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M E M B E R P O R T R A I T
Steven Bernstein, ASC
TO SUBSCRIBE BY PHONE:
Call (800) 448-0145 (U.S. only)
(323) 969-4333 or visit the ASC Web site
“T
here was a theater near my
university where you could
buy a book of tickets and see
a season of films. I remember
three in particular that made me
realize the visceral impact of
cinematography: Francis Ford
Coppola’s The Conversation, shot
by Bill Butler, ASC; F.W.
Murnau’s Sunrise, shot by
Charles Rosher, ASC, and Karl
Struss, ASC; and Terry Malick’s
Days of Heaven, shot by Nestor
Almendros, ASC.
“To someone who hadn’t
worked on a film yet, the set
seemed like a mysterious and
rarefied climb, but American
Cinematographer made the
technology and techniques
understandable. Cinematography,
bridging the creative and the
practical, seemed the most
romantic and remarkable of
possible careers.
“The best way to
understand emerging technologies
and stay on top of our evolving
craft is to see what everyone else
is doing. AC continues to help me
do that.”
— Steven Bernstein, ASC
W W W . T H E A S C . C O M
©photo by Owen Roizman, ASC

www.schneideroptics.com
...but it’s nothing without the cinematographers who use it.
It starts with the glass...
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www.downmagaz.com

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 1 V O L . 9 2 N O . 2
FEATURES
DEPARTMENTS
26 Masked Men
John Schwartzman, ASC taps some old-school methods
for Green Hornet
36 Total Immersion
Jules O’Loughlin, ACS plumbs the depths of 3-D for
Sanctum
46 Behind the Music
John Bailey, ASC captures a country-western star’s
struggle on Country Strong
54 A Cinematic Passport
John Seale, ASC, ACS receives the Society’s
International Award
The International Journal of Motion Imaging
On Our Cover: Britt Reid (Seth Rogen) dons a mask and takes on the underworld in
The Green Hornet, shot by John Schwartzman, ASC. (Photo by Jaimie Trueblood, SMPSP,
courtesy of Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.)
8 Editor’s Note
10 President’s Desk
12 Short Takes: God of Love
16 Production Slate: The Way Back • The Last Lions
64 Post Focus: MTI Films
68 New Products & Services
76 International Marketplace
77 Classified Ads
78 Ad Index
80 In Memoriam: Robert Steadman, ASC
82 Clubhouse News
84 ASC Close-Up: Barry Markowitz
— VISIT WWW.THEASC.COM TO ENJOY THESE WEB EXCLUSIVES —
Podcast: Ed Lachman, ASC on Howl
DVD Playback: Metropolis • The Elia Kazan Collection • The Night of the Hunter
36
46
54

4
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F e b r u a r y 2 0 1 1 V o l . 9 2 , N o . 2
The International Journal ofMotion Imaging
Visit us online at
www.theasc.com
————————————————————————————————————
PUBLISHER Martha Winterhalter
————————————————————————————————————
EDITORIAL
EXECUTIVE EDITOR Stephen Pizzello
SENIOR EDITOR Rachael K. Bosley
ASSOCIATE EDITOR Jon D. Witmer
TECHNICAL EDITOR Christopher Probst
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Stephanie Argy, Benjamin B, Douglas Bankston, Robert S. Birchard,
John Calhoun, Bob Fisher, Michael Goldman, Simon Gray, Jim Hemphill,
David Heuring, Jay Holben, Mark Hope-Jones, Noah Kadner, Jean Oppenheimer,
John Pavlus, Chris Pizzello, Jon Silberg, Iain Stasukevich,
Kenneth Sweeney, Patricia Thomson
————————————————————————————————————
ART DEPARTMENT
CREATIVE DIRECTOR Marion Gore
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ADVERTISING
ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR Angie Gollmann
323-936-3769 FAX 323-936-9188
e-mail: gollmann@pacbell.net
ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR Sanja Pearce
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e-mail: sanja@ascmag.com
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CLASSIFIEDS/ADVERTISING COORDINATOR Diella Nepomuceno
323-952-2124 FAX 323-876-4973
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CIRCULATION, BOOKS & PRODUCTS
CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Saul Molina
CIRCULATION MANAGER Alex Lopez
SHIPPING MANAGER Miguel Madrigal
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ASC GENERAL MANAGER Brett Grauman
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ASC PRESIDENT’S ASSISTANT Kim Weston
ASC ACCOUNTING MANAGER Mila Basely
ASC ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE Corey Clark
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American Cinematographer (ISSN 0002-7928), established 1920 and in its 91st 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.
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POSTMASTER: Send address change to American Cinematographer, P.O. Box 2230, Hollywood, CA 90078.
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6
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American Society of Cine ma tog ra phers
The ASC is not a labor union or a guild, but
an educational, cultural and pro fes sion al
or ga ni za tion. Membership is by invitation
to those who are actively en gaged as
di rec tors of photography and have
dem on strated out stand ing ability. ASC
membership has be come one of the highest
honors that can be bestowed upon a
pro fes sional cin e ma tog ra pher — a mark
of prestige and excellence.
OFFICERS - 2010/2011
Michael Goi
President
Richard Crudo
Vice President
Owen Roizman
Vice President
John C. Flinn III
Vice President
Matthew Leonetti
Treasurer
Rodney Taylor
Secretary
Ron Garcia
Sergeant At Arms
MEMBERS OF THE
BOARD
John Bailey
Stephen Burum
Curtis Clark
George Spiro Dibie
Richard Edlund
John C. Flinn III
Michael Goi
Stephen Lighthill
Isidore Mankofsky
Daryn Okada
Robert Primes
Nancy Schreiber
Kees Van Oostrum
Haskell Wexler
Vilmos Zsigmond
ALTERNATES
Fred Elmes
Rodney Taylor
Michael D. O’Shea
Sol Negrin
Michael B. Negrin
MUSEUM CURATOR
Steve Gainer

SRW-9000PL
digital motion picture camcorder
Bring it on.
Bring on the pyro, the high noon exteriors, the shadows six stops below key. Sony’s SRW-9000PL takes
on the most challenging assignments. And shines. The PL mount welcomes your 35mm motion
picture lenses. S-Gamut extends your color palette while S-LOG gamma preserves your vision from
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© 2010 Sony Electronics Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Features and specifi cations are subject to change without notice.
Sony, CineAlta, HDCAM-SR, XDCAM, “make.believe” and their respective logos are trademarks of Sony.

8
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Editor’s Note
Hollywood studios continue to green-light superhero
movies at a swift pace, but Michel Gondry’s The Green
Hornet is packed with enough eye-popping action and
entertainment to ensure that the genre won’t die anytime
soon. John Schwartzman, ASC served as Gondry’s wheelman
on the show, steering the hero’s famous car — a
heavily armed, mid-1960s Chrysler Imperial dubbed the
“Black Beauty” — through levels of inventive mayhem
that rival the automotive destruction in The Blues Brothers.
(According to one report, a dozen Imperials were used
on the movie, many of which were totaled in the line of
duty.)
Working from a smart-alecky script by Evan Goldberg
and Seth Rogen, who also stars as the Hornet, Gondry and Schwartzman freshen up
the picture’s comic-book premise with in-camera trickery and an impressive array of eccentric
perspectives. Schwartzman says he was well prepared for the project’s fight sequences,
demolition derbies and old-school effects work by his collaborations with a notoriously energetic
filmmaker who made his name with amped-up action scenes. “In our early years,
Michael Bay and I had to create more for less because we didn’t have a lot of money,”
Schwartzman tells Iain Stasukevich (“Masked Men,” page 26). “We played around with
forced perspectives and used miniatures quite a bit.”
Although The Green Hornet was converted from 2-D to 3-D in post, Alister Grierson’s
thriller Sanctum was shot in native 3-D by cinematographer Jules O’Loughlin, ACS, who
employed the Fusion 3-D system developed by Vince Pace and James Cameron. “From the
beginning, Alister and I wanted to use 3-D to immerse the audience in a world they’ve never
seen before, a world they would respond to viscerally,” O’Loughlin tells Simon Gray (“Total
Immersion,” page 36). “The audience should feel that they’re inside these caves with our
characters, but not to the point where it’s too uncomfortable. As soon as you physically strain
an audience using 3-D, you’re in real danger of drawing them out of the picture.”
A troubled female singer takes center stage in Country Strong, whose director, Shana
Feste, reteamed with esteemed ASC member John Bailey after their harmonious duet on her
2009 debut film, The Greatest. “I’ve been very lucky to get John for my first two movies,”
Feste tells Michael Goldman (“Behind the Music,” page 46.) “I trusted his setups to tell the
story, and that allowed me to do my job as a director and focus on the actors. John has
worked with lots of first-time filmmakers, and he’s particularly gracious.”
John Seale, ASC, ACS is also held in high regard by the many collaborators he has
worked with during his brilliant career, which began in the mid-1960s. He will receive the
ASC’s International Award on Feb. 13. Already immortalized in the ACS Hall of Fame, Seale
reveals that he got his foot in the door through sheer persistence. “When I’m asked for
advice on how to get into the business, I say, ‘Ring somebody who can give you a job every
week until they finally throw their hands up in the air and give in,” he tells Jean Oppenheimer
(“A Cinematic Passport,” page 54).
Stephen Pizzello
Executive Editor
Photo by Owen Roizman, ASC.

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President’s Desk
At the time of this writing, I have just returned from the Camerimage International Film Festival
of the Art of Cinematography in Poland. As fun as it was to spend some social time with my
fellow cinematographers from the other societies, the most gratifying part of the experience was
meeting filmmaking students from all over the world. Many of them told me that this column is
the first thing they turn to in the magazine, that this column puts a human perspective on what
is sometimes a daunting and distant industry, and that it reveals that all cinematographers go
through some of the same things, whether they’re Oscar winners or first-year film students. If you
get some of those insights from this page of sometimes (admittedly) rambling thoughts and fragmented
pieces of life and industry observations, then I’m happy to have helped open that door.
In this column, I want to reflect upon life as a cinematographer — all facets of our lives
(creative and mundane), the highs of being on set, and the anxiety of trying to get the job so we
can be there. On the latter subject, let me tell you something: I love going to job interviews. I really
do. I know many people hate them because it’s difficult to read people’s minds and say the right
things to get the job, but I don’t worry about what someone might want me to say, because I
can’t say anything I don’t really believe, anyway. I do my research based on the script I’m given to
read, and I form a visual idea for the job that excites me, and I go into the meeting and tell them
what it is. Sometimes it’s what they were thinking, and they go with it; sometimes they hadn’t
thought of that approach, and they go with it; and sometimes they want to go in a different direction. But whatever the case, I ’ve
expressed my point of view, and if I don’t get the job, then it’s probably not the right project for me.
You cannot get every job, but you can position yourself to get the ones that mean something to you and your career, and
you can, I hope, avoid the ones that kill your spirit and love of the business. I once interviewed to shoot a new director’s fi rst film.
He wanted to watch my reel with me, so we did. Afterwards, he said, “You’ve done some very nice work, but there’s something
about you I just don’t care for. Let me see if I can put my finger on it. You’re very confident, and you strike me as someone w ho is
used to being in charge. I think it needs to be clear to everyone on this film that I’m the one in charge, so I don’t think thi s is going
to work.” I told him he was absolutely right: it wasn’t going to work. He was more interested in the status of his position tha n in
the quality of his own project, and that spells trouble to me. It’s nice if the director cares as much about the movie as I do.
I recently stumbled upon a student-film shoot in Los Angeles, and I stopped to watch for a while. They were filming a scene
in which a young woman walks out of a restaurant and pauses to check her makeup in the window while a young man watches
her from inside the restaurant. After the rehearsal, the setup was taking quite a while, so the sun was getting low by the time filming
started. When they did the first take, the sun hit the closing door in a way that sent a brilliant flare through the window when
the woman paused to check her makeup, and when the door closed, the flare subsided and revealed the man watching her. It was
one of those moments that would have taken many hours and some large lights to replicate, and, just like that, the opportunity
was over because the sun moved quickly behind a building. The director said that take was useless because it was flared out, an d I
was tempted to step forward and tell him what a brilliant image he’d just captured. But his student cinematographer piped up an d
said, “Not only was that an amazingly beautiful shot, but I’m going to take full credit for creating it, and it’s going on my r eel even
if you don’t use it in the film.” I had to smile as I walked away. The future was in good hands.
Michael Goi, ASC
President
10 February 2011 American Cinematographer
www.downmagaz.com
Portrait by Owen Roizman, ASC.

Short Takes
Right: Kelly
(Marian Brock)
falls under the
spell of a love
dart in God of
Love, directed by
Luke Matheny
and
photographed by
Bobby Webster.
Below: Ray
(Matheny)
serenades Kelly
during an
afternoon stroll.
God of Love Aims for Amour
By Iain Stasukevich
“You can’t control who you love. You can’t control who loves
you. You can’t control how it happens or when it happens or why it
happens. You can’t control any of that stuff,” muses Ray (Luke Matheny),
the protagonist of the short film God of Love. Ray is a lounge
singer, and he’s desperately in love with Kelly (Marian Brock), the
drummer in the lounge band, but Kelly only has eyes for the guitarist,
Fozzie (Christopher Hirsh). The plot thickens when Ray’s fervent wish
for Kelly’s affections are answered with a box of magical darts that
have aphrodisiacal powers.
Matheny also directed God of Love; it was his thesis project for
New York University’s graduate film program. When he began
discussing the movie with classmate and cinematographer Bobby
Webster, the two quickly realized they shared many ideas about how
12 February 2011 American Cinematographer
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I
it should be photographed. “Almost every modern independent film
has exactly the same kind of look: handheld with a shallow depth-offield,”
says Webster. “The look we wanted for God of Love was more
about composition and framing and depth.I was excited about doing
thoughtful dolly shots and using the camera as part of the blocking.
That’s something I don’t see very often in low-budget films.” Matheny
adds, “There are some jokes and punch lines that work better
when you can see everything that’s happening in the frame. The
audience feels like they’ve discovered something in the scene.”
Webster and Matheny share a fondness for French New Wave
films, and they cite Jean-Luc Godard’s Contempt and A Woman is a
Woman (both photographed by Raoul Coutard) as strong influences
on God of Love. Additionally, they looked at Beat-era jazz photography,
especially the work of William Claxton. “I’m really inspired by his
great, iconic images, those crisp black-and-white photographs of the
famous jazz musicians of the day,” says Webster.
During prep, Webster assigned Matheny an exercise from
their early semesters at NYU. Matheny recalls, “Our aesthetics professor,
Gail Segal, would make us write papers to describe our approach
to our film. Bobby practically forced me to write a paper [for God of
Love], which he then critiqued heavily. I don’t remember what it was
like in its original form, but I remember what we concluded: There
would be a certain number of close-ups, and we would never get any
tighter than that, and whenever Ray prayed, there would be some
kind of vertical line in the frame.”
“You get a lot of great ideas when you’re preparing a film,
and I wanted to capture them,” the cinematographer says of the
writing exercise. “When you’re on set trying to work out the framing,
it helps to have something to remind you of those ideas. Our
decisions still felt organic, but we knew what we were doing going
Photos by Michael Seto. Images courtesy of the filmmakers.

in, and we could add to it when we found
something new.”
Webster shot God of Love in 16x9
with a Red One (Build 17), which enabled
him to do the color timing on his own
computer with Adobe After Effects. “.r3D
files have more information than you need
for the final image,” he notes. “As with
35mm film, there’s all this information you
can pull back. For the exterior scenes, I didn’t
worry too much about the sky blowing out;
if you see detail in the RAW image, you can
use a luma key to pull the sky back in.”
Nevertheless, some day exteriors did
challenge the Red’s dynamic range. In particular,
Webster found he was getting too
much unwanted bounce off of Manhattan’s
sidewalks. To combat that, he positioned
upside-down ND.6 and ND.9 grad filters in
front of the lens. Throughout the shoot, he
rated the camera at ISO 320 and judged his
lighting with a histogram and a calibrated
high-definition monitor, which allowed him
to switch back and forth between Redspace
and RAW. (They knew their final image
would be black-and-white, so they could
cast color-temperature cares to the wind.)
A number of scenes take place in the
smoky jazz club where Ray and his band
perform. Webster and gaffer Lydia Sudall
took advantage of the overhead lighting
grid and other practical fixtures at the location,
Hello Brooklyn in Red Hook, and set an
ambient level with two 1.2K HMIs through
a 12'x12' silk. Dimmable 1K and 650-watt
tungsten sources were used for key lights,
and Kino Flo Diva-Lites were used for fill.
“Our key lights all had diffusion on them,
and the smoke helped to give a broad, soft
light,” says Sudall. “Then we used hard overhead
sources as kickers, which the smoke
picked up to create shafts of light. The idea
came from the 1950s photography, but it
also came from Bobby. I’ve come to learn he
really likes backlighting.” Webster adds,
“One of the nice things about a heightened
look is that it’s easier to get away with unmotivated
light. In the jazz-club scenes, we had
the freedom to light for dramatic effect
rather than motivation. We didn’t do much
overall lighting [of the location] because we
knew exactly what shots we wanted.”
God of Love also includes a few
night-exterior walk-and-talks with Ray, Fozzie
and Kelly, following their performances at
the club. For these scenes, Webster and
Matheny scouted a long, wide stretch of
sidewalk at West 4th Street and 6th Avenue,
one of the few places in Manhattan where
the light from the windows is bright enough
to expose a 60' dolly shot. Webster used a
dolly-mounted Diva-Lite for fill. When the
actors stopped at the corner, they were lit
with a 1.2K HMI through an 8'x8' silk frame.
Webster shot with a set of Zeiss Super
Speed primes in order to make the most of
his small lighting package. “We knew we’d
have scenes that didn’t have a huge amount
of light,” he says. “They may not be the
sharpest lenses in the world, but for the
1960s-ish look we were going for, I was
happy to have a bit less clarity. We mostly
14 February 2011 American Cinematographer
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Left: The crew follows Ray and Kelly’s date to an outdoor ice rink.
Above: Webster checks the Red One’s framing for a setup inside a
jazz club.
shot wide open, but we wanted to be able
to see the backgrounds clearly whenever
possible. We lit the jazz club so we could
shoot at T4.”
No film prints of God of Love were
made. “All of our exhibition has been on
HDCam struck from a 1080p lossless Animation-codec
master file output directly from
the original .r3D footage from After Effects,”
says Webster. “Using the Animation codec
gives you a very big file, but it’s definitely my
preferred master format.
“I think that the Red’s .r3D files are
transformative for low-budget filmmaking,”
adds the cinematographer. “It’s the first and,
at this point, the most affordable digital
camera that records substantially more information
than your release format, like film,
and the availability of tools that allow you to
access that information opens up a lot of
possibilities. Low-budget filmmakers are
typically cash-poor but time-rich, and with
the Red, you can make up for lack of money
for extensive post work by spending your
own time to do it. It took me two weeks to
do the work on God of Love that a skilled
colorist probably could have done in a few
days, but at least that was an option.”
In addition to marking the successful
conclusion of Matheny’s studies, God of
Love won a 2010 Student Academy Award.
“Everything on the screen is exactly how we
wanted it to be,” says Webster. “It’s the only
film I’ve made where I can say that’s the
case.” ●

