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On a desk
11_08 toc:00 toc
10/6/08
2:27 PM
Page 3
The International Journal of Film & Digital Production Techniques
On Our Cover: James Bond (Daniel Craig) ponders his next move after polishing off a vodka martini
in Quantum of Solace, shot by Roberto Schaefer, ASC. (Photo by Karen Ballard.)
Features 28
42
54
64
74
Departments
8
12
14
16
76
78
90
91
92
94
96
Forging a Bond
Roberto Schaefer, ASC accepts 007s latest assignment
on Quantum of Solace
The Making of a President

Phedon Papamichael, ASC and Oliver Stone examine
the life of George W. Bush in W.
Thunder Down Under

Mandy Walker, ACS brings epic sweep to
Baz Luhrmanns Australia
40
Habitat for Inhumanity

David Geddes, CSC assesses the performance of the
Red One on the series Sanctuary
Saluting Televisions Top Talents

A review of this years Emmy Award winners and
nominees for cinematography
Editors Note
Letters
Short Takes: Singularity
Production Slate: Changeling
54
Megan is Missing
Post Focus: Avids Media Composer 3.0
New Products & Services

International Marketplace
Classified Ads
Ad Index
Clubhouse News
ASC Close-Up: Victor Goss
64
V i s i t u s o n l i n e a t w w w. t h e a s c . c o m
11_08 masthead:masthead
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N o v e m b e r
2 0 0 8
V o l .
8 9 ,
N o .
1 1
The International Journal of Film & Digital Production Techniques Since 1920
Visit us online at
www.theasc.com
PUBLISHER Martha Winterhalter
EDITORIAL
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ASSOCIATE EDITOR Jon D. Witmer
TECHNICAL EDITOR Christopher Probst
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Stephanie Argy, Benjamin B, Douglas Bankston, Robert S. Birchard, John Calhoun,
Bob Davis, Bob Fisher, Simon Gray, Jim Hemphill, David Heuring, Jay Holben,
Noah Kadner, Ron Magid, Jean Oppenheimer, John Pavlus, Chris Pizzello, Jon Silberg,
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CIRCULATION, BOOKS & PRODUCTS
Everything you want to know about the

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4
CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Saul Molina

CIRCULATION 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 88th 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 international
Money Order or other exchange payable in U.S. $). Advertising: Rate card upon request from Hollywood
office. Article Reprints: Requests for high-quality article reprints should be made to McNeil Group at (800)
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postage paid at Los Angeles, CA and at additional mailing offices. Printed in the USA.
POSTMASTER: Send address change to American Cinematographer, P.O. Box 2230, Hollywood, CA 90078.
9/24/08
11:41 AM
Page 1
BEST
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Harris Savides, ASC
For up-to-the-minute screening information

and more on this extraordinary film go to:
www.FilmInFocus.com/awards08
ARTWORK 2008 FOCUS FEATURES, LLC.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
11_08 board:00 board
10/6/08
2:13 PM
Page 6
We make the movies

American Society of Cinematographers
Intelligent Products,
Saving Time and Money
Production through Post
Cooke Close
Thurmaston, Leicester, UK
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The ASC is not a labor union or a guild, but

an educational, cultural and professional
organization. Membership is by invitation
to those who are actively engaged as
directors of photography and have
demonstrated outstanding ability. ASC
membership has become one of the highest
honors that can be bestowed upon a
professional cinematographer a mark
of prestige and excellence.
OFFICERS - 2008/2009
Daryn Okada
President
Michael Goi
Vice President
Richard Crudo
Vice President
Owen Roizman
Vice President
Victor J. Kemper
Treasurer
Isidore Mankofsky
Secretary
John Hora
Sergeant At Arms
MEMBERS OF THE BOARD

Curtis Clark
Richard Crudo
Caleb Deschanel
John C. Flinn III
William A. Fraker
Michael Goi
John Hora
Victor J. Kemper
Stephen Lighthill
Daryn Okada
Robert Primes
Owen Roizman
Nancy Schreiber
Dante Spinotti
Kees Van Oostrum
ALTERNATES
Matthew Leonetti
Steven Fierberg
James Chressanthis
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Sol Negrin
MUSEUM CURATOR
Steve Gainer
6
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11_08 editor's note:00 editor's note
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Page 8
Editors Note
ames Bond renewed his license to kill with the 2006 blockbuster reboot Casino Royale, which introduced Daniel Craig
as a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, rock-ribbed version of Ian Flemings superspy. For 007s latest adventure his 22nd overall
the franchise was entrusted to director Marc Forster and cinematographer Roberto Schaefer, ASC, neither of whom had ever
tackled action-adventure on such a scale. Neither was daunted by
the prospect, however. When Marc told me he had been offered
this movie, my response was, How could you not do a Bond
film? Schaefer tells London correspondent Mark Hope-Jones
(Forging a Bond, page 28).
Schaefer, who has shot all eight of the features Forster has directed, did his
utmost to showcase the elaborate sets created by production designer Dennis Gassner and
his crew, environments that hark back to the stylistic daring of Ken Adams spectacular
Sixties and Seventies sets. As Forster notes, Those movies were so much about style,
design and clothing. I wanted to go back to that and yet still make a modern Bond. To ensure
the action would meet fans expectations, the first unit paired with a second unit led by two
alums from The Bourne Ultimatum: director Dan Bradley and cinematographer Shaun ODell.
They also benefited from the input of other crack teammates, including visual-effects cinematographer David Stump, ASC (see sidebar on page 32); visual-effects supervisor Kevin Tod
Haug; aerial experts David B. Nowell, ASC, and Ron Goodman; and camera operators George
Richmond and Mark Milsome.
Oedipal rivalry and White House politics are the focal points of W., an intriguing
biopic that examines the life of U.S. President George W. Bush. Phedon Papamichael, ASC
shot the project for director Oliver Stone, who infuses the film with liberal doses of satire and
sympathy (pun intended). Working with Oliver is a very intense but super-creative process,
Papamichael tells Patricia Thomson (The Making of a President, page 42). This was probably the most demanding picture Ive ever done, [but] Id definitely jump in and do it again.
Mandy Walker, ACS also faced creative wrangling on Baz Luhrmanns sweeping,
scenic Australia, which shows the filmmakers native land in its very best light. As Walker
explains to Aussie correspondent Simon Gray (Thunder Down Under, page 54), Bazs
trademark camera flourishes are still evident, but the camerawork is also very much in the
spirit of epic movies.
Many readers have been eager to see production-oriented coverage of the Red
One in our pages, and Douglas Bankstons piece on the TV series Sanctuary (Habitat for
Inhumanity, page 64), delivers first-hand observations from cinematographer David Geddes,
CSC and visual-effects supervisor Lee Wilson. I had been following the Ones development
but had never put the camera through its paces, notes Geddes, who has also lent his eye
to the series Men in Trees, Dark Angel and 21 Jump Street. Sanctuary offered a chance to
make a virtual-reality series with new camera technology that had never been used in this
situation before. The challenge was impossible to resist.
Other examples of must-see TV are lauded in our annual recap of the years Emmynominated cinematographers (Saluting Televisions Top Talents, page 74), which includes
snapshots from Eastman Kodaks annual dinner at the Bistro Garden restaurant. As the
saying goes, what happens at the Bistro stays at the Bistro until the photos appear in AC.
Stephen Pizzello
Executive Editor
8
Photo by Douglas Kirkland.
10/7/08
2:30 PM
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9/24/08
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Over $6 billion in box ofce shot

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2008 Sony Electronics Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited.
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AMC_1108_pCV2p001:00 asc closeup
9/24/08
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Page 2
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9/22/08 2:44:53 PM
11_08 letters:00 letters
10/6/08
2:15 PM
Page 12
Letters
Another Grumpy
Cinematographer Speaks Out
Im writing in regard to the recent
letter penned by Jim Stinson in response to
The DI Dilemma, or: Why I Still Love Celluloid, the Filmmakers Forum written by
John Bailey, ASC, that was published in
your June 2008 issue.
I hereby request that my name be
added to Stinsons list of grumpy cinematographers, behind Charles G. Clarke,
ASC, and Bailey. (Apparently, in Stinsons
opinion, cinematographers expressing their
reservations about a shift to digital capture,
finish and exhibition of theatrical feature
films are grumpy.) I believe when highly
experienced and thoughtful cinematographers like Bailey have views regarding the
control of the quality and the integrity of the
images they create, we should give those
views serious consideration.
Bailey expressed his disdain for
high-definition video as a capture medium
in feature-film production, comparing it
unfavorably to 35mm motion-picture film.
Stinson responds, He criticizes the qualities of digital recordings. Granted, but look
at the technical progress in the last decade;
the development of digital recording is far
from mature.
Maybe I missed something, but I
thought this was exactly the point. Why
change to a capture technology that is far
from mature when you are now using
something that is? Not only is 35mm
motion-picture film a mature and excellent
capture medium, but it also keeps improving
with the introduction of new negative, positive and intermediate stocks. The fact that
film is not yet dead (or has not been
murdered) speaks volumes about the preference of cinematographers in the choice of
tools they use to create high-quality
imagery. However, there is no doubt in my
mind that when digital formats emerge that
cinematographers decide are superior to
film, we will happily start using them.
Bailey related that some cinematographers complain they have lost control of
their work in the digital world of postproduction or are being forced out of the DI
process by producers, studio executives and
12 November 2008
others. To this, Stinson responds,

Maybe, but the cinematographers level
of control depends on his or her contractual and personal relations within the
production. So get control, already.
Cinematographers know the situations Bailey describes. The DI suites
seem to be getting more crowded by the
day. Collaborators who show up eager to
help with color correction, strong proponents of Well fix it in post, and the
many-faceted postproduction demands
of modern film companies sometimes
make the quality of the image secondary
to competing agendas. Ive never met
Stinson, and I dont know anything about
his work experience or history, but Im
wondering if he will share his experiences in getting control of his latest
production or DI color-correction
sessions.
Bailey also described a report by
the Science and Technology Council of
the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences relating to archiving and storing motion pictures. The report, The
Digital Dilemma, addresses the high
cost of safe storage of digital files and
the considerable expense of the migration of digital masters every five to
seven years to ensure data is not lost
due to upgrades in digital formats, and it
compares these figures to the lower
costs of film storage. Bailey related the
successful retrieval and remastering of
40-year-old original film footage for a
new video release of a film he worked
on, Two-Lane Blacktop. Stinson
comments, He worries about the
archival quality of digital vs. film
elements. Has he forgotten the number
of film-based movies lost to decay? Has
he looked at a type 5254 or even 5247
negative recently? (You know, the kind
that retains only magenta information?)
Im not an expert in film restoration, but I know of two films restored
earlier this year from the original film
negatives, The Godfather and The
Godfather Part II. Both were shot on
5254. The people who accomplished this
restoration report that the negatives,
though physically damaged, delivered

stunning results. The negatives were
scanned, and both films were finished in
the DI process. No fade or color-shift
problems were reported. The restoration
of these two films is a great example of
how existing film technology and digital
technology can be used together to
preserve and even enhance the work of
the cinematographer.
Historically, cinematographers
have taken the leading role in the choice
of tools and the supervision of creating
and finishing their work. Discussions
about how or why this role is being
affected by technological change should
be taken seriously.
John Toll, ASC
Los Angeles, Calif.
Cropping for HDTV
Seeing the letter from Walter
Lassally, BSC, in the August 2008 issue
made me think American Cinematographer might address a concern of mine:
HDTV channels are increasingly showing
movies in the incorrect aspect ratio. More
specifically, Scope films or films generally released in 2.40:1 are being broadcast at 1.78:1. Recent examples I have
noticed are Superman Returns and the
musicals Hairspray and The Producers.
This is very disturbing to me, as I imagine
it would be to cinematographers. Like
1.33:1, 1.78:1 isnt how they intended
their movies to be seen!
Matt Vance
Northridge, Calif.
Letters to the editor can be

sent to: Letters, American Cinematographer, 1782 N. Orange Dr.,
Hollywood, CA, 90028. Submissions
must include your name, address
and telephone number; letters without this information will not be
considered. AC reserves the right to
edit letters for length and clarity.
AMC_
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11_08 short takes:00 short takes
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Short Takes
A Dystopian View of the Future
Guardians patrol
the plagueridden, nearfuture world of
Singularity.
Cinematographer
Eduardo Mayn
and director
Sean Stone
found inspiration
for the films
visuals in The
Conformist and
Gattaca.
nless your name is Quentin Tarantino, the local video store may not
sound like the best place to start a
career as a filmmaker, but the strategy
also worked for cinematographer
Eduardo Mayn. In 1998, Mayn was
studying at the Escuela Monica Herrera,
a college in El Salvador, while working
behind the counter at Mr. Video to make
ends meet. What he really wanted to do
was make movies, and it just so
happened that one of his regular
customers, David Pinto, was a prolific
commercials director who agreed to hire
Mayn as a production assistant on a
job for a Central American airline.
While working on the commercial, Mayn found himself captivated by
the work of the projects then-unknown
director of photography. I remember
being so impressed with him, Mayn
recalls. His name was Rodrigo Prieto.
After meeting Prieto, who later
became a member of the ASC and AMC,
Mayn shifted his focus from directing
to cinematography. Once he finished his
classes at Monica Herrera, he moved to
the States to study film at the University
of Nevada-Las Vegas. Throughout his
14 November 2008
studies, Mayn kept in touch with Prieto,

and after graduation, he joined the cinematographers crew; since then, they
have worked together on such films as
21 Grams, Alexander and Babel.
During the five months of production on Alexander (AC Nov. 04), Mayn
shot reference stills for color correction
and developed a friendship with Sean
Stone, the son of director Oliver Stone.
We started hanging out and talking
about movies, and we got along, says
Mayn. We joked around that if we
ever did [a project of our own], we would
call each other, and thats what Sean
did. Stone offers, I knew there must be
something to this guy because Rodrigo
trusted him, but I didnt actually know
how good he was until I got to work with
him.
The young Stone had written a
short screenplay titled Singularity, which
was based on one of his fathers student
projects, Michael and Marie. Set in the
near future amid a neo-fascist society
ravaged by a deadly plague, Singularity
tells the story of three friends
Michael (Jonathan Charis), Marie (Sinta
Weisz) and Wells (Wyatt Denny)
whose loyalties are tested in the face of

infidelity and infection.
One of the skills Mayn picked
up from Prieto is the ability to interpret a
screenplay in visual terms. Rodrigo
takes so much time to visualize a script
in terms of color, lenses, stock and
texture, Mayn notes. For him, everythings in the script; that gives him all
the answers as to how the movies
going to look.
That was a big lesson for me,
Mayn continues. Even if the audience
doesnt specifically notice the cinematography, theyll at least feel something happening with it, and thats very
important. The cinematographers work
shouldnt be evident; it should tell the
story.
Upon reading the Singularity
script, Mayn thought about utilizing the
anamorphic format and exploiting its
inherently shallow depth of field to
create a sense of increasing separation
between the characters. He first experimented with anamorphic while shooting lens tests for Prieto for the Tokyo
sequences of Babel (AC Nov. 06), and
he fell in love with the results. There is
something inherent in the anamorphic
lens that just makes it stand alone, he
says.
Mayn decided to shoot Singularity with a vintage set of Panavision CSeries lenses and a Panaflex Millennium XL. My plan was to use the
anamorphic lenses to place the actors at
opposite ends of the frame, he
explains. I also wanted to use depth of
field to underline their relationship. At
the beginning, I photographed them at
T4 or T5.6, and as the friendships start
to fall apart, I began to open up the stop
on the lens until we got to the point
where if there was a shift in focus at
Photo by Jo Lederer; photo and and frame grabs courtesy of Eduardo Mayn.
by Iain Stasukevich
AMC_1108_p015 :00 asc closeup
10/7/08
3:03 PM
Page 1
CONGRATULATIONS
to the creative team behind these Emmy-nominated shows.
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11_08 short takes:00 short takes
Above: Michael
(Jonathan Charis)
begins asking
troubling
questions of the
outside world
while Marie
(Sinta Weisz) tries
to sleep away the
tension in their
relationship.
Below, left to
right: Steadicam
operator Michael
Alba, Mayn,
gaffer Mike Kelly
and Stone work
out a setup inside
the apartment.
When facing
away from the
window, Mayn
created a sunlight
effect with Kino
Flo Image 80s and
Source Four
Lekos.
16 November 2008
10/6/08
1:54 PM
T2.8 or wide open, it was very noticeable and dramatic.

Though Singularity takes place
in the future, the filmmakers didnt want
it to be a predictably stylized sciencefiction piece. The script called for a
range of different looks: desaturated,
bleached-out establishing shots;
golden-hued flashbacks; and cold, sterile interiors. Stone and Mayn cut a
wide swath through many possible
interpretations, drawing inspiration
from Blade Runner and 2046, as well as
the Cold War cloak-and-dagger stylings
of The Conformist and the Brutalist
architecture of Gattaca.
Stone and production designer
Kathleen Lorden were looking for locations with architecture that reflected a
fascist aesthetic. One of the primary
locations is a spartan apartment with
concrete floors, black walls and a single
wall-to-wall window slatted with
Page 16
Venetian blinds. The ambience is

distinctly modern, devoid of any
personal touches, and appropriately
ambiguous in terms of the time period it
represents. In these scenes, Michael,
Marie and Wells reveal their dark
secrets and true loyalties, and Mayn
uses lighting and color to create an even
deeper sense of detachment between
the former friends. The light in the room
comes from a single source the
window as though suggesting a
myopic perspective; its sunlight, but it
has a cold, harsh quality. On the rare
occasions when characters make eye
contact, one person is usually hidden in
full or partial shadow.
According to Mayn, the apartment location offered both benefits and
challenges. One advantage was the
darkly painted walls, which freed the
cinematographer from worrying too
much about controlling unwanted shadows. The biggest
difficulty was the
direction the long
window was facing.
All of the scenes
photographed at this
location (on Kodak
Vision2 500T 5218)
were set during the
day, but Mayn could
only shoot toward the
window when the
sun shone directly
through it. During the
other half of the day,
he would shoot away
from the window, using Image 80s

gelled with 12 or 34 CTB as a soft source;
several Source Four Lekos accentuated
the room with hot spots.
For the films exterior flashbacks,
Mayn and Stone sought a rich, warm
tone to create visual and thematic
contrast. These scenes depict Michael,
Marie and Wells when they were still
close, playing basketball and talking in a
park, but with the oppressive facade of
the Los Angeles Federal Building looming ominously in the background. To
accomplish the dramatic shift in tone,
Mayn employed a trick he picked up
while working with Robbie Greenberg,
ASC: I shot all my exteriors with tungsten film Kodak [Vision2 100T] 5212
and an 85 filter, but I lit them with
color-corrected tungsten lights instead
of HMIs. Its just amazing how much
more pleasing it is to the skin tones.
Mayn and gaffer Mike Kelly used 12
CTB and 12 gridcloth on a 12'x12' frame
in front of Nine-light Maxi Brutes. The
exterior represents better days, Mayn
comments, and thats another reason I
used tungsten for the exteriors. I wanted
those scenes to have a pleasing, magical
look.
Finishing touches on Singularity
were performed at Company 3 by
colorist Ryan Greenberg. Mayn
prepped Greenberg by forwarding him a
copy of the script, along with stills from
Gattaca and The Conformist.
For his work on the picture,
Mayn was honored with an Emerging
Cinematographer Award from the International Cinematographers Guild, an
Emerging Cinematographer Grant from
Deluxe, and a 2K filmout by EFilm in
Hollywood. He stresses, however, that
the credit should be shared with rest of
the crew, including Steadicam operator
Michael Alba and focus pullers Tracy
Viera and Ken Bender.
Ive learned a lot working as an
assistant, Mayn reflects. Im proud
that Im able to tell a story visually, that
Im underlining the performances and
the mood of the actors, and that I can
use the cinematographers tools to tell
the story.
I
AMC_0908_p011:Layout 1
7/30/08
1:35 PM
Page 1
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10/6/08
2:19 PM
Page 18
Production Slate
Christine
(Angelina Jolie)
monitors the
growth of her
son (Gattlin
Griffith) in a
scene from
Changeling.
18 November 2008
Lost and Seemingly Found

by David Heuring
Thirty-six hours after finishing
principal photography on Faubourg 36, a
French film set in Paris in 1936, cinematographer Tom Stern, ASC, AFC began
shooting Clint Eastwoods Changeling, a
film set in Los Angeles in 1928. Upon
completing Changeling, he began a
shoot in Russia on the 16th-century story
Ivan the Terrible and Metropolitan Philip.
When asked if such a schedule made his
head spin, Stern replies dryly, I did find
that 36 hours was a little tight.
But, he adds, it was in tune with
his current philosophy. Maybe Clint has
finally gotten to me, he says of his longtime collaborator. He talks about the
paralysis of analysis, and lately, I try not
to think too much about what Ive done; I
just like to see what I feel like doing at
any given moment, reacting to the material. At times, it feels like performing
without a net, and its invigorating. Im
very fortunate to have great crews and
all the tools we need.
Changeling is the sixth film Stern
has photographed for Eastwood, follow-
ing Blood Work, Mystic River (AC Dec.

