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T E C H N I Q U E S

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A M E R I C A N C I N E M ATO G R A P H E R S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 9 T H E BA A D E R M E I N H O F C O M P L E X , I N G L O U R I O U S BA S T E R D S, M E S R I N E , C A M E R A - A S S E S S M E N T S E R I E S P T. 2 VO L . 9 0 N O. 9

T H E

SEPTEMBER 2009

Levie Isaacks, ASC

have always loved movies
and responded to good
stories. When I got out
of the Army and returned to
college, I got a job answering
the phone at a TV station, and
soon I moved into the news
department. When I was
handed a Bell & Howell
camera, my love affair with
making movies began.
One of the other
cameramen at the station
showed me American
Cinematographer, and my
eyes must have grown to the
size of silver dollars when I
saw it. I couldnt believe there
was a magazine about how
cinematographers actually
worked, one that would give
me a chance to learn with every
new issue.
I keep every issue of
AC, and Ive always used it as
a reference for techniques I
want to experiment with. AC
is a great inspiration.

photo by Owen Roizman, ASC

Levie Isaacks, ASC

TO SUBSCRIBE BY PHONE:

Call (800) 448-0145 (U.S. only)

(323) 969-4333 or visit the ASC Web site

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8 1 8 7 5 2 7 0 0 9 i n fo @ l i t e p a n e l s . c o m W W W. L I T E PA N E L S . C O M

The International Journal of Film & Digital Production Techniques

On Our Cover: Gudrun Ensslin (Johanna Wokalek) and Andreas Baader (Moritz Bleibtrau) spearhead a
group of German terrorists in The Baader Meinhof Complex, shot by Rainer Klausmann, BVK. (Photo by
Jrgen Olczyk, courtesy of Vitagraph Films and Constantin Film.)

Features 32
44
58
70

Departments

8
10
14
20
78
86
96
98
98
100
102
104

Anarchy in the BRD

Rainer Klausmann, BVK recaptures a turbulent era
for The Baader Meinhof Complex

A Nazis Worst Nightmare

Robert Richardson, ASC reteams with Quentin
Tarantino on Inglourious Basterds

44

An Appetite for Crime

Robert Gantz tails a legendary French bank
robber for Mesrine

Testing Digital Cameras: Part 2

The ASC/PGA Camera-Assessment Series points the
way toward workflow solutions for digital cameras

Editors Note
Presidents Desk
Short Takes: Love Hate
Production Slate: North Face

58

District 9

Post Focus: The Red Shoes

Mr. Hulots Holiday

New Products & Services

International Marketplace
Classified Ads
Ad Index
ASC Membership Roster
Clubhouse News
ASC Close-Up: Alexander Gruszynski

78

V i s i t u s o n l i n e a t w w w. t h e a s c . c o m

S e p t e m b e r

2 0 0 9

V o l .

9 0 ,

N o .

The International Journal of Film & Digital Production Techniques Since 1920

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 Davis, Bob Fisher, Simon Gray, Jim Hemphill, David Heuring, Jay Holben,
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ART DEPARTMENT
CREATIVE DIRECTOR Marion Gore

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e-mail: gollmann@pacbell.net
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e-mail: sanja@ascmag.com
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CIRCULATION, BOOKS & PRODUCTS

CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Saul Molina
CIRCULATION MANAGER Alex Lopez
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American Cinematographer (ISSN 0002-7928), established 1920 and in its 89th 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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Copyright 2007 ASC Holding Corp. (All rights reserved.) Periodicals postage paid at Los Angeles, CA
and at additional mailing offices. Printed in the USA.
POSTMASTER: Send address change to American Cinematographer, P.O. Box 2230, Hollywood, CA 90078.


  



    


 
   



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American Society of Cinematographers

The ASC is not a labor union or a guild, but
an educational, cultural and professional
organization. Membership is by invitation
to those who are actively engaged as
directors of photography and have
demonstrated outstanding ability. ASC
membership has become one of the highest
honors that can be bestowed upon a
professional cinematographer a mark
of prestige and excellence.

OFFICERS - 2009/2010
Michael Goi
President

Richard Crudo
Vice President

Owen Roizman
Vice President

Victor J. Kemper
Vice President

Matthew Leonetti
Treasurer

Rodney Taylor
Secretary

John C. Flinn III

Sergeant At Arms

MEMBERS OF THE BOARD

Curtis Clark
Richard Crudo
George Spiro Dibie
Richard Edlund
John C. Flinn III
John Hora
Victor J. Kemper
Matthew Leonetti
Stephen Lighthill
Isidore Mankofsky
Daryn Okada
Owen Roizman
Nancy Schreiber
Haskell Wexler
Vilmos Zsigmond

ALTERNATES
Fred Elmes
Steven Fierberg
Ron Garcia
Michael D. OShea
Michael Negrin
MUSEUM CURATOR

Steve Gainer
6

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Editors Note
inematic ambition is evident in every frame of The
Baader Meinhof Complex, which earned a Best Foreign
Film nomination at the 2009 Academy Awards. Shot by
Rainer Klausmann, BVK, the tense political thriller retraces
the history of the Red Army Faction, which tore a violent
swath through West Germany for a decade, beginning in
the late 1960s. The filmmakers enjoyed extraordinary cooperation from German authorities, who allowed them to use
locations that included even Bismarckstrasse, a six-lane
highway that serves as one of Berlins main thoroughfares.
We couldnt believe that, marvels director Uli Edel,
noting that the production needed the access to film key
scenes of student protests at the capitals biggest opera house, the Deutsche Oper. To
close one of the main veins of the city for three days and nights, just so we could restage
that scene, was amazing. Klausmann amplified the historical realism by capturing the
drama with an intense, documentary-like camera style. Finding a visual approach to the
film was easy because to my mind, you cant play around with history you have to go
for the facts, he tells London correspondent Mark Hope-Jones (Anarchy in the BRD, page
32.) As our coverage confirms, however, executing this strategy was far from simple.
The makers of the four-hour crime epic Mesrine (An Appetite for Crime, page
58) faced equally daunting logistics while telling the story of a flamboyant bank robber who
thoroughly enjoyed his status as Frances most wanted man from 1973-79. The French
government extended extraordinary privileges to the production, which managed to shut
down one of the busiest intersections in Paris, Porte de Clignancourt, to shoot the films
climax. Its unheard of, cinematographer Robert Gantz tells Jean Oppenheimer. That
plaza is a major entry and exit point for Paris.
A pair of Americans working abroad, director Quentin Tarantino and cinematographer Robert Richardson, ASC, brought European flavor to their work on the World War II
revenge drama Inglourious Basterds. The filmmakers shot most of the picture at Babelsberg
Studios near Berlin but peppered the project with scenes staged at various locations in both
Germany and France. The resulting visuals reflect Tarantinos fondness for both homage and
audacious framing: Quentin and I will have these interesting little battles while Im
composing a shot, Richardson tells European correspondent Benjamin Bergery (A Nazis
Worst Nightmare, page 44). I naturally move to one side or the other, especially when
shooting anamorphic, whereas Quentin enjoys dead-center framing. For singles in particular, were just cutting dead-center framing from one side to the other, with the actors looking just past the barrel of the lens.
If you havent already guessed, the theme of this issue is international production, and it is also reflected in Production Slate articles about the features North Face (shot
at rugged locations in Austria and Switzerland) and District 9 (shot in South Africa), along
with a Short Takes piece on the British project Love Hate.
This issue also includes another installment of our coverage of the ASC/PGA
Camera-Assessment Series (Testing Digital Cameras: Part 2, page 70). This time around,
key participants outline the workflow solutions applied to tests involving seven digital
motion-picture cameras.
Stephen Pizzello

Executive Editor
8

Photo by Douglas Kirkland.

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Presidents Desk
ince being elected president of the
ASC, Ive been asked by a number of
people what my favorite movies are
and what I believe in. I dont intend for this
column to be about me, but in the interest
of helping the filmmaking community get
to know me better, I offer these admittedly
random insights. My favorite films are an
eclectic bunch, a bakers dozen that have
all imparted some pearl of inspiration in
just the right way.
The Graduate (1967) My favorite
film. Ive seen it more than 120 times in theaters since I was 8. The cinematography, by Robert Surtees, ASC, taught me the emotional value of shadow
and widescreen composition. And then there was Katharine Ross.
Lavventura (1960) I fell asleep the first two times I tried to watch
Antonionis examination of the idle Italian rich because I kept waiting for him
to get back to the plot about the missing girl. It wasnt until I realized what he
was saying about emotional disconnection through architectural composition
that I felt the characters plight acutely; Anna may be physically lost, but all of
us are emotionally lost as well.
Winged Migration (2001) Yes, its 90 minutes of birds flying, but this
film made me feel like I knew what it was like to fly with them. Its rare that a
movie can change my perspective on something I see every day. This one did.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1968) Eli Wallachs search for the
grave with the gold is still one of the greatest moments in movie history. As he
frantically scans all the graves, the combination of photography, editing and
music is so overwhelming that you completely forget his character cannot read.
Spirited Away (2001) Hayao Miyazakis animated masterpiece
created an amazing world of fantastic creatures and unusual events and made
it all seem real through the eyes of a child. I still want to take a ride on that
train skimming the surface of the lake.
Ctait un rendez-vous (1976) Claude Lelouch mounted a 35mm
camera on the front of a Mercedes and tore through the streets of Paris at 6
a.m. at 85 mph, blowing past red lights and driving up on sidewalks in one
unbroken nine-minute take. Pure cinema. Watch it on the big screen and sit in
the front row.
King Kong (1933) A big movie in the best sense of the word. This gets
down to the core of what makes movies magical.
All That Jazz (1979) You can accuse Bob Fosse of ripping off Fellinis
8 1 2 all you want, but I happen to like open-heart surgery with my musical
comedy. A perfect partnership of dance, choreography, photography and editing, it was the natural successor to the unbroken-take, MGM style of dance on
film that Vincente Minnelli did so well in the 1940s and 1950s.
Cemetery of The Elephants (1975) Armando Robles Godoy manages
to tell the story of a mans life from boyhood optimism to old age and disillusionment in the space of 15 minutes and makes it emotionally devastating and
unbearably poignant.
The Creeping Terror (1964) Hideously awful and enormously entertaining movie about a space creature that looks like a big, walking carpet with

10

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an orifice that swallows women whole. You will not be able to get the dancehall music out of your head no matter how hard you try.
Pandoras Box (1929) It was a tossup between this and Buster
Keatons Sherlock Jr. (1924) for my favorite silent film. Pabsts examination
of the morality of an immoral girl was one of the pinnacle film achievements
in early cinema. You cannot watch the ending without wanting to step into
the story and take Louise Brooks away.
Day for Night (1973) Franois Truffaut shows all the problems that
happen when you make a movie and still manages to make it seem like the
most fun you could ever have. Like real life.
L.A. Story (1991) It took a lot for me to move to Los Angeles, and I
had a hard time even tolerating the place, but Steve Martin showed me I was
taking everything a bit too seriously. Thank you, Steve.
In terms of my beliefs:
I believe working in the motion-picture industry is the best job in the
world, and anyone working in the business who doesnt feel that way should
get out of it and do something else.
I believe we will be using film until we no longer feel compelled to
compare every new digital medium to film, and when I hold a roll of film in
my hands and look at the individual frames through a light bulb, Im looking
at the greatest wonder in the world.
I believe I was never complete until I met my wife, Gina, and even
though my son calls everything Daddy the cat, his toy truck, his breakfast the first time he said it, he was saying it only to me.
I believe I will always remember Mary Carlisles cameo as Impy the
secretary in the 1932 Technicolor short film The Devils Cabaret, but I will
never remember what I had for dinner the night before.
I believe new technology is great and valuable and will be replaced by
newer technology as soon as I learn the previous version.
I believe daydreaming is not only worthwhile, but an important artistic
activity to be encouraged and nurtured but not if you work on the electric
crew.
I believe William A. Fraker, ASC, BSC is no mere mortal, but a benevolent angel sent to earth to remind us that we work in a magical, romantic
industry.
I believe I will never get over being accepted as a member of the ASC.
Never. Dont even get me started on the whole president thing.
I believe that as phenomenal as the 1930s and the 1970s were in the
history of cinema, the best is yet to come. The craft of cinematography is a
living, breathing and constantly evolving art form. Visual storytellers are what
we are in any media. There are young filmmakers out there who have
absorbed the best of the past and have a vision for the future. You aint seen
nothing yet.

Michael Goi, ASC

President

12

Stefan Sonnenfeld

. Film
back to film
are coming
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Kodak, 2009. Kodak and Vision are trademarks.

Colorist. Entrepreneur. Fanatic.

Short Takes
Embracing Inner Anger
The formerly
wimpy Tom (Ben
Whishaw)
exults in the
demonic
influence of his
inner Hate,
which takes the
form of an
attractive
female (Hayley
Atwell) in the
19-minute short
Love/Hate,
directed by
Blake and Dylan
Ritson. The
project was shot
by John Lynch,
who
used Arris
proprietary
Mscope format
with the
companys D-21
digital camera.

lake and Dylan Ritsons short film

Love Hate is a cautionary tale about
the perils of being too nice. At the
center of the tale is Tom (Ben
Whishaw), an affable milquetoast who,
despite his prejudices, does his best to
put on a happy face for his job, his
acquaintances and, on occasion, his exgirlfriend. He maintains his positive
veneer until one fateful afternoon when
he is confronted by the physical manifestation of his inner ire, which arrives
in the form of an attractive and very

14 September 2009

assertive female (Hayley Atwell). Shes

had enough of Toms antics as a
bumbling pushover and is determined to
turn him into a full-time hater.
Love Hate is the third film written and directed by the Ritson brothers,
following the comedic shorts Out of
Time (2004) and More More More
(2007), which earned screenings at the
Berlin, London and Turner Classic
Movies film festivals, among others;
Love Hate has followed suit, winning
the Jury Award at the Palm Springs

ShortFest and a nomination for Best

British Short at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. The filmmakers
were interested in shooting Love Hate
in HD, which became an especially
exciting prospect after producer Scott
Jacobson got in touch with Arri Media
U.K.s Milan Krsljanin, who in turn
offered to supply the production with
Arris D-21 film-style digital camera.
They came across as extremely articulate and thoughtful people, remarks
Krsljanin. They were looking for a tech-

Photos and frame grabs courtesy of Origin Pictures. Photos by Nigel Beach.

by Iain Stasukevich

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Right: Mscope
exploits the
D-21s
dual-stream HD
output by splitting
the cameras 4:3
images into two
16:9 HD frames
that can later be
recombined in
post to create a
single 2:1
squeezed image.
Below: Blake and
Dylan Ritson
review a scene.

nology to help them express their ideas

in a more cinematic way, and while a
lot of filmmakers are using digital
formats to cut costs, sometimes the
power of the image is compromised. I
thought shooting anamorphic would be
of interest to them, and they jumped at
the idea.
Enabling anamorphic capture
with the HD camera is Arris proprietary
Mscope format, which takes advantage
of the D-21s 35mm-size sensor to
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images while recording to a 16:9 HD
source. Using Mscope, the D-21s dualstream HD output splits the cameras
4:3 image into two 16:9 HD frames,
wherein all of the even lines are
recorded to the first frame, called the E-

16 September 2009

frame, and all of the odd lines are

recorded to the second frame, called
the O-frame. Each separate 1920x1080
frame possesses the captured images
full horizontal resolution and half the
vertical resolution (1728x720 pixels),
with a border of 180 lines top and
bottom, and 96 pixels left and right, so
a single stream can be viewed as a
letterboxed 2.40 image on an HD monitor. Both data streams are captured to
the same HDCam SR tape and recombined on a postproduction workstation,
creating a single 2:1 squeezed image
containing 1728x1440 pixels of the
sensors 1920x1440 native scanning
resolution. Despite the complexities of
the hardware, its actually a simple
workflow solution.

The Ritsons knew that using

anamorphic lenses would lend their
project a bigger look, and they set out to
find a cinematographer who understood the anamorphic format. They
eventually partnered with John Lynch,
whose credits include music videos for
Blur (Song 2), Robbie Williams
(Millennium) and Bjork (All is Full of
Love). Lynch immediately saw the
benefits of using the wide aspect ratio
to capture Toms plight: When its
anamorphic, you can have Tom on one
side and Hate on the other, and you see
their relationship in one frame, he
says.
The story charts the descent of
somebody whos generally a nice guy
into this dark place, Lynch continues. I
wanted to map that with the camera, so
we started off with a lot of space
around him, framing-wise, and then got
increasingly claustrophobic. The lighting becomes darker and more contrasty,
like a 4:1 ratio, and I used less diffusion
on the lamps to make it more punchy.
While writing the script, the
Ritsons envisioned a realistic look for
Love Hate, with conditions ranging from
daytime exteriors in bright sunlight to
nighttime interiors in poorly lit underground tunnels. Adding to the realism,
the filmmakers shot on location all
around London over the course of five
hectic days, with 25 to 30 setups per
day. With a limited lighting package
that essentially comprised LED panels,
Dedo lights, bits of poly silver and an


   

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Right: The
milquetoast
eventually
realizes his
embrace of Hate
has turned his
life upside-down.
Bottom:
Cinematographer
John Lynch.

18K for some day interiors, Lynch took

advantage of the D-21s variable ASA to
make the most of whatever illumination
was naturally available to him. I
treated the camera as if I were using
film, the cinematographer remarks. I
floated around the 500 mark when we
were inside, and went down to
between 50 and 100 when we were
outside. I went to 800 ASA once, when
we were underground in a subway
walkway.
Tom and Hate enter the subterranean walkway on their way home
from a party. Its a dark scene, and the
whole idea is that Tom is drunk,
explains Blake Ritson. We put John
and the camera on a rickshaw, and the
movement adds a queasy quality to the
shot. Lynch elaborates, The walkway
had LED lights in the roof, which shifted
color every 10 seconds, from green to
blue to red. Its an unusual effect, and it
added to the beauty of the scene. For a

18 September 2009

small amount of fill, Lynch also positioned a handheld Sun Gun near the
camera.
As the film progresses, Tom
becomes increasingly infatuated with
Hate, and in one scene, the two share a
bath. Despite the scenes sinister
undertones, Lynch and the Ritsons
chose to light it with soft candlelight.
Its got a very romantic feel, says
Dylan. Lynch adds, We had a small
China ball in the bathroom with us, but
I ended up putting my jacket over it, so
in the end there was nothing there
apart from the candles. The camera
was set to 500 ASA, and my meter was
coming up E, which means theres nothing there. But I was still very comfortable Im not afraid of the dark.
Through most of the shoot,
Lynch kept his Hawk anamorphic lenses
at a T2.8, eschewing the notion of a
sweet spot in the middle T-stop
range. Shooting wide open allowed him
more flexibility in low-light situations,
although it also kept 1st AC Nathan
Mann on his toes. Milan let us know
we could set the camera up in different
ways, like if we wanted to calibrate the
exposure to be biased towards highlights or shadows, Lynch explains. I
didnt want to bias towards darkness,
because when we went outside wed
have to recalibrate the camera. I set the
exposure calibration in the middle of
the exposure range and treated it like
film.
Post work for Love Hate was
carried out at Londons Ascent 142.
Because it was the first project to use

Mscope, a proprietary Smoke plug-in

called Spark was developed specifically
for the image recombination. The grade
was performed on a da Vinci Resolve by
colorist Rob Pizzey, who also used the
system to unsqueeze the HD picture
into a flat 2.40:1 image. The final film
was mastered to HDCam SR, and an
anamorphic film print was also struck to
Kodak Vision 2383.
This is our first time with the
format and we found it to be a really
exciting process, Blake enthuses. It
presented us with a lot of creative
possibilities. Krsljanin adds, All of
the elements came together nicely.
The filmmakers really used their tools
to capture the insecurities of the characters in a visually compelling way.
They had a great cinematographer and
a great cast; it was a match made in
heaven. I know theyll continue to
make big moves in the motion-picture
industry.
TECHNICAL SPECS
2.40:1
High-Definition Video
Arri D-21
Hawk lenses
Digital Intermediate
Printed on Kodak Vision 2383
I

Production Slate
Political Climbers and Extraterrestrial Immigrants

A Perilous Peak
by Jon Silberg
In the early 1930s, as Adolf Hitlers
government set about working Germany
into the racist and nationalistic fervor that
would perpetuate World War II, mountaineers who were keen to conquer the
treacherous north face of Switzerlands
Eiger Mountain provided the perfect
iconography for the propagandists. The
German film North Face (Nordwand)
depicts the attempt by German mountaineers Toni Kurz (Benno Frmann) and
Andreas Hinterstoisser (Florian Lukas) to
scale the peak. Players in their story
include the cynical newspaper editor
(Ulrich Tukur) who wants to exploit their
pursuit, and the climbers young journalist
friend (Johanna Wokalek), who hopes the
story will be her big break but grows
20 September 2009

increasingly worried about the pairs

safety.
North Face was directed by
Philipp Stlzl and photographed by Kolja
Brandt, who won Germanys Lola Award
for his work on the picture. The two had
collaborated on a number of music videos
and commercials, but Brandt speculates
that it was his documentary-style
approach to the 2006 feature Tough
Enough that sold Stlzl on his ability to
meet North Faces challenges.
Stlzl was inspired by Kevin
Macdonalds documentary/dramatic reenactment hybrid Touching the Void (AC
March 04) and hoped to achieve a similar degree of realism in North Face. He
and his collaborators eventually decided
to first shoot stunt climbers on location,
then shoot the actors in a studio, and do
some elaborate compositing in post. In

accordance with this plan, Stlzl, Brandt

and a skeleton crew comprising a
costumer, an assistant director and a
few assistants traveled to Switzerland
six months prior to principal photography
and set about shooting on the Eiger and
other nearby locations.
Brandts goal was to get the
camera in close to the climbers while
maintaining the ability to read the
surrounding environment. To achieve
this, he and B-camera operator Tommy
Ulrich were suspended by rope alongside the professional climbers and
filmed with Arri 235s, pulling focus
themselves. I love to have the camera
on my shoulder and be right where
everything happens, says Brandt, who
spent three months training at a climbing gym before the shoot. And luckily,
Im not afraid of heights! The impetus

North Face photos and frame grabs courtesy of Music Box Films. Additional photos courtesy of Kolja Brandt.

