British Cinematographer - Issue 96 by Open Box Media & Communications

www.britishcinematographer.co.uk

Issue 96 -- November 2019

RODRIGO PRIETO AMC ASC

MICHAEL FIMOGNARI

CHRISTOPHER ROSS BSC

LAWRENCE SHER ASC

STUART HOWELL

FRED ELMES ASC

KYUNG-PYO HONG

STUART DRYBURGH ASC

BEN DAVIS BSC

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CREDITS / BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER / ISSUE 96 / NOVEMBER 2019

BRITISH

CINEMATOGRAPHER

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THE VISION S I N CE 1

UNI T ING C INE M AT O GR A P HE R S A R O UND T HE W OR L D

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CONTRIBUTORS RON PRINCE has many years of experience in the film, TV, CGI and visual effects industries. He is the editor of British Cinematographer Magazine and runs the international content marketing and PR communications company Prince PR (www.princepr.com). In 2014 he won the prestigious ARRI John Alcott Award from the British Society of Cinematographers for services to cinematography. DAREK KUZMA is a film and TV journalist, translator/interpreter, and a regular collaborator/programmer of the EnergaCamerimage Film Festival. He is an ardent cinephile who has a lifelong romance with the visual language of cinema. DAVID A. ELLIS has written for a number of publications, including Cinema Technology and Film International. He is also the author of the books Conversations With Cinematographers and In Conversation With Cinematographers. DAVID WOOD is a freelance journalist who writes about film and TV technology and production. He is a former technology editor for Televisual Magazine, and writes for Worldscreen, TVB Europe and Broadcast Magazine. JOHN KEEDWELL GBCT/UAV PILOT, the GBCT News Editor, is a documentary and commercials cameraman who has worked on many productions around the world. He crosses over in both film and tape productions and has great knowledge of the new file-based formats and their methods of production. KEVIN HILTON is a freelance journalist who writes about technology and personalities in film and broadcasting, and contributes film reviews and interviews to a variety of publications in the UK and abroad. MICHAEL BURNS has been covering film, broadcast, VFX, animation and interactive design, in print and online, for 20 years. His work can regularly be found in such magazines as IBC Daily, Digital Arts, TVBEurope, Broadcast Tech, and more. He also works as a producer and advisor for conferences and digital agencies. TREVOR HOGG is a freelance video editor and writer who composes in-depth filmmaker and movie profiles for such websites as AWN, CGSociety, 3DTotal, Live For Films and American Cinematographer. He is a fan of Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Batman: The Animated Series, The Hobbit, Studio Ghibli and Peter Weir.

British Cinematographer is part of LAWS Publishing. Laws Publishing Ltd, Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire SL0 0NH t. +44 (0) 1753 650101 | f. +44 (0) 1753 650111 The publishers wish to emphasise that the opinions expressed in British Cinematographer are not representative of Laws Publishing Ltd but the responsibility of the individual contributors.

SUBSCRIBE When you subscribe you will receive an unrivalled insight into international cinematography and production. Published six times a year, you can receive the magazine posted to your home or office. You can now also access British Cinematographer anywhere you have an internet connection with our digital subscription. To subscribe please visit www.britishcinematographer.co.uk/subscribe For queries please contact Matt Hood on +44 (0) 121 200 7820 or email: matt.hood@ob-mc.co.uk

EDITOR’S LETTER

WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH

onsider this: the way you work has a sell-by date on it, and is about to become a very old-fashioned way of doing things. A relic of the past. For on the horizon is a paradigm shift that will likely have far-reaching consequences for a great many involved in the creation of moving image entertainment. It’s called the cloud. The maturity of digital and file-based workflows, plus the explosion of content, combined with a sea-change in mindset that believes computers and server farms are now both safe as well as hugely efficient, mean that the cloud is good-to-go for all things from pre-production and capture, through to post, deliverables and exhibition. The all-powerful cloud is not some far-out, nebulous proposition. As you can read in our round-up of IBC 2019, the forecast for this revolution – of shooting directly to the cloud, plus immediate, frictionless access to edit, grade and manage media assets – is 2030. However, small hybrid steps – currently mingling traditional, earthly practices with new virtual procedures – are already being taken in parts of the image pipeline, and many clusters of nodes in far-off data centres are already remotely rendering and streaming footage to calibrated viewing environments. Before you know it, toolsets will be reduced, applications will go to the assets, new standards and best practices will be set, and snowflake workflows will simply melt away. It’s all going to be a smarter, faster, better way to make things… right? In the words of one recent interlocutor, if you don’t embrace and adapt to what’s coming down the line, you face extinction. Revolutions don’t go backwards. We’ll be looking at what the forthcoming fight between the future and the past might mean for cinematographers, and their collaborators in brick and mortar facilities, in our January 2020 edition. So make sure you stay tuned. RON PRINCE Editor | British Cinematographer Magazine British Cinematographer | November 2019 | 03

CONTENTS / BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER / ISSUE 96 / NOVEMBER 2019

IN THIS ISSUE... 07

On the cover... Rodrigo Prieto AMC ASC The Irishman

Close-Up... Steve Yedlin ASC Knives Out

PRESIDENT’S PERSPECTIVE

Mike Eley BSC delivers a stream of conscientious thoughts about cinematography from the set

PRODUCTION/POST & TECHNO NEWS

The latest news concerning DPs

F-STOP AMSTERDAM

Our round-up of the latest kit and widgets on show during IBC 2019 in Amsterdam

WHO’S SHOOTING WHO?

Your definitive guide to which DPs are shooting who and where

NEW WAVE

Matías Penachino… loves toothpicks and flashy jackets!

Close-Up... Phedon Papamichael ASC Le Mans ’66

Gaffers ‘R’ Us... Jonathan Spencer

Pack your pac-a-mac and get ready to visit Poland for EnergaCamerimage 2019

Dick Pope BSC talks about his work in shooting the gritty, noirdrama, Motherless Brooklyn, starring and directed by Edward Norton

Shining a light on Jonathan Spencer

ENERGACAMERIMAGE 2019

CAMERA CREATIVE

Discover how Rodrigo Prieto AMC ASC met head-on the challenges of shooting Martin Scorsese’s new epic The Irishman

On The Job... Dick Pope BSC Motherless Brooklyn

ON THE JOB

62–73 CLOSE-UPS

Steve Yedlin ASC on Knives Out, Phedon Papamichael ASC on Le Mans ’66, Dion Beebe ACS ASC on Gemini Man, George Steel on The Aeronauts, Piotr Sobocinski Jr PSC on Corpus Christi and Jarin Blaschke on The Lighthouse

SPOTLIGHT

New developments from lighting innovator MBSinnovations

FINISHING POST

The colour grading talents at Harbor Picture Company

GAFFERS ‘R’ US

CLAPPERBOARD

The industrious Larry Smith BSC

LIVE & LET DI

Discover who’s been dialling-in the most recent DI grades

IMAGO NEWS

IMAGO President, Paul René Roestad FNF with the latest on IMAGO’s recent and future events

GBCT NEWS

Tim Potter GBCT chair defines the meaning of “work”, whilst John Keedwell GBCT looks at the issues of being a dedicated BAFTA voter British Cinematographer | November 2019 | 05

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PRESIDENT’S PERSPECTIVE / MIKE ELEY BSC / BSC PRESIDENT

SNAP SHOTS BRITISH SOCIETY

OF CINEMATOGRAPHERS Board of Governors 2019

PRESIDENT: Mike Eley BSC VICE PRESIDENTS: Rob Hardy BSC Nigel Walters BSC Haris Zambarloukos BSC GOVERNORS: Balasz Bolygo BSC Oliver Curtis BSC John Daly BSC John de Borman BSC Gavin Finney BSC James Friend BSC ASC Adriano Goldman ASC BSC ABC Angus Hudson BSC Nic Knowland BSC Phil Méheux BSC Tim Palmer BSC Ula Pontikos BSC Laurie Rose BSC Christopher Ross BSC Oliver Stapleton BSC CO-OPTED ASSOCIATE MEMBER REPRESENTATIVE: Chris Plevin BOARD ADVISOR: Joe Dunton MBE BSC (non DoP) BSC IMAGO REPRESENTATIVE: Nina Kellgren BSC COMPANY SECRETARY: Audra Marshall TREASURER: Frances Russell

This being the President’s Perspective, it’s only fair to say that my perspective these days has been one deeply embedded in the seemingly endless spin-cycle of WorkEat-Sleep-Repeat as dictated by the call sheet.

never forget to thank my lucky stars that that is the case (as I’ve been doing for nearly 40 years now), but the result is that when it comes to writing this particular column my thoughts are less prolonged and concise, and more random and fleeting. So, without apology, I present a few thoughts as jotted down between takes. The divide between art and industry, with its acute management of time, is a mark of the cinematographic world. All heads of departments labour under restraints of budget, resources and the amount of hours in a day. However, the cinematographer’s experience is different in that our time is most definitely backloaded in the process. If one imagines a pyramid representing the pre-production and shooting of a film, and the very top tip of that pyramid is the moment of exposure, the capture of the image, of performance, of light and movement, then the cinematographer’s work is very much intensified at that apex. It’s a rush as intoxicating as it is frustrating. Other departments concentrate their work in prep with absolute creative decisions made before day one of principle photography. God forbid, that is not to say their work is done come the first day – anyone who has spent just a short time at a unit base or location will give testament to… a) the first-in, last-out work ethic of costume, hair and make-up; and b) the responsive and improvisational skills they all need whenever an actor or director changes their mind (i.e. often) ensuring that their vision of character and story remain intact. But the schedule, time itself, races inexorably and ever faster towards “Turnover!”, and in those precious and pressured moments before “Action!” the cinematographer has gone from prepared approach (remember those halcyon days of “what if…”?) to harnessing everything actor, director and nature itself can throw at them. Cartier-Bresson just had 1/250th of a second to capture his “defining moment”; the cinematographer has to fill-up seconds, sometimes minutes of perfection. We rarely achieve it, but in the striving can come unexpected poetry and what the Japanese call “Wabi-Sabi” – the embracing of imperfection and accepting its peculiar beauty. Try using that argument with the producer next time the focus is more on the actor’s ears than on her eyes. Consider this: a pre-production meeting kicking off with

an hour-long lecture on how to be a good person, aka the AntiHarassment Policy Tutorial. Lessons in politeness and respect are now discussed like newly-developed workflows with accompanying pie charts and Venn diagrams. The cynic might say that protection of the studio brand is at the heart of such endeavours, rather than the protection of individuals lower down the pay scale. But we know that salary is no barrier to bullying and assault. Interestingly, when the professional interlocutor asked for examples of possible on-set prejudice and a crew member came back with “Class?”, the puzzled response was “Er, no, not as such. Anyone else…?”. American studio meets English socio-economic realities. Takeaways? It’s not rocket science; don’t be rude, treat others as you yourself would want to be treated. Timely reminders are no bad thing. Whose shot is it? Is it that stills photographers are considered singular in their work, and that it is only they who are responsible for the resulting image?. Whereas cinematographers are collaborators and merely facilitate the director’s vision? Is that why our status is so contentious in so many territories? I refer the jury to my point above – harnessing time itself plus composition and light. Inspiration found in those moments of transit or rare repose. Seeing the sky turn a bruised purple with blues and pinks minutes after wrap and, with the camera team diligently putting the camera to bed, taking-in the subtle beauty and fleeting nature of a crepuscular landscape. Again, Time. Then the first AD snaps you out of your revery “So… tomorrow….first up…”. And then getting back to the hotel, turning on the TV and finding Jaws at the point where Sheriff Brody is sitting on the beach, looking nervously out to sea, fearing the worst. Direction, editing and cinematography coming together to devastating effect. This is why we do it. The divide of art and industry and its human cost. At last there is some movement in the investigation into Mark Milsome’s death, with the pre-inquest review on October 29th in London. It will be two years this November since the tragic events in Ghana, and it behoves all of us in the industry to keep Mark’s name alive. The foundation that bears his name continues its good work. We wish it, and the Milsome family, all the very best in the coming weeks and months as, hopefully, clarity is afforded this tragic case. n British Cinematographer | November 2019 | 07

NEWS / PRODUCTION / POST & TECHNOLOGY ROUND-UP

EUROPEAN CAMERIMAGE FILM CENTRE TO BE BUILT IN TORUŃ

in September 29, 2019, an agreement was signed at the Old Town Hall, under which the European Film Centre (EFC) Camerimage is to be created in Toruń. It will be the seat of a new, national cultural institution that will organise and co-finance the Camerimage Film Festival and other international film events. The agreement between the Polish state and Toruń self-government was signed by Piotr Gliński, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Culture and National Heritage, Michał Zaleski, Mayor of Toruń and Marek Żydowicz, president of the Tumult Foundation and creator of the Camerimage Festival. The investment will cost about PLN600m/£120m, of which two-thirds will be borne by the State Treasury, and the remaining funds will be provided by the Toruń Municipality. The agreement also regulates the issue of maintaining EFC Camerimage cultural institutions and co-financing the annual organisation of the festival, now in its 27th year. The state subsidy for EFC activities will amount to PLN4m/£810,000 per year, with Toruń Municipality contributing the same amount. “The European Film Centre and organisation of the Camerimage Festival will change the perception of Toruń around the world. We already have the support of the best-known film institutions and big names of world cinema. Representatives of the American and European Film Academy want to come to Toruń and take part in the EFC activities,” said Żydowicz. According to the agreement, the building in which the European Film Centre Camerimage will operate is to harmonise with the unique character of Toruń’s old town and be distinguished by its unique architecture. To this end, an architectural design competition will be announced which will select the contractor for the project.

CELEBRATE IN STYLE WITH A BSC 70TH T-SHIRT & HAT

The BSC has created an exclusive collection of specially-branded merchandise as part of its 70th Anniversary celebrations. A selection of polo and T-shirts, sweatshirts plus beanie and peaked caps, all featuring the society’s 70th Anniversary logo, are available in a choice of grey or black in a variety of sizes. This limited edition range is available to purchase now directly from the BSC Office.

08 | British Cinematographer | November 2019

MARK MILSOME INQUEST

At the time of going to press, it was almost two years since the death of camera operator Mark Milsome whilst working on location in Ghana. A pre-inquest review hearing was due to take place on Oct 29th at West London Coroners Court into the circumstances of this tragic event. The Milsome family, Drama Republic, the BBC and legal representatives were all asked to attend, whilst the coroner has reviewed submissions via documentation, footage and witness statements. Please check back on the British Cinematographer Magazine website for further details about the inquiry.

CHANGES AT ARRI AG’S MANAGEMENT BOARD

After five years as a member of the ARRI AG management board, Dr. Joerg Pohlman has stepped down from the role, after accepting a new professional challenge, as of November 1, 2019, in managing one of his family's companies, Lohmann GmbH & Co. KG in Neuwied, Germany. The future management board of ARRI AG will consist of two members. The previous responsibilities of Dr. Pohlman will be transferred to the remaining members – Dr. Michael Neuhaeuser and Markus Zeiler. The focus of Dr. Neuhaeuser's responsibilities will be on technology and operations (demand fulfillment), while Mr. Zeiler's responsibilities will focus on sales and marketing (demand creation).

RIGGING TEAM APPOINTS MATTHEW MILLWARD AS TECHNICAL MANAGER Independent rigging specialist, Rigging Team, has appointed Matthew Millward to the role of technical manager at its Stevenage HQ. Millward’s career spans over 23 years, working within the entertainment industry, with some of the industry’s leading rental providers and as key crew on a host of major international tours, encompassing a variety of roles from in-house technician to touring production manager on large-scale arena shows. With his last ten years dedicated almost entirely to the rigging sector, predominantly as rigging sales manager for A.C. Entertainment Technologies, he has worked closely with many UK and international clients to provide workable compliant lifting systems and safe systems of work.

AC-ET APPOINTED AS UK & IRELAND DISTRIBUTOR FOR CLAYPAKY A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ltd (AC-ET) has been appointed as the UK distributor for the Claypaky range of professional lighting solutions. Sister company, A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ireland Ltd, will handle distribution in the Republic of Ireland. Claypaky’s stage lighting products are used on productions and events around the world. Products include Xtylos, a compact beam light with laser source and optical and chromatic characteristics, along with the Sharpy Plus, HY B-Eye K25 and Mini-B moving heads.

Martin Fuhrer, BSC

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NEWS / PRODUCTION / POST & TECHNOLOGY ROUND-UP

ASC OPENS NEW ASC ARRI EDUCATION CENTRE

he American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) has completed construction of its new ASC ARRI Education Centre. Located behind the historic ASC Clubhouse in Hollywood, the modern building now serves as a hub for the organisation’s on-going efforts to educate the next generation of filmmakers on the art and craft of cinematography. The educational centre is made possible through the support of ARRI, manufacturer of camera and lighting technology for the motion picture and film industry. The 5,000-square-foot space consists of offices, plus a large meeting room, and is also the home to all print and digital publications staff. The center also houses a historic archive of American Cinematographer Magazine for those wishing to research the art and craft of cinematography. The official opening of the new structure coincided celebrations of the ASC’s 100th anniversary with members and sponsors present. “It is thrilling to see the educational commitment of the ASC solidified through this endeavour,” said ASC president Kees van Oostrum NSC ASC. “It’s also wonderful to be able to open this facility during our centennial party. For me, it manifests our mission for the next 100 years.” ARRI has a longstanding relationship with the ASC and its membership. The ASC and ARRI previously collaborated on the launch of the International Masterclass series, intensive workshops taking place around the world with acclaimed ASC members. Since 2019, ARRI has hosted various Los Angeles-based Masterclasses

Events Director Patty Armacost welcomes the crowd. Photo by Joachim Zell

Opening cerem Joerg Pohlman, Christo ony... ph Stah, Kees Van Oostrum ASC Photo by Hector Sandov al

and will continue to sponsor the International Masterclasses for the next decade. “The ASC is one of the world’s premiere organisations for cinematographers, with members not only in the United States but all over the globe. Like the ASC, we at ARRI believe in pushing the boundaries of filmmaking and advancing the art of cinematography,” said Dr. Joerg Pohlman, member of the executive board at ARRI. Markus Zeiler, also member of the executive board at ARRI added, “We are pleased to support the ASC in their ongoing mission to educate and inspire the next generation of filmmakers. We believe the ASC ARRI Education Center will help the ASC grow their efforts today, tomorrow, and for years to come.” ASC celebrated its historic 100th Anniversary with a party at the ASC Clubhouse on September 28, 2019. As part of the event, the society recognised 12 businesses by presenting each of them with a Legacy Award for their longstanding support over the past century. They include: ARRI, Deluxe, FotoKem, Fuji Film, J.L. Fisher, Kino Flo, Kodak, Leitz, Mole Richardson, Panavision, Sim, Technicolor, Tiffen and Zeiss.

ARRI ALEXA MINI LF CAMERA SHIPS WORLDWIDE

fter extensive testing, ARRI quality control approved the final production software for the Alexa Mini LF, and cameras featuring this software began shipping in September 2019. Owners of pre-production cameras can download the updated software and install it on their cameras. “Large format is taking off,” said Stephan Schenk, MD of ARRI Cine Technik and responsible for ARRI’s camera systems business unit. “In 2018, when we introduced the ARRI large-format camera system with the Alexa LF camera, ARRI Signature Prime lenses, and LPL lens mount, the production community was excited to try something new. Now, many have worked with the Alexa LF and

10 | British Cinematographer | November 2019

are appreciative of the unique large-format look of our LF sensor. Together, the fully-featured, highspeed Alexa LF and the small and lightweight Alexa Mini LF can tackle any job.” Both cameras share the same large-format sensor based on technology used in all ARRI digital cameras – including high dynamic range as well as ARRI colour science for natural colorimetry, pleasing skin tones, clean VFX, and easy colour grading. However, the LF sensor has twice the area of Super 35 sensors for that unique large-format look, increased sharpness, higher contrast, and smoother images combined with a lower noise floor for higher usable sensitivity. The Alexa Mini LF records Apple ProRes or ARRIRAW in-camera without any addons and runs on 12 or 24 Volts. Since it is almost the same size and weight as the Alexa Mini, the ALEXA Mini LF is compatible with most Alexa Mini mechanical and electronic accessories, making deployment fast. A number of projects have already used Alexa Mini LF. Cinematographer Roger Deakins CBE BSC ASC was the first to receive a working prototype of the Alexa Mini LF. He used it together with ARRI Signature Primes, and the ARRI Trinity camera stabilizer system, on the WW1 epic 1917, directed by Sam Mendes.

“The image that the Mini LF and the Signature Primes produce seems, to me, more like what my eyes see than anything else I have experienced so far,” said Deakins. Tackling the enormous depth of the world’s best-selling science fiction novel, cinematographer Greig Fraser ACS ASC and director Denis Villeneuve finished shooting Dune in August 2019. Shot primarily with Alexa LF, Panavision Ultra Vista, and H-series large-format lenses, during the last months of shooting they also used an Alexa Mini LF prototype. Fraser commented: “Using the Alexa LF gives me a greater dimensionality, a combination of a bigger field-of-view, and a shallower depth-of-field. I easily could push the Alexa LF to 2000 ASA with no visible noise, but a very pleasant texture. The Mini LF has made possible what I thought was previously impossible with large-format photography. The freedom it allows me as a DP, to move the camera in whatever way I feel is best, is unbeatable, and makes my job even more exciting!” Other projects using Alexa Mini LF include Kung Fury 2, shot by Tom Stern ASC; Chinese Women’s Volleyball, lensed by DP Zhao Xiao Shi; Outlander Season 5, lit be Stijn Van der Veken and Alasdair Walker; and La Bonne Épouse, shot by cinematographer Guillaume Schiffman AFC and camera operator Benoit Theunissen.

Record Button Perfectly positioned record start/stop button.

ISO, Shutter and White Balance Instantly change critical exposure settings while shooting.

Function Buttons 3 user customizable function buttons to get to features quickly.

Mounting Points Standard 1/4 inch-20 mounting point on top and bottom of camera.

Tally Lets you know when the camera is recording.

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Scroll Wheel with Push Quickly scroll through settings and control your electronic iris when shooting.

EF Lens Mount Use a wide range of compatible lenses.

Built-in Microphones 4 built in high fidelity shock proof microphones.

Flexible Connections 3.5mm stereo input, full size HDMI out, USB-C expansion port and XLR audio.

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NEWS / PRODUCTION / POST & TECHNOLOGY ROUND-UP

JAKOB IHRE FSF WINS CREATIVE EMMY AND NFTS SUE GIBSON BSC AWARD

STEVEN POSTER TO RECEIVE SOC LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Stephen Poster ASC, the noted cinematographer of Donnie Darko and Madonna’s “Like a Prayer,” will receive the Lifetime Achievement Distinguished Service Award from the Society Of Camera Operators at a ceremony on Jan. 18, 2020. The SOC grants this accolade to an individual who has served either the community at large and/or the society through outstanding service and generosity. Poster, a regular contributor to British Cinematographer Magazine, served for 13 years as the president of the International Cinematographers Guild, Local 600, the 9,000-member national trade union representing camera workers and film publicists across the United States. He was formerly a member of the executive board of the International Documentary Association, served as president of the ASC, and currently resides on the committee of the Nicholl Fellowship of the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Poster’s cinematographic credits also include film and TV shows and music videos as The Cradle Will Fall, Someone to Watch Over Me, Rocky V, Stuart Little 2 and Amityville: The Awakening. “Helping the sisters and brothers of the union has been the biggest reward from my time as president of the ICG Local 600,” commented Poster. “My longtime passion has always been to preserve our art and our craft, especially during the transition from film to digital, and to make life better for as many people as possible. I am deeply honored to be receiving this award.” During his time as ASC president, Poster was responsible for forming the ASC Technology committee, which remains at the forefront in setting standards for digital tools in cinematography postproduction, and continues to act as its co-chair.

12 | British Cinematographer | November 2019

inematographer Jakob Ihre FSF won a 2019 Creative Emmy Award for Outstanding Cinematography On A Limited Series/ Movie, plus the third annual Sue Gibson BSC Cinematography Award, for his work on the HBO miniseries Chernobyl. The NFTS award recognises a member of the National Film & Television School cinematography alumni who has advanced the profession of cinematography in a significant way. Sue Gibson BSC, who passed away in 2016, was herself an award-winning NFTS alumna and also the first female president of the British Society of Cinematographers. Previous winners include Charlotte Bruus Christensen DFF for Fences and The Girl On The Train and Roger Deakins CBE BSC ASC for Blade Runner 2049. Ihre commented “As an NFTS graduate it is very special and emotional to be recognised and awarded this beautiful prize. I think it beats any other cinematography prize out there. It was at the NFTS that my journey started and it feels like I am coming in from the cold, and the unknown, to a caring parent who has warm hands and appreciation”. Jon Wardle, director of the NFTS commented, “I am delighted that Jakob has won for his fantastic work on Chernobyl, and pay tribute to the other nominees – Edu Grau, Jannicke Mikkelsen, Natasha Braier and John Lee.”

MOVIETECH OFFERS NEW FULL-FRAME DIRECTORS VIEWFINDER Independent camera, lens and grip specialist, Movietech, has bolstered its exclusive Directors Viewfinder offering, originally launched at the 2019 BSC Expo, with additional Full Frame models. Created by Movietech’s in-house product development team, the Directors Viewfinder has become a favourite with cinematographers and crews on a wide range of productions, and the company has engineered additional quantities of the Full Frame model to meet demand. This latest production run delivers precision engineering and complements the company’s inventory of full frame camera systems, including the Alexa LF, Red Monstro and the Sony Venice. Exclusively available through Movietech’s Pinewood Studios and Pinewood Wales bases, Directors Viewfinders feature unique ground glass housed in an anodised aluminium body, with PL-mount and Anamorphic lens options.

DEDOLIGHT LIGHTSTREAM SYSTEM TUsing reflected light is as old as imaging, and working with reflectors in sequential or linear arrays offers amazing potential to cinematographers. Dedolight’s Lightstream System offers an effective gateway to this common practice and, within this concept, the illusion of natural light deriving from a far-off distance, even in confined areas. The parallel beam parabolic DPB70 enhances this illusion

by the effective use of a virtual light source from a considerable distance behind the actual fixture. It is this reason that, after careful evaluation of available alternatives, the DPB70 was chosen for the natural light illusion in Ad Astra, lensed by Hoyte Van Hoytema FSF NSC ASC. There is now a wide choice of parallel light based on the 21 different Dedolights. The parallel beam intensifier attachments for all of these lights perform the multiplication of output and reach, adding 300% or 400% in output in comparison to the already astounding spot performance. The DPB70 is now available for all of the company’s different focusing Dedolights, including the diminutive Ledzilla.

SAMYANG LAUNCHES XEEN CF CINEMA PRIME LENSES Samyang Optics has launched its new line of Xeen CF cinema prime lenses. Reflecting the trend for compact and lightweight equipment, along with the need for outstanding definition, Xeen CF models are the first full-frame cinema lenses to incorporate carbon fibre into the lens barrel. They also feature luminous scale markings in a new, clearly visible font. Xeen CF lenses support 8K and full-frame (large format) image sensors installed in the latest movie cameras, and are available in PL, Sony E and Canon EF mounts. They are also compatible with equipment such as drones and gimbals. The T1.5 aperture value and 11-bladed diaphragms enable low-light performance and deliver a distinctive bokeh. The Xeen CF range offers five angles-of-view. The 24mm, 50mm and 85mm versions are available now, followed by the 16mm and 35mm models during the first half of 2020.

SEAN HISE JOINS CINEO LIGHTING AS WEST COAST MANAGER Sean Hise has joined Cineo Lighting as west coast sales manager, based in Los Angeles. He has a long history and broad experience in the motion picture and television industries having previously worked at Panavision, Lee Filters and Kino Flo.

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NEWS / PRODUCTION / POST & TECHNOLOGY ROUND-UP

DIT JOSHUA CALLIS SMITH ON -SET FOR THE DARK CRYSTAL

reated as a prequel to Jim Henson’s 1982 dark fantasy classic, Netflix’s tent-pole show The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, directed by Louis Letterier, has gained considerable acclaim since its release. Working with DP Erik Wilson, DIT Joshua Callis-Smith quickly discovered this would be unlike any other project he’d been involved with. With a massive 180day shoot being filmed on two Red 8K Dragon VVA cameras without a single lock-off and plenty of handheld and Steadicam, there were more than 1,000 hours of final rushes. That meant nearly a petabyte’s worth of data that Callis-Smith’s team, together with the lab provided by On Set Tech and supervised by Simon Chubbock, needed to sortthrough during principle photography. “We had a show LUT which we used for monitoring,” reveals Callis-Smith. “This enabled us to make sure the aesthetic of the show was working as intended, especially when it came to the lighting. We even used the gold OLPF filters to soften and expand on the highlights, enhancing the image for HDR.

“The design on the Skeksis creatures for example, involved a lot of wrinkles and texture on their skin. We wanted to make sure we used a harder light to accentuate the huge amount of work that had gone into them at Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, whereas the Gelflings needed a softer light.” Callis-Smith used Livegrade to apply the LUT to the live camera feed on-set. He then worked with Wilson to set a look for each scene, creating CDLs. “I would offload the 4K Redcode RAW footage and bring it all into DaVinci Resolve on my 5K iMac, where I would use the CDL as a starting point for the dailies work. I graded and balanced every shot in

SINGLE-SHOT FILMS PRESENTED BY DIRECTORS UK/ARRI AT 2019 ENCOUNTERS FILM FESTIVAL

uring the 2019 Encounters Film Festival (24th-29th September), Directors UK and ARRI hosted a hugely popular 90-minute screening and filmmaker Q&A session entitled “Single Shot Film” at the Watershed Cinema, Bristol. All six of the short films showcased were winners of Challenge Trinity, a Directors UK and ARRI competition tasking directors with creating a oneshot film in one day. A massive creative and practical undertaking for the directors, cinematographers, cast and crew, the panel session with the directors delved into the many challenges and how they achieved their vision. All of the films utilised ARRI’s Trinity, a hybrid camera stabiliser that combines mechanical and active electronic stabilisation, via 32-bit Arm-based gimbal technology. This combination results in five axes of control and enables uniquely fluid, wideranging, and precisely controlled movements, enabling new angles for the operator and new storytelling options for the director. Milan Krsljanin from ARRI moderated the session and participants included directors: Isabel Anderton (The Yearning), Diego Barraza (The Letter), Luke Bradford (One), Martin Gooch (A Midwinter Night’s Dream), George Milton (A Bullet Wasted), and Daphne Schmon A Bullet Wasted and Emily Carlton (Exit To Stage). ARRI hosted a drinks reception at The Watershed for filmmakers and festival delegates after the Single Shot screening and panel.

14 | British Cinematographer | November 2019

Resolve before delivering the project to the lab team for dailies processing.” The last step was to use DaVinci Resolve to desqueeze the 1:1 square sensor mode that Red created specifically for the show. “We paired the sensor with Cooke Anamorphic/i Prime Lenses,” Callis-Smith adds. “The original delivery needed to comply with Netflix Ultra HD 4K 2:1 requirements, so we shot using the 1:1 mode at 4096 x 4096 and applied a 2x desqueeze in order to get to our 2:1 Anamorphic frame.” Final delivery was then cropped slightly further to 2.2:1 to remove a couple of puppeteer heads from the bottom of the shot. “This truly was an incredible experience,” Callis-Smith concludes. “The Dark Crystal was one of my favourite films growing up, so this wasn’t like just walking onto any set for me. Watching a huge ensemble of puppeteers and Louis Letterier direct them was not like anything I’d seen before, and I doubt I will again unless we all return for another season.”

SMALLHD LAUNCHES CAMERA CONTROL FOR RED DSMC2 Originally designed for use with ARRI cinema cameras, the SmallHD Cine 7 touchscreen monitor can now control Red DSMC2 cinema cameras through an optional camera control license. The new feature unlocks on-screen overlays that provide complete use of the Red camera interface. The SmallHD Cine 7 monitor has a resolution of 1920x1200 with over 1800nits of brightness, and 100% colour accuracy through the DCI-P3 colour standard. The Cine 7 is a touchscreen capable of a capacitive touch that enables up to five simultaneous touches and gives the user standard control features using SmallHD's OS3 operating system. The interface is page-based, giving camera assistants the ability to customise page settings according to preferences. Wireless control is enabled through integrated Teradek wireless transmitters and receivers. This enables assistants to control all Teradek RT wireless follow-focus systems, and to expand that even further by controlling Red cameras remotely. In addition to adjusting traditional parameters such as white balance, resolution and shutter angle, the unlocked overlays add additional features including output overlays, image pipeline modifications, custom file name generation and power settings.

Chroma-Q® Brute Force™ A powerful alternative The Chroma-Q® Brute Force 6™ is a powerful new, LED alternative to traditional light sources. Capable of delivering up to 140,000 lumens, drawing just 15 amps @ 240V, the Brute Force 6 is a highly versatile, controllable fixture that could change your approach to lighting.