Production Slate
In Peter Weir’s
The Way Back,
World War II
escapees from a
Siberian gulag
travel 4,000 miles
over treacherous
terrain in a bold
attempt to gain
their freedom. “I
like historical
stories very much,
and so does
Peter,” says
cinematographer
Russell Boyd, ASC,
ACS.
True Survivors
By Jay Holben
In The Way Back , Russian officials tell inmates in a Siberian
gulag that the real prison is not the 15' walls that surround them, but
the vast Siberian terrain that lies beyond those walls. When a small
group of prisoners decide to escape, they learn this is all too true. The
escapees include Janusz (Jim Sturgess), Valka (Colin Farrell) and Mr.
Smith (Ed Harris). Once they and three other prisoners break out of
the gulag, they face a 4,000-mile journey, on foot, from the harsh,
freezing forests of Siberia, through the Gobi Desert and into Tibet,
and then over the Himalayas and into British India.
To make The Way Back , director Peter Weir reteamed with
fellow Aussie Russell Boyd, ASC, ACS, who won an Oscar for his
work on Weir’s last film, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the
World (AC Nov. ’03). Boyd and Weir also collaborated on four
features early in their careers: The Year of Living Dangerously , The
Last Wave, Gallipoli and Picnic at Hanging Rock. Of The Way Back,
Boyd says, “I like historical stories very much, and so does Peter.
Many of our early films were about Australian history — coming-ofage
pieces, really, about our country. Peter does a lot of research, and
when he sent me the script for The Way Back, he included a lot of
his research notes.”
16 February 2011 American Cinematographer
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I
Many of Weir’s notes pertained to the look of the gulag,
where The Way Back begins. The first scene shows Janusz being
interrogated by a Russian soldier, and then being sentenced to 20
years of hard labor. The prison barracks are essentially a barn filled
from corner to corner and top to bottom with prisoners’ bunks.
“Peter’s research showed that the barracks were lit by a single bulb
over a small wood-fire stove in the center of the room,” notes Boyd.
“Peter wanted our sets, which were built onstage and up on the
backlot in Sophia, Bulgaria, to be very authentic, and [production
designer] John Stoddart stayed true to the look of the gulags.
“The barracks set was about 75 feet long and 25 feet wide,
so I lit it quite simply, starting with two 2K quartz Blondes bounced
into a white card in the center of the room, hung over the stove,”
continues the cinematographer. “Of course, I didn’t want each end
of the room to drop off completely to black, so we hung eight more
Blondes, bounced and gelled with ½ CTB for a moonlight feel, high
along the center of the ceiling toward each edge of the room, and
let that go 1 to 2½ stops underexposed, using double and single
scrims on the lamps to control the amount of light. Shooting
widescreen certainly helps when ceilings are low, making it difficult
to keep lamps out of frame. I was shooting at around a T4 in there.”
Boyd shot The Way Back on Kodak Vision3 500T 5219,
which he rated at an ISO of 400. “It hadn’t been out for very long
The Way Back photos by Judy Bouley, courtesy of Newmarket Films/Wreken Hill Entertainment.

when we started prepping, and I decided to
use it for the entire film after having an
inspiring conversation with our colorist,
Olivier Fontenay at E-Film [in Sydney],” he
notes. “It really is a very beautiful stock, with
beautiful saturation.” Boyd shot the film in
4-perf Super 35mm. “I prefer Super 35 [to
anamorphic] because it gives you more flexibility,
especially with lens choices,” he
observes. “And with the digital intermediate,
the 2.40:1 digital squeeze is very
successful.”
As much as was logistically possible,
the filmmakers shot the story in chronological
order to give the actors a taste of the
characters’ real journey. They started in
Sofia, where gulag interiors and exteriors
and Siberian forest scenes were shot, and
then eventually moved to Morocco for
desert sequences. They finally ended up in
Darjeeling, India. In addition to the barracks
set, Stoddart, art director Kess Bonnet and
their crew built the Siberian forest onstage.
“They really did an amazing job,” says
Boyd. “They brought in pine trees from a
commercial plantation and combined those
with some fiberglass pines that we could
easily move around. And instead of a flat
floor, they created an undulating plywood
surface that made it really easy for us to
shoot different directions and look like we
were in completely different places in the
forest. The special-effects team then blew
fake snow over the whole set — I’m still
finding the stuff in the pockets of my parka!
We were able to shoot day and night looks
on that set, which was a great help to the
production and saved us an incredible
amount of time.
“To light the forest set, I used the
time-honored system of space lights in the
grid — or what grid there was! The
Russians built those stages back in the
1950s or so, I believe, and they were a little
antiquated. We started by hanging 60
space lights in the grid, but as the art
department added trees to the forest, we
started losing light, so we had to double
that number. My lighting team worked out
a way to quickly switch out the space-light
bases with Full CTB gel on the bottom for
my moonlight look; the Full CTB on the
bottom gave about a ½ CTB look because
there was still tungsten light spilling from
the side of the lamp. Every space light was
run back to a dimmer board, so we could
dim them instead of turning them off altogether
if we wanted. For my night look, we
had 10 or 20 space lights burning over the
area of the scene and let the rest fall to
darkness. For daylight scenes, we had pretty
much everything burning.” Whenever
possible, Boyd positioned silk diffusion over
the actors to further soften the overhead
Initial escape
plans hinge on
the advice of an
undependable
inmate (Mark
Strong). “The
barracks set was
about 75 feet
long and 25 feet
wide, so I lit it
quite simply,
starting with two
2K quartz
Blondes bounced
into a white card
in the center of
the room, hung
over the stove,”
says Boyd.
light, mimicking the super-soft Siberian
winter light.
Boyd is not a cinematographer to
camp out at video village; he prefers to sit
next to the camera. “I never, ever go to
video village unless there’s some doubt
about a camera move,” he states. “I stay by
the camera, which means I’m right there
with the operators and crew. There’s always
something you want to change in those last
30 seconds before rolling, and I like being
right there with the cameras and the
actors.”
He isn’t idle beside the camera,
either. He usually has a handheld fixture
poised to add just the right amount of
eyelight on the actors. “I always have a little
bit of extra eyelight. It used to be a little
fixture into a bounce card that I’d hold, but
now I’ll usually use one of the 1-by-1
Litepanels dimmed down. It’s subtle; I hate
it when anything looks lit.”
After making it through the Siberian
forest, the escapees seek refuge in a large
cave, a practical location that the filmmakers
found just outside of Sofia. The cave
features a pair of naturally formed skylights
that “had the eerie look of a cat’s eyes,
almost observing our characters,” says
Boyd. For night work, he brought in an
Airstar 1680 tube balloon that was 23.6'
long by 8.2' in diameter. The balloon held
www.theasc.com February 2011 17

Clockwise from top left: A-camera operator Lorenzo Senatore (far left) shoulders the camera as Boyd
meters a shot and Weir works through a scene with actors Colin Farrell and Gustav Skarsgård; the
volatile Valka (Farrell) threatens Janusz (Jim Sturgess); harsh elements test the group’s mettle.
12 1K tungsten globes and four 1.2K HMIs.
By floating this balloon to the ceiling of the
cave, Boyd was able to achieve two night
looks: moonlight and campfire. “I used a
mix of tungsten and HMI [light] to get a
cool moonlight feel, and we switched to all
tungsten for campfire scenes and all HMI
for day scenes,” he explains.
The filmmakers ran two cameras
most of the time, with Lorenzo Senatore on
the A camera and Mark Vargo, ASC on the
B camera. (Vargo was also the second-unit
cinematographer.) “Peter likes to work very
closely with his operators, and Lorenzo and
Mark responded by making an enormous
contribution to the film,” notes Boyd. The
camera package included two Panaflex
Millennium XLs, two Panaflex Platinums,
and a PanArri 435. Boyd adds, “Lorenzo
brought his own Arri 235, and we used that
on occasion.” Using Panavision Primo prime
and zoom lenses, Boyd typically maintained
a stop of T2.8-T4. “I tend not to use zoom
lenses for zooming, per se, but instead as
variable primes,” he notes.
After wrapping the Bulgaria portion
of the shoot, the production moved to the
Sahara in Morocco, where they spent about
18 February 2011 American Cinematographer
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three weeks. Boyd used 12'x12' Griffolyn or
Ultrabounce reflectors to shape the
sunlight. “I’d have the grips put up a 12-by
with Griffolyn or Ultrabounce on one side
and a silver reflector on the other. If we
were on a close shot, we could use the Griffolyn
or Ultrabounce for fill; if we were on a
wider shot, I could back the bounce off and
use the silver side. On rare occasions, we’d
aim an 18K HMI into the bounce to help
fill.”
During the DI process at EFilm, The
Way Back was scanned and filmed out at
4K. The filmmakers initially attempted to
strike a print from a standard dupe negative,
“but none of us were happy with the
way that looked,” says Boyd. “The color
and sharpness weren’t what we wanted,
and some scenes were definitely very disappointing.
So we decided to make all of our
release prints from two digital negatives.
The results are really fantastic.
“This was my sixth film with Peter,
and I can say that each of them has been a
career highlight for me,” concludes Boyd. “I
can only hope there will be a seventh
soon!”
TECHNICAL SPECS
2.40:1
4-perf Super 35mm
Panaflex Millennium XL, Platinum;
PanArri 435; Arri 235
Panavision Primo lenses
Kodak Vision3 500T 5219
Digital Intermediate
Printed on Kodak Vision 2383
➣

Dereck and
Beverly Joubert’s
The Last Lions
celebrates the
animals but also
highlights their
increasingly
endangered
status in Africa.
The Jouberts
spent six years
shooting the
documentary,
using a mix of
high-definition
video cameras.
Animal Instincts
By Patricia Thomson
With The Last Lions, their 22nd film,
filmmakers and National Geographic
Explorers-in-Residence Dereck and Beverly
Joubert hope to draw attention to the big
cats’ plight. At the current rate of decline,
lions will be extinct by 2020. Whereas 1.5
million of them once roamed the planet,
today there are 20,000. They are endangered
by loss of habitat, blood-sport safaris,
and poaching to satisfy the Asian market
for medical elixirs, among other things. “As
filmmakers, we can no longer be
observers,” says Dereck, who has been filming
big cats with his wife for nearly 30 years.
“We have to be advocates.”
They decided to shape The Last Lions
around a compelling protagonist, Ma di Tau
(“Mother of Lions”). The film follows her
for a year as her life on Botswana’s
Okavango Delta undergoes radical change.
When the story opens, she and her mate
are loners, separate from any pride, a lion’s
hunting coalition. A fight with a hostile
pride leaves Ma di Tau’s mate fatally injured.
Weeks later, he dies on camera, and Ma di
Tau becomes a fugitive, her three cubs
hunted by Silver Eye, the leader of the rival
pride. A brushfire drives them across a crocodile-infested
river to Duba Island, an
outcropping recently created by a shift in
the wetland’s water channels. This virgin
territory has attracted other new residents
as well, including aggressive buffalo. The
herd both threaten her family and offer
hope of survival. We watch as Ma di Tau
tries various tactics to kill a buffalo, succeeding
only when she overcomes her fear of
open water and learns to conduct water
hunts. But when Silver Eye’s pride arrives,
our protagonist’s cubs are again threatened.
After a devastating loss, Ma di Tau wins the
leadership of this pride.
Filmed over six years, with the core
footage drawn from a 12-month period,
The Last Lions literally took place in the
Jouberts’ backyard. Their primary residence
has long been a canvas tent across the river
from Duba Island. This proximity allows
them to do what’s necessary for their style
of documentary: spend full days with the
lions for years at a time. “Dereck and I have
always felt that if you don’t give a film like
this two years, you’re failing,” says Beverly,
20 February 2011 American Cinematographer
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I
who handles sound and still photography
while Dereck operates motion-picture
cameras. “You can’t tell an animal’s story in
one season; you need to do all four. And
often you discover something you’ve
missed when you start editing, so it’s also
important to do the following year.”
Their day starts at 4 a.m., when they
load up the Land Cruiser that serves as
transport, dolly and tripod rolled into one.
“It’s also a submarine!” adds Beverly, since
wetlands crossings can submerge the filmmakers
as well as their gear. The vehicle’s
doors have been removed to facilitate quick
exits, and camera mounts have been added
at the lion’s eye level and near the running
board. “We didn’t want to be shooting
down on our subjects,” says Dereck. “We
wanted Ma di Tau, in particular, to be a
hero, so we wanted the audience to be able
to look directly into her eyes, or get down
really low and look up at her. I always carry
a set of Baby Legs for those opportunities to
hop out and get right down in the grass.
“We very much wanted The Last
Lions to feel like a dramatic feature rather
than a straight documentary, so I tried to
move the camera quite a lot,” he continues.
The Last Lions photos by Beverly Joubert, courtesy of the Jouberts and National Geographic.

Always and Forever
“From the first moment I walked through
Clairmont Camera’s doors nearly 25 years ago, I
was struck by the friendliness and respect the staff
extended to me and especially from Terry and Denny.
The whole crew goes above and beyond the call
of duty. On my first anamorphic show, we had
extensively tested our lens package. But when
the dailies came back they looked odd; something
was wrong. The lab assured us that everything was
right on their end. Denny immediately flew up and
proceeded to go through the entire chain –from film
stock, to the camera, lenses, to processing where
he discovered that a lens in the optical printer was
slightly out of alignment. We switched printers
and everything looked crisp. I think that without
Clairmont’s assistance I would not have been able
to break through the stonewall thrown up by the
lab. Thanks for saving my job Denny!
Another thing I really like about Clairmont
Camera is their ability to take a DP’s crazy idea
and turn it into reality. For me, it was being able to
create an identical image to two strands of different
negative —one B&W and one color—and dissolving
back and forth between the two. I made a drawing of
the rig and showed it to Denny, and then Clairmont
built it for me!
Over the years I’ve used a huge variety of
Clairmont’s equipment. One of my favorites is their
Blurtar lens set; when you shoot wide open they
make the best soft focus, blurry effects.
Naturally, I’ll vouch for their gear always being
topnotch. It’s always properly serviced, updated, and
works as well —if not better— than the day it was
manufactured. I’ll gladly recommend Clairmont
always and forever.”
Hollywood
818-761-4440
Thomas Burstyn, CSC
Vancouver
604-984-4563
Toronto
416-467-1700
Albuquerque
505-227-2525
www.clairmont.com
Montreal
514-525-6556

Right: Mother
and cub frolic in
one of the
movie’s many
intimate
moments.
Below: The Last
Lions is the
Jouberts’ 22nd
film, but it
marks the first
time they used
a Cineflex
Heligimbal,
which enabled
them to capture
some unusual
footage of
animals on
the hunt.
“I stripped down a Steadicam and attached
the arm to our Land Cruiser, and that gave
us some very nice floating-movement shots
going into the hunt and following the main
character. I’ve got the mount on all the time
and attach the arm when needed. I’m not
sure I’m ever going to be able to rebuild the
Steadicam because I’ve lost all the nuts and
bolts! But that’s the joy of owning your own
gear.”
For the shoot, Dereck typically
carried three high-definition-video cameras,
and the models reflect how the tools
evolved during production. “We started off
with a Panasonic VariCam [DVCPro-HD],
which was nice because it allowed us to
shoot some slow motion,” he says. “Then
we changed to the Panasonic AJ-HPX3000
[P2] and used a couple of those. At some
point during that time, I bought a [Vision
Research] Phantom HD, and we used that
extensively in the second half of the shoot.
The Phantom can capture up to 1,500 fps
[at 1080p], so the big moments — like the
22 February 2011 American Cinematographer
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buffalo running into the water when Ma di
Tau hears them for the first time — slow
down to a virtual standstill. We were trying
to put the audience inside her head in really
intense moments; those ‘a-ha’ moments,
like when she realizes the buffalo are using
the water as an escape, are when time
slows down.”
The Phantom wasn’t designed to be
carried into the African bush, however. “It
weighs a bloody ton,” says Dereck. “It
doesn’t even have an On/Off switch — you
plug it into the battery, and when you’re
done, you pull the plug out!” He fixed that
with a simple modification. “I basically
spliced a lamp switch into the cable in the
field and kept it like that.” Phantom and
Panasonic were often mounted side-by-side
on the same tripod head. “The P2 had a
slightly wider lens pre-focused for a
moment, while the Phantom was maybe a
600mm, pre-focused for a moment. I’d
mainly run the P2, then switch over to the
Phantom for that moment.”
During the hunts, Joubert’s decades
of experience allowed him to follow focus
even on a 40-mph charge. “My sweet spot
is with lions,” he notes, “so when a lioness
goes into action, it’s a lot easier for me to
follow her head on the run. I had tremendous
trouble with leopards when we first
worked with them because they’re just

faster.” When Ma di Tau races toward the
camera as she chases a straggling baby
buffalo during her first water hunt, her face
remains sharp within the blur of motion,
captured in the 250-300mm range at f5.6
in full sun. “I like to make it more difficult for
myself and have the depth-of-field quite
small, particularly with HD,” notes Dereck.
“I’ve set up the cameras as much as possible
to emulate a film camera with 100-ASA
film stock. We’ve had to be very careful
about it. Sometimes I’m shooting across the
hood and engine of the vehicle. Any big
dips of field-depth look like tremendous
heat haze.”
Even during a deadly charge, the
Jouberts want the audience to connect with
the lion. Camera position helps. “There’s an
angle I really like: low down, three-quarters,
with the animal coming toward me. Threequarters
across gives the audience a chance
to engage with the animal’s eyes and feel
part of the action without feeling they’re
right in the picture.”
Though the lions were sometimes
quite close to the filmmakers, predatory
action usually occurred in the distance.
Thus, a powerful Fujinon 44x zoom was
typically on the Panasonic, with a 33x and a
13x on standby, while the Phantom had a
range of fixed lenses, including 300mm and
600mm Canons and a 25-250mm Angenieux
HR zoom. Dereck notes that he’s lucky
he didn’t throw out his film lenses when he
switched to digital capture. “With the Phantom,
I’ve been able to dust off those great
old Canon and Angenieux lenses, and I
absolutely love the look.”
Above: Lions
inspect a herd for
potential victims.
Left: Dereck
Joubert works
with a Porta-Jib
in the field.
The Jouberts occasionally wrangled a
helicopter from a nearby tourist camp for
aerial photography. Dereck shot some of
this handheld, leaning out of the chopper,
but the filmmakers also rented a Cineflex
Heligimbal for the first time. Cinematographer
David MacKay and pilot Peter Pearlstein
conducted the last of the film’s four
aerial shoots using the gyrostabilized Cineflex
V14HD with a 44x Fujinon to capture
www.theasc.com February 2011 23

24
www.downmagaz.com
The filmmakers have adapted their Land Cruiser to facilitate Dereck’s motion-picture
photography (left) and Beverly’s still photography (right).
cookeoptics.com
CookeOpticsLimited
British Optical Innovation and
Quality Since 1893.
footage on HDCam-SR tape. “It’s so beautifully
steady, but it also enables you to be
quite high above the animals, so high that
they’re completely unaware you’re there, so
they carry on their natural behavior,” notes
Beverly.Dereck adds, “I remember doing a
shot where we picked up a bumblebee in a
water lily, then pulled out, with the helicopter
in a hover, to show the whole landscape
of the Okavango. Beautiful, steady,
wonderful stuff, shooting from a half mile
to a mile up in the air.” They also caught
some key drama, filming Ma di Tau as she
led her new pride to attack and take down
a dominant bull. Dereck recalls, “She went
out and jumped right on the buffalo without
even looking up at us, and we were
able to track that from the air. I’m not sure
there has ever been an aerially captured
hunt like this before; lions are fairly sensitive
to helicopters, so if they sense one around
them, they just won’t hunt.”
HD has its advantages for filming
wildlife. For example, a camera can be
trained on a hole and roll for hours until the
creature finally pops out. But that leads to
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an avalanche of data. With the Panasonic
P2, Joubert worked in AVC-Intra 100 mode,
recording 1 minute of 1920x1080 4:2:2
footage per gigabyte. This went onto P2
memory cards that ranged from 16GB to
64GB. The Phantom was even more
memory-expensive, consuming half a
terabyte a day, sometimes every hour. So
every night, the Jouberts faced an arduous
download. “In the days of film, we’d
unload a magazine, label it and throw it in
the back of the vehicle. Now there’s an
entire media-management process that
gobbles up a huge amount of time and
energy — as well as power — every
evening,” Dereck says. “We’ve got solar
power in camp, which is great but limited.
Downloading a magazine of Phantom
images, for instance, takes eight hours.”
Two months in the field typically
produced 16-20 TBof material. In Johannesburg,
where the Jouberts do their editing,
they initially rented memory space.
“We soon realized we were going to overstay
our welcome,” says Dereck. So they
bought a SAN. “It’s now 180 TB, probably
the largest storage in Africa.” Because of
data-management requirements, Dereck
has come to enforce a film-like discipline
when shooting.
Discipline is also needed to maintain
the ethical standards the Jouberts have set
for themselves: Never intervene, even if
your subject is about to be slaughtered by
another animal. (They will, however, rescue
an animal that’s been snared by a human or
wounded by gunfire.) Offer psychological
insights, but don’t anthropomorphize.
Never influence the action or handicap prey
with lights. (“If some impala were bouncing
around, confused by the lights and making
themselves easy prey, we wouldn’t film
that,” Dereck says.) And never prompt
aggression to get an action shot. In the
bush, patience is a virtue, and time is knowledge.
“We live the life,” says Dereck. “I
think we’re qualified to give greater insight
simply because we’ve done the time.”
The digital intermediate and release
printing for The Last Lions were handled by
Technicolor in Los Angeles.
TECHNICAL SPECS
1.85:1
(16x9 Original)
Digital Capture
Panasonic VariCam, AJ-HPX3000;
Vision Research Phantom HD
Canon, Fujinon and Angenieux lenses
Printed on Kodak Vision Premier 2393 ●
25

Masked
Men
John Schwartzman, ASC teams with
director Michel Gondry to create an
eye-popping look for the vigilante
adventure The Green Hornet.
By Iain Stasukevich
•|•
26 February 2011 American Cinematographer
www.downmagaz.com
The Green Hornet focuses on Britt Reid (Seth Rogen), a
ne’er-do-well who becomes a masked vigilante after his
wealthy father is murdered by gangsters. French filmmaker
Michel Gondry, whose credits include Eternal
Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (AC April ’04) and The Science of
Sleep (AC Oct. ’06), might seem an odd choice to direct the
comic-book adaptation, but cinematographer John
Schwartzman, ASC believes that the director’s signature
handmade style brought something truly unique to the genre.
“There were 15 other directors you could have plugged into
this movie, and they all would have delivered the same thing,
but Michel brought a sense of authorship,” says
Schwartzman. “Green Hornet is different from anything he’s
ever done, but it’s still him.”

