American Cinematographer - September 2010

8/8/2019 American Cinematographer - September 2010

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M E M B E R P O R T R A I T

Sam Nicholson, ASC

W W W . T H E A S C . C O M

TO SUBSCRIBE BY PHONE:

Call (800) 448-0145 (U.S. only)(323) 969-4333 or visit the ASC Web site

hen I was growing up,my father shot 8mm

home movies. I remember waiting for the rollsof Ektachrome to arrive in themail from Eastman Kodak

processing. After some quick cutting and splicing, wed thread up an old, noisy

projector, and our latest family adventure would magically flicker to life on

the living-room wall.As an aspiring cinematographer, I landed my

first job on Star Trek: TheMotion Picture , and I began to

practically memorize articles inAmerican Cinematographer .

I still rely on AC scomprehensive stories and detailed technical informationto keep me up to date on thelatest cameras, productiontechniques and lighting equipment. Over the years, thetools have changed dramatically, but the emotional reward I get from shooting and watching motion picturesremains the same.

Sam Nicholson, ASC

W

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h o t o

b y

O w e n

R o

i z m a n , A

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The International Journal of Motion Imaging

34 Mob Money Three cinematographers evoke the Prohibition era forBoardwalk Empire

50 War Horses Jeffrey Kimball, ASC amps up the action forThe Expendables

64 A Beatles UpbringingSeamus McGarvey, ASC, BSC revisits John Lennons

youth for Nowhere Boy

74 Romans on the RunSam McCurdy, BSC annihilates Romes Ninth Legionfor Centurion

82 Where Cinematography LivesA pictorial history of the renovated ASC ClubhouseDEPARTMENTS

FEATURES

VISIT WWW.THEASC.COM TO ENJOY THESE WEB EXCLUSIVES Podcasts: Phedon Papamichael, ASC on Knight and Day Morten Sborg and

Nicolas Winding Refn on Valhalla Rising DVD Playback: Red Desert Black Narcissus Cop Out

On Our Cover: Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi) masterminds a variety of criminalschemes in the HBO series Boardwalk Empire , shot by Stuart Dryburgh, ASC;Kramer Morgenthau, ASC; and Jonathan Freeman. (Photo by Craig Blankenhorn,courtesy of HBO.)

8 Editors Note10 Presidents Desk 12 Short Takes: Alexa World Cup demo18 Production Slate: Eat Pray Love The Milk of Sorrow86 Post Focus: Lottery Ticket

90 Filmmakers Forum:David McFarland on Black Tulip94 New Products & Services104 International Marketplace105 Classified Ads/Ad Index108 ASC Membership Roster110 Clubhouse News112 ASC Close-Up: Dejan Georgevich

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 0 V O L . 9 1 N O . 9

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S e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 0 V o l . 9 1 , N o . 9T 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

Visit us online at www.theasc.com

PUBLISHER Martha Winterhalter

EDITORIAL

EXECUTIVE EDITOR Stephen PizzelloSENIOR EDITOR Rachael K. Bosley

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Jon D. Witmer TECHNICAL EDITOR Christopher Probst

CONTRIBUTING WRITERSStephanie Argy, Benjamin B, Douglas Bankston, Robert S. Birchard,

John Calhoun, Bob Fisher, Simon Gray, Jim Hemphill, David Heuring, Jay Holben, Mark Hope-Jones, Noah Kadner, Jean Oppenheimer,

John Pavlus, Chris Pizzello, Jon Silberg, Iain Stasukevich,Kenneth Sweeney, Patricia Thomson

ART DEPARTMENT

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Marion Gore

ADVERTISING ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR Angie Gollmann

323-936-3769 FAX 323-936-9188e-mail: [email protected]

ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR Sanja Pearce323-952-2114 FAX 323-876-4973

e-mail: [email protected] ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR Scott Burnell

323-936-0672 FAX 323-936-9188e-mail: [email protected]

CLASSIFIEDS/ADVERTISING COORDINATOR Diella Nepomuceno323-952-2124 FAX 323-876-4973

e-mail: [email protected]

CIRCULATION, BOOKS & PRODUCTSCIRCULATION DIRECTOR Saul MolinaCIRCULATION MANAGER Alex Lopez SHIPPING MANAGER Miguel Madrigal

ASC GENERAL MANAGER Brett Grauman

ASC EVENTS COORDINATOR Patricia Armacost ASC PRESIDENTS ASSISTANT Kim Weston ASC ACCOUNTING MANAGER Mila Basely ASC ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE Corey Clark

American Cinematographer (ISSN 0002-7928), established 1920 and in its 90th year of publication, is published

monthly in Hollywood by ASC Holding Corp., 1782 N. Orange Dr., Hollywood, CA 90028, U.S.A.,(800) 448-0145, (323) 969-4333, Fax (323) 876-4973, direct line for subscription inquiries (323) 969-4344.

Subscriptions: U.S. $50; Canada/Mexico $70; all other foreign countries $95 a year (remit internationalMoney Order or other exchange payable in U.S. $). Advertising: Rate card upon request from Hollywood

office. Article Reprints: Requests for high-quality article reprints (or electronic reprints) should be made toSheridan Reprints at (800) 635-7181 ext. 8065 or by e-mail [email protected].

Copyright 2007 ASC Holding Corp. (All rights reserved.) Periodicals postage paid at Los Angeles, CAand at additional mailing offices. Printed in the USA.

POSTMASTER: Send address change to American Cinematographer , P.O. Box 2230, Hollywood, CA 90078.4


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OFFICERS - 2010/2011

Michael GoiPresident

Richard CrudoVice President

Owen RoizmanVice President John C. Flinn III

Vice President

Matthew Leonetti Treasurer

Rodney TaylorSecretary

Ron GarciaSergeant At Arms

MEMBERS OF THE

BOARD John Bailey

Stephen BurumCurtis Clark

George Spiro DibieRichard Edlund

John C. Flinn IIIMichael Goi

Stephen LighthillIsidore Mankofsky

Daryn OkadaRobert Primes

Nancy SchreiberKees Van Oostrum

Haskell WexlerVilmos Zsigmond

ALTERNATESFred Elmes

Rodney TaylorMichael D. OShea

Sol NegrinMichael B. Negrin

MUSEUM CURATOR

Steve Gainer

American Society of Cine matographersThe ASC is not a labor union or a guild, but

an educational, cultural and pro fessional or gani zation. Membership is by invitation

to those who are actively en gaged asdi rec tors of photography and have demonstrated out stand ing ability. ASC

membership has be come one of the highest honors that can be bestowed upon a

pro fessional cine matog ra pher a markof prestige and excellence.

A T R A D I T I O N O F I N N O V A T I O N24 SHELTON STREET, LONDON, WC2H 9UB U.K. TELEPHONE: +44 (0)20 7836 9642 EMAIL [email protected]

T H E L O N D O N F I L M S C H O O L

An LFS education is not limited tothe technical skills that produce new

filmmakers. Its an education thatchallenges you to find your voice andmake it heard.

THE LFS TWO-YEARMA FILMMAKINGPROGRAMMESTARTS IN JANUARY,MAY AND SEPTEMBER.

To find out more about training in all departments,on a minimum of six film exercises, including two 35mm projects,in a working studio with students from 30 countries visit

lfs.org.uk

Oliver Hermanus 2009 MA Filmmaking graduate.Olivers graduation feature Shirley Adams,co-written by 2008 Screenwriting graduateStavros Pamballis, won Best Film, Best Director and Best Actress at the South African Filmand TV awards and first prizes at Dubai,

Amiens and Durban.


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1920s

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Editors Note

HBOs new seriesBoardwalk Empire, which premieres onSept. 19, will surely be appointment television for thosestill recovering from the enigmatic blackout that closedThe Sopra-nos. Created bySopranosalumnus Terence Winter, the 12-paseries promises a fresh round of criminal scheming with thbition-era saga of corrupt Atlantic City treasurer Nucky Th(Steve Buscemi), who rubs elbows with a rogues gallery ogangsters, including Al Capone and Lucky Luciano.