The German
film North Face
depicts an
attempt by
childhood
friends Andreas
Hinterstoisser
(Florian Lukas,
left) and Toni
Kurz (Benno
Frmann) to
scale the
treacherous
north face of
Eiger Mountain
in 1936.

Bottom photo Kolja Brandt. Used with permission.

Left: Kurz and

Hinterstoisser
are joined in
their quest by
Austrian
climbers Edi
Rainer (Georg
Friedrich) and
Willy Angerer
(Simon Schwarz).
Below: Director
Philipp Stlzl
(foreground, left)
and the crew
prepare to film
Schwarz and
Friedrich in the
studio, which
was actually a
large, industrial
freezer.

to keep the cameras close to the

climbers was inspired in part by Robert
Capas still photography. Capa always
had the camera really near to the thing
he was shooting he said, If your
pictures arent good enough, you arent
close enough, says Brandt. Philipp and
I didnt want to have a lot of shots from
far away with long lenses.
He did use long lenses, however,
to delineate the perspective of the spectators who gather at a cozy hotel at the
foot of the mountain to witness the
climb. The spectators were watching
the climb through a telescope, and for
that perspective, we used long lenses to
emphasize how much distance there is
between them and the things theyre
looking at on the mountain, he says.
They couldnt know what was really
happening out there, even though they
could see it.
Shooting on the mountain, the
team used the weather to determine
which scenes would be shot when and
where. Snow, mist and general overcast
conditions were the norm. The wall is a
north face, so only part of it gets direct

sun, and then only in the late afternoon,

notes Brandt. He shot these scenes on
Fuji Super-F 64D 8522 and Eterna 250D
8563, using a mix of Cooke and Angenieux lenses. We took two Angenieux
Optimo short zooms [15-40mm] to the
mountain because the short Cooke zoom
lens wasnt out at the time, he says. I
shot most of the rest of the picture with
Cooke S4 primes, my favorite lenses.
We used really long lenses for the spec-

tators perspective, including a Canon

1,000mm lens for one shot. I knew we
were going to finish with a digital intermediate, so I wasnt worried about the
slight differences between the lenses.
The Eiger region is actually very
good for shooting, he continues. You
can go up to Jungfraujoch by train, and
there is a tourist platform made of steel
that we could attach ropes to and drop
down from. The platform is at 3,500

American Cinematographer 21

22 September 2009

Photos by Thomas Ulrich, Kolja Brandt. Used with permission.

Above: Director
of photography
Kolja Brandt
shoulders an
Arri 235 to film
Swiss Alpinist
Stefan Siegrist
(doubling for
Frmann) on
Jungfraujoch.
Right: Brandt
pauses for a
photo op.

meters [11,483'], and we would hang

down about 20 or 30 meters [70'-100'].
From there, we were looking down
another 100 meters [328'] to the first
ledge. The stunt doubles, who are wellknown Alpinists, would be lowered, and I
would be lowered with a safety climber.
The camera was on its own rope, so
when the mag was empty, an assistant
could pull it up, change the mag and
lower it back down to me. Dietmar Raiff,
my great first assistant, and his crew had
all the equipment and film stock in a tent
on the platform we couldnt take the
lenses or stock inside because of the
temperature difference and they
worked tirelessly, even in the worst
storms.
For the studio portion of the shoot,
a section of the mountains face was recreated in an industrial freezer that
measured roughly 100'x66' and had a 49'
ceiling. The cooling machines were very
loud, and we also had wind machines
going, so it was impossible to shoot any
sync sound, notes Brandt. But we felt it
was important to shoot in an environment
that was really cold. We wanted the audience to really feel the coldness and see
the actors breath. He shot these scenes
with an Arri 235, teaming with B-camera
operator Franz Hinterbrandner, who
wielded an Arricam Lite. To create the
overcast-day look onstage, he bounced
Dinos and 10Ks off the enclosures gray,
concrete walls and through butterfly nets.
Just outside the frozen stage,
editor Sven Budelmann received a line
from the camera tap so he could create
rough comps of the finished scenes.
Every two or three hours, Philipp could
go out and watch a whole scene, says
Brandt. It was very helpful to have that
reference right there. He credits visualeffects supervisor Stefan Kessner with
making the location and studio footage
blend seamlessly in post.
Most of the scenes that are not
set on the mountain take place in the
hotel where the spectators gather. After
attempting to secure the actual inn at the
Eiger, the production decided to shoot at
a similar location in Austria. In the hotel,
Brandt transitioned to an Arricam Lite and
mainly shot Fuji Eterna 500T 8573. (He

Film & Digital:

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Michael Condon, SOC

VP Digital Division

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VP Technical Services

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used 8563 for some day scenes.) We

had a very talented production designer,
Udo Kramer, who put all kinds of practicals in the lobby for us, says the cinematographer. To light the hotel dining
room, my gaffer, Christoph Nickel, used
a mix of 800-watt Redheads with
Chimeras, a couple of Lowel Rifa-lites
and Zips for semisoft backlight, and a
6K Barger Baglite with a Chimera for
the tables in the background. Some 1Ks
bounced off the ceiling provided a little

24 September 2009

more fill, and in the adjacent room, we

had 2Ks bouncing off big polys. All of
the dining-room lights were on a
dimmer and gelled with CTO. We
worked at a very low light level T2.5
to T2.8 with the 500-speed stock.
That gave us a nice look and really
helped point out the contrast between
the guests comfortable environment
and the climbers who were struggling
to survive.
The negative was processed by
Arri Film & TV Services, which also
provided DI services to the production.
The negative was scanned at 2K on an
Arriscan, colorist Traudl Nicholson
graded the picture on an Autodesk
Lustre Master, and the finalized files
were filmed out via an Arrilaser. Brandt
emphasizes that the time spent in the DI
suite was important because it enabled
him and Stlzl to work through some
important creative issues. Philipp has a
very good eye, and he started grading it
before I was able to get there, says the
cinematographer. During the shoot, we
had talked about having soft blacks, not
crushed blacks, and going for a look that
wouldnt take the audience away from
the mountain. But when I got to the DI
suite, the picture had really crushed
blacks and an aqua-color, 1950s kind of
look. I know Philipp, and I wanted him to
have an opportunity to experiment, so I
said, It looks good.

After a week of roughly grading

it, I wrote him an e-mail over the weekend and said, I think were wrong with
this look. We met again on Monday in
the DI room, and he asked what Id
meant, and I reminded him how wed
talked about it initially. After that, we got
the picture to the look you see now,
which I am very happy with. Thats what
I like about the DI: its a process. You can
try everything out.
Brandt marvels at the fortitude
displayed by climbers like Kurz and
Hinterstoisser. You have to respect
them. Today, we climb mountains with
lots of equipment and warm jackets,
and they didnt have any of that. We
could call a helicopter if we needed it.
We could change our clothes when they
got wet. We could have hot tea. Im a
physical guy, and I love that kind of
work, but when I look at what those
climbers achieved back then, it really
touches me.
TECHNICAL SPECS
2.40:1
Super 35mm (3-perf)
Arri 235; Arricam Lite
Cooke, Angenieux and
Canon lenses
Fuji Super F-64D 8522; Eterna 250D
8563, 500T 8573
Digital Intermediate

Bottom photo Kolja Brandt. Used with permission.

Above: This
frame grab
shows a climber
at work on the
Eiger. Below: Bcamera operator
Thomas Ulrich
(hanging from
the Jungfraujoch
platform)
prepares to film
on location in
Switzerland.

Aliens in South Africa

by Jay Holben
In the winter cold and swirling
dust of Johannesburg, South Africa,
military teams mobilize quickly to
round up a group of illegal immigrants
and return them to District 9, their
slum in Soweto. There, like so many of
South Africas poor, these lost and
confused souls survive in corrugated
steel shanties. But the inhabitants of
District 9 arent human. In fact, they
arent even from this planet.
Directed by Neill Blomkamp,
District 9 (based on Blomkamps short
film Alive in Joburg) follows a race of
extraterrestrials that have inadver-

26 September 2009

tently landed on Earth and are subsequently sequestered by the government. The project is the first feature
for Blomkamp, a visual-effects artist,
and cinematographer Trent Opaloch,
who has collaborated with Blomkamp
on commercials and music videos in
Vancouver, British Columbia.
Blomkamp, a native of Johannesburg, was keen to shoot all eight
weeks of principal photography on
location in South Africa because he
knew the conditions and textures of
the real Soweto could not be effectively re-created anywhere else. The
studio [Sony Pictures] talked about
shooting some of the movie in New
Zealand, but we just couldnt re-

create Johannesburg on a backlot or

stage, says Opaloch. The textures
there are really amazing. In the end,
we shot about 95 percent of the movie
in Johannesburg, with a little bit of
splinter work in Wellington, New
Zealand, and some motion-capture
work in Vancouver.
A number of large-scale
productions have been shot in the
area, and there is good support for
[filmmaking], he continues. Our keys
were from New Zealand, the United
Kingdom, Canada and South Africa,
but we hired the majority of our crew
locally in Cape Town and Johannesburg. Those guys were really amazing.
They work on commercials and
features all the time, and I had a great
experience with them.
One of the key reasons for
shooting on location was the quality
of Johannesburgs winter air. Winter
there is hardcore, says Opaloch, and
in the townships, people burn whatever they can to provide warmth.
Wed drive to the location in the morning and see people burning tires to
cook their breakfast on. Its certainly
not a healthy environment, and the
layers of atmosphere this dust and
smoke puts on the horizon is unbelievable it looks and feels like a war
zone. We scheduled the photography
in the harsh winter months specifi-

District 9 photos by David Bloomer, courtesy of Sony Pictures.

Right: Wikus Ven

De Merwe
(Sharlto Copley)
marvels at the
mothership that
brought an alien
species to Earth
in District 9,
directed by Neill
Blomkamp and
photographed by
Trent Opaloch.
The film was
shot almost
entirely on
location in
Johannesburg,
South Africa.
Below: The
entrance to
District 9, where
the aliens are
sequestered and
forced into a
humiliating
existence.

Top: Backed up
by Multinational
United agents,
Ven De Merwe
hopes for a
friendly
exchange with
one of the
aliens. Middle:
An alien offers
its human
guards an
inscrutable
expression.
Bottom: With the
help of 1st AC
Houston Hadden
(right) and 2nd
AC P.J.
Makosholo
(wearing
yellow), Opaloch
(seated at
camera) frames
a shot for
Blomkamp
(holding
monitor).

28 September 2009

cally to get that look.

Its amazing how different the
summer looks, he continues. We had
to do some pickups in December, South
Africas summer, and it was clean and
green and lush! We had to be very
selective about our framing to try and
match the winter photography.
The winter shoot had a visible
effect on the gear, which included six
Red One cameras owned by Peter
Jackson, the films producer, and two
Sony PMW-EX1s. My first assistant,
Houston Hadden, would take me into
the camera truck and show me the dirt
and grime he was pulling out of the
camera every night, and it looked like
an ashtray had been poured out of the
camera! recalls Opaloch. Despite the
conditions, however, the cameras
remained in working order throughout
the shoot.
The Ones 4K image serves as
the movies main perspective, whereas
the 1920x1080 HD image from the EX1
represents footage shot by journalists
embedded in the alien township. We
briefly considered shooting Super 16,
and we talked a bit about shooting
with the Sony F23, but the Red offered
us more of the look and functionality
we wanted, says Opaloch. If Sonys
F35 had been out at the time, we
certainly would have considered it, too.
I like the Red system, and we
got a lot of support from the company,
he continues. Working in Redcode 36,
we were shooting onto 8-gig CF cards,
which started to feel a bit like a film
shoot because we were limited to the
shooting time, about 4 minutes per
card. Also, the accessories for the Red
were all what were used to using
[with film cameras]. The great benefit
to shooting digitally was the ability to
run to the digital-imaging technicians
truck and see the footage right away.
On the truck, Red camera supervisor
Jonathan Smiles had two 30" HD monitors. Smiles would receive the CF cards
from the set, open the footage in Red
Cine, and then he and Opaloch would
apply either a preset or custom curve to
the raw footage for viewing the
selected shots.

Opaloch looks
through the Red
Ones electronic
viewfinder. The
great benefit to
shooting digitally
was the ability to
run to the
digital-imaging
technicians
truck and see the
footage right
away, he says.

We were shooting in a lot of

high-contrast lighting, and I was
mostly concerned with how highlights
were being represented in the Red
footage, says Opaloch. I was careful
to make sure the highlights didnt
blow out, and that meant using a lot
more fill than I would normally use.
He used a combination of 18K and 4K
HMIs to help shape and fill in the

30

harsh sunlight. The production also

carried a 20'x30' silk that could be
flown from a crane to diffuse the
sunlight from above or used on the
ground to soften the HMIs. For the
journalists material, shot with EX1s,
we just let the highlights go, he adds.
We also let the focus go on those
cameras to make it feel more immediate, real and rough around the edges.

When you embed visual effects into

that footage, it grounds the effects in
a kind of reality thats really unique.
The most helpful thing to me
was the built-in light meter in the
Red, continues Opaloch, who was
working with Build 15 of the camera.
I had heard bad things about the
built-in meter, but [the problems] were
all ironed out by the time I got to work
with the camera. With the combination of my light meter, the built-in
meter and the ability to run into the
truck and check the shots, I had
absolute confidence in how we were
shooting.
Opaloch rated the One at 320
ISO. One of the oft-discussed concerns
about the Red system is its infrared
sensitivity and the resultant color
anomalies that can arise while
employing ND filters in high-contrast
situations with high IR light in other
words, the conditions encountered by
the District 9 crew. I certainly noticed
IR pop-off, says Opaloch. We ended

up shipping in some IR NDs and frontsurface mirrors from London, but it

was difficult to integrate them in
handheld situations, especially when
we were trying to backlight action as
much as possible. With the stack of
filters and backlight, there was always
the risk of getting reflections on the
filters and ghosts in the image. Whenever possible, we strove to fix the
problem by being careful about what
we shot; wed adjust wardrobe when
it was a problem and allow a little
IR spill into the shadows when we
couldnt control it, knowing that we
could time it out later. Tiffen has since
introduced Red IR-ND filters that take
care of this issue.
Actor Jason Cope portrayed
the aliens in the movie, donning a
trackball suit so the visual-effects
team, comprising artists from
Embassy Image Engine and Weta
Digital, could replace his human form
with various alien ones. A big directive for us was to eliminate as much

rotoscoping as possible, says

Opaloch. Because we would be
replacing Jason completely with CG
characters, we knew that the cleaner
the background was, the easier the
replacement would be. If we had a
shot where Jason was going to enter
the frame against some dense foliage
that would require heavy rotoscoping,
we moved over two feet to avoid that
background. We also knew that any
given shot could become a visualeffects shot we might add the
mothership to a sky shot, for example
so we always made an effort to
keep simple, trackable geometry in
the frame. If we could give the visualeffects artists a little piece of background that would make tracking
easier, we tried to do it all the time.
District 9 was a really amazing
experience, he concludes. I love
doing things that are exciting and
interesting, and it was great to
contribute to a film thats so different.

TECHNICAL SPECS
1.85:1
4K Digital Capture and
High-Definition Video
Red One; Sony PMW-EX1;
Vision Research Phantom HD
Cooke and Angenieux lenses
Digital Intermediate
Printed on Kodak Vision 2383
I

Errata
In our July coverage of Public
Enemies, the Zeiss 6-24mm DigiZoom
was omitted from the list of lenses
used on the production. Cinematographer Dante Spinotti, ASC, AIC made
equal use of the Zeiss and Fujinon zoom
lenses he discussed in the article.
In the same issue, the name of
actress Yolande Moreau was
misspelled in our coverage of
Sraphine.

31

Anarchy

in the BRD

The Baader Meinhof Complex, shot by Rainer Klausmann, BVK,

details the rise and fall of a German terrorist group.
by Mark Hope-Jones
Unit photography by Jrgen Olczyk
32 September 2009

n the summer of 1967, during

protests against the Shah of Irans
state visit to West Berlin, an
unarmed student named Benno
Ohnesorg was shot and killed by
a
plainclothes
policeman.
Ohnesorgs killing sent shock waves
through German society, crystallizing the anger of a youth movement
that viewed Americas presence in
Vietnam as imperialism and its own
government as authoritarian. The
Baader Meinhof Complex charts the
10 tumultuous years that followed, as
student protests paved the way to
organized domestic terrorism. A
particularly single-minded group of
extremists, led by Ulrike Meinhof
and Andreas Baader, founded the
Red Army Faction to wage war on
the state. As the groups attacks
intensified, the West German police
were forced to modernize in order to
make arrests that provoked new
kidnappings and killings. Despite the
arrest of several key Red Brigade
members, the violence escalated,
eventually culminating in the bloody
German Autumn of 1977.
Although he has worked
predominantly
in
Germany
throughout his 28-year career, cinematographer Rainer Klausmann,
BVK is Swiss and has always lived in
Zurich, so the real events depicted in
the film had a limited impact on him
as a young man. I got married in
1970, and I was more interested in
my new wife than in political
affairs! he says. I knew the story a
bit from newspapers and television,
but it wasnt really part of me; I was
never a student and I wasnt in
Germany at the time.
Instead of studying film at
college, Klausmann learned his skills
on the job in the early 1980s. I was
an assistant in Switzerland with
[cinematographer] Hans Liechti and
then Thomas Mauch, a German
director of photography, he
explains. I was second camera on
Werner Herzogs Fitzcarraldo [1982]
with Mauch and then started out on

Photos courtesy of Vitagraph Films and Constantin Film.

Opposite:
Terrorist
mastermind
Andreas Baader
(Moritz Bleibtrau)
is cornered by
German police
during a shootout
in broad daylight.
This page, top:
Two members of
the Red Army
Faction, Willy
Peter Stoll
(Hannes
Wegener, left)
and Peter-Jrgen
Boock (Vinzenz
Kiefer, on car)
ambush a highlevel target.
Middle:
Journalist Ulrike
Meinhof (Martina
Gedeck), who
becomes
Baaders
accomplice,
surveys the scene
as protesters
attempt to
blockade the
Axel Springer
Group Publishing
Houses, an
incident sparked
by the shooting of
political dissident
Rudi Dutschke.
Bottom:
Cinematographer
Rainer
Klausmann, BVK
lines up a shot.
American Cinematographer 33

Anarchy in the BRD

Right: For a
scene in which
Dutschke gives
a speech
protesting the
Vietnam War, the
production
filmed at the
actual location,
an auditorium at
the Technical
University in
Berlin. The only
problem was
that it was much
bigger than we
expected! says
director Uli Edel.
We realized we
werent going to
be able to do it
with just 400
extras. On the
day, we got
1,200, which
filled half of the
room, and we
eventually
doubled them
with visual
effects. Below:
In a meticulous
re-creation of a
famous news
photograph
taken by
Bernard Larsson,
a young woman
(Leonie Brandis)
tends to dying
student protester
Benno Ohnesorg
(Martin Glade),
who was shot
and killed by a
police officer
during
demonstrations
against the Shah
of Irans state
visit to Berlin.
The scene was
shot at the exact
location of the
real incident,
near the
Deutsche Oper
Berlin.

34 September 2009

my own. Eventually I was working

with
directors
like
Oliver
Hirschbiegel and Fatih Akin; the
scripts got better and the work got
better.
In 2004, Klausmann shot
Hirschbiegels
Downfall,
an
Academy Award-nominated study
of Hitlers final days in his bunker
beneath war-torn Berlin, for
German producer Bernd Eichinger.

When Eichinger took on The Baader

Meinhof Complex, he coaxed director
Uli Edel, an old friend from film
school, back to Germany from a
successful television career in the
States. Neither man had any doubt
that Klausmann was the man they
wanted behind the camera: Ive
known Rainer for 20 years, and Ive
always followed his work, although
we never had an opportunity to do

anything together, says Edel. When

this movie came along, I knew he
would be perfect.
Though Klausmann had been
little affected by the events of the
time, he was sensitive to the fact that
Edel felt a great emotional connection with the story, having lived
through it at close quarters as a
student in Germany. Finding a
visual approach to the film was easy
because to my mind, you cant play
around with history you have to
go for the facts, says Klausmann.
Uli didnt want to present his own
vision of that era; he wanted to tell
the real stories.
Many of the events from
those difficult years, when West
Germany was still a relatively young
democracy, are so well known that
to stray too far from reality would
have alienated the films domestic
audience. The shooting of Rudi
Dutschke [a student activist who
narrowly survived an attempt on his
life in 1968] was comparable [in
cultural impact] to the assassination
of John F. Kennedy, says Edel. I
know exactly where I was when I
heard the news. Everybody in

Top: Police bear

down on
students
protesting the
Shahs visit.
Bottom left: An
explosion rocks
the U.S.
Parkplatz.
Bottom right:
Director Uli
Edel (standing
in truck, to the
right of boom
operator) and
the crew
prepare to
capture a street
scene.

