AC Mar 2011

MA R C H 2 0 1 1
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M E M B E R P O R T R A I T
Gabriel Beristain, ASC, BSC
W W W . T H E A S C . C O M
TO SUBSCRIBE BY PHONE:
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come from four generations
of film actors. My family
lived and dreamed films, and
as a boy I began playing with the
magical Brownie 127 camera.
Soon I was shooting with a
Beaulieu Super 8mm and the
fantastic Bolex H16.
When I left Mexico for
Europe, I discovered
cinematography was not only my
passion, but also my survival kit.
My tools were the clair and the
BL, and my language guide was
American Cinematographer, a
permanent fixture in my back
pocket.
When I came to America,
my cameras grew bigger and I
grew wiser, but one thing has
stayed constant: my copy of AC,
which informs, motivates and
inspires me and keeps the dreams
of that young boy alive.
Gabriel Beristain, ASC, BSC
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The International Journal of Motion Imaging
26 Master Plans
John Toll, ASC emphasizes elegance for
The Adjustment Bureau
38 Weekly Wonders
The cinematographers on Human Target, The Killing and
Fringe detail their work
50 Lessons Well Learned
Career Achievement in Television honoree
Michael D. OShea, ASC reflects on a life of rich rewards
58 Photographing Movie History
Presidents Award honoree Douglas Kirkland reminisces
about his remarkable career
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DVD Playback: The Thin Red Line The Rocky Horror Picture Show The Naked Kiss
On Our Cover: David Norris (Matt Damon) glimpses a hidden world in The Adjustment
Bureau, shot by John Toll, ASC. (Photo by Andrew D. Schwartz, SMPSP, courtesy of
Universal Pictures.)
8 Editors Note
10 Presidents Desk
12 Short Takes: Nowhere Near Here
16 Production Slate: Image Interchange Framework The Imperialists Are Still Alive!
66 Filmmakers Forum: Lisa Wiegand
68 New Products & Services
74 International Marketplace
75 Classified Ads
76 Ad Index
78 In Memoriam: Gene Polito, ASC
80 ASC Membership Roster
82 Clubhouse News
84 ASC Close-Up: Crescenzo Notarile
M A R C H 2 0 1 1 V O L . 9 2 N O . 3
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M a r c h 2 0 1 1 V o l . 9 2 , N o . 3
T h e I n t e r n a t i o n a l J o u r n a l o f M o t i o n I m a g i n g
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EDITORIAL
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Stephanie Argy, Benjamin B, Douglas Bankston, Robert S. Birchard,
John Calhoun, Bob Fisher, Michael Goldman, Simon Gray, Jim Hemphill,
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OFFICERS - 2010/2011
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President
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2010 Sony Electronics Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Features and specications are subject to change without notice.
Sony, CineAlta, HDCAM-SR, XDCAM, make.believe and their respective logos are trademarks of Sony.
Visit sony.com/digitalcinematography for the full story.
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its easy to just pick up and shoulder. For my next
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Bring it on.
With digital technologies enjoying firm footholds in
production and post, workflow has become a problem-
atic buzzword for cinematographers. New image-capture
systems do not always jibe seamlessly with established post
pipelines, and the industry still lacks a reliable standard for
the exchange of digital files. Naturally, this has created
major frustrations for those whose goal is achieving the
highest image quality.
The Image Interchange Framework Committee, a
group formed by the Academy Science and Technology
Council, has spent the past six years working to solve this
problem. Their mandate was to design a system that
would preserve the information captured in a raw image
all the way through post, make it possible for different departments and facilities to easily
exchange files and information, and provide a color-managed workflow for productions
mixing digital media and film. The result of their labor is a set of components called the Image
Interchange Framework, and the Fox television show Justified, shot by Francis Kenny, ASC, is
putting it to use. According to Kenny, all concerned are extremely pleased with the system. In
Stephanie Argys article (Production Slate, page 16), Ray Feeney, co-chair of the Academy Sci-
Tech Council, offers encouraging words for those concerned about quality control for motion
imaging: Several studios and numerous projects are testing various aspects of the proposed
framework, and so far, the results have exceeded expectations. Justified is the first show using
the IIF to be released for broadcast, and they are absolutely ecstatic with the results. AC will
continue to keep our readers apprised as this important new system is refined.
This months focus on television production, penned by Michael Goldman, Jay Holben
and Iain Stasukevich, offers articles about three eye-catching series. Robert McLachlan, ASC,
CSC discusses using Arris new Alexa on Foxs Human Target; Peter Wunstorf, ASC details his
approach to AMCs latest original series, The Killing; and Tom Yatsko and CSC members David
Moxness and Greg Middleton discuss their collaboration on Foxs Fringe (Weekly Wonders,
page 38).
Jean Oppenheimers profile of Michael D. OShea, ASC (Lessons Well Learned, page
50) details a commitment to teamwork and excellence that led the Society to salute OShea
with its Career Achievement in Television Award last month. Another industry icon, associate
member Douglas Kirkland, was honored last month with the ASC Presidents Award for
decades of excellence as one of Hollywoods top stills photographers. Jon Silbergs piece on
Kirklands stellar career (Photographing Movie History, page 58) reveals an artist whose love
of cinema is reflected in every frame.
In the feature-film arena, The Adjustment Bureau, shot by John Toll, ASC, is an ideal
date-night option for cinastes and their significant others.An intriguing blend of romance,
suspense and science fiction, the movie concerns a promising New York politician (Matt
Damon) who falls for a dancer (Emily Blunt), only to find their romance thwarted at every turn
by a mysterious group of men. Senior editor Rachael Bosleys article (Master Plans, page 26)
pulls back the curtain to reveal the filmmakers methods.
Stephen Pizzello
Executive Editor
Editors Note
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I recently had a conversation with a fellow cinematographer who was bemoaning what he felt
was a lack of truly groundbreaking cinematography today, imagery that is so perfectly partnered
with the subject matter that the two become inseparable. He was especially concerned that digi-
tal manipulation has made much of the cinematographers work look artificially polished to the
point that the original photography is reduced to data for the computer.
I grew up during the late Sixties and early Seventies, when a revolution of filming tech-
niques was in full swing. Every week at my local cinema, there were examples of great movies with
great cinematographyimages so non-Hollywood that they made going to the cinema an
exciting adventure of unpredictability. These visuals seemed to break the mold of staid, studio
conformity and spring out from a place deep within the soul. Witness the opening shot of The
Godfather, photographed by Gordon Willis, ASC. When we first saw Bonaseras face, it was hardly
what gangster films of the past had conditioned us to expect; his skin tone is a sickly yellow hue,
the background is muddy and indistinct, and his eye sockets are murky and undefined except for
a singular, beady highlight in the center of his eyes. It was described by many old-guard Hollywood
types of the time as being bad and amateurish. And it was completely riveting.
Or take another look at Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, photographed by Haskell Wexler,
ASC. Just three years earlier, wed seen Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in Cleopatra, captured
inglorious color by Deluxe and Todd-AO widescreen, with stunning, Oscar-winning cinematography by Leon Shamroy, ASC. Now
here were the same two stars in a black-and-white, almost documentary-like, claustrophobic drama with rough textures that
matched the battered psyches of the characters. That Wexlers innovative approach to the film also won an Academy Award was a
testament to the undeniable power the cinematography contributed to the emotional thrust of the movie.
In the face of evidence like this, are we to agree that the age of the cinematographer has passed, that its no longer possi-
ble for a single artist to truly influence a piece of mass entertainment by infusing it with a uniquely original point of view?
I dont think so. True, we work in a different industry today. The kinds of hands-on studio heads who followed in the foot-
steps of Irving Thalberg are becoming harder to find, and with the financial stakes growing higher every year, a film must be s ome-
what of a sure thing in order to be greenlit, leading to safer artistic choices. But talent tends to migrate toward the industr y rela-
tionships that allow it to flourish.
Consider the work of Matthew Libatique, ASC, who has given us the high-powered visuals of Iron Man, and who brought
his talent for diverse looks into the gritty ballet world of Black Swan. Or Wally Pfister, ASC, who has redefined perceptions of what
constitutes spectacular image quality with his in-camera effects for Inception, and the stunning visual clarity he achieved on Batman
Begins and The Dark Knight by directly printing the film rather than using a digital intermediate. Or Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC, who
has brought his uniquely personal vision to the animated films Wall-E and How to Train Your Dragon; the emotionally stunning use
of lighting effects in these films was accomplished first and foremost by hiring someone who knows about lighting: the cine-
matographer.
As we move toward new forms of media and find new visual outlets for what we do, the one constant will always be the
individual artistry with which we see the world. Just as no two conductors will guide an orchestra through the complex rhythms of
Mahlers Symphony No. 6 in exactly the same way, no two cinematographers will visually interpret a screenplay in the same way.
Accompanying that artistry is a lifetime of experience, which enables us to read a script and instinctively know whether film o r digi-
tal would be the best choice for the subject, and which makes all the technical voodoo that might befuddle others secondhand
knowledge to us.
Great art has always found a way to live and breathe, and great artists will always find a way to make their voices heard.
Michael Goi, ASC
President
Presidents Desk
10 March 2011 American Cinematographer
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Best
Editing
2010
Submit your documentary lm for a chance to share it with
the world on PBS NewsHour. lm.economist.com
SHARE YOUR STORY.
Bringing Street Art to the Screen
By Iain Stasukevich
Street art is all about interacting with your environment and
being aware of the context of your work, says England-based artist
Pahnl. Some of the best street artists, like Banksy, find environments
and paint something relevant in them that makes the space come
alive.
In his own street art, Pahnl works primarily with paint and
stencils, rendering dogs, cats and other figures interacting with their
environments. However, he notes, photography is also important to
the work I do, and that has led to an interest in film and video. His
video Aerosol Amoeba , inspired by colorfully mottled spray-paint
caps, is a mesmerizing, abstract montage of paint blobs being
pressed between two panes of clear acetate. His most recent short,
Nowhere Near Here, is an attempt to break away from the confines
of street arts surfaces. Mixing long-exposure photography with
stop-motion, light-stencil animation, the short follows a dog
running around the city at night, doing whatever a dog does,
Pahnl explains. The animated canines nocturnal activities include
chasing cats and birds and interacting with other dogs. Making
these characters come alive and play within a space is something
street artists dont always do, he notes.
Inspired in part by the graffiti animation of BLU (notably the
epic Big Bang Big Boom), Pahnl first experimented with the idea of
creating his characters digitally, using still photographs as back-
grounds. He also considered using stencil-art stickers in real loca-
tions, but that seemed a bit restrictive, [limited to] just the walls
where street art often is [found]. Finally, after he saw the long-
exposure light drawings of German art collective Lichtfaktor, Pahnl
decided to employ light stencils to create the mischievous animals as
luminous cartoon apparitions.
The artist says the production of the video was more about
calculations and measurements than art and expression. He began
by drawing storyboards set to the track that inspired the video, Ryk-
sopps What Else Is There? Then I had to get the timing of the
scenes right, explains Pahnl. If a scene was five seconds and I was
at 5 frames per second, then I had so many frames to play with. To
work out where the dog was going to be, I had to do a lot of loca-
tion scouting and measuring.
Once he knew what the scenes would entail and where they
would be shot, Pahnl designed more than 200 stencils in Adobe Fire-
works. (The program also features a basic animation component
that assisted him with sequencing the images.) Stencils measuring 8
centimeters to 75 centimeters across were laser-printed to sheets of
acetate,cut out by hand,framed in corrugated cardboard and spray-
Short Takes
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For the short
film Nowhere
Near Here, street
artist Pahnl
mixed long-
exposure
photography
with stop-
motion light-
stencil
animation. The
production was
more about
calculations and
measurements
than art and
expression, he
notes.
I
painted black on both sides to prevent light
spill. Sheets of plain white paper were used
to diffuse the light shining through the
stencils,which were also gelled for each
character: blue for the hero dog, green for
a second dog, pink for the cats and yellow
for the birds. The light behind the stencils
was supplied with either a high-powered
flash module or flashlight.
Pahnl photographed Nowhere Near
Here with a Nikon D90 DSLR, using 35mm,
18-55mm and 55-200mm Nikkor lenses.
You get to think about things more
creatively with these DSLRs, he notes,
citing the shallow depth-of-field and selec-
tive focus thats possible with the cameras
sensors and variety of lenses. I know a lot
of people who want to keep things sepa-
rate a still camera is a still camera,and a
videocamera is a videocamera but I
think these cameras create new possibilities
for artists and filmmakers.
Pahnls process for Nowhere Near
Here was based on double-exposure
photography. He shot each scene on loca-
tion in Oxford, late at night on the streets,
first using the light stencils and then captur-
ing the background plates, merging the
two in post. Photographing the stencils was
a matter of composing the characters in the
frame and setting the camera to only
expose the backlit, brightly illuminated
shape, which usually meant using a narrow
f-stop and a slow ASA. Animating was as
basic as taking a shot of a stencil in its place,
replacing it with the next stencil,and then
taking another shot.
In order to avoid being exposed in
the frame alongside the stencils, Pahnl wore
black. I was dressed like a ninja a lot of the
time, and I think this is why the police
stopped me so often, he recalls wryly.
Theyd see this blinking contraption on the
ground, and there I was, lying maybe 3
meters away with a remote control, dressed
all in black. I dont blame them for stopping
me,actually!
Because he shot characters and back-
grounds separately, the camera settings
tended to change with each setup to
accommodate the desired effect. I wanted
the backgrounds to have a streaky, slow-
shutter look to them, so I normally used a 5-
or 10-second exposure for those, he says.
It was a lot of work for every
frame, he adds. He made chalk outlines on
the ground that lined up with registration
marks on the backs of the stencil frames, on
which he also scribbled notes regarding
distances and positions. Scenes in which the
stencil characters move behind objects in the
frame such as when the dog runs behind
the wheel of a trash bin to get at some birds
proved to be some of the most challeng-
ing composites. To edit and composite the
effects, Pahnl worked in Adobe Premiere,
where the environment shots would be on
one layer and the stencil layer would be
above it, he explains. Id set the stencil
layer to a screen-blend mode and hope it
would line up, which it did if my measure-
ments were correct. It was easy when there
was a stencil just standing in the middle of
the shot, but when I did those shots where
the characters interacted with their environ-
ment, they were usually misaligned the first
time around, and I had to reshoot a couple
of scenes.
Pahnl used looping animations
whenever possible. Animation of the dog
running, for instance, was always three
stencils, looped. One of the most difficult
animations was a tracking 360-degree shot
of the running dog. Pahnl needed 24 sten-
cils to get the full 360-degree move, but he
ended up making only half that number
and repeating the three-stencil loop for
each angle on the opposite side of the
subject. To help maintain a repeatable
distance as he moved the shot down the
sidewalk, he stretched a length of string
between the stencils position and the
camera tripod.
The final scene of the video features
a shallow-focus standoff between the dog
and an elusive feline, who turns tail and
runs at the last moment. As the dog gives
chase, they both disappear out of focus into
the far distance. To achieve this effect, Pahnl
needed to shoot the separate elements
dog, cat and background at the same f-
stop and successfully hand-repeat each
focus pull to tie them all together.
While he was at work on Nowhere
Near Here,Pahnl was invited to contribute
the piece to The Herbert Museum and Art
Gallerys exhibit of street art, which ran
through mid-January. In addition to a daily
loop of the film, the gallery displayed most
of the actual stencils.
More and more, Pahnl finds himself
producing work for galleries. As a street
artist, its a bit strange working with
galleries, he muses. Street art is painting
on the street,and when you bring that into
a neutral gallery environment,no matter
what you do, its going to feel a little bit arti-
ficial. All media have strengths and weak-
nesses. In that respect, you certainly need to
adapt, but its important that you bring your
influences and the methods youve devel-
oped from one medium into the next.
Pahnl designed more than 200 stencils in Adobe Fireworks, whose basic animation component
also helped him sequence the images.
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Justified Adopts Academys New Workflow
By Stephanie Argy
When future motion-picture historians look back on the
industrys transition to digital technology, this years season of the FX
series Justified might be viewed as a significant milestone, because it
marks the first real-world use of the Image Interchange Framework,
a groundbreaking production and post workflow architecture
devised by a group of technologists and practitioners working under
the auspices of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Many of the growing pains associated with the digital tran-
sition have arisen through the absence of an industry standard for the
interchange of the content of digital files. Without such a standard,
many vendors and manufacturers developed their own file formats
and workflows, resulting in incompatibilities, inefficiencies, unneces-
sary expenses and a loss of image quality each step of the way.
Six years ago, the Academys Science and Technology Coun-
cil assigned itself the task of remedying these problems by finding a
way to improve the exchange of digital files. Almost immediately, it
became clear that the problems could not be addressed simply by a
new file format. Instead, an entirely new workflow architecture
would be necessary.
Ray Feeney, co-chair of the Sci-Tech Council, explains that
until now, filmmakers have essentially had two choices for digital
post: a film-style workflow, using DPX Cineon files going through a
digital intermediate, and a video-style approach, based in the color
space of television, Rec. 709. Both approaches can produce
respectable images, but they cannot make the most of imaging
devices that are not optimized for that type of workflow, making it
awkward for filmmakers to combine image-capture technologies.
Feeney explains, There are some industry-wide problems and
legacy issues left over from how movies and TV used to be shot and
how post used to be done. These issues are deep and systemic. They
require a complete rethinking of how to move into the future of
digital capture and digital post. A dedicated group of more than 50
volunteers, along with a very broad spectrum of interested manu-
facturers, have invested countless hours in an industry-wide effort to
arrive at a next-generation set of capabilities. Several studios and
numerous projects are testing various aspects of the proposed
framework, and so far, the results have exceeded expectations. Justi-
fied is the first show using the IIF to be released for broadcast, and
they are absolutely ecstatic with the results.
