Camera Operator Special Awards Edition 2013

2013

Display Until May 2013

special awards edition

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Volume 22, Number 1

Special awardS editioN 2013

Zac Nicholson ACO and the “A” camera crew at work on Les Misérables

Features

A Turbulent Flight

by Robert Presley SOC Practical airplane sets can make for tight shooting quarters… and one-of-a-kind experiences.

16

The Perks of Being a Wallflower Cover

by Alan J Mehlbrech SOC This modern coming of age novel hits the big screen with support from an energetic cast and crew.

24

Les Misérables: From stage to screen

by Zac Nicholson ACO and Luke Redgrave ACO The singing was live, the challenges multiplied, and the camera operators are in the movie too (but you might not spot them).

Colin Anderson soc films Argo.

Photo by Claire Folger. © 2012 Warner Bros Pictures.

All Rights Reserved.

Departments

32

Doubling down on Oscar contenders: Argo and The Master

by Colin Anderson SOC Varied working conditions and varying demands keep a camera operator on his toes.

46

Surviving The Impossible

by Albert Carreras et al.

Filming a tsunami with visual effects rather than CGI took a lot of research, planning, and courage.

2 President’s Corner

by Chris Tufty SOC

4 Editor’s Message

by Jennifer Braddock

8 News & Notes

What’s happening with members and in the industry

62 63 63 64

Transitions Last Take Advertisers’ Index Roster of the SOC as of 1/31/13

56

BACKCOUNTRY PICTURES

President’s Corner

It’s that time of year

T

his issue of Camera Operator is a wonderful complement to our March 9th SOC Lifetime Achievement Awards when we honor those unsung filmmakers who have shown exceptional work in their creative fields!

The annual Lifetime Achievement Awards is the biggest event the SOC hosts and I strongly encourage you to attend.

This Black Tie gathering is not only a wonderful way to present our recipients with a Cammy, our highest honor, but also a great way to catch up with old friends and meet new ones in show business. My favorite moment is the suspenseful “opening of the envelope” for the Camera Operator of the Year for both Feature Films and for Television!

The proceeds from this night benefit our charity, the Vision Center at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Over the years, the SOC so far has raised over $160,000.00 for them.

I urge all of you readers seeing this to please buy your ticket for this fun filled event on March 9th, 2013 at the elegant Academy of Television Arts and Sciences!

2013 is also an election year for the SOC. Ballots will soon be mailed to each member to vote for his or her choice for the next Board of Governors and Officers of the SOC. This new Board will be suggesting new ways of thinking and continue to advance the original ideas of our Founding Fathers and Charter Members of the SOC. The BOG’s goal is to promote the artistic and creative abilities of the Camera Operator in the Motion Picture and Television Industries by presenting stimulating Workshops and Events. Please consider volunteering!

Chris Tufty, SOC President

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Camera OperatOr: president’s COrner

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Editor’s Note

2013. The world didn’t end. Shows are gearing back up, and pilot season is around the corner.

It’s been a fantastic year for some folks and a rocky year for many. What’s going on in our industry is beyond our control.

Sadly, work has been going away from Los Angeles. That is our cue as an organization to branch out as well. If it takes starting with this publication, let’s get it in every rental house in the country, and more educational institutions. Don’t you wonder how many SOC members represent the area outside of California?

Local 600 will be holding their elections this year. Those of you who are members can decide the future of your leadership by simply mailing in a ballot. For me, this is not just a job; this is my career, my livelihood and my passion. I LOVE my job, and each day I am not working I find myself a little down in the dumps. Sometimes I question if I chose the right career, but then I remember that when I am working, I forget it is “work.” I don’t think I’ll ever find another job quite like this.

And the winner is….

Time to dig in your closet for that dress and take your best tuxedo to the cleaners. Yes, it’s awards season. I couldn’t imagine putting on a show like the Golden Globes or the Oscars—the SOC Lifetime Achievement Awards is one

HOPPER STONE

Here’s to a New Year

tough cookie for such a modest organization. Once again, this year will be a fantastic way to recognize our peers.

I do admit I enjoy the presentation, and the SOC has been doing a wonderful job visually with the projection. It’s always bugged me that the Oscars will spend 5–10 minutes for the actor categories, showing their clips, but will show NOTHING for the cameraman or editor! They even lump the two back to back before the commercial break!

Last year we started something new and plan to continue— a silent auction of prints from our recognized still photographer. This year, Melissa Moseley will grace us with her beautiful images, and proceeds will benefit the Vision Center. Again, this year will surely be another to remember.

Leading Ladies It is more common these days to see women behind the camera, but less common for women to be recognized. Every day I see more women carrying lights, driving trucks, humping cases, etc. It’s still a man’s world in this business, but it’s women like those involved in organizations like the SOC that are setting a new standard. The 2013 SOC Lifetime Achievements Award is proof of this, with the planned salute to Women in the Industry.

Still, I can’t help but notice how few nominations there are for females in our industry. More than that, I still see a lack of HIRING of women in our industry. Some men love to work with women, and others, not so much. And it bugs me.

Resolution Get involved. Refresh your knowledge and sharpen your skills by attending a training course, or even teaching one; you’d be surprised how much new information you can take in.

Invite some friends to the SOC awards this year. Help out an operator friend in need of some hours. Karma will come back.

Start something new. Maybe it’s a screening at your house.

Maybe it’s a meet up drinking night at the local dive. You never know what it might turn into.

Together we can and will be a strong force in this industry.

But right now we are spreading out and it’s up to us all to remember that and work on changing things.

See you all in March!

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Special Awards Edition 2013

11

ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS INCLUDING ®

BEST PICTURE

Produced by GIL NETTER • ANG LEE • DAVID WOMARK

SOCIETY OF CAMERA OPERATORS BOARD OF GOVERNORS

CAMERA OPERATOR Special awardS edition 2013

OFFICERS

COMMITTEE CHAIRS

President .................................... Chris Tufty Vice President ..........................Steve Fracol Vice President .................... David Frederick Vice President ....................... Michael Scott Recording Secretary..................... Dan Gold Treasurer ................................Daniel Turrett Sergeant-at-Arms ..................... Mark August

Awards ............................... David Frederick Charities .................................Bonnie Blake Communications ......................... Dan Gold Constitution & By-Laws ............... Dan Gold Corporate Liaison ................... Mark August, David Frederick COY Awards .......................Rochelle Brown East Coast SOC Rep................Alec Jarnagin Education .................................Steve Fracol Events...................................... Mark August Historical........................... Georgia Packard Magazine Editor .............. Jennifer Braddock Membership .........................David Tondeur Merchandising & Brad Greenspan, Promotions ..................Rochelle Brown Newsletter Editor ......................... Dan Gold Public Relations/Publicity ...........Rich Davis Publications.........................Douglas Knapp Technical Standards......... David Emmerichs

BOARD MEMBERS AT LARGE Bonnie Blake Dan Coplan Rich Davis Mitch Dubin David Emmerichs Eric Fletcher Michael Frediani Samuel “Buddy” Fries

Robert Gorelick Chris Haarhoff Alec Jarnagin Douglas Knapp Kenji Luster Denis Moran Georgia Packard Heather Page

STAFF AND CONSULTANTS Office Administrator ...............Diana Penilla Accountant.....................Alla Ratynets, CPA Bookkeeper ................................. Ana Chan Assistant Bookkeeper............. Erica Frediani Web Administrator .............Alena Cochrane Publications Manager ..........Douglas Knapp Publications Layout ................Lynn Lanning Publishers........................ IngleDodd Media Calligrapher............................... Carrie Imai Legal Reps ............... Jonothan Feldman Esq, Magasinn & Feldman

is a registered trademark.

All rights reserved.

Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jennifer Braddock Managing Ed/Art Director . . . . . . . Lynn Lanning Post-Production Manager . . Douglas Knapp sOC Cover Photo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Claire Folger Production Coordinators. . . . . IngleDodd Media Advertising Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Dan Dodd

For display advertising information, contact: Dan Dodd (310) 207-4410 x236 fax: (310) 207-1055 Dan@IngleDodd.com

CONTRIBUTORS

For article submissions, please contact: SOC Attn Magazine PO Box 2006 Toluca Lake, CA 91610 Phone (818) 382-7070 email: camopmag@soc.org

Colin Anderson sOC Jennifer Braddock Albert Carreras David Frederick sOC Michael Frediani sOC Dan Gold sOC Sawyer Gunn Douglas Knapp sOC Lynn Lanning Alan J Mehlbrech sOC

Zac Nicholson aCO Georgia Packard sOC Robert Presley sOC Luke Redgrave aCO David Tolsky sOC David Tondeur Chris Tufty sOC Dan Turrett sOC Shannon Washburn

Subscription Rates: USA $20/year; Outside USA $28/year (U.S. Funds Only) Subscribe online at www.SOC.org

PHOTOGRAPHY John Bramley Phil Bray Beth Dubber James Fisher Claire Folger David Frederick sOC Brad Greenspan

Jose Haro Morrie Kagan Giles Keyte Laurie Sparham Hopper Stone Robert Zuckerman

Camera Operator is published 3 times a year by the Society of Camera Operators

Visit the SOC web site

© 2013 by the Society of Camera Operators

www.SOC.org

3i-291814370: Custom Interior for Panasonic HPX370 3i-221710C300: Custom Interior for Canon C300

News & Notes

What’s going on with members and in the industry

SOC meets ACO

GILES KEYTE

D

Christopher Plevins, ACO and David Tondeur, SOC

avid Tondeur, SOC membership chair, met with Christopher Plevins, president of the Association of Camera Operators, at a wonderful old English pub in Buckinghamshire just north of London.

One of the reasons for the get-together between the British and American organizations was to hand over some SOC merchandise and many copies of our magazine in a friendly gesture between the two societies. This was much appreciated by Chris who wished everyone a great New Year from our English colleagues. We have many UK based members in SOC and are recruiting more!

Read more about the ACO on page 45.

Introducing

SOC takes part in seminar

A the

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special seminar was created for SOC members and guests in Northern California to discuss the Art & Craft of Camera Operating, relationships with DPs, and the trials and tribulations of working in our business.

Panelists were Al Gonzalez SOC, Hiro Narita ASC, Michael Frediani SOC, Tim Bellen SOC and Doug Stanley SOC. The panel was moderated by Hugh Litfin SOC. To access the video: https://files.secureserver. net/4sx59LtwH19HWI Special Awards Edition 2013

LOCAL 600 INTERNATIONAL CINEMATOGRAPHERS GUILD

The InTernaTIonal CInemaTographers guIld CongraTulaTes our members: bruCe maCCallum soC, baIrd sTepToe, melIssa moseley smpsp and Woody omens asC on TheIr aChIevemenT. www.cameraguild.com

Congratulations! Woody Omens, ASC Over the years you have inspired and guided us.

We are proud to call you our teacher, our colleague, our friend.

Victor Kemper, ASC David Kirschner Douglas Knapp, SOC Sarah Levy Emi Macuaga Paul Maibaum, ASC Gray Marshall Doe Mayer Albert Mayer, Jr Albert Mayer, Sr Bill McDonald Rich Miller Eric Nazarian Kelly Richard Melissa Roth Milt Shefter Michael Scott, SOC Garrett Smith Ralph Smith Kees Van Oostrum, ASC Andrew Waruszewski Richard Weinberg Martha Winterhalter

Steve Campanelli, SOC BETH DUBBER

Patty Armacost Brian Avery Paul Babin, SOC Christos Bitsakos Rosemary Brandenburg Alice Brooks Christopher Chomyn, ASC Jon M. Chu Curtis Clark, ASC Nelson Cragg Craig Di Bona, ASC George Spiro Dibie, ASC John Ealer Dianne Farrington Michael Fimognari Bob Fisher Gordie Haakstad Dan Haas Frieder Hochheim Herb Hughes Levi Isaacks, ASC Lindsay Jang Rick Jewell

Campanelli at book signing

C

lint Eastwood—Master Filmmaker at Work (inset) is a new book that talks about all the people that have been with Clint for a while, about his filmmaking style and how he relates to his crew and cast on set. Author Michael Goldman got some of his stories from Eastwood’s long-time camera operator, Stephen Campanelli SOC, and the book includes quite a few pictures of Steve as well.

Goldman had a book signing at Larry Edmunds Bookshop in Hollywood, and Campanelli was there to answer questions from the audience about what it’s like to work with Clint, about their relationship, and about how the great director works with the camera operator more than the DP. “I told a few personal stories,” said Steve. “It was a great event with a great turnout and we had a lot of fun.”

