Focused on the Future Fujinon is a recognised technology leader worldwide and a highly respected provider of optics and lens assemblies to the broadcast, digital cinema and industrial markets. Our company’s line of television zoom lenses are used in virtually every segment of the broadcast industry, including electronic news gathering, studio and field production, and high definition television. For more information contact FUJIFILM (02) 9466 2600 or email [email protected] www.fujifilm.com.au Portrait of Don McAlpine by Jasin Boland Is RED Epic as good as they say? It’s already gone Mental. Red Epic is already in Australia. Supplied and supported by Panavision, it is debuting on the east and west coasts for the Australian features Mental and Drift. “I chose the Epic as it was the only camera that would achieve a high quality ‘Super 35’ 2.33–1 frame across the chip that could be squeezed and released as a 35mm anamorphic print.” said Don McAlpine ACS, ASC. And naturally, RED Epic comes with the backup of the trusted Panavision ground crew. Sydney +61 2 8437 5555 Gold Coast +61 7 5656 7333 Melbourne +61 3 8532 8800 Auckland +64 9 360 8770 www.panavision.asia of the Australian Cinematographers Society’s Articles BY DEFINITION of Association “a cinematographer is a person with technical expertise who manipulates light to transfer visual information by the use of a camera into aesthetic moving images on motion picture fi lm or electronic recording systems” magazine @austcine.org.au ............ Australian Cinematographer is published quarterly for members and associates 2011 NATIONAL EXECUTIVE of the Australian Cinematographers Society President: Editor: branch Ron Johanson ACS (Qld) Butch Calderwood ACS addresses Vice-Presidents: Chairman: Ernie Clark ACS (SA) Ted Rayment ACS Alan Cole ACS (Vic) National & Secretary: Associate Editors: New South Wales David Wakeley ACS (NSW) Morris Hood BA DipEd ACS Headquarters Heidi Tobin Level 2, 26 Ridge Street Assistant Secretary: North Sydney NSW 2060 Robb Shaw-Velzon (ACT) Art Department: Treasurer: Brad Sampson Victoria Mylene Ludgate (SA) PO Box 2023, Consultant: Sth Melbourne, VIC 3205 Assistant Treasurer: Craig Pickersgill Ernie Clark ACS (SA) Contributing Writers: Queensland Historian: Jon Shaw 11 Balaclava Street, Ron Windon ACS Manny Aston BA Woolloongabba QLD 4006 NSW President: Ron Johanson ACS Calvin Gardiner ACS Nicola Daley South Australia Keir Suggett VIC President: PO Box 705, Robert Hargreaves ACS Alan Cole ACS North Adelaide, SA 5006 Ben Allen ACS QLD President: Robin Campbell-Huff Tim McGahan ACS Ted Rayment ACS Western Australia David Walpole PO Box 476, SA President: Leederville, WA 6903 Ernie Clark ACS Printing: WA President: Heroprint Tasmania Jason Thomas Publishers: 48 Diamond Drive, Blackmans Bay, TAS 7052 TAS President: AustCine Publishing Peter Curtis ACS Level 2, 26 Ridge Street ACT ACT President: North Sydney NSW 2060 PO Box 1558, Robb Shaw-Velzen National Library of Australia: Woden, ACT 2602 NT President: ISSN 1440-978X Andrew Hyde Print Post Approved: NT Website: PO Box 2111, PP255003/03506 Craig Pickersgill Parap, NT 0820 Simon Russell 4 CONTENTS ISSUE #52 DECEMBER 2011 12 departments 06 From the Editor Quarterly Journal of the From the President Australian Cinematographers Society 08 features 20 In Memoriam Thankyou Butch ERIC KENNING BY Ted Rayment ACS 42 10 BY Robert Hargreaves ACS ONSET Shark Harbour 12 BY Jon Shaw 10 Big Picture 44 BY Manny Aston BA Warhol on the Walls 20 BY Keir Suggett 28 New Gear 46 BY Ben Allan ACS Panavision Goes 26 Mental Don McAlpine ACS Transvision Sees Clear CML Future With ARRI ALEXA 26 50 BY David Walpole 28 BY Michael McDermott Videocraft Provides 30 Solution For Dalai 30 Book Review Lama 2011 50 Cameraimage XIX 32 BY Ron Johanson ACS Film Review Shooting the War 32 51 36 BY Damian Parer Fujinon - Short Ends 38 Great Barrier Reef 38 40 52 Barbara Campbell 40 BY Butch Calderwood SNAPS OAM ACS 54 Cover: Butch Calderwood in 1957. Photo by Peter West Copyright AustCine Publishing and The Australian Cinematographers Society (2011) All expressions of opinion are published on the basis that they are not representing the offi cial opinion of the Australian Cinematographers Society, unless ex- pressly stated. Australian Cinematographers Society accepts no responsibility for the accuracy of any opinions, advice, representations or information contained in this publication. Australian Cinematographer is copyright, no part of it can be reproduced without prior written permission from the Society. All reproductions in this magazine have been done so with permission and credited accordingly. 