The legacy approaches didnt have much room for growth,
he adds. They were perfectly adequate and were not necessarily
hobbling the early generations of electronic-capture devices, says
Feeney. Today, though, we have digital-camera systems that are
substantially better than anything that was available to filmmakers
in the past. And as we move forward, devices will have even greater
dynamic range and color gamut. Neither the DPX Cineon approach
nor Rec. 709-based systems are sufficiently flexible to accommodate
what weve seen filmmakers requesting on set or in the DI. This
leads to frustration, and either requires heroic efforts or results in
compromised image quality.
Jim Houston, vice president of technology and engineering
Production Slate
J
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.
Justified, shot by ASC member Francis Kenny, is the first production to take advantage of the Image Interchange Framework, a groundbreak ing
workflow architecture that allows far greater quality control.
I
www.theasc.com March 2011 17
at Sony Pictures, concurs. With film, cine-
matographers could learn what to expect
how Deluxe processes were different
from Technicolor processes, how Kodak
was different from Fuji but with digital,
its the Wild, Wild West.
To address these problems, the Sci-
Tech Council formed the Image Inter-
change Framework Committee, a group of
color scientists, engineers and representa-
tives from various manufacturers and facili-
ties, and challenged them to create a
forward-thinking new framework for
production and post. Chaired by Houston,
the IIF Committee has worked to devise a
system that could preserve the information
captured in a raw image all through post,
make it possible for different departments
and facilities to easily exchange files and
information, and provide a color-managed
workflow for productions mixing digital
media and film. The new architecture also
had to be able to support both the film-
style workflow and the digital-style work-
flow, so that users could choose to work in
either one or mix them.
The result is a set of components
known as the Image Interchange Frame-
work. Last year, an evaluation program
began, with post facilities testing the IIF
system and manufacturers making proto-
type implementations. But the team still
needed a production trial.
Meanwhile, Francis Kenny, ASC
was prepping the second season of Justi-
fied. He had shot the first season with
Sonys F35, and when he looked at the raw
footage from the camera, he realized that
there was far more information available
than what was ending up in the final
version of the show. Last year, we were
losing everything on both ends of the
images, the shadows and the highlights,
he recalls. It was sad.
Kenny consulted with Curtis Clark,
ASC, the chairman of the ASC Technology
Committee, to see if Clark had any sugges-
tions about how to enhance the look of the
footage. Clark and the Tech Committee
had been actively supporting the Acad-
emys work on the IIF architecture, and he
saw in Justified an opportunity for the
framework to make its real-world debut.
The Academy team was already working
with Clark, Autodesk, Sony Electronics and
others on developing and testing the look-
up tables and pieces needed to implement
the IIF system with the Sony F35 and SRW-
9000-PL cameras configured for S-Log/S-
Gamut, which enable both cameras to
capture an extended dynamic range of
scene tones with a wide color gamut.
Kenny had shot a demo for the Sony SRW-
9000-PL and timed it at Colorworks using
the facilitys custom LUTs. He thought they
improved the look of his piece, and he
decided the next step was to use IIF LUTs.
Knowing Kenny would be using the
Sony SRW-9000-PL for the new season of
Justified, Clark helped Kenny set up tests
with Encore, the post facility that had
worked on the first season. Encore, and
especially the shows colorist, Pankaj Bajpai,
embraced the idea of using the IIF system
and did multiple tests on existing material
to see if the results would meet Kennys
expectations. Bajpai, Clark and Kenny
incorporated the IIF framework, collaborat-
ing with Sony and Autodesk, the manufac-
turer of the Lustre, which Bajpai uses to
color correct the series. The incorporation
of the framework was simple: it used the
standard IIF transforms rather than any
particular secret sauce. Bajpai notes that
the framework has worked without a
single hitch so far, while pointing out a
consideration thats unique to TV shows
using the process: even when shows were
shot on film, they suffered a severe loss of
data after they went through the telecine
process and were converted to video linear
so severe, in fact, that the conversion
radically curtailed the benefits of films
This diagram illustrates the various steps involved in the IIF-ACES workflow.
dynamic range. The IIF system is so far
ahead of video linear, he asserts. Theres
actually more information.
The basic goal of the IIF system is to
take images from a variety of sources
(including film, digital and CGI), apply trans-
forms to them so that they can all work
together within a common space, and then
output the color-corrected images properly
for any of a wide range of delivery situa-
tions. It does this with three separate types
of transforms:
1) The Input Device Transform takes
into account the characteristics of the
camera shooting the scene and converts
the material into the IIF systems working
color space, the Academy Color Encoding
Specification, or ACES.
2) The Reference Rendering Trans-
form then maps the ACES image to Output
Color Encoding Space, encoding the image
with an unlimited color gamut and a
dynamic range exceeding that of any
current or anticipated output device.
3) The Output Device Transform
accounts for the limitations of a particular
type of display and adjusts the gamut and
contrast of the color-corrected image to
match the specs of that device, so that it
will be displayed properly.
ACES is set up to have a dynamic
range of more than 30 stops and a color
gamut that covers the visible gamut. From
the start, the goal was to have ACES repre-
sent all possible colors, using fixed RGB
primaries to cover the visible gamut with
high-precision 16-bit half-floating point
numbers.
When raw footage is put through
the three transforms, it will appear on the
chosen output device with a basic look
applied to it. On Justified, that look is a film-
like appearance. Applying a look like this
means that colorists no longer have to
spend the majority of their time getting the
basic image into usable shape; instead, they
can move immediately into the more
creative part of their work. Now the color
session is strictly what it is supposed to be,
which is the place where the final creative
adjustments and tweaking get put into
place, says Feeney. Its all about separat-
ing the lab work from the creative work.
With the traditional photochemical
approach, the lab work was the processing
and developing, and then the creative work
was the final color timing. But with digital
files, the colorist is essentially doing the lab
conversion from whatever world the file was
in for the particular camera to the world of
that particular post house, and then doing
the creative work on top of that.
The developers of the IIF system
strove to design a process that can be
configured to be as familiar as possible to
those accustomed to working in film, but
can also be configured to suit those who
prefer working in a traditional video linear
style. The overall structure of the framework
can be made to mirror that of a film work-
flow, in which an image or file with the
most possible information (analogous to a
film negative) can be manipulated and given
a look for display and exhibition (similar to
the look of a film print). Because the IIF
architecture can work with film-style tools
and terms, color adjustments can be made
in terms of printer lights, which Bajpai says
transforms his communication with cine-
matographers. In the past, if somebody
asked me to add two points of yellow, I
would move the trackball in the direction of
yellow and interpret what those two points
of yellow might mean. In the linear video
world, there isnt any specific way in which
you can click something to add two points
of yellow. For me, this is one of the most
exciting aspects of the IIF system.
Kenny recalls that when he shot his
first digital feature, How High, he would
light the set to eye, as he would have for
film, but the image would look terrible on
the DITs monitor. He would then relight,
watching the monitor, only to find that the
set now looked terrible to his eye. With this
years workflow on Justified, he says, he
can now once again light the set to his eye
and know the results will be true.
That is a key goal of the IIF architec-
ture, says Feeney. This is supposed to
allow cinematographers the confidence
and freedom they had when it was a film
world, but with the advantages of a DI, and
without the heroic levels of work it takes
today to keep a DI from jumping the rails,
he says.
Kenny says using IIF in tandem with
the new Sony camera has made a world of
difference on Justified. This season is
going to raise a lot of eyebrows, he
predicts. People are going to say, Whoa,
what are they doing? Its so different from
last year! He says he has already received
praise from the producers and the studio.
They say, Whatever youre doing, dont
stop. The show looks great!
Justified is only the first toe in the
water, however. What the IIF team needs
now is for many features and TV shows to
adopt the architecture so it can be chal-
lenged and further developed. That will
require the interest and participation of
everyone involved in image creation, from
the producer down to the colorist. Were
at a very critical point, says Feeney. The
core scientists, a very dedicated group,
have been working on this for six years, but
it hasnt been well publicized. Now people
who make images for a living should know
about it.
For more information on the IIF
system, visit www.oscars.org/science-tech
nology/council/projects/iif.html.
Kenny says his
use of the new
workflow, in
tandem with
Sonys SRW-9000-
PL camera, has
produced eye-
popping improve-
ments in image
quality.
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want 35mm. She wanted the images to be
grainy, and she also wanted a lot of
texture.
I understand why someone might
want to shoot digital, but I didnt become a
filmmaker to shoot digital, says Durra. I
feel that film picks up something that digi-
tal cant, and thats what excites me.
Crosignani, who had previously shot
some short films on Super 16mm, says, I
knew it was going to work well for us
because of the small locations we were
working in, and because we had to move so
fast. Obtaining the proper texture was key.
Zeina showed me her thesis film, which
shed shot on 35mm at New York Univer-
sity, and said, I dont want it this clean. She
wanted something rawer. At the same
time, she felt that pushing 16 would be
stylizing it too much. She wanted the grain,
but didnt want to call attention to it.
The two collaborators had known
each other since their student days at NYU;
Durra was in the graduate-film program,
and Crosignani, a native of Uruguay, was in
the undergraduate program. I was shoot-
ing grad thesis films, and I shot one that
Zeina produced, recalls Crosignani, who
went on to earn a masters degree in cine-
matography at the American Film Institute.
When Durra began prepping Impe-
rialists, she interviewed Crosignani along
with other cinematographers. Of all the
directors of photography I met, Magela just
understood me, says the director. Its very
important that a cinematographer under-
stand your language, because then they
want to help you get your film across.
I really loved the script, and it
seemed like an incredible opportunity for
me to film in New York, says Crosignani.
Imperialists was shot over 23 days in
early 2009, but this short burst of filmmak-
ing followed an extensive preproduction
process. Durra had many visual references
to show Crosignani and production
designer Jade Healy, including works by
Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershoi (for the
winter light), Japanese photographer Daido
Moriyama (for his city shots), and a number
of films. The French New Wave figured
heavily, as did 1960s movies by Antonioni
and Fellini. Some of the references were
from La Dolce Vita, which also had a main
character moving through different strata of
society, notes Crosignani.
In sharing her references, Durra
made it clear that the graininess of 16mm
was just a piece of the visual atmosphere
she wanted to create. She wanted a lot of
texture in every location, says Crosignani.
For instance, shed show us pictures of
bathroom tiles and say, I want these tiles,
but I dont want the wall to be this white; I
A Woman of 2 Worlds
By John Calhoun
The first shot in The Imperialists Are
Still Alive! features lead actress lodie
Bouchez wearing a Keffiyeh around her
face and nothing else. Cast as Asya, a New
York visual artist of French upbringing and
mostly Arab descent, Bouchez is also acting
as stand-in for writer/director Zeina Durra,
who grew up in London but whose ethnic
background mirrors Asyas. The character is
an expression of the filmmakers own iden-
tity, that of a 21st-century woman who is
not caught between Muslim and Western
worlds but straddles them, easily navigating
New York Bohemian culture while remain-
ing vitally connected to the political realities
of the Middle East and post-9/11 America.
The opening shot is certainly atten-
tion grabbing, but if one can look beyond
the naked actress to take in the whole
frame, other details may become apparent:
grain, for example. The kind of grain associ-
ated with film, that is. The Imperialists Are
Still Alive! is a low-budget indie shot not
with a DSLR, but with that longtime indie
stalwart, Super 16mm. I didnt have to
pitch it at all Zeina was definitely
committed to Super 16, says cinematogra-
pher Magela Crosignani of the films direc-
tor. She did not want digital, nor did she
The Imperialists
Are Still Alive!,
shot by Magela
Crosignani,
follows Asya
(lodie
Bouchez), a
French-Arab
artist living in
New York. In
this scene, Asya
visits St. Nicks
Jazz Pub in
Harlem.
I
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.
I
I am extremely honored to have received the 2010
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences John A.
Bonner Award. This would not have been possible without
all of you. Id like to express my sincere gratitude to my
very gifted and loyal staff, my colleagues, my peers, my
family, but most importantly to all of you cinematographers
who inspire me. Thank you so very much!
Denny Clairmont
WOW!
www.clairmont.com
want it to be dirty. Consequently, scouting
became a matter of walking around New
York and knocking on doors to find the
perfect locations. Asyas Chinatown loft was
discovered in this manner. We had a lot of
material to shoot in the loft or just outside
it, says Crosignani. What caught Zeinas
attention at that location was the red on the
stairs to the loft, and the texture of the
walls. She adds that a gallery was chosen
because of the view outside its windows.
What was visible outside a window was
important to Zeina.
Shooting with an Arri 16-SR3 and
Zeiss Super Speed lenses, Crosignani used
Kodak Vision2 250D 7205 for day interiors
and exteriors and Vision3 500T 7219 for
night interiors and exteriors. That was a
combination of needing the sensitivity of
the film and not having enough money to
light a block in New York City! she notes.
A lot of our lighting was practical. We
didnt have large lights or Condors.
The loft was challenging because it
had really large windows, and we knew we
didnt have the budget to gel them, nor the
time to change gels when necessary,
continues the cinematographer. Thats part
of what led me to shoot a daylight-balanced
negative. Filming at the loft took place
over a week in February. Some days were
snowing and cold and cloudy, and others
were like a heat wave, recalls Crosignani.
It was tricky to keep [lighting] consistent
without having lights outside we were
on the third floor. We used a lot of natural
lighting and added to that inside, mostly
with 2-by-4 Kinos rigged above the
windows at an angle and Jo-Lekos [a 400-
watt Joker HMI inside a Source Four], which
allowed me to bounce light at more difficult
angles.
The story includes numerous street
sequences, many of them at night. Scenes
of Asya traversing the city streets with her
boyfriend, Javier (Jos Mara de Tavira), are
sometimes so dark that you see the lights
in the street but cant really see their faces,
acknowledges Crosignani. Zeina said, I
dont care to see their faces; I want to feel
as if theyre walking around Chinatown,
and its not always lit.
Given that so many of Durras refer-
ences were black-and-white, I think if she
could have muted the colors of the city, she
would have, the cinematographer contin-
ues. But we knew we had to deal with
sodium-vapor streetlights and the colors of
Chinatown, so we decided to embrace and
expand upon them.
A series of bars also served as loca-
tions, and they are partly distinguished from
each other by the use of color. The natural
tones of scenes in the loft give way to the
golden hues of the trendy Bungalow 8, or
the blue-green of a neighborhood bar. At
one location, St. Nicks Jazz Pub in Harlem,
the filmmakers even enhanced the existing
color. In this scene, Asya has a cathartic
moment dancing to an African band. I
wanted to separate that scene from the
other colorful ones and push it even further,
make it more red and more yellow, says
Crosignani. The ceilings were very low, so
we used some low-profile Pars, some batten
lights and some LEDs that our gaffer, Derek
Gross, owned.
Another scene, in which Asya
dances with Javier on an East Village street
Top: Karim (Karim Saleh) and Tatiana (Katarina Muller) soak in the ambience at the hip
Chelsea lounge Bungalow 8. Bottom: Asya feels a romantic spark with Javier (Jos Mara de Tavira),
a Mexican graduate student.
frame add texture. Zeina cared about
details that are usually left for bigger-
budget films, and thats part of what made
this indie film exciting to shoot there was
never a sense of sacrificing the visuals to
budget limitations.
The digital grade for Imperialists
was carried out at Goldcrest, where the
filmmakers worked with colorist John
Dowdell. The things we had to work on
most were scenes that we shot night-for-
day, recalls Crosignani. A breakfast scene
at a Chinatown diner, for example, was
shot after sundown. Theres a window in
the scene, and we worked a lot on just
getting that window to be bright, and
balancing the interior and exterior to make
it look as close to morning as possible. We
also worked to get rid of the warmth and
colors that you relate more to night. There
were also some scenarios where we had to
create windows, like some of the interior
car scenes. A lot of it was just making sure
the blacks were black.
Whatever format she uses, Durra is
likely to continue carrying the torch for film.
I really believe in film, she says. I believe
something special happens when light hits
the negative, something magical. People
should understand that shooting on video is
not just an economic choice, but also an
aesthetic one. Its a distinctive choice not to
shoot on film.
TECHNICAL SPECS
1.85:1
Super 16mm
Arri 16-SR3
Zeiss Super Speed
Kodak Vision2 250D 7205,
Vision3 500T 7219
Digital Intermediate
to music emanating from a nearby car,
captures a somewhat different mood. I felt
the location lighting was too warm, and I
wanted a little color separation there, so we
added some cyan backlight, says Crosig-
nani. The flare from that adds to the
romantic little moment while keeping it
gritty. Its a New York exterior, and were not
beautifying the street, but theres a little
shine in the background. There was a tonal
range in the story some scenes are pure
love story, some more political and funnier
so there had to be range in the visuals.
But the goal was always to keep it simple.
Zeina doesnt like overcomplicated setups,
and she doesnt like coverage at all.
Indeed, Durra says, I think stan-
dard coverage is really taking away from the
potential of cinemas language. Most of
Imperialists was shot handheld (with Crosig-
nani operating) because Durra did not want
to limit the actors movements. The main
lenses were the 12mm and 16mm
because Zeina wanted to be close in prox-
imity to the actors but also wanted to allow
for the cast to be part of the frame without
having to shoot close-ups of each one of
them, says the cinematographer. Some-
times the frame contains up to five actors,
with extras often moving through the
scenes to maintain the bustling city atmos-
phere. Zeina wanted to show people
walking around the frame in full-length
shots because the way they are dressed also
adds texture to the image, says Crosig-
nani. Even the cars passing through the
Clockwise
from top left:
A scene set in
the 90-year-old
Nom Wah Tea
Parlor on Doyers
Street in
Manhattan;
Crosignani lines
up a shot on
another project;
Asya and Javier
share a close
moment during
a cab ride.
