filmmaking], he continues. Our keys

were from New Zealand, the UnitedKingdom, Canada and South Africa,but we hired the majority of our crew

locally in Cape Town and Johannes-burg. Those guys were really amazing.

They work on commercials andfeatures all the time, and I had a great

experience with them.One of the key reasons for

shooting on location was the quality

of Johannesburgs winter air. Winterthere is hardcore, says Opaloch, and

in the townships, people burn what-ever they can to provide warmth.

Wed drive to the location in the morn-ing and see people burning tires to

cook their breakfast on. Its certainlynot a healthy environment, and the

layers of atmosphere this dust andsmoke puts on the horizon is unbeliev-

able it looks and feels like a warzone. We scheduled the photography

in the harsh winter months specifi-

26 September 2009

D i i 9

h

b

D

i d B l

f S

P i


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28 September 2009

cally to get that look.Its amazing how different the

summer looks, he continues. We hadto do some pickups in December, SouthAfricas summer, and it was clean andgreen and lush! We had to be veryselective about our framing to try andmatch the winter photography.

The winter shoot had a visibleeffect on the gear, which included sixRed One cameras owned by PeterJackson, the films producer, and twoSony PMW-EX1s. My first assistant,Houston Hadden, would take me intothe camera truck and show me the dirtand grime he was pulling out of thecamera every night, and it looked likean ashtray had been poured out of thecamera! recalls Opaloch. Despite theconditions, however, the camerasremained in working order throughoutthe shoot.

The Ones 4K image serves asthe movies main perspective, whereasthe 1920x1080 HD image from the EX1represents footage shot by journalistsembedded in the alien township. Webriefly considered shooting Super 16,and we talked a bit about shootingwith the Sony F23, but the Red offeredus more of the look and functionalitywe wanted, says Opaloch. If Sonys

F35 had been out at the time, wecertainly would have considered it, too.

I like the Red system, and wegot a lot of support from the company,he continues. Working in Redcode 36,we were shooting onto 8-gig CF cards,which started to feel a bit like a filmshoot because we were limited to theshooting time, about 4 minutes percard. Also, the accessories for the Redwere all what were used to using[with film cameras]. The great benefit

to shooting digitally was the ability torun to the digital-imaging technicianstruck and see the footage right away.On the truck, Red camera supervisorJonathan Smiles had two 30" HD moni-tors. Smiles would receive the CF cardsfrom the set, open the footage in RedCine, and then he and Opaloch wouldapply either a preset or custom curve tothe raw footage for viewing theselected shots.

Top: Backed upby Multinational

United agents,

Ven De Merwehopes for a

friendlyexchange with

one of thealiens. Middle:An alien offers

its humanguards an

inscrutableexpression.

Bottom: With thehelp of 1st AC

Houston Hadden(right) and 2nd

AC P.J.

Makosholo(wearingyellow), Opaloch

(seated atcamera) frames

a shot forBlomkamp

(holdingmonitor).


31/108


32/108

We were shooting in a lot ofhigh-contrast lighting, and I was

mostly concerned with how highlightswere being represented in the Red

footage, says Opaloch. I was careful

to make sure the highlights didntblow out, and that meant using a lot

more fill than I would normally use.He used a combination of 18K and 4K

HMIs to help shape and fill in the

harsh sunlight. The production alsocarried a 20'x30' silk that could be

flown from a crane to diffuse thesunlight from above or used on the

ground to soften the HMIs. For the

journalists material, shot with EX1s,we just let the highlights go, he adds.

We also let the focus go on thosecameras to make it feel more immedi-

ate, real and rough around the edges.

When you embed visual effects intothat footage, it grounds the effects in

a kind of reality thats really unique.The most helpful thing to me

was the built-in light meter in theRed, continues Opaloch, who was

working with Build 15 of the camera.I had heard bad things about the

built-in meter, but [the problems] wereall ironed out by the time I got to work

with the camera. With the combina-tion of my light meter, the built-in

meter and the ability to run into thetruck and check the shots, I had

absolute confidence in how we wereshooting.

