ICG Magazine - February/March 2024 - The Publicity Issue

2 0 2 4 # 0 2 F E B R U A R Y / M A R C H V O L .

9 5 F E AT U R I N G

G R I S E L DA + MADAME WEB A M U R D E R AT T H E E N D O F T H E W O R L D

PRETTY IN PINK A new feature version of the Broadway hit (and, before that, Hollywood box office smash) recently debuted on screens: head back to high school with Mean Girls (the musical).

BY PAULINE ROGERS ∞ PHOTOS BY JOJO WHILDEN / PARAMOUNT PICTURES

CONTENTS FEBRUARY/MARCH 2024

DEPARTMENTS zoom-in ................ 14 deep focus ................ 18 first look ................ 22 exposure ................ 24 production credits .............. 92 stop motion .............. 98

FEATURE 01

LA MADRINA Armando Salas, ASC, recreates the “cocaine wars” of his hometown – Miami, FL – for Netflix’s gripping new crime drama, Griselda.

28 6

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

FEATURE 02

INTO THE VOID Charlotte Bruus Christensen, ASC and her Guild camera team search for “true north” in the undiscovered country of cyberspace.

46

58 FEATURE 03

HOOKED ON A FEELING Mauro Fiore, ASC, AIC, teams with Marvel TV veteran S.J. Clarkson to spin a complex new web for a Marvel character unlike any before.

SPECIAL 01

WHO'S WHO IN PR? ICG public relations members are a diverse (and talented) lot. Let’s get to know some of these union professionals and the different areas they’re involved in.

68

SPECIAL 02

RIGHT COAST DREAMING Eastern Region unit stills break down what’s special about where they live and work.

78 F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

7

PRESIDENT’S LETTER

P hoto by Scott Everet t W hi t e

RETURN ON INVESTMENT

Baird B Steptoe National President International Cinematographers Guild IATSE Local 600

8

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

It’s surprising to no one that, even with all the craziness of the last four years, the Publicity branch of this union has stayed strong (and calm). First there was COVID, which forced many unit publicists to work remotely for an extended period of time; then there were twin work stoppages, where publicists at studios, networks and streamers continued to create campaigns, even though they didn’t have access to the many WGA and SAG members who help them do the jobs they were hired to do. While the whole industry was waiting for the strikes to end, publicists were still finding ways to advance their craft, even without access to the human resources that are so vital to it.

Thankfully, once SAG gave the go-ahead for its members to start promoting projects again, our Guild publicists (unit, studio, and agency) were all back at it, pretty much like nothing had ever happened! And it’s not like the demands of publicizing theatrical features, streaming and broadcast television, and unscripted and live events are all the same.

Not even close. They’re as different as the camera crews who work on them. But there was no drop-off in the quality (or quantity) of the many different kinds of projects these professionals worked on, even with the long layoff. There are even such examples as Sheryl Main, a longtime Guild unit publicist who has helped the Communications teams at Local 600 and the IATSE International unify

the voice of labor in our upcoming contract negotiations.

The message here can’t be said loudly – or often – enough: When you hire a union publicist, you are making an investment that will guarantee the best possible return. The speed, skill and professionalism publicists showed once they had the chance to do their jobs again is proof enough of just how essential they are to this industry. And I’ve said this before but it bears repeating – as a career camera technician, I never understood the publicist’s craft while I was on set. But, boy, do I understand now just how hard they work and how important they are to every area of filmed entertainment. They are truly incredible.

Speaking of value, I also want to praise the entire staff of ICG Magazine, as well as the many freelance writers and Guild photographers who contribute on a regular basis. This February/ March issue of ICG Magazine is the first new print issue in four years (and the first of four print issues in 2024). Every Local 600 member should take great pride in the time, effort and care put into their magazine. I know I do. To be able to once again have a hard copy to share with friends and family, to display on our coffee tables in our homes, to pass out at industry trade shows, to be made available in camera rental houses – where our members spend so much time – is something this entire union should celebrate.

1

2 3

February/March 2024 vol. 95 no. 02

Publisher Teresa Muñoz Executive Editor David Geffner Art Director Wes Driver

STAFF WRITER Pauline Rogers

COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR

Tyler Bourdeau

COPY EDITORS Peter Bonilla Maureen Kingsley

CONTRIBUTORS Beth Dubber, SMPSP Ted Elrick Elizabeth Morris Elle Schneider

IATSE Local 600 NATIONAL PRESIDENT Baird B Steptoe VICE PRESIDENT Chris Silano 1ST NATIONAL VICE PRESIDENT Deborah Lipman 2ND NATIONAL VICE PRESIDENT Mark H. Weingartner NATIONAL SECRETARY-TREASURER Stephen Wong NATIONAL ASSISTANT SECRETARY-TREASURER Jamie Silverstein NATIONAL SERGEANT-AT-ARMS Betsy Peoples NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Alex Tonisson

COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE

John Lindley, ASC, Co-Chair Chris Silano, Co-Chair

CIRCULATION OFFICE 7755 Sunset Boulevard Hollywood, CA 90046 Tel: (323) 876-0160 Fax: (323) 878-1180 Email: circulation@icgmagazine.com

ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES WEST COAST & CANADA Rombeau, Inc. Sharon Rombeau Tel: (818) 762 – 6020 Fax: (818) 760 – 0860 Email: sharonrombeau@gmail.com EAST COAST, EUROPE, & ASIA Alan Braden, Inc. Alan Braden Tel: (818) 850-9398 Email: alanbradenmedia@gmail.com

Instagram/Twitter/Facebook: @theicgmag

ADVERTISING POLICY: Readers should not assume that any products or services advertised in International Cinematographers Guild Magazine are endorsed by the International Cinematographers Guild. Although the Editorial staff adheres to standard industry practices in requiring advertisers to be “truthful and forthright,” there has been no extensive screening process by either International Cinematographers Guild Magazine or the International Cinematographers Guild.

EDITORIAL POLICY: The International Cinematographers Guild neither implicitly nor explicitly endorses opinions or political statements expressed in International Cinematographers Guild Magazine. ICG Magazine considers unsolicited material via email only, provided all submissions are within current Contributor Guideline standards. All published material is subject to editing for length, style and content, with inclusion at the discretion of the Executive Editor and Art Director. Local 600, International Cinematographers Guild, retains all ancillary and expressed rights of content and photos published in ICG Magazine and icgmagazine.com, subject to any negotiated prior arrangement. ICG Magazine regrets that it cannot publish letters to the editor.

ICG (ISSN 1527-6007) Ten issues published annually by The International Cinematographers Guild 7755 Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood, CA, 90046, U.S.A. Periodical postage paid at Los Angeles, California.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to ICG 7755 Sunset Boulevard Hollywood, California 90046 Copyright 2024, by Local 600, International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employes, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States and Canada. Entered as Periodical matter, September 30, 1930, at the Post Office at Los Angeles, California, under the act of March 3, 1879. Subscriptions: $88.00 of each International Cinematographers Guild member’s annual dues is allocated for an annual subscription to International Cinematographers Guild Magazine.

Non-members may purchase an annual subscription for $48.00 (U.S.), $82.00 (Foreign and Canada) surface mail and $117.00 air mail per year. Single Copy: $4.95 The International Cinematographers Guild Magazine has been published monthly since 1929.

International Cinematographers Guild Magazine is a registered trademark.

www.icgmagazine.com www.icg600.com

CARS, CRANES & HEADS IN THESE LOCATIONS:

LOS ANGELES NEW MEXICO NASHVILLE NEW YORK FLORIDA DETROIT DALLAS A diverse collection of TechnoScopes, Cranes, and Heads that can be used in many combinations.

TECHNOSCOPES 16 CAMERA CARS 16 CRANES 25 HEADS

310.418.3311 FILMOUSA.COM

Photo by Sara Terry

WIDE ANGLE

W

elcome to the first of four print/digital issues of ICG Magazine for 2024.

Our staff (and hopefully our readers) are grateful to this union’s leadership, who approved the first printed issue – non-compilation – since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, in April 2020.

What’s also serendipitous is this issue’s theme, focused on Publicity members. One can easily argue that no one was more important to this industry during these tumultuous last four years than publicists. In navigating not one but three separate work stoppages, from 2020 through 2024, publicists became the lone voice in an industry experiencing a historical degree of chaos and uncertainty. With no real product to market, union publicists had to figure out how best to keep everyone (management, labor, and the general public) current with rapidly changing events, as well as convince everyone that the sun would shine again (and the industry would return to work).

Of course, spreading calm in a crisis is just one of the many demands of the publicist’s craft. Just ask any of the eight Guild members featured in this month’s Who’s Who in PR? special (page 68).

With more than 170 years of cumulative experience, readers can imagine just how much chaos these professionals have had to weather in their careers.

Thankfully for this Guild, the range of talent (within this article alone) is unparalleled, ranging from unit publicists to studio and network publicists; publicists tied to independent agencies (many of whom specialize in the awards season we’re currently in); publicists who specialize in international markets; publicists who specialize in craft- and technologydriven products; publicists who focus on EPK work, film trailers, animated feature films, graphic novels and superhero fan conventions; even publicists who spend 100 percent of their time writing copy or sifting through the thousands of images taken by a unit stills photographer.

Speaking of still photographers, they’re an integral part of Local 600’s publicity branch, and we’ve got them covered. Our Right Coast Dreaming special (page 78) highlights those who live and work on the East Coast, and the stories found among this group are as colorful as the region they call home.

12

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

Examples include Jessica Kourkounis, who moved to New York City for a photo apprenticeship with $200 in her pocket and ate “nothing but rice and scrambled eggs for the better part of six months.”

Native New Yorker Cara Howe did a reverse journey (before returning to NYC). Moving to L.A. after college, Howe worked as a PA, AD and UPM on various projects, including a low-budget horror film, which was the debut feature of Oscar-winning Director of Photography Wally Pfister, ASC (and where Howe was cast as a headless body)!

Of course, this return-to-print issue demanded feature stories worthy of the hype Guild publicists are so expert at creating (and controlling). And I’m happy to report we’ve delivered on that promise – starting with my cover story on Netflix’s latest crime series, Griselda (page 28), which rocketed to the top of the streamer’s platform in 89 countries and garnered more than 20 million total views in its opening week.

Directed by Narcos alumnus Andrés Baiz and lensed by Emmy-nominated Director of Photography Armando Salas, ASC [ICG Magazine June 2020], Griselda is not only stunning to look at (think Conrad Hall, ASC, meets Vittorio Storaro, ASC, AIC), the entire series was shot in L.A., doubling for 1970s-era Miami and Colombia. With a 90 percent Spanish-speaking cast (and many native Spanish speakers above and below the line), Griselda was unique, above and beyond its tremendous production values.

Also high on the “fun to market” list (especially if you’re a publicist for Sony Pictures) is Elle Schneider’s feature on Madame Web (page 58).

Shot by Oscar-winning Director of Photography Mauro Fiore, ASC, AIC, and directed by Marvel TV veteran S.J. Clarkson [ICG Magazine July 2017], Madame Web was a challenge for Fiore and Clarkson, most notably because the protagonist’s unique superpower is all in her head (clairvoyance).

A similar challenge is found in Ted Elrick’s story on the FX limited series A Murder at the End of the World (page 46), the latest from Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij (Exposure, page 24). Shot by Director of Photography Charlotte Bruus Christensen, ASC, this psychological mystery/thriller had to contrast the real versus cyber world, which it did in surprising, thrilling and often astonishing ways.

Wait a second: doesn’t using such superlatives as fascinating, astonishing, and surprising just feed into the Hollywood hype machine?

Hmm...probably best to check with a Local 600 publicist.

C O N T R I B U T O R S

BETH DUBBER, SMPSP Hooked on a Feeling, Stop Motion Working alongside one of the best camera crews, including Director of Photography Mauro Fiore, ASC, on Madame Web was inspiring. Often, the first visual the public has of a project, even before a trailer, is the unit stills. My goal was to not only photograph with the intention of publicity but also to tell the story of the production through behind-the-scenes images. Our jungle location was remote, gorgeous, thrilling and exhausting. I loved every minute.

ELIZABETH MORRIS La Madrina Photographing Griselda was an extraordinary experience. Despite much of the direction and dialogue being spoken in Spanish, a language I am still practicing and learning, my lack of fluency did not impede my ability to capture the emotions in each scene. As a visual storyteller, I was able to convey the passion of Sofia, Andrès, and Armando as they breathed life into this visual masterpiece.

It was evident that we were all contributing to something truly exceptional.

David Geffner Executive Editor Email: david@icgmagazine.com

F E AT U R I N G

G R I S E L DA + M A D A M E W E B ∞ A M U R D E R AT T H E E N D O F T H E W O R L D F E B R U A R Y / M A R C H V O L .

9 5

2 0 2 4 # 0 2

Cover photo by Elizabeth Morris

New flagship DSMC3 system with RED Global Vision: a global shutter sensor and suite of tools for unprecedented flexibility and dynamic range.

www.RED.COM

ZOOM-IN

PEGGY MULLOY UNIT PUBLICIST

BY PAULINE ROGERS PHOTO BY DAVID SCOTT HOLLOWAY

“My job isn’t my life, but I’ve realized over time that we are entwined,” shares Peggy Mulloy. “At work, I’m the unit publicist. But I’m Peggy, too. And every call-sheet day is a day of my life. Maybe I see it this way because I’ve been working on Severance [ICG Magazine April 2022]. But, either way, I know my jobs have given me more than a paycheck and health insurance, and I hope I’m giving back in kind.”

Mulloy grew up in Gary, Indiana, and majored in journalism at Indiana University.

After college, she held jobs as an assistant at PMK and as a personal publicist with Annett Wolf, Debbie Miller, and Paulette Levine Dauber, who asked if she wanted to be considered for Inventing the Abbotts at Fox. So, in 1996, Mulloy joined the union doing set publicity, which included an in-character Vanity Fair shoot at a Petaluma gas station a few hours before call time. “It was especially hard because we learned that my new friend, our executive producer, had cancer,” Mulloy recounts. “He later asked me to write his obituary so he could approve it. I placed it with the Los Angeles Times and the trades when the time came.”

14

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

“If we are all ‘union kin,’ then stills are my siblings,” Mulloy reflects. “I’ve worked with great photographers, like Jon Pack on Severance. Sometimes their images seem more real than what I’ve seen with my own eyes and motivate me when I’m hoping to achieve something evocative with words.”

Mulloy says the job of the unit publicist has changed – and stayed the same over the years.

“In pre-digital times, photographers shot color transparencies plus a few black-and-white images of every scene,” she explains. “The unit publicist shared those original color slides – plus grease pencils, loupes, and light boxes – with a cast, who had approval rights. One day, I picked up an envelope from an actor who’d finished reviewing her latest batch. There was a big leaking saltshaker in there, too. Who knows why? This job gets gritty at times!”

One of her first (and most interesting) jobs was on Scream 2. “Scream mania was in full effect,” Mulloy remembers. “So, Scream 2 became a secrecy mission. Printed on dark brown paper, scripts were barely legible. The Miramax/Dimension publicists didn’t even get to read them, although we did a lot of press during the shoot. Somehow, I managed to

quit smoking on that job, and thanks to Wes Craven and our stills photographer, I took up meditation, which I still do every day!”

After Scream 2, Mulloy went on to another Craven project, Music of the Heart, mainly shot in East Harlem, with three days at Carnegie Hall. “Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman, Joshua Bell and other violin superstars performed alongside Meryl Streep and her character’s students,” Mulloy says. “We hosted an onstage press conference to tout the need for music in New York City public schools. I was nervous that day, but then Meryl’s publicist arrived – the incredible Lois Smith. Her presence calmed me down. I can only imagine what she meant to her clients.”

Ask what projects are closest to Mulloy’s heart, and she’ll point to Memoirs of a Geisha right away. “It was the best of both worlds – a unit assignment that continued through release, more than 15 months total,” she recalls. “The filmmaking team and Sony’s publicists were inspired, collaborative and accessible; some are still friends. Writing a book on making the film meant lingering with David James’ beautiful unit stills. I’m proud of the book’s text, but his pictures were the

0 2 /0 3 . 2 0 2 4

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

15

0 2 /0 3 . 2 0 2 4

ZOOM-IN

stars. Dion Beebe [ASC, ACS] was another star. A few weeks after winning the Academy Award for cinematography, he threw a party for his extended team, and we all posed with his award. It’s no lie – that thing is heavy!”

A Mighty Heart, based on Mariane Pearl’s memoir about the kidnapping and murder of her husband, journalist Daniel Pearl, was much heavier. “It was filmed in Pune and Mumbai, India, with primarily English and Indian crew,” Mulloy shares. “No trucks, no trailers, and the DP shot 360. The local press was relentless, and international paparazzi, too. The morning I arrived, I read an article with inaccurate quotes from the set decorator. But he hadn’t spoken to anyone. An enterprising reporter found a call sheet, selected a random crew name, and fabricated it!”

While Mulloy says there were situations most days on the project, she calls the film an “exhilarating” challenge. “Perhaps because it was so serious and many of us were far from home,” she states. “Our crew and cast spent much of our downtime together, savoring India.

Photographer Peter Mountain often roamed the city with his camera before the day’s work.

My biggest connection was a starving puppy I met in Pune while scouting locations with EPK. I became obsessed, and he became a Mulloy.

He’s joined me for most location jobs from then on. Sometimes, I’d introduce him as the Publicity Hound.”

The Green Zone was another exciting challenge. “CBS News sent a crew, including Reporter Allen Pizzey and Cameraman Nick Turner, to our Morocco set. They were friendly and polite at dinner the night they arrived but maybe a bit skeptical; after all, they were war correspondents; we were movie people.

The next day’s scene recreated an incident in a Baghdad traffic circle that this crew had covered in real life. [Director] Paul Greengrass and company gave them déjà vu.”

And like many in the unit PR trade, Mulloy has had some very fun, even personal moments.

“It was an I Love Lucy escapade for stills photographer Jasin Boland and me when we pretended to be husband and wife, so I wouldn’t

exceed ‘our’ budget in negotiating for a rug!” she laughs. “The rug is in the perfect place in New York, along with stills from friends Merrick Morton, Zade Rosenthal, and D Stevens.”

Speaking of Stevens, he was her partner on another favorite – Get On Up. “I spent four months in Mississippi, recreating juke joints in the woods, the Apollo Theater in Harlem, and the Olympia Theater in Paris (shot with six cameras),” Mulloy recounts. “Sometimes when I hear James Brown on the radio [WBGO Newark], I forget I haven’t met him, because Chadwick Boseman made him so real and present.

“A few years ago, I ran into Glen Wilson, another stills sibling,” she concludes. “He’d just finished working on Harriet. You don’t always know what’s next when you freelance like us.

Only what you’ve done. Glen said when he considers a prospective job, he asks himself how he’d feel if it turned out to be his last assignment. Did he spend his time well? He was reverent about his experience on Harriet.

“I’m happy to say I know the feeling.”

HANDHELD. SMARTER.

The new handheld look.

Body-worn or hard-mounted.

Neal Bryant, SOC “The Last of Us”

16

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

www.cinemadevices.com

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

17

DEEP FOCUS

0 2 /0 3 . 2 0 2 4

My first camera was a plastic Baby Brownie Special (manufactured from 1938 to 1954), given to me by my father, who was a camera repairman and collector. Of course, I had no clue that would ultimately lead to a career as a photographer.

I actually started out shooting live music in Boston in the early 1990s. I used a medium-format Mamiya 645J, with Ilford XP2, which was lower grain in the highlights than a traditional black-and-white film and perfect for when the spotlight hit the musicians. When I moved into unit stills, I switched to Pentax and a Nikon F3. I loved that they were completely mechanical and tough, and if the battery died or you dropped it out of the window, it would still work. Not that I tested the window thing.

[Laughs.]

The first film I worked on was also Brad Anderson’s first film. Brad had just graduated from film school in London and moved to Boston, where he was good friends with the musicians of Carnal Garage, my then-boyfriend’s band. He used to come to clubs and video their shows from the back. Lyn Vaus told me to come by and shoot stills for a small movie Brad was making called The Darien Gap. The film did well at Sundance, and Brad and Lyn scored a second movie, Next Stop Wonderland. I was hired as their still photographer, which was the start of my stills career.

CLAIRE FOLGER UNIT STILL PHOTOGRAPHER

BY PAULINE ROGERS PHOTO BY NAFIS AZAD

18

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

One of my more unusual projects was a pitch book for Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. I had worked with Scout Productions on Brad Anderson’s Session 9 and Errol Morris’ series First Person. Using Producers David Collins and Michael Williams, as well as David Metzler of MTV’s Catfish as the Queer Guys, we did the shoot at their offices in Boston and basically put together an episode in stills. The folks at Bravo loved the project, and we shot the pilot episode in Boston. The rest is history.

I always have my eyes open for great promotional imagery. These days, with so many venues to market digitally, film projects like to present a first image or a teaser poster. For example, on The Tender Bar, I knew that shot of Ben Affleck leaning on that turquoise car with Danny [Ranieri] looking up at him could be “the” image. That moment didn’t happen when the camera

Capture

ELEVATED STORYTELLING Register Today!