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NEWS / PRODUCTION / POST & TECHNOLOGY ROUND-UP

FRAME.IO RECRUITS CIONI TO LEAD NEXT WAVE OF FILM-TECH INNOVATION

rame.io, the video review and collaboration platform used by over 1 million filmmakers and media professionals, has brought Michael Cioni on board as SVP of global innovation. Cioni, a prominent production and post workflow expert, joins Frame.io from Panavision, where, in a similar role, he spearheaded numerous new products and workflows, including the Millennium DXL 8K large-format camera system. At Frame.io, Cioni will lead a new LA-based division focussed on cloud-enabled workflows for motion pictures and television – specifically, automated camera-to-cutting room technology. “Frame.io is not only looking to strengthen today’s use of the cloud, we’re also driving increased creative control by reducing the time it takes for media to reach editors in off-site cutting rooms,“ said Cioni. “The professional filmmaking process is going through the largest functional change since the shift from analogue to digital,” said Frame.io CEO, Emery Wells. “Whilst cloud-based technologies are already transforming every industry, we understand that moving more of the filmmaking process to the cloud presents several unique challenges: security, file sizes, and scale. Since day one, we have built Frame.io to solve the issues that we lived working in post-production.” When it comes to security, Frame.io has responded to Hollywood’s needs by making it a cornerstone of the platform. “Frame.io has invested deeply in security so that customers experience safe,

Michael Cioni and Emery Wells

documented, and trustworthy cloud accessibility of their highest-value media,” said Cioni. Additionally, “Hollywood’s attention to image quality, archiving and future-proofing are all core aspects of the Frame.io platform,” Cioni commented. “Emery and I both know what it means to work with large creative teams, so at Frame.io we are developing a totally new, direct, camera-to-cutting room collaboration experience.” Frame.io has been completely cloud based since it was founded. “We started seeding new workflows around dailies, collaborative review and real-time integration with NLEs for parallel work and approvals. Now, with Michael, we’re building Frame.io for the new frontier of cloud-enabled professional workflows,” Wells said. “Frame.io will leverage machine learning and a combination of software and hardware in a way that will truly revolutionize collaboration.“ With Cioni, Frame.io’s vision for the next generation of professional cinema workflows will be completely anchored in cloud-based technologies. “A robust camera-to-cloud approach means filmmakers will have greater access to their work,

NEW FILM SUMMIT LAUNCHES IN LONDON

he Future Of Film Summit 2019, a conference-event, has been launched with a mission to inform, inspire and empower storytellers and transform the wider film ecosystem. Taking place on 26th November 2019 at BFI Southbank, London, the summit will welcome speakers for keynote and panel sessions, as well as hands-on workshops on new technology, plus cutting-edge creative and business strategies. The event is designed for filmmakers, producers and storytellers and this core audience will be joined by key film stakeholders, technology companies and other brands investing in films. The opening keynote will be delivered by award-winning designer and storyteller Alex McDowell, a strong advocate of world-building immersive design, who has integrated emergent digital technology, experiential media and traditional design technique into his work. His feature credits include Minority Report (2002), The Terminal (2004), Charlie And The Chocolate Factory (2005), Watchmen (2009) and Man Of Steel (2013). McDowell is the founder and creative director of Experimental.Design, where he and his team design immersive story worlds for industries and institutions. The summit is being sponsored by Unreal Engine/Epic Games and will also include sessions on interactive filmmaking, brand-funding, world-building and virtual production. Hands-on demonstrations for delegates will include the spatial computer system Magic Leap. Confirmed speakers for the day include: Dr Jo Twist, CEO of UKIE; Black Mirror Bandersnatch editor Tony Kearns; Jack Attridge, creative director of Flavourworks; art director of Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise Of Skywalker Claire Fleming; Pulse Films’ CEO and co-founder Marisa Clifford; and director/producer Haz Dullal showcasing his use of Unreal Engine. The closing keynote will be from Tim Webber, chief creative officer at Framestore, the UK BAFTA and Oscarwinning creative studio whose VFX slate includes Gravity, Avengers: Endgame, Blade Runner 2049 and Game Of Thrones. Tickets and full programme information can be Alex McDowell found at www.futureoffilm.live Jack Attridge

16 | British Cinematographer | November 2019

greater control of their content, and greater speed with which to make key decisions,” remarked Cioni. “Our new roadmap will dramatically reduce the time it takes to get original camera negative into the hands of editors. Directors, cinematographers, post houses, DITs and editors will all be able to work with recorded images in real time, regardless of location.” Cioni is the winner of four National Academy Of Television Arts & Sciences Emmy awards, founded several post-production companies and served as president and CEO of Light Iron, the workflowcentric creative services company. After Light Iron was acquired in 2015 by camera rental group Panavision, Cioni served as SVP of innovation and product director of Panavision’s Millennium DXL 8K large format camera ecosystem. A frequent speaker on workflow and camera systems at international industry events, Cioni is very active in the community, as a member of the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and as an Associate Member of the ASC as well as having served on the board of the Hollywood Professional Alliance (HPA).

Free Solo

WINNERS AT THE 2019 CREATIVE EMMY AWARDS The 71st Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony was held on September 22, 2019, at the Microsoft Theater in Downtown Los Angeles, where cinematographers were bestowed with a range of prestigious awards. Jakob Ihre FSF won the award for Outstanding Cinematography For A Limited Series/ Movie for HBO’s Chernobyl, “Please Remain Calm” episode. Donald A. Morgan ASC was the winner of the gong for Outstanding Cinematography For A Multi-Camera Series for Netflix’s The Ranch, “Reckless” episode. The award for Outstanding Cinematography For A Single-Camera Series (One Hour) went to M. David Mullen ASC for Amazon Studios’ The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, “Simone”, with Chris Teague picking up the commensurate HalfHour accolade for Netflix’s Russian Doll, “Ariadne”. The often hair-raising photography on National Geographic’s Free Solo earned Nonfiction Program awards for DPs Jimmy Chin, Clair Popkin and Mikey Schaefer. The Outstanding Cinematography For A Reality Program went to the DPs on National Geographic/BBC Studios’ Life Below Zero, namely Mike Cheeseman, Danny Day, David Lovejoy, Ben Mullin, John Griber, Benji Lanpher and Terry Pratt.

“I am amazed by how far I can push the ISO on the MONSTRO 8K VV sensor and how well it holds up. It’s really impressive to me how clean the image is in very low light conditions. The color depth of skin tones are also really mind-blowing. The MONSTRO is the best sensor on the market.” - Si Bell, Cinematographer for Peaky Blinders

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NEWS / PRODUCTION / POST & TECHNOLOGY ROUND-UP

TOBIAS DATUM HARNESSES COOKE PANCHRO/I CLASSIC PRIMES FOR ON BECOMING A GOD

inematographer Tobias Datum relied on the new take of an old classic to help tell the 1992 story of Krystal Stubbs (Kirsten Dunst), a minimum-wage water park employee who lies, schemes and cons her way up the ranks of Founders American Merchandise (FAM) – the cultish, flag waving, multi-billion dollar pyramid scheme that drove her family to ruin. By using Cooke Optics’ Panchro/i Classic primes lenses – a modern redesign of the vintage Cooke Speed Panchro lenses from the 1920s to 1960s – for the Showtime series On Becoming A God in Central Florida, Datum was able to create the softer look of the period, whilst taking advantage of a modern lens that also incorporates Cooke’s /i Technology metadata system to provide detailed lens data to VFX and post-production teams. “We shot wide-open most of the time, mostly with the 40mm Cooke Panchro/i Classic to give the softer look,” explained Datum. “We used Sony Venice cameras at 3.8K for television’s 16:9 aspect ratio. Inherently, digital images are very flat dimensionally. With the Panchro/i Classics, there’s a fall-off of sharpness towards the edges that I really like and that helps give the image more depth.” Datum had met Charlie McDowell, who directed the pilot (as well as another episode in the series) a few years ago and they liked each other’s work. When

On Becoming A God Photo: Patti Perret

this project came up, the two began talking and exchanging photos of the period. “We didn’t have a lot of time to test, and spent most of it getting used to the Venice camera,” said Datum.” But I knew, having used Cookes for decades, that I wanted to try the new Panchro/i Classics. One nice feature is the close focus of the 32mm and 40mm. We designed a lot of moving shots that go from close-up to wide and back onto something close. That was a great thing.” His Panchro/i Classic kit consisted of 10 primes from the 12 primes available in the family: 18/21/25/32/40/50/65 Macro/75/100/135mm. “The 40mm was definitely our workhorse,” said Datum. “The 40mm is just so beautiful: the idea of being physically close and turning the shot with a pan into a two-shot or showing the environment is nice. And it gives the perfect balance of the softness of the edges when shooting wide open, with a very gentle curvature. The 65 Macro ended up being a great lens for close-ups.” The story of the show revolves around a cultish pyramid scheme and there were a bunch of scenes in

event settings with a follow spot and theatrical lights. “When shooting into the lights the lens, the Panchro/i Classics, have beautiful flares and bokeh and a beautiful texture to the image.” Having used Cooke lenses from early on in his career in the 1990s, one of the things Datum appreciates is the ‘Cooke Look’ that cinematographers mention when discussing Cooke lenses. “Cooke lenses are very gentle to the skin and actors. The ‘softness’ and ‘warmth’ of them is something I really appreciate.” The industry shift to digital acquisition has also had an impact on Datum, with considerations to how the image will be presented and on what type of screen. “In the absence of film stock, there is more of an emphasis on glass,” says Datum. “It is an exciting time for optics. One of my tasks as a cinematographer is to make something two-dimensional appear as three-dimensional as possible and part of that is ‘destroying’ the slickness of the digital image. Cookes are some of my favourites. They look great and are very user friendly.” In other news, DP Joe Anderson used Cooke S7/i Prime Lenses with ARRI Alexa LF, for the Netflix series Top Boy, about two London street gangs, and cinematographer Jean-François Hensgens selected Cooke S7/i glass for Netflix’s French-language Original Series Osmosis, using two Red DSMC2 Brain camera bodies with an 8K Monstro sensor.

PRODUCER ALEX BODEN APPOINTED PRODUCTION GUILD CHAIR Alex Boden

18 | British Cinematographer | November 2019 Guy Barker

Alison Small

he Production Guild Of Great Britain (PGGB) has announced independent film and television producer, Alex Boden, as its newly-appointed chair, as production controller Guy Barker steps down after four years in the role. 007 James Bond co-producer and financial controller Andrew Noakes (Eon Productions) and producer Debbie Vertue (Hartswood Films) are jointly appointed co-vice chairs, following the retirement of Kevin Trehy (SVP of physical production WB/DC) from the executive committee. Newly-appointed to the board is Jo Evans (production executive, Tiger Aspect and Fifty Fathoms). Updates to the board come at a time when membership of the Production Guild has exceeded 1,000 for the first time in the two decades since it was founded in 1999. The leading voice of the UK’s film and television drama production industry, the PGGB represents those working within production office,

production accounts, location management, VFX, post-production or assistant directing roles. These are areas which have seen an increase in demand amid the continued rise in film production spend and explosion in high-end TV drama production. Boden said, “Our skilled crew are in high demand, which is great news, and the UK industry is working together to ensure we maintain our competitive edge in terms of production excellence. More and more crew are seeking the advocacy, training and networking support that the PGGB offers and it’s more important than ever that we enable them to do their best work whilst championing their expertise behind the scenes.” Alison Small, CEO of the PGGB, added: “Alex’s knowledge of the industry spans both European and US studio production, so he’s extremely well-versed in the work our members do at home and abroad and the changing landscape of production in the UK and overseas. I know he’ll be a strong and rational guiding hand for the organisation. On behalf of the whole PGGB team and all our members, I thank Guy wholeheartedly for his unfaltering commitment during his four years as chair.”

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NEWS / PRODUCTION / POST & TECHNOLOGY ROUND-UP Seetha Kumar

NEW ONE-STOP-SHOP WEBSITE HELPS YOUNG PEOPLE DISCOVER CREATIVE INDUSTRY JOBS

one-stop-shop website to help young people discover the range of jobs available across all the creative industries is now live. DiscoverCreative.Careers is designed to help students and their parents, guardians and teachers find out more about the careers in industries including advertising, architecture, fashion, film and television, museums and galleries, performing arts and publishing – and the routes to them. The creative industries are growing three times faster than the UK economy as a whole and, to meet the predicted growth, there is a need for more young people to choose a career in one of the UK’s most dynamic sectors. The new site will signpost users to the full range of jobs available to counter a historic dearth of good careers information for the creative sector. The initiative is part of the Creative Careers Programme being delivered by ScreenSkills, Creative & Cultural Skills and the Creative Industries Federation supported by the Department For Digital, Culture, Media & Sports as part of the Government’s industrial strategy. The lead partners have worked with organisations covering the 12 subsectors of the creative

industries to provide expert information on the range of jobs. Employers are also encouraged to get involved by promoting opportunities for events or work experience and showcase the experiences of young people visiting creative businesses to inspire others. Seetha Kumar, chief executive of ScreenSkills, which has led development of the pan-industry website, said: “The screen industries, like the rest of the creative sector, are keen to find and develop the next generation of talent needed to keep the UK a global leader. Having a single point of entry for young people to explore the jobs available, many of which

ROSCO RELEASES MAXI MIX

fter receiving a positive response to its reveal at NAB 2019, Rosco Laboratories has officially released the Maxi Mix from DMG Lumière by Rosco. Maxi Mix features include: full spectrum white light from 1,700K to 10,000K; a proprietary combination of six LEDs (phosphor-coated red, green, blue, white, phosphor-coated amber and lime) for a wide colour gamut and True Rosco Color gel matches; plus 7550 Lux (at 1m at 5500K). Maxi Mix, which measures 120 x 36 x 8.5cm (47 x 14 x 3.3‘’), and weighs 8kg (17.6lb), is the third fixture to be released with Mix technology, joining the Mini and SL1 models. Several new accessories are available for Maxi Mix, including the Maxi Mix Link rigging solution, which connects to the light with strong, quarter-turn fasteners, enabling filmmakers to connect multiple Maxi Mix fixtures together to create a punchy key light, a large continuous strip light for car commercials, or an entire wall of coloured light. Additional diffusion and mounting accessories are also being introduced for Maxi Mix, including a double yoke that enables users to stack two Maxi Mix fixtures together to create a 720W soft light. A kit option is available too, which includes a power supply, cables, and single yoke in addition to the fixture. New Mix 2.0 firmware includes: 50 new True Rosco Colors in gel mode (for a total of 137); XY mode that includes CIE 1931, REC 709 and REC 2020 colour spaces; brighter colours via doubled output in Color Mode for many of the saturated colours; improved low-level dimming; DMX profiles; and wireless connection via CRMX and Bluetooth.

they may never have heard of, is a crucial first step in securing the skills pipeline. We have revamped all the job profiles on our ScreenSkills website over the last year and partners have done likewise to make sure there is up-to-date information available on all the career options.” The industry-led programme aims to raise awareness of employment opportunities in the sector, reaching more than 160,000 students by 2020, and it is hoped that around two million young people will be able to access better advice about pursuing a creative career.

FUJINON PREMISTA CINE ZOOMS START SHIPPING

he long-awaited Premista zoom lenses from Fujinon have started to arrive in Europe. ARRI Rental, Movietech, Films@59 and Video Europe all have them working on different productions around the UK. Cinematographer Balazs Bolygo HSC BSC recently used Premista lenses on the Netflix show Cursed, alongside a set of Zeiss Supremes. “The Premistas really bedded-in with that sharp, crystal clear, contrasty look of the Supremes, which zoom lenses often don’t have. I was pleasantly surprised how well the Premistas held the contrast over its full range”. The 28-100mm and 80-250mm Premista lenses have matching ring locations and are identical in size and weight. They also offer full coverage for all current large format sensors and are compatible with Cooke /i and Zeiss eXtended Data systems.

LEE FILTERS EXPANDS NORTH AMERICAN TEAM LEE Filters, provider of filters for photography, cinematography and lighting design, has appointed a trio of industry experts to its North American team. Morgan Prygrocki will be charged with leading the company’s US office as general manager, with Patrick Corcoran and Richard Andres serving in business development roles for the west and east coasts respectively. Prygrocki is responsible for all North American business. She comes to LEE with robust industry relationships from her previous senior-level roles at Ncam Technologies and Red Digital Cinema. She is based in California at LEE’s Burbank, California, location. Corcoran brings extensive experience from working with professional filmmakers. He joins LEE from Shotover camera systems and Red Digital Cinema. Andres arrives at the company with more than 20 years of experience in the stills photographic, rental and studio sectors. He previously worked at Foto Care in New York. These appointments follow LEE Filters’ recent addition of Lilian Tran as social media and marketing coordinator in the US.

20 | British Cinematographer | November 2019

MASTERCLASS AND SCREENING

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17:30 FILM SCREENING 19:45 Q&A WITH DP ROBERTO SCHAEFER, ASC, AIC MODERATED BY DEJAN GEORGEVICH, ASC

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NEWS / PRODUCTION / POST & TECHNOLOGY ROUND-UP

ITV STUDIOS SELECTS SONY 4K HDR CAMERAS FOR CORONATION STREET

TV Studios has invested in 21 Sony HDC-3500 system camera chains, supplied by broadcast and film industry equipment provider, Top-Teks. The portable 4K cameras will be used to shoot Coronation Street, ITV’s flagship soap that has graced screens for almost 60 years. The cameras were selected as part of ITV Studios’ latest camera refresh, aimed towards future-proofing production by offering greater flexibility and picture quality. The HDC-3500 system camera was unveiled at IBC 2018, and offers a 2/3-inch 4K CMOS sensor with global shutter technology, and the capacity to shoot in 4K/HD/HDR picture quality. “We wanted to trial the HDC-3500 system cameras and after a number of on-set testing days, all of our expectations were met especially regarding the look and feel of the cameras,” commented Gary

Westmoreland, director of technical operations, ITV Studios North. “We were particularly impressed by the HDC-3500’s Viewfinder Detail function helping our camera operators to quickly and precisely focus in any shooting situation on-set. All 21 HDC-3500 system cameras are enabling us to deliver the narrative of Coronation Street in life-like detail to viewers at home - building on our heritage of almost 60 years of quality programme-making.” The system camera additionally offers wider workflow options by supporting Sony SR Live for HDR workflow, allowing for simultaneous 4K HDR and

CINELAB LONDON HIRES MIKE DAVIS AS SENIOR COLOURIST

inelab London, which offers a wide range of photochemical film processing and digital restoration services, has hired Michael Davis as senior colourist. Davis joins from Pinewood Studios, following its recent closure, where he spent five years grading feature films and episodic TV productions and specialising in archive and restoration. He has graded over 100 restoration titles for clients including the BFI, Studio Canal and Arrow Films on projects such as A Fish Called Wanda, Rita, Sue & Bob Too and Waterworld. Davis has worked with the world’s leading DPs, handling dailies and grading major feature films such as Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018, dir. Christopher McQuarrie, DP Rob Hardy BSC), Star Wars: Rogue One (2016, dir. Gareth Edwards, DP Greig Fraser ASC ASC) and Annihilation (dir. Alex Garland, DP Rob Hardy BSC). He also recently worked on Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje’s Farming (2018, DP Kit Fraser) which won Best British Film at the 2019 Edinburgh Film Festival.

22 | British Cinematographer | November 2019

HD SDR production by a single team – helping to reduce hardware and personnel costs for multi-format production down the line. Norbert Paquet, head of product management at Sony Professional Solutions Europe said, “Today’s broadcasters want robust solutions that can both support their current requirements and grow with them as their production needs evolve. Our latest system cameras enable both and are fast proving themselves amongst broadcasters seeking to future-proof and maximise ROI. Investing in the HDC-3500 will not only accelerate ITV Studios’ ability to deliver high-profile productions like Coronation Street in incredible colour, contrast and detail, but also open the opportunity for more 4K, UHD and HDR live productions in the future.”

BEST BOY GRIP MARTIN TORNER JOINS MATTHEWS TO BRING IN NEW SOLUTIONS

atthews Studio Equipment turns 50 this year and, like any spry 50-year-old, the company is thinking about ways to prevent back ache. To help their contemporary and beginner grips, gaffers, Steadicam Ops, DITs, and video village assistants, Matthews created the Rock n’ Roller Wheel Sets, with the aid of Martin Torner, former best boy/grip (Local 80), now turned R&D/service guru. Torner’s credits include Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, Thor, Iron Man 2, The Amazing Spiderman, plus television shows such as Marvels Agents Of Shield, Ballers, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Rock n’ Roller tires are 2” wide with an 8” diameter and made of low maintenance solid foam, making them puncture-free with added stability. With 360-degree rotation, the wheels manoeuvre in any direction whilst also manufactured to maintain a straight line when rolling across set. The brake is a dependable, face-locking pedal brake with an adjustable pad that will ensure locking strength through the life of the wheel. It is a total locking mechanism that locks both the rotation of the wheel as well as the swivel of the caster. The round design of the top plate saves the user’s feet, keeping pointed corners out of the way when engaging and disengaging the brake. Matthews includes its custom Spring Steel Sleeve, which attaches the wheels to the stand without damaging the legs. There are three different sets for every situational need. One set pairs with the Monitor Stand II and Slider Stand set, which are popular with Steadicam operators, DITs, video village assistants and dolly grips, and can roll over any cable nest on-set. Another set pairs with Matthews’ Combo Stands – or any stand with a 1” square tube leg – which means pulling fewer people on-set to move an 18K light, getting the next set-up done faster. The Mombo Combo set (also works with any 1 ½” square tube leg stand), which means no more breaking down huge overheads to move it only a couple feet – just grab two grips and roll that overhead into place.

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NEWS / PRODUCTION / POST & TECHNOLOGY ROUND-UP

CHRISTMAS COMES EARLY FOR ONE STOP FILMS COMPETITION WINNERS T hree years ago One Stop Films invested in film equipment, purchasing a selection of 35mm and 16mm cameras, and created the "One Stop Films Christmas Short Film Competition” with Kodak as a sponsor. Entrants had to submit a one-page synopsis, plus a onepage description, of how they would produce their short film. The prize was a three-day 35mm camera/lens package, plus film and processing from Kodak and a full day's colour grade at post house Cheat. The response proved almost overwhelming, with nearly 400 entries. The winner was director/producer Lee Lennox with My Mother The Monster, shot by Laurie Rose BSC. Things got tougher for the third-year of the competition, when production needed to be completed

within a day and in one take, with no cuts, using a single can of 35mm film. Whilst Steadicam would have been the obvious choice, Chapman joined the action, supplying a 43ft Hydroscope crane which was used for the long and cunning camera moves, designed by DP Kate Reid BSC, in director Beatrix Blaise’s winning, doc-

fiction portrayal of life on a Camden housing estate. With Sam Adewunmi as lead actor, plus producers Joseph Radnoich, Katie Smith and Martha Bailey running the show, the cast and crew amounted to 70 people. Sam Reeves came on board to swing the Hydroscope and assembled a team consisting of Llewellyn Harrison as crane grip, Ben Edwards as head tech, Luke Skerton as crane tech and Johnny Russell as grip trainee. Rigorous rehearsals and precise exercises led to getting the desired result. A 35mm ARRICAM ST was used with a Zeiss 15.5-45mm zoom lens, capturing on Kodak 200T. Only four rolls were available, so the pressure was on to achieve the shot. Dan Lobo-Pires operated the wheels, helping to manoeuvre the 43’ crane on a 70ft stretch of rail without hitting a wall, ceiling or person. One Stop films would like to thank Dennis Fraser MBE and Rebecca from Leonard Chapman, as well as Samuel Clark and Julie TaylorButt from Kodak for their support on the film and the competition at large. The 2019 entries for One Stop Films’ fourth competition will be announced on December 1st.

ASC NAMES FOUR HONOUREE RECIPIENTS FOR 34TH ANNUAL AWARDS Don McCuaig ASC

Bruno Delbonnel AFC ASC Donald A. Morgan ASC

24 | British Cinematographer | November 2019

C Frederick Elmes AS

he American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) will celebrate four trailblazing cinematographers at the 34th ASC Awards for Outstanding Achievement. Frederick Elmes ASC will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award; Donald A. Morgan ASC will be honoured with the Career Achievement In Television Award; Bruno Delbonnel AFC ASC will be bestowed with the International Award; and Don McCuaig ASC is the recipient of the President’s Awards. The accolades will be handed out at the annual ASC awards gala on January 25, 2020, at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland. Elmes is a visionary cinematographer who has made significant contributions to independent cinema. His long career began amid collaborations with such pioneering directors as David Lynch (Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Wild At Heart) and John Cassavetes (The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie, Opening Night). His feature film work includes multiple films for directors Ang Lee (The Ice Storm, Ride With The Devil, Hulk) and Jim Jarmusch (Night On Earth, Coffee And Cigarettes, Broken Flowers, Paterson). Other collaborations include Bill Condon (Kinsey),

Charlie Kaufman (Synecdoche, New York), Mira Nair (The Namesake) and Jim Sheridan (Brothers). Morgan is a 10-time Primetime Emmy winner, earning an impressive 17 nominations from his peers at the Television Academy. Morgan’s Emmy wins include seven for the ABC comedy Home Improvement, two for the Netflix series The Ranch, and a statue for his work on Mr. Belvedere, shared with George Spiro Dibie ASC in 1985. Delbonnel is a five-time Oscar nominee for Darkest Hour, Inside Llewyn Davis, Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince, A Very Long Engagement and Amélie. He has received extensive accolades for his work from ASC, BAFTA, Camerimage, European Film Academy, Academy Of Cinema Arts & Techniques in France, and critics associations, among others. He studied philosophy before transitioning to filmmaking and has built an indelible body of work that also includes The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Francofonia, Big Eyes, Dark Shadows, Faust and Across The Universe. His next projects coming to cinemas include The Woman In The Window by Joe Wright, and Joel Coen’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. McCuaig is a veteran cinematographer of both television and motion pictures. He has over 75 narrative TV credits and has shot second unit on countless features.

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NEWS / PRODUCTION / POST & TECHNOLOGY ROUND-UP

GREEN VOLTAGE EXPAND AVAILABILITY IN BELFAST AND DUBLIN

NEW MANAGEMENT TEAM AT ERNST LEITZ WETZLAR

ollowing the UK launch of the company earlier in 2019, the Green Voltage team has established an enhanced presence in Ireland via new distribution outlets in Belfast and Dublin. The company’s Voltstack range of battery powered generator units deliver emission-free, silent power, and are now employed on set around Europe as a viable alternative to traditional remote power sources. The eco-friendly units have attracted attention both from HoDs as well as BAFTA's Albert scheme and The National Trust. The new venture will be operated by Niall Crawford of Skylite Balloons, whose experience includes supporting productions including Game Of Thrones, Penny Dreadful, Outlander and The Night Manager. Having already taken delivery of a new consignment of Voltstack power units, Green Voltage is set to open the doors to its new operations from the beginning of November.

TAKE 2 FILMS PLACES SUBSTANTIAL ORDER FOR TLS VEGA LENSES

26 | British Cinematographer | November 2019

he Ernst Leitz Wetzlar GmbH has announced the appointment of new Raimund management. The future leadership of Bayer the company will be filled internally, and thus taken over, by Raimund Bayer and Rainer Hercher. Bayer will concentrate his management responsibilities on the business units covering purchasing, logistics and the supply chain, whilst Hercher will put his leadership focus on national and international business development, the worldwide distribution of the Leitz premium lenses and the consistent public presentation of the Leitz brand. The Ernst Leitz Wetzlar GmbH is one of the world's leading premium cine lenses manufacturers based in Germany. The company distributes its lenses under the brand name 'Leitz'. With the development and production of these high-end and complex optical elements, the company has become one of the industry leaders in premium cinematographic optics over the last Rainer decade. The lenses have been used in a large number Hercher of award-winning films and blockbusters, TV series and commercials worldwide. This achievement and the Science & Engineering Award from the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences', are both a validation and a challenge to the people at Leitz, to continue the development of high-end film camera lenses, with the same traditional technical precision, quality and passion for moving images, enabling filmmakers them to realise their unique visions.

Take 2 Films, supplier of professional digital and motion picture equipment within the film and television industry, has confirmed a substantial order of 15 sets of TLS’s new full-frame lens series, Vega, which will be delivered over the course of the next 24 months. TLS’s latest development, Vega, is a new series of full-frame cine prime lenses. Vega exists in a set of ten lenses, including 20mm, 24mm, 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 58mm, 85mm, 105mm, 135mm and 200mm focal lengths, ranging from T1.5 to T2. TLS was commissioned by Take 2 Films to design a light and fast, fullframe set of lenses to match the already successful 80-200/ T.2.8 Morpheus lens, allowing cinematographers the option of combining zoom and prime lenses on productions, without concerns of an unmatched look. The Vega lenses were developed with filmmakers in mind and in response to the market’s growing demand for lenses capable of covering the larger full-frame digital camera format, as well as offering-up classic glass, which has thus far not been available, in a professionally-finished set. Over the course of 18 months TLS worked closely with the technical team at Take 2 Films to ensure it was producing a futureproof range of lenses which best met the requirements of modern cinematography. As a result, the Vega lenses are interchangeable between PL mount and LPL mount, ensuring optimised performance with native LPL mount cameras, such as the ARRI LF and ARRI LF Mini without the need for an adaptor. “This lens set brings a new option to cinematographers who wish to make use of full-frame lenses with a classic look that most others don’t provide, alongside professional mechanical and optical performance, expected by both DPs and ACs alike,” said Mike Watson, Take 2 Films’ head of technical operations. “Within weeks of delivery, our first two sets were chosen to support a feature film.” Stephen Lowe, lens servicing manager, said, “This original design concept will add choice for cinematographers wishing to use full-frame lenses on their projects. Currently, there are limited options available that are specifically built to withstand modernday environments. The series has been optimised for close focus use and features a circular, multi-blade iris to add to their usability. Using the knowledge we have gained from rehousing vintage lenses, the cam form system used on this series of lenses will provide precise, repeatable use for focus pullers.” The first Vega sets are available exclusively for hire from Take 2 Films. Beyond the two-year waiting list, the newly formed Creative Network has placed a large number of orders for the Vega lenses, which is the first release in a range of future developments from TLS.

CHROMA-Q SPACE FORCE DELIVERS SOLUTION FOR SUGAR STUDIOS

Chroma-Q’s Space Force LED space/soft light is delivering a sweet solution for new London studio facility, Sugar Studios, whose diverse client base spans the film, TV, game, music and photography industries. Based in Greenwich, Sugar Studios has a range of spaces to house all types of productions for the creative community in the heart of London. Paul Greer, head of Sugar Studios, purchased twelve Chroma-Q Space Force units, eight of which are to provide variable white soft lighting for the company’s drive-in 150sq/m, 9.2m-high coved infinity stage. In addition, four fixtures are being utilised in the company’s dedicated coved greenscreen studio for gaming production and other digital effects-based content creation. The Space Force units were supplied by Chroma-Q UK dealer, A.C. Entertainment.

NEWS / PRODUCTION / POST & TECHNOLOGY ROUND-UP

STUDIO NEWS:

Two new stages to be built at Elstree Studios

Elstree Studios: is to expand with new stages to be

built on the former site used by the Big Brother house. Big Brother finished in early 2019. The site was formerly the old water tank where classic films such as Moby Dick (1956, dir. John Huston, DP Oswald Morris OBE BSC) and The Dam Busters (1956, dir. Michael Anderson, DP Erwin Hillier BSC) were filmed. Elstree Studios is planning to build two new super stages similar to the George Lucas stages, which are popular with film and television clients. The two new stages will be available in 2020. Planning applications have been submitted to Hertsmere Borough Council. Roger Morris, managing director of Elstree Studios, said, “The building of the new stages is to fulfill client demand. We already have a number of clients who have confirmed interest in hiring the stages once they are built. Elstree Studios is currently home to Strictly Come Dancing, The Crown and BBC Studioworks. The studios have enjoyed great success in the last ten years and the freeing-up of the Big Brother space has opened-up great opportunity. The stages will be suitable for both film and high-end television use. We have plans to build more stages at the Elstree Studios site as space becomes available.”

Shepperton & Pinewood Studios: both of the UK’s

oldest and biggest studios have been booked for at least a decade by two US media giants. In June 2019, Netflix took a longterm lease on Shepperton, its plan being to create a dedicated UK production hub, comprising of 14 sound stages, workshops and office space at the site owned by the Pinewood Group, where major films such 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, dir. Stanley Kubrick, DP Geoffrey Unsworth OBE BSC), Gladiator (2000, dir. Sir Ridley Scott, DP John Mathieson BSC) and Mamma Mia!: Here We Go Again (2018, dir. Ol Parker, DP Robert Yeoman ASC) were all filmed. Production on Netflix’s action feature The Old Guard (2020, dir. Gina PrinceBythewood, DP Barry Ackroyd BSC), starring Charlize Theron, is underway there. The deal is believed to be in place for the next ten years, and will see the Netflix production hub take up 435,000sq/ft of the studios. Pinewood group chairman, Paul Golding, has said the deal with Netflix is part of a broader £500m expansion, which will see the Pinewood Group

build an additional 22 sound stages – 16 at Shepperton A major Chelsea apartment set was built at and six at Pinewood. the studios, where a large proportion of filming took In September, The Walt Disney Company signed place, whilst the six-week shoot also used many a long-term lease for the entire Pinewood Studios site, Bristol locations to create a backdrop of 1960s mirroring Netflix’s ten-year lease at Shepperton. Disney London. Frogmore Street and Cave Street double as is taking over all of the stages, backlots and other the East End, Denmark Street stands in for the Soho production accommodation at Pinewood. district, properties overlooking St Nicholas market Disney has shot five Star Wars features in the UK, were brought to life as period police station interiors, along with multiple Marvel movies, including The Eternals Queen’s Square doubles as a Chelsea apartment block (2020, dir. Chloé Zhao, DP Ben Davis BSC) and Black and Clifton Village’s picturesque West Mall doubles as Widow (2020, dir. Cate Shortland, DP Gabriel Beristain the capital’s iconic King’s Road. ASC BSC), plus Cinderella (dir. Kenneth Branagh, DP Further afield, the picturesque Cotswolds Haris Zambarloukos BSC GSC), Beauty And The Beast village of Bisley, near Stroud, was transformed into (2017, dir. Bill Condon, DP Tobias A. Schliessler ASC) the fictional village of Much Deeping where Christie’s and Mary Poppins Returns (2018, dir. Rob Marshall, DP original novel is set. Three days of filming took place Dion Beebe ACS ASC) which all shot at Shepperton. It in the village, with The Bear Inn providing the setting also has Cruella (2021, dir. Craig Gillespie, DP Nicolas for The Pale Horse, the pub where the trio of alleged Karakatsanis), starring Emma Stone, shooting at witches are said to have plotted a number of deaths. Shepperton, one of the final non-Netflix films likely to Starz, a Lionsgate company, recently be filmed there for some considerable time. Disney also announced the start of production on the eightnow owns 20th Century Fox and will launch its Disney+ episode conclusion of The Spanish Princess (DPs Maja streaming service later in 2019. Zamojda BSC/ Stefan Ciupek), with returning leads Charlotte Hope and Ruairi O’Connor reprising their The Bottle Yard Studios, Bristol: brand new BBC roles as the ruling couple Catherine Of Aragon and One drama The Pale Horse (dir. Leonora Lonsdale) which Henry VIII. Emma Frost and Matthew Graham will features an all-star cast, including Rufus Sewell and continue their roles as showrunners and executive Kaya Scoledario, has wrapped filming at The Bottle producers. Shooting will take place on location around Yard Studios, following a shoot that has used a host of Bristol and at The Bottle Yard Studios. n locations in Bristol and the nearby Cotswolds area. The two-part drama, produced by Mammoth Screen and Agatha Christie Limited for BBC One, is adapted from the 1961 The Pale Horse Agatha Christie novel of the same name by filming in Bristol. Photo: Tony Miles Sarah Phelps. It began filming in the summer of 2019 with production headquarters at The Bottle Yard Studios and location support provided by Bristol Film Office. Beauty And The Be ast (2017) was shot at Shepperto n Studios

British Cinematographer | November 2019 | 27

F-STOP / IBC 2019 / BY KEVIN HILTON ARRI's stand at IBC was the TV Studio Set, which recreated the setting for a cookery show, complete with professional chef

ON THE MENU

Like other technology forums/exhibitions, the International Broadcasting Convention (IBC) always strives to reflect not just what is happening in the moment but also the emerging trends that may end up being the foundation of future ways of working.

