brit cine 30 final

RRP: £5.00

ISSU

E 30

NOVEMBER 2008

#16: CAMERA CREATIVE

ROBERTO SCHAEFER ASCON THE EXPLOSIVEADVENTURESOF 007 INQUANTUM OF SOLACE

UNBREAKABLEBOND

ALSO INSIDE …ALSO INSIDE …#19: EUROPEAN FEATURES …

PREVIEW OF THEUNMISSABLE PLUSCAMERIMAGE 2008FESTIVAL, NEWS FROMIMAGO, CINEC 2008ROUND-UP

#24: CLOSE UPS – SUE GIBSONBSC ON 31 NORTH 62 EAST,TONY IMI BSC ON FOURSEASONS, & GILESNUTTGENS BSC ONTHE LOSS OF ATEARDROP DIAMOND

#26: ON THE JOB – WALLYPFISTER ASC AND HIS WORKON THE DARK KNIGHT

#11: MEET THE NEXT WAVE –ANGUS HUDSON

ISSUE 30 BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER page 1

Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire SL0 0NH, UKTel: +44 (0) 1753 650101 Fax: +44 (0) 1753 650111

PUBLISHERSAlan Lowne Tel: +44 (0) 1753 650101Stuart Walters Tel: +44 (0) 121 608 2300

EDITORRon Prince Email: [email protected]

SALESAlan Lowne Tel: +44 (0) 1753 650101Email: [email protected] Walters Tel: +44 (0) 121 608 2300Email: [email protected]

DESIGNPaul Roebuck, Open Box Publishing Ltd,[email protected]: Stuart Walters Tel: +44 (0) 121 608 2300

THE PUBLICATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE comprises of Board members fromthe BSC and GBCT as well as the Publishers

BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER covering International Cinematography is part ofLaws Publishing Ltd, Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, BuckinghamshireSL0 0NH, UK

The publishers wish to emphasise that the opinions expressed in BRITISHCINEMATOGRAPHER are not representative of Laws Publishing Ltd but theresponsibility of the individual contributors.

>> Editorial Team

British Society of Cinematographers – Board Members: President, Sue Gibson. Immediate Past President, Gavin Finney. VicePresidents, Joe Dunton MBE, Alec Mills, Chris Seager, Nigel Walters. Governors, Sean Bobitt, John de Borman, John Daly, Harvey Harrison,Tony Imi, Phil Meheux, Nic Morris, Tony Spratling, Mike Southon, Derek Suter, Robin Vidgeon. Secretary/Treasurer, Frances Russell.

Guild of British Camera Technicians – Board Members: Jamie Harcourt (Chairman), Trevor Coop (Immediate Past Chairman),Caroline Sax (Vice Chairman), John Keedwell, Steve Brooke-Smith, Shirley Schumacher, Jane Jackson, Tim Potter (Vice Chairman), KeithMead, Rupert Lloyd Parry, Jason Coop, Sam Goldie, Suzy McGeachan (Honorary Treasurer)

Dear Readers

These are testing times forcinematographers, and the wider worldof filmmaking, what with the creditcrunch, recession and the SAG strike alltaking larger or smaller bites into themotion picture production market. Andthe status quo is all reflected in thisedition in items like… Sue GibsonBSC's president's perspective… thePOV piece contributed by UK FilmCouncil film commissioner Colin Brown,on the state of play and his team'sefforts to stimulate the industry… theactivities of IMAGO the federation ofEuropean cinematographers, led byNigel Walters BSC, to bring DPstogether and to upholdcinematographer's rights… our regularF-Stop Hollywood feature, which hasthe latest on the strike… and alsowithin our news pages, which containdetails on formation of The ImageForum, an association of tradeassociations and companies, aiming to

be a new guardian of the moving imagein an age of hype and uncertainty.

Tough times can either atomise orgalvanise, and it's reassuring to seecompanies, organisation and individualsnot resting on their laurels, but andactually getting out there and doingsomething about it. Fortitude in theface of adversity. A bit of the stiff upperlip and all that. By acting on hot orthorny topics now - such as incomingfilm production, technology, authorshiprights – it will surely placecinematographers and filmmakers in abetter position for when things doeventually recover.

As always, we like to celebrate the artand craft of cinematography. So alongwith a piece on 007 Quantum of Solace(which broke box office records on itsopening weekend in the UK, taking£15.5m in three days), we also reprisethe making of The Dark Knight (whichranks as the second highest grossing

movie of all time with $525 million).British companies and talent wereintimately involved in both productions.

We're off to the Plus Camerimagefestival of cinematography in Poland atthe end of November. If you have neverbeen, then surely our preview will whetyou appetite for a trip to this amazingannual festival. Book a flight now, andremember to pack your thermals.

We must not forget either the briefsnapshots that cinematographerskindly give us into their work. In ourClose-Ups section you can dip intorecent work done by Giles NuttgensBSC, Sue Gibson BSC and Tony ImiBSC. These show us something of thewide diversity of projectscinematographers are involved with,and the passion with which they throwthemselves into their work. Same as itever was. Now, what's that RudyardKipling poem…?

If…

>> C O N T E N T S

Cover Photograph:Image from Quantum ofSolace

Quantum of Solace 2008, Danjaq, LLC andUnited Artists Corporation and Columbia

Pictures Industries, Inc. All rights reserved.

Ron Prince: has many years experience working in the film, TV, CGI andvisual effects industries. He is the editor of British Cinematographermagazine and runs an international communications company(www.princepr.com).

P03 President's Perspective: Sue Gibson BSC bangs the drum for S16 and new membersP05 POV: British Film Commissioner Colin Brown looks at the industry's prospectsP06/36 Production / Post & Techno News: all the latest news that DPs need to knowP12 Who's Shooting Who?: find out which DPs are currently shootingP14 To Live & Let DI: see who's delivering the DI grades right nowP24 Close-Ups: Sue Gibson BSC, Tony Imi BSC & Giles Nuttgens BSCP38 GBCT News: the chairman's statement, plus other news from the Guild

P19 Plus Camerimage 2008 Preview: Alan Parker and Jeremy Thomas get top gongs at this year's festival ofall-things cinematographic

P29 Shooting The Future: Cinec 2008: round-up from Europe's biennial film-kit trade fair in MunichP32 IMAGO News: Nigel Walters BSC and the IMAGO team have been very busyP34 F-Stop Hollywood: assessing the effect of the actors' strike

P11 Meet The New Wave: Angus Hudson … has a tasty recipe for images and chocolate cake!P16 Camera Creative: Roberto Schaefer ASC on 007 Quantum Of SolaceP26 On The Job: Wally Pfister ASC on Dark Knight, plus exclusive pictures

UK

INTERNATIONAL

FEATURES

Carolyn Giardina: is the technology reporter atHollywood Reporter in the US. She previously served aseditor of Film & Video and as senior editor of post-production at SHOOT. Her work has also appeared in IBCDaily News, Digital Cinema, Post and Below The Line.

John Keedwell: the GBCT's Eyepiece Editor, is adocumentary and commercials cameraman who hasworked on many productions over all the world. Hecrosses over in both film and tape productions and hasgreat knowledge of the new formats and their methodsof production.

Kevin Hilton: is a freelance journalist who writes abouttechnology and personalities in film and broadcasting,and contributes film reviews and interviews to a varietyof publications

Bob Fisher has authored 3,000 magazine articles aboutcinematographers and filmmakers during the past 35plus years. He has also moderated many paneldiscussions for both the American Society ofCinematographers and the InternationalCinematographers Guild.

Annette Zoeh is a translator and commercialcorrespondent who has worked for many years in thefilm business as a freelance journalist and photographerfor national newspapers and magazines in Germany.

The BSC is gearing up for its next round of camera tests, which will be evenmore comprehensive than the last, and considerably more expensive. So thefunding application is awaiting approval from Skillset and the technicalcommittee is finalising plans. The previous film, HD and digital presentationswe ran last year have started the industry in this country thinking as a wholeabout the future. I would like to think the BSC has been instrumental inencouraging people to come together and talk about what is happening toour industry, and I am heartened by the formation of “The Image Forum”

At The Image Forum's inaugural meeting there were about 40 people from across theindustry sitting around a very large table at Pinewood Studios, ostensibly to talk aboutthe future of 16mm film. I mentioned in my last column that the BBC had issued adirective that 16mm film was no longer regarded as a source of HD acquisition, andthis meeting was called to discuss what we should do collectively about thatstatement. As you can imagine, having so many people all wanting to discuss theramifications of this dictate in their own area of expertise together required achairperson, and this duty fell to Judith Petty of ARRI Media, who did an admirablejob of keeping us all in order. The result of the three-hour meeting was to decide on aplan of action, choose a name for this group, and form a sub-committee of 19 peoplethat will spearhead a plan for the Image Forum. I don't want to elaborate on their planshere, as you can read in the news pages of this magazine more detail about theforum's objectives. But, I am really pleased we have all come together.

It's about time we discussed howwe, the DPs, make our decisionswhen it comes to what tools wechoose to use. HD is here to stay,there's no doubt about that, butfilm has been the foundation uponwhich the production business hasbeen built. Film manufacturers are

continuing to improve their stocks, as they always have done, and it's time we triedto redress the balance in this charge of the HD brigade. There is absolutely nothingwrong with 16mm film. It has a place in both film and TV production, both for lowbudget films that can't afford to shoot on 35mm and for TV Productions. Despite theBBC's dictate about no 16mm film for HD acquisition, it is still being used on majorproductions.

I recently sat on the interview panel for the new FT2 camera trainees, and every singleapplicant said they wanted to learn about, and be involved with, productions shootingon film. They had all had some experience, to a greater or lesser extent, of shootingdigitally, but film really was the Holy Grail for them. Let's not disappoint the nextgeneration of potential DPs by denying them access to film.

Recently, Merlin, probably one of the biggest budget TV productions this year wasshot on 16mm, as was Mistresses, which I believe was chosen for cost effectivenessand quality of the image. The leading ladies on Mistresses had expressed concernabout being shot on the lower-end HD cameras, but the budget wouldn't stretch tothe larger format cameras, so they decided to stick with 16mm. It seems there is nojoined up thinking on this subject, so why not let productions, and primarily DPschoose for themselves? So often the production decides what camera they want touse before the DP gets anywhere near the project. Surely that's like telling a directorwho is in the cast, what shots to shoot and what colour the costumes are -disregarding any creative input. We are generally very well informed on what newtechnology is available in our profession, and HD certainly isn't a mystery to most ofus anymore.

Robin Vidgeon called me the other day to say that he had been watching Only Foolsand Horses on the HD channel, and that certainly wasn't acquired on HD, or even onone of the modern film stocks, so what is going on? We are being told one thing, butshown another. It's about time a little clarity was given to this subject and I hope theImage Forum can help rattle a few cages.

Robin also complained that the trailers going out for the new series of Frost, that hehad shot, had been shown with a blue cast across the image, not at all as he hadgraded it. Someone had taken it upon them selves to alter it without his knowledge.I wonder who?

It was mooted at the last BSC AGM that we should have a representative from ourassociate members on the BSC Board. This we have duly done, and at our first post-summer board meeting the associates were ably represented by Andrei Austin andRodrigo Gutierrez. There will probably be only one of them at subsequent meetings,but it was good to have their input, and they can now raise any issues our associateshave at the BSC directly with the board. So please use them to air your opinions, ouroperators are very important to us.

We are also on a drive to recruit new members. Having had a barren year, it's timewe had some new blood in our ranks. The problem has been in getting the newapplicants' work screened by enough of the board to make a proper judgement. Aftertrying various methods of screening, it has been decided that decisions are only madeif enough of us sit down together, so that is what we have done. It's difficultsometimes for everyone to find time in their busy schedules to commit to yet anotherBSC meeting, so thank you to those board members who participated, and watch thisspace for new names in the BSC directory.

Sue Gibson BSC PresidentBritish Society of Cinematographers

UK p r e s i d e n t ’ s p e r s p e c t i v e


Sweet 16mm

I hope the ImageForum can helpratt le a few cages.

We are on a dr ive torecruit new members… it 'st ime we had some newblood in our ranks.

UK p o i n t s o f v i e w


We are living and working in difficult times, and at thetime of being asked to write this piece, world headlinesare broadcasting one message, and that is we seem tobe moving fast towards economic recession.

The level of economic turbulence on a global scale has morethan shaken people and governments, but at this point I thinkthe mood in the film industry is not one of panic, mainlybecause film production works on a relatively long timescale.Businesses are rightly concerned in the way they are in everyother sector about the shorter and longer term picture, and Ithink we can be sure that tougher times are definitely ahead,particularly if credit is harder to come by.

The investment picture for the next year may well come todepend upon the studios continued ability to access privateequity/hedge fund cash to underwrite their production slates.If they cannot get this money then the number of films the USmakes in 2009 may reduce, and in turn the productionsavailable to come to the UK shrinks accordingly. At themoment the studios seem fairly confident this won't happen.

Even if times are tougher for financing production, the marketfor films is likely to stay strong, film being the classic'affordable luxury'.

If we look at the year so far, we can say we have weatheredthe ripple effect of the US writers' strike, but as this magazinewent to press, the actors' strike is still unresolved and the UKhas lost a couple of potential productions as a result. We cantake a small comfort in the strengthening of the dollar againstthe pound, which means that the comparativecompetitiveness of the UK on cost for inward investmentfilms from the US is weighing more in the UK's favour than forother countries. It is a small move and, as we know, exchangerates are transient, but nonetheless it is already bringing newenquiries on studio films which could come to the UK to mydesk.

We also know that from the research we commissioned fromOlsberg SPI on the comparative cost competitiveness of theUK, that the UK tax credit is working well. Producers have toldus that they find it much simpler and more direct.

We also know from the budget research, that the UK is highly-competitive as an international production base for mediumand higher budget ($20m and $100m) films. We comparedthe production costs in UK with nine other territories rangingfrom the established production centres of Los Angeles,Vancouver and Sydney to lower cost countries such as CzechRepublic and South Africa. The key finding, I'm pleased to say,is that despite perceptions to the contrary, the UK isextremely competitive in attracting international production,and the research shows that it is one of the most generousincentives in the world.

But the UK's offering is not all about cost. The findingshighlight the quality and quantity of our international levelacting and creative talent; first-class technicians and crewwith flexible working practices; our capacity to handle anumber of larger productions; our network of screen agenciesacross the UK offering practical production support andservices; and our unique locations.

So, when you add up our qualitative advantages, ourexperience and our shared language, our financialcompetitiveness including the generous tax incentives, theUK is an extremely attractive proposition for internationalproductions, and seen as being a 'lower risk', compared tomany 'low cost' destinations.

We have presented this information to the US studios andmajor independents on both the US West and East coasts,and over the coming months my team will be continuing toget the marketing message out about our competitiveness.However, this is information I feel is really important to sharewith the production sector here in order to help companiesdevelop their business, and I would encourage you to contactmy office to access a copy of it online.

Over the coming months I also want to roll out more of theideas that have been developed out of our infrastructuremeetings to market the “UK Film Industry plc” internationally.We have already taken line producers to the US to show thestudios and independents that we have a deeper pool ofexpertise ready to help them. We have been assisting withscouting and budgeting US productions, which has beenappreciated by producers looking at the UK for their projects,and we have just supported a familiarisation visit to the UK ofUS executives.

On-the-ground support is invaluable, so I have also appointedAndy Weltman, a producer with experience of making films inthe UK and the US, as our inward investment executiveworking out of the UK Film Council's US office in LA.

Looking even further ahead to the long-term, we're exploringnew emerging markets for film, namely the Middle East withrecce visits Dubai and Abu Dhabi as well as Qatar andBahrain. We need to see the level of production infrastructurethere, to understand their plans for developing their filmindustries and to connect with local filmmakers, and the US isalready looking at the opportunities to work with thosecountries.

I also want to look at opportunities for us to strengthen ourlinks with directors, writers, agents and front-of-cameratalent. Seeing Josh Hartnett take to the London stage thisautumn is a good reminder of how much actors want to workin London.

This has been a cracking year so far for British films and talentin winning 28 awards at the major ceremonies and festivalsfrom the Oscars to the BAFTAs, Sundance, Cannes andToronto. Championing that success may also just help usleverage longer-term value for the whole industry.

Colin BrownBritish Film CommissionerUK Film Council

Brown: rolling out more ideas to promote "UK FilmIndustry" plc

Championing successWe asked British Film Commissioner Colin Brown to give us an overview of how the UK isfaring, and the UK Film Council's plans to boost production in these rather gloomy times…

Letters … if your have a POV please write in to us at … [email protected]

The UK is anextremely attract iveproposit ion forinternat ionalproductions… being' lower r isk 'compared to many' low cost 'dest inat ions

ISSUE 30 BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER

UK p r o d u c t i o n n e w s

The inaugural meeting of The Image Forum, anassociation of companies and trade organisationsacross the production industry, which aims toaddress issues relating to the image quality of featureand TV productions, took place at ARRI GB's Uxbridgeheadquarters on October 1st. It follows an initialmeeting convened a month earlier at PinewoodStudios to canvass interest in such an association.

Delegates from key trade associations including the BSC,IMAGO - The European Federation of Cinematographers,Production Guild and GBCT, along with representatives fromARRI, Panavision, Kodak, Fuji, Ascent Media, Pepper Post,iLab and Technicolor, are among the names on themembership roster, which currently totals around 40.

The catalyst for The Image Forum, and its current focus, arequestions of how and why different cameras and formatsare selected for different productions. There exists a generalconcern that decisions about which formats to use for whichprojects are being made without full understanding andconsideration of the issues involved.

“Confusion is rife in today's film and television industry aboutthe coexistence of digital and film technologies, and alsoabout the plotting of clear and coherent workflows from theset to exhibition,” said Judith Petty, head of corporatemarketing at ARRI, who chaired the initial meeting. “Themembers of the Image Forum represent a highly motivatedteam of industry professionals and will work together to givea clear, balanced, unbiased view.”

Huge investments in HD channels, and concerns aboutpossible inconsistencies in the visual quality of HD outputhave prompted fears about acceptable acquisition tools, andculminated in such directives as the BBC's to cull 16mm asan acceptable production format. The Image Forum fearsthat such directives close the door on a vast array ofcameras, lenses and film stocks that manycinematographers, directors and producers value highly.

The Image Forum aims to provide a source of reliableinformation that will help producers and broadcasters makeinformed decisions about cameras, formats and post-production pipelines. It will also support companies andorganisations undertaking comparative tests, such as theBSC, by making the results accessible and understandableto as wide an audience as possible.

Director of photography, Sue Gibson BSC, president of theBSC, commented, “It will benefit us all to exchangeinformation and to dispel the confusion and hype with whichwe all live. The cinematographer is not just a technician butis, to coin the old phrase, an artist 'painting with light'. Longmay that continue, and with all the tools at our disposal.”

Jeff Allen, MD of Panavision UK said, “With the myriad ofcamera types and the different ways they can be used, wesee how confusing it can be for producers, directors, DPsand assistants. Having a central, neutral source ofinformation can go some way to providing qualitativeinformation without feeling pressured or facing a particularbias.”

The impact of technology and workflow is felt all the waythrough to postproduction, and Shane Warden, managingdirector of Pepper Post, said, “Post facilities strive to equipfor every option, but with over 11 different acquisitionformats, it is all too easy to decide to shoot on somethingthat may ultimately create a stressful workflow whichjeopardises the budget or compromises the value of thefinished asset.”

Kodak's EAMER marketing director Thierry Perronnet, added,“In the face of all the changes and challenges producers andDPs have to deal with technologically, artistically andfinancially, it is really important that a group of film industrycompanies and professionals takes time to provide clear,balanced information”.

Image Forum sets out its stall

A SWOT Analysis undertaken byThe Image ForumThe extraordinary range of image acquisition andpost-production formats available today, and thespeed at which new developments come to market,are making it difficult for broadcasters,commissioners and producers to make informedchoices about production tools.

The Image Forum was established to address issuesrelating to the image quality of British (and international)film and television productions. Made up of professionalsfrom all sides of the industry, the Forum's stated aim is toprevent “hyperbole and confusion” from influencingdecisions about how productions are organised.

In particular, recent decisions by British broadcasters tostop accepting material shot on Super 16mm have provenextremely controversial, and The Image Forum focussed itsinitial attention on this topic. The concern is that, bydismissing an entire shooting medium, it limits the creativechoices available to film and programme makers, and turns

a blind eye to the practical benefits that have made Super16 such a widely accepted format for certain genres ofproduction.

A SWOT analysis (a structure for analysing the strengths,weaknesses, opportunities and threats) of Super 16mmwas conducted by the group. British Cinematographermagazine hopes that publishing this analysis will serve toinspire informed thought and debate, which is one of theImage Forum's principle objectives.

