american cinematographer

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

Alar Kivilo, ASC, CSC

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

TO SUBSCRIBE BY PHONE:

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

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’ve always been captivatedby the power of images andhow they create a visceral,

emotional response in theviewer. Even though cinema ismore than 100 years old, therestill isn’t a quantifiablecinematic language thatconsistently elicits a desiredresponse in the audience.Instead, each movie is acreative journey of discoverywherein one finds the light,compositions, colors,movements and juxtapositionsof images that best tell thestory at hand. This journey isalways pure magic.

“I started readingAmerican Cinematographeras a young cinematographer inCanada. It not only provided a window into the world Iaspired to enter, but was alsomy unofficial film school.

“I continue to devour ACin search of clues as to how my fellow cinematographersfind the right languages fortheir films.”

— Alar Kivilo, ASC, CSC

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The International Journal of Motion Imaging

34 All Together NowSeamus McGarvey, ASC, BSC spotlights Marvel’s top superheroes for The Avengers

52 Beauty in BattleGreig Fraser brings new vision to classic tale with Snow White and the Huntsman

62 Blood RelativesBruno Delbonnel, ASC, AFC exhumes a vampire in the swingin’ Seventies for Dark Shadows

74 Blast from the PastBill Pope, ASC takes on time-traveling aliens for Men in Black III

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8 Editor’s Note10 Short Takes: The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom18 Production Slate: Moonrise Kingdom • Hemingway & Gellhorn84 New Products & Services

100 International Marketplace101 Classified Ads102 Ad Index104 ASC Membership Roster106 Clubhouse News108 ASC Close-Up: Sam Nicholson

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OFFICERS - 2011/2012

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6


The Avengers is the superhero summit Marvel fans havebeen waiting for their entire lives. I know this because ourassociate editor, Jon Witmer, has been vibrating withexcitement since 2008, when Nick Fury (played by SamuelL. Jackson) first popped up in a post-credits coda to IronMan. Shortly after Jon was revived by paramedics, hebegan pleading to cover the production, and he achievedhis dream last August, when he was dispatched to hishometown of Cleveland, Ohio, to visit the set.

Clearly, Jon was the right man for the assignment,as he proves with an exuberant account of the shoot (“AllTogether Now,” page 34). While we pruned his ambitiousfirst draft just a tad from its original, Leo Tolstoy length,

what remains is a definitive piece offering plenty of insights from the filmmakers, includingcinematographer Seamus McGarvey, ASC, BSC; director Joss Whedon; visual-effects super-visor Janek Sirrs; production designer James Chinlund; gaffer Chris Napolitano; key grip JohnJanusek; dimmer-board operator Bryan Booth; digital-imaging technician Daniel Hernandez;and 2nd-unit director of photography Brad Shield.

Fans of the Dark Shadows television series are equally keen to see Tim Burton’s big-screen blood feast, which adds a wry twist by exhuming 18th-century vampire BarnabasCollins (Johnny Depp) in the swinging ’70s. Bruno Delbonnel, ASC, AFC ably achievedBurton’s desire to create a film that “felt like the Seventies movies that I recall from myyouth,” while taking care to create a lighting style that made sense with a vampire lurkingabout. “Sunlight was one of my principal constraints,” Delbonnel tells Benjamin B (“BloodRelatives,” page 62). “There could be no direct sunlight on the main character, so for themajority of the film he is in a kind of a penumbra.”

A retro vibe also lends mirth to Men in Black III , shot by Bill Pope, ASC. This timearound, Agent J (Will Smith) must travel back to 1969 to warn his partner, Agent K (playedby Josh Brolin in Sixties scenes and Tommy Lee Jones in the present) about an alien who hasalso turned back the clock to elude capture. “When people ask me what this movie is like,I tell them it’s a Hope and Crosby road picture, a comedy in the classic Hawksian sense,”Pope tells Iain Stasukevich (“Blast from the Past,” page 74).

Greig Fraser is another cinematographer who applied a fresh spin to his project’ssource material. With Snow White and the Huntsman , he and director Rupert Sandersbreathe new life into the titular heroine (Kristen Stewart), who trains for combat beforetaking on the evil Queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron). Fraser says the filmmakers were carefulnot to let the movie’s spectacle overpower its characters. “We wanted to submerge theviewer in this lush world of big locations and epic scale,” he explains to Jay Holben (“Beautyin Battle,” page 52), “but at the same time, we also wanted to be able to respond to small,intimate moments with our actors.”

Stephen PizzelloExecutive Editor

Editor’s Note

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10 June 2012 American Cinematographer

A Poetic Portrait of SurvivalBy Iain Stasukevich

The first four minutes of the Oscar-nominated documentaryshort The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom were taken by anamateur videographer in the small seaside town of Minamisanriku,Japan, just moments after a 9.0 earthquake triggered a tsunami thatproceeds to rush at the camera. Voices cry out as the dark wall ofseawater crashes through buildings and cars, sweeping them cleanlyfrom the land. In the clip’s final moments, a few elderly stragglersclimb the hill toward the camera as people rush down to help them,but the water rises too quickly, and the rescuers are sucked in withthe people they were trying to save.

At the time these events were occurring, documentarian LucyWalker was in New York, preparing for a trip to Tokyo to promoteher features Wasteland and Countdown to Zero. She was also plan-ning to shoot a short film about the cherry blossom while she was inJapan, and she’d asked cinematographer Aaron Phillips to join her incrafting a “visual poem about the ephemeral nature of life.”

When Walker first heard news of the quake, she recalls, “Isaid, ‘We can’t go there now.’ But my second thought was that

maybe it’s an important time to not run away, and to express ourappreciation of Japanese culture.” Phillips agreed. He notes, “TheJapanese people have an incredible respect for the duality of nature.That’s what the film ended up being about.”

When their plane touched down at Narita, rolling blackoutswere still in effect in many of the island’s major cities, the rail systemwas tangled by delays and detours, and portions of major roads hadbeen destroyed. Joining Walker and Phillips on the shoot was a localtranslator, Seattle transplant James MacWhyte, whose contributionsproved vital. “James is very sensitive to the country’s cultural sensi-bilities,” says Phillips. “It wasn’t just about being able to speakJapanese; we needed someone who sensed the subtleties behindthe language.”

The team made stops in Kyoto, Hiroshima and Tokyo. It wasa cold spring, and the cherry blossoms were blooming while thecountry was still reeling. In fact, many of the traditional hanami cele-brations — cherry-blossom parties that sweep Japan every spring —had been cancelled.

As they traveled, the filmmakers were careful to respect thesurvivors’ privacy, and they adopted a bare-bones approach to thefilming process. Everything they needed could be transported in two

Short Takes

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Directed byLucy Walkerand shot by

Aaron Phillips,the Oscar-

nominateddocumentary

short TheTsunami and

the CherryBlossom

presents a“visual poem

about theephemeral

nature of life,”says Walker.

I


backpacks: a Canon EOS 7D camera;Canon EF 16-35mm, 24-70mm and 70-200mm zoom lenses; a Canon 2x extender;a Canon 24mm tilt-focus lens; Series 9 NDand polarizer filters; and a Manfrotto fluid-head tripod.

“The last thing we wanted to dowas walk in, put a big camera in people’sfaces and ask for all the gory details,” saysPhillips. “The 7D was great because it’s verysmall. It looked like we were just takingphotographs. Even when we were doingsound, we just had a pistol grip and a micgoing to a small MP3 recorder.”

The only artificial light Phillips usedwas a last-minute addition, an AA-battery-powered LED lamp. He notes, “We weregranted an interview with a 16th-genera-tion cherry-blossom master, but he was onlyavailable at night. It’s not the way I wantedto light it, but a bigger light would haveslowed us down and been more intrusive.”

Much of the filming took place inthe heavily damaged northern T ohokuprefecture. Phillips and Walker drovethrough the affected areas, stopping alongthe way to visit refugee centers with dona-tions in hand. More often than not, the aidworkers and displaced townspeople wereforthcoming with their harrowing stories ofloss, as well as their hopes for the future.“You can spend hundreds of hoursresearching for a documentary, but some-times it’s better to just show up and talk to


Phillips (middle)shot the shortwith a CanonEOS 7D fitted

with Canonlenses. He

typically keptthe camera

mounted to aManfrottofluid-head

tripod,eschewing

handheld workin favor of

stable framesinspired by

classicalJapanese

composition.


people,” says Walker. “We couldn’t havedone that with a huge crew and a lot ofequipment. What we had going for us wasintimacy and spontaneity. Being there wasthe best research imaginable.”

One way in which The Tsunami andthe Cherry Blossom stands out from manyother documentaries is its poetic visual style.Phillips kept the camera on a tripod, onlyoccasionally going handheld. Between thedocumentary interviews, wide, lingeringshots of the rubble where homes, hospitalsand schools once stood are juxtaposed withslow, smooth pans through tranquil parksdraped in a snowy coat of cherry-blossompetals. “Many of our compositions wereinspired by classical Japanese compositionand framing, where the landscape helpsframe the shot,” Phillips says. “In many ofthese locations, the damage was so exten-sive that a well-framed static shot servedthe film the best. It’s a sort of movingphotograph that really allows the viewer tosee the details.

“I was quite concerned about someof the anomalies inherent in digital-captureformats, particularly when shooting someof the wider landscape shots and highlydetailed patterns,” he continues. “Byshooting predominantly on sticks, with slowpans and tilts, we avoided the ‘Jello-cam’breakup inherent in rolling-shutter cameras,

Phillips andWalker (bottom)

employed a bare-bones approach in

order to respecttheir subjects’

privacy. “The lastthing we wanted

to do was walk in,put a big camerain people’s faces

and ask for all thegory details,” says

Phillips.



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but we still encountered moiré and othercompression issues on some of the moredemanding, detailed shots. We placed veryhigh demands upon the camera and theHDSLR format, but all things considered, itdelivered in spades. Filmmaking is fraughtwith compromise, but also incredible oppor-tunities.”

Given the subject matter, it wasimpossible to avoid getting caught up in thesurvivors’ plight. “It was emotionallyexhausting, but inspiring at the same time,”Phillips relates. “Their livelihood wascompletely swept away, but they were work-ing together to rebuild. It was moving to seehow civilized and humane everyone waswith one another. We saw people at theirbest under the worst of circumstances.”

He also experienced nature’s dark sidefirsthand. He recalls, “I was in Iwaki, lying onmy stomach and trying to frame this shotwith flowers in the foreground and thisbeautiful green hill with a path of bloomingcherry blossoms in the background. Therewere these wonderful scents in the air, and Iwas thinking how beautiful it all was, whensuddenly a 7.0 aftershock hit. I’d never felt atremor before. I pushed my hands into theground and felt like I was on a rocking boat.The buildings around me were swaying. Itwas quite extraordinary, and the aftershockscontinued like that for the next two weeks.”

The filmmakers captured roughly 45hours of footage over the course of threeweeks. Walker and editor Aki Mizutani (whowas in Japan when the earthquake struck)spent a month shaping that footage into the40-minute final product, which premiered atthe 2011 Toronto International Film Festival.

The final color correction wasperformed by colorist Phil Azenzer at PictureHead in Hollywood. “I got the tones Iwanted in the camera, so [the final colorcorrection] was mainly about contrast adjust-ment,” notes Phillips. “We used powerwindows to lift people’s faces a bit here andthere. I’d just try to find a good angle wherethe sun was at their backs, and that usuallyworked quite well.”

“Aaron was able to accomplish somuch with the 7D,” says Walker. “He neverlet us feel the limitations of the camera.” ●

Top: Thejuxtaposition ofblooming cherry

blossoms and thedestruction caused

by the tsunamiunderscores “the

duality of nature,”which, Phillips says,

is “what the filmended up beingabout.” Middle:

Phillips frames twodisplaced boats.

Bottom: Thecinematographer

lines up a shot alonga path in Iwaki.


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Scout’s HonorBy Stephen Pizzello

Moonrise Kingdom teams Robert Yeoman, ASC with directorWes Anderson for the sixth time. Incorporating the arch humor ofprevious collaborations like Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums (ACJan. ’02), their latest outing concerns Sam (Jared Gilman), a precociousorphan who schemes to elope with his pre-teen crush, Suzy (KaraHayward). Letting true love dictate their course, the two run awayfrom Suzy’s family and Sam’s Khaki Scout troop, sparking a riotouspursuit by an overmatched posse of adults that includes a local cop(Bruce Willis), a scoutmaster (Ed Norton) and Suzy’s parents (Bill Murrayand Frances McDormand).

While the movie includes many of the visual tropes that defineAnderson’s style — symmetrical compositions, swish pans, snapzooms, and speed changes to emphasize key moments — the film-makers’ use of the Super 16mm format is a departure from their previ-ous outings, most of which were shot in anamorphic 35mm. Yeomanrecently spoke to AC about his work on the picture.

American Cinematographer:Why do you enjoy workingwith Wes?

Robert Yeoman, ASC: Our first film together was BottleRocket. We started referencing different movies in our prep period andwe found we were on the same plane visually. I often can anticipatehow Wes will want to shoot a scene.

One thing I really appreciate about Wes is that he has a very

clear vision of every element that will end up onscreen. If you ask himany question, his response is never, ‘I don’t know.’ He always has ananswer, and it’s always very specific. It’s very refreshing to work witha director like that and I feel that this is one reason his films have sucha cohesive, singular vision.

He appears to have an affinity for films from the 1960sand ’70s.

Yeoman: He has many different influences and he’s particu-larly fond of the French New Wave. On Moonrise Kingdom, he set upa screening for the cast and crew of an English movie called Black Jack[1979], directed by Ken Loach. We screened it during preproductionin Newport [R.I.]. Wes really liked the visual tone of that movie, whichwas beautifully shot in a natural style by Chris Menges, ASC, BSC.

What kind of prep did you do?Yeoman:We spend a lot of our prep time going to the actual

locations. We take a viewfinder and a digital still camera with us andwe block out scenes just to get ideas. Because we were planning toshoot on Super 16, I also had a 16mm camera with us most of thetime so we could see how the blocking and locations would appearon film. Our A.D., producers, production designer and everyone elseaccompanying us would stand in for the actors; in a sense, it was apre-shoot. We were able to make the necessary adjustments duringthe actual filming of the movie.

Why did you opt for Super 16?Yeoman: Wes actually brought up the idea of shooting

16mm, so I started shooting tests at Panavision Hollywood, compar-

Production Slate

Moo

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ScoutmasterWard (Edward

Norton) assessesa tree house

while makinghis morning

rounds at KhakiScout base

camp inMoonriseKingdom.

I


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DP Steven Fierberg, ASC

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Derrick Kolus, Chief Lighting Technician

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ing different stocks in both 35mm and16mm. Later I went to New York, where Weswas living, and shot extensive tests on16mm, using both an Arri 416 and Aatoncameras. Wes was very pleased with theresults of the Super 16, so we went with it.

In our tests we found that the fasterstocks from both Kodak and Fuji — the 500tungsten stocks — were grainier than wewanted. We really liked the look of Kodak[Vision3 200T] 7213 and decided to shoot

every frame of the movie on that stock. ItsASA of 200 presented a bit of a challengewhen we were doing our night scenes, but Iwanted to keep the look as consistent as Icould, and Wes supported that decision.

We also knew we’d be shooting inthe fairly rugged terrain of Rhode Island andthat we’d often be climbing to some veryremote places. If we’d opted for 35mm,we’d have been carrying a great deal moreequipment. We wanted everything to be

more mobile so we could more easily pick upthe cameras and run with them.

Wes favored the 1.85:1 aspect ratiobecause he felt that the story’s locations —like the house the Bishop family lives in —would be better served by that format.

Our main camera was the AatonXTerà. It suited us perfectly and was great forhandheld. It also can film at speeds up to 75fps and we used this on several occasionsthroughout the film to accentuate amoment. We also used the Aaton A-Mini-mas, which are very small cameras thatallowed us to get camera moves we couldn’thave achieved any other way. We had a fewissues with the A-Minimas; they occasionallyjammed, and we got some edge fog afterloading our daylight spools in the woods.The cameras aren’t perfect, but they’re effec-tive, and they allowed us to be very flexible.They were so small I could easily run throughthe woods holding one, and we used themfor the scene where Sam and Suzy are danc-ing on the beach so we could move aroundthem very quickly. We were shooting at duskand our window of light was small. I addeda small onboard video monitor on the A-Minima because the camera has a fixedeyepiece that doesn’t really allow you to seethrough the lens if you hold it low or high.

Were you using any special rigsfor other kinds of shots?

Yeoman: Wes wanted to stay low-tech, and I remembered that on Chinatown,the crew had mounted the camera on twopipes to create a kind of poor man’sSteadicam. We made one of those rigs, posi-tioned a person on each end of it, and hadthem walk backwards down various paths inthe woods. Fortunately, we had an excellent

Top to bottom:Suzy (Kara

Hayward) andSam (Jared

Gilman)rendezvous atthe appointed

time; Samdetails his plan

for theirjourney; Robert

Yeoman, ASC(bending downat camera) and

his crewprepare a dolly

shot for thescene.


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first focus puller, Stanley Hernandez, andsecond AC, Braden Belmonte, who both dida great job under very difficult conditions.

For shots of Sam traveling down theriver in a canoe, we traveled alongside him inanother canoe handholding the A-Minima,or we sat in the canoe with him to do close-ups. To get a very low shot of a dog runningthrough a field, I employed a homemade rigthat was like a little Pogocam with the A-Minima mounted on the bottom of it. Wesand I took turns running with it or hand-holding the camera to get the shot.

We did use a Technocrane for thescene in which Suzy runs up the steps insideher house. This interior was a set, and thecamera starts on the first floor and cranes allthe way up to the third floor. There wereother ideas about how to accomplish this,but I feel that the Technocrane was the mosteffective choice. We also used a Steadicamfor one exterior shot of Bob Balaban as hewalks through a field, but that was it forconventional camera rigs. Our key grip,Sanjay Sami, was very adept in the design ofour low-tech approach. To achieve the shotsthat establish the house interior at the begin-ning of the film, we laid a dolly track and Iwould swish-pan the camera at the presetmarks.

Why did you choose Rhode Islandas the primary location?

Yeoman: Wes did a lot of scoutingup and down the East Coast, and in most ofhis movies he doesn’t specifically identify thelocations — he prefers them to seem likethese magical places in the world that he hascreated. Rhode Island has a very rugged

Top to bottom: After cornering the young couple in the forest, Sam’s fellow Khaki Scoutsprepare to make their move; the grisly aftermath of the boys’ charge; director Wes Anderson

grabs a shot on the run.


landscape that worked beautifully for thestory. The exterior of the Bishop houseexisted there as a real location, and Wes wasvery much in love with that place as a settingfor the central characters. There were alsomany beautiful wooded areas. I believe thatRhode Island’s proximity to New York Citywas also a big factor for equipment, crew,film labs, etc., along with the tax incentiveswe received for shooting there.

How did you build up your stopfor the occasional night exteriors andthe climactic storm sequence?

Yeoman: For the scenes where Suzyis reading by the campfire, we started shoot-ing maybe a half-hour before dark and justkept shooting all the way into night. Some-times I would add one small fill light. I wasalways amazed when we got our dailies; Ithought some of the night scenes would betoo dark, but it was surprising how much thefilm saw.

For the portions of the storm thattook place at the exteriors of the scout camp,we used a couple of Lightning Strikes units,

giant Ritter fans, rain bars and rain towers.We placed two 18Ks on towers to backlightthe rain and often incorporated them intothe shot. We lit the subsequent scene insidethe church with traditional movie lighting —tungsten lights, Kino Flos, and two balloonlights floated overhead to provide a very softbase ambience. Our gaffer, Frans Wetter-ings, was a wonderful collaborator on all ofthese ambitious lighting setups. To create thestorm effects outside the church, we usedour Lightning Strikes units gelled with ½CTO to make them less blue. The shots ofthe kids climbing the church steeple weredone on a stage with a black background,with tungsten units backlighting the waterand the rain. We used real rain for thoseshots, but for the church windows, Weswanted us to create the rain effect withlighting rather than traditional rain bars. Weexperimented with some theatrical-lightingunits and found a system called Gam SX4that could project different rotating patternsplaced in front of Lekos; we just defocusedthem a bit to create the feeling of rain on the

windowpanes. Sometimes we evenprojected those patterns onto the interior soit looked as if rain was coming from thewindows.

The compositions in yourwidescreen films with Wes are alwaysvery striking, and this movie also has alot of centered framing and verysymmetrical blocking. How did theformat affect those aesthetics?

