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MEMBER PORTRAIT Alar Kivilo, ASC, CSC

’ve always been captivated by the power of images and “I how they create a visceral, emotional response in the viewer. Even though cinema is more than 100 years old, there still isn’t a quantifiable cinematic language that consistently elicits a desired response in the audience. Instead, each movie is a creative journey of discovery wherein one finds the light, compositions, colors, movements and juxtapositions of images that best tell the story at hand. This journey is always pure magic. “I started reading American Cinematographer as a young cinematographer in Canada. It not only provided a window into the world I aspired to enter, but was also my unofficial film school. “I continue to devour AC in search of clues as to how my fellow cinematographers find the right languages for their films.”

— Alar Kivilo, ASC, CSC ©photo by Owen Roizman, ASC

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wwww.schneideroptics.comwwww edienhcs. moc.scitpore salGehthtiwstratStI s mt JUNE 2012 VOL. 93 NO. 6

The International Journal of Motion Imaging

On Our Cover: Tony Stark, a.k.a. Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), examines a holographic representation of the tesseract, a cosmic cube of unlimited power, in The Avengers. (Frame grab courtesy of Marvel Entertainment and Disney Enterprises.)

FEATURES

34 All Together Now Seamus McGarvey, ASC, BSC spotlights Marvel’s top superheroes for The Avengers 52 52 Beauty in Battle Greig Fraser brings new vision to classic tale with Snow White and the Huntsman 62 Blood Relatives Bruno Delbonnel, ASC, AFC exhumes a vampire in the swingin’ Seventies for Dark Shadows 62 74 Blast from the Past Bill Pope, ASC takes on time-traveling aliens for Men in Black III DEPARTMENTS

8 Editor’s Note 74 10 Short Takes: The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom 18 Production Slate: Moonrise Kingdom • Hemingway & Gellhorn 84 New Products & Services 100 International Marketplace 101 Classified Ads 102 Ad Index 104 ASC Membership Roster 106 Clubhouse News 108 ASC Close-Up: Sam Nicholson

— VISIT WWW.THEASC.COM TO ENJOY THESE WEB EXCLUSIVES — DVD Playback: Anatomy of a Murder • Chinatown • The Last Temptation of Christ June 2012 Vol. 93, No. 6 The International Journal ofMotion Imaging

Visit us online at www.theasc.com ———————————————————————————————————— PUBLISHER Martha Winterhalter ———————————————————————————————————— EDITORIAL EXECUTIVE EDITOR Stephen Pizzello SENIOR EDITOR Rachael K. Bosley ASSOCIATE EDITOR Jon D. Witmer TECHNICAL EDITOR Christopher Probst CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Stephanie Argy, Benjamin B, Douglas Bankston, Robert S. Birchard, John Calhoun, Michael Goldman, Simon Gray, Jim Hemphill, David Heuring, Jay Holben, Mark Hope-Jones, Noah Kadner, Jean Oppenheimer, Jon Silberg, Iain Stasukevich, Kenneth Sweeney, Patricia Thomson ———————————————————————————————————— ART DEPARTMENT CREATIVE DIRECTOR Marion Gore ———————————————————————————————————— ADVERTISING ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR Angie Gollmann 323-936-3769 FAX 323-936-9188 e-mail: [email protected] ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR Sanja Pearce 323-952-2114 FAX 323-876-4973 e-mail: [email protected] ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR Scott Burnell 323-936-0672 FAX 323-936-9188 e-mail: [email protected] CLASSIFIEDS/ADVERTISING COORDINATOR Diella Nepomuceno 323-952-2124 FAX 323-876-4973 e-mail: [email protected] ———————————————————————————————————— CIRCULATION, BOOKS & PRODUCTS CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Saul Molina CIRCULATION MANAGER Alex Lopez SHIPPING MANAGER Miguel Madrigal ———————————————————————————————————— ASC GENERAL MANAGER Brett Grauman ASC EVENTS COORDINATOR Patricia Armacost ASC PRESIDENT’S ASSISTANT Delphine Figueras ASC ACCOUNTING MANAGER Mila Basely ASC ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE Corey Clark ———————————————————————————————————— American Cinematographer (ISSN 0002-7928), established 1920 and in its 92nd year of publication, is published monthly in Hollywood by ASC Holding Corp., 1782 N. Orange Dr., Hollywood, CA 90028, U.S.A., (800) 448-0145, (323) 969-4333, Fax (323) 876-4973, direct line for subscription inquiries (323) 969-4344. Subscriptions: U.S. $50; Canada/Mexico $70; all other foreign countries $95 a year (remit international Money Order or other exchange payable in U.S. $). Advertising: Rate card upon request from Hollywood office. Article Reprints: Requests for high-quality article reprints (or electronic reprints) should be made to Sheridan Reprints at (800) 635-7181 ext. 8065 or by e-mail [email protected]. Copyright 2012 ASC Holding Corp. (All rights reserved.) Periodicals postage paid at Los Angeles, CA and at additional mailing offices. Printed in the USA. POSTMASTER: Send address change to American Cinematographer, P.O. Box 2230, Hollywood, CA 90078. 4 ———————————————————————————————————— THE CAMERA OF CHOICE TRULY CINEMATIC. RELIABLE. EASY. COST EFFICIENT. FUTURE PROOF.

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3D FEATURES 2D FEATURES TV PRODUCTIONS COMMERCIALS 47 RONIN ABRAHAM LINCOLN: CALIFORNICATION ARMANI ASTERIX & OBELIX VAMPIRE HUNTER DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES BACARDI FINAL DESTINATION 5 CHRONICLE DOWNTON ABBEY SERIES 2 BMW GRAVITY AMOUR FINDER CITROËN HANSEL & GRETEL: EXTREMELY LOUD & FORTY D&G WATCHES WITCH HUNTERS INCREDIBLY CLOSE GAME OF THRONES DHL HUGO ROCK OF AGES GLADES DIOR LIFE OF PI SKYFALL HOMELAND LACOSTE SPY KIDS 4 THE AVENGERS HOUSE MD MERCEDES THE THREE MUSKETEERS THE WETTEST COUNTY HOW TO MAKE IT IN AMERICA NINTENDO WICKIE & THE TREASURE IN THE WORLD IN PLAIN SIGHT NIKE OF THE GODS WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN LAW & ORDER: SVU VISA WILD BILL YOU‘RE EXPECTING TATORT VOLKSWAGEN

www.arridigital.com American Society of Cine ma togra phers The ASC is not a labor union or a guild, but an educational, cultural and pro fes sion al orga ni za tion. Membership is by invitation to those who are actively en gaged as di rec tors of photography and have demon strated out stand ing ability. ASC membership has be come one of the highest honors that can be bestowed upon a profes sional cin e ma tog ra pher — a mark of prestige and excellence.

OFFICERS - 2011/2012 Michael Goi President Richard Crudo Vice President Owen Roizman Vice President John C. Flinn III Vice President Victor J. Kemper Treasurer Frederic Goodich Secretary Stephen Lighthill Sergeant At Arms

MEMBERS OF THE BOARD John Bailey Stephen H. Burum Richard Crudo George Spiro Dibie Richard Edlund Fred Elmes Michael Goi Victor J. Kemper Francis Kenny Isidore Mankofsky Robert Primes Owen Roizman Kees Van Oostrum Haskell Wexler Vilmos Zsigmond

ALTERNATES Michael D. O’Shea Rodney Taylor Ron Garcia Sol Negrin Kenneth Zunder

MUSEUM CURATOR Steve Gainer 6

Editor’s Note The Avengers is the superhero summit Marvel fans have been waiting for their entire lives. I know this because our associate editor, Jon Witmer, has been vibrating with excitement since 2008, when Nick Fury (played by Samuel L. Jackson) first popped up in a post-credits coda to Iron Man. Shortly after Jon was revived by paramedics, he began pleading to cover the production, and he achieved his dream last August, when he was dispatched to his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, to visit the set. Clearly, Jon was the right man for the assignment, as he proves with an exuberant account of the shoot (“All Together Now,” page 34). While we pruned his ambitious first draft just a tad from its original, Leo Tolstoy length, what remains is a definitive piece offering plenty of insights from the filmmakers, including cinematographer Seamus McGarvey, ASC, BSC; director Joss Whedon; visual-effects supervisor Janek Sirrs; production designer James Chinlund; gaffer Chris Napolitano; key grip John Janusek; dimmer-board operator Bryan Booth; digital-imaging technician Daniel Hernandez; and 2nd-unit director of photography Brad Shield. Fans of the Dark Shadows television series are equally keen to see Tim Burton’s big- screen blood feast, which adds a wry twist by exhuming 18th-century vampire Barnabas Collins (Johnny Depp) in the swinging ’70s. Bruno Delbonnel, ASC, AFC ably achieved Burton’s desire to create a film that “felt like the Seventies movies that I recall from my youth,” while taking care to create a lighting style that made sense with a vampire lurking about. “Sunlight was one of my principal constraints,” Delbonnel tells Benjamin B (“Blood Relatives,” page 62). “There could be no direct sunlight on the main character, so for the majority of the film he is in a kind of a penumbra.” A retro vibe also lends mirth to Men in Black III, shot by Bill Pope, ASC. This time around, Agent J (Will Smith) must travel back to 1969 to warn his partner, Agent K (played by Josh Brolin in Sixties scenes and Tommy Lee Jones in the present) about an alien who has also turned back the clock to elude capture. “When people ask me what this movie is like, I tell them it’s a Hope and Crosby road picture, a comedy in the classic Hawksian sense,” Pope tells Iain Stasukevich (“Blast from the Past,” page 74). Greig Fraser is another cinematographer who applied a fresh spin to his project’s source material. With Snow White and the Huntsman, he and director Rupert Sanders breathe new life into the titular heroine (Kristen Stewart), who trains for combat before taking on the evil Queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron). Fraser says the filmmakers were careful not to let the movie’s spectacle overpower its characters. “We wanted to submerge the viewer in this lush world of big locations and epic scale,” he explains to Jay Holben (“Beauty in Battle,” page 52), “but at the same time, we also wanted to be able to respond to small, intimate moments with our actors.”

Stephen Pizzello Executive Editor Photo by Owen Roizman, ASC.

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Directed by Lucy Walker and shot by Aaron Phillips, the Oscar- nominated documentary short The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom presents a “visual poem about the ephemeral nature of life,” says Walker.

A Poetic Portrait of Survival maybe it’s an important time to not run away, and to express our I By Iain Stasukevich appreciation of Japanese culture.” Phillips agreed. He notes, “The Japanese people have an incredible respect for the duality of nature. The first four minutes of the Oscar-nominated documentary That’s what the film ended up being about.” short The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom were taken by an When their plane touched down at Narita, rolling blackouts amateur videographer in the small seaside town of Minamisanriku, were still in effect in many of the island’s major cities, the rail system Japan, just moments after a 9.0 earthquake triggered a tsunami that was tangled by delays and detours, and portions of major roads had proceeds to rush at the camera. Voices cry out as the dark wall of been destroyed. Joining Walker and Phillips on the shoot was a local seawater crashes through buildings and cars, sweeping them cleanly translator, Seattle transplant James MacWhyte, whose contributions from the land. In the clip’s final moments, a few elderly stragglers proved vital. “James is very sensitive to the country’s cultural sensi- climb the hill toward the camera as people rush down to help them, bilities,” says Phillips. “It wasn’t just about being able to speak but the water rises too quickly, and the rescuers are sucked in with Japanese; we needed someone who sensed the subtleties behind the people they were trying to save. the language.” At the time these events were occurring, documentarian Lucy The team made stops in Kyoto, Hiroshima and Tokyo. It was Walker was in New York, preparing for a trip to Tokyo to promote a cold spring, and the cherry blossoms were blooming while the her features Wasteland and Countdown to Zero. She was also plan- country was still reeling. In fact, many of the traditional hanami cele- ning to shoot a short film about the cherry blossom while she was in brations — cherry-blossom parties that sweep Japan every spring — Japan, and she’d asked cinematographer Aaron Phillips to join her in had been cancelled. crafting a “visual poem about the ephemeral nature of life.” As they traveled, the filmmakers were careful to respect the When Walker first heard news of the quake, she recalls, “I survivors’ privacy, and they adopted a bare-bones approach to the

said, ‘We can’t go there now.’ But my second thought was that filming process. Everything they needed could be transported in two Photos and frame grabs courtesy of Lucy Walker.

10 June 2012 American Cinematographer

Phillips (middle) shot the short with a Canon EOS 7D fitted with Canon lenses. He typically kept the camera mounted to a Manfrotto fluid-head tripod, eschewing handheld work in favor of stable frames inspired by classical Japanese composition.

backpacks: a Canon EOS 7D camera; Canon EF 16-35mm, 24-70mm and 70- 200mm zoom lenses; a Canon 2x extender; a Canon 24mm tilt-focus lens; Series 9 ND and polarizer filters; and a Manfrotto fluid- head tripod. “The last thing we wanted to do was walk in, put a big camera in people’s faces and ask for all the gory details,” says Phillips. “The 7D was great because it’s very small. It looked like we were just taking photographs. Even when we were doing sound, we just had a pistol grip and a mic going to a small MP3 recorder.” The only artificial light Phillips used was a last-minute addition, an AA-battery- powered LED lamp. He notes, “We were granted an interview with a 16th-generation cherry-blossom master, but he was only available at night. It’s not the way I wanted to light it, but a bigger light would have slowed us down and been more intrusive.” Much of the filming took place in the heavily damaged northern Tohoku¯ prefecture. Phillips and Walker drove through the affected areas, stopping along the way to visit refugee centers with dona- tions in hand. More often than not, the aid workers and displaced townspeople were forthcoming with their harrowing stories of loss, as well as their hopes for the future. “You can spend hundreds of hours researching for a documentary, but sometimes it’s better to just show up and talk to

12 June 2012 American Cinematographer

Phillips and Walker (bottom) employed a bare- bones approach in order to respect their subjects’ privacy. “The last thing we wanted to do was walk in, put a big camera in people’s faces and ask for all the gory details,” says Phillips.

people,” says Walker. “We couldn’t have done that with a huge crew and a lot of equipment. What we had going for us was intimacy and spontaneity. Being there was the best research imaginable.” One way in which The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom stands out from many other documentaries is its poetic visual style. Phillips kept the camera on a tripod, only occasionally going handheld. Between the documentary interviews, wide, lingering shots of the rubble where homes, hospitals and schools once stood are juxtaposed with slow, smooth pans through tranquil parks draped in a snowy coat of cherry-blossom petals. “Many of our compositions were inspired by classical Japanese composition and framing, where the landscape helps frame the shot,” Phillips says. “In many of these locations, the damage was so extensive that a well-framed static shot served the film the best. It’s a sort of moving photograph that really allows the viewer to see the details. “I was quite concerned about some of the anomalies inherent in digital-capture formats, particularly when shooting some of the wider landscape shots and highly detailed patterns,” he continues. “By shooting predominantly on sticks, with slow pans and tilts, we avoided the ‘Jello-cam’ breakup inherent in rolling-shutter cameras,

14 June 2012 American Cinematographer Over the years I have used just about every piece of equipment Clairmont Camera has ever owned; time-lapse film cameras to super high-speed digital cameras and now the Alexa. I love Clairmont’s custom gear and incredible service; it keeps me coming back! In visual effect shooting we always are inventing on the fly. With difficult setups like hanging off a 70-story building, complex driving rigs or doing “in camera” visual effects having equipment and service you can depend on is essential. I would recommend Clairmont Camera to anyone in the industry. Sam Nicholson, ASC Chairman / CEO Stargate Studios

Hollywood Vancouver Toronto Albuquerque Montreal 818-761-4440 604-984-4563 416-467-1700 505-227-2525 514-525-6556 Top: The but we still encountered moiré and other juxtaposition of compression issues on some of the more blooming cherry demanding, detailed shots. We placed very blossoms and the high demands upon the camera and the destruction caused by the tsunami HDSLR format, but all things considered, it underscores “the delivered in spades. Filmmaking is fraught duality of nature,” with compromise, but also incredible oppor- which, Phillips says, tunities.” is “what the film ended up being Given the subject matter, it was about.” Middle: impossible to avoid getting caught up in the Phillips frames two survivors’ plight. “It was emotionally displaced boats. exhausting, but inspiring at the same time,” Bottom: The cinematographer Phillips relates. “Their livelihood was lines up a shot along completely swept away, but they were work- a path in Iwaki. ing together to rebuild. It was moving to see how civilized and humane everyone was with one another. We saw people at their best under the worst of circumstances.” He also experienced nature’s dark side firsthand. He recalls, “I was in Iwaki, lying on my stomach and trying to frame this shot with flowers in the foreground and this beautiful green hill with a path of blooming cherry blossoms in the background. There were these wonderful scents in the air, and I was thinking how beautiful it all was, when suddenly a 7.0 aftershock hit. I’d never felt a tremor before. I pushed my hands into the ground and felt like I was on a rocking boat. The buildings around me were swaying. It was quite extraordinary, and the aftershocks continued like that for the next two weeks.” The filmmakers captured roughly 45 hours of footage over the course of three weeks. Walker and editor Aki Mizutani (who was in Japan when the earthquake struck) spent a month shaping that footage into the 40-minute final product, which premiered at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival. The final color correction was performed by colorist Phil Azenzer at Picture Head in Hollywood. “I got the tones I wanted in the camera, so [the final color correction] was mainly about contrast adjustment,” notes Phillips. “We used power windows to lift people’s faces a bit here and there. I’d just try to find a good angle where the sun was at their backs, and that usually worked quite well.” “Aaron was able to accomplish so much with the 7D,” says Walker. “He never let us feel the limitations of the camera.” ●

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Scoutmaster Ward (Edward Norton) assesses a tree house while making his morning rounds at Khaki Scout base camp in Moonrise Kingdom.