To purchase SOC item, go to soc.org and click on “Store” SOC totes; SOC t-shirt with slogan on back; SOC cap—multiple colors available in all

back of shirt

10

Camera OperatOr: News & NOtes

Special Awards Edition 2013

IntroducIng

claIrmont In-camera FIlter SyStem For arrI alexa Behind-the-Lens ND Filter Solution Working closely with Schneider Optics, the famed Clairmont Camera team has designed a custom assembly that holds interchangeable Schneider Optics filters in front of the Alexa’s CMOS sensor assembly. This innovative kit includes a specially designed magnetic filter holder that replaces the light baffle in the Alexa camera. Once in place, the new assembly allows secure mounting and precise positioning of the specially manufactured, ultra-precision Schneider filters.

Available with Schneider Optic's IRND filters which earned a 2012 Technical Emmy® for IRND Technology

Magnetic Filterholder replaces Alexa Light Baffle The Standard In-Camera Filter Kit consists of an in-camera filter holder, shims (to compensate for focus change resulting from the behind the lens filter), a filter installation tool and seven mounted Schneider Ultra Precision Multi-Coated In-Camera Filters: Clear, IRND .3, .6, .9, 1.2, 1.5 & 1.8. Net holders and streak filters will be available. With the new system, a Camera Assistant can change filters quickly and easily. The genuine Schneider Optics filters are all high efficiency multi-layer coated to minimize flare and ghosting.

Filters (7 pcs) Filterholder Shims PL & LDS Filter insertion & extraction tool Spanner wrench for light baffle Beauty ring for use when not filtering

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THANK YOU FOR STANDING BEHIND OUR CAMERAS. Canon would like to thank The Society of Camera Operators for recognizing the advances made by the Canon EOS C300 and EOS C500 cameras.

We are grateful to receive an SOC Technical Achievement Award and congratulate those with whom we share this honor.

Š2013 Canon U.S.A., Inc. All rights reserved. Canon and EOS are registered trademarks of Canon Inc. in the United States and may also be registered trademarks or trademarks in other countries.

A

s the size of our image capturing devices continues to decrease and we see more and more consumer cameras working on large productions, the line continues to blur between consumer and pro equipment. I’ve been attending the Consumer Electronics Show for many years, and this year I decided to spend time checking out some of these prosumer products.

I had a special visit with Larry Thorpe, Senior Fellow of the Professional Engineering and Solutions Division, CANON, Inc. Mr Thorpe attended CES to accept a Technical Emmy Award for Canon’s advancements in CMOS sensor technology.

Larry Thorpe: “2008 is when we introduced the 5D MK II. Although the technical specs were not on par with professional cameras, people were quite surprised with the subjective quality of the images. The next thing we knew Hollywood started using it, which led to enormous pressure to add a 24fps upgrade. Larry Thorpe “Professionals loved the handling of it, the compact size. It was only $2.5k and it had a full frame sensor. That led to an increasing volume of voices who asked us if we would consider developing a more professional video camera for cinematography.

“For the Cinema EOS line we decided to develop a special new sensor for motion imaging because the 5D’s sensor was developed primarily for stills. The Cinema EOS sensor is Super 35mm and we improved how we get the information out of the sensor. We do it like nobody else. We could now also operate at very high frame rates, and we

Special Awards Edition 2013

BRAD GREENSPAN

By David Tolsky SOC

BRAD GREENSPAN

2013

out to initially attract the action sports went to 4K with the C500, Super HD. “The C500 would do better HD plus market, like ski jumping and BMX racing. It is a basic camera for a basic 4K and the C100 would do low cost need, therefore no aperture settings or HD. Then came what I call our secret lens settings. It takes a micro SD card weapon, the Canon EOS 1DC DSLR, 4K in a full frame sensor, a very compact currently up to 32g capacity. About 1 gig equals 15 minutes of video. It camera with on board capture of 4K. shoots at 25fps for a good balance of “Today we formally announced two stitching images and video frame rate. additional primes: a 14mm wide and a “The camera is scheduled to go into 135mm, giving us a total of 4 zooms production in February with a release and 5 primes lenses, all with 4K sometime in the summer of 2013.” performance.” °°°°° °°°°° LIQUID IMAGE started manufacturI stopped by the GEONAUTE booth to speak with Justin Schneller, Product ing camera electronics in 2008, launchManager. Geonaute ing their first underwater developed a 360° camera mask. The compact action current version of this camera. Just under 7 diving mask has a oz, it fits in the palm built-in 8 megapixel of your hand. The camera. It does 1080p camera has 3 optics, HD at 30 fps and 720p each with an 8 at 60 fps, with 12 megaThe Geonaute 360° Action Camera pixel still images. megapixel single sensor for 24 mp The Apex HD Plus total. Each optic gets its own individual is their top of the line snow goggles, image at a wide angle. The individual winning “Best of Innovations in images get “stitched” together with the Personal Electronics” this year at CES. hardware on the camera. From there It has a rotating lens that can be tilted they output a single Mp4 file up to 30° to capture your action. The which is a beautiful flat 360° “Plus” is for the Wi-Fi feature so your panoramic image. buddy can activate your camera and its Justin Schneller: “When controls while you concentrate on the filming a sphere, the only part sport. we don’t film is directly below Liquid Image doesn’t stop at water the camera. You have to and snow. Off roaders are also well imagine the field of view in taken care of. The Torque models the horizontal plane is 360°. feature the same concept of the rotating The vertical plane from the lens and the same features as the snow top dead center is 150° down. models: Wi-Fi for iOs and Android, “There is a small cone 1080p at 30 fps, 720p at 60fps and a underneath the camera we continuous shot mode. The company don’t capture because has many more of the dead spot there. That’s models including the sphere. We cut that sphere, All-Sports and open it up and lay it flat and mountable you get this beautiful panomotorcycle and ramic. It’s like you’re where bicycle Ego the camera was. cameras. They “You take a frame and you have a 3D can move around within that housing as well sphere and look at what you as a panorama Liquid Image Explorer Series mount utilizing want to. With your iPad you snorkeling camera mask can use your finger to move 3rd party software for the stitching within the sphere or you can of the images. They even have camouuse the accelerometer to use motion flage camera goggles for paintball control to move around.

“With the 360° camera, Geonaute set competitions.

Camera OperatOr: News & NOtes

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Penny Marshall

by Robert Presley soc

Photos by Robert Zuckerman Š 2012 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

Whip Whitaker (Denzel Washington) is bombarded by reporters.

F

rom director Robert Zemeckis comes a new live-action feature, Flight, which takes the audience on one heck of a ride. Academy Award winner Denzel Washington returns to the big screen as Whip Whitaker, a seasoned airline pilot who miraculously crash lands a passenger airplane after a mid-air accident.

After the crash, Whip is recognized as a hero, but soon more questions arise as to what really happened on that plane…

Robert Presley SOC has spent the better part of the past 10 years working as a DP on performance capture movies produced/directed by Robert Zemeckis (The Polar Express, Beowulf, A Christmas Carol, Mars Needs Moms). Back behind the camera on Flight, Presley has teamed up with Zemeckis again for this actionpacked thriller. Presley reminisces about returning to his hometown and working in a real airplane set.

Whip (Denzel Washington) gives instructions to his crew as the plane dives.

Old Friends

I’ve known Bob (Robert Zemeckis) since 1999 when we worked on Cast Away. I have a really good understanding of how he tells a story with the camera. Flight was my 6th picture with Bob and 7th working with DP Don Burgess.

Don and I got out of sync for many years while I worked with Bob on his performance capture movies, but we fell right back into a wonderful rhythm immediately on Flight.

Don and I have very similar sensibilities when it comes to camera movement and composition so working with him again was very easy, comfortable and natural even though we hadn’t been on a set together in about 5 years.

Flight was a bit of a departure for Bob in that a lot of the shots were designed on set after seeing the rehearsal with the actors. There was a lot of discussion in pre-production as to how we were going to achieve the shots for the sequences on the plane. Since we were working with an actual airplane as a set and there were no wild walls, camera placement and movement were going to be very tricky and needed to be well thought out. The creativity and ingenuity of filmmakers always amazes me but Production Designer Nelson Coates, Special Effects Supervisor Michael Lantieri, and of course Bob and Don all really outdid themselves on this movie. The airplane sets (cockpit and passenger cabin) were practical sets

18

Camera OperatOr: Flight

so it wasn’t hard to get immersed into the reality of the set.

But when they were hooked up to a variety of mechanisms that moved them in a realistic way, it was impossible at times not to feel like you were in an actual plane. All of the pitching, banking and shaking felt incredibly real and also was the source of many bumps, bruises and knots on the head!

Denzel’s character, Whip, spends much of the movie in various states of intoxication. Bob and Denzel had assigned levels to his intoxication and the camera movement would also reflect this. In general, we tried to shoot scenes where Whip was either high or intoxicated with the Steadicam to help reinforce his state. We employed handheld cameras with very wide lenses for some of the shots of Whip snorting cocaine. There were also some pretty radical moves in association with those scenes that really couldn’t have been done with any camera but the RED Epic. We were able to strip the camera down to such a small package that I was able to move it around rapidly, with the ability to go from a very low angle to above my head with no problem. Bob and Don’s approach with lenses was to maintain fairly wide lenses at all times. This really connects the character with the environment as well as connecting the audience with the characters.

Don and Bob were both very open to my input and gave me a tremendous amount of freedom, especially with the Special Awards Edition 2013

Steadicam shots. Don is exceptional at lighting a set to enable me to have the most freedom to improvise and adjust with the actors. He’s not one to really pin me in with lights and flags. We’re also on headsets during the shot so we’re able to communicate even during the take, allowing for adjustments on the fly.

Bob spent a lot of time doing previsualization on the crash sequence and that really helped us understand the shots he was trying to achieve. He used a process that we had used extensively for the performance capture movies wherein he took a CG version of the plane and a small handheld camera and blocked out each individual shot in the computer. The editor cut that footage together and we all had a common understanding of what he wanted to achieve. Then the dilemma of how to execute each shot began. Again, most of those shots couldn’t have been done with a larger camera than the RED Epic because the surroundings were unbelievably tight, especially in the cockpit. Key Grip Michael Coo and dolly grip Mike Brennan also designed a very small dolly that ran down the center aisle of the passenger cabin enabling us to rush from one end of the plane to another.

Teamwork Matters Flight was a good example how we could operate most efficiently to save time for production as well as insure the best movie possible. While I was in the plane being jostled about, concentrating on the physicality of getting the shot, Don could be at the monitor with Bob discussing the shot, the scene and the work ahead. It helps the entire process that the DP and director focus on the film as a whole while I the

operator take care of the specific shot at hand. I firmly believe that it is in the best interest of the production for the director, DP and camera operator to work as a team.

New Challenges We discovered our only limitation was the size of the plane.

There were so many shots where we wanted to use a Technocrane or some type of arm, but the space was just too small.

We were able to use a Technocrane for many of the shots of the plane inverting. The passenger cabin was a separate piece that we could put on a device that was dubbed “the rotisserie” which would completely invert the plane. When we wanted the plane to rotate around the camera, we were able to stick the Technocrane inside the fuselage and let the plane do the rest. The challenge for us (and for visual effects supervisor Kevin Baillie) was that the fuselage was only ½ the size of the actual plane. So for every shot we did, we had to do it again for the rest of the fuselage. The visual effects artists would later stitch the two halves together, making the plane twice as long as the one we had on set.

The whole point of the rotisserie was to turn the plane upside down. There was no other way to simulate what it would look like if a plane flew inverted. We needed to see objects fall, women’s hair hanging upside down, etc. There is also a major story point involving Nadine Velazquez’s character that required the plane and all of its passengers to be inverted. But for safety reasons, most of the passengers were stunt people for the portions of complete inversion.

They all certainly got the ride of their life—over and over and over…

The plane inverted on the “rotisserie.”

Special Awards Edition 2013

Camera OperatOr: Flight

19

The challenge for Steadicam in regards to the plane was simply space—the shot of Whip entering the plane before takeoff was really tight, trying to navigate extras and the very cramped quarters of an aircraft. We also did some Steadicam shots in the cockpit during the takeoff sequence where we were getting jostled around by the physical effects guys, simulating turbulence. There were a couple of occasions where the rig almost got away from me because of the extreme change in direction of the cockpit.

Filming through the cockpit window

Who was in the cockpit when we filmed depended on the situation. We did some shots where the camera was mounted looking in a side window of the cockpit where we shot across one actor to another. But for much of the crash sequence, we would remove one actor in order to shoot the other. For example, to shoot Denzel in the pilot’s seat, we would ask Brian Geraghty, who played co-pilot Ken Evans, to step off set and read the lines with Denzel via Denzel’s headset. So they were able to communicate with one another easily during the shot.