5 FROM THE EDITOR his is my last edition and Issue 53 will be in the hands This letter was sent to Ron Johanson ACS from Pip Courtney (John Tof Richard Marks. I have had a good time editing the Bean’s wife) after notifi cation that John Bean had posthumously magazine but at 82 years of age it is time for fresh blood. received his accreditation. My lingering wish is that someone would re-invent the use of the tripod. Butch Calderwood ACS Editor LETTERS Dear Ron, My sincere thanks for your email. It is a great honour and I just wish he knew. I could never convince him to put in for his letters - he felt he hadn’t done quite enough. It was a great privilege to work with him and I never tired of watching him ‘work’ - I got a thrill from observing a real talent do his thing. He truly had no idea how good he was and when I worked with ‘superstar cameraman’ he would ask me what they did better than him. If I told him that in this or that area he was better than them he never believed me, saying I had ‘wife’ eyes, i.e. I was an unreliable witness! Richard Marks OAM, Editor He helped me so much with my stories. I will miss his ustralian Cinematographer records the death of Colin input and the way he made talent feel about being in ARay on 30 November 2011 after a long illness. He was Landline stories. known as Mad Dog which gradually became Mister Dog. I will miss that look on an editor’s face when they ask Colin was well known and respected in the various who shot it - and relax because they know all the pieces newsrooms in Sydney working as a sound recordist or as a of the puzzle are there with an added dose of special. links technician. He was an even tempered real gentleman For 18 years we had many fun happy times on the road and a delight to work with. together and I can’t comprehend I won’t be writing out a ‘Sleep peacefully, Mr Dog.’ call sheet with his name on it ever again. You have done him a great honour. Thanks so very much Pip Courtney 6 From Indie to Cine without the serious budget. The seriously affordable CineAlta. Sony’s new PMW-F3 takes you all the way. Super 35mm large frame sensor, PL lens mount compatibility and a scalable choice of recording methods up to uncompressed 4:4:4* – the PMW-F3 truly represents a breakthrough for independent producers and filmmakers in terms of features, performance and price. See your Sony dealer to learn more. The new seriously affordable TM Super 35mm PMW-F3 camcorder. SO11203/AC “SONY” and “make.believe” are trademarks of Sony Corporation. sony.com.au/pmwf3 * with option. FROM THE PRESIDENT only our members, but all levels of our film and television community. Technology continues to bring about many positive changes, right across the board and has a direct effect and influence on the way we, as cinematographers approach the varied projects we are involved in. The one constant will always be change and it is not the first time, nor will it be the last time that technology will impact on our way of thinking and our methodology. To that end it’s vitally important the Society puts in place initiatives for those coming through. Those, who will carry the torch for future generations. I am incredibly proud to hold the position of National President. It’s a great honour given the names that have gone before me. But it’s equally an honour to be able to call myself a cinematographer, and I believe that the only thing that separates us is opportunity. The talent is there, that innate ability to capture compelling images is there, as is the passion, the willingness and the drive. It’s just waiting for that opportunity, grabbing it with both hands and giving it an almighty shake. To have been able to stand alongside so many wonderfully talented people and to know that every day you go to work, there will be a new and different challenge, a new way to expose, light and frame an image. An image we can say one day in the future; “I shot that”. Ron Johanson ACS National President Greetings ACS colleagues, Like so many, I have witnessed numerous changes within our Industry and our specific fields of expertise, over a long period. None more challenging than the digital evolution we’re presently experiencing. We all know, understand and accept there will, and must be change in order for us to grow and be come more proficient at what we all do. The colour of that change doesn’t matter, because even with change, some things do stay the same. Integrity, attitude, professionalism, pride in a job well done, never change. Cinematographers never change, we simply adapt and bring fresh ideas to the table in order to compliment the ever changing technology that appears before us.