Opaloch rated the One at 320ISO. One of the oft-discussed concerns

about the Red system is its infraredsensitivity and the resultant color

anomalies that can arise while

employing ND filters in high-contrastsituations with high IR light in other

words, the conditions encountered bythe District 9crew. I certainly noticed

IR pop-off, says Opaloch. We ended

Opaloch looksthrough the RedOnes electronicviewfinder. The

great benefit toshooting digitallywas the ability to

run to thedigital-imaging

technicians

truck and see thefootage right

away, he says.


33/108

ErrataIn our July coverage of Public

Enemies, the Zeiss 6-24mm DigiZoomwas omitted from the list of lenses

used on the production. Cinematogra-pher Dante Spinotti, ASC, AIC made

equal use of the Zeiss and Fujinon zoom

lenses he discussed in the article.In the same issue, the name of

actress Yolande Moreau wasmisspelled in our coverage of

Sraphine.

up shipping in some IR NDs and front-surface mirrors from London, but it

was difficult to integrate them inhandheld situations, especially when

we were trying to backlight action asmuch as possible. With the stack of

filters and backlight, there was alwaysthe risk of getting reflections on the

filters and ghosts in the image. When-ever possible, we strove to fix the

problem by being careful about whatwe shot; wed adjust wardrobe when

it was a problem and allow a littleIR spill into the shadows when we

couldnt control it, knowing that wecould time it out later. Tiffen has since

introduced Red IR-ND filters that takecare of this issue.

Actor Jason Cope portrayedthe aliens in the movie, donning a

trackball suit so the visual-effects

team, comprising artists fromEmbassy Image Engine and Weta

Digital, could replace his human formwith various alien ones. A big direc-

tive for us was to eliminate as much

rotoscoping as possible, saysOpaloch. Because we would be

replacing Jason completely with CGcharacters, we knew that the cleaner

the background was, the easier thereplacement would be. If we had a

shot where Jason was going to enterthe frame against some dense foliage

that would require heavy rotoscoping,we moved over two feet to avoid that

background. We also knew that anygiven shot could become a visual-

effects shot we might add themothership to a sky shot, for example

so we always made an effort tokeep simple, trackable geometry in

the frame. If we could give the visual-effects artists a little piece of back-

ground that would make trackingeasier, we tried to do it all the time.

District 9was a really amazing

experience, he concludes. I lovedoing things that are exciting and

interesting, and it was great tocontribute to a film thats so different.


4K Digital Capture andHigh-Definition Video

Red One; Sony PMW-EX1;Vision Research Phantom HDCooke and Angenieux lenses

Digital IntermediatePrinted on Kodak Vision 2383I


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32 September 2009

The Baader Meinhof Complex, shot by Rainer Klausmann, BVK,details the rise and fall of a German terrorist group.

by Mark Hope-Jones

Unit photography by Jrgen Olczyk

Anarchyin the BRD


35/108

American Cinematographer

In the summer of 1967, duringprotests against the Shah of Iransstate visit to West Berlin, anunarmed student named BennoOhnesorg was shot and killed by

a plainclothes policeman.

Ohnesorgs killing sent shock wavesthrough German society, crystalliz-ing the anger of a youth movementthat viewed Americas presence inVietnam as imperialism and its owngovernment as authoritarian. TheBaader Meinhof Complexcharts the10 tumultuous years that followed, asstudent protests paved the way toorganized domestic terrorism. Aparticularly single-minded group ofextremists, led by Ulrike Meinhofand Andreas Baader, founded theRed Army Faction to wage war onthe state. As the groups attacksintensified, the West German policewere forced to modernize in order tomake arrests that provoked newkidnappings and killings. Despite thearrest of several key Red Brigademembers, the violence escalated,eventually culminating in the bloodyGerman Autumn of 1977.