Three cinematographers joined theBoardwalk mob: StuartDryburgh, ASC (who shot the pilot for director Martin Scoexecutive producer on the show); Kramer Morgenthau, AS

Jonathan Freeman. Despite lavish production design and meticulous attention to p

Dryburgh notes that the pilot eschews an overtly stylized look in favor of a muted, palette intended to quietly capture the tone of the period and support the story. Moand Freeman then evolved this look to reflect the narratives arc. We decided to the tone even darker as Nuckys world starts to collapse, Freeman says. Morgenththe duo occasionally departed from the shows overall tone to develop unique feelsepisodes. We were encouraged to treat each episode as its own mini-feature and, textent, give each one a unique look, he tells New York contributor Patricia ThomMoney, page 34).

The rest of this months articles reflect our special focus on international proshooting the testosterone-laden action filmThe Expendablesfor director/star Sylvester StalloASC member Jeffrey Kimball endured a grueling shoot that combined Stateside shoOrleans with a side trip to Brazil. I needed someone who could improvise if I want

things or if conditions changed, so I went to a master, Stallone tells Michael GoldHorses, page 50). I pretty much gave Jeffrey free rein, and he rewarded me wiwork.

Nowhere Boy , a melancholy account of John Lennons youth, required Seamusvey, ASC, BSC to capture the feel of England in the late 1950s. We knew it was and that it had to evoke an era, but we didnt want to eulogize or fetishize the periodvey explains to London correspondent Mark Hope-Jones (A Beatles UpbringinWhat we wanted was to evoke a kind of diurnal sense of the epic in the everydaday-out, suburban Liverpool feel.

Centurion, a harrowing action film set in A.D. 117, follows a group of Romastruggling to survive after their legion is annihilated by the Picts, a Celtic tribe inhighlands. The Scottish landscape was always going to be a character in the filmmatographer Sam McCurdy, BSC (Romans on the Run, page 74). As our heroetheir way south to safety, they are at odds with the land as much as they are with th

Closer to home, were proud to present a pictorial that shows the evolution oClubhouse from its earliest years to its recent, grand re-opening (Where CinemLives, page 82). As these fabulous photos illustrate, the Societys Building Commby the stouthearted Owen Roizman, ASC, should be commended for its tireless welegant architectural update, which beautifully preserves our headquarters historic

Stephen PizzelloExecutive Editor

8


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Cinema is truly an international medium. In every country of the world, there are mdocumentaries that define who we are and what we believe in, and they become a timeof our culture.

There is a fascinating piece of film making the rounds on the Internet, a view from aon Market Street in San Francisco in 1905, one year before the earthquake forever chalandscape. (A version of this can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NINOxRyou watch this single-camera traveling view of everyday life, its easy to become drawnual people on the street, curious about their stories the man walking with his young sonthe maze of streetcars, the car filled with five portly men passing a much more upscale lone driver, the man with the butchers apron dashing across the street in front of the camboys dangerously holding onto the back of a car while running behind it. You get a realwhat life felt like at that time.

I get this same sense of fascination when I watch the early New York-based films oand Roberta Findlay. Though they are unabashedly exploitation films, with titles likeKiss of Her FleshandBody of A Female, they are also glimpses of a New York City that does not exist inform any more. If future generations want to know what the mean streets of The DeuceAndy MilligansFleshpot on 42nd Street may end up providing the answer.

I recently returned from a fantastic trip to India that was sponsored by the Indian Society of Cinematographmatographers Combine. I was treated to glimpses of Indias current filmmaking output, amazingly sophisticated mnot only Indias culture, but also the influence of filming styles from other parts of the world. I was also privilegedof prominent schools dedicated to filmmaking, Whistling Woods in Mumbai and the Film and Television Instituttreated to a showing of advanced students films, and the level of creativity they exhibited, from cinematography tostory construction to editing, was truly impressive. The highlight of my visit was being named an honorary membe

The sobering part of the trip was my visit to the Film Preservation Vault, also in Pune. Its staff is committed t

many of the films and advertising materials from Indian cinema as possible. I was shown a 1913 production, recentldemonstrated storytelling and filmic techniques that equaled the work of D.W. Griffith and Louis Feuillade. Throconsiderable care and effort, 6,000 films dating from 1899 to the present have been preserved. India produces abouta year. If you do the math, its staggering to think about what has possibly been lost.

I recently appointed John Bailey, ASC chairman of the ASC Film and Digital Preservation Subcommittee ofCommittee. John will add his considerable expertise and passion to the excellent efforts that ASC associate memband Garrett Smith have already undertaken in this field, and he will utilize his knowledge of the industry and key attention where it needs to be. Preserving and archiving our work is not just a matter of saving what is old; it is alsthe right methodology for handling everything new, before formats become obsolete. (Remember Hi-8?)

When I was 13, my optometrist said I would be blind by age 30 (dont worry, it didnt happen), and I respondeevery movie I could get to because I wanted to have all those images in my memory when my sight went away. The in Chicago ran three double features a week of anything they could buy for $50, so I saw eclectic programs such as CinWill Penny along with the Phyllis Diller filmDid You Hear The One About The Traveling Saleslady?All these films formed my knowl-edge of what cinema was.

I cant see every movie ever made, no matter how much Id like to. But Id be disappointed if future generatioto see that 1905 San Francisco film or those Indian student films. Its up to us to make sure that doesnt happen.

Michael Goi, ASCPresident

Presidents Desk

10 September 2010 American Cinematographer


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Taking Arris Alexa to the World CupBy Iain Stasukevich

Sam Nicholson, ASC and his collaborators at Stargate Studioshave a long-running relationship with Arri that includes consulting

on the development of the companys 535 film camera and D-20and D-21 digital cameras. After seeing Nicholsons demo films fortwo other digital cameras, the Sony F35 and the Weisscam HS-2Highspeed, Arri asked him to produce, direct and write somethingsimilar for its new digital camera, the Alexa.

For the demo, says Nicholson, we wanted to design a piecethat would demonstrate the various unique qualities of the Alexa:dynamic range, sensitivity, portability, ease of use, maintenance, andpost workflow. Those are all things that define a digital-cinemacamera.

Special attention was paid to dynamic range. Apart from reso-lution, a digital sensors ability to capture detail in the brightest high-lights and the darkest shadows is a significant yardstick by whichalmost every digital camera is measured. This was a particularlyimportant aspect of the Alexa demo, as the camera has a 4:3 ALEVIII CMOS 2880 x 1620 sensor with a base EI of 800 ISO, and boastsan exposure latitude of 131 2 stops.

Arri wanted to see the camera in daylight, low light and high-contrast scenarios and with greenscreen visual-effects scenes, soNicholson wrote a World Cup-themed story that would incorporatethose elements. The plan to unveil the film at the Directors Guild ofAmerica ahead of NAB 2010 became a major challenge when theAlexa delivery schedule was altered, pushing production back to aweek before the scheduled April 6 premiere. This left Nicholson and

cinematographer Dana Christiaansen only a few hours to familiarizethemselves with the camera.

Nicholson and Christiaansen knew theyd be working withcertain limitations. Their prototype Alexa would only shoot at 24 fpswith a 180-degree shutter at ASA 800. ArriRaw wasnt available at

the time, so they would be capturing 10-bit 4:4:4 DPX files in Log Con the A camera, and 30 fps ProRes 4:2:2 on the handheld Bcamera. They had just enough time to check their lenses, ArriMaster Primes and Angenieux Optimo 15-40mm and 24-290mmzooms, and get their signals straight before their first day of shoot-ing. We didnt even have time to shoot charts or latitude tests,Christiaansen laments. We knew very little about the cameraexcept its ISO rating, and that it had a 3.5K-resolution Bayer-stylechip.

Unlike the D-20 and D-21, the Alexa does not featurean optical viewfinder and rotating shutter. Instead, it has a1280x720-pixel F-LCOS (ferroelectric liquid crystal on silicon) EVand a 5-to-359-degree electronic shutter, making it much lighterthan a model with optical parts. (An Alexa with optical parts is in thepipeline for a late 2010 release.)

Two days of photography were scheduled, one day exteriorand one night exterior. The film begins at night with a group of kidskicking a Hacky Sack around an abandoned alley. The sack getskicked over a fence, and a kindly, old caretaker lets the kids in toretrieve it, then tosses them a soccer ball. More players show up to join the impromptu game, and suddenly, the bridge above themsplits open, showering the vacant lot with sunlight. The kids findthemselves in a huge outdoor stadium, playing for real.

Christiaansen and Nicholson started with the day exteriors,

Short Takes

P h o t o s a n d f r a m e g r a b s c o u r t e s y o f S t a r g a t e S t u d i o s .