P
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,

A
S
C
.
A promising politician discovers his
path isnt entirely of his own making
in The Adjustment Bureau, directed
by George Nolfi and shot by
John Toll, ASC.
By Rachael K. Bosley
|
Master
Plans
George Nolfi, the writer/director of The Adjustment
Bureau, is on speakerphone, addressing John Toll, ASC,
the films cinematographer. Nolfi is at Technicolor New
York, and Toll is at Technicolor Hollywood, and they
have just finished watching a color-timed version of the movie
from beginning to end for the first time together via
Technicolors Tech-2-Tech link, which enabled them to
view identical 2K images on both coasts in real time.
It has been almost a year since principal photography
wrapped, and Tolls work on the pictureis nearly finished. His
involvement in post will eventually comprise four weeks
worth of intermittent work at Technicolor, encompassing the
digital timing, carried out with colorist Mike Hatzer and
senior assistant colorist Chris Jensen, as well as subsequent
adjustments to the answer print, the digital-cinema package
for 2K and 4K theatrical presentations, and the HD master
for ancillary markets. He invited AC to sit in on a number of
these sessions, providing a glimpse of the minutely detailed
work a cinematographer so often does in the final stages of a
movies creation. As Toll scrutinized the picture in different
color spaces and resolutions, the filmmakers considerable
ambition was clearly evident on the screen.
Loosely adapted from Philip K. Dicks short story
J
ohn, thank you. It looks beautiful.
w ww.theasc.com March 2011 27
Adjustment Team , The Adjustment
Bureau follows David Norris (Matt
Damon), a New York politician who
falls in love at a critical juncture in his
career only to have his relationship with
the woman, Elise (Emily Blunt),
thwarted at every turn. After David
learns that what appears to be coinci-
dence is in fact design that mysteri-
ous men with unusual powers are
working to keep him and Elise apart
he must decide whether pursuing the
relationship will harm them both.
With its blend of suspense,
romance, contemporary politics and
elements of science fiction, The
Adjustment Bureau is not easy to catego-
rize, and this made it an intriguing
proposition for the creative team and a
rather singular challenge for Nolfi, a
screenwriter ( Oceans 12 ) who was
making his directing debut. Toll recalls,
Throughout the shoot, I would period-
ically ask George to describe what kind
of film we were making. His answer
would change at times, but eventually
we settled on calling it a romantic,
political, metaphysical suspense film. It
could be the first one of that genre!
U
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.

Opposite: Senate hopeful David
Norris (Matt Damon) greets his fans
on the streets of Manhattan. This
page, top: Adjustment Bureau
agents Harry (Anthony Mackie, left)
and Richardson (John Slattery, next
to Mackie) join other agents to
monitor events on Election Night.
Middle: Ren Burris So Paulo,
Brazil, one of the many stills that
influenced the filmmakers
approach. Bottom: John Toll, ASC
prepares to shoot.

This was a tough picture for a
first-time director, incredibly difficult,
continues Toll. When youre working
in a clearly defined genre, the answers to
many questions tend to become self-
explanatory once you fall into that
genre. But because of the multifaceted
nature of this story, it wasnt obvious
where the punctuation should be for
each department: How beautiful is
beautiful? How real is real? Those are
not obvious questions, and the answers
do come out of the writer/directors
point of view.
I was besieged, Nolfi recalls.
When you write a script, there are a lot
of instances when you suggest some-
thing, and then many other people
make decisions about how to use that
suggestion, or whether to use it at all.
But when you direct, you have to have a
point of view on every decision; if you
dont, then it just drifts. That was the
most overwhelming aspect of the shoot:
making hundreds of decisions a day.
The overall feel or tone of a film is irrev-
ocably shaped by all those decisions you
have to make on the day, typically
under fairly intense time pressure.
What helped to unify the visual
plan was Nolfis concept that the
Adjustment Bureau, the organization of
men following David and, in fact,
controlling everyones destiny, has
mankinds best interests at heart. One
of the earliest ideas I had was to use
incredibly beautiful images to convey
what the world would be like if the
Adjustment Bureau controlled every-
thing, says Nolfi. The world within
the Bureau is perfect-looking, but even
the real world outside is a little more
beautiful because of the Bureaus influ-
ence. That was one of the first things I
talked about with John: how to create a
reality thats recognizable but slightly
more beautiful than what youre used to
seeing.
The goal, says Toll, was an
idealized version of modern New York
that wasnt so cosmetically beautiful that
it looked totally romanticized. We
wanted to feel reality, but we didnt want
to create a gritty, grungy movie. It was a
Master Plans
Top: In a moment
that changes both
of their lives, David
encounters Elise
(Emily Blunt) in a
hotel mens room.
Middle: Harry races
down Broadway
after failing to stop
David from
boarding a bus,
where he meets
Elise again.
Bottom: Richardson
interrogates David
after he
accidentally
glimpses the
Adjustment Bureau
at work in his
office.
matter of finding that fine line.
This was accomplished mainly
through a judicious and extensive use of
locations throughout New York City
the production had to make 25 full crew
moves over the course of the 70-day
shoot to fit them all in and an
emphasis on formal compositions that
showcased the grand architecture at
such sites as the New York Public
Library, which provided interiors for
Adjustment Bureau headquarters;
Madison Square Park, the neighbor-
hood where David lives; the Waldorf-
Astoria, where David and Elise first
meet; and the old U.S. Custom House,
which figures into the storys climactic
chase. We wanted to use locations to
suggest the Adjustment Bureau is guid-
ing humanity to a more perfect place,
Nolfi explains. Im a huge fan of U.S.
architecture from about 1900 to 1940,
and New York has that in spades. It also
has a lot of exterior and interior spaces
that I knew could be tied together to
suggest a single, majestic location.
One influence on the filmmakers
approach was Ren Burris photo So
Paulo, Brazil, which is explicitly refer-
enced in the high-angle shot that intro-
duces Adjustment Bureau agents Harry
(Anthony Mackie) and Richardson
(John Slattery), who are monitoring
David. George showed me a collection
of photos that included the Burri shot
and many architectural images of New
York, and they suggested a way to
handle architecture that would help us
tell the story, says Toll.
But our main visual inspiration
was New York itself, he adds. Its so
rich visually that just moving around the
city constantly exposes you to ideas.
Nolfi wrote several specific
Manhattan locations into the script, and
even before Toll officially came aboard
the production, he joined Nolfi for
preliminary scouts of those sites while
he was in New York on another project.
Scouting subsequently occupied much
of their formal prep, which was almost
eight weeks. That time was hugely
important, says Nolfi. John and I spent
hundreds of hours in cars and vans, just
Top: Damon and Mackie wait in the foreground as Toll (wearing red cap) and the crew prep a
crane shot on a ferryboat. Middle: On the ferry, Harry tells David more about the mysterious
Bureau.Bottom: David rallies his supporters in front of one of New Yorks most famous
landmarks.
moving through the city and looking at
things.
The filmmakers also spent prep
time storyboarding key action
sequences, including a daytime chase
that starts at Madison Square Park and
ends at Union Square. The scene begins
when David boards a bus at 23rd and
Broadway and encounters Elise for the
second time. Harry, who was supposed
to prevent David from getting on the
bus, gives chase on foot as the vehicle
heads down Broadway. The scene ends
when Elise disembarks at Union
Square. George and I walked that
[nine-block] stretch of Broadway
several times in prep, and all the various
beats within the sequence were very
carefully boarded, which helped us
enormously when we shot it, says Toll.
We filmed it in December, when days
are very short, and it involved a lot of
traffic control. We did it pretty much as
boarded and even had time to expand
on the boards. We never would have
been able to do that without careful
preparation, or without the very experi-
enced New York crew we were very
fortunate to have.
David and Elises dialogue on the
bus was shot in a 360-degree green-
screen environment at Steiner Studios.
Toll explains, Working with gaffer Jim
Plannette and key grip Mitch Lillian,
rigging grip Jim Bonice built the green-
screen and, with rigging gaffer Clay
Liversidge, built lightboxesthat
stretched the entire length of both sides
of the bus onstage. There were 30 units
on each side of the bus, all on a dimmer
board, and they held 1K nook lights.
They were on truss and could be raised
and lowered, depending on the shot.
We primarily lit through the windows,
adding interior bounce fill as needed
with a variety of small Fresnels.
In the story, this scene takes
place in winter, and we waited to shoot
the exterior part of it until the end of
our schedule in December, after the
leaves had dropped from the trees we
were hoping for overcast skies to help
the winter look, he continues. So
when we shot the bus interiors, I lit for
Master Plans
Top: Steadicam
operator Stephen
Consentino films
an exchange
between David
and Bureau agents
Richardson and
McCrady (Anthony
Ruivivar, behind
Damon). Middle:
Upper-echelon
Bureau agent
Thompson
(Terence Stamp)
takes charge
when David
proves difficult.
Bottom: Toll and
director George
Nolfi plan a shot
on location.
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an exterior overcast ambience, hoping
thats what we would get when we shot
the exteriors. Fortunately, thats what we
did get, and when [visual-effects super-
visor] Mark Russell shot the back-
ground plates in January, he was able to
wait for similar conditions.
Indirect light was favored for
many sequences in the film, and Toll
notes that this had to do with both
practical considerations and story
points. Many of our locations were
examples of the canyons of New York,
where we were in the shadows of build-
ings most of the time, but the light
changed dramatically and very quickly
as the sun moved in and out from
behind the buildings. For shorter
sequences, the contrast of the sunlight
could look great, but maintaining light-
ing continuity for extended sequences
was very difficult, even impossible at
times. So I worked with first AD Steve
Apicella to try and schedule the longer
scenes to take advantage of continuous
light [indirect/shadow] and avoid the
times of day that would give us variable
conditions.
For the moments when direct
sunlight becomes important to the
story, we thought it would be interesting
to have the sun appear during those
scenes rather than have it be there
throughout, he continues. In the most
important of these scenes, which shows
Harry at Madison Square Park before
David gets on the bus, we were at the
location for a few days and had the flex-
ibility to take advantage of weather and
time of day, so we timed the scene so it
would start in overcast/shadow and
eventually have a moment of direct
sun.
The most visually complicated
scenes in the picture showcase one of
the Adjustment Bureaus supernatural
abilities: a Bureau agent can quickly
transport himself to a specific location
in New York by donning a hat and step-
ping through a specific doorway. He
can, for example, open a seemingly
normal door in a municipal building in
Lower Manhattan and step out into
Yankee Stadium.
Master Plans
Top: David tries to
explain the Bureaus
plan to Elise. Middle:
The couples desire to
change their fate
sends them through
the streets of New
York, with Bureau
agents in hot pursuit.
Bottom: Consentino
films Damon and
Blunt emerging from
a subway station in
Midtown, another
segment of the chase.
There are several of these scenes
in the film, and, in keeping with their
overall goal of a naturalistic feel, the
filmmakers spent a good deal of prep
time working out how to capture the
transitions in ways that would de-
emphasize their fantastic aspects. We
wanted these events, which seemed
impossible, to appear believable, says
Toll. We used a variety of techniques to
achieve this, and the most interesting is
when the camera moves through the
door with the actors, making the transi-
tion with them in what appears to be a
single continuous shot usually a
Steadicam move executed by Steve
Consentino, our B-camera/Steadicam
operator.
Each of these scenes needed its
own technique in making the transition
from one unique environment to
another, continues Toll. In one of the
less complicated ones, we did a
Steadicam move with John Slattery and
Anthony Ruivivar [playing another
Bureau agent] running down a street in
Soho. The camera follows them into a
bar, where they open a closet door and
step through onto a busy street in
Chinatown, closing the door behind
them. The hostess enters the shot as she
follows them, only she opens the door
and finds a closet filled with coats. To
capture this scene, we hung a green-
screen in the closet, and John and
Anthony ran into the closet and tried to
hide so we wouldnt see them when the
Top: David and Elise find their way to Adjustment Bureau headquarters. Bottom: Toll and gaffer
James Plannette (at left in background) confer as the crew prepares to shoot.
We wanted
these events,
which seemed
impossible, to
appear believable.
hostess opened the door. Anthony
couldnt get out of the shot because the
closet was too small, so Mark [Russell]
had to remove him digitally in post. It
was actually pretty funny when we were
shooting because we were losing the
light and going pretty fast, so we didnt
rehearse with the hostess, and she didnt
know Anthony would be standing there
looking at her when she opened the
door.
The most intricate sequence
involving door transitions came to be
the same rooftop they have just left.
The idea is that theyre confronting the
full power of the chairman, so reality is
warping, and theyre caught in an infi-
nite loop, says Nolfi.
To make the fantastic appear
plausible, Nolfi wrote the Escher Stairs
as one continuous shot, with the camera
moving with David and Elise from the
moment they enter the stairwell to the
moment they step out onto the roof the
second time. With that mandate, Toll
spent prep time working with Russell,
production designer Kevin Thompson
and art director Steve Carter to deter-
mine how to achieve what Nolfi
wanted. The solution involved a 50'
SuperTechnocrane, a set onstage at
Steiner that was about 75 percent
greenscreen and 25 percent practical,
and background plates shot from the
roof of 30 Rockefeller Plaza.
I wasnt sure how we would
approach the Escher Stairs when I first
read the script, says Toll. We wanted
the shot to have a Steadicam-type feel,
but doing the single continuous move
with a Steadicam would have been very
difficult the actors would be running
at full speed both up and down the
stairs, and we also wanted the move to
include a rise in camera height on the
roof to see down into the city. So we
decided to try it as a crane shot.
After doing a thorough set of
storyboards, the team had previsualiza-
tion company Proof create a 3-D
animation of the scene. Working with
George and John, explains Russell, we
decided to shoot the actors on a set that
was a partially constructed stairwell
with an upper and lower landing
surrounded by greenscreen. From there,
with the help of the grip, art and camera
departments, we did a camera test to
determine what should be built practi-
cally and what would be completed
digitally in post.
By working all this out in prep,
we learned not only how we might do
this shot, but also that only a small
amount of the set could be a practical
build because of the space required for
the crane arm, notes Toll. Kevin
known as the Escher Stairs, after
graphic artist M.C. Escher, and it
appears near the end of the film as
David and Elise attempt to track down
the chairman of the Adjustment Bureau
to change their fate. After running
through Bureau headquarters, the
couple enters a stairwell, runs up two
flights of stairs and emerges on a
rooftop that offers a spectacular view of
the city. Seeing no escape, they turn
around, run back down the stairs and
through the door, only to step out onto
Top: Crane technician Paul McKenna (left) and A-camera 1st AC Chris Toll work with the SuperTechno
to film part of the Escher Stairs sequence. Bottom: Grip Dana Hook lends a hand for another part
of the shot.
Master Plans
Thompson and Steve Carter then
designed and built as much of the stair-
well and exterior rooftops as was possi-
ble. This build comprised a stairwell
with one complete side, an open top,
and a partial side that would later be
extended with CGI.
We spent a day rehearsing the
shot with stand-ins, Toll continues.
For the rehearsal, we used a 30-foot
Technocrane and positioned it perpen-
dicular to the stairs so we could reach
both rooftops by swinging the arm
along the length of the stairway, which
was about 20 feet long with an 8-foot
rise from bottom to top. The total
length of the move was about 40 feet
when we included the actors move-
ments on the rooftops. The chassis
remained fixed in position, and the key
to the whole shot was keeping the
camera very close to the actors and
rapidly moving in a straight line by
constantly extending and retracting the
arm as it swung in an arc up and down
the stairs. Camera operator Bruce
McCallum worked with grips Rick
Marroquin, Dana Hook and Kevin
Lowry and crane technician Paul
McKenna to work out the shot step-by-
step.Its one of those shots that looks
fairly straightforward onscreen but was
very complicated to execute.
On the day of shooting, the team
switched to a 50' SuperTechnocrane to
give us a little help in keeping the move
straight by minimizing the angle of the
arc, says Toll, and Russells crew placed
tracking dots all over the greenscreen, as
well as mock Empire State Buildings
and Central Park cards for eyelines.
Visual-effects artists at Phos-
phene (supervised by John Bair) created
the digital portion of the shot. Russell
explains, Phosphene took the
photographed greenscreen element and
tracked the movement of the camera in
3-D, and we used that data to shoot
live-action background plates from the
top of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, using a
Zebra motion-control crane, which
barely fit in the elevator. The crane was
able to match the camera position for
the chosen take, but because the speed
of the camera during the plate with the
actors was so fast, we had to shoot the
background plates at a much slower
frame rate, 6 fps, in order for the Zebra
to match the move.
The color correction of the
Escher Stairs was the focus of many
hours in the DI suite, and this work was
expedited by Technicolors Tech-2-
Tech service, which enabled Russell and
Nolfi to participate from New York,
where the editing, sound and visual
effects came together, while Toll worked
with Hatzer and Jensen in Hollywood.
(Nolfi later joined Toll in Hollywood to
sign off on the final.) We originally
intended to do the DI in New York, but
then that schedule changed, and I had
commitments in L.A. that would have
interfered with my ability to be in New
York continuously for that process, says
Toll. With Tech-2-Tech, I was able to
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do the timing in L.A. and periodically
do simultaneous sessions with George,
who could see real-time color correc-
tions onscreen in New York. This also
worked well when Mark wanted to
check visual-effects shots against our
work-in-progress; he could insert shots
into scenes we had begun to time and
see how things were blending before he
made final versions of those shots. That
helped enormously in making adjust-
ments to both the overall grade and the
visual-effects shots.