Germany does, so you cannot

change these things too much.
The most iconic moments of
the story were therefore re-created
on set with scrupulous attention to
detail; they serve as visual anchor
points, punctuating a chronological
narrative that links them all together.
Those images were burned into the
consciousness of a generation, says
Edel. The image of a woman leaning over the dying Ohnesorg went
around the world, so we wanted to
get as close as possible to the reality
of that. Most German people

remember Ohnesorg and Dutschke

without necessarily knowing how
they were connected; what I tried to
do was to give those 10 years a narrative that lets you understand how it
all started and where it went.
Klausmanns cinematographic
approach was principally dictated by
the films fast-paced montage structure and the decision to cut original
television footage in with the action
throughout. We watched a lot of real
footage and there were long discussions about what [clips] to use, he
says. The color matching of the film

was influenced by what we used,

because our movie had to fit with the
real stuff; we avoided strong reds,
blues or greens and we desaturated
the image in the DI. Otherwise, it
would have looked like two different
movies, and thats not good.
For the same reason,
Klausmanns camerawork was
informed by a newsgathering style
that would complement the spontaneous energy of the archival material. The idea was to make the whole
film in this documentary style so it
matched the original footage, says

American Cinematographer 35

Anarchy in the BRD

Police crack
down hard
during the Shah
protests.

Edel. I gave the actors a lot of freedom, especially in the bigger scenes
with all the extras. It was very important that we could really follow the
action; we did not want to create the
action through cuts. Thats why
there were so many Steadicam and
handheld shots.
This approach suited Klausmann well: Uli knows that I like to
handhold the camera, he says. The
actors like it, too, because they can

36 September 2009

do what they want and its my problem to follow them! I dont like too
much technical stuff, [like] using a
lot of cranes and modern gear; I
prefer to do it the way I think it was,
to make it more real. If youre nearer
to reality, youre nearer to the story
and its more likely to work. I never
used filters on the film; it was just
about the available light and using
what was there.
Klausmann opted to shoot

with Arricam Studios and Lites and

Arri Master Primes. I first used the
Master Primes when they gave me
two or three to try on The Invasion
[2007], he says. I really liked them
then, and I think theyre still the best
lenses available. Their speed is good,
but mainly I like the way they match
with colors, and theyre not as hard
as the previous [Zeiss] Superspeeds.
To me, theyre perfect.
In the spirit of authenticity,
Edel made an effort to shoot at locations where real events had taken
place. We always tried to get the
original location first, and we got
very lucky with the most important
places, he says. One such setting was
the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the opera
house that was the backdrop to the
protests that led to Ohnesorgs death.
To Edels surprise, city authorities
granted the production permission
to shut down Bismarckstrasse, a sixlane highway. We couldnt believe
Berlin gave us that, the director
continues. To close one of the main
veins of the city for three days and
nights, just so we could restage that
scene, was amazing.

Top: Baader
listens to radio
reports of Red
Army Faction
activities while
languishing in
his cell at
Stammheim
Prison. Below
left: Red Army
Faction member
Holger Meins
(Stipe Erceg)
struggles during
his arrest. Below
right: Astrid
(Katharina
Wackernagel)
resists a pair of
guards at KlnOssendorf
Prison.

1st AC Astrid Miegel, who has

worked alongside Klausmann for the
last eight years, says four cameras
were used on Bismarckstrasse to
capture the chaos of a demonstration that descends into violence and
panic. One Lite was handheld, two
were Steadicam and one Studio was
fixed on a static dolly with an
Angenieux 25-250mm, she details.
The Steadicams had several of the
most important shots, so it took
time for Rainer to get those exactly
as he wanted them; then, near the
end, he came over to our Studio and

we just searched for little details at

the long end of the zoom.
With four cameras running
you get the chaos, no problem, says
Klausmann. But within that [overall
approach] we wanted to get specific
images that had appeared on the
original news coverage of the event.
You have to start with the big shots,
with everybody there, and then you
move closer and closer until youre
getting little moments like the young
girl being crushed against the barrier.
We had talked a lot about how it
should look, and then we story-

boarded all of it; capturing that

sequence was primarily a logistical
problem.
Heavy rain at the location cost
the crew almost an entire day, but
shooting with multiple cameras
allowed them to make up the time.
However, this also created the risk of
cameramen wandering into each
others frames. There is a moment
where you see one of our handheld
cameras fully in the shot, admits
Edel. But it was a great moment and
I didnt want to lose it just because of
the camera, so we left it there and

American Cinematographer 37

Anarchy in the BRD

Right: Gudrun
Ensslin (Johanna
Wokalek) and
Horst Mahler
(Simon Licht)
take aim while
receiving
military training
at a camp in
Jordan run by
the Palestinian
organization El
Fatah. Below:
Ulrich (Jakob
Diehl) takes a
tense phone call
during the
occupation of the
German embassy
in Stockholm.

nobody ever notices!

Edel stayed close to his cinematographer throughout these
hectic setups, rather than trying to
control too much at once. A lot of
directors have microphones and talk
to the cameramen from behind the
monitors, but I never do that, he
says. I was generally running along
next to Rainer and the main camera;
I like to be where he is so I can guide
him and communicate with him
constantly.
The only other scene that
required four camera teams was set

38 September 2009

in an auditorium at the Technical

University in Berlin, where Dutschke
gave a speech protesting the Vietnam
War just weeks before he was gunned
down. Edel location-scouted the
university during prep and found the
auditorium eerily unchanged by the
passing years. Its still exactly the
same, the director attests. I think we
just had to cover some modern loudspeakers, but the rest was absolutely
original. The only problem was that
it was much bigger than we expected!
We realized we werent going to be
able to do it with just 400 extras. On

the day, we got 1,200, which filled

half of the room, and we eventually
doubled them with visual effects.
Working with supervisors
from Arri Film & TV Services in
Munich, Klausmann and Edel shot
separate plates with the extras packing first the ground floor and then
the upper level of the auditorium.
The Arri guys came on set and told
me what was possible, or not possible, or possible but very expensive!
says Klausmann. Occasionally you
have to do things you dont like,
because otherwise the effects
become too costly; the camera
movement might be limited or you
might have to be very careful about
the background. It helped to go
through the shot list in advance with
the visual effects team and plan
exactly what we were going to do.
Klausmann kept the lighting
in the auditorium as simple and
natural as he possibly could. We
switched on the fluorescent lights
that had been there for more than 20
years, and that was it, he says. They
were the old kind of fluorescent
tubes, but they were fine; we didnt
change any bulbs. The light was a
little bit green, but the place looks
like what it should look like: a

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Anarchy in the BRD

Top: Baader rises

to taunt the judge
as he and his
co-defendants
stand trial in
Stammheim
Prison. Middle:
The multipurpose hall at
Stammheim,
another authentic
location, also
remains virtually
unaltered.
General lighting
was provided
by existing
fluorescent tubes
in the ceiling, but
a few small
fixtures,
including colorcorrected 4-bank
Kino Flos, added
supplemental fill
for close-ups.
Bottom (from
left): 1st AC
Astrid Miegel,
operator Markus
Eckert and 2nd
AC Miriam
Fassbender tend
to their duties.

40 September 2009

university hall. We just corrected for

the green a little bit in the DI.
Gaffer Peter Fritscher recalls,
The university had a system that
allowed us to change the color of the
fluorescent tube lights, but only in
the entrance not the whole hall.
We just matched those to the lights
we couldnt change in the rest of the
hall. There were no other film lights
at all; we just used reflector board for
the actors eyes on some of the close
shots.
Shooting fluorescents with
Kodak Vision2 250D 5205 gave the
four camera teams just enough light.
Rainer and I were about one stop
underexposed because we were on
the zoom, which was only a T3.5,
says Miegel. The Master Primes on
the other cameras were around
T2.8. Klausmanns preference for
natural lighting and the use of either
Vision2 50D 5201 or 250D 5205 for
all interior scenes (only night scenes
were shot on Vision2 500T 5260)
meant that lenses were almost wide
open throughout the shoot. We
were usually somewhere between T2
and T2.8, continues Miegel. It
makes my job harder, but Ive
worked with Rainer for eight years
and its always like that!
When Meinhof, Baader and
other prominent RAF members were
arrested in June 1972, they were sent
to Stammheim Prison in Stuttgart
and eventually faced a trial that lasted
from 1975 until 1977. The lengthy
hearings were held inside the prison
in a multi-purpose hall that remains
virtually unaltered to this day; once
again the filmmakers were able to recreate events in the exact location
where they originally took place. My
approach to lighting that room was
the same as at the university, says
Klausmann. I mostly used what was
there. Suspended above the hall were
about 50 banks of fluorescent tubes
that had been there since the prison
was built. These provided general
lighting, but a few small fixtures, such
as 4-bank Kino Flos, were used to

Anarchy in the BRD

Edel (left) and
producerscreenwriter
Bernd Eichinger
take five on the
Kln-Ossendorf
prison set.

add supplemental fill for close-ups;

these units were color-corrected to
match the fluorescents on the ceiling.
Despite the size of the hall, only two
cameras were used for the courtroom scenes, and handheld camerawork was abandoned in favor of
Steadicam and tripod shots. Its
kind of a static scene, says Edel. If

42

people are sitting and talking

through a whole scene there is no
reason to pick up the camera and
shake it around, so I said, Lets just
put it on a tripod. I hate handheld
camerawork when theres no reason
for it, and Im very happy with those
scenes. Trial scenes can seem very
boring, but of course theyre really

not; if you dont move the camera

too much they can be quite intense.
Efforts to shoot at original
locations were so successful that
stage work on the film was limited to
nine days at Bavaria Studios in
Munich, where historical accuracy
and realism remained overriding
goals. Production designer Bernd
Lepel rebuilt the cells and communal
hallway that had housed the RAF
inmates at Stammheim during the
trial, even sourcing original fixtures
and fittings from the prisons basement. Bernds priority was to make
that set as close as possible to how
Stammheim had really been, so I
decided to use the same light and
told him not to change anything for
me, says Klausmann. Often in a
studio, its tempting to light from
above because its easy, but I dont
like that approach. We installed the
original light fittings in the ceiling
and supplemented those with light

coming in the windows just as we

had at the prison.
Fritscher adds, We used
color-corrected Osram Lumilux
tubes for the practical fixtures on the
ceiling to match what had been there
in the original location. From outside
the windows we had Dinos behind 8by-8 and 12-by-12 frames of silk,
Light Gridcloth, half diffusion and
full diffusion. In the hall there was a
big wall of glass bricks; coming
though that we had one Quarter
Wendy and three Dinos behind a 20by-20 of Light Grid. The naturalistic
lighting design gave the actors and
camera total freedom of movement,
allowing Edel to shoot as though he
was at another authentic location.
For smaller scenes like that,
we always used just one camera, says
Klausmann. I prefer to work that
way because the actors know whats
going on and Im able to control the
whole thing. With more than one

camera you always have to keep a

distance from the actors so the
cameras dont see each other.
Arri Film & TV Services
handled almost every aspect of post,
including front-end lab work, visual
effects and the 2K digital intermediate. Alex Klippe, a DI producer at the
facility, oversaw the ingestion of all
the old newsreel footage. There was
film negative, print film, HD video,
DigiBeta and MPEG-4 material
from various archives and private
collections, he says. We scanned all
the neg and print at 2K on an
Arriscan, just like the rest of the film.
We captured all the video with
Clipster and blew it up to 2K in
Lustre, using a LUT for the linear-tolog conversion. The MPEG-4 material was rendered out to a single file
sequence in Shake.
Both Klausmann and Edel
attended the final grade and worked
together to blend all of the disparate

elements together into a seamless

whole. For me, it was a successful
collaboration, says the cinematographer. Uli is a good director to work
with; hes really quiet and he knows
what he wants to do, but you can
discuss anything and offer other
opinions. Were about to start a new
film together in Berlin, so something
must have worked!
I

TECHNICAL SPECS
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(3-perf Super 35mm original)
Arricam Studio, Lite
Arri and Angenieux lenses
Kodak Vision2 50D 5201, 250D
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Printed on Kodak Vision 2383

43

A Nazis

Worst
Nightmare
World War II is
the backdrop for
Quentin Tarantinos
stylized revenge
fantasy, shot by
Robert Richardson, ASC.
by Benjamin B
Unit photography by
Franois Duhamel, SMPSP

uring a press conference at

this years Cannes Film
Festival, Quentin Tarantino
maintained, I am not an
American filmmaker. I make
movies for the planet Earth. The
director and his crew were at the festival for the world premiere of his
latest creation, Inglourious Basterds,
whose intentionally misspelled title
is the first of many twists from a
production that combines a
European milieu with its earthling
auteurs stylized sensibilities.
The World War II saga was
shot mostly at the Babelsberg
Studios near Berlin, with an international cast that includes Brad Pitt,
Mlanie Laurent, Diane Kruger and
Christoph Waltz. One of Tarantinos

44 September 2009

innovations was to allow the characters to speak in their native tongues;

the subtitled film skips easily from
French to English to German, and
mastery of foreign tongues, the subtlety of accents, and even body language are all important plot points.
Inglourious marks the third
collaboration between Tarantino
and Robert Richardson, ASC, following Kill Bill: Vol. I (AC Oct. 03)
and Vol. II. Prior to teaming with
Tarantino, Richardson shot 11 films
for Oliver Stone before establishing
an ongoing rapport with Martin
Scorsese (for whom he recently shot
the forthcoming thriller Shutter
Island). Richardson has won two
Academy Awards for JFK (AC
Feb. 92) and The Aviator (AC Jan.

05) and notched three other

Oscar nominations, and he has been
nominated for eight ASC Awards.
Inglourious Basterds unfolds
as a series of chapters that weave
three subplots united by one very
bad guy, Gestapo Col. Hans Landa
(Waltz). In an opening that evokes
Spaghetti Westerns, Landa and his
posse of Nazis drop in on a French
farmer and his family. While soldiers
and the family wait outside, Landa
methodically asks the farmer
increasingly pointed questions
about the whereabouts of missing
Jewish neighbors during a cat-andmouse sequence that builds inexorably to violence.
After Landa kills her family,
Shosanna (Laurent) escapes to Paris,

Images courtesy of The Weinstein Co.

Opposite: Col.
Hans Landa
(Christoph Waltz)
questions a
French farmer in
an early, pivotal
scene in
Inglourious
Basterds. This
page, top: Sgt.
Donny Donowitz
(Eli Roth, left)
and Lt. Aldo
Raine (Brad Pitt)
are two of the
Basterds, a
unit of JewishAmerican
soldiers who
terrorize Nazis
behind enemy
lines. Bottom:
Cinematographer
Robert
Richardson, ASC
shapes the light.

where she runs a movie theater and

meets top Nazi brass. When
Shosanna learns that her theater has
been chosen for the VIP premiere of
a Nazi propaganda film, she sees an
opportunity for revenge.
Elsewhere in France, a unit of
Jewish-American soldiers, led by
hillbilly Aldo Raine (Pitt), lurks
behind enemy lines terrorizing
Nazis with the threat of mutilation,
scalpings and executions by baseball
bat. Tales of these Basterds eventually reach Hitler, who throws a fit.
Meanwhile, in London, the
British high command hatches a
plot to blow up the movie premiere.
German-speaking agents are sent to
a cellar tavern called La Louisiane,
where they meet with a glamorous
German actress (Kruger) who is
actually a British secret agent. In a
lengthy scene, the agents exchange
pleasantries with a party of drunken
German soldiers, and then with a
suspicious Gestapo officer, before
engaging in a climactic shootout.
As always with Tarantinos
films, Basterds is rife with cinematic
references. Indeed, much of the
action takes place inside the movie
theater during the projection of a
black-and-white film-within-a-

film directed by Eli Roth; the production even arranged for lead
actress Laurent to learn how to run
a film projector. The final sequence
gathers its main characters at the big
movie premiere, leading to a spectacular, surprising conclusion followed by an ironic epilogue.
In discussing Tarantinos
approach to moviemaking, Richardson agrees that the director
qualifies as a film purist.
Richardsons longtime camera
assistant, Gregor Tavenner, concurs,
noting that Tarantino eschews the

video village found on most contemporary sets. The only video

monitor on the set is the small one
on the camera, says Tavenner.
During takes, Tarantino stays next
to the camera, near the actors. If
there is a dolly move, he climbs
along for the ride, looking at the
actors and glancing at the small
Transvideo monitor on the camera
to check the framing.
Tarantino favors shooting
with a single camera, going against
the trend for two cameras, which
often necessitates lighting and stag-

American Cinematographer 45

A Nazis Worst Nightmare

Escaping to
Paris after her
family dies at
the hands of
Nazis, Shosanna
Dreyfus
(Mlanie
Laurent) takes
charge of a
movie theater.

ing compromises. You get such a

handcrafted movie, Tavenner
enthuses. The actors know theyre
going to do a lot of setups because
its only one camera, but they get to
perfect their craft. The camera rolls
for as many takes as necessary to
perfect each shot, and its a real joy
and a pleasure.
Tavenner explains that the
director enforces a quiet set:
Quentin creates a beautiful environment for the actors to perform
in. The crew is trained to be so

46 September 2009

respectful. Tarantino bans cellphones from his set; a security

person at the door collects all
such phones. Tavenner recalls a
tense moment when producer
Harvey Weinstein came to visit the
set and the guard asked for his
phone. There was a moments pause,
but Weinstein finally handed over
his cellphone and nodded to his
assistant, who then handed over
four more. Everybody cheered,
Tavenner recalls with a chuckle.
Richardsons longtime gaffer,

Ian Kincaid, describes another

Tarantino tradition on the set: every
hundred cans of exposed film are
celebrated on the spot with a glass of
champagne for each crew member.
Quentin is very gracious. Hell say,
Hey, everybody gather round. Lets
celebrate another 100 rolls! even
if its 11 in the morning. During
production, Tarantino also arranged
for evening crew screenings of features he personally selected.
Part of the period style of
Inglourious Basterds is created via
dolly and crane movements. In a
way, says Tavenner, its a classic
style. Theres maybe one Steadicam
shot in the whole film. A
Technocrane was used sparingly
(once to sweep across the audience
in the movie theater), but the bulk of
the crane shots were done with
Richardson riding a one-person
crane made by Grip Factory
Munich, allowing for more organic,
less automated movements than a
remote head would produce. I
often use a crane as a dolly when the
space allows, because it allows for
greater movement, the cinematographer notes. I can also do a track-

When her
theater is
chosen for the
premiere of a
Nazi propaganda
film, Shosanna
recognizes an
opportunity to
avenge her
familys death.
The climactic
sequence brings
the theater
and the Nazis
inside to a
fiery end.

ing shot without seeing the dolly

track in frame.
Inglourious was shot with
Panavision anamorphic Primo and
G-Series lenses, as well as the companys new anamorphic zooms and
a Panavised Cooke. The Primos
held up the best in terms of overall
resolution, Tavenner asserts. You
have a sweet spot between T2.8 and
T4. If you can close those lenses
down a stop, you gain quality that is
well worth it.
Richardson explains that
Tarantinos propensity for wideangle lenses and centered framing
give the film a contemporary, original feel. I could have shot the movie
with just the 35, 40 and 50mm, he
says. Thats not what you would do
on an old-fashioned movie, though;
this lensing is more modern.
Quentin and I will have these
interesting little battles while Im
composing a shot, Richardson continues. I naturally move to one side
or the other, especially when shooting anamorphic, whereas Quentin
enjoys dead-center framing. For singles in particular, were just cutting
dead-center framing from one side
to the other, with the actors looking
just past the barrel of the lens.
Part of the distinctive look of

Inglourious Basterds stems from its

disregard for pure naturalism and
lighting motivation, which also contributes to its impressionistic period
feel. For example, the look of the
opening scene in the farmhouse is
defined by hot, hard daylight that
shines down onto a table, bouncing
to illuminate the two characters.
Although one can imagine a skylight
above the table, there is no clear
motivation for the farmhouse lighting. I dont believe there always
needs to be a motivation for a light,
says Richardson. Sometimes you
have to light for what you feel the
sequence is.

American Cinematographer 47

A Nazis Worst Nightmare

Right: Shosanna
greets a German
admirer who
barges into her
projection booth.
The 20K
backlighting
Laurent also
provides some
bounced fill from
her red dress.
Below:
Richardson
frequently
employed a oneperson crane
manufactured by
Grip Factory
Munich. I often
use a crane as a
dolly when the
space allows,
says the
cinematographer.

He explains that he avoided a

source-y approach to the scene (i.e.,
having the main source come
through the windows) in part
because this would have put a lot
more light on the background. Here
you feel the daylight on their faces
but the background is relatively
dark. The room was tiny and the
source was isolating them in that
small space. He points out that the

48 September 2009

table bounce is also adapted to the

action of the scene: Landa fills out
his paperwork, while the farmer has
a tendency to look down. I felt it
was important to have light in their
eyes and to always have that bright
spot available to the iris if so
desired, he says. The toplight source
also gave the actors the opportunity
to play with the light by moving in
and out of the shadows, and it

enabled Tarantinos camera staging,

which involved several wide-angle
dolly moves around the table.
When the camera started on one
side and ended on the other, there
were very few places to get a light in,
Richardson observes.
The cinematographer would
often add a soft fill light during the
scene, and he felt free to adjust the
direction of the top keylight from
shot to shot. When I had the opportunity, I would add a level of bounce,
and I would move the toplight to
one side or the other to help the dark
side move toward camera. I prefer to
have the face lit from the opposite
side not backlit, but and I
want the dark side toward my lens as
often as possible; theres something I
like aesthetically about that choice.
Im willing to flip a key in a sequence
to accommodate that.
Tarantino told Richardson he
wanted to see the landscape through
the windows of the farmhouse,
which required the quick changing
of ND gels on the windows to adjust
for the changing weather outside.
Kincaid notes, Wed sometimes

evolution through
innovation
some of the movies that have benefited from Gekkos
range of innovative LED lighting products:

kelvin TILE
R

kisslite
R

www.gekkotechnology.com

karesslite

A Nazis Worst Nightmare

Above:
Shosanna
discovers her
German admirer
is a Nazi war
hero and the
star of a
propaganda film
based on his
own exploits.
Right:
Richardson
takes a moment
to soak in the
backlight.