The recentWorld Cup

soccertournament

served asinspiration for

an Alexa demoshot by

cinematographerDana

Christiaansen fordirector Sam

Nicholson, ASC,who also wroteand produced

the demo.

I


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shooting a soccer field in Glendale, Calif., asa stand-in for a World Cup stadium. Theathletes played against huge greenscreensin some shots, and in others the camerawas pointed down at the field from a highangle to keep the horizon out of the frame.Christiaansen and Steadicam operator AriRobbins filmed from the ground or fromthe back of a golf cart as it zipped aroundthe action. It was critical that we show offthe range of the camera as far as howmuch shadow detail you can get whilemaintaining a clean black, all the way upto how it handles highlight details when

its overexposed, notes Christiaansen.During the daytime soccer scenes, wewent with hard sun and no fill. We just letthe camera deal with it. (A few 4K HMIPars were brought out to the field butwerent used.) ND.6 and ND.9 filters werestacked onto a base ND1.2 to keep theOptimos and Master Primes around a T4.

According to Nicholson, pulling keysoff daylit bluescreens or greenscreens canbe a nightmare at ISOs over 250 because ofgrain, especially when recording video, buton the Alexa demo, the greenscreensworked like a hand in the glove. One of the

defining factors of a digital camera is howfast you can work with the recorded mate-rial on a demanding post schedule, and allof the visual-effects artists at Stargatethought the Alexa material keyed beauti-fully, even with lots of motion blur at AS800! Thats a great advantage for shootinggreenscreen visual effects.

The first day of filming was sched-uled as a two-camera shoot, but the secondAlexa didnt show up until the next nightWhen it arrived on set, at 10 p.m., it wasout of its flight case and ready within 15minutes. The opening images of the testfilm were shot at night in downtown LosAngeles, near and beneath the oft-photographed 6th Street bridge. In onewide shot, the L.A. skyline glitters. Inanother, the moon glows huge and cool in

the sky as the blinking lights of aircraft croa crisp, clear frame.We also had to demonstrate the

Alexas low-light sensitivity, great low-ligcolor rendition and good blacks at ISO800, says Christiaansen. Arri made asmany of its grip-and-electric resources avaable to the production as possible, butChristiaansen and gaffer Paul Samiangodidnt need the power of a 10-ton griptruck to light up an entire street in fact,they probably didnt even need a 5-ton

truck. We ended up using four or five 400-watt Pocket Pars running off batteryblocks! says the cinematographer. Even a1.2K HMI called for every scrim and bit diffusion they could jam onto the lamphead. Aside from the Pocket Pars and ascrimmed-down 2K Fresnel hung from thbridge, most of the ambient light wasprovided by existing streetlights. For thshot where the bridge splits in half to bathethe players with sunlight, a 2K Xenon spolight was hung from a Condor just 15' fromthe actors to create a huge overexposurethat would demonstrate the Alexas latitudeand highlight characteristics and help transition from the night bridge to the fantasyworld of a World Cup game. In the nightsequence, it helped that we were lookingfor a raw, sketchy light design, notesChristiaansen. We wanted the actors tomove in and out of a single light source sowe could see the camera handle extremelyunderexposed areas.

The Alexas workflow was designed

Christiaansen (top) and Steadicam operator Ari Robbins (bottom) capture some of theonfield action against a greenscreen backdrop.


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to be data-centric, something the filmmakers used to their advantage. For the dayexteriors, Christiaansen output 4:4:4 Log Cthrough HD SDI to an SRW-1 HDCam-deck while on the golf cart, and to an S.twoOB-1 digital recorder for all the handheland running Steadicam shots. At night, theA camera fed the OB-1 while the handhelB camera recorded 4:2:2 ProRes to an intenal 32-GB SxS card. We mixed the two tsee if audiences could tell the difference,says Nicholson. Theres a little morcontrast in the ProRes material, and thatbecause of the linear compression. If yolike a rich black look, theres no reason yowouldnt shoot ProRes, but if you want asoft look in harsh light, youre going to wanto record in Log C so you can really fine-tuyour black detail in post.

Christiaansen saved a great deal ofhis balancing for post. Digital-imaging technician Tyson Birmann managed the medion set, but the two-camera crew moved soquickly that no one really had time to thinabout stopping to check on-set color correction. The cinematographer recalls, I quickcame to trust the onboard Marshalls waveform and the incredibly accurate Alexviewfinder for our scene-to scene exposureI had Tyson set up a reference monitor tokeep track of our blacks and our exposure

Once the data was in the computer andbacked up on the drive, Id skip through iand check for focus and other issues.

Back at Stargate, the Log C DPX filewere transcoded into ProRes for the1920x1080 4:2:2 offline edit in Final CuOnce the locked cut was conformed toHDCam-SR tape, it was delivered tFotoKem in Burbank, where colorist JohDaro did the final color correction on aQuantel Pablo.

The resultant images made a splashwhen they were digitally projected (at 2K) the DGA and at NAB. Since then, FotoKehas also done a 35mm filmout. I saw thefilmout in FotoKems DI suite, and it loogreat beautiful, rich blacks and saturatecolor, says Christiaansen.

The Alexa is a fantastic step forwardfor the industry, Nicholson concludes. think of it as a digital-cinema camera fopeople who love shooting film.

Top and middle: These before-and-after frame grabs demonstrate how visual-effects artists at StargateStudios used Maya and Lightwave to build a virtual World Cup stadium and After Effects to compositethe elements (note background in after frame). They had less than a week to complete the sequence.

Bottom: Christiaansen (left) and Nicholson prepare the Alexa for the next shot.


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fulfillment precedes spiritual awaken-ing, and finally she finds love. Did youconsider approaching these stages ofher journey with different visual strate-gies?

Richardson:I agree with your forma-tion of that question, because we didsegment [the film] thematically as well geographically. For me, the culinary-fulfment chapter of the story was about Lizfirst step in releasing issues buried within hHer self-doubt did not solely dissipate as shindulged in culinary delights; rather, shoscillated between moments of depressionemptiness and great elation as she learnedto let go of the things that bound her toaspects of the life shed experienced in NeYork. Rome, with its bountiful history andfood, opened her up, but perhaps most

important were the friends she made there

For Liz, and for the camera, in somerespects, it was a lesson in learning to doless. Once she reduced her expectations anstopped demanding of herself that she actu-ally had to accomplish something, she founher greatest ecstasy in the many rhythmthat resulted. Those rhythms shaped ourvisuals. The primary tone Ryan and Bdesigned for our New York scenes was coland steely. We eased back on that coldnessfor our Rome sequences, where the imageare saturated with late-afternoon light. Inthe same way, the thickness that suffusesthe images in Italy was intended to replacthe shallowness that once existed [in helife]. This was not a written rule in ouapproach, but rather a guideline, becauseLizs life is not simply one tone in one city another tone in the next. There is a morecomplicated oscillation that is married t

Top andmiddle: Afterdivorcing her

husband,Gilbert finds

romance withDavid (James

Franco).Bottom:

Richardsoncaptures an

overhead viewof a scene in a

New Yorkmeditationcenter.

For Liz, and for thecamera, in somerespects, it was a

lesson in learning to

do less.


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both her uncertainty and her resolutions. InIndia, she is brought toward silence, intomeditation, into an emptiness that isanything but empty, and the films colorsshifted with that movement; we attempteda more natural, less manicured light, andJulia was often covered in sweat and dustThese scenes also have deeper blacks andhotter whites, and the light transition wasfundamental in showing that Liz had experienced the archaeology of her mind.Whether she will repeat history is a centraquestion in the film, and one she faces inthe vibrant setting of Bali.

Did all the traveling and locationwork affect your choice of cameras andlenses?

Richardson:No. Ive shot a greatdeal around the world, and for me the loca-

tions are not the most influential factor inchoosing equipment. The story is the guideThe equipment must serve the director andthe story he or she is telling. We usedPanaflex Millennium XL and Millenniucameras and Primo prime and zoom lenses

Did the same camera and light-

ing equipment travel with youthroughout the shoot, or were yourenting from local suppliers?

Richardson:Our camera packagetraveled to each country, and the lightingand grip gear was picked up from localsuppliers in Rome and New Delhi. For thshoot in Bali, we brought the equipment infrom Australia and the States.

