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

AIC
American cinematography used to be
among the best in the world. Just think
about Gregg Toland's beautiful
lighting and camera moves in "Les
Mirables" (1935) and also "Citizen
Kane" (1941). Toland didn't win the
Academy Award for these pictures,
Hal Mohr won for a "Midsummer
Night's Dream" (1935) and Arthur
Miller won for "How Green Was my
Valley" (1941). Harry Stradling, Leon
Shamroy, Robert Surtess, James Wong
Howe, Haskell Wexler, and Conrad
Hall are some more of my favorite
American cinematographers of the
sixties.
1 remember the Seventies when 1
started to shoot low-budget movies:
"McCabe and Mrs Miller", "Images",
"Deliverance". I always had enough
Vilmos Zsigmond e la macchina
How to survive in
the American cinema
time to light, to create. The directors
and producers gave me the time 1
needed, they had pride in their projects,
they wanted the movie to succeed not
only commercially, but abo critically
and creatively.
I was lucky, I had a chance to work
with strong directors, like Robert
Altman, John Boorman, Steven
Spielberg, Mark Rydell, Michael
Cimino, they all demanded good
cinematography and fought the studios
for more time if it was needed to get
that extra quality on the screen. The
result was "Deer Hunter", "The
River", "Close Encounters of the Third
VHMOS ZSIGMOND
Kind" to name a few.
Today, everything has changed. The
"money men" took over. Bureaucrats
and accountants dictate how the
filming has to go. Most of the decisions
are made on a financial basis. We are
working under great pressure.
We are lucky if we get hired at all.
These new film-business men do not
want to accept our established daily or
weekly rates (American
cinematographers used to make almost
twice as much as their European
counterparts). Sometimes they will try
to shoot their movies non-union, hiring
British, French, Italian or Canadian
cameramen.
They do not want to pay the
established higher rates of skilled
technicians, gaffers, key grips, special
effects persons. Many times I've had to
do my job without the "luxury" of
hiring my experienced co-workers,
collaborators with whom I could have
done my job better and faster. Of
course, the same new business men
expect me to deliver the same kind of
work in less time and with smaller
crews than before. On the other hand,
actors, super-stars make a tremendous
amount of money.
So, my fellow cinematographers, how
should we cope with these problems! 1
can only suggest a few things:
1. Use only good equipment and