Although he has workedpredominantly in Germany

throughout his 28-year career, cine-matographer Rainer Klausmann,BVK is Swiss and has always lived inZurich, so the real events depicted inthe film had a limited impact on himas a young man. I got married in1970, and I was more interested inmy new wife than in politicalaffairs! he says. I knew the story abit from newspapers and television,but it wasnt really part of me; I wasnever a student and I wasnt in

Germany at the time.Instead of studying film at

college, Klausmann learned his skillson the job in the early 1980s. I wasan assistant in Switzerland with[cinematographer] Hans Liechti andthen Thomas Mauch, a Germandirector of photography, heexplains. I was second camera onWerner Herzogs Fitzcarraldo [1982]with Mauch and then started out on

Opposite:TerroristmastermindAndreas Baa(Moritz Bleibis cornered German poliduring a shoin broad dayThis page, toTwo membethe Red ArmFaction, WilPeter Stoll(Hannes

Wegener, leand Peter-JBoock (VinzeKiefer, on caambush a hilevel target.Middle:Journalist UMeinhof (MaGedeck), whbecomesBaadersaccomplice,surveys the sas protesters

attempt toblockade theAxel SpringeGroup PublisHouses, anincident spaby the shootpolitical dissRudi DutschBottom:CinematograRainerKlausmann, lines up a shP

hotoscourtesyo

fVitagrap

hFilmsand

ConstantinFilm.


36/108

Right: For ascene in whichDutschke gives

a speechprotesting the

Vietnam War, theproduction

filmed at theactual location,

an auditorium atthe TechnicalUniversity in

Berlin. The onlyproblem was

that it was muchbigger than we

expected! saysdirector Uli Edel.We realized wewerent going to

be able to do itwith just 400

extras. On theday, we got

1,200, which

filled half of theroom, and we

eventuallydoubled them

with visualeffects. Below:In a meticulousre-creation of a

famous newsphotograph

taken byBernard Larsson,

a young woman(Leonie Brandis)

tends to dyingstudent protester

Benno Ohnesorg(Martin Glade),who was shot

and killed by apolice officer

duringdemonstrations

against the Shahof Irans state

visit to Berlin.The scene was

shot at the exactlocation of the

real incident,near the

Deutsche Oper

Berlin.

34 September 2009

my own. Eventually I was workingwith directors like OliverHirschbiegel and Fatih Akin; thescripts got better and the work gotbetter.

In 2004, Klausmann shotHirschbiegels Downfall, anAcademy Award-nominated study

of Hitlers final days in his bunkerbeneath war-torn Berlin, forGerman producer Bernd Eichinger.

When Eichinger took on The BaaderMeinhof Complex, he coaxed directorUli Edel, an old friend from filmschool, back to Germany from asuccessful television career in theStates. Neither man had any doubtthat Klausmann was the man theywanted behind the camera: Ive

known Rainer for 20 years, and Ivealways followed his work, althoughwe never had an opportunity to do

anything together, says Edel. Whenthis movie came along, I knew hewould be perfect.

Though Klausmann had beenlittle affected by the events of thetime, he was sensitive to the fact thatEdel felt a great emotional connec-tion with the story, having lived

through it at close quarters as astudent in Germany. Finding avisual approach to the film was easybecause to my mind, you cant playaround with history you have togo for the facts, says Klausmann.Uli didnt want to present his ownvision of that era; he wanted to tellthe real stories.

Many of the events fromthose difficult years, when WestGermany was still a relatively young

democracy, are so well known thatto stray too far from reality wouldhave alienated the films domesticaudience. The shooting of RudiDutschke [a student activist whonarrowly survived an attempt on hislife in 1968] was comparable [incultural impact] to the assassinationof John F. Kennedy, says Edel. Iknow exactly where I was when Iheard the news. Everybody in

Anarchy in the BRD


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Germany does, so you cannotchange these things too much.

The most iconic moments ofthe story were therefore re-createdon set with scrupulous attention todetail; they serve as visual anchorpoints, punctuating a chronologicalnarrative that links them all together.Those images were burned into the

consciousness of a generation, saysEdel. The image of a woman lean-ing over the dying Ohnesorg wentaround the world, so we wanted toget as close as possible to the realityof that. Most German people

remember Ohnesorg and Dutschkewithout necessarily knowing howthey were connected; what I tried todo was to give those 10 years a narra-tive that lets you understand how itall started and where it went.

