warms it up with a brown. I think that’s one motivate and hide the source: a couple of of the things that gives the color a particu- Mini Flos. “I had to be able to sneak some- ” ” s clip art s r r a lar depth.” thing in that would be on a favorable angle a t t S S

f In a different scene with rocker Dave for her face,” Rushing says. f o o n n

h h e Navarro looking into a refrigerator, For all the day exteriors and on all the e a a d d K K

a Rushing placed a 3/4 Full Plus Green over sets, Rushing used Kodak 5274 (Vision a h h M M p p

e e l l l l s Moby • “We are All Made of Stars” s several Kinos to give the scene a green tint 200T), which he shot at 200 outside (120 o o A A J J

: e and added a bit of 1/2 CT Straw to warm it with an 85 filter) and 160 inside––adding a e r • • r r

o a a y y t

up. In the motel room scene that features bit of density to the contrasty sets. Rushing c b b e Brad Rushing e e o o r i W Corey Feldman, Rushing relied on another chose 5274 in part, because of the way it W M “ M “ D gel combo. “One of the things I’ll some- telecinés. He also chose it for its grain by Elina Shatkin food restaurant. The video also features they stood the double on apple boxes, put times do to warm things up is to take half structure and because “It’s good at captur- producer Robert Evans, musician Dave the camera on baby legs at about chest level each of CTO and CT Straw to make a ing details in the shadows without being People they come Navarro, actress Thora Birch and the phe- and used a 16mm lens. “We had to strip all whole. It’s just a little bit off and a little bit too low contrast.” together, People nomenon that is Angelyne, a non-actress, the things off the top of the camera because unique.” For all the night locations and location non-model, non-singer whose primary tal- we needed every inch to make that work,” For the lighting, Rushing relied on interiors, Rushing used Kodak 5279 they fall apart, No ent is being herself. said Rushing. big, powerful lights––20Ks on the sound- (Vision 500T), which he generally rated at one can stop us “We are All Made of Stars” was shot The shot was done at about 4 PM with stage and 18K HMIs outside. He described 320 because he believes that 5279 “yields a now, Because we are all made on Super 35, a format that Kahn has been the astronaut standing on the shaded south his approach to the interiors, “We didn’t more versatile negative when it’s rated at of stars.” shooting since before Rushing began work- side of the street facing the theater that was light the subjects with them so much as the 320. It is very complimentary to the way I When cinematographer and self-pro- ing with him. The camera crew relied on on the north side and lit in full sun. The environments. The way that we lit a lot of work: lighting and shooting very fast and fessed science buff Brad Rushing first two Arri 435s and a set of Arri Ultra Primes soft, toplight on the astronaut helped create the stuff was to first light the environment frequently with low light levels.” Rushing heard this chorus from “We are All Made of with a standard Zeiss Super Speed set for an image where the focus is on the main and then light the subject. For the hotel pushed the stock only once, when shooting ‘Stars,”‘ the new song from genre-bending additional lens choices. The bulk of the compositional elements while the bright, room with Corey Feldman, we lit it as a inside the Frolic Room; he wanted to get artist Moby, it led him on a train of thought video, which included 27 locations, was direct light on the theater really makes it powerful, dramatic room and then we put good exposure on the exotic ceiling lights that stretched back to the periodic table of shot over four-days and aside from some of pop out in the visor reflection. “This was the people in and shaped the light to make without having to replace the globes. “We elements. “All the heavier elements in the the interiors, which were done on a sound- one of Joseph’s spur-of-the-moment them look good as well. For the exteriors, were shooting so fast that we had very little universe are created in supernovas and I stage, absolutely everything was shot on strokes of genius,” said Rushing. “The shot we focused more on lighting the subject time in each location and we had to use it thought a pop song couldn’t be referring to location. “That was us, blocking traffic and was about the geometry and depth of the first.” wisely.” Trying to avoid a dead wall, something so far into the realm of theoreti- obstructing people on the road,” Rushing composition: the abstract, converging lines With that particular scene, Rushing Rushing did suggest that they add “some- cal science. But when I asked Moby what said. Three additional pick-up days were of the building, the stark up-angle on the began by punching two 20Ks through the thing neon” to the rear wall of the Frolic the lyrics were about, he said, ‘Quantum spent shooting various celebrities who astronaut and the reflection in the faceplate. window at different angles so they were Room so Greb and her team created sever- physics––among other things.’” couldn’t be filmed during the principal pro- We left the image to speak for itself.” raking the back of the bed and playing on al neon stars. The corresponding music video fea- duction