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True Blood
HBO’s Vampire Tale Enters Fifth Season
True Blood, the death-obsessed HBO
television series that portrays vampires as a
misunderstood, oppressed minority, begins
its fi fth season in June. In a world with dozens
of vampire entertainment options, the show
has earned such a devoted following that it
has become HBO’s most-watched series since
The Sopranos. Recognized by critics and fans,
True Blood has also received more than a dozen
Emmy® nominations.
Based on “The Southern Vampire
Mysteries” novels by Charlaine Harris, the
storyline centers on a telepathic waitress
(Anna Paquin) and her blood-soaked
adventures in a small Louisiana town. True
Blood, according to the story, is a synthetic
blood substitute that helps the undead keep
their thirsts quenched. But for some reason,
regular folks are still less than accepting of
the pale, persecuted — yet sexy — Vampires.
Cinematography duties on the series are shared by David Klein,
ASC and Romeo Tirone, who shoot alternating episodes. Tirone
has enjoyed a prolifi c career as a cinematographer, and in addition
to shooting, he has directed episodes of True Blood and Showtime’s
Dexter. Klein broke into fi lmmaking in the 1990s with Clerks, Mallrats
and Chasing Amy, and has added more than 30 narrative projects to
his resume, including Good Time Max, Zack and Miri Make a Porno,
Red State, as well as episodes of Flight 29 Down and Pushing Daisies.
John B. Aronson, Joseph Gallagher,
Matthew Jensen, Stephen St. John and
Checco Varese, ASC, AMC all previously
contributed to the series.
Describing the look of True Blood,
Tirone says, “One of the major things that
separates True Blood from most shows is
that we shoot on fi lm. That helps us keep
our look consistent. There is nothing like the
‘romance’ that fi lm gives to a show. We shoot
a lot of night exteriors, and are very careful to
keep our night look constant. Darkness is a
big part of the character of True Blood, we are
always on the edge trying not to be too safe
with our look.”
“Slick and sexy, with an edge,” adds Klein.
“I try to take the sharpness off of the edge
a bit, because I think when you’re dealing
with such supernatural material, if the look
starts to stray too far from reality, everything
begins to feel phony and lame. So at its core, the lighting of the
show, for me, needs to feel based in reality.”
Generally, the approach features wider lenses with somewhat
saturated colors. The lenses are usually COOKE S4 primes, with
the occasional use of ANGENIEUX OPTIMO zooms. Klein says he
prefers to move closer and do a close-up on a 50mm rather than
using a longer lens and hanging back. “To me, it feels more like a

“More importantly, I lean on
fi lm so heavily every day. I know
that I can blow out a highlight by
fi ve stops and it’s going to look
gorgeous. “
feature fi lm that way,” he says. “The combination of the Cookes
and the Angenieux zoom is one of the best I’ve found, but I still
prefer the look of the primes.”
An episode is usually shot in 10-15 days. The main format is 3-perf
35mm, usually shot with a single ARRICAM and KODAK VISION3
500T Color Negative Film 5219 and KODAK VISION3 250D Color
Negative Film 5207. But Klein notes they use a wide variety of
cameras and formats when the story requires.
“We’ve used a hand-cranked ARRIFLEX, CANON 5Ds, REDs, ARRI
235s and 435s,” says Klein. “Our stories contain many fl ashbacks,
and we use many different tools to depict them. We’ll sometimes
push one or two stops to add some contrast and grain, just
noticeable enough to make it dance — and that grain is wonderful.
It’s one of the best tools I have at my disposal. It’s something I really
miss when I shoot digitally. Grain can be an actress’s best friend.”
During season four, Klein used
the technique for a sequence that
fl ashed back to a 1920s Louisiana
sharecropper’s house at nighttime.
“I went all moonlight and oil-burning
lamps inside the house,” he says. “I
knew that I wanted to desaturate
the image and add grain, so I did
a two-stop push and asked my
dailies colorist to drop the color
out by 60 percent. The initial idea
was to shoot 16mm, but we wanted
to do something with our existing
equipment, and this was the solution.
The grain really sang. We were
already rating at 2,000 ASA, but at
times I underexposed the negative
even further.
“After lifting the image up, it was like
looking at a faded, old photograph from
that era. In fi nal color, we desaturated
everything that was brown and blue
a little further than anything else, so
the reds and skin tones held out the best. Suzuki Ingerslev, our
production designer, really helped me out with this by painting the
house very neutral and keeping most of the color out of the frame. It
really felt like a faded, color photograph from that era that had sat in
the sun for too long.”
After a series of cost comparisons, the production determined
that the choice of origination format was not a money issue.
“(Executive producer) Gregg Fienberg and I decided to keep the
show on fi lm,” says Klein. “The current crop of digital cameras is
amazing, but to switch a show from fi lm to digital will change the
look of the show. That was one of my main arguments: If you’re
happy with the way True Blood looks right now, then don’t change it.
“More importantly, I lean on fi lm so heavily every day,” he
says. “I know that I can blow out a highlight by fi ve stops and it’s
going to look gorgeous. I know that a certain actor’s face, when
lit one-and-a-half stops under, is going to glow perfectly. There’s
no monitor I have to babysit. I can light by eye, through the lens,
instead of going back and forth between the monitor and the set,
which takes time.
“Also, with fi lm, I can lock in the look by exposing the negative a
certain way, which you can’t currently do with digital. With digital,
you expose to capture all the information, and then you push it
around in post. You’re basically creating the entire look in a color
suite. I prefer to lock 90 percent of the look into the negative on
the set, and then fi ne tune it in the color suite.”