Strengths

• Super 16mm can be enlarged for theatrical release• Globally available• Ease of use• Optical viewfinders with multi-variable eyepiece

positioning• Small, Light and without cables

• True 2K format• Unique subjective quality• Cheaper option than 35mm• Excellent medium for teaching• Seamless interface with all post technology• Resistance to obsolescence.• Super 16 close to HD format (see 2K)• Variety of stocks to shoot with• High resolution • Can use 16mm or 35mm lenses • Proven convenient work flow• Known and respected archival value• High speed capabilities• Good technology in the consumables• DI and enhanced post services can eliminate or

decrease grain without adversely affecting sharpnessetc.

• Excellent colour rendition eg: more natural skin tones • Industry continues to invest in the format cameras,

stock etc.



Skillset, the Sector Skills Council (SSC) forthe creative media industry, is offeringScreen Bursaries of up to £800, from its FilmSkills Fund, to individuals and freelancersworking across all sectors of the UK filmindustry, to help them attend vocationaltraining in priority areas.

Skillset manages a range of centrally-collectedtraining funds contributed to by industry andpublic sources. The main aim of these fundsis to help ensure that the UK audiovisualindustries have a workforce with the rightlevel and range of skills. The funds aredesigned to broaden access to trainingopportunities and career development,support companydevelopment and also coverhealth and safety.

Coming from a £7m fund,Skillset's Screen Bursariesprovide freelancers up to amaximum of £800 to spendon training, and a maximumof £500 for permanentemployees. Grants are available for a wide rangeof courses, include for business skills, technicaland craft skills, health and safety, as well as NVQsfor grip, crane, technician, stagehand and animalhandlers.”

“One of Skillset's main objectives is to help peopleworking in the film industry progress theircareers,” said Janine Marmot, Skillset's director offilm. “With such a rapid pace of change in theindustry at the moment, especially in terms ofnew technologies, it has never been moreimportant for filmmakers in all departments tounderstand and be able to use new equipment.

Filmmakers can apply for a Skillset bursary to goon training schemes that help them learn newskills that will help them develop professionally,and remain competitive in this global marketplace.

“When I first started at Skillset two years ago, Icouldn't believe that Skillset has this pot of moneyto give away as bursaries to filmmakers to helpwith the cost of training. I kept asking 'what's thecatch?' But there genuinely is no catch. Anyonewith a few years of experience working in theindustry can apply for a bursary. So pleasedo apply!”

Skillset offersbursaries

It could be you: Skillset's Marmot says bursaries of up to£800 are available for people with experience

The Aimimage Camera Company of Camden has acquired the assets of ICE Film, which wentinto liquidation recently, with the intention of forming a new hire company to be known asICE. ICE Film had for many years held a strong position in the UK professionalcinematography market, particularly in Super 16mm and more recently in 35mm. It was thesole UK agent for Aaton cameras, as well as agents for Canon, Angenieux and Optar filmlenses, Panamic booms, Ambient timecode equipment and Transvideo monitors.

ICE, with former owner Peter Bryant, will retain substantially the same professional team, continuing itstradition of tailored, personal service to productions. Aimimage plans to combine ICE’s reputation forhigh-quality service with its own experience in the broadcast sector and in High-Definition camera hire,whilst increasing the equipment range to support new ventures in drama and feature productions.

Sue Gibson BSC, president of the BSC, "It's good news that ICE is back in business, albeit under anothername. I hope Peter can make it work as he's always had a devoted following, and is one of the industry'sgood guys."

• Equipment more robust / versatile / logisticsi.e.: cables

• Handled in post production in many countriesworld-wide

• Grain* (* can also be perceived to be a weakness)• Some actors dislike small digital cameras as they seem less

significant• Some actors prefer the effect when being shot on film- dislike

issue with wrinkles etc.• Film perceived as more creative format during the image

capture.• Anamorphic lens compatibility• Ongoing commitment to the format by the film stock

companies.

Weaknesses

• Requires processing no instant playback results from master• Film more expensive than tape or solid state (total cost film,

processing, tele-cine)• Affected by compression artefacts as a result of random grain

structure for HD TV transmission• Not as cost effective as some lower end HD camera systems• Original equipment cost higher than HD - more

owner/operators• Cannot attain premium pricing for new purchases (commodity

pricing)• Perceived by production to be more expensive• Grain* (*can also be perceived to be a strength - for the

appropriate project)• Running time - magazine re-load more often than tape• Cost versus HD (perceived)

Opportunities

• Recent UK & US examples of features shot Super 16 andblown up for cinema release using DI process

• Anamorphic for stylised look• Advances in modern film stocks• High quality high speed filming• Ensure that film students obtain as much experience in film to

ensure that they continue to be fans of the format.• Rental companies / film stock companies and post production

companies to provide cost-effective packaging to productions.• Educate production in cost-effective packages• Continuing improving de-grain processes• Industry initiative to ensure continuity of choice• Methods to educate and inform key influencers• Industry group marketing “one voice”• Market to talent and craft unions• Image Forum -members “pool” knowledge and experience to

strengthen the message of the forum.

Threats

• 4K acquisition at 16mm prices• Non film or tape based capture to enable fast multi-format

broadcasting & web-casting of content • Narrowing of laboratories handling 16mm negative

development• BBC deliverables policy• Increased compression especially of MPEG 4 to fit more

channels in restricted bandwidth• Growing number of filmmakers growing up with video only• Increased competition from non-film based companies as HD

prices fall and access to high end HD grows

Aimimage captures Ice Film

Two of South Africa's most successfulequipment rental companies have joinedforces to offer their combinedequipment inventories and technicalexpertise to international features,commercials, dramas, documentariesand live shows.

One8Six and Panacam Africa, which haveserved the South African film industry withequipment and technical support over many

years, have been amalgamated intoPanavision South Africa, now trading asPanavision Cape Town and PanavisionJohannesburg.

One8Six is a well-known supplier of cameraequipment to the South African commercialsindustry, and its core managerial andtechnical staff will carry their specialistexperience with them to the new PanavisionSouth Africa operation. Panacam Africa has

been the sole external agent and supplier inSouth Africa of Panavision equipment tomany of the biggest feature films shot insouthern Africa, such as Blood Diamond andLord of War. Combining these businesses isdesigned to offer producers the region'swidest range of equipment, backed by anexperienced technical team.

Panavision Cape Town and PanavisionJohannesburg will trade out of custom-designed premises at Gold Island Studios inJohannesburg and Cape Island Studios inCape Town. Both businesses are within closeproximity to Panalux premises, givingproducers the ability to purchasecomprehensive camera, grip and lightingpackages.

Tony Eddy, managing director of PanavisionSouth Africa, commented, “We are confidentthat the industry will see this merger as aconstructive growth offering productioncompanies a better choice of equipment andbetter service than ever before.”

Equipment being offered at Panavision SouthAfrica includes all Panavision and Arriflex filmcameras; Primo spherical and anamorphiclensing; Zeiss, Cooke and Angeniuex lensing;Panavision Genesis, F900Rs, F23s, HD750s,Varicam HD cameras as well as the Red Onesystem. High-speed kit includes Photosonics35 and 16mm film systems as well as the

Phantom HD and BrightDrive HD workflowsystems. Extensive upgrading of the gripsdepartments is underway, with the inclusionof a diverse range of grip equipment includingTechno Cranes, Giraffe Cranes and aselection of remote heads.

Panavision has also opened new lighting,camera rental and grip facilities on the lot atBarrandov Studios in Prague. Working inconjunction with Barrandov Studios,Panavision has relocated to custom-builtpremises on site. It has merged the assets ofOne8Six (which it acquired during thetakeover of AFM) with the existing on-siteequipment provider, previously owned byBarrandov, to form separate Panalux andPanavision operations, and becomes the onlysuch service provider directly on the lot.

“If you look back historically you see thatBarrandov is second only to Pinewood interms of large-scale films being made there,”said Jeff Allen, managing director ofPanavsion Europe. “Panavision has been inPrague for over ten years, and it made senseto make our new and improved camera andlighting operations available in the mostconvenient way to filmmakers.”

Features serviced by Panavision Pragueinclude The Bourne Identity, Van Helsing,Roman Polanski's Oliver Twist, and CasinoRoyale, with G.I. Joe now in production.

page 8 ISSUE 30 BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER


As part of its European entertainment industry growthstrategy, Thomson is set to complete the relocation ofTechnicolor Theatrical Services, from its West Draytonlocation of more than 70 years, to a brand new filmpost-production facility of around 40,000sq/ft withinthe Pinewood Studios complex. The opening will bemarked by a special launch event at the end of January2009, a year to the day that the relocation wasconfirmed at a special ‘groundbreaking' ceremony.

In addition, Technicolor Creative Services (TCS) will completethe relocation of its West Drayton-based digital intermediate(DI) and other digital post-production services to a new, state-of-the-art facility in Soho before Christmas. TCS has leased a

seven-story building on Lexington Street, close to sister visualeffects business Moving Picture Company. The new Sohofacility combines Technicolor's digital post-productionoperations, formerly at West Drayton, and select DIoperations from MPC.

Technicolor's new Pinewood location will offer integrated filmand front-end services, telecine, release printing and digitalcinema distribution services. Technicolor hosted agroundbreaking ceremony at Pinewood on January 29th2008, lead by Joe Berchtold, president of Thomson'sTechnicolor Theatrical Services, Pino Filardi, COO ofThomson's Technicolor Theatrical Services Europe, and IvanDunleavy, chief executive, Pinewood Shepperton plc.

“For more than 70 years Technicolor has been an importantcornerstone in the history of UK filmmaking,” Berchtold said.

“By relocating to Pinewood Studios, Technicolor will providecustomers with the best possible on-location service, whilealso taking a key step in our development strategy to extendTechnicolor's role in the UK and worldwide as a leader in end-to-end film and digital media services."

Dunleavy commented, “The presence of Technicolor sends astrong signal to the creative community that London, andPinewood in particular, continues to be among the world's topdestinations for quality filmmaking.”

Technicolor on schedule at Pinewood

Panavision expands in South Africa and Prague

What's shooting on Fuji?Feature films being shot on Fujifilm include… Green Zone, DP Barry Ackroyd BSC, dir PaulGreengrass; Wild Target, DP David Johnson BSC, dir Jonathan Lynn; Ondine, DPChristopher Doyle HKSC, dir Neil Jordan; Jasim, DP Ed Wild; The Scouting Book For Boys,DP Robbie Ryan, dir Tom Harper; The Damned United, DP Ben Smithard, dir Tom Hooper,The Unloved, DP Daniel Bronks, dir Samantha Morton; London Dreams, DP Sejal Shah, dirVipul Amrutlal Shah; The Reeds, DP Dennis Madden, dir Nick Cohen; and Come On Eileen,DP Candida Richardson, dir Finola Geraghty. TV dramas on Fujifilm include… Waking TheDead - Series VIII, DP Mike Spragg; Red Riding 1974, DP Rob Hardy, dir Julian Jarrold;Red Riding 1980, DP Igor Martinovic, dir James Marsh; Collision, DP Chris Ross, dir MarcEvans; Occupation, DP David Odd BSC, dir Nick Murphy; The 39 Steps, DP JamesAspinall, dir James Hawes; Albert's Memorial, DP Tony Coldwell, dir David Richards; AnEnglishman in New York, DP's Yaron Orbach (USA), Sean Bobbitt BSC (UK), dir RichardLaxton.

Fujifilm has launched a brand new short film competition with up to £4,000 worth ofFujifilm Motion Picture film stock as the main prize. There is one open brief and twoprizes; Best Film and Best Cinematography. Closing date for entries is 30th January 2009.For more information, visit www.fujifilmshorts.com


A Conservative government would increase National Lottery-fundedspending on film by 10%, shadow cultural secretary Jeremy Hunt toldScreen International's UK Film Finance Summit recently. Hunt said theopposition, currently leading the government in opinion polls, wascommitted to the creative sector.

“We recognise that the film industry is extremely important," he said, adding that hisparty recognised that the free market alone could not support a diverse film industryand supported the existing incentives for production. A Conservative governmentwould not alter the country's tax credit system, but would look at increasing NationalLottery contributions to film. This commitment to additional expenditure came fromthe party's already expressed commitment to return National Lottery funding to itscore purpose of supporting the arts heritage, grass-roots sports and charities.

“That would mean 10% more money going into film from the National Lottery,” hesaid. Hunt also said he understood the key role of supporting distribution of film tomaximise audiences. "The challenge is as much about the flow of production as thevolume of production.”

Tories promises extraLottery cash for film

What's shooting onKodak?Kodak film stocks are being used on the following TV productions… Ashes ToAshes, DP Simon Archer, Kudos Film & TV for BBC; Lewis III, DPs Paul Bondand David Marsh, Granada for ITV; Mistresses 2, DP James Welland, EcosseFilms for BBC; Midsomer Murders XII, DP Colin Munn, Bentley Productions forITV; Merlin, DPs Geoffrey Wharton and Dale McCready, Shine Productions forBBC1; Primeval III, DPs Mike Spragg and Shane Daly, Impossible Pictures forITV1; Taggart, DP Grant Cameron, SMG for ITV; and Survivors, DPs Tony Miller,Graham Frake and Nigel Willoughby, for BBC. Features using Kodak 35mminclude… Creation, DP Jess Hall, dir Jon Amiel, Kick Ass, DP Ben Davis BSC,dir Matthew Vaughn; Alice in Wonderland, DP Dariusz Wolski, dir Tim Burton;Sherlock Holmes, DP Philippe Rousselot, dir Guy Ritchie; Nine, DP Dion Beebe,dir Rob Marshall; and From Time to Time, DP Roger Pratt, dir Julian Fellowes.Kodak 16mm is being used on A Boy Called Dad, DP David Katznelson, dirDirector: Brian Percival.

Tory top up: shadow cultural secretary Jeremy Hunt would give 10%extra to industry

p r o d u c t i o n n e w s



Red opens service centre at PinewoodCamera manufacturer Red DigitalCinema has sprouted its first operationoutside the US at Pinewood Studios.RED Europe Ltd's primary objective is toprovide support, upgrades, repairs, andservice to Red customers acrossEurope.

For the main part, cameras will be “called in”for upgrades at Pinewood whenever they aredue, although Red Europe Ltd will also offersupport in the field. The new company isheaded by Carl Ward, former chairman andCEO of Oakley Europe, with Alan Piper,

formerly group operations director at LeeLighting Ltd, overseeing day-to-dayoperations.

"Outside of the US, Europe is Red's largestmarket and, in an effort to support thatcustomer base, we felt that there was nobetter place to headquarter the facility thanat Pinewood,” said Piper. “Our coverage willnot be strictly limited to Europe, but more tothe time zone north and south - South Africato Iceland and as far East as Turkey.” RedEurope may also support camera users inIndia.

Red Europe opened at the beginning ofNovember from premises within Pinewood'sEast Side Complex. Several studio tenantsare offering Red compatible technologies andservices.

These include Apple reseller 1080 Pro, whichoffers Final Cut Pro-based workstations,Sequence Post a facility entirely dedicated toRed-acquired rushes, and the Shepperton-based Axis Films one of the first UKcompanies to purchase a Red One camerasystem.

Smith chairs Edinburgh FilmFestivalLeading producer Iain Smith OBE recently took up the role of chair of the Edinburgh InternationalFilm Festival (EIFF). Smith, who was recently honoured with an OBE for his services to the UK filmindustry, is a highly acclaimed producer, with blockbuster films such as Cold Mountain, Children ofMen, The Fifth Element and Seven Years in Tibet among his film credits. He has been a director ofthe EIFF since November 2007, and replaces John McCormick who has held the role for 12 years.

Smith is also a board member of the Scottish Screen/Scottish Arts Council joint board and is currently Chair ofthe Film Skills Strategy Committee, Deputy Chairman of the British Film Advisory Group and a director of theChildren's Film and Television Foundation. He has also previously served on the board of the UK Film Council, theScottish Film Council, the Scottish Film Production Fund, the Scottish Film Training Trust and as a Governor ofthe National Film and Television School.Chairs: producer Smith is now in key positions

Red: Alan Piper outside East SideComplex at Pinewood Studios

FEATUREFEATURE m e e t t h e n e w w a v e


Angus HudsonWe spoke to a happy Angus the day he won best cinematographygong at the prestigious Sitges Catalonian International Film Festivalfor The Broken, the film he lit for director Sean Ellis. (The last BritishDP to win at Sitges, by the way, was Nick Knowland BSC for InstituteBenjamenta in 1995.) Angus has recently been shooting commercialsaround the world for fashion and fragrance brands, and Christian Aid,and is up for several large features, so watch this space.Agent is Wizzo & Co (www.wizzofeatures.co.uk), or visitwww.angushudson.net.

Filmography (so far):The Broken (2008), Cashback (2006), Hari Om (2004)

When did you discover you wanted to be a cinematographer?I was 17 years old, had failed all my O Levels for the second time, andhad a summer job at a commercials company that had its own studioand equipment. Here I am 26 years later, still with no O Levels, stilldoing that summer job - although I don't make so many cups of teathese days.

Where did you train?On the job.

What are you favourite films?I have many “favourite” films, however Apocalypse Now, shot byVittorio Storaro, is always in my list. It's the first film I saw that reallymade my jaw drop, which I never tire of seeing and that I can mouththe lines as the actors speak them. A more recent “favourite” listcould include The Lives Of Others (DP Hagen Bogdanski), No CountryFor Old Men (DP Roger Deakins BSC ASC) and This Is England (DPDanny Cohen) - they all tell a good story.

What's the best advice you've had?“We are not saving lives here”… and… “Be nice to the young oneswhen they are on the way up, and they'll be nice to you on your waydown.”

Who are your DP/industry heroes?Roger Deakins and John Mathieson. They were nice to me on my wayup, and are great leaders. They shoot a good-looking film, and do it inan inspiring way.

What's you proudest moment?Managing to get and stay married, raise children and work in film - allat the same time.

What's the worst knock-back/rejection you ever had?The funniest, rather than worst, was being told…“We want someonewho can do something more colourful” after showing adirector/producer a film I had shot that was somewhat desaturated.

What's been your best/worst moment on set?Looking through the camera and photographing the most perfectmoment were everything comes together in a symphony ofmovement, light, emotion and timing - and then the director says…“One more take please”.

Tell us your most hilarious faux pas?Putting the board on as a clapper loader, whist holding a small pair ofscissors, and accidentally stabbing an actor in the face.

Away from work, what are your greatest passions?Cooking and home.

What one piece of kit could you not live without?Good sharp kitchen knives and a spot meter.What's the hardest shot/thing you've had to light/frame?Lighting a large area of a street, which couldn't be locked off, in themiddle of London, to a stop of T64 (with not enough money), to looklike daylight for a car crash sequence we were shooting on sevencameras running speeds between 150fps and 1,000fps.

Tell us your hidden talent/party trick?I make a good gluten-free chocolate cake.

In the entire history of filmmaking, which film would you loveto have shot?Apocalypse Now.

What's your greatest extravagance?Living and driving in Central London.

What's the best thing about being a DP?Creating visuals for a good script. Working with a small army ofpeople to make it all happen. Working with brilliant, creative andtalented people. Travelling all over the world. Caterers. Time offbetween jobs.

What's the worst thing about being a DP?Creating visuals for a bad script. Working with a small army of peopleto make it all happen. Working with “brilliant”, “creative” and“talented” people. Travelling all over the world. Caterers. Time offbetween jobs

If you weren't a DP what job would you be doing now?Still trying to pass my O Levels.

Taking advice from trusted sources, we've identified a new wave ofcinematographers who… have a decent slew of films under theirbelts… are not upstarts, but not quite of “a certain age” either… arenot yet members of the BSC, but who have the potential to becomethe next Roger, Roger or Remi.

Meet the New Wave


UK w h o ’ s s h o o t i n g w h o

Who’sShootingWho?

Who’sShootingWho?