Honou Excellence

28 | British Cinematographer | November 2019

director Andy Serkis, who was presented with the IBC’s highest award, the International Honour For Excellence, recognising his pioneering work in performance capture with roles such as Gollum in The Lord Of The Rings trilogy and Caesar in the most recent Planet Of The Apes films. Serkis also participated in a keynote session, talking about how he sees performance capture technology developing in the future, with ML enabling actors to portray CGI’d quadruped characters as well as more obviously humanoid figures such as Caesar and Gollum. I interviewed Serkis during the show and he said he was developing a series for Netflix based on George Orwell’s Animal Farm that would exploit such techniques. He also mentioned the importance of collaborating “hand-in-glove” with cinematographers: “You have to have the cinematographer understand what is going to be seen… because one of the big disconnects in the world of visual effects before performance capture was having to imagine what’s there rather than seeing a performance. It always pays-off to frame-up on something and see the actor who is portraying that move, which then generates the camera movement in a more realistic way.” ML and AR are also playing a major part in the evolution of compositing technology, which may see the eventual replacement of traditional blue and greenscreen systems. White Light returned to IBC with its SmartStage offering, which it camcorder, the FX9 showed in the Future Zone last year. This uses 3D simulation, a video mapping server and Sony demonst realtime graphics for rated the REAEdge Analytic C1000 both a virtual and an s ap uses AI to unde pliance, which AR environment, with a the backgroundrstand and remove perspective preview so of a green or bl being used instead uescreen the camera operator does not have to work ‘blind’. Another take on a chromakey-less chromakey set-up was shown by Sony, which demonstrated the REA-C1000 Edge Analytics appliance. This uses AI to “understand” and remove the background being used instead of a green or bluescreen. The demo at >>

his year’s event in Amsterdam showcased the main technologies that have been discussed in recent years as the road ahead for acquisition, production, post-production and distribution – 4K, 8K, the cloud, HDR – all of which had been officially endorsed by the Hollywood studio establishment the month before the show. The Evolution Of Media Creation, a 10-year vision for production, post-production and creative technologies, was published in August by Motion Picture Laboratories Inc (MovieLabs). Jointly run by Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Studios, Walt Disney Pictures & Television and Warner Bros Entertainment, MovieLabs is looking towards 2030 and how films and TV productions could – or should, or will – be produced by then. It lays out ten principles for media creation to achieve MediaLabs unified goal, the primary ambition being that “all assets are created or ingested straight into the cloud and do not need to be moved”. Initials abounded at this year’s IBC; alongside the older favourites VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality) were newcomers AI (artificial intelligence) and ML (machine learning). AI and ML are regarded as vital technologies to run not only processes in broadcast distribution but also to provide the basis Andy Serkis for new visual effects. receives the Sony launched a This last application was International new full-frame 6K highlighted by actor/ r For

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Sony Venic e

30 | British Cinematographer | November 2019

IBC involved a BRC X400 pan/tilt/ cine cameras, fitted zoom camera and a computer with Canon broadcast monitor as reference for lenses, were used in superimposing the desired conjunction with background. standard TV gallery On more familiar equipment (vision ground Sony mixer, camera launched a new controllers) to full-frame 6K present a conventional camcorder, the broadcast set-up but FX9. Claus with filmic image Pfeifer, head quality. of technical “HDR, 4K and 50p sales at Sony is what broadcasters will Professional be using in the next few Europe, described years,” commented Henning it as “the big Radlein, head of digital brother of the FX7”, workflow solutions at ARRI. ARRI Orbiter even though it shares the “What we are demonstrating same body size and usability is standard TV technology but en Aaton Digital wood le with the existing model. “It not a standard way to present control hand has a 6K sensor but can the images.” Other camera and down-sample to 4K, which is image products on display included specified by the likes of Netflix,” Pfeifer the Alexa Mini LF (large format) said. “It can also be used for Super 35 shoots.” model, which is now shipping. Also on the Sony stand was the Rialto extension ARRI also showed a new lens package for the Venice, which enables the front-end mount that it hopes will be the next industry to be used remotely from the camera body. This was standard. This has a wider opening, giving developed in conjunction with James Cameron, who 90-degrees on the sensor and allowing for better will be using it for the new Avatar films. On the lens image performance. Radlein explained that it had front Sony introduced the FE C 16-35mm T3.1 G fullbeen designed as an open system and would frame E-mount optical. work with any camera and any lens. But the Canon’s big showing at IBC was the Cinema obvious and biggest product launch from ARRI at IBC EOS C500 Mark II, which was demonstrated through a 2019 was at first glance a camera while in fact it was Jaguar commercial shot by DP Brett Danton. Recorded a lighting product. The Orbiter camera-shaped body in 5.9K Cinema RAW Light on location in Spain during houses a LED point light source. It’s also intended to be the week leading up to IBC, the BTS footage was several different lights in one. Changeable fittings enable edited and colour graded by Ollie Kenchington Orbiter to provide open face, projection, dome and light on a Blackmagic Design daVinci Resolve banks optics, with the beams generated by the Spectra system in his hotel room. six-colour, wide gamut light engine. Head of product As is the trend today, management Florian Bloch explained that the fixture, the C500 MkII is a full-frame which was launched at ARRI’s cinema in Munich just camera and features a CMOS days before IBC, could be connected to an IP network, sensor with a 15+ stop and a as well as being controlled by DMX or the LiOS (Lighting wide colour space, which the Operating System) software package. manufacturer sees as suited to Production of Orbiter is due to HDR productions. Paul Atkinson, begin in Q1 of 2020. product specialist in professional Another major video cameras at Canon Europe, announcement made in commented that the crossover the run-up to IBC was between broadcast and cinema was Red Digital Cinema getting narrower, with the C500 MkII incorporating the DoPchoice aimed at both markets. “Things are Helium 8K S35 and Snapbag now being shot in a very filmic Gemini 5k S35 sensors way,” he said. The new camera into the Red Ranger is due to be available from camera system. The December onwards. Ranger, introduced earlier Whilst 4K hasn’t been superseded this year, is now available yet, there is certainly the expectation in two variants, the Ranger that 8K will become a reality, with Helium and the Ranger Gemini, the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in addition to its original model. providing a global platform for the The aim is to offer a more integrated format’s first commercial use. With this operation than the modular approach in mind Panasonic demonstrated its latest of the DSMC2 universal body, on which 8K organic sensors at IBC, with plans to implement the Ranger is based. the technology into the company’s motion image Aaton Digital Blackmagic Design (BMD) Melody 2 cameras in the near future. Among the improvements expanded its range of digital cameras, Cantar Preamp offered are a wide dynamic range of between 15 to as well as extending the capabilities of 16 stops and the Electronic its DaVinci Resolve colour management Neutral Density Filter system. New on the acquisition front were the Pocket (ENDF). Cinema Camera 6K, featuring an EF lens mount, and Panasonic, Sony the UltraStudio 4K Mini, which comes with a compact and Canon are still Thunderbolt 3 capture and playback unit. The Ursa well known for their Broadcast camera has been upgraded with better lowbroadcast cameras and light sensitivity and compatibility with the Blackmagic accessories, but in recent RAW codec, which is now available on other BMD years have developed products, including the SDK record and playback device, products for the cinema together with Adobe Premier and Avid Media Composer and cinematography capability. The public beta version of DaVinci Resolve market. Conversely, ARRI, 16.1 was also introduced, featuring new tools on the best known for its film recently added cut page, plus the ability to isolate clips cameras, has turned its and send media to different folders. attention to broadcasting in Perhaps the most unexpected camera-related addition to its core market. introduction came from Aaton Digital. Since being The centrepiece of ARRI’s bought by Transvideo, the company has concentrated stand at IBC was the TV on its location sound recorders. While it seems Studio Set, which recreated unlikely Aaton will produce a new camera again, it the setting for a cookery show, has developed an intelligent wooden control handle, complete with professional which recreates the one developed for its original chef. ARRI Super 35mm sensor range of cameras. It features modern electronics for

connectivity to ARRI, Red and Sony cameras and will eventually be available in a variety of different woods. On Aaton’s sound side there was the launch of the Melody2 double-input analogue pre-amplifier, plus new firmware for CantarX3 and CantarMini. Transvideo introduced the StarliteUltra monitor, featuring metadata collation and recording, and showed the StarliteHDm with integration for new Fujinon zooms and Zeiss Supreme lenses, plus firmware for the CineMonitorHD. Fujinon itself moved into the large format lens market. It introduced the 80-250 T2.93.5, getting its international debut at IBC, alongside the 28-100 T2.9, which was seen at NAB. These two join the Premista range and have been designed to work with LF cameras. Angénieux made K5600 Joker 300 LED a big statement with its return to producing Prime lenses, which were developed in reaction to the growth in LF activity. The new Optimo Primes received their first European showing and have been designed to work in conjunction with Optimo zooms. The lenses are due to be available from the middle of 2020. “The larger sensor in new cameras has made Super 35 shooting popular,” as Eric J Johnson, head of sales for the Americas at Cooke Optics, observed. This, he continued, is driving lens development, with manufacturers, including Cooke, introducing opticals with a larger image circle. In response to this the company has launched two lens sets; the S7/i Full Frame range, made up of regular spherical models, and the Anamorphic/i Full Frame Plus series, which was introduced through the 135mm version. Leitz launched its first premium zoom lenses, featuring PL and LPL mounting options and metadata interfaces for Cooke /i and ARRI LDS-2, together with the Prime range. Both feature the new MacroLux 114 achromatic diopters to offer improved close focus. P+S Technik had its full frame offerings as well, including the Technovision Classic 1.5X Anamorphic lens ranges, including 40, 50, 75, 100 and 135mm models plus the 40-70mm zoom. It also showed its Prime ranges, the Evolution 2X lenses and the LensChecker for evaluate optics by projection. New filters continue to appear from the leading producers. Schneider-Kreuznach was exhibiting in its own right and highlighted the gradient ND. This is a grey-edged filter with a full spectrum gradient that is due to be available from January next year. Tiffen added to its NATural ND range with two sets of graduated filters that have been designed to match the existing solid models in the series. Also on the Tiffen stand was the Steadicam Steadimate-S, which employs the Volt horizon assist system, and the Lowell Blender XL bi-colour surfacemount LEDs and Ego soft light LEDs. The big LED launch at IBC 2019 was from K5600 Lighting. The French company had held off its move into the new lighting format for several years but showed at the Amsterdam show that it felt ready to move into the market. K5600 has produced LED versions of its Joker and Alpha ranges, plus a panel series, Slice. Describing the Chroma-Q Brute Force

Alpha 300 Fresnel, K5600 president Marc Galerne said it had more output and was not RGB but bicolour. “It has a really small light source chip, otherwise the Fresnel would become like a magnifier,” he explained. Rotolight has been at the forefront of LED for film in recent years and used IBC to launch what it claims is a redefined standard for cinema lighting. The Titan X2 is a LED soft light and uses RGBWW technology to enhance performance, particularly with skin tones. Known as SmartSoft, which is patent pending, this allows operators to do away with gels and control diffusion, spread and focus electronically. London-based lighting and accessories specialist Lights Camera Action (LCA) offered a wide range of products and technologies from its LiteGear LiteMat distributed brands. The big news from Spectrum LiteGear was the LiteMat Spectrum, which was scheduled to start shipping nine days after the show. The Spectrum has an extended Kelvin range as well as plus-minus green control, full spectrum desaturation and large format pixel control. DoPchoice unveiled the Universal Snapbag snap-up soft box, which was designed for the next generation of LED Fresnels, spots and other hard lights. One of these is able to fit the majority of fixtures that have 5 and 7-inch barn doors, including the ARRI L5 and L7. Also on display were Snapgrid for Astera Hyperion and new Rabbitears aimed at the Lupo Superpanel Full Colour 60 and Cosmolight Infinity, Chroma-Q showcased the Brute Force range (as featured in this edition’s Innovators feature), while Creamsource gave a first European show outing to the SpaceX top light. This incorporates six LED engines, giving 1200W or Cooke S7/i 50mm lens the equivalent of the output of a 5k tungsten spacelight. The SpaceX features six individual lamps and produces RGB, amber and white, with removable optics and a Lumen Radio receiver as standard. The company additionally demoed its Miccro Colour units, which now feature effects such as emergency and party lights. Elsewhere in Hall 12 Zylight was focusing on its LED Go Panel, which has the ability to tighten its beam down to 26-degrees. All of which can overshadow the post-production and colour grading displays in Hall 7 and elsewhere. SGO upgraded the colour workflows of Mistika Boutique, which is now able to accommodate Dolby Vision, while FilmLight introduced a scripting interface for its Baselight system. Colorfront, which is well known for its on-set dailies systems and, more lately for its transcoding and HDR colour management kit ANDY SERKIS – did not exhibit in the RAI centre, but instead took over several rooms at the nearby Okura Hotel to demonstrate the growth of its 8K workflows, which now support ARRI MXF-wrapped ProRes, Sony Venice 4.0, Blackmagic RAW 1.4 SDK and Dolby Vision HDR. Colorfront actively welcomed the release of MovieLabs’ plan for the future, saying that it had already been working in the cloud for the past five years. With the big Hollywood studios in favour of it, we’ll all be in the cloud perhaps much sooner than 2030. n

“YOU HAVE TO HAVE THE CINEMATOGRAPHER UNDERSTAND WHAT IS GOING TO BE SEEN… BECAUSE ONE OF THE BIG DISCONNECTS IN THE WORLD OF VISUAL EFFECTS BEFORE PERFORMANCE CAPTURE WAS HAVING TO IMAGINE WHAT'S THERE RATHER THAN SEEING A PERFORMANCE.”

British Cinematographer | November 2019 | 31

WHO’S SHOOTING WHO? / CINEMATOGRAPHERS ROUND-UP

SIGHT SEEING

P Andrew Boulter wrote in to say he’s just finished working on a Netflix feature in India shooting with Alexa LF and Signature Primes, and lit a promo with Kevin Godley using 12 Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Cameras. James Oldham is currently shooting TV commercials, shorts and pop promos and is penned to shoot second unit on Steven Hall’s directorial debut A Pair Of Silver Wings, starring William Hurt and written by James Holland in March 2020. Screen Talent: Adam Sliwinski is shooting Aliens Stole My Body for Universal 1440. Independent Talent: Balazs Bolygo BSC HSC is shooting new TV series, Cursed, directed by Sarah O’Gorman. Caroline Bridges is lighting BBC’s Shakespeare & Hathaway. Simon Dennis is in the US on the pilot of Hollywood, directed by Ryan Murphy for Netflix. Adam Etherington is lighting the second series of A Discovery Of Witches, directed by Farren Blackburn. David Luther is prepping new TV series, Wheel Of Time, directed by Wayne Yip. Mark Waters is lensing the fifth series of ITV’s Grantchester. Maja Zamojda BSC is shooting new TV series, The Great. Chas Bain is in Kenya with Adrian Moat on a documentary project with RSA. Ole Birkeland BSC spent the last quarter of the year shooting Clio Barnard’s Ali & Ava in Bradford. Darran Bragg shot a short for Missing Link Films called Fjällnäs, for the Alpine Fellowship, with director Megan Maczko. Bjorn Bratberg FNF is shooting his latest TV drama Bang 2 in Wales. Along with commercials Jordan Buck has been shooting with Crowns & Owls at Object

In waders… Darran Bragg at the camera

& Animal for Beats x Anthony Joshua, a Lewis Capaldi promo with director Libby Burke Wild, a Department Of Health spot with Phoebe Arnstein, Lego with Henri & Sebastian at 1stAveMachine, plus Samsung with Duncan Loudon at Radical Media. Ben Davis BSC is mid-way through lensing Marvel’s The Eternals, directed by Chloé Zhao. Benoît Delhomme AFC recently finished on Beauty for Netflix, a feature fictionalising the story of Whitney Houston. Anthony Dod Mantle DFF BSC ASC is on the move in Australia and India shooting Justin Kurzel’s Shantaram until mid-2020. Kit Fraser shot with ITN Production’s Jo Johns for Matalan and Hungryman’s Conor Byrne for Cravendale. Sam Goldie’s recent spots include Pure Line in Istanbul with Ayse Altinok, Edinburgh Gin with Glassworks director Duncan Malcolm, and Sloggi with C-Space director Emma D’Hoeraene. Stuart Howell shot alongside Oscar-winning actress, Olivia Colman in series 4 of The Crown. John Mathieson BSC’s recent commercials include Sainsbury’s with Ninian Doff, Tiffany with Craig McDean and ITV with Daniel Kleinman. Seamus McGarvey ASC BSC is shooting The Nevers for HBO, featuring an epic cast. Andreas Neo is looking forward to the forthcoming premiere of his recent feature The Red Devil, from director Savvas D. Michael. Aadel Nodeh Farahani has completed a year-long project in Jordan, the US and UK, shooting a documentary with regular director Tom Barbor Might. Dick Pope BSC has wrapped on Harry Macqueen’s Supernova in The Lake District, featuring Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci. Tat Radcliffe BSC shot a huge Gatorade TVC with Traktor in Barcelona

and Slovenia, and is now lighting Twisting My Melon with director Matt Greenhalgh. Christopher Ross BSC is grading the hotly-anticipated musical Cats, directed by Tom Hooper, starring Jennifer Hudson, Taylor Swift, Ian McKellen and James Corden. Ashley Rowe BSC is prepping to shoot on a new project for ITV, Finding Alice. Martin Ruhe ASC is lensing Good Morning, Midnight, another project where he is working alongside George Clooney. Ben Smithard BSC’s recent ad work encompass commercials for Jake Mavity at Friend, Joanna Bailey at Snapper Films, Tim Godsall at Anonymous, David Kerr at Hungryman, Matt Rhodes at BBC Creative and Siri Bunford at Knucklehead. Chris Soos shot an IKEA spot in London with MJZ director Tom Kintz. Alan Stewart is fully-immersed in Guy Ritchie’s next project, Cash Truck. Carl Sundberg is shooting on block 3 of Brave New World, a nine-part TV series based on Aldous Huxley’s novel, with director Aoife McArdle. Ed Wild BSC is in New Zealand shooting a new TV drama for Amazon Studios called The Wilds. Casarotto Ramsay & Associates: James Aspinall BSC has wrapped in Oxfordshire series 7 of Endeavour with director Zam Salim for Mammoth Screen/ITV. Julian Court BSC continues to shoot the third series of Killing Eve. Greg Duffield is in London for the second series of Flack for Hat Trick Productions. Pau Esteve Birba is filming with director Mateo Gil on a Spanish series for Netflix. Matt Gray BSC has wrapped on The Nest, directed by Andy de Emmony and written by Nicola Taylor, which explores the consequences of a surrogacy pact between a wealthy couple and a teenage girl.

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Simon Rowling on the set of Legacy Of Lies

Focussed… Árni Filippusson at work

Woofers ane tweeters…. Jake Gabbay on a shoot for Marshall speakers. Photo: Amber Thompson

At the wheels… DP Kit Fraser shooting a Matalan advert

Shabier Kirchner has concluded on Steve McQueen’s anthology drama, Small Axe, set in London’s West Indian community from the 1960s to the 1980s for BBC. Frank Lamm has wrapped on Je Suis Karl for Pandora, with frequent collaborator director Christian Schpowhow. Hélène Louvart AFC has wrapped in Croatia on Murina, directed by Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic for RT Features. Tim Palmer BSC is shooting the second half of The Nest with director Simen Alsvik in Scotland for Studio Lambert/BBC, having wrapped on Invisible for Mammoth Screen. David Pimm is filming Save Me Too for World Productions, with directors Jim Loach and Coky Giedroyc. Annika Summerson has wrapped on Censor with director Prano Bailey Bond for Film 4/ BFI. Wojciech Szepel is with director Michael Keillor on Roadkill via The Forge, starring Hugh Laurie. Mark Wolf is prepping for New Pictures’ Des, a thriller based on serial killer Dennis Nilsen, directed by Lewis Arnold. Michael Wood is filming We Hunt Together for BBC Studios with director Jon Jones. Worldwide Production Agency: Jamie D. Ramsay SASC is shooting the supernatural thriller She Will in Scotland for director Charlotte Colbert, starring Isabelle Huppert. Ed Moore BSC is lighting the sci-fi action feature The Fix in Cape Town for Crave Pictures and Gunpowder & Sky, starring Jess Alexander and Dylan Sprouse, with Kelsey Egan making a directorial debut. David Connell ACS is shooting the feature A Gift From Bob in London, directed by Charles Martin Smith for Parkhouse Pictures. Baz Irvine ISC is lighting the final two episodes of the new six-part Netflix series

Fate: The Winx Saga, with director Stephen Woolfenden in Dublin. Catherine Derry lit the third block of the new eight-episode drama series Industry with director Ed Lilly for Bad Wolf/HBO, and shot a Mika promo for My Accomplice and director Wiz. Stephen Murphy has wrapped on the second block of series two of Hanna with director Ugla Hauksdóttir for Amazon/NBC Universal. Chris Clarke also shot second unit on the second series of Hanna. Arthur Mulhern is shooting the new eight-episode Amazon series Truth Seekers, with director Jim Field Smith for Simon Pegg and Nick Frost’s company Stolen Picture. Mattias Nyberg is lensing the new six-episode comedy series Two Weeks To Live with director Al Campbell for Kudos Film & TV/Sky, starring Maisie Williams. Ruairí O’Brien ISC lit the first block of new Netflix series The One with director Catherine Morshead via Urban Myth Films. Anna Patarakina FSF will shoot the second block of The One for director Jeremy Lovering. James Rhodes has wrapped on the second series of Merman’s BAFTA-award winning drama There She Goes for director Simon Hynd. Pau Castejón Úbeda shot a spot with director Michael Gracey through Partizan for The National Lottery. Marcus Domleo framed a Starbucks spot with Blink director Abbi Stevens. Jake Gabbay shot Marshall speakers’ latest international spot with director Kevin Castanheira at Dog Eat Dog, and the short The Train Catching Champions with director Luke Flanagan at Pulse Films. Edward Gibbs shot C&A’s latest campaign campaign with People Grapher and director Barnabas Wilhelm, and a spot for Calvin Klein with director George Harvey and Lock Artists.

Ready to roll… Catherine Derry shooting the drama series Industry

Marc Gómez del Moral was in Sofia on a commercial for Vauxhall, shot via Academy and directed by directing-duo Us. Thomas Hole shot with director Robert Spary-Smith and Adam&EveDDB for a John Lewis ad. Dan Holland was in Omaha with Annex Films and director Oscar Cariss for a Lego ad, and then worked with director Nicholas Reynold and Papaya films for a Dettol spot. Kanamé Onoyama shot a spot for BT with Somesuch and director Daniel Newell Kaufman, plus ads for Victoria’s Secret with Identity Media, directed by Sophie Caretta, and another for Pepsi with director Henry Scholfield and Caviar. Matthew Emvin Taylor shot with director Tamer Ashry and Bee Media for UNICEF’s new campaign. Fabian Wagner BSC ASC shot a spot for Pokémon with LS Productions and director Murray Butler. United Agents: Barry Ackroyd BSC is shooting Sweet Girl, directed by Brian Andrew Mendoza, for Netflix. John de Borman BSC is grading the feature Pixie, directed by Barnaby Thompson. John Lee is >>

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WHO’S SHOOTING WHO? / CINEMATOGRAPHERS ROUND-UP Range-finding… Ashley Barron ACS shooting in Snowdonia

Having a good old squint… DP Luke Bryant on The Reckoning, directed by Neil Marshall. Photo by Kristof Deak.

Camera buggy… Tony Kay at the wheels on Cursed

shooting Barkskins in Montreal with directors Darren Grant and Louise Friedberg for Nat Geographic/Fox 21. Tony Slater Ling BSC is grading Dracula, working with director Paul McGuigan for Hartwood Productions. Gavin Struthers BSC ASC will grade the feature Charming The Hearts Of Men, directed by Susan DeRose. Remi Adefarasin BSC has wrapped on Jingle Jangle, a Netflix film directed by David E Talbert and Smiler… starring Forest Whitaker. Nightingale on Dan Vera Søren Bay DFF is shooting Cold Feet series nine in Manchester, directed by Fiona Walton. Nic Morris BSC is teaching in Singapore. Haris Zambarloukos BSC GSC is shooting Kenneth Branagh’s Death On The Nile. Mark Nutkins is shooting second unit for Bridgerton, directed by Julie Anne Robinson for Shondaland/Netflix. Alan Almond BSC is reading and meeting for a variety of projects. Danny Cohen BSC is shooting Eurovision, directed by David Dobkin for Gary Sanchez Productions/Netflix. Martin Fuhrer BSC recently completed work on White Lines for Left Bank/Netflix. David Higgs BSC is shooting the second series of His Dark Materials. Kieran McGuigan

BSC is filming the third block of White Lines for Left Bank/Netflix, directed by Ashley Way. Laurie Rose BSC is shooting Blumhouse’s Freaky Friday 13th, directed by Christopher Landon. Bet Rourich is shooting additional photography for Warner Brothers’ Dream Horse, directed by Euros Lyn. John Sorapure is shooting Warner Bros./ Apple TV’s Ted Lasso and Simon Tindall is working on The First Team for Fudge Park/BBC2. Ollie Downey is concluding work on blocks one and three of the second series of Hanna, for Amazon Studios/Working Title/ NBC. Laurens De Geyter is shooting Honour for Hera Pictures, directed by Richard Laxton. David Rom is shooting Apple TV/Warner Brothers’ Ted Lasso and Sam Heasman is working on Drama Republic’s Life. Si Bell is in Thailand lighting block two of The Serpent for Netflix and director Hans Herbot. Sam Chiplin has wrapped on Penguin Bloom. Charlotte Bruus Christensen DFF is now in principal photography for Black Narcissus for DNA, which she is both directing and lighting. James Friend BSC ASC is in New Orleans lighting Peter Moffat’s upcoming Your Honor, directed by Ed Berger for Showtime. David Marsh is lighting Cold Feet for directors Chris Foggin and Andy Cumming. Anton Mertens SBC is on the second series of Hotel Beau Séjour in Belgium with regular collaborators Nathalie Basteyns and Kaat Beels. Milos Moore is lighting Industry for Tinge Krishnan and HBO. Neus Olle is grading Deadwater Fell in Scotland for Kudos/C4 and director Lynsey Miller. Her film The Thief’s Daughter won first feature at San Sebastian and has also premiered at the LFF. David Raedeker is available. Niels Reedtz Johansen is busy with commercials. Kate Reid BSC is lighting the opening block of Netflix’s For Life with director Rob Savage in Madrid. Joshua James Richards is camera operator under Ben Davis BSC on Marvel’s The Eternals, for director Chloé Zhao. Miles Ridgway lit a Nestle spot for Ben Fogg at Hunky Dory in London. Ed Rutherford is lighting new series Us for Drama Republic/ BBC. Anna Valdez Hanks is on maternity leave. Ben Wheeler is lighting new drama series Because The Night for director Niall MacCormick.

G. Magni Agústsson ÍKS is shooting US TV show Stumptown for directors including James Griffiths in LA. Alex Barber’s recent work includes Barclaycard for Nick Ball at Blink, and Tesco Christmas for Trakton via Academy. Hatti Beanland has wrapped on the feature Listen for director Ana Rocher in London. Simon Chaudoir’s recent work includes a Hugo Boss TVC for director Romain Chassaing in Madrid for Solab and shooting second unit work on TV show Brave New World for Universal. Brendan Galvin is busy with commercials. Florian Hoffmeister BSC’s latest commercials include BT with Max Malkin for Prettybird in London, and M&S for Finn McGough with Pulse in London. Florian’s feature Official Secrets, directed by Gavin Hood, screened at the London Film Festival. Stephen Keith-Roach’s latest spots include Experian for Dom & Nic at Outsider, and P&O for director Jim Gilchrist in Spain. Tim Maurice-Jones BSC is shooting the feature 355 for director Simon Kinberg in London. Alex Melman shot a McDonald’s ad for James Rouse, and a Euromillions TVC for director Jeroem Mol in Cape Town via Czar. Ben Moulden shot an Axa commercial for Hannah Jacobs at Passion in London. Tristan Oliver BSC is busy with commercials including Reebok for directors Sacred Egg through Riff Raff. Matias Penachino shot a Ferrero spot for Reynald Gersset in Sofia for Movie Magic. Phedon Papamichael ASC’s feature film Le Mans ‘66 directed by James Mangold screened at the London Film Festival. Simon Richards’ latest commercials include Halifax and Santander, both with Declan Lowney at Another Film Company, plus Thinkbox with Benji Weinstein at Smuggler. Glynn Speeckaert ASC AFC SBC has wrapped on the feature True Biker for Lieven Van Baelen. Peter Suschitzky ASC collaborated with Dulwich Picture Gallery for their landmark exhibition, Rembrandt’s Light, celebrating 350 years since Rembrandt’s death. Joost Van Gelder shot a John Lewis commercial for Dougal >>

Out and about.. DP Joel Devlin shooting His Dark Materials 2

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WHO’S SHOOTING WHO? / CINEMATOGRAPHERS ROUND-UP They went that-a-way… Jonathan Tyler with 2nd AC Vasil Paunov and 1st AC Paula Nenova on Jolt in Bulgaria

Wilson at Blink in Hungary, and an Argos spot for Traktor DP Felix Wiedemann BSC. Jonathan Tyler has been Stewart and starring Jason Statham. Simon Baker ACO in Bulgaria, via Stink. Marcel Zyskind lit an Orange working flat out too with DP Jules O’loughlin ACS ASC on is filming on blocks 1 & 3 of The Crown season 4 with commercial for Jeff Low in Lithuania through La Pac. Jolt, starring Stanley Tucci, and also enjoyed a stretch on director Paul Whittington and DP Adriano Goldman BSC Berlin Associates: Sarah Bartles Smith is shooting Criminal with DP Jamie Cairney. Mihalis Margaritis ACO ASC ABC. Sean Savage Associate BSC ACO is shooting Friday Night Dinner for Big Talk Productions. Jamie Cairney GBCT worked on Quiz, did Steadicam dailies on Behind on Fast & Furious 9, UK splinter unit with DP Callen is prepping 90-minute drama Anthony, written by Jimmy Her Eyes with Felix Wiedemann BSC, and was on Infinite Green and second unit director JJ Perry. James Layton McGovern, produced by LA Productions for BBC1. Len second unit with DP Oliver Longcraine. John Piggott ACO ACO is on The Great, a series for Hulu, with director Gowing has completed So Awkward, series 5, for Channel GBCT shot for DP Catherine Matt Shakman and DP X North/CBBC. Alvaro Gutierrez has completed shooting Derry on HBO/Bad Wolf’s Anette Haellmigk, White Lines for Left Bank Pictures/Netflix. Annemarie Industry. Henry Landgrebe was starring Elle Fanning Lean-Vercoe is working with Warner Bros. TV Production on Homeland 8 in Casablanca as the eponymous Services on a ground-breaking documentary series about earlier this summer. Catherine The Great. Birth with series director Tom Barbor. Nick Joe Russell ACO is Martin has wrapped on Bumps for on Killing Eve 3 for Kudos Film & Television, and is now Sid Gentle Films/ Me and my Steadicam… shooting Dead Pixels series 2 for E4 with BBC America, using Emilio Schläppi on director Jay Johnson. Toby Moore has the Alexa LF Mini, the set of Censor completed his stint on Call The Midwife. with ARRI Signature The Irregulars crew… (l-r) Elliot Pate B-cam grip; Al Marshall Ian Moss is shooting episode 5 of Strike Primes and Canon K35 DIT; Danny Young camera trainee; Stuart Gibson A-cam key grip; Jack Drawbridge camera trainee; Chris Hutchinson Back series 8 for Left Bank Pictures, with lenses. He has been A cam operator/Steadicam; DP Tony Miller BSC; director Bill Eagles. Tom Pridham worked working with directors Alex Hollowbread A-cam loader; and on Lake Erie 2 for October Studios, Terry McDonough Ivan Meagher A-cam focus. Locked Up Abroad for Raw TV and did and Miranda Bowen pick-up days for Michael Winterbottom’s and DP Carlos Catalan The Trip 4. Kelvin Richard shot and Julian Court BSC compilation episodes for Hetty Feather, who is the lead DP, followed by a block of Doctors. Pete in Barcelona, London and Rowe is shooting SemiRomania. Peter Wignall ACO Detached for Happy has wrapped his work on the Tramp Productions, with main and second units on director Ben Palmer. the feature 355, a spy thriller Simon Rowling has starring Jessica Chastain, graded the feature Penelope Cruz, Sebastain t cam 1s Legacy Of Lies, directed Stan, Diane Kruger and Lupita my Harrison A- erator, Jim ) (l-r w… Quiz camera cre aritis ACO GBCT A-cam op Pacey. by Adrian Bol. Matt Nyang’o, directed by Simon dd arg AC, Mihalis M y Bell, and B-cam loader To Ro Wicks is shooting Kinberg with DP Tim Morriscam 1st AC. BA-cam loader ey rv Ha n enda the feature People Jones. Rob Hart ACO has Photo by by Br Just Do Nothing The wrapped on Alex Rider, a Movie – Big In Japan TV series for Sony Pictures TV and Eleventh Hour Films, with Roughcut Films PrinceStone: directed by Andreas Prochaska with DP Ben Wheeler. and director Jack of the agency’s DPs… He has been shooting dailies on Enterprise, Killing Eve, Clough. Phil Wood Laura Bellingham has Cold Feet and All Creatures Great And Small. Tony Kay has completed on graded The Power, a ACO GBCT is still shooting on Cursed, a fantasy series for Endeavour series BFI/Creative EnglandNetflix, with DP Balazs Bolygo BSC and director Sarah Here’s the 7 for Mammoth backed supernatural O’Gorman, using Sony Venice camera and Zeiss Supreme Phil Wood (mplan… id dl e) explains his Screen, as starts on thriller for BAFTAlenses. Dan Nightingale ACO has been doing dailies on idea on Endeavour se Zero Chill for Lime nominated director Vera for DP Jamie Hicks and Hanna for DP Ollie Downey, ries 7 Pictures in December. Corinna Faith, about and is now shooting Russell T. Davies’ new show Boys, for Gravy Crew: of the agency’s Steadicam a young nurse forced DP David Katznelson DFF BSC and Director Peter Hoar operators… Emilio Schläppi has been working on Censor, to work the night shift for C4. Cosmo Campbell is on Infinite, a sci-fi feature for a 1980s-set horror feature shot on 35mm by DP Annika during the power cuts of 1973. Diego Rodriguez is Paramount Pictures directed by Antoine Fugua, with DP Summerson. Chris Hutchinson ACO GBCT is A-cam/ filming a documentary about NASA for Fulwell, and shot Mauro Fiore ASC, starring Mark Wahlberg, Rupert Friend Steadicam on The Irregulars for Netflix/Drama Republic with footage for a documentary about the Chelsea Women’s and Wallis Day. Thomas English GBCT has been working DP Tony Miller BSC and director Jonny Kenton. Rupert Football Team. Ian Liggett shot a documentary film for as DP, shooting camera and Steadicam on various Power ACO GBCT had a busy summer working on Last director Beryl Richards, and has been shooting dailies on commercials and music promos including Fender for Kode Night In Soho on the Insert Unit, DP’d by Oliver Curtis BSC, Grantchester. Of the agency’s camera/Steadicam operators Media, Adidas for Park Village, Tove Lo – Really Don’t Like A Discovery Of Witches lit by DP Adam Etherington, White Peter Robertson Associate BSC ACO is on Cash Truck, U – with Kylie Minogue. He lit, shot and co-directed Kylie’s Lines for DP Martin Fuhrer BSC, and Behind Her Eyes with the new action thriller by Guy Ritchie, with DP Alan footage with her, and recently shot dailies on Cruella. >> 36 | British Cinematographer | November 2019

