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JUNE 2012 $5.95Canada $6.95 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 TO SUBSCRIBE BY PHONE: Call (800) 448-0145 (U.S. only) (323) 969-4333 or visit the ASC website WWW.THEASC.COM “I spend most of my working hours on location so I need to know that I’m carrying the most reliable equipment. That’s why I always travel with Schneider 4x5 and 6x6 filters. They give me the highest qualitylook across all formats. Recently, I did a shoot at 9000’ in the Poudre River Valley of Colorado. I found that the ND Soft Grads, combined with the Circular True Pols worked particularly well. The Grads helped blend the dynamic range in the sky, allowing our camera’s sensor to see what it needed. The Schneider filters helped me create the crisp, contrasty, artsy images that we were going for.” iC iEh cirErehpargotameniC dihS sawtdimhcSc fdi enoyreverofsoediv ffrr Bf urBmo iS otneetsgnirpSecu detanimon fo CSAnar C AAww dra ffoo krowsihr 5revotohsdnasrethgiFooF slaicremmoc00 no esaCdloC ssahdna ,serutaeflarevestohs evitcnitsidehtgnidulcni ehT WWoo tsoMs’dlr gnidulcni cinahceMehT c dna tleMI WWii ht YYoou. itseretnI nngg naM stops ffoo soDr .siuqE nikirtsdetaercsaheH cisumrofyregamign BBn+W • CenturyyrutneC • SchneiderhcS redien www.schneideroptics.comwwwww 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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To name only a few: 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 super- visor 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).