Klausmanns cinematographicapproach was principally dictated bythe films fast-paced montage struc-

ture and the decision to cut originaltelevision footage in with the actionthroughout. We watched a lot of realfootage and there were long discus-sions about what [clips] to use, hesays. The color matching of the film

was influenced by what we used,because our movie had to fit with thereal stuff; we avoided strong reds,blues or greens and we desaturatedthe image in the DI. Otherwise, itwould have looked like two differentmovies, and thats not good.

For the same reason,Klausmanns camerawork was

informed by a newsgathering stylethat would complement the sponta-neous energy of the archival mater-ial. The idea was to make the wholefilm in this documentary style so itmatched the original footage, says


Top: Police down onstudentsprotesting thShahs visit.Bottom left: explosion rothe U.S.Parkplatz.

Bottom rightDirector UliEdel (standiin truck, to tright of boomoperator) anthe crewprepare tocapture a stscene.


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36 September 2009

Edel. I gave the actors a lot of free-dom, especially in the bigger sceneswith all the extras. It was very impor-tant that we could really follow theaction; we did not want to create theaction through cuts. Thats whythere were so many Steadicam and

handheld shots.This approach suited Klaus-

mann well: Uli knows that I like tohandhold the camera, he says. Theactors like it, too, because they can

do what they want and its my prob-lem to follow them! I dont like toomuch technical stuff, [like] using alot of cranes and modern gear; Iprefer to do it the way I think it was,to make it more real. If youre nearerto reality, youre nearer to the story

and its more likely to work. I neverused filters on the film; it was justabout the available light and usingwhat was there.

Klausmann opted to shoot

with Arricam Studios and Lites andArri Master Primes. I first used theMaster Primes when they gave metwo or three to try on The Invasion[2007], he says. I really liked themthen, and I think theyre still the bestlenses available. Their speed is good,

but mainly I like the way they matchwith colors, and theyre not as hardas the previous [Zeiss] Superspeeds.To me, theyre perfect.

In the spirit of authenticity,Edel made an effort to shoot at loca-tions where real events had takenplace. We always tried to get theoriginal location first, and we gotvery lucky with the most importantplaces, he says. One such setting wasthe Deutsche Oper Berlin, the opera

house that was the backdrop to theprotests that led to Ohnesorgs death.To Edels surprise, city authoritiesgranted the production permissionto shut down Bismarckstrasse, a six-lane highway. We couldnt believeBerlin gave us that, the directorcontinues. To close one of the mainveins of the city for three days andnights, just so we could restage thatscene, was amazing.

Police crackdown hard

during the Shahprotests.

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1st AC Astrid Miegel, who hasworked alongside Klausmann for thelast eight years, says four cameraswere used on Bismarckstrasse tocapture the chaos of a demonstra-tion that descends into violence andpanic. One Lite was handheld, twowere Steadicam and one Studio wasfixed on a static dolly with an

Angenieux 25-250mm, she details.The Steadicams had several of themost important shots, so it tooktime for Rainer to get those exactlyas he wanted them; then, near theend, he came over to our Studio and

we just searched for little details atthe long end of the zoom.

With four cameras runningyou get the chaos, no problem, saysKlausmann. But within that [overallapproach] we wanted to get specificimages that had appeared on theoriginal news coverage of the event.You have to start with the big shots,

with everybody there, and then youmove closer and closer until youregetting little moments like the younggirl being crushed against the barrier.We had talked a lot about how itshould look, and then we story-

boarded all of it; capturing thatsequence was primarily a logisticalproblem.

Heavy rain at the location costthe crew almost an entire day, butshooting with multiple camerasallowed them to make up the time.However, this also created the risk ofcameramen wandering into each

others frames. There is a momentwhere you see one of our handheldcameras fully in the shot, admitsEdel. But it was a great moment andI didnt want to lose it just because ofthe camera, so we left it there and


Top: Baaderlistens to radreports of ReArmy Factionactivities whlanguishing his cell atStammheimPrison. Belo

left: Red ArmFaction memHolger Mein(Stipe Ercegstruggles duhis arrest. Beright: Astrid(Katharina

Wackernageresists a paiguards at KOssendorfPrison.