Superstar Roger Pratt BSC has been working with directorOliver Parker out of Ealing Studios on a new version of DorianGray. We'll have a full report on how this widely admired DPwent about lensing a period drama for a contemporaryaudience in our next edition. But before all that, here are somespecial mentions for some of Roger's crews down the years..."In 2004 I had a first class team for Wolfgang Peterson on Troy.Peter Taylor was on the 'A' camera with Simon Hume on focusand Sam Renton loading. With Trevor Coop on the B camera,Graham Martyr was focus and Sacha Jones loading. 'C'camera, which operated in Mexico only was headed by PaulBond, with Guy Froston focus. Lewis Hume was the centralloader and we had Chris Mason and Tim Phillips as trainees.Ted Deason joined us too in Mexico. On Harry Potter And TheGoblet of Fire was 2004-5, we all worked under the wonderfulproduction design of Stuart Craig. The 'A' Camera crew wereagain headed by Peter Taylor as Operator and Simon Humefocus, Sam Renton was loader, and latterly Sacha Jones tookover. Trevor Coop operated the 'B' camera, and Gary Spratling,Graham Martyr were focus, with Lewis Hume loading. On the'C' cameral Robert Palmer was focus, and Tim Phillips was theloader. Spring of 2006 Richard Attenborough asked me againto work for him on Closing The Ring. It was a co-productionwith Canada and Northern Ireland so my English choices forcrew were minimal, but I had Simon Hume focussing for meand Sacha Jones as 2nd Loader in Northern Ireland. In 2006we started Iain Softley's Inkheart. We had wonderful locationson the Italian Riviera with loving help from the Italian filmcommunity, and we finally returned to not so sunny Blighty tocomplete in the usual Bourne Wood, etc., locations beforesettling into Shepperton for the final weeks. I had Pete Tayloroperating, Pete Cavalciuti second operator and steadicam,

Simon Hume focus and Sam Renton, Lewis Hume 'A' loader,Sacha Jones 'B' loader, and Tim Phillips central loader. OnDorian Gray Julian Morson has been operating, Sam Rentonfocus, Tim Phillips loading. What a great thing to see thiscompany making films on a regular basis. We've been workingvery hard, but it such a good project. Alf Tremontin was withus almost permanently and always got a call on all the otherproductions mentioned above."

We love it when DPs step forward and make themselves andtheir work better known to us… Alessandra Scherillorecently finished shooting a wacky Romanian Telecom ad withCharlie Watson from Made, through Abis Studio in Bucharest,next door to the Cold Mountain sets. This year she alsoundertook a 35-day shoot with director Terence Stevens-Priorfor Lotus moving between locations in Vietnam, the island ofLangkawi off the Malaysian coast and Dubai - all throughFilmworks Dubai. Alex told us her crew was the first to beallowed to fly over Vietnam since the war.

The DP news from Sara Putt Associates is… Nick Dancecontinues on Skins III for Company Pictures, Pete Edwards islighting the second series of the eponymously titled OmidDjalili - full of razor sharp observational humour from the topBritish stand-up comedian and actor, - for the BBC. PeterGreenhalgh is working on Marple for Granada, and TobyMoore is doing the Holby City Xmas Special for BBC. WillPugh is currently filming Islands of Britain for ITV Productions

and Buffalo Pictures, and Graham Smith has just finished inNamibia on Human Journey a documentary for BBC. Of SaraPutt's operators… Peter Wignall is currently in Toronto onMatthew Vaughan's Kick-Ass for Plan B, Des Whelan andVince McGahon are both operating on Sherlock Holmes forWarner Brothers. Gareth Hughes continues on Robin Hoodfor Tiger Aspect

Amongst Independent's DP clients… Oliver Curtis BSC isworking on Claire Kilner's new feature Virgin on BourbonStreet, over in the States. Ben Davis BSC is shootingMatthew Vaughn's Kick-Ass. Anthony Dod Mantle BSC,DFF just finished lighting Lars Von Trier's new film Antichrist inGermany. Jess Hall is lighting Jon Amiel's new featureCreation, starring Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly. Thestory focuses on Darwin's struggle to find a balance betweenhis revolutionary theories and his relationship with hisreligious wife. Sam McCurdy is on Anthony Di Blasi's Dread,based on a short story from Clive Barker's horror anthologyBooks of Blood. Christopher Ross is working on ITV's newdrama, Collision, directed by Marc Evans. Oliver StapletonBSC is now work on Gregor Jordan's psychological thrillerUnthinkable, over in the US. Ben Seresin is also in the USshooting Michael Bay's Transformers 2: Revenge Of TheFallen.

Dinedor Management's… Mike Fox BSC is back fromEthiopia where he was shooting the documentary HumanPlanet for BBC Bristol. He has also completed a documentaryon Blythe Spirit for French company La Clemenssane, and hasgone on to docu-feature Angola Three, for director VadimJean at The Mob Film Company. Ian Moss, fresh off series IIof Moving Wallpaper for Kudos and ITV, has gone on to

Eye eye: Roger Pratt watches directorOliver Parker eyeing up a shot on the set

of Dorian Gray

Workin' it: DP Alessandra Scherillo undertook a 35-day shoot for Lotus

Gareth Hughes on the set of Robin Hood in Hungary

Graham Smith on Human Journey

UK w h o ’ s s h o o t i n g w h o


Christmas ghost story Crooked House for Tiger Aspect. SteveBuckland continues on Carnival's Hotel Babylon. PeterButler has finished the return of Minder for Talkback Thamesand Channel Five and is now on Silent Witness for the BBC.Grant Cameron remains on Taggart for ITV in Scotland.Peter Thornton has started on a second block of Robin Hoodfor Tiger Aspect and BBC, and Peter Field recently lit aNurofen commercial before going on to 2nd unit on Skellig -both for Feel Films. Florian Hoffmeister is on the SouthAfrican leg of The Prisoner for Granada and AMC. AndrewJohnson has finished series III of M.I. High for Kudos and theBBC, and Andrew Speller is shooting 2nd unit for DavidJason vehicle Albert's Memorial for ITV. Trevor Forrest hasfinished on the feature Tormented for Forward Films, BBCFilms and Pathé, and has moved on to kids' television seriesBookaboo for Happy films and CITV. Following dailies forHustle, Survivors and Skins, Steven Hall went on to operateon Silent Witness for the BBC, and from there to Ashes ToAshes for Kudos. Tom Townend continues his busy yearshooting commercials for COI, Nicorette, Department ofTransport, Sky Movies and Mazda, along with promos forNatty, Sugarbabes, Victoria and Keane. Ed Mash is back fromPrague shooting for Tesco, and has also shot Think Big, ThinkBigger for Disney, as well as trails for Britain's Worst Learners,and Danny Dyer's Dangerous Men for Virgin. Eric MaddisonFSF is back from Norway shooting promos for Basehunter, aswell as a Leon Jackson promo for Bikini, and a Gilbert andSullivan Revival promo for Davey Inc. Hubert Taczanowskilit the opening titles for the FA Cup for Hat Trick and Plumfilms. Garry Turnbull is back from Egypt shooting acommercial for Talaat Mustafa Holdings for Magic ArmProductions. Pete Ellmore finishes on Lynx and goes on tomore commercials for Aldi and Flora. Ben Filby is in Rome forPeroni, and has also shot corporates for Butlins, TUI travel andthe Royal Mail. Matt Cooke just shot a viral for WallsSausages and a corporate for DIUS. Franklin Dow has beenshooting music promos for Towers of London and Evile, andcorporates for Woman's Institute, Spearmark and SonyEricsson. Damian Daniel has shot a music video for Arisca,and corporates for Sony Ericsson and The IET. SteadicamOperator Dion M Casey was on a trailer for Eastenders anda corporate for Creative Direction. Matt Fox has been lightingcorporates for Reckeitt Benkiser and also a Thomas the TankEngine factual programme for HIT Entertainment.

At Wizzo Features… Jan Richter-Friis is currently lighting

the Danish feature At The End of the World, written anddirected by the award-winning Anders Ronnow Klarlund. KarlOskarsson is near the end of shooting Three Seasons In Hell,a Czech feature shooting in Prague, directed by Tomas Masinand produced by Monika Krystl through Dawson Productions.Wizzo Features' new signing is David Rom who lit the recentfilm about the contentious subject of honour killings calledLand Gold Women, directed by Avantika Hari. The film is to bereleased next year. Magni Agustsson is set to light a newcomedy series entitled Free Agents, a black comedy writtenby Chris Neil set in and around a talent agency, to be directedby successful commercials director James Griffiths. It isproduced by Nira Park through Big Talk Productions for C4 andstars Stephen Mangan (Green Wing) and Sharon Horgan(Pulling). Donal Gilligan is about to start shooting a block ofthe C4 hit Shameless for director Tony Slater-Ling, and ErikWilson is shooting the final few weeks of the thriller/horrorseries Trinity for ITV through Rough Cut Productions. And,finally, Stuart Bentley recently wrapped on an online dramafor Nokia directed by the collective Big Balls through AcademyFilms, and is currently shooting another online drama for thesame directors.

Meanwhile, over at McKinney Macartney… BalazsBolygo has been grading Consuming Passions which he shotfor director Dan Zeff, a saucy forthcoming show about famedliterotica Mills and Boon novels for the BBC. Ben Butler hasbeen shooting commercials for Niall Downing through 2AM,Simon Cheek through Tomboy and Jim Weedon through BareFilms, and Mick Coulter BSC has been shootingcommercials for Gerard de Thame including Travelers, Volvoand Sharpe. Denis Crossan has shots spots for AntheaBenton and Neil Harris. Shane Daly recently finished workingwith director Richard Curzon Smith on the third series of thehit ITV show Primeval. John de Borman BSC has beengrading on his last two projects An Education and Last ChanceHarvey. He also recently returned from Ireland where he wasfilming a commercial for Chris and Rankin, and has justcompleted filming Morrisons' Christmas campaign for ParkVillage. Gavin Finney BSC recently shot Marple withdirector Nick Renton, solving mysteries with Britain's favouriteOAP. He has also been shooting commercials for BetsanMorris Evans. Nina Kellgren BSC is currently in Ireland withdirector, Kevin Thomas filming a Tourism Ireland campaign.John Lynch has been busy shooting commercials includingWaitrose for Daniel Barber and Phillips (in Montreal) forDominic Murphy. He was most recently in Prague shootingtwo commercials - Eristoff Vodka for Luke Scott and FoxyBingo for Matt Carter. Phil Meheux BSC is shooting Edge OfDarkness, a thriller for his frequent collaborator MartinCampbell, as a policeman investigates his daughter's death.John Pardue has been lensing spots for Martin Wedderburnthrough MTP, Marek Losey through Park Village, Gus Filgatethrough 2AM and Dominic Brigstocke through Bare Films.Mark Partridge is continuing his work on Lark Rise ToCandleford for the BBC with directors Maurice Phillips andJulian Holmes. Jake Polonsky recently returned from filmingan Eircom commercial in Prague for Rory Kelleher, and has

also recently shot promos for Amy Studt directed by PaulMinor and Richard Ashcroft, also directed by RichardAshcroft. Katie Swain has been working with directors, Oz,Alan Friel and Sam Miller. David Tattersall BSC is workingwith Michael Lembeck on bringing a fairytale to life, in themodern children's fantasy film Tooth Fairy. Darran Tiernan isshooting the feature film Pelican Blood for director Carl Golden- it's an ornithological murder mystery. And Michael Woodhas been on commercials with directors, David Bakksh, RossNeill, Martin Delamere and Rowland Jobson.Looks like it's busy at United Agents where… EduardoSerra AFC ASC recently completed Claude Chabrol's latestmovie The Girl Cut In Two. Paul Sarossy BSC CSC had awonderful time in Croatia shooting The Duel, with directorDover Koshashvili. Alwin Kuchler BSC is in New Yorkshooting Solitary Man, starring Michael Douglas and SusanSarandon, directed by Brian Koppelman. Marcel Zyskind hasjust completed grading on Mammoth, directed by LukasMoodysson. Barry Ackroyd BSC should be working onreshoots for The Green Zone, directed by Paul Greengrass.Haris Zambarloukos BSC has completed Richard Eyre's TheOther Man. Alan Almond BSC is busy shooting From Time ToTime for Julian Fellowes. Andrew Dunn BSC is in New York,grading Push which is due to be released early in '09 whilst hisfeature Good opened in Toronto to very positive reviews.Lukas Strebel is also grading, Andrew Davies' BBC1adaptation of Little Dorritt, directed by Dearbhla Walsh. SteveLawes is filming Skellig for Annabel Jankel in Cardiff andDanny Cohen is prepping Stephen Poliakoff's 1939 when heis not grading Richard Curtis' The Boat That Rocked. DanielBronks has been busy with commercials and is about to starton a feature The Unloved with Samantha Morton directing.Tat Radcliffe is shooting Double Hour a feature in Turin withGiuseppe Capotondi directing.

Simon Chaudoir recently shot an Eno project with SamTaylor-Wood, a Lindex commercial with Hanna Elin, c/o WeAre Group in Sweden and is about to go off to Tokyo on a highend fashion shoot. Brendan Galvin has finished a MoroccoTourism commercial with Lawrence Dunmore through GangFilms Paris whilst Crille Forsberg has been working withFredrik Bond at Sonny again on Stella Artois. Alex Melmanis shooting commercials including a huge Nike spot withJames Brown at Stink in Shanghai and a new Alicia Dixonmusic promo with Michael Gracey at Partizan. Neus Olle haswrapped on Catalonian feature film Three Days With TheFamily in Spain and is currently filming documentary featureMercedes Pinto on location in Uruguay, Mexico, Cuba andMadrid. Her film Birdsong by Catalonian auteur Albert Serrawas shown at the London Film Festival. Carlos Catalan isfilming the final musical scene spectacular for Bollywood filmLucky By Chance. He also photographed Mal Dia Para Pescarin Montevideo for director Alvaro Brechner. Charlotte BruusChristensen is in pre-production with Thomas Vinterberg forhis upcoming feature Submarino which shoots in DenmarkJanuary '09. She has also been doing extensive second unitfor Hustle and M.I. High. Niels Reedtz Johansen is currentlyshooting a Danish road movie, Vagn, for Helmer Nikolaj Steen.

Pyramid scheme: Garry Turnbull on a commercial inEgypt with his local crew

Window dresser: Karl Óskarsson shooting ThreeSeasons In Hell

Will Pugh on a cliff on the island of Sark for Islands ofBritain

Peter Wignall on the set of Kick-Ass in Toronto

phot

ogra

pher

:LUC

IEJA

NSCH

As Quantum of Solace rolls out at cinemas across the worldyou may be interested to learn details about the editorial andDI. Editorial HQ for the movie was at Ascent 142's DeanStreet office in London. The film was shot in the UK, Germanyand Central and Latin America (including Chile and México).The negatives were processed by Deluxe Labs, and all the HDdailies were handled by Ascent 142 in London and LA.

When the film was shooting in Central America the HD dailieswere created at Encore Hollywood (part of the Ascent group)in LA. The rushes were then fed back electronically to theLondon editorial team. The HD dailies operations in Londonand LA were mirrored between the Ascent 142 facilities tomaintain continuity.

Once filming was finished DP Roberto Schaefer ASC startedwork in London with Ascent 142 colourist Rob Pizzey. Whenthe picture was locked, the negative got an ARRI scan andgrading began on da Vinci 2K Resolve. Schaefer then returnedto Company 3 in LA and worked with US colourist StephanNakamura. The 2K data was copied to Company 3 with theResolve settings applied there, which allowed Nakamura tocontinue working on the material graded in the UK. After thenecessary grading had taken place in LA, the files werereturned to the UK electronically. Executive producers BarbaraBroccoli and Michael Wilson visited Ascent 142 in London toapprove the final process. Ascent then shot the negatives fortheatrical release.

Ascent 142 also carried out the post production on the BBC'sscreen adaptation of Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles,shot by DP Wojciech Szepel. This included rushes, picturepost, grading, online and audio post production. Tess was shotunder the new 35mm film deal offered by Ascent 142, whichallows productions to shoot on film and still deliver HD to theBBC.

An Education, directed by Lone Scherfig, screenplay by NickHornby and lit by John de Borman BSC, got the DI treatmentat Deluxe Digital. The film is based on the memoirs of the

Observer journalist Lyn Barber, and is a coming-of-age storyabout a teenage girl in 1960s suburban London, and how herlife changes with the arrival of a playboy twice her age.

DI grading was by John Claude, using a Baselight 8 and aBarco DP100 2K projector. De Borman wanted to create a '60slook using a pastel like quality. Shooting Kodak 500 and 20035mm 3-perf he started to set the look at the dailies stage. InDI, an ARRI 2K scan gave plenty of latitude to fine tune theperiod look, notably by subduing the highlights and enhancingthe pastel colours inherent in the production design. CliveNoakes' work at the lab made the transition from digital to thephotochemical world seamless and stressless.

This year, Deluxe Digital has also graded Hellboy 2 (DPGuillermo Navarro), Ma Cheri (DP Darius Khondji), BridesheadRevisited (DP Jess Hall) and Happy-Go-Lucky (DP Dick PopeBSC) all helping to boost the company’s profile for feature filmpost and DI.

Feature film production is a notoriously precarious investmentopportunity. While it's a glamorous thing to be a 'producer', it'svery hard to predict whether a film will make money. Londonpost-production company LipSync Post is making a successof investing in the films for which it also provides post-production services - and what started as a one-off is nowbecoming a key part of its business. We'll report on thisphenomenon in due course.

To date LipSync Post has made equity investments in 14 films,including full post and DI on How To Lose Friends And AlienatePeople, lensed by Oliver Stapleton BSC, the biggestindependent British film this year starring Simon Pegg, KirstenDunst and Jeff Bridges. LipSync Post also made the DI gradeson A Bunch of Amateurs, ably lit by DP Ashley Rowe BSC,

directed by Andy Cardiff, with David Parfitt producing andSteve Christian as executive producer. The Richard Jobsondirected New Town Killers, produced by Luke Roeg, and shotby Simon Dennis, saw the DP and colourist Stuart Fyvieswapping Photoshop reference frames during a Quantel Pablograde. Fyvie also worked with DP Mike Eley to deliver anaturalistic grade for 1234, directed by Giles Borg.

Located in Wellington, New Zealand, Park Road PostProduction was developed by Academy Award-winningdirector Peter Jackson as a one-stop shop facility. It has asound facility, a Kodak IMAGECARE accredited laboratory, andthe largest Quantel DI infrastructure in Australasia. The DIdepartment has a massive 132 terabytes of online datastorage. Park Road was the first post facility in the world towork with data from the Red camera, working on PeterJackson's short film Crossing the Line, and has sincedeveloped a proprietary Red workflow. Alex Proyas' Knowing,starring Nicholas Cage, was shot entirely on Red and will begoing through Park Road's DI department at the end of 2008.Over the next 12 months Park Road is booked to work onthree full feature Red projects, but details are under wraps forthe time being. Other projects getting DI'd at Park Road postinclude the film version of Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones,directed by Peter Jackson, lensed by Andrew Lesnie, andstarring Mark Whalberg, Rachel Weisz and Susan Sarandon,and The Vintner's Luck, a decidedly unorthodox love story,directed by Niki Caro, with Denis Lenoir delivering thecinematography.

Specialist digital film consultancy, Digital Praxis, provided DIsupervision services for India's latest blockbuster, Drona,through FutureWorks, in Mumbai, India. As part of anagreement with Eros and Rose Movies, Digital Praxis CEO,Steve Shaw, acted as DI supervisor on the project, as well as

UK l i v e a n d l e t D I

To Liveand Let DI

Deluxe Digital: gave the colours a special twist on Lyn Barber's teenage biopic An Education

LipSync Post: did a full post and DI on How To Lose Friends And Alienate People Park Road Post: booked to work on three full-feature Red projects next year


UK l i v e a n d l e t D I


being the lead colourist for the film, setting the film's look withdirector Goldie Behl and cinematographer Sameer Arya, inconjunction with the film's post-production and VFXsupervisor, David Bush. The entire post-production wasperformed at 4K using a Quantel pipeline, making Drona oneof a handful of films to have been posted at this resolution inthe world, and a real first for India. "Although number of filmshave been scanned at 4K, the logistical issues associatedwith handling 4K throughout the entire post-productionpipeline means most projects are down sampled to 2K for theactual post-production and DI. This was not so with Drona,”said Bush.

Also working on the demanding, 20-hour-a-day colourcorrection process were FutureWorks colourists AshishNanajkar, Rahul Purva and Ranjit Patil. Quantel supported theprocess with one of its own training operators, Meetal Gokul,who provided on-site assistance. Drona was one of India'smost complex ever, with over 1,400 VFX shots.

Belgian DI house HoverlorD has delivered grades on some

award-winning projects this year. Les Bureaux de Dieu, a122min Franco/Belgian co-production, directed by ClaireSimon, and lensed by Philippe Van Leeuw, won the SACDPrize at La Quinzaine de Réalisateurs during the 2008 CannesFestival. It's a movie about a family planning service, wherewomen come to explain problems about their sex lives. It wasshot in native Scope on Viper 4:4:4 coupled to a Venomrecorder. Colour grading was done on Baselight 4 by PaulEnglebert, made tricky as there are lots of long running shots,needing animated masks and shapes.

Along with La Chanteuse de Tango, and Pour Un Fils HoverlorDalso pulled out the stops on Johnny Mad Dog, theFranco/Belgian feature that won the won the Prix de l'Espoiraward in the Un Certain Regard compy at this year's CannesFestival.