Yeoman: I love anamorphic — it’smy favorite format — and there wascertainly some tradeoff involved in losingthat 2.40:1 frame. Nevertheless, the ease ofSuper 16 was a good call. In terms of thecompositions, that’s just the way Wes seeshis world, and it’s the visual style he’s drawnto. When we set up shots, they frequentlyend up with that framing. He has alwayshad a love of theater, and he likes veryformal compositions. He’s also a big Kubrickfan, so maybe those films have influencedsome of his style.

A lot of Sixties- and Seventies-style snap zooms are sprinkled through-


Clockwise fromtop: Prepping a

scene on locationat the Bishop

house; the crewcreates heavy

rain for a shot ofNorton for theclimactic storm

sequence;Yeoman checksthe light on hisyoung leading

lady.


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out the film. Which lenses were youusing?

Yeoman: We carried a set of ZeissSuper Speeds: 8mm, 9.5mm, 12mm,16mm, 25mm and 50mm. We favored the12mm quite a bit, but we bounced aroundmore in terms of our focal lengths than wehave on our other films. The zoom was aCanon 11-165mm. It wasn’t as sharp or ascontrasty as the Zeiss lenses, but everyoneseemed to love it when we watched ourdailies. I tried to stop it down as much as Icould while shooting the exteriors in thewoods. It was dark and rainy when we weredoingthe shot of Sam and Suzy crossing theriver; I remember shooting that wide open,but the sequence wound up having a verynice quality.

How much of the movie’s colorpalette was created in the DI? There’s adistinctive yellow hue that reallyenhances the period feel.

Yeoman: Wes is very specific aboutevery color we photograph. Every hue in thewardrobe, sets, props, etc. is very carefullychosen. In the DI, he tends to take the looka bit warmer than what we shot, and hegenerally likes to push the color saturation.We didn’t use any filtration on this shoot,not even an 85 filter, but we definitelypushed the look with our colorist, Tim Stipanat Technicolor New York, who did an amaz-ing job.

How did you view your dailies?We watched our dailies in the editing

room, on a giant flat screen off an Avid. Ihaven’t watched film dailies in about fiveyears, but because we were eventually goingto a DI this representation of our workseemed acceptable. I will say that I miss theritual of dailies, where department heads gettogether to watch the film and discuss whatthey have seen. I find that it tends to ener-gize the crew and brings excitement toseeing their hard work realized onscreen.The times, they are a changin’.

TECHNICAL SPECS 1.85:1Super 16mmAaton A-Minima, XTeráZeiss Super Speed, Canon Kodak Vision3 200T 7213Digital Intermediate

Love and WarBy Jean Oppenheimer

While making his latest project, theHBO telefilm Hemingway & Gellhorn, direc-tor of photography Rogier Stoffers, ASC,NSC became fascinated with Americanwriter and war correspondent Martha Gell-horn, who covered major world conflictsthroughout her remarkable 60-year career.“She was an incredible woman and wrotebeautifully,” declares Stoffers, who satdown with AC shortly after wrapping themovie. “She went traveling in Africa in1962 all by herself. She was amazingly intel-ligent.”

But, as Hemingway & Gellhornrelates, Gellhorn (Nicole Kidman) was tobecome famous less for her singularachievements than for her marriage toErnest Hemingway (Clive Owen). The twomet in Key West, Fla., in late 1936, andbegan an affair a few months later inMadrid, where they were both covering theSpanish Civil War. They married in 1940 anddivorced five years later. Hemingway & Gell-horn chronicles their stormy relationship.

The project reunited Stoffers withdirector Philip Kaufman, his collaborator onQuills (AC Jan. ’01). They had access toextensive reference material, includingthousands of photographs, many taken byRobert Capa. Thanks to the bounty of refer-ence material, the locations, clothes andeven some of the action could be replicatedin exact detail. To take the quest for authen-

ticity even further, Kaufman and editorWalter Murch planned to integrate the leadactors with stock footage to depict the maincharacters traveling through the world inthe past.

With all of the planned visual-effectswork, it made sense to shoot digitally. HBOsuggested the Arri Alexa, and Stoffers wasexcited to try it out. “This was in January2011,” he recalls. “The camera was brandnew, and we went through two major soft-ware updates during prep. At the time,there was no ArriRaw, so we recorded 4:4:4Dual-Link HD with 3-to-1 compression to aCodex. We rated the camera at 800 ASA.To minimize the compression and the noisefor greenscreen scenes, we shot those at400.”

Though Stoffers normally favorsprime lenses, he knew Kaufman wouldwant to do “long takes that go from wideto close, and having the ability to changethe focal length during the shot would be abig help.” He selected the Fujinon Premier18-85mm T2 zoom lens, which he describesas “a real T2 with no distortion thatperfectly matches the [Arri/Zeiss] UltraPrimes and Master Primes we also used.”Videofax in San Francisco provided thecamera package, which included twoAlexas. “We always had some variation ofHollywood Black Magic [filtration] on thelens,” adds Stoffers.

The visual-effects work, which wassupervised by Chris Morley, involved notonly greenscreen composites, but also tran-

American journalists Martha Gellhorn (Nicole Kidman) and Ernest Hemingway (Clive Owen)rendezvous in the Hotel Florida bar while covering the Spanish Civil War.

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sitions from documentary material to produc-tion footage. “You can’t go straight from theAlexa to old film because the Alexa has nograin and no camera jitter,” notes Stoffers.“They had to create transitions in which grain,scratches, color and jitter were faded in andout.”

A team at Tippett Studios handled theinsertion of the actors into the newsreelfootage. To determine where to place theplayers, Morley used Maya software “tocreate a digital camera and line up a digitalgrid on the ground plane of the archivalfootage,” he explains. “From the digitalcamera, we then exported data regardingcamera height and angle, focal length and soon, and I’d relay that information to cameraoperator Kim Marks on the greenscreen set sohe could match those details exactly.

“We used orange duct tape to build a20-by-20-foot grid on the floor [of the green-screen stage], and once we’d lined up thegrids on video assist, Kim would lock downthe camera, I’d remove the practical grid, andwe’d be left with nothing but green,” contin-ues Morley. “I could walk around the stagewith a small monitor and see myself in thearchival footage, and I’d set the actors’marks.”

Dissolves between the productionfootage and the historical material werehandled at EFilm, which developed softwareto make this possible during the DI. To re-create camera jitter, Morley first had Tippett“create a node in our software package that[allowed us to] set two key frames, one thatwas full jitter and one that was no jitter. Weprovided both to EFilm, and they did thedissolves.”

Left, top to bottom: Hemingway strides through thehotel lobby; lighting balloons assist in the lobbyinterior; the “Condor ballet” required outside the

set, which was built in an old train station. Above:Rogier Stoffers, ASC, NSC lines up a shot.


➣


Hemingway & Gellhorn takes placein several countries, including Spain,Finland, Cuba and China, but all the exteri-ors and interiors were shot in and aroundSan Francisco. The main practical locationwas an old, defunct train station in Oaklandthat production designer Geoffrey Kirklandtransformed into the opulent lobby ofMadrid’s Hotel Florida, where Spanish CivilWar correspondents congregated whenthey weren’t in the field. The 117'x60'space offered 40'-high ceilings.

The audience’s first glimpse of thehotel lobby is a one-minute Steadicam shotexecuted by Tim Bellen (who sharedSteadicam duties with Will Arnot)that startstight on a piece of paper being ripped outof a typewriter. As the camera pulls back,the man clutching the paper hands it off toanother character. The camera continuesfollowing the paper, introducing differentcharacters as it moves through the enor-mous lobby, and eventually reveals some 40people standing quietly around the bar. The

front door opens and Hemingway strides in,and the atmosphere immediately becomesboisterous and jovial.

The building had three 28'-tallwindowpanes looking east, and a row ofwindowpanes high up looking west. “Tocreate a Mediterranean feel, [productiondesigner] Geoffrey Kirkland proposed puttingwarm stained glass in the high windows andfilling the side and bottom panes of the eastwindows with the same material to make itall come together,” says Stoffers.

“We put ND.9 and 250 diffusion onthe colored glass in the tall windows, and wehad to put a thin layer of semi-translucentplastic on the clear portions to help obscurethe array of lighting equipment that was justoutside,” recalls gaffer Steve Condiotti.

This array included seven 80' Condorsand two scissor lifts. Four Condors had20'x30' flyswatters filled with UltraBouncethat could either block the sun or be used tobounce light, and the other three held 18KArriMax HMIs. An 18K Fresnel was kept onone of the scissor lifts at all times.

“Two other 18K Fresnels were on

Stoffers prepsan exterior inSan Francisco.

The filmmakersfound all the

locations theyneeded for the

globetrottingstory in the

Bay Area.

30


stands outside, and in some cases they wereused to light the backdrop that was seen outthe door in reverses,” adds Condiotti, whoseDTC Lighting & Grip supplied the production’slighting. “There were also several 6K and 4KPars on the ground outside for other, smallerwindows.”

“To maintain lighting continuity duringsome of the long scenes in the lobby requireda ballet of Condors, and choreographing itrequired real skill,” says Stoffers. “Rigginggaffer Jeff Gilliam and key rigging grip DuaneRobinson did a fantastic job of pre-rigging theset, and best boy Chris Shellenberger and keygrip Gary Gill were instrumental in making itall work perfectly.”

Fortunately, the elevated train plat-forms were still in place on the west side ofthe building, so Stoffers could easily lightthrough the glass with nine Nine-Light Maxi-Brutes on stands to give that side of the rooma warm glow and block the afternoon sun.

For ambient light inside, his crewfloated two 8'x20' 12K Aerolight tungstenballoons, but because Kaufman wanted to beable to shoot 360 degrees at any time, they

could not be tethered to the ground. Robin-son, who had worked in the same locationfor Rent (AC Nov. ’05), built a truss that couldbe attached to the ceiling, and this held theballoons, as well as a black skirt that kepttheir light off the walls. The entire apparatuscould be raised and lowered as necessary.Additionally, the electricians moved two 4Ktungsten balloons around on the floor asneeded. Practicals in the space includeddozens of wall sconces and floor lamps, allon individual dimmers.

“Rogier really likes to see colorcontrast in the skin tones, and we achievedthat with the cool ‘daylight’ coming throughthe front windows and the tungsten lightinginside,” remarks Condiotti. Stoffers concurs,noting, “The Alexa is really good at mixingcolor temperatures, certainly in a daylightsetting with the color temperature set ataround 4,300°K. It’s a lot harder in a tung-sten environment because the chip is morebalanced to daylight. In tungsten situations,you have to exaggerate the colors to be ableto separate them.”

When possible, Stoffers used 30" Jem

Balls to light Kidman. “I love those lights,” hesays. “In general, I like to light women withround [housings]. The front of the ball is closeto the subject and the sides are farther away,which softens the shadows. I like to keepthem on my own Manfrotto boom arms,which allow me to adjust the light during theshot — starting up high at the wide begin-ning of a shot and getting as close as possi-ble when we end in a close-up — and stayflexible to changes in the staging.”

Stoffers has high praise for theproduction’s San Francisco-based crew,including digital-imaging technician JordanLivingston, and 1st AC Patrick McArdle andhis camera team. “I also have to mentionLeigh Blicher at Videofax, who located andpurchased several pieces of equipment wewanted to use,” he adds.

TECHNICAL SPECS 1.78:1Digital CaptureArri AlexaFujinon; Arri/Zeiss Ultra Prime, Master Prime

●

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D irt and soot blanket six lanes of smoldering rubble thatrun the length of a city block, and burned husks of carsand trucks lie atop slabs of concrete jutting skyward infront of shattered storefronts. The street signs indicate

this is what’s left of Manhattan’s 42nd Street and VanderbiltAvenue intersection, but in actuality it’s East 9th Street inCleveland, Ohio, on the 79th day of principal photography onThe Avengers.

In a nearby alleyway, Captain America (Chris Evans)stands near a row of cameras amid the bustling crew, and notfar away, director Joss Whedon is consulting with cinematog-rapher Seamus McGarvey, ASC, BSC in video village. Whenboth filmmakers come over to greet AC, Whedon says of hisdirector of photography, “Seamus is very fast, which I love, andhis style is very particular. It’s not over-thought, but it’s justhyperbolic enough for this kind of movie, which is insanitygrounded in reality.”

The Avengers builds on the foundation laid by theMarvel Studios features Iron Man (AC May ’08), Iron Man 2(AC May ’10), The Incredible Hulk, Thor (AC June ’11) and

AllTogetherNow

Seamus McGarvey, ASC, BSCbrings the Earth’s mightiest heroesto the big screen for Joss Whedon’s

The Avengers.

By Jon D. Witmer

•|•


www.theasc.com June 2012 35

Captain America: The First Avenger (ACAug. ’11), and takes its cues from thelong-running Avengers comic-bookseries, which first hit newsstands in 1963. In the film, StrategicHomeland Intervention, Enforcementand Logistics Division leader Nick Fury(Samuel L. Jackson) assembles CaptainAmerica, Thor (Chris Hemsworth),Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Hulk(Mark Ruffalo), Hawkeye (JeremyRenner) and Black Widow (ScarlettJohansson) to face the global menaceposed by Thor’s nefarious brother, Loki(Tom Hiddleston), who unleashes anextraterrestrial army in a bid to rule theworld.

Principal photography began inApril 2011 in New Mexico, andMcGarvey says his three months ofpreproduction were “vital in terms ofgetting to grips with the scale of theproject, and planning how we’d achievecertain sequences.” Shooting digitallywas a given because of the extensivedigital effects and the producers’ originalplan to capture in 3-D. But when thecrew tested a 3-D workflow by shootingthe “tag” that followed the end titles ofThor with Red Epic cameras andPanavision Primo lenses in an ElementTechnica rig, “it was not a successful dayof shooting,” says McGarvey.

“Although the native 3-D lookedgreat, each setup took too long,” heexplains. “I love when a crew picks upspeed and creates its own innerdynamic. Joss, too, likes to keep themomentum up on the set. Shooting 3-D is like throwing treacle bombs intothat beautiful élan. It wasn’t going toafford us the impetus and dynamism weneeded.”

Marvel subsequently decided tocapture in 2-D and convert to 3-D inpost, and McGarvey abandoned theEpic for the Arri Alexa. “I preferred thelook of the Alexa in terms of its rangeand its ‘roundness,’” he says. “I recog-nize [its image] as more akin to a filmlook.”

In fact, McGarvey was soimpressed with the Alexa’s performancein his tests that he bought his own;christened “Schatzi de Bayer,” it servedas the production’s A camera. The mainunit also carried three Alexas (rentedfrom Panavision Woodland Hills), oneof which “was always rigged inSteadicam mode, and the other twowere in studio mode and could easily beswitched for handheld,” says the cine-matographer.

“We shot with Primos, predomi-nantly primes, but we also used 19-90mm and 24-270mm zooms, and

occasionally we got a 3:1 long zoom,” hecontinues. “[With the zooms,] wetended to stay around 21mm and27mm, or at the longer end, like100mm.”

McGarvey typically maintained aT4 or T5.6 for day exteriors, and T2.8½in other situations. “I shot everything at[the Alexa’s base ISO of] 800. When Itried to rate it lower, like at 400, itseemed to build up in the shadows, andI didn’t feel it had the same range. So Isimply used IR neutral-density filters tobring down the stop for exteriors.”

The production also carried 10Canon DSLR cameras, eight EOS 5DMark IIs and two EOS 7Ds, all fittedwith Canon EF lenses. Their footagewas recorded to SanDisk Extreme Promemory cards. “I prefer the 5D to the7D,” McGarvey notes. “I like its largersensor and the way the depth of fieldfalls off quicker. But we used the 7Ds forany slow-motion work [that involvedDSLRs].”

Typically, when the filmmakerswanted to heighten an action momentwith high-speed footage, they rolled aPanavised Arri 435 loaded with KodakVision3 500T 5219. “We mostly usedslow motion for explosions at night, andfilm really holds the detail in both theflames and the low-key night exteriors,”U

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From left: Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.),Captain America (Chris Evans), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Hulk (Mark

Ruffalo) are among the heroes who stand united against a commonthreat in The Avengers. Below: Cinematographer Seamus McGarvey, ASC,

BSC (left) and director Joss Whedon keep the characters in their sights.



says McGarvey. “I pushed [the 5219]one stop on a number of occasions, andthough it looks grainy next to Alexafootage, generally speaking, the 35mmmaterial intercuts really well. Shootingsome film also meant we could carrythat camera the whole time, and it wasnice to have that flexibility.”

The filmmakers chose to framefor 1.85:1. McGarvey recalls, “I waskeen to shoot 2.40:1 because I felt it

would have offered more scope, but Josswas worried about the height of thecityscape, and he wanted to be able tocreate both vertical and horizontalmovement in the frame. Also, we had toleave space for the Hulk. He’s scrapingthe ceiling of our frame, and in 2.40:1the poor guy would have beenbeheaded!”

On the set, as McGarvey leadsAC through the rubble, he pauses to

introduce production designer JamesChinlund, who says his biggest chal-lenge was “to create a world that wouldallow these [disparate characters] tocoexist without seeming dissonant. Ofcourse, the comics were the foundationfor my work, because they’ve been prob-lem-solving that for decades; the[Marvel] series The Ultimates was anespecially key source.”

Equally integral to building abelievable world was visual-effectssupervisor and Iron Man 2 veteran JanekSirrs, who worked with 12 vendors tocomplete about 2,200 visual-effectsshots for The Avengers. “As a cinematog-rapher on this sort of movie, you have tocollaborate unequivocally with visualeffects — they’re part of the cinematog-raphy, and vice-versa,” says McGarvey.“Janek has been incredible; he under-stands light, and he has great taste andvision.”

The Third Floor provided previsand postvis services, which were super-vised by Nick Markel and GerardoRamirez, respectively. Like previs,postvis generates preliminary versions ofCG shots or elements, but combinesthose pieces with production photogra-

◗ All Together Now

Right: Theproduction turned

the aluminumvacuum chamberat NASA’s SpacePower Facility inSandusky, Ohio

into a SHIELDcenter where anexperiment goes

horribly awry.MR16s ringed the

chamber’sperimeter, and a12'x12' rig with

Kino Flos andVL3000s offered

additionalillumination.

Below: SHIELDdirector Nick Fury

(Samuel L.Jackson) senses

trouble brewing.



phy in order to validate footage, provideplaceholders for editorial and generallyrefine the effects. “Previs is invaluable toget everybody on the same page,” saysWhedon. “But, at the same time, youneed to be able to change on the day.There’s a very strong element of makingthis up as I go, and shooting what was inmy head when I wrote [the screenplay]but then forgot to tell anybody —which, I’m happy to say, Seamus rollswith.”

Down the alley in Cleveland, thecrew prepares a stunt in which CaptainAmerica will jump over a speedingAcura that’s on fire, retrieve his shield,and throw it at an alien that’s climbedonto the car. McGarvey muses, “This isan action movie, so you have to make itdynamic, and it has to have an impact.As the action ramps up, you want to feelthe change, and moving the cameraallows for that.” As if on cue, key gripJohn Janusek appears for a confab withMcGarvey. “We always have Chapmandollies and 50-foot and 30-footTechnocranes [on hand],” he says. “Weoften put the 30-foot Techno on aChapman Titan to reach some of the elevated sets.” McGarvey adds,“Steve Welch is our Technocrane oper-ator, Mitch Dubin is the A-cameraoperator, and George Billinger is theSteadicam/B-camera operator, andthey’re all unsurpassed masters at [creat-ing] momentum and dynamic move-ment. I also have the great support ofA-camera 1st AC Bill Coe and B-camera 1st AC Harry Zimmerman.”

The production’s work in Ohioalso included filming in NASA’s SpacePower Facility in Sandusky. The heart ofthe facility is a 100'-wide, 122'-highaluminum vacuum chamber thatChinlund dressed to appear as an activeSHIELD laboratory. Prof. Erik Selvig(Stellan Skarsgard) has been using thelab in an effort to tap the energy of thetesseract, a cosmic cube that promisesnear-unlimited power to those who canharness it. Unfortunately for SHIELD,the tesseract opens a portal throughwhich Loki appears, and the cube’sgrowing energy output causes the entireImag

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From top: A frame ofthe previsualizationcreated by The ThirdFloor for a sceneinvolving Black Widow(Scarlett Johansson)and Hulk; a frame fromthe live-action platephotography shot onset; a postvis frame,which compositedelements of the previswith the live-actionfootage to inform theprogression of thevisual effects; the finalcomposite frame.



facility to collapse. The Space Power Facility “was

one of our most spectacular locations,”says McGarvey, “but it was tricky tolight because we wanted to look allaround.” The solution was to utilize ashallow trough that circled the base ofthe chamber. After gaffer ChrisNapolitano and his crew rigged thetrough with about 1,500 MR16 globes,“the light bounced everywhere and litthe entire dome,” says McGarvey.