Unit photography by Jaimie Trueblood, SMPSP, courtesy
of Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.
Gondry found something of a
kindred spirit in Schwartzman, whose
collaborations with Michael Bay, dating
back to their commercials at
Propaganda Films, were filled with eyepopping
visuals that were often accomplished
practically or in-camera. “In our
early years, Michael Bay and I had to
create more for less because we didn’t
have a lot of money,”Schwartzman
recalls. “We played around with forced
perspectives and used miniatures quite a
bit.”
Asked what he looks for in a
cinematographer, Gondry replies, “It’s
important that they trust me and that
they’re fast. It’s also very important that
the look of the film doesn’t infringe on
the actors’ performances. Some cinematographers
do amazing work but
require so much waiting that you lose
the precious time you could be using to
make a better performance.”
Gondry and Schwartzman
approached Green Hornet with the
intent of doing as many effects as possible
in-camera. Computer-generated
effects were used only if it wasn’t safe to
accomplish the effect live, or if the effect
was impossible to achieve without digi-
Opposite: Britt Reid
(Seth Rogen, left)
and Kato (Jay
Chou) don masks
to take on
the criminal
underworld in The
Green Hornet. This
page, top: Lenore
Case (Cameron
Diaz) helps Reid
keep his murdered
father’s media
empire afloat. Left:
Cinematographer
John Schwartzman,
ASC.
tal technology.
Schwartzman shot the picture in
the 2.40:1 anamorphic format, mostly
with Panavision’s G-Series lenses. “I
think anamorphic is the best way to
shoot because the lenses have so much
character,” he says. “Michel loved their
streaky, horizontal flares, and we used
them as a dramatic tool.”
The filmmakers had a whole
playbook of classic cinematic tricks.
Something as simple as an optical
dissolve was performed on set with all
the actors present. For the scene in
which Reid flashes back to his child-
ww.theasc.com w
February 2011 27

◗ Masked Men
hood, a piece of glass was placed in front
of the lens at a vertical 45-degree angle.
Starting with a shot of Rogen positioned
behind the pane of glass and the
actor playing the young Reid positioned
perpendicular to the camera’s field of
view, Schwartzman could cross-fade the
lights on both actors, revealing the
younger actor’s reflection in the glass.
“It’s a very simple trick — it’s how the
early pioneers did things — and doing
things this way played to Michel’s interests
and strengths,”the cinematographer
says.
Schwartzman accentuated Reid’s
alter ego with complex lighting cues. In
a scene at a Chinese restaurant that’s
filled with background extras and waiters
buzzing between the tables, the
camera dollies in on Reid as the ambient
lights dim and a spotlight appears overhead.
As he launches into a soliloquy,
everyone else on the set freezes. At the
end of his monologue, the camera
dollies back, the lighting returns to
normal, and all the players resume their
actions.
As Reid mentally reconstructs his
father’s murder, Gondry illustrates it in
his inimitable style: We see a cardboard
cutout of the Reid mansion engulfed in
flames, only the flames are the strands of
28 February 2011 American Cinematographer
www.downmagaz.com
Right: To isolate
Reid during his
soliloquy in a
Chinese
restaurant,
director Michel
Gondry drew on
his experience
with in-camera
effects,
instructing
background
actors to remain
motionless while
Rogen delivered
his lines. Bottom:
After Reid’s
impassioned
speech, all hell
breaks loose in
the restaurant.
hair in a blonde wig that’s backlit with
red-gelled light and blown about with
leaf blowers. “We were laughing on set
because it was the craziest thing we’d
ever seen, but when it’s cut into the
movie, it makes total sense,” says
Schwartzman.
Another simple trick involved
polarizing gels and filters. The Green
Hornet’s car, the Black Beauty, is a
souped-up,armor-plated 1965 Chrysler
Crown Imperial equipped with a safe
room in the trunk and Gatling guns in
the hood, and it has windows that can
go from clear to opaque, blocking the
view inside. Schwartzman had the car
windows skinned with RoscoView
polarizing gel and used a pola filter on
the camera. “If you have a polarizing gel
on a window and one in the camera, you
can rotate them 90 degrees to each
other and the gel goes black,” he
explains. “If Michel wanted the
windows to go black at the end of a
dialogue scene, we’d just turn the filter.”
Whenever the Green Hornet
corners a gang of bad guys against a
wall, Schwartzman replaced the car’s
headlights with Barco HD projectors,
which produced disorienting green and
black patterns Gondry designed.

“Michel would draw up and animate
the artwork on his Mac, and we’d feed
the QuickTime file into the projectors
right there,” says Schwartzman. “The
whole thing took five minutes to set up.”
When Reid isn’t out fighting
crime, he’s running his late father’s
newspaper, The Sentinel. Some of these
office scenes were shot in the visually
striking Creative Artists Agency building
in Los Angeles, but production
designer Owen Paterson and his crew
built the newsroom set onstage at Sony
Studios. “It looks kind of like the
bullpen in All the President’s Men , with
windows all around and two glass elevators
at the very end of it,” Schwartzman
explains. Gondry wanted the space to
have a flat fluorescent look and asked for
fluorescent practicals to be built into the
ceiling. (Schwartzman augmented these
with Kino Flo Image 80s.) Two
240'x28' TransLites of Los Angeles,
custom-designed by J.C. Backings,were
hung outside the windows — one for
day and one for night.
Schwartzman preferred the
TransLites to bluescreen because having
something tangible on set allowed him
greater control over the effect. “Michel
wanted to have the ability to see differ-
ent types of weather conditions outside,
but we didn’t have photo backings with
different color temperatures or different
looks, so we’d just light part of the backing
with a spotlight to achieve a different
effect,” he recalls. “During daytime
scenes, I’d sometimes put a 1-inch
mirror tile outside the window in front
of the backing and throw it out of focus
to make it look like a really hot reflection
off a building. I tried to replicate
some of the things you can’t control
Left: Kato and
Reid add some
custom features
to a 1965
Chrysler Crown
Imperial; dubbed
the Black Beauty,
the car is their
vehicle of choice
for navigating
the city’s seedier
corners. Below:
The crew
employs a helium
lighting balloon
for a night shot
of the car outside
of the Reid
mansion.
when you’re on location.”
The sunnydaytime look for the
newsroom set was supplied by approximately
100 6-Light Maxi coops
running above and along the length of
the photo backing, pointing back
through the set windows. “It was a lot of
lighting,” says Schwartzman. “The top
three globes were Medium Par 64s and
the bottom three were VNSP Par 64s,
so we could have hard light or softer
light.” All of the lights were on
ww.theasc.com w
February 2011 29

Still in its infancy, the
labor-intensive process of
converting 2-D images to
3-D images in post is
becoming an increasingly
popular alternative to
shooting native 3-D.
Recent releases that underwent
the post conversion
include The Last Airbender
(AC July ’10) and Alice in
Wonderland (AC April ’10).
Most of The Green Hornet
was shot 2-D and converted
in post, and the movie’s stereographic
supervisors, Grant Anderson of the
Sony Pictures 3-D Technology Center
and Rob Engle of Sony Pictures
Imageworks, recently talked to AC
about their work on the project.
American Cinematographer:
Describe the stereoscopic-conversion
process for The Green Hornet.
Grant Anderson: When you
convert any 2-D movie into stereo 3-D,
you have to think of every shot as a
visual-effects shot. We scanned all
2,426 shots at 2K, and then the actors
and objects in each shot were rotoscoped
and split into separate layers.
The layers were offset to give individual
depth to each actor or object, and the
gaps between the plates were painted
in. During this process, you’re synthesizing
the other eye. Some vendors keep
the original scan plate as the right eye
and only create a left, while others
create both a left and right eye.
Creating one eye means less data
management, but creating two new
eyes can result in less paintwork. These
plates then come back for a depth
review, where the overall depth and
roundness of the various actors and
objects are approved. Then the vendors
go into a cleanup phase where the final
paintwork is completed and any edge
artifacts from stray roto are massaged
out. The idea is to nail it without too
many reworks.
John Schwartzman told us, ‘If
you were to make a list of all the things
you shouldn’t do when shooting in
2-D for conversion to 3-D, you’d find
we did them all on this movie.’ He
cited anamorphic lens flares, anamorphic
depth-of-field and atmospheric
effects as some examples. How did you
overcome these challenges?
Anderson: All of these things
make the conversion process more difficult.
Dimensionalizing lens flares is
especially challenging because of their
transparent nature — the background
comes with it. Great care has to be
taken, or you have to remove them and
comp CG flares back in. Atmosphere
and smoke have the same issues: you
need to put them at the right depth
without pulling the background
forward. When you’re looking at a shot
in 3-D, your eye jumps directly to the
thing that’s closest to you in depth.
When you have a shallow depth-offield
in 3-D, the foreground object your
eye jumps to is a blurry mess, and the
scene becomes a strain to look at. If you
were actually shooting in stereo, you
would deepen your depth-of-field to
make those objects a little sharper. With
conversion, we don’t have that advantage.
The objective, then, is to minimize
the degree to which those out-of-focus
objects are coming out of the screen so
they’re not sitting in your lap.
Many cinematographers have
expressed concern about the stereoscopic-conversion
process, particu-
30 February 2011 American Cinematographer
www.downmagaz.com
•|• Adding 3rd Dimension to Hornet •|•
larly when they’re not
involved in it. What
would you say to them?
Rob Engle: The
most important thing we
can tell any cinematographer
is that his or her
work is always the starting
point for our work. We’re
not changing the original
composition or lighting.
Anderson: We try
to stay true to the depth of
the scene as it was shot.
This goes for overall depth and also for
the roundness or internal depth of the
actors and objects in the scene. When
you stretch it too much, it becomes very
obvious that the scene is no longer realistic.
It becomes a caricature of itself.
How much input did John
Schwartzman and Michel Gondry
have in Green Hornet’s conversion?
Anderson: Michel, Seth [Rogen]
and others had a lot of input, John not
so much at the post stage because of
scheduling. Michel had a clear vision for
the 3-D tricks he wanted to perform.
He wanted to exaggerate the 3-D,
giving slightly more volume to the
actors and the scenes. He was always
talking about how he loved his [Fisher
Price] View-Master as a kid.
Engle: Even though John wasn’t
on hand during the post conversion, he
and I were able to collaborate on the
live-action portion of the shoot. It’s
becoming less common for productions
to decide to convert to 3-D after they’ve
wrapped. I’ve had many conversations
with directors, cinematographers and
visual-effects teams during prep, and
I’ve even gone on technical scouts to
discuss the best ways to shoot with 3-D
conversion in mind. I encourage any
cinematographer who’s informed about
a production’s decision to go 3-D to
reach out to the stereographer.
— Iain Stasukevich

dimmers, and white bobbinet was used
outside the windows to diffuse the
backing and keep “exterior” light from
entering the set when an overcast look
was desired.
One of the limitations of using a
photo backing is the lack of a perspective
change when the camera moves. So
when Schwartzman moved the camera,
he had a team of grips shift the photo
backing in small increments to create
the illusion of parallax. “I don’t know if
you’ll notice it,” he says, “but we moved
it as much as we could until we almost
pulled the rivets out!”
An interesting quirk of the newsroom
set is that only one of the two
main elevators is functional — the
production couldn’t afford to build two
working elevators. Gondry realized that
from a certain angle and position, the
bullpen was perfectly symmetrical. A
mirror version of the set was created,
including all of the signage and TV
graphics, and the actors’ hair and
wardrobe was designed to be perfectly
reversible when they were in the mirror
set. The same elevator was always used,
and the image was flipped in post to
make it look as if both elevators were
operational.
Reid’s father preferred to tackle
crime and corruption with the power of
the press, but the Green Hornet quickly
realizes how persuasive a turbo-charged
supercar and a little kung fu can be.
When he tells Kato (Jay Chou), “You’re
a human Swiss Army knife,” he’s not
just talking about all the high-tech
weapons Kato engineers—he’s also
referring to Kato’s calm, ninja-like physical
prowess. To illustrate this ability,
Schwartzman and Gondry came up
with “Kato Vision.” Schwartzman
explains, “It’s Kato’s point of view. In the
middle of a fight, he can look at five
different bad guys at once and focus on
each of them.” Kato Vision shots were
captured at 500 fps with a Vision
Research Phantom HD “because that’s
the only high-speed digital camera that
can take anamorphic lenses,”
Schwartzman notes. A Source Four
Leko was focused on each of the villains
Top: One of
Gondry’s
storyboards for
the “Chase the
Hornet”
sequence, in
which the screen
splits as
the order to kill
the Green Hornet
spreads through
the underworld.
Middle: Gondry
(left) positions
Rogen for an incamera
flashback
effect that
reveals a young
Britt Reid (Joshua
Erenberg).
Bottom: Reid’s
mental
reconstruction
of his father’s
murder includes
a cardboard
mansion
engulfed in
flames created
with backlit
strands of
hair from a
blonde wig.
ww.theasc.com w
February 2011 31

◗ Masked Men
Clockwise from
top: The Green
Hornet’s war on
crime eventually
spills into the
offices of the
Reid-run
newspaper, The
Sentinel; the
crew prepares a
crane shot inside
the office set,
built onstage at
Sony Studios;
gelled Par cans
bolster the Black
Beauty’s green
headlights.
as the frame jumped from weapon to
weapon and then back to Kato as he
prepared to disarm his attackers.
During night-exterior fights,
Gondry wanted the ability to go from
24 fps to 500 fps without having to wait
for an extensive relight, but “shooting
500-ASA film at a T3.5 requires something
like 42 footcandles, and shooting
with the Phantom at 100 ASA at T2.8
requires something closer to 3,300 footcandles,”
says Schwartzman. He and
gaffer Frank Dorowsky lit their locations
— which included a six-block
stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard —
to go from 40 footcandles to 3,000 footcandles
at the push of a button. “We had
lights all over the place,” Schwartzman
recalls. “If there was a billboard lighting
itself for a 24-fps shot, we’d have to add
a Dino to see that same billboard when
we cranked the Phantom up to 500 fps.
We augmented streetlights with focusable
6K LRX Lights, which we rigged
right over the lamp head. I had a couple
of 650-watt Redheads washing up a
building at 24 fps, and at 500 fps I
needed four 10Ks to get the same look.
If we were using a Bebee Night Light
at 24 fps, I’d just use one of its [6K]
lamps, but when we went to 500 fps, I’d
turn on the other 14! It was a lot of
work, but the studio supported it
because they wanted Michel to be
32 February 2011 American Cinematographer
www.downmagaz.com
completely free to create.”
For fights in the Sentinel bullpen,
Gondry never exceeded 120 fps. (He
also never ramped the camera on set.)
Schwartzman switched the Image 80s
from two tubes for 24 fps to eight tubes
for 120 fps, programming the windoworiented
Maxi-Brutes and Skypans
through a dimmer board.
When the Green Hornet starts
to get the better of the criminal
underworld, Benjamin Chudnofsky
(Christoph Waltz) decides it’s time to
squash the superhero once and for all.
This leads to a particularly memorable
montage that shows the order to kill the
Green Hornet being passed around the

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...much more to come

34
◗ Masked Men
Kingpin of
crime Benjamin
Chudnofsky
(Christoph
Waltz) gets the
Hornet in
his sights.
www.downmagaz.com
underworld. The sequence begins when
two of Chudnofsky’s henchmen exit a
bar. One heads to a massage parlor in
Hollywood to spread the word, while
the other rounds up a posse elsewhere.
Whenever two or three characters share
the frame and then go their separate
ways, the screen seamlessly divides, with
each new frame fol lowing the character
until he meets another character in
another location, and then the screen
splits again, and so on, following the
characters until the 2.40:1 frame is
divided into 16 separate panels.
Gondry likens the sequence to a
tree with 16 branches. “You go to the
end of the first branch and then come
back to the trunk, and then you go to
the second branch and then come back
where the second branch meets the first
branch, and then you go to the third
branch. We follow the first bad guy, he
talks to the first person, and then the
camera continues, but first we have an
assistant mark the feet of the Steadicam
operator [Chris Haarhoff] when he
stops for the shot. We mark his position
and memorize the frame on the video
return, and all the other characters don’t
move. We follow the main character
going to talk to the next character, and
it’s the same thing— when he talks to
him we mark Chris’ heel. The other guy
he’s talking to stays still, and then we
talk to the third one, and then we talk to
the fourth one, and then that person
goes away. Then we come back to the
last juncture with the third guy. Chris
puts his heel to the mark and we match
the frame as best we can, and then the
other actor, who was standing frozen,
resumes his action, and now we follow
him until he reaches the end of his

anch. When he’s done, we stop the
camera and come back one more juncture.”
And so on.
Using a video camera, Gondry
spent the first night on location rehearsing
the sequence with Haarhoff and
2nd-unit cinematographer Peter Lyons
Collister, ASC. On the second night,
each of the vignettes was shot in 1.33:1
with a PanArri 435 and a 27mm T1.9
Primo sphericallens. “Even if we didn’t
use everything we shot, it would’ve been
almost impossible to fit that many
’Scope frames into one,” Collister
muses. Gondry arranged the frames and
tightened up any visible jump cuts in
post.
After principal photography
wrapped, Sony informed the filmmakers
that Green Hornet would be
converted to 3-D in post. “If you were
to make a list of all the things not to do
when shooting in 2-D for conversion to
3-D, you’d find we did them all,”
Schwartzman notes wryly. “For starters,
you don’t want anything that’s difficult
to rotoscope, and when we shot the film
we encouraged lens flares and debris and
smoke. If I’d known we were going 3-D,
I would have shot this movie flat [spherical]
with wider lenses because those
kinds of shots dimensionalize easier.”
Although Schwartzman’s schedule
kept him from participating in the
stereoscopic-conversion process (see
sidebar on page 30), he did have the
opportunity to do two days of reshoots
in native 3-D. This work was done with
two Red One M-X cameras, Zeiss Ultra
Primes and a 3ality TS-2 stereo rig. The
Green Hornet will be released in 2-D as
well as 3-D, which means the post team
pulled one eye from the 3-D footage for
the 2-D version. “Normally, that would
match [the look of the 2-D footage]
pretty well, but we shot 3-D digitally,
whereas the rest of the movie, apart
from the Phantom material, was shot on
film,” notes Schwartzman says. “But I
was actually less concerned about
getting digital cameras to match film
than I was about getting the field of
view of a flat lens to match that of an
anamorphic lens. [Colorist] Stefan
Sonnenfeld at Company 3 did a great
job of adding a little noise to the clean
digital image to make it feel a bit more
like film.” ●
2.40:1
TECHNICAL SPECS
35mm and Digital Capture
Panaflex Platinum,
Millennium XL; PanArri 435;
Vision Research Phantom HD;
Red One M-X
Panavision G-Series, Primo;
Zeiss Ultra Prime
Kodak Vision2 Expression 500T
5229, Vision3 200T 5213
Digital Intermediate