Use code MP03 for a FREE Exhibits Pass!

Capture all things pre-production to post in Create, one of three curated collections at NAB Show — the preeminent event for the entire broadcast, media and entertainment industry. Here you’ll find the latest tools and advanced workflows elevating the art of storytelling. Everything to master your craft. And the all-new, interactive Creator Lab experience!

EXHIBITS: APRIL 14-17, 2024 EDUCATION: APRIL 13-17 LAS VEGAS, NV F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

19

DEEP FOCUS

was rolling, so I had to wait for the crew and equipment to clear to get a clean image between setups. Another marketing image happened in a similar way. Danny was sitting on the seat top in the convertible, which he loved doing between takes but was told was not safe for him to do during the driving scene.

I got the shot two seconds before he was asked to get out of the vehicle.

I was excited to get a phone call from John Wells, who brought me to Oklahoma after working on The Company Men to shoot August: Osage County. The house we shot in, in Pawhuska, was real – not a set. We set up camp there for so many weeks that I look back on it now as if it was my family home, too. I remember positioning myself on the floor with my blimp during that scene where Julia Roberts knocks down Meryl Streep, and the entire family falls in behind. I had no idea it would end up being the one sheet.

Still, I remember thinking, “Wow – I am in a perfect position to get this shot,” which was

20

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

0 2 /0 3 . 2 0 2 4

a composite of three shots spaced seconds apart. Some things just can’t be set up, and this was one of them.

My most recent collaboration has been with Clint Eastwood and his team at Malpaso.

Coming onto a set where everybody has worked together for many years is daunting, especially when you are “the new guy.” I am so grateful to Steadicam Operator Steve Campanelli [SOC] for trusting me to walk side-by-side with him in an intense and long Steadicam shot, in a real moment of media fren-zy as mother and son walked hand-inhand, to get what would become the poster shot for Richard Jewell.

I knew the musical Spirited would be challenging. Still, I trusted it would be a good set, having previously worked with Director Sean Anders and Will Ferrell. It also helped to be able to channel those early days working with musicians during concerts. I remember watching the lighting design and having to

count the timing of the lights for a perfect shot. Sometimes, the right image was a happy accident where all the elements – the timing of the music, the actors, the dancers and the blocking – all came together. Trying to get the perfect frame meant a lot of mental focus.

One of the most important on-set collaborations is with production designers and property masters. There are a lot of images that are scripted, but there are also images that are important to create an atmosphere. When an actor needs to recoil when seeing a crime scene photo, it helps to have that image be as real as possible.

When working on Boston Strangler, there is an important scripted image that comes early in the film – a shot of the first murder victim.

Both the actress and I wanted it to be what the director wanted – stark and disturbing. When I showed it to director Matt Ruskin, he took a moment, took a breath, and said one word: “Brutal.” And then he looked at me and said, “Well, I mean, in the very best way.”

Where the future of filmmaking meets timeless expectations.

The Film and Entertainment Industry’s Leading Provider of Lighting and Grip Equipment.

F E AT U R I N G :

12 campuses 42 stages in 6 states Total SF under roof 1.7M Studio SF ~1.9M Total stages under partnership ~101 CINELEASESTUDIOS.COM 45 YEARS OF SERVICE F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

21

FIRST LOOK

22

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

0 2 /0 3 . 2 0 2 4

VICTORIA CELESTINE JUNIOR PUBLICIST, PARAMOUNT STUDIOS

BY PAULINE ROGERS PHOTO BY ELISABETH CAREN

As a theater kid in Houston, TX, Victoria Celestine started out pursuing acting.

However, she later pivoted to the business side of the industry. Texas Tech University offered Business Marketing, but Communications piqued her curiosity. She decided to add an advertising minor to her degree, and that’s where things changed. “A wonderful professor, who primarily taught publicity, caught my interest and took me under her wing, teaching me PR during office hours – for free! That’s when my passion for PR began,” Celestine shares.

Her first step into the industry was as a summer intern at Paramount in 2018. “I began to take informational interviews with other departments in Marketing to learn more about what each sector did,” she recalls. “My conversation with [VP of National Publicity] Michelle Rydberg piqued my interest in publicity. At that point, I knew I wanted to pursue PR after graduation.”

Celestine says she was lucky in the beginning. Mentors taught her to be strategic, problem-solve in a fast-paced environment, create a work-life balance, and build boundaries. “I am so thankful to everyone who built the publicist I am today,” she states.

While a tough job market after graduation was intimidating, Celestine was fortunate to have Tom Parker (current senior project lead at

Apple TV+) offer her a spot at STX Films as the Field Marketing and Events assistant. “During my time there, I mainly distributed press breaks and reviews, assisted with planning junkets and premieres, and managed our nationwide screening program and field office,” Celestine recalls. “I will never forget my first junket. It was for 21 Bridges in 2019, and that was the moment everything began to click. As an assistant, I ran hospitality and junket press screenings, which every aspiring publicist should do. You truly get to see ‘how the sausage is made.’ You watch months of planning and pitching come together to execute, arguably, the most important beat in a publicity campaign.”

In April 2022, Celestine joined Paramount as an apprentice publicist in International Publicity. Her job was similar to her current role as a junior publicist. “It was a year of training to prep for what I do now,” she adds. “The only significant difference is that I spearhead more projects. My current boss (Schalah Mitchell) and the senior publicist on our team (Hayley Morrow) set me up for success, for which I am eternally grateful. The first campaign I worked on at Paramount as an apprentice was Top Gun: Maverick. From the international side of things, it was my first time leading a global junket, conducting talent communications and talent handling. I got strategic and had conversations with our territories about what type of film

features and covers we were looking for, what concepts did or didn’t work.”

One of her favorite tour stops was Singapore for Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.

“It was our first time, as a studio, doing a tour stop in Singapore, and we wanted to make it a big moment, which took tremendous teamwork. We pulled off an APAC Junket and World Premiere during this tour stop. I took the lead on the junket and red-carpet press line, working countless hours with our production company, local office, APAC territories, and press. It was a great beat for our campaign, and we truly put all our heart and soul into it.”

Celestine says the pandemic changed everything. “The most interesting thing I did at STX was for Greenland [2020], our first fully virtual junket. Navigating that new space with our internal team, production company, press and talent was interesting. We had to juggle different time zones, different camera setups, conversations for interview backdrops/ skins, and how to move the various pieces of the junket through Zoom. Three years later, publications are going fully digital, no print, and even talk shows are gaining a massive digital footprint as that is where today’s audiences consume most of their media. It’s bittersweet because it feels like the end of an era, but I am also excited to see how PR evolves in this digital world.”

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

23

EXPOSURE

ZAL BATMANGLIJ & BRIT MARLING DIRECTORS / A MURDER AT THE END OF THE WORLD

BY TED ELRICK

PHOTO BY CHRIS SAUNDERS / FX

24

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

0 2 /0 3 . 2 0 2 4

PHOTO COURTESY OF LILJA JONS / FX

Filmmakers Zal Batmanglij and Brit Marling have enjoyed a creative partnership dating back 16 years. They met when both were undergraduates at Georgetown University – Marling was a double major in photography and economics, Batmanglij was studying anthropology and English.

After graduation, and with another Georgetown friend, they moved out to Los Angeles, where Batmanglij attended AFI. His thesis film, The Recordist (2007), starred Marling, and ever since the pair have been a formidable creative team. Their indie features The Sound of My Voice (2011) and The East (2013) each premiered at Sundance, while their dramatic series, The OA, found a rabid following on Netflix. (And if you ask any fan of the show, it was canceled way too early.) Batmanglij and Marling’s newest project was the recently concluded FX/Hulu miniseries A Murder at the End of the World, about a Gen-Z amateur sleuth, Darby Hart (Emma Corrin), trying to solve a murder at a secluded technology retreat in Iceland.

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

25

EXPOSURE

Shot by Local 600 Director of Photography Charlotte Bruus Christensen, ASC [ICG Magazine December 2016] in both American and Icelandic locations, the series swings back and forth from the present to the past.

While the science-fiction elements of AI felt remote when Batmanglij and Marling started conceiving the show (in 2015), they now seem frighteningly real, and just around the corner, as the two filmmakers detailed to ICG writer Ted Elrick.

and shared storytelling from 20 years of collaboration and 20 years of watching films, or shows, or reading books and discussing them, you can tap into a similar wavelength. I am grateful that Brit started directing, because as an actor her understanding of performance is far deeper than mine. Her understanding of the pressures of the set on an actor also allows her to create differently from those run by filmmakers who have mostly never acted before.

ICG: Brit, this is the first time you’ve directed in your work with Zal. How did that come about? BM: Zal was very adamant, saying “I feel you should direct the pilot. You should set the tone for this one.” That speaks to the depth of the generosity of the relationship between us. We are always trying to make space for each other and invite the other to do more. I thought that was a beautiful gesture on his part. Also, it was that I would direct episodes where the character I play, Lee, appears less often. We thought I would direct episodes one, five, and six, six being one we thought Lee would not be in as much. But then Lee was in episode six more than we thought, so it was challenging being both in front of and behind the camera. (Laughs.) Sometimes we were shooting ten pages a day, which is an astounding amount of story to capture in one 12-hour cycle. And then when we get into the edit, it is like we are back in the writers’ room together. Based on the footage we have, we wrestle with how the piece works, and we will comb over the story repeatedly.

You set a lot of this in Iceland. Have you been there before? BM: We had originally written A Murder at the End of the World thinking of Norway, because my mother’s family is from there. Then when we were working on the practicality of shooting it, one of the production executives at FX said there are good tax incentives in Iceland. Have you guys thought about Iceland? No, we had not. We were halfway through writing the script and we landed in Iceland, and there is an incredible company there called True North that is run by Leifur B. Dagfinnsson. It was such an amazing experience, and we landed with our production designer, Alex DiGerlando, and Aaron Raff, our VFX producer. We drove all over the country.

We went on glaciers, into ice caves, and scaled up mountains. It was a real adventure.

The people of True North were prepared to do that. It was so inspiring both to come back and finish writing the script once we knew the landscape and were writing to that, but also it was just the perfect place for this story in particular, because there’s something about the uninterrupted tundra and the way the geography is formed in what feels like lava meeting ice; it has this primordial quality. It feels like the place where time began. The first story is a meditation on time and moves back and forth between the past and the present. It felt like the same landscape, with the wind rushing past taking us back to the desert where Darby and Bill are, initially. It felt like the right place, and we knew it hours after landing there.

How do you decide on the direction of the story? ZB: The way we work on a series is like how we made our indie features. We write everything together before we begin preproduction, then we prep all the chapters at once, shoot all the material (cross-boarding), and then spend months in the edit – as well as working on the score and sound. All of this is done together. Because of this way of working, so much of the directing is happening before we ever get to the set. For example, we set the color palette in the script and even camera angles, in a subtle way, by making each beat of the screenplay a shot. We do not do this too consciously – it is the shorthand we have developed over the years. Brit studied Economics and Photography at university and she approaches filmmaking as an economy of images. Having a shared visual language

26

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

Your director of photography, Charlotte Bruus Christensen, told me she had planned to take a break, but then you invited her for coffee. BM: (Laughs.) Yes, it is funny.

Charlotte was in the middle of shooting a film with Julianne Moore (Sharper), and she was supposed to go back to Denmark and be with her family. We were just having coffee in general because I am an enormous fan of her

work, the lensing of A Quiet Place and Far from the Madding Crowd, she has such a sensitivity to light and color. I find it remarkable as well how she has been able to have a female protagonist feel like the camera is their gaze.

We had that coffee. And I thought there was no way she was going to do this project, but we had such an amazing conversation. And it was not even about the story. It was about being alive and telling stories with time. Charlotte has a beautiful mind and imagination. I could have talked with her for an entire day! When we parted ways, I immediately called the producer and said, “I do not know what we must do. We have to push. But we cannot make this story without this woman.” Charlotte felt Darby in her bones.

What were the discussions like on setting the visual style and marrying their visuals from one director to the other? ZB: Much of that comes during the ideating and the writing. By the time we were shooting, I was shortlisting, producing, or sleeping when I was not directing, and Brit was doing the same when I was directing, except a lot of times, she had to put on yet another hat and act! Having that, this was a very challenging project to shoot. Folks sometimes ask, “Why get political in your work?” Like, “Isn’t dealing with climate change heavy-handed?” And that just makes me laugh because politics are so intertwined with the actual filmmaking. We navigated a pandemic and unprecedented storms in Iceland while shooting. The storms were coming in from a different direction than they had in the past, so even the local experts had a tough time predicting their course. So, a lot of stuff that was carefully scouted and prepped was re-imagined at the last minute or abandoned because of the storms or COVID delays. It was a reminder of how real the topics in the show are.

This is an ambitious story. What research did you do on AI to extrapolate from what is possible now to what might be likely in the future? BM: We had been hearing about these tech millionaires hosting these secretive retreats and became very interested in technology retreats. People go to some farcorner location, part of them generating ideas and part of them auditioning for finance ideas that might be generated out of this experience.

We heard about a couple of these experiences from friends and thought, “This is such a ripe

0 2 /0 3 . 2 0 2 4

BRIT MARLING (L) ON LOCATION WITH DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY CHARLOTTE BRUUS CHRISTENSEN, ASC | PHOTO BY CHRIS SAUNDERS / FX

setting for a ‘whodunit’ murder mystery.”

You’ve got all of these guests brought from all over the world to this isolated location.

It was about five years ago that we became interested in that world. Then we became interested in a technology designer interested in artificial intelligence and what that might mean for the future. When we started writing this, people in the tech space kept telling us, oh, AI is so far away. Hollywood’s always weirdly doing that. And it became strange when we were in the edit to see that a lot of the things we imagined come to pass. It’s a remarkably interesting chicken-and-egg thing. There is a story about a young boy who grew up reading science-fiction in the fifties that had lasers. He became so fascinated by them that he studied physics, and he eventually became the man who invented the laser. There is a kind of responsibility for the science-fiction author. What you imagine, you may very well will into the world.

ZB: Brit and I came across a painting made by AI and immediately we both felt this “uncanny valley” feeling – and discussed that we were about to enter a new era. Of course, we did

not know then how close we were to that era beginning. Then as we started writing, we read a short story written by AI, and the next day, I could not shake this feeling akin to a milder version of what you feel the first day of a cold or the flu. The virus metaphor is apt because I realized the AI-generated story was the first story I had ever heard or read that was not told by a human or the divine. A virus had entered the world of storytelling. The next day, Brit and I called a friend in tech and said, “Did you read that AI story? Does it give you chills?

Stop you in your tracks?” And he laughed and said, “What are you talking about? It is just nonsense.” But we felt it was a key to entering our story. We had no idea that it would enter the mainstream so quickly or that a major sticking point during two unprecedented double labor strikes would be AI storytelling.

Did you hold rehearsals with the actors? Or was there just a script reading or discussion before rolling cameras? ZB: Everything in this story was done at the levels of the best films. We had a great DP, an extraordinary production designer, and the support and brilliance of Gina Balian and John Landgraf at

FX; but the one thing we did not have, and that you cannot really have in the series medium, is time. We worked constantly, and on rest days everyone slept. The actors were great sports. Emma Corrin became Darby Hart.

She is in every scene, so she practically lived on the hotel set and she inhabited being the coroner’s daughter. Harris Dickinson arrived talking and moving like Bill – it was uncanny.

And for the Tech Titan, we had a gift from God in being able to work with Clive Owen.

The tech billionaire is played by someone who wants to make fun of this character or who doesn’t bring gravitas to it. When we were writing, all I could think of was Noah Cross in Chinatown and what John Huston brought to that role. And then there we were on set, and Clive brought something real, full of feeling but also full of gravity. Collaborating with Brit is always interesting because one day her character Lee just shows up. Brit hunched over, wore her hair differently and reacted to loud sounds differently…it was not until we were in the edit that I realized Lee hunches because she spent so many formative years at the computer. It is a stealthy style of acting that I so admire.

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

27

28

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

Armando Salas, ASC, recreates the “cocaine wars” of his hometown – Miami, FL – for Netflix’s gripping new crime drama, Griselda.

BY DAVID GEFFNER ∞ PHOTOS BY ELIZABETH MORRIS / NETFLIX FRAMEGRABS COURTESY OF NETFLIX

La

Madrina F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

29

Fans of the gangland genre that includes such classics as Scarface, American Gangster, Sicario, and the granddaddy of them all, The Godfather trilogy, will embrace Netflix’s new limited series, Griselda, while also welcoming one big plot twist: the most ruthless drug lord in Miami’s cocaine wars of the late 1970s and 1980s was a woman, whose real-life story reads like a rags-to-riches movie. Raised in Medellín, Colombia by a single mother, Griselda Blanco was exposed to a criminal life as a pre-teen, before illegally immigrating to New York City in the mid-1960s with her three children and husband (all before she was 21), where she set up a successful drug operation. Ten years later, Blanco was arraigned on federal drug charges and promptly fled back to Colombia to avoid prison time. In the late 1970s she returned to the U.S., this time to Miami, where she shaped herself into the most successful (and merciless) female drug lord the world has ever known. She went back to prison in the 1990s (for second-degree murder) and, after being released for severe health issues, returned to her native Colombia, where, at the age of 69, she was shot to death by an assassin on a motorcycle, the same method Blanco often used to kill her enemies in the drug trade.

30

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

31

G

riselda was executive produced by Narcos and Narcos: Mexico veterans Eric Newman, Doug Miro, and Andrés Baiz (who directed all six episodes) and lensed by Emmy-nominated Director of Photography Armando Salas, ASC [ICG Magazine June 2020]. Co-writers Miro and Ingrid Escajeda pick up Blanco’s story in Colombia, just before she moves to Miami. The series, beautifully shot

by Salas in native HDR (more on that later), takes liberties with Blanco’s real-life journey to better visualize the barriers faced by a woman in an (extremely violent) man’s world. Dispensing with her pre-history, we meet Griselda (played by Sofía Vergara, who is also an executive producer) bleeding from a gunshot wound and desperate to flee Medellín with her three sons, Uber (Jose Velazquez), Dixon (Orlando Pineda) and Ozzy (Martín Fajardo). The gunshot (we learn in a flashback) came from a shoot-out with her husband, Alberto (Alberto Ammann), who had forced her to sleep with his brother, Fernando, to forgive a debt the couple owed from their cocaine operation.

Once in Miami, the story picks up speed: Griselda wants to use the kilo of cocaine she brought from Colombia to kickstart a new operation. But when she tries to convince Miami drug lord Amilcar (José Zúñiga) to let her become his new supplier, she’s shown the door. Moments later in the parking lot (where Amilcar holds court at the club inside), Griselda is robbed of her kilo by a low-level drug runner, Johnny (Wilmer Calderon). Not to be deterred, the next morning we see Griselda shadow Johnny as he returns to the club and thrash him with a baseball bat to get her coke back! She also makes the now-humbled Johnny promise to set up a meeting with another Miami distributor, Eddie “the bird” Rancon (Alberto Mateo).

In a key scene, Griselda meets with Eddie at the El Floridita club and convinces him to become her partner. However, the relationship is shortlived, as following an oddly surreal slow dance between Eddie and Griselda, Amilcar’s men burst in and kill everyone except for Griselda and a local Colombian, Chucho Castro (Fredy Yate), whom she brought along to pose as her bodyguard. Amilcar’s

32

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

main sicario, Rivi (Martín Rodríguez), retrieves the kilo and tells Griselda to “go home, lady.” But, as portrayed by the filmmakers, this is the mother from hell, who will do anything to provide for her three sons. We see Griselda march back into Amilcar’s club, and this time, impressed by her “cojones,” he offers her one chance to prove she can be his supplier. The last shot of the pilot is Griselda striding out of the club past a bevy of trophy girls, secure in the knowledge that she will one day become “la jefa” – a boss lady among men.

With the entire show shot in Los Angeles, Baiz wanted a Director of Photography who was L.A.based and spoke fluent Spanish – some 90 percent of the main cast is Latin, and much of the show is subtitled in English. “I have worked with many DP’s in my career,” Baiz reflects. “From seven seasons of Narcos to my features in Colombia, and, of course, I have my favorites. But I found very quickly in Armando a true creative partner.

Someone I want to work with again and again.

He is a solid, creative professional, and someone I leaned on throughout the entire production.”

Shooting L.A. for both Miami and Colombia had its challenges. “As Armando who is [Cuban and from Florida] knows,” Baiz continues, “the Miami of the 1970s and 80s no longer exists. It looks completely different. When we found an interesting location in L.A., I would often look over at Armando, who would shake his head: ‘It’s too steep. Miami is all flat.’”

“This is not a biopic, where we tried to carefully recreate real events,” Salas adds. “This is fiction, so we had many early conversations about finding the right look and feel. It couldn’t throw you down the rabbit hole of darkness all the time, but we didn’t want to totally glamorize it, either. It was always about finding the best version of Miami that fit our story.”