schedule. One of the trickiest aspects of the the side of Corey’s face. A 5K was placed For one of the most interesting shots tures the slight, wide-eyed Moby dressed as To keep up with the numerous loca- video was avoiding the reflection from the on the opposite side to give him a rim light. in the video––what appears to be a freeze- an astronaut while trekking to some of Los tions and hectic schedule, Rushing relied astronaut’s faceplate, which has an angle of The crew had some practicals that they framed twirl around Moby as he’s suspend- Angeles’ more recognizable landmarks on two flatbeds with duplicate packages, an reflection greater than 90 degrees from the played with but ultimately discarded. They ed in mid-air––Rushing remains tight- such as Pink’s hot dog stand, Ripley’s idea suggested by his gaffer, Mark Lindsay center axis. Rushing always had to be did rig one 2 x 4 foot Kino bank over lipped. Although it resembles the multicam Believe It Or Not Museum and, of course, and key grip, Mike Dronge. Each truck aware of Moby’s face light not just in terms Corey’s head, “which worked great, espe- technique that involves an array of still Hollywood Boulevard. On his journey he contained several LTM lights––one 18K of reflection of the lights, but also reflec- cially when Corey looked up into it,” said cameras fired at once or in sequence to cap- encounters a cast of characters in odd Fresnel, one 12K PAR and two 6K PARs. tions of crew people, equipment, etc. Rushing. No additional light was bounced ture a subject from multiple points of view, places: OJ Simpson crony Kato Kaelin in a In addition, each truck had a Kino package Rushing strove to make the lights look like or reflected on the scene and the camera, he didn’t use that technique. “The blatant bar, 1980s teen heartthrob Corey Feldman for interiors and eyelights that included one an element of the composition, which equipped with a 50mm lens was placed truth is that I’m having so much fun hear- in a motel room, Diff’rent Strokes stars Kino Flo Wall of Light, one Image 80, two meant positioning them so that they either about 12 feet away from Corey and dollied ing people speculate, I don’t want to give Todd Bridges and Gary Coleman in a fast 4 x 4 foot banks and two 2 x 2 foot banks. weren’t reflected or looked like they in until it was about 3 feet away. the game up just yet. Even crew people are There was also a small tungsten package belonged in the environment. “It was cer- Many of the shots feature controlled, wondering when we shot the elements and with a 5K Senior and a 2K Baby Junior a tainly not a glamorous job,” said Rushing, medium speed camera moves that go from how we put that together,” said Rushing. modest grip package that included several “but it was one of the very important jobs, side to side or that push in from a wide shot But Rushing isn’t shy about his col- mirror boards. keeping an eye on what was and wasn’t of an entire scene to a close-up of a charac- laboration with Kahn, whom he has known The beginning of the video features a seen in that faceplate.” ter––a technique that Rushing describes as since his days in Texas in the late 1980s. shot of traffic moving along Hollywood One of Rushing’s tricks, honed from making portraits or postcards of the scene. Recalling that when he first heard Kahn Blvd. reflected in the gold visor of the years working in independent feature films In these scenes, Rushing avoided extreme describe the concept for “We Are All Made astronaut’s helmet. To achieve this shot, the where gels are scarce, is combining wide lenses, generally sticking to a 32mm of Stars”––Moby is an astronaut in dirty crew stood a double in the astronaut suit unorthodox party gels and color correction or 50mm so that the close-up didn’t reveal Hollywood––a plethora of images popped directly across from Mann’s Chinese gels to create composite colors that aren’t an odd, unflattering angle. up in his mind. “Joseph says a lot with a lit- Theater. Attached to the helmet was a gold- quite what they appear to be. Many of the For the scene with Thora Birch and a tle and he does it very eloquently,” said en, solar protector visor that was pulled interior scenes, contain red accents that group of people in a motel room, Rushing Rushing. “A talented and informed director The video features Moby dressed as an astronaut while down over the clear faceplate. Rushing show up on walls, in practicals or as a back- wanted to give her a bright, but soft side is so fundamentally important to me as a trekking to various Los Angeles’ landmarks and includes cameos from various stars such as actor Verne Troyer, actress then had to find the most dynamic angle light. For these scenes, Rushing combined light. Since the shot starts wide and pushes DP.” We each bring the best of our experi- Thora Birch, rockers Dave Navarro and Tommy Lee, and actor Brad Rushing while making sure the crew and camera Fire gel––for the richness of its red––with in on her face, he put a lamp on the table in ence together, which makes for a powerful Corey Feldman. were not reflected in the visor. To do this, Chocolate gel. “ It warms it up, but it front of her and craftily used it to both visual team.” Á

52 ICG Magazine • www.cameraguild.com June 2002 June 2002 www.cameraguild.com • ICG Magazine 53