03), Million Dollar Baby, Flags of Our
Fathers (AC Nov. 06) and Letters From
Iwo Jima (AC March 07). Set in Los
Angeles and based on actual events,
Changeling chronicles the disappearance of a 9-year-old boy, Walter Collins,
who seems to reappear six months later,
except that his mother, Christine
(Angelina Jolie), believes he is not her
son. After turning the boy in at the police
station, she is briefly institutionalized,
and the facts of the case soon emerge.
Stern describes the look he envisioned as sort of a cool jazz version of
The Day of the Locust not that I have
the talent of Conrad Hall [ASC], but thats
what I was attempting. We also tried to
achieve the leanness of Mystic River.
This film has a little more color than
some of our recent films its a rich yet
muted palette and the art department
did a spectacular job. On a period film
like this, they have to work very hard to
pull a world out of thin air. Our task is to
not screw it up.
During prep, a fat book of reference images was gathered and studied.
It was a little like seeing these events
through the lens of a photojournalist,

says Stern. There is a directness to
these images, an in-your-face quality,
but the story is not large-scale; its really
about one womans agony and journey.
The objective was to give the artists
room to act. Thats why were there: to
record a performance.
Its well known that Clint really
likes getting it on the first take, he
continues. After the actors settle in,
they begin to feel empowered or liberated by this. If you take it to its logical
conclusion, it means you dont get to
fiddle; youd better do your fiddling
before we roll because theres a good
chance that will be it!
Gaffer Ross Dunkerley, who has
made 13 movies with Stern, eight of
them with Eastwood, notes, Honestly,
we dont discuss things very much.
Often, we dont even see a rehearsal.
We get an idea of what the scene is,
and we have to come up with a plan
very quickly. Chances are well talk
about it for a minute or two, and then
were executing it.
Simplicity is the watchword.
Changeling was like Mystic River in
that it was a struggle to make it as
simple as possible, says Stern. When
you have an actor like Angelina, its
really about the performance. You put
the light somewhere, and she goes into
it. You dont have to give her a mark; she
finds it. She can feel and play with it.
That makes it great for me, because I
tend not to use fill light. Ive been
extremely fortunate because its almost
always the case that I have a cast that
can do that.
Stern shot Changeling in
anamorphic 2.40:1 using Panavisions CSeries lenses, and he used only one
stock, Kodak Vision 500T 5279. When
necessary, ND filters were mounted
Changeling photos by Tony Rivetti Jr., courtesy of Universal Pictures.
2 Tales of Missing Kids
AMC_
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8/26/08
11:53 AM
Page 1
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Above left:
Director Clint
Eastwood (left)
uses a handheld
monitor to check
the shot as Acamera/Steadicam
operator Stephen
Campanelli films
Jolie running for
the trolley. Above
right: Certain the
boy returned to her
is not her son,
Christine turns to
Rev. Briegleb
(John Malkovich)
for help. Below:
Cinematographer
Tom Stern, ASC,
AFC checks
Malkovichs light.
20 November 2008
10/6/08
behind the lens. Youve got to whack 3

stops off it at least just to get started
outside, notes the cinematographer.
We felt the blacks seemed more
informed with 5279 the toe was of
interest to us so we stuck with it.
Changeling required more built
sets than recent Eastwood projects, and
as a result, the lighting rigs were a little
more extensive than usual. There were
a number of sets where we used
bleached-muslin ceiling pieces to create
a constant soft, warm toplight, says
Dunkerley. Its a subtle warmth that
isnt quite antique or sepia, but it
pushed us toward a period feel. Each
ceiling piece was lit from above with up
to four 6K space lights, and the grips
skirted each cluster with Duvatyn from
top to bottom to prevent stray light from
falling on the neighboring ceiling piece.
All of the toplight was run to a dimmer
board, and if any of the various ceiling
pieces was seen by the camera, we
simply turned the corresponding lights
off at the dimmer board, and that piece
would go dark. Because we had that
2:20 PM
Page 20
soft, warm base level, we ended up

using more soft lights for keylight,
including 2K and 4K Zips.
Dunkerley notes that he and
Stern, who worked together with Hall
on pictures such as American Beauty
(AC May 00) and Road to Perdition (AC
Aug. 02), now use projected rain shadows as part of their visual vocabulary.
In Changeling, the rain effects are
often seen during the day, which necessitated a slightly different approach,
says the gaffer. We started using
Skypans in those situations; the single
source gives you hard shadows, while
the white reflector through the water
fills things in a bit and gives the images
a less contrasty look. We were using
5K, 10K and even 20K Skypans, which
you rarely see used as a keylight.
Aerolight Hybrid balloons came
in handy for scenes taking place in the
City Council chambers, which was actually a large room on the third floor of the
Park Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles. In
those conditions, it would have been
very difficult to go strictly with HMIs or
daylight, says Dunkerley. The room had

a lot of chandeliers and practicals, as
well as natural daylight coming through
the windows. The wood walls and tungsten practicals gave the room a warm
feel. These hybrid balloons have two
1,200-watt HMI globes and two 1K tungsten fixtures, all dimmable. We could dial
in the color we wanted. I think it worked
well.
Stern says that overall, the period
setting had very little effect on his on-set
photography choices. [The look] was
mostly achieved in production design and
in the digital-intermediate [DI] timing, he
says. My impression from my years as a
gaffer is that cinematographers used to
do a lot more gelling and things like that,
and I find we do hardly any now. If I want
to shape the images in terms of chroma
and contrast, I do it all in the DI. Stern
carried out that work at Technicolor Digital Intermediates with colorist Jill
Bogdanowicz; he viewed reference
images via e-mail in Russia and was
present in person for a day or two of
finishing touches. Ive done five pictures
with Jill, and we understand each other
completely, he says. I didnt have to do
too much to the grade except sort of
thematically.
Stern feels strongly that becoming
obsessed with equipment is a crucial
mistake. Working in Russia reminded
me that what has legs, what lives, is the
idea. Very few of us probably know what
the film stock was on Vertigo, yet its a
tremendously important artistic work.
Talking about this toy or that toy takes me
away from what really interests me
about the whole process: telling a story
through a visual medium.
AMC_0508_p021 :Layout 1
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3:34 PM
Page 1
Right: In an
early scene in
Megan is
Missing, Megan
(Rachel Quinn,
right) uses her
cell-phone
camera to
check her
makeup as she
chats with her
best friend, Amy
(Amber
Perkins). I
wanted to
establish early
on that the kids
use new
technology in
innovative ways
so as to remove
any doubt later
on that
something was
possible, says
Michael Goi,
ASC, the films
director. Below:
One of the girls
many cellphone chats
depicted in split
screen.
22 November 2008
10/6/08
A Fateful Connection
by Rachael K. Bosley
The independent film Megan is
Missing tells of two 14-year-old friends,
Megan (Rachel Quinn) and Amy (Amber
Perkins), who fall victim to a sexual
predator that Megan, the more outgoing
of the two, meets in an online chat
room. Masquerading as a teenager
named Josh, the predator sets up a date
with Megan from which she never
returns. Three weeks later, after sharing
her suspicions about Josh with the
police, Amy disappears, too.
The movie is fictional, but its
writer/director, Michael Goi, ASC,
culled all of the plot details from seven
real cases of child abduction, and in
designing the picture, he was determined to craft a presentation unadorned
by many of the devices fictional films
employ. Featuring only diegetic sound,
and designed to resemble footage
captured mainly with the characters
Web-chat cameras, cell-phone cameras
and camcorders, Megan achieves a
degree of intimacy and verisimilitude
2:20 PM
Page 22
that even documentary filmmakers

might envy, qualities that serve to
magnify the suspense and horror as the
story progresses. I wanted the film to
have such an air of reality that you cant
help feeling youre watching something
happening now, says Goi.
A combination of creative and
practical considerations led Goi, who
also co-produced and edited the movie,
to restrict the visuals to images that
could conceivably be captured by the
characters with their own cameras or, in
a few instances, shown on a local TV
newscast. He explains, [Producers]
Mark Gragnani and Melanie Harrison
came in with a budget parameter that
would enable them to finance the movie
themselves, and the challenge was how
to tell this story within that budget. The
more I thought about it, the more I realized that in order to get the kind of
personal perspective I wanted the movie
to have, I would need to create a point of
view privileged only to the characters in
those situations. I decided we wouldnt
really venture beyond that structure; we
wouldnt, for example, jump outside of
the Web-chat camera and show the girl

in front of her computer. That style fit
within our budget and time parameters
I only had two weeks off between
shows to do this so it became the
style of the movie.
The only departure from this
style is the TV-news coverage that
appears in the latter half of the film;
Megans disappearance is an instant
local sensation, prompting news
bulletins and a special edition of the
melodramatic segment My Child is
Missing! It was, in fact, the medias
treatment of child abductions that motivated Goi to tackle the subject in the
first place. There was a long period
where I was coming home from shooting and seeing all these reports about
abducted children turned into reality TV,
complete with teasers advertising
exclusive footage, he recalls. Im not
against the media I think they can
sometimes be genuinely helpful but
I felt angry and frustrated that such a
serious subject was being turned into a
homogenized product. I wanted to
present the media in a believable way in
this movie, and Lauren Leah Mitchell,
who plays our news anchor, does a
great job of coming across as just
sincere enough.
Goi, a two-time ASC Award
nominee (for the telefilms Judas and
The Fixer) and a recent Emmy nominee
(for the series My Name is Earl ), originally planned to serve as Megans cinematographer, too, but as planning
progressed, he realized he would need
to run two cameras most of the time, so
he asked Keith Eisberg and Joshua
Harrison, who had assisted and operated for him on a number of shows, to
share cinematographer duties. I
wanted to give Keith and Josh an
opportunity to take on more responsibility than Id been able to give them on
other projects, and they both seemed
like the right fit for what I wanted to
do, says Goi.
This movie wasnt easy for
them because conceptually, I didnt
want it to be everything perfect,
continues the director. I wanted a feel
of ultra-realism. We used no movie
Megan is Missing frame grabs and photos courtesy of Trio Pictures.
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11/28/07
3:56 PM
Page 1
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Above left:
In another
split-screen
conversation,
Megan, Kathy
(Kara Wang,
center) and
Lexie (Jael
Elizabeth
Steinmeyer) chat
with Ben (Rudy
Galvan) about
his upcoming
party. Above
right: Cocinematographer
Joshua Harrison
films the girls
side of the
conversation as
Goi (far left) and
Galvan look on.
Below: Amy
records a
segment for her
video diary. I
wanted the
home-video
sections of the
movie to look
like everyones
home videos,
so no
color-correction
was employed,
and in most
cases, the
cameras were
set to auto-focus
so they would
search for focus
realistically,
notes Goi.
24 November 2008
10/6/08
lights apart from the ones in the TV

studio, no grip equipment and no filters,
and most of the time, I wanted the
cameras left on auto-focus and autoexposure. Its difficult for a trained
cameraperson to let things go like that;
it goes against every instinct you have.
Harrison acknowledges that
Gois directive was one of the tougher
things for an operator to do: make it
look like it was shot by a 14-year-old but
not make it look bad. Thats a fine line.
Eisberg observes, We were breaking
the rules, but breaking them in a way
that fit the project. Michael wanted to
tell this story in a certain way, and he
took the bull by the horns and did it.
Both sides of the Web-chat and
phone-camera conversations, which are
shown in split-screen, were shot simultaneously with the participants, who
were usually in separate locations,
addressing the lens and listening to
each other via ear buds. Some of the
chats are five to seven minutes long,
and because they werent going to have
coverage, we needed the people talking
to be able to hear each other, notes
Goi. I wore headphones that mixed all
the dialogue. The kids were performing
2:20 PM
Page 24
to the lens, and they really sold the idea

that they were looking at each other.
Although I could hear both sides
of the conversation, I couldnt see both
cameras we had no video village, he
continues. In every scene, I had to
choose which camera to stay with, and I
needed the person on the other camera
to not only monitor the technical aspects
but also tell me if the performance was
what we needed. Having Josh and Keith
made it work.
Band Pro Digital in Burbank
provided the productions main cameras,
a Canon XH-A1 and a Canon XH-G1,
along with 16x9 Inc.s EX 0.75x Wide
Converter and 1.5x Tele Converter.
Panavision Hollywood supplied the Sony
HDW-F900 used for the newscast material, and Bogen Imaging provided
support equipment and matte boxes.
The shoot ran 812 days and took
place almost entirely at locations in the
San Fernando Valley. Most of the Web
chats showing characters at home were
actually shot in a single day at the
producers home, where several rooms
were dressed to look like different locations. We had to do 32 pages that day,
and we got it all done in 1012 hours,
recalls Goi. I credit that entirely to the

fact that those kids were prepared.
For the first few days of the
shoot, Eisberg turned up on set with a
small lighting kit. Keith figured I would
need something, but I didnt want to use
any of that, says Goi. We mostly shot
with the practicals that were there and
covered windows with garbage bags to
darken backgrounds. In two instances,
we tipped a [practical] lamp over offcamera to get exposure on a face, but I
think it would have been interesting to
not even do that.
I think it was a little frustrating
for Keith at first, he muses. For one
chat, he was shooting Amber in the
house, and I was out on the street with
Josh and Rachel, shooting the other side
of the conversation. Id gone through
Ambers blocking inside, and when we
got back to the house, I noticed Keith
had moved some of the floor lamps
around to help with her lighting during
the shot. I said, You cheated! But he
just wanted to make sure I was covered.
In the same vein, he also suggested
recording sound on DAT as backup; I
was going to just use the camera mics,
and in the end, about 80 percent of the
audio came from that, but there were
instances where the DAT track was
helpful.
The productions biggest setup,
he notes wryly, was a rave-style house
party Megan and Amy attend early in
the story. Ostensibly shot by an unidentified teen wandering through the party
with a camcorder, these scenes were lit
with a couple of 1,000-watt floodlights
from Home Depot and flashlights held
by some of the partygoers. We didnt
swap out any bulbs the flashlights
were more than enough light for those
cameras, says Harrison. I found some
AMC_0807_p015
6/29/07
11:51 AM
Page 1
Near right: The

local newscast
trumpets the
discovery of
surveillancecamera footage
of Megans
abduction. Far
right: Goi (on
ladder) checks
the frame as
(from left) sound
recordist Seth
Eubanks, camera
assistant Senda
Bonnet and cocinematographer
Keith Eisberg
prepare to film
the scene. We
put the camera
on a tripod and a
monopod to get
it high enough to
approximate the
surveillancecam
perspective,
recalls Goi.
Below: Goi
(foreground) and
camera assistant
Rohan Chitraker
check a shot of
Perkins. This
was one of the
few times a
practical fixture
was
repositioned offcamera to help
focus the light.
26 November 2008
10/6/08
2:20 PM
glow sticks in my car, and we tossed

those in for a little color.
The party sequence was shot
during the day, with garbage bags
placed over the windows to keep out the
light. Working handheld, Eisberg took
one side of the room and Harrison took
the other. I wanted the camerawork to
feel like the person had walked into that
situation and had no idea what would
happen, but the scene has a couple of
long mobile takes, and certain action had
to happen in certain areas at certain
times, says Goi. We had to work out
all those details, and making it look
spontaneous was tough, but I think we
captured the feel. We got it all done so
fast we actually had to wait two hours
for night to fall to shoot the last scene,
which shows the girls coming to the
door.
If the party was the biggest lighting setup, the final 22 minutes of the
movie represent the smallest. After
kidnapping Amy while shes working on
her video diary, the predator (Dean
Waite) takes up the girls camera and
records her fate, which unfolds partly in
Page 26
his subterranean lair and partly in a

forest; the flashlight he carries is the
only source for these scenes, and Waite
handled the source himself for most of
the shots. The kind of person who
commits these crimes is most interested
in the amount of distress hes inflicting
on another human being, and given the
opportunity, he would naturally shoot
these things, notes Goi.
Although Goi had directed other
projects, Megan posed a bit of a learning curve because it combined the frank
depiction of a grim subject with a young
cast that had no film experience; Quinn
and Perkins had just turned 18 when the
shoot began, and the other kids ranged
from 12 to 16. I wanted to be sure I was
talking to them in the right way, and I
found it best to treat them like professionals rather than baby them or try to
coax a performance out of them, says
Goi. I said, This is what I need, so this
is what you need to get to. I had to
corral them in a specific direction
because many scenes play several
minutes with no cuts, so the pacing
would depend on the performance. I
was very happy with their work.
For scenes of explicit violence, I
always made sure the girls understood
what would happen, how it would
happen and why it was happening, and
I made it clear to them and their parents
that they should tell me if they were
uncomfortable with something. I didnt
want the kids enthusiasm or desire to
please me to take precedence over their
own morals.
Megan was shot and mastered
in 16x9, and it was transferred in 16x9
within the 1.85:1 frame because Goi felt

that subtle difference looked more like
home-video and news aspect ratios than
1.85. Throughout the post process,
which included a hi-def master at LaserPacific, an HDCam-to-35mm transfer at
EFilm, and a 35mm print at Deluxe Laboratories, he was asked to confirm that he
did indeed want the image quality to
remain as raw as it was. Very diligent
lab people brought up certain scenes
and asked if I wanted to fix the color,
but I chose not to do any color correction
in order to preserve the real feel, he
says.
That air of authenticity, he notes,
helps foster a connection to Megan and
Amy that is critical. If you dont feel like
these girls could be your daughters or
your sisters or even girls you once knew,
the movie wont work. Coupled with
that familiarity, the unblinking eye the
film turns toward terrible deeds feels
especially pitiless. That, says Goi, is the
point: Weve all seen the way violence
is depicted in movies, and most cinematographers, including me, have shot
those kinds of images. I didnt want to
avoid [the girls suffering] or have it
obscured or blurred; I wanted the
camera to stare at what its like to go
through that. Evil perseveres in the
world if you allow it to, and to combat
evil, you have to know what evil is
you have to stare it in the face.
I
5/6/08
12:36 AM
Page 1
A N N O U N C I N G
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2006 LAFS
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are registered trade marks or service marks of The Los Angeles Film School.
a-Quantum of Solace:a_feature
10/6/08
2:36 PM
Page 28
Forging
a
Bond
Roberto Schaefer, ASC and director Marc Forster
continue their filmmaking partnership with Quantum of Solace,
the 22nd James Bond feature.
by Mark Hope-Jones
Unit photography by Karen Ballard and Susie Allnut
ames Bond needs no introduction. Conceived by his
creator, Ian Fleming, as an
anonymous blunt instrument wielded by the British
government, the suave but ruthless
secret agent is perhaps Britains bestknown fictional character. Because it
was based on the first Bond novel,
the last Bond film, Casino Royale
(AC Dec. 06), presented an opportunity to not only usher in a new
lead actor, Daniel Craig, but also
28 November 2008
start afresh with the character.