The post facility is Technicolor, where Peter Ritter serves as dailies
colorist and Scott Klein handles fi nal color. “They know what I mean
when I say, ‘Make this scene almost dark enough to get me fi red,’”
says Klein with a laugh.
Key grip Bud Scott introduced Klein to CHIMERA cloth, which he
uses for large, diffuse sources. “I tend to go somewhat big on the
show,” says Klein. “Vampires come out at night, so we have a lot of
night exteriors, and we often use Condors and big sources — last
week we had two 20K Fresnels — to simulate moonlight. CHIMERA
is one of the thickest diffusion materials I’ve used, so it takes a lot
of fi repower and manpower to make it soft, especially when we go
through two rags.”
True Blood provides the cinematographers and their crews with
an ever-shifting array of challenges and opportunities. Whether it’s
a modern-day scene shot on one of the show’s six stages on The Lot
at Santa Monica Boulevard and Formosa in Hollywood, or a 1920s
fl ashback on a remote location, they are ready.
“What keeps me most engaged in this show, and what is also
exhausting, is that we’re constantly given new storylines, new
fl ashbacks, new stories to tell within our story,” Klein says. “Every
episode has something that requires a different look. It defi nitely
keeps us on our toes.”
“It’s one of the best aspects of shooting a show about
vampires,” adds Tirone. “They have lived so long that it lets us
shoot fl ashbacks from any era.”
Photos:
Previous page/top: David Klein, ASC. Center: (L-R) Rutina Wesley and Anna Paquin.
This page: (L-R) Stephen Moyer and Romeo Tirone. (credit: John P. Johnson/HBO)
2-perf Format
Advantageous to Budget and Schedule
Director Hyung-Suk Lee and director of cinematography
Sung-Kuk Lee shot the short fi lm Two Boys and a Sheep with funds
from the Korean Film Council’s Production Support Program for
Independent Films. For several reasons, the fi lmmakers chose
to use 2-perf KODAK VISION3 500T Color Negative Film 5219,
making it the fi rst Korean production in that format.
“The fi lm is about two diametrically-opposed lifestyles,
homosexuality and heterosexuality,” explains Sung-Kuk. “We
wanted to portray these lifestyles with the dramatic space they
deserve, and this would be almost impossible in a digital format.
Only 35mm fi lm accurately conveys the emotions of the characters,
and allows audiences not merely to see or hear the movie, but also
to experience it.
“The movie had to be fi lmed right before sunset with the unstable
glow from the sun, and we knew that 5219 Film would provide
the appropriate dynamic range,” adds the cinematographer. “We
attempted to use natural light as much as possible with the correct
exposure, which is one of the advantages of the fi lm format. By
enhancing shadow detail and by setting highlighting around faces,
we accentuated the skin tones to describe the emotional state of
each character. Using different lenses (a wide-angle lens for outdoor
shooting and a telephoto for indoors), we were able to introduce
variation into the shots, so that despite the fact that all the ‘action’
takes place in one day, the audience is engaged by visual clues.”
The two creatives agreed that shooting in the 2-perf format gave
them advantages in terms of both budget and time. Sung-Kuk says,
“We went through test shooting during pre-production and concluded
that there is little difference in image quality between the 2-perf and
4-perf format. You might think there’s an inevitable frame loss since
2-perf is done with half the existing frame, but by setting frame loss
to zero, enormous fi nancial resources can be saved. In other words,
choosing 2-perf gave us the fl exibility to spend on other production
elements such as production design, lighting, crew and actors.
“The 2-perf format also reduces the number of roll changes,
thus reducing loading time,” he continues. “This meant we were
free from the ‘rolling out’ effect that can interfere with the actors’
emotional fl ow.”
The fi lmmakers point out that one of the last shots of the movie
was also one of the most important. They wanted to shoot it
handheld and it was a long take–longer than one minute–which
tracked fi ve characters and an animal. Since the 2-perf format fi ts
twice as many widescreen images on a given length of 35mm
fi lm, slashing raw stock and processing costs in half compared to
conventional 4-perf 35mm formats, the fi lmmakers report they
felt free to set as many takes for this scene as needed because the
2-perf format was so cost effective.
A DI was completed using scanned 4K images that were
recorded out to fi lm. Two Boys and a Sheep will be submitted to
various international fi lm festivals as a 35mm print.
Photo:
Taking a dolly shot on the panther, Director of
Cinematography Sung-Kuk Lee follows a man
(Kwan-Jae Ko) from the back to take a tracking shot.
(Credit: Courtesy of Hyung-Suk Lee)
“Only 35mm film accurately
conveys the emotions of
the characters, and allows
audiences not merely to see
or hear the movie, but also
to experience it.”

Familial Ties Uncovered
in Touching Drama
People Like Us
To hear cinematographer Salvatore Totino, ASC, AIC talk about
his latest fi lm, People Like Us, you can tell the project resonated
deeply with him. The DreamWorks SKG fi lm, about a man who
must deliver part of his deceased father’s fortune to a sister he has
never met, stars Chris Pine, Elizabeth Banks and Michelle Pfeiffer in
writer-producer Alex Kurtzman’s feature directing debut. The story,
written by Kurtzman, is quite a departure from his usual fantasy and
science-fi ction fare (Transformers, Star Trek, Alias and Fringe), and it
really gripped Totino.