Baiz says he wanted to avoid the gritty, documentary approach of Narcos and steer clear of classic genre films such as Scarface or The Godfather. “The biggest influence for me was visualizing Gena Rowlands, and trying to bring that kind of intimacy to Sofía’s character,” he reveals. “Not the style of Rowlands’ work with Cassavetes, as Griselda is all shot in studio mode, with classic framing and lighting. It was more about finding the inner truth [Rowlands] always conveyed with her characters and bringing that to how we see Sofía.”

And because Baiz was able to direct all six episodes and work with just one DP – a rarity in episodic TV – he says, “I told Doug and Eric I wanted the look of the show to be nothing like Narcos. No voice-over from the writers, no archival footage of the real Griselda Blanco, and little handheld camera, which was never motivated by action so much as by narrative. It was a way to define what the show would look like by deciding what visual conventions we would not use.”

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

33

“[THE LOOK] COULDN’T THROW YOU DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE OF DARKNESS ALL THE TIME, BUT WE DIDN’T WANT TO GLAMORIZE IT, EITHER.

IT WAS ALWAYS ABOUT FINDING THE BEST VERSION OF MIAMI THAT FIT OUR STORY.” ARMANDO SALAS, ASC

What Salas and Baiz did decide, based on the above references (and a desire to end each pre-title sequence on a close-up of Vergara) was the aspect ratio. “Wide-screen is wonderful for framing tableaus with multiple characters,” Salas describes. “But it’s a tricky format when you want to isolate one person in the frame. It was Andi’s idea to shoot 1:66. I wanted to shoot on a larger negative like many of the medium format photographs we were referencing, so we tested several large format cameras and paired them with glass provided by Dan Sasaki at Panavision. We viewed the blind test at Netflix and Andi and I both liked the RED RAPTOR paired with Panaspeed lenses.

The camera was so new at the time [early 2022], it didn’t have many accessories, so we had to build everything out.”

Surprisingly, the RAPTOR’s 8K sensor wasn’t a motivating factor for Salas. As he continues: “I’m much more interested in latitude and how the sensor handles faces. Although there are endless tools in color correction it’s important to me that variations in skin tone, particularly with our cast, are pleasing and faithfully reproduced.”

Salas says the RAPTOR lived on the remote head 65 percent of the time. “We had a handful of big Steadicam shots and a limited amount of handheld reserved for moments when Griselda is losing an important personal relationship, whether it’s with her husband Dario in Episode 5 or her close friend Carmen [Vanessa Ferlito], in the pilot.”

34

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

Baiz says the mass killing at The Floridita is the “moment we had to show our cards,” to convey just how brutal is the world this single mother and her children have entered. Ironically, the blocking and camera dynamics of the massacre (some of it via machete) were more easily found than the absurdity of the dance between Eddie and Griselda. “She’s happy, having just made the deal, but very uneasy with where Eddie is leading her,” Salas describes. “Yes, we know we have to have a machete slice through the guy’s head, but that’s easier to figure out than setting the mood during the dance so the audience experiences both joy and dread.”

Production Designer Knut Loewe says that while the exteriors were done on location, most of the interiors were stage builds, with 190 sets created in total. “We used wild walls a lot to create more space and flexibility,” Loewe states. “So, the bathroom in Colombia, in Episode 1, becomes the Miami motel room where Griselda and her girls unload the smuggled cocaine – because it’s very difficult to find a real motel room to accommodate that many people.”

Loewe says he’s done many period projects, and the key takeaway “is that the architecture and interior furnishings are often from an earlier period,” he shares.

“Griselda is set in the late 1970s and ’80s, but we drew from the 1960s, ’50s and before. The Miami mansion where Griselda consolidates all her power was built in the 1920s, to which we added 1970s details like

phones and TV’s. Of course, everything in Griselda’s world is larger than life, which is why we use gold throughout. The gold leaf wallpaper in episode three in Griselda’s first house that burns down; Amilcar’s penthouse in episode one, where we see these oversized golden horses; the golden dogs in Griselda’s mansion office – people in Miami at that time wanted everyone to know how much money they had, and the furnishings should reflect that.”

The designer was also adamant about avoiding easy visual cliches.

“I asked Andi and Armando early on if we could limit the use of pink, which is a shorthand way to say we’re in Miami,” Loewe adds. “So, the police station, which is June’s [Juliana Aidén Martinez] world, has a single pink stripe down the hallway and the rest of the palette is blue. We used light blue walls and metal furniture, and Armando reinforced it with his beautiful lighting – stark and white, almost like working inside a refrigerator. It was a great contrast to the light Armando created in Griselda’s world, which is always warm and embracing.”

Salas compares the mundane world of June, a single mother working as an intelligence analyst for Miami PD, to “a palate cleanse at a wine tasting. You get accustomed to seeing the bold copper, gold, and teal accents that fill Griselda’s world,” he notes, “so the stark simplicity of June’s world is a reminder of what everyday life looks like. June’s a likable character, so we photographed her in a pleasing way. But

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

35

36

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

37

38

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

she’s constrained in her job, so we often see her boxed-in – doorways, windows, and frames within the frame. Until episode three, when she has the foot chase with Amilcar. That scene has some of the fastest camera moves in the whole series to show she’s breaking free and coming into her element.”

One of the biggest crafts-related challenges comes towards the end of Episode 2, when Griselda hosts a lavish yacht party to reel in upper-class buyers.

The scene plays both inside the boat (shot on stage) and outside on the yacht’s upper deck, as well as the adjacent pier where the boat is anchored, and where Miami drug dealer Papo Mejia (Maximiliano Hernández) threatens Griselda for cutting in on his territory.

Loewe says the 1930s-era yacht they used was worthy of its own movie. “Winston Churchill had taken the boat from its original owners and put in bigger diesel engines so it could be put in service for D-Day,” he recounts. “After World War Two, it was owned by someone in Malta who knew the British Royal family, and they would come around for dinner. Eventually, it got sold to the president of the Hell’s Angels, who sold it to a music producer in Los Angeles, who had planned to sail around the world when he retired. But his Malibu estate burned down in a fire! That’s when the boat became available for film shoots, which is how we found it. There was a discussion with Armando about how to illuminate the scene since all the guests had to be out on the top deck when [Papo Mejia] comes to threaten Griselda.”

Salas describes the yacht party as being lit “simply, with a few hundred 25-watt light bulbs [for string lighting from the masting] for an ambient base,” he recounts. “We used floating barges with lights to reflect off the water that we could move around so it wasn’t a black hole beyond the ship when we started losing the horizon lights late into the night. The party scene on the boat also had to contrast with an earlier party, shot at the Biltmore Hotel, where Griselda first gets all these rich people high on coke.”

“We called that first party ‘a cocaine commercial, because it’s when Griselda has the epiphany that she can conquer a new, untapped market,” Baiz explains. “It was shot at 600 frames per second with the Phantom 4K, with cocaine powder hovering in the air. Coming into the yacht party, we knew we needed a different approach.”

Salas says the first party was back/cross-

lit and shot in slow-motion. “For the boat party, Andi came up with this idea to take the super slo-mo even further and shoot it in still frames. I said: ‘Great! I’m going to light it like glamorous flash photography – exactly opposite the first party. We had large soft warm sources handheld by electricians running around with the photographer, as we staged hundreds of these little vignette frames, in, like, two hours.”

A false climax is set up with a stunning shot of Griselda calling Carmen from a phone booth near dawn – well after the party has ended. She’s riding high from the confrontation with Papo Meija, who backs down in full view of the guests when a rival seller, German Panesso (Diego Trujillo) sides with Griselda. As Salas describes: “We needed the van with the girls and Arturo [Griselda’s accountant from Colombia] to pull away from the dock, with just a hint of dawn on the horizon. After we cut away and come back, Sophia’s on the phone with Carmen, and dawn is breaking. By the time she gets back to her motel, which is the real climax of the episode when Fernando and Dario come to her room, it’s early morning light.”

Salas says the yacht/harbor background plates were shot at dawn, with the phone booth shot on a stage with lighting created to match. “It’s one of only two blue screen scenes in the series,” the DP says proudly, “as we used a lot of in-camera techniques.

For example, when Rivi hides out in a desert motel in California in Episode 4, we built a forced perspective desert on stage with a painted canvas backing [masterfully executed by Art Director Bruce Buhner] and a trench so we could control the lighting on the backing for different times of day.

“I told [VFX Supervisor] Andrew [Cepereley], “Salas adds, “that if we don’t shoot a single blue screen shot on the show, it would be a huge personal success.” [Laughs.]

“Andrew was nervous at first, but he leaned into that idea, and we did 90 percent of the comp work in-camera. The day we did Rivi in the desert, I was lighting the first shot and saw dozens of crew members taking selfies against the background. That excitement [of having everything in-camera] permeates the entire show. If that had been a giant, perfectly lit blue screen, I guarantee there wouldn’t have been a single person taking a selfie!”

T h at same b e h i n d - t h e - s ce n e s excitement comes in front of the camera via four fiery speeches Griselda delivers as she climbs up the cartel ladder. The first, in

Episode 2 around the motel’s drained pool, is to the sex workers she’s brought over from Colombia to peddle her product; the second, in Episode 3, brings together all of Miami’s drug lords; the third, in Episode 4, is in the courtyard of Griselda’s mansion compound to her newfound muscle – the marielitos (Cuban refugees that came over during the Mariel boat lift); and the final, and most dramatic speech, by the compound’s pool at night, urging the Marielitos to burn the cocaine they have stolen from the powerful Ochoa family, in a brazen show of disrespect.

Baiz says that throughout each speech he wanted Griselda’s energy “to feel contagious, especially since she’s surrounded by misfits like herself. The sex workers from Colombia, the Cuban boat refugees, Rivi, even her own family,” he describes, “are all outsiders, and those are the people she feels most comfortable with. Thematically, in these big set pieces, we knew it was important to not just show Griselda’s charisma but [also] her undying belief that all of these misfits – herself most of all – deserved to be successful.”

Salas says the first speech at the motel was the simplest, “because she’s, essentially, speaking to her own family. We knew the visual interest would be a montage we intercut of the girls meeting new coke buyers around Miami. “We sometimes drove Phil, the line producer, crazy,” Baiz laughs, “as none of those shots were in the script.

We’d be shooting near a golf course and just send the splinter unit out to get a piece we needed.”

Rallying the Marielitos as they drive into the compound and unload the stolen cocaine was, in Salas’ words, “like shooting a superhero origin story, with Griselda gathering her power and strength. The last speech [at the end of the same episode] is when she begins to drive this wedge between herself and Dario. It’s war with the Ochoas and there is no compromise. The visual interest is clearly the burning of all the cocaine in the pool. This is the Griselda that wants total control, and she’ll kill anyone that gets in her way.”

Salas says ninety percent of the cocaine burning was practical, with the only CG fire done in the high/wide drone shot. “We set a bunch of Maxi Brute Nine Lights in the pool, in a semicircle, on a randomized chase pattern so it would match the color and flicker pattern from the other angles that were done with real fire,” he explains. “The mansion was an extremely difficult location, as there was room for just one stake bed to go up this long, winding road to the top of a hill, unload, and then come back down. I told

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

39

40

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

41

“SHE KNOWS ALL THREE OF HER BOYS ARE DEAD; SO ARMANDO CAME UP WITH THIS

FANTASTIC IN-CAMERA SOLUTION OF HAVING THE KIDS APPROACH GRISELDA AND JUST DISAPPEAR.” ANDRÉS BAIZ

my crew: ‘I know this place is challenging.

But it will be worth it if we all pull together.’”

Loewe says like all of the L.A. locations, the mansion was enhanced with greenery.

“Miami is so much more green than Southern California,” he offers, “so the greens team on this show did a lot of work.

For example, we put in a large amount of palm and banana trees in the exterior of the compound; that’s carried over into the interiors, where we have many rooms with banana leaf wallpaper. For the mansion’s courtyard, you have the driveway leading up to this corrugated iron gate we built and topped with barbed wire. On the wall, near the greenhouse, there’s a blue and white lantern light we added that was great for the night exterior shots, as it created this whole fairytale feeling, like you’re entering Griselda’s castle.”

DIT Aaron Picot, who first worked with Salas on Strange Angel in 2019 and then again on The Terminal List, says Griselda is the first series he monitored native HDR on set. “Armando had done it on Ozark, and he reasoned that the workflow is now the reverse of what it’s always been – we finish in HDR and are doing an SDR pass.”

Picot says Salas creates the HDR LUT with his DI colorist, and then, “using straight mathematics, they create an SDR LUT with a different ODT that’s bound to Rec.709. I have SDR and HDR monitors on set, so when you look at both images, you’re seeing the same LUT, just tailored for their respective color spaces.”

Picot says that for years, “the legacy workflow of using LUT’s designed for the Rec.709 color space only allowed us to work with around nine stops of dynamic range, give or take, and modern digital cameras, even going back to the RED ONE, record more like 13 or 14 stops, and some now can capture 17 stops and beyond.” He adds that “thanks to displays like SmallHD’s Vision series, which has more than 1000 nits and good local dimming, HDR monitoring on set has become more doable. Tools [on the

42

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

SmallHD display] like customizable false color are great as I can set different colors for different ranges in an HDR pipeline, where dynamic range is measured in luminance and nits, not IRE. Instead of saying, ‘How bright is that spectral highlight?’ I just turn on the false color and I can get the precise nit values of every element of the image.”

Like many Local 600 DIT’s, Picot has made use of Pomfort’s Livegrade Studio for on-set color management. “Armando likes to do most of the color in-camera,” he continues. “He also has the dimmer board operator on his comm all the time to change the look via lighting. What’s nice about Livegrade is I can capture stills – live – and keep an organized library based on episode and scene. So, when Armando is shooting two scenes next to each other, but shot months apart, I can pull up reference stills to keep his color continuity on track.”

Loewe says the graded stills are also a big plus for the Art Department. “We used them to determine wall colors, grades of sheen and gloss, choosing wallpapers with the art-directors, and selecting grades of neon tubes,” Loewe describes. “[The stills] are a great way of getting everybody to be on the same page aesthetically. And since so many sets were split between location and stage, they helped tie together the atmosphere of the interiors and exteriors.”

Salas points to a sequence at the end of Episode 5 that unites the disparate worlds of Griselda and the woman determined to bring her down. When Griselda, fueled by paranoia (and crack), attempts to strangle Carmen (because she thinks her friend is an informant) at Dario’s birthday party, Carmen races from the mansion in fear.

Then, the next morning, Griselda urges Rivi to kill Chucho (whom she now thinks is the informant!), but Rivi’s bullets kill Chucho’s young son instead, pushing the episode toward a surprise conclusion of Carmen visiting June at the police station to turn

informant on Griselda.

“Ninety-nine percent of the time, I look at what we’ve shot and begin to mentally list the ways I could have made it better,” Salas smiles. “But there’s a series of shots at the end of episode five that I couldn’t have done any better. The camera, blocking, and lighting, are perfectly in sync with the actors’ performances, and with minimal dialogue you understand that June’s plan [to bring Griselda to justice] worked.”

Baiz says Salas often sought the simplest (and most visually elegant) in-camera solution to better serve the narrative and performances. He cites an example that closes out the series.

“The last happy moment for Griselda is when she’s in Long Beach [CA] with her sons on the beach. She’s on the sand, watching her kids, who are near the water hugging and playing. The shot that gets us there is her in prison, tracing the line of the prison cell with her cigarette, which has been a signature shot throughout the series for Griselda. Delineating her world with the cigarette takes her back to that last happy moment on the beach in L.A. She knows all three of her boys are already dead.

Armando came up with this fantastic incamera solution of having the kids approach Griselda and just disappear.”

As Salas concludes: “Andi and I were on the beach doing the scene and he was like: ‘Something’s not working here. What is the feeling we’re going after?’ We had a five-minute conversation and came up with this shot where the kids all came toward her, smiling. For a moment, we wonder if this is going to be a sentimental ending with all of them embracing as a family. But as we pull back off her shoulder, the kids just disappear into her body. Everything she’s worked for, all that ambition in the service of her family, is gone. Griselda’s completely alone on the beach, centered against the horizon line, as the end scroll comes up. It was the perfect collaboration between me and Andi in the moment. I love when that happens.”

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

43

LOCAL 600 CREW Director of Photography Armando Salas, ASC 2nd Unit Director of Photography Joshua Harrison A-Camera Operators/Steadicam Mikael Levin, SOC (Eps 1-3) Joshua Harrison (Eps 4-6) A-Camera 1st AC Neil Chartier A-Camera 2nd AC Remote Head Tech Tracie Chartier B-Camera Operators Em Michelle Gonzales (Eps 1-3) Lisa Stacilauskas, SOC (Eps 4-6) B-Camera 1st AC Derek Plough B-Camera 2nd AC Loren Azlein Loader Jai Corria Digital Utility Phoebe Krueger Additional Operators Laurent Soriano Craig Kief, ASC Additional AC Michael Chomieniec Additional Utility Jojo Reyes Still Photographer Elizabeth Morris 44

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

BAIZ, SECOND FROM LEFT, SAYS HE’S WORKED WITH MANY DP’S IN HIS CAREER. “FROM SEVEN SEASONS OF NARCOS TO MY FEATURES IN COLOMBIA. BUT IN ARMANDO [FAR RIGHT] I FOUND A TRUE CREATIVE PARTNER. SOMEONE I WANT TO WORK WITH AGAIN AND AGAIN.” F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

45

Into

the

Void

Charlotte Bruus Christensen, ASC and her Guild camera team search for “true north” in the undiscovered country of cyberspace.

BY TED ELRICK ∞ PHOTOS BY CHRIS SAUNDERS / FX FRAMEGRABS COURTESY OF FX NETWORKS

Tech billionaire Andy Ronson (Clive Owen) has called together a disparate group of people for a retreat at his isolated hotel, what some refer to as “a resort,” deep in the Icelandic wilderness. None of the guests (among them actors Joan Chen, Raul Esparza, Ryan J. Haddad, Louis Cancelmi, Jermaine Fowler, Pegah Ferydoni and Brit Marling) knows one another, and none seem to be related through interests, either. Among them is a Gen-Z amateur sleuth, Darby Hart (Emma Corrin), who, like the others, is intrigued by her inclusion. When murder strikes, Darby, the daughter of an Iowa forensic pathologist, finds herself in her element.

A DOLLY TRACK WAS LAID TO BEST CONFORM TO THE CIRCULAR NATURE OF THE HOTEL HALLWAYS. “SOMETIMES WE HAD A STEADICAM WITH MARK SCHMIDT OPERATING,” 1ST AC GAVIN FERNANDEZ RECALLS. “BUT WE ALSO HAD A RICKSHAW WITH THESE NICE SOFT TIRES. WE PUT A LIBRA HEAD ON, AND IT WAS A CARPETED FLOOR. YOU COULD GET UP TO A HIGH SPEED AND STILL MAKE THE TURN.”

48

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

T

he FX/Hulu miniseries, A Murder at the End of the World, is the latest creation of the writing/producing/ directing team of Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij (Exposure, page 24), friends from Georgetown University who previously created the cult Netflix hit The OA [ICG Magazine April 2017] and the indie features Sound of My Voice and The East. Marling (whose other hat included starring as retreat guest Lee Andersen) and Batmanglij called on many of their previous collaborators but brought in Director of Photography Charlotte Bruus Christensen, ASC (Fences, The Girl on the Train, A Quiet Place), who, like the characters in the story, was initially hesitant to sign on. Christensen, who had just wrapped the Julianne Moore film Sharper, was looking forward to spending time “reconnecting with her family” back in Denmark. But she accepted an invitation for coffee in New York with Marling, nonetheless.

“I admit that from the moment we met that day, I was captured by Brit’s immense presence and passion,” Christensen recounts. “We didn’t talk about the story – we talked about everyday life – our children, where and how to settle down, how to be in these jobs fully while also not missing out on the world outside our industry. In a way, the discussion did underscore what the show was about – real life, versus the opposite pole, the cyberworld.”

Christensen says visualizing that step into the cyber world was “crazy in scope, in that we all know what [the virtual realm] is but have no idea how deep it goes. It’s like you look at a star and it’s so pretty, but what is the distance between me and that star?

My conversation that day with Brit was more of a deep philosophical discussion. And it was after that meeting I thought: ‘I should probably cancel my holiday!’”

The DP says Marling and Batmanglij wanted to visualize things they could not even fully express – but wanted to explore – with Christensen. “That’s interesting to me,” she continues. “When a director comes to you and says, ‘I want to shoot with this camera and this lens, in this way,’ it’s like a done deal.

But this was like, ‘We do not know exactly what this is.’ It’s crazy, it’s cinematic, it’s European. There was so much room to be a full creative collaborator.”