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38 September 2009

nobody ever notices!Edel stayed close to his cine-

matographer throughout thesehectic setups, rather than trying tocontrol too much at once. A lot ofdirectors have microphones and talkto the cameramen from behind themonitors, but I never do that, hesays. I was generally running alongnext to Rainer and the main camera;

I like to be where he is so I can guidehim and communicate with himconstantly.

The only other scene thatrequired four camera teams was set

in an auditorium at the TechnicalUniversity in Berlin, where Dutschkegave a speech protesting the VietnamWar just weeks before he was gunneddown. Edel location-scouted theuniversity during prep and found theauditorium eerily unchanged by thepassing years. Its still exactly thesame, the director attests. I think we

just had to cover some modern loud-

speakers, but the rest was absolutelyoriginal. The only problem was thatit was much bigger than we expected!We realized we werent going to beable to do it with just 400 extras. On

the day, we got 1,200, which filledhalf of the room, and we eventuallydoubled them with visual effects.

Working with supervisorsfrom Arri Film & TV Services inMunich, Klausmann and Edel shotseparate plates with the extras pack-ing first the ground floor and thenthe upper level of the auditorium.The Arri guys came on set and told

me what was possible, or not possi-ble, or possible but very expensive!says Klausmann. Occasionally youhave to do things you dont like,because otherwise the effectsbecome too costly; the cameramovement might be limited or youmight have to be very careful aboutthe background. It helped to gothrough the shot list in advance withthe visual effects team and planexactly what we were going to do.

Klausmann kept the lightingin the auditorium as simple andnatural as he possibly could. Weswitched on the fluorescent lightsthat had been there for more than 20

years, and that was it, he says. Theywere the old kind of fluorescenttubes, but they were fine; we didntchange any bulbs. The light was alittle bit green, but the place lookslike what it should look like: a

Anarchy in the BRDRight: Gudrun

Ensslin (JohannaWokalek) and

Horst Mahler(Simon Licht)

take aim whilereceiving

military trainingat a camp in

Jordan run bythe Palestinianorganization El

Fatah. Below:Ulrich (JakobDiehl) takes a

tense phone callduring the

occupation of theGerman embassy

in Stockholm.


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40 September 2009

university hall. We just corrected forthe green a little bit in the DI.

Gaffer Peter Fritscher recalls,The university had a system thatallowed us to change the color of thefluorescent tube lights, but only in

the entrance not the whole hall.We just matched those to the lightswe couldnt change in the rest of thehall. There were no other film lightsat all; we just used reflector board forthe actors eyes on some of the closeshots.

Shooting fluorescents withKodak Vision2 250D 5205 gave thefour camera teams just enough light.Rainer and I were about one stopunderexposed because we were onthe zoom, which was only a T3.5,says Miegel. The Master Primes onthe other cameras were aroundT2.8. Klausmanns preference fornatural lighting and the use of eitherVision2 50D 5201 or 250D 5205 forall interior scenes (only night sceneswere shot on Vision2 500T 5260)meant that lenses were almost wideopen throughout the shoot. Wewere usually somewhere between T2and T2.8, continues Miegel. Itmakes my job harder, but Ive

worked with Rainer for eight yearsand its always like that!

When Meinhof, Baader andother prominent RAF members werearrested in June 1972, they were sentto Stammheim Prison in Stuttgartand eventually faced a trial that lastedfrom 1975 until 1977. The lengthyhearings were held inside the prisonin a multi-purpose hall that remainsvirtually unaltered to this day; onceagain the filmmakers were able to re-

create events in the exact locationwhere they originally took place. Myapproach to lighting that room wasthe same as at the university, saysKlausmann. I mostly used what wasthere. Suspended above the hall wereabout 50 banks of fluorescent tubesthat had been there since the prisonwas built. These provided generallighting, but a few small fixtures, suchas 4-bank Kino Flos, were used to

Anarchy in the BRD

Top: Baader risesto taunt the judge

as he and hisco-defendants

stand trial inStammheim

Prison. Middle:The multi-

purpose hall atStammheim,

another authenticlocation, also

remains virtually

unaltered.General lighting

was providedby existing

fluorescent tubesin the ceiling, but

a few smallfixtures,

including color-corrected 4-bankKino Flos, addedsupplemental fill

for close-ups.Bottom (from

left): 1st ACAstrid Miegel,

operator MarkusEckert and 2ndAC Miriam

Fassbender tendto their duties.