“I equate this fi lm to a modern-day version of the psychology that
was behind Italian neo-realism fi lms,” says Totino. “This is a real
story that has been fi ctionalized to some degree but is accessible to
everybody. With that storyline, a lot of people will turn around and
say I know somebody like that or that has happened to me or will
know what it is like to be an illegitimate child. It’s so real, and that is
what drew me to the fi lm.”
What did you feel you could bring to the film as far as a
visual approach?
Totino: My whole idea with the fi lm was to help create a real
environment so that the viewer can relate to the story. For example,
we would be inside a house in the middle of the day, and it would be
lit from outside so it feels tangible.
Did shooting on fi lm help in your approach as opposed to using
a digital format?
Absolutely. If I had my choice, I’d always shoot fi lm as much as
possible.
Which fi lm stocks did you use?
We shot KODAK VISION3 500T Color Negative Film 5219, KODAK
VISION3 250D Color Negative Film 5207 and a little bit of KODAK
VISION2 100T Color Negative Film 5212, which I used on a few
daytime exteriors. Most of the time I chose 5207, including for the
majority of daytime interiors.
For nighttime shots, did you do any pushing of the fi lm stock?
I didn’t need to do it. I worked in the toe of the fi lm when I could, and
there is a lot of latitude there to work with. I didn’t want to change
the grain structure at all by pushing the fi lm because I was trying to
be clean and not artifi cial. I was very conscious of making it feel very
naturally lit.
Considering the cast, was there any special lighting for them?
No, and that was a fi ne line to walk because it was all about keeping
it genuine. I wasn’t trying to be extra conscious of beauty. I wanted
them to look good, but I wanted it to look real and not over the
top. The fi lm is very emotional, and you forget you are watching a
movie. I give credit to Alex (Kurtzman) for that. Although this is his
fi rst feature as a director, I felt like I was working with a seasoned
fi lmmaker. I was very impressed with how prepared he was.
It sounds like there was restraint in having the cinematography
and look call attention to itself.
I try to do that with most of my fi lms, unless it is something like a
science-fi ction thriller where the look is part of the story. Alex wanted
the fi lm to look good, and gave me a lot of room as to where I wanted
to go with it. In this fi lm, the look is there to help tell the story but not
distract from it.
You shot this in 3-perf Super 35mm. Which cameras and lenses
did you employ?
I shot the fi lm on ARRI ST and LT cameras and COOKE S4 lenses.
I love those lenses. They are slightly on the warm side and are very
clean. I own a set — that’s how much I love them! I usually shoot
two cameras and operate one — the B camera. I had an incredible
operator in Colin Anderson who brought a lot to the table. I gave
Colin a lot of room to bring his storytelling abilities to the fi lm.
How did camera movement factor into the visual approach?
We were always mindful of moving the camera. The cameras were
on dollies, sliders, and STEADICAMS. Every scene had a little bit of
camera movement to it to help draw you in and help you focus on
what was happening with the actors. Camera movement makes the
audience feel like they are there as opposed to being just an observer,
and that is what really helps them relate to this fi lm, as well.
Which scene sticks in your memory the most?
There are a couple emotional scenes with Michelle (Pfeiffer) and
Chris (Pine), and I found myself crying behind the camera. When
you’re behind the camera and you start crying … you go back to that
moment when you were younger and deciding you want to make
fi lms — that you believe in them. The actor and actress have taken
you somewhere. It’s one of those extremely rare moments of ‘This
is what I always wanted to do.’ You’re an artist, you’re a technician,
you’re a manager, and you can become so preoccupied with what’s
at hand to accomplish that day that when you get those moments,
it’s so special.
When lighting interiors through windows, what are you using
to get enough light for your exposure choice?
Different locations called for different lighting elements. We shot
a scene in Cole’s, which is a restaurant and bar in downtown
Los Angeles with very dark windows and a dark interior. I lit that
with 240,000 watts of light through the windows. We used two
100,000-watt SOFTSUNS, plus a bunch of 18Ks. When you see the
scene, you don’t even feel like it’s lit. In Michelle’s house interiors,
I used some 18K ARRIMAX HMIs outside.
Do you complement this lighting with anything inside the
interior locations?
Very little is used inside. I try to use a little bit of bounce. But that’s
what is so great about the fi lm stocks — you have this latitude and
contrast there that allowed me to work in this environment. I would
have had to approach it differently if I did it digitally.
Did you encounter a shot or scene that turned out to be more
complicated than anticipated?
There is a night scene with Chris and his mom on a bench in Laurel
Canyon overlooking the city, and we had talked about approaching
it a certain way. When we got there with the actors and blocked the
scene, it wasn’t working the way we had planned. We only had one
night to do it. It’s a low-budget fi lm so we couldn’t come back, and
we were fi ghting against the rising sun. We simplifi ed it and changed
everything — the coverage, the angles, the camera movement —
and it turned out great. We shot listed the script beforehand, but
sometimes you have to change it up when the players get there.
We had that fl exibility to do that, and it was great to work that way.
That’s the way I work with Ron Howard, as well.
Another good thing about this fi lm is that we worked really hard to
make sure we had a lot of coverage, which gave Alex more choices
editorially. That is unusual in a lower budget fi lm because you don’t
have the time. We shot for 42 days with two days of additional
shooting. We had a great crew and the actors were dialed in. The
coverage enhanced the fi lm.
Who handled your dailies and digital intermediate?
Deluxe Laboratories developed the fi lm, and we did dailies at EFILM.
Ben Estrada did my dailies as well as the DI color timing. I viewed
dailies in digital form on DVD, but I got to look at some prints when I
needed to. The fi lm colorist was Yvan Lucas.