Emotionally hardened by his first
mission as a licensed-to-kill operative, Bond returns to the screen this
month in Quantum of Solace,
directed by Marc Forster and shot by
Roberto Schaefer, ASC.
When Marc told me he had
been offered this movie, my response
was, How could you not do a Bond
film? recalls Schaefer, who has shot
all of Forsters films. He wasnt sure
because the script didnt really exist
at that time, but I told him that to be

part of a Bond film is every boys
dream. Our editor, Matt Chesse, said
exactly the same thing. The dream of
doing Bond sort of sucked us into
the reality of it.
Once onboard, Forster envisioned a stylistic approach that
combined elements of early Bond
films with a more contemporary
look. I loved the Bond films with
Ken Adams production design, says
the director. Those movies were so
American Cinematographer magazine
is the world's leading journal on film and

digital production techniques.
American Cinematographer serves filmmakers

by exploring the artistic thought processes
of the film industry's most innovative and
talented directors of photography, and
explaining the technical means by which they
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www.theASC.com
Photos courtesy of EON Productions and Sony Pictures Entertainment.
10/6/08
much about style, design and clothing. I wanted to go back to that and
yet still make a modern Bond.
Crucial to achieving this look
was production designer Dennis
Gassner (The Golden Compass, AC
Dec. 07), who was making his first
foray into the world of 007. Dennis
is really collaborative, maybe more
so than anyone Ive ever worked
with, notes Schaefer. So often on
films, there are incredible sets, but
[shots] end up being fairly close and
you dont really see them. When I see
beautiful architecture, I want to
show it off; without being gratuitous, I like to find a way to work
good sets into a film. In practical
terms, this meant frequently using
the wider end of the filmmakers set
of Arri/Zeiss Master Primes.
According to A-camera operator
George Richmond, Our hero sizes
were between a 21mm and a 35mm.
We would use them to show the sets
and develop master shots, and then
we might punch in and use longer
lenses to bring the performances out
for key moments in a scene.
Another of the filmmakers
2:37 PM
Page 29
ideas was to deliberately compose

partially obscured frames, in the
spirit of Roman Polanskis famous
shot of Ruth Gordon sitting halfconcealed by a door in Rosemarys
Baby (1968). I think those sorts of
obscurities increase tension, because
everything you dont see is left to the
imagination of the audience,
explains Forster. It applies not just

to framing, but also to characters
and the things they reveal or dont
reveal. Thats what makes Bond so
interesting: he is hidden from us.
Schaefer encouraged various departments to let things be obscured occasionally, but found it sort of goes
against everyones instincts, so we
Opposite: Agent
007 (Daniel
Craig) takes a
call from M., his
superior on Her
Majestys Secret
Service. This
page, top: In a
modern homage
to the 1964 Bond
classic
Goldfinger,
Agent Fields
(Gemma
Arterton) is
killed after
being drowned
in oil in the
honeymoon suite
of the Andean
Grand Hotel in
Bolivia a
sequence that
was actually
shot on Stage S
at Pinewood
Studios in
England. Bottom:
Director Marc
Forster (far left)
runs through a
scene with
actors Mathieu
Almaric
(portraying the
villainous
Dominic
Greene), Olga
Kurylenko (as
Camille) and
Craig.
American Cinematographer 29
10/6/08
2:37 PM
Page 30
Forging a Bond
Right: The
shows sets,
created by
production
designer Dennis
Gassner and his
crew, were
intended to hark
back to the
expansive look
of 1960s and
70s Bond films,
which
showcased
spectacular
spaces
imagined by
renowned
production
designer Ken
Adam. Below
left: Greene
steps aboard a
CIA jet for a
meeting with
operatives of
the American
agency,
including Felix
Leiter (Jeffrey
Wright). Below
right: An injured
Bond and
Camille arrive at
an airfield in
Bolivia. This
sequence was
actually shot at
a Chilean
airstrip.
30 November 2008
had to fight to let things stack up in

the frame without people moving
them out of the way. We probably
didnt get quite as much of that as
we hoped to, but we also didnt want
the first-unit material to stand out
from the second-unit footage.
As is typical on a Bond film,
the second units work was extensive, and this influenced the filmmakers decision to shoot Super
35mm. (The second unit was led by
director Dan Bradley and director of
photography Shaun ODell, collabo-
rators on The Bourne Ultimatum.)

Schaefer initially considered 2-perf,
which was ruled out because of the
unforgiving lack of space between
frames, and anamorphic, a favorite
on previous Bond films. Marc and I
really wanted anamorphic, and the
effects team could have worked with
it, but in the end, we went with
spherical because the post schedule
was so tight we knew theyd be delivering effects up to the last day of my
final grade, says the cinematographer. We didnt want to be a week
away from the film being shown and

still getting effects shots delivered
that we werent happy with yet.
On the other hand, my difficulty with spherical and specifically
the digital-intermediate [DI] process
is that anybody can go in and change
everything editors can reframe to
make an edit work without paying
sufficient attention to composition,
he continues. If you shoot anamorphic, youve got the top and bottom
of the frame, and thats it. Spherical
was a double-edged sword; certain
10/6/08
things worked to my advantage, but

I was also fighting to protect my
compositions.
While the main unit shot 3perf Super 35mm, the second unit
shot 4-perf using a centered 2.40:1
ground glass. I couldnt be sure they
would frame to my liking, and that
gave me a lot of room to rack up and
down, explains Schaefer. Also, there
was a lot of action, so if a fastmoving object goes out of your
frame and then comes back again,
theres something you can do about
it later.
An Arricam Studio served as
the A camera, and an Arricam Lite
was the B, which was used both
for studio and handheld setups.
A second Lite was dedicated
to Steadicam work, while an Arri
235 was employed in particularly
demanding handheld situations.
In addition, several Arri 435s
were used for high-speed filming.
George Richmond and his brother,
focus puller Jonathan Chunky
Richmond, have a unique way of
configuring the 235 to give them as
much maneuverability as possible.
We use a bag strap that enables you
to wear the camera almost like a
banjo, with handles attached to each
side, says George. We take the
eyepiece off and use a monitor
instead. If youre nimble, you can get
lens heights from just below the
knees to just above the eyes all in one
go. Its basically a very strippeddown version of the camera, with a
small lightweight battery and a
transmitter that keep us free and
untethered. Chunky was on remote
focus, and we could dart around the
actors to get interesting positions
very quickly.
Although many scenes
required multiple cameras, the filmmakers shot one-camera setups
whenever they could. I like shooting
single-camera, notes Schaefer. The
idea of using two cameras often
comes up for cross-dialogue shooting because it saves time and helps
2:38 PM
Page 31
Top: In a
sequence staged
in Panama Citys
Calle Rochet,
Camille watches
Bond embrace a
fallen colleague,
Mathis
(Giancarlo
Giannini).
Middle: Bond
and M. (Judi
Dench)
interrogate Mr.
White (Jesper
Christensen) in
an MI6 safe
house. Bottom:
Cinematographer
Roberto
Schaefer, ASC
uses a finder to
scope out a
composition as
Forster (standing,
in black shirt)
and members of
the crew
strategize.
10/6/08
2:39 PM
Page 32
A Mighty Wind
ne key sequence in Quantum of
Solace finds 007 and Bond girl
Camille (Olga Kurylenko) jumping out of a DC-3 airplane with only
one parachute between them.
Everyone knows that for a sequence
like this, you would usually put the
actor in a belly pan in front of a
greenscreen and blow an e-fan in his
face, explains visual-effects cinematographer David Stump, ASC.
But director Marc Forster, visualeffects supervisor Kevin Haug and
cinematographer Roberto Schaefer
[ASC] wanted it to be real. They
wanted a sequence where the physics
were correct; the posture of the actors
in free fall was correct; the wind
velocity on their hair, skin and clothes
was correct; and the way they steer
themselves to control their descent
was correct.
The filmmakers demand for
veracity led them to Bodyflight, a
former military-aircraft testing facility in Bedford, England. Located
outside London, the facility houses a
vertical wind tunnel capable of
manufacturing human terminal
velocity, with air moving at more than
150 mph.
To make the sequence as
dynamic as possible, Stump agreed
with Haug that they could incorporate the bullet-time effect, which
Stump began working with even
before The Matrix made it trendy.
Instead of using a lineup of still
cameras, or even motion-picture film
cameras, Stump suggested employing an array of Dalsa Origin 4K digital cameras. He managed to procure
eight Origins with eight Codex
uncompressed digital recorders, but
more cameras were needed for the
effect. With a thin selection to choose
from in London, Stump opted to
obtain seven Sony CineAlta HDWF900Rs with seven HDCam-SR
decks, capable of recording 10-bit
4:2:2. The F900Rs, with their
1920x1080 image sensors, were used
to gather image data that would be
incorporated into CG models of the
actors and fill in the gaps between the
Origins. Rounding out the camera
package was an Arri 435 Advanced,
which was handheld by operator
George Richmond, who flew in the
tunnel alongside the actors to get
close-ups and additional material.
To pull off the bullet-time
effect, each camera had to record the
action at the exact same time, so each
cameras shutter had to be precisely
calibrated to open at the same
instant. Stump also elected to shoot
the sequence with 90-degree shutters
to reduce motion blur. Accepting
SMPTE time code and connecting
together via Ethernet cable, the
Origins shutter timings were easily
calibrated to millisecond precision.
Similarly, the Arri 435 was fairly easy
to calibrate on its own with the help
of a Cinematography Electronics
sync box generating a TTL pulse. The
real challenge was synching the elec-
Photo at far left courtesy of Codex.
Far right:
Visual-effects
cinematographer
David Stump,
ASC checks his
setup in a wind
tunnel at the
Bodyflight facility
in Bedford,
England. Middle:
Visible in the
windows behind
Stump are some
of the Dalsa and
Sony cameras
deployed to shoot
the sequence. An
Arri 435
Advanced was
also handheld by
operator George
Richmond, who
flew alongside
the actors to
capture closeups and other
angles. Below
left: Stump
stands before a
bank of Codex
Recorders used
to capture the
raw 4K output
from the eight
shuttersynchronized
Dalsa 4K
cameras,
resulting in over
40Tb of data
being poured into
the Codex
systems in a
single day.
32 November 2008
10/6/08
tronic shutter in the F900Rs with the

other two camera models; through
testing, Stump determined that a black
burst signal would lock the F900Rs
into sync.
Additionally, Stump had to
determine exactly how each cameras
sync signal related to its exposure.
When dealing with the F900, I couldnt use a strobe gun to determine shutter sync because there is no mechanical
shutter, he details. Instead, I pointed
one of the F900Rs right down the pipe
of a Dalsa camera with no lens on it.
By watching the Dalsa shutter through
the F900, I observed the sync relationship of black burst to various shutter
angles on the F900 and was able to
determine that black burst always
happens at one end of the accumulation cycle of the image. That gave me a
locking relationship for that signal, so I
shuttered the F900 down to 11000 of a
second and looked down the pipe of
the Dalsas and the 435 to see how they
shuttered in relationship to their various signals. Over the course of two
days of prep, I was able to dial in
mechanical and electronic offsets for
all three types of cameras so the center
shutter would be open in sync for all
the cameras.
Once he understood those
model-to-model relationships, Stump
employed an Evertz 5600 World
Clock, which takes atomically correct
time via GPS from a cesium clock in
Colorado; the World Clock served as
the heartbeat generator for the sync
signal for every camera. Utilizing a
Dalsa sync hub, several Lockit sync
generators and a host of amplifiers,
Stump and his Digital Imaging
Technician, Joe DiGennaro, sent out
SMPTE time code, black burst and a
TTL pulse.
For any cameraman effects
or otherwise the prospect of working on a Bond film is a dream come
true, Stump concludes. Its the greatest flattery just to be hired to work on
one of these films. This was my crack
at it, and I had a great time!
Jay Holben
2:39 PM
Page 33
the actors, but its just awful for the

lighting, and its a challenge to keep
each camera out of the others shot.
With two cameras, Id rather shoot
two different focal lengths from the
same direction, but then the sound
department says it cant get a microphone in for the tight shot because
youre shooting wide as well. Of
course, [sound] is the last thing you
think about as a cinematographer,
but I try to help them, and I have a
good relationship with [production
sound mixer] Chris Munro.
Since Monsters Ball (2001),
Schaefer and Forster have made a
habit of setting aside several weeks
during prep to draw up detailed
schematics of how they intend to
shoot every single scene. On the
blueprint of a location, Ill draw in
the camera position and direction,
specifying the lens and the shot
number, explains the cinematographer. Next to that will be a list
describing the shot from beginning
to end; if theres a dolly, Ill mark the
tracks, or if theres a crane, Ill show
the movement. Its like a storyboard
that uses overhead schematics
instead of pictures.
These schematics become a
guidebook for the entire shoot, and
copies of the pages relevant to each
days filming are circulated with the
daily call sheets. Its a very good way
of working because we communicate
to the crew exactly what we want,
says Forster. Our first assistant director can use the pages to do a lot of the
logistical planning, and that gives me
time to work with the actors.
Schaefer describes the preparation as
more mentally exhausting than the
shoot, just because its such a feat of
imagination and memory to sit in a
room and map out every different
angle and shot of every different
location. But it pays off.
Of course, being in the actual
space can throw up new perspectives
or problems, so we do sometimes
stray from our plans, he continues.
If I see an angle or a camera move
Left: Custom rigs

provided by the
Woodland Hills
company Go
Stunts (and built
by chief operator
and rigger Pat
Daily) were used
for several major
sequences. In
Siena, Italy, the
rig shown here
was used to
capture an
establishing shot
of Bonds Aston
Martin driving
up a hilly street.
The rig was
suspended from
a crane that
extended 150' in
the air, and also
had another
contact point on
the ground. The
entire rig could
travel parallel to
the street,
allowing the
filmmakers to
capture a
traveling shot of
the car from
roughly a foot or
so off the
ground; then, to
establish the
surroundings,
the camera
ascended 110'
into the air.
Below: An
equally inventive
car rig helped
the filmmakers
shoot a highspeed chase.
British key grip
Kenny Atherfold
constructed the
truss rig from
very light
material to help
the second unit
capture tight
shots of Bond in
his Aston Martin.
10/6/08
2:39 PM
Page 34
Forging a Bond
A camera
operator
captures Craig
(top) and a
stuntman
(middle and
bottom) at the
wheel of a boat
during filming of
an explosive
boat chase in
Panama.
34 November 2008
that simply works better, Ill show it

to Marc, and as long as he can make
it flow with the scenes that come
before and after, hell go for it. On
Quantum, Forster had a PL-mount
viewfinder with either a 15-40mm
or 28-76mm Angenieux Optimo
zoom and a very small monitor
attached to it so he could discuss
how shots would work with Schaefer
and others; Schaefer had the zooms
marked up to exactly match the
Master Prime set, so when Forster
selected a focal length from his
finder, there was no discrepancy
between what he saw and what the
camera would shoot.
One of the most dramatic
sequences in Quantum is an aerial
chase involving a Marchetti turboprop military aircraft and a Douglas
DC-3 piloted by Bond. Bradley,
aerial director of photography
David B. Nowell, ASC, and aerial
camera operator Ron Goodman
traveled to Mexico to film exteriors,
some of which were captured by
SpaceCams new SnakeHead, a stabilized optical system that mounts to
the nose and tail of a Piper Aerostar
plane. The SnakeHead allowed us
to get shots at speeds and angles we
have never had the chance to get
before, says Nowell. It was the
perfect camera setup for shooting
this exciting chase sequence, which
involves fixed-wing aircraft flying
down through very narrow
canyons. Also in Mexico, visualeffects designer Kevin Tod Haug
(The Kite Runner; AC Nov. 07) oversaw the photography of plate shots
that would later be composited
with the aircraft interiors to be shot
at Pinewood Studios in England.
We knew that by the time we came
to shoot the DC-3 interiors, it would
be too late to go back to Mexico,
says Haug. So we were running
up and down canyons with a
SpaceCam/Imax rig and a 30mm
lens that gave us a 170-degree field of
view, shooting everything we could.
From that, we could carve out any
AMC_0208_p035 :Layout 1
12/27/07
2:13 PM
Page 1
10/6/08
2:40 PM
Page 36
Forging a Bond
Top: During an
elaborate foot
chase, 007 leaps
from balcony to
balcony on an
apartment
building in Siena.
Middle: Bond
jumps from the
building onto a
moving city bus.
Bottom: The
crew prepares to
capture another
portion of the
sequence on a
tiled rooftop.
36 November 2008
section we might need later, depending on the lenses that we chose, to

use as an undistorted background.
Once the second units work
on this sequence was complete, my
editor put the footage together so we
could decide where we would cut to
the DC-3 interior, says Forster. We
had part of a plane on a gimbal at
Pinewood, and we programmed it
according to the cuts so the gimbal
would move exactly like the plane
moved in the exterior footage.
Inside the plane, three remote-head
rigs were built for a few specific
shots; for everything else, the
Richmond brothers were trying to
stay on their feet with the Arri 235.