Timing the Escher Stairs began
with Tolls pre-grade of the greenscreen
plate and the two background plates
(one for each rooftop shot). The
Phosphene team then combined those
plates with a fourth, showing
Adjustment Bureau agents coming up
the stairs toward David and Elise at the
end of the shot, and added CG stairs
and CG floor tiles. After many months
of fine-tuning and clean-up, we arrived
at a decent-looking composite that then
needed to be dialed in to match the rest
of the film, says Russell. To enable
Master Plans
Left: Harry has another clandestine meeting with David. Right: Damon and the filmmakers at work in Lower Manhattan.
36
John and Mike Hatzer to adjust the
balance between all of the shots layers
in the final stage, we generated alpha-
channel mattes that isolated each of the
different elements.
This was certainly the most
complicated shot in the film, adds
Russell, and it was a true collaboration
on every level.
Speaking with AC during a break
at Technicolor Hollywood, Nolfi
observes that the creativity, skill and
determination applied to the Escher
Stairs sequence were characteristic of
his collaborators throughout the shoot.
I was incredibly blessed, says the
director. Thanks to everyones creative
and technical competence, I could say
some general thing like, Well, I think
we need to go more realistic here, and
know they would take that creative
direction and figure out how to accom-
plish what I wanted. Turning to Toll,
he adds, I cant remember a single
instance when you guys came back to
me and said, Theres no way to do
that.
No, Toll responds dryly, we
had those conversations before we got
back to you.
The collective opportunity the
movie presented, the cinematographer
observes, was inspiring to everyone. It
was a unique script shot in a fantastic
place with a director who was interested
in telling the story with images. What
more could you ask for?
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TECHNICAL SPECS
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Digital Intermediate
T
his years survey of visually interesting prime-time televi-
sion shows focuses on Foxs Human Target, shot by
Robert McLachlan, ASC, CSC; AMCs The Killing ,
shot by Peter Wunstorf, ASC; and Foxs Fringe, shot by
Tom Yatsko and CSC members David Moxness and Gregory
Middleton.
Human Target
Cinematographer: Robert McLachlan, ASC, CSC
Robert McLachlan, ASC, CSC fondly recalls early
Alexa moments late last year, when he used the new Arri
Alexa digital camera for the first time on Foxs Human Target.
The Vancouver production had just switched, late in season
two, from shooting with Arris D-21 to the Alexa at the strong
urging of McLachlan, producer/director Steve Boyum and
line producer Grace Gilroy. Those moments included imme-
diate success using the Alexa in twilight for a day-exterior shot
that he wasnt initially sure the sensor could read adequately in
fading light, but which ended up matching well. They also
included a location scout where McLachlan overcame
concern about shooting inside a poorly lit hotel. There was
no way to hide lights, he recalls. I had that familiar, sinking
feeling: How are we going to light this in the time weve got?
Then I remembered that the practical ceiling fixtures would
probably give more light than we needed. Sure enough, my
gaffer was soon changing existing bulbs, and we were good to
go.
McLachlan has used a variety of digital formats, and he
is not prone to hyperbole, but at press time, having just
wrapped Human Targets fourth episode with the Alexa, he
was using terms such as game-changing technology and
quantum leap.
Human Target follows a security expert who puts
himself in harms way to protect clients targeted for death. For
the shows required action style, McLachlan wanted a light-
weight, mobile camera capable of excelling in low light, but
film cameras were not among the available options. The Alexa
was not yet available when the show launched in early 2010,
so Clairmont Camera of Vancouver provided the production
with Arris D-21.
When Clairmont offered two Alexas late last year,
however, the production quickly accepted, even though its
D-21 workflow was humming along well into season two.
McLachlan acknowledges that switching acquisition systems
mid-season is rare, but says it was the right move. Ive been
making my living as a cameraman for more than 30 years, and
in my opinion, this is the first quantum leap in filmmaking
technology Ive seen since I started out. Every other change
has been incremental, but the Alexa is a game-changer. It can
significantly impact how we shoot, how many lights we take
on location and even how we choose locations. Once the
industry gets the recording system into a form thats accept-
able in terms of archival considerations, I think cinematogra-
phers will be able to shoot with a state-of-the-art digital
camera without a lot of cables.
To avoid disrupting Human Targets post pipeline, the
filmmakers continued to record to HDCam-SR tape, even
though the Alexa can record to Sony SxS memory cards in the
ProRes format. (McLachlan expects the workflow to evolve to
Cinematographers
on the series Human
Target, The Killing and
Fringe discuss their
work.
By Michael Goldman,
Jay Holben and
Iain Stasukevich
|
Weekly
Wonders
onboard solid-state recorders eventu-
ally.) Clairmont had supplied the D-21
with Arri fiber technology in order to
smoothly record high-bandwidth
signals at variable frame rates over long
distances from the recorders, but there
was no corresponding fiber link to go
with the Alexa. Thus, Clairmont had to
improvise a solution in just 10 days,
according to Garry Gosnell, camera
rentals manager at Clairmont
Vancouver.
Human Target demanded fiber
from the outset because of the nature of
the show they had to maintain a
signal at distances far from the
recorders, Gosnell explains. They run
two or three cameras connected to a
central DIT recording area from vary-
ing distances. That would require huge
cabling if not for a fiber system. The
Alexa is a similar system, and we figured
out how to integrate our own fiber solu-
tion, producing four or five custom units
that we had on the cameras the first day
they started using them. That solution
is a combination of various fiber tech-
nologies that permits transmission of
single or dual-link HD-SDI or
ArriRaw signals to SRW-1 HD
recorders. H
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Above (from left):
Human TargetsChance
(Mark Valley), Guerrero
(Jackie Earle Haley) and
Winston (Chi McBride)
take aim in a frame
grab from the Arri D-21
that has a basic LUT
applied. Left: Chance
enters a Siberian prison
in this frame grab from
the D-21, set to 3,200K
and lit with HMIs.
Below: Robert
McLachlan, ASC, CSC
wields an Arri Alexa.

With the Alexa, McLachlan also
had to quickly build a new set of look-
up tables for on-set viewing. It required
a lot of scrambling to get LUTs
created, he recalls. I set up a standard
test scenario on set with a model a
gray card, a color card, black, white and
so on and set the camera at all the
various ISOs available through the
menu. I also underexposed a couple of
stops, since the menu only goes up to
1,600 ISO, and did one that was equiv-
alent to 3,200 ISO. We passed all that
material to our [dailies] colorist at
Technicolor Vancouver, Thor Roos,
who corrected them and sent them
back, and that became our new base
LUT.
To guard against inconsistencies
in LUTs or dailies, McLachlan grabs
RAW frames on set from his 23"
Cine-tal monitor, downloads them
directly from the monitor via a USB
stick, color corrects them using Apples
Aperture, and sends stills to Encore
Hollywood colorist Phil Azenzer, who
handles the final timing, and others.
The cinematographer reports
smooth sailing, particularly in low light.
Our most recent episode included a
night scene on a hotel rooftop where we
had very limited lighting options, and I
cant imagine it would look nearly as
good on another format, even film, he
observes. The camera read into the
deep urban background way more than
even [Kodak Vision3 500T] 5219
would if you pushed it one stop. It even
picked up the urban glow reflecting
snow in the air!
The D-21 was extremely light
hungry, notes McLachlan, whereas the
Alexa has been performing strongly in
the lowest light, reducing focus-pulling
headaches for camera assistants. Using
the D-21 is kind of like shooting
anamorphic in the sense that you need
quite a bit of stop to make the lenses
work, says McLachlan. We got
fantastic-looking images once we got
used to working at much higher light
levels, but our assistants really had to
work to pull focus its either there, or
it isnt.
Weekly Wonders
These three frame grabs were all shot at night with the Alexa set to ISO 1,240. Top: A dimmed-down
200-watt Gem Ball provided light in the foreground while an 18K lit the background from a roofthree
blocks away, providing enough stop to shoot at a T4. Middle: A Mole 10K positioned 300' away
illuminated this rooftop scene. Bottom: Two small Kino Flos helped illuminate Haley.
We rated the D-21 at about 200
ISO, so for focus we were shooting
wide open, says A-camera focus puller
Jessica Moskal. The Alexa is the oppo-
site side of that spectrum.
Gaffer Mike Kolafa says Human
Target requires a pretty hefty studio-
lighting package, especially for its
standing set, the main characters two-
story organizational headquarters,
which includes a bullpen that uses both
a large truss rig overhead and a large
TransLite. In both cases, says Kolafa,
the switch to the Alexa has meant fewer
and smaller bulbs.
The same is true of location
work. I was amazed by what the
camera read when we shot our first
night exterior with it, says Kolafa.
And with a night interior, where we
might have brought in a 600
VistaBeam for the D-21, we used a
four-bank Kino Flo or a Kino Flo 200
Barfly with the Alexa. We carry quite a
few other lights that we dont use as
much as we did before. You still balance
the frame, but at lower light levels, with
less intense sources.
Noting that the Alexa sees
things the human eye doesnt,
McLachlan says the camera has
presented his lighting team with a bit
of a learning curve. He elaborates, Its
Top: This Alexa
frame grab is taken
from a 360-degree
Steadicam shot in a
hotel lobby lit
entirely with
existing practicals.
The Alexa was set
to ISO 640. Middle:
McLachlan added
Full CTO to a 10K
outside the
window to create
this late-afternoon
look, shot with the
D-21 set to ISO 320.
Bottom: This D-21
frame grab was
captured with the
camera set to ISO
200.LEDs have
been added to the
TransLite outside
the window to
bring the backing
to life.
like going from shooting a really bright
anamorphic picture, where youre trying
to shoot a T4 or T5.6 to make the lenses
work, to working with almost no light
in the room. For the first couple weeks
with the Alexa, every time I walked
from my monitor to the set, Id think
someone had turned the lights down
after I left my monitor; the image on
the monitor was bright, crisp and clean,
and the set would be downright gloomy.
This is even more pronounced in night
exteriors. Unlit, distant buildings at ISO
1,240 become visible, while the blacks
stay solid and clean.
I think our HMI package will be
scaled back considerably, and weve
already reduced what we carry to loca-
tions and use in the studio, says Kolafa.
We still haul around a couple of
VistaBeams, a couple of Image 80s and
eight 5Ks, but next season those will be
replaced by much smaller fixtures. It
used to be a given that wed use lighting
balloons and lifts with 18Ks on night
exteriors, but with the Alexa, we use
them less, and in some locations we
dont need them at all.
McLachlan is using the same
lenses he used with the D-21, mainly
Angenieux Optimo 15-40mm, 25-
75mm and 24-290mm zooms and a full
set of Cooke Primes. The only real
difference is that we dont have to work
close to wide open all the time any
more, he says.
Im a dyed-in-the-wool film
lover, and given any choice, I probably
would have shot this show on Kodak
5219, he continues, but TV seems to
be all digital capture now, and I dont
understand why anyone wouldnt
choose the Alexa. I would definitely use
it for any theatrical feature or TV show
that involves night or low-light work,
assuming the onboard recording issue
can be resolved. I think the only mater-
ial film handles better now is day exteri-
ors, but my opinion could be based on
the fact that we dont have proper day-
exterior LUTs yet!
Michael Goldman
The Killing
Cinematographer:
Peter Wunstorf, ASC
As the network behind the series
Mad Men (AC Oct. 09), Breaking Bad,
Rubicon and The Walking Dead ,
American Movie Classics is quickly
building a reputation for original
programming that stretches the bound-
aries of television. The networks latest
series, The Killing, is a police drama that
ventures far beyond the clich proce-
dural into a powerful study of secrets
and emotions.
Adapted from the Danish televi-
sion series Forbrydelsen (Crime) , The
Killing chronicles the investigation of a
young girls murder in Seattle. The pilot
and each of the 12 subsequent episodes
encompass only one day in the investi-
gation, dividing story time among three
perspectives: that of the victims grieving
family, that of the Seattle politician who
is the prime suspect, and that of the
police detective trying to solve the case.
Behind the camera is Peter
Wunstorf, ASC, who is photographing
a TV series for the first time. Though he
has shot 11 TV pilots, 10 of which were
picked up, he had vowed not to take on
an entire series. I said I never would,
he acknowledges, but when I was
shooting the pilot for The Killing, I real-
ized that if there was ever a series that
could sustain my interest, this was it. By
the time we reach the end of the season,
were only 13 days into the investiga-
tion. This allows us to stay with our
characters in real time.
Although most prime-time TV
series are now captured digitally, AMC
isnt following that trend. During my
initial interview with [executive
producer/writer] Veena Sud and [direc-
tor] Patty Jenkins, I was informed that
AMC were film snobs, Wunstorf
recalls with a laugh. Of course, I had no
problem with that!
Shooting 3-perf Super 35mm,
the production uses two Panaflex
Millennium XLs and a Platinum,
although its generally a single-camera
show, he continues. Were shooting
low-con [Kodak] Vision2 [500T]
Expression 5229, which works beauti-
fully for the look were after. Wunstorf
rates the 5229 at the suggested ISO of
500, but he often underexposes by one
or two stops. Im not afraid of that, he
asserts. Im often playing the bottom of
the negative, and thats one of the
reasons I chose 5229. Its a much softer
stock, and it handles that underexposure
really well. Were frequently working
with very low light levels. An example is
Weekly Wonders
In a scene from The Killing, police detective Sarah Linden (Mireille Enos) makes a
grim discovery.
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Weekly Wonders
the car scene in the pilot that we were
shooting at dusk. We pulled the 85,
pushed the stock and shot for 20
minutes. I was worried about how
everyone would react to the dailies, but
it turned out to be one of Veenas
favorite scenes, as well as mine.
Wunstorf notes that his initial
phone interview with Sud and Jenkins
was inspiring and informative. I love it
when writers inspire you with words. In
my first meeting with Veena, she used
the term sad elegance, and I immedi-
ately thought of two films, Birth [shot
by Harris Savides, ASC] and Jennifer
Eight [shot by Conrad L. Hall, ASC],
the former for the mood and the latter
for the content. It turned out she and
Patty and been referencing those two
films! Veena also said she wanted this to
be the Unforgiven of cop shows.
Simplicity and loneliness were key
words. That gave me a lot to work with
in conceptualizing the look.
Im trying to do things very
simply, which helps create the appropri-
ate look and also works logistically,
because lighting simply definitely lends
itself to the pace of a series. Im not one
to have lights coming from four differ-
ent directions, anyway. When you look
at work by Harris Savides, Roger
Deakins [ASC, BSC] or Gordon Willis
[ASC], you see its all beautifully
simple.
Though The Killing is set in
Seattle, its shot in Vancouver, and the
production thoroughly scouted key
locations in Seattle, including City Hall,
to make its sets look authentic.
The pilot was shot over 14 days in
May 2010, which made creating Seattles
winter weather a bit of a challenge. We
used a lot of 20-by-20 or 40-by-40
Quarter Grid fly swatters to diffuse the
sunlight and shade the main action, and
then wed bring in a large negative fill,
says Wunstorf. I rarely use lights on
exteriors; its usually negative fill and soft
silver or Ultrabounce to shape the light.
I try to use and supplement natural light
as much as possible because the simpler
we keep it, the faster we move. When we
do use lights on exteriors, the winter
light levels in Vancouver can be so low
that I only need [Kino Flo] Image 80s to
shape the light, or maybe a 6K HMI
bounced through layers of diffusion.
On interiors such as the high
school, we usually turn off most of the
overhead lights and play or supplement
the window light, continues the cine-
matographer. I always tell students,
When you walk into a room, start turn-
ing off lights and see how it looks. You
can do a lot by taking away, and you can
shape existing light without a lot of
tools. In the school hallways, well
change out the fluorescents when we see
daylight in the background, but other-
wise, we leave them and correct in
telecine.
Another simple and fast thing
were doing is billowing 6-foot-wide
sheets of trace paper under existing fluo-
rescents, turning them into large, soft
sources. We can then remove the fixtures
diffuser to change the intensity if we
want to. Then, by turning off some of
the background fixtures, we change a
bright/harsh space into something softer
and moodier. We also did this in a super-
market.
Were also tailor-making soft
sources by taping a Kino tube to a wall or
corner and bowing trace around it. Its
soft, fast and cheap, and the light falls off
quickly. Harris Savides said, You can
light a movie with very few lights, and
Im taking this to heart!
Wunstorf likes to make frequent
use of ND grads, even stacking them to
shape the image. The camerawork on
this show is fairly static, he notes.
Top: The victims
parents (Brent
Sexton and
Michelle Forbes)
embrace at the
county morgue as
detectives Linden
and Holder (Joel
Kinnaman) wait
for them to
identify the body.
Bottom: Kris
(Gharrett Paon),
one of the
victims
schoolmates,
vents in the
police
interrogation
room.
When I can get away with it, Ill use
grads to bring down the sky or a
window, or slip them in from the
bottom to take down the ground. Sure,
you can do that kind of thing in the
telecine, but I prefer to do as much in-
camera as possible.
Were not going for a really
heavy, overly manipulated look, he
stresses.
The camera package comprises
Panavision Primo prime and 4:1 and
11:1 zoom lenses, as well as a few Ultra
Speeds for low-light situations. Were
mostly using primes, typically at T2.8 or
under, says Wunstorf. But Ive used
the zoom from time to time, and I actu-
ally zoom with it. Zooming creates a
different feel than dollying, and there
have been a few instances when a very
slow, creeping zoom helped accentuate
the tension in a scene.