Did you use the DI to create a look or was that done primarily in
camera beforehand?
We captured most of the look in camera. The DI was more like
conventional color timing except for a few spots where we did some
Power Windows, and that was only necessary because while we
were fi lming, it would have taken extra time to fl ag off and bring
down the lighting on a particular wall. Instead, we used that time to
get more coverage through an extra setup or two.
Looking back, what do you take away from this movie’s
undertaking?
It was an incredible experience, and working with those professionals
in a low-budget world helped make a difference. Producer Clayton
Townsend — with whom I did my fi rst feature Any Given Sunday —
worked really hard to give us what we needed to tell the story. Ida
Random, the production designer, worked with one hand tied behind
her back because she didn’t have the funds but gave us sets that
were fantastic. She did a great job and helped me tell the story. The
other asset was the collaborative relationship with the director. Alex
felt comfortable and trusted me, and that collaboration always makes
a difference.
Photos:
Left page: (L-R) Chris Pine, Elizabeth Banks, and Michael Hall D’Addario. Center: (L-R) Michael
Hall D’Addario and Elizabeth Banks.
Right page: (L-R) Salvatore Totino and Alex Kurtzman on set. (Credit: ©DreamWorks Distribution
Co., LLC. All rights reserved.)

Oscar®-winning
cinematographer Wally Pfi ster,
ASC, BSC recently brought his
sharp eye for narrative to one
of the most well-known ad
campaigns in recent history:
the National Milk Mustache
“got milk?®” Campaign.
Pfi ster is known for his
arresting images in the feature
fi lm arena, on hits like The
Dark Knight, Batman Begins,
Inception, Moneyball, and the
forthcoming The Dark Knight
Rises. His insistence on the
highest possible image quality
— and the support of director
Christopher Nolan — has led
him to shoot critical sequences
in 65mm and IMAX fi lm
formats. The results speak for
themselves — The Dark Knight,
for example, was widely praised
while raking in more than $1
billion for Warner Bros.
Pfi ster is now embarking on
a new chapter in his career,
making the leap from director
of photography to director.
Currently in the early stages
of preproduction on a major,
high-budget feature fi lm that
Nolan is executive producing,
Wally Pfi ster
Brings Big Screen
Gloss to Commercials
Pfi ster says that his focus is
now on character and story
— but that doesn’t mean he’s
leaving behind everything he’s
learned about telling stories
with images.
“Of course images are
always going to be important
to me,” he says. “But the new
component is storytelling
through performance. The
broader aspects of storytelling
are really where my head is at
these days.”
Pfi ster is not exactly a
fi rst-time director. He’s
been working as a directorcinematographer
on
commercials for six years, and
he logged time in the editing
room when he was a news and
documentary cameraman in
the early years of his career.
But the “got milk?” campaign
presented his fi rst opportunity
to dabble in comedy. He had
a willing accomplice — Salma
Hayek was onboard as the
talent.
“When I fi rst saw the boards
for ‘got milk? — Midnight Run,’
I wasn’t sure how funny we
could make it,” Pfi ster recalls.
“Then I had a conversation
with Salma, and she really
helped take it in a more deeply
comic, at times even slapstick,
direction. She wanted to show
off her comic chops, which I
thought was a great way to go.
We worked the boards over to
incorporate broader humor,
while keeping the narrative
extremely abbreviated and
effi cient, which is what’s
needed for a commercial.”
In the spot, Hayek returns
home late, dressed to the nines
and looking glamorous. She
takes a milk container from the
fridge and discovers it’s empty.
Needing milk for her child’s
breakfast in the morning, she
ventures out to a convenience
store, which is out of milk, and
another that is closed. It begins
to rain and she breaks a heel.
While desperately driving past
a cow pasture at dawn, Hayek
attempts to crawl through
a fence, only to be chased
off by the cow. Eventually,
desperation drives her to fl ag
down a milk delivery van, and
the driver hands her a gallon
of milk. Comically disheveled,
she makes it home in time
to provide breakfast for her
daughter, and to enjoy a glass
of milk herself. The kicker is
that unfortunately, the cereal
box is discovered to be empty.
The spot was fi lmed over two
days on a variety of locations
north of Los Angeles. “As a
director-cinematographer, I
knew when and how I wanted
to shoot,” says Pfi ster. “I
obviously had strong feelings
about how I wanted to present
it and what format I wanted to
use, and it was very important
to have the exposure latitude
of fi lm. I fi rmly believe the
spot required all the gloss of a
feature fi lm. I wanted to catch
the beauty of the early morning
light on fi lm, and I wanted the
latitude to let the sun blow
out a touch once we did get to
morning. Shooting fi lm was an
easy choice for me. It allowed
me to shoot quickly, and it
brought about the natural look
and mood I was after.”
The “got milk? — Midnight
Run” spot was fi lmed in 4-perf
format using the full 35mm
negative. The stock was KODAK
“Shooting fi lm was an easy
choice for me. It allowed
me to shoot quickly, and it
brought about the natural
look and mood I was after.”
VISION3 500T Color Negative
Film 5219. The initial timing
was handled by Sparkle at
Technicolor in Los Angeles. The
agency was Deutsch, New York.
“The agency was very
happy that we took it in a more
comedic direction,” says Pfi ster.
“I think it’s smart, because
it helps the spot stand out.
Going a little bit over the top,
and seeing Salma in those
humanizing situations makes
it memorable, something that
people talk about. And of
course if it catches the attention
of the audience, and makes
them smile, they are much more
likely to be paying attention
when the ‘button’ identifi es the
product at the end.”
