Camera Operator Spring/Summer 2012

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dallas

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the avengers

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love in the wild

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the hunger games

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spring/summer 2012

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CAMERA OPERATOR Volume 21, Number 2

SpriNg /Summer 2012

SOC Awards Gala

The SOC salutes the lifelong achievements and careers of the best in the industry. The annual black tie fundraiser helps support The Vision Center at Children’s Hospital LA.

Camera Operators of the Year

16

The SOC celebrates the contributions of the camera operator on the set of today’s most visual films and television shows, plus a film college student.

Features

12

How to Create a Television Smash

26

by Jeff Muhlstock soc The genesis of a Broadway musical based on the life of Marilyn Monroe looks great on NBC’s hit series.

Dallas rides again

by Bob Gorelick soc JR and Bobby Ewing are at it again—along with their kids— in the new incarnation of one of TV’s most watched series.

Cover

From the Comic Books to the Big Screen: The Avengers

by Mitch Dubin soc and Bill Coe The A-team from this summer’s biggest superhero movie chat about what it took to unite the familiar Marvel faces.

Jeremy Renner in The Avengers.

Photo by Zade Rosenthal. TM & © Marvel & Assc. All Rights Reserved.

36

The Realities of Shooting Love in the Wild

by David Frederick soc An inside look at the making of an adventure dating show shot in the jungles and waters of the Dominican Republic.

44 56

Bringing The Hunger Games to Life

by Duane Manwiller and Maurice McGuire soc The camera operators talk about bringing Katniss Everdeen from page to screen in this Spring’s most anticipated movie.

Departments

2 Letter from the President

by Chris Tufty soc

4 Editor’s Message

by Jack Messitt soc

6 News & Notes

What’s happening with members

79 Last Take 79 Advertisers’ Index 80 Roster of the SOC as of 5/9/12

66

Letter from the President

Living the Legacy

W

hen the President’s gavel tapped for the last time at the April 29th, 2012 Board of Governors meeting, the blood drained from my face and upper body. This 1st Vice President felt a little trapped and cornered there in his chair at the Society of Camera Operator’s pseudo clubhouse on the second level of Filmtools in Burbank, CA. Mike Frediani SOC had just ended his last meeting after his one year term as President of the SOC. So the Board then started looking around the table to each BOG member nominated to fill the seat... One by one, they all gave very valid reasons why they could not take on the role. No one answered the call…

The SOC Constitution and By-Laws state that the duties of the Presidency goes to the 1st Vice President if the current president is not able to perform his duties—and that 1st VP was me, Chris Tufty. I knew this was the case when I accepted the position, but thought my only presidential duties would be to run a meeting in Mike’s absence if he was off on a job out of town or something like that.

As the blood returned to my brain, I realized that I was

now the Interim SOC President until the Board finds and elects the next president in a bona fide election. So there I was, still breathing and realizing that I would not be alone.

I’m surrounded by a great group of men and women who already know how to print an amazing magazine, present a fantastic awards event, raise money for the Vision Center at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, host great hands-on workshops, run an informative website, and manage all of its dues paying members.

Then I remembered the passing of my father, Harold G Tufty, who also had been President of his professional group: SAVE, the Society of American Value Engineers. He was President for 2 years and was on their Board for over 20. So it’s in his honor that I accept the duty thrust upon me and will do my best to carry the SOC onwards as its President.

I will carry on the legacy of the SOC and of my father to the very best of my ability!

Chris Tufty, SOC President

SOCIETY OF CAMERA OPERATORS BOARD OF GOVERNORS OFFICERS

President pro tem ....................... Chris Tufty 1st Vice President ............................ (vacant] 2nd Vice President .....................Steve Fracol 3rd Vice President................ David Frederick Recording Secretary..................... Dan Gold Treasurer ................................Daniel Turrett Sergeant-at-Arms ..................... Mark August

BOARD MEMBER COMMITTEE CHAIRS

Awards ............................... David Frederick Charities .................................Bonnie Blake Corporate Liaison .................... Mark August COY Awards .......................Rochelle Brown East Coast SOC Rep................Alec Jarnagin Events.........Mark August, Jennifer Braddock Education .................................Steve Fracol Historical........................... Georgia Packard Membership ..................... Christopher Tufty Merchandising.........................Dan Coplan, Rochelle Brown Publications.............................. Jack Messitt Technical Standards......... David Emmerichs

BOARD MEMBERS AT LARGE

Mitch Dubin Chris Haarhoff Michael Frediani Kenji Luster Samuel “Buddy” Fries Denis Moran Robert Gorelick Heather Page Michael Scott

STAFF AND CONSULTANTS

Office Administrator ...............Diana Penilla Bookkeeper ................................. Ana Chan Office PA............................... Erica Frediani Web Administrator .............Alena Cochrane Publications Manager ..........Douglas Knapp Publications Layout ................Lynn Lanning Publishers..................IngleDodd Publishing Calligrapher............................... Carrie Imai Legal Reps .........................David Adelstein, Geffner & Bush is a registered trademark.

All rights reserved.

CAMERA OPERATOR Spring/Summer 2012

Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jack Messitt sOC Managing Ed/Art Director . . . . Lynn Lanning Post-Production Mgr . . .Douglas Knapp sOC Cover Photo . . . . . . . . . . . . Zade Rosenthal Production Coord. . . IngleDodd Publishing Advertising Director . . . . . . . . . . Dan Dodd

CONTRIBUTORS

Will Arnot sOC Simon Jayes sOC Grayson Austin sOC Lynn Lanning Bonnie Blake sOC Duane “DC” Manwiller Jennifer Braddock Maurice McGuire sOC Stephen Campanelli sOC Jack Messitt sOC Petr Cikhart Andrew Mitchell sOC Bill Coe Jeff Muhlstock sOC Greg Collier sOC Georgia Packard sOC Mitch Dubin sOC Randall Robinson sOC David Frederick sOC Peter Rosenfeld sOC Michael Frediani sOC Scott Sakamoto sOC Bob Gorelick sOC Chris Tufty sOC

PHOTOGRAPHY

David Appleby John P Johnson Carin Baer Eric Liebowitz Keith Bernstein Craig Mathews Bonnie Blake sOC Patrick McElhenney Jennifer Braddock Karen Neal Murray Close Trae Patton Andrew Cooper, smpsp Patrick Randak David Frederick sOC Dale Robinette Victor Grullon Zade Rosenthal Patrick Harbron Mark Seliger Will Hart Justin Stephens Erik Heinila Matt Turve Merie Wallace, smpsp For display advertising information, contact: Dan Dodd (310) 207-4410 x236 fax: (310) 207-1055 Dan@IngleDodd.com For article submissions, please contact: SOC Attn Magazine PO Box 2006 Toluca Lake, CA 91610 Phone (818) 382-7070 email: camopmag@soc.org

© 2012 by the Society of Camera Operators Subscription Rates: USA $20/year; Outside USA $28/year (U.S. Funds Only) Subscribe online at www.SOC.org Camera Operator is published 3 times a year by the Society of Camera Operators Visit the SOC web site

2

Camera OperatOr: Letter frOm the president

www.SOC.org Spring/Summer 2012

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Summer Popcorn and the Superhero Home Run

T

he Avengers and The Hunger Games are great examples of big studio tentpole movies. I love these kinds of movies and I raced to see each of these on opening day.

Apparently, I was not alone—each film racking up worldwide dollars at record paces.

While these types of films used to be reserved for the summer season, The Hunger Games opened in March—proving once again that summer is no longer a prerequisite for big ticket sales, especially with the worldwide box office further dwarfing the domestic box office with each successive year.

I was recently talking with an executive at a well-known production company and she told me that “the only projects the studios are asking for are tentpole movies. They are moving away from even the medium budgeted films.” This quote seems to be backed up by the general increase in tentpole films and the overall shrinking of studio film slates.

This new trend is both a good and a bad thing, not only for camera operators, but for movie watchers as a whole.

The Good: No one does spectacle like Hollywood.

We are the masters of tentpole movies. Made in the USA—or at least By the USA—still means something around the world when it comes to movies. And the foreign appetite for these films seems to be insatiable.

Luckily for the below the line talent, tentpole films utilize a lot of crew members. Because of their long shooting schedules and high budgets, splinter units, 2nd units, VFX units and more are a regular occurrence. Each unit gets another crew working and that’s great. It’s what we want.

Luckily, these tentpole films have been performing well— especially when after five years of superheroes going at it alone, they team up for a huge popcorn movie spectacular.

Big box office is good for the studios and therefore good for us as crew members. The more money they make, the more films the studios are likely to make in the near future. More films = more jobs. Everybody is happy, right?

That brings me to The Bad. Movies like The Avengers and The Hunger Games have a huge impact on the bottom line so closely watched by the studio and (more importantly?) the studio’s shareholders on Wall Street. And they are both expecting home runs.

Anything short of that is considered a disappointment, even if the movie still makes money. Even if the movie still makes a lot of money, just not the expected home run.

Seemingly gone are the days that studios were happy with a slate of singles, doubles and triples to go along with the occasional trip around the bases. All they want now are the fireworks that go off when someone hits it out of the park.

So instead of funding three to eight $30–50 million films, they would rather fund one $150–250 million film. Big risk, but huge upside.

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Camera OperatOr: editOr’s message

While movies like The Avengers and The Hunger Games were certainly gambles that paid off handsomely, especially thanks to worldwide grosses, I would caution that neither movie watchers nor movie crews can live on popcorn alone.

In keeping with the baseball analogy, look what the huge appetite for nothing but home runs did to that sport. The hangover from that steroid injection is still a cloud they are trying to recover from.

Audiences want more than just popcorn at the movies. They want all kinds of stories: small, medium and extra large. While a tentpole movie is a fourquadrant ticket sale, we also need movies that target only specific demographics in order to keep balance.

Spectacles are not the only thing worth investing in.

If the “tentpole only” trend continues, that dooms the next Goodfellas, Schindler’s List, American Beauty, Michael Clayton and No Country for Old Men. America has so many wonderful stories to tell, I fear that far too many of its smaller but worthwhile voices are being silenced because of the fascination with the home run box office numbers. And while this summer should continue to see home runs at the box office, I do not believe that the trend of studios making only tentpoles can last forever.

A tentpole by nature is the spike in revenue from the studio’s big summer film(s). When all studio films are made to become these huge worldwide hits, there is no longer a tent pole, there is only a series of poles. You have lost the overall balance that the lower budgeted films bring.

Furthermore, the cost to make a tentpole is only going to grow. As it grows, studios will have to cut back, putting out fewer movies to compensate. There go the job gains with big movies. And when the budgets to make these films grow high enough, one movie really can break the studio. Is that where we want to go?

Remember that without the modestly budgeted Terminator, we would not have had the Terminator franchise or the record breaking Titanic and Avatar. James Cameron worked his way up to the tentpole film. With less and less lower and medium budgeted films being made, where will we find the directors and crew of the future—YouTube?

Do we really want this industry to become a choice between micro-budget films and tentpoles? This is where we are headed unless someone decides that filling the widening budget gap can be profitable. No, not home run profitable like a billion dollars of revenue in two weeks, but a modest income and growth that can last and keep this industry moving for a long time to come.

As last year’s Moneyball chronicled, having a team that gets a bunch of singles and doubles may not win the championship crown, but it does win a lot of games—and a legion of fans along with them…

COURTESY OF JACK MESSITT SOC

Editor’s Message

Spring/Summer 2012

Why am I having so much fun?

Bob Primes, ASC reveals his inner child playing with the cool toys and other kids at Clairmont Camera; a fun place to play.

I've played in some great camera rental houses.

The best constantly innovate and create awesome new tools, toys and widgets to make our work more beautiful, faster, easier and more fun.

Denny & Terry Clairmont, Alan Albert, Tom Boelens and crew set fanatically high standards of quality, service, innovation and integrity.

But that's old news. Everyone in the biz knows that!

I want to talk about how much fun I have at Clairmont.

The sign of a well managed team is the morale and happiness of the players.

Clairmont is a busy place, yet somehow, miraculously, everyone seems relaxed, delighted to see you, help you create solutions and are just as crazy about the latest toys and widgets as you are.

It is this uncanny ability of everyone you encounter to share the joy and enthusiasm of our art form that kicks the Clairmont experience into another dimension. Those old-fashioned virtues of integrity, involvement, caring, warmth and joy are really what it's all about.

Robert Primes, ASC

www.clairmont.com

Hollywood 818-761-4440

Vancouver 604-984-4563

Toronto 416-467-1700

Albuquerque 505-227-2525

Montreal 514-525-6556

News & Notes

What’s going on with members and in the industry

Producing Know the Glow™

T

he Charity Committee with Executive Producer David Frederick,SOC, Director Alexis Ostrander, Sound Recordist John Iskander and Producer Bonnie Blake, SOC produced a documentary, “Know the Glow” in January, 2012. We worked in conjunction with Amanda Hedlund, Web Communications and Media Relations at Vision Center at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles to interview two children and their families who are

John Iskander, Brad Greenspan, David Frederick SOC, Brian Olson, Jake Olson, Brian Webber, Bonnie Blake SOC, Matthew Webber, Benjamin Webber

Jake Olson, Benjamin Webber, Matthew Webber, John Iskander, David Frederick SOC, Alexis Ostrander

Bonnie Blake SOC, Alexis Ostrander, Brian Olson

PHOTOS BY BONNIE BLAKE SOC

patients at the Vision Center. “Know the Glow™” is an ongoing campaign to educate the public about early detection of childhood eye disease through awareness of a yellow glow in the eyes that can appear in photographs.

We premiered our documentary at the SOC Lifetime Achievement Awards in February.

We had a wonderful addition to our interviews when the first president of the SOC, Bob Marta Dr Thomas Lee, Dr Linn was able to join us at the Vision Center in January. Murphree, Amanda Hedlund, Marta established our relationship with the Vision David Frederick SOC, Bonnie Blake SOC, Bob Marta SOC Center in 1979 and coordinated our fundraising efforts in collaboration with Dr Linn Murphree, now Director of the Retinoblastoma Program in the Vision Center. We interviewed Dr Murphree and Bob Marta about that historic collaboration. We also interviewed Dr Thomas C Lee, Director of the The Vision Center.

Associate members Rachel Hudson, Raquel Gallego, Brad Greenspan, Jennifer Braddock and Jennifer Henry worked as our lighting and camera crew.

—Bonnie Blake SOC

6

Camera OperatOr: News & NOtes

Spring/Summer 2012

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Lou Barlia Parker Bartlett * Paul Basta * Mike Benson * Rupert Benson Jr. Stephanie Benson Bob Bergdahl Howard Block Don Burch David Calloway Jerry Callaway Phil Caplan * Mike Chevalier * Bill Clark * Dick Colean Steve Conant Jim Connell * Rick Cosko Jack Courtland Elliot Davis Sam Drummy Joe Epperson Mike Ferra Ron Francis Bill Gahret Jim Glennon Jerry Good Ray Gonzales Jack Green *

Gil Haimson * Lutz Hapke Peter Hapke * Bill Hines Jim Hoover Bill Howard John Huneck Wayne Kennan Bob Keys Gary Kibbe David Kurland Norm Langley Tom Laughridge * Steve Lydecker * Brice Mack III Joe Marquette Jr Owen Marsh * Bob Marta * Bob McBride Al Myers Ed Morey Tom Munshower Fred Murphy Lee Nakahara Jay Nefcy * Rik Nervik King Nicholson Leigh Nicholson John Nogle

Dan Norris Skip Norton David Norwell Wayne Orr * Richard Price Ernie Reed Arnold Rich Randall Robinson Parker Roe Sam Rosen Peter Salim Bob Seaman Lou Schwartz Chris Schwiebert * Mike Scott Hal Shiffman Fred Smith Roger Smith Mike St Hilaire * Sam Rosen Ray Stella Joe Steuben John C. Stevens Carol Sunflower Bill Swearinger Joe Valentine Ron Vidor Sven Walnum

* Founding Fathers of the Society of Operating Cameramen (1979)

MARK G DAWSON

Society of Camera Operators Charter Membership Roster

SOC at NAB

O

n April 18 a panel discussion with SOC Board members Dan Turrett, Mark August, Bonnie Blake and Mike Frediani was conducted at NAB Las Vegas. Using the Teradek (SOC Corporate Member) and the facilities of Livestream, the panelists were interviewed about the state of our industry’s past, present and future.

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Camera OperatOr: News & NOtes

Spring/Summer 2012

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Steadicampalooza at AFI

A

PHOTOS BY JENNIFER BRADDOCK

“ s directors of photography you may or may not be doing Steadicam, but you will now understand what it is like to have it on you—so enjoy that! Feel the burn!”

This is how Dave Frederick SOC welcomed the cinematography class at AFI to the word of the moving camera. With the help of instructor Bob Primes ASC, students were paired off, spending several hours with an operator mentor. Everyone threw on a rig and practiced some basic exercises.

Steve Fracol SOC stressed the importance of education as a fundamental philosophy of the SOC, and invited the class the join as student members.

Special thanks to our operators who donated their time and knowledge: SOC members Dave Frederick, Steve Fracol, Bob Gorelick, Pedro Guimaeres, David Allen Grove, Eric Fletcher, and Scott Drapin. Much appreciation also to Ric Griffith, Twojay Dhillon, Ari Brown and Rochelle Brown who donated their invaluable assistance.

And a very special thanks to Tiffen and Dan Ikeda for supplying the class with a multitude of Steadcam rigs!

—Jennifer Braddock

10

Camera OperatOr: News & NOtes

Spring/Summer 2012

Paul Babin SOC

Ben Beaird

Jim Plannette

Harry Rez

Dr Lee, VCCHLA

Photos by Craig Mathews.

Additional photograpy

by Matt Turve.