All the actors involved in the cockpit sequence were really wonderful about working without the other actors present— there was really no other way to do it because of the space limitations. Most of the time, “B” camera operator Michael Burgess and I would both cram ourselves into the co-pilot’s seat in order to get two angles on Denzel, one of us in the seat and the other in the footwell. To say that it was cramped is a massive understatement. Add to that the intense amount of turbulence we had and it made for quite the E-ticket ride.

Another challenge came when Whip goes to the hangar to see the wreckage. This scene was almost 5 pages long and the entire scene was done on Steadicam, so needless to say that was a very long day.

I did a lot of handheld work on Flight, especially during the plane crash sequence. The approach was always the same: what is the best way to convey the story for this shot? Don Steinberg experimented with many different handheld configurations during pre-production and that really helped us choose the best set up for each shot. There were times during the sequence where Whip rolls the plane that I had to roll the handheld camera 180 degrees as well. Don configured the camera with a handle on each side enabling me to execute a handheld 180 degree roll. Again the size and light weight of the Epic were crucial in executing these shots.

I think the biggest transition from film to digital is that I’m not looking through an optical viewfinder with digital. As a result, it’s much harder to spot a lot of the things I used to see while looking through the viewfinder. I operated almost all of Flight by looking at an onboard monitor. This really helped with some of the physically more difficult shots because I didn’t have to deal with the restraint of keeping my eye to the eyepiece. It also helped to have both eyes open and aware of the surroundings so that I was prepared to react to the action and changing conditions.

The Team I grew up in Atlanta and started in the business there but haven’t had the chance to work in Atlanta since around 1993.

Going Digital We used RED Epics and Master Prime lenses. The physical size of the camera and the ability to build it in different configurations was the biggest advantage to the RED. I also really loved the lighter weight of the Epic when it came to shooting Steadicam. There were several very long scenes that were shot entirely on Steadicam and I was very happy to be carrying around much less weight. “A” camera 1st AC Don Steinberg was an expert on all things related to the RED Epic and was invaluable to me since this was my first movie with the Epic.

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Kelly Reilly as Nicole Special Awards Edition 2013

It was wonderful to see old friends on the crew that I haven’t seen in years as well as visiting all the places I knew and loved in my home town.

I had worked with dolly grip Mike Brennan before and he is a very special talent indeed. The relationship between the dolly grip and camera crew is very close and I consider Mike to be another camera operator, and an exceptional one at that.

He has such a tremendous understanding of camera movement and storytelling that it made my job so much easier.

He also happens to be one of the nicest people on the set.

I had also had a lot of experience with key grip Michael Coo and gaffer Raphael Sanchez. These guys are incredibly experienced and always have the best interest of the movie in mind, just incredible collaborators. The “A” camera crew consisted of myself, 1st AC Don Steinberg and 2nd AC Doug Price. The “B” camera crew was operator Michael Burgess, 1st AC Jeff Civa and 2nd AC Trey Twitty. Our DIT was Mark Gilmer. Jeff and Trey were local hires in Atlanta and did a magnificent job.

The cast on Flight was just incredible. John Goodman brought much needed humor to the set. Don Cheadle and Bruce Greenwood were incredibly prepared and professional as well as easy to work with. Kelly Reilly was amazing as Nicole. She did a very convincing southern accent for a British woman and as a native Atlantan myself, I would know! She had some really tough scenes to do but was very focused and always helpful to us. But of course the real treat was working with Denzel. His commitment to this character and his concentration was inspiring to watch. There were so many times on the show that I just got completely lost in his performance, especially in his last big monologue of the film.

The entire cast was very savvy and helpful to the camera department on this show.

We were given the time to work out technical issues, but there were many sensitive scenes where once we got the basics down, we just went for it. I’ve never had a problem “shooting the rehearsal” because there is a lot of magic that can happen with the spontaneity. I just always tell the director that along Special Awards Edition 2013

COURTESY OF ROBERT PRESLEY SOC

At the crash scene

Camera operator Robert Presley SOC filming Whip’s POV as he’s dragged from the wreckage.

with the magic, you can get some mistakes when we’re not all sure exactly what will happen. In general though, we had a pretty traditional workflow on this movie when it came to rehearsing.

We did however have one tough shot to pull off, a shot that transitions time passing right at the end of the movie. It was basically a poor man’s motion control shot done with a Libra head on a small arm on the dolly. We did the “A” side of the shot at one location and the “B” side weeks later at a different location. The shot involved pushing into Whip from a wide shot to an extreme close up, then dollying around him and pulling back to reveal he is now in another location. The shot continues moving around him to give the audience a good look at the new location.

This was incredibly difficult and a great testament to the talents of Don Steinberg, Mike Brennan and “B” camera dolly grip Tripp Pair. There were marks and measurements Camera OperatOr: Flight

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everywhere on the “A” side so that we could duplicate the move at the “B” side location. The focus pull was really tough on Steinberg because we got right down to minimum focus on the ECU. The speed of the camera move had to match exactly from the two locations or the effect would not work. That was a great example of the teamwork that goes into making a successful shot.

Being an Operator I always tell people that want to be operators and DPs that apprenticeship is still the best route to those positions. I think you have to spend time learning and studying before you can take on the roll of operator. I would never recommend to anyone to simply buy a Steadicam and think that that automatically makes them an operator. There is far more to the job of operating than keeping someone inside the frame lines and it can only be learned by spending years on set. I don’t think one needs to do Steadicam to be successful as an operator, but it certainly helps in today’s ever more budget-conscious industry.

Operators need knowledge and experience beyond simply framing a shot. We need to work with all of the departments and understand what they all do on set. We need to have a firm grasp of editing. We need to know when to speak up and when not to speak up. We need to have worked with enough actors that we can understand their different techniques and how they like to work. Operating can be a political minefield on set and since a movie’s heart and soul centers around the camera, an operator had better be prepared to navigate that minefield.

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Director Robert Zemeckis (center) and camera operator Robert Presley SOC (far right)

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The Perks of Being a Wallflower

by Alan J Mehlbrech soc

Photos by John Bramley Š 2011 Summit Entertainment, LLC. All rights reserved.

Mae Whitman, Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller, and Erin Wilhelmi.

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he Perks of Being a Wallflower, written by Stephen Chbosky, was first published in 1999 by MTV. Required reading in some schools and banned in others, the comingof-age story follows an adolescent in his freshman year of high school, exploring topics of introversion, abuse, drugs, sexuality, and awkwardness. Chbosky adapted his own novel as a screenplay and directed it himself.

“B” Camera Operator Alan J Mehlbrech SOC (Elementary, A Gifted Man, Nurse Jackie, Bored to Death) talks about taking a break from episodic and why this was such a great experience for him.

Charlie (Logan Lerman) and Sam (Emma Watson) talk at a dance.

Trust and Crew

It was day 3. “A” Camera was getting set up for an interior scene and I was offering up a “B” Camera shot—something off axis—and the DP, Andrew Dunn BSC, looked at me across the room and said, “Just go ahead. I trust you.” It was such a joy to work with Andrew. We sort of communicated mind to mind. I had a sense of where he was with every scene and I could just get things moving at the start of each set up.

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I interviewed with Peter Agliata (“A” Camera Operator) as Andrew was already prepping and had no time to get to New York. When Peter interviewed me for the job we hit it off right away. He’s become a good friend. He was open, and like Andrew, gave me room to wiggle. He was there at the monitor when I was doing Steadicam, giving me notes.

He was always full of support throughout the shoot.

Derek Smith was my focus puller and Patrick Quinn Special Awards Edition 2013

was “A” focus puller; we brought in a dolly grip from New York, Brendan Lowry, and then hired locals from there. Once we got our names straight, everybody moved forward.

The day before shooting started was the first I spoke to Andrew. I remember talking with him about why he took the job. He said it was really because of Stephen Chbosky, who was a first-time director as well as the writer of both the book and the screenplay. Andrew said you could tell that this project was from the heart—the whole thing, Stephen’s creation, exuded from him. I think all of the cast got on

For the tunnel scene we used a process trailer for coverage.

Andrew had the Ultimate Arm brought in for wider shots in that sequence. The storyboards were reviewed and off they went. This is the shot that wraps around the front of the truck as Emma Watson stands in the back with arms stretched out and ends as they exit the tunnel. They did the first take, landed back at base camp and showed the playback to us. We were just all in awe of what was happening, and we were excited. Emma Watson was even crying. We knew we had something good going.

Sam (Emma Watson) flying the tunnel in the back of a pickup truck.

board with that. There were no real egos when it came to performing the work. Everyone was there to tell Stephen’s story.

Young cast, low budget The setting of the story was Pittsburgh, and we shot almost entirely on location. Emma Watson arrived the second week and we immediately started shooting the tunnel sequence.

We had three nights in the tunnel. I think the first or second pass through the tunnel she rolled down the window and stuck her head out and screamed right into my camera!

We were at the right spot with the right lens and just nailed it. She was totally committed. That was my favorite scene to shoot. There was very little dialogue. They were all just moving fast in the wind. You could see that they were completely invested. And of course the fact that it was 4:00 in the morning helped too.

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The most challenging thing—I think it’s the basis of most filmmaking—is that it was a low-budget feature. It was a relatively short shoot schedule—8 weeks. We were told from the beginning how little time we had, and sometimes we had limited actor accessibility. We had Joan Cusack for a day. We also had Paul Rudd—the English teacher—for one day. Rudd’s scenes are spread throughout the film; he serves as a marker of sorts for how the main character, Charlie (Logan Lerman), is progressing. We had to establish a sense of their first day of school and move through these marked moments to their last day of school in June, all inside a 12 hour shoot.

We had to make snow in June and shoot super wide and shoot super tight. There were a lot more nights than we’d anticipated, but that’s what happens with a script about high school students—you either spend time in the classroom or you’re out on adventures after class.

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Party night: Charlie (Logan Lerman) listens; Mary Elizabeth (Mae Whitman) and Patrick (Ezra Miller) joke around;Alice (Erin Wilhelmi) tunes out.

The cast had a lot of fun with the Rocky Horror Picture Show sequences. The crowd filling in as the audience was the Pittsburgh Rocky Horror crowd, and they just really got into it. We shot the scenes at the Hollywood Theater in Dormont, where Stephen had seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show as a youth.

Equipment

Andrew before, and he told me what to expect. After the rehearsal, Andrew would have a conversation with the director and then he’d turn to the operators and say, “I think we’re looking at this.” And then we’d walk away and figure out what mode would work best—dolly, Steadicam, handheld, etc. He gave us a lot of freedom. Then he’d return to the gaffer and the grip and start lighting. By the time everything was sort of moving along, we had our frames, and we could move the equipment or start tweaking it. It was a really efficient way to work. It gave us a lot of responsibility. It made us understand more what the scene was about.

We shot Panavision 35mm Fuji film stock. It was so nice to shoot film. There’s a rhythm about film that lends itself to this kind of storytelling. There wasn’t any of the “let’s just keep rolling,” which can be easily and Logan Lerman moves aside to let Alan Mehlbrech film a closeup of Charlie’s cheaply done on digital. It was more notebook, with the help of 1st AC Derek Smith. DP Andrew Dunn BSC is in straightforward filmmaking—not a lot the background. of action, not a lot of need to run for too long. Andrew has always shot film, so given his history, it wasn’t surprising that we were using it for this project. He knows his way through that palette. His lighting is intuitive to the scene, non-invasive.

Shooting Style We ran two cameras 90% of the time. It was a very heavy “B” camera job. We sat out only on two scenes due to the small size of the location. Every day we were in there getting something done. There was no overriding theme such as “if this is an emotional scene it has to be handheld.”

There were only one or two stage days. We shot everything else on location, so they would rehearse the scene, and then we’d start planning. Peter had worked with

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The only time I remember grabbing for shots, with little idea of an overall plan, was in the cafeteria fistfight scene— that was handheld. It was quite a process to stage for the actors. And it seemed like a bigger deal during filming than it ended up being in the movie. I remember reaching and grasping for pieces and moments, but when I saw it cut together on screen, it was fluid, as if it had all just happened that way.

I’m always surprised at what doesn’t make the movie. I

the couch, and try to use what we had at the moment. I remember Peter came up after the first take and said, “I can sense that you really have him.” I was trying to keep the Steadicam post in perfect alignment with his spine—trying to just gracefully take his momentum from his center and find his path through this journey, this party, all that he’s going through, tripping acid on, and find that walk through the crowd. Some takes were more successful, and when I saw the edit, it seemed to read. I was happy with that shot,

Patrick (Ezra Miller) and Sam (Emma Watson) in a frenzied dance.

invest time and labor in a shot, can’t wait to see it on screen, but then on the way out of the theater I think, wait a minute, where did it go? The story didn’t suffer at all.