Pfi ster also turned to 35mm
fi lm for a completely different
type of spot, this one fi lmed at
a track in Spain. In it, two cars
are lined up as if to race. The
engines rev, and the helmet
visors are fl ipped down. Cut
to a close-up of the key —
counterintuitively, turning the
engine off. Car doors open, and
a foot emerges to push each
car slowly forward. Slowly,
the viewer realizes that the
“race” is just two cars coasting.
Eventually, one pulls away. The
idea is to demonstrate that
Michelin tires are designed
to be more effi cient with
less resistance than their
competitors’ tires.
The spot, titled “Hills,” was
one of four for Michelin that
Pfi ster shot and directed over
four days at the track. Again,
he shot full frame 4-perf 35mm
in spherical format. This time,
the stock was KODAK VISION3
250D Color Negative Film
5207.
“It was a terrifi c idea and
a great, interesting way to
illustrate the point,” says
Pfi ster. “The producers
suggested that I shoot digital,
saying that it would be
cheaper, but I didn’t believe
it. There are circumstances
when shooting fi lm is actually
cheaper. In this case, I found
a way to minimize the costs,
because I felt it was important.
I was traveling to a foreign
country, and using an almost
entirely Spanish-speaking
crew, with the exception of my
key grip Ray Garcia and fi rst
AD Peter Jackson.
“Once again, I had a very
tight schedule and I wanted
the best light of the day. The
fi nal shot looks right into the
sun and I needed the latitude. I
needed to be able to shoot fast
— to grab the camera and run.”
Pfi ster laid an ARRI 235
directly on the track to get a
low angle. He had an ARRI 435
mounted on an Ultimate arm,
which he operated while Dean
Bailey, a colleague from the
Dark Knight shoots, drove the
vehicle. An old friend from fi lm
school at AFI, cinematographer
Flavio Labiano, operated
another camera and grabbed
additional unit shots.
“It was fun and exciting to
do all four of these spots in
comfortable fashion, without
having to worry about the
blazing sun in the shot,” says
Pfi ster. “The ability to shoot fast
without compromise, and its
simplicity are my main reasons
for shooting fi lm.”
Not surprisingly, Pfi ster plans
to originate on celluloid for his
upcoming feature directorial
debut as well. “I’ll be shooting
fi lm,” he says. “As a director, I’m
thinking in a new way, but I’m
going to apply every lesson I’ve
learned as a cinematographer.
I’m not going to compromise
or leave behind the visual
integrity that I applied in the
features I shot.”
Photos:
Salma Hayek stars in a spot for the National
Milk Mustache “got milk?®” Campaign (credit:
courtesy of AKA Media Inc. for MilkPEP)

An Epic Surf Movie With A Twist
Sure a global, civilization-ending apocalypse has wiped out the
world as we know it, but maybe things aren’t so bad after all. That’s
the idea director Joe Guglielmino sought to explore in his latest surf
documentary, Year Zero. Guglielmino runs the entertainment division
for Globe International, a surf and skate gear and apparel maker.
“If anyone is going to survive an apocalypse with smiles on their
faces, it would probably be surfers, because as long as everyone
is safe and they can fi nd a wave, they are pretty happy,” says
Guglielmino, who was inspired by the conceptual surf fi lms made by
George Greenough and Jack McCoy in the 1970s and 1980s.
Though categorized as documentaries, conceptual surf fi lms
like Year Zero are experimental in nature and almost music
video-like. “Surfi ng itself and communing with nature is a
psychedelic experience in that it is
transformative,” he explains. “The
goal is to try to get the viewer as
close to that experience as possible
by using high frame rates to slow
down time and music to really
drive that home, honing in on little
moments.”
A big part of his aesthetic, and by
extension the Globe brand aesthetic,
is the use of KODAK Super 16mm
Film to capture the visuals. “I’ve
always had an incredible affi nity for
fi lm — the tactile nature of it; loading
mags with your hands; its durability and ruggedness; the incredible
latitude and versatility of the Kodak stocks; and of course, the look,”
he notes. “It has an incredible quality that is still unsurpassed, in my
opinion.”
As far as a cost comparison, he says shooting and processing fi lm
versus renting and shooting high-end high defi nition was practically a
wash. The crew also needed minimal gear to get through customs as
effi ciently as possible, and oftentimes they have to swim to beaches
with their gear in watertight Pelican cases.
“Our production schedule is very different than traditional fi lms,
in that we are completely location based and also completely at
the whim of Mother Nature,” he explains. “We have to chase swells
to the far corners of the globe and often fi nd ourselves waiting for
weeks once we get there for everything to line up just right so we
can get what we need. When we tested and priced everything out
based on length of rentals, durability, etc., and compared Super
16mm against the best digital cameras and workfl ows, we decided
that shooting fi lm was the best option for us.”
Starring Globe-sponsored riders who are well known in the surf
community, Year Zero was shot in Western Australia, Indonesia,
Mexico, Southwest France, the north coast of Spain and Costa
Rica. Exact locations are never identifi ed because when it comes to
discovered waves, surfers are a protective bunch.
Their gear consisted of tripods, a couple ARRI SR-2 High Speeds and
two 35mm CANON 15-600mm zooms modifi ed for Super 16 (one
by Optex, one by Century Precision
Optics), which doubles the focal
length. Cameras were loaded with
KODAK VISION2 50D Color Negative
Film 7201 and KODAK VISION3 250D
Color Negative Film 7207. After the
12-month shoot, around 40,000 feet
of fi lm had been shot.