To what degree did you take onlocal crewmembers in each country,and did that affect how the unit func-

Top: Richardsonrides a Panther

Galaxy Crane inRomes Piazza

Navona. Middle:With two birds

already in hand,a statue reaches

out forRichardson.

Bottom: Gilbertexperiences

Rome with herlanguage

teacher,Giovanni (LucaArgentero).

Ive shot a great dealaround the world, andfor me the locations

are not the mostinfluential factor in

choosing equipment.


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tioned at the various locations?Richardson:We used local crews in

each country, but my core crew key griChris Centrella, gaffer Ian Kincaid, first AGregor Tavenner and B-camera/Steadicamoperator Larry McConkey has beenconsistent for years, and I dont believe thi

film could have been completed withouttheir talents. Beyond this core, our crewgrew out of each country, and thosecrewmembers added a taste of their ownspice, which flavored the film.

Did you shoot at a real ashram?Richardson:We filmed in a Hindu

temple and school outside of New Delhi inPataudi. We had the deepest of respect forthose in the temple and the community asa whole.

Each country must have had its

own unique challenges in terms ofthings like local permits, but did all themoving around cause you any particu-lar cinematographic headaches?

Richardson:There is no doubt thateach country provided unique challengesThe disparity between interiors and exteriorin both Bali and India was the most difficuissue for me. In those countries, it was aconstant battle to prevent the exteriors fromblooming while we were shooting day interiors.

Top: Streaminglight lends

ambience to thedining hall of an

Indian ashram.Middle: Richard

(Richard Jenkins)encourages

Gilbert to clearher mind.

Bottom: Inexchange for

lodging, Gilbertscrubs the floors

in an ashramstemple.


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What, if any, filtration did youuse?

Richardson: 85s were our primaryglass filters, and we also utilized light netsbehind the lenses.

Were you using the same labthroughout the shoot? What kind ofdailies did you see?

Richardson: Deluxe Laboratories/ EFilm did our HD dailies. Yvan Lucas gradedboth the dailies and the final, and he did an

astounding job with the negative.Has the digital-intermediateprocess made it easier to achieve consis-tency in the look of projects with aninternational scope?

Richardson: The DI has allowedconsistency to be within the reach of morecinematographers, but it is not the solutionto a badly shot negative or poorly captureddata. The finer the talent of the cinematog-rapher, the smoother the post process is. Inthat regard, nothing has changed.

TECHNICAL SPECS

1.85:135mmPanaflex Millennium XL, MillenniumPanavision Primo lensesKodak Vision2 100T 5212, 200T 5217;Vision3 200T 5213, 500T 5219Digital IntermediatePrinted on Kodak Vision 2383

Whileexperiencing

the sensualpleasures of

Bali, Gilbert fallsin love with

Felipe (JavierBardem).


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An Emotional Transformationin PeruBy Jean Oppenheimer

The years between 1980 and 2000were a time of terror in Peru, as Maoist

guerrillas known as Shining Path wagedwar against the government. Both therebels and state security forces engaged inatrocities against innocents, and no onewas spared, not even the poverty-strickenpeasants who lived high in the Andes.According to Andean folklore, pregnantwomen who were raped during the civilwar passed their fear and anguish on totheir children through breast feeding, andthose who received the milk of sorrowwere said to be born without souls.

The Peruvian filmThe Milk of Sorrow , which was recently released in NewYork and Los Angeles, looks at this terriblelegacy of pain and suffering through thestory of Fausta (Magaly Solier), a beautifulbut withdrawn young woman whosemother, while pregnant with her, wasbrutalized during the civil war. Fausta is soafraid of men that she will not ventureoutside unaccompanied, and so fearful ofrape that she has taken the extreme precau-tion of inserting a potato in her vagina.

The film was written and directed byClaudia Llosa, and cinematographerNatasha Braier recalls that when she firstread the script, it was difficult to imaginewhat direction Claudia was going to take.With a laugh, she adds, It took a lot of

coffee over many weeks to arrive at the lookand tone.

The film is about Faustas journeyfrom fear to freedom, continues Braier, anative of Argentina who lives in England.At the beginning of the story, she is unbal-anced, broken, and cant seem to find herplace in the frame. We break her image intofragments, placing her at the bottom of theframe, in the corner, or off to one side, but

always with only a portion of her face visble. She is never whole and nevercentered.

When her mother dies suddenly,Fausta must earn money to pay for theburial, and this forces her to go out into the

world for the first time. She takes a job as adomestic servant for Aida (Susi Snchez),rich woman who lives in Lima. Our idewas that in Aidas house, Fausta is all buinvisible, a nobody, so we designed theframe not for her but for the scale of thehouse and the architecture of the spaces,says Braier. Walking through the mansionshe is reduced to little more than a dot.

To assuage her fears, Fausta continu-ally sings a song that she learned from hermother. Aida, who is a concert pianist, isenamored of the tune, but when she asksFausta to sing it for her, the timid youngwoman refuses. Aida unstrings a pearlnecklace and promises to give one pearl toFausta every time she sings. Realizing ththe pearls will pay for her mothers funeraFausta complies, and in so doing, she gradually develops courage and fortitude.

The long, dark corridors that shemust navigate to get to Aidas roombecome a metaphor for her emotionalodyssey. We play a lot with the idea of

Fausta (Magaly Solier) checks on her ailing mother in a scene from The Milk of Sorrow , shot by Natasha Braier.

I

It took a lot ofcoffee over manyweeks to arrive atthe look and tone.


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repetition and variation, notes Braier. Alot of the frames are similar, but with slighvariations, which suggest Faustas

progress. The first time Fausta goes toAidas room, a Steadicam shot follows heThe second time she walks these same hallways, the Steadicam precedes her, lookinginto her face. The implication is that she istronger psychologically. Noting the symboism and metaphors running through thefilm, Braier suggests that the heroines journey is, in some ways, a mystical one. In sense, she observes, this film is moreinterested in poetry than narration.

The six-week shoot, all of it on loca-

tion in and around Lima, included 20 dayof Steadicam work done by operatorGuillermo Garca Meza. We were following characters in small spaces, downpassageways that werent straight, so wecouldnt put down tracks, explains BraierThree long oners take place at anoutdoor market, and the shots were filmedwhile business was in full swing because thproduction wasnt allowed to close the location. For the first shot, the Steadicam isbehind Fausta as she walks down thecentral aisle; for the second, it precedes herand for the third, it is parallel to her as aman carries her out after she has fainted.We didnt want the kind of wide, floatingfeeling you traditionally get fromSteadicam, so we used tighter lenses thannormal, says Braier. We used a 40mmand a 65mm for the market scenes, whichwas quite demanding on Garca Meza andfocus puller lvaro Fernndez. For the reof the film, we mainly used a 24mm and a40mm.

Top left: To suggest Faustas fragile state at the beginning of the film, the filmmakers seldom show hercompletely. Top right: Braier checks Soliers light for the shot. Middle: Fausta helps Aida (Susi Snchez)

pick up her pearls. Bottom: The young woman appears dominated by the objects in Aidas home.


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Because Perus nascent motion-picture industry focuses mainly on commer-cials, Braier rented her camera gear, aMoviecam Compact MK2 and a set of ZeissUltra Primes, from Servicevision inBarcelona. (The productions lighting pack-age was rented from Muvi Centro in Lima.)The Moviecam was used as the A camera(with Braier operating) and for Steadicamwork. Braier notes that her favorite primelenses are the Cooke S4s, but she wasconcerned they might be a bit too soft forthe hazy conditions she noticed in Limaduring preproduction. We were told Limawas always like that, so I chose the UltraPrimes instead, but when we arrived amonth later for the shoot, there was no mistand no haze and there wasnt for theentire six weeks of the shoot! she says.

Shooting in the standard 1.85:1aspect ratio, Braier used two Kodak Vision2


mother has died, we are on a medium shotof Fausta. We no longer see the frame ofthe window; the cityscape appears to bedirectly behind her.

The whole idea of this shot was torepresent what is going to happen in thefilm, continues the cinematographer. Atthe beginning of the story, Fausta is livinwith her mother in a hermetic world, andnow that her mother is dead, she will haveto venture outside, and because of the waywe frame her at the end of that shot, sheactually appears to be outside. In order toavoid overexposing the view outside thewindow, Braier had to maintain a high lighlevel inside; she had two18Ks positioned ostands outside the window and bouncedinto frames of white material. For abudget like ours, the 18Ks were a real

luxury, she acknowledges. The exposurewas around T16, but I was lighting herquite silhouetted her face was probably2 stops under, and her quarter-backlight 1to 2 stops over. All was reduced with NDs tT4, the stop at which I shot most of thefilm.