Scout’s Honor clear vision of every element that will end up onscreen. If you ask him I By Stephen Pizzello any question, his response is never, ‘I don’t know.’ He always has an answer, and it’s always very specific. It’s very refreshing to work with Moonrise Kingdom teams Robert Yeoman, ASC with director a director like that and I feel that this is one reason his films have such Wes Anderson for the sixth time. Incorporating the arch humor of a cohesive, singular vision. previous collaborations like Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums (AC He appears to have an affinity for films from the 1960s Jan. ’02), their latest outing concerns Sam (Jared Gilman), a precocious and ’70s. orphan who schemes to elope with his pre-teen crush, Suzy (Kara Yeoman: He has many different influences and he’s particu- Hayward). Letting true love dictate their course, the two run away larly fond of the French New Wave. On Moonrise Kingdom, he set up from Suzy’s family and Sam’s Khaki Scout troop, sparking a riotous a screening for the cast and crew of an English movie called Black Jack pursuit by an overmatched posse of adults that includes a local cop [1979], directed by Ken Loach. We screened it during preproduction (Bruce Willis), a scoutmaster (Ed Norton) and Suzy’s parents (Bill Murray in Newport [R.I.]. Wes really liked the visual tone of that movie, which and Frances McDormand). was beautifully shot in a natural style by Chris Menges, ASC, BSC. While the movie includes many of the visual tropes that define What kind of prep did you do? Anderson’s style — symmetrical compositions, swish pans, snap Yeoman: We spend a lot of our prep time going to the actual zooms, and speed changes to emphasize key moments — the film- locations. We take a viewfinder and a digital still camera with us and makers’ use of the Super 16mm format is a departure from their previ- we block out scenes just to get ideas. Because we were planning to ous outings, most of which were shot in anamorphic 35mm. Yeoman shoot on Super 16, I also had a 16mm camera with us most of the recently spoke to AC about his work on the picture. time so we could see how the blocking and locations would appear American Cinematographer:Why do you enjoy working on film. Our A.D., producers, production designer and everyone else

with Wes? accompanying us would stand in for the actors; in a sense, it was a photos by Niko Tavernise. Photos and frame grabs courtesy of Focus Features. Robert Yeoman, ASC: Our first film together was Bottle pre-shoot. We were able to make the necessary adjustments during Rocket. We started referencing different movies in our prep period and the actual filming of the movie. we found we were on the same plane visually. I often can anticipate Why did you opt for Super 16? how Wes will want to shoot a scene. Yeoman: Wes actually brought up the idea of shooting

One thing I really appreciate about Wes is that he has a very 16mm, so I started shooting tests at Panavision Hollywood, compar- Moonrise Kingdom

18 June 2012 American Cinematographer soft egg crates evolved more light, tighter control

“Luscious, enveloping light exactly where you want it and not where you don’t. I will want to use CUfocus on every show I do from now on.” DP Steven Fierberg, ASC

“ The CUfocus played a crucial role on Body of Proof, by allowing us to use large diffusion frames while minimizing problematic reflections in our windows. The design is simple, but brilliant.” Derrick Kolus, Chief Lighting Technician

“With CUfocus, I can place a key light close to my subject providing the soft wrap that I expect and still have significant fall-off in the background - especially when challenged with limited space.” DP Matt Mindlin With the CU Focus, I can place my key lig W lighttools.com/photometric more mobile so we could more easily pick up the cameras and run with them. Wes favored the 1.85:1 aspect ratio because he felt that the story’s locations — like the house the Bishop family lives in — would be better served by that format. Our main camera was the Aaton Top to bottom: XTerà. It suited us perfectly and was great for Suzy (Kara handheld. It also can film at speeds up to 75 Hayward) and Sam (Jared fps and we used this on several occasions Gilman) throughout the film to accentuate a rendezvous at moment. We also used the Aaton A-Mini- the appointed time; Sam mas, which are very small cameras that details his plan allowed us to get camera moves we couldn’t for their have achieved any other way. We had a few journey; Robert Yeoman, ASC issues with the A-Minimas; they occasionally (bending down jammed, and we got some edge fog after at camera) and loading our daylight spools in the woods. his crew prepare a dolly The cameras aren’t perfect, but they’re effec- shot for the tive, and they allowed us to be very flexible. scene. They were so small I could easily run through the woods holding one, and we used them for the scene where Sam and Suzy are danc- ing on the beach so we could move around them very quickly. We were shooting at dusk and our window of light was small. I added a small onboard video monitor on the A- Minima because the camera has a fixed eyepiece that doesn’t really allow you to see ing different stocks in both 35mm and every frame of the movie on that stock. Its through the lens if you hold it low or high. 16mm. Later I went to New York, where Wes ASA of 200 presented a bit of a challenge Were you using any special rigs was living, and shot extensive tests on when we were doing our night scenes, but I for other kinds of shots? 16mm, using both an Arri 416 and Aaton wanted to keep the look as consistent as I Yeoman: Wes wanted to stay low- cameras. Wes was very pleased with the could, and Wes supported that decision. tech, and I remembered that on Chinatown, results of the Super 16, so we went with it. We also knew we’d be shooting in the crew had mounted the camera on two In our tests we found that the faster the fairly rugged terrain of Rhode Island and pipes to create a kind of poor man’s stocks from both Kodak and Fuji — the 500 that we’d often be climbing to some very Steadicam. We made one of those rigs, posi- tungsten stocks — were grainier than we remote places. If we’d opted for 35mm, tioned a person on each end of it, and had wanted. We really liked the look of Kodak we’d have been carrying a great deal more them walk backwards down various paths in [Vision3 200T] 7213 and decided to shoot equipment. We wanted everything to be the woods. Fortunately, we had an excellent

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Learn more today at www.blackmagic-design.com/davinciresolve first focus puller, Stanley Hernandez, and second AC, Braden Belmonte, who both did a great job under very difficult conditions. For shots of Sam traveling down the river in a canoe, we traveled alongside him in another canoe handholding the A-Minima, or we sat in the canoe with him to do close- ups. To get a very low shot of a dog running through a field, I employed a homemade rig that was like a little Pogocam with the A- Minima mounted on the bottom of it. Wes and I took turns running with it or handholding the camera to get the shot. We did use a Technocrane for the scene in which Suzy runs up the steps inside her house. This interior was a set, and the camera starts on the first floor and cranes all the way up to the third floor. There were other ideas about how to accomplish this, but I feel that the Technocrane was the most effective choice. We also used a Steadicam for one exterior shot of Bob Balaban as he walks through a field, but that was it for conventional camera rigs. Our key grip, Sanjay Sami, was very adept in the design of our low-tech approach. To achieve the shots that establish the house interior at the begin- ning of the film, we laid a dolly track and I would swish-pan the camera at the preset marks. Why did you choose Rhode Island as the primary location? Yeoman: Wes did a lot of scouting up and down the East Coast, and in most of his movies he doesn’t specifically identify the Top to bottom: After cornering the young couple in the forest, Sam’s fellow Khaki Scouts locations — he prefers them to seem like prepare to make their move; the grisly aftermath of the boys’ charge; director Wes Anderson grabs a shot on the run. these magical places in the world that he has created. Rhode Island has a very rugged

22 June 2012 American Cinematographer

Clockwise from top: Prepping a scene on location at the Bishop house; the crew creates heavy rain for a shot of Norton for the climactic storm sequence; Yeoman checks the light on his young leading lady.

landscape that worked beautifully for the giant Ritter fans, rain bars and rain towers. windowpanes. Sometimes we even story. The exterior of the Bishop house We placed two 18Ks on towers to backlight projected those patterns onto the interior so existed there as a real location, and Wes was the rain and often incorporated them into it looked as if rain was coming from the very much in love with that place as a setting the shot. We lit the subsequent scene inside windows. for the central characters. There were also the church with traditional movie lighting — The compositions in your many beautiful wooded areas. I believe that tungsten lights, Kino Flos, and two balloon widescreen films with Wes are always Rhode Island’s proximity to New York City lights floated overhead to provide a very soft very striking, and this movie also has a was also a big factor for equipment, crew, base ambience. Our gaffer, Frans Wetter- lot of centered framing and very film labs, etc., along with the tax incentives ings, was a wonderful collaborator on all of symmetrical blocking. How did the we received for shooting there. these ambitious lighting setups. To create the format affect those aesthetics? How did you build up your stop storm effects outside the church, we used Yeoman: I love anamorphic — it’s for the occasional night exteriors and our Lightning Strikes units gelled with ½ my favorite format — and there was the climactic storm sequence? CTO to make them less blue. The shots of certainly some tradeoff involved in losing Yeoman: For the scenes where Suzy the kids climbing the church steeple were that 2.40:1 frame. Nevertheless, the ease of is reading by the campfire, we started shoot- done on a stage with a black background, Super 16 was a good call. In terms of the ing maybe a half-hour before dark and just with tungsten units backlighting the water compositions, that’s just the way Wes sees kept shooting all the way into night. Some- and the rain. We used real rain for those his world, and it’s the visual style he’s drawn times I would add one small fill light. I was shots, but for the church windows, Wes to. When we set up shots, they frequently always amazed when we got our dailies; I wanted us to create the rain effect with end up with that framing. He has always thought some of the night scenes would be lighting rather than traditional rain bars. We had a love of theater, and he likes very too dark, but it was surprising how much the experimented with some theatrical-lighting formal compositions. He’s also a big Kubrick film saw. units and found a system called Gam SX4 fan, so maybe those films have influenced For the portions of the storm that that could project different rotating patterns some of his style. took place at the exteriors of the scout camp, placed in front of Lekos; we just defocused A lot of Sixties- and Seventies- we used a couple of Lightning Strikes units, them a bit to create the feeling of rain on the style snap zooms are sprinkled through-

24 June 2012 American Cinematographer SIMPLY THE BEST FOR YOUR DIGITAL INTERMEDIATE

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The award was given to FUJIFILM Corporation* for the design and development of Fujicolor ETERNA-RDI digital intermediate ﬁ lm, which was designed exclusively to reproduce motion picture digital masters. *2009 Scientiﬁ c and Engineering Award presented to FUJIFILM Corporation, Ryoji Nishimura, Masaaki Miki and Youichi Hosoya out the film. Which lenses were you using? Yeoman: We carried a set of Zeiss Super Speeds: 8mm, 9.5mm, 12mm, 16mm, 25mm and 50mm. We favored the 12mm quite a bit, but we bounced around more in terms of our focal lengths than we have on our other films. The zoom was a Canon 11-165mm. It wasn’t as sharp or as contrasty as the Zeiss lenses, but everyone seemed to love it when we watched our dailies. I tried to stop it down as much as I could while shooting the exteriors in the woods. It was dark and rainy when we were doingthe shot of Sam and Suzy crossing the river; I remember shooting that wide open, but the sequence wound up having a very American journalists Martha Gellhorn (Nicole Kidman) and Ernest Hemingway (Clive Owen) nice quality. rendezvous in the Hotel Florida bar while covering the Spanish Civil War. How much of the movie’s color palette was created in the DI? There’s a Love and War ticity even further, Kaufman and editor distinctive yellow hue that really I By Jean Oppenheimer Walter Murch planned to integrate the lead enhances the period feel. actors with stock footage to depict the main Yeoman: Wes is very specific about While making his latest project, the characters traveling through the world in every color we photograph. Every hue in the HBO telefilm Hemingway & Gellhorn, direc- the past. wardrobe, sets, props, etc. is very carefully tor of photography Rogier Stoffers, ASC, With all of the planned visual-effects chosen. In the DI, he tends to take the look NSC became fascinated with American work, it made sense to shoot digitally. HBO a bit warmer than what we shot, and he writer and war correspondent Martha Gell- suggested the Arri Alexa, and Stoffers was generally likes to push the color saturation. horn, who covered major world conflicts excited to try it out. “This was in January We didn’t use any filtration on this shoot, throughout her remarkable 60-year career. 2011,” he recalls. “The camera was brand not even an 85 filter, but we definitely “She was an incredible woman and wrote new, and we went through two major soft- pushed the look with our colorist, Tim Stipan beautifully,” declares Stoffers, who sat ware updates during prep. At the time, at Technicolor New York, who did an amaz- down with AC shortly after wrapping the there was no ArriRaw, so we recorded 4:4:4 ing job. movie. “She went traveling in Africa in Dual-Link HD with 3-to-1 compression to a How did you view your dailies? 1962 all by herself. She was amazingly intel- Codex. We rated the camera at 800 ASA. We watched our dailies in the editing ligent.” To minimize the compression and the noise room, on a giant flat screen off an Avid. I But, as Hemingway & Gellhorn for greenscreen scenes, we shot those at haven’t watched film dailies in about five relates, Gellhorn (Nicole Kidman) was to 400.” years, but because we were eventually going become famous less for her singular Though Stoffers normally favors to a DI this representation of our work achievements than for her marriage to prime lenses, he knew Kaufman would seemed acceptable. I will say that I miss the Ernest Hemingway (Clive Owen). The two want to do “long takes that go from wide ritual of dailies, where department heads get met in Key West, Fla., in late 1936, and to close, and having the ability to change together to watch the film and discuss what began an affair a few months later in the focal length during the shot would be a they have seen. I find that it tends to ener- Madrid, where they were both covering the big help.” He selected the Fujinon Premier gize the crew and brings excitement to Spanish Civil War. They married in 1940 and 18-85mm T2 zoom lens, which he describes seeing their hard work realized onscreen. divorced five years later. Hemingway & Gell- as “a real T2 with no distortion that The times, they are a changin’. horn chronicles their stormy relationship. perfectly matches the [Arri/Zeiss] Ultra The project reunited Stoffers with Primes and Master Primes we also used.” director Philip Kaufman, his collaborator on Videofax in San Francisco provided the

TECHNICAL SPECS unit photos by Karen Ballard, courtesy of HBO. Additional Steve Condiotti. 1.85:1 Quills (AC Jan. ’01). They had access to camera package, which included two Super 16mm extensive reference material, including Alexas. “We always had some variation of Aaton A-Minima, XTerá thousands of photographs, many taken by Hollywood Black Magic [filtration] on the Zeiss Super Speed, Canon Robert Capa. Thanks to the bounty of refer- lens,” adds Stoffers. Kodak Vision3 200T 7213 ence material, the locations, clothes and The visual-effects work, which was Digital Intermediate even some of the action could be replicated supervised by Chris Morley, involved not

in exact detail. To take the quest for authen- only greenscreen composites, but also tran- Hemingway and Gellhorn

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Left, top to bottom: Hemingway strides through the hotel lobby; lighting balloons assist in the lobby interior; the “Condor ballet” required outside the set, which was built in an old train station. Above: Rogier Stoffers, ASC, NSC lines up a shot.

sitions from documentary material to production footage. “You can’t go straight from the Alexa to old film because the Alexa has no grain and no camera jitter,” notes Stoffers. “They had to create transitions in which grain, scratches, color and jitter were faded in and out.” A team at Tippett Studios handled the insertion of the actors into the newsreel footage. To determine where to place the players, Morley used Maya software “to create a digital camera and line up a digital grid on the ground plane of the archival footage,” he explains. “From the digital camera, we then exported data regarding camera height and angle, focal length and so on, and I’d relay that information to camera operator Kim Marks on the greenscreen set so he could match those details exactly. “We used orange duct tape to build a 20-by-20-foot grid on the floor [of the greenscreen stage], and once we’d lined up the grids on video assist, Kim would lock down the camera, I’d remove the practical grid, and we’d be left with nothing but green,” continues Morley. “I could walk around the stage with a small monitor and see myself in the archival footage, and I’d set the actors’ marks.” Dissolves between the production footage and the historical material were handled at EFilm, which developed software to make this possible during the DI. To re- create camera jitter, Morley first had Tippett “create a node in our software package that [allowed us to] set two key frames, one that was full jitter and one that was no jitter. We provided both to EFilm, and they did the dissolves.” ➣

28 June 2012 American Cinematographer

front door opens and Hemingway strides in, and the atmosphere immediately becomes boisterous and jovial. Stoffers preps The building had three 28'-tall an exterior in San Francisco. windowpanes looking east, and a row of The filmmakers windowpanes high up looking west. “To found all the create a Mediterranean feel, [production locations they needed for the designer] Geoffrey Kirkland proposed putting globetrotting warm stained glass in the high windows and story in the filling the side and bottom panes of the east Bay Area. windows with the same material to make it all come together,” says Stoffers. “We put ND.9 and 250 diffusion on the colored glass in the tall windows, and we Hemingway & Gellhorn takes place The audience’s first glimpse of the had to put a thin layer of semi-translucent in several countries, including Spain, hotel lobby is a one-minute Steadicam shot plastic on the clear portions to help obscure Finland, Cuba and China, but all the exteri- executed by Tim Bellen (who shared the array of lighting equipment that was just ors and interiors were shot in and around Steadicam duties with Will Arnot)that starts outside,” recalls gaffer Steve Condiotti. San Francisco. The main practical location tight on a piece of paper being ripped out This array included seven 80' Condors was an old, defunct train station in Oakland of a typewriter. As the camera pulls back, and two scissor lifts. Four Condors had that production designer Geoffrey Kirkland the man clutching the paper hands it off to 20'x30' flyswatters filled with UltraBounce transformed into the opulent lobby of another character. The camera continues that could either block the sun or be used to Madrid’s Hotel Florida, where Spanish Civil following the paper, introducing different bounce light, and the other three held 18K War correspondents congregated when characters as it moves through the enor- ArriMax HMIs. An 18K Fresnel was kept on they weren’t in the field. The 117'x60' mous lobby, and eventually reveals some 40 one of the scissor lifts at all times. space offered 40'-high ceilings. people standing quietly around the bar. The “Two other 18K Fresnels were on

30 stands outside, and in some cases they were could not be tethered to the ground. Robin- Balls to light Kidman. “I love those lights,” he used to light the backdrop that was seen out son, who had worked in the same location says. “In general, I like to light women with the door in reverses,” adds Condiotti, whose for Rent (AC Nov. ’05), built a truss that could round [housings]. The front of the ball is close DTC Lighting & Grip supplied the production’s be attached to the ceiling, and this held the to the subject and the sides are farther away, lighting. “There were also several 6K and 4K balloons, as well as a black skirt that kept which softens the shadows. I like to keep Pars on the ground outside for other, smaller their light off the walls. The entire apparatus them on my own Manfrotto boom arms, windows.” could be raised and lowered as necessary. which allow me to adjust the light during the “To maintain lighting continuity during Additionally, the electricians moved two 4K shot — starting up high at the wide begin- some of the long scenes in the lobby required tungsten balloons around on the floor as ning of a shot and getting as close as possi- a ballet of Condors, and choreographing it needed. Practicals in the space included ble when we end in a close-up — and stay required real skill,” says Stoffers. “Rigging dozens of wall sconces and floor lamps, all flexible to changes in the staging.” gaffer Jeff Gilliam and key rigging grip Duane on individual dimmers. Stoffers has high praise for the Robinson did a fantastic job of pre-rigging the “Rogier really likes to see color production’s San Francisco-based crew, set, and best boy Chris Shellenberger and key contrast in the skin tones, and we achieved including digital-imaging technician Jordan grip Gary Gill were instrumental in making it that with the cool ‘daylight’ coming through Livingston, and 1st AC Patrick McArdle and all work perfectly.” the front windows and the tungsten lighting his camera team. “I also have to mention Fortunately, the elevated train plat- inside,” remarks Condiotti. Stoffers concurs, Leigh Blicher at Videofax, who located and forms were still in place on the west side of noting, “The Alexa is really good at mixing purchased several pieces of equipment we the building, so Stoffers could easily light color temperatures, certainly in a daylight wanted to use,” he adds. through the glass with nine Nine-Light Maxi- setting with the color temperature set at Brutes on stands to give that side of the room around 4,300°K. It’s a lot harder in a tung- TECHNICAL SPECS a warm glow and block the afternoon sun. sten environment because the chip is more 1.78:1 For ambient light inside, his crew balanced to daylight. In tungsten situations, Digital Capture floated two 8'x20' 12K Aerolight tungsten you have to exaggerate the colors to be able Arri Alexa balloons, but because Kaufman wanted to be to separate them.” Fujinon; Arri/Zeiss Ultra Prime, Master Prime able to shoot 360 degrees at any time, they When possible, Stoffers used 30" Jem ●

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[email protected] • www.angenieux.com All Together irt and soot blanket six lanes of smoldering rubble that run the length of a city block, and burned husks of cars and trucks lie atop slabs of concrete jutting skyward in front of shattered storefronts. The street signs indicate Dthis is what’s left of Manhattan’s 42nd Street and Vanderbilt Avenue intersection, but in actuality it’s East 9th Street in Now Cleveland, Ohio, on the 79th day of principal photography on The Avengers. Seamus McGarvey, ASC, BSC In a nearby alleyway, Captain America (Chris Evans) brings the Earth’s mightiest heroes stands near a row of cameras amid the bustling crew, and not to the big screen for Joss Whedon’s far away, director Joss Whedon is consulting with cinematographer Seamus McGarvey, ASC, BSC in video village. When The Avengers. both filmmakers come over to greet AC, Whedon says of his director of photography, “Seamus is very fast, which I love, and his style is very particular. It’s not over-thought, but it’s just By Jon D. Witmer hyperbolic enough for this kind of movie, which is insanity grounded in reality.” •|• The Avengers builds on the foundation laid by the Marvel Studios features Iron Man (AC May ’08), Iron Man 2 (AC May ’10), The Incredible Hulk, Thor (AC June ’11) and

34 June 2012 American Cinematographer From left: Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) are among the heroes who stand united against a common threat in The Avengers. Below: Cinematographer Seamus McGarvey, ASC, BSC (left) and director Joss Whedon keep the characters in their sights.