It was very claustrophobic but very
energetic the camera being independent of the planes movement
really gave the footage life, says
George Richmond. At one stage, I
was strapped to the nose of the plane
with the 235 strapped to me, I was
looking through the window, and we
had the plane go from horizontal to
almost vertical. Our key grip, Dave
Appleby, was instrumental on all the
rigs and made it safe for me to do
that kind of work.
Forster is a great proponent of
location filming, and, given Bonds
jet-setting lifestyle, this meant the
production traveled all over the
world, making long stops in Panama
and Chile. I think you feel the
texture and character of a real location, and its very hard to re-create
that on a stage, says Forster. I will
often find a place I love that is very
small and really challenging for
Roberto to light, and the great thing
about Roberto is that he values real
locations and understands why I
want to shoot in them. He adapts
with all sorts of methods and is
always prepared to take the chance
and go with it.
There were some restrictive
locations on this film, observes
Schaefer. For example, some of the
old city streets in Panama are very
narrow, and it was hard to do the
cabling or get cranes in there. For
lighting, we relied on Wendys, Dinos
and 18Ks pretty standard stuff.
My general approach to lighting was
to use a lot of fall-off. This movie
features a lot more dramatic use of
darkness than other Bond films.
One particularly cramped
location was a run-down building in
Colon that doubled for a hotel in
Haiti. Bond gets caught up in a
violent knife fight, and because the
rooms were so small and the action
so extensive, Schaefers only option
was to light from outside. Id
planned to use Condors with
Arrimax lights and MaxMovers
3/1/08
2:38 PM
Page 1
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10/6/08
2:40 PM
Page 38
Forging a Bond
Top: Bond
attempts to
outmaneuver an
armed assailant
on a
treacherous
mountain pass.
Middle: A
remote camera
head attached
to a Giraffe
crane catches a
shot of a
speeding
vehicle. Bottom:
Shots for the
sequence were
also captured
with the help of
an Ultimate Arm
mounted atop
an SUV.
38 November 2008
outside the windows, but when we

got there, it was too windy, he
recalls. One of the lights broke, and
then the remote stirrups didnt want
to work. In the end, we used just one
light locked in one position and
secured to the surrounding buildings with wires to keep it from swaying.
The kinetic action and limited
space provided George Richmond
with another opportunity to make
use of his 235 rig, supplemented by
the B camera, operated by Mark
Milsome. The way the fight was
choreographed meant the actors
were everywhere, he recalls. We
were free to dance around with the
cameras as long as we didnt get in
front of the windows. The B camera
would stand on the outside of the
action and get individual cuts on
longer lenses, up to a 65mm. I was in
there, just outside of the B cameras
frame line, with an 18mm or a
21mm. When an arm moves in front
of a wide lens, it travels at a great
speed over a vast part of the screen,
so it really makes it feel like youre
there.
In most situations, Schaefer
was trying to maintain a stop of
T2.8, though he often opened up to
a T2. There was a little bit of T1.3
when it was necessary, he says.
Kodaks [Vision3 500T] 5219 is
pretty forgiving, so you can underexpose it a bit and still get a really solid
negative. We only used two stocks on
this film, 5219 and [Vision2 200T]
5217. When you have that many
cameras in all those locations and
you start using three or four stocks, it
becomes a nightmare for the loaders.
When we scouted Chile and
Panama, I decided to use 5219 and
then either 5217 or [Vision2 100T]
5212 as my other stock, he continues. I was drawn to 5212 for its finer
grain, but I was worried about
having to push it a bit too far when
we were shooting into the late afternoon or when I wanted to use a
polarizer, so I decided to go with
9/24/08
11:48 AM
Page 1
Roberto
R
ober
o to Schaeffer
Schaeffer | D
Director
irectoor of P
Photography
hotography
When I saw
w the Nila light
I was pr
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ettyy impr
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essed that
LEDs could be as pow
powerful
as these. I thought
t
the Nila lights
would
ld be
b a rreally
eally
ll good
d thing to use on
the moving vehicles in Quantum of Solace
because of their durability
durability,
y,, rrobustness,
obusttness, size
and punch. W
We
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at them. I a
am
m glad we did.
I used the Nila
N lights mostly for ccar
ar shots but
I also used them
t
at times in place
e of an HMI
or tungsten
n light on stage and on
n location.
location
So I was mix
mixing
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sources
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it worked quite
q
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Page 40
Forging a Bond
Left: Greene
narrowly
escapes a
kitchen
explosion. Right:
Bond dodges
Greenes axe
during the
climax.
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Roughly half the picture
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were split between Haugs in-house
team and a number of mainly
London-based facilities. Double
Negative had worked with Dan
Bradley before and were familiar

with his style of shooting, so it made
sense to use them, says Haug.
Theyre also very strong in R&D,
and they did fairly intense R&D for a
complex skydiving sequence. [See
sidebar on page 32.] Framestore
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were tasked with re-creating Siena,
where we shot a foot chase. Machine
Effects is an all-rounder and easy to
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In order to ensure the various
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Schaefer. Just the other day, we did
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the flames. We were delivered some
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communication really helps you cut
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On set, Schaefer used a
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camera to make exposures at the
same T-stop he was using on the film
cameras. Every night, I would spend
a couple of hours grading some
representative stills, and Id e-mail
those to the dailies colorist and also
post them to an FTP site, he recalls.
Page 41
The monitor in the grading suite

was calibrated to match my monitor,
and as soon as they timed the dailies,
they would pull some stills and post
them to the FTP so I could see the
results. The dailies arrived on
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didnt have that, I had a calibrated
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saw dailies in the best possible quality. In a sense, they were even better
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was closer to where my DI was going
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dailies would have been.
Schaefer did most of the final
grade at Company 3 in Santa
Monica with colorist Stephen
Nakamura, and he worked with Rob
Pizzey at Soho Images in London on
the preview grade. Stephen came
over to London with an engineer to
make sure everything was set up
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b-W:b_feature
10/6/08
1:17 PM
Page 42
The Making
of a
President
Phedon Papamichael, ASC teams with Oliver Stone on W.,

which traces the eventful life of George W. Bush.
by Patricia Thomson
Unit photography by Sidney Ray Baldwin
n January, at the beginning of

the presidential primary season,
Oliver Stone launched a campaign of a different sort: he
decided to make a film about the
sitting president, George Walker
Bush, and complete it before the
November election. He had a script,
written by Wall Street scribe Stanley
Weiser, but only 10 fleeting months
to secure financing, shoot and finish
the picture, W. Our motto was
KISS: keep it simple, stupid, says the
director.
42 November 2008
With 46 days for principal

photography on 26 locations in
Shreveport, La., Stone wanted a cinematographer who could handle the
pace and pressure. He turned to
Phedon Papamichael, ASC, with
whom he had worked on the television series Wild Palms (AC Feb. 93).
I was impressed with Phedons
speed, says Stone. The series was
done for a very tight budget, and he
was very practical. He also had a
tremendous record on Walk the Line
[AC Dec. 06]. I needed a veteran
who wouldnt panic in a tough situation.

Phedon has done all kinds of
movies, the director continues, and
his rsum is unbelievable from
Mousehunt, one of the most complex movies ever made in that era, to
Million Dollar Hotel, made for nothing, to Cool Runnings, which was
one of my favorites, to Pursuit of
Happyness and 3:10 to Yuma [AC
Oct. 07]. Plus, he adds, I like him
as a person; hes fun and charming,
and hes great under pressure.
Photos courtesy of Lionsgate Entertainment.
b-W:b_feature
10/6/08
1:17 PM
Page 43
Pressure on a Stone production begins with the very first interview. Papamichael remembers his
tte--tte with the director for Any
Given Sunday, which was ultimately
shot by future ASC member
Salvatore Totino (AC Jan. 99):
Oliver was lying on the couch,
wearing bright orange socks, and
the first thing he said was, Phedon,
Im very disappointed in you. We
shot in this office on Wild Palms,
and you havent mentioned it. I said,
We didnt shoot here; we shot in the
office next door. He said, No, we
shot here. It went like that for a
while. The first thing Oliver does is
rattle your cage and see how you
respond, because he knows the pressure in interviews is nothing compared to the pressure hes going to
put you under on the set! But I love
the guy, and even though W. was
probably the most demanding picture Ive ever done, Id definitely
jump in and do it again. Working
with Oliver is a very intense but
super-creative process.
On W., their collaboration
began in preproduction, often while
Stone and Papamichael were killing
time in airports or flying to and
from Louisiana. It was less talking
conceptually or technically about
the movie and really just getting to
know each other, says Papamichael.
Nonetheless, Stone was always taking notes. Oliver writes down
everything you say, even if you just
make a joke! says the cinematographer. Hes the hardest-working guy
Ive ever worked with, and hes very
well-prepared. Hes like a mad professor he has a huge bag of
notepads about every filmmaking
situation hes been in, and on one of
our trips, he pulled out notes that
went back 15 or 20 years! Hell go
through his notes and ask, What
about shutter speed? What about
strobing? You might say something
and think its not really registering
on him because he frowns and doesnt respond. Then, three days later,
Opposite:
President
George W. Bush
(Josh Brolin)
addresses the
White House
press corps.
This page, top: A
younger, wilder
Bush does the
Texas twostep atop a bar
with a lively
partner. Below:
The Bush clan
reacts to the
news of George
seniors election
defeat to Bill
Clinton in 1992.
George W.
stands at far left;
seated from left
to right are
George H.W.
Bush (James
Cromwell); his
wife, Barbara
(Ellen Burstyn);
and Laura Bush
(Elizabeth
Banks).
b-W:b_feature
10/6/08
1:17 PM
Page 44

Top: George H.W.
Bush addresses
his inner circle
in the Oval
Office. Middle:
Director Oliver
Stone briefs
Cromwell on his
presidential
duties. Below:
Stone confers
with
cinematographer
Phedon
Papamichael,
ASC (second
from right) as
operator Gary
Camp lines up a
Steadicam shot.
hell say, You know that thing you

said about focus? Ive been thinking
about that. He retains everything.
Never underestimate him.
In telling Bushs story, Stones
goal was not to be comprehensive,
but to present revealing slices of the
mans life. He describes the overarching themes as father and son,
power, competitiveness, reformation and willpower. The films tone
is lighter, funnier and less overtly
political than Nixon (AC March 96),
Stones other presidential biopic,
and inflected with both satire and
sympathy. Biographical elements are
drawn from three periods of Bushs
life: his roots, his transformation
from playboy to born-again
Christian, and the political payoff.
These phases were informally
dubbed Failure to 40, Success
through Christianity and The
Presidency.
Failure to 40 goes back to
1966, when Bush (Josh Brolin) is at
Yale University, where he devotes
himself to booze and sports. He
pledges Delta Kappa Epsilon, tears
up a goalpost at Princeton
University while driving under the
44 November 2008
10/7/08
3:04 PM
Page 1
EMMY NOMINATED
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Clairmont was my first call the day I began prepping The

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in your own backyard. I strove for a bold and high contrast palate while using extremely soft light sources,
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Clairmont built a flawless package of three D20 cameras which proved impervious to the varying
temperature extremes and relentless dust of our desert locations. The D20s wide dynamic range is
surprisingly filmic - highlights don't seem to clip but roll off gently as if on 35mm film. We were on a tight
schedule and needed a heroic amount of set ups. To move quickly and still maintain full control from the
tent, Clairmont produced long range wireless remote iris controls enabling us to achieve smooth iris pulls
as we moved from interiors to exteriors or from shadow into bright daylight. To tackle long distance,
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b-W:b_feature
10/6/08
1:17 PM
Page 46

Right: Stone
does his best
impression of a
waiter while
sharing a
moment with
Brolin and Noah
Wyle
(portraying
Bushs friend
Don Evans) on
location in a
diner. Below:
Crew members
shape the
light as Brolin,
portraying Bush
during his days
as an owner of
the Texas
Rangers
baseball team,
readies his next
pitch. Scenes
from this period,
in which Bush
begins to regain
his footing in
life, were given
a brighter, more
high-key look.
46 November 2008
influence, and even challenges his

father (James Cromwell) to fight
mano a mano. The exasperated senior Bush pulls strings to bail his son
out of trouble and find him jobs but
is otherwise an absentee father.
During this period, young Bush
starts working in the oil business in
Texas, meets his future wife, Laura
(Elizabeth Banks), and runs unsuccessfully for the House of
Representatives.
The transition to Success
through Christianity is Bushs 40th
birthday. Hung over after the celebration, he sets off for a run and suf-
fers a physical and mental collapse.

Recognizing hes on a road to
nowhere, he turns to God. He also
finds direction in his professional
life, helping his father get elected
president of the United States in
1988, fronting a group that takes
over the Texas Rangers baseball
team, and, to the surprise of his
family, getting elected governor of
Texas.
The Presidency skips to
2002, showing how Bush deals with
the aftermath of the September
2001 terrorist attacks. Scenes take
place in the White House and the
Oval Office Situation Room, as

well as at the family homes in
Crawford, Texas, and Kennebunkport, Maine. This section ends
in 2004 with Bushs infamous
Mission Accomplished speech
aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.
Stone planned to cut back
and forth among time periods, so he
wanted each to have a distinct
palette and look. During prep,
Papamichael broke down the
themes and visual elements on a
color-coded chart, which was then
elaborated on by production
designer Derek Hill and costume
designer Michael Dennison. That
chart became our bible, says
Papamichael.
Bushs early years are characterized by vibrant, saturated colors,
and the cinematography reflects the
characters rebellious nature and
raw energy through more violent
handheld camerawork and the occasional use of a 45-degree or 90degree shutter, says the cinematographer. Stone explains, On the tests,
I liked the 90-degree strobe on dialogue sometimes. It gave it an edge,
which was well-suited to Bushs
youthful years. Papamichael also
used Mitchell B diffusion on the lens
for this phase of the story.
When Bush comes into his
own with the Texas Rangers, Laura
and God, its the brighter period of
his life, says Papamichael, and the
palette corresponds to that. Hes
getting more confident, and its a
stage where things go his way, so the
lighting is a little more high-key and
the camera is a little calmer. We still
have a lot of handheld, but the shutter is not so extreme; we use the 45or 90-degree shutter only when he
encounters his dad and is still looking for approval. For these scenes,
Papamichael switched to Tiffen
White Pro-Mist filters. Overall, its a
little less contrasty, and we wanted
the whites to bloom a bit, he notes.
The Presidency features a
muted, monochromatic palette,
b-W:b_feature
10/6/08
1:18 PM
Page 47
which Papamichael achieved partly

with Tiffen Black Pro-Mist filters.
This is the darkest period in terms
of lighting and chroma, he notes.
The Situation Room is intentionally very dark, for instance; the walls
fall off to almost black. We wanted
the third period to reflect the first a
little in terms of contrast and mood,
because its a difficult period for
Bush. Also, his instincts are still reminiscent of the sturm und drang of
his youth. The decisions he makes
are more serious, but hes still making them spontaneously using his
Texas intuition.
The camera crew consulted
Papamichaels chart every day, and
once that document was in hand, I
think Oliver felt that part of the picture was fine, says the cinematographer. From then on, he and I talked
very little, mostly in the mornings
about the shots ahead of us.
The budget on W. was projected to be $30 million, and even
though that was about half the cost
of Nixon, it was very difficult to
raise money, says Stone. After all the
studios passed, the director patched
together a deal with a small U.S.
indie called QED and foreign
sources. Most of the money came
from China can you believe
China is financing the Bush story?
he muses. Its a shame we had to
beg overseas for a movie thats about
an inherently American subject.
The filmmakers decided to
shoot 3-perf Super 35mm and finish with a digital intermediate (DI)
at EFilm. Papamichael elected to
shoot the entire picture on Fuji
stocks, Eterna 250T 8553 and Eterna
500T 8573. Id used Fuji on 3:10 to
Yuma and had good results, and its
cheaper than Kodak, he notes. The
A and B cameras, Panaflex
Millennium XLs, were typically
mounted with Primo prime lenses.
The tendency was to shoot low, close
and wide, a nod to Dr. Strangelove,
one of the filmmakers visual touchstones, and a way to convey the
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47
b-W:b_feature
10/6/08
1:18 PM
Page 48
Above: Stone
(light blue shirt,
center),
Papamichael
(behind Stone)
and the camera
crew capture a
walk-and-talk
with Thandie
Newton (as
Secretary of
State
Condoleeza
Rice), Iaon
Gruffudd (as
British Prime
Minister Tony
Blair) and
Brolin. Right:
Stone (in blue
shirt) presides
over a meeting
between Bush
and key
members of his
administration,
including Rice,
George Tenet
(Bruce McGill),
Dick Cheney
(Richard
Dreyfuss), Colin
Powell (Jeffrey
Wright) and
Donald
Rumsfeld (Scott
Glenn).
48 November 2008
characters power. The longest lens

on close-ups was probably a 35mm,
and we used the 27mm and 21mm a
lot, says Papamichael. We preferred to get the camera in somebodys face. (The camera package,
supplied by Panavisions Dallas
office, also included Primo CloseFocus lenses and 4:1 and 11:1 Primo
zooms.)
W. often presents action from
Bushs point of view, and
Papamichael used a variety of tricks
to accomplish this. In addition to
altering the shutter speed for the
characters confrontations with his

father, he shot off-speed, typically at
32 fps, and used what he called a
rubber lens, a Lensbaby 2.0, to
achieve extremely distorted POV
shots. Its almost impossible to
focus, he says of the Lensbaby. You
can have somebodys mouth and
teeth in focus for a second, and then
it goes to the eyeball or goes
nowhere. We used it for Bushs perspective in his youth, when hes
drunk and not perceiving things
clearly, and we used it later to suggest
his perceptions of other people. We
occasionally also used it to shoot

him, so it wasnt strictly limited to
his perspective.
One significant moment with
the Lensbaby occurs during Bushs
jog and subsequent collapse. The
scene takes place in a Colorado
resort, with the camera in front of a
woozy Bush as he runs through a
forest. Its a really wide angle, a
14mm, and we were really close,
says Papamichael. Its like the whole
world is collapsing on him. Thats
when he decides to stop drinking.
B-camera operator Danny
Hiele was usually tasked with capturing shots with the Lensbaby.
Typically, he and A-camera operator
Gary Camp took turns shooting the
same scene. Oliver likes mixing it
up, so we had Gary, a more traditional operator whos excellent with
handheld and Steadicam work, and
Danny, whose background is more
music videos/commercials. (Hiele
shot some second-unit landscapes
on Stones Alexander; AC Nov. 04.)
It was almost as though
Oliver was using them like different
tools, Papamichael continues. Lets
say we had a scene where Bush confronts his dad in the house after
coming home drunk, and they fight.
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11:49 AM
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Page 50

Right: Cheney
and Powell
argue a point in
the Situation
Room. Below:
Bush listens to
his advisers
during another
scene on the
same set, where
Papamichael let
the walls go
very dark. This
strategy
reflected his
general
approach to
scenes set
during Bushs
presidency.
This is the
darkest period
in terms of
lighting and
chroma, he
notes.
50 November 2008
We would do that handheld with

Gary for one or two takes, and then
Oliver would say, Okay, send in
Danny, whod really let loose. Danny
is Belgian and didnt really understand all the dialogue, so he was just
picking up Joshs vibe. I would tell
Danny, Dont get in too close, try to
avoid these lights, and watch out for
this C stand. But then Oliver would
say, Dont control everything! I
dont care! If I get 25 percent of a
shot, its okay. It was something few
people would do you end up
photographing all the lights! but
we got some really great pieces.
Using two stylistically diverse
operators doesnt mean Oliver will
intercut style A with style B, he
adds. He just likes getting different
perspectives. After shooting with
the Crazycam, Stone might even
revert to a dolly for a more static,

graphic composition. You think,
My god, were going everywhere
with this! says Papamichael. But
theres a logic to this madness. He
takes a similar approach in the edit;
he has two editors with different
styles cut the same scene independently. He just wants to see how they
put it together. In the end, he pulls it
back into the narrative structure, but
he doesnt want to miss anything.
The balancing act for
Papamichael was to maintain an
economy of coverage necessary
for the productions tight post
schedule and also satisfy Stones
desire to catch the happy accident.
If the framing doesnt allow for
accidents, then hes not happy, says
Papamichael. Hell say, I could have
gotten anyone to do this!
Lighting had to be quick and

efficient. My lighting approach is
usually motivated by practicals or
windows, but we agreed early on
that we didnt want to go for pure
realism, says the cinematographer.
It had to be a cinematic experience.
Oliver kept saying, Dont forget its
an Oliver Stone movie!
The directors expectations
were wholly satisfied. Phedon is fast
and practical he knew he didnt
have to make every scene perfect
because thats where you get killed
on a movie like this, says Stone.
You have to know when to let it go,
when you have enough quality in
the light. You cant just hang around
and do it forever. Papamichael
adds, With Oliver, youve got to be
able to just grab a light and take it
handheld. We walked around with a
lot of Litepanels Minis because we
had handheld cameras flying everywhere, going 270 degrees.
To allow the actors to move
freely, Papamichael relied mainly on
large sources, 18K HMIs on location
and 20Ks onstage. Nevertheless,
Stone grumbled about all the
stands. You had to weave through
them finding the actor was like
Theseus and the Minotaur, laments
the director. With a laugh,
Papamichael clarifies, It wasnt that
many lights. When you work in
broader strokes, you have to cut a
lot, so what seemed to Oliver like a
lot of lighting work was actually a
lot of grip work. My key grip,
Ramon Garcia, is probably my closest collaborator. The trick here was
taking light away. That involves a lot
of very subtle toppers, silks, flags
and nets.
With about half of W. shot on
practical locations, including
numerous houses with small rooms
and low ceilings, the set quickly
became crowded. For instance, the
Bush family fight, shot in a 12'x15'
room, included not only five actors,
but also the operators, who were
very energetic; the boom guy, who
AMC_0308_p02 3:Layout 1
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Page 52

The toughtalking Bush
advises his
friend Evans to
learn by
doing.
was brilliant finding his little spot;

our gaffer, David Lee, with his LED
light; and Oliver and me with our
two little handheld monitors, recalls
Papamichael. Despite the tight
squeeze, Stone decided early on to
remain on the floor rather than
behind monitors. We didnt want to
52
have a video village and create a

large assembly of people stationed
there, says Papamichael. We also
didnt have playback because we
didnt want to get into that routine.
So it was a crazy dance where everyone was jumping over each other.
Lighting-wise, of course, it was chal-
lenging, and it was compromised.