Guglielmino’s longtime director of
photography, Scott Soens, actually
taught him how to shoot because
they realized two angles on the
same action were better for editing.
“Normally, I manned the longer lens,” says Soens, “and then Joe
would be just a little bit wider and at more of a straight-on angle,
which was free of obstructions in front of the lens in order to get
the clip that makes the trick. I would experiment with foreground,
ramping speeds, rack focusing, extreme angles and we can cut
back and forth between the two angles. I usually speed ramp
after the surfer drops in, right when he starts his session and then
return to normal speed after he’s fi nished.”
Adds Guglielmino, “With long focal lengths, we try to build the
frame so that you’re not just seeing a guy and ocean. We want
a background, a foreground and to have the athlete performing
between the two and then maximize the amount of action
happening in the frame.”
“I love working with film because you don’t have
to do much to it to make it look beautiful.”
The fi lmmakers tried for locations that lent themselves to a
post-apocalyptic landscape. “For instance,” cites the director,
“along the southwest coast of France we shot where there were
World War II bunkers jutting out from the sand, using those in the
foreground to look like ruins backed by these incredible waves.”
The third integral member of this tight crew is water
cinematographer Rick Jakovich, who’s out in the waves with a
MILIKEN DBM 55 Super 16mm camera in a waterproof housing.
“Some of the most stunning shots in the fi lm are done by Rick,”
Guglielmino says. Jakovich was usually on a 10mm lens to capture
intense shots when the wave barrels, and also used a spring-wound
Bolex with a longer lens to focus in on surfi ng intricacies.
Citing a ratio of one cloudy day for every three sunny days, Soens
shoots clean at a stop of T16 without any special processing, though
a roll here or there may be pushed when needed. A 72-degree
shutter helps with clarity on high-speed shots. While the SR-2
cameras go up to 150 fps, the MILIKEN is twice as fast.
A familiarity with the surfers helps them know what to expect.
“We know what the surfers are like, what their body positions are
and can pick the best angles for each surfer,” says Soens. “That’s
important to make a trick look much better.”
Soens usually counts on spending four to six hours a day shooting.
The surfers perform in rotating groups so they are able to take breaks.
The cameramen don’t have that luxury. “I defi nitely have pulled
nine-hour days on the beach — just by myself,” Soens says with
a laugh. “Everyone on board knows that this is a production, and
needs to be out there performing as best as they can. The riders are
athletes, and they really put their time in out there.”
After each location shoot, Rushes in Hollywood did 1080p
transfers supervised by telecine colorist Gino Panero. Guglielmino
and another core member of the team, editor George Manzanilla,
would then make their shot selects. Working in ProRes 422 HQ at
full resolution in Final Cut Pro, Manzanilla would edit the fi lm, create
the looks and composite, built upon a score of songs from retro
rock band Black Mountain. Final output was in ProRes 422 HQ to a
BLU-RAY disc master.
“I love working with fi lm because you don’t have to do much to it
to make it look beautiful,” Manzanilla says. “The scene would dictate
if we should add a layer of Super 16. Sometimes a beautiful bright
sunset shot would look awesome on top of a shot of a girl putting
her hands up to the sky. Most of the compositing was pretty simple
transfer modes. We’re just overlaying visual elements on top of other
visual elements, using three or four layers in a shot at most.”
Though fi lm has the grain aesthetic the fi lmmakers like, some
footage was grunged up further with overlays of fi lm grains, dust and
inverted white fi lm leader.
Apocalyptic cut scenes throughout the fi lm tie the surfi ng
locations together. Shot in the deserts of Southern California, these
feature people cavorting around decaying castoffs, bonfi res and
Mad Max-like muscle cars. Most was shot with a ZEISS 11-110mm
zoom, but the fi lmmakers went longer on the car scenes. “The cars
racing through the desert were shot long lens — at 24 frames per
second at 600mm you get a little camera shake that adds intensity
to the driving scenes,” notes Guglielmino.
Even Manzanilla got into the act by shooting cut-scene footage
on Super 8mm with a BEAULIEU 4008 converted to a 16:9 aspect
ratio by Pro8mm in Burbank. He shot the same 50D and 250D
Films cut down for Super 8, and Pro8mm processed and transferred
the footage.
“I grew up shooting Super 8 fi lm and stealing my dad’s cameras
to do it,” he points out. “It’s fun to be able to use it professionally,
and it was easy to integrate into this grainy, grungy, post-apocalyptic
scenario.”
After 18 months of shooting and postproduction, the fi lmmakers
created a visually and sonically mesmerizing fi lm.
“So many people watch the fi lm and keep saying how beautiful
it is or how amazing the shots look and they can’t quite fi gure out
why they love it so much. I tell them what they are responding so
strongly to is the magic of fi lm. And we shot it all on cameras that
are way older than we are!”
Year Zero won Surfer Magazine’s Movie of the Year Award, and is
now available on iTunes, BLU-RAY disc and DVD.
Photos: Shot on location around the world Year Zero delivers a unique concept with
stunning visuals that capture the essence of surfing in a novel setting. (Credit: Courtesy
of Globe International)

Gate of Hell and A Diary of Chuji’s Travels Restored
BEFORE AFTER BEFORE AFTER
IMAGICA in Japan recently
restored several major titles,
including such classics as Gate
of Hell (Jigokumon) and A Diary
of Chuji’s Travels (Chuji tabi nikki:
Goyo hen).
