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BrothersBrothers ArmsArmsinin Defiance, shot by Eduardo Serra, ASC, AFC, tells a remarkable true story of Jewish resistance during World War II.
by Benjamin B Unit photography by Karen Ballard
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Opposite: Brothers Tuvia and Zus Bielski (Daniel Craig, top, and Liev Schreiber) take to the forests of Belarus after their families are massacred by Nazis in Defiance. This page, left: Tuvia and his brothers help a growing number of Jews escape the Nazis. Below: Cinematographer Eduardo Serra, ASC, AFC on location in Lithuania.
n February 2007, director Ed six or seven cameras in seconds, who is sought out by directors on Zwick had dinner in Paris with knowing exactly how each will be both sides of the Atlantic. He has two collaborators, production used. I once told him I was amazed earned two Academy Award nomi- designer Dan Weil and director by his technical capacity as a direc- nations, for The Wings of the Dove Iof photography Eduardo Serra, tor, and he said, ‘Remember, before (AC June ’98) and Girl With a Pearl ASC, AFC. Both Serra and Weil are my first film, I shot 200 hours of Earring (AC Jan. ’04), and a shelf in based in France, and both had television.’” his home is heavy with other worked with Zwick on Blood Defiance is the latest high- awards, including two Camerimage Diamond (2006). Weil recalls that profile project for Serra, a Frogs. over dinner, he and Serra asked Portuguese-born cinematographer Based on the book by Zwick about a project the director had discussed with them, a striking story about Jewish partisans during World War II. “Eduardo and I asked Ed, ‘Why don’t you do it?’” says Weil. “Six weeks later, I received the script for Defiance.” In an interview at his home in Paris, Serra shares his enthusiasm for the project, and for his dinner mates. “Working with Dan is formi- dable,” he says. “We are always talk- ing. He never imposes anything; there is a real collaboration that I have rarely experienced.” The cine- matographer also marvels at Zwick’s mastery of his métier. “Ed is a very remarkable person and I’ve never
Photos courtesy of Paramount Vantage. of courtesy Photos Paramount seen anyone like him — he can place
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Brothers in Arms Right: Tuvia and his younger brother, Asael (Jamie Bell), meet with Shamon (Allan Corduner), a rabbi, in the camp built by the Jewish resistance. Below: Tuvia’s leadership is tested when one of the camp’s foragers tries to take more than his share of supplies.
Nechama Tec, Defiance recounts the hide in the nearby forest. Initially, Nazi attacks. Over time, the forest true story of the Bielski brothers the Bielskis are intent on revenge community grows into a “new (played by Daniel Craig, Jamie Bell and resistance, but soon, they offer a Jerusalem,” a vibrant village of wood and Liev Schreiber), Jewish farmers growing number of Jews a chance to cabins. Woven into the story is the who lived in what is now Belarus, an escape certain death by setting up a evolution of the brothers’ relation- area that was invaded by the haven for them in the forest. The ships, the life of the community and Germans in 1941. After the Nazis partisan group must move ever a complex relationship with another massacre their families, the brothers deeper into the woods to escape Russian partisan group. At the end of the war, the Bielski partisan group reportedly numbered about 1,200. Serra notes that Zwick usually likes to shoot widescreen, as he did for Blood Diamond and The Last Samurai (AC Jan. ’04), but the direc- tor chose the 1.85:1 aspect ratio for Defiance “because he wanted to be closer to the period,” and because he wanted to respect the vertical nature of the forests in which the film takes place. Serra shot the picture in Super 35mm, framing for a final 1.85:1 extraction in the digital intermedi- ate. He used the Arricam Studio and Lite, adding Arri 435s and 235s for action scenes, and Arri Master Primes and Angenieux Optimo zoom lenses. During preproduction and production, Weil worked in close
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Left: Tuvia and Zus air their grievances publicly. Below: The crew prepares to film the brothers’ fight. Serra worked with large silks to shape the light in the forest.