Stephen Campanelli SOC

Andrew Mitchell SOC Garrett Brown SOC Rodrigo Prieto ASC

David Emmerichs SOC

David Boyd

12

Camera OperatOr: SOC awardS Gala

Michael Goi ASC

Tony Richmond ASC Spring/Summer 2012

SOC celebrates Lifetime Achievement, Camera Operators of the Year at Gala Show

by Michael Frediani SOC and Bonnie Blake SOC

T

he Society of Camera Operators presented their Annual Lifetime Achievement Awards on Sunday night February 19, 2012 at the beautiful Leonard Goldenson Theater (ATAS) in North Hollywood.

The Governors Award was presented to Clint Eastwood by his longtime camera operator Stephen Campanelli SOC who later went on to win the award for Camera Operator of the Year Feature Film for his work with Eastwood on J.Edgar.

Michael Frediani SOC presented his President’s Award to long time friend and Panavision’s Executive VP of Worldwide Marketing Phil Radin, who on January 3rd suffered a massive heart attack and was given very little chance of surviving. Radin has made miraculous progress and is now on the road to recovery. He released a statement through his children Kayla and Jeremy who graciously accepted on his behalf.

Other CAMMY® awardees and their presenters at this black tie affair were as follows: Camera Operator of the Year Television to Andrew Mitchell SOC for his outstanding efforts on the series Glee. Michael Goi ASC present both Camera Operator of the Year awards.

Paul Babin SOC received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Clint Eastwood his work as an esteemed Camera Operator. His presenters were

Spring / Summer 2012

gaffer Jim Plannette and key grip Ben Beaird.

Zoran Veselic received the Lifetime Achievement Award for his first-rate career as a Camera Technician, AKA Camera Assistant from Rodrigo Prieto, a DP with whom he has a long history.

Harry Rez was honored for Lifetime Achievement as Mobile Camera Platform Operator; cinematographer David Boyd presented his award.

Andrew Cooper SMPSP was given the Lifetime Achievement Award as a Still Photographer by compatriot and longtime friend Douglas Kirkland.

Sol Negrin ASC was honored with the SOC’s Distinguished Service Award, presented to him by his son Michael Negrin ASC. George Richmond SOC was accorded the Historical Shot Award for his masterful camera operating on the film Children of Men, particularly the “Siege of Bexhill” sequence. He was unable to attend as he was working in England, but he was able to watch the event which streamed live over the internet. His father, noted cinematographer Tony Richmond ASC accepted on George’s behalf. Garrett Brown presented.

The SOC’s first Annual College Camera Operator of the Year was presented to Petr Cikhart, a student at AFI. His award was given to him by instructor Bob Primes ASC. Steve Fracol SOC was instrumental in creating this new category.

Camera OperatOr: SOC awardS Gala

13

Sol Negrin ASC and his son Michael Negrin ASC

Bob Primes ASC

Douglas Kirkland

Petr Cikhart

Andrew Cooper SMPSP

Pierre Andurand of Thales AngĂŠnieux and a colleague flank preseenter Rodney Charters.

Camera Operator of the Year for Television: Nominees Chris Tufty SOC, Simon Jayes SOC, Greg Collier SOC and Grayson Austin SOC flank the winner, Andrew Mitchell SOC

14

Camera OperatOr: SOC awardS Gala

Zoran Veselic and his wife

Herb Ault of Grip Trix

Spring/Summer 2012

Awards show executive producer David Frederick SOC

The trio who produce the magazine

Bonnie Blake SOC

Douglas Knapp

Two Technical Achievement Awards acknowledged companies that create products allowing camera operators to perform their jobs at the highest standards.

The award to Thales Angenieux for the design and development of the Optimo Family of Handheld Zoom lenses was accepted by President Pierre Andurand who flew in from France on behalf of his company. Rodney Charters ASC presented the award.

Phil Radin’s son Jeremy and daughter Kayla accepted his award from Michael Frediani SOC.

Lynn Lanning

SOC

SOC

The other technical award, presented by David Emmerichs

SOC, went to Grip Trix for the Electric Powered Camera

Platform. It was accepted by creator and company owner, Herb Ault.

As always this was a fundraising event for the Vision Center at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. A short documentary entitled Know The Glow™ (www.knowtheglow. org) produced by Bonnie Blake SOC enlightened the attendees about detecting children’s eye diseases through simple photographs. (More about this on page 6.)

A silent auction of photos donated by still photographer awardee Andrew Cooper SMPSP also raised money for the Vision Center. To date the SOC, which was founded in 1979, has donated over $160,000 to their adopted charity.

Attendees enjoyed hors d’oeuvres and an open bar before the event, including the always popular mashed potato station and shot-glass soup service. Dessert and coffeee followed the event. Copies of the two most recent issues of Camera Operator magazine were available in the lobby, and guests received copies of the tribute book which had information about the award recipients and many sponsored movie stills.

Ticket sales were handled through Mike Standifer at Levy Pezanti and Associates.

Coordinator and SOC Vice President David Frederick has every right to be proud of this gala event. He and his committee did an outstanding job!

Camera Operator of the Year for Feature Film: Nominees Will Arnot SOC, Scott Sakamoto SOC and Peter Rosenfeld SOC flank the winner, Stephen Campanelli SOC. Missing from the photo is Mitch Dubin SOC who was unable to attend as he was on location.

Spring / Summer 2012

Jack Messitt

Amy Melin served up awards onstage

Emcee Bruce Carse

Camera OperatOr: SOC awardS Gala

15

Camera OperatOr Of the Year Winner ~ Feature Films teve Campanelli started work with Jack Green ASC on a movie in China in 1994.

“Because Jack was Clint Eastwood’s DP at that time,” recalls Campanelli, “I figured if I worked really hard on that movie, then hopefully Jack would mention my name to Clint. Circumstances just happened and we all ended up in a cornfield in Iowa doing Bridges of Madison County.

It was my first film with him. I went up to him and said, ‘Mr. Eastwood, it is a pleasure to work for you. Thanks for having me.’ And he said, ‘Call me Clint.’ And that was it.

I started out a huge huge fan of his and now I’ve been working with him for the last 18 years. It’s just insane.

“Clint has an absolute trust in everybody in his crew,” explains Campanelli. “He doesn’t get involved in anybody’s job. He knows that you are a professional. If you give him your opinion, he’ll believe you. He’ll trust you. As a director, if he has a different vision, he’ll guide you in that way. He will explain why. He won’t just force you to do it that way.

“There is great freedom with Clint,” says Campanelli. “He trusts me and does not use video assist. He’ll just say, ‘Steveo —how was it?’ and I’ll say, ‘Good’, or ‘I can use another one.’

If I ask for another one he usually asks me why. If I say it’s just a headroom issue, he may say, ‘We can live with it. Let’s move on,’ or ‘All right, let’s do another one.’ Sometimes I really have to beg for another.

“When I see Clint’s films,” says Campanelli, “I feel really proud because I know that I was a huge part of it. Sometimes you’ll get with DPs or directors who do not give you, as an operator, a lot of freedom. There are DPs who say, ‘This is what you are going to do, this is your frame, you are going to start here and then you are going to go here. That’s it,’ end of story. OK…

“As an operator,” continues Campanelli, “you say, well, that’s my job, sort of. You want to put your own input in there. You want to have your own freedom. You want to be able to contribute. With Clint I do get that and it’s a very rewarding feeling. I’ve been very lucky to have that freedom with other DPs and directors as well. I think that as an operator, as long as you are personable and get along with everybody, make yourself known, that you know what you’re doing, that you’re confident, they’ll hopefully give you a little more leeway.

“It’s been two months since I won the Camera Operator of the Year award and I am still on a high,” says Campanelli.

“It was the best night possible. First off, I got to give my boyhood idol Clint Eastwood a lifetime achievement award.

Then an hour later, winning for J.Edgar with Clint right there beside me was so surreal. To have this cap off a very

fortunate camera operating career was the icing on the cake.

“As all of us camera operators know, we have the best job on the set,” exclaims Campanelli. “We all love what we do with such passion. I have been operating for 25 years now and wouldn’t trade it for anything. And to have been with Clint for 18 of those years is an amazing dream come true.

I am very honored to have won this award, as it was voted on by my peers—all of whom I respect very much, and I want to thank them all personally.”

Read Steve’s article on J.Edgar in the Special Awards Edition 2012 issue of Camera Operator.

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ALL PHOTOS BY KEITH BERNSTEIN / WARNER BROS

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Stephen Campanelli soc for J.Edgar

Spring / Summer 2012

Camera OperatOr Of the Year Winner ~ Television

Andrew Mitchell soc for Glee

because it was so long, ‘Imagine’ because it was touching to hear a deaf choir sing, ‘Thriller’ for its theatricality, and ‘California Gurls’ for the stunt work.

“I find work most gratifying when we push ourselves or try something new—by doing so, we become better and so does the show. Of course it helps to have a crew that adapts easily and is on par with the level of work. On Glee, I am fortunate to work with a stellar crew all of whom can tackle any challenge.

“Creator Ryan Murphy established a unique look for the show that incorporates multiple camera styles including whip pans, snap zooms, Steadicam, handheld and Technocrane.

Each musical number is a fresh opportunity to try new styles of camera movement. Sincerest thanks to everyone who has supported me, especially my friends on Glee.”

COURTESY OF ANDREW MITCHELL; BACKGROUND PHOTO BY CARIN BAER/FOX

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ndrew Mitchell was born in Chicago and has lived in Maryland, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, France and California. Moving around as a young person taught him to adapt to changing environments, an important strength for anyone when on a film set. One of his joys in life is to design camera movement. He thinks his love of motion may come from his history with skateboarding, biking, and swimming.

“One important aspect of Glee,” says Mitchell, “is the open attitude towards camera movement. Whether it be a zoom, whip, shake, push, or anything you can think of, the producers are often heard telling us, ‘There is no wrong.’ We get requests like ‘F- it up’ or ‘Do something different this time.’ And if we have an idea, they say, ‘Show me on the next take.’

“Like an actor often hears the comment, ‘Do whatever you feel like this time,’ we as operators on Glee get the same,” says Mitchell. “It is a very fortunate circumstance where we can try new ideas and not fear being wrong or reprimanded.

Because environment enhances our creativity and benefits the show, I don’t think we are doing anything cutting edge as operators. But we do have a lot of freedom to experiment.

Nothing squashes a person’s passion towards something more than being micro-managed in a creative field. It reminds me of the famous quote from George Patton, ‘Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do, and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.’

“Working on Glee is similar to filming back-to-back music videos for 10 months — 32 songs in 21 episodes during 2011. It takes a huge collaboration of all the departments and cast to shoot 6+ music performances and dialogue scenes per episode. We just shot our 400th musical performance and will have many more under our belt by the time this issue goes to print. Like a music video, each can have its own style. Some memorable ones are ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’

Read the article about Glee in the Fall/Winter 2009 issue of Camera Operator.

Spring / Summer 2012

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Mitch Dubin soc for War Horse

Will: “DP Stephen Goldblatt opted to carry the Chapman Super Nova for the entire show instead of having select days with a Technocrane. It lent a wonderful feel to the type of shots that we designed. They became more ‘old school’ and were limited to the arc of the fixed-length crane arm, rather than some fancy modern move with a telescoping crane. I think it really helped me get a feel for the era we were shooting for. There is a certain energy and path that the shot takes because we were using the oldfashioned technology.

It just felt right for the story—a perfect example of Less is More.”

Mitch: “My 12th movie with Steven Spielberg as his A-camera operator.

Working on a Spielberg film is the most challenging work I have ever done. It is also the most rewarding.

Steven is a master of cinematic story telling. War Horse was a supreme effort by a wonderful international crew. The vast exteriors and huge scenes remind me of the grand Hollywood days of John Huston and David Lean. It was an honor and a privilege to be part of this majestic effort.”

Read Will’s article on The Help in the Fall/Winter 2011 issue of Camera Operator.

PHOTOS BY ZADE ROSENTHAL

Peter Rosenfeld soc for Cowboys & Aliens Pete: “It’s very possible that this movie may have been the toughest of my career. The forces of nature, it seemed, were always lined up against us. For me it exemplifies a lot about our business. The simple joy of working as a tight team toward a common goal.

The bond that develops between us when forced to work and survive in harsh conditions. The survival of the creative concept in the face of adversity. We were lucky to have a brilliant cast and a seasoned, top-notch crew. A producer once told me years ago that ‘long after this movie is gathering dust on a shelf, the experience of making the movie will be with us forever.’ For me, it will never be more true than Cowboys & Aliens.”

Read Pete’s article on Cowboys & Aliens in the Fall/ Winter 2011 issue of Camera Operator.

Spring / Summer 2012

ANDREW COOPER, SMPSP BACKGROUND: DAVID APPLEBY

Will Arnot soc for The Help

Read Mitch’s article on War Horse in the Fall/Winter 2011 issue of Camera Operator.

Scott Sakamoto soc for The Descendants Scott: “We filmed The Descendants in the beautiful state of Hawaii without showcasing the postcard paradise most viewers think of.

Director Alexander Payne was intent on showing Hawaii in a realistic way where real people have real problems. DP Phedon Papamichael’s natural lighting and my unobtrusive camerawork complemented the emotional storytelling. Our close collaboration created a look and feel that gave The Descendants its intimacy. Using mostly practical locations, we were challenged daily by the constantly changing weather and light. It was a pleasure to come to work every day with a great crew, exceptional talent and a fun, professional atmosphere. Mahalo!”

Read Scott’s article on The Descendants in the Special Awards Edition 2012 issue of Camera Operator.

Camera OperatOr: Camera OperatOr Of the Year award

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PHOTOS BY MERIE WALLACE, SMPSP

PHOTOS BY DALE ROBINETTE

Camera OperatOr Of the Year Nominees ~ Feature Films

Camera OperatOr Of the Year Nominee ~ Television

Chris Tufty soc for The Closer

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clinic knew me by name; the chiropractor would treat me without an appointment.

“When Kyra stated that she could no longer play her character any other way, and just couldn’t fit any more words into her vast memory bank of rehearsed lines, I sensed that finally I too might be able to get a little rest! But then the show added 6 more episodes onto the final year, as if to make a final dash for the finish line after a grueling marathon race!

We hit episode 100 that year, and when it was all over, felt that bitter sweetness that it’s finally over and the sadness that we’ll never all work together again in this same dynamic.

“I was blessed by this show. It was an honor to have gotten to know and intuit the cast and crew’s thoughts and actions.

I’m thankful that I was always (well usually) allowed to just follow my instincts and frame up a shot that I thought told the story. And then do it differently the next take. And yet differently for take three. Cut them all together and you have an interesting montage of a fantastically written and acted scene!”

BACK COUNTRY PICTURES; BACKGROUND PHOTO BY KAREN NEAL / TURNER NETWORK

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hris Tufty’s career as a camera operator began as a junior in film school when he volunteered for a student documentary on paramedics.

The DP loaded the film, took the light meter readings, threaded the camera and set it up for Chris, which he then operated.

After graduating, Chris worked in the professional world as a gaffer, focus puller, grip, editor, DP, film loader, producer, director, for over 25 years. Fifteen years later he mentioned to a DP that he wanted to be his camera operator and the DP said OK! Chris has done nothing but operate since then, except occasionally DPing his own show.

“Camera operating is the best job on the set!” says Chris.

“You have someone else light it, someone else push the dolly, someone else figure out the coverage, someone else produce it, someone else cut it together! All I have to do is watch the scene through the lens and follow the action.

“When I started working on The Closer seven years ago, I was intrigued by lead actress Kyra Sedgwick’s interest in ensuring that the camera followed her actions. She would hold her props so I could photograph them and soon we were cueing each other in a beautiful ‘dance’ that told the story of the show with the camera! She would delay her dialogue just a split second until I had whip panned the camera over to her—she’d anticipate me just as I would anticipate her. Soon the other actors were copying that style and the documentary handheld saga continued year after year. I was encouraged to spontaneously pan to someone or something if I was curious about it.

“By the time the seventh season was going, I was wondering how much longer this could go on. My body had developed arm and back muscles from the voluminous handheld camerawork. The Jacuzzi I bought for the second season was wearing out some valves from the nightly use. The massage

Spring / Summer 2012

Camera OperatOr Of the Year Nominee ~ Television

Greg Collier soc for Bones

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“The pregnancy was no problem. I was on the TV show Providence for 3 ½ seasons and the lead actress, Melina Kanakaredes, was pregnant for 2 of the 3 ½ seasons I was there.

I think part of the reason they kept me on was because I was very creative with our onset dresser about finding ways to build up furniture and props and set pieces around her to hide her pregnancy.

“On Bones, they played the pregnancy.

It was part of the storyline.

That made it a lot easier! Emily wrapped in late September for maternity leave, and a day and a half after she wrapped, she gave birth. And that’s a credit to her—she literally worked her whole pregnancy—certainly the 1st 3 months, and then we were on our regular hiatus for 2 months, and then she came back and worked right up until she gave birth! She was solid. She was there. She was tired, but she’s just a really incredibly professional person. I just can’t say enough about her.”

COURTESY OF GREG COLLIER SOC; BACKGROUND PHOTO AND PHOTO AT FAR LEFT BY PATRICK McELHENNEY/FOX

reg Collier SOC got his first chance to operate when Northern Exposure DP Gordon Lonsdale bumped him up from 1st AC. Nominated for his work on Bones (also with Lonsdale), the former SOC Sergeant of Arms’ other credits include the television series CSY:NY, The Magnificent Seven and Providence, the TV movie Houdini and the miniseries The Last Don. “Bones is the best show to be a camera operator on,” says Collier. “Why? Because the really fun part is all the challenge they throw at you. Episode to episode, day to day, a different set of skills may be required. One episode may be 80% handheld. Then you find yourself behind the wheels of a 50 foot Hydrocrane; the next day you’re on a Super Nova. One minute you’re on a sandbag on a 10 step with a 12mm lens, 15 minutes later you’re running around after a skateboarder with a 7D on a Doggicam. That’s Bones! What a great place be an operator!