The shows three main sets are
the mayors office at City Hall, the
police station, and the apartment
belonging to the victims family. The
mayors office features floor-to-ceiling
windows and glass walls. Outside the
windows is a large TransLite depicting a
view of Seattle. The main interior light-
ing consists of two soft boxes, space
lights through 20'x12' Light Grid
frames. We also have 2K Blondes
gelled with Half Blue skimming the
frames to add some blue ambience
when necessary, adds Wunstorf. This
allows us to go cool or warm [via
dimming the space lights] with the
overhead light. We also use warm and
cool through different sections of the
frame depending on the feel were after
day, dusk, et cetera. Everything is on
a dimmer, so shaping the light is fairly
fast.
We use a lot of coops around the
perimeter set, he continues. The
production designer, Michael Bolton,
built a walkway between the City Hall
set and the TransLite, and [gaffer]
Owen Taylor lit that with diffused Mole
coops, and some of that light bleeds into
the interior as well. On the floor, to
supplement the existing lighting for
mediums and close-ups, we use China
balls, covered wagons and bare Kino
tubes wrapped in snow blankets. With all
the glass, multiple reflections are a chal-
lenge, but [camera operator] Marty
McInally rectifies them quickly, working
with grips and the art department to
angle the [gimbaled] glass walls and flag
the reflections.
The police station, Wunstorf
explains, is lit primarily with practical
fluorescents, a mix of Warm Whites
gelled with Minus Green and Kino Flo
tubes. At night, we might turn on some
tungsten practicals. Two of the main
offices are rigged with soft boxes holding
a mix of 3,200K and 5,500K Kino
tubes. We can turn on however many
blue or white tubes we need to get a
specific color temp. This gives the hall-
way, interrogation rooms and offices
different hues, and we occasionally put
them all in frame for instance, we can
be in the 3,200K interrogation
room and through its window see the
Warm White hall and into a 4,000K
office.
The apartment set is covered with
muslin panels, above which are space
lights. Some are colored with
1
2 CTB so
Wunstorf can control his color tempera-
ture by dimming individual units. Im
not keying with the overhead fixtures in
the apartment, he explains. Rather, Im
using them as a soft top fill or ambience
and lighting more from the floor and
through the windows a lot of the
apartment scenes take place in the
kitchen. I do a lot of keying through the
windows and then shape that with China
balls or by bouncing lights off muslin.
Each installment of The Killing
covers a 24-hour period, often from
dawn to night. We try to create a visual
arc for each episode, says Wunstorf. Im
always confirming the time of day with
our script supervisor.
The best part of working on this
show is having an executive producer
who cares deeply about the look and
wants a very cinematic style, he adds.
Veena drives us to do strong work that
also looks realistic. It doesnt get any
better than this.
Jay Holben
Top: Holder at the
crime scene.
Middle: Linden
and Holder
question the
victims best
friend, Sterling
(Kasey Rohl).
Bottom: Peter
Wunstorf, ASC
lines up a shot of
Enos. Behind the
cinematographer
are director Ed
Bianchi (wearing
red jacket) and
1st AD David
Markowitz.
Weekly Wonders
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Fringe
Cinematographers:
David Moxness, CSC;
Greg Middleton, CSC, and
Tom Yatsko
From the very beginning, Fringe
was a special television program. Co-
created by J.J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman
and Roberto Orci, it evokes the spooky
procedural elements of classic shows like
The X-Files and The Twilight Zone but
also incorporates the speculative science
and futurism of Michael Crichton.
The title refers to the FBIs
Boston-based Fringe Division, a group
of scientists and agents who deal with all
the weird, mysterious events that
threaten the safety of the United States
and its residents. In the shows first two
seasons, mad scientist Walter Bishop
(John Noble); his estranged son, Peter
(Joshua Jackson); and FBI agent Olivia
Dunham (Anna Torv) thwarted a
bioterrorism plot and discovered a
parallel universe. In season three, they
raced to stop a doomsday device that
could destroy both worlds.
Cinematographers David Mox-
ness, CSC; Greg Middleton, CSC and
Tom Yatsko are shooting the series
current season. Filming Fringe has
always been a collaborative effort;
Yatsko shared the first season with Fred
Murphy, ASC, and Michael Slovis,
ASC, and when production moved
from New York to Vancouver for
seasons two and three, Moxness and
Middleton joined Yatsko as regular
series cinematographers. (Michael
Bonvillain, ASC shot the pilot.)
More and more single-camera
productions are putting cinematogra-
phers on an alternating schedule to save
time and money, but Moxness notes
that the strategy has creative benefits as
well. It gives you more prep time with
the director, the locations and the
script, he says. You come in better
prepared to steer your team down the
correct path.
The overall visual strategy is to
understate the strangeness of the events
in a given script. Even though this is a
science-fiction show, we all agreed that
we could make the strange things
resonate by taking a realistic approach
odd things make a bigger impact
when they seem to be happening in a
normal world, says Yatsko. But the
cinematography also has to make sense
for each episode, so I dont think you can
say theres a typical Fringe look.
Subtle, recurring details in the
cinematography include a contrasty
image, a constantly mobile camera, and
defocused objects in the foreground of
many shots. We utilize the foreground
to generate interest in the shot, shooting
through objects or glass, says
Middleton. If something like that isnt
part of a set, well often put steel rods or
pieces of [lighting] stands right in front
of the lens, out of focus.
Shooting 3-perf Super 35mm,
the production employs three Panaflex
Millennium XLs (one built for
Steadicam use), Panavision Primo
prime and zoom lenses, and three
Kodak Vision2 film stocks, 500T 5260,
200T 5217 and Expression 500T 5229.
Shooting film is a real treat, says
Moxness. Film stocks are versatile, and
our cameras can go anywhere instantly;
were not tethered to any DIT station or
monitors. That gives us a nice amount
of creative freedom. (A Canon 5D
Mark II HDSLR has been used for
select shots this season, including
underwater work and rear-screen
Above: Walter
Bishop (John
Noble) enjoys a
Red Vine while
examining a
cadaver in the
Fringe episode A
New Day in the
Old Town. Left:
Cinematographer
Tom Yatsko
studies the light
in the shows
alternate universe
for the season-
two finale.
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driving plates.)
Shooting in Vancouver during
the fall and winter months also
contributes significantly to the visuals.
The light in the Pacific Northwest is so
distinctive, really bleak and beautiful in
its own way, says Yatsko, but its just
not interesting when its the same all the
time. To help create variety, the cine-
matographers sometimes shoot day
exteriors with 5260 or 5229 and tung-
sten lighting, or use a Tiffen Antique
Suede in front of the lens.
We have a pretty big lighting
package, so thats where we have the
most freedom to play with the look of
our show, says Yatsko. What we lack is
time. Were striving for a cinematic feel,
and thats a tall order on an eight- or
nine-day schedule.
Some episodes feature more
crane moves than others; sometimes the
crane is a SuperTechno 50, and some-
times its a jib arm. The low-angle prism
lens attachment is another familiar pres-
ence on set. It looks like a compact
scoop, says Middleton. You can put it
on the front of a 4:1 [Primo zoom] and
tilt the camera down to get the lens
about a half-inch off the ground. Since
its just a prism, you only lose half a stop,
and it doesnt invert the image.
Some storylines offer more
opportunities for visual experimentation
than others. In the season-two episode
White Tulip, directed by Yatsko and
shot by Moxness, the Fringe Division
tracked down time-traveling scientist
Alistair Pek (Peter Weller). Over the
course of the episode, the characters
relive a single day multiple times, and
each iteration is slightly different from
the last.
Pek had implanted the time-
machine controls in his body, and when
he activated them, his body and the air
around it vibrated. The filmmakers
wanted to achieve this effect in-camera,
and insert-unit director of photography
Ryan McMaster suggested renting a
Weekly Wonders
48
Clockwise from top left: FBI Agent Broyles (Lance
Reddick), FBI Agent Dunham (Anna Torv), Walter
Bishop and Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson) study an
entity from another dimension in the episode The
Man From the Other Side.
Mitchell Mark II that Panavision had
modified by switching out the sprockets
that held the film in place for rollers,
which caused the image to slip and slide
around the gate, creating wobbly double
exposures. The scenes were shot in three
passes: at 24 fps with the Panaflex, at 12
fps with the modified Mitchell, and at
24 fps in a clean pass with the Panaflex.
During the Mitchell pass, Weller shook
his body to exaggerate the effect of the
motion blur. In dailies it looked like the
camera was broken, but when we
combined the passes in post, it helped
tell the story in an interesting way, says
Moxness. And it was much more
organic than, say, shooting it normally
and creating the effect in post.
When a storyline deals with the
alternate universe discovered in season
two, the filmmakers use a variety of
visual cues to help the viewer recognize
which universe theyre in. In season
threes Entrada, shot by Middleton,
the action in the two universes is inter-
cut, a first for the plotline. Yatskos cine-
matography on season twos Peter set
the look for the parallel universe
emphasizing more saturated color and
stronger contrast but Middleton
notes that the visual differences
between the two worlds have since
become less stark. When you develop
an approach for something like that,
you plan on doing things that way for
the run of the show, says Middleton.
But the show evolves as you shoot it,
and you adapt. The two worlds have
started to look more and more alike,
and now we mainly use art direction
and costumes to cue the viewer in to
where they are.
In Entrada, Peter is drugged by
the parallel-universe Olivia, and strug-
gles to focus on her as he succumbs to
the toxin. Middleton had the idea to use
a Lensbaby 2.0 with a Panavision
mount on the Millennium XL for
Peters POV. When you manipulate
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fingers to move the focus, [the result]
looks like someones eye isnt working
properly, he says. He mounted a
Canon 5D to a hospital gurney to
achieve Olivias drugged-out POV.
Yatsko observes that the series
visual consistency can be attributed in
large part to the Vancouver crew. He
refers to gaffer David Warner, key grip
David Dawson, A-camera operator
Chris Tammaro and Steadicam opera-
tor Lou Gruzelier as the sentinels of
Fringe.
They know what works for the
show and what doesnt, adds Moxness.
Because one of us is always in prep
while another [cinematographer] is
shooting, were not always informed as
to how another cinematographer
approaches a particular set that might
reappear in one of our episodes. Having
the same key crew helps us keep it
fluid.
Iain Stasukevich
49
A
sk Michael D. OShea, ASC about his long and distin-
guished career, and hell tell you about all the people
who helped him along the way. He seems more
comfortable giving compliments than getting them, but
he was on the receiving end last month, when he was
honored with the ASCs Career Achievement in Television
Award.
OSheas extensive list of credits includes the TV series
CSI: Miami, Jack and Bobby, Bones and Eli Stone; the pilots
for Everwood, Once and Again and The Player; and the minis-
eries and telefilms BlindAmbition and The Letter. He has also
shot a number of theatrical releases, including Robin Hood:
Men inTights,Here on Earth , The New Guy and Big
Mommas House. He has earned five Emmy nominations,
beginning in 1992 with Doogie Howser, M.D.,his first TV
series as a director of photography. He earned two nomina-
tions in 1997, one for the series Relativity, the other for the
telefilm Love, Honor and Deceive (directed by fellow ASC
member Michael Watkins); another in 1999, for the minis-
eries The 60s; and the most recent one for CSI: Miami, for
which he took home the prize.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, OShea was a star
LessonsWell
Learned
Michael D. OShea,
ASC, this years Career
Achievement in
Television honoree,
credits his mentors for
his success.
By Jean Oppenheimer
|
baseball player in high school.
Recruited straight out of school, he
accepted an offer from the Baltimore
Orioles, playing on its farm team for
four years. During the off-season, he
worked part-time as a laborer on the
Warner Bros. lot.
Henri Lehman, the assistant
head of the Warner Bros. camera
department, was a close friend of the
family and had known OShea since he
was a kid. When OShea gave up base-
ball, he approached Lehman about
pursuing cinematography. I knew
nothing about cameras, but I heard it
was a field where I could learn some-
thing every day, and I liked that idea,
says OShea. Plus, he admits with a
laugh, they paid a lot.
Lehman wasnt very encourag-
ing, explaining that nepotism played a
role in who got jobs. But OShea was
determined. I asked him, What do I
have to do to prove myself? From
then on, every night, when his shift on
the labor crew ended, he would head
over to the camera department and
work for free, learning how to load
magazines, cut filters and stock the
assistants carts for the next morning.
There was another young man moon-
lighting there, a mail boy named Dick
Rawlings Jr. (now ASC), who also
harbored dreams of becoming a
cameraman. After a year, Rawlings was
offered a job as a loader. Three weeks
later, OShea was hired. That was June
of 1965, remarks OShea. On July 10,
I got married. So suddenly I was P
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Opposite:
Michael D.
OShea, ASC
checks his light
while shooting
Mel Brooks
Robin Hood: Men
in Tights (1993)
on the Warner
Hollywood lot.
At the camera in
the background
are A-camera
operator Michael
Genne (with
hands on head)
and 1st AC
Michael Chavez.
This page, top:
OShea, working
as A-camera
operator, and his
son, Sean, pose
for a shot on the
set of Fear
(1990), shot by
Robert M.
Stevens, ASC.
This was Seans
first picture as a
loader, OShea
notes proudly.
He has since
become a very
successful first
AC. Bottom:
OShea works as
first assistant on
the CBS series To
Rome With Love
(1969).
Suddenly I was
married and had a
career. If that isnt
a gift !
Lessons Well Learned

married and had a career. If that isnt a
gift !
Two years later, OShea moved
up to second assistant on the TV series
Daktari, shot by Fritz Mandl. Fritz
was such a lovely man, says OShea.
To show you what a fair man he was,
he had a son who wanted to be in the
camera department. Fritz could have
got rid of me and let his son in, but he
didnt. Thats a big part of how I
learned to do things; it was all about
fairness and honesty. I had a father like
that, and then I was lucky to work for
a man like that.
Jeremiah Francis OShea, an
migr from Ireland, had a profound
influence on his son. I never heard
him say a bad word about anybody,
asserts the younger OShea. He was
very fair and treated everybody equally.
He passed away in 2007 at the age of
100, and I will never stop missing
him. OShea remains close to his 96-
year-old mother. My dad was very
quiet, but my Italian-American
mother is more outspoken. She has
also had an enormous influence on
me. After a reflective pause, he says
simply, My parents are my heroes.
Once OShea started working,
he seldom stopped. From Daktari he
moved over to Gunsmoke, which filmed
on the CBS lot. It was there that
OShea met future ASC members
John C. Flinn III and Lloyd Ahern,
who became lifelong friends. Three
Irishmen? says OShea, cocking an
eyebrow. We hit it off real well too
well, sometimes!
Im so excited Mike is receiving
the award this year, says Flinn, who
received the Career Achievement in
TV Award last year. I asked him to
present to me last year, and he asked me
to present to him this year. How cool is
that? I get to go up there and get even!
When Gunsmoke went on
summer hiatus, OShea moved over to
Barefoot in the Park as a first assistant.
Director of photography Howard
Schwartz, ASC would end up playing a
special role in OSheas life. Howard
was a marvelous teacher and a hard
taskmaster. I was pretty raw, and he
tookme under his wing. He taught me
about the importance of composition;
he also taught me to pay attention to
whats going on around me and speak
up if I feel something doesnt look right.
He said that if I stayed with him, he
My parents are
my heroes.
Left: OShea works as the B-camera first AC on the seminal Western
series Gunsmoke. On this day the operator was sick, he recalls, so
Dick Rawlings Sr. [ASC] stepped me up and Id never operated in my
life! Right: OShea, operating for Howard Schwartz, ASC (at left), sits
locked in behind the camera on a rollercoaster.
would move me up to operator in three
years. It was unheard of to move up to
operator that fast! Truthfully, it was the
last thing on my mind. I just wanted to
learn to be a good first assistant.
True to his word, three years
later Howard moved OShea up to
operator on the anthology series Love
Story. Michael Landon directed the
first episode. Michael was a very
creative director and liked to [move the
camera around a lot], OShea says.
Howard said to me, This is going to
be a tough job. If we start laying out
shots and you think youre going to
have a problem, just give me a wink,
and Ill make an excuse and come in
and do the shot.
The very first shot had me
walking behind the camera the
Italian dolly was too small to ride
bringing somebody in a door, taking
him down a hallway and into a living
room where, after a bit of a scene, I
took him out of the room, down the
hallway again and into a bathroom. I
was winking like crazy, and Howard
was just laughing!
OShea spent 17 years as an
operator, working primarily in TV
with, among others, ASC members
Robert Stevens, Ed Brown Sr. and
James Crabbe. He says he learned from
all of them. He suggests that
Cannonball Run , with director of
photography Nick McLean, was the
film that really got him started. It was
my first feature as the A-camera oper-
ator. Actually, my first was Raise the
Titanic, with Matt Leonetti, ASC, but
I didnt finish that film. I was dealing
with some personal issues at the time. I
will always [be grateful] to Matt for
[giving me a second chance] on
Extreme Prejudice.
OShea operated on 11 films
with McLean, including Mel Brooks
Spaceballs. When Nick didnt have
time to pre-light scenes, he would ask
me to do it and then shoot some tests.
Watching dailies the following day,
Nick never failed to inform Mel that I
had shot the tests. Mel kept telling me,
Im keeping my eye on you. If I ever
get an opportunity, Im going to make
you a director of photography.
In 1993, Brooks made good on
Left: Candice Bergen is at the center of attention and OShea is at the camera during filming of Stick (1985), directed by and starring Burt Reynolds (right).
Right: On set for Robin Hood: Men in Tights, OShea (center) shares a laugh with director Mel Brooks (wearing sunglasses) while reviewing a take.
his promise. The film was RobinHood:
Men in Tights. Mel said, Im going to
give it to you, and goddamn it, youd
better be fast! recalls OShea. By then,
OShea had already shot two seasons of
Doogie Howser, M.D. He credits Ahern
with helping him secure that job.