50 September 2009

have to bring the light way up

inside to balance with the exterior
view. All of the scenes sources were
daylight-balanced HMIs, and inside,
the main overhead source comprised Par 1.2Ks rigged in an attic
above the table. Most of the lights
were gelled with CTO to lend the
daylight a slight warmth.
Large sources outside provided some soft light and an occasional
touch of hard light inside. These
external sources included 18K
Arrimax HMIs on turtle stands
bounced up on big muslin frames, a

12K Par through the door, and a 6K

Par through a window to create a
small spot of sunlight on the wall.
Kincaid confirms that there
was no lighting whatsoever, not even
a passive bounce, during the 100'
tracking shot of Shosana running
away in profile at the end of the
sequence. Achieving this shot was
simply a matter of choosing the
right moment to film against the
naturally soft backlight of the northern sky.
Filming began on location at
a farmhouse in northern Germany,

with an initial plan to capture mostly exterior shots before moving to a

soundstage for the interiors. But
Tarantino quickly decided to start
shooting the dialogue inside the
house before continuing to shoot
the same scene on the Babelsberg
stages near Berlin, creating a challenge in terms of lighting continuity
because the location and stage
footage had to cut together seamlessly throughout the 25-minute
sequence. To maintain continuity,
the location lighting was duplicated
in Babelsberg, and Richardson
decided to use HMIs on the soundstage, which we never do, says
Kincaid. For the windows,
Richardson used greenscreened
plates when necessary, or painted
backdrops masked with black net
when the windows were less present in the frame.
The roomy soundstage
allowed for bigger bounce fills than
the location, but the principle was
the same: muzz and muzz. Kincaid
explains that Richardson eschews
plastic diffusion or bouncing
material like beadboards or
Griffolyn in favor of cotton muslin
or real silk. A muzz and muzz soft
source involves hard lights bounced
off muslin and then diffused
through muslin again. The sides of
the setup are covered with black
material to prevent spill, creating a
pie-shaped, soft light box.
Richardson explains his affinity for
muslin by noting it has a more natural feel on the skin. I dont feel as
many highlights coming back,
whereas plastic materials give a
shine off of makeup or skin.
Richardson claims that the
muslin-bounced diffusion lends a
unique quality to the soft source.
Its the quality of the wrap of the
light. I dont feel the shadow of the
source. I enjoy the way the light
moves across the face. Because the
soft light has to be cut and flagged,
the cinematographer usually tries to
obtain the largest possible diffusion

A Nazis Worst Nightmare

Landa (near
right) draws his
weapon of
choice, and
Raine responds
in kind (far
right).

surface for the location. For example, when Pitts character interrogates a Nazi in the ravine scene, the
bounce is a 12-by, but for tight interiors, the cinematographer will
sometimes just staple a 4' piece of
muslin bounce to the wall.
For a few scenes in
Inglourious, Richardson uses a passive bounce as a key. A 12K provides
most of the lighting for a brief but
memorable scene in which
Shosanna wields a hatchet and
threatens a film developer positioned on a table. The hard source
backlights Shosanna and her accomplice, and then bounces off the table
to provide a soft key on her face. The
lighting is completed by a practical
above and a 12K positioned on a
Condor outside a window.
A similarly elegant use of hard
light and bounce can be seen toward
the end of the film, when a smitten
German soldier barges into the projection booth and confronts
Shosanna at the doorway. Shosanna
is backlit by a 20K positioned farther
back on the set, and the soldier acts
as her moving bounce: a strip of
muslin was pinned to him off-camera. Depending on how close she
moves to him, Richardson comments, there is a movement [in the
light] and a lighter and darker quality on her face. A hint of red bounce
also comes from Shosannas red
52 September 2009

dress. On the reverse shot, a similar

setup lights the German, with a 12K
bouncing off of the red dress. Other
backlights were added to extend this
effect once the actors move further
inside the booth.
Richardson used a mixture of
hard and soft sources for a beautiful
scene on the top floor of the theater.
As Shosanna prepares for the fateful
premiere by applying her makeup, a
20K shines in through a circular
window to provide a searing backlight. In front of the mirror, her face
is keyed by a warm, soft source comprising a cluster of small, tungsten
golf ball bulbs dimmed way down
and diffused through muslin.
Kincaid explains, The muslin lends
a creamy feel to her skin. When
were shooting a beautiful woman,
well go muzz-muzz. Generally, the
front is bleached muslin and the
back is unbleached. Unbleached
muslin has a tighter weave; its a
nice, rough surface, so it has no
sheen. Its a bit erratic, but it softens
the light, and then the bleached
muslin in front unifies it.
Kincaid
reveals
that
Richardson often uses rows of
dimmed tungsten bulbs with diffusion to create soft sources that can fit
in tight places. On this film, we used
soft frosted bulbs on wires, bunched
in balls, attached to squares of wood
and even draped around the cam-

era, says the gaffer. A variation of this

technique was applied for a scene in
which Shosanna is whisked off to meet
Goebbels in a swanky French restaurant. Their encounter was shot in a
private dining room at Berlins
Einstein Caf. Rows of tungsten bulbs
were suspended from the low ceiling
and diffused with muslin to create a
soft top source, which was supplemented by several Chinese lanterns
and a Par can throwing a pool of hard
light down onto the tablecloth.
Kincaid notes that Richardson frequently uses lightweight Par cans. You
can cluster them, and we use them for
accent lights, for narrow backlight, and
often for bouncing, he says.
The long scene in the La
Louisiane tavern posed one of the
shows biggest lighting challenges. Ten
characters meet around two small
tables in the cramped basement bar.
The three British agents try to talk
their way out of the tavern, leaving
one table of drunken Germans and
then accepting a round of drinks with
a suspicious Gestapo officer. The tension rises until the scene explodes in a
shootout.
The tavern set had very low
ceilings and little room in which to
maneuver. Richardson deadpans, For
all intents and purposes, it was a practical location built on a stage. Kincaid
adds, We said to ourselves, Okay, this
is like the trailer scene in Kill Bill.

Think BIG.

Find out how BIG.

www.arricsc.com

A Nazis Worst Nightmare

Quentin wants to create the feeling
that nobodys getting out of here easily. Complicating matters further,
the actors frequently move from
seated to standing positions.
After trying and rejecting inframe practicals as too cluttered, the
crew attached rows of tungsten bulbs
to the ceiling, adding two layers of
muslin beneath them to create a soft
base light. The headroom was so tight
that the bottom layer of muslin had
to be removed when actors stood.
Richardson then decided to add Parcan toplights and bounced backlights
as the shots progressed, reflecting the
scenes mounting tension. Slowly, as
the scene evolved, I moved from the
soft top and started adding hard
lights off the table to increase the contrast. I also began bringing in soft
backlights to separate actors from the
background. I just felt this need to do
it as I went along, but I tried not to do
it in an obvious manner so the audi-

54

ence wouldnt be aware of it.

Although the transition is subtle,
Richardson confesses that he wondered at the time whether altering
the light was a gigantic error.
Kincaid concedes, We were very
busy in there; every setup was a new
challenge. We have a saying, though:
Pressure makes diamonds.
When the shootout starts, the
lighting changes dramatically, with
beams of hard light shining through
the smoke and gunfire. Tarantino
punctuates the scene with a few of
his signature snap-zooms into
Germans firing their weapons. The
timing of the shootout feels realistically rapid, without the extensive
high-speed work that has become a
convention in contemporary action
films. The lighting for the dramatic
climax in the movie theater involved
a series of 6K and 9K Maxi-Brutes
hung from the ceiling with black
skirts and silk frames. A fire effect

was created mostly with real fire

generated by an extensive network
of gas pipes, supplemented by red
gels on the Maxis.
Richardson did the digital
intermediate for Basterds at EFilm
with colorist Yvan Lucas, and the
colorist says he did the color-correction the old-fashioned way, starting from the qualities Tarantino and
Richardson liked in the workprint
made by Arri Munich during shooting. While he was timing the tavern
scene, Lucas recalls, Bob said, Yvan,
I know you come from film, so
youre going to match the faces,
right? Youre not going to do it like
the video timers, who match the
backgrounds? His point was that
faces are what jump out at you, and
that was the big idea of the film: to
work the old-fashioned way, by
matching faces, and then seeing
what we could do with the backgrounds if there were any problems.

Asked how Richardsons penchant for strong hard light impacts

the digital grade, Lucas notes that he
sometimes uses Richardsons highlights to find the timing of a shot.
Ill often start with the faces, but I
can also find my density value in
relation to the strong highlight. Its
like a visual reference that shows me
where I have to place the shot. If the
white is too bright, its not very pretty. By adding density, the white
remains very overexposed and very
strong, but it gets more body. In fact,
there is very little choice in timing.
There is one value thats really right.
Often when Bob sees what Ive prepared for him, he doesnt ask for
density changes because Im already
where he wants to be.
Bob has a very particular
way of lighting a face its very
chiseled, Lucas continues. That
allows me to go to a density value I
would never dare use on another

film. There is a gradation in the

grays of the shadows that I can work
with. His lighting allows me to go to
a darker and very interesting density
value without smothering the
blacks. For example, the colorist
adds, referring to the scene in which
Shosanna stands at the window
before applying her makeup,
because the backlight is very
strong, there is detail in the blacks.
Although she is in the shadows, her
face is delineated. When you add
density, you see the cheekbones ...
but with this gradation. Its very
beautiful, and its due to the very
hard light.
Reflecting on his work,
Richardson muses, When Im
shooting, I dont sense the passage of
time. I start and finish the sequence,
and I dont recall the majority of
what takes place in between unless I
have a tremendous problem or Im
trying to rectify something in the

middle of the sequence. Nothing

exists except for that moment. The
closest thing to it is when I jumped
out of an airplane and parachuted to
the ground. I dont recall anything
after jumping ... until my chute
opened.
I

TECHNICAL SPECS
2.40:1
Anamorphic 35mm
Panaflex Millennium; Arri 435
Panavision Primo,
G-Series lenses
Kodak Vision2 200T 5217,
Vision3 500T 5219
Digital Intermediate
Printed on Fuji Eterna-CP 3513DI

55

An Appetite for

Crime

Mesrine, an epic
thriller shot by
Robert Gantz, tracks
the flamboyant
exploits of a
legendary French
bank robber.
by Jean Oppenheimer
Unit photography by
Roger Arpajou

58 September 2009

acques Mesrine would have fit

perfectly into todays celebrityobsessed media culture. A career
criminal who specialized in
bank robberies, kidnappings
and brazen prison escapes, he was
unusually witty and charismatic,
qualities that made him a popular figure with the press and public alike. He
grew up in France but first gained
notoriety in Canada, where his crimes
fueled his legend and earned him the
title of Public Enemy Number One
after returning to Paris, he quickly
vaulted to the top of Frances mostwanted list, remaining there from
1973 until his death in 1979.
A man of supreme self-confidence and explosive rage, Mesrine
could be charming one moment and
vicious the next. By his own albeit
dubious count he killed 39 people
during his lifetime, and he died as violently as he had lived, in a hail of bullets after police ambushed him as he
and his girlfriend sat in their car at a
Paris intersection.
Jacques Mesrine is a part of
French history and culture, like John
Dillinger or Bonnie and Clyde are for
us, says cinematographer Robert
Gantz, the sole American on an otherwise French crew. Mesrine marked his
second collaboration with director
Jean-Franois Richet, following 2005s
Assault on Precinct 13. (The cinematographers other credits include
the features Lake City and
Mindhunters, the series CSI: Crime
Scene Investigation, and dozens of
music videos and commercials.)
Based on the autobiography
Mesrine wrote during one of his
many stints in prison, the project was
conceived as two separate features
split into act one and act two of the
protagonists life. Telling the story in
this fashion required a marathon production, with two months of prep, a
nine-month shooting schedule and
more than 100 locations whenever
possible, Richet planned to shoot
where events had actually taken place.
LInstinct de Mort, the first of

Photos courtesy of La Petite Reine and Roger Arpajou.

Opposite: Early in
his criminal
career, Mesrine
(Vincent Cassel)
beds a prostitute,
Sarah (Florence
Thomassin). This
page, top: As
Mesrines
notoriety grows,
he and his
accomplice,
Jeanne
Schneider
(Ccile De
France), become
stars in the
media, where
they are
portrayed as the
Bonnie and Clyde
of France.
Middle:
Cinematographer
Robert Gantz (at
eyepiece) lines
up a shot with
camera assistant
Laurent Hincelin.
Bottom: In 1969,
Schneider and
Mesrine are
cornered by
Arizona police in
the desert.

American Cinematographer 59

An Appetite for Crime

Above left: The

impulsive
Mesrine
smashes a bar
glass in the face
of a belligerent
customer. To
capture the full
intensity of the
moment, Gantz
switches to
handheld
camerawork
immediately
after the glass
breaks. Above
right: Mesrine
and his criminal
colleague, Paul
(Gilles
Lellouche) finish
the job. Bottom:
Mesrines
adventures take
him through the
Pigalle
neighborhood in
Paris, home to
the famous
Moulin Rouge
cabaret (visible
in background).
To light this
sequence, Gantz
deployed a
Condor-mounted
18K backlight
gelled with
CTB, shooting
on tungstenbalanced
Vision2 500T
stock with
no 85 filter.

the two films, takes place in the 1960s

when Mesrine (Vincent Cassel), just
out of the army, is trying to find a
direction for his life. He discovers he
has an aptitude for burglary and finds
a mentor in underworld gangster
Guido (Grard Depardieu). Jacques
is living the life he wants, says Gantz,
who sat down with AC during a
recent trip to Los Angeles. Hes reasonably happy and carefree as he
ascends the criminal ranks. To reflect
this, I used a lot of red, blue, green
and orange light the colors of the
1960s. To suggest how in control
Mesrine feels at this point in his life,
Gantz favored the fluid moves of the
Steadicam and dolly. Its all about the

60 September 2009

camera expressing whatever emotions are on the screen, he asserts.

Mesrines vicious streak is
often underlined by handheld camerawork, as in a scene that begins
with him relaxing at a bar. When
another customer becomes belligerent, Mesrine suddenly smashes a
glass in the patrons face, completely
without warning. That scene starts
off with classic static camera angles,
remarks Gantz. The image is so
calm, the audience is totally caught
off guard when Mesrine suddenly
erupts. As soon as the glass shatters,
we switch to handheld.
In the first film, Mesrine falls
passionately in love with Jeanne

Schneider (Ccile De France), a

woman as fearless and violent as he is.
They move to Canada, where they are
arrested after a kidnap victim escapes,
and when both end up behind bars,
the images become almost monochromatic, with a hint of sickly green.
The bright lighting we had early in
the film reflected Mesrines feelings of
freedom, says Gantz. Now hes
trapped and cant get out. And the
longer he is incarcerated, the blander
the images look. Gantz kept the camera on the Steadicam and dolly
throughout Mesrines incarceration
and escape with a fellow inmate; only
when the two men return to the
prison and try to free their friends
does Gantz take the camera handheld.
The second film, LEnnemi
Public No. 1, was shot almost entirely
handheld, and the color palette is
much darker, with Gantz now lighting in subdued earth tones. The tone
of this film becomes more frantic as
Mesrines magnetism gives way to
unbridled egoism. He begins wearing
disguises; dubbed the man of a thousand faces, he seems to be daring the
police to catch him. Our basis for this
film was The French Connection, volunteers Gantz. We consciously wanted to give it that 1970s style of filmmaking, not only with the handheld
camera, but also with a lot of zooms.
Jean-Franois fell in love with the
zoom, and we did a lot of slow and

snap zooms during the action

sequences using a 28-76mm
Angenieux Optimo that 1st AC Olivier
Fortin got for us.
The bulk of the camera equipment came from Panavision Alga
Techno and included Primo primes;
3:1 (135-420mm), 11:1 (24-275mm)
and 4:1 (17.5-75mm) Primo zooms;
two Millennium XLs; and a number of
Arri 435s, 235s and Eyemos. (The latter were used for car-crash scenes.)
The Angenieux, reserved for handheld
shots, was used extensively in the second film. The productions gear
included 50' and 30' Super
Technocranes with Z-Head three-axis
remote heads, and key grip Jean-Pierre
Deschamps also brought some of his
own equipment. Jean-Pierre had the
best car-rigging stuff I have ever seen,
marvels Gantz.
Gantz used Kodak Vision2
500T 5218 and 200T 5217 on both
pictures, but he took a different
approach to a brief sequence set in
Algeria, where Mesrine served in the
French army; this scene was shot in
Super 16mm and underwent a bleachbypass at LTC in Paris. (All of the productions footage was processed at
LTC. The digital intermediate was carried out at Duboi, where Gantz collaborated with colorist Fabien Pascal.) In
the scene, Mesrine takes part in the
brutal interrogation of an Algerian
prisoner. We used two Arri 16SR-3s
and the old Zeiss 11-110mm T2.2
Super 16 zooms because we didnt
want the scene to look too good, notes
Gantz. We wanted the lens flares and
the crazy highlights you get with the
bleach bypass. I lit the scene with oldschool Photofloods, the kind they
actually used in interrogation rooms
back then, and we screwed in standard
250-watt bulbs. I didnt use any other
lights inside, but I brought a 12K
through the window and used a bit of
smoke. I love the way that scene looks.
In the first of two audacious
casino robberies, Mesrine and Jeanne
burst into the room holding shotguns.
Working onstage, Gantz recalls, Jean-

Top: Resourceful
inmate Franois
Besse (Mathieu
Amalric) is
searched in
prison, where he
meets his future
criminal partner,
Mesrine. For this
shot, Gantz used
a Kino Flo to
create a back
sidelight.
Middle: This
shot of the
prison interior
was made with
natural daylight,
using tungstenbalanced Vision2
stock and no 85
filter. Bottom:
Guards use the
wand on
Mesrine, who
is sidelit by a
Kino Flo.

American Cinematographer 61

An Appetite for Crime

Top: Mesrines
right-hand man,
Jean-Paul
Mercier (Roy
Dupuis), awaits
a rendezvous in
a forest outside
Paris. An 18K
was deployed to
light the
background,
while a Kino Flo
unit provided
sidelight for the
foreground.
Middle: Mesrine
employs the
element of
surprise after
hiding in the
trunk of a car.
Bottom: Gantz
(far left)
discusses a
setup with
director JeanFranois Richet
(center) and 1st
AC Olivier Fortin
in a forest
outside
Montreal.