“Bones has one of the best camera crews I have ever worked with,” says Collier. “Our first assistants Steve ‘Spike’ Barnes and Mauricio ‘Nino’ Dotto are in an elite league of their craft. That goes for dolly grip Gerrit Garretsen as well. Gordon Lonsdale is still our DP, who’s been with us for all 6 seasons that I’ve been there. The people who’ve been there the longest are Gordon, myself, Spike, and Nino.”

Season six was interrupted with a short mid-season hiatus due to the real life pregnancy of lead actress Emily Deschenel.

Spring / Summer 2012

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Camera OperatOr Of the Year Nominee ~ Television

Simon Jayes soc for True Blood

business. Since then, I have been fortunate to have regular work because of a number of DPs: Roberto Schaefer, Matthew Jensen, Sid Sidell, Romeo Tirone and David Klein.

“Thank you, Alan Ball, for creating one of the most enjoyable jobs in my career! Each episode of True Blood is a minimovie and the result of the hard work of a passionate crew that has become a wonderful family over five seasons, which I’m honored to be part of… despite all the night work!

“From my perspective, it’s been one of the most demanding projects, utilizing every aspect of camera operating: studio, Steadicam, handheld and remote… something I couldn’t pull off without the skill of my camera assistants Brad Richard and Luis Gomez and dolly grips Darryl Humber and Demian Scott Vaughs.”

ALL PHOTOS BY JOHN P JOHNSON/HBO

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imon Jayes was born in England.

Upon leaving school, he had no idea what he wanted to do until a career counselor suggested he ‘do’ what he did every day other than schoolwork. A friend of his father, Charles ‘Jerry’ Juroe, a publicist for many Bond films, got him an unpaid job at Samuelson Film Services and he took off from there.

“I worked as a prep-tech,” says Simon, “where I learned about cameras and met those that used them. 1st AC Martin Testar in particular took me under his wing on my first movie, The Whisleblower.

“A few summer later, I found myself working in documentaries and behind-the-scenes shorts. Derlin Brynford-Jones, a former co-worker at Sammies, asked me if I would like to help out at a new camera rental house—Technovision Cameras in Twickenham (an offshoot of a successful rental house in Italy owned by Henryk Chroscicki). It was here where the first TechnoCranes were designed and built.

“In 1990, I opened my company TechnoCrane Limited and introduced the first TechnoCrane to the United States —which won a technical achievement award from the SOC. “As the first tech for this piece of equipment in America, I was fortunate to work on great projects and meet a ton of crews. After a couple of years, I decided to return to camera operating, leaving Derlin Brynford-Jones and Joe Rodmell in charge of the crane business. Through my contacts in the crane business, I managed to get a lot of work dayplaying as an operator. And I was especially lucky to have been recommended on many occasions by Mitch Dubin SOC. “Because of my affinity for mechanical things, Steadicam became my next love, especially having worked with many of the ‘greats’ like Andy Rowlands, Chris Haarhoff, Steve St John, Jimmy Muro and Jacques Jouffret.

“I was particularly thrilled in 2007, when I got to work on Indiana Jones 4 and Quantum of Solace in the same year— both sequels to movies I regard as the reason I got into this

Camera OperatOr Of the Year Nominee ~ Television

Grayson Austin soc for Memphis Beat

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“I’ve worked on projects of all shapes and sizes—from B level to big budget feature films, MOWs and series, documentaries and commercials. I’ve learned that when there is a great vibe on set then the final product is that much better and Memphis Beat has that.

“Memphis Beat is a show about a Memphis police detective (played by the hilarious Jason Lee) who moonlights as an Elvis tribute singer. Jason is the best friend a crew could have.

He stood up for us when the hours got long and was always quick with a joke to lighten the mood in the midst of the shootouts, fight sequences, car chases and musical performances that all add up to the charm of Memphis Beat. I was incredibly sad when I heard that the series would not be coming back for a third season because I truly enjoyed going to work each day.”

PHOTOS COURTESY OF GRAYSON AUSTIN SOC; BACKGROUND PHOTO BY JUSTIN STEPHENS; TM & © TURNER NETWORK TELEVISION. A TIME WARNER COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

rayson Grant Austin SOC grew up on the east coast of Florida, many miles from Hollywood. He also had no family members in the “Biz.” He did however have a love of movies and television. It was that love, along with the good work ethic bestowed upon him by his parents, that led him to that strange blend of art and science known as filmmaking.

Film School was followed by an internship in the lighting rental department at Panavision in Orlando, Florida. While working there, he would sneak into the camera rental side on lunch breaks to learn from the visiting camera assistants—all very generous with their knowledge. On one particularly slow day, his bosses asked him to come up front to meet someone.

That “someone” was legendary filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. It was a moment he would never forget and from that day on, Grayson never looked back.

“I am honored to be nominated for my work on Memphis Beat especially since we are not a big network show. Our DP Dan Stoloff really knows how to use the Steadicam to great effect to keep things interesting and move quickly. A great deal of the show is Steadicam for both of those reasons. Camera operator Michael Applebaum was brilliant and helped me out with making room when two cameras were called for. Our excellent focus pullers, Joe Waistell and Keith Pokorski, never flinched no matter how tough the shot.

Spring / Summer 2012

Camera OperatOr: Camera OperatOr Of the Year award

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COllege Camera OperatOr Of the Year

Petr Cikhart

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Blindsight (Audience Awards, 2006 AFI Film Festival & 2007 Berlin Film Festival), Gangs: Escaping the Life and The Ride for Showtime. He has lent his talents to several critically acclaimed television programs, including the EMMY winning series The Amazing Race (CBS) and Be the Creature (National Geographic Channel). He has also worked as the DP of the feature-length movies May the Best Man Win and Euphoria as well as number of short films.

In 2007 Petr won his first Prime Time Emmy Award for Outstanding Cinematography for his work on the 10th etr Cikhart, born and raised in Prague, is the first installment of The recipient of the SOC’s new honor. As a 19-year-old Amazing Race. He Assistant Director, he covered the war in Chechnya for has been nominated Czech TV, and was arrested and held hostage for two days by in 2009, 2010 and Russian soldiers during the assignment. It was his first field 2011. shoot, and he was hooked.

“Two years ago He emigrated to the United States in 1995 after winning a when I arrived at journalism internship at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. After AFI,” Petr remembers, “many of my classmates were asking, finishing his internship and working briefly as a Lobsterman ‘Why are you going to school with all of your experience?’ in Maine, he moved to New York City to resume his career It was not easy to find an answer, since all I knew was that behind the camera.

I wanted a new challenge and to find out what AFI was all Currently Petr is attending the second year of the cinemaabout. In the first two or three months, I was humbled when tography program at the American Film Institute, where he I realized how much there was to learn and how lucky I was to is committed to the challenge of learning the art and craft be surrounded by such an extraordinary group of fellow artists. of cinematography for the dramatic narratives. His first year “School has made me realize how much potential there is in short film Skull Cup was chosen by the AFI to represent the this wonderful art form of moviemaking and how for the rest cinematographers at the worldwide Kodak scholarship awards. of my life, I will never stop discovering. The most important Before coming to AFI Petr worked as a cinematographer thing I have learned is how to photograph the emotional in the documentary world, traveling to more than 90 countries journey and the state of mind of a character—something I was on all continents and making films such as Farmingville not much aware of before. The other, and perhaps more (Special Jury Prize, 2004 Sundance Film Festival) and important, is relying on and collaborating with my classmates.

“Early on at AFI Mr Primes said something which I think set us all on the right track… and I quote, ‘There are two ways to shoot a film.

You can shoot by fear or you can shoot by love and passion…’ So here is to making movies made by love and passion!” he Society of Camera Operators, in the continuing quest to have greater camera operator presence on the sets of every production, begins the promotion at the college level. 2012 marks the first year that the SOC is awarding a Camera Operator of the Year honor to a college level student production that has a full time camera operator.

Fletcher Camera of Chicago is working with the SOC to support this program and is underwriting the costs of presentation as well as the weekend sponsorship of a full digital camera package for use on a future project by the award recipient.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF PETR CIKHART

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How to Create a Television Smash

by Camera Operator Jeff Muhlstock soc Photos by Will Hart, Patrick Randak, and Patrick Harbron Š2012 NBCUniversal Media, LLC All Rights Reserved Jeff Muhlstock, Katharine McPhee. Photo by Patrick Randak/NBC

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mash is a musical/drama series centering on a Broadway show based on the life of

Marilyn Monroe. Shot in New York City, the show within the show comes complete with cast rivalry, a successful songwriting duo, tenacious producers, an egocentric and cunning director and a beautiful girl’s quest for fame.

With industry icon and SOC honorary member Steven Spielberg as the executive producer, this has everything it needs to be an episodic success. A-Camera/Steadicam operator Jeff Muhlstock SOC (Captain America: The First Avenger [NYC], Mercy, The Fringe) gives us PATRICK HARBRON/NBC

his perspective of what it takes to get this show on the air.

Katharine McPhee as Karen Cartwright

Getting the job

I had worked on a movie with the original UPM from the pilot and she brought me in to interview with DP Shelly Johnson ASC. Knowing the nature of the show, I showed some of my old Steadicam clips of music and Broadway.

There was a 360 degree shot from a live Broadway show and something similar from a Michael Jackson concert I did for CBS back in 2001.

The Jackson number was on stage at Madison Square Garden and it was an exciting Steadicam shot with lots of camera and dance choreography. I felt I would be a perfect fit for the show. Shelly and I got along great and he hired me for the pilot.

After the three-week shoot he went on to hire me as A-Camera/Steadicam for his NY unit work on Captain America. Shelly couldn’t do the series, so David Mullen ASC was brought in for the run. Shelly recommended me for the series. By coincidence, David and I had worked on a movie together several years earlier. The stars were just aligned right on this. I was hired.

Overall visual plan

Smash is not a handheld show. I think we have done a total of 3 scenes all season in handheld. When we do, it’s very mild and not too aggressive. We lean more toward an elegant look.

Generally, we try and avoid the extreme close ups. We try and stay true to more cinematic frames, utilizing more wide lenses or wider shots. Shelly Johnson ASC established the

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look of holding large headroom in our wide frames during the pilot. He felt that it was a great way to define actual New York locations. Older New York interiors would typically have high ceilings and interesting architecture. I love this look and I do my best to honor Shelly’s vision.

With dance, we want to show the entire stage as if the viewer was in the live theater audience. It’s nice to be wide enough to let the dance play the frame. It is also important that we give a view from within a performance. Seeing into the wings and the lights makes it almost a behind the scenes view from the performer’s perspective.

I try and create a musical rhythm with the camera moves.

I’m always thinking: music and pace. I want to give the show a flow as if the entire episode is a music video. Even in our dramatic moments, I am always pushing for movement (even if it’s just a tilt or pan). My feeling is that it helps with the rhythm and pace of the entire episode, not just the musical segments.

On Smash, complicated sequences are an everyday occurrence. We did a 5 page “Oner” on Steadicam for the opening of Episode 5. Director Michael Morris wanted this and he roughed out the shot design. I made a few little adjustments to the shot choreography and then David and I made it happen.

The shot involved seeing 360 degrees in our rehearsal space that has a wall full of mirrors. These mirrors make the space interesting to shoot in yet very difficult for lighting and camera movement. After months of shooting in this space, Spring/Summer 2012

WILLIAM HART/NBC

Katharine McPhee as Karen Cartwright in the star-spangled season finale.

we have figured out ways of angling the mirrors in such a way that we are able to cross in front of them without seeing our own reflection.

Collaboration

The degree of my involvement in the process is what makes this job so great for me. Every show has its own dynamic with personalities and working methods of the DP and operator.

Often the operator is just that, an operator who just does what he is told and simply operates a shot that the cinematographer has lined up. I have worked with a variety of DPs that all have slightly different methods. Typically, the more I am able to contribute, the more fun the process is. Such is the case on Smash.

David Mullen is a lovely guy and an incredibly talented DP. He is also a great collaborator. We discuss every shot and all our coverage; it’s a true team effort. We try our best to create interesting camera angles and moves in the time allotted. On a TV schedule, we make lots of compromises, but generally David is able to maintain a very high quality of lighting without giving up interesting photography.

For the most part, I feel that I have an enormous contribution to the look of the show. I am able to set up shots and work out and design elaborate dolly moves with Rob Kummert, my brilliant dolly grip. David is always very interested in my ideas and suggestions. He always gives them great consideration and implements them whenever possible.

As we are a musical drama, we will shoot several musical/ Spring / Summer 2012

dance performances in each episode. It’s like working on a music video every other day and it’s what makes this job so interesting. We have such a nice mix of song, dance, drama and comedy. I am able to operate and help with the standard kind of dramatic scene coverage on one day and then jump into Steadicam or crane to rock and roll the next. The performance work is very special to me. It’s where I have tremendous experience.

Directors

Each director likes to put his or her own stamp on their episode. Because of Mr Spielberg’s involvement with the series, we have some of the best TV directors in the business.

A director who stands out for his unique visual sense and shooting style is Paul McGuigin. Paul was handpicked to do Smash because of his feature experience and his brilliant work on the BBC series Sherlock. He came to us mid-season and had some radical ideas for the camera.

At first, I was hesitant to alter the “look” of the show, but everything he suggested was interesting to his particular episode and made good visual sense. One of his techniques involved production purchasing small glass blocks to shoot through. We would place the blocks at the side or bottom of the frame to create strange colorful reflections. It would be just subtle enough to not be too distracting, just a splash of a new visual element. Some of our NYC night exteriors became very interesting!

Additionally, Paul had us make some unusual headroom Camera OperatOr: SmaSh

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PATRICK HARBRON/NBC

Jack Davenport as Derek Wills, Anjelica Huston as Eileen Rand, Debra Messing as Julia Houston, Christian Borle as Tom Levitt, Jaime Cepero as Ellis Boyd, Finnerty Steeves as Moira

choices in composition, and bring in background elements that I might not normally have framed up. It was all about story telling. I can recall a scene with Anjelica Huston in a restaurant. Behind her was a wall of painted faces. We framed her low and let all the faces play in the majority of the frame.

Untraditional framing, but it really worked well for the irony of that scene. “All eyes” were on Anjelica’s character.

As the photographic style of the show led us away from extreme close-ups, we found that some episodes had the need to get into the head or emotion of our character playing Marilyn. When appropriate, I would deviate from our no ECU rule and go for some very tight close-ups. This would usually happen in a dream sequence or some major dramatic moment.

Michael Morris, Director checking the monitor

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PATRICK RANDAK/NBC

Past meets present

Having done my share of medical dramas and cop shows, the diversity of this program keeps me very entertained. The first season of Fringe was a similar experience for me. It was a very visual show that allowed the operators a lot of creative freedom. This freedom usually translates to interesting pictures. It’s great fun to create photography that moves and is a constant source of energy.

David will lean heavily on me for the music camerawork, as he understands I have lots of experience in shooting live performance. My work in live TV really pays off in terms of learning choreography and understanding where to place cameras and where to be at the right times.

Being well versed in multi camera coverage from the live TV world also helps us get maximum coverage in a short period of time. I will often place our B and C cameras for these numbers. After we shoot out our wide shots and crane coverage, I will get a few passes on Steadicam. By the time I get the Steadicam on, I will have learned the choreography and have a plan set in mind for my moves. I am Spring/Summer 2012

given almost full creative freedom to dance with the dancers when in Steadicam mode. David will do his best to accommodate 360 degrees of shooting whenever possible to allow me to have fun. It’s a wonderful freedom and luxury to have on a show!

Since time is always a major factor in our day, we don’t get to rehearse as much as we would like. As with most productions since the transition from film to digital, we often shoot rehearsals. I don’t mind this as sometimes you find a little unplanned magic on screen. The only time I will insist on Spring / Summer 2012

Katharine McPhee as Karen Cartwright, Jack Davenport as Derek Wills Camera OperatOr: SmaSh

ERIC LIEBOWITZ/NB WILL HART/NBC

Katharine McPhee as Karen Cartwrigh, and Megan Hilty as Ivy Lynn talk in Times Square

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a rehearsal is for safety. Safety is always my concern, especially when I am put in the middle of a dance routine.

There is very rarely a storyboard to work from. But on occasion, I get a chance to look at some rough dance rehearsal footage that is shot by our choreographers the day before we shoot it. This can be very helpful due to our time constraints; it gives me a good idea of what I’m going to be up against and what special equipment we need. Because there is always some sort of dance rehearsal happening in Equipment tandem with our shooting schedule, I can often chat about We use a Panavised Arri Alexa. It is an Arri camera with specifics of a given number with Josh Bergasse, our Panavision mount for the Panavision lenses. It presents the choreographer. best of both worlds.

It’s also helpful when our prepping director or AD for the I love the Alexa. Its ability to shoot in low light and handle next episode stops by with some info on our next big produc- such huge exposure latitude has made it ideal for Episodic tion number. Our Broadway stage “look” took place in a TV. This translates into more creative time. The balance and theater on Staten Island. We needed to make decisions on weight of the camera make it nice for Steadicam work, and its where to place large crane Director of Photography M David Mullen and platforms well in advance Steadicam operator Jeff Muhlstock so the rigging crew could get a jump on building it.

I was always involved in these discussions. I had to consider what would give us the most interesting and greatest variety of shots from one platform position so we could use our time most efficiently.

We used the 35-foot Louma crane and frequently went with the smaller more maneuverable 23-foot Scorpio. This show had so much going on behind the scenes, it was hard to keep up with.