“Over the center of the area, webuilt a 12-by-12 rig with daylight KinoFlos and a few [Philips Vari-Lite]VL3000 moving lights that we couldfocus down to highlight pieces of theset,” adds Napolitano. The rig wassuspended on chain motors so it couldbe adjusted for the frame line.

“CG swirls of energy were to beadded to the chamber, but Janek wantedus to provide an interactive, blue glow atthe top of the space as the facility isabout to collapse,” says McGarvey. “Weused 6K Pars and an 18K ArriMax tolight the top of the dome, and the gripsused flags to create a pulsating effect.”

“I’m a big proponent of shootingsome real-world reference as a guide fordigital work,” Sirrs notes in an e-mailinterview with AC. “And Seamus was

◗ All Together NowTop: SHIELD’s

Helicarrier takesto the skies,offering theAvengers a

mobileheadquarters.

Middle: TheHelicarrier’s

bridgeincorporated a

massive viewingwindow; visualeffects replacedthe bluescreen

used on set withsky and movingclouds. Bottom:

An Arri Alexa ona Libra head

mounted to aTechnocranecaptures the

action around theAvengers’

meeting table onthe bridge.


soffet line

Carrier Bridge

N

S E

W

DP: Seamus McGarvey BSC,ASC

Gaffer: Chris Napolitano

Rigging Gaffer: Kevin Lang

Plots: Bryan Booth

1/4 Grid

1/4 Grid

935

930

5K

2K 2K

701 702

2K 8” 2K

black skirt w/ silk target

1

2

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8

9

10

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13

all inner spacelights1/4 CTB

1415

spacelight

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102 103

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112 111 110 109

116

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114

113

opto 455

opto 461

opto 467

opto 473

opto 703

VL3000

Bay lights1/8 CTB

425/426 428/429

431/432

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451/452

449/450

437/438

443/444

445/446

686/687

Bay Light

DMX 4x4 ballast on overhang to doublesmixed tubes superblue and 3200K

4021 4022

4025

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4031

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4035

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4023

4019

4020

4036

4037

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4039

4x4 mixed tubes

4x2 mixed tubes


The Helicarrier’sbridge wasconstructedonstage atAlbuquerqueStudios. Inaddition to thefixtures shownin this plot, theset was riggedwith MR16s andLiteGear LEDLiteRibbon foraccent lighting.At the bottom ofthe page is theviewingwindow, beyondwhich the crewpositioned spacelights, soft boxesand cyc strips toprovide“daylight”ambience in theset.

Ligh

ting

diag

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Bry

an B

ooth

.



always keen to light shots for [virtual]characters; he’d use props such as apartial Iron Man suit or silicone Hulkbust. We always rolled on the stand-inprops so we could see how they trulyread in-camera.”

On set in Cleveland, crewmem-bers demonstrate this point by steppinginto the alley holding gray and silverreference balls, a color chart, and whatthey refer to as “sushi,” a jiggling massthat’s meant to represent the color andtexture of the aliens’ skin. They take theirplaces in front of the cameras that havejust rolled on Captain America throwinghis famous shield at one such alien.After the cameras roll a few seconds ofreference, it’s on to the next setup.

As the main unit works in thealley, the second unit, led by directorJohn Mahaffie and cinematographerBrad Shield, polishes off a few shotstoward the north end of the 42nd Streetset. Shield says his unit’s biggest chal-lenge on the show was a chase sequenceshot on location along a 1,600' stretch ofsubterranean road near Pittsburgh, Pa.In the sequence, Loki has possessedHawkeye and Selvig, and they racethrough a tunnel with SHIELD agentMaria Hill (Cobie Smulders) in hotpursuit.

After scouting the location,McGarvey and Napolitano worked withShield to devise a lighting plan, and thesecond unit then had two weeks to rigthe location and six days to shoot theaction. The team relied mainly on B&MLighting Mac Tech LED tubes, whichwere placed along the ceiling and onvertical posts that divided parts of theroad into two lanes. The strategy “reallyenhanced the feeling of speed as thelights flashed through the frame,” saysShield. “The LED tubes give you morepunch [than a fluorescent], and we couldturn [the ceiling units] on or off to adjustthe distance between sections of lightand dark.

“To give the last few hundred feetof the tunnel a different look, we putnook lights on the ceiling that werewrapped in black,” he continues. “Wealso placed nook lights shooting up the

◗ All Together NowTop: Cleveland, Ohio’s

Public Square was re-dressed as Stuttgart,

Germany, where Loki(Tom Hiddleston)

attempts to control thepopulace. Middle: The

Avengers arrive on thescene in their Quinjet,

which was built onstagein Albuquerque, where

space lights providedambient light for thecockpit. Bottom: The

Avengers take Loki intocustody aboard theQuinjet; McGarvey

notes that the vehicleinterior was “riggedwith LEDs and small

tungsten sources, andwe keyed with a 2-by-4

Kino Flo.”


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tunnel walls to give some detail wherethe overhead lights weren’t playing.”

To capture the action, Shield andMahaffie mounted Arri Alexas andCanon DSLRs to the picture cars, andthey also worked extensively withPerformance Filmworks’ Edge System.“We had two cameras on the Edgevehicle, which was driven by DeanBailey,” says Shield. “The A camera onthe main arm was operated by GregBaldi, with Tony Rivetti pulling focus,and [operator] Peter Gulla and [1stAC] Chip Byrd handled the B cameraon a secondary remote head with a longlens.”

Following Loki’s arrival, Furyassembles the Avengers aboardSHIELD’s Helicarrier, a futuristicaircraft carrier capable of operating bothon water and in air. The Helicarrier’sbridge, a set built at AlbuquerqueStudios, serves as a primary site wherethe main characters gather. “We builtmany opportunities for accent lightinginto the bridge,” says Chinlund. “I think we probably broke records for the amount of [LiteGear] LEDLiteRibbon we used!”

“We used hybrid LEDs that[dimmer-board operator] Bryan Boothcould adjust to anywhere between

3,200°K and 5,500°K, and we alsoinstalled a lot of red LEDs for ‘emer-gency’ mode,” adds Napolitano.

The lighting inside the bridgealso included MR16s for accents invarious soffits and cavities, and ninediffused 4'x4' bay lights gelled with 1⁄8

CTB for general toplight ambience.“We also used VL3000s, focusing theminto a bounce card on the floor if weneeded to accent different areas of theset,” says Napolitano. “They had theability to go red for emergency mode.”The bay lights and VL3000s wererigged on truss motors so their heightcould be adjusted as needed.

The bridge has a circular shape,about 60 degrees of which is taken upby a large viewing window. A total of 22space lights were hung between thewindow and a bluescreen for generalambience, while nine soft boxes pushedtungsten-generated “daylight” into theset with more directionality. The centerfive soft boxes contained three ArriT12s gelled with ¼ CTB, while theouter four boxes each contained three5Ks gelled with ¼ CTB. Each box wasfronted with a 5'x8' frame of Light Gridand fitted with two 2Ks gelled with ¼CTB and ¼ Plus Green (for scenes thatrequired nighttime ambience). To give asense of daylight bouncing off cloudsand filtering into the bridge from below,22 10-light cyc units gelled with ¼CTB and 216 diffusion were positionedbeneath the window.

All of this lighting was run backto Booth’s dimmer board. “I use theHigh End Systems Hog 3PC as mymain board and server, and I used aLenovo 10-inch touch-screen tablet asa remote so I could stand on set withSeamus and Chris,” says Booth. “Whenthey said, ‘Turn that off,’ I knew exactlywhat ‘that’ was, and I only needed to hita couple buttons on my tablet to do it.”

Rivaling the scope of the bridgewas the set for the penthouse apartmentof Tony Stark (a.k.a. Iron Man), situ-ated atop Stark Tower in Manhattan.Surrounded by bluescreen, the pent-house set was constructed approxi-mately 10' above the stage floor and


Fury confabs with Iron Man and Hulk’s alter egos, Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, respectively. Thesebefore-and-after frames showcase the window-replacement work the visual-effects team performed inthe Helicarrier’s laboratory, and also illustrate the CG content that plays on the set’s monitors. The set

was lit practically, predominantly with built-in B&M Lighting Mac Tech LED tubes.



comprised an “exterior” platform (whereIron Man takes off and lands) that ledvia walkway into the glassed-in apart-ment. “It was a beautiful set with a lot ofmodernist elements,” says McGarvey.“It had very low ceilings, and I knew itwould have to be seen in wide angles toget the most out of it. I worked quiteclosely with James to incorporate prac-ticals and make sure there was enoughambience for both day and nightscenes.”

As a direct-sun source outside theglass wall, McGarvey used a 100KSoftSun on a blue-wrapped scissor lift.For additional ambience, “[rigginggaffer] Kevin Lang put in about 80space lights gelled with ¼ CTB, and we

flew a silk underneath them,” addsNapolitano.

“When we went to night mode,we used about six space lights gelledwith ¼ CTB and ¼ Plus Green,” thegaffer continues. “Inside the set was alot of practical lighting with LEDs.James built some channels up in theceiling, and we [fitted] those with 300-watt RFL globes on batten strips with216 diffusion for a bit of accent. We alsoput Source Four Pars inside 10-inchrecessed cans with some diffusion.”

A hallmark of the Iron Man filmsthat continues in The Avengers is theinside-the-helmet view, which showsStark in close-up with superimposedpop-ups that represent his armor’s

heads-up display. “We wanted to feellike we were within the helmet, so thelens had to be quite close to Robert,”says McGarvey, who used Panavision’sFrazier Lens System with a 50mm lens.“At the same time, because there weregoing to be CG graphics going aroundthe head, we didn’t want the focus to falloff.”

To enable a deep shooting stop ofT8, McGarvey mounted a daylight-balanced LED ring light around thelens. Dubbed “the Big Softie,” the lightwas approximately 2' wide. “It wasmade by Nick Shapley, whose company,LCA, is based in the U.K.,” saysMcGarvey. “The Big Softie was inchesfrom Robert’s face, and it produced a

◗ All Together NowTop: Positioned

just behind GrandCentral Station,

Stark Towerdominates

Manhattan’sskyline in the

film. Bottom left:Thor and Loki dobattle outside of

the tower’spenthouse

apartment; whitecurtains were

pulled in front ofthe off-camera

bluescreen tomitigate any blue

spill in thefootage. Bottom

right: Whedonand Hiddleston

discuss the finerpoints of world

domination.



very flattering light. I didn’t want thecomplete circle, so I masked off part ofit with black wrap, and you just see twolittle triangles in his eyes.”

Back in Cleveland, Whedon and

McGarvey retreat to EFilm’s mobile-dailies trailer during their lunch break.Equipped with a grading suite and 12'projection screen, the trailer was onhand throughout principal photogra-

phy. EFilm also provided the produc-tion with a profile look that matched themonitors in the trailer with the HPDreamColor monitors used on set andat digital-imaging technician DanielHernandez’s station.

“I used Technoprops’ four-chan-nel color system, called Ccolor, whichwas developed by Alex Arango,” notesHernandez, who sourced most of hisgear from Videohawks. “It allowed meto color-correct four cameras in realtime using one laptop, instantly copylooks from camera to camera, and adjustthe image on each camera.”

The filmmakers recorded inArriRaw to Codex digital recorders thatHernandez linked with his station’s IPaddress so that each time the camerasrolled, the recorders would pull thecorresponding camera’s CDL metadatafrom Ccolor. “I also created a CDL logwith the scene, take, roll number andtime-code stamp that could be ingestedinto EFilm’s color system, and Irecorded reference video to aCompactFlash card that I handed off toEFilm at the end of every day,” addsHernandez.

After lunch, the crew continuesshooting the sequence involving theburning Acura. The alien in the scene is portrayed on set by a performer wearing a gray bodysuit dotted withmotion-capture markers. “All of theproduction-based motion capture wasdone live in-camera primarily because itinvolved digital characters interactingwith live-action characters,” notes Sirrs.“Character performances for entirelydigital shots were captured with dedi-cated motion-capture sessions duringpost, and several sessions were donewith Mark Ruffalo so that the idiosyn-crasies of his performance could beincorporated into the [all-CG] Hulk.”

The footage shot in downtownCleveland is all part of the battle thatdominates The Avengers’ third act, whenthe heroes must stand united against theonslaught of Loki’s alien hordes. East9th Street provided the backdrop forone of the sequence’s most explosivepieces, in which the aliens strafe the


Top and middle:Cleveland, Ohio’s East

9th Street was dressedas Manhattan’s 49th

Street for portion’s ofthe film’s climactic

battle. Practicalexplosions tore

through the location,and visual effects then

added strafing aliencraft and laser blasts,

and replaced thebackground. Bottom: B-camera/Steadicam

operator GeorgeBillinger captures the

action as CaptainAmerica navigates the

chaos.


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street, sending cars and trucks airborneamid pillars of flame and billowingsmoke. “The hero angle looked straightdown the street as the explosions cametoward us,” McGarvey details. “It was aspectacular image, and it really was in-camera. Dan Sudick, the special-effectssupervisor, is a genius at choreographingthis kind of mayhem.”

All of the production’s cameras,plus additional Alexas and 435s special-ordered for the day, were used to capturethe effect. Most of the DSLRs wereplaced in crash housings and positionedin the midst of the action; one 5D wasgiven to a stunt performer who filmedas he ran through the chaos, providingwhat McGarvey calls “wonderful,immersive footage.”

The crux of the battle occurs infront of Grand Central Station, “sort ofthe crossroads of New York City,” saysChinlund. “Because of the viaduct thatreaches over 42nd Street and thetunnels that surround Grand Central,it’s a super-exciting setting for the finalbattle.” Although principal photographyincluded a few days of location work inManhattan, most of the battle actionwas shot in New Mexico, where theproduction re-created the viaduct andestablished a day-exterior look inside a400'-long former railroad facility.

“When we found that space, Iurged the producers to shoot inside, andI assured them we could make it looklike daylight,” says McGarvey. “Initially,it seemed the cost would be prohibitive,but shooting inside actually saved usnumerous days because we could keepshooting in really bad weather. It was agood investment.”

“Normally, I plead with anyonewho will listen to never shoot anoutdoor sequence on a compositestage,” says Sirrs, “but the viaduct exte-rior was a special case. The location issupposed to be in shadow for 90 percentof the day, and matching diffuse lightingconditions is much more achievablethan simulating direct light.”

Rigging key grip John Beran andhis crew hung greenbeds for access to allof the lamps in the space, and 1,300' of


Top and middle: Theproduction re-created

the viaduct thatextends over 42nd

Street in front ofGrand Central Station

inside a formerrailway facility in NewMexico, where 22 18K

ArriMax Pars werebounced into

UltraBounces tocreate a daylight

ambience. Bottom:Hawkeye, CaptainAmerica and Black

Widow steelthemselves for action.

Also visible are“alien” performers

wearing motion-capture tracking suits.


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greenscreen was positioned around theperimeter of the set, stretching from thefloor to 50' high. Janusek adds, “We alsohung UltraBounce. If we were close tothe wall and didn’t want green spill, wecould pull back the greenscreen and usethe UltraBounce for fill.”

Working from the greenbeds, the

electricians bounced 22 18K ArriMaxPars into 40'x40' UltraBounces that ranthe length of the ceiling to create theoverall ambient level. Additionally,McGarvey says, “We wanted to createaccents that would suggest light bounc-ing off glassy buildings, so we placed 8-by-8-foot mirrors [on the greenbeds]

that we hit from the other side withspots. That created splashes of hardlight that randomized the look andreally made it feel like daylight.”

To facilitate maximum freedomin the greenscreen space, Sirrs eschewedbackground plates in favor of building acompletely virtual environment by“projecting photographic material ontobuilding shapes,” he explains. “A dedi-cated stills unit from Industrial Light &Magic spent close to six weeks shootingpanoramic spheres with Canon DSLRsfrom a variety of vantage points in andaround our key locations. After thebasic building façades and streets werecreated from the stills, the digital envi-ronments still needed to be fleshed outwith everything required to add life tostatic imagery. We ended up creating ahuge library of digital dressing thatcould be used to populate shots asneeded.”

At press time, McGarvey wasnearing the end of a six-week digital


50

Evans, A-cameraoperator MitchDubin (seatedon dolly) and

McGarvey catchtheir breaths

amidst theaction in

Cleveland.


grade at EFilm with colorist and ASCassociate member Steven J. Scott. Thefirst four weeks were devoted to the 2-D grade, and the last two weeks werespent grading the 3-D conversion,which was done by StereoD. McGarveydescribes his work in the DI as “quitestraightforward. We’re doing a lot ofwindows and some very sophisticatedtiming, but it’s not a strident look. TheAvengers is quite sharp and crisp. Wewanted to make it feel believable, like it’sreally happening.”

During the shoot, McGarvey andWhedon found “key moments that weknew would play well in 3-D, but weweren’t trying to make things leap out ofthe screen,” the cinematographer notes.“The great thing about shooting 2-Dand converting in post is that there wasno sense of being corralled by 3-D whilewe were shooting; it was just going to bean enhancement at the end of the day.

“It’s with the greatest surprise andpleasure that I’m watching the extraor-

dinary 3-D conversion that StereoDmade under the supervision of GrahamClark,” McGarvey continues. “For theaction sequences in particular, it reallysymphonizes the whole thing, andenhances the sense of the city in jeop-ardy and the power of these characters.

“I embarked on The Avengers outof curiosity,” he notes. “I wanted to workwith Joss, I wanted to learn more aboutvisual effects, and I wanted to work on amovie of this scale. What surprised meis that once I got beyond all the trucksand mayhem that accompany a film ofthis nature, the inner sanctum of the setwas as recognizable as any low-budgetmovie I’ve done. There are the sameconstraints, concerns and energy, thesame instincts at play, and the sameheart and brain and eye.”

Back in Cleveland, as the sunapproaches the horizon and the martinishot draws near, Whedon observes, “Amovie this big is a strange hybrid. It’sutilitarian in the sense that it’s almost

run-and-gun. You’ve got 12 camerasbecause it’s a big action scene, or you’vegot one day to shoot five pages ofdialogue. Either way, Seamus makes itall really sing.” ●

Cleveland.A GREAT PLACE TO MAKE MOVIES. 216.623.3910

clevelandfilm.comTo find out more, contact the Greater Cleveland Film Commission.

MONDAY, AUGUST 8TH, 2011 4:05 PM

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51



The dramatic adventure Snow White and the Huntsmanoffers a new interpretation of the Brothers Grimm fairytale, which pits an evil, jealous queen against a beautifulmaiden. When a magical mirror informs Queen

Ravenna (Charlize Theron) that her stepdaughter, SnowWhite (Kristen Stewart), is destined to surpass her in beautyand become “the fairest of them all,” the evil queen ordersSnow White’s death, sending the young woman fleeing into

the forest. Ravenna sends The Huntsman (ChrisHemsworth) in pursuit, but instead of killing Snow White,he trains her in the art of combat. The young woman thenjoins forces with a team of dwarves to form an army, and theyreturn to the castle to confront Ravenna.

At director Rupert Sanders’ side on Snow White wascinematographer Greig Fraser, whose recent features includeBright Star (AC Oct. ’09) and Let Me In (AC Oct. ’10). Fraserand Sanders had previously collaborated on a number ofcommercials, and Fraser credits the director with being “verygood at taking the bones of an idea and turning it into some-thing interesting through his choice of actors, costumes, loca-tions and script. He’s a practical guy who uses what’s in frontof him extraordinarily well.”

The duo wanted the camerawork to be “loose and free,while still feeling true to a fairy tale,” Fraser continues. “Wewanted to submerge the viewer in this lush world of big loca-tions and epic scale, but at the same time, we also wanted tobe able to respond to small, intimate moments with ouractors. On our past projects, we endeavored to shoot in reallocations, using natural light, with only the tiniest amount ofequipment, and we hoped to bring the spirit of that approachon Snow White. We tried very hard to keep the [filmmaking]process as simple and quick as possible.

“This sometimes meant having extra pieces of equip-

Snow White and theHuntsman, shot by

Greig Fraser,presents an action-oriented version ofthe classic fairy tale.

By Jay Holben

•|•

BeautyinBattle



ment at the ready,” he continues. “Weused two cranes, a 44-foot Moviebirdand a 50-foot SuperTechnocrane, foralmost the entire shoot, but we mostlyused them as a very quick way to putthe camera where we wanted it. Wewanted to avoid the sweeping cranemoves audiences have come to expectfrom a story like this, and instead keepthe camera much more centered in themoment.”