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44/108

add supplemental fill for close-ups;these units were color-corrected tomatch the fluorescents on the ceiling.Despite the size of the hall, only twocameras were used for the court-room scenes, and handheld camera-work was abandoned in favor ofSteadicam and tripod shots. Itskind of a static scene, says Edel. If

people are sitting and talkingthrough a whole scene there is noreason to pick up the camera andshake it around, so I said, Lets justput it on a tripod. I hate handheldcamerawork when theres no reasonfor it, and Im very happy with thosescenes. Trial scenes can seem veryboring, but of course theyre really

not; if you dont move the cameratoo much they can be quite intense.

Efforts to shoot at originallocations were so successful thatstage work on the film was limited tonine days at Bavaria Studios in

Munich, where historical accuracyand realism remained overridinggoals. Production designer BerndLepel rebuilt the cells and communalhallway that had housed the RAFinmates at Stammheim during thetrial, even sourcing original fixturesand fittings from the prisons base-ment. Bernds priority was to makethat set as close as possible to howStammheim had really been, so Idecided to use the same light andtold him not to change anything forme, says Klausmann. Often in astudio, its tempting to light fromabove because its easy, but I dontlike that approach. We installed theoriginal light fittings in the ceilingand supplemented those with light

Anarchy in the BRD

42

Edel (left) andproducer-

screenwriterBernd Eichingertake five on theKln-Ossendorf

prison set.


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coming in the windows just as wehad at the prison.

Fritscher adds, We usedcolor-corrected Osram Lumiluxtubes for the practical fixtures on theceiling to match what had been there

in the original location. From outsidethe windows we had Dinos behind 8-by-8 and 12-by-12 frames of silk,Light Gridcloth, half diffusion andfull diffusion. In the hall there was abig wall of glass bricks; comingthough that we had one QuarterWendy and three Dinos behind a 20-by-20 of Light Grid. The naturalisticlighting design gave the actors andcamera total freedom of movement,allowing Edel to shoot as though hewas at another authentic location.

For smaller scenes like that,we always used just one camera, saysKlausmann. I prefer to work thatway because the actors know whatsgoing on and Im able to control thewhole thing. With more than one

camera you always have to keep adistance from the actors so thecameras dont see each other.

Arri Film & TV Serviceshandled almost every aspect of post,including front-end lab work, visual

effects and the 2K digital intermedi-ate. Alex Klippe, a DI producer at thefacility, oversaw the ingestion of allthe old newsreel footage. There wasfilm negative, print film, HD video,DigiBeta and MPEG-4 materialfrom various archives and privatecollections, he says. We scanned allthe neg and print at 2K on anArriscan, just like the rest of the film.We captured all the video withClipster and blew it up to 2K inLustre, using a LUT for the linear-to-log conversion. The MPEG-4 mater-ial was rendered out to a single filesequence in Shake.

Both Klausmann and Edelattended the final grade and workedtogether to blend all of the disparate

elements together into a seamlesswhole. For me, it was a successfulcollaboration, says the cinematogra-pher. Uli is a good director to workwith; hes really quiet and he knowswhat he wants to do, but you can

discuss anything and offer otheropinions. Were about to start a newfilm together in Berlin, so somethingmust have worked! I

TECHNICAL SPECS

Super 1.85:1(3-perf Super 35mm original)

Arricam Studio, Lite

Arri and Angenieux lenses

Kodak Vision2 50D 5201, 250D5205, 500T 5260

Digital Intermediate

Printed on Kodak Vision 2383


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44 September 2009

During a press conference atthis years Cannes FilmFestival, Quentin Tarantinomaintained, I am not anAmerican filmmaker. I make

movies for the planet Earth. Thedirector and his crew were at the fes-tival for the world premiere of hislatest creation, Inglourious Basterds,

whose intentionally misspelled titleis the first of many twists from aproduction that combines aEuropean milieu with its earthlingauteurs stylized sensibilities.