Our biggest challenges are the scenes that have

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Spring/Summer 2012

PATRICK HARBRON/NBC

WILL HART/NBC

Anjelica Huston as Eileen Rand

6–10 actors in different parts of a room, all interacting within the scene. We try and come up with interesting ways to shoot these scenes that will allow us to make our day. This responsibility usually falls on the episode’s director, but David and I are always looking to offer suggestions on how to get it done.

When we use Steadicam for this, I will certainly have more input, as it becomes more of my world.

I do recall a particular set up that was an unusual challenge to shoot. Megan Hilty (Ivy) sang a song on a very high riser in the center of rehearsal room. The director wanted to rotate around her while seeing the reactions of the surrounding cast.

This required a very high lens position on a dolly. Because of all of the mirrors in the room, laying track was not an option.

I remembered an article from an old Steadicam newsletter about Garrett Brown SOC doing a shot on the movie Philadelphia. He had utilized his “Garfield” mount on a small dolly with lengthy risers so he could comfortably shoot a slow dance from a very high lens. I had seen pictures of this set-up and I thought it might work well for our current situation.

My suggestion was accepted for a shot that developed into a very elegant rotation around Megan, with the lens above her eye level looking down past her to the cast reacting to her song. It was a magical performance connected with the other actors with Megan in close up within the same frame.

To take a look at this scene, go to: http://www.nbc.com/smash/video/ second-hand-white-baby-grand/1397829

WILL HART/NBC

Megan Hilty as Ivy Lynn with the men’s chorus

modular approach helps the assistants with a speedy build.

When it came time to upgrade my rig a few years back, I spent the better part of two years researching and testing all of the equipment available. I ended up with a sled that is very modular and can accommodate any camera I come across; from a 5D to an IWORK (IMAX setup).

HD was a major concern, as were multiple video lines through my post. I still have a handful of live/multi camera video events that I shoot every year so I wanted my rig to handle that workflow as well. It was very important to me that I had this flexibility, as cameras are changing so rapidly.

My Steadicam is comprised of several manufacturers’ equipment. The rig consists of a main Spring / Summer 2012

WILL HART/NBC

My Steadicam Rig

Jeff Muhlstock on Steadicam captures Katharine McPhee as Karen Cartwright Camera OperatOr: SmaSh

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WILL HART/NBC

Jeff Muhlstock, Steadicam, filming the chorus

4 stage 2 inch super post and electronics from MK-V; I have a for HD transition in the studio and we day play the “Boxx” in Betz top stage, Sony HD monitor, XCS Gimbal and a PRO midtown Manhattan when a little extra is needed.

Vest and arm. We have been very happy with our IDX “Wevi”

Cast

I can’t say enough about this cast! It’s a wonderful group of very talented people that want nothing more than to make a great show. It’s interesting to work with traditional Broadway talent in comparison to typical film and TV actors. The most obvious difference to me is when I am working with actors’ eye lines. Where stage actors are more accustomed to visually blocking out the audience and not being distracted by off camera movement, our film and TV actors require less distraction in their eye line, as they are more aware and used to a controlled studio environment.

Some of our “Broadway” cast is a little less experienced in front of the camera. They are always looking for technical notes and information so that they can understand the process in more depth. Because of this, I have formed very strong mentoring friendships with most of our cast. It’s a very open communication, and I consider it my job to help them.

I explain as much as I can so they can better understand the technical side of our process.

All our cast and crew are very close; it’s a very social and fun set to be on!

Katharine McPhee as Karen Cartwright

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WILL HART/NBC

Around the Camera

I have the dream team of support behind me. We are very lucky to have Derek Walker—a great B-camera operator.

Derek is a true gentleman and great collaborator. I feel like we have two A-ops on this show and Derek’s contribution is a huge part of our result. As with the rest of our crew, his spirit and personality makes him a pleasure to be around!

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often joke that Rob does all the work and I just take the credit for it. Rob is also my safety guy and spotter when on Steadicam.

John Dolan will always make certain that safety is never compromised. We work on stages with big dark places to fall into and dancers flying around. It can be very dangerous to shoot some of our dance routines. John and his team will always take the time to build platforms extending off the stage to assure a safe path. It’s comforting to know that someone is always watching my back!

Smiles

My family loves the show and is very excited to see me so happy on a job. As with any long run show, the hours can be straining on family life, but Smash does an incredible job trying to maintain 12 on and 12 off. The 12-hour days are very civilized for a TV show. This should be a model and a rule for every production.

The cast and crew on this show are so wonderful that on Monday morning it’s always like coming back to one’s extended family. I have never been on a job with such a nice group of people. Smash is a perfect storm of really great professionals and fun folks to spend time with. Everyone on our show is top notch and brings their A-game to set everyday.

I think we are all very lucky to have such a good group. I suppose when Steven Spielberg’s name is on a show, everyone involved raises his or her own personal bar.

To have such a great cast and crew is a bit of good luck and a lot of good planning.

WILL HART/NBC

This is a true group of veteran crew professionals, starting with my first AC, Charlie Beyer. He somehow keeps me sharp throughout the impossible. He is put to the test every day, as I dance with Steadicam with no marks and no rehearsal. Charlie is remarkable.

Arguably, Alisa Colley is the best career 2nd AC in the business, a behind the scenes force that keeps EVERYTHING running smoothly. The production needs on this show are extremely demanding. With all the tandem work, check outs, multiple crews shuffling and changing equipment requirements, Alisa keeps it all together. She is a phenom!

We will often leapfrog our A and B cameras to get a jump on the following setup. This is where it really pays off to have a rock solid B-camera crew. Derek has Chris Trova as his 1st AC and Geoff Frost at 2nd. Our assistants are all interchangeable and we often move them around to make the work move faster. Rounding out our team, B cam 2nd AC Geoff and loader Libby Casinelli are simply tremendous.

If we know Steadicam is working in our next setup and we are on shooting a scene with the A-body, our B guys will go build the Steadicam rig with their camera body and then Chris will work with me on that next shot. Like Charlie, Chris is perfect on the Steadicam focus.

Our Key Grip is John Dolan. In all my years, I have never come across a better, faster, nicer and more professional team than John’s. My dolly grip is fellow New Jerseyan Rob Kummert. Rob and I have worked together on many projects.

Within our great relationship is an unspoken understanding of timing and shot composition. We see things the same way and his touch and sense of musical timing is right on! We

Megan Hilty as Ivy Lynn Spring / Summer 2012

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Dallas rides again: the return to SouthFork as told by Camera Operator Bob Gorelick SOC

Photos by Zade Rosenthal, Erik Heinila and Mark Seliger.

TM & Š Turner Network Television.

A Time Warner Company.

All Rights Reserved Larry Hagman and Patrick Duffy as JR and Bobby Ewing. Photo by Zade Rosenthal.

D

allas is back! The story focuses on the offspring of brothers and bitter rivals

JR and Bobby Ewing, who clash over the future of the Ewing dynasty— while the fate of SouthFork itself weighs in the balance. Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy, and Linda Gray are back, with Josh Henderson and Jesse Metcalfe coming in as the next generation of the wealthy Ewings. The show premieres on TNT June 13th.

Camera operator Bob Gorelick SOC reflects on his experiences with a new generation of the

ERIK HEINILA

Linda Gray reprises her role as Sue Ellen Ewing

Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy) has words with his nephew John Ross Ewing (Josh Henderson).

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ERIK HEINILA

popular series that ran from 1978–1991.

Spring/Summer 2012

opened. That song was played constantly throughout the series—as so many people used it as their ringtone! It reminded me of how popular the series was, and how much the cast and Dallas-based crew were into it. That enthusiasm was contagious and I think that it will be evident in the show.

What a great cast! The actors from the original series are

ZADE ROSENTHAL

hooting at the original SouthFork Ranch was a trip.

It represents so much of the original series—one of the most successful series ever aired on television—and the new series continues to represent a special place where family means everything.

The new show includes so many references to the original series. I might be the only person on the planet that had never seen a single episode of Dallas. But I did a little homework and watched parts of several old episodes, just to become more familiar with the story line.

I got the feeling that working on the original must have been really special because there was a fantastic sense of camaraderie among the original cast. This extended to the new cast, and that spread into some of the crew who had also worked on the original series. It was amazing to watch them all be so into it. They were truly like family.

I hear that the PR kit plays the theme song when it’s

ERIK HEINILA

S

JR Ewing (Larry Hagman) and his son John Ross (Josh Henderson) Spring / Summer 2012

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for Dallas. I knew that Rodney was famous for shooting 24, which was primarily a handheld high energy kind of show.

He told me that because Dallas was a remake of an older highly successful series, he and the producers wanted to shoot the new series with a respect for that more traditional style—but with a little room for some more modern tools such as Steadicam and Technocrane. We did, in fact, use both tools regularly. Composition was fairly traditional, without many extreme angles, or use of off-speed photography.

I would say that we shot about 60% dolly, 25% Steadicam and 15% handheld. I include Technocrane in the 60% dolly. Steadicam was used mostly for long or winding walk and talks, and to save time by shooting moving masters if necessary. Usually that results in less coverage.

Handheld was usually used for fight scenes or scenes emoting a lot of agitation.

And sometimes you have to improvise. There we were one cold December morning at the SouthFork Ranch. The director Bob Gorelick, DP Rodney Charters and director Steve Robin line up a shot. had an idea for a shot that would start low, on the rear me what lens we were on, and inquire about how we go about license plate of a car, then boom up over the top of the coverage. I really enjoyed working with him. convertible in a rather wide bird’s-eye view, to reveal an I can honestly say that the entire Dallas crew was excepattractive woman getting into the car and pulling out of the tional—and really nice people as well! The camera crew was driveway. Easy shot to get… with a crane. But we did not have amazing and I really appreciated their heart and support. one that morning. I watched as the director discussed the Matt King, my “A” camera first, is an amazing focus puller, shot with the DP, and wondered how they could achieve this and also manages the department extremely well. We were all thick as thieves.

I worked on 9 episodes.

That is the first season, minus the pilot. And I would be very open to going back for season 2 if asked.

We used 3 ARRI Alexa cameras. A, B and one dedicated to Steadicam. We used primarily the Angenieux 15–40 and 28–76 Optimo zoom lenses, along with a Panavision 11–1 zoom. We also carried a few Panavision prime lenses. Overall it was a fast and flexible system to use.

When I first met Director of Photography Rodney Charters, I asked him about Bob Gorelick using Steadicam to cover the Ewings on horses back at SouthFork Ranch. the shooting style he wanted

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COURTESY OF TNT PUBLICITY

COURTESY OF TNT PUBLICITY

truly amazing. Old- school technique, hitting marks, knowing their lines and a more complete understanding of the camera. Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy and Linda Gray, Brenda Strong… They understand that by helping us, they are helping themselves. It was interesting to watch some of the less experienced actors watch and learn from them. Josh Henderson grew so much during that time. He’d always ask

shot without using up too much of the morning trying to rig something.

I stepped up to Rodney Charters and whispered in his ear that I might have a way. He looked at me with hopeful enthusiasm and said, “Well?” I said that if he would be open to hiding a zoom on the opening frame, I could mount the Steadicam on the dolly including 4 feet of riser.

We backed up the dolly from the car a few feet and zoomed in so that the angle on the license plate would not be so steep.

As we moved in towards the car we boomed up and slowly zoomed out so that by the time we reached the rear end of the car the camera was about 6 feet over the top. We also had a 3 foot slider on the top riser and a dolly platform with an apple box added for me to stand on. As we moved towards the middle of the car I used the slider to get the Steadicam Spring / Summer 2012

MARK SELIGER

Clockwise from top left: Patrick Duffy as Bobby Ewing; Larry Hagman as JR Ewing; Brenda Strong as Ann Ewing, Bobby’s 3rd wife; Linda Gray as JR’s ex-wife Sue Ellen Ewing; John Henderson as JR’s son, John Ross Ewing; Jordana Brewster as Elena Ramos, once engaged to Christopher and now involved with John Ross; Jesse Metcalfe as Christopher Ewing, Bobby’s adopted son; Julie Gonzalo as Rebecca Sutter, Christopher’s fiancee.

more “over the top” of the car. In effect, it worked like a crane.

The first 2 or 3 attempts did not go so well—there were a few things to coordinate between myself and the dolly grip.

The director was at the monitor looking like the shot was not going to work. But after just a few tries at it, my dolly grip, David McSwain, and I got in sync and the shot began to flow!

Suddenly the director’s tone of voice changed and we could all hear it. Aaahhhhhh!!!

The setup time for rigging the Steadicam to the dolly was less than 15 minutes. We did about 5 takes of the shot, and all in all, we were done within an hour from the shot’s inception.

We got a wink and a nod from the director and that was enough for us to feel smart about ourselves for a few minutes.

Then it was back to square one. You’re only as good as your last shot!

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make the dream real

angenieux@tccus.com • www.angenieux.com

the rt of film optics optimo lenses transform light into the imagery of your story. Employing the finest optics and mechanics to capture images beyond ever y expectation.

Available in 17-80mm and 24-290mm. angenieux@tccus.com • www.angenieux.com

From the Comic Books to the Big Screen: The Avengers as told by Camera Operator Mitch Dubin SOC and 1st Assistant Camera Bill Coe

Photos by Zade Rosenthal; additional photography by Dale Robinette Composites by Industrial Light & Magic TM & Š 2012 Marvel & Subsidiaries All Rights Reserved Captain America (Chris Evans) gets into the fight.

The Night Shoot

Bill: One of the very first scenes was the SHIELD campus

when it exploded and is destroyed. Seamus laid out a plan because it was a night shoot in the middle of summer, so there was a limited amount of nighttime. There was so much leapfrogging going on to get all that stuff shot. I remember jumping into that first pursuit vehicle at the very last moment as the sun was coming up, and we got the last shot.

That was heavily choreographed by Seamus and Mitch.

They had a big meeting to get everybody on the same page mentally. The next night was similar, where we had to do the helicopter crash and the aftermath and this car chase. We got everything they wanted and probably more, without the sun coming up and ruining our day.

Mitch: We had diagrams, blueprints of the location where we were shooting. We had 3 cameras—A, B, C position—all very organized for the scenes and camera placements. It’s kind of funny that with the very first shot, it all got thrown out the window, but it did very much help to have that kind of preparation.

Bill: It’s good to have a plan so you have something to deviate from. I had made like 12 copies. I had 4 camera crews. We had a helicopter aerial unit, the pursuit vehicle, and all these things, so there was a lot of stuff going on. I made sure everybody had copies of all these little blueprints, and everybody was kind of dialed in. And then the first shot, it was like—wait a minute, that’s not on the list!

Mitch: Best laid plans. But being so thorough prepared

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COURTESY OF BILL COE

W

ritten and directed by Joss Whedon and shot by Seamus McGarvey BSC ASC, The Avengers brings a collection of Marvel’s A-list superheroes together to save the world: Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr), The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Hawkeye ( Jeremy Brenner), and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), with their mentor Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson). Most of these characters have had films of their own; Hawkeye and Black Widow have appeared in at least one of those films. Thor’s brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is the villain of this piece— along with his army of aliens. They are out to gain control of the super-powerful Tesseract cube—something everyone wants.

A-camera Camera Operator Mitch Dubin SOC and his 1st AC Bill Coe got together for a conversation about their work on this film.

1st AC Bill Coe, Producer Patty Whitcher, Tom Hiddleston (Loki) and A-Camera Operator Mitch Dubin

everybody for the fact that we had such a little amount of time. Everybody was in the headspace of being efficient, quick and organized. Even if the plan changed, we were still organized, and everyone had the priority of knowing that we had a lot of work that had to get done in one night. That was successful.

When Left is Right and Up is Down

Mitch: There’s a shot in the laboratory set, with almost all of the Avengers. The camera ends up upside down on the scepter—it rotates and goes upside down. I really like that scene in the movie, but it was a very difficult shot to do. Joss kept saying he wanted to end up upside down on the scepter.

It took us a while to understand he meant literally upside down. The way that we moved through the crowd, that organic way we moved the camera, it took us a while to figure out how to do that in the efficient, elegant, graceful way Joss was thinking about. But once it happened, it looked great, and it made perfect sense.

To actually do the scepter shot—the focus was difficult because the camera was moving all over the place, seeing pretty much 340°—the 20° we didn’t see was the crane with the camera on it—actors are moving in and out of frame and the camera’s always in flux. Then when it gets to the scepter and starts to turn upside down—all of a sudden I realized that you reach this critical point, that what you think is pan left with the wheels is all of a sudden pan right, and when you think you’re tilting right you’re really tilting left, and tilting Spring/Summer 2012

up is tilting down. Everything is completely reversed, and it was just a total mind warp.

Bill: You have to switch your brain from left to right in a nanosecond.

Mitch: The first time I realized that everything was going to be backwards—there’s that moment of sheer panic, that feeling of oh damn I can’t do this. I didn’t know how instantly to switch my brain around from everything I’d ever known. But luckily Jon Philion—the Libra head tech— Bill: Flipped the switch for you?

Mitch: Jon’s always fantastic and knows his equipment inside out. He did a little programming in the controls of the Libra—and to this day I don’t know what he did—but at some point when I was upside down, it switched into this other mode and all of a sudden, even though I was panning right in the upside down world, it looked like I was panning left and it was all perfectly organic and it felt right.

Bill: Especially at the end of a big take like that, which is the final piece of the whole thing, you don’t want to blow that.

Mitch: It was one of those shots that even though you are (discreetly) sweating bullets, you come off looking like a hero.

Locations: Real or Movie Magic?

Mitch: The scene where Loki manifests himself with the Tesseract at the beginning of the movie was a really interesting place—a NASA facility outside of Cleveland, Ohio. It’s the world’s largest vacuum cylinder! It’s real. It’s where they

actually test parts for the shuttle, satellites, whatever will be going out in space. They put them into a total vacuum to check how well they’re going to work in space. It’s huge, and made out of welded aluminum. It was a really bizarre place.