Lloyd moved up to director of
photography before I did. He was
doing a series for Steven Bochco,
Hooperman, and he needed an opera-
tor. I went in and stayed for two
seasons. Lloyd kept encouraging me to
move up, and he kept pushing me with
the Bochco people. When they started
Doogie Howser, I operated the first year
and moved up to director of photogra-
phy during the second, when Freddie
Moore, ASC left.
OShea brought in a young
operator named Steve Smith, whos
still with him today. Mike is very
generous as far as explaining how
things work and how to make things
better, notes Smith. At the same
time, he demands that the things he
teaches you be done correctly. He
taught me how to talk to directors and
[showed me] that you have to be able
to fix things when a shots not work-
ing.
In addition to Smith, OSheas
regular crew includes gaffer Jack
Schlosser and key grip Jeff Case, who
both started working with him on the
1993 feature Geronimo. Schlosser
describes OShea as extremely
supportive. He is also very demanding

Top: OShea,
working as
second assistant
for
cinematographer
Emmett Bergholtz
on the Western
series Death
Valley Days, steps
up to the
eyepiece to check
the shot. I think I
was just showing
off there, he says
with a laugh.
Bottom:
Cinematographer
Nick McLean
(seated,
foreground
center) and his
camera crew pose
on the set of Mel
Brooks comedy
Spaceballs (1987),
on which OShea
(at camera,
directly behind
McLean) was the
A-camera
operator.
Its always a
new journey in
cinematography
when you work
with Mike.
you cant be sloppy around him
but thats good because it makes you
think and do better work. And lighting
is very important to him.
Cinematographer Denny Hall,
whom OShea refers to as my
protg, observes, Mikes way of
lighting expresses a lot about Mike
himself. It can be soft; it can be hard; it
can be warm; it can be deep and rich.
Ultimately, its beautiful.
Its always a new journey in
cinematography when you work with
Mike, continues Hall. I learned some-
thing new every time I worked with
him. He taught me to always stay calm
and relaxed because the crew looks to
the cameraman to set the tone of the
shoot. And he taught me to be kind to
everybody, from the drivers and craft
service personnel to the producers.
Key grip Case notes, Mike takes
the time to know crew members and
their families. He runs the set well and
is a great listener.
Sean OShea, who frequently
serves as first AC on his fathers
projects, insists, You cant write an
article about my dad without mention-
ing his sense of humor. Hes the funni-
est guy on the set.
There seems to be universal
agreement on that point. Hes so
witty, affirms Ahern. You can be in a
crisis, and hell deliver a one-liner, and
the look on his face and the tone in his
voice and the words he uses are just
hysterical. That one line can defuse
everything. After a pause, he adds
impishly, Or escalate it.
When Dad is at work, he likes
to have a great time, but it can never
get in the way of the work, emphasizes
Sean. His work ethic is exceptional.
He is tireless.
OSheas most recent TV series
was Eli Stone . Director/producer
David Petrarca worked with him on
that series and several others, includ-
ing Jackand Bobby . My background is
theater, so Mike was the first cine-
matographer I ever worked with, says
Petrarca. I told him up front, Im
good with story and actors, but I dont
Top: 2nd-unit
A-camera operator
OShea (far left)
poses with his
collaborators on
Blake Edwards A
Fine Mess (1985).
Middle: OShea
checks the light
while filming The
New Guy (2000) in
Austin, Texas.
Bottom: A-camera
operator OShea
(left) works out a
shot with director
Richard Benjamin
for the period
comedy City Heat
(1984), shot by
Nick McLean.
know anything about directing TV or
film. Now, Mike cuts a pretty intimi-
dating figure. He smiled and said,
Listen, somebody helped me when I
first started, and Im going to help
you. He proceeded to be an incredible
gentleman, teacher and mentor who
never usurped my position on set.
I like to pride myself on the
camerawork in my projects, continues
Petrarca, and that comes from Mike.
He gave me an appreciation and love
for what the camera can do. He is a
master of light and has a real sensitiv-
ity to story, and his humanity comes
through in everything he does.
OShea became an ASC
member in 1996, after being proposed
for membership by Flinn, Stevens and
Donald M. Morgan. When he was
notified that he had been selected to

56
Left: OShea (standing at camera) and his crew pose for a family portrait on set for The New Guy. Right: OShea checks the light in Sherwood Forest
while filming Robin Hood: Men in Tights.
receive the Societys Career Achieve-
ment in TV Award, he says, it brought
tears to my eyes. I feel very blessed in
this business. A lot of people took a lot
of time to teach me.
Knowing that my wife, Sharon,
was always by my side has been
another blessing. She always stuck with
me through the tough times, when
work got slow, and has always been
encouraging. She has been a gift in my
life and my career.
57
OShea (at camera) confers with director Mel Brooks during filming of Robin Hood: Men in Tights.
Photographing
Movie History
Douglas Kirkland
receives the ASC
Presidents Award for
capturing decades of
superb stills depicting
the industrys
filmmakers and stars.
By Jon Silberg
|
D
ouglas Kirkland fell in love with
photography when he was a
teenager, and even today, at age 76,
his home studio buzzes with activ-
ity as he works with some of the most
famous faces in the world, fulfilling
requests from galleries, book and maga-
zine publishers, and filmmakers. Over
the years, much of Kirklands work has
focused on personalities who work in
front of and behind the motion-picture
camera, including the 200-plus cine-
matographers he has photographed for
Kodaks On Film ad campaign. He is
an associate member of the ASC, and
last month he was honored with the
Societys Presidents Award in recogni-
tion of his contributions to advancing
the art of filmmaking.
Douglas is a special talent, espe-
cially in terms of his amazing portrai-
ture, says Richard Crudo, ASC,
chairman of the Societys Awards
Committee. He has been a great friend
and supporter of directors of photogra-
phy and a great promoter of the ASC.
We felt it was appropriate to recognize
this with our Presidents Award.
When Kirklands wife and busi-
ness partner, Franoise, got the call from
ASC President Michael Goi about
Kirklands award, she first assumed the
Society wanted her husbands help with
a photography project. I gave him the
phone and went into another room, she
recalls. When he hung up, he came in
and said, I have something to tell you.
He was so serious I thought it must be
terrible news! But he was just that
moved about receiving this recognition.
And he is not what you would call an
overly emotional person.
For me, says Douglas, the ASC
is the singular heart of the industry. I
know so many of the members, and so
many of them have done amazing work.
There is no film without them at
least, no viable film.
Kirkland grew up in the
Canadian hamlet of Fort Erie, Ontario
(population 7,000), where an uncles
Kodachrome slides and back issues of
Popular Photography sparked his fascina-
tion with photography. He pursued his
interest relentlessly, studying photogra-
phy at a vocational high school in
Buffalo, N.Y., and taking any photogra-
phy job he could find. His early gigs
included snapping photos for Fort Eries
weekly newspaper and serving as an
assistant at a Buffalo photography
studio. All the while, his heart was set
on working in New York City, the heart
of the publishing industry.
In 1957 he moved to New York
and was fortunate enough to get a job P
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Opposite: A youthful Kirkland wields his trusty Speed Graphic camera in 1952. This page,
clockwise from upper left: An even younger Kirkland, age 2, poses with his mother; Kirkland is
all smiles after persuading Elizabeth Taylor to pose for Look magazine in 1961; during another
session that same year, the photographer sets up a shot with Judy Garland.
assisting legendary photographer Irving
Penn, for whom he did everything from
numbering negatives to making Type-C
prints. I was learning a lot but not earn-
ing enough to live in New York indefi-
nitely, he says. He needed to make the
leap to a staff job, ideally with one of the
glossy national magazines that were
extremely popular at the time. Of
course, an entire generation of talented
photographers was chasing after those
same staff jobs, and there were very few
openings in those publications. Kirkland
went back to Buffalo, where he shot in a
product-advertising studio. Within a
year, he was headed back to New York.
When he finally moved to the
Big Apple, in 1959, he found the
competition fierce and the cost-of-living
high. I found jobs at little magazines
nobody had heard of, he recalls. His
early assignments included freelancing
for Chemical Week, Business Week and a
boating magazine. Id cover meetings or
take portraits of executives. I also did
some work for Popular Photography and
wrote reports about my experiences with
different equipment.
In January of 1960, he received a
call from Arthur Rothstein, the director
of photography at the popular and
highly respected Look magazine. There
were two new openings, the first in 15
years. They tried Kirkland on a couple
of stories, and he landed a staff job. Its
hard to describe what that meant to me
at that time, he notes. I had just turned
25, and this was an unimaginable break.
I was hired to do fashion and
color, he continues. When I say that to
people today, they think I mean colorful
pictures, but no, shooting color was a
specialty then. Color photography in
those days meant transparencies, and
you had to get the exposure absolutely
perfect. Remember, Look hadnt hired
anybody in many years, and most of
them were used to shooting a black-
and-white negative and having the abil-
ity to alter it in the darkroom. I was the
new generation.
The tools of the trade were also
changing. Medium-format twin-lens
reflexes, such as the Rolleiflex with its
Top to bottom:
Kirkland sets up a
playfully sensual
portrait of
Marilyn Monroe
in 1961, chats
with fashion
designer Coco
Chanel, and
poses with
actress Romy
Schneider.

Photographing Movie History
one fixed-focal-length lens, were still
the camera of choice for many photog-
raphers of the day, and some even
worked with larger, bulkier gear. But
Kirkland was among a younger set that
embraced shooting with 35mm Nikon
rangefinders and SLRs, Canon SLRs,
and the medium-format SLRs made by
Hasselblad.
Not long after being hired by
Look, Kirkland was asked to accompany
a writer who was going to interview
Elizabeth Taylor. The year was 1961,
and Taylor was among the biggest
movie stars of the day. She had agreed
to the interview but said she didnt want
to do any pictures, Kirkland recalls.
My editor said, You go there and see if
you can persuade her to let you photo-
graph her.
Kirkland was determined to fulfill
his assignment. Resolute but respectful
traits he continues to bring to his
celebrity portraiture the young
photographer quietly approached Taylor
and told her straight out that he was
new to Look. I said, Imagine what it
would mean if you would give me the
opportunity to photograph you, he
recalls. She paused, then said, Come
back tomorrow night at 8:30.
She hadnt had any portraits
done for quite some time the only
current pictures of her were by
paparazzi, he continues. My picture of
her became my first Look cover, and it
ran in other magazines all over the
world. It really put me on the map. By
September of 1961 I was on the road
with Judy Garland, shooting her for a
month. Thats the way magazines did it
in those days. He was soon taking
pictures of many other top celebrities of
the day, including Shirley MacLaine,
Marlene Dietrich and Marilyn
Monroe, and this work, in turn, led to
shooting on film sets.
Kirkland never worked as an offi-
cial unit photographer, instead doing
what was known as special photogra-
phy for Look, Life and other publica-
tions. It was a time when the unit
photographers were generally shooting
black-and-white with Rolleis and just
Top to bottom: Kirkland with his son, Mark, on the set of Tom Sawyer in 1972; in Kenya shooting stills
of the adventure drama Visit to a Chiefs Son in 1973; and sharing a moment with Orson Welles in 1982.
one focal length, he explains. There
was a certain kind of photo the studios
wanted, but they couldnt get dramatic
effects or really capture the essence and
the look of a film, which is what the
glossy magazines wanted. Accordingly,
photographers like Kirkland were sent
to the set to capture staged setups and
behind-the-scenes material that
fulfilled the publications editorial needs
in a way that the unit photography of
the day couldnt.
Kirkland has done this kind of
photography on more than 150 feature
films, providing a preview of the films
look to millions of readers. Some of his
special photography has even made it
into poster art or other key art, such as
the shot he took with his Widelux
camera of Julie Andrews on the moun-
taintop that became part of the key art
for The Sound of Music , or the
Kodachrome slide of Robert Redford
and Meryl Streep used to advertise Out
of Africa.
Clockwise from top
left: Kirkland exudes
the very essence of
cool at the 1983
Cannes Film Festival,
takes a leap of faith
on the set of Roman
Polanskis Pirates a
few years later, and
chills with Gene
Kelly in 1987.

Kirkland loved these assignments
because they took him to the center of
the filmmaking process, a vantage from
which he could observe the cast and
crew at work. I have a fascination with
the power of cinema and watching how
it all works, he says. I learned so much
watching cinematographers work,
seeing rushes and tests of lighting and
lenses. I definitely have more refined
abilities today as a result of watching
cinematographers. I may use a strobe
light or a mirror or reflector rather than
the lights they generally use, but the
ideas about light that Ive learned on
movie sets have affected me enormously.
As a still photographer, you can use the
light thats there, maybe add some light,
or even light [the shot] completely, but a
cinematographer must think of a lot of
things still photographers dont need to
consider, such as camera movement,
continuity and where you are in the
story. How fortunate to be a photogra-
pher and be so close to such work!
He recalls observing Richard H.
Kline, ASC on the set of Camelot. The
director, Joshua Logan, was an excellent
stage director, and the photographic
aspects of the shoot were primarily in
[Klines] hands. I looked around at this
massive stage set, all the lights and
everything involved in the cinematogra-
phy of the picture, and there was this
guy, only a little older than I was at the
time, who was in control of all of it. The
Sound of Music was another eye-opener.
The cinematographer, Ted McCord
[ASC], was doing all this work with
these huge arc lights to get the effect he
wanted.
Occasionally, a cinematographer
has also adopted something Kirkland
has done, which happened with David
Clockwise from
top left: Kirkland
enjoys a friendly
moment with
director Mel Brooks,
shoots a 1991
fashion spread in
the Amazon for
Town & Country
magazine, creates
some glamour with
Showgirls star
Elizabeth Berkley,
and keeps his
camera above
water on the
set of Titanic.
Watkin, BSC on Out of Africa. Kirkland
recalls, I was shooting Kodachrome at
the time because it was just the best for
clarity and saturation, but I wanted to
give the images something of a sepia
look. So even though Kodachrome was
daylight balanced, I shot with an 85
filter. When David saw the pictures, he
liked the look so much he decided to
give the whole film a warmer look. That
was very flattering!
Kirklands editors typically did
not share his interest in the craft of film-
making, instead favoring shots of
celebrities, and in his celebrity portrai-
ture Kirkland has captured some amaz-
ing candids of such icons as John
Lennon, Marilyn Monroe, Peter
Sellers, Marlon Brando and Charlie
Chaplin. My thing is to be honest, and
most celebrities respond to that, he
declares. We all know there are a few
arrogant lost souls in the business, but
Ive found that nine out of 10 are good
if you are honest with them and have
the right attitude. I am as at ease with
celebrities as the members of the ASC
are. Its part of the job.
When Look went out of business
in 1971, the company returned photo
copyrights to its staff photographers.
They were nice Midwestern people,
notes Kirkland. They felt that was the
right thing to do, letting the photogra-
phers own the work they had made.
Some of the work went to the Library
of Congress, but all the photographers
had access to it whenever they needed
it. Can you imagine a company doing
that today?
By then very well established,
Kirkland segued into a staff job for
Looks primary competitor, Life, and he
continued working for Life in its many
different forms until the magazine shut
down in the 1990s. Most of this work
was also celebrity and entertainment-
industry driven. During this time,
Kirkland also freelanced for numerous
other publications, tackling travel
photography in Siberia, Africa and
South America, and science-related
work for such magazines as Geo and
Omni.
Today, Kirkland continues to
work six or seven days a week, and
Franoise, his wife of more than 40
years, remains an integral part of his
business. Though the technology and
business landscape in the world of
photography have changed enormously
since his career began, Kirkland is
always optimistic when budding
photographers ask him about the future.
You have to keep at it and try to find a
way in, he notes. If I had to do it over,
I couldnt do it the same way now, but I
would find a way. I think a lot of young
photographers are doing that.

Clockwise from
top left: Kirkland
busts a move,
to the delight of
Grace Jones,
poses for a snap
with Bette Davis,
and sets his frame
for a shot of
legendary French
cinematographer
Raoul Coutard in
2010.
F
R
E
E
Exhibits O
nly Pass
USE CO
DE PA15.
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Bringing ENG Style to
Detroit 1-8-7
By Lisa Wiegand
Coming off my first full-time
episodic-television gig, on Joss
Whedons Dollhouse (AC Feb. 09),
I was eager to find another show.
When my agent, Charles Lenhoff,
secured a meeting with the
producers of ABCs Detroit 1-8-7,
which portrays a group of homi-
cide detectives being followed by a
documentary crew, the show
seemed tailor-made: Im from
Detroit, where the show is set and
shot, and I have an extensive docu-
mentary background.
I didnt know anyone associ-
ated with the show when I went to
meet with producers Kevin Hooks,
Jason Richman and David Zabel.
Jimmy Muro had shot the pilot
with a Red One, but the producers
were intent on evolving the shoot-
ing style. They wanted a show that
could be shot quickly and on the
fly, a stylistic shift from the pilot, in which characters talked directly to
the documentary crew, sometimes involving them peripherally in the
narrative. The producers decided to back away from the idea of
breaking the fourth wall, opting instead for a more traditional narra-
tive that would still incorporate a documentary aesthetic.
I suggested approaching the series like a news show, hiring
operators with documentary backgrounds and incorporating ENG
news-style lenses in our package. I had extensive experience with
Panasonics AJ-HPX3700 VariCamthanks to Dollhouse, and I felt that
if we added ENG lenses specifically,Fujinon HA22x7.3 BERM HD
ENG/EFP and HA 13x4.5 BERM HD ENG wide-angle lenseswe
could carry off the desired aesthetic.
We now try to keep our cameras on long lenses, far from the
actors, to allow them more freedom for their performances. Many of
them tell me they like the fact that they dont always know where
our cameras are, because it allows them to play the scene out with-
out worrying about the restrictions of the frame.