The World War II saga wasshot mostly at the BabelsbergStudios near Berlin, with an interna-tional cast that includes Brad Pitt,Mlanie Laurent, Diane Kruger andChristoph Waltz. One of Tarantinos

innovations was to allow the charac-ters to speak in their native tongues;the subtitled film skips easily fromFrench to English to German, andmastery of foreign tongues, the sub-tlety of accents, and even body lan-guage are all important plot points.

Inglourious marks the thirdcollaboration between Tarantino

and Robert Richardson, ASC, fol-lowing Kill Bill: Vol. I(ACOct. 03)and Vol. II. Prior to teaming withTarantino, Richardson shot 11 filmsfor Oliver Stone before establishingan ongoing rapport with MartinScorsese (for whom he recently shotthe forthcoming thriller ShutterIsland). Richardson has won twoAcademy Awards for JFK (ACFeb. 92) and The Aviator(ACJan.

05) and notched three otherOscar nominations, and he has beennominated for eight ASC Awards.

Inglourious Basterds unfoldsas a series of chapters that weavethree subplots united by one verybad guy, Gestapo Col. Hans Landa(Waltz). In an opening that evokesSpaghetti Westerns, Landa and his

posse of Nazis drop in on a Frenchfarmer and his family. While soldiersand the family wait outside, Landamethodically asks the farmerincreasingly pointed questionsabout the whereabouts of missingJewish neighbors during a cat-and-mouse sequence that builds inex-orably to violence.

After Landa kills her family,Shosanna (Laurent) escapes to Paris,

World War II is

the backdrop forQuentin Tarantinos

stylized revengefantasy, shot by

Robert Richardson, ASC

by Benjamin B

Unit photography by

Franois Duhamel, SMPSP

A Nazis

WorstNightmare


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film directed by Eli Roth; the pro-duction even arranged for leadactress Laurent to learn how to runa film projector. The final sequencegathers its main characters at the bigmovie premiere, leading to a spec-tacular, surprising conclusion fol-lowed by an ironic epilogue.

In discussing Tarantinosapproach to moviemaking, Rich-

ardson agrees that the directorqualifies as a film purist.Richardsons longtime cameraassistant, Gregor Tavenner, concurs,noting that Tarantino eschews the

where she runs a movie theater andmeets top Nazi brass. WhenShosanna learns that her theater hasbeen chosen for the VIP premiere ofa Nazi propaganda film, she sees anopportunity for revenge.

Elsewhere in France, a unit ofJewish-American soldiers, led byhillbilly Aldo Raine (Pitt), lurksbehind enemy lines terrorizing

Nazis with the threat of mutilation,scalpings and executions by baseballbat. Tales of these Basterds eventu-ally reach Hitler, who throws a fit.

Meanwhile, in London, theBritish high command hatches aplot to blow up the movie premiere.German-speaking agents are sent toa cellar tavern called La Louisiane,where they meet with a glamorousGerman actress (Kruger) who isactually a British secret agent. In a

lengthy scene, the agents exchangepleasantries with a party of drunkenGerman soldiers, and then with asuspicious Gestapo officer, beforeengaging in a climactic shootout.

As always with Tarantinosfilms, Basterds is rife with cinematicreferences. Indeed, much of theaction takes place inside the movietheater during the projection of ablack-and-white film-within-a-


video village found on most con-temporary sets. The only videomonitor on the set is the small oneon the camera, says Tavenner.During takes, Tarantino stays nextto the camera, near the actors. Ifthere is a dolly move, he climbsalong for the ride, looking at theactors and glancing at the smallTransvideo monitor on the camera

to check the framing.Tarantino favors shooting

with a single camera, going againstthe trend for two cameras, whichoften necessitates lighting and stag-

Opposite: CoHans Landa(Christoph Wquestions aFrench farman early, pivscene inInglouriousBasterds. Thpage, top: SDonny Dono(Eli Roth, lefand Lt. AldoRaine (Bradare two of thBasterds, unit of JewiAmericansoldiers whterrorize Nabehind enemlines. BottomCinematogrRobertRichardson,

shapes the l

Imagescourtesyo

fTheWeinsteinCo.