After testing several camerasystems in prep, the filmmakersdecided to shoot most of the picture inanamorphic 35mm, and use Super35mm for some visual-effects work and65mm for select shots. “Shooting65mm goes against the idea of keepingit simple,” Fraser acknowledges, “butthe grandeur of the format really lentitself to this story. The 65mm materiallooks absolutely beautiful, and I wishwe’d been able to shoot more of it. Panavision’s System 65 was a bitbulkier and noisier than our light-weight XL package, so we mostly usedit for wide shots and establishing shots,because I would often find that[35mm] wide lenses didn’t resolve thefine detail in those shots as much as Iliked.” He composed the 65mm mate-rial in 2.40:1 common center, with atop and bottom crop.

Fraser shot Snow White on threeKodak negatives, Vision2 50D 5201,Vision3 250D 5207 and the recentlyintroduced Vision3 500T 5230. Hetypically rates his stocks at 2⁄3 of a stopoverexposed, “but for some scenes set insnow, I would pull that back to just 1⁄3

of a stop over.” The camera package, provided

by Panavision London, includedanamorphic lenses in the G-series, E-series and Primo lines, in addition tospherical Primos and System 65 lenses.“The G-series lenses are great on skin,”notes Fraser. “They’re sharp, but notpin sharp. They have a nice falloff thatreally works for a kind of glamorousfeel. With Charlize and Kristen, theylooked fantastic, and I didn’t need anyfiltration at all.

“When I was framing up with

the System 65 lenses, I was regularlyreminded of the image quality of some of my own Hasselblad andMamiya lenses on my medium-formatcameras,” he adds.

In addition to lending SnowWhite’s adventure “a great sense ofscale,” Fraser found that anamorphicwas “really useful for pulling our actorsout of the background, especially in theforest,” thanks to its shallow depth-of-field. “Natural forests are visually busy,and they can look pretty to the eye butless so on camera. A limited depth-of-field can help a lot.”

The film’s story spans more than20 years, and two different forest lookswere required: an Enchanted Forestand a Dark Forest. After watching anumber of movies that involved forestU

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phot

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by A

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Bai

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and

fram

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of U

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Opposite: TheHuntsman (ChrisHemsworth)apprehends SnowWhite (KristenStewart) in theDark Forest. Thispage, top tobottom: Firelightkeys QueenRavenna (CharlizeTheron) as sheschemes to outwither enemies; theHuntsman is calledbefore the queenfor a grimassignment;director ofphotography GreigFraser preps ascene in Ravenna’sthrone room.



sets built onstage, Sanders and Fraserlobbied production to shoot forestscenes on location. (The shoot wasbased at Pinewood Studios.) “Rupertand I pushed quite strongly to shootour exteriors outside,” recalls Fraser.“There’s no question that you havemore control inside, but we wantedsomething that would look more natu-ralistic, and, in fact, we wanted toremove some of that control so wecould be free to respond to happy acci-dents. We also wanted to be able tomove the camera freely, and buildingour forest sets outside enabled us to dothat.”

The thickly wooded DarkForest, a grim place where only unusuallife forms survive, was built in a clear-ing at Black Park, and it wassurrounded by an access track. “Wecould move 360 degrees and not beconcerned about running out of back-ground,” says Fraser. “Shooting with areal forest as our backing rather than aTranslite, bluescreen or painted back-ing gave our wide shots incredibledepth.

“I have to say, we got very luckywith the weather,” he continues. “It wasthe one thing we were most worriedabout in terms of working outdoors,but we ended up with many days ofbright sun and great weather. Rupert isBritish, and he was shocked that weactually had to be concerned about

◗ Beauty in Battle

Top to bottom: SnowWhite finds a brief

respite in theEnchanted Forest;

Ravenna considers heroptions; B-camera

operator Simon Baker(left) and B-camera

1st AC Shaun Cobleyprep a shot depicting

one of Ravenna’sconsultations with her

magic mirror. On thetripod in the

foreground is Fraser’sCanon DSLR, which he

used on most setupsto shoot stills that hecould grade and send

to Deluxe London as areference for color

and contrast.


in night interiors, and they often keyedTheron in the cavernous rooms in thequeen’s castle. “We used a mix of candlesand very large flames — a lot of flam-beaus — throughout that set,” saysFraser. “Initially, we thought we’d hookthe covered wagons to flicker generatorsand just use them as additional firelight,but they put a great light into Charlize’seyes, so we wound up using themaround her quite a bit.

“We had to be careful to avoidany sources that felt too electronic,” thecinematographer continues. “I’m a bigfan of LEDs for their low powerconsumption, low heat and high output,

shadows. He’d say, ‘There aren’t anyshadows in England!’ Ironically, thatmade our Dark Forest scenes difficult,because we’d planned on a lot of over-cast days with constant drizzle! Mygaffer, Perry Evans, wound up flying acouple of 40-by-40-foot solids onconstruction cranes to block out thesun. Anything larger would have beentoo hard to control in the wind.”

When the sun did retreat behindthe clouds, Fraser and Evans incorpo-rated the same solids to help shape theshadowless natural light. “We’d bringthem down to about 20 feet above theset to create our negative fill,” Evansexplains. “The 40-by-40 size workedwell because if the wind caught them,the guys could get a handle on theminstead of running for cover, and wecould [use them together] to get a 40-by-80 sail if we needed that size.” Asan additional safety measure, the crewcut 10' slits in the solids so the windcould pass through the material.

When a little extra light wasneeded for daytime forest scenes, twoLeelium 8K HMI lighting balloonswere tethered to the constructioncranes.

To help with contrast, and todeepen the feel of the forest, Fraser alsoemployed a lot of fog. “It does a greatjob at softening the background.Continuity with smoke is always hard,especially when the afternoon wind

gusts up, but the right amount helpedshape the forest in a way that nothingelse could.”

For night work in the forest,Leelium 16K and 24K tungstenballoons “were used in the deep back-ground to give us some depth, and thenwe used real firelight/flambeaus andcovered wagons [batten strips withsingle bulbs covered in diffusion] to doclose-ups,” says Evans. “The wagonshad high-wattage bulbs in them, andwe dimmed them down to get the colortemp we wanted.”

The covered wagons were alsoused in tandem with practical firelight

Top: Snow White detects a fearsome creature in the Dark Forest. Bottom: Stewart stands by inthe atmospheric fog as the filmmakers prep a crane shot in the set.




but their light felt too artificial. Theeffect of a traditional [tungsten] bulb isvery natural and very warm, both incolor and in overall feel. I liked thecovered wagons because they matchedthe color and feel of the firelight easily.If we needed more [output] fromthem, we’d simply use higher-intensitybulbs, and if we needed less, we’dswitch those out for 40-watt bulbs. Wedid use a dimmer, but very little; wedidn’t want the color temperature todrop too much.

“Also, I’ve found that in the DI,I will often make the image a bit darkerthan what we originally intended. Ifyou can put a bit more light in anactor’s eyes on the set, you have moreroom to darken the image [in post] andstill keep his or her eyes alive. Thecovered wagons were great for that.”

Fraser and Evans tried to designthe lighting to facilitate 360-degreeshooting at all times. “It makes thingsgo a lot faster if you can take thatapproach,” notes Fraser, “and it frees

the director and actors to make choicesthey wouldn’t otherwise be able tomake.” However, incorporating a 360-degree lighting plan was no small featin Ravenna’s mirror room, a set that hadone main entrance, tiny windows and adomed ceiling. “There was a large firepit in the center of the room, and therewas a vent in the top of the set to let outthe heat and smoke,” Fraser explains.“Perry and I used that vent for most ofour lighting.”

Evans elaborates, “We used fivehalf-Dinos around the edge of the hole.We warmed them a bit with ½ CTSand used some Hampshire Frost tobring the individual bulbs together asone source.” The crew turned the uniton or off as needed. “We always hadone of them going as a strong backlightto camera,” notes Evans, “and we hadone pointing straight down into theroom that was on most of the time.”

The queen’s throne room is anequally imposing space. To representthe darkness and decay that spreadswith the duration of her rule, produc-tion designer Dominic Watkins appliedincreasingly dark coats of paint to the


Right: In theheat of battle,Prince William(Sam Claflin),Snow White’s

childhoodsweetheart,prepares toconfront an

opponent.Below: Frasereyes a setup.Behind him is

the production’sgaffer, Perry

Evans.


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walls as the story progressed. “Of course,as the walls got darker, we needed morelight!” says Fraser. “Additionally, wewanted to be able to shoot some high-speed in the throne room, and with eachdoubling of speed, you need to doublethe light. It adds up very quickly.”

The solution, he continues, wasoverhead soft boxes “that were essen-tially on steroids.” Evans explains, “Webuilt 10 40-by-40-foot soft boxes thateach held 24 5K space lights, and weusually used two on each set. We wereable to run just a few [of the spacelights] for the 24-fps scenes, add a fewmore when it got dark, and then reallycrank them all when we shot high-speed [of varying frame rates].” 20Ksand ¾ Wendy Lights were positionedoutside the throne-room windows foradditional illumination.

The complications of shooting inmany of the production’s sets were miti-gated by the use of previsualization,which Halon Entertainment providedunder the guidance of previs supervisorBrad Alexander. “Halon created 3-Dmodels of quite a number of our sets,and before any actual sets were built, Icould go in with a virtual camera, selectany lens I wanted and start [planningshots],” says Fraser. The virtual camera-work was realized with an OptiTrackmotion-capture system.

“The mirror room was an espe-cially complicated set, and we wanted to


Top to bottom:Snow White is

affected by thedreaded poison

apple; thefreshly trained

warrior preparesto attack the

queen’s soldiers;Fraser fine-tunes

a shot for thebattle scene.


make sure the construction didn’t haveto be over-engineered,” Fraser contin-ues. “With the previs, we were able tosee exactly what we needed and figureout which walls needed to be wild, andthe art department could planconstruction accordingly.”

The previs also helped the film-makers plan the two epic battle scenesthat bookend the film. The first battledepicts how Ravenna infiltrates thekingdom, and the final battle, whichincorporates hundreds of soldiers onhorseback along a beach, shows SnowWhite’s attempt to defeat the queen.

“It’s always a challenge to coordi-nate that many people and animals,”Fraser says of the climactic battle. “Butwe were also dealing with the oceanand its changing tides, so each day wehad a very narrow window to executethis huge battle.”

Using 3-D previs models of thebeach, Fraser and Sanders could exper-iment with any number of camera

placements and moves, thereby deter-mining the best way to cover the actionbefore they hit the sand. “On thecomputer, resetting hundreds of horsesand soldiers to try another lens onlytakes the click of a button, whereas onset that would take you at least half anhour,” says Fraser. “We could also planour helicopter moves, which had totake into account a huge CG castle thatwould be added in post, and then givethat previs to [aerial cinematographer]John Marzano. We solved a lot of prob-lems and answered a lot of questionsahead of time using those previsrenderings.”

Of course, no Snow White talewould be complete without dwarves. Inthis case, there are eight, all of whomwere portrayed by actors of normalheight: Ian McShane, Ray Winstone,Nick Frost, Brian Gleeson, EddieMarsan, Johnny Harris, Toby Jones andBob Hoskins. “On a day-to-day basis,we had the challenge of making the


60

Fraser checks the light and hairstylist BonnieClevering tweaks her work as the B-camera team(background, from left: Cobley, Baker and loader

Tom Wade) preps a high-angle shot of Snow White in repose.


dwarves look smaller without usingforced perspective or CGI unless wehad to,” says Fraser. “We did play withsome basic forced perspective in certainshots by putting the dwarves fartheraway and the other actors closer to thecamera, but because of our loosecamera style, we weren’t very precisewith that, and we had to figure outfaster solutions.

“Through testing and discussionwith [visual-effects supervisors] CedricNicolas-Troyan and Phil Brennan, wecreated a toolbox of techniques that wedetermined would work very well,”continues the cinematographer. “Thesimplest involved digging a trench forthe dwarves to walk in, or putting theother actors on a platform that wasabout 14 inches high. We also usedslightly wider lenses to shoot thedwarves and positioned the camera a bitabove their eyelines to keep them moretoward the bottom of the frame, creat-ing a lot of headroom. These simple

techniques were surprisingly effective,and when we combined them with awide CG shot, where you see thedwarves in relationship to the othercharacters, you buy it without question.”

Deluxe Laboratories in Londonprocessed the production’s 35mmfootage and generated digital dailies(timed by Darren Rae), while FotoKemin Burbank processed the 65mm nega-tive, scanned it and e-maileddetailedlab reports and reference JPEGs to theset throughout the shoot. For the DI,FotoKem scanned the 65mm negativeagain at 8K, and EFilm in Hollywoodcreated 2K scans of the 35mm nega-tive. The filmmakers carried out thefinal color correction with Yvan Lucasat EFilm.

“All in all, although this is an epicmedieval adventure, Rupert and I triedto follow the philosophy that simpler isbetter,” concludes Fraser. “Even ourhigh-tech previs really just allowed usthe freedom to experiment before

things got too expensive, and tocommunicate our ideas more effectivelyto our crew. Throughout the shoot, westrove to keep the storytelling process atthe forefront of our work.” ●

61

TECHNICAL SPECS

2.40:1

Anamorphic 35mm, 4-perf Super 35mm and 65mm

Panaflex XL2, Millennium;Panavision System 65; PanArri 235

Panavision G-series, E-series,Primo and System 65

Kodak Vision2 50D 5201;Vision3 250D 5207, 500T 5230




Bruno Delbonnel, ASC, AFChelps Tim Burton give

Dark Shadows a satirical ’70s twist.

By Benjamin B

•|•

T im Burton’s Dark Shadows is loosely adapted from adaytime soap opera featuring vampires, witches andwerewolves that aired on U.S. television from 1966-1971. Asked whether he would describe his film as a

comedy, Burton replies, “It’s a real mixture of feelings andemotions, which makes it difficult to place in a genre. It’s notlike we were remaking the TV show; the movie has more todo with my memory of it. Setting the story in 1972 broughtback that time for me. You go through weird ages in life, and14 is one of them. You forget about it until you explore it alittle [as an adult] and realize how disturbing the whole thingwas!”

Dark Shadows cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel,ASC, AFC recalls that by following Burton’s lead, he imag-ined a mélange of genres in the approach to the picture,“something between a soap opera, which is overlit and whereyou see everything, and a dramatic film, with a little taste of ahorror film. I wanted to create an image that corresponded toTim’s world, a world that is elegant, subtle and poetic.”

“Bruno really thinks as an artist,” notes Burton. “Thismovie has an odd tone, and we were going for an odd actingstyle that tended toward soap opera, and it was important thatthe look [would] help support that. The feel, the look and theset all helped to inform the acting style.”

The story starts in the 18th century, when Barnabas

BloodRelatives



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Collins (Johnny Depp) is a wealthyplayboy in Collinsport, Maine, a towndominated by his family and their fish-ery business. Barnabas is romanticallyinvolved with Angelique (Eva Green),who turns out to be a witch, but aban-dons her for a woman of his morerefined class, Josette (Bella Heathcote).Hell hath no fury like a witch scorned,and Angelique kills her rival, transformsBarnabas into a vampire and buries him“undead.”

Two hundred years later, aconstruction crew accidentally unearthshis coffin. Barnabas goes on a killingspree and returns to his family home,which is now inhabited by some of hisdescendants, including Elizabeth(Michelle Pfeiffer), as well as live-inpsychiatrist Dr. Hoffman (HelenaBonham Carter) and a nanny (alsoplayed by Heathcote) who is the spit-ting image of Josette.

Much of the fun of the filmcomes from Barnabas’ discovery of themodern world, including cars, TV androck ’n’ roll. He attempts to help hisfamily regain prosperity, but is foiled by

Angelique, who is now running thetown. The witch has not aged a day, andshe comes to seduce Barnabas and try todestroy him for good.

To make the story’s 1972 settingconvincing, the filmmakers decided toshoot on 35mm and avoid 3-D. “Iwanted this to look like a Seventiesmovie,” says Burton. Delbonnel shotthe entire picture on Kodak Vision3

500T 5219 negative stock, pushing it toISO 800 “because all of the sets werevery dark mahogany, and we needed tosee them properly. I pushed in order tokeep my lighting list down. I usuallyshot at T2.8. We needed a rich negativefor the DI work I had planned.”

Tapping Panavision London forhis camera package, Delbonnel shotmostly with an Arricam Studio and

Opposite page:After spending200 yearsimprisoned in agrave, vampireBarnabas Collins(Johnny Depp,center) returns tohis family estatein 1972, only tofind it occupied byhis dysfunctionaldescendants. Thispage, top: VictoriaWinters (BellaHeathcote) arrivesat CollinwoodMansion afterlanding a job asthe family’snanny. Bottom:Barnabas admiresthe craftsmanshipof his formerhome while beingled through itsstately halls bycaretaker WillieLoomis (JackieEarle Haley).



◗ Blood RelativesCooke S4 prime lenses, which he calls“absolutely magnificent.” Both Burtonand Delbonnel favor fairly short focallengths; the lens of choice was the27mm, followed by the 21mm, and the32mm was used for close-ups.

After scouting a number of fish-

ing villages, the production decided itwould be more cost effective to build aperiod set onstage at Pinewood Studiosthan try to dress an existing town toresemble coastal Maine in 1972. Thehuge set included a small harbor in thePinewood water tank, with flat-hullboats that could be navigated in theshallow waters, and a large cannerybuilding that is burned down over thecourse of the story.

Both Delbonnel and cameraoperator Des Whelan stress theelegance and simplicity of Burton’s miseen scène, suggesting that the director’sunusual visions are delivered in a classi-cal form. Whelan surmises that Burton’sbeginnings as an animator might under-lie his economy: “Animators are veryaware of what’s needed to tell a story,and they don’t shoot more than that.Tim doesn’t like loads of coverage; hewants to make the story as lean as possi-ble, with no fat. You can almost take theclapperboards off and make the movie.

“He also has an uncanny ability tohold the entire picture in his head, withall the beats and rhythms that go intomaking a film,” continues Whelan. “Hehas a very strong visual style. He

concentrates on one image at a time.Most of the time, it’s a single-camerashow, and he likes the camera to feel likea secret observer tiptoeing around whatthe actors are doing.”

“Tim’s master shot is not anestablishing shot,” Delbonnel notes.“He will go wide not to show [thesetting], but to show the actors’ bodylanguage. When Michelle Pfeiffer walksin a scene, it’s not Michelle Pfeifferwalking, it’s her character. The same istrue with Johnny Depp. Tim trusts hisactors completely, and he uses every-thing they have to offer, not just theirvoices or faces.”

According to Whelan, Burtonavoided over-the-shoulder shots, prefer-ring clean singles that were often placedin the middle of the frame, with theactor looking almost straight into thecamera. “We’d have eyelines inside thematte box,” he recalls. “The actorscouldn’t see beyond the camera, whichwas literally a foot away from their face.It’s almost like we were X-raying them!Tim likes to bring the audience right upclose.” Burton notes, “This movie isbased on a soap opera, so it was impor-tant that it have an intimacy to it. It’s

Top: Barnabasrepresents the

height of 18th-century fashion as

he strikes afamiliar pose.

Bottom: A wide-eyed Victoriaexamines the

Gothic trappingsof her new gig.


not a special-effects movie. We wantedto emphasize the actors.”

One of the film’s conceits is thatBarnabas the vampire bursts into flameswhenever sunlight touches his body.“Sunlight,” says Delbonnel, “was one ofmy principal constraints. There couldbe no direct sunlight on the main char-acter, so for the majority of the film heis in a kind of a penumbra. Even at thebreakfast table, for example, I putsunlight at one end and not at the other,where Barnabas was sitting.”

The Collinses’ long dining tableprovides a good example of Delbonnel’slighting approach in interiors. For thewide shot, he beamed two 20K Fresnelsthrough the set’s two windows toprovide sunlight on one end of the tableand the background wall, softening thehard lights with ¼ Grid. When movingin for a closer shot of an actor, he “addedmore diffusion and some fill light.” Hesoftened the window source with twoadditional diffusion frames, for a totalof three. The closest diffusion was posi-tioned just outside the frame near theactor, and its glow wrapped around theperson’s face. “I start with 20Ks, andthere is almost nothing at the other

end,” laughs Delbonnel.The cinematographer then

added a 1K Lowel Rifa light on thesame side as the window, but closer tocamera. He diffused the Rifa twice, firstwith Grid Cloth, and then with a thick-ness of Depron, a polystyrene sheetused for heating insulation. This doublediffusion created a wonderfully soft fill“that allowed me to lift the blackswhich aren’t filled in the wide shot,” heexplains. The last option was to addanother Rifa on the shadow side.