It’s interesting to watch the process when it leaves your hands and you just have to let it go. You try to give the director and DP and the audience and the editor and everyone the best shot for that moment, and you do a number of takes, and you also know that the other camera is rolling. Sometimes there was a third camera rolling on this feature. And you know that you caught a special moment, and you’re hoping that the editor will find it. But when that moment doesn’t make it to the screen and the movie doesn’t suffer, it feels a little strange—albeit a good strange.

When Logan—Charlie—takes acid and is walking through the party, we had talked days earlier about staging a very long through-the-house wandering Steadicam shot. Then because of the constraints of time and background and lighting and everything, we realized that we were just going to walk him from the dining room in through the kitchen to sit down on Special Awards Edition 2013

especially since we were going to do something much grander at one point in our conversations about that scene.

Steadicam and the zen of operating I teach the Steadicam workshops in Pennsylvania with Garrett Brown through the Steadicam Operators Association sponsored by Tiffen. It is a week long intensive course offered twice a year and people come from all over the world.

Garrett’s there, along with Steadicam operators Jerry Holway and Mike O’Shea among others. Each time, we have 20 students who are really enthusiastic about wanting to become Steadicam operators, and it’s the highlight of the year in some ways. You get to spend time with people who have left everything to focus on Steadicam and operating for 6 days.

It comes back to the same thing, the enthusiasm and the curiosity for camera operating. That week renews my interest as well. I get a fresh look at what it means to move the camera and sort out the possibilities of setting my aesthetics on someone else’s story line.

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operating Steadicam. Notice how the operator is correcting, reaching for things with the frame, how long the camera spends with one eye and then finds the other eye, those kinds of subtleties.

Short term job, Long term experience

Charlie makes a snow angel.

When the newer students are looking for insight to operating, I tell them to take their favorite movie, turn off the sound, put on some music that would be conducive to the film, put a dot in the middle of the screen with a piece of tape or a grease pencil and just watch the movie. That’s what the camera operator is doing. If you already know the story line, that’s what you’re looking at through the eyepiece or in the monitor as you’re

DP Andrew Dunn BSC and writer/director Stephen Chbosky

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The good thing about television is the groove—you get to show up every day and practice your craft.

That whole thing about being present and trying to give the best that you can at that moment— sometimes it can be really difficult given the hours, especially over a 24 episode season. But you see the fruits much quicker, you see the rewards much quicker, and it sharpens you as an operator.

Things can be little more precious on features. Movies all have a point where you know we’re going to go home soon and we won’t be doing this particular project any more, especially when you’re on location and you know you’re not coming back.

Obviously it’s a different feel—the group that you create, the sort of family or tribe that you’re working with.

I think that the enthusiasm that we felt a lot on the set of Perks of Being a Wallflower truly shines in the film.

We were all there to make this story, especially Andrew and the camera department, and I think it really shows.

“B” Camera Operator Alan J Mehlbrech SOC Special Awards Edition 2013

It's about story and the challenge of shaping a visual language that is true and organic to the dramatic demands.

Choosing the right tools is a fundamental part of that process. I can count on Clairmont Camera. Their deep inventory of lenses, accessories and impeccable service allow me the freedom to create.

Michael Slovis ASC

www.clairmont.com

Les Miserables: ` from stage to screen

by Zac Nicholson aco and Luke Redgrave aco

Photos: Laurie Sparham/Universal Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

Hugh Jackman (Valjean) carries Anne Hathaway (Fantine) to the hospital.

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COURTESY OF ZAC NICHOLSON ACO

ictor Hugo’s novel Les Misérables, first published in 1862, became a major stage musical in 1985. Translating it to film required the vision of Director Tom Hooper and the talents of the creative team from the stage version, plus an additional writing team, a huge ensemble cast headed by Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway and Amanda Seyfried, and an enormous crew.

Unlike most movie musicals the majority of the singing in Les Misérables was done live as the actors performed, often in quite challenging conditions. This meant songs could be full of emotion, not simply belted out over playback.

The production needed three full-time camera crews, with more added when necessary. “A” camera operator Zac Nicholson aco (Johnny English Reborn, The King’s Speech, Pirate Radio, This is England) and “B” camera operator Luke Redgrave aco (Jack Ryan, Mamma Mia) share memories of this amazing and unique project.

Zac Nicholson ACO had to find quieter knee pads to film Anne Hathaway singing.

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Demanding Style

just carried along by the crowd whilst desperately trying to Les Misérables was by far and away the most mentally and operate the camera. It really was the best fun you can have physically challenging job we’d ever had the privilege to work at work. on. It was shot in a relatively short space of time and at an Getting the sound extremely high tempo. Tom Hooper is a man who has huge All kinds of issues came up because of the cast singing live stamina, pace, and a razor sharp mind. He has exacting standards, and expects no less from his crew than he is willing all the time. We’re all used to working in conjunction with the sound department so they get good material, but when to give of himself. recording live singing in a musical it was even more crucial to Tom Hooper and Director of Photography Danny Cohen BSC were extremely clear about what they wanted in shot work together. We had to keep everything much quieter than conception, shot composition and style of each frame. The is normally required whilst filming. During any solos of the actors of course were being given the freedom to express main cast, you could have up to two operators handholding themselves; the operators were expected to adapt and change their blocking accordingly, still delivering interesting and challenging frames. We’d almost always shoot the rehearsal.

It was a tough shoot. It’s always quite a physical process with Tom, a great deal of handheld and a lot of Steadicam. We estimated that roughly 90% of the film was either handheld or Steadicam.

Handheld is absolutely part of Tom’s style. He likes the camera work to be quite visceral when it’s appropriate.

Also, he likes the camera to be as free as the actors. With that in mind, he prefers not Valjean (Hugh Jackman) is handed the candlesticks to be tied down to a dolly and which leads to “What Have I Done.” a track. This in turn gives the actors as much scope as they cameras, and with them of course two focus pullers, two want in terms of freedom of movement. We had some huge grips, and often one or two sparks [electricians] carrying sets, and Tom really enjoys having the cameras make use of handheld lights or reflectors. So a minimum of eight people the whole space. This would include running full pelt over all tiptoeing around while the singing was recorded live. One the rubble or going over a barricade, through a tiny gap in stray foot noisily banging into a chair leg could ruin a take. the doorway or through cracks—places where a dolly just Zac: Near the beginning of the film, Jean Valjean is in the wouldn’t go. It’s hard for a person carrying a camera to go there too. All the operators incurred a few bumps and scrapes chapel after being redeemed by the Bishop of Digne’s mercy.

We filmed the song “What Have I Done” as one continuous but somehow we found our way.

An example of this is when Marius—Eddie Redmayne—is Steadicam shot, although there are a couple of edits in the final badly wounded on the barricade. Hugh Jackman rescues him film. The camera traveled up and down that little chapel area, and involved fast tracking round Hugh Jackman when he by carrying him through the back of the café and crawling into a sewer to make good their escape. The camera of course turned on the spot. Tom was always very focused on shooting the song in a close-up, so that means you’re moving very fast follows him in. And when Hugh Jackman frees Russell and every time Hugh turned around, I’d have to track around Crowe ( Javert), they also take the same restricted route him extremely quickly. At that speed my shoes were making a through the back of the café.

When the students get charged by the cavalry, it wasn’t like noise that the sound recording was picking up. Simon Hayes, the production sound mixer asked me if it would be possible being in a riot, we actually were in a riot! There was no to operate without shoes, something that I would not entertain structure to it; the operators were just thrown into the riot, for a moment in normal circumstances, but as it was uniquely each with our own brief to stick to a particular principal critical to the process, we sent out for some “toasties” (socks artist. It was really just a question of trying to fight your way with sticky pads on the bottom) and continued with the scene. through, with the grips and focus pullers often acting as Simon who also has a black belt in jujitsu was very grateful, and blockers or minders to protect the operators. Often we were

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toasties may well have a new advertising angle.

camera and grip team were sent to dress up as peasants, students or soldiers, depending on which side of the street you were filming. Surprisingly this made such a huge difference that it was only on the second or third viewing of a take that you would notice, “Is that a camera on that peasant’s shoulder?”

The wardrobe department gave us all costumes we could easily work in, and which we all got quite attached to—if you came in one morning and saw somebody had pinched your hat or coat, you’d go off and reclaim it.

(See “A” camera team on page 63, “B” team below, and “C” on page 42.)

Then there was Samantha Barks’—Eponine’s—song “In the Rain.” As the song actually refers to the rain, it was crucial to the story that it was actually raining.

Obviously we had to keep the camera and crew dry, but unfortunately the rain hitting our waterproofs could be heard. Simon Hayes could also hear it hitting the camera and loudest of all on the polyboard reflector being carried by an electrician. To get around this we covered the cameras in soft fabric and we all wore sheets on Zac: If you look very very closely top of our waterproofs to muffle you might just be able to spot me the sound of the rain. Because and my crew in the deep background Danny wasn’t allowed to use his on a couple of occasions. During the polyboard reflector, all the camera Eponine (Samantha Barks) funeral just before the cavalry charge crews ended up being draped in on set for “In the Rain” when the students climb onto the white sheets to add a bit of bounce hearse you can see someone sitting light onto Samantha! Any guests on top of it at the back.

That’s actually me, with the grip on set that day would be forgiven for thinking Eponine was hanging onto me, trying to stop me from falling off, and the being followed by eight badly dressed ghosts. camera has been replaced [in post] with a flag. Later on you can The scene in the end, however, is a good example of how see the three of us crossing the street, apparently carrying a Tom likes to work. The shot is very much composed around box.

Unless you know where to look, it’s impossible to her performance. The camera with a wide angle lens stays spot—definitely one for the trainspotters out there. close to her, but all the while it has to visually reflect the story Peter Byrne the “A” focus puller does admit that on one being told through the song. The song refers to the light occasion he was running around the studio doing a handheld shining off the pavement, and so the camera eases back to reveal the shimmering pavement behind her. The street lights when he suddenly looked up and realized he was following the wrong person, and had no idea where the “A” camera was. have to be seen at the moment she refers to them, and the Our camera crew has been together for quite a long same with the figure passing in the background as it’s mentime—Pirate Radio, Johnny English Reborn, The King’s Speech tioned in the song. Tom always wanted to keep the frame and so on. As it was such a challenging and demanding shoot, moving, telling the story as it develops. All this has to be it was essential for us to have focus pullers and grips that we done on precise cues while never leaving this powerful had well-established working relationships with. They all close-up.

We shot every song all the way through without cutting, with a few exceptions such as “One Day More,” which although it’s an ensemble piece, has the actors appear in different locations.

Because we had three cameras running pretty much all the time, inevitably we’d get in each other’s shot in the big scenes like the funeral, the riot and the battles.

Tom very early on said, “If you see another camera in your frame, don’t worry about it; just keep doing your shot.” Unfortunately A, B and C cameras featured so heavily in each other’s shots that Tom came up with a new plan: “You should all just put costumes on because it will help when it comes to painting you out.”

Nothing sticks out in a student riot more than a “North Face” raincoat, especially when it’s in a crowd of students or peasants in early 19th century clothes.

Moaning and groaning, every morning the whole

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COURTESY OF ZAC NICHOLSON ACO

Blending In

“B” camera operator Luke Redgrave, with “A” camera in the background.

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COURTESY OF ZAC NICHOLSON ACO

The Technocrane stretches the length of the set’s main street.

Let’s make sure all the track is level for the Technocrane.

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Equipment We had three Arri LTs and one Arri ST. The LTs were perfect for all the handheld and Steadicam, but the ST although a good deal heavier is definitely quieter, so when we could, we switched to the ST for that extra level of silent running.

Shooting film vs digital?—absolutely film! Tom loves the medium, and so does Danny, They’re both very committed to shooting on film. Kodak is having a big revival this year.

There are many more big productions shooting on film than digital here in England.

When we had (as we often did) a particularly long take, we’d put a 1000´ mag on the camera, even though we were handheld, which gets quite heavy after a while. Sometimes we did a lot of takes, sometimes we didn’t. But we always needed to get a few takes that were good all the way through, as the songs did change and evolve. There were many days when the old legs took a bit of a beating.

Tom is passionate about all elements of filmmaking, but he’s particularly interested in camera and the composition.

He has his own visual style that the camera department understands because of the various jobs we’ve done together.

He loves to be close up on a wide lens. We shot a large amount of the film on 18mm.

Tom feels the 18mm in a close-up lets you really see a lot more of the set, the detail, and the other elements of story that may be happening at the same time. This style can give an element of richness in the actor’s performance. And so in this particular film where you’ve got some amazing vocal performances combined with great acting, we spent a lot of time really maintaining that visual style, even when it got quite tricky to do so.

