American cinematographer vol.90.1(2009) PDF
Preview American cinematographer vol.90.1(2009)
AMC_0109_pCV1:09_05CVR.qxd 12/5/08 2:19 PM Page 1 J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 9 $5.95 Canada $6.95 A M E R I C A N C I N E M ATO G R A P H E R • JA N UA RY 2 0 0 9 • R E VO L U T I O N A RY R OA D ; T H E C U R I O U S C A S E O F B E N JA M I N B U T TO N ; D E F I A N C E ; JAC K G R E E N, A S C • VO L . 9 0 N O. 1 T H E I N T E R N A T I O N A L J O U R N A L O F F I L M & D I G I T A L P R O D U C T I O N T E C H N I Q U E S • S I N C E 1 9 2 0 AMC_0109_pCV2p001:Layout 1 12/2/08 10:45 AM Page 1 © 2008 Sony Electronics Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Features and specifi cations are subject to change without notice. Sony, CineAlta, HDNA, the HDNA logo, XDCAM and XDCAM EX are trademarks of Sony. 4325_Sony_AmrCin_Jan.v1.indd 1 11/12/08 9:50:36 AM AMC_0109_pCV2p001:Layout 1 12/2/08 10:46 AM Page 2 Designed with the best ideas in the industry. Yours. What made us offer interchangeable lenses and Genlock input on the PMW-EX3 XDCAM EX™ camcorder? Why does our MVS-8000G switch effortlessly among 720p, 1080i and 1080p? How did the F35 CineAlta™ camera come to fi t so beautifully into fi lm-style shoots? Why does our PDW-F355 XDCAM® HD camcorder include over- and undercranking? And how come the HDC-1500 large lens adapter attaches in just seconds? Because you told us what you wanted. And we listened. click: sony.com/prohdna 4325_Sony_AmrCin_Jan.v1.indd 1 11/12/08 9:50:36 AM AMC_0109_p002:Layout 1 12/2/08 10:53 AM Page 1 5600°K Daylight Balanced 4200°K 3200°K Tungsten Balanced NEW! Finally, ultimate color control right at your fingertips. A soft, high output light that lets you quickly dial up any color – from cool white daylight to warm white tungsten. The new Litepanels® 1x1 Bi-Color lets you adjust color temperature instantly so you can adapt to different shooting conditions and skin tones on the fly. Litepanels 1x1 Bi-Color: Anywhere. Anytime. Any color. variable color dial Litepanels® 1x1 Bi-Color Features: • Dial-up variable color • Dial-up brightness • Runs on battery or AC • 1’x1’ square & 1.75” thick • Cool to the touch • Ultra-lightweight, 3 lbs. (1.36 kg) • Integrated DMX • Infinite dimmer dial • Preset or variable color settings • Snap-on battery option for wireless lighting Makers of the award-winning Micro, MiniPlus, 1x1 & LED Ringlites™. ® 8 1 8 7 5 2 7 0 0 9 • i n f o @ 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 AMC_0109_p003:00 toc 12/5/08 6:03 PM Page 3 J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 9 V O L . 9 0 N O . 1 The International Journal of Film & Digital Production Techniques On Our Cover: Businessman Frank Wheeler (Leonardo DiCaprio) finds his marriage crumbling in Revolutionary Road, shot by Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC. (Photo by François Duhamel, SMPSP, courtesy of DreamWorks LLC.) 28 Close Focus Features Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC captures a couple’s downward spiral in Revolutionary Road 42 An Old Soul Claudio Miranda exploits cutting-edge technologies on 42 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button 58 Brothers in Arms Eduardo Serra, ASC, AFC frames a true tale of World War II heroism in Defiance 70 A Cut Above Jack Green, ASC receives the Society’s Lifetime Achievement Award 58 8 Editor’s Note Departments 10 Short Takes: Triangle of Need 16 Production Slate: Frost/Nixon, The Wrestler 80 Post Focus: HPA Awards, Still Me 84 New Products & Services 88 International Marketplace 89 Classified Ads 90 Ad Index 92 In Memoriam: Robert C. Jessup, ASC 94 Clubhouse News 96 ASC Close-Up: Gabriel Beristain 70 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 $0&B� � � � BS� � � � � PDVWKHDG� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 30� � 3DJH� � J a n u a r y 2 0 0 9 V o l . 9 0 , N o . 1 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 Tripod Killer SENIOR EDITOR Rachael K. Bosley ASSOCIATE EDITOR Jon D. Witmer 1. No matter how inhospitable the location, TECHNICAL EDITOR Christopher Probst the Cinesaddle is easy to use; to set it up CONTRIBUTING WRITERS just put it down. Stephanie Argy, Benjamin B, Douglas Bankston, Robert S. Birchard, John Calhoun, Bob Davis, Bob Fisher, Simon Gray, Jim Hemphill, David Heuring, Jay Holben, 2. Small – Compact – Portable. Weighs less Noah Kadner, Ron Magid, Jean Oppenheimer, John Pavlus, Chris Pizzello, Jon Silberg, than two pounds. Iain Stasukevich, Kenneth Sweeney, Patricia Thomson, David E. Williams ———————————————————————————————————— 3. Get shots from angles not possible with ART DEPARTMENT any other camera support. CREATIVE DIRECTOR Marion Gore DESIGN ASSOCIATE Erik M. Gonzalez 4. Available in five different sizes. Works ———————————————————————————————————— with all film, video and still cameras. ADVERTISING ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR Angie Gollmann 5. Absorbs vibration. Use it on a car, bike, 323-936-3769 FAX 323-936-9188 boat, helicopter, anything. Mounting kit e-mail: AMC_0109_p005:Layout 1 12/2/08 