For scenes that Fausta shares withAida, Braier often made use of mirrors oother reflective surfaces to present Fausta aonly a reflection, like a ghost with no physical substance. The first time she enters

Aidas room, she is dimly reflected in an ophotograph of a soldier, and at the end ofthe film, when she returns to the room toretrieve her pearls, she is again reflected ithe photograph, but her image is moredefined, suggesting that she is strongeremotionally. The level of clarity is quisimilar in both shots, but Faustas reflectiostands out a bit more the second timebecause she is wearing a bright blue dressso there is more color separation, notesBraier. Also, the room is in darkness thesecond time, which makes the framedphotograph more of a mirror.

One of Braiers favorite shots takesplace in a large theater where Aida gives apiano recital. Fausta is sitting in the dressinroom we see her reflected in the mirror when she hears a familiar melody. Thcamera continues shooting into the mirroras Fausta stands and leaves the room. Thentheres a cut to a three-minute Steadicamshot of Fausta walking down a series ofhallways toward the stage; the camera is in

stocks, 500T 5218 and 200T 5217, becauseshe felt the Kodak palette is well suited tothe [vibrant] colors of Peru. The produc-tions footage was processed locally, anddailies were very basic, one-light telecineson DVCam tapes, notes Braier. The finalphotochemical color timing and printingwere done at Deluxe Laboratories inBarcelona.

One of the biggest lighting setupswas a scene early in the film, when Faustarealizes her mother has died. The mother islying in bed, and Fausta sits beside her, lean-ing in so that their faces almost touch.Fausta steps out of frame, and we cut to awider shot that reveals her standing nearthe foot of the bed, smoothing out thesheets, explains Braier. She is framed by alarge picture window behind her. As shetends to the bed, the camera dollies inslowly. In the moment that she realizes her

Above: Braierand director

Claudia Llosaat work. Right:

1st AD PolRodriguez

steadies Solieras Braier

prepares toshoot, assisted

by focuspuller lvaro

Fernndez.


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front of her, looking back at her. It was aninteresting shot to light in terms of theconcept and the storytelling, says Braier.Fausta goes through different emotions asshe walks, and we wanted the lighting toreflect that. At the beginning of her walk,there is a mirror on the right side of theframe, and she is reflected in it. For amoment, there are two Faustas.

The ceilings in the corridors werequite high, and Braiers crew was able to rigKino Flos there, along with a few practicalsand some 1K and 500-watt Fresnels goingthrough white diffusion. Some lights couldbe placed in rooms off the corridors, creat-ing a slightly different feel. As she walks,Fausta goes in and out of pools of light. Shereaches the stage and peers out, watchingAida bowing to thunderous applause.

When Fausta realizes Aida has claimed hersong as her own composition, the youngwoman suddenly steps back, disappearinginto total darkness.

For her work onThe Milk of Sorrow ,Braier won the Golden Camera 300 Awardat the 2009 Manaki Brothers InternationalCinematographers Film Festival. Shortlyafter that, the film became the first Peruvianfeature to earn an Academy Award nomi-nation for Best Foreign Language Feature.

TECHNICAL SPECS

1.85:135mmMoviecam Compact MK2Zeiss Ultra Prime lensesKodak Vision2 500T 5218, 200T 5217Printed on Kodak Vision 2383

ERRATUM

Last months cover photo (Salt ) wasshot by Andrew Schwartz, SMPSP, forSony Pictures. This information wasincorrect in our table of contents.


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MobMoney MobMoney


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www.theasc.com September 2010 3

Its the eve of Prohibition, and the Womens Temperance League inAtlantic City is celebrating its victory.A special guest is on hand: City

Treasurer Nucky Thompson (SteveBuscemi), the most powerful figure inlocal politics. After a rousing reception, Thompson leaves for another pressingappointment at a nightclub, where he joins other city officials to plot how to

exploit the new black market for liquor.As they talk, a ship from Canada arrivesat a local dock, and a flotilla of motor-boats unloads the first shipment of ille-gal whiskey.

As the new HBO seriesBoard-walk Empire illustrates, Atlantic City was ideally situated to be Americasbootleg capital during Prohibition. A

popular summer resort town, it waslinked by rail to New York, Philadelphiaand Baltimore. It also had a vibrantfishing industry and secluded inlets,ideal for smuggling alcohol fromCanada and the Caribbean. Just asimportant as geography was the citysfeudalistic politics. Atlantic City hadalways been devoted to serving the plea- U n

i t p h o t o g r a p h y b y C r a i g B l a n k e n h o r n a n d A b b o t G e n s e r , c o u r t e s y o f H B O .

A trio of cinematographershelps mount the

HBO seriesBoardwalk Empire,acrime drama set in

Atlantic City duringProhibition.

By Patricia Thomson

|

Opposite: Atlantic Citreasurer and criminakingpin NuckyThompson (SteveBuscemi) plays a rouof roulette with hislady friend Lucy (Pazde la Huerta) inBoardwalk Empire.This page, top: VanAlden (MichaelShannon, second fromright), a Bureau ofInternal Revenueagent whos gunningfor Thompson,prepares for a raidwith his men. BottomThompson (center)convenes a roundtablwith mob mastermind(clockwise from loweleft) Lucky Luciano

(Vincent Piazza),Arnold Rothstein(Michael Stuhlbarg),Big Jim Colosimo(Frank Crudele) andJohnny Torrio (GregAntonacci).


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sures of its vacationing guests, and by 1920 it was ruled by an unelected offi-cial, Enoch Nucky Johnson, who wasa master at the game. By the mid-1920s, everyone on the public payrollowed his job to Johnson. The police notonly ignored vice laws, but alsoprotected bars and brothels from federalinterference.

Inspired by Nelson Johnsons book Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, HighTimes and Corruption of Atlantic City,the series combines historical figures with fictional characters. Nucky Thompson is based on Johnson, whosepower peaked during Prohibition, andhe rubs elbows with notorious mobsterssuch as Al Capone (Stephen Graham)

and Lucky Luciano (Vincent Piazza), as well as an array of politicians. Theshows 12 episodes cover the first year of Prohibition, and three cinematogra-phers helped shape the look: Stuart

Dryburgh, ASC shot the pilot, which was directed by Martin Scorsese, andKramer Morgenthau, ASC and Jonathan Freeman took turns shootingthe subsequent 11 episodes.

The art and costume depart-ments researched the period meticu-lously. Details such as the boardwalksBaby Incubator sideshow and ChopSuey restaurant were lifted directly fromphotographs, and many costumes wereoriginal pieces. But the goal with the

photography, according to Dryburgh, was not to create a period look as such we wanted to keep it modern.Scorsese screened numerous gangsterfilms for him, but this was more to givea sense of the period than for visualdesign; the latter emerged fromDryburghs discussions with productiondesigner Bob Shaw. For the overallpalette, we agreed we should avoidbright primaries and stick with fabricsand colors that were more muted, as was

Mob Money

Right:Thompsons

ambitiousdriver, JimmyDarmody

(Michael Pitt),settles in for

breakfast withhis wife, Angela

(AleksaPalladino), and

young son.Below: On a trip

to Chicago,Darmodys

marriage is farfrom his mind

during a private

rendezvous withPearl (EmilyMeade).


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the case in that era, recalls Dryburgh.As silly as it may sound, we werenttrying to do anything tricky or showy with the photography. We just wantedto quietly capture the tone of the periodand support the story. The only realtrick was to desaturate everything just alittle so it wasnt too vibrant.

More than half of the series wasshot in New York City locations(primarily in Brooklyn) that suggested

the luster of bygone days. Theseincluded private clubs, a Masons lodgeand a Methodist church in a Hasidicneighborhood. Throughout the city,there are these gems encased in rottingfaades, says Freeman. The decision toshoot in New York was arrived atquickly. Atlantic City doesnt look likethat Atlantic City any more; it looks like Trump World, notes Dryburgh.