36 February 2011 American Cinematographer
www.downmagaz.com
Total
Immersion
Director of
photography
Jules O’Loughlin, ACS
uses 3-D to explore
the depths of terror
on Sanctum.
By Simon Gray
•|•

Unit photography by Jasin Boland, courtesy of Rogue Pictures. Photo on page 44 courtesy of the filmmakers.
Based on the experiences of
renowned underwater explorer
Andrew Wight (Ghosts of the Abyss,
Aliens of the Deep ), the new thriller
Sanctum combines executive producer
James Cameron’s fascination for underwater
environs with the latest 3-D
image-acquisition technology.In the
Australian production, which was
directed by Alister Grierson and shot by
Jules O’Loughlin, ACS, things go from
bad to worse for an expedition of cave
divers, who are led by Frank McGuire
(Richard Roxburgh). When a tornado
causes a flash flood while they are
exploring a cave, the divers are cut off
from their original point of entry and
forced to descend deep into the cave
system to find another way out.
After meeting as students at the
Australian Film, Television and Radio
School, Grierson and O’Loughlin
collaborated on the feature Kokoda, a
harrowing account of the famous trek
by Australian soldiers in New Guinea
during World War II. Wight showed
the movie to Cameron, who subsequently
invited Grierson to New
Zealand’s Stone Street Studios while he
was working there on Avatar (AC Jan.
’10). “A few hours after Alister landed in
Wellington, I received a call asking me
to catch the next plane over,” recalls
O’Loughlin. The pair spent almost a
week with Cameron, discussing the
logistical and creative concerns of
shooting 3-Dand how best to tackle
Sanctum.
Principal photography for
Sanctum took place over 60 days at the
Warner Bros. Studios on Australia’s
Gold Coast during the latter half of
2009. The production used two soundstages
and, for underwater sequences
filmed at night, the facility’s main
outdoor water tank, which has a surface
area of 12,915 square feet. During two
months of prep, Grierson and
O’Loughlin discussed how best to
achieve a film aesthetic with 3-D technology.
“It was very important for this
movie to exude a kinetic, onscreen
energy that would constantly drive the
narrative forward,” says O’Loughlin.
“From the beginning, Alister and I
wanted to use 3-D to immerse the audience
in a world they’ve never seen
before, a world they would respond to
viscerally. The audience should feel that
they’re inside these caves with our characters,
but not to the point where it’s too
uncomfortable. As soon as you physically
strain an audience using 3-D,
you’re in real danger of drawing them
out of the picture.”
O’Loughlin used three configurations
of the Fusion 3-D system, which
was teamed with Sony HDC-F950
cameras and Fujinon Premier HD 16x
zoom lenses. The A camera was a topmounted
beam splitter operated by
Greg Gilbert that spent most of its time
on a Lev Head at the end of a
SuperTechno 50. The B camera used an
under-slung beam splitter for
Steadicam work (also done by Gilbert)
and handheld work (operated by Ian
Thorburn). The C camera was a sideby-side
rig operated by Simon
Christidis and used for underwater
work; this rig was limited to an interocular
(IO) of 63mm, whereas the other
rigs allowed the IO to be reduced to 0.
Opposite: Cave divers find themselves on an
increasingly dangerous expedition in the 3-D film
Sanctum, shot by Jules O’Loughlin, ACS.
This page, top: Group leader Frank McGuire (Richard
Roxburgh, left), and his son, Josh (Rhys Wakefield),
search for an escape route. Bottom: The pair climbs
the Inverted Squeeze.
ww.theasc.com w
February 2011 37

◗ Total Immersion
Right: The
production
occupied two
stages at Warner
Bros. Studios in
Australia. In the
Forward Base
set (pictured),
“there was only
5 feet of
clearance
between the set
and the studio
wall,” notes
O’Loughlin.
Below:
Capturing
stuntmen at
work in Dante’s
Inferno are Ian
Thorburn
(foreground
left), operating
the B-camera
beam splitter,
and the
A-camera beam
splitter on a Lev
Head and Super
Technocrane.
Stereographer Chuck Comisky
(Avatar) controlled the 3-D technology
from a facility dubbed The Pod, a modified
shipping container that featured a
46" JVC passive 3-D monitor, a 2K
digital projector outfitted with a Real-D
system, and an 8'-widesilver
screen. Live camera feeds enabled
Comisky to monitor in real time, directing
IO settings and convergence points,
the latter of which were generally
coupled to focus settings. Pace
controllers were used to adjust both IO
and convergence during a shot when
required. In keeping with the filmmakers’
desire for a realistic look, Comisky
used conservative settings for the interspacial
distance between the lenses “so
as to provide a sense of scale to the
images, to make them feel life-size and
not miniature,” he says.
Adding the two beam splitters to
38 February 2011 American Cinematographer
www.downmagaz.com
the F950s reduced the cameras’ effective
ASA to 160. “If we’d shot Sanctum on
500-ASA 35mm negative, I would have
needed 3½ times less light!” notes
O’Loughlin. Data from the F950s was
recorded onto two SRW-1 decks per
camera rig. Both the left-eye and righteye
images were laid down to a single
HDCam tape at 4:2:2 compression,
with the second tape serving as instantaneous
backup.
One of O’Loughlin’s initial
concerns was the increased depthof-field
inherent in the F950’s 2⁄3" chip.
“There are quite different schools of
thought when it comes to depth-offield
and shooting 3-D,” says the cinematographer.
“Some believe 3-D is best
served by deep focus. My view is that
selective focus with short depth-of-field
is a powerful tool in 3-D, just as it is in
2-D. We still want to direct the audience’s
eye, and the focus plays a role in
that, as do lighting, camera movement
and staging. The only answer was to
shoot almost wide open, at T2.” He also
discovered that very specific care was
required with camera moves. “At times,
the nature of shooting 3-D is restrictive
either physically, because of the size of

the camera rigs, or because the shot
simply doesn’t work in 3-D. An unmotivated
pan executed too quickly might
be unappealing but passable in 2-D, but
it will be unwatchable in 3-D.
“Alister and I spent a lot of time
in prep nailing down camera moves and
how to motivate lighting in the caves,
which had to look both realistic and
awe-inspiring,” he continues. “The film
treads a fine line between the beautiful
and terrible — a ‘magnificent desolation,’
to borrow Buzz Aldrin’s famous
description of the moon.”
In pursuit of a realistic aesthetic,
O’Loughlin and his crew subjected the
3-D rigs to the repeated rigors of water,
heat, fire, and then more water. Key grip
Adam “Skull” Kuiper recalls, “The sets
featured massive,high-flow irrigation
pumps and full-height studio waterfalls
that created huge volumes of mist and
humidity. Protecting the 3-D systems in
such an adverse environment was a top
consideration of the grip department.
We had to not only ensure the reliability
of all the electronic equipment, including
the SuperTechno 50, stabilized
remote head and beam-splitter camera
packages, but also keep all that water
and spray off the lenses! The matte-box
system on the 3-D rigs precluded using
Top: McGuire
pauses for a
moment in
Forward Base.
Middle: The
A-camera/Super
Techno
combination is
used to capture
the scene as Carl
(Ioan Gruffudd)
and Victoria (Alice
Parkinson) fight
the torrent in the
Flowstone Falls.
Bottom: Director
Alister Grierson
(left) and
O’Loughlin discuss
the next setup.
ww.theasc.com w
February 2011 39

◗ Total Immersion
Right: C-camera/
underwater
operator Simon
Christidis uses the
side-by-side rig as
Gruffudd (left) and
Roxburgh (right)
enact a scene.
Below: Judes
(Allison Cratchley,
left) and McGuire
prepare to enter
the Devil’s
Restriction.
Looking on at left
is the remotely
operated Virgil.
a spinning-glass system, so I thought
some form of compressed-air system
might work. Through testing, we found
that Air Knives, a blade-type technology
that delivers a laminar airflow, could
be modified and re-shimmed to create a
‘twin-blade’ primary and secondary
compressed-air system. Pure filtered air
was delivered to the blades from a largecapacity
air compressor via two main
feed lines and filters. The system
included a small-flow feeder line into
the camera body bag to keep camera
temperatures down.” The air-delivery
system was controlled on set and could
be manually adjusted to the requirements
of each shot.
When McGuire and the other
explorers first enter the caves, they
establish what’s known as a Forward
Base, the staging post for forays into the
cave system. It is the flooding of this
40 February 2011 American Cinematographer
www.downmagaz.com
area that sends the team on its desperate
quest for another exit. “Forward Base
was the first set we encountered,” recalls
O’Loughlin. “It was both a dry and a
wet set, and space was at a premium —
there was only 5 feet of clearance
between the set and the studio wall, and
at one end the set was only 3 feet below
the lighting grid. Pre-lighting was an
interesting undertaking, to say the
least!”
The location is introduced to
viewers with a 200'Technocrane move
that reveals the full scope of the underground
cavern by following one of
the explorers through the space.
O’Loughlin lit the dry sequences with
overheadsoft boxes containing four
1,000-watt Parcans through CTS and
H1000 cotton-based diffusion, and Arri
T-24s gelled with Full CTS that were
fired into Ultrabounce at both ends of
the stage. A mix of 800-watt Tota
Lights, 1'Kino Flo tubes, and Pelican
9430 24-watt LED Remote Area
Lighting Systems acted as practical
lamps. Strategically placed 5Ks, 1Ks and
650-watt lights, all gelled with Half to
Full CTS, brought out the set’s texture,
and additional Kino Flo units hidden
amongst the expedition-equipment

16Digital SR Mag
SI-2K
Digital Cinema Camera
HS-2 MKII
3D Stereo Rigs
SKATER Dolly
PRO35
MINI35
35Digital Lenses
16Digital Lenses
SKATER Scope
IMS Lens Mounts
SteadyFrame Scanner
„For us, the HS-2 was the obvious
choice because of it‘s proven reliability,
high quality images and because
it outputs HD/SDI directly from it‘s
12.000 frame buffer without any
wait time for rendering.“

◗ Total Immersion
Right: Christidis
lines up a shot of
Roxburgh. Below:
Grierson (left)
and a safety diver
look on as
Christidis works
with the
side-by-side rig.
42 February 2011 American Cinematographer
www.downmagaz.com
props were used to light the actors.
Important sections of the Forward
Base set are the “sumps,” submerged
passages constructed at each end of the
set, and several water pits scattered
around the front of the set. To create the
impression that the expedition has positioned
its own lights in these chambers,
O’Loughlin’s crew placed 650-watt
SeaPars gelled with Full CTB into each
of the sumps, and underwater Kinos in
the pits. Water-ripple effects against the
cave walls were provided by a combination
of 200-watt, 575-watt and 1,200watt
HMIs across the surface of the
water in the sumps. “When the full fury
of the cyclone rapidly floods the Forward
Base cave, we switched our dry-light gel
packs from CTS to ½ CTB to create a
cool ambient fill, and we knocked out all
the practical lights except for the
submerged Kinos,” explains O’Loughlin.
“To simulate the light from the characters’
headlamps on the cave walls, gaffer
Peter Bushby and his team bounced
handheld Parcans off a variety of softsilver
and white reflector boards.
Powerful flashlights fired onto the caveset
walls behind the actors heightened
the sense of chaos during the flooding
sequences.”
Bushby details how the Parcans
were constructed and used: “To keep the
crew mobile, free from cabling and safe, I
designed four 24-volt battery pack backpacks
for them to wear. We then ran 28volt
aircraft landing lights retro-fitted
into Par 64 fittings from the backpacks.
The boys could easily move around the
wet set, repositioning quickly for each
new setup and providing a very realistic
replication of the practical lights being
carried or worn by the actors. This
approach also enabled the electricians to
keep pace with the cast when they were
running through the waist-deep water!”
O’Loughlin radioed instructions to the
electricians about the strength and direction
of the individual lights during the
course of each shot. “It was a complex but
finely tuned choreography of actor,
camera and lighting, and the guys very
quickly became adept at it,” says
O’Loughlin. “Each and every one of

them did an outstanding job.”
Another significant subterranean
set is the Cauldron, which almost reached
the studio’s lighting grid and is best
described as a U-shaped shaft with a
voluminous tank of water at the base.
Grierson wanted to shoot sweeping
Technocrane moves across the length of
the set. “I asked Alister if we could limit
the moves to 180 degrees, so that we
could light the set to shoot everything in
one direction and make only one major
adjustment to shoot in the other direction,”
says O’Loughlin.
Concerned about lighting the
Cauldron with an appropriate level of
contrast, O’Loughlin asked production
designer Nic McCallum to have the set’s
walls painted charcoal gray. That way,
only the actors’ clothing and skin tones
sat in the mid-tonal range, while the
headlamps created highlights on the
walls. “We then hung several 12-by-12foot
Ultrabounces from the grid above
the opposing walls of the set, into which
we fired [Arri] T-12s with double chocolate
gels from the floor to provide a
soft but directional 3⁄4 backlight,” says
O’Loughlin. “Two 18Ks and six Dinettes
were directed into a 20-by-20-foot artificial
silk from the front of the set; the exact
combinations changed with the shooting
direction. A T-24on a dimmer was fired
into the sump water on the edge of the
set, and, depending on the camera angle,
this played as either a subtle, shimmering
bounce or a more dramatic edgelight.”
When the expedition team is deep
underground, lighting is motivated by the
sources the characters could take with
them when the Forward Base flooded. “If
a practical was attached to or being
carried by one of our characters, then the
light had to grow and decay within each
shot as the characters moved,” explains
the cinematographer. “There are many
forms of light utilized by the characters
throughout the course of the story,
including cyalume sticks, candlelight and
even, in one sequence, the light from a
single wristwatch.” The latter scene
features a tracking shot through a narrow
tunnel that was achieved with a 6"x12"
LED Rosco LitePadattached to the

44
◗ Total Immersion
www.downmagaz.com
camera head on the end of a GF-6
crane linked with two lengths of string
running back to the monitor. As the
actors inched their way through the
tunnel, O’Loughlin manipulated the
light to match the actor’s movements.
The effect was further trimmed in the
digital grade with the use of a subtle
O’Loughlin takes a light reading at the A camera.
vignette. Bushby notes, “We were able
to retrofit several of the underwater
wrist lights for the divers from LED to
quartz 35-watt halogen, and the battery
packs ran for about 20 minutes. We also
modified 300-watt and 650-watt
Fresnels from 240 to 24 volts.”
The filmmakers built a distinct
color arc into the narrative. For the first
section of the cave up to Forward Base,
O’Loughlin established a sense of
“warmth and wonderment” using mainly
tungsten units with various grades of
CTS. After the flooding, the spectrum
becomes cooler, and as the action
progresses well into the cave system, full
and sometimes double chocolate gels
give the light a “dirtier, earthy feel,” says
O’Loughlin. “In the section of the cave
where the characters are down to using
candlelight, we predominantly used
flame bars. Some of the final sequences
used cyalume sticks as practicals, replicated
by Fern Green gels on small China
balls.” The general approach to color was
replicated in the underwater scenes;
tungsten sources placed in the stretches
near the Forward Base give the light a
green hue, and HMIs in the farther
reaches of the caves provided a bluer
environment.
Underwater scenes were shot at
night in the studio’s main tank. At the

eginning of each “day,” O’Loughlin,
Grierson and Christidis dove down to
the set to work out their plan. Back on
the surface, Grierson and O’Loughlin
used a model of the set to demonstrate
the night’s work to the cast and the rest
of the crew. Using small LEDs,
O’Loughlin then outlined the setups for
the underwater lighting crew. During
actual shooting, O’Loughlin and
Grierson worked from a topside video
village using aqua-com and open-coms
to coordinate any changes.
Throughout the shoot,
O’Loughlin viewed dailies on a 46"JVC
LCD monitor using a passive 3-D
system. “We weren’t able to see every
single shot on set in 3-D, so viewing 3-D
dailies every night was a vitally important
means of ensuring that we were on the
right track,” he says. “[Post facility]
Digital Pictures calibrated the monitor
before we started principal photography,
and I was satisfied that what I was viewing
was an accurate approximation of
what we were shooting.”
O’Loughlin did Sanctum’s final
digital grade at Digital Pictures in
Melbourne, where he worked with
colorist Brett Manson. “3-D cinema
display devices have an inherent drop in
luminance that’s caused by the glasses
and, on the Real-D system, the Z-
Screen,” notes Manson. “As a rule of
thumb, the grade needs to be pushed a
little harder in the brightness values
than a 2-D finish to avoid a contrast
ratio that’s too low onscreen.” The
picture was graded on a Lustre using the
Real-D system. “Once the 3-D grade
was complete and rendered out, the DI
was done,” continues Manson. “The
‘best eye’ from the timeline was chosen
to assemble the 2-D timeline that
would be used for the DI, HD and
DCP deliverables. For the film pass,
footage was converted to a logarithmic
color space using a custom-built print
LUT. Further grading was undertaken
with the print LUT emulating what we
would see on film. Trim passes were also
necessary for the HD and 2-D DCP
versions because of the luminance
differences.”
“Sanctum was an exciting challenge
both technically and creatively,”
concludes O’Loughlin. “With a worldclass
team behind me and a director
willing to push the boundaries, it was a
total blast taking it from concept to the
screen.” ●
TECHNICAL SPECS
1.85:1
(16x9 Original)
3-D Digital Capture
Sony HDC-F950
Fujinon HA 16x6.3BE RM/RD
Digital Intermediate
Printed on Kodak Vision 2383
45