62 September 2009

Franois wanted to move the camera

in circles, [but we were limited] by the
size of the room, which was small and
had low ceilings. We had to light from
the side and [couldnt completely circle
the actors]. Strangely enough, there
was a problem at the lab and we had to
reshoot the scene. When Jean-Franois
and I talked about it, we realized that
neither of us was happy with what we
had shot previously this is Jacques
and Jeannes first robbery and it needed to have more excitement.
A larger location was found for
the reshoot, with higher ceilings that
permitted Gantz to craft pools of light
from above. Once Mesrine and Jeanne
storm into the room, the camera never
stops moving and neither do the
thieves, who continually swing their
guns around to cover the room, turning in tight circles while the Steadicam
swirls around them in the opposite
direction. We had a great Steadicam
operator named Eric Catelan, declares
Gantz. He was also the A-camera
operator.
Mesrine is incarcerated four
times during the course of the two
films. The second prison is in Canada
the exterior was a facade erected
outside Paris, and the interiors were
built in a warehouse and when
Mesrine arrives, he is stripped, thrown
into solitary confinement and beaten
by guards. As he cowers, traumatized,
in a corner of the cell, the camera starts
on his face and pulls all the way back to
the very high ceiling, spinning as it
widens out. At the very end of the shot,
Mesrines body makes a slight, almost
involuntary jerking motion. Thats
one of my favorite shots in the film,
acknowledges Gantz. We did it with a
crane arm and a Z-Head three-axis
head. I operated because in France
they rarely use a geared head. If you
notice the slight movement Vincent
makes at the end of the shot, it looks
bizarre. Thats because the camera
actually started at ceiling level and
spun into him; we reversed it in post. It
looks far more intense that way.
One of the films more harrow-

An Appetite for Crime

Gantz takes a
meter reading
while
preparing to
shoot a riverescape
sequence.

ing scenes takes place inside a cave in

the Forest of Halatte, where Mesrine
lures a journalist whom he plans to
murder. Mesrine, an accomplice, and
reporter Jacques Dallier (Alain
Fromager) walk deep into the cave
until they arrive at a kind of cul-desac where Mesrine has arranged a
dozen or so candles on a rock ledge.
Mesrine orders the journalist to strip,
and then brutally beats him. Boy,
that was difficult, says Gantz, shaking
his head at the memory. The electricians put up spreaders because there
was nothing to hang the lights from,
and I had Kino Flos as backlights and
no frontlight. I used a light diffusion,
like an Opal, and probably a CTO.
I was wide open: T2.6.
Even though we had a good
ventilation system in there, it got terribly smoky from the candles, the
cinematographer continues. At one
point we had to stop shooting for half
an hour to try and suck the smoke
out with fans. Another difficulty was
that Fromager had to be naked
throughout the scene, and it was
impossible to hide pads on his body
to cushion any blows. He had to fall
on the ground and roll around as he
was being kicked you cant just fall
on the ground like that without
injuring yourself. The actor did the
entire scene himself. He did an amazing job.
Gantz stayed at a T2.8 or a T4
for most of the film. I would have
64 September 2009

preferred to shoot more of it at a 4,

just to get a bit more depth of field,
but in the end I always find when Im
lighting that it looks better at 2.8. We
had two really good focus pullers on
the production, Pierre Mazard on
LInstinct de Mort and Olivier on
LEnnemi Public No. 1.
Gantz describes his general
approach to lighting as less is more.
He notes that he likes to key from the
side; with a smile and a slight growl,
he adds, To me, frontlight is a dirty
word. For day interiors, I like to let
the natural light come through more
than anything else. If I have to amplify it, I will, but I dont want to overpower the natural light.
I always try to motivate the
light, but there are certain conventions I always use, he continues. If
its night, the actions going to be
backlit. Theres a scene where Jacques
and Guido beat up a pimp. Its nighttime and they pull into a courtyard,
get out of the car and start whipping
him, but they are right up against a
wall. I tried to figure out a way to get
a backlight on them and ended up
putting a light in a room high up in
the building. While I dont think you
should be able to see a lot at night
because, in reality, you cant you
have to at least have an edge on the
characters so you can see their
shapes.
Mirrors are used to great visual and thematic effect throughout the

film, and on more than one occasion

Mesrine sits at a poker table, reflected
in multiple panels at once a visual
metaphor for his fractured personality. Early in the first film, when
Mesrine enters a prostitutes room, he
first appears to be standing in the
doorway on the right side of the
frame, but he when he enters from
stage left, we realize that the shot of
him in the doorway was, in fact, his
reflection in the mirror. The camera
then slowly dollies right and pans left
as Mesrine walks to the bed and sits
down beside Sarah (Florence
Thomassin), who has her head
bowed. As the camera moves, it picks
up multiple images of both Mesrine
and Sarah, overlapping reflections
within reflections. Finally, as Mesrine
sits, the back of his head appears in
frame and we realize he and Sarah are
sitting in front of the mirror, and that
all the action so far has merely been a
reflection. With the camera still catching the mirror image, Sarah lifts her
head and reveals a badly beaten face.
That was a really hard shot, admits
Gantz. In fact, it was probably the
most complicated shot we did. I had
to adjust each section of the mirror.
The camera was on a dolly and Eric
had to pan at exactly the right
moment; otherwise, wed either miss
the image we wanted or wed see Eric
and the camera in the mirror. We
didnt erase anything in post. The only
technical problem we had was that on
the best take, Sarahs focus was slightly soft. So they ended up doing a head
replacement on her from another
take.
Leading up to their first jail sentence in Canada, Jeanne and Mesrine
kidnap a wealthy man confined to a
wheelchair. The kidnappers enter the
mans bedroom in the middle of the
night and sit on his bed; the
Steadicam, meanwhile, shoots from
behind multiple pieces of beveled
glass, resulting in multiple distorted
images of each participant. Years ago,
I did some Oil of Olay commercials,
and we shot through beveled glass,

An Appetite for Crime

Dogged police
commissioner
Robert
Broussard
(Olivier
Gourmet, center,
with gray hair
and white shirt)
examines the
scene after his
men gun down
Mesrine and his
girlfriend,
Sylvie (Ludivine
Sagnier), in a
busy Paris
intersection at
Porte de
Clignancourt.

Gantz relates. I spoke with production designer Emile Ghigo, who was
able to find a folding screen with
beveled glass. Even when they sit on
the bed, there are three images of
everything. Jean-Franois was really
specific about what he wanted; it
took 21 takes to get it right.
One of the things I like about
working with Jean-Franois is that

66

hell listen to other peoples ideas, but

he knows what he likes. He is especially involved with framing and
movement. He pretty much let me
handle the lighting, but he is very
sure of what he wants to do with the
camera.
Richet maintains, The toughest scene to get was when Mesrine is
shot and killed. It happened at one of

the busiest intersections in Paris, a

place called Porte de Clignancourt,
and I wanted to film at the exact spot.
That required shutting down the
plaza, and such is Mesrines allure in
France that the production received
special permission to do so. Gantz is
still amazed: Its unheard of. That
plaza is a major entry and exit point
for Paris.
The lead-in to the killing and
the actual shooting constitute one
extended sequence during which
Mesrine and girlfriend Sylvie
(Ludivine Sagnier) leave their apartment, get in their car and head out of
Paris, driving through Porte de
Clignancourt. A canvas-backed truck
pulls in front of them at a red light,
and suddenly the canvas is pulled
away to reveal men with guns who
start firing into Mesrines car. This
sequence repeats several times, serving
as the opening scene of both films and
ending the second film, and the lead-

in was shot from two different perspectives. The first time it unfolds as
Mesrine and Sylvie would have experienced it; they leave their apartment
and walk to the car, but fail to notice
the policemen staking them out. Its
not literally from their point of view,
Gantz notes, but it is how they
would have seen it. The second time
the scene unfolds almost the same
way, except this time we see everything from the policemens point of
view. Now viewers understand what
is really going on.
Before the sequence was shot,
the crew spent one day practicing in a
parking lot dressed to match the
geography of the intersection. Six
cameras were used to follow
Mesrines car as it wends its way
through traffic and stops at the
Clignancourt intersection. JeanFranois wanted the sequence covered from all angles, including overhead, says Gantz. The car was never

up on a process trailer; instead, we put

rigs on the car and let Vincent drive.
We were able to film the really
close stuff another day at another
location, he continues. Using long
lenses, we were shooting mostly into
the car and truck. You couldnt see
any background, so those shots could
be staged anywhere. If you notice,
everything from Vincents point of
view is shot traditionally, but whenever we see the police, the camera is
handheld. Then, once the gunfire
starts and all hell breaks loose, its all
handheld.
Three handheld cameras pick
up the aftermath: cops swarm the
vehicle, Sylvie is pulled from the car,
and a media frenzy erupts as hundreds of reporters arrive at the scene.
We wanted it to look like 16mm
news footage, so I added saturation
and contrast in the DI to make it feel
more like reversal film. We were also
shooting at T5.6 or a T5.6/8 split

by giving the assistants more stop,

focus pulling was easier.
Looking back on the 11-month
production, Gantz shakes his head. It
was such a massive monster to organize, and on a show like that, so much
is out of anyones control. But the
worst part of the shoot, he adds, was
sitting in Paris traffic.
I

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67

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Testing Digital
Cameras: Part 2
The post process for the ASC/PGA Camera-Assessment Series
illuminates how 7 digital motion-picture cameras fit into the
industrys standard workflow.
by Stephanie Argy

his is the second part of our

report on the CameraAssessment Series that was
recently conducted by the
American
Society
of
Cinematographers and the Producers
Guild of America. The series, detailed
in the June 09 issue of AC, assessed
seven digital motion-picture cameras,
comparing each of them to 35mm
film, the benchmark standard for theatrical motion-picture quality.
This article contains no judgments or conclusions about individ-

70 September 2009

ual cameras or how they performed.

Instead, we focus on the participants general thoughts about the
tests, what they learned, and what
still needs to be explored. Although
this article discusses the overall post
workflow, the details of that work
for example, how much time was
spent color-correcting specific
scenes shot by specific cameras
will be reported at a later date.
There are many ways for digital cameras to be integrated into a
production, but the CAS was

designed to test them within a commonly used film/digital post workflow designed for theatrical releasing
on print film and digital cinema
(DCP). As far as we know, this is the
first time anyone has done a photographic performance assessment of
the seven selected digital cameras
using a common, film-centric, digital-intermediate workflow finish,
says Curtis Clark, ASC, chair of the
Societys Technology Committee.
We wanted to know how these seven
cameras would fit in that workflow

Photos by Richard Crudo, ASC. Illustrations courtesy of the ASC Technology Committee.

without putting the footage through

a series of proprietary, secret sauce,
post-facility contortions.
We also wanted this assessment to be applicable to production
and post now, adds producer Lori
McCreary, chair of the PGA Motion
Picture Technology Council and
president of Revelations Entertainment, which funded the CAS.
Because most feature films are finished at 2K resolution, we chose a
2K post workflow.
Many people were eager to
suggest alternate approaches based
on their experiences with custom
workflows. As a result of their individual experiences, filmmakers
develop highly personal and frequently conflicting perspectives on
digital-camera image quality, corresponding with their varied results,
says Clark. To get an effective and
manageable handle on the digital
cameras image performance, we
realized it was necessary to eliminate
the wild card variability of multiple
workflows by selecting a commonly
deployed workflow for all the cameras. Were talking about a theatrical-motion-picture post workflow
not DVD, and not HD broadcast.
Television production will require a
different assessment series based on
an HDTV Rec. 709 finish, a different

deal. The digital-camera workflow

finishing you can do on a MacBook
Pro in Apple ProRes HQ is not consistent with the DI workflow that is
used for most studio productions.
The manufacturers of most
of the current digital motion-picture cameras who participated in the
CAS have adapted their HD imagecapture technologies to be more
compatible with the prevailing, filmcentric DI workflow by adopting a
Log-mode encoding of their image
capture as opposed to gammaencoded, linear HD video, he continues. These Log modes attempt to
emulate the characteristics of film
negative, reproducing a wider
dynamic range of scene tones [from

highlight to shadow] within a wider

color gamut that is closer to film
than the conventional HD Rec. 709
color-space gamut.
To briefly recap our June 09
report, the CAS shoot took place
over two days in January 2009 at
Universal Studios. The digital cameras were the Arri D-21, the Grass
Valley Viper, Panasonics AJHPX3700, Panavisions Genesis, the
Red One and Sonys F23 and F35.
The same tests were also filmed with
an Arri 435 using two tungsten
stocks (Kodak Vision2 200T 5217
and Kodak Vision3 500T 5219) and
two daylight stocks (Kodak Vision2
250D 5205 and Vision3 250D 5207).
One cinematographer was assigned

Pictured on these
two pages are
ASC members
who were
among the
cinematographers
who participated
in the CameraAssessment
Series. Opposite
page, from left:
Michael Goi,
Shelly Johnson,
Nancy Schreiber,
test supervisors
David Stump and
Curtis Clark, and
Peter Anderson.
This page, from
left: Robert
Primes, Karl
Walter
Lindenlaub,
Steven Fierberg,
Kees Van
Oostrum,
Matthew Leonetti,
Kramer
Morgenthau (at
camera), Richard
Edlund and
Rodney Charters.

Testing Digital Cameras: Part 2

What is the ASC CDL?
The ASC Color Decision List is a framework
developed by the Societys Technology Committee
that allows the interchange of basic RGB color-correction information between equipment and software made by different manufacturers. Although the
basic controls of most color-correction systems are
similar, they differ in specific implementation. The
terms Lift (for dark tones), Gain (highlights), and
Gamma (mid-tones) are commonly used by most
color-correction systems, but those definitions may
vary in detail from system to system and manufacturer to manufacturer.
To avoid confusion, the ASC proposed a set of
three defined transfer functions with unique names:
Offset (lift), Slope (gain) and Power (gamma). Each
function uses one number for the red channel, a second for the green and a third for the blue. Thus, the
three transfer functions for the three color components can collectively be described by nine parameters. A tenth number, Saturation, was specified in
Version 1.2 of the ASC CDL, and is applied to all
three channels together.

to each camera and stayed with it

throughout the tests; each camera
manufacturer helped choose which
cinematographer would be paired
with its camera. The cameras all
passed through six different test scenarios, each with its own on-set cinematographer.
After the shoot, each camera
manufacturer was responsible for
converting its own images to 10-bit
log DPX files and delivering those
files to LaserPacific, which joined
Deluxe Laboratories in donating
post services to the project. (All of
the 35mm processing was done at
Deluxe.) The 35mm footage was
scanned at 4K on a Spirit 4K scanner
and then downconverted to 2K 10bit DPX files. All of the files were
then ingested into an Autodesk
Lustre for color-correction. The
entire post workflow, which had to
accommodate the schedules of people who were volunteering their
time, lasted five months. The results
were a film print and DCP for public presentation. We cut out most of
72 September 2009

the editorial phase in order to get

the material ready to screen as
quickly as possible, says Dave
Stump, ASC, chair of the
Technology Committees Camera
Subcommittee. It was really an
exercise in seeing how ingest and
color-correction worked rather than
how an entire editorial workflow
worked.
Because the goal was to make
the images suitable for printing to
film, a film-print-emulation display
look-up table was applied to all of
the footage, simulating the look of
the images when recorded to film.
However, it was discovered soon
after we started our work that a lot
of the digital cameras delivered
images that didnt give me enough
range to work with in a traditional
Cineon workflow, says LaserPacific
colorist Mike Sowa, who graded the
tests. When I put up some of the
images and looked at them with the
print-density LUT applied, the
information in the lowlights
appeared to be clipped.
To expand that image area
and gain access to the digital cameras full dynamic range, Sowa had
to apply an Input Device Transform
(IDT), which adjusted the gamma
slope of the cameras Log-mode
images to more closely match film
negative. Although theyre designed
to emulate film-tone scale, the Logencoded gamma slopes of the various digital cameras are not congruent with the Log gamma slope of
film negative, explains Clark.
Applying the IDT ensured that the
final color-grading accurately predicted the filmout results.
Doug Jaqua, who works in
color science at LaserPacific, notes
that each of the cameras has its own
method of encoding the digital signal to record the largest dynamic
range the camera can capture. The
problem is that they all do it differently, he says. None of these things
play well together out of the box in a
common workflow. Stump adds

that the digital cameras are linear

recording devices, whereas film is an
analog medium characterized in log
terms, and because the DI/DCP
pipeline was designed for film, it is
built around films log signal. When
you plug a digital camera into a film
workflow, inevitably the signal from
that camera has to be transformed
into the Cineon log signal space that
accommodates film, says Stump.
That doesnt just happen; it requires
a significant amount of effort.
At the moment, each post
facility creates its own input processes to convert the raw material from
an electronic camera into a form that
will work within that facilitys infrastructure. Every post house has to
create its own input matrices, says
Stump. That input-matrix data is
the special sauce of every lab for
every camera.
The CAS guidelines prevented
LaserPacific from applying its own
special sauce because the workflow
had to be platform- and facilityindependent, able to be reproduced
anywhere. Fortunately, the ASC
Color Decision List includes a Power
function approximating the traditional Gamma function of color
correctors that could be used as
an IDT, offering Sowa the full
dynamic range of the digital cameras Log-encoded images for colorcorrecting.
Because the 35mm footage
would serve as the benchmark for
the tests, Sowa began by color-correcting that footage. He sat with the
cinematographer from each test scenario and did two passes on the film
footage. First, they did a best-light
color-correction with no secondaries, windows, dynamics or keyframing; because the cameras often
moved through changing lighting
conditions during the scenes, Sowa
optimized the timing for one
moment. Then, they did a final grade
using the full DI toolset except for
noise-reduction and sharpening
tools. (The CAS guidelines forbade

Testing Digital Cameras: Part 2

noise reduction and sharpening

throughout the entire workflow,
both on set and in post.)
With the look set for the filmoriginated footage, Sowa set to work
on the images from the digital cameras. Again, there were two passes:
the best light (optimizing for the
same moment chosen for the film
camera) and then the final grade,
which focused on making the
footage match the look of the film
footage as closely as possible, regardless of how many adjustments were
needed. At no time were any of the
digital cameras matched to one

74 September 2009

another or even shown side-by-side.

It was the goal of the PGA and the
ASC that no electronic camera
would be directly compared to any
other electronic camera, says Bill
Bennett, ASC, who was the on-set
cinematographer for the Arri D-21
and sat in on many of the grading
sessions.
The camera manufacturers
were allowed into the DI suite, but
only while the footage from their
particular camera was onscreen.
We decided to do the color-correction on a scene-by-scene basis, says
Bennett. Most of the time, the

manufacturers were able to send a

representative for each timing session. They had to come back day
after day and wait in the lobby until
their camera came up. He adds that
he found it valuable to see the whole
post process. Cinematographers
usually show up for the color-timing
session, but we dont often see the
data-transformation aspect of it, or
all those other peripheral things. To
learn about how that happens was
very helpful.
The final film print and DCP
were first presented at a pair of
events in June, the PGAs Produced
By Conference and a private ASC
event. One of Clarks initial impressions was that we now have digital
motion-picture cameras that are
refined and capable of producing
some extraordinary results in todays
DI workflow environment, he says.
You can use a top-performing digital camera without necessarily being
handicapped by choosing that camera over film. A few of these cameras
are demonstrating that they are able
to adapt to existing, film-centric DI
workflows and do so very effectively.
However, says Stump, no one
should assume that enough time and
effort can make images captured by
any digital camera look like film.
Thats not the right conclusion to
draw from this, he says. Were
almost there, but we have to keep
making more demands of the manufacturers to refill our toolbox with
electronic tools. There are still many
things you can do with film that you
cant do with electronic tools. The
manufacturers have been listening
thats why all these cameras look
so good but lets not let anyone off
the hook. This test points out where
we can improve the entire imaging
chain, from acquisition to display. It
isnt good enough yet.
At the Produced By
Conference, McCreary mentioned a
few of the improvements manufacturers still need to make. We would
love optical viewfinders in the digital

Testing Digital Cameras: Part 2

cameras in our assessment, only

the Arri D-21 and the Arri 435 film
camera had optical viewfinders, she
said. We also asked for true 2K and
4K cameras in terms of both sensors
and storage no compression.
Another request was that the manufacturers help us define and implement metadata standardization.
Bennett agrees that manufacturers need to provide an easier way
to input the metadata on set and tie
it to the file itself, ensuring that it is
always present and retrievable in
post. He notes that the CAS incorporated a primitive sort of metadata
in the form of color Post-It notes
that were always visible in frame; a
different-color Post-It was used for
each camera. That way, we knew
wed always be able to tell which
camera it was, he says.
Stump, who also chairs the
ASC Technology Committees
Metadata Subcommittee, believes
metadata is one of the last great
places to save money in filmmaking.
Producers and the studios expend
an enormous amount of effort to
squeeze every nickel out of the production budget and get it on the
screen, he says. If they only knew
how much is being squandered by
inefficient workflows that could be
automated by metadata! People just
dont recognize it for what it is. Its
76 September 2009

going to take the whole community

to implement a rich, automated,
uninterrupted stream of metadata,
but if the entire industry pursues it,
the production community will
realize big savings they never knew
were there.
Stump also notes that
although 4K finishes are uncommon, there is good reason to push
camera manufacturers in that direction. It was announced in June that
Texas Instruments and all the projector companies are going to be
supplying 4K projectors, which
means 4K exhibition will eventually
be ubiquitous. That will give us 4K
projection, 4K DCI standards, and a
fairly nice movement toward 4K finishing, workflows and color correctors. The only thing we dont have is
a true 4K digital-acquisition device
that supplies co-sited RGB pixels at
4K each. Everyone has to realize that
good enough isnt good enough.
Based on the CAS, though,
there is a great deal of optimism
about the manufacturers level of
engagement and commitment to
the industry. Its quite a tribute to
the manufacturers that they all
stepped up and participated fully in
the CAS, says Bennett. In the post
phase, we got the distinct impression that they were learning as much
or more than we were about blend-

ing their cameras into established

workflows. They all made some
tremendous realizations.
Already, some of the camera
manufacturers are beginning to offer
their own LUTs to bridge the gap
between the images their cameras
capture and the film-centric DI
workflow used for the CAS. The
more camera manufacturers have to
stew in that juice, the better they can
appreciate why digital is not ubiquitous as an acquisition medium yet,
says Stump. In that respect, the CAS
was a huge success.
Bennett emphasizes that the
CAS is only a starting point, and
before commencing any project,
filmmakers should test as much as
possible, and carry those tests all the
way through to the way in which it
will be distributed film print, television, Blu-ray DVD. You must test all
the way through the process to discover the limits of each imaging system and then work within those limits. All imaging systems have limits.
Even with paint on canvas, artists had
to learn what they could and couldnt
do. Then, applying their skills, they
could make beautiful images.
As digital acquisition evolves,
were learning what these cameras
strengths are, and the cameras are
being used for those strengths, continues Bennett. Thats the biggest
benefit the CAS can offer filmmakers:
we can use the cameras in the situations to which theyre best suited.
The CAS is a current snapshot, says Clark. In two years, these
cameras will have moved toward
even higher resolution and an
expanded color gamut with a wider
dynamic range of scene-tone reproduction, along with an advanced 4K
post workflow. But we need to understand how they perform right now in
the workflow that is most commonly
used. Stump adds, You dont know
which way is forward is until you
know where you are.
I

Thank You for Your Participation in

the Camera Assessment Series Project
Digital Motion Picture Camera Manufacturers:
ArriD-21 PanasonicHPX3700 PanavisionGenesis
RedRed One SonyF35 and F23 ThomsonViper
Kodak
Key participants who enabled the CAS project:
ASC Technology Committee
Curtis Clark, ASC, Chair
David Stump, ASC, Camera Subcommittee Chair
Al Barton, Workflow Subcommittee Chair
Lou Levinson, DI Subcommittee Chair
Glenn Kennel, DI Workflow Specifications Coordinator

Revelations Entertainment
Lori McCreary, President

Producers Guild of America (PGA)

Set Producers
Hawk Koch
Michael Manheim
O.D. Welch
Producers
Nick Abdo
Charles Howard
Camera Producers
Paul Geffre
Pamela Keller
Lisa Sotolongo
Bruce Devan
Yvonne Russo
Kim Van Hoven
Behind-the-Scenes Producers
Jon Lawrence
Michael Shores
Cory McCrum, Postproduction Producer
Lori McCreary, Chair, PGA Technology Council

LaserPacific
Brian Burr
Doug Jaqua, Mike Sowa, Ron Burdett
Rob Smith, Sean Lohan, Chad Gunderson
and the LaserPacific team

Deluxe Laboratories
Cinematographers who participated:
Assigned to individual scenes
Rodney Charters, ASC
Richard Edlund, ASC
Steven Fierberg, ASC
Michael Goi, ASC
Jacek Laskus, ASC
Matthew Leonetti, ASC
Stephen Lighthill, ASC
Robert Primes, ASC
John Toll, ASC
Assigned to individual cameras
Peter Anderson, ASC
Bill Bennett, ASC
Mark Doering-Powell
Shelly Johnson, ASC
Karl Walter Lindenlaub, ASC
Kramer Morgenthau, ASC
Marty Ollstein
Nancy Schreiber, ASC
Directors of Photography Project Supervisors
Curtis Clark, ASC
David Stump, ASC
Kees Van Oostrum, ASC
Special thanks to
Tom Walsh, President, Art Directors Guild
George Perkins, Exec. Producer, Desperate Housewives

Very special gratitude

to the production crews!