Captain America: The First Avenger (AC “Although the native 3-D looked occasionally we got a 3:1 long zoom,” he Aug. ’11), and takes its cues from the great, each setup took too long,” he continues. “[With the zooms,] we long-running Avengers comic-book explains. “I love when a crew picks up tended to stay around 21mm and series, which first hit newsstands speed and creates its own inner 27mm, or at the longer end, like in 1963. In the film, Strategic dynamic. Joss, too, likes to keep the 100mm.” Homeland Intervention, Enforcement momentum up on the set. Shooting McGarvey typically maintained a and Logistics Division leader Nick Fury 3-D is like throwing treacle bombs into T4 or T5.6 for day exteriors, and T2.8½ (Samuel L. Jackson) assembles Captain that beautiful élan. It wasn’t going to in other situations. “I shot everything at America, Thor (Chris Hemsworth), afford us the impetus and dynamism we [the Alexa’s base ISO of] 800. When I Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Hulk needed.” tried to rate it lower, like at 400, it (Mark Ruffalo), Hawkeye (Jeremy Marvel subsequently decided to seemed to build up in the shadows, and Renner) and Black Widow (Scarlett capture in 2-D and convert to 3-D in I didn’t feel it had the same range. So I Johansson) to face the global menace post, and McGarvey abandoned the simply used IR neutral-density filters to posed by Thor’s nefarious brother, Loki Epic for the Arri Alexa. “I preferred the bring down the stop for exteriors.” (Tom Hiddleston), who unleashes an look of the Alexa in terms of its range The production also carried 10 extraterrestrial army in a bid to rule the and its ‘roundness,’” he says. “I recog- Canon DSLR cameras, eight EOS 5D world. nize [its image] as more akin to a film Mark IIs and two EOS 7Ds, all fitted Principal photography began in look.” with Canon EF lenses. Their footage April 2011 in New Mexico, and In fact, McGarvey was so was recorded to SanDisk Extreme Pro McGarvey says his three months of impressed with the Alexa’s performance memory cards. “I prefer the 5D to the preproduction were “vital in terms of in his tests that he bought his own; 7D,” McGarvey notes. “I like its larger getting to grips with the scale of the christened “Schatzi de Bayer,” it served sensor and the way the depth of field project, and planning how we’d achieve as the production’s A camera. The main falls off quicker. But we used the 7Ds for certain sequences.” Shooting digitally unit also carried three Alexas (rented any slow-motion work [that involved was a given because of the extensive from Panavision Woodland Hills), one DSLRs].” digital effects and the producers’ original of which “was always rigged in Typically, when the filmmakers plan to capture in 3-D. But when the Steadicam mode, and the other two wanted to heighten an action moment crew tested a 3-D workflow by shooting were in studio mode and could easily be with high-speed footage, they rolled a the “tag” that followed the end titles of switched for handheld,” says the cine- Panavised Arri 435 loaded with Kodak Thor with Red Epic cameras and matographer. Vision3 500T 5219. “We mostly used Panavision Primo lenses in an Element “We shot with Primos, predomi- slow motion for explosions at night, and Technica rig, “it was not a successful day nantly primes, but we also used 19- film really holds the detail in both the

Unit photography by Zade Rosenthal, SMPSP. Photos and frame grabs ©2011 MVLFFLLC. ™ & ©2011 Marvel. All rights reserved. of shooting,” says McGarvey. 90mm and 24-270mm zooms, and flames and the low-key night exteriors,”

www.theasc.com June 2012 35 ◗ All Together Now

Right: The production turned the aluminum vacuum chamber at NASA’s Space Power Facility in Sandusky, Ohio into a SHIELD center where an experiment goes horribly awry. MR16s ringed the chamber’s perimeter, and a 12'x12' rig with Kino Flos and VL3000s offered additional illumination. Below: SHIELD director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) senses trouble brewing.

introduce production designer James Chinlund, who says his biggest challenge was “to create a world that would allow these [disparate characters] to coexist without seeming dissonant. Of course, the comics were the foundation for my work, because they’ve been problem-solving that for decades; the [Marvel] series The Ultimates was an especially key source.” Equally integral to building a believable world was visual-effects supervisor and Iron Man 2 veteran Janek Sirrs, who worked with 12 vendors to complete about 2,200 visual-effects shots for The Avengers. “As a cinematographer on this sort of movie, you have to collaborate unequivocally with visual effects — they’re part of the cinematog- says McGarvey. “I pushed [the 5219] would have offered more scope, but Joss raphy, and vice-versa,” says McGarvey. one stop on a number of occasions, and was worried about the height of the “Janek has been incredible; he under- though it looks grainy next to Alexa cityscape, and he wanted to be able to stands light, and he has great taste and footage, generally speaking, the 35mm create both vertical and horizontal vision.” material intercuts really well. Shooting movement in the frame. Also, we had to The Third Floor provided previs some film also meant we could carry leave space for the Hulk. He’s scraping and postvis services, which were super- that camera the whole time, and it was the ceiling of our frame, and in 2.40:1 vised by Nick Markel and Gerardo nice to have that flexibility.” the poor guy would have been Ramirez, respectively. Like previs, The filmmakers chose to frame beheaded!” postvis generates preliminary versions of for 1.85:1. McGarvey recalls, “I was On the set, as McGarvey leads CG shots or elements, but combines keen to shoot 2.40:1 because I felt it AC through the rubble, he pauses to those pieces with production photogra-

36 June 2012 American Cinematographer From top: A frame of the previsualization phy in order to validate footage, provide created by The Third placeholders for editorial and generally Floor for a scene involving Black Widow refine the effects. “Previs is invaluable to (Scarlett Johansson) get everybody on the same page,” says and Hulk; a frame from Whedon. “But, at the same time, you the live-action plate photography shot on need to be able to change on the day. set; a postvis frame, There’s a very strong element of making which composited this up as I go, and shooting what was in elements of the previs with the live-action my head when I wrote [the screenplay] footage to inform the but then forgot to tell anybody — progression of the which, I’m happy to say, Seamus rolls visual effects; the final composite frame. with.” Down the alley in Cleveland, the crew prepares a stunt in which Captain America will jump over a speeding Acura that’s on fire, retrieve his shield, and throw it at an alien that’s climbed onto the car. McGarvey muses, “This is an action movie, so you have to make it dynamic, and it has to have an impact. As the action ramps up, you want to feel the change, and moving the camera allows for that.” As if on cue, key grip John Janusek appears for a confab with McGarvey. “We always have Chapman dollies and 50-foot and 30-foot Technocranes [on hand],” he says. “We often put the 30-foot Techno on a Chapman Titan to reach some of the elevated sets.” McGarvey adds, “Steve Welch is our Technocrane operator, Mitch Dubin is the A-camera operator, and George Billinger is the Steadicam/B-camera operator, and they’re all unsurpassed masters at [creating] momentum and dynamic movement. I also have the great support of A-camera 1st AC Bill Coe and B- camera 1st AC Harry Zimmerman.” The production’s work in Ohio also included filming in NASA’s Space Power Facility in Sandusky. The heart of the facility is a 100'-wide, 122'-high aluminum vacuum chamber that Chinlund dressed to appear as an active SHIELD laboratory. Prof. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) has been using the lab in an effort to tap the energy of the tesseract, a cosmic cube that promises near-unlimited power to those who can harness it. Unfortunately for SHIELD, the tesseract opens a portal through which Loki appears, and the cube’s

Images courtesy of The Third Floor, Inc. and Marvel. growing energy output causes the entire

www.theasc.com June 2012 37 ◗ All Together Now

Top: SHIELD’s Helicarrier takes to the skies, offering the Avengers a mobile headquarters. Middle: The Helicarrier’s bridge incorporated a massive viewing window; visual effects replaced the bluescreen used on set with sky and moving clouds. Bottom: An Arri Alexa on a Libra head mounted to a Technocrane captures the action around the Avengers’ meeting table on the bridge.

facility to collapse. The Space Power Facility “was one of our most spectacular locations,” says McGarvey, “but it was tricky to light because we wanted to look all around.” The solution was to utilize a shallow trough that circled the base of the chamber. After gaffer Chris Napolitano and his crew rigged the trough with about 1,500 MR16 globes, “the light bounced everywhere and lit the entire dome,” says McGarvey. “Over the center of the area, we built a 12-by-12 rig with daylight Kino Flos and a few [Philips Vari-Lite] VL3000 moving lights that we could focus down to highlight pieces of the set,” adds Napolitano. The rig was suspended on chain motors so it could be adjusted for the frame line. “CG swirls of energy were to be added to the chamber, but Janek wanted us to provide an interactive, blue glow at the top of the space as the facility is about to collapse,” says McGarvey. “We used 6K Pars and an 18K ArriMax to light the top of the dome, and the grips used flags to create a pulsating effect.” “I’m a big proponent of shooting some real-world reference as a guide for digital work,” Sirrs notes in an e-mail interview with AC. “And Seamus was

38 June 2012 American Cinematographer Bay Light

VL3000 The Helicarrier’s spacelight bridge was

2K 8” 2K constructed onstage at 5K Albuquerque 4x4 mixed tubes W N Studios. In

S E 4x2 mixed tubes addition to the fixtures shown in this plot, the set was rigged Carrier Bridge with MR16s and

701102 103 702 2K 2K opto 703 LiteGear LED LiteRibbon for 4021 4022 accent lighting. At the bottom of 4020 4023 686/687 the page is the 4019 4024 viewing window, beyond which the crew positioned space lights, soft boxes and cyc strips to provide DMX 4x4 ballast on overhang to doubles “daylight” soffet line mixed tubes superblue ambience in the and 3200K 101 930 104 set. 4025 4039 opto 455 1/4 Grid

13 1

12 425/426 428/429 2 4037 black skirt w/ silk target 4027

451/452 431/432 116

Bay lights 105 1/8 CTB 11 3 4036 115 4026 106 449/450 433/434 opto 473 opto 461 114 107 437/438 10 4 4035 113 108 1/4 Grid opto 467 4031 112 111935 110 10 9

445/446

4033 9 5 4029 443/444

15 8 6 14 7

all inner spacelights 1/4 CTB

DP: Seamus McGarvey BSC,ASC Gaffer: Chris Napolitano Rigging Gaffer: Kevin Lang

Lighting diagram courtesy of Bryan Booth. Plots: Bryan Booth

www.theasc.com June 2012 39 ◗ All Together Now

Top: Cleveland, Ohio’s always keen to light shots for [virtual] Public Square was characters; he’d use props such as a re-dressed as Stuttgart, partial Iron Man suit or silicone Hulk Germany, where Loki (Tom Hiddleston) bust. We always rolled on the stand-in attempts to control the props so we could see how they truly populace. Middle: The read in-camera.” Avengers arrive on the scene in their Quinjet, On set in Cleveland, crewmem- which was built onstage bers demonstrate this point by stepping in Albuquerque, where into the alley holding gray and silver space lights provided ambient light for the reference balls, a color chart, and what cockpit. Bottom: The they refer to as “sushi,” a jiggling mass Avengers take Loki into that’s meant to represent the color and custody aboard the Quinjet; McGarvey texture of the aliens’ skin. They take their notes that the vehicle places in front of the cameras that have interior was “rigged just rolled on Captain America throwing with LEDs and small tungsten sources, and his famous shield at one such alien. we keyed with a 2-by-4 After the cameras roll a few seconds of Kino Flo.” reference, it’s on to the next setup. As the main unit works in the alley, the second unit, led by director John Mahaffie and cinematographer Brad Shield, polishes off a few shots toward the north end of the 42nd Street set. Shield says his unit’s biggest challenge on the show was a chase sequence shot on location along a 1,600' stretch of subterranean road near Pittsburgh, Pa. In the sequence, Loki has possessed Hawkeye and Selvig, and they race through a tunnel with SHIELD agent Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) in hot pursuit. After scouting the location, McGarvey and Napolitano worked with Shield to devise a lighting plan, and the second unit then had two weeks to rig the location and six days to shoot the action. The team relied mainly on B&M Lighting Mac Tech LED tubes, which were placed along the ceiling and on vertical posts that divided parts of the road into two lanes. The strategy “really enhanced the feeling of speed as the lights flashed through the frame,” says Shield. “The LED tubes give you more punch [than a fluorescent], and we could turn [the ceiling units] on or off to adjust the distance between sections of light and dark. “To give the last few hundred feet of the tunnel a different look, we put nook lights on the ceiling that were wrapped in black,” he continues. “We also placed nook lights shooting up the

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Sales Rental Service Training Consultation ◗ All Together Now 3,200°K and 5,500°K, and we also installed a lot of red LEDs for ‘emergency’ mode,” adds Napolitano. The lighting inside the bridge also included MR16s for accents in various soffits and cavities, and nine diffused 4'x4' bay lights gelled with 1⁄8 CTB for general toplight ambience. “We also used VL3000s, focusing them into a bounce card on the floor if we needed to accent different areas of the set,” says Napolitano. “They had the ability to go red for emergency mode.” The bay lights and VL3000s were rigged on truss motors so their height could be adjusted as needed. The bridge has a circular shape, about 60 degrees of which is taken up by a large viewing window. A total of 22 space lights were hung between the window and a bluescreen for general ambience, while nine soft boxes pushed tungsten-generated “daylight” into the set with more directionality. The center five soft boxes contained three Arri T12s gelled with ¼ CTB, while the outer four boxes each contained three 5Ks gelled with ¼ CTB. Each box was fronted with a 5'x8' frame of Light Grid and fitted with two 2Ks gelled with ¼ CTB and ¼ Plus Green (for scenes that required nighttime ambience). To give a sense of daylight bouncing off clouds and filtering into the bridge from below, Fury confabs with Iron Man and Hulk’s alter egos, Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, respectively. These before-and-after frames showcase the window-replacement work the visual-effects team performed in 22 10-light cyc units gelled with ¼ the Helicarrier’s laboratory, and also illustrate the CG content that plays on the set’s monitors. The set CTB and 216 diffusion were positioned was lit practically, predominantly with built-in B&M Lighting Mac Tech LED tubes. beneath the window. All of this lighting was run back tunnel walls to give some detail where Following Loki’s arrival, Fury to Booth’s dimmer board. “I use the the overhead lights weren’t playing.” assembles the Avengers aboard High End Systems Hog 3PC as my To capture the action, Shield and SHIELD’s Helicarrier, a futuristic main board and server, and I used a Mahaffie mounted Arri Alexas and aircraft carrier capable of operating both Lenovo 10-inch touch-screen tablet as Canon DSLRs to the picture cars, and on water and in air. The Helicarrier’s a remote so I could stand on set with they also worked extensively with bridge, a set built at Albuquerque Seamus and Chris,” says Booth. “When Performance Filmworks’ Edge System. Studios, serves as a primary site where they said, ‘Turn that off,’ I knew exactly “We had two cameras on the Edge the main characters gather. “We built what ‘that’ was, and I only needed to hit vehicle, which was driven by Dean many opportunities for accent lighting a couple buttons on my tablet to do it.” Bailey,” says Shield. “The A camera on into the bridge,” says Chinlund. “I Rivaling the scope of the bridge the main arm was operated by Greg think we probably broke records for was the set for the penthouse apartment Baldi, with Tony Rivetti pulling focus, the amount of [LiteGear] LED of Tony Stark (a.k.a. Iron Man), situ- and [operator] Peter Gulla and [1st LiteRibbon we used!” ated atop Stark Tower in Manhattan. AC] Chip Byrd handled the B camera “We used hybrid LEDs that Surrounded by bluescreen, the pent- on a secondary remote head with a long [dimmer-board operator] Bryan Booth house set was constructed approxi- lens.” could adjust to anywhere between mately 10' above the stage floor and

42 June 2012 American Cinematographer

◗ All Together Now

Top: Positioned just behind Grand Central Station, Stark Tower dominates Manhattan’s skyline in the film. Bottom left: Thor and Loki do battle outside of the tower’s penthouse apartment; white curtains were pulled in front of the off-camera bluescreen to mitigate any blue spill in the footage. Bottom right: Whedon and Hiddleston discuss the finer points of world domination.

comprised an “exterior” platform (where flew a silk underneath them,” adds heads-up display. “We wanted to feel Iron Man takes off and lands) that led Napolitano. like we were within the helmet, so the via walkway into the glassed-in apart- “When we went to night mode, lens had to be quite close to Robert,” ment. “It was a beautiful set with a lot of we used about six space lights gelled says McGarvey, who used Panavision’s modernist elements,” says McGarvey. with ¼ CTB and ¼ Plus Green,” the Frazier Lens System with a 50mm lens. “It had very low ceilings, and I knew it gaffer continues. “Inside the set was a “At the same time, because there were would have to be seen in wide angles to lot of practical lighting with LEDs. going to be CG graphics going around get the most out of it. I worked quite James built some channels up in the the head, we didn’t want the focus to fall closely with James to incorporate prac- ceiling, and we [fitted] those with 300- off.” ticals and make sure there was enough watt RFL globes on batten strips with To enable a deep shooting stop of ambience for both day and night 216 diffusion for a bit of accent. We also T8, McGarvey mounted a daylight- scenes.” put Source Four Pars inside 10-inch balanced LED ring light around the As a direct-sun source outside the recessed cans with some diffusion.” lens. Dubbed “the Big Softie,” the light glass wall, McGarvey used a 100K A hallmark of the Iron Man films was approximately 2' wide. “It was SoftSun on a blue-wrapped scissor lift. that continues in The Avengers is the made by Nick Shapley, whose company, For additional ambience, “[rigging inside-the-helmet view, which shows LCA, is based in the U.K.,” says gaffer] Kevin Lang put in about 80 Stark in close-up with superimposed McGarvey. “The Big Softie was inches space lights gelled with ¼ CTB, and we pop-ups that represent his armor’s from Robert’s face, and it produced a

44 June 2012 American Cinematographer

◗ All Together Now phy. EFilm also provided the production with a profile look that matched the monitors in the trailer with the HP DreamColor monitors used on set and at digital-imaging technician Daniel Hernandez’s station. “I used Technoprops’ four-channel color system, called Ccolor, which was developed by Alex Arango,” notes Hernandez, who sourced most of his gear from Videohawks. “It allowed me to color-correct four cameras in real time using one laptop, instantly copy looks from camera to camera, and adjust the image on each camera.” The filmmakers recorded in ArriRaw to Codex digital recorders that Hernandez linked with his station’s IP address so that each time the cameras rolled, the recorders would pull the corresponding camera’s CDL metadata from Ccolor. “I also created a CDL log with the scene, take, roll number and time-code stamp that could be ingested into EFilm’s color system, and I recorded reference video to a CompactFlash card that I handed off to EFilm at the end of every day,” adds Hernandez. After lunch, the crew continues shooting the sequence involving the burning Acura. The alien in the scene is portrayed on set by a performer Top and middle: wearing a gray bodysuit dotted with Cleveland, Ohio’s East motion-capture markers. “All of the 9th Street was dressed as Manhattan’s 49th production-based motion capture was Street for portion’s of done live in-camera primarily because it the film’s climactic involved digital characters interacting battle. Practical explosions tore with live-action characters,” notes Sirrs. through the location, “Character performances for entirely and visual effects then digital shots were captured with dedi- added strafing alien craft and laser blasts, cated motion-capture sessions during and replaced the post, and several sessions were done background. Bottom: with Mark Ruffalo so that the idiosyn- B-camera/Steadicam operator George crasies of his performance could be Billinger captures the incorporated into the [all-CG] Hulk.” action as Captain The footage shot in downtown America navigates the chaos. Cleveland is all part of the battle that dominates The Avengers’ third act, when very flattering light. I didn’t want the McGarvey retreat to EFilm’s mobile- the heroes must stand united against the complete circle, so I masked off part of dailies trailer during their lunch break. onslaught of Loki’s alien hordes. East it with black wrap, and you just see two Equipped with a grading suite and 12' 9th Street provided the backdrop for little triangles in his eyes.” projection screen, the trailer was on one of the sequence’s most explosive Back in Cleveland, Whedon and hand throughout principal photogra- pieces, in which the aliens strafe the

46 June 2012 American Cinematographer © Terry © Terry Monahan

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www.chimeralighting.com / 888.444.1812 / Made in the USA lightbanks / birdcages / lanterns / systems / speed rings / essentials / accessories ◗ All Together Now street, sending cars and trucks airborne amid pillars of flame and billowing smoke. “The hero angle looked straight down the street as the explosions came toward us,” McGarvey details. “It was a spectacular image, and it really was in- camera. Dan Sudick, the special-effects supervisor, is a genius at choreographing this kind of mayhem.” All of the production’s cameras, plus additional Alexas and 435s special- ordered for the day, were used to capture the effect. Most of the DSLRs were placed in crash housings and positioned in the midst of the action; one 5D was given to a stunt performer who filmed as he ran through the chaos, providing what McGarvey calls “wonderful, immersive footage.” The crux of the battle occurs in front of Grand Central Station, “sort of the crossroads of New York City,” says Chinlund. “Because of the viaduct that reaches over 42nd Street and the tunnels that surround Grand Central, it’s a super-exciting setting for the final battle.” Although principal photography included a few days of location work in Manhattan, most of the battle action was shot in New Mexico, where the production re-created the viaduct and established a day-exterior look inside a 400'-long former railroad facility. “When we found that space, I urged the producers to shoot inside, and I assured them we could make it look like daylight,” says McGarvey. “Initially, Top and middle: The it seemed the cost would be prohibitive, production re-created the viaduct that but shooting inside actually saved us extends over 42nd numerous days because we could keep Street in front of shooting in really bad weather. It was a Grand Central Station inside a former good investment.” railway facility in New “Normally, I plead with anyone Mexico, where 22 18K who will listen to never shoot an ArriMax Pars were bounced into outdoor sequence on a composite UltraBounces to stage,” says Sirrs, “but the viaduct exte- create a daylight rior was a special case. The location is ambience. Bottom: Hawkeye, Captain supposed to be in shadow for 90 percent America and Black of the day, and matching diffuse lighting Widow steel conditions is much more achievable themselves for action. Also visible are than simulating direct light.” “alien” performers Rigging key grip John Beran and wearing motion- his crew hung greenbeds for access to all capture tracking suits. of the lamps in the space, and 1,300' of

