Gabriel Beristain, ASC, BSC Goes on Location in Spain and Argentina for the Atmospheric Religious Drama There Be Dragons
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Gabriel Beristain, ASC, BSC goes on location in Spain and Argentina for the atmospheric religious drama There Be Dragons. By David Heuring •|• oland Joffé’s There Be Dragons tells the story of a Spanish journalist who, in the course of reconciling with his elderly father, discovers that the older man was a close childhood friend of Josemaría Escrivá (played by Charlie RCox), a real historical figure who was named a saint in 2002, A nearly 75 years after founding the devout Catholic organiza- tion Opus Dei. Joffé has said that the movie, which was partially funded by Opus Dei, is “about love, human love, divine love, hate, betrayal, war, mistakes — everything it is to be a human being.” Saint The movie’s cast includes Dougray Scott as the journal- ist and Wes Bentley as his father, Manolo. Their story unfolds in four segments: the boyhood years of Manolo and Josemaría and a in Spain during the early 20th century; the duo’s early manhood in the 1920s; the Spanish Civil War era, which tore the country apart in the late 1930s; and the 1980s, which serve as the story’s present day. Joffé chose Gabriel Beristain, ASC, BSC to photo- graph There Be Dragons. Beristain was born in Mexico, where Sinne40 May 2011 rAmerican Cinematographer Opposite: Childhood friends Manolo Torres (Wes Bentley, seated) and Josemaría Escrivá (Charlie Cox) find themselves on conflicting spiritual paths as adults. This page: Manolo takes up arms (top) while future saint Josemaría chooses the priesthood. his parents were successful actors. He shot documentaries and commercials before moving to Europe, and eventu- ally studied at the National Film and Television School in England. After spending 15 years working in the British film and television industries, Beristain took the advice of Allen Daviau, ASC and moved to the United States. “I was also aided by Sandra Marsh, my agent at that time, who persuaded Taylor Hackford to consider me forBlood In, Blood Out,” he notes. His résumé has since grown to include 40 films, among them Caravaggio, K2, Dolores Claiborne and The Spanish Prisoner. He recently wrapped the pilot for Exit Strategy. When Beristain first read the . script for There Be Dragons,he saw two fascinating to me,” says Beristain. could make a great film from these ways to think about the visuals: “Also, our production design, by elements.” through the four main time periods, Eugenio Zanetti, was a visual feast Early conversations between and by tracing the distinct emotional because of all the period details and Beristain and Joffé focused on texture, paths followed by Manolo and textures. Added to that is the rich atmosphere and décor, and how to Josemaría. “The war period, with all iconography and symbolism of the create chiaroscuro without losing sight the famous visual references, took Catholic Church. The story concerns of delicate details, like the lace of a place around the time that color one person who found a religious dress. All this would need to be done photography was becoming more mission in life and another who devel- on a modest budget at locations in Photos courtesy of Mount Santa Fe common, and that was, of course, oped a hatred of religion. I knew we Spain and Argentina. Two fundamen- w ww.theasc.com May 2011 41 ◗A Saint and a Sinner Top and bottom left: As children, Manolo and Josemaría make frequent visits to a chocolate factory where they receive tasty treats — and bits of wisdom — from Honorio (Derek Jacobi). Bottom right: The boys enjoy the comforts of an opulent upbringing. tal technical choices that grew out of the entire film. “Direct light is old- The producers raised the possi- their conversations were the decision to fashioned, in a way, but it gives me very bility of shooting digitally, but Beristain light primarily with direct, undiffused precise control over what part of the says Joffé left the decision to him. light (except for the 1980s scenes), and scene to emphasize or intensify,” he “After we considered all the options the decision to keep the A camera says. “Considerable engineering and and weighed all the practical and artis- almost always mounted on a three-axis ingenuity went into creating the lyrical tic factors, we decided to shoot on Scorpio head operated by Beristain. The camera moves Roland sought for this film,” says the cinematographer. “We Scorpio head was often used in conjunc- film. In exterior situations, we usually were going to have many different tion with a Technocrane to facilitate used the Technocrane; for interiors, the cameras, and there were unknowns dramatic, sweeping movement. camera was usually on a jib arm, some- about the dependability of postproduc- Beristain describes his approach