1. Valjean is still singing “What Have I Done” as he exits the church and begins to tear up his papers. Note the harness on camera operator Zac Nicholson and the grip leading him backwards through the graveyard.

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performed admirably, and we couldn’t have done it without them.

The “A” 1st AC was Peter Byrne. 2nd AC was Abby Catto, with Grip Alex Mott. On “B” Camera we had 1st AC Leigh Gold, 2nd AC Max Glickman, and Grip Jody Knight. They performed heroically, with good humor and style throughout. The “C” camera operator was Vince McGahon ACO, with 1st AC John Ellis Evans and Grip Charlie Wall. Ben Brown was the central loader.

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Zac: A challenging shot for me was at the climax of “What Have I Done,” when Jean Valjean rushes from the church, runs through the graveyard ripping up his “ticket of leave” which identifies him as a convict, and throws it in the air. It was a shot that Tom and Danny had spent a long time developing and conceiving, and it was a very tough one to get right. It involved running backwards with the Steadicam at full speed, up a path with a sideways camber that the designer had built in the graveyard. At the end of the path was a crane platform saving me from a 20´ drop.

As I reached the platform and my grip clipped me on, Hugh’s character threw his 2. Zac Nicholson circles around and keeps the Steadicam close papers into the air and the crane soared to Hugh Jackman as they continue through the graveyard. into the sky following the pieces up into the clouds.

Tracking back very fast over quite tricky terrain, physically close to Hugh, and then trying to step onto the crane platform at the crucial moment and not fall off into the chasm meant a lot of elements had to come together at once. It also meant a lot of trust is placed in your team.

There were quite a few grips involved in that particular sequence. I had a grip leading me back up the winding path through the graves, a grip who was ballast to hold the crane platform down before I got onto it, and then a grip to shackle me onto the platform for safety. Three grips were swinging the arm.

The crane arm itself was on a scaffold tower.

It was crucial to have that many grips as my safety depended on them. Otherwise it could have gone horribly wrong.

3. Note the torn-up piece of Valjean’s papers flying above the church.

There is a paparazzi video of that moment Hugh Jackman stands next to the bright cross near the bottom corner of the wall. on YouTube. It shows the technical aspects of the shot quite well. In the end it was a classic Tom Hooper shot. http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=DjvhTXVZROs

One of the biggest challenges for all cameras was the filming of “Look Down,” the opening sequence of Les Misérables, which we filmed at Portsmouth dockyard. It is still a working dock even though it was built in the 17th century.

The dock was partially flooded, with the dock doors holding back the sea. “C” camera pulled the long straw that day and shot important details long lens from the relatively dry sides of the dock.

“A” camera was on a Hydroscope—a telescopic waterproof crane—with a waterproof Libra head.

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4. Zac Nicholson rides the crane back down after filming the bits of paper flying into the air.

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Challenging Shots

Hugh Jackman sings soaking wet.

An overview of the very wet drydock showing the equipment required for filming the scene.

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As the scene starts a couple of hundred convicts waist deep in water are pulling ropes that are hauling a huge frigate into the dock. The camera travels down one of the ropes to settle on a close up of Hugh Jackman.

The difficult aspects of the shot were the huge wind machines and rain effects and tip tanks constantly trying to take the camera off course. The tip tanks were so fierce that occasionally in the rushes you could see the grip come floating through the shot. He was in the water to catch the arm, but he’d get caught by a wave and get knocked off his feet.

“B” camera team members were up to our waists in the freezing water handholding a scubacam, and all the while those same tip tanks were throwing up to two tons of water directly at us, at intervals of 20 seconds. Wind machines and rain effects were very convincingly recreating a gale. So just staying on our feet was very difficult.

However, the scene in the end looks epic! And Hugh Jackman managed to put up with all of the above, stay in character and sing live, and he didn’t have a wet suit on!

“B” camera crew waist deep in the water.

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“C” camera crew at the barricade.

Those shots are just really good fun to do, because there’s no specific plan other than get that moment, get this moment, follow this person—you’re relying on your wits and following your instincts to get you through. The students threw a piano out the café window. The musical department was horrified, seeing a piano being destroyed like that. But Tom wanted the barricade to have some graphic qualities to it, and in retrospect, it makes perfect sense to have a smashed up piano in there. One of the students starts the song “Drink With Me” by tinkling on the piano sticking out of the barricade. That was definitely a one-off moment.

Director Tom Hooper (right) at the barricade.

DP Danny Cohen is back to his right in black.

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JAMES FISHER

Zac: On quite a few occasions we had to learn the music. For instance, for “Castle on a Cloud” there is an introduction that lasts 6 or 7 bars before the singing starts. The shot started with a 360 around the set, choreographed with background artists, and ended up discovering the young Cosette at the precise moment when she starts singing. This involved learning the intro and the time signature on it. We had a fantastic pianist in a glass box at the back of the studio and she had monitors so she could see what I was doing, We practiced over and over together. I’d give her a thumbs up on the camera and she’d give me a little tinkle on the piano and off we’d go. As a non musician, getting to grips with the musicality was a vital part of the process and one of the big challenges in shooting this film.

The actors and the operators all had earpieces in our ears so that we could hear the accompaniment of the pianist in her far off sound booth.

We could of course also hear the artist singing.

On top of that, it also meant that Tom could communicate with us during a take. It was tough getting used to, but it was essential for filming this particular job.

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On too many occasions for our liking, we were all head to toe in mud! The first time was when Valjean rescued the factory worker from underneath the cart. Tom wanted it to be literally a foot deep in mud to make the scene convincing and of course we had to get right down in the mud with the camera. We had to be hosed off afterwards.

Tom was always right there with us.

He obviously has to watch the monitor during the take, but as soon as he yells cut, he’s out in the elements with everybody. He just loves filmmaking. He operated a few shots himself, and I think if he could generally operate it himself, he would, because he just loves that part of the process. He’s not one to hide away.

Four handheld crews all in peasant costume filmed a ten minute, one time only, building of the barricade scene. We got the cameras set up with 1000 foot rolls, and the students started by tipping over a carriage as the base for the barricade and then they literally found every bit of furniture they could find in the studio and chucked it out of windows and doors and piled it high. The cast and background artists were told to “grab what you can, empty the houses, pull anything you can from anywhere in the set and throw it on!” I honestly think if any of us had stayed still for longer than a second or two, someone would have picked us up and chucked us onto the barricade.

It was so wonderfully chaotic, and a huge adrenaline rush.

and really couldn’t be repeated. Although we did more “When Russell Crowe than one take, each take was different, unique in its was on the parapets own way, because of the performance. above Paris—those were There wasn’t a duel in the musical—that was a new tough, involved crane element for the film. It was done during “The Confronmoves, combining the tation” between Russell Crowe and Hugh Jackman. I got close-up that’s telling the padded up for protection with some equipment from story with the delicate the stunt department and put a helmet on. Russell moves to reveal the stars came at me with a sword, with me in front of Hugh. in the sky and at other When Tom was happy with that element I had to turn points, the panorama of around and have Hugh Notre Dame. There were Jackman attack me with also shots of his feet a wooden club! I’m not walking right along the sure which was scarier, edge of the parapet.” but it was great fun.

When Russell leaps —Zac Nicholson, “A” camera into the river—he did the jump himself, he wasn’t shy of doing any of his own be a fairly universal opinion. He called Fridays “lucky Friday” The camera had to land on stunts. We had the bridge that and gave everybody a lottery card—he went around with a Isabelle Allen (young Javert commits suicide from huge stack of them and he didn’t miss anybody out. He is a Cosette) just as she started very friendly and chatty and supportive person to work with. singing “Castle on a Cloud.” built in the studio. It was about a 12 or 15 foot drop. The stunt Anne Hathaway is such an amazing performer. She had her department built a large crate and filled it with cubes of foam hair cut off for real in the film—it was one of those nervefor him to land in. Of course after we filmed Russell doing it, wracking shots where we only had one chance to get it right. everybody else wanted to take a go, so on the lunch break She was really practical and friendly and jolly and often everyone snuck into the studio and had a quick go, including singing and chatting with the crew. me. It was very difficult getting out of that box of foam cubes.

Luke: Russell was fantastic to work with, and I was lucky enough to often get to do his close up as Zac might often be The Cast on Hugh. I don’t think he was quite used to Tom Hooper’s method of working, but he quickly threw himself into it. He is The cast were all fantastic. Hugh Jackman is possibly the such a professional and a real perfectionist full of great ideas nicest person you’ve ever met in your life, and that seems to

“I was so mesmerized by Anne Hathaway singing ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ that I almost forgot to operate the camera! It is an astonishing performance to watch onscreen. Can you imagine what it was like to actually be there with her?

I had to keep pinching my leg to make myself concentrate on the job at hand.”

—Luke Redgrave, “B” camera

Anne Hathaway as Fantine singing “I Dreamed a Dream.”

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Colm Wilkinson (left), who originated the role of Valjean on stage in 1985, in the movie plays the Bishop of Digne who helps Hugh Jackman’s Valjean find his path.

DP Danny Cohen has to get a light read on Hugh even in the water.

It’s tight quarters to get all the cameras into the room to film the students planning their uprising.

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and often extensive notes for the operators about what changes he might make in the next take. It was a real privilege to follow him as he prowls around in the chaos.

Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen were enormous fun as the Thenardiers. Sacha can be very irreverent and spontaneous; this makes him very funny but also quite difficult to anticipate.

Helena is great fun on set as well. She has such an original and very English sense of humor. They’re both naturally very funny people and wickedly anarchic. They ended up being a welcome bit of comic relief in the middle of all this misery.

Advice Try your hardest on every take you do. Feel good Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen as about the takes that go well, learn from the takes the Thenardiers who housed young Cosette. that don’t, hopefully put what you learned into SOC, to promote camera operators and their importance to practice on the next take, and with a bit of luck, get it right. filmmaking. (See related article, page 8.)

Make it your goal to try to gain enough experience to join In European cinema for a time it became quite common an Operating Association. The ACO in the UK and the for the DP to operate. Les Misérables however had a large SOC in the USA are fantastic organizations and a great way number of operators involved and a lot of operators who are to network. Being invited to join is an endorsement by your members of the ACO. It was a great resource. The ACO as peers. What other endorsement could you ever wish to get? an organization is growing, as is people’s awareness of it.

ACO On a film like Les Misérables you need operators, especially The Association of Camera Operators (ACO) has only when it’s largely handheld—the director and the DP are very been in existence for about two years. It got started because a much relying on the instincts of their operators to get the group of camera operators in the UK wanted to create shot they need, and to get the shot in the way that they’re something equivalent to the American organization, the anticipating. That’s what we camera operators do.

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Zac Nicholson ACO on “A” camera (center) and Vince McGahon ACO on “C” camera (far right foreground).

Gavroche (Daniel Huttlestone) on far left.

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Doubling Down on Oscar Contenders

Argo and The Master

by Colin Anderson soc

Argo Photos by Claire Folger. Š 2012 All Rights Reserved.

Argo is a presentation of Warner Bros. Pictures in association with GK Films, to be distributed by Warner Bros Pictures.

Photos from The Master by Phil Bray. Š 2012 The Weinstein Company. All Rights Reserved.

John Goodman as John Chambers, Alan Arkin as Lester Siegel and Ben Affleck as Tony Mendez toast their bogus movie studio, its fake production Argo, and its life-saving purpose.

C

olin Anderson soc is no stranger to high profile projects. His résumé already includes There Will Be Blood, Good Night and Good Luck, Iron Man 1&2, The Town and Star Trek 1&2.

This awards season finds Anderson an essential part of two movies vying for Oscars—Argo, directed by Ben Affleck and shot by Rodrigo Prieto asc, and The Master directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, with Mihai Malaimare Jr as cinematographer.

Argo is a thriller about the real life rescue of six American consulate workers from Tehran, Iran during the 1979 hostage crisis. Using the cover of a Hollywood film scouting expedition, Tony Mendez (Affleck) heads into the center of the Iranian revolution to help the diplomats escape the country.

The Master, loosely based on Scientology beliefs, tells the tale of a man (Joaquin Phoenix) returning from the Navy in World War II as he drifts through a series of post traumatic stress disorder driven breakdowns. He stumbles upon a cult with a very engaging leader (Philip Seymour Hoffman ) who engages in unusual exercises to clear the veteran’s emotions.

Colin talks about the different demands of these two award winning films.