48 June 2012 American Cinematographer Creative confidence.

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Dolby and the double-D symbol are registered trademarks of Dolby Laboratories. © 2012 Dolby Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved. S12/25442/25540 ◗ All Together Now that we hit from the other side with spots. That created splashes of hard light that randomized the look and really made it feel like daylight.” To facilitate maximum freedom Evans, A-camera operator Mitch in the greenscreen space, Sirrs eschewed Dubin (seated background plates in favor of building a on dolly) and completely virtual environment by McGarvey catch their breaths “projecting photographic material onto amidst the building shapes,” he explains. “A dedi- action in cated stills unit from Industrial Light & Cleveland. Magic spent close to six weeks shooting panoramic spheres with Canon DSLRs from a variety of vantage points in and around our key locations. After the basic building façades and streets were created from the stills, the digital envi- greenscreen was positioned around the electricians bounced 22 18K ArriMax ronments still needed to be fleshed out perimeter of the set, stretching from the Pars into 40'x40' UltraBounces that ran with everything required to add life to floor to 50' high. Janusek adds, “We also the length of the ceiling to create the static imagery. We ended up creating a hung UltraBounce. If we were close to overall ambient level. Additionally, huge library of digital dressing that the wall and didn’t want green spill, we McGarvey says, “We wanted to create could be used to populate shots as could pull back the greenscreen and use accents that would suggest light bounc- needed.” the UltraBounce for fill.” ing off glassy buildings, so we placed 8- At press time, McGarvey was Working from the greenbeds, the by-8-foot mirrors [on the greenbeds] nearing the end of a six-week digital

50 grade at EFilm with colorist and ASC dinary 3-D conversion that StereoD run-and-gun. You’ve got 12 cameras associate member Steven J. Scott. The made under the supervision of Graham because it’s a big action scene, or you’ve first four weeks were devoted to the Clark,” McGarvey continues. “For the got one day to shoot five pages of 2-D grade, and the last two weeks were action sequences in particular, it really dialogue. Either way, Seamus makes it spent grading the 3-D conversion, symphonizes the whole thing, and all really sing.” ● which was done by StereoD. McGarvey enhances the sense of the city in jeop- describes his work in the DI as “quite ardy and the power of these characters. straightforward. We’re doing a lot of “I embarked on The Avengers out windows and some very sophisticated of curiosity,” he notes. “I wanted to work timing, but it’s not a strident look. The with Joss, I wanted to learn more about Avengers is quite sharp and crisp. We visual effects, and I wanted to work on a TECHNICAL SPECS wanted to make it feel believable, like it’s movie of this scale. What surprised me really happening.” is that once I got beyond all the trucks 1.85:1 During the shoot, McGarvey and and mayhem that accompany a film of Whedon found “key moments that we this nature, the inner sanctum of the set Digital Capture, 4-perf 35mm knew would play well in 3-D, but we was as recognizable as any low-budget weren’t trying to make things leap out of movie I’ve done. There are the same Arri Alexa, 435; Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 7D the screen,” the cinematographer notes. constraints, concerns and energy, the “The great thing about shooting 2-D same instincts at play, and the same Panavision Primo, Frazier Lens and converting in post is that there was heart and brain and eye.” System; Canon EF no sense of being corralled by 3-D while Back in Cleveland, as the sun we were shooting; it was just going to be approaches the horizon and the martini Kodak Vision3 500T 5219 an enhancement at the end of the day. shot draws near, Whedon observes, “A Digital Intermediate “It’s with the greatest surprise and movie this big is a strange hybrid. It’s pleasure that I’m watching the extraor- utilitarian in the sense that it’s almost Stereoscopic Conversion

MONDAY, AUGUST 8TH, 2011 4:05 PM

Cleveland. A GREAT PLACE TO MAKE MOVIES. 216.623.3910 To ﬁnd out more, contact the Greater Cleveland Film Commission. clevelandﬁlm.com 51 Snow White and the Huntsman, shot by Greig Fraser, presents an action- oriented version of the classic fairy tale.

By Jay Holben

•|•

the forest. Ravenna sends The Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) in pursuit, but instead of killing Snow White, he trains her in the art of combat. The young woman then joins forces with a team of dwarves to form an army, and they return to the castle to confront Ravenna. At director Rupert Sanders’ side on Snow White was Beauty cinematographer Greig Fraser, whose recent features include Bright Star (AC Oct. ’09) and Let Me In (AC Oct. ’10). Fraser and Sanders had previously collaborated on a number of commercials, and Fraser credits the director with being “very in good at taking the bones of an idea and turning it into something interesting through his choice of actors, costumes, locations and script. He’s a practical guy who uses what’s in front of him extraordinarily well.” The duo wanted the camerawork to be “loose and free, while still feeling true to a fairy tale,” Fraser continues. “We Battle wanted to submerge the viewer in this lush world of big loca- he dramatic adventure Snow White and the Huntsman tions and epic scale, but at the same time, we also wanted to offers a new interpretation of the Brothers Grimm fairy be able to respond to small, intimate moments with our tale, which pits an evil, jealous queen against a beautiful actors. On our past projects, we endeavored to shoot in real maiden. When a magical mirror informs Queen locations, using natural light, with only the tiniest amount of TRavenna (Charlize Theron) that her stepdaughter, Snow equipment, and we hoped to bring the spirit of that approach White (Kristen Stewart), is destined to surpass her in beauty on Snow White. We tried very hard to keep the [filmmaking] and become “the fairest of them all,” the evil queen orders process as simple and quick as possible. Snow White’s death, sending the young woman fleeing into “This sometimes meant having extra pieces of equip-

52 June 2012 American Cinematographer ment at the ready,” he continues. “We used two cranes, a 44-foot Moviebird and a 50-foot SuperTechnocrane, for almost the entire shoot, but we mostly used them as a very quick way to put the camera where we wanted it. We wanted to avoid the sweeping crane moves audiences have come to expect from a story like this, and instead keep the camera much more centered in the moment.” After testing several camera systems in prep, the filmmakers decided to shoot most of the picture in anamorphic 35mm, and use Super 35mm for some visual-effects work and Opposite: The 65mm for select shots. “Shooting Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) 65mm goes against the idea of keeping apprehends Snow it simple,” Fraser acknowledges, “but White (Kristen the grandeur of the format really lent Stewart) in the Dark Forest. This itself to this story. The 65mm material page, top to looks absolutely beautiful, and I wish bottom: Firelight we’d been able to shoot more of keys Queen Ravenna (Charlize it. Panavision’s System 65 was a bit Theron) as she bulkier and noisier than our light- schemes to outwit weight XL package, so we mostly used her enemies; the Huntsman is called it for wide shots and establishing shots, before the queen because I would often find that for a grim [35mm] wide lenses didn’t resolve the assignment; director of fine detail in those shots as much as I photography Greig liked.” He composed the 65mm mate- Fraser preps a rial in 2.40:1 common center, with a scene in Ravenna’s throne room. top and bottom crop. Fraser shot Snow White on three Kodak negatives, Vision2 50D 5201, the System 65 lenses, I was regularly Vision3 250D 5207 and the recently reminded of the image quality of introduced Vision3 500T 5230. He some of my own Hasselblad and typically rates his stocks at 2⁄3 of a stop Mamiya lenses on my medium-format overexposed, “but for some scenes set in cameras,” he adds. snow, I would pull that back to just 1⁄3 In addition to lending Snow of a stop over.” White’s adventure “a great sense of The camera package, provided scale,” Fraser found that anamorphic by Panavision London, included was “really useful for pulling our actors anamorphic lenses in the G-series, E- out of the background, especially in the series and Primo lines, in addition to forest,” thanks to its shallow depth-of- spherical Primos and System 65 lenses. field. “Natural forests are visually busy, “The G-series lenses are great on skin,” and they can look pretty to the eye but notes Fraser. “They’re sharp, but not less so on camera. A limited depth-of- pin sharp. They have a nice falloff that field can help a lot.” really works for a kind of glamorous The film’s story spans more than feel. With Charlize and Kristen, they 20 years, and two different forest looks looked fantastic, and I didn’t need any were required: an Enchanted Forest filtration at all. and a Dark Forest. After watching a

Unit photography by Alex Bailey. Photos and frame grabs courtesy of Universal Pictures. “When I was framing up with number of movies that involved forest

www.theasc.com June 2012 53 ◗ Beauty in Battle

sets built onstage, Sanders and Fraser lobbied production to shoot forest scenes on location. (The shoot was based at Pinewood Studios.) “Rupert and I pushed quite strongly to shoot our exteriors outside,” recalls Fraser. “There’s no question that you have more control inside, but we wanted something that would look more natu- ralistic, and, in fact, we wanted to remove some of that control so we could be free to respond to happy acci- dents. We also wanted to be able to move the camera freely, and building our forest sets outside enabled us to do that.” The thickly wooded Dark Forest, a grim place where only unusual life forms survive, was built in a clear- Top to bottom: Snow White finds a brief ing at Black Park, and it was respite in the surrounded by an access track. “We Enchanted Forest; could move 360 degrees and not be Ravenna considers her options; B-camera concerned about running out of back- operator Simon Baker ground,” says Fraser. “Shooting with a (left) and B-camera real forest as our backing rather than a 1st AC Shaun Cobley prep a shot depicting Translite, bluescreen or painted back- one of Ravenna’s ing gave our wide shots incredible consultations with her depth. magic mirror. On the tripod in the “I have to say, we got very lucky foreground is Fraser’s with the weather,” he continues. “It was Canon DSLR, which he the one thing we were most worried used on most setups to shoot stills that he about in terms of working outdoors, could grade and send but we ended up with many days of to Deluxe London as a bright sun and great weather. Rupert is reference for color and contrast. British, and he was shocked that we actually had to be concerned about

54 June 2012 American Cinematographer shadows. He’d say, ‘There aren’t any shadows in England!’ Ironically, that made our Dark Forest scenes difficult, because we’d planned on a lot of over- cast days with constant drizzle! My gaffer, Perry Evans, wound up flying a couple of 40-by-40-foot solids on construction cranes to block out the sun. Anything larger would have been too hard to control in the wind.” When the sun did retreat behind the clouds, Fraser and Evans incorporated the same solids to help shape the shadowless natural light. “We’d bring them down to about 20 feet above the set to create our negative fill,” Evans explains. “The 40-by-40 size worked well because if the wind caught them, Top: Snow White detects a fearsome creature in the Dark Forest. Bottom: Stewart stands by in the guys could get a handle on them the atmospheric fog as the filmmakers prep a crane shot in the set. instead of running for cover, and we could [use them together] to get a 40- gusts up, but the right amount helped in night interiors, and they often keyed by-80 sail if we needed that size.” As shape the forest in a way that nothing Theron in the cavernous rooms in the an additional safety measure, the crew else could.” queen’s castle. “We used a mix of candles cut 10' slits in the solids so the wind For night work in the forest, and very large flames — a lot of flam- could pass through the material. Leelium 16K and 24K tungsten beaus — throughout that set,” says When a little extra light was balloons “were used in the deep back- Fraser. “Initially, we thought we’d hook needed for daytime forest scenes, two ground to give us some depth, and then the covered wagons to flicker generators Leelium 8K HMI lighting balloons we used real firelight/flambeaus and and just use them as additional firelight, were tethered to the construction covered wagons [batten strips with but they put a great light into Charlize’s cranes. single bulbs covered in diffusion] to do eyes, so we wound up using them To help with contrast, and to close-ups,” says Evans. “The wagons around her quite a bit. deepen the feel of the forest, Fraser also had high-wattage bulbs in them, and “We had to be careful to avoid employed a lot of fog. “It does a great we dimmed them down to get the color any sources that felt too electronic,” the job at softening the background. temp we wanted.” cinematographer continues. “I’m a big Continuity with smoke is always hard, The covered wagons were also fan of LEDs for their low power especially when the afternoon wind used in tandem with practical firelight consumption, low heat and high output,

www.theasc.com June 2012 55 ◗ Beauty in Battle

Right: In the heat of battle, Prince William (Sam Claflin), Snow White’s childhood sweetheart, prepares to confront an opponent. Below: Fraser eyes a setup. Behind him is the production’s gaffer, Perry Evans.

the director and actors to make choices they wouldn’t otherwise be able to make.” However, incorporating a 360- degree lighting plan was no small feat in Ravenna’s mirror room, a set that had one main entrance, tiny windows and a domed ceiling. “There was a large fire pit in the center of the room, and there was a vent in the top of the set to let out the heat and smoke,” Fraser explains. “Perry and I used that vent for most of our lighting.” Evans elaborates, “We used five half-Dinos around the edge of the hole. We warmed them a bit with ½ CTS and used some Hampshire Frost to but their light felt too artificial. The “Also, I’ve found that in the DI, bring the individual bulbs together as effect of a traditional [tungsten] bulb is I will often make the image a bit darker one source.” The crew turned the unit very natural and very warm, both in than what we originally intended. If on or off as needed. “We always had color and in overall feel. I liked the you can put a bit more light in an one of them going as a strong backlight covered wagons because they matched actor’s eyes on the set, you have more to camera,” notes Evans, “and we had the color and feel of the firelight easily. room to darken the image [in post] and one pointing straight down into the If we needed more [output] from still keep his or her eyes alive. The room that was on most of the time.” them, we’d simply use higher-intensity covered wagons were great for that.” The queen’s throne room is an bulbs, and if we needed less, we’d Fraser and Evans tried to design equally imposing space. To represent switch those out for 40-watt bulbs. We the lighting to facilitate 360-degree the darkness and decay that spreads did use a dimmer, but very little; we shooting at all times. “It makes things with the duration of her rule, produc- didn’t want the color temperature to go a lot faster if you can take that tion designer Dominic Watkins applied drop too much. approach,” notes Fraser, “and it frees increasingly dark coats of paint to the

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walls as the story progressed. “Of course, as the walls got darker, we needed more light!” says Fraser. “Additionally, we wanted to be able to shoot some high- speed in the throne room, and with each doubling of speed, you need to double the light. It adds up very quickly.” The solution, he continues, was overhead soft boxes “that were essen- tially on steroids.” Evans explains, “We built 10 40-by-40-foot soft boxes that each held 24 5K space lights, and we usually used two on each set. We were able to run just a few [of the space lights] for the 24-fps scenes, add a few more when it got dark, and then really crank them all when we shot high- speed [of varying frame rates].” 20Ks and ¾ Wendy Lights were positioned outside the throne-room windows for additional illumination. The complications of shooting in Top to bottom: many of the production’s sets were miti- Snow White is gated by the use of previsualization, affected by the dreaded poison which Halon Entertainment provided apple; the under the guidance of previs supervisor freshly trained Brad Alexander. “Halon created 3-D warrior prepares to attack the models of quite a number of our sets, queen’s soldiers; and before any actual sets were built, I Fraser fine-tunes could go in with a virtual camera, select a shot for the battle scene. any lens I wanted and start [planning shots],” says Fraser. The virtual camerawork was realized with an OptiTrack motion-capture system. “The mirror room was an especially complicated set, and we wanted to

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◗ Beauty in Battle make sure the construction didn’t have placements and moves, thereby deter- to be over-engineered,” Fraser contin- mining the best way to cover the action ues. “With the previs, we were able to before they hit the sand. “On the see exactly what we needed and figure computer, resetting hundreds of horses out which walls needed to be wild, and and soldiers to try another lens only the art department could plan takes the click of a button, whereas on construction accordingly.” set that would take you at least half an The previs also helped the film- hour,” says Fraser. “We could also plan makers plan the two epic battle scenes our helicopter moves, which had to that bookend the film. The first battle take into account a huge CG castle that depicts how Ravenna infiltrates the would be added in post, and then give kingdom, and the final battle, which that previs to [aerial cinematographer] incorporates hundreds of soldiers on John Marzano. We solved a lot of prob- horseback along a beach, shows Snow lems and answered a lot of questions White’s attempt to defeat the queen. ahead of time using those previs “It’s always a challenge to coordi- renderings.” nate that many people and animals,” Of course, no Snow White tale Fraser says of the climactic battle. “But would be complete without dwarves. In we were also dealing with the ocean this case, there are eight, all of whom and its changing tides, so each day we were portrayed by actors of normal had a very narrow window to execute height: Ian McShane, Ray Winstone, Fraser checks the light and hairstylist Bonnie Clevering tweaks her work as the B-camera team this huge battle.” Nick Frost, Brian Gleeson, Eddie (background, from left: Cobley, Baker and loader Using 3-D previs models of the Marsan, Johnny Harris, Toby Jones and Tom Wade) preps a high-angle shot of Snow White beach, Fraser and Sanders could exper- Bob Hoskins. “On a day-to-day basis, in repose. iment with any number of camera we had the challenge of making the

60 dwarves look smaller without using techniques were surprisingly effective, things got too expensive, and to forced perspective or CGI unless we and when we combined them with a communicate our ideas more effectively had to,” says Fraser. “We did play with wide CG shot, where you see the to our crew. Throughout the shoot, we some basic forced perspective in certain dwarves in relationship to the other strove to keep the storytelling process at shots by putting the dwarves farther characters, you buy it without question.” the forefront of our work.” ● away and the other actors closer to the Deluxe Laboratories in London camera, but because of our loose processed the production’s 35mm camera style, we weren’t very precise footage and generated digital dailies with that, and we had to figure out (timed by Darren Rae), while FotoKem faster solutions. in Burbank processed the 65mm nega- “Through testing and discussion tive, scanned it and e-maileddetailed TECHNICAL SPECS with [visual-effects supervisors] Cedric lab reports and reference JPEGs to the 2.40:1 Nicolas-Troyan and Phil Brennan, we set throughout the shoot. For the DI, created a toolbox of techniques that we FotoKem scanned the 65mm negative Anamorphic 35mm, determined would work very well,” again at 8K, and EFilm in Hollywood 4-perf Super 35mm and 65mm continues the cinematographer. “The created 2K scans of the 35mm nega- Panaflex XL2, Millennium; simplest involved digging a trench for tive. The filmmakers carried out the Panavision System 65; the dwarves to walk in, or putting the final color correction with Yvan Lucas PanArri 235 other actors on a platform that was at EFilm. about 14 inches high. We also used “All in all, although this is an epic Panavision G-series, E-series, slightly wider lenses to shoot the medieval adventure, Rupert and I tried Primo and System 65 dwarves and positioned the camera a bit to follow the philosophy that simpler is Kodak Vision2 50D 5201; above their eyelines to keep them more better,” concludes Fraser. “Even our Vision3 250D 5207, 500T 5230 toward the bottom of the frame, creat- high-tech previs really just allowed us ing a lot of headroom. These simple the freedom to experiment before Digital Intermediate

61 im Burton’s Dark Shadows is loosely adapted from a daytime soap opera featuring vampires, witches and werewolves that aired on U.S. television from 1966- 1971. Asked whether he would describe his film as a Tcomedy, Burton replies, “It’s a real mixture of feelings and emotions, which makes it difficult to place in a genre. It’s not Blood like we were remaking the TV show; the movie has more to do with my memory of it. Setting the story in 1972 brought back that time for me. You go through weird ages in life, and 14 is one of them. You forget about it until you explore it a little [as an adult] and realize how disturbing the whole thing Relatives was!” Dark Shadows cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel, ASC, AFC recalls that by following Burton’s lead, he imag- Bruno Delbonnel, ASC, AFC ined a mélange of genres in the approach to the picture, “something between a soap opera, which is overlit and where helps Tim Burton give you see everything, and a dramatic film, with a little taste of a Dark Shadows a satirical ’70s twist. horror film. I wanted to create an image that corresponded to Tim’s world, a world that is elegant, subtle and poetic.” “Bruno really thinks as an artist,” notes Burton. “This movie has an odd tone, and we were going for an odd acting By Benjamin B style that tended toward soap opera, and it was important that the look [would] help support that. The feel, the look and the set all helped to inform the acting style.” •|• The story starts in the 18th century, when Barnabas

62 June 2012 American Cinematographer Opposite page: After spending 200 years imprisoned in a grave, vampire Barnabas Collins (Johnny Depp, center) returns to his family estate in 1972, only to find it occupied by his dysfunctional descendants. This page, top: Victoria Winters (Bella Heathcote) arrives at Collinwood Mansion after landing a job as the family’s nanny. Bottom: Barnabas admires the craftsmanship of his former home while being led through its stately halls by caretaker Willie Loomis (Jackie Earle Haley).