Directed by Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire and lensed by MarcKoninckx the production employed a cast of real child soldiersto depict a violent civil war in an unnamed African country.The production was shot on HDCAM and graded by Franck

Ravel on Lustre 2.6, with a 35mm filmout done at Éclair Labsin Paris.

DP Benoît Delhomme brought in Framestore for the DI onThe Boy In The Striped Pyjamas, an adaptation of JohnBoyne's award-winning novel, written for the screen anddirected by Mark Herman, produced by David Heyman (theHarry Potter films, I Am Legend). It is a fictional story of Bruno,the son of a Nazi commandant, and Shmuel, a Jewish boyheld captive in a concentration camp, who form a forbiddenfriendship. Delhomme and colourist Adam Glasman workedtogether for a three week period with director Hermanattending review sessions.

The looks of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas move throughthree distinct phases. The first reel takes place around thefamily home in Berlin and has a somewhat 'golden' look. Itthen moves to the environs of Auschwitz and has a much lessvibrant look. Finally, the scenes in the heart of theconcentration camp at the end of the film are really drained ofcolour and are very 'contrasty'.

Digital Praxis: supervision services for Indianblockbuster Drona

HoverlorD: has pulled out the stops on several films including La Chanteuse De Tango and Cannes-winnerJohnny Mad Dog (R)

FEATUREFEATURE c a m e r a c r e a t i v e

Quantum of Solace is the 22nd feature film about theadventures of James Bond since Dr. No in 1962 - andit's non-stop action throughout, writes Bob Fisher.Additional reporting by Ron Prince.

The public discovered Bond, also known as Agent 007, in aseries of popular spy books authored by Ian Fleming during thedawn of the Cold War. This latest chapter in the saga takes

the audience on a journey with Bond as he hunts for the villainwho blackmailed and murdered Vesper Lynd, who was thelove of his life. The tension builds when 007 discovers that thevillain is plotting to grab control of a vital natural resource - thewater that quenches the thirst of the people of SouthAmerica.

Much of the story unfolds in the United Kingdom, but the

breathtaking chase takes Bond to locations in Italy, Austria,Chile, Mexico and Panama.

Quantum of Solace marks the eighth collaboration for directorMarc Forster and Roberto Schaefer ASC. Forster is a native ofGermany who studied filmmaking at New York University andmoved to Los Angeles in 1993. Schaefer is a New Yorker whobegan his career working as a stringer for European TV newsprogrammes. He went to Italy in 1982 to work on anindependent film, and stayed there for ten years shootingdocumentaries, independent films and music videos. Schaefermoved to Los Angeles in 1992.

The two filmmakers were introduced by a production designerwhom Schaefer met while shooting film for a video game.Their first co-venture was Loungers, a 16mm film produced inten days in 1995. Schaefer and Forster subsequentlycollaborated on the production of Everything Put Together,Monster's Ball, Finding Neverland, Stay, Stranger Than Fictionand The Kite Runner.

Hot pursuit: Daniel Craig is James Bond 007 on trail of an MI6 traitor, shot at Pinewood Studios

I have vividmemories of seeingFrom Russia WithLove when I was 13.I t made a deepimpression on me.


Director Marc Forster (centre top) with cinematographer Roberto Schaefer, ASC (centre bottom) and crew onthe set of Quantum of Solace.

Unbreakable Bond

FEATUREFEATURE c a m e r a c r e a t i v e


“A few months after we finished shooting The Kite Runner,Marc asked if I was interested in working with him on aJames Bond film,” Schaefer recalls. “I literally jumped up anddown and said that of course I was interested. I'm a fan. Ihave vivid memories of seeing From Russia With Love when Iwas 13. It made a deep impression on me.”

Forster got a similarly enthusiastic reaction from Matt Chesse,an editor who has worked on his last seven films.

“My first reaction was that I wasn't interested in directing aJames Bond movie,” Forster says, “but the night after I spokewith Roberto and Matt, I read an old interview with OrsonWelles in which he said his biggest regret was turning downan opportunity to direct a movie because he thought it wastoo commercial.”

The producers gave Schaefer a set of DVDs of all of theprevious James Bond movies as visual references. He and hiswife Caroline watched them together and discussed howimages were used to tell stories that evoked emotionalresponses.

Super 35Schaefer and Forster agreed during their first discussionsabout Quantum of Solace that they didn't want to produce atraditional action-adventure film.

“We wanted Quantum of Solace to feel real in a very tactileand visceral way,” Schaefer says. “When a punch is thrown,we want the audience to feel it.”

Schaefer and Forster discussed the pros and cons ofproducing Quantum of Solace in digital format, but aftershooting comparison tests, they decided that film wouldrender the visceral look they envisioned. There was also aserious discussion about film formats. All of the previous Bondmovies were produced in 35mm anamorphic, with theexception of Casino Royale. Anamorphic was the filmmaking

duo's original preference. “You use 40 percent more of the frame than you do when youcompose for 2.4:1 with spherical lenses,” Schaefer explains.“There are also subtle but important differences in focus shiftsand depth-of-field, which the audience feels on a subliminallevel.”

During the 11th hour, visual effects supervisor Kevin Haugconvinced Forster and Schaefer to produce Quantum ofSolace in Super 35 format coupled with digital intermediatetiming, which would enable them to quickly and seamlesslyintegrate visual effects and live-action shots. That wasimportant because Quantum of Solace was scheduled forpreview screenings only two months after wrappingproduction.

Daniel Craig and Dame Judi Dench were cast in encoreperformances as Bond and Agent M. He made his first outingas Bond in Casino Royale, and she played Agent M in arounda half a dozen previous films. The rest of the ensemble castportrayed new characters.

Production designSchaefer and Forster had a close collaboration withproduction designer Dennis Gassner, planning sets atPinewood Studios and at practical locations.

“While Marc and I read the script together, he described theblocking that he envisioned,” Schaefer says. “I used hisdescriptions to make diagrams indicating camera positionsand angles. We gave them to the AD who organised theschedule.”

Schaefer and Forster also scouted and chose locations in Italy,Austria, Chile, Panama and Mexico with Gassner, and plannedto film scenes at those remote locations.

“Marc believes in shooting at practical locations wheneverpossible because it looks and feels more realistic,” Schaefersays. “The actors respond to being in the real world, whetherit is the Atacama Desert in Chile or the slums of Colon inPanama. The art department could have built convincing sets,but what is missing is the life and smells that are all aroundyou at practical locations. Both the actors and crew respondto that.”One of the notable exceptions was a scene in a hotel that ison fire and explodes. They shot live-action and backgroundplates in Chile to establish the location. Then Gassnerdesigned and built sets for the exterior of the hotel andinteriors at Pinewood Studios.

“There were both stunt people and actors in this scene,including Daniel (Craig),” Schaefer says. “We had six camerascarefully placed to cover the fire and explosions, becausethere wasn't going to be a second take. We filmed Daniel

running through the burning set and crashing through a doorjust before an explosion. We want the audience to hold itscollective breath until they see 007 in a fiery room on theother side.”

Crew and kitSchaefer assembled a veteran crew including cameraoperators George Richmond and Mark Milsome, firstassistants Jonathan Richmond and Harry Bowers, secondassistants Wil Humphris and Sebastian Barraclough, and filmloader Tom Taylor.

Director Dan Bradley and cinematographer Shaun O'Dellfilmed scenes relegated to the second unit on the Europeancontinent. Simon Crane was at the helm and cinematographerJosh Bleibtreu did additional second unit work for a boatchase sequence that was filmed in Panama. Aerialcinematography from a helicopter and a fixed-wing aircraftwas used to establish locations in Mexico. Thatcinematography was done by David Nowell.

ARRI Media in London provided most of the camera package,including ARRICAM, ARRI 435 and ARRI 235 bodies with acomplete set of prime lenses and Angenieux Optimo 15:40,28:76 and 24:290 mm zooms, and a custom lightweightNikkor 80:200 mm zoom lens. ARRI CSC in New York andFlorida and Clairmont Camera in Hollywood providedadditional gear used in Panama.

After shooting tests comparing Kodak Vision3 500T 5219colour negative film to VISION2 5218, Schaefer decided touse 5219 for interior and night scenes.

“It has more reach in both highlight and shadow areas, andmuch more range,” he says. “I decided to use it as a 320-speed film and routinely overexposed the negative by twothirds of a stop. I used (Kodak Vision2 200T) 5217 for daylightexteriors and rated it at (E.I.) 120 for scenes shot in brightsunlight in Chile and Panama.”

Schaefer trusted his instincts and took a painterly approach torendering images on film. He exposed for shadow areas andprinted for highlights except when he wanted a shot to goblack. “When you overexpose, you get a thicker negative withmore details,” Schaefer explains. “I was confident that wewould record details in shadow areas that I could pull out inthe DI, if necessary, and still keep details in highlights.”

Schaefer stresses the importance of Forster being on the setwith the actors and camera crew rather than in a videovillage.

“Marc was usually on the set where he could feel theenvironment, look the actors in the eye, and hear what theywere saying,” Schaefer says. “He had amazing rapport withthem and with everyone on the crew. He was always open tosuggestions.”

Moving the cameraSchaefer and Forster communicated with words and non-verbal shorthand about nuances in visual grammar. There wasalways a PeeWee dolly and crane with an Alpha jib arm andseveral remote heads on hand, including the new Geo SL Pod,and either a Technocrane or a Scorpio crane. In Chile, theyrented a Panther crane.

We also used alot of dol ly ing craneshots, combinedwith l ight ing,designed to create aretro -modern look.

Greene (Mathieu Amalric) introduces Camille (Olga Kurylenko (R) to General Modrano (Joaquin Cosio (L), theman who murdered her family

From L to R: director Marc Forster on set with themain cast – Mathieu Amalric (Dominic Greene), OlgaKurylenco (Camille) and Daniel Craig (James Bond)


c a m e r a c r e a t i v e

“There are a lot of controlled, handheld shots combined with occasional, more frenetic cameramovement,” Schaefer says. “We also used a lot of dollying crane shots combined with lightingdesigned to create a retro-modern look.”

Schaefer cites his close collaboration with gaffer Eddie Knight and key grip David Appleby.“Everyone contributed to making this film a dream come true,” he says.

Front-end lab work for scenes filmed in England, Central and South America was done at Deluxelabs in London and Los Angeles, and ARRI Lab in Munich processed the negative for scenesfilmed in Austria and Italy. Schaefer timed the DI with senior colourist Stephen Nakamura atCompany 3, a subsidiary of Ascent Media, including pre-grading the plates for the fire-and-explosion scene at the hotel to make certain they were a seamless match with Schaefer's live-action footage.

He describes the DI sessions with Nakamura as an extension of cinematography where hecould fine tune looks, but cautions that you can't “fix” what's not on the negative.

VFX goes into freefall

David Stump ASC, who has earned some 40 credits for visual effects cinematography,was brought onboard Quantum of Solace to shoot a breathtaking scene in which Bondand Camille (played by Olga Kurylenko) are in free-fall after jumping out of a DC-3aeroplane. She has a parachute. He doesn't. During their freefall descent they enter agiant sinkhole in the ground. Stump is chairman of the American Society ofCinematographers' camera subcommittee that evaluates camera technology.

The production crew felt that traditional methods could not produce a sequence that wouldconvince a modern audience, and sought a more sophisticated combination of live action and CGthat would deliver a much more visually realistic sequence, known as the Bodyflight sequence -named after the Bedford-based facility used for the shoot.

“The traditional way to simulate a free-fall shot like this is to film the actors in front of a bluescreen,and to do a separate shot blowing air from below into their faces,” Stump says. “But Marc,Roberto and Kevin wanted the faces, hair and wardrobe to look more convincingly like thecharacters were in free-fall. So we shot the scene in realtime with the actors in a vertical windtunnel at Bodyflight, about an hour's drive from London.

“Kevin Haug, the visual effects supervisor, wanted us to shoot with an array of digital cameras ina half-circle arc, so they could create computer generated images of the actors from variousperspectives. He asked me to find out how many of the highest resolution cameras were available.We rented eight Dalsa 4K cameras and eight Codex recorders. I arranged them in a semi-circlearray and filled the spaces between them with eight Sony F900 digital cameras. We also used ahandheld ARRI 435 camera to film close-ups of faces.

“The inside of the wind tunnel, which was 5m in diameter, was painted white, because Craig andCamille were dressed in black. We pumped a lot of light into the wind tunnel, which was arelatively small space. Roberto and his rigging crew were a gigantic help.”

Stump and his crew shot a number of takes throughout a full day and recorded 4K uncompresseddata with the Dalsa cameras and 10-bit 4:2:2 compressed data with the Sony cameras. The shootresulted in over 40Tb of data being recorded in a single day on the Codex recorders alone. Thenthe Codex diskpacks were delivered to Sohonet in London for back-up, after which the RAW 4Kfiles were delivered to Double Negative in Soho for rendering and final VFX compositing. During itswork Double Negative applied ingenious proprietary software and techniques to create digitaldoubles of the actors, creating realistic hair, cloth, facial and body movements, and giving theproduction team the ability to reconstruct any digital move they wished. The result is one of themost spectacular action scenes ever in a Bond adventure.

“The folks from Double Negative couldn't believe the amount of data we amassed, which gavethem some flexibility to create a 3D synthesis of the characters in freefall. Kevin, my English crew,and my DIT Joe di Gennaro were all supportive, cheerful and helpful,”says Stump.

Spectacular: eight Codex Recorders capture from eight DALSA 4K camerasfor the Boyflight sequence posted by Double Negative in London


Camerimage preview

Here's your guide to the highlights of PlusCamerimage 2008:

Lifetime Achievement Award to the Director withUnique Visual Sensitivity - Sir Alan Parker: This honorary award will be presented to Sir Alan Parker,director of such films as the Oscar-winning MississippiBurning (DP Peter Biziou), Midnight Express (DP MichaelSeresin), and Birdy (DP Michael Seresin), which received theGrand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival. In 1985 he was afounding member of the Directors' Guild of Great Britain, and

has won multiple award from BAFTA including the prestigiousMichael Balcon Award for outstanding contribution to Britishcinema. In 1998 he accepted the chair of the British FilmInstitute, and in 1999 he was handed the first chairmanship ofthe British Film Council, giving him the opportunity to steer thecountry's film policy. Sir Alan Parker has also lectured at filmschools around the world. His most renowned achievementswill be presented at the Festival in a review of his films, anexhibition of the stills from his movies, plus photos from theset taken by different photographers. An album on his life andwork will be specially published by the organisers.

Lifetime achiever: Sir Alan Parker, pictured with Mickey Rourke, gets this year's gong forunique visual sensitivity

Lodz: a winter wonderland awaits visitors toPlus Camerimage 2008

For Brits heading to the 16th International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography,more commonly known as Plus Camerimage, the big news is that major awards will bebestowed to director Sir Alan Parker and producer Jeremy Thomas. And, if the chance torub shoulders with such senior filmmakers doesn't whet your appetite for a trip to Lodz,Poland, between November 29th to December 6th, then this year's programme promisesa wide variety of riveting film themes, competitions, workshops, seminars, filmequipment and technology presentations, not to mention a stellar list ofcinematographers in the form of Pierre Lhomme, Dante Spinotti, Roger Deakins, is sureto keep you entertained. Preview report edited by Ron Prince.

Alan Parker was born into a working class family on14th February 1944 in Islington, North London. Hebegan his film career as a director of TV commercials,first working for advertising agencies and beforestarting his own company with producer AlanMarshall. He found the shooting of commercialslimiting, and he went into directing short films andthen a TV film for the BBC called The Evacuees writtenby Jack Rosenthal which won Parker his first BAFTAaward and a US Emmy.

His first theatrical feature Bugsy Malone,photographed by Michael Seresin and Peter Biziou,starring young Jodie Foster, was a fusion of twogenres - the musical and the gangster film, with a castentirely of children. It's a cinematic pastiche withechoes and references to Astaire, Raft, Kelly, Cagney,Brando and Welles. This daring and creative film wenton to some success, winning a BAFTA Award for bestscreenplay and earning Golden Palm nomination atCannes as well as several Golden Globes nominations.

Parker's next film, Midnight Express (cinematographyby Michael Seresin, written by Oliver Stone) tells thestory of a man who is caught smuggling drugs out ofTurkey and sentenced to 30 years in a Turkish prison.The shocking drama was a breakthrough in Parker'scareer and subsequently went on to win six GoldenGlobes and many Oscar nominations, winning bestscreenplay and best music. The raw energy and voiceof the film, its uncompromising visceral power,remains very fresh and the film is still very moderntoday, belying its thirty years.


INTERNATIONALINTERNATIONAL c a m e r i m a g e

Special Award to the Producer - Jeremy Thomas: This year sees the introduction of a special award to theproducer whose film achievements and visual sensitivity hasearned them a significant place in the history of cinema. Theaward will be granted to Jeremy Thomas, the British producerwho, during his long career collaborated many times withdirector Bernardo Bertolucci, and their fruitful cooperationwas crowned with the 1988 Oscar for Best Film - The LastEmperor, lensed by Vittorio Storaro.

Thomas also produced the remarkable works of DavidCronenberg - Naked Lunch and Crash both lit by PeterSuschitzky BSC. Moreover, he funded the films of StephenFrears, Karel Reisz, Volker Schlondorff, Bob Rafelson, JerzySkolimowski and Jonathan Glazer. While filming NagisaOshima's Taboo and Takeshi Kitano's magnificent Brother (DP

Katsumi Yanagishima), he had the opportunity to work withJapanese filmmakers. In 1996 the European Film Academygranted him the European Film Award for his contribution toworld cinema.

Lifetime Achievement Award - Pierre Lhomme AFC:The festival will revisit selected works of this year's LifetimeAchievement Award-winner Pierre Lhomme AFC, thecinematographer on such films as Le Divorce, Cyrano deBergerac, Camille Claudel, Four Nights of a Dreamer. Lhommereceived seven nominations for a César Award and wasgranted this French award twice. He was also a laureate ofthe technical grand prize at the Cannes Film Festival (1990), aBSC Award, the BAFTA Award for Cyrano De Bergerac, andthe Premio Gianni di Venanzo in 2005. He is Officer of theOrder of Arts and Letters and Chevalier of the Legion of

Honour and also honorary president of the AFC (FrenchAssociation of Cinematographers). Within the retrospective ofhis movies the organisers plan to present among othersCyrano de Bergerac starring Gerard Depardieu. There will bean album on his life and professional work published for theoccasion.

Main Competition - Golden Frog: the selection committeewill choose 15 feature films produced in 2007 and 2008 thatwill take part in the main competition. During the festival thechosen movies will be screened and judged by aninternational jury, which will select the winner of the GoldenFrog. The jury will consist of world-acclaimed directors,cinematographers, film critics and other representatives ofthe film industry. Last year's winner was Janusz Kaminski forThe Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

Student Etude Competition: this competition of etudes isselected from submissions sent by film schools from all overthe world. Films that don't make it into the competition butstill possess high visual values will be presented in theStudent Etude Panorama. The author of the best studentcinematography will be granted the Laszlo Kovacs StudentAward - Golden Tadpole. The winner last year was TomaszWozniczka for Beyond the Horizon.

Polish Film Competition (sponsored by Plus): naturally, asignificant part of Plus Camerimage is given over to Polishfilmmaking, and this eight Polish films produced in 2008 willbe screened. There are always gems to be found.

Documentary Film Competition “Image Of The World - WorldOf Images”: Documentary films compete for the first time thisyear in a competition sponsored by Discovery NetworksCentral Europe. The aim is to recognise documentary film as acreative interpretation of reality, with emphasis on the visualand aesthetic aspects of a work. Along with screenings therewill also be workshops led by professionals in this fieldincluding producers who have made programmes for theDiscovery portfolio.

Oscar's Docs: part of the new documentary section, Oscar'sDocs has been organised in cooperation with the Academy ofMotion Picture Arts and Sciences, and will feature a selection

Natural lighter: a shot from L' Armée Des Ombres (Army in the Shadows) which Lhomme shot in 1969

He's the man: Pierre Lhomme AFC is this year's laureate for cinematography



of short and feature documentary films that won Oscarsbetween 1941 and 1997. Amongst the films being screenedare: The Fighting Lady (1944), shot by combat cameramen onboard ships and in the air, showing navy and marine pilots,officers, and crewmen up close and personal; The True Glory(1945), a monumental documentary on the liberation ofoccupied Europe, from the D-Day invasion to the fall of Berlin;and Ama Girls from 1958, a special focus on those healthyyoung maidens who dive up to 60 feet beneath the waves insearch of choice sea weed] to sell.