Behind the
Music
46 February 2011 American Cinematographer
www.downmagaz.com
John Bailey, ASC
captures a conflicted
singer’s onstage and
offstage lives in
Country Strong.
By Michael Goldman
•|•
Shana Feste was only 4 years old when Robert Redford’s
Ordinary People (1980) was released, but eventually, that
film sparked her own desire to make movies that were
character-driven dramas. It also led her to recruit Ordinary
People’s director of photography, John Bailey, ASC, to shoot
her first feature, The Greatest (2009). They recently reteamed
on her second, Country Strong . “I’ve been very lucky to get
John for my first two movies,” says Feste. “I trusted his setups
to tell the story, and that allowed me to do my job as a director
and focus on the actors. John has worked with lots of firsttime
filmmakers, and he’s particularly gracious.”
Country Strong focuses on country-music singer Kelly
Canter (Gwyneth Paltrow), who battles alcoholism and
depression as she watches younger, rising stars threaten to
eclipse her success. The film was shot almost entirely on location
around Nashville, Tenn., and much of the drama takes
place in small, intimate spaces such as hotel rooms, dressing
rooms and tour buses/vans. When Canter takes the stage,
however, there is no question that she is a star. “The intention

Unit photography by Scott Garfield, courtesy of Screen Gems, Inc.
was to have a strong contrast between
the onstage and offstage lives of the
characters,” says Bailey. “One great
theme of the film regarding Gwyneth’s
character is disjunction, the contrast
between her conflicted personal life and
the charismatic quality she has onstage
as the queen of country music.”
In a departure for the cinematographer,
who has long been a fan of the
anamorphic format and the photochemical
finish, Country Strong was shot
in 3-perf Super 35mm and finished
with a digital intermediate. “Shana and
I agreed we wanted a widescreen aspect
ratio, and I wanted to shoot anamorphic,
but the studio refused to let us cut
negative, even for a movie that has no
visual effects,” says Bailey. “I decided
there was little point in shooting 4-perf
anamorphic if [the resolution] was
going to be degraded by the filmout
from a DI. Most of the major studios
now routinely require a DI whether it
makes sense or not, because they want a
single digital master for all downstream
markets. I’m not giving up, however —
I will always fight for anamorphic, cut
negative and a photochemical film
finish! I do this for aesthetic as well as
archival considerations.”
Early on, Bailey suggested that
the crew view dailies together on a big
screen in a dedicated room, and
although the production only had access
to standard-definition video dailies, the
team did watch those together. Bailey
maintains that this was essential to
maintaining quality and a communal
Opposite: Kelly
Canter (Gwyneth
Paltrow) greets an
enthusiastic crowd
in a scene from
Country Strong.
This page, top:
The singer shares
a rare warm
moment with her
husband and
manager, Ed (Tim
McGraw), during
an appearance at
a local school.
Below: Ed takes
an interest in
neophyte singer
Chiles Stanton
(Leighton
Meester).
sense of creativity throughout the shoot.
In fact, he believes so strongly that this
results in a better final product that “I
will insist on [dailies-viewing sessions]
up front from now on,” he says. “There
is currently a big push by some of the
studios to use a low-resolution Internet
system like Pix and have you watch
dailies on a laptop in your hotel room.
ww.theasc.com w
February 2011 47

◗ Behind the Music
Top: Backstage
at a Nashville
juke joint, rising
star Beau Hutton
(Garrett Hedlund)
teases Stanton
about her
beauty-queen
background.
Middle: When
Stanton starts to
succumb to stage
fright, Hutton
steps in for an
impromptu duet.
Bottom: John
Bailey, ASC lines
up a shot for
the scene.
48 February 2011 American Cinematographer
www.downmagaz.com
That’s no way for the director and cinematographer
to see their work. The
resolution is so compromised that filmmakers
can’t even tell if their work is in
focus.”
Working with a Panavision
camera package, Bailey chose a full
range of Primo prime lenses, but he
found himself using the 17-75mm
Primo zoom quite often. “I love primes,
but with a good short-range zoom lens,
I can move more quickly from a master
shot into a piece of coverage without
having to break up the actors’ rhythm or
reposition the camera,” he notes.
Many of the film’s offstage scenes
were shot on a Steadicam. “We used
“I will always
fight for
anamorphic, cut
negative and a
photochemical
film finish!”
Steadicam for all the corridor and stairwell
shots, and we also did a lot of slow,
lateral drifts,” recalls A-camera/
Steadicam operator Matthew Moriarty.
“A scene that comes to mind is one
where Kelly is brought dead drunk to
the venue in Austin, and Ed [Tim
McGraw], her husband and manager,
has to clean her up and get her onstage.
It was wonderfully blocked, involving
almost the entire cast, with a moving
entrance that pulls back into a master
that runs the spectrum from wall-towall
tableaux to moving, wraparound
two-shots, to the payoff at the end
where you leave the group and follow
Tim and Gwyneth into another room
for a private moment. We ended up
covering it, but it basically worked as a

[single Steadicam shot].” To light this
scene, “we concealed 8-foot double and
single Kino Flos and four 1K JEM Balls
in every place possible,” adds Mike
Moyer, Bailey’s longtime gaffer.
Moyer says the offstage drama
was lit “based on John’s eye. He wants a
certain amount of key light coming
through the window, and he wants fill;
he believes in balance. We shot in a lot
of fairly small rooms.” Bailey notes, “I
use Kino Flos a lot in tight practical
locations with low ceilings, hiding them
behind furniture and taping them to the
backs of doors and furniture.” Sources
outside the windows were typically 18K
HMIs or, for tungsten balance, Arri
12Ks, and fill was created with Kino Flo
Image 80s set up half daylight and half
tungsten. “Filling slightly off color,
either a bit blue or a bit warm, is a trick
John credits his mentor, Nestor
Alméndros [ASC], with teaching him,”
notes Moyer.
Scenes on Canter’s tour bus were
all lit with Kino Flos, a mix of Mini Flo
singles taped to the wall and 2' and 4'
tubes removed from their housing and
taped or wire-tied “wherever we could
hide them,” says Bailey. “Not always
being able to put lights where you want
Top: A-camera operator Matthew Moriarty and dolly grip Fred Cooper capture the moment as
Hutton dedicates a song to Canter in Dallas. Bottom: The filmmakers dolly in front of Hedlund for
another scene at the show.
to challenges you to think more
creatively.”
Early in preproduction, Feste and
Bailey zeroed in on Martin Scorsese’s
The Last Waltz and Jonathan Demme’s
Stop Making Sense as templates for their
approach to Country Strong ’s concerts.
Feste wanted to film the performers and
action onstage with three fixed cameras
and a fourth on a Steadicam. “The
cameras in Last Waltz were mostly
fixed, and watching it with John was a
ww.theasc.com w
February 2011 49

◗ Behind the Music
Right: Canter
breaks down
onstage in Houston
after receiving an
upsetting package
from a fan. Below:
Director Shana
Feste discusses a
scene with
McGraw.
real education for me,” recalls Feste. “He
would pause the movie and tell me
about the camera operator and point out
hidden cameras. We weren’t interested
in a contemporary, music-video
approach. We wanted the camera to be
graceful and intimate, with slow pushins
on dolly track and camera moves
that would maintain the integrity of the
song.” Bailey adds, “It’s more of a classical
look, as in studio musicals. The
widescreen aspect ratio doesn’t lend
itself well to erratic or documentarystyle
cinematography, and this approach
gave us a stable frame. Also, Last Waltz
and Stop Making Sense are both proscenium-type
films, like most of our
performances. The final concert features
50 February 2011 American Cinematographer
www.downmagaz.com
a thrust, runway stage, but even for that,
we kept the same camera style.”
“We tried to match the amount
and quality of light to the venue, whatever
it was, and we knew the final
concert would have the largest, flashiest
setup,” says Moyer. “We lit juke joints
mostly with two light towers [fitted
with] Par cans with colored gels.
Generally, we used what would really be
in such a place, like Par 35 cans for
frontal light and some older, beat-up
fixtures. Then, in more upscale bars, we
went with more classical Par 100 cans
and did color changes supplemented
with a white, frontal fill, which was
usually a 5K Fresnel with a Gam Box to
control the spread.”
The film’s three concerts were
shot in Nashville’s Masonic Rite
Auditorium, Performing Arts Center
and Civic Arena (standing in for arenas
in Austin, Houston and Dallas, respectively).
The climactic concert is set in
Dallas, and for that performance, the
production’s relationship with McGraw,
a country superstar, led to “a huge gift,”
says Feste: McGraw was rehearsing for
a tour at the time and offered the film-

makers the use of his concert setup,
which featured lighting by Fenton
Williams and a stage design by Bruce
Rodgers. Feste recalls, “Our budget was
very limited, and we were struggling
with how to sell the big arena concert.
Tim offered to let us shoot on his set,
and we had it for two days. We
arranged a quick load-in and load-out,
and we shot tons of pages and 10 songs
with multiple cameras. We’re really
proud of how it turned out, and we
could never have afforded it without
Tim’s generosity.”
To further enhance the concerts
set in Houston and Dallas, the filmmakers
hired Nashville-based artist
Kristin Barlowe to create a massive
video presentation that would mix
original montage content with live
high-definition-video images captured
by McGraw’s camera operators; the
video appears in various permutations
on a large LED screen during the
shows. The screen serves to punctuate
Canter’s breakdown in Houston and
eventual comeback in Dallas. “When
Kelly has an emotional breakdown
onstage, we use the video screen to
project her face in extreme close-up as
she crumbles and loses the courage to
sing,” explains Feste. “There’s a beautiful
wide shot of a tiny Gwyneth
Paltrow and, behind her, a huge screen
with that invasive close-up of her
falling apart. It’s very powerful. Then,
for her triumphant comeback in the
Dallas concert, we used the screen, but
the shot is more full-figure, and she
looks triumphant and powerful in the
frame.”
Relying on Moyer’s extensive
experience in theatrical lighting, which
includes work at Chicago’s Goodman
Theatre as well as credits on several
film musicals, Bailey had the gaffer
work closely with McGraw’s lighting
programmer, Jerome Thompson, to
build a lighting scheme on top of the
existing design that would work for
Country Strong ’s songs and dramatic
beats. “We basically constructed an adhoc
show by using everything
[McGraw’s tour] had and then refocus-
Top: Moriarty and
1st AC Clyde Bryan
film Canter and
Hutton watching
as Stanton
conducts her first
press conference.
Middle and
bottom: Bailey (at
right in middle
photo) supervises
some poor-man’sprocess
work for a
scene in which
Stanton and
Canter exchange
confidences in the
back seat.
ww.theasc.com w
February 2011 51

52
◗ Behind the Music
www.downmagaz.com
Hutton convinces Canter to escape the hotel mid-tour and head out for a joyride on a train.
ing robotic lights and reprogramming
cues for our show.” Moyer adds, “Our
shooting schedule did not allow time to
accurately program and cue each performance,
so I worked with Fenton and
Jerome outside of production time to
create overall looks — 20 or 25 preprogrammed
cues that I could link
together for our needs. You get into
trouble when your cuing gets too rigid.”
Knowing how Bailey would want
to light the lead performers, Moyer was
then given wide latitude to supplement
that lighting in a way that would allow
for maximum impact of the background
video presentation. “I know John likes
colorful backgrounds but always wants a
white light on the performer’s face,”
explains Moyer. “I used a clear follow
spot, Super Troupers with NDs and
CTOs in the booms, about a half stop
over key, and with that we could maintain
a clean look on the performer’s face
without interfering with the other
elements. Then we had a lot of freedom
to do the backlight and sidelight as we
thought best.”
In the large venues, the production
also rigged Vari-Lites of various
sizes into the ceilings, and in two of the
venues, Moyer used the new Vari-Lite
VL3500 wash luminaires on the floor to
create backgrounds out of rich shafts of
light. Two of the venues also feature
some version of a massive Lighthouse
LED screen (provided by Virginia’s
Filament Productions), which was

Bailey checks the weather during filming of the scene.
120'x30' for the Dallas show. The
robotic lighting was controlled via a
GrandMA console, while layers of HD
media were controlled and fed to the
video screens by Mbox Extreme v3
Media Servers.
Bailey is very proud of his creative
partnership with Feste, and he credits
the director and cast with Country
Strong’s visual success. “I’m very close to
Shana, and I think this film will really
launch her directing career. And
Gwyneth owns the movie — she recalls
an earlier era of big stars, of beautiful
women with big dramatic chops. She
gives a consummate performance, and
our goal was to simply capture it in a
straightforward way that would not
distract from the pure emotional wallop
of her work.” ●
2.40:1
TECHNICAL SPECS
3-perf Super 35mm
Panaflex Platinum, Gold II,
Lightweight
Panavision Primo
Kodak Vision2 500T 5218;
Vision3 500T 5219,
250D 5207
Digital Intermediate
53

54 February 2011 American Cinematographer
www.downmagaz.com
A
Cinematic
Passport
John Seale, ASC, ACS
receives the Society’s
International Award
for his globetrotting
contributions to
memorable movies.
By Jean Oppenheimer
•|•

Photos by Bob Finlayson; Jon Cox; David Budd; Jim Townley; François Duhamel, SMPSP; Phil Bray, SMPSP; Murray Close, SMPSP;
Bob Marshak, SMPSP; and Claudette Barius, SMPSP, courtesy of John Seale and ASC files. The Tourist photo by Peter Mountain,
courtesy of Sony Pictures.
John Seale, ASC, ACS, who will be
honored with the Society’s
International Award this month,
admits he was “terrified” when he
came to the United States to shoot his
first film on American soil. The year was
1984, and the film was Witness. “We
looked up to America as the epitome of
commercial filmmaking,” recalls Seale.
“And I had Harrison Ford of StarWars
in front of my camera! I went up to
[director] Peter Weir and said, ‘Peter, I
don’t know whether I’m doing this
right.’ And Peter, who also was making
his first picture in the U.S., replied,
‘Don’t worry, Johnny. This is an
Australian film, it’s just that all those
other people have funny accents.’”
Witness (AC April ’86) brought
Seale the first of four Academy Award
nominations — he won the Oscar for
The English Patient (AC Jan. ’97) — and
he has been shooting films all over the
world ever since. His latest feature,
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s
The Tourist, spent a week in Paris and
shot the rest of the time in Venice, Italy.
When he came to Los Angeles to supervise
the color timing of the picture, Seale
sat down with AC to reminisce about his
career.
Born in Queensland and raised in
Sydney, Seale enjoyed movies as a kid,
but he contends it was his love of nature
and his 18 months as a jackeroo (wran-
Opposite: Camera operator
and future ASC and ACS
member John Seale enjoys
himself on the set of the
Australian TV series Barrier
Reef (1970). This page
(clockwise from top left):
Seale operates an Arri BL
on the Aussie TV series
Boney (1972); Seale (left)
assists one of his mentors,
Bill Grimmond, ACS, in the
Outback in 1965; the young
operator uses a rack-over
Mitchell on Nickel Queen
(1970); Seale (left) and 1st
AC David Burr (wearing
black) prepare to do some
Steadicam work on Peter
Weir’s Gallipoli (1981).
ww.theasc.com w
February 2011 55

◗ A Cinematic Passport
Top to bottom:
Seale (pointing)
works alongside
director Robert
Harmon on The
Hitcher (1986);
actor Harrison
Ford chats with
Seale on location
for Peter Weir’s
The Mosquito
Coast (1986);
Seale lines up a
shot as Weir
(right) frames up
the scene for
Mosquito Coast
novelist Paul
Theroux.
56 February 2011 American Cinematographer
www.downmagaz.com
gler) in the Australian Outback that
ultimately propelled him into filmmaking.
His primary responsibilities on the
30,000-acre sheep station were maintaining
the property and taking care of
8,000 sheep. Although he was an active
outdoorsman, having surfed and sailed,
he had never ridden a horse. “I lost
count of the number of times I was
bucked off,” he laughs. “The horses were
only ridden during mustering and
shearing and ran free the rest of the
time, so they were fairly wild. You pretty
much had to break them every time you
wanted to put a saddle on them, and
they were always trying to bite you.”
After 18 months, 19-year-old
Seale realized he didn’t want to spend
his life as a jackeroo. He had been
recording his experiences with an
8mm movie camera, and it occurred to
him that “it would be great to have a
camera and travel around the world
filming places few people have ever
been.” Through a family friend, he
met a cameraman at the Australian
Broadcasting Corp. in Sydney. It was
the early 1960s, and Australian television
was in its infancy. “Bill Grimmond
[ACS] took me through the camera
department and gave me a non-blimped
[16mm] Arri ST to hold, and right then
and there, I fell in love with it.”
There were no film schools back
then. “You just sort of fell into it,” says
Seale. It took more than a year for him
to land a position at the ABC, and when
he did, it was in office supplies. Once in,
however, he immediately began applying
for other jobs within the company.
“When I’m asked for advice on how to
get into the business, I say, ‘Ring somebody
who can give you a job every week
until they finally throw their hands up in
the air and give in,” says Seale. In his
case, he called Bert Nicholas, ACS, an
early pioneer in Australian cinema who
had been brought in to head the ABC
camera department. “I’d ring him every
week. Ten months later, I was hired as a
driver for the camera truck, which also
entailed running sound for the news
crews.”
Eventually promoted to assistant,

Seale began rotating among daily news,
weekly shows and various documentary
divisions. Three years later, the ABC
added scripted drama. “They purchased
a gigantic Mitchell R35, with a blimp,
that took four men to lift,” recalls Seale,
who seems to remember every camera
he ever touched. Tragedy elevated Seale
from focus puller to operator when, two
days before production began on a new
drama series, operator Frank Parnell
was killed in a helicopter crash and
Seale was asked to step in.
He considers news “one of the
greatest backgrounds you can have for
going into film. You are taught to preset
the lenses so you can jump out of the
car running, and because film stock is
expensive, you learn to be selective and
conserve.” It was at the ABC that Seale
met his future wife, Louise, a film librarian
at the station. He left his job and
went freelance when she was offered
work in another city.
The early 1970s saw the emergence
of a new national cinema in
Australia that became known as the
Australian Renaissance (or the
Australian New Wave). At first, the
movies were predominantly low budget
and unabashedly raunchy. In the industry’s
two-steps-forward, one-step-back
production system, Seale had to drop
back to focus pulling and work his way
up again to operating. “We really should
all be dead,” he volunteers, recalling the
risks that crew members took during
that era of “mad, mayhem filmmaking.
We’d jump into a car, find a long stretch
of road and go screaming down it with
a handheld Arri 2-C and no seat belts,
doing hairpin turns and smashing into
other cars and just hanging on by our
knees. We never got permission, and
there were no safety officers.”
Seale leans forward and smiles
conspiratorially as he recounts the story
of the Valiant Charger: “The filmmakers
went to Chrysler and said, ‘We need
one of your cars for the movie.’ And
Chrysler said, ‘Oh, that’s good for us.
What are you going to do with the car?’
‘Well, it’s sort of an action film, and the
hero drives around in it.’ ‘Will the car be
Top: Ford entertains Weir and Seale during a break on The Mosquito Coast.
Bottom: The cinematographer keeps an eye on the weather on location for Michael Apted’s
Gorillas in the Mist (1988).
alright?’ ‘Sure.’ You should have seen
that car when they brought it back: the
suspension was held together with fencing
wire, the front wheels were at an
angle, and every fender was smashed.
Our guys just left it in the Chrysler yard
and ran away!”
By mid-1970s, high-quality,
auteur-driven films started appearing in
Australia, including Weir’s Picnic at
Hanging Rock and The Last Wave. Seale
served as camera operator on both
under director of photography Russell
Boyd, ASC, ACS. But “Ozploitation”
comedies were still being produced, and
in 1976, Seale was offered a job as cine-
matographer on the blood-and-gore
feature Death Cheaters. With a laugh, he
says, “I got such a fright doing it that I
went back to operating! It was that
analog meter; the needle just kept
swinging around and I couldn’t get it to
stop!”
The self-effacing Seale actually
returned to operating in order to shoot a
single film, again under Boyd: Weir’s
World War I drama Gallipoli. “Peter had
wanted to make the film for years and
had a whole crew [in place],” Seale
recalls. “A lot of professional people told
me not to go back to operating, but life’s
too short to worry about that, and Peter
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February 2011 57