Delbonnel notes that this light-

ing approach saves time because it does-n’t involve relighting the entire set, andit can be fine-tuned by changing diffu-sion materials. “For example, if I don’thave enough light, I can swap 216 for251 diffusion and get one more stop, butthat means the contrast will be higher,so I might add a little light on theshadow side. I’m only playing on thecontrast and the diffusion with filllight.” He adds that the diffusion frameand fill lights are so close to the actorthat they do not have any effect on thebackground.


Top: Barnabas has aword with themistress of thehouse, matriarchElizabeth CollinsStoddard (MichellePfeiffer). Bottom: The undead guestattempts to reassume his place at the head of the table.



“I always diffuse the source unlessI want a ray of light,” he says. “I don’tlike hard light except for theMolebeam, which is interesting becauseit offers a very beautiful parallel ray.Otherwise, I diffuse everything, evenmore so now with Depron. It’s beautifuland much heavier than 216, which isone of Lee’s strongest diffusions. Ofcourse, you need much stronger lightsbecause it’s so thick.”

Delbonnel used 10K and 20KMolebeams to create the shafts ofsunlight that threaten Barnabas. In onesuch scene, Angelique magically opensthe living-room curtains to send himfleeing into the shadows. Delbonneladded a bit of smoke to delineate thesunbeam and give a little more expo-sure. “Smoke is like flashing film — itlights the scene,” he observes. He over-exposed the painted backings outsidethe windows by 2½-3 stops, noting,“When you’re in a dark setting, theoutside looks overexposed to your eye.

“I like soft shadows,” he empha-sizes. “My work is based on a very direc-tional light that is also very soft. I varythe contrast of the image with thequantity of fill I add. If I start with avery soft image, I can make it verycontrasty by not putting in any fill, forexample. My lighting is usually fromthe side, with more or less fill.” Helaughs and adds, “I’m incapable of doingfrontlight! I admire those who can.”

The cinematographer explainshow he established an eerie, low-

◗ Blood Relatives

Director TimBurton (at right

in top photos)and

cinematographerBruno Delbonnel,

ASC, AFC createan appropriately“fab” vibe for ascene in which

Barnabas enjoysa slow dancewith Victoria.

Three Mac 2000programmable

lights were aimedat the disco ball

to throw bigsquares of light

on the walls,which were also

enhanced bySeventies-style

lighting unitsthat combinedrotating discs

with colored oils.



contrast mood for night exteriors,including an important scene in whichAngelique magically sets the Collinscannery on fire. “It’s a soft, moonlessnight, but you can see everything. I liketo build an image up; it’s very rare forme to film a black image, although Imight darken it later, in the DI. I wantthe negative to be exposed; the silver in

the blacks has to be touched by light.That gives you activated silver and beau-tiful blacks. If you have unexposed silver,it’s no good.”

Illumination for the fire scenecame from five large soft boxessuspended from 98' cranes. Each boxwas covered with ½ Grid and contained12 space lights (with six 800-watt bulbs

each), for a hefty total of 58K.Delbonnel’s crew also placed two 31KQuarter Wendy Lights (with 48 650-watt bulbs) to define the edges of thebuildings from the side. He lit the giantbluescreen with two other cranes withQuarter Wendy Lights, supplementedby 10Ks for the bottom. He asked thespecial-effects supervisor if he couldmake the fire red “to make it seem moremagical than orange or yellow.”

A party in the ballroom at Collinsmanor is marked by the appearance ofrock star Alice Cooper, who, at a vigor-ous 70, plays himself at age 30, disguis-ing his wrinkles with his trademarkmakeup. Dominating the ballroom setis a giant disco ball whose mirrors werehit by three Mac 2000 programmablelights. “We needed extremely direc-tional sources to get big squares of lighton the walls,” says Delbonnel. “A 2KFresnel, for example, will give you noth-ing.” The walls were also speckled by“lighting units from the Seventies thathad rotating discs with colored oils.”Small, programmable LED lights werescattered throughout the space, notablyunderneath the go-go dancers, and

◗ Blood Relatives

Top: Making thebest of less-than-

luxuriousaccommodations,

Barnabas seekssome shuteye in

a cupboard.Bottom: The

dapper vampiremust adapt as he

experiences theculture shock of

his Seventiessurroundings.



more Mac 2000s and some rock ’n’ rollPar cans were built into the set. Twentyvery diffused space lights were placed onthe ceiling “to give us a base level” fromabove.

A key to the movie’s painterlylook is the fashioning of what could becalled “DI dailies” in the production’son-set theater, which was manned bycolorist Peter Doyle. Burton stresses theimportance of defining the look duringproduction. “You know, you can doanything in the DI, but you can do somuch that it feels kind of pushed,” heobserves. “We were trying to achieve thelook early on, in the original photogra-phy. Of course, there was a little room to[refine things in post], but Bruno and Iboth feel that you should get it while

you’re shooting it. When we did findthe right tone with the color timing, itjust felt right. It felt like the Seventiesmovies that I recall from my youth.”

Delbonnel calls Doyle, withwhom he first collaborated on 2009’sHarry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ,“an essential partner” in creating thelook of Dark Shadows. “Peter is myright-hand man. I have absolute confi-dence in him. He has a great taste, andhe knows what I like. We developedsoftware for our work that goes very far.”

Doyle notes that getting the lookright in the dailies enables filmmakersto avoid the pitfalls of DI work that goesagainst the grain of the shoot. “If youbend the image around too much inpost, I think the audience can feel it.

They may not be able to define it, but itputs a little veil between them and theperformances.”

He chuckles as he asserts that theDI-dailies process offers “the nirvana ofthe rushes looking the way the cine-matographer wants them to! But there’sa philosophy that goes with that. WhatI tried to offer Bruno was the idea of notconstantly bending the negative byhand, but instead building somethinglike a custom print stock.” Making thedailies timing interactive with theshooting “is a holistic approach, and itrestores control [of the look] to thecinematographer on set.

“We were building a colorprocess that was dependent on thenegative and how it was lit, and the twobecame quite interactive,” continuesDoyle. “Bruno knew how things wouldreact to color temperature and exposure,and he could decide to go for a certainexposure and more or less color. By theend of the shoot, we had a pretty goodidea of the picture in terms of the grade,and when we sat down for the finaltiming, we knew what to do. Therewere no surprises.”

Doyle’s approach was to createautomatic processes, rather than gradeeverything by hand. He called uponcolor scientist/ASC associate memberJoshua Pines and pipeline engineerNiklas Aldergreen at Technicolor tocreate a toolbox of custom scripts, trans-form functions and matrices to imple-ment look elements. “If Bruno asked fora specific adjustment more than threetimes, we could automate it, and itcould be easily applied to the entirefilm’s look,” says Doyle.

Delbonnel recalls that his searchfor Dark Shadows’ look included a vari-ety of references, starting with AlfredHitchcock’s Vertigo, shot in Technicolorby Robert Burks, ASC. “That vibrantHollywood film, whose actors glow, wasmy starting point. It also had the fairy-tale aspect of Kim Novak’s charactercoming back as a ‘ghost.’” With a laugh,he acknowledges that he’s “not surepeople will see the relationship”between the two films. “Sometimes

Top: Crane-mounted

softboxesprovide generalillumination for

the seaside townof Collinsport,

Maine, a setbuilt on the

backlot atPinewoodStudios in

England.Bottom:

Delbonnel takesa hands-on

approach to hislighting.

◗ Blood Relatives


references are very personal, just a basisfor reflection.

“Vertigo led me to wonder whattwisted Technicolor would look like,”continues the cinematographer. “Maybeit [would look like] a 3-strip failure, orlike something’s missing. So I thoughtof the early attempts at color, like 2-stripcolor. That looks twisted because it’s

only red and green, and something ismissing, which interests me. It’s adistortion that is pretty interesting onskin tones, and it seems to correspond toTim Burton’s world. It has softness.Lips are a little magenta, and back-grounds are a little blue-green.”

Doyle elaborates, “We threwaway the blue channel from the negative

— we didn’t use it at all — and insteadcreated a synthetic blue based on the redand the green, and then we just twistedthat. The image looks kind of normal,not like the wacky 2-strip Technicolorthat gave you purple grass and the like.It’s just enough of a twist to make it feelnot contemporary and not real.”

Another vivid element of the DIlook was the narrowing of the colorpalette. “That’s Peter’s genius,” saysDelbonnel. “He conceived of matricesthat allowed us to make selected colorswith incredible purity.” To achieve this,Doyle asked Pines to build a 3-D look-up table that would “slice the color spec-trum into six sectors: RGB and CYM,”says the colorist. “So all bright-yellowitems were only the one shade of yellow,and all bright-red items were only theone shade of red. Because we did thatacross the six vectors, it kind of mixedback again, so the result was like a six-color print. If you see a bright, intensered in the image, there is no other bright

◗ Blood Relatives

72

Delbonnel linesup a shot amidsome carefully

positionedbounce light.


red in the film, and that is exactly thesame color as the blood that appearsthroughout the film. The process sepa-rates out the colors just enough to makeit a little interpretive; it’s somewhatsubtle. You could say that all of this wasdriven by the desire to give a little senseof interpretation to the scene rather than[create] a realistic depiction. It reallyworked. It gives the film a real snap.”

The DI work also included aselective application of sharpening.Doyle explains, “As the title implies, thefilm is a lot about blacks and shadows, sowe pulled the image apart based ondensity and applied selective sharpening,so that as the picture goes from shadowto brightness, it goes from over-sharp-ened darks to blurred whites. However,the areas sharpened in the blacks wereonly sharpened in the broader shapes,like the silhouette of a person or theoutline of a building. It gives the imagequite a 3-D quality; it separates theactors from the set.”

This was coupled with removal ofthe grain in the bright skin-toneregions. This looks particularly strikingon Depp’s close-ups, yielding a soft,painterly blooming on his white facewhile keeping his dark eyes sharp.

Delbonnel wraps up the inter-view by complimenting his DarkShadows crew, including 1st AC JulianBucknell, key grip Steve Ellingworthand gaffer Chuck Finch. The cine-matographer notes that Burton’s highlycollaborative working method is “great.He asks everyone for our ideas duringprep, and if you give him an idea, hemight come back a week later with youridea reworked — there’s maybe 10percent of your idea, which he has trans-formed into a Tim Burton idea. It’swonderful to work that way. The film isreally his world, but he truly collabo-rates.”

Burton strikes a similar note atthe end of his interview, singling outDelbonnel’s contributions to the film.

“This is the first time I’ve worked withBruno, and I loved it. He was reallythinking about the style of this film, nothis style, and he got into the soul andcharacter of the film.

“Bruno brings a different thing toeach of his films, and I love that,” thedirector adds. “Working with him, youdon’t feel like you’re making a‘Hollywood movie’; you feel like you’remaking a film that’s an artistic endeavor.That feeling is important. That’s whatit’s all about.” ●

TECHNICAL SPECS 1.85:1

35mm

Arricam Studio, Lite

Cooke S4, Angenieux Optimo



73


“When people ask me what this movie is like, I tellthem it’s a Hope and Crosby road picture, acomedy in the classic Hawksian sense,” says Menin Black III cinematographer Bill Pope, ASC.

Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, the new installment of thepopular franchise finds Men in Black agents J (Will Smith)and K (Tommy Lee Jones) contending with an evil alien,Boris the Animal (Jemaine Clement), who has escaped hislunar prison cell and traveled back to 1969 to prevent hiscapture by young Agent K (Josh Brolin).

MiB III has been released in 3-D as well as 2-D, but theproduction was a 2-D affair. “When Sony hired me, inJanuary 2010, I was told this movie would be released in 3-D,so Barry and I set about determining whether we should orig-inate in 3-D, or shoot 2-D and convert in post,” says Pope.Using stand-ins for Smith and Jones, he tested Red One MX,


BlastfromthePastBlast

Bill Pope, ASC and director Barry Sonnenfeld take agents

J and K back in time — to 1969 —for Men in Black III.

By Iain Stasukevich

•|•



Arri Alexa and Sony F35 cameras, andstereoscopic rigs from 3ality, Pace andElement-Technica. He also shot thescene on 35mm, and that material wassent to Sony Pictures Imageworks forconversion.

“There was no contest: it was filmall the way,” says Pope. He goes on toexplain that for him and Sonnenfeld,this had as much to do with productionlogistics as it did with aesthetics. Forstarters, the footprint of the 3-D camerarigs cramped Sonnenfeld’s directorialstyle, wherein an actor in a single oftendelivers lines almost directly to the lens,to the character standing just next to thecamera. Sonnenfeld prefers a 21mmprime for close-ups, placing the filmplane around 2' from the actor’s nose. Tomake room for the off-screen actorwhen shooting in 2-D, Pope eitherremoved the mattebox “or, if it was areally close eyeline, I’d put a dot insidethe mattebox and put the offscreen actorbehind me.”

The matteboxes of the 3-D rigswere, in Pope’s opinion, too wide andcumbersome for the task at hand, andthe additional glass surfaces that split theimage for the two cameras made light-ing a slow process. “I couldn’t backlightmy actors because any light coming frombehind them would hit that mirror andbounce onto their faces,” he recalls. “Bythe time we’d flagged everything off and

tweaked all the lighting, it had beenhours. Barry and I were completely frus-trated by the whole process.”

“When you shoot native 3-D,you have to pick the interocular[distance] for each shot ahead of time,”adds Sonnenfeld. “The only way tochange it is to take one eye and convertit, in which case you shouldn’t havewasted your time with 3-D rigs in thefirst place.”

Pope notes that capturing in 3-Dalso promised to require more time-consuming post work. “When you shoot3-D, one image is bounced off a mirrorand one image is captured through amirror, so the two images have differentvisual characteristics that have to be

resolved in post,” he says. “When you’rebouncing off the mirror, you’re polariz-ing the image, so all the reflectivesurfaces [in each image], even the reflec-tions off an actor’s skin, are entirelydifferent. The colors are different. Thedensities are different. The contrast isdifferent. And no matter how good yourrig is, the alignment is never perfect. Allof these things have to be addressedlater on.

“As for film vs. digital, we testedboth through to release print,” Popecontinues. “The differences were subtle,but noticeable, and we simply preferredthe qualities of film. We liked how grainactually draws you into a picture by notreproducing reality exactly. Barry espe-U

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Opposite: Agents J(Will Smith) and K(Tommy Lee Jones)are back on thecase in Men inBlack III. This page,left: J engages inhot pursuit on thestreets ofManhattan.Below: Director ofphotography BillPope, ASC preps avillainousextraterrestrial forits close-up.



cially was put off by what he referred toas digital’s feeling of ‘reportage.’ Also,the first two films in this series were shoton film, and we wanted the three to feellike they belonged together.”

The team decided to shoot Super35mm for a final aspect ratio of 1.85:1and post-convert the picture atImageworks and Prime Focus under the supervision of Corey Turner,Imageworks’ 3-D visual-effects supervi-sor. Arri CSC provided the camerapackage for the New York-basedproduction, supplying Arricam Studiosand Lites and Arri/Zeiss Master Primelenses.

Under the guidance of visual-effects supervisors Ken Ralston and JayRedd, Imageworks also handled most ofthe movie’s visual effects, tackling suchsequences as a ray-gun battle in aChinese restaurant, Agent J’s time-trav-eling jump off the Chrysler Building, amonocycle chase through Brooklyn, andthe launch of the Apollo 11 spacecraft.Excluding the stereoscopic-conversionwork, Imageworks was responsible forroughly 700 effects shots. An additional500 shots, ranging from backgrounddisplay graphics to all-CG characters,were handled by other facilities.

Ralston and Redd spent nearlyevery day of production on set. For key visual-effects setups, additionalImageworks artists were on hand torecord camera positions and lens data, aswell as capture lighting information withan HDR Spheron, a wide-angle turretcamera that measures real-world lumi-nosity values from the darkest shadowareas to the brightest sunlight with asingle 360-degree scan.

The production was large enoughto require two full-time gaffers — BobFinley was joined by Bill O’Leary for thefirst half of production, and by EricBoncher for the second — and an armyof grips, led by key grips Mitch Lillianand Tony Mazzucchi. “Bobby, Bill andEric were each assigned certain sets sothey could really dig in,” says Pope. “Wehad three standing sets at SteinerStudios in Brooklyn, and we had asmany as seven or eight sets up at the

◗ Blast from the Past

Top: Agents K andJ prepare for

battle in Wu’sChinese

restaurant. Middleand bottom: To

give themselvesmaximum

flexibility forfilming the

nighttime actionsequence, the

filmmakers builtWu’s interior and

exterior and aportion of the

street onstage atKaufman-Astoria

Studios.



same time on two stages at Kaufman-Astoria in Queens.”

The second unit, directed bySimon Crane, was so busy it requiredthree cinematographers: Igor Meglic,Kevin McKnight and Scott Maguire. Tohelp keep the first and second units onthe same page, Pope asked Finley tocreate diagrams and notes for each setupthat detailed camera moves as well aslighting instruments and their place-ment, color temperature and diffusion.Every setup was diagrammed, and thesecond unit could refer to the notes anddiagrams when members of the mainunit were not readily available.

Pope explains that the second unithandled the larger action and CGI-intensive sequences, and in some casesworked with the main unit on suchmaterial. “If Will and Tommy were in agun battle with a bunch of aliens, we’dlight and shoot Will and Tommy’s side,and then the second unit would come inafter us, relight the set and kill off 20aliens,” he says. “Sometimes the secondunit had to go first, in which case Iwould visit the sets with Simon, andBarry and Simon would have a depart-ment-head meeting on the weekend, orat the end of a shoot day, to go throughthe notes, storyboards and previs.”

As the film begins, J and K headinto Chinatown to investigate Wu’s, arestaurant with some fishy items on themenu. The restaurant, the street it sits onand an adjacent alley were all builtonstage at Kaufman-Astoria Studios.Production designer Bo Welch, aveteran of the first two MiB films,explains that the decision to build thisset “came down to how many pages werein the script, how many nights we wouldhave to shoot, how many stores wewould need to buy out, and how muchparking we would require. We quicklyrealized that for the same amount ofmoney, we could maintain completecontrol and, with a little constructionand some CG extensions, have our ownstreet and restaurant.”

Building the set also increasedPope’s lighting options inside Wu’s. Therestaurant was laid out with a dining

Top: Agent J drops into Men in Black headquarters in the present day. Middle: After travelingback in time to 1969, J pays young Agent K (Josh Brolin) a visit at headquarters. Bottom: The

filmmakers prepare to shoot Brolin and Smith’s conversation.



room and two small wings off to the side.Welch incorporated a variety of practicalsinto the set, and Pope augmented thesewith Kino Flos gelled with 1⁄4 CTS,spotlighting tables and raking the darkwalls in the background. “The majorityof the backlight in the main dining roomwas created with Arri T12 Fresnels and2K Blondes with Chimeras and 1⁄4 CTSrigged in openings in the ceiling,” saysFinley. Half- or 3⁄4-front keylight wasprovided by an Arri T12 or 5K (depend-ing on the frame rate and scope of theshot) through a 6'x6' frame of bleachedmuslin with a control grid on the front todirect light onto the actor. Eyelight,which was most often provided by anArri 1K or 650-watt light, was bouncedoff a loose muslin behind the camera.

“I like the T12s for their punchand nice, even spread,” continues Finley.“The muslin cuts about 12⁄3stops, and wealso used a frame of Opal and 250between [the fixture and the muslinframe], and usually at least a double wirescrim. This allowed for quick lightchanges when Barry and Bill decided ashot should be overcranked.”

Finley recalls that the streetoutside Wu’s was approached like a reallocation, “except we didn’t have to lightall the way down the street because therewas bluescreen on both ends. There wasa 20K on a Condor at each end of thestreet for backlight, and we bounced thekey and fill light with 12-light HPLs into12-by frames of muslin.” Practical streetlamps were fitted with 500-watt tungstenbulbs, and 2Ks and 5Ks fitted withChimeras were hung from trusses riggedover the buildings on both sides of thestreet. Backlight was at or just over expo-sure, between T2.8 and T2.8 1⁄2, and thekey light was a half stop under.

The filmmakers also did somelocation work for the Wu’s sequence,filming on Canal Street in Chinatown.“As we did onstage, we leaned moretoward neutral tungsten lighting on theactual street,” says Finley, “so we turnedoff most of the sodium-vapor streetlightsin our vicinity. Then we used the lightson Condors and on top of buildings tomake up for what we were missing.”


Top: Part of theChrysler

Building’s rooftopwas built onstage

for the practicalportion of AgentJ’s time-traveling

leap. Middle:Agent K takes to

a monocycle for achase through

the city in 1969.Bottom: Pope

preps thesequence.


