AIC, 1988 - AIC Associazione Italiana Autori della Fotografia ...

AIC
segment of the Film would relate
perfectly to that which either preceded
or followed it, and the photographic
concept would come across as clearly
as possible.
The Answer Print we sat down to
watch towards the end of September,
in which Images and Sound were
perfectly united, was absolutely superb
— an incredible cinematographic
experience! It was, therefore, our job to
ensure that cinema-goers the world
wer would be able to experience the
film in exactly the same way, by seeing
to it that each of the hundreds of
prints already ordered by the
Distributors, reproduced the colour
'ones and chiaroscuros exactly, using
'ne same laboratory processes.
As Technicolor was the only
laboratory capable of carrying out this
u»i k at the required level, 1 took
advantage of a clause in my contract
stipulated with the Producer, Jeremy
'ji 1 Mas, stating that all positive prints
°t the film were to be struck using the
Particular methods that 1 specified, and
towgnt to convince the various
Distributors throughout the world that
35 m/m positive prints of the Film
should be struck at the Technicolor
Moratory in Rome, the 70 m/m prints
« t echnicolor in London, while
I echnicolor in Los Angeles would
guarantee the supply of the necessary
Fmts, in both formats, within the
required time.
This was how 1 began my battle in
defence of the Emperor's "image". And
many were the phonecalls and
telegrams exchanged between the
Producer, Distributors, international
laboratories and myself, in order that
the photographic concept of the Film
might remain intact; the work of the
various authors who had contributed
to its realization might be protected;
and cinema-goers throughout the word
might have the possibility of seeing the
film as was originally intended,
wherever, however, whatever.
Next, Carlo La bella, the Colour
Supervisor, Giovanni Landolina, the
Chemical-Sensitometric Supervisor and
myself went to Technicolor in London
to explain the various processes
necessary to create the 70 m/m version
of the Film and help them set up the
equipment.
With the Dolby and Technicolor
techicians, I checked each of the
cinemas in which "The Last Emperor"
was to be launched nationally. In
almost all of them, we discovered that
the quality of image and sound that
the Italian cinema-goer is "obliged" to
accept is very much below standard. In
fact, the conditions in some cinemas
were so absymal, that it gave me no
other choice but to denounce them to
the relevant governmental authorities
which, hopefully, should improve the
conditions in the Italian cinemas in the
not to distant future.
In December of that same year, the
awards began to rain down on our
heads. We were assigned various
awards by the American critics and
press, including no less than four
Golden Globes.
However, the attention of the entire
cinema world was on the Oscars and
the evening of April 11 th, when they
would be assigned by the International
Academy of Motion Pictures and its
5,000 members. We, the ones who
made the Emperor, were also pretty
excited, as we had no less than nine
nominations!
1 left for Hollywood ahead of time, as 1
had other business there, and found
the preliminaries well underway. As 1
am a member of the Academy, I was
able to attend screenings of all the
films that had been nominated; I
received all the publicity the various
Distributors had prepared for the
respective films; and was able to attend
a number of evenings during which 1
had the chance to to exchange ideas
and opinions regarding the Image,
Photography and Cinema with my
American colleagues.
A number of seminars held at the
American Film Institute and the
University of Southern California, gave
me the possibility of explaining the
photographic structure to many
students. 1 not only explained how I
evolved a concept but also how
essential it is to any film, as 1 firmly
believe that if there is no concept, then
all the technical knowledge we have is
useless.
Also, the fact that we express a
concept by writing with the light,
only goes to confirm our right to be
nominated amongst a film's
co-authors.
The atmosphere in Hollywood, during
those cinema festivities organized by
cinema people, was electrifying!
Meetings, screenings and ceremonies
followed one after the other, during
which numerous projects which had
either been completed or were still in
the planning stage, were presented, in
which members of cinematographic
associations the world over were
involved. Naturally, the main topic of
conversation was the Oscars and who
was going to walk off with them!
Secretly hoping it would be us, we
couldn't help smiling every time we
heard "The Last Emperor" mentioned,
which was often.
The race was on for the Oscars and all
the contendents were spurred on by the
awards presented by the different
associations of Directors,
Photographers, Scriptwriters and
Editors for those specific categories.
The Emperor collected some of these
awards which, in general, were an
indication as to whom the Oscars —
the maximum of awards — would
finally go.
That now famous evening of April