◗ A Cinematic Passport
Top to bottom:
Director Sydney
Pollack and
Seale consider
their options on
set for The Firm
(1993); the
cinematographer
checks the light
on The Firm star
Tom Cruise;
Seale captures a
patriotic
moment for Rob
Reiner’s The
American
President (1995).
58 February 2011 American Cinematographer
www.downmagaz.com
is an amazing director.”
Seale, who had actually been director
of photography on several films prior
to Gallipoli, returned to that rank with his
next picture, Careful, He Might Hear You,
and walked off with the Australian Film
Institute Award. Two years later, Witness
put him on the map in America. He
considers that film’s success the most
significant turning point in his 40-plusyear
career. Suddenly, he was in demand
in America, and he followed Witness
with, in quick succession, The Hitcher ,
Children of a Lesser God , The Mosquito
Coast (AC Feb. ’87), Stakeout, Gorillas in
the Mist, Rain Man (AC April ’89) and
DeadPoets Society , all in the 1980s.
Seale has become well known for
using multiple cameras not just on action
sequences, but as a matter of course. He
developed the idea on Rain Man .
“Dustin [Hoffman] and Tom [Cruise]
started to ad lib. It was brilliant stuff, but
getting reverses for editing was going to
be difficult. I thought we should be
covering the other side as well.
Fortunately, [director] Barry Levinson
agreed, and we started cross-shooting
with two cameras. It gives the director
and editor performance continuity.” Over
the years, two cameras became three, and
sometimes, as on last year’s Prince of
Persia: The Sands of Time (AC June ’10),
he uses four or more.
Seale has received a certain
amount of flak from other cinematographers
for this habit. “I gave a talk on using
multiple cameras once, and a cameraman
said, ‘You must be compromising your
lighting.’ Honesty is always the best
policy, so I told him, ‘Yes, but never more
than 20 percent.’ He looked at me, said
nothing and walked off.” Camera operator
Todd Henry, who worked with Seale
on Rain Man and Spanglish, among other
films, notes that many cinematographers
refuse to compromise in that way.
“Compromising your lighting is a
remarkable sacrifice for a cinematographer,
but John’s attitude is that he serves
the director and the story, and sometimes
that requires sacrificing a pretty shot,”
says Henry.
Seale recognizes that using multi-

ple cameras can be “daunting” for some
directors and makes enormous demands
on the crew. He has made 10 films with
gaffer Morris “Mo” Flam, starting with
The Firm (AC July ’93) and including The
Tourist. “Mo is such a lovely guy, and I
push him very hard,” reports Seale.
“With multiple cameras and lighting
reverses, he has to light almost 360
degrees. I make his life quite hectic.”
Flam laughs when he hears Seale’s
remarks. “I’ve adapted. John likes to work
fast, and I’ve just had to figure out ways
to keep up with him.”
The use of multiple cameras dovetails
with another integral part of Seale’s
philosophy, one that emerged during the
filming of Weir’s Dead Poets Society .
“Peter said, ‘I have seven boys and a girl,
and I want to be able to cut in and out, so
I need a lot of material.’ It taught me the
absolute necessity of speed, even if that,
too, means a little bit of compromise on
the lighting.”
Other hallmarks of Seale’s shooting
style today include shooting almost
entirely with zoom lenses, using a single
high-speed Kodak stock, and keeping
the camera mobile. “I get into a lot of
trouble with other cameramen for saying
I don’t like using prime lenses,” he
confesses, wincing slightly. “But using a
zoom [gives me] mobility. I want to be
able to change the focal length during a
shot, although I always hide it in a
camera move or an actor’s move. It can be
as simple as an actor turning his or her
head; you start when they start and stop
when they stop. People watching never
realize it’s a zoom; it’s just taking the
mind’s eye closer.”
Although he has shot with Agfa
and Fujifilm negatives and been very
satisfied with the results, he has favored
Kodak stocks since Rain Man. “I used to
choose Vision 500T 5279, then Kodak
switched over to Vision2 500T 5218, and
now it’s Vision3 500T 5219. You just
ND it back during the day to get a decent
ASA; then, as the light fades in the late
afternoon, you start pulling out the NDs.
If the sun reddens things up too much,
you can pull out the 85 filter.”
Seale started using Panavision’s
Top to bottom: Actress Kristin Scott Thomas finds some portable shade as director Anthony
Minghella (left), Seale (in front of camera) and their collaborators prep a shot on location for
The English Patient (1996); the crew films Gwyneth Paltrow for a scene in The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999),
Seale’s second collaboration with Minghella; Seale (at camera) directs some background action as
Ripley co-star Jude Law waits in the foreground.
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February 2011 59

◗ A Cinematic Passport
Right: Seale
checks the light
for a shot in
Wolfgang
Petersen’s The
Perfect Storm
(2000), which
required the
filmmakers to
re-create a
legendary East
Coast storm
entirely onstage
at Warner Bros.
Below: Seale
(center, at
camera), camera
operator Bruce
MacCallum and
their team brave
the elements on
location for
Anthony
Minghella’s Cold
Mountain (2003).
Panaflex cameras — he’s partial to the
Millennium — at about the same time,
specifically because the NDs didn’t have
to go in front of the lens. “You can put a
magazine on the top or back of the
Millennium and there’s a film slot in the
back, so you don’t have to look through
the NDs,” he explains. “Instead, you’re
looking through a bright, clean lens.”
He notes that he always has an Arri 235
with him as well. “It’s great for action
stuff, for squashing into a corner, for
handholding and for Steadicam.”
As his résumé suggests, Seale is
partial to good stories that take place in
exterior locations, especially foreign
countries. Of all the films he has shot,
he is probably most closely identified
60 February 2011 American Cinematographer
www.downmagaz.com
with The English Patient, for which he
won several awards, including the Oscar,
the ASC Award and the European Film
Award. It was one of three films he made
with British writer/director Anthony
Minghella.
Minghella’s death a little more
than two years ago was a devastating loss
for Seale, not only professionally but also
personally. They had become close
friends while making The English Patient,
The Talented Mr. Ripley(AC Jan. ’00) and
Cold Mountain (AC Jan. ’04), and were
talking about their next collaboration.
“Anthony was such a lovely person,” says
Seale. “He had a real understanding of
the crew, looked after them and treated
them well. He loved everybody.”
Seale has made two films with
director Wolfgang Petersen, ThePerfect
Storm (AC July ’00) and Poseidon (AC
June ’06). Sailing and the sea are lifelong
passions of Seale’s, as they are for
Petersen. “We hit it off right away,”
declares Petersen. “We got so excited, like
kids, when we were out on the water for
the few scenes in Perfect Storm that we
could shoot in the actual ocean.” (The
majority of the movie was shot in a giant
water tank at Warner Bros.) Seale recalls,
“I was really keen to make it work for
Wolfgang. I didn’t want people to say, ‘I
can see it was made in a tank.’ One of the
greatest compliments is when people say,
‘It must have been rough, making that
picture out there.’ And I say, ‘Yes, it was
— Stage 16 at Warners!’”
Seale’s preference for “good stories
that take place outdoors” means he has
been away from Australia — and his
family — for long stretches at a time.
After Poseidon, he decided to go home
and stay for a while. “I’d fallen in love
with my grandchildren,” he says simply.
He went back to shooting commercials,
which took him out of town for no more
than a few weeks at a time. His son,
Derin, a commercial director who now
resides in Los Angeles, even hired him to
shoot a spot in Prague. (Seale’s daughter,
Brianna, a former set dresser, lives in
Sydney.)
Seale returned to features with The
Tourist. “I thought The Lives of Others

[Henckel von Donnersmarck’s first
feature] was a great little film, and when
Florian contacted me, I said yes.” One of
the challenges on The Tourist was a long
nighttime chase through Venice’s
labyrinthine canal system. “There was
no available natural light, and we had to
light [all the way] down the canals if we
wanted to see to the far end,” explains
Seale. “And we were shooting anamorphic!
The 11:1 [24-275mm Primo
zoom] is crucial to an action sequence,
but it’s an f4.5 lens, and we could barely
get to f2.8! I used force development, a
200-degree shutter and a digital
enhancement [in post] to pull it off.”
Those who have worked with
Seale evince an unwavering respect,
loyalty and affection for him. “John is a
man of the highest integrity, an independent
thinker, a fantastic storyteller
and a joy to be around,” says Henry. “If
you were stranded on a desert island, he
would be the ideal companion because
he’s incredibly resourceful and just so
much fun to be with.”
Script supervisor Dianne Dreyer,
who has worked with Seale on six
projects, says, “John has one of the keenest
eyes I’ve ever encountered. The way
he can find a frame almost immediately
is a marvel. He makes things work that
most people would say can’t be done.”
“Yes, a wonderful eye but a terrible
ear — he speaks the worst Italian I’ve
ever heard!” jokes 1st AD Steve
Andrews, a fellow Aussie who first
worked with Seale back on Death
Cheaters and has since teamed with him
on 16 more films. Turning serious,
Andrews adds, “John just has a way with
people, and he has the same energy and
enthusiasm today as when I first met
him.”
Actress Nicole Kidman also
worked with Seale in Australia early in
her career, 20 years before reuniting with
him on Cold Mountain. It was the early
1980s, and the film was BMX Bandits.
“He called me ‘Knickers’ back then —
that was my nickname,” recalls Kidman,
who was 15 at the time. “ BMXBandits
was my first big feature. I was completely
uneducated film-wise, and John was one
Seale fine-tunes a close-up of Adam Sandler for James L. Brooks’ Spanglish (2004).
of my teachers in a way. He taught me
how to hit a mark, how to find my light,
all those things. He’d say, ‘Knickers,
Knickers, you’ve got to do this, you’ve
got to do that.’
“John is easygoing, incredibly
intuitive and, being Australian, brilliant
with balancing light,” adds Kidman.
“He works quickly and efficiently, yet
the quality is never compromised.”
Australian cinematographers are
often credited with having a special feel
for light. In his own case, Seale ascribes
much of it to his 18 months as a
jackeroo. “The sheep station was on the
edge of the Queensland desert, where
the clean, acid-blue skies and the winter
sun’s contrasty light served as great
learning tools. If you’re in the Outback
with a hat on, you’re black underneath
the hat. There is no fill coming off the
ground. To film out there is a photographic
exercise in contrast and how to
make it look realistic. European and
English cameramen come over and say,
‘My god, how do you light out here?’ ➣
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February 2011 61

◗ A Cinematic Passport
Top: Seale listens
as director
Wolfgang Petersen
outlines his idea
for a shot on
Poseidon (2006).
Right: The
cinematographer
steps in to check
the light as
director Florian
Henckel von
Donnersmarck
(right) and actor
Timothy Dalton
(center) pause on
the set of The
Tourist (2010).
62 February 2011 American Cinematographer
www.downmagaz.com
“I also found a great love of stillness
and quiet in the Outback,” he
continues. “Sitting on the back of a horse
for days on end, with no one to talk to
but the horse, was incredibly peaceful.”
Ranching also taught him how to look
after engines and equipment, which he
feels has held him in good stead
throughout his life.
Asked what he considers his best
and worst professional decisions, Seale
doesn’t hesitate. “My best decisions are
up there on the screen. My worst? I
should never have directed.” He shakes
his head slowly, remembering the 1990
film, Till There Was You. “I wanted to try
it, and it was a bad mistake. I even fell
into a lot of the traps that people had
warned me about. If you’re lucky enough
to work with the directors I’ve worked
with throughout my career, you have to
ask yourself, ‘Could I do as well or better
than that?’ And in my case, the answer
is no.
“But it served as a good lesson,” he
adds with characteristic optimism. “I
started to understand what directors go
through after hours, all the decisions
they have to make and the burdens on
their minds. It made me want to smooth
things on the set for them even more.”
Seale joined the American Society
of Cinematographers in 1996, after
being proposed for membership by
Donald McAlpine, Robert Stevens and
Steven Poster. In addition to winning
the ASC Award for The English Patient,
he earned ASC nominations for Rain
Man, The Perfect Storm and Cold
Mountain. He has twice been named
Cinematographer of the Year by the
Australian Cinematographers Society,
and was inducted into the ACS Hall of
Fame in 1997. He was awarded the
Member of the Order of Australia by his
country’s government in 2002.
After finishing post on The
Tourist, Seale headed back to Australia
— “paradise,” he calls it — to spend time
with his family and get out on the water
as much as possible. As for his next
project, he isn’t sure yet, but, smiling
broadly, he predicts, “It will be a good
one.” ●

MTI Film’s Control Dailies Simplifies TV Post
By Simon Wakelin
Known for its contributions to digital film restoration since
1997, MTI Film expanded its services last year with a move into a new
Hollywood facility, and now manages dailies workflows and final
color correction for television series that include TNT’s Rizzoli & Isles,
shot by Anthony Hardwick, and CBS’s The Defenders, shot by Alan
Caso, ASC.
MTI Film’s Correct DRS (Digital Restoration System), which
removes dust, scratches, chemical stains, warps and other anomalies,
has become a popular tool in film-restoration projects around the
world. The company subsequently developed Control Dailies to
streamline digital-dailies and film-dailies processing; the system
handles every step of the dailies workflow beginning with acquisition
and including data management, image ingest, audio ingest, audioimage
synchronization, primary color correction, deliverables configuration,
tape layoff and digital-file output. The Control Dailies color
64 February 2011 American Cinematographer
www.downmagaz.com
Post Focus
Right: Jerry
O’Connell (left)
and Jim Belushi
star in the CBS
series The
Defenders, shot
by Alan Caso,
ASC. The series’
dailies and final
color-correction
workflows are
handled by
MTI Film’s
Hollywood
facility. Below:
One of MTI
Film’s colorgrading
bays.
I
correction is ASC-CDL compliant and can be carried through the
editorial process on Avid or Final Cut Pro.
Control Dailies sits at the heart of MTI Film’s television work,
and has proven a crucial component of both Rizzoli & Isles and The
Defenders. On the latter, Caso has been shooting mainly with Sony
F35 cameras, recording to Sony SRW-1 portable recorders; he also
mixes footage shot on Sony XDCam PMW-EX3s and Canon EOS
7Ds. With Control Dailies, the multiple formats are seamlessly intermixed
in the dailies pipeline in a single codec, eliminating the need
for different workflows for each type of source footage. Working
with MTI Film senior colorist Steven Porter, Caso’s goal is a vibrant
look befitting The Defenders’ subject: high-powered lawyers in Las
Vegas. “I’m using a lot of color to create a very glossy look, which we
decided would be perfect for a show about slick, powerful lawyers in
Vegas,” the cinematographer explains. “The ability to pipe all the
different media from each camera into the same stream was a big
attraction at MTI.”
“Control Dailies is possibly the simplest and most elegant
solution for the F35 today,” says Ethan Philips, the digital-imaging
technician on The Defenders. “I’ve worked with many different
systems, but none match its speed and efficiency. Color correction
renders really fast, and I also like that the system is hub-and-spoke,
meaning everyone from the colorist to the effects crew can have
access to the material at the same time.”
Hardwick shoots Rizzoli & Isles with Red One M-X cameras.
He lights the show by meter and by eye and then checks the image
on set through a look-up table before looking at the camera’s raw
stream to gauge how much detail exists in shadow areas. “When we
started shooting, I noticed I needed more fill to achieve the look I was
going for than I typically would with film or other digital systems —
The Defenders image courtesy of CBS. MTI Film photo courtesy of MTI Film.

the falloff in underexposure with the Red was
a bit steeper than I was used to,” he notes. As
he became more familiar with the M-X sensor,
Hardwick chose to meter/expose for 500 ASA
while leaving the camera set to 800 ASA.
“With the M-X, you can meter/expose at 800
ASA for 800 ASA, but when I did, I started to
see some noise in the shadow areas,” he says.
On set, Hardwick and DIT Nate Kalushner
use Gamma & Density’s 3cP to “generate
a separate file and LUT that give Steven Porter
an indication of the direction I’m going for,”
says the cinematographer. “Curve and color
temperature/tint are the typical adjustments
we show in this file.” Sitting down with Porter
in MTI Film’s 16'x15' suite, which is equipped
with Panasonic Series 12 Plasmas with Davio
preprocessing units for Display LUTs, Hardwick
is finally able to view the full spectrum of the
raw .r3d file. “No on-set monitoring solution
can display the full bit depth of the .r3d file,”
he notes. “We worked to bring out certain
areas of the image, information you can’t see
monitoring on set but is nonetheless there
because of the way you expose for the
camera.”
MTI’s dailies pipeline includes its own
color system, Control Color, which respects the
ASC CDL standard of Slope, Offset and Power.
The values established in the dailies process are
recorded into the Control Dailies database and
then imported into Nucoda Film Master at the
final color stage. At that point, the colorist can
use or build on these values or bypass them.
MTI Film CEO Larry Chernoff notes that
the company’s software and services continue
to evolve. “We have an extensive researchand-development
team dedicated to the post
process, and they’re constantly writing code
for dailies and digital-restoration techniques.
It’s about being responsive to the production
community and providing new techniques to
facilitate their work. We’re happy to create
friendly competition because it leads to
improvements in the software. We all need to
understand the changing conditions of the
digital marketplace and respond accordingly.”
“It’s important to keep the post process
streamlined and fast, especially in television,
and MTI Film is ahead of the curve in that
respect,” says Caso. “Digital technology can
sometimes dull the spirit on the set. You
should never lose site of the fact that the set is
a spontaneous, creative place.”
➣

66
www.downmagaz.com
Facility News
Prime Focus Film
Opens in London
Visual-entertainment-services group
Prime Focus has launched Prime Focus Film,
a visual-effects and stereoscopy facility in
London.
Powering the launch of the division is
a team led by managing director Martin
Hobbs. Hobbs is joined by visual-effects
supervisor Jon Thum, animation director
Michael Eames, animation supervisor Pablo
Grillo, visual-effects supervisor Stuart Lashley,
CG supervisor Alex Pejic, visual-effects
producer Fiona Foster, and head of pipeline
Alexis Casas. Prime Focus Film’s digital art
department is led by visual-effects art director
Neil Miller and includes matte painter
and concept artist Ludo Iochem. The facility’s
View-D team, which is responsible for
the company’s proprietary 2-D to 3-D
conversion process, is led by digital-intermediate
producer Matt Bristowe; the team also
includes producer Marcus Alexander and
View-D stereo supervisors Richard Baker and
Ben Murray.
Visual-effects consultant Michael
Elson has been advising Prime Focus on the
new venture. “The film industry is going
through huge changes, and the old business
models have to fundamentally change,
too,” he notes. “Alongside this, there’s a
groundswell of common thought among
artists, a shared belief that there’s a better
way in which they can do their jobs. This is
what I believe Prime Focus Film is all about;
it’s a new business model that gives filmmakers
access to both the best local talent
and the scale and infrastructure of a global
group, while allowing artists to engage
more closely with filmmakers earlier in the
process.”
Prime Focus Film’s physical facility,
Hobbs notes, “is being designed as a flagship
studio which reflects our new way of
working.” Michael Fink, president of Prime
Focus VFX worldwide, adds, “This new
venture marks the next evolution of our
global visual-effects and View-D offering.
We’ve assembled a team of truly world-class
visual-effects artists.”
Namit Malhotra, the global CEO and
founder of Prime Focus, concludes, “We
have a clear vision for the future of this
industry, and a drive and determination to
deliver the best talent, service, technology
and scale to filmmakers, wherever they are
in the world.”
For additional information, visit
www.primefocusworld.com.
Chainsaw Launches
Visual-Effects Department
Chainsaw, a Hollywood-based independent
provider of post services for television,
feature films and other media, has
launched a visual-effects department led by
Boyd Stepan. Stepan will perform hands-on
work as a visual-effects artist and will also
be responsible for growing and supervising
the department. Chainsaw’s aim is to build
a full-service visual-effects department to
complement its creative editorial, editorial
finishing and color-correction services.
“We want to offer our clients the
ability to take care of all of their post needs
within one workflow, both for the sake of
efficiency and to ensure greater creative
control,” says Bill DeRonde, co-founder of
Chainsaw. “Boyd’s arrival brings us a step
closer to that goal. He is a very talented and
experienced artist who can help us build a
visual-effects department capable of delivering
the quality our clients expect.”
Chainsaw has built a visual-effects
production suite equipped with an
Autodesk Flame workstation. The system
includes Autodesk’s latest generation software
and full stereoscopic 3-D capabilities.
The department will offer a full slate of
visual-effects services including visualeffects
generation, titles and graphics, 3-D
integration, beauty work and digital
cleanup. The company also expects to add
further staff and technical resources. “It is a
wonderful opportunity to join a company
that is growing, that understands today’s
technology and the evolving needs of
clients, and has a commitment to highquality
work,” enthuses Stepan.
For additional information, visit
www.chainsawedit.com. ●