The advantages were that we got a
lot of great moments and a lot of
energy. It doesnt feel designed, so it
has a realistic emotional quality.
Emotional realism and a Bush
POV were priorities during scenes
involving vehicular stunts. In one,
Bush is drunk and drives over a curb,
plowing through some garbage cans
and ending up on his fathers front
lawn. Stone knew he wanted this to
play entirely from the sons perspective. Papamichael notes, On any
other movie, youd place a second
camera to bring the car down the
street and show the stunt, but Oliver
only wanted the camera inside the
car. He knew he didnt need any
other coverage. There was a real discipline, a real economy.
Another stunt involved a
small single-engine Cessna. In the
scene, Bush takes a friend, Don
Evans, up for a joyride, and although
b-W:b_feature
10/6/08
1:18 PM
Page 53
he supposedly learned to fly in the

National Guard, he has trouble controlling the plane. Evans panics, and
as the plane plunges and veers, Bush
says, This is how you learn: by
doing. Any other filmmaker would
have shot that on the ground with
greenscreen, but Oliver was determined to send me up with Josh and
the first assistant, Joe Sanchez, says
Papamichael.
Production found a stunt
pilot who performed at local air
shows dressed as a clown. He flew in
the seat opposite the actors while
Papamichael and Sanchez squeezed
in the back. It was crazy! recalls
the cinematographer. The plane
wasnt air-conditioned so it was
about 110F. Im holding the camera, and this clown pilot is dropping
the plane and pulling really tight
turns. We were definitely getting
a little sick. I thought it wouldnt
work, but Olivers instincts were
just right; there are moments we

couldnt have created on the ground
because Josh is there in the plane,
feeling the motion.
Stone notes with satisfaction
that W. wrapped on schedule and
on budget. We shot 309,000 feet of
film, a record for this kind of
movie, he says. I tried to cut it in
my head as much as possible. At
press time, he was still in the thick of
editing. If the shoot was Mount
Everest, then this is K2!
Papamichael was not expecting to
participate in the DI because of a
previous commitment, but Ill
probably be back in time for the
answer-print timing at Deluxe, he
says.
Directing is really hard
you have to answer 3,000 questions
a day but Olivers energy filters
down to every last electrician, concludes the cinematographer. When
someone is that passionate, every-
one feels it. On the last day, after we

wrapped and were standing by the
trucks, we all felt wed been part of
something great. Having a director
with a vision is a great reward. I
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c-Australia:c_feature
10/6/08
1:56 PM
Page 54
Thunder
Down
Under
Mandy Walker, ACS
lends sweep and
scope to Baz
Luhrmanns period
drama Australia.
by Simon Gray
Unit photography by
Douglas Kirkland
irector Baz Luhrmanns vision

of cinema as the grand opera
of life is perfectly suited to the
vast emotional landscapes of
his latest feature, Australia.
Starting off in the mid-1930s, the
saga concludes several years later,
after the 1942 bombing of Darwin in
Australias Top End. The film follows the fortunes of Lady Sarah
Ashley (Nicole Kidman), an English
54 November 2008
aristocrat who inherits a huge cattle

station called Faraway Downs in the
remote northern end of Western
Australia. Battling the unforgiving
terrain, English cattle barons and her
own sense of isolation, Ashley and a
stockman known only as The
Drover (Hugh Jackman) drive
thousands of cattle hundreds of
miles.
Marking a new beginning for
Luhrmann, whose Red Curtain
trilogy comprised Strictly Ballroom,
William Shakespeares Romeo + Juliet
and Moulin Rouge (AC June 01),
Australia is the first of what the
director proclaims to be a trilogy of
epics. This films DNA comes from
the same stock as Gone With the
Wind, Lawrence of Arabia and Giant,
but it has its own point of view, says
Luhrmann. The bottom line is that
Australia has romance. Theres a
mixture of visual language; its not
super-theatrical, but its not naturalism. The cinematic experience
should make the audience feel the

texture of what its like out in those
vast spaces, trudging through the
middle of the desert under the
scorching sun.
Donald McAlpine, ASC, ACS
provided the energetically dazzling
visuals of Romeo + Juliet and Moulin
Rouge, and Luhrmann calls his collaborations with McAlpine a true
learning experience. Dons extraordinary ability to realize a dynamic
visual language while leading and
inspiring large crews has had such a
strong influence on me. In 2004,
when Luhrmann began prepping an
elaborate commercial for Chanel
No. 5 that would star Kidman,
McAlpine proved unavailable, and
Luhrmann decided to work with
another fellow Aussie, Mandy
Walker, ACS, whose feature credits
include The Well, Shattered Glass and
Lantana (AC Feb. 02). Her work
was so good I simply couldnt ignore
it, says Luhrmann.
Photos courtesy of 20th Century Fox.
10/6/08
1:56 PM
[Production
designer]
Catherine Martin is always my first
point of collaboration, so any cinematographer I work with has to be
part of that relationship, the director
continues. Once C.M. and I have
formed the visual language of a project, we need a cinematographer to
interpret it. Mandys contribution to
the style of [the Chanel spot] proved
so strong, and she created such a
great look for Nicole, that when we
began work on Australia, it was
almost impossible to walk away from
that relationship.
Throughout the making of
Australia, the word epic was constantly applied to the production
fitting, considering that the filmmakers shot 2.7 million feet of negative
over 180 days of main-unit photography. Walker feels the description is
appropriate but for different reasons.
Whats really epic about films such
as Gone With the Wind is the scope of
the human drama, she observes.
The script always determines the
way a film looks, and Australia is no
different. Lady Sarahs story of
tragedy, romance, comedy, action
and adventure occurs over a significant period of time, and the lighting,
production design and camerawork
are firmly choreographed to [match]
her emotional journey. Bazs trademark camera flourishes are still evident, but the camerawork is also very
much in the spirit of epic movies.
Luhrmann has described the
productions combination of studio
and location photography as Lucas
and Lean. Walker agrees, noting,
David Leans approach would be to
shoot the whole film on location,
and thats something Baz seriously
considered. George Lucas prefers
to shoot everything within the
controlled environment of the studio, which was the approach
[Luhrmann] enjoyed so much with
Moulin Rouge.
Stage work was undertaken at
the Fox Studio facilities in Sydney,
and much of the location photogra-
Page 55
Opposite: Lady
Sarah Ashley
(Nicole Kidman)
and The Drover
(Hugh Jackman)
share a quiet
moment in
Australia. This
page, top: Sarah
arrives from
England to claim
her property, a
remote cattle
station in
Western
Australia.
Middle: The
Drover makes a
grim first
impression with
his pugnacious
behavior.
Bottom: Director
Baz Luhrmann
(center) talks
over a shot with
cinematographer
Mandy Walker,
ACS (right) and
2nd-unit
cinematographer
Damian Wyvill.
10/6/08
1:56 PM
Page 56
Thunder Down Under
Above: One of
the local
estates is
transformed
into a war
hospital. Below:
Sarah tends to a
wounded
soldier as the
ranch manager
(David
Wenham) looks
on.
56 November 2008
phy took place in the Kimberley

Region of Western Australia. With a
population of only 41,000, the region
is the size of California. The production was on location off and on from
May to September 2007, during the
regions dry season, when the average daily temperature is above 91F.
Shooting throughout the day, the
filmmakers used natural changes in
the quality of light to depict the
harsh reality of life in the open savannah. Walker explains, In preproduction, Baz and I had worked out
white-light scenes that we could
shoot in the middle of the day.
Emotionally, they worked with a
toppy, unfriendly-sun look. During
particular scenes, we really wanted
the audience to feel its a harsh,
rugged environment.
Travel time to locations precluded shooting sequences at dawn,
but Walker took full advantage of the
extended twilight to imbue the film
with a sense of romance. Dawn is
very short in that part of the country,
whereas dusk lasts about 45 minutes, notes the cinematographer.
We had beautiful skies at that time
of day, with the most beautiful quality of light, and we shot very fast
until the last of the light had disappeared. We also shot a lot of interiorto-exterior or exterior-to-interior
transitions at that time of day.
To achieve a rich look without
too much contrast, Walker depended
on controlled soft light on location
and in the studio. To control con-
trast on location exteriors, we cut

sunlight with solid scrims overhead,
creating the shadow of a building, or
used lots of fill, she explains. There
was no such thing as a small lighting
setup! Gaffer Shaun Conway frequently used a 60'x40' Ultrabounce
to create consistent shade that lasted
all day. Two 100K SoftSuns regularly
shone through two 20'x12' frames of
1 2 or full grid to provide fill. Walker
continues, If the exterior scene grew
in scope, we added 18K HMIs to that
arrangement. When possible, I also
bounced sunlight off Ultrabounce
for fill; after only a day in the outback, the material was covered in
dust, which gave the [bounced] light
a beautiful, warm look.
Sequences such as Sarahs
arrival in Darwin, the capital of
Australias Northern Territory,
involved both location and studio
work. She arrives via flying boat, and
the beginning of the sequence was
filmed on location under the 50'-high
Stokes Hill Wharf to take advantage
of the settings 30' tides and unusual
water color. When Sarah steps off
the boat, she is then on the 300'-longby-60'-wide wharf set [constructed
on Stage 1 at Fox]. Apart from having
control over the lighting, the studio
gave us the freedom to shoot in any
direction against bluescreen or
black.
The Faraway Downs homestead was built on location at Carlton
Hill Station, near the town of
Kununurra in northern Western
Australia. Walker notes that for many
interiors, Luhrmann staged the
action in depth to take complete
advantage of the expansive vistas or
important action visible through
doorways and windows; this meant
lighting the interiors to a stop comparable with the exteriors. If it was
T22 outside, then we needed to build
the interior level up to around T5.6
or T8 to be able to see detail outside,
she recalls.
To raise the ambient level
inside, the crew pushed 18Ks and a
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10/6/08
1:56 PM
Page 58
Thunder Down Under
Above:
Luhrmann
watches
Kidman run
through a scene
with Brandon
Walters, who
portrays one of
Sarahs allies.
Right: Fires
rage following
the Japanese
bombing of
Darwin.
100K SoftSun through 20'x20'

scrims outside the windows. To light
close-ups, Conway built what he
dubbed Tetris lights, 4' square aluminum frames covered in gridcloth
and Ultrabounce; these measured
about 16" deep and could be stacked
atop and next to one another. Each
box contained six 230-watt Osram
Halo Lux bulbs and was covered in
gridcloth. They are easy to move
quickly, and you can make very subtle changes to the output level, says
the gaffer. We also made up egg
crates and barn doors to help control
the direction. On one occasion,
when Lady Ashley carries a lantern
through the homestead set, a
crewmember carried a Tetris to
58 November 2008
boost the lanterns light; Walker later

shaped the lanterns falloff in the digital intermediate (DI), carried out at
EFilm Australia.
Like the scene at Stokes Hill
Wharf, the Faraway Downs stockyard integrated studio and location
footage. One scene begins with location work: the camera looks out the
back door of the homestead as the
sun drops in the sky, and then a
mob of brumbies (wild horses) is
led into the stockyard. The stockyard
was reconstructed on Stage 7 at Fox.
(Other stage work included two
water tanks on Stage 2, an exterior
boab-tree set on Stage 3, and several
small sets on Stage 4.)
The bombing of Darwin and
the immediate aftermath is a main

sequence in Australia. The surprise
attack occurred early on a February
morning in 1942; more than a hundred Japanese bombers and fighters
descended on the city, which had a
wartime population of only 2,000, and
dropped more bombs than the
Japanese had dropped on Pearl
Harbor two months earlier.
The Queensland town of
Bowen, on the east coast of Australia,
stood in for Darwin during the filming
of this sequence. We built a backlot of
about four main streets that included
Chinatown stores and dwellings, a
pub, a cattle yard, and the beginning of
the wharf with a bluescreen edge, says
Walker. The filmmakers were fortunate with the locations weather. We
wanted an overcast feel for these
scenes, she continues. Shaun had the
60-by-40 scrim standing by to create
shade, but it remained overcast and
raining for three weeks. The day after
we wrapped there, the rain stopped,
and out came the sun!
Much of the post-bombing
sequence was set at night, she continues. Because Darwins power had
been cut by the attack, all the light was
motivated by firelight. To replicate
this, Conway set up rows of Dinos
gelled with Full CTO and run through
a dimmer board. My board operator,
Peter Whitby, worked out a fantastically subtle fire effect, he explains. It isnt
necessarily realistic, but it looks great
onscreen. For the wider shots, we
bounced Dinos onto the actors, and to
give close-ups a soft, lovely glow, we
had the same sequence running
through Tetris lights and Lois lights, a
larger version of the Tetris that was 8by-4 feet and held eight 1K bulbs.
Walker adds, There was also a lot of
real fire from flame bars throughout
these scenes. I shot at T2.8 without
building up the lighting levels to get
color in the fire; after testing, I knew I
could do that in the DI. We always
included a little bit of white light in the
frame to avoid oversaturation.
Luhrmanns penchant for stag-
AMC_0308_pCV 3:Layout 1
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Page 1
10/6/08
1:57 PM
Page 60
Thunder Down Under
Above: The
Drover and
Sarah attempt to
round up some
of her property.
Below: Walker
monitors the
filming of the
cattle drive.
60 November 2008
ing large, complex setups in wide

shots, combined with his desire for
maximum flexibility, required
Walker to adopt a 360-degree lighting system for all the stage work.
Rigging gaffer Iain Mathieson and
his crew spent a week prepping each
stage. Conway notes, The key to
matching exterior sets in the studio
with the location footage was a large
amount of ambience and soft fill. To
provide Mandy with a good ambient
level of 2 stops under key, we
scrimmed 6K space lights for an
overcast day feel. For night scenes,
wed skirt the space lights with black
and put in Half CTB.
Walker was happy to shoot
night exteriors onstage. Shooting
night exteriors in our isolated desert

locations would have been hard
because we wanted an even, glowing
moonlight, which would have been
logistically difficult to create there. To
maintain the desired look, it was
good to have the control a studio
offers. We shot against black rather
than bluescreen, and the visualeffects department digitally extended
the shots, including the lighting on
the landscape. Walker opted for a
soft moonlight look, which she created with space lights and diffused
Par cans gelled with CTB. For a
scene with a lighthearted tone, she
recalls that Luhrmann wanted a
1950s studio-movie moment,
which was lit with harder, dappled
moonlight created by 20Ks and Par

cans.
Around the perimeter of each
set, Conway and his team placed six
rows of 1K Par cans, all controlled by
a dimmer, to provide backlight up
to a T11 on 200-ASA stock for dayexterior scenes. The Pars could also
double as soft fill light to match location footage. Iain rigged half gridcloth into the gantries, explains
Conway. When required, it was simply unfurled in front of the Par cans,
and what was originally the backlight
quickly and easily became fill.
Additional 20Ks were brought in
lower, behind the gridcloth, if Walker
needed to push light in under the
actors hats and fill in the eyes.
Walker used Kodak Vision2
200T 5217 for all bluescreen work
onstage. I rated it at 120 ASA and
knew that with Shauns lighting setup,
we could shoot at T4 to T5.6, she
notes. This gave me room to accommodate any high-speed shooting Baz
might want to do. For location exteriors, she used Vision2 100T 5212 rated
at 64 ASA and shot at similar T-stops.
Nights, interiors and sunset scenes
shot on location were filmed on
Vision2 500T 5218. All three stocks
matched perfectly, notes the cinematographer.
In general, I avoided putting
color in front of the lens for day exteriors, she continues. That way, Baz
could have as many options as he
needed in the timing. Also,
Catherines sets and costumes are so
precise in their use of color to compliment or contrast with the landscape
that I didnt need to add much.
Australia was shot in Super
35mm. Walker recalls, Baz and I also
discussed digital options and anamorphic, and ultimately, we decided negative was the best acquisition format
and Super 35 was the best choice for
us. We wanted the depth of field
spherical lenses give you, and the visual-effects department wanted a fullgate negative, which would also give
Baz the option to re-rack the frame.
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10:46 AM
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1:57 PM
Page 62
Thunder Down Under
Luhrmann and
Walker plot
their next move.
62
The productions camera package

comprised Panaflex Millenniums
and Millennium XLs for the main
unit and PanArri 435s for the second
unit.
Primo prime lenses were used
for the majority of the shoot. Walker
notes, We favored the mid-range
lengths, hardly ever going wider than
a 21mm. Wide shots were mostly
done on the 27mm, while the 40mm
and 50mm were used all the time for

medium shots and close-ups. For
tight shots, or to give us separation
between foreground and midground elements, we used either the
100mm or 150mm. The production
also carried a set of zooms, which
were used primarily when the camera was mounted on a helicopter or
crane: Primo 11:1 24-275mm, 4:1
17.5-75mm and 3:1 135-420mm,
and an Angenieux Optimo 1540mm; the latter was rarely used. On
occasion, Walker used Panavisions
older Ultraspeed and Superspeed
lenses to achieve a soft, romantic
look. Those lenses dont have modern coatings, so theyre more susceptible to flares, and bright windows
would bloom a little, says Walker.
The dropoff in the focus was also
very soft.
Although Walker typically
operates the A camera, Australias
scope made that impossible. She
explains, Baz rarely leaves the set, so

while the crew were setting up, I
stood with Baz, discussing coverage,
lighting and gripping. We used at
least two and often three cameras on
every shot, and I wanted to be in a
position to watch all the shots as they
evolved. Through headsets, I was
constantly in touch with Shaun, key
grip Geoff Full, A-camera/Steadicam
operator Peter McCaffrey, and Acamera focus puller Jason Binnie. It
was an arrangement that gave me
great flexibility.
Over the course of the production, still photos helped Walker keep
tabs on the sprawling shoot. When
Baz was rehearsing the actors, before
the main make-up and wardrobe
tests, I put the Kodak stocks in my
Leica stills camera and shot early tests
for color, costumes and makeup
using a small natural-light setup in
the studio, she recalls. It was a quick
way to see how the stocks reacted
10/6/08
1:57 PM
without using up rehearsal time.