The productions flagship set, the

Atlantic City boardwalk, was builtoutdoors on a vacant lot in Greenpoint,Brooklyn. The boardwalk portion was45' wide and 300' long, a mere sugges-tion of the actual boardwalks 8-mile-long expanse in the 1920s. The structureis flanked on one side by a beach, whichin turn was buttressed by a giant,permanent bluescreen, and on the otherside by a row of storefront shops, theRitz Hotel (where Thompson lives), a

Clockwise fromtop: Scantily cladshowgirls

entertain anaudience at CafBeaux-Arts; JerseCity Mayor FrankHague (ChrisMulkey) andThompson findtheir appreciationfor women andmusic fulfilled byyoung lady(Jennifer Bowles)and her ukelele;another showgirl,Gillian (GretchenMol), plays a key

role in the saga.


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supper club, and the entrance to theamusement pier, whose marquee shim-mers with hundreds of lights. All of thestorefronts functioned as practical setsand could be shot from any angle. (CGIcompleted the pier and boardwalk andadded tall buildings behind the store-fronts.)

The first question I was asked was, Which direction should theboardwalk face? recalls Dryburgh. I wanted to maximize exposure to the

sun, so we positioned it to face south. That way, the last light in the winter would skim along the sides of the build-ings. We had to bear in mind that wedbe shooting there in winter as well assummer. Freeman notes, Its very similar to the light in Atlantic City. If you look at photos from that time, thesun is often lighting the fronts of thebuildings. Obviously, having that hugebluescreen wall created shadow and sunissues, but for the most part, direct sun

didnt hit [the bluescreen] for much of the day.

Scorsese and Dryburgh weregiven 30 days to shoot the 70-minutepilot. The hour-long episodes were

budgeted for 12 days each, plus one day for second unit. While Morgenthau was shooting one episode, Freeman wasprepping the next, and vice versa. Bothcinematographers found this scheduleappealing. Its 100-percent better,because if you shoot every episode of aseries, you can feel like a factory worker, Morgenthau says. Freemanadds, Its like youre prepping a mini-movie with the director. Theres lessmoney wasted because youre getting

exactly the equipment you need, and you save time because youve donepreliminaries ahead of time. And,frankly, I wasnt as exhausted as I wouldhave otherwise been.

Boardwalk Empire was shot in3-perf Super 35mm framed for1.78:1. The productions camera pack-age comprised Panaflex Platinum,Millennium and Millennium XLcameras, Primo primes, and AngenieuxOptimo 24-290mm, 17-80mm and

Mob Money

Right: Amid theluxury of his

penthouse suite,Thompson talks

business withCommodore

Kaestner (DabneyColeman). Below:

Darmody listens inas Al Capone

(Stephen Graham,left) discussesstrategy with

Torrio.


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15-40mm zooms. For the pilot,Dryburgh used Primo zoom lensesinstead of the Optimos, as well as thenew Panavision Compact (T2.8) 19-90mm, which was very, very useful, hesays. Its small enough to put onSteadicam or use handheld, and itallows you to move very quickly between setups without lens changes.

Dryburgh reports that Scorsesebriefly considered shooting on 16mm.Hed seen Spike Lees Miracle at St. Anna and liked the look of the 16mmmaterial, recalls the cinematographer.After testing, however, the team optedfor the greater range and control of 35mm. We were going to have visual-effects shots, and that was a major

consideration, says Dryburgh. SoMartin and I looked at 16mm and

Above: Eager to expand his responsibilities, Darmody meets with his boss in Thompsonsopulent office. Below: A lighting diagram details the approach in Thompsons penthouse suite

large set of interconnected rooms built onstage at Steiner Studios.


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35mm side-by-side and said, Well, what is it about 16mm that we like, andcan we add that to the 35mm?

Ultimately, we produced a look intelecine that put in a bit more grain anda bit more contrast, as well as desatura-tion. So we got the look of 16mm withthe control of 35mm.

When Morgenthau andFreeman started working on the show,the pilot hadnt been completed, so they had only some footage and a few approved clips to view. Because of conflicting schedules, they were unableto speak to Dryburgh, either. So

Freeman, who tackled the first episode,came to his first meeting with episodedirector Timothy Van Patten armed with images from the Ashcan school,New York artists who were active in theearly 20th century. I would describe theAshcans as a hybrid of gritty realismand Expressionism/Impressionism,says Freeman. Those two tones werereally strong in the pilot, and very inspiring. Tim just laughed, because hehad all these books of the Ashcan artists

Mob Money

Top: The nightlifecrowd enjoys the

show atBabettes Supper

Club. Bottom:Overhead andfloor sources

illuminate the setas the crew

prepares for thesupper-club shotwith a stand-in.


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More details on www.arridigital.com

Format

Format

Format

Format

SxS cards

Tape

On-board recorder

On-board recorder

Direct to Edit workow

Tape-based workow

File-based workow

HD

HD

ARRIRAW workow

ALEXA gives you a choice o ultra ast workows.

Whichever o the ALEXA output options you go

or, our Direct to Edit eature will speed up your

workow. When recording uncompressed HD orARRIRAW, the Apple QuickTime proxy that is

simultaneously recorded to onboard SxS cards will

give you instant access to dailies and the reedom

to start an of-line edit immediately. I you choose

an HD workow, the Apple ProRes codecs will

allow you to begin your on-line edit simply byremoving the memory card rom ALEXA and

slotting it into a laptop: nothing could be easier.

A CLEAR PATH THROUGH POST


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that he was going to show me . So we were completely in sync.

Freeman and Morgenthau subse-quently exchanged the baton by watch-ing each others DVD dailies, visitingeach others sets, and talking severaltimes a week. They also shared thecrew, which included gaffer JohnOates, key grip Charlie Sherron,A-camera operator Bill Coleman, andB-camera/Steadicam operator JohnBuzz Meyer. Both cinematographerstried to maintain the look of the pilot,but also let it evolve. We decided toslowly push the tone even darker asNuckys world starts to collapse, saysFreeman.

Though the cinematographerscoordinated that evolution, stylisticconsistency wasnt a rigid rule. Muchlike series writers who build an overar-ching storyline but also create self-contained dramas that run for anepisode or two, Freeman and

Morgenthau could develop a look thatplayed for just one or two episodes. We were encouraged to treat each episodeas its own mini-feature and, to a certainextent, give each one a unique look,says Morgenthau.

For example, Freeman exagger-ated his natural inclination toward side-light in a storyline involving Harrow (Jack Huston), a World War I veteran whose face was severely disfigured incombat. The character wears a tin half-

Mob Money

The Atlantic City boardwalk set, measuring 45' wide by 300' long, was built outdoors ona vacant lot in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. All of the storefronts could also serve as practical sets;

CGI was used to complete the pier and boardwalk and add tall buildings tothe skyline behind the storefronts.

We wereencouraged to

treat eachepisode as

its own mini-

feature.


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mask with his features painted on it.That was actually common for a lot of veterans whod been disfigured that way, notes Freeman. Though Harrowsmask is literal, he continues, many characters are hiding behind masks,including Nucky; his girlfriendMargaret [Kelly Macdonald]; and hisbrother, Elias [Shea Whigham]. So Ithought Id play more with half-light inthe episode. I often do a lot of sidelight-ing, but in this case I let the other sideof the face almost fall off completely,not just with Harrow, but with all thecharacters at certain moments. He alsopushed a chiaroscuro look at times,heightening contrast not just in deepershadows, but in higher highlights, so

the skin tone sometimes becamealabaster. Ironically, because modernfilm stocks are so great at retaininghighlights, thats actually hard toachieve.

Morgenthau, in turn, favoredtoplight. Kramer uses toplight inexquisite ways, creating very moody faces that just have a prick of eyelight,says Freeman. In terms of our split, hehad a lot more work with the AlCapone/Chicago storyline, so tonally, it

becomes its own little style within astyle.Morgenthaus toplight was on

display the day AC visited SteinerStudios, where Thompsons penthousesuite and other sets were built. The crew was filming a scene in which Thompson accepts a visit from Jimmy (Michael Pitt), a former protg whohas partnered with the wrong peopleand is about to face Thompsons wrath.Number 25 at 75 percent! Oates yells

into his walkie-talkie. Overhead, achicken coop comprising five 500- watt Photofloods in a chicken-wireframe comes up. These units coverevery inch of Thompsons suite, hiddenbehind the removable muslin ceiling.They were designed to be ambientlight, but Im actually using them as key light in some positions, Morgenthauexplains. The toplight shapes peoplesfaces in a more imposing way andmakes Nucky look more powerful. I

Mob Money

The shows three cinematographers are (top to bottom) Kramer Morgenthau, ASC (far right,with director Jeremy Podeswa); Jonathan Freeman (right, with director Tim Van Patten); and

Stuart Dryburgh, ASC, who shot the pilot.