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New Products & Services
Nonlinear Motion-Control Time Lapse
By Jon D. Witmer
At first, it looks like just another time-lapse shot that incorporates
motion control. As the camera slowly pans across the landscape,
clouds race across the top of the screen and shadows chase
across the ground. But then something unusual happens: as the
camera continues its fluid pan, the clouds and shadows suddenly
reverse direction and resume their original course — without interrupting
the camera’s movement.
This in-camera visual effect was co-created by cinematographer
Pablo Gutierrez, the design engineer at MotionPeak, and Brian
Bennett, a cinematographer, producer and partner at Dynasty Films.
When Dynasty Films decided to add a motion-control element to its
time-lapse photography (which has appeared regularly in AMC’s
series Breaking Bad ), Bennett’s search for a viable, portable, lightweight
solution led him to Gutierrez, who had been refining motioncontrol
techniques since 2004.
Bennett recalls that when they first met, Gutierrez’s primary
motion-control rig was designed for film cameras. “We started to
work together to make it more compact for use with a Canon [EOS]
5D DSLR, which is what we use to shoot our time lapses,” says
Bennett. Gutierrez motorized The Slider Co.’s Slider lightweight rail
system, using a proprietary, Mac-based interface that controls movement
along the length of the Slider, as well as camera panning and
tilting. Gutierrez’s system is expandable, allowing more variables to
be added to time-lapse and other in-camera effects. For example,
notes Bennett, “You can add a riser, and you can rack your focus as
the camera moves.”
As with traditional motion-control time-lapse work, Gutierrez’s
system is based on defining the spatial path the camera will
follow and the timeframe in which the move will be executed.
Where his system differs from others, though, is in its graphical user
68 February 2011 American Cinematographer
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Please e-mail New Products/Services releases to:
newproducts@ascmag.com and include full contact
information and product images. Photos must be
TIFF or JPEG files of at least 300dpi.
interface, which
“allows us to
explore new directions,”
he says.
With a traditional
motion-control
shot, the camera
begins at Point A
at a certain point
in time and ends
at Point B a certain
duration of time later. Thanks to MotionPeak’s proprietary interface,
the temporal points between spatial points A and B can be manipulated
ad infinitum, allowing shots like the one in which clouds and
shadows reverse direction even as the camera continues along its
course. “The GUI allows the user to create a smooth path for the
axes that will move, and then to draw the relationship between
keyframes and the instant of their exposure,” Gutierrez explains.
The software then “creates a hierarchical list of instants of exposure
and gives the user an indication of the travel stress created by the
particular move and timeframe.
“The result is that the pictures will be taken in a sequence
that requires the camera to go back and forth [along the rig] to
capture the different parts of the move,” Gutierrez continues.
“There is a mechanical limitation to doing this without adding too
much travel time to the desired exposure intervals, so the range of
motion and the timing of the photographed phenomena impose
certain conditions on the shot.”
When Bennett first saw the nonlinear element in play, he
“instantly fell in love with it,” he says. “It was new and different,
and I appreciate when effects are done in-camera and not in post.”
Gutierrez continues to refine the technique with Bennett’s input.
“Pablo does all the genius work, I test it, and then we assess what
worked and what didn’t,” says Bennett. “For instance, I recently
shot a job in Texas with the motion-control rig and needed a gas
generator, but Pablo has since developed [an option for]10-hour
battery power.”
Admittedly, Bennett notes, “This is a very specific visual
effect, and we’re discovering applications for it daily. For example,
you could sync the changing time-lapse element to a record scratch
in a music video. The hope is that people will look at this and be
inspired.”
To see footage of the nonlinear motion-control timelapse
effect, visit www.dynastyfilms.com/TimeLapse.php and
http://motionpeak.com/time-lapse/.
Photos on this page by Jenette Maloney.

Rosco Upgrades LitePad
Rosco has extended its LitePad
family of LED fixtures with the introduction
of the LitePad Axiom. The Axiom features
an inset, detachable electrical connection
designed to prevent cord damage; 33percent
increased light output; a rugged
and versatile metal housing that provides a
secure mounting plate and a slot where
accessories can attach; and medium and
spot lens options. Additionally, the Axiom is
available in both daylight and tungsten
color temperatures.
Mike Wagner, the product manager
for Rosco’s LitePad line, notes, “Our engineering
team listened carefully to the
suggestions and critiques from users of our
original LitePad, and the Axiom range
addresses each one. These new luminaires
are perfect for use in studios or on set.”
Each LitePad Axiom Kit includes a
range of fixtures (available in sizes from
3"x6" up to 24"x24"), cables, accessories
and mounting points, all neatly housed in a
rolling hard case.
For additional information, visit
www.rosco.com.
Gekko Expands Karesslite Range
Gekko Technology has added the
6006-DD to its Karesslite range of LEDbased
lighting equipment. Designed for
studio and location use, the soft light has
twice the number of emitters and twice the
brightness of the original Karesslite 6006.
Available in daylight (5,600°K) and tungsten
(3,200°K) versions, it incorporates a 6x12
emitter format in a 300x300mm panel with
a front-to-back depth of 165mm and a
weight of 4.8 kg, including the diffuser.
“The 6006-DD is as compact and
portable as the 6006, yet delivers the same
2,600 lux at 1 meter brightness as the 600by-300mm
Karess 6012,” says David
Amphlett, Gekko Technology’s managing

director. “It can be used as a single, soft
light source, or deployed with additional
Karesslites to form a large, multiple-light
source. Unlike traditional lighting products,
color temperature remains consistent
throughout the full range of intensity variation.
The light output is smooth and can be
used either as a primary source or as fill.”
Power can be derived from a single
V-lock battery, a 12- to 40-volt DC feed via
an XLR 4 connector, or from a mains supply.
Being LED-based, the Karesslite 6006-DD is
extremely energy efficient and emits very
little heat. Power consumption is 85 watts,
allowing more than 90 minutes of continuous
operation from a single rear-mountable
V-lock battery.
Onboard dimming as well as integrated
DMX are incorporated into the
fixture, and an integral diffusion grating
makes the output single-source with minimal
light loss. Two egg-crate options can
also be used to make the source more directional.
Available accessories include a swivel
mount, yoke, encapsulated color-correction
gel sets, removable barn doors, honeycomb
louvers, remote dimmer and soft transit
case.
For additional information, visit
www.gekkotechnology.com.
Arri Adds 2 Arrilite Fixtures
Arri has updated and expanded its
Arrilite range with the introduction of the
Arrilite 750 Plus and Arrilite 2000 Plus. The
compact, lightweight, rugged and durable
fixtures have been completely redesigned
and offer a modern take on a well-established
lighting concept perfectly suited to
demanding production environments.
Both fixtures feature a robust
aluminum housing that allows for effective
heat dissipation. At the rear of the housing
is a large, heatproof handle that facilitates
easy maneuvering of the light even when
it’s hot. Both fixtures offer high light efficiency
thanks to the same reflector and
optical system as is used in the Arrimax, and
bulbs can be changed quickly and easily,
without the need for any tools.
The Arrilite 750 Plus is smaller and
lighter than the Arrilite 800 and Arrilite
1000 fixtures, making it well suited to
portable lighting kits used for location
shooting. Although listed as a 750-watt
fixture, it can be fitted with bulbs ranging
from 800 watts down to a 375-watt HPL
bulb. The unit features an innovative onearm
stirrup that enables many different panand-tilt
options and reduces the overall size
for easy transportation. An accessory holder
incorporates fittings that permit the
Chimera Video Pro Plus S to be fitted
directly, without an additional speed ring.
The accessory holder also enables the use of
the four-leaf barn door and scrims designed
for the Arri 650 Plus.
The Arrilite 2000 Plus is more stable
and far more compact than its predecessor,
the Arrilite 2000. It features an improved
focus mechanism and, like the 750 Plus,
implements disc-brake technology from the
Arri True Blue range of lamp heads, holding
the fixture steady even with heavy accessories
attached.
For additional information, visit
www.arri.com.
Baxter Controls Puts DMX
in Pocket
Baxter Controls, Inc. has introduced
the Wi-Fi Pocket DMX, a live control application
for DMX-512-controlled systems for
use with an Apple iPhone, iPod Touch or
iPad. The easy-to-use control console places
a remote, patchable DMX control system in
the palm of the hand when connected via a
standard wireless router to the requisite BCI
70 February 2011 American Cinematographer
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Pocket Console DMX
NetPort, which enables
the merging — via the
highest-takes-precedence
(HTP) protocol — of existing
console/dimmer-board
data with simultaneous
input from the Apple
device and also offers a
DMX pass-through port.
The Wi-Fi Pocket
DMX offers 36 patchable
channels of level control. Each DMX address
can be patched to any channel; all 512
DMX addresses are fully patchable, and any
channel can control from 0 to 512
addresses. There is also an individual
dimmer and channel-check function with
the output level selectable by the user.
For additional information, visit
http://dmx2go.com.
MSE Water Solids Keep
Productions Dry
Matthews Studio Equipment has
introduced a series of opaque overheads
designed for use in rain or high-humidity
conditions. The Water Solids are a great
protection when the elements threaten to
slow down or stop a production.
Manufactured from high density,
opaque polyester fabric with a PVC backing,
Water Solids operate in all wet conditions
without absorbing water or adding additional
weight to overheads, and because
they don’t absorb water, they are dry almost
instantly and can be folded and packed
immediately after wrap. Water Solids are
available in all standard overhead sizes and
can be custom-sized for particular applications.
For additional information, visit
www.msegrip.com.

Optefex Customizes Filters
Optefex Filters has announced a line
of customizable special-effects filters. The
first series includes a version of the anamorphic-streak
effect and a four-point star
pattern. Seven standard colors are available
for both effects: blue, green, red, orange,
yellow, pink and violet. Clear-effect filters
are also available, and custom colors can be
made upon request.
The manufacturing method used by
Optefex yields sharp, bright lines. Both star
and streak filters are available in a choice of
strengths — 1mm, 2mm, 3mm and 4mm,
where the lower the number, the stronger
the effect. Optefex Color/Color Streak filters
may be combined to create multiple-point
star effects, and two or more colors may be
used together at a variety of angles for
further creative applications.
Optefex filters are available in three
sizes — 4"x4", 4"x5.65" and 6.6"x6.6" —
with other sizes available upon request.
Optefex filters are distributed through the
DoP Shop; for more information, visit
www.thedopshop.com.
Redrock Micro Offers
M3 Adapter
Redrock Micro has introduced the
M3 35mm lens adapter, which allows users
to achieve remarkable looks with their
video and DSLR camera systems.
The result of seven years of development,
the M3 delivers razor-sharp images
with a beautiful feel. The high-rpm spinning
ground glass lets users stop down to an f16
without seeing grain, and the oversized
optics boast a low light loss of only ¼ of a
stop. The M3’s state-of-the-art power
system incorporates locking, lemo-style
connectors, auxiliary power ports, rechargeable
batteries and power-status indicators.
The rugged, professional housing features a

uni-body design constructed of precisionmachined
aluminum with a hard, anodized
finish and rubberized, weather-resistant
port covers. The M3 also features a cleaning
port as well as gaskets for silent operation.
Additionally, the adapter boasts toolsfree
setup and operation, a baseplate with
thumbscrews, a breach-lock camera
connector and integrated flip optics.
“Redrock’s mission has always been
to empower anyone to shoot high production
value, film-style imagery,” says James
Hurd, chief revolutionary for Redrock Micro.
“The M3 delivers a unique blend of amazing
footage with the control and power of
modern digital video cameras.”
The Redrock M3 is available in
several different configurations and
bundles; special introductory pricing starts
at $1,320. For more information, visit
www.redrockmicro.com.
OConnor Introduces O-Box
OConnor has introduced the O-Box
WM, a two-stage wide-angle mattebox
designed around the 1.78:1 format full-size
sensor. The compact O-Box supports lenses
as wide as 18mm and can accept three
filters: two in top-loading filter frames that
accept 4"x4" and 4"x5.65" filters (the rear
stage can rotate 360 degrees) and a
138mm round filter in the bellows.
Constructed of OConnor’s proprietary,
rugged, composite material, the
sunshade is lightweight yet strong and
impact resistant. The O-Box WM features
integrated handgrip interfaces, which allow
OConnor’s O-Grips to be attached directly
to the O-Box support cage in three locations:
camera left, camera right or bottom
center. The bottom-center position is especially
useful for small setups, such as with
DSLR cameras, keeping the operator’s left
hand free to pull focus.
The O-Box WM can be clamped
directly onto lenses with outer diameters of
150mm or less, and it can also be supported
by the removable 15mm LWS rod bracket.
Studio 15mm and 19mm mounting options
are also possible via industry-standard
adapters.
The O-Box WM Kit includes the WM
mattebox with two-stage wide mini
sunshade, two 4"x4" filter frames, two
4"x5.65" filter frames, a provision for a
138mm filter, a top flag and a mounting
bracket. Additional, optional accessories
include side flags, retaining brackets, a
bottom bracket and flag, a universal mask
set, and bellows step-down rings.
For additional information, visit
www.ocon.com.
Chrosziel Accessorizes Panasonic
Camcorders
Chrosziel has introduced accessories
specially designed for Panasonic’s AG-3DA1
stereoscopic 3-D camcorder and AG-AF100
Micro 4⁄3 camcorder.
Chrosziel’s 3DA1 Kit consists of a
lightweight support with 15mm rods and
Chrosziel’s Mattebox 456 Academy Double
and retaining ring, which are shaped to
tightly fit the AG-3DA1’s twin lens. The
mattebox is equipped with two rotating
filter stages with multiformat filter holders
for 5"x5" and 4"x5.65"; when using
5"x5" filters, both stages rotate without
restriction.
Chrosziel has introduced three kits
for the AG-AF100: the 450R2-AF1 Kit, the
450R2-AF2 Kit and the 456-20-AF1 Kit. The
basis for the first two kits is a new light-
weight support with 15mm rods and
Chrosziel’s Mattebox 450R2. The mattebox
features two rotating filter stages; the front
stage takes 4"x4" or 4"x5.65" filters, and
the rear stage takes 4"x4" filters. The two
kits are distinguished by their respective
72 February 2011 American Cinematographer
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light-prevention rings; the 450R2-AF1 Kit is
intended for typical Micro 4⁄3 lenses with a
50-85mm outside diameter, and the
450R2-AF2 Kit is intended for compact PLmount
lenses with diameters from 75-
95mm. The 456-20-AF1 Kit is designed for
larger lens diameters up to 130mm, and it
includes a lightweight support and
Chrosziel’s Mattebox 456 Academy Double
with a Flexi-Insert Ring.
For additional information, visit
www.chrosziel.com.
Denz Lightweight Handle
Supports DSLRs
The Denz Company has introduced
the Ultra Lightweight Handle Support
System, which can be used with any camera
system and has proven especially popular
with DSLRs.
The system includes two handles,
four support arms (two long and
two short) and a center clamp
for 15mm and 19mm
support rods, all of which
can be adjusted via
rosettes to accommodate
individual
needs. The handles
are constructed of
rugged olive
wood, ensuring
long life and giving
the user the proper grip for precise operating.
A handle with an integrated start/stop
button for the right and left hand is also
available with a spiral connection cable.
The Ultra Lightweight Handle
Support System ships with its own carrying
case, and is fully compatible with the Denz
Universal Support System. For more information,
visit www.denz-deniz.com.
Ikan Elements Line Continues
to Grow
Ikan has expanded its line of
Elements Fly Kit configurations with the
introduction of the Shoulder Mount Deluxe,
Stereoscope Deluxe and Shoulder Stock.
Each Elements Fly Kit provides users with
countless configuration options.
The Elements Shoulder Mount
Deluxe latches securely to the user’s shoulder
with two adjustable clamp pads for
locked-in stability. Foam grips provide

uncompromised control, and two durable
15mm rods provide the base for a reliable
shooting foundation. A cheese plate offers
62mm spacing and ¼"-20, 3⁄8" and 4mm
receiver slots for DSLR compatibility. The
Shoulder Mount Deluxe also offers a variety
of rear-loaded receiver slots for multiple
mounting options including ¼"-20, 3⁄8",
4mm and 100mm VESA.
The Stereoscope Deluxe allows users
to mount two small-to-mid-sized cameras
on an adjustable base utilizing 15mm rods
and dual platforms for precise alignment.
The Stereoscope Deluxe can be attached to
a tripod or other camera support, or foam
grips can be added for handheld shooting.
The simple, lightweight Shoulder
Stock provides the ability to move quickly
and efficiently to any position while using
the operator’s body for added stability. The
provided rail mount and cheese plate ensure
the camera’s security while adjustable foam
grips offer precise control.
Ikan’s Elements Fly Kit configurations
also include the Shoulder Mount Basic and
the Finger Ling; the latter givers users onetouch
control of lightweight lenses in DSLR
rigs.
For additional information, visit
www.ikancorp.com.
Tommy-Track Makes Moves
Green Mountain Video, Inc. has
introduced the Tommy-Track, a tripod-top
camera-tube dolly system.
Boasting quick and easy setup, the
Tommy-Track was designed as a versatile
means of creating small camera moves
anywhere a tripod can be positioned.
Tommy-Track is constructed of aircraftgrade
aluminum and steel, and it’s built to
withstand even the most rugged production
environments. The Tommy-Track comes
with a carrier, the 36" track bed and a
bubble level.
For additional information, visit
www.greenmountainvideo.com. ➣
PL 54 – SUPPORT
FOR PANASONIC
AG-AF 101
The PL 54 – support for the Panasonic AG-AF 101 with PL 54-mount has an integrated support
system and allows the operator the use of all professional lenses fitted with PL-mounts
at the AG-AF 101, no matter how heavy these lenses are. The support system contains a
mount for Ø 15 mm support rods according to industrial standard as well as Hirth-toothed
rosettes according to the Denz/ARRI-standard for adjusting handles and accessories.
CODE NO. 190.0217
We accept
PL 54 – ADAPTER
for following cameras:
Panasconic AG-AF 101
Lumix DMC-GH1/GH2
www.denz-deniz.com
info@denz-deniz.com