[Colorist] Olivier Fontenay [at
EFilm Australia] worked out a way of
printing the stills onto paper and creating Jpeg files, and Catherine and
her team could then place the actors
in our previous location photos and
include their concept drawings of the
sets.
During principal photography, I had a stills photographer
record key shots for every scene, and
on those prints I wrote the exposures
for each part of the frame, continues
the cinematographer. Shauns crew
also took stills and created diagrams,
all of which went into a database. It
was an eight-month shoot, so that
kind of system was essential.
Atlab processed the productions footage, and colorists Trish
Cahill and Sally Johnson at Cutting
Edges facility in Fox Studio timed
the hi-def dailies, which were shown
with a 2K Barco projector. We set up
Page 63
the looks beforehand using my stills,

and then Trish or Sally and I just had
a chat each day, says Walker. It was
a very smooth process. I also had a
1,000-foot one-light work print
made up each week to look at new
scenes on film. Walker and
Luhrmann supervised the final grade
with Fontenay at EFilm Australia.
Asked to sum up her experience on the picture, Walker observes,
Baz described to me how he saw
this film visually in detail back in
2005, but when hes on the set, he
likes to work in an intuitive, in-themoment manner. Hes like a conductor with a large orchestra, constantly
finessing all the nuances even as the
cameras are rolling. Youd often hear
his voice in the headsets: Shaun,
lightning now! Brett [McDowell],
slow on the dolly slow, slow, now
speed up! That ability to respond
and refine with ever-increasing detail
is what makes his films so distinctive.
Its also exciting for my crew because

he knows the importance of everyones job and discusses things with
them, involving them in the creative
process. No one gets bored on one of
Bazs films!
I
TECHNICAL SPECS
2.40:1
Super 35mm
Panaflex Millennium,
Millennium XL;
PanArri 435
Primo, Panavision Ultraspeed
and Superspeed, Angenieux
lenses
Kodak Vision2
500T 5218, 200T 5217, 100T 5212
Printed on Kodak Vision 2383
63
d-Sanctuary:d_feature
10/6/08
2:01 PM
Page 64
Habitat for
Inhumanity
Director of photography
David Geddes, CSC, and visual-effects
supervisor Lee Wilson discuss
their approach to Sanctuary,
the first television series to employ
the Red One camera.
by Douglas Bankston
Unit photography by Jeff Wedell and Jamel Toppin
64 November 2008
he term groundbreaking is
overused to the point of clich,
but Sci Fi Channels Sanctuary
does feature a few firsts. It is the
first series to be shot predominantly against greenscreen and the
first to use Red Digital Cinemas
One camera. (Since the show started
shooting, others have gone into production with the One.) Placing live
action in computer-generated (CG)
environments is not new recent
examples include 300 (AC April 07)
and Sky Captain and the World of
Photos and frame grabs courtesy of NBC Universal.
10/6/08
2:02 PM
Tomorrow (AC Oct. 04) but 70 to

75 percent of the scenes in an
episode of Sanctuary take place in
CG environments; there are 300 to
400 visual-effects shots per episode.
So you might say Sanctuary is breaking virtual ground.
Created by writer/producer
Damian Kindler (Stargate SG-1),
Sanctuary stars Stargate series alum
Amanda Tapping as the brilliant and
age-defying Dr. Helen Magnus, who,
with daughter Ashley (Emilie
Ullerup) and forensic psychiatrist
Will Zimmerman (Robin Dunne),
tracks down strange creatures that
secretly live among us. Magnus, who
was born during the Victorian Era,
houses and studies these creatures in
what is known as the Sanctuary.
The series also marks a first
for cinematographer David Geddes,
CSC, and visual-effects supervisor
Lee Wilson, in that they had never
before worked with the Red One. I
was keen from day one because Im
a bit of a technoslut, says Wilson,
who, along with partners Lisa SeppWilson and Sbastien Bergeron,
owns Anthem Visual Effects in
Vancouver, British Columbia, where
Sanctuary is shot. Early in the game,
before David came aboard, I asked
production what they thought
about the One, because everything
Id seen about the camera at that
point was pretty exciting, Wilson
continues. The big question was
whether we could get the camera,
but I happened to know someone
who could get us a few, and by the
time we got ready for tests, David
had joined the show. It was one of
those hold-your-breath-and-jump
situations.
I had been following the
Ones development but had never
put the camera through its paces,
notes Geddes, whose credits include
the series Men in Trees, Dark Angel
and 21 Jump Street. Sanctuary
offered a chance to make a virtualreality series with new camera technology that had never been used in
Page 65
this situation before. The challenge

was impossible to resist.
Red announced the One at
NAB in 2004, but the camera has
remained something of a mystery
since then, partly because of production delays. For a long time, few
cameras were in the field, but Red
claims there are now close to 3,000
in use. A typical hardware camera
company will render a product
obsolete with a new model after a
year or two, but Red exhibits a software-company mentality; like a
computer program that is released
and then updated over time, the
One is constantly evolving with
patches, updates and additions via
download. (The camera is on
firmware build 16 version 3.2.5, and
build 17 is on the horizon.)

Looking right at home on a
sci-fi set, the One is a 4K camera
with a 35mm PL mount and a Super
35mm-sized,
4520x2540
12megapixel CMOS sensor that is suitably called Mysterium. It records 12bit RAW imagery to onboard
Compact Flash memory or harddrive memory. These seemingly
unwieldy files are recorded using
RedCode compression, a waveletbased compression similar to that in
Jpeg 2000, which is Digital Cinema
Initiatives digital-projection standard. The aim of the One is to save
the majority of image processing
and color correction for post.
Another thing that attracted
me to this project was the mystery
Opposite: The
age-defying Dr.
Helen Magnus
(Amanda
Tapping) enlists
forensic
psychiatrist Will
Zimmerman
(Robin Dunne) in
her search for
the strange and
secretive
creatures that
populate the
series
Sanctuary. This
page, left:
Zimmerman
considers
Magnus
invitation.
Below: Henry
(Ryan Robbins)
and Ashley
(Emilie Ullerup)
lend their
services to
Magnus work.
10/6/08
2:02 PM
Page 66

Sanctuary marks
the first
television series
to be shot
primarily against
greenscreen and
the first to use
the Red One
camera. Three
quarters of any
given episode
takes place in CG
environments.
surrounding the One, says Geddes.

Ive been working with RAW
images from my Canon 10D, shooting color-timing samples and making my own TransLites 30-by100-foot backings for different
shows by working within the RAW
mode. I always thought that if Red
could make this work in the film
world, it would be the best way to go,
and thats what they have pulled off
were capturing images in 4K
RAW mode. 4K has been the optimal digital format for high-end digital-effects work, and the One gives
us the best image quality for a heavy
effects production.
Typically, when were doing a
TV show thats shooting 35mm and
doing telecine into HD, says Wilson,
66 November 2008
there are times when I really need

more than what we got in our initial
transfer, so well go out and get neg
rescanned at 4K. Geddes adds, On
this show, we have the advantage in
that we have 4K up front.
Were not delivering 4K, but
its there, says Wilson. Were delivering at 2K; were working at 2K and
final delivery is an HDCam-SR
tape.
Geddes records to an
onboard Red-Drive, which is,
according to Red, smaller than an
ASC Manual. The 320GB RedDrive is comprised of two 2.5"
160GB laptop hard drives that are
configured as a Raid 0. It can hold
two to three hours of 4K RedCode
material. But even with this ample
storage, Geddes does not let the

camera record freely. Weve
approached this cinematically, he
explains. We reload the camera
probably as often as we would if we
were changing out 1,000-foot mags,
about every 12 to 15 minutes. We do
that for a few reasons. You know
how sluggish your laptop computer
gets when your hard drive is full? We
didnt want to go that far to see if
that would become a problem. Also,
changing out the hard drives more
often helps with our post workflow;
we can download, test and check as
we shoot, so if theres a technical
glitch, we know within a very short
period of time and can go back and
fix it. In fact, wed probably still be
shooting within the same scene! So
far, we havent had to go back and
redo anything. It also helps with
editing, because editing gets what
weve shot right away; theyre actually editing in parallel to the shoot.
Bergeron, the digital-effects
supervisor at Anthem, devised the
pipeline and workflow for
Sanctuary. I cant tell you how
many productions have called me to
ask for a copy of our workflow!
Wilson says with a laugh. Really, the
key is were not location-based; were
in the studio. The idea was to get the
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11/6/07
2:25 PM
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10/6/08
2:02 PM
Page 68

Magnus shows
Zimmerman into
the Sanctuarys
lab. While
cinematographer
David Geddes,
CSC captures in
4K RAW mode,
editing and
effects work is
primarily done
at 2K, and
HDCam-SR tape
serves as the
final deliverable.
footage into Final Cut Pro for the

editors and to us almost simultaneously, and have as little wait time as
possible for dailies.
Dailies go out as standarddefinition DVDs or as QuickTime
downloads on the Internet. For editing and effects work, the material
stays at 2K, with 4K selects for
effects that need a higher resolution.
If theres a good reason to go 4K,
like a virtual camera move from
across the city, then we will, says
Wilson. Geddes adds, I have an
advantage in that our lab is on set.
We do our backups on set, so I can
watch dailies in 4K right there on
Apple Cinema Displays that have
been calibrated for our purposes.
68 November 2008
Because we stay tapeless as

long as possible, it made sense to
record to our Red-Drives and have a
cart in the studio where those files
could be dumped; then, the proxies
could go upstairs to editorial and be
loaded into Final Cut and the drives
could come to Anthem, says
Wilson. Of course, theyre backed
up before they leave the studio.
Theres also an LTO-tape backup
here at Anthem. All the data is
brought in at Anthem, and we do
the quality-control check. Its a little
strange, because typically in
telecine, youre getting your QC neg
report, but in this case, the guy is
watching footage at full resolution
we do our extractions from that.
Anthem is an entirely Macbased facility, he continues. Ive

always mirrored whatever production was doing in terms of its cut of
the show, meaning I always have a
full-res version in context of not just
our effects shots, but also the surrounding shots. Thats how I want
to see them, and its a lot better to
show producers or directors. In this
case, we have an online thats constantly in development; the cut is
always being updated because of all
the effects work.
In order to work with the
material at each stage of the
pipeline, the footage is transcoded
out of the RedCode RAW codec via
RedAlert, a software program that
acts as a sort of telecine that converts
RAW data to RGB video and offers
the basic one-light image processing. On Sanctuary, RedAlert converts RedCode RAW to Apples
ProRes HQ codec, Anthems codec
of choice. RedAlert also generates
QuickTime proxies at the same time
for dailies distribution. (Anthem
uses a sort of command-line version
of RedAlert, which allows Wilson
and co. to write a script that enables
QuickTime rendering to be done on
10/7/08
3:04 PM
Page 1
CONGRATULATIONS
John Toll, ASC
on your Emmy nomination for Outstanding Cinematography
in shooting the pilot for the One Hour Series, Breaking Bad.
Thank you for letting us serve your camera needs. We value
your friendship and love working with you.
www.clairmont.com
Hollywood
818-761-4440
Vancouver
604-984-4563
Toronto
416-467-1700
Albuquerque
505-227-2525
Montreal
514-525-6556
10/6/08
2:02 PM
Page 70
For a scene atop

the Sanctuary, a
small set piece
was constructed
for Dunne and
Tapping to
interact with.
Visual-effects
supervisor Lee
Wilsons original
plan for the
scenes effects
went out the
window during
post: When the
director and
editor cut it
together, they
decided they
wanted to move
in from farther
away, so they
scaled it all
down, says
Wilson. It
became a
different lens
and not
necessarily a
lens that
tracking
software could
figure out easily.
It worked quite
nicely, but next
time Ill suggest
we move the
camera 30 feet
back!
70 November 2008
Anthems render farm.)

So far, gambling on Red technology has paid off. On this show,
its making a huge difference,
Geddes says. Were getting image
quality with the One that we
couldnt have gotten with any other
system. In Lees workflow, he has the
most and best information that
exists in todays production world.
Time is one luxury the crew of
Sanctuary doesnt have. An eight-day
shoot is the norm for television, but
were actually shooting seven-day
episodes, Geddes notes. We average
30 setups a day. On one episode,
Edward, I think we averaged 50
setups a day brutal! Accordingly,
the cinematographer doesnt take
much time to set his looks while
shooting. Red Technology is different because its the RAW format, he
explains. I can do a basic one-light

in the camera, adjusting contrast
and saturation. Our data tech,
Richard Win, can also make minimal adjustments to the one-light
image that comes from the Red [via
RedAlert], but we do our major
color correction in 4K at Anthem
Visual Effects. Sanctuary is an inhouse production, which allows me
to be involved in post even with our
demanding schedule.
I treat the One as I would
any other camera, continues
Geddes. I use Cooke S4 lenses, and
they react to light the same way on
the One as they have for me in the
past with film cameras. To me, its
always the glass first and the acquisition format later. One thing I have
found is the Ones sensor doesnt
have the range of film nothing
digital has the range of film but

thats only an issue when you get
into the highlights. It hasnt proven
to be a problem.
Geddes has found that the
Mysterium sensor works best when
rated at the equivalent of 320 ASA.
That keeps us out of the noise factor, he says. I shoot at a lower ASA
for greenscreen because it gives us a
better color key for post. With the
Cooke S4s, I can shoot at a T2 if I
need to. Its almost as fast as film.
When I shoot greenscreen with
Kodak [Vision2 500T] 5218, I usually rate it at 400, so this isnt too different.
During
preproduction,
Geddes shot a number of filter tests
with Tiffen Black and White ProMists, circle diffusion and the like.
However, during production, he
quickly opted to shoot clean. When
we started shooting, the first time
we dumped in a filter, it didnt look
like it did in the test, he recalls.
Instead of taking a chance, we
pulled it out, opting to add filter
effects in post.
Red Ones arent abundant,
but Sanctuary managed to procure
three. Due to the high setup count,
Geddes tries to shoot with two cameras as often as possible. Well stagger focal lengths and do crossshooting. I love shooting 90 degrees
off axis. The off-axis camera is often
a little more interesting visually.
The third One stays in Steadicam
mode.
To stand in the middle of an
empty green stage and imagine
what a virtual set will eventually
look like is difficult. Though he
sometimes gets a rendering from
the production designer, Geddes
usually just has to imagine it, and his
lighting follows suit. Its always an
advantage for the cast and the post
team to give them as much interactive lighting as you can, he says. Its
helpful to the cast to make them feel
like theyre standing in the catacombs under Rome. We always try
10/10/08
12:37 PM
Page 1
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10/6/08
2:02 PM
Page 72

Geddes finds
his own
sanctuary
behind the
camera. The
show, he says,
offered a
chance to make
a virtual-reality
series with new
camera
technology that
had never been
used in this
situation before.
The challenge
was impossible
to resist.
to give them as many visual cues as

possible.
It is tough for David because
its not a situation where were
marking the floor off and saying, A
chair is here and A door is there,
notes Wilson. Id rather avoid that
because it gives us more freedom to
cheat the set around as needed. For
example, we did a shot on a parapet
on top of the Sanctuary. They built

only the broken piece of a spire
architecture and an area for Magnus
and Will to stand on, so our understanding was that we would composite in the top half of the
Sanctuary and move in on it with
the city in the background.
However, when the director and
editor cut it together, they decided
they wanted to move in from farther away, so they scaled it all down.
Scaling the shot down changed the
lens information we had to track
our 3-D geometry to. It became a
different lens, and not necessarily a
lens that tracking software could
figure out easily. We ended up rotoscoping the characters out of the
shot, getting rid of the practical set
piece, putting in the CG version of
the same set piece thats attached to
the rest of the model, and doing the
fly-in. It worked quite nicely, but
next time Ill suggest we move the
camera 30 feet back!
With a team of 40 artists (and
occasionally more), Anthem builds
the shows environments in Maya at
2K resolution. All the tracking is
done with 2d3s Boujou and
Science-D-Visions 3D Equalizer, as
well as the old-fashioned way: manually. Renderman and Mental Ray
take care of the rendering, and com-
www.CreativeHandbook.com
w
m
72
10/6/08
2:02 PM
Page 73
positing is performed in Shake.

Otherwise, says Wilson, Its a bit by
the seat of our pants. They kind of
shoot whatever they want, and we
try to keep up with it.
Geddes says he finds the
greenscreen work liberating. The
freedom is amazing. Not only do we
leave flags and lights in the shot, but
we also leave the boom man in the
shot! I can put a light exactly where
I want it, and if the actor crosses in
front of it, all we have to do is green
out the stand and make sure the
lamp is just high enough so the
actor doesnt interact with it. To be
able to put a light exactly where you
want it is wonderful.
Virtual-reality shows like
300 or Sin City turned to a desaturated, graphic-novel look, but Ive
given Sanctuary a feel thats more
like the real world, with a little more
color saturation and density, continues the cinematographer. With
that in mind, Ive decided to use soft

sources. For the key sources, I use 6K
Barger [Baglite GT-6] lights and utilize the Chimera cloths, and in front
of those I use 60-degree hard grids.
That combination creates a very soft
quality of light thats very directional. To round that out, I use different
shallow Chimera banks, all with
hard grids, too. The greenscreen is lit
with [Kino Flo] Image 80s. My
gaffer, Corey Hodson, and key grip,
David Ferreira, put together Mole
Coops that all have the same diffusion material and hard grids so we
have the same quality of light
throughout.
Not every set is green, however. There are some standing practical
sets, such as Magnus office, which
still incorporates greenscreen elements. Beyond the office window is
greenscreen, as is the entranceway.
But Geddes fluid approach to lighting virtual and practical sets is the
same. It works in both worlds, he

says.
For all the effort that goes into
greenscreen work, Geddes summarizes shooting virtual scenes rather
simply: You light as though something is there even if it doesnt exist,
making it easy for someone to add it
later.
I
TECHNICAL SPECS
16x9
High-Definition Video
Red One
Cooke and Angenieux
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73
e-Emmys:e_feature
10/6/08
2:14 PM
Page 74
Saluting
Televisions Top
Talents
Cinematographers nominated for this years Emmy Awards

gather for a festive evening courtesy of Eastman Kodak.
astman Kodaks 27th annual

Salute to Cinematography,
honoring all of this years
Emmy-nominated cinematographers, came off without a
hitch on Sept. 12 at Bistro Garden in
Studio City. Tonight, our only rule is
that there are no rules, said Kodaks
Bruce Berke, an ASC associate
member and the evenings emcee.
Each nominee was presented with a
Kodak Vision Award and invited to
the podium to make, dare we say,
Kodak moments, Berke joked. The
open bar and hearty dinner kept
spirits high, and the nominees clearly
appreciated the celebration. Its
overwhelming to be here, said Vanja
E
74 November 2008
Cernjul,
nominated for 30 Rock (AC
July 08). I feel like I just won the
[Emmy] right now, added Romeo
Tirone, nominated for Dexter, as he
picked up his Vision Award. Soon
after, Jon Joffin, nominated for The
Andromeda Strain, accepted his
award and joked, Im going to take
this and leave before you find out I

shot on digital!
The next day, the Academy of
Television Arts and Sciences handed
out Emmy statues at Los Angeles
Nokia Theatre to the following cinematographers: Tak Fujimoto, ASC
for John Adams; Phil Abraham for
Mad Men (AC March 08); Peter
Levy, ASC, ACS for Californication;
the camera team behind Deadliest
Catch; and the team of Axel
Baumann, Robert Hanna, Ulli
Bonnekamp, Mark Brice and
Wolfgang Held for Carrier.
Jon D. Witmer
Photos by Vicki Mac.
Kodak hosted its annual celebration

honoring the Emmy-nominated
cinematographers on Sept. 12, 2008.
Back row, from left: Kim Snyder (Kodak
Entertainment Imaging Division
president); Romeo Tirone (Dexter) ; Vanja
Cernjul
(30 Rock); Stephen McNutt, ASC,
CSC (Battlestar Galactica); Danny Cohen
(John Adams); Phil Abraham (Mad Men);
Tom Houghton (Rescue Me); John
Inwood (Scrubs ); Jon Joffin (The
Andromeda Strain ); Michael Morrelli
(Kodak Entertainment Imaging Division
GM & VP Americas region); and Bruce
Berke (Kodak Entertainment Imaging
Division regional accounts manager).
Front row, from left: George Mooradian
(According to Jim); Michael Goi, ASC
(My Name is Earl); Peter Levy, ASC, ACS
(Californication); and John Toll, ASC
(Breaking Bad ).
e-Emmys:e_feature
10/6/08
2:14 PM
Page 75
Following is a complete list of Emmy nominees and winners (* denotes winner):
Outstanding Cinematography,
Half-Hour Series
Miniseries or Movie
Vanja Cernjul
30 Rock, Rosemarys Baby
(NBC)
Michael Goi, ASC
My Name is Earl, Stole a
Motorcycle (NBC)
John Inwood
Scrubs, My Princess (NBC)
Peter Levy, ASC, ACS*
Californication, Pilot
(Showtime)
George Mooradian
According to Jim, The
Chaperone (ABC)
Fred Murphy, ASC
In Treatment, Sophie
Week Six (HBO)