Milestones of Polish Artistic Documentary Film:Polish artistic documentary film dates back to the post-warperiod and in the ensuing 50 years it has revealed manysuperlative filmmakers and their works. The films beingpresented include Kazimierz Karabasz's much awarded TheMusicians, Krzysztof Kieslowski's Talking Heads, MarcelLozinski's Oscar nominee 89mm from Europe and JacekBlawut's The Abnormal, a film hailed at the 1990 GdyniaPolish Feature Film Festival as the biggest artistic event. Thedoyen of Polish documentary film, Kazimierz Karabasz, willreceive the special award for outstanding achievement indocumentary filmmaking.

Nokia Mobile Movie Competition:The Plus Camerimage attaches great importance to thesupport and the development of young filmmakers, and theNokia Mobile Movie Competition will give them anotheropportunity to present their work. Based on materialssubmitted in the run up to the festival, ten finalists will bechosen festival director Marek Zydowicz, and given NokiaN96 multimedia computers to make their short films(between 50-150 secs), with this year's topic being Chasingthe Dreams. All movies will be presented at the GrandTheatre and at www.nokia.pl/filmy website.

Lifetime Achievement Award to the Polish Directorwith Unique Visual Sensitivity: This year's award, givenlast year to Roman Polanski, will be presented to AndrzejZulawski, one of Poland's most remarkable and controversialdirectors. Zulawski, who produced most of his films abroad,has made 12 feature films altogether, the best part of whichhas been critically acknowledged as brilliant, and published20 books. Zulawski is an eminent figure in contemporarycinema, with such films as The Third Part of the Night, Diabeland Possession.

The remaining recipients of Plus Camerimage 2008 awardssuch as Krzysztof Kieslowski Award, Duo Award:Cinematographer - Director will also be announced at a laterdate.

Romanian, Portuguese and Slovak Film Review: Thisyear the festival will present several of the most interestingfilm productions from Romania, Portugal and Slovakia madein recent years. Much of the Slovak film review will bedevoted to the ouvre of Dusan Hanák, one of the mostoriginal European documentarians, whose films are layeredwith provocation, satire and peculiar poetics that combinesdocumentary and feature genres. The Festival will showPictures of the Old World, a film that had been put on theshelf for 17 years and after its 1991 premiere garnered anOscar nomination and won several awards at internationalfestivals, I Love, You Love, which was also withheld fromrelease for almost eight years and afterwards collected theSilver Bear at the Berlin Festival, and Paper Heads (1995) - afeature-length documentary that records a happeningorganised during the first May Day celebrations after the fallof communism.

The Romanian screenings include this year's Oscar candidatefor Best Foreign Language Film, The Rest Is Silence directedby Nae Caranfil and photographed by Marius Panduru. The

Oscars Docs: Academy Award-winning documentaries being screened include... Czechoslovakia (1968) filmsand photos covering Czech history from 1918 to 1968; Le Ciel Et La Boue (Sky Above and Mud Below) (1961),close encounters with headhunters and cannibals perilous in New Guinea; and With The Marines at Tarawa(1944), up-close and brutal in the Pacific killing fields



Festival will be attended by cinematographer Tudor Lacaciuwho will present his two latest films, Boogie (2008) and ThePaper Will Be Blue (2006).

The Portuguese Film Review will be dedicated to Manoel deOliveira one of the most remarkable exponents of Iberiancinema, who celebrates his 100th birthday this December.The Festival will revisit nine of his films including Magic Mirror,Belle toujours (a continuation of Luis Buñuel's 1967 Belle dejour set nearly 40 years after the events of the original film),Abraham Valley, an updated Portuguese version of MadameBovary, and I'm Going Home.

Animation Review: Launched last year, the animationreview will present films that have won in competition at theOttawa International Animation Festival.

Workshops and seminars: These events always providegreat opportunities for direct contact with world-acclaimedcinematographers, directors, editors and other professionalsof the film industry. During the history of the festivalworkshops and seminars have been led by such leaders asLaszlo Kovacs, Billy Williams, Chris Doyle, Michael Tronick,Manoel de Oliveira, Andrzej Kulawski, Oliver Stapleton,Krzysztof Zanussi, Dick Pope, Phedon Papamichael, SlawomirIdziak, Margarethe von Trotta and Franz Rath. Panavision and

ARRI regularly put on fascinating workshops andmasterclasses. Panavision is sponsoring a film/digital cameraand lighting technique workshop, to be hosted by leadingItalian cinematographer Dante Spinotti, along withmasterclass Q&A sessions from French DPs Pierre Lhomme,this year’s lifetime laureate, and Bruno Delbonnel. These willinclude a look at the new G series anamorphic lenses. Theinitial G-Series set of anamorphic primes includes 35mm,40mm, 50mm, 60mm, 75mm, and 100mm, with more focallengths to be added in the near future.

ARRI is also sponsoring camera and lighting techniqueworkshops, and will host a D21 panel discussion with DPsrecalling their experiences of shooting with the digital film-style camera technology. Showcased equipment will includethe ARRICAM featuring 2-perf, the new ARRIFLEX 416 HighSpeed and ARRIFLEX 235, plus the D21 and Mscope. Lightingfixtures from the new True Blue range and the latest ARRI LEDtechnology will also be on show. Technicololor and UK postproduction facility Framestore are also expected to givepresentations this year.

Image Forum at Camerimage: The newly formed ImageForum will host a panel discussion on film formats, and theimportance in choosing the right format for the right project.With representatives from a broad range companies andassociations across the film and television industry, the panelwill endeavour to give a high degree of clarity on varioustechnical subjects.

The Market: the presentation of film equipment, in theFestival Centre at the Grand Theatre in Lódz, was successfullyopened up to the general public, as well as festival goers, two

years ago. This year expect you can spend timelooking at technology from such companies as Panavision,Vantage, ARRI, Sachtler, LCA, Movie Intercom.K5600, Oscram, Panasonic, Sony, Technocrane, Nokia, J.L.Fisher and FinnLight.

Torn From The Flag : Soviet tank dumps into Budapest toilet-1956 Archive Photo

Torn From The Flag: '56 photo-Budapest's CorvinCircle, site of major battle of uprising

Last year’s festival we paid a tribute to the late LaszloKovacs, an inspiration to many film school students atseveral editions of Camerimage, by naming the studentaward after him. As a continuation of its tribute to LaszloKovacs, Plus Camerimage will present screening of NoSubtitles Necessary: Laszlo & Vilmos and Torn From TheFlag. The former is a feature documentary tracking the50-year journey of Laszlo Kovacs ASC and VilmosZsigmond ASC, beginning with their arrival in the UnitedStates as political refugees from Hungary in February1957. It is an intimate portrait of the two giants ofmodern imagemaking and their deep bond of friendshipand brotherhood.

The latter uses footage shot by Laszlo Kovacs and VilmosZsigmond during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. It is a95-minute documentary thriller about the fall ofcommunism and the significant global effects of theRevolution and Freedom Fight, one of the mostremarkable events in modern history. In 1956, Hungary, anation of 10 million people, defeated the tyranny of theSoviet Union, a nation of 200 million, for 13 days. ThisRevolution was the first significant indicator of andcatalyst for the future downfall of communism. It initiateda process that culminated three decades later with thefall of the Berlin Wall and the demise of the Soviet Union.


UK c l o s e u p s

Rosamunde Pilcher OBE, the British author of romance novels and mainstream women'sfiction, enjoyed and long a successful career, before retiring in 2000. Her books areespecially popular in Germany, due to the fact that the national TV station ZDF (ZweitesDeutsches Fernsehen) has produced more than 70 of her stories to date. These TV filmsare some of the most popular programmes on ZDF. One of her most famous books, TheShell Seekers, sold old more than five million copies worldwide, and was lensed for theTV screen by Tony Imi BSC in 2006. The televisation of Pilcher's oeuvre is such that sheand ZDF programme director Dr. Claus Beling were awarded the British Tourism Awardin 2002 for the positive effect the books and the TV versions had on tourism.

It's with this background that Imi embarked on another Pilcher outing, Four Seasons. Directed by

Giles Foster, (with whom Imi worked in 2007 on Robin Pilcher's Starting Over) it is a romanticdrama containing dysfunctional family intrigue aplenty delivered by an all-star cast that includesMichael York, Juliet Mills, Franco Nero, Perdita Weeks, Senta Berger, Frank Finlay and Tom Conti.

As the title suggests, Four Seasons is divided into four two-hour episodes. We caught up with TonyImi having just wrapped Summer and Autumn, which were shot in and around Bath, Longleat,Padstow in Cornwall and London, declaring, “Despite unpredictable weather, it was very enjoyable,and I am sorry that it has ended. But we will start up again in March 2009 when we begin Winterand Spring.”

Imi has framed Four Seasons on S16mm Kodak Vision2 200 and Vision3 500 stocks, using ARRI16SR cameras rented as part of a camera and grip package from Movietech at Pinewood. Imi hasused his own set of classic diffusers, which he says have been especially handy for close-ups.Panalux in Bristol provided the lights, with processing and DVD dailies done at Todd AO.

“Each episode has its own distinctive look according to the seasons,” says Imi, “but overall there'sa heightened reality, a lush, saturated fantasy sort of England - which is how the audience likes it.If anything, the look has developed from the amazing sets and locations we were lucky enough toshoot at, such as the Baronial Hall at Longleat. Martyn John, the production designer, has a greateye for this look, and gave me magic to work with.”

Imi is also full of praise for director Giles Foster, whom he describes as being, “very well prepared,and a great communicator with cast a crew”, and for the Bristol-based crew which included gafferEddie Armstrong, operator Roger Pearce and focus puller Matt Poynter.

Given the subject and the audience, Imi went for classical camera moves and compositions, withplenty of tracking shots on dollies, and no handheld work and no cranes. Often, Imi operated on asecond camera, which he says, “saved a lot of time and was very good for dialogue scenes, as Icould sneak in and get cutaways.”

Imi is currently grading the first two episodes of Four Seasons at Ascent 142 in London.

“During the shoot we had to be particularly careful with matching - not just interiors and exteriors,but also between seasons,” he says. “Quite often we had to shoot different seasons back-to-backon the same day. This meant careful coordination with the lab, and to a degree, we also shot withpost production in mind. We knew that we could, for example, deepen shadows and augment theamber tones in a scene to enhance the autumnal feeling of something that was actually shotduring the height of summer.”

How do you shoot a political thriller set inthe UK and Afghanistan on a veryrestricted budget, almost entirely in WestSussex, and with only a fortnight's prep?That was the teaser facing BSC PresidentSue Gibson BSC who recently completedfilming Fact Not Fiction Films' debutfeature 31 North 62 East.

Gibson was enlisted at short notice, andinformed that the crew, locations, and camerapackage, were already in place. “All that wasrequired of me was to do a recce, turn up andshoot,” she says.

The film, a psychological political thriller, isabout a British Prime Minister who reveals thelocation of an SAS unit in Afghanistan to sealan arms deal worth £80 billion and assure hisre-election. The SAS unit is thought to haveperished, until a female captain, returns to theUK to investigate matters.

Principle photography started in July in the UKfollowed by filming in Jordan, which wascompleted at the end of September. Thecamera was a Viper, recording to an SRW1Sony tape deck, fitted with Zeiss Digi-Primesfrom Rogue Films at Pinewood. A Venomflashmag was used for steadicam and handheld work. To comply with the minimal budgetof £2m, Gibson was restricted in terms oflenses, and had to “fill in the gaps” with a 1.4extender. ARRI Lighting helped with thelighting package.

Director Tristan Loraine, who was also theproducer, and his partner Susan Michaellis, theproduction manager, had produceddocumentaries through their productioncompany in Horsham, West Sussex. However,this feature film was their first step into theworld of fiction. “It was a big step too,” saysGibson. “They mortgaged their house, usedfriends and neighbours to provide locations,unit base, catering, and even a light aircraft as

an action prop - and all mainly within a ten mileradius of Horsham.”

The crew was comprised of college graduates,family and local enthusiasts, with a young butprofessional camera crew, with the hugelyexperienced Gibson behind the camera. Thefilm had a cast of nearly 50 which includesJohn Rhys-Davies, Marina Sirtis, HeatherPeace and Craig Fairbrass.

“Obviously I had my doubts that we could pullit off with such an inexperienced crew, but we

did” said Gibson. “It's still a mystery to me howwe managed to afford to shoot aerial footage,air-to-air, air-to-ground, and use the Castle Airhelicopter for a scene with our SAScommandos all in one afternoon, but that'swhat we did.

“31 North 62 East is a small budget film withbig ambitions and a big heart. The locations inthe UK and Jordan will transform this film andgive the subject the realism it deserves. Topmarks for tenacity, and as they say 'ignoranceis bliss,'” Gibson concluded.

Sue Gibson BSC

31 North 62 East

Tony Imi BSC

Four Seasons

UK c l o s e u p s


Giles Nuttgens BSC

The Loss Of A Teardrop DiamondOne of the greatest challenges faced by Giles Nuttgens BSC when planning The LossOf A Teardrop Diamond was taking a script written almost half a century ago, by awriter better-known as a playright, and making it into something that would work fora contemporary audience.

“The photographic approach to any piece of cinema should stem completely from the words onthe page and the emotional state of the characters in the story,” he says of the long-forgottenscreenplay by Tennessee Williams, which presented an interesting dilemma to both him andJodie Markell, the director.

The film tells the story of Fisher Willow (Bryce Howard) who does everything in her power topass off Jimmy (Chris Evans), the son of an alcoholic father and an insane mother, as a wealthysuitor so that she can appease her family, especially her aunt (Ann-Margret), who controls theirfortune. Nuttgens looked back over the films that director Elia Kazan had made from Williams'scripts, such as A Streetcar Named Desire.

“There is an energy delivered from both the performances as well as the thought-outchoreography to make the actors tighten into camera at key moments much more than thecamera moving to them. As we were going to be shooting in real locations, predominantly atnight, the trick was to give the actors that freedom, and to manouevre the camera into position,driven by their movements, ending up in the right place at the points of emotional contactbetween the protagonists. We were constantly reforming the overshoulder shots with differentcharacters, as the thread of the scene would swap repeatedly as Jimmy, the 'Brando' character,is thrown between the attentions of the heroine Fisher Willow and his other potential suitorVinnie. Within the studio structure that Kazan had to play with, you realise that you arewatching a piece of theatre converted to cinema. But we hoped that along with the use of realhouses in Louisiana, shooting on anamorphic, paying attention to the natural sources of thelighting, and the accuracy of the set design, that we could pull away from the piece's theatricalorigins.”

Nuttgens wanted to retain lighting that was as true as could be to the practical sources, but,allowing that, had to light to a stop of T4 at a minimum as he was using E-series Panavisionanamorphics, and all to an extremely tight schedule - 28 days for a 130 page script set in the1920s with a party scene that lasts for half the film to be shot at night with around 60 peoplein period costume.

“One of the great advantages of shooting at these stops is that the background falls off sorapidly. Using soft, but directional, sources gave the picture a classicism that respected thescript and helped the period authenticity without resorting to the hard backlights and over-filledfaces that came along with the studio lighting of all those decades ago,” he says.

All the interiors and night exteriors were shot on Kodak 5219 and, as the film was shot for afilm-to-film finish Nuttgens maintained reasonably healthy printer lights around 32 across, evenfor the lower exposure night exteriors. As the film was re-edited an eventual decision was togo to a DI which Nuttgens wasn't able to supervise as he was shooting Heaven on Earth in Indialong time collaborator Deepa Mehta. So he worked off JPEGs sent by e-mail. “That got us intoa general area, but it is still no substitute for the DP being there when it is happening,” he says.

The DI was done by Goldcrest in NYC, 3K in, 2K out, by John Dowdell supervised by the directorJodie Markell. Last year Nuttgens won best cinematography awards for Hallam Foe at theDinard and Copenhagen International Film Festivals, that the Daily Telegraph described as “sigh-inducingly evocative.”

Tense from Tennessee: Bryce Howard plays Fisher Willow

Artisan: Giles Nuttgens BSC with director Jodie Markell at the camera


FEATUREFEATURE o n t h e j o b

The Dark Knight broke through the $525million barrier and had topped the global boxoffice for four weekends when this articlewas being written. That has made it thesecond highest-grossing film in history. It’son pace to catch and pass Titanic, the all-time leader, which earned $601 million inbox office revenues, writes Bob Fisher.

The Dark Knight is the fifth cinema film aboutBatman, who started life as a comic bookcharacter. Ask any friend or stranger about themasked crusader. Chances are they wereintroduced to Batman in comic books, comicstrips, radio and television programmes beforeWarner Bros. produced the first movie in 1989.

The Dark Knight is the fifth collaboration for ChrisNolan and Wally Pfister ASC. They met by chance,or maybe it was destiny calling. Nolan wrote,directed and shot a 16mm black-and-white filmafter graduating from University College in London.Following premiered at the Slamdance FilmFestival in 1999. While he was at the festival inPark City, Utah, Nolan saw The Hi-Line, anindependent feature that premiered at Sundance.Pfister was the cinematographer. The one-time TVnews photographer was at the dawn of hisnarrative filmmaking career.

After finishing his second script a year later, Nolantracked Pfister down in Alabama, where he wasshooting another low-budget feature. Nolanintroduced himself during a phone call. He sentPfister a script and they arranged a meeting.

“I decided during our first conversation that Iwanted to work with Wally,” Nolan says. “There isa synergy that affects our ability to translate ideasinto images. It's the sum of those images thatmake a lasting impression rather than individualshots.”

Their first film was Memento, followed byInsomnia, Batman Begins and The Prestige. Pfisterearned his first and second Oscar nominations forthe latter two films.

“While we were shooting The Prestige, Chris toldme people at Warner Bros. were speaking withhim about a script that he and his brother Jonahwrote for another Batman movie,” Pfister says.“He had intriguing ideas about doing thingsdifferently.”

Selecting IMAXOne of Nolan's ideas was to shoot the opening six-minute prologue in IMAX format as a prelude for a35mm anamorphic movie composed in 2.4:1aspect ratio. An IMAX frame is 65mm wide and15 perforations long. The image area is ten timeslarger than a 35mm anamorphic frame. The studiowas planning to augment the traditional cinemarelease in IMAX format on more than 100 screens. Basically, that involves scanning the conformednegative to create a digital master file, and usingthe proprietary IMAX DMR process to render itonto large format film.

Neither Nolan nor Pfister had ever worked with anIMAX camera before. They turned to DavidKeighley, president of DKP 70MM Inc., an IMAXsubsidiary in Santa Monica, California, for adviceand for practical support in obtaining a camera toshoot tests.

The tests were filmed with an IMAX MSM camerain the backyard and garage at Nolan's house in LosAngeles. Pfister wanted to get a feeling for howthe camera handled. He also experimented withcomposition and exposing the negative in differentways. That evening he and Nolan put the cameraon a tripod in the back of a pickup truck and shota test in natural light while driving down SunsetBoulevard in Hollywood.

“When we projected a print made from theprocessed negative, there were truly rich blacktones with extraordinary contrast and no visiblegrain,” Pfister recalls. “We could also see everydetail in the darkest shadows just like the humaneye does.”

After seeing those results, Nolan decided toproduce all action, car chase, aerial and physicaleffects scenes in IMAX format and all dialoguescenes in 35mm anamorphic. IMAX footageaccounts for about 30 minutes of the final cut.

The story is set in the fictional city of Gothamabout a year after the events that occurred inBatman Begins. Bruce Wayne and his alter ego

Batmancomes backto Britain

I had afantast icEngl ish crew

The Joker (Heath Ledger) (front) gets a lesson in crime from Batman(Christian Bale) (back) in The Dark Knight.(Photo by Stephen Vaughan/Warner Bros/™ & © DC Comics).

FEATUREFEATURE o n t h e j o b


Batman (portrayed by Christian Bale) now live in a penthouseapartment with faithful butler Alfred (Michael Caine). MorganFreeman encores in the role of Lucius Fox. Batman, policelieutenant James Gordon (Gary Oldman) and the new districtattorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) are succeeding insweeping criminals off the streets of Gotham.

There is a dramatic turn when The Joker (Heath Ledger), adiabolically evil and sadistically clever villain, enters the scene.There are also threads of romance weaved into the fabric ofthe story involving Dent and Rachel Dawes (MaggieGyllenhaal).

The darkness“Batman movies have always been dark,” Pfister says. “Thereare a lot of daylight and other scenes filmed in bright interiorswith fluorescent lamps or rays of sunshine streaming throughwindows in The Dark Knight. Chris felt the drama would havemore impact if we saved the darkest imagery for the end.”

The cast and crew spent 53 of the 128-day productionschedule at locations and on sets in the United Kingdom,where much of Batman Begins was filmed. With theexception of a week in Hong Kong, the rest of The Dark Knightwas filmed in Chicago.