Initially, Christensen, Marling, and Batmanglij pushed to shoot all ten hours on film, but, as she

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

49

ICELAND HAS ONLY ONE TECHNOCRANE, “A TECHNO #1 AND IT WAS OLD,” SHARES KEY GRIP MITCH LILLIAN. FOR ONE TREACHEROUS CANYON/ GORGE LOCATION, LILLIAN SHARES THAT “WE PUT THE TECHNO ON SKIS – MADE OUT OF STEEL – JUST TO GET IT AROUND.” / PHOTOS COURTESY OF KEY GRIP MITCH LILLIAN

continues, “FX Networks let us fight for a little bit; but in the end, we didn’t get through with it.” Christensen chose the ALEXA Mini LF with Panavision glass designed by Dan Sasaki for a previous FX miniseries. First AC Gavin Fernandez explains that the lenses were “adjusted to look like 1970s vintage glass with a little aberration mixed with Panavision V Series and VA prototype lenses, which are designed for digital sensor cameras. In the middle of the shoot, we were jumping from the 50 mil to the 75 a lot, and Charlotte said, ‘A 65-mil lens would be great here.’ So, Dan built a 65 mil and they shipped it to us, and that became our workhorse, shooting in New Jersey.”

Christensen adds that even though shooting on film in anamorphic wasn’t going to work, she still wanted the anamorphic feel. “Dan said, ‘Find me five images of what it is you want these lenses to do,’” she recounts. “I found a bunch of portraits of Ingrid Bergman, among other old photographs, where the lens is creating that soft vignette. And then Dan created this set of lenses, originally built for [the FX limited series] Black Narcissus. I showed the Black Narcissus lenses alongside the Panchro Cooke lenses, to Brit and Zal, and they loved the Black Narcissus glass because each lens has its own character, just like the

50

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

anamorphic C series. It’s not just the depth of field, it’s their different characters. It’s very soft on the edges. And then Dan created this 65, which is going to be so popular. He should create more,” she laughs.

Dolly Grip Jack Lillian was one of many team members who felt completely in sync with Christensen’s approach, noting the camera movement felt almost like a ballet.

“Charlotte and I had worked on Sharper before Murder, and it was my first A-Camera as dolly grip,” Lillian recalls. “I think it just imprinted because she was the first person I learned a lot from.”

Shooting in Iceland had its set of challenges, particularly with COVID. “At that time, Iceland was just opening up to tourists again,” Fernandez muses, “and that brought in a new wave of COVID. Two people got infected on the first day, then it jumped to 17, then it jumped to 30, and then 60 people and then we had to shut down for 11 days. Once we finally got on set it was like: ‘We don’t want to waste any more time.’ People were missing their families because it was only supposed to be a twelveday shoot, and it ended up being thirty days.

I was Patient Zero, along with my second, Austin Restrepo.”

Other Icelandic challenges were the rough terrain and the journey to capture dynamic settings. Key Grip Mitch Lillian (Jack’s dad) says Iceland only had one Technocrane. “It was Techno number 1, and it was old,” he laughs. “The Aero Jib was the go-to tool for the whole job. We shot in a gorge, Stuðlagil Canyon, and hiked through that gorge. It was feet of snow and sheer cliffs. You couldn’t tell when you were stepping over the edge. We had dolly moves down in there. It was quite a feat.

We put the Technocrane on skis just to get the crane around. We made the skis out of steel.” Once on skis, this “Jean-Claude Killy of Technocranes” could be safely moved into the gorge. “Viktor Davíð Jóhannsson and a rigging grip named Atli Thor Thorgeirsson were not going to say no to anything,” Lillian recalls of the local Icelandic hires. “There’s nothing they couldn’t get done.”

Jack Lillian recalls one nerve-wracking moment. “Iceland has a lot of experience with search and rescue,” he details. “The company we worked with, True North, also provides these search-and-rescue guys to work on films. One of Atli’s many jobs before being involved in film was to install avalanche barriers on mountains. One day we had very high winds and there were maybe four of us swinging the bucket of the

PHOTO COURTESY OF LILJA JONS/FX

crane to do this move. We did the move, and the guy doing the extension of the crane brought it in and it hit a push bar on the crane, and it dislodged. It was off its tracks, just a little bit. In the States, we’d send the crane back and get it checked out. However, Atli said, ‘No problem, ten minutes.’ He grabs a pry bar, sticks it in the crane, lifts the weight arbor by himself, and while he’s lifting it unscrews the travelers on the weight arbor and realigns them, so they set back down in the track. And the weight arbor travels perfectly, all while he’s holding 800 pounds! We checked the crane out afterward and luckily saved it; otherwise, we would have been very screwed.”

Chief Lighting Technician Bill O’Leary, who had worked with Christensen for Girl on the Train and the New York portion of Molly’s Game, says the Icelandic temperatures were not a problem. “It was the constant, relentless winds,” he laments. Andy Ronson’s secluded retreat, from the second floor up (the round part), was built in VFX, with only the lower level being a practical location that included the large entrance. O’Leary says he was able to rig all his lights on the balcony of the existing second floor, knowing they’d be erased by the VFX crew. “We used incandescent, 10K, and bounced it off rags,” he recounts. “We were able to fasten the rags

right to the structure, which was the only way we could have done it because of the wind.

We had the lights on turtles bounced and used that to put a soft glow on the snow that was going to be surrounding the VFX work on the resort. Everyone wanted to stand next to the 10Ks,” he chuckles, “though we never did experience subzero temperatures.”

Production Designer Alex DiGerlando had worked with Marling and Batmanglij on The OA. In the design for the hotel interior, built at Cinelease soundstage in Jersey City, NJ, DiGerlando was looking to use natural elements, like wood and stone, that projected warmth. Also key were smaller windows in the rooms that benefited the VFX unit by limiting the amount of lighting for the green screens outside the windows for the Icelandic landscape.

These natural elements were introduced in the interior of the private airplane that whisked the guests to Iceland. “We thought of the private jet as the first room of the hotel,” DiGerlando recalls. “When Darby sets foot on that plane, it sets the stage for what’s in store. When it lands and you go through this amazing landscape and then enter the hotel, it’s a continuation of some of the motifs we started in the plane.”

It was also important to DiGerlando to have fireplaces in every room of the hotel as a kind of Agatha Christie Manor House element. In addition, there are no television sets or screens in any of the rooms. “The windows should be the dynamic rectangle in the room,” he continues. “When we are developing the presentation of AI Ray (Edoardo Ballerini), he is projected on the wall, and it makes it feel like he was in the space with the character. Funnily enough, Ray is the person Darby knows best on the retreat, other than Bill, but she doesn’t know Bill is going to be there. That first time she goes into her room and realizes Ray is in there with her, she feels like she has a buddy because she feels out of her depth with all these fancy people.”

Because the hotel was circular, it required a circular set, which, due to soundstage size limitations, couldn’t be constructed in a full 360 degrees. “The nice thing about a circle is that no matter where you are around it, you’re infinitely repeating,” DiGerlando explains. “Landmarks were going to be the dining room and the library at the top of the stairs. We built that into the design. Those two rooms would have the same footprint and we would rejigger them. We started with the lobby staircase into the library and then we shot out all that stuff and ripped

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

51

PHOTO COURTESY OF LILJA JONS/FX

out the staircase, plugged in the hole in the floor for the staircase, and then built the bar in that spot.” For speed of change, they also employed some stage quick-change techniques with flys, such as when the bar with glasses on a fly had the ability to be hoisted up towards the skylight to get it out of the way.

B-Camera 2nd AC Marvin Lee says the doorbell cameras of the individual rooms were functioning cameras. “The image you see in the show was the actual image from the cameras built into the wall. It was also interesting to see how seamlessly the scenes from Iceland tied into the reverse shot on the set. Between Charlotte and the directors, they were amazing with their organization.

We were shooting Episode 5, and then going on to Episodes 3 and 2, and I don’t know how they kept track of everything going back and forth. After watching the show, I now have all these questions I wish I should have asked.”

The entrance to the hotel was shot at the Vök Baths in Eastern Iceland, which had a ramp leading down to the Bath House, and

52

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

VFX put the circular exterior on top of that.

“We worked closely with Aaron Raff in VFX and modeled the set right. It was very useful for everybody to understand what the hotel was if it did really exist,” DiGerlando shares.

It was also important to all where North, South, East and West of the hotel were so that at any given point, no matter which version of the 180 set they were shooting, they would know where the sun would be at any time.

“It was very important to Charlotte that we weren’t cheating in the way light came into the hotel,” DiGerlando adds. “Sometimes when you’re walking around in a full circle, there would be several months between the two scenes being shot. Charlotte wanted to know where the sun would be, and I think she did an amazing job on that. The subtle changes in the light just feel right.”

O’Leary says the 180 degrees of the circle was challenging for replicating natural light.

“We had a bunch of looks,” he shares. “We had the blizzard look. The night look. The overcast day look. And occasionally we had a bright, sunny look.” Best Boy Rob Vuolo

and Rigging Gaffer Louis Petraglia are part of O’Leary’s longtime team, of which he says, “I have a core group of guys, some of whom I’ve been with 25 to 30 years. The joke is that I don’t know anybody in New York other than eight people. I keep the same people with me whenever I can. It makes it so much easier.”

O’Leary also raves about the Icelandic crew, particularly Chief Lighting Technician Finnur Thor Gudjonsson and Best Boy Andri Freyr Hlynsson. “The rest of the Icelandic crew were outstanding,” he adds. “It was interesting seeing the way they approach those conditions. If we hadn’t had them, it would have been a disaster. Just little things.

In New York we’d have a hamper; up there they have a sled.”

A dolly track was laid to best conform to the circular nature of the hotel hallways. As Fernandez explains: “Sometimes we had a Steadicam with Mark Schmidt [SOC] as operator, but we also had a Rickshaw with these nice soft tires. We put a Libra Head

ABOVE: PRODUCTION DESIGNER ALEX DIGERLANDO SAYS IT WAS ESSENTIAL TO ALWAYS KNOW WHERE NORTH, SOUTH, EAST AND WEST WERE, SO NO MATTER WHICH VERSION OF THE 180 SET THEY WERE SHOOTING, THEY WOULD KNOW WHERE THE SUN WOULD BE. “IT WAS VERY IMPORTANT TO CHARLOTTE THAT WE WEREN’T CHEATING IN THE WAY LIGHT CAME INTO THE HOTEL,” DIGERLANDO SAYS. F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

53

ABOVE/BELOW: TECH BILLIONAIRE ANDY RONSON’S SECLUDED RETREAT, FROM THE SECOND FLOOR UP, WAS BUILT IN VFX, WITH ONLY THE LOWER LEVEL BEING A PRACTICAL LOCATION THAT INCLUDED THE LARGE ENTRANCE. CHIEF LIGHTING TECHNICIAN BILL O’LEARY WAS ABLE TO RIG ALL HIS LIGHTS ON THE BALCONY OF THE EXISTING SECOND FLOOR, KNOWING THEY’D BE ERASED BY VFX. “WE USED INCANDESCENT, 10K, AND BOUNCED IT OFF RAGS,” O’LEARY RECOUNTS. “WE WERE ABLE TO FASTEN THE RAGS RIGHT TO THE STRUCTURE, WHICH WAS THE ONLY WAY WE COULD HAVE DONE IT BECAUSE OF THE WIND.”

54

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

PHOTO COURTESY OF LILJA JONS/FX

on, and it was a carpeted floor. You could get up to a high speed and still make the turn. I think we put the Steadicam on that once or twice.” Operator Schmidt says the fact that the set was not 360 degrees made it very interesting. “It was a beautiful set. The way they scheduled it I thought made it work really well,” Schmidt relays. “We filmed the first half of the set, then we’d go on location.

When we came back, they had rejiggered the set to make it the opposite end, so it made it look like a circle. And with Charlotte and Bill having detailed notes on the lighting and the direction of the sun, it wasn’t particularly confusing.”

B-Camera Loader Adam Kim says the large production was a different experience for him, personally. “Previously I was working as an electrician on commercials as well as small shorts,” shares Kim, who had day-played on Law and Order and works fulltime on American Sports Story. “On the first day I saw the call sheet was 200 people, and I was wondering, ‘How can I find my crew members?’” he smiles. “The sheer size of the set was a bit overwhelming.”

Schmidt says following behind the actors was his favorite part of the shoot.

“You’re concentrating on the back of Darby’s head and we’re playing with focus – to me, those are interesting shots because it’s more involved than just a Steadicam. It’s about focus and what’s going on in the background. And I always think I can make the shot better.”

Like DiGerlando and O’Leary, DIT Lewis Rothenberg came on early and worked closely with Christensen, whom Rothenberg calls “a dream. She’s so talented,” he states.

“Every frame Charlotte shoots tells a story.

We shot single camera most of the time as she shoots film style. Unless there’s a specific need for the B-Camera, she doesn’t just throw it up to get another shot. It’s quite refreshing to see someone work like that.

“Charlotte and her colorist [Picture Shop’s Michael Hatzer] had created a log that I used as the basic image transform,” Rothenberg continues. “I am one of the first three DIT’s in Local 600, after having been an engineer for twenty-some years before that, so my on-set color correction is what I built

my reputation on. And Charlotte appreciated that. When she and Bill [O’Leary] were lighting, I had an idea of what she wanted.

And she would look at that and say, ‘Great’ or ‘Can you make it more contrasty?’ or ‘Warm it up.’ Once we did that for the master, she counted on me to always make sure the close-ups matched. When I retire, there is a very small list of DPs I’d come out of retirement for. And she’s on that list.”

As Christensen concludes: “Cyberspace is something we can’t yet comprehend. And we spoke a lot about how scary that can be. Not just the murder mystery parts of the story, but being inside that space. I thought: ‘This is something we don’t fully understand yet still have to visualize.’ And what’s so great is that there was an acceptance [from Marling and Batmanglij] along those lines. They allowed us to always stay curious, searching for the best way to visualize this compelling story, where there’s so much said between the lines that we can’t fully capture. It was amazing to work with directors who let me go on that journey with them, where the story is so much larger than our everyday experiences.”

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

55

A-CAMERA/STEADICAM OPERATOR MARK SCHMIDT, SOC (ABOVE) SAYS FOLLOWING BEHIND THE ACTORS WAS HIS FAVORITE PART OF THE SHOOT. “YOU’RE CONCENTRATING ON THE BACK OF DARBY’S HEAD...AND IT’S MORE INVOLVED THAN JUST THE STEADICAM. IT’S ABOUT FOCUS AND WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE BACKGROUND. AND I ALWAYS THINK I CAN MAKE THE SHOT BETTER.”

56

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

LOCAL 600 CREW MAIN UNIT Director of Photography Charlotte Bruus Christensen, ASC A-Camera 1st AC Gavin Fernandez A-Camera 2nd AC Austin Restrep B-Camera Operator/Steadicam Mark Schmidt, SOC B-Camera 1st AC Basil Smith B-Camera 2nd AC Marvin Lee 2nd Unit DP Fred Elmes, ASC 2nd Unit DP/C-Camera Operator Connie Huang Underwater Camera Operator Sean Gilbert Underwater Camera Tech Cheuk Wong DIT Lewis Rothenberg Loaders Karron “Micky” McKenzie Adam Kim Still Photographer Christopher Saunders ICELAND UNIT Director of Photography Charlotte Bruus Christensen, ASC Additional Operator Bradley Grant A-Camera 1st AC Gavin Fernandez A-Camera 2nd AC Austin Restrepo Loader Karron “Micky” McKenzie UTAH UNIT Camera Operator Andy Harris ACs Ethan Hamme Landon Hill F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

57

HOOKED

FEELING

ON A Mauro Fiore, ASC, AIC, teams with Marvel TV veteran S.J. Clarkson to spin a complex new web for a Marvel character unlike any before.

BY ELLE SCHNEIDER ∞ PHOTOS BY JESSICA KOURKOUNIS / BETH DUBBER / SONY PICTURES FRAMEGRABS COURTESY OF SONY PICTURES

PHOTO BY JESSICA KOURKOUNIS / SONY PICTURES

60

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

PHOTO BY JESSICA KOURKOUNIS / SONY PICTURES

Madame Web, the latest installment in the Sony Spider-Man universe, tells the story of a passionate EMT, Cassandra Webb (Dakota Johnson), who after a rescue mission goes awry, discovers she has the gift of clairvoyance. “Her superpower isn’t physical, like flying or spinning webs. But it’s a superpower we’d all love to possess – the ability to see into the future,” describes director S.J. Clarkson [ICG Magazine July 2017], whose episodes of Jessica Jones and The Defenders stand out in a storied television career. Clarkson says she was drawn to the idea that “Cassandra has to be smart, she has to fight using the power of her mind rather than her physical strength. It makes for a psychological thriller set within the Marvel universe, which feels fresh and original.”

It also makes for a more character-driven story than we’ve typically seen in the MCU, one that puts the audience inside the protagonist’s head throughout the film.

As Clarkson adds: “I remember when I first read it, and I thought, how would you do clairvoyance? How would you have a character see the future? I wrestled with this for a while, and then I thought, well, how is it different from memory, in a way; it’s just that you are seeing in advance, so how memory is maybe nonlinear and a bit of a slipstream. And when you add a Marvel element of the superhero-ness, you can take it to another extreme.”

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

61

C

assandra’s journey kicks off when, while attending to a horrific car wreck on a New York City bridge, she accidentally plunges into the river below. The fall propels audiences into a watery visual motif that recurs throughout the film, mixing visual effects with a practical, grounded reality. With Oscar-winning Director of Photography Mauro Fiore, ASC, AIC, on board, the details of the bridgework challenged the crew even before having to deal with unpredictable New England weather. “I was on the Steadicam up on the bridge,” recalls A-Camera Operator David Emmerichs, SOC. “I did a run right to the edge, and snapped the camera out, looking straight down as the car dropped. I was safety-ed off with a harness and a tether, so I wouldn’t go over.”

Safety is always priority number one, but even more so on complex Marvel films that are packed with stunts and visual effects. “We kind of had to go old-school with heavier duty rigs and pipe and stuff to make sure everything stayed in place,” recalls Key Grip Frank Montesanto. “We were limited on space and working on the edge of a bridge, instead of a big set with platforms and all the luxuries.” The water itself was shot predominantly dry on a blue screen stage, with an effort made to light the depths in an abstract, less overtly beautiful way.

Or as Clarkson jokes: “We say ‘dry for wet,’ but it’s dry for web. We’re actually in a web world underneath there.” That web world is where Cassandra’s psychic powers first begin to manifest, giving her brief, fragmented glimpses into the future. Some tank work did factor in when certain moments demanded a bit more truth. “People still like to see the reality,” offers Fiore, “There are still aspects of action sequences that look much better when you do it real.”

Fiore, of course, is no stranger to blue screen, VFX, or water, having shot Avatar and numerous tentpole action films, including Spider-Man: No Way Home. He says it was “interesting to work with somebody who had done independent films. S.J. was so excited and she’s so smart, I wanted to experience what it was like.” Fiore made sure to pepper the crew with likeminded folks – in addition to seasoned Hollywood veterans, he included those experienced with indie productions and even some recent college grads.

“Mauro’s energetic, enthusiastic, and he knows what he’s doing,” Emmerichs says of his longtime

62

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

collaborator. “Since [Fiore] was a gaffer for Janusz [Kaminski] for so long, he’s got a huge amount of built-in knowledge about how to do big stuff quickly.”

Emmerichs also values the trust he receives on set from Fiore after so many years of working together. “He lets me take off and run with the operating side,” Emmerichs explains. “I appreciate that he gives me creative freedom and lets me have a close relationship with the director.”

Fiore, who brought together an experienced team that included Emmerichs, Montesanto, Chief Lighting Technician Frans Weterrings, and A-Camera 1st AC Steve Cueva, says visualizing powers that are more psychological than physical was a challenge. “If somebody has these great superpowers and can jump faster than anybody, and run faster than anybody, you can easily show that on screen,” he describes. “But when it all happens internally? That’s quite difficult.” And while the solution – showing moments in time, multiple times, with different outcomes based on different actions, is a story mechanism that might feel familiar – it’s one the Madame Web team paired with an innovative visual style.

“This [story] is about [Cassandra] acquiring these powers and discovering them, and we as the audience discover them with her,” Clarkson explains. “So, we wanted the clairvoyance to be as disruptive, arresting and surprising as possible. But – in the very nature of keeping it grounded because it was psychological – I wanted to do as much of it in camera as I could.”

Fiore used a technique Clarkson had experimented with on a prior TV series, via a specialized portrait lens and handheld split diopter filter to distort the image organically. “In doing that, it created a shift in the depth of field and the perspective,” Clarkson continues.

“And when you do it quickly a couple of times, it is almost like the blink of a camera shutter. We use that technique and then editorially cut within those diopters between different takes, or the future and the present, so that you’ve got a fragmented warp.”

Madame Web was shot mainly on full-frame Panavision Panaspeed primes that where adjusted by Dan Sasaki for a custom look, and paired with an ALEXA LF and a Mini LF. The additional portrait lens, tweaked by Panavision to have a sharp center with quick focus fall-off, was an important tool in their visual arsenal. “The portrait lens was something we talked about together and was something that I was keen to use and [Mauro] embraced,” Clarkson adds. “Once we put the diopter with that, some really exciting things started to happen. Steve [Cueva] is an amazing focus puller. He was able to do any ridiculous thing we asked him to do, even with a portrait lens and diopters and zooms.”