collaboration with Serra, sharing his seemed obvious. We tried makeup ble — they’re dirty and hungry. preparation research and digital in one specific scene, but we later Having clean, made-up faces would sketches. After considering locations took it out digitally because it was have been almost obscene.” in Hungary and Romania, Weil inappropriate. There was some dirt The filmmakers sought to found suitable locations within 15 on the actors’ faces, but that’s all.” He find a look for the picture that miles of Vilnius, Lithuania. The idea, notes that although makeup serves would convey the historical era and he says, “was to be as close as possi- to diminish “the differences in flesh the travails of the partisans. ble to reality, and Lithuania’s forests tones, which can be very distracting, “Something I share with Ed is that resemble those in neighboring I think Defiance works without we both like to search for references, Belarus.” makeup. The characters are in trou- and it’s a pleasure discussing the This penchant for realism marked the entire filmmaking process, and Weil recalls that his crew imagined the partisans work- ing as they built the forest-village set. “We tried to put ourselves in their shoes,” says the production designer. “How would you build a hut? We did it ourselves, like Boy Scouts.” He explains that the wooden huts, zemlyankas, were a form of lean-to that could easily be dug in the sandy soil of the forest. In keeping with the realistic approach, the filmmakers made an unusual decision to forego makeup for the actors. “That was Ed’s deci- sion, and I don’t remember if we even discussed it,” says Serra. “It
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Brothers in Arms After parting look with him,” notes Serra. They ways with his brothers, Zus studied Russian films of the era and continues his looked at the early “Sovcolor” fight against process. “They didn’t have the Nazis, taking up with Technicolor, but they had a version a band of of Agfacolor,” explains the cine- Russian matographer. “It was often blue and partisans. pink. We discussed simulating it, but it wasn’t appropriate.” Serra also wanted to obtain a more organic look than what could be achieved with the DI process. “Nowadays, with the DI, it’s easy to give an ‘old’ look to a film. The process can be totally controlled, but it can be a lit- tle mechanical, and I didn’t want that. We didn’t want a very perfect modern image; we wanted some- thing that evoked the period. On Blood Diamond, I had tried to let things get a little out of control, and Defiance was an opportunity to go further.” For exteriors, Serra decided to use the same technique he had adopted for one of the battle scenes in Blood Diamond. “I used Kodak [Vision 500T] 5279, pushed it 2 stops and left out the 85 filter,” he says. With a laugh, he notes, “5279 is a tough stock! Ten or 15 years ago, we’d use it because it was high-con- trast and high-speed, with heavy blacks, but whenever there was a close-up of a woman, we’d change stocks. Pushing 2 stops is edgy, but it becomes radical without the 85. The image is a bit grainy, it’s contrasty, and the interesting thing is that the slope of the film is not perfect — we’re a little off of what’s acceptable. Almost all the exteriors in Defiance were shot that way.” Serra notes that shooting tungsten-balanced 5279 without an 85 filter, in addition to pushing the stock, creates unpredictable “color changes” by varying the red, green and blue curves differently. “The changes are subtle, but they’re there. With film, it’s important to have the three color curves perfectly parallel, and in this picture, they really aren’t. So sometimes you get shadows or
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Brothers in Arms
Right: Tuvia helps Lilka (Alexa Davalos) escape from a ghetto. Below: When Nazis discover the camp, Lilka helps shepherd the children to safety.
highlights that are a little blue or a isn’t clean or modern.” usually rates the stock at least 2⁄3 of a little pink, for example. You never Serra overexposed the pushed stop lower than recommended. know what the result will be; it 5279 by rating it at 1,000 ASA or Most of Defiance takes place in depends on the time of day or the lower. With a smile, he notes, “It’s forests, and one of Serra’s chief chal- sun or the shadows. You can see one thing to take the risk with color, lenges was giving these scenes visual something, but it’s not obvious — but one thing I don’t play with is continuity. “For daytime scenes, the you don’t say, ‘It’s pink.’ It’s just not exposure! I don’t want to be on that first thing I did was cut the sun the usual image. It has a texture that edge.” To get a thick negative, he because I wanted to avoid shadows moving every two minutes.” He adds that an “incredible team of grips,” some of whom had worked on Blood Diamond in Africa, assisted him. His outdoor lighting was bold and simple. “We used a huge silk to kill the sun and big silks to bounce light.” At first, his team tried cutting the sun with a gigantic silk hung above the set, but that proved unwieldy, as well as inef- fectual with wider crowd scenes. Serra then had the silks positioned vertical- ly, acting as a curtain against the low northern sun. The cinematographer bounced two or three 18K HMIs on big silks to create diffuse light that acted as a fill. “That’s it — no crosslights, no back- lights … just light to clean up.” He notes that for reasons of convenience,
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Director Ed Zwick works out his camera placement.