The Master

‘The Master’ (Philip Seymour Hoffman) with his family and cult members

I

think that anytime anyone gets an opportunity to work with Paul Thomas Anderson, you have to grab that with both hands. In my opinion, he’s one of the best directors we’ve had in the United States for the last couple of decades. He’s absolutely brilliant. The chance to work with him is something that just can’t be passed up on.

It’s so interesting watching him work with actors, because he steers them, but leaves so much up to them to interpret. He has this ability to get so much out of them without pushing them into certain reactions. Maybe it’s just the caliber of actor that he chooses as his leading cast, but he really knows how to get the most out of them.

The DP on The Master was Mihai Malaimare Jr, whom I’d never met before. He hadn’t worked much in mainstream Hollywood, so he didn’t have a crew. Because I’d had a previous relationship with Paul on There Will Be Blood, he brought me in.

Paul is incredibly involved in every aspect of the process.

He has his fingerprints on every frame of the film: from lighting, camera positions, set design, wardrobe, makeup… you name it, he gets involved. He’s one of those filmmakers who is just so hands-on.

One of the things I love the most about working with Paul is that the set is so small and intimate. When I say small, I mean that there’s just nobody around. He likes a very empty set, so there will only be about 5 or 6 people on set at any time when we’re shooting, which makes for a very very

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intimate and close concentrated environment. Normally it’s just the camera operator, the first AC, the dolly grip, the sound (the boom swinger), and him. There’s no hair, makeup, wardrobe allowed near the actors once they step onto set.

I think the actors get a lot out of it, because there’s not that huge breakdown after every take with everyone rushing in and doing their tweaks. It makes for very efficient concentrated filmmaking.

It was almost exclusively a one-camera show. For Paul, this is his usual procedure. Every now and again he will use another camera, but I would say that 90% of the time he just uses one because he’s so specific about the lens and the shot and the angle. If there’s the faintest sniff of compromise with the second angle, he won’t do it.

One of the more memorable shots was where we did a Special Awards Edition 2013

scene in the living room where Philip Seymour Hoffman is singing the song “A Roving” and all the women are naked. It was fantastic because there’s always a certain level of tension on a set when there’s nudity involved. But because there was a song, for the first time that I can ever remember, the crew were all singing as well—while we were shooting! We all joined in and belted out the chorus, which was fun. It wasn’t planned and we had heard the song for the first time that morning, but it was an easy song to pick up, so after all the rehearsals we all had it down. Singing together absolutely relieved any tension there might have been.

Paul never wants anything to be contrived or too cute. He uses that word quite a lot—he doesn’t want something to look cute or too set up. He’s very insistent that things are not too perfect, which I think really comes across in his films. He sometimes doesn’t want a frame to be too exact, where everything just looks set. He goes to a lot of effort to ensure that that doesn’t happen.

We started out shooting The Master on 35mm, with specific scenes planned to be shot on 65mm. After the first week of photography, Paul fell so much in love with 65mm format that he decided to shoot the entire film on the larger format—much to the producer’s horror. Personally, I was thrilled to be shooting on 65mm, especially with the entire industry heading toward digital.

It was such an amazing opportunity to

be able to use a format that we all thought had died.

The scene where Joaquin is running across the fields was one of the only shots in the movie that was 35mm and Steadicam. We had planned to do a lot of Steadicam on the film, because Paul likes the Steadicam and is known for his long Steadicam shots. We did quite a few of them on There Will Be Blood, and if anyone has seen Magnolia or Boogie Nights, they’ll know that he has these epic Steadicam shots.

When The Master went from 35mm to 65mm, it almost took Steadicam out of the equation. Panavision’s 65mm system is just too heavy to put on a Steadicam, even their so-called Special Awards Edition 2013

lightweight version. So we couldn’t do Steadicam on the film, but there is one particular shot where Joaquin’s running away across the fields that needed a long tracking shot in profile, so we compromised and did it on 35mm with a Steadicam.

With Paul being such a leading light in our industry, I think a lot of people have decided to follow his path. I have heard talk of several other films being shot on 65mm. Maybe it’s not the death of it. Just when you think you’re heading in a certain direction, things turn around. So, I just may not go down in history books as the last person to shoot on 65mm.

There was only one handheld shot in the movie—a shot of

Freddy Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) and ‘The Master’ (Philip Seymour Hoffman)

Joaquin coming out of the water. He jumps off the ship while he’s still in the Navy, and he comes out of the water.

I can’t remember if that actually made the final cut. To get it, we had to stand about waist deep in the water with this handheld camera—which almost compressed my spine for the rest of my life. But that was the only handheld shot in the whole film. The rest was all on a dolly.

There was another shot that was quite tricky to do.

When you see the film, it won’t seem that complicated, but it took a lot of choreography and there were some tricky aspects to it. It was the shot of the girl selling the fur coat in the department store. She’s wandering around the department store, and eventually ends up at Freddie Quell’s (Phoenix) photography counter. The poor girl had a cracked hip and she was in absolute agony. She had to walk in these high heels and do this long walk because it was a long shot. There was just no way that she wasn’t going to do the shot. It’s extraordinary what lengths people will go to just to work for Paul.

We shot Freddy Quell’s arrest scene in a historical jail in Long Beach. Joaquin is dragged into the cell by two or three stuntmen dressed up as policemen. Quell/Joaquin was always this sort of unpredictable dangerous character and he stayed in character for the entire movie. True to form, in the actual Camera OperatOr: argO and the master

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scene he goes completely and utterly berserk.

They throw him into the cell and he starts attacking the cell and smashing his body and his head against the steel bunk bed and then kicks the toilet and smashes it into hundreds of pieces. Unfortunately, the place is a museum, and those toilets are irreplaceable.

The producer was aghast. As you can imagine, the museum was very upset. But it’s kind of what Joaquin was putting into his character.

The stuntmen said that trying to restrain him was like trying to restrain someone who was on PCP. Even though he had lost so much weight for the movie—he was probably barely 150 pounds—they said it was almost impossible to hold him down.

He was manic most of the time, which made life just a bit difficult for 1st AC Erik Brown and myself. Erik is one of the best focus pullers in the world and Joaquin was so unpredictable that you would never know Director Paul Anderson sets up a scene with Joaquin Phoenix. what he was going to do. For the operator and don’t work as closely with the actors as you do on most films. focus puller, it generally helps to know what You know, where you say to an actor, “Could you just move the actors are going to do. But that’s the way Paul works.

6 inches to your left, and this is where you’re going to look,” You’d never be allowed to talk to the actor and ask, “What and stuff like that. That all kind of goes through Paul and are you going to do?” or “Can you show me where you’re he will never ever move an actor for the camera. He’ll do going to be?” Paul expects you to go with it, and to get it, no it the other way around. The camera will always move to matter what they do. He places almost no restraints on the accommodate the actor. The actors, Amy Adams and the actors. Trust me, Paul will let you know if you don’t deliver. others, were all wonderful from a technical point of view— So when you’re operating around Joaquin, you’re on tenterPhillip Seymour Hoffman was extraordinary to work hooks, to say the least. with—but we didn’t have that much to do with them. Really, The thing with Paul is that he has a very intimate relationship with the actors, so you kind of leave him to talk to them. it was only Joaquin who was a loose cannon. All of the others were fairly predictable.

Paul doesn’t want the camera operator or the focus puller or We did a scene at a New York bus stop with Joaquin and someone giving instructions to the actors. As a result, you Kevin O’Connor. Kevin’s character makes some criticism of ‘The Master,’ so Freddy forces him to leave town. He escorts him to the bus station and they break into a scuffle. I just remember Kevin being extremely upset because Joaquin was fighting as if it was for real and on take one he smashed Kevin’s lip into the pavement and bust it open and Kevin didn’t want to continue. He was so angry because, as everyone knows, you movie fight, you don’t fight for real. That was quite something.

As an operator and also as a focus puller, you can just feel that this is heavy-duty. There was just such tension around, you felt like you didn’t want to mess up anything because these things are very difficult to re-create. Often with Paul, something like that happens, and you have to get it, because it’s almost impossible to get it again. So that stands out in my mind, and probably in Kevin O’Connor’s mind as well.

Jeff Kunkel, a long time collaborator with Paul, was my dolly grip. One of the cool things 2nd AC Aaron Tichenor, camera operator Colin Anderson SOC, director Paul Thomas Anderson, 1st AC Erik Brown and 1st AD Adam Sumner. about Paul is that he’s intensely loyal. If you

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make the grade with him, you’ll always get asked back. I think Jeff has done 4 or 5 films with Paul, probably going back to Punch-Drunk Love. Jeff is a fantastic dolly grip. He’s like a second operator. He’ll put the camera where it needs to be without any input from me. That is so very important when you have such an unpredictable leading actor, when you don’t know what they’re going to do, and 90% of the time you don’t get the benefit of a rehearsal. Often we’re all flying by the seat of our pants, so having someone on the dolly that instinctively knows where you should be is absolutely invaluable. I was really lucky to have Jeff !

Dolly grips are the unsung heroes of camera operators.

They make us look good. Even when we’re messing up, they put the camera in the right position. He kept me safe in terms of job security.

Argo I

have a bit of a man crush on Ben Affleck. I think he’s truly extraordinary. He’s so talented and I think he will turn out to be one of the great American directors. He knows how to tell a story, which is so hard to do. He fits into the role of lead actor/director so seamlessly, it’s astounding. After each take, he’ll go back to the monitors and watch it and evaluate it. But he’s such an efficient filmmaker, it doesn’t waste any time. He doesn’t do excessive takes. He knows what he wants, he knocks it out and we move on. I think he’s really got what it takes.

What made Argo so different was that Rodrigo Prieto ASC

has got one of the most discerning critical eyes I’ve come across. He doesn’t miss a thing, so I found that I had to really really pick up my operating game just to keep him happy.

And I say that in a good way. I think he really improved my operating because I found that I had to be very very precise in what I was doing. Otherwise, he would notice and point it out to me, and I didn’t want him point it out to me. It was an adjustment, but a good adjustment, because sometimes we’ll do something that’s sloppy and let it go, whereas with Rodrigo, you can’t do that. And he was very particular especially about the Steadicam, which I appreciate, because I think a Steadicam should look like a dolly or a crane—you shouldn’t be able to tell the difference. I had to really pull out all the stops to make the Steadicam as perfect as possible to keep him happy.

Ben almost insists on every setup having a second camera.

It’s almost non-negotiable. That was the big difference between Argo and The Master. Some DPs struggle with that.

At times Rodrigo would rather not have had two cameras because he is very very particular about lighting and angles and light direction. Like most DPs, I think he found it tough at times to accommodate a second camera. But with Ben, it’s not an option. He wants two. He wants two bites at every cherry.

We had two cameras on every scene, so I operated 50% of Argo. It was the sort of film where it was almost documentary style. We were observing. We were the houseguests in the house. And there were scenes around the dinner table where the houseguests were discussing their situation—absolutely

Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) and the Houseguests “scout” a location in Tehran.

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tailor-made for two cameras on long lenses roving around picking out dialogue.

Ben also likes Steadicam, so we did a lot of Steadicam in the CIA offices and the VA hospital. I think the long Steadicam shots were particularly challenging because, once again, there are so many moments to choreograph. One such time was in the CIA offices, one of those very big open plan offices where there are desks everywhere. We shot in the Los Angeles Times building in downtown LA and Mendez (Affleck) comes into this large space, walking at a fairly decent clip.

He makes his way all the way through into an office where Bryan Cranston gets up and they leave together. There’s a lot of spinning around and having to be in the right place at the right time. It was a tricky shot and we pulled it off.

When those shots work, they’re just fabulous for that type of movie, because the camera’s moving, you’re getting

before. So I think it was such a smart decision to shoot that scene digitally.

Rodrigo raised some eyebrows when he changed out every single light bulb in the hanging chandeliers because he didn’t like the color of them. There were 2000 of them. The original ones had a fairly cold look to them and Rodrigo went for something far more warm and pleasing. There was almost no other lighting he could do because it was such a vast space.

The wonderful thing was that the Hagia Sophia mosque liked the new bulbs so much that they decided to keep them and not go back to the original bulbs. That was a huge endorsement for Rodrigo’s lighting sensibilities.

A lot of the crowd scenes in Tehran were filmed in the San Fernando Valley here in Los Angeles. We had a lot of extras.

We would run with them sometimes, like when they were actually storming the doors. We’d run amongst them with

Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar doubled for the Grand Bazaar in Tehran.

through the dialogue, and it really keeps the energy going and the excitement level going.

We shot the movie on film using Panavision XLs. I love film dearly, and I’m still not completely convinced about this whole digital revolution, but the one time that I did think it made complete sense was when we were shooting at the Hagia Sophia mosque in Istanbul. It was a truly truly spectacular location!