Bill: It’s like 200 feet tall, and I don’t know how wide.

Mitch: You could never make a set like that.

Bill: I’m wondering if people will think it’s fake because it was really so crazy looking. It was good to see it at the beginning of the movie. One of the places where Hawkeye was perched up high was at that NASA place.

We were on several stages at the Albuquerque Studios.

I remember shooting on one stage and then going over to another to set something up and you’d see Scarlett or one of the Chris’s or somebody doing fight training with the stunt guys. They were at it quite a bit. We got some pretty big close-ups of them during the fight—that really pays off.

We did big chunks of pieces with the actors for those fight scenes with Scarlett and Jeremy, and the Loki and Thor fight.

They were training pretty seriously for a long time.

Mitch: You watch them rehearsing over and over again.

The fight sequences become an intense choreographed dance between the actors and stunt people, designed by the fight coordinators.

Most of the sets were really elaborate—command central for the flying battle ship, the bridge, Stark Towers with Iron Man’s apartment, the Viaduct where there was a lot of action, the cell where Loki was kept. The tunnel—but (luckily) we didn’t get to do that.

Loki (Tom Hiddleston) arrives to claim the Tesseract.

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Bill: That was pretty short comparatively, wasn’t it?

Remember all the footage we saw?

Mitch: Where was that? Virginia someplace, or North Carolina? It’s some big tunnel system that they use for growing mushrooms. It was miles and miles of tunnels.

Bill: It looks pretty horrible—but we didn’t get to do one piece of it. That was great. All of those different locations and sets had their own challenges. The bridge—that was the first we shot on.

Mitch: It was a big set. It was one of those sets that looks really interesting, but was very difficult to shoot in because it had so many different layers to it.

Bill: There were stairways…

Mitch: It was like an amphitheater, the way it was constructed…

Bill: …and ramps, and there were different levels…

Mitch: The only way we could really move the camera Robert Downey Jr is Iron Man. around there was with the Technocrane.

Bill: They had to try to move the Technocrane into Hulk was and for Iron Man, who is bigger when he’s in his position to get the shots from different places. It was chalsuit than when he’s the Tony Stark character. The visual lenging, especially for Mitch and the grips, and we used Steadicam in there quite a bit. Every once in a while you’d be effects guys bring out a little placard on a big stick and say able to use a dolly. They’d hoist it up and put it on different okay this is how big the Hulk is, and then you have to design platforms to get it into position. It was difficult. But it looked all of the shots around this visual effects crewman with a stick really great. and a picture of the Hulk. Even the alien guys—all of those were stuntmen in green suits.

Lots of Green The battles with Captain America, all the battles in the Mitch: Some of the characters were completely green Viaduct, the battles in the chariot, those were a bunch of screen characters. You had to accommodate for how big the stunt guys in green suits. You don’t even realize that one of

Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Captain America (Chris Evans) aboard the command ship.

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Spring/Summer 2012

Director Joss Whedon (in hat) on set with Samuel L Jackson, far left, as Nick Fury and Cobie Smulders (right) as Maria Hill.

those aliens is actually at the head of the chariot—not until Scarlett jumps on his back and stabs him and then starts steering the thing around. We shot so much footage of that, and that poor guy had Scarlett on his back for hours and hours.

Bill: He was a pretty big guy, but he was getting pretty tired.

Mitch: It had to be painful.

Bill: That was a long day, shooting that stuff.

Mitch: It presents a totally different challenge when you’re working with characters you can’t even see because you have to imagine what they’re going to be in the end.

Bill: It makes it fun to see the movie, because you can only imagine what’s going on when you’re shooting it, and to actually put it all together makes a big difference.

Mitch: The Hulk was always added later in CG. Bill: In the end credits, there was a special thanks to Green Steve. Green Steve was a sort of Hulk stand-in. He was a big bodybuilder guy they painted green. It was kind of neat that they gave him the special thanks.

Mitch: Green Steve was great. I don’t know where they found him. I think it was our 1st AD Lars’ sense of humor.

Green Steve talked like “Rocky” but was a male stripper from some club in Albuquerque. He spent all day hanging around the set painted green, head to toe.

Bill: As big as he was, we still had to double his size to accommodate the real Hulk. It was fun to see it all rendered and finished.

Mitch: Especially the Hulk stuff. They did a really good job on him, and that’s obviously something that we hadn’t been able to see in the movie when we were shooting. They were able to keep Mark Ruffalo’s face, and that was great.

Spring / Summer 2012

Bill: All the effects looked really good.

Mitch: When we did that scene in Stark Tower where

everyone is there together around Loki, even Mark Ruffalo was there, and obviously he wasn’t the size of Hulk. I think we put him up on a couple of apple boxes and he was there growling and making threatening gestures.

Bill: It was funny. That made the transition even better

Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) gathers herself for battle.

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when Mark is so small and so meek and so mild—it really worked great.

Mitch: In that scene, he was in a motion tracking suit and they put dots on his face, so whatever motion he was doing, they were able to translate it into the Hulk.

Mitch: The Avengers has so much CG, but we had very few days of nothing but green screen.

Bill: The chariot stuff was all green screen.

Mitch: But we had a chariot to work with. There was a lot of reality to the green screens that we did shoot. We’d always see some interactive set piece whether it was the chariot or the streets of New York. Actually, we shot very little in the streets of New York. We shot in…

Bill: …the Viaduct. That last battle sequence that looked like it was in New York—we did about 4 or 5 days in New York and the rest of it was shot in that big storage yard in Albuquerque.

Mitch: That’s where the Hulk lands, in a railroad yard. I like that scene with Harry Dean Stanton and the Hulk just because Harry Dean Stanton is such a legend. It was good.

Bill: Got a pretty good laugh, didn’t it. I had more fun watching certain scenes. Actually doing them is not so much fun, because it’s hard. I enjoyed watching the movie a lot more than working on it.

Mitch: A lot of that sequence that takes place in New York, we shot in combination on a big sub piece in the Viaduct.

Then, believe it or not, we shot in Cleveland, Ohio for all the major explosions and the street exteriors of New York City.

Really, the only thing we shot in New York was the Central Park scene at the end of the movie and a little bit with that waitress.

Bill: That little thing beside Grand Central Station. The German scene was filmed in lovely downtown Cleveland.

Mitch: Right at the hotel we were staying at.

Bill: Which worked fine. You put up a sign that says Stuttgart and all

I heard they were getting a lot of heat for the portrayal of the slums of Calcutta, because the American doctor had to come rescue them.

Mitch: We filmed it in India–India, New Mexico.

Bill: That was Albuquerque. It looked really good.

Mitch: Costs a lot less than trying to do it in Calcutta, in terms of getting everybody there, and all the logistics.

Bill: They did one day with Mark and Scarlett inside the little bungalow, but that was all Steadicam stuff, chasing the little girl to where she’s begging him to help her father. The scene with Scarlett—that was all on stage. The street scene— Mitch: That was the train yard, I think.

Bill: Which was a pretty flexible location. It got a lot of workout.

of a sudden everybody believes it.

Mitch: Everyone in Stuttgart spoke English…

Bill: …with a Midwestern accent. I used to work with an art director who said if you put a flag some place, everyone assumes it’s that country.

tornado happening. The next movie I did with those guys, the ILM director told me it took them a million dollars to take out the shake that we did and put it back in themselves. A million dollars.

Mitch: I saw the 3-D version. We shot The Avengers in 2D.

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Shake Rattle and Roll

Mitch: One of the things I noticed in watching the movie, seeing it with all the effects—they roughed everything up.

Shots that had no shake or vibration in them–they often added a lot of vibration effect. I noticed it immediately. There are certain scenes where the camera’s all over the place, bouncing and jumping and vibrating, and we didn’t shoot it that way.

Bill: I learned a lesson a long time ago on the movie Twister. Jan de Bont was the director and he told all the camera operators to shake, because obviously there was a

Spring/Summer 2012

The original intent was to shoot it in live 3-D. The little piece of teaser trailer that Marvel likes to put in the end credits of their movies —we shot that in Real 3-D, and I would have to say mildly that it was a pretty horrific experience. The process is very cumbersome, very slow—just changing a lens took half an hour! Joss, who wanted to shoot it in 3-D, just lost his patience with it, and said, “We’re not going to do it this way.” We shot it in 2D knowing they were going to convert it to 3-D in post. I don’t remember having any discussions about composition, about how the shot might look in 3-D, and maybe we should do it a different way. We just shot it like a normal movie. I thought it looked pretty good in 3-D. Bill: So did I. The 3-D was minimal.

Mitch: It was good. It didn’t give me a headache. But I thought it was interesting, because we didn’t do anything different than we would have if we’d shot a 2-D movie.

Bill: We went to a 3-D seminar prior to testing.

They had all kinds of rules about how to shoot a 3-D movie, and we didn’t pay any attention to that.

Mitch: I don’t really understand what the advantage is to shooting in 3-D. You can’t use lenses as wide as you could in 2-D, you can’t get the camera in certain positions that you can in 2-D. I only see restrictions with it.

Bill: There may be a small group of 3-D purists that would argue the point, but for the mass audience—I don’t think anybody can tell the difference about the conversion.

Mitch: If we were shooting it in live 3-D, the visual effects people said we had to shoot it in parallel, in other words, without any convergence. Another reason why it doesn’t make sense to shoot in live 3D. Bill: They would have done the convergence in Post. And that’s another point for the 3-D purists in our little seminar—they were very anti- and said it would never look the same if you didn’t pull convergence during the shoot, that it would never be the same as doing it in parallel. But all in all, I think the audience has been pretty accepting of it in 3-D. I think most people are seeing it in 3-D. It seems to be doing pretty well.

Mitch: I think I saw where 52% of the audience was seeing it in 3-D. Bill: They’ve got 3 basic release formats: IMAX 3-D, and regular 3-D, and 2D, so you have your choice.

Mitch: I was amazed at the credits at the end of the movie–how many people worked on it.

Bill: I thought we did pretty well because we were in the first group above the title stuff. I was like, I’m not going to wait around for my credits—it’ll be 5 minutes into this thing.

But it was actually pretty close.

Mitch: On Marvel films, you have to wait for the credits, because they always put in their little teasers. I saw the movie at the Landmark, where they have an usher give a pep talk before the movie. He told the audience to stay through the credits for two added scenes.

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Bill: I loved the shwarma scene–that was great. Not a word said. It was perfect.

The Cast

Mitch: One of the advantages on The Avengers was having

that cast—not just Superheroes in the comic book world but in their respective careers. Every one of those actors was very cooperative, really fun to work with. There actually weren’t that many scenes where they were all together—just Central Park and Stark Tower. They were all professional and that really made a difference. As much as they might complain about having to wear those suits that were hot and heavy and sweaty, they all were into enjoying their time and making work as pleasant as possible. It was fun.

The Crew

Bill: It was a big movie, but we were pretty well staffed.

One of the unfortunate things with The Avengers was that I didn’t get to prep things very much. I was doing another movie with Clint Eastwood at the time, so our B team did most of the prepping. Harry Zimmerman and Larissa Supplitt were the B camera crew.

Mitch: Seamus McGarvey is just a wonderful wonderful DP and human being. We’ve done a few movies with Seamus and he’s always a pleasure to work with. He’s just so talented, and the energy of the set comes down from the top, and Seamus always creates a set that’s really wonderful to work on.

Bill: Aside from Seamus being a fantastic cameraman and human being, one thing he does that’s really helpful is that before the movie starts, he breaks it down. He provided us with a list of basically the whole movie, broken down by scene number and location, and put in all these special equipment needs as he saw them, which really gave you an idea of what he had in mind for that particular set or location. He was very specific about the slow-motion, or the extra camera crew, the crash housings, or the helicopter, aerial stuff.

Loki (Tom Hiddleston) leaps down to meet Thor (Chris Hemsworth).

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Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Captain America (Chris Evans) in the midst of battle.

My son, Trevor Carroll-Coe, was the loader on the movie. A digital loader’s job is a bit different from a film loader, but I kind of turned him into the Best Boy. I gave him that list from Seamus and he broke it down into a calendar for us and ordered everything. It really worked out well for us—we had stuff scheduled five months ahead. Normally it changes in five months, but we were pretty much on track for the whole movie. Movies are subject to schedule changes, but having that to go to back to as reference, it was pretty easy to change things around.

Mitch: We didn’t vary too much and we didn’t have any major setbacks. We went through it pretty efficiently.

It was interesting working with Joss Whedon. He’s a different type of director from what I’ve used to working

with. He’s a great writer. He wrote that script. But my experience is that the directors who are writers have a different sensibility than other directors.

Bill: I think we’ve seen directors work different ways, and I think that Joss was somebody that probably was better at recognizing something that he liked when he saw it as opposed to explaining what he wanted us to show him. So it was incumbent on us to come up with things that we thought he would like, so he could find what he was looking for.

That’s sort of why we got hired I guess. Certain people like to be very specific. They get a finder and a lens and say start here and go here and boom up there. He was more like, I’m looking for something sort of like this and I want it to be like that and I’m going to use it for something like this, so figure it out. It was fun. We got to play around a little bit. Sometimes it worked out, sometimes it didn’t, and sometimes we’d have to show him other things, but I think he always got what he wanted.

Mitch: A camera operator is always in a very sensitive position. We are sort of the Henry Kissingers of the film set. On the simplest level, the DP or actor might want one thing and the director another, and you are the person right in the middle. There are times when you have to be the translator, communicator and negotiator. The operator is always sitting in the hot seat. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. It’s a The Avengers, played by Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Jeremy very political position. It’s no wonder Renner and Robert Downey Jr with a CG Hulk, ready for battle.

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Captain America (Chris Evans) races alongside some fleeing New Yorkers. Steadicam operator is George Billinger.

that a lot of operators get fired first. It’s tricky.

You’re the voice of everything that’s happening on the set. So the politics can be very difficult for a camera operator on a movie, especially a movie as large as The Avengers, where there are a lot of egos involved. I survived.

I think the movie’s great. But it wasn’t without its difficulties and its pitfalls.

Equipment

Bill: We had four Alexas divided up.

We had an A-camera and a B-camera and one that basically lived on the Technocrane and one that basically lived on a Steadicam. There were an awful lot of crane shots. All the scenes outside the cell were on jib arms, and of course we could put a camera down inside the cell to shoot from the other side. Everything was moving around quite a bit. It was fun.

Mitch: I’m trying to remember a static shot from that movie. I think 90% of the movie we were on Technocrane or jib arm or a remote head of some kind.

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Director of Photography Seamus McGarvey BSC ASC standing; A-camera operator Mitch Dubin seated at the camera.

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Day Tripping on The Avengers

It is always wonderful to get a call for day-playing on a big budget show where you get to film streets being blown up by invading aliens before lunch. I was called in for the 2nd Unit for Marvel’s The Avengers to film on a green-screened New York street in a run-down railroad yard in New Mexico.

When we started rolling, cars went crashing and flipping, while manhole covers blew. New York City folk dashed through the streets, seeking protection from invading aliens.

Later on, I reported to 1st Unit filming—with all of the main performers. I watched as the cameras rolled in “our” demolished set and knew just how the bus got tagged into its position and the order of crashes and stunts. I believe it is the first time this has ever happened in my career this way. It really helped with being able to recall the sequence of events and now position the reverse angles at this later date.

Enter the Avengers.

Bill: There was quite a bit of Steadicam.

Mitch: I didn’t even realize how much Steadicam there was

until I saw the movie…

Bill: …because normally we’d go to the camera truck when they were working so we weren’t paying a lot of attention.

Mitch: George Billinger was the Steadicam operator. He did a fantastic job.

Bill: The thing about George’s work is that he’s really so strong and so steady, sometimes you can’t even tell it’s a Steadicam shot. A lot of Steadicam shots, it’s a giveaway, but George is so good at it, he looks like he’s on a tripod or a dolly or something. He’s very solid.

Mitch: That’s why Bill and I are going to take credit for all of George and Harry’s great work. [Both laugh.]

Philosophy

Mitch: Just do it one shot at a time, a day at a time. I always think back, when you finish a movie, when you look at all the work you’ve done and you think, I wouldn’t have done this if I’d known how hard it was going to be. And then you go home, rest up, start another show, and you’re back at it.

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ILM and visual effects teams were extraordinary in laying down strong elements to be used throughout the production. With a small digital camera, I have to track Mark Ruffalo as he transforms into The Hulk. He’s wearing a special tracking suit with markers so that the computers can accurately put him into the film’s time and space. This gets shot after the dialogue sequences, so the actor’s performances match before, during and after this change.

Watching the dialogue scenes being shot, I was able to give an

important note to the visual effects team about Mark’s positioning. It would be necessary to have him look up at the end of the take rather than how he had been looking downward. Even a day-player has something to contribute!

I knew ILM could make the match seamless as the character morphed.

The show filmed this dialogue filled action scene all day that Friday and my shot kept being pushed later and later. Eventually it was decided that it would be moved onto Monday’s schedule. Except that I wasn’t on Monday’s schedule.

Such is the life of a day-player… —Georgia Packard SOC Bill: I heard someone say once there’s only one way out of this—we have to shoot our way out. You think how on earth are we going to do all this stuff, and then you do it one shot at a time, and all of a sudden it’s over. 1500 or 2000 shots later it’s all done. It was a good experience, and I was happy with most of the stuff we did. It was hard, but it was good.

We were on location for five months. I guess I leave with the memory of reading a script that is pretty daunting to look at—all the visuals and logistics! And in 110 days—or however many we had to shoot it—actually accomplishing all the shots that anyone wanted to get, and ending up with a good movie. That’s hard to do. Any of those things are hard to do. To translate the script visually into a film is hard. To actually execute the shots is hard, and then to have it actually turn out good is pretty good. It’s appealing to people on some level, that’s for sure. Some of these big comic book movies aren’t that satisfying artistically or whatever, but I really enjoyed this film.