he sometimes obtained a similar ing. That’s what I’m there for. It’s lighting effect by punching the great if the image can also be beau- HMIs through a silk. He mainly tiful, but meaning comes first. And I used Alpha HMIs from 5600 don’t think that you can create Lighting “because they allow the meaning if the audience can see widest spread.” multiple lights and shadows and all Serra sometimes moved a fill that trickery. I believe sharp shad- light during the shot, as in a scene ows, spots of light or rimlights are where Tuvia (Craig) hides from a totally distracting because they’re German street patrol in a dark door- not part of our life. I don’t want to way and then emerges. The cine- have the audience distracted by all matographer asked his gaffer, that.” A simpler image “allows more Michel Atanassian, to put a Kino Flo possibility to give meaning.” into position for the darkest part of This passion for a single soft the shot and then move it away. “I source means that Serra will never often do that — have a small mov- place sources on both sides of cam- ing light operated by someone like era. “For me, the other side of cam- Michel, who understands very well era is the forbidden zone. I just can’t what we’re doing. It’s often faster bear what two sources do to a face.” and easier to light that way. When In his search for authenticity and THE ART OF LIGHT Craig is deep in the doorway, Michel simplicity, he avoids hard back- is on him to get a minimum expo- lights, eyelights and other secondary Color Correction sure, and then he turns the light light sources. “I don’t do spots of Diffusion away as soon as Craig comes out. light, and I don’t usually add other Color Effect I’m scared of creating a small shad- sources … maybe a bounce board, ow, so the light is very diffused.” but not a light. Or I might bring the Tel: 818-238-1220 When it comes to light big silk a little closer for a close-up. I www.leefilters.com sources, Serra has a deep commit- don’t want to have the woman in the ment to simplicity and naturalism. foreground who is 1 or 2 stops He strongly believes that a single soft brighter than the background. Every source allows for more storytelling new light fixture creates a shadow, to happen. The soft-spoken cine- and every shadow can distract us.” matographer hesitates, and then Although he will often place elaborates, “I don’t like to use big “a frame, a little luminosity, near or words, but my job is to create mean- behind camera,” he avoids “brilliant
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Brothers in Arms
Right: Forced to abandon the camp, the partisans emerge from the forest only to stumble into a Nazi ambush. For the film’s climactic battle, Serra discarded his large silks in favor of sunny sidelight and backlight. Below: The crew angles in on a German tank.