Men in Black headquarters, whichis shown in both 2012 and 1969, liesbeneath Manhattan’s Battery ParkTunnel. The headquarters and its entrancewere built inside Brooklyn’s massiveMarcy Armory. The 2012 iteration looksaustere and modern, with white andchrome surfaces and recessed practicals.Ten mirrored spires break up the set’s 75'length, starting from the floor in flat,circular, 6'-wide LED panels (courtesy ofLiteGear) and reaching into 9'-wide holesin the ceiling. Each ceiling orifice heldfour 6K Mole Richardson Maxi Coops.Keylight was provided by 12-light HPLsshooting through 12'x12' Light Grid ormuslin, and a bounced light off another12'x12' muslin created a wraparound fill.Balconies running the length of both sidesof the room provided platforms for 20Kand T12 backlights, all fitted withChimeras.

After discovering Boris theAnimal’s plot to change history, Agent Jtravels back to 1969 to warn the youngAgent K. The filmmakers designed J’sjump through time to make the most of 3-D’s potential: the agent leaps from thebeak of one of the eagles atop the ChryslerBuilding and plummets through thedecades. “There’s no reason he’d have tojump off a building to go back in time, butBarry and I thought that in 3-D, it wouldmake everyone in the first row scream,”Pope notes with glee. “We had to do it.”

The filmmakers shot the dialogueportion of the scene at Steiner StudiosStage 3, using a partial build of therooftop, and then the visual-effects teamhandled the set extensions, the digitalbuild of New York City, and the jump.Early in the production schedule, Reddtook Finley and an Imageworks team tothe top of the Chrysler Building to shootbackground tiles and reference materialwith Canon EOS 5D Mark II DSLRs.

For the stage work, Pope’s crewestablished even skylight with 120 6Kspace lights going through 1⁄4 CTB andLight Grid. A 360-degree double-curtaintrack was rigged from the perms tosurround the set. The bluescreen was hungon the outside track, and four 20'x40'UltraBounce panels were hung on the



inside track so they could travel aroundthe set, providing skylight fill and helpingto reduce bluescreen spill.

Late-afternoon sunlight wasprovided by three scissor lifts holding nineMaxi Coops each. All the lights weregelled with 1⁄2 CTS, and one set of MaxiCoops was softened with Light Grid. A20K on a 60' Condor provided a hard-sunlight rim.

Once J takes the plunge, his falllasts about 21⁄2 minutes, during which the3-D convergence and interaxial distanceschange dynamically from cut to cut,bringing the pavement on 42nd Streetever closer to the audience. “The film-makers wanted the fall to be as extreme ashumanly possible,” Ralston remarks, “butwe had to carefully orchestrate the depthso it wouldn’t tear your brain out when wecut from a deep falling shot to a big close-up of Will’s face.”

Once he lands in 1969, J findsyoung Agent K in the bureau’s homeoffice, where Welch established a periodlook with dark carpets, wood paneling,colorful furniture and even a fire pit. The10 reflective spires from 2012 havebecome 10 wood golf-tee sculptures.

As far as the camera and lightingwere concerned, “I didn’t want toapproach 1969 much differently than2012 because it would have seemed a littlearch,” says Pope. “What people do and saycan be funny, but the look of the filmshouldn’t make you laugh.” One of thefew changes he made was to lend the ’69headquarters a bit more contrast. Toachieve this, he had the crew remove theceiling and hang 78 6K space lights goingthrough a layer of Light Grid; the toplightis broken up by the golf-tee sculptures.

Creating credible New York Cityexteriors for 1969 proved a steep chal-lenge. To bring the swinging heydays ofBrooklyn’s Coney Island amusement parkand Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood tolife, for example, the filmmakers relied ona blend of strategically chosen angles,careful art direction, and CGI. “What’sleft of period New York is becomingsmaller and smaller as the city turns intothis kind of Disneyland for adults,” notesWelch. “Shooting period on location is

◗ Blast from the PastTop: A final compfrom the climactic

scene at CapeCanaveral shows

Agent K in action.Middle: The

filmmakers prep ashot of Brolin for

the scene. Bottom:The Cape

Canaveral setincluded the

Apollo 11 spacecapsule.


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Tempers fray as temperatures rise, and the trail is lost.

82

typically easier than starting fromscratch because you have evidence of itsexistence, but it requires a more artfularrangement of space, texture, volumeand all the things that make up moviedesign.”

A nighttime chase through 1969Brooklyn required extensive second-unitwork, which Meglic shot with ArriAlexas for maximum dynamic range.Imageworks artists subsequentlyaugmented the shots and created all-CGcity blocks with period cars, signage anddigital doubles of Smith, Brolin andClement. The chase ultimately leads thecharacters to Cape Canaveral and theApollo 11 launch, which in MiB mythol-ogy is a cover for the deployment of aweb around the Earth designed todeflect alien invasions.

To prep the launch scene, thedepartment heads visited the CanaveralAir Force Base in Florida to view theoriginal Saturn V gantry and rockets atthe Kennedy Space Center. Welch then

designed digital and physical models at 2⁄3scale, which he presented to the rest of thecrew in order to determine which parts ofthe gantry should be built onstage andwhich should be created digitally.Ultimately, two floors of the structure wereconstructed onstage at Kaufman-Astoria,along with the Apollo 11 capsule and twogantry arms that could be raised andlowered to the capsule. (The two floorswere cleverly repeated in editing andaugmented with CGI to create the illusionof a 20-story structure.)

The set was surrounded by blue-screen and six 20'x40' UltraBounce panels.“Because of the set’s proximity to theperms, the sun and skylight had to berigged up above the steel perms,” notesFinley. “The rigging grips, led by JimBoniece, had to first remove the steel-gridfloor panels from between the steel trussesof the grid, and then add additional pipeand truss above that for hang points. ThenLouis Petraglia’s electric-rigging crewcould go in and rig cable light.”


Pope and his collaborators prep a dolly shot onstage.


83

Ninety-six 6K space lights with silkskirts and 1⁄2 CTB were rigged above thegantry. 6-light Maxi coops gelled with 1⁄2CTB and Light Grid were hung over themain tower area to augment the skylight,and five 36-light Moleenos were rigged atthe capsule end of the lighting grid toprovide three-quarter backlight. Fourteen12-light Maxis provided sunlight alongthe gantry arm and tower. The 12-lightMaxis and 36-light Moleenos used forsunlight were rigged so they could beraised or lowered to accommodate theheight of a given shot. All of the keylightsand backlights were dimmed down to 75percent to warm them up a bit.

“Even on a set that big, there’s still akey light and a fill light,” Pope reflects.“The main difference between lightingtwo people in a room and lighting twopeople on a gantry at Cape Canaveral iswhat you do with the light.”

Visual effects aided some of thesequence’s more complex shots, such as awide establishing shot of the launch pad

that quickly pushes into the actors onthe practical. Ralston and Redd assem-bled each shot like a collage, replacingparts of the gantry, and adding light tothe actors and surrounding them withsmoke. Some shots required almost acomplete reworking. “Everyone was in atime crunch, so we couldn’t always takethe time to set up the lights and camerathe way we needed to,” says Ralston. “Alot of the gantry ended up being elimi-nated because the plates weren’t ideal.We rotoscoped the actors and filled inthe rest of the shot with a digital gantry[made from] the background plates weshot in Florida.”

Pope supervised the digital timingat EFilm in Hollywood, where heworked with colorist and ASC associateSteven J. Scott. “It’s just picking nits,really,” says Pope, who took advantage ofEFilm’s proprietary Eworks gradingtools to balance minute discrepancies inimage density and hue. Immediatelyafter the 2-D grade was completed,

Pope and Sonnenfeld tackled the 3-Dversion, which had to be graded forXpand and RealD projection systems.Pope prefers Xpand for its bright, evenprojection and active-glasses system.“When you’re a cinematographer grad-ing in 3-D, you realize the quality ofyour work is affected more by the simplechoice of 3-D systems than by any otherdecisions you make,” he notes. ●

TECHNICAL SPECS Super 1.85:1

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Stereoscopic Conversion


Rotolight Shines with AnovaRotolight has introduced the eco-friendly Anova LED

EcoFlood, a computer-controlled, bi-color LED floodlight that deliv-ers a 110-degree super-wide beam angle and the equivalent outputof a 1K tungsten fixture while drawing only 38 watts of power.

Anova can accurately reproduce any color of white light fromcandlelight to full daylight (3,150°K to 6,300°K). Weighing 5.7pounds, it is highly portable and well suited for both studio andlocation work. The Anova is also equipped with a V-lock plate forbattery operation, providing three hours of operation at 100-percent output.

Users can control Anova locally on the fixture, via wiredDMX, or through the built-in Wi-Fi with Rotolight’s Magic Eye appon an iPhone or iPad. Magic Eye provides wireless remote control ofbrightness and color temperature across multiple lights, and the appcan store, recall and transmit settings and transitions, enabling thereplication of lighting conditions from location to studio.

The Anova also offers remote control of third-party fixturesvia DMX Master Mode. Additionally, using the camera in an iPhoneor iPad, the Anova can see and measure both color and brightness,allowing the fixture to accurately track changing light conditions onlocation.

Building on the quality of light, color accuracy, portability,ease of use and affordability of the company’s RL48 LED Ringlight,Rotolight LED systems deliver full-spectrum “continuous light” withstudio-accurate color and a soft, wide, shadowless quality that isperfect for portraiture or interview lighting.

For additional information, visit www.rotolight.com.

New Products & Services• SUBMISSION INFORMATION •

Please e-mail New Products/Services releases to:[email protected] and include full contactinformation and product images. Photos must be

TIFF or JPEG files of at least 300dpi.

Litepanels Highlights Inca Series Litepanels has intro-

duced the Inca Series tung-sten-balanced LED Fresnelfixtures, which incorporateLEDs that are color-matchedto the incandescent tung-sten-halogen lighting fixturesused in many televisionstations and other facilities.The Inca Series makes it possi-ble for a studio to changeover from incandescent toLED fixtures in a staged,multi-year plan, rather thanhaving to do so all at once.

The Inca 4 (4" lens) and Inca 6 (6" lens) Fresnel fixtures arethe first members of the series. The Inca 4 focuses from 13-72degrees, and the Inca 6 focuses from 15-67 degrees. Both unitsprovide dimming from 100 to 0 percent with no noticeable shift incolor temperature. Focus and dimming can be controlled via DMX512 protocol, or by on-fixture knobs.

The Inca 4 and Inca 6 use significantly less power thanconventional tungsten-halogen fixtures. The Inca 4 draws about 39watts and provides comparable illumination to a 300-watt tradi-tional tungsten Fresnel; the Inca 6 draws approximately 104 wattsand provides comparable illumination to a 650-watt traditionaltungsten Fresnel. Because Litepanels LED fixtures run cool to thetouch, there is an additional savings in the power it takes to cool astudio.

For additional information, visit www.litepanels.com.

Canon Offers 4K Imaging SolutionsCanon U.S.A., Inc. is expanding its Cinema EOS System of

professional cinematography products with the introduction of theCinema EOS C500 and Cinema EOS C500 PL cameras. The C500features an EF mount for Canon EF lenses, and the C500 PL featuresa PL mount for PL lenses. Both cameras are capable of originating4K-resolution (4096x2160) imagery with uncompressed raw outputfor external recording.

The C500 and C500 PL cameras output their 4K-resolutionvideo as a 10-bit uncompressed raw data stream with no deBayer-ing. The cameras can also output quad Full HD (3840x2160), 2K(2048x1080), Full HD (1920x1080) and other resolutions. All ofthese digital-image-source formats fully conform to established



SMPTE production standards.All 4K formats can be selected to

operate from 1 to 60 fps. The camerasemploy a 12-bit RGB 4:4:4 signal formatduring 2K output, which can be selected tooperate from 1 to 60 fps as well. If switchedto a 10-bit YCrCb 4:2:2 mode, the cameracan operate at up to 120 fps.

The C500 and C500 PL simultane-ously record 50 Mbps HD proxy videoto an in-camera CF card that is imme-diately available to support offlineediting. Equipped with a new 8.85-megapixel CMOS sensor, the camerasare compatible with Canon’s widerange of interchangeable EF Cinemaand PL-mount lenses and EF lenses forCanon SLR cameras.

Canon has also unveiled the EOS-1D C digital SLR, the newest additionto its line of EOS DSLR cameras, and

the first to be designed as a member of theCinema EOS system. The EOS-1D C recordsvideo at 4K (4096x2160) or Full HD(1920x1080) resolution to support high-end motion-picture and advanced-imagingapplications. The camera incorporatesCanon Log Gamma to enable the recordingof high-quality video while also providing a

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Blackmagic Design Unveils Cinema CameraBlackmagic Design has introduced

the Blackmagic Cinema Camera, a digital-cinema camera that offers 13 stops ofdynamic range, a 2.5K sensor, a built-in SSDrecorder, a built-in capacitive touch-screenLCD, standard jack audio connections, built-in high-speed Thunderbolt connection, 3Gb/s SDI output, a refrigerated sensor forlow noise, and full compatibility with CanonEF- and Zeiss ZF-mount lenses.

The camera also includes a full copyof DaVinci Resolve 9.0 for color correction,and Blackmagic Ultrascope software forwaveform monitoring. Ultrascope can berun on a laptop connected to the camera viaa Thunderbolt connection.

The Blackmagic Cinema Cameraincludes a fast SSD recorder that can recordthe full sensor detail in 12-bit Log raw filesonto fast solid-state disks. The CinemaDNG-format files can be read by all high-endvideo software. Additionally, the camera can

record ProRes and DNxHD for HD-resolutionfiles compatible with Final Cut Pro X andAvid Media Composer. When recording ineither 2.5K or 1080 HD resolution, thecamera can capture 24, 25, 29.97 or 30 fps.

The built-in LCD display makes focus-ing easy, and allows playback of capturedfiles. A speaker is built-in for clip playback,and there is also a headphone socket andembedded audio on the SDI output andThunderbolt connection. The SDI outputincludes all camera data such as time code,transport control, shutter angle, colortemperature setting and ASA informationoverlaid in anti-aliased fonts.

For easy metadata entry, the LCDfeatures fast and responsive touch-screentechnology. When the user taps the displaywith a finger, a data-entry window calledthe “slate” appears; this lets the user entershot information just like typing on a smartphone. This data is then stored in the filesand can be accessed by NLE software duringediting. Metadata is compatible with soft-ware such as Final Cut Pro X and DaVinciResolve. All camera settings — such asframe rate, shutter angle, color tempera-ture, dynamic range and focus assist — canbe changed on the touch LCD.

The Blackmagic Cinema Camera willbe available in July for $2,995. For additionalinformation, visit www.blackmagic-design.com.

85


high level of color-grading freedom.The camera includes an 18.1

megapixel full-frame 24mm x 36mm CanonCMOS sensor with the ability to record 8-bit4:2:2 Motion JPEG 4K video or Full HDvideo to the camera’s CF memory card.Additional features include an extendedsensitivity range of up to ISO 25,600 forexceptional motion-imaging results withreduced noise even in low-light settings.

Additionally, Canon has announcedthe development of four new EF Cinemazoom lenses designed to deliver exceptionaloptical performance on 4K-resolutioncameras. Each of the four lenses features acompact, lightweight design to facilitatehandheld and Steadicam shooting whilealso covering a wide range of focal lengths.The lineup comprises two wide-angle cinezooms — the CN-E15.5-47mm T2.8 L S (forEF mounts) and the CN-E15.5-47mm T2.8 LSP (for PL mounts) — and two telephotocine zooms — the CN-E30-105mm T2.8 L S(for EF mounts) and CN-E30-105mm T2.8 LSP (for PL mounts).

For additional information, visitwww.usa.canon.com.

Sony FS700U Captures High SpeedSony has introduced the NEX-

FS700U Full HD super-slow-motioncamcorder, the latest in its line of NXCaminterchangeable-lens E-mount camcorders.

The camcorder delivers Full-HDimages at 120 and 240 fps in an 8- or 16-seconds burst mode, respectively. 480 fpsand 960 fps rates at reduced resolution arealso available. The NXCam system’s E-Mount flexibility is designed to accept virtu-

86


ally all SLR and DSLR 35mm lenses, with theuse of simple, inexpensive adapters withoutoptical degradation.

The FS700U uses a new 4K ExmorSuper 35 CMOS sensor that comprises 11.6million pixels. This high-speed readout chipis optimized for motion-picture shooting,providing high sensitivity, low noise andminimal aliasing. Users can also capturehigh-quality still images with the FS700U.

The FS700U’s 3G HD-SDI and HDMIconnectors can output Full HD 50p and60p, in addition to standard HD 60i, 24p,25p or 30p frame rates with embeddedtime code and audio. 3G HD-SDI canoutput native 23.98, 25 or 29.97 progres-sive signals; users can also choose to outputPsF over the 3G HD-SDI. Thanks to the flex-ibility of the digital ports, virtually any exter-nal recorder can be connected.

NEX-FS700U operators can takeadvantage of the camcorder’s built-in NDfilters, with a newly designed wheel thatrotates across the sensor like a turret. Thewheel includes positions for Clear, 1⁄4 (2stops), 1⁄16 (4 stops) and 1⁄64 (6 stops). Thecamcorder also includes face detection andauto focus to help ensure the subject isalways kept in focus.

Users can save up to 99 camcorderprofile settings on a memory card and cancopy the same setting to multiple units.Compatible media includes MS and SDmemory cards and Sony’s HXR-FMU128flash memory unit that attaches to thecamcorder.

Additional features include a detach-able top handle secured by a pair of screws(a cold shoe, plus two sets of ¼" and 3⁄8"holes) that allow heavy accessories to bemounted; the handle is attached with arosette mount. The handle incorporates an“active grip” that features four buttons forcommonly used functions: expanded focus,auto iris, still capture and recording

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start/stop. Function buttons are alsoenlarged to make operating easy, evenwhile wearing gloves. The camcorder’senhanced, durable design also includesanchor points for compatibility with thirdparty accessories. The camcorder is 60/50 Hz switchable.

Sony is planning a firmware upgradethat will enable the NEX-FS700U to output4K bit-stream data over 3G HD-SDI when

used with a Sony 4K recorder.The NEX-FS700U (body only) and

NEX FS700UK (with 18-200mm zoom lens)are planned to be available this month at asuggested list price starting at less than$10,000.

For additional information, visithttp://pro.sony.com.

Arri Advances AnamorphicArri has unveiled the Alexa Plus 4:3,

a new Alexa model with similar functional-ity to the Alexa Plus but featuring a 4:3Super 35 sensor, the ability to switch from16:9 sensor mode to 4:3 sensor mode, andbuilt-in licensing for high-speed shooting,anamorphic de-squeeze and DNxHD.

Anamorphic lenses squeeze theimage by approximately a factor of two.When using sensors that are natively 16:9or wider, it becomes necessary to crop thesides of the image to achieve the desired

widescreen aspect ratio, resulting in asmaller used sensor area and a differentangle of view for the lens. With the AlexaPlus 4:3 camera, the full area of the sensoris used, which means more light per photo-site, translating into greater sensitivity, lessnoise, more exposure latitude and sharperimages. Alternatively, the larger sensor areacan be used for greater freedom in vertical


repositioning when using spherical lenses.The Alexa Plus 4:3 joins the Alexa

Studio and Alexa M, which already have 4:3sensors. The Studio might typically functionas an A camera, the Plus 4:3 as a B camera,and the M as a compact, versatile C camera.

For additional information, visitwww.arri.com.

Panasonic Presents Upgradeable HPX600Panasonic has unveiled the AG-

HPX600 P2 HD shoulder-mount camcorder,which boasts 10-bit, 4:2:2 AVC-Intra record-ing.

Weighing less than 7 pounds, theHPX600 incorporates a new 2⁄3-type MOSsensor to produce HD and SD images. TheHPX600 achieves a high sensitivity of F12 (at59.94 Hz) and a signal-to-noise ratio of59dB. The camcorder supports AVC-Intra100/50, DVCPro HD, DVCPro 50, DVCProand DV as standard. It is 50 Hz and 59.94 Hzswitchable for worldwide use.

The HPX600 will be upgradeable asnew functionality becomes available.Upgradeable options will include wirelessmetadata input, proxy recording, variableframe rates and AVC-Ultra recording. Whenavailable in 2013, AVC-Ultra will offermaster-quality and/or low-bit-rate 10-bit,4:2:2 recording in Full HD to meet a varietyof user needs from mastering to transmis-sion. (However, the HPX600 will not supportall AVC-Ultra formats.) The HPX600 alsofeatures wireless and wired connection abil-ity with Wi-Fi, USB and Gigabit Ethernet. Inaddition, a future option will support LiveUfor video uplink with real-time indication ofLiveU’s transmission status and video trans-mission quality to the camera operator.