Gate of Hell is the fi rst
Japanese feature fi lm shot on
EASTMAN Color Negative
Film 5248 / Tungsten EI25.
Directed by Teinsuke Kinugasa
in 1953, this movie was
awarded the Grand Prize in
Cannes in 1954 and also won
two Academy Awards®.
The restoration was a joint
project of Kadokawa Pictures
and the National Film Center
(NFC) of the National Museum
of Modern Art, Tokyo, who
conducted research and led
the project as fi lm archivists.
The intention was to faithfully
restore the original 1953 look
of EASTMAN Color Film.
“We found surviving
materials in three-color
separation black-and-white
master positives, color dupe
negatives, and a release
print of the fi lm,” explains
Norimasa Ishida, IMAGICA
Corp. technical advisor. “Sadly,
the original camera negative
fi lms were lost. We compared
the three materials and chose
the most information-rich
master for each scene. In
some scenes, only the release
print was available and in
those instances, we had to
later erase the English subtitle
with Reliance MediaWorks’
partnership and support.”
After the project planning,
the actual restoration process
took over six months. “The
most difficult part was the
re-registration of the RGB
separated images,” says
Kazuki Miura, IMAGICA
Corp. archiving specialist.
“The films were shrunk by
aging, and could not stabilize
with the pin registration of
today’s scanners.”
“One of our members came
up with the idea of customizing
the registration pins of the
scanner by physically curving
it for this project, and this
achieved fi ner alignment and
worked out well throughout
the rolls,” says Ishida.
“Several IMAGICA retirees
were brought back for the
projects as they were actually
involved with the original
postproduction. They helped
us to understand the early
color motion picture process.”
Originally, three-colorseparation
black-and-white
master positives of Gate
of Hell were not made. For
domestic release, direct
print films were used. But
as the film started getting
acclaimed internationally,
the studio decided to create
dupe negatives for further
demand of the release print.
“That is why the three-colorseparation
black-and-white
master positives were very
carefully created,” notes
Miura. “In Japan, as the
quality of intermediate films
increased, three-colorseparation
black-and-white
master positives were no
longer made after a while.”
The next step was grading.
Kadokawa and NFC agreed
that color should be graded
to reproduce the look of
1950’s EASTMAN Color
Film. “Fortunately, legendary
front-line cinematographer
Fujio Morita (JSC) who was
a camera assistant on Gate of
Hell understood the intention
of art and color of the fi lm,
and was able to supervise the
grading to revive the vibrant
look,” says Ishida. “Kadokawa
and NFC were very happy and
excited to see the restored
EASTMAN Color Film.”
Miura explains that because
Japanese fi lms are not as
internationally viewed as
Hollywood content, it is not
widely known that Japanese
fi lms are being restored on a
regular basis. In addition to
NFC, major domestic studios
have also been investing in
their heritage titles over the
past seven to eight years.
“The aim of restoration
varies depending on the
country or archivist,” adds
Ishida. “In Japan, the aim is
often to revive the original
look. This means researching
past technologies as well
as the intentions of the
filmmakers — instead of
making improvements or
enhancements in addition to
the original image, although
it is possible with today’s
technology.”
The digitally restored
master was recorded to
KODAK VISION3 Color Digital
Intermediate Film 2254, and
printed on KODAK VISION
Color Print Film 2383.
A Diary of Chuji’s Travels
is a silent, tinted black-andwhite
print. Made in 1927 and
considered one of the best
fi lms of the pre-war period in
Japan, this three-part epic had
been lost for a long time, but
in 1991 a large part of it was
found by chance in Hiroshima.
“Our fi rst tinted fi lm
restoration project with NFC
was in 2008, and we have
completed about 17 tinted
short fi lms to date including
animation, documentary,
short fi lm and toy fi lm,”
says Yoshihiro Matsuo,
IMAGICA West Corp. fi lm
processing specialist. “The
digital restoration project of
A Diary of Chuji’s Travels is a
sole-project of NFC, but we
had an opportunity to work on
the title. NFC’s intention was to
restore tinted print fi lms.”
Surviving materials were
tinted nitrate positive fi lms
which were stored in NFC’s
storage. The materials were
seriously damaged, and dyes
were mostly faded.
Not many Japanese fi lms
from the 1920s and 1930s
survived, but archival groups
fi nd one from time to time.
Tinted print fi lms fell into
disuse as talking pictures
became more popular because
tinting would degrade the
quality of the soundtrack.
The restoration process
involved reinforcing and
manually cleaning the surviving
materials. A digitally-restored
black-and-white dupe negative
was then made, and printed on
KODAK Black-and-White Print
Film 2302 for tinting. “Working
with badly-damaged nitrate
fi lms was extremely diffi cult,
but we had another challenge
after printing, which was
tinting,” notes Matsuo.
“As tinted fi lms from
that era are generally quite
faded, we closely studied the
surviving materials, especially
around the perforation area
where more dyes remained
than image areas. We also
researched past restored
titles for references and then
decided how much tint was
appropriate for Chuji. We
discovered that three different
dyes were used for tinting,
depending on scenes, and we
tinted the fi lm accordingly.
We had never tinted a
feature-length title, so in
order to stabilize colors and
density, we needed to modify
our specially designed tinting
processor.”
The question then arose,
should it be tinted in black
and white or restored using
the fi lm color process? “We
decided to tint in black and
white as we felt that this best
replicates the original state of
the fi lm,” says Matsuo. “Also
in black and white, the print
image consists of silver so the
black is cleaner and more pure.