One-Hour Series
Phil Abraham*
Mad Men, Smoke Gets in
Your Eyes (AMC)
John Bartley, ASC, CSC
Lost, The Constant (ABC)
Tom Houghton
Rescue Me, Babyface
(FX Networks)
Stephen McNutt, ASC, CSC
Battlestar Galactica, Razor
(Sci Fi Channel)
Romeo Tirone
Dexter, The British Invasion
(Showtime)
John Toll, ASC
Breaking Bad, Pilot (AMC)
Sean Bobbit, BSC

Sense and Sensibility
(Masterpiece Theatre),
Part 1 (PBS)
Danny Cohen
John Adams, Dont Tread
on Me (HBO)
Tak Fujimoto, ASC*
John Adams, Independence
and Dont Tread on Me
(HBO)
Jon Joffin
The Andromeda Strain, Part 1
(A&E)
Ben Nott, ACS
The Company, Part 1 (TNT)
Mauricio Rubinstein
Bernard and Doris (HBO)

Nonfiction Programming
Adam Beckman
(director of photography)
This American Life, Escape
(Showtime)
Cinematography Team*
Deadliest Catch, No Mercy
(Discovery Channel)
Cinematography Team
Ice Road Truckers, Ready to
Roll (History Channel)
Ted Giffords (camera),
John Waters (camera),
Ralph Bower (camera)
Meerkat Manor, Journeys
End (Animal Planet)
Tricia Regan (cinematographer)
Autism: The Musical (HBO)

Reality Programming
Derth Adams (camera),
Malkuth Mo Frahm (camera),
John Armstrong (camera),
Marcus Bleecker (camera),
David Vlasits (camera)
Project Runway, En Garde!
(Bravo)
Axel Baumann (cinematographer),
Robert Hanna (cinematographer),
Ulli Bonnekamp (cinematographer),
Mark Brice (cinematographer),
Wolfgang Held (cinematographer)*
Carrier, Rites of Passage
(PBS)
Cinematography Team
Survivor, Just Dont Eat
the Apple (CBS)
Per Larsson
(director of photography),
Sylvester Campe (camera),
Tom Cunningham (camera),
Lucas Kenna Mertes (camera),
Peter Rieveschl (camera)
The Amazing Race, Honestly,
They Have Witch Powers or
Something (CBS)
Paul Starkman
(director of photography)
Top Chef, Finale, Part 1 (Bravo)
I
Above, from left:

Emmy nominees
Mooradian, Goi,
Levy, and Toll,
enjoy their Kodak
Vision awards.
Below, from left:
Emmy winner
Abraham
captures the
attention of
fellow nominees
McNutt, Joffin,
Inwood and
Houghton.
11_08 post focus:00 post focus
10/6/08
2:16 PM
Page 76
Version 3.0 of
Avids Media
Composer
boasts such
features as
MetaFuze
(pictured above)
for merging DPX
and TIFF images
into a single
media file. The
release also
offers a timestamp export
tool, the SubCap
subtitling tool,
and support for
the ASC CDL.
Product Review: Avid

Media Composer 3.0
by Lawrence Jordan
Avids Media Composer, the
turnkey software and hardware editing
solution that fundamentally changed the
craft upon its release in 1989, has taken
its knocks over the last several years.
The release of Avids Adrenaline product
line was lacking in feature improvements and problematic in performance.
This was compounded by the fact that
Avid had given the Mac versions of its
software a back seat in its development
efforts. But for the company from Tewksbury, Mass., the bad news was just
beginning.
Avid had been trying to figure out
how to respond to the growing excitement surrounding Apples Final Cut Pro
since that software was released in
1999. Priced at a fraction of Avids offerings, providing a means to work with the
multitude of QuickTime native applications, and integrating seamlessly with
Apples then-new OS X, Final Cut was
warmly embraced.
However, despite Apples intense
76 November 2008
marketing efforts aimed at studio-level

filmmakers, the majority of professional
editors stuck by their Media Composers.
Unfortunately for Avid, many in the
professional community avoided the
upgrade to the bug-plagued Adrenaline,
preferring the security and stability of its
forerunner, Meridian, which was
wedded to older and consequently
slower PowerMac-based CPUs. As
time passed, Apple continued to
squeeze more features into every new
release of Final Cut, and, after initially
being dismissed as a toy by most
professional editors, the software was
embraced by independents on a budget.
Shortly thereafter, several television
series and feature films gave Final Cut a
go.
Avid needed to counteract, and
after years of tying its software to its
hardware, the company heeded
customers cries and unbundled its offerings. This was a step in the right direction, but for most users, price was still a
problem. For the $5,000 software-only
version of Media Composer, editors
could purchase a full version of Final Cut
(priced at $1,000) and have cash left over
for a new Intel dual-core CPU and monitor.

Finally, Avid decided it was time
to shake things up. It gave new CEO
Gary Greenfield a clear mandate to get
things fixed and come up with some
new thinking. One of the companys
first moves was to cut the price of its
software-only version of Media
Composer by half. Now, Avid has introduced a speedy and relatively solid
version 3.0 of its flagship software.
Media Composer 3.0 is noticeably faster than its predecessor it
boots up like a racecar careening around
a track and those fortunate to have
the latest dual- and quad-core Intelbased computers will be able to make
the most of this. The speed improvements are particularly noticeable when
youre working with Avids DNxHD,
Sonys XDCam-EX and Panasonics
DVCPro HD codecs. Latency, which I
found particularly annoying when working in Adrenaline, is almost non-existent.
The product now supports the
latest versions of Mac OS X, as well as
the latest 32-bit and 64-bit versions of
Windows Vista. Avid has also added
support for many of the latest HD
codecs, including Panasonics AVC-I and
JVCs particular flavor of the HDV codec
for 23.98p and 25p frame rates. Sonys
new XDCam-EX format is supported via
Sonys Clip Browser software, which
can be downloaded for free from Sonys
XDCam Web site. (A caveat: as of this
writing, the Mac version of Sonys utility
software does not provide a way to
export in MXF, the required file format
for import into Media Composer. Sony
has promised an upgrade to the Mac
version but has not yet delivered.)
Working with the speedy new
generation of CPUs, users will also
notice significant improvements in
Media Composers handling of real-
Images courtesy of Avid Technology.
Post Focus
11_08 post focus:00 post focus
10/6/08
time, multilayer effects. Theres

improved performance for non-fullraster HD codecs (such as HDVs
1440x1080). By optimizing the multithreading capabilities of these new
machines, Avids engineers provide
editors with a welcome boost in rendering times for the most complex effects.
The new MetaFuze feature gives
visual-effects artists and others a muchneeded tool to merge discrete DPX and
TIFF image sequences into a single
media file. (Unfortunately, as of this
writing, the new MetaFuze tool is only
available in the Windows version of the
software.) The new time-stamp export
feature enables editors to insert
sequence time code based on the
project type when exporting the timeline audio tracks as Broadcast Wave
Format files, providing a fast sync reference. A subtitling tool dubbed SubCap
has the ability to import and export
industry-standard EBU-N19 captioning
formats.
A tremendous timesaving
feature that editors and assistants will
really appreciate is the new real-time
multi-window time-code burn-in tool.
Until now, if you wanted to output a cut
with a time-code window burn-in, you
had to generate the code externally.
With this version of Media Composer,
you can add up to three window burns
in real time. The tool enables you to
provide a variety of information in NTSC
or PAL, such as drop- or non-drop-frame
time code, and can also be configured
to burn in other sequence information,
such as cut version, footage, frames,
edge-code numbers and sequence
name. As an added benefit, this tool
2:17 PM
Page 77
obviates the need to send

reels to a dub house to create
the window burn, lowering
the risk of illegal copies of
your project leaking to the
ether-sphere. This powerful
tool is accessed via the
generator effect in the
effects tab of the project
window.
Cinematographers will
appreciate Avids support for the
new ASC Color Decision List (CDL).
Developed by the ASC Technology
Committee, the CDL provides a means
for cinematographers to create looks
and have those color-corrections easily
accessible and reproducible throughout
the production and post processes. (See
last months Post Focus for more
details.) Media Composer tracks the
CDL information, or metadata, via two
column headers added to its Avid Log
Exchange (ALE) format. The new headers are named ASC_SOP and ASC_SAT.
ASC_SOP is used to identify and track
the nine RGB color values that define
the slope, offset and power parameters
for each event in an ALE, whereas
ASC_SAT tracks the single-value saturation parameter. Once imported, this
information is accessible by displaying
the headers in any Avid bin (where the
values can be edited if necessary) and
can be exported within a CMX EDL as
part of the ASC_EDL specification.
Avid is also working on having
the ASC CDL information available as
additional metadata from the output of
its FilmScribe software in the XML file
format.
Media Composer 3.0 isnt loaded
with new features, but its improvements are significant. This first manifestation of the companys new thinking
philosophy seems to have brought Avid
back to basics, concentrating on its
customers wishes and making the software extremely stable and fast. For
editors on the front lines and those in
time-constrained production environments, these are features you cant put
a price on.
I
AMC_1108_p078p088:00 new products
10/7/08
1:07 PM
Page 78
New Products & Services

supports camera configurations from
15.5-40 pounds and interfaces with all
100mm-diameter tripods and supports.
Weighing 7.7 pounds, the Delta Rosso
offers a tilt range of +/- 90 degrees with
continuous counterbalance and drag,
the settings for which are indicated on
electronic displays.
In the tradition of Cartonis
Lambda Nodal Head, the SpinHead is
an innovative support head for any film
or video camera weighing up to 40
pounds. It can be mounted on tripods or
dollies or underslung from a crane or jib
arm, and boasts 360-degree pan and tilt
ranges assisted by Cartonis continuous
fluid drag units. These fluid drags are
A-cam Goes Digital
Ikonoskop has introduced the Acam DII, a digital motion-picture camera
offering professional image quality with
high-resolution images.
Offering 12-bit color depth and a
Super 16mm-sized 1920x1080 CCD
sensor, the DII captures uncompressed
images in RAW format and is compatible with Super 16mm lenses. The
camera records to an 80GB memory
cartridge developed by Ikonoskop and
capable of recording at 240MB per
second.
The cameras milled-aluminum
body measures 8.7"x3.6"x3.3" and
weighs less than 3.3 pounds (including
the memory cartridge and battery). The
camera is capable of recording variable
frame rates from 1-60 fps, and outputs
include monitor and HDMI for video and
USB 2.0 for data.
For more information, visit
www.ikonoskop.com.
Cartoni Unveils 3 Supports
Cartoni has introduced three new
camera supports: the Delta Rosso, the
SpinHead and the E-Rem 15 remotecontrol head.
Styled especially for the Red One
camera, the Delta Rosso fluid head
78 November 2008
hollow in the center to accommodate

cables and plugs.
Designed in partnership with
Mo-Sys, the E-Rem 15 remote-control
head can support cameras weighing up
to 33 pounds. With 360-degree pan and
tilt ranges, the head can be operated
with a joystick or handwheel set, and a
variety of shotbox options enable different configurations.
www.cartoni.com.
LibertyPak Develops
Batteries for Red
LibertyPak has developed highdensity battery packs and belts for use
with the Red One camera system. The
batteries offer three hours of run time
(265 watt hours, 18.4 amp hours at 14.4
volts), weigh 9 pounds and can be
completely recharged in 30 minutes or
less.
The batteries incorporate
LibertyPaks FCC (fast charge chemistry)
cells with proprietary nano-phosphate
technology. These lithium-ion cells
provide higher output potential (100
times the rated capacity), longer cycle
life (over 1,000 cycles) and a chargeregeneration capacity of four times the
rated amperage.
LibertyPak FCC cells are also
available for 24-volt camera systems.
For
more
information,
visit
http://libertypak.com.
10/7/08
1:08 PM
Page 79
Birns and Sawyer

Adds Matteboxes
Birns and Sawyer has added two
matteboxes to its inventory, the MB-130
and the MB-105.
Designed to hold two fully rotatable filter trays, the MB-130 can accommodate the field of view of even the
widest video lenses. The mattebox
comes standard with two combo filter
trays that can hold 4"x5.65" or 4"x4"
filters. Another filter tray that is included
can hold a 138mm round filter in the rear
filter stage. The MB-130 can be
supported by 15mm mini rods, 15mm or
19mm studio rods, or it can attach
directly to the lens. A standard top flag
is also included, and side flags are
optional.
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clip-on mattebox. The unique design
holds up to two 4"x5.65" Tiffen filters
without using filter trays.
Both matteboxes are available
for purchase from Birns and Sawyer. The
MB-130 sells for $2,395, and the MB105 sells for $695.
www.birnsandsawyer.com.
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Chrosziel Introduces Colibri

Remote Dimmer
Chrosziel has introduced the
Colibri remote-dimmer set for lighting
professionals. The Colibri transmitter
sends the control signal from a DMX
79
10/7/08
1:08 PM
Page 80
lighting console to the Colibri receiver,

which can connect to tungsten lights up
to 75 watts as well as Litepanels LED
fixtures. The Colibri also features an 8pin socket, allowing the dimmer to
control LED units from other manufacturers.
The receiver unit also features a
built-in dimmer that can operate in lieu
of DMX control, allowing manual
dimming through a potentiometer on
either the transmitter or receiver end. If
the transmitter receives no DMX signal,
it switches to manual operation, signified by an illuminated blue LED on the
potentiometer. In turn, if the transmitter
is switched off, the receivers potentiometer goes active (again signified by
an illuminated blue LED).
The DMX channel selector is
situated under a protective cover on the
Colibris transmitter, which uses the
same radio module as Chrosziels Aladin
remote lens control. Consequently, the
Colibris receiver/dimmer can also be
operated by the Aladin remote control.
www.chrosziel.com.
FilmLight, Aaton Team
for Recorder
FilmLight and Aaton have formed
a strategic partnership to market the
new AatonK 2K/4K digital film recorder.
Under the terms of the agreement, FilmLight will handle sales, marketing,
service and support for the AatonK,
while Aaton will manufacture the
system. The partnership will also allow
FilmLight to bundle the AatonK with the
Northlight scanner and Baselight colorgrading system to offer an end-to-end
4K workflow.
The AatonK utilizes a revolutionary diffraction-limited, telecentric lensand-sensor system to increase recording speed and resolution. The system
employs no moving parts during frame
exposure, and the 16K CCD reflex
80
analyzer provides automatic self-calibration, eliminating the need for

frequent wedge shoot-outs and densitometer sessions while ensuring consistency from job to job and machine to
machine. Additionally, the system
supports output to negative, intermediate, print, color reversal and black-andwhite film stocks.
Aaton has designed the system

to avoid some of the service issues that
plague other film recorders. The
AatonK has no moving imaging parts, no
lasers or CRT that require periodic
replacement, says Mike Grieve, FilmLights director of sales. That results in
lower support and operating costs for
the life of the machine.
www.aaton.com
or
www.film
light.ltd.uk.
Da Vinci Boosts Resolve

Da Vinci Systems has added the
R-4K and R-3D to the Resolve R-series
family of digital enhancement suites.
The R-4K offers users a fully
10/7/08
1:08 PM
Page 81
UELI STEIGER, ASC

went to a rural high school
in Switzerland, and every
Wednesday, when there were
no afternoon classes, I would trek
to Zurich with my best friend to
see a movie. Soon we started to
make films ourselves with my dads
8mm Bolex. The shorts were quite
elaborate and completely nave.
I first saw American
Cinematographer at a film bookstore in Zurich. My English wasnt
very good, but I looked at all the
ads and was deeply impressed. AC
became my monthly read, and it is
still the only magazine to which I
have always subscribed.
AC used to be my only
source for information about the
professional world in Hollywood.
Now its where I read about what
my colleagues are doing. It is a
constant companion.
photo by Owen Roizman, ASC
Ueli Steiger, ASC
TO SUBSCRIBE BY PHONE:
Call (800) 448-0145 (U.S. only)

(323) 969-4333 or visit the ASC Web site
10/7/08
1:08 PM
interactive, real-time color-correcting

and DI-finishing system built to handle
the demands of the 4K environment. It
enables sufficient storage, bandwidth,
throughput and processing power for
real-time interactivity and rendering.
Similarly, the R-3D features an
expanded, advanced toolset that automates and simplifies the copying of
grades required for working in 3-D,
making 3-D grading truly interactive.
Based on da Vincis CORE (CUDA
Optimized Resolve Engine), the entire
Resolve R-series accomplishes realtime throughput of nonlinear images in
film, television and commercial applications. With the introduction of CORE, da
Vinci has leveraged the power and efficiency of GPUs not merely for graphics
display, but also for processing power,
thus surmounting the complex, computation-intensive challenges inherent in
color finishing.
In addition to the R-4K and R-3D,
da Vinci has introduced the R-100, a
feature-packed suite that is fully scalable and upgradeable. The company has
also announced plans for the entire
Resolve family to support RedCode
RAW as a native format for color grading and finishing.
www.davsys.com.
Filmtools Provides MSDS
Filmtools, the expendable-supply
store located in Burbank, Calif., has
made all Material Safety Data Sheets
corresponding to products sold in the
store available as free, downloadable
PDF files. For more information, visit
www.filmtools.com.
S.two Partners with Arri
S.two Corp., known for its range
of uncompressed field recording products and workflow solutions, has
announced an agreement with Arri
under which Arri Sales companies
around the globe will be able to sell
S.two products to accompany film-style
digital cameras.
The companies close collaboration on uncompressed workflows has
yielded significant advancements over
82 November 2008
Page 82
the past 12 months, bolstering Arris

flexibility in providing adaptable products for differing production requirements and budgets. Last years IBC
witnessed increased integration
between the Arri D-20 and S.twos DFR2
and Take2 recorders. This year, S.two
earned the ArriRaw T-Link Certification;
this proprietary, uncompressed, raw
data link sends raw 3K resolution Bayerpattern data directly from the Arri D-21
to an attached Digital Film Recorder
(DFR). S.two DFRs receive this signal
and provide real-time de-Bayering for
viewing and playback.
www.stwo-corp.com.
Digital Vision Shipping
Twister
Digital Vision, which is celebrating 20 years of providing grading,
mastering and finishing systems for film
and television postproduction, is now
shipping the Twister motion-compensated standards-conversion software.
Twister converts media from any
format, frame rate and resolution to any
other, enabling post facilities, broadcasters and studios to convert between
50Hz and 59.94, create progressive
frames from interlaced video, improve
the quality of up-conversion from SD
and HD, and automatically remove 3:2
cadence from video streams even when
mixed with 2:2 and broken cadence. All
processing is motion-compensated so
the media created is virtually artifact
free. Additionally, Twister enables
settings to be changed on a scene-byscene basis, and it can be incorporated
either up- or downstream of the mastering and finishing tools.
Twister is a multi-threaded application that takes advantage of multicore workstations. When used in
conjunction with Turbine, Digital
Visions high-performance render accelerator, facilities can assign as many
Intel CPU cores as necessary to a
project, enabling real-time 4K capabilities and allowing users to run multiple
2K or HD tasks in faster-than-real time.
With the sheer range of formats
and resolutions that broadcasters and
facilities need to deal with during both

ingest and delivery, standards conversion is not the straightforward process it
used to be, notes Simon Cuff, Digital
Visions president and COO. Users need
the flexibility to work with non-standard
file sizes, resolutions higher than HD
such as 2K and 4K and work with
various frame rates in a single timeline.
Twister brings the flexibility users need
to create and deliver high-quality
masters for multiple deliverables
quickly.
Additionally, Digital Vision has
announced that its Film Master colorgrading system now supports footage
captured with the Red One. Users can
work with native RedCode RAW files,
improving the workflows of features,
broadcast programs and commercials
shot with the Red One.
www.digitalvision.se.
Autodesk Freshens Lustre
Autodesk, Inc., has unveiled the
Autodesk Lustre 2009 digital color-grading system and Autodesk Incinerator
2009, the real-time system accelerator
for Lustre.
Running on a new high-performance platform, Lustre 2009 offers
numerous features that improve the
color-grading workflow, including
stereoscopic grading; intuitive project
management; integrated audio input,
output and playback; multi-layer timeline shot prioritization; timeline A/C
mode sorting; customizable sensitivity
settings for the Autodesk Control
Surface; and enhanced interoperability
with Autodesks Flame, Inferno, Flint and
Smoke visual-effects and finishing
systems.
Autodesk Incinerator 2009 offers
the same creative toolset as Lustre; its
enhanced performance is made possible
through parallel-processing technology.
Based on the latest server and networking technology, Incinerator 2009 enables
real-time color grading for the most
demanding digital intermediates.
www.autodesk.com.
10/7/08
Vicon Unveils MX T-Series