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want to fill out the faces in the room, butnot see so much that theres no mystery.For the reverse on Jimmy, Morgenthaureverts to lighting through windows, thenorm for daytime scenes, pushing a 20K through a black-lace curtain and cuttingit right at Jimmys brow.

The chicken coops and 20Ks were part of a sizable permanent stagepackage. When the Steiner sets werebuilt, Dryburgh successfully argued forthem to be built on an elevated plat-form; the production settled on a heightof 8'. I was very strong on that, becausethat enabled us to approach the windows without seeing the deck, hesays. I also wanted the ability to have afull ceiling, but be able to lift a corner of

it. The general rule of thumb was to key it from the windows, so we talked a lotabout windows with Bob Shaw. Then we did extensive rigging around theoutside of the building so we coulddirect beams of sunlight or the glow of the sky from wherever was appropriate.Sunlight came from eight 20Ks onmotorized trusses around the perimeterof the set, while 30 Skypans were onhand to light the painted ocean-view backdrop on one side and storefront set

pieces on the other. On the floor were various additional units, including a 10K that raked the set piece and a 20K onstandby to provide light from anglesunavailable to the truss. Everything was wired to a dimmer board.

In the 1920s, electricity was aluxury, so the filmmakers tried to avoidusing practicals during day scenes.Theres a temptation to use thembecause theyre so beautiful, but in 1920,electricity was a precious resource, says

Morgenthau. Nucky has many practicallamps on everywhere in his hotel suite,but somebody like Jimmy is in a cold- water flat and wouldnt have his lights onduring the day.

The Atlantic City boardwalk spared no expense on its lighting,however. Boardwalk signage was meantto create excitement, so the boardwalk set featured marquees with hundreds of bulbs. Behind the amusement-piermarquee, a 20K Fresnel on a lift ampli-

Mob Money

Above: Thecrew sets up a

bluescreen shoton the beach

set adjacent tothe boardwalk

set. Right: Acrane-mountedsource provides

nighttimeilluminationon location

in a realneighborhood.


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fied that illumination, providing back-light, while more light emanated fromthe storefronts (supplied by 2Ks or 5Kson stands). Maxi-Brutes were used tolight the side alleys, and Skypansprovided a wash on the bluescreen. Itsnot tricky, its just big, Oates says of theboardwalk lighting. We had a lot of equipment going on. When AC visitedthis set, hovering near the actors was ahuge moonbox designed by Oates andSherron. Hung from a 135' lift, the12'x12' softbox contained 6K spacelights, all on a dimmer, and providedeither keylight (Morgenthau) or fill(Freeman). The Flyswatter, a 20'x20'silk positioned on a Condor, was usedto control light on sunny days. Its

basically a moving cloud, saysMorgenthau.All the storefronts were rigged

with practicals, and some had extrafeatures. The Ritz lobby and adjacentdress shop, where Thompsons girl-friend works, have skylights, which werecommon to the luxe architecture of theday. They were actually dimmable lightboxes that could be switched fromdaylight to incandescent light; they held1,200-watt Pars for day and Blondes for

night. A lot of thought went into thoseskylights! says Dryburgh. The full splendor of the board-

walk is captured in wide shots, whichthe filmmakers didnt hesitate to use. Abig, beautiful crane shot brings Nucky and Jimmy out of the Ritz and throughthe complete madness of the nightbefore Prohibition, notes Dryburgh.Theres all kinds of mayhem going on,and we follow them with this big Technocrane shot that reveals this

whole world, then brings them to theentrance of Babettes Supper Club. Its very nice.

Entire scenes were sometimesplayed quite wide. Thats somethingKramer and I picked up from the pilot,notes Freeman. We werent afraid to letthings play in two-shots. As for craneshots, says Morgenthau, we did ashorthand version, because we had a lotfewer days than they had on the pilot!

In the pilot, the camera moves

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with the characters a lot in classicScorsese fashion, says Dryburgh.Moves were accomplished with dollies,cranes and Steadicam, although regard-ing the latter, Dryburgh observes,Martin is cautious how he uses it. He

doesnt like Steadicam to be too notice-able. We all think of the famous shot inthe restaurant in Goodfellas, but when you think about it, youre not aware of the moving camera, youre aware of making that journey with the characters.

We tried to apply that idea to ourSteadicam shots.

One such shot, executed by pilotSteadicam operator David Thompson,follows Buscemi into a Victorianfuneral parlor. Then we go down anelevator to the basement, where theresan embalming room with a body on thetable, says Dryburgh. Theres a secretpanel, and behind this is a full-on whiskey distillery, complete with big vats and lots of steam. Its a labyrinthinespace, and we follow Nucky through allthose subterranean corridors.

The productions practical loca-tions offered many opportunities forinteresting camera moves. This was thecase in the John Wesley United

Methodist Church in Bedford-Stuyvesant, whose meeting room servedas the interior of Babettes Supper Club, where Thompson conducts his back-room deals. With a horseshoe-shapedbalcony ending in matching staircasesand smaller rooms radiating off the

Mob Money

Martin Scorsese, who directed the pilot and serves as an executive producer on the series,confers with his cast while Dryburgh and his crew await the next take.


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main hall, the location provided wonderful options. As Shaw recalls,We were scouting for the Womens Temperance League, and I said, Am Icrazy, or could this be a nightclub?Freeman found the balcony useful forsolving a problem inherent in the loca-tion. He explains, Babettes is a wide-open space that needed to be filled withpeople, but dressing 200 extras in periodattire and period-correct hair andmakeup is an extremely expensiveproposition. By selecting the rightangles, we could use the balcony toblock off part of the set and give theimpression the place was full; we couldalso have people in the foreground andsee people on the other side of the

balcony, then fill the hole on the mainfloor with extras, but in truth, there werenone beyond that point.

Lighting at Babettes was motivated by the blaze of lights rimming theriverboat stage and bar, plus the smallpractical lamps on each table. Two 8K

tungsten balloons evened out ambientlighting, while other units came and went, including 10K booklights oneither side of the hall, Source 4 Lekosand Baby Juniors highlighting specifictables, a 5K backlighting the crowd, aspotlight aimed at the stage, and KinoFlos to edge and lift the deep back-ground.

While shooting the pilot,Dryburgh and Scorsese screened filmdailies. Thats something people dontdo much any more, and it was great,says Dryburgh. After the pilot, theproduction switched to DVD dailies.Dailies and the final color correction were handled by Technicolor New York. For his episodes, Morgenthau

used a Canon EOS 40D and AdobeLightroom to color correct digital stillsat wrap and send them to the lab. By morning, the series dailies colorist, JoshOlive, would send corrected framegrabs. In general, we desaturated theimage quite a bit, probably more than

Stuart did, says Morgenthau. Itsprinted very dense, the opposite of theflat, bright look you usually see in a lotof television shows. Its got a really strong, cinematic look that was dialedright into the dailies.

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Despite spending decades making iconic, testosterone-infused imagery, Sylvester Stallone insists he has neverdirected an action picture that compares to the machopedigree found in front of and behind the camera on his

latest film,The Expendables. The movie, which stars Stallone,

Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Bruce Willis and Jason Statham,among others, tells the tale of a band of aging mercenaries who are lured into one last mission in a fictional SouthAmerican country, where they tangle with a corrupt dictator,pirates, traitors and rogue CIA operatives, among others.

The filmmakers undertook a grueling shoot in Braziland New Orleans, where cast and crew alike had to navigate waves of practical explosions, uncomfortable environmentsand dangerous stunts, all while heeding the limitations of budget and schedule. Recognizing the constraints early on,Stallone sought a battle-proven crew, and foremost among hischoices was Jeffrey L. Kimball, ASC. The two had previously

War HorsesDirector Sylvester Stalloneenlists Jeffrey L. Kimball, ASC to

capture outlandish action forThe Expendables .

By Michael Goldman

|


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worked together when Kimball shotThe

Specialist (1994), which starred Stallone,but The Expendablesmarks their firstcollaboration with Stallone in the direc-tors chair. I needed someone who couldimprovise if I wanted to change things orif conditions changed, so I went to amaster, says Stallone. I pretty muchgave Jeffrey free rein, and he rewardedme with beautiful work.