Collins (Johnny Depp) is a wealthy playboy in Collinsport, Maine, a town dominated by his family and their fish- ery business. Barnabas is romantically involved with Angelique (Eva Green), who turns out to be a witch, but aban- dons her for a woman of his more refined class, Josette (Bella Heathcote). Hell hath no fury like a witch scorned, and Angelique kills her rival, transforms Barnabas into a vampire and buries him “undead.” Two hundred years later, a construction crew accidentally unearths his coffin. Barnabas goes on a killing spree and returns to his family home, which is now inhabited by some of his descendants, including Elizabeth (Michelle Pfeiffer), as well as live-in Angelique, who is now running the 500T 5219 negative stock, pushing it to psychiatrist Dr. Hoffman (Helena town. The witch has not aged a day, and ISO 800 “because all of the sets were Bonham Carter) and a nanny (also she comes to seduce Barnabas and try to very dark mahogany, and we needed to played by Heathcote) who is the spit- destroy him for good. see them properly. I pushed in order to ting image of Josette. To make the story’s 1972 setting keep my lighting list down. I usually Much of the fun of the film convincing, the filmmakers decided to shot at T2.8. We needed a rich negative comes from Barnabas’ discovery of the shoot on 35mm and avoid 3-D. “I for the DI work I had planned.” modern world, including cars, TV and wanted this to look like a Seventies Tapping Panavision London for rock ’n’ roll. He attempts to help his movie,” says Burton. Delbonnel shot his camera package, Delbonnel shot

Photos by Peter Mountain and Leah Gallo, courtesy of Warner Bros. family regain prosperity, but is foiled by the entire picture on Kodak Vision3 mostly with an Arricam Studio and

www.theasc.com June 2012 63 ◗ Blood Relatives Cooke S4 prime lenses, which he calls ing villages, the production decided it concentrates on one image at a time. “absolutely magnificent.” Both Burton would be more cost effective to build a Most of the time, it’s a single-camera and Delbonnel favor fairly short focal period set onstage at Pinewood Studios show, and he likes the camera to feel like lengths; the lens of choice was the than try to dress an existing town to a secret observer tiptoeing around what 27mm, followed by the 21mm, and the resemble coastal Maine in 1972. The the actors are doing.” 32mm was used for close-ups. huge set included a small harbor in the “Tim’s master shot is not an After scouting a number of fish- Pinewood water tank, with flat-hull establishing shot,” Delbonnel notes. boats that could be navigated in the “He will go wide not to show [the shallow waters, and a large cannery setting], but to show the actors’ body building that is burned down over the language. When Michelle Pfeiffer walks course of the story. in a scene, it’s not Michelle Pfeiffer Both Delbonnel and camera walking, it’s her character. The same is operator Des Whelan stress the true with Johnny Depp. Tim trusts his elegance and simplicity of Burton’s mise actors completely, and he uses every- en scène, suggesting that the director’s thing they have to offer, not just their unusual visions are delivered in a classi- voices or faces.” cal form. Whelan surmises that Burton’s According to Whelan, Burton beginnings as an animator might under- avoided over-the-shoulder shots, prefer- lie his economy: “Animators are very ring clean singles that were often placed aware of what’s needed to tell a story, in the middle of the frame, with the and they don’t shoot more than that. actor looking almost straight into the Tim doesn’t like loads of coverage; he camera. “We’d have eyelines inside the wants to make the story as lean as possi- matte box,” he recalls. “The actors ble, with no fat. You can almost take the couldn’t see beyond the camera, which clapperboards off and make the movie. was literally a foot away from their face. “He also has an uncanny ability to It’s almost like we were X-raying them! hold the entire picture in his head, with Tim likes to bring the audience right up all the beats and rhythms that go into close.” Burton notes, “This movie is making a film,” continues Whelan. “He based on a soap opera, so it was impor- has a very strong visual style. He tant that it have an intimacy to it. It’s

Top: Barnabas represents the height of 18th- century fashion as he strikes a familiar pose. Bottom: A wide- eyed Victoria examines the Gothic trappings of her new gig.

64 June 2012 American Cinematographer Top: Barnabas has a word with the mistress of the house, matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Michelle Pfeiffer). Bottom: The undead guest attempts to reassume his place at the head of the table.

not a special-effects movie. We wanted to emphasize the actors.” One of the film’s conceits is that Barnabas the vampire bursts into flames whenever sunlight touches his body. “Sunlight,” says Delbonnel, “was one of my principal constraints. There could be no direct sunlight on the main character, so for the majority of the film he is in a kind of a penumbra. Even at the breakfast table, for example, I put sunlight at one end and not at the other, where Barnabas was sitting.” The Collinses’ long dining table provides a good example of Delbonnel’s lighting approach in interiors. For the wide shot, he beamed two 20K Fresnels end,” laughs Delbonnel. ing approach saves time because it does- through the set’s two windows to The cinematographer then n’t involve relighting the entire set, and provide sunlight on one end of the table added a 1K Lowel Rifa light on the it can be fine-tuned by changing diffu- and the background wall, softening the same side as the window, but closer to sion materials. “For example, if I don’t hard lights with ¼ Grid. When moving camera. He diffused the Rifa twice, first have enough light, I can swap 216 for in for a closer shot of an actor, he “added with Grid Cloth, and then with a thick- 251 diffusion and get one more stop, but more diffusion and some fill light.” He ness of Depron, a polystyrene sheet that means the contrast will be higher, softened the window source with two used for heating insulation. This double so I might add a little light on the additional diffusion frames, for a total diffusion created a wonderfully soft fill shadow side. I’m only playing on the of three. The closest diffusion was posi- “that allowed me to lift the blacks contrast and the diffusion with fill tioned just outside the frame near the which aren’t filled in the wide shot,” he light.” He adds that the diffusion frame actor, and its glow wrapped around the explains. The last option was to add and fill lights are so close to the actor person’s face. “I start with 20Ks, and another Rifa on the shadow side. that they do not have any effect on the there is almost nothing at the other Delbonnel notes that this light- background.

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“I always diffuse the source unless I want a ray of light,” he says. “I don’t like hard light except for the Molebeam, which is interesting because it offers a very beautiful parallel ray. Otherwise, I diffuse everything, even more so now with Depron. It’s beautiful and much heavier than 216, which is one of Lee’s strongest diffusions. Of course, you need much stronger lights because it’s so thick.” Director Tim Burton (at right Delbonnel used 10K and 20K in top photos) Molebeams to create the shafts of and sunlight that threaten Barnabas. In one cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel, such scene, Angelique magically opens ASC, AFC create the living-room curtains to send him an appropriately fleeing into the shadows. Delbonnel “fab” vibe for a scene in which added a bit of smoke to delineate the Barnabas enjoys sunbeam and give a little more expo- a slow dance sure. “Smoke is like flashing film — it with Victoria. Three Mac 2000 lights the scene,” he observes. He over- programmable exposed the painted backings outside lights were aimed the windows by 2½-3 stops, noting, at the disco ball to throw big “When you’re in a dark setting, the squares of light outside looks overexposed to your eye. on the walls, “I like soft shadows,” he empha- which were also enhanced by sizes. “My work is based on a very direc- Seventies-style tional light that is also very soft. I vary lighting units the contrast of the image with the that combined rotating discs quantity of fill I add. If I start with a with colored oils. very soft image, I can make it very contrasty by not putting in any fill, for example. My lighting is usually from the side, with more or less fill.” He laughs and adds, “I’m incapable of doing frontlight! I admire those who can.” The cinematographer explains how he established an eerie, low-

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◗ Blood Relatives

Top: Making the best of less-than- luxurious accommodations, Barnabas seeks some shuteye in a cupboard. Bottom: The dapper vampire must adapt as he experiences the culture shock of his Seventies surroundings.

each), for a hefty total of 58K. Delbonnel’s crew also placed two 31K Quarter Wendy Lights (with 48 650- watt bulbs) to define the edges of the buildings from the side. He lit the giant bluescreen with two other cranes with Quarter Wendy Lights, supplemented by 10Ks for the bottom. He asked the special-effects supervisor if he could make the fire red “to make it seem more magical than orange or yellow.” A party in the ballroom at Collins manor is marked by the appearance of rock star Alice Cooper, who, at a vigor- ous 70, plays himself at age 30, disguis- ing his wrinkles with his trademark makeup. Dominating the ballroom set is a giant disco ball whose mirrors were hit by three Mac 2000 programmable lights. “We needed extremely direc- contrast mood for night exteriors, the blacks has to be touched by light. tional sources to get big squares of light including an important scene in which That gives you activated silver and beau- on the walls,” says Delbonnel. “A 2K Angelique magically sets the Collins tiful blacks. If you have unexposed silver, Fresnel, for example, will give you noth- cannery on fire. “It’s a soft, moonless it’s no good.” ing.” The walls were also speckled by night, but you can see everything. I like Illumination for the fire scene “lighting units from the Seventies that to build an image up; it’s very rare for came from five large soft boxes had rotating discs with colored oils.” me to film a black image, although I suspended from 98' cranes. Each box Small, programmable LED lights were might darken it later, in the DI. I want was covered with ½ Grid and contained scattered throughout the space, notably the negative to be exposed; the silver in 12 space lights (with six 800-watt bulbs underneath the go-go dancers, and

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◗ Blood Relatives They may not be able to define it, but it puts a little veil between them and the performances.” He chuckles as he asserts that the DI-dailies process offers “the nirvana of the rushes looking the way the cinematographer wants them to! But there’s a philosophy that goes with that. What I tried to offer Bruno was the idea of not constantly bending the negative by hand, but instead building something like a custom print stock.” Making the dailies timing interactive with the shooting “is a holistic approach, and it restores control [of the look] to the cinematographer on set. “We were building a color process that was dependent on the negative and how it was lit, and the two became quite interactive,” continues Top: Crane- mounted Doyle. “Bruno knew how things would softboxes react to color temperature and exposure, provide general and he could decide to go for a certain illumination for the seaside town exposure and more or less color. By the of Collinsport, end of the shoot, we had a pretty good Maine, a set idea of the picture in terms of the grade, built on the backlot at and when we sat down for the final Pinewood timing, we knew what to do. There Studios in were no surprises.” England. Bottom: Doyle’s approach was to create Delbonnel takes automatic processes, rather than grade a hands-on everything by hand. He called upon approach to his lighting. color scientist/ASC associate member Joshua Pines and pipeline engineer Niklas Aldergreen at Technicolor to more Mac 2000s and some rock ’n’ roll you’re shooting it. When we did find create a toolbox of custom scripts, trans- Par cans were built into the set. Twenty the right tone with the color timing, it form functions and matrices to imple- very diffused space lights were placed on just felt right. It felt like the Seventies ment look elements. “If Bruno asked for the ceiling “to give us a base level” from movies that I recall from my youth.” a specific adjustment more than three above. Delbonnel calls Doyle, with times, we could automate it, and it A key to the movie’s painterly whom he first collaborated on 2009’s could be easily applied to the entire look is the fashioning of what could be Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, film’s look,” says Doyle. called “DI dailies” in the production’s “an essential partner” in creating the Delbonnel recalls that his search on-set theater, which was manned by look of Dark Shadows. “Peter is my for Dark Shadows’ look included a vari- colorist Peter Doyle. Burton stresses the right-hand man. I have absolute confi- ety of references, starting with Alfred importance of defining the look during dence in him. He has a great taste, and Hitchcock’s Vertigo, shot in Technicolor production. “You know, you can do he knows what I like. We developed by Robert Burks, ASC. “That vibrant anything in the DI, but you can do so software for our work that goes very far.” Hollywood film, whose actors glow, was much that it feels kind of pushed,” he Doyle notes that getting the look my starting point. It also had the fairy- observes. “We were trying to achieve the right in the dailies enables filmmakers tale aspect of Kim Novak’s character look early on, in the original photogra- to avoid the pitfalls of DI work that goes coming back as a ‘ghost.’” With a laugh, phy. Of course, there was a little room to against the grain of the shoot. “If you he acknowledges that he’s “not sure [refine things in post], but Bruno and I bend the image around too much in people will see the relationship” both feel that you should get it while post, I think the audience can feel it. between the two films. “Sometimes

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◗ Blood Relatives — we didn’t use it at all — and instead created a synthetic blue based on the red and the green, and then we just twisted that. The image looks kind of normal, not like the wacky 2-strip Technicolor Delbonnel lines that gave you purple grass and the like. up a shot amid It’s just enough of a twist to make it feel some carefully not contemporary and not real.” positioned bounce light. Another vivid element of the DI look was the narrowing of the color palette. “That’s Peter’s genius,” says Delbonnel. “He conceived of matrices that allowed us to make selected colors with incredible purity.” To achieve this, Doyle asked Pines to build a 3-D look- up table that would “slice the color spec- references are very personal, just a basis only red and green, and something is trum into six sectors: RGB and CYM,” for reflection. missing, which interests me. It’s a says the colorist. “So all bright-yellow “Vertigo led me to wonder what distortion that is pretty interesting on items were only the one shade of yellow, twisted Technicolor would look like,” skin tones, and it seems to correspond to and all bright-red items were only the continues the cinematographer. “Maybe Tim Burton’s world. It has softness. one shade of red. Because we did that it [would look like] a 3-strip failure, or Lips are a little magenta, and back- across the six vectors, it kind of mixed like something’s missing. So I thought grounds are a little blue-green.” back again, so the result was like a six- of the early attempts at color, like 2-strip Doyle elaborates, “We threw color print. If you see a bright, intense color. That looks twisted because it’s away the blue channel from the negative red in the image, there is no other bright

72 red in the film, and that is exactly the This was coupled with removal of “This is the first time I’ve worked with same color as the blood that appears the grain in the bright skin-tone Bruno, and I loved it. He was really throughout the film. The process sepa- regions. This looks particularly striking thinking about the style of this film, not rates out the colors just enough to make on Depp’s close-ups, yielding a soft, his style, and he got into the soul and it a little interpretive; it’s somewhat painterly blooming on his white face character of the film. subtle. You could say that all of this was while keeping his dark eyes sharp. “Bruno brings a different thing to driven by the desire to give a little sense Delbonnel wraps up the inter- each of his films, and I love that,” the of interpretation to the scene rather than view by complimenting his Dark director adds. “Working with him, you [create] a realistic depiction. It really Shadows crew, including 1st AC Julian don’t feel like you’re making a worked. It gives the film a real snap.” Bucknell, key grip Steve Ellingworth ‘Hollywood movie’; you feel like you’re The DI work also included a and gaffer Chuck Finch. The cine- making a film that’s an artistic endeavor. selective application of sharpening. matographer notes that Burton’s highly That feeling is important. That’s what Doyle explains, “As the title implies, the collaborative working method is “great. it’s all about.” ● film is a lot about blacks and shadows, so He asks everyone for our ideas during we pulled the image apart based on prep, and if you give him an idea, he TECHNICAL SPECS density and applied selective sharpening, might come back a week later with your so that as the picture goes from shadow idea reworked — there’s maybe 10 1.85:1 to brightness, it goes from over-sharp- percent of your idea, which he has trans- 35mm ened darks to blurred whites. However, formed into a Tim Burton idea. It’s the areas sharpened in the blacks were wonderful to work that way. The film is Arricam Studio, Lite only sharpened in the broader shapes, really his world, but he truly collabo- like the silhouette of a person or the rates.” Cooke S4, Angenieux Optimo outline of a building. It gives the image Burton strikes a similar note at Kodak Vision3 500T 5219 quite a 3-D quality; it separates the the end of his interview, singling out actors from the set.” Delbonnel’s contributions to the film. Digital Intermediate

73 BlastBlast fromthePast Bill Pope, ASC and director hen people ask me what this movie is like, I tell them it’s a Hope and Crosby road picture, a Barry Sonnenfeld take agents comedy in the classic Hawksian sense,” says Men J and K back in time — to 1969 — in Black III cinematographer Bill Pope, ASC. Directed“W by Barry Sonnenfeld, the new installment of the for Men in Black III. popular franchise finds Men in Black agents J (Will Smith) and K (Tommy Lee Jones) contending with an evil alien, Boris the Animal (Jemaine Clement), who has escaped his By Iain Stasukevich lunar prison cell and traveled back to 1969 to prevent his capture by young Agent K (Josh Brolin). MiB III has been released in 3-D as well as 2-D, but the •|• production was a 2-D affair. “When Sony hired me, in January 2010, I was told this movie would be released in 3-D, so Barry and I set about determining whether we should orig- inate in 3-D, or shoot 2-D and convert in post,” says Pope. Using stand-ins for Smith and Jones, he tested Red One MX,

74 June 2012 American Cinematographer Opposite: Agents J (Will Smith) and K (Tommy Lee Jones) are back on the case in Men in Black III. This page, left: J engages in hot pursuit on the streets of Manhattan. Below: Director of photography Bill Pope, ASC preps a villainous extraterrestrial for its close-up.

Arri Alexa and Sony F35 cameras, and stereoscopic rigs from 3ality, Pace and Element-Technica. He also shot the scene on 35mm, and that material was sent to Sony Pictures Imageworks for conversion. “There was no contest: it was film all the way,” says Pope. He goes on to explain that for him and Sonnenfeld, this had as much to do with production logistics as it did with aesthetics. For starters, the footprint of the 3-D camera rigs cramped Sonnenfeld’s directorial style, wherein an actor in a single often delivers lines almost directly to the lens, to the character standing just next to the camera. Sonnenfeld prefers a 21mm prime for close-ups, placing the film tweaked all the lighting, it had been resolved in post,” he says. “When you’re plane around 2' from the actor’s nose. To hours. Barry and I were completely frus- bouncing off the mirror, you’re polariz- make room for the off-screen actor trated by the whole process.” ing the image, so all the reflective when shooting in 2-D, Pope either “When you shoot native 3-D, surfaces [in each image], even the reflec- removed the mattebox “or, if it was a you have to pick the interocular tions off an actor’s skin, are entirely really close eyeline, I’d put a dot inside [distance] for each shot ahead of time,” different. The colors are different. The the mattebox and put the offscreen actor adds Sonnenfeld. “The only way to densities are different. The contrast is behind me.” change it is to take one eye and convert different. And no matter how good your The matteboxes of the 3-D rigs it, in which case you shouldn’t have rig is, the alignment is never perfect. All were, in Pope’s opinion, too wide and wasted your time with 3-D rigs in the of these things have to be addressed cumbersome for the task at hand, and first place.” later on. the additional glass surfaces that split the Pope notes that capturing in 3-D “As for film vs. digital, we tested image for the two cameras made light- also promised to require more time- both through to release print,” Pope ing a slow process. “I couldn’t backlight consuming post work. “When you shoot continues. “The differences were subtle, my actors because any light coming from 3-D, one image is bounced off a mirror but noticeable, and we simply preferred behind them would hit that mirror and and one image is captured through a the qualities of film. We liked how grain bounce onto their faces,” he recalls. “By mirror, so the two images have different actually draws you into a picture by not

Unit photography by Wilson Webb. Photos and frame grabs courtesy of Columbia Pictures Sony Imageworks. the time we’d flagged everything off and visual characteristics that have to be reproducing reality exactly. Barry espe-

www.theasc.com June 2012 75 ◗ Blast from the Past cially was put off by what he referred to as digital’s feeling of ‘reportage.’ Also, the first two films in this series were shot on film, and we wanted the three to feel like they belonged together.” The team decided to shoot Super 35mm for a final aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and post-convert the picture at Imageworks and Prime Focus under the supervision of Corey Turner, Imageworks’ 3-D visual-effects supervisor. Arri CSC provided the camera package for the New York-based production, supplying Arricam Studios and Lites and Arri/Zeiss Master Prime lenses. Under the guidance of visual- effects supervisors Ken Ralston and Jay Redd, Imageworks also handled most of the movie’s visual effects, tackling such sequences as a ray-gun battle in a Chinese restaurant, Agent J’s time-traveling jump off the Chrysler Building, a monocycle chase through Brooklyn, and the launch of the Apollo 11 spacecraft. Excluding the stereoscopic-conversion work, Imageworks was responsible for roughly 700 effects shots. An additional 500 shots, ranging from background display graphics to all-CG characters, were handled by other facilities. Ralston and Redd spent nearly every day of production on set. For key visual-effects setups, additional Imageworks artists were on hand to record camera positions and lens data, as well as capture lighting information with Top: Agents K and an HDR Spheron, a wide-angle turret J prepare for camera that measures real-world lumi- battle in Wu’s nosity values from the darkest shadow Chinese restaurant. Middle areas to the brightest sunlight with a and bottom: To single 360-degree scan. give themselves The production was large enough maximum flexibility for to require two full-time gaffers — Bob filming the Finley was joined by Bill O’Leary for the nighttime action first half of production, and by Eric sequence, the filmmakers built Boncher for the second — and an army Wu’s interior and of grips, led by key grips Mitch Lillian exterior and a and Tony Mazzucchi. “Bobby, Bill and portion of the street onstage at Eric were each assigned certain sets so Kaufman-Astoria they could really dig in,” says Pope. “We Studios. had three standing sets at Steiner Studios in Brooklyn, and we had as many as seven or eight sets up at the