Mitch: We all worked hard. In our own little ways, we are contributors to the success of the film. I’m definitely proud of the labor and effort we all put into it.

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SIMPLY THE BEST FOR YOUR DIGITAL INTERMEDIATE

©A.M.P.A.S.®

The award was given to FUJIFILM Corporation* for the design and development of Fujicolor ETERNA-RDI digital intermediate film, which was designed exclusively to reproduce motion picture digital masters. *2009 Scientific and Engineering Award presented to FUJIFILM Corporation, Ryoji Nishimura, Masaaki Miki and Youichi Hosoya

The Realities of Shooting Love in the Wild

by Camera Operator David Frederick soc

Zone camera line up.

Photos by Trae Patton/NBC Š2012 NBCUniversal Media, LLC All Rights Reserved Additional photos by David Frederick SOC

L

ove in the Wild, Season 2, was shot in the Dominican Republic. This reality show

immerses 10 men and 10 women into the world of competitive dating. Through a series of high energy tasks, the cast is slowly whittled down to a final couple that is on their way to true love...

SOC Vice President David Frederick was one of a multitude of camera operators on this huge production. He discusses his experience of joining a crew of seasoned reality professionals as they traversed jungles, waded through rivers and rappelled into caves to capture all the VICTOR GRULLON

exciting action of adventure dating.

Dave Frederick at El Limon Waterfall. Note the rope bridge over it for the contestants.

A New Adventure

Every now and then, you need to shake things up a bit in order to get yourself out of a rut. In this case, getting out of the rut started by getting up before the break of dawn to catch a 6 am flight—and this was the morning after producing the 2012 SOC Lifetime Achievement Awards show.

The plane was taking me to the Dominican Republic to shoot the second season of Love in the Wild. This is an adventure dating competition where 7 men and 7 women are paired into couples. The couples then compete in challenges that test not only their compatibility as a team, but also their own individual abilities. At the end of each episode, the winning couple spends the night at a luxurious resort called the Oasis. The losing contestants stay in ordinary cabins and socialize with each other. The following day, there is a choice ceremony where the contestants choose partners for the challenge. The last remaining unmatched man and woman are eliminated. At the end of the series, the winning couple will receive a trip around the world.

It was my first reality show and I came away from the whole experience with a much wider perception of the talents and skills that are required of the camera operator in this sort of reality genre.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the job was the rich variety of experience of the camera crews. This diverse group included hard core reality shooters, documentary camera crew members and some narrative shooters. They all came together to help tell the story of an adventure challenge and

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the group living conditions in the Las Terrenas region of the Dominican Republic.

A reality camera crew generally consists of a shooter, an audio mixer and an AC. Camera crews are constantly rotated, heading off to the races or technical event zones with their contestant teams. Then we’ve got jibs, underwater, telephoto and all the specialty cameras.

It is a major undertaking—and a huge production.

Setting LITW Apart From the Rest

LITW is a challenge based show that sends the couples on a task that results in a piece of a map, which in turn directs the contestants to another task that leads to another clue and so on until it culminates in a race to the finish line. The higher the final standing on the adventure competition, the better chance the individual has to choose a potential romantic love partner. This is where the second part of the show kicks in, the dating competition.

“The show is a little different than the regular adventure challenge show,” says Ryan ‘OD’ O’Donell (Survivor), one of the veteran operators on the show. “You are not just there to capture another challenge. Here, the contestants are dating for the first time, so there are little nuances that go on. They could be fighting over something simple like going down a ladder. Someone could be rolling their eyes. All these things might be very subtle, but they mean a lot. And to be able to catch those moments, you have to be in tune with the people you are shooting. And you have to be in tune with the Spring/Summer 2012

TRAE PATTON/NBC

The contestants with host Jenny McCarthy

trying to make an interaction. In the daytime, when they go out on their challenges, they’re interacting. At nighttime, when they go to bed, they’re interacting. So you constantly need camera crews there to capture all that.”

Crewing

Matt Valentine, a reality shooter with years of experience, was the DP on LITW. “As the DP,” says Valentine, ”I had to crew up this show and

TRAE PATTON/NBC

environment, so you’re not wiping out and falling on your ass, over a rock or over a cliff or something like that.”

“On most big shows there are around 20 cameras,” adds operator Derek Hoffman. “You need that many for challenges or multi-camera events where you have a lot of cast members doing something one time only and no re-takes.

It’s one chance to get it right, no do-overs.”

“Mating never takes a timeout,” O’Donnell says. “So from the morning time that people wake up, they’re going to be

And they’re off !

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Adventure Day Briefing

The adventure challenge days begin with a white board meeting. Senior series producer/director David Dryden (Survivor) and race producer Kevin Hodder meticulously detail the day’s scenario for the runners and zone camera operators, audio mixers, segment and field producers, medics, ACs and unit personnel.

We camera operators all get a chance to ask detailed questions about the physical requirements of terrain, necessary equipment, rehydration, safety concerns, contestant story potential and any other logistical challenges. The race producers are very experienced, have carefully thought through each challenge element, and have safety issues completely covered with medical aid stations throughout the race course.

Director Dave Dryden describes the intricate set up for the water crossing jump off point which comes around full circle to become the finish line. A portion of the finish line camera blocking is at bottom left.

Equipment

LITW used 19 Sony PDW-F800 XD camera packages (with 2 back ups)—all with wide and standard lenses. We also used 4 Sony Z7U for underwater in Amphibico housings, 4 Sony Z1U, 1 Sony V1U, 2 Sony IR cameras, 1 Canon 5D and 1 Canon 1D. The specialty camera line up was 12 GoPro and 8 Sony MC1 POV cameras. Rigged in the living spaces were 12 Pelco “Cue Balls” with IR and record decks.

There were 3 Canon 40X and 1 Canon HJ15ex8.5B KRSE-V image stabilizer lens.

A Typical Challenge-ing Day

DAVID FREDERICK SOC

On a typical day away from our “hotel,” we took a 2-hour van ride to the harbor town of Samaná and loaded 11 camera crews, animal wranglers, snakes, scorpions, tarantulas and spiders, and hair/makeup into several large tourist boats.

We loaded in the gear, all in waterproof bags, and tightened up the drawstrings on our foul weather gear. We were off on a rough one hour sea crossing through 3–5´ chop. After returning from a second unit day on the same water, Rod Hassler (camera operator on L team) made the remark that it was as if every 30 seconds someone doused you with a 5 gallon pail of cold water. It lived up to that description perfectly. We were all soaked when we finally arrived!

Team K was headed out to “Slot Canyon” which is a literal slot about 12 feet wide and 150 feet long. There, the race producers Director Dave Dryden, Shooter Tom Cunningham and crew make placed a stone where the contestants needed ready for the one hour stormy sea crossing to the Playa Famosos to stop and do a second rubbing to decode a mangrove swamp location for the final challenge.

Spanish message. My task was to wait in this zone, handheld in the tidal surge, looking out to the bahia (bay) as the contestants

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DAVID FREDERICK SOC

I needed a large group of camera operators—‘Shooters.’ You need at least 10 solid guys on the show that are extremely specialized. Your biggest asset on the show are guys that are all-around shooters —guys that are fit, guys that can shoot the adventures, that have the aerobic ability to do it, but ultimately it’s not about that. It’s all about telling stories with the camera.

“A good reality shooter is not covering a talking head in a frame,” says Valentine, “but covering the internal thread of what the scene is really about, the story. It’s about the subtext. Once you realize that, a shooter has got to have their head in the game and know what’s really going on in the scene. A lot of times, that is not about dialogue. Of course, you’re covering the dialogue, but the blocking is equally as important, like how they’re sitting and body language.”

TRAE PATTON/NBC

A canoe—with a new kind of outbboard motor?

Spring / Summer 2012

fall at any moment, and that’s it! Or they take a wrong turn and run the wrong way. You just have to be ready to capture that, and to capture it in a way that it is easy to edit later and make a storyline out of it. We’re writing the stories with our cameras as we run. That’s the job of a runner. If you don’t capture it, it’s a story that’s not going to be told.”

As the contestants leave the starting line, the runner teams film the first task on the beach, then scramble into individual camera boats and film their contestants making a treacherous water crossing.

The walkie traffic in my ear is non stop as they approach Slot Canyon. We have 16 channels and every one of them is used. We try to talk each other out of each other’s shots and discuss our shared camera coverage on the fly. It is a great dance.

The contestants finally moor their watercraft, and head right for me. As they splash around, trying to make their

The “K” Camera crew, AC Victor Grullon and shooter, me. Victor is a very accomplished music video and narrative DP in Santo Domingo, DR and was a great collaborator and friend with me on this project.

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DAVID FREDERICK SOC

paddled up in their MacGuyver’d outrigger canoes. They would tie the craft to a mooring float, jump into the water and wade up to my position as a couple in order to discover the wall stone they needed for their canvas rubbing.

We arrive in our Slot Canyon location via small dinghy an hour before race start. I get into the thigh deep water and shoulder the camera to get some beautiful wide shots of this amazing place.

Back at the first shooting location, the 5 running camera teams are ready at the start. Veteran reality camera operators and equally seasoned audio mixers are chosen as the runner cam teams. C cam op Tom Cunningham, D cam op Ryan ‘OD’ O’Donnell, E cam op Eric ‘EP’ Purugganan (Survivor), F cam op ‘Mark J’ Jungjohann and H cam Op Derek Hoffmann (Fiberglass and Megapixels surf documentary) make up the five teams to follow the five contestant pairs in today’s adventure.

The zone cameras focus their long lenses on host Jenny McCarthy and the contestants, and the race begins… The contestants and their runner camera teams are off !

“A runner pretty much has to document the adventure from Point A to Point B to Point C,” says operator Mark Jungjohann. “The way this works is that there are zone cameras at Point A, B and C, and we bring the cast from Point to Point. The challenge for a runner is physically just to keep up with a cast that is 25 years old and in their prime.

“Running with a full-size camera is pretty physically demanding,” continues Jungjohann. “But you want to tell the story at the same time, so you have to actually try to be more than one camera. You have to be an editor and a director. Establish the scenery with wide shots and then go into the details. You want to get the story beats. You always want to be ready for the twists and turns and surprises and the things that just come up on the fly. They can trip and

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Mark Jungjohann lensing a flock of birds flying by to add a thread of nature in the program.

Getting the cave ready with lights and snakes and, somewhere, tarantulas and spiders.

A runner filming the crossing from a camera boat

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TRAE PATTON/NBC

TRAE PATTON/NBC

rubbing of the map, I am careful not to topple into the water as my feet get sucked into the mucky bottom which continually invades my Merrill water shoes.

The contestants finally wade to shore, make their way down a trail to a rope ladder and drop into a cave interior—with those animal wranglers at the ready. Matt Valentine has created a visual treat for the cameras with the lighting in the cave. With the collaboration of gaffer Marc Anderson and Key Grip Jay Coakley, there are lights hidden in the nooks and crannies of the cave walls, cleverly rigged and powered either by battery or a small putt-putt generator hidden from view and sound.

The snakes, scorpians and spiders give the contestants a reason to get out of the cave as quickly as possible. And as they do, the runner crews capture it all. But remember that it isn’t just one person running… It is an entire crew.

“When shooting reality scenes,” says operator Derek Hoffmann, “it’s exciting because there is no blocking or a

script so you get to make it up as you shoot it and that is fun and challenging. But you need to keep the other eye open and be aware to make sure you don’t bone another shot or scene that is shooting right next to you. So it’s a matter of keeping your eyes open to what is going on around you as well as what is going on in front of your lens and the scene you are covering.

“Listening to what your audio mixer is sending you is also important,” says Hoffmann, “since that is how you will hear and know what is a juicy story element. My audio mixer Chuck Kraft and I work on Celebrity Apprentice, Survivor and Love in the Wild. I know that he has my back. On LITW, my audio mixer is also like my AC on the adventure

days. He helps me carry discs and batteries and also helps by looking out for crazy terrain or obstacles and cleaning my lens in a heavy downpour. And most of all, a good audio mixer is key in helping to tell a story and listening to all the cast for the good conversations or nuggets.”

Sometimes, getting those nuggets can be dangerous.

“Probably the most dangerous and challenging shooting situation on LITW was the horseback riding,” says Jungjohann. “All of the crews are used to doing anything at any time, so we’re all runners in the true sense of the word. We fly, we run, we drive, we’re in boats, but there’s an element with animals that you just cannot control. We were on horseback a couple of days ago and the horses—their nature is to run when they are threatened. With all our energy and our hectic craziness, we put them into stampede mode and they were just full on running, with us on their backs, with the Spring/Summer 2012

The cast members who just finished the race give their impressions of the experience. Mark J films, Producer Adam Reider questions the contestant team and AC Alberto Mattos holds the bounce fill.

Spring / Summer 2012

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DAVID FREDERICK SOC DAVID FREDERICK SOC

cameras—it was pretty dangerous. One of the audio mixers had a horse rear up and dump him off. He got hurt pretty bad. You have to be really aware of your surroundings when you’re on the run.”

One morning at the white board meeting, the producers mapped out the challenge. When Tom Cunningham heard the locations listed, he said, “Rice paddy! Somebody’s going to get hurt!” So when we got out there, we were very careful during the set up.

Slogging through the mud is no easy affair. It was a slow trek if you wanted to stay safe. But when the contestants arrived, I saw Tom flying through the field like he was running on asphalt. His audio guy took a header on that location slipping in the mud trying to keep up with Tom. This is just another example of how we all run the risk of getting hurt. “Yeah, says Cunningham, “rice paddy always takes a victim.”

Horses wait in the shade with their wrangler until the runners need them.

“Overall, the working conditions are similar to what I’m used to working on Survivor,” says O’Donnell. “It can be really hot one day, then rainy the next. We can start a story. This kind of show is an experience where you don’t the race in the pouring rain and then the sun will come out know what to expect moment to moment, and that is what and we’ll be baking hot. I wear a Camelback. That’s 3 liters of makes it fun for me.” water—you can use it up real fast. After it rains and after the “The AD department made sure that we were taken care sun comes out, it is so hot and so humid and so intense, you of,” says operator Ryan Eng. “Our production team would just sweat and you just have to chug water. Doing a race in the work in a systematic manner that gave people breaks at an tropics is very tough.” appropriate time. These are necessary times to stop and take “The working conditions on the adventure days were fun the camera off our shoulder and have a break. This does not and challenging,” says Hoffman. “One minute you were happen in most reality shooting situations.” running down a beach, the next you are huffing and puffing “When I first started in the business,” recalls O’Donnell, up a steep staircase. Then you are in a dark cave with bats and “we were doing ten-hour days, but now we’re doing 12 hour snakes. Then you are running up and down some steep rocky days. We do 6 days in a row. I did 7 last week, but this paths to a grassy field. Then, back in the sand again, you company’s cool—they pay time and a half for overtime, but finally sprint to the finish line. Oh and this is all with a you work a lot, 8 in a row—when you’re working, it’s nice to 30 pound camera and following 3 cast members, telling get it out of the way, because you want to go home and see

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Two camera coverage of the “beach date” of two contestants. 2nd camera hidden by tree and audio mixers. Nice location!

your family, see your girlfriend, see whoever—I guess it’s kind of nice to bang it out.”

With my first shot completed, I moved into position for my second shot of the competition. John Armstrong and I situated ourselves on a slippery concrete platform with a 40x zoom lens. The contestants had to make a “leap of faith” with their new partners from about an 8 meter cliff. John and I were “tensing up,” checking our focus, exposures and zoom speeds to be ready for the pair to arrive at the edge.

The radios became clearer as the contestants got closer and the audio feed started to pick up. We could hear the lead pairs panting and crashing through the brush leading up to the jump site. All of a sudden we were joined on our platform by an out of breath and sweating cam op, Mark J. Mark was following the lead couple, Allie and Chase. Since we were on the tight lens, he would get a looser shot of his couple jumping in and capture them swimming towards us and exiting the Lagoon Dudu.

The excitement leading up to the first jump was nerve wracking! Wondering just what would transpire… All we heard was a “three, two, one” count and then there they were—in the air!

We would try to pan with them, starting on a close-up to showcase their fear or determination then ease out on the zoom lens to a full body shot to try and capture the jump and splash followed by their surfacing and swim towards us, keeping an ear out to reset for the following contestants that were about to jump. It was all on the fly and we only got one shot at it.

“Being a reality shooter makes you a better camera operator,” says Armstrong, “because a reality shooter probably has the camera on their shoulder more than just about any other camera person, so they are constantly getting a chance to work with the camera, make the camera moves on their feet, handheld, and I think that’s great. At its best, it’s like tai chi or something like that, moving around with the camera, when you’re really dialed in, and you learn to do it just by doing it a lot.”

Ultimately, the contestants make their way through the remainder of the course, the camera operators doing their dance to tell the story, cross covering the interaction between the contestant teams.

“Even though you work a long, hard day,” explains operator John Armstrong, “there’s a good possibility that the entire

The gallery of camera operators (and the DP) who contributed to this article

Dave Frederick OD O’Donell

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Ryan Eng

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Matt Valentine

Derek Hoffman

John Armstrong Mark Jungjohann Tom Cunningham

Spring/Summer 2012

Whale of a Tale

We had a wish list provided by the producers to grab as much wildlife as possible to intercut with the story of the people in the wild. While the zone cameras are waiting for their zones to become active, they try to catch as much extra footage as possible. Other times, there are more specific animal footage missions.

“At the start of this season,” recalls O’Donnell, “they sent me on a mission to film a whale breaching.