It was all Steadicam that day and it was also the only day on the movie that we shot on a digital camera. We used the Alexa because we had to rely a lot on the natural light coming in through the windows. Since we were there towards winter, the days were short. By about 3:30 or so in the afternoon, we’d almost lost the light. I think if we’d been shooting it on film, we’d have gone home with hours left to complete of the scene. But the Alexa blew me away! It picked up detail in the shadows and the down areas in a way that I’d never seen

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handheld cameras, whipping the camera around. We shot more of those sequences in Turkey, like when they actually go over the gates for the first time—that was in a neighborhood in Istanbul. There were a lot of people for those scenes—over 1000 extras. And then in post, they digitally added a bit of crowd in some of the shots just to increase the size of the crowds.

Some scenes were pretty horrifying, considering that they were historically accurate—such as the mock executions. At the end of the film, they matched our footage to actual news photos. It was amazing to see our work match so closely.

On set, there was an extraordinary attention to detail. They had the historical shot of them climbing over the walls of the embassy and we matched that to the frame. The first guy who went over a certain part of the wall was wearing brown trousers and a blue shirt, so that’s what our actor had on.

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CIA Headquarters offices were filmed in the basement of the Los Angeles Times building.

he’s going and you have to keep up. Through all the dialogue moments where we were pulling between actors on dialogue cues, Nino was flawless. And he was so efficient in the way he works, which probably stems from Nino’s Germanic heritage, incredibly efficient with very little fanfare, which is something that we all appreciate.

We had Chuck Crivier on the “A” camera dolly.

Chuck is a fantastic dolly grip and he would help me out on Steadicam.

Along the lines of Jeff Kunkel, he really knows where to put the camera at the right time. It sounds like a silly thing to say, but Chuck pays attention like no other dolly grip I’ve ever seen. He is so focused and so attentive. That’s a real asset to have, because so often on long days we find our attention wandering. Chuck is the opposite of that—he’s extremely extremely focused.

One of the biggest perks in our business is that we get to travel to some of the most amazing places on earth. We have our fair share of horrible locations, but Istanbul is certainly not one of them. The opportunity to film in the Grand

wardrobe, almost frame perfect. And Tehran Mary, who was the spokesperson for the regime—her media desk was frame perfect as well in terms of the microphones and the people standing around and the posters behind her, which I think is fantastic, just to go to that length to make it accurate.

I love that.

It is a very suspenseful movie. I’ve seen it a couple of times, and having worked on it and having seen it, I still sort of feel the tension, which is I guess a testament to Ben’s filmmaking.

It is extraordinary that you know they’re getting out and you still want to cheer when they actually make it, and you still get the feeling someone’s going to stop them.

The “A” camera 1st was Zoran Veselic with Rodrigo operating. Zoran also pulled focus when there was a Steadicam shot. I’ve worked with Zoran before. He is one of the true giants of the industry, as someone called him recently, which he would be surprised to hear, I think, because he’s so modest.

You know, when I talk about these guys like Zoran or Erik Brown (on The Master), these guys who’ve been around for a long time and are absolutely world-class and humble and so full of knowledge, willing to share it—their worth cannot be overstated in terms of what they offer to camera operators and to the productions as a whole. There are so few people who really understand how hard their job is and they just get on and do it. And if they do it right, nobody really notices. That’s the thing, isn’t it? If there’s not a soft frame, everyone just thinks that’s the way it should be. And vice versa—if there is a soft frame, it’s like oh God who is this guy?

I had Nino Neuboeck on my camera and he was absolutely perfect for what our camera was used for.

Often we were on a long lens, and we were picking out moments. That is so hard to do when you’re a focus puller—when you’re on the long end of a long zoom, At the Hagia Sophia with Rodrigo finding those moments and being in sync with where Prieto ASC’s new light bulbs. the operator’s going, when he’s not telling you when Special Awards Edition 2013

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Bazaar in Istanbul was just phenomenal. Logistically, it was a nightmare. So many people in such cramped quarters and these labyrinthine pathways—trying to coordinate that. But it was such a privilege to be able to do that and to immerse yourself in such an exotic culture. I just think that’s such a tremendous privilege.

We were there for about 3 weeks, so we did have a couple of off days, and I enjoyed the little bit of sightseeing I was able to do.

What I love about shooting internationally is the chance to meet crews from around the world. I get to see how they do things and see how good they are at it.

Often we think that we do it best here, and most times we do, because of the infrastructure and the resources that we have, but it’s so fascinating to see how some of Director Ben Affleck lines up a shot. the other countries manage without the resources and and move on. I think I’m harder on myself on Steadicam than opportunities that we have, and often get to do it so well.

I am on regular operating, because often there’s a little bit It’s easy to disregard someone just because you don’t more involved in Steadicam. There are more factors to understand him, because there’s a language barrier, but there consider. I struggle with saying any shot was perfect. are some extraordinarily good technicians internationally In some ways, I’d say that Argo was probably more difficult that could hold their own anywhere. Berto, our “C” camera operator in Turkey, was French. He was an excellent operator to film than The Master because there was so much more going on with the camera—running handheld, Steadicam with the most incredible knowledge. It was like “wow, this and cranes. From a purely technical point of view, I would say guy’s phenomenal.” I love meeting people like that.

Guys like Erik and Zoran, Chuck and Berto… They are the Argo was more difficult, specifically more physically difficult.

The Master was more presentational and we’d pick specific people that really make us able to do what we do, to make a frames. Often we’d let the scene play out in a particular good shot, to complete the scene in time. They are so often frame. Sometimes the whole scene would play out in a wide underappreciated and sort of invisible. But these people are shot. Paul’s films are a different kind of hard because I think essential! They are the ones hustling to make things work. everyone feels a level of tension on his sets. There’s a level of They get no glory, but we couldn’t complete a shot without focus and perfection that’s there all the time. Paul is an them. yyy intense guy and it’s not a very easy-going jokey atmosphere.

You’re there ready to work, and everyone’s pretty concenhere’s always something I feel I could do better. At the trated on what they are doing. In a way, that makes it an end of the shot, you kind of say to yourself, “Can I live exhausting day. You go home at the end of the day from with that? Can I live with the imperfections?” It’s very hard Paul’s set and you’re ready for bed. to say that it was absolutely perfect. We live in a fairly The same can be said coming home from the set of Argo, imperfect world, and sometimes you just have to live with it but it was clearly a different kind of tired.

T

The Houseguests and Tony Mendez at a security checkpoint in Tehran Airport.

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by Albert Carreras et al.

Photos by Jose Haro Š 2011 Summit Entertainment, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Tom Holland stares as the tsunami storms in.

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Maria (Naomi Watts) clings to her eldest son Lucas (Tom Holland) and a fallen tree.

B

ased on a true story, The Impossible is the emotional saga of one family caught, with tens of thousands of strangers, in the mayhem of one of the worst natural catastrophes of our time, the tsunami that struck Thailand on December 26th, 2004. The terror is tempered by the unexpected displays of compassion, courage and simple kindness that the family encounters during the darkest hours of their lives. Both epic and intimate, devastating and uplifting, The Impossible is a journey to the core of the human heart.

Director JA Bayona (The Orphanage), with the help of cinematographer Oscar Faura and camera operator Albert Carreras, chose to do as much as possible with visual effects rather than CGI, so he enlisted the aid of award winning visual and special effects artists Felix Bergés and Pau Costa.

The film stars Naomi Watts (nominated for an Academy Award for her work) and Ewan McGregor, with Tom Holland of Billy Elliott the Musical as their oldest son, Lucas. The Belón Álvarez family, on whose ordeal the film is based, were present on set and Maria, the mother, was part of the creative team.

SOC: What’s your relationship with crew members on this movie?

Albert Carreras: The cinematographer, Oscar Faura, and the director, JA

Camera Operator Albert Carreras

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Camera OperatOr: the ImpOssIble

Bayona, and I have known each other since film school, and we have worked with one another for many years. We understand each other very well. I consider myself fortunate to work with both JA and Oscar as we have the same mentality and views regarding filmmaking. Plus I worked with the majority of the camera Special Awards Edition 2013

The family of five on December 25.

The family of five on December 26.

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crew on Bayona’s film The Orphanage. Reuniting with the crew again has been great. It helps me stay calm because I know who I’m working with and their style of shooting.

SOC: Is there an overall visual approach you use?

Carreras: You always want to try to find out what the

director wants and what type of style he wants to shoot.

With JA, he is very easy to work with as he is very visual.

For a camera operator, it is a lucky thing to work with such a visual director. Normally, the director and cinematographer will show you several references regarding the visual style they want for the movie as well as the composition and the movements of the camera. Using these references, our goal

they were all great and prepared. The rest of the cast was also great to work with.

SOC: What was it like working with such young children?

The younger sons were something like 5 and 7 years old then.

Carreras: I love working with kids even though it can be

difficult. You need to have lots of patience, be alert at all times and know when they are at their limit shooting wise.

You have to be aware when they get tired of acting the scenes or getting direction, reminding yourself that at the end of day, they are just kids and regardless, their scene will be marvelous due to their spontaneity.

Maria (Naomi Watts) and Lucas (Tom Holland) cling to a mattress in the midst of the flood.

as camera operator is to apply that style so that it will create that vision the director had for the film.

In the case of The Impossible, there was a mix of documentary type style of shooting as well as the traditional style of shooting. Normally, we rehearsed very little. For the most part, when shooting a documentary style picture, it is better to do it with minimal rehearsal time, but luckily, we had such a great crew and actors working on the film that we did not need the rehearsals.

SOC: How was your relationship with the actors while you’re filming?

Carreras: I like my interactions with the actors as I

consider them to be part of my job. In all projects, I try to create a close and confident working environment to ease tension and it was so easy with Naomi, Tom and Ewan, as

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In the case of The Impossible, there were coaches that helped keep them calm, entertained, and helped interpret scenes they had trouble with. It was great to see them perform with really only the information given to them by the acting coach and Bayona.

It was clear that Tom Holland was the eldest and acted as would an adult actor; the acting coach would help him on a more professional and emotional level. The other two kids were really kids, more playful, carefree, but they were fantastic when you were able to capture them at their best spontaneous and natural level.

SOC: Did you meet the family the movie was based on? I understand they were on set quite a bit.

Carreras: I remember perfectly how marvelous it was to

meet the actual family—the Belón Alvarez family, Maria and

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Henry, and their sons Lucas, Simon and Tomas—who lived through this terrible experience. They were on set multiple times during the process of filmmaking, and personally, they taught me many things in my own life, like how important it is to stay strong, no matter what happens to you. Stay strong inside.

SOC: What equipment did you use?

How did you like it?

Carreras: We worked with the

Arricam LT, which is a great camera to handle as it weighs less than other camera types. Since I have worked with it before, I felt very comfortable shooting. The worst part for me is that the visor/slide viewer in many digital cameras shows the images in a more digital manner than optical; therefore, I see the images blurry since I have been used to seeing images more optically.

Henry (Ewan McGregor) tries to snatch his two younger sons to safety as the tsunami hits.

SOC: What was the biggest operating challenge for you on this movie?

Carreras: The most complicated part of shooting for me,

as well as the rest of the crew, was the tsunami sequence. Not so much the moment of impact, but rather, the sequences with the water and capturing the movements.

Felix Bergés: Digital water was not considered for very long. It just isn’t realistic enough. The idea was to create a channel to keep the actors safe and be able to guide them without any problem when using elements such as trees or rubble or many other things. We used about 35,000 gallons of seawater a day.

Oscar Faura: When the actors were in the tank, we designed special wagons for them for safety that pulled them by steel cables. The operator got in a wagon that could go parallel or just in front of them. We designed the lanes of the channel to be close to the shore so we could use hot head cranes, a camera with a remote control, a telescopic crane, and shots from the air. We had cameras guided by cable, the CAMCA; we even had a hot head that could submerge, to put the camera at water level, the water almost at optic level.

It is impossible to recreate a real tsunami but we could give the feel of one through the camera work.

The characters were moving constantly. We put the [underwater] actors like Naomi in a moving chair we named “the giratutto” to which we fixed the camera. She could turn with the camera fixed to her. We’d shoot inside and outside the water, with cranes, underwater cameras, aerial shots. We even had three units working simultaneously. There was a moment where the shoot was taking place on land, sea and sky, all at the same time.

SOC: I heard that Maria Belón was very impressed with the sequence when the water comes in.

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JA Bayona: Yes, but she was really shocked with the sequence where you see her underwater, because for her that was the perfect metaphor for life, how you cannot control your destiny. You are only dragged by the current.

SOC: Maria, what are your thoughts about this movie and about your experiences in the tsunami?