76 June 2012 American Cinematographer same time on two stages at Kaufman- Astoria in Queens.” The second unit, directed by Simon Crane, was so busy it required three cinematographers: Igor Meglic, Kevin McKnight and Scott Maguire. To help keep the first and second units on the same page, Pope asked Finley to create diagrams and notes for each setup that detailed camera moves as well as lighting instruments and their place- ment, color temperature and diffusion. Every setup was diagrammed, and the second unit could refer to the notes and diagrams when members of the main unit were not readily available. Pope explains that the second unit handled the larger action and CGI- intensive sequences, and in some cases worked with the main unit on such material. “If Will and Tommy were in a gun battle with a bunch of aliens, we’d light and shoot Will and Tommy’s side, and then the second unit would come in after us, relight the set and kill off 20 aliens,” he says. “Sometimes the second unit had to go first, in which case I would visit the sets with Simon, and Barry and Simon would have a department-head meeting on the weekend, or at the end of a shoot day, to go through the notes, storyboards and previs.” As the film begins, J and K head into Chinatown to investigate Wu’s, a restaurant with some fishy items on the menu. The restaurant, the street it sits on and an adjacent alley were all built onstage at Kaufman-Astoria Studios. Production designer Bo Welch, a veteran of the first two MiB films, explains that the decision to build this set “came down to how many pages were in the script, how many nights we would have to shoot, how many stores we would need to buy out, and how much parking we would require. We quickly realized that for the same amount of money, we could maintain complete control and, with a little construction and some CG extensions, have our own street and restaurant.” Building the set also increased Top: Agent J drops into Men in Black headquarters in the present day. Middle: After traveling back in time to 1969, J pays young Agent K (Josh Brolin) a visit at headquarters. Bottom: The Pope’s lighting options inside Wu’s. The filmmakers prepare to shoot Brolin and Smith’s conversation. restaurant was laid out with a dining

www.theasc.com June 2012 77 ◗ Blast from the Past room and two small wings off to the side. Welch incorporated a variety of practicals Top: Part of the into the set, and Pope augmented these Chrysler with Kino Flos gelled with 1⁄4 CTS, Building’s rooftop spotlighting tables and raking the dark was built onstage for the practical walls in the background. “The majority portion of Agent of the backlight in the main dining room J’s time-traveling was created with Arri T12 Fresnels and leap. Middle: 1 Agent K takes to 2K Blondes with Chimeras and ⁄4 CTS a monocycle for a rigged in openings in the ceiling,” says chase through Finley. Half- or 3⁄4-front keylight was the city in 1969. Bottom: Pope provided by an Arri T12 or 5K (depend- preps the ing on the frame rate and scope of the sequence. shot) through a 6'x6' frame of bleached muslin with a control grid on the front to direct light onto the actor. Eyelight, which was most often provided by an Arri 1K or 650-watt light, was bounced off a loose muslin behind the camera. “I like the T12s for their punch and nice, even spread,” continues Finley. “The muslin cuts about 12⁄3 stops, and we also used a frame of Opal and 250 between [the fixture and the muslin frame], and usually at least a double wire scrim. This allowed for quick light changes when Barry and Bill decided a shot should be overcranked.” Finley recalls that the street outside Wu’s was approached like a real location, “except we didn’t have to light all the way down the street because there was bluescreen on both ends. There was a 20K on a Condor at each end of the street for backlight, and we bounced the key and fill light with 12-light HPLs into 12-by frames of muslin.” Practical street lamps were fitted with 500-watt tungsten bulbs, and 2Ks and 5Ks fitted with Chimeras were hung from trusses rigged over the buildings on both sides of the street. Backlight was at or just over exposure, between T2.8 and T2.81⁄2, and the key light was a half stop under. The filmmakers also did some location work for the Wu’s sequence, filming on Canal Street in Chinatown. “As we did onstage, we leaned more toward neutral tungsten lighting on the actual street,” says Finley, “so we turned off most of the sodium-vapor streetlights in our vicinity. Then we used the lights on Condors and on top of buildings to make up for what we were missing.”

78 June 2012 American Cinematographer Men in Black headquarters, which is shown in both 2012 and 1969, lies beneath Manhattan’s Battery Park Tunnel. The headquarters and its entrance were built inside Brooklyn’s massive Marcy Armory. The 2012 iteration looks austere and modern, with white and chrome surfaces and recessed practicals. Ten mirrored spires break up the set’s 75' length, starting from the floor in flat, circular, 6'-wide LED panels (courtesy of LiteGear) and reaching into 9'-wide holes in the ceiling. Each ceiling orifice held four 6K Mole Richardson Maxi Coops. Keylight was provided by 12-light HPLs shooting through 12'x12' Light Grid or muslin, and a bounced light off another 12'x12' muslin created a wraparound fill. Balconies running the length of both sides of the room provided platforms for 20K and T12 backlights, all fitted with Chimeras. After discovering Boris the Animal’s plot to change history, Agent J travels back to 1969 to warn the young Agent K. The filmmakers designed J’s jump through time to make the most of 3-D’s potential: the agent leaps from the beak of one of the eagles atop the Chrysler Building and plummets through the decades. “There’s no reason he’d have to jump off a building to go back in time, but Barry and I thought that in 3-D, it would make everyone in the first row scream,” Pope notes with glee. “We had to do it.” The filmmakers shot the dialogue portion of the scene at Steiner Studios Stage 3, using a partial build of the rooftop, and then the visual-effects team handled the set extensions, the digital build of New York City, and the jump. Early in the production schedule, Redd took Finley and an Imageworks team to the top of the Chrysler Building to shoot background tiles and reference material with Canon EOS 5D Mark II DSLRs. For the stage work, Pope’s crew established even skylight with 120 6K space lights going through 1⁄4 CTB and Light Grid. A 360-degree double-curtain track was rigged from the perms to surround the set. The bluescreen was hung on the outside track, and four 20'x40' UltraBounce panels were hung on the ◗ Blast from the Past inside track so they could travel around Top: A final comp the set, providing skylight fill and helping from the climactic to reduce bluescreen spill. scene at Cape Late-afternoon sunlight was Canaveral shows Agent K in action. provided by three scissor lifts holding nine Middle: The Maxi Coops each. All the lights were filmmakers prep a gelled with 1⁄2 CTS, and one set of Maxi shot of Brolin for the scene. Bottom: Coops was softened with Light Grid. A The Cape 20K on a 60' Condor provided a hard- Canaveral set sunlight rim. included the Apollo 11 space Once J takes the plunge, his fall capsule. lasts about 21⁄2 minutes, during which the 3-D convergence and interaxial distances change dynamically from cut to cut, bringing the pavement on 42nd Street ever closer to the audience. “The filmmakers wanted the fall to be as extreme as humanly possible,” Ralston remarks, “but we had to carefully orchestrate the depth so it wouldn’t tear your brain out when we cut from a deep falling shot to a big close- up of Will’s face.” Once he lands in 1969, J finds young Agent K in the bureau’s home office, where Welch established a period look with dark carpets, wood paneling, colorful furniture and even a fire pit. The 10 reflective spires from 2012 have become 10 wood golf-tee sculptures. As far as the camera and lighting were concerned, “I didn’t want to approach 1969 much differently than 2012 because it would have seemed a little arch,” says Pope. “What people do and say can be funny, but the look of the film shouldn’t make you laugh.” One of the few changes he made was to lend the ’69 headquarters a bit more contrast. To achieve this, he had the crew remove the ceiling and hang 78 6K space lights going through a layer of Light Grid; the toplight is broken up by the golf-tee sculptures. Creating credible New York City exteriors for 1969 proved a steep challenge. To bring the swinging heydays of Brooklyn’s Coney Island amusement park and Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood to life, for example, the filmmakers relied on a blend of strategically chosen angles, careful art direction, and CGI. “What’s left of period New York is becoming smaller and smaller as the city turns into this kind of Disneyland for adults,” notes Welch. “Shooting period on location is

80 June 2012 American Cinematographer

◗ Blast from the Past

typically easier than starting from designed digital and physical models at 2⁄3 scratch because you have evidence of its scale, which he presented to the rest of the existence, but it requires a more artful crew in order to determine which parts of arrangement of space, texture, volume the gantry should be built onstage and and all the things that make up movie which should be created digitally. design.” Ultimately, two floors of the structure were A nighttime chase through 1969 constructed onstage at Kaufman-Astoria, Brooklyn required extensive second-unit along with the Apollo 11 capsule and two work, which Meglic shot with Arri gantry arms that could be raised and Alexas for maximum dynamic range. lowered to the capsule. (The two floors Imageworks artists subsequently were cleverly repeated in editing and augmented the shots and created all-CG augmented with CGI to create the illusion city blocks with period cars, signage and of a 20-story structure.) digital doubles of Smith, Brolin and The set was surrounded by blue- Clement. The chase ultimately leads the screen and six 20'x40' UltraBounce panels. characters to Cape Canaveral and the “Because of the set’s proximity to the Apollo 11 launch, which in MiB mythol- perms, the sun and skylight had to be ogy is a cover for the deployment of a rigged up above the steel perms,” notes web around the Earth designed to Finley. “The rigging grips, led by Jim deflect alien invasions. Boniece, had to first remove the steel-grid To prep the launch scene, the floor panels from between the steel trusses department heads visited the Canaveral of the grid, and then add additional pipe Air Force Base in Florida to view the and truss above that for hang points. Then Pope and his collaborators prep a dolly shot onstage. original Saturn V gantry and rockets at Louis Petraglia’s electric-rigging crew the Kennedy Space Center. Welch then could go in and rig cable light.”

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

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82 Ninety-six 6K space lights with silk that quickly pushes into the actors on Pope and Sonnenfeld tackled the 3-D skirts and 1⁄2 CTB were rigged above the the practical. Ralston and Redd assem- version, which had to be graded for gantry. 6-light Maxi coops gelled with 1⁄2 bled each shot like a collage, replacing Xpand and RealD projection systems. CTB and Light Grid were hung over the parts of the gantry, and adding light to Pope prefers Xpand for its bright, even main tower area to augment the skylight, the actors and surrounding them with projection and active-glasses system. and five 36-light Moleenos were rigged at smoke. Some shots required almost a “When you’re a cinematographer grad- the capsule end of the lighting grid to complete reworking. “Everyone was in a ing in 3-D, you realize the quality of provide three-quarter backlight. Fourteen time crunch, so we couldn’t always take your work is affected more by the simple 12-light Maxis provided sunlight along the time to set up the lights and camera choice of 3-D systems than by any other the gantry arm and tower. The 12-light the way we needed to,” says Ralston. “A decisions you make,” he notes. ● Maxis and 36-light Moleenos used for lot of the gantry ended up being elimi- sunlight were rigged so they could be nated because the plates weren’t ideal. raised or lowered to accommodate the We rotoscoped the actors and filled in TECHNICAL SPECS height of a given shot. All of the keylights the rest of the shot with a digital gantry Super 1.85:1 and backlights were dimmed down to 75 [made from] the background plates we percent to warm them up a bit. shot in Florida.” 4-perf Super 35mm and Digital “Even on a set that big, there’s still a Pope supervised the digital timing Capture key light and a fill light,” Pope reflects. at EFilm in Hollywood, where he Arricam Studio, Lite; Arri Alexa “The main difference between lighting worked with colorist and ASC associate two people in a room and lighting two Steven J. Scott. “It’s just picking nits, Arri/Zeiss Master Primes people on a gantry at Cape Canaveral is really,” says Pope, who took advantage of what you do with the light.” EFilm’s proprietary Eworks grading Kodak Vision3 500T 5219 Visual effects aided some of the tools to balance minute discrepancies in Digital Intermediate sequence’s more complex shots, such as a image density and hue. Immediately wide establishing shot of the launch pad after the 2-D grade was completed, Stereoscopic Conversion

83 • SUBMISSION INFORMATION • Please e-mail New Products/Services releases to: [email protected] and include full contact information and product images. Photos must be New Products & Services TIFF or JPEG files of at least 300dpi.

Litepanels Highlights Inca Series Litepanels has introduced the Inca Series tungsten-balanced LED Fresnel fixtures, which incorporate LEDs that are color-matched to the incandescent tungsten-halogen lighting fixtures used in many television stations and other facilities. The Inca Series makes it possible for a studio to change over from incandescent to LED fixtures in a staged, multi-year plan, rather than having to do so all at once. The Inca 4 (4" lens) and Inca 6 (6" lens) Fresnel fixtures are Rotolight Shines with Anova the first members of the series. The Inca 4 focuses from 13-72 Rotolight has introduced the eco-friendly Anova LED degrees, and the Inca 6 focuses from 15-67 degrees. Both units EcoFlood, a computer-controlled, bi-color LED floodlight that deliv- provide dimming from 100 to 0 percent with no noticeable shift in ers a 110-degree super-wide beam angle and the equivalent output color temperature. Focus and dimming can be controlled via DMX of a 1K tungsten fixture while drawing only 38 watts of power. 512 protocol, or by on-fixture knobs. Anova can accurately reproduce any color of white light from The Inca 4 and Inca 6 use significantly less power than candlelight to full daylight (3,150°K to 6,300°K). Weighing 5.7 conventional tungsten-halogen fixtures. The Inca 4 draws about 39 pounds, it is highly portable and well suited for both studio and watts and provides comparable illumination to a 300-watt tradi- location work. The Anova is also equipped with a V-lock plate for tional tungsten Fresnel; the Inca 6 draws approximately 104 watts battery operation, providing three hours of operation at 100- and provides comparable illumination to a 650-watt traditional percent output. tungsten Fresnel. Because Litepanels LED fixtures run cool to the Users can control Anova locally on the fixture, via wired touch, there is an additional savings in the power it takes to cool a DMX, or through the built-in Wi-Fi with Rotolight’s Magic Eye app studio. on an iPhone or iPad. Magic Eye provides wireless remote control of For additional information, visit www.litepanels.com. brightness and color temperature across multiple lights, and the app can store, recall and transmit settings and transitions, enabling the Canon Offers 4K Imaging Solutions replication of lighting conditions from location to studio. Canon U.S.A., Inc. is expanding its Cinema EOS System of The Anova also offers remote control of third-party fixtures professional cinematography products with the introduction of the via DMX Master Mode. Additionally, using the camera in an iPhone Cinema EOS C500 and Cinema EOS C500 PL cameras. The C500 or iPad, the Anova can see and measure both color and brightness, features an EF mount for Canon EF lenses, and the C500 PL features allowing the fixture to accurately track changing light conditions on a PL mount for PL lenses. Both cameras are capable of originating location. 4K-resolution (4096x2160) imagery with uncompressed raw output Building on the quality of light, color accuracy, portability, for external recording. ease of use and affordability of the company’s RL48 LED Ringlight, The C500 and C500 PL cameras output their 4K-resolution Rotolight LED systems deliver full-spectrum “continuous light” with video as a 10-bit uncompressed raw data stream with no deBayer- studio-accurate color and a soft, wide, shadowless quality that is ing. The cameras can also output quad Full HD (3840x2160), 2K perfect for portraiture or interview lighting. (2048x1080), Full HD (1920x1080) and other resolutions. All of For additional information, visit www.rotolight.com. these digital-image-source formats fully conform to established

84 June 2012 American Cinematographer record ProRes and DNxHD for HD-resolution files compatible with Final Cut Pro X and Avid Media Composer. When recording in either 2.5K or 1080 HD resolution, the camera can capture 24, 25, 29.97 or 30 fps. The built-in LCD display makes focusing easy, and allows playback of captured files. A speaker is built-in for clip playback, and there is also a headphone socket and Blackmagic Design Unveils embedded audio on the SDI output and Cinema Camera Thunderbolt connection. The SDI output Blackmagic Design has introduced includes all camera data such as time code, the Blackmagic Cinema Camera, a digital- transport control, shutter angle, color cinema camera that offers 13 stops of temperature setting and ASA information dynamic range, a 2.5K sensor, a built-in SSD overlaid in anti-aliased fonts. recorder, a built-in capacitive touch-screen For easy metadata entry, the LCD LCD, standard jack audio connections, built- features fast and responsive touch-screen in high-speed Thunderbolt connection, 3 technology. When the user taps the display Gb/s SDI output, a refrigerated sensor for with a finger, a data-entry window called low noise, and full compatibility with Canon the “slate” appears; this lets the user enter EF- and Zeiss ZF-mount lenses. shot information just like typing on a smart The camera also includes a full copy phone. This data is then stored in the files of DaVinci Resolve 9.0 for color correction, and can be accessed by NLE software during and Blackmagic Ultrascope software for editing. Metadata is compatible with soft- waveform monitoring. Ultrascope can be ware such as Final Cut Pro X and DaVinci run on a laptop connected to the camera via Resolve. All camera settings — such as a Thunderbolt connection. frame rate, shutter angle, color tempera- The Blackmagic Cinema Camera ture, dynamic range and focus assist — can includes a fast SSD recorder that can record be changed on the touch LCD. the full sensor detail in 12-bit Log raw files The Blackmagic Cinema Camera will onto fast solid-state disks. The CinemaDNG- be available in July for $2,995. For additional format files can be read by all high-end information, visit www.blackmagic- video software. Additionally, the camera can design.com. Film & Digital The C500 and C500 PL simultaneously record 50 Mbps HD proxy video SPECIALTY to an in-camera CF card that is immediately available to support offline PRODUCTS editing. Equipped with a new 8.85- ppO enheimer Camera P tsducor ’ enrcur t megapixel CMOS sensor, the cameras eroff ings include the OppCam Panhandle are compatible with Canon’s wide styS em, many LDC Monitor YYooke M tsoun , 60mm & 100mm Macro Lenses, A rr i Alexa range of interchangeable EF Cinema & Sony F65 OB P wo er Supplies, A iflerr x and PL-mount lenses and EF lenses for 235 erttBaOB stySy em, Land ens rarCens y Canon SLR cameras. Handles for Angenieux, Alura, Canon and Canon has also unveiled the EOS- ujinon zF lenses.oom of or tavinnoan been e vhae W vhae e been tavinnoan or of telegan , 1D C digital SLR, the newest addition ticalacpr , reliable camera acc iesessor to its line of EOS DSLR cameras, and since 1992. Our products are used by SMPTE production standards. the first to be designed as a member of the enr tal houses, production companies and All 4K formats can be selected to Cinema EOS system. The EOS-1D C records cameramen around the globe. operate from 1 to 60 fps. The cameras video at 4K (4096x2160) or Full HD employ a 12-bit RGB 4:4:4 signal format (1920x1080) resolution to support high- during 2K output, which can be selected to end motion-picture and advanced-imaging operate from 1 to 60 fps as well. If switched applications. The camera incorporates seattlettlesea 206-467-8666 to a 10-bit YCrCb 4:2:2 mode, the camera Canon Log Gamma to enable the recording toll freefrt eeoll 877-467-8666 can operate at up to 120 fps. of high-quality video while also providing a [email protected]@oppcam.com www.oppenheimercameraproducts.comwww .oppenheimer oducaprcamer om.ctsoduc 85 high level of color-grading freedom. The camera includes an 18.1 megapixel full-frame 24mm x 36mm Canon CMOS sensor with the ability to record 8-bit 4:2:2 Motion JPEG 4K video or Full HD video to the camera’s CF memory card. Additional features include an extended sensitivity range of up to ISO 25,600 for exceptional motion-imaging results with reduced noise even in low-light settings. Additionally, Canon has announced the development of four new EF Cinema zoom lenses designed to deliver exceptional optical performance on 4K-resolution cameras. Each of the four lenses features a compact, lightweight design to facilitate handheld and Steadicam shooting while also covering a wide range of focal lengths. The lineup comprises two wide-angle cine zooms — the CN-E15.5-47mm T2.8 L S (for EF mounts) and the CN-E15.5-47mm T2.8 L SP (for PL mounts) — and two telephoto cine zooms — the CN-E30-105mm T2.8 L S (for EF mounts) and CN-E30-105mm T2.8 L SP (for PL mounts). For additional information, visit www.usa.canon.com.