Pictured here
and on the next
two pages are
frame grabs from
the recent digital
restoration of
The Red Shoes,
directed by
Michael Powell
and Emeric
Pressburger and
photographed
by Jack Cardiff,
ASC, BSC.

Brand-New Shoes
by Robert S. Birchard
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburgers The Red Shoes, an art film
about the world of ballet, was eagerly
embraced by audiences upon its release
in 1948 and has remained a cult favorite
ever since. Noted for its vivid color cinematography by Jack Cardiff, ASC, BSC,
and its somewhat over-the-top passion
for dance, the film is a favorite of Martin
Scorsese, whose Film Foundation
recently helped the UCLA Film & Television Archive digitally restore the movie in
concert with the British Film Institute.
The restoration teams original
goal was to do a new photochemical
restoration using wet-gate contact printing from the original three-strip Technicolor camera negatives, a procedure the
UCLA Archive had used to restore The
Barefoot Contessa (1954) and Becky
Sharp (1935). We gathered a lot of
material from England, including 48 reels
of cut picture negatives, an original 1948
Technicolor nitrate print, and a 1955

78 September 2009

safety reissue print, recalls Robert Gitt,

preservation officer for the UCLA
Archive. We took everything to Dave
Cetra at Cinetech, and he made a new
print using the three Technicolor negatives, color-timing the entire thing. Thats
when we discovered some pretty shocking problems.
The picture negative was
covered with mold there were chalky
deposits all over it, continues Gitt.
[Archivist] Barbara Whitehead cleaned
all 48 reels by hand and then ultrasonically; that took the worst mold off but left
behind stains and little cracks and
crevices in the emulsion. We were
relieved when we saw Cinetechs first
test reel all of the fungus damage had
been eliminated simply with the use of
diffused light and wet-gate printing.
Then, when we saw the whole movie,
we discovered that a lot of the material
was badly out of register, much more so
than in any other Technicolor film Ive
worked on. There had been differential
shrinkage in the elements over the years,
but what was even more worrisome was

that there were extreme vertical-registration problems in quite a number of

shots. We discovered that the problem
actually went way back; we found
records from Technicolor in London that
showed theyd had to make corrections
in 1948 to compensate for verticalregistration problems.
Gitt soon realized that the only
way to do a photochemical restoration
would be to go back to the cumbersome
method of optical printing, which would
add film generations and build up
contrast. A digital restoration seemed to
be the way to go. He recalls, Cinetech
was interested in using a combination
of photochemical and digital techniques, and they did some tests using
wet-printed master positives that came
out very well, but we know that theoretically, its best to use the original
picture negative if you can, so we also
did some tests at Warner Bros. Motion
Picture Imaging using the original negatives. Both facilities did very good work,
but when we blew up the image very
large, it was evident that scanning the
original negs produced a result that was
less grainy and sharper. So the decision
was made to work with the original
YCM negatives at MPI and use digital
techniques exclusively to fix all the
films problems, including mold
damage.
At MPI, the 48 reels of original
negatives yellow, cyan and magenta
records for each of the 16 finished
picture reels were scanned at 4K on
a Northlight, and the scans were
cleaned up using both automated and
manual techniques before being recombined. Normally, we dont tweak the
color levels when we do the recombine
because we dont want to affect what
the color timer will eventually work
with, notes Bill Baggelaar, MPIs senior
vice president of technology. On occasion, weve had to do major preliminary

The Red Shoes images courtesy of UCLA Film & TV Archive.

Post Focus

Visit us at

IBC 2009
11.E28
7.H01

corrections, but for The Red Shoes, the

YCM color values were introduced at
standard settings.
The recombined images were
turned over to MPI colorist Ray
Grabowski, who graded them under
Gitts supervision, with input from
Schoonmaker and Scorsese. The
shadow detail and color information in
Cardiffs original negatives is amazing
genius, really, marvels Grabowski.
We used [FilmLight] Baselight 8 hardware and software for the color-correction, and we also used Baselights
degraining tool here and there. The goal
was to keep the look of the original film
as much as possible. We did no grain

reduction except for some of the optical

effects, where the grain structure would
change and be very obvious.
Indeed, the optical effects were
a problem on The Red Shoes, and they
offer a clue to the beauty and limitations
of the three-strip Technicolor dye-transfer printing system that was used from
the early 1930s to the early 1950s. Gitt
explains, When Technicolor did
dissolves and fades, the entire preceding shot and the entire following shot
were copied optically, and in some
cases the shots went on and on. Theres
one reel [in The Red Shoes] where a
shot involved in an optical effect goes
on for two minutes. Technicolor was

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79

rather cavalier about controlling the

contrast of its opticals; they didnt
attempt to make them match the
surrounding footage. Thats because
they had a trick up their sleeve. The
Technicolor process allowed them to
make corrections at the last minute as
the matrices were being made for dyetransfer printing. In making the three

80 September 2009

matrices, which were gelatin relief

images that they would soak with dye
to print, they used an optical printer, so
each negative was exposed a frame at
a time, and they could not only change
the exposure to alter the color balance
and brightness of the scene, they could
also change the contrast shot-to-shot or
even within a shot. Thats the stage

where they corrected color-registration

problems as well. Today, Eastmancolor
developing is standardized; if you want
to break the rules, you can develop it to
a lower contrast, but the colors start
wandering off in different directions,
and the results arent easily repeatable.
With digital technology we can easily
modify the contrast, even shot-to-shot
as Technicolor did in 1948. Thats a big
plus.
MPI digital conformist Katie
Largay assisted Grabowski throughout
the project, maintaining a spreadsheet
for every reel and every shot that
included what the source data was and
any relevant notes. Katie wrangled the
data, and it was a load of stuff, notes
Grabowski. We were working at 4K
resolution, and there were a lot of things
going back and forth with fixes and
many inserts of newly repaired material.
Keeping track of it all was very timeconsuming, and Katies attention to
detail allowed me to concentrate on the
color-timing with Bob Gitt.
John Polito at Audio Mechanics
restored the sound using mainly two
1948 track masters. One of the masters
had extensive fungus damage, and only
small parts of it were usable, says Gitt.
The other was in generally good shape,
with some fungus damage at the ends of
the reels. John also worked with the
1955 Technicolor projection print; it had
splices here and there, but the sound
was good on it, and the reel ends were
in better shape.
Once the digital work was
finished and approved, the processing
and final printing were carried out at
Cinetech. The restored film had its
premiere at this years Cannes Film
Festival. When you run the final print
side-by-side with the digital version at
the same size and with the same screen
brightness, it matches very closely,
observes Billy Patten, the project
manager at MPI. Because weve
recorded to Eastman Color negative and
printed on Kodak Vision [2383], the print
is slightly grainier than the digital
version, but in terms of color and
contrast, theyre very close.

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The 2009 Cannes Film Festival

also saw the debut of a newly restored
Mr. Hulots Holiday (Les Vacances de
Monsieur Hulot), which stars
writer/director Jacques Tati as the
nearly silent title character.
Tati himself revisited the movie
several times over the course of three
decades. The black-and-white picture
was originally shot in 1951/1952 in
Saint-Marc-sur-Mer, a small French
resort on the Atlantic coast. In 1962, Tati
re-edited parts of the movie and
reworked the score and the sound mix.
In a nod to the popular postman character from his first feature, Jour de Fte, he
also superimposed a color stamp and a
postmark over the final shot of the
movie.
Then, in 1977, as Mr. Hulots Holiday began to attract a new following,
Tati saw Jaws and was inspired to shoot
additional footage. His original cut had a
scene in which Hulot goes out on the
ocean in a folding canoe, then gets
caught inside it when it collapses on
him. As he struggles to get free, the
canoe keeps snapping open and shut,
looking like the biting jaws of a shark.
The new shots featured panicked people
on the beach, running away from the
shark. (A close examination of their hairstyles reveals that they were
photographed in the late 1970s, not the
early 1950s.)
The restoration of Mr. Hulots
Holiday represented an unusual collaboration between two film foundations,
the Thomson Foundation for Film and TV
Heritage and the Fondation Groupama
Gan pour le Cinma, as well as the rights
holder, Jrme Deschamps (Tatis
nephew), and the Cinmathque
Franaise.
This sequence of images illustrates a
repair on a single frame from Mr. Hulots
Holiday. Steps in this repair included the
removal of both actors from the frame, the
reconstruction of the background,
rotoscoping, and a partial actor
replacement.
82 September 2009

When it came time to do the

restoration, the first matter to settle
was which version should be treated as
the definitive one. Restoration is not
only technical, its also creative and
ethical, says Sverine Wemaere, head
of the Thomson Foundation. Today,
many works are called restoration but
are really just materials that have been
cleaned. Some respect the author, but
some take too many liberties. You really
want to go deeply inside the movie and
not betray the filmmaker by doing a
restoration that is not what he would
have wanted.
In this case, because the director
had made all the changes to the movie
himself, it was decided that the third
and final version should be the basis of
the restoration, which was carried out
at Technicolor in Los Angeles. Noting
that she was pleased with Technicolors
recent restoration of Lola Monts (AC
Sept. 08), Wemaere says, A team that
wins, you take it again. Overseeing the
project was Lola Monts veteran Tom
Burton, vice president of digital services
at Technicolor Digital Intermediates.
Mr. Hulots Holiday was shot on
nitrate shortly before the highly flammable stock was phased out of use. The
Technicolor team considered scanning
the original nitrate negative, but after
doing test scans of both the original
negative and an interpositive, Burton
decided to work from a fine-grain IP
made on Kodak 2366. There were many
splices and grading notches in the negative, so when Technicolor struck the IP,
they had to do custom adjustments in
the gate of the contact printer to stabilize the negative as much as possible as
it went through.
The negative was in bad shape,
partly because of all the work Tati had
done on the movie over the years.
Damage included tears, vertical
scratches, warping at splices and perf
damage. The black-and-white was
completely gray. You couldnt see Mr.
Hulots Holiday in good condition any
more, and that was what pushed me to
do this, says Wemaere. The object
was film heritage. Many, many film
makers were inspired by Tati.

Mr. Hulots Holiday images courtesy of Technicolor.

Celebrating Mr. Hulots

Holiday Anew
by Stephanie Argy

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This image
shows
the finished
product.

84

The restoration was both digital

and photochemical. Wemaere explains
that there were two goals: to get the
best new elements so the film could be
shown again, and to create a new film
negative so the movie could be
preserved properly. Who knows what

digital format will still be in effect in 10

years? she muses.
One of the biggest challenges
was the schedule. Wemaere says the
project should have taken one year, but
by the time all the necessary elements
were located, it was December 2008,

and the goal was to have the restoration finished in time for Cannes in May.
It became a race, she says.
Different phases of the process
that ordinarily would have been
sequential all went on at the same time.
The IP was scanned (using Arri and
Spirit scanners) to create a 2K master;
the color correction was done by Tim
Peeler on a da Vinci 2K Plus; and the
image repair was done using an array of
tools, including da Vinci Revival, MTI
Correct, Digital Vision Phoenix and
Adobe After Effects. A team of about 20
people worked in two or three shifts.
Organization was the key, says Danny
Albano, a visual-effects artist and
compositor on the project.
From a technical standpoint, the
biggest issues were stabilizing the
image to compensate for the jitteriness
caused by perf damage; cleaning up the
damage, especially from splices that
had been taken apart and put back
together (often leaving missing frames);
and combining materials from different

sources. Many of the existing opticals

and effects were questionable, to say
the least, presenting the team with the
recurring question of which to restore
and which to leave untouched. In one
instance, an image of a horse kicking a
car rumble-seat and trapping a man
inside was created using a split-screen
composite, but in the existing footage,
the two sides of the composite shift
noticeably against one another. Deciding whether to fix something like that is
tricky, says Burton. In this case, we
decided to do it.
A major alteration was in the
overall look of the film, which was
taken from muted, low-contrast grays
back to higher-contrast blacks and
white turning what had become a
cloudy day back into a sunny one.
Burton admits that adding the color
stamp at the end of the movie, one of
the changes made in Tatis 1962 revision, was complicated because it meant
combining color and black-and-white
stocks. The team wanted to replicate

the original scenario as closely as possible, which led them to print the stamp
on color stock (Kodak Vision 2383) and
the rest of the picture on black-andwhite (Kodak 2302). As a result, they
had to splice in that extra color shot by
hand and accept the subtle focus issues
caused by the different thicknesses of
the print stocks; black-and-white stock
has one layer of emulsion, whereas
color has three.
While the picture-restoration
work went on in California, Lon
Rousseau at L. E. Diapason in France
was cleaning up the sound. According
to Burton, Rousseau had a complete
reference sound track to work with
no splices, no missing pieces. Because
small bits were cut out of the picture,
there was a lot of communication backand-forth to ensure that picture and
sound would sync perfectly when they
were combined immediately before
Cannes.
Wemaere says she and Gilles
Duval of the Fondation Groupama Gan

share a philosophy about film restoration: films shouldnt just be restored,

they should also be shared with the
public. Four film prints and a digitalcinema version of Mr. Hulots Holiday
have been created, and following its
debut at Cannes, the movie was
screened at other film festivals.
Wemaere notes that the restoration was launched at the height of the
financial crisis. Nobody wanted to
enter into any projects, and our two
foundations working together set such a
good example, she says. When
money is short everywhere, collaboration becomes even more important. We
didnt just share the costs, we also
shared the experience, and it was a joy.
I

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85

New Products & Services

Panavision, Loumasystems
Unveil Louma 2
Panavision Remote Systems and
Loumasystems have introduced the
Louma 2, a new-generation cameramovement system built on an openarchitecture platform. The system
expands Loumas telescopic-crane technology exponentially with the introduction of ShotAssist, an open-architecture,
programmable software platform that
enables cinematographers to plan intricate multi-axis shots and execute them
with less rehearsal and fewer takes.
Master/slave coordination between any
axis of the crane and remote head is
possible.
Todays technologically and visually sophisticated audiences are pushing
directors and cinematographers to be
ever more creative in developing eyearresting shots, says Jean-Marie
Lavalou, Academy Award-winning cofounder of Loumasystems. We designed
the Louma 2 to meet those demands by
creating an open-architecture system so
flexible that virtually any shot imaginable
is possible, and any technology innovation can be incorporated.
86 September 2009

Specifically designed for the film

industry, the Louma 2 boasts smooth,
stable and quiet operation in all of its
movements.The Louma 2s ShotAssist
software extends the original Louma
cranes back-pan compensation to every
axis, including pan, tilt and telescope of
the arm; pan, tilt and roll of the remote
head; and even focus, zoom and camera
speed. Pan, tilt and roll limits are all
available at the touch of a button with
adjustable ramps to aid framing. One of
the applications of this software is the
ability to create straight-line dolly
shots, with the telescope compensating
for the arcing of the boom while the
head self-corrects with the back-pan
compensation. The Louma 2 frees operators of the mechanical work of
compensating for the crane, enabling
them to focus purely on the art of framing.
The Louma 2 boasts a newly
developed arm, allowing over 24' of
telescopic travel. A two- or three-axis
remote head and leveling gear can be
switched easily from overslung to
underslung and back. Additionally, the
remote head is fully equipped with

Preston F.I.Z. and remote-start connections, as well as 12-volt and 24-volt

camera and accessory power hookups.
The new ultra-rigid arm and remotehead construction permit a high degree
of image stability, and all cabling is
internal, so there are no cables running
along the exterior of the arm. The unit
also comes with custom trolleys and an
operators cart, and it can be ready to
shoot in less than 60 minutes.
Key specifications of the Louma
2 include a maximum lens height when
overslung of 37', and when underslung
of 32' 10"; a telescopic range of 24' 2"; a
maximum telescopic speed of 2.6
meters per second; a maximum camera
load with two-axis head of 100 pounds,
and with three-axis head of 66 pounds;
a clearance of 4' 11" wide by 7' high; a
maximum length of 32'; a track width of
3' 3"; and a maximum overall weight of
4,130 pounds.
For more information, call (818)
316-1080, or visit www.panavision.com,
www.loumasystems.biz or www.lou
ma2.com.

Cineped Provides
360-Degree Support
Cineped has announced the
availability of its panoramic 360-degree
camera-support system, which enables
camera operators to capture exceptional images with ease. More than a
dolly or tripod, the system features a
42", 360-degree rotational sliding
camera plate; extendable, automaticpositioning telescopic column; digital
remote control; and a diamond-style
mobile base with heavy-duty rubber
wheels. Designed to allow for a
wealth of camera angles including
horizontal and vertical movement,
panoramic/360-degree movement and
compound camera moves Cineped
maneuvers with fine-tuned, virtually
noise-free operation.
With a weight capacity of 120
pounds, the sliding rotational camera
plate can carry multiple cameras simultaneously. The telescopic column, with
a base height of 58" (with camera),
extends to a height of 74.5". When the
telescoping column is removed, the sliding rotational camera plate can attach
directly to the mobile base for capturing
low-angle shots. The mobile base is a
mere 27" wide, enabling setup in tight
shooting spaces. Cineped is also ideal
for smooth transitions, extreme closeups, and tabletop and POV shots.
For studio or location shoots,
Cinepeds completely modular design
allows easy transport and fast camera

87

repositioning. Including the sliding

camera plate (45 pounds), telescopic
column (39 pounds) and mobile base (70
pounds), the total weight is 154 pounds,
and assembly is quick and trouble-free.
Manufactured in the U.S.A., the
Cineped system includes a digital
remote control box, a battery/charger,
an AC/DC converter and a low-mode
adaptor. For more information, visit
www.cineped.com.
Arri CSC Relocates, Expands
Arri CSC will relocate its New
York camera-rental department to a
custom-designed facility adjoining the
companys lighting and grip division in
Secaucus, N.J. The adjoining buildings
have a combined footprint of 91,000
square feet; the new camera-rental
facility is 36,000 square feet, representing an expansion of over 50 percent.
The new camera department will
feature multiple prep bays and four
dedicated testing rooms surrounded by
optical, mechanical, digital and technical support departments, all on one
level. The Secaucus location also
accommodates parking for more than 70
vehicles, with no impact on vehicle loading and unloading via dedicated bays.
Arri CSC, 25 Enterprise Ave.
North, Secaucus, N.J., 07094. For more
information, call (212) 757-0906 or visit
www.arricsc.com.
Porta-Jib Goes Exploring
Porta-Jib has announced the
Explorer, an all-in-one lightweight
jib/tripod/trolley/dolly system for
cameras weighing up to 20 pounds. The
Explorers various configurations
are made possible by a
custom four-sided extrusion
and corresponding dovetail
clamps with spring-loaded
safety pins.
The jib can be miniaturized to 18", or it can be extended to
put the camera 9' in the air. With the
addition of two monopods, the jib
becomes a 6'-long elevated trolley
system; the jib arms simply fold over
to become the trolleys 6' rails, and
the conversion takes only 3 minutes.
88 September 2009

A gas lifter in the tripod provides 35

pounds of vertical lift, making leveling
the rails and setting their height a quick
one-person operation.
By removing two more quickrelease screws, the entire rail system
can be lifted off the tripod and placed on
the ground for low-angle work; the
tripods spreader then detaches, and the
spreaders legs and feet become the
leveling supports for the rails on the
ground or on a tabletop. The rails come
in 3' lengths, so longer configurations
can be obtained with the purchase of
more rails and clamps.
The versatile spreader boasts
two other functions as well. First, since
the legs are made of the 4-sided extrusion, the feet of the tripod clamp positively anywhere along the length of the
leg, allowing the tripod to be rigidly
mounted with its legs completely vertical like a center column. This columnlike position allows the arm a greater
range of motion than if restricted by
outward-angled legs. Secondly, the
spreader can transform into a 3-wheel
dolly by simply removing the leveling
feet and clamping on a set of wheels.
The Explorers wheels are also
unique in that they can function
as track wheels on traditional steel track, PVC
pipe or Porta-Jib FlexTrak, and they
additionally
function as

floor wheels, which is especially useful

when repositioning the jib or trolley
system.
The jibs rigid and lightweight (22
pound) design is ideal for shoots in
remote locations. The Explorer also
features a weight bucket, eliminating
the need for steel counterweights; the
bucket can be filled with dirt, sand or
rocks once on location.
The Explorer jib and trolley
system can mount to any 100mm tripod,
but using the Explorer tripod provides
the added ability to clamp the legs vertically. Even with the jibs small footprint,
its 36" arm boasts a 64" lift, allowing
operators to put the camera approximately 9' off the ground.
The Explorer can be purchased
as a complete system comprising the
jib, tripod, trolley and dolly or as
separate components. For more information, visit www.porta-jib.com.
Polecam Extends to
7th Heaven
Polecam has announced its longreaching, truly portable camera rig,
Polecam 7th Heaven. Incorporating seven rigid carbon-fiber
elements, which interlock to
achieve an 8-meter reach
(approximately 26'), 7th
Heaven delivers unprecedented versatility in terms
of horizontal and vertical
camera location while giving operators total control of boom angle,
pan and tilt.
Like the standard 6-meter Polecam, 7th Heaven can be carried
anywhere and set up or dismantled
in less than 10 minutes, without
need for spanners, screwdrivers or
any other assembly tools, says
Steffan Hewitt, Polecams founder
and managing director. The 6meter span is ideal for most practical purposes, but 7th Heavens 8meter reach allows much closer
wildlife shooting where you want to
get near your subject without risk of
being eaten. It also has obvious
advantages for live events such as
concerts or sports, and at crowded

news briefings where you can go clean

over the heads of other reporters.
7th Heaven is made possible by
a new formulation of high-rigidity
carbon-fiber elements, also now
supplied as standard with the fiveelement Polecam rig. Using a combination of laminated and spun carbon-fiber
with 24-percent more fiber, the new
formulation delivers a 15-percent

The intensely practical experience at

LFS gave me the technical grounding I
needed to experiment and develop
creatively as a cinematographer.
Tobia Sempi from Milan. graduated MA Filmmaking in 2003. Since then hes shot
over 50 commercials, 40 music videos and
many shorts including Chloe de Carvalhos
award-winning Motor Industry Seeks
Test Driver. He is preparing his first
feature as DOP in late 2009.

increase in boom stiffness.