“There were 30 to 40 people on our crews. Every one of themplayed an important role in making this dream come true. BobGorelick had experience operating a large format Iwerkscamera during the filming of an 'N Sync concert tour,” Pfistersays “He was the Steadicam/A camera operator at alllocations, and Bob Hall, one of our focus pullers visited IMAXin Toronto, for a week of training. I also had a fantastic Englishcrew, including focus puller Brad Larner, second assistantDavid Mackie, clapper/loader Ben Perry and our ScottishIMAX technician Stewart MacFarland.”

Pfister typically carried one IMAX MKIII and four MSMcameras, which he used extensively to cover physical effectsand big crowd scenes from different angles. There are nocomputer-generated images. All of the action unfolds in frontof the camera lenses. Finishing touches were put on the lookwith traditional optical timing at Technicolor. Nolan and Pfisterfelt that rendered a more organic look.

“Hugh Whittaker (at Panavision in London) was a great help,”Pfister says. “Our 35mm package included two PanaflexMillennium XLs and a Platinum camera along with a range ofC and E series prime and zoom lenses.”

Colour palatte and timingThe colour palette designed for Gotham in Batman Begins hada rusty copper tone. Pfister and Nolan took a more organicapproach to the use of colors in The Dark Knight.

“We played with blue, green and white tones that contrastedwith black and rusty hues used at some locations,” Pfistersays.

He chose a modest palette of films consisting of KodakVision2 500T 5218 and 250D 5205 color negatives in bothIMAX and 35mm formats. It was an encore performance forTechnicolor dailies timer John Ensby in London, who workedon Batman Begins. Pfister emphasized that they were in “totalsynch.”

“John understood exactly what I meant when I said, 'makethis scene a little darker, lighter, bluer, or let's see a touch ofmore contrast,'” he says.

Nolan was always around the camera close to the actorsrather than in a video village. He trusted Pfister and his crewto capture his vision on film.

Pfister helped the audience make a subconscious connectionbetween Batman and Bruce Wayne by unobtrusively usinglight to draw attention to their eyes. That was a challengebecause Batman is a creature of the night. There was somesheen on the cowl which covered his face and on the rest ofhis costume except for his matte black cape.

“It was like lighting a piece of Duvateen,” Pfister says. “Weused eyelight to bring the person behind the mask to life. Wehad a Kino Flo Kamio ring light on an armature attached to thecamera. If that light was too bright, we used an ND 6 gel anda CTS filter to warm it up. It didn't create shadows becauseit's a soft light, but it was hard enough to put a ding in hiseyes. It was like looking into his soul.”

Locations in England included Battersea Power Station incentral London and Cardington in Bedfordshire. The latter wasbuilt as a hangar for the Royal Air Force in 1917, and is 800-feet long, 500-feet wide and 180-feet tall. One of the setswas an eight story building, where the final, breathtakingconfrontation between Batman, the Joker and the policetakes place. It was filmed entirely in IMAX format.

There was no practical way to hide traditional lights inside thebuilding, because of the size of the IMAX frame. Gaffer PerryEvans and Pfister devised a plan for using very small lights,which could be quickly rigged to temporary support postsaround the sets.

“They looked like lights you would expect to see on aconstruction site,” Pfister says. “They created little flares onlenses that felt right for the time, place and mood. Sometimeswe augmented that light with a Xenon lamp on a Condorcherry picker.”

Pfister has played the guitar since he was a teenager. Hisclosing words were, “When I look at a shot through a lens, Ihear music in my mind. Films, like music, need a sense ofrhythm that affects everything from composition to editing …I use the same part of my brain to play a melody that I use tomake decisions about how to pan or tilt the camera … It'sabout creating a beat or a rhythm.”

Actor Christian Bale zips through the streets on the set of The Dark Knight.(Photo by Stephen Vaughan/Warner Bros/™ & © DC Comics).

Actor Christian Bale and his alter ego, the Batmansuit, behind him in a scene from The Dark Knight.(Photo by Stephen Vaughan/Warner Bros/™ & © DC Comics).

Wally Pfister, ASC and the IMAX camera on top of the IFC 1 building in Hong Kong,which is one of the tallest buildings in the world

INTERNATIONALINTERNATIONAL s h o o t i n g t h e f u t u r e


Trendsetting technology forcreative cinematography

Arri D21 digital film-style camera Cinec 2008 award winner Vantage for HAWK lensV-Lite series

JL Fisher with cinec 2008 award winning articulatedskater wheels

For the seventh time, Cinec, the internationallyrenowned film equipment event opened its doors fromthis September at the Munich MOC, to showcase thelatest innovations in film and digital cameras, 3D kit,lens, grip and lighting development as well as postproduction technologies, writes Annette Zoeh.

Thanks to the skills of the Cinec organizers Albrecht GmbH,this year's exhibition again successfully combined a must-attend trade fair with a high-level ancillary programme. Inanswer to the industry's constantly changing and ever moresophisticated demands, the three three-day event providednot only demonstrations of new products such as the Arriflex416 Plus HS andD21 cameras, the new Hawk Anamorphics V-Lite series lenses, but also seminars with in-depth informationon data storage and archiving.

Further speeches and panel discussions included debates ondigital cinematography, digital projection, workflows inpostproduction, new lighting tools for digital high-speedphotography, and 3D technologies. This year was bigger thanever - covering two exhibition halls of 6,250m/sq, with 157international and domestic exhibitors, a special dedicatedarea for UK companies including EF Moy, Lee Filters andRonford-Baker - attracting visitors from 58 countries.

New market trends include the increase of anamorphicfilming, combined with the demand for lighter filmingequipment and fewer, but bigger lights, as DP John FauerASC, predicted in the show`s opening speech. During a highlyinformative slideshow, he reflected on the development oflighting scenes and filming, from past to present, and forecast

two major topics for the future: the essence of data storageand challenge of data recovery. With an expandingstereoscopic market and an increased number of 3D readyscreens, well-known equipment manufacturers demonstratedfurther innovations for 3 D. In addition, the Cameraimage FilmFestival presented the “City of Lodz” project, which will seePoland's second largest city become even more film-orientedthan ever.

In cooperation with the German Fraunhofer Institute forIntegrated Circuits, CinePostproduction, Audio VideoTechnologies, Iridas, Digital Media Systems and the Institutefor Broadcast IRTs' special project “tools for mediaproduction” offered another opportunity during the show togain insight and knowledge about cross-media formatstandards and technology workflows.

Camera technologyIn the field of film camera technology, ARRI demonstratedstunning products such as the quiet, bright and light ARRIflex416 PLUS camera. Highlight features of this beautifully,ergonomically designed film camera include high-speed forslow-motion effects with built-in accessory electronics, itslightweight of 5.8 kg, low sound level of less than 20db(A), inHS version 29db(A), improved image quality of the videoassist and adjustable image enhancement.

With the launch of the ARRIflex D 21 M-Scope, ARRI wonCinec 2008's award in camera technology. A detailedintroduction, with ashowreel on the D21 and details of theEnglish production Love Hate provided an in-depth look at thenew camera details. The D 21 employs a 54mm PL lens

mount, an optical reflex viewfinder and spinning, electronicallyadjustable reflex mirror shutter. Mscope allows the use of any35mm anamorphic lens and records the images on an HDrecorder, such as the HDCAM SR SRW-1. The D 21 Mscopeis available in HD or data mode (ARRIraw ). Frame rates are10-60fps in HD 4:2:2 Mode (16:9), 10 to 30fps in HD4:4:4. InMscope HD 4:2:2 the rates are 1-25 fps, in data mode(ARRIRAW, 16:9) 1-30 fps, or (ARRIRAW, 4:3) 1-25 fps.

Further hightlights from ARRI included included the upgradedof Moviecam SL Mark 2 film camer, with a new viewfinderand electronics and 3-perfmovement. A further cool tool wasARRI's WCU-3 with back lighted TFT display; a new wirelesscompact unit that provides ] remote control for camera, focusand iris. New intelligent accessories include the wirelesszoom extension, the WZE-3, and the universal motorcontroller UMC-3A.

P&S Technik`s innovative and outstanding product rangeincluded the Weisscam HS-2 for high speed shooting, the SI-2K digital cinema camera system with touchscreen interface,monitor and electronical/optical viewfinder. Furtherdemonstrated highlights were a 3D stereo rig and steadyframe universal scanner, together with MINI 35 imageconverters and clever filmlook adapter PRO 35, the latterbeing awarded a soecial award by the British Guild of TVCameramen, GTC, this October. Also shown was the EmmyEngineering Award-winning Skater product family.

LightingThe perfect tool for film, video and still photography that wonthis year`s Cinec 2008 award was introduced by Rosco. The


INTERNATIONALINTERNATIONAL s h o o t i n g t h e f u t u r e

Rosco Litepad HO (high output) is a slim andeconomical light source that generatesalmost no heat. Operating temperature is -30C to +85C with a lamp duration of100,000 hours, colour temperature of6,000°Kelvin.

Beside Arri`s True Blue lamphead range andthe awesome ARRImax, a new dynamicbackground LED illumination that wonanother of this year`s Cinec award was thecompany`s LED Pack Shot Kit. This modularsoftlight LED panel, with light controlfunctions and film-appropriate colourrendition, has a detachable backpack battery, plus soft and spot optics.

Innovative and must-have in the field isBebob`s Cinec award-winning Lux LEDcamera Light, offering maximum light outputwith constant brightness and reduced energyconsumption. The pole-operated tungstenlight head DLH650PO is supplied by DedoWeigert, along with the softlight DLH1x150S.

FinnLight introduced the softer, faster, lesspower-consuming toplight, called the“space” light . For quick set-ups like newscoverage, K 5600 lighting offered the Joker-bug series 200/400/800, the Joker newsrange 200/400, together with Joker video200 and bug video 200/400.Mole Richardsondemonstrated its luminaire type 67415,000W tungsten par and new type 675112K tungsten par, including unique featuressuch as interchangeable lenses to vary beamspread from narrow to super wide, 240Voperation for higher efficiency and lowerconnector temperatures.

A patented highlight tool with a three-dimensional dismountable frameworkaluminium system was shown by CaliforniaSunbounce. Capacity and speed marked theMA Lighting product line, with grandMAmulti-user and grandMA. Other exhibitorssuch as Licht-Technik, Bogen Imaging,Barbizon and DeSisti also showed theirranges of lighting equipment.

OpticsOutstanding optical image quality was shownin the form of the Arri / Zeiss LightweightZoom LWZ-1, that has a zoom range of 15.5to 45mm, T2.6. Its light, yet compact formmakes it ideal for Steadicam and handheldshooting. It also features the T* XP anti-reflexcoating that ensures a sharp, high resolutionimage. Two further new lenses complete thehigh speed MP lens range: the 14 mm and150mm T1.3 master primes.

New HAWK anamorphic lens series wasintroduced by Vantage who celebrated their15th anniversary. The new HAWK V-Liteseries and V-Lite anamorphics 1.3x squeezereceived this year`s Cinec award in the lenscategory. The HAWK V-Lite series for analogand digital includes focal lengths from 28mm,35mm, 45mm, 55mm, 80mm at T2.2 and110mm at T3, a new PL mount and focusscale. The 1.3x squeeze factor allows use ofthe entire sensor area of a 16:9 digitalcamera to achieve widescreen 1:2.40release format. Furthermore, the new set oflenses allow shooting with 4:3negative/sensor area and stretch it to 1:78for 16:9 HDTV; with the D21, the full sensorcan be used for 16:9 shooting .

Further optical highlights were shown at IB/Eoptics, with Bavarian developer WolfgangWeigel demonstrating the HD scopedesigned for 2/3” Hi-Def. Video. With its fast4.0 T-stop, the HD scope surpasses pastBorescope/snorkel lens systems. Also shownwere an HD 1:1.8/6mm high resolution lens,for use on high-end single chip 2K 16mm HDcameras w/c-mount, and the HD 1.8/14mmhigh speed lens which has been beautifullydesigned with the new striking feature of atelecentric ray path on the image side.

New ergonomically designed director`sviewfinder with -4 to +4 and OIC16 for -5 to+5 came from Denz , and Fujinon showed itsc-and e- series cine lenses. Cooke`s latestachievement is the new Cooke Red Setcomprising four red-engraved PL-mountedS4/I lenses in focal lengths of 50, 75, 100mmand the 15-40mm CXX zoom.

Unique and another Cinec award-winninghighlight was the RoscoView system. Itcomprises two components: the RoscoVIEWfilm for the window and RoscoVIEW filter forthe camera.

The system allows instant control of 100 % ofexterior brightness. Lee Filters introducedbeautiful new colours from bram brown to

dirty ice, and perfect lavender to AS goldenamber. The new colours were created byrenowned Danish lighting designer PeterFisker and international theatre and stagedesigner Paule Constable.

Grip, rig and dolly25 years of dolly technology mark Panther`sworldwide success. The companydemonstrated a comfortable handgripoperation for its remote head system.Another success is the internationallyrenowned Sachtler which looked back on 50years of company history, and showed itsmodular tripod system Soom, FSB fluid headsand FSB Cell with 7.2 V for mini DV and HDVcameras, and the new combi Ped 1-40, acontrollable, portable lightweight pedestal.Available is a carbon-upgrade for ArtemisACT2 springarm and artemis ACT2 vest.

Speedy, Olympic proven and a Cinec 2008award winner was trackrunner ENT by RTSRail & Track systems that runs at a max.speed of 4.5m/s, with hanging & sittingoption, a cable management system andlengths of 40m plus. Stunning yeta anotherCinec award winning product were the fullyarticulated, friction free skateboard wheelsby J.L.Fisher. They allow mounting onstandard 24.5 inch tracks and all 32 wheelsmaintain contact with the track for improvedcontrol and stability.

Matthews showed its versatile Red Dolly,whose design allows positioning of eachwheel in any of eight different positions fortight 360 ° repeatable full circles (crabbing)and quick dolly reverse shots. The GripFactory Munich came along with the GF-Quad dolly that has three quick-changeoperating modes and a new switch lever.Highlights at Movietech were the Movie-Jibwith variable extension range,counterweights for balancing and self-lockcrank mechanism, the sprinter dolly liftextension with electronically controlled liftingmechanism, new remote head concept w/3axis, G-force vest specially for small sizes,and the Pelé remote head with newoperating features.

Ronford-Baker technology products ateknown for their high-quality engineering andreliability, typified by the Ronford-Baker CNC-machined, high-tensile aluminium Slider thatfeatures soft stop adjustable buffers, 360 °lockable rotation and Tritium spirit level,available in 7 different sizes. The “Supazuuka”billet bazooka provides stable build platform,modular design and high payload capacity.

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Happy winners, the boys from Vantage collect theirCinec 2008 award

Making light work: Peter Daffarn (L) MD of Photon Beardwith Mike Perry, has just sold 200 fluorescent softlights,via Strand Lighting, to Phoenix TV in Hong Kong.

Hands on: Jeff Lawrence, MD of Ronford Baker, with thenew Atlas 7 head, developed with financial assistancefrom the East of England development agency.


s h o o t i n g t h e f u t u r e

The Atlas is a completely new design headwith patented counterbalance system,available as a Balanced fluid head for camerapackages up to 50kg, or Atlas 30 BalancedFluid head for packages up to 30 kg. Smartaccessories, such as the ULB-3 ULB-1 andPAP-3 Panasonic and Sony adaptor platescomplete the product range.

Even more versatile tools could be spotted atMO-SYS with the Lambda system, inassociation with Cartoni. The remote andmotion control head for large camerapackages includes features such as highresolution drive for smooth operation, quickand easy plug and play set-up, touchscreencontrol and 360 ° tilt with additional roll axismodule and gyro stabilisation.Other innovative products were the MK-Vflagship revolution system for steadicam, theMK-V Nexus system and MK-V evolutionbase; Cineparts' nodal camera head; MarkRoberts Motion Control Ulti-Head andmodular motion control rig. MAT Presentedthe telescopic jib and Super Scorpio crane,Alpha Grip introduced its versatile and timeefficient A-jib. More accessories wereprovided by Chrosziel with clamp-on matte

boxes the CMB-R10 and CMB-R20, and thenew family of full size matte boxes - theMB450-R2, MB450-R3, MB450-R2DSW andMB450-R3DSW.

Film stock, video, sync & sound andpowerKodak focussed in its Vision3 500T colournegative film 5129/7219. Durability andsafety were the major points for AVCproducts, as demonstrated with its batterybelts, big and multi packs and AVC's on boardbatteries. Silent power supplies were offeredby Cineparts. Among the product array ofsound sync modules, Ambient Recordingshowcased Clockit and ACL 203 HD lockittogether with the Quickpole series QX lightand OP standard.

With its cdisplay II, Austrian developersCmotion received this year`s Cinec award.The display functions include: bigger screen(4.3”), internal antenna, live video imagedirect on TFT screen, “overlay” lens andcamera data display on video image, videoand lens data storing and replay functionsand image shifting by 90 °.

Licht-Technik

Innovation and constant product development are the hallmarks of theproduct range from lighting designer and gaffer Uwe Hagenbach (R) andBernhard Grill`s Licht Technik.

The company provides rental and field services of lighting gear for a wide range filmand TV productions, exhibitions and events, as well as being the successfulmanufacturer of a range of products including colour changers, dimmer shutters,motorised yokes, and the well-known Plan-O-Light, Bag-O-Light and Click & MoveSystems.

The business started in 1983 in Munich supplying lighting gear to film, TV, opera andtheatre facilities. Today, the successful enterprise, which is still run by companyowners Hagenbach and Grill, who are also members of the Cinec committee,continues to provide equipment for events, major feature films and commercials.Their recent credits include Les Miserables, Smilla and The House of Spirits, 3D stereofilms for T-Com, Bosch, Spacepark Bremen and car commericals for BMW, Alfa,Bugatti and Mercedes.

The company’s list of Cinec awards demonstrate Licht-Technik’s continual success:the 1996 Cinec Award for the modular motorized yoke system; a 2000 Cinec Awardfor its patented Bag-o-Light, Air 2000; a 2004 Cinec Award for the LT-Pilot wirelesscontrol; and a 2006 Cinec Award for the LT Click & Move System. At this year’sshow, Licht-Technik showed the PS50-04 power supply, a cost-effective iris dimmertechnology in the form of the Shutter BladeFader and BlackBeam products, and a newversion of wireless LT pilot, which is splashproof and more lightweight.


INTERNATIONALINTERNATIONAL i m a g o

Nigel Walters BSC, IMAGOPresident

Since my election as President of Imago inFebruary there have been manypleasurable experiences to share, and Ihave learnt much learnt about thissurprising Continent. For example, if youwere to be asked to name the Europeannation whose passion for film is onlymatched by its passion for ice cream whatwould you reply? Even the late DavidWatkin BSC, who also had a passion forboth, would have found difficulty incoming up with the answer, which is…Slovenia.

One of Europe's smallest countries wasresponsible from January to July this year forEuroteka 2008, a project whose goal was topresent the history of European Film. Itsselection of films resulted from a chance visit toa bookstall at a Festival in Berlin by BostjanJambrek where he opened the Imago bookMaking Pictures: A Century of EuropeanCinematography. The idea came to him to basea Festival in Ljubljana and to show the 100 filmsin the book.

Astonishingly Bostjan, who is Euroteka's head ofprogramming, and the team at SlovenianCinematheque, under director Stas Ravter,managed to find and show 89 of the Imagoselection in the 22 weeks of the festival, andfeatured a different country each week. Thiswas achieved with the help of 27 film archivesand other institutions. One of their importantaims is to bring film history to a youngeraudience, as well as focus attention to the workof film archives, and their mission is to preserveand show. Since its foundation, in 1996, fromthe remnants of the old Film Museum, theCinematheque has embarked on the importanttask of assembling a collection of fundamentalworks of the history of word cinema. To date ithas collected more than 3,500 titles.

My few days in this beautiful country includedan invitation to address an assembly ofpredominantly young people at the LjubljanaCinema, where the Festival had taken place. Anawareness of the role of Imago had beenalready established because of the link with theFestival and Making Pictures. The discussionwas lively particularly as the president of theSlovenian Society of Cinematographers, the

flamboyant Zoran Hochstätter ZFS, joined me.The Festival concluded with a memorable pianoaccompaniment to a showing of Vertov's 1929Man With A Movie Camera, which should becompulsory viewing for students ofcinematography.

Slovenia did not disappoint, and neither did thewarmth of its people. As I was shown the siteof the new Film Museum it was difficult not toreflect that this nation of two million couldsupport a film museum when none exists inLondon. So many of the British historical filmtreasures languish unseen and forgotten inwarehouses. What price culture?

Making Pictures is a fine book. However, it hascaused Imago much heartache. The Russianswould like to publish a translated edition of2,000 copies. Imago is working to overcome thecomplications, which may have arisen becauseof copyright clearance. At present it is doing therounds with London publishers in the hope offinding one to take on the task of re-publishing.