Zacuto Aims Double Barrel
at DSLRs
Zacuto has introduced the
Double Barrel shoulder-mounted
handheld system for DSLR cinematography.
The Double Barrel kit incorporates
Zacuto’s shoulder mount and a 7-pound
counter balance to give users a comfortable,
fully balanced rig that can be configured
for use on either the left or right shoulder.
The Double Barrel utilizes Zacuto’s
DSLR base plate, which attaches to the
user’s tripod plate via standard ¼"-20 and
3⁄8"-16 tripod plate screws. The rig also
incorporates a quick-release plate. Unlike
Zacuto’s Fast Draw, the Double Barrel
features two handgrips and the Z-Finder Pro
2.5x viewfinder. The Z-Finder Pro 2.5x’s
mounting frame attaches to the camera
quick-release plate using two thumb
screws, and it then sits over the LCD screen
and allows users to quickly attach or remove
the Z-Finder by snapping it on or off the
frame.
The Double Barrel also includes
Zacuto’s follow-focus system, which is
adjustable along the included rods and
works in conjunction with Zacuto’s Zipgears.
The Double Barrel kit includes a set of four
Zipgears; each Zipgear can be attached to a
single lens.
For additional information, visit
www.zacuto.com.
Kernercam Offers 3-D Rig
Kerner 3D Technologies, a division of
Marin, Calif.-based Kerner Group, has introduced
the Kernercam KC7000 3-D camerarig
system.
For more than 30
years, the Kerner Group
has been associated with
groundbreaking visual
effects and optical technology,
including the
creation of the “Empire
Camera” for The Empire
Strikes Back . The latest
breakthrough is the Kern-
ercam KC7000 beam-splitter rig, which is
available in various sizes for broadcast and
cinematic applications.
The Kernercam KC7000 has already
been used by Emotion Studios for a 3-D
documentary for Nvidea; by Depth Q Media
to shoot drift-racing footage for Toyota’s
Scion brand; and by director David Arquette
for his short film The Butler’s In Love.
For additional information, visit
www.kerner.com.
GFM Takes Combi-rig to
3rd Dimension
Expanding on its range of cameramounting
rigs, Grip Factory Munich has
introduced the GF-3D Combi-rig. The
mounting system utilizes the extension
tubes from GFM’s Combi-rig, but instead of
using just one tube, the GF-3D accepts two
tubes, providing a stable mount for large
camera packages and especially 3-D rigs.
The GF-3D mounts to Euro-adapter
fittings and Mitchell mounts, so it can be
used with most dolly systems. The GF-3D
can be used as a high or low mount with
vertical adjustment possible along the
tubes. Horizontal position adjustments can
also be made. Additionally, the GF-3D is
compatible with GFM’s range of offset
Mitchell and Ball Adapters.
For additional information, visit
www.g-f-m.net.
MAT-Towercam Gets Twin Peek
Berlin, Germany-based Mad About
Technology has added the MAT-Towercam
Twin Peek to its line of Towercam telescopic
camera columns.
Designed by MAT’s owner, Peter
Braun, the MAT-Towercam is a portable,
remote-controlled, dynamic, smooth and
silent telescoping camera column. When
coupled with a remote head, the computerassisted
lift allows for a wide range of
camera moves, and the MAT-Towercam’s
74 February 2011 American Cinematographer
www.downmagaz.com
narrow profile makes it a
space-saving alternative
to conventional cranes.
Building on the success
of the standard MAT-
Towercam, the Twin Peek
can telescope in both
upright and inverted
orientations, with an
overall reach of 5'-15' in
either orientation.
The entire MAT-
Towercam family boasts a short rigging
time, and each unit can be operated using
a handset, foot pedal or even an iPhone,
with a computer-assisted mode also available
that allows for implementation as a
motion-capture system.
For additional information, visit
www.mat-film.tv.
Egripment Introduces
ProTraveler
Egripment Support Systems has
entered the prosumer market with the
introduction of the compact and lightweight
ProTraveler System, a jib/crane
system designed for use with cameras with
a maximum weight of 22 pounds.
The ProTraveler System offers a
smooth, high-quality crane movement in
combination with a highly technical remote
head. The crane features an operational
length of 23', with a maximum lens height
of 20' (underslung) and adjustable armreach
configurations for 5.25'-9' or 12.5'-
16' operation. The total weight of the crane
system is 82.5 pounds.
The ProTraveler can be mounted on
any 100mm bowl-type connection, and the
system includes two carrying bags and one
small flight case for easy transporting. Additional
features include pan-and-tilt brakes
for the camera arm, a monitor platform,
weight adjustment, speed control on panand-tilt
movement, and a reverse switch for
pan-and-tilt direction.
For additional information, visit
www.egripment.nl. ●

International Marketplace
TM
Monitor Yoke Mounts
76 February 2011 American Cinematographer
www.downmagaz.com

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February 2011 77

78
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Advertiser’s Index
16x9, Inc. 76
ABC Studios 15
Abel Cine Tech 5
AC 1, 4,
Aja Video Systems, Inc. 9
Alan Gordon Enterprises 76
Arri 33
AZGrip 76
Backstage Equipment, Inc.
6
Barger-Lite 71, 77
Bron Imaging Group - US 45
Camera Essentials 77
CameraImage 79
Cavision Enterprises 63
Chapman/Leonard Studio
Equipment Inc. 19
Chemical Wedding 81
Cinematography
Electronics 71
Cinekinetic 76
Clairmont Film & Digital 21
Codex Digital Ltd., 13
Cooke Optics 24
Createsphere 75
Deluxe C2
Denecke 77
Duclos Lenses 66
Eastman Kodak C4
Film Gear 65
Filmtools 43
Five Towns College 69
Fujifilm 16a-d
Glidecam Industries C3
Grip Factory 71
J. L. Fisher 53
K5600 11
Kino Flo 35
Kobold 45
Konrad Wolf 65
Laffoux Solutions, Inc. 76
Lights! Action! Co. 77
M. M. Mukhi and Sons 76
NAB 67
Nalpak 77
New York Film Academy 44
O’Connor 69
Oppenheimer Camera Prod.
76
P+S Technik 41
Panther Gmbh 25
PED Denz 73, 77
Pelican Products, Inc 34
Photon Beard 76
Pille Film Gmbh 77
Pro8mm 76
Production Resource Group
43
Schneider Optics 2
Shelton Communications
76
Sony Electronics 7
Stanton Video Services 73
Super16 Inc. 77
Technocrane 6
VF Gadgets, Inc. 76
Visual Products 6
Welch Integrated 83
Willy’s Widgets 76
www.theasc.com 52, 66,
78, 80
Zacuto Films 77

80
www.downmagaz.com
Robert Lewis Steadman, ASC, died
on Nov. 22, 2010, at the age of 65.
Steadman was born on Dec. 6, 1944,
in Portland, Ore. The seeds of his globespanning
career behind the camera were
sown by an interest
in theater and
a family trip
through Europe
when Steadman
was a teenager.
After beginning
his collegiate studies
at Linfield
College and Portland
State University
in Oregon, he transferred to the University
of Southern California’s Department of
Cinema, from which he graduated in 1966.
While attending USC, he befriended Bill
Weaver, with whom he later invented the
now-ubiquitous Weaver-Steadman balanced
fluid head.
Steadman’s first professional work
was photographing travelogues for a Los
Angeles television station. Isidore Mankofsky,
ASC then hired him as an assistant for a
series of educational films, after which
Steadman briefly worked as an editor before
returning to camerawork.
With an impressive list of regional
and national commercials under his belt,
Steadman was given the opportunity to
shoot the 16mm television series Monty
Nash, which he followed with a string of
low-budget features, including Hammer,
Executive Action, Dogs and Acapulco Gold.
In 1975, director Michael Glyn hired Steadman
to shoot the California sequences of
The Eagle Within , a special-venue project
that celebrated the U.S. Bicentennial. In an
article he penned for the February ’76 issue
of AC, Glyn enthused that Steadman “had a
better mix of expertise at action photography,
simpatico and a sense of the style we
were after than anyone else we met in the
West.” Describing a particularly eye-popping
hang-gliding sequence, Glyn wrote, “Steadman,
who had never been in a hang glider
before, simply sat in the tandem seat, his
In Memoriam
Robert Steadman, ASC1944-2010
Panavision Arri in hand, and literally walked
off the top of Mount Palomar, shooting as
Bob Wills guided his glider 3,500 feet down
to the valley floor.”
Indeed, Steadman never shied away
from a challenge,
whether it be
filming underwater
sequences for
Raise the Titanic
and Never Say
Never Again or
working in exotic
locales for the
telefilm Treasure
Island (1990) and
the feature Return to the Blue Lagoon .
Writing about the latter project in the July
’91 issue of AC, Steadman noted, “Shooting
on and around ships and boats is probably
the most frustrating thing one can
attempt in the film business,”but his lifelong
love of sailing kept his spirits buoyant
nevertheless. His credits also included the
miniseries Fresno and Mussolini, the feature
Above the Law, and the pilots for Supercarrier
and Life Goes On.
In 1992, Steadman joined the ASC
after being recommended by Mankofsky,
Matthew Leonetti and Donald M. Morgan.
Through the rest of the decade, he focused
primarily on shooting commercials for such
clients as Xerox, McDonald’s and Honda,
and telefilms such as Elvis and the Colonel:
The Untold Story , The Face on the Milk
Carton, Bermuda Triangle and The Man
Who Captured Eichmann.
In 2004, Steadman decided to hang
up his meters and enjoy a retirement filled
with much sailing. In the letter he wrote to
the ASC announcing his retirement, he
noted, “There are many things that I will
miss. Craft service, for one.” He signed off
with class, adding, “Thanks for everything,
particularly letting me join the ASC. It was a
real honor to hang with you guys.”
Steadman is survived by his sons,
Jonas, Taylor and Spencer.
— Jon D. Witmer
●
Photo by Vivian Zink.

Clubhouse News
Moss Joins Society
The Society has welcomed Peter
Moss, ASC, ACS into active membership.
Moss’ film career began with The Day of the
Dolphin, directed by Mike Nichols and shot
by William Fraker, ASC, BSC. Mosswas
hired as a dolphin trainer but quickly
became enchanted with the camera, and
after the production wrapped, he returned
home to Australia and began working as a
film loader. As he climbed the ranks of the
camera department, he worked as an assistant
for Dean Semler, ASC, ACS; Russell
Boyd, ASC, ACS; and Peter James, ASC,
ACS, among others. Then, as an operator,
he worked on such features as Breaker
Morant (shot by Don McAlpine, ASC, ACS)
and The Mango Tree (John Seale, ASC,
ACS).
Moss began compiling cinematography
credits in the commercials arena, filming
spots for Air New Zealand, Coca-Cola,
Pepsi, BP, Levi’s, Johnny Walker and others.
Based on the strength of his commercial
work, he was invited to join and became a
member of the ACS in 1984, the same year
he came to the United States to photograph
the feature Flashpoint for William Tannen.
Moss followed that project with the telefilm
Stranded, and then began shooting
commercials in the States, becoming a partner
in Peterman/Moss Films and earning
numerous awards as a director/cinematographer.
He has since returned to long-form
work. Recent credits include the features
The Cutter, Heidi Four Paws and EC3, and
the pilot episode of the Australian series
The Johnsons.
Plus Camerimage Honors
Art of Cinematography
The 2010 Plus Camerimage International
Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography
recently took place in Bydgoszcz,
Poland. In the student competition —
judged by Joel Schumacher; Andrzej
Bartkowiak, ASC; Lilly Kilvert; Chris Lebenzon;
Jan Macola; and Oliver Stapleton, BSC
— Johan Holmquist earned the Bronze
Tadpole for Bekas, Phillip Haberlandt and
Jens Hallman earned the Silver Tadpole for
St. Christophorus: Roadkill and Jakub Giza
earned the Golden Tadpole for I Won’t Be
Here Tomorrow . In the Music Videos
Competition — judged by Daniel Pearl,
ASC; Shawn Kim; David Knight; Matthew
Libatique, ASC ; Wojciech Mann; Wally
Pfister, ASC; and Zbigniew Rybczynski —
the video for Kora’s “Zabawa w
chowanego” (shot by Marek Sanak and
directed by Bartomiej Ignaciuk) earned Best
Music Video, and Greig Fraser earned Best
Cinematography for How to Destroy
Angels’ “The Space Between.”In the Short
Documentary Competition — judged by
Robert Epstein; Ed Lachman, ASC; Robert
Fischer; Malgorzata Szumowska; Magdalena
Szczawinska; Anastas Michos,
ASC; and Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC — the
honorable mention went to Marek Septimus
Wieser for Out of Love , the Discovery
Networks Central Europe Award went to
Jaro Valko for Arsy Versy, and the Grand
Prix Golden Frog went to Piotr Stasik for The
Last Day of Summer . In the Feature Documentary
Competition — judged by Jay
Rosenblatt; Midge Costin; Nancy
Schreiber, ASC ; Lawrence Grobel;
Michael Chapman, ASC ; Marcin Koszalka;
and Barbara Bilinska — an honorable
mention went to cinematographer Pau
Mirabet for Letters from the Desert (Eulogy
to Slowness) , the Discovery Networks
82 February 2011 American Cinematographer
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Central Europe Award went to Andrew
Thompson for Mugabe and the White
African, and the Grand Prix Golden Frog
went to Tim Hetherington and Sebastian
Junger for Restrepo. In the Polish Films
Competition — judged by Albert Hughes;
Juan Ruiz-Anchia, ASC, AEC ; Dick Pope,
BSC; Phil Meheux, BSC; F.X. Feeney; and
Johannes Kirchlechner — Little Rose
(directed by Jan Kidawa-Blonski and shot by
Piotr Wojtowicz) earned the Golden Frog.
Adam Arkapaw and David Michôd won in
the Cinematographers’ Debuts Competition
(judged by Michael Ballhaus, ASC ;
Timo Salminen, FSC, AIP; Bruno de Keyzer;
Martin Coppen; and Christian Berger, AAC)
and Directors’ Debuts Competition (judged
by Jos Stelling; Affonso Beato, ASC, ABC;
Umberto Rossi; Don McAlpine, ASC, ACS;
and Goert Giltay), respectively, for Animal
Kingdom (AC Oct. ’10).In the Main
Competition — judged by Dion Beebe,
ASC; Peter Biziou, BSC; Stephen Goldblatt,
ASC, BSC ; Andrzej Kolodynski;
Roberto Schaefer, ASC; Tom Stern, ASC,
AFC; and Jost Vacano, ASC — cinematographer
Eduard Grau earned the
Bronze Frog for Buried, Mikhail Krichman
earned the Silver Frog for Silent Souls and
Arthur Reinhart earned the Golden Frog for
Venice. Additionally, Libatique and director
Darren Aronofsky earned the Cinematographer-Director
Duo Award, and Ballhaus was
presented with the Lifetime Achievement
Award.
Lighthill Earns Inaugural
Educational Award
During the 2010 SMPTE Honors and
Awards Ceremony, Stephen Lighthill,
ASC received the inaugural Kodak Educational
Award, which recognizes an individual
who advances the educational process
at any level through innovative and inspirational
methods. ●

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When you were a child, what film made the strongest
impression on you?
Yiddish was my first language, so seeing black-and-white Yiddish
films made by the forerunners of what was to come in Hollywood
excited me. As we now know, Yiddish theater in Europe turned into
MGM and Warner Bros. Many of the Italian Neorealist films also
made an impression.
Which cinematographers, past or present, do you most
admire, and why?
I love Giuseppe Rotunno, ASC, AIC;
Conrad Hall, ASC, and all those who did
so much more with less. Guys like
Haskell Wexler, ASC, made me think,
‘Wow!’ quite often.
What sparked your interest in
photography?
I got interested in photography very late.
Working at Ferco rental house in New
York City exposed me to many new
genres, and then my dad found an old,
broken-down camera and fixed it for
me. All is history after that.
Where did you train and/or study?
When I finished the Hebrew University in
Jerusalem with a degree in Jewish history, I thought teaching would
be my thing, but it turned out it wasn’t. I found a job at Ferco for
$65 a week take-home, and I knew that if I stuck it out and cleaned
enough camera cases, one day I could become a loader and then a
first AC. I met all the assistants at Ferco and made connections. Collimating
lenses and learning about dead batteries served me well
when I moved on.
Who were your early teachers or mentors?
Garrett Brown gave me the start I needed, even though I only got
two takes out of 40 in focus on our first job together. I was his AC
for five years, and he saw to it that I learned set presence and skills.
Haskell Wexler — or, as we called him, “Hacksaw Wexler” — was
also very good to me and just loved to share his smarts. When I
needed good advice, I could always call Jack Green, ASC. He used to
be a barber, so I’d call him up pretending I needed a haircut and then
pick his brain about lighting. Boy, he would laugh. I also learned from
many others who were not ‘name brands,’ including all those guys
who overlit — they taught me what not to do.
What are some of your key artistic influences?
Watching films like A Clockwork Orange and Touch of Evil set me
straight on ways to approach a film. Watch closely, and you’re set.
84 February 2011 American Cinematographer
www.downmagaz.com
Close-up
Barry Markowitz, ASC
How did you get your first break in the business?
In addition to Garrett Brown, Ellen Shire and Bob Giraldi were good
to me.
What has been your most satisfying moment on a project?
Having Jeff Bridges thank me at the Academy Awards while accepting
his Oscar for Crazy Heart. Boy, work has improved since then,
thank God!
Have you made any memorable
blunders?
Yes, a few, but nothing too bad. I’ve
avoided focus issues mainly because of
good assistants and keeping my eye on
the ball. Once, while I was assisting
Burleigh Wartes in the desert in Israel, I
accidentally exposed a 400-foot roll
we’d shot, and he turned to me and
said, ‘I didn’t like that reel, anyway.’
What is the best professional
advice you’ve ever received?
‘There’s only one way to shoot this
thing: two ways.’
What recent books, films or
artworks have inspired you ?
I have two teenaged boys, so time for reading has been scarce. I’ve
gone to Holland many times and found myself online at all the
museums. I hate the wait, but once you’re in there, you can stand 2
feet from the art and really examine the details.
Do you have any favorite genres, or genres you would like
to try?
Will someone give me a job in New York City, a shoot-’em-up kinda
thing? I need one of those for my reel.
If you weren’t a cinematographer, what might you be
doing instead?
Teaching would probably be my thing. I’m good with showing
younger folks the way.
Which ASC cinematographers recommended you
for membership?
Russell Carpenter, Jack Green and Fred Murphy.
How has ASC membership impacted your life and career?
It has given me a huge boost by allowing me to believe that I’ve
made it, so to speak. I’m positive there’s a lot of unrecognized talent
out there, too. ●
Photo courtesy of ASC files.

www.downmagaz.com
ONFILM
PHIL MÉHEUX, BSC
“My parents gave me a primitive stills camera
when I was around 13 years old. Later, I got
a better one and began processing my own
film and making prints with an enlarger.
That’s how I learned about resolution, grain,
composition and finding the right light for
different photographs. … Most people consider
books, paintings, music and sculptures
created by one person as art. Filmmaking is a
collaborative form of art. Everyone contributes.
We all need each other. Directors who have
a vision and share their feelings bring out
the best in me. It’s a fantastic experience. I
believe it’s important to get it right while you
are shooting instead of planning to fix it later.
Film offers superior resolution, more nuanced
colors and contrast, and big differences in
flesh tones. There is more emotional impact
that pulls audiences deeper into stories.”
Phil Méheux, BSC began his career working
on documentaries and television plays for the
BBC. His credits include the television movie
Max Headroom and such cinema films as
The Long Good Friday, GoldenEye, The Mask of
Zorro, Around the World in 80 Days, The Legend
of Zorro, Casino Royale and Edge of Darkness.
He was president of the British Society of
Cinematographers from 2002 through 2006.
[All these films were shot on
Kodak motion picture film.]
For an extended interview with Phil Méheux,
visit www.kodak.com/go/onfilm.
To order Kodak motion picture film,
call (800) 621-film.
© Eastman Kodak Company, 2010.
Photography: ©2010 Douglas Kirkland