We work with the same VariCam body I used on Dollhouse,
in conjunction with the ENG lenses. Only rarely do we need the
mattebox; we use the filters provided in the camera (except polar-
ization), recording to P2 cards, and use no cranes or Steadicam. Our
lightweight ENG system offers flex-
ibility for operators Matt Valentine
(A camera) and Reza Tabrizi (B
camera).
This operator-based strategy
connects our cameramen to the
characters and story both physi-
cally and figuratively. Their work
makes the camera another charac-
ter in the scene; they can begin a
scene wide but still incorporate lots
of little zooms at moments that
feel natural. They also must work
together,like dance partners, as
they execute complex, choreo-
graphed moves on our stages or
locations. (They stay out of each
others shots with help from dolly
grips Doug Blagg and D.J.
Tedesco.) The camera might follow
a character and just glimpse him
around a doorjamb, never show-
ing him in full. Our production
designer, Chuck Parker, designed
our two stages so we can shoot
through blinds, glass partitions,
doorways and so on. When you
add in all the reflections that must be avoided, it makes a tough
operating gig.
This style also complicates life for focus pullers Lewis Fowler
and Greg Dellerson. Our operators need to be untethered, so assis-
tants have to pull focus remotely, using a wireless HD-signal broad-
cast from the cameras. Our utility person, Jonah Sobol, sets up the
antennas and makes sure the signal rarely wavers. Its the kind of
system that other shows use for control-room viewing, but we actu-
ally have our focus pullers sitting at a focusing station near video
village, pulling focus without always knowing exactly where the
operators are in relation to the actors.
The idea of pulling focus remotely was my decision,and an
important one. I wanted our operators to feel they could go
anywhere to get a shot without having to maneuver around too
many people. When we started out, we were relying on a Wi-Fi
wireless system, but toward the end of last year, we switched to the
microwave system to achieve more range and reliability in cold, wet
conditions. Shooting in Detroit, we run into plenty of harsh weather.
In fact, when the cold weather first hit, we had to make important
modifications to our camera package, a job supervised by 2nd AC
Peter Coronia. Peter recently began testing three different insulating
Filmmakers Forum
I
covers for our cameras in an effort to find
some that would fit well over all the acces-
sories we use (remote-focus rigs, wireless
transmitters, etc.) and also allow our opera-
tors to easily access their lenses and
controls.
To minimize the cables that could
limit the operators mobility, we have a DIT
cart with downloading capabilities on set,
but not a full DIT station. Without a full DIT
tent, I rely on camera settings and keep
things fairly simple. Using the cameras Gain
feature, we shoot
almost everything at
6db, makingthe
images noisier and a
bit rougher so the
show doesnt look
glossy. There is not a
lot of knob twiddling
on set, which simpli-
fies the process and
helps us work fast.
We shoot
documentary-style
but give a lot of
consideration to light-
ing. Were onstage for
about half of each
eight-day production
cycle, and because we
want the operators to
be free to shoot 360
degrees from the ceil-
ing to the floor, life is quite interesting for
my gaffer, Chris Reiter. We use the same
lights employed by most episodic shows,
but weve learned to hide them in creative
ways. On set, most lights are positioned
high up; we lower them as much as we can,
but this can make it difficult for our gaffer
and operators to come together. We want
lights low enough to get onto the actors
eyes, but not so far down that they get into
the shot. Because were often capturing
wide and tight shots in the same take, its a
constant balancing act to make the lighting
keep pace with our camera moves. Angles
are everywhere, the sets are huge, and we
have an ensemble cast with a wide range of
skin tones. Fortunately, we have many
talented electricians who are skilled at
choreographing moves with small handheld
lights when we need an extra spark in an
actors eyes.
We have access to lighting trucks,
Condors and lifts on location. For every
night exterior, we usually position two or
three Condors carrying lights. Depending
on the blocking, we try to place themfar
enough back to balance them out, which
allows us to shoot with long lenses and
avoid long shadows while lighting for 360
degrees in most situations.
Postproductionhas been a smooth
process. Chris Keth, our digital loader,
downloads our P2 cards to two hard drives
on set. One stays with
us, and the other is
sent to a mobile lab
set up for us here in
Detroit by Deluxe
Laboratories. When
the cards are
returned, we re-use
them. The Deluxe
mobile lab creates all
our dailies, which are
delivered to us in
Detroit and Los Ange-
les on both DVD and
USB memory sticks. I
really like the USB
dailies; I can pop
them into my
computer and have
instant,non-linear
access to our footage.
Our online is
done at Level 3 Post in Burbank by colorist
Larry Field. Larry worked with me on Doll-
house, so we can communicate in short-
hand, which is crucial. Our post supervisor,
Paul Rabwin, has also been instrumental in
fostering smooth communication between
the set and post.
After being away from my home-
town for 18 years, the chance to shoot in
Detroit has been an honor. Im really lucky
to have had this opportunity, and I pinch
myself every day when Im driving to work.
After all, this is where I first developed my
love for cinematography.
Angles are
everywhere, the
sets are huge,
and we have an
ensemble cast
with a wide
range of
skin tones.
Universal Unveils Virtual Stage 1
Universal Studios has opened Universal Virtual Stage 1, a
dedicated, pre-rigged, pre-calibrated, virtual-production environ-
ment with motion capture, camera tracking and related technologies
for commercials, television and features. The construction of UVS1
transformed Universal Studios 6,800-square-foot Sound Stage 36
into a self-contained facility with a 40'x80' greenscreen cyc, a suite
of editing bays and production office space with a conference room.
The stage is a versatile addition to the Studios production and post
services for both internal and third-party productions.
With the calibrated and integrated system at UVS1, clients
can walk onto the stage and begin shooting, avoiding weeks of
setup. Thanks to UVS1s attached production suite with 60 terabytes
of high-speed online storage, shots can move immediately into edit-
ing for final shot selection and transfer to post. A director onstage
can communicate with visual-effects artists next door to prepare and
perfect CG assets; then the director can consult with editors on how
the just-completed shots are cut into the scene. For client protection,
the facility has strict standardized physical and content security
procedures.
Universal began planning the UVS1 project about two years
ago, while rebuilding the New York Street backlot. With the contin-
uing trend of elaborate visual effects in moving-image entertain-
ment, Dave Beanes and Jeff Berry senior vice-president of Univer-
sal Studios Production Services and executive director of Universal
Studios Virtual Effects & Production Services, respectively noted
that it can be cost-prohibitive for various productions to set up a
virtual stage environment. This stage has the ability to do previz,
production and postproduction all under one roof, streamlining the
creative process, says Berry. The stage is designed to be as turnkey
as possible, from simple greenscreen work to complicated camera
tracking and motion capture in real time.
UVS1 is part of Universals environmental initiative, Green is
Universal, which aims to drive sustainability throughout the
companys operations as well as across NBC Universals 40 on-air and
online brands. The investment in UVS1 also speaks to Universals
continuing support of production in the Los Angeles area.
For additional information, visit www.filmmakersdestina
tion.com.
Panavision Opens Atlanta Rental Facility
Panavision has announced the opening of a new camera-
rental facility located in west midtown Atlanta. The 10,000-square-
foot facility is designed to accommodate a full-service camera-rental
office with a wide array of digital and film cameras, including 35mm
and 16mm, HD 35 and
2
3". The office will be managed locally by
Panavision Atlantas general manager, Ann Somogye DeGuire.
The service we provide to our customers is what makes us
successful, says John Schrimpf, Panavisions vice president of U.S.
Regional Operations. With the growth of a regional market such as
Atlanta, it only makes sense for Panavision to be there with a full-
service facility. Our customers will have local access to the equipment
and customer support that they have come to expect over the years.
We applaud the State of Georgia for taking a progressive
position providing significant financial incentives to filmmakers to
attract business to the region, Schrimpf continues. Atlanta has
become a very attractive place to shoot because of the variety of
locations, its strong infrastructure and its excellent distribution
system with Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Both
the state and city of Atlanta are totally behind building a lasting, film
friendly culture, and Panavision is pleased to be part of the team
providing local customer support.
The office is located at 1250 Menlo Drive, Suite A, Atlanta,
Ga., 30318. For more information, visit www.panavision.com.
New Products & Services
SUBMISSION INFORMATION
Please e-mail New Products/Services releases to:
newproducts@ascmag.com and include full contact
information and product images. Photos must be
TIFF or JPEG files of at least 300dpi.
Campilots Takes Flight
Cinematographers Volker Tittel, BVK
(pictured, left) and Holger Fleig, BVK (right)
have introduced the Campilots remote-
controlled multicopter camera-support
system. Incorporating state-of-the-art
image-stabilizing software, Campilots was
quickly recognized with a 2010 Cinec
Award, as well as an Innovation Award
presented by the German governments
Commissioner for Culture and the Media.
Campilots is available for feature,
documentary and commercial productions.
The system incorporates a Q4 Systems
multicopter designed by Uwe Handlos and
a lightweight remote head designed by
Dieter Wurster, which accepts a Canon EOS
5D Mark II DSLR camera. A two-person
Campilots team, comprising the cam-pilot
and camera operator, keeps the multicopter
within visual range with a remote control; in
the case of long-distance flights over the
ground, the cam-pilot and operator follow
the multicopter in a truck or, when shooting
above water, in a speed boat. The camera
itself is operated via an HF transmitter, and
for monitoring, an HF signal is sent back
from the camera to the operator. The
systems lightweight remote head can be
panned 360 degrees and tilted 180
degrees.
The multicopter utilizes a lithium-ion
polymer battery. Its rotors are nearly silent,
and the engines are emission-free, allowing
for indoor flights even in highly sensitive
locations. The multicopter is able to fly at
altitudes ranging from approximately 3' to
330' off the ground, and it can reach a
maximum speed of approximately 31 mph.
The maximum flight duration per take is 6
minutes.The system allows for low altitude
shots over wind-sensitive terrain such as
sand, water and snow without its rotor
blades causing visible turbulence. Restric-
tions can occur in strong winds, rain and
snowfall.
The Campilots multicopter boasts a
ready-to-fly weight of less than 11 pounds,
including the remote head and camera. The
multicopter measures approximately 31" in
diameter and 18" high. The Campilots
team ensures a fast system setup, and
special film liability insurance is provided
with the Campilots service.
For additional information, visit
www.campilots.com.
Porta-Jib Rolls Out
Improved FlexTrak
After 10 years of success with its
revolutionary FlexTrak, Porta-Jib has
unveiled an improved version of the dolly
track, which can be used for both straight
runs and curves. The basic unit is 40', which
can be looped back on itself to create one
17' run of parallel track; two pieces can also
be laid parallel to create a 40' run. Each
section can be rolled up into a compact, 2'-
diameter bundle for easy transportation
inside of any vehicle.
Each 40' section of the updated Flex-
Trak weighs 30 pounds, 10 pounds lighter
than the previous version. While the original
FlexTrak worked best at room temperature
or above, the improved FlexTrak works well
at cooler temperatures, and it retains little or
no memory from being stored in a coiled
position. These improvements are possible
thanks to an improved construction incor-
porating steel-reinforced tubing, which has
the integrity and strength to support a dolly
and is processed for an ultra-smooth finish.
As with the original FlexTrak, setup is
easy, with no joints to wedge. Additionally,
a leveling kit enables FlexTrak to be used
outdoors in unlevel environments; the chan-
nels of the leveling kit are lightweight and
measure only 36" long, making them
extremely portable.
FlexTrak is available for $450 per 40'
piece. The system works best with the
Losmandy Spider Dolly. For additional infor-
mation, visit www.porta-jib.com.
Steadicam Floats
with Phantom
The Tiffen Company has introduced
the Steadicam Phantom, a low-cost rig that
performs like the companys top-of-the-line
Ultra2.
The basic Phantom system starts with
a 29"-49" telescoping carbon-fiber post
coupled to the Ultra2 stage (which features
Tiffens patented +/- 20-degree tilt head)
and terminates in a new solid base. Outfit-
ted with the Ultra2 Gimbal, SD LCD 700 nit
monitor and dual-battery mount for 12 and
24 volts (either V-Lock or Anton Bauer), the
Phantom fills the need for a heavy duty, high
performance, low-cost rig. Also included is
the G-70 Iso-Elastic Stabilizer Arm, Ultra2
Vest, Docking and Balancing bracket, add-
on weights and the Steadicam logo hard
sled case with wheels. Options for the Phan-
tom rig include Tiffens patented go-to
motorized stage and a variety of monitors,
including the 8.4", 1,400 nit HD UltraBrite2,
plus batteries, chargers, cases, cables, vehi-
cle mounts and more.
The Phantom is designed to be user-
friendly, field-serviceable, tool-free, straight-
forward and versatile so the operator can
quickly and easily configure the rig to the
best advantage for each shot. Sled length,
balance and inertia can all be quickly
changed, and the rig can quickly be
switched into low mode, all without tools or
extra parts.
The Phantom basic package is avail-
able for $44,950. For additional informa-
tion, visit www.tiffen.com.
Element Technica Designs
Atom Rig for Red Epic
Element Technica, a provider of
stereoscopic 3-D rigs for a broad range of
cameras and applications, has introduced
the Atom, a camera-specific 3-D beam-split-
ter rig designed for the Red Epic digital
camera.
Designing the Atom specifically for
the Epic has allowed for a streamlined rig
with minimum size and weight. Although
compact, the rig is still able to accommo-
date full-sized PL and PV prime lenses as
well as smaller zooms like the Angenieux
Optimo 16-42 or 30-80mm. Like other
Technica 3-D rigs, the Atom provides full
interocular and convergence control, and it
also allows for recording of interocular,
convergence and lens metadata.
The Atom is available in either
aluminum or magnesium construction; the
magnesium model shaves 5 pounds off the
weight, weighing only 13 pounds on its
own and approximately 36 pounds when
rigged with a pair of Epics. The Atom Pro
Kit, machined of magnesium and compati-
ble with both aluminum and magnesium
rigs, integrates multiplexing, sync and
power conditioning electronics in the Atom
to eliminate three external components
from the rig. The Pro Kit includes a pair of
Epic-specific 3-D modules to eliminate up to
four cables per camera, and as many as 12
or more cables from the rig. The Pro elec-
tronics are housed in a distinctive sharks fin
design assembly on the rig.
The basic aluminum Atom 3-D rig
system is available for $64,000. For more
information, visit www.technica3d.com.
VF Gadgets Offers
DSLR SwissCage Kit
VFGadgets has introduced the DSLR
SwissCage Kit from Upgrade Innovations to
securely support a whole camera and lens
configuration for professionals using DSLRs
in video production. The SwissCage Kit is
designed to be equally useful in both
extreme rigging and studio work.
The camera is firmly locked between
the threaded bottom mount and the top
hot shoe, eliminating the risk of twisting
when using a follow focus. The unit is
covered in
1
4"-20 and
3
8" threaded holes,
15mm rods are supported, and grip-arm
friendly stud pickups also offer multiple-
point mounting stability.
The DSLR SwissCage Kit has been
designed around Canons EOS 5D Mark II,
7D and 1D Mark IV, and it will work with
any DSLR that has a similar body shape. The
SwissCage allows access to change media,
adjust settings and replace batteries without
having to remove the camera. Additional
tall cage posts are also included to ensure
that the SwissCage can be swapped
between regular and battery-grip models.
Machined from high-grade aluminum, the
SwissCage weighs only 3 pounds.
www.vfgadgets.com.
Anton/Bauer Powers
Canon DSLRs
Anton/Bauer, a Vitec Group brand,
has introduced Gold Mount and Elipz
power solutions for the Canon EOS 5D
Mark II and EOS 7D DSLR cameras. These
new power solutions run monitors, lights,
transmitters and other accessories not possi-
ble with a standard OEM battery.
Utilizing the companys Logic Series
batteries, the Gold Mount solution has the
ability to mount to most third-party support
rigs, such as Redrock Micro, Zacuto and
Cinevate, and offers a counterbalance to
the rig. The Gold Mount solution can also
be configured in a pouch pack, which can
be worn on a belt for handheld production.
The Elipz solution is based on the
Elipz battery system and provides the user
the ability to power the camera and Elightz
or Eledz. This can also be adapted to both a
shoulder mount or pouch-pack configura-
tion.
www.antonbauer.com.
Hoodman Accessorizes DSLRs
Hoodman has added the Hood-
Crane universal, smart hot-shoe mount for
LCD accessories. The HoodCrane is specifi-
cally designed for using Hoodmans Hood-
Loupe 3.0 an eyepiece designed for
glare-free viewing of LCD screens during
DSLR video capture. A spring-release latch
swings the HoodCrane up and allows it to
pivot out of the way for shared LCD view-
ing or shooting stills. The top of the Hood-
Crane also features a cold-shoe mount.
HoodCrane is available with Hood-
mans Cinema Pro Kit, which includes
HoodLoupe 3.0 and HoodMag, a magnify-
ing video eyecup. For more information,
visit www.hoodmanusa.com.
Cel-Soft Analyzes 3-D Data
Cel-Soft has updated its Cel-
Scope3D stereoscopic analyzer with an
automatic logging option that generates a
printable report of depth budget and depth
plot for easy reference by cinematographers
and stereographers during production and
by editors during 3-D post.
Cel-Scope3D is designed for use on
set with live inputs as well as for reviewing
and playing back 3-D media files during
post. Available as a complete system or as
Microsoft Windows-compatible software, it
allows stereoscopic camera alignment to be
performed quickly and confidently, ensuring
accurate 3-D from the moment of capture.
Footage and edits in a wide range of file
formats can be viewed and accessed in real
time. Disparities are analyzed and displayed
as clear and intelligible graphics on 2-D or
3-D monitors. Anaglyph display, touch-
screen control and auto-alarm are all
supported.