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WHO’S SHOOTING WHO? / CINEMATOGRAPHERS ROUND-UP Mainly 'armless… Steadicam op Henry Landgrebe on Homeland 8 in Casablanca with 1st AC Brendan Harvey, operator John Watters, and Karl the focus puller

Gather round… Lavinia Gavrilovici Varas (grip assistant) on standby as DP James Oldham lines up the shot on a horror short in Bristol, produced by Shunk Films. Photograph by Lloyd Sandall

for his work on the Dermot Kennedy promo ‘Power Over Me’, directed by Courtney Phillips. David is in South Africa with director Ashley Avis shooting the feature Black Beauty starring Kate Winslet and Mackenzie Foy. Also congratulations to Susanne Salavati who shot the feature documentary White Riots, directed by Rubika Shah, that won the Grierson Award at O AC tt John Piggo Steadicam op Catherine Derry the BFI London Film Festival. DP th wi CT GB O’s Industry She has also recently wrapped on the set of HB Enterprice series 2 with director Ella Jones. Tim Sidell is working with director Georgi Banks-Davis as lead DP on Sky drama I Hate Suzie starring Billie Piper, and Tony Jackson Antonio Paladino’s short with artist Alexandre Singh, The Associate BSC GBCT Ocular trauma… Appointment, is playing at Metro Pictures in New York. ACO is on A Discovery Adam Sliwinski on-set of Alien Dale McCready NZCS is grading Belgravia alongside of Witches series 2, s Stole My Body shooting Tin Star 3. Christophe Nuyens SBC is on an with director Phillippa embargoed drama for Netflix. Jan Richter-Friis DFF is Langdale and DP shooting Riviera series 3 in St Tropez and then Argentina Rasmus Arrildt, shooting with director Sarah Harding. Nick Dance BSC is working in South Wales. Camera operator Nic Milner Associate with Joss Agnew on Netflix Original The Irregulars. Ruben BSC GBCT ACO did camera dailies and pick-ups on Woodin-Dechamps is grading the feature documentary Dream Horse, Cursed, Hanna, The Love Birds, filmed Pidgeon The Reason I Jump with director Jerry Rothwell. Luke Tunnel, a development shoot for Apple, directed by Errol Bryant, after shooting Dr Who with director Lee Haven Harris, and shot with the second unit on Eurovision. Gary Jones, has graded Neil Marshall’s feature The Reckoning. Clarke is shooting Last Letter From Your Lover, a feature for Adam Gillham continues to shoot Michaela Coel’s drama Blueprint Pictures directed by Augustine Frizzell with DP January 22nd, and Gary Shaw continues on Sky drama George Steel, using Red Monstro 8K. Intergalactic with Kieron Hawkes, and recently shot a Kia McKinney Macartney Management: Stuart ad for Bryan Buckley. Nicola Daley ACS has wrapped Biddlecombe has finished shooting Pale Horse in Wales and will shortly grade drama Paradise Lost starring Nick with Leonora Lonsdale directing. Ben Butler, Denis Nolte. Damian Bromley is shooting US drama Cursed. Crossan BSC, Alessandra Scherillo and Clive Tickner Karl Oskarsson IKS is shooting Netflix Original The BSC have been lighting commercials. Mike Filocamo has Duchess, scripted by and starring Katherine Parkinson, been shooting spots too, plus artist interviews for Tate directed by Toby Macdonald. Franklin Dow is prepping Britain. Seamus Deasy lit Darklands with director Mark a feature with longtime collaborator and Oscar-winning O’Connor in Dublin. Sergio Delgado is prepping on The Orlando von Einsiedel. Oli Russell has graded the thriller Bay with director Rob Quinn in Manchester. Gavin We Hunt Together that he shot as lead DP with director Finney BSC is lighting Barksins in Texas with director Carl Tibbetts. Charlie Goodger shot Witchfinder with Rob David Slade. Jean Philippe Gossart is on the Netflix and Neil Gibbons. Ryan Kernaghan is shooting The Bay Original series, Cowboy Bebop, in New Zealand, with series 2 and will shortly grade feature Boys From County Alex Garcia Lopez directing. Steve Lawes is prepping Hell, directed by Chris Baugh. Ben Magahy has graded for Leonardo in Tuscany, with director Dan Percival. Sam Mike Barlett’s Life for BBC, with directors Iain Forsyth and McCurdy BSC is readying for Carnival Row 2 in Prague. Jane Pollard. Patrick Meller shot with Cloe Bailly and Andy McDonnell has finished on Bulletproof 3 with Ninian Doff. Sverre Sørdal FNF shot a pilot with director director Sarmad Masud, and begun prep on Silent Truls Krane Meby. Mott Hupfel is shooting feature Emma Witness. John Pardue BSC is shooting The Watch with with director Mary Harron. Molly Manning Walker director Craig Viveiros for BBC America in South Africa. shot the short Deep Clean with David Wilson, and also Chris Seager BSC is prepping for series two of Carnival worked with Tom Noakes. Matthias Pilz continues to Row with director Andy Goddard in Prague. Mike shoot an embargoed Netflix documentary with directors Spragg BSC is lensing Bluff City Law in America. Richard Ellena Wood and Jesse Vile. Diana Olifirova shot Film4Stoddard shot Brassic series 2 with Saul Dibb directing. funded short Two Single Beds, scripted by and starring Congratulations to Simona Susnea who is nominated Daniel Kaluuya, directed by William Stefan Smith. Aaron for the 2019 BSC Emerging Cinematographer Award for Reid has graded the feature Love Sarah. Steven Ferguson her work on the feature Isha. Darran Tiernan ISC has shot with director Tom Gentle, and Dan Bronks with completed principal photography on Star Trek: Picard in LA. Bob Partington and Charlotte Rutherford. Fede Alfonzo Wizzo & Co: congratulates David Procter, lit for Vaughan Arnell and Theo Garland worked with nominated for Best Cinematography at Camerimage 38 | British Cinematographer | November 2019

director Noah Harris and also Joe Mann. Will Bex lensed for Ben Whitehouse, Hamish Anderson for Jay Marlowe and Adam Barnett for Tom Rainsford and Angelo Cerisara. Peter James shot with Jonus Odell. The agency welcomes Joe Douglas to its roster. Joe has worked with directors including Sophia Ray and Joshua Stocker, and for his work on the short Cello, directed by Dora Somrani, he won Best Cinematography at the International Music Video Underground Awards 2018. My Management: welcomes Filip Marek to its roster. After graduating from the cinematography department at Prague’s FAMU (Film & TV School Of The Academy Of Performing Arts), Filip started to work on commercials and music videos around Europe. He was awarded Panavision’s Young Award. In 2019 he shot his first TV series, Professor T, which brought him a nod for best cinematography. Craig Devine has wrapped on Ladhood with director John Schey, which is set across two timelines – present day London and mid-2000s Leeds – and reflects on lad culture and the formative experiences of youth. Oliver Cariou shot in Manchester and Bulgaria for the long-running Compare The Meerkat campaign with director Dave Scanlon, and an Asda commercial with Neil Harris through Smuggler. Sam Meyer shot with Smuggler, Odelay Films, ITN, Social Chain, Creativs and London Alley for various projects, and teamed up with directors, Silent Tapes, Peter Lee Scott, KC Locke, Nathan Miller, Chris Chuky and Shaun Paul Piccinino. Sy Turnbull shot for Walmart in Toronto with Toby Dye through Asymmetric, Linkedin in Miami with Cap Gun Collective’s Jake Kovnat, and then Brew City in London with Bold’s Zach Math, before heading to LA and starting prep on the feature Continue with director Nadine Crocker. Dominic Bartels teamed up with director Marcus Thomas at Black Lab Films for the latest Furniture Village Campaign. He also shot Argos with Mike Harris and lensed in Kiev with Jamie MauleFfinch for Kredo Bank. Nicolaj Bruel DFF filmed Renault in Milan with Mercurio director Augusto Zappiola, before heading off to lens with Martin Werner in Istanbul through Depo Films and Lithuania on Bourygues through Henry. He then went to Rome to shoot a pick up for Pinocchio. Adric Watson’s Tubourg adventures have come to an end, after filming in Vietnam with director Will Williamson at Archers Mark. He then went to Istanbul to shoot Nivea with Autonomy Films, and has just wrapped on two music videos for Kara Marni with director Chris Day and Sigma with Aella JordanEdge. Ahmet Husseyin shot with director Luis Cross in Manchester, London and Glasgow for Nike, with Lyle Lindgren for Action Aid and with Matt Hoult for Natwest. Pete Konczal worked with Park Pictures’ director Christian Weber, lensed with Barnaby Roper at Cadence and with Steve Fuller at Cornerstone Films. Allison Anderson teamed up with Sibling Rivalry for a Facebook spot in LA and Chicago with director Elena Parasco, and an HCA Hospital piece with Greenpoint Picture’s Renee Mao in Houston. Todd Martin wrapped on Facebook in LA with Iconoclast directors Alaska, shot an Eon ad in Europe with director James Lees at Outsider, and then headed to Canada to start principal photography >>

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WHO’S SHOOTING WHO? / CINEMATOGRAPHERS ROUND-UP Book club… DP Ahmet Husseyin gets close-up on the action

Eurovision crew… Rachel Clark, Zac Nicholson BSC and Vince McGahon all operating for Danny Cohen BSC on Eurovision on a fishing boat in Northern Iceland

Rub-a-dub-dub Dean Devine (rig… DP Craig Steele (left) on ht) and Tilly -set of new BBC Comedy Drama Ladhoo d

Everything stops for tea… DP Hakon Palsson enjo ying a break

on feature The Novice directed by Lauren Hadaway, about an obsessive rower who climbs the ranks of her cutthroat team. Oscar-winning director Adam McKay has been filming with Todd Banhazl on drama series pilot Showtime for HBO about the professional and personal lives of the 1980s’ LA Lakers. Italian DP Marcello Dapporto has shot with Edo Lugari, Matteo Bonifacio, Mario Piredda, Federico Brugia and Carlani and Dogana on Italian commercials. Ben Coughlan was at Cambridge University shooting with Rollo Hollins, participated on a Taylor Swift shoot in Paris with Electric Light Studios, and shot Samsung with El Carousel. Steve Chivers has teamed-up with director Sophie Muller on several US projects including a Shakespeare’s Sister shoot through Prettybird and a doco in NYC. Robbie Ryan BSC ISC lit a short with Jack O’Brien in Wales, a Stella Artois ad through Object & Animal with director Diana Kuntz in Slovenia, and a spot for SNCF in Paris with Phantasm’s Jessy Moussalem. He is now stateside prep on the Ready… steady… Tom Walden on untitled feature with A Suitable Boy Joaquin Phoenix and director Mike Mills.

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David Wright shot for McDonald’s with director Jack Lightfoot, Chivas with Chris Ranson and Staropramen with Thor Saeverson, plus music videos for Skegs and Riley Blakeway, Ray BLK with Kode’s Matt Walker, Celeste with Black Dog’s Tom Dream, Denai Moore with Nadir Amrani, Muse with US director Lance Drake, Lola Young with Partizan’s Rianne White and Nicholas Godin with director Greg Barnes. Jo Willems SBC ASC did pick-ups for the feature His House through New Regency Films, directed by Remi Weekes, before a shoot in Vancouver with Speck Gordon and Erin Heidenreich. Jallo Faber FSF has wrapped on two Mercedes shoots, one in Budapest with Tobias Granstrom at Staud Studios, and other in Shanghai with Mickey Suezler. Arnaud Carney has done lots of beauty work, including Valentino in Paris and Armani in Berlin with Storner director Fabien Constant. Isaac Bauman’s horror Bloodline, from debut director Henry Jacobson, hit the cinemas in September. John Perez was in Dublin shooting Westlife with Familia director Rob Hales, then New York shooting Carrie Underwood with Randee St Nicholas, and also worked with director Robert Jitzmark on a Fashion Fix shoot for the BBC. Stuart Dryburgh ASC NZCS shot with O-Positive directors David Shane, Jim Jenkins and Brian Billow in New York. Ashley Barron has wrapped on a period Celtic short in Snowdonia, with director Andrew Richardson, and was also in Lisbon with Iggy LND on a music video for Benji Flow. Shoots for Puma, Mercedes and VW had Ekkehart Pollack travelling all over the USA, Estonia, China, South Africa and Poland teaming up with directors Brett Foraker, Niklas Weise, Tibor Glage, Joschka Laukeninks, Wang Limin and Augusto Frage. Catherine Goldschmidt joined forces with Highly Unlikely’s director Ben Fogg for a Lego spot before heading to LA for Dummy reshoots, and then to the

Shakespeare & Hathaway Block 2 Camera Team, with the cast… (l-r) Tom Dennis, B-camera operator; Rebecca Litchfield, camera trainee; Martin Warrilow GBCT, 1st AC; Patrick Walshe McBride (plays Sebastian Brudenell); Zoe Goodwin-Stuart, A-camera operator; Jo Joyner (plays Luella Shakespeare); Mark Benton (plays Frank Hathaway); Alex Lines, 2nd AC; and DP Chris Preston GBCT. Photo: Gary Moyes

Fighting the good fight… Edgar Dubrovskiy on-set of a Stand Up To Cancer spot

UK to grade Doctor Who. She is now in Malta prepping Agatha Christie’s The Curse Of Ishtar with director Sam Yates through Darlow Smithson. Paul O’Callaghan went to Kazakhstan with 76Ltd and Nigel Simpkiss to lens a spot for Toyota, back to the UK for a Checkers shoot with Dirty Films’ Riordan Allen, followed by an Amazon Christmas TVC in London with Lucky General’s Kelvin Hutchins, and a trip to shoot magnificent scenery of the Faroe Islands for His Dark Materials with Bad Wolf. David Lanzenberg has spent the last few months filming the Netflix series Shadow And Bone which follows the story of Alina Starkov who discovers she has magical powers that can bring peace to her war-torn home of Ravka, written and directed by Eric Heisserer. Crazy Few Films enlisted Tuomo Virtanen FSC for a Vivo Mobiles shoot in Turkey with Anupam Mishra, as did Vesa Manninen for a Tic Tac Ferrero spot in Bucharest. It’s been all bank commercials for Hakon Palsson including one with Eduardo Vivitez for Starling Bank in the UK. Echo Artists: Joe Anderson is shooting Gavin O’Connor’s Mare Of Easttow. Stuart Bentley BSC is grading Aneil Karia’s Surge for BBC Films. Nadim Carlsen has wrapped on Do Not Hesitate, directed by Shariff Korver. David Chizallet AFC has wrapped on HBO’s The Third Day with director Phillipa Lowthorpe. Rachel Clark has just graded the feature Concrete Plans with Jack McGinty and operated for DP Danny Cohen BSC on Eurovision for Netflix. Andy Commis ACS shot with directors Craig Zisk and Andy Parekh on the series Brave New World. Nick Cooke is prepping on Anatolian Leopard for director Emre Kayis. Bonnie Elliott ACS is grading Stateless, directed by Emma Freeman and Joceyln Moorhouse, starring Liam Hemsworth, Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett. David Gallego ADFC is in prep on Riley Keough’s Beast. Lachlan Milne ACS is in

1911_BC_TV-220x70-01.indd 1

Now see this…. (l-r) writer/director Loris Arduino and DP Franz Pagot watching video playback during production on the international co-production about composer Cimarosa, “The Italian Mozart”

Hawaii shooting Taika Waititi’s new feature Next Goal Wins. A White White Day shot by Maria von Hausswolff has been shortlisted for Best International Feature Film at the 2020 Oscars. Felix Wiedemann BSC has wrapped on Richter Strand’s Behind Her Eyes for Left Bank Pictures/Netflix and Sean Price Williams has finished grading BBC Two’s new series Trigonometry. Sara Putt Associates: Giulio Biccari is in South Africa on The Watch for BBC Studios. Mike Brewster is in Georgia shooting The Lady Of Heaven. Sashi Kissoon did dailies on Industry. Jan Jonaeus is in Mallorca prepping for the new series of The Mallorca Files for Clerkenwell Films. David Mackie is in Budapest working as second unit director on Outside The Wire for 42MP. Andrei Austin ACO Associate BSC SOC is operating on Death On The Nile for Harris Zambarloukos BSC GSC. Jon Beacham ACO has started on the second series of Carnival Row. Danny Bishop ACO Associate BSC SOC is in the USA on a project with DP James Friend BSC ASC called Your Honour. Ed Clark ACO continues on Intergalactic. Ilana Garrard ACO wrapped on Everybody Is Talking About Jamie and worked with director Errol Morris on The Pigeon Tunnel. James Leigh ACO worked on Invisible and has started Road Kill for The Forge. Will Lyte did dailies on Cruella as well as A Discovery Of Witches. Vince McGahon ACO Associate BSC is in Iceland on Eurovision. Julian Morson ACO Associate BSC continues on The Eternals. Al Rae ACO Associate BSC is prepping on Shantaram which will shoot in India and Australia. Tom Walden is working for Lookout Point in India on A Suitable Boy. Rick Woollard has been working on commercials for Academy and Partizan. ARRI Crew: having recently finished filming on Enola Holmes with DP Giles Nuttgens BSC, Steadicam/ B-camera operator Paul Edwards ACO has kept busy doing Steadicam dailies. Barney Piercy travelled to

Transient - Lust episode crew… starring Tom Wisdom, Mhairi Calvey and Mikaela Berkeley; director, Paul Dudbridge; producer, Tom George; DP/Op Stephen J Brand GBCT, 1st AC, James ‘Jibbs’ Melsome; 2nd AC & Data Wrangler, Dominika Zieba; and gaffer Pat Crawford. Photo: Sam Norman

Scotland for the UK leg of Fast & Furious 9, operating second unit B and C-camera for director JJ Perry and DP Callan Green. Ossie McLean ACO SOC is operating B-camera on the 25th Bond film No Time To Die for DP Linus Sandgren FSF ASC and director Cary Fukunaga. Tom Wade lit fashion projects for Michal Pudelka, a promo for Friendly Fires with Tom Dream at Black Dog, and did dailies as operator on the second units of No Time To Die and Fast & Furious 9. GBCT Crew: camera Operators John Bailie GBCT, Craig Anderl and Jason Ellson are on the main unit alongside DP Eric Steelberg ASC on Ghostbusters 2020 in downtown Calgary, directed by Jason Reitman. DP Cliff Evans GBCT shot a commercial with Oscar-nominated director Carl Prechezer for Maker Projects in Manchester. Malcolm Hadley GBCT has been working on commercials including one for Passion Pictures about Honest Tea, and one for Blink involving a complex shoot combining Steadicam and motion control shots for the Spanish luxury fashion house Loewe. He has also graded the comedy crime feature Silent Night. Chris Mcguire GBCT is with DP Henry Braham BSC working on The Suicide Squad at Pinewood Studios Atlanta. Using Sony Cine Alta Venice, with Zeiss prime and zoom lenses, DPs Damian Bromley and Balazs Bolygo have finished on blocks 3 and 4 of Netflix drama series Cursed, backed up by camera operator/Steadicam Tony Kay GBCT, Bob Shipsey GBCT on B-camera, Luke Cairns as A-camera 1AC, Peter Lowden GBCT, B-Camera 1AC and 2AC’s Julian ZarzosoLowe and Julian Sharma, with camera trainees Mia Castles and Phil Shipsey. Camera Operator Ian Clark GBCT did a stint as second unit DP on TV series War Of The Worlds for Urban Myth, and is now in Hungary on the final two episodes of The Last Kingdom for Carnival. Steadicam operator Robert Beck GBCT worked on corporates for Manchester United and Network Rail. n

15:41| 41 British Cinematographer | 14.10.19 November 2019

MEET THE NEW WAVE / MATÍAS ANDRÉS PENACHINO

DEVOTED Filmography (so far): Features… Freckles (2019), Time Share (2018), Opus Zero (2017), Zeus (2016), El Placer Es Mio (2015), Summum Bonum (2014), Mom (2013), Halley (2012) and Finde (2010). Shorts… Mamartuile (2017), La Madre Buena (The Good Mother) (2016), Performance: A Celebration Of Despair (2013) and Orden Natural (2013). When did you discover you wanted to be a DP? I was 14. Me and a friend went to the movies almost every week. We sneaked from theatre to theatre hiding in the bathroom, waiting for the films to start. We spent entire days watching films. I never wanted it to end. Where did you train? I studied directing at the Cievyc film school in Buenos Aires. Never finished. What are your favourite films, and why? A Woman Under The Influence (1974, dir. John Cassavetes, DPs Mitch Breit & Al Ruban) – because of the tremendous synergy between them. It is the film I will always want to make. Ulysses Gaze (1995, dir. Theo Angelopoulos, DP Giorgos Arvanitis AFC GSC) – it tells the whole story of humanity, art and cinema itself. Import/Export (2007, dir Ulrich Seidl, DPs Ed Lachman ASC & Wolfgang Thaler) – feels real, but it’s tremendously aesthetic and so devoted to the actors and the people itself. Last Year At Marienbad (1961, dir. Alain Resnais, DP Sacha Vierny) – every time I watch it, it’s a different movie. What’s the best advice you were ever given? From my dad: “Keep going and keep your back straight.” Who are your DP/industry heroes? Nestor Almendros – coolness. Wolfgang Thaler – frontal. Gordon Willis ASC – climates. John Alcott BSC – infinity. Sven Nykvist – magical. Have you won any awards? I won the best cinematography prize at Durban’s international film festival. What’s your proudest moment? Being a dad, twice. What’s the worst knock-back/ rejection you have ever had? Impossible to count, they happen all the time. 42 | British Cinematographer | November 2019

What have been your best/worst moments on-set? Best: happens when you nail something you never did before and it turns out tremendously fine, as if you have done it several times.

What’s the weirdest place you’ve ever shot in? A mortuary that was in service. We were shooting in a room with a guy prepping dead bodies for funerals right next to us.

Worst: one time I was directing and, as I was looking at the monitor, the DP accidentally formatted the media we had just finished shooting.

What’s the hardest shot you’ve had to light/frame? The first shot or sequence of every feature I’ve been involved with. They’re always painful.

What has been the biggest challenge on your latest production? I moved from Mexico to Barcelona this year. The biggest challenge on the last production was to leave the crew I worked with for the last six years. We will work again soon.

Tell us your hidden talent/party trick? I endure a lot…

Tell us your most hilarious faux pas? The scene was an artist splashing paint on a wall. I was in charge of the splashes and accidentally showered an ARRI 435 entirely with red paint. It was a complete mess, but luckily film cameras are very easy to dismantle. We cleaned it up, put it together again and kept shooting. It was scary, but very funny in the end. Away from work, what are your greatest passions? My family.

In the entire history of filmmaking, which film would you love to have shot? A Woman Under The Influence (1974, dir. John Cassavetes, DPs Mitch Breit and Al Ruban) and The Sacrifice (1986, dir. Andrei Tarkovski, DP Sven Nykvist) What are your current top albums? Juan Gabriel at Palacio de Bellas Artes; Dirty Beaches - Night Rider. Can you tell us your greatest extravagance? Chewing toothpicks all the time and wearing flashy jackets.

What one piece of kit could you not live without? Comfortable shoes!

What’s the best thing about being a DP? Being the eyes of such a tremendous machina and to tell different stories every day.

Which films are you most proud of to date? Halley, my first feature, and Freckles the last one.

What’s the worst thing about being a DP? When shooting bad ideas.

Opus Zero (2017)

Give us three adjectives that best describe you and your approach? Raw. Devoted. Austere. If you weren’t a DP, what job would you be doing? Architect. What are your aspirations for the future? To keep working with/for people that I admire. n

Time Share (2018)

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PREVIEW / ENERGACAMERIMAGE 2019 / BY DAREK KUZMA & RON PRINCE

WELCOME BACK Welcome back, friends, to the show that never ends. We're so glad you could attend. Step inside, step inside. The annual celebration that is EnergaCamerimage, the International Film Festival Of The Art Of Cinematography, will deliver, once again, an incredible line-up of high-profile screenings, multi-layered industry workshops, and dozens of ways for the greatest networking of your life.

s you know, the festival has moved to a different city this year, returning to its roots in Toruń, where its first several editions were held, and where the Tumult Foundation, EnergaCamerimage’s organiser, has its headquarters. But that does not change a thing. It is the same event, organised by the same group of film aficionados and industry professionals who love to share their vision – of what cinema is and should be – with the rest of the world! So get ready for eight chilly November days in the company of thousands of industry professionals, cinephiles and film geeks from all over the world, watching dozens of feature, documentary and short films, student études, music videos, and TV pilots. Toruń already has a distinct place on the tourist map of Poland, but between 9th and 16th of November it will become the capital of cinema. This year's incredible guest list includes John Bailey, Peter Greenaway, Saskia Boddeke, Lech Majewski, Quentin Tarantino, Robert Richardson, Jan Roelfs, Phedon Papamichael, Paweł Edelman, Edward Norton, Jarin Blaschke, Helena Třeštíková, Lawrence Sher, Danny DeVito, Natasha Braier, Rodrigo Prieto, Roberto Schaefer, Michael Hoffman, Stephen Poster, Oliver Stapleton, Paul Sarossy, Václav Marhoul, Robert Yeoman, John de Borman, Mátyás Erdély, Agnieszka Holland, Dick Pope, César Charlone, Tomasz Naumiuk, Caleb Deschanel… and many, many more, underlining the festival’s prestige.

British Cinematographer | November 2019 | 45

PREVIEW / ENERGACAMERIMAGE 2019 / BY DAREK KUZMA & RON PRINCE

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR JOHN BAILEY

fter completing USC’s two-year graduate programme, Bailey’s first professional assignments date from the late 1960s and include working in post production on promotional films for American Airlines, as well as assisting such cinematographers as Charles Correll, Erik Daarstad, John Koester and Gary Young. Having joined the union in 1969, throughout the 1970s Bailey apprenticed as an assistant and operator for such Hollywood legends as Néstor Almendros, Jules Brenner, Dave Meyers, Chuck Rosher, Gregory Sandor, Ric Waite and Vilmos Zsigmond. As a result, by the mid-1970s, Bailey had the chance to work on some iconic productions, including Monte Hellman’s Two-Lane Blacktop (1971), Emergency! (1974) and the Kojak (1975) TV series, as well as Terrence Malik’s Days Of Heaven (1976) and Robert Altman’s 3 Women (1977). Only a few years later Bailey became the DP for such noted films as Boulevard Nights (1978) directed by Michael Pressman, and Paul Schrader’s American Gigolo (1980). In the 1980s and 1990s Bailey’s collaboration with Schrader extended into Cat People (1981), Mishima (1984), Light Of Day (1986), and Forever Mine (1999). In 1980 he teamed up with Robert Redford on the iconic Ordinary People and shortly thereafter worked on Honky Tonk Freeway with John Schlesinger. Other directors who became Bailey’s partners on numerous projects included Lawrence Kasdan (The Big Chill, 1982; Silverado, 1984; The Accidental Tourist, 1988), Michael Apted (Continental Divide, 1980; Extreme Measures, 1996; Always Outnumbered, 1997) and Ken Kwapis (Vibes, 1987; The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants, 2004; License To Wed, 2006; He’s Just Not That Into You, 2007; Big Miracle, 2010; and A Walk In The Woods, 2014). Bailey’s long and

John Bailey

distinguished list of credits also includes Gene Saks’ Brighton Beach Memoirs (1985), Norman Mailer’s Tough Guys Don’t Dance (1986), Harold Ramis’ Groundhog Day (1992), Wolfgang Petersen’s In the Line Of Fire (1992), and Peter Howitt’s Antitrust (2000). Bailey’s achievements as cinematographer are fittingly complemented by his confident work as director of The Search For Signs Of Intelligent Life In The Universe (a 1990 film of Lily Tomlin’s one-woman show), China Moon (a 1994 crime mystery with Ed Harris, Madeleine Stowe and the first big role for Benicio del Toro), and Mariette In Ecstasy (a 1996 adaptation of Ron Hansen’s novel about a young nun with a stellar cast of Geraldine O’Raw). A member of the ASC since 1985, Bailey has been an active and vocal member of the society. Posted under the “John’s Bailiwick” tab, his stylishlywritten blogs grace the ASC website and cover a wide area of topics not only centred on film and cinematic history, but also covering music, literature, history and the arts. In 1972 Bailey married film editor, Carol Littleton; they have resided in Los Angeles ever since. Bailey’s 15 years as an Academy governor includes his most recent service as the Academy’s president from 2017-2019.

Peter Greenaway Lech Majewski

PETER GREENAWAY TO RECEIVE THE LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR DIRECTING Peter Greenaway is a filmmaker who has crossed the borders of the medium many times to tell visuallyrivetting stories, using a recognisable style with which he was able to, time and again, surprise viewers. Greenaway thinks with images, both moving and static as his first and only true love was always painting, especially the immortal works of the masters of the Renaissance and the Baroque. This passion of his is crucial to understanding all of his cinematic and other projects, for they are in part an extension of painting’s aesthetics, expressiveness and multidimensionality. Starting with Train, Tree and other short films he shot in the 1960s and ‘70s, whilst working as director and editor in the Central Office Of Information, all the way through to his 2015 feature film Eisenstein In Guanajuato, Greenaway’s works have always been somehow experimental, utterly complex puzzles with multitudes of meanings. Though the films of the British director rarely have traditional plots and narratives, Greenaway’s erudite cinema is full of fascinating issues and ideas – like Darwinism in A Zed & Two Noughts or an artist’s responsibility towards art in The Belly Of An Architect – filtered through his limitless imagination. Although he always cherishes coming back to his beloved master-painters, recently in the feature Nightwatching and the documentary film Rembrandt’s J’Accuse…!, Greenaway also works in other areas or art – he created his own opera and multimedia installations, he writes books, and even tried being a VJ. Needless to say, everyone should try what Peter Greenaway has to offer.

LECH MAJEWSKI WINS THE SPECIAL CAMERIMAGE DIRECTING AWARD Calling Lech Majewski only a film director is a gross understatement as he is also an acclaimed painter, a talented composer, a sublime writer, and a poet. His installations were exhibited throughout the world, whilst the operas and theatre plays he directed evoked a variety of reactions in people from 46 | British Cinematographer | November 2019

different classes, cultures, races, and religions. His most recent project, Valley Of The Gods, with its world-renown cast headlined by Josh Hartnett, John Malkovich, Bérénice Marlohe, Keir Dullea and John Rhys-Davies, explores an idiosyncratic and mysterious vision of America, and is set to provoke discussion everywhere it is shown, including the special screening in Toruń. While the same can be said about most of Majewski’s directorial output – including The Mill And The Cross, his famous 2010 cinematic reimagining of Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s 1564 painting “The Procession to Calvary” – Valley of the Gods is something else entirely. A new chapter in Majewski’s rich and unconventional career, and a summary of the motifs and styles he became recognised for throughout the four decades since he graduated from the Łódź Film School. Not to be missed!

AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTS IN DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKING FOR HELENA TŘEŠTÍKOVÁ

Helena Třeštíková štík Photo: Tomáš Tře

Helena Třeštíková, graduate of the renowned FAMU film school in Prague, and the filmmaker of more than 50 documentary films spanning five decades, has made the social and moral transitions of Czechoslovakia’s Velvet Revolution one of the most important themes of her work. This includes a series of films called Marriage Stories, in which she followed newly-wed couples for over 35 years, capturing on-camera not only the evolution and fading of their plans and dreams but also their lives’ twists and turns. This project, started in Czechoslovakia and finished in the Czech Republic, allowed Třeštíková to crystalize a truly-unique directorial style. Described either as long-term observation or time-lapse method, it relies on following the characters over many periods of their lives and documenting not only what changes with and within them, but also the surrounding world. Třeštíková spends years filming her subjects, observing and sharing their ups and downs. She filmed the protagonist of René, whom she met in 1989 as a juvenile delinquent with a strong non-conformist attitude, for 20 years. She deepened her relationship with the controversial titular character of Katka, a heroin addict living on the outskirts of society, for no less than 14 years. And for 13 years she followed the story of Mallory’s brave heroine trying desperately to find her place in everyday reality after being immersed in the world of drugs. This year’s festival is also a great opportunity to see Forman vs. Forman, her most recent film dedicated to the life and legacy of the great director Miloš Forman.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS: ARTUUM MOBILE: THE WORLD OF SASKIA BODDEKE & PETER GREENAWAY

LED COLOR SCIENCE FOR CINEMA

authorship, with Greenaway’s texts and sculptures and the music of Luca D’Alberto. The whole is an interpretation of the Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse, and a poetic, metaphorical meditation on basic human rights. In the second, the Greenaway Atelier – a space specially arranged at the Centre For Contemporary Art – will see the artist, surrounded by his paintings, inspiring objects and painting attributes, creating new artistic compositions for the whole three days, just like in his own studio. While working, Greenaway will be filmed, with the footage displayed on the table at which the artist created his works. The last element of the exhibition is Silent Cinema, a space where, on comfortable sofas, the audience will be able to watch Greenaway’s documentary film Alphabet, a film from Saskia Boddeke about Peter Greenaway and their daughter, Pip. The project is accompanied by a review of films by Greenaway and other European artists inspired by painting including: The Draughtsman’s Contract and Nighwatching by Peter Greenaway, The Seventh Seal by Ingmar Bergman, Paula by Christian Schwochow, Andrei Rublev by Andrei Tarkovsky and Edvard Munch by Peter Watkins.

BALTIC CINEMA REVIEW The Baltic Cinema Review was established in 2015 to promote the film industry of the Baltic Sea region. This year, the review will include eleven films that represent Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Germany, Russia, Belarus, and Iceland. Among the topics covered are current issues that are central in the socio-political discourse of contemporary Europe, such as migration or terrorism, and themes from the often-dramatic history of the region.

THE CINEMATIC STORYTELLING OF TOY STORY 4

This year’s exhibition is built around the work of the artist couple Saskia Boddeke and Peter Greenaway. Greenaway gained world recognition thanks to his visually sophisticated film interpretations of great paintings, and became an inspiration for the creative achievements of subsequent generations of artists. The creative director of the exhibition, consisting of three parts, is the recognised multimedia artist and director, Saskia Boddeke. The first part is a multimedia installation of her

Patrick Lin (director of photography) and Ye Won Cho (master lighting artist) will present an in-depth look into the cinematography of Toy Story 4. Besides taking the audience through the production process of shooting and lighting a digital animated feature, they will also detail the aesthetic thought process of the film’s camera language, structure and lighting design in support of the story and character emotions. Saskia Boddeke & Peter Greenaway

Frieder Hochheim, president and founder of Kino Flo Lighting Systems, will share an in-depth presentation of colour science as it pertains to the LED spectrum and various camera sensors. Hochheim will explain the various colour indexes available to cinematographers (CRI, TM-30-18, TLCI, SSI) used for evaluating LED spectral qualities, talk about various colour gamuts and their significance pertaining to LED performance, and show some of Kino Flo’s research into camera spectral response curves and camera gamuts.

TRAINING THE DPS OF TOMORROW? A round-table discussion organized by the ENS LouisLumière Film School, looking at how we train the DP of tomorrow. DP Pascal Lagriffoul AFC and teacher at the school, has created a questionnaire aimed at understanding the rapport DPs have with their tools and the technique. The anonymous answers will enable a collective portrait of the craft and an understanding of the views and expectations DPs have with the tools and their usage. The round-table discussion will be moderated by Lagriffoul and AFC cinematographers.

A BLIND STANDARD FORMAT FILM LENS TEST Every cinematographer who has had the opportunity to watch their camera tests “blind,” so to speak, knows how surprising the results can be. Caroline Champetier AFC, Pascal Lagriffoul AFC, Denis Lenoir AFC ASC ASK and Martin Roux decided to put this phenomenon to the test, using 33 pairs of lenses (standard Super 35, spherical and Anamorphic), filming models on a set with identical wide and tight shots. Now they are offering you the chance to watch the results “blind,” i.e., without knowing at first the brand or type of lenses used in each shot. At the end of the screening, the identity of the lenses will be revealed and you will no doubt be surprised.

PREVIEW / ENERGACAMERIMAGE 2019 / BY DAREK KUZMA & RON PRINCE

Cooke Optics: is showcasing its latest full-frame

and prime lenses. The first of three lenses on display is the S7/i Full Frame Plus T2.0 in various focal lengths. Secondly, visitors can see the Anamorphic/i Full Frame Plus T2.3 prime lenses, allowing those filming large format with Anamorphic characteristics to capture flare and oval bokeh. Last but not least, there’s Cooke’s famous Panchro/i Classic T2.2 to T3.2 prime lenses, offering the same vintage look and feel of the legendary Speed Panchro with the advantage of modern glass.

Dedo Weigert: Dedolight Lightstream offers an

expanded choice of tools. Reflectors and reflecting are common practice. Parallel light is the key to the revolutionary new practice. Simulation of natural light from far distance is an important aspect. None better than the DPB70 parabolic light - an important tool Ad Astra, complemented by miraculous parallel beam intensifiers for 21 different focusing Dedolights, enhancing the already astounding spot performance and reach by 300% to 500%. Supporting sequential or linear arrays of reflectors, it’s the most effective, efficient, economic and ecological practice without limiting creative variations. DoPchoice: has an array of lightweight Snapbags and Snapgrids for softer, smoother, more directional, more controllable illumination from most professional LED lights. The Universal Snapbag softbox fits the next wave of LED Fresnels, spots and other hard lights with 5” to 7” barndoors. It quickly slips onto the barndoors via a pocket-mounting system and lets users turn the Snapbag as the barndoors rotate. Watch out for the new tubular Snapgrids to accommodate the unique, inflatable Rodlight in 1.6 and 10m sizes that expands to fit the different diameters. Plus the Rabbit-Ears family continues to fit more lights.

Fujinon: is exhibiting

its brand new Premista Cine Zoom lenses. The 28-100mm T2.9 and 80-250mm T2.9-3.5 have matching ring locations and are identical in size and weight. They also offer full coverage for all current LF sensors, including the new ARRI LF Mini, Sony Venice and Red Ranger, and are compatible with Cooke /i and Zeiss eXtended Data systems. Once again, Fujinon is sponsoring the official Sunday night Camerimage party, and will present two seminars with guest speakers Ed Lachman ASC and Balazs Bolygo BSC HSC. Kodak Motion Picture Film: is sponsoring the “Meet The Music Video Nominees” event, following The Music Videos Competition on Thursday, 14th November in CKK Jordanki’s Main Screening Room. Out of more than 500 submissions and recommendations received from all over the world, 18 music videos have been selected and nominated for Best Music Video and Best Cinematography in a Music Video awards.

LEE Filters: will give filmmakers a chance to

experiment with its in-demand ProGlass Cine IRND range of neutral-density filters, plus the new LEE100 photographic filter system, a lightweight, highperforming 100mm filter mount system proving very popular with photographers. It incorporates a rotation lock as well as a newly designed clip-on polarizer for ease of use. LEE’s full collection of lighting gels, including the expanded range of Zircon gels specifically designed for fine-tuning LED fixtures, will also be available for a hands-on experience. Leitz: renowned for its Thalia, M 0.8, Summilux-C and Summicron-C primes, will show its expanded range of highly developed premium cinema optics – including new Leitz Primes and Leitz Zooms, available with PL- and LPL-Mount options, including metadata interfaces for Cooke /i and ARRI LDS-2. A particular highlight is the Thalia-T 90mm cine lens that offers cinematographers a sequential series of different looks by simply adjusting the aperture. Panasonic: is demonstrating its full VariCam line-up alongside both the EVA1 and Lumix S1H. In addition, there is a screening of The Red Sea Diving Resort, shot on VariCam by Roberto Schaefer AIC ASC, plus a Q&A covering his experiences with the camera alongside Dejan Georgevich ASC. Panavision: is celebrating the art and craft of cinematography with the opportunity to interact with its vast array of end-to-end tools and technology. At the Karczma Damroki, Panavision, Light Iron, LEE Filters, Panalux and Direct Digital will show an integrated ecosystem of brands working together to support the creative vision of imagemakers. Attendees can get hands-on with Panavision DXL2 and DXL-M camera systems, plus a diverse selection of lenses and filters, lighting equipment and gels, grip and remote gear. Panavision and Light Iron’s new Link HDR system will be demonstrated, showing options for viewing HDR images from set-to-screen.

The Studio-B&H: is a service-oriented environment

dedicated to providing access to high-end technology as well as an expertise in all aspects of film production, cinematography and lighting. It also offers system design and technical support to all segments of the industry, from independent filmmakers to major Hollywood studios. Proud supporters of the ASC, the International Cinematographers Guild and the Society Of Camera Operators, Studio-B&H is partnering with Vitec Creative Solutions to highlight exciting and innovative technology solutions for the cinema market at the festival. Thales (Angénieux): is presenting the new Full Frame Optimo Prime Series, the result of a successful renewed partnership with Jebsen Industrial Technology Co LTD and Band Pro Film & Digital Inc. The series perfectly completes Angénieux FF zooms, including the brand new Optimo Ultra 12x, and the Type EZ lenses. Focal lengths include 18mm, 21mm, 24mm, 28mm, 32mm, 40mm, 50mm, 60mm, 75mm, 100mm, 135mm, 200mm. The Tiffen Company: is talking to cinematographers about the importance of filtration, including diffusion and neutral density. But they want to hear from you! What are you using and why? And, if you haven’t tried the Tiffen’s full spectrum NATural ND filters yet, they will help find an opportunity for testing them. Zeiss: choosing the lens that aids your story and makes best use of its character is a significant part of the creative process. A popular choice is to work with vintage or uncoated lenses. This can be risky, as it is hard to reproduce the vintage look of the original. Zeiss Supreme Prime Radiance lenses enable cinematographers to generate flares in a controlled and reproducible way without sacrificing production efficiency. On Monday 11th November Rodrigo Prieto AMC ASC will show his latest short, R&R, shot entirely on Zeiss Supreme Prime Radiance lenses in the Main Screening Room. n

Rosco: join the Rosco seminar when Julio Macat

ASC and a panel of experts discuss “White Is A Color - Understanding Coloured LED Lighting,” delving into the topics of workflow, creating colours and navigating through languages in coloured lighting. There will also be chances to win MixBook, Rosco’s new and revolutionary digital Swatchbook at the event on Friday 15th November, 1:30-15:30pm, CKK Jordanki seminar room. Sony: is displaying two Sony Venice cameras, including one with an extension kit rigged on ATV, FX9, BVM-HX310 and LMD-A monitors. Plus there’s a host of seminars and workshops throughout the week: Olan Collardy on the latest FX9 and shooting music videos; Pablo Garcia from Mission on ACES on-set workflow with Sony Venice for Downton Abbey; Sony Venice hands-on camera workshop, when leading DPs share experiences In competition... Mr. Jones with the camera; and “New Creative Choices: Shooting Full Frame with Sony’s CineAlta Venice”. Sony is also hosting the official after party of the festival’s closing ceremony

WHO WILL WIN THE GOLDEN FROG? FILMS IN THE MAIN COMPETITION... Amundsen – DP Pål Ulvik Rokseth, dir. Espen Sandberg Bolden – DP Dan Pritzker, dir. Neal Norton Ford v Ferrari – DP Phedon Papamichael ASC, dir. James Mangold The Irishman – DP Rodrigo Prieto AMC ASC, dir. Martin Scorsese Joker – DP Lawrence Sher ASC, dir. Todd Phillips The Last Black Man In San Francisco – DP Adam Newport-Berra, dir. Joe Talbot Motherless Brooklyn – DP Dick Pope BSC, dir. Edward Norton Mr. Jones – DP Tomasz Naumiuk, DP Agnieszka Holland Never Look Away – DP Caleb Deschanel ASC, dir. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck Joker

An Officer And A Spy – DP Paweł Edelman PSC, dir. Roman Polański The Painted Bird – DP Vladimír Smutný, dir. Václav Marhoul Shadow – DP Xiaoding Zhao, dir. Yimou Zhang The Two Popes – DP César Charlone, dir. Fernando Meirelles

48 | British Cinematographer | November 2019

LARGE FORMAT, SMALL CAMERA

ALEXA MINI LF. TRULY CINEMATIC.

THE ARRI LARGE-FORMAT CAMERA SYSTEM

RESTRAINED The Irishman is Martin Scorsese's epic saga of organised crime in post-war America, as told by a hit man. Thrillingly shot and superbly acted, it has been widely applauded as one of the director’s best-ever films, with pulses of violence, betrayal, dishonesty and emotional bankruptcy coursing through its icy veins.

he $159m Netflix movie features a trio of superstar players, with Robert De Niro as Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran, Al Pacino as labour union leader Jimmy Hoffa, and Joe Pesci as senior mobster Russell Bufalino. The Irishman also stars Anna Paquin, Bobby Cannavale, Ray Romano, Sebastian Maniscalco and Harvey Keitel. Based on the 2004 book I Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt, and adapted for the screen by Steve Zaillian, the biographical film follows Sheeran as he recalls his former years working as a hit man for the Bufalino crime family. Sheeran died in 2003 aged 83. Looking back on his life, the WWII veteran – whose military experience in executing enemy prisoners densensitised him towards the act of killing 50 | British Cinematographer | November 2019

and schooled him in obeying orders – reflects on his most prolific cold-blooded hits for the notorious Bufalino crime family during the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s. In particular, Sheeran muses over his own involvement in the mysterious disappearance of his good friend Jimmy Hoffa, the powerful Teamster boss, also tied to organised crime, in 1975. The film has been talked about for the “youthification” technology, developed by Lucasfilm's Industrial Light & Magic, which was used to de-age the key cast and allowed them to play the same characters over several decades in the story. The film been widely praised for its muted and melancholic palette, as well as its restrained camerawork, executed by cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto AMC ASC, who also shot Scorsese's The Wolf Of Wall Street (2013) and Silence (2016). Prieto was Oscarnominated for Silence as well as Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain (2005). Whist The Irishman contains a small number of Scorsese’s signature travelling shots, the camerawork is less-apparently stylised than many other films in his considerable canon. Rather than glamourising the on-screen violence with multiple oblique angles on stabbings and shootings, Prieto’s photographic manoeuvres turn the bloodshed into a more mundane and matter-of-fact process, bereft of visual exaltation. To Frank Sheeran, killing is just another job. Principal photography took place from October 18 2017 to January 26 2018, with around 300 scenes needing to be filmed and involving one or two company moves almost every day. Locations across New York’s five boroughs doubled for Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Miami, Detroit and Manhattan. These included carefully chosen sites in Queens, Brooklyn, Harlem, The Bronx, White Plains and Manhattan, plus Montebello and Suffern in Rockland County, and Red Hook in Dutchess County.

CAMERA CREATIVE / RODRIGO PRIETO AMC ASC / THE IRISHMAN / BY RON PRINCE

Most of the sets were built and shot at Marcy Armory in Williamsburg, including The Villa Di Roma, the Detroit house where Hoffa is shot, and the Howard Johnson restaurant interiors. The production also filmed at Kaufman Astoria Studios, where the interior of Umberto’s Clam House was built for the killing of Joe Gallo, along with the interiors of Sheeran’s houses. The many car interiors scenes were shot on the stages at Kauffman Astoria. In tune with the time-shifting storyline, Prieto couched the aesthetic look of the production around different Kodak photographic film stocks of the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s. When it came to the shoot, all shots that did not involve the de-ageing of the performers, and all second unit photography, were shot on 35mm Kodak film. For the shots that needed youth-inducing treatment in post production, Prieto collaborated with VFX supervisor Pablo Helman of Industrial Light & Magic and ARRI CS New York, on the development of a special digital camera rig, that incorporated a Red Helium as the main camera, with ARRI Alexa Minis fitted on either side as witness cameras capturing the flanks of the actors faces. This rig was nicknamed the Three Headed Monster. Ron Prince caught up with the cinematographer to discover more about his work on the movie. When did you first learn about this film? And what did you feel about the script? RP: I initially heard about the film when Marty and I were in post on Silence. I actually read the book before I read the script, and found the story to be very interesting and hugely entertaining. Along with organised crime and the Jimmy Hoffa story, it was also peppered with all sorts of US historical aspects from the several different decades. It was pretty epic in scope and I realised it would be very

challenging to visualise those different decades. It was very exciting for me to come up with a visual design for such a vast story. When you first discussed the look of The Irishman with Martin, how did you envisage the look of the movie? RP: The story is told as a remembrance; as recollections that flash between the present day and previous time periods, but in relatively chronological order. When trying to define the look of the movie, Marty mentioned to me very early-on his thoughts about it being like a home movie – not in the way that the camera might be shaky, or with grainy images, but in the way in might evoke the kind of feeling and emotion you get from the visual memory of the past. What research did you do? RP: I researched old still photography emulsions that were popular during those times, and we decided to emulate the look and colour reproduction of Kodachrome for our scenes in the 1950s, and Kodak Ektachrome for those set in the 1960s.

Rodrigo Prieto AMC ASC

For the 1970s I took a different approach. I knew those two other looks would be very colourful and thought we should start to drain the picture of colour later in the story to mirror the turns of events in Frank Sheeran’s life. So, for the 1970s, I decided on a look that would emulate the ENR process, invented by Ernesto Novelli Rimo at Technicolor Rome for Vittorio Storaro AIC ASC. This is a silver retention process in the printing phase, which results in a high-contrast image, with deep blacks, and reduced colour saturation. On The Irishman, we decided to start the '70s period with a moderate ENR look, almost imperceptible, that would gradually change to a full ENR emulation after Frank kills Hoffa. The result is that in the movie, we shift from high colour saturation in the '50s and '60s, slowly draining the colour as time advances through the '70s all the way to the year 2000. What creative references did you look at? RP: We looked at a variety of archive stills and photographers from the different periods, including Chauncey Hare, Gary Winogrand, Elliot Erwitt, and Saul Leiter – some of whom used Kodak Kodachrome and Ektachrome stocks. Whilst they were important references for the set and costume design, they also helped to inform a series of LUTs we knew we would have to make, that would be applied on all of the film and digital footage during dailies and post. I also used the still photography as inspiration for lighting and composition. These photographers capture instants in real life that have an emotional impact. I tried to create images in movement that had the same feeling of captured reality as seen from the subjective perspective of our characters. There weren’t too many film references, apart from Crazy Joe (1974, dir. Carlo Lizzani, DP Aldo Tonti), the fictionalised retelling of the murder of mobster Joseph “Crazy Joe” Gallo, who was gunned down in 1972 at Umberto’s Clam House in Little Italy. We watched that movie mostly to get a sense of the legend of Joe Gallo. Marty was keen on authenticity, and since Umberto’s Clam House does not exist in the corner of Mullberry and Hester Streets, we reproduced it on a different corner on the Lower East Side. With the help of VFX, we stitched shots that started on-location for a night exterior of Umberto’s, transitioning into the studio, where we had a big translight outside the windows. Please give us a few details about the LUTs you created for the film? RP: Philippe Panzini from Codex helped us create the LUTs, emulating Kodachrome for the scenes that occur during the 1950s and Ektachrome for the ‘60s. Matt Tomlinson, who handles colour science at Harbor Picture >> British Cinematographer | November 2019 | 51

CAMERA CREATIVE / RODRIGO PRIETO AMC ASC / THE IRISHMAN / BY RON PRINCE

Company, where I later conducted the DI with Yvan Lucas, collaborated closely with Philippe to put the characteristics of those emulsions into workable LUTs that we then use for our dailies and during the DI finishing of the movie. For the ‘70s we used a LUT that emulated the ENR process. In my mind, these LUTs were key to subtly placing the audience in the feel of each decade, whilst enhancing Frank’s emotional journey through the passage of time. We also had to make sure that the LUTs worked the same for the film negative and the digital Red Helium sensor. The colours had to be mapped to reproduce exactly the same on both media, and that is where Matt Tomlinson’s colour science came into play. Tell us about the Three-Headed Monster rig you used to film the scenes that required de-aging? RP: Right from the beginning I knew that the de-aging was integral to the storytelling, and Pablo from ILM led the way in terms of the footage he needed and the development of a specialty camera rig to achieve that. For the post processes, the VFX team required depth information in each shot as well as the camera angles around the faces, hence we needed witness cameras beside the main camera. One issue was the actors did not want tracking markers on their faces, as it would be too much of a distraction for them. The three-camera system was designed to avoid visible tracking marks on their faces. From a practical standpoint the weight of the rig was an issue. The witness cameras had to be high quality, the focal lengths had to match the main camera, and the shutters had to be in sync. After a lot of testing, and some failures, we ended-up using Red Helium for the main camera, as it looked good with the LUTs and fulfilled Netflix’s 4K origination criteria, with Alexa Minis on both sides. The cameras were fitted with the new Cooke Panchro Classics, and supplemented with Zeiss Super Speeds and Ultra Primes. Every single part of the rig was designed to keep the overall payload as low as possible, to get it to a manageable weight and size for use on the dolly, a remote head on a crane, or in the hands of the Steadicam operator. Which Kodak filmstocks did you select? RP: I used Kodak Vision 3 5207 250D for daytime exteriors and interiors, and Kodak Vision 3 5219 500T for everything else, including all of the night work. I’d estimate the final movie is about 50/50 in terms of film and digital footage. For the 1970s sequences I started pushing both filmstock by one stop, as I wanted the texture and grain to come out more for the latter part of the movie. The film dailies then had the LUTs applied to give us the various Kodachrome, Ektachrome and ENR process looks. Kodak Film Lab in New York processed our film rushes, which was very convenient and made it very affordable to us. Who were your crew? RP: Scott Sacamoto operated A-camera and did all the Steadicam work. He has an uncanny ability to always know the best way to execute the shots. Our 1st AC was Trevor Loomis, who did an incredible job wrangling a very complex camera department, with ARRICAM LT film cameras and the Three-Headed Monsters with

52 | British Cinematographer | November 2019

“I USED KODAK VISION 3 5207 250D FOR DAYTIME EXTERIORS AND INTERIORS, AND KODAK VISION 3 5219 500T FOR EVERYTHING ELSE, INCLUDING ALL OF ALL NIGHT WORK.” RODRIGO PRIETO AMC ASC

digital cameras. He kept it all working smoothly as if it were a regular shoot. I operated B-camera, but if there was a handheld scene, I would operate the main camera. Our gaffer was Bill O’Leary, with whom I have worked on several films. He managed, with great expertise and aplomb, a huge variety of lighting scenarios on-location and on-stage. Tommy Prate was the key grip, who has been a frequent collaborator on many other projects. The

gripping on this film was intensive, especially onstage, where sets were being built and torn down at a breakneck speed. He managed to keep us ahead of the curve with all the rigging for lighting and backings. The DIT was Matthew Selkirk. He was instrumental in keeping tabs of the different LUTs for each scene and helping me send references of colour and density for the dailies, which were graded by Elodie Ichter at Harbor.

How did you decide to motivate the camera? RP: Whilst there are some weaving Steadicam shots, such as the entry to Umberto’s Clam House, Marty wanted to keep things simple, with straightforward, rectilinear camera moves, and not so many oblique angles. This was especially true when shooting the scenes with Frank. His job is to bully, intimidate or kill people, which he does in a very matter-of-fact way. So we typically shot most of these quite flat, either frontal or sideways, or with simple nodal pans following the action. How did you go about shooting the many car interior scenes in the movie? RP: I felt that shooting them on-location was going to take a lot of time that we did not really have in our schedule. Process trailer work is extremely time-consuming and many times frustrating. Waiting to lock up streets, going back to one, etc. Besides, being a period film, we would not be able to keep driving in loops to do several passes of every scene with period cars and costumed extras. Everyone agreed to shoot on-stage, but I was worried that greenscreen work would look fake after a while. Also, the actors wanted to wear sunglasses, which would reflect all my lighting! >>

Beautiful look. Full control. ZEISS Supreme Prime Radiance Lenses ZEISS Supreme Prime Radiance lenses enable cinematographers to create beautiful, consistent and controllable flares in the image while maintaining contrast and avoiding transmission loss. Yet, they offer all the attributes of a modern cinema lens: large-format coverage, high speed of T1.5, robustness and smooth and reliable focus – all in a small, light-weight package. From the inventors of antireflective lens coatings. Made in Germany. www.zeiss.com/cine/radiance

CAMERA CREATIVE / RODRIGO PRIETO AMC ASC / THE IRISHMAN / BY RON PRINCE

“MARTY WANTED TO KEEP THINGS SIMPLE, WITH STRAIGHTFORWARD, RECTILINEAR CAMERA MOVES, AND NOT SO MANY OBLIQUE ANGLES. ” RODRIGO PRIETO AMC ASC

So, I recommended shooting with walls of LED video. We worked with the Overdrive system at PRG. I had three walls made out of LED panels that measured 10-feet high by 16-feet wide, plus two movable 6’x6’ panels. One of the big panels was used for the background of the shots, whilst the others were used to light the actors. The background plates were shot by Backgroundplates.com. Dan Hammond from PRG was our technical guru for all this. The result is interactive lighting that matches the plates shot on-location. You also get all the accurate reflections on the car and in this case, on the sunglasses worn by the actors. I rounded out the lighting with a few Source Four Lekos to create sunlight effects, with grips moving branches through the lights to simulate shadows from overhead trees. The result, I think, is quite realistic, and allowed the actors to actually interact with the background plates. The driver could follow the road with the steering wheel and eyes, serving as their eye lines as well as for lighting. What was your approach to lighting the movie? RP: Well, the movie has a huge variety of scenes, in different eras, and it was a challenge to give each one its own look. One thing that was important was the colour we achieved on-set, in addition to the looks given by the LUTs. Marty had been to many of the actual locations as a youngster, and remembered how they looked.

54 | British Cinematographer | November 2019

He recalled the Villa Di Roma being lit by low-wattage lamps, giving a dim but warm and intimate feel. So I gave it that look. He recalled Umberto’s Clam House as being “more white”. So I treated that with bright, white-coloured, overhead spot lighting, plus some cyan fluorescents in the background for the kitchen area. The scene in the Copacabana Club was not taken from any research, and I decided to give it a more pink hue through the lighting. We shot Frank’s Appreciation Dinner in a ballroom in Harlem as a double for the Latin Casino. I took my inspiration for that from Network (1974, dir Paddy Chayefsky, DP Owen Roizman ASC), which had many tables with tiny lamps and red shades. I showed that scene to Marty and Bob Shaw, our production designer, and they agreed that sort of thing would look great in our film. To light those scenes, I had ARRI SkyPanels in big arrays casting the same red hue as the table lamps, and combined this with a golden light from hundreds of Par Can Birdies on the balconies around the room. What can you tell us about the DI grade on the film? RP: I did the 4K grade with Yvan Lucas at Harbor Picture Company in New York. I have done many movies with him, and he is an incredible partner in the final design of the images. We base the grading on the photochemical system of points of density and colour, which I really like and find nicely precise. Yvan’s background is grading in a film lab in Paris, so he is proficient in this method of selecting colour. This method of grading is simple, and it respects the LUTs created during the making of the movie because you are not changing the lift, gamma and gain separately.

Were there any happy accidents or unexpected things that worked out well? RP: Part of making movies inevitably includes facing unforeseen situations. A big part of a cinematographer’s job is to find solutions in the heat of the moment. You can’t just say, well, let’s wrap because this is not what we expected. The show must indeed, go on. One day, for example, we were shooting in a courtroom in Queens. We were quite high up, maybe about 150’ from the ground. We had shot in that room previously, and the main lighting was provided by 18K ARRIMAXs on condor lifts on the street. These lights would illuminate diffusion material we put on the windows, which would then light the room with soft sidelight. When we arrived on-set, the weather was extremely nasty. A blizzard of snow with very high winds made it impossible to safely operate the condors with the lights. So, I decided to change the concept, and let the windows be dark and light the scene with warm light from the incandescent chandeliers in the room. The result is a mix of colour temperatures, with dim bluish light from outside, which looks like we shot at dusk, and warm light, which seemed to come from the practicals of the courtroom. I thought the look of the scene was much more interesting than my original lighting plan. Was The Irishman the most complicated film you have shot so far from a technical POV? RP: Yes, I would say so. It was very challenging from a logistical and technical point of view. And I enjoyed every minute of it. How did it challenge you, and push your skills? RP: In so many ways! This movie was full of challenges, but I loved going to work on it every day. Working with Marty is a real joy. He conjures a special way to tell his stories for each film, while allowing his team to thrive creatively and bring our own ideas into the mix. n

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WHODUNNIT?

Set against the backdrop of New York in the late 1950s, the gritty, noir-esque, and malevolent drama, Motherless Brooklyn, follows Lionel Essrog, a lonely private detective afflicted with Tourette's Syndrome, as he gamely ventures to solve the murder of his mentor and only friend, Frank Minna, at the hands of unidentified mobsters.

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ON THE JOB / DICK POPE BSC / MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN / BY RON PRINCE

ionel is certain that Frank’s killing was down to him being on the brink of exposing corruption at New York’s City Hall and a conspiracy to ethnically-cleanse minorities from areas ripe for financially-rewarding redevelopment. Despite his obsessivecompulsive tendencies, which isolate him from most of the world, Lionel is bestowed with a superb intellect. His investigations into the mystery propel him into contact with a discontented local who knows inside secrets, a shrewd and well-connected neighbourhood agitator and, ultimately, to a ruthless politician with immense governmental power and the dark forces plotting the future landscape of New York City. The Warner Brothers’ film was written, produced and directed by Edward Norton, based on the 1999 novel of the same name by Jonathan Lethem, and is a project he had been developing for the screen pretty much since the book’s original publication. It also represents Norton’s second film as both director and star, following the well-received Keeping The Faith (2000, DP Anastas N. Michos). Along with helming the action, Norton also stars in Motherless Brooklyn as Lionel, along with a host of A-list Hollywood stars including Bruce Willis, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Bobby Cannavale, Cherry Jones, Alec Baldwin and Willem Dafoe. The film features a stirring soundtrack, including the song, “Daily Battles”, written by Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke.

Cinematographic duties on the superlatively distinctive drama came under the auspices of British cinematographer Dick Pope BSC, a frequent collaborator with director Mike Leigh. Amongst many awards for his work, Pope has twice been nominated for an Academy Award, for The Illusionist, (2006, dir. Neil Burger) starring Norton, and Leigh’s Mr. Turner (2014). “I first met Edward as an actor on The Illusionist,” says Pope. “We got on really well during production and he very much liked my cinematography on the film.” Pope took home the Camerimage 2006 Silver Frog for his work on that film, and was subsequently nominated for the 2007 Oscar and BAFTA Awards. “After that we stayed in touch and I was absolutely delighted when, about three years ago, he offered me the challenge of shooting a noir-esque

thriller, set in New York in the late 1950s, which he had been working on for the best part of 20 years. He sent me the script for Motherless Brooklyn, together with a wonderful look book of his ideas, which made for great reading. It was immediately clear that he had very specific ideas and singular vision of how he wanted his movie to look.” Towards the end of 2017, whilst shooting in Malawi on The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind (2019, dir. Chiwetel Ejiofor), Pope received a telephone call from Norton saying the project was green-lit. On completion of his duties in sun-baked south-east Africa, he headed straight to the winter-depths of Manhattan to commence prep with Norton. “Soon after arriving in New York, and during the Christmas holiday hiatus, I went to Edward’s apartment every day for a week, and we spent the time together going through the entire script in detail”. Pope says he was enamored with the intensity of Norton’s personal vision—and his desire to imbue each frame with a painterly lushness. “He wanted the patina of old cinema, but without feeling like it had a treatment,” notes Pope. Recalling those initial conversations, and the contents of Norton’s original look book, Pope says the visual aesthetic for the film was inspired by, “a plethora of wonderful images – photographs and paintings – of New York in the 1940s and ’50s, such as the work of Saul Leiter, Vivian Maier and Robert Frank. Edward also had many archive press photos, plus uncredited stills, of the Harlem and Brooklyn boroughs, as well as landmarks like Brooklyn Bridge and the original Penn Railroad Station before it was torn down in 1963. The stills of Penn Station in particular were a great source of inspiration in the way I approached its lighting when we recreated it.” Paintings, such as Edward Hopper’s 1942 Nighthawks, were also evocative of what Norton wanted to achieve, “desaturated browns, greens and reds, shadows and darkness, reflections, negative space and the sensation of DICK POPE BSC Lionel’s loneliness and isolation. Noir was to be a big element in the look.” >>

“EDWARD IS VERY NEW YORK. HIS KNOWLEDGE OF THE CITY AND CONNECTIONS MEANT WE HAD ACCESS TO SO MANY AMAZING HISTORIC PLACES AND INSTITUTIONS.”