Maria Belón: I have so many mixed feelings—they call

it survivor’s guilt, I think. But [during] the days I spent at The Orchid [Resort] through the film, I had the chance to interact with some of the locals who survived the tsunami.

It was such a shocking experience and I thought [the film crew] did a beautiful job of depicting it and my feelings about it in the film.

I needed to tell this story, although I was unable to do it by myself. In certain ways, what I experienced during the process of making the movie was the same I had during the tsunami.

I thought we were not going to make it, but we did and that’s fantastic!

SOC: Albert, do you have any advice for up and coming camera operators?

Carreras: You should always try to help out as much as you

can with every project. You should be open to interpret each style of every director you work with, as it is his/her vision you are bringing to life. You should enjoy every experience and always think about how you can learn new things in regards to the audio visual world.

Camera Operator magazine would like to express our deep appreciation for Shannon Washburn and her staff at 42 West who translated interview questions and answers and provided ancillary material to make this article possible.

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Thomas Prophet, Jr 1929 – 2012

The SOC’s Mobile Camera Platform Operator Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007 went to Key Grip Thomas Prophet, Jr, who was 77 years old at the time, and truly touched by the award.

Tom enjoyed collecting souvenirs from the movies he worked on. His tie in the photo once belonged to Gary Cooper in High Noon; his suit is from China Syndrome; his hat came from White Buffalo with Charles Bronson.

Tom passed away in December 2012. Among the many crew members he broke in and mentored through the years are two nephews and three grandsons.

Please join us on

March 9th at the

SOC Lifetime Achievement Awards to benefit the

Vision Center of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

MORRIE KAGAN

“That’s my legacy,” he said. “I learned early to surround myself with the best talent. That makes you look good.”

Society of Camera Operators Charter Membership Roster 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 Swearingen Joe Valentine Ron Vidor Sven Walnum

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

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COURTESY OF ZAC NICHOLSON ACO

Camera and crew dressed for the 19th century: Les Misérables “A” camera operator Zac Nicholson ACO AND 1st AC Peter Byrne.

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SOC Roster Society of Camera Operators Current as of 1/31/13

ACTIVE Peter Abraham Jonathan S Abrams Michael R Alba Bret Allen Derek M Allen Robert Reed Altman Colin Anderson Jack Anderson Kevin W Andrews 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 Christopher Banting Jeff Barklage Tom Barron Parker Bartlett  Paul Basta  Gary H Baum John James Beattie Guy Norman Bee Tim Bellen Michael Benson  Nils Benson George M Bianchini Bonnie S Blake Jason Blount Bob C Boccaccio Katie Boyum Kevin D Braband Gerard Brigante Hilaire Brosio Garrett Brown Kenny Brown Pete Brown Scott Browner Robin Buerki Gary Bush Jerry G Callaway  Stephen S Campanelli Richard Cantu Jose A Cardenas Lou Chanatry Joe Chess Jr Anthony Cobbs Craig Cockerill Steven Cohen Gregory Paul Collier Dawn J Conceicao Kris A Conde Andrew Glenn Conder Michael Condon Brown Cooper Dan Coplan Luke Cormack 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 Markus Davids Richard W Davis Mark G Dawson Edwim de Jong Andrew A Dean Michael S 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

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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 George Feucht Dick Fisher Lance Fisher Aaron Fitzgerald Eric Fletcher Michael Flueck Houman Forough Felix Forrest Steve G Fracol Keith Francis Nick Franco Candide Franklyn David J Frederick Michael Frediani Michael A Freeman Steven French Samuel Buddy Fries Mick Froehlich Jeff Fry William Jay Gahret  Paul M Gardner David Gasperik Rusty Geller Mark Gerasimenko William Gierhart Laurie K Gilbert Harvey Glen  Mark Goellnicht Daniel Gold Allen Gonzales Robert Gorelick Afton M Grant Bruce Alan Greene David Allen Grove Robert Guernsey Pedro Guimaraes John C Gunselman Chris C Haarhoff Jess Haas Anette Haellmigk John Hankammer Peter Hapke  Tim Harland Joshua Harrison Kent Harvey Chris Hayes David Haylock Alan Hereford Steven F Heuer Kevin Hewitt Joachim Hoffmann Dean Holmes 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 Christopher D Jones Kurt Jones Steven Jones Jacques Jouffret John H Joyce David Judy Mark Jungjohann David C Kanehann Mark Karavite David Kimelman Douglas H Knapp Dan Kneece Rory Robert Knepp David T Knox Robert Kositchek 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 Rob Macey Vincent C Mack Paul S Magee David Mahlmann Giuseppe Malpasso Kim Marks Cedric Martin Johnny Martin Parris Mayhew William McClelland Andrew McDonald Michael P McGowan Christopher TJ McGuire Aaron Medick Alan Mehlbrech 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 Dale Myrand Leo J Napolitano Jay Nefcy  Julye Newlin Leigh Nicholson  William R Nielsen, Jr Randy Nolen David B Nowell, ASC  Tamas P Nyerges Ryan Michael O’Donnell William O’Drobinak Michael D Off Mark D O’Kane James Olcovich Andrew William Oliver John Orland Wayne Orr  Rafael Ortiz-Guzman Georgia Tornai Packard Heather Page Mario Eugene Page Nick Paige Andrew Parke Patrick J Pask Christopher T Paul Karin Pelloni George Peters Jonathan F Phillips Alan Pierce Theo Pingarelli S Jacob Pinger Jens Piotrowski Joseph Piscitelli Robert Presley Louis Puli Ryan Purcell Elizabeth Radley Yavir Ramawtar Juan M Ramos Ernie Reed  George Richmond Randall Robinson  Brooks Robinson David Robman Andy Romanoff Peter Rosenfeld Andrew Rowlands Dave Rutherford P Scott Sakamoto Joel San Juan Martin Schaer Ron Schlaeger Mark Schlicher Gregory J Schmidt Thomas J Schnaidt Fabrizio Sciarra Michael Scott  Brian D Scott Benjamin Semanoff

Camera OperatOr: SOC rOSter

Barnaby Shapiro David Shawl Geoffrey C Shotz Osvaldo Silvera Jr Jamie Silverstein Teddy Smith John Sosenko Andy Sparaco Mark Sparrough Sandy Spooner Michael St Hilaire  Lisa L Stacilauskas Robert Starling Ray Stella  Scott Stelle George B Stephenson Meagan Stockemer Michael R Stumpf David L Svenson David James Thompson Richard Tiedemann John Toll, ASC David Tolsky Remi Tournois Neil C Toussaint John Trapman Michael Tsimperopoulos Chris Tufty Dan Turrett Brian Tweedt Joseph F Valentine  Matt Valentine Paul D Varrieur Ron Veto Ron Vidor  Stefan von Bjorn Rob Vuona Bill Waldman Michael J Walker Timothy N Walker Adam S Ward Gareth Ward 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 Chad Zellmer ASSOCIATE Obie John Addocks David S Adelstein Jamie Alac Andrew B Ansnick Jillian H Arnold Daniel Asmelash Jacob Avignone Ryan Vogel Baker Eddie Barber Josh Barrett Stephen Blanor Jeffrey D Bollman Peter Bonilla Jean-Paul Bonneau David Boyd John Boyd Jennifer Braddock David Brooks Rochelle Brown Clyde E Bryan Anthony Q Caldwell Bruce Cardozo Paul Case Marc Casey Mack Collins Gareth Paul Cox Michelle Crenshaw Richard P Crudo, ASC Anthony Deemer 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 Allen Farst Daniel Fernandez Paul Ferrazzi Nichole Fleit John C Flinn III, ASC Mark Forman Tammy Fouts-Sandoval Bryan Fowler 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 Brad Greenspan Dave Gregory Phil Gries George Eric Griffith David E Grober Robert Guthrie W Adam Habib Bob Hall James Hammond Anthony Hardwick Jennifer Ann Henry Anthony P Hettinger David Hirschmann Scott Hoffman Rachel A Hudson Jim Hunter Carrie Imai Toshiyuki Imai Gregory Irwin Haley Jackson Quenell Jones Jessica Jurges Brett Juskalian David Kane Timothy Kane Mark H Killian Douglas Kirkland Craig Kohlhoff Robert La Bonge Laurence Langton Thomas Lappin Dr Thomas Lee Alan J Levi Mark Levin Howard Levine Justin Liang Adrian Licciardi Ilya Jo Lie-Nielsen Stuart T Lillas Rachel A Lippert Gordon Lonsdale Jasmine Lord Christopher Lymberis Tony Magaletta Dominik Mainl Darin Mangan James Mathers Jim R Matlosz Hilda Mercado Charles Minsky, ASC K Adriana Modlin E Gunnar Mortensen Matthew C Mosher Shah Mundell Natasha Narkiewicz Natalie Newman Kurt Nolen Russell C Nordstedt Crescenzo GP Notarile, ASC Kim Palmer Larry Mole Parker Steven D Parker Jeremy Parsons Florencia Perez Cardenal Mark W Petersen Matthew A Petrosky Jon Philion W S Pivetta Ted Polmanski Robert Primes, ASC Liz Radley Richard Rawlings Jr, ASC Marcia Reed Bill Reiter

Elizabeth Reynolds Lawrence M Ribeiro David Richert Claudio Rietti Alicia Robbins Peter J Rooney Melissa Roth Danny Salazar Steve Saxon Carl Martin Schumacher Sr Christian Sebaldt, ASC Stephen Silberkraus Charles A Simons Guy Skinner Michael Skor Jan Sluchak Eric Smith Robert F Smith Needham G Smith III Dean Robert Smollar Brian Sowell 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 Thomas Valko David Van Eman Dale Vance Jr Leonard P Walsh II Justin Watson Alex White Simon Wolfe Santiago Yniguez Tim Yoder Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC

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 Arnold Rich  Sam Rosen  Frank Ruttencutter Richard Salvatore Chuck Schuman Philip D Schwartz Bob Seaman  Hal Shiffman  Phil Stern Gene Talvin Ben Wolf

HONORARY John Bailey, ASC Tilman Buettner James Burrows Alexander Calzatti Roger Corman Dean Cundey, ASC Bruce Doering Clint Eastwood Jack Green, ASC Tom Hatten Ron Howard Ron Kelley Kathleen Kennedy-Marshall Jerry Lewis Larry McConkey A Linn Murphree MD Diana Penilla Steven Spielberg Robert A Torres George Toscas Roy H Wagner, ASC Haskell Wexler, ASC RETIRED Aldo Antonelli Gary Olyn Armstrong Eugene Ashbrook Lou Barlia Al Bettcher Joe Blaisdell James Blanford Vee Bodrero Donald R Burch Philip Caplan Bruce Catlin Jim Connell Ivan Craig Joe Epperson  Robert Feller Hiroyuki Fukuda  Jerry Fuller Gil Haimson  Wynn Hammer Lutz Hapke  Ken Hilmer Gary Holt

CORPORATE 3ALITY TECHNICA Sakae Manning ARRI, INC Bill Russell BIRNS & SAWYER, INC William Meurer BLACKMAGIC DESIGN Stephanie Hueter CAMADEUS FILM TECHNOLOGIES, INC Sebastian Lumme CAMERA DYNAMICS INC Jim Davis CAMERON-PACE GROUP Vincent M Pace CARL ZEISS MICROIMAGING Richard Schleuning CHAPMAN/LEONARD STUDIO EQUIPMENT Leonard T Chapman Christine J Huenergardt CLAIRMONT CAMERA Mardrie Mullen DIGIHOLLYWOOD Chol Kim FILMTOOLS INC Stan McClain FUJIFILM NORTH AMERICA CORPORATION Sandra Kurotobi GEO FILM GROUP, INC George Nolan GLOBAL CINEMATOGRAPHY INSTITUTE Yuri Neyman, ASC Vilmos Zsigmond,ASC HYDROFLEX, INC Matt Brown JL FISHER Jimmy L Fisher Frank Kay MARK BENDER AND ASSOCIATES Mark Bender MATTHEWS STUDIO EQUIPMENT Ed Phillips PANAVISION Bob Harvey SCHNEIDER OPTICS— CENTURY DIVISION David Contreras Bill Turner TERADEK, LLC Michael Gailing THALES ANGENIEUX Eva Paryzka TIFFEN Rick Booth

SOC Founding Members Parker Barlett Paul Basta Mike Benson Phil Caplan Mike Chevalier

Bill Clark Jim Connell Jack Green Gil Haimson

Peter Hapke Tom Laughridge Steve Lydecker Owen Marsh

Bob Marta Jay Nefcy Wayne Orr Mike St Hilaire Chris Schwiebert

 denotes a Charter Member. All Founding Members are also Charter Members of the SOC.

Special Awards Edition 2013

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