They told me, ‘Get a whale breaching–we’re at a whale sanctuary!’ It sounds easy. But they sent me out the first day and I skunked. I came back and said, ‘Sorry I couldn’t make a whale breach. I don’t even know how.’ You can’t dangle a carrot, you can’t bait the water. Another day, I went out to the area and filmed some B-roll on a blowhole, and these little kids came up to me, and asked me, ‘What you doing?’ in Spanish (luckily, I had a translator).

‘You trying to film the whales? They don’t come out until late afternoon.’

“Doug McCallie, one of my favorite producers, had a quote,” recalls ‘OD’ O’Donnell, “‘Catch the cloak.’ That’s the invisible protection that people put around themselves. It’s a shroud. And when you see them take it off, you see the real person. The real soul. As a cameraman, that’s what you are there to capture. That’s when you really see them.

“You use discretion,” ‘OD’ continues. “You’re not there to see a girl freak out, mentally breaking down about something that’s horrific. You have to have some discretion. But when it’s a real thing that could be life changing, when it’s a real emotion, life-changing or life-altering for that person—it’s amazing to be there to capture it. Not there to exploit, but to be there to capture and promote, just to show how beautiful learning and life is. And how it can be when you least expect it.”

Wrapping Out

Working on Love in the Wild was a tremendous experience for me. It was fairly brief — 4 weeks—but it was a richly rewarding process of camera work and camaraderie in a beautiful place. It was swimming every day before work in the beautiful water, only steps away from my hotel room. It was a chance to enjoy the cultural immersion of a foreign land with wonderful people. And most of all, it was doing what I love to do—telling a story with a camera. I was in excellent company and I am sure that when I see the images up on the screen that I will be longing for the experience once again.

The premier of Love in the Wild season 2 will be on NBC-TV, Tuesday June 7 at 8 pm.

“The next day, I went out on the tourist boat,” O’Donnell continues. “And I waited… and waited… and waited… until the last boat of the day. On the last boat, on the last minute, when we were heading back in, we saw a baby whale playing in the water and drove up to it. No other tourist boats around. Lo and behold, this great big mama whale came and breached right up, 70 feet from our boat, and Bam! I nailed the shot. As cool as it was to nail the shot, you almost don’t want to reward that type of premonition like ‘You’re going to get it.’ That was just pure luck.”

Ryan ‘OD’ O’Donnell with some of the local children who clued him in on finding a whale.

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COURTESY OF RYAN O’DONNELL

show could air, and only a few seconds of your footage could be in that show. But at the same time, you know that the story’s being covered and that you’re just a part of that, not the sole camera. There is a great esprit de corps, especially if it’s a good production, and people care about the show.”

After crossing the finish line, the contestants are pulled aside for “on the fly” interviews about the adventure. The pressure is on for production to quickly break all of the shooting elements down, load back onto the boats, make our way back across the water and try to arrive safely back at the “hotel” before nightfall.

The running crew ACs clean and service the cameras with five camera techs to keep the gear running perfectly—headed up by Camera Engineer Mike Mason. The tech room is completely shelved with compartments for each camera team and audio mixer. It is constantly whirring with a dozen extra large circulating fans with the heat on to allow the gear to dry out and acclimate for the next day.

The adventure running cam ops wrap and head for the bar to share their reality amongst themselves. (That story download would be quite a different perspective!) The zone camera crews shower up, eat our meal and head back for a few more hours of reality filming.

The ACs install individual microwave transmitters onto each camera for the producers to watch for story notes as we capture the contestant cast talking among themselves in the dining room, cabins, tents, poolside or swinging cozily on the hammock built for two. We are all looking for romantic sparks or the conflicts started by adventure mishaps that all hopefully lead to Love in the Wild.

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Bringing The Hunger Games to Life

by Camera Operators Duane C Manwiller and Maurice McGuire soc

Photos by Murray Close Š2012 Lionsgate. All Rights Reserved.

Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen flees the wall of fire that chases her in the arena.

D

irected by Gary Ross and shot by Director of Photography Tom Stern, The Hunger Games, based on the popular young adult novel

by Suzanne Collins, hasn’t disappointed its fans —who are now eagerly awaiting the next two movies in the series. The second book, Catching Fire, will begin filming this fall.

The trilogy is set in the future in the fictional country of Panem, where The Capitol put down a rebellion 74 years ago. As punishment to the rebels, a boy and girl from each of the 12 districts are sent to the Capitol to compete in the annual Hunger Games—a fight to the death with only one winner. Katniss ( Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta ( Josh Hutcherson) are this year’s tributes competing from District 12.

Camera operators Duane “DC” Manwiller and Maurice McGuire SOC talk about some of their experiences making this film.

Duane Manwiller films Jennifer Lawrence.

Finding the Right Approach

“When you’re doing the first film in a series,” says B-Camera operator McGuire, “it’s important to define the look and the tone that will best serve the overall story of the trilogy. I don’t know if it was ever stated publicly, but I think that we all felt a need to ‘get it right’ from day one. We were serving a story that overshadowed the film that we were making at the time. And we were all very conscious of maintaining the voice of the author, Suzanne Collins.”

“From the first time I met Gary,” recalls A-Camera operator Manwiller, “he had a concept for the look of Hunger Games that he meticulously followed to a tee and

never wavered from. During our first week of prep, Gary invited myself, Tom and Maurice over to his apartment to bond. We also watched a French film called A Prophet, directed by Jacques Audiard and edited by Juliette Welfling [who would go on to edit Hunger Games]. This film would turn out to be truly inspirational in many ways.”

“A Prophet appears to be shot largely by handheld cameras, although it is very subtle,” says McGuire. “This creates a sense that the audience is right there with the character, living the story. That is exactly the emotion that Gary wanted to convey. The handheld camera became our cinematic voice.”

“Gary was very into the way that the camera moved and how it could be more like a character in the film than just an object recording what was in the viewfinder,” Manwiller explains. “After we watched A Prophet and listened to how Gary wanted to shoot Hunger Games, I got it 100% — mostly handheld, but more than just putting the camera on your shoulder and pointing it at the subjects. It was an eye opener. Gary was very passionate about the way he wanted his film shot and never wavered.”

Challenging Locations

Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and Gale (Liam Hemsworth).

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“The ‘arena’ for the Hunger Games can range anywhere from Arctic Tundra to Desert Wastelands,” McGuire explains. “The environment for this particular Hunger Games happens to be a mountainous woodland, similar (fortunately) to the environment that our Spring/Summer 2012

heroine, Katniss (Lawrence), grew up in. once in a while. They were always kind of hovering around “Chasing teenagers handheld through the mountains all us wherever we went, but nobody felt intimidated by them. day had its challenges,” McGuire continues. “We shot all of It was kind of fun. the woodland scenes in the mountains outside of Asheville, “There’s a snake wrangler in the credits that people have North Carolina—a beautiful country that I was fortunate asked about, since there are no snakes in the movie,” laughs to revisit from my childhood. Duane and I waded in streams, McGuire. “We had the snake wrangler running around hiked waterfalls and trekked through poison ivy for a good three months. And we enjoyed every moment. The physicality of the job only added to the cinematic style. A lot of the shots were a real struggle and it comes across on screen, paralleling the struggles of our main characters. So instead of holding us back, I feel that the environmental conditions of the set actually enhanced our work.

“We’d show up first thing in the morning, get some breakfast, and then jump in ATVs,” says McGuire. “We’d drive probably half an hour up the mountains, way back into this beautiful forest land that hadn’t been opened up to anybody in the past 60 years. We had bears roaming around. They broke into our craft service a couple of times and dragged cases of Coca-Cola down into the woods.

They always hit the Coke, and skipped the Maurice McGuire soc Diet Coke. We had rangers around that and Duane Manwiller would kind of keep an eye on things. But the bears would show up at base camp every Spring / Summer 2012

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COURTESY OF DUANE MANWILLER

Key Grip Guy Micheletti pushes the dolly sled with Maurice McGuire SOC and Duane Manwiller on board.

The onstage tree for Katniss and Rue.

catching rattlesnakes, keeping the cast and crew safe.

“A lot of us came down with cases of poison ivy,” recalls McGuire. “It was everywhere. They did what they could to clear as much as possible and try to eradicate it. Pedro Barquin, Amandla our greensman, was fantastic. But Stenberg the whole field the cornucopia was as Rue in had sprigs of poison ivy throughout, so it really didn’t matter where you went. Everybody protected themselves as much as they could.

But no matter what you did, you ended up with a little bit of it here and there, and some guys got it pretty bad. They had doctors that would hand out injections that would help—I think it was like a steroid of some kind.

“The scenes along the river were rough,” says McGuire.

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“Felt soled waders were the only sure footing we had. Those that were wearing something else were going down left and right along the banks of the river. On occasion, people would slide off a rock into the river itself. Really, the only major challenge was the physicality of the work. Other than that, it was just a real joy to be a part of.”

“I would have to say that the locations in general stick out as some of my best memories,” says Manwiller . “From the banks on the river of Triple Falls in the DuPont Forest— where Peeta was injured and hiding—to the extremely steep slopes of Bridal Falls, it was all an excellent environment to create some amazing visuals.

“Obviously the locations that were chosen made the film one of the biggest challenges overall,” Manwiller continues.

“Some locations in the woods were not only remote, but quite a challenge to just get the gear into. The Grips and Electrics were under some extreme challenges as well. Key grip Guy Micheletti worked magic building cranes and rigs in Spring/Summer 2012

some of the craziest places I’ve ever seen. From the tops of trees to steep hillsides, he did it all. In the scene where Katniss climbs the tree and cuts down the tracker jacker nest, Guy and his team built a 50´ tall scaffold with a staircase that we were able to actually put a Technocrane on—as well as cast and crew. Quite a sight to see all that going on 50´ above the forest floor.”

“For the tracker jacker scene,” explains McGuire, “they actually built a pretty good wasps’ nest out of papier-mâché and plastic, something like that. The tracker jackers themselves, of course, were all CG. But Jen had something that she was really sawing away at there, something that really hit the ground.

“We had two real trees and we had one tree that was on stage,” McGuire continues. “That was where we built the upper canopy for the scene where Katniss and Rue go to sleep. We used a hammock out of what she had in her bag. To film Rue up in the tree, we built a tree on stage and it wasn’t very high off the ground.”

The Cornucopia

“The cornucopia was two stories tall and pretty elaborate,” says McGuire. “It had a good look to it.

It has the general shape of a cornucopia but it doesn’t exactly look like the one you see at Thanksgiving, or like the gold cornucopia from the book. They built a massive structure in the middle of this field and it was all real.

“We spent a lot of time at the cornucopia, recalls McGuire. “We did the opening scene of the Games there. We have a lot of shots of a lot of different

Jennifer Lawrence worked with an Olympic medalist to learn archery skills.

Spring / Summer 2012

characters. When you see the film, you don’t see the very labor intensive side of covering all 24 tributes. We have Katniss’s POV, we have Peeta’s POV, we have other tributes eying each other up—it was an effort to create a lot of suspense even before they launch off the platforms and run towards the cornucopia. Once they got into the cornucopia and started the fighting, 2nd unit took over a lot of that. We came in again and cleaned up some scenes with Jen, with Katniss’s character. Then we were back there for Foxface when she stole some stuff and Katniss shoots an arrow and blows it all up. 2nd unit was involved, but we came in and covered with Katniss. We were back and forth quite a few times. We kind of interspersed the wood scenes with the cornucopia. We were filming in surrounding areas. It was in fairly chronological order, but we did bounce around.”

Keeping It Real

“Gary wanted to do as much in camera as possible,” says McGuire.

“Of course, there were a lot of visual effects, but we did as much as we possibly could. I think the story itself, the book, is going to lend itself to CG, but in as much as possible we did it all real.

“There’s a scene where the Capitol tries to manipulate our character’s movements through the forest.”

McGuire says. “To force Katniss toward the other tributes, the gamemaker brings fire into play. Our special effects crew actually created a wall of fire that chased Jennifer through the woods. It worked out very well. They did augment it a bit with CG fire. If you’d been there on the day, you could kind of tell where they augmented it. But even in dailies—we’d take a look at it, and just the whole concept of this wall of fire chasing Jennifer works very well.

“What really impressed me,” McGuire continues, “was the vision in coordinating the camera move with the wall of fire, because they gave you the sense that it was chasing her through the woods. It was really well executed by the special effects

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Working on the wall of fire scene

guys. They actually manufactured fake trees out of pipe and always on a sled,” says McGuire. “We wanted to stay handcreated a field of these trees intermixed with the real trees. As held and we frequently wanted to put two cameras next to Jennifer was running, new flames would come to life behind each other. Medium, tight or wide at the same time. If she her. So it was also dependent on the relationship between was running straight at us, typically we’d set a longer lens in a Jennifer and our cameras and the timing of the fire going off fixed position and have Jen run straight at the camera. at the same time.”

“There’s a lot of running through the woods,” says “Our FX team put together a very intricate series of propane gas explosions tied into the trees and ground thru pipes,” says Manwiller.

“There was no stunt double on this shot.

Jennifer rocked this out all by herself. As she ran, the FX team timed the speed of just how fast the fire would chase her. Later on they had a ball of fire zinging towards her. For that, they used a cable with a huge real fireball that was launched toward camera. Maurice and I were safely tucked away in a plexiglass and wood box that our resident master key grip Guy Micheletti enclosed us in. The cables were removed later in post.”

“Very little of the real forest was damaged, believe it or not,” says McGuire. “We were given permission for a controlled burn, but it was really just a little singeing here and there.

“We were handheld on a sled dolly—two cameras, and I think we had a third camera straight on with her running at it,” recalls McGuire. “Duane and I were both kind of three-quarter front, running with the firebars President Snow (Donald Sutherland) explains the reason for going off behind it. the games to Head Gamemaker Seneca Crane (Wes Bentley).

“When we did use a dolly, it was almost

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Spring/Summer 2012

McGuire, “We had to avoid branches and roots and so on, so we were all very careful and it was all very arranged. Our stunt riggers actually rigged some pretty interesting things.

On occasion, depending on the terrain, they would lead cables and pulley systems into the trees and we’d suspend a camera from the cable system. It allowed us to run with the camera and not worry about dropping it, or if you tripped, you could actually hold onto the camera to keep yourself from falling. We did that a couple of times very successfully, which was a lot of help in the terrain.”

What the Story Is Really About

“It was a challenging adaptation from a book to a film,” says McGuire. “What I found most difficult to get my head around was the whole concept of kids killing kids. And I

“Long after we wrapped,” recalls McGuire, “it occurred to me that the book and movie are really about the fight with authority, which would explain its strong appeal to teenagers.”

Working Situation

“As has become the new Hollywood norm,” says McGuire, “we frequently shot the rehearsals and refined both the actors’ performances and the camera moves on subsequent takes. I felt that this approach worked very well for our story and helped the scenes to evolve naturally. There was never an over-storyboarded ‘preconceived’ shot. We went in with an idea best suited for the scene and refined it from there. Gary and Tom created an environment of collaboration that allowed both Duane and myself a great deal of freedom in

“We used Henry River Mill Village as District 12. It covers 72 acres. I recently read that it’s on the market for 1.4 million dollars. It was for sale for about half that when we shot there. The mill itself, which produced fine yarn, closed in the 1960s and the last resident moved out in 1987. The mill building burned down in 1977, but more than 20 others remain, including the company store which doubled for the family bakery where Katniss encounters Peeta Mellark in the flashback scene. It was a very cool visually interesting little town to shoot in. Quite the contrast from the stages in Charlotte that we used as the opulent Capitol,” says Duane ‘DC’ Manwiller.

Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark.

found it difficult to rationalize that piece of the story for the film or for the book for that matter. Gary actually went in and wrote a scene that was pivotal to the movie and to that storyline. There’s a meeting between Donald Sutherland’s character [President Snow] and Wes’s character [Seneca Crane], the game controller. Crane wonders why we have these tributes. Why do we have these games. Why not just pull 24 kids out of these districts and kill them to remind the districts of their place? And Snow’s answer is, ‘Hope.’ He says, ‘Hope is the only thing more powerful than fear.’ Which I thought was brilliant—a really strong scene. It actually explained why this was going on and sucked the audience into it, so they could believe it and understand it.

Spring / Summer 2012

shot conception, blocking, and rehearsals. We always felt as though we were a part of a greater whole, with the film being more important than the sum of its parts. As long as we were staying true to the story, no idea was excused as insignificant.

“It was a relaxed set,” continues McGuire. “The director and the DP gave the operators a lot of freedom, and created a really nurturing environment for creativity. The cast and the crew were great, really fun to work with.”

Putting Together a Great Crew

“The Hunger Games was a truly unique working environment,” says McGuire. “I don’t think that many of us had worked together before. We were all kind of hand-picked by Camera OperatOr: the hunger games

73

Gary and Tom based largely on recommendations, and then carefully molded into a unified crew. Gary got Duane’s name through Steven Soderbergh, and actually pulled Duane onto the project along with Tom, so neither Tom nor Duane had worked together before. Since Tom’s guys were busy on another show, Tom gave Duane a certain amount of freedom to bring in the camera crew he was familiar with. It’s not the usual way a crew is put together, but it worked.”

“I would say I was very instrumental in choosing the camera crew,” says Manwiller. “Gary and Tom of course had the final approval in the decision of the other members of the department, but they allowed me to assemble a quite amazing camera crew. The hunt for a B-camera operator was a pivotal decision. Maurice was someone that I’ve heard of for years, but had never had the pleasure of working with. After talking Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks) welcomes Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) as one of the District 12 tributes.

would be an asset to the team. Newcomer to the team and recommended by Tom was 2nd AC Max DeLeo. Max hit it out of the park and from this point on will be a first call for me. ” “The camera crews were great,” says McGuire. “We were really fortunate in that respect. Both our fantastic focus pullers— Jimmy and Tony—they’re both really on top of their game. There were times when we’d start rolling cameras not being fully aware of what was going to happen where. It’s a real plus to have that kind of experience on the knobs.”