Sony FS700U Captures High Speed Sony has introduced the NEX- FS700U Full HD super-slow-motion camcorder, the latest in its line of NXCam interchangeable-lens E-mount camcorders. The camcorder delivers Full-HD images at 120 and 240 fps in an 8- or 16- seconds burst mode, respectively. 480 fps and 960 fps rates at reduced resolution are also available. The NXCam system’s E- Mount flexibility is designed to accept virtu-

86 start/stop. Function buttons are also enlarged to make operating easy, even while wearing gloves. The camcorder’s enhanced, durable design also includes anchor points for compatibility with third party accessories. The camcorder is 60/50 Hz switchable. Sony is planning a firmware upgrade that will enable the NEX-FS700U to output 4K bit-stream data over 3G HD-SDI when ally all SLR and DSLR 35mm lenses, with the used with a Sony 4K recorder. use of simple, inexpensive adapters without The NEX-FS700U (body only) and optical degradation. NEX FS700UK (with 18-200mm zoom lens) The FS700U uses a new 4K Exmor are planned to be available this month at a Super 35 CMOS sensor that comprises 11.6 suggested list price starting at less than million pixels. This high-speed readout chip $10,000. is optimized for motion-picture shooting, For additional information, visit providing high sensitivity, low noise and http://pro.sony.com. minimal aliasing. Users can also capture high-quality still images with the FS700U. Arri Advances Anamorphic The FS700U’s 3G HD-SDI and HDMI Arri has unveiled the Alexa Plus 4:3, www.aerocrane.nl connectors can output Full HD 50p and a new Alexa model with similar functional- 60p, in addition to standard HD 60i, 24p, ity to the Alexa Plus but featuring a 4:3 818.458.9790 25p or 30p frame rates with embedded Super 35 sensor, the ability to switch from SEE US AT time code and audio. 3G HD-SDI can 16:9 sensor mode to 4:3 sensor mode, and CINE GEAR EXPO output native 23.98, 25 or 29.97 progres- built-in licensing for high-speed shooting, sive signals; users can also choose to output anamorphic de-squeeze and DNxHD. PsF over the 3G HD-SDI. Thanks to the flex- Anamorphic lenses squeeze the ibility of the digital ports, virtually any exter- image by approximately a factor of two. nal recorder can be connected. When using sensors that are natively 16:9 NEX-FS700U operators can take or wider, it becomes necessary to crop the advantage of the camcorder’s built-in ND sides of the image to achieve the desired filters, with a newly designed wheel that rotates across the sensor like a turret. The wheel includes positions for Clear, 1⁄4 (2 stops), 1⁄16 (4 stops) and 1⁄64 (6 stops). The camcorder also includes face detection and auto focus to help ensure the subject is always kept in focus. Users can save up to 99 camcorder profile settings on a memory card and can copy the same setting to multiple units. Compatible media includes MS and SD memory cards and Sony’s HXR-FMU128 flash memory unit that attaches to the camcorder. Additional features include a detach- widescreen aspect ratio, resulting in a able top handle secured by a pair of screws smaller used sensor area and a different (a cold shoe, plus two sets of ¼" and 3⁄8" angle of view for the lens. With the Alexa holes) that allow heavy accessories to be Plus 4:3 camera, the full area of the sensor mounted; the handle is attached with a is used, which means more light per photo- rosette mount. The handle incorporates an site, translating into greater sensitivity, less “active grip” that features four buttons for noise, more exposure latitude and sharper commonly used functions: expanded focus, images. Alternatively, the larger sensor area auto iris, still capture and recording can be used for greater freedom in vertical repositioning when using spherical lenses. The Alexa Plus 4:3 joins the Alexa Studio and Alexa M, which already have 4:3 sensors. The Studio might typically function as an A camera, the Plus 4:3 as a B camera, and the M as a compact, versatile C camera. For additional information, visit www.arri.com.

Panasonic Presents Upgradeable HPX600 Panasonic has unveiled the AG- HPX600 P2 HD shoulder-mount camcorder, which boasts 10-bit, 4:2:2 AVC-Intra recording. Weighing less than 7 pounds, the HPX600 incorporates a new 2⁄3-type MOS sensor to produce HD and SD images. The HPX600 achieves a high sensitivity of F12 (at 59.94 Hz) and a signal-to-noise ratio of 59dB. The camcorder supports AVC-Intra 100/50, DVCPro HD, DVCPro 50, DVCPro and DV as standard. It is 50 Hz and 59.94 Hz switchable for worldwide use. The HPX600 will be upgradeable as new functionality becomes available. Upgradeable options will include wireless metadata input, proxy recording, variable frame rates and AVC-Ultra recording. When available in 2013, AVC-Ultra will offer master-quality and/or low-bit-rate 10-bit, 4:2:2 recording in Full HD to meet a variety of user needs from mastering to transmission. (However, the HPX600 will not support all AVC-Ultra formats.) The HPX600 also features wireless and wired connection ability with Wi-Fi, USB and Gigabit Ethernet. In addition, a future option will support LiveU for video uplink with real-time indication of LiveU’s transmission status and video transmission quality to the camera operator. The interchangeable lens camcorder will be equipped with Chromatic Aberration Compensation to maximize lens performance, Dynamic Range Stretch function to help compensate for wide variations in light-

88 ing, and a highly accurate flash band detec- a wide focal range of 29-667mm (35mm tion and compensation software. Original equivalent) and has manual focus, zoom features will include a smart user interface and iris rings, along with three ND filters. that permits accessibility to the camera’s Other features include auto focus with face extensive functions from an LCD display on detection and an optical image stabilizer. the side of the camera. The HPX600 will The cameras also include a built-in offer two P2 card slots and an SD card slot. stereo microphone and two XLR inputs with The AG-HPX600 will be available in phantom power and a shotgun mic holder, the fall at $16,000-$18,000. as well as a headphone jack and separate For additional information, visit input for a wireless mic receiver. The www.panasonic.com. cameras are also equipped with a LANC remote connector and are compatible with JVC Expands ProHD JVC’s Compact Studio ProHD 7" monitor Camcorder Line for an affordable studio system. Addition- JVC Professional Products Co., a divi- ally, the cameras include a time-code sion of JVC Americas Corp., has introduced synchronization input and HD-SDI and the GY-HM650 and GY-HM600 ProHD HDMI outputs. handheld cameras. Equipped with dual codecs, the GY- Both cameras feature a built-in wide- HM650 is capable of producing Full HD files angle 23x autofocus zoom lens and boast on one memory card while simultaneously superior low-light performance and excel- creating smaller, Web-friendly files (1⁄4 HD) lent sensitivity (F11 at 2,000 lux) in a on a second card; with built-in FTP and comfortable, versatile form factor. The light- Wi-Fi connectivity, the camcorder can weight cameras record HD or SD footage in deliver the footage without a microwave or multiple file formats, including native .MP4, satellite connection. It also records .MXF .MOV and AVCHD, to non-proprietary files with rich descriptive metadata that is SDHC or SDXC media cards. In addition to optimized for asset management. relay mode for uninterrupted recording, the The GY-HM600 will be available in cameras allow simultaneous recording to the fall for a recommended price of $4,695; both memory cards for instant backup or the GY-HM650 will be available in the client copy. winter for a recommended price of $5,695. The cameras feature a 1.22- For additional information, visit megapixel color viewfinder and color 3.5" http://pro.jvc.com. LCD. A second trigger and servo zoom control on the built-in handle make it easy Angenieux Focuses on to record while holding the camera at low Optimo Zooms or high angles. Additionally, the Pre Rec Thales Angenieux has introduced (retro cache) feature continuously records two additions to its line of Optimo lenses: and stores up to 5 seconds of footage in the Optimo 19.5-94mm and Optimo 28- cache memory to help prevent missed 340mm. shots. The Optimo 19.5-94mm is a 4.7x The cameras are equipped with zoom lens with a fast aperture of T2.6 (wide three 1⁄3" 12-bit CMOS sensors, open). The lens features a 329-degree focus each with 1920x1080 rotation with more than 50 calibrated pixels. The built- witness marks for precise focusing in feet or in Fujinon HD meters. It weighs 12.3 pounds and features lens features a front diameter of 136mm and a close focus of 2'5". The 12x Optimo 28-340mm long zoom lens features a fast aperture of T3.2 (wide open) and is ideal for capturing criti- cal close-ups from longer distances. It is designed with a 327-degree focus rotation and more than 70 precise witness marks, available in feet or meters. The Optimo 28- Sachtler Supports Ace Sachtler, part of Vitec Videocom, a Vitec Group company, has introduced the Ace tripod system. With a payload of up to 8.8 pounds, Ace is ideal for smaller HDV camcorders and video-enabled DSLR cameras. Ace is also compact, durable and 340mm weighs approximately 24.4 pounds extremely lightweight. As with all Sachtler and features a front diameter of 162mm products, Ace is ergonomically designed and a close focus of 4'5". and offers an intuitive feel. The Optimo 19.5-94mm and 28- For Ace, Sachtler developed the 340mm boast minimal breathing. Both patented Synchronized Actuated drag, lenses are available with PL mounts (PV which guarantees accuracy and repeatabil- mounts by request) and are compatible ity. With three vertical and three horizontal with Angenieux’s 1.4x and 2x extenders. grades of drag (plus 0), SA-drag enables For additional information, visit fine adjustment for precise panning and tilt- www.angenieux.com. ing. Additionally, Ace’s five-step counterbal- ance makes counterbalancing fast and Fujifilm Adds PL-Mount Zoom simple. The Ace fluid head has a tilt range Fujifilm Optical Devices has intro- of +90 degrees to -75 degrees. duced the PL 19-90mm Cabrio ZK4.7x19, Ace incorporates a glass fiber rein- the newest member of the company’s forced composite material that makes the Premier PL-Mount Zoom family. The lens 75mm fluid head especially features an exclusive detachable servo drive light and offers a comfortable unit, making it suitable for use as a standard and non-slip surface. The PL lens or as an ENG-style lens. The PL 19- head enables camera opera- 90mm also features flange focal-distance tors to work intuitively and adjustment and macro function and is Lens professionally. In addition, Data System and /i metadata compatible. Sachtler’s 50 years of The PL 19-90mm covers a 31.5mm experience in develop- sensor size on a digital-cinema-style ing camera support camera. Weighing 5.95 pounds (including promises depend- servo motors), the lens also incorporates a ability, easy opera- nine-blade iris. tion and such The digital servo boasts 16-bit features as the encoding. The PL 19-90mm can be practical park- controlled using industry-standard wireless ing position for controllers, as well as existing Fujinon wired spare camera and wireless units. Other features include screws and luminous barrel markings for visibility in the long dark shooting situations; distances are listed 104mm sliding in feet or meters and can be changed in the range of the field. camera plate. For additional information, visit For additional information, visit www.fujifilm.com. www.sachtler.com.

EasyRig Goes Mini EasyRig and 16x9 Inc. have introduced the EasyRig Mini body-worn camera-support system. The EasyRig Mini replaces the Turtle X and features a stabi- lizing vest rather than a backpack to evenly distribute weight across the chest and back. The EasyRig Mini also allows for the adjustment of the support bar in relation

90 to the vest in height, so camera height can be tailored to each user. The EasyRig Mini is available in two models: the Mini, suitable for cameras weighing up to 9 pounds, and the Mini Strong, for cameras between 9-13.2 pounds. A new protective transport bag can store both the camera and rig together safely, and it can also be quickly transformed into a backpack by simply unfolding the shoulder straps that are securely stored in the bag’s side pockets. The EasyRig Mini is available now for a recommended price of $1,410. For more information, visit www.16x9inc.com.

P+S Technik Launches PS-Micro Rig P+S Technik has introduced the compact and versatile PS-Micro Rig for native 3-D productions. Building on the success and functionality of the PS-Freestyle Rig, the PS- Micro Rig is compatible with any kind of micro camera (such as the SI-2K or the SinaCam) and boasts a flyweight of only 8.8 pounds. The rig can be used with remote control or in a completely manual mode. The PS-Micro Rig is suited for shoulder, crane or tripod operation, and is also balanced for use on a Steadicam. The rig is also compatible with a wide range of accessories from P+S Technik and other third- party manufacturers. For additional information, visit www.pstechnik.de.

Codex Gets Aboard Cinema EOS Codex has begun shipping the Onboard S Recorder, a recording solution for compact HD digital-cinema cameras such as the Canon Cinema EOS C300. Data is recorded onto Codex’s new Capture the Ki Pro Quad solid-state portable video Drives from the HD-SDI output of the recorder, which is capable of capturing high- camera. Codex has partnered with both quality edit-ready files in formats including Vocas and Arri’s Professional Camera Acces- 4K (4096x2160), Quad HD (3840x2160), 2K sories group to design new mounts and (2048x1080) and HD (1920x1080), provid- handheld solutions for the C300 to accom- ing a fast path from camera-to-editorial with modate the Onboard S recorder. 10-bit 4:4:4 and Codex worked with Canon during 10-bit 4:2:2 color the development of the C500, which is support. capable of originating 4K (4096x2160) Ki Pro Quad motion imagery, to ensure that the entire helps facilitate a workflow from recording to production is a powerful workflow seamless experience. The Codex Onboard for 4K, making it M can record 4K raw files from the Cinema suited to such EOS C500 onto Codex datapacks at up to camera systems as 120 fps. The datapacks can then be loaded the new Canon on a Codex Transfer Station for Mac OS X, Cinema EOS C500. a Codex Digital Lab or a Codex Vault S for Ki Pro Quad accepts QC, dailies generation and archiving. raw camera output “Codex is committed to supporting via SDI and simulta- a wide range of cameras and we are excited neously outputs to work with Canon as they introduce a that data via variety of cameras for the feature film, tele- Thunderbolt. The vision and commercials markets,” says recorder also per- Marc Dando, Codex’s managing director. forms deBayer processing of the raw data “Given our experience in recording raw that can be used to produce on-board Apple data, it was a natural progression for us to ProRes recordings to SSD media. HD, 2K and develop an entire workflow, from recording 4K ProRes files recorded to removable SSD through post.” media can then be used in a variety of popu- The Codex Onboard M Recorder lar nonlinear editors. The deBayered image was used with the C500 camera to capture produced by the Ki Pro Quad can also be the Canon promo film 4 Cities, which used for real-time 4K monitoring; a scaled or features material shot by cinematographers cropped output is also simultaneously avail- Tony Pierce-Roberts, BSC; Ben Seresin, ASC, able for 2K or HD monitoring via dedicated BSC; and Martin Ruhe. SDI and HDMI connections. For additional information, visit Ki Pro Quad will be available later this www.codexdigital.com. year through AJA’s worldwide network of resellers for $3,995. For more information, AJA Goes 4K with Ki Pro Quad visit www.aja.com. AJA Video Systems has introduced

92 Convergent Design Records Raw Convergent Design has unveiled the Gemini Raw, which supports 4K raw recording with live preview and playback to a 4K monitor. Gemini Raw also boasts such features as four-camera recording/quad- split playback (in HD) and support for Avid DNxHD (RGB and YCC), uncompressed RGB 444, stereoscopic 3-D, simultaneous recording of raw/dailies, and 120 fps (in 2K/HD). Gemini Raw offers all the features of the Gemini 4:4:4 with significantly greater processing power, while retaining the same size, power and weight. Six programmable 3G-SDI ports can be configured as four- in/two-out or two-in/four-out; this innovative capability enables such configurations as quad-input record/quad-split display or single-stream 4K raw recording/4K monitoring. Stereo 3-D output options include luma differencing, side-by-side and anaglyph. Gemini Raw allows recording in high-quality HD (in DNxHD-220) and simultaneously in raw/uncompressed. Users can use the DNxHD footage for fast-turnaround projects while archiving raw for future, higher-resolution applications. Alternatively, users can record raw and DNxHD-36 proxy for dailies and offline work. Gemini Raw includes a built-in 5.0" 800x480 LCD touch screen for live preview and playback. Gemini Raw also employs dual 1.8" SSD drives, which greatly reduce size, weight and cost. Currently, these drives support quad-stream recording of up to 1080p30/2K raw, single-stream 4K raw up to 30p, single-stream 1080p/2K raw up to 120 fps (over dual 3G-SDI) or, in some formats, the creation of two identical masters (auto backup). The Gemini Raw production kit includes (at no extra cost) a simple SSD transfer station compatible with widely available, low-cost USB 3.0, FW-800 and Thunderbolt adapters. Pending certification by Arri, Gemini Raw will support both ArriRaw 16:9 up to 60 fps and ArriRaw 4:3 up to 48 fps. Full and simultaneously generate multiple, high-

support for Weisscam/P+S Technik HD/2K quality file-based deliverables for all steps in

raw is also planned. Convergent Design the post process.

also anticipates future support for addi- MTI Film has also unveiled Cortex

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- o 2 m 7 8 playback of a dozen common camera 7 MTI Film Conveys formats, including Sony SRMaster and F65, Cortex Platform Red, ArriRaw, DNxHD and ProRes. It See us at the Cinegear Expo,See June 1-2, 2012 Paramount Studios, New York Hollywood, Street CA Booth #92 Backlot, MTI Film has unveiled the Cortex includes tools for maintaining color deci- platform, a family of products that brings sions by importing and setting looks that coherence and portability to the process of can be exported as stills, ASC CDLs and managing digital assets from the set to the LUTs. Its project-management features screen. include commenting on frames or clips and The first offering in the Cortex family creating templates with color, audio and is Cortex Convey, which builds on the foun- burn-in options for use in dailies and dation of the automated, data-centric deliv- throughout the post process. All metadata, erables application used in MTI Film’s including color, generated in Cortex Control Dailies system. Cortex Convey is a Capture can be exported and shared with standalone application that features a other Cortex products at the post facility, powerful, multi-threaded transcoding saving time and ensuring consistency. engine that supports all popular video MTI Film also plans to roll out Cortex codecs with an interface that is easy to use. Control Dailies to address other points in The result is a simple, streamlined solution the production and post process. Ultimately, that can be used at any phase in the post- the Cortex family will form a seamless solu- production workflow. tion for managing media assets from prep Cortex Convey includes MTI Film’s through post and beyond. best-of-breed algorithms for down-conver- “A lot of time and money is wasted sion and color processing in a 32-bit float- because creative decisions and other meta- ing-point pipeline, as well as the latest real- data cannot be passed seamlessly from one time GPU-accelerated demosaicing algo- step in the process to the next,” says David rithms for raw camera codecs. Cortex McClure, vice president of product develop- Convey’s advanced project-management ment for MTI Film. “It either has to be re- features include multiple deliverable entered or is lost completely. The Cortex templates per project, automated work- platform is designed to allow all the actors, flows and a one-to-many render engine. It from DITs to dailies colorists to assistant is a simpler and more flexible way to reliably editors and more, to easily share this infor-

Backstage Equipment, Inc. /DQNHUVKLP%O1RUWK+ROO\ZRRG&$ )D[ 94 LQIR#EDFNVWDJHZHEFRPZZZEDFNVWDJHZHEFRP mation while remaining focused on their central task, undistracted by a large, complex application.” For additional information, visit www.mtifilm.com.

FotoKem Offers NextLab Version 3.0 FotoKem has unveiled the newest version of its NextLab software and on-set system. Designed and developed in- house, NextLab v3.0 can manage digital camera files and metadata, supporting Arri Alexa and Sony F65 in their native raw formats, Red Epic and Scarlet, Silicon Imaging and the Canon DSLR and Cinema EOS lines. NextLab v3.0 also incorporates the Academy Color Encod- ing Specifications (ACES) architecture. Additionally, FotoKem’s NextLab Live is an application that supports on-set color correction directly from digital camera feeds in real time. It enables cinematographers to load a look-up table, generate a color-decision list, and make color choices while recording images. With a digital-imaging technician, Next- Lab Live is simple to set up on a laptop and provides a color-control surface with an SDI interface. The NextLab software securely stores media, archives to LTO, provides quality control tools, audio syncing, color management and transcoding. It is incorporated into an array of services and offerings at FotoKem and its affiliates, including Keep Me Posted, Spy and Margarita Mix/LA Studios. FotoKem’s NextLab Mobile is a unified, rugged cart loaded with hardware running the software on set or near location. The NextLab Mobile unit has been redesigned with a smaller footprint and a sturdier enclosure. “Our focus is solving on-set needs and helping to integrate production and post,” says Tom Vice, vice president and general manager of NextLab. “Our Next- Lab software solutions bring creative flexibility to filmmakers in new ways that adapt to how productions want to work.” For additional information, visit www.fotokem.com. ➣

95 Autodesk Redesigns Smoke Autodesk, Inc. has unveiled Smoke 2013 video-editing software, a redesigned version of the all-in-one video editing and visual-effects tool for the Mac. Smoke 2013 features a unified creative workflow that brings powerful node-based compositing right in the timeline. Smoke can help editors simplify their workflow, centrally manage their media, work interactively with high- resolution media throughout their projects and deliver high-end content. Smoke 2013’s intuitive, all-in-one user interface combines track-based editorial, industry-standard editing conventions and proven Autodesk creative tools. Smoke’s robust toolset includes proven high-end finishing tools such as Action for true 3-D compositing, Color Warper for professional grading and color matching, and Master Keyer for one-click chroma keying and stereoscopic 3-D editing and effects. Powerful ConnectFX node-based compositing inside the timeline enables high-end effects and advanced compositing without having to leave the editorial environment. MediaHub offers a modern approach to working natively with the most common formats, facilitating the management of all project media from ingest to edit, effects and archiving. Additionally, Smoke 2013 runs on the most recent generation of Apple iMac and MacBook Pro systems using high-bandwidth Thunderbolt storage and IO, bringing true high-end video effects to flexible desktop and mobile workflows. Smoke 2013 will be available this fall for $3,495 per license. For more information, visit www.autodesk.com.