Notes Cueva: “If you had any focus assist apparatus on the lens, it wouldn’t work because that was being blocked by the little filter. Then she’d pull it at the last second, and you might be moving, you might be converging on something very quickly, so you kind of had to have an idea of where you were in space before that happened. That kept me on my toes.”

Fiore says it was important not to get too stylized with these moments, lest they pull the audience out of the story.

“We both thought that would take away from you believing that this is going on,” Fiore adds about their decision not to go too expressionistic with the clairvoyance. As Clarkson notes: “If it’s not happening on the actor’s face; if you’re not feeling that sense of story or narrative or emotion, then it doesn’t matter how cool the shot is.”

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

63

PHOTO BY JESSICA KOURKOUNIS / SONY PICTURES

A-CAMERA/STEADICAM OPERATOR DAVID EMMERICHS, SOC (ABOVE IN GRAND CENTRAL STATION) SAYS HE VALUES THE TRUST FROM FIORE AFTER SO MANY YEARS OF WORKING TOGETHER. “MAURO LETS ME TAKE OFF AND RUN WITH THE OPERATING SIDE,” EMMERICHS EXPLAINS. “I APPRECIATE THAT HE GIVES ME CREATIVE FREEDOM AND LETS ME HAVE A CLOSE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE DIRECTOR.”

64

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

PHOTO BY BETH DUBBER / SONY PICTURES

“I LOVE HOW MAURO WASN’T AFRAID OF MY WANTING THE COLOR TO POP.” DIRECTOR S.J. CLARKSON

An action sequence on a New York City subway car, where the four main characters meet, was a tough one to shoot: “We are based in reality, and then all of a sudden when the moments [of clairvoyance] happen, they’re shocking to the audience as well as to the main character,” Fiore describes. “The great part about the train is that it’s the moment our four main characters come together, where Cassie first feels a connection to these young women” adds Clarkson, who says the scene marks the first major emotional turning point for the protagonist. “She’s a paramedic because she likes to help people, but she usually drops them off and moves on. She doesn’t like to stay connected. This is the moment in the movie where she’s forced to decide whether she’s going to stay and do something, or leave.”

“It was a practical train car, so we had all the restrictions as far as space goes,” recounts Cueva. Though set in New York, the film was mostly shot in Boston with a New England-based crew, and with help from the Boston MBTA, Clarkson, Fiore, and the stunt team captured test footage on a real T subway car they would use later to previsualize the scene. Helmed by VFX Supervisor Michael Brazelton, the previsualization allowed the team to work with the locations and studio to fine-tune each moment and know exactly what needed to be delivered from each shot. “He’s an incredible collaborator,” says Fiore of Brazelton’s ability to liaise between Clarkson’s vision as a director and the studio’s needs for time and budget.

“I have a nine-year-old daughter,” explains Brazelton, who worked on Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man early in his career, but whose recent work has mostly been R-rated fare. “I’ve always wanted to do a film that is something she’d be interested in watching.”

In fact, his daughter’s love of Gwen Stacy in Sony’s Into The Spider-Verse drew Brazelton to the project. “Seeing her come to life and engage in this whole world, just from having

representation, made me want to be a part of something like this,” he adds.

Brazelton found collaborating on previs with Fiore, Stunt Coordinator Brycen Counts, Production Designer Ethan Tobman, and Clarkson, made for a team that didn’t want to fall back on “tried and true” methods for handling action and CG elements. “There’s a drive that’s there to accomplish something that hasn’t been seen before,” Brazelton notes.

The desire to mix it up included not just the handmade touch of the diopters, but also some action sequences shot with a Ronford-Baker Fluid 7 Three-Axis Head to roll the camera, which Clarkson had used on previous projects. “She liked that for a lot of the action sequences for transitions, and sometimes even in the middle of an action sequence, as someone leaps across a room,” recounts Emmerichs. “For instance, on a wire, we’d flip the camera upsidedown 180 degrees and back. [Clarkson] was going for something dynamic in the camera movement and the editing. It was fun to help her try to make what she imagined.”

One tool that was instrumental in keeping movement dynamic was Cinema Devices’ ZeeGee rig, created by Local 600 Director of Photography (and former Steadicam Operator) Charles Papert. “The ZeeGee was the hero of the shoot in terms of camera support gear,” says Emmerichs, noting that it struck the right balance between the choreographed feel of a Steadicam and the frenetic, sometimes uncontrolled look of handheld.

“It’s steady, but there’s an edge, which I guess sums up Cassandra’s character,” describes Clarkson, who cites a shot early in production when Cassandra goes back to her apartment and has to go in through the back entrance and out the fire escape. “I wanted to do this shot where she came towards us, pulled down the fire escape, and then as she went up, we twisted around so that as we

were looking up, it looks like she’s in a web,” Clarkson recalls. “I tried to find elements of web or web imagery throughout the film.

And so underneath the fire escape, spinning around, it was like she was within the web.

The ZeeGee was able to achieve the effect. It was a revelation on this movie.”

Emmerichs points out that “even though this was a big Sony Marvel movie, stylistically, it was shot more like a small personal film. It wasn’t always the multiplecamera, huge, complicated setups. That’s not to say the shots were easy. They were quite difficult, but more from a conceptual and execution point of view as opposed to scale.”

While Fiore is all for using new technology when it fits the scene, he says at this stage of his career, it’s “not so much how I can experience the technology, but how I can use it to say something more about the character and story. An aspect of advancing technology is the ability to describe and analyze things that you may have seen in your past and recreate a kind of proxy of that imagery,” he observes.

Case in point is when Cassandra and her team – Sydney Sweeney as Julia Cornwall, Isabela Merced as Anya Corazon, and Celeste O’Connor as Mattie Franklin – take on the villainous Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim), a moment of truth for the group and a test of Cassandra’s powers. “She’s more in control of her power, so we get to enjoy the clairvoyance and those premonition moments; whereas before, a lot of times it’s been the universe trying to get her attention and her not knowing what to do with it,” Clarkson explains.

Weterrings describes the scene, shot on another rooftop, as the biggest lighting scheme in the film. “It’s fireworks and buildings exploding, and they’re running across a massive blue screen,” he shares.

“So that was the set that we spent a lot of

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

65

PHOTO BY JESSICA KOURKOUNIS / SONY PICTURES

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24 66 BY BETH PHOTO DUBBER / SONY PICTURES

time trying to figure out how we could get as much in camera as possible.”

The scene included SFX explosions, and wire gags by the stunt team. “[We had] sparks, we had smoke, we didn’t want it just to feel like a blue screen set,” Brazelton adds. “We got a real natural black sky, and huge shipping containers.”

The lighting team utilized the benefits of LED and dimmer-board technology to recreate the look of fireworks on set, without needing to rely on practical fireworks, which are harder to control. “I think we can achieve much more now in camera than we could before,” describes Weterrings.

To create the nighttime ambience, the team built a “moon box” over the set using multiple LiteGear Auroris fixtures.

This large overhead source “gave a lot of options for intensity and color changing and effects, which you really couldn’t do as easily before, with non-LED fixtures,” adds Weterrings. “We also used [Creamsource] Vortex 8s and DMG Lumieres as soft sources on set. The DMG’s I find have very, very good color.”

Not all fixtures were LED’s, as sometimes you can’t beat the classics. “We did use some tungsten,” Weterrings continues.

“LED’s haven’t gotten far enough yet to give you that nice, hard, big Fresnel source, so you still do need to have those lights.”

Opposing the LED moon box was a sun needed for some scenes – nine 18K’s, which took more than one generator to run. On the recommendation of Montesanto, the team put lights on a Spidercam to mimic the look of a roving spotlight. “That’s the most challenging part of these films,” says Fiore.

“You’re on a rooftop, so you can’t really have a helicopter roaming around. How are we going to create that effect?” The Spidercam (no pun intended) saved the day.

“My programmer programmed a PlayStation remote, which we could operate the light with, which we thought was funny because it’s a Sony film,“ shares Weterrings.

Like Emmerichs and Fiore, Weterrings and Montesanto have a long working relationship, which helps move the set faster. “Frank is also very good at lighting, which I think is an important thing for a key grip,” Weterrings states. “Sometimes he’ll say, ‘Geez, Frans, do you want me to do something here?’ And I’ll say, oh, I didn’t see that. That’s great. Let’s do that. And it’s very valuable.” Ultimately, even the biggest set pieces and most intricate light and camera moves are all in service of the story.

“I think we had a 50-foot Technocrane,” says Emmerichs of the rooftop sequence, “but it still came down to getting in there with the ZeeGee, up close and personal with Dakota

and the girls, in an almost documentary style.”

Clarkson says she is “so grateful to my second unit team, helmed by Darrin [Prescott], who understood the story we wanted to tell. It’s a gift to have that collaboration as well.”

In fact, teamwork was key on a film with so many moving parts, and Montesanto credits Fiore for maintaining a good environment on set. “To work for and with someone who treats you with respect, who acknowledges your input and appreciates it, makes you want to go the extra mile,” he observes. “So, when the going gets tough, you roll up your sleeves and press on and do your best,” a necessity when every day on set is different. “Mauro’s still laughing at the end of the day,” says Cueva. “You leave there with this nice feeling.”

Emmerichs points to how integral Dolly Grip Dwayne Barr was to the shoot and praises Clarkson’s personal attention to the camerawork. “One of the things I liked about working with S.J. is she didn’t always spend her time back at Video Village,” Emmerichs states. “She was invested in directing the scene with an immediacy that was similar to what she was trying to get with the camera, and it all helped.”

On working with Fiore, Clarkson concludes, “I loved how [Mauro] wasn’t afraid of my wanting the color to pop.

Sometimes DP’s can hedge their bets, but he embraced that use of color in the filmmaking, which I hope makes it feel original.”

Fiore and Company 3 Colorist Jill Bogdanowicz worked in prep to create specialty LUT’s to give different moments in time a unique look. As Fiore describes: “I thought for the introduction of Cassandra’s mother in the rainforest, the LUT could mimic the look of Kodachrome, a color reversal stock in the 1970s that had these bold, rich, warm colors and very rich contrast.” Another LUT Fiore and Bogdanowicz employed was to imitate a Polaroid photograph, which he describes as “a more pastel rendition of color.

Polaroid still had plenty of contrast, but its representation of color was somewhat fantastical,” he adds.

“The reason I thought these looks could help the telling of this story,” Fiore concludes, “is the flash of images that relate to one’s past, these representations of the past, could be a good method of experiencing Cassandra’s clairvoyance. One cannot really relate to the past logically but through a collage of imagery that is kind of what Carl Jung referred to as the ‘collective unconscious.’”

LOCAL 600 CREW Director of Photography Mauro Fiore, ASC A-Camera/Steadicam Operator David Emmerichs, SOC A-Camera 1st ACs Steve Cueva Steve Wong A-Camera 2nd AC Trevor Carroll-Coe B-Camera/Ronin Operator Sebastian Slayter B-Camera 1st AC Greg Wimer B-Camera 2nd ACs Talia Krohmal Chris Malenfant Additional Operator Billy Green, SOC Loader Sierra Cossingham Digital Utility Matt “Sully” Sullivan DIT Patrick Cecilian Still Photographer Jessica Kourkounis Publicist Brooke di Bonaventura 2ND UNIT Director of Photography Duane Charles “DC” Manwiller A-Camera 1st AC Matt Horn A-Camera 2nd AC Tom Bellotti B-Camera Operator John Garrett B-Camera 1st AC Tim Sweeney B-Camera 2nd AC Chuck Moya Additional Operator Billy Green, SOC Loader McKenzie Raycroft Digital Utility Emily Khan DIT Nick Pasquariello

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

67

Who’s Who in PR?

ICG public relations members are a diverse (and talented) lot. Let’s get to know some of these union professionals and the different areas they’re involved in.

BY PAULINE ROGERS

Those outside of public relations often lump the craft into one big pot, unable to distinguish just how many different colors exist in the marketing world’s rainbow.

Certainly, for this readership, unit publicists (union members working during the life of a production, whether on local stages or distant locations) are a known quantity. As are studio and network publicists, who breathe the lifeblood into a project’s long-range (and short-range) marketing plans. Publicists tied to independent agencies often represent talent (above and below the line) and can also specialize in the critical (and critically time-consuming) campaigns leading into awards seasons – where we are now.

But even within those three large areas of the craft, there are fine distinctions – publicists who specialize in international markets, publicists who specialize in craft and technology-driven products, publicists who spend 100 percent of their time writing copy or sifting through the thousands of images taken by a unit stills photographer. There’re also publicists who focus on EPK work, film trailers, animated feature films, graphic novels and superhero fan conventions.

No need to worry, though. For ICG’s annual publicitythemed issue, Staff Writer Pauline Rogers caught up with a group of Guild members to help illuminate all the different colors and layers of that vast planet many of us just know as publicity.

Gregg Brilliant PORTRAIT BY NICOLA GOODE, SMPSP

UNIT PUBLICIST 32 YEARS OF SERVICE WESTERN REGION On a van ride while working on Life of Pi, director Ang Lee summed up Gregg Brilliant’s work as “the intersection of art and commerce.” And that’s very much how this longtime publicity professional has always approached his craft. Whether as a staff publicist, studio publicity executive, or unit production publicist, Brilliant is intent on finding the best way to help market some of the industry’s most high-profile tentpoles (including The Jungle Book, The Lion King, Kong: Skull Island, Avatar, and the upcoming live-action Lilo & Stitch) while still preserving wonder and surprise for audiences. He’s also in the unique position of being firmly entrenched in a galaxy far, far away, having worked on all of Lucasfilm’s Star Wars episodics that shoot in the U.S., including The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka and the yet-to-be-released Skeleton Crew.

Venturing into television added a new dimension to Brilliant’s career.

“Working on the Star Wars series, and earlier on Better Call Saul, was a bit of a contrast to the film world,” he shares. “The serialized nature of TV requires a different approach to publicity, and BTS capture allows my studio colleagues to build campaign momentum over weeks and sustain for months. It’s a thrill to be part of the cultural phenomena these shows have become.

70

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

“The recent years have been particularly exhilarating,” Brilliant adds, “and have allowed me to delve into diverse genres. My ongoing work on the Star Wars shows has been a rewarding challenge, working with the studio teams to keep audiences engaged and anticipating each episode.”

Brilliant says that often with publicity, “what’s not said is even more important than what is said,” noting that it’s even more important with the Star Wars projects. “I’m an advocate of protecting and preserving the magic for the audience to discover. It’s a huge testament to every single person working on the first season of The Mandalorian that we were able to keep Grogu [at the time, known only as Baby Yoda by fans] completely under wraps for a year before the big reveal of the story.”

He says one of the biggest campaign challenges for the SW episodics was also one of its most successful. “That would be a massive multi-show cover story for Vanity Fair, shot by Annie Leibovitz,” Brilliant recounts. “It featured key cast members Pedro Pascal, Rosario Dawson, Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, Diego Luna, Moses Ingram, Genevieve O’Reilly, plus the requisite baby pictures of Grogu as well as a side shoot with our filmmakers, John Favreau, Dave Filoni, Kathleen Kennedy, and Deborah Chow. This prestigious cover and inside story [written by Anthony Breznican for the June 2022 issue], titled Star Wars: The Rebellion Will Be Televised, bridged The Mandalorian with ObiWan Kenobi, Andor and Ahsoka. The shoot was done during an active production day across three massive sound stages with multiple setups, including a working LED Stagecraft Volume. “Working with the entire shooting crew, production, and Disney’s and Lucasfilm’s publicity teams to pull it off was an exhilarating high-wire act – without a net.”

Brilliant says he’s a “nerd at heart,” who feels blessed to enjoy a front-row seat to the most creative artists and storytellers in the industry, “all while utilizing ILM’s Stagecraft technology.

This cutting-edge technology, known for its immersive LED screens and virtual production capabilities, has transformed filmmaking,” he beams. “It creates photorealistic immersive environments on set, offering actors tangible environments and allowing real-time creative adjustments.

“As a unit publicist,” Brilliant concludes, “my role involves articulating these complex processes, which requires constant learning and a delicate balance between maintaining confidentiality and sharing the excitement of this cinematic innovation. Each day brings new challenges and inspirations. That said, there’s a massive amount of practical work on these sets – creatures, costumes and sets. The work of many talented artists and craftspeople is all tangible.”

Les Mason Award winner for Career Achievement Karen Chamberlain has had six different jobs for Warner Bros. on both the East and West Coasts – three with WB Publicity and three with DC Comics. She has a Master’s degree in screenwriting from USC and has crafted strategic language for release and awards campaigns and executive and talent messaging. These days she’s a staff writer at Warner Bros. Pictures, where her words and style often help set a tone for promoting key franchises.

“The writing process has transformed over the years,” Chamberlain reflects, “because the business of marketing and publicity has evolved. When I started, publicity was divided into domestic and international; we later became one global unit. That said, there are always the basics for all of us – one-pagers, notes, trivia, fun facts, credits, bios and press releases.

“We [including colleague David Ferguson] start by reading the script and drafting a brief synopsis that, as my mentor Sharon Black always said, attempts to ‘hook ’em and fry ’em,’ reveal little, but get them to want to see this movie. On rare occasions, a writer/director prefers to provide us with a minimalist version of something to start.

Greta Gerwig’s Barbie is a most recent example. In this case, we’ve stayed with or built on those brief few lines throughout the release and awards campaign.”

Chamberlain says the “heavier lift” on Barbie “was box-office and other press-release and awards-corridor language, which continues to this day. And for our DC films and titles with many consumer products/packaging needs, we start very early with not just a film description but characters,” she details. “I use the script as a reference and build upon the writer’s language within to create something that will hopefully work for both an actionfigure box and our later marketing needs. One of my favorite mementos is a set of Wonder Woman Barbies with my words on the back of each box.”

While every film is different, even within a genre, Chamberlain says many projects today seem to defy the traditional genre label. “The Color Purple is a great example,” she explains, “because it’s based on a beloved novel, and you could call it a drama. But it’s also based on a stage musical from that novel, so it’s a drama with music.

“Our marketing team called it ‘a bold new take,’ because despite the serious subject, it’s joyful and very much its own thing. Everything I write needs to encompass all of what the film is, which is part of the fun.”

Chamberlain also covers speechwriting and presentational language.

“I find quotes I draft in press releases, speeches, letters or anything I write for an executive, filmmakers, or talent, to be a lot like dialogue,” she describes, “taking a character or two and creating a monologue or conversation. I have access to our executives and spend a lot of time reading through EPK transcripts, watching interviews or attending Q&As, which helps me to get their voice in my head.

“Of course, they always put their spin on it, as they should,” she concludes. “But I like knowing I could help them get to that moment and feel comfortable, especially on stage. I don’t always know how much of what I wrote sticks, but I saw one instance where a director used my words verbatim for a very personal presentation to an actor. I felt honored to have contributed to that moment.”

STAFF WRITER, WARNER BROS. PICTURES 15 YEARS OF SERVICE WESTERN REGION

Karen Chamberlain PORTRAIT BY JESSICA PEREZ

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

71

INDEPENDENT MARKETING CONSULTANT 45 YEARS OF SERVICE EASTERN REGION

John Furnari PORTRAIT BY JAC MARTINEZ

72

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

“From the beginning, the common thread that has never changed in theatrical motion-picture marketing is that flash of genius,” says long-time Local 600 Publicist John Furnari. “For example, Buster Keaton’s historical accuracy and even casting real soldiers in The General was the film’s marketing strategy.”

Furnari often quotes a line from patent law to put his craft into perspective. “If the inventor made his advance by purposeful experimentation, it is not invention; but if he arrived at it by a flash of genius or flash of thought, he might be rewarded with a patent.”

Currently, Furnari applies that “flash of genius” as a consultant, creating marketing art for DC Comics graphic novels and feature films. He’s also sharing his experiences with the next generation to show how respect for past practices and knowledge can inform the present. “Hitchcock played on human fears, foibles and neuroses,” he describes. “For example, when marketing Psycho, he demanded that theaters prevent anyone from entering once it started. It piqued the interest of those intrigued by his curious behavior and forced latecomers to wait for the next showtime, creating long lines. Hitch’s ‘sly-ness’ was another strategy. I remember while I worked the junket for his Family Plot, a reporter asked him what the message of the picture was. ‘If you want messages, go to Western Union,’ he replied.”

One highlight for Furnari was being part of the team that marketed Jaws.

“We created a lobby Shark Fact Sheet with more than 100 known and little-known facts on ichthyology to generate more terror,” he remembers.

“We also ignored the usual December release closer to awards season. A summer release added to the box office success – kids out of school, see the picture again, fun and hysteria for the whole family.

We exploited the fact that one young boy saw the picture over nine times in just a couple of weeks.”