10:53 AM Page 1 BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY Harris Savides, ASC For up-to-the-minute screening “A TOTAL TRIUMPH, BRIMMING WITH information, to read HUMOR AND HEART. IF THERE’S A Dustin Lance Black’s original BETTER MOVIE AROUND THIS YEAR, screenplay, and to hear Danny Elfman’s score and WITH MORE BRISTLING PURPOSE, more about this extraordinary I SURE HAVEN’T SEEN IT. ★★★★. film from director Camera genius Harris Savides, gives the film a tribal Gus Van Sant, go to: vibrancy. Shooting on the streets Harvey walked in www.FilmInFocus.com/awards08 San Francisco, and blending in archival footage, he drops us into the cartwheeling culture of the 1970s with a dizzying sense of time and place. An American classic.” ARTWORKA L©L2 R0I0G8H TFSO CRUESS EFREVAETDU.RES, LLC. —Peter Travers, ROLLING STONE $0&B� � � � BS� � � � � � � � � ERDUG� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 30� � 3DJH� � We make the movies American Society of Cinem at ogr ap hers Cooke Close The ASC is not a labor union or a guild, but Thurmaston, Leicester, UK an educational, cultural and prof ess iona l “Intelligent” Products, T: +44 (0)116 264 0700 org an iz at ion. Membership is by invitation Saving Time and Money F: +44 (0)116 264 0707 to those who are actively eng aged as Production through Post E: AMC_0109_p007:Layout 1 12/2/08 10:53 AM Page 1 $0&B� � � � BS� � � � � � � � HGLWRU� V� QRWH� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 30� � 3DJH� � Editor’s Note irector Sam Mendes first explored the illusions and delu- sions of American suburbia in American Beauty (1999), Dwhich won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Achievement in Cinematography (for Conrad L. Hall, ASC). On his latest project, Revolutionary Road, the English filmmaker teamed with Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC to focus a pitiless lens on the crumbling marriage of an outwardly envi- able couple (played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet) in suburban Connecticut in 1955. Based on Richard Yates’ novel, the picture led Mendes and Deakins to spotlight the actors’ performances while avoiding stylistic flourishes in their approach to the period. “I hate the idea that you have to make the photography colorful because it’s the ’50s, or that you have to make it gauzy and sepia because it’s an earlier era — I’ve never seen the point of that, really,” Deakins tells senior editor Rachael K. Bosley (“Close Focus,” page 28). Mendes seconds the motion: “I didn’t want to have any shots that said, ‘The 1950s: weren’t they extraordinary!’ I simply wanted it to be where these characters live.” In an insightful sidebar (“Furnishing a Plain Period Look,” page 36), set decorator Deborah Schutt confirms, “We all wanted to make a period movie that didn’t look like one.” David Fincher and cinematographer Claudio Miranda had to convey the look of eight different decades while turning back the clock on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which stars Brad Pitt as a man who is born in 1918 and ages in reverse. While the film offers plenty of period ambience, Miranda notes, “The intention was to be as naturalistic as possible. Our initial influence for textures and framing was [painter] Andrew Wyeth.” Of course, the filmmakers also had to come up with a way to make their main character age and regress believably, which involved some complex technologies. Miranda and post supervisor Peter Mavromates pull back the curtain in their comments to contributing writer Douglas Bankston (“An Old Soul,” page 42). World War II is the timeframe explored in Defiance, shot by Eduardo Serra, ASC, AFC for director Ed Zwick. In telling a true story of Jewish resistance fighters who take refuge in a forest, Serra rebuts the notion that exterior cinematography offers fewer opportunities to be creative. By pushing Kodak’s tungsten-balanced 5279 stock two stops and eschewing an 85 filter, he added grain and contrast to exterior images and created unpredictable changes in the negative’s red, green and blue curves. “The changes are subtle, but they’re there,” Serra explains to Paris-based correspondent Benjamin B (“Brothers in Arms,” page 58). “With film, it’s important to have the three color curves perfectly parallel, and in this picture, they really aren’t.” Bold choices are often rewarding, as ASC member Jack Green quickly learned after he gave up barbering for a life behind the camera. What the world lost in tonsorial technique it has gained in memorable Hollywood moments. Green entered into a long and rewarding collaboration with Clint Eastwood, beginning as a camera operator and eventually advancing to cinematographer on a number of Eastwood’s films, including Bird, Unforgiven and The Bridges of Madison County. His record of excellence has earned him this year’s ASC Lifetime Achievement Award, and Green shares some of his recol- lections with contributing writer Jon Silberg (“A Cut Above,” page 70). Stephen Pizzello Executive Editor 8 Photo by Douglas Kirkland.
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