eyes” — eyelights that result in what make everyone a saint?” Musing that tion to contrast, the placement of he jokingly calls “the werewolf a single soft source “is closer to life,” the source creates the mood of the effect.” He has a similar aversion to he hastens to add that soft lighting shot. “The height of the light is backlight “halos.” He notes, “They “does not mean flat lighting. My important also, but it’s especially the were appropriate in black-and- lighting is usually very soft but very angle that changes everything. A soft white films to separate people from contrasty.” light in front of the character doesn’t the background, but nowadays, why Serra emphasizes that in addi- mean the same thing as a soft light from behind. The general mood will bring meaning. If you have a front- light, a sidelight and a backlight, there is no room left for meaning. It’s mostly a question of the triangle between the lens, the light and the eyes of the actor. A soft light behind camera doesn’t seem like much, but move it away from the camera, and already you’ve changed the mood. If you move a 4-by frame by 2 or 3 meters, it’s not the same mood at all. That’s the sort of thing I’m interest- ed in modulating.” In the forest exte- riors of Defiance, he usually placed the big bounced source close to camera or slightly to the side to pro- vide a fill that brought out the actors’ eyes. For Defiance’s climactic day- time battle, which took a full week to
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shoot, Serra discarded the giant sun- blocking silk and opted for sunny sidelight or backlight. Light from the side or behind, he explains, “models and gives more depth to the action. Otherwise, it’s too flat. The battle is not like the other forest scenes, in which we were working with the nuances of a face. This is the epic moment.” When shooting dusk exteri- ors at the encampment, Serra com- plemented onscreen campfires with “fire lighting” offscreen: gas pipes with holes for flames. “It’s a very simple setup that I used a lot on The Wings of the Dove and Map of the Human Heart.” He adds that he is cautious with flicker machines. “If you mix them with real fire, they can help with background areas, but I don’t use them close to camera.” Some interiors in Defiance have a gentler quality than the forest footage; to contrast with the gritty, imperfect look of the exteriors, Serra shot inside with Kodak Vision2 500T 5218 and developed it normal- ly, yielding a smoother image with NFIBJ?FG=FI=@CDD8B step ahead and slightly changed the ?===`cd K\c\m`j`feLe`m\ij`kpÙBfeiX[Nfc]È position of the fill light.” Though the Gfkj[Xd$9XY\cjY\i^#>\idXep close-up is not radically different from the other shots, the delicate lighting on Davalos’ face is softer 67 AMC_0109_p058p069:c_feature 12/5/08 2:55 PM Page 68 Brothers in Arms Craig reclines the country, there is no good solu- in a hut under the soft glow of tion!” Serra laughs. Wistfully noting a Chinese his admiration for the dim noctur- lantern. nal toplight Emmanuel Lubezki, ASC, AMC created in Children of Men (AC Dec. ’06), he adds, “We couldn’t do that in a forest.” Serra used any element of the nighttime scenes to help his lighting, be it fire- light, car headlights or even a burn- ing vehicle. “I try to use everything available in the scene before bring- ing out new sources.” For some scenes, he floated three 20K helium- balloon lights above the action, and and a little more frontal than the used the lamp, but I augmented it a he recalls that the first night shoot lighting of the wide shot. little. Otherwise, the image would with the balloons started badly: “It The forest-hut interiors were have been too extreme. I used a was a stormy night, and we arrived lit through the doors and windows Chinese lantern clothed in black to just in time to see two balloons fly for day scenes and with oil lamps control spill on the walls.” off into the distance! One of them and candles supplemented by soft Night exteriors in settings went to a nearby village, where it cut sources for night scenes. Serra set without practical lights are always a the electricity for a few days. The one romantic love scene awash in huge challenge for cinematogra- other ended up in Estonia!” Once golden tones motivated by an oil phers. “In the city, you can take the balloons were back on set, Serra lamp. “You have to cheat a little. I advantage of night lighting, but in avoided placing them in the fore- 68 AMC_0109_p058p069:c_feature 12/5/08 2:55 PM Page 69 Some say the DI gives you the Craig, Bell and Mark Feuerstein option to shoot ‘flat’ and create your receive their look in post, but I believe in doing marching orders the opposite. How can I light if I from Zwick and don’t know what I want at the end?” Serra. I TECHNICAL SPECS Super 1.85:1 (Super 35mm for 1.85:1 extraction) Arricam System; Arri 435, 235 ground, preferring a toplight from be time-consuming to fix on the set. the side or back. For example, on some hazy nights, Arri Master Prime and Angenieux lenses Defiance marks Serra’s third light from the balloon was visible at digital intermediate, and he did the the top of the frame, and we cleaned Kodak Vision 500T 5279, work at EFilm with colorist Natasha that up. Sometimes the exposure is a Vision2 500T 5218 Leonnet. “I’ve always enjoyed tim- bit edgy at night, and you can get ing, and the DI is a gift,” he remarks. better blacks [with digital tools]. Or Digital Intermediate “I don’t use it to try to find a look; I sometimes we needed to match Printed on Kodak Vision 2383 use it to ‘clean up’ things that would footage shot by several cameras. 69