Furnari’s creativity has extended to those lowbudget indie projects, citing The Terminator as a prime example. “We decided to rely heavily on unwired radio networks [broadcasters bought as a unit simulating a large national media buy],” he explains of the era the film was released. “We grossed over 10 million, to the surprise of our sales and ad hierarchy. The topper was Week Twoplus. Doris Butler and I pitched a diagonal snipe across the ad with the since often-copied moniker ‘Unstoppable.’ This resurrected Arnold, too. Don’t mention it. I believe he never did.”

The trend, these days, of spending four times a film’s budget on marketing, is “costly and flawed,” Furnari concludes. “Audiences have become bored with franchises and remakes that recycle the same material. What a marketing/PR team gets handed to sell takes as much flash or lack thereof as the marketing itself. Equally problematic are overlong wannabe epics devoid of not only intermissions but overtures, prologues, and epilogues. What is perhaps the preeminent ‘flash’ of all is simply mom – the force multiplier for the box office – as in ‘Honey, we’re taking the kids to see Frozen.’”

Denise Gregarek UNIT PUBLICIST 7 YEARS OF SERVICE CENTRAL REGION PORTRAIT BY ATSUSHI NISHIJIMA

Publicist Award winner Denise Gregarek began her career in the Hilton Resorts Hawaii PR department, where she also caught the film bug seeing productions shooting on her Hawaiian properties. Moving to Atlanta (where she is still based), she joined Ted Turner’s TNT Network – work she found rewarding. “Some of the TV movie premieres cost well over $100,000 in the 1990s,” she smiles.

Eventually, Gregarek left the corporate world for her first love, unit publicity. Since that 90-degree career turn, she has worked with many studios and networks, most recently on Netflix’s multiple-Emmy-winning hit Stranger Things. “I’ve been on the show for almost 10 years,” the 27-year publicity veteran reflects, “and it’s been the most rewarding experience of my career. Netflix invited me to join the Stranger Things PR team after production ended, and we’ve done some amazing things, such as a world tour with the cast, which we filmed documentary style.”

That video went viral. But when COVID and then the strikes hit, Netflix had to rethink its marketing strategy.

“We had to develop customized approaches for every project, from press tours to consumer products partner visits,” Gregarek adds. “We had to figure out what was needed and how to get the best content out. How do you even create a photo shoot or a press set visit during a pandemic?”

One answer was creating video tours with each department: costumes, production design, hair and makeup. “Kind of a show-and-tell so that the media and partners could feel as if they were there on set,” she explains. “Not only did the journalists get a sense of intimacy, like they were there, Netflix cleverly created a structure to the videos in a ‘choose your own adventure’ style, almost like a board game, so that the user could watch the video they wanted. We also set up a virtual video village as a way for reporters to watch the monitors on set for a couple of hours one day.”

Gregarek shares that she has “so much passion” for the craft of publicity, which, she adds, “is an important part” of the filmmaking process. “A producer once told me that it ‘must be hard to have an obsolete job.’

That moment was a big turning point. Instead of being dejected, I took it as a challenge to show, not only this person but all producers I work with, that whatever you think about the work that unit publicists do, it’s well beyond that. COVID forced us to be one-man bands who have had to be even more self-sufficient than ever. We have become content producers, field producers, and IP protectors. EPK no longer drives what we do. Gathering and protecting content so studios can market their films is our main function, and we have found innovative ways to do that. We are not annoyances they have to get through but creative partners that can enhance how a movie performs.”

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

73

Karen Olin PORTRAIT COURTESY OF SABRINA GARCIA

VICE PRESIDENT, GLOBAL PUBLICITY, WARNER BROS. 13 YEARS OF SERVICE WESTERN REGION

74

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

When Karen Olin migrated from New York City to L.A., post 9/11, she knew she wanted to be in the entertainment industry but knew nothing about PR. When a friend of her roommate, who was plugged into the job market, led her to an assistant gig in international marketing and publicity at Paramount Studios in 2003, Olin was a fast learner. As for tackling a new world, she says, “I knew how to work hard, had lived abroad, and happened to be good with problem-solving and computers.”

Her current role at Warner Bros. is to help market theatrical films around the globe, most specifically outside the U.S./Canada. That includes premieres, interviews, stunts, junkets and talent tours. She works closely with WB’s longstanding international and domestic marketing teams, a relationship Olin describes as “symbiotic.” Materials and interviews are tailored to a specific country, and, she adds, “it’s very helpful to know what is happening in real time with our domestic counterparts, because what we do informs their strategy and vice versa.”

When materials are released, they’re available everywhere, “so telling the story that works best for France, layering in tailored guardrails for local nuances, with room for slight interpretations for all markets around the globe, is needed,” she continues. “Globally, talent access is crucial, since the crux of our work is tied to editorial access or content creation.

Still, we must also be strategic with access – layering in travel time, jet lag, local customs, other projects and holidays.”

Olin says international media members are different from their U.S. counterparts. “They are Brits, French, Brazilians, and Italians first,” she notes. “This nuance in national identity informs their interests and lines of questioning. They are also quite sensitive to journalistic integrity. While they usually adhere to guidelines, they are reluctant to adjust if there is room for interpretation or choose to translate one way over another. All interviews are usually conducted in English and translated.”

Surprisingly, Olin says “magazine culture” isn’t dead in today’s market. “There is a robust local editorial landscape,” she describes, “and while style magazines that are popular in the U.S. – GQ, Vogue, Vanity Fair – have sister versions, they also may have their own version that requires access as well.

In a dream world, one interview would be syndicated. Still, at the same time, local filmgoers don’t necessarily go to those publications for information.”

The pandemic threw Olin’s team a big curve, so they pivoted to virtual setups. During the strike, it was a bit different.

Olin relied heavily on the filmmakers, and on fans who came to the interviews to support their films/genres. She cites Wonka as a wonderful “back to work” project. “Everything aligned on this one,” she says. “The holiday twinkle and the non-sarcastic messages in the film all came together – a great way to enter the new year. Even folks with a history of being press-shy showed up in London, the host city, for our global kick-off.

We had a Tokyo Fan Event and a magical L.A. premiere after London. Everyone was ready for the whimsical nature. And the candy, of course.”

As for tips on thriving in the global PR game, Olin offers something anecdotal. “It’s the nature of the editorial landscape,” she concludes. “Dry, sarcastic humor does play better on camera than [within] the written word or by way of a click-bait headline. This is true globally: a punchline is a punchline in any language. Also, a punch, too.”

Ana Pineda worked as a PR intern at Focus Features while still in college. After graduating from UC Santa Barbara, she started at 42West, working on theatrical releases and festival PR. When she moved over to Strategy PR, she had an experience that is all too familiar for publicists – never knowing what comes next. She’d often be coordinating projects that would premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, in addition to press junkets for a series and/or film launching the following week. “There’s no pause button in the agency world,” she states. “You have to execute all tasks at the highest level – satisfying different studio and talent requirements. It was where I learned how valuable hard-working publicists are to a successful campaign.”

During her time at Strategy, Pineda worked with Prime Video, so when a position opened at Amazon, it was a natural move. Today, one of her tasks involves leading major campaigns for their animation slate. “There is a real hunger and a surge in the quality of animation,” Pineda describes. “Digital support from entertainment and genre press outlets is instrumental in elevating the profile of the content. If opportunity allows, it is helpful to provide screening or viewing access early. We did this with Invincible and The Legend of Vox Machina, and it was instrumental in securing editorial and critical coverage. Both series earned 100 percent scores on Rotten Tomatoes. There is so much strong content across all mediums that you have to find ways to fight through the noise.”

Pineda says animation is a little different from live-action content, but the approach has to be the same. “I work hard to develop great relationships with my press partners,” she shares. “We have a shorthand and a level of trust. I know this person has received 15 other pitches, so how can I make mine different and fresh, especially with a medium like animation?

How can I make this person’s job easier, so it entices them to pay attention and have a conversation with me? It is important to have big ideas, but also equally important to have realistic viewpoints, so that you can ultimately achieve success.”

That goes for every other genre that Pineda touches.

“Nowadays, everything’s intertwined, as films and series can have elements of both comedy and genre – even as they are their own separate things,” she adds. “There is a balance that you have to navigate. I have found that genre press tend to be better advocates for their content.

Oftentimes, entertainment media can be selective, which can be challenging when pitching your series or films. Of course, there are exceptions, as certain showrunners, directors or producers can be major assets to drive awareness. It is important to determine before the start of a campaign what support you will have from these individuals.”

Pineda says a recent show, Carnival Row, would be considered a genre, even though it is a drama series. “As we traverse both spaces, we secured opportunities with national broadcast, genre and entertainment press that were also amplified by our leads, Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne,” she recounts. “We were able to navigate all press avenues, which was a great ending during our final season run.

“I’m a proud Latina,” she concludes, “and one of the things I am grateful for at this moment is to be visible when oftentimes, we are invisible. At Amazon MGM Studios, it’s been great to see that my voice, ideas and experiences are valued. There is a genuine desire to support these communities and find new talent, which is the future we should all be striving for.”

SR. PUBLICIST, AMAZON MGM STUDIOS 7 YEARS OF SERVICE WESTERN REGION

Ana Pineda

PORTRAIT BY CHRISTINA BELLE

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

75

Jennifer Price’s red-carpet career was born with a literal birth.

“My colleague went into labor on the red carpet the day before the Primetime Emmy Awards,” she says with a laugh, as if she still can’t believe the day’s unplanned detour. “I drove her through the city to her midwife, cut the cord and then called my mom to drive me back to the venue to get ready for the big show!” Just another day for this longtime professional who specializes in the hectic, high-pressure world of live-event publicity.

Price joined The Lippin Group in 1992 as an assistant and worked her way up to president of Television and Events. Even though she manages a broad range of projects, executing publicity on behalf of Hollywood’s many different awards shows has been a major part of her agency’s focus. It helps that most of the Lippin team have been with the company for more than 15 years – making the team’s efforts on everything from the Primetime Emmy Awards to The People’s Choice Awards, NAACP Image Awards, PaleyFest, ESPY Awards, Monte Carlo Television Festival and more appear effortless.

“To an outsider, the red carpet may seem chaotic,” Price shares. “But there is a method to the madness.

Many clients look to us for our expertise in guiding them through an ever-changing media landscape. Our team is involved from when the event is conceived – including consulting on the layout of the red carpet and media areas and managing the credentialing process, which involves prioritizing hundreds of applications from photographers, reporters, crew, influencers, and radio outlets – to leaving the team the day of the event for flawless execution.”

For Price, it’s important to know it’s not just about the event itself.

“It’s the stories and coverage leading up to the day itself that can also be so fun,” she explains. “Conveying the proper messaging and engaging the largest audience possible.”

It’s also a priority to Price that everyone have a good time – not just her clients and the people walking the carpet. “We always want the media to have the best experience possible, so they want to come to the event again and their coverage is positive,” she adds. “That means a quick and efficient check-in process to clearly marking positions on the red carpet – with enough room to breathe – and much more.”

Equally important are the sponsors who help make each event possible. Over the years, Price and her colleagues have worked with countless major brands and products to develop creative campaigns around the events, and to help connect those brands to the larger entertainment industry. “We’ve worked with sponsors on launches for unique media experiences,” Price describes, “such as the elaborate multi-million-dollar chandelier made entirely of diamonds that one client created for the Emmy celebrity green room, and converting the bathroom at the Shrine Auditorium to a decadent Frenchthemed lounge.”

And what of any lasting lessons from that red carpet “labor” experience?

Mainly that Price’s instincts (work or otherwise) are spot on, always helping to “create order out of chaos” no matter the challenges at hand.

76

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

Jennifer Price PORTRAIT BY GREG GAYNE

AGENCY PUBLICIST 22 YEARS OF SERVICE WESTERN REGION

She was an agent at Gersh, a producer, and a publicist outside the industry, but Deborah Simmrin found her way back into the film world as a unit publicist.

She’s done several major Atlanta-based features, including Hidden Figures; I, Tonya; and Godzilla: King of the Monsters. “But what I really fell in love with is [distant] location work,” Simmrin shares. “The publicity directives might be the same for different projects – but the ‘personality’ of the country can be a bit of a challenge.”

Take the example of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, produced in Queensland, Australia. Simmrin says it was shot “in the oldest rainforest on the planet, The Daintree. Forget about the paparazzi,” she continues. “I had to be aware of the cassowaries that run about 30 miles an hour and will eviscerate you, so you’d better stand behind a tree! There’s also the large lizard that runs up your body if you stand still because it thinks you are a tree, and the foliage that will wrap around you. I even went to get footage of the crocodiles hanging out near the set.

Thankfully, we waited until we were on the stage to bring press out!”

I Spy, shot in Budapest, was another interesting experience. Simmrin recalls how “a few days before filming began, the company threw a welcome party. I left early since the hotel was only a few blocks away.

Men kept stopping in their cars and saying something to me that I didn’t understand. It was my red boots that [evidently] were popular with working girls in that area! Lesson learned. How you dress is always essential.”

Simmrin says the project started filming the day after 9/11. “And we had several government agencies trying to keep us safe,” she notes. “On our first day, we had a car chase and crash through downtown Budapest, and I noticed Eddie Murphy’s photo double talking on-camera to a local news station. The female reporter thought she was talking to the real Eddie Murphy! I had to call my driver/fixer to translate before they aired this exclusive interview.”

Rendition, shot in Marrakech and Essaouira, Morocco, was done not long after several suicide bombings happened in local coffee shops. “There were metal detectors at the entrances to our hotels,” Simmrin recounts. “My EPK team wanted to go to a hookah bar, and I noticed women in jeans and heels. I remarked to my driver/fixer, who was helping me with the local customs, how I could have worn ‘regular’ clothes – until he told me they were hookers. When my Austrian husband came to visit me, the police at the airport yelled at me when they saw us together.

I remember my driver yelling back, ‘She’s not Moroccan!’ They didn’t approve of Moroccan women with European men.”

Simmrin says all of the above are learning experiences for the unit publicist who likes to travel. “Somebody should write a handbook, so those of us in the trenches can concentrate on the challenges of working with talent, foreign press and the studios,” she concludes. “And so as not to get caught in the issues that are an everyday part of very different cultures.”

UNIT PUBLICIST 32 YEARS OF SERVICE CENTRAL REGION

Deborah Simmrin PORTRAIT BY URSULA COYOTE

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

77

RIGHT COAST DREAMING EASTERN REGION UNIT STILLS BREAK DOWN WHAT’S SPECIAL ABOUT WHERE THEY LIVE AND WORK. BY PAULINE ROGERS

And Just Like That photo by Craig Blankenhorn / HBO

Their stories are as big and ambitious as the region they call home.

Some, like Craig Blankenhorn, hitch-hiked to New York City from Alaska to pursue a photographic career. Others, like Giovanni Rufino, (the fourth photographer in his family) are native to the East Coast, but he moved to Puerto Rico for eight years to reconnect with his family’s roots before returning to New York and joining the union.

Linda Kallerus (based in upstate New York) was born and raised in Sweden and moved to the U.S. to study Media Arts in Brooklyn. She joined the union in 2013 as a camera assistant and credits “the many fantastic still photographers who were there for me every day” with helping her build up a portfolio that would allow her to transition to becoming a unit photographer.

What all of these ICG members profiled in this article have in common is a love and sensitivity for the region they call home and a passion for their chosen craft.

Let’s hear their stories.

80

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

Broad City photo by Cara Howe / Comedy Central

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

81

this industry. I remembered a photojournalism class in college taught me how much impact a single image can have on someone. With that realization, I decided to pursue the route of unit photography. Shortly after the industry opened up again, I got a call to shoot art department stills on Blue Bloods, which I continued doing regularly while building my portfolio.

HOW DID YOU END UP AS AN EASTERN REGION STILL PHOTOGRAPHER?

Linda Kallerus: (Spoiler Alert, Fleishman Is in Trouble, Jules, and Girls on the Bus) I was born and raised in Sweden. I came to New York 20 years ago with the dream of working in the film industry. I studied at LIU, in Brooklyn, and later joined the union in 2013 as a camera assistant. For 10 years, including a stint out in L.A., I worked as an AC and met the most fantastic still photographers. Thanks to all those stills friends I met on set, I was able to build a portfolio that helped me transition to becoming a unit photographer. I’m now based in upstate New York, which I love!

Nafis Azad: (My Psychedelic Love Story, American Dharma, Wormwood) I live in Western Massachusetts and travel between Boston and New York City for work. I went to school for electrical engineering and was a firefighter and an EMT before joining the union. My film background is primarily in documentaries. But it was an easy transition to becoming a unit still photographer because I have this irritating habit of photographing everything around me!

One day I landed on the set of The B-Side and did what came naturally – I took photographs.

Jessica Kourkounis: (Madame Web, Lady in the Lake, Sinking Spring) I moved to New York for an apprenticeship with $200 to my name. I had to sleep on a couch in an apartment with seven people and ate nothing but rice and scrambled eggs for the better part of six months! I spent two decades as a photojournalist, but after Trump was elected, I decided I needed a voice of my own. That year, I shot portraits of a [well-known] film director for The New York Times, and he offered me a job as unit stills on his next feature.

Craig Blankenhorn: (The Sopranos, Succession, Only Murders in the Building) I hitch-hiked to New York from Alaska in the 1980s and never left. I began working as a set photographer in 1991. I’ve probably worked on hundreds of TV series since. This year (2024) I’m continuing my work with the Sex and the City franchise for season three of And Just Like That.

Zach Dilgard: (City on Fire, Sarah Silverman: Someone You Love, and Dickenson) I’m originally from Southern Ohio. After college, I came to New York City with about $2,000. I was down to my last $50 before a TV network found my résumé on Craigslist! I worked there from 2003 to 2015 as a photo producer, photo editor, retoucher, and eventually, a photographer shooting mainly reality TV before joining the union seven years ago. I’ve been based in Brooklyn for 20 years.

Cara Howe: (The Punisher, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Orange Is the New Black, The Last

82

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

OG, Gossip Girl) I’m a native New Yorker who moved to L.A. after college with the dream of being a Hollywood director. I started my career as a PA, AD, and for a short time, as a production manager on small commercial spots. I worked on some bad low-budget horror films, where I was cast a few times – once as a headless body! It was one of Wally Pfister’s first films as a DP. I’ve always loved cameras and photography, and that led me to getting into the union as a film loader. My first job as a loader was on season one of The Sopranos. It was life-changing, but I walked away to study photography. After working as a product, fashion and food photographer, I returned, 10 years ago, to production as a unit still photographer.

Matt Infante: (A Different Man, She Came to Me, The Best Man: The Final Chapters, and Blue Bloods) I grew up commuting to New York City for school, where I spent many years skateboarding around the city and shooting/editing videos. I wanted to be a DP for the longest time and thought a good route to learn would be through the camera department. I moved to Austin, Texas after college and worked on corporate videos, small commercials, and documentaries. My wife’s job eventually brought us back to New York, and I got my first break when Connie Huang offered me Camera PA on The Goldfinch in 2018, after which I joined the union as a camera assistant. Photography was always my favorite hobby, but it wasn't until the pandemic hit in 2020 that I had time to think about what path I was passionate about in

Barbara Nitke: (The Gilded Age, Gossip Girl, The Equalizer and Project Runway) I grew up in Virginia and Alaska and moved to New York six months after I graduated high school, mainly because the legal drinking age in New York back then was 18. [Laughs.] Thankfully, I avoided becoming an alcoholic and fell in love with photography while shooting behind the scenes in the chaotic makeup room of a porn movie called Nasty Girls. It was 1982, the end of the Golden Age of Porn. In a split second, right there, I knew I had found my purpose in life.

Giovanni Rufino: (Manifest, Halston, For Life) I’m a first-generation New Yorker and the fourth person in my family to become a photographer. At five years old my father taught me how to use his Nikon F Photomic. I moved to San Juan, Puerto Rico for eight years to reconnect with my family’s roots. I worked in corporate/editorial/advertising photography before returning to New York in 2001. A few years later, I joined the union.

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

83

The Gilded Age photo by Barbara Nitke / HBO

Craig Blankenhorn: By far, Sex and the City is the best project I’ve ever worked on. It’s one of the rare situations where everyone above the line understands, supports, and appreciates the role of a still photographer. I was lucky enough to work on the pilot and have not looked back. It’s been six seasons, two movies, and the ongoing And Just Like That. A dream job.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR FAVORITE PROJECT AND WHY.

84

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

Halston photo by Giovanni Rufino / Netflix

Cara Howe: I got to shoot the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. I filled in for another photographer, and it was a real nail-biter! Even though I grew up in New York City, I had never seen the parade live. I have to say it’s three hours of the most exhilarating chaos. As soon as Mariah Carey came out, the floor was flooded with every intern and production member holding up their cell phones. I had to duck and pivot around grips and camera assistants. I found my place and positioned myself squatting under a live camera, where I figured no one could step in front of me.