To further anchor the cameradepartment, Stallone and Kimballenlisted other action veterans with whom

they had previously worked, includingA-camera operator/2nd-unit cinematog-rapher Vern Nobles, who has worked with Stallone on several films. Kimballnotes that Nobles and Stallone have anunusually good rapport and had already worked together blowing stuff up, which was important experience for this film.

Nobles company, Cinesail CameraRentals, supplied much of the projectscamera package, which was rounded outby Keslow Camera. Planning to shoot U

n i t p h o t o g r a p h y b y K a r e n B a l l a r d , c o u r t e s y o f L i o n s g a t e .

Opposite, left to right: Yin Yang (Jet Li), Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), Barney Ross (SylvesToll Road (Randy Couture) and Hale Caesar (Terry Crews) comprise a band of mercena

on their last mission inThe Expendables, directed by Stallone. This page, top: Ex-Expendable GuJensen (Dolph Lundgren, center) finds himself in Ross sights. Bottom: Cinematographer J

Kimball, ASC (left, wearing hat) observes as Stallone checks the frame with C-camera operaApplebaum (at viewfinder).


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both 4-perf and 3-perf Super 35mm,the filmmakers carried seven Arricameras an Arricam Studio, twoArricam Lites, an Arri 535B, two Arri435ESsand an Arri 235 and an array of Zeiss Ultra Prime and AngenieuxOptimo zoom lenses.

Kimballs regular gaffer, Dan

Delgado, was unavailable at the begin-ning of the shoot, but he joined theteam once the production moved toNew Orleans. Gaffer Michael Ambrosehandled the Brazil portion of the shoot with help from Brazilian gaffer WalerioRosa, and Ambrose has high praise forRosa and his crew. Kimball notes that

his teams close collaboration withspecial-effects supervisor Andy Wederand stunt coordinator Chad Stahelski

enabled the production to safely captureintimate action imagery. There was lotsof pyro on this project, says Kimball.We had both Vern and [Steadicamoperator] Jody Miller doing Steadicam work, and we also did lots of handheld. The boys had to wear fire suits and visors whenever there was danger, andtheir work was remarkable. We werefortunate to have a team that seasoned.

Among the films extravagantaction pieces are a pyrotechnic sequence

involving almost every member of thecast; a gruesome fistfight in a cramped,ancient tunnel; a wild car chasecombined with a shootout; and anexplosive aerial assault on a pier by adive-bombing seaplane. I dont think many action scenes are shown from thecharacters point of view, musesStallone. They are more from thedirectors point of view. OnRambo, Ithought the most economical and orig-inal way to shoot [the action] would be

War Horses

The Expendablesmake their

headquarters ina neon- and

fluorescent-littattoo parlor runby Tool (Mickey

Rourke).


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through Rambos eyes if he weredirecting, what would his style be? ButThe Expendablesis an ensemble picture,so its somewhat of a blend. I thought,

This is not supposed to hang in theLouvre. I wanted it to be disjointed andrough, not choreographed. If you really

were filming a big battle with fivecameras, [their footage] would not allflow together, so we set up the[cameras] to film the action wedscripted and told the operators they

were on their own. We said, Do thebest you can, and well use the mostinteresting shots from the charactersperspectives.

War Horses

Stallone takes

the wheel whileLi rides shotgunduring a car-

chase sequencefilmed in New

Orleans. Stallonecalled in stunt

coordinator TerryLeonard and

cinematographerMatthew

Leonetti, ASC toshoot the

complicatedaction sequence

while Kimball

remainedfocused on main-unit work.


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Referring to this approach asmulti-camera craziness, Noblesdescribes shooting the action aschaotic. Sly likes bumps on zooms andis stylized about camera movement. There really is no A or B or C camera inthat sense. Everyones running an Acamera, for the most part.

No sequence better illustrates thisembrace of improvisation than theclimactic battle, which takes place infront of the presidential palace in the

fictional country of Vilena. The palacesinner courtyard, where the battle begins, was a location in Rio de Janeiro. Theaction then moves to an expansive outerperimeter, a set that covered almost anacre in a New Orleans parking lot; thisis where the pyrotechnics and complexaction pieces were filmed.

Both locations posed major light-ing challenges. To light the expansiveNew Orleans set, Kimballs crew riggedan HMI helium balloon specially


War Horses

Above: Statham rides in the open nose seat of a Grumman Albatross seaplane to capturea harrowing dive-bombing sequence in-camera on location in Brazil. Below: The villainousMunroe (Eric Roberts) holds the Expendables contact, Sandra (Giselle Iti), captive in an

inner sanctum lit entirely with candles.


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day of shooting. We also had to do a lotof research to find Condor suppliersbecause we needed at least 125 feet of arm length. The vendor [Trimak of Riode Janeiro] managed to get us a brand-new, 135-foot JLG Lift, as well as 65-foot and 80-foot lifts in botharticulating and straight-arm models. The 50K SoftSuns were almost alwayson those lifts.

As many as eight cameras rolled

designed by balloon-light coordinatorDar Larizadeh from a 120'-highCondor over the center of the courtyard, with 50K and 100K SoftSuns onCondors at each end of the perimeter toserve as backlight, plus six 18K HMIsand two 7K Xenons strategically placedon Condors. There was so muchrunning around [during the sequence],and the SoftSuns let me shoot 360degrees, says Kimball. I had a coupleof Condors with 18Ks on the other side,too, so I could always attempt to givethem moonlight, and gunshots andthose types of effects are better with alittle backlight. Sometimes we also put

up big, gold reflectors to simulate fire-light on people.

Ambrose adds, The Brazil shoot

came first, so we had to establish ourlighting style there. Our approach wasto keep it real, with lighting motivatedby the actual environments as much aspossible. At the same time, we hadmajor action stars in the film, and we wanted to see their faces. The trick wasto create the right dark, edgy atmos-phere while maintaining proper expo-sure on faces.

Obtaining specialty lightingequipment and support services in Rio

was difficult because its not the film-production center of the country,Ambrose continues. Our lightingpackage was trucked in from So Paolo,but Jeffrey also wanted to use 50K and100K SoftSuns, which were not avail-able in Brazil. David Pringle [of Luminys Systems] helped us get two50K units from Colombia; they clearedcustoms after all kinds of issues andarrived on set the night before our first

There was lots ofpyro on this

project. The boyshad to wear firesuits and visorswhenever there

was danger, andtheir work wasremarkable.

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War Horsessimultaneously for the New Orleansportions of the battle. While improvis-ing with handheld cameras, Nobles,Miller and their respective focus pullers,Rick Osborne and Nicolas Restrepo, were all dressed in protective fire suits.Miller recalls that Stahelski was very careful in terms of making sure we weresafe and giving us a heads-up about which direction [debris] might becoming from. He also knew our eyes would be limited to the eyepiece, so hehad a stunt guy on us to literally pull us

off a camera if something went in adifferent direction.

To extend the cameras reach over50' and into a variety of angles to bettercapture wide shots of the chaos,Kimball had a Super Technocraneattached to a Chapman Titan Crane.The Super Technocrane is cantileveredoff the Titans platform, so you canarticulate it, says Kimball. You canlook around 90 degrees or over a wall;

Our approach wasto keep it real, withlighting motivated

by the actualenvironments as

much as possible.The trick was tocreate the right

dark, edgyatmosphere whilemaintaining proper

exposure onfaces.

Top: Paine (SteveAustin, wielding club)

attacks Ross in asubterranean tunnel.

The production filmedthis sequence

beneath a Civil War-era fort in New

Orleans. Middle:Stallone bounds over

A-cameraoperator/2nd-unitcinematographer

Vern Nobles. Bottom:Stunt coordinator

Chad Stahelski (right)works through thefight with Stallone

and Austin.


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you can do lots of things you couldnever do with a straight crane. You cansteer each wheel on the Titan it is very maneuverable and self-leveling. We were able to articulate it in all sortsof different configurations, and it wasflexible in rough terrain.

Completing the sequence pushedthe production right to the limit of itsshooting schedule. We were under themost horrific time crunch you canimagine, says Stallone. We ran fourunits some of the time. We had to lightfour different sections of the battlefieldand jump from one to the next. Jeffrey and his guys never wavered. In the last

days, we were out of money, and we

hadnt finished filming the ending yet. We said, Lets go

Documents

American Cinematographer - September 2010