7th Heaven is fully compatible
with all standard Polecam accessories,
including heads, underwater housings,
HD and SD cameras, CCUs and
recorders. It also retains the internal
ducts and total freedom from stabilizer
stanchions that allow wiring to be
routed inside the rig rather than left
exposed to snagging or other physical
abuse; this also saves on rigging and
de-rigging time by eliminating the need
for external cable straps and allowing
surplus cable to be stowed within the
boom.
For more information, visit
www.polecam.com.

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MA FILMMAKING
PROGRAMME
STARTS IN JANUARY,
MAY AND SEPTEMBER.
To find out more about training in all
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89

ACS France Supplies Europe

with PFC Ultimate Arm
ACS France recently signed an
exclusive partnership with Performance
Filmworks Canada, becoming the European supplier of the PFC Ultimate Arm,
a robotic crane fixed on a 4x4 AMG
Mercedes ML55. This system has
provided amazing results for the film
industry, performing even in off-road
and inclement-weather conditions.
The PFC Ultimate Arm is a lightweight robotic arm that can be used on
most any automobile as well as boats or
trains. ACS France is offering the Ultimate Arm integrated onto the
Mercedes ML55. The arm is mounted
on top of the vehicle, and the camera
installed on the Lev Head or Stab-C
Compact. The crew works in the safety
and comfort of the ML, operating the
head via joysticks or wheels.
The PFC Ultimate Arm was
honored with a Technical Achievement
Award from the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences. The arm can
rotate 360 degrees in six seconds, and
the vehicle can travel at speeds up to
100 miles per hour while maintaining a
steady image. The cameras highest
position is 5.4 meters (17.7') above
ground, and it can dip to below ground
level. The PFC Ultimate Arm has also
been used in extreme temperatures
ranging from 129F in Death Valley to
-40F in Alaska.
ACS France specializes in equipment that consistently produces unique
and inspiring images, be it aerial film90 September 2009

ing, flying cameras (Cablecam) or

running cameras (Speedtrack). For more
information, visit www.aerial-france.fr
or www.performancefilmworks.com.
Tuffpak Heads Abroad
Manufactured by Nalpak, Tuffpak tripod cases are now available in
Europe. Florian Granderath, founder of
Camera Support Granderath, stocks all
sizes of the Tuffpak case line and maintains a distribution network throughout
Europe.
Features of Tuffpak cases
include an octagonal shape, preventing
the cases from rolling; wheels for most
models, making transportation easy;
protected and recessed handles,
increasing storage space and decreasing shipping dimensions; and rotationally molded construction, eliminating
seams and welds, and increasing wall
thickness at all bends.
For more information, visit
www.casu.tv or www.nalpak.com.

Plasticase Unleashes Nanuk

Nanuk is a new line of professional-quality protective Plasticase,
designed for professionals who need to
rely on robust, lightweight and highperformance cases for protection in the
harshest environments.
Plasticase developed Nanuks
new, high-impact NK-7 resin to withstand environmental extremes. With
their rounded corners and reinforced
wall construction, Nanuk cases are built
to absorb shocks, providing optimal
impact resistance and protection to
sensitive equipment. All Nanuk cases
are also watertight and impervious to
dust and dirt.

Nanuk cases come loaded with

numerous standard features valued by
professionals, such as the PowerClaw
Latching System, which prevents the
cases from opening unexpectedly during
transport or when dropped. Additionally,
the foldable handle is molded from
NK-7 resin and over-molded with softtouch rubber for greater comfort. As a
result of the exceptionally robust
construction, Plasticase offers a lifetime
warranty on its Nanuk cases.
We invested heavily in R&D in
order to develop Nanuk, says JeanPierre Grenier, president of Plasticase.
We wanted to produce cases that are
optimally functional, very stylish and
able to endure the toughest environmental conditions. Professionals often
work in rigorous surroundings and
conditions using valuable materials and
equipment. Therefore, you cant afford
to compromise when it comes to quality

and reliability. With Nanuk, we provide a

product that performs extremely well on
all fronts.
The Nanuk line of protective
cases currently comes in seven formats
and seven standard colors. Plasticase is
already working on a new generation of
the Nanuk line, which will feature larger
sizes as well as wheels and pull
handles.
For more information, visit
www.plasticase.com or www.nanuk
case.com.
Convergent Design
Ships NanoFlash
Convergent Design has introduced the NanoFlash portable HD/SD
recorder/player. Using the Sony XDCam
422 Codec, NanoFlash records HD/SD
video and audio onto Compact Flash (CF)
cards.
Featuring HD/SD-SDI, HDMI and
analog audio I/O, NanoFlash delivers
exceptional video quality at useradjustable video bit rates up to 160
Mbps (XDCam 422 Codec) or 220 Mbps
4:2:2 (I-Frame-only), making its images
virtually indistinguishable from uncompressed, even when capturing highmotion, complex scenery. 24-bit 48 KHz

uncompressed audio (embedded or

consumer-level analog) complements
the video, and both are conveniently
stored in either MXF or QuickTime file
format on CF cards. (The NanoFlash
boasts dual CF card slots.) The footage
can then be played and edited directly
off the cards or copied to a hard drive via
a third-party external USB or Firewire800 CF card reader.



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91

Unlike Firewire-based recorders,

NanoFlash bypasses the cameras builtin Codec to record at higher-quality
levels. The never-compressed HD/SDSDI or HDMI output from a live camera
source is fed directly into the NanoFlash,
maintaining the pristine quality directly
off the CCD/CMOS sensors. Additionally,
NanoFlash offers on-set playback without any of the rewind/re-cue issues
associated with tape.
The lightweight (less than 1
pound), low-power (6 watts when active,
0.2 watts in standby) NanoFlash boasts
silent operation, with no fans or moving
parts, and rugged, solid-state construction in an all-aluminum case. The nearuniversal NLE support including Avid,
Final Cut Pro, Edius, Vegas and soon
Premiere provides users with a wide
array of editing options, and compatibility with nearly all HD/SD formats
including 1080i60/50, 1080psf30/25/24,
720p60/50 and 480i/576i allows
NanoFlash to be used with a wide range
of cameras and video sources.
The NanoFlash is now shipping,
with a suggested price of $2,995. For
more information, visit www.convergentdesign.com.
Canon Releases Firmware
Update for 5D Mark II
Responding to user requests,
Canon U.S.A. Inc. has issued a firmware
update enabling manual exposure
control in the EOS 5D Mark II digital
SLRs video mode.
With the ability to capture full HD
video on a 24mm x 36mm sensor, the
EOS 5D Mark II has been enthusiastically
received by studios, independent filmmakers and professional videographers.
However, the consensus was that the
camera needed manual exposure control
within its video mode if it was to reach
its full potential. Now, after months of
extensive engineering and testing,
Canon offers a free, downloadable
firmware update that gives users full
control over ISO, aperture and shutter
speed while capturing video.
For more information and to
download the free firmware update, visit
www.usa.canon.com.
92

Mitchell mount: top mount, underslung

and cantilevered; the custom counterweight tray should be used whenever the
slider is cantilevered.
That Cat is also offering new,
lower pricing across its entire range of
camera sliders, and the company has
announced that its Silent Cat sliders are
now available in Los Angeles for daily
rental at Birns & Sawyer.
For more information, visit
www.cameraslider.com or www.birn
sandsawyer.com.
IDX Offers High-Load
Batteries
IDX System Technology, Inc., has
introduced the companys new premier
power system, the E-HL9 Series, a highperformance, high-load Lithium Ion
battery line designed for the age of
professional HD production.
Specifically geared for the industrys power-hungry video and film camera
systems, the E-HL9 Series enables
productions to shoot continuously for long
periods, while handling the extreme inrush associated with many of todays most
sophisticated recording and lighting
systems. With a 10-amp capacity and
nearly 50-percent-greater power delivery
over previous IDX batteries, the new
models deliver the battery energy
demanded by todays intensive production
equipment.

To sustain performance, E-HL9

Series batteries are designed with a
high-level class of cell specifications,
and an accelerated high-rate discharge
handles up to 10 amps/120 watts. The
series can also be used in critical situations requiring a high DC power draw,
such as on-board lighting applications.
While delivering a significant power
payload, the high current draw is engineered not to adversely affect the
longevity of the battery. Its architecture
results in an extended overall life cycle
of nearly 10 percent.
The E-HL9 Series comprises two
high-energy Lithium Ion batteries, the EHL9 and the E-HL9S. The latter is an
economical alternative battery with the
same single-unit power capacity as the
E-HL9 and a three-LED power indicator
display; this standalone version has the
durability of all IDX batteries, including
triple safety, and features such as a
two-year product warranty. The E-HL9
on the other hand offers one of the most
flexible solutions to expandable capacity, IDXs PowerLink feature, which can
directly connect two batteries, delivering a total power capacity of 176 watt
hours. The E-HL9 also supports DigiView, enabling a viewfinder reading for
battery levels in many cameras, and a
five-LED power status display delivers
an accurate, incremental capacity reading. IDXs computer-based Battery
Management System (BMS) can also
be used on the E-LH9 for enhanced
diagnostics and a comprehensive
review of the batterys history of use.
The E-HL9 Series is safe for air
transport; DOT/IATA regulations make it
possible for unlimited spare Li-ion
batteries under 100 watt hours to be
transported in carry-on luggage.
For more information, visit
www.idxtek.com.
VES Presents Entertainment
Production Summit
The Visual Effects Society will
present a Production Summit for the
greater entertainment industry on Oct.
24 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Marina
del Rey. The event will bring together
practitioners from all crafts and offer a

94 September 2009

rare opportunity to examine innovative

approaches to producer challenges,
technology developments and the globalization of the production industry.
Eric Roth, the executive director
of the VES, observes, Because the
entertainment industry is changing so
rapidly on the creative, technological
and business fronts were bringing
together all industry stakeholders to
discuss the challenges we all face in
looking at our entertainment future. The
Production Summit will be a central
meeting place of common concerns and
challenges that will create new
dialogue and solutions across all guilds
and studios.
The summits sessions will
include Through the Kaleidoscope,
three interactive sessions delivering a
multifaceted examination of prep
through post; XRay: Surviving (and
thriving in) the Postproduction Pipeline
in the 21st Century; and Hot, Flat and
(Getting) Crowded: The Business of
Production and the New Global Economy. The summit will bring together an
international group of directors, producers, cinematographers, editors, technologists and visual-effects leaders
responsible for moving the industry into
the next decade.
The industry overall is currently
being challenged by enormous
economic constraints, and has
responded by starting fewer projects,
says Jeffrey A. Okun, VES board chair.
They want to do them fast and inexpensively, while at the same time reaching for the highest quality. This mandate
is causing tremendous stresses and
strains throughout the entire pipeline of
projects. This summit will lead the
discussion on how we all will get to the
future, and by envisioning the future we
can begin to create it.
For more information and to
register, visit www.visualeffects
society.com/productionsummit2009.
I
SUBMISSION INFORMATION
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.

INNOVA
TION
Qua
lity mad
e

by Denz

FLANGE DEPTH CONTROLLER

Cineparts Energizes
Slurp-O-Meter
Cineparts has introduced the
Slurp-O-Meter, a voltmeter, ammeter,
power meter and amp-hour meter in one
rugged housing, enabling at-a-glance
monitoring of electrical parameters. All
parameters are shown simultaneously
and update approximately two times per
second.
The Slurp-O-Meter boasts a low
internal resistance of 0.03 Ohm, so it
does not affect measurement and can
remain in line with the electrical appliance operating for control purposes.
Additionally, the Slurp-O-Meter can be
configured for multiple applications via
different Y-adapter cables; Cineparts
offers cables for 12-volt XLR, 24-volt XLR,
Arri/Fischer and Red/LEMO connections.
Measuring
approximately
5.7"x3.4"x1.4", the instrument features a
protruded aluminum-alloy housing and is
equipped with rubber bumpers and a
4mm-thick hardened multi-coated protection glass for the display. It is also splashwater-protected and can operate from
-4F to 104F.
Cineparts also offers a Big
version of the Slurp-O-Meter specially
designed for users of the Sony F23 and
F35 cameras, providing an overview of
the two separate DC lines simultaneously
on two displays.
For more information, visit
www.cineparts.net.

Precision Flange Measurement to

use with all digital video cameras
fitted with 54 mm PL-Mount
RED One, Sony F35, Arri D-20/21
100 % Precision Accuracy to
1 Micron (Collimator Technique)
Quick and easy to use
(self-explanatory)
Power Supply: DC 3 V (battery),
AC mains adapter 5 V DC
Easy controlling via the on-screen
display from monitor
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WE ACCEPT

www.denz-deniz.com

That Cat Intros 2500 Slider

That Cat Camera Support, LLC has
introduced the Silent Cat 2500 camera
slider. Weighing 30 pounds and featuring
a 29"-long track, allowing 19" of travel,
the Silent Cat 2500 is perfect for working
in close quarters.
The Silent Cat 2500 offers three
camera-mounting positions when
attached to a dolly or any standard
93

AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER READERS

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American Cinematographer 97

Classifieds

Advertisers Index
16x9, Inc. 96

RATES
All classifications are $4.50 per word. Words set in bold face
or all capitals are $5.00 per word. First word of ad and advertisers name can be set in capitals without extra charge. No
agency commission or discounts on classified advertising.PAYMENT MUST ACCOMPANY ORDER. VISA, Mastercard, AmEx
and Discover card are accepted. Send ad to Classified Advertising, American Cinematographer, P.O. Box 2230,
Hollywood, CA 90078. Or FAX (323) 876-4973. Deadline for
payment and copy must be in the office by 15th of second
month preceding publication. Subject matter is limited to items
and services pertaining to filmmaking and video production.
Words used are subject to magazine style abbreviation. Minimum amount per ad: $45

CLASSIFIEDS ON-LINE
Ads may now also be placed in the on-line Classifieds at the ASC web site.
Internet ads are seen around the world at the
same great rate as in print, or for slightly more you
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EQUIPMENT FOR SALE

435 & 535B Package - Sacrifice $135,000. Details
at www.big-storm.com/camera
USED EQUIPMENT. PRO VIDEO & FILM EQUIPMENT
COMPANY. (972) 869-9990.
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98 September 2009

Aaton S.A. 68-69

AC 1, 77
AFM 83
Aja Video Systems, Inc. 15
Alamar Productions, Inc. 96
Alan Gordon Enterprises
96, 97
Arri 39
Arri CSC 53
Backstage Equipment, Inc.
89
Band Pro 5
Barger-Lite 6
Bron Kobold 6
Burrell Enterprises 96
CamMate Systems 96
Cavision Enterprises 75
Chapman/Leonard Studio
Equipment Inc. 27
Chimera 63
Cinema Vision 97
Cinematography
Electronics 92
Cinekinetic 96
Cinerover 96
Clairmont Film & Digital 23
Convergent Design 42
Cooke Optics 29, 79, 97

Deluxe C2
DV Expo 95
Eastman Kodak 13, C4
Filmtools 87
Five Towns College 91
Fuji Motion Picture 56-57
Gekko Technology 49
Glidecam Industries 65
Golden Animations 97
High Def Expo, Inc. 85
Innovision 97
JEM Studio Lighting. Inc. 12
J.L. Fisher 41
K 5600, Inc. 31
Kino Flo 43, 67
Laffoux Solutions, Inc. 96
Laser Pacific 81
Lentequip, Inc. 97
Lights! Action! Company
96
Lite Panels 2
London Film School 89
Mac Group US 11
Matthews Studio Equipment
97
Movcam 25
Movie Tech AG 97
MP&E Mayo Productions 97
MSM 6
New York Film Academy 73
Oppenheimer Camera Prod.
96
Otto Nemenz 17

P+S Technik 79, 97

Panasonic Broadcast 7
PED Denz 93
Photon Beard 97
Photo-sonics, Rental 66
Pille Film Gmbh 97
Pro8mm 96
Professional Sound Services
89
Rag Place, The 93
Rosco 30
SAE 87
Servicevision USA 55
Sim Video 51
Stanton Video Services 91
Super16 Inc. 97
Telescopic 96
Thales Angenieux 9
Tiffen 19, C3
VF Gadgets, Inc. 96
Walter Klassen FX 54
Welch Integrated 99
Willys Widgets 96
www.theasc.com 10, 12,
84, 92, 101
Zacuto Films 97
ZGC, Inc. 29, 79, 97

PRO EDUCATION WORKSHOPS

and Networking Events
Pre-register Online and Get the latest updates
on upcoming Filmmaking Workshops.
Visit: www.studentlmmakers.com/workshops

Call for Workshop Instructors

We invite lmmakers, cinematographers, directors, editors,
sound engineers, producers, and screenwriters to submit a
syllabus and brief biography for consideration.
Reach us at: http://www.studentlmmakers.com/contact.shtml

American Society of Cinematographers Roster

OFFICERS 2009-10
Michael Goi,
President
Richard Crudo,
Vice President
Owen Roizman,
Vice President
Victor J. Kemper,
Vice President
Matthew Leonetti,
Treasurer
Rodney Taylor,
Secretary
John C. Flinn III,
Sergeant-at-Arms
MEMBERS
OF THE BOARD
Curtis Clark
Richard Crudo
George Spiro Dibie
Richard Edlund
John C. Flinn III
John Hora
Victor J. Kemper
Matthew Leonetti
Stephen Lighthill
Isidore Mankofsky
Daryn Okada
Owen Roizman
Nancy Schreiber
Haskell Wexler
Vilmos Zsigmond
ALTERNATES
Fred Elmes
Steven Fierberg
Ron Garcia
Michael D. OShea
Michael Negrin

100 September 2009

ACTIVE MEMBERS
Thomas Ackerman
Lance Acord
Lloyd Ahern II
Herbert Alpert
Russ Alsobrook
Howard A. Anderson III
Howard A. Anderson Jr.
James Anderson
Peter Anderson
Tony Askins
Charles Austin
Christopher Baffa
James Bagdonas
King Baggot
John Bailey
Michael Ballhaus
Andrzej Bartkowiak
John Bartley
Bojan Bazelli
Frank Beascoechea
Affonso Beato
Mat Beck
Dion Beebe
Bill Bennett
Andres Berenguer
Carl Berger
Gabriel Beristain
Steven Bernstein
Ross Berryman
Michael Bonvillain
Richard Bowen
David Boyd
Russell Boyd
Jonathan Brown
Don Burgess
Stephen H. Burum
Bill Butler
Frank B. Byers
Bobby Byrne
Antonio Calvache
Paul Cameron
Russell P. Carpenter
James L. Carter
Alan Caso
Michael Chapman
Rodney Charters
James A. Chressanthis
Joan Churchill
Curtis Clark
Peter L. Collister
Jack Cooperman
Jack Couffer
Vincent G. Cox
Jeff Cronenweth
Richard Crudo
Dean R. Cundey
Stefan Czapsky
David Darby
Allen Daviau
Roger Deakins
Jan DeBont
Thomas Del Ruth
Bruno Delbonnel
Peter Deming
Caleb Deschanel
Ron Dexter
Craig Di Bona
George Spiro Dibie