British Cinematographer | November 2019 | 57

ON THE JOB / DICK POPE BSC / MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN / BY RON PRINCE

“I LOVE SCULPTING SCENES WITH LIGHT TO CREATE THE MOOD, AND EDWARD WAS 100% SUPPORTIVE OF WHAT I WANTED TO DO TO BRING HIS VISION TO LIFE.” DICK POPE BSC Principal photography on Motherless Brooklyn took place over the course of 46 days, between February and April 2018 at a wide range of carefullychosen period interior and exterior locations around Manhattan, Harlem and Brooklyn, along with Washington Square Park, vintage subway cars in The New York Transit Museum, New York Public Library, The Plaza Hotel and even City Hall. “Edward is very New York. His knowledge of the city and connections meant we had access to so many amazing historic places and institutions,” says Pope. Along with the location work, a number of sets were constructed at Gold Coast Stages, Long Island, including Lionel’s flat that had Brooklyn Bridge pictured in the background, Penn Station, and a New York brownstone building exterior with fire escapes for the film’s denouement. Also, due to the inclement winter weather, and for complete control, many of the movie’s car scenes were shot on the stages too. Pope’s crew included Craig Haagensen as A-camera operator, with Eric and Tyler Swanek working as first and second ACs respectively.

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Pope operated B-camera with the support of Bobby and Justin Mancuso as his first and second ACs. His gaffer was William Newell, with David Stern heading the grip team, and Patrick Cecilian performing on-set grading and data wrangling services as DIT. “People told me that I had one of the very best teams in New York, and so it proved,” Pope enthuses. “They were all incredibly professional, resourceful and helped to make my experience very positive. Craig, in particular, had the most amazing knack of being able to operate a fluid head with one hand, whilst holding the detached Alexa camera viewfinder to his eye in the other. I had never seen this before, and it was seriously impressive watching him work like this in tight spaces, especially in cars, creating even the most difficult of panning shots.” He also adds, “Although we had to be very careful and specific as to where we pointed the camera, there was still a lot clean-up work needed in post to take away any modernity, and replace it with something suitable from the era. Our VFX supervisor, Mark Russell, did an amazing job in this respect, as well as recreating Penn Station and seamlessly

composting the backplates, for such things as our car work, which were shot at a much later date during the editorial part of the process. “And, I have to thank our tremendously talented production designer, Beth Mickle, too. What she gave me to photograph, in terms of the build, dressing and décor on our many different sets and locations, was wonderful.” Pope elected to shoot Motherless Brooklyn in 1.85:1 aspect ratio, explaining that, “it felt right for the height of New York, and, as this was an intimate story of Lionel, it just didn’t need any wider shape.” The camera crew shot using Alexa Mini cameras out of Panavision New York, harnessing the camera’s diminutive form factor for movement around some of the tighter sets, along with Panavision’s bespoke cage system that offers multiple fixing points and enabled the cameras to be set-up for the car work. Pope had the cameras fitted with a selection of the then newly-launched Cooke Panchro/i Classic lenses – a modern redesign of the vintage Panchro classics, which he used on Mr Turner – mainly deploying 27, 32, 40 and 50mm focal lengths for the shoot. “Edward wanted a rich, lush and yesteryear quality to the photography, but without it looking like it had any treatment – other than the colouration achieved through the lighting, the sets and costumes,” he explains. “The new Panchro/i Classics are very similar to the vintage ones, with aberrations helping to recreate the same lookand-feel as the originals, and have the advantage of modern glass being mounted for today’s modern cameras. However, they were so absolutely brand new that we could not get them locally. But I knew who did: my friends at Movietech, >>

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ON THE JOB / DICK POPE BSC / MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN / BY RON PRINCE

at Pinewood, who were amongst the first to buy a set. John Buckley shipped them over for me specially. As this was mainly a two-camera shoot, I have to thank Les Zellan from Cooke, and Panavision NY, who helped in putting a second set of these lenses together for me during the course of the production, which wasn’t easy.” During prep and camera tests Pope collaborated with his preferred colourist Adam Inglis (who would later fly from London with Pope to complete the final grade on the film at Sim Post in New York) to formulate a series of LUTs for interior, exterior, day and night work. “We passed footage back-and-forth to Adam in London, who then refined the desired looks – nothing overly dramatic, rather a subtle lowering of desaturation and contrast.” Of course, lighting was the key element in bringing a noir look to the visuals, and Pope says it was simultaneously fun and a challenge. “I love sculpting scenes with light to create the mood, and Edward was 100% supportive of what I wanted to do to bring his vision to life.” Pope reveals that David Watkin BSC’s Wendy light formed the basis of most of his night exterior illumination, helping with the creation of urban street lighting with pools of light and dark empty spaces. “I didn’t use any HMIs, just Tungsten light. The Wendy is one of the best-ever invented, and so much better for what we wanted to achieve,” remarks Pope. “I asked Bill, my gaffer, to find one in NY, and thought it would be easy. But it wasn’t. After a lot of searching, he eventually salvaged an abandoned Wendy lamp from the backroom of a lighting rental house, and rebuilt it for me. That light came with me on all of the night exteriors, sometimes broken down into halves or quarters along a city block, and it really was my key light for all of those scenes.” When it came to lighting interiors, Pope had to address each one individually with a tailored solution, never really utilising the same set-up twice.

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The Harlem Jazz Club is one example of the bespoke, and somewhat arduous, nature of the lighting task. “Back in the day this location was a real jazz hotspot. Although we found it faded and abandoned after 20 years, the interior was still fit-for-purpose and was soon restored to its authentic past by Beth and the art department,” Pope explains. “I used many different fixtures to light the place, Pars and Par Cans for the stage where the musicians played, original spotlights from the 1940s, along with a plethora of period practicals, concealed LEDs and clearly-visible neons for the bar and club areas. It was a mixture of all sorts. Every interior needed the same individual approach, and creating the noir aesthetic and achieving a consistency of that look throughout the film was one of the biggest challenges I have ever faced.” Among the other challenges was the car work. Due to snowbound outdoor conditions during principal photography, all of those scenes had necessarily to be shot inside the studio, with backplates composited into the cut of the live action at a later date. “The film had more car work than I have ever done before – chases, romantic interludes, extensive dialogue – and I knew it was going to be very tricky. I considered VER’s Light Panel Technology that Haris Zambarloukos BSC GSC had used on Murder On The Orient Express (2017), but the trouble was that, for this, you need all the

background plates shot and prepared beforehand and there was no way this was possible.” By a serendipitous turn of events, Pope happened to be shooting in New York at the same time that his great friend, cinematographer Roger Deakins CBE BSC ASC, was also lensing The Goldfinch. “Roger and I hooked-up at weekends and spent time together talking about our respective projects,” Pope recalls. “He introduced me to the Color Force LED lighting system he was using for his car work on The Goldfinch, and showed me photos of the rigging and chasing lighting set-ups he had used to give the effect of movement. Working with Bill, my gaffer, I used a similar set-up with great success, keying either against white or blue, depending on the scene, with the appropriate background plate dropped in at a later point. I also used the same system and techniques for our subway scenes, which we shot at the New York Transit Museum, to give effect of moving rapidly on the underground.” Although Pope describes the relentless pace of very early starts and long shifts for the night work as being “pretty brutal”, especially the interminably long car journey out to the stages on Long Island, he says the energy and enthusiasm of Norton - as both director and star – were inspiring and infectious. “With Edward’s self-confidence and assured approach you would have thought he had directed all of his life,” Pope remarks. “He had the uncanny ability to switch between Edward ‘the director’, not at all in character, and Lionel ‘the gumshoe’, in a split second. That’s an amazing talent.” Pope also notes that when acting, Norton had an instinctive relationship with the camera. “You could sense him feeling the placement of the cameras and making the best use of angles, not just for him but for everyone in front of the lens. It was intuitive,” he says. “Motherless Brooklyn turned out to be a very positive experience for me, and I am very proud of my work on this film. Despite the many challenges along the way, I think we all embraced Edward’s vision and put that successfully up on the screen.” n

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CLOSE-UP / STEVE YEDLIN ASC / KNIVES OUT / BY RON PRINCE

CUTTING EDGE

In director Rian Johnson’s highly-acclaimed, Agatha Christie-inspired, murder mystery, Knives Out, a family clashes, a patriarch dies, and a master detective leads an investigation that threatens the family’s dark secrets.

he movie represents Johnson’s fifth collaboration with cinematographer Steve Yedlin ASC following Brick (2005), The Brothers Bloom (2008), Looper (2012) and Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017). “Rian first told me about the Knives Out concept over ten years ago, but wrote the script much nearer to the time of production,” says Yedlin. Neither the director nor the DP had done a ‘Whodunnit?’ before, and Yedlin says he was excited to imagine Johnson’s take on the genre. “Rian has the formidable creative capacity to take a familiar genre and elevate it in a unique way. For Knives Out, he refined his long-time approach to lighting that he calls ‘theatrical realism’, which might sound paradoxical or out-of-context, but the idea is for each scene’s look to be organically motivated yet heightened. And in this case, the story is a balance between a fun/comedic ‘Whodunnit?’ and a dark drama of toxic privilege, that’s mirrored in the photographic balance between lustrous exuberance and noir-ish chiaroscuro.” Principal photography began on October 30, 2018, in and around private mansions in the suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts, before wrapping some 38 shooting days later on December 20th. A variety of sets matching the mansion interiors were constructed and shot on stages nearby. “Rian has a really particular style, honed over the years, and a strong sense of what he wants

62 | British Cinematographer | November 2019

in relation to the storytelling. We tend to use wideish lenses so that we can feel the space around the characters, and we do a lot of pushes-in – sometimes fast, sometimes slow – in a well-tuned dance with the actors. For Knives Out, we designed compound moves that combined dollies, pans and zooms, to follow or heighten evolving action in a thoughtful, Altman-esque sort of way. Some moves helped to grow a sense of tension, some delivered a big reveal.” Yedlin framed Knives Out in 1.85:1 aspect ratio, using Alexa Mini’s fitted with Zeiss Master Prime glass, noting, “you can open those lenses wide and the image doesn’t fall apart.” He also used Panavision PCZ Primo 19-90 and PZW 15-40 Primo zooms, as zooming was an essential part of Johnson’s visual design. Cameras and lenses were supplied by Panavision Hollywood. The production was mainly a two-camera shoot. “On some projects, the interaction between A- and B-cameras can be a frustration,” he says. “But, with Rian’s approach, it’s nothing but a joy. We found some really cool shots, and did fun stuff, like breaking the convention of the tighter camera having closer eyelines and the wider having the looser ones.” The A-camera operator was Yedlin’s regular, Dale Myrand, with Boston local Terence Hayes on B-camera, who also proved helpful in assembling the local crew. The gaffer was Joshua Davis. The second unit DP was Ashley Connor, about whom Yedlin remarks, “Although it was my first time working with her, she fitted right into Rian’s family of collaborators and delivered beautiful work, especially some evocative shots in and around the mansion.” Steve Yedlin ASC Speaking of which, Yedlin remarks, “When I first saw the old, dark mansion during an early

scout, I was struck by the beautiful, natural light coming through the windows, and knew that by subtly augmenting that window light during production we could capture that steely, but magical feel.” When it came to illuminating those scenes, Yedlin combined ARRI SkyPanels with a range of custom-built RGBWW fixtures in various shapes and sizes – 4’x2’ (the type most often used), 4’x4’, and 18”x12” rectangles; as well as 14” scoops – covered with Depron foam sheets to provide diffusion. He was able to match the various fixtures to the natural, and ever-changing, window light by measuring the window light’s chromaticity with a spectrometer and employing self-developed software that could calculate the requisite RGBWW blends to match the target color with the custom fixtures. He says, “Even if the light outside changed, we could always match our fill light to it, giving a gentle look in which the wrapped light matched the environment, instead of looking like artificial augmentation.” Yedlin reveals he never has a DIT involved with image evaluation, and never does any grading on-set either. “Essentially, I use a single show-LUT – based on years of development from data sets on contact printed negative. It has a long shoulder and toe, and delivers colour crossover and more nuanced colour rendition than some popular contemporary looks. It also has more complex saturation in neutral tones, especially on faces, than you get from some off-the-shelf alternatives. I light with my meter, lock-down the look on-set, and try to keep to simple adjustments in the final grade.” Whilst Yedlin’s LUT provided a colour rendition that is reminiscent of a photochemical system, he also collaborated with FotoKem who applied his self-designed algorithms for evoking film’s recognisable grain, halation and gate-weave – all based on his own empirical data collection and computational development. The final grade was done with colourist Aidan Stanford, whose eye for subtlety Yedlin attributes to his roots as a film colour timer. Yedlin has tried to stay ahead of the technology curve since the early days of digital acquisition’s push into cinema. “I’ve gotten super-deep into studying colour science and I develop my own image-processing algorithms for both colour and spatial rendition,” he says. “I’m inspired by, but not a slave to, how photochemical systems have traditionally rendered tones and colours. Things like grain, gate weave and halation can also help to make the image look more artful and less clinical. And for Knives Out, we were able to tailor these algorithms to taste. I am very excited for people to see the movie, and enjoy its amazing twists and turns.” n

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CLOSE-UP / PHEDON PAPAMICHAEL ASC / LE MANS ‘66 / BY TREVOR HOGG

BUILT FOR SPEED

As much as the success of Ford beating Ferrari at the 1966 Le Mans 24Hour Race relied on the partnership of car designer Carroll Shelby and racer Ken Miles, in many ways the same can be said about the collaboration between filmmaker James Mangold and cinematographer Phedon Papamichael ASC, with the duo teaming for a fifth time for the $98m production of Le Mans ’66 (also known as Ford v Ferrari in other territories).

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“I

’ve always admired how Jim is able to get the performances,” states Papamichael. “We have a similar taste in our visuals. It comes naturally. We like close-ups with a wider lens and little push ins.” Most of the story takes place, and was consequently shot, in California, with other locations being New Orleans, Atlanta, Savannah, Statesboro, and Le Mans. “Carroll Shelby’s shop was in Venice, California where he was building and selling Cobras,” remarks Papamichael. “Once he gets approached by Ford and accepts the offer to build the GT40, they moved into a hanger at LAX and were testing the cars on the runway after the last plane left for Tokyo at 1am. We shot that in Ontario Airport but made it LAX. We did go to Le Mans for a one-shoot day when they arrive in the old town of Le Mans and Christian Bale goes to the hotel. All of the pits were built at Agua Dulce, which is an airfield near Los Angeles. The deep backgrounds and crowd stands were created by VFX supervisor Olivier Dumont. The second unit went to Georgia for ten days to do the country road part of the race, but we covered the actors and that all integrates together.” Ten weeks were devoted to preproduction. “I never get to spend much time with Jim because he’s working on the script and casting all the way to the end,” remarks Papamichael. “In his office there was a monitor running Grand Prix (1966, dir. John Frankenheimer, DP Lionel Lindon ASC) on a loop. I did look at the making of Steve McQueen’s Le Mans and several documentaries such as Go Like Hell, and one that dealt with the accidents in the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and 1960s to get a feel for the intensity and brutality ASC el cha ami Pap Phedon of those races. gold Man es Jam ctor dire with

The death toll was extremely high. It wasn’t until Ayrton Senna got killed when they started making these cars safer.” For Le Mans ’66, Papamichael says it was important for the audience to be placed alongside the drivers. “You feel like you’re in the car with them and there are a lot of POVs out of the windshields. It’s less the swooping wraparound. There are no aerial shots. Just like when we shot Walk The Line (2005) when you have Joaquin Phoenix on stage, it was all about being on stage with him, being close to his face, and feeling the intensity of the performance.” Principal photography on Le Mans ’66 commenced on July 30, 2018. “Normally for a budget like this you would have 80 days,” states Papamichael. “We had 63. There’s a lot of cost that goes into building 30 replica cars and keeping them running. But all of the dramatic scenes are covered like a conventional Mangold movie. We rehearse, block the scene and pick the coverage right there on the day without any predesign or storyboards or shot lists.” The mandate was to shoot as much in camera as possible. “You need the previs to break it down into different rigs and speciality equipment. Even with the car scenes we always shoot the piece that was previs, but always roll additional footage. We’re always looking for little happy accidents that become useful in telling the story.” “We had four ARRI Alexa LF camera bodies and needed a lot of lenses because we had a lot of different mounts running simultaneously on the car,” explains Papamichael. “It was important for us to try to do as little as possible on stage and greenscreen with the exception of some specific beats that are extreme close-ups on Christian Bale during the final race. Everything else is hard mounted to the car. The car is sitting on a pod car, which is partially driven by Christian, except for the extreme situations driven by a stunt driver. Christian is being catapulted around

“CHRISTIAN IS BEING CATAPULTED AROUND WITH THE ACTUAL G-FORCES OF GOING INTO THESE CURVES AND ALL OF THE INTERACTIVE LIGHT. IT HELPS WITH THE PERFORMANCE BUT IS ALSO SOMETHING YOU CAN’T FAKE.” PHEDON PAPAMICHAEL ASC with the actual G-forces of going into these curves and all of the interactive light. It helps with the performance but is also something you can’t fake. When we were doing regular dramatic scenes, it was usually two Alexa LF cameras.” Panavision VP of optical engineering, Dan Sasaki, customised a set of C- and T-series Anamorphics to cover the large sensor of the Alexa LF. “There’s an element on the back of the lens called an expander that expands the image as it exits the back of the lens onto the sensor. It’s a beautiful look. We were developing that until the last day of pre-production.” The preference was for wide lenses. “We like to physically move in closer and stay on the wider range of lenses. But in this case, it would mostly translate to 40mm, 50mm and sometimes 65mm.” LED technology was embraced for the production. “For the nightwork I would send up two 360 ARRI SkyPanels on a Condor,” remarks Papamichael. “I’ve also started using movers where, with a remotecontrol, you can isolate specific areas. We were limited with our night schedule because of noise restrictions. The residences near to the airport never allowed us to go past 10pm and it would get dark at 7:45pm. We had to break it up into these tiny sections of shooting as we only had a two-hour window every night. It was tight. I mixed the LEDs with a lot of period practicals that I used in the pits such as basic work lights or lamps on helmets but kept it natural and realistic. The light sources were motivated off of the practicals and interactive light from the cars and headlights. I did make this decision to give the Ferraris yellow headlights and the Fords white headlights. Even when it gets abstract in the

rain at night, you can always quickly identify the Ferraris versus the Fords.” Conveying speed proved to be difficult, especially in the desert environments. “You always need elements to swish by and the closer they are to camera the more effective those are,” observes Papamichael. “But that’s why it helps when you’re wide and physically close to the cars. We had a variety of custom camera cars that could track and sometimes be inches away. The camera is low to the ground so you’re up in the tailpipe and on the tires; that all helps with the sense of speed. We’re not doing actual race speed like Steve McQueen did because he also ended up killing a few drivers. They’re still picture cars whereas the actual race cars that we are portraying in the film cost between $25 to $45 million.” The fill levels, contrast and tonality of the lights were based on the film LUTs modified with DIT Lonny Danler and tweaked further with colourist Skip Kimball at EFilm who handled the DI. “We have our own cocktail for that which is a certain amount of saturation and contrast and grain that we dial in,” states Papamichael. “The racing was shot in Atlanta with weather conditions all over the place. Hopefully, people will be too involved with the drama to be distracted. It’s an

extensive process in the DI because editorially there are a lot of cuts that need to be matched.” The aspect ratio is 2.39:1 with the footage captured ARRIRAW. “I relied on my key grip Ray Garcia, gaffer Michael Bauman, camera operator/Steadicam Scott Sakamoto and camera operator David Luckenbach. Those are the key crew members who I've worked with for many years.” Matt Damon portrays Carroll Shelby and Christian Bale plays Ken Miles. “It’s my third movie with Matt and he’s a real filmmaker,” states Papamichael. “Christian is one of the greatest to watch work. I don’t know when the last time he played an actual Brit. Matt and Christian clicked and had fun together. My favourite sequence is the final time we see Ken Miles drive after Le Mans. There’s a dreamy poetic quality. It was shot out in the desert. We just managed to squeeze it out just before the sunset. There’s such a nice balance between all of the scenes and the characters. Every supporting actor I truly enjoyed. It’s a well-constructed movie and very entertaining because you’re so engaged with the characters.” n

British Cinematographer | November 2019 | 65

CLOSE-UP / DION BEEBE ACS ASC / GEMINI MAN / BY RON PRINCE

DOUBLE VISION

Shooting in native 3D stereo at 4K, and with the ultra-high frame rate of 120fps, for the first time in moviemaking history, director Ang Lee created an immersive and moving experience, dramatising the realities of war in a way that had never been seen previously, for Sony Picture’s Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (2016, DP John Toll ASC).

anting to broaden, enhance and deepen his understanding of this technological approach to storytelling, Lee, a two-time Academy Award winner for Brokeback Mountain (2005) and Life Of Pi (2012), enlisted the cinematographic talents of Dion Beebe ACS ASC for his next venture, Gemini Man. The action-packed thriller sees Henry Brogan, an over-the-hill hit-man, face-off against a younger clone of himself – with the senior and junior characters both played by Will Smith. Beebe, an Oscar-winner himself for Memoirs Of A Geisha (2005), has embraced new techniques previously, including the use of digital high-definition on the neonoir crime thriller Collateral (2004, dir. Michael Mann). “Gemini Man was my first foray into what Ang calls ‘the full shebang’ of high-rez 3D HFR,” says Beebe. “He believes it’s a different medium, with a different perception and different requirements, and I was really curious to collaborate with him on this next voyage of experimentation and discovery into what it can do.” Principal production on Gemini Man – a twocamera shoot in the main, taking place over 100 shooting days – commenced on February 27, 2018, in Glennville, Georgia, followed by location work in the city of Cartagena, Colombia, before moving to Budapest, Hungary, where locations

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included the renowned Széchenyi Thermal Baths. The 3D rigs used on Billy Lynn comprised of dual Sony F65 4K-capable cameras plus unfiltered ARRI Zeiss Master Primes, weighing-in at a cumbersome 100lbs. However, the updated camera package for Gemini Man, developed by stereographer Demetri Portelli and 3D systems engineer Ben Gervais, included a new 3D Stereotec mirror-rig, housing a pair of ARRI Alexa M cameras (shooting at 3.2K ARRIRAW, uprezzed to 4K for post production) fitted with matching pairs of Leitz Summilux and Summicron lenses, delivering a more diminutive size and a reduced 72lb payload. Amongst other benefits, this had the effect of making manoeuvrability a much more manageable proposition this time around, as testified in the many chase and fight sequences in the movie. “The slightly smaller and lighter rig enabled a freeing-up of the camera,” notes Beebe. “Ang had felt some frustration with the size of the earlier rigs, in terms of camera movement, and this new package enabled us, with some clever rigging, to shoot handheld and work the cameras more like a regular genre action movie.” He notes, “Furthermore, the Leitz lenses are very precise and clean. Having a consistent, reliable image across multiple pairs of glass, on two and sometimes three 3D stereo rigs, was huge in mitigating the impact of any corrections needed down-the-line in post.” Beebe is perfectly candid when he says that, “HDR 3D is somewhat confronting and not immediately comfortable when you start watching it. Because of the amount of information you are receiving, plus the lack the motion blur and the lack of darkness between the frames that we have come to associate with

our 24fps viewing experience, HFR is a visceral and vivid experience. “There’s greater clarity, more presence, depth and image detail at 120fps. You can see much more detail and nuances in the actor’s expressions and what the character is feeling. Along with the performances, it also impacts everything else – from the art direction, wardrobe, make-up and hair, right through to the way you move the camera, and especially the lighting. Ang wanted to embrace, control and augment all of this for Gemini Man, rather than trying to soften or tone things down.” In this respect, lighting proved a significant contemplation. “The more I tested, the more I found that the standard approach to lighting – with key/fill ratios and backlights – was not feeling natural at all,” Beebe explains. “So I started to develop the idea of a multi-source keylight, of surrounding the actors with multiple sources that effectively mirror the way we see things with our own eyes in the real world, where we, more-often-than-not, experience direct, soft, bounced and refracted light. “This ‘rethinking’ of lighting – with the ability to switch and adjust the intensity of illumination within a scene – really helped to satisfy the 3D nature of what we were doing. For example, when things fall into complete black you lose the sense of depth and volume in the image. But this approach enabled us to bring texture into the darkened, shadow areas and to retain that sense of volumetric depth.” Whilst 24fps production has been perfected over the course of more than 100 years, 120fps remains an evolving approach that Lee has only begun to explore, and Beebe expects other creators will eventually follow suit in unlocking the aesthetic mysteries of HFR 3D. “Although 24fps represents the idea and the emotion of cinema for older generations filmmakers and audiences, there is a new wave, especially in video gaming, who are far more familiar with viewing content at higher frame rates. It’s not unusual for gamers to play at 120fps or even 240fps. “Along with that growing visual familiarity, both Ang and myself believe HFR 3D will get easier and easier, in terms of the techniques and technologies in production and post. I was blown away by the visual, visceral results we achieved on Gemini Man, and really believe that 3D HFR will continue to play a part in our exploration of what it means to create digital cinema.” n

Dion Beebe ACS ASC

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CLOSE-UP / GEORGE STEEL / THE AERONAUTS

IN THE CLOUDS

Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones, co-stars of The Theory Of Everything, were reunited for director Tom Harper's adventure-drama, The Aeronauts, about a historic balloon expedition in 1862.

riskly told in something very close to real time, this Amazon escapade, scheduled for theatrical and streaming release, is a bracing tale of scientific and personal endeavour. Headstrong scientist James Glaisher and wealthy young widow Amelia Wren mount a pioneering balloon expedition to fly higher than anyone in history. As their perilous ascent reduces their chances of survival, the unlikely duo soon discover things about themselves – and one another – that help both of them find their place in the world. “The initial excitement of telling the story quickly turned to ‘how the heck are we going to do that?’” recalls the show’s cinematographer George Steel. “The film is set in a balloon at 35,000 feet. That was a challenge.” Steel is a frequent collaborator with Harper on shows such as the BBC TV drama War and Peace and Peaky Blinders, as well as the feature Wild Rose. The filmmakers chose Red’s DSMC2 camera with the Monstro sensor to capture all the high-flying action.

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“Tom (who co-wrote the script with Jack Thorne) was adamant he didn’t want it to be as fantastical as Around The World In 80 Days, particularly with a flashback structure where we needed to understand the period context for the flight,” notes the cinematographer. To ground the account in the realm of reality, rather than fairy-tale, the filmmakers considered shooting on a glacier at the top of a mountain. “We would have hung the balloon on a crane,” explains Steel. “It’s very hard to replicate altitude and the outdoors in a studio, but when we found out we had ten weeks for principal photography, we went back to the drawing board.” A lengthy pre-production period involved all hands on deck, including the first AD, the production design, VFX and special FX teams, as well as the director and cinematographer. “It was one of the most rewarding experiences of my filmmaking career,” Steel says. “Everyone was working out how we were going to do this.” He adds, “We wanted to hold on to the DP George Steel (r) with notion of shooting as much in-camera as we director Tom Harper (l) could. With the amount of VFX, we were wary of making the look too modern, which wouldn’t

sell the time period. It was a juggling act between fantasy and documentary.” Accordingly, production itself had one foot in the air and one on terra firma. They built a life-size replica of the original hydrogen balloon and flew it with Redmayne and Jones aboard (along with a stunt co-ordinator and pilot) from an Oxfordshire airfield to capture air-to-air pictures from a helicopter. In the film, one shot from the helicopter (filmed by Flying Pictures’ cinematographer Adam Dale, piloted by Marc Wolff) depicts the characters in the wicker basket as a VFX shot of 1862 London unfolds beneath them. For the balloon’s take-off from the perspective of its basket – with Steel and the actors aboard – it was rigged to a crane and extended 200-feet into the air. Then at West London’s LH2 Studios, on a 100 x 100ft bluescreen stage rigged for 360-degree shooting, the production’s main set was an 8 x 8ft basket that could be raised 35ft and lowered as the story went through different phases of flight. The basket was designed to tip and shake as the actors moved and their weight redistributed to mimic real motion. “Sailing in a balloon is remarkably serene,” says Steel. “There's such a smooth movement that we worried the VFX shots would look too clean.” Attention to detail included the special effect of a cold box to chill the temperature just enough to capture the actor’s breath. A complicated lighting setup circled the basket rig for Steel to populate with a variety of light sources depending on the scene and enabling him to shoot from any angle. “The main thing for us was light direction – where was it coming from, and how to match background plates that were yet to be built,” Steel notes. “Our camera view was such that as the balloon rises higher, the light becomes harder, so we had to use a number of different types of fixtures.”

Steel constructed a chart of colour temperatures and softness for fixtures including SkyPanel LEDs, and HMI and Tungsten Molebeams, and an LRX remote head. “In theory we journey from multiple light sources to a singular source while also accounting for time of day,” he continues. “We start with softer colours – light blues. Then we breach clouds and enter storms. As you rise higher, the light pollution lessens and the light is harder, like looking out of a plane window. Then we’re high above the clouds at the top of the world where light has a space-like quality. Lastly, we reverse that for the descent.” Working from VFX plates shot of skies in New Orleans and South Africa, lead VFX vendor Framestore created a visualisation of the skyscape. Using an iPad, Steel could pan 360-degrees around the studio and see the comped-in backgrounds animated on the bluescreen in real time. “That was incredibly useful,” he notes. “We knew, for example, that when we’re at a certain point, the sun is in a certain position, and when we’re about to enter a cloud, the colour temp needed to be ‘X.’” Different climatic conditions mean different light settings, but doing that with HMI means loss of colour temperature with every change. “Panalux came up with an ingenious box that we could place in front of the light and fill with smoke,” Steel relates. “As we filled it, the light changed and it felt like you were going into

a cloud. You could almost see the edge of the cloud on the actor’s face. We also experimented with different colours of smoke, for instance, to convey a snowstorm. “That homemade Heath Robinson-style invention is what I love about moviemaking. The whole thing is a grand illusion.” Aerial tests from the balloon helped Steel determine his lens, camera package and shooting style. Steel shot in 8K RecCode RAW compressed at 7:1. The Red’s compact body helped with the need to go handheld in the confines of the basket with the actors. “I actually think it is the camera Red has gotten right,” Steel observes. “The full-frame sensor really captures colour in clarity and detail, and its ability to capture skin tone is extraordinary. We tested alongside other digital cameras and 35mm film and it was the format that, when we put it to a blind test, people reacted most favourably to.” Clean air images in the skies contrasted with the dirtier environs of period London. “Here, we softened the image with a bit of grain, and I used diffusion to take the edge off the image,” he notes. During tests in the balloon, Steel discovered something odd about depth-of-field. “It’s almost unnatural how the focus falls off when 3,000 feet in the air. We found that a base of about 5 to 6 stops enabled us to shoot close-up and have enough fall off to see the background.”