times attached to the Scorpio, which tion in Argentina, which made using a to light as “emotional lighting” — became my dependable steed. I was digital format less attractive. We letting the emotional content of indi- almost always operating, which is planned to film our exterior battle vidual scenes dictate his approach, as something I trained extensively for scenes with half a dozen cameras and opposed to applying an overall style to during my years in Europe.” two Technocranes, which would limit 42 May 2011 American Cinematographer our lighting options. Film would give us the maximum latitude and dynamic range, as well as the flexibility to make everything match in post. We also knew we would be shooting during the summer in Argentina, sometimes in the mountains, where the skies are very powerful and very clean. With film, there’s no problem with strong high- lights.” Beristain ultimately decided to use four Kodak stocks: Vision2 100T 5212, 200T 5217 and 250D 5205, and Vision3 500T 5219. Joffé was keen to spread the right mood throughout the set. “I could see from the beginning that I was working with a method director,” says Beristain. “The mood of the scene was something Roland wanted to bring to everyone on the set, thereby leading each department to the right contribu- tion. Cinematographers have to recog- nize how a director works and then adapt to that method. Ours wasn’t a ‘heavy’ set, but we were invited to recognize the dramatic value of the scene and the need to execute the shots in a way that was harmonious with that mood. Roland got excellent perfor- mances that way.” The boyhood scenes were filmed in a tiny, picturesque village in Castile called Sepulveda. “That’s as Spanish as it gets,” Beristain attests. “It’s a medieval stone town, a harsh place, and we mostly filmed exteriors there for about three weeks.” Beristain mainly used available light, although he was occasionally able to augment the loca- tion’s existing ambience with HMIs. Once the company moved to Argentina, production became more complicated. Wide shots sometimes required extensive bluescreen and greenscreen construction to cover period-inaccurate elements. “In a place like Argentina, these challenges are solved in an artisanal way,” says Beristain. “The crews may not have all the resources and be as well prepared for these situations as they are in Hollywood, but today, these kinds of In the film’s present day, Manolo’s journalist son, Robert (Dougray Scott, top), has trouble techniques can be accomplished connecting with his emotionally distant father (Bentley, middle, in old-age makeup), but his quest for understanding leads him to do some research at the Vatican (bottom). anywhere. Buenos Aires has many w ww.theasc.com May 2011 43 ◗A Saint and a Sinner beautiful, turn-of-the-century colonial buildings, but some of them are right smack in the middle of ghastly modern architecture, so we needed to isolate those locations by using large green- screens. The scale was nowhere near what I experienced when I was shoot- ing additional photography on Iron Man, but the Argentinian crew built the greenscreens using whatever was at hand, and those shots made a signifi- During the cant contribution to the look of the Spanish Civil film. War, Manolo aligns himself “By way of example, I’ll note that with the rebels any screen larger than 20-by-20 feet but turns on has to be put together skillfully in order them and serves as a to avoid seams and folds, and our crew Fascist spy. put together an 80-by-80-foot screen using several 20-bys carefully suspended from a giant construction crane,” he continues. “Just before the shot, we discovered we needed an extra 20-by to cover a last-minute change of composition. My point is, if you are working with film crews far from Hollywood, don’t assume something is impossible. If you have the will, it’s neither expensive nor difficult.” Another visually arresting scene 44 May 2011 American Cinematographer shows Manolo, now a soldier, making tungsten Fresnel lamps ranging from church sequence, Gabriel asked me for his first attempt to kill a rebellious 650-watt units to 20Ks. We used HMI Musco or Bebee [Night] lights, but worker. “I found a factory warehouse mixtures in daylight situations. Most of they are not available in Argentina,” with a glass roof, and we shot it day-for- the sets were so large and complex that Hermo continues. “We couldn’t access night,” says Beristain. “I shot it during we had two teams working simultane- the roofs, and we needed an 82-foot the daytime but underexposed by 6 or 7 ously, with one crew pre-lighting the boom, so we rented a 131-foot tele- stops. I knew that once we got to the subsequent scene. Close collaboration scopic mobile crane that is normally digital intermediate, I could pick out with key grip Anibal Cattaneo was used on construction sites.