Unfortunately as President there is a problem ofbeing in two different places at the same time.It was disappointing to be unable to accept aninvitation to visit our youngest society ofRomania. Since the formation of Imago much ofthe effort has been in encouraging the formationof societies as more countries have beenwelcomed into the European Union. Romania isproducing fine films, and under its presidentAlex Sterian RSC and with the enthusiasm ofDiana Apostol and the assistance of itssponsors, their Society will prosper. Recentlywe were approached by an Albaniancinematographer and he is receiving advice informing a Society from our vice-president IvanTonev of the Bulgarian Society.

A visit to the opening of the Bradford FilmFestival served to confirm the suitability of thetown as an ideal location for the next ImagoAGM on the weekend of February 13th 2009.Bradford is pitching to become the UNESCO Cityof Film, and the presence of 40cinematographers using the National Museummay help them to achieve this ambition.

There was also a genuine welcome at the EUXXL in Krems Austria. Contacts were madethere for Imago developments in Brussels inadvancing the Model Contract on AuthorsRights and Working Conditions.

Imago will soon debating the worldwide natureof our federation, particularly as Australia, NewZealand and Japan have joined as affiliates. TheCanadian society has also recently given anencouraging response to our invitation. If theydo so they will also join India, Brazil, MexicoArgentina and Cuba. Imago has to find a way fora more active participation of affiliates whohave joined us with such enthusiasm and belief.The problems of the cinematographer do not

stop at Europe's' borders. The Japanese andAustralians are particularly interested in Imago'sdeclared aim to secure the rights of thecinematographer to be recognized as “author”of their work.

Unfortunately, making progress in Europerequires funding. Imago is grateful for theassistance of Brussels-based lobbyists Interel,who have enabled us to make important initialcontacts. Finances are in better shape than formany years. Louis-Philippe and I attended Cinecin Munich, and IBC in Amsterdam, and foundinterest from companies in sponsoring Imago.We hope this will be followed by positive offersto assist our funding of such ventures as theCopenhagen Masterclasses, which fortunatelyhave been underwritten by the generous DanishAuthorities

This year marks Imago's inaugural partnershipwith the Filmmakers Festival, eDIT in Frankfurt.Imago was invited to widen the scope of thissuccessful Festival by introducing items toillustrate the collaborative role of thecinematographer in filmmaking. At the Galaopening Imago's the first-ever public tribute waspresented to Guiseppe Rotunno AIC by Imago'sfounding father Luciano Tovoli AIC. TheFilmmakers Festival was a joyous occasion andGuiseppe Rotunno was visably moved by astanding ovation from the packed audience.

Among the other cinematographers to featureat the Festival was Reinier van Brummelen NSC,who has recently been collaborating with PeterGreenaway on a photographic reconstruction ofThe Last Supper using holograms. Dr CristinaBusch gave an inspired repost on the issue ofauthors rights in Europe to Guido Hettinger

representing the legal standpoint of producers.Imago supports the established Festivals of theManaki Brothers in Macedonia and Camerimagein Lodz. The eDIT Frankfurt Festival givescinematographers the opportunity to bring ourrole in filmmaking to a wider audience. Prior tothe Festival, and thanks to the generosity of ourGerman hosts, an Imago board meeting washeld at which Louis-Philippe Capelle and myselfgave an account of a meeting we had theprevious week with the BvK in Munich. Thatmeeting was friendly and constructive, and areply to Imago's invitation to the GermanSociety to rejoin us is expected in November. Itwas also decided to pursue amn EU MediaMundi programme to secure funding for a WorldConference of Cinematographers in 2010, andthe Board agreed support the proposal for aDigital Cinema Forum in 2009.

My final duty is to thank the Board for itssupport and wisdom during my tenure. Thetransition between presidents has gonesmoothly, and I am indebted for the advice andencouragement of my predecessor AndreasFischer-Hansen DFF, the indefatigablecommitment of Tony Costa AIP, generalsecretary Louis-Philippe Capelle SBC, and Paul-Rene Roestad FNF.

It was unanimously decided to invite JanWeincke DFF to join the Board to replace KurtBrazda AAC. We all wish Kurt good health afterhe was advised to cut down his workload. Welook forward to Robert Alazraki AFC returning togive us the benefit of his experience and flyingthe French flag. As always the enthusiasm andadvice of our lawyer Dr Cristina Busch is muchappreciated along with the time she sogenerously gives us.

The First Eight Months

L-R Luciano Tovoli AIC, Andreas Fischer-Hansen DFF, Paul-Rene Roestad FNF NigelWalters BSC and Louis-Philippe Capelle SBC with Guiseppe Rotunno AIC (seated)

INTERNATIONALINTERNATIONAL i m a g o


The Macedonian National Orchestra had expected torehearse Beethoven in peace, but this was theBalkans. A conflict of bookings resulted in the ManakiBrothers Festival organisers showing the French filmJulia to the irate accompaniment of his one of themaestro's symphonies resounding from theimmaculately polished marble outside in the foyer ofthe Army Hall.

Revenge was exacted the following day when the orchestracunningly arrived earlier than planned and commandeered theauditorium and scuppered the showing of the Belgian Film,Lorna's Silence which had to be cancelled. Orchestras can playanywhere, film needs a projector (old Greek or Macedonianproverb). The chairman of the judges, Christian Berger AACpuffed philosophically on his distinguished pipe, Sue Gibson BSCthreatened to write about it in this magazine, Menahem Golanhad long since gone home to Israel, Ivan Fenyo the Hungarianactor was still in bed, and the remaining juror Stole Pope, theMacedonian director, was around but somewhere else.

Welcome to the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia as Ihave been requested to name it by a recent Greek visitor to theImago.org website. This was the 29th annual edition of the oldestfilm festival devoted exclusively to the art of cinematography,named after the legendary Manaki Brothers from the beautiful cityof Bitola.

The Festival was to reveal many surprises. My first, but hopefullynot last, visit to this charming experience was leading me to thebelief that I had discovered Eldorado - the home for many fellowcinematographers' favourite expression, “always expect theunexpected” had to be the FYR of Macedonia.Although, apparently, not many Macedonians go to the cinema,their enthusiasm for the festival and film is palpable. So much sothat the closing ceremony in Skopje was enlivened by a bus fullof demonstrators from Bitula protesting to their Prime Minister,and others dignitaries present, at the diminished role of theirtown in festival proceedings. At the airport the following morningI was introduced to the jovial Mayor of Bitula who threatenedchanges next year.

The Festival contained some gems and I believe should continueto be supported by Imago. The masterclass given by the Braziliancinematographer Walter Carvalho ABC was simply masterful.Itwas entitled The Soul of the Enlightened, and complemented theshowing the next day of a Brazilian film by Cristina Leal calledIluminados, containing six masterclasses by distinguishedBrazilian cinematographers. The experienced film writers present

regarded it as a masterpiece, which should be seen by allcinematographers and students of the art. This is the best filmabout our profession ever made and was worth the visit toMacedonia in itself.

Another fine film was the Belgian documentary Afghanistan, TheChoice of the Women, magnificently photographed by Imagogeneral secretary, Louis-Philippe Capelle SBC. The two mostmemorable films in the Festival were both documentaries.

A special award, the Golden Camera 300, was given to KarenShaknazarov the Russian writer and director now working forMosfilm. In his masterclass entitled Film as Art, Film as Industry,Karen had invited cinematographers from the Balkans, and otherEuropean countries, to bring their expertise to Russia in trainingand shooting to plug gaps in their film industry. This opportunitywill be followed up by Imago in encouraging a closer dialoguewith Mosfilm and the Russian authorities.

Ivan Tonev BAC, the Imago vice president, had prepared aworkshop on our model contract. This was extraordinarily wellattended until we realised the audience were really in attendancefor the students awards which were running late. The StudentGrand Prix Award went to the Swiss film I Don't Dream In German,directed by Ivana Lalovich. The best director was shared betweenMark Jewusiac for the Canadian film Emes and FrosinaNaumouska for the Macedonian film Ace Slash. The respectivecinematographers of these films were Ji Hwan Paer and GjorgjiKlincharou.

At the closing ceremony a special award for cinematographywent to Gokhan Tiryaki for Three Monkeys, a strikinglyphotographed Turkish production. The bronze award went to theRussian cinematographer Yuri Klimenko for Captive, the silver toJolanta Dylewska PSC for the Kazakhstan film Tulpan, and thegold to Rodrigo Pietro AMC ASC for the Chinese film Lust Caution.

To end the festival, director Tomi Salkovski MSC thanked relativesof the Manaki Brothers for their presence. If their 30th Festivalnext year is as enjoyable it will be a good reason to put the datesin your diary.

Misinformation is an art practiced toperfection in the UK. Whether it is inthe form of a C4 documentarycrusading against the scientificreasons for climate change or falseclaims by the BBC about Planet Earth,some respected institutions behave inthe most extraordinary fashion.

During a recent debate about the future offilm in Sydney the panel was asked by aneminent Australian wildlife cinematographerwhy this discussion was happening at all,because he had read on the BBC websitethat Planet Earth was originated totally onHD cameras. This he suggested surelyheralded the final demise of film.

Naturally, as he had read this on the BBCwebsite it had to be true. My reply that aconsiderable percentage had been shot onfilm (including S16mm) therefore could notbe true. The contrary was there for all to readon the BBC's own Voice Of The World, theirwebsite. So it had to be true.

Thankfully for my sanity it was not true.Kodak who had supplied film for the series(one episode was shot entirely on 35mm)had also spotted this falsehood. The BBCwithdrew the claim from its website soonafterwards. However, not before the damagehad been done. In the case of C4 itsdistorting of the views of climate scientistsresulted in a perceptible swing in publicopinion towards a complacent approach tothe dangers of global warming. In the case ofthe cinematographers who were misled bythe BBC statement, there was no apology orpublic concern.

The future use of film had been decided. Ittranspired that ten to 20% of Planet Earthoriginated on S16mm. And this had beenmiraculously transmitted on HD. It appearsthe BBC wanted no one to know.

The production team that worked on PlanetEarth was aware that film was used. So whydid the BBC claim that this was their first HD

originated production? We will probablynever know, but it was not true and not fair.

It is two years since the BBC declared thedemise of 16mm film as a capture medium.They little imagined that their challenge tothe manufacturers to use 35mm film at theprice of 16mm would be met. A campaigninitiated by ARRI and supported by Imagoand the wider industry, has resulted in theformation of The Image Forum, with theobjective of promoting the positive virtues offilm.

Many top American productions are stilloriginated on S16mm film and transmittedsuccessfully on HD. If they can do it whycan't we? In several European markets theuse of 16mm film is increasing. Thepopularity of 16mm film in Italy is increasing.In the UK and France, Kodak report a declinein 16mm but an increase in 35mm film,primarily due to the proven values of 3 and 2-perf as a capture medium. The 2-perf is 80%

greater picture area that conventionalS16mm on the 15:9 shooting ratio. TheBBC's recognition that 35mm 2-perf isacceptable as an HD transmission format is astep forward.

These issues are of great concern to Imagomembers throughout the world because theBBC is hailed as the benchmark for qualityproduction standards. The countries withlesser resources rely on the BBC expertise inresearch, which inevitably influences theirfuture decisions. HD transmission is stillconfined to a minority of European countries.The present impasse deserves clear andimpartial guidance from the BBC. Whileadvances are still being made in solving thecompression problem the BBC should adopta more flexible approach.

Nigel Walters BSCIMAGO President

Manaki Brothers' Festival

What planet is the BBC on?


INTERNATIONALINTERNATIONAL f - s t o p h o l l y w o o d

Unease continues to be felt in Hollywood, writesCarolyn Giardina. In addition to the impact of theglobal financial crisis, Hollywood's labour stalematebetween the Screen Actors Guild and Alliance ofMotion Picture & Television Producers continues.

The latest: as British Cinematographer magazine went topress, the SAG national board voted to request that afederal mediator get involved. The 120,000 members ofSAG have been working without a contract since June 30th.And the uncertainty has had ripple effects throughout theindustry at a time when many in Hollywood are still feelingthe lingering impact of the WGA strike that was settledearlier this year, as well as the effect of the current financialcrisis.

Meanwhile, at the meeting where the SAG national boardvoted to request the mediator, the board opted not to askits members for a strike authorisation vote, which if passed,would have given negotiators the power to call a strike.

Oscar update

In this climate, Oscar season is getting underway, withsome surprises. In some of the latest news, the Academyof Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that arecord 67 countries, including first-time entrant Jordan,have submitted films for consideration in the foreignlanguage film category for the 81st Academy Awards.

The UK submission is Hope Eternal, Karl Francis' dramasurrounding a Madagascan nurse and Welsh doctor. The2008 submissions include: Italy's Gomorra, DP MarcoOnorato, which won the Grand Prix at Cannes, as well asIsrael's Waltz With Bashir, the 'animated documentary' thatlooks at the 1982 Lebanon war.

Meanwhile, a few key titles viewed as possible Oscarcontenders were pushed to 2009 wide release, potentiallyshifting the competitive field. Among them: The Soloist,helmer Joe Wright's follow up to Atonement. The Soloiststars Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr., and was lensed bySeamus McGarvey, BSC, who received an Oscar nominationlast year for Atonement. Paramount has moved the widerelease of The Soloist to March.

The documentary category is generating some particularinterest from the cinematography community this year. TheInternational Cinematographers Guild recently hosted ascreening of No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo and Vilmos,director/producer James Chressanthis, ASC's tribute tolegendary cinematographers Laszlo Kovacs ASC and VilmosZsigmond ASC, which received highly positive response.Zsigmond attended the screening. Chressanthis reportedthat the film had had some re-editing since its Cannespremiere, and it has had its Oscar-qualifying run.

In related news, Torn From The Flag, a documentary thrillerabout the Hungarian Revolution and Freedom Fight, alsorecently had its Oscar qualifying run. Kovacs and Zsigmondserved as executive producers, and the cinematographyincludes some of Kovacs' last work as director ofphotography.

IMAGO in Germany

As part of a new relationship with the eDIT Filmmakers

Collywobbles in Hollywood

Festival in Frankfurt, Imago awarded its first Tribute Award tocinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno AIC, ASC. Imago founderand cinematographer Luciano Tovoli, AIC, ASC presented theaward before a capacity crowd of 650 at the eDIT Festival'sopening gala on September 29th.

The presentation included a clip reel of the director ofphotography's work, including some with longtimecollaborator Federico Fellini.

"This is the most important award to me because it comesfrom cinematographers," Rotunno said with heartfelt thanks ashe accepted the award.Also that evening eDIT presented its festival honors to Oscar-winning editor Anne V. Coates OBE, ACE, who is perhaps bestknown for editing David Lean's epic Lawrence Of Arabia (DP

Freddie Young). At the podium, Coates said with a smile: "Canyou image a job where you get paid to look into the eyes ofGeorge Clooney and Peter O'Toole?"

ASC Awards.

Jack Green ASC will receive the ASC 2009 LifetimeAchievement Award at the 23rd annual ASC OutstandingAchievement Awards on February 15th. Additionally, Robert F.“Bobby” Liu ASC will receive the ASC Career Achievement inTelevision Award, and Isidore Mankofsky ASC will bepresented the ASC Presidents Award. Additional specialhonorees will be announced soon.

Green, a Clint Eastwood collaborator, earned an Oscarnomination for Unforgiven. His credits with Clint Eastwood as

Heartfelt: IMAGO founder Luciano Tovoli (centre) presents the Imago Tribute Award to Giuseppe Rotunno

ASC winners: Jack Green ASC and Isidore Mankofsky ASC are getting achievementy awards


f - s t o p h o l l y w o o d

director include The Bridges of Madison County, for which he earned an ASC OutstandingAchievement Award nomination; as well as Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil andSpace Cowboys.

Green began his cinematography career as an assistant cameraman on 16mm filmprojects, including industrial films and National Geographic specials. He was a stringer onABC television network news crews, and his early work included covering theassassination of Robert Kennedy in 1968.

Liu was born in Shanghai in 1926. His Hollywood career started on the camera crews ofsuch TV classics as Gunsmoke. Later, as a cinematographer, Liu earned Emmy nominationsfor Lou Grant in 1982 and Family Ties in 1989. The career achievement in television awardhas been presented previously to George Spiro Dibie, ASC and Donald M. Morgan, ASC.

Mankofsky began his career making documentaries and shooting newsfilm at a televisionstation in Nevada. He went on to earn credits on over 100 films. Mankofsky earned threeEmmy and three ASC Award nominations for his work on Polly, Afterburn, Davy Crockett:Rainbow In The Thunder, and Love, Lies And Murder. The latter won the ASC televisionmini-series competition in 1992.

The Presidents Award has been given to individuals who have made significantcontributions to the art of filmmaking, including Robert Duvall, Steadicam inventor GarretBrown; camera designers Tak Miyagishima and Albert Mayer, Jr.; and cinematographerGuy Green BSC.

Meanwhile, ASC has dedicated the 2009 Heritage Award to the memory of industryveteran Burton “Bud” Stone, who was president of Deluxe Laboratories for 18 years.Said ASC president Daryn Okada: “He had an unwavering appreciation for the role thatcinematographers play in the collaborative art of visual storytelling. He also madeincomparable contributions to supporting cinematographers and raising their publicprofile.”

Inaugurated in 1999, the ASC Heritage Award has been dedicated to the memory of adifferent cinematographer each year. This is the first year that the award will be dedicatedto the memory of an individual in the film industry. Stone died April 18 in Los Angeles atthe age of 80.

Can you image a job where you

get paid to look into the eyes of

George Clooney and Peter

O'Toole?

– Anne V. Coates OBE ACE

Chuffed: Anne V. Coates OBE, ACE receives festival honours in Frankfurt


UK p o s t & t e c h n o

The P+S Technik PRO35 Image Converter recentlyreceived a Seal-of-Approval 2008 from the British Guildof Television Cameramen (GTC), which held its annualawards ceremony at the National Film Theatre recently.The P+S Pro35 35mm adapter was the first successfuladapter that allowed cameramen shooting on 2/3”cameras to use 35mm film lenses, replicating a similarfield-of-view and depth of field as 35mm film.

GCT chairman Brian Rose commented “The Pro35 has allowedfar more creativity for cameramen working on drama,commercials and documentaries, as well as for feature filmsshot on HDTV."

Wolfgang Weigel, design engineer of the PRO35, and Anna Piffl,marketing manager at P+S Technik collected the award.Weigel said, “This is one of the most beautiful days in my life.

At the start of the project I was not immediately convinced thatthis would revolutionise the industry, but with the determinationof young cameramen, we pushed the development of theproject forward".

P+S Technik PRO35 wins GTC approval

Rosco's Engel becomes president

Around 120 people visited Pinewood to attend therecent F35 Open Day hosted by independent digitalcinematography specialist Rogue Element Films. Theevent was supported by BandPro Munich as well asCinetal, cmotion, Cooke lenses, Hawk AnamorphicLenses, Iridas, Oxygen DCT and S.two.

Attendees got the chance to look at the Hawk 1.3x anamorphiclens, Sony F35 camera, DPX data capture and SR motionsystems, and to discuss digital cinematography and workflows.Dan Mulligan of Rogue Element discussed SR and LUTs on set,and Stephen Roach, CEO of Burbank-based S.two Corporationdiscussed uncompressed DPX data systems.

Rogue Element Films aims to hold additional open days andworkshops at Pinewood Studios covering Sony F35cinematography and on-set grading.

The company has also launched Rogue Element Lenses(www.rogueelementlenses.com) a dedicated TV production

website offering an inventory of 35mm film-based supportequipment to the television industry. Rogue Element ownsevery Zeiss lens available including Zeiss DigiPrime andDigiZoom lenses, giving it a strong position to service TV-basedB4 2/3-inch productions. Support equipment includes RonfordAtlas heads, ARRI MB20 and FF5 kits plus filtration anddiopters.

ARRI buys 50thSRW-1 SonydeckARRI Rental Group recently purchased its 50th SonySRW-1 video tape recorder, as part of an investmentthat represents over £2m over the last three and ahalf years. The HDCAM SR format recorders arebeing rented in conjunction with the D-21 film styledigital camera and have been used by productioncompanies worldwide for feature films, TV dramasand commercials, including two series of SilentWitness for the BBC, Hogfather and The Colour ofMagic - both adaptations of Terry Prachett novels -for Sky TV, as well as feature films including GuyRitchie's Rocknrolla and Roger Donaldson's The BankJob. In the US hit TV series' The Company,Andromeda Strain and Tin Man have been shot withD-20/21 cameras and SRW-1 recorders.

Aardman addsSmokeThe UK's most famous animation studio,Aardman, has invested in an Autodesk Smokeediting and finishing system. The system hasalready been put to use on the first twoepisodes of Timmy, a 52 x 10-minute pre-school show for CBeebies. It will also be usedon the second series of Shaun The Sheep,which is currently in pre-production.