GenArts Packs Monsters GT v7 GenArts Inc., a leader in specialized visual-effects software, has released

The Monsters GT mini-packs each feature 2-5 effects and are ideal for creating project-specific effects like film burns, night vision, fluids, security-camera monitoring, time-based image trails and dozens of other looks. The complete collection of all 59 Monsters GT effects is also available for a starting price of $499. Additional features of Monsters GT v7 include enhanced sprite quality and smoother particle motion, new effects and enhancements to create a more streamlined workflow, resolution independence, GPU acceleration for improved render times and floating point processing for improved Monsters GT v7, the latest addition to the The Natural Phenomena theme pack image quality. company’s Sapphire Accents line. Designed and the 11 mini-packs are available for For additional information, visit to meet the demand for both realistic and Autodesk systems, Adobe After Effects, The www.genarts.com. original looks, Monsters GT features a wide Foundry Nuke, Eyeon Fusion, Assimilate range of more than 50 exceptional effects Scratch and Sony Vegas and deliver specific Avid Releases iPad Editing App that enrich every artist’s visual-effects port- types of effects in a single, convenient pack- Avid has released its first video-edit- folio so they can create extraordinary age. The Natural Phenomena theme pack ing application for the iPad, Avid Studio, imagery. For the first time, Monsters GT is features 19 creative problem-solving tools which is available in the Apple App Store. available in 11 mini-packs for $99 apiece that realistically simulate weather, atmos- Avid has made the Avid Studio app and a Natural Phenomena theme pack for pheric, fire and water effects without spend- for the iPad easy enough for first-time users $299. ing hours building the effects from scratch. yet sophisticated enough for more

98 board, make precision edits using the to any manufacturer’s lens and can also be Timeline and enhance their movie used on most cameras with integral non- creations with high-quality transi- motorized lenses. Additionally, the Lens tions, effects and a soundtrack. They Driver supports three methods of control — can share movies directly to YouTube, Serial RS232/422, Ethernet IP and analog Facebook and more — or export (standard broadcast lens interface) — and is projects to Avid Studio software, specially designed to perform smooth where they can continue editing with motion transitions. even more advanced tools. Users can “The added production efficiency get started fast with an included, that the new Lens Driver System generates easy-to-understand how-to guide. will be appreciated by a wide range of end Avid Studio for iPad takes full users,” says Anthony Cuomo, vice president advantage of touch capabilities to and general manager, Telemetrics Inc. offer a fun, easy and professional- “Because of its universality, it will give us the advanced editors. Offering frame-by-frame level editing experience. Multiple audio opportunity to offer a larger variety of editing accuracy and access to all kinds of tracks also allow for easy layering of music, cameras and lenses for integration into our media, Avid Studio for iPad allows users to audio and sound effects. camera robotics systems.” quickly and easily create and share highly For additional information, visit For additional information, visit professional multimedia experiences, wher- www.avid.com/avidstudioapp. www.telemetricsinc.com. ● ever they want to. Avid Studio for iPad allows users to Telemetrics Drives Lenses begin editing with ease by offering access to Telemetrics Inc., a leading provider of any videos, photos and audio already in camera robotics and control systems, has their iPad library, or media that can be introduced the Universal Lens Driver System, imported from iTunes, cameras and more. which motorizes zoom, focus and iris func- Users can then arrange clips in the Story- tions. It is fully adjustable and easily adapted

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www.theasc.com June 2012 101 Advertiser’s Index

16x9, Inc. 100 Dadco LLC 91 Oppenheimer Camera Prod. Aadyn Technology 4 Deluxe C2 85, 100 Abel Cine Tech 41 Denecke 101 P+S Technik 101 AC 1 Dolby Laboratories, Inc. 49 Panther Gmbh 87, 89 Adorama 9, 45 Eastman Kodak 64a-l, C4 PC&E 86 Aerocrane Sales & Leasing EFD USA, Inc 23 Pille Film Gmbh 100 87 Film Gear 93 Polecam Ltd 79 Aja Video Systems, Inc. 27 Filmotechnic Canada Ltd. 6 Powermills 101 Alan Gordon Enterprises 100 Filmtools 90 PRG 99 Arri 5 Fujifilm North America 25 Pro8mm 100 AZGrip 101 Glidecam Industries C3 Rag Place, The 88 Backstage Equipment, Inc. Grip Factory Munich/GFM 95 Rosco Laboratories 83 94 Hollywood Post Alliance 96 Scheimpflug Digital 61 Barger-Lite 6, 101 Schneider Optics 2 Birns & Sawyer 101 Hollywood Rentals 98 Hive 60 Servicevision USA 50 Blackmagic Design, Inc. 21 Siggraph 103 Burrell Enterprises, Inc. 100 Innovision 100 Super16 Inc. 100 Cammate 6 J.L. Fisher 31 Thales Angenieux 32-33 Cavision Enterprises 43 Tiffen 7 Chapman/Leonard Studio K5600 13 Equipment Inc. 57 Kino Flo 73 VF Gadgets, Inc. 100 Chimera 47 Koerner Camera Systems 86 Videouniversity 101 Cinematography Lee Filters 82 Visionary Forces 91 Electronics 88 Lighttools 19 Visual Products 95 Cinekinetic 100 Lights! Action! Co. 101 Welch Integrated 107 Clairmont Film & Digital 15 Los Angeles Film Festival 97 Willy’s Widgets 100 Cleveland Film Commission Maccam 92 www.theasc.com 88, 96, 51 Maine Media 93 102 Codex Digital Ltd. 11 Manios Optical 100 Convergent Design 67 Matthews Studio Equip. 69 Cooke Optics 17 Metal Toys 89 Creative Handbook 81 Mole-Richardson Company CTT Exp & Rentals 79 30 Movcam Tech. Co., Ltd. 59 Movie Tech AG 100, 101 NBC/Universal 29 New York Film Academy 71 Nila Inc. 72

102

American Society of Cinematographers Roster

OFFICERS – 2011-’12 ACTIVE MEMBERS David Darby Gil Hubbs Steve Mason Michael Goi, Thomas Ackerman Allen Daviau Shane Hurlbut Clark Mathis President Lance Acord Roger Deakins Tom Hurwitz Don McAlpine Marshall Adams Jan DeBont Judy Irola Don McCuaig Richard Crudo, Lloyd Ahern II Thomas Del Ruth Mark Irwin Seamus McGarvey Vice President Russ Alsobrook Bruno Delbonnel Levie Isaacks Robert McLachlan Owen Roizman, Howard A. Anderson III Peter Deming Peter James Geary McLeod Vice President Howard A. Anderson Jr. Jim Denault Johnny E. Jensen Greg McMurry James Anderson Caleb Deschanel Frank Johnson Steve McNutt John C. Flinn III, Peter Anderson Ron Dexter Shelly Johnson Terry K. Meade Vice President Tony Askins Craig Di Bona Jeffrey Jur Suki Medencevic Victor J. Kemper, Charles Austin George Spiro Dibie Adam Kane Chris Menges Treasurer Christopher Baffa Ernest Dickerson Stephen M. Katz Rexford Metz Frederic Goodich, James Bagdonas Billy Dickson Ken Kelsch Anastas Michos Secretary King Baggot Bill Dill Victor J. Kemper Douglas Milsome John Bailey Anthony Dod Mantle Wayne Kennan Dan Mindel Stephen Lighthill, Michael Ballhaus Stuart Dryburgh Francis Kenny Charles Minsky Sergeant-at-Arms Andrzej Bartkowiak Bert Dunk Glenn Kershaw Claudio Miranda John Bartley Lex DuPont Darius Khondji George Mooradian MEMBERS Bojan Bazelli John Dykstra Gary Kibbe Donald A. Morgan OF THE BOARD Frank Beascoechea Richard Edlund Jan Kiesser Donald M. Morgan John Bailey Affonso Beato Eagle Egilsson Jeffrey L. Kimball Kramer Morgenthau Stephen H. Burum Mat Beck Frederick Elmes Adam Kimmel Peter Moss Richard Crudo Dion Beebe Robert Elswit Alar Kivilo M. David Mullen Bill Bennett Geoffrey Erb David Klein Dennis Muren George Spiro Dibie Andres Berenguer Scott Farrar Richard Kline Fred Murphy Richard Edlund Carl Berger Jon Fauer George Koblasa Hiro Narita Fred Elmes Gabriel Beristain Don E. FauntLeRoy Fred J. Koenekamp Guillermo Navarro Michael Goi Steven Bernstein Gerald Feil Lajos Koltai Michael B. Negrin Victor J. Kemper Ross Berryman Steven Fierberg Pete Kozachik Sol Negrin Francis Kenny Oliver Bokelberg Mauro Fiore Neil Krepela Bill Neil Isidore Mankofsky Michael Bonvillain John C. Flinn III Willy Kurant Alex Nepomniaschy Robert Primes Richard Bowen Larry Fong Ellen M. Kuras John Newby David Boyd Ron Fortunato George La Fountaine Yuri Neyman Owen Roizman Russell Boyd Jonathan Freeman Edward Lachman Sam Nicholson Kees Van Oostrum Jonathan Brown Tak Fujimoto Ken Lamkin Crescenzo Notarile Haskell Wexler Don Burgess Alex Funke Jacek Laskus David B. Nowell Vilmos Zsigmond Stephen H. Burum Steve Gainer Denis Lenoir Rene Ohashi Bill Butler Robert Gantz John R. Leonetti Daryn Okada ALTERNATES Frank B. Byers Ron Garcia Matthew Leonetti Thomas Olgeirsson Michael D. O’Shea Bobby Byrne David Geddes Andrew Lesnie Woody Omens Patrick Cady Dejan Georgevich Peter Levy Miroslav Ondricek Rodney Taylor Antonio Calvache Michael Goi Matthew Libatique Michael D. O’Shea Ron Garcia Paul Cameron Stephen Goldblatt Charlie Lieberman Vince Pace Sol Negrin Russell P. Carpenter Paul Goldsmith Stephen Lighthill Anthony Palmieri Kenneth Zunder James L. Carter Frederic Goodich Karl Walter Lindenlaub Phedon Papamichael Alan Caso Victor Goss John Lindley Daniel Pearl Michael Chapman Jack Green Robert F. Liu Edward J. Pei Rodney Charters Adam Greenberg Walt Lloyd James Pergola James A. Chressanthis Robbie Greenberg Bruce Logan Dave Perkal T.C. Christensen Xavier Grobet Gordon Lonsdale Lowell Peterson Joan Churchill Alexander Gruszynski Emmanuel Lubezki Wally Pfister Curtis Clark Changwei Gu Julio G. Macat Bill Pope Peter L. Collister Rick Gunter Glen MacPherson Steven Poster Jack Cooperman Rob Hahn Paul Maibaum Tom Priestley Jr. Jack Couffer Gerald Hirschfeld Constantine Makris Rodrigo Prieto Vincent G. Cox Henner Hofmann Denis Maloney Robert Primes Jeff Cronenweth Adam Holender Isidore Mankofsky Frank Prinzi Richard Crudo Ernie Holzman Christopher Manley Richard Quinlan Dean R. Cundey John C. Hora Michael D. Margulies Declan Quinn Stefan Czapsky Tom Houghton Barry Markowitz Earl Rath

104 June 2012 American Cinematographer JUNE 2012

Richard Rawlings Jr. John Toll Robert B. Creamer Robert Mastronardi Ira Tiffen Frank Raymond Mario Tosi Grover Crisp Joe Matza Steve Tiffen Tami Reiker Salvatore Totino Peter Crithary Albert Mayer, Jr. Arthur Tostado Robert Richardson Luciano Tovoli Daniel Curry Bill McDonald Jeffrey Treanor Anthony B. Richmond Jost Vacano Ross Danielson Karen McHugh Bill Turner Bill Roe Theo Van de Sande Carlos D. DeMattos Andy McIntyre Stephan Ukas-Bradley Owen Roizman Eric Van Haren Noman Gary Demos Stan Miller Mark Van Horne Pete Romano Kees Van Oostrum Mato Der Avanessian Walter H. Mills Richard Vetter Charles Rosher Jr. Checco Varese Kevin Dillon George Milton Dedo Weigert Giuseppe Rotunno Ron Vargas David Dodson Mike Mimaki Evans Wetmore Philippe Rousselot Mark Vargo Judith Doherty Michael Morelli Franz Wieser Juan Ruiz-Anchia Amelia Vincent Cyril Drabinsky Dash Morrison Beverly Wood Marvin Rush William Wages Jesse Dylan Nolan Murdock Jan Yarbrough Paul Ryan Roy H. Wagner Jonathan Erland Dan Muscarella Hoyt Yeatman Eric Saarinen Mandy Walker Ray Feeney Iain A. Neil Irwin M. Young Alik Sakharov Michael Watkins William Feightner Otto Nemenz Michael Zacharia Mikael Salomon Michael Weaver Phil Feiner Ernst Nettmann Bob Zahn Harris Savides Jonathan West Jimmy Fisher Tony Ngai Nazir Zaidi Roberto Schaefer Haskell Wexler Scott Fleischer Mickel Niehenke Michael Zakula Tobias Schliessler Jack Whitman Thomas Fletcher Jeff Okun Les Zellan Aaron Schneider Gordon Willis Gilles Galerne Marty Oppenheimer Nancy Schreiber Dariusz Wolski Salvatore Giarratano Walt Ordway HONORARY MEMBERS Fred Schuler Ralph Woolsey Richard B. Glickman Ahmad Ouri Col. Edwin E. Al drin Jr. John Schwartzman Peter Wunstorf John A. Gresch Michael Parker Neil A. Armstrong John Seale Robert Yeoman Jim Hannafin Warren Parker Col. Michael Collins Christian Sebaldt Richard Yuricich William Hansard Dhanendra Patel Bob Fisher Dean Semler Jerzy Zielinski Bill Hansard, Jr. Kristin Petrovich David MacDonald Ben Seresin Vilmos Zsigmond Richard Hart Ed Phillips Cpt. Bruce McCandless II Eduardo Serra Kenneth Zunder Robert Harvey Nick Phillips Larry Parker Steven Shaw Josh Haynie Joshua Pines D. Brian Spruill Richard Shore ASSOCIATE MEMBERS Charles Herzfeld Carl Porcello Newton Thomas Sigel Alan Albert Larry Hezzelwood Howard Preston Steven Silver Richard Aschman Frieder Hochheim David Pringle John Simmons Kay Baker Bob Hoffman Phil Radin Sandi Sissel Joseph J. Ball Vinny Hogan Christopher Reyna Santosh Sivan Amnon Band Cliff Hsui Colin Ritchie Bradley B. Six Carly M. Barber Robert C. Hummel Eric G. Rodli Michael Slovis Craig Barron Roy Isaia Domenic Rom Dennis L. Smith Thomas M. Barron George Joblove Andy Romanoff Roland “Ozzie” Smith Larry Barton Joel Johnson Frederic Rose Reed Smoot Wolfgang Baumler John Johnston Daniel Rosen Bing Sokolsky Bob Beitcher Marker Karahadian Dana Ross Peter Sova Mark Bender Frank Kay Bill Russell Dante Spinotti Bruce Berke Debbie Kennard Kish Sadhvani Terry Stacey Bob Bianco Milton Keslow David Samuelson Ueli Steiger Steven A. Blakely Robert Keslow Steve Schklair Peter Stein Mitchell Bogdanowicz Douglas Kirkland Peter K. Schnitzler Tom Stern Michael Bravin Mark Kirkland Walter Schonfeld Robert M. Stevens William Brodersen Timothy J. Knapp Wayne Schulman David Stockton Garrett Brown Karl Kresser Juergen Schwinzer Rogier Stoffers Ronald D. Burdett Chet Kucinski Steven Scott Vittorio Storaro Reid Burns Chuck Lee Alec Shapiro Harry Stradling Jr. Vincent Carabello Doug Leighton Don Shapiro David Stump Jim Carter Lou Levinson Milton R. Shefter Tim Suhrstedt Leonard Chapman Suzanne Lezotte Leon Silverman Peter Suschitzky Mark Chiolis Grant Loucks Garrett Smith Alfred Taylor Denny Clairmont Howard Lukk Timothy E. Smith Jonathan Taylor Adam Clark Andy Maltz Kimberly Snyder Rodney Taylor Cary Clayton Steven E. Manios, Jr. Stefan Sonnenfeld William Taylor Dave Cole Steven E. Manios, Sr. John L. Sprung Don Thorin Michael Condon Peter Martin Joseph N. Tawil

www.theasc.com June 2012 105 Clubhouse News

In Memoriam: ASC Associate Fred Godfrey Associate member Dennis Fred Godfrey died on March 22 at the age of 84. Godfrey was born on May 28, 1927, in Morgantown, West Va. After graduating from Washington State College, he moved to Los Angeles, where he landed a job at the Eastman Kodak Co. He served as a liaison between Kodak and the cinematography community, and his place within the community was recognized early on: Godfrey became an associate member of the ASC in January 1956. Godfrey was a key figure of the ASC Awards Committee for many years. For his service to the Society and the industry as a whole, he became the first recipient of the ASC Bud Stone Award of Distinction at this year’s ASC Awards ceremony.

Adams, Bokelberg, Sivan Charms Incidents, which he followed with a Join Society string of independent features. In 2002, he New active member Marshall shot Thomas McCarthy’s The Station Agent, Adams, ASC was born in Minneapolis, and they have since also collaborated on Minn., but grew up in California, where his The Visitor and Win Win. Bokelberg won a father worked as an architect and was Kodak Vision Award in 2000 for the feature frequently hired by members of the enter- The Citizen. He earned ASC Award nomina- tainment industry. One such client noticed tions in 2007 and 2008 for the pilots Raines Adams’ interest in making 8mm films and and My Own Worst Enemy, respectively. invited him to watch a TV-show shoot on Santosh Sivan, ASC, ISC grew up the Universal backlot, an experience that in Kerala, India. The son of a renowned film- cemented Adams’ desire to work in the maker, his passion for motion pictures was motion-picture business. kindled at an early age, and he credits his He entered the industry through the exposure to American Cinematographer electric department, where he climbed the with focusing his sights on cinematography. ranks and eventually worked as a gaffer on He graduated from the Film and Television features such as Block Party, Baby Geniuses Institute of India in 1984, and went on to and Gods and Monsters, and on series that earn numerous awards for his work as a included Babylon Five and Felicity. Adams director of photography through the 1980s stepped up to cinematographer in 2000, and ’90s. His honors include Best Cine- and since then has earned credits on the matography National Awards for the series Alias, The Agency, Kojak, Monk and features Perumthachan, Kaalapani, CSI: NY, among others. Mohiniyattam, Iruvar and Dil Se. Oliver Bokelberg, ASC, BVK was In 1995, Sivan became a founding born in Hamburg, Germany, where his member of the Indian Society of Cine- father had a photography studio. As a matographers. While continuing to work as teenager, he began working for his father as a cinematographer, he has also notched a film runner and editor’s assistant, and he numerous credits as a director on features was later accepted into New York Univer- such as Halo, The Terrorist, Before the Rains sity’s undergraduate film program. Upon and Tahaan. He teaches cinematography at From top: Marshall Adams, ASC; Oliver graduating, he began shooting music the Film and Television Institute and Bokelberg, ASC, BVK; Santosh Sivan, ASC, ISC. videos, shorts and documentaries. Whistling Woods in India, and at the Maisha ● Bokelberg’s first feature credit was Film Lab in Africa. Photo of Clubhouse by Isidore Mankofsky, ASC; lighting Donald M. Morgan, ASC. Godfrey photo by Douglas Kirkland.

106 June 2012 American Cinematographer Never Stop Learning. Never Stop Networking.