In the color fi lm process, it is
like making a color photo copy,
so discrepancies in color occur.
You cannot achieve uniform
color in an original print.”
They were able to not only
bring back the original look of
the fi lm but also restore the
past motion picture techniques
from scratch. “If the original
title is made on fi lm, I believe
we should preserve on fi lm
because being faithful to
nuance in the original media
is the essential factor in
preservation and restoration,”
says. Matsuo. “The texture of
black-and-white fi lm, and the
aesthetic impression from the
combination of dyes and silver
are only replicable on fi lm.
“I feel tremendous
responsibility with my work,”
adds Matsuo. “We learned
about tinting techniques of 100
years ago through this project,
and now it is ready to pass
down to the next generation. I
feel I am standing in between
the past and the future, and that
makes me feel very proud.”
Photos:
Across top: Scenes from Gate of Hell before
and after restoration (Photo ©1953 Kadokawa
Pictures.
Bottom: L-R Kazuki MIURA, archiving specialist
at IMAGICA Corp, Norimasa ISHIDA, technical
advisor at IMAGICA Corp.
Right: A restored and dyed positive from A
Diary of Chuji’s Travels. (Photo courtesy of
National Film Center, The National Museum of
Modern Art, Tokyo)

Italian Film Tackles Taboo
Subject of Police Brutality
Diaz-Don’t Clean Up This Blood
reconstructs the events of July
2001 when Italian police unleashed
a calculated frenzy of violence
on protesters at the G8 Summit.
During the scuffl es the day
before, one protester was killed.
Just before midnight, more than
300 police offi cers stormed the
Diaz school looking for Black Bloc
demonstrators. Inside the school
were about 90 activists, mostly
students from around Europe,
along with a handful of foreign
journalists preparing to bunk
down for the night on the school’s
fl oors. As the police burst in, the
young demonstrators raised their
hands to surrender. Undeterred
and unmoved, the police waded
in beating up both young and old,
male and female indiscriminately.
Diaz-Don’t Clean Up This Blood
is a reconstruction of those
terrible days from the viewpoints
of the police, the protesters, the
victims and the journalists who
were caught up in the tragedy. It
aims to analyze how frustration
can erupt into raw, uncontrollable
violence. The movie uses original
footage taken at the scene to
underline the fact that the fi lm is
based on actual events.
Cinematographer Gherardo
Gossi takes up the story. “Told
from different perspectives, the
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camera describes the events of
that day, sticking close to the
heels of both perpetrators and
targets until the whole bloody
truth is told.
“During preparation for the fi lm,
I did a lot of comparison tests to
choose the right way to translate
such a compelling and sad story
into images,” explains Gossi. “In
the end, director Daniele Vicari
and I agreed to use 16mm fi lm for
its color depth, the reliability of
its fi lming system which means
handling, speed and lightness, and
fi lm’s ability to provide a striking
and solid image. The light grain and
the good defi nition in the blow-up
helped me to build a strong image.
A digital image would have been
too light for this kind of project.
“I used three KODAK Film
stocks,” he continues. “For the
majority of the fi lm that takes place
at night, I used KODAK VISION3
500T Color Negative Film 7219. I
chose it for its soft and very useful
reading of blacks, and its fl exibility
in DI. For day interiors, I used
KODAK VISION3 200T Color
Negative Film 7213 for its saturated
colors and high resolution. For the
remaining day exteriors, I used
KODAK VISION2 50D Color
Negative Film 7201 for its absent
grain setting and engraved colors.”
Much of the fi lm was shot on a
set in a backlot built by production
designer Marta Maffucci. A
greenscreen and inserts of 3-D
compositing were included. To
facilitate the VFX postproduction,
the fi lmmakers used grain
management software to lighten
the grain shots and allow for better
processing. After processing the
VFX, the shots were re-traced
in the software to re-grain the
image and incorporate with other
untreated shots.
“I worked at the DI with colorist
Angelo Francavilla at Technicolor
in Rome,” says Gossi. “Together
we modulated the contrast and
color saturation curves according
to the fi lm’s atmosphere. The fi lm
stocks with their tonal ranges, color
brilliance and good depth in blacks
and highlights helped enormously
in this respect.
Diaz-Don’t Clean Up
This Blood screened
at the 62nd Berlin
International Film
Festival where it won
the Audience Award
at the Panorama.
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KODAK, EASTMAN, VISION, VISION2, VISION3, and the fi lm numbers are trademarks. OSCAR is a trademark of the Academy of Motion
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The opinions expressed by individuals quoted in articles in InCamera do not necessarily represent those of Kodak Limited, Eastman Kodak
Company or the editors of InCamera. Because of our constant endeavour to improve quality and design, modifi cations may be made to
products from time to time. Details of stock availability and specifi cations given in this publication are subject to change without notice.
“The fi lm begins on a warm
and sunny day with a comparison
between moments of great serenity
(very colorful with a normal
contrast), and moments of high
tension with steadily increasing
contrast,” Gossi describes. “The
tension and anxiety take over on
the night of the police raid, and
the contrast increases at the same
time as the color desaturates. The
darkness and horror are mixed
with the chaos of the city light’s
acid colors. The fi lm ends with the
return to freedom and the bold
colors of summer.
“The photographic journey was
possible thanks to the excellent
exposure latitude of the emulsion
and the palette of the fi lm choices.”
Photos:
Top: Gherardo Gossi.
Bottom: A scene from Diaz
(credit: Alfredo Falvo/ Agenzia Contrasto)