Scenes in the basket were predominantly on 24mm glass, with some scenes utilising a super-wide 14mm lens. He tried Leitz and a set of Zeiss glass before settling on Panavision Primo 70s. “The Primos give a very sharp but not too harsh picture,” Steel remarks. “The fall-off from focus is gentle and smooth, and had that slightly 3D feeling. More importantly, our focus pullers liked them.” The decision to shoot spherical with Anamorphic Panavision G Series lenses on the flashbacks was made early-on, since a version of the film being made for IMAX in territories such as the UK has a dual aspect ratio. These scenes start 2.39:1 and open to 1.85:1 as the balloon rises into the sky’s wider vistas. Steel designed just one LUT, which DIT Tom Gough would run through Pomfort’s LiveGrade to manage the colour workflow on-set. “With 666 VFX shots, the files would be transformed and converted multiple times from RAW to EXR, so we wanted to keep the procedure as simple as possible,” says Steel. On seeing a screening of the film, Steel concludes, “When I watched the finished picture, I found myself carried away by the story and at moments wondering how that was ever possible. It was amazing. I felt like I was in the clouds.” n

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mole.com/20k-led British Cinematographer | November 2019 | 69

CLOSE-UP / PIOTR SOBOCIŃSKI JR PSC / CORPUS CHRISTI / BY DAREK KUŹMA Piotr Sobociński Jr, PSC

COLOURS OF FAITH

After forging for himself a reputation of one of the leading Polish cinematographers, Piotr Sobociński Jr PSC is on the fast track to astonish the world. Jan Komasa’s internationally applauded Corpus Christi is all the proof you need.

orpus Christi is a tale of a strong-in-faith juvenile delinquent Daniel who, in an ironic twist of fate, assumes the identity of a priest in a small parish. The film does not attempt to court religious controversy, but instead tackles themes of spiritual longing, forgiveness and communal catharsis. As a result of its subtlety and visual flair, it stands out among the impressive crop of new Polish films. When establishing the film’s look in prep, Komasa and Sobociński Jr, who had known each other since high school but never met professionally on a feature film, opted for elegance and nuance. “My previous projects were shot mostly handheld – the camera breathed with the characters, externalised their thoughts, and provided the viewers with quite an erratic emotional understanding of the story. Corpus Christi’s subject matter begged for a different approach,” explains Sobociński Jr. “We ultimately devised a style composed of static, carefully-framed shots, which may seem less impassioned, but they offer a richer, more textured experience altogether.” That said, there are two frenetic handheld sequences depicting Daniel torn between divergent worlds that eclipse his life. The first one opens the film and the second closes it, making for a clever framing device that welcomes the audience to share the protagonist’s journey. But Corpus Christi is characterised by a different feel. “We aimed at creating a quiet, measured rhythm to the story that would invite cinemagoers to reach deep within. By decreasing

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the energy of camera movement, we wanted people to have time to reflect on the story, the actors, the detailed production design, the way light defines the characters. Something akin to a cinematic prayer.” This is not the only way Corpus Christi mirrors the contemplative aura of mature faith, though the film’s emotional core resides in Daniel’s transformation from a disoriented individual to a spiritual leader for a community that needs healing. “When he arrives in the town, seemingly out of nowhere, it’s early spring, it’s beautiful and ugly at the same time; the greens are a bit earthy, the nature seems cold and distant,” says Sobociński Jr. “After a while, when he begins to change the community from within, everything gets saturated, the light is more painterly, the colours more hopeful.” The film was shot entirely on location in Lesser Poland, as well as in and around Warsaw, from May to June 2018. Thus it was not easy capturing the nature coming to life after its winter’s sleep, but Sobociński Jr did not feel the need to cover himself with CGI. And besides, he reminisces that the project’s greatest challenge was to stay modest. “With so many visually layered shots we could’ve gone full award-mode and stylise the heck out of each frame, but the trick was to stay as natural and neutral as possible. And at the same time, to create the tension and atmosphere on a subconscious level.” It was the main character’s actions that defined the lighting schemes. “In some church scenes, we had a complicated system of HMI, Tungsten lights and a number of LED panels on

each window, but only to enhance how Daniel’s words and attitude make light re-enter the visual blandness of the traumatized community,” Sobociński Jr explains. “He is synonymous with light, he brings it to others while it defines his evolving inner state. Because the camera doesn’t move, such details matter, even if they aren’t consciously noticed.” The cinematographer states that both he and Komasa did not use visual references, except one. “We were influenced by the places we went to, the interiors we redecorated – like the presbytery that was shot in a beautiful wooden house in which, together with production designer Marek Zawierucha, we varied the colour palette and expanded its spatiality for the purpose of framing. Nevertheless, for its overall mood we looked at the works of Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi whose stark, subdued interiors had some interesting colours as well as poetic quality to them. We needed this place to have a character of its own.” To achieve the desired look Sobociński Jr used Alexa Mini equipped with Master Anamorphic lenses. “Due to the limited area we had in our presbytery we needed every centimetre of space in the frame, and Alexa Mini is great for that, whilst Master Anamorphics combine numerous features of Anamorphic and spherical lenses. They gave me the necessary focal length without tricks and distortions. I didn’t want to use popular vintage Anamorphic lenses that tend to display their imperfections, because it would give a certain style and I wanted to stay invisible.” Those choices were a crucial factor in post, which was done at the Warsaw-based DI Factory. Though the film is set in Poland, its themes are universal. The proof came at the 2019 Venice Film Festival where Corpus Christi won the Label Europa Cinemas Award, just before getting rave reviews at Toronto. It was also announced as Poland’s official entry for the 2020 Academy Awards. An incredible accomplishment for a small, intricately designed film with a beautiful message that was not taken for granted a couple of months ago. “I am very proud of this film and I’m hoping it will continue to make waves around the world, says Sobociński Jr. “As a cinematographer, I am interested in projects that are not mere entertainment. We spent hundreds of hours with Janek [Komasa] on refining this one. Now, I’m ready for more. If there are challenges waiting out there, I say: come and try me!” n

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CLOSE-UP / JARIN BLASCHKE / THE LIGHTHOUSE

ALL AT SEA

Captured on Kodak B&W 35mm film, the stormy storytelling and captivatingly beautiful cinematography in director Robert Eggers’ gripping period feature, The Lighthouse, wowed reviewers at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.

he film went on to win the prestigious FIPRESCI Prize, awarded by professional film critics, and the creation of its distinctive, weather-beaten visual signature is quite a tale in itself. The spooky story of The Lighthouse is set on a small, barren, isolated island off the Maine coastline in 1890s, and explores the increasingly maddening relationship between a junior lighthouse keeper (Robert Pattinson), who has a dubious past, and his superior (Willem Dafoe). The film was written by the director and Max Eggers, with cinematography by Jarin Blaschke, a long-time collaborator on Robert Eggers’ various short films, before they shot the highly-acclaimed, mid-17thcentury, supernatural horror film, The Witch (2015). The exteriors of the film, and a small number

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of house interiors, were shot on Cape Forchu, the south-western extremity of Nova Scotia. The entire lighthouse and outbuildings were built from scratch, avoiding line of sight of an existing lighthouse, built in the 1960s. The upstairs set was built within an aircraft hangar nearby in Yarmouth. Most of the water work was shot in a large, emergency-responder’s training pool, capable of generating waves in varying sizes and patterns, located near Halifax. The remaining interiors, including the tall lighthouse interior, were built and shot in two large industrial spaces in Halifax. Principal photography began on April 9, 2018, and was initially planned to run for 31 days. However, due to the complexity of the shoot, paired with the erratic nature of unforgiving conditions on Cape Forchu, the schedule gradually expanded to 35 days. “I first heard about Rob’s concept for The Lighthouse during production well before the funding of The Witch,” says Blaschke. “From its most nascent beginnings, years before it was written, Rob knew The Lighthouse had to be unapologetically B&W, with a boxy aspect ratio. We shared ideas in fragments over time, and the film slowly grew on our respective back burners.”

From the get-go, Eggers wanted a 1.33:1 aspect ratio, due to the confined spaces, the limited number of characters and the vertical orientation of the lighthouse itself. However, upon what Blaschke recalls as a “flippant remark” about the obscure aspect ratio of 1.19:1, which existed very briefly during the transition to sound filmmaking, things changed. “I teased Rob about how 1.19:1 would really satisfy what he was after,” says Blaschke. “Surprisingly and enthusiastically, he took to this idea. The Lighthouse became 1.19:1, and he started drinking-up what films he could find in that format.” There proved to be a few useful examples, including a French WW1 film that takes place in a claustrophobic mine. But what really changed things was the most famous 1.19:1 film of all: Fritz Lang’s M (1931, DP Fritz Arno Wagner), the story of how criminals join in a manhunt when the city police are unable to catch a child-murderer. “Watching that, I found a very modern film with surprising camera movement but more importantly: a modern, creative mastery in how visual information was withheld from the audience, how information was rewarded, and when,” says Blaschke. “With this new inspiration, I felt there was a highly-effective framework for me to express myself visually. Stepping away from a mere 19th-century emulation, we were on to something more surprising and layered.” As the story takes place in the 1890s, Blaschke also began thinking early-on about how he could evoke a transportive texture and palette, beyond being simply B&W, and thereby create an aesthetic that would become the visual signature of The Lighthouse. “Two primary ideas emerged,” he says. “The first was the unsurpassed tonal range and ‘liquid’ look of a special class of developer (pyrogallol) that had its heyday at the turn of the century. The other was the hard tonal

ke (l) and DP Jarin Blasch gers (r) rt Eg director Robe

“I TEASED ROB ABOUT HOW 1.19:1 WOULD REALLY SATISFY WHAT HE WAS AFTER. SURPRISINGLY AND ENTHUSIASTICALLY, HE TOOK TO THIS IDEA.” JARIN BLASCHKE rendition of orthochromatic film, which exaggerates skin texture, atmospheric haze and brightens skies. This is because orthochromatic film can’t ‘see’ red light: ultraviolet and blue light are rendered quite light, whilst orange and red colours, such as skintones, are rendered darker. I realised that this would give a specific B&W tonal signature that would transport the viewer right to our period setting. Although the film developer idea didn’t work out this time, we were able to accomplish a very good orthochromatic look through unique filtration.” During prep, Blaschke started by testing digital footage and colour negative film (Kodak Vision 3 5219 500T), both desaturated in post, alongside Kodak B&W Double-X 5222 panchromatic negative. Introduced in 1959, by Eastman Kodak, Double-X 5222 was used to create the moody intensity on many Hollywood features, such as Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull (1980, DP Michael Chapman ASC) and Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List (1993, DP Janusz Kaminski ASC). “The results confirmed my hunch, that nothing approached the palette we were after quite like B&W negative film,” says Blaschke. “Rob and I saw that the blottier, murkier qualities of Double-X better-suited our misty, salty, visually-distressed film.” Working with Panavision, Blaschke requested to see any “off menu” vintage lenses. The result of his investigations yielded a set of original Baltars designed in the 1930s. “The vintage Baltars were the most shimmery of the bunch I tested, and really were the most stunning portrait lenses I have ever seen,” he says. “The highlights really glowed, but stopped just short of heavy-handedness. Optics like these could add a layer of complexity on top of our hard orthochromatic look to pull people into the world of the film.” Soon after, Blaschke immersed himself in testing and researching which filters could best emulate a blue-green sensitive, orthochromatic look using the panchromatic Double-X 5222 film. “If I was to rate the Double-X at 160 ISO with a 1/2 stop pull, I needed a filter that would cost us one stop, tops,” he explains. “Looking online I found scientific ‘short pass’ filters, which seemed to be exactly what we needed: they freely pass all light from ultraviolet up until mid-yellow, then plummet to opaque for orange, red and infrared light. However, I eventually learned that these filters were not manufactured larger than a 39mm diameter, and thus impractical in the field. “Fortunately, Mike Carter at Panavision saved us by connecting me with Ron Engvaldsen of Schneider optics, who was able to custom-manufacture

hard-cut, short pass filters to my exact specifications, that would cost me fractionally less than a stop.” During production, on-set, Blaschke necessarily had to pay close attention to the lighting. The lighting package was supplied by William F White in Halifax. “Because I was effectively shooting the Double-X at 80ASA, and I like bounced light for day interior effects, we took most of the large HMIs in eastern Canada,” he says. “Outside all the small, active windows, I laid giant panoramas of muslin cloth, effectively creating a white cyclorama, and filled it as evenly as I could with as many conventional 18K and ARRI M-series 9K HMIs as we could get. “I would make some parts of our white cyc brighter or dimmer to focus the light where it was needed. The working stop was almost always a rigid T2.8 in these controlled environments. If you stepped outside the sets, where the lights were working, it was absolutely blinding.” Blaschke says night scenes were a new experience for him, partially because of the reduced film speed (they were 50 or 80ISO, depending on the scene), but also because Double-X has much less shadow latitude than contemporary film and digital formats. This meant he could not always rely on natural, environmental return as often as he was used to, and that “active” fill light was frequently needed. Night exteriors used HMIs, but night interior lighting was based around the keeper’s lanterns, which would only fit a halogen bulb. Of course, tungsten and halogen light contains less blue light and more red, which means that the orthochromatic filter was cutting a greater proportion of its output. “Testing revealed that I lost an additional 2/3 stop in these Tungsten situations, forcing me to light for 50ISO on night interiors,” he says. “Instead of lighting actors to 3 foot-candles with a highspeed lens, I was lighting them to 100 to 200 footcandles with a 2.8 lens.”

Film processing on The Lighthouse was done at Fotokem in Los Angeles. The final DI was completed at Harbor in New York by colourist and company founder Joe Gawler, who brought his expertise to the film, helping Blaschke immensely with the peculiarities of Double-X and marrying together a few other elements from other media used. “From our tests against more proximate B&W labs, Fotokem performed the best, safest, cleanest processing by far,” says Blaschke. “So, we shipped our film to Burbank every day or two throughout production. I gave 2/3 stop more exposure to the Double-X than its box speed of 250ISO, and pulled the film by 1/2 stop in order to straighten the characteristic curve and increase whatever latitude I could with a film stock that has been unaltered since 1959. “Tonally, the contrast that is restored by printing always looks better than forcing tones into the toe and shoulder of the negative. I would have gone further with a one-stop pull, but I was struggling with light levels as it was. The 1930s lenses needed at least a T2.8 to perform reasonably and after our filtration I was working at ISO 50 to 80, depending on the light source.” Blaschke concludes: “I am a big proponent of film – I would shoot nearly everything on film if I could – and Rob is even more-so after our experience on The Lighthouse. The Double-X we used is wildly different from contemporary colour film, but what it does share, though, is a physical presence in the image. With film, there is the tonal depth of how things look in life. But there’s more: film delivers the magical effect of transporting you somewhere else, to the unmistakable world of the movies.” n

British Cinematographer | November 2019 | 73

SPOTLIGHT / MBSINNOVATIONS / BY KEVIN HILTON

MOST ILLUMINATING

nnovation in product development is a priority for lighting manufacturers. Increasingly it is also important for rental companies, which are not only aiming to build up and service a client base but also provide technology that best suits the needs of specific productions. As a relative newcomer to a competitive and growing market, Pinewood MBS Lighting has made R&D a core part of its operation and is part of a technology-based ‘think tank’ to help it design and develop new products. MBSinnovations (MBSi) is intended to help MBS companies work with the industry to come up with different approach to lights. “MBSi is looking primarily at lighting, power, systems and so on,” says Darren Smith, managing director of Pinewood MBS. “But it can also encompass our operational procedures and the more day-to-day aspects of our business. Our general goal is produce creative solutions for filmmakers.” MBSinnovations works across all members of the MBS group of companies; specific developments that have emerged through the Pinewood MBS side of the initiative are the proprietary, custom-made PMSB LV-5 LED driver and a super-silent mobile power source used for the company’s location truck fleet. Pinewood MBS’s technical team, under technical director Steve Howard, has also produced several lighting systems, including the LEDtrix LED panels, LED ribbons for inset installation and the Brute Force, a collaboration with manufacturer Chroma-Q. Founded in early 2015, Pinewood MBS came about through a partnership between the Pinewood Studios group and the MBS Equipment Company. Smith explains that the initial remit was to provide lighting, grip and rigging systems for productions being shot at both Pinewood and Shepperton.

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“We immediately invested in huge quantities of lighting equipment, both the very latest low-energy and LED technologies as well as traditional sources,” he comments. “We also made sure we assembled the best possible team to support our clients.” Smith continues that the substantial investment in both stock and personnel established a resource that soon was able to service ‘off lot’ productions. “This has included locations across the UK, Europe and further afield,” Smith says. “It has evolved through demand and relationships, but we had to do it slowly and cautiously so it didn’t have an adverse effect on the services we provide at Pinewood and Shepperton.” Before helping set up Pinewood MBS Smith was sales director at Panalux UK, where he worked with Steve Howard. Smith says the aim of Howard, his technical team and the company as a whole, is to investigate “the possibilities of future tech”, whilst at the same time ensuring the existing product ranges go through the maintenance, repair and testing regimes to ensure they remain in good working order. “A lot of our product development is a direct result of strong working partnerships we have forged with crews around the world,” Smith comments. “Production requirements are constantly evolving but the product development team has not only technical expertise but also an understanding of the industry. The aim is to use all that to produce innovative products and techniques of our own.” As with other developers and rental houses, there is particular focus on LED. This area of research at Pinewood MBS has resulted in the recently introduced LEDtrix range of full colour LED panels, which are compact and feature wireless control. A different application of LED technology can be found in the MBSi LV series of in-set ribbon fixtures, which includes the HDR

5 colour flex. “LED ribbons cannot, as yet, provide the consistent levels of illumination required for a largescale film set,” Smith says, “but products, such as the LEDtrix range, are becoming available that can light up smaller studio spaces. These can be particularly useful in location situations where power, access and space may be limited.” Pinewood MBS has also collaborated with commercial manufacturer Chroma-Q to develop what is described as an LED alternative to the quarter Wendy Light. The Brute Force was developed jointly by the technical teams of both companies and is a full-colour LED RGB-W lamp head. “Unlike other proprietary products the Brute Force is being made available industry-wide through Chroma-Q,” Smith explains. Among recent productions Pinewood MBS has worked on are Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker (2019, DP Dan Mindel BSC ASC), Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil (2019, DP Henry Braham BSC) and upcoming Bond film No Time To Die (2020, DP Linus Sandgren FSF ASC). “Every production presents its own unique set of challenges,” Smith observes. “We try to be ready for these by either investing in a particular fixture – or fixtures – or by working with gaffers and crews to design and develop new products for a specific purpose.” An example of the latter situation is an unnamed Marvel production, whose gaffer, David Smith, needed something that could only be produced through specific, custom development. The result was the four-foot and eight-foot Aquabat, which has become Pinewood MBS’s latest product. “It was evident there was not something that could effectively fulfill David’s needs,” Smith says. “It would have meant him using less efficient, less costeffective fixtures that would have cost the production more in both equipment rental and labour. The Aquabat gave David what he needed and was a cheaper solution than any other alternative.” Pinewood MBS is continuing to look at lowenergy light sources – and is recognised by the BAFTA Albert sustainability scheme – as well as LEDs. “The improvements in the performance of lights of this type have led to them becoming a viable alternative to some traditional fixtures,” Smith says. As for the future he concludes, “There are exciting times ahead and we are looking forward to introducing new products and expand our service offering, both of which will continue to help the evolution of the company.” n

FINISHING POST / HARBOR / BY MICHAEL BURNS

HOLISTIC APPROACH

n 2012, Zak Tucker, Joe Gawler and Theo Stanley launched The Harbor Picture Company in New York, as an independent studio crafting premium content for the feature film, episodic, and advertising industries. Today, it has expanded to include additional facilities in LA and London, offering a wide array of live-action, dailies, creative and offline editorial, design, animation, VFX, CG, sound and picture finishing. “Harbor was founded as a home for moving image creativity at the forefront of the digital media era, disrupting a fragmented approach to filmmaking by bringing together all production and post-production disciplines under one roof – a unified process allowing for total creative control,” says Tucker. “We focused relentlessly on artistry, execution and the creative experience. We knew we were the underdogs competing against the two established companies that dominated the feature film and television post-production landscape. So, our artist talent had to be second to none. Our execution had to be flawless, on budget, and on schedule. No excuses. No second chances. And we had to deliver a client creative experience that surpassed those of our mainstay competitors. “As acquisition fully and rapidly transitioned from analogue to digital, we had an opportunity to offer clients a multi-craft offering of set-to-screen services, all under one roof, and in that way re-imagine the siloed, linear approach to filmmaking of the past that our more traditional competitors were continuing to practice,” Tucker continues. “We saw the creative potential we could offer our clients if we were able to deliver on that next generation, holistic approach. We were willing to put in the hours and energy to execute at the highest level. Our clients could always reach us – we made a point of getting back to them instantly. They knew we cared and that we would unwaveringly protect their creative vision and execution.” In 2017, the Publicis Groupe acquired Harbor. The facility’s portfolio and reach expanded significantly, allowing it to serve entertainment and advertising genres independently as well as work on cross-genre productions. Global offering Tucker, co-Founder and president of Harbor, says the company allows filmmakers “to work non-linearly and iterate across picture and sound phases in real-time, always at full fidelity, supported by state-of-the-art facilities, and world-class engineering.” With Harbor’s New York operation growing its talent roster and Soho NY footprint to six locations, the company has also expanded to Los Angeles and to the UK, with bases in London and Windsor. “Harbor’s expansion to the UK was long envisioned as part and parcel of a strategy to support our filmmaker and studio clients wherever they need us,” says Tucker. “With brick and mortar studios in New

York and Los Angeles, London would be the final piece in Close relationships establishing Harbor in the three major global production “Our dailies and DI colourists work in lockstep with centres. But, as always, we know that having the right DPs during the pre-production and ideation phases people would be the key to success. So, we waited until to develop custom looks for each production,” says the key leadership and talent became available in the UK. Tucker. “Then, during production, our colourists maintain Then, we readily took the decision to move forward.” fulsome, daily communication with the cinematographer James Corless, commercial director, and Thom to make sure the envisioned look is being achieved. Berryman, operations director, are spearheading the To accommodate the DP’s schedule, our colourists will new UK presence, following distinguished careers at often get early pre-conforms, and present looks and Pinewood Studios, supporting clients such as Disney, graded scenes to the DP long ahead of the DI, so that Netflix, Paramount, Sony, Marvel and Lucasfilm. the DP has the necessary creative time to audition looks, “Harbor presents such an exciting opportunity,” says and in that way delinearise the colour grading process. Corless. “What they’ve achieved in New York and now “We relentlessly innovate,” he continues. “We Los Angeles, is testament to their approach, talent and have an openness to listen to filmmakers and producers ethos, and that offers so much potential for a new facility to develop workflows unique to their productions. We in London, and I believe it’s one that clients will embrace.” embrace science projects rather than trying to force Currently, Harbor UK is focused on in-lab filmmakers into stale ways of working.” and near-set dailies services as well as offering the company’s proprietary real-time storage and automated Colour Parade VFX pull platform, Anchor. Among the many films finished at Harbor was Quentin Facilities include set-to-screen post-production Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time in Hollywood. Veteran encompassing dailies (near-set and in-lab), offline colourist Yvan Lucas had previously worked with editorial (on premises and near-set), VFX (beauty, cleancinematographer Robert Richardson on Tarantino’s up, 2D, CG), sound post (editorial, ADR, mix – 5.1, Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight. Dailies and DI 7.1, ATMOS, IMAX), picture post (colour grading and colourist Elodie Echter graded the digital dailies to match mastering), as well as all of the theatrical, episodic, and the film dailies timed each day by Lucas. The grading was streaming deliverables. done on the Filmlight Daylight platform so that the very “The UK team continues Harbor’s strategy specific dailies grades required by Richardson could be of offering bespoke talent, workflows and budget seamlessly transferred into the Baselight for DI. appropriate solutions to our theatrical and episodic Other films finished at Harbor include: The clients,” Tucker says. “Being located in Windsor offers Lighthouse (dir. Robert Eggers, DP Jarin Blaschke) excellent proximity to many of the London sound stages graded by Joe Gawler; Midsommar (dir. Ari Aster, DP for their dailies needs. Harbor UK looks to connect Pawel Pogorzelski) and and Triple Frontier (dir. J.C. Harbor’s services to its global clients who often need Chandor, DP Roman Vasyanov), both graded by Gawler multi-geography support to bring their projects to and Roman Hankewycz. n fruition, often times shooting in several locations and needing to accomplish post in other locations. The new Los Angeles studio supports five grading theatres for feature film, episodic Zak Tucker and commercial productions, offering private connectivity to Harbor NY and Harbor UK, with real-time colour-grading sessions, VFX reviews and options to conform and final deliver in any location.

Harbor gran d stage

British Cinematographer | November 2019 | 75

GAFFERS ‘R’ US / JONATHAN SPENCER / BY DAVID WOOD

SHINING A LIGHT ON

JONATHAN SPENCER

Age: 44 | Born: Norwich, Norfolk Education: Broadland High School and West Herts College Passions: Family, Chelsea FC, the gym, cooking and life! Selected filmography (as gaffer, unless otherwise stated):

Untitled Game of Thrones Prequel (TV Movie) His House (2019) Waiting For The Barbarians (chief lighting technician) (2019) Angel Has Fallen (2019) Spider-Man: Far From Home (gaffer: 2nd unit) (2019) Johnny English Strikes Again (2018) Hard Sun (TV Mini-Series) (gaffer - 6 episodes) (2018) Murder On The Orient Express (gaffer: second unit) (2017) American Assassin (chief lighting technician) 2017 Pirates Of The Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge (gaffer: additional photography) (2017) Harlots (TV Series) (gaffer - 3 episodes) (2017) Ghost In The Shell (2017) The Sense Of An Ending (2016) Spectral (chief lighting technician) (2016) Pete’s Dragon (chief lighting technician) (2016) London Town (2015) Spooks: The Greater Good (2015) Mr. Holmes (2014) The Face Of An Angel (gaffer: UK) (2013) The Face (TV Series) (gaffer - 2 episodes) (2013) The Look Of Love (2012) Tower Block (2012) Cleanskin (2011) Will (electrician) (2011) Hugo (electrician) (2011)

How did you get started? I started at BSkyB in 1998, learning the basics of lighting in a typical TV studio setting, before going freelance as an electrician and jenny op. Going freelance in 2004, I learnt about new kit, different settings and, more importantly, I learnt from experienced crew around me. I started working as a gaffer in 2010.

The downside of the role I am ambitious and have a passion for the job, but being a successful gaffer has its downsides. The hours are demanding and projects can take you far from home, so there are sacrifices to make. But, I am lucky to have a supportive family who understand the impacts the job can sometimes have. Learning on the job Working with so many different talented people on a number of different projects from TV drama to music promos/commercials and features, I find I learn something new on every job, and hone my own style along the way. The power of networking I am always keen to attend networking events to meet other gaffers because there is always something you can learn from your peers. And I find you learn a tremendous amount from working with different DPs. I have had the pleasure of working with some of the best including Chris Menges BSC ASC, Tobias Schliessler ASC, Jo Willems ASC SBC, Karl Walter Lindenlaub BVK ASC, Bojan Bazelli ASC, Enrique Chediak ASC, Jess Hall BSC ASC, Florian Hoffmeister BSC, Chris Ross BSC and Balasz Bolygo BSC HSC and have learnt from each and every one of them.

p Working with Johnny Dep arians. on Waiting For The Barb lio Giu Di Photo: Fabrizio

gaffer, Jason Martin, and best boy, Darren Harvey, have always been there, supporting me in the tough moments. One of the best parts of the job is working with a team where you are all on the same wavelength and have each other’s backs. My current desk operative is Andy Waddington and with the amount of new technology in film lighting this position has become more important than ever. Keeping it in the family, my son, Jordan Spencer, has been influential in looking after the floor shooting carts to keep us moving quickly on-set, which is essential with such tight schedules. Biggest challenge? Waiting For The Barbarians (DP Chris Menges BSC ASC) was a very tough shoot. There were some real challenges around dealing with a limited budget shooting in Morocco (not the easiest of locations). I was unable to take my usual team and using local crew made things trickier because of the language barrier. I had to be flexible and adapt my approach to get the best out of them and ensure the job ran as smoothly as possible. But Chris understood the difficulties, which also helped.

Most difficult lighting job? I think every project has its moments – but I encourage my team to think outside the box at these times. One of the most difficult sets I have ever had to light was on Spectral (DP Bojan Bazelli ASC) in Budapest. The set had already been built and it was about a foot away from the top of the stage. It was also filled with three foot of water! We had to achieve an F-stop to shoot at 1000fps for a few shots. Working with Bojan, we created the lighting by using a selection of hybrid balloons and 20K Fresnels, which were directed into bounces on i-beams of which we Who are your regular crew? could roll in and out. The electrical riggers had to abseil to I truly believe that you are only as good as your parts of the set to rig lamps that weren’t accessible. team, and over the last few years my rigging Working again with Bojan on the feature Pete’s Dragon in New Zealand, we had a couple of locations where the only way to get kit in was via helicopter, which had its difficulties, but Toughest lighting job... these were overcome by the talented Spectral (DP Bojan Bazelli pilots and lighting technicians. ASC ) in Budapest. Photo: Jonathan Spence r

Which projects are you most proud of? They are all memorable, but I will always have fond memories of shooting Mr Holmes - my first real break on a movie. I got to work with Tobias Schliessler ASC, who I learned so much from on this project. I really look up to Tobias who has mentored and supported me from that point in my career to date. Pete’s Dragon in New Zealand was a new experience. 76 | British Cinematographer | November 2019

On set with Chris Menges ASC on Waiting For The Barb BSC arians. Photo: Fabrizio Di Giulio

This was the first time I had visited New Zealand let alone work there. It was fun working with a new team and adapting to their style of working and adjusting to working in a different environment. Is there anybody in film who particularly inspires you? Chris Menges BSC ASC on Waiting For The Barbarians. His passion for filmmaking is clear to see and it’s infectious. His discipline and work ethic on-set just made me want to work harder and harder to achieve my goals. I understand why Chris is one of the best... he is a true legend! What are your favoured or trusted bits of kit? I have become a bit of an LED fan over the years, simply because of its flexibility and quickness. I like the lightweight Litemat’s and Litetiles, and I’m also a big fan of the Digital Sputnik range. But when it comes to skin tones then you can’t beat Tungsten. I’d love to light an all-Tungsten project in the near future. How do you keep up with the latest innovations in lighting? It’s so hard to keep up with all the latest technology as it’s constantly evolving. I try to get to the BSC Expo at Battersea each year and keep up-todate via the lighting companies website as well as general web searches. I also try and stay in touch with other gaffers and share information.

meister BSC On set with Florian Hoff Again. on Johnny English Strikes Photo: Giles Keyte

Flexibility is key in lighting and is just as important when dealing with different personalities on-set too. Never think that you know it all, because every day you will learn a new trick. Just listen and learn and never be frightened to ask questions if there is a piece of kit you haven’t used before. If it’s possible, try and stay one step ahead on-set as this will always give you the chance to complete the tasks as quietly and quickly as possible. And… believe in your dreams. Cinematographer Tobias Schliessler ASC says: I worked with Jonathan on the film Mr. Holmes. He’s a passionate filmmaker and excellent collaborator. He has a great eye for lighting and is always full of ideas on how to make a shot look better. What I love most about Jonathan is that, even under pressure, he works with a smile. No task is ever too much. This makes him a fantastic leader and an inspiration to the whole crew.

“HE'S A PASSIONATE FILMMAKER AND EXCELLENT COLLABORATOR. HE HAS A GREAT EYE FOR LIGHTING AND IS ALWAYS FULL OF IDEAS ON HOW TO MAKE A SHOT LOOK BETTER.” TOBIAS SCHLIESSLER ASC

What new lighting kit impresses you? I have just finished a job in Belfast with Balazs Bolygo BSC HSC and he introduced me to the SumoSpace from SumoLight. It was very impressive – not just another soft LED fixture, but a punchy LED with good directional lens kits. I will certainly be using the Sumos on my next project in Budapest. What advice would you offer to aspiring gaffers? Work hard and be willing to be flexible in every scenario.

Cinematographer Chris Menges BSC ASC says: I enjoy working with Jonathan not least because he is such good fun. He is bright, passionate and full of creative ideas and a collaborator. He will go the extra mile to make a lighting idea work. And if it doesn’t, the look on his face says, “We tried!” He is good. Cinematographer Jo Willems ASC SBC says: Besides the director and operator, the gaffer is the closest creative relationship you have as a DP on-set. You need someone who is fully-present and open to explore ideas. Jonathan was engaged from the moment

On set with Bojan Bazelli ASC on Pete’s Dragon. Photo: Eric Zachanowich

we started prep. More than half the film is set in a small house that was built on stage. I wanted a simple lighting plan that was quick to adjust between set-ups for day and night scenes. He put a great plan forward that gave me the flexibility I needed. A lot of the story played out by candlelight and he put a lot of time into the R&D of custom-built LED fixtures. He takes the job seriously, as I do, but he does like to bring some levity to work, which is always welcome. Jonathan runs a disciplined ship, but his joy and love for the job attracts a top quality team who want to work with him. Cinematographer Enrique Chediak ASC says: The first time I met Jonathan I didn’t understand a word he said. I am from South America so it was very hard for me to understand Jonathan’s thick Northern accent. I thought to myself that I am going to need subtitles! But quite soon I realised that in terms of light we could understand each other with perfect clarity. One of Jonathan’s great qualities is that he is absolutely open to change, and he is not afraid to take a different route than what was planned if something better comes our way, and this is extremely important for my creative process. Jonathan is capable of improvising in a very expedient way. He is prepared, runs a tight crew, is very precise in his method, but still open to change. He is capable of doing extremely complicated set-ups or working with one small light with great results. It will be a great pleasure to take another journey with him. n

As one of the industry’s premier rental resources, we are extremely proud to support crews around the world, in the studio and on location, with an unrivalled collection of production solutions that embrace both the conventional and the very latest in advanced lighting technology. Whatever your production type, wherever you are, when it comes to lighting - we’ve got the lot. +44 (0) 1753 65 62 62 pinewoodmbs.com

PMBS quarter - Gaffers.indd 2

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British Cinematographer | November 2019 | 77

CLAPPERBOARD / LARRY SMITH BSC / BY DAVID A ELLIS

EYES WIDE OPEN Eyes Wide Shut (1999), with (l-r) Tom Cruise, director Stanley Kubrick, focus puller Nick Penn and Larry Smith BSC holding the lighting stand

ward-winning cinematographer, producer and director Larry Smith BSC has been responsible for the look of numerous productions, including TV output, which includes, Agatha Christie’s Marple (2004) and Elizabeth I (2005). He worked with the late Stanley Kubrick on three of his movies, and was the director of photography on Eyes Wide Shut (1999). On Trafficker (2015), Smith directed, produced, photographed and wrote the screenplay, from a story by Ken Kwek. Other films as DP include The Piano Player (2003), Red Dust (2004), Bronson (2008), The Blue Mansion (2009), Two/One (2019) and Puppy Love (2020). Recently, he also shot a series for Netflix using the Panavision DXL2 with E-series Anamorphics, which he will grade in London in December after returning from New York where he is shooting Things Seen And Heard. Smith was born in London and left school at 15, becoming an apprentice electrician. After doing some work in the exhibition industry he went as an electrician to Shepperton Studios. Following this he went freelance, working with Kubrick on his film Barry Lyndon (1975, DP John Alcott BSC) as an electrician. This was to be the first of three films he would be on with Kubrick. Smith says,

78 | British Cinematographer | November 2019

originally he was only going on it for a couple of weeks, but stayed to the end. After this he decided to form his own lighting company called Hi-liting. He went on to work with Kubrick again, this time on The Shining (1980, DP John Alcott BSC) as a gaffer. This was another where he only intended to be on it a short time, but again stayed to the end. He then decided to concentrate more on his own company, which became successful. He got offers to light commercials, which led to working with cameras. Smith says he learned how to operate when working on commercials. Eventually, apart from lighting them, he became operator, DP and director. Asked if he did any focus pulling, he said, “I did a little bit on commercials. If we were using a second camera and there was no one to pull focus, I would do that, but I was never really a focus Larry Smith BSC puller. I still consider that to be one of the trickiest jobs, especially at low light levels.” He again worked with Kubrick, this time as DP, on Kubrick’s last movie as director Eyes Wide Shut (1999). Asked if he was nervous, this being his first feature as DP, he said, “No I wasn’t nervous because I had done

big films before as a gaffer, working on big sets. When you come from a lighting background you are used to lighting big sets. Sometimes you work with young DPs, who haven’t done big stuff and you help them out. I never thought about the size of Eyes Wide Shut, it never worried me at all.” Asked if there were difficulties, he said it was extremely challenging because of the way it was shot and the way Kubrick worked. It took over a year, and for most of the time shooting took place at night in a London studio. The film stock was Kodak 5298 500T, chosen by him. He said. “It was the last stock you were able to really force develop. Modern stock doesn’t hold up too well to this. I tested and we force developed whole film, which is LARRY SMITH BSC the normally unheard of.” After his final outing with Kubrick he went back to commercials, later working on the feature The Piano Player (2002, dir. Jean-Pierre Roux) called The Target in America. Many other films followed, as well as TV work. Smith finds working in TV very different. Asked why, he said, “Television is a different kind of discipline. They shoot more material and TV is driven by the writers. It seems to me that it is over-written and overcovered. Features are more disciplined. It is certainly more disciplined when shooting on film, as opposed to shooting digital. Directors have to be disciplined and I think that is a good thing.” Smith went on to direct Trafficker, which he financed and had complete control over. It was shot in Thailand

“IT IS CERTAINLY MORE DISCIPLINED WHEN SHOOTING ON FILM, AS OPPOSED TO SHOOTING DIGITAL. DIRECTORS HAVE TO BE DISCIPLINED AND I THINK THAT IS A GOOD THING.”