Zach Dilgard: I worked on Season 10 of MTV’s Wild ’N Out and was doing portraits of the guest artists who would be featured on the show over a few weeks. We had Wu-Tang Clan in our studio in Brooklyn and I’d usually get about five minutes maximum to shoot some content, so we’d put on some tunes to bring out the energy. I chose to put on Slick Rick’s “Hey Young World” while shooting Wu-Tang and snapping some shots of them while they were vibing and reciting Slick Rick’s lyrics. It’s something I’ll never forget.

Servant photo by Jessica Kourkounis / Apple TV +

WHAT HAVE BEEN THE MORE INTERESTING CHALLENGES SHOOTING ON THE EAST COAST?

Cara Howe: In New York, it’s the cold weather. And now everything is so spread out.

Many studios have opened in the Bronx, Westchester, and even upstate New York, so we have to travel a great deal more. We have equipment in tow and must drag the gear around and not leave it in a camera truck. It’s even more complicated when you are a day player. And, not every production has crew parking at their locations.

It’s a very New York kind of challenge.

Jessica Kourkounis: When the actors don’t like having photos taken. It often comes down to winning those people over and gaining their trust. One of my most memorable shots was James McAvoy in the movie Glass. He was acting alone in a room, rapidly cycling through about 35 personalities while running around and jumping. At this point, he had become comfortable with me and allowed me to be in the room with only the boom op and him. It was incredible to watch him work that scene, and I got this shot I loved of him in midair with an intense expression.

Barbara Nitke: Hustlers. J. Lo was a dream. But her co-star, Constance Wu, couldn’t tolerate having a photographer on the set. I constructed a system to hide a camera in a lighting fixture and fire it remotely. When I showed it to DP Todd Banhazl, he cracked up but agreed to try it. It worked well; eventually, everyone on the crew knew about it. One of the grips made me a fake piece of equipment to hide the camera. The First AD would ensure the “spy cam” was in before calling Constance to the set.

Nafis Azad: I came into Wormwood (Netflix 2017) halfway through its production, but it has been one of my favorites because it was so unusual. How often do you get to photograph 4,000 cockroaches on a soundstage? As harmless as a single cockroach may be, the smell of 4,000 of them was hard to forget!

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

85

Sleeping With Other People photo by Linda Kallerus / IFC

WHAT ABOUT YOUR FAVORITE LOCATIONS?

Cara Howe: It was a night shoot for a Marvel show. We were in an underground tunnel under a commercial building in Brooklyn. The shot follows the main character down this narrow, dimly lit tunnel, which had a single bulb hanging every several feet, and water dripping from overhead pipes. Then our character enters a completely dark room, and you cannot see your hand in front of your face. Men covered in black clothing and masks start shoving him, and he’s spinning around, trying to shoot them. The only lighting is flashes of light about every three seconds. I’m trying to focus, shoot, and stay behind the camera in all this darkness. I don’t know how I pulled it off, but I did. I’m grateful for my Sony mirrorless body and lenses. You have to have the right tools for situations like this.

Nafis Azad: Shooting around Boston has its perks. Especially when it’s on location. New England has a lot of history, and you get to experience a lot of hidden gems. For me, we shot on location at a house built by Benjamin Thompson for My Psychedelic Love Story.

Getting to explore and photograph around a historic place like that was amazing.

86

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

Jessica Kourkounis: I shot a scene inside Grand Central Station for Madame Web [Page 64] that was particularly challenging. We shot during a busy time, and there is no way to restrict everyday passengers, commuters, tourists, or paparazzi. This was a giant one on a Steadicam, and while I’m working my tail off trying to get what I need while staying out of the shot, at least a dozen paparazzi are doing the exact opposite.

Giovanni Rufino: I love shooting in and on Manhattan skyscrapers for the unique views.

But one location comes to mind immediately.

I was in D.C. for a taped interview with a United States senator: security and restrictions galore. It was Spring, and all was in bloom. Dry throat and allergy, coughing.

And I couldn’t leave the room for water, as I would have lost my spot to shoot. Two small bottles of United States Senate water were within reach, so I glanced around and took one. A Senate aide walks in, curses, and gives the crew dirty looks over the missing bottle of water intended for the senator. I still have the plastic bottle. [Laughs.]

HOW ABOUT UNUSUAL PHOTO ASKS BEYOND UNIT STILLS?

Awkwafina is Nora from Queens photo by Matt Infante / Comedy Central

Barbara Nitke: I’m frequently asked to shoot for various departments and crime scenes that will be used as props in the show. I used to shoot a lot of dead bodies for the original Law and Order. For example, one day, as I teetered over a corpse on an autopsy table, his eyes suddenly sprang open, and he asked me if he looked dead enough.

I’m also often asked to shoot clean sets for the production designer or headshots for the producers. My job is to be ready to grab whatever shots are needed and solve necessary problems like lighting, framing, et cetera.

Giovanni Rufino: Shooting art-department photos for a show can be great even if the image is less than a portfolio piece because the problem-solving can be so rewarding. Some favorites include a “photo booth” session on Manifest. A goofy salesman in a king’s crown, red robe, and bejeweled scepter on Hello Tomorrow! A 6-foot-by6-foot office cubicle was a “locker room” for a baseball championship win with five actors. One hundred different shirts in 15 minutes for 100 prints for a scene with a suffering-obsessed character. Just one wardrobe and one AD. The actor would layer on the garments and peel one off when I’d say, “Got it.”

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

87

My Psychedelic Love Story photo by Nafis Azad / Fourth Floor Production

YOU'RE PART OF A CAMERA AND PUBLICITY TEAM. TALK ABOUT KEY RELATIONSHIPS ON SET.

Matt Infante: As a camera assistant, I valued the relationship with the rest of the department.

I couldn’t do my job well without their support, especially when space on set gets tight. When I switched to stills, I was nervous about being on my own. It was a huge relief when I got the call sheet and recognized the names of operators and AC’s I know, and they knew me.

If I’m looking for a spot-on set, sometimes the first or the operator will say, “Matty, come over here” and offer to make more room to squeeze me in. That means a lot.

Nafis Azad: It’s really important to build relationship. I am documenting their world, and I want to do it the right way. I will share photos now and then with the DP and director

88

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

THIS ARTICLE IS ABOUT STILLS MEMBERS IN THE EASTERN REGION. HOWEVER, UNIT PHOTOGRAPHERS FACE SIMILAR CHALLENGES IN EVERY REGION. TELL US ABOUT THE MOST KEY ONES. Jessica Kourkounis: I think the single most important issue facing everyone in the industry is the technological advances of AI and what that means for our future. Right now, we are only seeing glimpses of what is on the horizon with AI, and the tech is progressing fast. It’s too much to even wrap my head around.

Barbara Nitke: It seems like the locations in New York keep getting smaller and smaller. I suspect real estate is so expensive here that productions have to give up luxuries like staging areas for equipment and reasonably-sized spaces to shoot. Most departments have to stage their gear and themselves out on the sidewalks regardless of the weather conditions.

We’re also facing lower budgets. And some shows only have a still photographer on set for a few days

to make sure I get some sort of feedback. You have to have trust between yourself and the publicist – they keep you on track. I have also found myself talking to the AD. They seem to have a finger on the pulse for the day and are the perfect person to get you a favor now and then when you need a shot.

Craig Blankenhorn: A set photographer’s most important relationship is with the talent.

You can be best friends with the director, DP, and/or the entire crew, but you are doomed if you have issues with the talent. It can be the difference between producing quality images and a nightmare work environment. I once worked on a project when an actor told me not to shoot the takes, and the director told

out of their schedule. I wish they could all have an embedded still photographer all the time, like the higher end productions do.

Zach Dilgard: As others feel, it’s not constrained to the East Coast, but I see AI pop up as a discussion on the social media boards. It feels like a looming question: how will it affect us as still photographers and society? My hope is that this technology can be used as a tool for enhancing storytelling without the jeopardy of job displacement in our industry.

Craig Blankenhorn: The single most important issue facing unit still photographers is the rise of non-union “social media” crew members shooting stills and video with the iPhone. If it continues, they will replace the need for a union still photographer.

me not to shoot the rehearsals. Like I said: a nightmare.

Barbara Nitke: I love having a publicist on set. They can tell me exactly what shots they need and can often smooth the way if I need a special setup or a few minutes on the set to stage a shot for them. But, in my experience, that’s a luxury afforded to higher-end features and not so much to episodic television. That means I’m often left to figure out what the publicists need. I try to leave directors and DP’s alone as much as possible. I’m available whenever they need me and am happy to collaborate with them. But I feel those are two very high-pressure jobs, and I assume they’ll appreciate my stealth approach on the set.

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

89

LET’S CLOSE OUT WITH SOME WORDS OF ADVICE FOR THE NEXT GENERATION OF UNIT PHOTOGRAPHERS. Linda Kallerus: Build relationships with the crew! That focus puller who knows what you need will turn the matte box to get a sliver more angle. That dolly grip who sees you struggling and calls for an apple box or turns the chassis, so you have three inches more room, which is a ballroom on many sets. That AD will stop everything after the last take to get your special. That can make all the difference.

Matt Infante: I’m still very young in my stills career, but this is how I think. Everything you learn starting in this industry applies to the still photographer times ten. It seems like there is more of a target on your back with this role, so if you act entitled, if you aren’t paying attention to what is going on around you, and if you have an attitude, it’s going to be a lot harder to get that spot on set that you want. Learn proper set etiquette, be aware, and have respect for the cast and crew.

Cara Howe: Pay attention! Watch everything happening on set, absorb, and learn from it. I’ve learned so much by observing DP’s, gaffers, and even art directors. Watching them compose a shot in a particular space may look easy, but it’s not. Lots of planning went on long before the crew got there to shoot that day. Also, remember you are a set historian. All these images that you capture are going to be moments in film and television history. I don’t think we remember that on the day. We are just so busy trying to get our shots, but it’s also history in the making and you were chosen to capture it.

90

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

91

City on Fire photo by Zach Dilgard / Apple TV+

PRODUCTION CREDITS COMPILED BY TERESA MUÑOZ The input of Local 600 members is of the utmost importance, and we rely on our membership as the prime (and often the only) source of information in compiling this section. In order for us to continue to provide this service, we ask that Guild members submitting information take note of the following requests: Please provide up-to-date and complete crew information (including Still Photographers, Publicists, Additional Units, etc.).

Please note that the deadline for the Production Credits is on the first of the preceding cover month (excluding weekends & holidays).

Submit your jobs online by visiting: www.icg600.com/MY600/Report-Your-Job Any questions regarding the Production Credits should be addressed to Teresa Muñoz at teresa@icgmagazine.com

20TH CENTURY FOX “AMERICAN HORROR STORIES: HAMPTONS” SEASON 12

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: TIM NORMAN, ANDREI SCHWARTZ OPERATORS: GERARD SAVA, AILEEN TAYLOR, MARK SCHMIDT ASSISTANTS: BRADEN BELMONTE, JOHN REEVES, GUS LIMBERIS, CAROLYN WILLS, SARAH SCRIVENER, BRITTANY HALL STEADICAM OPERATOR: GERARD SAVA DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: GUILLERMO TUNON LOADERS: OFELIA CHAVEZ, VINCE FERRARI TECHNOCRANE TECH: CRAIG STRIANO STILL PHOTOGRAPHERS: MICHAEL PARMELEE, ERIC LIEBOWITZ “AMERICAN HORROR STORIES AKA THRILLER” SEASON 3

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: MICHAEL BAUMAN, CAROLINA COSTA, STANLEY FERNANDEZ, JEFFREY WALDRON OPERATORS: REBECCA ARNDT, FERDINAND LE GRANGE ASSISTANTS: HAMILTON LONGYEAR, SARAH HENDRICK, PATRICK MCKEOWN, DEREK DIBONA, KATIE WAALKES DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: MATTHEW SELKIRK LOADERS: AARON CHAMPAGNE, CHRIS MENDEZ, CLAIRE SNODE STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: ERIC LIEBOWITZ DRONE OPERATOR: GRGO SEVO DRONE PILOT: JONATHAN GRAHAM DRONE TECH: ANDREW PEISTER “AMERICAN SPORTS STORIES AKA AMERICAN SPORTS STORY: GLADIATOR” SEASON 1

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ELIE SMOLKIN, GRETA ZOZULA OPERATORS: CHRIS ARAN, KYLE WULLSCHLEGER ASSISTANTS: RANDY MALDONADO GALARZA, TOMMY SCOGGINS, CODY SCHROCK, RANDY SCHWARTZ, FRANCES DE RUBERTIS DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: LOIC DE LAME LOADERS: ALESSANDRA CIRENZA, ADAM KIM, ETHAN FERNANDEZ, RICHARD PENA STILL PHOTOGRAPHERS: ERIC LIEBOWITZ, VANESSA CLIFTON, MICHAEL PARMELEE DRONE OPERATOR: GRGO SEVO DRONE PILOT: JONATHAN GRAHAM, DEXTER KENNEDY DRONE TECH: ANDREW PEISTER “WILL TRENT” SEASON 2

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: TIMOTHY GILLIS, FERNANDO REYES OPERATORS: STEWART SMITH, CRISTIAN TROVA, ASSISTANTS: GERAN COSTDANIELLO, AMANDA KOPEC, BENJAMIN EADES STEADICAM OPERATOR: STEWART SMITH LOADER: STEVEN DAVID WALTON DIGITAL UTILITY: NATHANIEL POBLET STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: DANIEL DELGADO

ABBY LINNE ASSISTANTS: DAVID LEB, RYAN PATTERSON, CHASE CHESNUTT, NATHAN CRUM, EMILY LAZLO, STEVEN VAQUERA STEADICAM OPERATOR: ERIC SCHILLING STEADICAM ASSISTANT: DAVID LEB LOADER: MATT AINES CAMERA UTILITY: SOPHIA BASILIADIS DIGITAL UTILITY: MATEO CABALLERO

ABC STUDIOS “GREY’S ANATOMY” SEASON 20

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: JEANNE TYSON, BYRON SHAH OPERATORS: STEPHEN CLANCY, PAULINE EDWARDS, GREG WILLIAMS ASSISTANTS: JP RODRIGUEZ, SPENCER ROBINS, CHRIS JONES STEADICAM OPERATOR: STEPHEN CLANCY LOADER: MARTE POST STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: ANNE MARIE FOX “STATION 19” SEASON 7

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: DARYN OKADA, ASC, BRIAN GARBELLINI OPERATORS: HARRY GARVIN, LISA STACILAUSKAS, SOC, DAVID MUN ASSISTANTS: TONY SCHULTZ, GEORGE MONTEJANO, III, SALVADOR VEGA, DUSTIN FRUGE, ANDREW DEGNAN, HANNAH LEVIN STEADICAM OPERATOR: HARRY GARVIN STEADICAM ASSISTANT: TONY SCHULTZ DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: ANDREW LEMON DIGITAL UTILITIES: GRANT JOHNSON, FERNANDO ZACARIAS CRANE TECH: CHRIS DICKSON, DERRICK ROSE

APPLE STUDIOS, LLC “CATAMOUNT”

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ERIK MESSERSCHMIDT, ASC, YARON ORBACH, EDUARDO MAYEN OPERATORS: PHILIP MARTINEZ, EDUARDO FIERRO ASSISTANTS: ALEX SCOTT, WARIS SUPANPONG, BRIAN WELLS, CAZ DUFFY, JONATHAN CLARK, JAMES MCCANN, ANDY HENSLER, LEON SANGINITI STEADICAM OPERATORS: BRIAN OSMOND, MICK FROEHLICH, PHILIP MARTINEZ DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: CALVIN REIBMAN LOADERS: SEAN GALCZYK, WILLIAM ESPINOLA, RYAN BALDWIN STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: JESSICA KOURKOUNIS UNIT PUBLICIST: AMY JOHNSON

BEACHWOOD SERVICES, INC. “DAYS OF OUR LIVES” SEASON 59

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: DAVID MEAGHER OPERATORS: MARK WARSHAW, MICHAEL J. DENTON, JOHNNY BROMBEREK, JOHN BOYD, STEVE CLARK CAMERA UTILITY: GARY CYPHER VIDEO CONTROLLER: ALEXIS DELLAR HANSON

101 STUDIOS/PARAMOUNT

BEST LAID PLANS

“LANDMAN”

“THREE’S A CROWD”

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ROBERT MCLACHLAN, ASC, CSC, MIKE PARRY OPERATORS: ERIC SCHILLING, DANNA ROGERS,

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: SING HOWE YAM OPERATOR: JUN LI, SOC

ASSISTANT: CHRIS SAVAGE STEADICAM OPERATOR: JUN LI, SOC DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: NIHAL DANTLURI

BLIND FAITH PRODUCTIONS, LLC “DAREDEVIL: BORN AGAIN” SEASON 4

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: HILLARY SPERA, PEDRO GOMEZ MILLAN OPERATORS: ANDREW JUHL, BLAKE JOHNSON ASSISTANTS: ALEXANDER WORSTER, CHRISTOPHER WIEZOREK, YALE GROPMAN, ANJELA COVIAUX STEADICAM OPERATOR: THOMAS J. SCHNAIDT DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: PATRICK CECILIAN LOADERS: MCKENZIE JAMES RAYCROFT, BRIANNA MARIE MCCARTHY STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: GIOVANNI RUFINO UNIT PUBLICIST: NICOLE KALISH

CBS STUDIOS, INC. “CSI: VEGAS” SEASON 3

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: TOM CARMARDA, CHRISTIAN SEBALDT OPERATORS: JENS PIOTROWSKI, ANDY STEINMAN ASSISTANTS: SIMON JARVIS, CLAIRE STONE, HEATHER LEA-LEROY, NICK NEINO DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: RYAN DEGRAZZIO LOADER: NAOE JARMON DIGITAL UTILITY: JACOB HELLINGA STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: RON JAFFE “ELSBETH” SEASON 1

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: JOHN ARONSON, ALEC JARNAGIN OPERATORS: BARNABY SHAPIRO, THOMAS WILLS, HEATHER NORTON ASSISTANTS: SOREN NASH, RENE CROUT, NIALANEY N. RODRIGUEZ, ALISA M. COLLEY DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: KEITH PUTNAM LOADER: PARKER J. RICE, JANAE B. HARRISON STILL PHOTOGRAPHERS: MICHAEL PARMELEE, CHRISTOPHER SAUNDERS, ELIZABETH FISHER

CHOICE FILMS, INC. “THE OUTLAWS”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: JOHN INWOOD OPERATOR: DAVID TAICHER ASSISTANTS: DOUGLAS FOOTE, DONALD GAMBLE STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: DAVID SCOTT HOLLOWAY

CMS PRODUCTIONS “BABY GIRL”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: JASPER LAURENS WOLF ASSISTANTS: GLENN KAPLAN, BAYLEY SWEITZER, HOLLY MCCARTHY, ALEC NICKEL STEADICAM OPERATOR: JULIAN DELACRUZ DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: ROSS CITRIN LOADER: NAIMA NOGUERA STILL PHOTOGRAPHERS: SARAH SHATZ, NIKO TAVERNISE, EMILY ARAGONES UNIT PUBLICIST: RACHAEL ROTH

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2024 PRODUCTION CREDITS

93

CONNESCENCE HOLDING, LLC “CONNESCENCE”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ANDREW WONDER OPERATOR: KATHERINE CASTRO ASSISTANTS: BECKI HELLER, IVANA BERNAL LOADER: JERON BLACK

LOADERS: JOSHUA MUNSON, KATI PEREZ STILL PHOTOGRAPHERS: CARA HOWE, PAUL SCHIRALDI, JOJO WHILDEN UNIT PUBLICIST: EVELYN SANTANA

NARROW ISLE PRODUCTIONS, LLC “OUTER BANKS” SEASON 4

CRANETOWN THE ROOKIE “THE ROOKIE” SEASON 6

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: KYLE JEWELL, PAUL THERIAULT OPERATORS: MIGUEL PASK, COBY GARFIELD, DOUG OH ASSISTANTS: JIM THIBO, KELLY BERG, JASON GARCIA, RICHARD KENT, CHRIS MACK, TYLER ERNST DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: JOHN MILLS DIGITAL LOADER: CAROLINE MILLS UTILITY: SPENCER THIBO

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: BO WEBB, DARREN GENET, ITAI NEEMAN OPERATORS: MATTHEW LYONS, STEPHEN ANDRICH, DEREK TINDALL ASSISTANTS: LAWRENCE GIANNESCHI, PATRICK BOROWIAK, DOMINIC ATTANASIO, ROY KNAUF CAMERA UTILITIES: PAIGE MARSICANO, DOUGLAS TORTORICI, HAILEY NELMS LOADERS: JAMES LATHAM, JOSEPH THOMAS STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: JACKSON LEE DAVIS