Lenny Kravitz is Katniss’ stylist, Cinna; Woody Harrelson is her mentor, Haymitch; Josh Hutcherson is Peeta, the other tribute from District 12.

with Maurice, I instantly knew he was perfect for the film.

His style of shooting was the exact style that Gary was looking for. He turned out to be one of the best operators I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with and it was the start of what will be a long relationship.

“For my key first assistant,” says Manwiller. “I chose James Apted—a long time friend that I’ve had the pleasure of working with for over seventeen years. I knew that after talking to Gary and Tom, we would need a 1st AC that could bring it to the table and be able to run a crew, deal with all sorts of gear and work fast on the fly with a wide open T stop and pull off some crazy focus with little to no marks. James was an obvious and perfect decision.

“For B-camera,” says Manwiller, “I went after Tony Nagy, a veteran 1st AC that I’ve had the pleasure of working with many times over the years. He’s always working, so I knew it would be tough to get him. Luckily, it all worked out because he was just the man for the job. I knew it was going to be an extremely tough position to fill, with very high expectations.

Tony roped in some of the best focus work on long lenses I’ve ever seen. I pitched him to Maurice and he agreed that Tony

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Stanley Tucci as talk show host Caesar Flickerman introduces Katniss.

Spring/Summer 2012

Great Cast

kind of standing around, watching him weave his magic. It “The cast and crew were across the board amazing,” was pretty cool.” exclaims Manwiller. “It was a team that bonded from day one and grew closer as the days passed. I’ve experienced it before Family Friendly on other films when you’re put out in a difficult environment “For me personally,” say McGuire, “the greatest thing about under tough conditions, but this time it was even more this experience is that I actually grew up in North Carolina. special. We all knew we were making a special movie and we It was the first opportunity I had to go back and shoot in the all knew that with the hype of the book there were very high state that I left back in the late ’80s. The first film I worked expectations to make it a great film. Sometimes that pressure on was in 1986 down in Wilmington. Since then, I’ve been can crush a film but in this case it made us all bond and want in LA. I’ve always looked for the opportunity to come back to make a film that was truly amazing. and work, just to have time to spend with my family. My “Jennifer Lawerence was a wild card for me,” recalls mom and dad still live there, and so do my sister and my Manwiller. “I’d only seen her in Winter’s Bone, in which she niece. It was an opportunity for them to come by the set and was fantastic. She turned out to be not only a perfect Katniss see what I do for a living and kind of share the filmmaking but one of the best young actresses I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with. She was not just talent on the film, but a crewmember. Extremely personable, funny, and one of us from day one.”

“The cast was very young, very energetic, very easy to work with,” says McGuire. “Jen’s just a pro, I mean just solid all the way around. She was very cool. Then we had more experienced actors— Stanley Tucci, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson— Duane Manwiller helps Willow Shields (Primrose) get positioned that were equally as for a scene on location in Henry River Mill Village. generous to work with as the younger actors. The kids had a high level of energy. It’s hard to coach a experience. Everybody on the film was happy to have them teenager to slow down and let the camera keep up with them. on the set. Gary, our director; our DP, Tom. The producers But there were no problems at all with any of them.” all made sure my parents had seats front and center by the “When I heard Woody Harrelson was cast for the film,” monitors. I spent every weekend with them—if it wasn’t says Manwiller, “I was stoked not only because I’ve done two them coming to the set, it was me heading out to visit them. other films with him and he’s an amazing individual as well as “Gary and the cast created this environment,” McGuire an incredible actor, but he’s the perfect Haymitch. And from adds. “The whole show itself had a very family-like vibe to Josh Hutcherson to Stanley Tucci, all the pieces were in place it—just the interactions between the actors, the cast and the to make a film that would go down in history as an epic.” crew together and the production personnel—it felt like a “When we were shooting some Capitol scenes in Charfamily environment. And to be able to bring your family into lotte,” remembers McGuire, “Lenny Kravitz [who played that was a really wonderful experience. Duane too—he Katniss’ stylist, Cinna] was preparing for his world tour, so brought his wife and two daughters in, and they spent a lot he actually rented an entire arena close to where we were of time on the set. And they were all embraced as part of one shooting. And this one Friday night at wrap, he invited us to large family. The director’s own 16-year-old kids worked in go check out a rehearsal. It was just Lenny and his band and the camera and visual effects departments as PAs. They were his crew members in this whole empty arena and we were all very helpful.”

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Jennifer Lawrence takes a break on the camera crew’s sled dolly.

Spring/Summer 2012

COURTESY OF DUANE MANWILLER

“It was one of the most family friendly sets I have ever been on,” recalls Manwiller. “Due to the fact that its cast was largely made up of kids and the book was already huge among kids and adults alike, there was always a lot of family with kids running around. Gary embraced his crew as well as their families and openly invited them to come and visit. From Gary to the producers to all the crew, everyone was super friendly and open to all family visits. It’s the first show I’ve ever worked on that my two girls, Ariel and Zoe, were completely excited about visiting. They would have come out every day if they could have. They even came for some all nighters and saw the sun rise on more than one occasion with the cast and crew.”

“There are rumors,” says McGuire, “that they’re going to try to keep the original crew together for the other two movies in the series. That’s a long ways off, so it’s difficult to tell what will happen between now and then. But I’d like to work on it again, especially if the same cast and crew come together. It was a real bonding experience.”

“It’s truly one of the best experiences I’ve had on a film set in almost 25 years,” says Manwiller.

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Thales Angenieux — www.angenieux.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42–43

First Entertainment Credit Union — www.firstent.org . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

VariZooom — www.varizoom.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BC

Fujifilm — www.fujinon.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Visionary Forces — www.visionaryforces.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Fuji Optical — www.fujinon.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Warner Bros Photo Lab — www.wbphotolab.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Geo Film Group — http://www.geofilm.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Spring / Summer 2012

Camera OperatOr: Last take

79

SOC Roster ACTIVE CHARTER Parker Bartlett Paul Basta Michael Benson Jerry G Callaway William Jay Gahret Peter Hapke Jay Nefcy Leigh Nicholson David B Nowell, ASC Wayne Orr Ernie Reed Michael Scott Michael St Hilaire Ray Stella Joseph F Valentine Ron Vidor ACTIVE Peter Abraham Jonathan S Abrams Michael R Alba Bret Allen Robert Reed Altman Jack Anderson Colin Anderson Kevin W Andrews Aldo Antonelli Miguelangel Aponte-Rios Francois Archambault Joseph Arena Will Arnot Ted Ashton Jr Mark August Grayson Grant Austin Paul Babin Randall B Baer Christopher Baffa Lonn Bailey James Baldanza Jerry Banales Jeff Barklage Angel Barroeta Tom Barron Gary H Baum Guy Norman Bee Tim Bellen Nils Benson Marc Andre Berthiaume George M Bianchini Bonnie S Blake Jason Blount Bob C Boccaccio Katie Boyum Kevin D Braband Gerard Brigante Hilaire Brosio Garrett Brown Pete Brown Kenny Brown Scott Browner Robin Buerki Gary Bush Stephen S Campanelli Richard Cantu Jose A Cardenas Lou Chanatry Joe Chess Jr Anthony Cobbs Craig Cockerill Steven Cohen Gregory Paul Collier Kris A Conde Andrew Glenn Conder Michael Condon Brown Cooper Dan Coplan Javier A Costa Richard J Cottrell Tom Cox Jeff Cree Rod Crombie Caleb Crosby White Richard Crow Jeff L Crumbley Richard A Cullis Grant Culwell Joseph C D’Alessandro Nicholas Davidoff

80

Markus Davids Richard W Davis Mark G Dawson Edwim de Jong Michael S Dean Andrew A Dean Kris Andrew Denton Joel Deutsch David E Diano Troy Dick Jason Dittmer Rick Drapkin Scott C Dropkin Mitch Dubin Jerry Dugan Simon Duggan, ACS Louis R Duskin Allen D Easton William Eichler David E Elkins Jason Ellson David Emmerichs Kevin J Emmons Brant S Fagan Tom Faigh Diane L Farrell Dianne Teresa Farrington Jesse Michael Feldman Michael Ferris Dick Fisher Lance Fisher Aaron Fitzgerald Eric Fletcher Michael Flueck Houman Forough Felix Forrest Steve G Fracol Keith Francis Nick Franco David J Frederick Michael Frediani Michael A Freeman Steven French Samuel Buddy Fries Mick Froehlich Jeff Fry Paul M Gardner David Gasperik Rusty Geller Mark Gerasimenko William Gierhart Laurie K Gilbert Mark Goellnicht Daniel Gold Allen Gonzales Robert Gorelick David Allen Grove Robert Guernsey Pedro Guimaraes John C Gunselman Chris C Haarhoff Anette Haellmigk John Hankammer Tim Harland Joshua Harrison Kent Harvey Chris Hayes David Haylock Alan Hereford Steven F Heuer Kevin Hewitt Joachim Hoffmann Abe Holtz Jerry Holway Casey Hotchkiss Colin Hudson Jeffrey G Hunt Philip Hurn Dave Isern Christopher Ivins Eugene W Jackson III Jerry M Jacob Francis G James Alec Jarnagin Simon Jayes Steven Jones Kurt Jones Christopher D Jones Jacques Jouffret

John H Joyce David Judy David C Kanehann Mark Karavite David Kimelman Douglas H Knapp Dan Kneece Rory Robert Knepp Bud Kremp Kris Krosskove Per Larsson Eric Leach Sergio Leandro Silva Richard Leible Joshua Lesser Sarah Levy Jimmy W Lindsey Hugh C Litfin Patrick Longman George Loomis David Luckenbach Greg Lundsgaard Kenji Luster Vincent C Mack Paul S Magee David Mahlmann Kim Marks Cedric Martin Parris Mayhew Andrew McDonald Michael P McGowan Christopher TJ McGuire Aaron Medick Jack Messitt Duane Mieliwocki Marc Miller Andrew Mitchell Colleen Mleziva William Molina Denis Moran Josh Morton Manolo Rojas Moscopulos Jeff Muhlstock Michael James Mulvey Scott T Mumford Sean Murray Leo J Napolitano Julye Newlin William R Nielsen, Jr Randy Nolen Tamas P Nyerges William O’Drobinak Mark D O’Kane Michael D Off James Olcovich Andrew William Oliver John Orland Rafael Ortiz-Guzman Georgia Tornai Packard Heather Page Nick Paige Andrew Parke Patrick J Pask Christopher T Paul Karin Pelloni George Peters Jonathan F Phillips Alan Pierce Theo Pingarelli Jens Piotrowski Joseph Piscitelli Robert Presley Louis Puli Ryan Purcell Elizabeth Radley Yavir Ramawtar Juan M Ramos George Richmond Randall Robinson Brooks Robinson David Robman Andy Romanoff Peter Rosenfeld Andrew Rowlands Dave Rutherford

Camera OperatOr: SOC rOSter

P Scott Sakamoto Martin Schaer Ron Schlaeger Mark Schlicher Gregory J Schmidt Thomas J Schnaidt Fabrizio Sciarra Brian D Scott Benjamin Semanoff David Shawl Geoffrey C Shotz Osvaldo Silvera Jr Jamie Silverstein Guy Skinner John Sosenko Andy Sparaco Mark Sparrough Sandy Spooner Lisa L Stacilauskas Robert Starling Scott Stelle George B Stephenson Michael R Stumpf David L Svenson David James Thompson Richard Tiedemann John Toll, ASC Remi Tournois Neil C Toussaint John Trapman Michael Tsimperopoulos Chris Tufty Dan Turrett Brian Tweedt Matt Valentine Paul D Varrieur Ron Veto Stefan von Bjorn Bill Waldman Michael J Walker Timothy N Walker Gretchen Warthen Aiken Weiss Mande Whitaker Kit Whitmore, CSC Ken Willinger Chad Wilson Dana D Winseman RL Wise David A Wolf Bill Woodbridge Ian D Woolston-Smith Peter C Xiques Chad Zellmer ASSOCIATE John Addocks David S Adelstein Jamie Alac Jillian H Arnold Jacob Avignone Eddie Barber Josh Barrett Stephen Blanor Jeffrey D Bollman Peter Bonilla Jean-Paul Bonneau David Boyd John Boyd Jennifer Braddock Rochelle Brown Clyde E Bryan Anthony Q Caldwell Bruce Cardozo Marc Casey Gareth Paul Cox Michelle Crenshaw Richard P Crudo, ASC William B Demeritt, III Ronald E Deveaux Jorge Devotto Twojay Dhillon David Dibble George Spiro Dibie, ASC Paul A Duclos Keith Dunkerley Brian James Dzyak

Jonathan Edwards Molly M Edwards Christopher Ekstein David T Eubank Daniel Fernandez Paul Ferrazzi John C Flinn III, ASC Mark Forman Tammy Fouts-Sandoval Brian Freesh Peter F Frintrup Fred M Frintrup Nicole Fuchs Raquel Gallego Hank Gifford Michael Goi, ASC Wayne Goldwyn Al Gonzalez Frederic Goodich, ASC John M Goodner Dave Gregory Phil Gries George Eric Griffith David E Grober Robert Guthrie Bob Hall James Hammond Anthony Hardwick Anthony P Hettinger Ken Hilmer David Hirschmann Scott Hoffman Rachel A Hudson Jim Hunter Carrie Imai Toshiyuki Imai Gregory Irwin Quenell Jones Brett Juskalian David Kane Mark H Killian Douglas Kirkland Craig Kohlhoff Robert La Bonge Laurence Langton Thomas Lappin Dr Thomas Lee Alan J Levi Mark Levin Justin Liang Adrian Licciardi Ilya Jo Lie-Nielsen Stuart T Lillas Gordon Lonsdale Jasmine Lord Christopher Lymberis Dominik Mainl Darin Mangan James Mathers Jim R Matlosz Hilda Mercado Charles Minsky, ASC K Adriana Modlin E Gunnar Mortensen Matthew C Mosher Richard Mosier Shah Mundell Natasha Narkiewicz Natalie Newman Kurt Nolen Russell C Nordstedt Crescenzo GP Notarile, ASC Larry Mole Parker Steven D Parker Florencia Perez Cardenal Mark W Petersen Matthew A Petrosky Jon Philion Robert G Pittman W S Pivetta Ted Polmanski Robert Primes, ASC Richard Rawlings Jr, ASC Marcia Reed Bill Reiter Lawrence Ribeiro

Lawrence Ribeiro David Richert Claudio Rietti Alicia Robbins Peter J Rooney Melissa Roth Danny Salazar Steve Saxon Carl Martin Schumacher, Sr Christian Sebaldt, ASC Charles A Simons Michael Skor Jan Sluchak Robert F Smith Needham G Smith III Brian Sowell Brent A Spencer Don Spiro Doug Stanley Aymae Sulick Jeremy Sultan Sulekh Suman Tara Summers Andy Sydney Ian S Takahashi Joe Tawil Christopher Taylor David Roy Tondeur Matthew Turve John Twesten Caitlin Rae Tyler Daniel Urbain Sandra Valde David Van Eman Dale Vance, Jr Leonard P Walsh,II Justin Watson Alex White Santiago Yniguez Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC

Gary Holt Robert C Horne Bob Keys George La Fountaine, ASC Norm Langley Thomas Laughridge Steve Lydecker Heather MacKenzie James Mann Owen Marsh Bob Marta Stan McClain Michael McClary Ron McManus Emmanuel Metaxas Robert Bob Moore Ed Morey Lee Nakahara Sol Negrin, ASC King Nicholson John G Nogle Dan Norris David L Parrish Aaron Pazanti Robert H Peebles Arnold Rich Sam Rosen Frank Ruttencutter Richard Salvatore Chuck Schuman Philip D Schwartz Hal Shiffman Phil Stern Gene Talvin Sven Walnum Ben Wolf

CORPORATE 3ALITY TECHNICA Sakae Manning BIRNS & SAWYER, INC HONORARY William Meurer John Bailey, ASC CAMERA DYNAMICS INC Tilman Buettner Jim Davis James Burrows CAMERON-PACE GROUP Alexander Calzatti Vincent M Pace Roger Corman CARL ZEISS MICROIMAGING Dean Cundey, ASC Richard Schleuning Bruce Doering CHAPMAN-LEONARD Joe Dunton, mbe, gbCt Leonard T Chapman Clint Eastwood Christine J Huenergardt Jack Green, ASC CLAIRMONT CAMERA Tom Hatten Mardrie Mullen Ron Howard DIGIHOLLYWOOD Ron Kelley Chol Kim Kathleen Kennedy-Marshall FILMTOOLS INC Jerry Lewis Stan McClain Larry McConkey FUJIFILM NORTH AMERICA A Linn Murphree MD CORPORATION Diana Penilla Sandra Kurotobi Steven Spielberg GEO FILM GROUP, INC Robert A Torres George Nolan George Toscas JL FISHER Roy H Wagner, ASC Jimmy L Fisher Haskell Wexler, ASC Frank Kay MARK BENDER RETIRED AND ASSOCIATES Gary Olyn Armstrong Mark Bender Eugene Ashbrook MATTHEWS STUDIO Lou Barlia EQUIPMENT Al Bettcher Ed Phillips Joe Blaisdell PANAVISION James Blanford Bob Harvey Vee Bodrero Deborah Leatherman Donald R Burch PRECO, INC. Philip Caplan Wes Donahue Bruce Catlin REDROCK MICRO Jim Connell Briana Weatherspoon Ivan Craig SCHNEIDER OPTICS– Joe Epperson CENTURY DIVISION Robert Feller David Contreras Hiroyuki Fukuda Bill Turner Jerry Fuller TERADEK Gil Haimson Michael Gailing Wynn Hammer TIFFEN Lutz Hapke Frank Rush

Roster of the

Society of Camera Operators Current as of 5/9/12

Spring/Summer 2012