Cel-Scope3D displays can be scaled
and arranged as six or eight windows on
one or two PC monitors and on a 3-D moni-
tor. Left and right channels can be viewed
simultaneously together with actual depth
dynamics. Each display window can be set
to show waveform, vectorscope and
histogram graphics as well as differences in
video parameters between each channel.
Geometry issues can be identified easily
using built-in real-time image manipulation.
Quality-control tests can be performed on
live stereoscopic video sources in any SD, HD
or 2K format from industry standard capture
cards or Firewire inputs, or alternatively from
file playback.
www.cel-soft.com.
S3D Plugs into Maya
S3D Technologies, LLC, a research
and development company focused on
creating solutions for stereoscopic 3-D
productions, has introduced the S3D CGI
Maya Plug-in. The plug-in allows for easy
creation, management and control of a
virtual stereoscopic camera rig within the
Autodesk Maya environment.
Fast and efficient, the S3D CGI Maya
Plug-in removes the guesswork often asso-
ciated with setting up a stereo camera pair
within a CGI environment. Completely inte-
grated into the Maya user interface, the
plug-in allows the animator to simply pick
the point of convergence as well as the posi-
tive and negative parallax points in the
scene; the plug-in then automatically sets
the correct interaxial distance. These para-
meters are automatically updated over the
course of the animated shot.
Where a project includes both CGI
and live-action, the plug-in can import and
export parameters to a real stereo camera
rig to ensure accurate stereoscopic match-
ing between the elements. The plug-in is
also fully compatible with S3D Technologies
S3D Calculator and takes into account all of
the usual lens and camera variables as well
as screen size and proposed viewer distance.
The S3D CGI Maya Plug-in is
compatible with Maya 2009 and 2010 for
Windows; the Mac version will be available
soon. For more information, visit
www.s3dtechnologies.com.
SanDisk Enables Extreme
CompactFlash Recording
SanDisk Corporation has announced
the Extreme Pro CompactFlash card, which
boasts 128GB of storage and up to 100MB
per second write speeds. With its Power
Core controller and UDMA-7 interface, the
card delivers the performance demanded by
high-end DSLR cameras.
With a set of features optimized for
professional photographers and videogra-
phers, the 128GB SanDisk Extreme Pro
CompactFlash card is ideally suited for
imaging applications requiring Full HD
1920x1080 resolution, up to 50Mbps bit
rate and 4:2:2 color sampling. The cards
combination of speed and storage lets
photographers capture more frames when
shooting in continuous-burst mode, and
enables them to record high-quality Full HD
videos. Additionally, SanDisks proprietary
Power Core controller distributes data
across the card more rapidly and efficiently,
and the UDMA-7 interface allows for maxi-
mum data transfer between card and
camera.
The 128GB Extreme Pro Compact-
Flash card is available for $1,499.99. For
more information, visit www.sandisk.com.
International Marketplace
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Advertisers Index
16x9, Inc. 74
AC 1, 4, 67, 74
Aja Video Systems, Inc. 19
Alan Gordon Enterprises 74
Arri 31
AZGrip 74
Backstage Equipment, Inc.
45
Barger-Lite 75
Bron Imaging Group - US 48
Burrell Enterprises 75
Camera Essentials 75
Carl Zeiss Camera Lens
Division 49
Cavision Enterprises C3
Chapman/Leonard Studio
Equipment Inc. 23
Chemical Wedding 73, 79
Cine Gear Expo 75
Cinematography
Electronics 6
Cinekinetic 74
Clairmont Film & Digital 21
Codex Digital Ltd., 25
Cooke Optics 37
Deluxe C2
Eastman Kodak C4
Economist 11
Film Gear 69
Filmtools 6
Five Towns College 69
Fujifilm 16a-d, 43
Glidecam Industries 13
Kino Flo 36
Kobold 48
Laffoux Solutions, Inc. 74
LitePanels 2
Maine Media Workshops 6
Matthews Studio
Equipment/MSE 75
M. M. Mukhi and Sons 74
Movie Tech AG 75
NAB 65
NBC Universal Media Works
35
New York Film Academy 57
Oppenheimer Camera Prod.
74
P+S Technik 5
Panasonic Broadcast
TV Division 15
Photon Beard 74
Pille Film Gmbh 75
Pro8mm 74
Production Resource Group
45
Shelton Communications
74
Sony Electronics 7
Stanton Video Services 71
Super16 Inc. 75
Technocrane 71
Thales Angenieux 9
VF Gadgets, Inc. 74
Willys Widgets 74
www.theasc.com 56, 75,
76
Zacuto Films 75
76
gory does not apply to Ritchie! noted
Polito.
Polito shot photographic effects
(including bluescreen work) for the
feature Xanadu, and he shot minia-
tures for the series Supertrain and
miniseries Condominium. On
Condominium, his work included a
complex sequence in which the
eponymous 13-story condo is
destroyed by a tidal wave, an effect
that required nine wind machines
and 20,000 gallons of water.
In April 1981, Polito joined the
ASC after he was recommended for
membership by Harry Wolf and
Joseph Biroc. He quickly became
immersed in Society activities, serv-
ing on the Board of Governors from
1982 to 1987. During those same
years, he also served on the Editor-
ial Advisory Committee, overseeing
the Societys publishing activities,
including AC. In 1982 and 83, he
was chairman of the Membership
Committee, and he served as chair-
man of the Constitution and By-
Laws Committee in 1986. He
chaired the ASC Summer Golf Tour-
nament in 1984 and 85.
At around the same time he
joined the ASC, Polito began teaching at
USCs film school. He continued to
shoot, taking on projects that would fill
the summer months between academic
years. In 1989, he retired from both film-
making and teaching.
Polito is survived by his wife,
Lucille; sons Gregory, Stephen, Richard
and Douglas; daughters Mary, Christine,
Michele, Joan and Lisa; 24 grandchil-
dren; nine great-grandchildren; his
brother, Robert; and numerous nieces
and nephews.
Jon D. Witmer
Emmy-nominated cinematogra-
pher Eugene E. Gene Polito, ASC died
on Nov. 28, 2010, at the age of 92.
Polito was born on Sept. 13, 1918,
in New York City. His family soon
moved to Los Angeles, where his
father, cinematographer Sol Polito,
ASC, went to work for Warner
Bros. Introduced to filmmaking at
an early age, Gene developed an
interest in still photography, a
passion he nurtured while studying
for a degree in mechanical engi-
neering at the University of South-
ern California.
Politos senior year at USC
was marked by the attack on Pearl
Harbor and the United States
entry into World War II. Upon grad-
uating, Polito put his degree to use
for the defense industry, taking a
job at Douglas Aircraft as a design
engineer. After the war ended, he
fully embraced his passion for
photography and cinematography
and transitioned into the film
industry with a job as a lily boy
for Technicolor. The lily was a
white-faced target with three
panels, he explained in a first-person
piece in AC in June 2003. As soon as the
director said, Print it, the lily boy ran out
and stuck a lily in front of one actors
face. The camera then rolled on the lily,
and back at the lab that section of film
was used to determine the appropriate
printer lights for the preceding shot.
As Polito worked toward becoming
a director of photography, he worked
under such masters of the craft as ASC
members Joseph Ruttenberg, Charles
Rosher, Russell Metty, Ray June, Norbert
Brodine, Winton Hoch andJames Wong
Howe, in addition to his father, Sol. He
was forever grateful for his engineering
background; when he was under contract
as a cinematographer for C.V. Whitney
Pictures, he was tasked with designing
and supervising the construction of two
65mm cameras, and he later designed
four 3-D camera rigs for Universal.
Politos first job as a cinematogra-
pher was on The Loretta Young Show ,
and over the years he notched credits on
such series as Lost in Space , Mannix, It
Takes a Thief and Alias Smith and Jones.
He also shot such telefilms as The Sound
of Anger ; Drive Hard, Drive Fast ; All
Together Now; Death Scream; and My
Sweet Charlie , which brought him an
Emmy nomination. His feature credits
included Westworld and its sequel,
Futureworld; the Cheech and Chong
vehicle Up in Smoke , and Michael
Ritchies Prime Cut.
Ritchie was a frequent collabora-
tor, and in the June 1972 issue of AC,
Polito spoke about their creative partner-
ship, which included shooting a televi-
sion special for Universal in six days,
working out of a station wagon, on loca-
tion, with essentially no lights. I think it
is fair to say that the workaday cate-
Gene Polito, ASC1918-2010
In Memoriam
American Society of Cinematographers Roster
OFFICERS 2010-11
Michael Goi,
President
Richard Crudo,
Vice President
Owen Roizman,
Vice President
John C. Flinn III,
Vice President
Matthew Leonetti,
Treasurer
Rodney Taylor,
Secretary
Ron Garcia,
Sergeant-at-Arms
MEMBERS
OF THE BOARD
John Bailey
Stephen H. Burum
Curtis Clark
George Spiro Dibie
Richard Edlund
John C. Flinn III
Michael Goi
Stephen Lighthill
Isidore Mankofsky
Daryn Okada
Robert Primes
Nancy Schreiber
Kees Van Oostrum
Haskell Wexler
Vilmos Zsigmond
ALTERNATES
Fred Elmes
Rodney Taylor
Michael D. OShea
Sol Negrin
Michael B. Negrin
Roger Deakins
Jan DeBont
Thomas Del Ruth
Bruno Delbonnel
Peter Deming
Jim Denault
Caleb Deschanel
Ron Dexter
Craig Di Bona
George Spiro Dibie
Ernest Dickerson
Billy Dickson
Bill Dill
Stuart Dryburgh
Bert Dunk
Lex DuPont
John Dykstra
Richard Edlund
Eagle Egilsson
Frederick Elmes
Robert Elswit
Geoffrey Erb
Scott Farrar
Jon Fauer
Don E. FauntLeRoy
Gerald Feil
Steven Fierberg
Gerald Perry Finnerman
Mauro Fiore
John C. Flinn III
Ron Fortunato
Jonathan Freeman
Tak Fujimoto
Alex Funke
Steve Gainer
Ron Garcia
Dejan Georgevich
Michael Goi
Stephen Goldblatt
Paul Goldsmith
Frederic Goodich
Victor Goss
Jack Green
Adam Greenberg
Robbie Greenberg
Xavier Perez Grobet
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ACTIVE MEMBERS
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www.theasc.com March 2011 81
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ASSOCIATE MEMBERS
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M A R C H 2 0 1 1
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HONORARY MEMBERS
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Society Welcomes
Slovis, Varese
Michael Slovis and Checco Varese
have joined the Society as active members.
Born in New York City, Michael
Slovis, ASC began his career behind the
camera shooting stills for his middle-school
and high-school yearbooks. When one of
his shots won an award at the N.J. State
Teen Arts Festival, Slovis was invited to
attend the Rochester Institute of Technol-
ogys fine-art photography program. After
graduating from RIT, he enrolled in New
York Universitys graduate-film program.
Slovis entered the professional film-
making arena as an electrician, which led to
gaffing and camera operating. Before
becoming a director of photography, he
worked for and learned from such cine-
matographers as Peter Biziou, BSC; Jack
Green, ASC; Fred Murphy, ASC; Ricardo
Aronovich, AFC; Arthur Albert; and Lauro
Escorel.
Slovis won an Emmy for CSI: Crime
Scene Investigation and has earned three
additional nominations for episodes of CSI
and Breaking Bad. His credits include the
series Ed, Fringe, Royal Pains and Rubicon;
the telefilms Out of Nowhere , Halloween-
town and The Thirteenth Year ; and the
features Heading Home, Party Girl, The 4th
Floor and Half Past Dead.
Born in Peru, Checco Varese, ASC
entered the filmmaking arena by shooting
news for such networks as NBC, CBS,
CNN, CBC, BBC, RAI and TVE. He came to
specialize in shooting in war zones around
the globe, including Central and South
America, Europe, the Middle East and
Africa. After a decade of shooting in such
locations, Varese transitioned into filming
music videos for acts that included The
Dave Matthews Band and Prince, and
commercials for clients such as McDon-
alds, Budweiser, Miller Lite, Bell South and
Dannon Yogurt.
Vareses feature credits include The
Aura (for which he won the cinematogra-
phy award from the Argentinean Film Crit-
ics Association), Under The Same Moon ,
Prom Night and The New Daughter. He has
also distinguished himself on television,
shooting multiple episodes of True Blood
(AC March 09) and pilots for Life, Melrose
Place (2009) and The Defenders. His tele-
film credits include Fidel, Global Frequency,
Their Eyes Were Watching God and Last of
the Ninth.
Bennett at Filmtools
Bill Bennett, ASC recently led a
workshop titled Shooting in High
Dynamic Range, hosted by Filmtools in
Burbank. Bennett discussed using filtration
and in-camera settings when capturing
high-contrast scenes with a digital camera
system, with a particular focus on the
Arri Alexa. Schneider Optics Bob Zupka
and Ryan Avery also participated in the
discussion.
Academy Spotlights
Roizmans Portraits
ASC members, AC staffers and
colleagues from throughout the industry
recently joined Owen Roizman, ASC at
the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences opening reception for Masters of
the Close-Up, Up Close, an exhibit of Roiz-
mans digital portraits of cinematographers.
Hung in the grand lobby of the Academys
Beverly Hills headquarters, the exhibition
features more than 100 portraits of ASC
members. Roizman has been shooting
these digital stills, many of which have been
featured in ACs Member Portrait series,
since 1996. The images vary in style but are
all connected by Roizmans tangible enthu-
siasm for turning the lens on his colleagues
and capturing their shared passion for the
art and craft of image making.
The exhibition will run through April
17. Admission is free. For more informa-
tion, visit www.oscars.org.
Clubhouse News
Top: Michael Slovis, ASC. Bottom: Checco Varese, ASC.
Far right: Owen Roizman, ASC at the opening reception
for Masters of the Close-Up, Up Close in the
Academys Grand Lobby Gallery.
A
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Clockwise from top left: Roizman with his wife, Mona, and son, Eric;
Roizman greets Anthony Palmieri, ASC; Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC; John
Simmons, ASC; Rodney Taylor, ASC; Isidore Mankofsky, ASC; Woody
Omens, ASC; and ASC President Michael Goi.
When you were a child, what film made the strongest
impression on you?
When I was in the seventh grade, we were shown a Twilight
Zone episode titled Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. The
entire story takes place in one mans mind in a split second as he
is being hanged, and this resonated profoundly with me.
Which cinematographers, past or present, do you most
admire, and why?
The ASC roster has dozens of my
heroes who inspire me to tears and
awed silence! Quintessentially, I would
say Gregg Toland, ASC, for his use of
black-and-white and audacious
perspectives; Vittorio Storaro, ASC,
AIC, for his spiritual and metaphysical
use of color; Conrad Hall, ASC, for his
artistic machismo and precise story-
telling; Gordon Willis, ASC, for shoot-
ing The Godfather; and Owen Roiz-
man, ASC, for his friendship and
creative guidance.
What sparked your interest in photography?
When I was growing up, there were hundreds of photography
books in my house, from Lucien Clergue to Irving Penn to Man
Ray. My father was an award-winning art director in advertising,
and one of his photographers was Richard Avedon. As a child, I
stuffed my pockets with Avedons Polaroids after watching him
shoot with such vigor and class.
Where did you train and/or study?
I received a four-year scholarship to New York University through
my photography, but I eventually transferred to New York Insti-
tute of Technology to follow a mentor film teacher who inspired
me conceptually. Of course, my most important training has
been in the field; I started as a camera PA and worked with many
great cinematographers as I moved up.
Who were your early teachers or mentors?
The first were my parents, who to this day are both magnificent
artists. My first mentor on a film set was a very gutsy cine-
matographer by the name of Tony Mitchell, whom I assisted
exclusively.
What are some of your key artistic influences?
I love tear sheets. I collect thousands of them and keep them in
notebooks for reference. Theyre mostly work by photographers
and painters who inspire me with lighting, compositions, color
schemes, concepts, etc.
How did you get your first break in the business?
My fathers advertising agency had an in-house production
company that made Mercedes-Benz and JC Penney commer-
cials. I started out working as a PA during my summer breaks
from school.
What has been your most satisfying moment on a project?
Moving up to camera operator on Sergio Leones Once Upon a
Time in America.
Have you made any memorable
blunders?
Yes, the all-time classic for a camera
assistant: turning on the light in the
darkroom before I put the lid back on
the film can, consequently fogging the
entire 1,000'roll of exposed film. The
worst part was finding the courage to
inform the director of photography.
What is the best professional advice
youve ever received?
From Owen Roizman: Theres no need to have an ego as a man.
Let your work on that screen be your ego.
What recent books, films or artworks have inspired you?
Truly, reading interviews with my colleagues every month in
American Cinematographer inspires me! I am currently looking
at Bill Brandts book Shadow of Light for a personal project, and
Im also reading Notes on the Making of Apocalypse Now . The
Social Network reminded me that smart filmmaking can always
catapult something formulaic and familiar into that extraordi-
nary stratum.
Do you have any favorite genres, or genres you would
like to try?
I would love to shoot a surreal horror film or a classic Western.
If you werent a cinematographer, what might you be
doing instead?
I would love to score feature films!
Which ASC cinematographers recommended you for
membership?
Julio Macat, Alan Caso, Jim Chressanthis and Nancy Schreiber.
How has ASC membership impacted your life and career?
When I was invited to join the ASC, I cried. It is an honor and a
privilege to be associated with the best in the world, to engage
in artistic and technological conversations with them and then
bring that energy into my own work.
Crescenzo Notarile, ASC Close-up
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AC Mar 2011

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