Ernest Dickerson
Billy Dickson
Bill Dill
Bert Dunk
John Dykstra
Richard Edlund
Frederick Elmes
Robert Elswit
Geoffrey Erb
Scott Farrar
Jon Fauer
Don E. FauntLeRoy
Gerald Feil
Steven Fierberg
Gerald Perry Finnerman
Mauro Fiore
John C. Flinn III
Ron Fortunato
William A. Fraker
Tak Fujimoto
Alex Funke
Steve Gainer
Ron Garcia
Dejan Georgevich
Michael Goi
Stephen Goldblatt
Paul Goldsmith
Frederic Goodich
Victor Goss
Jack Green
Adam Greenberg
Robbie Greenberg
Xavier Perez Grobet
Alexander Gruszynski
Changwei Gu
Rick Gunter
Rob Hahn
Gerald Hirschfeld
Henner Hofmann
Adam Holender
Ernie Holzman
John C. Hora
Gil Hubbs
Michel Hugo
Shane Hurlbut
Judy Irola
Mark Irwin
Levie Isaacks
Andrew Jackson
Peter James
Johnny E. Jensen
Torben Johnke
Frank Johnson
Shelly Johnson
Jeffrey Jur
William K. Jurgensen
Adam Kane
Stephen M. Katz
Ken Kelsch
Victor J. Kemper
Wayne Kennan
Francis Kenny
Glenn Kershaw
Darius Khondji
Gary Kibbe
Jan Kiesser
Jeffrey L. Kimball
Alar Kivilo
Richard Kline

George Koblasa
Fred J. Koenekamp
Lajos Koltai
Pete Kozachik
Neil Krepela
Willy Kurant
Ellen M. Kuras
George La Fountaine
Edward Lachman
Ken Lamkin
Jacek Laskus
Andrew Laszlo
Denis Lenoir
John R. Leonetti
Matthew Leonetti
Andrew Lesnie
Peter Levy
Matthew Libatique
Charlie Lieberman
Stephen Lighthill
Karl Walter Lindenlaub
John Lindley
Robert F. Liu
Walt Lloyd
Bruce Logan
Gordon Lonsdale
Emmanuel Lubezki
Julio G. Macat
Glen MacPherson
Constantine Makris
Karl Malkames
Denis Maloney
Isidore Mankofsky
Christopher Manley
Michael D. Margulies
Barry Markowitz
Vincent Martinelli
Steve Mason
Clark Mathis
Don McAlpine
Don McCuaig
Seamus McGarvey
Robert McLachlan
Greg McMurry
Steve McNutt
Terry K. Meade
Chris Menges
Rexford Metz
Anastas Michos
Douglas Milsome
Dan Mindel
Charles Minsky
Richard Moore
Donald A. Morgan
Donald M. Morgan
Kramer Morgenthau
M. David Mullen
Dennis Muren
Fred Murphy
Hiro Narita
Guillermo Navarro
Michael B. Negrin
Sol Negrin
Bill Neil
Alex Nepomniaschy
John Newby
Yuri Neyman
Sam Nicholson
Crescenzo Notarile

David B. Nowell
Rene Ohashi
Daryn Okada
Thomas Olgeirsson
Woody Omens
Miroslav Ondricek
Michael D. OShea
Anthony Palmieri
Phedon Papamichael
Daniel Pearl
Edward J. Pei
James Pergola
Don Peterman
Lowell Peterson
Wally Pfister
Gene Polito
Bill Pope
Steven Poster
Tom Priestley Jr.
Rodrigo Prieto
Robert Primes
Frank Prinzi
Richard Quinlan
Declan Quinn
Earl Rath
Richard Rawlings Jr.
Frank Raymond
Tami Reiker
Marc Reshovsky
Robert Richardson
Anthony B. Richmond
Bill Roe
Owen Roizman
Pete Romano
Charles Rosher Jr.
Giuseppe Rotunno
Philippe Rousselot
Juan Ruiz-Anchia
Marvin Rush
Paul Ryan
Eric Saarinen
Alik Sakharov
Mikael Salomon
Harris Savides
Roberto Schaefer
Tobias Schliessler
Aaron Schneider
Nancy Schreiber
Fred Schuler
John Schwartzman
John Seale
Christian Sebaldt
Dean Semler
Eduardo Serra
Steven Shaw
Richard Shore
Newton Thomas Sigel
John Simmons
Sandi Sissel
Bradley B. Six
Dennis L. Smith
Roland Ozzie Smith
Reed Smoot
Bing Sokolsky
Peter Sova
Dante Spinotti
Robert Steadman
Ueli Steiger
Peter Stein

S E P T E M B E R
Robert M. Stevens
Tom Stern
Rogier Stoffers
Vittorio Storaro
Harry Stradling Jr.
David Stump
Tim Suhrstedt
Peter Suschitzky
Alfred Taylor
Jonathan Taylor
Rodney Taylor
William Taylor
Don Thorin
John Toll
Mario Tosi
Salvatore Totino
Luciano Tovoli
Jost Vacano
Theo Van de Sande
Eric Van Haren Noman
Kees Van Oostrum
Ron Vargas
Mark Vargo
Amelia Vincent
William Wages
Roy H. Wagner
Ric Waite
Michael Watkins
Jonathan West
Haskell Wexler
Jack Whitman
Gordon Willis
Dariusz Wolski
Ralph Woolsey
Peter Wunstorf
Robert Yeoman
Richard Yuricich
Jerzy Zielinski
Vilmos Zsigmond
Kenneth Zunder
ASSOCIATE MEMBERS
Alan Albert
Richard Aschman
Volker Bahnemann
Kay Baker
Joseph J. Ball
Amnon Band
Carly M. Barber
Craig Barron
Thomas M. Barron
Larry Barton
Bob Beitcher
Mark Bender
Bruce Berke
John Bickford
Steven A. Blakely
Mitchell Bogdanowicz
Jack Bonura
Michael Bravin
William Brodersen
Garrett Brown
Ronald D. Burdett
Reid Burns
Vincent Carabello
Jim Carter
Leonard Chapman
Mark Chiolis
Denny Clairmont
Cary Clayton

2 0 0 9

Emory M. Cohen
Sean Coughlin
Robert B. Creamer
Grover Crisp
Daniel Curry
Ross Danielson
Carlos D. DeMattos
Gary Demos
Richard Di Bona
Kevin Dillon
David Dodson
Judith Doherty
Don Donigi
Cyril Drabinsky
Jesse Dylan
Jonathan Erland
John Farrand
Ray Feeney
William Feightner
Phil Feiner
Jimmy Fisher
Scott Fleischer
Thomas Fletcher
Steve Garfinkel
Salvatore Giarratano
Richard B. Glickman
John A. Gresch
Jim Hannafin
William Hansard
Bill Hansard, Jr.
Richard Hart
Robert Harvey
Charles Herzfeld
Larry Hezzelwood
Frieder Hochheim
Bob Hoffman
Vinny Hogan
Robert C. Hummel
Roy Isaia
George Joblove
Joel Johnson
John Johnston
Frank Kay
Debbie Kennard
Milton Keslow
Robert Keslow
Larry Kingen
Douglas Kirkland
Timothy J. Knapp
Ron Koch
Karl Kresser
Lou Levinson
Suzanne Lezotte
Grant Loucks
Andy Maltz
Steven E. Manios
Robert Mastronardi
Joe Matza
Albert Mayer, Jr.
Andy McIntyre
Stan Miller
Walter H. Mills
George Milton
Mike Mimaki
Rami Mina
Michael Morelli
Dash Morrison
Nolan Murdock
Mark W. Murphy
Dan Muscarella

Iain A. Neil
Otto Nemenz
Ernst Nettmann
Tony Ngai
Mickel Niehenke
Marty Oppenheimer
Walt Ordway
Larry Parker
Michael Parker
Warren Parker
Doug Pentek
Kristin Petrovich
Ed Phillips
Nick Phillips
Jerry Pierce
Joshua Pines
Carl Porcello
Howard Preston
David Pringle
Phil Radin
Christopher Reyna
Colin Ritchie
Eric G. Rodli
Andy Romanoff
Daniel Rosen
Dana Ross
Bill Russell
Kish Sadhvani
David Samuelson
Peter K. Schnitzler
Walter Schonfeld
Juergen Schwinzer
Ronald Scott
Steven Scott
Don Shapiro
Milton R. Shefter
Leon Silverman
Garrett Smith
Stefan Sonnenfeld
John L. Sprung
Joseph N. Tawil
Ira Tiffen
Arthur Tostado
Bill Turner
Stephan Ukas-Bradley
Mark Van Horne
Richard Vetter
Joe Violante
Dedo Weigert
Franz Weiser
Evans Wetmore
Beverly Wood
Jan Yarbrough
Hoyt Yeatman
Irwin M. Young
Michael Zacharia
Bob Zahn
Nazir Zaidi
Michael Zakula
Les Zellan
HONORARY MEMBERS
Col. Edwin E. Aldrin Jr.
Neil A. Armstrong
Col. Michael Collins
Bob Fisher
David MacDonald
Cpt. Bruce McCandless II
D. Brian Spruill
101

Clubhouse News
Delbonnel, Notarile, Stoffers
Join Society
Bruno Delbonnel, ASC, AFC
was born in eastern France. The son of a
soldier, he broke with family tradition to
pursue his interest in the arts.
At La Sorbonne in Paris, he
studied philosophy and
watched two films a day,
frequenting theaters scattered
throughout the city.
Delbonnel got his start in
filmmaking when he received a
government grant to direct a
short film; renowned cinematographer Henri Alekan
shot the film and inspired
Delbonnel to pursue a career in cinematography. After working as a camera
assistant for 15 years, he moved up to
cinematographer, earning his first credits on commercials. His feature credits
include Amlie (AC Sept. 01), Infamous
(2006), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood
Prince (2009) and A Very Long Engagement (AC Dec. 04), for which he won an
ASC Award. He is currently shooting
Faust for Alexander Sokurov.
Raised in Brooklyn, N.Y.,
Crescenzo Notarile, ASC attended
the Nikon School of Photography before
earning a bachelors degree in film
production and communication at the
New York Institute of Technology. Beginning his professional cinematography
career in the 1980s, he shot music
videos for such artists as The
Rolling Stones, U2, Steve
Winwood and Bruce Springsteen and commercials for
such companies as American
Express, Pepsi, Revlon and
Cover Girl.
Notariles credits include
the features Bullet (1996), Truth
Be Told (2002) and Timecop:
The Berlin Decision (2003); the
pilot for Skin, and the pilot and
102 September 2009

series Hawaii. He is currently working

on the series Ghost Whisperer.
Rogier Stoffers, ASC, NSC
was born in Utrecht, Netherlands, and
studied French language and literature
and theater and film at the University of
Utrecht. He was admitted to The

Netherlands Film and Television Academys cinematography program, where

he shot the thesis project Alaska
(1989), directed by Mike van Diem; the
film won the Dutch Golden Calf for Best
Short and a Student Academy Award.
Stoffers and van Diem reteamed for the
feature Character (1997), which won
the Oscar for Best Foreign Language
Film and the Golden Frog at Camerimage.
Stoffers feature credits include
Quills (AC Jan. 01), John Q (2002),
School of Rock (2003), Disturbia (2007)
and Lakeview Terrace (2008).
Baker, Band, Chiolis
Named Associates
Kay Baker of Telecorps Sales
& Leasing, LLC, began working in
Colorados film industry through
Denvers Film/Video Equipment Service
Co. Her efforts helped revitalize the
Rocky Mountain Vid Expo, which over
the years has attracted numerous ASC
members. Baker has helped organize
seminars at the ASC Clubhouse and
has also assisted with the ASC
Awards.
Amnon Band was born near
Nahariya, Israel, and grew up in the

agricultural settlement of Moshav

Lehman. An early interest in agricultural
engineering sparked a lifelong passion
for machines and technology, and after a
stint in the Israel Defense Forces, Band
moved to Los Angeles and dove into the
film industry. In 1984, he opened Band
Pro as a one-man operation. He continues to serve as the companys president
and CEO, and he has overseen its expansion into Israel, Munich and New York.
Grass Valleys Mark Chiolis,
who currently serves as senior marketing
manager, has been with the company for
more than 15 years. He has been active
in the companys development of digital
cinematography solutions, most notably
the Viper camera, and has collaborated
with the ASC Technology Committee.
Prior to joining Grass Valley, Chiolis
worked in operations, news and production management for a number of television stations. He also notched a number
of credits shooting video for such events
as the Reno Air Race.
Deluxe Dedicates
Bud Stone Building
Deluxe Laboratories recently
hosted the dedication and ribbon-cutting
ceremony for the new Bud Stone Building at the companys Hollywood campus.
Named for Burton Bud Stone, an
honorary ASC member who died last
year, the building will enable Deluxe to
meet increased demand for motionpicture film processing and print delivery
while reducing utility and chemical
usage, and reducing, reusing and recycling raw materials during the production of film prints.
As Deluxe continues to expand
its worldwide footprint to fulfill growing
demand for both film and digital
services, it is an honor to officially open
our newest facility in Hollywood in Bud
Stones name, says Ronald O. Perelman, chairman of Deluxe. The companys

this year for Slumdog Millionaire,

covered the craft of cinematography
and the state of the art.

president and CEO, Cyril Drabinsky

(above, right, pictured with Perelman
and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio
Villaraigosa), an associate member of
the ASC, adds, By keeping Deluxes
extensive array of creative and production services here in Hollywood, we
encourage the highly skilled labor pool
and creative community leaders in the
motion-picture industry to stay within
the community.
3 ASC Members Invited
to Join Academy
Society members Russ Alsobrook, Henner Hofmann and Rodney
Taylor are among 134 artists and executives active in theatrical motion
pictures who were recently invited to
join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts
and Sciences. These filmmakers have,
over the course of their careers,
captured the imagination of audiences
around the world, says Academy President Sid Ganis. Its this kind of talent
and creativity that make up the Academy, and I welcome each of them to our
ranks.
McGarvey in Conversation
at Edinburgh Fest
Seamus McGarvey, ASC,
BSC, who recently became an official
patron of the Edinburgh International
Film Festival, interviewed photographer/filmmaker Willie Doherty and cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle, BSC,
DFF, in two separate events at this years
festival. McGarvey and Doherty, a twotime Turner Prize nominee, discussed
their shared sensibilities and their
collaboration on Ghost Story. McGarveys conversation with Dod Mantle,
who won ASC and Academy awards

Kurant at the Cinmathque

Willy Kurant, ASC, AFC
recently visited the Cinmathque
Franaise in Paris to lead a discussion
about cinematographer Henri Alekans
work with filmmakers Agns Godard,
AFC; Jean-Louis Leconte; and Denys de
la Patellire following a screening of
Wim Wenders The State of Things
(1982). The film also features the cinematography of Martin Schfer and Fred
Murphy, ASC.
Kodak Hosts Greenberg at
Los Angeles Fest
The spotlight was turned on
Robbie Greenberg, ASC for this
years Kodak Focus presentation during
the Los Angeles Film Festival, which
was held in June. Greenberg, a fourtime ASC Award winner, shared his
insights into the artistry and technology
of filmmaking while screening clips
from his work, which includes the

honored with this years Cine Gear Lifetime Achievement Award at the Cine
Gear Expo in June. Phillips launched his
first company, Waynco, when he was 20
years old. He joined Matthews in 1971
and has since been honored with two
Technical Academy Awards, a Scientific

and Engineering Award, and an Emmy

Award for developments in camerasupport technology such as the Tulip
Crane and the Cam-Remote.
We all congratulate Ed on this
award, says George Spiro Dibie,
ASC. His commitment to our industry,
support and services is exemplary. He
cares so passionately and he is
always available to help and assist the
pros and emerging filmmakers. Phillips
says, Over the past 40-some years, Ive
enjoyed a very special relationship with
this industry. Ive listened to production
needs and have done everything I could
to give our artists the best tools available. Being honored with this award
says weve been doing something right.
And Im not slowing down!
I

Emmy-winning Introducing Dorothy

Dandridge and Winchell, the Emmynominated Warm Springs, Iron Jawed
Angels and James Dean, and the
features The Milagro Beanfield War,
Save the Last Dance and Wild Hogs.
Phillips Receives
Lifetime Achievement Award
ASC associate member Ed
Phillips, president and CEO of
Matthews Studio Equipment, was
American Cinematographer 103

ASC CLOSE-UP
Alexander Gruszynski, ASC

Which cinematographers do you most admire?

Without question, Conrad Hall, ASC. Also, ASC members Gregg Toland
and James Wong Howe for their artistry in black-and-white cinematography.
What sparked your interest in photography?
I got it backwards. In my teens, I decided I wanted to be a filmmaker,
and I found out that in order to apply to a film school, one had to submit
a photographic portfolio, so I picked up my fathers still camera a
Russian camera, a Zenith. Once I started looking at the world inside the
rectangle, I was hooked. My first inspiration was a photo album by
Irving Penn.
Where did you train and/or study?
At the Danish Film School in Copenhagen.
Who were your teachers or mentors?
The man who taught me the most about light and lighting was a Danish
gaffer named Ove Hansen. He was a guileless and unassuming man;
youd never hear him mention Caravaggio or Vermeer, but he had an
infectious passion for light. Gunnar Fisher, who shot Ingmar Bergmans
early films, was also an influence.
What are some of your key artistic influences?
The iconic black-and-white movies Touch of Evil (1958) and Andrei
Rublev (1966) among them were particularly important to me in
developing my craft. I felt black-and-white was truly a cinematographers medium; knowing how to interpret, manipulate and translate
colors into shades of gray was essential to creating the look of the film,
whereas in color cinematography, the look is to a greater extent a
collaboration with the production designer. Also, studying Eisensteins
drawings and storyboards was very important to my understanding of
the art of visual storytelling.
How did you get your first break in the business?
While at film school, I teamed up with a fellow student, a director
named Jon Carlsen. After we graduated, we collaborated on several
short films, which led to an opportunity to shoot my first feature.
What has been your most satisfying moment on a project?
When my collaboration with the director becomes intuitive, and he
doesnt need to explain his intentions in detail anymore.

104 September 2009

Have you made any memorable blunders?

Just after film school, I was
hired to be one of three cameramen on an industrial about the
construction of high-voltage
power lines. In order to film the
workers hanging the wires, they needed someone to climb to the top of
a tower just above the insulators and jump into a cart that was
suspended on the wires 150' above the ground. There were no safety
lines, and no other cameraman wanted to meet the challenge. Seeing
this as my chance at a break, I volunteered. When I reached the top, I
was petrified with fear but somehow managed to get the job done.
When I finally came down, I kissed the ground and felt very proud of
myself until the next day. It turned out that all the footage had
vignetting because the bellows matte box was extended too far, and I
hadnt noticed it the entire time I was shooting. Needless to say, it was
my last day on the job.
Whats the best professional advice youve ever received?
I think it was Sven Nykvist, ASC who once said, Take chances, but
when you do, lower the ASA setting on your light meter. To this day, no
matter how great the latitude of the film stock is, I always calibrate my
meter to a lower setting than what the manufacturer recommends.
What recent books, films or artworks have inspired you?
The book Color: A Natural History of the Palette, by Victoria Finlay, is a
fascinating account of how colors are represented in the physical world
and how pigments originated. All of us cinematographers who communicate with production designers through color swatches or pick
theatrical gels with our gaffers have experienced how difficult it is to
convey our intended use of color. Color is a compelling read, and even
though it doesnt directly deal with photography, I found it very inspiring and highly relevant for practitioners of our craft.
Do you have any favorite genres, or genres you would like to
try?
Perhaps because of the movie I saw 20 times as a child, Ive had a lifelong fascination with Westerns.
If you werent a cinematographer, what might you be doing
instead?
I would be a Sanskrit scholar.
Which ASC cinematographers recommended you for membership?
Francis Kenny, Jacek Laskus and Jerzy Zielinski.
How has ASC membership impacted your life and career?
I was a nervous wreck when the ASC Membership Committee viewed
my reel. When Owen Roizman, ASC said, Your reel speaks for itself, it
meant more than any award or accolade Id ever received. Its not a
coincidence that the three cinematographers whose work I admire the
most bore the insignia of this honorary society.
I

Photo by Alissa White.

When you were a child, what film made the strongest impression on you?
I grew up in Communist Poland, and most of the movies playing in
theaters were Soviet social-realist dramas that nobody wanted to see
because we lived it in our everyday lives. At the time, the only American movies distributed in Poland were Westerns, and when I was 7, the
local cinema showed Winchester 73 (1950), starring Jimmy Stewart. It
played for six months, and it made such a strong impression on me that
I sneaked in to see it once a week. I must have seen it at least 20 times.

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ONFILM
LARRY FONG

When I was a kid, I got a magic set for

Christmas. In my teens I shot short lms using
my dads Bell & Howell 8mm camera. For me,
both magic and lmmaking give an amazing
sense of wonder to the creator and viewer,
one that takes us out of our everyday lives
and transports us to a place of mystery. My
passion for both of these disciplines has led to
incredible experiences and friendships that I
will never forget. But sometimes making things
look effortless is not so easy. To me the biggest
challenge in cinematography, like any illusion,
is to make an elaborate and often difcult
situation appear to be completely natural.
Not only is skill and mastering of the craft
necessary; one must get into the mind of the
director to read his thoughts. Then you must
interpret his dream, understand his vision,
collaborate, improvise, and deliver. But as
organic as the process may be, recording the
image is not something I leave to chance. The
color palette, latitude, grain, and contrast that
are unique to lm all contribute to the ultimate
emotional response of the audience...and thats
where the real magic is.
Larry Fong launched his career by shooting
hundreds of commercials and award-winning
music videos. His narrative credits include
episodic television such as the pilot for
Lost, which earned an ASC Outstanding
Achievement Award nomination, and the
feature lms 300, Watchmen, and the
upcoming Sucker Punch.
[All these lms were shot on Kodak motion picture lm.]
For an extended interview with Larry Fong,
visit www.kodak.com/go/onlm.
To order Kodak motion picture lm,
call (800) 621-lm.
www.motion.kodak.com
Eastman Kodak Company, 2009.
Photography: 2009 Douglas Kirkland