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46 September 2009

A Nazis Worst Nightmare

ing compromises. You get such ahandcrafted movie, Tavennerenthuses. The actors know theyregoing to do a lot of setups becauseits only one camera, but they get toperfect their craft. The camera rollsfor as many takes as necessary toperfect each shot, and its a real joy

and a pleasure.Tavenner explains that the

director enforces a quiet set:Quentin creates a beautiful envi-ronment for the actors to performin. The crew is trained to be so

respectful. Tarantino bans cell-phones from his set; a securityperson at the door collects allsuch phones. Tavenner recalls atense moment when producerHarvey Weinstein came to visit theset and the guard asked for hisphone. There was a moments pause,

but Weinstein finally handed overhis cellphone and nodded to hisassistant, who then handed overfour more. Everybody cheered,Tavenner recalls with a chuckle.

Richardsons longtime gaffer,

Ian Kincaid, describes anotherTarantino tradition on the set: everyhundred cans of exposed film arecelebrated on the spot with a glass ofchampagne for each crew member.Quentin is very gracious. Hell say,Hey, everybody gather round. Letscelebrate another 100 rolls! even

if its 11 in the morning. Duringproduction, Tarantino also arrangedfor evening crew screenings of fea-tures he personally selected.

Part of the period style ofInglourious Basterds is created viadolly and crane movements. In away, says Tavenner, its a classicstyle. Theres maybe one Steadicamshot in the whole film. ATechnocrane was used sparingly(once to sweep across the audience

in the movie theater), but the bulk ofthe crane shots were done withRichardson riding a one-personcrane made by Grip FactoryMunich, allowing for more organic,less automated movements than aremote head would produce. Ioften use a crane as a dolly when thespace allows, because it allows forgreater movement, the cinematog-rapher notes. I can also do a track-

Escaping toParis after herfamily dies at

the hands ofNazis, Shosanna

Dreyfus(Mlanie

Laurent) takescharge of a

movie theater.


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ing shot without seeing the dollytrack in frame.

Inglourious was shot withPanavision anamorphic Primo andG-Series lenses, as well as the com-panys new anamorphic zooms anda Panavised Cooke. The Primosheld up the best in terms of overallresolution, Tavenner asserts. Youhave a sweet spot between T2.8 andT4. If you can close those lenses

down a stop, you gain quality that iswell worth it.

Richardson explains thatTarantinos propensity for wide-angle lenses and centered framinggive the film a contemporary, origi-nal feel. I could have shot the moviewith just the 35, 40 and 50mm, hesays. Thats not what you would doon an old-fashioned movie, though;this lensing is more modern.

Quentin and I will have these

interesting little battles while Imcomposing a shot, Richardson con-tinues. I naturally move to one sideor the other, especially when shoot-ing anamorphic, whereas Quentinenjoys dead-center framing. For sin-gles in particular, were just cuttingdead-center framing from one sideto the other, with the actors looking

just past the barrel of the lens.Part of the distinctive look of

Inglourious Basterds stems from itsdisregard for pure naturalism andlighting motivation, which also con-tributes to its impressionistic periodfeel. For example, the look of theopening scene in the farmhouse isdefined by hot, hard daylight thatshines down onto a table, bouncingto illuminate the two characters.Although one can imagine a skylightabove the table, there is no clear

motivation for the farmhouse light-ing. I dont believe there alwaysneeds to be a motivation for a light,says Richardson. Sometimes youhave to light for what you feel thesequence is.

When hertheater ischosen for tpremiere of Nazi propagfilm, Shosanrecognizes opportunity avenge herfamilys deaThe climactsequence bthe theater and the Nazinside tofiery end.



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48 September 2009

He explains that he avoided asource-y approach to the scene (i.e.,having the main source comethrough the windows) in partbecause this would have put a lotmore light on the background. Here

you feel the daylight on their faces

but the background is relativelydark. The room was tiny and thesource was isolating them in thatsmall space. He points out that the

table bounce is also adapted to theaction of the scene: Landa fills outhis paperwork, while the farmer hasa tendency to look down. I felt itwas important to have light in theireyes and to always have that brightspot available to the iris if so

desired, he say

a me cinematographer 0909

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