The interchangeable lens camcorderwill be equipped with Chromatic AberrationCompensation to maximize lens perfor-mance, Dynamic Range Stretch function tohelp compensate for wide variations in light-

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ing, and a highly accurate flash band detec-tion and compensation software. Originalfeatures will include a smart user interfacethat permits accessibility to the camera’sextensive functions from an LCD display onthe side of the camera. The HPX600 willoffer two P2 card slots and an SD card slot.

The AG-HPX600 will be available inthe fall at $16,000-$18,000.

For additional information, visitwww.panasonic.com.

JVC Expands ProHD Camcorder LineJVC Professional Products Co., a divi-

sion of JVC Americas Corp., has introducedthe GY-HM650 and GY-HM600 ProHDhandheld cameras.

Both cameras feature a built-in wide-angle 23x autofocus zoom lens and boastsuperior low-light performance and excel-lent sensitivity (F11 at 2,000 lux) in acomfortable, versatile form factor. The light-weight cameras record HD or SD footage inmultiple file formats, including native .MP4,.MOV and AVCHD, to non-proprietarySDHC or SDXC media cards. In addition torelay mode for uninterrupted recording, thecameras allow simultaneous recording toboth memory cards for instant backup orclient copy.

The cameras feature a 1.22-megapixel color viewfinder and color 3.5"LCD. A second trigger and servo zoomcontrol on the built-in handle make it easyto record while holding the camera at lowor high angles. Additionally, the Pre Rec(retro cache) feature continuously recordsand stores up to 5 seconds of footage incache memory to help prevent missedshots.

The cameras are equipped withthree 1⁄3" 12-bit CMOS sensors,

each with 1920x1080pixels. The built-in Fujinon HD

lens features

a wide focal range of 29-667mm (35mmequivalent) and has manual focus, zoomand iris rings, along with three ND filters.Other features include auto focus with facedetection and an optical image stabilizer.

The cameras also include a built-instereo microphone and two XLR inputs withphantom power and a shotgun mic holder,as well as a headphone jack and separateinput for a wireless mic receiver. Thecameras are also equipped with a LANCremote connector and are compatible withJVC’s Compact Studio ProHD 7" monitorfor an affordable studio system. Addition-ally, the cameras include a time-codesynchronization input and HD-SDI andHDMI outputs.

Equipped with dual codecs, the GY-HM650 is capable of producing Full HD fileson one memory card while simultaneouslycreating smaller, Web-friendly files ( 1⁄4 HD)on a second card; with built-in FTP and Wi-Fi connectivity, the camcorder candeliver the footage without a microwave orsatellite connection. It also records .MXFfiles with rich descriptive metadata that isoptimized for asset management.

The GY-HM600 will be available inthe fall for a recommended price of $4,695;the GY-HM650 will be available in thewinter for a recommended price of $5,695.For additional information, visithttp://pro.jvc.com.

Angenieux Focuses on Optimo ZoomsThales Angenieux has introduced

two additions to its line of Optimo lenses:the Optimo 19.5-94mm and Optimo 28-340mm.

The Optimo 19.5-94mm is a 4.7xzoom lens with a fast aperture of T2.6 (wideopen). The lens features a 329-degree focusrotation with more than 50 calibratedwitness marks for precise focusing in feet ormeters. It weighs 12.3 pounds and featuresa front diameter of 136mm and a closefocus of 2'5".

The 12x Optimo 28-340mm longzoom lens features a fast aperture of T3.2(wide open) and is ideal for capturing criti-cal close-ups from longer distances. It isdesigned with a 327-degree focus rotationand more than 70 precise witness marks,available in feet or meters. The Optimo 28-


340mm weighs approximately 24.4 poundsand features a front diameter of 162mmand a close focus of 4'5".

The Optimo 19.5-94mm and 28-340mm boast minimal breathing. Bothlenses are available with PL mounts (PVmounts by request) and are compatiblewith Angenieux’s 1.4x and 2x extenders.

For additional information, visitwww.angenieux.com.

Fujifilm Adds PL-Mount ZoomFujifilm Optical Devices has intro-

duced the PL 19-90mm Cabrio ZK4.7x19,the newest member of the company’sPremier PL-Mount Zoom family. The lensfeatures an exclusive detachable servo driveunit, making it suitable for use as a standardPL lens or as an ENG-style lens. The PL 19-90mm also features flange focal-distanceadjustment and macro function and is LensData System and /i metadata compatible.

The PL 19-90mm covers a 31.5mmsensor size on a digital-cinema-stylecamera. Weighing 5.95 pounds (includingservo motors), the lens also incorporates anine-blade iris.

The digital servo boasts 16-bitencoding. The PL 19-90mm can becontrolled using industry-standard wirelesscontrollers, as well as existing Fujinon wiredand wireless units. Other features includeluminous barrel markings for visibility indark shooting situations; distances are listedin feet or meters and can be changed in thefield.

For additional information, visitwww.fujifilm.com.

Sachtler Supports AceSachtler, part of Vitec Videocom, a

Vitec Group company, has introduced theAce tripod system. With a payload of up to8.8 pounds, Ace is ideal for smaller HDVcamcorders and video-enabled DSLRcameras. Ace is also compact, durable andextremely lightweight. As with all Sachtlerproducts, Ace is ergonomically designedand offers an intuitive feel.

For Ace, Sachtler developed thepatented Synchronized Actuated drag,which guarantees accuracy and repeatabil-ity. With three vertical and three horizontalgrades of drag (plus 0), SA-drag enablesfine adjustment for precise panning and tilt-ing. Additionally, Ace’s five-step counterbal-ance makes counterbalancing fast andsimple. The Ace fluid head has a tilt rangeof +90 degrees to -75 degrees.

Ace incorporates a glass fiber rein-forced composite material that makes the75mm fluid head especiallylight and offers a comfortableand non-slip surface. Thehead enables camera opera-tors to work intuitively andprofessionally. In addition,Sachtler’s 50 years ofexperience in develop-ing camera supportpromises depend-ability, easy opera-tion and suchfeatures as thepractical park-ing position forspare camerascrews andthe long104mm slidingrange of thecamera plate.

For additional information, visitwww.sachtler.com.

EasyRig Goes MiniEasyRig and 16x9 Inc. have intro-

duced the EasyRig Mini body-worncamera-support system. The EasyRig Minireplaces the Turtle X and features a stabi-lizing vest rather than a backpack to evenlydistribute weight across the chest andback. The EasyRig Mini also allows for theadjustment of the support bar in relation

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to the vest in height, so camera height canbe tailored to each user.

The EasyRig Mini is available in twomodels: the Mini, suitable for camerasweighing up to 9 pounds, and the MiniStrong, for cameras between 9-13.2pounds. A new protective transport bagcan store both the camera and rig togethersafely, and it can also be quickly trans-formed into a backpack by simply unfoldingthe shoulder straps that are securely storedin the bag’s side pockets.

The EasyRig Mini is available now fora recommended price of $1,410. For moreinformation, visit www.16x9inc.com.

P+S Technik Launches PS-Micro RigP+S Technik has introduced the

compact and versatile PS-Micro Rig fornative 3-D productions.

Building on the success and func-tionality of the PS-Freestyle Rig, the PS-Micro Rig is compatible with any kind ofmicro camera (such as the SI-2K or theSinaCam) and boasts a flyweight of only8.8 pounds. The rig can be used withremote control or in a completely manualmode. The PS-Micro Rig is suited for shoul-der, crane or tripod operation, and is alsobalanced for use on a Steadicam. The rig isalso compatible with a wide range of acces-sories from P+S Technik and other third-party manufacturers.

For additional information, visitwww.pstechnik.de.

Codex Gets Aboard Cinema EOS Codex has begun shipping the

Onboard S Recorder, a recording solutionfor compact HD digital-cinema camerassuch as the Canon Cinema EOS C300. Data


is recorded onto Codex’s new CaptureDrives from the HD-SDI output of thecamera. Codex has partnered with bothVocas and Arri’s Professional Camera Acces-sories group to design new mounts andhandheld solutions for the C300 to accom-modate the Onboard S recorder.

Codex worked with Canon duringthe development of the C500, which iscapable of originating 4K (4096x2160)motion imagery, to ensure that the entireworkflow from recording to production is aseamless experience. The Codex OnboardM can record 4K raw files from the CinemaEOS C500 onto Codex datapacks at up to120 fps. The datapacks can then be loadedon a Codex Transfer Station for Mac OS X,a Codex Digital Lab or a Codex Vault S forQC, dailies generation and archiving.

“Codex is committed to supportinga wide range of cameras and we are excitedto work with Canon as they introduce avariety of cameras for the feature film, tele-vision and commercials markets,” saysMarc Dando, Codex’s managing director.“Given our experience in recording rawdata, it was a natural progression for us todevelop an entire workflow, from recordingthrough post.”

The Codex Onboard M Recorderwas used with the C500 camera to capturethe Canon promo film 4 Cities, whichfeatures material shot by cinematographersTony Pierce-Roberts, BSC; Ben Seresin, ASC,BSC; and Martin Ruhe.

For additional information, visitwww.codexdigital.com.

AJA Goes 4K with Ki Pro QuadAJA Video Systems has introduced

the Ki Pro Quad solid-state portable videorecorder, which is capable of capturing high-quality edit-ready files in formats including4K (4096x2160), Quad HD (3840x2160), 2K(2048x1080) and HD (1920x1080), provid-ing a fast path from camera-to-editorial with10-bit 4:4:4 and10-bit 4:2:2 colorsupport.

Ki Pro Quadhelps facilitate apowerful workflowfor 4K, making itsuited to suchcamera systems asthe new CanonCinema EOS C500.Ki Pro Quad acceptsraw camera outputvia SDI and simulta-neously outputsthat data via Thunderbolt. Therecorder also per-forms deBayer processing of the raw datathat can be used to produce on-board AppleProRes recordings to SSD media. HD, 2K and4K ProRes files recorded to removable SSDmedia can then be used in a variety of popu-lar nonlinear editors. The deBayered imageproduced by the Ki Pro Quad can also beused for real-time 4K monitoring; a scaled orcropped output is also simultaneously avail-able for 2K or HD monitoring via dedicatedSDI and HDMI connections.

Ki Pro Quad will be available later thisyear through AJA’s worldwide network ofresellers for $3,995. For more information,visit www.aja.com.

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Convergent Design Records RawConvergent Design has unveiled the

Gemini Raw, which supports 4K raw record-ing with live preview and playback to a 4Kmonitor. Gemini Raw also boasts suchfeatures as four-camera recording/quad-split playback (in HD) and support for AvidDNxHD (RGB and YCC), uncompressedRGB 444, stereoscopic 3-D, simultaneousrecording of raw/dailies, and 120 fps (in2K/HD).

Gemini Raw offers all the features ofthe Gemini 4:4:4 with significantly greaterprocessing power, while retaining the samesize, power and weight. Six programmable3G-SDI ports can be configured as four-in/two-out or two-in/four-out; this innova-tive capability enables such configurationsas quad-input record/quad-split display orsingle-stream 4K raw recording/4K monitor-ing. Stereo 3-D output options include lumadifferencing, side-by-side and anaglyph.

Gemini Raw allows recording inhigh-quality HD (in DNxHD-220) and simul-taneously in raw/uncompressed. Users canuse the DNxHD footage for fast-turnaroundprojects while archiving raw for future,higher-resolution applications. Alternatively,users can record raw and DNxHD-36 proxyfor dailies and offline work.

Gemini Raw includes a built-in 5.0"800x480 LCD touch screen for live previewand playback. Gemini Raw also employsdual 1.8" SSD drives, which greatly reducesize, weight and cost. Currently, these drivessupport quad-stream recording of up to1080p30/2K raw, single-stream 4K raw upto 30p, single-stream 1080p/2K raw up to120 fps (over dual 3G-SDI) or, in someformats, the creation of two identicalmasters (auto backup). The Gemini Rawproduction kit includes (at no extra cost) asimple SSD transfer station compatible withwidely available, low-cost USB 3.0, FW-800and Thunderbolt adapters.

Pending certification by Arri, GeminiRaw will support both ArriRaw 16:9 up to


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60 fps and ArriRaw 4:3 up to 48 fps. Fullsupport for Weisscam/P+S Technik HD/2Kraw is also planned. Convergent Designalso anticipates future support for addi-tional 2K and 4K raw cameras and higherframe rates.

For additional information, visitwww.convergent-design.com.

MTI Film Conveys Cortex PlatformMTI Film has unveiled the Cortex

platform, a family of products that bringscoherence and portability to the process ofmanaging digital assets from the set to thescreen.

The first offering in the Cortex familyis Cortex Convey, which builds on the foun-dation of the automated, data-centric deliv-erables application used in MTI Film’sControl Dailies system. Cortex Convey is astandalone application that features apowerful, multi-threaded transcodingengine that supports all popular videocodecs with an interface that is easy to use.The result is a simple, streamlined solutionthat can be used at any phase in the post-production workflow.

Cortex Convey includes MTI Film’sbest-of-breed algorithms for down-conver-sion and color processing in a 32-bit float-ing-point pipeline, as well as the latest real-time GPU-accelerated demosaicing algo-rithms for raw camera codecs. CortexConvey’s advanced project-managementfeatures include multiple deliverabletemplates per project, automated work-flows and a one-to-many render engine. Itis a simpler and more flexible way to reliably

and simultaneously generate multiple, high-quality file-based deliverables for all steps inthe post process.

MTI Film has also unveiled CortexCapture, a simple and powerful applicationthat includes all the functionality needed byDITs and data wranglers with a price tag ofonly $95. Cortex Capture provides onsetplayback of a dozen common cameraformats, including Sony SRMaster and F65,Red, ArriRaw, DNxHD and ProRes. Itincludes tools for maintaining color deci-sions by importing and setting looks thatcan be exported as stills, ASC CDLs andLUTs. Its project-management featuresinclude commenting on frames or clips andcreating templates with color, audio andburn-in options for use in dailies andthroughout the post process. All metadata,including color, generated in CortexCapture can be exported and shared withother Cortex products at the post facility,saving time and ensuring consistency.

MTI Film also plans to roll out CortexControl Dailies to address other points inthe production and post process. Ultimately,the Cortex family will form a seamless solu-tion for managing media assets from prepthrough post and beyond.

“A lot of time and money is wastedbecause creative decisions and other meta-data cannot be passed seamlessly from onestep in the process to the next,” says DavidMcClure, vice president of product develop-ment for MTI Film. “It either has to be re-entered or is lost completely. The Cortexplatform is designed to allow all the actors,from DITs to dailies colorists to assistanteditors and more, to easily share this infor-

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mation while remaining focused on theircentral task, undistracted by a large,complex application.”

For additional information, visitwww.mtifilm.com.

FotoKem Offers NextLab Version 3.0FotoKem has unveiled the newest

version of its NextLab software and on-setsystem. Designed and developed in-house, NextLab v3.0 can manage digitalcamera files and metadata, supportingArri Alexa and Sony F65 in their nativeraw formats, Red Epic and Scarlet, SiliconImaging and the Canon DSLR andCinema EOS lines. NextLab v3.0 alsoincorporates the Academy Color Encod-ing Specifications (ACES) architecture.

Additionally, FotoKem’s NextLabLive is an application that supports on-setcolor correction directly from digitalcamera feeds in real time. It enables cine-matographers to load a look-up table,generate a color-decision list, and makecolor choices while recording images.With a digital-imaging technician, Next-Lab Live is simple to set up on a laptopand provides a color-control surface withan SDI interface.

The NextLab software securelystores media, archives to LTO, providesquality control tools, audio syncing, colormanagement and transcoding. It is incor-porated into an array of services andofferings at FotoKem and its affiliates,including Keep Me Posted, Spy andMargarita Mix/LA Studios.

FotoKem’s NextLab Mobile is aunified, rugged cart loaded with hard-ware running the software on set or nearlocation. The NextLab Mobile unit hasbeen redesigned with a smaller footprintand a sturdier enclosure.

“Our focus is solving on-set needsand helping to integrate production andpost,” says Tom Vice, vice president andgeneral manager of NextLab. “Our Next-Lab software solutions bring creative flex-ibility to filmmakers in new ways thatadapt to how productions want towork.”

For additional information, visitwww.fotokem.com.

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➣


Autodesk Redesigns SmokeAutodesk, Inc. has unveiled Smoke

2013 video-editing software, a redesignedversion of the all-in-one video editing andvisual-effects tool for the Mac. Smoke 2013features a unified creative workflow thatbrings powerful node-based compositingright in the timeline. Smoke can help editorssimplify their workflow, centrally managetheir media, work interactively with high-resolution media throughout their projectsand deliver high-end content.

Smoke 2013’s intuitive, all-in-oneuser interface combines track-based editor-ial, industry-standard editing conventionsand proven Autodesk creative tools.Smoke’s robust toolset includes provenhigh-end finishing tools such as Action fortrue 3-D compositing, Color Warper forprofessional grading and color matching,and Master Keyer for one-click chromakeying and stereoscopic 3-D editing andeffects. Powerful ConnectFX node-basedcompositing inside the timeline enableshigh-end effects and advanced compositingwithout having to leave the editorial envi-ronment. MediaHub offers a modernapproach to working natively with the mostcommon formats, facilitating the manage-ment of all project media from ingest toedit, effects and archiving. Additionally,Smoke 2013 runs on the most recentgeneration of Apple iMac and MacBook Prosystems using high-bandwidth Thunderboltstorage and IO, bringing true high-endvideo effects to flexible desktop and mobileworkflows.

Smoke 2013 will be available this fallfor $3,495 per license. For more informa-tion, visit www.autodesk.com.

GenArts Packs Monsters GT v7GenArts Inc., a leader in specialized

visual-effects software, has released


Monsters GT v7, the latest addition to thecompany’s Sapphire Accents line. Designedto meet the demand for both realistic andoriginal looks, Monsters GT features a widerange of more than 50 exceptional effectsthat enrich every artist’s visual-effects port-folio so they can create extraordinaryimagery. For the first time, Monsters GT isavailable in 11 mini-packs for $99 apieceand a Natural Phenomena theme pack for$299.

The Natural Phenomena theme packand the 11 mini-packs are available forAutodesk systems, Adobe After Effects, TheFoundry Nuke, Eyeon Fusion, AssimilateScratch and Sony Vegas and deliver specifictypes of effects in a single, convenient pack-age. The Natural Phenomena theme packfeatures 19 creative problem-solving toolsthat realistically simulate weather, atmos-pheric, fire and water effects without spend-ing hours building the effects from scratch.

The Monsters GT mini-packs eachfeature 2-5 effects and are ideal for creatingproject-specific effects like film burns, nightvision, fluids, security-camera monitoring,time-based image trails and dozens of otherlooks. The complete collection of all 59Monsters GT effects is also available for astarting price of $499.

Additional features of Monsters GTv7 include enhanced sprite quality andsmoother particle motion, new effects andenhancements to create a more streamlinedworkflow, resolution independence, GPUacceleration for improved render times andfloating point processing for improvedimage quality.

For additional information, visitwww.genarts.com.

Avid Releases iPad Editing AppAvid has released its first video-edit-

ing application for the iPad, Avid Studio,which is available in the Apple App Store.

Avid has made the Avid Studio appfor the iPad easy enough for first-time usersyet sophisticated enough for more

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advanced editors. Offering frame-by-frameediting accuracy and access to all kinds ofmedia, Avid Studio for iPad allows users toquickly and easily create and share highlyprofessional multimedia experiences, wher-ever they want to.

Avid Studio for iPad allows users tobegin editing with ease by offering access toany videos, photos and audio already intheir iPad library, or media that can beimported from iTunes, cameras and more.Users can then arrange clips in the Story-

board, make precision edits using theTimeline and enhance their moviecreations with high-quality transi-tions, effects and a soundtrack. Theycan share movies directly to YouTube,Facebook and more — or exportprojects to Avid Studio software,where they can continue editing witheven more advanced tools. Users canget started fast with an included,easy-to-understand how-to guide.

Avid Studio for iPad takes fulladvantage of touch capabilities tooffer a fun, easy and professional-

level editing experience. Multiple audiotracks also allow for easy layering of music,audio and sound effects.

For additional information, visitwww.avid.com/avidstudioapp.