Vicon has unveiled the MX TSeries of motion-capture cameras. The
T-Series includes the T160 (16 megapixels), T40 (4 megapixels) and T20 (2
megapixels). The T160 represents a fourtimes increase in resolution over existing professional motion-capture solutions; the boost is made possible by
Vicons proprietary Avalon sensor.
Backward-compatible with the
Vicon MX and MX F-Series cameras, the
T-Series cameras boast a completely
reworked exterior styling, with the
18mm Vicon lens a standard fit. Additionally, the system now supports
remote focus and aperture setting with
Canon-mount lenses, allowing a single
operator to adjust focus and aperture
settings remotely via Vicons Blade software.
2-D tracking-point processing is
now done in-camera, making the reconstruction of 3-D data faster and more
accurate while freeing up processing
power on the PC, and Gigabit Ethernet
connections allow the MX T-Series to
transfer data at 1,000MB per second in
preview mode. With the 16-megapixel
resolution of the T160, smaller markers
can be used, allowing more markers to
be placed closer together for accurately
capturing details such as hands and
faces.
The MX T-Series represents the
biggest leap in technology to date for
our new-release motion-capture
systems, says Robin Pengelly, senior
vice president of Vicons Entertainment
Division. Along with the new streamlined camera design and Gigabit Ethernet connections, this system is blazing
fast. More speed means our customers
get an improved preview mode
making the system easier to set up and
operate.
www.vicon.com.
1:08 PM
Page 83
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83
10/7/08
1:09 PM
Page 84
House of Moves Builds

Soundstage
Los Angeles facility House of
Moves (HOM), a motion-capture service
bureau and division of Vicon, has
completed the construction of a soundproof motion-capture stage capable of
full-body and facial capture as well as
final audio recording.
The new soundstage measures
30'x50', with a rig that can contract
down to 30'x30' for more detailed
performance-capture requirements.
Capable of supporting up to 20 performers at once, the stage can be outfitted
with up to 270 Vicon motion-capture
cameras. The stage is fully enclosed,
with all supporting CPUs housed in a
soundproof, glass-encased room, so
clean dialogue can be recorded without
any interfering background noise. (HOM
also maintains a 40'x70' main stage,
and the company can manage clients
working on both stages simultaneously
with or without first-unit crews shooting alongside the motion-capture
cameras.)
We have effectively mimicked
the procedures of the traditional liveaction set and tied them into the virtual
environment, says Scott Gagain,
HOMs executive producer. We can
replicate almost anything that can
happen on a live-action stage, from the
physical performance of the actors to
the positioning of virtual cameras in real
time.
Game and film clients alike can
benefit from tackling both audio and
performance recording simultaneously
in one take, saving a lot of their production budget, especially when working
84
with A-list sports and Hollywood

talent, he continues. The stage is not
only incredibly functional, but it also
caters to the needs of directors and
producers with a plush mission control
raised-platform alcove for overseeing
everything happening on stage in the
most comfortable and effective way
possible.
HOM, located at 5419
McConnell Ave., Los Angeles, CA,
90066, has also expanded its staff with
a team of 16 animators. For more information, visit www.moves.com.
Aguru Launches Dome 2

Following the success of Aguru
Dome 1, a motion-capture solution for
the measurement of faces, hands and
other objects, Aguru Images has
launched the Aguru Dome 2.
The Aguru Dome is based on the
Light Stage technology originally developed by Paul Debevec and his group at
the University of Southern Californias
Institute for Creative Technologies, who
worked closely with Aguru engineers to
bring a number of additional workflow
improvements to this latest commercial
release. For instance, the Aguru Dome 2
offers a considerable improvement in
10/7/08
shape-measurement resolution, and it

automatically derives a host of additional detailed information from a
performer or scanned object including diffuse, specular, and RGB diffusenormal and specular-normal maps for
more accurate digital depictions.
Weve had a fantastic response
to the Dome technology, which offers
unprecedented precision and an
enabling solution to a very hard but very
common problem in visual effects and
game development: creating accurate
digital doubles, explains Craig Miller,
Aguru Images founder and CTO. We
packaged the Dome 2 with several
improvements in both software and
hardware design and focused diligently
on our customers requirements.
Additionally, Aguru Images has
developed a strategic partnership with
XYZ-RGB, a developer of 3-D scanning
solutions. The two companies have
complementary technologies and plan to
jointly produce a unified 3-D capture
solution for the entertainment market.
www.aguruimages.com or www.xyz
rgb.com.
1:09 PM
Page 85
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Pinnacle Opens MovieBox

Pinnacle Systems, the consumer
division of Avid Technology, has
announced the latest releases of Pinnacle Studio MovieBox Plus and Pinnacle
Studio MovieBox Ultimate, enhanced
with full versions of Pinnacle Studio
version 12 video-editing software.
The combination of Pinnacle

Studio version 12 software and the
MovieBox plug-and-play USB 2.0 videocapture device gives consumers an endto-end solution for capturing, editing or
publishing videos in a variety of popular
85
10/7/08
1:09 PM
Page 86
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formats. The software/hardware

combination also works seamlessly to
preserve the quality of the video from
the original source through the final
output.
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Version 12 of Pinnacle Studio
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With expanded format support,
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Pinnacle Studios built-in discburning capabilities allow users to
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Pinnacle Studio MovieBox Plus
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10/7/08
Deluxe Acquires Atlab

Deluxe Entertainment Services
Group Inc. has acquired The Atlab
Group in Australia.
Atlab has had its roots in the
Australian film industry for 80 years,
providing processing, printing and postproduction services for feature films,
television and commercials. Atlab also
offers a broad range of creative
services including digital postproduction, digital intermediates (with an onsite EFilm facility in Sydney) and a new
sound-mixing facility; the 400-channel
mixing stage is fully integrated into
Atlabs film laboratory and EFilms
Sydney location, allowing filmmakers to
manage all of their post needs under
one roof.
Over the last few years weve
developed a strong alliance with Atlab,
and [we] look forward to the continued
working relationship with them, says
Cyril Drabinsky, CEO and president of
Deluxe. This next step will strengthen
our ability to service the film and postproduction needs of our clients in the
southern hemisphere. The Atlab facilities will be re-branded Deluxe Sydney,
Deluxe Melbourne and Deluxe Auckland with the management team
remaining in place.
www.bydeluxe.com.
New Panasonic Tape Series
Exclusively for the U.S. market,
Panasonic Broadcast has introduced
the AMQ-Series Advanced Master
Quality tape for professional, masterquality HDV, DV and DVCam recording,
and the PQUS-Series Professional Quality Pro DV tape for professional MiniDV
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The AMQ tape series features
Panasonics next generation Super
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generation. Advancements in Panasonics proprietary Dry-Type lubricant
and robust Diamond-Like Carbon (DLC)
film development dramatically boost
the tapes durability for high-speed
shuttling, still-frame, and professional
1:09 PM
Page 87
David Ward/WRITER/DIRECTOR
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Paul Seydor/EDITOR
White Men Cant Jump,
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Film has the power to make us laugh or cry,

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87
10/7/08
1:09 PM
Page 88
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The PQUS series utilizes an
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I
SUBMISSION INFORMATION
Please e-mail New Products/Services
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88
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Page 93
11_08 clubhouse:00 clubhouse
10/6/08
2:31 PM
Page 94
Clubhouse News
Frontier Justice
David Stump, ASC (above,
center) was on hand in Amsterdam to
contribute to the IBC Master Class Out
on the Dynamic Range: Why Hasnt Digital Killed Off Film Yet? Mediated by
George Jarrett (right), the session also
included Glenn Kennel (left), vice president and general manager of feature film
at LaserPacific. The 90-minute session
covered everything from exposure latitude and sharpness to grain, texture and
color reproduction. Data storage, archiving and workflows were also discussed,
as was the concern that increased
automation could threaten the craft skills
of cinematographers and colorists alike.
production design for the African

Film Academys Film in a Box
workshop in August, and among
the texts used by Martin, the
groups cinematography instructor, were issues of American
Cinematographer. My favorite
tool to inspire my students was
American Cinematographer,
says Martin. The magazine
offered the best glimpse into
how notable cinematographers
approached and executed their films.
What was their philosophy behind lens
choices? What film tests did they do?
How did they communicate with their
director? The best part was that my
students were then able to see those
same films playing on the big screens in
Lagos.
AC Finds Readers in Nigeria

Three graduates of New York
Universitys Tisch School of the Arts,
Cybel Martin, Cinque Northern and Toni
Barton, traveled to Lagos, Nigeria, to
teach cinematography, editing and
HPA Honors Burdett

ASC associate member Ronald
D. Burdett (above) will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the annual
Hollywood Post Alliance (HPA) Awards
on Nov. 6. A founding member of the
HPA, Burdett headed the post facility
Sunset Digital for over 25 years, during
which time the companys advancements included digital restoration tools
94 October 2008
and techniques and mastering for digital

cinema.
Ron Burdett has epitomized the
entrepreneurial spirit of innovation and
forward thinking that helped to define
our modern postproduction industry,
says Leon Silverman, president of the
HPA. His leadership skills in helping to
create a vibrant postproduction community and his contributions to technical
excellence and creativity cannot be overstated.
Pizzello Wins Bronze
AC executive editor Stephen
Pizzello recently won a bronze Eddie
Award for his Jan. 08 article on There
Will Be Blood. Presented by Folio: magazine, the Eddies recognize editorial
excellence in business-to-business
(trade) and consumer publications.
The other publications honored in
the same category Best Single Article, Business-to-Business, Media/Entertainment/Publishing were Digital
Content Producer, which won the gold,
and Publishers Weekly, which took the
silver.
Pizzellos article, titled Blood for
Oil, included interviews with cinematographer Robert Elswit, ASC, who
won ASC and Academy awards for his
work on the picture; director Paul
Thomas Anderson; gaffer Robby Baumgartner; camera assistant Barry Idoine;
lens designer Dan Sasaki; and specialeffects supervisor Steve Cremin.
Pizzello won a 1993 Maggie
Award and has earned six additional
Maggie nominations for his writing.
During his tenure as executive editor, AC
has won four Eddies and three Maggies
for overall excellence.
I
11_08 clubhouse:00 clubhouse
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2:31 PM
Page 95
11_08 asc closeup:00 asc closeup
10/6/08
2:11 PM
Page 96
ASC CLOSE-UP
Victor Goss, ASC
When you were a child, what film made the
strongest impression on you?
My dad built the first drive-in theater in Santa
Maria, Calif., so spending evenings in the projection
booth tuned me to the rhythm of sprockets and
claws at 24 Hz. Naturally, I was the AV geek in high
school because I knew it was a good chance to
sneak a smoke during class, but The Grapes of
Wrath (1940) made me quit smoking. I was drawn by those haunting
images created by Gregg Toland, ASC. Ive seen the movie at least 50
times and will never forget it.
Which cinematographers, past or present, do you most admire?
A partial list: ASC members Gordon Willis, Jordan Cronenweth, Vittorio
Storaro, Owen Roizman, Roger Deakins, Conrad Hall, Vilmos Zsigmond,
Laszlo Kovacs, Allen Daviau, Jost Vacano, Bill Fraker, Caleb Deschanel,
Bill Pope, Darius Khondji, Tak Fujimoto, Sandi Sissel, Charles Lang, John
Seitz, Gregg Toland, Arthur Edeson, Elwood Bredell and Freddie Young;
and BSC members David Watkin and Ozzie Morris.
What sparked your interest in photography?
My dad bought me an Ansco 620 when I was a kid, and I went around
Yosemite taking pictures, inspired by the Ansel Adams prints I saw in
the gift shop. Later, I read Adams photo series and began experimenting with exposure and development and learned about gamma.
Where did you train and/or study?
I was accepted at Art Center School of Photography but never got a
chance to attend because I was broke. I took a few UCLA extension
courses in beginning filmmaking, but it really wasnt film school.
Who were your early teachers or mentors?
My dad worked as a gaffer and taught me all the classic techniques,
and I spent the 1970s and 80s shooting commercials influenced by the
New York school of single-source or natural lighting. I worked as a
gaffer for several years and learned many things from ASC members
John Hora, Woody Omens, Allen Daviau and Caleb Deschanel and
countless other outstanding artists. Without a doubt, the best experience was working second unit for Vilmos Zsigmond across Europe,
North Africa and the Middle East in the 80s thats a guy youve gotta
work hard to keep up with!
What are some of your key artistic influences?
Most influential were Gordon Willis work on Interiors and Stardust
Memories and Jordan Cronenweths work on State of Grace. I also was
transported by Laszlo Kovacs Five Easy Pieces and Paper Moon. Angel
Heart, shot by Michael Seresin, BSC, opened a whole new visual world
to me, and City of Lost Children, shot by Darius Khondji, was as big as
Disneyland and more fun. Also, Ozzie Morris lighting in The Guns of
Navarone, though not modern by todays standards, haunted me every
time I approached a nighttime lighting situation. In addition, Ive always
been moved by the paintings of Edward Hopper, the photography of
Walker Evans, and the journals of E.B. White; other influences include
James Joyce, Thomas Pynchon, Henry Thoreau, Wallace Stevens,
William Blake, Emily Dickinson and John Donne.
96 November 2008
How did you get your first break in the business?

I made a short film about spelunking on
Ektachrome high-speed reversal with my
Beaulieu 16mm. (I had invented a 12-volt batterypowered backpack lighting system, which I
described in an article in AC in 1973.) It had a
beautiful synthesized musical score by the late
Basil Poledouris. I showed it around town and started working with
Robert Lieberman and others on commercials.
What has been your most satisfying moment on a project?
When they call lunch! Also, viewing the finished product and seeing
smiles when the lights come up.
Have you made any memorable blunders?
Its a long list, but the one I regret more than most was a night of crazed
celebration in Athens with Vilmos and his crew, drinking ouzo and bellydancing onstage. When everybody started breaking plates, I grabbed
one and, thinking it was a breakaway plate like in the movies, cracked
it over Vilmos head. I think we were all well anesthetized by then, and
I hope Vilmos has forgiven me.
What is the best professional advice youve ever received?
When I was becoming successful shooting commercials, a wise
producer friend leaned over in a screening room once and whispered,
Dont let this go to your head. About 23 years later, I figured out what
he meant.
What recent books, films or artworks have inspired you?
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and La
Vie en Rose. The French film industry is rising again, and I keep up with
it via Greencine and Netflix because foreign theatrical imports are
anemic in the States.
Do you have any favorite genres, or genres you would like to try?
I used to like action, horror and thrillers, but Ive become enamored by
the human face and have come to love photographing beautiful women.
Sue me!
If you werent a cinematographer, what might you be doing
instead?
Writing. I love journalism of all kinds and am a big fan of short stories
and poetry.
Which ASC cinematographers recommended you for membership?
Michael Watkins, John Hora and Woody Omens.
How has ASC membership impacted your life and career?
Being a cinematographer is one of those strange occupations where you
seldom get to work with others who do what you do. The ASC has given
me an opportunity to hang out with guys and gals who are, to me, the
real movie stars.
I
7/31/08
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9/24/08
10:45 AM
Page 1
ONFILM
KEVIN SMITH AND DAVID KLEIN
David Klein and I have always been able to push

each other without knocking one another down.
In production, we work so entirely hand-in-hand
that most folks feel all were missing is certicate
of civil union. When we roll, he visually realizes
my dopey ideas and uently translates whats in
my head onto celluloid. A DP is as essential to
a director as oxygen is to a breather, because hes
the guy or gal who dreams your dream for you.
David Klein is my hero, because hes the magician
who pulls my rabbits out of his hat.
Kevin Smith is a writer-director-actor-editor
whose credits include Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing
Amy, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Jersey
Girl, Clerks II and Zack and Miri Make a Porno.
Kevin is like a brother, keeping me on my toes
by consistently surprising me and pushing me
to create more specic, cinematic looks. I light
comedies the same way I light dramas. Actors
respond to the light you create, so I try to light
very natural and real. Cinematography is my
self expression. I work with directors to create
a natural ambiance that helps them tell their
stories. Films will always be an important form
of communication.
David Klein has earned an eclectic range of
some 30 cinematography credits since Clerks in
1994, including Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Clerks II,
Good Time Max and Zack and Miri Make a Porno.
[All these lms were shot on Kodak motion picture lm.]
For an extended interview with Kevin Smith and David Klein,
visit www.kodak.com/go/onlm.
To order Kodak motion picture lm,
call (800) 621 - lm.
www.kodak.com/go/motion
Eastman Kodak Company, 2008.
Photography: 2008 Douglas Kirkland

2008 11

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11_08 board:00 board

We make the movies

The ASC is not a labor union or a guild, but

MEMBERS OF THE BOARD

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Directed by Jean Sebastien Di Fruscia / Produced by Veronica Bautista

11_08 editor's note:00 editor's note

Photo by Douglas Kirkland.

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Over $6 billion in box ofce shot

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11_08 letters:00 letters

others. To this, Stinson responds,

though physically damaged, delivered

Letters to the editor can be

1008_p025:00 asc closeup

11_08 short takes:00 short takes

studies, Mayn kept in touch with Prieto,

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AMC_1108_p015 :00 asc closeup

11_08 short takes:00 short takes

T2.8 or wide open, it was very noticeable and dramatic.

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We covered every angle. So you can too.

11_08 prod slate:00 production slate

Lost and Seemingly Found

ing Blood Work, Mystic River (AC Dec.

through the lens of a photojournalist,

Changeling photos by Tony Rivetti Jr., courtesy of Universal Pictures.