“We were one of the first few companies in theworld to create a workflow based on using stillscameras for HDTV,” said Ian Fleming head ofproduction technology at Aardman. “We've changeda lot of our technology and it's been a steep learningcurve, but we now have a pipeline for digital stillsanimation which can also be scaled up for featurefilms.”

Aardman originally invested in Smoke to speed upeditorial, but now uses it for grading, conforming andfinishing as well. While Aardman has always donemost of its post-production in-house, it used tooutsource finishing work to other facilities.According to Fleming, “With Smoke, we retaincontrol of the production from start to finish and wehave the flexibility to allow for changes indeadlines.”

F35 open day

Rogue: aims to hold additional open days

Winners: a beautiful day for P+S Technik's Piffland Weigel

Stan Miller recently marked his marked the 50thanniversary at the helm of Rosco by announcing thehandover of his position as president and CEO to MarkEngel, who joined the company over 16 years ago andwho had served as chief financial officer beforeadvancing to chief operating officer.

Engel is only the third president in Rosco's near-100-yearhistory. The business was started in 1910 by SidneyRosenstein, but in 1958 Stan Miller bought the company. It had

only four employees and its primary products were gel colourfilters. Today Rosco employs hundreds of staff in elevendifferent countries around the world. It remains the world'slargest manufacturer of colour filters, as well as many otherproducts used in theatre, film and television production.Among its achievements are four technical Academy Awards,an Emmy and a variety of product awards. Miller will remainactive as chairman of the board. Rosco's LitePad HO andRoscoView were the winners in the lighting engineeringcategory at CINEC in Munich.

Lighting filter specialists Lee Filtersrecently added eight new colours to its700 series. The new products werecreated by some of the top designers instage, screen and architectural lighting.

Peter Fisker and Paule Constable are thelatest lighting designers to be invited to theLee Filters factory, working with thecompany's R&D team to create the newcolours.

Free from the constraints of using existingproducts, the designers were able to createexactly the mood or effect they wanted, or toproduce solutions to specific lighting

problems. Lee Filters provided the technicalskills and facilities needed to turn theseconcepts into reality. Each designer createdfour new colours, and these have now beenadded to the Lee range.

Peter Fisker's new colours include, PerfectLavender, Cold Lavender, QFD Blue and ASGolden Amber. Paule Constable developedEgg Yolk Yellow, Bram Brown, Damp Squib,and Dirty Ice. “The chance to develop newcolours was thrilling; a real meeting of art andscience,” said Paule Constable. “Being ableto discuss colour in that detail and for Lee torespond in such a positive way was a uniqueexperience.”

UK p o s t & t e c h n o


Lee launches new filters

Art meets science: lighting designers Peter Fisker (R) and Paule Constable wereinvited to tmake new filters for Lee

Budd blossoms at PanavisionJim Budd was recently promoted to the role of technical director at PanavisionEurope, based at Greenford, with responsibilities for all film and digital camerasystems.

Budd has worked for Panavision for 23 years, and is well known by local and internationalcinematographers and camera crews. He has spent time on-location on several continentsas a maintenance engineer, and has extensive knowledge of shooting with Panavision filmand digital technologies, as well as the various other camera types offered by the company.

“Jim’s outstanding knowledge of optics – both spherical and anamorphic – added to hissignificant camera knowledge, uniquely places him to assist cinematographers and theircrews with their choices of equipment,” said Panavision Europe’s managing director JeffAllen.

“Jim fundamentally understands the complexities DPs and crew face. He has beeninstrumental in providing high levels of customer service, and has developed a team thathas become multi-skilled and reactive to clients needs.”


UK g b c t

GBCT - The chairman speaks

Be luckyWell, as usual I am writing this piece a week afterthe deadline, which is not a good state of affairs.My excuses are a computer that blew amotherboard, and on a far more serious note, tendays work standing in for camera operator PaulDonachie who was seriously injured as a result ofan accident with a camera crane. I am pleased tosay that after several days in the John Radcliffehospital in Oxford, Paul was allowed home torecover from crushed ribs. It's not appropriate to gointo any details of the accident, which is beinginvestigated by the health and safety people, butsuffice to say we all wish Paul and his family thevery best for a speedy recovery.

I would like to also mention a huge vote of thanks to thefantastic service provided to Paul by the Thames Valley &Chiltern Air Ambulance Service. They were at the accidentsite near Henley within minutes of the first 999 call, andafter initial treatment with the invaluable assistance of thefilm unit's nurse, flew him to hospital in Oxford in eightminutes. A subsequent cast and crew collection raisedalmost £500 as a contribution to their endless need (£1.7million per year) for funding. If, as a friend or colleague ofPaul's, you would like to make a donation also, please senda cheque made out to “Thames Valley & Chiltern AirAmbulance Trust”, send it to the GBCT office atPanavision, and we will gladly forward it to them.

In the last edition I mentioned the need to be vigilant withregard to the new “managed migration” system beingintroduced by the government in relation to theemployment of foreign workers. In the light of a couple ofstories I have heard recently, I would ask you to read that“managed migration” piece again, and contact the Guildoffice if you have any relevant information or queries.

Does anyone agree with me that I am finding itextraordinary how late some production offices are leavingit o book up crews? If you agree with me, perhaps it issomething we could begin to discuss via the Cine Guildscommittee?

I would like to thank Bill Lovell & his team at ARRI Mediafor hosting a D21 evening for the GBCT at the beginning ofOctober. Hopefully we will be following this up with otherinstructional and training events, and if there arecompanies out there who would like to host their ownsuch events, please contact the office who will be happyto assist in informing our membership.

Good luck out there, and take care. Paul's accident was asalutary reminder of how dangerous filming cansometimes be.

Jamie Harcourt GBCTChairmanGBCT

Trends at IBC

During my visit to this year's IBC show in Amsterdam itwas clear that the business is currently in somewhat ofa lull when it comes to truly innovative ideas, with onlya few exceptions I will come to in a minute. Yes, therewere new cameras, grip equipment and motion controlrigs, lenses, lighting and post production tools, althoughmost were variations on a theme of established ideas.Having said this, I would like to now say there were afew gems of genius and forward thinking that wereextremely interesting, and needed further examination.This is not a comprehensive look at new gear, more of alook at trends.

Looking at some of the seminars at IBC it was clear that 3D willbe one of the most interesting resurrected delivery formats. 3Dfilms have been made in the past with a certain level ofsuccess, yet 3D had limited growth potential due to hitting abuffer of technological boundaries at the time.

In the early 1950s 3D films were projected dual-strip withPolaroid filters, and the viewer had corresponding Polaroidglasses to see the two different views to give the perceptionof a 3D image. Also the familiar disposable anaglyph glassesmade of cardboard with different coloured lenses wereintroduced and were mainly used for a few shorts. However,even these shorts were available in the dual-strip Polaroidformat. The “anaglyph” method of viewing movies started in1953 and ended shortly afterwards. The 3D effect wasproduced by having two projectors simultaneously projectingtwo different images, but this was ultimately doomed to failuredue to the amount of headaches that they created in theviewer.

The first decline in the theatrical 3D craze started in the latesummer of 1953 and ended in 1954. The factors causing thisdecline were many• Two prints had to be projected simultaneously. • The prints had to remain exactly alike after repair, or

synchronization would be lost.• It sometimes required two projectionists to keep sync

working properly.• When either prints or shutters became out of sync, the

picture became virtually unwatchable and accounted forheadaches and eyestrain.

• The images were relatively dark due to losing light in theprojection and viewing process.

• The necessity to have a silver projection screen caused it tobe very directional and caused sideline seating to beunusable with both 3-D and regular films due to the angulardarkening of these screens. Later films that opened inwider-seated venues often premiered flat for that reason(such at Kiss Me Kate at the Radio City Music Hall

Stereoscopic films then became mostly dormant for the firstpart of the 1960s and the releases were usually anaglyphexploitation films. However with some new technology a truesecond wave of 3D cinema was set into motion. Using a newtechnology called Space-Vision 3D, stereoscopic films wereprinted with two images, one above the other, in a singleacademy ratio frame, on a single strip, and needed only oneprojector fitted with a special lens. This so-called "over and

SI2K rig: a 2K optical block about the size of a cigarette pack

3ality: mirror rigs are landing in the UK soon

UK g b c t


under" technique eliminated the need for dual projector set-ups, and produced widescreen, but darker, less vivid, polarized3-D images. Unlike earlier dual system, it could stay in perfectsync, unless improperly spliced in repair

Most films were of the horror, shock and spectacle variety,and perhaps the most famous of all these was The Creaturefrom the Black Lagoon made in 1954. Dial M for Murder,directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Ray Milland, RobertCummings, and Grace Kelly, is considered by 3D aficionados tobe one of the best examples of the 3D process.

In 1970 Stereovision developed a different 35mm single-stripformat that printed two images squeezed side-by-side andused an anamorphic lens to widen the pictures throughPolaroid filters. Louis K. Sher (Sherpix) and Stereovisionreleased the soft-core sex comedy The Stewardesses. Thefilm cost $100,000 USD to produce, and ran for up to a year inseveral markets eventually earning $27 million in NorthAmerica alone. In 2008 terms this is $114 million dollars. Thisbecame the most profitable 3D film to date, and in purelyrelative terms, one of the most profitable films ever. 3D legendChris Condon, and director Ed Meyer, are apparently currentlyplanning to remake The Stewardesses in Real D in 2009

A mere 36 films were made worldwide with Stereovision over25 years, using either a widescreen (above-below),anamorphic (side by side) or 70mm 3D formats before theformat was largely ignored.

New Digital Technology for 3DWith all the multiple technical problems associated with twinprojectors, the need to wear special glasses, synchronisation,limited reel length and giving the audience headaches it islittle wonder the 3D cinema spectacle fizzled out. However,with some imagination and new technology in the form ofdigital cameras it has regained popularity with some areas.

Some new innovations at IBC were 3D televisions that use theproperties of the interlaced television picture to enable a leftand right image with the alternate picture lines, the imagesbeing filtered in each eye with a pair of interactive glasses.Another from Philips gave a 3D view without any glasses at all,the stereo vision for each eye provided by a lenticular screenover the monitor that splits the picture into two images thatthe eye and brain can interpolate as 3D.

With all this technology available, it is true that not everyproduction will be a suitable subject for a 3D production, it isanother format to convey a certain message or a story. Due tothe reasons set out below the technology is fairly complex andprone to error if the rules are not adhered do. An error if madein 3D is not always able to be rescued from due to the nature

of seeing in 3D space, and the fact that the there are 2cameras means the difficulties are compounded.

Such factors as 1. Lenses and central zooming, interocular distance and

spatial depth perception all need to be considered. Thelenses need to be as near identical as possible, and no twolenses are identical even if made one after the other by thesame process. Lenses zoom differently and if used withoutcorrection it will cause problems. The lenses need to beevaluated and subsequently adjusted with a mechanism

2. Keeping lenses and mirrors surfaces clean are alwayspotentially going to be a problem with many surfaces.Good crew discipline is essential.

3. Lighting levels- due to losing a stop with the half silveredmirror, the lighting levels need to be higher, and lightingtaken into consideration to be “3D friendly”

4. Recording - two channels simultaneously - HDCAM SR is agood method, as is the Codex Digital recording system,nowadays as two separate data channels can be recordedin synchronisation .

5. 3D needs special understanding of shooting and postproduction, and the crew need to be excellent technicianswho are adaptable and knowledgeable

The Red cameras were again being talked about, mainly due itbeing the first anniversary of the first Red One cameras beingshipped. This camera has certainly opened doors to newpotential filmmakers. As long as the discipline is there on theset, and the story fits the chosen camera and post productionroute then it can only be a good thing.

As anyone in the business will tell you, making a film is onechallenge, and then getting it seen is another bigger challengeto overcome. Distribution is paramount, and this is where themodel potentially starts to falter. It is rumoured that a certainlarge corporation has banned the distribution of films if theywere produced on a Red camera. I find this very shortsightedand will limit creativity for the sake of corporate profits.Distribution will always be hard for independent filmmakers,yet it is a film business, and it should be treated as such.

One other noticeable trend was that of the abundance of LEDlighting, with many new smaller firms trying to get a slice ofthe action. The business being so intense in recent years thatsome LED lighting manufacturers have been apparently tryingto control the whole LED lighting market by using Patent lawsin the USA as a weapon. This has limited some developmentof new lighting tools for the cinematographer, and ultimatelyends up making the lawyers a great deal of money withouthelping the lighting manufacturers make new exciting newlights. This stifles creativity and ends up costing time andenergy that could be better channelled in creating better lightsand innovative tools for the DP.

Lighting-LED colourAnother line of thought in terms of the future of lighting hasarrived in the form of the humble LED light. Again, LED lightshave been around for quite some time, actually invented as farback as 1920, with the first white LED made in 1995. For filmand TV use their potential has up until recently been verylimited, however, as accurate colour rendition, light output andstability was until recently very limited. New productiontechniques and clever design of lamps has led to manymanufacturers creating some interesting lights that can nowbe used.

However LED lights do have many advantages overconventional lighting we use on a daily basis forcinematography. Low power input creates a large light outputcompared to many other sources, so an LED lamp is designedwell can be extremely efficient in terms of its power input tolight output.

Written by Caroline Sax, co-vice chair GBCT

A few weeks ago I spent three days on the Guild Final CutPro training course held at Ealing Institute of Media (one ofthe Skillset Screen Academies), along with RalphRamsden, Simon Mills and Iain Struthers, organised byDeanne Edwards and tutored by the very able StuartFletcher who is fully accredited for training by Apple/FCP.

My personal intention for taking this course was specific. I wantedto be able to cut a dynamic trailer on my MacBook Pro, fromdocumentary material I had shot earlier in the year which involvedtwenty hours of footage using a Sony Z1, and another ten on asecond HDV cam. It was a personal labour of love and, therefore,self-funded. In order to move forward I needed to raise completionfinance for an editor but pitching it sounded somewhat lame: 'anin-depth look at an internship programme run by The Kings HeadTheatre in Islington which trains ten promising new theatredirectors each year, supported by workshops with Jonathan Miller,Nancy Meckler, Mike Bradwell, Jenny Topper and more.' See whatI mean? Totally boring!. The only way I could conceive I wouldgarner interest would be in the old-fashion adage: 'show don't tell'.

The Final Cut Pro course was fascinating. It's amazing what youcan learn in three days although it goes without saying that youonly scratch the surface. The skills I personally brought to the tablecame from my script supervising background where, over manyyears, my knowledge of editing as both a creative concept toenhance the material, and a craft/skill to facilitate the drama, hasbeen fine-tuned. This is a skill that all script supervisors ofexcellence offer a director, although sometimes it's not entirelywelcomed.

But most surprising, and I have now been sitting alongside editorsfor quite awhile watching them use Final Cut Pro to edit materialI've directed, was how much it enhanced my existingunderstanding. Add to that the myriad choice of available sound,and the wondrous possibilities of grading using Final Cut Studiosoftware, and you're in an exciting world. That's not to say I didn'talready know these things. Intellectually, I did. But by doing ityourself. By marking the 'in' and 'out' points of a cut. By making arough assembly. Watching the story unfold. Having the possibilitiesof change in your own hands. These things connect you to thematerial in a way that is fundamentally different. As editors usedto say: there's nothing like actually touching the celluloid. Well, itreplicates a slightly more distant version of that.

All editors can now breathe a sigh of relief as I will not be rushingto take over your jobs. I see this as a tool to improve onesrelationship to filmmaking, whatever your day job.

As co vice-chair of the GBCT and a board member for some years,I feel that one of the most important opportunities we offermembers, in addition to information on new technologies andworkshops of same, is the potential to re-enforce and expand theirskill base. We constantly try to increase training possibilities forexisting camera technicians in addition to developing strategies toensure excellence for trainees in all camera grades entering theindustry. This is most recently demonstrated by the NationalOrganisational Standards (NOS) which has already beenimplemented by the Grips, and which both Script Supervisors andCamera Assistants are in advanced stages of finalizing. But thereare many other areas in which we could organise training andseminars in if we got enough interest. For example: screenwriting;or how to go about making a short film and releasing it on thefestival circuit.

But we don't want to do that alone. We want to hear your voice.Let the GBCT know how we can help you and we will do our verybest to assist

Shocking: The Sterwardesses is making a come backin digital 3D

GBCT Training –Final Cut Pro


UK g b c t

One of the GBCT's chief missions comes in the form ofongoing training to make the technicians the mostknowledgeable in the business. As part of thatincreasing knowledge an ARRI D21 seminar wasrecently organised at ARRI Media in Uxbridge. BillLovell took the helm in the evening to explain theupdates to the ARRI D20 in the form of the new D21.The audience consisted of many eminent GBCTmembers, operators, 1st and 2nd ACs and DPs.

Bill stated from the outset that his view, and that of ARRI, isthat “film is definitely not dead”. He mentioned the fact thatany 30-year -ld film camera can be “upgraded” when a newfilm stock is introduced, and it then effectively gives muchbetter images than ever before. The camera hasn't changed atall, just the “imaging device”. The investment made in a filmcamera can then be offset over many years afterwards. Anyelectronic camera is rather different, of course, as an upgrademay involve a new sensor, electronics or signal processing.

To illustrate that fact, the D21 has recently been upgradedfrom the D20, and there are no D20 cameras around now, asthe camera body has stayed the same, just the electronicinnards and signal processing have been improved.

The history of the D20 goes back to about 2001, and it wasfirst shown at the 2003 IBC show, with rentals starting in2005. The D21 is a tool like any other to transfer ideas andstory from a script to an audience in the best way possible. Tomake it as user friendly as possible, it has been designedalong the lines of film cameras, with an optical eyepiece beingthe most obvious feature for operators used to film cameraoperation. Indeed the front end is actually a film camerawithout the claw mechanism. It is therefore by its very naturea quieter camera than a film camera, as the film mechanismis not making an additional noise.

The D21 camera can be confidently used with a 10-stoplatitude, and at this point Bill explained the difference inshooting on film. In low light we may change to a faster filmstock, yet in an electronic camera it's the same sensor that isused. So if the camera is rated faster it will still be 10 stopslatitude, we just push the shadow detail out or maybe thehighlights can clip earlier.

It is not necessarily the case that pushing the gain up on thecamera processing will necessarily mean the samecharacteristics you had before, the latitude just moves furtherup the slope. So it safe to say that shooting in differentlighting situations that testing before the shoot is definitelythe way to go.

Clearly a cooling fan is not an option on a camera designed forquiet operation, so passive cooling is the only way to go, withheat pipes taking the heat from the sensor, and heat sinks ontop of the camera and openings to allow airflow through thebody. This can make the body of the camera a touch warm,which is a bonus on cold evening shoots!

One of the major upgrade features is automatic defect pixelcorrection (DPC). Flying in aircraft is well known to alter pixelsin all electronic cameras, especially if flying over one of theearth's poles. Detecting defective pixels was always achallenge, and although it can be corrected to a degree inpost, it needed to be detected, and that normally happened in

post production. The new system automatically does thiseach time the camera is running, and if a defect is found itsamples pixels either side of the defective one and fills in thedetails. This is monitored by ARRI and when a certain level isreached the sensor is replaced.

One of the innovations has been M-Scope, basically shooingscope with anamorphic lenses onto the 4:3 sensor thenunsqueezing it later for production. There are several differentoptions of shooting for different productions, basicallylogarithmic LOG C, LOG F or linear, and there are differentoptions for recording onto different media. Twin data streamsof 4:2:2 or alternatively 4:4:4. In M-Scope the separatestreams record either the odd or the even lines and they arecombined later in post.

One of the innovations has been a flash mag recorder for onboard use such as hand held or Steadicam use. Another is thefibre optic cable option, so there can be one small cable fromthe camera. This can be a run of several hundred metres awayfrom the camera with no loss, and the cable is about thethickness of one BNC cable. This can be a two way stream ofdata to show the images back from the recorder as aconfidence feature, to make sure it has got to the recorderand has then got back to the camera.

Perhaps the most useful function has been the use of a LUTthat has been pre-created by the DP to be able to be appliedto make the “look” of the production travel down the postproduction chain. Whilst the Raw data is recorded as pristinewith full dynamic range, this means final decisions can bemade later, and not on the set. The advantage of this is thatthe production, director and editors get completely used tothe final look whilst it is being editing, and that is what theyall see. This halts the previous problems associated with a“flat” look being seen all through post production, and wheneveryone is used to seeing that, they don't like a change thatwas applied later, even if the look was intended from theoutset. It stops arguments later on, which always has to be agood thing.

GBCT workshops – The Arri D21

The GBCT section is written and compiled by John Keedwell GBCT

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