Telemetrics Drives LensesTelemetrics Inc., a leading provider of

camera robotics and control systems, hasintroduced the Universal Lens Driver System,which motorizes zoom, focus and iris func-tions. It is fully adjustable and easily adapted

to any manufacturer’s lens and can also beused on most cameras with integral non-motorized lenses. Additionally, the LensDriver supports three methods of control —Serial RS232/422, Ethernet IP and analog(standard broadcast lens interface) — and isspecially designed to perform smoothmotion transitions.

“The added production efficiencythat the new Lens Driver System generateswill be appreciated by a wide range of endusers,” says Anthony Cuomo, vice presidentand general manager, Telemetrics Inc.“Because of its universality, it will give us theopportunity to offer a larger variety ofcameras and lenses for integration into ourcamera robotics systems.”

For additional information, visitwww.telemetricsinc.com. ●

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Advertiser’s Index16x9, Inc. 100

Aadyn Technology 4Abel Cine Tech 41AC 1Adorama 9, 45Aerocrane Sales & Leasing 87Aja Video Systems, Inc. 27Alan Gordon Enterprises 100Arri 5AZGrip 101

Backstage Equipment, Inc. 94Barger-Lite 6, 101Birns & Sawyer 101Blackmagic Design, Inc. 21Burrell Enterprises, Inc. 100

Cammate 6Cavision Enterprises 43Chapman/Leonard Studio Equipment Inc. 57Chimera 47Cinematography Electronics 88Cinekinetic 100Clairmont Film & Digital 15Cleveland Film Commission 51Codex Digital Ltd. 11Convergent Design 67Cooke Optics 17Creative Handbook 81CTT Exp & Rentals 79

Dadco LLC 91Deluxe C2Denecke 101Dolby Laboratories, Inc. 49

Eastman Kodak 64a-l, C4EFD USA, Inc 23

Film Gear 93Filmotechnic Canada Ltd. 6Filmtools 90Fujifilm North America 25

Glidecam Industries C3Grip Factory Munich/GFM 95

Hollywood Post Alliance 96Hollywood Rentals 98Hive 60

Innovision 100

J.L. Fisher 31

K5600 13Kino Flo 73Koerner Camera Systems 86

Lee Filters 82Lighttools 19Lights! Action! Co. 101Los Angeles Film Festival 97

Maccam 92Maine Media 93Manios Optical 100Matthews Studio Equip. 69Metal Toys 89Mole-Richardson Company 30Movcam Tech. Co., Ltd. 59Movie Tech AG 100, 101

NBC/Universal 29New York Film Academy 71Nila Inc. 72

Oppenheimer Camera Prod. 85, 100

P+S Technik 101Panther Gmbh 87, 89PC&E 86Pille Film Gmbh 100Polecam Ltd 79Powermills 101PRG 99Pro8mm 100

Rag Place, The 88Rosco Laboratories 83

Scheimpflug Digital 61Schneider Optics 2Servicevision USA 50Siggraph 103Super16 Inc. 100

Thales Angenieux 32-33Tiffen 7

VF Gadgets, Inc. 100Videouniversity 101Visionary Forces 91Visual Products 95

Welch Integrated 107Willy’s Widgets 100www.theasc.com 88, 96, 102

102



American Society of Cinematographers RosterOFFICERS – 2011-’12Michael Goi,

President

Richard Crudo,Vice President

Owen Roizman,Vice President

John C. Flinn III,Vice President

Victor J. Kemper,Treasurer

Frederic Goodich,Secretary

Stephen Lighthill,Sergeant-at-Arms

MEMBERS OF THE BOARDJohn BaileyStephen H. BurumRichard CrudoGeorge Spiro DibieRichard EdlundFred ElmesMichael GoiVictor J. KemperFrancis KennyIsidore MankofskyRobert PrimesOwen RoizmanKees Van OostrumHaskell WexlerVilmos Zsigmond

ALTERNATESMichael D. O’SheaRodney TaylorRon GarciaSol NegrinKenneth Zunder

David DarbyAllen DaviauRoger DeakinsJan DeBontThomas Del RuthBruno DelbonnelPeter DemingJim DenaultCaleb DeschanelRon DexterCraig Di BonaGeorge Spiro DibieErnest DickersonBilly DicksonBill DillAnthony Dod MantleStuart DryburghBert DunkLex DuPontJohn DykstraRichard EdlundEagle EgilssonFrederick ElmesRobert ElswitGeoffrey ErbScott FarrarJon FauerDon E. FauntLeRoyGerald FeilSteven FierbergMauro FioreJohn C. Flinn IIILarry FongRon FortunatoJonathan FreemanTak FujimotoAlex FunkeSteve GainerRobert GantzRon GarciaDavid GeddesDejan GeorgevichMichael GoiStephen GoldblattPaul GoldsmithFrederic GoodichVictor GossJack GreenAdam GreenbergRobbie GreenbergXavier GrobetAlexander GruszynskiChangwei GuRick GunterRob HahnGerald HirschfeldHenner HofmannAdam HolenderErnie HolzmanJohn C. HoraTom Houghton

Steve MasonClark MathisDon McAlpineDon McCuaigSeamus McGarveyRobert McLachlanGeary McLeodGreg McMurrySteve McNuttTerry K. MeadeSuki MedencevicChris MengesRexford MetzAnastas MichosDouglas MilsomeDan MindelCharles MinskyClaudio MirandaGeorge MooradianDonald A. MorganDonald M. MorganKramer MorgenthauPeter MossM. David MullenDennis MurenFred MurphyHiro NaritaGuillermo NavarroMichael B. NegrinSol NegrinBill NeilAlex NepomniaschyJohn NewbyYuri NeymanSam NicholsonCrescenzo NotarileDavid B. NowellRene OhashiDaryn OkadaThomas OlgeirssonWoody OmensMiroslav OndricekMichael D. O’SheaVince PaceAnthony PalmieriPhedon PapamichaelDaniel PearlEdward J. PeiJames PergolaDave PerkalLowell PetersonWally PfisterBill PopeSteven PosterTom Priestley Jr.Rodrigo PrietoRobert PrimesFrank PrinziRichard QuinlanDeclan QuinnEarl Rath

Gil HubbsShane HurlbutTom HurwitzJudy IrolaMark IrwinLevie IsaacksPeter JamesJohnny E. JensenFrank JohnsonShelly JohnsonJeffrey JurAdam KaneStephen M. KatzKen KelschVictor J. KemperWayne KennanFrancis KennyGlenn KershawDarius KhondjiGary KibbeJan KiesserJeffrey L. KimballAdam KimmelAlar KiviloDavid KleinRichard KlineGeorge KoblasaFred J. KoenekampLajos KoltaiPete KozachikNeil KrepelaWilly KurantEllen M. KurasGeorge La FountaineEdward LachmanKen LamkinJacek LaskusDenis LenoirJohn R. LeonettiMatthew LeonettiAndrew LesniePeter LevyMatthew LibatiqueCharlie LiebermanStephen LighthillKarl Walter LindenlaubJohn LindleyRobert F. LiuWalt LloydBruce LoganGordon LonsdaleEmmanuel LubezkiJulio G. MacatGlen MacPhersonPaul MaibaumConstantine MakrisDenis MaloneyIsidore MankofskyChristopher ManleyMichael D. MarguliesBarry Markowitz

ACTIVE MEMBERSThomas AckermanLance AcordMarshall AdamsLloyd Ahern IIRuss AlsobrookHoward A. Anderson IIIHoward A. Anderson Jr.James AndersonPeter AndersonTony AskinsCharles AustinChristopher BaffaJames BagdonasKing BaggotJohn BaileyMichael BallhausAndrzej BartkowiakJohn BartleyBojan BazelliFrank BeascoecheaAffonso BeatoMat BeckDion BeebeBill BennettAndres BerenguerCarl BergerGabriel BeristainSteven BernsteinRoss BerrymanOliver BokelbergMichael BonvillainRichard BowenDavid BoydRussell BoydJonathan BrownDon BurgessStephen H. BurumBill ButlerFrank B. ByersBobby ByrnePatrick CadyAntonio CalvachePaul CameronRussell P. CarpenterJames L. CarterAlan CasoMichael ChapmanRodney ChartersJames A. ChressanthisT.C. ChristensenJoan ChurchillCurtis ClarkPeter L. CollisterJack CoopermanJack CoufferVincent G. CoxJeff CronenwethRichard CrudoDean R. CundeyStefan Czapsky



Richard Rawlings Jr.Frank RaymondTami ReikerRobert RichardsonAnthony B. RichmondBill RoeOwen RoizmanPete RomanoCharles Rosher Jr.Giuseppe RotunnoPhilippe RousselotJuan Ruiz-AnchiaMarvin RushPaul RyanEric SaarinenAlik SakharovMikael SalomonHarris SavidesRoberto SchaeferTobias SchliesslerAaron SchneiderNancy SchreiberFred SchulerJohn SchwartzmanJohn SealeChristian SebaldtDean SemlerBen SeresinEduardo SerraSteven ShawRichard ShoreNewton Thomas SigelSteven SilverJohn SimmonsSandi SisselSantosh SivanBradley B. SixMichael SlovisDennis L. SmithRoland “Ozzie” SmithReed SmootBing SokolskyPeter SovaDante SpinottiTerry StaceyUeli SteigerPeter SteinTom SternRobert M. StevensDavid StocktonRogier StoffersVittorio StoraroHarry Stradling Jr.David StumpTim SuhrstedtPeter SuschitzkyAlfred TaylorJonathan TaylorRodney TaylorWilliam TaylorDon Thorin

John TollMario TosiSalvatore TotinoLuciano TovoliJost VacanoTheo Van de SandeEric Van Haren NomanKees Van OostrumChecco VareseRon VargasMark VargoAmelia VincentWilliam WagesRoy H. WagnerMandy WalkerMichael WatkinsMichael WeaverJonathan WestHaskell WexlerJack WhitmanGordon WillisDariusz WolskiRalph WoolseyPeter WunstorfRobert YeomanRichard YuricichJerzy ZielinskiVilmos ZsigmondKenneth Zunder

ASSOCIATE MEMBERSAlan AlbertRichard AschmanKay BakerJoseph J. BallAmnon BandCarly M. BarberCraig BarronThomas M. BarronLarry BartonWolfgang BaumlerBob BeitcherMark BenderBruce BerkeBob BiancoSteven A. BlakelyMitchell BogdanowiczMichael BravinWilliam BrodersenGarrett BrownRonald D. BurdettReid BurnsVincent CarabelloJim CarterLeonard ChapmanMark ChiolisDenny ClairmontAdam ClarkCary ClaytonDave ColeMichael Condon

Robert B. CreamerGrover CrispPeter CritharyDaniel CurryRoss DanielsonCarlos D. DeMattosGary DemosMato Der AvanessianKevin DillonDavid DodsonJudith DohertyCyril DrabinskyJesse DylanJonathan ErlandRay FeeneyWilliam FeightnerPhil FeinerJimmy FisherScott FleischerThomas FletcherGilles GalerneSalvatore GiarratanoRichard B. GlickmanJohn A. GreschJim HannafinWilliam HansardBill Hansard, Jr.Richard HartRobert HarveyJosh HaynieCharles HerzfeldLarry HezzelwoodFrieder HochheimBob HoffmanVinny HoganCliff HsuiRobert C. HummelRoy IsaiaGeorge JobloveJoel JohnsonJohn JohnstonMarker KarahadianFrank KayDebbie KennardMilton KeslowRobert KeslowDouglas KirklandMark KirklandTimothy J. KnappKarl KresserChet KucinskiChuck LeeDoug LeightonLou LevinsonSuzanne LezotteGrant LoucksHoward LukkAndy MaltzSteven E. Manios, Jr.Steven E. Manios, Sr.Peter Martin

Robert MastronardiJoe MatzaAlbert Mayer, Jr.Bill McDonaldKaren McHughAndy McIntyreStan MillerWalter H. MillsGeorge MiltonMike MimakiMichael MorelliDash MorrisonNolan MurdockDan MuscarellaIain A. NeilOtto NemenzErnst NettmannTony NgaiMickel NiehenkeJeff OkunMarty OppenheimerWalt OrdwayAhmad OuriMichael ParkerWarren ParkerDhanendra PatelKristin PetrovichEd PhillipsNick PhillipsJoshua PinesCarl PorcelloHoward PrestonDavid PringlePhil RadinChristopher ReynaColin RitchieEric G. RodliDomenic RomAndy RomanoffFrederic RoseDaniel RosenDana RossBill RussellKish SadhvaniDavid SamuelsonSteve SchklairPeter K. SchnitzlerWalter SchonfeldWayne SchulmanJuergen SchwinzerSteven ScottAlec ShapiroDon ShapiroMilton R. ShefterLeon SilvermanGarrett SmithTimothy E. SmithKimberly SnyderStefan SonnenfeldJohn L. SprungJoseph N. Tawil

J U N E 2 0 1 2

Ira TiffenSteve TiffenArthur TostadoJeffrey TreanorBill TurnerStephan Ukas-BradleyMark Van HorneRichard VetterDedo WeigertEvans WetmoreFranz WieserBeverly WoodJan YarbroughHoyt YeatmanIrwin M. YoungMichael ZachariaBob ZahnNazir ZaidiMichael ZakulaLes Zellan

HONORARY MEMBERSCol. Edwin E. Al drin Jr.Neil A. ArmstrongCol. Michael CollinsBob FisherDavid MacDonaldCpt. Bruce McCandless IILarry ParkerD. Brian Spruill


Adams, Bokelberg, Sivan Join SocietyNew active member Marshall

Adams, ASC was born in Minneapolis,Minn., but grew up in California, where hisfather worked as an architect and wasfrequently hired by members of the enter-tainment industry. One such client noticedAdams’ interest in making 8mm films andinvited him to watch a TV-show shoot onthe Universal backlot, an experience thatcemented Adams’ desire to work in themotion-picture business.

He entered the industry through theelectric department, where he climbed theranks and eventually worked as a gaffer onfeatures such as Block Party, Baby Geniusesand Gods and Monsters, and on series thatincluded Babylon Five and Felicity. Adamsstepped up to cinematographer in 2000,and since then has earned credits on theseries Alias, The Agency, Kojak, Monk andCSI: NY, among others.

Oliver Bokelberg, ASC, BVK wasborn in Hamburg, Germany, where hisfather had a photography studio. As ateenager, he began working for his father asa film runner and editor’s assistant, and hewas later accepted into New York Univer-sity’s undergraduate film program. Upongraduating, he began shooting musicvideos, shorts and documentaries.

Bokelberg’s first feature credit was

Charms Incidents, which he followed with astring of independent features. In 2002, heshot Thomas McCarthy’s The Station Agent,and they have since also collaborated onThe Visitor and Win Win. Bokelberg won aKodak Vision Award in 2000 for the featureThe Citizen. He earned ASC Award nomina-tions in 2007 and 2008 for the pilots Rainesand My Own Worst Enemy, respectively.

Santosh Sivan, ASC, ISC grew upin Kerala, India. The son of a renowned film-maker, his passion for motion pictures waskindled at an early age, and he credits hisexposure to American Cinematographerwith focusing his sights on cinematography.He graduated from the Film and TelevisionInstitute of India in 1984, and went on toearn numerous awards for his work as adirector of photography through the 1980sand ’90s. His honors include Best Cine-matography National Awards for thefeatures Perumthachan, Kaalapani,Mohiniyattam, Iruvar and Dil Se.

In 1995, Sivan became a foundingmember of the Indian Society of Cine-matographers. While continuing to work asa cinematographer, he has also notchednumerous credits as a director on featuressuch as Halo, The Terrorist, Before the Rainsand Tahaan. He teaches cinematography atthe Film and Television Institute andWhistling Woods in India, and at the MaishaFilm Lab in Africa. ●

Clubhouse News


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From top: Marshall Adams, ASC; OliverBokelberg, ASC, BVK; Santosh Sivan, ASC, ISC.

In Memoriam: ASC Associate Fred GodfreyAssociate member Dennis Fred Godfrey died on March

22 at the age of 84.Godfrey was born on May 28, 1927, in Morgantown, West

Va. After graduating from Washington State College, he moved toLos Angeles, where he landed a job at the Eastman Kodak Co. Heserved as a liaison between Kodak and the cinematographycommunity, and his place within the community was recognizedearly on: Godfrey became an associate member of the ASC inJanuary 1956.

Godfrey was a key figure of the ASC Awards Committeefor many years. For his service to the Society and the industry as a whole, he became the firstrecipient of the ASC Bud Stone Award of Distinction at this year’s ASC Awards ceremony.


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When you were a child, what film made the strongest impres-sion on you? Mysterious Island (1961). What could be better than giant crabs,bees and Jules Verne living under the ocean in his private submarine?

Which cinematographers, past orpresent, do you most admire? Caleb Deschanel, ASC, for his body ofwork. I think that The Patriot, The BlackStallion and The Right Stuff containsome of the most memorable images incontemporary films.

What sparked your interest inphotography?My father had me shooting 8mm homemovies from the age of 8, but my firstreal passion was still photography.Sitting in the supersaturated red light in my bathroom-turned-dark-room and watching black-and-white images magically appear onblank paper got me hooked on making and manipulating images.

Where did you train and/or study?I earned undergraduate and graduate degrees at UCLA’s School ofFine Arts.

Who were your early teachers or mentors?My most influential teachers at UCLA were my graduate professorsJohn Whitney Sr., who later became known as the father ofcomputer animation, and John Neuhart, who was part of the CharlesEames group. In different ways they both blended film, design andcomputers into new artistic expressions.

What are some of your key artistic influences?I spent about three years blowing glass at UCLA, and then beganmanipulating and shooting the abstract light effects that eventuallybecame my thesis in abstract visual design and light sculpture.

How did you get your first break in the business?I got an interview at Paramount to work on Star Trek: The MotionPicture (1979) and was hired by Bob Weiss to create the Matter-Anti-matter engine of the starship Enterprise. The effect was based on mylighting designs, and I eventually took on the on-set visual-effectslighting for the entire film.

What has been your most satisfying moment on a project?I recently screened my short film for Canon’s new C300 camera,XXIT, at Paramount. It’s a very ambitious virtual-reality project thatmade me reflect on how far we’ve come in the past 30 years.

Have you made any memorable blunders?I’ve made plenty, and I learned from them all. They were generallyrelated to pyro or practical effects when we were shooting lots ofminiatures. It was nothing that a few insurance claims and an on-set

medic couldn’t fix!

What is the best professional adviceyou’ve ever received?The film business is like a prizefight: It’snot how many times you get knockeddown that counts, it’s how many timesyou get up and go again.

What recent books, films orartworks have inspired you?I generally read science fiction andfantasy: George R.R. Martin, RobinHobb and Michael Sullivan. I thought

Inception was the greatest high-concept film to be released in years;it set a new standard that will last for a long time, somewhat likeBlade Runner did in the 1980s.

Do you have any favorite genres, or genres you would like totry?I’m hooked on futuristic, high-concept fantasy and historical periodpieces. Creating something that simply does not exist in today’sworld is tremendously challenging and satisfying. For me, it bringsthe magic back into the process of making movies.

If you weren’t a cinematographer, what might you be doinginstead?I enjoy directing and producing as well as shooting. Essentially, Ienjoy collaborating with other very talented cinematographers anda creative team to tell stories. If I worked outside film and television,I would most likely be a fine-art still photographer.

Which ASC cinematographers recommended you formembership?Richard Kline, Francis Kenny, Richard Crudo and Victor J. Kemper.

How has ASC membership impacted your life and career?It’s a lifelong dream realized. It’s also very humbling and gratifying tobe included in this remarkably talented and amazingly dedicatedgroup of people. ●

Sam Nicholson, ASCClose-up


C H R I S T I A N S E B A L D T, A S CONFILM

To order Kodak motion picture fi lm, call (800) 621-fi lm. © Eastman Kodak Company, 2012. Photography: © 2012 Douglas Kirkland

“My images are the result of a collaboration

of so many bright minds. CSI is approaching

its 300th episode, and we’re still pushing

creatively. One glance at a well-crafted

image, and the audience understands the

story it tells. It’s a visual medium, and we

must create with this in mind. Film is a

point-and-shoot instrument. It’s reliable

and easy to work with, and its silky, smooth

texture makes everyone look good. For me,

seeing the fi nal results is still an astonishing

and humbling experience.”

Christian Sebaldt, ASC has photographed

45 episodes of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

over the past four seasons. He is the longest-

serving director of photography on that

series, which also earned him a 2010 Emmy®

Award. His credits also include more than 40

other narrative credits, including Parasomnia,

FeardotCom, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Bratz,

Race to Space, and The Dark.

All these fi lms were shot on Kodak motion

picture fi lm.

For an extended interview with Christian

Sebaldt, visit www.kodak.com/go/onfi lm.


american cinematographer

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