NBC UNIVERSAL TELEVISION, LLC EYE PRODUCTIONS “WALKER” SEASON 4

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: PETER KOWALSKI, IAN ELLIS OPERATORS: TIM BEAVERS, PK MUNSON, ROB MCGRATH ASSISTANTS: ROBERT RENDON, THEDA CUNNINGHAM, KELLY BOGDAN, RIGNEY SACKLEY, KYLE SAUER, LESLIE FRID STEADICAM OPERATOR: TIM BEAVERS STEADICAM ASSISTANT: ROBERT RENDON LOADER: BRENDA SZWEJBKA CAMERA UTILITY: DUSTIN SILLER TECHNOCRANE OPERATOR: TIM BEAVERS TECHNOCRANE TECH: JOE DATRI REMOTE HEAD TECH/OPERATOR: CHRIS SMITH “BLUE BLOODS” SEASON 14

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: DONALD THORIN OPERATORS: STEVE CONSENTINO, GEOFFREY FROST ASSISTANTS: NICHOLAS DEEG, KENNETH MARTELL, MATEO GONZALEZ, JOANTHAN SCHAEFER LOADERS: MICHAEL PARRY, EMILY O’LEARY, NANDIYA ATTIYA, MARTIN PETERSON STILL PHOTOGRAPHERS: EMILY ARAGONES, MATTHEW INFANTE, PETER KRAMER

“CHICAGO P.D.” SEASON 11

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: JAMES ZUCAL OPERATORS: VICTOR MACIAS, JAMISON ACKER, CHRIS HOOD ASSISTANTS: KYLE BELOUSEK, DON CARLSON, NICK WILSON, MARION TUCKER, CHRIS POLMANSKI, MAX MOORE STEADICAM OPERATOR: VICTOR MACIAS STEADICAM ASSISTANT: KYLE BELOUSEK LOADER: STEVEN CLAY DIGITAL UTILITIES: REBECCA JOHNSON, JACOB OCKER STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: LORI ALLEN EPK: MADELYN MOMANO “LAW & ORDER” SEASON 23

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: JON DELGADO OPERATOR: MICHAEL GRANTLAND ASSISTANTS: JASON RIHALY, JACOB STAHLMAN, EMILY DUMBRILL, KELSEY MIDDLETON STEADICAM OPERATOR: RICHARD KEENER LOADERS: LUKE HEALY, AMANDA LETTIERI, MICHAEL CRESTA, ANDREA ANGELL STILL PHOTOGRAPHERS: VIRGINIA SHERWOOD, IAN BRACONE, MICHAEL PARMELEE “LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS

HAMZEH MYSTIQUE FILMS, LLC “HELLO BEAUTIFUL”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: TERRENCE HAYES OPERATOR: DEAN EGAN ASSISTANTS: JAMIESON FITZPATRICK, CHRISTIAN HOLLYER, JEFF DICKERSON, RICHELLE TOPPING DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: MATTIE HAMER

KANAN PRODUCTIONS, INC. “POWER BOOK III: RAISING KANAN” SEASON 4

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: FRANCIS SPIELDENNER, JEFFREY DUTEMPLE OPERATORS: GREGORY FINKEL, BRADLEY GRANT ASSISTANTS: MARK BENJAMIN FERGUSON, SUREN KARAPETYAN, EMILY DEBLASI, KEITH ANDERSON DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: HUNTER FAIRSTONE

94

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2024 PRODUCTION CREDITS

UNIT” SEASON 25

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: FELIKS PARNELL OPERATOR: CHRISTOPHER DEL SORDO ASSISTANTS: JOSEPH METZGER, CHRISTIAN CARMODY, RYAN HADDON, LIAM GANNON, MARY NEARY STEADICAM OPERATOR: JONATHAN HERRON LOADER: JAMES WILLIAMS STILL PHOTOGRAPHERS: PETER KRAMER, VIRGINIA SHERWOOD, EMILY ARAGONES “THE EQUALIZER” SEASON 4

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: SAADE MUSTAFA, TERRANCE L. BURKE OPERATOR: MALCOLM PURNELL ASSISTANTS: ADAM GONZALEZ, JELANI WILSON, ROBERT WRASE, ZAKIYA LUCAS-MURRAY STEADICAM OPERATOR: JOSEPH BLODGETT DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: TIFFANY ARMOUR-TEJADA LOADERS: MARINO SANNUTI, CHRISTOPHER BAZATA, NATHAN CARR

TECHNOCRANE OPERATOR: PAUL GOROFF STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: MICHAEL GREENBERG

NETFLIX PRODUCTIONS, LLC “ARTICLE TWO AKA ZERO DAY”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: JOHN CONROY, ASC, ISC OPERATOR: GREGOR TAVENNER, WYLDA BAYRON, JON BECK, CHRIS REYNOLDS ASSISTANTS: COURTNEY BRIDGERS, AMBER MATHES, MARC LOFORTE, COREY LICAMELI, CHRIS ENG, PATRICK BRACEY STEADICAM OPERATOR: GREGOR TAVENNER DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: TA LOADERS: CLAIRE SNODE, NATE CARR STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: JOJO WHILDEN UNIT PUBLICIST: JULIE KUEHNDORF “COBRA KAI” SEASON 6

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ABE MARTINEZ OPERATORS: BRIAN NORDHEIM, BRIAN DAVIS ASSISTANTS: WARREN BRACE, GRACE PRELLER CHAMBERS, KANE PEARSON, DANIEL BUBB LOADER: ALESSANDRA MACI DIGITAL UTILITY: MARIELA PINA-NAVA STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: CURTIS BAKER “THAT ‘90S SHOW”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: GARY BAUM, ASC OPERATORS: DAVID DECHANT, LANCE BILLITZER, JON PURDY, BRIAN GUNTER ASSISTANTS: JEFF ROTH, YUKA KADONO UTILITIES: DAN LORENZE, RICHIE FINE DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: DEREK LANTZ VIDEO CONTROLLER: JOHN O’BRIEN STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: PATRICK WYMORE

PARAMOUNT “A REALLY LOUD HOUSE”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: BRANDON MASTRIPPOLITO OPERATORS: REID RUSSELL, GREG MATTHEWS ASSISTANTS: DOMENIC MASTRIPPOLITO, JASON SEIGEL DANIEL MAESTAS, HILLARY BACA STEADICAM OPERATOR: REID RUSSELL DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: TREVOR MURPHY LOADER: COLBY HOPKINS CAMERA UTILITY: MEGAN KAMAUOHA DIGITAL UTILITY: MIKEY SLAVICH STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: KAREN KUEHN “SMILE: DELUXE AKA TOO MUCH FOR ONE HEART”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: CHARLES ARTHUR SARROFF OPERATOR: DANIEL SHARNOFF ASSISTANTS: ANDREW BRINKMAN, JOSHUA REYES CAMERA UTILITY: VICTORIA DUNN DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: NATHANIEL SPIVEY LOADER: BILLY LEE HOLMAN STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: BARBARA NITKE BTS: WILLIAM HART “WINSTON AKA BEFORE”

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: CHRISTOPHER LA

VASSEUR, WILLIAM REXER, ASC, MANUEL BILLETER OPERATORS: JEFF MUHLSTOCK, MATTHEW PEBLER ASSISTANTS: JOHN LARSON, AARON SNOW, RICHARD PALLERO, SPENCER MUHLSTOCK DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: ANDREW NELSON LOADERS: AMANDA DEERY, MANDY FORMAN STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: PETER KRAMER

SALT SPRING MEDIA, INC. “THE SAVANT” SEASON 1

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: JANUSZ KAMINSKI, BARTOSZ NALAZEK OPERATOR: THORSTEN THIELOW ASSISTANTS: MARK SPATH, TONY COAN, ALEX DUBOIS, CHARLOTTE SKUTCH STEADICAM OPERATOR: ORLANDO DUGUAY DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: DOUGLAS HORTON LOADERS: EMILY O’LEARY, WILLIAM TRICE STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: ELIZABETH FISHER “SEVERANCE” SEASON 2

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: JESSICA GAGNE OPERATORS: MARK SCHMIDT, SCOTT MAGUIRE ASSISTANTS: MICHAEL GUTHRIE, CAMERON SIZEMORE, EMMALINE HING, FRANK MILEA DIGITAL IMAGING TECHS: LUKE TAYLOR, MATT RICHARDS LOADERS: TOM PARRISH, AMELIA SUMMAR LIBRA HEAD TECHS: DANIELLE WILCOX, MIKE INDURSKY STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: JON PACK PUBLICIST: PEGGY MULLOY

SDTA PRODUCTIONS, LTD “APEX”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: CLAUDIO MIRANDA, ASC OPERATORS: LUKASZ BIELAN, NATASHA MULLAN, TUCKER KORTE ASSISTANTS: DAN MING, BOB SMATHERS, MATEO BOURDIEU, MAX DELEO, FARISAI KAMBARAMI, JEREMIAH KENT, JACQUELINE STAHL DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: ROHAN CHITRAKAR LOADER: LAUREN CUMMINGS DIGITAL UTILITY: JUSTINE QUINONES STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: SCOTT GARFIELD

SG VALLEY, INC. “ROSEMEAD”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: LYLE VINCENT OPERATOR: TINX CHAN ASSISTANTS: JUSTIN SIMPSON, ROBERT AGULO, RACHEL FEDORKOVA, HALLIE ARIAS DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: MICHAEL POMORSKI LOADER: PAUL SPANG STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: GWENDOLYN CAPISTRAN

SHATTERED ICE THE MOVIE, LLC “SHATTERED ICE”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: REUBEN STEINBERG ASSISTANTS: SANAE ONO, LUIGI BENVISTO, PAUL STENKO DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: LUKAS METLICKA STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: ROBERT CLARK

SONY PICTURES TELEVISION “JEOPARDY!” SEASON 39

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: JEFF ENGEL OPERATORS: DIANE L. FARRELL, SOC, MIKE TRIBBLE, JEFF SCHUSTER, L. DAVID IRETE JIB ARM OPERATOR: MARC HUNTER HEAD UTILITY: TINO MARQUEZ CAMERA UTILITY: RAY THOMPSON VIDEO CONTROLLER: JEFF MESSENGER VIDEO UTILITIES: MICHAEL CORWIN, JEFF KLIMUCK STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: TYLER GOLDEN “WHEEL OF FORTUNE” SEASON 40

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: JEFF ENGEL OPERATORS: DIANE L. FARRELL, SOC, L.DAVID IRETE, RAY GONZALES, MIKE TRIBBLE HEAD UTILITY: TINO MARQUEZ CAMERA UTILITY: RAY THOMPSON VIDEO CONTROLLER: JEFF MESSENGER VIDEO UTILITIES: MICHAEL CORWIN, JEFF KLIMUCK JIB ARM OPERATOR: STEVE SIMMONS STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: CAROL KAELSON

STAMFORD MEDIA CENTER AND PRODUCTIONS, LLC “KARAMO” SEASON 2

OPERATORS: CHARLES BEDI, DOMINICK CIARDIELLO, VICTOR MATHEWS, RONALD RIGOLI, JON ROSE, ED STAEBLER, RON THOMPSON, THOMAS TUCKER JIB ARM OPERATORS: RICHARD FREEDMAN, ANTHONY LENZO CAMERA UTILITIES: JESSE JAMES MEHRMANN, ROBERT FRITCHE, ANTHONY DEFONZO, FRANK CAIOLA, ROBERT BENEDETTI CHYRON OPERATOR: DAVID KATZ DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: JOE MANCUSI “STAMFORD MEDIA CENTER-WILKOS” SEASON 17

OPERATORS: MARC NATHAN, RONALD RIGOLI, JON ROSE, ED STAEBLER, RON THOMPSON, VICTOR MATHEWS, CHARLES BEDI, GERARD CANCEL, DOMINICK CIARDIELLO JIB ARM OPERATORS: ANTHONY LENZO, RICHARD FREEDMAN CAMERA UTILITIES: MIKE MORAN, ROBERT FRITCHE, ANTHONY DEFONZO, FRANK CAIOLA, ROBERT BENEDETTI, RAMSEY ALKAYSI, KEITH CONOD CHYRON OPERATOR: DAVID KATZ DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: JOE MANCUSI

WARNER BROS “SHRINKING” SEASON 2

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: JOHN BRAWLEY OPERATORS: CHRIS CUEVAS, SYLVAIN D’HAUTCOURT ASSISTANTS: MICHAEL D. ALVAREZ, BROOKE ZBYTNIEWSKI, SUMMER MARSH, MIGUEL TORRES, DENIS ZEMTSOV, NICOLE KENT LOADER: EMILY GOODWIN DIGITAL UTILITY: L. WARREN THOMPSON STLL PHOTOGRAPHER: BETH DUBBER “THE CLEANING LADY” SEASON 3

VANESSA JOY SMITH OPERATORS: MATTHEW PEARCE, DEMIAN SCOTT VAUGHS ASSISTANTS: SEBASTIAN VEGA, RYAN BUSHMAN, TAYLOR HILBURN, RYAN EUSTIS STEADICAM OPERATOR: MATTHEW PEARCE STEADICAM ASSISTANT: SEBASTIAN VEGA DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: RAFEL MONTOYA LOADER: JONAS HUERTA DIGITAL UTILITY: ELLEOTT HERRERA

COMMERCIALS ACADEMY FILMS, INC. “PRADA”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ALEX BARBER OPERATORS: RACHEL BATASHVILI, MICHAEL F. O’SHEA, LISA SENE ASSISTANTS: PETER MORELLO, WALTER RODRIGUEZ, RICHARD GIOIA, ADAM DIETZ MILLER, JOHN CLEMENS, NATHAN MCGARIGAL, JORDAN LEVIE DIGITAL IMAGING TECHS: BJORN JACKSON, MATTHEW RICHARDS STILL PHOTOGRAPHER: JOJO WHILDEN BTS: EMILIE JACKSON

BISCUIT “MINUTE MAID”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ERIC SCHMIDT ASSISTANTS: LILA BYALL, DANIEL HANYCH, CARRIE LAZAR, MARCO ESCOBEDO STEADICAM OPERATOR: MARK GOELLNICHT DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: JOHN SPELLMAN “WAYFAIR”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: HOYTE VAN HOYTEMA, ASC ASSISTANTS: JOHN CLEMENS, SCOTT HALL MILLER DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: JOE BELACK

CHELSEA PICTURES “MINT”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: MATTHEW JENSEN ASSISTANTS: RYAN RAYNER, THERESA WONG DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: JORDAN LIVINGSTON

CMS “GOOGLE SHOPPING”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: DANIEL VIGNAL OPERATOR: SAWYER OUBRE ASSISTANTS: DANIEL RODRIGUEZ, JAMES DEAN DRUMMOND DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: MICHAEL ASHLEY “BVLGARI”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: KHALID MOHTASEB ASSISTANTS: CHRIS STRAUSER, DANIEL FERRELL, JORDAN MARTIN STEADICAM OPERATOR: RENARD CHEREN DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: MARK WILENKIN CRANE OPERATOR: BOGDAN IOFCIULESCU HEAD TECH: GILBERT ALVARADO

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ALAN CAUDILLO,

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2024 PRODUCTION CREDITS

95

“HONEY NUT CHEERIOS”

REMOTE HEAD TECH: GARRETT DUNN MOBILE BASE TECH: RICHARD LUNA

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ANDREAS LASKARIS OPERATORS:JULIUS DAMENZ, BRANT HADFIELD ASSISTANTS: ANNE FREIVOGEL, JOE TELLO, JORDANN SALVADOR, KC CAPEK, PRESTON BEENE DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: HENRI GENUTIS

LITTLE PRINCE/ CMS PRODUCTIONS “SOFI X BOSTON”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: CHRISTIAN EVANS OPERATOR: PATRICK QUINN ASSISTANTS: JILL TUFTS, TALIA KROHMAL DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: MATTHEW DORRIS

CONDUCTOR PRODUCTIONS “FANATICS”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: NATHAN SWINGLE ASSISTANT: JILL TUFTS DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: NICK PASQUARIELLO

MAGNA STUDIOS “CORONA PREMIER”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: STACY TOYAMA ASSISTANTS: LUIS SUAREZ, DELFINA GARFIAS DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: NINA CHADHA PHANTOM TECH: PATRICK MCGRAW

DIVISION7 “CHEWY”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: CHRISTOPHER LEW ASSISTANTS: CORY SOLON, AMANDA DAROUIE DIGITAL IMAGING TECHS: NINA CHADHA

PRETTYBIRD

SKUNK “SHEETZ”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: JAS SHELTON ASSISTANTS: MATTHEW MEBANE, EMILY RUDY DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: JASON JOHNSON

SMUGGLER “BUFFALO WILD WINGS”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: CHLOE WEAVER ASSISTANTS: ANDREW PAULING, KIRA HERNANDEZ DIGITAL IMAGING TECHS: KYLE HOEKSTRA REMOTE HEAD TECH: JAY SHEVECK

STATION FILM - LA “WALMART”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: TODD BANHAZL ASSISTANTS: CAITLIN BROWN, TRAVIS FRANCIS DIGITAL IMAGING TECHS: NINA CHADHA

“NYX”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: MARCELL REV ASSISTANTS: NORRIS FOX, DAVID O’BRIEN DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: KEVIN ZANIT

EPOCH MEDIA GROUP, LLC “HIMS”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ALEXIS ZABE ASSISTANTS: KARLA MARIE CHRISTENSEN, SASHA WRIGHT DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: NINA CHADHA

RADICAL MEDIA “METRO BY T-MOBILE”

SUPERPRIME “UNITED AIRLINES”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ALEXIS ZABE ASSISTANTS: KARLA MARIE CHRISTENSEN, DIONA MAVIS, SASHA WRIGHT DIGITAL IMAGING TECHS: NINA CHADHA

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ERIC SCHMIDT ASSISTANTS: DANIEL HANYCH, MARCO ESCOBEDO DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: JOHN SPELLMAN

FARM LEAGUE, LLC “SUPER HEROES”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ROB HAUER

“VERIZON”

IMPERIAL WOODPECKER

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: COLIN WATKINSON ASSISTANTS: NIRANJAN MARTIN, TYLER HIGGINS DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: NATE KALUSHNER

“AT&T”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: AUTUMN DURALD, ASC OPERATOR: RENARD CHEREN ASSISTANTS: ETHAN MCDONALD, ALAN CERTEZA, ANDRAE CRAWFORD, COLLEEN MLEZIVA DIGITAL IMAGING TECH: LONNY DANLER CRANE TECH: DAVID HAMMER

SKDKNICKERBOCKER, LLC “PROTECT OUR CARE PA”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: IAN DUFFY ASSISTANTS: MIKE TOLAND, WILLIAM ESPINOLA

MUSIC VIDEOS SUPPLY & DEMAND “PROJECT ALIEN”

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: DAVID WELDON ASSISTANTS: MIKE PANCZENKO, KEVIN POTTER, KEVIN MILES LOADER: BEN IKER

ADVERTISERS INDEX COMPANY PAGE

URL

BAND PRO 100 WWW.BANDPRO.COM CANON 17 WWW.CANON.US/CINEMA.COM CHAPMAN LEONARD 9 WWW.CHAPMAN-LEONARD.COM CINE GEAR NY 99 WWW.CINEGEAREXPO.COM CINEMA DEVICES 16 WWW.CINEMADEVICES.COM CINELEASE 21 WWWCINELEASESTUDIOS.COM FILMOTECHNIC 11 WWW.FILMOUSA.COM NAB SHOW LAS VEGAS 19 WWW.NABSHOW.COM PRODUCTION HUB 97 WWW.PRODUCTIONHUB.COM RED 13 WWW.RED.COM

96

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2024 PRODUCTION CREDITS

ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES WEST COAST & CANADA ROMBEAU INC. Sharon Rombeau Tel: (818) 762-6020 Fax: (818) 760-0860 Email: sharonrombeau@gmail.com

EAST COAST & EUROPE ALAN BRADEN INC. Alan Braden Tel: (818) 850-9398 Email: alanbradenmedia@gmail.com

THE GLOBAL NETWORK OF LOCAL CREW & VENDORS. ProductionHUB is the go-to resource for finding exactly what you need for your production.

Anywhere in the world.

Get started at ProductionHUB.com.

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2024 PRODUCTION CREDITS

97

STOP MOTION

0 2 /0 3 . 2 0 2 4

BETH DUBBER, SMPSP MADAME WEB

Working on the Mexico Unit of Madame Web, I found the jungle of Chiapas to be one of the most beautiful and remote locations I had ever photographed. But, then, the most beautiful and remote places are often the toughest to reach: our work was always daylight dependent; but on the jungle floor, even a cloudy day made it seem dark. In this image of Director S.J. Clarkson and Director of Photography Mauro Fiore, I aimed to capture a moment of their relationship on set, where there was a lot of laughter and ease. Mauro’s lighting, combined with the saturated backdrop palette made possible by high humidity and the rainy season, was stunning to see. Being from Los Angeles, where our landscape is mostly brown due to drought, it was a treat to shoot in such a different climate. One tip for working in humid environments is to bring silica gel packets to place inside gear cases and wet shoes at the end of the day – they were incredibly helpful in keeping my gear and feet dry.

98

F E B RUA RY/ M A RC H 20 24

cinegearexpo.com