Trafficker (2017) (l-r) actor Jonathan Raggett and Larry Smith BSC

Larry on the set of Trafficker (2017) Eyes Wide Shut (1999, dir. Stanley Kubrick) (l-r) director’s assistant Leon Vitali and actor Todd Field with Larry Smith BSC

Give My Regards To Broad Street (1984, dir. Peter Webb) with (l-r above) Dave Eades, Ron Macwerth, Keith Kirkum, Terry Edland and Jack Collins, plus (l-r below) Al Watson, Paul and Linda McCartney and Larry Smith BSC

with a Thai crew, with him as DP, using ARRI Alexa. It was shot over 24 days, shooting six days a week. Why was Trafficker shot digitally? “It was my choice. I have been lucky that I get offers to shoot on film or digitally. I choose whatever suits the production. For example, if there were a lot of night work, like in Trafficker, I would choose to shoot digitally. There are others that may have a lot of day scenes where I would shoot film.” Would he like to direct more? “Directing is very difficult,” he said. “One thing is finding the money. It is a long, drawn-out process. Also, if you are lucky to make a successful film, it’s a two or three year gap between movies. I enjoy cinematography, but if an opportunity comes up I will try to do it.” Smith has won a number of awards, including: the Dinard British Film Festival’s Kodak Best Cinematography Award for The Guard (2011), directed by John Michael McDonagh; the Madrid International Film Festival’s Best Producer and Director awards for Trafficker; plus the Sitges-Catalonian International BSCexpo-BritCine-halfpage.pdf Film Festival and Danish Film (Robert) Best 1 29/10/2019

Red Dust (2004, dir. Tom Hooper) (l-r) script supervisor Maureen Conway, double Oscarwinner Hilary Swank and Larry Smith BSC

Cinematography Awards for Only God Forgives (2013, dir. Nicolas Winding Refn.) Most recently, Smith has just shot a big series for Netflix, called The Letter For The King. This was a ninemonth project filmed in New Zealand and Prague. Smith said, “We shot for six weeks in New Zealand and over twenty in Prague. It was very challenging in the sense that it is a medieval story in a fictitious group of countries. It was all on horseback and we had five young actors who had not really ridden before. A lot of the shots were through trees with dialogue. Some were done with horses galloping, trotting and walking. So it was challenging to get that covered. It is very difficult to follow people on horseback with dialogue. It’s a narrative-driven series, so we had to have all options, including drones.” Smith went on to say some shots required several cameras. There were up to 20 and 30 set-ups per day. Some angles were repeated using different formats, including Steadicam, track and fixed camera. He says there was some over-shooting. This is done because it is 11:46 possible using the digital format.

Asked if he thought digital would completely replace film, he said and hopes that film will always have a place in the business. His favourites productions include, Love In A Cold Climate TV series (2001), The Piano Player, Only God Forgives, Bronson, Red Dust, The Guard and Trafficker. Smith says he hasn’t done anything that he is completely satisfied with, and when asked what he regards his best work, he says he hasn’t done it yet. Is it easier to light with digital? “No, if you don’t light something well, regardless of the format, it won’t look good. You can always get an image with digital, but film has to be lit in a more precise way, especially in shadow areas.” What kit does he like? “If I’m using film it’s either the ARRICAM or Panaflex Millennium. Digitally, Alexa is the camera of choice, with Cooke lenses.” Does he have hobbies, not connected with film? “Yes, they include playing tennis, a bit of golf, watching sport, travelling, reading and a bit of writing.” Smith, like many cinematographers before him, has no intention of hanging up his meter and will carry on shooting movies for as long as he can. n

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LIVE & LET DI / DIALLING-IN THE DI GRADES

COLOUR PROFILES

Technicolor, London: supervising colourist JeanClément Soret did the full DI grade on The Two Popes, a Netflix production directed by Fernando Meirelles and shot by César Charlone. The film, starring Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce, goes behind Vatican walls, where conservative Pope Benedict and the liberal future Pope Francis must find common ground to forge a new path for the Catholic Church. BBC/HBO’s His Dark Materials, based on Philip Pullman’s best-selling trilogy, was another considerable project that Soret and head of sound, Gareth Bull, worked on. The series has been deemed one of the biggest productions in UK history, with series two currently in production at Wolf Studios in Cardiff. Cinematographers on series one included Joel Devlin, Justin ndon... Brown, David Higgs Technicolor, Lo s ial His Dark Mater BSC, David Luther and Suzie Lavelle ISC BSC.

Dirty Looks, London: was set up in 2010 by Tom Balkwill to offer filmmakers a tailored creative experience for 4K theatrical and broadcast picture finishing. Most recently the firm has acquired extra space at its Rathbone Place HQ, where a brand new 4K Dolby Vision-certified finishing suite is centred around the latest Baselight system, plus Sony X310 HDR monitoring, all connected via a 100GbE network to a Flame VFX suite. In addition, the company offers a new dedicated QC room, and has upgraded its shared storage to enable simultaneous 4K grading, QC and delivery. Five projects graded at Dirty Looks screened at this year’s London Film Festival: Greed (dir. Michael Winterbottom, DP Giles Nuttgens BSC), a satire of the mega-rich starring Steve Coogan; County Lines (dir. Henry Blake, DP Sverre Sørdal), which had its world premiere at the festival; The Other Lamb (dir. Małgorzata Szumowska, DP Michal Englert), a Dirty Looks Belgium project exploring life in a cult; Run (dir. Scott Graham, DP Simon Tindall), set in the Northern Scottish town of Fraserburgh, where

Dirty Looks, London... Greed

80 | British Cinematographer | November 2019

Technicolor, London... The Two Popes

young men dream of escapism through late-night drag races; and Us Amongst The Stones (dir. Dictynna Hood, DP Annemarie LeanVercoe), in which a family gathers at their matriarch’s deathbed on Dartmoor to celebrate her last birthday, another Dirty Looks Belgium project.

“The film is so obviously about sound, but that belies the attention that went into the look of the film” explains Hankewycz, “On one level the constrained nature of the grade allows the aural elements to shine through but, in a very important way, the grade helps set the tone for this film. It’s dark but not heavy, drab but not without colour contrast, low-contrast but sculpted”. The Sound Of Silence was shot on Alexa Mini 3.2K Prores 4444 with Zeiss Super Speeds and Optimo 24-290mm Zoom lenses. Because the tone was so particular in the way the director wanted muted colours, whilst keeping the exposure levels very low, Harbor, New York: colourist Roman Hankewycz Hankewycz revised the ways colour was applied began collaborating with director Michael Tyburski and through the LUT pipeline several times to get the most cinematographer Eric Lin during pre-production on The detail at the bottom end of the images. Sound Of Silence. In the meantime, Harbor colourist Billy Hobson “I’d read the script, and after Eric and Michael did the DI grade on The Peanut Butter Falcon, written/ shot some test footage they came to Harbor to review directed by Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz, helping it with me and to build a LUT for the film. This is always the filmmakers to find a look that allowed the natural an exciting part of the process, because this is where elements of the world to shine through and for the the first strokes for the look of the film are made. We mechanical elements to look rusted… or like they might experimented and honed a restrained, neutral look, but give you tetanus. one that still sculpted a nice contrast within each shot. Winner of the Audience Award at SXSW, The Over the next few weeks the LUT went through a few Peanut Butter Falcon stars Shia LaBeouf, Zack Gottsagen revisions as Eric was able to test it and give me feedback.” and Dakota Johnson. The heartwarming indie comedy The movie received the 2019 Grand Jury Prize drama follows Zak, who runs away from his care home to at Sundance and stars Peter Sarsgaard as a successful make his dream of becoming a pro-wrestler come true. New York City “house tuner”, who calibrates the sound Cinematographer Nigel Bluck shot the production using in people’s homes in order to adjust their mood, until Alexa XT and Alexa Mini camera in ARRIRAW, mainly he encounters a client with a problem he can’t solve. using G-series Anamorphics. The majority of filming took place in Georgia, to replicate the Outer Banks of North Carolina where the weather in the summer can be thick with humidity and heat. “We wanted to make it beautiful Dirty Looks, London... in a way that you feel the heat and Rathbone Place new DI suite humidity and see the muted colors and weathered nature of the locations,” notes Hobson. The decision was made to keep it natural with very easy contrast, natural skin tones, letting the negative guide us. The weather in the south can be very unpredictable and constantly shifting but Nigel, the cinematographer, was able to achieve incredible imagery, so I didn’t really have to push things to get really beautiful images in the DI.” “I like to work very simply, so I don’t like to use too many tools in Baselight if I don’t have to. There are times for complex grading work, but for this film

OnSight, London... The Courier

Carbon, Chicago

we approached it with very natural intentions, so I let the film tell and let my intuition guide me. I start with a custom P3 LUT to get the LOG C images into a good spot before I start making decisions. We developed the LUT with our image scientist Matt Tomlinson. What he’s been able to contribute to all of our workflows is without a doubt the most important part of our process. He lays out the Carbon, path for us, and all we Chicago... Julien Biard need to do is follow it. We are very fortunate to have a guy like him in our Harbor facility.” Hobson uses printer lights exclusively for primary grading, which is rare amongst the more modern colorists. “My friend and mentor Yvan Lucas taught me this working style when I came to Harbor four years ago and I never looked back. It gives me much more finite and repeatable control without really having the ability to tear the negative apart too much. It’s a tool built for subtlety, which I think is paramount in color grading. It also gives a nice audible/visual feedback for clients in the room, and we can speak together in more absolute terms rather than vague language so everyone gets to understand how the tools react with the imagery, making it more inclusive for the filmmakers.” Harbor, LA & London: Marcus Alexander and Darren Rae have joined Harbor respectively as VP of picture post West Coast and senior Harbor, LA & Lo Marcus Alexan ndon... colourist supervising all der dailies in the UK. Alexander started his career in London 19 years ago as an assistant editor before joining VFX house Framestore as a VFX Editor. He helped Framestore launch its DI division, before joining Deluxe to set up its London DI facility, and then relocating to New York to head up Deluxe NY DI. With the growth in 3D movies, he returned to the UK to supervise stereo post-conversions for multiple studios, before his segue into VFX supervising. Rae’s film career commenced in the UK in 1995 as a sound sync operator at Mike Fraser Neg Cutters, where he moved into the telecine department in 1997 as a trainee. By 1998 he was a dailies colourist predominately working with 16mm and 35mm film, before stints at The Machine Room, Todd AO’s London Lab, Deluxe in Soho London, Company 3 and Pinewood Digital, where he eventually became head of grading.

Harbor, New York... Peanut Butter Falcon

Carbon, Chicago: French-born senior Baselight colourist, Julien Biard, has won awards for best colourgrading, collaborating with directors such as Filip Engstrom and Crowns & Owls. He joined creative studio Carbon in Chicago last year, after honing his craft in London at MPC and Finish/Freefolk. Biard describes what differentiates the two cities, “The main difference I‘ve found is the director and DPs involvement in the process – the US sessions are most of the time agency-driven and directors work more remotely than they would in London.” Harbor, LA & London... Darren Rae

He finds creating an atmosphere and subtle feel to an image very rewarding, adding further, “No matter the genre, the craft is the same to me. I’m interpreting and understanding the client’s desire, being able to apply it to the picture and making it look the best I can.” With technology constantly evolving, Biard says that a good way to keep up with how colour grading is changing is to experiment with new tools and new techniques, and not fall into a routine. With reference to incorporating VFX, Biard adds, “Linear workflow used to keep us separate, but now we’re more collaborative. This allows us to be more creative.”

“I believe the main challenge is to make all platforms work together as a unit. It is made much easier now with the way Baselight operates. Its flexibility and power make the whole grading process relatively easy.” “I particularly love the Base Grade tool that came out with Baselight version 5 as well as the tracking feature. The blending tool is also great whilst the Curve Grade remains as vital and efficient as ever.” Concluding, he says, “My objective now is to excel at Carbon and create a place of reference for colour-grading in the Midwest and nationwide.” OnSight, London: provided full 4K theatrical picture post and HDR grading for The Courier, directed by Zackary Adler. Senior post producer Jeff Halsey managed the process and senior colourist Andy Lee, applied his creative talents during the grade. The thriller sees Olga Kurylenko as a fearless woman with a mysterious past who makes a deadly enemy in Ezekiel Mannings (Gary Oldman), whilst unknowingly delivering a gas bomb due to kill the only living witness who can testify against him. Captured by cinematographer Michel Abramowicz, the beautifully-shot feature sets London’s iconic scenery as a backdrop to the intense action packed story. “OnSight were consistently supportive, and put up with all our quirks, insane allnighters and other madness,” said Adler. “With their calm and tireless efforts to supply us with the technicians, infrastructure and creative environment needed, we were able to complete the film we are all so proud of.” James Edward Barker, producer of The Courier, added, “The flawless team of Jeff and Andy kept us under control, and the whole team who supported us would unflinchingly go the extra mile to make sure our film was on time and of an incredibly high standard.” FotoKem, LA: has expanded its creative post production services in ... FotoKem, LA Santa Monica, providing DI suite ica on M a nt Sa a convenient location on the west side for showrunners and filmmakers. FotoKem Santa Monica is housed on the second floor of 1661 Lincoln Boulevard, above FotoKem’s mixing and recording studio Margarita Mix, and features a DI colour grading theatre, an episodic and commercial colour suite, editorial conform bay, and a visual effects team tied to the comprehensive offerings at FotoKem’s main Burbank campus, Keep Me Posted’s episodic finishing facility, and Margarita Mix Hollywood’s episodic grading suites. FotoKem’s entire roster of talented colorists are available to collaborate with filmmakers to ensure their vision is supported throughout the process. Recent projects include Shazam!, Vice, Aquaman, The Dirt, Little and Good Trouble. n British Cinematographer | November 2019 | 81

IMAGO NEWS / BY PAUL RENÉ ROESTAD FNF / IMAGO PRESIDENT One of the master classes at the IMAGO/FNF Oslo Digital Cinema Conference. Photo Paul René Roestad

THE WAY FORWARD

Manaki Brothers Film Festival The Manaki Brothers International Cinematographer’s Film Festival was arranged from 14th to 21st of September in Bitola, Macedonia. It was the festival’s 40th anniversary and, established in 1979, it is the world´s oldest and first cinematographer’s film festival. And what a celebration it was. The festival´s anniversary Award For Lifetime Achievement was presented to cinematographers Ed Lachman ASC and Yorgos Arvanitis AFC GSC. Both also held masterclasses, and Ed Lachman’s was well moderated on stage by Nigel Walters BSC. The German award-winning director Fatih Aikin and his cinematographer Rainer Klausman were also present, and held a masterclass about their films and longtime cooperation. In total, 110 films were screened during this year’s festival, in addition to numerous masterclasses, seminars and other arrangements. The jury in the anniversary year consisted of jury chair Ed Lachman ASC, and the awardwinning Bulgarian cinematographer Kaloyan Bozhilov, the Macedonian cinematographer Femji

Yorgos Arvanitis AFC the GSC , the recipient of Manaki Film Festival´s Lifetime Achievement Award 2019. Photo by Paul René Roestad

82 | British Cinematographer | November 2019

Daut, the vice president of the Federation Of European Film Critics Nenad Dukic, and the French producer Dominique Welinski. Hélène Louvart AFC won the Manaki Camera 300 Award for her feature film The Invisible Life Of Euridice Gusmao. Constanza Sandoval ADF won the Manaki Camera 300 Award for her ten-minute short film Monster God, also nominated for the Cannes Palme d´Or. The Manaki Film Festival is, in addition to screening a great number of great international films, a very valuable place for meeting and networking, and the social events are always numerous. Visitors came from all corners of the world, Australia, North and South America, and, of course, from most European countries. The IMAGO Balkan Cinematographer´s conference Initiated by Nigel Walters BSC during his presidential period in IMAGO, the Balkan Cinematographer´s Conference was arranged for the sixth time during the Manaki Festival, again under Nigel’s leadership. Attended by more than 25 representatives from all Balkan cinematographer’s societies, and with John Mathieson OAL BSC, Angus Hudson BSC, Ula Pontikos BSC, Ron Johansson ACS and Phil Greenstreet from Rosco as conference guests. Nigel is also heading IMAGO’s Central European Cinematographer´s Conference, during this year´s Camerimage. IMAGO’s intention with these regional conferences is to obtain more detailed and

extensive information about the special challenges that cinematographers have in the many different geographical areas of IMAGO's organisation, and to help initiate and support closer collaboration between societies and over the borders in the region. As a result of the Balkan Conference, the cinematographer’s societies in the region are now collaborating for an annual Balkan film festival, named Balkam, which is travelling to different Balkan capitals. A festival with arrangements to screen films, for cinematographers to meet and exchange experiences and knowledge, to initiate collaboration between themselves in the different countries, and to present their films to a wider Balkan audiences. As in the Balkan countries, the same story elsewhere: joined together, their voices and influence will be vastly stronger. In many Balkan countries film and TV production is expanding significantly, but in some others, film production is at a standstill. Balkan cinematographers struggle with the same challenges that most other cinematographers do: six-day working weeks, and 14 to 16-hour work days (often more on commercials). Even if such long working days actually are illegal, the control and reaction system is not yet in place to stop such exploitation. In several Balkan countries, cinematographers also have problems getting written contracts and are experiencing that salaries are steadily going down, with the same arguments we all hear from time-to-time, “If you won´t do it, we will find someone else”. In the Balkan countries, cinematographers are recognised as authors, but some of the national collecting societies are so weakly organised they have problems collecting money from TV companies, who often are reluctant to pay remuneration anyway, even if required to do so by law. The result is that the cinematographer often does not receive the remuneration, even if they should. But some Balkan societies have started legal proceedings to correct this, and IMAGO will, of course, strongly support any action that will give cinematographers the rights they are entitled to.

Ed Lachman ASC and Nigel Walters BSC after their very popular masterclass at the festival. Photo by Paul René Roestad

Some of the delegates attending the IMAGO Balkan Cinematographer´s conference during the Manaki Film Festival 2019. Photo by Saso Stavrev.

“IN SEVERAL BALKAN COUNTRIES, DPS ARE EXPERIENCING THAT SALARIES ARE STEADILY GOING DOWN, WITH THE SAME ARGUMENTS WE ALL HEAR FROM TIME-TO-TIME, “IF YOU WON´T DO IT, WE WILL FIND SOMEONE ELSE”.” Authorship: The way forward IMAGO had its board meeting during the Manaki Festival. The suggestion from the IMAGO Authorship Committee to significantly increase the focus on the fact that it is time cinematographers get back the control of their images, was unanimously agreed to by the board. A broad information campaign is planned shortly, to be initiated with information campaigns towards producers and other colleagues, and advertisement campaigns in major film business magazines. The campaign will have the headline “Cinematographers need control of our images”, and is planned to be launched during the coming Camerimage in November. Increasingly around the world, cinematographers experience their images being graded, cropped and changed in post beyond recognition, without the cinematographer even being informed or asked. The aim for IMAGO is to make all of our colleagues in the film industry aware that to grade, crop or change the cinematographer’s images without the cinematographer being asked, agreeing, or being present in the grading room, is a derogatory practice that must end. Working conditions: the way forward The suggestion from the IMAGO Working Condition Committee to significantly increase the focus on unacceptable working hours and working conditions, was also unanimously agreed during the IMAGO Board meeting at Manaki. 14-16 hour days are the new normal for many production companies around the world. For international cinematographers and for many of our other good colleagues in film production, this is perhaps their greatest concern. The long hours are detrimental to family life, unhealthy, greatly reduce safety on-set, hinder diversity, influence the quality of our images, and hinder satisfactory recruitment to the film industry as a whole. This practice cannot go on! IMAGO will seek cooperation with all partners in the industry, from sister creative federations to national and international film worker’s unions, to form a joint focus on this important problem.

The IMAGO Award partners and recipients in Helsinki. Photo by Alejandro Lorenzo

IMAGO activities during Camerimage 2019 Camerimage is moving back to its place of origin, the city of Torun, in 2019. IMAGO is strongly and actively supporting this festival that is so important to international cinematographers, and will be arranging several major activities this year. In addition to launching IMAGO´s campaign for cinematographers to regain control of our images, IMAGO is in collaboration with the festival planning panel sessions on the important topics of diversity and green filmmaking. IMAGO is also, in collaboration with the ASC, arranging a panel on cinematographers’ particular challenges when working for the large streaming networks on TV series, and Netflix representatives will participate to inform the audience about their challenges, thoughts and future plans. IMAGO´s Technical Committee will have meetings with attending camera manufacturers to discuss the need for cinematographers to influence and collaborate when new equipment, cameras and menu operation abilities are planned and developed. In addition, IMAGO will, during Camerimage, arrange the IMAGO Central European Cinematographers Conference, where increased communication and collaboration between cinematographers in the region and IMAGO will be on the agenda. The IMAGO/FNF Oslo Digital Cinema Conference The IMAGO/FNF Oslo Digital Cinema Conference was arranged in Oslo, Norway on the 18th to 20th October. Over 200 cinematographers and IMAGO partners attended, discussing new technology and the future development of cinematography. IMAGO’s camera manufacturing partners attended to inform conference participants about their latest developments and plans for the future.

The Camerimage festival hall, Bydgoszcz. Photo by Paul René Roestad

Also in Oslo, the challenges for cinematographers working on TV series for international streaming companies were extensively discussed and experiences shared. Not least the challenges with one cinematographer doing some of the episodes, and then another cinematographer taking over for the next episodes, and the challenges with post, often being done while the cinematographer is another place in the world busy doing new or other episodes. The IMAGO International Awards for Cinematography The next IMAGO International Awards for cinematography ceremony will be arranged in Brussels, Belgium, on March 14th 2020. All IMAGO member societies will be asked to submit their nominations, and submission will open November 1st 2019. During this grand, black tie celebration of the art of cinematography, awards will be given for best cinematography in feature films, TV drama, and documentaries. In addition, awards will also be given for best student film, emerging young cinematographer, lifetime achievement in cinematography, lifetime contribution to the art of cinematography, and the IMAGO Award for Technical Excellence. Close to 250 cinematographers, IMAGO friends and partners are expected to attend. And, of course, a gala dinner and an all night party will follow the awards show. Reserve the dates now! n For updates on all IMAGO activities, please register for the IMAGO newsletter at www.imago.org.

An earlier ASC/IMAGO panel at Camerimage. Photo Paul René Roestad

British Cinematographer | November 2019 | 83

GBCT / NEWS FROM THE GUILD / BY TIM POTTER GBCT CHAIR & JOHN KEEDWELL GBCT

WHAT IS WORK?

What is work? Well, duh, everyone knows that! We all have an idea in our heads such that we think we are certain as to what constitutes work. Think again...

hilst the Oxford English Dictionary uses phrases like: “expenditure of energy”, “a task”, “employment”, “to act in specified way” and “exact labour from”, the law has tried to circumscribe the definition with precedent and example without nailing it down in detail. The Inland Revenue is the foremost user of these precedents, but has a vested interest in maintaining those vague edges in order to use the uncertainty in their favour. The clearest notion of work we get is from the suppliers of employers liability insurance. They consider that you are working any time that you are acting under the instruction of an employer/engager, even if that entity is yourself. The importance of the phrase, “under the instruction of”, cannot be understated. It signifies that you are acting at the behest of someone, for gain whether financial or otherwise, at any time and place that those actions must be performed. Even if you are engaged as a widget nurdler, if your engager directs you to collect their dry cleaning, you are acting “under the instruction of” that engager, and any consequences of that action are the consequences of work. You would at least be covered by employers liability insurance. It is clear that when you are at a designated place of work, you are at work. When your engager specifies that work take place somewhere else then that is also work. The Inland Revenue also considers that any time spent getting the worker from one place of work to another is also work because you are “under the instruction of” an engager and the expenses for that work can also be off-set against tax. This effectively means that commuting to your base place of work is not work but the journey from that base to any other place of work is work. The European Court Of Justice goes one step further in a ruling that the journey that gets a worker from/to home and any place of work is work. This ruling is under appeal, but it furthers our understanding of the legal meaning of “under the instruction of”. The boundaries of the definition which this phrase leads to are constantly under attack. Our engagers in the film and television industry are adamant to the point of religious obsession that a day spent getting a worker to/from a place of work in “not 84 | British Cinematographer | November 2019

work” even though it is obvious to all with eyes to see that the worker would not be doing such a journey if they were not “under the instruction of” their engager. If such a day is not work, what is it? BECTU quite clearly states that such a day is not a “rest day”, but is work. Our engagers have so far not come up with an answer to this, but still refuse to acknowledge their role in instructing their workers. It is a manifestation of ‘small businessman’ thinking that if you are not actually nurdling a widget at that very moment you are not working. Completely blind to all the other work that must be done to complete a task. If the camera is not turning it does not mean that we are not busily working. It is incumbent on us to make it clear that anything we do that is under a production’s instruction is work. A rest day cannot under any circumstances be used for travel. That is not resting under anyone’s definition. Travelling for the purposes of work is work. n Tim Potter, Chair, GBCT

BAFTA SEASON It is an exciting time of year when the leaves on the trees start changing colour and then fall to the ground. It often has different meanings to many – some see it as the end of warm weather, and the start of cold, wet weather and snow. To me it means something different. To me it means the flurry of activity in my email inbox has started steadily filling with invitations to see newly released and pre-release movies. This is always a welcome sight at this time of year, of course, it is a privilege to be a part of an organisation that can award our fellow workers with the highest accolade in the form of a unique and prestigious award seen around the world as the peak of creativity and talent. It is also a time to examine the latest trends and advances in cinema storytelling, human ingenuity and advances in technology. Yet what also comes with this is also a slight feeling of apprehension due to the enormity of the mission ahead. BAFTA members, along with AMPAS members, will vote on the various categories making up the structure of the movie business. To do this means watching and evaluating the many movies released over the past year, and voting on the ones we personally Winner... Alfonso Cuaron wins the Bafta for Roma

BAFTA Piccadilly Princess Anne theatre

It is a privilege to be a part of an organisation that can award our fellow workers with the highest accolade in the form of a unique and prestigious award seen around the world as the peak of creativity and talent

feel are the very best in the category. Clearly that is a huge task, as there are hundreds of films to watch, either in specially-arranged screenings or on a DVD or Blu Ray disc that arrive by courier. In the American Academy Awards the criteria is simple. For feature-length films to be eligible for 92nd Academy Awards consideration, a feature must complete a seven-day paid admission theatrical release in Los Angeles County during the eligibility period. Very straightforward and simple. The caveat with this is the films can be released up until December 31st, so there is often a flurry of activity to get the releases near to the end of the year so they are more firmly in the voters minds, and so more likely to be remembered… and hence voted for, of course. The DVD’s and Blu Ray discs can arrive from October to December for the first round, and this is where the flurry of deliveries arrive. Yet some arrive very late in the voting period, often in the first few days of January, giving very little time to schedule free time to watch them before the close of the first round of voting ends in January. Each round is a knock-out round, of course, so if the film does not make it through this first round, that’s it, they are excluded. It is therefore in the interests of the distributor to get the film seen and then it can be evaluated in the various categories and voted upon accordingly. I know BAFTA members are extremely passionate about their voting, and it is rightly seen as a privilege to be a part of the voting system for major movies.

The membership is made up of people actively working in the business, and each has a specialist area of expertise, and they vote in these areas as they have the knowledge to make informed decisions. Cinematography is voted by people in camera department, for example, and the same goes for sound, hair and make-up, costumes, etc. Clearly there are many different categories open for voting within each film, so it may not win best film, although it may win best cinematography or screenplay, as examples. At the end of the day the film needs to be viewed, of course, and the rules are very clear and strict with regards to voting for films the members have actually seen. The films viewed have to be ticked-off on an online voting portal unique to each member, saying they have actually watched that particular film. No film should ever be voted for unless it has actually been confirmed as viewed. This may seem an obvious requirement, and it stops the member simply looking at the screen credits and voting for someone they know is good who they like without watching each film fully. If we do the mathematics, there may be 150 or more DVDs arrive to each voting member, and these are all visibly watermarked and uniquely traceable to each member. This is so they can be traced if they were lost or copied in some way. As there are many films sent to members well before the date of release to the viewing public, this is a natural and obvious security measure the distributors can take. If a film is seen duplicated it can be easily traced back to the individual who it was

allocated to, and they will be immediately expelled and banned from that voting organization, never to return. Duplication (or piracy) is copyright theft and is rightly taken very seriously, for obvious reasons. Some films are delivered online with a unique passcode to allow access to be watched on a computer. It is not personally my favourite way of watching a carefully crafted and produced film, as the computer is a very different experience to sitting in an armchair watching a large screen TV. A computer may be a laptop or similar, often with an uncalibrated monitor, and the screen will be much closer to the viewer, and a screen that is normally less than optimal quality. It also means (for me anyway) sitting in an office type seat and wearing headphones to hear much lower quality sound, so missing some of the intricacies and subtleties of the sound production department. The overall experience is very different and is ultimately a sub optimal viewing, therefore potentially swaying the voter one way or another. Short films or documentaries can be the exception to this general rule, yet it is still going to influence the viewing experience. With all this in mind, it is a huge task for the distributors to ensure security of pre-release films and track each individual asset they send out. Often they come in a specially printed package, or even in a specially produced box set. The sheer volume of screenings and DVDs and online videos is a mammoth task, and they deserve great credit for the smooth running of the operations. BAFTA screenings often >>

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GBCT / NEWS FROM THE GUILD / BY JOHN KEEDWELL GBCT UAV PILOT Don't Look Now

come with a Q&A with a major actor, writer, director or producer, and that in itself is a great feat of organisation. Yet the difficulties potentially arise for the voting members when all the films arrive on DVD in a flurry of activity at the end of December, with a first round closing only on the 2nd January 2020. Quite simply put, there is often not enough time between them arriving and having time to assess them before the end of the first voting round. Yet in the past there have been some great films have been passed by, and then there were others that have been promoted extremely heavily and have ultimately won best film. The members always want to see the very best in each category rightfully winning the awards, and mostly they do win if they get through the first round. Yet if they are at the bottom of the huge pile to be watched and are not seen by the voters due to physical time constrictions, then they can be overlooked. It would be great if the promotion and distribution of the films was made with some more time to spare for the voters, as we all want the best films to be nominated and win in their categories. I understand the difficulties, as the films are produced and finished in the 2019 year, and then voted on early in 2020, so there will always be many more at the end of the year, yet the sheer mass arriving at once is often daunting, and often overwhelming. Now, I can almost hear the sarcastic talk of “poor you, with all those DVDs to watch at the end of each year…!”. It is not a complaint, it’s more of a feedback to filmmakers and distributors to ensure the very best films are seen and win the coveted awards they are rightly due. Nobody wants to see the “wrong” film winning, or the less promoted film being left out. We wish to recognise the excellence of fellow colleagues in every area of film making for this year and many years to come, so every help in that area would be appreciated.

86 | British Cinematographer | November 2019

DON’T LOOK NOW – BSC SCREENING Back in the day, when dinosaurs ruled the planet in the early 1980s, I was studying in film school, and I vividly remember one of the very first films I was shown was the now classic Don’t Look Now, the Nicolas Roeg-directed film from 1973. The opening sequence was shown to us on a VHS tape player and monitor wheeled out for the occasion (Yes, it was that long ago..!). The tape was then stopped at certain points to ask us what we have just seen, what we understood from what we had seen, and what is likely to happen next? A great deal of the detail was examined, in particular the opening sequence with the girl in the red coat. This specific lesson has stuck in my head since then as a supreme example of storytelling through the medium of film. We could examine the skill of the filmmaker telling the story and how to read a film, and the viewer is shown just enough to understand the story when the film hits us in the face with a wet fish, as we stand there in awe, and somewhat shocked. Since then it has been one of my

Don Cinematog't Look Now... raph Richmond er Tony took part BSC ASC in a the BSC sc Q& A at reening

favourite films of all time, along with Blade Runner (1982, dir. Ridley Scott, DP Jordan Cronenweth ASC) and a few others. This film is widely regarded as one of the best and most influential British films ever produced, even though it has never really reached the popular heights with the masses. It has been noted as a key inspiration by Ben Wheatley and Lynne Ramsay, and many more filmmakers along the way. I was delighted to hear the film has now been restored to its original glory, and now this iconic film is making its way back into cinemas for new audiences to experience. As part of the BSC’s 70th Anniversary celebrations the film was recently shown in a packed London cinema, after recently undergoing a painstaking restoration, overseen by cinematographer Anthony B. Richmond BSC ASC, the original cinematographer on the film, who also took part in a fascinating Q&A. It is a stunning restoration, and it gives new life into a superb example of filmmaking. I have watched this film literally hundreds of times, yet I was always disappointed with the quality of the sound and picture, as the picture was only seen through a very low-resolution video. I can honestly say I watched the film in the cinema with new eyes and I literally saw many new details and (shall we say) colour clues throughout the film that I had literally never noticed before. The process involved scanning the original 100 ASA Eastman 100T 5254 camera negative at 4K resolution in 16-bit to create a digital print, from which a special ultra HD collector’s edition has also been made. Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now has lost none of its potency in the 46 years since its original theatrical release. I will not spoil your enjoyment of this superb film by telling you what happens, I suggest you go and watch it yourself. n

John Keedwell GBCT & UAV Pilot

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